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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

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of the state of his Soul and then of the life to come and the manner of its being and living in Heaven in the views of all those things which are now pure Objects of Faith and Hope After a while he perceived his thoughts begin to fix and come closer to these great and astonishing things than was usual and as his mind setled upon them his affections began to rise with answerable liveliness and vigour He therefore whilst he was yet Master of his own thoughts lifted up his heart to God in a short Ejaculation that God would so order it in his Providence that he might meet with no interruption from Company or any other Accident in that Journey which was granted him for in all that days journey he neither met overtook or was overtaken by any Thus going on his way his thoughts began to swell and rise higher and higher like the waters in Ezekiel's Vision till at last they became an overflowing flood Such was the intention of his mind such the ravishing tastes of heavenly Joys and such the full assurance of his interest therein that he utterly lost the sight and sense of this World and all the concerns thereof and for some hours knew no more where he was than if he had been in a deep sleep upon his Bed At last he began to perceive himself very faint and almost choaked with blood which running in abundance from his Nose had discoloured his Cloaths and his Horse from the Shoulder to the Hoof. He found himself almost spent and nature to faint under the pressure of joy unspeakable and unsupportable and at last perceiving a Spring of water in his way he with some difficulty alighted to cleanse and cool his face and hands which were drenched in Blood Tears and Sweat By that Spring he sate down and washed earnestly desiring if it were the pleasure of God that might be his parting place from this World He said Death had the most aimable face in his eye that ever he beheld except the face of Jesus Christ which made it so and that he could not remember though he believed he should die there that he had one thought of his dear Wi●e or Children or any other earthly Concernment But having drank of that Spring his Spirits revived the Blood stenched and he mounted his Horse again and on he went in the same frame of Spirit till he had finished a Journey of near thirty Miles and came at Night to his Inn. Where being come he greatly admired how he came thither that his Horse without his direction had brought him thither and that he fell not all that day which past not without several Trances of considerable continuance Being alighted the Inn-keeper came to him with some astonishment being acquainted with him formerly O Sir said he what is the matter with you You look like a dead man Friend replied he I was never better in my life Shew me my Chamber cause my Cloak to be cleansed burn me a little Wine and that is all I desire of you for present Accordingly it was done and a Supper sent up which he could not touch but requested of the people they would not trouble or disturb him for that Night All this Night passed without one wink of sleep though he never had a sweeter Nights rest in all his life Still still the joy of the Lord overflowed him and he seemed to be an Inhabitant of the other World The next Morning being come he was early on Horse-back again fearing the Divertisements in the Inn might bereave him of his joy for he said it was now with him as with a man that carries a rich treasure about him who suspects every Passenger to be a Thief but within a few hours he was sensible of the ebbing of the Tyde and before Night though there was an heavenly serenity and sweet peace upon his Spirit which continued long with him yet the Transports of joy were over and the fine edge of his delight blunted He many years after called that day one of the days of Heaven and professed he understood more of the life of Heaven by it than by all the Books he ever read or Discourses he ever entertained about it This was indeed an extraordinary foretast of Heaven for degree but it came in the ordinary way and method of Faith and Meditation 2. There are also immediate Illapses of Heavenly joy into the hearts of Believers at some times of which we may speak as the Prophet doth of the Dew and Rain that it tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men a surprizing light and joy like that Cant. 6.12 Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab There is a witness of the Spirit distinct from that of Water and Blood 1 Iohn 5.8 that is a witness or sealing which comes not in an Argumentative way by reasoning from either justification or sanctification But seems to come immediately from the Spirit I know both sorts of Testimones how clear and sweet soever they are for the present are liable afterwards to be call'd into question but certainly during the abode of them upon the Soul they are no less than a short Salvation a real participation of the joy of the Lord. And that which makes them so ravishing and transporting is 1 The infinite weight with which the concerns of Eternity lie upon the hearts and thoughts of the People of God nothing lies so near to their Spirits in all the World as the Matters of Salvation do and have still done ever since God throughly awakened them in their first effectual Conviction Nec calor nec sanguis nec sensus nec vox superesset Ep. ad Melanct. 