_WESLEY’S DESIGNATED SUCCESSOR: THE
PENITENT THIEF: A DREADFUL PHENOMENON,
ETC., ETC._
1773.
TO preserve chronological order, another chapter must be interjected
before the history of the Calvinian controversy is resumed.
In the month of January, 1773, Wesley sent to Fletcher the remarkable
letter with which the present work commences. He wished Fletcher to
relinquish his vicarage, and to put himself into training to become,
after Wesley’s death, the “ωροεστως” of the Methodists. Wesley’s health,
apparently, was failing. He was full of anxiety. “The body of the
preachers,” he wrote, “are not united: nor will any part of them submit
to the rest; so that either there must be one to preside over all, or
the work will indeed come to an end.” Subsequent events proved Wesley’s
fears to be unfounded; but, for the time being, they were real, and
disquieted him. He wished to train his successor, and to introduce him
to the people. He specified what he considered to be the necessary
qualifications of such a man, and regarded Fletcher as the only one of
his wide acquaintance as possessing them. “Without conferring,
therefore, with flesh and blood,” said he, “come and strengthen the
hands, comfort the heart, and share the labour of your affectionate
friend and brother, John Wesley.”
Fletcher’s reply to Wesley’s most important proposal was as follows:—
“MADELEY,
.
“REV. AND DEAR SIR,—I hope the Lord, who has so wonderfully stood by
you hitherto, will preserve you to see many of your sheep, and me
among them, enter into rest. Should Providence call you first, I shall
do my best, by the Lord’s assistance, to help your brother to gather
the wreck, and keep together those who are not absolutely bent to
throw away the Methodist doctrines and discipline, as soon as he that
now letteth is removed out of the way. Every help will then be
necessary, and I shall not be backward to throw in my mite.
“In the meantime, you sometimes need an assistant to serve tables, and
occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly appointed _me_ to
that office many years ago. And though it no less evidently called me
hither, yet I have not been without doubt, especially for some years
past, whether it would not be expedient that I should resume my office
as your deacon; not with any view of presiding over the Methodists
after you; but to ease you in your old age, and to be in the way of
recovering, and, perhaps, doing more good. I have sometimes thought
how shameful it was that no clergyman should join you, to keep in the
Church the work God has enabled you to carry on therein. And, as the
little estate I have in my own country is sufficient for my
maintenance, I have thought I would, one day or other, offer you and
the Methodists my free service. While my love of retirement made me
linger, I was providentially led to do something in Lady Huntingdon’s
plan; but, being shut out there, it appears to me I am again called to
my first work.
“Nevertheless, I would not leave this place, without a fuller
persuasion that the time is _quite_ come. Not that God uses me much
here, but I have not yet sufficiently cleared my conscience from the
blood of all men. Meantime, I beg the Lord to guide me by His counsel,
and make me willing to go anywhere, or nowhere, to be anything, or
nothing.
“Help by your prayers, till you can bless by word of mouth, Rev. and
dear Sir, your willing, though unprofitable servant in the Gospel,
“J. FLETCHER.”[280]
Footnote 280:
Wesley’s “Life of Fletcher,” p. 66.
Fletcher did not decline Wesley’s proposal; but he deferred coming to a
decision until “the time was quite come.” Whether the proposal was
afterwards _formally_ renewed, it is difficult to determine; but Dr.
Whitehead, who, from 1764 to 1769, had been one of the itinerant
preachers, and who was well acquainted with both Wesley and his friend
Fletcher, remarks concerning Wesley’s request:—
“This warm and sincere invitation to a situation not only respected
but even reverenced by so large a body of people, must have been
highly flattering to Mr. Fletcher; especially as it came from a person
he most sincerely loved; whose superior abilities, learning, and
labours he admired; and to whose success in the ministry he wished to
give every assistance in his power. But he well knew the
embarrassments Mr. Wesley met with in the government of the preachers,
though he alone, under the providence of God, had given existence to
their present character, influence, and usefulness. He was also well
acquainted with the mutual jealousies the preachers had of each other,
and with their jarring interests: and, above all, with the general
determination which prevailed among them not to be under the control
of any one man after the death of Mr. Wesley. Under these
circumstances, he saw nothing before him but darkness, storms, and
tempests, with the most threatening dangers, especially if he should
live to be alone in the office. He therefore determined not to launch
his little bark on so tempestuous an ocean.
