prayers. Tell him that the Lord is gracious to me; does not suffer the enemy to disturb my peace; and gives me, in prospect, the victory over death. Thanks be to God, who giveth us this great victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ! Absolute resignation to the divine will baffles a thousand temptations, and confidence in our Saviour carries us sweetly through a thousand trials. God fill us abundantly with both!"

43. But although he had every help of advice and medicine, as well as diet, air, and attendance, which he could have, all at this time proved ineffectual to restore him. His Physicians therefore advised that he should again have recourse to the Bristol waters. Accordingly, Mr. Ireland, who had visited him while at Newington, and brought Sir John Elliot to see him, as before-mentioned, came, with Mrs. Ireland, and took him to their house at Brislington, near Bristol, for that purpose. A little after his arrival there he wrote the following letter of thanks to the kind friends who had entertained him so long, and with so much affection, at Newington:

"To my very dear Friends and Benefactors, Charles and Mary Greenwood. My prayers shall always be, that the merciful may find mercy; and that the great kindness I have found under your quiet roof, may be showed you everywhere under the canopy of heaven. I think with grateful joy on the days of calm retreat I have been blessed with at Newington; and lament my not having improved better the opportunity of sitting, like Mary, at the feet of my great Physician. May he requite your kind care to a dying worm, by abundantly caring for you and yours, and making all your bed in your sickness! May you enjoy full health! May you hunger and thirst after righteousness, both that of Christ, and that of the Holy Ghost, and be abundantly filled therewith! May his rod and staff comfort you under all the troubles of life, the decays of the body, the assaults of the enemy, and the pangs of death! May the reviving cordials of the word of truth be ever within the reach of your faith, and may your eager faith make a ready and constant use of them; especially when faintings come upon you, and your hands begin to hang down! May you stand in the

cleft of the Rock of Ages, and there be safely sheltered, when all the storms of justice shall fall around! May you always have such temporal and spiritual helps, friends, and comforts, as I have found in your pleasing retreat!

"You have received a poor Lazarus, though his sores were not visible. You have had compassion, like the good Samaritan: you have admitted me to the enjoyment of your best things; and he that did not deserve to have the dogs to lick his sores, has always found the members of Jesus ready to prevent, to remove, or to bear his burdens. And now what shall I say? What, but,' Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift :' and thanks to my dear friends for all their favours! They will, I trust, be found faithfully recorded in my breast, when the great' Rewarder of those who diligently seek him' will 'render to every man according to his works.' Then shall a raised Lazarus appear in the gate, to testify of the love of Charles and Mary Greenwood, and of their godly sister.

"I thought myself a little better last Sunday; but I have since spit more blood than I had done for weeks before. Glory be to God for every providence! His will be done in me by health or sickness, by life or death! All from him is, and I trust will always be, welcome to your obliged pensioner,

"J. F."

CHAPTER VII.

FROM HIS LEAVING NEWINGTON, TILL HIS RETURN FROM SWITZERLAND TO MADELEY.

1. Ir was in the latter end of April, 1777, that Mr. Fletcher was removed from Newington to Bristol, having continued with Mr. Greenwood upwards of fifteen weeks. "I was desired by Mr. and Mrs. Ireland," says Miss Thornton, " to bear them company to Bristol, which I willingly did. Indeed, I looked upon it as a call from God: nor could I desire a greater honour than to share in the employment of angels, in ministering to a distinguished heir of salvation. At Brislington, near Bristol, he continued in the same holy, earnest course as at Newington. Every day he drank the Hotwell water, and it agreed with him well. So that he appeared to gather a little strength, though not so swiftly as was expected. And all the strength which he received he laid out in labours of love, for the benefit of all those, rich or poor, whom Providence cast in his way.

