gyman, who wanted to betray his country to the Emperor, to whom it chiefly belonged. It is the town of the great Reformer Zuinglius; yet there they poisoned the sacramental wine a few years ago. Tell it not in Gath! I mention this to show you, there is occasion and great need to bear a testimony against the faults of the clergy here; and if I cannot do it from the pulpit, I must try to do it from the press. Their canons, which were composed by 230 pastors, at the time of the Reformation, are so spiritual and apostolic, that I design to translate them into English, if I am spared. Farewell, my dear brother. Take care, good, constant care of the flock committed to your charge; especially, the sick and the young. Salute all our dear parishioners. Let me still have a part in your prayers public and private; and rejoice in the Lord, as, through grace, I am enabled to do in all my little tribulations. I am, Your affectionate Friend and Fellow-labourer, LETTER XCII. To the Societies in and about Madeley. NYON, Sept. 15, 1780. GRACE, and peace, truth and love be multiplied unto you all. Stand fast, in the Lord, my dear brethren, stand fast to Jesus; stand fast to one another; stand fast to the vow we have so often renewed together upon our knees and at the Lord's table. Resolve to save yourselves altogether. Do not be so unloving, so cowardly, as to let one of your little company fall into the hands of the world and the devil: And agree to crucify the body of sin altogether. I am still in a strait between the work which Providence cuts out for me here, and the love which draws me to you. When I shall have the pleasure of seeing you, let it not be embittered by the sorrow of finding any of you half-hearted and lukewarm. Let me find you all strong in the Lord, and increased in humble love. Salute from me all that followed with us fifteen years ago. Care still for your old brethren. Let there be no Cain among you, no Esau, no Lot's wife. Let the love of David and Jonathan, heightened by that of Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and our Lord, shine in all your thoughts, your tempers, your words, your looks, and your actions. If you love one another, your little meetings will be a renewed feast; and the God of love, who is peculiarly present where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, and in the spirit of love, will abundantly bless you. Bear me still upon your hearts in prayer, as I do you upon mine! aud rejoice with me, that the Lord, who made, redeemed, and comforts us, bears us all upon his heart. I am, Yours in him, J. FLETCHER. DEAR MADAM, LETTER XCIII. To Miss Loxdale. MADELEY, May 24, 1781. I EMBRACE the first opportunity of thanking my unknown friend for her kind Christian letter. As I believe you are sincere, and mean what your pen has traced upon paper, I may rejoice over a greater treasure than that of the Indies-I mean, the treasure of a Christian friend; for nothing but Christianity could give you the courage to express any degree of friendship for so contemptible a neighbour. I shall preach here next Sunday, please God. If you can, and if you are not afraid of dining upon a bit of cold meat, come and dine with your new and yet old friend, who, though he cannot converse long with his friends, on account of his weakness, will find a quarter of an hour to assure you, that, in the faith, hope, and love of the gospel, he is, Madam, Your obliged Friend and obedient Servant, LETTER XCIV. To the Same. MADELEY, June 22, 1781. GRACE, mercy, and truth, power, love, and joy, be multiplied to my dear friend, from the Father, Son, and Spirit, the threefold spring of life, light, and love. I never doubted your sincerity, my dear friend; and with pleasure I acknowledge, against the accuser of the brethren, that I can, without wavering, and with the assurance of faith and love, confess you a member of my Lord, a child of my heavenly Father, and a fellow heir of the kingdom, purchased for penitent believers. May the accuser fall as lightning, and his accusation be cast down by this word of my testimony. I believe too that you have received more than forgiving love. See John xx. 22. But whether you have received the other Comforter in his fulness, or the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost, is what it concerns you to enquire into. You may know that measure of grace by the following marks. It is great grace, and abundant life; it destroys self, it fills with power from on high, it perfects in one, it perfects in love. It is, at least, accompanied with the gift of prophecy.* It makes us always to triumph in Christ. Ah! my friend, I sympathize with you in the weakness of your body, which does not permit you to take the kingdom of heaven by the violence of that praying, * That is, speaking to the edification of those with whom they converse. agonizing faith, which some can put forth when their souls come to a pinching want, or to a birth of desire. Take two or three observatious about it.—(1.) There are two kinds of wrestlings; the one, in which the Spirit of God in us is very active, and we are almost passive. You may thus passively wrestle, if the power of the Highest helps your infirmities. So some dying persons wrestle sometimes.-(2.) There is another wrestling, in which we are very active, and the Spirit of God helps us imperceptibly. Follow, seek, wait— quietly, meekly, humbly wait for the former power. The latter kind of wrestling may not be so suitable for you. I advise you to imitate the Virgin Mary. Let strong people wrestle in the second manner, but do you gently, believingly, lifting up your head in calm expectation, say, till you are overwhelmed with the power from on high, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word.' For, as for me, I can do nothing, but wait for thy salvation, and give glory to thy word of promise." You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you. Believe and pray with the will and the understanding, more than with the passions; with your sublimer, rather than with your inferior powers. I rejoice in you, your aunt, and sister, as of three who will be of a hundred and twenty in Shropshire, called to be all of oue heart and one soul, all believing, loving, prophesying. Remember me to them in Christian regard, and permit my spirit to twist itself with the threefold cord, when you pull blessings from heaven upon yourselves and the church. I thank you for the direction to Mr. Wesley. I shall now forward my letter to him. I am Dear Miss Loxdale's affectionate Servant, LETTER XCV. To the Rev. Mr. Wesley. REV. AND DEAR SIR, MADELEY, June, 24, 1781. As to Miss L, I believe her to be a simple, holy follower of the Lord. Nothing throws unscriptural Mysticism down like holding out the promise of the Father, and the fulness of the Spirit, to be received now, by faith, in the two Promisers, the Father and the Sou. Ah! what is the penal fire of the Mystics, to the burning love of the Spirit, revealing the glorious power of the Father and the Son, according to John xiv. 26, and filling us with all the fulness of God? Plain Scripture is better than all mystic refinements. When I was at Nnear Geneva, three Ministers received the word, and preached the truth. When persecution arose because of the word, the two pastors were afraid; but the curate of the first pastor, a burgess of the town, stood by me. This Timothy opened his house, when the pastors shut both their pulpits and houses; and I heard him preach a discourse before I came away, worthy of you, Sir, upon the heights and depths of holiness. He wrote an apology for me, which he sent to the head of the persecuting clergy, and so stopped the torrent of wrath. He made observations upon the mischief done to Christianity by a bad clergy, such as George Fox, and you, Sir, would not disown. When I told him of you and the Methodists, he expressed a great desire to come to England, to hear you, to see the English brethren, and to learn English, that he might read your works, and perhaps translate some of them. He can have no living in his own country, because he will not swear to prosecute all who propagate Arminiau tenets; which is more honest than the clergy, many of whom |