Chapter VII Trevecca College: Visit to Switzerland, Etc. from January 3, 1768, to July 1770.
IN Fletcher’s letter to Lady Huntingdon, dated November 24, 1767, it is intimated that the Countess had suggested to Fletcher that a certain “Mr. Eastwood” could serve him as his village schoolmaster, and was anxious to do so, in order to have the benefit of Fletcher’s ministry. There can be no doubt that the name “Eastwood” is a mistake, and that “Easterbrook” was meant.
Joseph Easterbrook was a son of the bell-man of Bristol, and had been educated at Wesley’s Kingswood School.[149] He was now about seventeen years of age, and came to reside at Madeley.[150] Afterwards he obtained episcopal ordination, and became Vicar of the Temple Church, Bristol, and Ordinary of Newgate Prison in that city. He continued faithful to Wesley and to Methodism; and, it is said, he preached a sermon in every house in his large parish. He died in 1791, in the fortieth year of his age. This is not the place to give further details of his history; but it is hoped that those now related will add to the interest of what Fletcher writes concerning him in the following letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, in reply to one she had addressed to him respecting suitable books for the students of her intended college:—
“Madeley, January 3, 1768.
“My Lady,—I thank your ladyship for having recommended to me Easterbrook. I hope he will be the captain of the school, and a great help to the master, as well as a spur to the students. He has good parts, a most happy memory, and a zeal that would gladden your ladyship’s heart. He has preached no less than four times to-day; and seems, indeed, in his own element when he is seeking after the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He is employed every evening in the work of the Lord; and I give him the more opportunity to exercise his talent, as it appears he does it far better than I. I beg two things for him: first, that it may hold; secondly, that he may be kept humble. He would at first live upon potatoes and water; but, finding it may impair his health, I have got him to table with me, and shall gladly pay his board. He works for me, and the workman is worthy of his hire.
“Our young collier” (Glazebrook) “seems a little discouraged with regard to the hope of his being admitted one of your students. He thinks he stands no chance, if all must be qualified as he” (Easterbrook) “is.
“With regard to books, I am in doubt what to write your ladyship. Having studied abroad, and used rather foreign than English books with my pupils” (Mr. Hill’s sons), “I am not well enough acquainted with the books Great Britain affords to select the best and most concise. Besides, a plan of studies must be fixed upon first, before proper books can be chosen. Grammar, logic, rhetoric, ecclesiastical history, and a little natural philosophy and geography, with a great deal of practical divinity, will be sufficient for those who do not care to dive into languages. Mr. Townsend and Charles Wesley might, by spending an hour or two together, make a proper choice; and I would recommend them not to forget Watt’s ‘Logic,’ and his ‘History of the Bible, by Questions and Answers,’ which seem to me excellent books of the kind for clearness and order. Mr. Wesley’s ‘Natural Philosophy’ contains as much as is wanted, or more. Mason’s ‘Essay on Pronunciation’ will be worth their attention. ‘Henry and Gill on the Bible,’ with the four volumes of Baxter’s ‘Practical Works,’ Keach’s ‘Metaphors,’ ‘Taylor on the Types,’ Gurnal’s ‘Christian Armour,’ ‘Edwards on Preaching,’ Johnson’s English Dictionary, and Mr. Wesley’s ‘Christian Library,’ may make part of the little library. The book of Baxter, I mention, I shall take care to send to Trevecca, as a mite towards the collection, together with Usher’s ‘Body of Divinity,’ Scapula’s Greek Lexicon, and Littleton’s Latin Dictionary.
“With regard to those who propose to learn Latin and Greek, the master your ladyship will appoint may choose to follow his particular method. Mr. Wesley’s books, printed for the use of Christian youths, seem to me short and proper, and their expense less, which, I suppose, should be consulted. Two or three dictionaries of Bailey or Dyke for those who learn English, with two or three Coles’s Dictionaries, Shrevelins’s, and Pasor’s, for those who will learn Latin and Greek, may be a sufficient stock at first.
“Mr. Edward Stillingfleet[151] is presented, by Mr. Hill, to the living of Shawbury, eight miles from Shrewsbury, and twenty from here. I thank the Lord for this fellow-helper.
“I am, your ladyship’s unworthy servant,
“J. Fletcher.”[152]
The reader may learn two facts from Fletcher’s letter. First, what were the books in divinity he most loved and prized. It is to be feared that such books are no longer popular. In the case of many theological students, they have given place to the flimsy and even sceptical productions of a later period. The more the pity. No wonder that so many pulpits are spiritless, and that so many pews are starved.
Secondly: It is also evident that Fletcher had already formed a sort of circuit of preaching places, otherwise a youth like Easterbrook could hardly have found the opportunity to preach every evening in the week, and four times on Sunday. It is now impossible to ascertain what the places were; but Wesley’s testimony may here be appropriately introduced.
“From the beginning, Mr. Fletcher did not confine his labours to his own parish. For many years, he regularly preached at places, eight, ten, or sixteen miles off, returning the same night, though he seldom got home before one or two in the morning. At a little Society which he had gathered about six miles from Madeley, he preached two or three times a week, beginning at five in the morning.”[153]
Of course, all this was ecclesiastically irregular, and a repetition of it would not be permitted now; but, fortunately for the people who “sat in darkness,” it was, except in a few instances, only a peccadillo a hundred years ago, at which bishops, priests, and deacons found it a convenience to themselves to wink.
It was at this time that Wesley wrote to Fletcher his unusually long and well-known letter on conversation. The following are brief extracts from it:—
“Birmingham, March 20, 1768.
“Dear Sir,—Mr. Easterbrook told me yesterday that you are sick of the conversation even of them who profess religion,—that you find it quite unprofitable, if not hurtful, to converse with them three or four hours together, and are sometimes almost determined to shut yourself up, as the less evil of the two.
“I do not wonder at it at all, especially considering with whom you have chiefly conversed for some time past, namely, the hearers of Mr. Madan, or Mr. Bourian, perhaps I might add, of Mr. Whitefield. The conversing with these I have rarely found to be profitable to my soul. Rather it has damped my designs; it has cooled my resolutions; and I have consciously left them with a dry, dissipated spirit.
“Again; you have, for some time, conversed a good deal with the genteel Methodists. Now it matters not a straw what doctrine they hear,—whether they frequent the Lock or West Street,—they are, almost all, salt which has lost its savour, if ever they had any. They are thoroughly conformed to the maxims, the spirit, the fashions, and customs of the world.
“But were these or those of ever so excellent a spirit, you conversed with them too long. One had need to be an angel, not a man, to converse three or four hours at once, to any purpose.
“But have you not a remedy for all this in your hands? In order to truly profitable conversation, may you not select persons clear of both Calvinism and Antinomianism? not fond of that luscious way of talking, but standing in awe of Him they love; who are vigorously working out their salvation, and are athirst for full redemption, and every moment expecting it, if not already enjoying it?”[154]
Apart from the subject of this letter, it is of importance, as showing that the maelstrom of the Calvinian controversy was already stirring, and that Wesley was afraid of Fletcher being drawn into it. This would be much more apparent could the letter be quoted here in extenso. Suffice it to add, that Fletcher was preserved from the spreading evils, and that it is difficult to tell how much he was indebted to Wesley’s long warning letter for his escape from danger.
So far as Fletcher was concerned, the great event of the year 1768 was the opening of Lady Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca. Wesley seemed to disapprove of her ladyship’s design. In a letter to his brother Charles, he wrote:—
“Edinburgh, May 14, 1768.—I am glad Mr. Fletcher has been with you. But, if the tutor fails, what will become of our College at Trevecca? Did you ever see anything more queer than their plan of institution? Pray, who penned it, man or woman? I am afraid the Visitor” (Fletcher) “too will fail.”[155]
Meanwhile, however, an occurrence had taken place, which appeared to make the opening of Trevecca College increasingly desirable and important. On the 12th of March, six students belonging to Edmund Hall, Oxford, were expelled the University, really and truly on the ground that they were charged with being Methodists. The event, as may easily be imagined, created a national sensation. Numbers of tracts and pamphlets, pro et con, were published; and, among others, one by Whitefield, entitled, “A Letter to the Reverend Dr. Durell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford; occasioned by a late Expulsion of Six Students from Edmund Hall.” Whitefield’s letter was dated April 12, 1768, exactly a month after the expulsions took place. Fletcher read it with approbation, and wrote to Whitefield, thanking him for the service he had rendered to the cause of truth; and also referring to a recent visit to Bristol, to the Rev. Cradock Glascott, who had supplied for him at Madeley; and to the prospect there was of obtaining a suitable master, from Suffolk, for the College at Trevecca. Fletcher’s letter was as follows:—
“Madeley, May 28, 1768.
