86. - To the Rev. Joseph Benson. 87. - To James Ireland, Esq.
prayers; and let us, after our forty years’ abode in the wilderness with Moses and John, break forth after our Joshua into the Canaan of pure love. I am, &c,
J. FLETCHER.
86. - TO THE REV. JOSEPH BENSON.
LOWESTOFF, Nov. 21, 1776.
MY DEAR FRIEND, - Mr. Wesley having invited me to travel with him to see if change of air, and motion, will be the means of restoring me to a share of my former health, I have accompanied him through Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Norfolk: and I hope I am rather better than worse. I find it good to be with this extraordinary servant of God: I think his diligence and wisdom are matchless. It is a good school for me: only I am too old a scholar to make a proficiency. However, let us live to God to - day, and trust him for to - morrow: so that whether we are laid up on a sick bed, or in a damp grave, or whether we are yet able to act, we may be able to feel and say,
“God is the sea of love
Where all my pleasures roll;
The circle where my passions move,
And centre of my soul.”
I find the nearer I am to you the more glad I should be to be strengthened by the mutual faith of you and me. The bearer saith he hopes to be soon at Newcastle, and I send this scrawl by him, to assure you of my repentance toward God, my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my lively expectation of the kingdom in the Holy Ghost, and my brotherly love toward you. The Lord fill you with every grace and gift which can complete the Christian and the evangelist! And what I ask for you, I trust you will not forget to ask for your affectionate friend and brother,
J. FLETCHER.
87. - TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ.
NEWINGTON, Jan. 29, 1777.
THANKS be to God, and to my dear friend, for favours upon favours, for undeserved love, and the most endearing tokens of it. I have received your obliging letters, full of kind offers, and your jar full of excellent grapes. May God open to you the book of life, and seal upon your heart all the offers and promises it contains; and may the treasures of Christ’s love, and all the fruits of the Spirit, be abundantly open to my dear friend and unwearied benefactor!
Providence sent me last Sunday Dr. Turner, who, under God, saved my life twenty - three years ago in a dangerous illness; and I am inclined to try what his method will do. He orders me asses’ milk, chicken &c, forbids me riding, and recommends the greatest quietness. He prohibits the use of Bristol water; advises some waters of a purgative nature; and tries to promote expectoration by a method that so far answers, though I spit by it more blood than before. It will be in order to cure one way or other. With respect to my soul, I find it good to be in the balance, awfully weighed every day for life or death. I thank God, the latter has lost its sting, and endears to me the Prince of life. But, O! I want Christ, my resurrection, to be a thousand times more dear to me; and doubt not he will be so when I am filled with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Let us wait for that glory, praising God for all we have received, and do daily receive; and trusting him for all we have not yet received. Let our faith do justice to his veracity, our hope to his goodness, and our love to all his perfections. It is good to trust in the Lord, and his saints like well to hope in him. I am provided here with every necessary and convenient blessing for my state. The great have even done me the honour of calling: Mr. Shirley, Mr. Rowland Hill, Mr. Peckwell, &c. I exhort them to promote peace in the Church, which they take kindly. I hope God will incline us all to peace, living, and dying. Lady Huntingdon has written me a kind letter also. O for universal, lasting kindness! This world to me has now become a world of love. May it be so to my dear friend also. My kindest love and thanks wait on yourself, Mrs. Ireland, and all your family.
J. FLETCHER.
88. - TO MR. AND MRS. GREENWOOD.
BRISLINGTON, May 28, 1777.
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 every where 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 Spirit, 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 on the cliffs of the Rock of ages, and there be safely sheltered when all the storms of justice shall fall around. May you have always 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 be 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. FLETCHER.