PREFACE.

Mr.

Ir has long been the desire of many of Mr. Fletcher's friends to see a more full and complete account of that extraordinary man than any that had appeared. Wesley's Narrative of his Life was drawn up in great haste, and in the midst of so many important labours and concerns of another kind, that it is not at all surprising it should contain some small mistakes, and in other respects should be imperfect. Mrs. Fletcher never intended to write his Life, but only to give an account of his death, with a few particulars of his character. The Rev. Mr. Gilpin's Biographical Notes, annexed to his translation of Mr. Fletcher's Portrait of St. Paul, are very excellent, and very accurate, as far as they go. But neither did Mr. Gilpin intend to write his Life, but simply to give some more traits of his character, and add a few anecdotes concerning him, which had been omitted by Mr. Wesley and Mrs. Fletcher. Add to this, that Mr. Gilpin's Notes are scattered through that work without any order; and, however useful as detached pieces, do not, in any respect, furnish the reader with a regular and connected history of that great and good man. In consideration of these things, it has been judged by his friends, to be a debt due to his memory, and to the Christian world, to compile from the whole, and from such other documents as might be collected, such an authentic and properly-arranged narrative of

his life and death, as might be at once clear and sufficiently full, comprising every article of importance. Mrs. Fletcher, knowing that I had been particularly intimate with Mr. Fletcher from the year 1768 till his death, and that we had been in the constant habit of corresponding, earnestly desired I would undertake this work. And our general Conference, held at Leeds, in the year 1801, having joined with her in the same request, I have, at length, complied; and am not without hope, that the interests of pure and vital Christianity will be promoted by it. This narrative includes the whole of what is material in the forementioned accounts, digested in regular order; together with much new matter, taken chiefly from Mr. Fletcher's own letters to myself and some other friends, especially to the Rev. Mr. Perronet, late of Shoreham, and some members of his family. I have found it to be peculiarly useful to myself to be employed about this work; and I pray to God, that every reader may obtain similar, and even greater benefit from it, and be induced to follow him as fully as he followed Christ.

London, October 25, 1804.

JOSEPH BENSON.

PREFACE

ΤΟ

THE SECOND EDITION.

THE Editor is aware that he must chiefly ascribe it to the high esteem entertained by the public in general, and by the members of the Methodist societies in particular, for the character of the late Rev. Mr. Fletcher, and the great veneration in which his memory is held by them, that the former impression of this work has had so rapid a sale, and that a second edition is so soon called for. He is, however, happy to find, by the testimonies he has received from different quarters, that the manner in which he has been enabled to execute his office of compiler, has been highly satisfactory to Mr. Fletcher's friends, and to the readers of the publication in general.

It is true, the Editors of a periodical work, termed the "Christian Observer," have represented it as an imperfection in his mode of compilation, that he did not

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weave the whole of his materials into a completely new work." But this, he must observe, was not the task assigned him; nor would he, if desired, have consented to undertake it; well knowing, both that it would require more time than he could have spared from his other not less important employments, and that the work would gain nothing thereby, in point of real usefulness. For he was well persuaded, that he could not express the same things in his own words so well as the Rev. Messrs. Wesley and Gilpin had expressed them, nor clothe the

materials furnished by these truly pious and learned writers in more pure, elegant, and forcible language, than they had used. He knew, therefore, that to have pursued the plan the conductors of that miscellany have suggested, would not have rendered the work more interesting, or more instructive to the reader, or in any respect better calculated to answer the great and important ends of religious biography; which are not to gain honour and applause to the writer, but rather to excite and animate the reader to greater zeal and diligence in pursuit of whatever excellence might be described or exemplified in the subject of it. Add to this, he was sensible it was not the wish of any of the parties by whom he was pressed into this service, that the narratives of Messrs. Wesley and Gilpin should be superseded and lost sight of. He knew it was rather their desire, that these well-written though incomplete accounts should be brought forward afresh into public view, preserved and perpetuated, by being incorporated in one volume, with such other materials as might be collected; thereby furnishing the public with such a clear and full history of that incomparable man, as might be of lasting use to the church of Christ, and a mean of edification to thousands yet unborn.

But "the natural consequence of this mode of compilation," say they, "is, that the work is defective in clearness and uniformity, and that it is occasionally prolix and redundant." As to prolixity and redundance, the Editor is under no concern. The persons for whose use chiefly he undertook to compile this volume, have such veneration for the memory of Mr. Fletcher, that any information concerning him, that is authentic, and at all instructive, or calculated to cast light upon his character, is peculiarly welcome; although, to readers less apprized of his worth, it might appear unnecessary, or even superfluous. Under a persuasion of this, at the same time that the Editor has corrected two or three