love, and 'receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.' I am, &c.,

"J. F."

24. Where Mr. Fletcher was when he wrote the letter last quoted, is not certain: it seems most probable, however, that he was at Tern. And if his friend Mr. Vaughan be right, it was about the close of this summer that he was frequently desired sometimes to assist, at other times to perform the whole service for Mr. Chambers, then Vicar of Madeley. On these occasions it was that he contracted such an affection for the people of Madeley, as nothing could hinder from increasing more and more to the day of his death. While he officiated at Madeley, as he still lived at the Hall, ten miles distant from it, a groom was ordered to get a horse ready for him every Sunday morning. But so great was his aversion for giving trouble to any one, that if the groom did not awake at the time, he seldom would suffer him to be called, but prepared the horse for himself.

25. On the 15th of November, the same year, Mr. Fletcher was again in London; where he had been at least eight or ten days. Here, as it appears from one of his letters to Mr. Charles Wesley, the Countess of Huntingdon had proposed to him to celebrate the Communion at her house sometimes in a morning, and to preach when occasion offered. This proposal was not meant, however, to restrain his liberty of preaching, where he might have an invitation, nor to prevent his assisting Mr. Wesley, or preaching to the French refugees; but only to fill up his vacant time, till Providence should open a way for him elsewhere.

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Charity, politeness, and reason," says Mr. Fletcher, accompanied her offer; and I confess, in spite of the resolution which I had almost absolutely formed, to fly the houses of the great, without even the exception of the Countess's, I found myself so greatly changed, that I should have accepted, on the spot, a proposal which I should have declined from any other mouth; but my engagement with you [Mr. Charles Wesley] withheld me; and thanking the Countess, I told her when I had reflected upon her obliging offer, I would do myself the honour of waiting upon her again.

"Nevertheless two difficulties stand in my way. Will it be consistent with that poverty of spirit which I seek? Can I accept an office for which I have such small talents? And shall I not dishonour the cause of God, by stammering out the mysteries of the Gospel, in a place where the most approved Ministers of the Lord have preached with so much power and so much success? I suspect that my own vanity gives more weight to this second objection than it deserves to have. What think you ?

"I give myself to your judicious counsels. You take unnecessary pains to assure me that they are disinterested; for I cannot doubt it. I feel myself unworthy of them; much more still of the appellation of friend, with which you honour me: You are an indulgent father to me, and the name of son suits me better than that of brother."

26. He seems to have continued in London, assisting the Messrs. Wesleys, and preaching wherever he had a call, till the beginning of March following, on the first day of which he writes to Mr. Charles Wesley, from Dunstable :

"THE fine weather invites me to execute a design I had half formed, of making a forced march to spend next Sunday at Everton, Mr. Berridge's parish. There may the voice of the Lord be heard by a poor child of Adam, who, like him, is still behind the trees of his own stupidity and impenitence!

"If I do not lose myself across the fields before I get there, and if the Lord be pleased to grant me the spirit of supplication, I will pray for you and your dear sister at P, until I can again pray with you. Don't forget me, I beseech you. If the Lord bring me to your remembrance, cast your bread on the waters on my behalf, and, perhaps, you will find it again after many days. I would fain be with you on those solemn occasions, when a thousand voices are raised to heaven to obtain those graces which I have not: but God's will be done.

"Don't forget to present my respects to the Countess. If I continue any time at Everton, I shall take the

liberty of giving her some account of the work of God in those parts; if not, I will give it her in person. Adieu! The Lord strengthen you in soul and body."

