LIBRAR\^OF CONGRESS, % 
 
 Chap E/S2... 
 
 Shelf .^. 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 IICA. 
 
PASSAGES 
 
 FEOM THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF 
 
 WILLIAM PEisrisr, 
 
 COLLECTED 
 
 BY THE EDITOR FEOM HIS 
 
 PUBLISHED WORKS AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 AND FROM THE 
 
 BIOGRAPHIES OF CLARKSON, LEWIS, AND JANNEY, 
 
 AND OTHER RELIABLE SOURCES. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 FOR SALE AT FRIENDS' BOOK-STORE, 
 
 304 Arch Street. 
 
 1882. 
 
1 
 
 en' 
 
 -7- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 i. Early Life and Education. Expulsion from Oxford 
 AND from his Father's House. Life on the Continent. 
 Life in Ireland with the Duke of Ormond, and in Care 
 OF his Father's Estates. Preaching of Thomas Loe. 
 First Imprisonment. Second Exile from Home. . . 7 
 
 II. "The Guide Mistaken." Public Eeligious Discus- 
 sion WITH T. Vincent. "The Sandy Foundation Shaken." 
 Imprisonment in the Tower. " Innocency with her Open 
 Face." 22 
 
 III. "No Cross, No Crown." 
 
 44 
 
 1 Y. Arrest for Preaching. Trial at the Old Bailey. 
 Commitment, with the Jury, to Newgate. Death of Ad- 
 miral Penn .80 
 
 V. Arrest and Trial for Preaching by the Lieutenant 
 OF THE Tower and Imprisonment in Newgate. . . 99 
 
 VI. "The great Case of Liberty of Conscience de- 
 bated." Eeply to "Quakerism Anatomized." . 105 
 
 iii 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 VII. Marriage. Public Religious Controversy with T. 
 Hicks and J. Ives. Controversy with J. Perot and Fol- 
 lowers. Visit to Court on Account of Imprisonment of 
 George Fox. "England's Present Interest considered." 
 Letter to the Princess Palatine op the Ehine. . . Ill 
 
 VIII. Journal of Travels in Holland and Ger- 
 many. 141 
 
 IX. "Address to Protestants." "One Project for the 
 Good of England." 200 
 
 X. Arbitration between Fenavick and Byllinge. Trus- 
 teeship for and Settlement of West New Jersey. . 214 
 
 XI. "Examination of Liberty Spiritual." . . . 221 
 
 XII. Grant of Pennsylvania from Charles II. Condi- 
 tions OR Concessions to Settlers. . First Settlements. 
 Letter to the Indians. Constitution of Pennsylvania. 233 
 
 XIII. Letter to his Wife and Children. Arrr^alin 
 Pennsylvania, 1682. First Assembly and Code of Laws. 
 Founding of Philadelphia. Treaty with the Indians at 
 Shackabiaxon. .... r ... . 255 
 
 XIV. Descriptive Letter to the Free Society of Tra- 
 ders OF Pennsylvania. Letter from Stephen Crisp. Fare- 
 well Letters to Friends of Pennsylvania. . . . 282 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 X V . Arrival in England, 16S4. Visit to the King and . 
 Duke of York. Letter informing of Death of Charles 
 11. Correspondence with Dr. Tillotson, afterwards 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 299 
 
 XVI. ''A Persuasive to Moderation." Visit to the 
 Prince of Orange. Letter of Commission to Thomas 
 Lloyd and others in Pennsylvania 315 
 
 XVII. Declaration of Indulgence by King James. Im- 
 prisonment OF THE Six Bishops. Popular Distrust op 
 William Penn and Correspondence with Secretary op 
 Board of Trade and Plantations. William, Prince op 
 Orange, made King. Arrest of William Penn. . ' . 329 
 
 X \ III. Appointment of Governor Blackwell and 
 Letters to the Provincial Council. .... 354 
 
 XIX. Second Arrest on Suspicion of Favoring King 
 James. Letters to his Friends in England and America 
 ON THE Subject 359 
 
 XX. "A Key Opening the Way to Distinguish the 
 Eeligion professed by the People called Quakers." " An 
 Essay towards the Peace of Europe." . . . .368 
 
 XXI. "The Eise and Progress of the People called 
 Quakers." . . . 389 
 
 XXii. Account of his Son Springett. "Primitive 
 Christianity Eevived." Letter to the Czar of Mus- 
 covy 419 
 
 1* 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIII. "Advice to his Children." .... 439 
 
 XXIV. Disagreements in Pennsylvania and Separation 
 OF THE Province and Territories. Government taken 
 BY the Crown and restored. Sails for Pennsylvania, 
 1699 451 
 
 XXV. Arrival at Philadelphia. Differences in the 
 Provincial Council. Proposition in Parliament to As- 
 sume THE Government. Sails for England, 1701. . 4G3 
 
 XXVI. Correspondence with James Logan about 
 Colonial Affairs and William Penn Jr. . , . 478 
 
 XXVII. Impositions of his Steward, Philip Ford. Let- 
 ter OF Eemonstrance to the Provincial Assembly. Sale 
 OF the Province to the Crown. Failure of Health and 
 Death 493 
 
PASSAGES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Life and Writings of William Penn, 
 
 I. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN was honorably descended ; his 
 paternal ancestors, for several generations, having 
 been persons of high respectability and considerable note 
 in the world. His grandfather, Giles Penn, was a captain 
 in the English navy. His father, Sir William Penn, at 
 an early age, became a distinguished naval officer, and 
 passed rapidly through the successive grades of promotion, 
 so that at the age of thirty-one he was created Yice 
 Admiral. He was a man of good understanding and a 
 thoughtful turn of mind ; amiable in natural disposition, 
 but accustomed to the exercise of absolute authority ; and 
 honorable, but ambitious of distinction and wealth. 
 
 "William Penn was born in London on the 14th of the 
 Eighth month, (now the Tenth,) A. d. 1644. Of his very 
 early years but little is known. Being the heir to a con- 
 siderable estate, and a youth of promising abilities, his 
 father appears to have spared no expense to confer upon 
 
 7 
 
8 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 him the best education which the country could afford. He 
 received the rudiments of learning at Chigwell school, 
 which was near Wanstead, in Essex, then the country resi- 
 dence of his father. Although he left this place at the age 
 of twelve years, yet he appears while there to have received 
 serious religious impressions. The Lord, who designed 
 to make him an instrument of good to many souls, visited 
 him by his Holy Spirit, comforting him with a sense of 
 his presence, giving him an assurance of the reality of 
 communion with Him, and calling him to a holy life. 
 
 On leaving Wanstead, Admiral Penn went with his 
 family to live on a large estate near Cork, in Ireland, 
 which had been given him by Cromwell for services 
 rendered. Here his son pursued his studies under the 
 care of a tutor. 
 
 In an account w^hich William Penn is said to have given 
 of some of the circumstances of his early life, it is stated, 
 " That while he was but a child, living near Cork with his 
 father, Thomas Loe came thither. When it was rumored 
 a Quaker was come from England, his father proposed to 
 some others to be like the noble Bereans, and hear him 
 before they judged him. He accordingly sent to Thomas 
 Loe to come to his house, where he had a meeting in the 
 family. Though William was very young, he observed 
 what effect Thomas Loe's preaching had on the hearers. 
 A black servant of his father's could not restrain himself 
 from weeping aloud ; and little William, looking on his 
 father, saw the tears running down his cheeks also. Ho 
 then thought within himself, ' What if they would all be 
 Quakers!' This opportunity he never quite forgot; the 
 remembrance of it still recurring at times." 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 9 
 
 When a little over fifteen years of age, William Penn 
 entered as '' a gentleman commoner " at Oxford, where he 
 remained three years, distinguishing himself as a hard 
 and successful student. We learn from himself that he 
 was preserved uncorrupted in the midst of the dissipations 
 and wickedness which abounded in the University. He 
 took great delight in manly sports, and in the society of 
 those young men who were distinguished for talents or 
 worth. Among those with whom he was intimate were 
 Robert Spencer, afterwards the well-known Earl of Sun- 
 derland, and the venerable John Locke. 
 
 After the Restoration, the court set to work to remodel 
 the University, by displacing those who held Puritanical 
 opinions, or who had found favor during the Common- 
 wealth, and installing others friendly to the re-established 
 church and the lax moral principles then prevailing. Dr. 
 Owen, conspicuous as a scholar and a strict religionist, 
 was ejected to make room for a royalist partisan ; and the 
 students became divided into parties, applauding or de- 
 nouncing the changes made. 
 
 There is reason to believe, from observations made by 
 William Penn himself, that throughout his youth he was. 
 repeatedly visited by the Dayspring from on high, bring- 
 ing him into serious thoughtfulness. While at college his 
 associates appear to have been those of a religious cast of 
 character like kimself, who had probably been influenced 
 by the teaching and advice of Dr. Owen. It so happened 
 that while much controversy was going on among the 
 scholars relative to religious opinions and practices, 
 Thomas Loe, who had belonged to the University, and 
 had now joined the Society of Friends, came to Oxford, 
 
10 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and held several meetings. To these meetings William 
 Penn and his associates went, and a deep impression was 
 made upon their minds by the powerful preaching of this 
 devoted servant of Christ. They declined being present 
 at what were now the regular "services" of the college, 
 and held private meetings for worship and religious ex- 
 hortation and prayer ; and for this they were fined. When 
 an order came down from Charles the Second that the 
 surplice should be worn, according.to the custom of ancient 
 times, which was an unusual sight then at that University, 
 they refused to wear them, and tore them off those they 
 met. How far William Penn was implicated in this is 
 not known; but his course gave great offence, and he was 
 expelled the University with his associates. 
 
 When he returned home his father received him coldly. 
 Indeed, he could not be otherwise than displeased with his 
 son, on account of the public disgrace which he had thus 
 incurred ; but that which vexed him most was the change 
 now observable in his habits, for he began to abandon 
 what was called the fashionable world, and to mix only 
 with serious and religious people. The Admiral was 
 fearful that all the prospects in life which he had formed 
 for his son, and which he could have promoted by his 
 great connections, would be done away. Anxious, there- 
 fore, to recover him, he had recourse to persuasion and 
 argument. This failing, like one accustomed to arbitrary 
 power, he proceeded to blows ; and the latter failing also, 
 he turned him out of doors. 
 
 The Admiral, after a procedure so violent, began at 
 length to relent. His wife, an amiable woman, lost no" 
 opportunity of intercession. Overcome, therefore, by "his 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 11 
 
 own affectionate nature on the one hand, and by her 
 entreaties on the other, he forgave his son. But he was 
 desirous of meeting the evil for the future, and he saw no 
 other means of doing it than by sending his son to France. 
 He indulged a hope that the change of scene might wean 
 him from his old connections, and that the gayety of 
 French manners might correct the growing gravity of 
 his mind. Accordingly, in 1662, he sent him to that 
 country in company with certain persons of rank who 
 were then going upon their travels. The place where he 
 first resided was Paris. 
 
 Though William Penn was kept pure in the midst of 
 the seductions of this gay and licentious metropolis, it 
 furnished little society calculated to strengthen his pious 
 resolutions. He afterwards resided some time at Saumur, 
 where he went for the purpose of receiving instruction 
 from the celebrated Moses Amyrault, a learned Calvinistic 
 minister and professor of divinity, who was then held in 
 high estimation. Under this instructor he renewed his 
 studies, read the ancient fathers as well as the modern 
 works of theology, and acquired an accurate knowledge 
 of the French language. After leaving Saumur, he pro- 
 ceeded towards Italy, but when he arrived at Turin a let- 
 ter from his father reached him, desiring his return home. 
 The Admiral having received orders to take command of 
 the fleet under the Duke of York against the Dutch, wished 
 to leave his family in the care of his son. William ac- 
 cordingly returned in 1664, having been absent about 
 two years. ,0n his return his father perceived not only 
 that he had become a good French scholar, but that he 
 brought with him the air and bearing of the courtly life 
 
12 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to which he had been introduced in Paris. His new asso- 
 ciations had in some degree worn off the seriousness of his 
 demeanor, so that his father supposed that he had gained 
 his point. At his suggestion he entered as a student of 
 law at Lincoln's Inn. While there his father sailed with 
 the fleet, and he accompanied him for a few days. His 
 letter on landing at Harwich shows the affectionate re- 
 spect he had for his father. 
 
 "Honored Father: — We could not arrive here sooner 
 than this day, about twelve of the clock, by reason of the 
 continued cross winds, and, as I thought, foul weather. I 
 pray God, after all the foul weather and dangers you are 
 exposed to, and shall be, that you come home as secure. 
 And I bless God my heart does not in any way fail, 
 but firmly believe that if God has called you out to battle, 
 He will cover your head in that smoky da}^ And, as I 
 never knew what a father was till I had wisdom enough 
 to prize him, so I can safely say that now, of all times, 
 your concerns are most dear to me." 
 
 The Admiral made his son bearer of a despatch to King 
 Charles. This was no doubt his first official visit to White- 
 hall, but that he must have been well known to the king 
 appears by his letter to his father reporting the delivery 
 of the despatch. His letter closes with- these words : 
 
 " I pray God be with you, and be your armor in the 
 day of controversy! May that power be your salvation, 
 for his name's sake. And so will he wish and i»ray, that 
 is with all true veneration, honored father, 
 
 " Your obedient son and servant, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 13 
 
 He continued at Lincoln's Inn about a year, until the 
 great plague which prevailed in London in 1665 induced 
 him to leave the city. The awful scenes of death deeply 
 impressed him. The Holy Spirit again broke up his false 
 rest and showed him the emptiness of worldly grandeur 
 and honor, and wooed him to leave all and follow Christ. 
 
 William Penn's worldly prospects were highly flatter- 
 ing to the natural ambition of a young- and ardent mind. 
 He possessed a manly form blooming with health, a lively 
 and active disposition, a ready wit and talents improved 
 by great literary and scientific attainments, and many 
 rich and powerful* friends. These, added to his father's 
 interest at court, and his intimacy with the Duke of York, 
 presumptive heir to the crown, as well as the solicitations 
 of numerous friends, strongly inclined him to embrace the 
 glory and pleasures of this world, which might be said to 
 court his acceptance. But the glory and joy of the heav- 
 enly inheritance had taken possession of his mind ; and it 
 is evident from his own account that he was under deep 
 religious feeling, and panting after the more full disclosure 
 of divine Truth. 
 
 He had come from the continent with an air of gayety 
 and a show of polite manners which the Admiral had 
 mistaken for a great change in his mind. But now, in 
 1666, all volatile appearances had died away. He had 
 become again a serious person. He mixed again only 
 with grave and religious people. His father could not 
 but notice this change. Not easily to be vanquished, he 
 determined a second time to endeavor to break up his 
 son's connections, and, to effect this, he sent him to Ire- 
 laud. 
 
 2 
 
14 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 One reason which induced him to make choice of Ire- 
 land for this purpose, was his acquaintance with the Duke 
 of Ormond, who was then lord-lieutenant of that country, 
 as well as with several others who attended his court. 
 The duke himself was a man of a graceful appearance, 
 lively wit, and cheerful temper; and his court had the 
 reputation of great gayety and splendor. The Admiral 
 conceived, therefore, if his son were properly introduced 
 among his friends there, that he might even yet receive a 
 new bias and acquire a new taste. While there he joined 
 the duke's son, the Earl of Arran, in an expedition on which 
 he was sent to put down a mutiny of the garrison at 
 Carrickfergus, and was reported to have ''acquitted him- 
 self in that action to his no small reputation." He was 
 offered, and seemed inclined to accept, the command of the 
 fort at Kinsale in his father's place"; but it appears from 
 the following letter from his father that he did not fa- 
 vor it : 
 
 " Son William : — I have received two or three letters 
 from you since I wrote any to you. Besides my former 
 advice I can say nothing but advise to sobriety and all 
 those things that will speak you a Christian and a gentle- 
 man, which prudence may make to have the best consist- 
 ency. As to the tender made by his grace, the lord- 
 lieutenant, concerning the fort at Kinsale, I wish your 
 youthful desires mayn't outrun your discretion. His 
 grace may, for a time, dispense with my absence ; yours 
 he will not, for so he told me. God bless, direct, and pro- 
 tect you. Your very affectionate father, 
 
 W. Penn." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 15 
 
 But his religious impressions prevailed over the influ- 
 ences of court life, and he turned away with disgust from 
 the routine of its parade and ceremonies, and the unsatis- 
 fying round of its pleasures and gayeties. 
 
 Thus disappointed again in his expectations, Tbut not 
 yet overcome, the Admiral had recourse to another expe- 
 dient. He had large estates in Ireland, one of which, 
 comprehending Shannigary Castle, lay in the barony of 
 Imokelly, and the others in the baronies of Ibaune and 
 Barryroe, all of them in the county of Cork. He deter- 
 mined, therefore, to give his son the sole management of 
 these, knowing at least, while he resided upon them, that 
 he would be far from his English connections, and at any 
 rate that he would have ample employment for his time. 
 William received his new commission, and was happy in 
 the execution of it. He performed it, after a trial of many 
 •months, to the entire satisfaction, and even joy, of his 
 father ; and he was going on in the diligent performance 
 of it, when this, his very occupation, brought him eventu- 
 ally into the situation which his father of all others dep- 
 recated. Being accidentally on business at Cork, he 
 went into a shop kept by a woman, a Friend, whom he 
 had known when a boy. He made himself known, and 
 reminded her of the meeting held by Thomas Loe at his 
 father's house. On her expressing surprise at his mem- 
 ory of the circumstances, he said he could never forget 
 them, and that he would go a hundred miles to hear that 
 Friend speak. She told him he need not go so far, for he 
 was now in Cork, and was to have a meeting the next 
 day. It was impossible that he could return to his farm 
 without seeing the man whom he considered as his great- 
 
16 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 est human benefactor, and still more without hearing his 
 discourse. Accordingly he attended. The preacher began 
 with the text : " There is a faith which overcomes the 
 world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the 
 world." On this subject he enlarged, and this in so im- 
 pressive a manner that William was deeply affected. He 
 felt keenly that he had been allowing the world to over- 
 come the drawings of his Heavenly Father's love, and 
 wept much. 
 
 Reviewing his life some years afterwards, in an inter- 
 view with some pious persons, he says : '' I let them know 
 how and when the Lord first appeared unto me, which 
 was about the twelfth year of my age, and how at times, 
 between that and my fifteenth. He continued to visit me, 
 and the divine impressions He gave me of himself; of my 
 persecution at Oxford, and how the Lord sustained me in 
 the midst of the hellish darkness and debauchery of that 
 place ; of my being banished the college ; the bitter usage 
 I underwent when I returned to my father, whipping, 
 beating, and turning out of doors ; of the Lord's dealings 
 with me in France, and in the time of the. great plague 
 in London ; in fine, the deep sense He gave me of the 
 vanity of this world and of the irreligiousness of the 
 religions of it ; then of my mournful and bitter cries to 
 Him, that He would show me his own way of life and 
 salvation, and my resolution to follow Him whatever 
 reproaches or suffering it might cost me, and that with 
 great reverence and brokenness of spirit. How, after all 
 this, the glory of the world overtook me, and I was even 
 ready to give myself up unto it, seeing as yet no such 
 things as the primitive spirit and church on earth; and 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 17 
 
 being ready to faint concerning my hope of the restitution 
 of all things, 
 
 *' It was at this time that the Lord visited me with a 
 certain sound and testimony of his eternal Word, through 
 one of those the world calls Quakers, namely, Thomas 
 Loe. I related the bitter mockings and scornings that fell 
 upon me, the displeasure of my parents, the cruelty and 
 invective of the priests, the strangeness of all my com- 
 panions, and what a sign and wonder they made of me ; 
 but, above all, that great cross of resisting and watching 
 against my own vain affections and thoughts." 
 
 William Penn was so impressed by Thomas Loe's ser- 
 mon, and by an interview which he had afterwards with 
 him, that from that day he favored Friends as a religious 
 body, and began to attend their meetings. At one of 
 these, in the autumn of 166*7, he was apprehended on the 
 plea of a proclamation issued in 1660 against tumultuous 
 assemblies, and carried before the mayor. The latter, 
 looking at him and observing that he was not clothed 
 as others of the Society were, oifered him his liberty if he 
 would give bond for his good behavior. But not choosing 
 to do this, he was committed with eighteen others* to 
 prison. 
 
 He had not been there long when he wrote to Lord 
 Orrery, then president of the council of Munster, to re- 
 quest his release. We find in this letter nothing either 
 servile or degrading. It was written, on the other hand, 
 in a manly and yet decorous manner. '^ Beligion,^^ says 
 he, "which is at once my crime and mine innocence, makes 
 me a prisoner to a mayor's malice, but mine own free 
 man." "And though to dissent from a national system 
 2* • B 
 
18 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 imposed by authority renders men heretics, yet I dare be- 
 lieve your lordship is better read in reason and theology 
 than to subscribe a maxim so vulgar and untrue." *' But 
 I presume, my lord, the acquaintance you have had with 
 other countries must needs have furnished you with this 
 infallible observation, that diversities of faith and wor- 
 ship contribute not to the disturbance of any place, where 
 moral uniformity is barely requisite to preserve the peace." 
 This, his first appeal for religious toleration, of which the 
 foregoing are a few sentences, was followed by an imme- 
 diate order from the earl for his release. 
 
 The rumor that he had become a Quaker soon reached 
 his father. It was conveyed to him by a nobleman then 
 resident in Ireland, who addressed him purposely on the 
 subject. The Admiral on the receipt of this letter sent 
 for his son. William immediately obeyed, and returned 
 home. At the first interview all appeared to be well. 
 There was nothing discoverable in his dress or manners 
 by which the information sent concerning him could be 
 judged to be true. But observing on the next day that 
 his son did not uncover his head when he came into his 
 presence (in those days men generally wore their hats in 
 the house), and that he used thee and thou when address- 
 ing him, the Admiral demanded an explanation. 
 
 " And here," says Joseph Besse, (the first collector of 
 the works of William Penn with a Journal of his Life 
 prefixed,) ''my pen is diffident of her abilities to describe 
 that most pathetic and moving contest which was between 
 his father and him : his father actuated by natural love, 
 principally aiming at his son's temporal honor ; he, guided 
 by a divine impulse, having chiefly in view his own eter- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 19 
 
 nal welfare : his father, grieved to see the well acconi' 
 plished son of his hopes, now ripe for worldly promotion, 
 voluntarily turning his back upon it ; he, no less afflicted 
 to think a compliance with his earthly father's pleasures was 
 inconsistent with his obedience to his heavenly one : his 
 father pressing his conformity to the customs and fashions 
 of the times ; he, modestly craving leave to refrain from 
 what would hurt his conscience: his father earnestly en- 
 treating him, and almost on his knees beseeching him, to 
 •yield to his desire ; he, of a loving and tender disposition, 
 in an extreme agony of spirit to behold his father's con- 
 cern and trouble : his father threatening to disinherit him ; 
 he, humbly submitting to his father's will therein : his 
 father turning his back on him in anger ; he, lifting up 
 his heart to Grod for strength to support him in that time 
 of trial." 
 
 The Admiral, after this, gave up all thoughts of alter- 
 ing the general views of his son. He hoped only to be 
 able to prevail upon him to give up certain peculiarities 
 which appeared to have little to do with conscience, and 
 to be used merely as the distinguishing marks of a sect. 
 He therefore told his son that he would trouble him no 
 more on the subject of his conversion, if he would only 
 consent to take his hat off in his own presence, and in 
 that of the king and the Duke of York. William, on re- 
 ceiving the proposition, desired time to consider of it. 
 This agitated his father. He had no conception that the 
 subject of his solicitation required thought. He became 
 immediately suspicious, and told his son that he had only 
 asked for time that he might consult his friends the Quak- 
 ers. William assured his father that he would do no such 
 
20 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 thing ; and having pledged his word to this effect, he left 
 him, and retired to his own chamber to pour out his soul 
 in prayer for direction, and strength to follow it. 
 
 It will be asked by some, what necessity there could 
 be, in a matter apparently so trivial, to retire either for 
 serious meditation or for Divine help ? In his view it was 
 a question of principle, involving, as he believed, his obedi- 
 ence to God, and nothing of this character was too small 
 to be carefully regarded by a mind divinely aAvakened, as 
 was his. Uncovering the head is the mode by which 
 Friends, in conformity with the practice of the primitive 
 Christians, indicated their reverence to the Supreme Being, 
 when they approached Him in the solemn act of praj^er ; 
 and as they believed that the pride of man induced him 
 to claim it as a token of respect to himself, they therefore 
 felt themselves conscientiously restrained from giving it. 
 
 The custom, moreover, leads to repeated acts of insin- 
 cerity as an expression of respect which often is not felt 
 or deserved. It is often a sign of flattery which hurts 
 both giver and receiver, and leads to making distinctions 
 on account of social position between those who are 
 equally worthy in the Divine sight. 
 
 William Penn loved his father and respected him. 
 He was sensible of the duty he owed him as a parent, 
 but he was equally sensible of a superior duty to God. 
 He was made to feel that his peace of mind and religious 
 growth were dependent upon his faithfulness, and found 
 himself compelled to inform his father that he could not 
 accede to his request. This he did with expressions of 
 the greatest tenderness and affection, as well as of filial 
 submission. The Admiral heard his answer, but could 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 21 
 
 not bear it. Unable to gain tlie least concession from 
 his son, and in a point where he judged it impossible that 
 persons bred up as gentlemen could disagree, he gave wa}^ 
 to his anger, and in the violence of the blast which fol- 
 lowed it, he once more turned him out of doors. 
 
 He was now thrown upon the wide world. Having no 
 independent fortune of his own, and having been brought 
 up to no trade or profession, he had not the means of 
 getting his livelihood like other people. This sudden 
 change from affluence to poverty could not but at first 
 have affected him ; but the thought of having broken the 
 peace of mind, however innocently, of his father, and of 
 being apparently at variance with him, was that which 
 occasioned him the most pain. He is said to have borne 
 his situation with great resignation, deriving support from 
 the belief that they who left houses and parents for the 
 kingdom of God's sake, should eventually reap their re- 
 ward. He began, however, to find that even in his tem- 
 poral state he was not deserted. His mother kept up a 
 communication with him privately, furnishing him as well 
 as she could from her own purse ; and several kind friends 
 administered also to his wants. 
 
22 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 II. 
 
 ABOUT the year 1668, being then in the twenty-fourth 
 year of his age, William Penn, having passed through 
 many deep exercises and probations, both inwardly and 
 outw^ardly ; having parted with all that the world holds 
 dear for Christ's sake, and been made a partaker of the 
 powers of the world to come, a gift in the ministry of the 
 gospel of life and salvation was dispensed to him by the 
 head of the Church. Animated with an ardent concern 
 for the everlasting welfare of his fellow-creatures, his 
 heart warmed with divine love, and reaching forth in 
 good will towards all without distinction of name or party, 
 he became a zealous, indefatigable, and effectual laborer in 
 the vineyard of his divine Master. 
 
 The following letter, written about this time to a young 
 person of his acquaintance, will serve to show his solici- 
 tude for others, and his Christian plainness : 
 
 "Navy Office, 10th of the Fifth month, 1668. 
 " Friend : — It was a true word spoken by Jesus Christ 
 to undeceive the careless, wanton Jews, among whom He 
 manifested his glorious Truth, through that body prepared 
 of God for that very end, that the way which leads to 
 everlasting life and rest is straight and narrow. My 
 friend, how much it concerns the welfare of thy immortal 
 Boul to reflect upon the course of life and way thou now 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 23 
 
 art walking in, before an evident stroke from heaven call 
 thee hence, and send thy so much indulged flesh and 
 blood into the grave, 
 
 " Well, my friend, this know, and by these shalt thou 
 be judged, and in it I am clear, that as without holiness 
 none can see God, so without subjection to that Spirit, 
 Light, or Grace in the heart, which God in love hath 
 made to appear to all, that teacheth to deny all ungodli- 
 ness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, 
 and godly in this present world; I say, without subjection 
 hereunto, there is no" attaining to that holiness which 
 will give thee an entrance into his presence, in which is 
 joy and pleasure forever. Examine thyself, how remote 
 thou art from the guidings and instructions of this Spirit 
 cf grace, who canst countenance this age in frequenting 
 their wicked and vain sports, plays, and entertainments, 
 conforming thyself to ridiculous customs, and making one 
 at idle talking, and vain jesting, wheresoever thou comest, 
 not considering thou shalt account to God for every idle 
 word. And let all thy frolicking associates know the day 
 is hastening in which they shall not abide the presence of 
 Him that sits upon the throne. It shall be a time of hor- 
 ror, amazement, and distress. Then shall they know there 
 is a righteous, holy Judge of all. 
 
 '' Retire from the noise and clatter of tempting visibles, 
 to the beholding Him who is invisible, that He may reign 
 in thy soul, God over all, exalted and blessed forever. Tare- 
 welL I am thy well-wishing, real friend, 
 
 AViLLiAM Penn." 
 
 Almost as soon as he had identified himself with tho 
 
24 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 Society of Friends, he felt himself called to be a defender 
 of their religious belief against public attacks. In this 
 year Jonathan Clapham published a work called "A Guide 
 to True Eeligion," in which he set forth certain articles 
 as the true Christian creed^ declaring all who did not 
 assent to them incapable of salvation, and inveighing 
 with severity against the doctrines of the Friends. Wil- 
 liam Penn in reply wrote '' The Guide Mistaken," from 
 which a few passages are taken. 
 
 " Thou must not, reader, from my querying thus, con- 
 clude we do deny (as he hath falsely charged us) those 
 glorious three which bear record in heaven, the Father, 
 AVord, and Spirit, neither the Infinity, Eternity, and Di- 
 vinity of Jesus Christ, for we know that He is the mighty 
 God ; nor what the Father sent his Son to do on the be- 
 half of lost man ; declaring to the whole world, we know 
 no other name, by which atonement, salvation, and plen- 
 teous redemption comes ; but by his name are, according 
 to our measures, made sensible of its mighty power. 
 
 " His next accusation is, That they extol the light in all 
 men, as the only sufficient rule to walk by, to the appar- 
 ent slighting of Scriptures and preaching. 
 
 " Reader, if yet thou art a stranger to this Light, let me 
 beseech thee once to observe it in thyself, and tell me 
 then if it has not that divine quality to discern between 
 the precious and the vile, and manifest every thought, 
 word, and act; whether it is well-pleasing, or the con- 
 trary, to the great God ? If it be criminal to own those 
 Scriptures he falsely says we slight, the case is changed, 
 otherwise, we all confess that God is light, and that He 
 hath enlightened every man ; by heeding and obeying the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENJS". 25 
 
 dictates of which we may be preserved in that capacity, as 
 the same Scripture says, which shall bring us into the 
 pure fellowship, and that the blood of Jesus shall cleanse 
 us from all sin. Nor do they own a principle in the 
 clouds, but above all people, have demonstrated the 
 power and authority of their principle by that redemp- 
 tion it has wrought for them, and the alteration it has 
 made from that condition which nakedly exposed their 
 immortal souls to the snares and entanglements of this 
 world's perishing glories, to experience the blood which 
 cleanseth from all iniquity, the unspeakable peace of per- 
 fect reconciliation with God. 
 
 "And for his confident affirming we slight both Scrip- 
 tures and preaching, I have this to say. That as there is not 
 any who discover more respect for them, by a conformity 
 of life to what they require, so do they both read, and as 
 often quote them in preaching or declaration as any who 
 profess them for their rule. 
 
 " His fifth reflection is. Our openly denying the doctrine 
 of the Trinity. But methinks it would become him who 
 is reproving others for not paying that respect they ought 
 unto the Scriptures, to be a little more exemplary in using 
 their unquestionable phrase and sound expression, for I 
 am altogether ignorant of any Scripture that mentions 
 that word Trinity ; yet if by Trinity he understands those 
 three witnesses in. heaven. Father, Word, and Spirit, he 
 should have better acquainted himself with what we dis- 
 own, than thus ignorantly to blaze abroad our open denial 
 of what we most absolutely credit and believe. 
 
 " His next slander runs thus : The person of Jesus 
 Christ, as to his human nature, with all his offices assigned 
 3 
 
26 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to Him by his Father, they utterly reject, though this la 
 an arcanum that is kept hid from their novices. 
 
 " Fain would he here insinuate hard thoughts concerning 
 an inoffensive people ; whilst in reality they own no other 
 name by which salvation is obtainable than the Christ of 
 God; and all the offices that ever were assigned Him by 
 his Father are by them acknowledged; and so remote are 
 they from hiding their sentiments, that whosoever will 
 but give himself the time of frequenting their meetings, 
 or perusing their books, will soon perceive how very far 
 this character is wide of truth. 
 
 " His next report is, we call not upon God in the name 
 and mediation of Jesus Christ. But, reader, assure thy- 
 self, the Quakers never knew any other name than that 
 of Jesus Christ, through which to find acceptance with the 
 Lord ; nor is it by any other than Jesus, the Mediator of 
 the new covenant, by whom they expect redemption, and 
 may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. 
 
 " He further says : They trust not in his death for par- 
 don and salvation, but in a pretended sinless perfection. 
 
 '' They are so far from disowning the death and sufferings 
 of Christ that there is not a people on the earth that so 
 assuredly witness and demonstrate a fellowship therewith, 
 confessing before men and angels that Christ died for the 
 sins of the world, and gave his life a ransom. Perfection 
 from sin they hold attainable, because he that is born of 
 God sins not, and that nothing which is unclean can enter 
 the kingdom of God ; no crown without victory ; the little 
 leaven leavens the whole lump; the strong man must be 
 cast out. Paul prays they might be sanctified wholly; be 
 ye perfect as God is perfect ; be perfect, be of good com- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 27 
 
 fort ; unto a perfect man ; as many as be perfect ; that the 
 man of God may be perfect ; the God of peace make you 
 perfect in every good work; the God of all grace make 
 you perfect ; let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 
 flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God ; 
 leaving those things behind, let us go on unto perfection, 
 and this will we do if God permit. If perfection were 
 unattainable, it would be strange that the Scriptures 
 should speak of such a state, and very preposterous that 
 Paul, Peter, etc., should so solicit and pray for the ancient 
 saints, that they might come thither, even to the spirits 
 of just men made perfect ; nay, he positively avouches to 
 have arrived there, at the heavenly Jerusalem, at the 
 church of the first-born, etc. 
 
 " The doctrine of the resurrection of the just and unjust, 
 last judgment, heaven and hell, as future rewards; they 
 believe and confess : — And, as my faithful testimony both 
 to their life and doctrine, I declare, and be it known to all 
 that ever knew me, that when the unspeakable riches of 
 God's love visited me, by the call of his glorious light, 
 from the dark practices, wandering notions, and vain con- 
 versations of this polluted world, and that my heart was 
 influenced thereby, and consequently disposed for the more 
 intimate and sincere reception of it; those very habits, 
 which once I judged impossible, whilst here, to have re- 
 linquished, and did allow myself a liberty therein, because 
 not openly gross or scandalous, became not only burden- 
 some, and by that light were manifested to be of another 
 nature than that which I was called to the participation 
 of; but in my faithful adherence to its holy counsel and 
 instructions, I was immediately endued with a power that 
 
28 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 gave dominion over them. And being in measure redeemed 
 from that to which the curse is pronounced, I sensibly 
 enjoyed the blessings that attended a reconciliation. 
 
