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 ...

The USES of the Point.

OUr way is now open to the improvement and Use of this excellent Subject and Doctrine of Separation; and certainly it affords as rich an entertainment for our affe∣ctions, as for our minds; in the following Uses: Of which the first will be for our information in six practical Inferences.

Inference I.

IF this be the life and state of gracious Souls, after their se∣paration from the Body, Then holy persons ought not to enter∣tain dismal and terrifying thoughts of their own dissolution.

The Apprehensions and thoughts of death, should have a peculiar pleasantness in the minds of Believers: you have heard into what a blessed Presence and Communion death introduceth your Souls: how it leads you out of a Body of

sin, a World of sorrows, the Society of imperfect Saints; to an innumerable Company of Angels, and to the Spirits of just men made perfect. To that lovely Mount Sion, to the heavenly Sanctuary, to the blessed Visions of the face of God. O methinks there hath been enough said, to make all the Souls in whom the well-grounded hopes of the life of glory are found; to cry out with the Apostle, We are con••i∣dent, I say, yea, and willing; rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.8.

When good Musculus drew near his end, how sweet and pleasant was this Meditation to his Soul! Hear his Swan∣like Song:

* 1.1Nil superest vitae, frigus praecordia captat; Sed tu Christe mihi vita perennis ades: Quid trepidas anima, ad sedes abitura quietis? En tibi ductor adest Angelus ille tuus. Linque domum hanc miseram, nunc in sua fata ruentem; Quam tibi fida Dei dextera restituet. Peccasti? Scio, sed Christus credentibus in se, Peccata expurgat sanguine cuncta suo. Horribilis mors est? Fateor, sed proxima vita est, Ad quam te Christi gratia certa vocat. Praesto est de Satana, peccato & morte triumphans Christus; ad hunc igitur laeta alacrisque migra.

Which may be thus translated.

Cold death my heart invades, my life doth flie. O Christ, my everlasting life draw nigh. Why quiver'st thou my soul within my Breast? Thine Angel's come to lead thee to thy rest. Quit chearfully this drooping house of clay, God will restore it in the appointed day. Has't sinn'd? I know it, let not that be urg'd; For Christ thy sins with his own blood hath purg'd. Is death affrighting? True, but yet withal, Consider Christ through death, to life doth call. He triumphs over Satan, sin, and Death; Therefore with joy resign thy dying breath.

Much in the same chearful frame was the heart of dying Bullinger, when his mournful friends expressed their sense of the loss they should sustain by his re••••val.* 1.2 Why, said he, If God will make any farther use of my labours in the Mi∣nistry, he will renew my strength, and I will gladly serve him: But if he please (as I desire he would) to call me hence, I am ready to obey his Will: and nothing more pleasant can befal me, than to leave this sinful and miserable World, to go to my Saviour Christ. O that all who are out of the danger of death, were thus got out of the dread of death too.

Let them only tremble and be convuls'd at the thoughts and sight of death, whose Souls must fall into the hands of a sin-revenging God by the stroke of death: who are to breathe out their last hope, with their last breath. Death is yours, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3.22. your Friend, your Priviledge, your passage to Heaven: 'tis your ignorance of it, which breeds your fears about it.

Inference II.

GAther from hence the absolute indispensable necessity of your Vnion with Christ, before your dissolution by death.

Wo to that Soul which shall be separated from its Body, before it be united with Christ: none but the Spirits of just men are made perfect at death. Righteous Souls are the only qualified Subjects of blessedness.

'Tis true, every Soul hath a natural capacity of happiness, but gracious Souls only have an actual meetness for glory. The Scriptures tell us in round and plain words, that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, Hebr. 12.14. that except we be regenerate, and born again; we cannot see the Kingdom of God, John 3.3. You make the greatest adventure that ever was made by man; indeed, an adventure infinitely too great

for any man to make, when you shoot the Gulph of vast eternity upon terms of hazard and uncertainty.

