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spirit of man is God, and that the body only dies and turns to dust: These say also, God is an infinite Spirit, and all spirits came from his Spirit, and so return into his Spirit again; others say, the spirit and body, or think it turns to dust for ever. Indeed almost all men are in darkness, because they walk by thinking only about things of eternity; but about things that perish, they think them hardly ever sure enough unto them: Wherefore unto you, whose bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, from the Lord Jesus, I shall declare unto you the truth of this secret; you may know, that the spirit is nothing at all without a body, and a body is nothing at all without a spirit; neither of them can live, or have a being, without the other: You may know it is the spirit only in the body of man that lives, and speaks, and walks, and works, and eats, and drinks, and dies; for the spirit is a natural fire of reason, which is that life of life, heat, or motion, that as a fire kindleth life and strength through all the flesh or body of man, only the principal part of the understanding of this natural fire of the spirit of reason liveth in the head of man, because that is the glory of the man; so that the spirit or soul is the man, although it cannot possibly be without the form or body; wherefore when man dies, and turns to his dust, it is that natural spirit of the fire of reason, that was the life or spirit of the body that dieth, or is quenched, and goeth out within the body, as fire goeth out in an oven that is closed; so doth the spirit of man die within his body from all sensible life, heat, or motion, until the visible coming of the Lord of life in the clouds of heaven at the last day: Therefore it is written, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. When the Lord spake those words, he did not speak to the flesh, or out

ward form or body of the man, but he spake to the inward spirit or soul, that understands the words of a spirit. Again, it is written, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death; that is, if thou, through disobedience to my command, dost forfeit the image of thy creation, then thou shalt see mortality or death within thy own body, both spiritually and naturally, and the fear of eternal death also. Thus it is clear to you that believe in the Lord Jesus, that the spirit of man dies, and turns to dust within the body, because nothing can possibly die, but it must live; so likewise nothing can possibly quicken or live again, but that which is absolutely dead, or dust, or asleep, void of all motion, heat, life, light, or sense, being utterly annihilated to itself, and all other creatures, only being alive in the memory of God, that God alone, the man Jesus, might have all the glory in the new creating of mankind at the last out of dust, as he had in creating of man at the first out of dust, according to that saying in the Revelation; Behold, I create all things new, in answer to that creation in Genesis. Thus it is with the grain or body of wheat, except it dies, it never comes to perfection, but abides alone in the dust for ever; but, on the contrary, if the spirit of life, which is in the body of wheat, doth absolutely die within its body, then, by the decree of God, it quickens out of death unto a new life immediately, and brings forth a glorious resurrection in due season, of many bodies in the same form, like unto that which died, of the very same nature. Thus it is, by the decree of the Lord Jesus, with the natural spirits of all the elect; first they are dead in sins and trespasses, before they are capable, by the spirit of truth, to live in righteousness; so likewise the spirits of men and women must be absolutely dead,

when they fall asleep in the dust, or else they were never capable to rise again, neither in glory, nor in shame; so that, by the decree of God, all life, both spiritual and natural, must first enter into death, that through death, or in death, they may quicken a new life of a glorious increase, both spiritual and natural; so that death in its place is as useful for the Creator's raising of glory to himself as life is in its place: this proves the truth of these scriptures, he poured out his soul unto death. Again, the soul that sins shall die. Again, he cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. Again, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death. Again, his soul was made an offering for sin. Again, he was put to death in the flesh, and quickened in the spirit. I know I have written enough to satisfy (in the proof of this truth) all spiritual christians.

CHA P. XIV.

How the Bodies and Spirits of the World of the elect Believers shall be like unto the glorious Body of God their Redeemer, in his Glory to Eternity.

AGAIN, it is written, and those that sleep in Jesus shall rise first: that is, those that fell asleep in the believing of the visible coming of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory, their bodies shall be raised first out of the sleep of death, because they were united by faith unto the person of their Lord Jesus, who was the first that ever rose from the dead by his own power, who

raised life in death, or out of death; therefore he was called the first fruits of their resurrection, or of life from death. Again, you that see by faith may understand, that not the same bodies that died or fell asleep, shall appear any more at all than the body of wheat doth as beforesaid, which Paul fitly compareth together in their resurrection, where it is written, but God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him, and to every seed his own body: that is, as beforesaid, that grain or body of wheat that died, quickened a new life out of death, and brought forth in a glorious manner, in due season, many bodies of the same form of that that died, and yet that body that died appeared no more; so likewise it shall be with all that died in the faith of Jesus, not the same bodies or persons they lived in and died in, shall appear again any more, but that spirit of faith mixed with pure love, and all other spiritual virtues, that were in their former bodies, by the which they died unto the power of sin, and lived unto the power of righteousness; that divine seed of faith, sowed in the former body, died with the first body, and immediately quickened a new life out of death, by the decree of the Lord Jesus; for you know there is no time now unto God, nor unto them that are dead, and so brought forth a spiritual body, in its form, like unto that in the dust; yea, a body of pure righteousness, of the same nature of that Holy Spirit. of faith, that raised it out of death; yea, a glorious body, brighter than the sun in its strength, and as swift as thought; yea, bodies of such a bright burning glory, that no persecuting Canaanites can behold and live, because our spirits and bodies, according to our faith, shall be made like unto the glorious body of God, the man Jesus, the which no man in mortality, with his. natural eye, can behold and live; then shall all the

elect, in the twinkling of an eye, both those that slept in the dust, and those that are alive at that time, whose bodies also shall be changed like unto those that slept; then, I say, they shall all ascend together as one body, to meet their head, the Lord Jesus, in the air; and with their king they shall enter into his kingdom of eternal glory, where that new heaven and new earth are, beforesaid, there with holy angels to behold the glorious face of the only wise God, and everlasting Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, with new glorious songs and praises unto their Redeemer, that was dead, as it is written, to redeem us by his precious blood from eternal death; and now behold he liveth for evermore; therefore we eternally live with him.

CHAP. XV.

Of some Difference between the Glory of Men and Angels in Glory in Heaven above.

AGAIN, I declare by revelation from the Holy Spirit, that when the elect are thus glorified, they are absolutely of the very same glorious nature, both in spirit and body, as God is; as God and they were both of one nature in mortality, sin only excepted; wherefore, as the spirit of faith and love, infinitely in the glorious person of God, overfloweth as a fountain, continually with revelation of new heavenly wisdom, from whence flows new joys and glory to himself, and the holy angels; so shall every believer, according to his degree in glory, be a as a well springing up