“I am provided here with every necessary and convenient blessing for my state. The great have done me the honour of calling,—Mr. Shirley, Mr. Rowland Hill, Mr. Peckwell, etc.[[397]] I exhort them to promote peace in the Church, which they take kindly. Lady Huntingdon also has written me a kind letter. This world to me is now become a world of love.”[[398]]
Madeley was the centre of a kind of Methodist circuit, which, however, had no Methodist meeting-house. Services were held in cottages; chapels did not exist. In the midst of his affliction, Fletcher and his friends projected the building of one in Madeley Wood.[[399]] As will be seen in subsequent letters, the execution of the scheme brought upon him considerable anxiety. Robert Palmer was the builder, and the entire cost was £296 17s. 5d., including £1 4s. 2d. “paid for drink for the men with the teams,” and £3 12s. paid for “sixteen stones of malt, for drink for the workmen.”[[400]] The following letter, addressed to Mr. Wase, refers to this humble edifice:—
“Newington, February 18, 1777.
“My Dear Brother,—My dear friend Ireland brought me, last week, Sir John Elliott, who is esteemed the greatest physician in London, in consumptive cases. He gave hopes of my recovery, upon using proper diet and means. I was bled yesterday for the third time. I calmly leave all to God, and use the means without trusting in them. Death has lost its sting. I know not what hurry of spirit is, or unbelieving fears, under my most terrifying symptoms. Glory be to God, for this unspeakable mercy! Help me to praise Him for it.
“With respect to our intended room, I beg Mr. Palmer, Mr. Lloyd, and yourself to consult about it, and that Mr. Palmer would contract for the whole. I shall contribute £100, including £10 I have had for it from Mr. Ireland, and £10 from Mr. Thornton.”[[401]]
In other ways, Fletcher evinced his profound interest in the welfare of his Madeley friends. Mr. Greaves occupied his pulpit, and preached, with great acceptance, to his parishioners; but Mr. Greaves was not a priest, and, therefore, was not qualified to administer the holy sacraments. To meet the case, Fletcher wrote as follows to the Bishop of Hereford:—
“Stoke Newington, March 22, 1777.
“My Lord,—It is near a year since I was taken ill with a cough, spitting of blood, and hectic fever. This complication of disorders obliged me to go to Bristol last summer, for the benefit of the waters; and it now detains me here, where I stay on account of the greater mildness of the climate, and the help I can have from the London physicians, who, as well as those of Bristol, absolutely forbid me doing duty.
“It is with great difficulty that I have got my church properly served. My chief assistant has been Mr. Greaves, a young clergyman of the next diocese, who is only in deacon’s orders, and who, considering my weak state of health, has kindly left his curacy to oblige and help me. I give him a title, and do humbly recommend him to your lordship, begging you would admit him to the holy order of priest; without which he cannot properly supply my church, my parishioners having always been used to a monthly sacrament, and dying people, in so populous a part of the diocese, frequently wanting to have the ordinance administered to them.
“I am sorry to be obliged to trouble your lordship on this occasion; but hope, my lord, you will not deny me a favour which few clergymen in your lordship’s diocese can want as much as your lordship’s dutiful son and obedient servant,