Chapter XXII: Literary Work Done in Retirement

FLETCHER’S long seclusion from public life is well described in two lines of the poet Thompson:

“_Retirement_, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.”

The four and a-half years, during which he was away from Madeley, were spent in great weakness, but not in idleness. To say nothing of the works he published, while he remained in England, namely, his “Answer to the Rev. Mr. Toplady’s ‘Vindication of the Divine Decrees;’” his “Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s ‘Calm Address to our American Colonies;’” his “American Patriotism;” his “Doctrines of Grace and Justice;” and his “Plan of Reconciliation;” he was employed, whilst in Switzerland, upon two of the most remarkable productions of his fertile genius.

The first was a poem, in the French language, and was published in Geneva, with the title “La Louange;”—a paraphrastic expansion of Psalm cxlviii. The work was conceived in England, but was written in Switzerland. Fletcher says he “was favoured with the critical remarks of many persons distinguished for their learning, taste, and the works with which they had enriched the Church, and the Republic of Letters. At the end of certain Cantos, are Notes, or small Dissertations, serving to explain, or illustrate, some of the truths inserted in the body of the work.” According to the custom of the country and the age, before the book could be published, it had to be submitted to an official appointed to read manuscripts, previous to their being printed; and the following was the approbation given to Fletcher’s Poem:—

“I have read this work, which, in my judgment, everywhere breathes
Piety, Faith, and Christian Charity.

“DE BONS, _Censeur_.”

After his return to England, Fletcher enlarged the work, and, in 1785, published an edition, still in the French language, with the title:—“La Grace et la Nature, Poëme—Seconde Edition plus compléte. A Londre. De l’Imprimerie de R. Hindmarsh, Clerkenwell Close; Chez T. Longman, dans Paternoster Row; à Dublin Chez J. Charrnier, dans Kapel Street; et près du Pont de fer, in Shropshire, 1785,” 8vo 442 pp. By permission, the book was dedicated, “A la Reine de la Grande Bretagne.” The dedication, dated “à Madeley près de Coalbrook-dale, dans la Comté de Salop, le 6 de Sept. 1784,” was characteristic, and as follows:—

“MADAM,—The parish, which, in the centre of your kingdom, produced an
iron bridge,[496] being always fruitful in singularities, has now
produced a French poem: His Majesty gave a favourable reception to the
model of our bridge, and will Your Majesty refuse the dedication of
our poem? The solidity of an iron bridge sustained by two rocks
renders useless the support of a Royal hand; but a work on devotion
has not the same solidity.

“A French Poem in England will always require support; but, if the
subject be religious, a powerful protection becomes doubly necessary;
and where can I find, among mortals, a more firm security than your
august name? Your court, Madam, admits the French language; your
generous heart cherishes moral virtues; your exalted mind is pleased
to encourage the cultivation of the fine Arts, among which poetry
occupies the first rank. And, if a Queen of England permitted Voltaire
to dedicate to her the praises of a French Monarch,[497] your piety,
Madam, will not refuse those of the King of kings, celebrated in a
poem, which has for its argument the divine song of a Sovereign, and
the third Canto of which regards Kings and Princes.

“May your Majesty, constantly surrounded with the most precious
benedictions, never stand in need of the consolations offered to the
afflicted in the ninth Canto! And, when you have long beheld that
happy and sweet peace flourish, which is celebrated in this poem,[498]
may you, without sorrow, exchange your heavy crown for one of those
brilliant diamonds reserved for princes, who serve God, and cause
righteousness to flourish in the earth! These are the ardent prayers
of him who has the honour to be, with that profound respect, which
virtue truly merits when united to greatness,

“Madam, your majesty’s most humble and devoted servant,
“J. W. FLETCHER.”

Footnote 496:

The bridge across the Severn, at Coalbrook Dale, regarded as one of
the wonders of the age.

Footnote 497:

Voltaire’s “Henriade,” printed in London in 1726, was dedicated to the
Queen of George I.

Footnote 498:

“An Essay on the Peace of 1783,” also written in French, and now
incorporated with “La Grace et la Nature.”

In his preface, Fletcher says:—

“A former edition of this poem was entitled ‘_Praise_,’[499] because
the writer’s principal design was to impress his readers with the
force of these words, ‘_Offer to the Lord the sacrifice of praise._’
It is now presented to the public with alterations, and the addition
of ten new Cantos, under the title of ‘_Grace and Nature_;’ or a
descant on creation, as productive of the praise due to the great
Creator.”

Footnote 499:

The title, in French, was “La Louange.”

