“But you will naturally say, ‘I am not equal to the task; I have neither grace nor gifts for such an employment.’ You say true; it is certain you have not. And who has? But do you not know Him who is able to give them? perhaps not at once, but rather day by day: as each is, so shall your strength be. ‘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.”[1] Footnote 1: Dr. Whitehead’s “Life of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 355. In all respects, Wesley’s letter is remarkable. He wished Methodism to be perpetuated; but he was convinced that this could not be done unless the ruling and administrative power could be confided, not to the Conference, or to a committee of the Conference, but to a single person. His description of the necessary qualifications of such a ruler is worthy of being studied. Especially ought Methodist preachers and the Methodist people all over the world, and in all generations, to notice the fact that Wesley’s first and pre-eminent qualification was that he who “presided both over the preachers and people must be a man of faith and love, and one who had a single eye to the advancement of the kingdom of God.” For thirty-eight years, since he left the Oxford University, Wesley’s labours had been herculean and incessant. His health had begun to fail; so much so, that, only a few months before he wrote to Fletcher, his friends in London had become alarmed by signs of age and debility, and had contributed to provide him a carriage in which to pursue those extensive and laborious journeys, which hitherto he had made on horseback. In Edinburgh, he had undergone a medical examination by Dr. Monro, Dr. Gregory, and Dr. Hamilton, after which he wrote: “1772, May 18. They satisfied me what my disorder was; and told me there was but one method of cure. Perhaps but one natural one; but I think God has more than one method of healing either the soul or the body.”