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Course of Life of the S. Br. John Darnbrook,
the first part of which he himself has wrote down,
& the latter dictated.
I was born at Moreley in the Parish of Battley June the 20th
1736. My first 13 years I lived with my Parents, which took
care to instruct me in what was religious, to the best of their
knowledge, particularly my Mother, whom I remember, when Mr
Ingham & other awakened Men first began preaching, she went
frequently to hear them; & a Sermon of Mr Whitfield's being
them published, she got it to read. I read the same; if treated
so much of the sufferings of our Savr, that if brought me into
some Concern about my Salvation. I was then about 5 years old,
& this was the first Conviction, I had, as much as I can remember.
At the End of my 13th Year I was put on Aprentice to a very
religious man in the same Town, a Dissenter, in which Way I had
been brought up. Half a year afterwards my Father departed
this Life. This struck me pretty much at first, but I soon for-
got if. The 3 first years of my aprenticeship I spent among young
company as much as I could, & indeed in that Time I got seduced
to many bad things. One Day, when I was at Worse by myself in
the Field, a sudden thought came into my mind, that I must
once die & appear before go to give an Account of my Sins; &
I thought, if I died in that Condition, I certainly must go to Hell
I immediately left of my Work & went & kneeled down under
a Tree & prayed to God to forgive me. This was the first Time
I ever prayed, except such as the Lord's Prayer & others learned
out of Books. From this Time I began to be very religious; I read
many religious Books & prayed 6 or 7 Times a Day, I entirely
broke off from all my old Companions, who despised me very much; but
the religious people praised me greatly; & this made me very
proud. But all this availed me nothing; all my reading &
praying brought no Peace to my Heart. I was a bound slave to
Satan, & when Sin presented itself, I had no power to resist.
Some Times I used to be a fortnight or 3 Weeks without coming
into any extraordinary great Sin; this made one think, I had now