FRIENDS’

REVIEW. 707

 

in the wilderness, and to trust that numbers of
them were gathered to his fold, after being weary
and briar-torn in crooked ways.

D. C. to Wm. Rotch, Jr.

Dear young friend,—I received thy letter of
29th of 8th mo., 1781, at the time of our Year-
ly Meeting last year. I was then too much
engaged to acknowledge it, but have often re-
membered thee with near affection, accompanied
with desires that thou mayest be one of the
truly wise, experiencing the fear of the Lord to
be a lamp to thy steps through the slippery paths
of youth, thy desires bounded, and thy appe-
tites regulated, that thus thou mayest witness a
reinstatement into that image in which man was
ereated; innocence, love, harmony, peace and
joy. Here all was good. Evil was not known.
The same creating Power can renew into this
image, and fix on Mount Zion where the heav-
enly Father’s will is done as it is done in heav-
en. This, my dear friend, is the one thing
needful to be labored for; and for this attainment
I am persuaded thou art at times desirous.
Cherish these desires. Love to meditate on the
law of the Lord. So shalt thou increase in grace,
and grow from stature to stature until thou at-
tain to that of a strong man in Christ Jesus,
and become a pillar in his house that shall go
no more out. I had to believe when with you
that the forming hand was moving in thy bosom
to accomplish this. A glorious work indeed, if
effected! What men of renown have many be-
come who have yielded full obedience in their
youth. That thou mayest experience this, and be
fixed a bright star in the firmament of God’s
power forever and ever, is the breathing of my
mind to thee, my beloved young friend. Suffer not
the flattering prospect of affluence, nor the delud-
ing pursuit of worldly joys, to abate that ardor
of soul necessary to obtain those which are sub-
stantial and permanent. Then, whatever maybe
thy allotment through life, all will be well in the
end. Thy affectionate friend, D. C.

8th month, 1782.

David Cooper was a plain man from education
and habit, and also from principle. A life devot-
edas his had been to rational, benevolent and vir-
tuous pursuits, whilst it would not develope a
reliance upon or blind advocacy of any mere
conventional usage, would lead into a love and
practice of true simplicity, such as becomes a
reasonable Christian. As a member of the So-
ciety of Friends, he valued that emancipation
from the tyranny of Fashion which is the beauti-
ful privilege of the consistent Quaker, and which
many of the younger members are not wise enough
duly to appreciate. He impressed upon his
children and grandchildren a love of rational
simplicity, as among the eoncomitants of prac
tical virtue, and in this and other respects the
trace of his example and precepts may be seen
in some of his descendants of the third, fourth

 

and fifth generations. We find him an Over-
seer and an Elder, in attendance at the funeral,
in Woodbury, of a child whose grandmother was
a worthy minister, nnd whose mother and fami-
ly were members, except the father who had
been disowned for paying a military fine. ‘The
corpse,” he says, ‘‘was carried by four young
women (only one of whom belonged to Friends,)
dressed in white, their heads white with powder,
and without bonnets.’ The indecorum of such
a procession entering a graveyard of Friends,
was a disrespect to the plain and self-denying
people under whose auspices and subject to
whose oversight the funeral was or ought to have
been conducted. Of course it gave rise to un-
pleasant observations: and D. C. without for a
moment ignoring the sympathy and tenderness
due to a family in affliction, was true to his po-
sition as a faithful Friend, and a father to the
flock. He discharged his duty in the case by
the following note.

BG,

 

and Wife.

2d month 16th, 1783.

Respected Friends,—I attended the burial of
your little innocent child on Sixth-day last, and
was much affected, as I believe every solid
Friend present also was, with the manner of
carrying it to the grave; so different from the
plainness and simplicity into which our princi-
ples lead. I need not remind you that we pro-
fess to bea plain self-denying people, called to
bear .a testimony against the foolish and vain
customs and fashions of the world. These never
appear more idle and inexcusable than at funerals,
when our minds ought to be impressed with a
most solemn and awful sense of our own mor-
tality, and the state of uncertainty in which we
exist. This would lead us carefully to avoid
anything like pride, pomp or show on these oc-
easions. I did think the occasion called for
some remarks of this sort at the grave, but was
fearful it could not well be borne. As, however,
it is a subject of conversation among Friends,
and which perhaps none may be kind enough in
a proper manner to acquaint you with, I
thought both friendship and duty required it
from me, and in this way, as aby ps ow a 8
tion is sometimes misapprehended.

I hope it may be long before you have the
like occasion to ask the company of your friends,
but, whenever it doth happen, I affectionately
request you to reflect upon your education, your
connections, and the propriety of a conduct cor-
respondent thereto. With true respect I am
your real friend, D.C

 

SELECTIONS BY N. Y.

Five Negatives. It is known that two nega-
tives in English are equal to an affirmative.
They destroy each other. But it is not so in
Greek. They strengthen the negation, and a
third negative makes it stronger still, and so a