Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 518 pages of information about Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel.

Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 518 pages of information about Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.

1827-28.

PART II.—­SWITZERLAND.

On the 27th of the Tenth Month John and Martha Yeardley crossed the Swiss frontier to Schaffhausen, where their presence was welcomed by several pious persons.  Amongst these were a young woman, Caroline Keller, who from a religions motive had altered her dress and manners to greater simplicity, and John Lang, Principal of the United Brethren’s Society.  In a social meeting convened on the evening of their arrival, J.L. directed the conversation to the principles of friends, and J. and M.Y. explained the views held by the Society on silent worship, the ministry, and the disuse of ceremonies.

The [French] language, says J.Y., was difficult to me; but by the grace of God I was helped, and they were quite ready to seize the sense of what we endeavored to convey.  The love of God was felt among us, and the Principal said, at parting, that he had not before been so impressed with our views.  I sent him Tuke’s “Principles,” and he told me yesterday he was attentively studying it.  My dear M.Y. told me it had been given her to believe we were in our right place, and that we were called by religious intercourse to bear witness for our Lord and Master and his good cause.

I am afraid, he remarks in a letter in which he describes their service at Schaffhausen, I am afraid thou wilt think me too minute in my details; but really when I enter into the feeling which accompanied us in these visits, it seems as if I could scarcely quit it.

They spent the 29th at Schaffhausen in close Christian communion with two pious families.  To C.K. particularly, at whose house they dined, they felt so nearly united, that they scarcely knew how to part from her.

We have cause to be thankful, says J.Y., for our visit to Schaffhausen; but if we were more faithful we should be more useful.  Our friends were quite inclined for us to have had a meeting with them, but we were too fearful to propose it.  O vile weakness!

On the 31st they saw the Agricultural School for poor children at Beuggen.  Amongst the boys were twelve young Greeks, who were being instructed in ancient and modern Greek, and in German.  They had been sent to Switzerland by the German missionaries, and most of them had been deprived of their parents by the cruelty of the Turks.  It was the intention of their benefactors that they should return to Greece to enlighten their countrymen.  Their religious instruction was based simply upon the Bible, without reference to any particular creed.

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Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.