A39675:228
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 VII.V
- VA Spiritual Substance.
Moreover, from the immaterial and spiritual nature of the Soul we are informed, That Communion with God, and the enjoyment of him, are the true and proper intentions and purposes, for which the Soul of Man was created.
MOreover, from the immaterial and spiritual nature of the Soul we are informed, That Communion with God, and the enjoyment of him, are the true and proper intentions and purposes, for which the Soul of Man was created.
Such a nature as this, is not fitted to live upon gross, material and perishing things as the body doth. The food of every creature is agreeable to its nature, one cannot subsist upon that which another doth: As we see among the several sorts of Animals, what is food to one, is none to another. In the same Plant there is found a root, which is food for Swine, a stalk which is food for Sheep, a flower which feeds the Bee, and a seed on which the Bird lives. The Sheep cannot live upon the root, as the Swine doth; nor the Bird upon the flower, as the Bee doth; But every one feeds upon the different parts of the Plant, which are agreeable to its Nature: So it is here, our bodies being of an earthly material Nature, can live upon things earthly and material, as most agreeable to them, they can relish and suck out the sweetness of these things; but the Soul can find nothing in them suitable to its nature and appetite, it must have spiritual food or perish. It were therefore too brutish, and unworthy of a man that understood the nature of his own Soul, to cheer it up with the stores of earthly provisions made for it, as he did,