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

§ 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 ⟨p. 17⟩showeth us, that he delighteth in a constancy of operations, insomuch that hence Aristotle thought the world Eternal. And God hath made no Law that threateneth to do it as a penalty. Therefore to dream that Intellectual Spirits shall be turned into other things and lose their Essential formal Powers, which specify them, is without and against all sober reason. Let them first but prove that the Sun loseth Motion, Light and Heat, and is turned into Air, or Water or Earth. Such changes are beyond a rational fear.

§ 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 mixt, 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 ⟨p. 17⟩