What thinkest thou, Reader, darest thou adventure thy Soul, and eternal happiness upon it, that the work of Rege∣neration and Sanctification, that very same work of Grace which the Spirit of God hangs all thy hopes of Heaven up∣on, in these Scriptures, is truly wrought by him in thy Soul? Consider it well, pause upon it again, and again, before thou go forth. Should a mistake be committed here (and nothing is more easie or common all the World over than such mi∣stakes) thou art irrecoverably gone. This venture can be made but once, and the miscarriage is never to be retrieved afterwards; thou hast not another Soul to adventure, nor a second adventure to make of this. Well might the Apostle Peter call for all diligence to make our calling and our election sure: That can never be made too sure, which is so invalua∣ble in its worth, and to be but once adventured.

Inference III.

HOw prejudicial is it to dying men to be then encumbered, di∣verted, and distracted about earthly concernments, when the time of their departure is at hand!

The business and imployment of dying persons is of so vast importance and weight, that every moment of their time need to be carefully saved, and applied to this their present and most important concern. How well soever you have improved the time of life, believe it you will find work enough upon your hands at death: dying hours will be found to be busie and laborious hours, even to the most painful, serious and industrious Souls, whose life hath been mostly spent in preparations for death. Leave not the proper business of other days to that day, for that day will have bu∣siness enough of its own. Sufficient for that day, are the la∣bours thereof Let a few Considerations be pondered to clear and confirm this Inference.

Consideration I.

The business and imployment of dying persons, is of the most serious, awful and solemn nature and importance: it is their last preparatory work on earth, to their immediate appearance before God their Judge, Heb. 9.27. It is their shooting the Gulph into eternity, and leaving this World and all their acquaintance and interests therein for ever, Isai. 28.11. It is therefore a Work by it self to die: a Work re∣quiring the most intense, deep, and undisturbed exercises of all the Abilities and Graces of the inner man; and all little enough.

Consideration II.

Tim•• is exceeding precious with dying men, the last sand is ready to fall, and therefore not to be wasted as it was wont to be. When we had a fair prospect of many years before us, we made little account of an hour, or day: but now, one of those hours which we so carelessly lavished away; is of more value than all this World to us, especially if the whole weight of eternity should hang upon it, (as often times it doth) then the loss of that portion of time, is the loss of Soul, Body, and hope for evermore.

Consideration III.

Much of that little precious time of departing Souls, will be unavoidably taken up and imployed about the inexcusable pressing calls and necessities of distressed nature: all that you can do for your Souls must then be done only by fits and snatches in the midst of many disturbances and frequent interruptions: So that it is rarely found that a dying man can pursue a serious Meditation with calm and fixed thoughts: for besides the pains and faintings of the Body, the Abilities of the mind usually fail. Here also they fall into a sad Di∣lemma, if they do not with utmost intention of mind, fix their hearts and thoughts on Christ, they lose their com∣fort, if godly; and their Souls if ungodly: and if they do,

Friends and Physicians assure them they will destroy their Bo∣dies. These are the straits of men bordering close upon eternity: they must hastily catch a few moments in the in∣tervals of pain, and then are put by all again.

Consideration IV.

There is no man living but hath something to do for his own Soul in a dying hour, and something for others also.

Suppose the best that can be supposed, that the Soul be in real Union with Christ, and that Union be also clear, yet it is seldom found but there are some assaults of Satan: or if not, yet how many Relations and Friends need our experi∣ences and Counsels, at such a time? How many things shall we have to do, after our great and main work is done? And others have a great deal more to do, though as safe as the former. O the Knots and Objections that are then to be dissolv'd and answered! The unusual Onsets and Assaults of Satan, that are then to be resisted! And yet most dying persons have much more upon their hands than either of the former. The whole work of Repentance and Faith is to do, when time is even done.

Consideration V.

