“However engaged Mr. Fletcher is the greater part of the day, he is generally so kind as to spend a little time with me in the evening in prayer and conversation. His chief delight seems to be in meeting his little society of children. He is exceedingly fond of them, and they appear to be as fond of him. He seldom walks abroad or rides out, but some of them follow him, singing the hymns they have learned, and conversing with him by the way. But you must not suppose that he is permitted to enjoy this happiness unmolested. Not only do the drunkards make songs on him and his little companions, but many of the clergy loudly complain of such irregular proceedings. However, he is upon good terms with three ministers of the place; all of whom are serious men, and desirous of promoting true religion.
“He is better, I think, than when he left England; but he frequently puts his strength to too severe a trial, by meeting his Society of children, and some grown persons; and other exercises of a like nature. When he ventures to preach, his spitting of blood returns; and whenever this happens, his strength and spirits decay surprisingly.”[447]
Fletcher and his brother translated all the papers of William Perronet into French, and, in other ways, assisted him, in reference to the estate which he had gone to Switzerland to obtain. Notwithstanding the delicate state of Fletcher’s health, the three set out, in the wintry weather of that December month, to visit Chateau d’Oex, where the property was situated. The distance from Nyon was fifty-seven miles. When they had made about a quarter of the journey, “the horses were tired out, the coachman refused to proceed further,” and they were obliged to return home again.[448] A few days later, they made another attempt, and arrived at their destination on January 10, 1779. Five days afterwards, they were again at Nyon.
In Fletcher’s state of health, such a journey was perilous; but his love to the Perronet family was such that, to him, no labour and risk, on their behalf, were too great. In letters to his venerable father, at Shoreham, William Perronet states, that none of them having been to Chateau d’Oex before, they were obliged to employ a guide, and that “on account of the badness of the ways,” they had “to go some leagues about,” which made their journey about eighty miles. Their coach had to pass “over mountains of snow and rocks of ice.” When nine miles from Chateau d’Oex, they were obliged to exchange their coach for “an open sledge;” and now they “travelled through narrow passes, cut through the snow, which, on both sides, was many feet above their heads; on the sides of mountains, whose summits the eye could scarcely reach; and frequently on the brink of precipices, at the bottoms of which they could hear the waters roar like thunder.” In one place, Fletcher and William Perronet, being obliged to walk, their feet slipped: Fletcher “received a violent blow on the back part of the head;” and William Perronet “sprained” his “wrist.” In crossing the Alps, they had to lie “two nights in beds that were not only damp, but musty and without curtains;” and, “being in a Popish canton, and Friday and Saturday being meagre days,” they “were almost starved with hunger as well as cold.” “The weather was extremely severe, and it was scarce in the power of clothes, or even of fire, to keep” them “warm.” William Perronet concludes his narrative of their adventures as follows:—
“Whether I succeed in my temporal business or not, I shall ever remember, with pleasure and thankfulness, the opportunities I have been blessed with in spending so much time in company with our inestimable friend; who, wherever he goes, preaches the Gospel, both by his words and example; nay, by his very looks, not only to his friends, but to all whom he meets: so that, on the top of the frozen Alps, and in the dreary vale of Chateau d’Oex, good seed has been sown. At Chateau d’Oex, he was visited by some of the principal inhabitants, who stood around him, in deep attention, for almost an hour, while he exhorted and prayed.”[449]
In a postscript to this letter, Fletcher wrote:—
“I have had the pleasure of accompanying your son to your father’s birthplace. It is a charming country for those who have a taste for highland prospects; but what is it to our heavenly Father’s Hill of Sion? Thither may we all travel, summer and winter, and there may we all have a happy meeting, and find an eternal inheritance!”
Three weeks later, Fletcher wrote the following to Mr. Ireland:—
“My Dear Friend,—I am sorry to hear that you are still tried by illness; but our good, heavenly Father is wise; His will be done; His name be praised!
“I am better, thank God! and ride out every day, when the slippery roads will permit me to venture without the risk of breaking my horse’s legs and my own neck. You will ask me how I spend my time? I pray, have patience, rejoice, and write, when I can; I saw wood in the house when I cannot go out; and eat grapes, of which I have always a basket by me.
