FLETCHER’S health was failing; and no wonder. Wesley writes:—
“He was more and more abundant in his ministerial labours, both in public and private; not contenting himself with preaching, but visiting his flock in every corner of his parish. And this work he attended to early and late, whether the weather was fair or foul; regarding neither heat nor cold, rain nor snow, whether he was on horseback or on foot. But this further weakened his constitution; which was still more effectually done by his intense and uninterrupted studies, in which he frequently continued, without scarce any intermission, fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen hours a day. But still he did not allow himself such food as was necessary to sustain nature. He seldom took any regular meals except he had company; otherwise, twice or thrice in four-and-twenty hours he ate some bread and cheese, or fruit. Instead of this, he sometimes took a draught of milk, and then wrote on again. When one reproved him for not affording himself a sufficiency of necessary food, he replied, ‘Not allow myself food! Why our food seldom costs my housekeeper and me less than two shillings a week.’week.’”[353]
During the Calvinian controversy, Fletcher’s letters to his friends seem to have been comparatively few. At all events, few have been preserved. Now he resumed his epistolary correspondence; and the present chapter will mainly consist of these outpourings of his heart to those whom he dearly loved.
In a letter, dated January 9, 1776, and published in the “Life and Times of Wesley,” Fletcher refers to a renewed proposal to become Wesley’s successor. To prepare him for this, Wesley requested that he would accompany him in his evangelistic tours, so that he might be commended to the Methodist Societies they visited. Fletcher replied that he was willing to accompany Wesley as a travelling assistant; but he strongly objected to being nominated Wesley’s successor. Besides other reasons, which he adduced, he remarked, that such a nomination would lead people to suspect, and say, that what he had written, “for truth and conscience’ sake,” in defence of Wesley’s doctrines, had all been done for the purpose of becoming, what Toplady had called, “the Bishop of Moorfields.” There is no need to quote this letter at full length; but it is an important one, as showing that the proposal which Wesley had made to Fletcher, three years before, was not a passing whim, but a fixed idea, on the realization of which he had set his heart.[354]
It may be added, that Fletcher, in the same letter, informs Wesley, that, by the last post, he had sent him a manuscript, entitled, “A Second Check to Civil Antinomianism;” being an extract from the Church of England Homily on Rebellion; and he expresses the opinion that it might be well to print and circulate it, not only for the general good, but, also, “to shame Mr. Roquet,” one of the first masters of Wesley’s school, at Kingswood, but now a clergyman of the Church of England, who, in the controversy respecting the American rebellion, had turned against his old friend Wesley, and had rendered assistance to Wesley’s dissenting opponent, Caleb Evans. Wesley seems to have had more regard for Mr. Roquet’s reputation, than even gentle-minded Fletcher had, for Fletcher’s manuscript was not published.
Fletcher refused to be commended as Wesley’s successor; but he evidently thought of travelling. Hence, in a letter to his friend James Ireland, Esq., he wrote:—
“Madeley, February 3, 1776. Upon the news of your illness, I and many more prayed that you might be supported under your pressures, and that they might yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. We shall now turn our prayers into praises for your happy recovery, and for the support the Lord has granted you under your trial. There are lessons which we can never learn but under the cross: we must suffer with Christ if we will be glorified with Him. I hope you will take care that it may not be said of you, as it was of Hezekiah, ‘He rendered not unto the Lord, according to the benefit’ of his recovery. May we see the propriety and profit of rendering Him our bodies and our souls,—the sacrifices of humble, praising, obedient love,—and warm, active, cheerful thanksgiving!
