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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	believe_v	faith_n	reason_n	7,057	5	5.8990	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39675	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 ...	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1685 (1685)	Wing F1176; ESTC R5953	379,180	504

in point of knowledg concerning that great Question What is God Thus no man hath seen or can see God in this World Even Moses himself could not so see God Exod. 33.18 19 20. But the Spirits of the just made perfect have satisfying apprehensions though no perfect comprehensions of the Divine Essence 2. In this light they clearly discern those deep mysteries which they here rackt their thoughts upon but could not penetrate in this life There they will know what is to be known of the Union of the two Natures in the wonderful person of our Emmanuel and the manner of the subsistence of each person in the most glorious and undivided God-head Iohn 14.20 The several Attributes of God will then be unfolded to our understandings for his Essence and Attributes are not two things Rev. 4.8 9 10 11. O what ravishing sight will this be The mysteries of the Scriptures and providences of God will be no mysteries then Curiosity it self will be there satisfied 3. This immediate knowledge and sight of God face to face will be infinitely more sweet and ravishingly plasant than any or all the views we had of him here by Faith ever were or possibly could be There is a joy unspeakable in the visions of Faith 1 Pet. 1.8 But it comes far short of the facial vision Who can tell the full importance of that one Text Rev. 22.4 The Throne of the Lamb shall be in it and they shall see his face O for such a Heaven said one as but to look through the key-hole and get one glimpse of that lovely face Earth cannot bear such sights This light overwhelms and confounds the inadequate faculties of imperfect and embodied Souls But there it is lumen confortans a chearing strengthening pleasant light as the light of the Morning star Rev. 2.28 4. This sight of God will be appropriative and applicative We there see him as our own God and portion Without a clear interest in him the sight of him could never be beatifical and satisfying Sight without interest is like the light of a gloworm light without heat All doubts and objections are solv'd and answer'd in the first sight of this blessed face 5. To conclude This perfect and most comfortable knowledge is attained without labour by the separate Soul Here every degree of knowledge was with the price of much pains How many weary hours and aking heads did the acquisition of a little knowledg stand us in But then it flows in upon the Soul easily It was the Saying of a great Vsurer I once took much pains to get a little meaning the first stock but now I get much without any pains at all O lovely state of separation That Body which interposed clog'd and clouded the willing and capable Spirit being drawn aside as a Curtain by death the light of glory now shines upon it and round about it without any in●erception or lett PROP. XI The separated Souls of the Iust do live in a more high and excellent way of Communion with God in his Temple-worship in Heaven than ever they did in the sweetest Gospel-Ordinances and most Spiritual Duties in which they conversed with him here on Earth THAT Saints on earth have real Communion with God and that this Communion is the joy of their hearts the life of their life and their relief under all pressures and troubles in this life is a truth so firmly sealed upon their hearts by experience as well as clearly revealed in the Word that there can remain no doubt about it among those that have any saving acquaintance with the life and power of Religion This Communion with God is of that precious value with Believers that it unspeakably endears all those Duties and Ordinances to them which as means and instruments are useful to maintain it At death the people of God part with all those precious Ordinances and Duties they being only designed for and fitted to the present state of imperfection Eph. 4.12 13. but not at all to their loss no more than it is to his that loses the light of his candle by the rising of the Sun A Candle a Star is comfortable in the Night but useless when the Sun is up and in it's meridian Glory Christian Pray much hear much and drive as profitable a trade as thou canst among the Ordinances of God and duties of Religion For the time is at hand that you shall serve and wait on God no more this way But yet think not your Souls shall be discharged from all Worship and Service of God when you dye No you will find Heaven to be a Temple built for worship and the worship there to be much transcendent to all that in which you were here employ'd The Sanctuary was a pattern of Heaven in this very respect Heb. 9.23 And on this very account it is called Sion in my Text and the heavenly Ierusalem as denoting a Church-state and the spiritual Worship there performed by the Spirits of just men made perfect Some help we may have to understand the nature thereof by comparing it with that Worship and Service which we perform to God here in this state of imperfection and by considering the agreements and disagreements betwixt them In this they agree that the worship above and below are both addressed and directed to one and the same Object Father Son and Spirit all centers and terminates in God They also agree in the general quality and common Nature they are both spiritual Worship But there are divers remarkable differences betwixt the one and other as will be manifest in the following collation 1. All our Worship on Earth is performed and transacted by Faith as the instrument and mean thereof Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe c. In Heaven Faith ceaseth and sight takes place of it 1 Cor. 5.7 There we see what here we only believe There are now before us Ordinances Scriptures Ministers and the Assemblies of Saints in the places of worship but if we have any communion with God by or among these we must set our selves to believe those things we see not By realizing and applying invisible things we here get sometimes and with no small pains a taste of Heaven and a transient glance of that glory In this service our Faith is put hard to it it must work and fight at once Resolutely act whilst sense and reason stand by contradicting and quarrelling with it And if with much ado we get but one sensible touch of Heaven upon our Spirits if we get a little spiritual warmth and melting of our affections towards God we call that day a good day and it is so indeed But in Heaven all things are carried at an higher rate the joy of the Lord overflows us without any labour or pains of ours to procure it We may say of it there as the Prophet speaks of the dew and showres upon the grass Which tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men

