" 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 enterprize this great business. O Lord, " assist thy servant, that he may not mistake herein ; but, if his con- " science do now condemn him, he may lay a better foundation whilst " he hath time ; and if it shall now acquit him, he may also have " boldness in the day of judgment.""
These things being previously dispatched, he tried himself by the scripture marks of sincerity and regeneration ; by this means he at-
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tained 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 ser- mons, 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 im-
? roved to make him murder himself. This he attempted on the iOrdVday, early in the morning, when he was in bed with his bro- ther ; he first cut his own throat with a knife he had prepared on purpose, and leaping out of the K d, thrust it likewise into his sto- mach, 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 how- ever, and applied a plaister, but without hopes of cure, because he already breathed through the wound, and his voice was become in- articulate. Mr. Flavel came to visit him in this condition, and ap- prehending him to be within a few minutes of eternity, laboured to prepare him for it ; he asked him his own apprehensions of his con- dition, 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 hath eternal life abiding in him : self-murder was the grossest of all murder, Sfc. 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 ask- ed Mr. Flavel, If there might yet be any hope for him ? he told him there might ; and finding him altogether unacquainted with the na- ture 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
REVEREND MR. JOHN FLAVEL. X11I
gone, in a few words lie 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, untreated him to continue his discourse upon those subjects, and told him, Sir, the Lord hath 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 !
0 I loathe myself! I do also believe, Lord, help my unbelief. I am hear-tily willing to take Christ upon his own terms ; but one thing troubles me, I doubt this bloody sin will not be pardoned. Will Je- sus Christ, said he, apply his blood to one, who has shed his own blood? Mr. Flavel told him, that the Lord Jesus shed hisblood for them who with wicked hands had shed his own blood, which was a greater sin than the shedding of his ; to which the wounded man replied,
1 will cast myself upon Christ, let him do what he will. In this con- dition 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 se- rious frame, and prayed with him. The wound in his stomach was afterwards opened, when the ventricle was so much swoln, 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. Boulter, 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. Boulter 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
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