There is another Place of Scripture that is objected, that seems as if
the Soul went out of the Body when they die; as in 1 _Kings_ xvii. 21.
where _Elijah_ prayed, that _the Child's Soul might come into him
again_. The Meaning is this, that _Elijah_ did pray in Faith unto God,
that he would assist him in this or other Things; as in shutting up the
Heavens that it should not rain, and calling for Fire from Heaven to
destroy those two Captains and their Fifties, and many other wonderful
Things he did; so he prayed unto God to strengthen his Faith, so that he
might have Power to raise this Child's Life out of Death again.
Therefore he stretched himself upon the Child, and prayed that the
Child's Soul might come into him again; that is, that the Child's Soul
or Life might quicken in the Body of the Child again; for _Elijah_ knew
the Soul of the Child was dead, and by the warm Flesh of the Prophet
laid upon the Child's dead Flesh, and the Faith and Prayer of the
Prophet together, it begot Life in the Child again; so that the Soul
that was dead it became Life in the Child again; and that Life that was
quickened, it run through the Veins of the Childs Body, and so the
Child's Soul did come into him again.
For this I say, if the Soul of the Child had been gone out of the Body,
then _Elijah_ did not raise the dead Child to Life again; for how can a
Man be said to be dead, when as Life doth not die, but slips out of the
Body, as most People do vainly imagine; but it may be clear to those
whose Understandings are enlightened, that _Elijah_ did raise the Child
from Death to Life, and that the Child's Soul was dead in its Body, and
that the Soul of the Child was revived in the Child's Body again by the
Power of Faith in _Elijah_.
And the very same thing was done by the Prophet _Elisha_, as in 2
_Kings_ iv. 34. the Prophet _Elisha_ did the same thing to the
_Sunamite_ Woman's Son, he _went up, and lay upon the Child, and put his
Mouth upon his Mouth, and his Eyes upon his Eyes, and his Hands upon his
Hands, and he stretch himself upon the Child; and the Flesh of the Child
waxed warm, and_ Elisha _stretched himself upon the Child a second
time_: Here the Reader may see, that the Child was dead, and by the
Faith and Prayer, and by the Warmness of the Prophet _Elisha_ his Flesh,
the Child revived to Life again both Body and Soul. And _Elisha_ did use
the same Means and Way as _Elijah_ did? for he went in and shut the
Door, and prayed unto the Lord as _Elijah_ did, and stretched himself
upon the Child as _Elijah_ did, and raise the Child to Life again by the
Power of Faith.
Yet _Elisha_ maketh no mention of the Soul coming into the Child again,
but he delivered the Body and Soul of the Child, that were both dead
together, he delivered them both alive together to the Child's Mother.
It was the same thing done by _Elijah_, only some difference in the
Words, but the Sense and Meaning is all one.
So that the Reader may understand, if any true Light of Life be in him,
that the Soul of the Child went not out of its Body, but died in the
Body; and by the Power of Faith in the Prophet, it quickened alive out
of Death in the Child's Body again; for the Soul or Life of the Child
never went out of the Body as is vainly imagin'd; but the Soul, Life,
and Spirit of the Child was absolutely dead in the Body, and by the
Power of Faith in the Prophet, the dead Soul or Life of the Child was
quickened alive again, and caused the Body to live also. For if the
Woman should have had the Soul of the Child given unto her without the
Body, she would have given the Prophet no Thanks for raising her Child's
Soul without a Body; but the Body and Soul being one Person, they were
both dead together, and the Prophet raised them both together alive, and
the Woman received them both together, and rejoyced greatly in God, and
gave Honour to the Prophet.
Thus in short, I have given the true Interpretation of all those
Scriptures that most seem, or most commonly are objected against the
Mortality of the Soul, or to prove that Spirits do go out of the Body at
the time of Death, or that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, or have
any Being without Bodies, or that a Spirit may appear in a Shape without
a Body, or that a Spirit can assume what Shape it please, yet have no
Body or Substance.
These things the vain Imagination of Reason in Man hath created in it
self, to fright it self with, for their is no such thing as Spirits
walking without Bodies, neither doth any Spirit go out of the Body when
Men die, as is imagined by most People; but these are Fictions of Mens
Brains, created by the Imagination in the dark Minds of Men and Women,
for God never created any such thing, as I have shewed before.