portion Else it could never be a satisfying vision Iob 19.27 Whom I shall see for my self Not look on him as anothers God but as my God and Portion for ever Balaam saw Christ by a spirit of prophecy but he had no comfort because no interest in him Numb 24.17 The wicked shall see him but without joy yea with weeping eyes and gnashing of teeth because they cannot see him as their Lord Luke 13.28 'T is but a poor comfort to starving beggars to stand quivering and famishing in the streets in a cold dark night and see the lights in the bridegrooms house the noble Dishes served in and to hear the Musick and mirth of the Guests that feast within Here it will be as clear that he is our God as that he is God Assurance is that which many Souls have desired prayed and panted for but cannot attain There be many rubbs and stumbling blocks in the way to that sweet enjoyment but here we find what we have been so long seeking there be no doubts scruples objections puzling cases to exercise your own or others thoughts But as these did arise from one of these grounds viz the working of corruption the efficacy of temptation or divine withdrawments and the hidings of Gods face so all these being removed perfectly and for ever in that state the Heavens must needs be clear and not a cloud of doubt or fear to be seen for ever 4. It will be a deeply affecting sight your eye will now so affect your hearts as they were never affected before The first view of God will snatch away your hearts to him as a greater flame doth the less Love will not now distill from the heart as Waters from a cold Still but gush out as from a Sluce or flood-Gate pulled up The Soul will not move after God so deadly and slowly as it doth now but be as the Chariots of Aminadab Can. 6.12 We may say of the frāmes of our hearts there compared with what they are here as it is said Deut. 12.8 9. You shall not love or delight in God as you do this day If the perfection of that state would admit shame or sorrow how should we blush and mourn in Heaven to think how cold our love and how low our delights in God were on Earth 1 John 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God Look as Iron put into the fire becomes all fiery so the Soul dwelling in the God of love becomes all love all delight all joy O what transports must that Soul feel that abides under the line of love feels the perpendicular beams of electing creating redeeming preserving love beating powerfully upon it and melting it into love See some of their transports Rev. 5.13 14. 5. It will be an everlasting vision of God 1 Thes. 4.17 So shall we be ever with the Lord ever with the Lord who can find words to open the deep sence of these few words Vacabimus videbimus videbimus amabimus amabimus laudabimus in fine fine fine said blessed Austine This is the everlasting Sabbath which hath no night Rev. 22.4 5. The eternal happiness purchased for the Saints by the invaluable blood of Christ. If one hours enjoyment of God in the way of faith be so sweet and no price can be put upon it nothing on earth taken in exchange for it what must a whole Eternity in the immediate and full visions of that blessed face in Heaven be Well then if such sights as these immediately succeed the sight you have on Earth either by sense of things natural or by reason of things intellectual or by faith of things spiritual who that believes the truth and expects the fulfilling of such promises as these would not not be willing to have his eyes closed by death as soon as God shall please I have read of an holy man that had sweet Communion with God in Prayer who in the close of his duty cryed out claudimini oculi mei claudimini c. be shut O my eyes be shut you shall never ●ee any thing on Earth like that I have now seen Ah little do the Friends of dead Believers think what visions of God what ravishing sights of Christ the Souls of their Friends have when they are closing their eyes with tears Argument VIII THE consideration of the evil days that are to come should make the people of God willing to accept of an hiding place in the grave as a special favour from God It is accounted an act of favour by God Isa. 57.1 2. to be taken away from the evil to come ●●ere are two kinds of evils to come the evil of sin and the evil of sufferings Sins to come are terrible to gracious hearts when temptations shall be at their height and strength O what warping and shrinking what dissembling yea downright denying the known truths and ways of God may you see every where Many consciences will then be wounded and wasted Many scandals and rocks of offence will be rolled into the way of godliness Christ will be exposed and put to open shame Should we only be spectators of such Tragedies as these it were enough to overwhelm a gracious and tender heart but what upright heart is there without fears and jealousies of being brought under the guilt of these evils in it self as well as the shame and grief for them in others O it were a thousand times better for you to die in the purity and integrity of your consciences than to protract a miserable life without them O think what a world it is that you are like to