A WONDERFUL WEDDING.
There existed no "chance" or "ill-fortune" for Fletcher. Whatever
happened was subject, he believed, to the over-ruling providence and
direction of God, and for him there was no second causes, no human
marplots. He could always sing--
Thrice comfortable hope
That calms my troubled breast;
My Father's hand prepares the cup,
And what He wills is best.
When in answer to a letter of his to Miss Bosanquet on Christian
Perfection there was sent to him a reply which, by the forgetfulness
of a friend, lay in a drawer for three years undelivered, he wrote on
the morning of its belated arrival:--
"You speak, Madam, of _a letter from Bath_; I do not recollect,
at present, your having favoured me with one from that place. Is it my
lot to be tried or disappointed in this respect? Well, the hairs of
our heads, and the letters of our friends, are all numbered; not one
of the former falls, not one of the latter miscarries, without the
will of Him to whose orders we have long since fully and cheerfully
subscribed."
Miss Bosanquet was at this time in dire difficulties at Cross Hall.
Perplexed by contrary advice, embarrassed by ever-increasing financial
loss, opposed by those who ridiculed her work as a mission to the
mean, "a call to the care of cows and horses, sheep and pigs," and
criticised even by those to whom she acted as daily benefactor, her
path was by no means an easy one, and eagerly she looked to the Lord
for deliverance, although she knew not whence it would come.
She suffered more than she could ever describe through the public work
she was called to do. "None, O my God, but Thyself, knows what I go
through for every public meeting!" she exclaimed in her diary. Yet,
though this shrinking was combined with exceedingly delicate health,
she never shirked her duty, but went steadily on with housekeeping,
farming, nursing, or public speaking, just as the Lord gave it to her
to do--even consenting to stand upon a horse-block at Huddersfield to
address a crowd whom otherwise she could not have reached. "Indeed,
for none but Thee, my Lord," she cried after that ordeal, "would I
take up this sore cross!... O do Thine own will upon me in all
things!"
On the seventh day of June, a month after Fletcher's return to
Madeley, was the fourteenth anniversary of Miss Bosanquet's troubled
sojourn in Yorkshire. "On that day," she relates, "I took a particular
view of my whole situation, and saw difficulties as mountains rise
around me. Faith was hard put to it. The promises seemed to stand
sure, and I thought the season was come; yet the waters were deeper
than ever."
During this time, however, their correspondence had been renewed, and
to Fletcher the thought of Mary Bosanquet was bringing more than
ordinary comfort and joy.
Finding his health so greatly improved, he thought he might venture
upon a still closer friendship, and the very day after Miss
Bosanquet's "mountains" and "deeper waters" seemed to hem her in, a
new door opened for her in a proposal of marriage, which assured her
of the regard Fletcher had secretly treasured for her for twenty-five
long years.
In August Mr. Fletcher travelled to Yorkshire to attend Wesley's
conference at Leeds, and Mary Bosanquet's diary contains this brief
record:--
"We corresponded with openness and freedom till August 1st, when he
came to Cross Hall and abode there a month; preaching in different
places with much power, and having opened our hearts to each other,
both on temporals and spirituals, we believed it to be the order of
God we should become one, when He should make our way plain."
That Fletcher could love, and that ardently, will be seen from a
letter written a few weeks later to the woman of his choice:--
"O Polly! generous, faithful Polly! Dost thou indeed permit me to
write to thy friends, and to ask the invaluable gift of thy hand? That
hand, that is _half_ mine shall be wholly mine...Polly! I read
thy letter, and wondered at the expression in it--'_If you think me
worth writing for._' Ah, my holy, my loving, my lovely, my precious
friend, I think thee worth writing for _with my vital blood_; I
am only sorry that I had not thee beside me to write with thy
_wisdom_...
"'Difficulties!' If thou hast any I shall gladly share them with thee,
and think myself well repaid with the pleasure of praying and praising
_with thee_ and _for thee_. Therefore, do not talk of _struggling
through alone_. I charge thee, by thy faithfulness, let me be _alone_
as little time as thou canst...
"I thank thee for that believing sentence--'But all shall be right.'
