Chapter VIII (1)

_COMMENCEMENT OF THE CALVINIAN
CONTROVERSY._

1770 AND 1771.

DURING his absence from England, Fletcher wrote several letters to the masters and students of the Countess of Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca;[205] but none of these have been published, and, probably, none of them now exist. Immediately after his return, and before he had an opportunity of visiting the College, he indited the following remarkable epistle:—

“MADELEY, _July 23, 1770_.

“To the masters and students of Lady Huntingdon’s College.

“Grace, mercy, and peace attend you, my dear brethren, from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Brother Jesus Christ!

“_Brother_, do I say? Should I not rather have written _All_? Is not
He _all and in all_? _All_ to believers, for He is their God, as the
λογος (_the Word_), and their Friend, Brother, Father, Spouse, etc.,
etc., etc., as He is λογος γενομενος σαρξ (_the Word made flesh_).
From Him, through Him, and in Him, I salute you in the Spirit. I
believe He is here with me, and in me. I believe He is yonder with
you, and in you; for ‘in Him we live, move, and have,’ not only our
animal, but rational and spiritual, ‘being.’ May the powerful grain of
faith remove the mountain of remaining unbelief, that you and I may
see things as God sees them! When this is the case, we shall discover
that the Creator is _All_ indeed, and that creatures, which we are
wont to put in His place, are mere nothings, passing clouds that our
Sun of Righteousness has thought fit to clothe Himself with, and paint
some of His glories upon. In an instant, He could scatter them into
their original nothing, or resorb them for ever, and stand without
competitor, יחוה, the _Being_.

“But suppose that all creatures should stand for ever, little
signatures of God, what are they even in their most glorious estate,
but as tapers kindled by His light, as well as formed by His power?
Now conceive a Sun, a spiritual Sun, whose centre is everywhere, whose
circumference can be found nowhere; a Sun whose lustre as much
surpasses the brightness of the luminary that rules the day, as the
Creator surpasses the creature; and say, What are the twinkling tapers
of good men on earth,—what is the smoking flax of wicked
creatures,—what the glittering stars of saints in heaven? Why, they
are all lost in His transcendent glory, and if any one of these would
set himself up as an object of esteem, regard, or admiration, he must
indeed be mad with _self_ and _pride_. He must be, as dear Mr. Howell
Harris has often told us, a foolish apostate, a devil.

“Understand this, believe this, and you will sink to unknown depths of
self-horror, for having aspired at being _somebody_, self-humiliation
at seeing yourself _nobody_, or what is worse an _evil-body_.

“But I would not have you dwell even upon this evil, so as to lose
sight of your Sun, unless it be to see Him covered, on this account,
with our flesh and blood, and wrapt in the cloud of our nature. Then
you will cry out with St. Paul, ‘O the depth!’ Then, finding the
manhood is again resorbed into the Godhead, you will gladly renounce
all selfish, separate existence in Adam and from Adam. You will take
Christ to be your life; you will become His members by eating His
flesh and drinking His blood; you will consider His flesh as your
flesh, His bone as your bone, His Spirit as your spirit, His
righteousness as your righteousness, His cross as your cross, and His
crown (whether of thorns or glory) as your crown. You will reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through
this dear Redeemer. You will renounce propriety; you will heartily and
gladly say, ‘Not I, not I, but Christ liveth; and only _because He
lives_, I do, and shall live also.’

“When it is so with us, then we are creatures in our Creator, and
redeemed creatures in our Redeemer. Then we understand and feel what
He says, ‘Without Me the Creator, ye are nothing; without Me the
Saviour, ye can do nothing.’ ‘The moment I consider Christ and myself
as two, I am gone,’ says Luther; and I say so too. I am gone into
self, and into Antichrist; for that which will be _something_, will
not let Christ be _all_; and that which will not let Christ be all,
must certainly be Antichrist. What a poor, jejune, dry thing is
doctrinal Christianity, compared with the clear and _heartfelt assent_
that the believer gives to these fundamental truths! What life, what
strength, what comfort flow out from them! O my friends, let us
believe, and we shall see, taste, and handle the Word of Life. When I
stand in unbelief, I am like a drop of muddy water drying up in the
sun of temptation. I can neither comfort, nor help, nor preserve
myself. When I do believe and close in with Christ, I am like that
same drop losing itself in a boundless, bottomless sea of purity,
light, life, power, and love. There _my good_ and _my evil_ are
equally nothing; equally swallowed up; and grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life.

“There I wish you all to be. There I beg you and I may meet with all
God’s children. I long to see you that I may impart unto you (should
God make use of such a worm) some spiritual gift, and that I may be
comforted by the mutual faith of you and me, and by your growth in
grace, and in divine as well as human wisdom, during my long absence.
I hope matters will be so contrived that I may be with you, to behold
your order, before the anniversary. Meanwhile, I remain your
affectionate fellow-labourer and servant in the Gospel of Christ,

“JOHN FLETCHER.”[206]

Footnote 205:

Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.“

Footnote 206:

Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.“

No wonder that the visits of a man breathing such a spirit were welcomed. Mr. Benson, the head master of the College, writes:—

“He was received as an angel of God. It is not possible for me to
describe the veneration in which we all held him. Like Elijah, in the
schools of the prophets, he was revered; he was loved; he was almost
adored; not only by every student, but by every member of the family.

