_WESLEY'S PROPOSAL.--FAILING HEALTH._
Wesley's estimate of Fletcher's character and abilities had been, from
the first, uniformly high, but the circumstances connected with the
Calvinist controversy raised it still higher. Every one knew of
Fletcher's gentleness and simplicity, but no one was prepared for the
strength, the firmness, the mental vigour and versatility that he now
exhibited. If this was something of a surprise to Wesley, it was matter
of unfeigned rejoicing. He saw, or thought he saw, in Fletcher a man
fitted for a greater work than that of being Vicar of Madeley. It was
natural perhaps that Wesley should never quite appreciate the position
of a parochial minister. His belief in itinerancy had its roots in his
temperament, as well as in his judgment. He said of himself, that if he
were confined to one spot, he should preach himself and his whole
congregation to sleep in a twelvemonth. He always grudged Fletcher to
his obscure parish, and the feeling grew with every fresh manifestation
of Fletcher's powers. The conviction began to take shape in his mind
that Fletcher was the proper man to succeed him in the direction of the
Methodist preachers and societies. He was now nearly seventy years of
age, and his health was apparently failing. In the course of things he
must shortly lay down his work. Who was there to take it up? It could
not be that God would suffer it to fall to pieces for want of one to
control and guide it; and who was there that could compare in fitness
with Fletcher? Wesley determined therefore not to leave this matter to
the last, but to communicate with him while there was yet time.
Accordingly, in January, 1773, he wrote to him as follows:
"DEAR SIR,--
"What an amazing work has God wrought in these kingdoms in
less than forty years! And it not only continues, but
increases, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay,
it has lately spread into New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
Maryland, and Carolina. But the wise men of the world say,
'When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this is at an end!' And so
it surely will, unless, before God calls him hence, one is
found to stand in his place. I see more and more, unless
there be one [Greek: proestos], the work can never be
carried on. The body of the preachers are not united, nor
will any part of them submit to the rest; so that either
there must be one to preside over all, or the work will
indeed come to an end.
"But who is sufficient for these things? qualified to
preside both over the preachers and people? He must be a man
of faith and love, and one that has a single eye to the
advancement of the kingdom of God. He must have a clear
understanding; a knowledge of men and things, particularly
of the Methodist doctrine and discipline; a ready utterance;
diligence and activity, with a tolerable share of health.
There must be added to these favour with the people, with
the Methodists in general; for, unless God turn their eyes
and their hearts towards him, he will be quite incapable of
the work. He must likewise have some degree of learning,
because there are many adversaries, learned as well as
unlearned, whose mouths must be stopped. But this cannot be
done unless he be able to meet them on their own ground.
"But has God provided one so qualified? Who is he? Thou art
the man! God has given you a measure of loving faith, and a
single eye to His glory. He has given you some knowledge of
men and things, particularly of the old plan of Methodism.
You are blessed with some health, activity, and diligence,
together with a degree of learning. And to these He has
lately added, by a way none could have foreseen, favour both
with the preachers and the whole people. Come out in the
name of God! Come to the help of the Lord against the
mighty! Come while I am alive and capable of labour;
'_Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me
Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo._'
Come while I am able, God assisting, to build you up in
faith, to ripen your gifts, and to introduce you to the
people. _Nil tanti._ What possible employment can you have,
which is of so great importance?"
When Wesley wrote this letter it was far from his thoughts that he had
yet eighteen years of work before him, and would survive Fletcher by
six years.
In his reply Fletcher says: "Should Providence call you first, I shall
do my best, by the Lord's assistance, to help your brother to gather
the wreck, and keep together those who are not absolutely bent to throw
away the Methodist doctrine and discipline....
"In the meantime you sometimes need an assistant to serve tables, and
occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly appointed _me_ to
that office many years ago. And though it no less evidently called me
hither, yet have I not been without doubt, especially for some years
past, whether it would not be expedient that I should resume my office
as your deacon; not with any view of presiding over the Methodists
after you, but to ease you in your old age, and to be in the way of
recovery, and perhaps doing more good....
"Nevertheless, I would not leave this place, without a fuller
persuasion that the time is quite come."
Nothing further appears to have been said on the subject, and before
long the increasing feebleness of Fletcher's health put the matter
beyond discussion.
Two and a half years later Wesley was taken seriously ill while
travelling in Ireland. His friends in London were hourly expecting to
hear of his death. Charles Wesley, full of distress, wrote to
Fletcher, apparently requesting him to come to London. This Fletcher
gently but decidedly declined to do:
"Should your brother fail on earth, you are called, not only
to bear up under the loss of so near a relative, but, for
the sake of your common children in the Lord, you should
endeavour to fill up the gap according to your strength. The
Methodists will not expect from you your brother's labours;
but they have, I think, a right to expect that you will
preside over them while God spares you in the land of the
living.... And if at any time you should want my mite of
assistance, I hope I shall throw it into the treasury with
the simplicity and readiness of the poor widow."
