The
Life of the late Rev. Mr. John Flavel, minister of
Dartmouth.
Those
of the name of Flavel derive their pedigree from one who was the third great
officer that came over with William the Conqueror; but this worthy Divine
was far from that weakness and vanity to boast of any thing of that nature,
being of the poet's mind, who said,
Et
genus, et proavos, et quae non fecimus ipsi,
Vix
ea nostra voco –
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 [Elizabeth
Morris], 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 own 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
shed 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.
The
Works of John Flavel (six volumes) are published by The Banner of Truth
Trust.