“I cannot, however, but lament that he did not accept Mr. Wesley’s
invitation, as he would have done much good while he lived, and have
prevented many of the evils which have since taken place.”[281]
Footnote 281:
Whitehead’s “Life of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 356.
The evils which Dr. Whitehead deprecated were the resolutions enacted by
the Methodist Conferences, held after Wesley’s decease, respecting the
preachers being allowed to administer the sacraments to their Societies,
to hold services in Methodist chapels “in church hours,” and other
kindred matters. Of all this, Dr. Whitehead, an able and honest man,
strongly disapproved, and hence his regret that Fletcher, by declining
Wesley’s invitation, had not helped to, at least, postpone such serious
changes.
Wesley foresaw the probability, and indeed the certainty, of such
changes being made, and he also lamented Fletcher’s decision. Thirteen
years afterwards, in commenting upon Fletcher’s letter to himself, he
wrote:—
“‘Providence,’ says he, ‘visibly appointed me to that office’
[Wesley’s assistant] ‘many years ago.’ Is it any wonder then that he
should now be _in doubt_ whether he did right in confining himself to
one spot? The more I reflect upon it, the more I am convinced he had
great reason to doubt this. I can never believe it was the will of God
that such a burning and shining light should be _hid under a bushel_.
No; instead of being confined to a country village, it ought to have
shone in every corner of our land. He was full as much called to sound
an alarm through all the nation as Mr. Whitefield himself. Nay,
abundantly more so; seeing he was far better qualified for that
important work. He had a more striking person, equally good breeding,
an equally winning address, together with a richer flow of fancy, a
stronger understanding; a far greater treasure of learning, both in
languages, philosophy, philology, and divinity; and, above all (which
I can speak with fuller assurance, because I had a thorough knowledge
both of one and the other), a more deep and constant communion with
the Father, and with the Son, Jesus Christ.
“And yet let not any one imagine that I depreciate Mr. Whitefield, or
undervalue the grace of God and the extraordinary gifts which his
great Master vouchsafed unto him. I believe he was highly favoured of
God; yea, that he was one of the most eminent ministers that has
appeared in England, or perhaps in the world, during the present
century. Yet I must own I have known many fully equal to Mr.
Whitefield, both in holy tempers and holiness of conversation; but one
equal herein to Mr. Fletcher I have not known; no, not in a life of
fourscore years.”[282]
Footnote 282:
Wesley’s “Life of Fletcher,” p. 68.
No wonder that Wesley lamented the course taken by his wished-for
successor; but it is rather difficult to say why Wesley should cast upon
him loving blame for confining his light “to a country village.”
Fletcher’s hands were full of literary works, by means of which he had
defended, and continued to defend, the doctrines which it was the object
of Wesley’s life to propagate. Besides, in about a year after Wesley
made his proposal, Fletcher’s health began to fail, and never after that
was his physical vigour such as to enable him to undertake the laborious
itinerancy which Wesley contemplated and desired. Upon the whole, it is
an open question whether Fletcher did not render greater service to
Wesley and the Methodists by continuing his literary defence of their
great and glorious doctrines than he would have done if he had accepted
Wesley’s invitation to go into training to become his successor.
In other ways, however, besides his writings, he rendered great
assistance to his friend. It was just after the time when Wesley wrote
his important letter that an incident occurred which is worth relating.
Samuel Bradburn, a soldier’s son, was born at Gibraltar in 1751. At
twelve years of age he was brought to England; at nineteen became a
Methodist; and at twenty-one began to preach. During his residence at
Gibraltar, he was sent to school at a penny a week; but, on the terms
being raised to three-halfpence, his mother took him away, finding it
inconvenient to be at such an expense for her son’s education. This was
all the schooling that he had; but he was taught to read at home, and
before he was eight years old had committed the histories of Joseph and
Samson to memory. On coming to England, his parents settled at Chester,
and he himself was apprenticed to a shoemaker. In the week preceding
Easter, in 1773, he set off to Madeley to have an interview with
Fletcher, whose “Checks” he had been reading. On approaching the
vicarage, he saw a man working in the garden, who, addressing the young
shoemaker, said, “You see, my brother, a fulfilment of the curse, ‘In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.’” Bradburn, stating who he
was, said he had not been at Madeley before, and wished to be introduced
to Mr. Fletcher. “I am John Fletcher,” replied the amateur gardener.
