Mother and Child.

Fletcher's Prayer.

Having walked several miles, he saw a great many people gathered about the door of a house. He inquired what was the matter. They told him a poor woman and a little child were dying. He went in and saw a woman lying on her bed, pale, nearly speechless, and apparently dying, and by her side a new-born infant, in violent convulsions. He improved the occasion to preach to the people, who had gathered together at the house of suffering. He told them the story of the fall, of the deplorable effects of sin, of redemption, of Jesus, and of the resurrection. "Jesus," said he, "has all power in heaven and in earth. He has power even to raise the dead. He raised up the widow's son, whom they were carrying on his bier to the grave, and he raised up Lazarus, after he had been four days buried. He is able to save you all from sin. He can save this poor woman and this poor child from death. Come, let us kneel down and pray together, that he would both save you from sin, and those sufferers from death." He then prayed with such fervor, and faith, and power, as are seldom vouchsafed to man. When he arose from his knees the woman's strength was restored, and the child was lying free from convulsion,

Great Amazement.

"Portrait of St. Paul."

in a sweet sleep. The people stood amazed. Fletcher looked for a moment on the scene, then quietly withdrew, and passed on his journey. When he was gone the people came to their senses, and inquired one of another, "Who was that?" "Who could it be?" "Where is he?" None knew who he was, or from whence he came, or whither he was gone, and so they concluded it certainly must be an angel. In one sense they were right. It was an angel-an angel of love—a messenger of good, whom God had commissioned on errands of beneficence to the human race. Seldom has humanity been so nearly allied to the angelic beings of the heavenly world as in the person of John Fletcher.

During his residence at Nyon, he wrote that admirable book, the "Portrait of St. Paul." It was written in French, and was, after Mr. Fletcher's death, translated by his friend-the Rev. Mr. Gilpin, of Rockwardine.

In the beginning of March, 1781, he left Switzerland, and arrived in England about the middle of April. His residence, of upward of three years, at Nyon, breathing his native air, rambling over his native hills, and roaming amidst the grand old forests, had nearly

The Invalid.

His Native Home.

restored his health to its pristine excellence. His pulmonary symptoms had nearly all disappeared, and he returned home renewed and reinvigorated. Why is it that the invalid, pining and dying in a foreign country, so generally recovers, if he returns, in season, to his native home? The child of the sunny south and of the frozen north, drooping, by disease, in our own fair western clime, finds each his health more surely recovered by returning the one to his sunny plains, and the other to his bleak hills. And should a native of the Wabash find his health declining by a residence either in New Orleans or New York, he might find a return to his native prairies the means of his restoration. Give, then, the pulmonary invalid to breathe again his native air. We can not explain the efficacy of a return, when suffering pulmonary affections, to our own native land; but the fact is proved from a long course of observation.

Meditates Marriage.

Miss Bosanquet.

MR

CHAPTER VI.

LAST DAYS OF FLETCHER.

R. FLETCHER, on his return to England, began to deliberate seriously and prayerfully on marriage. Early in life he had been introduced to Miss Bosanquet, a lady of a spirit as seraphic as was his own. A tender sentiment toward her at once sprung up in his heart. Her image, he says, pursued him for some time, till he began to think more favorably than ever before of marriage. It would appear, also, that the lady entertained toward him a similar sentiment. They were congenial spirits, and, when once they met, they felt the influence of mutual affection. To that influence they should have yielded. An early marriage would unquestionably have increased the happiness and the usefulness of both these estimable persons. But Mr. Fletcher seems to have been averse to marriage, from the opinion that he could be more useful to his parish and to the world by devoting his whole heart, time, and fortune, unincumbered by family claims,

Foregoes Early Marriage.

Labors Above Twenty Years.

to pastoral duties, writing, and deeds of beneficence and charity. He chose not, therefore, to cultivate an intimacy with one whose excellent virtues must, if often exhibited before him, tend strongly to reverse the decision which he had made to lead a single life. Miss Bosanquet, when Mr. Fletcher first met her, was about twenty-two years old. She was a lady of ample fortune and great benevolence. At her residence in Leytonstone she opened an asylum for the poor, the rich, and the orphan. To these she devoted her time, her heart, and her fortune. Mr. Wesley often visited Leytonstone, and he speaks of the establishment with admiration. It appeared to him the only perfect specimen of a Christian family he ever saw. It seemed fully to meet his most cherished beau ideal of an earthly paradise, in which moral beauty was pre-eminent. Here Miss Bosanquet spent the prime of womanhood in acts of heavenly charity, while Fletcher was laboring not less efficiently and benevolently at Madely. For twenty years each thus labored alone in different spheres. They sometimes heard of the labors and trials of each other. They rejoiced each at the success and wept each at the sorrows of the other. Each