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 VIII.

MOreover eighthly, The supposition of the Souls perish∣ing with the Body, is subversive of the Christian Religion, in the principal Doctrines and Duties thereof: take away the Immortality of the Soul, and all Religion falls to the ground: I will instance in

• 1. The Doctrines of Religion.
• 2. The Duties of Religion.

1. First, It overthrows the main Principles and Doctrines of Christian Religion, upon which both our faith and com∣fort is founded; and consequently, it undoes and ruins us, as to all solid hope and true joy. The Doctrines or Princi∣ples it overthrows are among many others such as follow. (1) It nullifies and makes void the great design and end of Gods eternal Election. The Scriptures tell us, that from eternity God hath chosen a certain number in Christ Jesus, to eternal life, and to the means by which they shall attain it: out of his meer good pleasure, and for the praise of his

grace. This was (1) an eternal Act of God, Eph. 1.4. long before we had our being, Rom. 9.11. (2) This choice of God, or his purpose to save some, is immutable, 2 Tim. 2.19. Iames 1.17. (3) This choice he made in Christ, Eph. 1.4. Not that Christ is the cause of Gods chusing us: For we were not elected, because we were, but that we might be in Christ. Christ was ordained to be the Medium of the execution of this Decree: and all the mercies which were purposed and ordained for us, were to be pur∣chased by the bloud of Christ He was not the cause of the Decree, but the purchaser of the mercies decreed for us. (4) This choice was of a certain number of persons, who are all known to God, 2 Tim. 2.19. and all given to Christ in the Covenant of Redemption, Iohn 17.2, 6. So that no Elect per∣son can be a Reprobate, no Reprobate an Elect person. (5) This number was chosen to Salvation, 1 Thes. 5.9. No less did God design for them than glory and happiness, and that for ever. (6) The same persons that are appointed to Salvation as the end, are also appointed to sanctification, as the way and means, by which they shall attain that end. 1 Pet. 1.1, 2. 2 Thes. 2.13, 14. (7) The impulsive cause of this choice was, the meer good pleasure of his will. 2. Tim. 1.9. Rom. 9.15, 16. Ephes. 1.9. (8) The end of all this is, the praise of his glorious grace, Eph. 1.5, 6. to make a glori∣ous Manifestation of the riches of his grace for ever. This is the account the Scripture give us of Gods eternal choice.

But if our Souls be mortal, and perish with our Bodies, all this is a mistake, and we are imposed upon, and our un∣derstandings abused by this Doctrine. For to what purpose are all these Decrees and contrivances of God from ever∣lasting, if our Souls perish with our Bodies? Certainly, if it be so, he loseth all the thoughts and counsels of his heart about us, and that counsel of his will which is so much ce∣lebrated in the Scriptures, and admired by his People comes to nought. For this is evident to every mans consideration, that if the Soul (which is the Object, about which all those counsels and thoughts of God were imployed and laid out) fail in its being, all those thoughts and counsels that have been imployed about it, and spent on it, must necessarily fail, and come to nothing with it. The thoughts of his heart cannot

stand fast, as its said Psal. 33.11. if the Soul slide, about which they are conversant. In that day the elect Soul perisheth, the eternal consultations and purposes of Gods heart perish with it. Kekerman tells us, that Albertus Magnus with abundance of Art, and the study of thirty years made a vocal Statue in the form of a Man. It was a rare con∣trivance, and much admired. The cunning Artist had so framed it, that by Wheels and other Machins placed within it, it could pronounce words articulately. A∣quinas being surprized to hear the Statue speak, was affright∣ed at it, and brake it all to pieces: Upon which Albertus told him, he had at one blow destroyed the work of thirty years. Such a blow would the death of the Soul give to the counsels and thoughts not of Man, but of God, not of thirty years, but from everlasting.

If the Souls of men perish at death, either God never did appoint any Souls to Salvation, as the Scriptures testifie he did, 1 Thes. 5.9. or else the foundation of God stands not sure, as his word tells us, it doth, 2 Tim. 2.19. So then, this supposition overturns the eternal Decrees and Counsels of God, which is the first thing.