 " And never since I have been conversant with their 
 principles have I found one article that did not receive a 
 full and satisfactory assent from that very grace, spirit, or 
 light of God which first called me from the gross impieties, 
 vain entertainments, tempting glories, and will-worships 
 of this generation. As I have the seal of God's eternal 
 spirit of love upon my soul as an infallible assurance, so, 
 since my first frequenting of them and their assemblies, I 
 have observed that holy, innocent, and righteous conver- 
 sation which harmonizes with the severity, circumspection, 
 and self-denying life of the Gospel; and testify (as revealed 
 from God) that since those centuries in which the apostasy 
 eclipsed the beauty of the primitive light there has not 
 been so glorious a discovery of spiritual, pure, and evan- 
 gelical worship, life, and doctrine as God hath, in his 
 loving-kindness, raised the so much despised Quakers to 
 own, practise, and declare amongst the nations ; as the 
 good old way of holiness that leads from intemperance, 
 vanity, pride, oppression, and the love of this world's 
 perishing glories, to that everlasting joy and rest which 
 is reserved for the people of the most high God. 
 
 " In short, they are sound in principle, zealous for God, 
 devout in worship, earnest in prayer, constant in profession, 
 harmless and exemplary in their lives, patient in sufferings, 
 orderly in their affairs, few in words, punctual in dealings, 
 merciful to enemies, self-denying as to this world's delights 
 and enjoyments ; and to sum up all, standards for the God 
 of heaven, against the pride, cruelty, lust, avarice, etc., of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 29 
 
 this godless generation, whom the unborn shall call 
 blessed when their testimonies are finished, and they 
 gathered into the unspeakable solace and possession of 
 God's eternal presence." 
 
 About this time he attended the death-bed of Thomas 
 Loe. This eminent minister, we may remember, had been 
 the messenger of good to William Penn while at Oxford; 
 and it was by his powerful ministry that he was afterwards 
 convinced. 
 
 The following account of the last hours of his beloved 
 and venerated friend is found in a letter of William Penn 
 to Isaac Penington. 
 
 *' I found him in readiness to depart. Friends, much 
 affected, stood around his bed. When I came in and had 
 set myse-lf upon the bedside, so shook was he by the power 
 of the Lord, and overcome by the ravishing glory of his 
 presence, that it was wonderful to airthe Friends. Taking 
 me by the hand, he spoke thus : ' Dear heart, bear thy 
 cross, stand faithful for God and bear thy testimony in thy 
 day and generation ; and God will give thee an eternal 
 crown of glory that none shall ever take from thee. There 
 is not another way. Bear thy cross. Stand faithful for 
 God. This is the way the holy men of old walked in ; 
 and it shall prosper. God has brought immortality to 
 light, and immortal life is felt in its blessedness. My 
 heart is full. My cup runs over. Glory, glory to his 
 name forever I Friends, keep your testimonies. Live to 
 God and He will be with you. Be not troubled. The 
 love of God overcomes my heart.' 
 
 "It effected more than all the outward potions given 
 him ; for it so enlivened his spirits and raised him that he 
 3* 
 
80 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 soon after got up and walked about, saying- to us, ' Many 
 times when I have seemed to be going the Lord has shined 
 upon my tabernacle and raised it up.' 
 
 "But it was, then, the will of the Lord that, after all 
 his labor, perils, and travels, he should there lay down his 
 body amongst his ancient friends. He lay some time 
 speechless, his spirit being centred ; and at last he w^ent 
 away with great stillness, having finished his testimony, 
 and left many demonstrations of his service and much 
 fruit of his diligent labor. My soul loved him while living, 
 and now bemoans his loss when dead. The da}^ following, 
 we laid the mortal part in the ground, it having done its 
 Master's work." 
 
 About the same time William Penn was involved in a 
 controversy which occasioned him no small share of trouble. 
 The seventeenth century is known to have been a period 
 remarkable for the dissensions which existed in England 
 among the different professions of religion. An extraor- 
 dinary interest in relation to the concerns of salvation 
 seemed to be awakened, and many were earnestly seeking 
 after the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus. Public 
 disputes on-doctrinal subjects were very common, and were 
 too often managed with an acrimony and rudeness incon- 
 sistent with that divine charity which is peaceable., gentle, 
 and easy to be entreated. The Society of Friends, then 
 in its infancy, had greatly increased in numbers, and 
 attracted considerable attention. Its doctrines were but; 
 little understood and much misrepresented, and its mem- 
 bers were therefore frequently engaged in defending them- 
 selves from the aspersions of their enemies, often in public 
 disputes. 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 31 
 
 Two of the hearers of Thomas Yincent, the pastor of a 
 Presbyterian congregation in Spital fields, going one day 
 to a meeting of Friends, were convinced of the truth of 
 their doctrines, and joined the Society. Yincent took 
 offence at this, and showed his displeasure by charging 
 the Society with entertaining "the most erroneous and 
 damnable doctrines." William Penn, coming to the knowl- 
 edge of these circumstances, demanded an opportunity of 
 clearing the Society of the accusation where it had been 
 made, and, after some difficulty, the promise of a conference 
 in the Presbyterian meeting-house w^as obtained. 
 
 At the time named, he and George Whitehead came ; 
 but Thomas Yincent had taken care to have the house pre- 
 occupied by his usual auditory, and had three of his clerical 
 brethren to assist and support him in the expected discus- 
 sion. As Friends had been publicly charged with holding 
 erroneous and dangerous doctrines, George Whitehead 
 attempted, soon after the opening of the meeting, to explain 
 to the audience what their doctrines really were. To this 
 Yincent objected, and insisted upon deducing their prin- 
 ciples from their answers to such questions as he should 
 propound to them. Being supported in his plan by the 
 company, who were chiefly his own hearers, he began to 
 catechise them. 
 
 The following syllogism, which Yincent used, may serve 
 as a specimen of the mode of argument employed in that 
 age of religious controversy. 
 
 " There are three that bear record in heaven : the 
 Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three 
 are one. 
 
 " These are either three manifestations, three operations, 
 
S2 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 tbree satetances^ or three sonseiiiiiig else besides sub- 
 
 "Bat they are not three manifestatioii^ three opera- 
 tions, thiee sabsttnces, nor three anything else besides 
 s'-ibsisiences. 
 
 " Ergo, three sabastences.'' 
 
 George Whitehead desired an eizplanation of the terms, 
 *' inasmndi as God does not choctse to wrap up his truths 
 in heathrai^ metaphysics, bat in plain langnage.^ 
 
 A pat>tracted and desultory discossion ensaed, in which 
 mach w^is said bat nothing- settled. Ma^iy of the company 
 behaTed rudely, manifesting: by their lerity and abusire 
 language, not only a want of religioas sobriety, bat of 
 common ciriKty. After the dispute, for such it soon be- 
 came, had continued till late at night, Thomas Tincent 
 suddenly fell to prayer, in the coarse of which he charged 
 the Friends present with being Uasphemers against God ; 
 and as soon as he had finished he requested the company 
 to dL^jerse, setting them the example by retiring with his 
 three associates. As William Penn and Creorge White- 
 head had not obtained the defied opportunity of vindicat- 
 ing themselres and their f^ncipks, they disregarded this 
 request, and a number of the company remaining together, 
 ahhough the candles had been put out, they spoke for some 
 time in the dark in defence of their principles, and in reply 
 to the charges which had been thought against them. 
 Thomas Tincent, finding the company had not dispersed, 
 returned to them, and urged a dismission of the assembly. 
 To this demand Friends acceded, npon his promising to 
 afford them another meeting. 
 
 After waiting sometime for the fulfilment of his prom- 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXX. 33 
 
 ise, William Penn and George Whitehead went to his 
 meeting on a lecture day, and having waited till the 
 service was over, requested an opportunity of clearing 
 themselves from the aspersions which had been cast upon 
 them. But Tincent would neither retract the charges he 
 had made, nor afford them the opportunity of vindicating 
 themselves. 
 
 William Penn, therefore, wrote in reply " The Sandy 
 Foundation Shaken, or the generally belie ved doctrines 
 of our Lord subsisting in three distinct and separate 
 persons; the impossibility of God's pardoning sinners 
 without a plenary satisfaction; and the justification of 
 imp/ure persons by an imputative righteousness refuted." 
 
 Of this controversy and the essay which grew out of it 
 we may observe, that the method Thomas Yincent adopted 
 to establish his charges of erroneous doctrines against 
 Friends was to bring them to deny some of those opinions 
 which he and his fellow-professors held to be fundamental 
 truths. The dispute, therefore, turned not so much on the 
 doctrines of Friends, as upon those of the Presbyterians, 
 or at least upon those which Thomas Tincent and his co- 
 adjutors proposed. The object which William Penn de- 
 signed to effect by the pamphlet in question, consequently, 
 was to*prove that the doctrines, as stated by his opponent, 
 were not sound and scriptural, rather than to illustrate his 
 o^v'n. He was then a young man about twenty-four years 
 of age, had but recently become a professor in the Society 
 of Friends, was well versed in the learning of the schools, 
 possessed a very acute, discriminating mind, and having 
 embraced the religion of the Quakers with all his heart, 
 was full of zeal; it is therefore not surprising that he 
 
 C 
 
84 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 followed his opponent upon the ground which he took, and 
 exposed his absurdities and contradictions by arguments 
 and illustrations, which have very little, if any, connection 
 with the doctrines of Friends. 
 
 It may be fairly admitted that some of the arguments 
 advanced partake more of the metaphysical than the evan- 
 gelical character. But they were elicited by the questions 
 and arguments of his opponents. In a subsequent period 
 of his life we find William Penn expressing very clearly 
 his disapprobation of the practice to which the theological 
 disputants of that day were too much addicted, and of 
 which the course pursued by Thomas Yincent and his co- 
 adjutors is a striking example. 
 
 Being intent upon the exposure of Thomas Yincent's 
 notion of distinct and separate personality, he directed his 
 attention in the body of the work strictly to that object. 
 Yet, as if he was apprehensive that his manner of treating 
 the subject might incur the imputation of denying the 
 scriptural doctrine of the three that bear record in heaven, 
 he distinctly repels this imputation in these words: 
 ''Mistake me not — we never have disowned a Father, 
 Word, and Spirit, which are One; but men's inventions." 
 
 With regard to the other two subjects embraced in the 
 title, it may be observed that the stress of the arguments 
 lay in the impossibility of pardon being extended to sinners 
 without a plenary and rigid satisfaction, and in the justi- 
 fication of sinners by imputed righteousness, while they 
 continued in their sins. To these points William Penn 
 directed his arguments without in the smallest degree in- 
 validating the virtue or benefits to the penitent and return- 
 ing sinner, of that most acceptable propitiatory sacrifice 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 35 
 
 which our Saviour offered upon the cross for the sins of 
 mankind. This is apparent from the work itself, in 
 w^hich he quotes several passages of Scripture where this 
 precious doctrine is clearly enforced; but also from the 
 following extract from a letter which he wrote in reply 
 to some exceptions taken to " The Sandy Foundation 
 Shaken." 
 
 " I say that Jesus Christ w^as a sacrifice for sin, that 
 He was set forth to be a propitiation for the sins of the 
 whole world ; to declare God's righteousness for the re- 
 mission of sins that are past, etc., to all that repented and 
 had faith in his Son. Therein the love of God appeared, 
 that He declared his good will thereby to be reconciled ; 
 Christ bearing away the sins that are. past, as the scape- 
 goat did of old, not excluding inward work ; for, till that 
 is begun, none can be benefited, though it is not the work, 
 but God's free love that remits 'and blots out, of which, 
 the death of Christ, and his sacrificing of himself, was a 
 most certain declaration and confirmation. In short, that 
 declared remission, to all who believe and obey, for the 
 sins that are past ; which is the first part of Christ's 
 work (as it is a king's to pardon a traitor, before he ad- 
 vanceth him), and hitherto the acquittance imputes a 
 righteousness (inasmuch as men, on true repentance, are 
 imputed as clean of guilt as if they had never sinned), and 
 thus far justified ; but the completing of this, by the work- 
 ing out of sin inherent, must be by the power and Spirit 
 of Christ in the heart, destroying the old man and his 
 deeds, and bringing in the new and everlasting righteous- 
 ness. So, that which I writ against, is such doctrine as 
 extended Christ's death and obedience, not to the first, 
 
36 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 but this second part of justification ; not the pacifying- [of] 
 conscience, as to past sin ; but to complete salvation, with- 
 out cleansing and purging, from all filthiness of flesh and 
 spirit, by the internal operation of his holy power and 
 Spirit." 
 
 The work when it was published gave great offence. 
 Among the offended persons were some of the prelates, 
 of whom the Bishop of London was the most conspicuous. 
 By these men it was made a subject of public animadver- 
 sion, and an order was procured for the arrest of the au- 
 thor, and his imprisonment in the Tower. 
 
 In his new habitation he was treated with great sever- 
 ity. He was not only kept in close confinement, but his 
 friends were denied access to him. He was informed that 
 the Bishop of London had resolved that he should either 
 publicly retract his opinions or die a prisoner. He answered, 
 *' All is well. I wish they had told me so before, since the 
 expecting of a release put a stop to some business ; thou 
 mayst tell my father, who I know will ask thee, these 
 words : that my prison shall be my grave before I will 
 budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man; 
 I have no need to fear, God will make amends for all ; 
 they are mistaken in me ; I value not their threats and 
 resolutions, for they shall know I can weary out their 
 malice and peevishness, and in me they shall all behold a 
 resolution above fear, conscience above cruelty, and a baf- 
 fle put to all their designs by the spirit of patience, the 
 companion of all the tribulated flock of the blessed Jesus, 
 who is the author and finisher of the faith that overcomes 
 the world, yea, death and hell, too. Neither great nor 
 good things are ever attained without loss and hardships. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENI^. 37 
 
 He that would reap and not labor, must faint with the 
 wind and perish in disappointments ; but an hair of my 
 head shall not fall without the providence of my Father 
 that is over all." 
 
 He wrote a letter to Sir Henry Bennett, Lord Arling- 
 ton, then principal secretary of state, by whose warrant 
 he was committed to prison. In this letter he denies the 
 charges which had been brought against him, attributes 
 the zeal shown by his persecutors to malice and ignorance, 
 and requests that he may be restored to his liberty, as 
 being imprisoned without just cause or proper examina- 
 tion of his case. 
 
 He says: " What if I differ from some religious appre- 
 hensions? Am I therefore incompatible with human so- 
 cieties? Shall it not be remeuibered with what success 
 kingdoms and commonwealths have lived under the bal- 
 ance of divers parties ? " "I know not any unfit for po- 
 litical society, but those who maintain principles subver- 
 sive of industry, fidelity, justice, and obedience;" ''but 
 to conceit that men must form their faith of things proper 
 to another world, according to the prescriptions of other 
 mortal men of this, is both ridiculous and dangerous." 
 
 " The understanding can never be convinced by other 
 arguments than what are adequate to its own nature. 
 Force may make hypocrites, but it can make no converts." 
 " If I am at any time convinced, I will pay the homage 
 of it to truth, and not to base hypocrisy." 
 
 He requests the liberty of presenting his case to the 
 king, and of clearing himself before him of the accusa- 
 tions of his enemies ; and, finally, if that request should be 
 denied, that Sir Henry Bennett himself would allow him 
 4 
 
38 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 an opportunity of vindicating his innocence ; but he adds, 
 '* I malve no apology for my letter, as a trouble, the usual 
 style of supplicants, because I think the honor that will 
 accrue to thee by being just, and releasing the oppressed, 
 exceeds the advantages that can succeed to me.'' 
 
 It appears that his commitment was altogether arbi- 
 trary — that he was detained as a state prisoner, and not 
 even informed of the accusation on which his imprison- 
 ment was founded His request to be brought before the 
 king, or the secretary of state, to be informed of the of- 
 fence laid to his charge, and permitted to vindicate his 
 innocence, was disregarded. Having waited for some 
 time in expectation of the desired opportunity, he re- 
 sumed his pen, and produced a small tract, by way of apol- 
 ogy or explanation of '' The Sandy Foundation Shaken." 
 This he entitled '' Innocency with her open Face." In that 
 tract he reviewed the subjects discussed in the former, and 
 explained himself more clearly on some points which had 
 been misunderstood. 
 
 Of the cause of his confinement, he remarks : 
 " That which I am credibly informed to be the greatest 
 reason for my imprisonment, and that noise of blasphemy 
 which hath pierced so many ears of late, is my denying 
 the Divinity of Christ, and divesting Him of his eternal 
 Godhead ; which most busily hath been suggested, as well 
 to those in authority as maliciously insinuated amongst 
 the people." He then enters into an argument of con- 
 siderable length, to prove the Godhead of Jesus Christ, 
 which he thus concludes: ''In short, this conclusive argu- 
 ment for the proof of Christ, the Saviour's, being God, 
 should certainly persuade all sober persons of my inno- 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 39 
 
 cency, and my adversaries' malice. He that is the ever- 
 lasting Wisdom, Divine Power, the true Light, the only 
 Saviour, the creating Word of all things, whether visible 
 or invisible, and their upholder by his own power, is, 
 without contradiction, God ; but all these qualifications, 
 and Divine properties, are, by the concurrent testimonies 
 of Scripture, ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ ; there- 
 fore, without a scruple, I call and believe Him really to 
 be the mighty God." 
 
 On the other points, he says : " However positively I 
 may reject my adversaries' unscriptural and imaginary 
 satisfaction, let all know this, that I pretend to know no 
 other name by which remission, atonement, and salvation 
 can be obtained, but Jesus Christ, the Saviour, who is the 
 power and wisdom of God." " As for justification by an 
 imputed righteousness, I still say, that whosoever believes 
 in Christ, shall have remission and justification ; but then 
 it must be such a faith as can no more live without works 
 than a body without a spirit ; wherefore I conclude that 
 true faith comprehends evangelical obedience." 
 
 His belief is summed up in the following declaration : 
 " I sincerely own, and unfeignedly believe, by virtue of 
 the sound knowledge and experience received from the 
 gift of that holy unction and Divine grace, inspired from 
 on high, in one holy, just, merciful. Almighty, and eter- 
 nal God, who is the Father of all things ; who appeared 
 to the holy patriarchs and prophets of old at sundry 
 times and in divers manners; and in one Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the everlasting Wisdom, Divine Power, true 
 Light, only Saviour and preserver of all ; the same one 
 holy, just, Almighty, and eternal God who in the fulness 
 
40 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 of time took and was manifest in the flesh. At which 
 time He preached, and his disciples after Him, the everlast- 
 ing Gospel of repentance, and promise of remission of 
 sins and eternal life to all that heard and obeyed ; who 
 said, ' He that is with you (in the flesh) shall be in you ' 
 (by the spirit) ^ and though He left them as to the flesh, 
 yet not comfortless, for He would come to them again, in 
 the spirit : for a little while and they should not see Him 
 as to the flesh ; again a little Avhile they should see Him 
 in the spirit : for the Lord Jesus Christ is that Spirit, a 
 manifestation whereof is given to every one to profit 
 withal. In which Holy Spirit I believe as the same Al- 
 mighty and eternal God ; who, as in those times He ended 
 all shadows, and became the infallible guide to them that 
 walked therein ; by which they w^ere adopted heirs and 
 co-heirs of glory ; so am I a living witness, that the same 
 holy, just, merciful. Almighty, and eternal God, is now, 
 as then (after this tedious night of idolatry, superstition, 
 and human inventions, that hath overspread the world), 
 gloriously manifested to discover and save from all in- 
 iquity, and to conduct unto the holy land of pure and 
 endless peace ; in a word, to tabernacle among men. And 
 I also firmly believe, that without repenting and forsaking 
 of past sins, and walking in obedience to his heavenly 
 voice, which would guide into all truth and establish 
 there, remission and eternal life can never be obtained ; 
 but them that fear his name and keep his command- 
 ments, they, and they only, shall have right unto the tree 
 of life." 
 
 Soon after the publication of this work the author was 
 discharged from the Totv er, after being detained there upon 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 41 
 
 terms of unusual severity. His discharge came suddenly 
 from the king, who had been moved to it by the interces- 
 sion of the Duke of York. "Whether the father of William 
 Penn applied to the duke for his interference, or whether 
 the act was spontaneous on the part of the latter, is not 
 now known. It is, however, understood that his enlarge- 
 ment was owing to the friendly offices of the duke. This 
 and other acts of kindness are sufficient to explain the 
 reason of William Penn's friendship for James when he 
 became involved in trouble. 
 
 The following notes are from a fragment of Penn's 
 autobiography, preserved in his own handwriting, and 
 published in the memoirs of the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania : 
 
 '' The first time I went to court after I had embraced 
 the communion I am of was in '68. The business that 
 engaged me was the sufi'ering condition of my Friends in 
 several parts of this kingdom, the cause of it tenderness 
 of conscience, no evil fact. Those in company with me 
 were George Whitehead, Josiah Cole, and Thomas Loe. 
 The person went to was the Duke of Buckingham ; but 
 an application at that time did not answer our expecta- 
 tion, though in his own inclination he favored liberty of 
 conscience. 
 
 " The second time I went to court, was the same sum- 
 mer, and upon the same errand, in company of G. White- 
 head and Josiah Cole. We addressed ourselves to Sir 
 Henry Berwick, then Secretary of State, with whom our 
 business had no better success than before. I was much 
 toucht with the sense of our Friends' many and great 
 hardships, and the more for that they were inflicted in a 
 4* 
 
42 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Protestant country, and came from Protestant hands, and 
 could not but think the severities they lay under, for mere 
 conscience to God, must necessarily bring the very Prot- 
 estant religion under scandal abroad. Being Protestants 
 in all those points wherein the very Church of England 
 might claim that title, and whose main point was a strict 
 and holy life, this made it seem reasonable and requisite 
 to me to make their sufferings and them better known to 
 those in authority ; charitably hoping that if they would 
 give themselves the leisure to be truly informed of both, 
 they would afford them better quarter in their own coun- 
 try than stocks, whips, gaols, dungeons, praemunires, 
 fines, sequestrations, and banishment, for their peaceable 
 dissent in matters relative to faith and worship; and 
 accordingly I had framed a scheme to myself for that 
 purpose. But it so fell out, that towards the close of that 
 year I was made incapable of prosecuting the resolution I 
 had taken, and the plan I had laid of this affair, by a close 
 and long imprisonment in the Tower of London, for a 
 book I writ called ' The Sandy Foundation Shaken,' occa- 
 sioned by some reflections upon us and our principles by 
 one Tho. Yincent, a dissenting minister, because some of 
 his congregation inclined to be of our persuasion. 
 
 " I was committed the beginning of December, and was 
 not discharged till the fall of the leaf following ; wanting 
 about fourteen days of nine months. 
 
 ''As I saw very few, so I saw them but seldom, except 
 my own father and Dr. Stillingfleet, the present Bishop 
 of Worcester. The one came as my relation, the other at 
 the king's command, to endeavor my change of judgment. 
 But as I told him, and he told the king, that the Tower 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 43 
 
 was the worst argument in the world to convince me; 
 for whoever was in the wrong, those who used force for 
 religion never could be in the right ; so neither the Doc- 
 tor's arguments, nor his moving and interesting motives 
 of the king's favor and preferment, at all prevailed ; and 
 I am glad I have the opportunity to own so publicly the 
 great pains he took and humanity he showed, and that to 
 his moderation, learning, and kindness I will ever hold 
 myself obliged." 
 
44 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 III. 
 
 WHILE imprisoned in the Tower, William Penn wrote 
 a work entitled ''NO CROSS, NO CROWN," from 
 which we take some passages illustrative of its character. 
 
 Reader : — The great business of man's life is to answer 
 the end for which he lives, that is, to glorify God and save 
 his own soul. As one knowing the terrors of the Lord, I 
 persuade thee to be serious, diligent, and fervent about thy 
 own salvation. As one knowing the comfort, peace, joy, and 
 pleasure of the ways of righteousness I exhort and invite 
 thee to embrace the reproofs and convictions of Christ's 
 light and spirit in thine own conscience, and bear the judg- 
 ment of thy sin. The fire burns but the stubble ; the wind 
 blows only the chaff. Yield thy body, soul, and spirit to 
 Him who maketh all things new — new heavens and new 
 earth, new love, new joy, new peace, new works, a new 
 life and conversation. 
 
 Christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. This 
 is the subject of the following discourse, first written during 
 my confinement in the Tower of London in the year 16G8, 
 now reprinted with great enlargement of matter and tes- 
 timonies, that thou mayest be won to Christ, or if won 
 already, brought nearer to Him. It is a path which God 
 in his everlasting kindness guided my feet into, in the 
 flower of my youth, when about two and twenty years 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 45 
 
 of age. He took me by the hand and led me out of the 
 pleasures, vanities, and hopes of the world. I have tasted 
 of Christ's judgments, and of his mercies, and of the 
 world's frowns and reproaches. I rejoice in my experi- 
 ence, and dedicate it to thy service in Christ. 
 
 Though the Imowledge and obedience of the doctrine 
 of the cross of Christ be of infinite moment to the souls 
 of men, being the only door to true Christianity and the 
 path which the ancients ever trod to blessedness, yet it is 
 little understood, much neglected, and bitterly contradicted, 
 by the vanity, superstition, and intemperance of professed 
 Christians. 
 
 The unmortified Christian and the heathen are of the 
 same religion, and the deity they truly worship is the god 
 of this world. What shall we eat ? What shall we drink ? 
 What shall we wear ? And how shall we pass away our 
 time ? Which way may we gather wealth, increase our 
 power, enlarge our territories, and dignify and perpetuate 
 our names and families in the earth ? It is a mournful 
 reflection, but a truth which will not be denied, that these 
 worldly lusts fill up a great part of the study, care, and 
 conversation of Christendom. 
 
 The false notion that they may be children of God while 
 in a state of disobedience to his holy commandments, and 
 disciples of Jesus though they revolt from his cross, and 
 members of his true church, which is without spot or 
 w^rinkle, notwithstanding their lives are full of spots and 
 wrinkles, is of all other deceptions upon themselves the 
 most pernicious to their eternal condition. For they are 
 at peace in sin and under a security in their transgression. 
 
46 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 Their vain hope silences their convictions, and overlay :J 
 all tender motions to repentance ; so that their mistake 
 about their duty to God is as mischievous as their rebellion 
 against Him. Thus they walk on precipices and flatter 
 themselves, till the grave swallows them up and the judg- 
 ment of the great God breaks the lethargy. 
 
 O Christendom ! my soul most fervently prays that 
 after all thy lofty professions of Christ and his meek and 
 holy religion, thy unsuitable and unchristlike life may not 
 cast thee at that great assize of the world and lose thee 
 this great salvation at last. Can Christ be thy Lord and 
 thou not obey Him ? He is none of thy Saviour whilst 
 thou rejectest his grace in thy heart, by which He would 
 save thee. Has He saved thee from thy sinful lusts, thy 
 w^orldly affections, and vain conversations ? If not, then 
 He is none of thy Saviour. For though He be offered a 
 Saviour for all, yet He is actually a Saviour to those only 
 who are saved by Him. ; and none are saved by Him who 
 live in those evils by which they are lost from God, and 
 which He came to save them from. 
 
 It is from sin that Christ is come to save man, and from 
 death and wrath as the wages of it. So far as people ob- 
 tain victory over those evil dispositions and fleshly lusts 
 to which they have been addicted, so far they are truly 
 saved, and are witnesses of the redemption that comes by 
 Jesus Christ. His name shows his work: "And thou 
 shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people from 
 their sins." ''Behold," said John of Christ, "the Lamb 
 of God that taketh away the sin of the world ! " 
 
 Because tuere is mercy with the God of compassion, 
 that He may be feared, He has sent forth his Son, a pro- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 47 
 
 pitiation, and given Him a Saviour to take away the sins 
 of tlie whole world, that those who believe and follow 
 Him may feel the righteousness of God in the remission 
 of their sins, and the blotting out of their transgressionii 
 forever. Behold the remedy I an infallible cure, one of 
 God's appointing. 
 
 But thou wilt say, what is Christ, where is He to be 
 found, and how received, and applied, in order to this 
 mighty cure ? First, He is the great spiritual Light of 
 the world, who enlightens every one that comes into the 
 world; by which He manifests to them their deeds of 
 darkness and wickedness, and reproves them for commit- 
 ting them. Secondly, He is not far away from thee. 
 Christ himself says, ''Behold I stand at the door and 
 knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I 
 will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." 
 What door can this be, but that of the heart of man ? 
 Like the inn of old thou hast been full of other guests ; 
 there has been no room for thy Saviour in thy soul. 
 Wherefore salvation is not yet come into thy house, 
 though it is come to thy door, and thou hast often been 
 proffered it, and hast professed it long. 
 
 Wherefore, Christendom ! believe, receive, and apply 
 to Him rightly ; this is of absolute necessity, that thy 
 soul may live forever with Him. He told the Jews, '' If 
 you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins ; 
 and whither I go, ye cannot come." So I say to thee, 
 unless thou believest that He who stands at the door of 
 thy heart and knocks, and sets thy sins in order before 
 thee, and calls thee to repentance, be the Saviour of the 
 world, thou wilt die in thy sins, and where He is goJie, 
 
48 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 tilou wilt never come. For if thou believest not in Him, 
 it is impossible that He should do thee good, or effect thy 
 salvation. Christ works not against faith, but by it. 
 
 It is the nature of true faith to beget an holy fear of 
 offending God, a deep reverence for his precepts, and a 
 most tender regard to the inward testimony of his Spirit, 
 as that by which his children, in all ages, have been safely 
 led to glory. Those who receive Him thus, receive power 
 to become the sons of God ; that is, an inward force and 
 ability to do whatever He requires. Strength to mortify 
 their lusts, control their affections, resist evil motions, 
 deny themselves, and overcome the world in its most en- 
 ticing appearances. This is the life of the blessed cross 
 of Christ, which is the subject of the following discourse, 
 and what thou, man, must take up, if thou intendest 
 to be the disciple of Jesus. Nor canst thou be said to 
 receive Christ, or believe in Him, whilst thou rejectest 
 his cross. For as receiving Christ is the means appointed 
 of God to salvation, so bearing the daily cross after Him 
 is the only true testimony of receiving Him ; and, there- 
 fore, it is enjoined by Him as the great token of disciple- 
 ship, "If any man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." This, 
 Christendom, is what thou hast so much wanted, and the 
 want of it has proved the cause of thy miserable declen- 
 sion from pure Christianity. 
 
 The work of apostleship, we are told by a prime laborer 
 in it, was to turn people from darkness to light, and from 
 the power of Satan unto God. For this blessed work of 
 reformation, Christ endued his apostles with his spirit and 
 powder, that so men might no longer sleep in a security of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 49 
 
 sin, and ignorance of God, but awaken to righteousness, 
 that the Lord Jesus might give them life. And truly 
 God so blessed the faithful labors of these poor mechanics, 
 his great ambassadors to mankind, that, in a few years, 
 many thousands who had lived without God in the world, 
 were inwardly struck and quickened by the word of life, 
 and made sensible of the coming and power of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as a Judge and Lawgiver in their souls. 
 
 By his holy light and Spirit, the hidden things of 
 darkness were brought to light and condemned, and pure 
 repentance from those dead works begotten in. them, that 
 they might serve the living God in newness of spirit. 
 Thenceforward they lived not to themselves, neither were 
 they carried away of those former lusts by which they 
 had been seduced from the true fear of God ; and by holy 
 watchfulness against the secret motions of evil in their 
 hearts, they crushed sin in its conception,, yea, in its 
 temptations. So that, as the apostle John advises, they 
 kept themselves, that the evil one touched them not. 
 Thus it was, that where once nothing was examined, no- 
 thing went unexamined. Every thought must come to 
 judgment, and the rise and tendency of it be well approved 
 before they allowed it any room in their minds. 
 
 While this integrity dwelt with Christians, mighty was 
 the presence, and invincible the power, that attended them. 
 It quenched fire, daunted lions, turned the edge of the 
 sword, out-faced instruments of cruelty, convicted judges, 
 and converted executioners. Now, not a vain thought, 
 nor an idle word, nor an unseemly action, was permitted ; 
 no ; not an immodest look. No courtly dress, gay apparel, 
 pompl-mental respects, or personal honors ; much less couid 
 5 D 
 
50 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 those lewd immoralities and scandalous vices, now in y;ogTie 
 with Christians, find either example or connivance among 
 them. Their care was, not how to sport away their precious 
 time, but how to redeem it, that they might have enough 
 to work out their great salvation with fear and trembling. 
 Having, with Moses, seen Him that is invisible, and found 
 that his loving-kindness was better than life, and the peace 
 of his Spirit than the favor of princes ; as they feared not 
 Csesar's wrath, so they chose rather to sustain the afflictions 
 of Christ's true pilgrims than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, 
 that were but for a season ; esteeming his reproaches of 
 more value than the perishing treasures of the earth. 
 
 By this short view of what Christendom was, thou 
 mayest see, O Christendom, what thou art not, and what 
 thou oughtest to be. I lay this down as the undoubted rea^ 
 son of this degeneracy, to wit : the disregard of thy mind 
 to the light of Christ shining in thee, that first showed 
 thee thy sins, and reproved them, and taught and enabled 
 thee to deny and resist them. So when thou didst begin 
 to disregard that light and grace, to be careless about that 
 holy watch that was once set up in thine heart, and didst 
 not keep sentinel there as formerly for God's glory and thy 
 own peace, the restless enemy of man's good quickly took 
 advantage of this slackness. 
 
 Thou didst decline to audit accounts in thy own con- 
 science with Christ, thy light, the great bishop of thy soul, 
 and judge of thy works, whereby the holy fear decayed 
 and love waxed cold, vanity abounded and duty became 
 burdensome. Then up came formality instead of the power 
 of godliness, superstition in place of Christ's institution, 
 and, although Christ's business was to draw off the minds 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 51 
 
 of his disciples from an outward temple, and carnal rites 
 and services, to the inward and spiritual worship of God, 
 suitable to the nature of divinity, a worldly, human, pomp- 
 ous worship is brought in again, and a worldly priesthood, 
 temple, and altar re-established. Those worldly pleasures, 
 that make such as love them forget God, though once 
 despised for the sake of Christ, began now to recover their 
 old beauty and interest in thy affections. Thy heart grow- 
 ing carnal, thy religion did so too ; and, not liking it as it 
 w^as, thou fashionedst it to thy liking. So that a man may 
 say with truth, thy condition is made worse by thy religion, 
 because thou art tempted to think thyself the better for it 
 and art not. 
 
 At the door by which thou wentest out thou must come 
 in ; and as letting fall and forbearing the daily cross lost 
 thee, so taking up and enduring the daily cross must re- 
 cover thee. No crown but by the cross, no life eternal 
 but through death. And it is but just that those evil and 
 barbarous affections that crucified Christ afresh should by 
 his holy cross be crucified. Blood requires blood ; his cross 
 is the death of sin, that caused his death ; and He is the 
 death of death, according to that passage, death I I will 
 be thy death I 
 
 The cross of Christ is a figurative speech, borrowed 
 from the wooden cross, on which Christ submitted to the 
 will of God. The cross mystical is that divine grace and 
 power which crosses the carnal wills of men, their corrupt 
 affections and fleshly appetites ; and so may be justly 
 termed the instrument of man's holy dying to the world, 
 and being made conformable to the will of God. 
 