“And indeed he was worthy. The reader will pardon me, if he thinks I
exceed. My heart kindles while I write. Here it was that I saw, shall
I say, an angel in human flesh? I should not far exceed the truth if I
said so. But here I saw a descendant of fallen Adam, so fully raised
above the ruins of the fall, that, though by the body he was tied down
to earth, his _whole conversation was in heaven_. His _life_, from day
to day, was _hid with Christ in God_. Prayer, praise, love, and zeal,
all ardent, elevated above what one would think attainable in this
state of frailty, were the element in which he continually lived. As
to others, his one employment was, to call, entreat, and urge them, to
ascend with him to the glorious source of being and blessedness. He
had leisure, comparatively, for nothing else. Languages, arts,
sciences, grammar, rhetoric, logic, even divinity itself, were all
laid aside, when he appeared in the schoolroom among the students. His
full heart would not suffer him to be silent. He _must_ speak, and
they were readier to hearken to this servant and minister of Jesus
Christ, than to attend to Sallust, Virgil, Cicero, or any Latin or
Greek historian, poet, or philosopher they had been engaged in
reading. And they seldom hearkened long, before they were all in
tears, and every heart catched fire from the flame that burned in his
soul.

“These seasons generally terminated in this. Being convinced that to
be ‘filled with the Holy Ghost’ was a better qualification for the
ministry of the Gospel than any classical learning (though that too
may be useful in its place), after speaking awhile in the schoolroom,
he used frequently to say, ‘As many of you as are athirst for the
fulness of the Spirit, follow me into my room.’ On this, many of us
instantly followed him, and there continued till noon, _for two or
three hours_, praying for one another, till we could bear to kneel no
longer. This was done, not once or twice, but many times; and I have
sometimes seen him, on these occasions—once in particular—so filled
with the love of God, that he cried out, ‘O my God, withhold Thy hand,
or the vessel will burst!’ But he afterwards told me, he was afraid he
had grieved the Spirit of God, and that he ought to have prayed that
the Lord would have enlarged the vessel, or have suffered it to break,
that the soul might have had no further bar to its enjoyment of the
Supreme Good.

“Such was the ordinary employment of this man of God, while he
remained at Trevecca. He preached the word of life to the students and
family, and to as many of the neighbours as desired to be present. He
was always employed, either in illustrating some important truth, or
exhorting to some neglected duty, or administering some needful
comfort, or relating some useful anecdote, or making some profitable
remark. His devout soul, always burning with love and zeal, led him to
intermingle prayer with all he uttered. His manner was so solemn and,
at the same time, so mild and insinuating, that it was hardly possible
for any one to be in his company without being struck with awe and
charmed with love, as if in the presence of an angel or departed
spirit. Indeed, I frequently thought, while attending to his heavenly
discourse, that he was so different from the generality of mankind as
to look more like Moses or Elijah, or some prophet or apostle come
again from the dead, than a mortal man dwelling in a house of
clay.”[207]

Footnote 207:

Wesley’s “Life of Fletcher.“

This, to some, may appear excessive eulogy; and, therefore, the reader is reminded that Joseph Benson, who wrote it, was not a weak-minded fanatic, but a man of robust understanding, a classical scholar of no mean attainments, an able commentator on the Old and New Testaments, one of the most powerful and successful preachers of his times, and twice President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference. Such a man was not likely to write random words. He knew Fletcher, and, to the best of his power, described him accurately. And, further, it must be remembered that Benson’s testimony was endorsed by Wesley, who inserted it verbatim in his “Life of Fletcher.“

Such was Fletcher; and yet this half-angelic man had soon to leave Trevecca! The reasons for this must now be given. The subject will be far from pleasant; but, in a Life of Fletcher, it cannot be evaded. For some time past, the storm of the Calvinian controversy had been brewing; now the crisis came, and the storm burst with terrific violence.

Before proceeding, however, with the history of the controversy, there is a letter belonging to this period too interesting to be omitted. David Simpson, who had belonged to Rowland Hill’s Methodist Society, at Cambridge, had recently received episcopal ordination, and begun his famous ministry. Like Wesley, Whitefield, Berridge, Rowland Hill, and others, he was inclined to become, to some extent, an itinerant preacher, and, therefore, _irregular_. He was only twenty-four years of age, without experience, and in need of counsel. Accordingly, he wrote to Fletcher, who returned the following answer:—

“MADELEY, _August 4, 1770_.

“REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,—I have sometimes preached in licensed places,
but have never been censured for it. Perhaps it is because my
superiors in the Church think me not worth their notice, and despair
of shackling me with their unevangelical regularity. If the Bishop
were to take me to task about this piece of irregularity, I would
observe,—

“1. That the canons of men cannot overthrow the canons of God. ‘Preach
the word. Be instant in season and out of season.’ ‘The time cometh,
and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship,’ particularly and
exclusively of all other places, neither upon mount Gerizim, nor upon
mount Zion; but they shall worship everywhere in spirit and in truth.
The contrary canons are Jewish, and subversive of the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free; yea, contrary to the right of
Churchmen, which must, at least, include the privilege of dissenters.

“2. Before the Bishop shackled me with canons, he charged me to ‘look
for Christ’s lost sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for His
children who are in the midst of this wicked world;’ and these sheep,
etc., I will try to gather whenever I meet them. We have a general
canon:—‘While we have time, let us do good to all men, and especially
to them who are of the household of faith.’ ‘Go into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to every creature’ willing to hear it.

