_CONTROVERSY AND CORRESPONDENCE._
Almost from the beginning of his ministry Fletcher's pen was active in
the service of religion. From various causes much, if not the greater
part, of his writings was controversial, and to this fact may be
assigned, in part at least, their immediate popularity and subsequent
neglect. But the spirit of controversy never got the better of the
spirit of devotion. Whatever view may be taken of the Calvinist
controversy, in which he took a leading part, few will dissent from
Southey's judgment: "If ever true Christian charity was manifested in
polemical writing, it was by Fletcher of Madeley. Even theological
controversy never in the slightest degree irritated his heavenly
temper." Some extracts from his earlier writings will show the spirit
in which he entered upon this part of his labours.
In reply to the visitation sermon attacking the "doctrines of
Methodism," he wrote, in July, 1761, a short "Defence of Experimental
Religion," which may be classed amongst the best apologies of the
period. He had now acquired an easy, pleasant English style, tending
somewhat to the florid and diffuse, but generally stopping short of
excess, and often forcible and persuasive in a high degree. He had no
difficulty in showing that to represent virtue and morality as the way
to salvation is neither agreeable to the Scripture nor to the doctrine
of the Church of England. The true nature of justification, and of the
faith that justifies, he illustrates from the Articles and Homilies.
The necessity of God's grace to turn the will, as against the
superficial notion that a man is as free to do good as to do evil, is
shown from Article X., from the baptismal office, and the collect for
Ash Wednesday.
It was inevitable in the state of religion in England, and considering
the chief intellectual influences then in the ascendant, that to preach
salvation as a present blessing to be possessed and enjoyed, was to
incur the charge of enthusiasm. The high and moderate clergy never felt
surer of themselves than when exposing the folly and presumption of
"feelings" and "experiences" in religion. Fletcher distinguishes
between what is true and what is false on this subject:
"To set up impulses as the standard of our faith or rule of
our conduct; to take the thrilling of weak nerves, sinking
of the animal spirits, or flights of a heated imagination,
for the workings of God's Spirit; to pretend to miraculous
gifts, and those fruits of the Spirit which are not offered
and promised to believers in all ages, or to boast of the
graces which that Spirit produces in the heart of every
child of God, when the fruits of the flesh appear in our
life--this is downright enthusiasm: I detest it as well as
you, sir, and I heartily wish you good luck whenever you
shall attack such monstrous delusions.
"But is it consistent with the doctrines of our Church to
condemn and set aside all _feelings_ in religion, and rank
them with unaccountable _impulses_? Give me leave, sir, to
tell you that either you or the compilers of our Liturgy,
Articles, and Homilies must be mistaken, if I did not
mistake you.... They bid us pray (office for the sick) that
every sick person may know and feel that there is no saving
name or power but that of Jesus Christ. In the seventeenth
of our Articles they speak of godly persons, and such as
_feel_ in themselves the workings of God's Spirit. And in
the third part of the homily for rogation week, they declare
that when after contrition we _feel_ our consciences at
peace with God through the remission of our sin, it is God
that worketh this miracle in us. (Compare this with Rom. v.
1.) They are so far therefore from attributing such
_feelings_ to the weakness of good people's nerves, or to a
spirit of pride and delusion, that they affirm it is God
that worketh them in their hearts....
"You seemed, sir, to discountenance _feelings_ as not
agreeable to sober, rational worship; but, if I am not
mistaken, reason by no means clashes with feelings of
various sorts in religion. I am willing to let any man of
reason judge whether feeling sorrow for sin, hunger and
thirst after righteousness, peace of conscience, serenity of
mind, consolation in prayer, thankfulness at the Lord's
table, hatred of sin, zeal for God, love to Jesus and all
men, compassion for the distressed, etc., or feeling
nothing at all of this, is matter of mere indifference: yea,
sir, take for a judge a heathen poet, if you please, and you
will hear him say of a young man who, by his blushes,
betrayed the shame he felt for having told an
untruth,--_Erubuit, salva res est_....
"If a man may feel sorrow when he sees himself stript of
all, and left naked upon a desert coast, why should not a
penitent sinner, whom God has delivered from blindness of
heart, be allowed to feel sorrow upon seeing himself robbed
of his title to heaven, and left in the wilderness of this
world destitute of original righteousness? Again, if it is
not absurd to say that a rebel, condemned to death, feels
joy upon his being reprieved and received into his prince's
favour, why should it be thought absurd to affirm that a
Christian, who, being justified by faith, has peace with
God, and rejoices in hope of the glory to come, feels joy
and happiness in his inmost soul on that account? On the
contrary, sir, to affirm that such a one feels nothing (if I
am not mistaken) is no less repugnant to reason than to
religion....