'T is said of Luther there was such a strong impression of God upon his Spirit in his first Conviction that there was neither Heat nor Blood nor Sense nor Speech discernable in him though it rise to that height but in few yet it settles in a deep serious and most solemn sense and Solicitude in all This heightens the Joy 2 The restlessness of the Soul whilst Matters of Salvation hang in a dubious sense must needs proportionably overflow it with joy when God shall clear it It was the Saying of one and is the sense of many more I have born said she seven Children and they have all cost me dear yet could I be well content to bear them all over again for one glimpse of the Love of God to my Soul This heightens the joy above expression And now having explained the substance of the Doctrine in these twelve Propositions it remains that as a Mantissa or Cast upon the whole I farther clear what belongs to this Subject in the Solution of several Queries about the Soul in its unbodied and separate state and though the Nature of some of these Queries may seem too curious yet I shall labour to speak according to the rules of Sobriety and contain my self within
Soul may be evinced from the everlasting habits which are subjected and inherent in it If these habits abide for ever certainly so must the Souls in which they are planted The Souls of good Men are the good Ground in which the Seed of Grace is sown by the Spirit Matth. 13.23 i. e the subjects in which gracious properties and affections do inhere and dwell which is the formal notion of a Substance and these implanted Graces are everlasting things So Iohn 4.14 It shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into everlasting Life i. e. the Graces of the Spirit shall be in Believers permanent habits fixed Principles which shall never decay And therefore that Seed of Grace which is cast into their Souls at their Regeneration is in 1 Pet. 1.23 called incorruptible Seed which liveth and abideth for ever and it is incorruptible not only considered abstractly in its own simple nature but concretely as it is in the sanctified Soul its Subject for it is said 1 Iohn 3.9 The Seed of God remaineth in him It abideth for ever in the Soul If then these two things be clear to us viz. 1. That the Habits of Grace be everlasting 2. That they are inseparable from sanctified Souls It must needs follow that the Soul their Subject is so too an everlasting and immortal Soul And how plainly do both these Propositions lie before us in the Scriptures As for the immortal and interminable nature of saving Grace it is plain to him that considers not only what the fore cited Scriptures speak about it calling it incorruptible Seed a Well of Water springing up into everlasting life But add to these what is said of these Divine qualities in 2 Pet. 1.4 where they are called the Divine Nature and Ephes. 4.18 The life of God noting the perpetuity of these Principles in Believers as well as their resemblance of God in Holiness who are endowed with them I know it is a great question among Divines An gratia in renatis sit naturà essentià suà interminabilis Whether these Principles of Grace in the Regenerate be everlasting and interminable in their own nature and essence For my own part I think that God only is naturally essentially and absolutely interminable and immortal But these gracious Habits planted by him in the Soul are so by vertue of Gods Appointment Promise and Covenant And sure it is that by reason hereof they are interminate which is enough for my purpose if they be not essentially interminable Though Grace be but a Creature and therefore hath a pesse mori yet it is a Creature begotten by the Word and Spirit of God which live and abide for ever and a Creature within the Promise and Covenant of God by reason whereof it can never actually dye And then as for the inseparableness of these Graces from the Souls in whom they are planted how clear is this from 1 Iohn 2.27 where sanctifying Grace is compared to an Unction and this Unction is said to abide in them And 1 Iohn 3.9 't is called the Seed of God which remaineth in the Soul All our natural and moral Excellencies and Endowments go away when we dye Iob 4.21 Doth not their Excellency that is in them go away Men may out-live their acquired Gifts but not their supernatural Graces These stick by the Soul as Ruth to Naomi and where it goes they go too so that when the Soul is dislodged by Death all its Graces ascend up with it into Glory it carries away all its Faith Love Delight in God all its comfortable experiences and fruits of Communion with God along with it to Heaven For Death is so far from divesting the Soul of its Graces that it perfects in a Moment all that was defective in them 1 Cor. 13.10 When that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be done away as the Twilight is done away when the Sun is up and at its Zenith So then Grace never dyeth and this never-dying Grace is inseparable from its Subject by which it is plain to him that considers That as Graces so Souls abide for ever But this only proves the Immortality of regenerate Souls Object It doth so Sol. but then consider as there be gracious habits in the regenerate that never dye so there are vicious habits in the unregenerate that can never be separated from them in the world to come Hence Iohn 8.21 They are said to dye in their sins and Iob 20.11 Their iniquities ly down with them in the dust