John William De La Flechere was born in Nyon in Switzerland (near Geneva), on the 12th of September 1729. His father was an officer in the French army, and intended his son John for the service of the Church. He was accordingly placed while yet young at the school in Geneva, where he made great proficiency in his studies, and distanced all his competitors in their efforts to secure the customary prizes. After quitting Geneva, he was sent to a small town to perfect himself in the study of the German language, and on his return home he applied himself to the study of the Hebrew with great diligence and assiduity.

In very early life he discovered the elements of Christian piety, and his thorough acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures preserved him from falling into those sins and follies so common to the young. He in fact abhorred sin from his youth up, and in a becoming manner always reproved it in others. Young Fletcher had several remarkable escapes from death; so remarkable indeed that his biographer, Mr. Wesley, hesitates not to avow his belief, that his deliverance in one case was nothing short of miraculous.

After having completed his studies at the University of Geneva, contrary to the design of his parents, and contrary to his own design hitherto, he resolved to become a soldier. His reasons for this unexpected step, as afterwards given by himself were, 1st. His want of qualification for the high and holy calling of a minister of the gospel; 2dly. His scruples about subscribing to the doctrine of predestination, which he must do if he took orders in Switzerland; and 3dly. His disapproval of entering the sacred office for the sake of a livelihood, or to obtain preferment. Hence he went to Lisbon and accepted a Captain’s commission in the service of the King of Portugal, designing to go to Brazil, but an accident prevented his sailing.

About this period also his uncle had obtained a commission for him in the Dutch army, which he resolved to accept, but the declaration of peace prevented his being engaged in active service.

Being thus thrown out of active employment, he went to England, but not having made himself acquainted with the English language, he labored under serious difficulties in making his wants understood. While in an inn, Mr. Fletcher heard a well-dressed Jew speaking French, and engaged him to change his foreign money for English currency. Without due reflection he gave the man ninety pounds to exchange for him, and on making known the fact to his companions, they exclaimed with one accord, “Your money is gone; you need not expect to see a crown or doit of it any more!” As it was all the money Mr. Fletcher had, he of course felt uneasy about it, but in his extremity he commended his cause to God, and in a short time the Jew returned, and brought him the whole of the money. This little incident exhibits not only the piety of Mr. Fletcher, and his constant dependence on God under all circumstances, but it served to show him the importance of becoming acquainted with the English language. Accordingly he soon placed himself at a boarding school for this express purpose, where he also pursued the study of polite literature. His easy and affable manners soon gained him the esteem and respect of the town’s people where the school was situated, and he was a welcome guest at the houses of the first families in the place.

After remaining a year and a half at this school, and having perfected himself in the English tongue, he accepted the situation of tutor in the family of a Mr. Hill, in Ternhall, Shropshire. A little incident which transpired here, served to convince Mr. Fletcher that however pious and God fearing he might have been, he was yet, like all others, a fallen creature, and stood in need of the pardoning mercy of God. One Sunday evening, a servant came into his room to make up his fire, while Mr. Fletcher was engaged in writing some music. The servant, seriously and respectfully said, “Sir, I am sorry to see you so employed on the Lord’s day.” Although mortified at being reproved by a servant, he felt the reproof to be just, immediately put away his music, and ever after was a strict observer of the Sabbath.