“Reverend and Dear Sir,—I thank you, though late, for the kind leave you gave me of trying to pipe where you trumpet the name of our dear Redeemer, in Bristol. I ask you, and my hearers there, and, above all, our gracious Lord, to pardon me for the wretched manner in which I performed, or rather spoiled, the glorious work.
“I thank you, also, for your letter to the Vice-Chancellor. Mr. Talbot[156] treated us with the reading of it at our meeting of the clergy at Birmingham; and I saw applause and satisfaction sitting upon every brow.
“Lady Huntingdon, in a few lines I had lately, mentions that Providence raises a master for her school from Suffolk, who promises well. She desires he may be secured, if approved of. Perhaps you know him; and you are the best judge whether he is likely to answer. For my part, I am willing to put my smoking flax to the tapers of my brethren and fathers, when they endeavour to throw some light and order upon her ladyship’s design; but I feel my place should be among the scholars, rather than among the Directors.
“Mr. Glascott quitted himself as a faithful and able minister, during his stay here. Thousands attended him in the next parish, where he nobly took the field. Nevertheless, I see a curse of barrenness upon this neighbourhood, which makes me groan for a day of Pentecost. God hasten it in His time! You will please to remember that you are a debtor to our barbarians, as well as to the Greeks in London. When you come, my pulpit will be honoured, greatly honoured, to hold you, if my church cannot hold your congregation.”[157]
Who “the master from Suffolk” was, has never yet been stated. The matter is of little consequence. In the month of July, Wesley visited Fletcher, and, no doubt, they conversed concerning the College at Trevecca; but Wesley’s account of his visit is so brief as to be almost significant that there was something in their interview that he would rather suppress than publish. He simply writes: “1768, Sunday, July 31. I preached for Mr. Fletcher in the morning; and in the evening at Shrewsbury.”[158] Within a month after this, the college was opened; but, instead of being at Trevecca, Wesley was in Cornwall.
The opening took place on Wednesday, August 24, the anniversary of the birthday of Lady Huntingdon. In all likelihood, Fletcher, the president, was present; but no positive evidence of this has been published. Indeed, considering the importance of the event, the account of it is remarkably brief. The best, in fact, so far as I know, the only one ever given to the public, is an extract from Whitefield’s Memorandum Book, as follows:—
“August 24, 1768. Opened good Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel and College, in the parish of Talgarth, Brecknockshire, South Wales. Preached from Exodus xx. 24: ‘In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.’ August 25.—Gave an exhortation to the Students, in the College-chapel, from Luke i. 15: ‘He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.’ Sunday, August 28.—Preached in the court before the College (the congregation consisting of some thousands), from 1 Cor. iii. 11: ‘Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’”[159]
To this must be added a single sentence, from a letter which Whitefield wrote to Mr. Keene, on August 30: “What we have seen and felt at the College is unspeakable.”[160]
That is all. Is there an instance of any other Methodist Institution so important as this, the published details of whose opening services are so pitiably meagre?
It has been said, there is no positive proof that Fletcher was at the opening of Trevecca College; but there is incidental evidence that he was, and that his friend James Ireland, Esq., was with him. This will be found in the second of the following letters addressed to Mr. Ireland and his dying daughter.
“Madeley, July 30, 1768.
“My Dear Friend,—Uncertain as I am whether your daughter is yet alive, I know not what to say, but this,—our Heavenly Father appoints all things for the best. If her days of suffering are prolonged, it is to honour her with a conformity to the crucified Jesus. If they are shortened, she will have drunk all her cup of affliction, and found, at the bottom of it, not the bitterness of her sins, but the consolations of our Saviour’s Spirit.
“I had lately some views of death, and it appeared to me in the most brilliant colours. What is it to die, but to open our eyes after the disagreeable dream of life? It is to break the prison of corruptible flesh and blood, into which sin has cast us. It is to draw aside the curtain which prevents us seeing the Supreme Beauty and Goodness face to face. O my dear friend, how lovely is death, when we look at it in Jesus Christ! To die is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian.
“If Miss Ireland is still living, tell her, a thousand times, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life; that He has vanquished and disarmed death; that He has brought life and immortality to light; and that all things are ours, whether life or death, eternity or time. These are great truths upon which she ought to repose her soul with full assurance. Everything is shadow, in comparison of the reality of the Gospel. If your daughter be dead, believe in Jesus, and you shall find her again in Him, who fills all in all, who encircles the material and spiritual world in His arms—in the immense bosom of His Divinity.
“Adieu, my dear friend. Yours,
“J. Fletcher.”[161]
“Madeley, October 14, 1768.
“My Very Dear Friend,—I think I told you at Trevecca,[162] that we had no farmers at Madeley who feared God and loved Jesus. This generation among us are buried in the furrows of their ploughs, or under the heaps of corn which fill their granaries. Now that I am on the spot, I do not see one who makes it necessary for me to change my opinion. Your bailiff cannot come from this Nazareth.
“If the last efforts of the physicians fail with respect to Miss Ireland, it will be a consolation to you to know that they have been tried. Every thing dies. Things visible are all transitory; but invisible ones abide for ever. If Christ is our life and our resurrection, it is of little importance whether we die now, or thirty years hence.
“Present my respects to your son, and tell him, that last week I buried three young persons who had died of a malignant fever; and who, on the second day of their illness, were deprived of their speech and senses, and, on the fifth, of their lives. Of what avail are youth and vigour when the Lord lifts His finger? And shall we sin against the eternal power, the infinite love, the inexorable justice, and the immense goodness of this God, who gives us, from moment to moment, the breath which is in our nostrils? No—we will employ the precious gift in praising and blessing this good God, who is our Father in Jesus Christ.
“I hope you learn, as well as I, and better than I, to know Jesus in the Spirit. I have known Him after the flesh, and after the letter; I strive to know Him in the power of His Spirit. Under the Divine character of a quickening Spirit, He is everywhere. All that live, live in Him, and they who are spiritually alive have a double life. The Lord give us this second life more abundantly. Yours,
“J. Fletcher.”[163]
The next is an extract from a long letter, addressed to dying Miss Ireland.
“Madeley, December 5, 1768.
“My Dear Afflicted Friend,—I hear you are returned from the last journey you took in search of health. Your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny it you, not because He hateth you (for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth), but because life and health might be fatal snares to your soul, out of which you could not escape, but by tedious illness, and an early death.
“Your father has crossed the sea for you; Jesus has done more. He has crossed the abyss that lies between heaven and earth—between the Creator and the creature. He has waded through the sea of His tears, blood, and agonies, not to take you to the physician at Montpelier, but to become your physician and Saviour Himself. Oh, my friend, delay not cheerfully to surrender yourself to Him. Look not at your sins without beholding His blood and righteousness. Eye not death but to behold your gracious Saviour, saying, ‘Fear not, O thou of little faith: wherefore dost thou doubt?’ Consider not eternity but as the palace where you are going to enter with the Bridegroom of souls, and rest from all your sins and miseries. View not the condemning law of God but as made honourable by Him, who was made a curse for you. If you have no comfort, distrust not Jesus on that account; on the contrary, take advantage from it to give greater glory to God, by believing, as Abraham did, ‘in hope against hope.’ In this simple, Gospel way, wait the Lord’s leisure, and He will comfort your heart.