leave behind you in respect of sin to come And as there are many evils of sin to come so there are many evils of sufferings coming on The days of visitation are come the days of recompence are come and Israel shall know it Hos. 9.7 All the sufferings you have yet met with have been in Books and Histories you never saw the Martyrdome of the Saints but in the Pictures and Stories But you will find it quite another thing to be the Subjects of these cruelties than to be the meer Readers or Relators of them 'T is one thing to see the painted Lion on a sign Post and another to meet the living Lion roaring upon you Ah! little do we imagine how the hearts of men are convulst what fears what faintings invade their Spirits when they are to meet the King of terrors in the frightful formalities of a violent death The consideration of these things will discover to you the reason of that strange wish of Job chap. 14. v. 13. Oh that thou wouldst hide me in the Grave that thou wouldst keep me in secret until thy wrath be past And it deserves a serious thought that when the holy Ghost had in Rev. 14.9 10 11 12. described the miserable plight of those poor Souls who being overcome by their own fears and the love of this this World should plunge

comes down with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a far far better But here falls in * Mr. How in Mrs. Margaret Baxter's Funeral Sermon as an Excellent Person observes a Rubb in the way there are in this case two Judges the Flesh and Spirit and they cannot agree upon the values but contradict each other Nature saith It 's far far better to live than to die and will not be beaten off from it What then I hope you will not put blind and partial nature in competition with God also as you do life with death but seeing Nature can plead so powerfully as well as Grace let us hear what those strong reasons are that are urged by the flesh on lifes side and what the Soul hath to reply and plead on deaths side for the Body can plead and that charmingly too though not by words and sounds and then determine the matter as we shall see cause but be sure prejudice pull not down the Balance I. The Pleas of Nature for life and against dissolution And here the doleful voice of Nature laments pleads and bemoans it self to the willing Soul O my Soul What dost thou mean by these thy desires to be dissolved Art thou in earnest when thou saist thou art willing to leave thine own Body and be gone Consider and think again ere thou bid me farewel what thou art to me and what I have been and am to thee thou art my Soul that is my Prop my Beauty my Honour my Life and indeed all that is comfortable to me If thou depart what am I but a Spectacle of Pity an abhorred Carcass in a few moments A prey to the Worms a Captive to Death If thou depart my Candle is put out and I am left in the horrours of darkness I am thy House thy delightful habitation the House in which thou hast dwelt from the first moment of thy Creation and never lodgedst one Night in any other every Room in me hath one way or another been a Banquetting-room for thy entertainment a Room of pleasure all my Senses have been Purveyors for thy delight my Members have all of them been thine Instruments and Servants to execute thy Commands and Pleasure if thou and I part it must be in a showre thou shalt feel such pains such travelling throes such deep emphatical groans such Sweats such Agonies as thou never felt'st before For Death hath somewhat of anguish peculiar to it self and which is unknown though guessed at by the Living Beside when ever thou leavest me thou leavest all that is and hath been comfortable to thee in this World thy House shall know thee no more Iob 7.10 thy Lands thy Money thy Trade which hath cost thee so many careful thoughts and yielded thee so many Refreshments shall be thine no longer Death will strip thee out of all these and leave thee naked Thou hast also since thou becamest mine contracted manifold Relations in the World which I know are dear unto thee I know it by costly experience How hast thou made me to wear and wast my self in Labours Cares and Watchings for them But if thou wilt be gone all these must be left exposed God knows to what Wants Abuses and Miseries for I can do nothing for them or my self if once thou leave me Thus it charms and pleads thus it layeth as it were violent hands upon the Soul and saith O my Soul thou shalt not depart It hangs about it much as the Wife and Children of good Galeacius Carracciolus did about him when he was leaving Italy to go to Geneva a lively Emblem of the Case before us It saith to the Soul as Ioab did to David thou hast shamed my face this day in that thou lovest thine Enemy Death and hatest me thy friend O my Soul my Life my Darling my Dear and only one let nothing but unavoidable necessity part thee and me All this the Flesh can plead and a great deal more than this and that a thousand times more powerfully and feelingly than any words can plead the case And all its Arguments are backt by sense Sight and Feeling attest what Nature speaks II. The Pleas of Faith in behalf of Death Let us in the next place weigh the Pleas and Reasons which notwithstanding all this do overpower and prevail with the Believing Soul to be gone and quit its own Body and return no more to the Elementary World And thus the power of Faith and Love enable it to reply My dear Body the Companion and Partner of my Comforts and Troubles in the days of my Pilgrimage on earth great is my love and strong are the Bonds of my affections to thee Thou hast been tenderly yea excessively beloved by me my cares and fears for thee have been unexpressible and nothing but the love of Jesus Christ is strong enough to gain my consent to part with thee thy interest in my affections is great but as great as it is and as much as I prize thee I can shake thee off and thrust thee aside to go to Christ. Nor may this seem absurd or unreasonable considering that God never designed thee for a Mansion but only a temporary Tabernacle to me 't is true I have had