“For the Letters on the Manifestation of Christ, the reader is obliged to Mrs. Fletcher. When they were written, or to whom they are addressed, is uncertain; but, from the beginning of the first letter, the decayed state of the manuscript, and the extreme smallness of the character, which could scarcely have been legible to the author in his latter years, they are supposed to have been the first essay of a genius afterwards so much admired. The reader is requested to remember that the pious author wrote only for himself and his friends; that these sheets want his perfecting hand; and that the editor thought himself entitled to take no liberties.” From this preface, it is evident that the editor was not acquainted with the foregoing letter to the Countess of Huntingdon; and it may be added, that there is no need for the apology, that the “sheets want” Fletcher’s “perfecting hand.” The Letters are six in number, and fill fifty-three octavo pages in Fletcher’s collected works.[148] It is extremely difficult to give, in a brief form, the substance of these important papers; and yet the task must be attempted, because the subject is one of great interest and because the Letters seem to have been among the earliest of his compositions, that were afterwards published. Footnote 148: They were first published by the Rev. Melville Horne, in 1791, with the title, “Six Letters on the Spiritual Manifestation of the Son of God.” His object is clearly stated in his opening paragraph:— “When I had the pleasure of seeing you last, you seemed surprised to hear me say, that the Son of God, for purposes worthy of His wisdom, manifests Himself, sooner or later, to all His sincere followers, in a spiritual manner, which the world knows not of. The assertion appeared to you unscriptural, enthusiastical, and dangerous. What I then advanced to prove that it was scriptural, rational, and of the greatest importance, made you desire I would write you on the mysterious subject. I declined it, as being unequal to the task; but, having since considered that a mistake here may endanger your soul or mine, I sit down to comply with your request; and the end I propose by it is, either to give you a fair opportunity of pointing out my error, if I am wrong, or to engage you, if I am right, to seek what I esteem the most invaluable of all blessings,—revelations of Christ to your own soul, productive of the experimental knowledge of Him, and the present enjoyment of His salvation.”