John Flavel

For other people named John Flavel, see John Flavel (disambiguation).

John Flavel.

John Flavel (1627–1691) was an English Presbyterian clergyman and author.

Life

Flavel was born at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and studied at Oxford. Ordained as a Presbyterian in 1650, though later a Congregationalist, he held livings at Diptford (in Devon) and Dartmouth. He was ejected from the latter as a result of the Great Ejection of 1662; however, he continued to preach there secretly. After the Declaration of Indulgence 1687, he became a minister of a Nonconformist Church there.

He was a prolific and popular author. Among his works are The Mystery of Providence (1678), Husbandry Spiritualised (1669) and Navigation Spiritualised (1671), The Seaman's Companion (1676), titles which suggest some of his characteristics as a writer.

He died at Exeter, Devonshire, on 26 June 1691. Flavel is commemorated in the name of Flavel Road on Bromsgrove's Charford Estate.

  His father was Mr. Richard Flavel, a faithful and eminent minister. He
  was first minister at Broomsgrove, in Worcestershire, then at Hasler,
  and removed from thence to Willersey, in Gloucestershire, where he
  continued to 1660, whence he was outed upon the restoration of King
  Charles II because it was a sequestered living, and the incumbent then
  alive: this did not so much affect Mr. Flavel, as that he wanted a
  fixed place for the exercise of his pastoral function. He was a person
  of such extraordinary piety, that those who conversed with him, said,
  They never heard one vain word drop from his mouth. A little before the
  turning out of the Nonconformist ministers, being near Totness, in
  Devon, he preached from Hosea 7:6. "The days of visitation are come,
  the days of recompence are come, Israel shall know it". His application
  was so close, that it offended some people, and occasioned his being
  carried before some Justices of the Peace; but they could not reach
  him, so that he was discharged. He afterwards quitted that country, and
  his son's house, which was his retiring place, and came to London,
  where he continued in a faithful and acceptable discharge of his
  office, till the time of the dreadful plague in 1665, that he was taken
  and imprisoned in the manner following. He was at Mr. Blake's house in
  Covent-Garden, where some people had met privately for worship: whilst
  he was at prayer, a party of soldiers brake in upon them, with their
  swords drawn and demanded their preacher, threatening some, and
  flattering others to discover him, but in vain. Some of the company
  threw a coloured cloak over him, and in this disguise he was, together
  with his hearers, carried to Whitehall; the women were dismissed, but
  the men were detained and forced to lie all that night upon the bare
  floor; and, because they would not pay five pounds each, were sent to
  Newgate, where the pestilence raged most violently, as in other places
  of the city. Here Mr. Flavel and his wife were shut up, and seized with
  the sickness: they were bailed out, but died of the contagion; of which
  their son John had a divine monition given him by a dream, as we shall
  observe in its proper place. Mr. Richard Flavel left two sons behind
  him, both ministers of the gospel, viz. John and Phinehas.

  John the eldest was born in Worcestershire. It was observable, that
  whilst his mother lay in with him, a nightingale made her nest in the
  out-side of the chamber-window, where she used to sing most sweetly. He
  was religiously educated by his father, and having profiled well at the
  grammar schools, was sent early to Oxford, and settled a commoner in
  University College. He plied his studies hard, and exceeded many of his
  contemporaries in university learning.

  Soon after his commencing bachelor of arts, Mr. Walplate, the minister
  of Diptford, in the county of Devon, was rendered incapable of
  performing his office by reason of his age and infirmity, and sent to
  Oxford for an assistant; Mr. Flavel, though but young, was commended to
  him as a son duly qualified, and was accordingly settled there by the
  standing committee of Devon, April 27, 1650, to preach as a probationer
  and assistant to Mr. Walplate.

  Mr. Flavel considering the weight of his charge, applied himself to the
  work of his calling with great diligence; and being assiduous in
  reading, meditation and prayer, he increased in ministerial knowledge
  daily, (for he found himself that he came raw enough in that respect
  from the university) so that he attained to an high degree of eminency
  and reputation for his useful labours in the church.

  About six months after his settling at Diptford, he heard of an
  ordination to be at Salisbury, and therefore went thither with his
  testimonials, and offered himself to be examined and ordained by the
  presbyters there: they appointed him a text, upon which he preached to
  their general satisfaction; and having afterwards examined him as to
  his learning, &c. they set him apart to the work of the ministry, with
  prayer and imposition of hands, on the 17th day of October, 1650.