some comfort during my abode in thee but I enjoyed those Comforts only in thee not from thee and many more I might have enjoyed hadst thou not been a snare and a clog to me 'T is thou that hast eaten up my time and distracted my thoughts ensnared my affections and drawn me under much sin and sorrow However though we may weep over each other as Accessories to the sins and miseries we have drawn upon our selves yet in this is our joint relief that the Blood of Christ hath cleansed us both from all sin And therefore I can part the more easily and comfortably from thee because I part in hope to receive and enjoy thee in a far better condition than I leave thee It is for both our interest to part for a time for mine because I shall thereby be freed and delivered from sin and sorrow and immediately obtain rest with God and the satisfaction of all my desires in his presence and enjoyment which there is no other way to obtain but by separation from thee and why should I live a groaning burthened restless life always to grantifie thy fond and irrational desires If thou lovedst me thou would'st rejoice and not repine at my happiness Parents willingly part with their Children at the greatest distance for their preferment how dearly soever they love them and dost thou envy or repine at mine I lived many Months a suffocating obscure life with thee in the Womb and neither thou nor I had ever tasted or experienced the Comforts of this World and the various Delights of sense if we had not cast the Secundine and strugled hard for an entrance into this World And now we are here alas though thou art contented to abide I live in thee but as we

more than all their subtil Notions of the accidental concretion of Atoms their materia subtilis and Anima Mundi and the rest of their unintelligible phancies could ever do The account Moses gives us in this context of the Origin of the World and of Man the Epitome of it is full of Sense Reason Congruity and Clearness and such as renders all the Essays of all the Heathen Philosophers to be vain inevident self-repugnant and inexplicable Theories The inspired Pen-man gives us in this context a Compendious Narrative of the Worlds Creation relating more generally the rude inform and indigested Chaos and then more particularly the specificating and diversifying of the various beautiful Beings thence educed by the motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters When the first Matter was strictly created out of Nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Motus commotus agitatus fuit no● s●mplicem motum denotat sed ejusm●di quam Columba peragit cum ovis ad 〈◊〉 c●udendum pullos inc●bat Rab. Sol. the Spirit as Moses excellently expresses it chap. 1. vers 2. hovered or moved over it as a bird over her Eggs and as it were by way of Incubation cherishing and influencing it did thereby draw forth all the creatures into their several forms and distinct particular natures wherein we now with delight and admiration behold them In this manner and order was the stately Fabrick of the World produced and erected but as yet it remained as a fair and well furnished house without an Inhabitant God had imployed infinite wisdom and power about it and ingraven his name upon the meanest creature in it but there was no creature yet made except Angels the inhabitants of another City to read the name and celebrate the praises of the Almighty Creatour He therefore thought the World imperfect till there was a Creature made that could contemplate praise and worship the Maker of it for this very use and purpose was man created that he might not only see but consider the things he saw discourse and rationally collect out of them the things he saw not and both praise and love the Maker for and in them all The Palaces of Princes are not beautified and adorned to the intent men should pay their respects and honours to the Walls but to shew the Grandeur and Magnificence of the King to whose person their honour is due as Athenagoras in his excellent * Est sanè palcherrimus hie mundus non ipse tamen mundus sed artificiosus ille condi●or adorandus est ut nequ● vestro Imperio subditi cum aliqua re indigent ut assequantur cum vos editrint omissi● vobis Dominis a● Principibus nulloque affectis honore ad Palatii ve●t●i magnifi●entia●●se convenant sed Aedificii regii tam elegantem structuram obitet pratereuntes admirati vos ipsos ante supraque omnia honorant Athen. Apol. Apology for the Christians speaks The World is a glorious and magnificent Pile raised designedly to exhibit the wisdom and power of its Creatour to the reasonable creature Man that from him God might receive the glory of all his other works Of this creature man the Master-piece of all the visible world and therefore crowned King over it the first moment he was made Psal. 8.5 Moses in the next place gives us the account both of his Original whence he came and of his Dignity what he is The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and man became a living Soul Where we find The Original I. Of the body of Man The Original II. Of the Soul of Man I. The Original of the body of Man Formed out of the dust of the ground Dust was its Original matter of Dust it was made and into Dust it must be resolved Gen. 3.19 The consideration is humbling and serves to tame the pride of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pulverem tenuissimam ad domandam saperbiam Fagius who is apt to dote upon his own beauty Mans body was not made of heavenly matter as the radiant Sun and sparkling Stars No nor yet of the most precious and Orient earthly matter God did not melt down the pure and splendid Gold and Silver or pouder the precious Pearls and sparkling Diamonds but he formed it of the vile and despicable Dust. We find that the sprinkling of dust upon new writing prevents many a foul blot I am sure the sprinkling of our Originary dust upon our minds by serious consideration is the way to prevent many a proud boast However the baseness of the matter and courseness of the stuffe serves to set