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
With the new turn which was given to the course of his life by his
betrothal to Martha Savory, it is not surprising that he should have
considered his residence abroad to be brought, in the order of Divine
Providence, to a natural termination, and that he now turned his attention
to taking up his abode again in his native land. In selecting a place of
residence, he seems to have had no hesitation in making choice of the
neighborhood of Barnsley; the spot, as the reader may remember, which
seemed to him, when he was obliged to remove to Bentham, as that which had
the first claim upon his gospel services. The state of his mind, whilst
preparing his intended residence at Burton, the same village where he used
to attend meeting in his early days, may be seen by the following
memorandum:--
9 _mo_. 26. _At York_.--It was a large Quarterly Meeting. Living
ministry flowed freely, and I thought even poor me was a little refreshed:
but I have been for a long time in a deplorable state, in a spiritual
sense.
Since the Quarterly Meeting, my time and thoughts have been much occupied
in fitting up our intended residence at the cottage at Burton; and I may
truly say, I have been cumbered about "many things," which, I think, has
kept my mind in a poor, barren state. O the many weeks that I have had to
sit with my mouth in the dust to bemoan my own inward misery! My conflict
of mind has been increased by the trying state of my precious mother's
health. My attendance on her in this poorly state, and at this season of
the year, when I lost my poor dearest Bessie, reminded me strongly of my
dear departed lamb.
Before his marriage with Martha Savory was accomplished, he was called
upon to attend the deathbed of his mother, and to follow the remains of
his father to the grave.
11 _mo_. 16.--On the 3rd I left the cottage, and took my luggage to
go from Barnsley by the coach to London. Stepped down to take leave of my
dear mother, but found her so weak that I could not at all think of
leaving her; and was indeed glad that I did not go, for the dear creature
continued to grow weaker and weaker till a quarter past three o'clock on
Seventh-day morning, 4th of Eleventh Month, when she peacefully breathed
her last. She was fully sensible to the close, and also fully sensible
that her end was near.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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