ence and the neighborhood, and crossing
the Rhone, entered Ardeche. A meeting which they held at Privas was an
occasion of remarkable stillness and solemnity.

31_st._--There was a room filled with serious persons, who
immediately settled into silence like a Friends' meeting: indeed, I wish
our meetings in England were always times of as much good feeling. A
chapter, the second of the Acts, was read; after which I supplicated, and
my M.Y. spoke in testimony, as well as myself. M.Y. closed the opportunity
in supplication.

They held another meeting at Vals, a village in the Cevennes mountains,
near the town of Aubenas. Lindley Murray Hoag, from America, had had a
meeting there not long before. There was no resident pastor, and the
schoolmaster called on John and Martha Yeardley, and informed them that
when no one was present to preach, the congregation were accustomed to
read a sermon, the liturgy, and prayers. They explained to him their
objection to written sermons, and he appeared to be sensible of the
inconsistency of them with true gospel ministry, but alleged that the
people would not be satisfied without having the greater part of the time
occupied with "service." As they could not undertake that this should be
the case, it was agreed that they should be informed when the usual
engagements were concluded, and that the schoolmaster should give notice
of their intention to hold a religious meeting. In the morning
(First-day), unexpectedly, a young man arrived, who came to see if he
could be established in the place as pastor, and the schoolmaster
introduced him to J. and M.Y. He raised no objection to their speaking
after the service, but the sermon which he preached, as they afterwards
found, was on the politics of the day, and when it was concluded, they
were still kept waiting during a conference which the consistory had with
him. This delay, and their persuasion that the members of the consistory
were not the men to sympathise with them in their religious exercise, was
exceedingly proving to faith, and they entered the chapel under a pressure
of mind almost beyond utterance. After a pause John Yeardley rose and
spoke in French, in which he felt himself to be much helped; an influence
superior to words was spread abroad, lifting up the messengers above the
fear of man. Martha Yeardley followed, inviting the people to come under
the teaching of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Christ Jesus, and
especially ad