off the admirable skill of the most wise and powerful Architect who out of such mean and despicable materials hath fashioned so exact and elegant a piece The Lord God formed man out of the Dust. The Lord God The name of God is here set down at full * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus Deus Nomen Dei hic plenum est propter hominis dignitatem Nachm to set forth the dignity of man the subject matter wrought upon as some conceive Formed Fashioned Pressit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Compressit per Metalepsin premendo comprimendo ●uxit formavit or curiously moulded and figured it The Hebrew verb primarily signifies to press compress or squeeze together and by a Metalepsis by pressing and compressing to mould or fashion as th●●●otter doth his Clay The Psalmist useth another word to express the. artificial elegancy of the body of man Psal. 139.15 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acupictus sum I am embroidered painted or flourished as with a needle We render it curiously wrought Whatsoever Beauty and comely proportion God hath bestowed by creation upon it Imagine● mente divina conceptam quasi manu format Fagius 't is all ●●swerable to that excellent Idea or model before conceived in his mind and purpose All this care and cost was bestowed upon the body of man which when all is done is but the Case in which that inestimable Jewel the Soul was to be lodged This therefore I must lay aside and come to the more noble Subject II. The Soul of Man About which we have before us four things to ponder in this Text viz. 1. The Nature and Property the Soul of Man 2. The Descent and Original the Soul of Man 3. The manner of Infusion the Soul of Man 4. The Nexus or bond that unites the Soul of Man 1. The Nature and Property of it a living Soul The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the Chaldee Naph-sha and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have one and the same Etymology all signifying to breathe or respire Not that the breath is the Soul but denoteing the manner of its Infusion by the breath of God and the means of its continuation in the body by the breath of our nostrils Gods breath infused it and our breath

Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word in thy heart so Matth. 9.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they spake within themselves i. e. they thought in their hearts Matth. 21.25 The Objects presented to the mind are the Companions with whom our hearts talk and converse Thoughts are the figments and Creatures of the mind They are formed within it in 〈◊〉 innumerable The power of cogitation is in the mind yea in the spirit of the mind * Phantasia m●nti offert phantasmata Picol The fancy indeed whilst the Soul is embodied ordinarily and for the most part presents the appearances and likenesses of things to the mind but yet it can form thoughts of things which the fancy can present no Image of as when † When we think of God saith ●●rx Tyr. Diss. 1. we must think of nothing material 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul thinks of God or of itself This power of cogitation goes with the Soul and is rooted in it when it is separated from the body and by it we speak to God and converse with Angels and other spirits in the unbodied State as will be more fully opened in the process of this Discourse 2. The Conscience belongs also to this faculty What Conscience is for it being the judgement of a man upon himself with respect or relation to the judgment of God it must needs belong to the understanding part or faculty Thoughts are formed in the speculative but Conscience belongs to the practical understanding Iudicium appello conscientiam ut ad intellect●m eam 〈◊〉 oste●●am Ames It is a very high and awful power it is solo Deo minor and rides as Ioseph did in the second Chariot The next and immediate Officer under God He saith of Conscience with respect to every man as he once said of Moses with respect to Pharaoh See I have made 〈◊〉 a God to Pharoah Exod. 7.1 The voice of Conscience is the voice of God for it is his Vicegerent and Representative What it binds on earth is bound in heaven and what it looseth on earth is loosed in heaven It observes records and bears witness to all our actions and acquits or condemns as in the name of God for them Its Consolations are most sweet and its Condemnations most terrible so terrible that some have chosen death which is the King of terrours rather than to endure the scorching heat of their own Consciences The greatest Deference and Obedience is due to its Commands And a man had better * Quas nos oportet mortes praeeligere quod non supplicium potius ferre immo i● quam profundam infe●ni Abyssum ●o● intra●e quàm co●tra conscientiam atte●tari Zuing● indure any rack or torture in the world than incur the torments of it It accompanies us as our shadow whereever we go and when all others forsake us as at death they will Conscience is then with us and is never more active and vigorous than at that time Nor doth it forsake us after death but where the Soul goes it goes and will be its Companion in the other world for ever How glad would the Damned be if they might but have left their Consciences behind them when they went hence but as Bernard rightly * Ipsa judicat ipsa imperat ipsa observat ipsa judicat ipsa to●to● ipsa carcer Bern. lib. de Conse cap. 9. It is both Witness Judge Tormentor and Prison it accuseth judgeth punisheth and condemneth And thus briefly of the understanding which hath many Offices and as many names from those Offices It is sometimes called Wit Reason Vnderstanding Opinion Iudgment And why we bestow so many names upon one and the same faculty the learned Author of that small but excellent † Nosce Teipsum p. 48 49. Tract de Anima gives us this true and ingenious account THe Wit the Pupil of the Souls clear eye And in mans world the only shining Star Looks in the Mirroir of the Phantasie Where all the gatherings of the Senses are And after by discoursing to and fro Anticipating