Although Fletcher did not reside at Trevecca, he frequently visited it during the first three years of its history.  “Being convinced that to be filled with the Holy Ghost was a better qualification for the ministry of the Gospel than any classical learning (although that too be useful in its place), after speaking awhile in the schoolroom, he used frequently to say, ’As many of you as are athirst for this fulness of the Spirit, follow me into my room.’  On this many of them have instantly followed him, and there continued for two or three hours, wrestling like Jacob for the blessing.”

Lady Huntingdon spent much of her time at Trevecca, and for some years bore the entire cost of the college, expending upon it from L500 to L600 a year.  The lease of the property at Trevecca expired within a few months of the Countess’s death in 1791, and it having become imperative to find a new location, the college was in 1792 removed to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, about twelve miles from London, where it has ever since continued to flourish.

During the century and a quarter of its existence Cheshunt College has rendered good service to the Church of Christ.  Among the students educated at Trevecca were such men as John Clayton of the Weigh House Chapel, Roby of Manchester, and Matthew Wilks of the Tabernacle.  The longer roll of those who entered after 1792 contains such names as Joseph Sortain of Brighton, and James Sherman of Surrey Chapel, in the ministry of the home churches; and is peculiarly rich in men who have done and are still doing noble service in the great mission field of the world.  The flame of missionary enthusiasm has ever burnt brightly at Cheshunt.  Among the many who have gone to their well-earned rest are men like Dr. Turner of Samoa, and James Gilmour of Mongolia.  In the succession of able and devoted workers for the Church at home and for the heathen abroad, sent forth year by year, the good work begun at Trevecca is still living and growing.

VIII.

THE CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY.

The leaders of the great revival of the eighteenth century were divided into two great groups, the one headed by John Wesley, the other by George Whitefield.  The Calvinism of the latter at times seemed dangerously rigid to the former; while Whitefield sometimes spoke and acted as though he feared that in preaching free grace Wesley lost sight altogether of the Divine sovereignty.  So sharply marked was the divergence of view that for a time it interfered with their co-operation.  Mainly by Lady Huntingdon’s influence, as we have seen, in 1750 unity was restored.  For twenty years the two wings of the evangelical army laboured harmoniously; but in 1770 the doctrinal strife was renewed in a way and with a vehemence that separated the two sections; although in most cases it did not affect the mutual love and personal esteem in which the contending parties held each other.