“Our little Lord-Lieutenant has forbidden the ministers to let me exhort in the parsonage, because it is the sovereign’s house. My second brother has addressed a memorial to him, in which he informs him that he will give up neither his religious nor civil liberty, and will open his house for the Word of God. According, we have since met at his house.
“On Sunday, we met at the young clergyman’s who writes against the conduct of the clergy; but I fear we fence against a wall of brass. However, I am quite persuaded that Providence calls me to leave a testimony to my French brethren, and it may be of some use when I shall be no more. I have been comforted by the apology of a minister at Yverdon, who was persecuted at the beginning of this century under the name of Pietist; and I have become acquainted with a faithful minister of Geneva, but he dares no more offer me his pulpit than my brother-in-law at Lausanne.
“Several young women seem to have received the Word in the love of it, and four or five grown-up ones; but not one man, except the young hopeful clergyman I mention, who helps me at my little meetings, and begins to preach extempore. The truths I chiefly insist upon, when I talk to the people who will hear me, are those which I feed upon myself as my daily bread. ‘God, our Maker and Preserver, though invisible, is here and everywhere. He is our chief good, because all beauty and all goodness centre in and flow from Him. He is especially love; and love in us, being His image, is the sum and substance of all moral and spiritual excellence—of all true and lasting bliss. In Adam we are all estranged from love and from God; but the Second Adam—Jesus, Emanuel, God with us,—is come to make us know and enjoy again our God as the God of love and the chief good. All who receive Jesus receive power to become the sons of God,’ etc., etc.
“I hope I shall be able to set out for England with Mr. Perronet, in April or May. O that I may find that dear island in peace within and without![450] Well, I hope you make peace in the Church if you cannot make peace with the patriots.
“The coats and shoes you gave me have lasted all this while, and are yet good; so that I need not draw upon your banker. Thank God, and you, for a thousand favours! God bless and comfort you, my dear friend! We are poor creatures, but we have a good God to cast all our burdens upon, and who often burdens us that we may have constant and free recourse to His bounty, power, and faithfulness. Stand fast in the faith. Believe lovingly, and all will be well.”[451]
To his friend and Methodist helper among the Madeley Societies, William Wase, Fletcher wrote as follows:—
“My Dear Friend,—I have just received yours of January 24, and rejoice to hear of the welfare of your friends, whom I long much to see; but there is no blessing here without some alloy of grief, and such was to me the account of the poor state of health of dear Mrs. Wase. Tell her I should be glad to hold up her hands in her fight of affliction; but, if the poor, unprofitable, weak servant is afar off, the Master, who is rich in mercy, who fills the whole world with His goodness and patience, is near to her and to all His afflicted ones. I recommend to her two remedies. One is a cheerful resignation to the will of God, whereby her animal spirits will be greatly raised or sweetly refreshed. The other is, four lumps of heavenly sugar, to be taken every half hour, day and night, when she does not sleep. I make a constant use of them, to my great comfort. They have quickened my soul when I was dying, and I doubt not they will have the same effect upon hers. They are: ‘God so loved the world,’ etc. ‘If any man sin,’ etc. ‘It is a faithful saying,’ etc. ‘Come unto Me, all ye that are weary,’ etc.
“Tell my little god-daughter, Patty Cartwright, she is big enough and bad enough to take these heavenly pills. Tell her mother to take them regularly with her. What a shame it is to have such a remedy and not to make more use of it!
“Remember me in much love to dear Mr. Hatton. Thank brother Costerdine and his fellow-labourer[452] for their occasional help. May the Lord vouchsafe to consecrate our little Zoar[453] by calling one sinner and establishing another saint! How abundantly shall we be repaid for our little expense and trouble! Thank the brethren you have mentioned; salute them kindly from me, not forgetting John Tranter and our friends at the Fore Bank—Thomas Pool and Thomas Banks, and our friends at Dawley Green. You may see in the enclosed that I am not without hopes of telling you in May how much I am yours,
“The enclosed” communication bore the same date as this letter to William Wase, of Broseley, and was addressed “To the Brethren in and about Madeley;” i.e., the Methodists:—
“My Dear Companions in Tribulation,—Peace and mercy, faith, hope, and love be multiplied to you all from the Father of mercies through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of grace! I thank you for your kind remembrance of me in your prayers. I am yet spared to pray for you. O that I had more power with God! I would bring down heaven into all your hearts. Strive together in love for the living faith, the glorious hope, the sanctifying love once delivered to the saints. Look to Jesus. Move on; run yourselves in the heavenly race, and let each sweetly draw his brother along, till the whole company appears before the redeeming God in Sion.
