Chapter VIII (3)

“1. I am supposed to want candour; as if I had put a forced
construction on the ‘Minutes,’ in order to bring Mr. Wesley in guilty.
Mr. Fletcher has attempted a ‘vindication’ of them; and, by breaking
them into sentences and half-sentences, and refining upon each of
these detached particles, he has done more than I could have expected,
even from his great abilities, in giving a new turn to the whole. But,
after reading his learned and elaborate ‘Vindication,’ when I cast my
eye over the ‘Minutes,’ and consider the whole as it stands in
context, I must own, I am just where I was: nothing _but the
‘Declaration’_ could ever convince me that justification by works was
not maintained and supported by the ‘Minutes.’

“2. The charge of _inconsistency_ is supported by quotations from my
sermons. To this, I beg leave to observe, that the passages quoted are
not altogether in point; neither do they maintain justification by
works in such direct and express terms as the ‘Minutes’ appear to do.
I must, however, own that they savour too strongly of mysticism and
free-will; and all I can say, on my behalf in this respect, is, that
they were written many years ago, at a time when I had more zeal than
light; that my present ministry, as well as my present way of
thinking, is very different; and that I have frequently expressed my
disapprobation of those sermons, nay wished they had been burnt.”

Shirley was nettled; and, after the imperious arrogance displayed in his “Circular Letter,” he deserved to be. Fletcher’s fifth and last letter is caustical; but not more so than the occasion justified. The following is extracted from it:—

“HON. AND REV. SIR,—Having vindicated both some important doctrines of
the Gospel, and an eminent servant of Christ from the charge of
_dreadful heresy_, I will now take the liberty of a friend to
expostulate a little with _you_.

“When Brutus, among other senators, rushed upon Cæsar, the venerable
general said, ‘Art thou also among them? Even thou, my son?’ May not
Mr. Wesley address you, Sir, in the same words, and add, ‘If a body of
men must be raised to attack me, let some zealous follower of Dr.
Crisp, some hot-headed vindicator of reprobation and eternal
justification blow the trumpet, and put himself at their head; but let
it not be _you_, who believe with me that we are moral agents; that
God is love; that Jesus tasted death for every man; and that the Holy
Spirit shall not always strive with sinners. If you do not regard my
reputation, consider at least your own, and expose me not as a heretic
for advancing propositions, the substance of which you have avowed
before the sun.’

“But had those propositions, at length, appeared to you unsound, yea,
and had you never maintained them yourself, should you not, as a
Christian and a brother, have wrote to Mr. Wesley, acquainted him with
your objections, and desired him to solve them and explain himself, or
you should be obliged publicly to expose him?

“Was this condescension more than was due from you, Sir, and our other
friends, to a grey-headed minister of Christ, an old general in the
armies of Emmanuel, a father who has children capable of instructing
even masters in Israel, and one whom God made the first and principal
instrument of the late revival of internal religion in our Church?

“Instead of this friendly method, as if you were a Barak, _commanded
by the Lord God of Israel_, you call _together the children of
Naphthali and Zebulun_: you convene, from England and Wales, clergy
and laity, Churchmen and Dissenters, to meet you at Bristol, where
they are, it seems, to be entertained in good and free quarters. And
for what grand expedition? Why, on a day appointed, you are to march
up _in a body_, not to attack Sisera and his iron chariots, but an old
Caleb, who, without meddling with you, quietly goes on to the conquest
of Canaan; not to desire, in a friendly manner, after a fair debate of
every proposition that appears dangerous, and, upon previous
conviction, that what is exceptionable may be given up; but to do what
I think was never done by nominal, much less by _real Protestants_. O
let it not be told in Rome, lest the sons of the Inquisition rejoice!
This mixed, this formidable body is to _insist upon_ Mr. Wesley and
the preachers in his connexion, _formally recanting_ their ‘Minutes,’
as _appearing injurious to the very fundamental principles of
Christianity_, and being _dreadfully heretical_. And this,
astonishing! without the least inquiry made into their meaning and
design, without a shadow of authority from our superiors in Church or
State, without an appeal _to the law and to the testimony_, without
form of process, without judge or jury, without so much as allowing
the poor heretics (who are condemned six weeks before they can
possibly be heard) to answer for themselves!