When Mr. Hill went to London to attend the Parliament, he was accompanied by his family, and Mr. Fletcher. While stopping at a town on the road, Mr. Fletcher walked out, and did not return until the family had started for London. A horse, however, was left for him, and he overtook the family in the evening. On being asked why be stayed behind, he replied: “As I was walking, I met with a poor old woman, who talked so sweetly of Jesus, that I knew not how the time passed away.” Mrs. Hill replied: “I shall wonder if our tutor does not turn Methodist, by and bye.” “Methodist, madam! pray what is that?” “Why, the Methodists are a people that do nothing but pray; they are praying all day and all night.” “Are they?” replied Mr. Fletcher, “then by the help of God I will find them out, if they be above ground.” He did find them out in London, and at once became a member of the Society. Hitherto Mr. Fletcher had feared God, but he had not as yet saving faith. This he soon learned to his grief, after having heard a sermon preached on the subject of faith by a clergyman of the Church. “Is it possible,” said he, “that I, who have always been accounted so religious, who have made divinity my study, and received the premium of piety from my University for my writings on Divine subjects, — it possible that I should yet be so ignorant as not to know what faith is?” The more he reflected the more convinced he became that he was in fact a stranger to the love of God, that he was a sinner, and deserved to be damned. He finally resolved, that if sent to hell, he would serve God there, and that if he could not be an instance of his mercy in heaven, he would be a monument of his justice in hell. Soon, however, he ventured to believe in Christ as a universal Redeemer, and as his personal Savior, and after a hard and prolonged struggle with the powers of darkness, he became a “new man” in Christ Jesus. Let not the reader think that Mr. Fletcher was beside himself, and that he was superstitious or fanatical in his efforts to obtain the favor of God. Saul of Tarsus, the two Wesleys, and hundreds of the great and good before Mr. Fletcher’s time, had felt the burden of sin, and although previously moral and virtuous in their lives, and God-fearing in their disposition, were nevertheless constrained to exclaim, “O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” and who, after having exercised faith in Christ, could also exclaim, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” And thus Mr. Fletcher attained to the adoption of a “son of God” and an heir of heaven.

After his conversion, Mr. Fletcher became an eminent instance of vital piety; his hopes, desires, and pursuits became totally changed. He now felt it his duty to call sinners to repentance, and an opening having been made whereby he could obtain a “living” in the Church of England, if he desired it, he took counsel of Mr. Wesley in relation to the propriety of taking orders in that Church, and on the 6th of March, 1757, he received deacon’s orders in the Chapel-Royal at St. James, from the Bishop of Bangor, and on the following Sabbath was admitted to the order of the priesthood by the same Bishop.

The same day that he was ordained priest, being informed that Mr. Wesley had no one to assist him at West-street Chapel, as soon as the ordination service was over, he hastened to assist him in the administration of the Lord’s Supper; and from this time forward fully identified himself with the Methodists by co-operating, as opportunity offered, with the Wesleys and their preachers. He soon afterward visited the country places around London, and preached in several of the churches, but his plain manner of telling the truth, and above all, the Divine unction which attended his preaching, offended several of the clergymen, who closed their churches against him.

In the year 1755 there were many French prisoners in London, who desired Mr. Fletcher to preach to them in their own language, which he did. Many of them were deeply affected, and desired him to preach to them every Sabbath. They were, however, advised to present a petition to the Bishop of London for leave, but, strange to say, the Bishop in the most peremptory manner rejected their petition. A few months after, his lordship died with a cancer in his mouth. Mr. Wesley, in reference to this event, says, “I do not think it any breach of charity to suppose, that an action so unworthy of a Christian bishop had its punishment in this world.”

During the sessions of parliament, Mr. Fletcher was generally in London with his kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, the latter of whom had predicted that Mr. F. would yet be a Methodist, and whose prediction had indeed come to pass. During the recess of Parliament Mr. Fletcher might be found in his study at Ternhall, improving his mind and heart, and drawing closely with his God.

In a letter written by Mr. Charles Wesley to Mr. Fletcher, the former had intimated something in relation to a salary which Mr. Fletcher should have for his labors; in reply to this the latter observes: “To what a monstrous idea had you well nigh given both. What! the labors of my ministry under you deserve salary! Alas! I have done nothing but dishonor to God hitherto, and am not in a condition to do anything else for the future. If, then, I am permitted to stand in the courts of the Lord’s house, is it not for me to make an acknowledgment, rather than to receive one? If I ever receive anything of the Methodist Church, it shall be only as an indigent beggar receives alms, without which he would perish.”