 The preaching of the cross was fitly called by Paul the 
 
52 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 power of God, though to them that perish, it was then, as 
 now, foolishness. That is, to those who were truly weary 
 and heavy laden, and needed a deliverer, to whom sin was 
 burdensome and odious ; the preaching of the cross by 
 which sin was to be mortified, was the power of God, or 
 a preaching* of the divine power, by which they were 
 made disciples of Christ and children of God. But to 
 those who walked in the broad way, in the full latitude 
 of their lusts, and dedicated their time and care to the 
 pleasure of their corrupt appetites, to whom all yoke and 
 bridle were intolerable, the preaching of the cross was 
 foolishness. 
 
 Where does this cross appear, and where must it be 
 taken up ? I answer, within : that is, in the heart and 
 soul. The heart of man is the seat of sin, and where he 
 is defiled, he must be sanctified ; and where sin lives, there 
 it must die, it must be crucified. The enemy's temptations 
 are ever directed to the mind, which is within. If they 
 take not, the soul sins not ; if they are embraced, lust is 
 presently conceived, that is, inordinate desires ; " lust con- 
 ceived, brings forth sin ; and sin finished, that is, acted, 
 brings forth death." 
 
 In the next place, how, and in what manner, is the cross 
 to be daily borne ? The way, like the cross, is spiritual. 
 It is an inward submission of the soul to the will of God, 
 as it is manifested by the light of Christ in the consciences 
 of men, though it be contrary to their own inclinations. 
 The way is narrow indeed, and the gate very strait, where 
 not a word, no, not a thought, must slip the watch, or 
 escape judgment. Such circumspection, such caution, 
 such patience, such constancy, such holy fear and trem- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 53 
 
 bling, give an easy interpretation to that hard saying, 
 *' Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." 
 Those who are captivated with fleshly lusts and affections, 
 for they cannot bear the cross ; and they that cannot 
 endure the cross, must never have the crown. 
 
 The great work and business of the cross of Christ in 
 man is self-denial, a word of much depth in itself, and of 
 sore contradiction to the world, little understood, but less 
 embraced by it, which yet must be borne. The Son of 
 God is gone before us, and by the bitter cup He drank, and 
 the baptism He suffered, has left us an example that we 
 should follow his steps. 
 
 What was the cup He drank, and baptism He suffered ? 
 I answer : they were the denial and offering up of himself 
 by the eternal Spirit to the will of God, undergoing the 
 tribulations of his life and agonies of his death upon the 
 cross for man's salvation. 
 
 What is our cup and cross that we should drink and 
 suffer? They are the denying and offering up of our- 
 selves, by the same spirit, to do or suffer the will of God 
 for his service and glory. This is the true life and obe- 
 dience of the cross of Jesus ; narrow still, but before, an 
 unbeaten way. When there was none to help, not one to 
 open the seals, to give knowledge, or to direct the course 
 of poor man's recovery, He came in the greatness of his 
 love and strength ; and though clothed with the infirm- 
 ities of a mortal man, being within fortified by the Al- 
 mightiness of an immortal God, he travelled through all 
 the straits and difficulties of humanity; and, first of all 
 others, trod the untrodden path to blessedness. 
 
 It is this most perfect pattern of self-denial we must 
 5* 
 
54 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 follow, if ever we will come to glory. To do this, let us 
 consider self-denial in its true distinction and extent. 
 There is a lawful and an unlawful self, and both must be 
 denied for the sake of Him who, in submission to the will 
 of God, counted nothing- dear that He might save us. 
 
 The lawful self which we are to deny, is that conveni- 
 ency, ease, enjoyment, and plenty, which in themselves 
 are so far from being evil, that they are the bounty and 
 blessings of God to us — as husband, wife, child, house, 
 land, reputation, liberty, and life itself. These are God's 
 favors, which we may enjoy with lawful pleasure, and 
 justly improve as our honest interest. But when God 
 requires them, at what time soever, or is pleased to try 
 our affections by our parting with them ; I say, when 
 they are brought in competition with Him, they must not 
 be preferred, but denied. Christ himself descended from 
 the glory of his Father, and willingly made Himself of 
 no reputation among men, that He might make us of some 
 with God. 
 
 It is the doctrine He teaches us in these words : " He 
 that loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more than 
 me, is not worthy of me." It is the condition to eternal 
 happiness : " He that will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross and follow me." 
 
 It is not for nought that the disciples of Jesus deny 
 themselves; and, indeed, Christ himself had the eternal 
 joy in his eye. For the joy that was set before Him, 
 says the author to the Hebrews, He endured the cross. 
 " And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, 
 or sisters, or father or mother, or wife, or children, or 
 lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 55 
 
 and shall inherit everlasting life." It is this recompense 
 of reward, this eternal crown of righteousness which, in 
 every age, has raised in the souls of the just an holy 
 neglect, yea, contempt of the world. 
 
 Nor is this a new doctrine ; it is as old as Abraham. 
 God often touches our best comforts, and calls for that 
 which we most love, and are least willing to part with. 
 Not that He always takes it utterly away, but to prove 
 the soul's integrity, to caution us from excesses, and that 
 we may remember Him, the Author of those blessings we 
 possess, and live loose to them. I speak my experience. 
 The way to keep our enjoyments is to resign them ; and 
 though that be hard, it is sweet to see them returned, as 
 Isaac was to his father, with more love and blessings 
 than before. 
 
 That unlawful self in religion, which ought to be mor- 
 tified by the cross of Christ, is man^s invention and per- 
 formance of worship to God, as divine, which is not so, 
 either in its institution or performance. In this great 
 error, those people take the lead, who attribute to them- 
 selves the name of Christians, and are most exterior, 
 pompous, and superstitious in their worship. Instead 
 of excluding flesh and blood, behold a w^orship calculated 
 to gratify them ; as if the business were not to present 
 God with a worship to please Him, but to make one to 
 please themselves. A worship dressed with stately build- 
 ings and imagery, rich furniture and garments, rare voices 
 and music, costly lamps, wax candles, and perfumes. 
 
 Christ drew off his disciples from the glory and wor- 
 ship of the oitward temple, and instituted a more inward 
 and spiritual worship, in which He instructed his follow- 
 
56 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 ers. God is a spirit, and He will be worshipped in' spirit 
 and in truth. It is not that bodily worship, nor these 
 ceremonious services in use among you now, that will 
 serve, or give acceptance with this God who is a spirit. 
 
 God's presence is not with the house, but with them 
 that are in it, who are the Gospe! church and not the 
 house. Oh I that such as call themselves Christians knew 
 but a real sanctity in themselves, by the washing of God's 
 regenerating grace instead of that imaginary sanctity 
 ascribed to places ; they would then know what the church 
 is, and where, in these evangelical days, is the place of 
 God's appearance. This made the prophet David say, 
 " The king's daughter is all glorious within ; her clothing 
 is of wrought gold." What is the glory that is within the 
 true church, and that gold which makes up that inward 
 glory ? Tell me, oh, superstitious -man ! is it thy stately 
 temples, altars, carpets, tables, tapestries ; thy vestments, 
 organs, voices, candles, lamps, censers, plate, and jewels, 
 with the like furniture of thy worldly temples ? 
 
 Nor is a recluse life, the boasted righteousness of some, 
 much more commendable, or one whit nearer to the nature 
 of the true cross. The Christian convent and monastery 
 are within, where the soul is encloistered from sin. And 
 this religious house the true followers of Christ carry about 
 with them, who exempt not themselves from the conver- 
 sation of the world, though they keep themselves from the 
 evil of the world in their conversation. 
 
 The in-w'ard, steady righteousness of Jesus is another 
 thing than all the contrived devotion of poor superstitious 
 man ; and to stand approved in the sight of God excels 
 that ])odily exercise in religion resulting from the invention 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 57 
 
 of men. The soul that is awakened and preserved by his 
 holy power and Spirit, lives to Him in the way of his own 
 institution, and worships Him in his own Spirit ; that is, 
 in the holy sense, life, and leadings of it, which, indeed, is 
 the evangelical worship. Not that I would be thought to 
 slight a true retirement ; for I do not only acknowledge, 
 but admire, solitude. Christ himself was an example of 
 it ; He loved and chose to frequent mountains, gardens, 
 sea-sides. It is requisite to the growth of piety ; and I 
 reverence the virtue that seeks and uses it, wishing there 
 were more of it in the world ; but then it should be free, 
 not constrained. For divine pleasures are found in a free 
 solitude. 
 
 It is not performing duties of religion, but the rise of 
 the performance that God looks at. Men may, and some 
 do, cross their own wills in their own wills, voluntary 
 omission or commission. Not keeping to the manner of 
 taking up the cross in worship, as well as other things, 
 has been a great cause of the troublesome superstition that 
 is yet in the world. 
 
 True worship can only come from a heart prepared by 
 the Lord. And whatever prayer be made, or doctrine be 
 uttered, and not from the preparation of the Holy Spirit, 
 it is not acceptable with God ; nor can it be the true evan- 
 gelical worship which is in spirit and truth ; that is, by 
 the preparation and aid of the Spirit. For what is a heap 
 of the most pathetical words to God Almighty, or the 
 dedication of any place or time to Him ? He is a spirit, 
 to whom words, places, and times, strictly considered, are 
 improper or inadequate. Though they be the instruments 
 of public worship, they are but bodily and visible, and 
 
58 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 cannot carry our requests any further, much less recom- 
 mend them to the invisible God. They are for the sake 
 of the congregation ; it is the language of the soul God 
 hears ; nor can that speak but by the Spirit, or groan 
 aright to Almighty God without the assistance of it. 
 
 But it may be asked, how shall this preparation be ob- 
 tained ? I answer, by waiting patiently, yet watchfully 
 and intently, upon God. " Lord," says the Psalmist, " thou 
 hast heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt prepare 
 their heart; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." Thou 
 must not think thy own thoughts, nor speak thy own 
 words, which, indeed, is the silence of the holy cross, but 
 be sequestered from all the confused imaginations that are 
 apt to throng and press upon the mind in those holy re- 
 tirements. Think not to overcome the Almighty by the 
 most composed matter cast into the aptest phrase. No ; 
 one groan, one sigh, from a wounded soul, an heart touched 
 with true remorse, a sincere and godly sorrow, which is 
 the work of God's Spirit, excels and prevails with God. 
 Wherefore, stand still in thy mind, wait to feel something 
 divine, to prepare and dispose thee to worship God truly 
 and acceptably. Thus taking up the cross, and shutting 
 the doors and windows of the soul against everything that 
 would interrupt this attendance upon God, how pleasant 
 soever the object be in itself, or however lawful or needful 
 at another season, the power of the Almighty will break 
 in, his Spirit will prepare the heart, that it may offer up 
 an acceptable sacrifice. It is lie that discovers to the soul 
 its wants, and presses them upon it ; and when it cries, 
 He alone can supply them. Petitions not springing from 
 such a sense and preparation, are formal and fictitious ; 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 59 
 
 ihey are not tru e ; for men pray in their own blind desires, 
 and not in the will of God ; and his ear is stopped to them. 
 Bat for the very sighing of the poor, and crying of the 
 needy, God has said He will arise. 
 
 But what is this to them that are not hungry ? The 
 whole need not the physician ; the full have no need to 
 sigh, nor the rich to cry for help. Those who are not 
 sensible of their inward wants, that have no fears and 
 terrors upon them, who feel no need of God's power to 
 help them, nor the light of his countenance to comfort 
 them ; what have such to do with prayer ? Their devo- 
 tion is, at best, but a serious mockery of the Almighty. 
 They know not, they want not, they desire not, what 
 they pray for. They pray that the will of God may be 
 done, and do constantly their own. They ask for grace, 
 and abuse what they have ; they pray for the Spirit, but 
 resist it in themselves, and scorn at it in others. They 
 request the mercies and goodness of God, and feel no real 
 want of them. In this inward insensibility, they are as 
 unable to praise God for what they have as to pray for 
 what they have not. 
 
 God himself speaks, by the mouth of Isaiah, in oppo- 
 sition to the formalities and lip-worship of the degenerate 
 Jews. " Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, 
 and the earth is my footstool ; where is the house that ye 
 build to me, and where is the place of my rest ? for all 
 these things hath my hand made. But to this man will I 
 look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and 
 trembleth at my word." Behold the true worshipper 1 one 
 of God's preparing, circumcised in heart and ear, that re- 
 sists not the H^ly Spirit, as those lofty professing Jews did. 
 
00 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Much Liiglit be cited to show the displeasure of God 
 against even his own forms of worship, when performed 
 without his Spirit, and that necessary preparation of the 
 heart in man, which nothing else can work or give. Above 
 all other penmen of sacred writ, this is most frequently and 
 emphatically recommended to us by the example of the 
 Psalmist, who, ever and anon, calling to mind his own 
 great slips, and the cause of them, and the way by which 
 he came to be accepted of God, and obtain strength and 
 comfort from Him, reminds himself to wait upon God. 
 " Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the 
 God of my salvation ; on thee do I wait all the day long." 
 This shows an inward exercise, a spiritual attendance, that 
 stood not in external forms, but on inward divine aid. 
 
 Another time, we have him crying thus : " As the hart 
 panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after 
 thee, God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living 
 God; when shall I come and appear before Him? " This 
 goes beyond formality, and can be tied to no lesson. We 
 may by this see that true worship is an inward work ; 
 that the soul must be touched and raised in heavenly de- 
 sires by the heavenly spirit, and that the true worship is 
 in God's presence. " When shall I come and appear ? " 
 Not in the temple, nor with outward sacrifices, but before 
 God, in his presence. The souls of true worshippers see 
 God, make their appearance before Him ; and for this they 
 wait, they pant, they thirst. 
 
 From his own experience of the benefit of waiting upon 
 God, and the saints' practice of those times, he recommends 
 it to others : '' Wait upon the Lord, be of good courage, 
 and He shall strengthen thy heart ; wait, I say, upon tho 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 61 
 
 Lord.'^ Wait in faith and patience, and He will come to 
 save ihee. Again, " Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently 
 upon Him ; " cast thyself upon Him ; be contented ; and 
 wait for Him to help thee in thy wants. Thou canst not 
 think how near He is to help those that wait upon Him. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah tells us that though the chastise- 
 ments of the Lord were sore upon the people for their 
 backslidings, yet in the way of his judgments, in the 
 way of his rebukes and displeasure, they waited for Him, 
 and the desire of their soul, that is the great point, was 
 to his name, and the remembrance of Him. They were 
 contented to be chid and chastised, for they had sinned ; 
 and the knowledge, of Him in this way was very desira- 
 ble to them. But did He not come at last, and that in 
 mercy, too ? " Lo, this is our God, we have waited for 
 Him, and He will save us." blessed enjoyment I O 
 precious confidence I Here was a waiting in faith which 
 prevailed. 
 
 All worship not in faith is fruitless to the worshipper 
 as well as displeasing to God. This faith is the gift of 
 God, and the nature of it is to purify the heart, and give 
 such as truly believe " victory over the world." But they 
 go on : " We have^waited for Him, we will be glad, and 
 rejoice in his salvation." The prophet adds, " Blessed are 
 all they that wait upon God : " and why ? " For they that 
 wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength ; they shall 
 never faint, never be weary." The encouragement is 
 great hear Him once more ! "For since the begin- 
 ning Df the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by 
 the ear, neither hath the eye seen, God I besides thee, 
 what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him " 
 6 
 
62 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Behold the inward life and joy of the righteous, the true 
 worshippers I those whose spirits bowed to the appearance 
 of God's spirit in them, leaving and forsaking all that it 
 appeared against, and embracing whatever it led them to. 
 
 " We know not," says the apostle, '' what we should 
 pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth our infirmi- 
 ties." Men unacquainted with the work and power of the 
 Holy Spirit, are ignorant of the mind of God ; and those, 
 certainly, can never please Him with their prayers. It ia 
 not enough to know we are in want ; but we should learn, 
 whether it be not sent us as a blessing ; disappointments 
 to the proud ; losses to the covetous, and to the negligent, 
 stripes. Therefore, what to keep, what to reject, what to 
 want, is a difficulty God only can resolve the soul. And 
 since God knows better than we what we need. He can 
 better tell us what to ask than we can Him. This made 
 Christ exhort his disciples to avoid long and repetitious 
 prayers; telling them that their heavenly Father knew 
 what they needed before they asked. He therefore gave 
 them a pattern to pray by ; not as some fancy to be a text 
 to human liturgies, which of all services are most justly 
 noted and taxed for length and repetition ; but expressly 
 to reprove and avoid them. 
 
 How to pray is still of greater moment than to pray ; 
 it is not the request, but the frame of the petitioner's 
 spirit. God needs not to be told of our wants by us. He 
 must tell them to us ; yet He will be told them from us, 
 both that we may seek Him, and that He may come down 
 to us. But when this is done. To this " man will I look, 
 saith the Lord, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite 
 spirit, and that trembleth at my word." To the sick 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN 63 
 
 heart, the wounded soul, the hungry and thirsty, the 
 weary and heavy-laden ones; such sincerely want an 
 helper. 
 
 Christ often upbraided his disciples with, " ye of lit- 
 tle faith I " Yet He tells us that one grain of it, though as 
 little as that of mustard, one of the least of seeds, if true 
 and right, is able to remove mountains. And to encour- 
 age his disciples to believe, when they were admiring how 
 soon his sentence was executed upon the fruitless fig-tree. 
 He tells them, " Yerily, if ye have faith, and doubt not, 
 ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, but 
 also, if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed 
 and cast into the sea, it shall be done ; and all things 
 whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall re- 
 ceive." 
 
 But some may say, it is impossible to receive all that a 
 man may ask. It is not impossible to receive all that a 
 man, that so believes, can ask. The fruits of faith are not 
 Impossible to those who truly believe in God, who makes 
 them possible. When Jesus said to the ruler, " If thou 
 canst believe," He adds, " all things are possible to him 
 that believeth." But some will say, it is impossible to 
 have such faith. This very faithless generation would 
 excuse their want of faith by making it impossible to 
 have the faith they Avant. But Christ's answer to the 
 infidelity of that age will best confute the disbelief of 
 this. " The things that are impossible with men, are 
 possible with God." It will follow, then, that it is not 
 impossible with God to give that faith ; though it .is 
 certain that " without it, it is impossible to please God ; " 
 for so the author to the Hebrews teaches. And if it be 
 
64 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 impossible to please God, it must be so to pray to God, 
 without this precious faith. 
 
 But S'ome may say. What is this faith that is so neces- 
 sary to worship, and that gives it such acceptance with 
 God, and returns that benefit to men? I say, it is an 
 holy resignation to God, and confidence in Him, testified 
 by a religious obedience to his holy requirings, which 
 gives sure evidence to the soul of the things not yet seen, 
 and a general sense and taste of the substance of those 
 things that are hoped for ; that is, the glory which is to 
 be revealed hereafter. As this faith is the gift of God, 
 so it purifies the hearts of those that receive it. The 
 apostle Paul is witness, that it will not dwell but in a 
 pure conscience ; he, therefore, in one place couples a pure 
 heart and faith unfeigned together ; in another, faith and 
 a good conscience. James joins faith 'with righteousness, 
 and John with victory over the world. ''This," says 
 he, " is the victory which overcomes the world, even 
 your faith." To this faith no man comes, but through 
 death to self, by the cross of Jesus, and an entire depend- 
 ence, by Him, upon God. By it the holy ancients en- 
 dured all trials, overcame all enemies, prevailed with God, 
 renowned his Truth, finished their testimony, and ob- 
 tained the reward of the faithful, a crown of righteous- 
 ness, which is the eternal blessedness of the just. 
 
 The care and love of all mankind are either directed to 
 God or themselves. Those that love God above all, are 
 ever humbling self to his commands, and only love self 
 m subserviency to Him who is Lord of all. But those 
 who are declined from that love to God, are lo\:ers of 
 themselves more than God j f( r supreme love must centi 3 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 65 
 
 in one of these two. To that inordinate self-love, the 
 apostle rightly joins pride and high- minded ncss. For no 
 sooner had the angels declined their love, duty, and 
 reverence to God, than they inordinately loved and valued 
 themselves ; which made them exceed their station, and 
 aspire above the order of their creation. This was their 
 pride, and this sad defection their dismal fall; who are 
 reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the 
 great day of God. 
 
 Pride began the miser}' of mankind. Adam would 
 needs be wiser than God had made him. It did not serve 
 his turn to know his Creator, and give Him that holy 
 homage to which his being and innocency naturally en- 
 gaged and excited him ; nor to have an " understanding 
 above all the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and 
 the fishes of the sea ; " joined with a power to rule over 
 all the visible creation of God. He must be as wise as 
 God, too. The lamentable consequence of this great de- 
 fection has been, an exchange of innocency for guilt, and 
 a paradise for a wilderness. 
 
 Nor is this limited to Adam ; for all who have fallen 
 short of the glory of God, are right-born sons of his dis- 
 obedience. They, like him, have eaten of what has been 
 forbidden; they have ''committed the things they ought 
 not to have done, and left undone the things they ought to 
 have done." They have sinned against that divine light of 
 knowledge which God has given them, they have grieved 
 his Spirit, and that dismal sentence has been executed, 
 " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die." 
 That is, when thou doest the thing which thou oughtest 
 not to do, thou shalt no more live in my favor, and enjoy 
 6^ E 
 
66 PASSAGES FROM THELIFE 
 
 the comforts of the peace of my Spirit. This is a dying 
 to all those innocent and holy desires and affections with 
 which God created man ; and he becomes as one cold and 
 benumbed, insensible of the love of God, of his Holy 
 Spirit, power, and wisdom ; of the light and joy of his 
 countenance ; of the evidence of a good conscience, and 
 the co-witnessing and approbation of God's Holy Spirit. 
 
 The true knowledge came with the joy of angels, sing- 
 ing " peace on earth, and good-will towards men ; " the 
 false knowledge entertained the message with calumnies. 
 Christ must needs be an imposter, because He cried out 
 against their hypocrisy, the broad phylacteries, the honor 
 they sought of men. The truth is, He came to level their 
 honor, to overthrow their rabbiship, and by his grace to 
 bring the people to that inward knowledge of God whicli 
 they, by transgression, were departed from. Their pride 
 in false knowledge having made them incapable of receiv- 
 ing the simplicity of the Gospel, Christ thanks his Father 
 that He hid the mystery of it from the wise and prudent, 
 and revealed them to babes. 
 
 It is observable, that as pride, which is ever followed 
 by superstition and obstinacy, put Adam upon seeking an 
 higher station than God placed him in ; and as the Jews, 
 out of the same pride, in order to outdo their pattern, 
 given them to God by Moses upon the mount, set their 
 post by God's post, and taught for doctrines their own 
 traditions ; so nominal Christians have introduced, in- 
 stead of a spiritual worship and discipline, that which is 
 evidently ceremonious and worldly ; with such innova- 
 tions and traditions of men as are the fruit of the wisdom 
 that is from below. 
 
OF WILLIAM TEJ^N. 67 
 
 And as this unwarrantable pride set them first at work 
 to pervert the spirituality of Christian worship, making it 
 rather to resemble the shadowy religion of the Jews and 
 the gaudy worship of the Egyptians, than the plainness 
 and simplicity of the Christian institution ; so has the 
 same pride and arrogancy spurred them on, by all imagi- 
 nable cruelties, to maintain this great Diana. Almost 
 every history tells us, with what pride and cruelty, blood 
 and butchery, and unusual and exquisite, tortures, they 
 have persecuted the holy members of Christ, out of the 
 world. 
 
 Pride does extremely crave power, than which nothing 
 has proved more troublesome and destructive to mankind. 
 I need not labor myself much in evidence of this, since 
 most of the wars of nations, depopulation of kingdoms, 
 ruin of cities, with the slavery and misery that have fol- 
 lowed, both our own experience and unquestionable his- 
 tories acquaint us to have been the effect of ambition, 
 which is the lust of pride after power. A very trifle is too 
 often made a ground of quarrel ; nor can any league be so 
 sacred or inviolable that arts shall not be used to evade 
 and dissolve it to increase dominion. No matter who nor 
 how many are slain, or made widows and orphans, or lose 
 their estates and livelihoods ; what countries are ruined, 
 what towns and cities spoiled, if by all these things the 
 ambitious can but arrive at their ends. But ambition does 
 not only dwell in courts and senates, \t is natural to every 
 private breast to strain for power. We daily see how much 
 men labor with their utmost wit and interest to be great, 
 to get higher places or greater titles than they have, i/-.it 
 they may look bigger and be more acknowledged. 
 
68 PASSAGES FllOM THE LIFE 
 
 Great is their peace who know a limit to their ambi- 
 tious minds, have learned to be contented with the ap- 
 pointments and bounds of Providence, and are not careful 
 to be great, but being great are humble and good. Such 
 keep their wits with their consciences, and with an even 
 mind can at all times measure the uneven world, rest fixed 
 in the midst of all its uncertainties, and, as becomes those 
 who have an interest in a better inheritance, in the good 
 time and will of God cheerfully leave this, when the am- 
 bitious, conscious of their evil practices and weighed down 
 to their graves Vvith guilt, must go to a tribunal which 
 they can neither awe nor bribe. 
 
 Pride loves power, that she might have homage and 
 that every one may give her honor ; and such as are 
 wanting in this expose themselves to her anger and re- 
 venge. 
 
 What envy, quarrels, and mischiefs have happened 
 among private persons upon conceit that they have not 
 been respected according to their degree of quality among 
 men, with hat, knee, or title, even duels and murders not 
 a few. In Prance (before I professed the communion I 
 am now of) I was myself once set upon about eleven at 
 night, as I was walking to my lodging, by a person who 
 waylaid me with his naked sword in his hand, and de- 
 manded satisfaction of me for taking no notice of him at 
 a time when he civilly saluted me with his hat, though 
 the truth was I saw him not when he did it. Suppose he 
 would have killed me, for he made several passes at me, 
 or I in my defence had killed him when I disarmed him 
 (as the earl of Crawford's servant who was by saw). I 
 ttsk any man of understanding or conscience if the whole 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 69 
 
 round of ceremony were worth the life of a man, consid- 
 ering the dignity of his nature and the inipoitance of his 
 life, both with respect to God his Creator, himself, and the 
 benefit of civil society ? 
 
 And here give me leave to set down the reason more 
 particularly why I and the people with whom I walk in 
 religious society have declined, as vain and foolish, several 
 worldly customs and fashions of respect much in request 
 at this time of day. 
 
 The first and most pressing motive upon our spirits to 
 decline the practice of these customs of pulling off" the 
 hat, bowing the body or knee, and giving people gaudy 
 titles and epithets in our salutations and addresses was 
 that sight and sense which God, by his light and Spirit, 
 has given us of the Christian world's apostasy from God, 
 and the cause and effects of that great and lamentable de- 
 fection. In the discovery of this the sense of our state 
 came first before us, and we were made to sec Him whom 
 we had pierced, and to mourn for it. A day of humilia- 
 tion overtook us, and we fainted to that pleasure and de- 
 light we once loved. Now our works went beforehand to 
 judgment, a thorough search was made, and the words of 
 the prophet became well understood by us: ''Who can 
 abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when 
 He appears ? He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's 
 soap." 
 
 The brightness of his coming to our souls discovered, 
 and the breath of his mouth destroyed, every plant He 
 had not planted in us. He was a swift witness against 
 every evil thought and every unfruitful work, and, blessed 
 be his name, we were not offended in Him or at 
 
70 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 his righteous judgments. Now it was that a grand in 
 quest camo upon our whole life. Every word, thought 
 and deed was brought to judgment, the root examined 
 and its tendency considered. '* The lust of the eye, th 
 lust of the flesh, and the pride of life" were opened tc 
 our view, the mystery of iniquity in us. By knowing 
 the evil leaven and its divers evil effects in ourselves, how 
 it had wrought and what it had done, we came to have a 
 sense and knowledge of the 'states of others ; and w^hat 
 we could not, nay, dare not, live and continue in ourselves, 
 as being manifested to us to proceed from an evil principle 
 in the time of man's degeneracy, we could not comply with 
 in others. I say, and that in the fear and presence of the 
 all-seeing, just God, the honors and respect of the world 
 among other things became burdensome to us. We saw 
 they had no being in paradise, that they grew in the night- 
 time, and came from an evil root, and that they only de- 
 lighted a vain and ill mind, and that much pride and folly 
 were in them. 
 
 Though it be frequently objected that we seek to set up 
 outward forms of preciseness, and that it is but as a green 
 ribbon, the badge of the party, to be better known, I do 
 declare, in the fear of Almighty God, that these arc but 
 the imaginations and vain constructions of men, who have 
 not had that sense, which the Lord hath given us, of what 
 arises from the right and the WTong root in man. And 
 when such censurers of our simplicity shall be inwardly 
 touched and awakened by the mighty power of God, and 
 Bee things as they are in their proper natures and seeds, 
 they will then know their own burden, and easily acquit 
 us, w ithout the imputation of folly or hypocrisy herein. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 71 
 
 To such an say that we strain at small things, which 
 becomes not people of so fair pretensions to liberty and 
 freedom of spirit, I answer, with - meekness, truth, and 
 sobriety, first, nothing is small which God makes matter 
 of conscience to do or leave undone. Next, inconsiderable 
 as they are made by those who object to our practice, they 
 are so greatly set by, that for our not giving them, we are 
 beaten, imprisoned, refused justice, etc., to say nothing of 
 the derision and reproach which have been frequently 
 flung (it us on this account. 
 
 A reason why we decline and refuse the present use of 
 these customs in our addresses and salutations, is from the 
 consideration of their very emptiness and vanity ; that 
 there is nothing of true honor and respect in them, sup- 
 posing them not to be evil. We declare to the whole 
 world that we are for true honor and respect. We honor 
 the king, our parents, our masters, our magistrates, our 
 landlords, one another ; yea, all men, after God's way, 
 used by holy men and women of old time ; but we refuse 
 their customs as vain and deceitful, not answering the end 
 they are used for. 
 
 We cannot esteem bows, titles, and pulling off of hats 
 to be real honor, because swch like customs have been pro- 
 hibited by God, his Son, and servants in days past. 
 
 A Scripture instance I shall urge against these customs 
 is a passage in Job, thus expressed : " Let me not, I pray 
 you, accept any man's person ; neither let me give flatter- 
 ing titles unto man, for I know not to give flattering 
 titles ; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away." 
 The question that will arise upon the allegation of this 
 Scripture is this, viz. : What titles are flattering ? The 
 
72 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 answer is as obvious, namely : Such as are erapty and 
 fictitious, and make him more than he is. To call a man 
 what he is not to please him, or to exalt him beyond his 
 true name, office, or desert, to gain upon his aftection, 
 who, it may be, lusteth to honor and respect. Such as 
 these, most excellent, most sacred, your grace, your lord- 
 ship, most dread majesty, right honorable, right worship- 
 ful, calculated only to please and tickle poor, proud, vain, 
 yet mortal man. Likewise, to call man what he is not, as 
 my lord, my master, etc., and wise, just, or good, when he 
 is neither, only to please him or to show him respect. 
 
 It was common to do thus among the Jews under 
 their degeneracy, wherefore one came to Christ and said : 
 " Good master, what shall I do to have eternal life ? " 
 It was a salutation or address of respect in those times. 
 But what was Christ's answer ? How did He take it ? 
 " Why callest thou me good ? " says Christ ; " there is 
 none good save one, that is God." He rejected it, who had 
 more right to keep it than all mankind. And why ? Be- 
 cause though there was no one greater than He, yet He 
 saw the man addressed it to his manhood, aftcy the way 
 of the times, and not to his divinity which dwelt within it. 
 Therefore He refused it, instructing us that we should not 
 give such epithets and titles commonly to men. For good 
 being due alone to God and godliness, it can only be said 
 in flattery to fallen man, and therefore sinful to be so said. 
 
 It should and ought to suffice with Christians, that these 
 customs are severely censured by the great Lord and Mas- 
 ter of all their religion. He tells us what that honor was 
 they gave and received, which He condemns them for, atid 
 of which He bids the disciples of his humility and cross to 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 73 
 
 beware. His words are these, and He speaks them not of 
 the rabble, but of the doctors, the great men, the men of 
 hojior among the Jews : " They love the uppermost rooms 
 at feasts," that is, places of greatest rank xind respect ; 
 " greetings," that is, salutations of respect, such as pull- 
 ing off the hat, and bowing the body are in our age ; " in 
 the market-places," viz., in the places of note and con- 
 course, the public walks and exchanges of the country ; 
 and lastly, '* They love to be called of men. Rabbi, Kabbi," 
 one of the most eminent titles among the Jews. A word 
 comprehending an excellency equal to many titles, it may 
 stand for your grace, your lordship, right reverend father, 
 etc. It is upon these men of breeding and quality, that 
 he pronounces his woes, making these practices some of 
 the motives of his threatening against them. But He 
 leaves it not here ; He pursues this very point of honor, 
 above all the rest, in his caution to his disciples, to whom 
 He gave in charge thus : " But be not ye called Rabbi, for 
 one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. 
 Neither be ye called masters ; but he that is greatest 
 among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall 
 exalt himself, shall be abased." These passages carry a 
 severe rebuke, both to worldly honor in general and t*> 
 those members and expressions of it in particular which 
 as near as the language of Scripture and customs of tha- 
 age will permit, do distinctly reach and allude to those of 
 our own time. 
 
 There is another piece of non-conformity to the world, 
 
 and that is, thou for you, and that without difference or 
 
 respect to persons, which to some looks so rude it cannot 
 
 well go down without derision or wrath. But as we have 
 
 7 
 
74 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the same original reason for declining this as the foregoing 
 customs, 30 I shall add what to me looks reasonable in our 
 defence. 
 
 Though the world be divided into many nations, each 
 of which, for the most part, has a peculiar language, spee( h, 
 or dialect, yet have they ever concurred in the same num- 
 ber and persons as much of the ground of right speech. 
 Which undeniable grammatical rule might be enough to 
 satisfy any that we are not beside reason in our practice. 
 It is plain that thou is the only proper word to be used in 
 all languages to a single person, because otherwise all 
 sentences, speeches, and discourses may be very ambig- 
 uous, uncertain, and equivocal. 
 
 But some will tell us custom should rule us, and that is 
 against us. It is easily answered, and more truly, that 
 though in things reasonable or indifferent custom is oblig- 
 ing or harmless, yet in things unreasonable or unlawful 
 she has no authority. I know words are nothing but as 
 men give them a value or force by use. But, then, if you 
 will discharge thou and that you must succeed in its place, 
 let us have a distinguishing word in room of you to be 
 used in speech to many. But to use the same word for 
 one and many when there are two, and that only to please 
 a proud and haughty humor in man, is not reasonable in 
 our sense, which, we hope, is Christian, though not mod- 
 ish. 
 
