threaten me, and all my flock of the Rock Church with imprisonment. Hitherto the Lord has stood by me, and my little difficulties are nothing to me; but I fear I support them rather like a philosopher than a Christian. We were to have been mobbed with a drum last Tuesday, at the Rock Church; but their captain, a papist, behaved himself so very ill, that they were ashamed of him." At the next visitation, Mr. Fletcher presented the papist above mentioned, but the churchwardens refused to support him, and the court paid no regard to his presentation. When he returned from this visitation, he says many of his parishi, oners were strangely disconcerted, because the Bishop had not stripped off his gown. "With respect to the magistrate," he proceeds, "who acted as judge of the court two years ago, I met him the other day, and after he had called me Jesuit, &c. and menaced me with his cane, he assured me that he would put down our assemblies." A little after, Mr. Fletcher writes again as follows: "The opposition made to my ministry increases. A young clergyman, who lives in Madeley Wood, where he has great influence, has openly declared war against me, by pasting on the church door, a paper, in which he charges me with rebellion, schism, and being a disturber of the public peace. He puts himself at the head of the gentlemen of the parish, and supported by the recorder of Wenlock, he is determined to put in force the conventicle act against me. A few weeks ago, the widow who lives in the Rock Church, and a young man, who read and prayed in my absence, were taken up. I attended them before the justice, and the young clergyman with his troop were present. They called me Jesuit, &c. and the justice tried to frighten me, by saying, that he would put the act in force, though we should assemble only in my own house. I pleaded my cause as well as I could, but seeing he was determined to hear no reason, I told him he might do as he pleased, and that if the act in question concerned us, we were ready to suffer all its rigours. In his rage he went the next day to Wenlock and proposed to grant a warrant to have me apprehended; but the other justices were of opinion that the business belonged to the spiritual court. The churchwardens talk of putting me in the spiritual court, for meeting in houses, &c. But, what is worst of all, three false witnesses offer to prove upon oath, that I am a liar, and some of my followers, as they are called, have dishonoured their profession, to the great joy of our adversaries."

One Sunday evening after performing the usual duty at Madeley, Mr. Fletcher was about to set out for Madeley Wood, to preach and catechize as usual. But just then notice was brought that a child was to

* The Rock Church were a congregation who assembled for wor◄ ship in a house built upon a rock in Madeley Wood.

be buried, and his waiting till the child was brought, prevented his going to the wood. And herein the providence of God appeared; for at that very time, many of the colliers, who neither feared God nor regarded man, were baiting a bull just by the place of preaching, and having had plenty of drink, they had all agreed, as soon as he came, to bait the parson. Part of them were appointed to pull him off his horse, and the rest to set the dogs upon him. But in the meantime the bull broke loose, and threw down the booth in which the gentlemen were drinking, and the people, fearing for themselves the evil they had intended for him, were all dispersed; while the serious friends who had come together to hear him preach, were waiting for him in quietness and safety.

From some persons Mr. Fletcher met such malignant opposition as induced him to denounce upon them the judgments of heaven, to warn them that if they did not repent, God would speedily cut them off; and such predictions, as they may be called, were frequently observed to meet with a signal accomplishment: one instance, out of many, he relates as follows.-"This evening, I have buried one of the warmest opposers of my ministry, a stout, strong young man, aged twenty-four years. About three months ago, he came to the church-yard with a corpse, but refused to come into the church. When the burial was over, I went to him, and mildly expostulated with him. His constant answer was, that he had bound himself never to come to church while I was there, adding that he would take the consequences, &c. Seeing I got nothing, I left him, saying, with uncommon warmth, though as far as I can remember, without the least touch of resentment, I am clear of your blood; henceforth it is upon your own head; you will not come to church on your legs, prepare to come on your neighbours' shoulders. He wasted from that time; and, to my great surprise, hath been buried on the spot where we were when the conversation passed between us."

"On Sunday," says Mr. Fletcher, "when I had done reading prayers, at Madeley, I went up into the pulpit, intending to preach a sermon which I had prepared for the purpose; but my mind was so confused, that I could not recollect either my text or any part of my sermon ; I was afraid I should be obliged to come down without saying anything. But having recollected myself, I thought I would say something on the first lesson, which was the third chapter of Daniel, containing an account of the three worthies cast into the fiery furnace. I found, in doing it, such extraordinary assistance from God, and such a singular enlargement of heart, that I supposed there must be some peculiar cause for it. I, therefore, desired if any of the congregation had met with anything particular, they would acquaint me with it in the ensuing

week. In consequence of this, the Wednesday after, a person came, and gave me the following account :-

"Mrs. K. had been for some time much concerned about her soul. She attended the church at all opportunities, and spent much time in private prayer. At this her husband, who is a butcher, was exceedingly enraged, and threatened severely what he would do, if she did not leave off going to John Fletcher's Church; yea, if she dared to go any more to any religious meetings whatever. When she told him she could not in conscience refrain from going at least to the parish church, he grew quite outrageous, and swore dreadfully, if she went any more he would cut her throat as soon as she came home. This made her cry mightily to God that he would support her in the trying hour. And though she did not feel any degree of comfort, yet having a sure confidence in God, she determined to go on in her duty, and leave the event to him. Last Sunday, after many struggles with the devil and her own heart, she came down stairs, ready for church. Her husband asked her whether she was resolved to go thither; she told him she was. Well, then, said he, I shall not, as I intended, cut your throat, but I will heat the oven, and throw you into it the moment you come home. Notwithstanding this threatening, which he enforced with many bitter oaths, she went to church, praying all the way that God would strengthen her to support her whatever might befall her. While you were speaking of the three Hebrews whom Nebuchadnezzar cast into the burning fiery furnace, she found it all belonging to her, and God applied every word to her heart. And when the sermon was ended, she thought if she had a thousand lives she could lay them all down for God. She felt her whole soul so filled with his love, that she hastened home, fully determined to give herself up to whatever God pleased; nothing doubting but that either he would take her to heaven, if he suffered her to be burnt to death, or that he would some way deliver her, even as he did his three servants that trusted in him. But when she opened the door, to her astonishment and comfort, she found her husband's wrath abated, and soon had reason to believe that he was under a concern for the salvation of his soul. The next Lord's day he attended divine service at the church, and even received the Lord's Supper."

