a mostly german debate on conversion and salvation but had not been that for a long time; instead, he probably had been pious and penitent for some time.685 A conclusion of Whiston is that repentance is possible, but it must take time – a long illness before death is therefore a blessing. God also give the penitent that he forgives ample time to display his new and holy life. If it comes only a short time before death it is not enough, and such repentance is not accepted by God, because God is not interested in repentance in itself, but in the holy life.686 Edward Nicholson, a priest in the Episcopalian Church of Ireland, denied the possibility of the penitent criminal at Golgotha posing an example for Christians by insisting that him not being a Christian was crucial. He could thus be a valid example only for those not being Christians.687 At the same time similar ideas were voiced in Reformed churches on the continent. Jacques Bernard, a pastor and professor in Leiden, stated in a treatise that it was morally impossible for a man who had heard the Gospel, but still lacked both piety and virtue, to convert in his last moments.688 Concerning St Dismas, his view was that the Bible gave us too little facts to really understand the situation and what lessons should be drawn from it. We lack knowledge about his age, what his crimes were, and for how long time he had been committing them, if it was a singular act or a habit, what education he had been given, what possibilities there had been to abstain from the crime, and when he had started to repent, and what caused his repentance: none of this was known.689 Bernard then speculates that the man that himself said that crucifixion was a justified penalty had been a honourable man until he, together with Barabbas, had been active in resistance against the Romans, implying a much more moral person than the traditional robber.690 He is then simi685 Whiston 1709 p 9 sqq. 686 Whiston 1709 p 20 sqq, ”And accordingly I believe, that whereever the Almighty accepts of any one’s Repentance, He does afford the Penitent some Time for the Real Exercise of his Virtues, for the Actual Living of a Holy Life before He takes him out of this World.” (Quotation p 22.) 687 Nicholson 1712 p 24 sq. 688 Bernard 1712 pIV. ”[L]a repentance d’un tel homme est moralement impossible.” See also p 308 sq and p 339. 689 Bernard 1712 p 310 sqq, esp p 313. 690 Bernard 1712 p 315 sqq, 336. 195
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