“Deep and awful are the impressions made on every hand. Dear Mr. Fletcher’s preaching is truly apostolic. The Divine blessing accompanies his word in a very remarkable manner. He is ever at his work, is amazingly followed, and is singularly owned of God.”[120]
During his stay at Bath, Fletcher wrote his first pastoral letter, which was addressed, “To those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in or about Madeley. Peace be multiplied to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the operations of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” The letter was dated “Bath, October 30, 1765,” and the following is the substance of it:—
“By the help of Divine Providence, and the assistance of your prayers, I came safe hither last Saturday se’nnight. I was and am still a good deal weighed down under the sense of my insufficiency to preach the unspeakable riches of Christ to poor dying souls. This place is the seat of Satan’s gaudy throne; but the Lord hath nevertheless a few names here that are not ashamed of Him, both among the poor and among the rich. There are not many of the latter, but blessed be God for any one! It is a great miracle if one camel passes through the eye of a needle; or, in other words, if one rich person enters the kingdom of God. I thank God that none of you are rich in the things of this world. You are freed from a dreadful snare, even from Dives’ portion in this world. May you know the happiness of your state! It is a mercy to be driven to the throne of grace even by bodily want, and to live in dependence on Divine mercy even for a morsel of bread.
“I have been sowing the seed, that the Lord hath given, both in Bath and Bristol; and, though I have not been able to discharge my office as I would, the Lord has in some measure stood by me, and overruled my foolishness and helplessness. I am much supported by the thought that ‘you pray for me.’ With regard to the state of my soul, I find, blessed be God! that as my day is, so is my strength to travel on, without minding much either good or bad report.
“My absence from you answers two good ends in regard of me. I feel more my insufficiency, and the need of being daily ordained of Christ to preach His Gospel; and I shall value the more the worth of my privilege with you if I return safely to you. I had yesterday a most advantageous offer made me of going free of cost to my own country, to see my mother, brothers, and sisters in the flesh, whom I have not seen for near eighteen years; but I find my relations in the spirit are nearer and dearer to me than my relations in the flesh. I have therefore refused the kind offer, that I might return to you, and be comforted by the mutual faith of you and me.
“I hope, my dear brethren, that you improve much under the ministry of that faithful servant of God, Mr. Brown,[121] whom Providence blesses you with. Make haste to gather the honey of knowledge and grace as it drops from his lips; and may I find the hive of your heart so full of it at my return, that I may share with you in the heavenly store!
“In order to this, entreat the Lord to stir up your hunger and thirst after the flesh and blood of Jesus, and to increase your desire for the sincere milk of the Word. When people are hungry they will find time to go to their meals; and a good appetite does not think a meal a day too much. Be not satisfied with knowing the way to heaven, but walk in it constantly and joyfully. Be thoroughly in earnest. You may impose upon your brethren by a formal attendance on the means of grace, but you cannot deceive the Searcher of hearts. Let Him then see your heart struggling towards Him; and if you fall through heaviness, sloth, or unbelief, do not make a bad matter worse by continuing hopeless in the ditch of sin and guilt. Up and away to the blood of Jesus! It will not only wash away the guilt of past sins, but strengthen you to trample all iniquity under foot in the time to come. Never forget that the soul of the diligent shall be made fat; and that the Lord will spue the lukewarm out of His mouth. Get, therefore, that love which makes you diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
“I beg you will not neglect the assembling of yourselves together, and, when you meet in Society, be neither backward nor forward to speak. Let every one esteem himself the meanest in the company, and be glad to sit at the feet of the lowest. If you are tempted against any one, yield not to the temptation; and pray for much of that love which hopeth all things, and puts the best constructions even upon the worst of things. I beg, for Christ’s sake, I may find no division and no offence among you at my return. ‘If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the others better than himself.’
“I earnestly beg the continuance of your prayers for me, that the Lord may keep me from hurting His cause in these parts, and that when Providence shall bring me back among you (which I hope will be this day fortnight), I may be thoroughly furnished for every good word and work. That the blessing of God may crown all your hearts and your meetings, is the earnest prayer of, my very dear brethren,
“Your unworthy servant in the Gospel of our common Lord,
“P.S.—I had not time to finish this letter yesterday, being called upon to preach in a market town in the neighbourhood. The dragon showed some of his spite and venom to little purpose. A gentleman churchwarden would hinder my getting into the pulpit, and, in order to this, cursed and swore, and took another gentleman by the collar in the middle of the church. Notwithstanding his rage, I preached. May the Lord raise in power what was sown in weakness!”[122]
From this interesting letter, it appears that Fletcher spent four Sundays at Bath and Bristol. No doubt, he was the guest of the Countess of Huntingdon; but, at the same time, he formed an acquaintance with the excellent James Ireland, Esq., of Brislington, with whom he commenced a correspondence two or three months afterwards, which was continued to the end of life. There can hardly be a doubt that Mr. Ireland was the gentleman who offered to take Fletcher to Switzerland, free of cost. At this time, Mr. Ireland’s daughter was out of health, and for many years afterwards he was accustomed to go to the south of France for the benefit of himself and his family.
