bled to get rid
of, though hard to flesh and blood, it being the first time my voice has
been heard in this Quarterly Meeting in ministry. The meeting for business
was long and tedious, being protracted four and a half days by an appeal.
It was disagreeable in its nature, but was conducted in a way to afford
information and instruction to the minute observer of men, manners and
things.

1820.--Our first extract from this year's diary contains a short but
beautiful reflection:--

2 _mo_. 18.--I am convinced it would be better for us to live more in
the inward spirit of prayer; we should live in nearer union with the
Father of love; receive more of his heavenly embraces; the heart would be
prepared to know more of his holy will, and receive power to perform it.

When John Yeardley left Barnsley he commenced a correspondence with his
brother Thomas, which lasted until the death of the latter, J.Y.'s letters
have been preserved, and supply us with much that is valuable in his
character and Christian experience. The following extract shows the power
of sympathy which he possessed towards those with whom he was entirely
intimate:--

4 mo. 24, 1820.

Thy affectionate letter I received with pleasure, though some parts of its
contents penetrated the deepest recesses of my heart, and excited in me
every tender sympathetic feeling of a brother and a friend.

I rejoice that thou hast found freedom to speak so candidly the
undisguised language of thy heart; to me it seems like a voice from the
dead, because I conceive it to be the voice of that awakened principle in
thee which, as in many others, may have been held too long in captivity
through the predominance of the surfeiting cares of the world. Whenever
thou inclinest to unbosom to me thou mayest do it with freedom and in
confidence, for, be assured, if thy complaints cannot meet with relief,
they will at least meet with a welcome reception and a heartfelt
condolence; for I could have no claim to the least of the Christian
virtues, if I were destitute of a feeling regard for the sufferings of a
friend, and especially a brother.

A few months afterwards he was again called upon deeply to sympathise with
his brother. The occasion this time was the perplexity in matters of
business in which Thomas Yeardley was involved. He expressed his feelings
in a letter in which he not only gives the soundest Christian counsel, but
also shows how he was himself indebted to the