Why was it written and published? Fletcher had replied to the “Circular Letter” and the “Narrative” of Shirley, and in doing so had vindicated Wesley’s “Minutes.” Shirley was now silent, but other antagonists started up. A small 8vo. pamphlet was published, with the title “A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley, on the Differences subsisting between him and the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Shirley.” The author subscribed himself “An enemy to no man, but a friend to religion;” and his letter was dated “Bath, February 3, 1772.” This religious gentleman alleged that, under the existing circumstances, the publication of Fletcher’s answer to Shirley’s “Circular Letter” “was highly censurable, yea, criminal.” He accused Fletcher of “wantonly scattering firebrands, arrows, and death;” his defence of Wesley’s “Minutes” was “flimsy;” and he was actuated by “personal envy or enmity more than by a love to Christ and a godly zeal to promote truth.” Fletcher, properly enough, declined to notice the virulent and frothy pamphlet of this Bath religionist; but another publication, issued about the same time, demanded his attention. Its author was his friend and neighbour, Richard Hill, Esq., and its title as follows: “Five Letters to the Reverend Mr. F——r, relative to his Vindication of the Minutes of the Reverend Mr. John Wesley. Intended chiefly for the comfort of mourning backsliders, and such as may have been distressed and perplexed by reading Mr. Wesley’s Minutes, or the Vindication of them. By a Friend. London: 1772.” 8vo., 40 pp.[261] Footnote 261: A second edition, “revised and much enlarged,” was published about the same time as Fletcher’s “Third Check.” The first edition consisted of forty pages, the second of fifty-two. There is nothing of importance, however, in the second issue which is not in the first, except a few acrid references to Wesley. The following may be taken as a specimen: “I shall make no remarks upon the poor, loose, flimsy manner in which the ‘Minutes’ are worded; but I cannot help observing that it seems almost impossible for Mr. Wesley to write a page without contradicting himself” (p. 50). Mr. Hill’s first letter is dated “December 2, 1771.”[262] His pamphlet is remarkable for two things—_only two_:—First, the highest Christian urbanity towards Fletcher; and secondly, the writer’s curious theology. A few extracts from Mr. Hill’s letters will suffice to show that Fletcher’s task of answering his courteous opponent was not a difficult undertaking. Footnote 262: In the second edition it is dated “Feb., 1772.”