A39675:1462
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
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.
Inference I.
THE Soul of man appearing to be a Creature of such transcendent dignity and excellency, this truth appears of equal clearness with it, That it was not made for the body, but the body for it; and therefore it is a vile abuse of the noble and high-born Soul, to subject it to the lusts, and enslave it to the drudgery of the inferior and more ignoble part.
The very Law of Nature assigns the most honourable places and employments to the most noble and excellent Creatures, and the baser and inferior to things of the lowest rank and quality. The Sun, Moon, and Stars are placed by this Law in the Heavens, but the Ignis fatuus and the Glow-worm in the Fens and Ditches. Princes are set upon Thrones of ⟨p. 380⟩Glory, the Beggars lodged in Barns and Stables: and if at any time this order of Nature be inverted, and the baser suppress and perk over the more noble and honourable Beings, it is looked upon as a kind of Prodigy in the Civil World: and so Solomon represents it, Eccles. 10.7. I have seen servants upon horses, and Princes walking as servants upon the earth, (i. e.) I have seen men that are worthy of no better employments than to rub Horses heels, in the Saddle, with their Trappings; and men who deserve to bear rule and to govern Kingdoms, men who for their great ability and integrity deserved to sit at Helm, and moderate the Affairs of Kingdoms, these have I seen walking as servants upon the earth, and this he calls an evil under the Sun, that is an Ataxy, confusion or disorder in the course of Nature.
The very Law of Nature assigns the most honourable places and imployments to the most noble and excellent Creatures, and the baser and inferior to things of the lowest rank and quality. The Sun, Moon, and Stars are placed by this Law in the Heavens, but the Ignis fatuus and the Glow-worm in the Fens and Ditches. Princes are set upon Thrones of