A39663:1668
The Fountain of Life Opened
The fountain of life opened, or, A display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun, carried on, and finished by his covenant-transaction, mysterious incarnation, solemn call and dedication ... / by John Flavell ...The fountain of life opened, or, A display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun, carryed on, and finished by his covenant-transaction, mysterious incarnation, solemn call and dedication ... / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Rob. White, 1673
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Arg. 1. First, Why should the happiness of believers be deferred, since they are immediately capable of enjoying it, as soon as separated from the body? Alas, the soul is so far from being assisted by the body, (as it is now) for the enjoyment of God; that it's rather clogged and hindered by it; so speaks the Apostle, 2 Cor. 5.6, 8. Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, (i. e.) our bodies prejudice our souls, obstruct and hinder the fullness and freedom of their communion. When we part from the body, we go home to the Lord. Then the soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Cage or Snare. Here I am prevented by an excellent Pen, which hath judiciously opened this point. To whose excellent observations I only add this,1 that if the entanglements, snares, and prejudices of the soul are so great and many in its embodied estate, that it cannot so freely dilate it self and take in the comforts of God, by communion with him, then surely the laying aside of that clog, or the freeing of the soul from that burden, can be no bar to its greater happiness, which it enjoys in its separated state.
Arg. 1. First, Why should the happiness of believers be deferred, since they are immediatly capable of enjoying it, assoon as separated from the body? Alas, the soul is so far from being assisted by the body, (as it is now) for the enjoyment of God; that it's rather clog'd and hindred by it; so speaks the Apostle, 2 Cor. 5.6, 8. Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, (i. e.) our bodies prejudice our souls, obstruct and hinder the fulness and freedom of their communion. When we part from the body, we go home to the Lord. Then the soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Cage or Snare. Here I am prevented by an excellent Pen, which hath judiciously opened this point. To whose excellent observations I only add this,1 that if the intanglements, snares, and prejudices of the soul are so great and many in its embodied estate, that it cannot so freely dilate it self and take in the comforts of God, by communion with him, then surely the laying aside of that clog, or the freeing of the soul from that burden, can be no bar to its greater happiness, which it enjoys in its separated state.