The manner of God’s revealing His will to men is (also) very different. Some have had special, personal, and peculiar discoveries of it made to them. So had Samuel about the choice of the person whom he should anoint king… But now, all are tied up to the ordinary standing rule of the written Word, and must not expect any such extraordinary revelations from God. The way we now have to know the will of God concerning us in difficult cases, is to search and study the Scriptures, and where we find no particular rule to guide us in this or that particular case, there we are to apply general rules.
— John Flavel (1627–1691), Puritanischer Prediger
Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Guidance & God's Will
Occasions: For Reflection
John Flavel
John Flavel war ein englischer puritanischer Geistlicher und Autor des 17. Jahrhunderts, der nach dem Verlust seiner Pfarrstelle durch die Uniformitätsakte von 1662 vor allem verdeckt in Dartmouth wirkte. Er wurde durch theologische Schriften über die göttliche Vorsehung, innere Herzensprüfung und seelsorgerlichen Trost in Krisenzeiten bekannt. Heutigen Bibellesern vermittelt sein Werk einen Einblick in die Verbindung von reformierter Glaubenslehre mit praxisnaher Seelsorge und Alltagsfrömmigkeit.
All quotes by John Flavel (30)
[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Augustine of Hippo
A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
Unknown
The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
John Charles Ryle
The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.
Corrie ten Boom
Martin Luther
The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.
Madeleine L'Engle