A39675:1152
Pneumatologia, a treatise of the soul of man
Pneumatologia, a treatise of the soul of man wherein the divine original, excellent and immortal nature of the soul are opened, its love and inclination to the body, with the necessity of its separation from it, considered and improved, the existence, operations, and states of separated souls, both in Heaven and Hell, immediately after death, asserted, discussed, and variously applied, divers knotty and difficult questions about departed souls, both philosophical, and theological, stated and determined, the invaluable preciousness of humane souls, and the various artifices of Satan (their professed enemy) to destroy them, discovered, and the great duty and interest of all men, seasonable and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father, Son, and Spirit, for the salvation of their souls, argued and pressed / by John Flavel ...Pneumatologia, a treatise of the soul of man wherein the divine original, excellent and immortal nature of the soul are opened, its love and inclination to the body, with the necessity of its separation from it, considered and improved, the existence, operations, and states of separated souls, both in Heaven and Hell, immediately after death, asserted, discussed, and variously applyed, divers knotty and difficult questions about departed souls, both philosophical, and theological, stated and determined, the invaluable preciousness of humane souls, and the various artifices of Satan (their professed enemy) to destroy them, discovered, and the great duty and interest of all men, seasonable and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father, Son, and Spirit, for the salvation of their souls, argued and pressed / by John Flavel ...
London: printed for Francis Tyton, 1685
USE II. › Argument 1 › II. The Pleas of Faith in behalf of Death.
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.
Nor may this seem absurd or unreasonable, considering that God never designed thee for a Mansion, but only a temporary Tabernacle to me: 'tis true I have had some comfort during my abode in thee, but I enjoyed those Comforts only in thee, not from thee; and many more I might have enjoyed, hadst thou not been a snare and a clog to me.
'Tis thou that hast eaten up my time, and distracted my thoughts, ensnared my affections, and drawn me under much sin and sorrow. However though we may weep over each other as Accessories to the sins and miseries we have drawn upon our selves, yet in this is our joint relief that the Blood of Christ hath cleansed us both from all sin.
And therefore I can part the more easily and comfortably from thee, because I part in hope to receive and enjoy thee in a far better condition than I leave thee. It is for both our interest to part for a time: for mine, because I shall thereby be freed and delivered from sin and sorrow, and immediately obtain rest with God, and the satisfaction of all my ⟨p. 309⟩desires in his presence and enjoyment, which there is no other way to obtain, but by separation from thee: and why should I live a groaning burdened restless life always, to gratify thy fond and irrational desires? If thou lovedst me, thou wouldest rejoice, and not repine at my happiness. Parents willingly part with their Children at the greatest distance for their preferment, how dearly soever they love them: and dost thou envy or repine at mine? I lived many Months a suffocating obscure life with thee in the Womb, and neither thou nor I had ever tasted or experienced the Comforts of this World, and the various Delights of sense, if we had not cast the Secundine, and struggled hard for an entrance into this World. And now we are here, alas, though thou art contented to abide, I live in thee, but as we both lived in the Womb, an obscure and uneasy, and unsuitable life. Thou canst feed upon material bread, and delight thy self amidst the variety of sensitive Objects thou findest here; but what are all these things to me? I cannot subsist by them; that which is food to thee, is but Chaff, Wind, and Vanity to me. If I stay with thee, I shall be still sinning, and still groaning: when I leave thee, I shall be immediately freed from both, and arrive at the sum and perfection of all my hopes, desires, and whatsoever I have aimed at, and laboured for, in all the duties of my life. Let us therefore be content to part.