_“APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT AND COMMON
SENSE.”_
1772.
THE present chapter is a somewhat inconvenient break in the history of
the Calvinian controversy; but in maintaining chronological order, the
inconvenience cannot be avoided.
Fletcher’s “Fourth Check to Antinomianism” was finished on November 15,
1772, and was published before the year was terminated. On a fly-leaf at
the end of the _first_ edition the following advertisement was printed:—
“In a few days will be published, price two shillings, by the same
author, ‘An Appeal to Matter of Fact and Common Sense; Or, A Rational
Demonstration of Man’s corrupt and lost Estate.’”
In some respects, this is Fletcher’s ablest publication, and certainly
it has been his most popular. A “second edition, revised and enlarged,”
was printed a few months after the first, and, since then, it has been
scores of times re-issued. As early as the year 1804, Joseph Benson,
Fletcher’s biographer, remarked concerning it, “I hardly know a treatise
that has been so universally read, or made so eminently useful.” Even
the _Monthly Review_ had nought to say against it. In the number for
March, 1773, the editor’s notice of it was the following:—
“Although we cannot subscribe to all Mr. Fletcher’s religious
opinions, we think there are abundance of good things in his writings;
and we have no doubt that he is warmly animated by a sincere and pious
regard for the salvation of the souls that are committed to his
charge, as well as for the spiritual welfare of mankind in general.”
It is worthy of remark that besides being vended at Wesley’s Foundery in
London, the first edition was also “sold at the _workhouse_ in Madeley
Wood, Shropshire, _for the benefit of the poor_.” When the second
edition was published, the _workhouse_, for some unknown reason, was not
advertised. Probably parochial officials had interdicted the sale.
Fletcher seems to have spent more time upon his “Appeal to Matter of
Fact and Common Sense” than he did upon any of his “Checks to
Antinomianism.” Joseph Benson saw it in manuscript, and read most of it,
a year before its publication. Fletcher took it to Bristol and left it
there; but, before it was committed to the press, he requested that it
might be returned to him at Madeley, to be further revised and improved.
For many weeks, the manuscript was unheard of, “but,” says Benson, “he
was quite easy under the apprehended loss, which certainly would not
have been a small one, as any person will judge who considers how much
thought and time such a work must have cost him. It was found, however,
by-and-by, had the finishing hand put to it, and was published to the
conviction and edification of thousands.”[279]
Footnote 279:
Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
Fletcher’s dedication of his book, highly characteristic, and embodying
biographical facts, deserves attention.
“To the principal inhabitants of the parish of Madeley, in the county
of Salop.
“GENTLEMEN,—You are no less entitled to my private labours than the
inferior class of my parishioners. As you do not choose to partake
with them of my evening instructions, I take the liberty to present
you with some of my morning meditations. May these well-meant
endeavours of my pen be more acceptable to you than those of my
tongue! And may you carefully read in your closets what you have
perhaps inattentively heard in the church! I appeal to the Searcher of
hearts that I had rather impart truths than receive tithes. You kindly
bestow the latter upon me; grant me, I pray, the satisfaction of
seeing you favourably receive the former, from, gentlemen, your
affectionate minister and obedient servant,
“Madeley, 1772.
“J. FLETCHER.”
Fletcher’s principal tithe payers would not attend his evening services,
and yet he was more anxious to teach them “the truth as it is in Jesus,”
than to receive their pelf. He loved their souls, though they were too
high and mighty—that is, too worldly and ignorant—to appreciate his
ministry.
Fletcher rightly regarded the doctrine which he irrefutably establishes
as of the highest importance. By large numbers of men, who considered
themselves good Christians, it was treated with indifference, and in
many instances it was flatly denied. With the exception of his “Notes on
the Old and New Testaments,” the largest as well as the ablest book
Wesley ever wrote was on the same subject. His “Doctrine of Original Sin
according to Scripture, Reason, and Experience,” was first published in
1757; and now, fifteen years later, his friend Fletcher, doubtless with
his approval, used his great talents to the utmost in defending the same
dogma. In both books, to some extent, the same line of argumentation is
followed; but, of course, Fletcher’s style is very different from that
of Wesley. Both of them insisted that the doctrine is essential to the
Christian religion, and that if it is not true, the Christian religion
is not needed. In his preface Wesley wrote:—
“If we take away this foundation, that man is by nature foolish and
sinful, ‘fallen short of the glorious image of God,’ the Christian
system falls at once; nor will it deserve so honourable an appellation
as that of a ‘cunningly devised fable.’”