2. It overthrows the Covenant of Redemption betwixt the Father and the Son, before this World was made. There was a federal transaction betwixt the Father and Son from Eternity, about our Salvation, 2 Tim. 1.9. Zech. 6.13. In that Covenant Christ engaged to redeem the Elect by his bloud. And the Father promised him a reward of those his sufferings, Isai. 53.12. accordingly he hath poured out his Soul to death for them, finished the work, Iohn 17.4. and is now in Heaven, expecting the full reward and fruits of his sufferings, which consist not in his own personal glory, which he there enjoys, but in the compleatness and fulness of his mystical Body, Iohn 17.24.

But certainly, if our Souls perish with our Bodies, Christ hath a very bad bargain of it. Nor can that promise be ever made good to him, Isai. 53.12. He shall see of the travel of his Soul, and be satisfied. He hath done his work,

but where is his reward? See how this supposition strikes at the justice of God, and wounds his faithfulness, in his Covenant with his Son. He hath as much comfort and re∣ward from the Travel of his Soul, as a Mother that is deli∣vered after many sharp pangs of a Child that dies almost as soon as born.

3. It overthrows the Doctrines of Christs Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Intercession in Hea∣ven for us. And these are the main Pillars both of our faith and comfort; take away these, and take away our lives too, for these are the springs of all joy and comfort to the people of God, Rom. 8.34

His Incarnation was necessary to capacitate him for his Me∣diatorial work. It was not only a part of it, but such a part, without which he could discharge no other part of it. This was the wonder of men and Angels, 1 Tim. 3.16. A God incarnate is the Worlds wonder. No condescension like this, Philip. 2 6, 7.

The Death of Christ hath the nature and respect of a Ransom, or equivalent price laid down to the justice of God for our Redemption, Matt. 20.28. Act. 20.28. It bought our Souls from under the curse, and purchased for them everlasting Blessedness, Galat. 4.4, 5.

The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead, hath the nature both of a Testimony of his finishing the work of our Re∣demption, and the Fathers full satisfaction therein, Iohn 6.10. and of a Principle of our Resurrection to eternal life, 1 Cor. 15.20.

The Ascension of Christ into Heaven, was in the capacity and relation of a forerunner, Heb. 6.20. It was to prepare places for the redeemed, who were to come after him to glory in their several generations, Iohn 14.2.3.

The Intercession of Christ in Heaven, is for the security of our purchased inheritance, to us, and to prevent any new breaches which might be made by our Sins, whereby it might be forfeited, and we divested of it again, 1 Iohn 2.1, 2.

All these joyntly make up the foundation of our faith and hope of glory. But if our Souls perish, or be annihi∣lated at death, our Faith, Hope, and Comforts are all Delu∣sions,

vain Dreams which do but abuse our fond Imagina∣tions. For

(1.) It was not worth so great a stoop and abasement of the blessed God, as he submitted to, in his Incarnation, wherein he appeared in flesh, yea, in the likeness of sinful flesh, Rom. 8.3. and made himself of no reputation, Philip. 2.7. An act that is, and ever will be admired by men and An∣gels: I say, it was not worth so great a Miracle as this, to procure for us the vanishing comfort of a few years, and that short-lived comfort, no other than a deluding Dream, or mocking Phantasm; For seeing it consists in hope and ex∣pectation from the world to come, as the Scriptures every where speak, 1 Thes. 5.8. and 2 Cor. 3.12. Rom. 5.3, 4, 5. if there be no such enjoyments for us there, (as most certain∣ly there are not, if our Souls perish) it is but a vanity, a thing of nought, that was the errand upon which the Son of God came from the fathers bosome, to procure for us.

(2) And for what think you was the blood of God upon the Cross? what was so vast and inconceivable a treasure expended to purchase? What! the flattering and vain hopes of a few years, of which we may say, as it was said of the Roman Consulship, unius anni volaticum gaudium: the fugitive joy of a year, yea, not only short-lived and vain hopes in themselves, but such, for the sake whereof we abridge our selves of the pleasures and desires of the flesh, 1 Iohn 3.3. and submit our selves to the greatest sufferings in the world, Rom. 8.18. for the Hope of Israel am I bound with this chain &c. Acts 28.20. was this the Purchace of his bloud? was this it, for which he sweat, and groaned, and bled, and died? was that precious bloud no more worth than such a trifle as this?

