Again, there are some other Places of Scripture, which several People
have objected, as if the Spirit or Soul of Man might go out of the Body,
and subsist in Bliss and Happiness, or in Misery and a tormented
Condition, without its Body it always lived in; from that Place _Luke_
xxiii. 43. Jesus said to the Thief on the Cross, _Verily I say unto
thee, This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise_. Now observe, this no
way proves that the Thief's Soul went out of his Body into a
paradisiacal Place, and so escaped suffering Death, or did not die; for
if the Soul of Christ did die at that time, as is clear by Scripture it
did; then the Soul and Life of the Thief did die also.
Then where was the Paradise the Thief's Soul, and Christ's Soul that was
heavy unto Death, where did they go? To this, I say, they went to a
Place of rest, where all righteous Souls go, which is to the sleep of
Death, for their was nothing did die but the Souls of them both; and the
Paradise Christ and the Thief went into that Day they suffered Death, I
declare it was this, that Christ was sure in himself that he should rise
from the Dead the third Day, and afterward should enter into eternal
Glory, and this Assurance in Christ that he should rise again the third
Day, it was Paradise and Peace to his Soul, that he should pass through
that Death, he was now to suffer that very Day into a new Life, that
should not be capable to die any more.
So likewise when the Thief did truly believe that Jesus was the Christ,
the Saviour from eternal Death to those that did believe; as it is
certain he did when he said, _Lord, remember me, when thou comest into
thy Kingdom_; for he did really believe, that Christ would rise the
third Day, and that he would raise him to eternal Joy and Happiness at
the last Day; and the Thief dying in this Faith, he entred into Peace of
Mind, and had Rest and Freedom to die, in Hope and full Assurance that
Christ would raise him up Soul and Body to eternal Happiness at the last
Day.
And this was that Paradise that Christ and the Thief were in, that very
Day they both suffered Death; for the Assurance of everlasting Life in a
Man's self here in Mortality, is the Paradise of Peace in this Life.
This I know to be true, and this was the Paradise Christ did mean the
Thief should be in that very Day he believed; and not that either of
their Souls went out of their Bodies to any other Place or Paradise,
then what was in their own Bodies, as aforesaid.
In like Manner People imagine, that the Soul of Man goeth out of the
Body at his Death, from that Saying _Acts_ 7. 59. from those Words of
_Stephen_, when he was stoned to Death, he said, _Lord Jesus, receive my
Spirit_. The Meaning is this, that when any Man died in the true Faith
of Christ, in the Hope and full Assurance that Christ will raise him up
to eternal Happiness at the last Day, he commits his Spirit into the
Hands of Christ, knowing that though he doth lose his Life for Christ's
Sake here, that Christ will raise it again, and save his Soul hereafter;
and so Christ may be said to receive his Spirit. For this I must tell
the Reader, that there is not a quarter of an Hour's time to the Dead to
his rising again, no not a Minute; for there is no time to the Dead, not
a Minute of an Hour, though a Man have been dead five thousand Years,
yet it is not a Minute of an Hour to him that is dead.
For all time belongs to the living; for after Death there is nothing but
Eternity, on the other side of Death either eternal Happiness or eternal
Misery: So that when Men die, they may be said to go immediately to
Heaven or to Hell, to Joy or Torment, to be receiv'd into Christ's Hands
of Mercy, or into the Hands of Christ's Wrath, where they shall be
tormented with the Devil and his Angels, yet shall never see the Devil,
nor his Angels, nor themselves, to Eternity; as they did not know the
Devil here, neither shall they know or see him hereafter, yet be
tormented with him.
And in this Sense a faithful Spirit or Soul, as _Stephen_ was, may be
said to commit his Spirit into the Hands of Christ, and that Christ doth
receive his Spirit into his Hands, and will raise it up at the last Day,
which will not be a Minute of an Hour's time to the Dead, as I said
before; therefore let not the Seed of Faith think the time long between
Death and the Salvation of their Souls, because so many of the Faithful
have been so many hundred Years in the Grave: And let not the wicked
unbelieving People comfort themselves, that the Dead shall never rise
again, because the Fathers are Dead, and the Prophets are dead, and we
see none of them rise again; therefore we conclude, their Spirits are
gone to Heaven without Bodies, and the Spirits of the Wicked are gone to
Hell without Bodies, but a Minute of an Hour's time will decide this
Matter, when the dead are raised: For they shall not remember they have
been a Sleep in the Dust one Minute of an Hour, for their is no
Remembrance of time in the Grave. Therefore let that vain Conceit that
is in most People fall, of Spirits going to God without Bodies: For I
can assure you there is no such Thing, neither can there be any true
Peace in that Conceit. I know it by Faith now, and by Experience, for I
was of that Opinion once my self, when I was zealous in Religion
according to the Puritan Way; but I knew no Scripture truly, neither was
there one true Interpreter of Scripture, no not one in those Days, that
could shew a Man the true Righteousness of God, or the true Way to
everlasting Life.