CHAPTER IX.

_WESLEY'S PROPOSAL.--FAILING HEALTH._

Wesley's estimate of Fletcher's character and abilities had been, from the first, uniformly high, but the circumstances connected with the Calvinist controversy raised it still higher. Every one knew of Fletcher's gentleness and simplicity, but no one was prepared for the strength, the firmness, the mental vigour and versatility that he now exhibited. If this was something of a surprise to Wesley, it was matter of unfeigned rejoicing. He saw, or thought he saw, in Fletcher a man fitted for a greater work than that of being Vicar of Madeley. It was natural perhaps that Wesley should never quite appreciate the position of a parochial minister. His belief in itinerancy had its roots in his temperament, as well as in his judgment. He said of himself, that if he were confined to one spot, he should preach himself and his whole congregation to sleep in a twelvemonth. He always grudged Fletcher to his obscure parish, and the feeling grew with every fresh manifestation of Fletcher's powers. The conviction began to take shape in his mind that Fletcher was the proper man to succeed him in the direction of the Methodist preachers and societies. He was now nearly seventy years of age, and his health was apparently failing. In the course of things he must shortly lay down his work. Who was there to take it up? It could not be that God would suffer it to fall to pieces for want of one to control and guide it; and who was there that could compare in fitness with Fletcher? Wesley determined therefore not to leave this matter to the last, but to communicate with him while there was yet time. Accordingly, in January, 1773, he wrote to him as follows:

"DEAR SIR,--

"What an amazing work has God wrought in these kingdoms in less than forty years! And it not only continues, but increases, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay, it has lately spread into New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. But the wise men of the world say, 'When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this is at an end!' And so it surely will, unless, before God calls him hence, one is found to stand in his place. I see more and more, unless there be one [Greek: proestôs], the work can never be carried on. The body of the preachers are not united, nor will any part of them submit to the rest; so that either there must be one to preside over all, or the work will indeed come to an end.

"But who is sufficient for these things? qualified to preside both over the preachers and people? He must be a man of faith and love, and one that has a single eye to the advancement of the kingdom of God. He must have a clear understanding; a knowledge of men and things, particularly of the Methodist doctrine and discipline; a ready utterance; diligence and activity, with a tolerable share of health. There must be added to these favour with the people, with the Methodists in general; for, unless God turn their eyes and their hearts towards him, he will be quite incapable of the work. He must likewise have some degree of learning, because there are many adversaries, learned as well as unlearned, whose mouths must be stopped. But this cannot be done unless he be able to meet them on their own ground.

"But has God provided one so qualified? Who is he? Thou art the man! God has given you a measure of loving faith, and a single eye to His glory. He has given you some knowledge of men and things, particularly of the old plan of Methodism. You are blessed with some health, activity, and diligence, together with a degree of learning. And to these He has lately added, by a way none could have foreseen, favour both with the preachers and the whole people. Come out in the name of God! Come to the help of the Lord against the mighty! Come while I am alive and capable of labour;

'_Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo._'

Come while I am able, God assisting, to build you up in faith, to ripen your gifts, and to introduce you to the people. _Nil tanti._ What possible employment can you have, which is of so great importance?"

When Wesley wrote this letter it was far from his thoughts that he had yet eighteen years of work before him, and would survive Fletcher by six years.

In his reply Fletcher says: "Should Providence call you first, I shall do my best, by the Lord's assistance, to help your brother to gather the wreck, and keep together those who are not absolutely bent to throw away the Methodist doctrine and discipline....

"In the meantime you sometimes need an assistant to serve tables, and occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly appointed _me_ to that office many years ago. And though it no less evidently called me hither, yet have I not been without doubt, especially for some years past, whether it would not be expedient that I should resume my office as your deacon; not with any view of presiding over the Methodists after you, but to ease you in your old age, and to be in the way of recovery, and perhaps doing more good....

"Nevertheless, I would not leave this place, without a fuller persuasion that the time is quite come."

Nothing further appears to have been said on the subject, and before long the increasing feebleness of Fletcher's health put the matter beyond discussion.

Two and a half years later Wesley was taken seriously ill while travelling in Ireland. His friends in London were hourly expecting to hear of his death. Charles Wesley, full of distress, wrote to Fletcher, apparently requesting him to come to London. This Fletcher gently but decidedly declined to do:

"Should your brother fail on earth, you are called, not only to bear up under the loss of so near a relative, but, for the sake of your common children in the Lord, you should endeavour to fill up the gap according to your strength. The Methodists will not expect from you your brother's labours; but they have, I think, a right to expect that you will preside over them while God spares you in the land of the living.... And if at any time you should want my mite of assistance, I hope I shall throw it into the treasury with the simplicity and readiness of the poor widow."