“A young clergyman offers to assist me: if he does, I may make an excursion somewhere this spring; where it will be, I don’t know. It may be into eternity, for I dare not depend upon to-morrow; but should it be your way, I shall inform you of a variety of family trials, which the Lord has sent me—all for good, to break my will in every possible respect.”[355]
In reference to this excursion, Wesley writes:—
“His health being more than ever impaired by a violent cough, accompanied with spitting of blood, I told him, nothing was so likely to restore his health as a long journey. I, therefore, proposed his taking a journey of some months with me, through various parts of England and Scotland; telling him, ‘When you are tired, or like it best, you may come into my carriage; but, remember, that riding on horseback is the best of all exercises for you, so far as your strength will permit.’ He looked upon this as a call from Providence, and very willingly accepted of the proposal. We set out, as I am accustomed to do, early in the spring, and travelled by moderate journeys, suited to his strength, eleven or twelve hundred miles.[356] When we returned to London, in the latter end of the year, he was considerably better; and I verily believe, if he had travelled with me, partly in the chaise and partly on horseback, only a few months longer, he would have quite recovered his health.”[357]
At this period, the end of 1775, or the beginning of 1776, Joseph Benson was stationed in the circuit of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and to him Fletcher wrote as follows:—
“Though I am pretty well in body, I break fast. I have been put into such pinching, grinding circumstances for near a year, by a series of providential and domestic trials, as have given me some deadly blows. Mr. Wesley kindly invited me some weeks ago to travel with him and visit some of his Societies. The controversy is partly over, and I feel an inclination to break one of my chains,—parochial retirement,—which may be a nest for self. A young minister, in deacon’s orders, has offered to be my curate; and, if he can live in this wilderness, I shall have some liberty to leave it. I commit the matter entirely to the Lord.
“The few professors I see in these parts are so far from what I could wish them and myself to be, that I cannot but cry out, ‘Lord, how long wilt Thou give Thine heritage to desolation or barrenness? How long shall the heathen say, where is now their indwelling God?’ I hope it is better with you in the north. What are your heart, your pen, your tongue doing? Are they receiving, sealing, spreading the truth everywhere within your sphere? Are you dead to praise or dispraise? Could you quietly pass for a mere fool, and have gross nonsense fathered upon you without any uneasy reflection of self? The Lord bless you! Beware of your grand enemy, earthly wisdom, and unbelieving reasonings. You will never overcome but by childlike, loving simplicity.”[358]
Wesley set out, on his “long journey,” from London, on Sunday evening, March 3, 1776, and reached Bristol two days afterwards. On Wednesday, March 6, he went to Taunton, and “opened the new preaching-house.” On Thursday, he returned to Bristol; and, on the Monday following, started for the north, visiting his Societies at Stroud, Painswick, Tewkesbury, Worcester, and other places, until, on March 25, he arrived at Birmingham.[359] Mr. Benson says Fletcher joined Wesley “at London, or more probably at Bristol, and accompanied him on his journeys through Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire, and a part of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire. He did not, however, proceed further north with Mr. Wesley, at that time, but stopped at Madeley, for reasons which he mentioned to me in the following letter, written soon after:—
“‘My Dear Brother,—I would have answered your letter before now, had I not been overdone with writing. I have just concluded an answer to Mr. Evans and Dr. Price; a work which I have undertaken with a desire to serve the cause of religion, as well as that of loyalty. This work has prevented me from following Mr. Wesley. Besides, as the clergyman who is here with me (a student from Edmund Hall[360]), has just accepted a place near Manchester, I shall still be without a curate.