“A Justice of the Peace would once prosecute me upon the Conventicle
Act; but, when it came to the point, he durst not do it. Some of my
parishioners went and complained to the Bishop about my conventicles.
I wrote to the Registrar that I hoped his Lordship, who had given me
the above-mentioned charge at my ordination, would not be against my
following it; that I thought it hard the tipplers should have twenty
or thirty tippling-houses, the papists one meeting-house, and the
dissenters three or four, in my parish, undisturbed, and that I should
be disturbed, because I would not have God’s Word confined to one
house; and that, with respect to the canons, it would be absurd to put
them in force against preaching clergymen, when they were set aside
with respect to catechising, tippling, gaming, and carding clergymen;
that I did not desire his Lordship to patronize me, in an especial
manner, in the use of my Christian liberty; but that I hoped he would
connive at it.

“Whether they received my letter or not, I do not know; but they never
attempted to molest me.

“Be modestly and steadily bold for God, and your enemies will be more
afraid of you than you of them; or if God will honour you with the
badge of persecution, He will comfort and bless you the more for it.
May the God of all grace and power be with you more and more! Ask it,
dear Sir, for your brother and servant in Christ,

“J. FLETCHER.”[208]

Footnote 208:

Fletcher’s Works, vol. viii., p. 257.

Fletcher had been only a few weeks at home, when Wesley opened the Annual Conference of his Itinerant Preachers. This took place in London, on August 7, 1770. The twenty-eighth question of that Conference was, “What can be done to revive the work of God where it is decayed?” In answering this, it was resolved, 1. That there must be more visitation from house to house; 2. That the books Wesley had printed should be more widely dispersed; 3. That there should be more field-preaching; 4. That there should be preaching at five o’clock in the morning wherever twenty hearers could be obtained; 5. That evils in congregational singing should be corrected; 6. That four fast-days should be observed every year; 7. That the Methodists must be taught to seek and expect, not only _gradual_, but “instantaneous sanctification”; 8. That every Itinerant Preacher, “in every large town, should spend an hour with the children” of the Methodists every week; 9. That no itinerant preacher should be so appointed to preach on Sundays, as to keep him “from church above two Sundays in four.”

The last answer to the question is the only one that concerns the Life of Fletcher, and must be given verbatim. Continuing to instruct and direct his preachers, Wesley observed, lastly,—

“Take heed to your doctrine.

“We said, in 1744, ‘We have leaned too much toward Calvinism.’
Wherein?

“1. With regard to _man’s faithfulness_. Our Lord Himself taught us to
use the expression, and we ought never to be ashamed of it. We ought
steadily to assert, on His authority, that if a man is not ‘faithful
in the unrighteous mammon,’ God will not give him ‘_the true riches_.’

“2. With regard to _working for life_. This also our Lord has
expressly commanded us. ‘Labour,’ εργαζεσθε, literally, ‘work for the
meat that endureth to everlasting life.’ And, in fact, every believer,
till he comes to glory, works for as well as _from_ life.

“3. We have received it as a maxim, that ‘a man is to do nothing in
order to justification.’ Nothing can be more false. Whoever desires to
find favour with God should ‘cease from evil, and learn to do well.’
Whoever repents should do ‘works meet for repentance.’ And if this is
not _in order_ to find favour, what does he do them for?

“Review the whole affair.

“1. Who of us is _now_ accepted of God?

“He that now believes in Christ with a loving and obedient heart.

“2. But who among those who never heard of Christ?

“He that feareth God, and worketh righteousness according to the light
he has.

“3. Is this the same with ‘he that is sincere’?

“Nearly, if not quite.

“4. Is not this ‘salvation by works’?

“Not by the _merit_ of works, but by works as a _condition_.

“5. What have we then been disputing about for these thirty years?

“I am afraid, _about words_.

“6. As to _merit_ itself, of which we have been so dreadfully afraid:
we are rewarded ‘according to our works,’ yea, ‘because of our works.’
How does this differ from _for the sake of our works_? And how differs
this from _secundum merita operum_? As our works _deserve_. Can you
split this hair? I doubt I cannot.

“7. The grand objection to one of the preceding propositions is drawn
from a matter of fact. God does in fact justify those who, by their
own confession, neither feared God nor wrought righteousness. Is this
an exception to the general rule?

“It is a doubt, God makes any exception at all. But how are we sure
that the person in question never did fear God and work righteousness?
His own saying so is not proof; for we know how all that are convinced
of sin undervalue themselves in every respect.

“8. Does not talking of a justified or a sanctified _state_ tend to
mislead men, almost naturally leading them to trust in what was done
in one moment? Whereas we are every hour and every moment pleasing or
displeasing to God, ‘according to our works.’ According to the whole
of our inward tempers, and our outward behaviour.”[209]

Footnote 209:

“Minutes of the Methodist Conferences,” vol. i., p. 97.

For the next five years (1770–1775), Fletcher made it his duty to explain and defend these theological theses; and a review of this quinquennial controversy—as concise as possible—must now be attempted.

