A VINDICATION

OF

THE REV. MR. WESLEY'S

"CALM ADDRESS TO OUR AMERICAN COLONIES:"

IN THREE LETTERS TO MR. CALEB EVANS.

BY THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER,

VICAR OF MADELEY, SALOP.

NOTICE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

THE following tracts of Mr. Fletcher were written at a time of great political excitement. And though we can by no means accord to the sentiments advanced in them, nor justify the strong denunciations against the Americans, yet we can find an apology for their author in that love of country which is natural to every genuine patriot, and that abhorrence of civil commotion with which the bosom of every Christian is pervaded. Both Wesley and Fletcher thought the American people did wrong in taking up arms against the mother country; and being true loyal subjects, they considered it their duty to vindicate the cause of their king and country, and to denounce the colonists as rebels.

Mr. Wesley lived to see and acknowledge the hand of God in our independence as a nation; and to assist in establishing a Church in this country which recog. nized our independence and national sovereignty; and we his followers have had the happiness to witness with pious gratitude the blessed effects of that ecclesiastical economy in the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom throughout this free and happy land.

Notwithstanding the objectionable features of the following tracts, considered in a political point of view, in republishing a complete edition of Mr. Fletcher's Works, they could not consistently be omitted nor abridged; and we presume that every admirer of this pious and excellent author, would wish to read all he has written, reserving to himself the liberty of determining on what is just and true, according to the light of Scripture and reason. Infallibility in all things is what no man claims, for either Wesley or Fletcher, however much he may admire them as ministers of the sanctuary; and we must confess that we very much prefer following them as divines than as leaders in political science. In the former character they moved and shone in their own appropriate sphere; while in the latter they exhibited those eccentricities which indicated that they had wandered a little from their wonted course. We make these remarks to show that in publishing the following patriotic and spirited addresses, we neither subscribe to the sentiments expressed, nor withdraw our charity and veneration for the man who thus dared to utter his thoughts in defence of what he considered the rights of his king and country. Should political convulsions ever threaten to shake our own country, and to prostrate our happy constitution, we should rejoice to find a mind equally pious and ardent, engaged from the same conscientious feeling of duty, in their preservation, though we might wish him a more successful issue of his labours.

NEW-YORK, May 23, 1833,

PREFACE

TO A VINDICATION OF THE CALM ADDRESS.

Ir will probably seem strange that clergymen should meddle with a controversy which has hitherto been considered as altogether political. But the reader's surprise, in this respect, will probably cease, if he give himself the trouble to read these letters. He will then see that the American controversy is closely connected with Christianity in general, and with Protestantism in particular; and that, of consequence, it is of a religious as well as of a civil nature.

Is it not granted, on all sides, that the Gospel leads to the practice of strict morality? Is it not an important branch of such morality "to honour and obey the king;" to extend that honour and obedience, in a Scriptural and constitutional manner, to "all that are put in authority under him; to submit ourselves to all our governors; to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters; to hurt nobody by word or deed, and to be true and just in all our dealings;" give every one his due, "tribute to whom tribute is due, and custom to whom custom ?" Do we not teach this doctrine to our children, when we instruct them in the first principles of Christianity? If divinity, therefore, can cast light upon the question which divides Great Britain and her colonies, is it impertinent in divines to hold out the light of their science, and peaceably to use what the apostle calls "the sword of the Spirit," that the material sword, unjustly drawn by those who are in the wrong, may be sheathed, and that a speedy end may be put to the effusion of Christian blood?

Another reason influences the author to write upon the question which is now so warmly agitated in England, so dreadfully debated in America. Many of the colonists are as pious as they are brave; and while their undaunted fortitude makes them scorn to bow under a hostile arm, which shoots the deadly lightning of war, their humble piety may dispose them (or some of them) to regard a friendly hand which holds out an olive branch, a Bible, and the articles of religion drawn by their favourite reformer. Had more care been taken to inform their judgment, and to work upon their consciences, by addressing them, not only as subjects, but as free men, brethren, and Protestants, it is probable that numbers of them would never have so strongly embraced the un. scriptural principles which now influence their conduct.

Should it be said that it is too late now to use spiritual weapons with the colonists, I reply, that this objection bears too hard upon their can.

dour; it can never be too late to hold out plain Scripture and solid arguments to judicious Protestants. It is only to Papists strongly prejudiced, or to those who relapse into popish obstinacy, that the light of God's word, and of sound reason, can come too late. Beside, the mis. takes which have armed the provincials against Great Britain, begin to work in the breasts of many good men among us: witness the principles of Americanus. Now, therefore, is the time to keep these well-meaning men from going to the same extremes to which the colonists are gone: now is the time to prevent others, whose judgment is yet cool and sober, from drinking in errors by which such numbers are intoxicated.

A VINDICATION, &c.

LETTER I.

The doctrine of taxation, maintained by the author of the Calm Address, is rational, Scriptural, and constitutional.

REVEREND SIR,-Thankful for the religious and civil liberty which I enjoy as a subject of Great Britain; persuaded that many warm, wellmeaning men mistake an unreasonable opposition to the king and the minister, for true patriotism; sensible of the sad consequences of national misunderstandings; ardently wishing that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundation, (which, if I mistake not, are reason, Scripture, and our excellent constitution,) that peace and harmony may, for all generations, be established between Great Britain and her flourishing colonies; and desirous to inspire you, sir, and my dissatisfied, dissenting brethren, with the same loyal sentiments, I take the pen to expostulate with you about the system of politics which you recommend to the public in your "Letter to the Rev. Mr. Wesley, occasioned by his Calm Address to the American Colonies,"

It is at this time peculiarly needful to throw light upon the question debated between Mr. Wesley and you; for if you are in the right, the sovereign is a tyrant; taxing the colonists is robbery; and enforcing such taxation by the sword is murder. We cannot hold up the hands of our soldiers by prayer, without committing sin: nor can they fight with Christian courage, which is inseparable from a good conscience, if they suspect that they are sent to rob good men of their properties, liberties, and lives.

Mr. Wesley asserts, "That the supreme power in England has a legal right of laying any tax [I would say any proportionable tax] upon the American colonies, for any end beneficial to the whole empire, with or without their consent." And you reply, "If the Americans are indeed subject to such a power as this, their condition differs not from that of the most abject slaves in the universe."

Sir, I venture to assert that you are mistaken, and that Mr. Wesley's proposition is rational, Scriptural, and constitutional. And, promising you to show in another letter the absurdity of your proposition, I enter upon the proof of my assertion, by an appeal to reason, Scripture, and your own letter. In following this method, I shall address you as a man, a divine, and a controvertist. First, as a man :—

Does not your mistake spring from your inattention to the nature of civil government? You represent the power which the king and parliament claim of disposing of some of the money of the colonists without their consent, as an encroachment upon British liberty; as an unjust, tyrannical pretension; nay, as a species of "robbery." But did you never consider, sir, that in the nature of things our sovereign in England, (I mean by this word the king and his parliament, first jointly making