“‘I see so little fruit in these parts that I am almost disheartened, both with respect to the power of the Word, and the experience of the professors I converse with. I am closely followed with the thought that the kingdom in the Holy Ghost is almost lost; and that faith in the dispensation of the Spirit is at a very low ebb. But it may be, I think so on account of my little experience, and the weakness of the faith of those whom I meet. It may be better in all other places. I shall be glad to travel a little to see the goodness of the land. God deliver us from all extremes, and make and keep us humble, loving, disinterested, and zealous! I preached, before Mr. Greaves came, as much as my strength could well admit, although to little purpose; but I must not complain. If one person receive a good desire in ten years, by my instrumentality, it is a greater honour than I deserve—an honour for which I could not be too thankful. Let us bless the Lord for all things. We have reasons innumerable to do it. Bless Him on my account, as well as your own; and the God of peace be with you.’”[361]
Before proceeding further, it may be added, that Joseph Benson doubted the propriety of Wesley and Fletcher turning their attention to politics. In an unpublished letter, dated “Newcastle, May 21, 1776,” he wrote:—
“These are ‘perilous times’ indeed, and threaten to be more perilous still. You see what a famous politician our friend Fletcher is become. Though I exceedingly approve both of the ‘Calm Address’ and its ‘Vindication,’ I fear these subjects only detain the authors from more valuable and important work. We expected Mr. Fletcher here along with Mr. Wesley; but I understand, by a letter from him yesterday, that he has been prevented, by his having to answer Dr. Price and Mr. Evans. And there is more work for him still. A friend of ours, in London, has sent Mr. Cownley and me a pamphlet, which, in some important points, takes Mr. Fletcher’s ‘Vindication’ thoroughly to pieces. I fear he will find it no easy thing to reply to some of its arguments. As for Price, his ideas of liberty are beyond measure extravagant; and Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Wesley will find it no very difficult matter to reply to him. But, the principal thing to be thought, talked, and wrote about, is the baptism of the Spirit, or the inward kingdom of God. Oh! my friend, this is but little known among us!”
To his old friend, Mr. Vaughan, Fletcher wrote:—
“Dear Sir,—Your barrel of cider came safe to hand. How could you think to make me such a present? But I must rather thank you for your love and generosity, than scold you for your excessive profusion. You should have stayed till cider was ten shillings a hogshead, but in such a year as this—! However, the Lord reward you, and return it to you, in streams of living water, and plenty of the wine of His kingdom!
“I thought I should soon have done with controversy; but now I give up the hope of having done with it before I die. There are three sorts of people I must continually attack, or defend myself against—Gallios, Pharisees, and Antinomians. I hope I shall die in harness fighting against some of them. I do not, however, forget, that the Gallio, the Simon, and the Nicholas within, are far more dangerous to me than those without. In my own heart, that immense field, I must first fight the Lord’s battles and my own. Help me here; join me in this field. All Christians are here militia-men, if they are not professed soldiers. O, my friend, I need wisdom—meekness of wisdom! A heart full of it is better than all your cider vault full of the most generous liquors; and it is in Christ for us. O! go and ask for you and me; and I shall ask for me and you. May we not be ashamed, nor afraid to come, and beg every moment for wine and milk—grace and wisdom!
“Beware, my friend, of the world. Let not its cares, nor the deceitfulness of its riches, keep or draw you from Jesus. Before you handle the birdlime, be sure you dip your heart and hand in the oil of grace. Time flies. Years of plenty and of scarcity, of peace and war, disappear before the eternity to which we are all hastening.
“Remember me kindly to Mrs. Vaughan. That the Lord would abundantly bless you both, in your souls, bodies, concerns, and children, is the sincere wish of your affectionate friend,
The following letter, to Charles Wesley, refers, among other things, to another of Fletcher’s publications, which has yet to be noticed:—
“My Dear Brother,—What are you doing in London? Are you ripening as fast for the grave as I am? How should we lay out every moment for God! For some days, I have had the symptoms of an inward consumptive decay—spitting of blood, etc. Thank God! I look at our last enemy with great calmness. I hope, however, that the Lord will spare me to publish my end of the controversy, which is A Double Dissertation upon the Doctrines of Grace and Justice. This piece will, I flatter myself, reconcile all the candid Calvinists and candid Arminians, and be a means of pointing out the way in which peace and harmony may be restored to the Church.