Eight days after the close of Wesley’s Conference, Lady Huntingdon, with the Rev. Walter Shirley and the Rev. Henry Venn, arrived at Mr. Ireland’s residence at Brislington, on their way to Trevecca to attend the services in connection with the anniversary of the College. Wesley had been at the anniversary a year ago, and had been invited to be at the present one. Accordingly, he remained in Bristol with the expectation of accompanying her ladyship to Wales, but, horrified by the doctrinal minutes of his late Conference, she wrote to him saying that, until he renounced such doctrines, she must exclude him from all her pulpits. Wesley returned no reply to this communication, but, next day, calmly and quietly set out for Cornwall.[210]

Footnote 210:

It is said that when Shirley sent her ladyship a copy of Wesley’s
Doctrinal Minutes, she burnt it. (Bogue and Bennett’s “History of
Dissenters.“)

The day after this, the Countess, accompanied by Shirley and Venn, Lady Anne Erskine, Miss Orton, Mr. Ireland, and Mr. Lloyd, started for Trevecca, where Fletcher, the President of the College, was ready to receive them. Here, also, were assembled three of the Methodist clergymen in Wales, William Williams, Peter Williams, and Daniel Rowlands; likewise Howell Harris, and several other lay preachers and exhorters. On Wednesday, August 23, at nine in the morning, Shirley administered the Lord’s Supper; at ten, Fletcher preached; at two in the afternoon, Venn addressed the students; and at four, Howell Harris addressed a large congregation in the court of the College. On Thursday morning, August 24, Venn administered the sacrament; at ten, Daniel Rowlands and William Williams preached in the court; at two, Shirley examined the students, and gave an exhortation; at four, Peter Williams discoursed in the chapel, and some of the lay preachers in the court. In the evening Berridge arrived at the College.

On Friday, August 24, the anniversary day of the opening, a public prayer-meeting was held in the chapel, at six o’clock in the morning, when Rowlands, Williams, Harris, and Berridge offered prayer; after which Fletcher, as President of the College, administered the Lord’s Supper, first to ten clergymen, then to the students, then to Lady Huntingdon and her household, and then to the congregation in general. Public service began at ten. A scaffold was erected in the court, on which sat all the clergy, dissenting ministers, lay preachers, and students. Fletcher read the liturgy of the Church of England, Peter Williams offered extemporary prayer, the vast congregation sang most lustily the glorious hymn of heretical Wesley, beginning with the line,

“Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!“

Shirley preached from the words, “For after that, in the wisdom of God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” Then William Williams followed with a sermon in Welsh. At two, her ladyship’s guests all dined, the people in the chapel and in the court continuing to sing and pray. At three, Berridge discoursed from, “They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” After him, Daniel Rowlands, in his own eloquent and powerful manner, addressed the multitude in Welsh, taking as his text, “We preach Christ crucified.” In the evening, Venn delivered a sort of charge to the ministers, students, and lay preachers, from the text, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;” and Fletcher concluded the services of the anniversary by offering prayer.

The next morning, however, at seven o’clock, these godly and earnest people held another prayer-meeting in the chapel, in which Shirley, Venn, Berridge, and Fletcher took part. On the day following, Sunday, August 26, Venn and Berridge preached, and then this memorable assemblage dispersed, Lady Huntingdon proceeding, by way of Berwick and Worcester, to Bristol, where she met Charles Wesley, and, despite the heresy of his brother and the itinerants at the late Conference, took him to Bath to preach several times in her chapel in that city.[211]

Footnote 211:

“Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., pp. 106–109.

Truly, these were glorious days; but, mournful to relate, they were soon followed by days of strife and bitterness. Wesley was accused of having renounced the doctrines of the Reformation. He was traduced as a Pelagian, a Pharisee, a Papist, an Antichrist.[212] All this was unjust and untrue. In less than four months after the memorable Conference of 1770, Wesley preached his “Sermon on the Death of Whitefield,” in which he said:—

“The fundamental point of Mr. Whitefield was, give God all the glory
of whatever is good in man; and, in the business of salvation, set
Christ as high, and man as low as possible. With this point, he and
his friends at Oxford, the original Methodists (so-called) set out.
Their grand principle was, there is no _power_ (by nature) and _no
merit_ in man. They insisted, all power to think, speak, or act right,
is in and from the Spirit of Christ; and all merit is (not in man, how
high soever in grace, but merely) in the blood of Christ. So he and
they taught: There is no power in man, till it is given him from
above, to do one good work, to speak one good word, or to form one
good desire. For it is not enough to say, all are _sick of sin_: no,
we are all _dead in trespasses and sins_. It follows that all the
children of men are _by nature children of wrath_. We are all _guilty
before God_, liable to death temporal and eternal.

“And we are all helpless, both with regard to the power and to the
guilt of sin. For _who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean_?
None less than the Almighty. Who can raise those that are _dead_,
spiritually dead in sin? None but He who raised us from the dust of
the earth. But on what consideration will He do this? _Not for works
of righteousness that we have done. The dead cannot praise Thee, O
Lord!_ nor do anything for the sake of which they should be raised to
life. Whatever therefore God does, He does it merely for the sake of
His well-beloved Son: _He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities. He Himself bore all our sin in His own
body upon the tree. He was delivered for our offences, and rose again
for our justification._ Here then is the sole _meritorious cause_ of
every blessing we do or can enjoy: in particular of our pardon and
acceptance with God, of our free and full justification. But by what
means do we become interested in what Christ has done and suffered?
_Not by works, lest any man should boast_; but by faith alone. _We
conclude_, says the Apostle, _that a man is justified by faith,
without the works of the law_. And _to as many as_ thus _receive Him,
giveth He power to become the sons of God: even to those that believe
in His name, who are born, not of the will of man, but of God_.

“And _except a man be thus born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God._ But all who are thus _born of the Spirit_, have _the kingdom of
God within_ them. Christ sets up His kingdom in their
hearts—_righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_. That _mind
is in them, which was in Christ Jesus_, enabling them to _walk as
Christ also walked_. His indwelling Spirit makes them both holy in
heart, and _holy in all manner of conversation_. But still, seeing all
this is a free gift, through the righteousness and blood of Christ,
there is eternally the same reason to remember, _He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord_.