“I hope God will, in His mercy, spare me to see you in the flesh; and if I cannot labour for you, I shall gladly suffer with you. If you will put health into my flesh, joy into my heart, and life into my whole frame, be of one heart and of one soul. Count nothing your own but your sin and shame; and bury that dreadful property in the grave of our Saviour. Let all you are and have be His who bought you. Dig hard in the Gospel mines for hidden treasure. Blow hard the furnace of prayer with the bellows of faith until you are melted into love, and the dross of sin is purged out of every heart. Get together into Jesus, the heavenly ark, and sweetly sail into the ocean of eternity; so shall you be true miners, furnacemen, and bargemen. Farewell, in Jesus! Tell Mrs. Cound I shall greatly rejoice if she remembers Lot’s wife.”[455]
Six weeks after the date of this letter to the Madeley Methodists, Wesley visited them, and wrote:—
“1779. March 25, Thursday. I preached in the new house which Mr. Fletcher has built in Madeley Wood. The people here exactly resemble those at Kingswood, only they are more simple and teachable. But, for want of discipline, the immense pains which he has taken with them has not done them the good which might have been expected. I preached at Shrewsbury in the evening, and next day, about noon, in the assembly-room at Broseley. It was well we were in the shade, for the sun shone as hot as it usually does at midsummer. We walked from thence to Coalbrook Dale, and took a view of the bridge which is shortly to be thrown over the Severn. It is one arch, a hundred feet long, fifty-two high, and eighteen wide; all of cast-iron, weighing many hundred tons. I doubt whether the Colossus at Rhodes weighed much more.”[456]
Fletcher’s health was still feeble, but he longed to be back to his parishioners and to the Methodists surrounding Madeley. Hence the following to the Vicar of Shoreham:—
“1779, March 29. I am still weak in body, but able to ride out and exhort some children. Well, the time shall come when, in a better state, we shall be able to glorify our heavenly Father. In the meantime, let us do it either in the stocks of weakness or in the fires of tribulation; and on our death-bed may we sing, with hearts overflowing with humble love, ‘The Resurrection and the Life, the Friend and Saviour of sinners, loved me and gave Himself for me; and I am going to see Him and to thank Him, face to face, for His matchless love!’
“I hope the prospect respecting the inheritance of your fathers in this country clears up a little, and I trust the matter will be decided without a lawsuit. As soon as the affair is brought to some conclusion, we design to set out for England. The will of the Lord be done in all things!”[457]
This was written in the week before Easter. The Puritanical Calvinists of Switzerland of course denounced the observance of holy days, and hence, at Nyon, there was no service on Good Friday, April 2; but Fletcher and William Perronet, who all their life had been accustomed to commemorate the death of the incarnate Son of God, crossed the lake into Savoy, to hear a celebrated Capuchin.
“He made,” says Mr. Perronet, “a very good discourse, and he and his brethren invited us to dine with them. This we declined; but, after dinner, we paid our respects to them, when Mr. Fletcher spent two or three hours with them in serious and friendly conversation.”[458]
Fletcher had expressed a hope that he would be able to return to his flock at Madeley in April or May, but his hope was not realized. The reasons for this will be found in the following extracts from his letters. To his curate, the Rev. Mr. Greaves, he said:—
“Nyon, May 18, 1779. My dear fellow-labourer,—My departure being delayed some weeks gives me much concern, although, from the confidence I have in your pastoral diligence, I am easy about the flock you feed. Last week, a Visitation was held here, and the clergy of the town took my part against the Visitor and others, who said I was of a sect everywhere spoken against. The conversation about it held so long, and was so trying to my grain of humility, that I went out. The matter, however, ended peaceably by a vote that they should invite me to dinner. God ever save us from jealous and persecuting zeal.
