John Flavel (1630 - 1691)
John Flavel (1630 - 1691)
I periodically want to write about some of the great Puritans, whose writings have been the bedrock of the English speaking Christian world for the last 300 years (mid 1600 to the mid 1900s) but are now being sadly neglected.
In 1662, the Act of Uniformity in England declared the public ministry of John Flavel and 2000 other Church of England ministers illegal because they refused to pledge conformance to Church of England requirements; because of this refusal, they are called Non-Conformists. They considered the Church of England corrupted with Roman Catholic influence, and in need of purifying (which is where the term Puritan comes from). The Puritans were Calvinistic, their delegation to the Synod of Dort in 1618 strongly supported the stand against Arminianism in Holland. The Pilgrims who came to America in l620 were Puritans who, seeing the "hand writing on the wall," fled England anticipating forced conformity as persecution began.
John Flavel preached to his large congregation in secret for 25 years, in the woods and open fields, and it was during this time that he did most of his writing. The 25 years ended when the Act of Uniformity was repealed in 1687. He was 32 years old when his hiding began, and God used the hardship of those years to produce in John Flavel a deep warmth and tenderness which permeates his preaching and writing. He is thoroughly sound in his theology, and is considered to be one of the most easily read of all the Puritans.
His most popular books today are a pair, "The Fountain of Life," and "The Method of Grace." They begin with Christ in His essential and pre-incarnate glory and completely trace out all lines of the Covenant of Grace, Christ as Mediator, and then go on to the method God uses in effectually calling sinners to salvation, presenting all the benefits of union with Christ.
These are books which exalt the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and ascribe all glory in saving sinners to Him. They hardly have an equal for a biblically sound Christo-centric theology of salvation.
I first read these 2 books in 1980-81, and they gave me a view of Christ, and an understanding of God's plan of salvation, that I had not previously had; they galvanized my thinking!
Two of his other books are "The Mystery of Providence," and "Christ Knocking at the Door."
"The Fountain of Life" = https://archive.org/details/fountainoflifeop00flav
"The Method of Grace" = https://archive.org/details/methodofgraceinh0002flav/page/n7/mode/2up
"The Mystery of Providence" = https://archive.org/details/divineconductorm00flavuoft/page/2/mode/2up
"Christ Knocking at the Door" = https://archive.org/details/christknockingat00flav/page/n5/mode/2up
You can also find "The Complete Works of John Flavel" 8 volumes, which would include the above books, on Internet Archives.
17 April 2025