“I hope you take care to have little or nothing else mentioned to you but His praises and promises. Your tongue and ears are going to be silent in the grave. Now, or never, you must use them to hear and speak good of His name. Comfort your weeping friends. Reprove the backsliders. Encourage seekers. Remember the praying, believing, preaching, though dying thief. Be not afraid to drop a word for Him who opens a fountain of blood for you. Suffer, live, die at His feet; and you will soon revive, sing, and reign in His bosom for evermore. Farewell, in the Conqueror of Death and Prince of Life.
“J. Fletcher.”[164]
Within three months after the date of this letter, Miss Ireland had left a world of sin and suffering, and had entered into that rest which remains for the people of God.[165] Hence the following, addressed to her father:—
“Madeley, March 26, 1769.
“My Dear Friend,—The Lord is desirous of making you a true disciple of His dear Son, the ‘Man of Sorrows,’ by sending you affliction upon affliction. A sister and a wife who appear to hasten to the grave in which you have so lately laid your only daughter, places you in circumstances of uncommon sorrow. But in this see the finger of Him who works all in all, and who commands us to forsake all to follow Him. Believe in Him. Believe that He does all for the best; and that all shall work for good to those who love Him. His goodness to your daughter ought to encourage your faith and confidence for Mrs. Ireland. Offer her upon the altar, and you shall see that, if it be best for her and you, His grace will suspend the blow which threatens you.
“Your rich present of meal came last week, and shall be distributed to the pious poor agreeably to your orders. We are happy to receive your bounty, but you are more happy in bestowing it upon us. Witness the words of Jesus, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Nevertheless, receive, by faith, the presents of the Lord, the gifts of His Spirit, and reject not the bread which cometh down from heaven, because the Lord gives it you with so much love.
“I shall be obliged to go to Switzerland this year or the next, if I live and the Lord permits. I have there a brother, a worthy man, who threatens to leave his wife and children to come and pay me a visit if I do not go and see him myself. It is some time since our gracious God convinced him of sin, and I have some of his letters which give me great pleasure. This circumstance has more weight with me than the settlement of my affairs.”[166]
Mr. Ireland was a frequent benefactor to Fletcher and the poor of Madeley. Hence, in another letter to the same friend in need, Fletcher wrote:—
“I think I wrote my last letter two days before I received your bounty—a large hogshead of rice and two cheeses. Accept the thanks of your poor and mine. I distributed your gifts on Shrove Tuesday; and preached to a numerous congregation on ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.’ We prayed for our benefactor, that God would give him a hundredfold in this life, and eternal life, where life eternal will be no burden.”[167]
Help, like Mr. Ireland’s, was always welcome. Many of Fletcher’s parishioners were extremely poor, and to the utmost of his ability he contributed to their necessities. One who knew him writes:—
“The profusion of his charity toward the poor and needy is scarcely credible. It constantly exhausted his purse; it frequently unfurnished his home; and sometimes left him destitute of the common necessaries of life. That he might feed the hungry, he led a life of abstinence and self-denial; and that he might cover the naked, he clothed himself in the most homely attire.”[168]
Fletcher was President, or, as Wesley chose to call him more correctly, Visitor of Trevecca College. The office brought upon him considerable anxiety and labour. In the summer of 1769, John Jones made application to be appointed head master. Mr. Jones, from 1746 to 1767, had been one of Wesley’s itinerant preachers. He was one of the first classical masters of Kingswood School, and wrote the Latin Grammar which was used in that academy.[169] He was highly esteemed by Wesley, and after he left Kingswood was generally stationed in Wesley’s two most important circuits, London and Bristol. In 1754, when there was great excitement respecting a possible separation of the Methodists from the Church of England, Charles Wesley wished what he called “the sound preachers” to be “qualified for orders,” and wrote to his brother, saying, “I know none fitter for training up the young men in learning than yourself or J. Jones.” Nine years after this, when Erasmus, a bishop of the Greek Church, visited London, he, at Wesley’s request, ordained Jones to assist the Arch-Methodist in administering the sacraments to his Societies. Charles Wesley would not admit the validity of this ordination, and consequently would not allow Mr. Jones to officiate as a clergyman. This was a severe trial to the newly-ordained preacher, and led him to leave the Methodists. He afterwards procured ordination from the Bishop of London, and was presented to the living of Harwich, where he continued to preach for many years, and where he ended his days in peace.[170] He never lost his love for Wesley. In 1775, when Wesley was dangerously ill in Ireland, he wrote to him from Harwich:—
“I cannot express what I felt when I was informed you were both senseless and speechless; and it was like life from the dead when I heard you were out of danger and able to sit up. Time was when you would have taken my advice, at least in some things. Let me entreat, let me beseech you, to preach less frequently, and that only at the principal places,” etc.[171]
Such was John Jones, Wesley’s friend, and at one time held in high esteem by Wesley’s brother Charles. His ambition to be employed in Lady Huntingdon’s college at Trevecca was not inordinate. Fifteen years before, Charles Wesley had thought him qualified to train young men for the ministry, and from one of his letters, written in 1777, and published in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 1837, it is evident that Charles Wesley’s opinion was well founded. The letter was addressed to a gentleman of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who was about to be ordained, and wished Mr. Jones’s advice respecting the composition of sermons and preaching them.
“Prayer,” said he, “should always precede the composing of a discourse. In general, the explication of the text or context, if they need it, should not be too short. The propositions or doctrines should not be too long nor too many, and the clearer they are the better. The illustrations should be proper and lively; the proofs close and home; the motives strong and cogent; the inferences and application natural, and not laboured. For if we cannot persuade the passions, we shall go but a little way with most of our hearers. This was George Whitefield’s peculiar talent; but I do not mean to persuade you to bawl as loud as he did, and yet I would advise you to raise your voice in the application of your discourse. Eight-and-thirty years ago I thought it an easy matter to prove most points in divinity. I have been learning the contrary ever since, and I find it now very difficult, by Scriptures properly understood and applied, to prove many things which I once thought quite clear. I find it necessary to understand the Scripture I bring in as a proof before I use it as such. I will add one thing more. You will find it very difficult to use such plain language as will be understood in most congregations. Avoid long periods as much as possible. Imitate Cæsar rather than Cicero; leave the latter to Dr. Middleton and Samuel Furley. It is far better to be understood by our hearers than to be admired by getting out of their depth. To do all the good we can is our one business in life.”
Mr. Jones was a man of sense, and piety, and experience; and yet Fletcher hesitated in recommending him to be appointed a tutor in Trevecca College. Did Fletcher sympathize with his friend Charles Wesley in the repugnance which the latter felt to Mr. Jones’s ordination by Erasmus, the bishop of the Greek Church? Perhaps so; at all events, the following letter to the Countess of Huntingdon was cautious, if not cold:—
“Madeley, July 1, 1769.
“My Lady,—Mr. Jones’s letter puzzled me a little. I did not know what answer to make to it. I have, however, sat down, and, after an introduction, I say to him—
“‘The first and grand point to be kept in view at Lady Huntingdon’s College is to maintain and grow in the spirit of faith and power that breathes through the Acts of the Apostles, and was exemplified in the lives of the primitive Christians. The first and grand qualification required in a person called to be at the head of such a college is, then, a degree of faith and power from above, with an entire devotedness to God and His cause.
“‘The master, who is there at present, seems, on account of his youth, to be deficient in point of experience. Nor is he a proper master of the Greek, nor even of the harder classics; so that he can hardly maintain his superiority over those who read Cicero and Horace. Whether this inconveniency, Sir, would be avoided, supposing you were appointed to succeed him, I cannot judge by your letter. He is also unacquainted with divinity and the sciences, of which it is proper he should give the students some idea; and how far you may excel him in these points, Sir, is not in my power to determine. He has twenty-five guineas a year, with his board, room, and washing. I dare say the generous foundress would not hesitate to raise the salary of a master of superior merit, though she hopes none would undertake that office for the sake of money.’