“I hope, my dear friend, you go on comfortably, doing more and more the work of an evangelist. Remember my love to as many of my parishioners as you meet with, and especially to all our good neighbours and to the Society.”[459]
On the same day, he wrote to Michael Onions as follows:—
“I have complied with the request of my friends to stay a little longer among them, as it was backed by a small Society of pious people gathered here. Three weeks ago, they got about me, and on their knees, with many tears, besought me to stay till they were a little stronger and able to stand alone; nor would they rise till they had got me to comply. However, yesterday, I spoke with a carrier, from Geneva, to take me to London, who said he would take us at a fortnight’s notice.
“My love to your fellow-leaders, and, by them, to the companies you meet in prayer; also to the preachers who help in the Round[460].”[461]
On May 22, William Perronet, in a letter to his father, observed:—
“On the 9th of this month, Mr. Fletcher preached in the church, on 2 Cor. v. 20—‘We are ambassadors for Christ,’ etc. He spoke with a strong and clear voice for more than three-quarters of an hour, and did not find himself hurt by it. He has preached four times in the church since I have been here, and might have preached much oftener if his health would have allowed him; for, by his friendly and prudent conduct towards the three ministers of the place, he is upon good terms with them now, although, at his first coming hither, they were afraid to own him, on account of his irregular conduct; for such they deemed his exhorting the children, and holding meetings in private houses.”[462]
On the same day, Fletcher remarked to the same venerable minister:—
“My Very Dear Brother, and Honoured Father,—I rejoice that you are yet preserved to be a witness of the grace and saving health of Jesus. Let us rejoice that when our strength shall decay, His will remain entire for ever, and, in His strength, we, who take Him for our life, shall be strong. Our Redeemer liveth; and, when sickness and death shall have brought down our flesh to the earth, we shall, by His resurrection’s power, rise and live for ever with Him in heavenly places; for the new earth will be a heaven, or a glorious province in the kingdom of heaven. The meek shall inherit it; and that inheritance will be fairer than yours at Chateau d’Oex, and surer too.
“I hope to accompany your son soon to England.”[463]
The following, also, was written at the same time, and was addressed to his honoured host and friend, Mr. Charles Greenwood, of Stoke Newington:—
“My Dear Friend,—“I am yet alive, able to ride out, and now and then to instruct a few children. I hope Mr. Perronet will soon have settled his affairs, and then, please God, I shall inform you, by word of mouth, how much I am indebted to you, Mrs. Greenwood and Mrs. Thornton. Thank and salute, on my behalf, Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley, Dr. Coke, and Mr. Atlay.[464] Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gifts,—His Son, His Spirit, and His Word! And thanks be to His people, for their kindness towards the poor, the sick, the stranger, and especially towards me! But, at this time, a sleepless night and a constant toothache unfit me for almost everything but lying down under the cross, kissing the rod, and rejoicing in hope of a better state, in this world or in the next. Perhaps weakness and pain are the best for me in this world. Well, the Lord will choose for me, and I fully set my heart and seal to His choice. Let us not faint in the day of adversity. The Lord tries us, that our faith may be purged of all the dross of self-will, and may work by that love, which beareth all things, and thinketh evil of nothing. Our calling is to follow the crucified, and we must be crucified with Him, until body and soul know the power of His resurrection, and pain and death are done away.