But Wesley recovered, and the call for Fletcher's services never came.
Wesley's opinion however remained unaltered, that it would have been
better in every way for Fletcher to have joined him in itinerating.
Years afterwards, when Fletcher was dead, he wrote:
"I can never believe it was the will of God that such a
burning and shining light should be hid under a bushel. No;
instead of being confined to a country village, it ought to
have shone in every corner of our land. He was full as much
called to sound an alarm through all the nation as Mr.
Whitefield himself; nay, abundantly more so, seeing he was
far better qualified for that important work. He had a more
striking person, equally good breeding, an equally winning
address, together with a richer flow of fancy, a stronger
understanding, a far greater treasure of learning, both in
languages, philosophy, philology, and divinity; and, above
all (which I can speak with fuller assurance, because I had
a thorough knowledge both of one and the other), a more deep
and constant communion with the Father and with the Son
Jesus Christ.
"And yet let not any one imagine that I depreciate Mr.
Whitefield, or undervalue the grace of God and the
extraordinary gifts which his great Master vouchsafed unto
him. I believe he was highly favoured of God; yea, that he
was one of the most eminent ministers that has appeared in
England, or perhaps in the world, during the present
century. Yet I must own I have known many fully equal to Mr.
Whitefield, both in holy tempers and holiness of
conversation; but one equal herein to Mr. Fletcher I have
not known, no, not in a life of fourscore years."
It was, further, Wesley's belief that an itinerant life would improve
Fletcher's health, which was now seriously affected. His letters had
for some time contained allusions to frequent infirmities. To one
correspondent he says: "My throat is not formed for the labours of
preaching. When I have preached three or four times together, it
inflames and fills up; and the efforts which I am then obliged to make
heat my blood."
To the same, a few months later: "Oh, how life goes! I walked, now I
gallop into eternity. The bowl of life goes rapidly down the steep hill
of time." To Charles Wesley he writes: "Old age comes faster upon me
than upon you. I am already so gray-headed, that I wrote to my brother
to know if I am not fifty-six instead of forty-six.... I have had for
some days the symptoms of an inward consumptive decay, spitting blood,
etc. Thank God! I look at our last enemy with great calmness." Wesley
confidently recommended a remedy of which he had more experience than
any man then living in England, viz. a long journey on horseback. He
proposed that Fletcher should accompany him on a journey of some
months, telling him, "When you are tired, or like it best, you may come
into my carriage; but remember that riding on horseback is the best of
all exercises for you, so far as your strength will permit." Fletcher
willingly accepted the proposal, and travelled with Wesley nearly 1200
miles. But after a while certain friends ("kind, but injudicious,"
Wesley calls them) persuaded him to remain at Stoke Newington, that he
might be properly nursed, and have the best medical aid that could be
procured. Wesley characteristically remarks, "I verily believe, if he
had travelled with me, partly in the chaise and partly on horseback,
only a few months longer, he would have quite recovered his health." We
are constrained to think that Fletcher was not in a condition to profit
by his friend's heroic remedies. He was indeed very ill. Earnest
prayers for his recovery were offered at Madeley and elsewhere. A hymn
which was composed for the occasion, and sung with deep feeling in
Madeley church, contains the following lines:
"Restore him, sinking to the grave;
Stretch out Thy arm, make haste to save;
Back to our hopes and wishes give,
And bid our friend and father live."
For several months he was under the care of his faithful friends Mr.
and Mrs. Greenwood, of Stoke Newington. Rest and silence were enjoined,
but it was found impossible to restrain him altogether from speaking.
One who was much with him says: "The fire which continually burned in
his heart many waters could not quench. It often burst out unawares.
And then how did we wonder (like those who formerly heard his Lord) 'at
the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.' ...
"It was in these favoured moments of converse that we found, in a
particular manner, the reward which is annexed to receiving a prophet
in the name of a prophet. And in some of these lie mentioned
circumstances which, as none knew them but himself, would otherwise
have been buried in oblivion.
"One of these remarkable passages was, 'In the beginning,' said he, 'of
my spiritual course, I heard the voice of God, in an articulate, but
inexpressibly awful, sound, go through my soul in those words: "_If any
man will be My disciple, let him deny himself._"' He mentioned another
peculiar manifestation of a later date, 'in which,' said he, 'I was
favoured, like Moses, with a supernatural discovery of the glory of
God, in an ineffable converse with Him, face to face; so that, whether
I was in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.'