(3) To what purpose did Christ rise again from the dead, was it not to be the first-fruits of them that sleep? did he not rise as the common Head of Believers? to give us assurance we shall not perish, and be utterly lost in the grave, Col. 1.18▪ But if our Souls perish at Death, there can be no Resurrection, and if none, then Christ dyed, and rose in vain, we are yet in

our sins, and all those absurdities are unavoidable, with which the Apostle loads this supposition, 1 Cor. 15.13. &c.

(4) And to as little purpose was his Triumphant Ascen∣sion into Heaven, if we can have no benefit by it. The pro∣fessed end of his Ascension was to prepare a place for us, Iohn 14.2. But to what purpose are those Mansions in the Heavens prepared, if the Inhabitants for whom they are prepared be utterly lost? And why is he called the fore∣runner, if there be none to follow him, as surely there are not, if our Souls perish with our Bodies? Those Heavenly Mansions, that City prepared by God, must stand void for ever, if this be so.

(5) To conclude, in vain is the Intercession of Christ in Heaven for us, if this be so. They that shall never come thither, have no business there to be transacted by their advocate for them. So that the whole Doctrine of Redemp∣tion by Christ is utterly subverted by this one supposition.

4. As it subverts the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ, and all the hopes and comforts we build thereon, so it ut∣terly destroys all the works of the Spirit upon the hearts of Believers, and makes them vanish into nothing.

There are divers Acts and Offices of the Spirit of God a∣bout and upon our Souls: I will only single out three, viz. his sanctifying, sealing, and Comforting work; all, things of great weight with believers.

(1.) His sanctifying work, whereby he alters the frames and tempers of our Souls, 2 Cor. 5.17. old things are past a∣way, behold, all things are become new.

The declared, and direct end of this work of the Spirit upon our Souls, is to attemper and dispose them for Hea∣ven, Col. 1.12. For seeing nothing that is unclean can enter into the holy place, Revel. 21.27. And without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. 12.14. It is necessary that all those that have this hope in them, should expect to be par∣takers of their hopes in the way of purification, 1 Iohn 3.3. And this is the ground upon which the people of God do

mortifie their lusts, and take so much pain with their own hearts, Matt. 18.8. counting it better (as their Lord tells them) to enter into life halt, or maimed, than having two eyes or hands to be cast into Hell. But to what purpose is all this self-denyal, all these heart-searchings, heart-humblings, cryes and tears upon the account of Sin, and for an heart suited to the will of God, if there be no such life to be en∣joyed with God, after this animal life is finished?

If you say there is a present advantage resulting to us in this world, from our abstinence and self-denial, we have the truer, and longer enjoyment of our comforts on earth by it. Debauchery and licentiousness do not only flat the appetite, and debase and alloy the comforts of this World, but cut short our lives, by the exorbitances and abuses of them.

Though there be a truth in this, worth our noting, yet (1) Morality could have done all this without sanctifica∣tion, there was no need for the pouring out of the Spirit, for so low a use and purpose as this. (2) And therefore as the wisdom of God would be censured and impeached, in sen∣ding his spirit for an end, which could as well be attained without it, so the Veracity of God must needs be affronted by it, who, as you heard before, hath declared, our Salva∣tion to be the end of our sanctification.

(2.) His Sealing, Witnessing and Assuring work: we have a full account in the Scriptures, of these Offices and works of the Spirit, and some spiritual sense and feeling of them up∣on our own hearts, which are two good assurances, that there are such things as his bearing witness with our Spirits, Rom. 8.16. his Sealing us to the day of Redemption, Eph. 4.30. his earnests given into our hearts, 2 Cor. 1.22. All which acts and works of the Spirit, have a direct and clear aspect upon the life to come, and the happiness of our Souls in the full enjoyment of God to eternity. For it is to that life we are now sealed. And of the full sum of that glory, that these are the pledges and earnests. But if our Souls pe∣rish by death, these witnesses of the spirit are Delusions, and his earnests are given us but in jest.

(3) His Comforting work is a sweet fruit and effect sensibly felt and tasted by believers in this World. He is from this Office stiled the Comforter, Iohn 16.7. signanter, & eminen∣ter. He so comforts, as no other doth, or can. And what is the matter of his comforts, but the Blessedness to come, the joys of the coming World? Iohn 16.13. Eye hath not seen, &c.