“After giving Mr. Jones a little account of the business of the College, I add—
“‘The variety of classes in it demands great assiduity and diligence in the master. I would not, therefore, advise anyone to engage without a proper trial. I have begged of Lady Huntingdon not to fix upon a master till she had allowed him to look about him, and see how he liked the place, people, and business; and, as you very properly observe, Sir, it would be improper to engage, and then to repent of the undertaking. I think that, if, upon consulting with the Lord in prayer, and with Mr. Maxfield in conversation, you find your heart free to embrace so peculiar an opportunity of being useful to your generation, it might be best to come and see how you like the business, and how it agrees with you; and should not matters prove agreeable on either side, I dare say Lady Huntingdon will pay your travelling expenses to Talgarth,[172] and back again.’
“In a letter to Mr. Maxfield,[173] I desired him to inform your ladyship how Mr. Jones’s mind stands after reflecting on the contents of my letter to him, and whether he would go to make a trial. I add, that so much depends upon the aptness to teach, Christian experience, solidity, liveliness, and devotedness of a master, that no one can presume to judge of these things by a letter, or even by a day’s conversation.
“If your ladyship does not approve of this step, a line to Mr. Maxfield will rectify what you think amiss, and will oblige, my lady, your unworthy servant,
“J. Fletcher.
“P.S.—If your ladyship is so good as to spare a minister for three weeks, I shall be glad to wait upon the dear young men and their patroness at the College.”[174]
This is an important letter, not only as exhibiting the views of Fletcher, but as containing a curious chapter in the earliest history of Trevecca College. The College, as it was ostentatiously called, had been opened ten months. It had one master; and the author of the “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon” says Joseph Easterbrook was the person who occupied this position; but adduces no proof in support of his assertion. Another, and a far greater authority, attests that the master of the College was a child. Who was he?
In 1788, there was printed “A Sermon, occasioned by the Death of the celebrated Mr. J. Henderson, B.A., of Pembroke College, Oxford: Preached at St. George’s, Kingswood, November 23; and at Temple Church, Bristol, November 30, 1788. By the Rev. William Agutter, M.A., of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. Published at the request of the Congregations. Bristol. 1788.” 8vo, pp. 32. The text of the sermon is, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” Mr. Agutter’s eulogy of Henderson cannot here be quoted at full length: the following are brief extracts from it:—
“Mr. Henderson was born, as it were, a thinking being; and was never known to cry, or to express any infantine peevishness. The questions he asked, as soon as he was able to speak, astonished all who heard him.”
“His memory was so strong that he retained all he read; and his judgment so solid that he arranged, examined, and digested all that he remembered, and thus made it his own.”
“At a time that other children were employed in the drudgery of learning words, he was occupied in obtaining the knowledge of things. While but a boy, he was engaged to teach the learned languages. At twelve years of age, he taught Greek and Latin in the College of Trevecca. The Governor of the College at that time was the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, late Vicar of Madeley.”[175]
Mr. Agutter proceeds to say, that, when Fletcher was dismissed from Trevecca, Henderson was dismissed with him.
This, then, was the master—the only master of Trevecca College during the first year of its existence—a child, a wonderful child, twelve years old! A further account of this prodigy, or, as the Monthly Review, of 1789, called him, “a second Baratier,”[176] may interest the reader.
His father was a native of Ireland, and, from 1759 to 1771, was one of Wesley’s best itinerant preachers,—a man of deep piety, great talent, and amiable disposition; but naturally of a timid and melancholy mind. On relinquishing the itinerancy, he commenced a boarding-school at Hannam, near Bristol; but two of his pupils having been drowned while bathing, his mind was so affected, that he abandoned his school, and opened, at the same place, an asylum for the insane, which Wesley pronounced the best of the kind in the three kingdoms.
John Henderson, his only child, was born at Bellgaran, near Limerick, in 1757, and, as early as possible, was sent to Wesley’s School, at Kingswood. At the age of eight, he had made such proficiency in the Latin language, as to be able to teach it in the school. In his twelfth year, as already stated, he became the Master in Trevecca College. When about fourteen years of age, he left Trevecca, and, probably, spent the next ten years with his father at Hannam. At twenty-four, he entered Pembroke College, Oxford; and, in due time, took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His thirst after knowledge was unbounded; and his amiable temper and remarkable talents secured him the respect of all who knew him. His learning was deep and multifarious. He was skilled in grammar, rhetoric, history, logic, ethics, metaphysics, and scholastic theology. He studied medicine with great attention, and practised it among the poor, wherever he had a chance, gratuitously. He was well versed in geometry, astronomy, and every branch of natural and experimental philosophy, and also in civil and canon laws. Besides several of the modern languages, he was master of the Greek and Latin tongues; and was intimately acquainted with Persic and Arabic. Scarcely a book could be mentioned, but he could give some account of it; nor any subject started, but he could engage in the discussion of it. His talents for conversation were so attractive, various, and multiform, that he was a companion equally acceptable to the philosopher and the man of the world, to the gay, the learned, and illiterate, the young and the old of both sexes. He attracted the notice of Dr. Johnson, was intimate with Sir William Jones, Miss Hannah More, and other celebrities; and Mr. Wilberforce offered him his patronage and a living, if he would reside in London.
Like most geniuses, John Henderson was eccentric. When he first went to Oxford, his clothes were made in a fashion peculiar to himself; he had no stock or neckcloth; and he wore his hair like that of a boy at school. His mode of life was singular. He generally went to bed at daybreak, and rose in the afternoon, except when he was obliged to attend the morning service of the college chapel. Before he retired to rest, he frequently stripped himself naked to the waist, took his station at a pump near his rooms, sluiced his head and the upper part of his body, pumped water over his shirt, and then, putting it on, went to bed. This he jocularly called “an excellent cold bath.” He became an ardent admirer of the nonsense of Jacob Behmen’s wild philosophical divinity; studied Lavater’s “Physiognomy;” and attained to a considerable knowledge of magic and astrology; and declared the possibility of holding correspondence with the spirits of the dead, upon the strength of his own experience.
He died at Oxford, on November 2, 1788, and was buried at St. George’s, Kingswood. His father was so painfully affected by the loss of his affectionate and only child, that he caused the corpse to be taken up again, several days after the interment, to satisfy himself that his son was really dead.[177]
Wesley had great love and respect for poor Henderson’s father, and, a few months after the young man’s untimely death, he wrote:—
“1789, March 13.—I spent some time with poor Richard Henderson, deeply affected with the loss of his only son; who, with as great talents as most men in England, had lived two-and-thirty years, and done just nothing.”[178]
This, however, was scarcely true. Henry Moore, in his “Life of Wesley,”[179] relates an anecdote which is worth preserving, and which must conclude this lengthened notice of the child professor at the Countess of Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca. In reference to Wesley’s entry in his Journal, Mr. Moore remarks:—
“Not a vestige of Mr. Henderson’s writings remains. This is owing to what some would call a cross providence. He used to visit his father at Hannam, near Bristol, in the summer vacation. He there studied intensely, and wrote largely. His MSS. he stored in a large trunk without a lock. Returning home, some time before his last illness, he flew to his treasure, but found the trunk empty. He enquired of Mrs. Henderson, who called up the servant, and asked for the papers in the trunk. The girl, who had been hired that year, replied with great simplicity, ‘La! ma’am, I thought they were good for nothing, and so I lighted the fire with them during the winter.’ Mr. Henderson looked at his excellent mother-in-law for some time, but spoke not a word. He then went into his study, and was never known to mention the subject more.”
“Oh! Diamond, Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!” said Sir Isaac Newton to his favourite little dog, who, by upsetting a taper on his desk, had set fire to the papers which contained the whole of his unpublished experiments, and thus reduced to ashes the labours of many years. Poor Henderson, in his misfortune, “spoke not a word.” Newton lived thirty years after his great loss, but made no important addition to his scientific discoveries; Henderson died soon after his sad calamity; and hence Wesley’s disparaging remark concerning him: “With as great talents as most men in England, he lived two-and-thirty years, and did just nothing.” Wesley must have been ignorant of the fact related by Mr. Moore; for, on no other ground can an apology be framed for his unfair remark.