About this time, Mr. Fletcher’s friends in Switzerland were pressing him with invitations to return to his own country, but supposing their desires to be purely the result of natural affection, he preferred staying where his time could be more profitably employed in aiding the Messrs. Wesley in their work of love. About this time also he received a very polite invitation from the Countess of Huntingdon, to become her ladyship’s domestic chaplain, but his engagements with the Wesleys prevented his acceptance of the kind offer; so that until the following autumn his time was mostly employed in rendering them and their Societies all necessary assistance. In the meanwhile he had frequently assisted the Rev. Mr. Chambers, Vicar of Madely — place about ten miles from Ternhall — and had contracted a strong and growing love for the people of that parish. Mr. Chambers having accepted a living in another parish, the vicarage of Madely, through the interest of his friend Mr. Hill, was offered to Mr. Fletcher, and after having taken the advice of the Messrs. Wesley and others, he concluded to accept the offer, and in due form was Instituted Vicar of Madely, which relation he retained as long as he lived.

At Madely, a new field of operation presented itself before him. The town was a place of considerable importance, both on account of its manufactures and population. The greater portion of the inhabitants, however, were very degraded and vicious. Ignorance, profanity, Sabbathbreaking and drunkenness, prevailed to an alarming extent, and even the external forms of religion were ridiculed. Young persons of both sexes, at stated times, would meet and spend the entire night in dancing, reveling, drunkenness, and obscenity. These assemblages were truly a disgrace to the Christian name, and frequently did Mr. Fletcher repair to these scenes of disorder and dissipation, and administer plain, yet affectionate reproof to the thoughtless persons therein congregated, and frequently these reproofs were not in vain, for, although at first there might be a burst of indignation at the bold interference, his tears, his prayers, and exhortations, would generally be crowned with success. The great mass of the people did not attend public worship, and many gave as an excuse for non-attendance, that they could not wake early enough to get their families ready. To remedy this, Mr. Fletcher, taking a bell in his hand, sallied out every Sunday morning for some months at five o’clock, and went round to the distant parts of the town, inviting all the inhabitants to the house of worship.

These facts are stated merely as an evidence of Mr. Fletcher’s ministerial fidelity to the people of his parish. But notwithstanding his fidelity, he saw so little fruit of his labors — that he was frequently on the point of leaving Madely, and giving himself wholly to the itinerant work under the direction of the Messrs. Wesley. His greatest discouragement arose from the smallness of his congregations; but soon this cause of despondency was removed, for not only did his church become full, but many had to stand in the church yard who could not get into the house. So great indeed was the crowd at times, that Mr. Fletcher’s churchwardens spoke of hindering persons of other parishes from attending church in that place; but their faithful pastor withstood them, and was successful in preventing such a disgraceful proceeding.

Although Mr. Fletcher was the resident Vicar of a parish, he did not confine his labors to that parish, but wherever a door opened for doing good he was ready to enter in. He frequently visited two villages not far distant from Madely, where he formed small societies of Methodists. He also regularly preached for many years at places eight, ten, and sixteen miles off. Notwithstanding his devotion to the cause of God, Mr. Fletcher, like his compeers, the Wesleys, was the subject of persecution and reproach. And it is lamentable to know, that, as in the case of the Wesleys, so in Mr. Fletcher’s case, the greatest amount of persecution was caused by the unprincipled and uncalled-for opposition of church dignitaries, and civil magistrates, who added threats to their insults, and who, if they did not stir up the unholy passions of the multitude, were perfectly willing to stand by and see a faithful minister abused and maltreated, for no other reason than that they themselves “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

The opposition of the innkeepers, tipplers, gamblers, etc. to Mr. Fletcher was intense, and exhibited itself in various ways. On one occasion, a stout and healthy young man, twenty-four years old, came to the churchyard in Madely with a corpse, which was to be buried, but refused to enter the church. After the burial, Mr. Fletcher expostulated with him, but his answer was, that he had bound himself not to come to church as long as Mr. Fletcher was there, and that he was prepared to take all the consequences of his refusal. As Mr. Fletcher turned away in sorrow, he could not forbear, saying to the young man, “I am clear of your blood, hence forth it is upon your own head; you will not come to church upon your legs, prepare to come upon your neighbor’s shoulders.” The young man immediately began to waste away, and in three months was buried on the very spot where the above conversation was had. Mr. F. visited him during his sickness, when “he seemed as tame as a wolf in the trap.”

