CHAP. XIV.
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 PlaceLukexxiii. 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 SayingActs7. 59. from those Words ofStephen, 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, asStephenwas, 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, fortheir 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.