“You are not ignorant, that these are the fundamental doctrines which
he (Mr. Whitefield) everywhere insisted on. And may they not be summed
up, as it were, in two words, _The new birth, and justification by
faith_. These let us insist upon, with all boldness, at all times, and
in all places. In public (those of us who are called thereto), and, at
all opportunities, in private. Keep close to these good old
unfashionable doctrines, how many soever contradict and blaspheme. Go
on, my brethren, in the _name of the Lord, and in the power of His
might_. With all care and diligence, _keep that safe which is
committed to your trust_: knowing that _heaven and earth shall pass
away_; but this truth _shall not pass away_.”[213]

Footnote 212:

Fletcher’s Works, vol. i., p. 209.

Footnote 213:

Wesley’s “Sermon on the Death of Whitefield,” p. 26.

Thus did Wesley address the crowds of Calvinists, in Whitefield’s two London chapels, on Sunday, November 18, 1770. There can be no doubt that he meant this to be an answer to the misrepresentations and calumnies launched against him, on account of the doctrinal minutes of his recent Conference. It ought to have been sufficient to silence his adversaries, but it was not. Passion is more easily excited than appeased. In a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, Lady Glenorchy[214] wrote:—

“EDINBURGH, _January 10, 1771_.

“Your ladyship’s account of what occurred at Mr. Wesley’s last
Conference does not surprise me. I have since seen the Minutes, and
must bear my feeble testimony against the sentiments contained in
them. May the Lord God of Israel be with you, and enable you to make a
firm stand in defence of a free-grace Gospel! Lady Anne’s letter has
told me all you have been doing in this momentous affair. When you
next write to dear Mr. Shirley, give my kindest regards to him, and
also to Mr. Venn, Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. Romaine. From what Lady Anne
says, I fear very much for Mr. Fletcher that he will be carried off by
Mr. Wesley’s influence. What will be the end of this business I know
not. I know Mr. Wesley is greatly displeased with me, though I have
always countenanced his preachers; but now I find this cannot be done
by me any longer. Nevertheless, I respect him highly, and pray that he
may be led in the way of truth.”[215]

Footnote 214:

Lady Glenorchy opened a number of chapels, both in Scotland and
England, and did her utmost to supply them with evangelical ministers.
She was, in fact, the Lady Huntingdon of Scotland.

Footnote 215:

“Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 111.

Lady Glenorchy executed her conscientious threat. Lady Huntingdon had already done the same. Further action was taken. Joseph Benson was dismissed from Trevecca College, because he adhered to the doctrines of Wesley. The good Countess, however, gave him the following certificate:—

“This is to certify that Mr. Joseph Benson was master for the
languages in my College at Talgarth for nine months, and that, during
that time, from his capacity, sobriety, and diligence, he acquitted
himself properly in that character; and I am ready at any time to
testify this on his behalf whenever required.

“College, _January 17, 1771_.
S. HUNTINGDON.”[216]

Footnote 216:

Macdonald’s “Life of Benson.”

Benson was unexceptionable as a classical master; but, in her ladyship’s opinion, he was a heretic in theological dogmas, because he did not believe the doctrine of absolute predestination.[217] Fletcher, the president of the college, was dissatisfied with her ladyship’s dismissal of the master, and wrote to her as follows:—

“_January 7, 1771._

“Mr. Benson made a very just defence when he said, he held with me the
possibility of salvation for all men; that mercy is offered to all;
and yet may be received or rejected. If this be what your ladyship
calls Mr. Wesley’s opinion, free-will, and Arminianism, and if ‘every
Arminian must quit the College,’ I am actually discharged also; for,
in my present view of things, I must hold that sentiment, if I believe
that the Bible is true, and that God is love.

“For my part, I am no party-man. In the Lord, I am your servant, and
that of your every student; but I cannot give up the honour of being
connected with my old friends, who, notwithstanding their failings,
are entitled to my respect, gratitude, and assistance, could I
occasionally give them any. Mr. Wesley shall always be welcome to my
pulpit, and I shall gladly bear my testimony in his, as well as in Mr.
Whitefield’s. But if your ladyship forbid your students to preach for
the one, and offer them to preach for the other at every turn; and if
a master is discarded for believing that Christ died for all; then
prejudice reigns, charity is cruelly wounded, and party spirit shouts,
prevails, and triumphs.”

Footnote 217:

Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”

On the same day, Fletcher wrote to the dismissed Benson the following:—

“_January 7, 1771._

“DEAR SIR,—The same post brought me yours, and two from my lady, and
one from Mr. Williams.[218] Their letters contained no charges, but
general ones, which with me go for nothing. If the procedure you
mention be fact, and your letter be a fair account of the transactions
and words relative to your discharge, a false step has been taken. I
write by this post to her ladyship on the affair, with all possible
plainness. If the plan of the college be overthrown, I have nothing
more to say to it. I will keep to my tent for one; the confined tool
of any one party I never was, and never will be. If the blow that
should have been struck at _the dead spirit_, is struck at _dead_
Arminius, or _absent_ Mr. Wesley,—if a master is turned away without
any fault, it is time for me to stand up with firmness, or to
withdraw.

“Take care, my dear Sir, not to make matters worse than they are; and
cast a mantle of forgiving love over the circumstances that might
injure the cause of God, so far as it is put into the hands of that
eminent lady, who has so well deserved of the Church of Christ. Rather
suffer in silence, than make a noise to cause the Philistines to
triumph. Do not let go your expectation of a baptism from above. May
you be supported in this and every other trial! Farewell!

