A39675:463
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 III.
DO the Souls of Men overlive their Bodies? Then 'tis the height of madness and spiritual Infatuation, to destroy the Soul for the Bodies sake. To cast away an Immortal Soul for the gratification of perishing flesh: to ruin the precious Soul for ever, for the pleasures of sin, which are but for a moment, yet this is the madness of millions of Men. They will drown their own Souls, in everlasting perdition, to procure unnecessary things for the Body, 1 Tim. 6.9. They that will be rich, &c. Every cheat and circumvention in dealing, every lye, every act of oppression, is a wound given the Immortal Soul for the procuring some accommodations to the Body.
DO the Souls of Men overlive their Bodies? Then 'tis the height of madness and spiritual Infatuation, to destroy the Soul for the Bodies sake. To cast away an Immortal Soul for the gratification of perishing flesh: to ruine the precious Soul for ever, for the pleasures of sin, which are but for a moment, yet this is the madness of millions of Men. They will drown their own Souls, in everlasting perdition, to procure unnecessary things for the Body, 1 Tim. 6.9. They that will be rich, &c. Every cheat and circumvention in dealing, every lye, every act of oppression, is a wound given the Immortal Soul for the procuring some accommodations to the Body.
O what Soul-undoing bargains do some make with the Devil! Some sell their Souls outright for the gratification of their lusts, 1 King. 21.20. Many pawn their Souls to Satan in a conditional bargain, so do all that venture upon sin, upon a presumption of pardon and repentance. The Devil is a great trader for Souls: he hath all sorts of commodities to suit all mens humours that will deal with him. He hath profits for the Covetous, Honours for the Ambitious, pleasures for the Voluptuous, but a Soul is the price at which he sells them, only he will be content to sell at a day, and not require present pay: so that it be paid on a death-bed, in a dying hour, he is satisfied. But oh, What an undoing bargain do sinners make! To part with a treasure for a trifle, Matth. 16.26. the precious ⟨p. 123⟩Soul for ever,1 for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season! Heb. 11.25. We are charmed with the present pleasure and sweetness there is in sin, but how bitter will the afterfruits thereof be! See the Texts in the Margin, you will say hereafter as Jonathan did, 1 Sam. 14.31. I tasted but a little honey, and I must dye.
O what Soul-undoing bargains do some make with the Devil! Some sell their Souls outright for the gratification of their lusts, 1 King. 21.20. Many pawn their Souls to Satan in a conditional bargain, so do all that venture upon sin, upon a presumption of pardon and repentance. The Devil is a great trader for Souls: he hath all sorts of commodities to suit all mens humours that will deal with him. He hath profits for the Covetous, Honours for the Ambitious, pleasures for the Voluptuous, but a Soul is the price at which he sells them, only he will be content to sell at a day, and not require present pay: so that it be paid on a death-bed, in a dying hour, he is satisfyed. But oh, What an undoing bargain do sinners make! To part with a treasure for a trifle, Matth. 16.26. the precious ⟨p. 123⟩Soul for ever,1 for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season! Heb. 11.25. We are charmed with the present pleasure and sweetness there is in sin, but how bitter will the afterfruits thereof be! See the Texts in the Margent, you will say hereafter as Ionathan did, 1 Sam. 14.31. I tasted but a little honey, and I must dye.
Inference IV.
Then the exposing of the Body to danger, yea, to certain destruction, for the preservation of the Soul, is the dictate of spiritual wisdom, and that which every Christian is bound to choose and practise, when both Interests come in full opposition, Heb. 11.35. Dan. 3.28. Revel. 12.11. No promises of preferment, no threats of Torments, have been able to prevail with the people of God to give the least wound, or do the least wrong to their own Souls. When Secundus was commanded to deliver his Bible, he answered, Christianus sum, non Traditor, I am a Christian, I will not deliver it: then they desired him but to deliver aliquam ecvolam, a Chip, a Straw, any thing that came to his hand in lieu of it, he refused to redeem his life by delivering the least trifle on that account to save it.
