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
Martha Savory devoted to this work of mercy much time and personal
exertion; but a more important service was also designed for her. She felt
constrained to give evidence of her love to Christ by a public testimony
to the grace which had been vouchsafed to her through Him who is "the way,
the truth, and the life." Deep were the conflicts of spirit which she
endured ere she could yield to this solemn requirement, but "sweet peace"
was, she says, as she records the sacrifice, the result of thus
acknowledging her gracious Lord. "This step," she continues, "appears to
me to involve the greatest of all possible mental reduction, but I
reverently believe it was necessary for me, and mote, perhaps on my own
account than on account of others; for, without this bond, and the
necessary baptisms attending this vocation, I should have been in danger
of turning back, and perhaps altogether losing the little spiritual life
which has been mercifully raised." She adds a fervent petition for
preservation and guidance, and that, by whatever means, however suffering
to nature, the vessel might be purified, and fitted for the Master's use.
She first spoke as a minister in the year 1814. The humiliation and
brokenness of spirit which marked these weighty engagements, were felt by
many, especially among her youthful friends, to be peculiarly impressive,
as tokens of the soul-cleansing operations of omnipotent love, and as an
awakening call to yield to the same regenerating influence.
She was acknowledged as a minister by Southwark Monthly Meeting, in the
year 1818, when she had reached the age of 36; and in 1821, with the
cordial approval of the meetings of which she was a member, she commenced
that course of missionary labor in the gospel, to which she was
subsequently so much devoted. Her mission, on this occasion, was to
Congenics, where, and in the surrounding villages, she remained twelve
months.
A letter to one of her sisters, written a few years after her marriage, so
fully represents her religious sentiments, and the doctrine she was
concerned to preach and maintain, that it may not improperly conclude this
outline of her mental and religious character.
Burton, 13th of Twelfth Month, 1830.
I read thy remarks, my endeared sister, on the present state of things
amongst us, with much interest, from having had corresponding feelings
frequently raised in my own mind in this day of general excitement on
religious subjects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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