The book is a remarkable one. Every creature of God, animate and inanimate, except devils and damned men in hell, seems to be called upon to unite in offering praise to God. That Fletcher throbbed with the poetic fire cannot, in fairness, be denied. Perhaps some of his thoughts are fanciful; and his work, in other respects, may be imperfect; but many of his conceptions and utterances are worthy not only of being read, but of being remembered. The following quotations, taken from a translation of it by the Rev. Miles Martindale, may furnish a faint idea of its style and merits.

Like other poets, Fletcher begins with prayer for supernatural inspiration:—

“Thou Glorious Power, whom thrones supernal praise,
Eternal source of life, of love, and grace;
While joyful throngs surround Thy shining seat,
Behold a worm low-bending at Thy feet!
His darkness chase with Thy all-cheering ray;
On his weak reason shed celestial day;
His breast transform with renovating fire,
With harmony divine his soul inspire.”

It has been already stated that a wood adjoined the house where Fletcher resided at Nyon, and that this was one of his favourite resorts for prayer, reading, and meditation, and that here he was accustomed to instruct his congregation of little children. There can be no doubt that the ensuing lines are descriptive of Fletcher’s enjoyments in this sylvan cathedral:—

“Ye solemn woods, where music loves to dwell,
Whose zephyrs breathe the sweet balsamic smell;
Here kindles piety divinely bright,
The heart replete with love and joyous light.
To crown the lay, the feather’d nations raise
Their notes with mine, to sound the Eternal’s praise;
While innocence inspires the sacred song,
Ten thousand throats the swelling theme prolong.
Amid these happy groves, see Eden shine,
Than Bourbons’ pompous gardens, more divine.
Fly the vile orchestra, where impious tongues
Soft warble vice in loose lascivious songs.
’Tis here, ’mid zephyrs’ mild and melting strains,
Lost Paradise her pristine bliss regains.”

One more quotation must suffice. It is taken from a long description of the Lake of Geneva. After apostrophizing the divine Creator, who has “in heaven” His “dwelling-place,” Fletcher proceeds:—

“Thy bless’d serenity, Thy palace fair,
The sleeping waters of this lake declare.
To give mankind an emblem of Thy might,
An image of Thy skill supremely bright,
Thy plastic hand drew the rough rocks around,
And scoop’d the wondrous vale, a gulf profound;
Where winding Rhone his active force resigns,
And, in wild fields of ice, resplendent shines.
To shadow heaven, and the fair scene unfold,
This lake with azure glows, and burnished gold;
What brilliant rays, what awful glories stand,
To show the wonders of Thy mighty hand!”

To several of the cantos of his poem, Fletcher attaches lengthened notes, in prose; most of them levelled against the infidelity of Voltaire, Rosseau, and the Unitarians.

Leaving the poem, “La Grace et la Nature,” another of Fletcher’s works in Switzerland must be briefly noticed. This also was written in the French language; and after Fletcher’s death was translated, and published with the following title: “The Portrait of St. Paul; or, the true Model for Christians and Pastors: translated from the French Manuscript of the late Rev. John William de la Flechere, Vicar of Madeley. To which is added, Some Account of the Author, by the Rev. Joshua Gilpin, Vicar of Rockwardine, in the County of Salop. In two volumes. Shrewsbury. 1790.” 12mo, pp. 377 and 330.

Mr. Gilpin was an ardent admirer of Fletcher, as his biographical “Notes” amply show. He had been a resident in Fletcher’s vicarage, and had enjoyed the unspeakable benefit of his example, prayers, and instruction. He writes:—

“Before I was of sufficient age to take holy orders, I thankfully
embraced the offered privilege of spending a few months beneath the
roof of this exemplary man; and I well remember how solemn an
impression was made upon my heart by the manner in which he received
me. He met me at his door with a look of inexpressible benignity; and,
conducting me by the hand into his house, intimated a desire of
leading me immediately into the presence of that God to whom the
government of his little family was ultimately submitted. Instantly he
fell upon his knees and poured out an earnest prayer that my present
visit might be rendered both advantageous and comfortable, and that
our society might be crowned by an intimate fellowship with Christ.
This may serve as a specimen of the manner in which he was accustomed
to receive his guests.

“In his social prayers, he paid but little attention to those rules
which have been laid down with respect to the composition and order of
such devotional exercises. His words flowed spontaneously, and without
premeditation, though always wonderfully adapted to the occasion.
Nothing impertinent, artificial, or superfluous appeared in his
addresses to the Deity. His prayers were the prayers of faith; always
fervent, often effectual, and invariably a mingled flow of
supplication and gratitude, humility and confidence, resignation and
fervour, adoration and love.