"But if, because your text was taken out of St. Paul's
epistle, you choose, sir, to let him decide whether feelings
ought to have place in sound religion, or not, I am willing
to stand at the bar before so great a judge, and promise to
find no fault with his sentence.... Where does he exclaim
against feeling the power of God, or the powerful operations
of His Spirit on the heart? Is it where he says that the
kingdom of God is 'not in word, but in power'; that this
kingdom within us (if we are believers), this true, inward
religion consists in peace, righteousness, and joy in the
Holy Ghost; that Christians rejoice in tribulation, because
the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy
Ghost given unto them? Is it where he says, he is 'not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of
God to the salvation of every one that believeth'; that he
desired to 'know nothing but Jesus and the power of His
resurrection'? (2 Cor. ii. 24.) Or is it when he calls the
exerting of this power in him his life; saying, 'I live not,
but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me'?
"Can we suppose that he discountenances feelings in
religion, when he prays that 'the God of hope' would fill
the Romans (xv. 13) 'with all joy and peace in believing,
that they might abound in hope through the power of the Holy
Ghost'; when he says that 'they had not received again the
spirit of bondage to fear, but the spirit of adoption,
crying, Abba, Father, and witnessing to their spirits that
they were the children of God,' agreeable to that of St.
John, 'He that believeth hath the witness in himself'?
"One more argument on this subject, and I shall conclude the
whole. If good nature, affability, and morality, with a
round of outward duties, will fit a man for heaven, without
any feeling of the workings of the Spirit of God in the
heart, or without peace, righteousness, and joy in the Holy
Ghost; if such a professor of godliness is really in that
narrow way to the kingdom which few people find, why did our
Lord puzzle honest Nicodemus with the strange doctrine of a
new birth?... why did He trouble the religious centurion
with sending for Peter, that the Holy Ghost might fall upon
him and all that heard the word, while the apostle preached
to them remission of sins, through faith in Jesus?
"But, above all, if inward feelings are nothing in sound
religion, if they rather border upon enthusiasm, why did not
our Lord caution the woman who came behind him in Simon's
house, who wept at his feet, and kissed and wiped them with
her hair? Why did He not take this opportunity to preach her
and us a lecture on enthusiasm? Why did He not advise her to
take something to help the weakness of her nerves, and
prevent the ferment of her spirits? Why did He not tell her
she went too far, she would run mad in the end? Why did He
not bid her (as people do in our days) go into company a
little, and divert her melancholy? Nay, more; why did He
prefer her with all her behaviour to good-natured, virtuous,
religious, undisturbed Simon?
"... However, do not mistake me, sir; I am far from
supposing that the sincerity of people's devotion must be
judged of by the emotion they feel in their bodies.... But
as I read that God will have the heart or nothing, so I know
that when He has the heart, He has the affections, of
course. Fear and hope, sorrow and joy, desire and love act
upon their proper objects, God's attributes. They often
launch out, and, as it were, lose themselves in His
immensity, and, at times, several of these passions acting
together in the soul, the noble disorder they cause cannot
but affect the animal spirits, and communicate itself more
or less to the body. Hence came the floods of tears shed by
David, Jeremiah, Mary, Peter, Paul, etc.; hence came the
sighs, tears, strong cries, and groans unutterable of our
Saviour Himself."
The "Defence," from which these extracts are made, fairly exhibits the
mind of early Methodism, and of the Evangelical Revival generally, upon
the questions discussed. The discrimination between religious feeling
arising from the quickened apprehension of Divine truth, and that which
is little more than natural emotion unnaturally stimulated, is not
peculiar to Fletcher. He did but share it with the other leaders of the
new reformation. The teaching of Wesley, the master mind of the whole
movement, is, as regards this matter, as much marked by strong sense as
by Evangelical fervour.
The comment, perhaps, of most readers of this "Defence of Experimental
Religion" will be that the points contended for are obvious and
indisputable, that they would be so readily admitted as to render much
of the argument superfluous. That this should appear so is one of the
many illustrations of the extent to which the results of the great
Revival have passed into the religious life of the nation, and become a
common heritage.