“I still look for an outpouring of the Spirit, inwardly and outwardly. Should I die before that great day, I shall have the consolation to see it from afar. Thank God! I enjoy uninterrupted peace in the midst of my trials, which are, sometimes, not a few. Joy also I possess; but I look for joy of a superior nature. I feel myself, in a good degree, dead to praise and dispraise: I hope, at least, that it is so; because I do not feel that the one lifts me up, or that the other dejects me. I want to see a Pentecost Christian Church; and, if it is not to be seen at this time upon earth, I am willing to go and see that glorious wonder in heaven. How is it with you? Are you ready to seize the crown in the name of the Redeemer reigning in your heart? We run a race towards the grave. John is likely to outrun you, unless you have a swift foot.
“I had lately a letter from one of the preachers, who finds great fault with me, for having published, in my book on Perfection, your hymn called The Last Wish. He calls it dangerous mysticism. My private thoughts are, that the truth lies between driving Methodism and still mysticism. What think you? Read the addresses which I have added to that piece, and tell me your thoughts.
“Let us pray that God would renew our youth, as that of the eagle, that we may bear fruit in our old age. I hope I shall see you before my death: if not, let us rejoice at the thought of meeting in heaven.”[363]
The censured hymn was the following—
This was what Wesley’s Itinerant Preacher called “dangerous mysticism,” and Fletcher, “still mysticism.” Whether Fletcher himself experienced this “destruction of self-will,” and “absolute resignation, which characterises a perfect believer,” it is difficult to determine; but it may safely be affirmed that he was struggling to attain to such a state of holiness. “This hymn,” said he, “suits all the believers who are at the bottom of Mount Sion, and begin to join the spirits of just men made perfect.” And then, as a specimen of what he calls “driving Methodism,” he adds:—
“But when the triumphal chariot of perfect love gloriously carries you to the top of perfection’s hill;—when you are raised far above the common heights of the perfect,—when you are almost translated into glory like Elijah, then you may sing another hymn of the same Christian poet” (Charles Wesley) “with the Rev. Mr. Madan, and the numerous body of imperfectionists who use his collection of Psalms, etc.”
This, of course, was a quiet satire on Martin Madan and his Calvinistic congregation; but, passing that, the “driving hymn was as follows:—
Why these long quotations? Simply to show that real Christian Perfection is, according to the “private thoughts” of Fletcher, one of the holiest of the old Methodists, a something that “lies between” the “driving Methodism and still mysticism” embodied in the two remarkable hymns just cited.
Soon after the date of the last letter (May 11, 1776) Fletcher’s health so entirely failed, that he was compelled to leave his parish and repair to the hot wells at Bristol. His friend, Charles Wesley, on June 30, embodied the feelings of his full heart in the following touching hymn:—
Fifteen years ago (soon after he came to Madeley), at Christmas time, in a dark night, Fletcher, on the top of Lincoln-hill woods, was at a loss which way to take to reach his vicarage at Madeley. Providentially, he met a working man of Coalbrookdale, Michael Onions by name, who was on his way to Broseley to fetch a fiddler for a dancing party in Michael’s house. Fletcher told him he had lost his road to Madeley, and asked him to put him right. Good-tempered Michael went half-a-mile out of his way to render the muffled stranger the necessary guidance. Conversation ensued; Michael explained the object of his journey to Broseley; Fletcher warned him of his sin and danger; Michael became alarmed, and, instead of proceeding to Broseley to secure the services of the fiddler, returned to his dwelling at Coalbrookdale. On his entering, the assembled dancers asked, “Have you brought the fiddler?” “No,” said Michael. “Is he not at home?” “I don’t know.” “Have you not been to Broseley?” “No.” “Why? What’s the matter? You look ill, and are all of a tremble.” Michael then stated that he had met some one on the top of Lincoln-hill woods; but whether man or angel he knew not; and, after relating the conversation between them, added, “I dare not go to Broseley—I would not for the world.” Next Sunday morning, Michael and some of his dancing friends went to Madeley church; and there, in the voice of Fletcher, he recognized the mysterious traveller he had met with on Lincoln-hill. Michael was converted, and became one of the first Methodists in Coalbrookdale.[366] To this humble, but faithful Christian friend, and to his fellow Methodists, Fletcher now wrote as follows:—
“My Dear Brother,—Having just seen, at the Wells, Mr. Darby, who is going back to the Dale, I gladly seize the opportunity of letting you know what the Lord is doing for my soul and body.