Upon the account of these unseen things, he enableth be∣lievers to glory in tribulations, Rom. 5.4. to despise present things, whether the smiles or the frowns of the World, Heb. 11.24. and v. 26. But if the being of our Souls fail at death, these are but the Phantastick joys of men in a dream, and the experiences of all Gods people are found but so ma∣ny fond conceits, and gross mistakes.

5. This supposition overthrows the Doctrine of the Resurrection, which is the consolation of Christians. We ac∣cording to the Scripture believe, that after death hath di∣vorced our Souls and Bodies for a time, they shall meet a∣gain, and be re-united, and that the joy at their re-union will be to all that are in Christ, greater than the sorrows they felt at parting. This seems not incredible to us, what ever natu∣ral improbabilities and carnal reasons may be against it, Acts 26.8. And that because the Almighty power, which is able to subdue all things to himself, undertakes this task, Philip. 3.21.

We believe this very same numerical Body shall rise again, Iob 21.27. by the return of the same Soul into it which now dwelleth in it, and that we shall be the same persons that now we are. The remunerative justice of God requiring it to be so.

We believe the Souls of the righteous shall be much bet∣ter accommodated, and have a more comfortable habitation in their Bodies than now they have, 1 Cor. 15.42, 43. see∣ing they shall be made like unto Christ's glorious Body, Phil. 3.21. And that then we shall live after the manner of An∣gels, Luke 20.16. without the necessities of this animal life, These are the things we look for according to promise; and this expectation is our great relief against (1) the fears of

death, 1 Cor. 15.55. (2) against the death of our Friends and Relations, 1. Thes. 4.14. (3) against all the pressures and afflictions of this life, Iob 19.25, 26, 27.

But if the being of our Souls fail at death, all hopes and comforts from the Resurrection fail with it; for it is not I∣maginable, that the body should rise, till it be revived, nor how it should be revived, but by the re-union of the Soul with it: and if it be not the same Soul that now inhabits it, we cannot be the same persons in the Resurrection we are now, and consequently, this supposition subverts not only the Doctrine of the Resurrection, but

6 It overthrows also the faith of the Iudgment to come. For if the Soul perish, the Body cannot rise, or if it rise by a new created Soul, the person raised is another, and not the same that lived and dyed in this World, and consequently, the re∣wards and punishments to be bestowed and awarded to all men in that day, cannot be just and equal: for we believe, ac∣cording to the Scriptures, that (1) The actions which men perform in this life, are not transient, but are filed to their account in the world to come, Gal. 6.7. here we sow, and there we reap; Actions done in this World are two ways consi∣derable, viz. Physically, or Morally; in the first consideration they are transient, in the last, permanent and everlasting. A word is spoken, or an Act done, in a moment, but though it be past and gone, and perhaps by us quite forgot∣ten, God registers it in his Book, in order to the day of ac∣count.

(2) We believe that God hath appointed a day in which all men shall appear before his judgment seat, to give an ac∣count of all they have done in the Body, whether it be good or evil. 2. Cor. 5.10.

(3) And that in order hereunto, the very same persons shall be restored by the Resurrection, and appear before God, the very same Bodies and Souls, which did good or evil in this World: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Justice requires that the rewards and punishments be then distributed to the same persons that did good or evil in

this World: which strongly infers the immortality of the Soul, and that it certainly overlives the Body, and must come back from the respective places of their abode, to be again united to them, in order to their great account.

By all which you see the clearest proof of the Souls Im∣mortality, and how the contrary supposition overthrows our Faith, Duties, and Comforts. Yet all this notwith∣standing, how apt are we to suspect this Doctrine, and re∣main still dis-satisfyed and doubting about it, when all is said? which comes to pass partly from (1) the subtilty of Satan, who knows he can never perswade men to live the life of Beasts, till he first perswade them to think they shall dye as the Beasts do, (and partly from the influence of Sense and Reason upon us, whereby we do too much suffer our selves to be swayed, and imposed upon in matters of greatest mo∣ment in Religion. For these being proper Arbiters and Judges in other matters within their Sphere, they are arro∣gant, and we easy enough to admit them, to be Arbiters al∣so in things that are quite above them; hence come such plausible objections as these.