The private letters written at this period of Fletcher's life contain
very little biographic material, and indeed record few incidents of
any kind. Written, for the most part, to persons like-minded with
himself, they consist mainly of the outpourings of praise and holy
aspiration, mingled with exhortations and counsels. To the
spiritually-minded who may read them they will continue to interpret
and justify themselves, but it must be admitted that they do not belong
to the rare and precious class of writings that rank among the
permanent treasures of the Christian Church. The distinction between
that which is "for an age," and that which is "for all time," is
nowhere more marked than in religious literature. Fletcher's letters
nourished the spiritual life of his friends and correspondents, and
were much read by Methodists for a generation or two; but they have
failed to win a place among the books that do not grow old, those
companions of the spiritual life whose ministry is from generation to
generation. So few indeed are the books of this class that there is no
need to apologise for Fletcher because he has not added to their
number.[7]
A few extracts from his correspondence may be given.
TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY.
"_Sept. 20th, 1762._
"The 'crede quod habes et habes' is not very different from
those words of Christ, 'What things soever ye desire, when
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them.' The humble reason of the believer and the irrational
presumption of the enthusiast draw this doctrine to the
right hand or to the left. But to split the hair, here lies
the difficulty.... Truly you are a pleasant casuist. What!
'It hath pleased Thee to regenerate this infant with Thy
Holy Spirit, to receive him for Thine own child by adoption,
and to incorporate him into Thy holy Church'--does all this
signify nothing more than 'being taken into the visible
Church'?
"How came you to think of my going to leave Madeley? I have
indeed had my scruples about the above passage, and some in
the burial service; but you may dismiss your fears, and be
assured I will neither marry nor leave my Church without
advising you."
TO MISS HATTON.
"_Nov. 1st, 1762._
"That there is a seal of pardon and an earnest of our
inheritance above, to which you are as yet a stranger, seems
clear from the tenor of your letter; but had I been in the
place of the gentleman you name, I would have endeavoured to
lay it before you as 'the fruit of faith,' and a most
glorious privilege, rather than as 'the root of faith,' and
a thing absolutely necessary to the being of it.... Hold
fast your confidence, but do not trust nor rest in it; trust
in Christ, and remember He says, 'I am the way'; not for you
to stop, but to run on in Him. Rejoice to hear that there is
a full assurance of faith to be obtained by the seal of
God's Spirit, and go on from faith to faith until you are
possessed of it. But remember this, and let this double
advice prevent your straying to the right or left: first,
that you will have reason to suspect the sincerity of your
zeal if you lie down easy without the seal of your pardon,
and the full assurance of your faith; secondly, while you
wait for that seal in all the means of grace, beware of
being unthankful for the least degree of faith and
confidence in Jesus, beware of burying one talent, because
you have not five, beware of despising the grain of mustard
seed because it is not yet a tree.
"With respect to myself: in many conflicts and troubles of
soul I have consulted many masters of the spiritual life;
but Divine mercy did not, does not, suffer me to rest upon
the word of a fellow creature. The best advices have often
increased my perplexities; and the end was to make me cease
from human dependence, and wait upon God from the dust of
self-despair. To Him therefore I desire to point you and
myself, in the person of Jesus Christ. This incarnate God
receives weary, perplexed sinners still, and gives them
solid rest. He teaches as no man ever taught; His words have
spirit and life; nor can He possibly mistake our case."
* * * * *
Fletcher's correspondence with Miss Hatton continued, at intervals, for
some years. She was much afflicted in body, and, as it would seem,
harassed and burdened in spirit, and his letters afforded her
consolation and guidance until the close of her life, to which he thus
refers: "Poor Miss Hatton died last Sunday fortnight full of serenity,
faith, and love. The four last hours of her life were better than all
her sickness. When the pangs of death were upon her, the comforts of
the Almighty bore her triumphantly through, and some of her last words
were: "Grieve not at my happiness.... I wish I could tell you half of
what I feel and see. I am going to keep an everlasting sabbath....
Thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory!"
