ABSTRACT
Thankful E. Goodrich. A Brief Sketch of Experience & Testimony
I was born in the Town of Richmond, County of Berkshire, & State of Massachusetts, Oct. 9th 1771. I was about 10 years old when I first saw Mother Ann, & the Elders with her. They looked more lovely to me than anything my <eyes> had ever beheld. Their soft words & beautiful countenances, filled my soul with reverence & godly fear. I truly loved them with heavenly love – I say heavenly, because I received my love from them, & it was pure & holy.
My Parents heard & obeyed the call of the gospel & were both firm Believers to the end of their days. Mother & her companions while journeying from place to place, often called at our house. In one of their visits Mother said “Come here my child & kiss me.” I did so & even the smell of her garments appeared to me pure & heavenly.
Their Testimony was like flames of fire against the nature of sin, & every defilement of flesh & Spirit. Young as I was I received Faith, & confessed my sins one by one to Father James, & told him what I had done. He then taught me the way of repentance & how to shun the snare of sin. To be honest, chaste, & modest in all my words & ways, & to shun the very appearance of evil, in tho’t, word & deed. I felt the heart searching power of his Spirit, as much as my little soul was able to bear, together with his charity & love which were boundless to every honest soul. Then I could weep & rejoice with my heavenly Parents, & join in their solemn & heavenly songs, which / seemingly had no end.
As the religion of Mother & the Elders was new & strange, many people flocked from all parts to see them & their followers & to witness the mighty power of God which was manifest in their testimony & worship. Many times the power of God manifested in divers operations in these meetings, was so great, that the sound thereof was like the sound of many waters, & like rushing of mighty armies running to battle.
No hypocrite could hide from these Witnesses of Truth. I felt as tho every thot word & deed, laid open before them like a book, which caused me many times to tremble in their presence like a poplar leaf in the wind. I confessed many 455of my thots & feelings to Mother, & Father James, telling them what I had done. They told me I must be a good child, be obedient, speak the truth, & never do any unclean thing. Thro the counsel and instruction that I received from time to time from these heavenly messengers, I received that faith & conscientious principle which has ever been a shield & protection to me, against many snares & allurements of a carnal mind.
When I came to the season of youth, I encountered many trials, which I shall pass over in silence, & leave them on the barren wilds of dispair. But in my darkest hours of tribulation & sorrow, when many were falling on my right hand & on my left, I could always look back in solemn reflection, to the ministration from whence I received my first faith & Love, & it would far outweigh all the most flattering prospects of the pleasures of time. I always felt my soul to be my greatest care, & that if I lost it, I lost my all. And to be banished / from all those whom I have loved so well, was more than I could bear.
My natural Father [Ezekiel Goodrich] 1 deceased when I was about 12 years old, in the 34th year of his age. This caused me much sorrow. His last words to me, were “Be a good child – be obedient – live in peace – & never deny your faith when I am gone.” These & many more solemn words he spoke to me while I stood on my knees by his bedside, which <sank deep in my heart &> in times of adversity, have been loud in my ears thro my whole life. And I have always wanted to <so> live, that when I have done with time I can meet him in mercy & not in Judgment.
I will here mention an incident that transpired soon after his demise. I was doing something contrary to my Mother’s teaching, when suddenly I saw a hand, which I knew to be my Father’s hand, stretched out over me – it was white as snow, & came so near that it touched my face. This filled me with awful & inexpressible fear. I felt a sharp reproof from his Spirit for what I had been doing.
Mother Ann, on hearing of this, spoke to us (myself & 4 brothers, younger) as follows; “If you are not good children, & follow the instruction & teaching of your Parents, God will give your Father power to cut you off from the earth, & number you with the wicked.” These words were spoken with power and they made such an impression on my feelings that I labored in great tribulation and prayer, the best I was able, that all my future conduct might be in strict accordance with my Father’s last & parting advice to me.
In obedience to my Father’s counsel, my “peace has been like a river, & my righteousness as the waves of the sea.” But if I had failed & lost my day, I would now be wandering in darkness where the / worm dieth not, & the fire is not quenched. But thanks, everlasting thanks be to my friends & benefactors, who have borne my Spirit up as “on Eagles wings,” thro many trying scenes. And if I should in any wise forget my Savior, “Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.”
456The next time Father James visited me he sat down & called me to him. I came & kneeled before him – his countenance was serene, heavenly, & sublime, & the smell of his garments like sweet incense. He gave me some sugar & said, “You are a fatherless child – but I will be a father & a friend to you – you may love me as much as you have a mind to – that will never hurt you, but will be a strength & protection to you in the hour of trial.
