the vessel before he pours in the oil.


We have already made an extract from the diary of the 3rd of the Twelfth
Month in connection with John Yeardley's call to visit Germany. The same
diary supplies us with the description of a spiritual opening for the
benefit of others with which he was favored in the same meeting.


In my minute for First-day last I mentioned its being an instructive
meeting to me. Towards the conclusion a simile of this kind arose and
spread before my view: As wax when melted by the fire or the candle is
then only capable of receiving the impression of the stamp put upon it, so
also are our minds only capable of receiving impressions of divine good
when our spirits are melted and contrited before the Lord. As these
seasons are not at our command, it appeared to me to be of the highest
importance for us to endeavor to preserve and improve them as the best
means of testifying our gratitude to the great Donor. The impression which
the above contemplation made on my spirit proved like a morsel of bread to
my soul, which I found I could not conceal, though I struggled hard to eat
it alone, it seeming so insignificant to hand to others; but at length I
gave up, and felt it to be a time wherein some among the few present were
melted as wax before the fire, and had a portion of divine goodness afresh
imprinted on their minds; and my spirit craved that they might not prove
as "the morning cloud and as the early dew that goeth away."


On the 7th of the Twelfth Month Elizabeth Yeardley was suddenly prostrated
by an alarming attack of illness, from which, however, she soon rallied,
though she never entirely regained her previous state of health. Possibly