John Flavel
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John Flavel (c. 1628–1691) was an English Puritan minister whose devotional writings have made him, after Bunyan and Baxter, probably the most widely read of all the Puritans among later generations of evangelical readers. Born the son of a Puritan minister who died of plague in Newgate Prison for his nonconformity, Flavel was educated at University College, Oxford, and ordained to the ministry in 1650.
He served as minister at Dartmouth, Devon, from 1656, developing a ministry to the seafaring community of that port town that gave his writing its characteristic concreteness and practical application — few Puritan writers matched his ability to take a spiritual truth and illustrate it from the experience of storms, voyages, and harbor lights. Ejected from his living in 1662 by the Act of Uniformity, he continued to preach clandestinely to his congregation, sometimes meeting at sea to escape pursuivants.
His most enduring works include The Mystery of Providence (1678) — a meditation on God's governance of every circumstance of the believer's life that has comforted Christians across three centuries — Keeping the Heart (1668), on the maintenance of inward spiritual watchfulness, and Touchstone of Sincerity. His complete works in six volumes cover navigation as a metaphor for the Christian life, the method of grace in the application of redemption, and the full range of Puritan practical divinity. Spurgeon said Flavel's works were "most precious" and that he read him with constant profit.
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Christ in His Essential and Primeval Glory (A Display of Christ – Part II)
'Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and was daily His delight, rejoicing always before him.' - Prov. 8:30. THESE words are a part of that excellent commendation of Wisdom, by which in this book Solomon intends two things: first, grace or holiness; 'Wisdom is the principal thing,' Prov.…
First Branch of Christ's Prophetical Office (A Display of Christ - Part IX)
“A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him ye shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.” — Acts, 3:22 Having shown the solemn preparations, both by the Father and the Son, for the blessed design of reconciling us by the meritorious…
Of Christ's Wonderful Person (A Display of Christ – Part V)
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John, 1:14 We have contemplated the covenant of redemption. It is such as infinitely exceeds the power of any mere creature to perform. He that undertakes to satisfy God by obedience for man’s sin, must himself be God; and he that performs such a…
Of the Authority by which Christ, as Mediator, Acted (A Display of Christ – Part VI)
'For him hath God the Father sealed.' - John, 6:27. This Scripture is a part of Christ's excellent reply to an earthly-minded multitude, who followed him, not for any spiritual excellencies that they saw in him, or soul-advantages they expected by him, but for bread. Instead of making his service…
Of the Nature of Christ's Mediation (A Display of Christ – Part VIII)
'And one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.' - 1 Tim. 2:5. Great and long preparations bespeak the solemnity and greatness of the work for which they are designed. A man that had seen the heaps of gold, silver, and brass which David amassed in his time for the building of the…
Of the Solemn Consecration of the Mediator (A Display of Christ – Part VII)
'And for their sakes I sanctify myself.' - John, 17:19. Jesus Christ being fitted with a body, and authorized by a commission from the Father, now actually devotes, and sets himself apart to his work: the further advancement of the glorious design of our salvation. He sanctified himself for our…
The Adorable Love of God in Giving His Own Son for Us (A Display of Christ – Part IV)
'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son' John, 3:16. In these words are to be considered, The original spring or fountain of our best mercies-The love of God. The mercy flowing out of this fountain, and that is Christ, The Mercy, as he is emphatically called, Luke, 1:72; the…
The Covenant of Redemption Between the Father and the Redeemer (A Display of Christ – Part III)
'Therefore wilt I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and wade intercession for he transgressors' - Isa. 53:12. In the fifty-third…
The Excellency of the Subject (A Display of Christ – Part I)
'For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified' - 1 Cor. 2:2. THE former verse contains an apology for the plain and familiar manner of the apostle's preaching, which was 'not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom:' he studied not to gratify their curiosity…