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John Flavel (1628-1691)
Excerpt from Meet the Puritans
by Dr. Joel Beeke and Randall J. Pederson

John Flavel was born in 1628 in Bromsgrove Worcestershire. He was the son of Richard Flavel, a minister who died of the plague in 1665 while in prison for nonconformity. John Flavel was educated by his father in the ways of religion, then "plied his studies hard" as a commoner at University College, Oxford. In 1650, he was ordained by the presbytery at Salisbury. He settled in Diptford where he honed his numerous gifts.

In 1656, Flavel accepted a call to be minister in the thriving seaport of Dartmouth. He earned a smaller income there, but his work was more profitable; many were converted. One of his parishioners wrote of Flavel, "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 talking 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."

Flavel was ejected from the pulpit in 1662 for nonconformity, but he continued to meet secretly with his parishioners in conventicles. On occasion, he would preach for them in the woods, especially on days of fasting and humiliation. Once he even disguised himself as a woman on horseback in order to reach a secret meeting place where he preached and administered baptism. At another time, when pursued by authorities, he plunged his horse into the sea and managed to escape arrest by swimming through a rocky area to reach Slapton Sands.

Flavel was humble, godly, and learned. He spent much time in study and prayer. One of his children wrote, "He was always full and copious in prayer, seemed constantly to exceed himself, and rarely made use twice of the same expressions." He was well versed in church discipline, infant baptism, and a number of Oriental languages.

Flavel's power as a preacher came out of his depth of spiritual experience. He spent many hours in meditation and self-examination. As Middleton writes, "He [Flavel] 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, and what he had handled, what he had seen and tasted of the word of life and they felt it also" (ibid., p. 58).

While meditating on heaven on one occasion, Flavel was so overcome with heavenly joy that he lost sight of this world. Stopping his horse by a spring, he viewed death as the most amiable face he had ever seen, except that of Christ's, who made it so. When he finally arrived at an inn, the innkeeper said to him, "Sir, what is the matter with you? You look like a dead man." "Friend," Flavel replied, "I was never better in my life." Years later, Flavel said that he understood more of heaven from that experience than from all the books he had ever read and all the sermons he had ever heard on the subject.

01 Wherein the Text and Context are Opened, the Doctrines Propounded and the General Method Stated
02 Wherein the Kinds and Nature of Fear are Opened, and Particularly the Distracting, Slavish Fears of Creatures
03 Shewing the Various Uses of Fear, Both Natural, Sinful, and Religious, in the Government of the World by Providence
04 Wherein the Spring and Causes of Sinful Fear are Searched Out and the Evils of Such Fears Thence Discovered
05 Laying Open the Sinful and Lamentable Effects of Slavish and Inordinate Both in Carnal and Regenerate Persons
06 Prescribing the Rules to Cure Our Sinful Fears, and Prevent These Sad and Woeful Effects of Them, Rules 1-4
07 Prescribing the Rules to Cure Our Sinful Fears, and Prevent These Sad and Woeful Effects of Them, Rules 5-12
08 Answering the Most Material Pleas for Slavish Fears, and Dissolving the Common Objections Against Courage and Constancy of Mind in Times of Danger

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