Therefore, it was perfectly in character for Washington to leave instructions in his will not to bury his body until three days after he died, believing as he did that Jesus could not possibly have risen from the dead and so was probably buried alive. There were no ministers or priests in the room during his final hours, only well-intentioned doctors whose barbaric bleedings and purgings made his passing an agony. Artists quickly produced paintings and prints depicting his ascension to heaven alongside admiring angels. For Washington, however, there was no such thing as heaven, either on this
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