and Ezek. 24.13 They shall never be purged Remarkable is that place Revel 22. v. 11. Let him that is filthy be filthy still And if guilt stick so fast and sin be so deeply engraven in impenitent Souls they also must remain for ever to bear the punishment of them Argument V. THE Immortality of the Soul of Man may be evinced from the Dignity of Man above all other Creatures Angels only excepted and his Dominion over them all In this the Scriptures are clear that Man is the Master-piece of all Gods other work Psal. 8.5 6. For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou hast made him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet Other Creatures were made for his service and he is crowned King over them all One Man is of more worth than all the inferiour Creatures But wherein is his Dignity and excellency above all other Creatures if not in respect of the capacity and immortality of his Soul Sure it can be found no where else for as to the Body many of the Creatures excel man in the perfections of Sense greatness of Strength agility of Members c. Nos Aper auditu praecellit aranea tactu vultur odoratu linx visu simia gustu And for beauty Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed like one of the Lilies of the Field The Beasts and Fowls enjoy more pleasure and live divested of those cares and cumbers which perplex and wear out the lives of men It cannot be in respect of bodily perfections or pleasures that man excels other Creatures If you say he excels them all in respect of that noble endowment of Reason which is peculiar to man and his singular excellency above them all 'T is true this is his glory but if you deprive the reasonable Soul of Immortality you despoil it of all both its glory and comfort and put the reasonable into a worse condition than the unreasonable and brutish Creatures for if the Soul may dye with the Body and man perish as the Beast happier is the life of the Beast which is perplexed with no cares nor fears about futurities our Reason serves to little other purpose but to be an engine of Torture a meer Rack to our Souls Certainly the Priviledge of Man doth not consist in that as abstracted from
Neighbourhood and yet saith I believe the grace and fear of God was in him for when he heard any to swear or take the Name of God in vain he would throw stones at them and shew his indignation against sin by all the signs he could make 2. You that are so grosly ignorant in the matters of your Salvation are many of you very knowing prudent and subtle persons in the affairs of the world Luke 16.8 The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light Had those parts which you have been improved and heightned by study and observation about spirituals as they have been about earthly things you had neither been so ignorant or dead-hearted as you are you might have been as well verst in your Bibles as you are in the Almanacks you yearly buy and study you might have understood the proper seasons of Salvation as well as of Husbandry The great and necessary points on which your Salvation depends are not so many or so abstruse and intricate but your plain and inartificial heads might have understood them and that with less pains than you have been at for your bodies What though you cannot comprehend the subtleties of Shoolmen you may apprehend the Essentials of Christianity If you cannot strictly and scholastically define Faith what hinders if your hearts were set upon Christ and Salvation but you may feel it which is more than many learned men do that can define and dispute about it You cannot put an Argument in Mood and Figure no matter if you can by comparing your Bibles and hearts together draw savingly and experimentally this conclusion I am in Christ and my sins are pardoned You cannot determine whether Faith goes before Repentance or Repentance before Faith but for all that you might feel both the one and the other upon your own Souls which is infinitely better 'T is not therefore your incapacity but negligence and worldiness that is your ruine 3. How many are there of your own rank order and education all whose external advantages and helps you have and all your incumbrances and discouragements they had who yet have attain'd to an excellent degree of saving knowledge and heavenly wisdom How often have I heard such spiritual savoury experimental Truths in Conference and Prayer from plain Rusticks such spiritual Reasonings about the great concerns of Salvation such judicious and satisfying resolutions of Cases depending upon the sensible and experimental part of Religion as hath humbled convinced and shamed me and made me say Surgunt indocti c. these are the men that will take Heaven from the proud and scornful Ingeniosi of the World not many wise not many learned and acute many knowing and learned heads are in Hell and many illiterate and weak ones gone to Heaven and others in the way thither who never had better education stronger parts or more leisure than your selves so that you are without excuse 4. To conclude Would you heartily seek it of God and would the Spirit which he hath promised to give them that ask him become your Teacher how soon would the light of the saving knowledge of God in the face of Christ shine into your hearts No matter how ignorant dull and weak the Scholar be if God once become the Teacher You are not able to purchase or want time to read many Books but if once you were sanctified persons the anointing you would receive from the Father would teach you all things 1 Ioh. 2.27 your own hearts would serve you for a Commentary upon a great part of the Bible it would make you of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord one drop of your knowledge would be more worth than all learned Arts and Sciences in the world to you And is God so far from you and his illuminating Spirit at such a distance that there is no hope for you to find him Is there never a private corner about your Houses or Barns or in the fields where you can turn aside if it be but a quarter of an hour at a time to pour out your Souls to God and beg the Spirit of him Miserable Wretch is thy whole life such a cumber and clatter of cares and puzzles about the World that thou hast no leisure to mind God Soul or Eternity O doleful state the Lord in mercy pity and awaken thee Wilt thou not once strive and struggle to save thy Soul What perish as it were by consent how great then is thy blindness The third way to Hell discovered Quam frigida jejuna sit eorum desensio qui exemplo c. potentiorum se tutos pu 〈…〉 Jun. Pa●●● lib. 2. III. A vast multitude of precious Souls are lost for ever by following the Examples and being carried away with the course of this World 'T is indeed a poor excuse a silly Argument that the multitude do as we do yet as Iunius rightly observes Mens Consciences take Sanctuary here and they think themselves safe in it for thus they reason If I do as the generality do Argumentum turpissimum est turba Seneca I shall speed no worse than they speed and certainly God is more merciful than to suffer the greatest part of Mankind to perish they resolve to follow the beaten road let it lead whither it will Thus the Ephesians in their unregenerate state walked according to the course of this world Eph. 2.2 and the Corinthians were carried away unto dumb Idols even as they were led 1 Cor. 12.2 just as a drop of water is carried and moved according to the course and current of the Tide For look as every drop of water in the Sea is of one and the same common nature so are all carnal and unsanctified persons and as these waters being collected into one vast body in the Ocean unite their strength and make a strong current this way or that so doth the whole collective body of the unregenerate World all the particular drops move as the Tide moveth Hence they are said to have received the spirit of the world 1 Cor. 2.12 one common Spirit or Principle acts and rules them all and therefore they must needs be carried away in the same course And there are two special considerations that seem to determine them by a kind of necessity to do as the multitude do the one is that they find it the easiest and most commodious way to the flesh here they meet with quietness and safety hereby they are exempt from reproaches losses persecutions and distresses for Conscience sake rest is sweet and here only they think to find it The other is the prejudice of singularity and manifold tribulations they see that little handful that walk counter to the course of the World involved in this startles them from their company and fixes them where they are Against such sensible Arguments it is to no more purpose to oppose spritual Considerations motives drawn from the safety of the Soul
of Birds Beasts and Plants indeed any thing rather than their own Souls which are certainly the most excellent Creatures that inhabit this World They know the true value and worth of other things but are not able to estimate the dignity of that high-born Spirit which is within them A Spirit which without the addition of any more natural Faculties or Powers if those it hath be but sanctified and devoted to God is capable of the highest Perfections and Fruitions even compleat Conformity to God and the satisfying Visions of God throughout eternity They Herd themselves with Beasts who are capable of an equality with Angels O what compassionate tears must such a consideration as this draw from the eyes of all that understand the worth of Souls As for me it hath been my sin and is now the matter of my Sorrow that whilst Myriads of Souls of no higher Original than mine are some of them beholding the highest Majesty in Heaven and others giving all diligence to make sure their Salvation on earth I was carried away so many years in the course of this World like a drop with the Current of the Tide wholly forgetting my best self my invaluable Soul whilst I prodigally wasted the stores of my time and thoughts upon Vanities that long since passed away as the waters which are remembred no more * Nec enim pudet Sancto● viros postquam renovata corda fuerint per resipiscentiam lapsus sui dedecoris ad dei gloriam meminisse Nihil nobis decedit quod cedit in illius honorem qui praeteritis peccatis nostris ab inferno nos transfert in Coelum Brightman in Cantic p. 12. It shall be no shame to me to confess this folly since the matter of my Confession shall go to the glory of my God I studied to know many other things but I knew not my self It was with me as with a Servant to whom the Master commits two things viz. The Child and the Child's Clothes the Servant is very careful of the Clothes washes and brushes starches and steels them and keeps them safe and clean but the Child is forgotten and lost My Body which is but the Garment of my Soul I kept and nourished with excessive care but my Soul was long forgotten and had been lost for ever as others daily are had not God rouz'd