The history of Methodism . iting, it was by Fletcher, of Madeley. Dr. Abel vStevensobserves: Fletcher was declining in health during thecontest, and he wrote, not only as on the verge of the grave,but as at the gate of heaven. . It can be said of his contro-versial pamphlets that they may be read by devout men, evenas aids to devotion ; they are severe only in the keenness oftheir arguments: they glow with a continuous but unob-trusive strain of Christian exhortation ; the argument alter-nates with pleas for peace. ... It may be probably affirmedthat no man previously undetermined in his opini
The history of Methodism . iting, it was by Fletcher, of Madeley. Dr. Abel vStevensobserves: Fletcher was declining in health during thecontest, and he wrote, not only as on the verge of the grave,but as at the gate of heaven. . It can be said of his contro-versial pamphlets that they may be read by devout men, evenas aids to devotion ; they are severe only in the keenness oftheir arguments: they glow with a continuous but unob-trusive strain of Christian exhortation ; the argument alter-nates with pleas for peace. ... It may be probably affirmedthat no man previously undetermined in his opinions on theCalvinistic controversy can read Fletchers Checks throughwithout closing them an Arminian; and it is no detractionto them to add that this effect is owing to their moral aswell as to their logical power. I nothing wonder, saysWesley, at a serious clergyman, who, being resolved to liveand die in his own opinion, when pressed to read themreplied. No, I will never read them; for if I did, I shouldbe of his CHAPTER XCVI The Fever-heat of Controversy John Wesleys Provoking Silence.—Champions of Calvinism.—Richard and Rowland Hill.—Augustus Montague Toplady.—Controversial Mud—The Gospel Magazine.—Wesley onCalvinism. JOHN WESLEY wrote but little on the controversy, andhis opponents were greatly vexed because he went onsteadily with his evangelistic work and handed themover to Fletcher, Thomas Olivers, and Walter Olivers is best known by his fine hymn, The Godof Abraham praise, and it is to be regretted that the hym-nist plunged into polemics, for he was less temperate thanFletcher, and, unlike him, retaliated personal abuse. Thissturdy Welshman, as Southey calls him, had been aroaming shoemaker, and lived a wild life before his conver-sion under Whitefield. A man of active brain and strongwill, he became a diligent student, and later we find himacting as Wesleys editor in London. He was a chival-rous and powerful defender of Wesley, a stout c
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