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
Between two and three months after the meeting at Minden, he received the
information that Martha Savory, accompanied by Martha Towell, was about to
pay a religious visit to the Friends at Pyrmont and Minden. He had been
introduced in London to Martha Savory as a minister of the gospel, and one
who had been abroad in its service, but his acquaintance with her seems to
have been slight.[3] On receiving this intelligence he writes:--
The prospect of seeing a few dear Friends from my native land would be
cheering, but I am really so cast down that I seem as if I could not, and
almost dare not, rejoice in anything. May this low proving season answer
the end for which it is permitted!
As he apprehended the Friends who were coming from England might require a
guide, John Yeardley went to meet them at Rotterdam. His journey, and the
singular coincidence of Martha Savory's concern with his own, are
described in a letter to his brother, written after his return from
Holland.
Friedensthal, Pyrmont, 7 mo. 14,1825.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
On my return from Holland I received thy long and very interesting letter.
Martha Savory and her companion Martha Towell are now acceptably with us.
They expect to spend two or three months with us, and then we have some
prospect of going in company to the South of France. As this has fallen
out in a rather remarkable manner, it may not be amiss just to explain it
to thee. We were entire strangers to each other's concern; but as soon as
my friends in London heard of my prospect from the copy of the minutes of
our Two-months' Meeting and of my certificate, dear William Allen wrote to
me desiring a more particular description of my views, time of departure,
&c., and mentioned at the same time M.S.'s concern, which had already
passed the Quarterly Meeting, and it was fully expected she would be
liberated [by the Meeting of Ministers and Elders] to visit Pyrmont and
Minden, and afterwards, if _suitable company offered_, proceed to
some parts of the banks of the Rhine, Switzerland, and Congenies, in the
south of France. I wrote to W.A., and explained to him my prospect, which
was to visit a few individuals in the neighborhood of Cologne and pass
through Switzerland to Congenies. I then received a letter from our dear
friend M. Savory, stating that she and W.A. had been much struck with the
remarkable coincidence in our views; our prospects being to the same
places and in the same way; and that it seemed in the pointing of Truth
for us to join in company.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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