SECTION III. 19 able to our Sabiotar's own expressions to God ; John xvii. 11. Holy Father, I am no more in the world, and I come unto thee; or, as he said to his disciples ; John xvi. 28. I leave the world, and go to the Father. And, according to these expressions ; Luke xxiii. 46. Christ dies with these words on his lips, Father, into thy hands I com- mend my spirit. Our Saviour taking notice of the repentance of the thief, acknowledging his own guilt, thus, We are tartly un- der this condemnation, and receive the reward of our deeds, and taking notice also of his faith in the Messiah, as a king whose kingdom was not of this world, when he prayed, Lord, remem- ber me when thou contest into thy kingdom. Christ, I say, tak- ing notice of both these, answers him with a promise of much grace, Feriiy, I say unto thee, to -day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The use of the word paradise in scripture and amongst ancient writers, Jewish and Christian, is to signify the happiness of holy souls in a separate state : And our Saviour entering into that state, at his death, declared to the dying penitent, that he should be with him there immediately. It is certain that by the word paradise, St. Paul means the place of happy spirits, into which he was transported ; 2 Cor. xii. 4. And this sense is very accommodate, and proper to this expression of our Saviour, and to the prayer of the penitent thief, and it is as suitable to the design of Christ, in his epistle to the church of Ephesus ; Rev. ii. 7. The tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, which are the only three places where the New Testament uses this word. I know there have been great pains taken to chew that the stops should be altered, and the comma should be placed after the word to -day, thus, l say unto thee to -day, thou shalt be with me in paradise, that is, some time or other hereafter. As though Christ meant no more than this, viz. " thou askcst me to remember thee when I come into my kingdom : And I declare unto thee truly this very day, that some long time here- after thou shalt bewith me in happiness at thy resurrection, when my kingdom shall be just at an end, and I shall give it all up to the Father," as in 1 Cor. xv. 24. Can any one imagine this to be the meaning of our blessed Saviour, in answer to this prayer of the dying penitent ? I know also there are other laborious criticisms to represent these. words, to -day, in other, places of scripture as referring, to some distant time, and not to mean that very day of twenty-four hours: But rattler than enter into a long and critical del ate upon all those texts, I will venture to trust the sense of it in this place, with any sincere and un- learned reader. But, if we consult the learned, Dr. Whitby will tell us, that it was a familiar phrase of the Jews, to say on a just man's a 2
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