Dear Lord, who knowest the secret of all hearts, thou knowest I am at times under a sense of great weakness; but thou, who art always waiting to gather the tender youth into thy flock and family, hast mercifully reached over me with thy gathering arm.  Mayst thou ever be near to strengthen me in every weakness; and make me willing to leave all, take up my daily cross, and follow thee in the denial of self, not fearing to confess thee before men.  Always give me strength to perform whatsoever thou mayest require at my hands; wean my affections more and more; attract me nearer to thyself; and lead me through this world as a stranger, never to be known to it more but by the name of John Yeardley.

In the Third Month Joseph Wood again addressed his young friend by letter, encouraging him to be steadfast in trial, and to beware of the gilded baits of the enemy; and promising him, that if he followed the Lord faithfully, his works should appear marvellous in his eyes, his wonders be disclosed to him in the deeps, and he on his part would be made willing to serve him with a perfect heart.

In the Sixth Month, again visiting Blacker, he had a “precious, heart-tendering religious opportunity with all the family.”

About this time Joel Yeardley was so much reduced in his circumstances as to be obliged to give up farming, which compelled his sons to seek their own means of livelihood.  Thomas and John went into Barnsley, where they applied themselves to the linen manufacture, and were taken into the warehouse of Thomas Dixon Walton, a Friend, who afterwards married a daughter of Thomas Shillitoe.

In the First Month, 1806, Joseph Wood records another interesting interview with his young friend:—­

1 mo. 7.—­I called on Thomas Dixon Walton and John Yeardley, with whom I had a religious opportunity in which the language of encouragement flowed freely; I being opened unto them from Luke xii. 32; “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

In the Third Month of this year John Yeardley made application for membership in the Society of Friends, and was admitted in the Fifth Month following, being then twenty years of age.  His brother Thomas had joined the Society some time before.  The brothers are thus described by one who knew them intimately:—­Thomas, as a man of homely manners, of hearty and genial character, and greatly beloved; John, as possessing a native refinement which made it easy for him in after-life to rise in social position, but whose reserved habits caused him to be less generally appreciated.

The call which John Yeardley received, and which he so happily obeyed, to leave the world and enter by the strait gate into the kingdom of heaven, was accompanied, as we shall afterwards see more fully, by a secret conviction that he would one day have publicly to preach to others the Gospel of salvation.  A sense that such was the case seems to have taken hold of Joseph Wood’s mind, in a visit which he made him some time after his admission into the Society.