“MADELEY, _December 5, 1768_. “MY DEAR AFFLICTED FRIEND,—I hear you are returned from the last journey you took in search of health. Your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny it you, not because He hateth you (_for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth_), but because life and health might be fatal snares to your soul, out of which you could not escape, but by tedious illness, and an early death. “Your father has crossed the sea for you; Jesus has done more. He has crossed the abyss that lies between heaven and earth—between the Creator and the creature. He has waded through the sea of His tears, blood, and agonies, not to take you to the physician at Montpelier, but to become your physician and Saviour Himself. Oh, my friend, delay not cheerfully to surrender yourself to Him. Look not at your sins without beholding His blood and righteousness. Eye not death but to behold your gracious Saviour, saying, ‘_Fear not, O thou of little faith: wherefore dost thou doubt?_’ Consider not eternity but as the palace where you are going to enter with the Bridegroom of souls, and rest from all your sins and miseries. View not the condemning law of God but as made honourable by Him, who was made a curse for you. If you have no comfort, distrust not Jesus on that account; on the contrary, take advantage from it to give greater glory to God, by believing, as Abraham did, ‘in hope against hope.’ In this simple, Gospel way, wait the Lord’s leisure, and He will comfort your heart. “I hope you take care to have little or nothing else mentioned to you but His praises and promises. Your tongue and ears are going to be silent in the grave. Now, or never, you must use them to hear and speak good of His name. Comfort your weeping friends. Reprove the backsliders. Encourage seekers. Remember the praying, believing, preaching, though dying thief. Be not afraid to drop a word for Him who opens a fountain of blood for you. Suffer, live, die at His feet; and you will soon revive, sing, and reign in His bosom for evermore. Farewell, in the Conqueror of Death and Prince of Life. “J. FLETCHER.”[164] Footnote 164: _Ibid_, 1791, p. 204. Within three months after the date of this letter, Miss Ireland had left a world of sin and suffering, and had entered into that rest which remains for the people of God.[165] Hence the following, addressed to her father:— “MADELEY, _March 26, 1769_.