  Mr. Flavel being thus ordained, returned to Diptford, and after Mr.
  Walplate's death succeeded in the rectory. To avoid all encumbrances
  from the world, and avocations from his studies and ministerial work,
  he chose a person of worth and reputation in the parish (of whom he had
  a good assurance that he would be faithful to himself, and kind to his
  parishioners) and let him the whole tithes much below the real value,
  which was very pleasing to his people. By this means he was the better
  able to deal with them in private, since the hire of his labours was no
  way a hindrance to the success of them.

  Whilst he was at Diptford he married one Mrs. Jane Randal, a pious
  gentlewoman, of a good family, who died in travail of her first child
  without being delivered. His year of mourning being expired, his
  acquaintance and intimate friends advised him to marry a second time,
  wherein he was again very happy. Sometime after this second marriage,
  the people of Dartmouth (a great and noted sea-port in the county of
  Devon, formerly under the charge of the Reverend Mr. Anthony Hartford,
  deceased) unanimously chose Mr. Flavel to succeed him. They urged him
  to accept their call, (1.) Because there were exceptions made against
  all the other candidates, but none against him. (2.) Because, being
  acceptable to the whole town, he was the more like to be an instrument
  of healing the breaches among the good people there. (3.) Because
  Dartmouth, being a considerable and populous town, required an able and
  eminent minister, which was not so necessary for a country-parish, that
  might besides be more easily supplied with another pastor than
  Dartmouth.

  That which made them more pressing and earnest with Mr. Flavel, was
  this; at a provincial synod in that county, Mr. Flavel, though but a
  young man, was voted into the chair as moderator, where he opened the
  assembly with a most devout and pertinent prayer; he examined the
  candidates who offered themselves to their trials for the ministry with
  great learning, stated the cases and questions proposed to them with
  much acuteness and judgement, and in the whole demeaned himself with
  that gravity, piety, and seriousness, during his presidency, that all
  the ministers of the assembly admired and loved him. The Reverend Mr.
  Hartford, his predecessor at Dartmouth, took particular notice of him,
  from that time forward contracted a strict friendship with him, and
  spoke of him among the magistrates and people of Dartmouth, as an
  extraordinary person, who was like to be a great light in the church.
  This, with their having several times heard him preach, occasioned
  their importunity with Mr. Flavel to come and be their minister; upon
  which, having spread his case before the Lord, and submitted to the
  decision of his neighbouring ministers, he was prevailed upon to remove
  to Dartmouth, to his great loss in temporals, the rectory of Diptford
  being a much greater benefice.

  Mr. Flavel being settled at Dartmouth by the election of people, and an
  order from Whitehall by the commissioners for approbation of public
  preachers, of the 10th of December, 1656, he was associated with Mr.
  Allein Geere, a very worthy, but sickly, man. The ministerial work was
  thus divided betwixt them; Mr. Flavel was to preach on the Lord's-day
  at Townstall, the mother-church standing upon a hill without the town;
  and every fortnight in his turn at the Wednesday's Lecture in
  Dartmouth. Here God crowned his labours with many conversions. One of
  his judicious hearers expressed himself thus concerning him; "I could
  say much, though not enough, of the excellency of his preaching; of his
  seasonable, suitable and spiritual matter; of his plain expositions of
  scripture, his taking method, his genuine and natural deductions, his
  convincing arguments, his clear and powerful demonstrations, his heart
  searching applications, and his comfortable supports to those that were
  afflicted in conscience. In short that person must have a very soft
  head, or a very hard heart, or both, that could sit under his ministry
  unaffected."

  By his unwearied application to study, he had acquired a great stock
  both of divine and human learning. He was master of the controversies
  betwixt the Jews and Christians, Papists and Protestants, Lutherans and
  Calvinists, and betwixt the Orthodox, and the Armenians and Socinians:
  he was likewise well read in the Controversies about Church-discipline,
  Infant-Baptism, and Antinomianism. He was well acquainted with the
  School-divinity, and drew up a judicious and ingenious scheme of the
  whole body of that Theology in good Latin, which he presented to a
  person of quality, but it was never printed. He had one way of
  improving his knowledge, which is very proper for young divines;
  whatever remarkable passage he heard in private conference, if he was
  familiar with the relator, he would desire him to repeat it again, and
  insert it into his Aversaria: by these methods he acquired a vast stock
  of proper materials for his popular sermons in the pulpit, and his more
  elaborate works for the press.

