[117] James Habersham was born at Beverley, in 1712. He was married, by Whitefield, to Mary Bolton, on December 26, 1740. He was the manager of Bethesda till 1744, when he entered into business at Savannah. He became President of Georgia in 1769; and died in 1775. In all respects, he was a highly honourable man. (Belcher's Biography of Whitefield.) A day was spent at Deptford, most of it in prayer and in "chanting and singing psalms," while at night he preached for the first time without the use of notes. On December 30th, he went on board the _Whitaker_, at Purfleet, and on the day following began his ministerial services by having public prayers on open deck. After prayers, he preached from the words, "I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus, Christ and Him crucified." At noon, he went on shore, and, with his London friends, "spent two or three delightful hours in praising and blessing God." While there, a deputation from the clergyman at Gravesend came, requesting him to preach in Gravesend Church; and he heartily complied. Thus was spent the last day of the eventful year 1737. Next morning, he and his friends rose early, retired to an adjacent hill, and began the year 1738 by holding a prayer meeting in the open air. This, being ended, he was agreeably surprised with the coming of another group of his metropolitan admirers, who had been sailing down the Thames the whole of the winter's night purposely to see him. At ten, they all went to church, Whitefield preached, and the curate, at their request, administered to them the holy sacrament. In the afternoon, he "preached again to a more numerous congregation than in the morning." He adds, "I was pressed to preach a third time at six in the evening. This was a thing entirely new; but, upon the curate's readily complying to lend the pulpit, I looked upon it as a call of Providence, and accordingly read prayers and preached to a crowded auditory; and this I did without notes, having brought but two written sermons with me."