We put it as our most sober judgment that the great need of the church in this and all ages is men of such commanding faith, of such unsullied holiness, of such marked spiritual vigor and consuming zeal that their ministry will be of such a radical and aggressive form as to work spiritual revolutions which will form eras in individual and church life.

We do not mean men who get up sensational stirs by novel devices, nor those who attract by a pleasing entertainment; but men who can stir things, and work revolutions by the preaching of God's word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, revolutions which change the whole current of things.

Natural ability and educational advantages do not figure as factors in this matter; but a capacity for faith, the ability to pray, the power of a thorough consecration, the ability of self-littleness, an absolute losing of one's self in God's glory and an ever present and insatiable yearning and seeking after all the fullness of God. Men who can set the church ablaze for God, not in a noisy, showy way, but with an intense and quiet heat that melts and moves every thing for God.

We instance John Fletcher as a type and pattern. Madeley, the place of his work, was given over to wickedness of the lowest kind. Holy things were decried, the forms of religion held up to contempt, the restraints of decency disregarded. It was a crowded, debauched, heathenish population, without seemliness or promise. A dismaying prospect to any save a strong faith. Without hope of recovery save by the gospel of the Son of God in its genuine and divine form. Into this seething mass of corruption the ministry of Fletcher was injected. It was like caustic or salt on a sore, there were kickings and adversaries and opposition and insults of all kinds from the worldly clergy as well as from the wicked rabble. His words were wrested, his actions misrepresented, his name cast out as evil. But his ministry came with resurrection power, the valley of death was shaken as by the archangel's voice and the trump of God. Fletcher gave them the words of God, and it reproved their sins, convicted their consciences, exposed their guilt and their doom. Dauntless, self-sacrificing, on fire with holy zeal, he affected them despite their opposition, he influenced them despite their hate. His scantily attended church was soon overflowing. The whole aspect changed, a mighty work was wrought, the community transformed. Madeley became the rendezvous for religious persons, a privileged and honored place, a sort of Christian Jerusalem. The influence still remains. A late distinguished Methodist writer says: "Madeley will long be a kind of Mecca to the Methodists." Three Established and seven Methodist churches formed out of his work attest the present and enduring results of his labors.

What were the elements by which this revolution was secured? He preached the word of God in its entirety with great fidelity. He sought persistently, daily, hourly, and all the time the increased energy and conscious power of God's Spirit, enabling him and enabling the word.

He was untiring and urgent in securing personal holiness. An example he was of the Methodist doctrine of perfect love, and of that ceaseless groaning after it which always characterizes those who are its partakers. He was a saintly character, his holiness was not of the tame, conservative, insipid type; but pungent, aggressive, fresh, radiant as the morning, hostile as a bannered host against sin. With touches gentler than a woman's to the brokenhearted, Fletcher went out after his people, he followed them to their haunts, preached in their dens, broke into their assemblies of lust and wickedness with a vehement and holy indignation. He solved the question of reaching the masses, the question that has given so much theoretical trouble to professional preachers. The man who reaches his church for God will reach the masses. A quickened church and a holy ministry is the secret of reaching the masses. Fletcher was stirred mightily for God, and he moved toward God with impetuous and fiery burnings. No man can stir things mightily for God who is not himself stirred mightily for and toward God.

Simple, frugal, self-denying, and unworldly in his piety, he labored with the single eye, and his heart in heaven. His zeal knew no abatement, tireless and consuming, his whole being was aflame for God and his glory; nothing selfish, low, or earthly, adulterated this pure flame.

He was mighty in prayer; the wall of his room still bears the stains of his breath where he poured out his soul to God day and night. His faith and desires for God were mightily helped fasting. He had a mighty faith, a westling spirit, believed in God mightily, and, as its results, worked for men mightily. God was with him, as he will be with every man who seeks him as Fletcher sought him, honor every man who honors him as Fletcher did. Fletcher lived singly, simply, and only for God, and these are the only men by whom God will work mighty works. Had Fletcher thought of salary, had an eye or half an eye to self, mixed his motives with desires for place or position, then he had never wrought his work for God, then Madeley would never have felt the pressure, force, and revolution of his ministry. Then Fletcher never would have had a place in the calendar of saints. He said when offered another place: "Too much money and too little work." With this crucified earthliness he began, continued, and wrought out his work. Such men God delights to honor.