FRIENDS’

parents, sisters and others, my heart overflows
with living praise and thanksgiving to the Father
of mercies and God of all consolation, who was
indeed “strength in weakness, riches in poverty,
and a very present helper in the time of need.”

The repeated shocks and trials, which my
honored father endured during these fearful
times, were too great for his strength of body;
and on the 23d of Twelfth month, in the same
year, 1798, surrounded by many of his family,
he gently and peacefully breathed his last, being
then in hissixty-third year. Our merciful Saviour
sweetly sustained him in faith and confidence;
the Almighty arm being underneath to comfort
and support him whilst passing through the val-
ley of the shadow of death. He never expressed
a murmur; but, in humble Christian patience
and acquiescence with the Divine will, often
evinced his thankfulness for the mercies received.
To one of my sisters, whom he observed weeping
a short time before his death, he said, ‘ Don’t
shed a tear for me, my dear; but rather rejoice
and be thankful that the Almighty has been
pleased to permit me to die in peace, with my
dear family all round me; and not by the hands
of wicked and unreasonable men.” He took my
hand affectionately, and said, “‘My dear child,
I must leave you all;” and, after a pause added,
“Keep near to the Lord, and he will bea Father
and a Friend to thee when I am no more.”

Horetown now passed to my eldest brother,
William Goff, and my beloved mother removed
to Dublin. She survived her affectionate husband
nineteen years, and died in that city in the sev-
enty-eighth year of her age, in perfect peace.
For several years she was in the station of an
elder; always endeavoring to rule her own house
well, she was accounted worthy of double honor,
and much beloved by her many descendants.
Sixty children, grandchildren, and great-grand-
children, were living at the period of her de-
cease, in the year 1817.

She was granddaughter of Thomas Wilson, an
account of whose religious labors is published
with James Dickinson’s. Her last illness was
short, being caused by a paralytic seizure, of
which she had previously had several. On the
morning before the seizure, she entered the draw-
ing-room with an expression of countenance re-:
markably solemn, and kneeling down at my side,
engaged in fervent vocal supplication for her nu-
merous family, that the blessing of the Most
High might rest on them, and that He might be
pleased to continue with her to the end. Many
consoling expressions she uttered, and when near
the close she said to me, ‘‘ May the blessing of
the everlasting hills surround thee, my dear
child, when I am gone.” She was perfectly con-
scious to the last, and sweetly resigned to her
divine Master’s will.

It is comforting to have a well-grounded hope,
that, through the mediation and redeeming love
ofigur blessed Saviour, the spirits of both my be-

¢

 

REVIEW. 149
loved parents have entered into the mansions
prepared for the faithful; and that they are,
through unmerited mercy, united to the just of -
all generations, “who have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;”
to whom be glory and honor for ever and ever.
Thus have I cause to commemorate the great
goodness and mercy extended by our Heavenly
Father to his unworthy creatures throughout a
season of inexpressible trial and distress. May
his gracious dealings never be forgotten by one
who feels undeserving of the least of all his mer-
cies, and who, in taking a retrospective view,
can gratefully adopt the language, “ Bless the
Lord, O, my soul, and forget not all his bene-
fits!”
I am the only one now remaining of twenty-
two children, and ever felt much attachment to
my parents, whose pious and watchful care over
their large family in our early years, lives in my
heart as a sweet memorial, calling for gratitude
to Him who gives us pious friends. This feel-
ing, I believe, was cherished by all the rest of
their children, now, I humbly trust, through un-
merited merey and redeeming love, united to
them in that happy state, where all trials and sor-
rows are at an end, and where all is joy unspeak-
able, and full of glory.
The foregoing has been written from memory,
after a lapse of nearly fifty-nine years, the affect-
ing events being still vivid in my recollection. —
Dinauw WILSON GOFF.
Penzance, Cornwall, Twelfth month 23d, 1856.

A sum of money was raised by Government
to compensate the sufferers in property, and a
portion of it was offered to my father, Jacob
Goff, with others, in consideration of the great
loss and damage he had sustained; but, as a
member of the Society of Friends, and not tak-
ing up arms in defence of Government, he felt
that he could not accept it. '

 

For Friends’ Review.
NOTICES OF DAVID COOPER.
NO. XXXII.

In the same Yearly Meeting which, as just
narrated, memorialized the islature of New
Jersey, on behalf of the o people of
color, a lively concern spran cone the
drinking of ardent spirits, and the insidious
growth of the habit, when indulged in, even by
those who designed to keep within the limits of
moderation. ‘Some pressing advice on the sub-.
ject” was sent to the subordinate meetings. In
the diary of John Hunt we find this note:
“The testimony was raised against the importa-
tion of rum. On this subject Jacob Lindley
and Warner Mifflin did lay on heavy blows, and
it seemed as if they got to laying the axe to the
root of the corrupt tree.’ It would be interest-
ing to know what was considered by these good