Mr. Fletcher not only labored assiduously for the benefit of his parishioners, but he frequently invited Rev’s. John and Charles Wesley to visit his parish, and preach in his church. He also invited Mr. Wesley’s preachers to visit his parish, and take the charge of the Methodist Societies which he had raised up. He also invited the Rev. George Whitefield to visit his parish, and in his letter of invitation on one occasion he says: “Last Sunday sevennight Captain Scott preached to my congregation a sermon which was more blessed, though preached only upon my horse-block, than a hundred of those I preach in my pulpit. I invited him to come and treat her ladyship (Countess of Huntingdon) next Sunday with another, now the place is consecrated. If you should ever favor Shropshire with your presence, you shall have the Captain’s or the parson’s pulpit at your option.” A distinction is here drawn between the “Captain’s and the parson’s pulpit.” The “Captain” and Mr. Wesley’s lay preachers not having been episcopally ordained, could not legally be admitted to the pulpit of the parish church, while Mr. Whitefield and the Wesleys, having received episcopal ordination, could lawfully be invited to preach in the same.

Hence if Captain Scott and Mr. Wesley’s lay preachers did not occupy Mr. Fletcher’s pulpit, it was only because the law would not allow it; while the horse-block, or the desk of the Society-house, or a room in Mr. Fletcher’s parsonage, were always open for the public services of those men of God who were called to the work of the ministry without episcopal authority.

In 1766, Mr. Fletcher visited different parts of England, and while spending a few Sabbaths at a place called Breedon, Leicestershire, people flocked to hear him from all the adjacent parishes. The clerk of the church being offended at the large attendance of people, because it increased his labor in cleaning the church, etc., placed himself at the door, and demanded a penny of every stranger who entered. Mr. Fletcher having been informed of the fact, at the close of the service, said to the congregation, “I have heard that the clerk of this parish has demanded, and has actually received money from divers strangers, before he would suffer them to enter the church. I desire that all who have paid money in this way for hearing the gospel, will come to me, and I will return what they have paid. And as to this iniquitous clerk, his money perish with him.”

In the year 1770, Mr. Fletcher paid a visit to his native land, and in addition to visiting Switzerland, he and his friend, Mr. Ireland, traveled through the greater part of France and Italy. The five months spent in this tour were not, however, lost, as wherever Mr. Fletcher went, he tried to make himself useful to the souls of his fellow-men. He even visited the Roman Catholic monasteries and convents, and conversed freely and boldly with the most serious of their inmates. So great indeed was his boldness of speech toward many of the priests and others, that his life and that of his friend were frequently in danger. He attended the Popes chapel in Rome, accompanied by Mr. Ireland, who only consented to go after having extorted a promise from Mr. Fletcher, that the latter would not speak by way of censure or reproof at what he saw or heard. While traveling in a part of Italy they approached the “Appian Way.” Mr. Fletcher directed the driver to stop, and he descended from the carriage, assuring Mr. Ireland that his heart would not suffer him to ride over that ground upon which the apostle Paul had walked, chained to a soldier, on account of having preached the Gospel. As soon as he alighted, he reverently took off his hat, and walked with his eyes upraised to heaven, while he thanked God that England was favored with the gospel in its purity, and prayed that Rome might also share in the same glorious blessing.

Soon after his arrival in his native town, the clergy of Nyon vied with each other in doing him distinguished honor. They severally pressed him to honor their pulpits during his stay, and on the Sabbath after his arrival, he preached in one of the churches to a large and attentive congregation, and continued during his sojourn in the place to draw large and crowded audiences, who were charmed with his eloquence and listened to him as though he was something more than man.

During his tour, he also made a visit to the Huguenots, or French Protestants, in the south of France. Such was his respect for the people, whose fathers had laid down their lives for the gospel, that he positively refused to ride to the Cevennes Mountain, where these people resided, but persisted in accomplishing the journey on foot. He accordingly clothed himself in the plainest garb, and with his staff in his hand, made his appearance among them. He was everywhere received as a messenger of God, even the profane and vicious acknowledged that he spoke with authority, and instances were given of his success in winning souls to Christ in his journeys through these mountains.