It is time to return to Fletcher. Wesley was not present at the opening of Trevecca College, in 1768, but he took part in the religious services held at the first anniversary in 1769. Whitefield was unavoidably absent, for he was preaching farewell sermons, and administering farewell sacraments, to his London congregations, and, a week afterwards, set out on his final visit to America. But, even without him, the Methodist gathering at Trevecca was one of the most remarkable recorded in old Methodist history. Besides Wesley and Fletcher, there were present Howell Harris, the founder of the Welsh Methodists; the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, rector of Llangeitho, with a salary of £10 a year, a preacher whose eloquence was overwhelming, and whose meetings among the Welsh mountains can never be forgotten; the Rev. William Williams, curate of Lanwithid, a brave-hearted man who had met violent persecution without flinching, and a member of the first Conference of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales, in 1743; Howell Davies, rector of PrendergastPrendergast, an intimate friend of Whitefield, a preacher whom thousands upon thousands flocked to hear, in fields, and on commons and mountains, and the attendance at whose monthly sacraments was so great that his church had to be emptied several times over to make room for the remaining communicants waiting out of doors; the Rev. Peter Williams, another itinerant clergyman of the Established Church, who joined the Methodists as early as the year 1741; and the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, brother of the notorious Earl Ferrers, first cousin of the Countess of Huntingdon, converted under the ministry of Venn, and now an earnest minister of Christ; to whom must be added Lady Huntingdon, the Countess of Buchan, Lady Anne Erskine, and Miss Orton, and also the first students of Trevecca, headed by their juvenile master, John Henderson.
The services were held daily for a whole week, from the 19th to the 25th of August inclusive. Fletcher, Rowlands, and William Williams arrived at the College on Friday, the 18th, and next morning Rowlands preached in the chapel to a crowded congregation, from the words, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” In the afternoon, the Lord’s Supper was administered, Fletcher addressing the communicants and spectators, and Williams giving out a hymn, which was sung with great enthusiasm. At night, Howell Harris preached to a large congregation assembled in the court from the text, “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” During the day, Walter Shirley and several lay preachers arrived at Trevecca.
On Sunday, August 20, at ten in the morning, Fletcher read the Liturgy in the court, and Shirley preached on, “Acquaint thyself now with Him, and be at peace.” At one, the Lord’s Supper was administered in the chapel, and Rowlands, Fletcher, and Williams gave addresses. During the afternoon, Fletcher preached in the court to an immense congregation, from, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” When his sermon was ended, Rowlands, in the Welsh language, addressed the crowd from, “It is appointed unto men once to die.”
On Monday and Tuesday the clergymen preached, and Howell Harris and several of the lay preachers joined in the services.
On Wednesday, August 23rd, Wesley came, accompanied by Howell Davies and Peter Williams.[180] Wesley writes:—
“Wednesday, August 23rd. I went on to Trevecca. Here we found a concourse of people from all parts, come to celebrate the Countess of Huntingdon’s birthday, and the anniversary of her school, which was opened on the twenty-fourth of August, last year. I preached in the evening to as many as her chapel could well contain; which is extremely neat, or rather, elegant; as is the dining-room, the school, and all the house. About nine, Howell Harris desired me to give a short exhortation to his family. I did so; and then went back to my lady’s, and laid me down in peace.
“Thursday, August 24th. I administered the Lord’s Supper to the family.[181] At ten, the public service began. Mr. Fletcher preached an exceeding lively sermon in the court, the chapel being far too small. After him, Mr. William Williams preached in Welsh till between one and two o’clock. At two we dined. Meantime, a large number of people had baskets of bread and meat carried to them in the court. At three, I took my turn there; then Mr. Fletcher; and about five, the congregation was dismissed. Between seven and eight, the lovefeast began, at which, I believe, many were comforted. In the evening, several of us retired into the neighbouring wood, which is exceeding pleasantly laid out in walks, one of which leads to a little mount raised in the midst of a meadow that commands a delightful prospect. This is Howell Harris’s work, who has likewise greatly enlarged and beautified his house; so that, with the gardens, orchards, walks, and pieces of water that surround it, it is a kind of little paradise.”[182]
This is not the place to enlarge upon Howell Harris’s establishment, which adjoined Trevecca College. Suffice it to say, that here he had gathered together a family of more than a hundred persons, “all diligent, all constantly employed, all fearing God and working righteousness.”[183]
The lovefeast mentioned by Wesley was the concluding service on the first anniversary day, strictly speaking, of Trevecca College. At that lovefeast, Walter Shirley, Howell Davies, and Daniel Rowlands gave short exhortations, and Peter Williams and Howell Harris offered prayers. Lady Huntingdon observes:—
“Truly our God was in the midst of us, and many felt Him eminently nigh. The gracious influence of His Spirit seemed to rest on every one. Words fail to describe the holy triumph with which the great congregation sang—
‘Captain‘Captain of Thine enlisted host,
Display thy glorious banner high,’ etc.
It was a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord—a time never to be forgotten.”
Next morning, Wesley set off for Bristol; but the services were continued. In the afternoon, Shirley took his stand on the scaffold in the court, and addressed the multitude from the words, “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
“From that time,” wrote Lady Huntingdon, “we had public preaching every day at four o’clock, whilst Mr. Shirley and Mr. Fletcher remained. Copious showers of Divine blessing have been felt on every side. Truly God is good to Israel. Continue Thy goodness, and in much greater abundance! O that I may be more and more useful to the souls of my fellow-creatures! I want to be, every moment, all life, all zeal, all activity for God, and ever on the stretch for closer communion with Him. My soul pants to live more to Him; and to be more holy in heart and life, that all my nature may show the glories of the Lamb.”[184]
Alas! that these glorious scenes among the Welsh mountains should so soon be followed by scenes of discord and of disputes. The great storm of the Calvinian controversy was already brewing.
Walter Sellon occupies a rather unique position in Methodistic annals. He died in 1792, at the age of seventy-seven; and yet of the first thirty, and the last twenty-two years of his life, hardly anything is known. Dr. Abel Stevens, in his “History of Methodism,” says Sellon was originally a baker; but I know of no authority for this, except Toplady’s, whose hatred and abuse of Sellon were such as to justify a hesitancy in believing a statement concerning his stout antagonist, which he intended to be injurious to his fame. Sellon was born in the year 1715; but up to the year 1745 he had not been introduced to Wesley. In a letter to Wesley, dated December 31, 1744, he states, that, until recently, he had condemned him as “an innovator,” and had “pitied those who followed” him. But, having heard Wesley preach, and having read his sermon on “Scriptural Christianity,” delivered before the Oxford University on August 24, 1744, his opinions concerning him and his followers were entirely changed; and he now requested Wesley, when he had an opportunity, to preach at Maidenhead, “where drunkenness, adultery, profaneness, gaming, and almost every abominable vice, were not only committed with greediness, but gloried in, and boasted of.”[185] Whether Wesley went to Maidenhead, which seems to have been Sellon’s place of residence, is not known; but, three years and a half afterwards, when he opened his famous Kingswood School, Walter Sellon was appointed the Headmaster “for the Classics.”[186] About the year 1754, Sellon received episcopal ordination, and became curate of the churches of Smisby, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and of Breedon, where vast multitudes flocked to hear him, “not only from adjacent towns and villages, but frequently from places ten, fifteen, and twenty miles distant.” “He was a real Methodist,” wrote Jonathan Edmondson, “and hundreds were turned to God through his instrumentality.”[187] Sellon enjoyed the confidential friendship of Wesley, and especially of Wesley’s brother Charles; and, about the time of his appointment to his curacies, stood faithfully by them in their contentions with the most able and prominent of their itinerant preachers, concerning the separation of the Methodists from the Established Church. All his publications were controversial; and all, except his first, were written specially in defence of the anti-Calvinian doctrines Wesley taught. This is not the place to review Walter Sellon as an author. Suffice it to say, that he was always powerful, rather than polite; and that, after his first publication, in 1765, which was levelled at Socinianism, he prepared a second in 1768, which was entitled, “Arguments against the Doctrine of General Redemption considered.” Without noticing, at present, the subsequent writings of Sellon, it is enough to add, that, about the year 1770, he was presented by the Earl of Huntingdon to the Vicarage of Ledsham, in Yorkshire, where he lived and laboured until his death, on June 13, 1792.[188] In an unpublished manuscript, John Pawson says:—
“I do not believe Mr. Sellon was made the instrument of awakening a single soul after he came to Ledsham. He was tutor to young Mr. Medhurst, of Kippax, who lately murdered his wife, and would have murdered his mother some years ago, if my brother Tarboton had not rescued her at the hazard of his own life. While in that family, Mr. Sellon seemed to lose all spirit and life, and, as far as I could learn, had very little savour of godliness about him. He took not the least notice of the Methodists, no more than if he had never known them.”