“How could you suppose, Sir, that Mr. Wesley and the preachers who
assemble with him are such weak men, as tamely to acknowledge
themselves heretics upon your _ipse dixit_? Suppose Mr. Wesley took it
in his head to convene all the divines that disapprove the extract of
Zanchius,[241] to go with him in a body to Mr. Toplady’s chapel, and
demand a formal recantation of that performance as heretical; yea, to
insist upon it, before they had ‘measured swords or broken a pike
together,’ would not the translator of Zanchius laugh at him, and ask
whether he thought to frighten him by his protests, or bully him into
orthodoxy?

“O, Sir, have we not fightings enough without, to employ all our time
and strength? Must we also declare war and promote fightings within?
Must we catch at every opportunity to stab one another, because the
livery of truth which we wear is not turned up in the same manner?
What can be more cruel than this? What can be more cutting to an old
minister of Christ, than to be traduced as a dreadful heretic, in
printed letters sent to the best men in the land, yea, through all
England and Scotland, and signed by a person of your rank and piety?
To have things that he knows not, that he never meant, laid to his
charge, and dispersed far and near? While he is gone to a neighbouring
kingdom,[242] to preach Jesus Christ, to have his friends prejudiced,
his foes elevated, and the fruit of his extensive ministry at the
point of being blasted? Put yourself in his place, Sir, and you will
see that the wound is deep and reaches the very heart.

“Our Elijah[243] has lately been translated to heaven. Grey-headed
Elisha is yet awhile continued upon earth. And shall we make a hurry
and noise, to bring in railing accusations against him with more
success? Shall the sons of prophets, shall even _children_ in grace
and knowledge, openly traduce the venerable seer and his abundant
labours? When they see him run upon his Lord’s errands, shall they
cry, not, ‘_Go up, thou bald head_,’ but, ‘_Go up, thou heretic_’? O
Jesus of Nazareth, Thou rejected of men, Thou Who wast once called a
deceiver of the people, suffer it not; lest the raging bear of
persecution come suddenly out of the wood upon those sons of discord,
and tear them in pieces.”

Footnote 241:

In 1769, Toplady published “The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination
Stated and Asserted. Translated, in great measure, from the Latin of
Jerome Zanchius; with some Account of his Life prefixed.” 8vo. 134 pp.
An impious production, in the garb of piety.

Footnote 242:

Wesley was in Ireland from March 24 to July 22, 1771. It was during
this period that Shirley sent forth his offensive “Circular Letter.”

Footnote 243:

Whitefield, who died September 30, 1770.

Remembering the confidential and warm friendship that had existed between Fletcher and the Countess of Huntingdon and her nephew, Walter Shirley, it must be admitted that these “expostulations” were pungent; but they were provoked by the arrogance of the offenders. It is true, as already stated, that, on the evening before Wesley’s Conference assembled, her ladyship and Shirley wrote letters to Wesley containing half-hearted apologies for their “arbitrary way of proceeding” in the “Circular Letter.” “It must be acknowledged,” said Shirley, “that, upon the whole, the Circular Letter was too hastily drawn up and improperly expressed; and, therefore, for the _offensive expressions_ in it, we desire we may be hereby understood to make every suitable submission to you, Sir, and to the gentlemen of the Conference.”[244] The apology was proper; but it was not sufficient. The “Circular Letter,” branding Wesley as a dreadful heretic, had been sent to a large number of “principal persons, both clergy and laity,” throughout the three kingdoms; whereas the letters of the Countess and her nephew were private ones, addressed only to Wesley and his preachers. Moreover, the apology was accompanied with a threat.

Footnote 244:

Shirley’s “Narrative.”

“I cannot but wish,” wrote Shirley, “that the recantation of the
Circular Letter may prevail as an example for the recantation of the
‘Minutes.’ If I should be unhappily disappointed in this respect, I
shall feel myself bound in conscience to yield my public testimony
against such doctrines as these, which appear to me subversive of the
_fundamentals_ of Christianity.”[245]

Footnote 245:

Shirley’s “Narrative.”

And, once more, the apology, such as it was, was sent too late, for Fletcher had already written his “Vindication” of Wesley’s “Minutes;” the manuscript had been sent to Wesley, and Wesley had revised it, and committed it to the press.

The war was begun, and we must follow it to its termination, _so far as Fletcher is concerned_; for it is impossible, in a work like this, to notice _all_ the pamphlets that were published. Those who wish for further information may turn to the “Life and Times of Wesley.”