As already stated, Fletcher, when in London, had preached in Tottenham Court Road Chapel. Whitefield wrote a letter, thanking him for his services. Fletcher’s highly characteristic reply was as follows:—
“Rev. and Dear Sir,—I am confounded when I receive a letter from you. Present and eternal contempt from Christ and all His members is what I deserve. A sentence of death is my due; but, instead of it, I am favoured with lines of love. Your mentioning my poor ministrations among your congregation opens again a wound of shame, that was but half healed. I feel the need of asking God, you, and your hearers to pardon me, for weakening the glorious matter of the Gospel by my wretched broken manner, and for spoiling the heavenly power of it by the uncleanness of my heart and lips.
“I should be glad to be your curate some time this year; but I see no opening, nor the least prospect of any. What between the dead and living, a parish ties one down more than a wife. If I could go anywhere this year, it should be to Yorkshire, to accompany Lady Huntingdon, according to a design that I had half formed last year; but I fear I shall be debarred even from this. I set out, God willing, to-morrow morning for Trevecca, to meet her ladyship there, and to show her the way to Madeley, where she proposes to stay three or four days, on her way to Derbyshire.
“Last Sunday seven-night, Captain Scott preached to my congregation a sermon, which was more blessed, though preached only upon my horse-block, than a hundred of those I preach in the pulpit. I invited him to come and treat her ladyship next Sunday with another, now the place is consecrated. If you should ever favour Shropshire with your presence, you shall have the captain’s, or the parson’s, pulpit at your option. Many ask me, whether you will not come to have some fruit here also. What must I answer them? I, and many more, complain of a stagnation of the work. What must we do? Everything buds and blossoms about us, yet our winter is not over.
“Present my Christian respects to Mrs. Whitefield, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Keen, Mr. Joyce, Mr. Croom, and Mr. Wright. Tell Mr. Keen I am a letter in his debt, and postpone writing it till I have had such a sight of Christ as to breathe His love through every line.
“I am, rev. and dear Sir, with sincere affection and respect, your willing, though halting and unworthy servant,
“J. Fletcher.”[[136]]
Captain Scott, the martial evangelist, mentioned in this letter, was a Shropshire man, and belonged to an ancient and respectable family. He had begun his military life as a cornet, and had been promoted to the rank of captain in the 7th regiment of dragoons. A short time before his first visit to Madeley, Fletcher, in a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, remarked:—
“I went last Monday to meet Captain Scott, one of the fruits that have grown for the Lord at Oathall,—a captain of a truth—a bold soldier of Christ. God has thrown down before him the middle wall of bigotry, and he boldly launches into an irregular usefulness. For some months, he has exhorted his dragoons daily; and, for some weeks, he has preached publicly in the Methodist Meeting House, in his regimentals, to numerous congregations, with good success. The stiff regular ones pursue him with hue and cry; but, I believe, he is quite beyond their reach. God keep him zealous and simple! I believe this red coat will shame many a black one. I am sure he shames me.”[[137]]
In the year 1767, the Countess of Huntingdon was much occupied in making preparations for the opening of her college at Trevecca, in Wales. From the commencement of this important project, Fletcher was one of her ladyship’s chosen advisers. In the month of April, he met her at Trevecca, and escorted her to Madeley, where she spent several days on her way to Yorkshire. The visit was a memorable one. Her ladyship was accompanied by Lady Anne Erskine and Miss Orton. The rich Christian communion of these three noble ladies with the poor vicar may be imagined, but cannot be described. It was, probably, at this period that the Countess was led to think of Fletcher as the future president of her college. At all events, in the following year, he was appointed to that important office.[[138]]