John Flavel Quotes on Providence, the Heart, Christ and Grief
John Flavel was a Puritan pastor in Dartmouth, Devon, in the 1600s. He wrote for sailors, merchants and farmers, not scholars, and his sentences are full of plain pictures: a house with a leaky roof, a stream and its fountain, a bow drawn at a venture. Many of them read like proverbs.
Quotes attributed to Flavel float around online without sources, and some are paraphrases. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter, so you can read each one in its setting. The spelling is the old spelling of these editions. For his life story, see who was John Flavel. For a guide to his books, see John Flavel books.
On providence
These come from The Mystery of Providence, published here as Divine Conduct. Flavel wanted Christians to notice what God was doing in their lives and thank Him for it.
Providence doth not only undertake, but performs and perfects what concerns us.
Divine Conduct, Introduction
It doth thousands of kind offices for men; but among them all, this is the chief — to lead and direct them to Christ.
Divine Conduct, Fourth Performance of Providence: The Means of Our Conversion
He was honest about what we deserve, and that made him grateful for what we have:
Every sin forfeits all the mercies you have; and if so, rather wonder your mercies are so many, than that you have no more.
Divine Conduct, Observing the Performances of Providence
A wicked man finds his heart rising against God when he smites him, but a gracious heart cleaves the closer to him; he can love as well as justify an afflicting God.
Divine Conduct, Observing the Performances of Providence
He that relies upon God must cease from man; resignation to God excludes not the use of lawful means, but it doth exclude dependence upon them.
Divine Conduct, Extracts from the Last Chapter of The Righteous Man's Refuge
If thou be in Christ, thy sins are forgiven thee; and why should not a pardoned soul be a cheerful soul in adversity?
Divine Conduct, Extracts from the Last Chapter of The Righteous Man's Refuge
On keeping the heart
The Saint Indeed, often sold as Keeping the Heart, opens with Flavel's most famous line.
The greatest difficulty in conversion, is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God.
The Saint Indeed, The Saint Indeed
The heart is a hungry and restless thing; it will have something to feed upon.
The Saint Indeed, The Application
He that will find his house in good repair, must stop every chink as soon as discovered; and he that will keep his heart, must not let a vain thought be long neglected.
The Saint Indeed, The Application
On true grace
In The Touchstone of Sincerity, bound with The Saint Indeed, Flavel helps readers tell real faith from imitation.
Nothing is more comfortable than grace, except Christ; and yet without grace no soul can feel the comforts of Christ in the troubles of life or in the straits of death.
The Saint Indeed; and The Touchstone of Sincerity, True Grace Is Exceedingly Precious, and Greatly Enriches the Soul Which Has It
True grace is willing to be tried, and nothing is more desirable to an upright soul, than to know its own condition.
The Saint Indeed; and The Touchstone of Sincerity, That Grace Only Is to Be Reckoned Sincere Which Can Endure Those Trials Which God Appoints
He knew believers still fight sin, and that the fight itself is a sign of life:
Sin and grace dwell not only in the same soul, but in the same faculties.
The Saint Indeed; and The Touchstone of Sincerity, That Indwelling Sin Is to Grace What Fire Is to Gold
To think of a grave, is not pleasant in itself; but to think of a parting-time with sin, that is sweet and pleasant indeed.
The Saint Indeed; and The Touchstone of Sincerity, That Indwelling Sin Is to Grace What Fire Is to Gold
On Christ
The Method of Grace is full of Christ. Flavel never tired of describing how rich and kind He is.
No friend is so open-hearted to his friend as Christ is to his people; he reveals the very counsels and secrets of his heart to them.
The Method of Grace, Third Title of Christ: Altogether Lovely
Take all the faith of Abraham, all the meekness of Moses, all the patience of Job, all the wisdom of Solomon, all the zeal of David, all the industry of Paul, and all the tender-heartedness of Josiah; … yet still it is far short of that which remains in Christ
The Method of Grace, The Believer's Fellowship with Christ
As the sun is filled with light not to shine to itself, but to others, so is Christ with grace.
The Method of Grace, The Believer's Fellowship with Christ
It is true, Christ is out of your sight, and you see him not; but he sees you, and orders every thing that concerns you.
The Method of Grace, The Believer's Union with Christ
None so free and generous as Christ: he doeth all gratis; he sells not his medicines, though they are of infinite value, but freely gives them.
The Method of Grace, The First Title of Christ: The Physician of Souls
On forgiveness and freedom
The east and the west are the two opposite points of heaven, which can never come together; neither shall the pardoned soul and its sins ever meet any more.
The Method of Grace, First Benefit Purchased by Christ: The Forgiveness of Sins
What an intolerable drudgery is the service of divers lusts, from all which believers are freed by Christ; not from the residence, but from the reign of sin.
The Method of Grace, Third Benefit Purchased by Christ: The Liberty of Believers
It is not superstition but religion which destroys corruption; it is faith in Christ's blood, not the spilling of our own, which gives sin the mortal wound.
The Method of Grace, Crucifying the Flesh, or the Mortification of Sin
On coming to Christ
These are from his sermons on Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock," preached when he was free to preach in public again.
Christ and life, Christ and hope, go together: no Christ, no life; no Christ, no hope.
Christ Knocking at the Door of Sinners' Hearts, Every Conviction of Conscience and Motion of the Spirit a Knock from Christ
Not a heart will open to receive Christ till the Spirit of Christ unlock it.
Christ Knocking at the Door of Sinners' Hearts, The Presence of Christ in His Ordinances
Ministers must speak in general; they draw the bow of the gospel at a venture, not knowing to whom God will direct the arrow; but the Spirit guides it to the mark.
Christ Knocking at the Door of Sinners' Hearts, None Receive Christ Until His Spiritual Quickening Voice Is Heard
He warned against the false hope of those who assume all is well:
This sin parts Christ and thousands of souls in the world; presuming, they hope; and hoping, they perish.
Christ Knocking at the Door of Sinners' Hearts, The Heart Barred Against Christ
And he told the sinner exactly how to come:
Tell him thou hast nothing to bring him; that thou comest not to bring, but to receive.
Christ Knocking at the Door of Sinners' Hearts, Christ Rejects None Who Open to Him
On grief
A Token for Mourners was written for grieving parents by a man who had buried his own wife and child. He doesn't scold tears. He guides them.
To bury a child, any child, must needs rend the heart of a tender parent; for what are children but the parent multiplied?
A Token for Mourners, The Text Opened
It is no virtue to bear what we do not feel; yea, it is a most unbecoming temper, not to tremble when God is smiting.
A Token for Mourners, The Signs of Immoderate Sorrow
There is no sin in complaining to God, but much wickedness in complaining of him.
A Token for Mourners, The Signs of Immoderate Sorrow
If the stream fail, repair to the fountain, there is enough still; God is where he was, though the creature be not.
A Token for Mourners, A Dissuasive from the Sin of Immoderate Sorrow
It is but a little while, and we shall go to them; we and they are distinguished but by short intervals.
A Token for Mourners, Epistle Dedicatory
For more books written for the grieving, see our guide to Christian books on death and grief.
Read the books
Start with The Mystery of Providence or Keeping the Heart. For Christ and assurance, read The Method of Grace. For a plain gospel appeal, read Christ Knocking at the Door. For sorrow, read A Token for Mourners. All five are on the John Flavel author page.