The Soul seems to vanish and dye, when it leaves the Body, for when it hath strugled as long as it can, to keep its possession in the Body, and at last is forced to depart; we can perceive nothing but a puff of breath, which immediate∣ly vanishes into air, and is lost.

We cannot perceive, therefore it is nothing but what we do, and can perceive, viz. a puffe of vanishing breath! By this argument the being of the Soul in the Body is as que∣stionable, as after its departure out of the Body: for we cannot discern it by sight in the Body, yea, by this Argument, we may as well deny the existence of God and Angels, as of Souls, for it is a spiritual and invisible being, as they are, our gross senses are incapable of discerning Spirits, which are immaterial and invisible substances.

But you allow the Soul to have a rise and beginning, it is not eternal à parte antà, and it is certain, what ever had a beginning must have an end.

Every thing which had a beginning may have an end, and what once was nothing, may by the power that created it, be reduced to nothing again. But though we allow it may be so, by the absolute power of God, we deny the conse∣quence, that therefore it shall and must be so. Angels had a beginning, but shall never have an end. And indeed their Immortality, as well as ours, flows not so much from the nature of either, as from the will and pleasure of God, who hath appointed them to be so. He can, but never will anni∣hilate them.

But the Soul depends upon matter in all its operations, nothing is in the Understanding which was not first in the Senses; it useth the natural Spirits as its Servants and Tools in all its Operations, and therefore how can it either subsist or act in a State of Separation?

1. The Hypothesis is not only uncertain, but certainly false. There are acts performed by the Soul, even whilst it is in the Body, wherein it makes no use at all of the Bo∣dy. Such are the acts of Self-intuition, and Self-reflection: and what will you say of its Acts in Raptures and Ecstasies, such as that of Paul, 2. Cor. 12.2. and Iohn, Revel. 21.10. what use did their Souls make of the bodily senses or natu∣ral Spirits then?

2. And though in its ordinary actions in this life, it doth use the Body, as its Tool or Instrument in working, doth it thence follow, that it can neither subsist or act separate from them in the other World? Whilst a man is on Horse∣back in his Journey, he useth the help and service of his Horse, and is moved according to the motion of his Horse, but doth it thence follow, he cannot stand or walk alone, when dismounted at his Journeys end? We know Angels both live, and act, without the ministry of Bodies, and our Souls are Spiritual Substances as well as they.

But many Scriptures seem to favour the total cessation of the Souls actions, if not of its being also after Separation,

as that in 2 Sam. 14.14. We must needs dye, and are as Wa∣ter spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up, and Psal. 88.10, 11, 12. with Isaiah 38.18, 19. The dead cannot praise thee.

Those words of the Woman of Tekoa, are not to be un∣derstood absolutely, but respectively: and the meaning is, that the Soul is in the Body as some precious liquor in a brit∣tle glass, which being broken by death, the Soul is irrecove∣rably gone, as the Water Spilt on the ground, which by no humane power or art of man can be recovered again. All the means in the World cannot fetch it back into the Body again. She speaks not of the Resurrection, or what shall be done in the World to come, by the Almighty power of God, but of what is impossible to be done in this World by all the skill and power of Man.

And for the expression of Heman, and Hezekiah, they on∣ly respect and relate to those services their Souls were now imployed about for the praise of God, with respect to the conversion or edification of others, as Psal. 30.8, 9. or at most, to that mediate service and worship, which they give God, in and by their attendance upon his ordinances in this World, and not of that immediate Service and praise, that is performed and given him in Heaven, by the Spirits of just men made perfect, such was the sweetness they had found in these Ordinances and Duties, that they express themselves as loth to leave them.

The same answer solves also the Objections grounded upon other mistaken Scriptures, as that Psal. 78.39. where man is called a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. It is only expressive of the frailty and vanity of the present ani∣mal life we live in this World, to which we shall return no more after death; it denies not life to departed Souls, but the end of this animal life at death, the life we live in the o∣ther World, is of a different nature.

Notes

• Albertus Magnus statuam ho••rinis construxit, que cum libramentis qui∣busdam, ••otis, at{que} aliis machi••is i••t••a latentibus peritissimè c••m••ositis, li••∣guam quadam ratione & disciplina no∣ventibus, articul••ta 〈◊〉〈◊〉 prenuncia∣rit.
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