Now, in another letter to the father of William Perronet, Fletcher wrote:—
“I condole with you, Rev. and dear Sir, about the death of my dear friend and your dear son. We shall one day see why our heavenly Father made your sons go before you, and my kind physician before me. About the time he died, so far as I can find by your kind letter, a strong concern about him fell upon me by day and by night, insomuch that I could not help waking my wife to join me in praying for him; and at once that concern ceased, nor have I since had any such spiritual feeling, whence I concluded that the conflict I supposed my friend to be in was ended. But how surprised was I to find it was by death! Well, whether Paul or Apollos, or life or death, all things are ours through Jesus, who knows how to bring good out of evil, and how to blow us into the harbour by a cross wind, or even by a dreadful storm.”[[558]]
[522]. Letters, 1791, p. 277.
[523]. Probably Ann Johnson, who was a member of the Methodist Society in London sixty years; a class-leader, thirty-seven; who died at the age of eighty in 1828, and whose remains were interred in the burial-ground of City Road Chapel. See Stevenson’s “City Road Chapel,” p. 458.
[524]. Letters, 1791, p. 276.
[525]. “Life of Rev. H. Venn,” p. 376.
[526]. “Sermon on the death of Mrs. Fletcher,” by John Hodson, p. 47.
[527]. Preface to the Letters.
[528]. Sarah Lawrence was the niece of Sarah Ryan. She lived with her benefactress until her death, which occurred at Madeley, on December 3, 1800. Like Mrs. Fletcher, for several years, she was a preacheress, and very useful.