“Farewell! I am, etc.,
“J. Fletcher.”[[330]]
[314]. This was published in 1772, and will be noticed shortly.
[315]. “Zelotes,” says Fletcher, “represents any zealous Solifidian, who looks upon the doctrine of free-will as heretical: Honestus, any zealous moralist, who looks upon the doctrine of free grace as enthusiastical.”
[316]. “Methodism in North Devon,” p. 115.
[317]. After most ably arguing the matter, Wesley, in the sermon here referred to, concludes “that faith is the only condition which is immediately and proximately necessary to sanctification;” and that the “faith whereby we are sanctified—saved from sin, and perfected in love, is a divine evidence and conviction, first, that God hath promised it in the Holy Scripture; secondly, that what God hath promised, He is able to perform; thirdly, that He is able and willing to do it now; and, fourthly, a divine evidence and conviction that He doeth it. In that hour,” continues Wesley, “it is done; God says to the inmost soul, ‘According to thy faith, be it unto thee!’ Then the soul is pure from every spot of sin; it is clean ‘from all unrighteousness.’ The believer then experiences the deep meaning of those solemn words, ‘If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’”
[318]. Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 252.
[319]. Joseph Benson was appointed to the Edinburgh Circuit at the Conference of 1774; and to the Newcastle Circuit at the Conference of 1775.
[320]. Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”