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 next morning they were favored with a short season of solemn
communion, in which they were given to believe that the Name of the Lord
would be their strong tower. Their liberation, in fact, was near; for
their envious jailor, finding probably no excuse for longer detaining
them, suffered them to depart, but sent the gendarme to guard them as far
as Berlenburg. The man proved to be an excellent guide, and being eager to
bring them to the magistrate of that town, where they could be more
effectually checked in their schismatical object, he was very useful in
shouldering the carriage when they came to a stand in the miserable roads.
The town of Berlenburg presented a dismal spectacle, the greater part
having recently been burnt down; so that they had some difficulty in
making their way through the ruins. They were subjected to no delay at the
Custom-house, but, before being allowed to go to an inn, were conducted by
the gendarme to the Castle, to be examined by the _Landrath_, or
magistrate. While John Yeardley and William Seebohm were taken into the
justice-chamber, Martha Savory and Martha Towell remained in the carriage,
where they were presently surrounded by a crowd, who gazed with
astonishment at their equipage, no such vehicle having been seen in the
town for many years, and probably never any persons in such attire. Being
weary of waiting, and anxious to know the result of the examination, they
left the carriage and ascended to the magistrate's room. They were
politely received, and arrived just as he had concluded the examination
and was declaring the Friends entirely free from, the requisitions of the
law. The letters of recommendation which they presented were very helpful
in procuring this result. At the Landrath's request, they stated the
object of their journey, and the reasons which had induced them to deviate
from the route described in the passports, of all which he caused a note
to be taken. At the conclusion he politely dismissed them with the
salutation, "Go where you will, in God's name;" and the abashed and
disappointed gendarme was obliged to imitate his superior and make them a
parting bow. The magistrate referred them to two of the citizen, for
information regarding the Separatists, but remarked that he considered a
visit to Schwartzenau at that critical moment would not be without danger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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