A39675:1582
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.
2. Consider your poor and necessitous condition in the world, hath something in it of motive and advantage to excite and quicken you to a greater diligence for Salvation, than is found in a more full, easy, and prosperous state; for God hath hereby embittered this world to you, and made you drink deeper of the troubles of it than other men: they have the honey, and you the gall; they have the flour, and you the bran. But then, as yo• have not the pleasures, so you have not the snares of a prosperous condition, and your daily troubles, cares, and labours in it, do even prompt you to seek rest in Heaven, which you cannot find on Earth. Can you think you were made for a worse condition than the Beasts? what, to have two Hells, one here, and another hereafter? Surely as low, miserable, and despicable as you are, you are capable of as much happiness as any of the Nobles of the World, and in your low and afflicted condition stand nearer to the door of hope than they do. Ah! methinks these thoughts do even put themselves upon you, when your spirits are overloaded with the cares, and your bodies tired with the labours of this life. Is this the life of troubles I must expect on Earth? Hath God denied me the pleasures of this World? O then let it be my care, my study, ⟨p. 418⟩my business to make sure of Christ, to win Heaven, that I may not be miserable in both Worlds. How can you avoid such thoughts? or put by such meditations which your very station and condition even forceth upon you?
2. Consider your poor and necessitous condition in the world, hath something in it of motive and advantage to excite and quicken you to a greater diligence for Salvation, than is found in a more full, easie, and prosperous state; for God hath hereby imbitter'd this world to you, and made you drink deeper of the troubles of it than other men: they have the honey, and you the gall; they have the flour, and you the bran. But then, as yo• have not the pleasures, so you have not the snares of a prosperous condition, and your daily troubles, cares, and labours in it, do even prompt you to seek rest in Heaven, which you cannot find on Earth. Can you think you were made for a worse condition than the Beasts? what, to have two Hells, one here, and another hereafter? Surely as low, miserable, and despicable as you are, you are capable of as much happiness as any of the Nobles of the World, and in your low and afflicted condition stand nearer to the door of hope than they do. Ah! methinks these thoughts do even put themselves upon you, when your spirits are overloaded with the cares, and your bodies tired with the labours of this life. Is this the life of troubles I must expect on Earth? Hath God denied me the pleasures of this World? O then let it be my care, my study,