I love reading old Christian authors and was recently moved, as I read some of John Flavel’s writing. In his “Epistle to the Reader” and introduction to a series of sermons on Revelation, he writes beautifully. In particular, one passage expresses how astonishing it is that, despite atheism, impure living and bitter opposition to goodness, light and Christian reformation, Christ’s sweet voice is still heard in England: “I stand at the door and knock”. Isn’t it truly wonderful and a great testimony to the mercy of Jesus that even today, in the midst of mockery and rejection of Christianity, Jesus still knocks, hoping unbelievers will turn and enter eternal life. I pray people in this nation will respond to Christ’s door knocking.
This introduction was written in 1689 and was written in thanksgiving, celebrating the Glorious Revolution – a moment when the Catholic James II was deposed and replaced with Protestant Mary II – and so Flavel celebrates the freedom from popery that Bible-believing Christians can now enjoy. It’s a new season in English life, where God seems to be moving and Flavel is enjoying real success in ministry.
The whole introduction is worth reading, but Flavel’s language is sometimes slightly archaic, so I’ve re-written it in modern English and sometimes added extra words or thoughts to make his meaning plainer. Anything in brackets is my own addition or explanation. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Dear Reader,
The following letters comes to you in an unedited way, with the plain words I used when I preached it. I have consciously chosen not to change it, because the Lord blessed and prospered my message in its plainness, far more than other messages in much more eloquent forms, where I laboured much harder on presentation. Let it not be vanity or showiness that I here acknowledge the goodness of God in leading me to this subject and blessing my work in preaching it. Who or what am I that I should continue to be employed in the Lord’s work, with success and encouragement in the harvest, when so many brothers with far more grace and much bigger gifts have been called away and now lie in the grave? It’s true, they enjoy what I do not (a place in heaven with Christ), but it also true that I am capable of doing some service for God, which they cannot (I suppose Flavel is thinking about Philippians 1:22-24 in this sentence – look it up, it’s a great attitude to life).
In preaching these sermons I have had plenty of time to reflect upon the mystical sense of the Scripture in Amos 9:13 – “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed”. That day seems to have come! We sow seed and then seem to reap immediately afterwards. No sooner have we shared the Gospel, do people respond. I speak in humility, to the praise of God, it has been the busiest and most blessed time I ever saw, since I started preaching the Gospel.
England has now a time of special mercy, there is a wide door of opportunity open to it. Oh! That this door would prove effective and be used! It is transporting and astonishing that after all the high and horrid provocations, the atheism, the impurity and bitter opposition to light and reformation, this sweet voice is still heard in England: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”.
The mercies and liberties of this day are a new test, obtained by our potentate Advocate in the heavens. If we bring forth fruit, great! If not, the ax lies at the foot of the tree (this is chance for English Christians to bear fruit in the power of the Holy Spirit, but if they don’t, John 15 teaches us what happens to fruitless vine branches).
Let us not be falsely secure. Jerusalem was the city of the great King, the seat of his worship and the symbols of his presence were fixed there! It was the joy of the whole earth, the house of prayer for all nations! The tribes all gathered in Jerusalem for worship, the Lord’s people gathered for the Lord’s testimony! The thrones of judgement were there and the throne of David (Psalm 122:4-5). These privileges Jerusalem enjoyed for many generations and she would have retained this glory if she had known and improved upon the things that belonged to God’s peace in her midst. Instead they missed the season, rejected God’s mercy and miserably perished in sin. Because there will always be an unbreakable connection between the final rejection of Christ and destruction of rejectors – Matthew 22:5-7 (Take note, unbelievers, if you reject Christ, you will not escape destruction). It is for this reason, Christ looked upon Jerusalem and wept in Luke 19:41-42.
Let everyone who is wise, consider the fall of Jerusalem, dispose of any animosity in the heart towards God, reflect with sorrow on their previous foolishness and encourage and assist in Christian labour with their brothers and sisters in the Lord’s harvest. And let them rejoice in the freedom of the law that enables them to evangelise! This assistance is so great an opportunity! It is necessary and desirable (In these sentences Flavel celebrates that Protestants can once again preach freely without fear of persecution from the Catholic monarch and we today ought to rejoice that we can freely share Jesus with others).
It is against the law of wisdom and love to envy the liberty and success of other Christians labouring in the Gospel (1 Cor 13:4). It the workmen contend and scuffle with one another in working the harvest, it is the owners who suffer! If after receiving such a miraculous salvation as this, how can we retain prejudices against other Christians and envy them?! If we not attack them with the pen, when we cannot use our hands, and study in order to ruin the reputation and work of Christian brothers and harbour hate towards the Christians we cannot do anything to hurt, then we will devour one another.
Let us not blame others. We, ourselves, have been the author of our own ruin. This would be the inscription upon the tombstone of England: “Oh England you have destroyed yourself”. I am more afraid of rooted enmity and prejudice found within, prejudice against holiness and serious seekers of holy lives. I am more afraid of inflexible stubbornness and dead formality in many people than I am of all the whispered fears from other hands or common enemies on our borders (Flavel is more scared of sinfulness within England than foreign threats and I think the Church should be more scared of sin within than threats from outside the church).
To prevent these mischiefs, and to promote zeal and unity amongst ministers of the Gospel, I will speak to them in a series of letters. I am conscious of my own unworthiness to be their instructor and the defects that judging eyes will easily discern in the style it is written and yet I hope they will receive what I write, which is faithfully, seasonably and honestly designed for their good. I hope no honest or generous person will put my words on trial and expose small errors, but will find my purpose to be honest and the subject of these letters to be good and necessary.
