good to call his servant hence to enjoy, rather than leave him here to do and suffer. 15. I shall conclude this chapter with some short extracts from two or three of his letters to his friends, written during the last year of his life. These I shall here insert with a view to show that his ideas of, and his zeal for, spiritual, experimental, and practical religion, including universal holiness of heart and life, continued unvaried to the end of his days; and that to the last he "walked by the same rule," by which he had walked from the beginning, "minded the same things," and persevered to "press to the mark, for the prize of his high calling," never satisfied with what he had attained. Sept. 13 he writes to Mr. Ireland thus :-"Surely the Lord keeps us both in slippery places, that we may still sit loose to all below. Let us do so more and more, and make the best of those days which the Lord grants us to finish the work he has given us to do. O let us fall in with the gracious designs of his providence; trim our lamps, gird our loins, and prepare to escape to the heavenly shore, as Paul did when he saw the leaky ship ready to go to the bottom, and made himself ready to swim to the land. "I keep in my sentry-box till Providence remove me. My situation is quite suited to my little strength: I may do as much or as little as I please, according to my weakness; and I have an advantage, which I can have nowhere else, in such a degree, my little field of action is just at my door, so that if I happen to overdo myself, I have but a step from my pulpit to my bed, and from my bed to my grave. If I had a body full of vigour, and a purse full of money, I should like well enough to travel about as Mr. Wesley does; but as Providence does not call me to it, I readily submit. The snail does best in its shell were it to aim at galloping like the race-horse, it would be ridiculous indeed. I thank God, my wife, who joins me in thanks to you for your kind offer, is quite of my mind with respect to the call we have to a sedentary life. We are two poor invalids, who between us make half a labourer. "She sweetly helps me to drink the dregs of life, and to carry with ease the daily cross. Neither of us are long for this world: .we see it, we feel it; and by looking at death and his Conqueror, we fight beforehand our last battle with that last enemy whom our dear Lord hath overcome for us." Jan. 21, 1785, he says to Mrs. Thornton, "Between the living and the dead, (being dying worms ourselves,) what manner of people ought we to be in our generation? If we cannot be what we would,—burning and shining lights, showing forth the glory, the mercy, the love of our Lord, as those who flame with indefatigable zeal, and run a race of immense labours,-let us at least lie meekly at Christ's feet, as Mary; or patiently hang on the cross, as our common Lord. "I want much to know how you all do in soul and body. As for me, I make just shift to fill up my little sentry-box, by the help of my dear partner. Had we more strength, we should have opportunity enough to exert it. O that we were but truly faithful in our little place! Your great stage of London is too high for people of little ability and little strength; and, therefore, we are afraid of venturing upon it, lest the consequence should be, our bringing new burdens on our generous friends. We shall be glad to rise high in usefulness; but God, who needs us not, calls us to sink in deep resignation and humility. His will be done!" To Mr. Henry Brooke, Feb. 28, his words are:"We are all shadows. Your mortal parent hath passed away; and we pass away after him. Blessed be the Author of every good and perfect gift, for the shadow of his eternal paternity displayed to us in our deceased parents. What was good, loving, and lovely in them, is hid with Christ in God; where we may still enjoy it implicitly, and where we shall explicitly enjoy it, when he shall appear. A lesson I learn daily is to see things and persons in their invisible root, and in their eternal principle; where they are not subject to change, decay, and death; but where they blossom and shine, in the primeval excellence allotted them by their gracious Creator. By these means, I learn to walk by faith, and not by sight: but like a child, instead of walking straight and firm in this good, spiritual way, I am still apt to cling here or there; which makes me cry, 'Lord, let me see all things more clearly, that I may never mistake a shadow for the substance, nor put any creature, no, not for a moment, in the place of the Creator; who deserves to be loved, admired, and sought after, with all the powers of our souls.' "Tracing his image in all the footsteps of nature, or looking for the divine signature on every creature as we would look for the King's image on an old, rusty medal, is true philosophy; and to find out that which is God in ourselves, is true wisdom, genuine godliness. I hope you will never be afraid nor ashamed of it. I see no danger in these studies and meditations, provided we still keep the end in view,—the all of God, and the shadowy nothingness of all that is visible. "With respect to the great pentecostal display of the Spirit's glory, I still look for it within and without; and to look for it aright is the lesson I am learning. "I am glad your partner goes on simply and believingly. Such a companion is a great blessing, if you know how to make use of it. For, 'when two of you shall agree touching any one thing in prayer, it shall be done.' My wife and I endeavour to fathom the meaning of that deep promise: join your line to ours, and let us search what, after all, exceeds knowledge,-I mean, the wisdom and power, the love and faithfulness, of God. Adieu. Be God's, as the French say; and see God yours, in Christ." The last letter, probably, which he wrote, dated July 19, 1785, about three weeks before his death, and a fortnight before he was taken ill, is addressed to his faithful friend Mr. Ireland, in the following words : "MY DEAR FRIEND, "BLESSED be God, we are still alive; and, in the midst of many infirmities, we enjoy a degree of health, spiritual and bodily. O how good was the Lord, to come as Son of Man to live here for us, and to come in his Spirit to live in us for ever! This is a mystery of godliness: the Lord make us full witnesses of it! "A week ago, I was tried to the quick by a fever, with which my dear wife was afflicted: two persons whom she had visited, having been carried off, within a pistol-shot of our house, I dreaded her being the third. But the Lord hath heard prayer, and she is spared. O what is life? 'On what a slender thread hang everlasting things!' My comfort, however, is, that this thread is as strong as the will of God, and the word of his grace, which cannot be broken.-That grace, and peace, love, and thankful joy, may ever attend you, is the wish of your most obliged friends, "J. and M. F." CHAPTER X. HIS CHARACTER, TAKEN CHIEFLY FROM THE 1. ALTHOUGH it be the method of almost all writers,* to place the character of the person whose Life they write at the conclusion of their work, there seems to be a particular reason for pursuing a different plan with respect to Mr. Fletcher. God gave such an uncommon display of his power and goodness, in behalf of his highly-favoured servant, at his death, that it seems quite proper the account of the last scene should close the history of him, and that nothing should follow it. I shall, therefore, here insert the best account I can collect of the character of this great and good man. But as we have scarce any light from himself, there is a peculiar difficulty in the way. "He was, on all occasions," as Mr. Wesley has justly observed, "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. And among the great number of papers which he has left, there is scarce a page (except that single account of his conversion to God) relative either to his own inward experience, or the transactions of his life. So that the most of the information we have is gathered up, either from short hints scattered up and down in his letters, from what he had occasionally dropped among his friends, or from what one and another remembered concerning him." 2. From the imperfect account, however, which has already been given of him, any discerning person may, • Mr. Wesley's Life of Fletcher. |