John Pawson was one of Wesley’s most honest and hardworking itinerants; but he sometimes was more severe in his strictures than was desirable. His remark, however, concerning Sellon’s abandonment of the Methodists was probably correct; for Wesley, in a letter dated June 10, 1784, wrote to him: “You used to meet me when I came near you; but you seem, of late, to have forgotten your old friend and brother.”[189]
To return to Fletcher. He and Sellon were well known to each other. Four years ago, they had exchanged pulpits for a season, Sellon preaching at Madeley, and Fletcher at Smisby and Breedon-on-the-Hill. Now Sellon was entering the arena of controversy. The expulsion of the Methodist students from Oxford University, in 1768, had been the means, incidentally, of bringing some of the chief doctrines of Calvinism into public notice. Sir Richard Hill, in defending the students, had warmly advocated Calvinistic predestination. Dr. Nowell, in answering Sir Richard, had clearly shown that this predestination was not the doctrine of the Church of England. Toplady had rushed to the rescue of his favourite dogma, and had published his translation of “Zauchius,” and also his “Letter to Dr. Nowell.” Sellon was the first of Wesley’s friends who entered the lists, by preparing and publishing his “Arguments against the Doctrine of General Redemption considered. London, 1769.” 12mo. 178 pp. Wesley encouraged him, and so did Fletcher. The former wrote as follows:—
“Wakefield, July 9, 1768.
“My Dear Brother,—I am glad you have undertaken the ‘Redemption Redeemed;’ but you must in no wise forget Dr. Owen’s answer to it: otherwise you will leave a loop-hole for all the Calvinists to creep out. The Doctor’s evasions you must needs cut in pieces, either interweaving your answers with the body of the work, under each head, or adding them in marginal notes.
“Your ever affectionate brother,
“J. Wesley.”[190]
After the book was published, Fletcher wrote to Sellon the following letter, plainly showing that the great Calvinian controversy, though as yet in its incipient state, was causing considerable commotion:—
“Madeley, October 7, 1769.
“My Dear Brother,—I thank you for your letter and books. They came safe to hand, and I shall give you the amount at the first opportunity. I have inquired what the Calvinists think; but they choose to be silent,—a sign that they have not any great thing to object. Mr. R——[191] looked at your book here in my house, and objected to Ελεησω ον αν ελεω, Rom. ix. 15. He says, ελεω is, ‘I have mercy,’ not ‘I should have mercy.’ I observed to Mr. Glascott, ‘It is the subjunctive mood, and may take the sign should, would, or could, according to the analogy of faith.’
“I long to see Coles[192] answered. My request to you is, that you would answer him in the cool manner you have the Synod;[193] and my prayer to God is, that you may be assisted for that important work.
“I know two strong Calvinist believers, who lately took their leave of this world with, ‘I shall be damned.’ O, what did all their professions of perseverance do for them? They left them in the lurch. May we have the power of God in our souls, and we shall readily leave unknown decrees to others.
“The“The Lord give you patience with your brethren! The best way to confound them is, to preach that kingdom of God which they cast away, with real righteousness, and present peace and joy in believing; that is poison to the synodical kingdom.
“I despair of seeing you before I have seen Switzerland, which I design to visit next winter. Mr. Ireland takes me as far as Lyons in my way.
“There are some disputes in Lady Huntingdon’s College; but when the power of God comes, they drop them. The Calvinists are three to one. Your book I have sent them as a hard nut for them to crack.
“May the Lord spare you, and make you a free, joyful soldier of the Lord Jesus; as tough against sin and unbelief as you are against Calvin and the Synod! The Lord has overruled your leaving Smisby for good. Let us trust in Him, and all will be well. Farewell.
“John Fletcher.”[194]
This episode respecting Walter Sellon is not irrelevant, and is of considerable importance, inasmuch as it relates, in part, to the rise of the great Calvinian controversy of the last century, in which Fletcher became one of the chief actors. Sellon’s book, in favour of the doctrine of “General Redemption,” was the first published by Wesley’s adherents, and is exceedingly able; but this is not the place to analyse and give an account of it.
Seventeen years had elapsed since Fletcher left his father’s house in Switzerland. He had now decided to pay a visit to the place of his nativity, and to travel as far as the south of France with his generous friend, Mr. Ireland, of Brislington, Bristol. The following letter to Mr. Ireland refers to this contemplated visit, and to another matter, which must be noticed:—
“Madeley, December 30, 1769.
“My Dear Friend,—Last night, I received your obliging letter, and am ready to accompany you to Montpelier, provided you will go with me to Nyon. I shall raise about twenty guineas, and, with that sum, a gracious Providence, and your purse, I hope we shall want for nothing. If the Lord sends me, I should want nothing, though I had nothing, and though my fellow-traveller were no richer than myself.
“I hope to be at Bristol soon, to offer you my services to pack up. You desired to have a Swiss servant, and I offer myself to you in that capacity; for I shall be no more ashamed of serving you, as far as I am capable of doing, than I am of wearing your livery.
“Two reasons (to say nothing of the pleasure of your company) engage me to go with you to Montpelier,—a desire to visit some poor Huguenots in the south of France, and the need I have to recover a little French before I go to converse with my compatriots.
“The priest at Madeley is going to open his mass-house, and I declared war on that account last Sunday, and propose to strip the whore of Babylon and expose her nakedness to-morrow. All the papists are in a great ferment, and have held meetings to consult on the occasion. One of their bloody bullies came ‘to pick up a quarrel’ with me, as he said, and what would have been the consequence had I not had company with me I know not. How far more rage may be kindled to-morrow I don’t know; but I question whether it will be right for me to leave the field in these circumstances. I forgot to mention that two of our poor ignorant Churchmen are about to join the mass-house, which also is the cause of my having taken up arms.”[195]
Fletcher preached his anti-popery sermon as he intended, taking as his text 1 Tim. iv. 1–3: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” An outline of the sermon may be found in Fletcher’s Collected Works, vol. vii., p. 490. As the people were leaving the church, a man, who acted as the spokesman of the papists present, cried, “There was not a word of truth in the whole sermon;” and then, turning to Fletcher, assured him that he would shortly produce a gentleman who would refute all that he had said. The threat was not fulfilled;[196] and Benson, in his “Life of Fletcher,” first published in 1804, remarks:—
“By Mr. Fletcher’s bold and prudent stand the designs of the papists were in a great measure frustrated, and they were prevented making any progress worth mentioning in Madeley. It is true there is even now a mass-house and a priest at Madeley, but I find, upon inquiry, there are not a dozen Popish families in the parish.”
Fletcher’s intended visit to Switzerland was, for a little while, deferred; because he deemed it his duty to await the threatened refutation of his anti-popish sermon. Hence, early in January 1770, he went to Trevecca; probably for the purpose of meeting Joseph Benson, who was about to become head master of the college.