and Comparing things She doth all universal natures know And all Effects into their Causes brings When she rates things and moves from ground to ground The name of Reason she obtains by this But when by reason she the truth hath found And standeth fixt she Understanding is When her Assent she lightly doth incline To either part she is Opinion light But when she doth by principles define A Certain truth she hath true Judgements fight And as from Senses Reasons work doth spring So many Reasons Vnderstanding gain And many Vnderstandings Knowledge bring And by much Knowledge Wisdom we obtain VI. 6 Endued with a Will What the Will is God hath endued the Soul of man not only with an Vnderstanding to discern and direct but also with a Will to govern moderate and over-rule the actions of Life The Will is a faculty of the rational Soul whereby a man either chuseth or refuseth the things which the understanding discerns and knows This is a very high and noble power of the Soul The understanding seems to bear the same relation to the Will as a grave Counsellour doth to a great Prince It glories in two excellencies viz 1. Liberty 2. Dominion 1. It hath Freedom and Liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno. it cannot be compelled and forced Coaction is repugnant to its very nature In this it differs from the understanding that the understanding is wrought upon necessarily but the will acts spontaneously This Liberty of the Will respects the choice or refusal of the means for attaining those ends it prosecutes according as it finds them more or less conducible thereunto The Liberty of the Will must be understood to be in things natural which are within its own proper sphere not in things supernatural It can move or not move the Body as it pleases but it cannot move towards Christ in the way of faith as it pleaseth it can open or shut the hand or eye at its pleasure but not the heart True indeed it is not compelled or forced to turn to God by supernatural grace but in a way sutable to its nature it is determined and drawn to Christ Psal. 1.10.3 It is drawn by a mighty power and yet runs freely Cant. 1.4 Draw me we will run after thee Efficacious grace and victorious Delight is a thing very different from compulsive force Pelagiu● as a late * Dr. Manton in Psal. 119. v. 36. Author speaks at first gave all to nature acknowledged no necessity of divine grace but when this proud Doctrine found little countenance he called nature by the name of grace And when that deceit was discovered he acknowledged no other grace but outward instruction or the benefit of external revelation to discourse and put men in mind of their duty Being yet driven farther he acknowledged the grace of Pardon and before a man could do any thing

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 eminenter 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 believers 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 many fond conceits and gross mistakes 5. This supposition overthrows the Doctrine of the Resurrection which is the consolation of Christians We according to the Scripture believe that after death hath divorced our Souls and Bodies for a time they shall meet again 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 natural 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 better accommodated and have a more comfortable habitation in their Bodies than now they have 1 Cor. 15.42 43. seeing they shall be made like unto Christ's glorious Body Phil. 3.21 And that then we shall live after the manner of Angels 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 Imaginable 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 rewards and punishments to be bestowed and awarded to all men in that day cannot be just and equal for we believe according 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 considerable 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 forgotten God registers it in his Book in order to the day of account 2 We believe that God hath appointed a day in which all men shall appear before his judgment seat to give an account 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 Immortality and how the contrary supposition overthrows our Faith Duties and Comforts Yet all this notwithstanding how apt are we to suspect this Doctrine and remain 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 moment in Religion For these being proper Arbiters and Judges in other matters within their Sphere they are arrogant and we easy enough to admit them to be Arbiters also in things that are quite above them hence come such plausible objections as these Object 1. 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 immediately vanishes into air and is lost Sol. 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 questionable 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 Object 2. 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 Sol. 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 consequence 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

Earnests and Pledges of joy but when it is unbodied it receives the full summ Psal. 16.11 In thy presence is the fulness of joy This fulness of joy is not to be expected because not to be supported in this World The joy of Heaven would quickly make the hoops of Nature flie When a good man had but a little more than ordinary of the joy of the Lord poured into his Soul he was heard to cry Hold Lord hold thy poor Creature is but a clay Vessel and can hold no more These Pleasures the Soul hath in the Body are of the same kind indeed with those in Heaven but are exceeding short of them in divers other respects 1. The Spiritual Pleasures the Soul hath in the Body are but by reflection but those it enjoys out of the Body are by immediate intuition 1 Cor. 13.12 now in a glass then face to face 2. The Pleasures it hath now though they be of a Divine nature yet they are relished by the vitiated Appetite of a sick and distempered Soul the embodied Soul is diseased and sickly it hath many Distempers