llowed me to prepare for eternity.

To this resolution he did not adhere. With the exception of two short
entries in the same month, he wrote nothing in his diary for the remainder
of the year. The difficulties of his position, perhaps a lack of
sufficient employment, and the want of that instant watchfulness without
which the disciple is ever prone to stray from his Master's side, seem to
have again produced, as they did twelve months before, a season of
spiritual famine.

His own gloomy condition did not, however, altogether disable him from
sympathizing with others. In a letter to his brother of the 4th of the
Eleventh Month he says;--

I have of late been in such a low tried state of mind, that I have been
discouraged from writing thee, under an apprehension I should say nothing
that would afford thee any satisfaction in reading. But though I may not
have it in my power to relieve thee, I hope it will not be unpleasant to
thee to know that thou art still more dear and near to me than ever thou
wast in the times of more apparent outward prosperity. It is a high
attainment to know how to set a right value on perishable things, and it
requires no small degree of fortitude to bear the depression of apparent
temporary adversity, in that disposition of mind which becomes the
character of a true Christian. Although, according to our apprehensions,
the storm may last long, yet it most assuredly will blow over, and then
greater will be our peace than if we had never known a tempest.

On resuming his Diary, which he did in the First Month of 1825, John
Yeardley gives an account of the events which happened to him during the
previous few months.

In the Seventh Month 1824, Thomas Shillitoe and Elizabeth H. Walker came
to Pyrmont, and to the latter J.Y. gave his assistance in various
religious engagements. After her departure he again visited Minden, with
the neighboring villages of Eidinghausen and Hille. His visit to the
last-named place (1 mo. 13, 1825) was marked by a singular circumstance.

Finding a sudden draft [in my mind] to be at the reading meeting in Hille,
to begin at two o'clock, there seemed but little time; however, proposing
it to my dear friend John Rasche, he was quite willing to accompany me,
and driving quickly we came in due time. When the [meeting] was over, the
Friends told me they thought it very remarkable that we should come
unexpectedly on that day, and that what was communicated after t