A BOUT the middle of the 17th century the venerable John Flavel was settled at Dartmouth, where he preached with great acceptance and blessing. His manner was very affectionate and serious, and excited powerful emotion in his hearers. On one occasion he preached from the text: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha,” or cursed of God with a grievous curse. When about to pronounce the benediction, Mr. Flavel paused and said: “How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every person in it, who loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, is Anathema Maranatha!” This solemn appeal to conscience so affected a gentleman of rank present, that he fell senseless on the floor.
A lad of 15 years of age, a native of Dartmouth named Luke Short, was one of the congregation on that occasion. Sometime afterwards he went to America, and settled there, spending the remainder of his long life in the State of Massachusetts. When he was 100 years of age, he had bodily strength for farm work, and considerable mental activity also, but he was still careless about his immortal soul. One day as he sat resting in the fields he reflected on his past life, and called to mind the days of his youth, when he used to hear Mr. Flavel preach at Dartmouth. The latter’s affectionate earnest and solemn warnings came to mind, and particularly the sermon on Anathema Maranatha.
The blessing of God accompanied the old man’s retrospective meditations: he felt that he had never yet loved Christ, and that the curse rested on him. Conviction was followed by repentance. The aged sinner found peace in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting in the merit of His atoning death on Calvary’s Cross. He joined the Congregational Church at Middleboro, and to the end of his long life, at the age of 116 years he gave evidence of true piety, “For, as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Is. lv. 10, 11).