 If thou to a single person be improper or uncivil, God 
 himself, all the holy fathers and prophets, Christ Jesus 
 and his apostles, the primitive saints, and all languages 
 throughout the world are guilty. It is a most extrava- 
 gant piece of pride in a mortal man to require or expect 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 75 
 
 from his fellow-creature a more civil speech or grateful 
 language than he is wont to give the immortal God, his 
 Creator, in all his worship to Him. Canst thou approach 
 the God of thy breath and great judge of thy life with 
 thou and thee, and when thou risest off thy knees scorn a 
 Christian for giving to thee, poor mushroom of the earth, 
 no better language than thou hast given to God but just 
 before ? 
 
 My friends, whatever you think, your plea of custom 
 will find no place at God's tribunal. The light of Christ 
 in your own hearts will overrule it, and this spirit, against 
 which we testify, shall then appear to be what we say it 
 is. Say not I am serious about slight things, but beware 
 you of levity and rashness in serious things. To us, 
 whom God has brought into a spiritual discerning of the 
 nature and ground of the world's fashions, they appear to 
 be fruits of pride and flattery, and we dare not continue 
 in such vain compliances to earthly minds, lest we offenc? 
 God and burden our consciences. And this know, from 
 the sense God's Holy Spirit hath begotten in us, that that 
 which requires these customs, and begets fear to leav" 
 them, and pleads for them, and is displeased if the} ats^ 
 not used and paid, is the spirit of pride and flattery in the 
 ground, though frequency, use, or generosity may have 
 abated its strength in some. 
 
 The eternal God who is great amongst us, and is on his 
 way in the earth to make his power known, " will root up 
 every plant that his right hand hath not planted." It 
 was extremely irksome to me to decline and expose my- 
 self ; but having an assured and repeated sense of the 
 original of these vain customs, that they rise from pride, 
 
76 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 self-love, and flattery, I dared not gratify that mind in 
 myself or others. And for this reason it is, that I am 
 earnest with my readers to be cautious how they reprove 
 us on this occasion, and do once more entreat them that 
 they would seriously weigh in themselves whether it be 
 the spirit of the world or of the Father, that is so angry 
 with our honest, plain, and harmless thou and thee ; that 
 so every plant that God, our heavenly Father, hath not 
 planted in the sons and daughters of men, may be rooted 
 up. 
 
 PiiTDE EXCITES pcoplc to an excessive value and care of 
 their persons. They must have great and punctual at- 
 tendance, stately furniture, rich and exact apparel, all 
 which help to make up that pride of life that John tells 
 us " is not of the Father, but of the world." That people 
 are generally proud of their persons, is too visible and 
 troublesome, especially if they have any pretence either to 
 blood or beauty. The one has raised many quarrels among 
 men, and the other among women, and men, too, often, 
 for their sakes and at their excitements. What matter is 
 it of whom any one is descended that is not of ill-fame, 
 since his own virtue must raise or his vice depress him ? 
 To be descended of wealth and titles fills no man's head 
 with brains, or heart with truth ; those qualities come 
 from a higher cause. 
 
 Oh, says the person proud of blood, it was never a good 
 world since we have had so many upstart gentlemen. But 
 what should others have said of that man's ancestor when 
 he started up first into the knowledge of the world ? 
 Strange, that they should be more noble than their an- 
 cestor, who got their nobility for them. But if this be 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 77 
 
 absurd, iis it is, then the upstart is the noble man ; tho 
 man who got it by his virtue, and those only are entitled 
 to his honor who are imitators of his virtue, the rest may 
 bear his name from his blood, but that is all. 
 
 But personal pride ends not in nobility of blood. It 
 leads folks to a fond value of their persons, be they noble 
 or ignoble, especially if they have any pretence to shape 
 or beauty. 
 
 Art thou shapely, comely, beautiful, the exact draught 
 of an human creature ? Admire that Power that made 
 thee so. Live an harmonious life to the curious make 
 and frame of thy creation ; and let the beauty of thy body 
 teach thee to beautify thy mind with holiness, the orna- 
 ment of the beloved of God. Art thou homely or de- 
 formed ? With the grace that is given unto thee, for it 
 has appeared unto all, learn to adorn thy soul with endur- 
 ing beauty. Remember the King of heaven's daughter, 
 the church of which true Christians are members, is all 
 glorious within ; and if thy soul excel, thy body will only 
 set off the lustre of thy mind. 
 
 What folly, as well as irreligion, is there in pride? It 
 cannot add one cubit to any man's stature. What crosses 
 can it hinder ? What disappointments help or what harm 
 frustrate ? It delivers not from the common stroke. Sick- 
 ness disfigures, pain mis-shapes, and death ends the proud 
 man's fabric. Six feet of cold earth bounds his big thoughts, 
 and his person, which was too good for any place, must at 
 last lodge within the strait limits of so little and so dark 
 a cave ; and he who thought nothing well enough for him 
 is quickly the entertainment of the lowest of all animals, 
 even worms themselves. The proud man's antiquity cannot 
 7* 
 
78 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 secure him from death, nor his heraldry from judgment. 
 Titles of honor vanish at this extremity, and no power or 
 wealth, no distance or respect can rescue or insure them. 
 As the tree falls it lies, and as death leaves men judgment 
 finds them. 
 
 Truly it is a reproach to a man, especially the religious 
 man, that he knows not when he hath enough, or when 
 to leave off and be satisfied. That notwithstanding God 
 sends him one plentiful season of gain after another, he is 
 so far from making that the cause of withdrawing from 
 the traffic of the world that he makes it a reason of launch- 
 ing farther into it, as if the more he hath the more he may 
 have. This is as if cumber, not retirement, and gain, not 
 content, were the duty and comfort of a Christian. It is 
 plain that most people strive not for substance, but wealth. 
 Some there be who love it strongly and spend it liberally 
 when they have got it. Though this be sinful, yet more 
 commendable than to love money for money's sake. This 
 is one of the basest passions the mind of man can be cap- 
 tivated with. 
 
 Thousands think themselves unconcerned in the caution 
 who yet are perfectly guilty of the evil. How can it be 
 otherwise when those that have, from a low condition, 
 acquired thousands labor yet to advance, yea, double and 
 treble those thousands. Is this to live comfortably or to 
 be rich ? It hurts society, for old traders keep the young 
 ones poor. And the great reason why some have too little, 
 and so are forced to drudge like slaves to feed their fami- 
 lies and keep their chin above water, is because the rich 
 hold fast, and press to be richer, and covet more, which 
 dries up the little streams of profit from smaller folks 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 79 
 
 There should be a standard both as to the value and time 
 of traffic, and then the trade of the master to be shared 
 among his servants who deserve it. This were both to 
 help the young to get their livelihood and to give the old 
 time to think of leaving this world well, in which they 
 have been so busy, that they might obtain a share in the 
 other, of which they have been so careless. 
 
 Man was made a noble, rational, grave creature. His 
 pleasure stood in his duty, and his duty in obeying God, 
 which was to love, fear, adore, and serve Him, and in 
 using the creation with true temperance and godly modera- 
 tion, as knowing well that the Lord his judge was at hand, 
 the inspector and rewarder of his works. In short, his 
 happiness was in his communion with God ; his error was 
 to leave that conversation and let his eyes wander abroad 
 to gaze on transitory things. The best recreation is to 
 do good ; and all Christian customs tend to temperance 
 and some good and beneficial end, which more or less may 
 be in every action. 
 
 Kedeem then the time, for the days are evil and yours 
 but very few. Therefore gird up the loins of your minds, 
 be sober, fear, watch, pray, and endure to the end, calling 
 to mind, for your encouragement and consolation, that all 
 such as through patience and well-doing wait for immor- 
 tality shall reap glory, honor, and eternal life in the king- 
 dom of the Father, whose is the kingdom, and the power, 
 and the glory forever. Amen. 
 
 The discourse is illustrated with many interesting re- 
 citals of the example and sayings of pelf-denying men and 
 wc jncn of all a^es of the world 
 
80 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 IV. 
 
 AT the time when William Penn was discharged from 
 his confinement in the Tower, his father's asperity 
 towards him was considerably softened. The mortification 
 which he felt on discovering that his son was firmly united 
 to the Society of Friends, then almost universally vilified 
 and despised, mast ha\e rendered him averse to an open 
 reconciliation. Yet the severity with which he saw him 
 treated, the malicious efforts which were used to destroy 
 his reputation, and the tedious imprisonment to which he 
 had been subjected, could hardly fail to excite his sym- 
 pathy; while the patience with which he sustained his 
 complicated trials, the firmness with which he maintained 
 his principles, and the innocent boldness with which he 
 vindicated his character, excited his respect, and tended to 
 satisfy his father both of the sincerity of his intentions 
 and the soundness of his religious principles. He allow^ed 
 him to reside at his own house, though he did not see him, 
 and caused it to be signified to him, through his mother, 
 that he might return to Ireland to execute a commission 
 for him. He accordingly left London, and arrived at Cork 
 in the Eighth month of 16G9. 
 
 In the fragment of autobiography before alluded to, he 
 says : " Within six weeks after my enlargement (from the 
 Tower) I was sent by my father to settle his estate in 
 Ireland, when I found those of that kingdom under too 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 81 
 
 general i)ersecution, and those of the city of Cork almost 
 all in prison ; and the jail by that means became a meeting- 
 house and a workhouse, for they would not be idle any- 
 where. I was sorry to see so much sharpness from English 
 to English, as well as Protestants to Protestants, when 
 their interests were civilly and nationally the same, and 
 their profession of religion fundamentally so too. Having 
 informed myself of their case, and the grounds of this 
 severity, as near as they could inform me, (which, without 
 doubt, was at least as much from envy about trade as 
 zeal for religion,) I adjourned all private affairs to my 
 return from Dublin, whither, in a few days, I went post, 
 and after conferring with my friends at that city, and 
 digesting the whole into a general state of our case, I 
 went with two or three of them to the castle." Here 
 his narrative ends ; but it is known that he went to Dub- 
 lin, and attended the National Meeting of Friends, which 
 was held at his lodgings. At that meeting an account of 
 the sufferings of Friends was prepared, which, a few days 
 afterwards, he presented to the lord-lieutenant. 
 
 During his continuance in Ireland, he usually resided 
 either at Dublin or Cork. His sympathy with those who 
 were suffering on account of their religion led him often 
 to visit those who were in prison, and to hold meetings 
 among them. He also wrote several tracts to promote 
 the cause of religion, one of which was ''A Letter to 
 the Young Convinced." Some idea of the spirit of this 
 production may be formed from the following extracts : 
 
 " In the tender love of Jesus Christ, I earnestly entreat 
 you, let us no more look back upon our ancient pastimes 
 
 F 
 
82 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and delights, but with holy resolution press on, press on ; 
 for they will steal away our precious souls, beget new 
 desires, raise the old life, and finally ensnare and pollute 
 our minds again ; and what will be the end of such rebel- 
 lion but woes and tribulations from the hand of the just 
 God, world without end. Neither let us enter into many 
 reasonings with opposers, for that is the life which God's 
 power is rev^caled to slay; it is the still, the quiet, and the 
 righteous life which must be exalted over all. And this 
 I say in a sound understanding, through the mercies of 
 the Lord, that deadness, darkness, and anguish of spirit 
 will be the end of such disputing, pragmatical Christians 
 whose religion consists much more in words than works, 
 confessing than forsaking, and in their own will-perform- 
 ances and external observations, than in the reformation 
 and conversion of their souls to God. And we who have 
 known something more of -the Lord may also reduce our 
 good conditions to an utter loss by seeking to comprehend 
 dubious matters in our understandings, and disputing 
 about them with every opposer whom the devil, in a way 
 of temptation, shall present to us ; which does no way 
 advance our growth and increase in the noble principle of 
 Truth. 
 
 "And I beseech you, my dear friends, let not the fear 
 of any external thing overcome the holy resolution we 
 have made to follow the Lamb, Christ Jesus, through all 
 the tribulations, trials, and temptations He and his follow- 
 ers meet with. Oh, let us be valiant in God's cause on 
 earth, who have but a few days to live. Let the constancy 
 of the world to the momentary fashions, pleasures, and 
 pollutions of it, the more ardently stir us up to express 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 88 
 
 ours for the honor of our God against them all, who will 
 reward us for whatsoever we bear, suffer, or part with on 
 his account. Let neither father nor mother, sister nor 
 brother, wife nor child, house nor land, liberties nor life 
 itself, deter us from our holy constancy. Let us, however, 
 be careful to show all due respect to our relations, not to 
 be exalted or any way unruly, lest there be just cause 
 taken against us, and the blessed Truth should suffer ; but, 
 in the still, retired, holy, and patient life, which this pure 
 Spirit of light and truth certainly brings into, let us all 
 dwell and abide. 
 
 "And, as one who is a traveller in his way, I beseech 
 you all, in the holy awe of God, that you never forbear 
 meeting and assembling yourselves with the holy remnant 
 amongst whom we first received our blessed convincement. 
 Let us be grave, weighty, and temperate, keeping low in 
 body as well as mind, that in all things we may be ex- 
 amples, and a sweet savor for God, who hath loved and 
 called us. And, my dear friends, keep in the simplicity 
 of the cross of Jesus, even in plainness of speech, and out 
 of the world's flattering and deceitful respects ; for we are 
 as well to be a cross in our garb, gaits, dealings, and salu- 
 tations, as religion and worship, to this vain, adulterated, 
 and apostatized generation. In the pure measure of Truth 
 that has been manifested to every particular, and has 
 convinced us of the unrighteousness of the world, and the 
 vanity and emptiness of all its professions of God, Christ, 
 and religion, let us stand and abide, that we may feel it to 
 be our refuge and strong tower when the enemy shall 
 approach, cither by inward exercises or outward bonds 
 and suffering, which may overtake us for the trial of our 
 
84 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 most precious faith ; so shall we sensibly experience that 
 heavenly blood of cleansing which only can give remission, 
 cleanse Irom all sin, and finally purge the conscience from 
 dead works to serve the living God." 
 
 Having accomplished his visit in regard to his father's 
 business, and rendered a number of signal services to 
 his friends in Ireland, he returned to his native land. 
 His father was now fully reconciled to him. Though the 
 Admiral was only about forty-nine, yet his constitution 
 had been so much impaired by the hardships of a seafaring 
 life, and exposure to a variety of climates, that he was then 
 sinking under the infirmities of premature old age. 
 
 In the year IGtO the famous Conventicle Act was passed 
 by Parliament, which prohibited dissenters from worship- 
 ping God in their own way. It had been first suggested 
 by some of the bishops. The chaplain of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury had previously printed a discourse against 
 toleration, in which he asserted as a main principle that it 
 would be less injurious to the Government to dispense 
 with profane and loose persons than to allow a toleration 
 to religious dissenters. ''This act," says Thomas Ell- 
 wood, "brake down and overran the bounds and banks 
 anciently set for the defence and security of Englishmen's 
 lives, liberties, and properties, namely, trials by jury, in- 
 stead thereof directing and authorizing justices of the 
 peace (and that, too, privately out of sessions) to convict, 
 fine, and by their warrants distrain upon offenders against 
 it, directly contrary to the Great Charter." 
 
 It was impossible that an act like this could pass with- 
 out becoming a source of new suffering to William Penn 
 situated as he then was, first, as a minister of the Gospel, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 85 
 
 and, secondly, as a man who always dared to do what he 
 thought to be his duty. Accordingly he was one of the 
 earliest victims to its decrees ; for, going as usual with 
 others of his own religious society to their meeting-house 
 in Gracechurch Street to perform divine worship, the-y 
 found it guarded by a band of soldiers. Being thus 
 hindered from entering it, they stopped for a while about 
 the doors. Others who came up joined the former and 
 stopped also, so that in a little time there was a consider- 
 able assembly on the spot. By this time William Penn 
 felt himself called upon to preach ; but he had not ad- 
 vanced far in his discourse when he and William Mead 
 were seized by constables, who produced warrants signed 
 by Sir Samuel Starling, then lord mayor, for that purpose. 
 The constables after they had seized them conveyed them 
 to Newgate, where they were lodged, that they might be 
 ready to take their trial at the next session of the Old 
 Bailey. 
 
 This arrest was made known next morning to Admiral 
 Penn by the following letter : 
 
 " My Dear Father : — This comes by the hand of one who 
 can best allay the trouble it brings. As true as ever Paul 
 said it, such as live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer per- 
 secution ; so for no other reason am I at present a 
 sufferer. Yesterday I was taken by a band of soldiers 
 with one Captain Mead and in the evening carried before 
 the mayor ; he proceeded against me according to the 
 ancient law ; he told me I should have my hat pulled off, 
 for all I was Admiral Penn's son. I told him I desired 
 to be in common with others, and sought no refuge from 
 8 
 
Ob PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the common usage. I discoursed with him about the hat, 
 but he avoided it. Because I did not readily answer him 
 as to my name, William, when he asked rac in order to a 
 mittimus, he bid his clerk write one for Bridewell, and 
 there he would see me whipped himself, for all I was 
 Pcnn's son that starved the seamen. I told him I could 
 very well bear his severe expressions concerning myself, 
 but was sorry to hear him speak those abuses of my father 
 that was not present ; at which the assembly seemed to 
 murmur. In short, he committed that person and me as 
 rioters ; and at present we are at the sign of the Black 
 Dog, in Newgate market. 
 
 "And now, dear father, be not displeased nor grieved, 
 w^hat if this be designed of the Lord for an exercise of our 
 patience. I am very well, and have no trouble upon my 
 spirits besides my absence from thee at this juncture. 
 
 " Well, eternity which is at the door (for He that shall 
 come will come, and will not tarry) — that will make 
 amends for all. The Lord God everlasting consolate and 
 support thee by his holy power, and preserve thee to 
 eternal rest and glory. Amen. 
 
 " Thy faithful and obedient son, 
 
 ''My duty to my mother. William Penn," 
 
 On the first of the Ninth month the trial came on. The 
 indictment stated among other falsehoods that the prisoners 
 had preached to an unlawful, seditious, and riotous as- 
 sembly ; that they had assembled by agreement made 
 l)eforchand ; and that they had met together with force 
 and arms, and this to the great terror and disturbance 
 of many of His Majesty's liege subjects. The prisoners 
 
OFWILLT4MPENX. 87 
 
 were brought to the bar, and pleaded not guilty to the 
 indictment. The Court was then adjourned. 
 
 On the third of the month, William Penu and William 
 Mead were brought again into Court. One of the officers 
 as they entered pulled off their hats. Upon this the Lord 
 Mayor became furious, and in a stern voice ordered him 
 to put them on again. This being done, the Recorder 
 fined each of the prisoners forty marks, observing that the 
 circumstance of being covered there amounted to a con- 
 tempt of Court. 
 
 The witnesses were then called in and examined. It 
 appeared from their testimony that on the fifteenth of 
 August between three and four hundred persons were 
 assembled in Gracechurch Street, and that they saw William 
 Penn speaking to the people, but could not distinguish 
 what he said. One, and one only, swore that he heard him 
 preach ; but on further examination he said that he could 
 not on account of the noise understand any one of the 
 words spoken. With respect to William Mead, it was 
 proved that he was there also, and that he was heard to 
 say something ; but nobody could tell what. This was in 
 substance the whole of the evidence against them. 
 
 It appears probable that the arrest was made in conse- 
 quence of the Conventicle Act, then recently passed, but 
 a prosecution upon that act was not sufficient to gratify 
 the malice of the mayor and his associates. The mayor 
 chose to commit them as rioters, and the indictment was 
 apparently framed with a view to involve them and their 
 case in the intricacies of the unwritten law, and to subject 
 them to such penalty as the malice of the Court might pre- 
 scribe. The definition of an unlawful assembly would 
 
88 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 appear to have been borrowed from the Conventicle Act ; 
 for in the fourth section of that act, meetings for religious 
 purposes, not according to the liturgy of the Church of ' 
 England, are reckoned unlawful assemblies, yet we have 
 no account that this act was quoted or referred to during 
 the trial. The jury w^ere urged to convict William Penn 
 of preaching to an unlawful assembly, without being in- 
 formed what constituted such an assembly, or what pen- 
 alty would be awarded. The fact of his speaking to a 
 number of people in the street being established, if the 
 jury could have been induced to decide that he was 
 speaking to a tumultuous assembly, the Court would un- 
 questionably have put their own construction upon it, and 
 decided that the penalty as well as the offence was to be 
 found in the lex non scripta. 
 
 The witnesses having finished their testimony, William 
 Penn acknowledged that both he and his friend were pres- 
 ent at the place and time mentioned. "We are so far," 
 says he, " from recanting, or declining to vindicate the 
 assembling of ourselves to preach, pray, or worship the 
 eternal, holy, just God, that we declare to all the world 
 that we do believe it to be our indispensable duty to meet 
 incessantly upon so good an account ; nor shall all the 
 powers upon earth be able to divert us from reverencing 
 and adoring our God, who made us." 
 
 These w^ords were scarcely pronounced when Brown, 
 one of the sheriffs, exclaimed that he was not there for 
 worshipping God, but for breaking the law. William 
 Penn replied that he had broken no law, and desired to 
 know by what law it was that they prosecuted him, and 
 upon what law it was that they founded the indictment. 
 
O F W I L L I ^ M P E N N . 89 
 
 The Kecorder replied, the common law. William asked 
 where that law was. The Uccorder did not think it worth 
 while, he said, to run over all those adjudged cases for so 
 many years, which they called common law, to satisfy his 
 curiosity. William Penn thought if the law were com- 
 mon, it should not be so hard to produce. He was then 
 desired to plead to the indictment ; but on delivering his 
 sentiments on this point, he was pronounced a saucy fel- 
 low. The following is a specimen of some of the questions 
 and answers at full length, which succeeded those now 
 mentioned : 
 
 Recorder. — The question is, whether you are guilty of 
 this indictment. 
 
 W. Peiin. — The question is not, whether I am guilty of 
 this indictment, but whether this indictment be legal. It 
 is too general and imperfect an answer to say it is the 
 common law, unless we know where and what it is; for 
 where there is no law, there is no transgression ; and that 
 law which is not in being, is so far from being common, 
 that it is no law at all. 
 
 Becorder. — You are an impertinent fellow. Will you 
 teach the Court what law is ? It is lex non scripta, that 
 which many have studied thirty or forty years to know, 
 and would you have me tell you in a moment ? 
 
 W. Penn. — Certainly, if the common law be so hard to 
 be understood, it is far from being very common ; but if 
 the Lord Coke in his Institutes be of any consideration, 
 he tells us that common law is common right, and that 
 common right is the Great Charter privileges confirmed. 
 
 Becorder. — Sir, you are a troublesome fellow, and it ia 
 not to the honor of the Court to suffer you to go on. 
 8* 
 
90 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 W. Penn. — I have asked but one question, and you 
 have not answered nie, though* the rights and privileges 
 of every Englishman are concerned in it. 
 
 Recorder. — If I should suffer you to asli questions till 
 to-morrow morning, you would be never the wiser. 
 
 W. Fenyi. — That is according as the answers are. 
 
 Recorder. — Sir, we must not stand to hear you talk 
 all night. 
 
 W. Penn. — I design no affront to the Court, but to be 
 heard in my just plea ; and 1 must plainly tell you, that 
 if you deny me the oyer of that law which you say I have 
 broken, you do at once deny me an acknowledged right, 
 and evidence to the whole world your resolution to sacri- 
 fice the privileges of Englishmen to your arbitrary de- 
 signs. 
 
 Recorder. — Take him away. My Lord, if you take not 
 some course with this pestilent fellow to stop his mouth, 
 we shall not be able to do anything to-night. 
 
 Mayor. — Take him away. Take him away. Turn 
 him into the bale-dock. 
 
 W. Penn. — These are but so many vain exclamations. 
 Is this justice or true judgment? Must I, therefore, be 
 taken away, because I plead for the fundamental laws of 
 England ? However, this I leave upon the consciences of 
 you, who are of the jury, and my sole judges, that if these 
 ancient fundamental laws, which relate to liberty and 
 property, and which are not limited to particular persua- 
 sions in matters of religion, must not be indispensably 
 maintained and observed, who can say he hath a right to 
 the coat upon his back ? Certainly our liberties are to be 
 openly invaded, and our estates led away in tr-umph by 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 91 
 
 e^ery malicious informer The Lord of heaven and earth 
 will be judge between us in this matter. 
 
 Eecorder. — Be silent, there. 
 
 W. Penn. — I am not to be silent in a case where I am 
 so much concerned ; and not only myself, but many ten 
 thousand families besides. 
 
 Soon after this they hurried him away, as well as 
 William Mead, who spoke also, towards the bale-dock, a 
 filthy, loathsome dungeon. The Kecorder then proceeded 
 to charge the jury. But William Penn hearing a part of 
 the charge as he was retiring stopped suddenly, and rais- 
 ing his voice exclaimed aloud, " I appeal to the jury who 
 are my judges, and this great assembly, whether the pro- 
 ceedings of the Court are not most arbitrary, and void 
 of all law in endeavoring to give the jury their charge in 
 the absence of the prisoners. I say it is directly opposite 
 to and destructive of the undoubted right of every English 
 prisoner, as Coke on the chapter of Magna Charta speaks." 
 Upon this some conversation passed between the parties 
 who were still distant from each other ; after which the 
 two prisoners were forced to their cells. 
 
 Being now out of all hearing, the jury were ordered to 
 agree upon their verdict. Four, who appeared visibly to 
 favor the prisoners, were abused, and actually threatened 
 by the Recorder. They were then all of them sent out 
 of Court. On being brought in again they delivered their 
 verdict unanimously, which was, '' Guilty of speaking in 
 Gracechurch Street." 
 
 The magistrates upon the bench now loaded the jury 
 with reproaches. Thoy refused to take their verdict, and 
 
92 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 immediately adjourned the Court, sending them away for 
 half an hour to reconsider it. 
 
 The time having expired, the Court sat again. The 
 prisoners were then brought to the bar, and the jury 
 again called in. The latter having taken their place de- 
 livered the same verdict as before, but with this difference, 
 that they then delivered it in writing, with the signature 
 of all their names. 
 
 The magistrates were now more than ever enraged at 
 the conduct of the jury, and they did not hesitate to ex- 
 press their indignation at it in terms the most opprobrious 
 in open Court. The Recorder then addressed them as 
 follows: ''Gentlemen, you shall not be dismissed till we 
 have a verdict such as the Court will accept ; and you 
 shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco ; 
 you shall not think thus to abuse the Court ; we will have 
 a verdict by the help of God, or you shall starve for it." 
 
 William Penn, upon hearing this address, immediately 
 spoke as follows : " My jury, who are my judges, ought 
 not to be thus menaced ; their verdict should be free and 
 not compelled ; the Bench ought to wait upon them, and 
 not to forestall them. I do desire that justice may be 
 done me, and that the arbitrary resolves of the Bench may 
 not be made the measure of my jury's verdict." 
 
 Other words passed between them; after which the 
 Court was about to adjourn, and the jury to be sent to 
 their chamber, and the prisoners to their loathsome hole, 
 when William Penn observed that the agreement of twelve 
 men was a verdict in law ; and such a verdict having been 
 given by the jury, he required the clerk of the peace to 
 record it, as he would answer it at his peril ; and if the 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN N. 93 
 
 jury brouglit in another verdict contrary to this he aifirmed 
 that they would be perjured in law. Then turning to the 
 jury he said additionally, " You are Englishmen. Mind 
 your privilege. Give not away your right." 
 
 The Court swore several persons to keep the jury all 
 night without meat, drink, fire, tobacco, or any other ac- 
 commodation whatsoever, and then adjourned till seven 
 the next morning. 
 
 The next morning, which was the First day of the week, 
 the jury were again called in, but they returned the same 
 verdict as before. The Bench now became outrageous, 
 and indulged in the most vulgar and brutal language, such 
 indeed as would be almost incredible, if it were not upon 
 record. The jury were again charged, and again sent out 
 of Court ; again they returned, again they delivered the 
 same verdict, again they were threatened. William Penn 
 having spoken against the injustice of the Court in having 
 menaced the jury, who were his judges by the Great 
 Charter of England, and in having rejected their verdict, 
 the Lord Mayor exclaimed, '' Stop his mouth, gaoler; bring 
 fetters, and stake him to the ground." William Penn 
 replied, " Do your pleasure ; I matter not your fetters." 
 The Recorder observed, " Till now I never understood the 
 reason of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in 
 suffering the Inquisition among them ; and certainly it 
 will never be well with us till something like the Spanish 
 Inquisition be in England." Upon this the jury were 
 ordered to withdraw to find another verdict ; but they 
 refused, saying they had already given it, and that they 
 could find no other. The Sheriff then forced them away. 
 Several persons were immediately sworn to keep them 
 
94 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 without any accommodation as before, and the Court ad 
 journed till seven the next morning. 
 
 The next day the jury, who had received no refreshments 
 for two days and two nights, were again called in and the 
 business resumed. The Court demanded a positive answer 
 to these words, " Guilty or not guilty ? " The foreman 
 of the jury, Edward Bushell, replied, '' Not guilty." Every 
 juryman was then required to repeat this answer separate- 
 ly. This he did to the satisfaction of almost all in Court. 
 The following address and conversation then passed. 
 
 Recorder. — Gentlemen of the jury, I am sorry you 
 have followed your own judgments rather than the good 
 advice which was given you. God keep my life out of 
 your hands ! But for this the Court fines you forty marks 
 a man, and imprisonment till paid. 
 
 W. Penn. — I demand my liberty, being freed by the 
 jury. 
 
 Mayor. — No. You are in for your fines. 
 
 W. Penn. — Fines for what ? 
 
 Mayor. — For contempt of Court. 
 
 W. Penn. — I ask if it be according to the fundamental 
 laws of England that any Englishman should be fined or 
 amerced but by the judgment of his peers or jury, since 
 it expressly contradicts the fourteenth and twenty-ninth 
 chapters of the Great Charter of England, which snys 
 " No freeman shall be amerced but by the oath of good 
 and lawful men of the vicinage." 
 
 Recorder. — Take him away. 
 
 W. Penn. — I can never urge the fundamental laws of 
 England but you cry, " Take him away ; " but it is no 
 wonder, since the Spanish Inquisition has so great a place 
 
OF WILLIAM PENK. 95 
 
 in the Recorder's heart. God, who is just, will judge you 
 for all the^e things." 
 
 These words were no sooner uttered than William Penn 
 and his friend, William Mead, were forced into the bale- 
 dock, from whence they were sent to Newgate. Every 
 one of the jury also were sent to the latter prison. 
 
 Thus ended this famous trial, which was sustained by 
 William Penn with so much ability at the age of twenty- 
 five. 
 I A few days afterwards he wrote to Admiral Penn : 
 
 '' Dear Father : — I desire thee not to be troubled at 
 my present confinement ; I could scarce suffer on a better 
 account nor by a worse hand, and the will of God be done. 
 It is more grievous and uneasy to me that thou should be 
 so heavily exercised, God Almighty knows, than any 
 worldly concernment. I am cleared by the jury ; and they 
 are here in my place, and resolved to lie till they get out 
 by law. Every six hours they demand their freedom by 
 advice of counsel. 
 
 " They (the Court) have so overshot themselves that the 
 generality of people much detest them. I entreat thee not 
 to purchase my liberty. 
 
 '' I desire in fervent prayer the Lord God to strengthen 
 and support thee, and to anchor thy mind in thoughts of 
 the immutable blessed state which is over all perishing 
 concerns. 
 
 " I am, dear father, thy obedient son, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 The next day he wrote : 
 
96 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 "Dear Father: — I am truly grieved to hear of thy 
 present illness. If God, in his holy will, did see meet 
 that I should be freed, I could heartily embrace it ; yet, 
 considering I cannot be free but upon such terms as 
 strengthen their arbitrary and base proceedings, I rather 
 choose to suffer any hardship. 
 
 '' I am not without hope that the Lord will sanctify the 
 endeavors of thy physician unto a cure, and then much of 
 my solicitude will be at an end. Solace thy mind in the 
 thoughts of better things, dear father." 
 
 There had never been in England, up to this period, a 
 settled and defined usage with regard to verdicts. Judges 
 had sometimes fined inconvenient and persistent juries, 
 and it had practically been an undetermined question how 
 far they had a right to bring in verdicts contrary to the 
 views of the court. This great point was now to be de- 
 cided. Suit was brought by Edward Bushell and his fel- 
 low jurors against Sir Samuel Starling, the Lord Mayor, 
 and Sir John Howell, the Recorder of London, for illegal 
 imprisonment. 
 
 The Court of Common Pleas adopted the view that the 
 bench, though at liberty to offer suggestions to the jury- 
 men for their consideration, may not lawfully coerce them; 
 and confirmed the doctrine of Lord Coke, that the jury, 
 and not the judge, were the arbiters in regard to facts ; 
 and that the province of the judge was to point out and 
 apply the law to such facts as are found by the jury. The 
 issue of the trial was that the prisoners were ordered to 
 be discharged. 
 
 This celebrated trial was productive o.^ important bene- 
 
OF WILI.TAM PENN. 97 
 
 ficial results to the people of England. It awakened their 
 attention to the arbitrary and oppressive proceedings of the 
 courts under the pretended sanction of law, by which the 
 most flagrant violations of justice were often practised with 
 impunity. The able and undaunted manner in which the 
 prisoners contended for their rights and liberties, and the 
 noble stand made by the jurors against the rude and 
 shameless attempts of the Court to browbeat and intimi- 
 date them, opened the eyes of the people to their true in- 
 terests, and the necessity of claiming their chartered priv- 
 ileges ; and thus the trial was instrumental in establishing 
 them on a firmer basis than they ever were before ; the 
 freedom of juries being now asserted by a solemn judicial 
 decision. 
 
 Admiral Penn was fast descending to the grave, and 
 very desirous of the company and consolation of his son ; 
 he therefore did not choose to wait the tardy operation of 
 the law, but privately sent the money and procured the 
 discharge of both the prisoners. Foreseeing that his son 
 must often be subjected to inconvenience from the perse- 
 cuting laws of the time, he sent one of his friends to the 
 Duke of York with his dying request, that he would en- 
 deavor to protect his son, as far as he consistently could, 
 and that he would desire the king to do the same in case 
 of future persecution. The answers both from the king 
 and the duke were favorable to the wishes of the Admiral. 
 Only eleven days were left to Sir William Penn after the 
 close of the trial at the Old Bj^ley, for he died on the 16th 
 of the same month. 
 
 At a time of serious reflection and not long before his 
 death, he spoke thus : '' Son William, I am weary of the 
 9 G 
 
98 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 world. T would not live over my days again if I could 
 command them with a wish ; for the snares of life are 
 greater than the fears of death. This troubles me, that I 
 have offended a gracious God. The thought of this has 
 followed me to this day. Oh, have a care of sin I It is 
 that which is the sting both of life and death. Three 
 things I commend to you. First, let nothing in this 
 world tempt you to wrong your conscience ; I charge you 
 do nothing against your conscience ; so will you keep 
 peace at home, which will be a feast to you in a day of 
 tr/ouble. Secondly, whatever you design to do lay it 
 justly and time it seasonably, for that gives security and 
 despatch. Thirdly, be not troubled at disappointments ; 
 for if they may be recovered, do it ; if they cannot, 
 trouble is then vain. If you could not have helped it, 
 be content ; there is often peace and profit in submitting 
 to Providence ; for afflictions make wise. If you could 
 have helped it, let not your trouble exceed instruction for 
 another time. These rules will carry you with firmness 
 and comfort through this inconstant world." 
 
