“Had he aimed at celebrity as a public speaker, furnished as he was with the united powers of learning, genius, and taste, he might have succeeded beyond many; but his design was to _convert_ and not to _captivate_ his hearers; to secure their eternal interests, and not to obtain their momentary applause. Hence his ‘_speech and his preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power_.’ He spake as in the presence of God, and taught as one having Divine authority. There was an energy in his preaching that was irresistible. His subjects, his language, his gestures, the tone of his voice, and the turn of his countenance, all conspired to fix the attention and affect the heart. Without aiming at sublimity, he was truly sublime; and uncommonly eloquent without affecting the orator.”[89] Footnote 89: “The Portrait of St. Paul.” Such is the testimony of a gentleman who, for a season, lived in Fletcher’s house, and for many years lived in the neighbourhood of Fletcher’s parish. It would be worse than foolish to add anything to it, except the remarks of Fletcher’s friend and first biographer, John Wesley:— “Mr. Fletcher settled at Madeley in the year 1760, and from the beginning he was a laborious workman in his Lord’s vineyard. At his first settling there, the hearts of several were unaccountably set against him, insomuch that he was constrained to warn some of these that if they did not repent God would speedily cut them off. And the truth of these predictions was shown over and over by the signal accomplishment of them.[90] But no opposition could hinder him from going on his Master’s work, and suppressing vice in every possible manner. Those sinners who endeavoured to hide themselves from him he pursued to every corner of his parish by all sorts of means, public and private, early and late, in season and out of season, entreating and warning them to flee from the wrath to come. Some made it an excuse for not attending church that they could not awake early enough to get their families ready. He provided for this also. Taking a bell in his hand, he set out every Sunday at five in the morning, and went round the most distant parts of the parish, inviting all the inhabitants to the house of God.