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.

THough death hath dissolv'd the Union, yet it hath not destroyed the relation betwixt the Soul and Body; that dust is more to it than all the dust of the whole earth. Hence it is that the whole person of a Believer is sometimes de∣nominated from that part of him, namely his Body which remains captivated by death in the grave. Hence 2 Thes. 4.15. dead believers are called those that sleep, which must needs properly respect the Body, for the Soul sleeps not; and shews what a firm and dear relation still remains betwixt these absent Friends. Now we all know the mighty power of relation, if it be least among entities, yet surely it is one of the greatest things in the World in efficacy.

It is difficult to bear the absence of our dear Relatives, es∣pecially if we be in prosperity, and they in adversity. As the case here is betwixt the Spirit in Heaven, and it's Body in the Grave: This associated with Angels, that prey'd upon by Worms. Ioseph's case is the liveliest Embleme that oc∣curs to my present thoughts to illustrate the point in hand. He was advanced to be Lord over all Aegypt, living in the greatest pomp and splendor there;* 1.1 but his Father and Brethren were at the same time ready to perish in the land of Canaan. He had been many years separated from them, but neither the length of time, nor honours of the Court could alienate his affections from them. O see the mighty power of Re∣lation! No sooner doth he see his Brethren, and under∣stand their case, and the pining condition of Iacob his Father, but his bowels yearned, and his compassions rolled together for them. Yea, he could not forbear, nor stifle his own affections, though he knew how injurious his Brethren had been to him, and betrayed him, as the Body hath the Soul: Yet all this notwithstanding, he breaks forth into tears and outcries over them, which made the house ring again with the news that Ioseph's brethren were come. Nor could he be at rest in the lap of honour and plenty, until he had got∣ten home his dear and ancient Relations to him. Thus stands the case betwixt Soul and Body.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Gen. 43.29, 30, 31.