The end was fast drawing near. It was Sunday evening, and the church was filled with a weeping congregation offering up their prayers for their dying pastor. At the conclusion of the service the people lingered about the vicarage, and seemed unable to go to their homes. Many of them were admitted to the house, and allowed to pass by the open door of his room, where they could see him, propped up with pillows in his bed. His countenance continued unaltered, but his weakness perceptibly increased. He sank into a kind of sleep, and at half-past ten o'clock on Sunday night, August 14th, 1785, Fletcher of Madeley breathed his last, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
Three days afterwards he was buried in Madeley churchyard amid the tears and lamentations of his people.
The inscription on his tombstone was written by his widow. A longer and more detailed epitaph, from the pen of Richard Watson, in City Road Chapel, sets forth his character and labours. Fletcher of Madeley will continue to be remembered for what he did, but still more for what he was. "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance."
[Footnote 1: "The English Church in the Eighteenth Century." By C. J. Abbey and J. H. Overton. Vol. ii., p. 113.]
[Footnote 2: MOZLEY: "Theory of Development," p. 141.]
[Footnote 3: GLEDSTONE: "Life of Whitefield," p. 304.]
[Footnote 4: An expression in one of Fletcher's letters to Charles Wesley, written in 1759, is noteworthy in connexion with the ecclesiastical development of Methodism. He speaks of "the Methodist Church." Is not this the earliest instance of the use of this term?]
[Footnote 5: I am indebted to the Rev. George Mather for the opportunity of examining the documents relating to Fletcher's ordination, license, induction, &c. They are as follows:
1. Deacon's orders, March 6th, 1757, Bishop of Hereford.
2. Priest's orders, March 13th, 1757, Bishop of Bangor.
3. License to the curacy of Madeley, March 14th, 1757, Bishop of Hereford.
4. Presentation to vicarage of Madeley, October 4th, 1760.
5. Institution to vicarage of Madeley, October 7th, 1760.
6. Mandate for induction, October 7th, 1760.
7. Certificate of Fletcher's conforming to the Liturgy, October 7th, 1760.
8. Certificate of subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles, October 7th, 1760.