So ends all that need be said here concerning Fletcher’s “Second Check to Antinomianism.” To appreciate its style, its temper, and its arguments, the reader must peruse it for himself; and, by doing so, his mind will be enriched, and his soul profited.
An extract from one of Fletcher’s letters may fitly close this section of his biography. The letter was addressed to the Rev. Joseph Benson, and was dated “December 5, 1771.”
“There is undoubtedly such a thing as the full assurance of faith. Be not discouraged on account of thousands, who stop short of it. It is our own fault if we do not attain it. God would give us ample satisfaction if we did but deeply feel our wants. Both you and I want a deeper awakening, which will produce a death to outward things and speculative knowledge. Let us shut our eyes to the gilded clouds without us: let us draw inward, and search after God, if haply we may find Him. Let us hold fast our confidence, though we are often constrained against hope, to believe in hope. But let us not rest in our confidence, as thousands do; let it help us to struggle and wait, till He come. Let us habituate ourselves to live inwardly. This will solemnize us, and prevent our trifling with the things of God. We may be thankful for what we have without resting in it. We may strive, and yet not trust in our striving; but expect all from Divine grace.”[[252]]
In such a frame of mind and heart Fletcher carried on his polemic warfare.
[246]. This is a calumny. The Declaration was not drawn up by Wesley, but by Shirley. “Wesley,” says Shirley, “made some, not very material, alterations in it.”
[247]. Another misrepresentation; for Fletcher’s manuscript was committed to the press before the Declaration was signed.
[248]. Mr. Mather and Mr. Benson were now stationed in Wesley’s London Circuit.
[249]. See “The Second Part of the Fifth Check to Antinomianism,” p. 11, First Edition.
[250]. It may be well to say, once for all, that all these quotations, with their differences of type, are taken from the first editions of Fletcher’s publications. The differences are not preserved in recent editions.