“To the Brethren who hear the Word of God in the parish church of Madeley.
“My Dear Brethren,—I thank you for the declaration of your affectionate remembrance, which you sent me by John Owen, the messenger of your brotherly love.
“As various reasons prevent my coming to take leave of you in “erson, permit me to do it by letter. The hope of recovering a little strength, to serve you again in the Gospel, makes me take the advice of the physicians, who say that removing to a drier air and warmer climate may be of great service to my health.
“I am more and more persuaded that I have not declared unto you cunningly devised fables, and that the Gospel I have had the honour of preaching, though feebly, among you, is the power of God to salvation, to every one who believes it.
“Want of time does not permit me to give you more than the following directions. Have, every day, lower thoughts of yourselves, higher thoughts of Christ, kinder thoughts of your brethren, and more hopeful thoughts of all around you. Love to assemble in the great congregation; but, above all, love to pray to your Father in secret; consider your Saviour; and listen for your Sanctifier. Wait all day long for His glorious appearing within you; and, when you are together, by suitable prayers, proper hymns, and enlivening exhortations, keep up your earnest expectation of His pardoning and sanctifying love. Let not a drop satisfy you; desire an ocean. Do not eat your morsel by yourselves, like selfish, niggardly people, but be ready to share it with all. Let every one with whom you converse be the better for your conversation. Be burning and shining lights wherever you are. Set the fire of divine love to the hellish stubble of sin. Be valiant for the truth. Be champions for love. Be sons of thunder against sin; and sons of consolation towards humbled sinners. Be faithful to your God, your king, and your masters. Let not the good ways of God be blasphemed through any of you.
“You have need of patience, as well as of faith and power. You must learn to suffer, as well as do the will of God. Think it not strange to pass through fiery trials. Let your faith be firm in a tempest. Let your hope in Christ be as a sure anchor cast within the veil; and your patient love will soon outride the storm. God is the same merciful and faithful God, ‘yesterday, to-day, and for ever.’ Believe in His threefold name. Rejoice in every degree of His great salvation. Triumph in hope of the glory which shall be revealed. Do not forget to be thankful for a cup of water; much less for being out of hell, for the means of grace, the forgiveness of sins, the blood of Jesus, the communion of saints on earth, and the future glorification of saints in heaven. Strongly, heartily believe every Gospel truth, especially the latter part of the Apostles’ Creed. Believe it till your faith becomes the substance of the eternal life you hope for; and then, come life, come death, either or both will be welcome to you, as, through grace, I find they are to me.
“If I am no more permitted to minister to you in the land of the living, I rejoice at the thought that I shall, perhaps, be allowed to accompany the angels, who, if you continue in the faith, will be commissioned to carry your souls into Abraham’s bosom. If our bodies do not moulder away in the same grave, our spirits shall be sweetly lost in the same sea of divine and brotherly love. I hope to see you again in the flesh; but my sweetest and firmest hope is to meet you where there are no parting seas, no interposing mountains, no sickness, no death, no fear of loving too much, no shame for loving too little.
“I earnestly recommend you to the pastoral care of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, to the brotherly care of one another, and to the ministerial care of my substitute. Should I be spared to come back, let me have the joy of finding you all of one heart and one soul; continuing steadfast in the Apostles’ doctrine, in fellowship one with another, and in communion with our sin-pardoning and sin-abhorring God.”[[427]]
Immediately after the date of this pastoral epistle, in company with Mr. Ireland, two of his daughters, and another family, Fletcher left Brislington for the south of France. During a halt at Reading, he wrote the following to the Rev. Vincent Perronet, the venerable vicar of Shoreham:—
“Reading, December 2, 1777.