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
After mentioning these four times of private prayer, she then notices
praying with me before going to bed; at which time she says, “remember
all the sufferers who have recommended themselves to my prayer.” The
paper concludes with family prayer, of which she says, “at each time of
family prayer, to read with profit, and to pray with fervor.”
I can witness with how much diligence she discharged this duty of family
prayer, always being remarkably careful that every one who worked in her
house should be present upon this occasion; for she looked upon it as an
opportunity of giving them a message to their souls: and times more than
I can number she has had such up stairs, that she might pray with them,
when her breath has been so oppressed that she has said, (while they were
coming,) “I do not know whether I can speak a word, but if I can I will.”
The last time the washerwoman and the gardener were in her study, her
prayer will not soon be forgot by the persons present; she was at that
time in a state of great bodily suffering, (it was only a few weeks
before her translation to glory,) and was not able both to read and pray;
I therefore read a short account of a pious man out of the Methodist
Magazine, and she prayed, mentioning each distinctly in such a clear,
striking, and forcible manner, as if fully persuaded she should never
pray with them again. All was deeply solemn, and I could not help
observing, when we rose from our knees, I did not remember ever feeling
such at time before: she answered, “I want them to turn to God; I long
for the salvation of all around us.”
The gardener’s wife has since told me, that when her husband returned
home at night, he told her, “he never heard any thing like that morning’s
prayer.”
But it was not an uncommon thing for her prayers to be unusually blessed
to souls: many have come from far to see her, that she might plead with
God in their behalf; some of these, when they have come to her, have been
laden with guilt, a heavy load, but our good Lord has heard the voice of
her supplications, and so manifested himself as a sin-pardoning God, that
the mourners have been comforted, their sorrows have been turned into
joy, and they have left her habitation to go on their way rejoicing. I
refer not in this to a solitary instance, but mention it as a
circumstance that was often recurring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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