A39675:272
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.
The heart hath continual need of such a vent and refreshment, and therefore the Lungs, like a pair of Bellows, must be kept continually going. Longer than breath is going, the heart is dying. That which stops the one, suffocates the other.
And here we may with admiration contemplate the wonders, by which our lives are continued. These Lungs are the most frail and tender part of the body, and kept in continual motion and agitation; yet are made serviceable for Seventy, or Eighty years together, which is the wonder of Providence. Were a piece of Brass, Iron or Steel, kept in continual and incessant use, it would not endure half the time. In a word, The *heart, that noble part of the Body, is the shop wherein the spirits are laboured and prepared, which therefore is in continual motion and heat; and so needs continual cooling and refreshing. We can live no longer, than it labours; it can labour no longer than it is refreshed and cooled by respiration.
And here we may with admiration contemplate the wonders, by which our lives are continued. These Lungs are the most frail and tender part of the body, and kept in continual motion and agitation; yet are made serviceable for Seventy, or Eighty years together, which is the wonder of Providence. Were a piece of Brass, Iron or Steel, kept in continual and incessant use, it would not indure half the time. In a word, The *heart, that noble part of the Body, is the shop wherein the spirits are laboured and prepared, which therefore is in continual motion and heat; and so needs continual cooling and refreshing. We can live no longer, than it labours; it can labour no longer than it is refreshed and cooled by respiration.
- *Quia Co••fo•• •itae, & offina spirituum operosi sima, ita ut pepetuo motu pendulum agititur; utique etiam vehementer incalescit, ita ut si calor iste per respirationem non restingueretur, necesse fuerit, & calidam, & midum nativum nimiae aestuatione opprimi, & suffocari. Pulmones ant nihil aliud quàm fools quidam naturales, qui sefe dilatando aëem attrabunt, inque cor effundurt, ita ut cor perpetuo aestuans, aëre refrigeretur; qui aër, ubi intra codis meatus incaluit, iterum à cord effunditur in pulmones, qui sese contrabendo foras emittest. Kecker phys. p. 142.