[229]. It is a notable fact that Wesley had spent the three previous days with Fletcher. Hence the following from Wesley’s Journal:—
“1771. Friday, July 26. I went on to Shrewsbury, where Mr. Fletcher met me.—Sunday, 28. I preached at Madeley, morning and afternoon. The church would not near contain the congregation; but the window near the pulpit being open, those without could hear as well as those within.—Monday, 29. I went on to Worcester.”
Probably Wesley took Fletcher’s manuscript away with him.
[230]. Wesley’s Journal.
[231]. Shirley’s “Narrative.”
[232]. Shirley’s “Narrative.”
[233]. Ibid.
[234]. Whitehead’s “Life of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 350.
[235]. That there might be no misunderstanding between them, Fletcher, on the same day, sent Wesley “the substance, and almost the very words,” of this letter to Shirley.
[236]. The Rev. Tobias Crisp, D.D., a divine of the Church of England, born in London in 1600, and who died in 1643. He was educated at Eton, thence he removed to Cambridge, and afterwards to Oriel College, Oxford. At the age of twenty-seven, he was appointed Rector of Brinkworth, in Wiltshire. Early in life, he was a favourer of the doctrines of Arminianism; afterwards, he became the champion of Antinomianism. His sermons, in three volumes, were printed after his death. It is said that, though the tenets he embraced seem to be a plea for licentiousness, he himself was remarkable for the purity and modesty of his manners.