His care for his people found expression in many ways that watchful
love suggested, or their necessities seemed to call for. During his
occasional absences from home he addressed pastoral letters to his
flock filled with Christian exhortations and counsels. The following
are extracts:
"_Oct., 1765._
"I beg you will not neglect the assembling of yourselves
together, and when you meet in society, be neither backward
nor forward to speak. Let every one esteem himself the
meanest in the company, and be glad to sit at the feet of
the lowest.... I had not time to finish this letter
yesterday, being called upon to preach in a market town in
the neighbourhood.... A gentleman churchwarden would hinder
my getting into the pulpit, and, in order to do this, cursed
and swore, and took another gentleman by the collar in the
middle of the church. Notwithstanding his rage, I preached.
May the Lord raise in power what was sown in weakness!"
"_Sept., 1766._
"When I was in London I endeavoured to make the most of my
time, that is to say, to hear, receive, and practise the
word. Accordingly I went to Mr. Whitefield's tabernacle, and
heard him give his society a most excellent exhortation
upon love. He began by observing, that 'when St. John was
old, and past walking and preaching, he would not forsake
the assembling himself with the brethren, as the manner of
too many is, upon little or no pretence at all. On the
contrary, he got himself carried to their meeting, and, with
his last thread of voice, preached to them his final sermon,
consisting of this one sentence, "My little children, love
one another."' I wish, I pray, I earnestly beseech you to
follow that evangelical, apostolical advice.... Bear with
one another's infirmities, and do not easily cast off any
one; no, not for sin, except it be obstinately persisted
in."
From unpublished manuscripts of Fletcher we find that in the latter
part of the year 1764 he was engaged in a somewhat remarkable
controversy within his own parish. His opponent was a Mrs. Anne Darby,
a member of the Society of Friends, and the subjects discussed included
the Athanasian Creed, the doctrine of the Trinity, the Sacraments, and
the Christian Ministry. His account of its origin is as follows:
"On Thursday, November 22nd, 1764, Mrs. Darby, a female
teacher among the people called Quakers, came into a house
where the Vicar of Madeley was instructing his parishioners.
He had given previous notice of his design to answer the
objections made by dissenters and infidels against the
Church of England; and he happened at her coming to defend
the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, as contained in
Athanasius's Creed.
"It was not long before the lady began the attack, and
having given us a scriptural account of the Trinity, she
blamed us for two things:
"1st. For dwelling upon that point rather than enforcing
practical duties.
"2nd. For admitting St. Athanasius's Creed, as in her
opinion it is full of gross misrepresentations of the
Godhead."
A verbal discussion followed, which is carefully recorded. Mrs. Darby
afterwards brought the six following questions, and put them to the
vicar, who, in turn, furnishes a written reply.
"1_st Query_. Dost thou believe that thy Church, or as it is
called, the Church of England, is the Church of Christ?
"2_nd Query_. Dost thou believe that thou art a minister of
Christ?
"3_rd Query_. But Christ's ministers had all their trade.
Was not Paul a tentmaker? And is thy maintenance such as
suits a minister of the gospel?
"4_th Query_. The ministers of Christ preach the gospel
freely. '_Freely ye have received, freely give_,' says
Christ. Dost thou do so?
"5_th Query_. Is the baptism thou baptizest with, the
baptism of Him who baptized with the Holy Ghost?
"_6th Query_. Dost thou believe that the supper thou
celebratest is the supper of which Christ said, '_I stand at
the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open, I
will come in, and sup with him, and he with Me_'?"
In discussing these queries Fletcher took great pains. He deals with
no less than fifteen "objections" under one of them. Instead of
asserting his authority, or that of the Church, he set himself to
answer every reasonable question, including some that would hardly be
considered such, to give satisfaction, if possible, to his opponents,
and protect his people from what appeared to him serious perversions of
truth. The labour involved would have sufficed to produce a book, but
he had no literary aim in the matter. His manuscript was submitted to
Mrs. Darby, and then, bound in a stout leathern cover, circulated among
his parishioners. As we have quoted its opening passage, we will give
an extract from its close, in which the Vicar of Madeley and Mrs. Darby
take leave of one another.
"I hope the reader by this time laments with me the _bad_
use that Mrs. Darby makes of a _good_ understanding. How
much better were it for her, and us all, if, instead of
quibbling and wresting the Scriptures, as these sheets show
she hath done, she would second the endeavours of the vicar
in promoting a reformation of _essentials_ in the parish
with respect to principles and manners!
"But if she is still _moved by the spirit of contention_ to
make fresh assaults upon us, and to obtrude George Fox's
peculiar tenets, to the disparagement of St. Paul's
doctrines, we cannot but wish she may have a _better memory_
to _remember_ our answers, and _more candour_ to do our
arguments _justice_.