“I hope my dear friend will make, with me, a constant choice of the following mottoes of St. Paul,—Christ is gain in life and death—Our life is hid with Christ in God—If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him—We glory in tribulation—God will give us rest with Christ in that day—We are saved by hope. To the Lord our God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, let us give glory in the fires. Amen.”[465]
Besides his own physical weakness and suffering, Fletcher had other trials in Switzerland. In a letter, written about the same time as the foregoing, he remarked:—
“Let us bear with patience the decays of nature; let us see, without fear, the approach of death. We must put off this sickly, corruptible body, in order to put on the immortal and glorious one. I have some hopes that my poor sister will yet be my sister in Christ. Her self-righteousness, I hope, breaks as fast as her body. I am come hither to see death make havoc among my friends. I wear mourning for my father’s brother, and for my brother’s son. The same mourning will serve for my dying sister, if I do not go before her. She lies on the same bed where my father and mother died, and where she and I were born. How near is life to death! But, blessed be God, Christ, the Resurrection, is nearer to the weak, dying believer!”[466]
Fletcher, notwithstanding his longing to get back to his flock at Madeley, was still detained in Switzerland. Hence the following, addressed to Mr. Thomas York:—
“My Dear Sir,—Providence is still gracious to me, and raises me friends on all sides. May God reward them all, and may you have a double reward for all your kindness! I hope I am getting a little strength. The Lord has blessed to me a species of black cherry, which I have eaten in large quantities. I have had a return of my spitting blood; but, for a fortnight past, I have catechized the children of the town every day; and I do not find much inconvenience from that exercise. Some of them seem to be under sweet drawings of the Father, and a few of their mothers begin to come, and desire me with tears in their eyes to stay in this country. They urge much my being born here, and I reply, that I was born again in England; that is, of course, the country which, to me, is the dearer of the two.
“My friends have prevailed on me to publish ‘A Poem on the Praises of God,’ which I wrote many years ago. The revising it for the press is at once a business and a pleasure, which I go through on horseback. Help me, by your prayers, to ask a blessing on this little attempt.
“I wish I could procure you an estate in this fine country, as I hope to do Mr. Perronet, one of the physicians who showed me so much love when I lay sick at Newington. His grandfather was a Swiss, who was naturalized in the reign of Queen Anne. By calling upon some of his relations, I have found that he is entitled to an estate of some £1000, of which he is come to take possession. So Providence prepares for me a friend, a kind physician, and a fellow-traveller, to accompany me back to England; where one of my chief pleasures will be to embrace you, and to assure you, how much I am, my dear friend, your obliged servant,
Alas! little did Fletcher think that William Perronet would not return to England.
“Providence,” said Fletcher, in the letter just quoted, “raises me friends on all sides.” He soon had need of them. In the month of September, William Perronet wrote:—
“Mr. Fletcher has been wont to preach, now and then, in the church here (Nyon), at the request of one or other of the ministers; but, some time ago, he was summoned before the Seigneur Bailiff, who sharply reprehended him for preaching against Sabbath-breaking and stage plays. The former, he said, implied a censure on the magistrates in general, as if they neglected their duty. And the latter he considered as a personal reflection on himself, he having just then sent for a company of French Comedians to come to Nyon. Accordingly, he forbade Mr. Fletcher to exercise, any more, any of the functions of a minister in this country. However, one of the Ministers here has given him a room in his own house to preach in; and here Mr. Fletcher meets a few serious persons, particularly a number of children, two or three times a week. Hitherto, his lordship has not interfered with respect to this mode of exhortation; and both the number and the seriousness of the congregation increase daily.”[468]
Referring to the same incident, Fletcher wrote:—
“Our Lord Lieutenant, being stirred up by some of the clergy, and believing firmly that I am banished from England, took the alarm, and forbade the ministers to let me exhort in their houses; threatening them with the power of the Senate if they did. They all yielded, but are now ashamed of it. A young clergyman, a true Timothy, has opened me his house, where I exhort twice a week; and the other clergymen, encouraged by his boldness, come to our meetings.”
William Perronet completes this story by relating that the minister, who began this discreditable opposition, died suddenly, as he was dressing to go to church; and that his successor continued the same intolerant behaviour towards poor, well-meaning Fletcher. Mr. Perronet adds:—
“Mr. Fletcher now thinks himself obliged, before he leaves his native country, to bear a public testimony to the truth. When his writing will be finished, I cannot say, for it multiplies under his fertile pen; so that, I fear, we shall be obliged to spend another winter in this severe climate.”[469]
There can be little doubt that the “public testimony,” which Fletcher was now composing was his “Portrait of St. Paul,” to be noticed anon.