Bradburn, for the moment, was embarrassed; but on saying that he had
come to consult the vicar of Madeley respecting his being called to
engage in the Christian ministry, Fletcher, with his characteristic
generosity, led him into his house, and requested him to become his
guest. The invitation was gratefully accepted, and during his stay the
young shoemaker was treated with paternal kindness. Bradburn, like his
host, was an early riser, and every morning was employed in finding the
texts of Scripture which Fletcher wished to use in the “Check” he was
then writing, and in listening to Fletcher’s exposition of them. When
two or three hours had thus been spent, the students went into the
garden of the vicarage and had a spell at any kind of work that needed
attention. After this followed the plain gruel breakfast and domestic
devotion. Then several more hours were employed in the vicar’s study;
after which the master and the pupil set out to visit the parishioners.
Every night in the week young Bradburn preached in colliers’ cottages,
or in the Methodist meeting-house, Fletcher standing by his side, and
generally supplementing the sermon with additional remarks, delivered
with delicate tenderness, and always concluded by a prayer. To the end
of life, Bradburn thankfully acknowledged that he greatly owed his
subsequent eminence to this Madeley visit. When he was leaving, the
kind-hearted vicar said, “My little David, go! and if you preach forty
years, and save only a single soul, don’t think your time and labour
have been lost.” Bradburn always spoke of his early friend as “Saint
Fletcher;” and often said, that when he looked at the vicar of Madeley
he was almost ready to think the Lord Jesus Christ stood before him in
the person of His servant; and in hours of depression, when he found it
difficult to pray, he was wont to sigh and cry, “God of Mr. Fletcher,
bless me!”[283]
Footnote 283:
Miss Bradburn’s MSS., and MS. by Mr. Harrison, of Chester.
The Methodist reader need not be told that Fletcher’s humble pupil rose
to great eminence. Unquestionably he was the greatest pulpit orator that
Wesley ever had. Dr. Adam Clarke, who knew him well, once said to a
young preacher, who wished his opinion concerning Bradburn, “I have
never heard his equal; I can furnish you with no adequate idea of his
powers as an orator; we have not a man among us that will support
anything like a comparison with him. Another Bradburn must be created,
and you must hear him for yourself, before you can receive a
satisfactory answer to your inquiry.”
In 1817, all the sermons that Bradburn had published, whether separately
or in the _Methodist Magazine_, were collected, and published in a 12
mo. volume of 332 pages; but, as Dr. Abel Stevens well observes, “The
eloquence of Bradburn, like that of Whitefield, could not be printed.”
John Fletcher rendered no small service to John Wesley and the
Methodists by his brief training of the young shoemaker in 1773.
While writing his “Checks,” Fletcher seems to have been obliged to
curtail his correspondence with his friends. At all events, his
published letters belonging to this period are few in number. The
following were written in 1773. The first was addressed to his friend
Mr. Vaughan, the officer of Excise at Atcham, with whom he became
acquainted while he had the charge of the sons of Mr. Hill:—
“MADELEY,
.
“MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,—At the beginning of the week I received your
kind letter, and your kind present at the end of it. For both I
heartily thank you. Nevertheless, I could wish it were your last
present, for I find it more blessed to give than to receive; and in
point of the good things of this life my body does not want much, and
I can do with what is more common, and cheaper, than the rarities you
ply me with.
“Your bounty upon bounty reminds me of the repeated mercies of our
God. They follow one another as wave does wave at sea; and all to waft
us to the pleasing shore of confidence and gratitude, where we can not
only cast anchor near, but calmly stand on the Rock of Ages, and defy
the rage of tempests. But you complain, you are not _there_; billows
of temptation drive you from the haven where you would be, and you cry
out still, ‘_Oh wretched man! who shall deliver me?_’
“Here I would ask, Are you willing, _really willing_, to be delivered?
Is your sin, is the prevalence of temptation, a burden too heavy for
you to bear? If it is, if your complaint is not a kind of religious
compliment, be of good cheer—only believe. Look up! for your
redemption draweth near. He is near that delivers, that justifies,
that sanctifies you. Cast your soul upon Him. An act of faith will
help you to a lift; but _one_ act of faith will not do. _Faith must be
our life_; I mean _in conjunction with its grand object_. You cannot
live by one breath; you must breathe on, and draw the electric, vital
fire into your lungs together with the air. So you must believe, and
draw the Divine power, the fire of Jesu’s love, together with the
truth of the Gospel, which is the blessed element in which believers
live.
