It was at first a matter of some distress to Mrs. Fletcher that she must leave the home where they had been so happy together. Every other place alike looked desolate. To her relief it was arranged that she should rent the Vicarage as long as she wished to do so, working as she chose among the people of the parish. The son of the patron of the living became the new Vicar, and as he did not intend to reside at Madeley Mrs. Fletcher was allowed to recommend the Curate. Thus, by God's grace, was the labour of the saintly Vicar carried on and confirmed. The sweetness of his spirit lingered in fragrant influence upon the hearts of those whom he had blessed in life, and though eulogies abound of his remarkable talent, his gentle courtesy, his unfailing kindness, his beauty of holiness, none who spoke of him could ever forget that for himself he had only claimed the position which almost every morning and evening of his later life he had thus defined:-- I nothing have, I nothing am; My treasure's in the bleeding Lamb, Both now and evermore. In the desolate stillness of Madeley Vicarage, where she lived for thirty years after bidding him farewell, Mrs. Mary Fletcher performed the last bit of earthly service she might do in the name of her beloved; she wrote the inscription, which appears on the following page, for his tombstone in the old churchyard they had so often crossed side by side. HERE LIES THE BODY OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLÉCHÈRE, VICAR OF MADELEY, WHO WAS BORN AT NYON, IN SWITZERLAND, SEPTEMBER THE 12TH, 1729, AND FINISHED HIS COURSE AUGUST THE 14TH, 1785, IN THIS VILLAGE, WHERE HIS UNEXAMPLED LABOURS WILL LONG BE REMEMBERED. HE EXERCISED HIS MINISTRY FOR THE SPACE OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THIS PARISH WITH UNCOMMON ZEAL AND ABILITY. MANY BELIEVED HIS REPORT, AND BECAME HIS JOY AND CROWN OF REJOICING; WHILE OTHERS CONSTRAINED HIM TO TAKE UP THE LAMENTATION OF THE PROPHET: "ALL THE DAY LONG HAVE I STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS UNTO A DISOBEDIENT AND GAINSAYING PEOPLE; YET SURELY MY JUDGMENT IS WITH THE LORD, AND MY WORK WITH MY GOD." ------------- "HE BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH." CHAPTER XXIV. EXTRACTS FROM FLETCHER'S LETTERS. * * * * * CHRIST-EXALTING JOY. _To_ SARAH RYAN, _Wesley's housekeeper at Bristol, and to her friend_, DOROTHY FURLEY: "_October 1st_, 1759. "DEAR SISTERS,--I have been putting off writing to you lest the action of writing should divert my soul from the awful and delightful worship it is engaged in. But I now conclude I shall be no loser if I invite you to love Him my soul loveth; to dread Him my soul dreadeth; to adore Him my soul adoreth.