And as for that saying of _Solomon_, _Eccl._ xii. 7. _Then shall the
Dust return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God
who gave it._ His Meaning (I suppose) in these Words is, as is generally
conceived by all People, the Body to the Dust, and the Spirit returns to
God that gave it when Men die: But these Sayings of _Solomon_ are no
Scripture, for _Solomon_ was no Scripture Writer, for his Writings were
not written by the Revelation of Faith, but by the Revelation of Reason;
yet it was the purest of Reason, and he had the greatest Measure of the
Wisdom of Reason, and the Knowledge of Nature, of any that was before
him since _Adam_, or any that shall come after him.
Therefore God chose him King, and gave him the purest Wisdom of Reason,
according to his Desire in his Prayer to God, that his Wisdom might
resemble Heaven for Glory, as it did; for what Glory could a King have
upon Earth greater than he had? Which was a true Resemblance of the
Glory of Heaven; and this Glory was procured by that Power and great
Wisdom of Reason in him; yet for all this he was ignorant of the
Revelation of Faith, and of spiritual and heavenly Things, ignorant of
the true God, and of the right Devil, and of some things in Nature.
As that the Spirit of a Man should return to God that gave it without a
Body; when as God never gave any Spirit to Man without a Body, nor to no
other Creature: But _Solomon_ being ignorant, that the Spirit or Soul of
Man is generated and begotten by the Law of Generation as well as the
Body; this was in the Creation when God made Man in his own Image, the
Ignorance of this caused him to speak thus; for he knew not where the
Spirit went when the Body is laid in the Earth, no more than the learned
Philosophers do, who say, A Spirit cannot die; as if the Spirit and Life
of every Creature were the Spirit or Life of God, else they think no
Creature could move and have a Being.
And though _Solomon_ was a wise Man, as the Heathen Philosophers were
wise Men in Nature; yet they were all ignorant in this one thing, of the
Law of Generation or Procreation, to increase and multiply, as God hath
placed in Nature, when he created the World in the beginning; for every
Creature as well as Man, were to increase and multiply by the Law of
Generation; and this I am sure, they begot Spirit, Life, and Soul by
Generation, as well as Bodies.
But if it be objected, that God breathed into Man the Breath of Life,
and he became a living Soul; and so Man's Spirit is of a more noble
divine Life or Spirit than any other Creature.
To this I say, the Law of Generation to increase and multiply, was
placed in Man's Seed and Nature by God the Creator, as in other
Creatures: For this is to be observed, that _Adam_ did not come to be a
living Soul by Generation, as we do ever since; but he and _Eve_ were
first made as a Foundation for Generation; so that God made or created
but one Man and one Woman, all Men and Women that have been generated
and begotten ever since, cannot properly be said to be made nor created,
but begotten by Generation; for God never made and created but one Man
and one Woman, all others are generated and begotten.
Therefore when Man begets a Son or Daughter in the way of Generation, he
begets the Soul or Spirit of the Child as well as the Body; and the Soul
or Spirit came out of the Man's Loin well as the Body: As it was said by
_Jacob_, _Seventy Souls came out of his Loins_; if so then that Spirit
or Soul that is begotten by Generation, it must and doth die: For this I
say, God never breathed the Breath of Life into no Man, but into _Adam_:
The Spirit of Life in all Men and Women else or since have been
generated and begotten, and what Spirit and Soul of Man that is
generated, it doth die and turn to Dust, till the Regeneration, when God
shall raise it again, which will not be a Minute of an Hour to the dead
Spirit, as I said before. So it may be clear to those that have the true
Light of Faith in them, that the Soul or Spirit of Man doth die as well
as the Body: They both came into the World together alive, and they
shall both go out of the World again dead, as I have shewed before. Also
the Reader may see, that those Scriptures have been misunderstood
through the Ignorance and Darkness of Mens Minds, to think that the Soul
or Spirit of Man doth not die, but slips out of the Body; but to imagine
that Spirits may walk without Bodies, or that any Witch can raise any
Spirit without a Body; and many other Conceits that do arise out of the
dark Mind of Man; which have been grounded upon those Scripture Words;
therefore I have given the Interpretation of all those Places of
Scripture that are of most Concernment, and seem to bear such a Sense,
as is generally conceived among Professors of the Scriptures: So that
whoever understands the Interpretation, may receive great Satisfaction
in their Minds in this Point; so much for Satisfaction of the
Understanding in Heart, and for the Discontent of the Ignorant and
Dark-minded People, who believe by Tradition that their Spirits do not
die, but slide out of the Body at the time of Death; and if they have
been evil and wicked Livers, their Spirits do walk afterwards, and
cannot be at rest. These Conceits have been exceeding brief in the World
heretofore, when People were in Darkness, and so is still where the
Darkness of Mind ruleth.