"In the meantime if the Vicar hath avoided the force of any
of her objections, or omitted answering any, and if he has
mistaken her in anything, he is ready to acknowledge it, as
soon as she hath made it appear; and he hopes that if she
acts by him as he hath assured her by words of mouth he
would do by her, she will recall the copies of her partial
manuscript, and correct them, according to the mistakes I
have pointed out therein, before she makes them circulate
any further."
To this is appended in Mrs. Darby's writing:
"Being called upon for this manuscript before I had
considered it all over properly, I therefore have got it
copied; and after examination (if worth notice) shall
communicate my sentiments hereupon to John Fletcher and
sober people. A. Darby."
What further came of this controversy, whether anything further came of
it, we cannot tell. With Mrs. Darby's postscript before us it would not
be safe to conclude that the last word had been spoken.
Among the labours belonging to this period was the organization of a
"Society of Ministers of the Gospel," for which Fletcher drew up rules
and regulations. Although, as we have seen, at the beginning of his
work in Madeley he had met with a good deal of opposition from
neighbouring clergy, he found it possible a few years later to form a
clerical association for the promotion of spiritual life and
ministerial efficiency. The society was to meet at Worcester, in the
private house of some reputable person, twice in the year, on the
Tuesday and Wednesday next before the full of the moon, in the months
of May and September. The meeting was to begin at ten o'clock, dinner
at two; the expense to be defrayed by an equal contribution of the
whole society, "_absentees not excepted_." The topics for conversation
and inquiry are set forth in considerable detail. They include "public
preaching, the case of religious societies, the catechizing of children
and instruction of youth, the case of personal inspection and personal
visiting of the flock, the case of ruling their own houses well, the
case of visiting the sick, the case of their own particular experiences
and personal conduct."
Every member of the society was "recommended to take down brief minutes
of the business transacted by the society, for his future recollection
of it and meditation upon it."
The following are Fletcher's notes of the meeting held on May 12th,
1767:
"1. How far is it proper to preach against particular sins,
and to enforce particular duties, and how to do this in a
gospel-like manner.
"_Answer._ Very proper to stated congregations. Many
convinced of sin by it; many kept decent by it. Believers
themselves made watchful. Preach so as not to encourage
pharisees.
"2. Whether we are to preach the law, and morality, and why?
"_Answer._ Yes: three reasons. (1) To inform believers; (2)
To convince false moralists; (3) To stop the mouth of the
adversaries, and confound antinomians.
"3. How far is it proper to mention and improve particular
cases, and the experience of particular people, in funeral
sermons and other discourses, to try to awaken the
careless?
"_Answer._ Extraordinary cases known to all may be
improved--with tenderness, wisdom, avoiding the appearance
of sentencing any one, and saying what we say of them in
Scripture words, and with suppositions.
"4. (Digression.) Whether charity and duty oblige us to say
over all the dead, 'we hope they rest in Christ.' (Settled.)
(A hardship) and may be omitted because not insisted on as
absolutely indispensable.
"6. What's the proper length of a sermon for hearers and
speaker?
"_Answer._ A stranger may be heard for an hour; a stated
minister from 30 to 50 minutes.
"7. What to do to keep within these bounds?
"_Answer._ Pray, digest the point, have few heads, be not
long upon them. If you have been too full upon the first, be
less so upon the last.
"8. When a minister hath studied a subject with design to
preach on it, and is shut up in his heart and clouded in his
mind at preaching time, and another text presents itself,
and liberty is offered to speak from it, is it enthusiasm to
do it?
"_Answer._ Trial may be made, and if the preacher finds
freedom and the people edification, the matter was from
above.
"9. Whether we may allegorize Scripture, and how far?
"_Answer._ So far as the Holy Ghost hath allegorized we may
safely do the same; but we must be very sparing of anything
that exceeds Scripture warrant. Avoid taking historical
allegorical texts to raise doctrines upon. Such texts may
be brought by way of comparison or illustration of some
other weighty passages which contain the doctrine plainly.
"10. Societies.
"_Disadvantages._ They raise a jealousy in those who do not
belong to them, increase their prejudice, make them think
the minister partial, and watch over the society for evil.
"_Advantages._ They are scriptural, comfortable, profitable,
the only means of keeping up some discipline."