The worst thy friends can do is to keep thy money, which I look upon
as dung and dross in comparison of thee. Ah, Polly! with the
_treasure_ of _thy_ friendship, and the _unsearchable_ riches of
Christ, how rich thinkest thou I am? Count--cast up--but thou wilt
never make out the amazing sum....
"I embrace thee in spirit, and more than mix my soul with thine."
(From "Wesley's Designated Successor.")
Of the oneness established between them John Wesley writes
interestingly:--
"He (Mr. Fletcher) was upon all occasions very uncommonly reserved in
speaking of himself, whether in writing or conversation. He hardly
ever said anything concerning himself, unless it slipped from him
unawares. . . . This defect was indeed, in some measure, supplied by
the entire intimacy which subsisted between him and Mrs. Fletcher. He
did not willingly, much less designedly, conceal anything from her.
They had no secrets with regard to each other, but had indeed one
house, one purse, and one heart. Before her, it was his invariable
rule to _think aloud_; always to open the window in his breast."
The story of Mary Bosanquet's deliverance from her Cross Hall
embarrassments is practically a leaf from God's Providence Book.
At the end of October the aspect of her difficulties had in no sense
changed, but it was borne in upon both herself and Mr. Fletcher that
they should act as though God were indeed working for them. They
agreed to marry in a fortnight, but for the first week all remained as
it was. In the beginning of the second week a gentleman arrived to buy
Cross Hall for £1,620. Three days later another purchased the farm
implements and stock. One by one, each inmate of the house was
provided for with the exception of a poor cripple with great
infirmities, whose home had been with Miss Bosanquet for sixteen
years. The very night before the wedding even she was provided for.
Sally Lawrence, the adopted girl, was to be taken with them to
Madeley.
One little item still remained to trouble the bride--a little payment
for the estate was not to be made immediately, and in order to provide
certain sums to settle the various Cross Hall inmates in suitable
homes, as well as to pay a few current accounts, £100 was required.
The matter was laid in faith before Him to whom belongs all the silver
and the gold, and by the next post came a bank-note for £100 as a
present from Mary Bosanquet's youngest brother!
The diary is brief as usual concerning the wedding, but it meant very
much to both of them that, without a hindrance remaining, the bride
should be able to write:--
"So, on Monday, the 12th of November, 1781, in Batley Church, we
covenanted in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, 'to bear each other's burdens,' and to become one for ever."
Mrs. Crosby gives us a look-in upon that memorable marriage day:--
"On the morning of the day several friends met together. They reached
Cross Hall before family prayers. Mr. Fletcher . . . read Rev. xix. 7-
9: 'Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come,' etc. Mr. Fletcher then spoke from these
verses in such a manner as greatly tended to spiritualise the
solemnities of the day. He said, 'We invite you to our wedding, but
the Holy Ghost invites you to the marriage of the Lamb. The bride, the
Lamb's wife, represents the whole Church, triumphant and militant
united together. You may all be the bride, and Jesus will condescend
to be the Bridegroom. Make yourselves ready by being filled with the
Spirit.' He then engaged in prayer. . . . They were married in the
face of the congregation; the doors were opened, and everyone came in
that would. We then returned home, and spent a considerable time in
singing and prayer. There were nearly twenty of us....
"From dinner, which was a spiritual meal as well as a natural one,
until tea-time, our time was chiefly spent in prayer or singing. After
singing the covenant hymn Mr. Fletcher went to Mrs. Fletcher and said
to her, 'Well, my dearest friend, will you unite with me in joining
ourselves in a perpetual covenant to the Lord? Will you with me serve
Him in His members? Will you help me to bring souls to the Blessed
Redeemer? And in every possible way this day lay yourself under the
strongest ties you can, to help me to glorify my gracious Lord?' She
answered, 'May God help me so to do!'
"In the evening Mr. Valton preached in the hall from 'What shall I
render unto the Lord for all His benefits? I will take the cup of
salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.' His words did not fall
to the ground; many were greatly refreshed. After the preaching there
was a sweet contest among us; everyone thought, 'I, in particular, owe
the greatest debt of praise'; at length we agreed to sing--
"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,
And when my voice is lost in death
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures!"