“With respect to my soul, I feel a degree of righteousness, peace, and joy, and wait for the establishment of His internal kingdom in the Holy Ghost. The hope of my being rooted and grounded in the love, that casts out slavish fear, grows more lively every day. I am not afraid of any evil tidings, and my heart stands calm, believing in the Lord, and desiring Him to do with me whatsoever He pleaseth.
“With respect to my body, I know not what to say; but the physician says he hopes I shall do well; and so I hope, and believe too, whether I recover my strength or not. Health and sickness, life and death, are best when the Lord sends them. All things work together for good to those that love God.
“I am forbid preaching; but, blessed be God! I am not forbid, by my heavenly Physician, to pray, believe, and love. This is a sweet work, which heals, delights, and strengthens.
“I hope you bear me on your hearts, as I do you on mine. My wish for you is that you may be possessors of an inward kingdom of grace; that you may so hunger and thirst after righteousness as to be filled. Oh! be hearty in the cause of religion. Be humbly zealous for your own salvation, and for God’s glory; nor forget to care for the salvation of each other. Keep yourselves in the love of God; and keep one another by example, reproof, exhortation, encouragement, social prayer, and a faithful use of all the means of grace. Use yourselves to bow at the feet of Christ. Go to Him continually for the holy anointing of His Spirit, who will be a Teacher always near, always with you and in you. If you have that inward Instructor, you will suffer no material loss when your outward teachers are removed. Make the most of dear Mr. Greaves[367] while you have him. While you have the light of God’s word, believe in the light, that you may be children of the light, fitted for the kingdom of eternal light, where I charge you to meet your affectionate brother and minister,
To Charles Perronet, son of the venerable Vicar of Shoreham, Fletcher wrote:—
“My Very Dear Brother,—I gladly thank you for your last favour. The Lord keeps me hanging by a thread. He weighs me in the balance for life and death; I trust Him for the choice. He knows, far better than I, what is best; and I leave all to His unerring wisdom. I am calm, and wait, with submission, for what the Lord will say concerning me. I wait to be baptized into all His fulness, and trust the word—the word of His grace.”[369]
Exactly a month after the date of this letter, holy Charles Perronet himself fell asleep in Jesus. “My dear Charles,” wrote his venerable father, “after wearing out a weakly constitution in the most unwearied endeavours to bring many to Christ, breathed out his pious soul in the remarkable words of his dear Lord, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.’” “I have uninterrupted fellowship with God,” cried the dying saint; “and Christ is all in all to me.”[370] As soon as Fletcher heard of the death of this godly man, he wrote to the bereaved father as follows:—
“Methinks I see you, right honoured Sir, mounted, as another Moses, on the top of Pisgah, and through the telescope of faith descrying the promised land; or, rather, in the present instance, I observe you, like another Joshua, on the banks of Jordan, viewing all Israel, with your son among them, passing over the river to their great possessions. Permit me, therefore, in consideration of your years and office, to exclaim, in the language of young Elisha to his ancient seer, ‘My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.’
On the day Charles Perronet died, Wesley was in Bristol, and wrote:—
“1776. August 12.—I found Mr. Fletcher a little better, and proposed his taking a journey with me to Cornwall; nothing being so likely to restore his health as a journey of four or five hundred miles. But his physician would in no wise consent, so I gave up the point.”[372]
Instead of going to Cornwall Fletcher returned to Madeley, where he wrote two letters to his friend, James Ireland, Esq., from which the following are extracts:—
“Madeley, August 18, 1776. My breast is very weak, but, if it please God, it will in time recover strength. Mr. Greaves will take all the duty upon himself, and I shall continue to take rest, exercise, and the food which was recommended to me. The Lord grant me to rest myself on Christ, to exercise myself in charity, and to feed upon the bread of life, which God has given us in Jesus Christ.