 Just before he died, looking at his son with the most 
 composed countenance, he said, " Son William, if you and 
 your friends keep to your plain way of preaching-, and 
 keep to your plain way of living, you will make an end 
 of the priests to the end of the world. Bury me by my 
 mother. Live all in love. Shun all manner of evil. And 
 I pray God to bless you all, and He will bless you all." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 99 
 
 V. 
 
 DURING the winter of 1610 William Penn resided at 
 the old family seat in Buckinghamshire. A pamphlet 
 falling into his hands which contained a professed sum- 
 mary of the doctrines held by the Roman Catholic Church, 
 he wrote a reply to it, which he entitled ''A Seasonable 
 Caveat against Popery." 
 
 To prevent a misapprehension of his design, he dis- 
 tinctly stated in his preface that he fully believed many 
 of the Romanists were abused zealots (ignorantly zealous) 
 through the idle, voluminous traditions of their church, 
 whom he rather pitied than dared to wrong, and that he 
 had no design to incense the civil magistrate against them, 
 for he professed himself a friend to universal toleration in 
 regard to faith and worship. 
 
 From the manner in which he treated his subject 
 throughout the essay, and more especially from some ob- 
 servations near the close, it appears that he entertained 
 some apprehension that efforts were then about being 
 made, near the court, to reintroduce the popish religion in 
 its ancient splendor into England. The doctrines and 
 practice of the Romish church are exposed with great 
 freedom and severity. The inconsistency of many of 
 their tenets with the testimony of Scripture, with right 
 reason, with the opinions of the early Christians, and with 
 each other, are clearly pointed out. 
 
 William Penn soon after took a shcrt journey, in the 
 
100 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 course of which it happened that he stopped at Oxford. 
 Learning there that several of the members of his own 
 Society had been treated with great cruelty by the stu- 
 dents on account of their religious meetings, and having 
 reason to believe that the vice-chancellor himself was not 
 blameless in that respect, he addressed to him a letter, of 
 which the following is the introductory sentence : 
 
 " Shall the multiplied oppressions, which thou continuest 
 to heap upon innocent English people for their peaceable 
 religious meetings, pass unregarded by the Eternal God ? 
 Dost thou think to escape his fierce wrath and dreadful 
 vengeance for thy ungodly and illegal persecutions of his 
 poor children ? I tell thee. No. Better were it for thee 
 thou hadst never been born Poor mushroom, wilt thou 
 war against the Lord, and lift up thyself in battle against 
 the Almighty ? Canst thou frustrate his holy purposes, 
 and bring his determinations to nought ? " 
 
 Never perhaps before were the learning and dignity of 
 a vice-chancellor of Oxford, as appears by this extract, so 
 little thought of as on this occasion by William Penn. 
 But we find that this man was an active persecutor of the 
 non-conformists, and about this time so far degraded his 
 station, as to employ an unprincipled fellow to travel about 
 the country, and under the assumed character of a relig- 
 ious professor, insinuate himself into the company and 
 confidence of the various dissenters, for the purpose cf 
 subjecting them to the penalties prescribed by the perse- 
 cuting laws of the time. A vice-chancellor of Oxford, 
 who could employ such characters to effect his purposes, 
 could expect but little deference from a man of William 
 Penn's principles and understanding. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 101 
 
 After his return from Buckinghamshire to London, Sir 
 John Robinson, Lieutenant of tlie Tower, one of the 
 judges at the trial of William Penn and William Mead, 
 at the Old Bailey, who had been thwarted and overruled 
 by the acquittal of the jury in that case, sought oppor- 
 tunity to entrap him, and bring him to a form of trial 
 which would not require a jury. He was a nephew of 
 Archbishop Laud, vindictive in his feelings towards dis- 
 senters, cunning and unscrupulous, and irritated by Wil- 
 liam Penn's able and undaunted defence. Other means 
 of securing a conviction failing, he relied on tendering 
 the oath of allegiance, which he knew that he would not 
 take because of his conscientious scruples against all 
 oaths. Having obtained information that he was to be 
 at a meeting in Wheeler Street, he sent a sergeant with 
 a file of soldiers to take him. They took their station 
 near the door, where they waited until William Penn 
 stood up and began to preach, when the sergeant pulled 
 him down, and led him to the door. There a constable and 
 his assistants were standing ready to join him, and they con- 
 veyed their prisoner to the Tower, and set a guard over 
 him. In the evening he was taken before the lieutenant 
 for examination, in the presence of Sir Samuel Starling, 
 Sir John Sheldon, and others. 
 
 When the examination commenced, Sir John Robinson 
 inquired his name, pretending he did not know him, not- 
 withstanding their recent acquaintance at the Old Bailey, 
 and the fact that he had a mittimus already prepared, with 
 his name inserted. When they were about to prove, by 
 the oaths of the constables, that he had been taken at a 
 meeting, he requested that the oath might not be admin- 
 
102 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 istercd, for he freely acknowledged he was at the meeting 
 at Wheeler Street, and spoke to the people there. The 
 oath, however, was administered ; but though the witnesses 
 testified that he was speaking ttf the people, they could not 
 be induced to declare that the assembly was an unlawful 
 one. This appears to have disconcerted Robinson, who 
 relied on their testimony to convict him under the Con- 
 venticle Act. He then told William Penn that they were 
 not going to try him upon that act, but upon one passed 
 in 1665, usually called the Oxford act. This act, in its 
 terms, applied to ''parsons and others, in holy orders, who 
 had not subscribed the act of uniformity, and yet had 
 taken upon them to preach, in unlawful assemblies, and 
 to instil the poisonous principles of schism and rebellion 
 in the hearts of his majesty's subjects, to the church and 
 kingdom ; " and required that all such non-conformist 
 ministers should take an oath of a prescribed form. In 
 case of refusal to take the oath, they were subjected to 
 certain disabilities, under heavy forfeitures. Any tw. 
 justices of peace, upon oath made before them of any 
 offence committed against the act, w^ere empowered to 
 commit the offender to prison for six months. 
 
 William Penn immediately showed them that the Ox- 
 ford act did not apply to him, for he had never been in 
 orders at all. Sir John Kobinson, however, ordered the 
 oatJi to be read, and inquired whether he would take it or 
 not. lie replied that he was conscientiously restrained from 
 doing all that he was required by the oath to engage not to 
 do, and therefore the oath was to him entirely needless. He 
 informed them that his refusal to swear was not on ac- 
 count of the matter conrtained in the oath ; but wa3 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 103 
 
 founded on better reasons than they could give for urginc^ 
 him to swear. In the course of the examination, Sir John 
 told him '' he had been as bad as others ; " on which Wil- 
 liam Penn demanded of him when and where. He re- 
 plied ''abroad and at home, too." To which William 
 Penn returned the following energetic reply : " I make 
 this bold challenge to all men, women, and children upon 
 earth, justly to accuse me with ever having seen me 
 drunk, heard me swear, utter a curse, or speak one ob- 
 scene word, much less that I ever made it my practice. I 
 speak this to God's glory, who has ever preserved me from 
 the power of these pollutions, and who from a child begot 
 an hatred in me towards them. But there is nothing more 
 common, when men are of a more severe life than ordi- 
 nary, than for loose persons to comfort themselves with 
 the conceit that they were once as they are. Thy words 
 shall be thy burden, and I trample thy slander as dirt 
 under my feet." The following dialogue then ensued : 
 
 Sir John Robinson. — Well, Mr. Penn, I have no ill-will 
 towards you ; your father was my friend, and I have a 
 great regard for you. 
 
 William Penn.—^\ii thou hast an ill way of express- 
 ing it. 
 
 Bobinson. — But you do nothing but stir up the people 
 to sedition. 
 
 Penn. — Bring me the man that will dare to justify this 
 accusation to my face ; and if I am not able to make it 
 appear that it is both my practice, and all my friends, to 
 instil principles of peace and moderation, and only to war 
 against spiritual wickedness, that all men may be brought 
 to fear God and work righteousness, I shall contentedly 
 
104 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 undergo the severest punishment all your laws can expose 
 me to. 
 
 Robinson. — Well, I must send you to Newgate for six 
 months, and when they are expired, you will come out. 
 
 Penn. — Is that all ? Thou knowest a larger imprison- 
 ment has not daunted me. I accept it at the hand of the 
 Lord, and am contented to suffer his will. Alas I you 
 mistake your interest, you will miss your aim ; this is not 
 the way to compass your ends. 
 
 I would have thee and all men to know that I scorn that 
 religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sus- 
 tain those that are afflicted for it. Mine is, and whatever 
 may be my lot for my constant profession of it, I am no 
 ways careful, but resigned to answer the will of God by 
 the loss of goods, liberty, and life itself. Thy religion 
 persecutes, mine forgives ; and I desire my God to forgive 
 you all that are concerned in my commitment, and I leave 
 you all in perfect charity, wishing you eternal salvation. 
 
 He was then sent to the noisome prison of Newgate, 
 to expiate, by a six months' confinement, the offence of 
 preaching the Gospel to his brethren, and refusing to 
 disobey the commandment of Christ. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENK. 105 
 
 ^ VI. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN did not permit the time of Lis im- 
 prisonment to be lost to himself or the community ; 
 but wrote several tracts, chiefly of a religious character, 
 which were soon afterwards given to the world. 
 
 The first of these is entitled, '' The great case of Lib- 
 erty of Conscience, once more briefly debated, and de- 
 fended by the authority of reason, Scripture, and an- 
 tiquity." 
 
 In the preface he maintained that the enaction of such 
 laws as restrained persons from the free exercise of their 
 consciences in matters of religion, was but ''the knotting 
 of whipcord on the part of the enactors to lash their own 
 posterity, whom they could never promise to be conformed 
 for ages to come to a national religion." 
 
 He maintained that they who imposed fetters upon the 
 conscience, and persecuted for conscience' sake, defeated 
 God's work of grace, or the invisible operation of his 
 Holy Spirit, which alone could beget faith ; that they 
 claimed infallibility, which all good Protestants rejected ; 
 and that they usurped the divine prerogative, assuming 
 the judgment of the great tribunal, and thereby robbing 
 the Almighty of a right which belonged exclusively to 
 himself; that they overthrew the Christian religion in the 
 very nature of it, for it was spiritual, and not of this 
 world; in the very practice of it, for this consisted of 
 
106 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 meekness ; in the promotion of it, for it was clear that 
 they never d-^signed to be better themselves, and they 
 discouraged others in their religious growth ; and in the 
 rewards of it, for where men were religious out of fear, 
 and this out of the fear of men, their religion was condkem- 
 nation and not peace ; that they opposed the plainest testi- 
 monies of Divine writ, which concurred in condemning all 
 force upon the conscience ; that they acted contrary to all 
 true notions of government, first, as to the nature of it, 
 which was justice; secondly, as to the execution of it, 
 which was prudence ; and, thirdly, as to the end of it, 
 which was happiness. 
 
 The dissertation is closed in these words . 
 
 " Liberty of conscience, as thus stated and defended, 
 we ask as our undoubted right by the law of God, of 
 nature, and of our own country. It has been often prom- 
 ised. We have long waited for it, we have written much 
 and suffered in its defence, and have made many true com- 
 plaints, but found little or no redress. 
 
 " But, if after all we have said, this short discourse 
 should not be credited, nor answered in any of its sober 
 reasons and requests, but suifcrings should be the present 
 lot of our inheritance from this generation, be it known to 
 them all, that meet we must, and meet we cannot but en- 
 courage all to do, whatsoever hardship we sustain, in God's 
 name and authority who is Lord of hosts and King of 
 kings, at the revelation of whose righteous judgments and 
 glorious tribunal mortal men shall render an account of 
 the deeds done in the body ; and whatever the apprehen- 
 sions of such may be concerning this discourse, it was 
 written in love, and from a true sense of the present state 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 107 
 
 of things, and time and the event will vindicate it from 
 untruth. In the meanwhile, it is matter of great satis- 
 faction to the author, that he has so plainly cleared his 
 conscience in pleading for the liberty of other men's, and 
 publicly borne his honest testimony for God, not out of 
 season to his poor country." 
 
 Another tract was, '' A Serious Apology for the Princi- 
 ples and Practices of the People called Quakers," in reply 
 to the aspersions of Thomas Jenner and Timothy Taylor, 
 in their book called " Quakerism Anatomized." 
 
 In explanation of the doctrine of Friends on the subject 
 of immediate revelation, we take the following from this 
 work : 
 
 " By revelation, we understand the discovery and illumi- 
 nation of the light and spirit of God relating to those 
 things that properly and immediately concern the daily 
 information and satisfaction of our souls in the way of 
 our duty to Him and to our neighbor. 
 
 " We renounce all fantastical and whimsical intoxica- 
 tions, or any pretence to the revelation of new matter in 
 opposition to the ancient Gospel declared by Christ Jesus 
 and his apostles ; and therefore not the revelation of 
 new things, but the renewed revelation of the eternal 
 way of Truth." 
 
 On the subject of the primary rule of life, he says : 
 
 ''Methinks this, our demonstration, should satisfy all ; 
 when neither man nor Scriptures are near us, yet there 
 continually attends us that Spirit of Truth which imme- 
 diately informs us of our thoughts, words, and deeds, and 
 gives us true directions what to do and what to leave 
 undone. Is not this the rule of life ? If ye are led by 
 
108 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the spirit of God, then arc ye" sons of God. Lot this suf- 
 fice to vindicate our sense of a true and unerring rule, 
 which we assert not in a way of derogation from those 
 holy writings, which with reverence we read, believe, and 
 desire always to obey the mind and will of God therein 
 contained ; and let that doctrine be accursed that would 
 overturn them." 
 
 To the charge that Friends were displeased with others 
 for observing times, days, and hours, he says : 
 
 "As to consecrated days and times, and the supersti- 
 tious observation of them, as if the holiness of the day 
 called loudly on us for our particular devotion, as being 
 this or the other saints', and not that our devotion rather 
 required a time to be performed in ; this we are displeased 
 with, and boldly testify against, as beggarly and Jewish, 
 What said the apostle, urged by his godly jealousy, to the 
 Galatians? But now after ye have known God, or rather 
 are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and 
 beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in 
 bondage ? Ye observe days and months, and times and 
 years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you 
 labor in vain." 
 
 " Though we utterly renounce all special and moral 
 holiness in times and days, yet we both believe it requisite 
 that time be set apart for the worship of the Almighty, 
 and are also everywhere found in the diligent practice of 
 the same. And howbeit we cannot own so strict an insti- 
 tution as to sabbatize the First day, or that it has any 
 holiness inherent to it ; yet, as taking tl e primitive saints 
 for an cxami^le, with godly reverence we constantly as- 
 semble upon it. 
 
OF WIT>LIAM PENN. 109 
 
 "His charg-c of our denying family duties is equally 
 false with all the rest; for we know it is our duty, and 
 it is also our practice, to retire from our external affairs 
 and wait upon the Lord every day, that wc may receive 
 strength from Ilim, and feel his heavenly peace and bless- 
 ing to descend upon us at our rising up and lying down ; 
 that so to Him, over and above all visible things, honor and 
 praise may be returned, who is worthy forever." 
 
 In the sixth chapter he says : 
 
 '' I am constrained, for the sake of the simple-hearted, 
 to publish to the world, of our faith in God, Christ, and 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " We do believe in one only holy God Almighty, who 
 is an eternal Spirit, the Creator of all things. 
 
 "And in one Lord Jesus Christ, his only son, and ex- 
 press image of his substance, who took upon Him flesh 
 and was in the world ; and in life, doctrine, miracles, 
 death, resurrection, ascension, and mediation, perfectly 
 did, and does continue to do, the will of God; to whose 
 holy lile, power, mediation, and blood we only ascribe our 
 sanctification, justification, redemption, and perfect sal- 
 vation. 
 
 "And we believe in one Holy Spirit that proceeds and 
 breathes from the Father and the Son, a measure of which 
 is given to all to profit with ; and he that has one has all ; 
 for those Three are One, who is the Alpha and Omega, 
 the First and the Last, God over all, blessed forever. 
 Amen." 
 
 In these employments of his pen the time of his cor- 
 finement passed away, and at the ex})iration of the six 
 months he was released. It appears that soon after, he 
 10 
 
110 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 visited Holland and some parts of Germany, in the capacity 
 of a minister of the Gospel ; but of these labors or the fruits 
 of them we have no particular account. 
 
 In the spring of this year, King Charles issued a proc- 
 lamation, suspending the execution of all the penal laws 
 against non-conformists. This act is attributed, by his- 
 torians, to a wish to favor the Roman Catholics, and was 
 considered as a stretch of prerogative. Its practical effect, 
 however, was very favorable to Friends — near five hundred 
 of them — who had been imprisoned upon a praemunire, and 
 some who had been detained several years, being set at 
 liberty, and the rage of persecution was checked for a time. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. Ill 
 
 VII. 
 
 IN the beginning of 1012, being then in the twenty-eighth 
 year of his age, William Penn was married to Gulielma 
 Maria Springett, the daughter of Sir William Springett, 
 who lost his life in the war between the king and Parlia- 
 ment, in the time of Charles I. His widow was after- 
 wards married to Isaac Penington. While this daughter 
 was yet young the family were convinced of the principles 
 of Friends, and became valuable members of the Society. 
 She was beautiful in person, highly accomplished, of great 
 sweetness of disposition combined with natural dignity, 
 and much esteemed for her piety and benevolence. After 
 their marriage they took up their residence at Rickmans- 
 worth, in Hertfordshire. 
 
 His marriage, and the consequent cares of a family, did 
 not prevent the exercise of his ministerial gift ; for, besides 
 the attendance of meetings in his own neighborhood, he- 
 visited Friends in the course of the year in Kent, Sussex, 
 and Surrey. He closes his narrative of the journey in the 
 following manner : 
 
 " The Lord sealed up our labors and travels according 
 to the desire of my soul and spirit with his heavenly re- 
 freshments and sweet living power and word of life, unto 
 the reaching of all, and consoling our own hearts abun- 
 dantly. Thus hath the Lord been with us in all our travels 
 
112 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 for his Truth, and with his blessings of peace are we re- 
 turned, which is a reward beyond all worldly treasures." 
 
 The sunshine of royal indulgence soon brought from 
 their places of retreat some of those dissenters who kept 
 out of sight while the storm was spreading its rage on the 
 heads of others. The persecuting laws, which, together 
 with the barbarous manner of their execution, have stamped 
 an indelible stigma upon the reign of Charles II., were 
 probably designed by their authors to crush the Presby- 
 terians and Independents on account of their political 
 opposition to the dominant party. Yet, as the religion of 
 many of these people was more pliable than that embraced 
 by William Penn and his fellow-professors, the burden of 
 persecution fell principally, though not wholly, on the 
 latter. Their unflinching support of their religious meet- 
 ings, and their constant refusal to take the oaths required 
 of them, furnished employment and plunder for the harpies 
 of the 'aw. Besides, as it was vain to expect a general 
 conformity to the religion of the court among the dissenters 
 at large while there was one society which openly refused 
 to mould its doctrines or worship to the opinions of the 
 Episcopal church, the principal efforts of the established 
 clergy appear to have been directed to their suppression, 
 from a conviction that, if they were once removed out of 
 the way, the other dissenters would be likely to yield with 
 more facility. 
 
 But, while they thus weathered the storm and sheltered 
 the heads of other dissenters, the firmness and faithfulness 
 of Friends carried conviction to the minds of many re- 
 ligiously disposed persons of that day, who were induced 
 to abandon the societies to which they belonged,. and unite 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 113 
 
 in fellowship with them. This sometimes roused the zeal 
 of their former teachers, and occasioned repeated attacks 
 upon the principles and characters of Friends. 
 
 To answer these attacks gave William Penn much em- 
 ployment during the first year of his residence at Rick- 
 mansworth. Among others, John Faldo, an Independent 
 teacher near Barnet, finding that some of his hearers had 
 united with Friends, wrote a book entitled "Quakerism 
 no Christianity." William Penn's replies to this and two 
 succeeding attacks from the same source cover more than 
 two hundred pages in the folio edition of his writings. 
 
 He lays down the doctrine, that although it pleased God, 
 at the opening of the Christian dispensation, to send his 
 Son a light into the world, yet He was in degree spirit- 
 ually manifested in all ages as the Word of God nigh in 
 the heart, and that they who believed in and obeyed Him 
 obtained remission of sins and eternal salvation. Thus 
 Christ was the rock which followed Israel, and whose day 
 Abraham saw and was glad. That Christianity is not a 
 mere historical belief of the outward acts which Christ 
 performed in his bodily appearance, but a firm belief in 
 Him that so appeared, had died, rose, and ascended, both 
 as testified in the Scriptures of Truth and as He breaks 
 in upon the soul by his divine discoveries, as the true light 
 enlightening every man. 
 
 The testimony of Friends to the divine light or mani- 
 festation of the spirit of Jesus Christ in the soul, having 
 been made an occasion to charge them with denying his 
 outward manifestation, the falsehood of this charge is 
 proved, and it is shown, that the latter being universally 
 admitted, while the former was either overlooked or de- 
 10* H 
 
114 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 nied by many of the professors of Christianity, Friends 
 have been specially called to bear testimony to the inward 
 and spiritual appearance of Christ to the soul, a measure 
 of whose spirit is given to all, reproving the unfruitful 
 works of darkness and leading to a true knowledge of the 
 way of life and salvation. 
 
 In the Fourth month, 1673, we find William Penn, in 
 company with his wife and George Whitehead, attending 
 the meetings of Friends at Bristol ; but of this journey 
 no particular account remains. 
 
 His time appears to have been chiefly occupied in writ- 
 ing ; and, indeed, the works produced by his pen in this 
 and the following year were quite enough to engross the 
 time of a man of ordinary industry. 
 
 Thomas Hicks, a preacher among the Baptists of Lon- 
 don, was among the number of those who labored to ren- 
 der the Society of Friends and the principles which they 
 held odious in the sight of the people of that day. He 
 publi^ed a pamphlet, called " A Dialogue between a 
 Christian and a Quaker," so artfully managed that an in- 
 cautious reader might readily suppose this pretended dia- 
 logue a real one. Having both sides of the controversy 
 to manage, he took care to make his pseudo-Quaker talk in 
 a very weak and ridiculous manner, and utter opinions 
 grossly erroneous and objectionable. 
 
 The controversy in writing which followed between him 
 and William Penn led to a public meeting, by agreement 
 with the Baptists, in their houso at Barbican, London. 
 The principal disputants on the siile of the Baptists were 
 Thomas Hicks and Jeremy Ives, and on the part of Friends, 
 William Penn, George Whitehead, and George Keith. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 115 
 
 II may perhaps be interesting to some readers to see a 
 specimen of the manner in which the opponents o: Friends 
 m that day attempted to unchristianize the Society. The 
 prevaih'ng mode of conducting polemic discussions at that 
 time was to reduce the propositions which were intended 
 to be established into syllogisms, and much of the skill 
 displayed in argument consisted in the facility of reduc- 
 ing propositions to that form. 
 
 Thomas Hicks appears to have commenced the dispqte 
 with this argument : 
 
 They that deny the Lord's Christ are no Christians. 
 
 But the Quakers deny the Lord's Christ. 
 
 Therefore they are no Christians. 
 
 To this William Penn returned, " I deny the minor, 
 viz., that the Quakers deny the Lord's Christ." 
 
 Thomas Hicks replied, they that deny Christ to be a 
 distinct person without them deny the Lord's Christ ; 
 but the Quakers deny Christ to be a distinct person 
 without them, therefore the Quakers deny the Lord's 
 Christ. 
 
 William Penn then desired that Thomas Hicks would 
 explain what he meant by the term person ; to which he 
 answered that he meant the man Christ Jesus. William 
 Penn t&en replied, " I deny the minor, viz., that we deny 
 the man Christ Jesus." 
 
 Thomas Hicks replied, " I prove that ye deny the man 
 Christ Jesus : one of your writers asserts that Christ was 
 never seen with carnal eyes nor heard with carnal ears." 
 From which Jeremy Ives f 'amed a syllogism : " He that 
 denies that Christ was ever seen with canal eyes denies 
 the Lord's Christ ; but the Quakers deny that Christ was 
 
116 PASSAGES FllOM THE LIFE 
 
 ever seen with carnal eyes, therefore the Quakers deny 
 the Lord's Christ." 
 
 George Keith then replied that Christ, as God, was 
 never seen with carnal eyes, but as man He was. 
 
 William Penn explained the subject by stating, that 
 wicked men might see Him in his bodily appearance, and 
 yet not see Him to be the Christ of God. They might 
 see his manhood, but not his Christship. This was illus- 
 trated by the declaration of our Lord to Peter, when he had 
 acknowledged Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living 
 God, viz., " Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
 but my Father which is in heaven." Hence, he inferred 
 that Peter could not with a carnal eye have seen the 
 Lord's Christ, much less could wicked men. 
 
 Jeremy Ives then asked, " Is the manhood a part of the 
 Lord's Christ?" 
 
 To this William Penn returned the inquiry, " Is this to 
 prove the charge of our denying the Lord Christ? It 
 seems we must be here to be catechised, and ye will not 
 answer us one question, yet I shall answer Jeremy Ives's 
 question if he will promise to answer mine." Jeremy 
 Ives promising that he would, William Penn replied, that 
 they believed that holy manhood to be a member of the 
 Christ of God ; and then directing his discourse to Jeremy 
 Ives, he asked, " Was He the Christ of God before He was 
 manifest in the flesh ? " " He was," returned Jeremy Ives, 
 ''the Son of God." But to the question as stated by 
 William Penn, he would not answer. His silence in that 
 case was attributed to the prevalence of Socinian opinions 
 among them, which William Penn probably designed to 
 make him acknowledge or deny. But he was too cautious 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 117 
 
 to do either. William Peim adduced, in proof of the 
 affirmative of his own question, the dcclai-ation of the 
 apostle, " They all drank of that spiritual Rock that 
 followed them, and that Rock was Christ." 
 
 There is extant the fragment of a letter written by 
 William Penn to George Fox on this occasion, which 
 further illustrates the character and importance of the 
 public religious discussions of those days. '' Thy fatherly 
 love," says he, "and tender care I do with all gentleness 
 and true respect receive ; but thou shalt understand the 
 occasion of our answer, wherein we stated that ' the holy 
 manhood was a member of the Christ of God,' 
 
 " The question was, ' If the manhood were a part of 
 Christ ? ' To this we must either have answered nothing, 
 or only a Scripture, or in the terms of the question, or as 
 we did. 
 
 ''If we had answered nothing, we had gratified the 
 enemy, stumbled the moderate, and grieved friends. 
 
 '' If a Scripture, it had been no way satisfactory ; for 
 the question, they would have said, was not about the 
 text, but about the understanding of it ; and they would 
 have charged us with so wresting it to a mystical sense, 
 as to shut out the person that appeared in the flesh. 
 
 " Further, if we had answered in the terms of the 
 question, we had taken Christ into parts, whereas I cried 
 twice to them, 'Christ is not to be divided into parts.' 
 But they still pressed the question, six thousand people I 
 believe, being present, and many of them were desirous 
 of an answer. Upon this Friends consented that it should 
 be answered them, ' that the manhood was a part of Christ.' 
 But I feared the word part, and chose rather to say that 
 
118 PASSAGES FliOM THE LIFE 
 
 WO believed the holy manhood to be a member of the Christ 
 of God, iiiid my reasons for so doing were these : First. 
 What needed we to grant more than was asked ? Friends 
 only desired to have us grant that the manhood was a 
 part of Christ, in order to overthrow T. Hieks's attempts 
 to prove us no Christians ; and that was of so great 
 moment in that solemn and great assembly, as tongue 
 cannot utter. Secondly, Since we were willing to go no 
 further in our confessions than they asked at our hands, 
 this was my reas m for rejecting the word part for member, 
 to wit, that a boily may be taken into members without 
 breach of union, but not into parts. A member divides 
 not; parts divide. Christ is called the head, that is, the 
 most noble member, the Church the body, and particulars 
 are styled members of that body. Now calling these 
 members divides them not into parts. Thirdly, I did not 
 say it was but a member, and I often repeated that it was 
 of and belonging to Christ, and in my confession at the 
 close I said, that we believed in Christ, both as He was the 
 man Jesus, and God over all blessed forever. 
 
 *' But, blessed be the Lord I I have not sought to compre- 
 hend or imagine ; but as I am furnished upon the occasion 
 so it goes. I value the invisible touches and fooling of 
 heavenly virtue and life beyond it all, nor am I delighted 
 with these matters ; but, dear George, I confess I never 
 heard any Friend speak so fully as to Christ's manhood as 
 thyself. I think so much in print in our name as a people 
 would remove much prejudice, and the contest would come 
 more to power against power, than words against words. 
 And this I must needs say, wc have been as poor tossed 
 sheep up and down, much abused, vilified and l)olied ; but 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 119 
 
 over all God is raising the strong horn of his salvation ; 
 and lie has mag-nified his name in all these bustles and 
 stirs ; and truth has manifestly gotten ground, and in no 
 one thing more than our plain confessions of Christ; so 
 much had the devil roosted and nestled himself in them 
 under their misapprehensions of our words in that par- 
 ticular ; and if any weakness attended the phrasing of it, 
 I hope and believe the simplicity in which it was delivered 
 will hide it from the evil watcher." 
 
 From the narrative of this controversy, two inferences 
 may be fairly deduced : first. That the only tenable ground 
 upon which the opponents of the early Friends at- 
 tempted to divest them of the Christian character was the 
 greater spirituality of their doctrines. And, second, That 
 while they faithfully and fearlessly maintained their testi- 
 mony to the spiritual nature of the Christian religion, and 
 rejected the gross and carnal constructions so generally 
 given to the declarations of our Lord and his apostles, 
 they never refined away the plain and obvious truths 
 which the sacred volume contains. They in fact adhered 
 very closely to the letter as well as to the spirit of the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Alexander Parker, one of the early members and min- 
 isters of the Society, had published, about the year lG5t, 
 a tract, entitled a " Testimony of the Light within," of 
 which Samuel Grevill, a priest near Banbury, wrote a 
 pretended refutation. The doctrine thus assailed, being 
 one of great importance, and, indeed, lying at the founda- 
 tion of the testimony which Friends believed themselves 
 called to support, William Penn produced a pamphlet en- 
 titled " Urim and Thummim, or the doctrines of Lig'ht 
 
120 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and perfection maintained," proving from Scripture tes- 
 timony that the witness for God in the n ind of man is 
 the light of Christ, the true light which lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world, and that this light not 
 only discovers to us what is sinful, but is sufficient, as it is 
 followed and obeyed, to lead out of all sin into the glori- 
 ous liberty of the children of God. He lays it down as 
 the reason why many of the professors of religion deny 
 the sufficiency of this Divine light or Holy Spirit, to lead 
 into entire redemption and to the knowledge of God, whom 
 to know is life eternal, that they have known it only as a 
 reprover, and have not, for want of obedience, experienced 
 the salvation from sin and death to which it leads ; and 
 admonishes his readers to try the effect of obedience to its 
 small and tender appearances, before they object to its 
 nature or sufficiency. 
 
 The controversies in which William Penn had been 
 hitherto engaged, wore with persons of other religious 
 persuasions ; but at the time to which we are now ar- 
 rived, he was drawn into a contest with some who pro- 
 fessed to hold the same fundamental doctrines as he did. 
 The prime mover in this controversy was John Perot, a 
 man who had joined the Society of Friends, who appears 
 to have possessed more imagination than judgment, and 
 much higher opinion of himself than his attainments, 
 natural or spiritual, justified. Imagining himself commis- 
 sioned to convert the pope, he procured a man of the name 
 of John Luff to accompany him on this embassy. Arriv- 
 ing at Rome, they were soon arrested and cast into prison. 
 John Luff was confined in the inquiiition, where he di(3d, 
 not without circumstances exciting the opinion that ho 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN". 121 
 
 was privately murdered. John Perot was committed to 
 the bedlam, from whence he occasionally found means to 
 transmit letters to England for publication, expressed in 
 the apostolic style, signing himself "John," without sur- 
 name. After being a considerable time in confinement, 
 his release was procured by the solicitation of some of his 
 friends, and he soon afterwards returned to England. The 
 report of his suiferings at Home, which common fame had 
 exaggerated, united to the appearance of unusual sanctity, 
 gave him more place than he deserved in the minds of 
 some well meaning, but not very judicious, Friends. Mis- 
 taking the suggestions of his own misguided imagination 
 for the indications of the Divine Spirit, he declaimed 
 against the practice of taking off the hat in time of 
 prayer as a piece of formality, inconsistent with the spirit- 
 uality of the Christian religion, unless they felt themselves 
 divinely required so to do. And a number of the less ex- 
 perienced Friends were carried away with his notions, and 
 adopted his practice. 
 
 As Friends had always considered the uncovering of 
 the head, when they approach the Supreme Being in 
 prayer, as an external sign of the homage due to Him, 
 and of the reverence with which they engage in that sol- 
 emn act, George Fox labored to convince those Friends 
 who had fallen into it, of the impropriety of this unseemly 
 practice, and with such success that most of them acknowl- 
 edged their error, and united with their more experienced 
 brethren. John Perot, however, was too confident, or too 
 obstinate, to change his course, and was at length disowned 
 by the Society. 
 
 After his disownment, a pamphlet was published, with 
 11 
 
122 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 out the name of the author, but attributed to hhu, with 
 the title of ''The Spirit of the Hat," to which William 
 Penn wrote a reply, with the curious title of "The spirit 
 of Alexander the coppersmith justly rebuked." Shortly 
 after the appearance of the latter, a second anonymous 
 pamphlet, under the title of "Tyranny and Hypocrisy de- 
 tected," was given to the world. This came out under the 
 character of a reply to "The spirit of Alexander the cop- 
 persmith rebuked ; " and like the former, was understood 
 to be the work of John Perot. It drew a rejoinder from 
 William Penn, which he styled " Judas and the Jews com- 
 bined against Christ and his followers." 
 
 This controversy assumes a degree of importance, which 
 it would not otherwise possess, from Uig principles in- 
 volved in it. This anonymous writer took the ground, 
 that those who refused to uncover their heads at the time 
 of prayer, were led to this practice by the light of Truth 
 in their own minds, and that a requisition, on the part of 
 other Friends, of a conformity to the usages of the So- 
 ciety in this respect, was an abridgment of their Chris- 
 tian liberty. William Penn states the doctrine as unques- 
 tionably true, that the Divine light is universal and 
 sufficient to lead to salvation, and that every man ought 
 to follow its teachings in matters of faith and worship. 
 The dispute between them was not in regard to the prin- 
 ciple, but to its application. The following questions are 
 laid down as including the matter at issue : 
 
 1. Whether Christ has or has not given to his church, 
 consisting of faithful believers and obedient walkers by 
 the light or spirit of God within, a just sense, relish, and 
 savor of those spirits which the great enemy of man may 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 123 
 
 assume, mder plausible appearances, to condemn what the 
 church has practised, or to introduce what the church has 
 condemned ? 
 