27. Where or how Mr. Fletcher spent the spring and summer of this year, I believe we have no certain information. But, in September following, he was at Tern-Hall, in Shropshire, from whence, on the 26th, he wrote to Lady Huntingdon, and gave the following account of his call to Madeley :

"LAST Sunday, the Vicar of Madeley, to whom I was formerly Curate, coming to pay a visit here, expressed a great regard for me, seemed to be quite reconciled, and assured me that he would do all that was in his power to serve me; of which he yesterday gave me a proof, by sending me a testimonial unasked. He was no sooner gone than news was brought, that the old Clergyman I mentioned to your Ladyship, died suddenly the day before; and that same day, before I heard it, Mr. Hill, meeting at the races his nephew, who is patron of Madeley, told him that if he would present me to Madeley, he would give the Vicar of that parish the living vacated by the old Clergyman's death. This was immediately agreed to, as Mr. Hill himself informed me in the evening, wishing me joy. This new promise, the manner in which Mr. Hill forced me from London to be here at this time, and the kindness of the three Ministers I mentioned, whose hearts seemed to be turned at this juncture to sign my testimonials for institution, are so many orders to be still, and wait till the door is quite open or shut. I beg, therefore, your Ladyship would present my respects and thanks to Lady Margaret and Mr. Ingham, and acquaint them with the necessity which these circumstances lay me under to follow the leadings of Providence."

"This" (adds he, in a letter to Mr. Charles Wesley) "is agreeable to the advice you have so repeatedly given me, not to resist Providence, but to follow its leadings. I am, however, inwardly in suspense : my heart revolts at the idea of being here alone, opposed by my superiors, hated by my neighbours, and despised by all the

world. Without piety, without talents, without resolution, how shall I repel the assaults, and surmount the obstacles, which I foresee, if I discharge my duty at Madeley with fidelity? On the other hand, to reject this presentation, to burn his certificate, and to leave in the desert the sheep whom the Lord has evidently brought me into the world to feed, appears to me nothing but obstinacy and refined self-love. I will hold a

middle course between these extremes. I will be wholly passive in the steps I must take, and active in praying the Lord to deliver me from the evil one, and to conduct me in the way he would have me to go.

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'If you see anything better, inform me of it speedily; and at the same time remember me in all your prayers, that if this matter be not of the Lord, the enmity of the Bishop of Lichfield, who must countersign my testimonials; the threats of the Chaplain of the Bishop of Hereford, who was a witness to my preaching at West-street; the objections drawn from my not being naturalized, or some other obstacle, may prevent the kind intentions of Mr. Hill. Adieu."

28. Neither Mr. Charles nor Mr. John Wesley, nor, it seems, any of his other friends, to whom he communicated this business, offering any material objections, Mr. Fletcher accepted the presentation to the vicarage of Madeley, in preference to another, that was of double the value. He embraced it as his peculiar charge, the object of his most tender affection. And he was now at leisure to attend it, being fully discharged from his former employment; for his pupils were removed to Cambridge. The elder of them died about the time of his coming of age. The younger first represented the town of Salop, (as his father had done,) afterwards the county; till he took his seat in the House of Peers, as Baron Berwick, of Attingham-House. This is now the name that is given to what was formerly called Tern-Hall.

CHAPTER IV.

OF HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR, AND FAITHFULNESS IN, THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY; AND OF HIS LABOURS AT MADELEY, AND ELSEWHERE.

1. "HE who engages himself to fight the battles of the Lord," says the Rev. Mr. Gilpin, "has need of uncommon strength and irresistible arms; and if he be destitute of one or the other, he vainly expects to stand in the evil day. The Christian warrior is exposed to a vast variety of dangers, and beset with innumerable enemies. His whole life is one continued scene of warfare, in which he wrestles sometimes with visible, and at other times with invisible, adversaries. For the labours of this sacred warfare, no man ever esteemed himself less sufficient than Mr. Fletcher. He ever considered himself as the weakest of Christ's adherents, and unworthy to follow his glorious standard. But while he boasted no inherent strength, and was ready to occupy the meanest post, he was regarded by his brethren as a man peculiarly 'strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.' United to Christ as the branch is united to the vine, he was constantly deriving abundant supplies of vigour from the fountain-head of power. And as the source of his strength was inexhaustible, so its operations were various and incessant. Now it was engaged in subduing sin; and now in labouring after that 'holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:' there it inspired the courage of the mighty, and here it sustained the burdens of the weak at one time it was discovered by resolution and zeal; at another by resignation and fortitude: by the former, this man of God was enabled to grapple with his strongest enemy; by the latter he was taught to 'endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.'