"At another time he said, 'About the time of my entering into the
ministry, I one evening wandered into a wood, musing on the importance
of the office I was going to undertake. I then began to pour out my
soul in prayer; when such a sense of the justice of God fell upon me,
and such a sense of His displeasure at sin, as absorbed all my powers,
and filled my soul with the agony of prayer for poor, lost sinners. I
continued therein till the dawn of day; and I considered this as
designed of God to impress upon me more deeply the meaning of those
solemn words, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men.'"
Throughout the whole of his long illness Fletcher's spirit was, not
only calm and tranquil, but attuned to an ardour and heavenliness that
deeply impressed all who saw him. His frail body seemed to be the abode
of a spirit purified and perfected till every trace of earthly
corruption was lost.
During the months of enforced absence from his parish his heart was
still with his people. In a pastoral letter, which is dated Newington,
December 28th, 1776, he writes:
"I hoped to have spent the Christmas holidays with you, and
to have ministered to you in holy things; but the weakness
of my body confining me here, I humbly submit to the Divine
dispensation.... The sum of all I have preached to you is
contained in four propositions. _First_, heartily repent of
your sins, original and actual. _Secondly_, believe the
gospel of Christ in sincerity and truth. _Thirdly_, in the
power which true faith gives, run the way of God's
commandments before God and men. _Fourthly_, by continuing
to take up your cross, and to receive the pure milk of
God's word, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus
Christ....
"The more nearly I consider death and the grave, judgment
and eternity, the more I feel that I have preached to you
the truth, and that the truth is solid as the Rock of ages.
Although I hope to see much more of the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living than I do see, yet, blessed be the
Divine mercy! I see enough to keep my mind at all times
unruffled, and to make me willing calmly to resign my soul
into the hands of my faithful Creator, my loving Redeemer,
and my sanctifying Comforter, _this moment_, or _the next_,
if He calls for it."
Fletcher's almsgiving was proportionate with his prayers. He was in
receipt of an income from his little property in Switzerland of about
L100 a year. He generally gave it all away. His money, his clothes, his
furniture were alike at the service of the poor and suffering. At one
time he sends back L80 to Switzerland for distribution among the poor,
saying, "As money is rather higher there than here the mite will go
further abroad than it would in my parish." At another time he
deposited L105 with a friend, but the whole was drawn for charitable
purposes in a few months, the balance, which was L24, going to complete
the preaching-house he had built at Madeley Wood. During his illness he
writes to one of the poor Methodists at Coalbrookdale: "Let none of
your little companies want. If any do, you are welcome to my house.
Take any part of the furniture there, and make use of it for their
relief. And this shall be your full title for so doing. Witness my
hand, JOHN FLETCHER."
Leaving Stoke Newington in the beginning of May, 1777, Fletcher went to
Bristol, to the hospitable home of his old friend Mr. Ireland, for
change of air, and for what benefit might be found in drinking the
waters. Here he spent several months in feeble health, but in unbroken
tranquillity and elevation of spirit. "Far gone in a consumptive
disorder, and ripening fast for glory," was the judgment of those who
saw him at this time. He had many visitors, devout persons of all
classes, to whom his conversation, his prayers, his very presence, were
means of grace. Mr. Venn, who had been on the opposite side to Fletcher
in the recent controversy, spent some weeks with him under Mr.
Ireland's roof. "Oh that I might be like him!" was his testimony in
after years. "I have known all the great men for these fifty years, but
I have known none like him.... I never heard him say a single word
which was not proper to be spoken, and which had not a tendency to
minister grace to the hearers; ... not a single unbecoming word of
himself, or of his antagonists, or of his friends. All his conversation
tended to excite to greater love and thankfulness for the benefits of
redemption; whilst his whole deportment breathed humility and love."
In the month of July Wesley and his preachers met in Bristol to hold
their annual conference. One morning during its session a visit from
Fletcher was announced. As he entered what was then called the New
Room--now the old chapel in Broadmead--leaning on Mr. Ireland's arm,
the whole assembly, by a common impulse, stood up. Wesley rose and
advanced to receive him. He seemed like a visitor from another world.
His worn features shone as with the light of heaven. All present were
profoundly moved at the sight. He had scarcely begun to speak before
every one was in tears. "His appearance, his exhortations, and his
prayers," says Benson, "broke most of our hearts." It was such a scene
as the oldest person present had never witnessed before, as the
youngest could not expect to witness again. It was brought to a close
by Wesley, who suddenly fell upon his knees at Fletcher's side, the
whole company of preachers kneeling with him, and offered an earnest
prayer for Fletcher's restoration to health and to his labours in the
cause of Christ. He finished his prayer by pronouncing "in his peculiar
manner, and with a confidence and emphasis which seemed to thrill
through every heart, 'He shall not die, but live, and declare the works
of the Lord.'"
During the eight remaining years of Fletcher's life, it was believed
amongst the Methodists that God had spared him in answer to their
prayers.