“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:—
“Nyon, May 22, 1779.
“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:—
“Nyon, Ibid..
“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.