 2. Whether such a society, body, or church, may not, 
 after due admonition given to such dissenting or innova- 
 ting person, lawfully and without deviation from Chris- 
 tian principles, deny their communion to such person or 
 persons, as a testimony against the spirit by which they 
 are actuated ? 
 
 3. Whether such person or persons may acknowledge 
 the truth of this fundamental doctrine of the Divine light 
 as a leader and guide, and yet be actuated by a wrong 
 spirit to the production of rents and divisions, and then 
 oppose the church under pretence of being guided by this 
 inward light ; and consequently whether such persons 
 ought to be judged by any for acting in this manner, see- 
 ing it is the duty of all to act according to the dictates of 
 the light of Christ? 
 
 4. Whether the body of those called Quakers or their 
 opposers were that church ? 
 
 In answer to the first, it is shown that such a power of 
 discernment does belong to the true church, from various 
 passages in Scripture. 
 
 The second is also answered affirmatively, both from the 
 testimony of Scripture and the reasonableness of the case. 
 
 In regard to the third question, it is stated that men 
 may acknowledge and believe the doctrine of the inward 
 light of Christ, and yet mistake the suggestions of their 
 own dark imaginations for the leadings of this divine 
 light : and yet neither the profession nor the belief of 
 being guided by it, can exempt those who are not really 
 
VIA PASSAGES FROM THK LIFE 
 
 led by it, from the just judgment of those who nro. If the 
 more profession of being led by the spirit of Trulh eould 
 exonerate those who are strangers to it from the judgmei.t 
 and oensure of sueh as aetually walk in the Spirit, a door 
 would be opened to all kinds of libertinism. Though it is 
 tl.e duty of all to walk iii the light, and to wait for it, that 
 by it they may be instructed in the way of life and salva- 
 tion, yet it is they only who are actually led by it, that 
 can rightly discern between the false spirits and the true. 
 
 The fourth question was one upon which the ajiplica- 
 lion of the principles laid down in the answers to the 
 former three essentially depended. Whether the body of 
 those who were called Quakers, or the few who were 
 joined with John Perot, \vere the true church, acting 
 under the influence of the divine light ? Though the 
 number of those who adhered to John Perot appears to 
 have borne a very small proportion to the number of 
 those who discarded his notions, yet our author does not 
 build any part of his argument on this basis. He raises 
 it on a much more solid foundation. 
 
 According to the concessions of John Perot, the Society 
 at one time was a true church, with a living and powerful 
 ministry ; among w^hom the everlasting Gospel was 
 preached, and by which the church was greatly in- 
 creased. Now% as the dissatisfoction of John Perot and 
 his party did not arise from any change in the principles 
 or practice of the Society, but grew out of their own in- 
 novations, the Society was the same church still, but they 
 were not the same members. Harmony prevailed, and 
 religious refreshnu^nt was experienced among them, till 
 the innovation of keeping on the hat in the time of public 
 
OF WILT.TAM PENX. 125 
 
 prayer was attempted. The change of character must, 
 therefore, be attributed to those who had adopted thi.i 
 innovation, and not to those who refused it. 
 
 Besides the works already mentioned, he wrote, in the 
 course of this year, several letters of a religious character, 
 which are still extant. 
 
 One to Justice Fleming, deputy lieutenant of West- 
 moreland, who, it appears, had used considerable severity 
 towards Friends in that county. In this letter he says : 
 
 " The obligation which thy civility laid upon the person 
 who is now my wife, when in the north in 1664, is, with 
 her being so, become mine. Not'to acknowledge, though 
 I could never retaliate it, were a rudeness I have not 
 usually been guilty of ; for, however differing I am from 
 other men circa sacra, that is, relative to religious mat- 
 ters, and to that world which, respecting men, may be 
 said to begin when this ends, I know no religion which 
 destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness. These, rightly 
 understood, are great indications of true men, if not of 
 good Christians." And a little further on he adds: ''That 
 way is but a bad way of making Christians, which destroys 
 their constitutions as men." He then in plain but respect- 
 ful terms pointed out the folly as well as injustice of at- 
 tempting to change the opinions of men by the application 
 of force. 
 
 The declaration of indulgence to those who dissented 
 from the established church, which was issued by the 
 king in 16T1, was not long permitted to pass unopposed. 
 From the character of the reigning monarch, and the 
 measures of the court, it was inferred that this act of 
 indulgence was not designed for the relief of Protestant 
 11* 
 
126 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 dissenters, so much as the protection of Roman Catholics; 
 and, at all events, it was obviously an assumption of 
 power under the character of the royal prerogative, which 
 excited the jealousy even of those who would have gladly 
 obtained the same indulgence in a constitutional way. The 
 Parliament which met in 1613 complained of this suspen- 
 sion of the penal laws by the dispensing power of the 
 crown, as one of the grievances to be redressed ; and 
 having the power of granting or withholding supplies, 
 they used it in this case, so that their prodigal and needy 
 monarch revoked his proclamation and broke the seals 
 with his own hands. 
 
 Though the Parliament was then composed of men 
 rather more favorable to toleration than in the early part 
 of Charles II. 's reign, yet, when the declaration of indul- 
 gence was revoked, no effectual measures were adopted to 
 secure a legal toleration, and therefore the persecuting 
 bigots of the day availed themselves of that revocation to 
 revive the Conventicle Act, and to renew the oppression 
 of conscientious dissenters. These unrighteous proceed- 
 ings soon attracted the attention of our author, and fur- 
 nished employment for his pen through a considerable 
 part of the year 16t4. 
 
 Some justices of the peace in Middlesex having used an 
 unexpected degree of harshness towards Friends who had 
 assembled at a meeting in their neighborhood, at which, 
 it appears, he was present, he addressed a respectful letter 
 to them, forcibly appealing to their own understandings 
 against the persecuting measures to which they had given 
 countenance. 
 
 In that letter he. assumed the ground that the king's 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 127 
 
 dtclaration of indulgence was revoked, not because there 
 was any objection to its principles, but on account of the 
 manner of the grant. He further urged that the kingdom 
 was then undisturbed, that there was consequently no just 
 cause for the execution of such laws, and that when the 
 reason of a law had ceased, the law itself became obsolete 
 without a formal repeal ; and that it was very questionable 
 whether the law by which Protestants were burnt for their 
 opposition to the church of Rome had ever been repealed. 
 Laws, he observed, were either fundamental, and therefore 
 permanent, or enacted upon particular emergencies, and to 
 expire of themselves when the cause of their enactment 
 had passed away. He says : " We came not to our liber- 
 ties and properties by the Protestant religion ; their date 
 rises higher. Why, then, should a non-conformity to it 
 deprive us of them ? The nature of body and soul, earth 
 and heaven, this world and that to come, differs. There 
 can be no reason to persecute any man in this world about 
 anything that belongs to the next. Who art thou (saith 
 the Holy Scripture) that judgeth another man's servant ? 
 He must stand or fall to his master, the great God. Le*-. 
 tares and wheat grow together till the great harvest. 
 
 ** Be pleased to remember that faith is the gift of God ; 
 and what is not of faith is sin. We must either be hyp- 
 ocrites in doing what we believe in our consciences we 
 ought not to do, or forbearing what we are fully persuaded 
 we ought to do. 
 
 " Either give us better faith or leave us with such as we 
 have, for it seems unreasonable in you to disturb us for this 
 that we have, and yet be unable to give us any other." 
 
 " I am well assured it shall less repent you upon your 
 
128 PASSAGES FROM THE LTFF 
 
 dying bed, to have acted moderately than severely. 
 You cannot but know how fallible Protestants acknowl- 
 edge themselves to be in matters of relio:ion, and, conse- 
 quently, with what caution they should proceed against 
 any about religion." "I love and honor all virtuous 
 persons that differ from me, and hope God will have regard 
 to every such one, according to his sincerity. And, how- 
 ever it shall please you to deal with us at. this or any other 
 time, I pray God to forgive you, open your eyes, tender 
 your hearts, and make you sensible how much more 
 moderation and virtue are worth your study and pursuit 
 than the disturbance of religious dissenting assemblies, 
 that, so far as I know of them, desire to honor the king, 
 love their neighbors as themselves, and do unto all men 
 as they would have all men do unto them." 
 
 A passage from the fragment of autobiography pub- 
 lished by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, relates 
 to this period of William Penn's life. 
 
 " The third time I came to court was in "73, having not 
 frequented it for five years. The business that drew me 
 thither was the imprisonment of that servant of God, my 
 worthy friend George Fox, in Worcester Castle ; the cause, 
 worshipping God after another manner than that of the 
 Church of England ; and lest it should prove too feeble a 
 tie to hold him, the justices of the peace that had laid his 
 commitment officiously tendered him the oaths of allegi- 
 ance and supremacy, not that he should take them, but 
 because they were pretty sure he would not take them, 
 as a supplemental snare to gratify their humor and accom- 
 plish their design against him. This ending in a praemu- 
 nire, and finding no applications in the country were likely 
 
O F W I L L T A ]\r P E X N . 1 29 
 
 to su("crc(l for his deliverance out of the hands of some 
 very angry, obstinate persons, it was resolved amongst us 
 at London to remove him by habeas corpus to the King's 
 Bench, and try what we could do at the court to procure 
 his discharge. 
 
 "It fell to my lot to go on this errand, in which solici- 
 tation William Mead accompanied me. 
 
 "After something I said as an introduction to the busi- 
 ness, I delivered the Duke of York our request. He pe- 
 rused it, and then told us * that he was against all perse- 
 cution for the sake of religion. That it was true he had, 
 in his younger time, been warm, especially when he thought 
 people made it a pretence to disturb government, but that 
 he had seen and considered things better, and he was for 
 doing to others as he would have others do unto him ; 
 and he thought it would be happy for the world if all 
 were of that mind; for he was sure,' he said, ' that no 
 man was willing to be persecuted himself for his own 
 conscience.' He added that ' he looked upon us as a quiet, 
 industrious people, and though he was not of our judg- 
 ment, yet he liked our good lives,' with much more to the 
 same purpose, promising he would speak to his brother, 
 and doubted not but that the king's counsel would have 
 orders in our friend's favor. 
 
 "I and my companion spoke, as occasion offered, to 
 recommend both our business and our character, but the 
 less because he prevented us in the manner I have ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 " When he had done upon this affair, he was pleased to 
 lake a very particular notice of me, both for the relation 
 my father had had to his service in the navy, and the 
 
 I 
 
130 PASSAGES FUOM THE LIFE 
 
 care he had promised him to show in ray regard upon all 
 occasions. 
 
 " That he wondered I had not been with him, and that 
 whenever I had any business thither he Avould order that 
 I should have access ; after which he withdrew, and we 
 returned. 
 
 " This was my first visit to the court after five years' 
 retirement, and this the success of it, and the first time I 
 had spoken with him since '65. That it should be grateful 
 to me was no wonder ; and, perhaps, that with some was 
 the beginning of my faults at. court." 
 
 The following letter to George Fox was written soon 
 after the interview above related : 
 
 " Dear George Fox : — Thy dear and tender love in thy 
 last letter I received, and for thy business thus : a great 
 lord, a man of noble mind, did as good as put himself in 
 a loving way to get thy liberty. He prevailed with the 
 king for a pardon, but that we rejected. Then he prcst 
 for a more noble release, that better answered truth. He 
 prevailed, and got the king's hand to a release. It sticks 
 with the Lord Keeper, and we have used, and do use, what 
 interest we can. The king is angry with him (the Lord 
 Keeper), and promiseth very largely and lovingly ; so 
 that, if we have been deceived, thou seest the grounds of 
 it. But we have sought after a writ of error these ten 
 days past, wcllnigh resolving to be as sure as we can ; 
 and an habeas corpus is gone or will go to-morrow night. 
 My dear love salutes thee and thy dear wife. Things are 
 brave as to Truth in these parts ; great conviction upon 
 the people. My wife's dear love is to you all. I long 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 131 
 
 and hope erelong to see thee. So, dear George Fox, 
 am, etc., 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 George Fox having been brought by a writ of habeas 
 corpus before the Court of the King's Bench, Sir Matthew 
 Hale discharged him by proclamation. 
 
 Persecution now raging with nearly as much violence 
 as ever, the envious magistrates frequently resorted to 
 their old expedient. When Friends were brought before 
 them, and could not be convicted of any offence, they 
 tendered the oath of allegiance to them ; and upon their 
 refusing to swear, they were subjected to the extremely 
 severe penalties designed for an entirely different class of 
 people. 
 
 To evince to the world that they had substantial reasons 
 for refusing to swear, William Penn, in 16*75, published a 
 treatise on oaths, which was addressed to the king and 
 Parliament. The author first shows the reason of oaths 
 to be the degeneracy of man from primitive integrity ; 
 and fortifies his opinion by the testimony of a number of 
 ancient writers. He then assigns various reasons why a 
 Christian ought not to swear. 
 
 "As oaths originate in perfidy, they ought to be ex- 
 cluded by a religion that establishes integrity, and therefore 
 takes away the reason of them. 
 
 " They abolish the distinction between men of veracity 
 and those of loose and perfidious characters. 
 
 " Oaths, by their frequent and familiar use, have lost 
 the awful influence which is the alleged reason for their 
 continuance. 
 
132 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 " Those who entertain a. just sense of the omnipresence 
 of God have no need of an oath to confine them to the 
 truth 
 
 ''It is irreverent to appeal to God as a witness on trivial 
 occasions. 
 
 " The example and precepts of our Saviour are directly 
 opposed to all oaths ; and swearing is contrary to the 
 nature and general character of Christianity." 
 
 He cites the testimonies of a great number of the an- 
 cient Gentiles and of several Jewish writers in disappro- 
 bation of swearing. 
 
 He next gives the declarations of a great number of 
 Christian fathers, doctors, martyrs, and early reformers, 
 from Pol3^carp to Erasmus, against the lawfulness of 
 swearing under the Gospel dispensation. This is followed 
 by the opinions of several of the schoolmen and others, 
 as Thomas Aquinas, Cajetan, etc., against the use of 
 oaths. These authorities, extracted from a number of 
 writers, ancient and modern, are no questionable evidence 
 of the industry and reading of William Penn. 
 
 But this work, however it might have softened some, 
 had not the least influence (such was the religious fury of 
 the times) where it was most to be desired. Bigots who 
 had power, still continued to abuse it. Persons were 
 thrown into gaol, so that parents and their children were 
 separated. Cattle were driven away. The widow's cow 
 was not even spared. Barns full of corn were seized 
 which was threshed out and sold. Household goods were 
 distrained, so that even a stool was not left in some cases 
 to sit on. These enormities sometimes took place on sus- 
 picion only that persons had preached to or attended a 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 133 
 
 conventicle ; and to such length were they carried, that 
 even some of those who went only to visit and sit by their 
 sick relations, were adjudged to be a company met to pray 
 in defiance of the law. William Penn attempted again to 
 stem the torrent by a work of another kind. He published 
 a treatise under the following title; ''England's present 
 interest considered with honor to the Prince and safety to 
 the people, in answer to this question, What is most fit, 
 easy, and safe at this juncture of affairs to be done for 
 quieting differences, allaying the heat of contrary interests, 
 and making them subservient to the interest of the govern- 
 ment, and consistent with the prosperity of the kingdom ? 
 submitted to the consideration of our superiors." 
 
 He answers his question by asserting that the thing 
 most fit, safe, and easy to be done, would be a determina- 
 tion by the Government, first, upon an inviolable and 
 impartial maintenance of English rights ; secondly, upon 
 conducting itself so as to act upon a balance, as nearly as 
 it could, towards the several religious interests ; and, 
 thirdly, upon a sincere promotion of general and practical 
 religion. 
 
 " Englishmen," he said, ''had birthrights. The first of 
 these consisted of an ownership and undisturbed posses- 
 'sion, so that what they had was rightly their own and 
 nobody's else, and such possession and ownership related 
 both to title and security of estate, and liberty of person 
 from the violence of arbitrary power. This was the 
 situation of our ancestors in ancient British times. They 
 who governed afterwards, the Saxons, made no alteration 
 in this law, but confirmed it. The Normans who came 
 next did the same. William, at his coronation,, made a 
 12 
 
134 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 solemn covenant to maintain the good, approved, and an- 
 citntlawsof the kingdom, and to inhibit all spoil and unjust 
 judgment. The same covenant was adopted by his suc- 
 cessors, and confirmed by Magna Charta. 
 
 " The second birthright of Englishmen consisted in the 
 voting of every law that was made, whereby that owner- 
 ship in liberty and property might be maintained." This 
 also was the case, as he proved by quotations from laws 
 and an appeal to history, in British, Saxon, and Norman 
 times. " The third birthright of Englishmen consisted in 
 having an influence upon, and a great share in, the judi- 
 catory power, so that they were not to be condemned but 
 by the votes of freemen. This practice, though not per- 
 haps British, obtained very early in Saxon times. It was 
 among the laws of Ethelred that in every hundred there 
 should be a court where twelve ancient freemen, together 
 with the lord of the hundred, should be sworn that they 
 would not condemn the innocent or acquit the "guilty. 
 The same law continued to be the law of the land under 
 different kings till it was violated by John • when Magna 
 Charta restored it." Magna Charta, however, he main- 
 tained, " was not the nativity, but the restorer of ancient 
 English privileges. It was no grant of new rights, but 
 only a restorer of the old." 
 
 He then explained the great Charter of England, and 
 endeavored to show by an appeal to reason, law, lawyers, 
 and facts themselves, that the people of England could not 
 be justly disseized of any of these fundamentals. '' Nothing 
 could be more unjust than to sacrifice the liberty and prop- 
 erty of any man for religion, where he was not found 
 breaking- any law which related to natural or civil things. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 135 
 
 Religion under any modificaticn or church government 
 was no part of the old English constitution. * Honeste 
 vivcre, alterum non Isedere, jus suum cuique tribuerc,' 
 that is, to live honestly, to do no injury to another, and to 
 give every man his due, was enough to entitle every native 
 to English privileges. It was this, and not his religion 
 which gave him the great claim to the protection of the 
 government under which he lived. Near three hundred 
 years before Austin set his foot on English ground the 
 inhabitants had a good constitution. This came not in 
 with him. Neither did it come in with Luther ; nor was 
 it to go out with Calvin. We were a free people by the 
 creation of God, by the redemption of Christ, and by the 
 careful provision of our never to be forgotten, honorable 
 ancestors ; so that our claim to these English privileges, 
 rising higher than Protestantism, could never justly be 
 invalidated on account of non-conformity to any tenet or 
 fashion it might prescribe. This would be to lose by the 
 Reformation, which was effected only that we might enjoy 
 property with conscience." 
 
 With respect to the second part of the answer, that is, 
 a determination by the Government of conducting itself 
 so as to act upon a balance as nearly as it could towards 
 the several religious interests, he proved that our Saviour 
 prohibited all force in producing an uniformity of religious 
 opinion. He says, "many inquisitive men into human 
 affairs have thought that the concord of discords hath not 
 been the infirmest basis government can stand upon. Less 
 sedition and disturbance attended Hannibal's army that 
 consisted of many nations, than the Roman legions that 
 were of one people." "It is not probable that a master in 
 
136 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 a family should have his work so well done, who smiles 
 upon one servant and frowns upon the rest." " It is not 
 the interest of governors to blow coals in their own 
 country, especially when it is to consume their own 
 people, and it may be themselves, too." Again: ''Such 
 conduct not only makes them enemies, but there is no 
 such excitement to revenge as a raped conscience. Whether 
 the ground of a man's religious dissent be rational or not, 
 severity is unjustifiable with him ; for it is a maxim with 
 sufferers, that, whoever is in the wrong, the persecutor 
 cannot be in the right. Men not conscious to themselves 
 of evil, and hardly treated, not only resent it unkindly, 
 but are bold to show it." 
 
 The last chapter is on the sincere promotion of general 
 and practical religion. He says: "General, true, and 
 requisite religion is to visit the widow and fatherless, and 
 to keep ourselves, through the universal grace, unspotted 
 of the world. This is the most easy and probable way 
 to fetch in all men professing God and religion, since 
 every persuasion acknowledges this in words." " All pre- 
 tend to make this their corner-stone ; let them be equally 
 encouraged to square their building by it." 
 
 " No one thing is more unaccountable and condemnable 
 among men than their uncharitable contests about religion, 
 indeed, about words and phrases, while they all verbally 
 meet in the most, if not only, necessary part of the Chris- 
 tian religion ; for nothing is more certain than that if men 
 would but live up to one-half of what they know in their 
 consciences they ought to practise, their edge would be 
 taken off, their blood would be sweetened by mercy and 
 truth, and this unnatural sharpness qualified. They would 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 137 
 
 quickl)' find work enough at home ; each man's hands 
 would be full by the unruliness of his own passions and 
 in subjecting his own will, instead of devouring one an- 
 other's good name, liberty, or estate. Compassion would 
 rise, and mutual desires to be assistant to each other in a 
 better sort of living. Oh, how delightful it would be to 
 see mankind, the creation of one God, that hath upheld 
 them to this day, of one accord, at least in the weighty 
 things of God's holy law." 
 
 " A promotion of general religion, which being in itself 
 practical, brings back ancient virtue. Good living will 
 thrive in this soil ; men will grow honest, trusty, and 
 temxperate. We may expect good neighborhood and cor- 
 dial friendship. Men will be more industrious, which will 
 increase our manufactures ; set the idle and poor to work 
 for their livelihood, and enable the several countries with 
 more ease and decency to maintain the aged and impotent. 
 
 "It is out of this nursery of virtue men should be 
 drawn to be planted in the government ; not what is their 
 opinion, but what is their manners and capacity. Here 
 the field is large, and the magistrate has room to choose 
 good officers for the public good. Heaven will prosper so 
 natural, so noble, and so Christian an essay." 
 
 In the same year he wrote a remarkable letter to two 
 Protestant w^omen of rank in Germany. One of them was 
 the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick Y., Prince 
 Palatine of the Rhine and King of Bohemia, and grand- 
 daughter of James I. of England. The other was Anna 
 Maria, Countess of Homes, the friend and companion of 
 Elizabeth. They were both religious w^omen, and the 
 princess had manifested her liberality by affording an 
 12* 
 
138 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 asylum in her dominions to persons who were persecuted 
 for religion. The Princess Elizabeth was distinguished 
 for her learning as well as for her benevolence. Her 
 attachment to her Protestant belief had led her when 
 quite young to reject the offer of ma.rriage to the King of 
 Poland. She was now in her fifty-sixth year. William 
 Penn speaks of her as " choosing a single life as the freest 
 from care, and best suited to study and meditation. 
 Though she kept no sumptuous table in her own court, 
 she spread the tables of the poor in their solitary cells, 
 breaking bread to virtuous pilgrims according to their 
 want and her ability. Abstemious in herself, and in 
 apparel void of all vain ornaments." Robert Barclay and 
 Benjamin Furly, when travelling in Germany in the ser- 
 vice of the Gospel, had paid them a visit and were favora- 
 bly received. This visit gave the princess such a knowledge 
 of the principles of Friends, and so favorable an opinion of 
 them, that hearing about this time of the imprisonment of 
 Robert Barclay, she wrote to her brother. Prince Rupert, 
 soliciting him to use his influence with the king to pre- 
 vent or mitigate the severity with which he was threatened. 
 
 The letter of William Penn, which is of great length, 
 begins as follows : 
 
 " Noble of this world, but more noble for your inquiry 
 after the Truth and love to it, the fame whereof hath 
 sounded to the ears of some of us in this island. I have 
 had you, worthy women, often in my remembrance, with 
 that honor which is not of this world; even when my 
 soul has been in its purest retirements, not only from all 
 visibles, but from their very ideas in the mind, and every 
 other imagination ; resting with the Lord in his own sab- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 139 
 
 bath,, which is the true silence of all flesh indeed, which 
 profits above the formal Christian's bodily exercise. And 
 in these heavenly sequestrations of soul, and true resigna- 
 tion unto the divine will of my Father, have I taken a 
 most clear prospect of you, and every circumstance that 
 may be fit for me to know : your education, your quality, 
 your dignity, the envy of the clergy, the fury of the rab- 
 ble, and the strength and power of temptation, arising 
 from all these considerations, if possible to smother your 
 blessed beginnings ; and as so many bands of soldiers, 
 employed and commissioned of their great prince of dark- 
 ness, to w^atch and to hinder Jesus from rising in you. 
 In a weighty sense of all which my heart opens itself 
 unto you in God's counsel, after this manner. 
 
 " Be faithful to what you know, and obedient to that 
 which God, by the light of his Son, makes manifest in 
 vour consciences. Consult not away the pure and gentle 
 strivings of the Holy Ghost; drowm not his still voice 
 with the crowd of careful thoughts and vain contrivances ; 
 break not the bruised reed, neither quench the smoking 
 flax in yourselves. If you truly love Jesus, hear Him ; 
 and since it hath pleased God in some measure, as with 
 Paul, to reveal his blessed Son in you, consult not with 
 flesh and blood, which are below the heavenly things ; for 
 that inherits not the kingdom of God ; but with sincere 
 Mary, from a deep sense of the beauty, virtue, and excel- 
 lency of that life, that is hid with Christ in God, wait out 
 of all cumber, free from that running, willing, sacrificing 
 spirit that is in the world, in the pure obedience, humilia- 
 tion, godly death or silence, at the feet of Jesus, choosing- 
 the better part, which shall never be taken from you : and 
 
140 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Jesus will be with you; He will shed his peace abroad in 
 the midst of you, even that which Hows from the crystal 
 streams of life, that arise from under the throne of God." 
 It concludes in the followinp: manner: " Remember the 
 poverty, simplicity, self-denial, patience, and the cross of 
 Jesus. I beg of you, by all that is dear and sacred to you, 
 shrink not at this baptism, neither so much as tamper with 
 any latitude that would evade his bitter cup. Let not his 
 vinegar and gall be unpleasant, nor his crown of thorns 
 troublesome ; last of all, let not his nails and spear be 
 terrible to you. For they that will not forsake Him in his 
 agonies, but be the companions of his tribulations, and 
 cheerfully lay down their life and die with Him to the 
 world, they and none else shall rise with Him in the new- 
 ness of life, and ascend with Him to his Father, by Him 
 to be glorified with that glory which He had with his 
 Father before the world began. Unto which kingdom, 
 God Almighty conduct you, through this earthly pilgrim- 
 age. Amen." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 141 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IT has been mentioned that William Penn, about the 
 year 1011, travelled in the work of the ministry 
 through some parts of the continent ; but of that journey 
 there is no particular account. By the labors of Friends, 
 particularly William Penn and William Caton, a knowl- 
 edge of the doctrines of the Society of Friends was spread 
 on the continent ; and a number had been convinced, and 
 joined in fellowship with them. 
 
 In the Fourth month of 167 6, we find William Penn 
 leaving his family at Worminghurst, in Sussex, where he 
 then lived, and attending the Yearly Meeting at London. 
 
 Soon after this he parted with his wife and family, in 
 order to make a second visit, in the love of the Gospel, 
 to Friends and others in Holland and Germany. Of this 
 journey he has preserved an account, which was first pub' 
 lished in the year 1694, from which the following is taken : 
 
 This ensuing " Journal of my Travels in Holland 
 AND Germany," in the service of the Gospel of my Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, was written for my own satis- 
 faction, and that of some relations and particular friends, 
 as the long time it has lain silent shows. But a copy thnt 
 was found amongst the late Countess of Conway's papers, 
 falling into the hands of a person who much frequented 
 
142 PASSAGES. FROM THE LIFE 
 
 that family, he was earnest with me, both by himself and 
 others, to have leave to publish it for a common good. 
 
 Reader, this journal is of a religious voyage, and has 
 some passages in it that may engage thy soul to serious- 
 ness, and let thee see how good God is to those that go 
 of his holy errands. 
 
 On the 22d of the Fifth month, 16n, I left my dear wife 
 and family at Worminghurst, in Sussex, in the fear and 
 love of God. We set sail from Harwich about three 
 o'clock in the morning of the 26th, being the fifth day of 
 the week; and got the sixth day at night within half a 
 league of the Briel. Those that came over were George 
 Fox, Robert Barclay, G. Keith, G. Watts, John Furly, 
 William Tailcoat, Isabel Yeomans, Elizabeth Keith, and 
 myself, with two of our servants. 
 
 Finding letters at Amsterdam from the Friends of 
 Dantzic, complaining of the heavy sufferings they under- 
 went, informing us also that the King of Poland was 
 there, and asking advice about an address to him, it fell 
 upon me to write the following letter in the name of the 
 Friends of Dantzic : 
 
 " To the King of Poland. 
 " Great Prince! 
 
 "Actions of justice, mercy, and Truth are worth v of all 
 men ; but in a most excellent manner of tlie serious con- 
 sideration of kings and princes. We, certain inhabitants 
 of the city of Dantzic, have been long great suflerers, not 
 for any wickedness committed against the royal law of 
 God, or any breach of those civil laws of this city that 
 relate to the well-government of it in all natural and civiJ 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 143 
 
 things, but purely and only for the cause of our tender 
 consciences towards God. 
 
 " We believe that all true ministry and worship stand 
 only in the experimental sense, operations, and leadings of 
 the holy light, spirit, or grace that is shed abroad in the 
 hearts of men and women, to conduct them in the holy 
 way of regeneration unto life eternal. This was the ancient 
 apostolical doctrine ; they spoke what they had seen, tasted, 
 and handled of the Word of God. And this is our faith, 
 doctrine, and practice in this day. 
 
 "And be not displeased with us, oh, King, we entreat 
 thee, if we give this for the- reason of our absenting ourselves 
 from the public and common ministry or worship; namely, 
 that we have no taste or relish, no sense or evidence, that 
 their ministry and worship are authorized and performed 
 by the apostolical power and spirit of Jesus ; but rather 
 that they are the inventions, studies, and powers of man's 
 nature ; all which are but strange fire, and therefore cannot 
 kindle a true and acceptable sacrifice to God. 
 
 " For it is not man's spirit and degenerate nature, speak- 
 ing and professing the words of God's Spirit, that giveth 
 acceptance with the Lord, or administereth heavenly edifi- 
 cation to men. 
 
 "And as this is the reason in the sight and presence 
 of that God that made heaven and earth, and will judge 
 the quick and dead, wherefore we cannot join in the com- 
 mon and public worship of these parts ; so doth the same 
 light and Spirit of God lay an holy necessity upon us, 
 with a meek and quiet spirit to come together, after the 
 manner of the ancient Christians, that were" the true fol- 
 lowers of Jesus ; and with godly fear and a retired mind 
 
144 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to wait upon God, and meditate in his holy law of life 
 that He hath written in our hearts, according- to his new 
 covenant promise ; that He may feed us, teach us, strengthen 
 us, and comfort us in our inward man. And, as by this 
 Holy Spirit, according- to the practice of the churches of old, 
 any are inclined or moved to reprove, exhort, admonish, 
 praise, or pray, we are found exercised in these holy 
 practices. 
 
 " Now, oh. Prince ! give us poor Christians leave to 
 expostulate with thee. Did Christ Jesus or his holy fol- 
 lowers endeavor, by precept or example, to set up their 
 religion with a carnal sword ? Called He any troops of 
 men or angels to defend Him ? Did He countenance his 
 over-zealous disciples when they would have had fire from 
 heaven to destroy those that were not of their mind ? No; 
 but did not Christ rebuke them, saying, ' Ye know not 
 what spirit ye are of ? ' 
 
 " Oh, King ! when did the true religion persecute ? 
 When did the true church offer violence for religion ? 
 Were not her weapons prayers, tears, and patience? Did 
 not Jesus conquer by those weapons, and vanquish cruelty 
 by suffering ? Can clubs and staves, swords and prisons 
 and banishments reach the soul, convert the heart, or con- 
 vince the understanding of man ? When did violence ever 
 make a true convert, or bodily punishments a sincere 
 (Christian ? 
 
 "And here give us leave to remind thee of a noble say- 
 ing of one of thy ancestors, Stephen, King of Poland : ' I 
 am king of men, not of consciences ; king of bodies, not 
 of souls.' And there have been found, and still are, among 
 the emperors, kings, princes, and states of the world, some 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 145 
 
 who have had that noble spirit of indulging their consci- 
 entious dissenting subjects. Be not thou less noble than 
 they." 
 
 The ninth of* the Sixth month we set forward for Her- 
 werden, or Herford, and came thither at night. This is 
 the city where the Princess Elizabeth Palatine of the 
 Rhine hath her court ; whom, and the countess in company 
 with her, it was especially upon us to visit ; and that upon 
 several accounts. First, in that they are persons seeking 
 after the best things. Secondly, in that they are actually 
 lovers and favorers of those who separate themselves from 
 the world for righteousness' sake. 
 
 The Princess is not only a private supporter of such, but 
 gave protection to de Labadie himself and his company; 
 yea, when they went under the reproachful name of Quak- 
 ers about seven years since. This man was a Frenchman, 
 who, being dissatisfied with the looseness and deadness of 
 the French Protestants, even at Geneva itself, left them 
 and came for Holland ; and so vehemently declaimed 
 against the apostasy of the priests and people there, that 
 the clergy were enraged, and stirred up the magistrates 
 against him, and the rather, because many follow^ed him, 
 and several women of great quality. Upon this, the 
 Princess gave them an invitation, and they came and were 
 protected by her. But since, some miscarriages falling 
 out in that place, she thereupon, in good measure, with- 
 drew her favor from them, and they removed to another 
 place. 
 
 I w^as moved to visit this man and his company six 
 years ago, and saw him and his two great disciples ; but 
 13 K 
 
146 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 they would not suffer me to see the people which I labored 
 for. In that day I saw the an-iness and unstableness of 
 the man's sph'it, and that a sect-master was his name. 
 And it was upon me, both by word of mouth and writing, 
 to let them know that the enemy Avould prevail against 
 them to draw them into inconvenient things, if they came 
 not to be stayed in the light of Jesus Christ, and to know 
 the holy silence ; and at last they would come to fall out 
 one with another and moulder away ; which is in some 
 measure come to pass as I feared. For I clearly perceived 
 that, though they had received some divine touches, there 
 was a danger they would run out with them, and spend 
 them like prodigals, not knowing then where to stay their 
 minds for daily bread. Yea, though they were something 
 angelical and like to the celestial bodies, yet, if they kept 
 not their station, they would prove fallen stars. 
 
 The Countess was commendable in this, that she left 
 all to join with a people who had a pretence at least to 
 more sj^irituality and self-denial than was found in the 
 national religion she was bred up in ; for God had reached 
 her, as she told me, about nine years ago, and that by an 
 extraordinary way. It seemed to us a great pity that 
 they should not be acquainted with the life and testimony 
 of the true Quakers. 
 
 About a year since, Robert Barclay and Benjamin Furly 
 took that city in the way from Fredericstadt to Amster- 
 dam, and gave them a visit, in which they informed them 
 somewhat of Friends' principles, and recommended the 
 testimony of Truth to them, as both a nearer and more 
 certain thing than the utmost of de Labadie's doctrine. 
 They left them tender and loving. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 147 
 
 But to return. Being arrived at that city, part of which 
 is under her government, we gave her to understand it, 
 desiring to know what time next day would be most 
 proper for us to visit her. She sent us word she was glad 
 that we were come, and should be ready to receive us next 
 morning about the seventh hour. 
 
