Fletcher of Madeley

Excerpt

A Wonderful Wedding

There existed no “chance” or “ill-fortune” for Fletcher Whatever happened was subject, he believed, to the over-ruling providence and direction of God, and for him there was no second causes, no human marplots He could always sing—­

  Thrice comfortable hope
    That calms my troubled breast;
  My Father’s hand prepares the cup,
    And what He wills is best.

When in answer to a letter of his to Miss Bosanquet on Christian Perfection there was sent to him a reply which, by the forgetfulness of a friend, lay in a drawer for three years undelivered, he wrote on the morning of its belated arrival:—­

“You speak, Madam, of a letter from Bath; I do not recollect, at present, your having favoured me with one from that place Is it my lot to be tried or disappointed in this respect?  Well, the hairs of our heads, and the letters of our friends, are all numbered; not one of the former falls, not one of the latter miscarries, without the will of Him to whose orders we have long since fully and cheerfully subscribed.”

Miss Bosanquet was at this time in dire difficulties at Cross Hall Perplexed by contrary advice, embarrassed by ever-increasing financial loss, opposed by those who ridiculed her work as a mission to the mean, “a call to the care of cows and horses, sheep and pigs,” and criticised even by those to whom she acted as daily benefactor, her path was by no means an easy one, and eagerly she looked to the Lord for deliverance, although she knew not whence it would come.

She suffered more than she could ever describe through the public work she was called to do “None, O my God, but Thyself, knows what I go through for every public meeting!” she exclaimed in her diary Yet, though this shrinking was combined with exceedingly delicate health, she never shirked her duty, but went steadily on with housekeeping, farming, nursing, or public speaking, just as the Lord gave it to her to do—­even consenting to stand upon a horse-block at Huddersfield to address a crowd whom otherwise she could not have reached “Indeed, for none but Thee, my Lord,” she cried after that ordeal, “would I take up this sore cross!.. O do Thine own will upon me in all things!”

On the seventh day of June, a month after Fletcher’s return to Madeley, was the fourteenth anniversary of Miss Bosanquet’s troubled sojourn in Yorkshire “On that day,” she relates, “I took a particular view of my whole situation, and saw difficulties as mountains rise around me Faith was hard put to it.  The promises seemed to stand sure, and I thought the season was come; yet the waters were deeper than ever.”

During this time, however, their correspondence had been renewed, and to Fletcher the thought of Mary Bosanquet was bringing more than ordinary comfort and joy.

Finding his health so greatly improved, he thought he might venture upon a still closer friendship, and the very day after Miss Bosanquet’s “mountains” and “deeper waters” seemed to hem her in, a new door opened for her in a proposal of marriage, which assured her of the regard Fletcher had secretly treasured for her for twenty-five long years....