Fletcher of MadeleyMacdonald, Frederic W. (Frederic William)
Religion
Fletcher of Madeley
Macdonald, Frederic W. (Frederic William)
Fletcher, John, 1729-1785
His connexion with Mr. Hill's family drew to its close. It did not
afford him the sphere for Christian work that he desired, ind involved
him in occasional embarrassments and difficulties. Mr. Hill was
uniformly kind, but he feared that the scandal of Methodism attaching
to his tutor would injure him at the next election. The neighbouring
clergy for the most part fought shy of Fletcher, so that he had few
opportunities of preaching in their churches. But the one compensation
for these restrictions was found in the devout retirement he loved so
well. He writes to Wesley: "The will of God be done: I am in His hands;
and if He does not call me to so much public duty, I have the more time
for study, prayer, and praise." He seems to have been conscious that it
was a time of discipline and preparation with him, and until the
indications of God's will were plain, he would not seek release from a
position where the providence of God had placed him.
Meanwhile, as his tutorship became less and less satisfactory as a
vocation, his connexion with the Methodists opened up to him new
labours and new friendships. Immediately upon his ordination Fletcher
was drawn into the full stream of the Revival, and brought into active
association with its leaders. His very first ministerial act, on the
day that he was ordained priest, was to assist Wesley in the
administration of the Lord's supper at Snowsfields chapel; and from
that time he frequently read prayers and preached in the Methodist
chapels in London. He made the acquaintance of Charles Wesley and
Whitefield, of the Countess of Huntingdon, of Berridge, Vicar of
Everton, of Thomas Walsh, and of some of the devout women who were not
least among the glories of early Methodism, including Mary Bosanquet,
who, many years afterwards, became his wife. By these and others
Fletcher was received with no common welcome. Wesley himself wrote in
his "Journal," "When my bodily strength failed, and none in England
were able and willing to assist me, He sent me help from the mountains
of Switzerland, and a helpmeet for me in every respect; where could I
find such another?" A little later the Countess of Huntingdon wrote to
a friend: "I have seen Mr. Fletcher, and was both pleased and refreshed
by the interview. He was accompanied by Mr. Wesley, who had frequently
mentioned him in terms of high commendation, as had Mr. Whitefield, Mr.
Charles Wesley, and others, so that I was anxious to become acquainted
with one so devoted, and who appears to glory in nothing, save in the
Cross of our Divine Lord and Master."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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