But Wesley recovered, and the call for Fletcher's services never came. Wesley's opinion however remained unaltered, that it would have been better in every way for Fletcher to have joined him in itinerating. Years afterwards, when Fletcher was dead, he wrote:

"I can never believe it was the will of God that such a burning and shining light should be hid under a bushel. No; instead of being confined to a country village, it ought to have shone in every corner of our land. He was full as much called to sound an alarm through all the nation as Mr. Whitefield himself; nay, abundantly more so, seeing he was far better qualified for that important work. He had a more striking person, equally good breeding, an equally winning address, together with a richer flow of fancy, a stronger understanding, a far greater treasure of learning, both in languages, philosophy, philology, and divinity; and, above all (which I can speak with fuller assurance, because I had a thorough knowledge both of one and the other), a more deep and constant communion with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.

"And yet let not any one imagine that I depreciate Mr. Whitefield, or undervalue the grace of God and the extraordinary gifts which his great Master vouchsafed unto him. I believe he was highly favoured of God; yea, that he was one of the most eminent ministers that has appeared in England, or perhaps in the world, during the present century. Yet I must own I have known many fully equal to Mr. Whitefield, both in holy tempers and holiness of conversation; but one equal herein to Mr. Fletcher I have not known, no, not in a life of fourscore years."

It was, further, Wesley's belief that an itinerant life would improve Fletcher's health, which was now seriously affected. His letters had for some time contained allusions to frequent infirmities. To one correspondent he says: "My throat is not formed for the labours of preaching. When I have preached three or four times together, it inflames and fills up; and the efforts which I am then obliged to make heat my blood."

To the same, a few months later: "Oh, how life goes! I walked, now I gallop into eternity. The bowl of life goes rapidly down the steep hill of time." To Charles Wesley he writes: "Old age comes faster upon me than upon you. I am already so gray-headed, that I wrote to my brother to know if I am not fifty-six instead of forty-six.... I have had for some days the symptoms of an inward consumptive decay, spitting blood, etc. Thank God! I look at our last enemy with great calmness." Wesley confidently recommended a remedy of which he had more experience than any man then living in England, viz. a long journey on horseback. He proposed that Fletcher should accompany him on a journey of some months, 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." Fletcher willingly accepted the proposal, and travelled with Wesley nearly 1200 miles. But after a while certain friends ("kind, but injudicious," Wesley calls them) persuaded him to remain at Stoke Newington, that he might be properly nursed, and have the best medical aid that could be procured. Wesley characteristically remarks, "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." We are constrained to think that Fletcher was not in a condition to profit by his friend's heroic remedies. He was indeed very ill. Earnest prayers for his recovery were offered at Madeley and elsewhere. A hymn which was composed for the occasion, and sung with deep feeling in Madeley church, contains the following lines:

"Restore him, sinking to the grave; Stretch out Thy arm, make haste to save; Back to our hopes and wishes give, And bid our friend and father live."

For several months he was under the care of his faithful friends Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood, of Stoke Newington. Rest and silence were enjoined, but it was found impossible to restrain him altogether from speaking. One who was much with him says: "The fire which continually burned in his heart many waters could not quench. It often burst out unawares. And then how did we wonder (like those who formerly heard his Lord) 'at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.' ...

"It was in these favoured moments of converse that we found, in a particular manner, the reward which is annexed to receiving a prophet in the name of a prophet. And in some of these lie mentioned circumstances which, as none knew them but himself, would otherwise have been buried in oblivion.

"One of these remarkable passages was, 'In the beginning,' said he, 'of my spiritual course, I heard the voice of God, in an articulate, but inexpressibly awful, sound, go through my soul in those words: "_If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself._"' He mentioned another peculiar manifestation of a later date, 'in which,' said he, 'I was favoured, like Moses, with a supernatural discovery of the glory of God, in an ineffable converse with Him, face to face; so that, whether I was in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.'

"At another time he said, 'About the time of my entering into the ministry, I one evening wandered into a wood, musing on the importance of the office I was going to undertake. I then began to pour out my soul in prayer; when such a sense of the justice of God fell upon me, and such a sense of His displeasure at sin, as absorbed all my powers, and filled my soul with the agony of prayer for poor, lost sinners. I continued therein till the dawn of day; and I considered this as designed of God to impress upon me more deeply the meaning of those solemn words, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.'"

