Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730–1805: In Two Volumes

18. The Bible and the World [1776]

- - J8 - THE BIBLE AND THE SWORD John Fletcher LONDON I 7 7 6 jOHN FLETCHER (1729-1785). Born John de la Flechere in Nyon, Switzerland, Fletcher studied at the University of Geneva, where he excelled in classical literature, and became a commissioned officer in the Portuguese army. He emigrated to England in 1752 and became an intimate of John and Charles Wesley, with whom he avidly corresponded . Embracing Methodism, he was ordained a priest in 1757 at London's Whitehall; he assisted John Wesley in the Lord's Supper the same day. An outstanding writer, Fletcher became a leading Methodist theologian . And although he did not follow the itinerant pattern of the Wesleys, Fletcher was one of the founders of the Wesleyan movement . He became Vicar of Madeley, Salop (Shropshire) in 1760 and spent his life in that hard region. He was for a time superintendent of Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon's College of Trevecca in Wales (1768-71). He resigned when his Arminian views clashed with Lady Huntingdon's strict Calvinism. Comparing him with George Whitefield, John Wesley declared Fletcher to be superior "in holy tempers and holiness of conversation "; indeed, Wesley claimed that he had "never met so holy a man and never expected to do so this side of eternity" (A Short Account of the Life and Death ofthe Reverendjohn Fletcher, 1795). Other contemporaries seem to have shared this assessment of Fletcher's saintliness. The Bible and the Sword (1776) reflects the Wesleyan view of the righteousness of the British in suppressing the American rebellion. God was on England's side. Fletcher also wrote A Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley's "Calm Address ..." (1776). s6o The B I B L E and the S WO R D: 0 R, THE APPOINTMENT OF T H E GENERAL FAST VINDICATED: In an Addrefs to the Comtnon People, CONCERNING THE PROPRIETY OF REPRESSING OBSTINATE LICENTIOUSNESS WITH THE SWORD, AND OF FASTING WHEN THE SWORD IS DRAWN FOR THAT PURPOSE. " From all Sedition, privy Confpir:o.cy, and Rebellion, Good. " Lord deliver us." [And, in ol"dtl" to thiJ we prayJ " That it " may pleafe Thee to give the Magiftrates grace to ExEcuTE Jufrice."' Litany. He [the }tpreme hfag!ft>'a!eJbeareth not the swo11.n in vain : for he is the Minifter of God, :>. Revenger to EXEC\! T E wrath upon him that doeth evil. Rom. xiii. 4• L 0 N D 0 N: Printed by R. HAwEs, And fold at the FouNDRY, in Moorfields, and at the Rev. Mr. \V.ESLI!.Y's Preaching-Houfe& in Town and Country, J776, My dear fellow-subjects n a late publication,* too large and too dear for common readers, we find the following observations. "Dr. Price, the champion of the American patriots, has ~-o:z....--....advanced an argument, which deserves the attention of all, who wish well to church and state: Take it in his own words. In this hour of tremendous danger, it would become us to turn our thoughts to heaven. This is what our brethren in the colonies are doing. From one end of North America to the other, they are fasting and praying. But what are we doing? Shocking thought! we are ridiculing them as fanatics , and scoffing at religion. We are running wild after pleasure, and forgetting every thing serious and decent at masquerades. We are gambling in gaming houses; trafficking for boroughs; perjuring ourselves at elections; and selling ourselves for places. Which side then is Providence likely to favour? In America we see a number of rising states in the vigour of youth, and animated by piety. Here we see an old state, inflated and irreligious, enervated by luxury, and hanging by a thread. Can we look without pain on the issue? "There is more solidity in this argument, than in all that Dr. Price has advanced. If the colonists throng the houses of God, while we throng play-houses, or houses of ill fame; if they croud their communion -tables, while we croud the gaming table or the festal board; if they pray, while we curse; if they fast, while we get drunk; and keep the sabbath, while we pollute it; if they shelter under the protection of heaven, while our chief attention is turned to our troops; we are in danger-in great danger. Be our cause ever so good, and our force ever so formidable; our case is bad, and our...