THen the exposing of the Body to danger, yea, to certain destruction, for the preservation of the Soul, is the dictate of spiritual wisdom, and that which every Christian is bound to chuse and practise, when both Interests come in full opposition, Heb. 11.35. Dan. 3.28. Revel. 12.11. No promises of preferment, no threats of Torments, have been able to prevail with the people of God to give the least wound, or do the least wrong to their own Souls. When Secundus was commanded to deliver his Bible, he answered, Christianus sum, non Traditor, I am a Christian, I will not deliver it: then they desired him but to deliver aliquam ecvolam, a Chip, a Straw, any thing that came to his hand in lieu of it, he refused to redeem his life by delivering the least trifle on that account to save it.
That is a great word of our Lords, Luk. 9.24. He that will save his life, shall lose it, and he that loseth it for my sake, shall find it. Christians, this is your duty and wisdom, and must be your resolution and practice in the day of Temptation, to yield your Bodies to preserve your Souls, as we offer our arm to defend the head. O better thy Body had never been given thee, than that it should be a snare to thy Soul, and the instrument of casting it away for ever. O how dear are some persons like to pay for their tenderness and indulgence to the flesh, when the hour of Temptation shall come! Mortify your irregular affections to the Body, and never hazard your precious Immortal Souls for their sakes. 'Tis the character of an Hypocrite to choose sin rather than affliction. Job. 36.21. But if ever thou hast been in the deeps of spiritual troubles for sin, if God have opened thine eyes to see the evil of sin, the immense weight and value ⟨p. 124⟩of thy Soul, and of Eternity, Thou wilt not count thy life dear to thee to finish thy course with joy, Act. 20.24.
That is a great word of our Lords, Luk. 9.24. He that will save his life, shall lose it, and he that loseth it for my sake, shall find it. Christians, this is your duty and wisdom, and must be your resolution and practice in the day of Temptation, to yield your Bodies to preserve your Souls, as we offer our arm to defend the head. O better thy Body had never been given thee, than that it should be a snare to thy Soul, and the instrument of casting it away for ever. O how dear are some persons like to pay for their tenderness and indulgence to the flesh, when the hour of Temptation shall come! Mortifie your irregular affections to the Body, and never hazard your pretious Immortal Souls for their sakes. 'Tis the character of an Hypocrite to chuse sin rather than affliction. Iob. 36.21. But if ever thou hast been in the deeps of spiritual troubles for sin, if God have opened thine eyes to see the evil of sin, the immense weight and value ⟨p. 124⟩of thy Soul, and of Eternity, Thou wilt not count thy life dear to thee to finish thy course with joy, Act. 20.24.
Inference V.
IF the Soul be an Immortal being, that shall have no end, Then 'tis the great concern of all men to strive to the utmost for the Salvation of their Souls, what ever become of all lesser temporary interests in this world, Luke 13 24. There is a gate (i.e.) an introductive means of life and Salvation: this gate is strait, (i.e.) there are a world of difficulties to be encountered in the way of Salvation: but he that values and loves his never-dying Soul, must and will be diligent and constant in the use of all those means that have a tendency to Salvation, be they never so difficult or unpleasant to flesh and blood. There be difficulties from within our selves, such as mortification, self-denial, contempt of the World, parting with all at the Call of Christ: and difficulties from without, the reproaches, persecutions and sufferings for Christ, which would not be so great as they are, were it not for our unmortified lusts within; but be they what they will, we are bound to strive through them all, for the Salvation of our precious and Immortal Souls.
IF the Soul be an Immortal being, that shall have no end, Then 'tis the great concern of all men to strive to the utmost for the Salvation of their Souls, what ever become of all lesser temporary interests in this world, Luke 13 24. There is a gate (i.e.) an introductive means of life and Salvation: this gate is strait, (i.e.) there are a world of difficulties to be encountred in the way of Salvation: but he that values and loves his never-dying Soul, must and will be diligent and constant in the use of all those means that have a tendency to Salvation, be they never so difficult or unpleasant to flesh and bloud. There be difficulties from within our selves, such as mortification, self-denyal, contempt of the World, parting with all at the Call of Christ: and difficulties from without, the reproaches, persecutions and sufferings for Christ, which would not be so great as they are, were it not for our unmortified lusts within; but be they what they will, we are bound to strive through them all, for the Salvation of our precious and Immortal Souls.
