DIVINE PROTECTION
Dinah W. Goff --CONTINUED -- 7
Many were the heartrending sufferings that some
families endured, being turned out of their peace-
ful homes, and spending many nights in the fields
and ditches. Others, who still remained in their
houses, were wonderfully favoured with faith and
patience under great privations, conscientiously
adhering to the revealed law of their God, and
thus experiencing, to their humbling admiration,
the name of the Lord to be "a strong tower," in
which the righteous find safety. On taking a
retrospect of this awful period, and of the strength
of mind evinced by my beloved 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
honoured father endured during these fearful
times, were too great for his strength of body;
and on the 23rd of Twelfth Month, in the same
year, 1798, surrounded by many of his family,
he gently and peacefully breathed his last, being
then in his sixty-third year. Our merciful Saviour
sweetly sustained him in faith and confidence;
his Almighty arm being underneath to comfort and sup-
port him whilst passing through the valley of the
shadow of death. He never expressed a mur-
mur; but, in humble Christian patience and ac-
quiescence 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, "Do not 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 around 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 be a 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 seventy-
eighth of her age, in perfect peace. For several
years she was in the station of an elder. She
always endeavoured to rule her own house well, and
was accounted worthy of double honour, and much
beloved by her many descendants. Sixty chil-
dren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, were
living at the period of her decease, in the year
1817.
She was grand-daughter of Thomas Wilson, an
account of whose religious labours 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 drawing-room
with an expression of countenance remarkably
solemn, and, kneeling down at my side, engaged in
fervent vocal supplication for her numerous 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 conscious 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 of
our blessed Saviour, the spirits of both my beloved
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
honour 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 mercies,
and who, in taking a retrospective view, can grate-
fully adapt the language, "Bless the Lord, 0 my
soul, and forget not all his benefits!"
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 grati-
tude to Him who gives us pious friends. This
feeling, I believe, was cherished by all the rest of
their children, now, I humbly trust, through un-
merited mercy and redeeming love, united to them
in that happy state, where all trials and sorrows are
at an end, and where all is joy unspeakable and
full of glory.
The foregoing has been written from memory,
after a lapse of nearly fifty-nine years, the affecting
events being still vivid in my recollection.
Dinah- Wilson Goff
Penzance, Cornwall, Twelfth Month 23rd, 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 da-
mage he sustained; but, as a member of the Society
of Friends, and not taking up arms in defence of
Government, he felt that he could not accept it.
QUEST, P.O. Box 82, Bellefonte PA 16823
E-mail: quest@quaker.org