 The next morning being come, which was the sixth day 
 of the week, we went, about the time she had appointed 
 us, and found both her and the Countess ready to receive 
 us, which they did with a more than ordinary expression 
 of kindness. I can truly say it, and that in God's fear, I 
 was very deeply and reverently affected with the sense 
 that was upon my spirit of the great and notable day of 
 the Lord, and the breakings-in of his eternal power upon 
 all nations, and of the raising of the slain Witness to 
 judge the world, who is the treasury of life and peace, of 
 wisdom and glory to all that receive Him in the hour of 
 his judgments and abide with Him. The sense of this 
 deep and sure foundation which God is laying as the hope 
 of eternal life and glory for all to build upon filled my 
 soul with an holy testimony to them, which in a living 
 sense was followed by my brethren, and so the meeting 
 ended about the eleventh hour. 
 
 The Princess entreated us to stay and dine with her, 
 but with due regard both to our testimony and to her at 
 that time we refused it, desiring, if she pleased, another 
 opportunity that day, to which she with all cheerfulness 
 yielded, she herself appointing the second hour. 
 
 So we went to our quarters ; and some time after we 
 had dined we returned. The meeting soon began. There 
 were several present besides the. Princess and Countess. 
 
148 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 It was at this meeting that the Lord in a more eminent 
 manner began to appear. The eternal Word showed it- 
 self a hammer at this day, yea, sharper than a two-edged 
 sword, dividing asunder between the soul and the spirit, 
 the joints and the marrow. Yea, this day was all flesh 
 humbled before the Lord. It amazed one, shook another, 
 broke another. The noble arm of the Lord was truly 
 awakened, and the weight and work tliereof bowed and 
 tendered us also, after an. unusual and extraordinary man- 
 ner, that the Lord might work an heavenly sign before 
 them and among them ; that the majesty of Him that is 
 risen among the poor Quakers might in some measure be 
 known unto them ; what God it is we serve, and what 
 power it is we wait for and bow before. They had a sense 
 and a discovery that day what would become of the gMry 
 of all flesh when God shall enter into judgment. Well, 
 let my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave 
 to the roof of my mouth when I shall forget the loving- 
 kindness of the Lord and the sure mercies of our God to 
 us his travailing servants that day. Lord, send forth 
 thy light and thy truth that all nations may behold thy 
 glory 1 
 
 Thus continued the meeting till about the seventh hour; 
 which done, with hearts and souls filled with holy thanks- 
 givings to the Lord for his abundant mercy and goodness 
 to us, we departed to our lodging, desiring to know 
 whether our coming the next day might not be uneasy 
 or unseasonable to her with respect to the affairs of her 
 government, it being the last day of the week, when we 
 were informed she was most frequently attended with ad- 
 dresses from her people. But with a loving and ready 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 149 
 
 mind she replied that she should be glad to see us the next 
 morning, and at any time when we would. 
 
 The next morning, being the 11th of the. Sixth month, 
 we were there betwixt eight and nine ; where, Robert 
 Barclay falling into some discourse with the Princess, the 
 Countess took hold of the opportunity, and whispered me 
 to withdraw, to get a meeting for the more inferior ser- 
 vants of the house, who would have been bashful to pre- 
 sent themselves before the Princess. And, blessed be the 
 Lord, He was not w^anting to us. The same blessed 
 power that had appeared to visit them of high, appeared 
 also to visit them of low degree, and we w^erc all sweetly 
 tendered and broken together ; for virtue went forth of 
 Jesus that day, and the life of our God was shed abroad 
 amongst us as a sweet savor, for which their souls bowed 
 before the Lord and confessed to our testimony. 
 
 About three in the afternoon we went to the Princess's ; 
 where being come, after some little time, the Princess and 
 Countess put me in remembrance of a promise I made 
 them in one of my letters out of England that I would 
 give them an account, at some convenient time, of my 
 first convincement, and of those tribulations and consola- 
 tions which I had met withal in this way of the kingdom 
 to which God hath brought me. After some pause I found 
 myself very free and prepared, in the Lord's love and fear, 
 to comply with their request. Among the rest present at 
 these opportunities it must not be forgotten that there w^as 
 a countess, sister to the Countess, then come to visit her, 
 and a Frenchw^oman of quality, the first behaving herself 
 very decently, and the last was often deeply broken, and 
 from a light, slighting carriage towards the very name of a 
 13* 
 
150 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Quaker, she bectime very intimately and affectionately kind 
 and respectful to us. They heard me with an earnest and 
 tender attention, and I hope and believe the Lord hath 
 made it profitable unto them. 
 
 The next morning- we had a meeting among ourselves 
 in our chamber, wherein the Lord refreshed us, and there 
 was a great travail upon our spirits, that the Lord would 
 stand by us that day and magnify the testimony of his 
 own truth by us ; that He might have a seed and people 
 in that place to lift up a standard for his name. 
 
 The second hour being at hand, we went to the meeting, 
 where were several, as well of the town as of the family. 
 Oh, the day of the Lord livingly dawned upon us, and 
 the searching life of Jesus was in the midst of us! The 
 Word that never faileth them that wait for it, and abide 
 in it, opened the way and unsealed the book of life ; yea, 
 the quickening power and life of Jesus wrought and 
 reached to them, and virtue from him in whom dwelleth 
 the Godhead bodily, went forth, and blessedly distilled 
 upon us his own heavenly life, sweeter than the spices 
 with pure frankincense, yea, than the sweet-smelling 
 myrrh that cometh from a far country. And as it began, 
 so it was carried on, and so it ended ; blessed be the name 
 of the Lord, and confided in be our God forever ! 
 
 We took our solemn leave of them, recommending to 
 them holy silence from all will-wofehip, and the workings, 
 strivings, and images of their own mind and spirit ; that 
 Jesus might be felt by them in their hearts, his holy 
 teachings witnessed and followed in the way of his blessed 
 cross, which would crucify them unto the world, and the 
 world unto them ; that their faith, hope, and joy might 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 151 
 
 stand in Christ in them, the heavenly Prophet, Shepherd 
 and Bishop ; whose voice all that are truly sheep will 
 hear and follow, and not the voice of any stranger what- 
 ever. So we left them in the love and peace of God, 
 praying that they might be kept from the evil of this 
 world. 
 
 At Frankfort we arrived on the 20th, and having 
 made known our intentions of coming, two considerable 
 persons came and met us about half a German mile from 
 the city, informing us of several who were well affected in 
 that town. Upon which we told them the end of our 
 coming, and desired to have a meeting with them in the 
 afternoon, which we easily obtained at the house of a 
 merchant, one of the two that met us. The persons who 
 resorted thither were generally people of considerable note, 
 both of Calvinists and Lutherans, and we can say they 
 received us with gladness of heart, and embraced our 
 testimony with a broken and reverent spirit, thanking 
 God for our coming amongst them, and praying that He 
 would prosper his work in our hands. This engaged our 
 hearts to make some longer stay in this city. We, there- 
 fore, desired another meeting the next day, which they 
 cheerfully assented to ; where several came who were not 
 with us the day before, and the Lord who sent us into the 
 land was with us, and by his power reached to them, inso- 
 much that they confessed to the truth pf our testimony. 
 
 Of these persons there were two women, one unmar- 
 ried (Joanna Eleonora de Malane), the other a widow, 
 both noble of birth, who had a deep sense of the power 
 and presence of God which accompanied our testimony. 
 Among some of those who have inclinations after God, a 
 
152 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 fearful spirit together with the shame of the cross hath 
 entered, against which our testimony in part strilxing, we 
 took notice it was as life to those noble women, for that 
 was it, as they told us, which had long oppressed them, 
 and obstructed the work of the Lord amongst them. 
 Therefore, said the young woman, " Our quarters are free 
 for you; let all come that will come, and lift up your 
 voices without fear, for," continued she, " it will never be 
 w^ell with us till persecution come, and some of us be lodged 
 in the stadthouse," that is the prison. 
 
 We left the peace of Jesus with them, and the same 
 afternoon we departed out of that city, being the Fourth 
 day of the week. 
 
 Here I wrote an epistle [from which we make extracts]. 
 
 " To the churches of Jesus throughout the world, gathered 
 and settled in his eternal light, power, and spir-it, to be 
 one holy flock, family, and household to the Lord. 
 
 " Dear Friends and Brethren : — The Lord of heaven 
 and earth hath heard our cries, and the full time is come, 
 yea, the appointed time is come, and the voice of the 
 eternal Spirit in our hearts hath been heard on this 
 wise many a time ; awake thou that sleepest, and I will 
 give thee life ; arise out of the dust and shine, for thy 
 light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
 thee I And the Lord God hath given us that light by 
 which we have comprehended the darkness in ourselves 
 and in the world ; and as we have believed in it, dwelt in it, 
 and walked in it, we have received power to overcome the 
 evil one in all his appearances in ourselves, and faithfully 
 and boldly to testify against him in the world. And the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 153 
 
 blood of Jesus, in this holy way of the lip^ht, have wc felt 
 in our souls, to cleanse us from unrlghteoiLsness, and g-ivc 
 us to know the mystery of the fellowship of the Gospel one 
 with another, which stands in life and immortality. And 
 here we become* an holy household and family unto God, 
 that live in his presence day and nig-ht, to do his will, as 
 becometh his children, redeemed and ransomed by the 
 most precious blood of his Son, and no more to return 
 to folly. 
 
 ''And, Friends, let it never pass out of our remem- 
 brance, what our God hath done for us, since He hath 
 made us a people. Hath He called us, and not protected 
 us ? Hath He not sheltered us in many a storm ? Did He 
 ever leave us undei* the reproaches and contradictions of 
 men ? Nay, hath He not spoken peace to us ? Were we 
 ever cast out by men, and He forsook us ? No ; the Lord 
 hath taken us up. When were the gaols so close that He 
 could not come in ? And the dungeons so dark that He 
 caused not his light to shine upon us ? He hath brought 
 us into the wilderness not to starve us, but to try us ; yet 
 not above our measure ; for He fed us with manna from 
 on high, with pure honey and water out of the rock, and 
 gives his good Spirit to sustain us. 
 
 "And now, Friends, as I have been travelling in this 
 dark and solitary land, the great work of the Lord in the 
 earth has been often presented to my view, and the day 
 of the Lord hath been deeply upon me, and my soul hath 
 frequently been possessed with a holy and weighty con- 
 cern for the glory of the name of the Lord, and the spread- 
 ing of his everlasting Truth, and the prosperity of it 
 through all nations ; that the very ends of the earth may 
 
154 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 look to nini, and may know Christ, the light, to bo g'iv^cn 
 to them for tlicir salvation. 
 
 " And in the earnest and fervent motion of the powei 
 and Spirit of Jesns, I beseech you all, who are turned to 
 the light of Christ which shineth in your hearts, and 
 believe in it, that you carefully and faithfully walk in it in 
 the same dread, awe, and fear in which you began ; that 
 that holy poverty of spirit which is precious in the eyes 
 of the Lord, and was in the days of your first love, may 
 dwell and rest with you ; that you may daily feel the same 
 heavenly hunger and thirst, the same lowliness and 
 humility of mind, the same zeal and tenderness, and the 
 same sincerity and love unfeigned ; that God may fill you 
 out of his heavenly treasure with the riches of life, and 
 crown you with holy victory and dominion over the god 
 and spirit of this world ; that your alpha may be your 
 omega, and your author your finisher, and your first love 
 your last love ; that so none may make shipwreck of faith 
 and of a good conscience, nor faint by the way. As in 
 this state we are kept in holy watchfulness to God as in 
 the beginning, the table which our Heavenly Father spreads, 
 and the blessings with which lie compasseth us about, shall 
 not become a snare unto us, nor shall we turn the grace 
 and mercies of the Lord into wantonness ; but we shall'Cat 
 .and drink in a holy fear, apparel ourselves in fear, buy and 
 sell in fear, visit one another in fear, keep meetings, and 
 there wait upon the Lord in fear ; yea, whatsoever we 
 take in hand to do, it shall be in the holy fear of God, and 
 with a holy tenderness of his glory, and regard to the 
 prosperity of his Truth ; yea, we shall deny ourselves, nst 
 only in the unlaw^ful things, but in the things that are 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 155 
 
 even lawful to us, for the sake of the many millions that 
 are unconverted to God. 
 
 " For, my Friends and brethren, God hath laid upon us 
 whom He hath honored with the beginning- of his great 
 work in the world, the care both of this age and of the 
 ages to come. Therefore, let none be treacherous to the 
 Lord, nor reward Ilim evil for good ; nor betray his cause 
 directly by wilful wickedness, nor indirectly by negligence 
 and unfaithfulness, but be zealous and valiant for Truth 
 on earth. ! let none lose their testimony, but hold it up 
 for God ; let thy gift be ever so small, thy testimony ever 
 so little. Through thy whole conversation bear it for God ; 
 and be tfue to what thou art convinced of. And wait all 
 upon the Lord that you may grow in your heavenly testi- 
 mony, that life may fill your hearts, your houses, and your 
 meetings ; that you may daily wait to know, and to receive 
 power to do the will of God on earth as it is heaven. 
 
 '' And I must tell you that there is a breathing, hunger- 
 ing, seeking people, solitarily scattered up and down this 
 great land of Germany, where the Lord hath sent me ; and 
 I believe it is the like in other nations. And our desire is 
 that God would put it into the hearts of many of his faith- 
 ful witnesses to visit the inhabitants of this country, where 
 God hath a great seed of people to be gathered ; that his 
 work may go on in the earth till the whole earth be filled 
 with his glory. 
 
 "And it is under the deep and weighty sense of this 
 approaching work, that the Lord God hath laid it upon me 
 to write to you to wait for the further pourings out of thi> 
 power and Spirit of the Lord ; that nothing which is care- 
 less, sleepy, earthly, or exhalted may get up, whereby to 
 
156 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 displease the Lord and cause Him to withdraw his sweet 
 and preserving presence from any that linow Him. 
 
 '* And all you, my dear Friends and brethren, who are 
 in sufferings for the testimony of Jesus and a good con- 
 science, look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of your 
 faith ; who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured 
 the cross and despised the shame, and is set down at the 
 right hand of the Father in the heavenly place ; into 
 which, if you faint not, you shall all be received after the 
 days of your pilgrimage shall be at an end with a ' Well 
 done, good and faithful servant.' Wherefore, let it not 
 seem as if some strange thing had happened to you. It 
 is the old quarrel — children of this world against the 
 children of the Lord ; those that are born after the flesh, 
 warring against those that are born after the Spirit. So, 
 your conflict is for the spiritual appearance of Christ Jesus 
 against those that profess Him in words, but in works and 
 conversation every day deny Him ; doing despite to the 
 spirit of grace in themselves, and those that are led by it. 
 
 " And to you all, who are the followers of the Lamb 
 of God, who was dead, but is alive, and lives for evermore, 
 — who is risen in your hearts as a bright shining light, and 
 is leading you out of the nature and spirit of this world, 
 in the path of regeneration, — I have this to say by way 
 of holy encouragement unto you all ; the Lord God that 
 was, and is, and is to come, hath reserved for you the 
 glories of the last days. And if the followers and martyrs 
 of Jesus in ages past when the church was going into 
 the wilderness and his witnesses into sackcloth, were, not- 
 withstanding, so noble and valiant for the Truth on earth, 
 that they loved not their lives unto the death, and suffered 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 157 
 
 joyfully the spoiling of their goods for the testimony of 
 Jesus ; — how much more ought 3'ou all to be encouraged 
 unto faithfulness, who arc come to the resurrection of the 
 day which shall never more be eclipsed ; in which the 
 Bridegroom is to come, to fetch you his spouse out of the 
 wilderness, to give you beauty for ashes, and the garment 
 of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; who will cover you 
 with his Spirit, and adorn you with his fine linen, the 
 righteousness of the saints. 
 
 ''I am, in the faith, patience, tribulation, and hope of 
 the kingdom of Jesus, your friend and brother, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 It came upon me in this place to salute the Princess and 
 Countess with this following epistle [of which we give part] : 
 
 "A salutation to Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, and Anna 
 Maria de Homes, Countess of Homes, at Herwerden 
 in Germany. 
 
 "My Worthy Friends: — Such as I have, such I give 
 unto you ; the dear and tender salutation of light, life, 
 peace, and salvation by Jesus Christ, the blessed Lamb 
 of God ; with the unspeakable joy of which He has re- 
 plenished my soul at this time that my cup overfloweth ; 
 which is the reward of those who cheerfully drink his cup 
 of tribulations, love the cross, and triumph in all the 
 shame, reproaches, and contradictions of the world that 
 do attend it. My God take you by the hand and gently 
 lead you through all the difficulties of regeneration ; and 
 as you have begun to know and love his sweet and tender 
 drawings, so resign the whole conduct of your lives to Ilim. 
 14 
 
258 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 by admonitions ; this is best to avoid many words, which 
 I know wound the soul and offend the Lord. 
 
 "Thirdly: Cast up thy income and see what it daily 
 amounts to ; by which thou mayest be sure to have it in 
 thy sight and power to keep within compass ; and I beseech 
 thee to live low and sparingly till my debts are paid ; and 
 then enlarge as thou seest it convenient. Kemember thy 
 mother's example when thy father's public-spiritedness 
 had w^orsted his estate, which is my case. I know thou 
 lovest plain things, and art averse to the pomps of the 
 world — a nobility natural to thee. I write not as doubtful, 
 but to quicken thee, for my sake, to be vigilant herein, 
 knowing that God will bless thy care, and thy poor children 
 and thee for it. My mind is wrapt up in a saying of thy 
 father's, ' I desire not riches, but to owe nothing ; ' and 
 truly that is wealth ; and more than enough to live is a 
 snare attended with many sorrows. I need not bid thee 
 be humble, for thou art so ; nor meek and patient, for it is 
 much of thy natural disposition ; but I pray thee be oft in 
 retirement with the Lord, and guard against encroaching 
 friendships. Keep them at arm's end; for it is giving 
 away our power, aye, and self too, into the possession of 
 another ; and that which might seem engaging in the be- 
 ginning may prove a yoke and burden too hard and heavy 
 in the end. Wherefore, keep dominion over thyself; ^nd 
 let thy children, good meetings, and Friends be the pleas- 
 ure of thy life. 
 
 " Fourthly : And now, my dearest, let me recommend 
 to thy care my dear children ; abundantly beloved of me 
 as the Lord's blessings, and the sweet pledges of our 
 mutual and endeared affection. Above all thino-s endeavor 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 259 
 
 to breed them up in the love of virtue, and that holy i)lain 
 wa}^ of it which we have lived in, that the world in no part 
 of it get into my family. I had rather they were homely 
 than finely bred as to outward behavior ; yet I love sweet- 
 ness mixed with gravity and cheerfulness tempered with 
 sobriety. Religion in the heart leads into this true civility, 
 teaching men and women to be mild and courteous in their 
 behavior, an accomplishment worthy indeed of praise. 
 
 " Fifthly: Next breed them up in a love one of another. 
 Tell them it is the charge I^left behind me, and that it is 
 the way to have the love and blessing of God upon them ; 
 also what his portion is who hates, or calls his brother 
 fool. Sometimes separate them, but not long ; and allow 
 them to send and give each other small things to endear 
 one another with. Once more I sa}^, tell them it was my 
 counsel they should be tender and affectionate one to 
 another. For their learning be liberal. Spare no cost ; 
 for by such parsimony all is lost that is saved ; but let it 
 be useful knowledge, such as is consistent with truth and 
 godliness, not cherishing a vain conversation or idle mind ; 
 but ingenuity mixed with industry is good for the body 
 and mind too. I recommend the useful parts of mathe- 
 matics, as building houses or ships, measuring, survey- 
 ing, dialing, navigation ; but agriculture is especially in 
 my.eye — let my children be husbandmen and housewives ; 
 it is industrious, healthy, honest, and of good example: 
 like Abraham and the holy ancients, who pleased God and 
 obtained a good report. This leads to consider the works 
 of God and nature, of things that are good, and diverts 
 the mind from being taken up with the vain arts and in- 
 ventions of a luxurious wohd. It is commendable in the 
 
160 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 next day with Friends at Krisheim, already appointed^ we 
 could neither go forward nor stay till he returned ; and 
 yet being not clear to come away, as if we had never en- 
 deavored to visit him, it was upon me to write him this 
 following letter, to let him know we had been there, and 
 our end in coming. [The following is extracted] : 
 
 " To the Prince Elector Palatine of Heidelberg. 
 
 *' Great Prince: — It would seem strange that I, both 
 a stranger and a subject, should use this freedom of ad- 
 dress to a prince, were he not one whose actions show 
 him to be of a free disposition, and easy access to all ; 
 would to God all princes were of that mind ! 
 
 "I do, with all sincere and Christian respect, acknowl- 
 edge and commend that indulgence thou givest to all peo- 
 ple professing religion, dissenting from the national com- 
 munion ; for it is in itself a most natural, prudent, and 
 Christian thing. 
 
 '' It rendereth the prince peculiarly safe and great. Safe, 
 because all interests, for interest' sake, are bound to love 
 and court him. Great, in that he is not governed or 
 clogged with the power of his clergy ; which in most 
 countries is not only a co-ordinate power, a kind of duum- 
 virateship in government, imperiuni in imperio, at least 
 an eclipse to monarchy, but a superior power, and rideth 
 the prince to their designs, holding the helm of the gov- 
 ernment, and steering not by the laws of civil freedom, 
 but certain ecclesiastical maxims of their own, to the 
 maintenance and enlargement of their worldly empire in 
 their church. And all this acted under the sacred, peaceable, 
 and alluring name of Christ, his ministry, and church. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 161 
 
 " One tiling give me leave to recommend to thee, and 
 that is to be very careful to inculcate generous, free, and 
 righteous principles into thy son who is likely to succeed 
 thee, that when thou art gone the reputation of the coun- 
 try may not sink by contrary practices, nor the people of 
 divers judgments, now thy subjects, be disappointed, dis- 
 tressed, or ruined. Which, with sincere desires for thy 
 temporal and eternal good, conclude this, 
 
 " Thy unknown, but sincere friend, 
 
 William Penn. 
 
 "From Manheim, 25th of Sixth month, 1677." 
 
 This being done, and having refreshed ourselves, we 
 returned that night by the Rhine to Worms^ whence, the 
 next morning, being the first day of the week, we walked 
 on foot to Krisheim, about six English miles from Worms. 
 We had a good meeting from the tenth to the third hour, 
 and the Lord's power was sweetly opened to many of 
 the inhabitants of the town who were at the meeting. 
 The Yaught, or chief officer, himself stood at the door 
 behind the barn, where he could hear and not be seen, 
 and went to the priest and told him that it was his work, 
 if we were heretics, to discover us to be such, but for his 
 part he heard nothing but what was good, and he would 
 not meddle with us. 
 
 In the evening we had a more retired meeting of the 
 Friends only, very weighty and tender, and great was the 
 love of God that was in our hearts at the meeting to visit 
 them, and there is a lovely, sweet, and true sense among 
 them. We were greatly comforted in them and they were 
 greatly comforted in us. Poor hearts ! a little handful sur- 
 14* L 
 
162 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 rounded with great and mighty countries of darkness, it is 
 the Lord's great goodness and mercy to them that they 
 are so finely kept in the seed of life. 
 
 We came down the river Rhine to Mentz and took an 
 open chariot for Frankfort. We presently informed some 
 of those people that had received us the time before of 
 our return to that city, with desires that we might have 
 a meeting that afternoon, which was readily granted us 
 by the noble women at whose house we met, whither re- 
 •sorted some that we had not seen before. And the Lord 
 did after a living manner open our hearts and mouths 
 amongst them. Before we parted, we desired a select 
 meeting the next morning at the same place of those that 
 we felt to be more inwardly aflfected with Truth's testi- 
 mony, and that were nearest to the state of a silent meet- 
 ing, to which they joyfully assented. 
 
 We went to our lodging, and on the 29th returned to 
 them, with whom we had a blessed and heavenly oppor- 
 tunity, for we had room for our life amongst them. It 
 was as among faithfuh Friends, life ran as oil and was 
 a-top of all. 
 
 We recommended a silent meeting to them, that they 
 might grow into a holy silence unto themselves ; that the 
 mouth that calls God Father and is not of his own birth 
 may be stopped, and all images confounded; that they 
 may hear the soft voice of Jesus to instruct them, and 
 receive his sweet life to feed them and to build them up. 
 
 We set out towards the city of Duysburg, of the Cal- 
 vinist way, belonging to the Elector of Brandenburg, in 
 and near to which we had been informed there was a 
 retired and seeking people. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 163 
 
 We arrived there on the second of Seventh month, 
 about noon, being" the first day of the week. The first 
 thing \^e did, after we came to our inn, was to inquire 
 out one Dr. Mastricht, a civilian, for whom we had a let- 
 ter, to introduce us, from a merchant of Cologne ; whom 
 quickly finding, we informed him what we came about, 
 desiring his assistance, which he readily promised us. 
 The first thing wo offered was an access to the Countess 
 of Falkenstein and Ijruck. He told us she was an ex- 
 traordinary woman, one in whom we should find things 
 worthy of our love; that he would write to her to give 
 us an opportunity with her ; that the fittest time was the 
 present time, in that we might find her at the minister'^/ 
 of Mulheim, on the other side of the river from her 
 father's castle ; for that she used to come out on Eirst day 
 morning, and not return till night; that we must be very 
 shy of making ourselves public, not only for our own 
 sakes, but for hers, who was .severely treated by her 
 father, for the sake of those religious inclinations that 
 appeared in her, although her father pretended to be of 
 the Protestant religion. 
 
 We therefore despatched towards Mulheim, having re- 
 ceived his letter, and being also accompanied by him about 
 one-third of the way. But being six English miles, and 
 on foot, we could not compass the place before the meet- 
 ing was over ; for it was past three before we could get 
 out of Duysburg ; and, following that way which led to 
 the back of the Graef's castle and orchard, which was 
 also a common way to the town (though if we had known 
 the country we might have avoided it), we met with one 
 Henry Smith, school-master and catechiser of Speldorp, 
 
164 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to whom we imparted our business, and gave the letter of 
 Dr. Mastricht of Duysburg to introduce us to the Countess. 
 He told us he had just left her, being come over the 
 water from worship, but he would carry the letter to her, 
 and bring an answer suddenly ; but notwithstanding staid 
 near an hour. When he came, he gave us this answer, 
 namely, that she would be glad to meet us, but she did 
 not know where ; but rather inclined that we should go 
 over the water to the minister's house, whither, if she 
 could, she would come to us; but that a strict hand was 
 held over her by her father. After some serious discourse 
 with him, we parted; he returning homewards, and we 
 advancing to the town. Being necessitated to pass by 
 her father's castle, who is seignior or lord of that country, 
 it so fell out that at that very instant he came forth to 
 walk ; and seeing us in the habit of strangers, sent one 
 of his attendants to demand who and from whence we 
 were? and whither we went? calling us afterwards to 
 him, and asking us the same questions. We answered 
 that we were Englishmen, come from Holland, going no 
 further in these parts than his own town of Mulheim. 
 But not showing him, or paying him, that worldly hom- 
 age and respect which was expected from us, some of his 
 gentlemen asked us if we knew whom we were before ? 
 and if we did not use to deport ourselves after another 
 manner before noblemen, and in the presence of princes ? 
 We answered we were not conscious to ourselves of any 
 disrespect or unseemly behavior. One of them sharply 
 replied, " Why do you not pull off your hats, then ? Is 
 it respect to stand covered in the presence of the sovereign 
 of the country? " We told them it was our practice, in 
 
OF WILLIAI\r PENN. 165 
 
 the presence of our prince, who is a great king, and that 
 we uncovered not our heads to any, but in our duty to 
 Almighty God. Upon which the Graef called us Quakers, 
 saying to us, '' We have no need of Quakers here ; get 
 you out of my dominions, you shall not go to my town." 
 
 We told hini we were an innocent people, that feared 
 God, and had good will towards all men ; that we had 
 true respect in our hearts towards him, and would be glad 
 to do him any real good or service ; and that the Lord 
 had made it matter of conscience to us not to conform 
 ourselves to the vain and fruitless customs of this world, 
 or words to this purpose. However, he commanded some 
 of his soldiers to see us out of his territories, to whom we 
 also declared somewhat of the reason and intention of our 
 coming to that place, in the fear and love of God, and they 
 were civil to us. 
 
 We parted with much peace and comfort in our hearts, 
 and as we passed through the village where the school- 
 master dwelt (yet in the dominions of the Graef), we 
 called upon him, and in the sense of God's power and 
 kingdom opened to him the message and testimony of 
 Truth, which the man received with a weighty and seri- 
 ous spirit. Under the dominion of the Graef, there is 
 a large congregation of Protestants called Calvinists, of 
 a more religious, inward, and zealous frame of spirit than 
 any body of people we met with or heard of in Germany. 
 
 After we had ended our testimony to him, we took our 
 leave ; desiring him not to fear, but to be of good cour- 
 age, for the day of the Lord was hastening upon all the 
 workers of iniquity ; and to them that feared his name, 
 wherever scattered throughout the earth, He would cau?e 
 
166 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the Sun of righteousness to arise and visit them, with 
 healing under his wings. We desired he would remem- 
 ber us with true love and kindness to the Countess, 
 daughter to the Graef, and to desire her not to be of- 
 fended in us, nor to be dismayed at the displeasure of her 
 father, but eve the Lord who hath visited her soul with 
 his holy light, by which she seeth the vanity of this 
 world, and in some measure the emptiness and deadness 
 of the religions that are in it ; and He would preserve her 
 from the fear of the wrath of men, that worketh not the 
 righteousness of God. So we left the peace of Jesus with 
 him, and walked on towards Duysburg, being about six 
 English miles from thence, and near the eighth hour at 
 night. The Lord was with us, and comforted our hearts 
 with the joy of his salvation, as we walked, without any 
 outward guide, through a tedious and solitary wood, about 
 three miles long. He gave us to remember and to speak 
 one unto another of his blessed witnesses in the days past, 
 who wandered up and down like poor pilgrims and strangers 
 on the earth, their eye being to a city in the heavens that 
 hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 
 
 Between nine and ten o'clock we reached the walls of 
 Duysburg ; but the gates were shut, and there being no 
 houses without the walls, we laid us down together in a 
 field, receiving both natural and spiritual refreshment: 
 blessed be the Lord. About three o'clock in the morning 
 we rose, sanctifying God in our hearts, who had kept us 
 that night, and walked till five o'clock, often speaking 
 one to another of the great and notable day of the Lord 
 dawning upon Germany, and of several places in that 
 land that were almost ripe unto harvest. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 167 
 
 Soon after the clock had struck five, they opened the 
 gates of the city, and we had not long been at our inn, 
 when it came upon me, with a sweet, yet fervent power, 
 to visit this persecuted Countess with a salutation from 
 the love and life of Jesus, and to open unto her more 
 plainly the way of the Lord, which I did in this follow- 
 ing epistle : 
 
 " To the Countess of Falkenstein and Briick, at 
 Mulheim. 
 ''My DEAR Friend:— Jesus, the immaculate Lamb of 
 God, grieved and crucified by all the workers of iniquity, 
 illuminate thy understanding, bless and be with thy spirit 
 forever ! 
 
 '' Though unknown, yet art thou much beloved, for the 
 sake of thy desires and breathings of soul after the living 
 God ; and because of that suffering and tribulation thou 
 hast begun to endure for the sake of thy zeal towards 
 God ; myself having from my childhood been both a 
 seeker after the Lord, and a great sufferer for that 
 cause, from parents, relations, companions, and the mag- 
 istrates of this world. The remembrance whereof hath 
 so much the more endeared thy condition unto me; and 
 my soul hath often, in the sweet sense and feeling of the 
 holy presence of God, and the precious life of his dear Son 
 in my heart, with great tenderness implored his Divine 
 assistance unto thee, that thou mayst both be illuminated 
 to do, and made willing to suffer for his name's sake ; 
 that the Spirit of God and of glory may rest upon thy 
 soul. 
 
 '' Know certainly that which hath discovered unto thee 
 
168 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the vanities of this world, the emptiness and the fading 
 of all earthly glory, the blessedness of the righteous, and 
 the joy of the world that is to come, is the light of Christ 
 Jesus, wherewith He hath enlightened thy soul ; for, ' in 
 Him was life, and that life is the light of mankind.' Thus 
 God promised by the prophet Isaiah, to give Him ' for a 
 light to lighten the Gentiles, and for his salvation to the 
 ends of the earth.' So that Christ the Light is God's 
 gift, and eternal life is hid in Him, yea, all the treasures 
 of wisdom and knowledge ; who is the light of the Gos- 
 pel temple, even true believers. And all who receive this 
 light into their hearts, and bring their deeds to it, to see 
 in what ground they are wrought, whether in God or in 
 the evil one, and make this blessed light the guide of their 
 life; fearing, with a holy fear, to do anything that this 
 light manifests to be evil ; waiting and watching with a 
 godly care, to be preserved blameless before the Lord. I 
 say, all such become children of light, and witnesses of 
 the life of Jesus. blessed wilt thou be forever, if in 
 the way of this holy light thy mind walks to the end I 
 
 " Let this that hath visited thee lead thee ; this seed of 
 light and life, which is the seed of the kingdom. Yea, it is 
 Christ, the true and only seed of God, that visited my 
 soul, even in my young years ; that spread my sins in 
 order before me, reproved me, and brought godly sorrow 
 upon me, making me often to weep in solitary places, 
 and say within my soul, ' that I knew the Lord as I 
 ought to know Him ! O that I served Him as I ought to 
 serve Him ! ' Yea, often was there a great concern upon 
 my spirit about my eternal state, mournfully desiring that 
 the Lord would give my soul rest in the great day ot 
 
OF ^VILLIAM PENN. 169 
 
 trouble. Now was all the glory of the world as a bubble ; 
 yea, nothing was dear to me that I might win Christ, for 
 the love, friendship, and pleasure of this world were a bur- 
 den unto my soul. And in this seeking state I was di- 
 rected to the testimony of Jesus in my own conscience, as 
 the true shining light, giving me to discern the thoughts 
 and intents of my own heart. And no sooner was I 
 turned unto it, but I found it to be that which from my 
 childhood had visited me, though I distinctly knew it not. 
 And when I received it in the love of it, it showed me all 
 that ever I had done, and reproved all the unfruitful works 
 of darkness, judging me as a man in the flesh, and laying 
 judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet in 
 me. And as by the brightness of his coming into my 
 soul. He discovered the man of sin there upon his throne ; 
 so by the breath of his mouth, which is the two-edged 
 sword of his Spirit, he destroj^eth his power and kingdom. 
 And having made me a witness of the death of the cross, 
 He hath also made me a witness of his resurrection. So 
 that in good measure my soul can now say I am justified 
 in the spirit, and though the state of condemnation unto 
 death was glorious, yet justification unto life was and is 
 more glorious. 
 