“J. FLETCHER.”

Footnote 218:

A clergyman, who, professing to be under serious impressions, had been
permitted by her ladyship to stay a few weeks at the college; but was
neither master nor student. Fletcher termed him “a bird of passage.”

Two days later, Fletcher wrote again to Benson as follows:—

“_January 9, 1771._

“I am determined to stand or fall with the liberty of the College. As
I entered it a free place, I must quit it the moment it is a harbour
for party spirit.

“As I am resolved to clear up this matter or quit my province, I beg
you will help me to as many _facts_ and _words_, _truly done_, and
_really spoken_, as you can; whereby I may show that false reports,
groundless suspicions, party spirit against Mr. Wesley, arbitrary
proceedings, and unscriptural impulses, hold the reins and manage
affairs in the College; as also that the balance of opinions is not
maintained, and Mr. Wesley’s opinions are dreaded, and struck at, more
than deadness of heart, and a wrong conduct.

“So far as we can, let us keep this matter to ourselves. When you
speak of it to others, rather endeavour to palliate than aggravate
what has been wrong in your opposers. Remember that great lady has
been an instrument of great good, and that there are great
inconsistencies attending the greatest and best of men. Possess your
soul in patience. See the salvation of God; and believe, though
against hope, that light will spring out of darkness.

“I am, with concern for you and that poor College,
“Yours, in Jesus,
“J. FLETCHER.”

On February 20, Fletcher set out for the College;[219] and, on his return to Madeley, he wrote to Wesley the following hitherto unpublished letter:—

“MADELEY, _March 18, 1771_.

“REV. AND DEAR SIR,—I was sorry not to have had it in my power to meet
you in Shropshire,[220] and give you, by word of mouth, an account of
what passed at Lady Huntingdon’s College respecting you, at my last
visit there.

“The hasty admitting of subjects that did not appear to me proper; the
sanguine hopes they would turn out against probability, the divisions
at Brecknock and the Hay, and some things that I did not approve in
Mr. Benson’s dismission, gave me a disgust to the College.
Nevertheless, I went to try to make the best of the matter; but I
found at my arrival that the students had been armed by Mr. Shirley
against the point I had, with some success, maintained when I was
there before, namely, internal conversion by the power of the Holy
Ghost dwelling in the heart by faith. He called it _perfection_, and
as such baited it out of the place.

“I saw the College was no longer my place, as I was not likely to do
or receive any good there, especially as Calvinism strongly prevailed.
Under these circumstances, and humbling views of my insufficiency, I
told my lady and all around me, I resigned the place of
superintendent; nevertheless, I would stay awhile to supply the want
of a master.

“In the meantime, an extract of your last Minutes was sent to my lady,
who wept much over it, through an honest fear that you had fairly and
fully given up the grand point of the Methodists, free justification,
_articulum stantis vel cadentis ecclesiæ_. The heresy appeared
horrible, worth being publicly opposed, and such as a true believer
ought to be ready to burn against. I tried to soften matters, but in
vain. The students were commanded to write their sentiments upon your
doctrine of salvation by works, working for life, the merit of works,
etc.; and whoever did not fully disavow it, was to quit the College. I
wrote among the rest, and showed the absurdity of inferring from these
Minutes that you had renounced the Protestant doctrine and the
atonement. I defended your sentiments, by explaining them as I have
heard you do, and only blamed the unguarded and not sufficiently
explicit manner in which they were worded. I concluded by saying,
that, as, after Lady Huntingdon’s declaration, I could no longer stay
in the College, but as an intruder, I _absolutely_ resigned my place,
as I must appear to all around as great a heretic as yourself.

“This step had a better effect than I expected. My lady weighed with
candour what I had advanced, though she thought it too bad to be laid
before the students. In short, I retired in peace and as peacemaker,
the servant and no more the principal of the College. I advised Lady
Huntingdon to choose a moderate Calvinist in my place, and recommended
Mr. Rowland Hill. The College will take quite a Calvinist turn, and an
itinerant ministry will go out of it to feed the Church of God of that
sentimental denomination. I strongly recommended them to set fire to
the harvest of the Philistines, and not to that of their fellow
Israelites who cannot pronounce Shibboleth in their way. My lady
seemed quite disposed for peace last Friday;[221] and she will write
to you to beg you will explain yourself upon the Minutes, that she and
the College may see you are not _an enemy to grace_, and may be
friends at a distance, instead of open adversaries.

“And now, my dear Sir, I beseech you to put on all the bowels of mercy
and condescension that are in Christ, to hope the College and its
foundress mean well; and give them all the satisfaction you can. I
need not bring to your remembrance the words of the Apostle, ‘As much
as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.’ I trust they are graven
on your heart, and that, should war ensue, your moderation will still
appear to all men. The points that will most stop the mouth of our
friend are the total fall of man, and his utter inability to do any
good of himself; the absolute necessity of the grace and Spirit of God
to raise even a good thought or desire in the heart; the Lord
rewarding no work, or accepting of none, but so far as they proceed
from His preventing, convincing, and converting grace; the blood and
righteousness of Christ being the sole meritorious cause of our
salvation, and the only spring of all acceptable works, whether we do
them spontaneously from life or for more abundant life.