Fletcher began his book with the same assertion. His first paragraph is
as follows:—
“In every religion, there is a principal truth or error, which, like
the first link of a chain, necessarily draws after it all the parts
with which it is essentially connected. This leading principle in
Christianity, distinguished from Deism, is the doctrine of our corrupt
and lost estate; for if man is not _at variance_ with his Creator,
what need of a _Mediator_ between God and him? If he is not a
_depraved, undone_ creature, what necessity of so wonderful a
_Restorer_ and _Saviour_ as the Son of God? If he is not _enslaved_ to
sin, why is he _redeemed_ by Jesus Christ? If he is not _polluted_,
why must he be _washed in the blood of_ that immaculate _Lamb_? If his
soul is not _disordered_, what occasion is there for such a divine
_Physician_? If he is not _helpless_ and _miserable_, why is he
perpetually invited to secure the _assistance_ and _consolations_ of
the Holy Spirit? And, in a word, if he is not _born in sin_, why is a
_new birth_ so absolutely necessary, that Christ declares, with the
most solemn asseverations, _without it no man can see the kingdom of
God_?
“This doctrine then being of such importance that genuine Christianity
stands or falls with it, it may be proper to state it at large; and as
this cannot be done in stronger and plainer words than those of the
sacred writers and our pious Reformers, I beg leave to collect them
and present the reader with a picture of our natural estate, drawn at
full length by those ancient and masterly hands.”
Fletcher proceeds to do this, and with irrefutable arguments establishes
his doctrine; but in this part of his work there is no need to follow
him. Indeed, his summary of Scripture proofs and his quotations from the
Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church of England, do not fill
more than about a dozen pages. His “second part” he begins as follows:—
“As no man is bound to believe what is contrary to common sense, if
the above-stated doctrine appears irrational, Scriptures, Articles,
Homilies, and Liturgy are quoted in vain. When men of parts are
pressed with their authority, they start from it as an imposition on
their reason, and make as honourable a retreat as they possibly can.
“Some, to extricate themselves at once, set the Bible aside as full of
incredible assertions. Others, with more modesty, plead that the
Scriptures have been frequently misunderstood, and are so in the
present case. They put grammar, criticism, and common sense to the
rack, to show that when the inspired writers say the human _heart is
desperately wicked_, they mean that it is extremely good; or at least
like blank paper, ready to receive either the characters of virtue or
of vice. With respect to the testimony of our Reformers, they would
have you to understand that in this enlightened age we must leave
their harsh, uncharitable sentiments to the old Puritans and the
present Methodists.
“That such objectors may subscribe as a solemn truth what they have
hitherto rejected as a dangerous error, and that humbled sinners may
see the propriety of a heart-felt repentance, and the absolute need of
an Almighty Redeemer, they are here presented with some proofs of our
depravity, taken from the astonishing severity of God’s dispensations
towards mankind.”
Limited space renders it impossible to give an outline of Fletcher’s
thirty-six arguments, all founded upon the following axiom:—
“If we consider the Supreme Being as creating a world for the
manifestation of His glory, the display of His perfections, and the
communication of His happiness to an intelligent creature, whom He
would attach to Himself by the strongest ties of gratitude and love,
we at once perceive that He never could form this earth and man in
their present disordered, deplorable condition.”
An extract from the ninth argument will not be out of place, furnishing,
as it does, a doleful picture of a large number of Fletcher’s
parishioners—the colliers, the bargemen, and the iron-workers.