Such were the questions discussed, and the opinions expressed in the
"Society of Ministers of the Gospel," organized, and probably founded,
by Fletcher. The society was one of those innumerable results of the
Revival, by which its spirit and principles were widely diffused
through the Church. A generation later such associations were common
amongst the Evangelical clergy. Of these the Eclectic Society, founded
by John Newton and Richard Cecil in 1783, is well-known to us through
the "Notes," extending from 1798 to 1814, published by Archdeacon
Pratt.[8]
At the close of his first seven years at Madeley, Fletcher's chief
difficulties had either disappeared, or were greatly diminished. Though
he still lamented the comparative unfruitfulness of his labours, he
had, in truth, much to rejoice over. Many of the ungodly had been
converted through his ministry, some of whom were now walking worthy of
Christ, while others had died in the Lord. He was now generally
esteemed, and by the better part of his flock greatly beloved. He had
gained experience in the administration of his parish and the direction
of souls. In preaching, catechizing, visiting, and holding religious
meetings he was indefatigable, and spared no pains to guard his people
from doctrinal error or spiritual decline. The organization that
gradually rose under his hand was not of the modern parochial type, but
well suited to the circumstances of the people and of the time. He
established regular preaching-places, not only in his own parish, but
eight, ten, or more miles away, and formed societies for Christian
instruction and fellowship. From time to time his hands were
strengthened and his heart encouraged by visits from his friends and
fellow labourers. Wesley's first visit was in July, 1764, and is thus
referred to in his "Journal":
"I rode to Bilbrook, near Wolverhampton, and preached at
between two and three. Thence we went on to Madeley, an
exceedingly pleasant village, encompassed with trees and
hills. It was a great comfort to me to converse once more
with a Methodist of the old type, denying himself, taking up
his cross, and resolved to be altogether a Christian.
"_Sunday, July 22nd._ At ten Mr. Fletcher read prayers, and
I preached on those words in the gospel, 'I am the Good
Shepherd: the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the
sheep.' The church would nothing near contain the
congregation; but a window near the pulpit being taken down,
those who could not come in stood in the churchyard, and I
believe all could hear. The congregation, they said, used to
be much smaller in the afternoon than in the morning; but I
could not discern the least difference, either in number or
seriousness. I found employment enough for the intermediate
hours in praying with the various companies who hung about
the house, insatiably hungering and thirsting after the good
word. Mr. Grimshaw, at his first coming to Haworth, had not
such a prospect as this. There are many adversaries indeed,
but yet they cannot shut the open and effectual door."
Wesley's itinerant preachers were welcomed by Fletcher when their
rounds brought them to his parish. To Alexander Mather, a brave and
devoted Methodist preacher, he wrote to say that an occasional
exhortation from him or his colleague to the societies he had formed
would be esteemed a favour, and expressed at the same time a
willingness, if it were not deemed an encroachment, to go, as
Providence might direct, to any of Mr. Mather's preaching-places.
And as Fletcher rejoiced in the evangelistic labours of others in his
own neighbourhood, so he willingly engaged in similar labours himself
in various parts of the country. In the year 1765 we find him
exchanging pulpits for a while with Mr. Sellon, curate of Breedon, in
Leicestershire, and preaching to the crowds who filled the church, and
clambered to the windows to see and hear.
Two years later, having secured the services of an acceptable curate to
serve the parish in his absence, he spent some weeks in Yorkshire with
the Countess of Huntingdon and Mr. Venn, the Vicar of Huddersfield.
They were joined by a number of earnest clergy from different parts of
the country, Mr. Madan from London, Dr. Conyers, Rector of Helmsley,
Mr. Burnet, Vicar of Elland, and several others, by whom the gospel was
preached to multitudes in town and country. In such companionship and
in such labours Fletcher rejoiced greatly, and returned to his parish
with renewed strength. The sense of loneliness was relieved. The
difficulties of his work at Madeley seemed no longer exceptional.
Cheered by the success vouchsafed to his labours and those of his
friends, he came back to his people "in the fulness of the blessing of
Christ." Modern experience has shown how a parish or a congregation may
be benefited by the coming of a mission preacher, and how a minister
may be enlarged in heart and utterance by special labours away from his
own flock. Missions based upon the recognition of these truths are now
familiar to us all; but in this matter, as in so much of the quickened
life of the Church, the men of the Revival led the way.