“I thank you, my dear friend, for all your favours and all your attention to me. What returns shall I make? I will drink the cup of thanksgiving, and I will bless the name of the Lord. I will thank my dear friend and wish him all the temporal blessings he conferred upon me, and all those spiritual ones which were not in his power to bestow. Live in health; live piously; live content; live in Christ; live for eternity; live to make your wife, your children, your servants, your neighbours happy. And may the God of all grace give back a hundredfold to you and your dear wife all the kindnesses with which you have loaded me.”[373]
“Madeley, August 24, 1776. My dear friend, I have received the news of your loss, and of the gain of your younger daughter. She has entered into port, and has left you on a tempestuous sea. I recommend to Mrs. Ireland the resignation of David when he lost his son; and do you give her the example. The day of death is preferable to that of our birth; with respect to infants, the maxim of Solomon is indubitable. 0 what an honour is it to be the father and mother of a little cherub who hovers round the throne of God in heavenly glory!
“Roquet[374] dead and buried! The jolly man who last summer shook his head at me as at a dying man! How frail are we! God help us to live to-day! to-morrow is the fool’s day.
“I have not, at present, the least idea that I am called to quit my post here. I see no probability of being useful in Switzerland. My call is here; I am sure of it. If I undertook the journey, it would be merely to accompany you. I dare not gratify friendship by taking such a step. I have no faith in the prescriptions of your physician; and I think if health be better for us than sickness, we may enjoy it as well here as in France or Italy. If sickness be best for us, why shun it? Everything is good when it comes from God. Nothing but a baptism of fire and the most evident openings of Providence can engage me in such a journey. If I reject your obliging offer to procure me a substitute, attribute it to my fear of taking a false step, of quitting my post without command, and of engaging in a warfare to which the Lord does not call me.”[375]
A fortnight later, Fletcher wrote again to Mr. Ireland:—
“Madeley, September 7, 1776. My dear friend, my health is better than when I wrote last. I have not yet preached; rather from a sense of duty to my friends, and high thoughts of the labours of Mr. Greaves (who does the work of an evangelist to better purpose than I), than to spare myself; for, if I am not mistaken, I am as able to do my work now as I was a year ago.
“A fortnight ago, I paid a visit to West Bromwich. I ran away from the kindness of my parishioners, who oppressed me with tokens of their love. To me there is nothing so extremely trying as excessive kindness. I am of the king’s mind when the people showed their love to him on his journey to Portsmouth: ‘I can bear,’ he said, ‘the hissings of a London mob, but these shouts of joy are too much for me.’ You, my dear friend, Mrs. Ireland, Mrs. Norman, and all your family, have put me to that severe trial, to which all trials caused by the hard words that have been spoken against me are nothing.
“At our age, a recovery can be but a short reprieve. Let us then give up ourselves daily to the Lord, as people who have no confidence in the flesh, and do not trust to to-morrow. I find my weakness, unprofitableness, and wretchedness daily more and more; and the more I find them, the more help I have to sink into self-abhorrence. Nor do I despair to sink so in it as to die to self and revive in my God.”[376]
Fletcher began to hope that he would soon be able to resume his work. To Charles Wesley he wrote as follows:—
“My Very Dear Brother,—I lately consulted a pious gentleman, near Lichfield, famous for his skill in the disorders of the breast. He assured me I am in no immediate danger of a consumption of the lungs; and that my disorder is upon the nerves, in consequence of too close thinking. He permitted me to write and preach in moderation; and gave me medicines, which, I think, are of service in taking off my feverish heats. My spitting of blood is stopped, and I may yet be spared to travel with you as an invalid.