hanging about it Now we know the most pleasant things lose much of their pleasure to a sick man the separate Soul is made perfect throughly cured of all Diseases restored to its perfect health and consequently Divine Pleasures must needs have an higher gust and relish in Heaven than ever they had on earth 3. The Pleasures of a Gracious Soul on earth are but rare and seldom meeting with many and long interruptions and many of them occasioned by the Body which often calls down the Soul to attend its Necessities and converse with things of a far different nature But from these and all other ungrateful and prejudicial Avocations the separated Soul is discharged and set free So that its whole Eternity is spent in the highest Delights 4. The highest Pleasures of a Gracious Soul in the Body are but the Pleasures of an uncentred Soul which is still gravitating and striving forward and consequently can be but low and very imperfect in comparison with those it enjoys when it is centred and fixed in its everlasting Rest. They differ as the shadow of the Labourer for an hour in the day from his Rest in his Bed when his Work is ended 5. To conclude The Pleasures it hath here are but the Pleasures of Hope and Expectation which cannot bear any proportion to those of sight and full fruition O see the advantages of an unbodied state PROP. X. That Gracious Souls separate from the Body do attain to the perfection of knowledge with more ease than they attained any small degree of knowledge whilst they dwelt in the Body GReat are the Inconveniences and Prejudices under which Souls labour in their Pursuits after knowledge in this life Veritas in puteo Truth lies deep And it is hard even with much labour pains and study to pump up one clear Notion for the Soul cannot now act as it would but is fain to act as it can according to the Limitations and Permissions of the Body to which it is confined by heedful Observations and painful Searches it is forced to deduce one thing from another and is too often deceived and imposed upon by such tedious and manifold Connections Beside Truth now is forced in compliance with our weakness and distance from the Fountain to descend from Heaven under Vails Shadows and Umbrages thereby to contract some kind of Affinity with our Fancies and exterior Senses first that so it may with more advantage transmit it self to our Understandings Lumen supremum nunquam descendit sine indumento impossibile est aliter nobis lucere radium divinum nisi varietate Sacro●um velaminum circumvelatum Dionys. Areop de celoest hier cap. It must come under some vail or other to us whilst we are vailed with Mortality because the Soul cannot behold it in its native lustre nor converse otherwise with it And hence it was that Augustin made his rational Conjecture Why Men use to be so much delighted with Metaphors because they are so much proportioned to our Senses with which our reason in this embodied state hath contracted such an Intimacy and Familiarity But when the Soul lays aside its veil of Flesh Truth also puts off her veil and shews the Soul her naked beautiful and ravishing face It thenceforth beholds all truth in God the fountain of Truth There are five ways by which men attain the knowledge of God say the Schools four of which the Soul makes use of in this World but the fifth which is the most perfect is reserved for the separate state Men discern God here 1 In vestigio by his foot-steps in the Works of Creation God hath imprest the marks of his Wisdom and Power upon the Creatures by which impressions we do discern that God hath been there Thus the very Heathen arrive to some knowledge of a God Rom. 1.20 Acts 17.24 27. 2 In Vmbra by his shadow if you see the shadow of a man you guess at his Stature and Dimensions thereby Thus Christ made some discovery of himself to the World in the Mosaical Ceremonies and ancient Types and Umbrages Heb. 10.1 3 In Speculo in a Glass This gives us a much clearer representation of a person than either his foot-steps or shadow could This is an imperfect or darker Vision of his face by way of reflection And thus God is seen in his Word and Ordinances wherein as in a glass we behold the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 4 In Filio In his own Son who is the living Image and express Character of his Father Thus sometimes we see a Child so lively representing his Father in Speech Gate Gesture and every Lineament of his face that we may say Sic Oculos sic ille Manus sic Ora ferebat Just so his Father spake so he went and just such an one he was Thus we know God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 who is the express image of his Father Heb. 1.3 and Iohn 14 9. This is the highest way of attaining the knowledge of God in this Life but then in the unbodied state we see him 5. Face to face with a direct vision This is to see him as he is The Believer is a Candidate for this degree now but cannot be invested with it till divested of this Body of flesh Yet the Soul when unbodied and made perfect attaineth not to a comprehensive knowledg of God for it will still remain a finite being and so cannot comprehend that which is infinite That question Iob 11.7 Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection may be put to the highest Graduate in Heaven And yet 1. To see God face to face and know him as he is will be a knowledge of the Divine Essence it self To see the Divine Essence is to see God as he is i. e. to see him so perfectly and fully that the understanding can proceed no farther