Soon after this, Fletcher had an attack of rheumatism, and wrote as follows to William Perronet, who had gone to Lausanne. After relating that the pain in his left shoulder had deprived him of sleep, and almost crippled him, he added:—
“I have partly recovered the use of my shoulder; but it is still very weak. I drink a decoction of pine-apple, which is as warm as guaiacum. My writing does not go on; but the will of the Lord is done, and that is enough. I would press you to come back soon, if I were not persuaded you are better where you are. I have been afraid that our bad meat here would make you lose your flesh; and, for the honour of Switzerland, I should be glad you had some to carry back to England, if we live to go and see our friends there. I had last Sunday (December 19), a great trial in my family. I see the Lord will not use me in this country for good, and, when we shall have finished our little matters, I shall be glad to go to my spiritual friends, and to my flock; so much the more, as Mr. Ireland mentions my curate’s danger of being in a consumption. My compliments and thanks wait on Miss Perronet. She was very obliging to share her drops with me. May we all share the springs of grace and glory together! If you will come a few leagues southward, and try the weather here, your room waits for you, and I shall be glad to see you. In the meantime, keep yourself warm by the Word of God within, and a good fire without. The Lord direct us in all things! Oh for quietness and English friends!”[470]
Two days after writing this, Fletcher addressed his curate, Mr. Greaves, as follows:—
“My Dear Brother,—Glory be to God for His unspeakable gift! May that Jesus, that eternal, all-creating, all-supporting, all-atoning, all-comforting Word, which was with God, and is God, and came, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to dwell among men, and to be our Emmanuel, God with us,—may He, by a lively faith, be formed in our hearts; and, by a warm love, lie and grow in the manger of our emptiness, filling it always with the bread that comes down from heaven!
“Though absent in body, I am with you and the flock in spirit. You are now at the Lord’s table. O may all the dear people, you have just now preached to, receive Jesus in the pledge of His dying love, and go home with this lively conviction, ‘God has given me eternal life, and this life is in His Son!’
“Glory be to God in heaven! Peace on earth! Love and good-will everywhere! Especially in the place where Providence has called us to cry, ‘Behold! what manner of love the Father has testified to us, in Jesus, that we, children of wrath, should be made children of God, by that only-begotten Son of the Most High, who was born for our regeneration, crucified for our atonement, raised for our justification, and who now triumphs in heaven for our sanctification, for our full redemption, and for our eternal glorification. To Him be glory for ever and ever;’ and may all, who fear and love Him about you, say, for ever, Amen! Hallelujah!
“Out of the fulness of my heart, I invite them to do so; but how shallow is my fulness to His! What a drop, compared to an ocean without bottom or shore! Let us, then, receive continually from Him, who is the overflowing and ever-present source of pardoning, sanctifying, and exhilarating grace; and, from the foot of the Wrekin, where you are, to the foot of the Alps, where I am, let us echo back to each other the joyful, thankful cry of the primitive Christians, which was the text here this morning, ‘Out of His fulness, we have all received grace for grace.’
“I long to hear from you and the flock. How do you go on? Let me know that you cast joyfully all your burdens on the Lord. Mr. Ireland sends me word, that Mr. Romaine told him you are not very well. Take care of yourself. Lay nothing to heart. Should your breast be weak, preach but once on Sundays; for you know the evening sermon is not a part of our stated duty. I say this, that you may not over-do, and lie by, as I do. God direct, sustain, and comfort you in all things!
