“I hope, my dear brethren, that you improve much under the ministry of that faithful servant of God, Mr. Brown,[[121]] whom Providence blesses you with. Make haste to gather the honey of knowledge and grace as it drops from his lips; and may I find the hive of your heart so full of it at my return, that I may share with you in the heavenly store!
“In order to this, entreat the Lord to stir up your hunger and thirst after the flesh and blood of Jesus, and to increase your desire for the sincere milk of the Word. When people are hungry they will find time to go to their meals; and a good appetite does not think a meal a day too much. Be not satisfied with knowing the way to heaven, but walk in it constantly and joyfully. Be thoroughly in earnest. You may impose upon your brethren by a formal attendance on the means of grace, but you cannot deceive the Searcher of hearts. Let Him then see your heart struggling towards Him; and if you fall through heaviness, sloth, or unbelief, do not make a bad matter worse by continuing hopeless in the ditch of sin and guilt. Up and away to the blood of Jesus! It will not only wash away the guilt of past sins, but strengthen you to trample all iniquity under foot in the time to come. Never forget that the soul of the diligent shall be made fat; and that the Lord will spue the lukewarm out of His mouth. Get, therefore, that love which makes you diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
“I beg you will not neglect the assembling of yourselves together, and, when you meet in Society, be neither backward nor forward to speak. Let every one esteem himself the meanest in the company, and be glad to sit at the feet of the lowest. If you are tempted against any one, yield not to the temptation; and pray for much of that love which hopeth all things, and puts the best constructions even upon the worst of things. I beg, for Christ’s sake, I may find no division and no offence among you at my return. ‘If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the others better than himself.’
“I earnestly beg the continuance of your prayers for me, that the Lord may keep me from hurting His cause in these parts, and that when Providence shall bring me back among you (which I hope will be this day fortnight), I may be thoroughly furnished for every good word and work. That the blessing of God may crown all your hearts and your meetings, is the earnest prayer of, my very dear brethren,
“Your unworthy servant in the Gospel of our common Lord,
“John Fletcher.
“P.S.—I had not time to finish this letter yesterday, being called upon to preach in a market town in the neighbourhood. The dragon showed some of his spite and venom to little purpose. A gentleman churchwarden would hinder my getting into the pulpit, and, in order to this, cursed and swore, and took another gentleman by the collar in the middle of the church. Notwithstanding his rage, I preached. May the Lord raise in power what was sown in weakness!”[[122]]
From this interesting letter, it appears that Fletcher spent four Sundays at Bath and Bristol. No doubt, he was the guest of the Countess of Huntingdon; but, at the same time, he formed an acquaintance with the excellent James Ireland, Esq., of Brislington, with whom he commenced a correspondence two or three months afterwards, which was continued to the end of life. There can hardly be a doubt that Mr. Ireland was the gentleman who offered to take Fletcher to Switzerland, free of cost. At this time, Mr. Ireland’s daughter was out of health, and for many years afterwards he was accustomed to go to the south of France for the benefit of himself and his family.
Eighteen years had elapsed since Fletcher had seen his mother, his brothers, and his sisters, and of course he wished to visit them; but there was his work at Madeley, and that was enough to make him forego what, under other circumstances, must have been an unspeakable pleasure. Some will accuse him of the want of natural affection, and will say he owed duties to his distant and long unseen relatives, as well as to his parishioners. Probably, in answer to such a charge, he would have quoted the words of his supreme Master: “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
It is evident, from Fletcher’s pastoral epistle, that his preaching in the west of England was not confined to Bath and Bristol; but, except the disgraceful incident of the profane churchwarden swearing and almost fighting to keep him out of the pulpit of a church in some neighbouring market town, no details of his tour have been preserved. The letters and journals of Wesley and Whitefield abound with facts and adventures, full of interest and instruction: the letters of Fletcher were of another character. They are rich in truth and piety; but not always in materials for biography. His habitual self-abnegation kept in the shade thousands of facts which the curiosity of the Christian world would like to know.