creation, accounting time a precious jewel, that ought to be improved at any rate.

He was not only a zealous preacher in the pulpit, but a sincere Christian in his closet, frequent in self-examination, as well as in pressing it upon others; being afraid, lest while he preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away. To prove this, I shall transcribe what fol

lows from his own diary.

"1. To make sure of eternal life, said he, is the great "business which the sons of death have to do in this world, "Whether a man consider the immortality of his own "soul, the ineffable joys and glory of heaven, the ex"treme and endless torments of hell, the inconceivable "sweetness of peace of conscience, or the misery of being "subject to the errors thereof: All these put a necessity, a solemnity, a glory upon this work. But, Oh! the "difficulties and dangers attending it! How many, and "how great are these? What judgment, faithfulness, "resolution, and watchfulness, doth it require? Such is "the deceitfulness, darkness, and inconstancy of our "hearts, and such the malice, policy, and diligence of "Satan, to manage and improve it, that he who attempts

this work had need both to watch his seasons for it, and frequently look up to GoD for his guidance and "illumination, and to spend many sad and serious thoughts before he adventure upon a determination and conclu❝sion of the state of his soul.

"To the end, therefore, that this most important "work may not miscarry in my hands, I have collected "with all the care I can, the best and soundest charac"ters I can find in the writings of our modern divines, "taken out of the Scripture, and by their labours illus❝trated and prepared for use, that I might make a right "application of them.

"1. I have earnestly besought the Lord for the assis"tance of his Spirit, which can only manifest my own

heart unto me, and shew me the true state thereof, "which is that thing my soul doth most earnestly desire "to know: And I hope the Lord will answer my desire "therein, according to his promises, Luke xi. 13. John ❝xiv. 26.

"2. I have endeavoured to cast out and lay aside selflove, lest, my heart being prepossessed therewith, my 66 judgment should be perverted and become partial in passing sentence on my estate. I have in some measure brought my heart to be willing to judge and con

46

"demn

"demn myself for an hypocrite, if such I shall be found "on trial, as to approve myself for sincere and upright: "Yea, I would have it so far from being grievous to me

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so to do, that if I have been all this while mistaken and "deceived, I shall rejoice and bless the Lord with my "soul, that now at last it may be discovered to me, and "I may be set right, though I lay the foundation new "again. This I have laboured to bring my heart to, "knowing that thousands have dashed and split to pieces 66 upon this rock. And indeed he that will own the "person of a judge, must put off the person of a "" friend.

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"3. It hath been my endeavour to keep upon my heart a deep sense of that great judgment-day throughout this "work, as knowing by experience what a potent in"fluence this hath on the conscience, to make it delibe"rate, serious, and faithful in its work; and therefore I "have demanded of my own conscience, before the re"solution of each question: O my conscience, deal "faithfully with me in this particular, and say no more "to me than thou wilt own and stand to in the great "day, when the counsels of all hearts shall be made "manifest.

"4. Having seriously weighed each mark, and con"sidered wherein the weight and substance of it lieth, I "have gone to the Lord in prayer for his assistance, ❝ere I have drawn up the answer of my conscience; "and as my heart hath been persuaded therein, so have "I determined and resolved; what hath been clear to my "experience, I have so set down, and what hath been "dubious, I have here left it so.

“ 5. I have made choice of the fittest seasons I had "for this work, and set to it when I have found my "heart in the most quiet and serious frame. For as he "that will see his face in a glass, must be fixed, not in motion, or in the water, must make no commotion " in it, so it is in this case.

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Lastly, To the end I may be successful in this "work, I have laboured all along carefully to distin"guish betwixt such sins as are grounds of doubt"ing, and such as are only grounds of humiliation; "knowing that not every evil is a ground of doubt"ing, though all, even the smallest infirmities, ad"minister matter of humiliation: And thus I have "desired to enterprize this great business. O Lord, "assist thy servant, that he may not mistake here

"in; but if his conscience do now condemn him, he 66 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 attained 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 "Пsuya," p. 323, which I refer to, and likewise from 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 sermons, 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 to Dartmouth port a ship of Pool, in her return from Virginia; the surgeon of this ship, a lusty young man of twenty-three years of age, fell into a deep melancholy, which the devil improved to make him murder himself. This he attempted on the Lord's day early in the morning, when he was in bed with his brother; he first cut his own throat with a knife he had prepared on purpose, and leaping out of the bed, thrust it into his stomach, 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 however, and applied a plaster, but without hopes of cure, because he already breathed through the wound, and his voice was become inarticulate. Mr. Flavel came to visit him in this condition, and, apprehending him to be within a few minutes of eternity, laboured to prepare him for it; he asked him his own apprehensions of his condition, 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;

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self

"self-murder was the grossest of all murder, &c." Mr. Flavel insisted so much upon 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 asked Mr. Flavel, • If there might yet be any hope for him?" he told him, "There "might" And finding him altogether unacquainted with the nature 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 intreated 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 lothe to part with Mr. Flavel, but the duty of the day obliged him to be gone; in a few words he 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, intreated him to continue his discourse upon this subject, 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! O, I lothe myself! 'I do also believe: Lord, help my unbelief! I am heartily willing to take Christ upon his own terms; but one ⚫ thing troubles me, I doubt this bloody sin will not be pardoned. Will Jesus Christ, said he, apply his blood to me, that have shed my own blood ? Mr. Flavel told him, "That the Lord Jesus had shed his blood "for them that with wicked hands had shed his own "blood, which was a greater sin than the shedding of "his" to which the wounded man replied, I will 'cast myself upon Christ, let him do what he will.' In this condition 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 serious frame, and prayed with him. The wound in his stomach was afterwards opened, when the ventricle was so swollen, 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 Gob that he was cured of these dangerous wounds in his body; and, upon solid grounds of a rational charity, there was reason to believe that he was also cured of that more dangerous wound which sin had made on his soul. Mr. Flavel spent many hours with him during the time of his illness; 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 the following relation, viz. That some time before, there came into his shop a sparkish gentleman to inquire 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 than play books. The gentleman read the title, and glancing upon several pages here and there, broke out into these and such other expressions: What a damnable fanatic was he who made this book?' Mr. Boulter begged of him to buy and read it, and told him he had no cause to censure it so bitterly;' at last he bought it, but told him he would not read it.' What will you do with it then, said Mr. Boulter ?" I will tear and burn it, said he, and send it to the devil.' Mr. Boulter told him, then he should not have it.' Upon this the gentleman promised to read it; and Mr. Boulter told him, If he disliked it upon reading, he would return

him his money.' About a month after, the gentleman came to the shop again in a very modest habit, and, with a serious countenance, bespeaks Mr. Boulter thus: Sir, I most heartily thank you for putting this book into my hands; I bless GOD that moved you to do it: it hath saved my soul; blessed be God that ever I came into your shop.' And then he bought a hundred