“Give my pastoral love to all my flock. May all see, and see more abundantly, the salvation of God! May national distress be sanctified unto them; and may they all be loyal subjects of the King of kings, and of His Anointed, our King! May the approaching new year be to them a year of peace and Gospel grace! I hope Molly takes good care of you. God bless her!”[471]
Fletcher refers to the “national distress.” This was great. Parliament was excited. Ireland was in a state of veiled rebellion. England rang with reports of threatened invasion. The war with the American colonists had already added sixty-three millions to the national debt. Trade was paralysed, and taxes were intolerable. Popery had been established in Canada, and had received encouragement in England. The Protestant Association had sprung into existence, and the Gordon riots were at hand. In the midst of this state of things, Fletcher wrote to a nobleman, whose name is not given, but who, probably, was Lord North, as follows:—
“My Lord,—If the American Colonies and the West India Islands are rent from the Crown, there will not grow one ear of corn the less in Great Britain. We shall still have the necessaries of life, and, what is more, the Gospel, and liberty to hear it. If the great springs of trade and wealth are cut off, good men will bear that loss without much sorrow; for springs of wealth are always springs of luxury, which, sooner or later, destroy the empires corrupted by wealth. Moral good may come out of our losses. I wish you may see it in England. People on the Continent imagine they see it already in the English on their travels, who are said to behave with more wisdom and less haughtiness than they used to do.”[472]
Lord North, King George the Third’s Prime Minister, was, at this time, harassed by the American rebellion, incessantly assailed by the Opposition, and frequently threatened with impeachment. Probably, Fletcher’s letter, of which the above is only a part, was intended to help him in his troubles. Though a foreigner by birth, John de la Flechere was a most loyal and devoted subject of King George. Hence, also, the following, taken from a letter to his curate, Mr. Greaves:—
“March 7, 1780. I long to hear from you. I hope you are well, and grow in the love of Christ, and of the souls bought with His blood, and committed to your care. I recommend to you the most helpless of the flock,—I mean the children and the sick. They most want your help, and they are the most likely to benefit by it; for affliction softens the heart, and children are not yet quite hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
“I beg you will not fail, when you have opportunity, to recommend to our flock, to honour the King, to study to be quiet, and to hold up the hands of the Government by which we are protected.”[473]
On the same day, Fletcher wrote to his friend and helper, Mr. William Wase, on another matter which was causing him considerable anxiety. His Methodist meeting-house in Madeley Wood had cost much more than he expected. The letter to Mr. Wase needs no further explanation, except that the work, ready to be printed, was, probably, his poem, in French, entitled, “La Louange.”
“My Dear Brother,—I am sorry the building has cost so much more than I intended; but, as the mischief is done, it is a matter to exercise patience, resignation, and self-denial; and it will be a caution in the future. I am going to sell part of my little estate here to discharge the debt. I had laid by £50, to print a small work, which I wanted to distribute here; but, as I must be just, before I presume to offer that mite to the God of truth, I abandon the design, and send that sum to Mr. York.
“Money is so scarce here, at this time, that I shall sell at a very great loss; but necessity and justice are two great laws, which must be obeyed. As I design, on my return to England, to pinch until I have got rid of this debt, I may go and live in one of the cottages belonging to the vicar, if we could let the vicarage for a few pounds; and, in that case, I dare say Mr. Greaves would be so good as to take the other little house.
“My dear friend, let us die to sin. Hold fast Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. Walk by faith in Him; and not by the sight and passions of the old Adam. I hope the sun of affliction, which burns poor England and us, will ripen us all for glory. Give my best love to all our friends in Christ, and tell them that the hope of seeing them does me good.”[474]
Fletcher was hard at work; the weather was cold; and, for the present, exercise out of doors was impracticable. The following, taken from an unpublished letter written by William Perronet, contains an amusing scene:—
“Nyon, March 1, 1780. As this is Mr. Fletcher’s native village, no wonder that it agrees with him; otherwise, it must be very trying to so tender a constitution as his; for the weather here is much hotter in summer, and much colder in winter, than in England; and the transitions from intense heat to extreme cold are often very sudden.
“Mr. Fletcher was once told by two physicians (somewhere), that the benefit of exercise, for consumptive persons, must be estimated by the violence of it; consequently, that riding on horseback was better than going in a carriage, that walking was better than riding, running than walking, and jumping better than all of them put together. Our worthy friend has scrupulously followed this maxim; so that, whenever he does not take his little hasty rides (which by-the-bye frequently occurs), he allows himself, for exercise, not more than three minutes, from his studies, just as dinner is being served, and then, like harlequin, he takes about half a score such violent leaps and plunges across the room, that I am sometimes in pain for the floor, and always for his bones.”