As for the words themselves, I pray you will find it persuasive to open your heart to Christ. Your soul, reader, is a magnificent structure built by Christ. It contains stately rooms, including your understanding, will conscience and loves and they are too good for anyone but Christ Himself to inhabit. If you are not a Christian, not regenerate by the Holy Spirit, then Christ solemnly demands in this text access into the soul he made, by the consent of your will. If you refuse to give your will, then witness is taken that Christ once more demanded entrance into your soul, which he made and was denied access. If you have opened your heart to Christ, you will, I hope, meet something in these letters that will teach you truth and cheer your heart. Pray read, ponder and apply. I am
Yours and the Church’s Servant,
John Flavel
2023 has been a fruitful year so far for Christ Church Fareham. For me personally, it has been the busiest and most encouraging season as a Gospel preacher, I have so far seen, since we planted the Church. I hope and pray we are entering a door of opportunity in England and pray Christian workers will rise up and enter into Gospel preaching and Christian labour with joy. And that many will accept Jesus into their hearts. For he stands at the door and knocks.
In preaching these sermons I have had plenty of time to reflect upon the mystical sense of the Scripture in Amos 9:13 – “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed”. That day seems to have come! We sow seed and then seem to reap immediately afterwards. No sooner have we shared the Gospel, do people respond. I speak in humility, to the praise of God, it has been the busiest and most blessed time I ever saw, since I started preaching the Gospel.
England has now a time of special mercy, there is a wide door of opportunity open to it. Oh! That this door would prove effective and be used! It is transporting and astonishing that after all the high and horrid provocations, the atheism, the impurity and bitter opposition to light and reformation, this sweet voice is still heard in England: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”.
The mercies and liberties of this day are a new test, obtained by our potentate Advocate in the heavens. If we bring forth fruit, great! If not, the ax lies at the foot of the tree (this is chance for English Christians to bear fruit in the power of the Holy Spirit, but if they don’t, John 15 teaches us what happens to fruitless vine branches).
Let us not be falsely secure. Jerusalem was the city of the great King, the seat of his worship and the symbols of his presence were fixed there! It was the joy of the whole earth, the house of prayer for all nations! The tribes all gathered in Jerusalem for worship, the Lord’s people gathered for the Lord’s testimony! The thrones of judgement were there and the throne of David (Psalm 122:4-5). These privileges Jerusalem enjoyed for many generations and she would have retained this glory if she had known and improved upon the things that belonged to God’s peace in her midst. Instead they missed the season, rejected God’s mercy and miserably perished in sin. Because there will always be an unbreakable connection between the final rejection of Christ and destruction of rejectors – Matthew 22:5-7 (Take note, unbelievers, if you reject Christ, you will not escape destruction). It is for this reason, Christ looked upon Jerusalem and wept in Luke 19:41-42.
Let everyone who is wise, consider the fall of Jerusalem, dispose of any animosity in the heart towards God, reflect with sorrow on their previous foolishness and encourage and assist in Christian labour with their brothers and sisters in the Lord’s harvest. And let them rejoice in the freedom of the law that enables them to evangelise! This assistance is so great an opportunity! It is necessary and desirable (In these sentences Flavel celebrates that Protestants can once again preach freely without fear of persecution from the Catholic monarch and we today ought to rejoice that we can freely share Jesus with others).
It is against the law of wisdom and love to envy the liberty and success of other Christians labouring in the Gospel (1 Cor 13:4). It the workmen contend and scuffle with one another in working the harvest, it is the owners who suffer! If after receiving such a miraculous salvation as this, how can we retain prejudices against other Christians and envy them?! If we not attack them with the pen, when we cannot use our hands, and study in order to ruin the reputation and work of Christian brothers and harbour hate towards the Christians we cannot do anything to hurt, then we will devour one another.
Let us not blame others. We, ourselves, have been the author of our own ruin. This would be the inscription upon the tombstone of England: “Oh England you have destroyed yourself”. I am more afraid of rooted enmity and prejudice found within, prejudice against holiness and serious seekers of holy lives. I am more afraid of inflexible stubbornness and dead formality in many people than I am of all the whispered fears from other hands or common enemies on our borders (Flavel is more scared of sinfulness within England than foreign threats and I think the Church should be more scared of sin within than threats from outside the church).
To prevent these mischiefs, and to promote zeal and unity amongst ministers of the Gospel, I will speak to them in a series of letters. I am conscious of my own unworthiness to be their instructor and the defects that judging eyes will easily discern in the style it is written and yet I hope they will receive what I write, which is faithfully, seasonably and honestly designed for their good. I hope no honest or generous person will put my words on trial and expose small errors, but will find my purpose to be honest and the subject of these letters to be good and necessary.
As for the words themselves, I pray you will find it persuasive to open your heart to Christ. Your soul, reader, is a magnificent structure built by Christ. It contains stately rooms, including your understanding, will conscience and loves and they are too good for anyone but Christ Himself to inhabit. If you are not a Christian, not regenerate by the Holy Spirit, then Christ solemnly demands in this text access into the soul he made, by the consent of your will. If you refuse to give your will, then witness is taken that Christ once more demanded entrance into your soul, which he made and was denied access. If you have opened your heart to Christ, you will, I hope, meet something in these letters that will teach you truth and cheer your heart. Pray read, ponder and apply. I am
Yours and the Church’s Servant,
John Flavel
2023 has been a fruitful year so far for Christ Church Fareham. For me personally, it has been the busiest and most encouraging season as a Gospel preacher, I have so far seen, since we planted the Church. I hope and pray we are entering a door of opportunity in England and pray Christian workers will rise up and enter into Gospel preaching and Christian labour with joy. And that many will accept Jesus into their hearts. For he stands at the door and knocks.
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