MEMOIRS, &c.

SECTION I.

George Whitehead's reasons for preparing his own Memoirs. His account of his early life-and of his convincement of the doctrines of Friends.

Remembering the Lord our Gracious God in his ways, and merciful dealings with me from my youth; how He found me among his lost and strayed sheep, on the barren mountains of fruitless professions, and how He drew me to an inward experience of his Power and sanctifying work in my heart, and to know his teaching and spiritual ministry; thereby to enable me by degrees, experimentally to minister to others, and oblige me to live accordingly; as also to suffer patiently, with resignation of liberty and life for Christ's sake, when called thereunto, and being supported by his Power,

and cheerfully carried through many great trials and deep sufferings for his Name's sake, and having had many eminent deliverances and preservations, even from my young years; I say, considering these things, I have been the more concerned for my friends and brethren, who for conscience' sake have deeply suffered by imprisonments, and spoil of goods; and in the tender bowels of Christ Jesus have truly sympathized with the faithful in their sufferings and afflictions; and in His love been many times moved and stirred up to plead their innocent cause before authority, as well as to solicit with great industry on their behalf; wherein the hand of the Lord has been often with me, and his Presence and counsel have strengthened and helped me, in answer to my prayers and supplications; and his Power by degrees prevailed to mollify the hearts of many in the several governments towards us. Glory to the Name of the Lord our God, who pleaded the cause of the innocent!

For these reasons, a concern hath long been upon my spirit, to leave some remarks and footsteps, by an historical account, of my progress under the Lord's help and conduct, in his work and service and in order thereto, to collect from divers papers, notes, and memorials I had reserved, some of those exercises and

transactions wherein I have been both actively and passively concerned on Truth's account; and to digest the same into such a plain method as briefly as I well could, and as I thought might be most intelligible, both in point of fact and doctrine, with such observations as might conduce to the good end intended, namely, the Glory of God, the honour of his excellent Name, and the advantage of the serious reader, the more to consider of his Divine Grace and goodness, which endure for ever, to them that love and fear Him.

From early inclinations and desires which the Lord was graciously pleased to stir up in my heart towards his blessed Truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, I was drawn to be inquisitive after the knowledge thereof, and how to become truly penitent, and witness a true amendment of life from such a vain conversation as, in my childhood, I had been prone to; being partly educated under a Presbyterian ministry, which the Lord showed me in divers things, came short of what they professed and pretended in their worships, preachings, and prayings; insomuch that I could not cordially join with them, before I heard of the people called Quakers; and being at a loss in my spirit, for what I sometimes secretly desired and wanted, I was as one bewildered; and wandered farther, seeking among other

B

people who had some higher and more refined notions concerning Spiritual Gifts, &c. I was then about fourteen years of age.

After a short time, I heard of some people called Quakers, who trembled at the word of God; and observing how they were reviled and reproached by loose and wicked people, occasioned my further inquiry, and thereupon the Lord gave me to believe they were his people : and I did contend for them and their principles, so far as they were represented favourable to me, before I was at a meeting of theirs, or heard any of them minister.

And though the Lord had raised good desires in me towards Himself, that I might know true repentance unto life, yet those desires were often quenched, and my mind led away through an airy, light disposition, after music, vain mirth, and other vanities. Howbeit, the Lord was graciously pleased secretly to follow me with judgment and reproof in my very young years, and renewed desires in me after the right way; but I wanted to know a stay to my mind, while a hearer of the priests and other professors, not knowing, nor following that Light of Christ in me, which convinced and reproved me for the sins of my youth.

The light shone in darkness, as in a dark place, before it shone out of darkness: the

Spirit of the Lord moved upon the waters, even when darkness was upon the face of the great deep, before his works of old were wrought; and now, in order to bring forth his works in the new creation, and to make us new creatures in Christ Jesus, his Spirit moves upon peoples' hearts, even when unstable as waters; and his Light shines in them before they know God or Jesus Christ, in order to give them the knowledge of the glory and power of God, and of his dear Son Jesus Christ.

After some religious discourses with some young men soberly inclined, and when we had newly heard of a few people called Quakers, at Sedbergh, in Yorkshire, and in Kendal Barony in Westmoreland, I became desirous to go to a meeting of theirs, which was at one Captain Ward's, at a place called Sunny-Bank, near Grayrig-Chapel.

At my first going, when I came into the said meeting and sat down seriously among them, after a little space of silence, a friend, one Thomas Arey, spake a little while of the spiritual deliverances, travels, and progress of the Lord's people in his way and work; alluding to Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, from under Pharaoh and his task-masters, &c. All this I thought I easily understood allegorically, as spiritualized; but what was