  He had an excellent gift of prayer, and was never at a loss in all his
  various occasions for suitable matter and words; and, which was the
  most remarkable of all, he always brought with him a broken heart and
  moving affections: his tongue and spirit were touched with a live coal
  from the altar, and he was evidently assisted by the holy Spirit of
  grace and supplication in that divine ordinance. Those who lived in his
  family, say, that he was always full and copious in prayer, seemed
  constantly to exceed himself, and rarely made use twice of the same
  expressions.

  When the act of uniformity turned him out with the rest of his
  nonconforming brethren, he did not thereupon quit his relation to his
  church, he thought the souls of his flock to be more precious than to
  be so tamely neglected; he took all opportunities of ministering the
  word and sacraments to them in private meetings, and joined with other
  ministers in solemn days of fasting and humiliation, to pray that God
  would once more restore the ark of his covenant unto his afflicted
  Israel. About four months after that fatal Bartholomew day, his
  reverend colleague, Mr. Allein Geere, died; so that the whole care of
  the flock devolved upon Mr. Flavel, which, though a heavy and pressing
  burden, he undertook very cheerfully.

  Upon the execution of the Oxford act, which banished all nonconformist
  ministers five miles from any towns which sent members to parliament,
  he was forced to leave Dartmouth, to the great sorrow of his people,
  who followed him out of town; and at Townstall church-yard they took
  such a mournful farewell of one another as the place might very well
  have been called Bochim. He removed to Slapton, a parish five miles
  from Dartmouth, or any other corporation, which put him out of the
  legal reach of his adversaries. Here he met with signal instances of
  God's fatherly care and protection, and preached twice every Lord's-day
  to such as durst adventure to hear him, which many of his own people
  and others did, not withstanding the rigour and severity of the act
  against conventicles. He many times slipped privately into Dartmouth,
  where by preaching and conversation he edified his flock, to the great
  refreshment of his own soul and theirs, though with very much danger,
  because of his watchful adversaries, who constantly laid wait for him,
  so that he could not make any long stay in the town.

  In those times Mr. Flavel being at Exeter, was invited to preach by
  many good people of that city, who for safety chose a wood about three
  miles from the city to be the place of their assembly, where they were
  broke up by their enemies by that time the sermon was well begun. Mr.
  Flavel, by the care of the people, made his escape through the middle
  of his enraging enemies; and though many of his hearers were taken,
  carried before Justice Tuckfield, and fined; yet the rest, being
  nothing discouraged, reassembled, and carrying Mr. Flavel to another
  wood, he preached to them without any disturbance; and, after he had
  concluded, rode to a gentleman's house near the wood, who, though an
  absolute stranger to Mr. Flavel, entertained him with great civility
  that night, and next day he returned to Exeter in safety. Amongst those
  taken at this time, there was a Tanner who had a numerous family, and
  but a small stock; he was fined notwithstanding in forty pounds; at
  which he was nothing discouraged, but told a friend, who asked him how
  he bore up under his loss, "That he took the spoiling of his goods
  joyfully, for the sake of his Lord Jesus for whom his life and all that
  he had was too little.

  As soon as the Nonconformists had any respite from their trouble, Mr.
  Flavel laid hold of the opportunity, and returned to Dartmouth, where,
  during the first indulgence granted by King Charles II he kept open
  doors, and preached freely to all that would come and hear him; and
  when that liberty was revoked, he made it his business notwithstanding
  to preach in season and out of season, and seldom missed of an
  opportunity of preaching on the Lord's-day. During this time, God was
  pleased to deprive him of his second wife, which was a great
  affliction, she having been a help meet for him, and such an one he
  stood much in need of, as being a man of an infirm and weak
  constitution, who laboured under many infirmities. In convenient time
  he married a third wife, Mrs. Ann Downs, daughter of Mr. Thomas Downs,
  minister of Exeter, who lived very happy with him eleven years, and
  left him two sons, who are youths of great hopes.

  The persecution against the Nonconformists being renewed, Mr. Flavel
  found it unsafe to stay at Dartmouth, and therefore resolved to go to
  London, where he hoped to be in less danger, and to have more liberty
  to exercise his function. The night before he embarked for that end, he
  had the following premonition by a dream; he thought he was on board
  the ship, and that a storm arose which exceedingly terrified the
  passengers, during their consternation there sat writing at the table a
  person of admirable sagacity and gravity, who had a child in a cradle
  by him that was very froward; he thought he saw the father take up a
  little whip, and give the child a lash, saying, "Child be quiet, I will
  discipline, but not hurt thee". Upon this Mr. Flavel awaked, and musing
  on his dream, he concluded, that he should meet with some trouble in
  his passage: his friends being at dinner with him, assured him of a
  pleasant passage, because the wind and weather were very fair; Mr.
  Flavel replied, "That he was not of their mind, but expected much
  trouble because of his dream", adding, "that when he had such
  representations made to him in his sleep, they seldom or never failed.