“To go no farther than this populous parish; with what hardships and
dangers do our indigent neighbours earn their bread! See those who
ransack the bowels of the earth to get the black mineral we burn; how
little is their lot preferable to the Spanish felons who work the
golden mines?
“They take their leave of the light of the sun, and, suspended by a
rope, are let down many fathoms perpendicularly towards the centre of
the globe; they traverse the rocks through which they have dug their
horizontal ways. The murderer’s cell is a palace in comparison of the
black spot to which they repair; the vagrant’s posture in the stocks
is preferable to that in which they labour.
“Form, if you can, an idea of the misery of men kneeling, stooping, or
lying on one side, to toil all day in a confined place, where a child
could hardly stand; whilst a younger company, with their hands and
feet on the black dusty ground, and a chain about their body, creep,
and drag along, like four-footed beasts, heavy loads of the dirty
mineral, through ways almost impassable to the curious observer.
“In these low and dreary vaults, all the elements seem combined
against them. Destructive damps, and clouds of noxious dust, infect
the air they breathe. Sometimes water incessantly distils on their
naked bodies; or, bursting upon them in streams, drowns them, and
deluges their work. At other times, pieces of detached rocks crush
them to death; or the earth, breaking in upon them, buries them alive.
And frequently sulphureous vapours, kindled in an instant by the light
of their candles, form subterraneous thunder and lightning. What a
dreadful phenomenon! How impetuous is the blast! How fierce the
rolling flames! How intolerable the noisome smell! How dreadful the
continued roar! How violent and fatal the explosion!
“Wonderful providence! Some of the unhappy men have time to prostrate
themselves; the fiery scourge grazes their backs; the ground shields
their breasts; they escape. See them wound up out of the blazing
dungeon, and say if _these are not brands plucked out of the fire_. A
pestiferous steam and clouds of suffocating smoke pursue them. Half
dead themselves, they hold their dead or dying companions in their
trembling arms. Merciful God of Shadrach! Kind Protector of Meshach!
Mighty Deliverer of Abednego! Patient Preserver of rebellious Jonah!
Will not _these_ utter a song—a song of praise to Thee? praise ardent
as the flames they escape—lasting as the life Thou prolongest? Alas,
they refuse! And some—O tell it not among the heathens, lest they for
ever abhor the name of _Christian_—some return to the very pits where
they have been branded with sulphureous fire by the warning hand of
Providence, and there, sporting themselves again with the most
infernal wishes, call aloud for a fire that cannot be quenched, and
challenge the Almighty to cast them into hell, that bottomless pit
whence there is no return.
“Leave these black men at their perilous work, and see yonder
barge-men haling that loaded vessel against wind and stream. Since the
dawn of day, they have wrestled with the impetuous current; and now
that it almost overpowers them, how do they exert all their remaining
strength, and strain their every nerve? How are they bathed in sweat
and rain? Fastened to their lines as horses to their traces, wherein
do they differ from the laborious brutes? Not in an erect posture of
the body, for, in the intenseness of their toil, they bend forward,
their head is foremost, and their hands upon the ground. If there is
any difference, it consists in this: horses are indulged with a collar
to save their breasts; and these, as if theirs were not worth saving,
draw without one; the beasts tug in patient silence and mutual
harmony; but the men with loud contention and horrible imprecations. O
sin, what hast thou done? Is it not enough that these drudges should
toil like brutes? must they also curse one another like devils?
“If you have gone beyond the hearing of their impious oaths, stop to
consider the sons of Vulcan confined to these forges and furnaces. Is
their lot much preferable? A sultry air and clouds of smoke and dust
are the elements in which they labour. The confused noise of water
falling, steam hissing, fire-engines working, wheels turning, files
creaking, hammers beating, ore bursting, and bellows roaring, form the
dismal concert that strikes the ears; while a continual eruption of
flames, ascending from the mouth of their artificial volcanoes, dazzle
their eyes with a horrible glare. Massy bars of hot iron are the heavy
tools they handle, cylinders of the first magnitude the enormous
weights they heave, vessels full of melted metal the dangerous loads
they carry, streams of the same burning fluid the fiery rivers which
they conduct into the deep cavities of their subterraneous moulds, and
millions of flying sparks with a thousand drops of liquid, hissing
iron, the horrible showers to which they are exposed. See them cast:
you would think them in a bath and not in a furnace; they bedew the
burning sand with their streaming sweat; nor are their wet garments
dried up, either by the fierce fires they attend, or the fiery streams
which they manage. Certainly, of all men, these have best reason to
remember the just sentence of an offended God: ‘In the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat thy bread all the days of thy life.’”