“Of his secret supplications, He alone can judge ‘who seeth in
secret.’ His closet was his favourite retirement, to which he
constantly retreated whenever his public duties allowed him a season
of leisure. Here, in times of uncommon distress, he continued during
whole nights in prayer before God; and that part of the wall, against
which he was accustomed to kneel, appeared deeply stained with the
breath he had spent in fervent worship.”

In the preface to his translation, Mr. Gilpin remarks:—

“The following work was begun, and nearly completed, in the course of
Mr. Fletcher’s last residence at Nyon; where it formed a valuable part
of his private labours during a long and painful confinement from
public duty.[500] On his return to England, he suffered the manuscript
to lie by him, intending, at his leisure, to translate and prepare it
for the press. After his decease, Mrs. Fletcher discovered it, and the
translator, finding it a work of no common importance, was readily
induced to render it into English. _The Portrait of St. Paul_ was
originally intended for publication in the author’s native country, to
which its arguments and quotations apply with peculiar propriety. It
contains Mr. Fletcher’s last and best thoughts upon some of the most
important subjects that can occupy the human mind.”

Footnote 500:

Mrs. Fletcher says, her husband told her the manuscript “was a rough
draft, written in his illness when abroad, and which he intended to
re-write and to improve.” (“Mrs. Fletcher’s Life,” by H. Moore, p.
395.)

Unfortunately, Fletcher’s “Portrait of St. Paul” has, at the present day, but few readers. At the beginning of the century, it was one of the text-books of the Methodist itinerant preachers; and, even within the last forty years, the _Methodist Magazine_ spoke of it as an “admirable work” and an “inestimable volume.”[501] Methodists, now-a-days, too often prefer ornament to truth.

Footnote 501:

_Wesleyan Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 74.

The traits of St. Paul upon which Fletcher descants are the following: his early piety; his Christian piety; his intimate union with Christ by faith; his extraordinary vocation to the holy ministry, and in what that ministry chiefly consists; his entire devotion to Jesus Christ; his strength and his arms; his power to bind, to loose, and to bless in the name of the Lord; the earnestness with which he began and continued to fill up the duties of his vocation; the manner in which he divided his time between prayer, preaching, and thanksgiving; the fidelity with which he announced the severe threatenings and consolatory promises of the Gospel; his profound humility; the ingenuous manner in which he acknowledged and repaired his errors; his detestation of party spirit and divisions; his rejection of praise; his universal love; his particular love to the faithful; his love to those whose faith was wavering; his love to his countrymen and his enemies; his love to those whom he knew only by report; his charity towards the poor; his charity towards sinners; the condescension of his humble charity; his courage in defence of truth; his prudence in frustrating the designs of his enemies; his tenderness toward others, and his severity toward himself; his love never degenerated into cowardice; his perfect disinterestedness; his condescension in labouring with his own hands; his respect for the holy estate of matrimony; the ardour of his love; his generous fears and succeeding consolation; the grand subject of his glorying; his patience and fortitude; his firmness before magistrates; his courage in consoling his persecuted brethren; his humble confidence in producing the seals of his ministry; his readiness to seal with his blood the truths of the Gospel; the sweet suspense of his choice between life and death; the constancy of his zeal and diligence to the end of his course; his triumphs over the evils of life and the terrors of death.

After this follows “The Portrait of Lukewarm Ministers and False Apostles;” then Fletcher answers “Objections” to the “Portrait of St. Paul;” and next, with consummate ability, states “The Doctrines of an Evangelical Pastor;” and concludes with “An Essay on the Connexion of Doctrines with Morality,” in answer to the infidel philosophy of Voltaire and Rosseau, recently deceased. The last two sections are invaluable, and exhibit Fletcher in all the strength of his sanctified genius.

To make selections from so comprehensive a work as this is difficult, but the following specimens may be acceptable and useful:—

_The faithful pastor._—“The disposition of a faithful pastor is, in
every respect, diametrically opposed to that of a worldly minister. If
you observe the conversation of an ecclesiastic who is influenced by
the spirit of the world, you will hear him intimating either that he
has, or that he would not be sorry to have, the precedency among his
brethren; to live in a state of affluence and splendour, and to secure
to himself such distinguished appointments as would increase both his
dignity and his income, without making any extraordinary addition to
his pastoral labours. You will find him anxious to be admitted into
the best companies, and occasionally forming parties for the chase, or
some other vain amusement. While the true pastor cries out, in the
self-renouncing language of the great Apostle, ‘God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’ Oh! ye, who preside
over the household of God, learn of the Apostle Paul to manifest your
real superiority. Surpass your inferiors in humility, in charity, in
zeal, in your painful labours for the salvation of sinners, in your
invincible courage to encounter those dangers which threaten your
brethren, and by your unwearied patience in bearing those persecutions
which the faithful disciples of Christ are perpetually called to
endure from a corrupt world. Thus shall you honourably replace the
first Christian prelates, and happily restore the Church to its
primitive dignity.”

