43. - To Mr. Vaughan.
43. - TO MR. VAUGHAN.
MADELEY, Feb. 11, 1773.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, - You complain you are not on the Rock of ages, where you might defy the rage of the tempest; but billows of temptation drive you from the haven, where you would be, and you cry out still, “O wretched man! who shall deliver me?”
Here I would ask, Are you willing, really willing to be delivered? Is your sin, is the prevalence of temptation, a burden too heavy for you to bear? If it is, if your complaint be not a kind of religious compliment, be of good cheer, only believe. Look up, for your redemption draws near. He is near that delivers, that justifies, that sanctifies you. Cast your soul upon him; an act of faith will help you to a lift, but one act of faith will not do; - faith must be our life, I mean, in connection with its grand object. You cannot live by one breath; you must breathe on and draw the electric vital fire into your lungs, together with the air. So you must believe and draw the Divine power and the fire of Jesus’ love, together with the truth of the Gospel, which is the blessed element in which believers live.
My kind Christian love to Mrs. Vaughan. Tell her I am filled with joy in thinking, that though we no more serve the same earthly master, yet we still serve the same heavenly one; who will, ere long, admit us to sit with Abraham himself, if we hold fast our confidence to the end. Beware of the world. If you have losses, be not cast down, nor root in the earth with more might and main to repair them. If prosperity smile upon you, you are in double danger. Think, my friend, that earthly prosperity is like a coloured cloud, which passes away, and is soon lost in the shades of night and death. Beware of hurry. “Martha, Martha, one thing is needful.” Choose it, stand to your choice, and the good part shall not be taken from you by sickness or death. God bless you and yours with all that makes for his glory and your peace! I am, my dear friend, yours, &c, J. FLETCHER.
44. - TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ.
MADELEY, Sept. 21, 1773.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, - I do not hear from my brother: my views of a journey abroad continue the same. I have considered what you say about the translation of my Appeal; and, I think, I might from it take the hint and do it some day. Nay, I tried to turn a paragraph or two the day after I received your letter, but found it would be a difficult, if not an impossible work for me. I am sure I could not do it abroad. On a journey I am just like a cask of wine - I am good for nothing till I have some time to settle. What you say about Mr. Wesley adds weight to your kind arguments; but supposing he, or the people, did not alter his mind, this would not sufficiently turn the scale in point of conscience, though it is already turned in point of affection. My spiritual circumstances are what I must look at. I am brought to a point; like a woman with child, I must have a deliverance into the liberty of a higher dispensation, and I tremble lest outward things should hurt me. The multiplicity of objects, circumstances, and avocations, which attend travelling, is as little suited to, my case, as to that of a woman with child. I think that all things considered, I should sin against my conscience in going, unless I had a call from necessity, or from clearer providences. Should Mr. Wesley find a desire of accompanying you, I think you might set out with a single eye according to your light and faith; and I trust the journey would be of service to both, and in that case my heart shall go along with you. If you go, pray find out, and converse with the Convulsionaries. My request is, that you may see your way plain, be fully persuaded in your own mind, and be led and covered by the cloud of Divine protection.
I thank you for having dared to speak a word for me at Worcester, but the stream of prejudice ran too high for you to stop it. It was drowning yourself without saving your friend. It is good to know when to yield. My last Check will be as much in behalf of free grace as of holiness. So I hope, upon that plan, all the candid and moderate will be able to shake hands. It will be of a reconciling nature; and I call it an Equal Check to Pharisaism and Antinomianism. Adieu.
J. FLETCHER.