(Diary) 6 mo. 18.—­Were at the Monthly Meeting at Highflatts, where we laid our concern before our friends to revisit some parts of Germany and Switzerland, and to visit some of the descendants of the Waldenses in the Protestant valleys of Piedmont; and, on our way home, our friends and some other serious persons in the Islands of Guernsey and Jersey.  Our dear friends were favored to enter most fully and feelingly into our views, and under a precious solemnity, a general sentiment of unity and concurrence spread through the meeting, which constrained them, (as the certificate expresses it) to leave us at liberty, accompanied with warm desires for our preservation.  Hearing the certificate read brought the concern, if possible, more weightily than ever upon me, and a secret prayer was raised in my heart that we might be enabled to go through the prospect before us to the honor of Him who has called us into his work.

They attended the Quarterly Meeting in the latter part of this month, and returned by way of Ackworth, where, says John Yeardley,

We had a comfortable parting with dear Robert and Hannah Whitaker, in their own room.  E.W. has passed with us through the deeps, and has indeed been a true spiritual helper to us under our weighty exercises of mind.

On the 8th of the Seventh Month they set out, and on the 17th attended the Meeting of Ministers and Elders in London.

The Morning Meeting was a precious and refreshing time to our poor tried minds.  There was a very full expression of near sympathy and entire unity with us in our intended religious service.  It is a strength and encouragement not only to have the concurrence of our friends, but also to know that we have a place in their prayers for our preservation and support in every trying dispensation.

On the eve of their departure from London, a circumstance occurred of a very disagreeable character.  The shop of their brother, A.B.  Savory, in Cornhill, was broken open; many valuable articles were taken, and their travelling trunks, which had been left there, were ransacked.  Although their loss was trifling, the annoyance of such a contretemps may easily be conceived.  J.Y. says:—­

It is far from pleasant thus to be plundered of any part of our property; but I consider it as much the duty of a Christian to bear with becoming fortitude the cross-occurrences of common life as to be exercised in religious service.

They left London on the 22nd, for Rotterdam.  On their arrival, a disastrous occurrence happened which gave a shock to their feelings.  The manner in which J.Y. mentions the event evinces his tenderness of mind in commencing a long journey, in which his vocation was to be to sympathise with the poor and afflicted.