especially
when he thought of speaking in Meeting. Very soon after he became a
Friend he felt, with great dread, that the beautiful, comforting
messages that refreshed his own soul were meant to be shared with
others. Months, if not years, of struggle followed, before he could
rise in his place in Meeting and obey this inward prompting. But
directly he did so, his fears of making a mistake, or being laughed
at, vanished utterly away. After agony, came joy. 'The Lord shewed me
how He is mouth, wisdom and utterance to His true and faithful
ministers; that it is from Him alone that they are to communicate to
the people, and also the _when_ and the _how_.' At that first Meeting,
after Stephen had given his message and sat down again, several
Friends, whose blessing he specially valued, also spoke and said how
thankful they were for his words. Among those present that day was
that same William Savery, who, in the last story, had a bundle of
valuable hides stolen from his tanyard, and punished the thief, when
he came to return the hides, by loading him with kindness and giving
him a good situation.

Certainly William Savery would not tell the story of 'the man who was
not John Smith' to Stephen Grellet on that particular day; for
Stephen was so filled with the thankful wonder that follows obedience,
that he had no thought for outside things. 'For some days after this
act of dedication,' he says, 'my peace flowed as a river.' In the
autumn of this year (1796), Stephen Grellet, the French nobleman,
became a Friend. About two years later, he was acknowledged as a
Minister by the Society.

'In those days,' he writes, 'my mind dwelt much on the nature of the
hope of redemption through Jesus Christ.... I felt that the best
testimony I could bear was to evince by my life what He had actually
done for me.'

Henceforth Stephen's life was spent in trying to make known to others
the joy that had overflowed his own soul. He did indeed 'put the
things that he had learned in practice,' as he journeyed over both
Europe and America, time after time, visiting high and low. His life
is one long record of adventures, of perils surmounted, of hairbreadth
escapes, of constant toil and of much plodding, humdrum service too.
His message brought him into the strangest situations, as he gave it
fearlessly. He sought an interview with the Pope at Rome in order to
remonstrate with him about the state of the prisons in the Papal
States. Stephen ga