Wesley Corpus

As I think it highly expedient to premise some account of the person whom Mr. Fletcher chose as his companion for life, I am glad to find this dome to my hand in the letter which I shall now subjoin: “REvEREND SIR, “I THINK it my privilege, and have often found it a blessing, to comply with the request of my honoured father, which I now do also in great love to my valuable and much esteemed friends, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher. I will therefore endeavour, with the assistance of my gracious Lord, to recol lect and acquaint you with some particulars of the life and character of these truly devoted servants of God, with whose intimate acquaintance I have been favoured for near thirty years. But, indeed, I feel my great insufficiency to relate what might be said with the strictest truth of these worthies. “My acquaintance with Mrs. Fletcher began when she was about seventeen years of age. She had from her early childhood been strongly drawn to seek the Crucified, and was now athirst for a clean heart, and longed to have a right spirit renewed within her. Nor did her desire to love God with all her heart lessen, but increase, her love to her neigh bour; as I, the most unworthy, am well able to testify, to whom she has been a tried friend, even to the present hour. “To give you a clear view of this, I need only transcribe part of a letter, which she wrote to me, May 23, 1757:-- “‘THE Lord has been indeed merciful, above all we can ask or think. I found a greater blessing the last time I was with you than ever. I am more enabled to prayer, and to an earnest seeking after holiness. But what most stirs me up is, I seem to hear the Lord calling upon me, Depart ye, depart ye; go ye out thence; touch not the unclean thing; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. For some time, these words have been much in my mind, with both pleasure and profit. But within this day or two, the Lord has more clearly shown me the way wherein I ought to walk. He seems to call me out to more activeness; so that I am ready to cry out, What wouldest thou have me to do?