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. — 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.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.
Tooth, Mary
Fletcher, Mary, 1739-1815; Methodist women -- Biography
Let it be stored with heavenly wheat,
The harvest of the Lord,
With sinners brought to Jesu’s feet,
Obedient to his word.
No more design’d for earthly good,
Or product of the ground,
May it be fill’d with sacred food,
And thy high praise resound.
Ye neighbours who surround this place,
The message is for you;
Despise not then his offer’d grace,
Nor slight the heavenly dew.
How many pray’rs in heaven are filed
For Madeley favor’d flock;
Behold a Father reconciled
In Jesus Christ your Rock.
Then let the joys of heaven abound,
O’er Sinners brought to God;
And many at his feet be found,
All wash’d in Jesu’s blood.
That voice which once you loved to hear
Invites you from above,
And bids you cast off every fear,
And trust in Jesu’s love.
Then let us vow to serve the Lord,
And choose his holy ways;
To walk according to his word,
Devoted to his praise.
And when the lips that call you now
Are silent in the dust,
Remember _then_ our solemn vow,
And shew in whom you trust.
For soon the Archangel’s trump shall sound,
And summon us on high;
The Shepherd with his Flock be found,
And all our tears be dry.
Some circumstances occurring last summer, which brought to her
recollection afresh the solemn season of the opening of her room, 27
years before, she took the paper I have now been copying, and read it to
the people; and there is good reason to believe, that our heavenly Father
was pleased to make this also, such a season of refreshing to some then
present, that they will ever remember it with gratitude: indeed, all her
labours of love were, in a peculiar manner, blest of God. Six years
after the opening of her room, the old church was taken down, and the
church service was performed in it till the new one was erected.
Amongst the numerous company that will have to ascribe glory to our God
for good received through her instrumentality, under that roof, I cannot
forbear saying, my hope is, that I shall stand among the ransomed of the
Lord, and say, “I was born there.” Yes, my friends, I must say, the good
Lord made her the means of the awakening, conversion, and deepening the
work of grace in my soul: and while I give all the glory to my God for
the grace received, I cannot but feel much love to the channel through
which that grace was communicated. Nor are my feelings in this peculiar,
they are the feelings of a number of lively souls, who bless God that the
sound of her voice ever reached their ears; and in whose affections she
will long live, and though dead yet speak.
On the 4th of September, 1808, she was to have had a meeting at six
o’clock in the evening, but was prevented through sickness; she therefore
wrote, the following note, for me to read to the people:
_My dearly beloved in the Lord_,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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