  Accordingly, when they were advanced within five leagues of Portland in
  their voyage, they were overtaken by a dreadful tempest insomuch that
  betwixt one and two in the morning, the master and seamen concluded,
  that, unless God changed the wind, there was no hope of life; it was
  impossible for them to weather Portland, so that they must of necessity
  be wrecked on the rocks or on the shore. Upon this Mr. Flavel called
  all the hands that could be spared into the cabin to prayer; but the
  violence of the tempest was such, that they could not prevent
  themselves from being thrown from the one side unto the other as the
  ship was tossed; and not only so, but mighty seas broke in upon them,
  as if they would have drowned them in the very cabin. Mr. Flavel in
  this danger took hold of the two pillars of the cabin bed, and calling
  upon God, begged mercy for himself and the rest in the ship. Amongst
  other arguments in prayer, he made use of this, that if he and his
  company perished in that storm, the name of God would be blasphemed,
  the enemies of religion would say, that though he escaped their hands
  on shore, yet divine vengeance had overtaken him at sea. In the midst
  of prayer his faith and hope were raised, insomuch that he expected a
  gracious answer; so that, committing himself and his company to the
  mercy of God, he concluded the duty. No sooner was prayer ended, but
  one came down from the deck, crying, "Deliverance! Deliverance! God is
  a God hearing prayer! In a moment the wind is coming fair west!" And so
  sailing before it, they were brought safely to London. Mr. Flavel found
  many of his old friends there; and God raised him new ones, with
  abundance of work, and extraordinary encouragement in it. During his
  stay in London, he married his fourth wife, a widow gentlewoman,
  (daughter to Mr. George Jeffries, formerly minister of King's Bridge)
  but now his sorrowful relict.

  Mr. Flavel, while he was in London, narrowly escaped being taken, with
  the reverend Mr. Jenkins, at Mr. Fox's in Moorfields, where they were
  keeping a day of fasting and prayer. He was so near, that he heard the
  insolence of the officers and soldiers to Mr. Jenkins when they had
  taken him; and observed it in his diary, that Mr. Jenkins might have
  escaped as well as himself, had it not been for a piece of vanity in a
  lady, whose long train hindered his going down stairs, Mr. Jenkins, out
  of his too great civility having let her pass before him.

  Mr. Flavel after this, returned to Dartmouth, where with his family and
  dear people he blessed God for his mercies towards him. He was in a
  little time after confined close prisoner to his house, where many of
  his dear flock stole in over night, or betimes on the Lord's day in the
  morning, to enjoy the benefit of his labours, and spend the sabbath in
  hearing, praying, singing of psalms, and holy discourses.

  Mr. Jenkins, above mentioned, dying in prison, his people gave Mr.
  Flavel a call to the pastoral office among them, and Mr. Reeve's people
  did the like. Mr. Flavel communicated these calls unto his flock, and
  kept a day of prayer with them to beg direction of God in this
  important affair; he was graciously pleased to answer them by fixing
  Mr. Flavel's resolution to stay with his flock at Dartmouth. Many
  arguments were made use of to persuade him to come to London, as, that
  since he was turned out by the act of uniformity, he had had but very
  little maintenance from his church; that those at London were rich and
  numerous congregations; that he had a family and children to provide
  for; and that the city was a theatre of honour and reputation. But none
  of these things could prevail with him to leave his poor people at
  Dartmouth.

  In 1687, when it pleased God so to over-rule affairs, that King James
  II thought it his interest to dispense with the penal laws against
  them, Mr. Flavel, who had formerly been confined to a corner, shone
  brightly, as a flaming beacon upon the top of an hill. His affectionate
  people prepared a large place for him, where God blessed his labours to
  the conviction of many people, by his sermons on Rev. 3:20. "Behold I
  stand at the door and knock". This encouraged him to print those
  sermons, under the title of England's Duty, &c. hoping that it might do
  good abroad, as well as in his own congregation. He made a vow to the
  Lord under his confinement, that if he should be once more entrusted
  with public liberty, he would improve it to the advantage of the
  gospel; this he performed in a most conscientious manner, preached
  twice every Lord's-day, and lectured every Wednesday, in which he went
  over most of the 3d chapter of St John's gospel, shewing the
  indispensable necessity of regeneration. He preached likewise every
  Thursday before the sacrament, and then after examination admitted
  communicants. He had no assistance on sacrament-days, so that he was
  many times almost spent before he distributed the elements. When the
  duty of the day was over, he would often complain of a sore breast, an
  aking head, and a pained back; yet he would be early at study again
  next Monday. He allowed himself very little recreation, accounting time
  a precious jewel that ought to be improved at any rate.

