Our friend, Martha Savory, told them we could not promise that anything should be uttered, seeing this could only take place through the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. At the appointed time there assembled about fifty persons. After a short conversation they seated themselves, and when we had sat awhile in silence, M.S. found herself moved to address them in a feeling manner, W.S. interpreting; and I relieved my mind in German as well as I was able. Before we separated, Pastor Molinaar rose, and in the name of the rest expressed his heartfelt satisfaction, adding that he hoped we should remember them for good, as they should not fail to pray for our preservation.
24th.--We told Pastor M. that it would be agreeable if he and any others of his friends who wished to take leave of us would come to the hotel. At seven o'clock, instead of a few as we expected, there came about thirty. The ladies seated themselves quite sociably, and took out their work, but were evidently prepared to lay it aside in the hope of having another religious sitting. But as we believed there were those present who had come from too great a desire to hear words, we were on the guard not to satisfy this excited inclination; and the evening was spent in agreeable conversation. Before we separated, however, we thought it well to read our Yearly Meeting's Epistle, which was acceptable to all. Pastor M. especially was pleased with the part about church-discipline, and said he considered it of real advantage that the epistle had been read in that company, as there were several young women present who might receive benefit from it.
Feeling attracted towards the inhabitants of Mühlheim on the Ruhr, the Friends again turned out of the direct road and crossing the Rhine a little beyond Duisburg, arrived in the evening at Mühlheim. They found a company of Separatists in the neighborhood of the town, some of whom they visited; and the next day they passed over the Ruhr, and, with the assistance of a school-master, convened a meeting for worship. At the time appointed nearly three hundred persons assembled, mostly of the poorer class. They were seated in a large school-room, the men on one side and the women on the other, waiting in silence. They had a good meeting, and at the conclusion the auditory expressed their unwillingness to part, and their desire that those who had ministered to them should visit them again.
On the 27th, after calling upon some descendants of Gerhard Tersteegen, our Friends proceeded through Düsseldorf to Cologne. They were disappointed of finding in the neighborhood of this city, that company of religious people on whose account they had felt much interested, and of whom they had heard that "they held principles like the Quakers, and were as obstinate in them as they are." They did no more here than call upon a few serious persons in the city, and then went forwards to Neuwied, hoping there to hear of them.
At Neuwied, besides becoming acquainted with the Moravian preachers and others, they were called upon by some of the Inspirirten, who invited them to their meetings. They attended one of these; but, being dissatisfied with the manner of the service, and not finding relief for their spiritual exercise, though the opportunity of speaking was offered without reserve, they in turn invited the company to meet with them the next morning after the manner of Friends. The meeting was held to mutual satisfaction, and one of the leading men amongst the Inspirirten expressed the hope that it would be blessed to them; for he was, he said, sensible of the want of less activity and more of silent waiting in their religious assemblies.
The society to which these people belonged divided in 1818 into two branches, after an awakening which took place that year; those who separated believing it to be incumbent upon them to lead more self-denying lives, and dwell more closely under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This new connection was the people of whom our Friends had heard; and they learnt that they had retired to a place called Schwartzenau, near Berlenburg, a small town at the eastern end of the barren hilly region known as the Sauerland. The distance of this place from Neuwied is considerable, and the roads amongst the worst in Germany; but John Yeardley and Martha Savory apprehended they could not peacefully pursue their journey without attempting to visit them.
Accordingly they left Neuwied on the 1st of the Eleventh Month, and proceeded to Montabauer. The road led them at first amongst some of the choicest scenery of the Rhine; but after a while they left the river and struck into the interior of the country, in a north-easterly direction. The next day they passed through a place where, a few months before, a Diligence had been robbed. The robbers, who had been taken a fortnight after the offence, were then, as they were informed, in Limburg gaol, and were to be hanged the next day. They were ten in number, all members of one family. At Burbach they met with an English landlord, thirty-five years resident in Germany; he was delimited to see his fellow-countrymen, and exerted himself to give them the best entertainment his house afforded. The country they passed through was very hilly, and overgrown with forest; now and then a solitary dwelling was seen in the bottom of the deep valleys.
On the 3rd they came to Siegen, an ancient and antique town on the side of a high hill, looking, as one of the party observed, as though they had reached the end of the world. And, indeed, it seemed almost like the end of the civilised world; for they were informed that the road from thence to Berlenburg was in such a miserable condition that they could take their carriage no farther. They resolved, however, to make the attempt, and providing themselves with a tandem horse (vorspann) and a guide, and sending on their luggage, they set forth on the way to Letze, a village where they proposed to lodge; but the waters were abroad from the overflow of the rivers, and the road being extremely narrow, and the ruts deep, they made very slow progress. Sometimes the way was so impracticable that they had to take the carriage through the woods which skirted the road. Darkness and rain coming on obliged them to halt for the night at Netphen, and seek shelter in the humble dwelling of a woman, who at first took alarm at the unexpected appearance of so many strangers. The account which the guide gave respecting the travellers dispelled her fears, and she did what she could by hospitality to make up for the scantiness of her accommodation. She gave them also some information respecting the Inspirirten, whom they were on the way to visit, speaking favorably of them. The next morning, before they started, they were able to offer her spiritual good in return for her temporal kindness, John Yeardley ministering to her condition under religious exercise; and they trusted his words found entrance into her soul.
On the 4th they pursued their way, up hill and down, the carriage sometimes becoming so firmly fixed in the narrow deep ruts, that it was necessary to take out the horses, and for the men of the party, with the assistance of passers-by, to lift it over to more even ground.
At length they arrived at Erndebrück, and drove to an inn; but not finding their luggage, they went to another, and while they were preparing to start for Berlenburg, William Seebohm went to the Custom-office to show the ticket of clearance they had received on entering the Prussian territory at Burbach. This ticket should have obviated all delay attendant on the examination of the luggage; but it happened, most unfortunately, that the custom officer was the landlord of the inn they first came to. Their leaving his house without taking refreshment was, in his eyes, an unpardonable offence, and on William Seebohm presenting to him the ticket, his countenance and language betrayed the passion which raged in his breast. He declared their trunks should be examined in the strictest manner; and when they represented the necessity they were under of speedily pursuing their journey, and desired him to despatch the business as quickly as possible, he replied by detaining them until they were obliged to send back the horse and guide, and consent to pass the night under his roof. He then demanded their passports, and finding they had not been visé'd at all the towns through which they had passed, and that the travellers had departed from the route described in them, he sent for a gendarme, and placed them under arrest. They were not allowed to take anything from their trunks without being watched by the gendarme; and when they took out a letter of recommendation, written by Dr. Steinkopf to the clergyman of the place, whom they had requested to call upon them, the gendarme insisted on first reading it. On their expostulating with the landlord at being treated in this manner, instead of making a direct reply, he strutted up and down the room, repeating continually, "Ja, ja, ja, ja! they shall know what they went away from my house for, and that there is a custom-office here." The Friends took their evening meal, as is usual in Germany, in-one of the sleeping-rooms--that which had been allotted to Martha Savory and Martha Towell. Into this chamber, when they had eaten, the landlord brought a party of eight or nine men to take their supper. After supper the men smoked, and some of them did not even refrain from showing their ill-breeding in a more disagreeable way. William Seebohm overheard the landlord and the gendarme say to each other, "These people are travelling this way to visit the Separatists, and strengthen them in their religious opinions; but we will disappoint them."