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 ...

Inference VI.

THe case of distressed Consciences upon earth, is exceeding sad, and calls upon all for the tenderest pity, and utermost help from men.

You see the labourings of Conscience under the sense of guilt and wrath, is a special part of the Torments of Hell; of which there is not a livelier Emblem or Picture, than the distresses of Conscience in this World.

It must be thankfully confessed there are two great differen∣ces betwixt the terrours of Conscience here, and there: One in the degrees of anguish, the other in the reliefs of that anguish. The ordinary distresses of Conscience here, compared with those of the damned, are as the flame of a Candle, to a fiery Oven; a mild and gentle fire: Or as the Sparks that fly out of the top of a Chimney, to the dreadful eruptions of Vesuvius, or Mount Aetna. Beside, these are capable of relief, but those are unrelievable: their hearts die, because their hope is perished from the Lord.

But yet of all the miseries and distresses incident to men in this World, none like those of distressed Consciences: the ter∣rours

of God set themselves in array, or are drawn up in Batalia against the Soul, Iob 6.4, Whilst I suffer thy terrors (saith Heman) I am distracted, Psal. 88.15. Yea, they not only distract, but cut off the Spirit; as he adds v. 16. They lick up the very Spirit of a man, and none can bear them, Prov. 18.14. for now a man hath to do immediately with God; yea, with the Wrath of the great and dreadful God; and this wrath which is the most acute and sharp of all torments, falls upon the most tender and sensible part, the Spirit and Mind which now lies open and naked before him to be wounded by it. No Creature can administer the least relief, by the application of any temporal comfort or refreshment to it. Gold and Silver, Wife and Children, Meat and Melody, signifie no more than the drawing off a silk stockin to cure the Paroxysms of the Gout.

All that can be done for their relief is by seasonable, judicious, and tender Applications of Spiritual Remedies, and what can be done ought to be done for them. What heart can hear a voice like that of Iob, Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my Friends, for the Hand of God hath touched me; and not melt into Compassions over them? Is there a word of Wisdom in thy heart, let thy Tongue apply it to the relief of thy distressed Bro∣ther: whilst his heart meditates terrour, let thine meditate his succour. It is not impossible but thou who lendest a friendly hand to another, maist ere long need one thy self, and he that hath ever felt the terrours of the Almighty upon his Soul, hath motive enough to draw forth the Bowels of his pity to another in the like case.

Alas for poor distressed Souls, who have either none about them that understand and are able and willing to speak a word in season to their weary Souls, or too many about them to ex∣asperate their sorrows, and persecute them whom God hath smitten. You that have both ability and opportunity for it are under the strongest engagements in the World to endeavour their relief with all faithfulness, seriousness, compassion, and constancy. Did Christ shed his Blood for the saving of Souls, and wilt not thou spend thy breath for them? Shall any man that hath found mercy from God, shew none to his Brother? God forbid. A Soul in Hell is out of your reach, but these that are in the Suburbs of Hell are not: the Candle of intense sorrow is put to the thread of their miserable life, and should they be suffered to drop into Hell whilst you stand by as unconcern'd: Spectators of such a Tragedy, will have little peace. Your unmercifulness to their Souls, will be a wound to your own.