Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and…

2. And he that will say, that the God of Nature will change, and overcome the Nature that he hath made, must give us good proofs of it, or it is not to be feared. And if he should do it as a punishment, we ⟨p. 16⟩must find such a punishment somewhere threatened, either in his Natural, or Supernatural Law, which we do not; and therefore need not fear it.

§ 27. 3. But if it were to be feared, that Souls were partible, and would be broken into parts, this would be no destruction of them, either as to their substance, powers, form or action, but only a breaking of one Soul into many: For being not compounded of Heterogeneal parts, but as simple Elements of Homogeneal only, as every Atom of Earth is Earth, and every drop of Water in the Sea is Water, and every particle of Air and Fire, is Air and Fire, and have all the properties of Earth, Water, Air and Fire; so would it be with every particle of an Intellectual Spirit. But who can see cause to dream of such a partition, never threatened by God?

§ 28. V. And that Souls lose not their formal Powers or Virtues, we have great reason to conceive; because they are their Natural Essence, not as mixed, but simple substances: And though some imagine that the Passive Elements may be attenuation, or incrassation, be transmuted one into another, yet we see that Earth is still Earth, and Water is Water, and Air is Air; and their conceit hath no proof: And, were it proved, it would but prove that none of these are a first or proper Element: But what should an Intellectual Spirit be changed into? How should it lose its formal Power? not by Nature; for its Nature hath nothing that tendeth to deterioration, or decay, or self-destruction? The Sun doth not decay by its wonderful Motion, Light and Heat: And why should Spirits? Not by God's destroying them, or changing their Nature: For, though all things are in constant motion or revolution, he continueth the Natures of the simple Beings, and