After having accomplished the object of their travels, the two friends returned to England, and such was the estimation in which Mr. Ireland held his friend, who had been his almost constant companion for five months, that had he been an angel in human form, he could have esteemed him no higher.

About this time, the Countess of Huntingdon erected a theological seminary at Trevecca, in Wales, for the purpose of educating pious young men for the ministry, either of the establishment, the Wesleyan body, or the dissenting churches. To the superintendency or presidency of this seminary, Mr. Fletcher was called by the Countess; not that she expected him to leave his charge in Madely, but that he should occasionally visit the institution, and give advice in relation to the appointment of teachers, and the admission or rejection of students; to direct in the course of study; and judge of their qualifications for the work of the ministry. Mr. Fletcher willingly accepted the invitation, and undertook the charge without fee or reward, while Rev. Joseph Benson, one of Mr. Wesley’s preachers, and Head-Master of the Wesleyan School at Kingswood, was, on Mr. Wesley’s recommendation, appointed Second-Master of the Seminary under Mr. Fletcher. The visits of the latter to the Seminary were always seasons of refreshing to the pious students. Instead of haranguing them with long metaphysical disquisitions on some branch of abstruse science or philosophy, he would talk to them about the love of Jesus, and would generally close by saying, “As many of you as are athirst for the fullness of the Spirit, follow me into my room.” There they would spend two or three hours in prayer, wrestling Jacob-like for the blessing of perfect love. On one of these occasions, Mr. Fletcher was so filled with the love of God, that he felt he could contain no more, and cried out, “O, my God, withhold thy hand or the vessel will burst!” In reference to this expression, Mr. Fletcher afterward told Mr. Benson, he was afraid he had grieved the Holy Spirit, and that he ought rather to have prayed that the Lord would have enlarged the vessel, or suffered it to break.

Thus did this man of God labor to improve the moral and spiritual, as well as the intellectual gifts of his students; and thus, during his superintendency of the institution, did the latter flourish and grow in utility, and more than met the anticipations of its excellent founder.

At length religious dissensions began to be fostered among the patrons of the school. Her ladyship, through the influence of prejudiced counselors, dismissed Mr. Benson from being Head-Master because he could not endorse the doctrine of predestination. Mr. Benson, as in duty bound, informed Mr. Fletcher of the fact, and the latter in writing to the Countess says: “Mr. Benson made a very just defense, when he said he held with me the possibility of salvation for all men; that mercy is offered to all, and yet may be rejected or received. If this be what your ladyship calls Mr. Wesley’s opinion, free will, and Arminianism, and if ‘every Arminian must quit the college,’ I am actually discharged also. For in my present view of things, I must hold that sentiment, if I believe that the Bible is true, and that God is love. For my part, I am no party man. In the Lord, I am your servant, and that of your every student, but I cannot give up the honor of being connected with my old friends. Mr. Wesley shall always be welcome to my pulpit, and I shall gladly bear my testimony in his, as well as in Mr. Whitefield’s. But if your ladyship forbid your students to preach for the one, and offer them to preach for the other at every turn; and if a master is discarded for believing that Christ died for all; then prejudice reigns; charity is cruelly wounded; and party-spirit shouts, prevails, and triumphs.”

That the reader may understand the true position of the parties in this affair, it is perhaps necessary to remark, that the Countess of Huntingdon was a Methodist of the Whitefieldian School; that her chaplain, the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, her own brother, was a violent predestinarian; and that about this time there was much controversy between the predestinarians on the one hand, and the Arminians on the other. Besides, Mr. Wesley and his preachers in Conference capacity had recently taken strong ground against the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism, and Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Benson were well known to be advisers of Mr. Wesley’s course in this respect. Hence the dissension of Mr. Benson, and as might be expected, the subsequent resignation of Mr. Fletcher of the presidency of the College. In the meanwhile, Mr. Shirley, above alluded to, having taken umbrage at the doctrines promulgated in the Wesleyan “Minutes of Conference,” issued a “Circular Letter” to the evangelical Clergymen of England, protesting against the doctrines of Arminianism, and inviting them to meet in Bristol at the next session of the Wesleyan Conference, and go in a body to the Conference, and demand a retraction of the offensive doctrines! which they actually attempted to do, but were very properly refused an audience by Mr. Wesley and his Conference, until they were willing to meet as friends and not as belligerents.

