A39675:1704
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.
Argument III.
Neglect not the seasons of Mercy, the day of Grace, because opportunity facilitates the great work of your Salvation: it is much easier to be done in such a season, than it can be afterwards: an impression is easily made upon wax when it is melted, but stay a while till it be hardened, and if you lay the greatest weight upon the seal, it leaves not its impress upon it. Much so it is with the heart, there is a season when God makes it soft and yielding, when the affections are thawed and melted under the Word. Conscience is full of sense and activity, the will pliable: now is the time to set in with the motions of the Spirit: there is now a gale from Heaven, if you will take it; and if not, it tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. Neglect of the season is the loss of the Soul. The heart, like melted wax, will naturally harden again, and then to how little purpose are your own feeble essays? Heb. 3.15. 'tis both easy and successful striving, when the Spirit of God strives in you and with you; you are now workers together with God, and such work goes on smoothly and sweetly: that which is in motion is easily moved; but if once the heart be set, you may tug to little purpose.
NEglect not the seasons of Mercy, the day of Grace, because opportunity facilitates the great work of your Salvation: it is much easier to be done in such a season, than it can be afterwards: an impression is easily made upon wax when it is melted, but stay a while till it be hardned, and if you lay the greatest weight upon the seal, it leaves not its impress upon it. Much so it is with the heart, there is a season when God makes it soft and yielding, when the affections are thawed and melted under the Word. Conscience is full of sense and activity, the will pliable: now is the time to set in with the motions of the Spirit: there is now a gale from Heaven, if you will take it; and if not, it tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. Neglect of the season is the loss of the Soul. The heart, like melted wax, will naturally harden again, and then to how little purpose are your own feeble essays?