Let us now examine a passage of Scripture which is frequently quoted to substantiate the erroneous doctrine that God is pleased to save men in their sins, or that death-bed repentance is all-sufficient. The passage is found in Luke xxiii:42, 43, and reads thus: "And he (the penitent malefactor) said unto Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'" From this statement thousands in the Christian world have taken it for granted that the thief on the cross received full and complete salvation. With this unwarranted perversion of a sacred passage, the minister has taught the murderer in the felon's cell to confess Christ and all would be well with him; and as the hangman drew the bolt and let the culprit swing into eternity, the minister has stood close by and said, "The Lord Jesus receive thy soul." On the other hand, the poor victim of the assassin has been cut off without time to confess Christ, and the same doctrine which wafts the murderer to the courts of glory consigns the victim to the flames of hell. Is it possible that Christ ever taught such a heinous doctrine? A doctrine so inconsistent, so revolting to reason, so repugnant to justice! We answer emphatically "No," nor did He utter a syllable from which such an inference can be drawn or establish the idea that the malefactor went to heaven. The question is, then, where did he go? If not to heaven, then the paradise named and heaven are two different places. Let the Scriptures answer for themselves. Three days after the crucifixion the Savior came forth a resurrected being, and as Mary met Him at the tomb, He said to her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." Thus we have from His own lips, in which there was never guile, that He had not ascended to the Father; and if He had not, neither had the thief. If no further light than this could be found in the sacred volume, this would be sufficient to show that the malefactor did not go to heaven, for where Jesus went the thief went, for that was the promise. Where, then, did the Lord go? Turn to I Peter iii 18-21, and the question is answered: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah."