Here is a very scarce work indeed by one of the most spiritual of the established church divines, Bishop Joseph Hall. Deeply inspired by the spiritual Platonism of its time [and perhaps the inspiration to Henry More's platonic spiritual classic, The Grand Mystery of Godliness, Hall goes straight for the spiritual jugular, demanding a supernatural, genuinely spiritual variety of Christianity. He builds his case theologically, systematically, and then demands authentic spiritual experience as the response. A groundbreaking work on spiritual reality and warfare.
He begins: That there is an invisible world; of the distribution of the invisible world; the apparitions of angels; of the souls of men; the present vision of God upon the soul; of the [true] knowledge of the glorified; of the glory of heaven enjoyed; the reunion of body and soul; the devils and damned souls; of the evil angels [demons]; of the number of apostate spirits; of the power of devils; of the variety of spiritual assaults of evil spirits; of the apparitions and shapes assumed by evil spirits; the vehemence of Satan, etc.
Spurgeon said of his expositions, . . . "if their price were raised in proportion to its real value, they would become some of the most costly books extant."
Hall, Joseph. The Great Mysterie of Godliness, Laid forth by way of Affectuous and Feeling Meditation. Also, the Invisible World, Discovered to Spiritual Eyes and Reduced to Usefull Meditation. In Three Books [Complete]. London. Printed by R. Cotes for John Place at Furnivalds Inne-gate. Anno. Dom. 1652. 365pp
No copies on the market at any price. There existed an 1853 facsimile edition from the first edition of 1652 here offered.
Plain calf binding, probably 20th century. Nothing spectacular; some bumping, but attractive and practical. Text itself is quite crisp, very minor stains at beginning and some period underlinings.
Very reasonably priced.