Throughout the whole of his long illness Fletcher's spirit was, not only calm and tranquil, but attuned to an ardour and heavenliness that deeply impressed all who saw him. His frail body seemed to be the abode of a spirit purified and perfected till every trace of earthly corruption was lost.

During the months of enforced absence from his parish his heart was still with his people. In a pastoral letter, which is dated Newington, December 28th, 1776, he writes:

"I hoped to have spent the Christmas holidays with you, and to have ministered to you in holy things; but the weakness of my body confining me here, I humbly submit to the Divine dispensation.... The sum of all I have preached to you is contained in four propositions. _First_, heartily repent of your sins, original and actual. _Secondly_, believe the gospel of Christ in sincerity and truth. _Thirdly_, in the power which true faith gives, run the way of God's commandments before God and men. _Fourthly_, by continuing to take up your cross, and to receive the pure milk of God's word, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ....

"The more nearly I consider death and the grave, judgment and eternity, the more I feel that I have preached to you the truth, and that the truth is solid as the Rock of ages. Although I hope to see much more of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living than I do see, yet, blessed be the Divine mercy! I see enough to keep my mind at all times unruffled, and to make me willing calmly to resign my soul into the hands of my faithful Creator, my loving Redeemer, and my sanctifying Comforter, _this moment_, or _the next_, if He calls for it."

Fletcher's almsgiving was proportionate with his prayers. He was in receipt of an income from his little property in Switzerland of about £100 a year. He generally gave it all away. His money, his clothes, his furniture were alike at the service of the poor and suffering. At one time he sends back £80 to Switzerland for distribution among the poor, saying, "As money is rather higher there than here the mite will go further abroad than it would in my parish." At another time he deposited £105 with a friend, but the whole was drawn for charitable purposes in a few months, the balance, which was £24, going to complete the preaching-house he had built at Madeley Wood. During his illness he writes to one of the poor Methodists at Coalbrookdale: "Let none of your little companies want. If any do, you are welcome to my house. Take any part of the furniture there, and make use of it for their relief. And this shall be your full title for so doing. Witness my hand, JOHN FLETCHER."

Leaving Stoke Newington in the beginning of May, 1777, Fletcher went to Bristol, to the hospitable home of his old friend Mr. Ireland, for change of air, and for what benefit might be found in drinking the waters. Here he spent several months in feeble health, but in unbroken tranquillity and elevation of spirit. "Far gone in a consumptive disorder, and ripening fast for glory," was the judgment of those who saw him at this time. He had many visitors, devout persons of all classes, to whom his conversation, his prayers, his very presence, were means of grace. Mr. Venn, who had been on the opposite side to Fletcher in the recent controversy, spent some weeks with him under Mr. Ireland's roof. "Oh that I might be like him!" was his testimony in after years. "I have known all the great men for these fifty years, but I have known none like him.... I never heard him say a single word which was not proper to be spoken, and which had not a tendency to minister grace to the hearers; ... not a single unbecoming word of himself, or of his antagonists, or of his friends. All his conversation tended to excite to greater love and thankfulness for the benefits of redemption; whilst his whole deportment breathed humility and love."

In the month of July Wesley and his preachers met in Bristol to hold their annual conference. One morning during its session a visit from Fletcher was announced. As he entered what was then called the New Room--now the old chapel in Broadmead--leaning on Mr. Ireland's arm, the whole assembly, by a common impulse, stood up. Wesley rose and advanced to receive him. He seemed like a visitor from another world. His worn features shone as with the light of heaven. All present were profoundly moved at the sight. He had scarcely begun to speak before every one was in tears. "His appearance, his exhortations, and his prayers," says Benson, "broke most of our hearts." It was such a scene as the oldest person present had never witnessed before, as the youngest could not expect to witness again. It was brought to a close by Wesley, who suddenly fell upon his knees at Fletcher's side, the whole company of preachers kneeling with him, and offered an earnest prayer for Fletcher's restoration to health and to his labours in the cause of Christ. He finished his prayer by pronouncing "in his peculiar manner, and with a confidence and emphasis which seemed to thrill through every heart, 'He shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.'"

During the eight remaining years of Fletcher's life, it was believed amongst the Methodists that God had spared him in answer to their prayers.