I am of the King's mind; when the people shewed their love to him on his journey to Portsmouth, "I cau bear," he said, "the hissings of a London mob, but these shouts of joy are too much for me." You, my dear friend, Mrs. Ireland, Mrs. Norman, and all your family, have put me to that severe trial, to which all trials caused by the hard words that have been spoken of me are nothing. I return you all my warmest thanks, and pray that, excess excepted, you may all meet, in the day of your weakness, as kind nurses and benefactors, as you have proved to me. At our age, a recovery can be but a short reprieve : let us, then, give up ourselves daily to the Lord, as people who have no confidence in the flesh, and do not trust to to-morrow. I find my weakness, unprofitableness, and wretchedness, daily more and more; and the more I find them, the more need I have to sink into self-abhorrence. Nor do I despair to sink one day so in it, as to die to self, and revive in my Farewell. God. J. FLETCHER. LETTER LXXXV. To the Rev. Mr. Charles Wesley. MY VERY DEAR BROTHER, MADELEY, Sept. 15, 1776. I LATELY Consulted a pious gentleman, near Lichfield, famous for his skill in the disorders of the breast. He assures me, I am in no immediate danger of a consumption of the lungs; and that my disorder is upon the nerves, in consequence of too much close thinking. He permitted me to write and preach in moderation, and gave me medicines, which, I think, are of service in taking off my feverish heats. My spitting of blood is stopped, and I may yet be spared to travel with you as an invalid. If God adds one inch to my span, I see my calling. I desire to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, revealed in the Spirit. I long to feel the utmost power of the Spirit's dispensation; and I will endeavour to bear my testimony to the glory of that dispensation, both with my pen and tongue. Some of our injudicious, or inattentive friends, will probably charge me with novelty for it; but be that as it will, let us meekly stand for the truth as it is in Jesus, and trust the Lord for every thing. I thank God, I feel so dead to popular applause, that, I trust, I should not be afraid to maintain a truth against all the world; and yet I dread to dissent from any child of God, and feel ready to condescend to every one. O what depths of humble love, and what heights of gospel truth, do I sometimes see! I want to sink into the former, and rise into the latter. Help me by your example, letters, and 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. LETTER LXXXVI. To the Rev. Joseph Benson. MY DEAR FRIEND, LOWESTOFF, Nov. 21, 1776. 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, I find the nearer I am to you, the more glad I should J. FLETCHER. LETTER LXXXVII. 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 is 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. LETTER LXXXVIII. 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 shewed 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, aud 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 enjoy, ment 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 |