“My kind Christian love to Mrs. Vaughan. Tell her I am filled with joy
in thinking that, though we no more serve the same earthly
master,[284] yet we still serve the same heavenly one; who will, ere
long, admit us to sit with Abraham himself, if we hold fast our
confidence to the end.
“Beware of the world. If you have losses, be not cast down, nor root
in the earth with more might and main to repair them. If prosperity
smiles upon you, you are in double danger. Think, my friend, that
earthly prosperity is like a coloured cloud, which passes away and is
soon lost in the shades of night and death. Beware of hurry. Martha,
Martha, one thing is needful! Choose it, stand to your choice, and the
good part shall not be taken from you by sickness or death. God bless
you and yours with all that makes for His glory and your peace.
“I am, my dear friend, yours, etc.,
“J. FLETCHER.”[285]
Footnote 284:
From this, it would appear that Mrs. Vaughan, previous to her
marriage, had been in the employ of Mr. Hill, of Tern Hall.
Footnote 285:
Letters, 1791, p. 216.
The following extracts are taken from a letter addressed to James
Ireland, Esq., of Brislington, who had suggested to Fletcher the
expediency of publishing in the French language his “Appeal to Matter of
Fact and Common Sense.”
“MADELEY, _September 21, 1773_.
“MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,—I have considered what you say about the
translation of my ‘Appeal;’ and I think I might do it some day; nay, I
tried to turn a paragraph or two the day after I received your letter,
but found it would be a difficult, if not an impossible work for me. I
am sure I could not do it abroad. On a journey, I am just like a cask
of wine—I am good for nothing till I have some time to settle.
“What you say about Mr. Wesley adds weight to your kind arguments. My
spiritual circumstances are what I must look at. I tremble lest
outward things should hurt me. The multiplicity of objects and
avocations, which attend travelling, is not suited to my case. I
think, all things considered, I should sin against my conscience in
going, unless I had a call from _necessity_, or from _clearer_
providences.
“My last ‘Check’ will be as much in behalf of free grace as of
holiness; so I hope, upon that plan, all the candid and moderate will
be able to shake hands. It will be of a reconciling nature; and I call
it an ‘Equal Check to Pharisaism and Antinomianism.’
“I see life so short, and time passes away with such rapidity, that I
should be very glad to spend it in solemn prayer; but it is necessary
that a man should have some exterior occupation. The chief thing is to
employ ourselves profitably. My throat is not formed for the labours
of preaching. When I have preached three or four times together, it
inflames and fills up; and the efforts, which I am then obliged to
make, heat my blood. Thus, I am, by nature, as well as by the
circumstances I am in, obliged to employ my time in writing a little.
O that I may be enabled to do it to the glory of God!
“Let us love this good God, who hath ‘so loved the world, that He gave
His Only-begotten Son that we might not perish, but have everlasting
life.’ How sweet is it, on our knees, to receive this Jesus, this
heavenly gift, and to offer our praises and thanks to our heavenly
Father! The Lord teaches me four lessons; the first is to be thankful
that I am not in hell; the second, to become _nothing_ before Him; the
third, to _receive_ the gift of God; and the fourth is to feel my want
of the _Spirit_ of Jesus, and to wait for it. These four lessons are
very deep. O when shall I have learned them! Let us go together to the
school of Jesus, and learn to be meek and lowly in heart. Adieu!
“J. FLETCHER.”[286]
Footnote 286:
Letters, 1791, p. 218.
The above is the first time that Fletcher complains of his throat. This
affection, in itself, apart from the other reason he mentions, was quite
sufficient to justify his hesitancy in complying with Wesley’s request
to devote himself to the itinerancy, and to train himself to become
Wesley’s successor.
Before returning to the Calvinian controversy, two other incidents,
belonging to the year 1773, must be mentioned.
“John Wilkes,” says Fletcher, “was born at Darlaston. His father dying
when he was a child, his mother bound him an apprentice to a collier,
who delighted in cock-fighting, and who was killed by a quantity of
coals falling upon him in the pit. The collier’s widow, being unable
to manage Wilkes, released him from his apprenticeship for a trifling
sum of money. He began to steal fowls, that he might have the pleasure
of fighting those that would fight, and eating those that would not.
