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And published after his decease, in the year 1725,

UNDER THE TITLE OF

"His Christian Progress;"

WITH

AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING A SELECTION FROM HIS OTHER WORKS.

ALSO

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

BY SAMUEL TUKE.

IN TWO VOLS.-VOL. I.

"If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not
sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless."

© Philadelphia:

NATHAN KITE-64 WALNUT STREET.

7475

41-157

Fling Car Chase,
Thiladeikhia.

Br 1943.6

PREFACE.

THE historical account which George Whitehead has left of his own "Christian Progress," is so much interwoven with the early history of the Religious Society of Friends, that, independently of the instructive exhibition which it affords of individual character, it has a strong claim on the attention of those who now profess the principles which he advocated so boldly, and for which he suffered with so much constancy.

These Memoirs, indeed, contain more information relative to the early proceedings of the Society, than those of any other individual, except it be the life of George Fox. Convinced when under age of the doctrines preached by that reformer, he became very soon an active and zealous minister of the truths which he had embraced, and continued for nearly seventy years to labour by word and example in the support of them.

It has been the lot of few persons to occupy an active sphere for so long a period of time as was the case with George Whitehead. He was born in the reign of Charles I. Under the Commonwealth, and in the reign of Charles II., he suffered many severe persecutions. He visited several times the court of Charles, to plead with him on behalf of the cause of religious liberty. These efforts were continued during the short reign of James II.; and during the reign of William and Mary, when a brighter day dawned on the civil and religious

liberties of England, he exerted himself, by personal and written representations, to obtain for the Society the free exercise of religious worship, the liberation of the members who, chiefly for ecclesiastical demands, were still suffering cruel imprisonments, and the admission of the affirmation of Friends instead of an oath in all civil cases.

He had several interviews with George I., in which he earnestly pleaded the great cause of religious liberty; and having been introduced to the young prince, afterwards George II., he endeavoured to impress his mind with the same important subject. He was thus during the five reigns succeeding the Commonwealth, one of the most strenuous advocates of our principles, and of religious liberty in general; and very frequently the organ of the Society of Friends, at the court of the English monarchs.

To us who are enjoying those civil and religious privileges, which he was in so considerable a degree instrumental in obtaining, the account which he has given of his proceedings, though it may at times be charged with prolixity, can hardly fail to be interesting.

In this republication of George Whitehead's valuable work, it has however been deemed best to present many of the details in a curtailed or condensed form. The curtailments are chiefly in the accounts of polemical discussions and law proceedings; but several other parts which appeared to be redundant, have been omitted in this edition; and where more than one account is given of the same transaction, that which appeared the most complete has been selected, or the substance of the whole has been re-written without adhering to the author's words.

The editor has also ventured in several cases to add a few historical particulars, to make the work more completely illustrative of the character of the Society, and the state of the public mind at the period to which it refers. The whole, notwithstanding the curtailments, will give the reader a petty clear insight into the rise, progress, and principles of the Society of Friends; nor will its details, the editor trusts, be found uninteresting to the inquirer into the history of the civil and religious liberties of England, as connected with that most important and interesting period of our annals which these Memoirs embrace.

The present work was originally designed to have been comprised in one volume, and it would no doubt have been more agreeable to some readers in a more condensed form; but as an historical record, and with a view of preserving the clear view which the original memoirs frequently give of the varied engagements of our early Friends, much greater curtailment than has been made, did not, to the editor, seem desirable. He is nevertheless far from imagining, that he has always drawn the line exactly where it ought to have been, and he cannot be much disappointed if he should have failed to please his friends, since, on many occasions, he has failed to please himself.* Leaving however his own imperfections, he can safely recommend the perusal of the work, to all those of the Society of Friends, who feel an interest in the history of the Church to which they belong.

*The editor wishes to acknowledge the advantage he has frequently derived from the use of a copy of the "Christian Progress," marked, with a view to a somewhat similar republication, by his friend Edward Pease of Darlington.

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