This long extract is given, not as a specimen of Fletcher’s style of
writing, for it is hardly that, but as a truthful description of a large
number of the poor creatures of whom he had the pastoral oversight. Many
a passage of the highest kind of eloquence might be cited; but the
reader is recommended to buy and peruse the book himself. The following
is presented, solely because it refers to growing evils, alarmingly
prevalent among people who think themselves religious:—
“But all are not employed in sin and wickedness, for many go through a
constant round of _innocent diversions_; and these, at least, must be
_innocent_ and _happy_. Let us then consider the amusements of
mankind, and see how far _our own_ pleasures demonstrate our
_innocence_ and _happiness_.
“How excessively foolish are the plays of children! How full of
mischief and cruelty the sports of boys! How vain, foppish, and frothy
the joys of young people! And how much below the dignity of upright,
pure creatures, the snares that persons of different sexes lay for
each other! When they are together, is not this their favourite
amusement, till they are deservedly caught in the net which they
imprudently spread? But see them asunder.
“Here a circle of idle women, supping a decoction of Indian herbs,
talk or laugh all together, like so many chirping birds, or chattering
monkeys, and, scandal excepted, every way to as good a purpose. And
there, a club of graver men blow, by the hour, clouds of stinking
smoke out of their mouths, or wash it down their throats with repeated
draughts of intoxicating liquors. The strong fumes have already
reached their heads, and, while some stagger home, others triumphantly
keep the field of excess; though one is already stamped with the
heaviness of the ox, another worked up to the fierceness and roar of
the lion, and a third brought down to the filthiness of the vomiting
dog.
“Leave them at their _manly_ sport, to follow those musical sounds,
mixed with a noise of stamping, and you will find others profusely
perspiring, and violently fatiguing themselves, in skipping up and
down a room for a whole night, and ridiculously turning their backs
and faces to each other a hundred different ways. Would not a man of
sense prefer running ten miles upon an _useful_ errand, to this
useless manner of losing his rest, heating his blood, exhausting his
spirits, unfitting himself for the duties of the following day, and
laying the foundation of a putrid fever or a consumption, by breathing
the midnight air corrupted by clouds of dust, by the unwholesome fumes
of candles, and by the more pernicious steam that issues from the
bodies of many persons, who use the strong exercise in a confined
place.
“In the next room they are more quiet, but are they more rationally
employed? Why do they so earnestly rattle those ivory cubes; and so
anxiously study those packs of loose and spotted leaves? Is happiness
graven upon the one, or stamped upon the other? Answer, ye gamesters,
who curse your stars, as ye go home with an empty purse and a heart
full of rage.
“‘We hope there is no harm in taking an innocent game at cards,’ reply
a ridiculous party of superannuated ladies; ‘gain is not our aim; we
only play to kill time.’ You are not then so well employed as the
foolish heathen emperor, who amused himself in killing troublesome
flies and wearisome time together. The delight of rational creatures,
much more of Christians on the brink of the grave, is to redeem,
improve, and solidly enjoy time; but yours, alas! consists in the bare
irreparable _loss_ of that invaluable treasure. Oh! what account will
you give of the souls you neglect, and the talents you bury?
“And are _public_ diversions better evidence of our innocence and
happiness?”
Fletcher then proceeds to descant, in the same style, on theatrical
performances, annual wakes, horse-racing, cock-fighting, man-fighting,
and dog-fighting; and then concludes his “Twenty-third Argument,” as
follows:—
“These are thy favourite amusements, O England, thou centre of the
civilized world, where reformed Christianity, deep-thinking wisdom,
and polite learning, with all its refinements, have fixed their abode!
