The Works of the Reverend John Fletcher Author:John Fletcher Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A LETTER FROM THE REV. MR. FLETCHER, THE REV. MR. PROTHERO, IN DEFENCE OF EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION. Madelet, My 25, 1761. Rev. Sir,—Tii'- elegant ser... more »mon you preached at the visitation, got you, no doubt, the thanks of your known hearers. Permit an unknown one to add his to theirs, and to pay to merit a just tribute. It gave me exceeding great satisfaction to see you stand up so boldly in defence of revealed religion against Deists and infidels, and, by ingenious observations and cogent arguments, force them out of their strong hold, a blind confidence in reason. I could not help wishing that they did every where meet with opponents so able to fight them with their own weapons. Were this the case, there would not be so much room to lament the over- flowings of Deism among men of reason and learning. The second part of your discourse, wherein you endeavoured to guard the truth from the other extreme, superstition and enthusiasm, deserves no less to be commended, on account of the goodness of your design. It is the duty of a preacher to keep the sacred truths committed to him, as well from being perverted by enthusiasts, as crushed by infidels. The rocks on which both split are equally dangerous, and we see daily that nothing exposes so much the mysteries of Christianity to the scorn of freethinkers, as the words and behaviour of those who suppose themselves under the inspiration of God's Spirit, when, it appears, that they are led only by the weakness of their mind and nerves, by spiritual pride and the warmth of their imagination. Boasting of communion with God, and We find this letter referred to in a letter of Mr. Fletcher to the Rev. Charles Wesley, dated August 18,1761, and recorded in page 73 of hie life, octavo edition, in tho following words: " I do not kn...« less