“‘But this implies,’ you may say, ‘a thousand crosses, such as I feel I am not able to bear.’ You are not able to bear them _now_; and they are not _now_ come. Whenever they do come, will _He_ not send them in due number, weight and measure? And will they not all be for your profit, that you may be a partaker of His holiness? “Without conferring, therefore, with flesh and blood, come and strengthen the hands, comfort the heart, and share the labour of your affectionate friend and brother, “JOHN WESLEY.”[185] This was a momentous proposal. Why was it not made to Wesley’s brother? We cannot tell; but the following is Fletcher’s answer. “MADELEY, _February 6, 1773_. “REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I hope the Lord, who has so wonderfully stood by you hitherto, will preserve you to see many of your sheep, and me among the rest, enter into rest. Should Providence call you _first_, I shall do my best, by the Lord’s assistance, to help _your brother_ to gather the wreck, and keep together those who are not absolutely bent upon throwing away the Methodist doctrine or discipline. Every little help will then be necessary; and, I hope, I shall not be backward to throw in my mite. “In the meantime, you stand sometimes in need of an assistant to serve tables, and occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly appointed me to that office many years ago; and, though it no less evidently called me here, yet I have not been without doubt, especially for some years past, whether it would not be expedient that I should resume my place as your deacon; not with any view of presiding over the Methodists after you, (God knows!) but to save you a little in your old age, and be in the way of receiving, and perhaps of doing, more good. I have sometimes considered how shameful it was that no clergyman should join you, to keep in the Church the work which the Lord had enabled you to carry on therein; and, as the little estate I have in my native country is sufficient for my maintenance, I have thought I would, one day or other, offer you and the Methodists my _free_ services. “While my love of retirement, and my dread of appearing upon a higher stage than that I stand upon here, made me linger, I was providentially called to do something in Lady Huntingdon’s plan; but, being shut out there, it appears to me, I am again called to my first work.