Letters of John Fletcher - To His Congregation

Bath, October 30, 1765

To those that love the Lord Jesus Christ in and about Madeley: Peace be multiplied to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the operations of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

By the help of divine Providence and the assistance of your prayers I came safe here. I was, and am still, a good deal weighed down under the sense of my own insufficiency to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to poor, dying souls.

This place is the seat of Satan’s gaudy throne. The Lord hath, nevertheless, a few names here who are not ashamed of Him, and of whom He is not ashamed, both among the poor and among the rich. There are not many of the last, though blessed be God for any one. It is a great miracle if one camel passes through the eye of a needle, or in other words, if one rich man enters into the Kingdom of Heaven. I thank God that none of you are rich in the things of this world. You are freed from a double snare, even from Dives’ portion in this life. May you know the happiness attending your state! It is a mercy to be driven to the Throne of Grace even by bodily want, and to live in dependence on divine mercy for a morsel of bread.

I have been sowing the seed the Lord hath given me both in Bath and Bristol. I hope your prayers have not been lost upon me as a minister, for though I have not been enabled to discharge my office as I would, the Lord hath yet, in some measure, stood by me and overruled my foolishness and helplessness. I am much supported by the thought that you bear me on your hearts; and when you come to the Throne of Grace to ask a blessing for me in the name of Jesus, the Lord doth in no wise cast you out.

In regard to the state of my soul, I find, blessed be God, that as my day is, so is my strength to travel on, either through good or bad report. My absence from you answers two good ends to me: First, I feel more my insufficiency and the need of being daily ordained by Christ to preach His Gospel. Secondly, I shall value the more my privileges among you, please God I return safely to you. I had yesterday a most advantageous offer made me of going, free of cost, to visit my mother, brothers, and sisters in the flesh, whom I have not seen for eighteen years. However, I find my relations in the spirit nearer and dearer to me than my relations in the flesh. I have, therefore, rejected the kind offer, that I may return among you and be comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me. 

I hope, dear brethren, you improve much under the ministry of that faithful servant of God, Mr. Brown, whom Providence blesses you with. Make haste to gather the honey of knowledge and grace as it drops from his lips; and may I find the hive of your hearts so full of it on my return that I may share with you in the heavenly store. In order to this, beseech the Lord to excite your hunger and thirst for Jesus’s flesh and blood and to increase your desire of the sincere milk of the Word. When people are hungry, they will find time for their meals; a good appetite does not think a meal a day too much. As you go to your spiritual meals, do not forget to pray all the way and to feast your souls in hopes of hearing some good news from Heaven, and from Jesus, the faithful, loving Friend Whom you have there. When you return, be sure to carry the unsearchable riches of Jesus’ dying and rising love home to your houses in the vessel of a believing heart.

Let your light be attended with the warmth of love. Be not satisfied to know the way to Heaven, but walk in it immediately, constantly, and joyfully. Be all truly in earnest. You may, indeed, impose upon your brethren by a formal attendance on the means of grace, but you cannot deceive the Searcher of hearts. Let Him always see your hearts struggling towards Him; and if you fall through heaviness, sloth, or unbelief, do not make a bad matter worse by continuing helpless in the ditch of sin and guilt. Up, and away to the fountain of Jesus’s blood. It will not only wash away the guilt of past sins, but strengthen you to tread all iniquity under your feet for the time to come. Never forget that the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. The Lord will spue the lukewarm out of His mouth unless He gets that love which makes a person fervent in spirit, diligent in business, serving the Lord.

You know the way to get this  love is, (1) To consider the free mercy of God and to believe in the pardoning love of Jesus, Who died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. (2) To be frequently, if not constantly, applying this faith with all the attention of your mind and all the fervor of your heart. “Lord, I am lost, but Christ hath died.” (3) To try actually to love, as you can, by setting your affections on Christ, Whom you see not; and for His sake, on your brethren whom you do see. (4) To use much private prayer for yourselves and others, and to try to keep up that communion with God and your absent brethren. I beg in order to this that you will not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. When you meet as a society, be neither backward nor forward to speak. Esteem yourselves every one as the meanest in company, and be glad to sit at the feet of the lowest. If you are tempted against any one, yield not to the temptation. Pray much for that love which hopes all things and puts the best construction even upon the worst of failings.

I beg for Christ’s sake that I may find no divisions nor offences among you on my return. “If there be. . . any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

I earnestly request the continuance of your prayers for me, both as a minister and as your companion in tribulation. Ask particularly that the Lord would keep me from hurting His cause in these parts; and that when Providence shall bring me back among you, I may be more thoroughly furnished for every good work. Pardon me if I do not salute you all by name. My heart does it, if my pen does not. That the blessing of God in Jesus Christ may crown all your hearts and all your meetings is the earnest prayer of, my very dear brethren, Yours, etc., J. F.