"Whenever he was in company, it was his general method so far as his strength would admit, to pray particularly for every person present. And from his habitual prayer, resulted that life and energy in his words, which every one that was blest with his society felt more or less. Now and then, likewise, he adventured to pray in the family. But he was not wary enough in this. He more than once so much exerted himself, that he was brought very low. As soon as he was well enough to write, he was intent upon finishing two treatises for the press. The Plan of Reconciliation, in particular, lay very near his heart. He longed to conclude it before he died; which he wished to do, breathing peace to Jerusalem, and pointing out to the children of God the most probable means of effecting it of uniting together, in the bonds of peace and love, all the true Ministers and followers of Jesus."

2. From Bristol he paid his friends in Bath a visit, from whence, July 8, 1777, he wrote as follows to one of his parishioners :—

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"I HEARTILY thank you for your kind letter; and by you I desire to give my best thanks to the dear companions in tribulation whom you meet, and who so kindly remember so worthless and unprofitable a Minister as me. May the God of all grace and love, our common Father, and our all, bless you all, and all our brethren, with all blessings spiritual; and with such temporal favours as will best serve the end of growth in grace.

"My desire is, if I should be spared to minister to you again, to do it with more humility, zeal, diligence, and love; and to make more of you all than I have done. But as matters are, you must take the will for the deed. Let us all praise God for what is past, and trust him for what is to come. The Lord enable you to cleave to Christ, and in him to abide in one mind, striving together for the hope of the Gospel, the fulness of the Spirit, and that kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, of which we have so often discoursed together, but into which we have not pressed with sufficient ardour and violence. God give us the humble, violent faith, which inherits the promise of the Father, that we may triumph in Christ, and adorn his Gospel in life and death!

"I hope to see you before the summer is ended, if it please God to spare me, and give me strength for the journey. I am, in some respects, better than when I came hither; and was enabled to bury a corpse last Sunday, to oblige the Minister of the parish; but whether it was that little exertion of voice, or something else, bad symptoms have returned since. Be that as it may, all is well; for He that does all things well, rules and overrules all. I have stood the heats we have had these two days, better than I expected. I desire you will help me to bless the Author of all good, for this and every other blessing of this life; but, above all, for the lively hopes of the next; and for Christ our common hope, peace, joy, wisdom, righteousness, salvation,

and all. In him I meet, love, and embrace you. God bless you all, and crown you with loving-kindness and tender mercy all the day long! I live, if you stand. Do not let me want the reviving cordial of hearing that you stand together firm in the faith, broken in humility, and rejoicing in the loving hope of the glory of God. Look much at Jesus. Bless God much for the gift of his only-begotten Son. Be much in private prayer. Forsake not the assembling yourselves together in little companies, as well as in public. Walk humbly, as in the sight of death and eternity; and ever pray for your affectionate but unworthy Minister,

"J. F."

3. He made no long stay at Bath, but spent the chief part of his time, for several months, at Brislington or Bristol. In one place or the other, as well as at Newington, he was visited by many respectable persons. Many of these were Calvinists; several of whom bore witness to his deep piety and exalted spirit. But a Dissenting Minister, after pressing him hard, with regard to some of his opinions, told him, with great warmth, "Mr. Fletcher, you had better have been gasping for life with an asthma, or have had all your limbs unstrung by a palsy, than to have written those Checks." Mr. Fletcher replied, "Sir, I then wanted more love, and I do so still;" and in his highest fervours of divine love, he always acknowledged his want of more.

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4. Here, also, he missed no opportunity of instructing servants and children; suiting his discourse, in a manner peculiar to himself, to their capacity or their business. And what would have appeared low in another, did not appear so when spoken by him. Thus he advised the cook, to stir up the fire of divine love in his heart, that it might burn up all the rubbish therein, and raise a flame of holy affection :" to which, with the greatest cordiality, he added a short prayer. Thus to the housemaid, he said, "I entreat you to sweep every corner of your heart, that it may be fit to receive your heavenly Guest." To a poor man who came thither in a deep consumption, but little concerned for his soul, he said, in a very solemn manner, (laying one hand on his own breast, and the other on the poor man's,)" God has