  He was not only a zealous preacher in the pulpit, but a sincere
  Christian in his closet, frequent in self-examination, as well as in
  pressing it upon others; being afraid, lest while he preached to others
  he himself should be a cast-away. To prove this, I shall transcribe
  what follows from his own diary.

  "To make sure of eternal life, (said he) is the great business which
  the sons of death have to do in this world. Whether a man consider the
  immortality of his own soul, the ineffable joys and glory of heaven,
  the extreme and endless torments of hell, the inconceivable sweetness
  of peace of conscience, or the misery of being subject to the terrors
  thereof; all these put a necessity, a solemnity, a glory upon this
  work. But, Oh! the difficulties and dangers attending it! How many, and
  how great are these? What judgement, faithfulness, resolution, and
  watchfulness does it require? Such is the deceitfulness, darkness, and
  inconstancy of our hearts, and such the malice, policy and diligence of
  Satan to manage and improve it, that he who attempts this work had need
  both to watch his seasons for it, and frequently look up to God for his
  guidance and illumination, and to spend many sad and serious thoughts
  before he adventure upon a determination and conclusion of the state of
  his soul.

  To the end therefore that this most important work may not miscarry in
  my hands, I have collected, with all the care I can, the best and
  soundest characters I can find in the writings of our modern divines,
  taken out of the scripture, and by their labours illustrated and
  prepared for use, that I might make a right application of them.

  1. I have earnestly sought the Lord for the assistance of his Spirit,
  which can only manifest my own heart unto me, and show me the true
  state thereof, which is that thing my soul does most earnestly desire
  to know; and I hope the Lord will answer my desire therein, according
  to his promises, Luke 11:13. John 14:26.

  2. I have endeavoured to cast out and lay aside self-love, lest my
  heart being prepossessed therewith, my judgement should be perverted,
  and become partial on passing sentence on my estate. I have, in some
  measure, brought my heart to be willing to judge and condemn myself for
  an hypocrite, if such I shall be found on trial, as to approve myself
  for sincere and upright. Yea, I would have it so far from being
  grievous to me so to do, that if I have been all this while mistaken
  and deceived, I shall rejoice and bless the Lord with my soul, that now
  at last it may be discovered to me, and I may be set right, though I
  lay the foundation new again. This I have laboured to bring my heart
  to, knowing that thousands have dashed and split to pieces upon this
  rock. And indeed he that will own the person of a judge, must put off
  the person of a friend.

  3. It has been my endeavour to keep upon my heart a deep sense of that
  great judgement-day throughout this work as knowing by experience what
  a potent influence this has on the conscience, to make it deliberate,
  serious and faithful in its work, and therefore I have demanded of my
  sun conscience, before the resolution of each question, O my
  conscience, deal faithfully with me in this particular, and say no more
  to me than thou wilt own and stand to in the great day, when the
  counsels of all hearts shall be made manifest.

  4. Having seriously weighed each mark, and considered where in the
  weight and substance of it lieth, I have gone to the Lord in prayer for
  his assistance, ere I have drawn up the answer of my conscience, and as
  my heart has been persuaded therein, so have I determined and resolved:
  what has been clear to my experience, I have so set down; and what has
  been dubious, I have here left it so.

  5. I have made choice of the fittest seasons I had for this work, and
  set to it when I have found my heart in the most quiet and serious
  frame. For as he that would see his face in a glass, must be fixed, not
  in motion, or in water, must make no commotion in it; so it is in this
  case.

  6. Lastly, To the end I may be successful in this work, I have laboured
  all along carefully to distinguish betwixt such sins as are grounds of
  doubting, and such as are only grounds of humiliation; knowing that not
  every evil is a ground of doubting, though all, even the smallest
  infirmities, administer matter of humiliation; and thus I have desired
  to enterprise this great business. O Lord, assist thy servant, that he
  may not mistake herein; but, if his conscience do now condemn him, he
  may lay a better foundation whilst he has time; and if it shall now
  acquit him, he may also have boldness in the day of judgement."

  These things being previously dispatched, he tried himself by the
  scripture marks of sincerity and regeneration; by this means he
  attained to a well-grounded assurance, the ravishing comforts of which
  were many times shed abroad in his soul; this made him a powerful and
  successful preacher, as one who spoke from his own heart to those of
  others. He preached what he felt, what he had handled, what he had seen
  and tasted of the word of life, and they felt it also.