This promise has been fulfilled to me, & has many times raised me up from discouragement & deep sorrow. He then taught me the way of God, – how to pray – the way of life – the way of the cross – faith – purity – & selfdenial; & his words were so affecting & fatherly, that it seemed enough to break a heart of stone. I have not words to express what the feelings of my soul were at that time; but my tears were not few, neither are they now, while I write; for my heart is full & overflowing. I can never forget that day; nay, never, never; nor the place where I had that precious interview with him whom my soul loved.
One time when I was about 11 years of age, Father James called me, & I went & kneeled before him. He asked me if I had faith? I did not know what to say. He then said “The time will come when you will know that you have living faith, & you will be thankful for every word of God that you now hear. This also / has been verified to me, for I have shed too many tears of thankfulness & gratitude, that I was blessed with the precious prize of salvation in the days of my childhood & youth, & that I gave up all to obtain it.
At another time, he asked me how old I was, I told him I was 14 years old. He wept & said “I had but little sense of God when I was 14 years old.” Father James testimony to me many times, was sharp & powerful against the vain allurements of nature and the wiles of sin. Every word that he spoke felt piercing, & to my soul as the weight of a talent which planted the seal of everlasting faith in my soul. Now, when I pass over those spots of ground, where I received so many blessings in the days of my youth, & heard the words of eternal life, they feel holy, & as the land that God has blessed. I many times hide myself from those around me, lest someone should say, “Why do you weep? which I could not bear.
I love Mother’s work now. I feel the same Spirit in it that I did when I saw her upon earth. I love Mother’s name, her word, & her power. It has enlivened & quickened my Spirit like holy fire. The beautiful songs & anthems received in her late manifestations, runs thro my immortal part, like streams of living water, springing up into everlasting life. I know by the sensations of my soul, that they emanate & come forth from the everlasting mansions of the redeemed in Heaven.
When this last blessed manifestation first began, I knew Mother’s voice. She called me to repentance and my soul was filled to overflowing with a gift of love & godly sorrow. My eyes were a fountain of tears, & my heart was full of gratitude & thankfulness, that I have lived to see this blessed day. Every word & notice that I have received from my heavenly Parents, has been to me as / 457the choice jewels of heaven. I prize them above every other object. Yea, I know the voice of my heavenly Parents. Their word has been spoken to me, & a good measure of the spirit they used to possess has been truly manifested; which has enlivened & quickened my soul like live coals from the altar of heavenly love.
Altho in my childhood & youth I was favored with the privilege to hear & receive instruction, admonition, & council, from our heavenly Parents, yet I could not comprehend & understand them as I now can. I love to talk about Mother’s work, & gifts & presents, sometimes with my friends, but I always feel as tho I ought to speak of them in the fear of God. I have never found anyone that I could converse with as freely as with Elder Sister Betsy Bates. 2 She always meets me in faith & love, which has endeared her to me, in everlasting bonds of affection; for her ways are ways of pleasantness, & all her paths are peace.
I want to say something more about my heavenly Parents whom I love more than anything on earth or in Heaven. I feel thankful that I was born at that period of time when I could see them, & hear their heavenly voices; which now heave up in my memory, and roll thro my soul like the waters of life, springing up from the wells of salvation. I had a great privilege according to my age, in seeing them in many places. Blessed Mother Ann & Blessed Father William – the sound of their names, softens every feeling of my soul – & they are imprinted on my heart as it were with the point of a diamond.
At the age of 14, I attended a wonderful meeting at Ashfield where a number of the inhabitants had embraced the Gospel, & had built a large log meeting house. Believers from different parts assembled / there as often as they could, when Mother & the Elders were there. I never can fully describe this meeting; it felt to me like one of the days of Pentecost, when all who would prepare themselves, might receive the Holy Ghost.
Father James spoke very solemn & affecting to all classes in every situation, impressing most forcibly, the necessity of true humiliation & reconcilia{tion} to God & all our fellow beings. <#> To the rich who had not given up all for Christ’s sake, he repeated the parable of the Savior to the rich man. Saying, a certain rich man’s ground, brot forth plentifully, & he thot within himself, what shall I do? for I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said This will I do. I will pull down my treasuries & build greater, & there I will bestow all my fruits, & my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. take thine ease; eat drink & be merry. But God said unto him “Thou fool – this night shall thy soul required of thee, & then whose shall all those things be? Those who are wise will lay up their treasures in Heaven, secure from moth & rust, & where thieves cannot break thro and steal.
