METHODIST

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

APRIL, 1884.

ART. I.-" WESLEY'S DESIGNATED SUCCESSOR." NEVER, since the "beloved disciple" fell asleep, has there trod this earth a saintlier man than Jean Guillaume De La Flechère. The aroma of his character and life has been breathed wherever Wesleyan Methodism has reared its standards in the earth. How true it is that, whenever God has a great work to perform, he has always his instruments ready to answer his call, and accomplish his purposes! This fact, which has its clearest illustration in all the grand eras and epochs of the history of the Church, is abundantly confirmed in the inauguration and mighty movement of the great eighteenth century revival. There was John Wesley, whom Buckle calls "The first of theological statesmen;" Charles Wesley, the sweetest singer of Israel for nearly three thousand years, whose hymns of love and praise will go ringing down the ages until they mingle with the millennial songs; George Whitefield, the mightiest preacher of the last three centuries; Thomas Coke, Methodism's first bishop and earliest missionary; Francis Asbury, the apostle of Methodism and evangelical Christianity in America; and John Fletcher, that saintly and seraphic man; and, without doubt, the greatest controversialist of his age. Each of these wonderful men had his own work assigned him; no one of them could do the work of the other; but all were essential in carrying out the great designs of providence and grace.

14-FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXVI.

Especial attention has been called of late to the character, the life, and the work of the last named of this list of worthies by the publication of Mr. Tyerman's book on "Wesley's Designated Successor." Mr. Wesley, amid the pressure of multiplied engagements, and the heavier pressure of advancing years and growing infirmities, had prepared a brief biography of him; but it was very imperfect. Mr. Benson, in 1804, wrote a "Life of Fletcher," which for nearly fourscore years has been the accepted account of his life and work in all the families of Methodism. The author of this work has had exceptional advantages in its preparation for the press. In writing his volumes on "The Life and Times of Wesley" he had met with all the great facts in the early history of the Church, and had seen the all-important part which Mr. Fletcher had taken in this mighty religious reformation. Since then he has diligently followed up his pursuit of every thing which could be known of this distinguished man, until, in writing his book, he feels warranted in saying in his Preface, "I think I may say, without exposing myself to the charge of arrogance or conceit, that in this volume the reader will find all the facts of any importance that are known concerning Fletcher."

He was born in Nyon, Switzerland, on the 12th of September, 1729. His family was one of the most respectable in that grand old republic, being, in fact, a "branch of an earldom of Savoy." He says of the house in which he was born: "It has one of the finest prospects in the world. We have a shady wood near the lake, (Leman,) where I can ride in the cool all the day, and enjoy the singing of a multitude of birds." Of his early life but little is known. A few incidents only are preserved, which tell of hair-breadth escapes from perils and dangers, and show us his tenderness of conscience and his fear of God. His education, begun in Nyon, was carried forward in the University of Geneva, which was only fifteen miles from his ancestral home. After completing his course there, his father sent him to Lentzburg, where, besides pursuing other studies, he acquired the German language. On returning to his home he applied himself to the study of Hebrew and mathematics. Thus was God preparing him for the work which he had for him to do. The University of Geneva, as well as the University of Oxford, was to have its share in

training God's instruments for the revival which was to shake the world.

He dates his religious convictions from an early period in his life. So true is it that those whom God designs for a special work he begins to train early. He relates himself: "I think it was when I was seven years of age that I first began to feel the love of God shed abroad in my heart, and that I resolved to give myself up to him, and to the service of his Church, if ever I should be fit for it."

But, although his studies had been pursued with a design to enter into the holy orders of the ministry, yet upon the very threshold of this work he was startled, horrified, and " disgusted by the necessity he would be under to subscribe to the doctrine of predestination." His conscience in this respect was not so elastic as that of some of our modern ministers who, professing to be Arminians in their theology, gulp down the whole Calvinistic system without a qualm.

His attention was now turned, according to the wishes of his friends, although not of his parents, to the army. Having studied the works of Cohorn and Vauban, the great military engineers of his day, he went to Lisbon, and there raised a company of his own countrymen to fight in the strife between Portugal and Brazil. While waiting for the ship to sail, the maid who waited on him at the breakfast table "let the tea-kettle fall upon his leg, which so scalded him that he had to keep his bed." Wesley adds: "During that time the ship sailed for Brazil, but it was observed that the ship was heard of no more." Upon what seemingly small and trivial events God often turns the course and destinies of a whole life-time! That tea-kettle, and that scalded leg, changed the religious history of the world. A subsequent effort to enter the Dutch service also failed, and he abandoned, henceforth, all idea of military life.