  We may guess what a sweet and blessed intercourse he had with heaven,
  from that history we meet with in his "Pneumatologia", p. 323, which I
  refer to, and likewise of that revelation he had of his father and
  mother's death, p. 339. He was a mighty wrestler with God in secret
  prayer, and particularly begged of him to crown his sermons, printed
  books and private discourses, with the conversion of poor sinners, a
  work which his heart was much set upon. It pleased God to answer him by
  many instances, of which the two that follow deserve peculiar notice.

  In 1673, there came into Dartmouth port a ship of Pool, in her return
  from Virginia; the Surgeon of this ship, a lusty young man of 23 years
  of age, fell into a deep melancholy, which the Devil improved to make
  him murder himself. This he attempted on the Lord's-day, early in the
  morning, when he was in bed with his brother; he first cut his own
  throat with a knife he had prepared on purpose, and leaping out of the
  bed, thrust it likewise into his stomach, and so lay wallowing in his
  own blood, till his brother awaked and cried for help. A Physician and
  Surgeon were brought, who concluded the wound in his throat mortal;
  they stitched it up however, and applied a plaister, but without hopes
  of cure, because he already breathed through the wound, and his voice
  was become inarticulate. Mr. Flavel came to visit him in this
  condition, and apprehending him to be within a few minutes of eternity,
  laboured to prepare him for it; he asked him his own apprehensions of
  his condition, and the young man answered, that he hoped in God for
  eternal life. Mr. Flavel replied, that he feared his hopes were ill
  grounded: the scripture tells us, that "no murderer has eternal life
  abiding in him: self-murder was the grossest of all murder, &c. Mr.
  Flavel insisted so much on the aggravations of the crime, that the
  young man's conscience began to fail, his heart began to melt, and then
  he broke out into tears, bewailing his sin and misery, and asked Mr.
  Flavel, If there might yet be any hope for him? he told him there
  might; and finding him altogether unacquainted with the nature of faith
  and repentance, he opened them to him. The poor man sucked in this
  doctrine greedily, prayed with great vehemence to God, that he would
  work them on his soul, and entreated Mr. Flavel to pray with him, and
  for him, that he might be, though late, a sincere gospel penitent, and
  sound believer. Mr. Flavel prayed with him accordingly, and it pleased
  God exceedingly to melt the young man's heart, during the performance
  of that duty. He was very loth to part with Mr. Flavel, but the duty of
  the day obliging him to be gone, in a few words he summed up those
  counsels that he thought most necessary, and so took his farewell of
  him, never expecting to see him any more in this world. But it pleased
  God to order it otherwise; the young man continued alive contrary to
  all expectation, panted earnestly after the Lord Jesus, and no
  discourse was pleasing to him, but that of Christ and faith. In this
  frame Mr. Flavel found him in the evening; he rejoiced greatly when he
  saw him come again, intreated him to continue his discourse upon those
  subjects, and told him, Sir, the Lord has given me repentance for this
  and for all my other sins; I see the evil of them now, so as I never
  saw them before! O I loathe myself! I do also believe, Lord, help my
  unbelief. I am heartily willing to take Christ upon his own terms; hut
  one thing troubles me, I doubt this bloody sin will not be pardoned.
  Will Jesus Christ, said he, apply his blood to one, who has shed his
  own blood? Mr. Flavel told him that the Lord Jesus shad his blood for
  them who with wicked hands had shed his own blood, which was a greater
  sin then shedding the blood of his; to which the wounded man replied, I
  will cast myself upon Christ, let him do what he will. In this
  condition Mr. Flavel left him that night.

  Next morning his wounds were to be opened, and the Surgeon's opinion
  was, that he would immediately expire: Mr. Flavel was again requested
  to give him a visit, which he did, found him in a very serious frame,
  and prayed with him. The wound in his stomach was afterwards opened,
  when the ventricle was so much swollen, that it came out at the orifice
  of the wound, and lay like a livid discoloured tripe upon his body, and
  was also cut through; every one thought it impossible for him to live;
  however, the Surgeon enlarged the orifice of the wound, fomented it,
  and wrought the ventricle again into his body, and, stitching up the
  wound, left his patient to the disposal of providence.