The occasion, however, called out Mr. Fletcher in a new character, that of a polemic writer. Hitherto he appears as the pious, useful pastor; as the learned and truly dignified president of a College; but now buckling on the whole armor of truth, and seizing the sword of the Spirit, he marches out into the field of moral warfare, and bids defiance to the machinations of the prejudiced, and hurls his weapons of war into the camp of error. No sooner had he received Mr. Shirley’s Circular, than he at once began the preparation of his “Checks to Antinomianism;” a work which does immortal honor to the head and heart of the author, and which undoubtedly will be read and admired as long as error shall demand an antidote. In speaking of these “Checks” Mr. Wesley observes: “How much good has been occasioned by the publication of that Circular Letter! This was the happy occasion of Mr. Fletcher’s writing thus “Checks to Antinomianism,” in which one knows not which to admire most, the purity of the language (such as scarce any foreigner ever wrote before); the strength and dearness of the argument; or the mildness and sweetness of the spirit that breathes throughout the whole. Insomuch that I wonder not at a serious Clergyman, who being resolved to live and die in his own opinion, when he was pressed to read them replied, ‘No, I will never read Mr. Fletcher’s Checks: for if I did I should be of his mind.’” Thus was Mr. Fletcher, before he was aware of it, a controversial author, and it was because of his peculiar fitness for this particular part of ministerial duty, that ever after his well-pointed pen was employed almost constantly in defense of what he sincerely believed to be truth. His numerous polemic works were printed at Mr. Wesley’s press in London, and in this way he rendered the latter much more efficient service, than though he had been actively employed in the itinerant field. And in engaging in controversy as much as Mr. Fletcher did, he felt in his own soul, as though he was serving the interests of the bleeding cause of Christ as much, or more than he could do in any other way. To give his views on the subject of controversy and also to show his command of the English language — Swiss though he was — we will favor the reader with an extract from one of his controversial works: “Some of our friends will undoubtedly blame us for not dropping the contested point; but others will candidly consider that controversy though not desirable in itself, yet properly managed, has a hundred times rescued truth groaning under the lash of triumphant error. We are indebted to our Lord’s controversies with the Pharisees and scribes, for a considerable part of the four gospels. And to the end of the world the Church will bless God for the spirited manner in which St. Paul in his Epistles to the Romans, and Galatians defended the controverted point of a believer’s present justification by faith, as well as for the steadiness with which St. James, St. John, St. Peter, and St. Jude carried on their important controversy with the Nicolaitans, who abused St. Paul’s doctrine to antinomian purposes. Had it not been for controversy, Romish priests would today, feed us with Latin Masses, and a wafer-god.

Some bold propositions advanced by Luther, brought on the Reformation.

They were so irrationally attacked by the infatuated Papists, and so scripturally defended by the resolute Protestants, that these kingdoms opened their eyes, and saw thousands of images and errors fall before the ark of evangelical truth.”

Previous to the year 1773, Mr. Fletcher’s health had been somewhat on the decline, in consequence of his exposure to all kinds of weather, at all seasons of the year, which greatly impaired his strength and constitution.

He was able however to perform all his clerical duties without much intermission. In the former part of this year, he wrote a long letter to Mr. Wesley, in which he intimated that he had doubts about the propriety of his remaining longer at Madely, and expresses his willingness, if Providence opened the way, to resume his office as Mr. Wesley’s “deacon.” “And as the little estate I have in my own country,” he observes, “is sufficient for my maintenance, I have thought I would one day or other offer you and the Methodists my free services.” “I can never believe,” says Mr. Wesley in referring to this letter, “that it was the will of God that such a burning and shining light should be hid under a bushel. No, instead of being confined to a country village it ought to have shone in every corner of the land.” But the way for his leaving Madely did not seem to open, so that he continued his pastoral relation to that parish, as before stated, while he lived. His health, however, being poor, he supplied his parish with a curate, and accepted an invitation from Mr. Wesley to accompany him in a tour through different parts of England. Accordingly, he spent the greater part of the year, in traveling with the latter some twelve hundred miles, mostly on horseback, and only stopped on his tour for the purpose of writing an answer to a work which had been lately published by a Mr. Evans and Dr.