9. Notwithstanding the great and complicated opposition which Mr. Fletcher met with, he steadfastly continued to do the work of an Evangelist; his ardour never abated, his extraordinary exertions were never relaxed. Besides his other ministerial labours he wrote numerous epistles to those under his care, according to their various states and conditions. These shew his great care and eminent qualification to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made him overseer. They

abound with the most faithful admonitions, the most forcible exhortations, and the highest degree of spiritual instruction, encouragement, and consolation; his words appear like apples of gold on pictures of silver, one excellence added to another in such a manner, that both shine with superior lustre. But these epistles must be read before their value can be appreciated; and our limits do not admit of their insertion. They will be found to a considerable extent in the life of our author, written by Mr. Benson, from which work we extract such parts as fall in with the plan of the present memoir.

If he excelled in one religious duty more than another, it was in prayer. In whatever employments he was engaged, the spirit of prayer was constantly manifested through them all. Without this, he neither formed any design, nor entered upon any duty; without this, he neither read nor conversed; without this, he neither visited nor received a visitant. In his social prayers he paid little attention to those rules which have been laid down, with respect to the composition and order of these devotional exercises. As the spirit gave him utterance, so he made his requests known unto God. But while he prayed with the spirit he prayed with the understanding also; his words flowed spontaneously without any premeditation, yet always admirably adapted to the occasion. Nothing impertinent, artificial, or superfluous, appeared in his addresses to God; and while he presented those addresses, there was a solemnity and animation in his manner, which tended to edify and exalt the soul. Those who have joined with him in this exercise have seen and felt what is not to be described, and to others it can only be said, that his prayer was a mingled flow of supplication and gratitude, humility and confidence, resignation and fervour, adoration and love.

"About the time" he says, " of my entering into the ministry, I one evening wandered into a wood, musing on the important office I was going to undertake. I there began to pour out my soul in prayer: when such a feeling sense of the justice of God fell upon me, and such a discovery of his displeasure at sin, as absorbed all my powers, and filled my soul with an agony of prayer, for poor lost sinners. I continued therein till the dawn of day; and I considered this as designed of God, to impress upon me more deeply the meaning of these solemn words; Therefore knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men." On another occasion, he says, "I was favoured with a supernatural discovery of the glory of God, in an ineffable converse with him; so that, whether I was in the body or out of the body I cannot tell."

Mr. Fletcher frequently invited other ministers to preach to his people. Mr. Wesley, Mr Whitfield, Capt. Scott, and various other

ministers preached in his pulpit, in other places which he had appropriated for worship, and sometimes on his own premises in the open air. His labour was not in vain; the seed which he had watered with his tears, and followed with his prayers, procured at length a plentiful harvest. His ministry was attended with unusual success, and a considerable body of his people saluted each other as brethren in Christ, From year to year, sinners were converted from the error of their ways, and believers built up in their holy faith; while he appeared among them as a happy father, rejoicing in their prosperity, and blessed in the blessings of his spiritual children.

While he exerted himself for the spiritual welfare of his people, he was equally careful to administer to their temporal necessities. His daily walks were among the fatherless and widows, the friendless and the oppressed; and while he counted it his indispensable duty to labour for their relief, he considered that very labour as one of his greatest pleasures. The profusion of his charity towards the poor and needy is scarcely credible; it constantly exhausted his purse, it frequently unfurnished his house, and sometimes left him destitute of the most common necessaries. That he might feed the hungry, he led a life of abstinence and self denial; that he might clothe the naked, he covered himself in the most homely attire; and submitted to grievous hardships to relieve such as were in extreme distress. Mr. Vaughan says, “he deposited with me a bill of one hundred and five pounds, being, as I understood, the yearly produce of his estate in Switzerland. This was his fund for charitable uses, but it lasted only a few months. On one occasion, he sent eighty pounds to be distributed among the poor of his own country. When his own resources were exhausted he made application to the rich, and when he obtained their donations for charitable uses, he rejoiced as those who have found great spoil."

10. With a view to promote the cause of Christ, Mr. Fletcher sometimes made excursions to distant parts of the kingdom. About the year 1765, he and Mr. Sellon, of Breedon, in Leicestershire, supplied each others churches for a few sabbaths. While Mr. Fletcher remained at Breedon, people of various descriptions flocked to hear him from all the adjacent parishes. The clerk, being much offended at seeing such crowds attend, because it occasioned a little more labour in cleaning the church, determined that persons from other parishes should not be admitted, without paying each one penny. For this purpose he placed himself at the church door, and began to collect the money from them. A man who was grieved at the conduct of the clerk, went to meet and inform Mr. Fletcher, who hastened up the hill, saying, I will stop his proceeding. The clerk seeing Mr. Fletcher approach, quitted his post VOL. I.

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