“Not content with discharging the stated duties of the Sabbath, he
counted that day as lost, in which he was not actually employed in
the service of the church. As often as a small congregation could be
collected, which was usually every evening, he joyfully proclaimed to
them the acceptable year of the Lord, whether it were in the place
set apart for public worship, in a private house, or in the open air.
And, on these occasions, the affectionate and fervent manner in which
he addressed his hearers, was an affecting proof of the interest he
took in their spiritual concerns. As the varying circumstances of
his people required, he assumed a different appearance among them: at
one season he would open his mouth in blessings: and, at another, he
would appear, like his Lord amid the buyers and sellers, with the
lash of righteous severity in his hand. But, in whatever way he
exercised his ministry, it was evident that his labours were
influenced by love, and tended immediately, either to the extirpation
of sin, or the increase of holiness.”
And Mr. Wesley, speaking of his friend’s conduct and labours to spread
the truth and to repress vice in every possible way, says:—
“Those sinners, who endeavoured to hide themselves from him, he
pursued to every corner of his parish: by all sorts of means, public
and private, early and late, in season and out of season, entreating
and warning them to flee from the wrath to come. Some made it an
excuse for not attending the church service on a Sunday morning, that
they could not awake early enough to get their families ready. He
provided for this also. Taking a bell in his hand, he set out every
Sunday for some months, at five in the morning, and went round the
most distant parts of the parish, inviting all the inhabitants to the
house of God.”
So stubborn and unyielding were the materials, that for some time he saw
so little fruit of his labours that he tells us he was more than once in
doubt, whether he had not mistaken his place, and that he was violently,
as he tells Mr. Charles Wesley, tempted to quit the place. After a
little time his church became crowded; excitement then died away, and
strong opposition sprang up; but there was an energy about his preaching
and exhortations which was irresistible, and he succeeded in his work.
The change effected in the whole tone and character, of thought and
feeling among the inhabitants was obvious, and perceptible to the most
prejudiced. That a life of surpassing purity and self-sacrifice to the
highest ends should produce such effects shewed that even low and carnal
nature when honestly appealed to is not wholly insensible to true and
genuine piety. He laboured and others entered into his labours.
Under the fostering care of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Methodism, planted on
ground watered by them, found a congenial soil, on which it has
flourished to the present day. As early as May, 1767, as we find from a
letter to the Rev. George Whitfield, dated Madeley, Mr. Fletcher had
invited Captain Scott, then a great preacher among the Wesleyans, to
preach to his congregation, and that he had done so from his horse-block,
for Mr. Fletcher adds, that his sermon did more good than a hundred
preached by himself from his own pulpit. In this letter we find him
inviting Whitfield to follow the Captain’s example, and to come down and
preach too. Others succeeded, whose ministrations, aided by the meetings
of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, meetings which were attended by the piously
disposed from the Broseley side of the Severn, from Wellington and
neighbouring parishes, raised up a pious and efficient body of men who
became prayer leaders, class leaders, local preachers, and centres of
societies which spread far and wide. Fortunately, that good man Melville
Horne, who succeeded Mr. Fletcher, and who after labouring in Madeley for
some years went out to Africa and founded the Mission of Sierra Leone, on
being appointed curate after the death of Mr. Fletcher favoured this
state of things, which continued for some years, with the sanction of the
vicar. Mrs. Fletcher in her Journal, August 3, 1815, says, “I have been
joined to the people united to Mr. Wesley for threescore years, and I
trust to die amongst them. The life of true religion is amongst them,
and the work increases.” At the same time she says, “I have always
considered myself a member of the church, and so have the united friends
in Madeley.” When Mr. Horne left to go out as a missionary to Africa,
the vicar, Mr. Burton, desirous of promoting the same kind of harmony,
left it to Mrs. Fletcher to recommend a successor. Writing to the one
who succeeded Mr. Horne, she says:—“Those who are religious in the
parish, as well as those who attend from a distance, go to hear the
Wesleyan ministers, and also attended the Church Services.”