In this my relation of the merciful working of God upon my soul, it
will not be amiss, if in the first place, I do in a few words give
you a hint of my pedigree, and manner of bringing up; that thereby
the goodness and bounty of God towards me, may be the more advanced
and magnified before the sons of men.

2. For my descent then, it was, as is well known by many, of a low
and inconsiderable generation; my father's house being of that rank
that is meanest, and most despised of all the families in the land.
Wherefore, I have not here, as others, to boast of noble blood, or
of any high-born state, according to the flesh; though, all things
considered, I magnify the heavenly Majesty, for that by this door
He brought me into the world, to partake of the grace and life that
is in Christ by the gospel.

3. But yet, notwithstanding the meanness and inconsiderableness of
my parents, it pleased God to put it into their hearts, to put me
to school, to learn both to read and write; the which I also
attained, according to the rate of other poor men's children:
though, to my shame, I confess, I did soon lose that I had learned,
even almost utterly, and that long before the Lord did work His
gracious work of conversion upon my soul.

4. As for my own natural life, for the time that I was without God
in the world, it was, indeed, according to the course of this world
and the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Eph. ii. 2, 3. It was my delight to be 'taken captive by the devil
at his will,' 2 Tim. ii. 26; being filled with all unrighteousness;