This information, he says, was received by my friends with much sympathy and, I trust, weightiness of spirit, and I felt a little strengthened by the expression of their feelings and unity with me in this concern.  A certificate of their approbation was ordered to be drawn up.  No creature on earth knows how this prospect humbles me.  I always think I am dealt with in a remarkable manner,—­somewhat different perhaps from others.  Notwithstanding all the seemingly insurmountable difficulties which stand in the way, and which are far too numerous to particularize, my peace is connected with my obedience.  What will be the result I know not; the way appears not yet quite clear us to the time of departure.  O Lord, favor me to wait on thee for the spirit of discernment not to step forth in the wrong time.

The obedience which he practised in committing himself in simple faith to this religious prospect prepared the way for a temporal blessing, as well as for the return of inward joy.  He little knew, when persecuted by the Accuser of the brethren, and mourning over the weakness of his own corrupt nature, that his Lord was about to provide for him a congenial and helpful companion, in the room of her whose loss had left him solitary in the world.  Without this timely sacrifice of his own will, it could not have been so easy for him to make the journey to France in the way in which it was done, and which was the means of bringing about the union which shed so much comfort on the remainder of his life.

Between two and three months after the meeting at Minden, he received the information that Martha Savory, accompanied by Martha Towell, was about to pay a religious visit to the Friends at Pyrmont and Minden.  He had been introduced in London to Martha Savory as a minister of the gospel, and one who had been abroad in its service, but his acquaintance with her seems to have been slight.[3] On receiving this intelligence he writes:—­

The prospect of seeing a few dear Friends from my native land would be cheering, but I am really so cast down that I seem as if I could not, and almost dare not, rejoice in anything.  May this low proving season answer the end for which it is permitted!

As he apprehended the Friends who were coming from England might require a guide, John Yeardley went to meet them at Rotterdam.  His journey, and the singular coincidence of Martha Savory’s concern with his own, are described in a letter to his brother, written after his return from Holland.

Friedensthal, Pyrmont, 7 mo. 14,1825.

MY DEAR BROTHER,