Indeed, if for no other reason, Charles Wesley occupies a most important place in the history of early Methodism, as forming the connecting link between John Wesley and Whitefield.  In October, 1749, he wrote, ’George Whitefield and my brother and I are one; a threefold cord which shall no more be broken;’ but he does not add, as he might have done, that he himself was the means by which the union was effected.  The contrast between Whitefield and John Wesley, in character, tastes, culture, &c., was so very great that, quite apart from their doctrinal differences, there could probably never have been any real intimacy between them, had there not been some common friend who had in his character some points of contact with both.  That common friend was Charles Wesley.  Full of sterling common sense, highly cultured and refined, possessed of strong reasoning powers, and well read like his brother, he was impulsive, demonstrative in his feelings, and very tenderhearted like Whitefield.  Whitefield never quite appreciated John Wesley, but Charles he loved dearly, and so did John.  As we have seen, the one solitary instance of the strong man’s breaking down was on the death of his brother.  And Charles Wesley was thoroughly worthy of every good man’s love.  His fame (except as a poet) has been somewhat overshadowed by the still greater renown of his brother, but he contributed his full share towards the success of the Evangelical Revival.

If John Wesley was the great leader and organiser, Charles Wesley the great poet, and George Whitefield the great preacher of Methodism, the highest type of saintliness which it produced was unquestionably John Fletcher (1729-1785).  Never, perhaps, since the rise of Christianity has the mind which was in Christ Jesus been more faithfully copied than it was in the Vicar of Madeley.  To say that he was a good Christian is saying too little.  He was more than Christian, he was Christlike.  It is said that Voltaire, when challenged to produce a character as perfect as that of Jesus Christ, at once mentioned Fletcher of Madeley; and if the comparison between the God-man and any child of Adam were in any case admissible, it would be difficult to find one with whom it could be instituted with less appearance of blasphemy than this excellent man.  Fletcher was a Swiss by birth and education; and to the last he showed traces of his foreign origin.  But England can claim the credit of having formed his spiritual character.  Soon after his settlement in England as tutor to the sons of Mr. Hill of Terne Hall, he became attracted by the Methodist movement, which had then (1752) become a force in the country, and in 1753 he was admitted into Holy Orders.  The account of his appointment to the living of Madeley presents a very unusual phenomenon in the eighteenth century.  His patron, Mr. Hill, offered him the living of Dunham, ’where the population was small, the income good, and the village situated in the midst of a fine sporting country.’  These