1848. 2 mo. 8.--At our Monthly Meeting at Gracechurch street, I proposed my concern to visit some parts of South Russia, particularly the German colonies; also some places in the Prussian and Austrian dominions, parts of Switzerland and France, particularly Ardêche, and a few places in Belgium, and to revisit parts of Germany. My precious M.Y. also was constrained in gospel love to tell her friends that she had long thought of a visit to France and Belgium; and, if health permitted, should think it her religious duty to accompany me to South Russia. We had the full unity of our friends, who expressed much sympathy and encouragement, to our great comfort. It is about twenty years since I first thought seriously that I might have to visit the Crimea, and for thirty years I have had a prospect of some parts of Bohemia. Truly the vision has been for an appointed time; and if the period be now come, I trust it is the Lord's time, and that his presence may go with us. Many have been the conflicts and deep the baptisms through which I have passed, before coming to a willingness to offer to do what I believe to be the will of my Divine Master. Feeble as are my powers, I desire they may be devoted to his cause for the remainder of my days; and I do esteem it a great mercy to have arrived at a clear pointing in this important prospect. May the blessing of preservation rest upon the beloved partner of my sorrows and my joys, and on myself; and may He whom we desire to serve heal all our maladies of body and mind!
While their attention was thus turned to foreign lands, a storm was gathering in France which in the course of this month burst upon Europe with extraordinary violence, and overturned or endangered half the thrones on the Continent. This convulsed state of the European nations rendered it needful for them to wait a few months before they commenced their undertaking. In the Seventh Month, John Yeardley speaks of having obtained the further concurrence of the church, and of the feelings which the immediate prospect of the journey awakened in his mind.
7 mo. 1.--At the Quarterly Meeting, and also at the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders, our friends entered very fully into our proposed visit to the Continent. The expression of sympathy and full unity was abundant; there was a strong evidence of the good presence of the Lord being near during the deliberations, which proved a strength and comfort to myself and my beloved partner. The needful certificates are now all in our possession, and are expressed in terms the most appropriate and encouraging. My mind is deeply humbled at the near approach of our departure, in the present state of affairs on the continent of Europe: but I feel a confiding hope in the divine power for protection and safe guidance. May the Lord Almighty give us strength and resignation to commit our lives into his hand, and to say, Thy will be done. Amen!
This series of travels was the last in which John and Martha Yeardley were to be engaged as joint-laborers in their Lord's work. The health of the latter had been for several years seriously affected; and although she continued to take a deep interest in the spiritual condition of the countries they had visited before, and was enabled to the end to afford her husband the assistance of her strong sympathy and of her religious exercise of mind, the fatigue of constant travelling told more and more upon her enfeebled frame, and she did not long survive the accomplishment of this journey. John Yeardley, less advanced in years, and possessing a hardy constitution, had not yet lost the fire of his earlier days. The same spring and impulse was still strong within him which had animated him in former journeys, and which those who knew him in middle life will not fail to remember. Some of these will have before them the mental image of his person and manner--the fixed resolution, the concentrated mind, the ardent and devoted spirit, which shone through his impressive countenance and his whole figure, when he was engaged in his Lord's work; and perhaps also they may call to mind the very words of faithful counsel, or of encouragement, drawn from the well-spring of gospel sympathy, which fell from his lips.
John and Martha Yeardley did not accomplish the extensive mission which now lay before them at one stroke, but in three stages, returning to England between each. The most prominent object in the first journey was Belgium; in the second, the Rhine country; in the third, they were called to sow seeds of Christian doctrine in lands lying beyond the limit of any former travel--viz., in Silesia and Bohemia.
This was the first time that the Roman Catholic country of Belgium had called forth the exercise of their Christian charity. They left London in the Seventh Month, and spent about three weeks in travelling through the country, resting chiefly at Ghent, Brussels, Charleroi and Spa. They were accompanied as far as Brussels by Robert and Christine Alsop, and through the whole journey, by an ingenuous young man whom they had engaged to assist them, named Adolphe Rochedieu. The religious opening which awaited them at Brussels was very encouraging; few incidents which arose in the course of their numerous journeys were of a more animating character than the acquaintance which they made with the pastor Van Maasdyk and some of his flock. We give the narrative from J.Y.'s Diary and letters.