During the year 1779, Fletcher and William Perronet had lodged in the same house in Nyon; now, as might be expected from the foregoing extract, William Perronet’s state of health obliged him to seek a more salubrious situation. He went to Lausanne; Fletcher remained at Nyon; and was thus pictured by his friend in the month of July next ensuing:—
“About half a year ago, we broke up housekeeping at Nyon. Poor dear Mr. Fletcher, with difficulty, procured a miserable lodging in the neighbourhood; and I was obliged to go to Lausanne, which is seven leagues from Nyon. I submitted the more willingly to this, because he talked of spending some time at Lausanne. I have been disappointed in this respect; but, once or twice, I have had the pleasure of seeing him at Nyon. I found him to-day sitting in his small apartment, surrounded with books and papers, writing, or, as he expressed it, ‘finishing the first part’ of one of his pieces. When the whole is likely to be finished, one cannot pretend to say.”[475]
Fletcher intended to return to England in the month of September, but two occurrences prevented him. First of all, he mislaid a portion of the manuscript which he wished to publish before he left Switzerland, and had to re-write what was missing.
“The misfortune I hinted at,” said he to William Perronet, “was the mislaying of a considerable part of my manuscript. After giving it up as lost, I fell to work again; went through the double toil; and, when I had done, last night, I accidentally found what I had mislaid. This has thrown me back a great deal. The Lord’s will be done in all things! I thank God, I have been kept from fretting on the occasion; though I would not for a great deal have such another trial.”[476]
Added to this, and, perhaps, partly in consequence of it, his health relapsed. These, and other matters, are referred to in the following letter, addressed to his curate, Mr. Greaves:—
“My Dear Fellow-labourer,—I had fixed the time of my departure for this month; but now two hindrances stand in my way. When I came to collect the parts of my manuscript, I found the most considerable part wanting; and, after a thousand searches, I was obliged to write it over again. This accident compelled me to put off my journey; and now the change of weather has brought back some symptoms of my disorder. I speak, or rather whisper, with difficulty; but I hope the quantity of grapes I begin to eat will have as good an effect upon me as in the last two autumns.
“Have patience then a little while. If things are not as you could wish, you can do but as I have done for many years,—learn patience by the things which you suffer. Crossing our will, getting the better of our inclinations, and growing in experience, are no mean advantages, and they may all be yours.
“Mr. Ireland writes me word that if I return to England now, the winter will undo all I have been doing for my health for many years. However, I have not quite laid aside the design of spending the winter with you; but don’t expect me till you see me. I am, nevertheless, firmly purposed that, if I do not set out this autumn, I shall do so next spring, as early as I can.
“Till I had this relapse, I was able to exhort, in a private room, three times a week; but the Lord Lieutenant will not allow me to get into a pulpit, though they permit the schoolmasters, who are laymen, to put on a band and read the Church prayers; so high runs the prejudice. The clergy, however, tell me that if I will renounce my ordination, and get Presbyterian Orders among them, they will allow me to preach, and on these terms one of the ministers of this town offers me his curacy. A young clergyman of Geneva, tutor to my nephew, appears to me a truly converted man; and he is so pleased when I tell him there are converted souls in England, that he will go with me to learn English, and converse with the British Christians. He wrote last summer, with such force, to some of the clergy, who are stirring up the fire of persecution, that he made them ashamed, and we have since had peace from that quarter.
“There is little genuine piety in these parts; nevertheless, there is yet some of the form of it; so far as to go to the Lord’s table regularly four times a year. There meet the adulterers, the drunkards, the swearers, the infidels, and even the materialists. They have no idea of the double damnation that awaits hypocrites. They look upon the partaking of that sacrament as a ceremony enjoined by the magistrate. At Zurich, the first town of this country, they have lately beheaded a clergyman who wanted to betray his country to the Emperor, to whom it chiefly belonged. It is the town of the great reformer, Zuinglius; yet there they poisoned the sacramental wine a few years ago. I mention this to show you there is great need to bear a testimony against the faults of the clergy here; and, if I cannot do it from the pulpit, I must try to do it from the press. Their canons, which were composed by two hundred and thirty pastors, at the time of the Reformation, are so spiritual and apostolic that I design to translate them into English, if I am spared.
“Farewell, my dear brother. Take care, good, constant, care of the flock committed to your charge; especially the sick and the young. Salute all our dear parishioners. Let me still have a part in your prayers, public and private; and rejoice in the Lord, as, through grace, I am enabled to do in all my little tribulations.”[477]
On the same day, Fletcher wrote to Mr. Thomas York:—