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A Letter to the Loving and Beloved People of the Parish of Madeley, and Its Vicinity, Who Have Lost a Friend to Piety in the Death of Mrs. Fletcher, Widow of the Rev. J. W. Fletcher, (or de la Flechere,) Late Vicar of Madeley, Shropshire.Tooth, Mary

Religion

A Letter to the Loving and Beloved People of the Parish of Madeley, and Its Vicinity, Who Have Lost a Friend to Piety in the Death of Mrs. Fletcher, Widow of the Rev. J. W. Fletcher, (or de la Flechere,) Late Vicar of Madeley, Shropshire.

Name: A Letter to the Loving and Beloved People of the Parish of Madeley, and Its Vicinity, Who Have Lost a Friend to Piety in the Death of Mrs. Fletcher, Widow of the Rev. J. W. Fletcher, (or de la Flechere,) Late Vicar of Madeley, Shropshire.
Author: Tooth, Mary

Tooth, Mary

Fletcher, Mary, 1739-1815; Methodist women -- Biography

Here only can I shew my love,
    By suffering, my obedience prove,
          And when thy heaven I share,
    I cannot mourn for Jesu’s sake,
    I cannot there thy cup partake,
          I cannot suffer there.

    Full gladly, then, for thee I grieve,
    The honor of thy cross receive,
          And bless the happy load;
    Who would not in thy footsteps tread,
    Who would not bow with thee his head,
          And sympathize with God.

                               SECOND HYMN.

    JESUS! thy Sovereign Name I bless!
    Sorrow is joy, and pain is ease,
          To those that trust in thee:
    All things together work for good,
    To me, the purchase of thy blood,
          The much-loved sinner, me.

    With thee, O Christ, on earth I reign,
    In all the awful pomp of pain;
          But send me piercing eyes,
    Th’ eternal things unseen to see,
    The crown of life prepared for me,
          And glittering in the skies.

    As sure as now thy cross I bear,
    I shall thy heavenly kingdom share,
          And take my seat above;
    Celestial joy is in this pain,
    It tells me, I with thee shall reign,
          In everlasting love.

    The more my sufferings here increase,
    The greater is my future bliss;
          And thou my griefs dost tell;
    They in thy book are noted down,
    A jewel added to my crown
          Is every pain I feel.

    So be it, then, if thou ordain,
    Crowd all my happy life with pain,
          And let me daily die:
    I bow, and bless the sacred sign,
    And bear the cross, by grace divine,
          Which lifts me to the sky.

Having before mentioned the unwearied love and strong attachment she so
invariably manifested towards me, I will here insert a short letter or
two, which she wrote in different years, but each in the season of bodily
affliction, when, to human appearance, death was nigh at hand.  The first
was occasioned by my expressing a wish, if I died at Madeley, that I
might be buried in the same grave with her.  After we had been conversing
on the subject, I was called away from her, and on my return found on the
table, a paper, on which she had written the following words:

    My dear Friend,

    As you have expressed a wish to be buried in our grave, if you should
    continue to wish it, I here declare my _desire_ that it should _be
    so_.  You are to me a faithful helper, and as a gracious gift of
    providence, I esteem and value you: and my prayer is, that after my
    death you may meet with the same measure from others, that you have
    measured unto me.

                                                            MARY FLETCHER.

I think this was written in the year 1802 or 3, but not being dated, am
not certain.  The following, I think was in 1806 or 7, but it also has no
date.

    My dear and faithful friend,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Letter to the Loving and Beloved People of the Parish of Madeley, and Its Vicinity, Who Have Lost a Friend to Piety in the Death of Mrs. Fletcher, Widow of the Rev. J. W. Fletcher, (or de la Flechere,) Late Vicar of Madeley, Shropshire.

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