But, in the name of common sense, how can we clear them from the
imputation of absurdity, folly, and madness? And by what means can
they be reconciled, I will not say to the religion of the meek Jesus,
but to the philosophy of a Plato, or the calm reason of any thinking
man? How perverted must be the taste, how irrational and cruel the
diversions of barbarians, in other parts of the globe! And how
applicable to all the wise man’s observation: ‘Foolishness is bound up
in the heart of a child, and madness in the breasts of the sons of
men!’”
Further extensive extracts from Fletcher’s invaluable book need not be
given here. What he calls his “Short Defence of the Oracles of God”
cannot be perused by any candid reader without the conviction being
produced that infidelity, in all its phases, is the most unreasonable
theory in existence. From his thirty-six arguments,—unanswerable
arguments,—he deduces ten inferences, namely:—
“1. If we are by nature in a corrupt and lost estate, the grand
business of ministers is to warn us of our imminent danger. 2. If we
are naturally depraved and condemned creatures, self-righteousness and
pride are the most absurd and monstrous of all our sins. 3. If the
corruption of mankind is universal and inveterate, no mere creature
can deliver them from it. 4. If our guilt is immense, it cannot be
expiated without a sacrifice of an infinite dignity. 5. If our
spiritual maladies are both numerous and mortal, we cannot recover the
spiritual health that we enjoyed in our first parents, but by the
powerful help of our heavenly Physician, the second Adam. 6. If our
nature is so completely fallen and totally helpless, that, in
spiritual things, ‘we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any
thing’ truly good ‘as of ourselves,’ it is plain we stand in absolute
need of the Spirit’s assistance to enable us to pray, repent, believe,
love, and obey aright. 7. If we are really and truly born in sin, our
regeneration cannot be a mere metaphor, or a vain ceremony, but real
and positive. 8. If the fall of mankind in Adam does not consist in a
capricious imputation of his personal guilt, but in a real, present
participation of his depravity, impotence, and misery, the salvation
that believers have in Christ is not a capricious imputation of His
personal righteousness, but a real, present participation of His
purity, power, and blessedness, together with pardon and acceptance.
9. If the corrupt nature, which sinners derive from Adam,
spontaneously produces all the wickedness that overspreads the earth,
the holy nature which believers receive from Christ is spontaneously
productive of all the fruits of righteousness described in the oracles
of God. 10. If corruption and sin work so powerfully and sensibly in
the hearts of the unregenerate, we may, without deserving the name of
enthusiasts, affirm that the regenerate are sensible of the powerful
effects of Divine grace in their souls; or, to use the words of our
Seventeenth Article, we may say, ‘They feel in themselves the workings
of the Spirit of Christ.’”
When it is added that the doctrines, from which these inferences are
drawn, are plainly stated, and fully proved, a good general idea of
Fletcher’s book will be given. His “Concluding Address to the Serious
Reader, who inquires, What must I do to be saved?” has been read by
myriads, and cannot be read too much. The last two paragraphs of his
treatise must be quoted:—
“_This_ book is chiefly recommended to disbelieving moralists, who
deride the doctrine of salvation by grace _through faith_ in the day
of conversion, merely because they are not properly acquainted with
our fallen and lost estate. And the _Checks_ are chiefly designed for
disbelieving Antinomians, who rise against the doctrine of a
believer’s salvation by grace _through the works_ of faith in the
great day, merely because they do not consider the indispensable
necessity of evangelical obedience, and the nature of the day of
judgment.
“In the _Appeal_, the careless, self-conceited sinner is awakened and
humbled. In the _Address_, the serious, humbled sinner is raised up
and comforted. And in the _Checks_, the foolish virgin is re-awakened,
the Laodicean believer reproved, the prodigal son lashed back to his
father’s house, and the upright believer animated to mend his pace in
the way of _faith working by love_, and to _perfect holiness in the
fear of God_.”
Such is Fletcher’s own accurate account of the important works he had
hitherto committed to the press.