A letter from a friend in Shropshire to his country-man Mr. Richard Baxter at his meeting-house in London J. M. 1681 Approx. 7 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A51737 Wing M38 ESTC R5858 12986810 ocm 12986810 96217 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A51737) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 96217) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 719:41) A letter from a friend in Shropshire to his country-man Mr. Richard Baxter at his meeting-house in London J. M. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. 2 p. Printed for Al. Banks, London : 1681. Broadside. Caption title. Signed and dated: J.M. Oswalstree in the county of Salop, July 20, 1681. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Broadsides -- England -- London -- 17th century 2005-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-08 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-09 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2005-09 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER From a Friend in Shropshire to his Country-man Mr. Richard Baxter AT HIS MEETING-HOUSE IN LONDON . BEing well assur'd of the respect you bear to mankind in general , and particularly those of your Native-Country , I presume to trouble your Reverence with the perusing of these lines , being mostly matter of Fact , as it is acted by one Mr. Hugh P — and Mr. Philip ap R — , Preachers of an Independent Congregation at Swiny in this Parish , at Mrs. Bakers , in which you may easily observe how some men corrupt the word , and what kind of gain they make by the pretence of Godliness Had I known the particular Resident at London for this part of England , I would have forborn this trouble to your self ; but presuming you may have some knowledge of him , I desire , at your first conveniency , to communicate this with what you shall think fit further to be done in the Affair , as your Reverence's Wisdom shall find most expedient . The Case is , Mrs. Baker before-named was left by her Husband Baker ( one whom you know to be an honest man , and active in the late Reformation ) in possession of an acquir'd Estate , to the value of 500 l. per annum well stock'd , and generally believed to be a money'd man. The said Preachers , with one Mr. M — of Shrewsbury , a Person for his Integrity well known to all the Gentlemen in the County , were deputed Trustees for the securing of the said Estate according to the Will of the Donor , his chiefest care being to prevent any Claim his Nephew Mr. John Lloyd might make to it , for that his said Nephew was a frequenter of the Parish-Church all his life-time , &c. and did not partake of the benefits he might have made by Dissenting in that particular . But so it is , the Testator has been dead about four years , and our good woman before-nam'd has enjoy'd the Estate , and has not in any thing slackn'd her hand wherein she might serve the Cause ; for doing of which the more effectually , she converts the Hall of her Mansion-House to a very convenient Meeting-place , and furnish'd it with a Pulpit , and all necessary Pues and Seats for accommodating of the Auditory , which was very numerous ; for the Word was preach'd as well in Welsh as in English ; Mr. P — performing the first part ; and of both Nations there was generally a great appearance . It is to be considered in our remote parts , and especially in Villages , there is not Conveniencies for accomodating of People with necessary Provisions , when so far from their homes ; to supply which , the good Woman ( out of her own Purse ) relieved all persons according to their Qualities , which you may reasonably guess cost Money ; and 't is now more then suspected that she has disbursed above 2000 l. besides the yearly In-come ; for that was very insignificant to the pressing occasions of the Congregation ; and indeed ( to give some of 'em their just Commendation ) they were not wanting at any time to supply the good Gentlewoman with such sums of Money as she thought ( for the better carrying on of the Work ) she might stand in need of ; and for security , they were so much her true Friends , that they never refus'd the meanest Servant in the House ; by which kindness they the more easier effected their ends ; as you shall presently understand . The good Woman being intangled , as you have seen , and now hardly is Mistress of any thing she us'd to call her own , she laid it a little too near her heart , and was very much afflicted with melancholly , and by the care of her Trustees she was convey'd to Shrewsbury , for the better recovery of her health , and in the mean time the Estate is seiz'd by the said Preachers for the use of the Creditors ; which was done so effectually , that all , or most of the poor Servants being engaged with their Mistress , fled , for fear of the storm coming upon themselves , and left the booty to any that would take it . Mr. P — and Mr. ap R — having now preach'd themselves from the Hall to every individual Room in the House , and in full possession of the whole , it 's observ'd that the usual care that was taken on the Congregation is somewhat abated , and the numbers begin to lessen , not only in the Weekly-Meetings , but in the Great and Monthly-Meeting , which was celebrated with breaking of Bread in the evening , after a good Dinner at noon ; the defect of the latter does seem much to impair the use of the former ; to prevent such an evil , will take up some Time and Cost . And now , my good Country-man , as I have always heard a very good report of your Justice and Integrity , and your willingness to imploy your self upon all occasions wherein you might serve your Generation in any honourable undertaking , let me desire you to consider the sighs of the poor abus'd Widow , and find some expedient that she may be restor'd to her House and Estate ; for in all probability that may be the only effectual way of a certain Cure ; for so great a burden is too hard for one shoulder , ( as appears by our Object ; ) but if laid upon the whole , it will not only cure a Distemper in her , but in many hundreds , who ( it 's fear'd ) are infected , more or less , with the spoils of a devour'd Widows House ; And if by your spiritual Comforts to the poor Woman you are successful , no doubt but it will be an acceptable piece of Service , and a much greater to God and the whole Kingdom , if your fatherly Admonitions against such Practices , there shall be no occasion for the future to make any Complaints of this kind . My service to the Brethren , but more especially to your self : I am a hearty well-wisher , and your Country-man . Oswalstree in the C●un●y of Salop , July 20 , 1681. J. M. London : Printed for Al. Banks , 1681.