“I look upon Lady Huntingdon as an eminent servant of God, an honest,
gracious person, but not above the reach of prejudice; and where
prejudice misleads her, her warm heart makes her go rather too fast.
It is in your power greatly to break, if not altogether to remove, the
prejudice she has conceived against you, and to become all things to
her, that you may not cause her to stumble in the greatness of her
zeal for the Lord. The best way to get the Calvinists to allow us
_something_, is to grant them _all_ we possibly can.

“As your enemies will particularly watch your writings and sermons,
and Satan your heart to find an occasion against you by
self-righteousness and dependence upon your great works, my prayer is
that you may fully disappoint them, by guarding the Gospel truth in
your own heart and life and doctrine, as much from the legal as the
antinomian extreme, between which it invariably lies.

“With respect to me, I am not yet a Christian in the full sense of the
word; but I follow after, if so be I may apprehend that for which I am
apprehended of Christ. Take no notice of my scrawl. Pray for, and
direct, Rev. and dear Sir, your affectionate friend and unworthy
servant in Christ,

“J. FLETCHER.

“To
“The Rev. Mr. John Wesley,
“At the Octagone,
“Chester.” (Salop postmark.)

Footnote 219:

“Life and Times of Wesley,” vol. iii., p. 88.

Footnote 220:

Wesley was at Wem only three days before this letter was written.

Footnote 221:

The day Wesley was at Wem, namely, March 15.

Four days after the date of this letter, Fletcher wrote to Benson, giving him some of the particulars just recited; but also mentioning other facts, too interesting and important to be omitted here.

“_March 22, 1771._

“MY DEAR FRIEND.—On my arrival at the College, I found all very quiet,
I fear through the enemy keeping his goods in peace. While I preached
the next day, I found myself as much shackled as ever I was in my
life; and, after private prayer, I concluded I was not in my place.
The same day[222] I resigned my office to my lady; and, on Wednesday,
to the students and the Lord. Nevertheless, I went on as usual, only I
had no heart to give little charges to the students, as before. I
should possibly have got over it as a temptation, if several
circumstances had not confirmed me in my design. Two I shall mention.
When Mr. Shirley was at the College, what you had written upon the
‘baptism of the Holy Ghost’ was taken to pieces. Mr. Shirley
maintained that the prophecy of Joel (Acts ii.) had its complete
fulfilment on the day of Pentecost; and thus he turned the stream of
living waters into imperceptible dews, _nemine contradicente_, except
two, who made one or two feeble objections; so that the point was, in
my judgment, turned out of the College after you, and was abused under
the name of ‘Perfection.’ This showed I was not likely to receive or
do any good there.

“Some days after my arrival, however, I preached the good old doctrine
before my Lady and Mr. H——. The latter also talked of imperceptible
influences, and the former thanked me; but, in my apprehension,
spoiled all by going to the College the next day, to give a charge
partly against _Perfection_, in my absence.

“Last Friday, I left them all in peace, the _servant_, but no more the
_president of the College_. My lady behaved with great candour and
condescension towards me in the affair. As for you, you are still out
of her books, and are likely so to continue. Your last letters have
only thrown oil on the fire. All was seen in the same light in which
Mr. Wesley’s letter appeared. You were accused of having alienated my
heart from the College, but I have cleared you.

“I rejoice that your desires after a larger measure of the Holy Spirit
increase. Part rather with your heart’s blood than with them. Let me
meet you at the throne of grace; and send me word how you dispose of
yourself. If you are at a loss for a prophet’s room, remember I have
one here.

“J. FLETCHER.”[223]

Footnote 222:

Wesley says he “_spent the day_ in fasting and prayer.” (Wesley’s
Works, vol. vii., p. 416.)

Footnote 223:

Benson’s Life, by Macdonald.

To these letters must be added a verbatim copy of an important document, altogether in Fletcher’s own handwriting, and never published until now.

“An account of John Fletcher’s case, with the reasons that have induced
him to resign the superintendency of the Countess of Huntingdon’s
College in Wales.

“I was first connected with Mr. Wesley, under whom, for love and
gratitude’s sake, I occasionally laboured some years.

“By Mr. C. Wesley I had the honour of being presented to Lady
Huntingdon, who kindly admitted me to the office of a private
chaplain, and granted me full leave to assist my old friends as often
as I would.

“By means of her ladyship I was afterwards introduced to Mr.
Whitefield, and had the honour of assisting him also both in London
and Bristol, and found myself peculiarly happy in showing, by my equal
readiness to throw my mite of assistance where it was accepted, that
though I was the Lord’s free man I delighted to be the common servant
of all. I was glad also to have from time to time an opportunity of
bearing a kind of practical testimony against the spirit of party and
division, which, to my great grief, crumbled the Church of Christ
around me.

“After taking a dangerous turn into the doctrines of election and
reprobation, my sentiments settled at last into the anti-Calvinist
way, in which Mr. Wesley was rooted. Notwithstanding this, it became a
steady, invariable point with me never to be so attached to his, or
any one party, as to be shy of, much less break with another.

“I had soon an opportunity of being closely tried in my spirit of
catholic love. Mr. Maxfield separated from his and my old friend Mr.
Wesley. I thought him rather in the wrong, and Mr. Wesley was my
oldest acquaintance. Notwithstanding, I ventured upon the loss of his
friendship, and of my connection with him, by publicly assisting Mr.
Maxfield when the breach between them was widest, and the press
groaned under the unkind productions of their unhappy division.[224]
Though I touched Mr. Wesley’s friendship in the tenderest part, he
bore with me, and his patience increased my regard for him; nor is it
at all abated now, though I have had little opportunity to show it
him, having hardly exchanged one or two letters with him these many
years.

