CHAPTER VII. Section I.

THIRD DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, IN ITS COMMENCEMENT, AND ITS PROGRESS BY VARIOUS SPECIAL DEATHS TO A TOTAL DEATH, TO BURIAL, AND TO DECAY —DURATION OF THIS TRANSITION, IN WHICH THERE MUST BE NO ADVANCEMENT BEYOND FAITH, NOR ANY RECEDING— SPOLIATION OF THE SOUL, AND THE THREE DEGREES OF IT — FIRST DEGREE, WHICH CONCERNS GIFTS, GRACES, AND FAVOURS, OR ORNAMENTS — ITS NECESSITY AND EFFECTS.

"X/OU have seen dying persons who, after they have been believed to be dead, have all at once assumed a new strength, and retained it until their death ; as a lamp whose oil is spent flickers in the surrounding darkness, but only to die out the more quickly : thus the soul casts out flames, which only last for a moment It has bravely re-sisted death ; but its oil is spent : the Sun of Right-eousness has so withered it up, that it is forced to