Two or three years ago he was committed to Stafford jail, and soon
after publicly whipped for that offence. From breaking into
hen-roosts, he proceeded to break into and to rob the dwelling-house
of a widow at Darlaston; and, going upon the highway, he robbed a man
of his watch and some money. He was taken, and recommitted to Stafford
jail. He took his trial at the last assizes; and, being found guilty
of the above-mentioned robberies, received sentence of death, with
another young man, who had set fire to some barns, and a stack of
hay.”
John Wilkes’ eldest sister was Fletcher’s servant, and to her the
convict wrote the following:—
“STAFFORD JAIL, _March 17, 1773_.
“This informs you of my being a convict under sentence of death. I beg
you will endeavour to prevail on Mr. Fletcher to grant me his interest
for a reprieve, by getting me recommended to his majesty’s mercy. And
I tenderly beg you will come over and see me here in a few days, who
am your poor unfortunate brother,
“JOHN WILKES.”
Fletcher declined to interfere, but wrote a long letter to the convict,
dated “Madeley, _March 23, 1773_.” He says:—
“JOHN WILKES,—Your sister desiring me to make application to some
person in power, to get you reprieved for transportation, I take this
first opportunity of informing you that I was once concerned in saving
a young man from the gallows, because he was condemned for his first
offence, which was robbing his master of money, and that I had no
thanks, but many upbraidings for my pains; the poor creature having
turned out very bad, done much mischief before he left England, and
being spared, I fear, only to hurt his fellow-creatures, and fill up
the measure of his iniquities.
“Besides, you know, John, that your crimes are of the most capital
nature. You are not only a housebreaker, but a highwayman, and a very
notorious offender. You know you have committed crimes enough to hang
two or three men, perhaps half-a-dozen. And so far as I can gather
from a variety of circumstances, you are the very person that broke
open my house over the way, and robbed the poor widow who lives in it.
If you committed that robbery, I desire you to confess it before you
leave this world; for ‘he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall
obtain mercy;’ while he that tells lies to conceal them, pulls down
double vengeance upon his guilty head.
“But whether you committed that robbery or not, I earnestly desire
that you will submit to your sentence. I neither can nor will meddle
in that affair; nor have I any probability of success if I did. Apply
then yourself, night and day, to the King of heaven for grace and
mercy. If you cry to Him from the bottom of your heart, as a condemned
dying man, who deserves hell as well as the gallows; if you sincerely
confess your crimes, and beg the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to
intercede for you, it is not too late to get your soul reprieved. He
will speak for you to God Almighty; He will pardon all your sins; He
will wash you in His most precious blood; He will stand by you in your
extremity; He will deliver you out of the hands of the hellish
executioner; and, though you have lived the life of the wicked, He
will help you to die the death of the penitent. He can feel for poor
condemned thieves; for He himself was condemned to be hanged on a
tree; not indeed for His own sins, for He never transgressed, but for
your crimes and mine.”
“On Saturday, March 27,” continues Fletcher in his narrative, “I gave
a few lines for the keeper of Stafford jail, to Sarah Wilkes, the
malefactor’s sister, and to Elizabeth Childs, a serious woman, whom
she had got to bear her company; and, when I had recommended in prayer
the condemned criminals to the Redeemer’s compassion, and their feeble
visitors to the protection of Him Who can give wisdom to the simple,
they set out to see John Wilkes, and administer some spiritual comfort
to him before he launched into eternity.”
The poor women met with a rough reception at Stafford prison. The
jailer, a fair specimen of officials in other prisons, at that period,
said, “What do you want with John Wilkes? to preach him a sermon, and
sing psalms? I know very well what you are, a parcel of canting
hypocrites.”
Sarah Wilkes and Elizabeth Childs showed themselves to be apt pupils of
the Vicar of Madeley. In the Journal of their nine days’ visit they
wrote:—
“We were much discouraged at the jailer’s behaviour. So we agreed to
lay the matter before God in prayer, and beg of Him that He would
touch the jailer’s heart, and cause him to let us in. The next
morning, which was Sunday, after begging hard for grace, wisdom, and
courage, we went to the prison; and, to our great surprise, the
turnkey opened the door, and, without speaking a word, took us
straight to the condemned men, and let us be with them as long as we
thought proper; a liberty which we were allowed twice a day till they
suffered.”