Joseph Benson was now nearly twenty-two years of age, and for the last four years had been the classical master of Wesley’s school at Kingswood, and was at present keeping terms at Oxford. His acquaintance with Fletcher was slight, but his admiration of him great. He writes:—
“I had only had two or three interviews with Mr. Fletcher, which were, I think, in the year 1768, when I was classical master at Kingswood school. As he occasionally made an excursion from Madeley to Bristol and Bath, in one of these excursions we invited him to preach at Kingswood. He came, and took as his text, ‘Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.’ The people were exceedingly affected; indeed quite melted down. The tears streamed so fast from the eyes of the poor colliers that their black faces were washed by them. As to himself, he was carried out so far beyond his strength that, when he concluded, he put off his shirt, which was as wet as if it had been dipped in water. But this was nothing strange; whenever he preached it was generally the case. From this time, I conceived a particular esteem for him, chiefly on account of his piety; and wished much for a further acquaintance with him, a blessing which I soon after obtained; for through his means, and in consequence of Mr. Wesley’s recommendation to the Countess of Huntingdon, I was made head master of the academy, or, as it was commonly called, the college, at Trevecca, though I could ill be spared from Kingswood, where I had acted in that capacity about four years. Being greatly wanted at Kingswood, and having likewise a term to keep at Oxford, I could only pay them a short visit for the present, which was in January 1770; but in the spring following, I went to reside there, and for some time was well satisfied with my situation.”[197]
No record exists of what transpired between Fletcher and Benson at Trevecca; but the following letter, written there, and addressed to Mr. Ireland, deserves insertion:—
“Trevecca, January 13, 1770.
“My Dear Friend,—I know not what to think of our journey. My heart frequently recoils. I have lost all hope of being able to preach in French, and I think if I could they would not permit me. I become more stupid every day; my memory fails me in a surprising manner. I am good for nothing, but to go and bury myself in my parish. I have those touches of misanthropy which make solitude my element. Judge, then, whether I am fit to go into the world. On the other hand, I fear that your journey is undertaken partly from complaisance to me, and in consequence of the engagement we made to go together. I acquit you of your promise; and, if your business does not really demand your presence in France, I beg you will not think of going there on my account. The bare idea of giving you trouble would make the journey ten times more disagreeable to me than the season of the year.
“The day after I wrote to you I preached the sermons against popery, which I had promised to my people; and Mr. S—t—r called out several times in the churchyard, as the people went out of church, that ‘there was not one word of truth in the whole of my discourse, and that he would prove it.’ He also told me that he would produce a gentleman who should answer my sermon and the pamphlet I had distributed. I was, therefore, obliged to declare in the church that I should not quit England, and was only going into Wales, from whence I would return soon to reply to the answer of Mr. S—t—r and the priest, if they should offer any. I am thus obliged to return to Madeley by my word so publiclypublicly pledged, as well as to raise a little money for my journey. Were it not for these circumstances, I believe I should pay you a visit at Bristol, notwithstanding my misanthropy.
“The hamper which you mention, and for which I thank you, provided it be the last, arrived three days before my departure, but not knowing what it was, nor for whom it was intended, I put it into my cellar without opening it. I want the living water rather than cider, and righteousness more than clothes. I fear, however, lest my unbelief should make me set aside the fountain whence it flows, as I did your hamper. Be that as it may, it is high time to open the treasures of Divine mercy, and to seek in the heart of Jesus for the springs of love, righteousness, and life. The Lord give us grace so to seek that we may find, and be enabled to say with the woman in the Gospel, ‘I have found the piece of silver which I had lost.’
“If your affairs do not really call you to France I will wait until Providence and grace shall open a way to me to the mountains of Switzerland, if I am ever to see them again. Adieu! Give yourself wholly to God. A divided heart, like a divided kingdom, falls naturally by its own gravity either into darkness or into sin. My heart’s desire is that the love of Jesus may fill your soul, and that of your unworthy and greatly obliged servant,
“John Fletcher.”[198]
The journey to Switzerland was deferred, but took place; though no one seems to know the exact date when it was begun or when it ended. In the month of July, however, Fletcher was again in England. Strangely enough, there is no letter of his that refers to the extensive tour made by him and his friend Ireland; but the latter sent the following account to Mr. Benson:—
“I was with Mr. Fletcher, day and night, nearly five months, travelling all over Italy and France. At that time, a popish priest resided in his parish, who attempted to mislead the poor people. Mr. Fletcher, therefore, throughout this journey, attended the sermons of the Roman Catholic clergy, visited their convents and monasteries, and conversed with all the most serious among them whom he met with, in order that he might know their sentiments concerning spiritual religion. He was so very particular in making observations respecting the gross and absurd practices of the priests and other clergy, especially while we were in Italy, that we were frequently in no small danger of our lives. He wished to attend the Pope’s chapel at Rome, but I would not consent to accompany him till I had obtained a promise from him that he would forbear to speak by way of censure or reproof of what he saw or heard. He met with many men of science and learning, with whom he conversed freely on Gospel truths, which most of them opposed with violence. A few listened and were edified. His whole life, as you well know, was a sermon; all his conversations were sermons. Even his disputations with infidels were full of instruction. We met with a gentleman of fortune, an excellent classical scholar, with whom we continued near a fortnight at an hotel. He said he had travelled all over Europe, and had passed through all the Societies in England to find a person whose life corresponded with the Gospels and with Paul’s Epistles. He asked me (for it was with me he first began to converse) if I knew any clergyman or dissenting minister in England, possessed of a stipend of £100 a year for the cure of souls, who would not leave them all if he were offered double that amount. I replied in the affirmative, and pointed to my friend Fletcher; when disputations commenced, which continued for many days.”[199]
Mr. Gilpin, in Fletcher’s “Portrait of St. Paul,” adds to this account. He says:—
“This debate was continued, by adjournment, for the space of a week. Whatever had been said upon the subject by the most celebrated writers was brought forward, and thoroughly discussed. Mr. Fletcher repeatedly overcame his antagonist, who regularly lost his temper and his cause together. Mr. Fletcher took a view of the Christian’s enviable life, his consolation in trouble, and his tranquillity in danger; together with his superiority to all the evils of life and the horrors of death; interspersing his remarks with affectionate admonitions and powerful persuasives to a rational dependence upon the truths of the Gospel. At the conclusion of this memorable debate, the unsuccessful disputant conceived so exalted an idea of his opponent’s character, that he never afterwards mentioned his name but with peculiar veneration and regard; and when they met again, eight years later, in Provence, where the gentleman lived in affluence, he showed Mr. Fletcher every possible civility, entertained him at his house in the most hospitable manner, and listened to his conversation on spiritual subjects with all imaginable attention and respect.”
Mr. Gilpin mentions another incident of the same kind. Fletcher, in his travels, met a young gentleman from Genoa, who had imbibed the infidel notions of the day. They had a debate, which lasted several days, from morning till night. The sceptic was vanquished, and was so struck with the masterly skill of Fletcher, and his more than parental concern, that, before they parted, he looked up to his instructor with reverence, listened to him with admiration, and desired to be present at morning and evening prayer.[200]
While at Marseilles, Mr. Ireland procured for Fletcher the use of a Protestant church in that neighbourhood; but the engagement to preach in it caused Fletcher great anxiety, probably because he had lost his facility in speaking the French language. He prayed about it earnestly all the week; and when Sunday morning came, he entreated Mr. Ireland to inform the minister of the church that he was unable to fulfil his engagement. Mr. Ireland refused; and Fletcher was compelled to ascend the pulpit, where he preached with such effect, that the whole congregation, among whom were many ministers, were in tears.[201]
He determined, while in the south of France, to visit the Protestants in the Cevennes mountains, whose fathers had suffered so severely in the cause of Christ; “the heretics of the Cevennes, those accursed remainders of the old Albigenses,” as the Bull of Clement XI., dated 1703, designated them. The journey was long and difficult, but no argument could prevail with him to abandon his resolution of attempting it on foot. “Shall I,” said he to his friend Ireland, “make a visit on horseback and at ease, to those poor cottagers, whose fathers were hunted along the rocks, like partridges upon the mountains? No: I will visit them under the plainest appearance, with my staff in my hand.” Accordingly, he set out alone, and, after travelling till it was nearly dark, he entered a small house, and begged the favour of being allowed to sit in a chair till morning. The master of the cottage, after some hesitation, consented. Conversation followed; the host and hostess were charmed; the best provisions in their humble dwelling were given to the traveller; and, before they retired to rest, prayer was proposed and offered. Early on the morrow, the strange visitant renewed his conversation and his prayers; father, mother, and children were melted into tears; and the poor man himself told his neighbours that he had nearly refused to admit a stranger into his house, who was more an angel than a man. The family were papists.