_Writing sermons, and reading or delivering them._—“He, who spake as
never man spake, rejected the arts of our modern orators, delivering
His discourses in a style of easy simplicity, and unaffected zeal. We
do not find that St. Paul and the other Apostles imposed upon
themselves the troublesome servitude of penning down their discourses.
And we are well assured that, when the Seventy and the Twelve were
commissioned to publish the Gospel, no directions of this nature were
given in either case.”

“What advantage has accrued to the Church, by renouncing the apostolic
method of publishing the Gospel? We have indolence and artifice, in
the place of sincerity and vigilance. Those public discourses, which
were anciently the effects of conviction and zeal, are now become the
weakly exercises of learning and art. ‘_We believe, and therefore
speak_,’ is an expression, that has grown entirely obsolete among
modern pastors. Nothing is more common among us than to say, ‘As we
have sermons prepared upon a variety of subjects, we are ready to
deliver them, as opportunity offers.’

“Many inconveniences arise from this method of preaching. While the
physician of souls is labouring to compose a learned dissertation upon
some plain passage of Scripture, he has but little leisure to visit
those languishing patients, who need his immediate assistance. He
thinks it sufficient to attend upon them every Sabbath-day, in the
place appointed for public duty: but he recollects not, that those, to
whom his counsel is peculiarly necessary, are the very persons who
refuse to meet him there. His unprofitable employments at home leave
him no opportunity to go in pursuit of his wandering sheep. He meets
them, it is true, at stated periods, in the common fold; but it is
equally true that, during every successive interval, he discovers the
coldest indifference with respect to their spiritual welfare. From
this unbecoming conduct of many a minister, one would naturally
imagine, that the flock were rather called to seek out their indolent
pastor, than that he was purposely hired to pursue every straying
sheep.

“Since the orator’s art has taken the place of the energy of faith,
what happy effects has it produced upon the minds of men? Have we
discovered more frequent conversions among us? Are formal professors
more generally seized with a religious fear? Do the wicked depart from
the Church, to bewail their transgressions in private; and believers
to visit the mourners in their affliction? Is it not rather to be
lamented that we are, at this day, equally distant from Christian
charity, and primitive simplicity?

“Reading approved sermons is generally supposed to be preaching the
Gospel. If this were really so, we need but look out some schoolboy of
tolerable capacity; and, after instructing him to read, with proper
emphasis and gesture, the sermons of Tillotson, Sherlock, or Saurin,
we shall have made him an excellent minister of the Word of God. But,
if preaching the Gospel is to publish among sinners that repentance
and salvation, which we have experienced in ourselves, it is evident
that experience and sympathy are more necessary to the due performance
of this work, than all the accuracy and elocution that can possibly be
acquired.

“When this sacred experience and this generous sympathy began to lose
their prevalence in the Church, their place was gradually supplied by
the trifling substitutes of study and affectation. Carnal prudence has
now for many ages solicitously endeavoured to adapt itself to the
taste of the wise and the learned. But, while ‘_the offence of the
cross_’ is avoided, neither the wise nor the ignorant are effectually
converted.

“In consequence of the same error, the ornaments of theatrical
eloquence have been sought after, with a shameful solicitude. And what
has been the fruit of so much useless toil? _Preachers_, after all,
have played their part with much less applause than _comedians_; and
their curious auditories are still running from the pulpit to the
stage, for the purpose of hearing fables repeated with a degree of
sensibility, which the messengers of truth can neither _feel_, nor
_feign_.”

For want of space, further extracts from Fletcher’s invaluable, but neglected, book cannot be given here. Those, however, already presented deserve attention. Though written a hundred years ago, they are sadly appropriate to the state of things at the present day.

As already stated, both “La Grace et la Nature,” and the “Portrait of St. Paul,” were written in the French language, a strong presumptive proof that he intended to publish _both_ of them in his native country. So far as the “Portrait of St. Paul” is concerned, that intention was not fulfilled.