“We are your obliged friends,
“John and Mary Fletcher.”[[628]]
It must be confessed that there is a little mysticism in Fletcher’s letter; but let it pass. The next was written a month later. The Rev. Peard Dickenson was now in the twenty-sixth year of his age. He had been ordained a deacon, on June 16, 1783, and, a few months afterwards, had been ordained a priest by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was now the Curate of the venerable Vicar of Shoreham, the Rev. Vincent Perronet, and wrote to Fletcher, asking his advice respecting pastoral visitation. Fletcher replied, as follows:—
“Madeley, March 29, 1785.
“Dear Sir,—I did not answer your obliging letter, because I thought it would be presumption in me to advise you, when you have my reverend father, Mr. Perronet, to advise with. To send a line, in those circumstances, appeared to me like ‘sending coals to Newcastle.’
“However, having now an opportunity to forward a letter to London, I shall say what I have thought on the subject. It is exceeding well to visit from house to house, even the Infidels, to feel their pulse, and to see whether they do not begin to entertain more favourable thoughts of ‘the pearl of great price’ than grunting ‘swine’ or snarling ‘dogs’ generally do. Such visits, half upon the footing of Christian love, and half upon the footing of human civility, may tend to remove prejudices. In some cases, writing a letter with tenderness, or giving a little tract suited to the circumstances of the person, may clear our own conscience, though it should do him no good.
“My love, respects, and duty, to your venerable Vicar, who, I am told, is now your grandfather.[[629]] I hope the report is well grounded; and, if it is, I wish you joy on entering into so respectable a family; and I wish you and your partner all the help and comfort I find in mine; who, as well as myself, desires to be kindly remembered to all the dear family at Shoreham.
“I am, dear Sir, your affectionate brother and servant in Christ,
“John Fletcher.”[[630]]
The Rev. Melville Horne was one of Fletcher’s protegees. At Wesley’s Conference, in 1784, he had been “admitted on trial,” as a Methodist Itinerant Preacher, and appointed to the Liverpool circuit. It is well known that, after this, he obtained episcopal ordination, became curate at Madeley, published a collection of Fletcher’s letters in 1791, went as a missionary to Western Africa, and, on his return to England, rose to considerable distinction. Fletcher had lent the young itinerant certain books, and now wrote to him the following letter, which refers to a practice which must have been of recent adoption. Romaine made it a rule to read nothing but the Bible; wisely or unwisely, Fletcher had begun, to some extent, to copy his example:—