Eighteen years had elapsed since Fletcher had seen his mother, his brothers, and his sisters, and of course he wished to visit them; but there was his work at Madeley, and that was enough to make him forego what, under other circumstances, must have been an unspeakable pleasure. Some will accuse him of the want of natural affection, and will say he owed duties to his distant and long unseen relatives, as well as to his parishioners. Probably, in answer to such a charge, he would have quoted the words of his supreme Master: “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
It is evident, from Fletcher’s pastoral epistle, that his preaching in the west of England was not confined to Bath and Bristol; but, except the disgraceful incident of the profane churchwarden swearing and almost fighting to keep him out of the pulpit of a church in some neighbouring market town, no details of his tour have been preserved. The letters and journals of Wesley and Whitefield abound with facts and adventures, full of interest and instruction: the letters of Fletcher were of another character. They are rich in truth and piety; but not always in materials for biography. His habitual self-abnegation kept in the shade thousands of facts which the curiosity of the Christian world would like to know.
The first two years he spent at Madeley were rough and stormy. He worked with all his might, but with small results. The next three years were comparatively calm and prosperous. Opposition gradually died.died. His labours were attended with success. He formed several Societies of converted people; and his friend Wesley made the county of Salop a Methodist circuit. For nearly five years he had confined his evangelistic efforts to his own immediate neighbourhood; after this, to a considerable extent, he became an itinerant. Let us follow him.
92. For a fuller account of this unhappy schism, see Tyerman’s “Life and Times of Wesley,” vol. ii., pp. 432–444.
93. Letters, 1791, p. 121.
94. One of Wesley’s Itinerant Preachers.
95. Letters, 1791, p. 126.
96. He also drew up the following rules of daily self-examination for himself:—
“1. Did I awake spiritual, and was I watchful in keeping my mind from wandering this morning when I was rising?
“2. Have I this day got nearer to God in times of prayer, or have I given way to a lazy, idle spirit?
“3. Has my faith been weakened by unwatchfulness, or quickened by diligence this day?
“4. Have I this day walked by faith and eyed God in all things?
“5. Have I denied myself in all unkind words and thoughts; have I delighted in seeing others preferred before me?
“6. Have I made the most of my precious time, as far as I had light, strength, and opportunity?
“7. Have I kept the issues of my heart in the means of grace, so as to profit by them?
“8. What have I done this day for the souls and bodies of God’s dear saints?
“9. Have I laid out anything to please myself when I might have saved the money for the cause of God?
“10. Have I governed well my tongue this day, remembering that ‘in a multitude of words there wanteth not sin’?
“11. In how many instances have I denied myself this day?
“12. Do my life and conversation adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”[97]
97. “Thirteen Original Letters, by the Rev. John Fletcher. Bath: 1791,” p. 38.
98. Letters, 1791, p. 434.
99. Ibid., 1791, p. 127.
100. Ibid., p. 133.
101. Tyerman’s “Life and Times of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 462.
102. Letters, 1791, p. 182.
103. Letters, 1791, p. 130.
104. Ibid., p. 132.
105. Letters, 1791, p. 144.
106. The reference obviously is to a bull-baiting.
107. Fletcher’s Works, vol. viii., p. 76.
108. Letters, 1791, p. 147.
109. Ibid., 1791, p. 151.
110. Letters, 1791, p. 153.
111. Wesley’s Journal.
112. Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1825, p. 744.
113. William Minethorpe, Mather’s colleague.
114. A place about five miles from Madeley, where Fletcher had gathered a small Society.
115. Coalbrook Dale.
116. Letters, 1791, p. 163.
117. Methodist Magazine, 1818, pp. 49–57.
118. Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1856, pp. 36–38.
119. See “Life of Whitefield,” vol. ii., p. 489.
120. “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 469.
121. A clergyman whom James Ireland, Esq., of Brislington, near Bristol, had obtained to supply Fletcher’s pulpit at Madeley. See a subsequent letter, dated April 27, 1767.
122. “Thirteen Original Letters.” By the Rev. J. Fletcher. Bath: 1791, p. 10.