Few, yea very few, are found furnished ••••••h Wisdom, Experience and Faithfulness, to give dying Persons any con∣siderable assistance in Soul affairs: it may be, there may be found among the Visitants of the Sick, now and then, a person who hath a word of Wisdom in his heart; but then either he wants opportunity, or courage and faithfulness to do the part of a true Spiritual friend. Elihu describes the person so qualified as he ought for this work, Iob 33.23, 24. and calls him one among a thousand. Some are too close and reserved, others too trifling and impertinent: Some are wil∣ling, but want Ability; others are able, but want faithful∣ness: Some cut too deep by uncharitable censoriousness, others skin over the wound too slightly, speaking Peace where God and Conscience speak none. So that little help is to be expected.

Consideration VI.

How much therefore doth it deserve to be lamented, that where there is so much to do, so little time to do it, and so few to help in the best improvement of it, all should be lost as to their Souls by earthly incumbrances and wordly af∣fairs, which may have been done soo•••• ••nd better in a more proper season! O therefore let m••••••erswade all men to take heed of bringing the proper business of healthful days to their sick beds.

Inference IV.

What an excellent creature is the Soul of man, which is capable not only of such preparations for God whilst it is in the Body; but of such sights and enjoyments of God when it lives without a Body!

Here the Spirit of God works upon it in the way of grace and sanctification, Eph. 2.10. The scope and design of this his workmanship is to qualifie and make us meet for the life of Heaven, 2 Cor. 5.5. For this self same thing, or purpose, our Souls are wrought or moulded by grace into quite ano∣ther frame and temper than that which nature gave them: and when he hath wrought out and finished all that he in∣tends to be wrought in the way of sanctification, then shall it be called up to the highest injoyments and imployments for ever, that a creature is susceptible of.

Herein the dignity of the Soul appears, that no other Creature in this World beside it, hath a natural capacity either to be sanctified inherently in this World, or glorifi∣ed everlastingly in that to come, to be transformed into the image, and filled with the joy of the Lord. There are My∣riads of other Souls in this World beside ours, but to none of them is the Spirit of sanctification sent, but only to ours. The Souls of Animals serve only to move the dull and slug∣gish matter, and take in for a few days the sensitive pleasures of the Creation, and so expire; having no natural capacity of, or designation for any higher imployment, or enjoyment.

And it deserves a most serious animadversion, that this vast capacity of the Soul for eternal blessedness, must of ne∣cessity make it capable of so much the more misery and self torment, if at last it fail of that blessedness: For it is apparent they do not perish because they are uncapable, but because they are unwilling; not because their Souls wanted any natu∣ral faculty that others have, but because they would not open those they have 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••ceive Christ in the way of faith and obedience, as others did

Think upon this you that live only to eat, and drink, and sleep, and play, as the Birds and Beasts of the field do; what need was there of a reasonable Soul for such sensual imployments? do not your noble faculties speak your de∣signation for higher uses? and will you not wish to exchange Souls with the most vile and despicable Animal in this World, if it were possible to be done. Certainly it were better for you to have no capacity of eternal blessedness (as they have not) if you do not enjoy it; and no capacity of torment beyond this life (as they have not) if you must certainly endure it.

Inference V.

IF our Souls and Bodies must be separated shortly, how patiently should we bear all lesser that may or will be made betwixt us and any other enjoyments in this World.

No union is so intimate strict, and dear, as that betwixt your Souls and Bodies. All your relations and enjoyments in this World, hang looser from your Souls, than your Bo∣dies do; and if it be your duty patiently and submissively to suffer a painful parting pull from your Bodies; it is doubt∣less your duty to suffer meekly and patiently a separation from other things, which are but a prelude to it, and a meer shadow of it. 'Tis good to put such cases to our selves in the midst of our pleasant enjoyments.

I have now many comfortable Relatives in the World, Wife, Children Kindred, and Friends; God hath made them pleasant to me, but he may bereave me of all these.

Doth not Providence ring such changes all the World over! Are not all Kingdoms, Cities, and Towns full of the sighs and laments of Widows, Orphans, and Friends bereaved of their pleasant and useful Relations? But if God will have it so, 'tis our duty to bound our sorrows, remembring the time is short, 1 Cor. 7.29. In a few days we must be stript much nearer, even out of our own Bodies by death.

