Whether the people of this nation have learned more of righteousness from the judgments of the Lord, which have I think evidently been made known in this part of his earth, is perhaps known only to Him who knoweth all things.  I often fear;—­for surely there is very much of darkness and wickedness among us—­yet I can not unfrequently hope that light is spreading, and that although the powers of evil are active and strongly developed, yet the active diffusion of the means of good more than keeps pace with them.  “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world,” is still a consoling assurance to many dejected yet hoping believers.  Our dear friend Hannah C. Backhouse is strong in the faith that light increasing, that the fields are white already for harvest, and that the Lord of the harvest is preparing and sending forth laborers into his harvest.

The Protestants whom you found at Amiens, and in some other places, would probably remain totally unknown to ordinary travellers, and perhaps we do not enough consider how little known in a great nation the salt that preserves it may be.  The reports from the agent of the Bible Society in France seem to me more than usually encouraging.  I hope you may be enabled to impart some spiritual gift or knowledge to many hidden ones who appear to be hungering and thirsting after righteousness in that vain-glorious nation, and that your faith may be strengthened by meeting with such.

John and Martha Yeardley arrived at Lyons on the 13th, and, after making some calls, intended to proceed to Nismes the next day.  But not feeling satisfied to leave the city so soon, they concluded to remain there one day more; and they had cause to be thankful in having taken this course.

For, says J.Y., we have made the acquaintance of several religious persons.  An evangelist and colporteur named Hermann Lange, a German Swiss, took us to see some Protestant converts, amongst whom we have found much of the interior life.  The Lord gave me a word of exhortation for them, and helped me to utter it in French.  We had a conversation with our friend Lange respecting the ministry in our Society.  Like many other persons he supposed we had no recognized ministers; we explained the usage of Friends, and showed him our certificates, with which he was pleased.  He admired the good order in use amongst us, and said that he had for a long time desired to be informed respecting the principles of Friends; that he thought as we did, that an express call of the Holy Spirit was necessary to the ministry, and that women as well as men ought to be allowed to preach, I felt intimately united to him in spirit:  on parting we gave him some tracts explanatory of our principles.