  It pleased God that he was cured of those dangerous wounds in his body;
  and, upon solid grounds of a rational charity, there was ground to
  believe that he was also cured of that more dangerous wound which sin
  had made in his soul. Mr. Flavel spent many hours with him during his
  sickness; and when the Surgeon returned to Pool, after his recovery,
  Mr. Samuel Hardy, that worthy minister there, thanked Mr. Flavel in a
  letter, for the great pains he had taken with that young man, and
  congratulated his success, assuring him, that if ever a great and
  thorough work was wrought, it was upon that man.

  The second instance is this: Mr. Flavel being in London in 1673, his
  old bookseller, Mr. Boulder, gave him this following relation, viz.
  That some time before, there came into his shop a sparkish gentle man
  to enquire for some play-books; Mr. Boulder told him he had none, but
  shewed him Mr. Flavel's little treatise of "Keeping the Heart",
  intreated him to read it, and assured him it would do him more good
  than play books. The gentleman read the title, and glancing upon
  several pages here and there, broke out into these and such other
  expressions, What a damnable Fanatic was he who made this book? Mr.
  Boulter begged of him to buy and read it, and told him he had no cause
  to censure it so bitterly; at last he bought it, but told him he would
  not read it. What will you do with it then, said Mr. Boulter? I will
  tear and burn it, said he, and send it to the Devil. Mr. Boulder told
  him, that he should not have it. Upon this the gentleman promised to
  read it; and Mr. Boulder told him, if he disliked it upon reading, he
  would return him his money. About a month after, the gentleman came to
  the shop again in a very modest habit, and with a serious countenance,
  bespoke Mr. Boulder thus; Sir, I most heartily thank you for putting
  this book into my hands; I bless God that moved you to do it, it has
  saved my soul; blessed be God that ever I came into your shop. And then
  he bought a hundred more of those books of him, and told him he would
  give them to the poor who could not buy them, and so left him, praising
  and admiring the goodness of God. Thus it pleased God to bless the
  sermons, discourses and writings of Mr. Flavel.

  He never delighted in controversies, but was obliged, contrary to his
  inclination, to write against Mr. Cary, the principal Anabaptist in
  Dartmouth, with whom, however, he maintained a friendly and Christian
  correspondence. When he wrote his "Planelogia", or, "Blow at the Root",
  he declared to his friends, that though those studies were very
  necessary, he took no pleasure in them, but had rather be employed in
  practical divinity. When he composed his "Reasonableness of Personal
  Reformation", he told an intimate acquaintance of his, that he seldom
  had a vain thought to interrupt him, which made him hope it would do
  the more good in the world. He purposed to have enlarged his book of
  "Sacramental Meditations", and had most judiciously stated and handled
  several cases of conscience on that occasion, which he designed to have
  inserted in the next edition, but lived not to finish them for the
  press.

  Many times, when he preached abroad, he has had letters sent him from
  unknown persons, informing him how God had blessed his ministry to
  their souls, and converted them from being bitter enemies to religion.
  This encouraged him when he rode abroad, not only to accept of
  invitations to preach, but many times to offer his labours unto those
  that would be pleased to hear him; though for this he had no occasion
  where he was known, the people being generally importunate with him.
  One day after a long and hard journey, an intimate friend of his, out
  of a tender regard to him, pressed him with cogent arguments to forbear
  preaching at that season, but could not prevail with him; his bowels of
  compassion to needy and perishing souls made him overlook all
  considerations of himself: he preached an excellent sermons by which
  there was one converted, as he declared himself afterwards upon his
  admission to the Lord's table.

  The last sermon that he preached to his people at Dartmouth, was on a
  public day of fasting and humiliations; in the close of which he was
  enlarged in such an extraordinary manner, when offering up praises to
  God for mercies received, that he seemed to be in ecstasy. This
  happened about a week before his death, and may justly be accounted a
  foretaste of those heavenly raptures that he now enjoys among the
  blessed spirits above.

  The last sermon he preached was on the 21st of June, 1691, at
  Ashburton, from 1 Cor. 10: 12. "Wherefore let him that standeth take
  heed lest he fall". It was a very pathetical discourse, tending to
  awaken careless professors, and to stir them up to be solicitous about
  their souls. After having preached this sermon, he went to Exeter; and
  at Topsham, within three miles of that city, he presided as moderator
  in an assembly of the Nonconformist ministers of Devonshire, who
  unanimously voted him into the chair: the occasion of the meeting was
  about an union betwixt the Presbyterian and Independents, which Mr.
  Flavel was very zealous to promote, and brought to so great an issue in
  those parts, that the ministers declared their satisfaction with the
  heads of agreement concluded on by the London ministers of those
  denominations. Mr. Flavel closed the work of the day with prayer and
  praises, in which his spirit was carried out with wonderful enlargement
  and affection.

