68. - To the Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald.
their doubts, their fears, and their old man. Prop up your clay a little longer; for I want to sing with you, “Salvation to God and the Lamb.” I want you to help me, with the understanding and the voice, to witness that Jesus “saves to the uttermost, all who come to God through him;” that he can not only “make an end of sin, but bring in an everlasting, triumphant righteousness.”
I am not without hope of seeing you in London, before you see your future hermitage. All my brotherly love goes to town, and salutes you and your good nurses, Mrs. C - - - - - , Mrs. - - - - - , Mrs. - - - - - , Mrs. L - - - - - ; to whose continued care, as well as to that of our dear Redeemer, I earnestly recommend you. I am, my dear lady, your obedient, affectionate servant,
J. FLETCHER.
68. - TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY MARY FITZGERALD.
MADELEY, Aug. 28, 1782.
MY HONOURED FRIEND, - Grace, mercy, and humble love be multiplied to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the eternal Spirit; in whose name we were baptised into the body of the Church, the spouse of the Son of God. The Lord has peculiar favours in store for your ladyship, and for me: the proof is, that we are afflicted. Have you been in a weak state of health? I have had the honour to drink of your cup: the influenza has laid me down, but the Lord has raised me up again; and when I was partly well, I broke my shin accidentally (should I not say providentially?) against a bench, and the consequence was my being confined by a bad leg to my bed, whence I write these lines. O may they be lines of consolation to my dear friend! May the God of all grace, who comforts unworthy me, rejoice your oppressed heart, and make it overflow with his patient love and sanctifying truth.
You still complain of vile self: I wish you joy, for your knowing your enemy. Let vile self be reduced to order, and, though he be a bad master, he will become an excellent servant. If you say, How shall I do this? I reply, by letting the Lord, the Maker, the Preserver, the Redeemer, the Lover of your soul, ascend upon the throne of your thoughts, will, and affections. Who deserves to engross and fill them better than he does? Is he not your first Lord, your best Husband, your most faithful Friend, and your greatest Benefactor? If you say, “I do not see him;” I reply, that you never saw the soul of any of your friends; - nor do you see even the body of him you call your idol. O! allow Jehovah, the Supreme Being, to be to you, what he deserves to be, “all in all.” One lively act of faith, one ascent and consent to this delightful truth, that your Father, who is in heaven, loves you a thousand times more than you love your idol, (for God’s love is like himself, “infinite and boundless,”) will set your heart at liberty, and even make it dance for joy. What, if to this ravishing consideration, you add the transporting truth, that the Son of God, fairer than the sons of men, and brighter than angels, has loved you unto death - to the death of the cross, and loves you still more than all your friends do, were their love collected into one heart; could you help thinking, with a degree of joyous gratitude, of such an instance of Divine condescension! No, your vile self would be ennobled, raised, expanded, and set at liberty, by this evangelical thought; and if you did not destroy this Divine conception, if you nourished this little degree of the love of Christ, Emmanuel, the God of love would be more fully manifested in you, and salvation would from this moment grow in your soul. Jesus would grow in your believing, loving heart; self would be nobody, Emmanuel would be all in all; and Lady Mary would share all the happiness, and, ere long, all the glory of that favoured virgin whom all the nations shall call blessed. You bear her name: let her Son, by the incorruptible seed of the Word, be also formed in you through faith; and you will be so taken up with this wonder of Divine love, so employed in praising your Father’s mercy, and Saviour’s love and tenderness, that you will have little time to speak either of good or bad self. When self is forgotten as nothing before God, you put self in its proper place; and you make room for the heavenly Being, whose holy and happy existence you are to shadow out.
If you have left off attending on the princess, attend on the Prince of Peace with double diligence. If you have been wanting in that sweet and honourable duty, it is because the enemy has told you lies of your Saviour, and has cast a veil over the love of his heart, and the beauty of his face. See the snare and avoid it.
Shall we ever have the honour of seeing you, my lady? My wife, who joins in - respectful love and thanks to your ladyship for your remembrance of her, says she will do her best to render our cold house safe for you if not convenient. You would have had a repeated invitation from us, if fear and a concern for your health, heightened by the bad weather, had not checked