We next find him in England, whither he had gone, with other young gentlemen, to acquire the English language. This was another link in the great chain of providences which was to bind him forever to the service of the Church-both militant and triumphant. His desire to become acquainted with the English tongue having been realized, he obtained a situation as tutor in the family of Thomas Hill, Esq., of Fern

Hall, in Shropshire. And here occurred the change which to him, and to all who experience it, is the beginning of a new life, the starting-point of a new career, the upspringing of a well of water which is unto life eternal. This was his clear, undoubted, scriptural conversion. God spoke to his inmost soul in a dream, in which the fiery terrors and dread alarms of that great day of judgment were vividly portrayed before his mind, and he was assured that he was not prepared to meet it. This awakened a wild tumult of doubt and fear, of conviction for sin and dread of its terrible consequences. Right in the midst of this an incident occurred which is of interest to every Methodist.

When Mr. Hill went up to London to attend the Parliament, he took his family and Mr. Fletcher with him. While they stopped at St. Albans he walked out into the town, and did not return until they were set out for London. A horse being left for him, he rode after, and overtook them in the evening. Mr. Hill asked him why he stayed behind. He said, “As I was walking, I met with a poor old woman, who talked so sweetly of Jesus Christ that I knew not how the time passed away." "I shall wonder," said Mrs. Hill, "if our tutor does not turn Methodist by and by." "Methodist, madame!" said he, "pray, what is that?" She replied, "Why, the Methodists are a people that do nothing but pray; they are praying all day and all night." "Are they?" said he; "then, by the help of God, I will find them out!" He did find them out, joined the society, and met in Mr. Richard Edwards's class.

As soon as the new, divine life was consciously enjoyed in his soul, he devoted himself earnestly to the service of his Master. Whole nights were spent each week in reading the Scriptures, and in other devotional exercises. Now, also, there returned upon him deep, earnest convictions, the pressure of a divine call to devote himself to the work of the ministry. And so, after consultation with Mr. Wesley, he was ordained to the holy work of the ministry, to which he had been set apart by his parents, which he had hesitated to enter upon before his conversion, but which now was the height of his sanctified ambition. Mr. Wesley had been longing for some one to help him. in his large sacramental services. His request was now granted, and he writes, "How wonderful are the ways of God! When my bodily strength failed, and none in England were able and willing to assist me, he sent me help from the mountains of

Switzerland, and a helpmeet for me in every respect. Where could I have found such another?"

It seems, indeed, very strange that one so gifted and so devoted should be three years after his ordination without a church appointment. But so it was. He was evidently an unpopular minister among the ungodly and the worldly. When he preached at Atcham on "Ye adulterers and adulteresses,' etc., Vaughan says, "The congregation stood amazed, and gazed upon him as if he had been a monster, but to me he appeared as a messenger sent from heaven." Soon the churches began to be closed against him; but by those who were evangelical in the Church, and by Mr. Wesley's societies, his services and sermons were highly appreciated. Nor were his ministrations. ineffectual. Not only were believers comforted and built up, but instances of conversion of the most cheering character occurred. Hearing of the wonderful scenes which had been witnessed at Everton, under the preaching of Berridge, Mr. Fletcher desired to see them for himself. Arriving at the place, he introduced himself to Berridge as a 66 new convert who had taken the liberty to wait upon him for the benefit of his instruction and advice." Perceiving by his accent that he was a foreigner, he asked him what countryman he was. He replied, "A Swiss, from the Canton of Berne." "From Berne! then, probably, you can give me some account of a young countryman of yours, John Fletcher, who has lately preached a few times for the Messrs. Wesley, and of whose talents, learning, and piety they both speak in terms of high eulogy. Do you know him?" "Yes, sir, I know him intimately; and did those gentlemen know him as well, they would not speak so highly of him. He is more obliged to their partial friendship than to his own merits." "You surprise me," said Berridge. "I have the best reason for speaking of John Fletcher as I do. I am John Fletcher." "If you be John Fletcher," replied Berridge," you must take my pulpit tomorrow."

It was in this place, not long afterward, that Mr. Fletcher witnessed one of those wonderful displays of the divine power and glory which were so frequent under the mighty ministrations of the early Methodists, both in the Arminian and Calvinistic branches. There were present on the occasion referred