We shall obtain delivering grace
In the distressing hour.’”[[483]]
Within three weeks after this, Fletcher’s book was finished, and the business of William Perronet was ended. Fletcher wished to set out for England, but was still detained in Switzerland. Hence the following, addressed to Mr. Wase:—
“Nyon, February 14, 1781.
“My Dear Friend,—I thank you for your kind remembrance of me. I need not be urged to return; brotherly love draws me to Madeley, and circumstances drive me hence.
“I am exceeding glad that there is a revival on your side the water” [the river Severn], “and that you are obliged to enlarge your Room.[[484]] I wish I could contribute to shake the dry bones in my parish, but I have no confidence in the flesh. What I could not do when I was in my strength, I have little prospect of doing now that my strength is broken. However, I don’t despair, for the work is not mine but the Lord’s. If the few who love the Gospel would be simple and zealous, God would again hear their prayers for those who are content to go on in the broad way. I thank you for your view of the iron bridge.[[485]]
“My friend Ireland invites me to join him in the South of France; and I long to see whether I could not have more liberty to preach the Word among Papists than among Protestants. But it is so little that I can do, that I doubt much whether it is worth while going so far upon so little a chance. If I were stronger, and had more time, the fear of being hanged should not detain me. I trust to set out next month, and to be in England in May; it won’t be my fault if it is not in April.
“I am here in the midst of rumours of war. The burghers of Geneva have disarmed the garrison, and taken possession of one of the gates. I had, however, the luck to get in, and to bring away my nephew, who is a student there. Troops are preparing to block them up. The Lord may, at this time, punish the repeated backslidings of those Laodicean Christians, most of whom have become infidels. This event may a little retard my journey, as I must pass through Geneva. It also puts off the printing of my manuscript, for there is nothing going on in that unhappy town but disputes, and fights, and mounting of guards.
“Remember me in much love to Mr. Greaves, Mr. Gilpin, and the” [Methodist] “preachers who labour with us.”[[486]]
At the same date, Fletcher wrote to Mr. John Owen, his schoolmaster at Madeley, as follows:—