God may also separate betwixt me and my health by sick∣ness, so that the pleasure of this World shall be cut off from me; but sickness is not death, though it be a prelude and step towards it: I may well bear this with patience, who must submissively bear sharper pains than these ere long. Yea, and well may I bear this submissively, considering that by such imbittering, and weaning providences God is prepa∣ring me for a much easier dissolution, than if I should live at ease in the Body all my days, till death come to make so great and suddain a change upon me.

God may also separate betwixt me and my liberty by re∣straint. It hath been the lot of the best men that ever were in the World, and if it should be ours also, we should not be much startled at it, considering these Bodies of ours must be shortly pent up in a straiter, darker, and more loath∣some place of confinement, than any prison in this World can be. The grave is a darker place, Iob 17.13. And your abode there will be longer, Eccles. 11.8.

These and all other our outward enjoyments are separa∣ble things, and its good thus to alleviate our loss of them.

Inference VI.

HOw Heavenly should the tempers and frawles of those Souls be who are Candidates for Heaven, and must be so shortly num∣bred with the Spirits of just men made perfect!

'Tis reasonable that we all begin to be, that which we ex∣pect to be for ever. To learn that way of living and con∣versing which we believe must be our everlasting life and bu∣siness in the World to come. Let them that hope to live with Angels in Heaven, learn to live like Angels on Earth, in Holiness, Activity, and ready obedience.

There is the greatest reason that our minds be there where our Souls are to be for ever. A spiritual mind will be found possible, congruous, sweet, and evidential of our interest in that glory, to all those holy Souls who are preparing, and designed for it.

First, it is possible, notwithstanding the clogs and entangle∣ments of the Body, to be heavenly minded. Others have at∣tained it, Philip. 3.20. Two things make an heavenly con∣versation possible to men, viz.

• 1. The natural abilities of the Mind.
• 2. The gracious principles of the Mind.

1. The natural abilities of the mind which can in a minutes time dispatch a nimble messenger to Heaven, and mount its thoughts from this to that World in a trice. The power of cogitation is a rich endowment of the Soul, such as no o∣ther creature on earth is participant of. Though spiritual thoughts be not the natural growth of the Soul, yet thoughts capable of being spiritualized are. And without this ability of projecting thoughts, all intercourse must have been cut off.

2. The gracious principles implanted in the Soul do actually incline the mind, and mount its thoughts heaven∣ward. Yea, this will prove more than a possibility of a conversation in Heaven; whilst Saints tabernacle on earth in Bodies of flesh, it will almost prove an impossibility that it should be otherwise. For these spiritual principles setting the bent and tendency of the heart heaven-ward, we must act against the very law of our new Nature when we place our affections elsewhere.

Secondly, A mind in heaven is most congruous, decorous, and comely for those that are the enrolled inhabitants of that heavenly City. Where should a Christians love be, but where his Lord is? Our hearts and our homes do not use to be long asunder. It becomes you so to think and so to speak now, as those who make account to be shortly sing∣ing Allelujahs before the throne.

Thirdly, 'Tis most sweet and delightful: no pleasure in all this World comparable to this pleasure, Rom. 8.6. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. 'Tis a young Heaven born in the Soul, in its way thither.

Fourthly, To conclude. It is evidential of your interest in it: an agreable frame is the surest title, Col. 3.1, 2. Matth 6.21. If Heaven attract your minds now, it will centre them for ever.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Melchior A∣dams in vita Musculi, p. 385, 386.
• * 1.2

  Si Deo visum fuerit mea opera ulterius in Ecclesia ministerio uti; ipse vi∣res suffi••iet; & libens illi parebo: sin me voluerit (quod opto) ex hac vita evocare, paratus sum illius voluntati obsequi, ac nihil est quod j••cundius possit mihi contingere, quam ex hoc misero & corruptissimo seculo ad Christum Servatorem m••um migrare. idem ibid.