“Now, Sir, Mr. Wesley cannot but fear it is not well with persons who are in any of these cases: though everybody should join to extol them as ‘dear children of God,’ he is persuaded that _Satan has beguiled them, as he did Eve_; and he addresses them, as our Lord did the angel of the church of Sardis,—‘I know thy works, that thou _hast a name, that thou livest; and art dead_,’ or dying: ‘_Repent, therefore, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God._’” When it is remembered that Fletcher’s manuscript was read and revised by Wesley, before it was printed, the foregoing description of “_many persons_” in Wesley’s Societies is possessed of more than ordinary interest. Only ten years had elapsed since the great revival of Christian perfection in those Societies, and yet such was the judgment pronounced by Fletcher, and which Wesley sanctioned! After explaining and defending all the doctrines contained in Wesley’s “Minutes,” Fletcher concludes his fourth letter as follows:— “Thus, Sir, have I looked out for the _heresy_, the _dreadful heresy_ of Mr. Wesley’s ‘Minutes,’ by bringing all the propositions they contain to the touchstone of Scripture and common sense; but, instead of finding it, I have found the very marrow of the Gospel of Christ. I have showed that the ‘Minutes’ contain nothing but what is truly scriptural; and nothing but what the best Calvinist divines have themselves, directly or indirectly, asserted; except, perhaps, the sixth proposition concerning the merit of works; and, with respect to this, I hope I have demonstrated, upon rational and evangelical principles, that Mr. Wesley, far from _bringing in a damnable heresy_, has done the Gospel justice, and Protestantism service, by candidly giving up an old prejudice, equally contrary to Scripture and good sense,—a piece of bigotry which has long hardened the papists against the doctrine of salvation by the merit of Christ, and has added inconceivable strength to the Antinomian delusion among us. “One difficulty remains, and that is, to account for your attacking Mr. Wesley, though you could not wound him without stabbing yourself. Reserving my reflections upon this amazing step for another letter, “I remain your astonished servant in the bonds of a peaceful Gospel, “J. FLETCHER.” As here indicated, the fifth and last letter contained that which most offended Shirley. In his “Narrative,” Shirley remarks:—