(1) For 'tis the greatest concernment of the Soul, yea, of our own Souls; we are bound to do much for the saving of another's Soul, 2 Tim. 2.10. much more for our own, this is our darling, Psal. 22. our only one.
(1) For 'tis the greatest concernment of the Soul, yea, of our own Souls; we are bound to do much for the saving of anothers Soul, 2 Tim. 2.10. much more for our own, this is our darling, Psal. 22. our only one.
(2) Others have done and suffered much for the saving of their Souls, and are not ours, or ought they not to be as dear to us, as the Souls of any others have been to them? Matt. 21.32.
(3) The utmost diligence is little enough to save them. Do all that you can do, and suffer all that you can suffer, and deny your selves as deeply as ever any did, yet you shall find all this little enough to secure them, 1. Pet. 4.18. The righteous themselves are scarcely saved, 1 Cor. 9.24.
(4) The time to strive for Salvation is very short and uncertain, Luke 13.25. John 12.35. 'Twill be to no purpose, when the seasons and opportunities of Salvation are once over. There is no striving in Hell, a death-pang of Despair hath seized them, hope is extinguished, and endeavours fail.
(4) The time to strive for Salvation is very short and uncertain, Luke 13.25. Iohn 12.35. 'Twill be to no purpose, when the seasons and opportunities of Salvation are once over. There is no striving in Hell, a death-pang of Despair hath seized them, hope is extinguished, and endeavours fail.
(5) Doth not Reason dictate and direct you, to do now, whilst you are in the way, as you will wish you had done, and repent with rage, and self-indignation, because you did it not, when you come to the end and behold the final issues of things? suppose but thy self now either (1) upon a death-bed launching into Eternity; (2) or at the bar of Christ; (3) or in view of Heaven; (4) or in the sight and hearing of the damned: what think you, will you not then with, Oh that I had spent every moment in the World, that could possibly be redeemed from the pure necessities of life, in Prayer, in hearing, in striving for Salvation! From a prospect of this it was, that one spent many hours daily on his knees to the macerating of his Body; and being admonished of the danger of health, and advised to relax, he answered, I must dye, I must dye.
(5) Doth not Reason dictate and direct you, to do now, whilst you are in the way, as you will wish you had done, and repent with rage, and self-indignation, because you did it not, when you come to the end and behold the final issues of things? suppose but thy self now either (1) upon a death-bed lanching into Eternity; (2) or at the bar of Christ; (3) or in view of Heaven; (4) or in the sight and hearing of the damned: what think you, will you not then with, Oh that I had spent every moment in the World, that could possibly be redeemed from the pure necessities of life, in Prayer, in hearing, in striving for Salvation! From a prospect of this it was, that one spent many hours dayly on his knees to the macerating of his Body; and being admonished of the danger of health, and advised to relax, he answered, I must dye, I must dye.
Do not say,1 you have many incumbrances, and other employments in the Word; for (1) one thing is necessary, Luke 10.42. Those are conveniences, but this is of absolute necessity. (2) They will thrive the better for this, Matth. 6.33. seek this, and they shall be added. (3) Do but redeem the time that can be redeemed to this purpose, let not so much precious time run waste as daily doth.
Do not say,1 you have many incumbrances, and other imployments in the Word; for (1) one thing is necessary, Luke 10.42. Those are conveniences, but this is of absolute necessity. (2) They will thrive the better for this, Matth. 6.33. seek this, and they shall be added. (3) Do but redeem the time that can be redeemed to this purpose, let not so much precious time run waste as daily doth.
- 1Object. 1.
Say not,1 no man can save his Soul by his own striving, and therefore 'tis to little purpose, for it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, Rom. 9.16.
Say not,1 no man can save his Soul by his own striving, and therefore 'tis to little purpose, for it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy, Rom. 9.16.
- 1Object 2.