7 mo. 19.--H. Van Maasdyk paid us a long visit this morning. He was educated in a convent in Belgium, and becoming a priest, he exercised the functions which devolved upon him with much credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of his superiors, until the year 1836. He possessed a Bible in Latin, which he never read. He had the cure of a large parish, in which, down to the year above mentioned, there was not a single copy of the Scriptures in the Flemish tongue. About that time the colporteurs introduced the New Testament in Flemish, and some copies of the Bible, which greatly excited the priests, and in particular the bishop, who said the translation was mutilated and falsified, and commanded that the members of the Catholic Church who had received copies, should either burn them themselves, or bring them to the curés for that purpose. Van Maasdyk's parishioners accordingly brought their Bibles and Testaments (five copies) to him to be burned. He was zealous in the Romish faith, and had preached violently against the distributors of the wicked books, as they were called; and he was about to fulfil the command to burn them, when suddenly he felt something in his heart which restrained him, and he thought, I will at least first examine the foundation of the bishop's charges. He took up his Latin Bible, and placing beside it the copy in Flemish, began with the charge of mutilation. He found it not at all abridged. He then went to the charge of falsification, and found the two copies to agree with slight variations here and there; in fact, the modern translation proved to have been made from the Vulgate, which was the one in his possession. He read the denunciation of our Saviour, "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," and it struck him forcibly; he felt that he must say, "Woe is me, I am one of those who deceive the people." He read again, "There is one Mediator between God and man;" and here again his conscience smote him: "Woe is me, I teach the people in their confessions that the saints make intercession." His sorrow was so deep, that he thought he could die a thousand deaths rather than continue a Romish priest.
Now his persecution began. He was beloved by his flock, who entreated him not to leave them. After much conflict of mind, he wrote a decided letter to his bishop, who in the end gave him his dismissal. Still feeling himself called to proclaim the Gospel, he began to assemble the people in little companies, and to instruct them in the Scriptures. At the entreaty of his friends he settled at Brussels, where there was a wide field for labor amongst the poorest of the Roman Catholics, who speak only Flemish. His congregation consisted at first of some fifteen or twenty persons; but such was the success he met with, that they have been obliged four or five times in succession to seek a larger building, and his congregation now consists of 500. He is said to be one of the most powerful preachers in the Flemish language. It is delightful to be in his company; his heart is filled with gratitude, and his eyes sparkle with joy, when he is with those who love the Saviour. Nothing is paid him by his congregation; he has a little property of his own, and sometimes receives a little help from the Adolphus Society.
After a long conversation with him on the spiritual nature of worship, he took us to see some of his flock, with whom we had family sittings from house to house. This is exactly the class our hearts longed to visit; thanks be to our Heavenly Father who has thus opened our way.
20th.--The meeting at Pastor Marzial's last evening was much larger than we had expected. Van Maasdyk came in unexpectedly after the service which had been held at his dwelling, and with him a part of his flock. Many of the company were those who had renounced Romanism; some of the young men interested us exceedingly. I had a deal of conversation with them as to their religious experience. There were several young Germans among them, who are residing in Brussels; with these I conversed in their own language, which was highly gratifying to them. As Pastor Marzial speaks English well, I clung to him in the hope of having him for an interpreter; but he encouraged me to speak as well as I could in French, as the natives like it much better, and consider it a compliment to their language. This made me very low, it being a company of well-educated persons, and I asked Van Maasdyk what I should do. I would rather, he replied, hear ten words from your own mouth, than ten thousand through the mouth of another; we shall understand you, and what comes from the heart goes to the heart. This settled the question; I gave myself up to the language, and was helped through. My M.Y. was favored in her communication. After a short address from M., I concluded the meeting with supplication, also in French. I do believe the Spirit was poured upon us from on high; many hearts were touched, and tears flowed freely from many eyes.