“If God adds one inch to my span I see my calling. I desire to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified, revealed in the Spirit. I long to feel the utmost power of the Spirit’s dispensation, and I will endeavour to bear my testimony to the glory of that dispensation both with my pen and tongue. Some of our injudicious or inattentive friends will probably charge me with novelty for it; but, be that as it will, let us meekly stand for the truth as it is in Jesus, and trust the Lord for everything. I thank God I feel so dead to popular applause that, I trust, I should not be afraid to maintain a truth against all the world; and yet I dread to dissent from any child of God, and feel ready to condescend to every one. O what depths of humble love, and what heights of Gospel truth, do I sometimes see! I want to sink into the former and rise into the latter. Help me by your example, letters, and prayers.”[377]
At the same period of time, Fletcher wrote to Joseph Benson, giving him an account of the state of his health and of his literary projects.
“My Very Dear Brother,—Your kind letter has followed me from Bristol to Madeley, where I have been for some weeks. My health is better than it was in August, but it is far from being established. Close thinking and writing had brought upon me a slow fever, with a cough and spitting of blood, which a physician took for symptoms of a consumption of the lungs; whereas they were only symptoms of a consumption of the nerves and solids. He put me accordingly upon the lowest diet, and had me blooded four times, which made much against me. I am, however, greatly recovered since I have begun to eat meat again. My cough and spitting of blood have left me, but want of sleep and a slow fever keep me still very low. If the Lord pleases, He can in a moment restore my strength; but He needs not a worm. I thank Him for having kept me perfectly resigned to His will, and calm in the awful scene which I have passed through.
“I design to conclude my last controversial piece as I shall be able, and hope it will give my friends some satisfaction; because it will show the cause of all our doctrinal errors, and will place the doctrine of election and reprobation upon its proper basis. I finish also my essay on the ‘Dispensation of the Spirit,’[378] which is the thing I want most to see your thoughts upon. Pray for light and power, truth and love; and impart to me a share of your experiences, to quicken my dulness of apprehension and feeling. If God spare me a little, it will be to bear my testimony to the doctrine of perfect spiritual Christianity. May we be personal witnesses of this glorious dispensation, and be so inflamed with love as to kindle all around us.
“Give my kind love and thanks to all enquiring friends. If I live over the winter, I shall, should Providence open the way, visit you all” [at Newcastle-on-Tyne], “and assure you that I am in Christ your affectionate brother and servant.”[379]
Three weeks after the date of these letters, poor Fletcher’s hope of recovery was terribly shaken. On October 5, 1776, his disorder unexpectedly and violently returned, and his friends around him thought he was about to die. Some one, perhaps his curate, Mr. Greaves, immediately improvised a beautiful hymn, which was sung, by a distressed congregation, in Madeley church, on the following day, Friday, October 6. The hymn is too full of affection and piety to be omitted. It was as follows:—
As soon as possible, Wesley made his way to Madeley, and escorted Fletcher to London. On November 13, they set out for Norwich, and nine days afterwards Wesley wrote, “I brought Mr. Fletcher back to London considerably better than when he set out.” Among other places, they visited Lowestoft, where Wesley opened the new Preaching-house, and where Fletcher preached on Wednesday morning, November 20.[381] Whilst here, he wrote the following to Mr. Benson:—
“My Dear Friend,—Mr. Wesley having invited me to travel with him, to see if change of air and motion will be a means of restoring me to a share of my former health, I have accompanied him through Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Norfolk; and I hope I am rather better than worse. I find it good to be with this extraordinary servant of God. I think his diligence and wisdom are matchless. It is a good school for me, only I am too old a scholar to make proficiency. However, let us live to God to-day, and trust Him for to-morrow; so that, whether we are laid up in a sick bed or a damp grave, or whether we are yet able to act, we may be able to say,
Another characteristic letter must be introduced. Certain good Methodists at Hull and York having invited him, when able, to visit the great Methodist county, Fletcher wrote to them as follows:—