of their torment in Hell Rev. 18.7 so much torment and sorrow as there was delight and pleasure in sin 4. To conclude the pleasures of sin are but for a season as you read Heb. 11.25 but the wrath of God in Hell is for ever and ever There is a time when the pleasures of sin cannot be called pleasure to come but the Wrath of God that will still be wrath to come O consider for what a trifle you sell your Souls When Lysimachus parted with his Kingdom for a draught of water he said when he had drank it For how short a pleasure have I sold a Kingdom And Ionathan lamented 1 Sam. 14.43 I tasted but a little Honey and I must die Satan would not charm so powerfully as he doth with the pleasures of sin if this point were well believed and heartily applied Inference III. WHat a matchless madness is it to cast the Soul into Gods Prison to save the Body out of Mans Prison Men have their Prisons and God hath his but because the one is an Object of Sense and the other an Object of Faith that only is feared and this slighted all over this unbelieving World except by a very small number of men who tremble at the Word of God Now this I say is the height of madness and will appear to be so in a just Collation of both in a few Particulars 1 Mans Prison restrains the Body only Gods Prison Soul and Body Matt. 10.28 The Spirits of Men as my Text speaks are the Prisoners there O what a vast odds doth this single difference make A thousand times more than the captivating and binding of the greatest King or Emperour differs from the imprisonment of a poor Mechanick or Vagrant Beggar 2 In Mans Prison there are many comforts and unspeakable refreshments from Heaven but in Gods Prison none but the direct contrary You read of the Apostles Acts 16.25 how they sang in the Prison the Spirit of God made them a Banquet of heavenly Ioys and they could not but sing at it though their feet were in the stocks their Spirits were never more at liberty Algerius dated his Letters from the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison where saith he flows the sweetest Nectar Another tells us Christ was always kind to him but since he became a Prisoner for him he even overcame himself in kindness I verily think saith he the Chains of my Lord are all overlaid with pure Gold and his Cross perfumed but the worst terrours of the Prisoners in Hell come from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes. 1.9 God is a terrour to them 3 The cause for which a man is cast into Prison by men may be his D●ty and so his Conscience must be at least quiet if not joyful in such Sufferings So it was with Paul Acts 28.20 For the hope of Israel am I bound with this Chain This diffuses Joy and Peace through the Conscience into the whole man but the cause for which men are cast into Gods Prison is their sin and guilt which armes their own Consciences against them and makes them as you heard before Self-tormentors terrours to themselves What odds is here 4 In Mans Prison the most excellent Company and sweet Society may be found Paul and Silas were fellow Prisoners In Queen Maries days the most excellent Company to be found in England was in the Prisons Prisons were turned into Churches But in Gods Prison no better Society is to be found than that of Devils and damned Reprobates Matth. 25.41 5 In Mans Prison there is hope of a comfortable deliverance but in Gods Prison none Matt. 5.26 Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the last Mite 'T is an everlasting Prison Compare these few obvious Particulars and judge then what is to be thought of that man who stands readier to cast himself into any guilt than into the least Suffering What is it but as if a man should offer his Neck to the Sword to save his hand The Lord convince us what trifles our Estates Liberties and Lives are to our Souls or to the peace and purity of our Consciences Inference IV. WHat an invaluable mercy is the pardon of sin which sets the Soul out of all danger of going to this prison When the debt is satisfied a man may walk as boldly before the prison door as he doth before his own they that owe nothing fear no Bayliffs 'T is the Law as I said before that commits men to Prison a Mittimus is but an instrument of Law but the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them that believe Rom. 8.4 Yea they are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 There can be no process of Law against them For who shall condemn when it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 34. And that divine justice might be no bar to our faith or comfort he adds It is Christ that died and yet farther to assure us that his death hath made plenary satisfaction to God for all our sins and debts it added Yea rather that is risen again q. d. If the debts of believers to God were not fully paid and satisfied for by the blood of Christ how comes it to pass that our Surety is discharged as by his Resurrection he appears to be O Believer thy Bonds are Cancelled the hand-writing that was against thee is nailed to the Cross the blood of Christ hath done that for thee that all the Gold and Silver in the World could not do 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It is a counter price 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e●t pretium ex adverso respondent fully answering to thy debts Matth. 20.28 And hence to the Eternal joy of thy heart result three properties of thy pardon which are able to make thine eyes gush out with tears of joy whilst thou art reading of it 1. It is a free pardon to thy Soul though it cost Christ dear it costs thee nothing We have redemption even the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 The project of it was Gods not thine the price for it was Christs blood not thine the glory and riches of free grace are illustriously displayed in thy forgiveness 2. It is as full as it is free a compleat and perfect cause produceth a compleat and perfect effect Acts 13.39 Iustified from all things what ever thy sins be for nature number or circumstances of aggravation they cannot exceed the value of the meritorious cause of Remission The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin 3. It must be as firm as it is free and full even an irrevocable pardon for ever more Christ did not shed his blood at an hazzard the way of justification by faith makes the promise sure Rom. 4 16. The justified shall never come again under condemnation O the unspeakable joy that flows from this Spring O the triumphs of faith upon this foundation It is not ravishing melting overwhelming and amazing