  He wrote a letter to an eminent minister in London, with an account of
  their proceedings, that same day that he died; providence ordering it
  so, that he should finish that good work his heart was so intent upon,
  before he finished his course.

  The manner of his death was sudden and surprising, his friends thought
  him as well that day in the evening of which he died, as he had been
  for many years: towards the end of supper he complained of a deadness
  in one of his hands, that he could not lift it to his head. This struck
  his wife and his friends about him with astonishment, they used some
  means to recover it to its former strength, but instead thereof, to
  their great grief the distemper seized all upon one side of his body.
  They put him to bed with all speed, and sent for physicians, but to no
  purpose; his distemper prevailed upon him so fast, that in a short time
  it made him speechless. He was sensible of his approaching death, and
  when they carried him upstairs, expressed his opinion that it would be
  the last time; but added, I know that it will be well with me; which
  were some of his last words. Thus died this holy man of God suddenly,
  and without pain, not giving so much as one groan. He exchanged this
  life for a better, on the 26th day of June, 1691, in the 64th year of
  his age.

  His corpse was carried from Exeter to Dartmouth, attended by several
  ministers, and a great many other persons of good quality; abundance of
  people rode out from Dartmouth, Totness, Newton, Ashburton, and other
  places, to meet the corpse; when it was taken out of the hearse at the
  water side, his people and other friends could not forbear expressing
  the sense of their great loss, by floods of tears, and a bitter
  lamentation. It was interred the same night in Dartmouth church, and
  next day Mr. George Trosse, a minister of Exeter, preached his
  funeral-sermon from Elisha's lamentation upon the translation of
  Elijah, 2 Kings 2:12. "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and
  the horsemen thereof.

  We shall conclude with a character of Mr. Flavel. He was a man of a
  middle stature, and full of life and activity: he was very thoughtful,
  and when not discoursing or reading, much taken up in meditation, which
  made him digest his notions well. He was ready to learn from every
  body, and as free to communicate what he knew. He was bountiful to his
  own relations, and very charitable to the poor, but especially to the
  household of faith, and the necessitous members of his own church, to
  whom, during their sickness, he always sent suitable supplies. He
  freely taught academical learning to four young men whom he bred to the
  ministry, and one of them he maintained all the while at his own
  charge. He was exceedingly affectionate to all the people of Dartmouth,
  of which we shall give one remarkable instance. When our fleet was
  first engaged with the French, he called his people together to a
  solemn fast, and, like a man in an agony, wrestled with God in prayer
  for the church and nation, and particularly for the poor seamen of
  Dartmouth, that they might obtain mercy; the Lord heard and answered
  him, for not one of that town was killed in the fight, though many of
  them were in the engagement. As he was a faithful ambassador to his
  Master, he made his example the rule of his own practice, and was so
  far from reviling again, those that reviled him, that he prayed for
  those that despitefully used him: one remarkable instance of which is
  as follows: In 1685, some of the people of Dartmouth, accompanied too
  by some of the magistrates, made up his effigy, carried it through the
  streets in derision, with the covenant and bill of exclusion pinned to
  it, and set it upon a bonefire, and burnt it; some of the spectators
  were so much affected with the reproach and ignominy done to this
  reverend and pious minister, that they wept, and others scored and
  jeered: it was observable, that at the very same time, though he knew
  nothing of the matter, he was heaping coals of fire of another nature
  upon the heads of those wicked men, for he was then praying for the
  town of Dartmouth, its magistrates and inhabitants; and when news was
  brought him, upon the conclusion of his prayer, what they had been
  doing, he lifted up his prayer unto God for them in our Saviour's
  words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Works

• Works of John Flavel (6 vol set), Banner of Truth Trust, ISBN 0-85151-060-4.
• The Fountain of Life Opened Up Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1846857980
• Husbandry Spiritualised (1669)
• Keeping The Heart Diggory Press ISBN 978-1846857072
• The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption - accessed 26 July 2008
• Navigation Spiritualised (1671)
• The Mystery of Providence (1678)
• A Saint Indeed - accessed 17 April 2011
• The Seaman's Companion (1676)

External links

• The Life of the late Rev. Mr. John Flavel, minister of Dartmouth
• Flavel, John (c. 1630-1691)
• John Flavel — brief biography and further links
• Sermons by John Flavel and others in the Reformed Tradition
• The Mystery of Providence text
• Chapter by Chapter Summary of The Mystery of Providence

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.