A39675:531
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.
'Tis not every Christian that can arrive to this degree of Lov•• though they love Christ sincerely, yet they shrink from death cowardly and are loth to be gone. There are two sorts of grounds upon which Christians may be loth to be unbodied, 1. Sinful, 2. Allowable.
1. The sinful and unjustifiable grounds are such as these, viz. (1) Guilt upon the Conscience, which will damp and discourage the Soul, and make it loth to dye. It arms death with terror, the sting of death is sin. (2) Unmortified affections to the World, I mean in such a degree as is necessary to sweeten death; and make a man a Volunteer in that sharp engagement with that last and dreadful Enemy. It is with our hearts, as with fuel, if green and full of sap, it will not burn, but if that be dried up, it catches presently: mortification is the drying up of carnal affections to the Creature, which is that that resists death, as green Wood doth the fire. (3) The weakness and and cloudiness of Faith. You need Faith to dye by, as well as to live by, Heb. 11.13. All these dyed in faith. The less strength there is in Faith, the more in death. A strong Believer welcomes the messengers of Death, when a weak one, unless extraordinarily assisted, trembles at them.
1. The sinful and unjustifiable grounds are such as these, viz. (1) Guilt upon the Conscience, which will damp and discourage the Soul, and make it loth to dye. It arms death with terrour, the sting of death is sin. (2) Unmortified affections to the World, I mean in such a degree as is necessary to sweeten death; and make a man a Voluntier in that sharp engagement with that last and dreadful Enemy. It is with our hearts, as with fewel, if green and full of sap, it will not burn, but if that be dried up, it catches presently: mortification is the drying up of carnal affections to the Creature, which is that that resists death, as green Wood doth the fire. (3) The weakness and and cloudiness of Faith. You need Faith to dye by, as well as to live by,