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 ...

Argument II.

THE Immortality of the Souls of Men may be con∣cluded from the Promises of everlasting Blessedness, and the Threatnings of everlasting miseries respectively made in the Scriptures of truth, to the Godly and ungodly, after this Life; which Promises and Threatnings had been altogether vain and delusory, if our Souls perish with our Bodies.

1. First, God hath made many everlasting Promises of Bles∣sedness, yea he hath established an everlasting Covenant, betwixt himself and the Souls of the Righteous; promi∣sing to be their God for ever, and to bestow endless Bles∣sedness upon them in the World to come. Such a Pro∣mise is that, Iohn 8.28. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And Iohn 4.14. Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the Water that I shall give him, shall be in him a Well of Water, spring∣ing

up into everlasting life. And again, Iohn 11.26. Whosoe∣ver liveth and believeth in me, shall never dye. And once more, Rom. 2.7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for Glory and Honour, and Immortality, eternal Life: with mul∣titudes more of like nature.

Now if these be no vain and delusory Promises, (as to be sure they are not, being the words of the true and faith∣ful God) then those Souls to whom they are made, must live for ever; for if the subject of the Promises must fail, con∣sequently the performance of the Promises must fail too. For how shall they be made good, when those to whom they are made, are perished?

Let it not be objected here, That the Bodies of Belie∣vers are concerned in the promises, as well as their Souls, and yet their Bodies perish, notwithstanding.

For we say, though their Bodies dye, yet they shall live again, and enjoy the fruit of the Promises in eternal Glory: And whilest their Bodies lie in the Grave, their Souls are with God, enjoying the covenanted Blessedness in Heaven, Rom. 8.10, 11. and so the Covenant-Bond is not loosed betwixt them and God, by Death, which it must needs be, in case the Soul perished when the Body doth. And upon this Hypothesis that Argument of Christ is built, Matth. 22.32. proving the Resurrection from the Cove∣nant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living. q. d. If A∣braham, Isaac, and Iacob, be perished in Soul as well as in Body, how then is God their God? what is become of the Promise and Covenant-Relation? for if one Correlate fail, the Relation necessarily fails with it. If God be their God, then certainly they are in being; for God is not the God of the Dead, (i.e.) of those that are utterly perish∣ed. Therefore it must needs be, that though their Bodies be naturally dead, yet their Souls still live; and their Bodies must live again at the Resurrection, by vertue of the same Promise.

2. On the contrary, many threatnings of eternal misery af∣ter this life, are found in the Scriptures of truth, against

ungodly and wicked Persons. Such is that in 2 Thes. 1.7, 8, 9. The Lord Iesu•• shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire, to render Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ, who shall be punished with ever∣lasting Destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and the Glory of his Power. And speaking of the Torments of the Dam∣ned, Christ thus expresseth the misery of such wretched Souls in Hell, Mark 9.44. Where their Worm dyeth not, and the fire is not quenched. But how shall the Wicked be pu∣nished with everlasting Destruction, if their Souls have not an everlasting Duration? Or how can it be said, That their Worm (viz. the remorse and anguish of their Consciences) dieth not, if their Souls dye? Punishment can endure no longer than its subject endureth. If the being of the Soul cease, its pains and punishments must have an end.

You see then, there are everlasting Promises and Threat∣nings to be fulfilled, both upon the Godly and Ungodly. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see Life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, Iohn 3.36. The Believer shall never see spiritual Death, viz. the separation of his Soul from God; and the Unbeliever shall never see life, viz. the blessed fru∣ition of God; but the Wrath of God shall abide on him. If Wrath must abide on him, he must abide also as the wretched subject thereof, which is another Argument of the Immortality of Souls.