Continuing his journey, Fletcher reached a small town, where he was entertained by a pious minister, to whom he had been recommended. The Protestants received him with open arms. He conversed with their elders; admonished their youth; visited their sick; and preached with freedom and success. Many among them were comforted, and many built up in their most holy faith.
As he travelled over the mountains, he, one day, put up in a small dwelling, whose master could hardly speak without uttering an oath. Of course, Fletcher, in his own peculiar way, reproved the swearer; and, with such effect, that the man confessed his sin; and ever afterwards, when in danger of falling into his old habit, nothing more was necessary to restrain him than to remember the saintly stranger who had once obtained a lodging beneath his humble roof.[202]
Fletcher and Mr. Ireland proceeded from France to Italy, and traversed the celebrated Appian Way. As they approached it, Fletcher directed the driver to stop; for, said he to Mr. Ireland, “I cannot ride over ground where the Apostle Paul once walked, chained to a soldier.” As soon as he set his foot upon the old Roman road, he took off his hat; and, walking on with his eyes lifted up to heaven, he gave God thanks for the glorious truths which Paul preached. He rejoiced that, in England, these truths were still published; and prayed that they might be revived in Italy. He reviewed the life, the travels, the labours, and the sufferings of the great Apostle, his remarks being intermixed with prayer and praise, and the man himself resembling an incarnation of devotion.[203]
On arriving in Switzerland, he was at once solicited by the clergy at Nyon to occupy their pulpits. He complied with their requests; and, wherever he was announced to preach, multitudes from all quarters flocked to hear him. Even deists listened to him with admiration, and the crowds seemed to think him more than human. Despisers of revelation were overawed and confounded; formalists were roused; and careless sinners startled. One of his converts betook himself to sacred studies, and became a Protestant minister at Lyons. When the time for Fletcher’s departure came, a good old minister, of more than threescore years and ten, besought him, with indescribable earnestness, to stay a little longer, even were it only for a single week; and, when he found that this was impracticable, the old gentleman burst into tears, and, addressing Mr. Ireland, cried, “Oh, Sir, how unfortunate for my country! During my lifetime, it has produced but one angel of a man, and now it is our lot to lose him!” At length the carriage, that was to bear away the travellers, appeared; multitudes crowded round about it, anxious to receive a last word or look; and not a few followed it for above two miles, before they could summon sufficient resolution to bid farewell to their saintly compatriot whom they had learned to love so much.[204]
Fletcher reached England about the time of midsummer 1770. His tour had done him good, and had prepared him for the more than ordinary trials that awaited him.
149. “Unpublished Letter by John Pawson.”
150. Misled by the author of the “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” I have stated in my “Life and Times of Wesley,” that, at the opening of Trevecca College, Easterbrook was appointed to the office of master. This is a mistake. The master, as will be seen in succeeding pages, was a wonderful child, twelve years old! Perhaps, however, Easterbrook rendered some assistance.—L. T.
151. A great-grandson of the celebrated bishop of that name. He proved himself to be a faithful friend to Venn, and the other evangelical clergymen of the age.
152. Methodist Magazine, 1821, p. 437.
153. Wesley’s “Life of Fletcher.”
154. Tyerman’s “Life and Times of Wesley,” vol. iii., p. 4.
155. Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 126.
156. No doubt, the Rev. William Talbot, LL.D., Vicar of Kineton, in Warwickshire.
157. Fletcher’s Works, vol. viii., p. 255.
158. Wesley’s Journal.
159. Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”
160. Trevecca College was supported at the sole expense of the Countess of Huntingdon till her death, on June 17, 1791. “Had her ability been equal to her desire for its continuance, she would have endowed it, and thereby have provided for its perpetuity.” About four years before her decease, and with her full approval, provision was made for the future. Seven trustees were appointed to take care of the College after her ladyship’s death; and a subscription was begun for its maintenance. This accumulated fund, in 1791, amounted to £585, 3 per cent. Consols. The lease of the Trevecca property had expired, and it was now determined to remove the college to Cheshunt, near London. Accordingly, the Trevecca house was given up at Lady-day, 1792; the furniture, the library, and the communion plate were taken to Cheshunt, where the new establishment was formally opened on August 24, the anniversary of the commencement of the abandoned one at Trevecca. A religious service, of nearly three hours and a-half’s duration, was held; Lady Anne Agnes Erskine, executrix of the Countess of Huntingdon, presided; and seven or eight hundred persons were present. (“The Order observed at the opening of the Countess of Huntingdon’s College at Cheshunt, London, 1792,” 8vo., 86 pp.)
161. Letters, 1791, p. 198.
162. In all probability at the opening of the College on August 24.
163. Letters, 1791, p. 199.
164. Ibid, 1791, p. 204.
165. Letters, 1791, p. 205.
166. Ibid, p. 206.
167. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
168. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
169. Myles’s “Chronological History of the Methodists.”
170. Atmore’s “Methodist Memorial.”
171. Arminian Magazine, 1787, p. 444.
172. Trevecca College was in the parish of Talgarth, South Wales. It was supposed to be part of an old castle erected in the reign of Henry the Second. The date over the entrance was 1176.
173. Thomas Maxfield, who had seceded from Wesley’s Connexion in 1763, and had received episcopal ordination from the Bishop of Derry.
174. “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 98.
175. The Arminian Magazine, for 1793, confirms this statement.
176. Baratier was a German, born in 1721, and is said to have understood the German, French, Greek, and Latin languages when he was five years old. At the age of nine, he could not only translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Latin or French, but also re-translate these versions into Hebrew. Before he had completed his tenth year, he composed a Hebrew Lexicon of rare and difficult words, with curious critical remarks. In his thirteenth year he translated from the Hebrew “Rabbi Benjamin’s Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa,” and published them in two volumes, “with historical and critical notes and dissertations.” He also, with remarkable success, applied himself to the study of philosophy, mathematics, ecclesiastical history, law, etc. He died in his twentieth year.
177. Arminian Magazine, 1793, pp. 140–144.
178. Wesley’s Journal.
179. Vol. ii., p. 360.
180. “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., pp. 98, 99.
181. The author of the “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon” says, “Shirley assisted Wesley,” and adds, “The sacrament was first administered to the clergyman, then to the students, and then to Lady Huntingdon, the Countess of Buchan, Lady Anne Erskine, Miss Orton, and the other members of the family.”
182. Wesley’s Journal.
183. Ibid.
184. “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., pp. 98–101.
185. Arminian Magazine, 1778, p. 327.
186. Myles’ “Chronological History of the Methodists.”
187. Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 38.
188. Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 41.
189. Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 43.
190. Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii. p. 41.
191. Probably Romaine, who was at Berwick, near Shrewsbury, on September 9, 1769, and wrote a letter full of his strongest Calvinism. (See Romaine’s Works, vol. vi., p. 330. Edition 1813.)
192. Elisha Coles, a clerk to the East India Company, who died in 1688. His “Practical Discourse of God’s Sovereignty,” here referred to, was answered by Sellon a year or two afterwards.
193. The Synod of Dort, held at Dort in 1618 and 1619, and consisting of thirty-eight Dutch and Walloon divines, five professors of the Dutch Universities, and twenty-one Lay-elders; besides twenty-eight foreign divines, from England and other countries. At this celebrated Synod, the five points of difference between the Calvinists and Arminians were decided in favour of the former. Sellon, in his able book, controverts this decision, at all events so far as the doctrine of predestination is concerned.
194. Fletcher’s Works, vol. viii., p. 205.
195. Letters, 1791, p. 208.
196. Fletcher’s Works, vol. vii., p. 494.
197. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
198. Letters, 1791, p. 210.
199. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
200. “Portrait of St. Paul.”
201. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
202. Gilpin’s “Notes to Portrait of St. Paul.”
203. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”
204. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”