On the 4th of July, 1843, the venerable father of Mr. Goodell died at the home of his son in Copley, Ohio, whither he had removed a few years previous. The letter which Mr. Goodell wrote to his brother on receiving the intelligence was inserted at the commencement of these Memoirs. It is not only a touching tribute of filial affection, showing that the heart of the writer was as fresh and tender in its love as in the days of his boyhood, but, as a specimen of epistolary composition, and for the spirit of glowing, Scriptural piety that it breathes, it will bear many perusals. The Bev. Dr. William Adams, in quoting it in his introduction to “ The Old and the Kew,” says, “ We know not which to admire the most, — its purity of taste, its depth of pathos, or its simplicity of piety.”
Official despatch
In August, 1843, occurred an event which in its results had an important influence upon the cause of religious liberty in Turkey, and an important bearing upon the mission work in that country. The circumstances are detailed as follows in an official despatch to his government by Sir Stratford Canning, the English ambassador: —
“Buyuk-Dere, August 27, 1813. Within the last few days an execution has taken place at Constantinople, under circumstances which have occasioned much excitement and indignation among the Christian inhabitants. The sufferer was an Armenian youth of eighteen or twenty years, who, having under fear of punishment declared himself a Turk, went to the island of Syra, and, returning after an absence of some length, resumed his former religion.
Apprehensive of the danger, but resolved not to deny his real faith a second time, he kept out of sight, till accident betrayed him to the police, and he was then thrown into prison. In spite of threats, promises, and blows, he there maintained his resolution, refused to save his life by a fresh disavowal of Christianity, and was finally decapitated in one of the most frequented parts of the city with circumstances of great barbarity.”
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