“MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,—I have just received your letter, upon my arrival from Wales with dear Lady Huntingdon, who is, of a truth, a _tried stone_, built upon the _corner stone_, and such as you have seen her, such, I am persuaded, you will find her to the last,—a soul devoted to Jesus, living by faith, going to Christ Himself by the Scriptures, instead of resting in the letter of the Gospel promises, as too many professors do. “I thank you for your care to procure not only a supply for my church, but such an agreeable, acceptable, and profitable one as Mr. Brown. I know no one that should be more welcome than he. Tell him, with a thousand thanks for his condescension, that I deliver my charge over to him fully, and give him a _carte blanche_, to do or not to do, as the Lord will direct him. I have settled it, that I shall endeavour to overtake my lady at Kippax, in Yorkshire, against the Sunday after Whitsuntide. “With regard to the Bristol journey, I must first come from the north, before I dream of going to the south. God help us to steer immovably to the grand point of our salvation,—_Jesus_, the _Crucified_! To Him I recommend myself, and you, and my noble guests. Love Him,—praise Him,—serve Him, who hath loved you, bought you, and died for you.”[139] Footnote 139: Letters, 1791, p. 196. In the year 1767, Whit-Sunday occurred on June 7, and, during the week following, Fletcher joined the Countess of Huntingdon at Huddersfield, where her ladyship was staying, for a few days, with Venn, at the vicarage. On Sunday, the 14th, he preached twice in Venn’s church, to large and deeply attentive congregations. He then accompanied the Countess to Aberford, on a visit to Benjamin Ingham, who had married her niece, Lady Margaret Hastings. Whilst there, accompanied by the Rev. Joseph Townsend, Rector of Pewsey, in Wiltshire, who had preached at the opening of Lady Huntingdon’s chapel at Bath, in 1765, the whole family party at Aberford made an excursion to Haworth. Grimshaw, the brave-hearted incumbent, to whom Yorkshire Methodism owes so much, had died four years before, and had been succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Richardson, a good man, and evangelical in his principles, but averse to open-air preaching, in which his predecessor had delighted. The intended visit to Haworth having become known, and it being understood that Fletcher and Mr. Townsend would preach, an immense multitude of people assembled to hear them. Application was made for the use of what was called “Mr. Whitefield’s pulpit,” that is, a scaffold erected by the side of Haworth church, and from which Whitefield was wont to thunder his overwhelming sermons. Mr. Richardson refused the request. Lady Huntingdon remonstrated; and, though it is not stated that the scaffold was brought out, it is known that both Fletcher and Townsend preached in the churchyard.