John Wilkes confessed to the two women that he had robbed the house at
Madeley, in which the poor widow lived. He became a penitent. The nine
days’ Journal of his sister and Elizabeth Childs concludes thus:—
“Saturday, April 3, the day of his execution, John Wilkes was
exceeding happy, and employed in breathing out prayers and praises to
God. In the morning, we spent about two hours with him and his
fellow-prisoner, praying and praising together in their dungeon, with
much brokenness of heart, and many tears of joy and sorrow; for we
were both persuaded that John Wilkes had saving faith, and an unshaken
well-grounded confidence that God would take him to glory.
“About two hours before the execution, which was between four and five
in the afternoon, his sister asked, ‘Dost thou find thyself happy in
the Lord?’ To which he answered, ‘Yes, I do, I do, more and more.’
“When they were come to the place of execution, John Wilkes’s
companion desired the spectators, especially young people, to take
warning by them; which was the more affecting, as he was supposed to
be only about twenty years old, and John Wilkes was not above
nineteen. They sang and prayed some time under the gallows; and the
last words John Wilkes was heard to speak were, ‘Lord, from this place
receive me into Thy heavenly kingdom!’”
Some will condemn Fletcher’s action, or rather inaction, in the case of
John Wilkes; but, a hundred years ago, public opinion respecting crimes,
criminals, and criminal punishment was widely different from the public
opinion of the present day. It certainly seems to be a savage thing to
hang a youth of nineteen years of age for thieving; but the law of the
land authorized this; and Fletcher evidently had but little hope of any
good arising from reprievement in a case like that of Wilkes. Perhaps he
was right, or perhaps he was wrong. At all events, Wilkes became a
penitent thief, and, as such, his sister and his sister’s master had
reason to rejoice and to give thanks. Fletcher immediately published a
pamphlet on the occasion with the title, “The Penitent Thief; or, a
Narrative of Two Women, fearing God, who Visited in Prison a Highwayman,
executed at Stafford, April 3, 1773. With a Letter to a Condemned
Malefactor. And a Penitential Office, for either a true Churchman, or a
dying Criminal, extracted from the Scriptures and the Established
Liturgy.”
Nothing more need be said, except that the “Penitential Office” was
compiled “entirely from the Scriptures and the Liturgy of the Church of
England;” that it was suitable for either a living sinner or a dying
thief; and that, to excite, exercise, and increase his own repentance,
Fletcher himself was accustomed to use it in his private devotions.
A few weeks after the execution of John Wilkes another event occurred,
which must be noticed. The following is taken from _Lloyd’s Evening
Post_, of June 11, 1773:—
“An authentic account of the earthquake at the Birches, about a mile
above the bottom of Coalbrookdale, Shropshire.
“In the dead of the night, between Tuesday the 25th and Wednesday the
26th ult., Samuel Wilcocks’s wife, who lived in a small house at the
Birches, was sitting up in bed, to take care of one of her children,
who was ill, when she perceived the bed shake under her, and observed
some balm tea in a cup to be so agitated that it was spilled.
“On Thursday morning, the 27th, Samuel Wilcocks and John Roberts (who
likewise lived in the house at the Birches) got up about four o’clock,
and, opening their window to see what the weather was, observed a
crack in the ground four or five inches wide, and a field sown with
oats heaving and rolling like waves of water. The trees moved as if
blown with wind, though the air was calm and serene. The Severn (in
which at that time was a considerable flood) was much agitated, and
seemed to run upwards. The house shook; and, in a great fright,
Wilcocks and Roberts roused the rest of the family, and ran out of
doors. Immediately, about thirty acres of land, with the hedges and
trees standing, moved with great force and swiftness towards the
Severn. Near the river was a small wood, in which grew twenty large
oaks. The wood was pushed with such velocity into the channel of the
Severn, that it drove the bed of the river on the opposite shore many
feet above the surface of the water, where it lodged, as did one side
of the wood. The current of the river was instantly stopped. This
occasioned a great inundation above, and so sudden a fall below, that
many fish were left on dry land. The river took its course over a
large meadow, and in three days wore a navigable channel. A turnpike
road was moved more than thirty yards. A barn was carried about the
same distance, and was left as a heap of rubbish in a large chasm. The
house” (in which Wilcocks lived) “received but little damage; but the
garden hedge was removed about fifty yards. Several long and deep
chasms are formed in the upper part of the land from fourteen to
upwards of thirty yards wide, in which are many pyramids of earth
standing, with the green turf remaining on the tops of some of them.
