Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the GospelYeardley, John
Religion
Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel
Yeardley, John
Clergy -- United States -- Biography; Quakers -- Biography; Yeardley, John, 1786-1858
The call which John Yeardley received, and which he so happily obeyed, to
leave the world and enter by the strait gate into the kingdom of heaven,
was accompanied, as we shall afterwards see more fully, by a secret
conviction that he would one day have publicly to preach to others the
Gospel of salvation. A sense that such was the case seems to have taken
hold of Joseph Wood's mind, in a visit which he made him some time after
his admission into the Society.
1 _mo_. 29, 1808.--Sat with T.D. Walton and his wife, and his man
John Yeardley. I had two pretty long testimonies to bear from Colossians
iv. 17. I had to show the necessity there was for those who had received a
gift in the ministry to be faithful, and, as Satan was as busy about these
as any others, to be careful to withstand his temptations, that nothing
might hinder our fulfilment of this gift, nor anything be suffered to
prevail over us that might hinder its proper effect upon others.
After Thomas was gone to breakfast, my mind was unexpectedly opened in a
pretty long encouraging testimony to John, from John xxi. 22--"What is
that to thee? follow thou me;" having gently to caution him not to look at
others to his hurt, but faithfully follow his Master, Jesus Christ, in the
way of his leadings.
In 1809 John Yeardley married Elizabeth Dunn. She was much older than
himself, "plain in person," but "full of simplicity and goodness," and of
a "most lovable" character. Like her husband she had come into the Society
by convincement; and like him she had partaken in a large degree of the
paternal sympathy and oversight of Joseph Wood. She had been a Methodist,
and was one of the first who joined with Friends at Barnsley in the
awakening which took place there in the beginning of the century.
John Yeardley and his wife inhabited, on their marriage, a small house at
the southern extremity of the town, whither very soon afterwards was
transferred the afternoon meeting which it was customary to hold at some
Friend's house in Barnsley. The morning meeting continued to be held at.
Burton until 1816, when a new meeting-house was built in the town.
They had only one child, a son, who died in infancy.
John Yeardley commenced his Diary in 1811; and this valuable record of his
religious experience, and of his travels in the service of the Gospel, was
maintained with more or less regularity to the end of his life. The motive
which induced him to adopt this practice is given in the following lines,
with which the manuscript commences:--
It may seem a little strange that I should, in my present situation,
attempt to keep any memorandums of the following kind; but feeling
desirous simply to pen down a few broken remarks as they may at times
occur to my mind, I apprehend no great harm can arise; and if, by causing
a closer scrutiny into my future stepping along, they should in any degree
exercise my mind to spiritual improvement, the intended purpose will be
fully answered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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