it by the Convictions of his Spirit out of that deep Oblivion and deadly slumber When the God that formed it out of free grace to the work of his own hands had thus recovered it to a sense of its own worth and danger my next work was to get it united with Christ and thereby secured from wrath to come Which I found to be a work of difficulty to effect if it be yet effected and a work of time to clear though but to the degree of good hope through grace And since the hopes and evidences of Salvation began to spring up in my Soul and settle the state thereof I found these three great words viz. Christ Soul and Eternity to have a far different and more awful sound in my ear than ever they used to have I looked on them from that time as things of greatest certainty and most awful Solemnity These things have lain with some weight upon my thoughts and I have felt at certain seasons a strong inclination to sequester my self from all other Studies and spend my last days and most fixed Meditations upon these three great and weighty Subjects I know the subject matter of my Studies and Enquiries be it never so weighty doth not therefore make my Meditations and Discourses upon it great and weighty Nor am I such a vain Opiniona●or as to imagine my Discourses every way suitable to the dignity of such Subjects No no the more I think and study about them the more I discern the indistinctness darkness crudity and confusion of my own conceptions and expressions of such great and transcendent things as those But In magnis voluisse sat est I resolved to do what I could and accordingly some years past I finished and published in two parts the Doctrine of Christ and by the acceptation and success the Lord gave that He hath encouraged me to go on in this Second part of my work how unequal soever my Shoulders are to the burden of it The Nature Original Immortality and Capacity of mine own Soul for the present lodged in and related to this vile Body destinated to Corruption Together with its Existence Imployment Perfection Converse with God and other Spirits both of its own and of a Superiour Rank and Order when it shall as I know it shortly must put off this its Tabernacle These things have a long time been the matters of my limited desires to understand so far as I could see the Pillar of fire God in his Word enlightening my way to the knowledge of them Yea such is the value I have for them that I have given them the next place in my esteem to the knowledge of Iesus Christ and my interest in him God hath formed me as he hath other men a prospecting Creature I feel my self yet uncentred and short of that state of rest and satisfaction to which my Soul in its Natural and Spiritual Capacity hath a Designation I find that I am in a continual motion towards my everlasting abode and the expence of my time and many Infirmities tell me I am not far from it By all which I am strongly prompted to look forward and acquaint my self as much as I can with my next place state and imployment I look with a greedy and inquisitive eye that way Yet would I not be guilty of an unwarrantable Curiosity in searching into unrevealed things how willing soever I am to put up my head by faith into the World above and to know the things which Iesus Christ hath purchased and prepared for me and all the rest that are waiting for his appearance and Kingdom I feel my Curiosity checked and repressed by that Elegant Paronomasia Rom. 12.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all things I would be wise unto Sobriety I groan under the effects of Adam's itching Ambition to know and would not by repeating his sin increase my own misery Nor yet would I be scared by his Example into the contrary evil of neglecting the means God hath afforded me to know all that I can know of his revealed Will. * Cui ●ni● veritas com●erta sine Deo Cui Deus cognitus sine Christo Cui Christus exploratus sine Spiritu Cui Spiritus ●ccommodatus sine fide Tertul de Anima The helps Philosophy affords in some parts of this Discourse are too great to be despised and too small to be admired I confess I read the Definitions of the Soul given by the Ancient Philosophers with a Compassionate smile When Thales calls it a Nature without Repose Asclepiades an Exercitation of sense Hesiod a thing composed of Earth and Water Parmenides
a thing composed of Earth and Fire Galen saith it is heat Hippocrates a Spirit diffused throughout the Body Plato a Self-moving Substance Aristotle calls it Entelechia that by which the Body is moved If my Opinion should be asked which of all these Definitions I like best I should give the same Answer which Theocritus gave to an ill Poet repeating many of his Verses and asking which he liked best Those said he which you have omitted Or if they must have the Garland as the prize they have shot for let them have it upon the same reason that was once given to him that always shot wide Difficilius est toties non attingere Because it was the greatest difficulty to aim so often at the Mark and never come near it One Word of God gives me more light than a thousand such laborious trifles As Caesar was best able to write his own Commentaries so God only can give the best account of this his own Creature on which he hath impressed his own Image Modern Philosophers assisted by the Divine Oracles must needs come closer to the Mark and give us a far better account of the nature of the Soul Yet I have endeavoured not to cloud this Subject with