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MY DEAR FRIEND,

LETTER CXV.

To the Same.

Good Friday, 1780.

I SEND you another letter; be so good as put it in your packet. Mr. Bouvereau and I talk of setting out in the month of May: I hope you will not let us go without you. I shall have time to prepare one of my little things for the press, but I still am in the mire and clay, and get on but little. I have had a few lines from Mr. Ireland, who says that the Dissenters try to stir up the people against the king: God give us peace with and love to all men ! Farewell in Jesus! The carrier waits; so I conclude, with my love to you and your kind hostess. God bless you!

Pray for

Your's,

J. FLETCHER.

Good news!

Christ to-day has slain the enmity, made reconciliation, and sealed the new Covenant testament, by which we are heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Believe, love, rejoice, and be thankful.

LETTER CXVI.

To the Same.

July 26, 1780.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I HAVE received your packet. My brother and I think, that, to apply again at Berne to ****, would

be wire-drawing, and setting Berne and Geneva together by the ears: That would require much time, trouble, and expence; and the best way is, now to agree with the co-heirs, and make the best composition you can. You must wait for the instructions M. Monod promises to give you. It does not seem the co-heirs deny your right. That question is not touched in the letters. God deliver us from the hands of men! My brother joins me in love to you and Miss Perronet. I do my little jobs as fast as I can, but seem stalled as well as yourself. However, you should try to conclude, that we may all set out in September.

Cast all your burdens upon the Lord. Let nothing make you uneasy. Peace is better than money. Our heavenly inheritance is in good hands. The New Testament is in full force. Jesus keeps possession of the estate for us, and the people of Geneva have no influence before the great tribunal. I do not know when I shall go to Lausanne: However, I hope it will be soon. Farewell, my dear friend

I am

Your's, in Jesus Christ,

J. FLETCHER.

LETTER CXVII.

To the Same.

NYON, Tuesday, 3, 1780.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I THANK you for your letters; they have given me much pleasure, as I see that you will at last end your affair, and get ready to set out in the Spring, with Mr. Ireland, who comes with his family I know not where, I hope not so far as Barcelona. I think he will spend the Winter at or about Avignon. If you will go aud join him, I should be glad to do it, for the stream

under the house does not make it very wholesome. am, however, better of my cold, thank God! My brother thinks, as well as myself, that you may conclude upon the terms you mention. Better is a dinner of herbs with peace, than a stalled ox and noise therewith.' I hope to go to Lausanne directly after vintage, to offer a manuscript to the Censors, to see if they will allow its being published: So I do not invite you to share my damp bed. My sister was so kind as to look for another house, but we find none to let under a year. When you write to Shoreham, send my duty and love. Present it to Miss Perronet and her friend. We are here travellers; so we must expect some difficulties, and a good many inconveniences. If Mr. Ireland goes to Marseilles, you might go and see your cousin there. Lift up your heart, and see by faith our Lord and Saviour, our heavenly Kinsman and Brother; and when you rise there, take by the hand of prayer Your affectionate Friend,

J. FLETCHER.

LETTER CXVIII.

To the Same.

NYON, Sept. 20, 1780.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

WHAT are you doing, and how do you do? I long to know; I thought we should by this time be at Osteud, or in England. I have got a bad cold and a hoarseness, but nevertheless I am ready to venture upon the journey. I send you a letter. I write to the grandmother of the young lady I was to see safe in England. Were it not for this engagement, I would stay till next Spring. Be so good as to deliver the letter, and settle that affair with the lady. If you will

set out, in case I do, we should go directly to Geneva, and settle with the people there, upon the most tolerable terms. If you cannot, you might postpone your journey till the Spring, and go back with Mr. Ireland, who comes over with his family to spend the Winter in France, having obtained leave to go any where but to a sea-port.

The misfortune I hint at in my French letter, is the Inislaying of a considerable part of my manuscript. After a thousands searches, giving it up as lost, I fell to work again, waded through the double toil, and when I had done last night, I found accidentally what I had mislaid. This has put me back a great deal. The Lord's will be done in all things. I thank God, I have been kept from fretting on the occasion, though I would not for a great deal have such another trial. Mr. Ireland sent me word, the colonies would return to the king's allegiance this Autumn: I am afraid, the two India fleets taken will put off that event for ever: That evil seems to be from the Lord; so it will be a good thing in the end. I envy you sometimes the pleasure of being with Miss Perronet. Remember me to her and to her friend, and believe me

Your's,

J. FLETCHER.

I hope you cast all your burdens upon the Lord : Follow your sister's directions. Believe and you will hope, hope and you will love, love and all will be well.

If you are short of money, let me know; and I shall borrow for you and for me. Do not be distressed while you have a friend so near. My vineyard, so fine last year, has very few grapes, and unripe ones, this year. But I have bonght the crop of a little corner of one of my sisters,

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LETTER CXIX.

To the Rev. Vincent Perronet.

NYON, Dec. 5, 1780.

REV. AND DEAR FATHER IN CHRIST,

You know better than I, that patience mast have its perfect work, and that we are all called to bear our share of what remains of Christ's sufferings for the purifying of his members, that they may reign with him after having suffered with him. Our wise and good God thinks fit to try my dear friend, your son, with a want of appetite and uneasiness in bis bowels, which makes him often return the little food he takes. He came some time ago here from Lausanne, and we went to Geneva together, where he settled your affair with three of the Geneva co-heirs, upon the same footing he had settled with those of Chateau d'Oex. The fourth is, they say, insolvable, or affects to be so. They may possibly refund something: At least we are made to hope so. When my friend shall be a little better, he will give you a more particular account. For the benefit of a ride, he went lately to Geneva with my sister, who took him to Dr. Manget, her physician, whom he preferred to Dr. Tissot. He prescribed. My friend being come home, took the medicine ordered, and was a good deal tried by it. The physician of our town attends him; and we hope, that, by little and little, his stomach will be settled,and his appetite return He bears his weakness with so much patience and resignation, that my sister-in-law (who is an English woman) is quite edified.

Blessed be God, he has no fever, and the tightness of his breast is not so great as it was two days ago. I had yesterday a letter from Mr. Ireland, who will be to-morrow at Lyons on his way to Montpelier, where

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