“Soon after Lady Huntingdon founded her College, and partly by her
unmerited esteem, partly by Providence, and partly by my desire to be
a Gibeonite to God’s people and hew wood if I could not draw water, I
was brought to have a principal share in the management of it. The
free spirit that breathed in the noble foundress’s proposals, and the
general terms of admittance, suited my catholic taste, and the liberty
of sentiment granted to all that firmly maintained our total fall in
Adam, attached me no less to the institution than its excellence and
the prospect of its usefulness.

“Scruples nevertheless rose in my mind. The first was a fear lest
improper subjects, persons destitute either of grace or gifts, perhaps
of both, were admitted with the greatest readiness, and kept upon the
foundation with the most sanguine hopes that a day of Pentecost would
make them what they did not appear to me to be as yet—Christians and
preachers. Flattering myself that it would be so, after some modest
expostulations I submitted my judgment to that of the noble foundress,
whose light I think in general as superior to mine as is her rank and
grace.

“The Brecknock division[225] broke out. I suddenly tried to prevent
it, but it took place, and secretly wounded my catholic spirit.
Nevertheless, hopes that the Lord might overrule it for good soon
healed the wound. This brought on a rupture between my two dear and
honoured friends, the foundress of the college and Mr. Wesley. An
unkind, though I hope well-meant letter, was wrote on the occasion by
one, and was unkindly received, yea, looked upon as highly insulting,
by the other. I saw the advantage of the enemy. I blamed, and yet I
loved them both. Where I could not soften matters I remained neuter.
Hence, however, arose a difficulty how I should be faithful to my lady
without being unfaithful to Mr. Wesley. Meantime, the prejudice seemed
to me to rise, and somewhat sowed the seeds of the Hay division. Mr.
Benson’s dismission followed, and though I hope it was from the Lord,
yet I could not help blaming the manner in which it was conducted.

“Lady Huntingdon said on the occasion, nobody that held Mr. Wesley’s
opinions should stay in the College; every Arminian should quit the
place. This wounded again my catholic spirit, and appeared to me a
breach of the privilege most solemnly granted to the members of the
College at the opening of it. I thought that my lady had no right to
impose such a law—a law so contrary to her first proposals—till it had
received a proper sanction by a majority of the votes both of masters
and students, and till leave had been granted to those who could not
in conscience come into it to withdraw quietly, without the odium of
an expulsion. I observed that if this was the case, I looked upon
myself as discharged, because I for one could no more believe that
Christ did not taste death for every man, than I could believe God was
not truth and love; and because all the sentiments of Mr. Wesley
obnoxious to the Calvinist, except perfection, are inseparably
connected with general redemption.

“With regard to perfection itself, I believe that when Mr. Wesley is
altogether consistent upon that subject, he means absolutely nothing
by it but the full cluster of Gospel blessings, which Lady Huntingdon
so warmly presses the students to pursue; namely, Gospel faith, the
immediate revelation of Christ, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the
Spirit of adoption, the kingdom that cannot be moved, the element of
forgiving love, deep and uninterrupted poverty of spirit, and, in a
word, a standing upon Mount Sion and enjoying its great and glorious
privileges. And I am fully persuaded that, in this respect, there is
more misunderstanding between my lady and Mr. Wesley about words and
modes of expression than about things and essential principles. All
the difference between them seems to _me_ to consist in this: my lady
is more for looking to the misery and depth of the fall; Mr. Wesley
more for considering the power and effects of the recovery. My lady
speaks glorious things of free grace; and Mr. Wesley inculcates the
glorious use we ought to make of it. Both appear to me to maintain one
and the same truth, and to guard it; my lady against the Legalists,
Mr. Wesley against the Antinomians. If, therefore, they do not
understand one another, and fall out by the way, I shall think it is a
great pity, and shall continue to be, at least in my heart, the loving
servant of both; though both will possibly think me prejudiced for not
seeing just as they do.

“I was also grieved that my lady should have received for truth so
absurd an imagination as that of Mr. Wesley being willing to give £100
a-year to a rigid Calvinist in bondage, who just read prayers with a
Welsh accent, and that wise Benson made the foolish proposal to him,
when Benson, to my certain knowledge, feared his head was at times a
little affected. And I began to fear lest my lady should, upon the
most improbable assertions, receive unfavourable impressions against
me, as she had done against her old friend Mr. Wesley, especially as
my particular regard for him was still the same.

“Be that as it will, my regard for Lady Huntingdon and the students
made me send her ladyship my sentimental creed, that, if she did not
disapprove of it, I might come to the College; and I came, to my
thinking and feeling, as free and as happy as ever, and was quite free
on the Saturday evening and the next morning till noon, when the
little commission and authority I had to exhort the students was quite
taken away from me. As I preached in the chapel, an uncommon weight
came upon me on a sudden, and it was not without much difficulty that
I struggled under it through the rest of my sermon. As soon as the
service was over, I retired to my room in very great heaviness and
distress. I saw in the clearest light that I was not in my place, and
must no longer preside in the College. From that time, I had no heart
to speak to the students on the things of God. So clear and strong was
my conviction that I mentioned it directly to Mr. Howell Harris, and
that very evening to my lady, and to all the students on the next
Wednesday; and as I concluded our morning meeting with prayer, I was
led solemnly upon my knees to resign my charge to God, and to pray for
a proper person to preside in my place.