The land on both sides the river is the property of Walter Acton
Moseley, Esq., who, we hear, has sustained a damage of six or seven
hundred pounds.
“On Friday, the 28th, the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, Vicar of Madeley,
preached a sermon upon the ground, to an audience of more than one
thousand people. In a most pathetic discourse, he expatiated on the
works of Divine Providence; recommended his hearers to prepare for the
last great and awful day; and expressed the hope that the present
dreadful scene would prove a sufficient warning to them.
“T. ADDENBROOKE.
“Coalbrooke Dale,
June 4, 1773..png
”
So long an extract from a newspaper would hardly have been proper in a
“Life of Fletcher,” but for the fact that Fletcher himself immediately
published a bulky pamphlet of 104 pages, on the same event. Its long
title was the following: “A Dreadful Phenomenon described and improved.
Being a Particular Account of the Sudden Stoppage of the River Severn,
and of the Terrible Desolation that happened at the Birches, between
Coalbrook Dale and Buildwas Bridge, in Shropshire, on Thursday morning,
May 27, 1773. And the Substance of a Sermon, preached the next day, on
the ruins, to a vast concourse of spectators. By John Fletcher, Vicar of
Madeley, in Shropshire, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Earl of
Buchan. Shrewsbury, 1773. Price, One Shilling.”
Thirty-three pages of Fletcher’s publication are filled with a
description of the “Dreadful Phenomenon.” This is dated “Madeley, July
6, 1773.” No useful purpose would be served by quoting Fletcher’s
account of what he heard and saw; but the following extract will show
how he was led to preach his sermon:—
“Should the reader desire to know why I preached upon the ruins, I
will ingenuously tell him. The day the earth opened at the Birches, as
I considered one of the chasms, several of my parishioners gathered
around me. I observed to them, that, the sight before us was a
remarkable confirmation of the first argument of a book called, ‘An
Appeal to Matter of Fact, or a Rational Demonstration of Man’s Fallen
and Lost Estate,’ which I had just published, as a last effort to
awaken to a sense of the fear of God the careless gentlemen of my
parish, to whom it is dedicated. Having a few copies about me, which I
was going to present to some of them, I begged leave to read that
argument.
“I concluded my reading and remarks by thanksgiving and prayer; and,
perceiving that seriousness sat upon all faces, I told the people,
that, if they would come again the next evening to the same place, I
would endeavour to improve the loud call to repentance, which God had
given us that day.
“They readily consented; and when I came, at the time appointed, to my
great surprise, I found a vast concourse of people, and among them
several of my parishioners, who had never been at church in all their
life. After a prayer and thanksgiving suitable to the uncommon
circumstances, I preached a sermon, of which, so far as I can
recollect, the reader may find the substance, with some additions, in
the following pages. May it have a better effect upon him than it had
upon some of the gentlemen who heard it! Instead of a prayer-book,
they pulled out their favourite companion, a bottle; and imparted the
strong contents to each other, as heartily as I did the awful contents
of my text to the _decent_ part of the congregation. Gentle reader,
receive them as cordially as they did their stupifying antidote, and I
ask no more.”
This, certainly, was a disgraceful scene, but not so disgraceful as that
which occurred a few days afterwards, and which Fletcher, in a
foot-note, relates. Among the many thousands, who came to view the
results of the earthquake, were a company from Bridgnorth, headed by a
young clergyman, who “brought music along with them, and set a-dancing
upon the very place where the awful earthquake had happened.”
The text of Fletcher’s almost impromptu sermon was Numb. xvi. 30—34. The
sermon itself occupies seventy pages. Addressing the irreverent
“gentlemen” before him, the bold preacher cried:—
“O ye Christian Dathans, ye lofty Abirams, ye, who, like those proud
Israelites, are in your respective parishes ‘_princes of the assembly,
famous in the congregation, men of renown_,’ the eyes of this populous
neighbourhood are upon you, especially the eyes of poor illiterate
colliers, waggoners, and watermen. Do you not consider that they mind
your _examples_, rather than God’s precepts? Are you not aware that
they follow you as a bleating flock follows the first wandering sheep?