<#> [Again he said, all flesh is as grass, & the glory thereof as the flowers of the field. The grass withereth, & the flowers fadeth, but the soul abideth forever. But what will a man give in exchange for his soul.] All the souls of men & women 458have got to appear before the Eternal Judgment, there to receive their just reward, for all the deeds done in the body, both good & evil. But salvation is free for all; & the mercy of God is free for all who will confess & forsake their sins, & turn from the evil of their doings, which is true repentance. He closed his affecting discourse by saying “The mercy of God has been great to this land, & the mercy of God is welcome. Come welcome Mercy – Come welcome Judgment! /
Mother & Father William also, most feelingly & powerfully exhorted the assembly to labor for heavenly & divine gifts; & seemed to call down the mighty power of God, which was manifested in gifts of Revelation & prophecy, & speaking in unknown tongues, with most powerful <mighty> Shaking & turning, appearing to pervade the entire assembly. Many received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, breathed on them thro the ministration of these Witnesses of Truth.
Mother Ann would walk the assembly & say “Be joyful Brethren & Sisters! – Be joyful! Joy away! Rejoice in the God of your salvation. She then sang the most melodious & heavenly song <that> I ever heard, which raised the assembly of 300 or more into rejoicing, leaping & shouting, & the spacious apartment would ring with beautiful songs which no man could learn. This was a happy season to me. I loved the heavenly singing, & the beautiful operations of the Power of God among the people. I felt my soul indeed baptized into that heavenly relation to Mother that has ever been like a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.
Repentance also flowed like a river. Mother & the Elders felt there was sin in the assembly; & Mother Ann spoke with great power as follows. “You who are guilty of such & such sentence & defilements, (naming what they were) must kneel down & repent.” We all immediately fell on our knees, & many on their faces; (The Elders with us) except one woman who remained standing. The floor was soon wet with tears in many places. Father James asked the one standing why she stood up. She replied “I am not guilty of those things.” Neither am I guilty of them, said Father; but it would break my / heart to stand & see these sheep. See how they cry & repent. I have the same nature in me that they have – the nature of the flesh, which is the ruination of all mankind, & must be cleansed by repentance or never meet God in peace. Mankind are as prone to evil as the sparks are to fly upward. The woman continued standing in solitude thro the meeting, & then retired. I saw no more of her. But those who bathed freely in the purifying waters of repentance, were filled with joy & heavenly love.
Father James was deeply affected, & in a most feeling manner exhorted all to ever be faithful & keep this most excellent gift of humiliation and repentance. Mother Ann & Father William also spoke much upon the importance of souls keeping this precious gift, in order to travel in the way of God, & find victory over a fallen nature, & follow Christ in the regeneration. They spared no pains in striving to impress upon the minds of their followers the importance of keeping 459the way of God in its purity, & the blessed gospel which they had been instrumental in bringing to this favored land.
This meeting was held several days in succession, with intermissions for the sake of food & rest. But this closed the meeting. One day while I was at Ash-field, Mother & the Elders were in great trouble, by reason of the rebellious spirit of some that pretended to be her friends, who threatened to smite Father James with the fist of wickedness.
One day while we were there, a number of the Brethren & Sisters being assembled in a room, Mother Ann came in weeping, & appeared to be under a great weight of tribulation. She spoke as follows. I have the revelation of God to come to this place – I left all to obey the call of God to me, & I am poor & needy – a stranger in a strange land – I have nowhere to lay my / head, & it seems to me there is no sorrow like my sorrow. I pray God to help me. Yea, & I will ever put my trust in Him, for He hath carried me thro all trying scenes, & hath ever been my shield and protector.”
Those words caused much sorrow & many tears to flow, among her faithful children, whose hearts overflowed with love, affection & gratitude to her, for thus leaving her native land, & sacrificing all that was near & dear, to fulfill the great mission assigned to her, & plant the everlasting Gospel on the american shore. They endeavored to assuage her sorrow, & one beloved Brother stepped up to her & gave her three silver dollars, for which she seemed pleased & thankful.
The many privileges I had in my childhood & youth, to be taught & instructed in the way of God by Mother & the Elders, are still fresh in my memory – & my heart overflows with thankfulness & gratitude to all my friends & benefactors who have borne my spirit up as on Eagles wings, thro all trying scenes, untill by mortification & tribulation, I have gained that heavenly & abiding treasure of faith, hope & charity, which has ever been like an anchor to my soul, both sure and steadfast.
And now if I should in any wise forget my Savior’s, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, as said the Prophet. But this I shall never do – I shall remember them in the strongest ties of affection, thro time and in eternity. There I hope ere long, to meet my beloved ones, & unite with them in songs of praise to the God of our salvation.
