In John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence he speaks of a master builder named Oecolampadius. This name is not well known in our day; yet in his day, Johannes Oecolampadius was a trusted theological scholar. While not as revered in the annals of history as Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin the church has benefited that the Providence of God saw fit to keep this man from becoming a merchant. More is told of his Reformation life here:

The second period of Oecolampadius's life opens with his return to Basel in November 1522, as vicar of St Martin's and (in 1523) reader of the Holy Scripture at the university. Lecturing on Isaiah he condemned current ecclesiastical abuses, and in a public disputation (2oth of August 1523) was so successful that Erasmus writing to Zürich said " Oecolampadius has the upper hand amongst us." He became Zwingli's best helper, and after more than a year of earnest preaching and four public disputations in which the popular verdict had been given in favour of Oecolampadius and his friends, the authorities of Basel began to see the necessity of some reformation. They began wiih the convents, and Oecolampadius was able to refrain in public worship on certain festival days from some practices he believed to be superstitious. Basel was slow to accept the reformation; the news of the Peasants' War and the inroads of Anabaptists prevented progress; but at last, in 1525, it seemed as if the authorities were resolved to listen to schemes for restoring the purity of worship and teaching. In the midst of these hopes and difficulties Oecolampadius married, in the beginning of 1528, Wilibrandis Rosenblatt, the widow of Ludwig Keller, who proved to be non rixasa vcl gárrula vcl vaga, he says, and made him a good wife. After his death she married Capilo, and, when Capito died, Buccr. She died in 1564. In January 1528 ecolampadius and Zwingli took part in the disputation at Berne which led to the adoption of the new faith in that canton, and in the following year to the discontinuance of the mass at Basel. The Anabaptists claimed Oecolampadius for their views, but in a disputation with them he dissociated himself from most of their positions. He died on the 24th of November 1531.

In John Flavel's Mystery of Providence he makes mention of a man named Pareus. Apparently Pareus had been apprenticed, by his mother, to be a pharmacist (apothecary). God, however, had contrary plans. Pareus ended up being a marevelous teacher during the Reformation period. He was irenic in nature and sought to bring reconciliation to the Lutherans and the Calvinists of his day. More information is given here:



The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day By Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck

In John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence he tells of the remarkable conversion of a cardinal named Vergerius. Who is this man? And what are the surrounding details to his conversion? It is helpful to distinguish Peter Paul Vergerius the Younger (or subject) with his namesake of a century prior. Our Vergerius was born in approximately 1498. It looks as if he was in line to become the pope's ambassador to Germany. But it appears that the Lord took hold of Vergerius and he became converted by the very thing he attempted to refute. A more detailed account of his conversion is given here:

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THE GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY By Alexander Chalmers, F.S.A.

On page 31 of The Mystery of Providence, Flavel makes reference to "images [being] pulled down in Holland". What is this a reference to? In 1566 a group of Reformers were moved by zeal to pull down every image of a saint they met on the road. You can read the account here:


History of Holland, from the Beginning of the Tenth to the End of the ... By Charles Maurice Davies