Because they cannot read the sacred pages, or even tell the first
letters of the alphabet, think you they cannot read _secret contempt
of Almighty God_ on the sleeves, in which they sometimes see you laugh
at godliness? And suppose ye, they cannot make out _open pollution of
His Sabbaths_ when they see the remarkable seats, which you so
frequently leave empty at church? Do you not know that the lessons of
practical atheism, which you thus give them in the free school of bad
example, they learn without delay, practise without remorse, and teach
others with unwearied diligence? Alas! the pattern of indevotion,
which you set in the house of God, carries, before you are aware, its
baneful influence through a hundred private houses. Oh! how many are
now numbered among the dead, who have taken to the ways of destruction
by following _you_! How many are yet unborn, upon whom a curse will be
entailed, in consequence of the spreading plague of irreligion, which
their parents have caught from _you_! And shall not their blood be,
more or less, required at your hands? ‘Shall not I visit for these
things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation
as this?’”
This was fearless speaking, and not likely to increase Fletcher’s
popularity among his rich, dissolute parishioners. The following extract
is struck upon another key:—
“Although we cannot all ‘_sing the song of the Lamb_,’ yet, glory be
to God! we all consider the patience of our offended Creator, who,
upon these ruins, invites us to repent and live. The earth, in the
days of Moses, opened her mouth, and dreadfully swallowed up two
families. The earth yesterday opened her mouth, probably far wider,
and yet the only two families that lived here were suffered to make
their escape. Allelujah! Praise the Lord! Multitudes of fishes have
perished on dry ground, and myriads of land insects in the waters; and
yet we, sinful insects before God, have neither been drowned in
yesterday’s flood, nor buried in these chasms: Allelujah! God’s
tremendous axe has been lifted up; some of yonder green trees have
been struck; and we, who are dry trees, we, cumberers of the ground,
are graciously spared; Allelujah! The house of Dathan and Abiram, with
all that appertained unto them, descended into the pit of destruction;
and we, who are loaded with mountains of sins, stand yet upon firm
ground, with all our friends. Allelujah! God, who might have commanded
the earth to swallow up a thronged play-house, the royal exchange, a
crowded cathedral, the parliament house, or the king’s palace, has
graciously commanded an empty barn to sink, and give us the alarm.
Allelujah! He might have ordered such a tract of land as this, to
heave, move, and open in the centre of our populous cities; but mercy
has inclined Him to fix upon this solitary place. Allelujah! He might
have suffered the road and the river to be overthrown, when cursing
drivers passed with their horses, and blaspheming watermen with their
barges; but His compassion made Him strike the warning blow with all
possible tenderness. ‘O that men would therefore praise the Lord for
His goodness, and declare the wonders that He does for the children of
men!’”
These two extracts from the sermon preached on this remarkable occasion
must suffice; but one of Fletcher’s foot-notes may be added:—
“A woman, thirty-five years of age, passing before a looking-glass the
day after she heard this sermon, was surprised to see an unusual
paleness upon her face. She called her husband, told him she was a
dying woman, and actually died in a quarter of an hour. She heard me
on the Friday, and I buried her the Monday following. Another
middle-aged person, who was also among my hearers, was buried the next
day in the next parish. How soon may we be called to give an account
of what we speak or hear, write or _read_!”
The anti-evangelical _Monthly Review_ of November, 1773, in noticing
Fletcher’s publication, remarked:—
“Mr. Fletcher, who is a man of learning and considerable abilities,
has given us a curious account of this phenomenon, which has been so
frequently mentioned in our newspapers. He has minutely, but in very
flowery language, described the awful appearances left by this
extraordinary convulsion of the earth; and he fairly states the
different opinions which were formed in regard to the cause of so
wonderful an event. Mr. Fletcher tells us that he piously chose to
take advantage of the seriousness stamped, by this alarming
occurrence, on the minds of the country people, in order to press upon
them a proper sense of the _first_ or _moral_ cause of so tremendous a
dispensation; and this he has done in a manner as rational as could be
well expected from the peculiarity of the occasion and the known
enthusiastic spirit of the preacher.”