did against themselves and the other cities of the plain? If you
cherish the sparks of wantonness, as they did, how can you but be made
with them to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire? Do not flatter
yourselves with the vain hope that your sin is not so heinous as
theirs. If it be less in degree, is it not infinitely greater in its
aggravating circumstances? Were these poor Canaanites _Christians_?
Had they Bibles and ministers? Had they sermons and sacraments? Did
they ever vow, as you have done, to renounce the devil and all sinful
lusts of the flesh? Did they ever hear of the Son of God sweating
great drops of blood, in an agony of prayer, to quench the fire of
human corruption? Oh, acknowledge your guilt and danger, and by
deep repentance prevent infallible destruction!"

Faithful and fearless utterances such as these made him famous, but
not popular: inconsistent professors resented them deeply; open
sinners raged at the unsparing denunciations which they could not fail
to appropriate, yet out of the latter class came some of Fletcher's
best and most encouraging converts.

Much of his success in getting men to listen to unpalatable truths lay
in his gentleness of manner and rare humility of mind, but "gentlest
of human beings" as he has been described, he had the courage of a
lion in fight, and for his Master's sake he knew no palliation of
unrighteousness, even though his truth-telling made the bitterest of
enemies.

_By nature_ Fletcher was not a meek man; he had "a fiery
passionate spirit," says one of his biographers, "insomuch that he has
frequently thrown himself on the floor, and lain there most of the
night bathed in tears, imploring victory over his own temper. And he