Price, and also to supply the pulpit in Madely, as his curate had left the parish. His return to active labor, however, increased the violence of his disease, so that his physician forbade his preaching. He consequently secured the services of another curate, and spent the greater part of the ensuing summer at the Hot Springs, but without any material improvement of his health.

In the fall of 1776, he again joined Mr. Wesley in a tour through various parts of England, and at the close of the same accompanied him to London, but in the winter he retired to a friend’s house in Newington, where he spent the most of the time in writing Christian letters to his parishioners and other friends, although his disease (spitting of blood) would not allow him to converse much. In the spring of 1777, he went to Bristol, and Bath, and in the latter part of the summer, as his health still continued poor, resolved on making another journey to Switzerland. But he did not leave England until the beginning of December, when in company with Mr. Ireland, and two of his daughters, he sailed for the south of France. His journey appearing to benefit him, he proceeded to Rome and various parts of Italy. While in Rome, as he and Mr. Ireland were one day going through the streets in a coach, they met the Pope in an open carriage; and as the custom was for all to leave their carriages and kneel when they met the pope, and as a refusal to do so would draw on them the vengeance of the multitude, our friends were placed in somewhat of a strait in reference to how they ought to act. To kneel to a pope they could not; the coachman was terrified, and knew not what to do; he finally succeeded in reining his horses into a narrow passage, until his [so-called] Holiness had passed by.

After having visited various parts of France and Italy, he proceeded to Nyon, his native place, from which he wrote to John and Charles Wesley.

In Nyon, he was able to preach but three or four times, but he spent much time in instructing and catechizing the children, and in writing epistles as usual to friends in England. His health during his prolonged stay in his native country was so vacillating, that it was not till the summer of that he ventured to return to England. After having visited London and preached in the Wesleyan New Chapel, he proceeded to Bristol, near which he had an opportunity of seeing Mr. Rankin, who during his absence had returned from America, and while Mr. Rankin in was relating the progress of the work of God in that distant portion of the field, Mr. Fletcher would frequently stop him and pour out his soul to God for the prosperity of the American brethren. After a few days he set out for his beloved parish, and was affectionately received by his people, who were warmly endeared to him by a thousand sacred ties.

Hitherto Mr. Fletcher had led a single life, having never been married. In early life he had formed an acquaintance with a devotedly pious and estimable young lady, but without having seriously entertained thoughts of marriage. After his return from Switzerland the second time, he providentially renewed his acquaintance with the same person, who had suffered much during her life, for her devotion to the cause of Christ. As there appeared to be no impediment to the union, Mr. Fletcher and Miss Bosanquet were united in holy matrimony. This lady was of respectable family, and was possessed of a competent fortune. In early life, she became a subject of saving grace, and soon united with one of Mr. Wesley’s Societies. It appeared from subsequent developments that both of these persons while young had formed an attachment for each other, and had concluded in their own minds, that if they ever married it would be to each other. But Mr. Fletcher, who had imbibed a disrelish for the marriage state, solely on the ground that he believed a man not be as holy and useful in this, as in a single state, prudently and with great sacrifice of feeling no doubt, abstained from making his attachment known to the lady, and she perhaps for similar reasons, had hid her own feelings within her own heart.

At the time of their marriage, however, providence seemed to open the way for their union, and the pious and useful Miss Bosanquet became the holy devoted wife of Mr. Fletcher. This union was followed by the best of consequences, for instead of drawing their affections in any measure from God, it only served to increase the flame of divine love, and make their united labors more acceptable and efficient to the church of Christ. Like Zacharias and Elizabeth of old, these holy persons “walked in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless.”

In the summer of 1784, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher having been repeatedly urged and invited by several pious people in Dublin to visit the Methodist Society in that city, they accepted the invitation, and although they remained there but a short time, they were instrumental in accomplishing much good, and when they returned to England they left behind them a large circle of warmhearted pious friends, whose attachment to them had become ripened by the influence of Christian love and affection.