their Controversies or abstruse Notions remembring what a smart but deserved check Tertullian gives those Qui Platonicum Aristotelicum Christianismum procudunt Christianis Words are but the Servants of Matter I value them as Merchants do their Ships not by the gilded Head and Stern the neatness of their Mould or curious Flags and Streamers but by the soundness of their Bottoms largeness of their Capacity and richness of their Cargoe and loading The quality of this Subject necessitates in many places the use of Scholastick terms which will be obscure to the Vulgar Reader but apt and proper words must not be rejected for their obscurity except plainer words could be found that fit the Subject as well and are as fully expressive of the matter The unnecessary I have avoided and the rest explained as I could The principal fruits I especially aim at both to my own and the Readers Soul are that whilst we contemplate the freedom pleasure and satisfaction of that Spiritual Incorporeal People who dwell in the Region of light and joy and are hereby forming to our selves a true Scriptural Idea of the blessed state of those disembodied Spirits with whom we are to serve and converse in the Temple-worship in Heaven and come more explicitely and distinctly to understand the Constitution Order and Delightful imployment of those our everlasting Associates We may answerably feel the fond and inordinate love of this Animal life subacted and wrought down the frightful Vizard of death drop off and a more pleasing Aspect appear that no upright Soul that shall read these Discourses may henceforth be convuls'd at the name of death but chearfully aspire and with a pleasant expectation wait for the blessed season of its transportation to that blessed Assembly 'T is certainly our ignorance of the life of Heaven that makes us dote as we do upon the present life There is a gloom a thick Mist overspreading the next life and hiding even from the eyes of Believers the glory that is there We send forth our thoughts to penetrate this Cloud but they return to us without the desired success We reinforce them with a Sally of new and more vigorous thoughts but still they come back in confusion and disappointment as to any perfect account they can bring us from thence though the oftner and closer we think the more still we grow up into acquaintance with these excellent things Another benefit I pray for and expect from these labours is that by describing the horrid state of those Souls which go the other way and shewing to the living the dismal condition of Souls departed in their unregenerate state some may be awakened to a seasonable and effectual Consideration of their wretched Condition whilst they yet continue under the means and among the Instruments of their Salvation Whatever the fruit of this Discourse shall be to ●thers I have cause to bless God for the advantages it hath already given me I begin to find more than ever I have done in the separate state of sanctified Souls all that is capable of attracting an intellectual nature and if God will but fix my mind upon this state and cause my pleased thoughts about it to settle into a frame and steddy temper I hope I shall daily more and more depreciate and despise this common way of existence in a Corporeal Prison and when the blessed season of my departure is at hand I shall take a chearful farewel of the greater and lesser Elementary World to which my Soul hath been confined and have an abundant Entrance through the broad gate of Assurance unto the blessed unbodied Inhabitants of the World to come A Synopsis or View of the Soul in the state of Composition in six Particulars in this first Table of Life viz. The Soul of Man is considered in this Treatise two ways First in the state of Composition Secondly In the state of Separation 1. In its general Nature a Substance proved to be so 1. By its Creation Page 11 2. By its single Existence p. 11 3. By its S●●tentation of the Body p. 12 4. By the subjecting of Habits and Affections in it p. 13 2. In its Essential Properties which are six 1. It is a Vital substance whose life is not from it self but 1. It receives it from God p. 13 2. Communicates it to the Body p. 13 2. An Immortal substance proved by eight Arguments 1. The simplicity of its Nature p. 96 2. The Veracity of God in his promises and threats p. 98 3. The Consent of all Nations p. 100 4. It s everlasting habits which are inseparable p. 103 5. The Peculiar dignity of Man p. 105 6. His desires of Immortality p. 107 7. Its returns after death p. 108 8. The Absurdities clogging the Negative p. 109 3. Endued with Understanding to which belong 1. Thoughts to the Speculative 2. Conscience to the Practical understanding p. 20 4. And a Will which glorieth in 1. It s Liberty p. 23 And 2. It s Dominion both 1. Despotical p. 24 2. Political p. 24 Yet both restrained in some particulars 1. As to the Body p. 25 2. As to the thoughts p. 26 3. As to the Conscience p. 27 5. Affections and Passions where is shewed 1. Their rise in the Soul p. 28 2. Their use to the Soul p. 29 6. It s inclination to the Body which differenceth it from other Spirits p. 29 3. It s Excellent Original about which we have 1. Errors refuted that it was not 1. By Seminal Traduction p. 31 2. By Angelical Procreation p. 32 3. By Co●taneous Creation p. 33 2. It s true Original asserted ●y immediate Creation p. 34 3. Objections against this Assertion answered p. 37 ●● 4. It s Union with the Body