GIVEN UP TO THE FIGHT
Not content, as many are, with consciousness of sins forgiven,
Fletcher at once began to plead that God would take fullest possession
of his heart, and grant to him a deeper experience of His love. While
lying upon his face in earnest prayer the Saviour strangely manifested
Himself to his eye of faith, and it was revealed to him that Jesus had
wondrously become his soul's inmost life, abiding in him to conquer
sin.
This completely changed his spiritual position. The blessed
realisation that in Christ he could triumph over sin and keep the
world beneath his feet, filled him with a glad sense of freedom. He
resolved that nothing should prevent him from experiencing this to the
full: he gave all his leisure to prayer and meditation, living on
vegetables, bread, milk and water, that he might be able to save time
from the long courses of dinner, many a day lunching in the garden
from a piece of bread and a few bunches of currants; also making it a
rule to do without sleep two nights of each week in order to pray.
This extremely rigid rule of life was a mistake. Lack of proper rest
and food at this period undoubtedly laid the foundation of his
subsequent delicacy. Most men attend to the cravings of the body to
the expense of the lightly-fed soul; all his life Fletcher gave less
heed to physical needs than his not-too-robust frame required, and he
paid the penalty.
As a natural gift, Fletcher possessed a very sweet and gentle spirit.
Companionship with Christ grafted upon this an unusual humility, as
simple as it was sincere. An instance of this is found in the fact
that when the clergyman of Atcham Church (which Fletcher attended
while at Tern Hall) invited adults who required instruction to join
the children's catechumen class, gifted scholar though he was, he
stepped out and took his place by the little ones as a matter of
course, unmoved by the fact that he was the only adult who did not
despise the proffered instruction.
Prayer, with Fletcher, was not a duty but a refreshment and an
inspiration. Every Sunday morning, between four and five, and two or
three nights in the week, after his pupils were asleep, he used to go
out into the meadows, or on to the banks of the Severn, to meet an
Excise Officer, a servant, and a poor widow. These four would pour out
their whole souls to God in prayer, and wonderful were the
manifestations of Divine love and grace vouchsafed to them.
The poor of Atcham village and its neighbourhood grew well accustomed
to the fine, pure face of the Tern Hall tutor; sickness always drew
him, and were there none at hand to nurse them as they needed he was
quick to give help.
Thus continually brought face to face with the needs of ignorant and
uncared-for men, it was no wonder that Fletcher should return to the
thought (suggested to him many times previously) of devoting himself
altogether to ministering the gospel of the grace of God. Before
taking any step towards such a life, however, he asked the advice of
John Wesley, whom he already looked upon as his spiritual guide.
Apparently the answer he received was encouraging, for less than four
months after he put the question, John Fletcher was ordained as a
clergyman of the Church of England.
Straight from his ordination service in the Chapel Royal at St.
James's, Fletcher hurried to Snowsfields Methodist Chapel to assist
Wesley in a service there--a sufficiently unusual commencement of a
clergyman's career!