 " In this state of the new man all is new. Behold, new 
 heavens and a new earth I Old things come to be done 
 away ; the old man with his deeds put off. Now, new 
 thoughts, new desires, new affections, new love, new 
 friendship, new society, new kindred, new faith, even that 
 which overcometh this world through many tribulations ; 
 and new hope, even that living hope that is founded upon 
 true experience, which holds out all storms, and can see to 
 15 
 
170 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the glory that is invisible to carnal eyes, in the midst of 
 the greatest tempest. 
 
 "It is the same blesseii seed of light, life, and grace 
 which from God the Father is sown in thy heart, and 
 which hath moved and wrought there the change which 
 thou hast witnessed from the spirit of this world. Turn 
 to it, watch in it, that by it thou mayst be kept from all 
 that it discovers to be contrary to God ; especially from 
 thyself, from thy own runnings, willings, and strivings. 
 For whatsoever is not born of the Spirit is flesh, and that 
 inherits not the kingdom of God ; but all that sow to it 
 shall inherit corruption By this thou wilt come to feel, 
 not only all sin to be a burden, but all thy own righteous- 
 ness; yea, all man's righteousness to be a burden. Thou 
 wilt see the difference between the duties and prayers which 
 thou begettest and the duties and prayers which, in thy true 
 silence from all self-activity of mind, the Lord begets in thee. 
 
 " that thou mightst know the mystery of the new 
 birth, and what that is that can truly call God, Father ; 
 even that which is begotten of Him, which liveth, and 
 breatheth, and hath its beginning and being in that life 
 which is hid with Christ in God, and by which it hath 
 been quickened to the knowledge and worship of Christ 
 and God. And this thou shalt not fail to know and 
 enjoy, as thou patiently sufferest the Lord to work his 
 own work in thee by his own blessed Spirit. And that 
 which will give thee to savor and discern the right 
 motions and conceptions, duties and performances in thy- 
 self from the false, will give thee to savor and discern 
 that which is right from that which is false in others j 
 that which is of God from that which is of man. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 171 
 
 " Have a care of gathering sticks and kindling a fire of 
 thy own, and then compassing thyself about with the 
 sparks of the fire which thou hast kindled, for the end 
 of this state is to lie down in sorrow, because the heavenly 
 fire is absent which maketh the sacrifice acceptable. With- 
 out Christ we can do nothing, and blessed are they that 
 stir not before the angel moveth the waters, and go not 
 before Christ, but are led by Him, and that awaken not 
 their Beloved till He please ; in whose hands the times 
 and the seasons are. O blessed are they whose eyes are 
 opened to see Him always present, a God always nigh 
 at hand, whose hearts are stayed upon his holy appearance 
 in them, and are thereby translated into his likeness ; 
 whose faith and hope are in Christ in them, the hope of 
 glory. 
 
 " My dear friend, weigh these things with a serious, re- 
 tired, sweet, and tender frame of spirit, and God, who hath 
 called me and thee by the light of his dear Son, open thy 
 understanding to perceive the Truth as it is in Jesus, and 
 what is the mystery of the fellowship of the saints in light. 
 So to the Lord I recommend thee, the watchman and 
 keeper of Israel. The Lord be thy strength and holy 
 comfort, and speak peace to thee, and never leave thee 
 nor forsake thee till He hath conducted thee, through 
 all tribulations, to his everlasting kingdom of rest and 
 glory. 
 
 " dear heart ! be valiant, and stay thyself upon Christ 
 Jesus, the everlasting rock, and feel Him a fountain in thy 
 soul ; feel his blood to cleanse, and his blood to drink, and 
 his flesh to eat ; feed upon Him, for God hath given Him 
 for the life of the world. 
 
172 PASSACIES FROM T 11 K LIFE 
 
 "I hud soon thee, hud not tliy futhor's strnii<»-o sort of 
 severity hindrrod. And this lot nio add for thy })articulai 
 comfort, that though I have been a man of g-rcat anguish 
 and sorrow because of the scorn and r(>i)roach that hath 
 attended my separation from the world (havinj^ been 
 tau:;ht of Jesus to turn my back upon all for the sake 
 of that glory that shall be revealed), yet to God's honor I 
 can say it, I have a hundred friends for one. Yea, God 
 hath turned the hearts of my enemies towards me; He 
 hath fullilled his promise to turn the hearts of the parents 
 unto the children. For my parents, that once disowned 
 me for this blessed testimony's sake, have come to love 
 me above all, and have left me all, thinking* they could 
 never do and leave enough for me. how good is the 
 Lord I yea, the ways of his mercy arc even past linding 
 out. . 
 
 " Wherefore, my dear friend, trust in the Lord forever ; 
 and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of 
 the })ro[)hets and of the apostles, the God of all the holy 
 martyrs of Jesus, illuminate, fortify, and preserve thee 
 steadfast, that in the end thou mayst receive the reward 
 of life and eternal salvation, to whom be glory, and to tlie 
 Tjamb that sits upon the throne, one God and one Lord, 
 blessed and magnitied forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 " Thy great and faithful lover for the blessed and holy 
 Truth's sake, 
 
 William Penn. 
 
 "DUYSEURG, the loth of the Seventh month, U)77." 
 
 Here follows a letter to her father, the Graef of Bruck 
 and FalkcMistein [of wiiieli we give a part j : 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 173 
 
 *' To the Graef ryr Earl of Brvck and FaUcenstebi. 
 
 "Friend: — I wish thy salvation, and the Lord reward 
 thee good for the evil that thou showedst unto me and my 
 friends the last night, if it be his will. But since thou art 
 but a mortal man, one that must give an account, in com- 
 mon with all, to the immortal God, let me a little expostu- 
 late with thee. 
 
 " For thy saying, ' We want no Quakers here,' I say, 
 under favor, you do ; for a true Quaker is one that 
 trembleth at the word of the Lord, that worketh out his 
 salvation with fear and trembling, and all the days of his 
 appointed time waiteth in the light and grace of God till 
 his great change cometh. One that taketh up the daily 
 sross to his will and lusts, that he might do the will of 
 God manifested to him by the light of Jesus in his con- 
 science, and according to the holy precepts and examples 
 in the Holy Scriptures of Truth, laid down by Jesus and 
 his followers for the ages to come. Yea, he is one that 
 loveth his enemies rather than feareth them ; that blesseth 
 those that curse him, and prayeth for those that despitefully 
 treat him, as God knoweth we do for thee. Oh that thou 
 wert such a Quaker! Then wouldst thou rule for God, 
 and act in all things as one that must give an account to 
 God for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. 
 Then would temperance, mercy, justice, meekness, and the 
 fear of the Lord dwell in thy heart, and in thy family, and 
 country. 
 
 " Repent, I exhort thee, and consider thy latter end, for 
 thy days are not like to he many in this world ; therefore, 
 mind the things that make for thy eternal peace, lest 
 
174 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 distress come upon thee as an armed man, and there be 
 none to deliver thee I 
 
 " I am thy well-wishing friend, 
 
 William Penn. 
 
 "DuYSBURG, 3d of the Seventh month, 1G77." 
 
 This being done, we went to Dr. Mastricht's to inform 
 him of what had passed, who, though of a kind disposi- 
 tion and very friendly to us, yet seemed surprised with 
 fear, (the common disease of this country,) crying out, 
 "What will become of this poor Countess? Her father 
 hath called her Qaaker a long time, behaving himself 
 very severely to her, but now he will conclude she is 
 one indeed, and he will lead her a lamentable life. I 
 know," said he, "you care not for suffering, but she is to 
 be pitied." We told him that we both loved, her and 
 pitied her, and could lay down our lives for her, as Christ 
 hath done for us in the will of God, if we could thereby 
 do her good ; but that we had not mentioned her name, 
 neither was the letter that he gave us to her so much as 
 seen or known of her father. But still he feared that our 
 carriage would incense the Graef so much the more against 
 both his daughter, and all those serious and inquiring 
 people up and down his country. We answered with an 
 earnestness of spirit that they had minded the incensings 
 and wrath of men too much already, and that true religion 
 would never spring or grow under such fears, and that it 
 was time for all who felt anything of the work of God in 
 their hearts, to cast away the slavish fear of man, and to 
 come forth in the boldness of the true Christian life ; yea, 
 that sufferings break and make way for greater liberty, and 
 that God was wiser and stronger than man. 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 175 
 
 It was now something past the twelfth hour of the day. 
 In the way to our lodging we met a messenger from the 
 Countess of Falkenstein, a tender young man, near to the 
 kingdom, who saluted us in her name with much love ; 
 telling us that she was much grieved at the entertainment 
 of her father towards us, advising us not to expose our- 
 selves to such difficulties and hardships, for it would grieve 
 her heart that any who came in the love of God to visit 
 her, should be so severely handled ; for at some he set his 
 dogs, upon others he puts his soldiers to beat them. *' But 
 what shall I say ? that itself must not hinder you from 
 doing good," said the Countess. We desired the remem- 
 brance of our kind love unto her, and that he would let 
 her know that our concern was not for ourselves, but for 
 her. 
 
 It came upon me to write a letter to the noble young 
 woman at Frankfort, as follows : 
 
 " Dear Friend, Joanna Eleonora Malane : — My dear 
 and tender love, which God hath raised in my heart by 
 his living word to all mankind, (but more especially unto 
 those in whom He hath begotten a holy hunger and thirst 
 after Him,) saluteth thee. And amongst those of that 
 place where thou livest the remembrance of thee, with 
 thy companions, is most particularly and eminently at 
 this time brought before me. And the sense of your 
 open-heartedness, simplicity, and sincere love to the testi- 
 mony of Jesus delivered by us unto you hath deeply en- 
 gaged my heart towards you, and often raised in my soul 
 heavenly breathings to the God of my life that He would 
 keep you in the daily sense of that divine life which then 
 
176 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 affected you. For this know, it was the life in yourselves 
 that so sweetly visited you, by the ministry of life through 
 us. 
 
 " Wherefore, love the divine life and light in yourselves. 
 Be retired and still. Let that holy seed move in all heav- 
 enly things before you move ; for no one receiveth any- 
 thing that truly profiteth but what he receiveth from 
 above. Thus said John to his disciples. Now that that 
 stirrcth in your hearts draweth you out of the world, 
 slayeth you to all the vain glory, and pleasure, and empty 
 worships that arc in it ; this is from above, the heavenly 
 seed of God, pure and incorruptible, which is come down 
 from heaven to make you heavenly, that in heavenly 
 places you may dwell, and witness with the saints of old 
 this heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. 
 
 '^ stay your minds upon the appearance of Jesus in 
 you, in whose light you shall see light. It will make you 
 of a weighty, considering spirit more and more, that you 
 may see how the mystery of iniquity hath wrought, and 
 how mankind is corrupted in all things, and what part 
 you yet have which belongeth not to the paradise of God, 
 that you may lay it all down at the feet of Jesus, and fol- 
 low Ilim, who is going up and down doing good to all that 
 believe in his name. So possess your souls in the sensible 
 feeling of his daily divine visits, shinings, and breathings 
 upon your spirits, and wait diligently and watch circum- 
 spectly, lest the enemy surprise you, or your Lord come 
 at unawares upon you, and you be unprepared to receive 
 his sweet and precious visitations. 
 
 '' Thy faithful friend and the Lord's day -laborer, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 177 
 
 We took wagon for Wiewart, the mansion-house of the 
 family of the Somerdykes, where J. de Labadie's company 
 reside, it being strong upon my spirit to give them a visit. 
 We got thither about five o'clock ; and as we were walking- 
 over a field to the house we met a young man of that 
 company who conducted us in. I asked for Ivon, the 
 pastor, and Anna Maria Schurmans. Ivon presently 
 came with his co-pastor. They received us very civilly, 
 however. They seemed shy of letting me speak with 
 Anna Maria Schurmans, objecting her weakness, age, 
 taking physic, etc. ; but, patting them in mind how un- 
 handsomely I was used at Herwerden six years ago by 
 J. de Labadie, their father, who, though I came a great 
 journey to visit him and his people, suffered me not to 
 speak with them, they presently complied, and went in 
 to let her know that such a person desired to speak v/ith 
 her, and quickly returned, desiring me to come in ; but, 
 foreseeing my time would be too short for my message, 
 the sun being near setting and having to go on foot two 
 English miles of unknoAvn way to our lodging, I desired 
 that they would give me an opportunity the next morn- 
 ing, which they readily complied with. So I took my 
 leave of them, who in a friendly manner brought us a 
 little on our way. That night a great weight was upon 
 my spirit, and especially the next morning ; yet my faith 
 was in the power of God, and I had a plain sight that I 
 should have a good service among them ; however, I 
 should clear my conscience, and my peace should' rest 
 with me. 
 
 The next morning I returned to them, and John Claus 
 along with me. So soon as we came we were brought 
 
178 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 into Anna Maria Schurmans' chamber, where also was 
 with her one of the three Somerdykes. 
 
 This Anna Maria Schurmans aforesaid is an ancient 
 maiden above sixty years of ag-e, of great note and fame 
 for learning in languages and philosophy, and hath ob- 
 tained a considerable place among the most learned men 
 of this age. The Somerdykes are daughters to a noble- 
 man of the Hague, people of great breeding and inheri- 
 tances. These, with several other persons, being affected 
 with the zealous declamation of J. de Labadie against the 
 dead and formal churches of the world, and awakened to 
 seek after a more spiritual fellowship and society, sepa- 
 rated themselves from the common Calvinistic churches, 
 and followed him in the way of a refined independency. 
 
 They are a serious, plain people, and are come nearer 
 to Friends as to silence in meetings, women speaking, 
 preaching by the Spirit, plainness in garb and furniture 
 in their houses. With these two we had the company of 
 the two pastors and a doctor of physic. After some si- 
 lence, I proposed this question to them : What was it that 
 induced them to separate from the common way they for- 
 merly lived in ? I desired them that they would be pleased 
 to be plain and open with me as to the ground of their 
 separation ; for I came not to cavil, but in a Christian 
 spirit to be informed. 
 
 Upon this, Ivon, the chief pastor, gave us the history 
 of J. de Labadie's education ; how he was bred among the 
 Jesuits, and deserted them and embraced the Protestant 
 religion ; and finally, of his great dissatisfaction with the 
 Protestant churches of France; and that if God would not 
 give them a purer church, they three would sit down by 
 
O F W I L L I A M P E N N . 179 
 
 themselves, resolving never more to mix themselves among 
 the Babylonish assemblies of the world, adding several 
 solemn appeals concerning the simplicity and integrity of 
 their hearts in these things. 
 
 Ivon having done, Anna Maria Schurmans began in 
 this manner: ''I find myself constrained to add a short 
 testimony." She told us her former life, of her pleasure 
 in learning, and her love to the religion she was brought 
 up in ; but confessed she knew not God or Christ truly all 
 that while. And though from a child Grod had visited her 
 at times, yet she never felt such a powerful stroke as by 
 the ministry of J. de Labadie. She saw her learning to 
 be vanity and her religion like a body of death ; she re- 
 solved to despise the shame, desert her former way of 
 living and acquaintance, and to join herself with this little 
 family that was retired out of the world ; among whom 
 she desired to be found a living sacrifice, offered up entirely 
 to the Lord. She spoke in a very serious and broken 
 sense, not without some trembling. These are but short 
 hints of what she said. 
 
 After she had done, one of the Somerdykes began in a 
 very reverent and weighty frame of mind, and in a sense 
 that very well suited her contempt of the world. She told 
 us how often she had pourned from her young years be- 
 cause she did not know the Lqj'd as she desired, often say- 
 ing within herself, " If God would make known to me his 
 ways, I would trample upon all the pride and glory of the 
 world." She earnestly expressed the frequent anguish of 
 spirit she had because of the dcadness and formality of the 
 Christians she was bred among, saying to herself, '' Oh, 
 the pride, the lusts, the vain pleasures in which Christians 
 
180 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 live I Can this be the way to heaven ? Is this the waj 
 to glory? Are these followers of Christ? Oh, no! Oh, 
 God ! where is thy little flock ? Where is thy little family 
 that will live entirely to thee — that will follow thee ? 
 Make me one of that number." ''And," continued she, 
 " when the servant of the Lord, J. de Labadie, came into 
 Holland, I, among others, had a curiosity to hear him, and 
 with several was deeply affected by him. He spoke the 
 very thoughts of my heart ; methought my heart was 
 pricked when I heard him ; and I resolved by the grace 
 of God to abandon all the glory and pride of this world, 
 to be one of those who should sit down with him in a 
 separation from the vain and dead worships of this world. 
 I count myself happy that I ever met with him and these 
 pastors, who seek not themselves but the Lord. And we 
 are a family that live together in love, of one soul and one 
 spirit, entirely given up to serve the Lord ; and this is the 
 greatest joy in the world." 
 
 After her, du Lignon, the other pastor, gave us also an 
 .account of his inducement to embrace J. de Labadie, but 
 not so lively. 
 
 After him, the doctor of physic, who had been bred 
 for a priest, but voluntarily refused that calling,, expressed 
 himself after this manner: '^ I can also bear my testimony 
 in the presence of God th^t though I lived in as much 
 reputation at the university as any of my colleagues or 
 companions, and was well reputed for sobriety and honesty, 
 yet I never felt such a living sense of God as when I heard 
 the servant of the Lord, J. de Labadie," adding, " The first 
 day I heard him, I was so struck and affected that I can 
 truly say, through the good grace of God, and the conduct 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 181 
 
 of the Holy Spirit, it was to me as the day of my salvation, 
 be did so liviugl}^ touch. my heart with a sense of the truf, 
 Christian worship; upon which I forsook the university 
 and resolved to be one of this family ; and this I can say 
 in the fear of the Lord." 
 
 P. Ivon concluded : '' This is wbat we have to say con- 
 cerning the work of God amongst us." 
 
 All this while 1 minded not so much {heir words as 1 
 felt and bad unity with a measure of divine sense tbat was 
 upon them. Certainly tbe Lord hath been amongst them ; 
 yea, I had a living sense in my heart that somewhat of 
 the breath of life had breathed upon them ; and though 
 they were in great mixtures, yet God's love was towards 
 them. 
 
 After some silence I began on this wise : "I come not 
 to judge you, but to visit you ; not to quarrel or dispute, 
 but to speak of the things of God's kingdom ; and I have 
 no prejudice, but great love and regard in my heart towards 
 you ; wherefore, hear me with Christian patience and 
 tenderness. 
 
 "I do confess and believe that God hath touched your 
 hearts with his divine finger, and that his work is amongst 
 you ; that it was his Spirit that gave you a sight of the 
 vanity and folly of this world, and that hath made you 
 sensible of the dead religions that are in it. It is this 
 sense I love and honor ; and I am so far from undervaluing 
 or opposing this tender sense I feel upon you, that this it 
 is I am come to visit, and you for the love of it. And as 
 for the reproaches that may attend you on the score of 
 your separation, with all the reports that therefore go con- 
 cerning you, they are what I respect you for, being well 
 16 
 
182 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 acquainted with the nature and practice of this world to- 
 wards those that retire out of it. 
 
 " Now since I have with patience, and I can truly say 
 with great satisfaction, heard your account of your experi- 
 ences, give me the like Christian freedom to tell you mine, 
 to the end you may ha.ve some sense of the w^ork of God 
 in me ; for those who are come to any measure of a Divine 
 sense they are as looking-glasses to each other, seeing 
 themselves in each other, as face ansvvereth face in a glass." 
 
 Here I began to let them know how and when the 
 Lord first appeared unto me, which was about the twelfth 
 year of my age, anno 165G. How at times, between that 
 and the fifteenth, the Lord visited me, and the divine 
 impressions He gave me of himself ; of my persecution at 
 Oxford, and how the Lord sustained me in the midst of 
 that hellish darkness and debauchery ; of my being ban- 
 ished the college ; the bitter usage I underwent when I 
 returned to my father — whipping, beating, and turning 
 out of doors in 1G62 ; of the Lord's dealings with me in 
 France, and in the time of the great plague in London. 
 In fine, the deep sense He gave me of the vanity of this 
 world— of the irrcligiousness of the religions of it. Then 
 of my mournful and bitter cries to Him that He would 
 show me his own way of life and salvation, and my reso- 
 lutions to follow Him, whatever reproaches or sufferings 
 should attend me ; and that with great reverence and 
 brokenness of spirit. How, after all this, the glory of the 
 world overtook me, and I was even ready to give up my- 
 self unto it, seeing as yet no such thing as the primitive 
 6[)irit and church on the earth, and being ready to faint 
 concerning my hope of the restitution of all things. It 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 183 
 
 was at this time that the Lord visited me with a certain 
 sound and testimony of his eternal word, through one of 
 those the world calls a Quaker, namely, Thomas Loe. I 
 related to them the bitter mockings and scornings that fell 
 upon me, the displeasure of my parents, the invectiveness 
 and cruelty of the priests, the strangeness of all my com- 
 panions ; what a sign and wonder they made of me ; but, 
 above all, that great cross of resisting and watching against 
 my own inward vain affections and thoughts. 
 
 Here I had a fine opportunity to speak of the mystery 
 of iniquity and ungodliness in the root and ground, and to 
 give them an account of the power and presence of God 
 which attended us in our public testimonies and sufferings ; 
 after an indirect manner censuring their weaknesses by 
 declaring and commending the contrary practices among 
 Friends, too large to be here related. And notwithstand- 
 ing all my sufferings and trials by magistrates, parents, 
 companions, and, above all, from the priests of the false 
 religions in the world, the Lord hath preserved me to this 
 day, and hath given me an hundred-fold in this world as 
 well as the assurance of life everlasting ; informing them 
 of the tenderness of my father to me before and at his 
 death ; and how through patience and long-suffering all 
 opposition was conquered. Then I began my exhortation 
 unto them, which was on this wise : 
 
 That since God had given me and them a Divine sense 
 of Him, our eye should be to Him and not to man ; that 
 we might come more into a silence of ourselves, and a 
 growth into that heavenly sense. That this was the work 
 of the true ministry, not to keep people to themselves, ever 
 teaching- them, but to turn them to God, the new covenant 
 
184 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 teacher, and to Christ, the great Gospel minister. Thus 
 John did, and thought it no dishonor that they left him 
 to go to Christ. " Behold the Lamb of God," said he, 
 "that taketh away the sins of the world!" And even 
 John's disciples left him to follow Christ. Nay, John 
 testifies of himself that he was to decrease and Christ was 
 to increase. Wherefore I pressed them to have their eye 
 to Christ, who taketh away the sin ; who is from heaven 
 heavenly; to see that He increase in them. Yea, that 
 henceforward they should know no man after the flesh. 
 That their knowledge of, and regard for and fellowship, 
 one with another should stand in the revelation of the 
 Son of God in them, who is God's great prophet, b}^ whom 
 God speaketh in these latter daj^s. And if their ministers 
 be true ministers they will count it their glory to give way 
 to Christ, and that they decrease and Christ increase ; that 
 the instrument giveth way to him that uscth it, the ser- 
 vant to the Lord. Which, though it seenieth to detract 
 from the ministers, yet it was, and is, the glory of a true 
 minister that God and Christ should be all in all, and that 
 his will should be fulfilled. I told them tie day of the 
 Lord God was come, and all people must look to Him for 
 salvation ; that all people must nov/ come to keep God's 
 great sabbath, to rest from mere man and the spirit of man, 
 and all men's thoughts, words, and works ; and that if 
 they were true believers they were at least entering into 
 their rest. 
 
 I left the blessing and peace of Jesus among them, de- 
 parting in the love and peace of God ; and I must needs 
 say they were, beyond expectation, tender and respectful 
 to us. The Lord comforted my soul in this service ; yea, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 185 
 
 all that is within me magnified his holy name, because of 
 his blessed presence that was with us. 
 
 The two pastors and the doctor came with us a field's 
 length, where we took wagon, and the chiefest of them 
 took occasion to ask me if the Truth rose not first amongst 
 a poor, illiterate, and simple sort of people ? I told him 
 yes, that was our comfort, and that we owed it not to the 
 learning of this world. "Then," said he, "let not the 
 learning of this world be used to defend that which the 
 spirit of God hath brought forth, for scholars now coming 
 among you will be apt to mix school learning amongst 
 your simpler and purer language, and thereby obscure the 
 brightness of the testimony." I told him it was good for 
 us all to have a care of our own spirits, words, and works, 
 confessing what he said had weight in it; telling him it 
 was our care to write and speak according to the Divine 
 sense, and not human invention. So in a very sober and 
 serious manner w^e parted, being about the twelfth hour at 
 noon. 
 
 The next morning about seven o'clock, being the IGth 
 of the Seventh month, we took boat for Embden, which is 
 about three leagues. On board of that vessel it came upon 
 me to write a letter to Friends in England concerning the 
 Separatists. (Wilkinson and Story and their folloAvers, 
 who had caused a schism among Friends on the subject 
 of church discipline.) 
 
 " To Friends everyiuhere, concei'ning the present Sep- 
 aratists, and their spiiHt of separation. 
 
 "Friends and Brethren. — By a mighty hand and by 
 an outstretched arm, hath the Lord God everlasting garh- 
 IG* 
 
186 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 ered il; to be a people, and in his own power and life hath 
 He preserved us a people unto this day ; and praises be to 
 his eternal name ! no weapon that hath yet been formed 
 against us, either from without or from within, hath 
 prospered. 
 
 " Now, this I say unto you, and that in his counsel who 
 hath visited us ; — whoever g-oeth out of the unity with their 
 brethren, are first gone out of unity with the power and 
 life of God in themselves, in which the unity of the 
 brethren standeth ; and the least member of the body in 
 the unity standeth on the top of them, and hath a judg- 
 ment against them. Unto which judgment, of both 
 great and small amongst the living family that in unity 
 are preserved, they must bow before they can come into 
 the unity again. Yea, this they will readily do, if they 
 are come into unity with the life and power of God in 
 themselves, which is the holy root that beareth the tree, 
 the fruit, and the leaves, all receiving life and virtue from 
 it, and thereby are nourished unto God's praise. 
 
 '' I feel this unruly spirit is tormented under the stroke 
 and judgment of the power, and in its subtlety is seeking 
 occasion against the instruments, by whom the power 
 gave it forth. Let all have a care how they touch with 
 this spirit in those vvorkings, for by being one with this 
 spirit in judging those who have been faithful, according 
 to the gift of wisdom they have received from God, they 
 will feed it and fortify it, and in the end come to be one 
 with it against the power itself, and at last run out and 
 become open enemies and despisers, for whom is reserved 
 the blackness of darkness forever unless they repent. 
 
 ''Wherefore, all that labor for the restoration of those 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 187 
 
 who are out of unity vvith the brethren, let them be such 
 as are of a sound mind themselves, else what will they 
 gather to ? or what v/ill they gather from ? And let them 
 labor in the simplicity, integrit}^, love, and zeal of the 
 power that first gathered Lis to God. For that which is 
 rightly gotten will endure, but that w^hich is obtained by 
 the contrivance, interest, and persuasions of men getteth 
 no further than man. 
 
 " Therefore, let none look out of the Seed for help, for 
 all power is in it, and there the true light and judgment 
 stand forever, and that Seed only hath God ordained to 
 bruise the serpent's head. Wherefore, let us be still, and 
 trust and confide therein forever. Let none look back, 
 faint, or consult, for if they do, they will darken their pure 
 eye and lose their way. 
 
 '' As all would stand before the Lord and his people, let 
 not this spirit be reasoned withal ; enter not into proposals 
 and articles with it, but feed it with judgment ; that is 
 God's decree. So may the souls that are deceived, come 
 by the right door into the heavenly unity. 
 
 " My brethren, look forwards, and lift up your eyes, for 
 the fields are even white unto harvest, up and down the 
 nations. Let us all who have received the gift from God, 
 wait in deep humility to be raised up and empowered by 
 Him more and more, to eye and prosecute his universal 
 service in the world ; to whose appearance the kings and 
 kingdoms of the Gentiles shall bring their glory. Which 
 noble work, had those who are gone into the separation 
 but laid deeply to heart, they would never have sat at 
 home murmuring, fretting, and quarrelling against the 
 comely and godly order and practice of their brethren; 
 
188 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 but love, peace, and joy had filled their hearts, and not 
 the troubler and accuser of the brethren, who lath 
 opened an evil eye in them, and begotten them into a 
 discontented, self-separating mind, and this image they 
 bear, and the pure eye sees it. 
 
 *' let none tempt the Lord ! Let us all dwell in that 
 divine sense that He hath begotten in us, where our love, 
 as a fresh and pure stream, will always flow to God and 
 to one another. Here all his ways are pleasantness and 
 all his paths are peace ; for where He keepeth the house, 
 who is Prince of peace, He will keep all in his heavenly 
 peaces We are but as one family, and therefore we have 
 but one Lord and Master. We are but as one flock, and 
 we have but one heavenly Shepherd to hear, who goeth 
 before us, and giveth us eternal life to follow Him. If 
 any are offended in Him or in his, it is their own fault ; 
 if they faint and grow weary, we are truly sorry ; if 
 through unwatchfulncss the enemy hath entered, begotten 
 coldness to the brethren, and carelessness of embracing 
 the opportunities by which the unity is renewed and in- 
 creased, so that what is done by the brethren without 
 them is looked upon, first with a slight eye and then 
 with an evil eye, which begets distance, and this distance 
 in time a separation, and separation continued bringeth 
 forth enmity, and this enmity death itself, we are in our 
 spirits truly grieved for them. However, the judgment 
 of God must stand against them, and that spirit that 
 leadeth them, in which they gather not to God but to 
 themselves. 
 
 " Enter not into disputes and contests with it ; it is that 
 it seeketh and loveth ; but go on in your testimony and 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 189 
 
 business fov the Lord, in the Lord's peaceable power and 
 spirit, and his blessings and presence of life shall be with 
 you. We can say it of a truth, ' God is good to Israel 
 and to all that are of an upright heart.' 
 
 " Your faithful friend and brother in the service of our 
 dear Lord, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 We arrived at Embden, the city where Friends have 
 been so bitterly and barbarously used — the like hath 
 scarcely been known in any place where Truth hath 
 broken forth in our day, they having here been banished 
 some thirty, and some forty times and above. 
 
 As I was writing to Doctor Andrews, President of the 
 Council of State, who is reported to have been the author 
 of this cruelty to our friends, a burden came upon me ; 
 my writing would not serve the turn, I must go myself, 
 and in the fear and name of the Lord plead the innocent 
 and suffering cause of our friends with him. So away 
 we went to his house. He was at first astonished to see 
 what manner of men we were, but after a little time he 
 comported himself with more kindness than we expected 
 at his hand. I asked him if he and the Senate had not 
 received a letter in Latin from an Englishman about two 
 years since concerning their severity towards the people 
 called Quakers. He told me he had. I replied I was the 
 man, and I was constrained in conscience to visit him on 
 their behalf, and I could not see how he, being a com- 
 monwealthsman and a Protestant, could persecute. 
 
 I pleaded the un naturalness, the unchristianity, and 
 imprudence of such proceedings, and pressed our reasons 
 
J90 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 earnestly, but tenderly upon him. He promised me that, 
 if I would write to the Senate a remonstrance of the 
 case of our friends, he would both present it and get it to 
 be read, and make it appear that he was not so much our 
 enemy as we looked upon him to be. 
 
 We took wag-on for Bremen, where we came safely, 
 through the Lord's goodness, on the 18th. In this city 
 there is a work of the Lord begun, though yet obscurely. 
 We had a travail upon our spirits that the blessed and 
 precious Truth of our dear Lord and Master might find 
 a place to rest its foot upon. 
 
 At the inn we had frequent opportunity to declare the 
 way of Truth, and we must needs say we were heard with 
 patience and sobriety. We left books amongst them all, 
 and in the love and fear of God we took our leave of them, 
 and begun our journey towards Herwerden, the court 
 of the Princess, where we arrived every way well through 
 the mercies of the Lord. We went to visit her, and found 
 both her and the Countess ready to receive us, which they 
 did with much love and tenderness. The house being 
 clear of strangers, they both earnestly prest us to sup 
 with them, which, being not well able to decline, we sub- 
 mitted to. 
 
 At supper the power of the Lord came upon me, and it 
 was a true supper to us, for the hidden manna was mani- 
 fested and broken amongst us, yea, a blessed meeting it 
 proved to us. 0, the reverent tenderness and lowly frame 
 of spirit that appeared this evening both in the Princess 
 and Countess ! The Frenchwoman we found greatly im- 
 proved, both in her love and understanding, yea, she was 
 very zealous and very broken, and was always with ur? on 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 191 
 
 these occasions. At parting, I desired the Princess would . 
 give us such another opportunity next day, being the First 
 day of the week, as we had tlie last time we were with 
 her. She answered me, " With all my heart ; but will ye 
 not come in the morning too ? " 
 
 About seven o'clock the next morning we came. About 
 eight the meeting began, and held till eleven ; several per- 
 sons of the city, as well as those of her own family, being 
 present. After the people were gone out of the chamber, 
 it lay upon me from the Lord to speak to them two, the 
 Princess and the Countess, with respect to their par- 
 ticular conditions, occasioned by these words from the 
 Princess, " I am fully convinced ; but, oh, my sins are 
 great ! " 
 
 Whilst I was speaking, the glorious power of the Lord 
 wonderfully rose, yea, after an awful manner, and had a 
 deep entrance upon their spirits, especially the Countess's, 
 so that she was broken to pieces. God hath raised, and 
 1 hope fixed, his own testimony in them. 
 
 We returned to our inn, and after dinner we came back 
 to the second meeting on that day ; and, truly, the rever- 
 ent, blessed, sure word of life was divided aright, and a 
 precious sense of Truth was raised in the meeting. 
 
 Next morning about eight o'clock we returned to the 
 court, where the Princess and Countess were ready to 
 receive us. The morning was employed in a very serious 
 relation, concerning the affairs, practice, and sufferings of 
 our friends in England, with which they seemed greatly 
 affected, when, about the eleventh hour, the rattling of a 
 coach interrupted us. The Countess immediately stepped 
 out to see what was the matter, and returned with a 
 
192 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 countenance somewhat uneasy, telling us that the young 
 princes, nephews to the Princess, and the Graef of Donau 
 were come to visit her. Upon which I told them we 
 should withdraw and return to our lodging ; but entreated 
 that, forasmuch as we were to depart that night with the 
 post-wagon, we might not be disappointed of a farewell 
 meeting with them ; and the rather, for that I had a great 
 burden upon my spirit ; which they readily complied with, 
 telling me these persons would only dine and be gone. 
 As we went to the door, the Countess stepped before us, 
 and opened it for us ; and as I passed by she looked upon 
 me with a weighty countenance, and fetched a deep sigh, 
 crying out, " 0, the cumber and entanglements of this 
 vain world! they hinder all good." Upon which I re- 
 plied, looking her steadfastly in the face, *' 0, come thou 
 out of them then ! " 
 
 After we had dined at our lodging, came the steward 
 of the house of the Princess with the message that the 
 Graef of Donau had a great desire to see us and to speak 
 with us. This brought a fresh weight and exercise upon 
 us ; but, committing all to the Lord, and casting our care 
 upon Him, we went. 
 
 Being arrived, the Graef approached us in French. At 
 first he took no great notice of our unceremonious beha- 
 vior, but proceeded to inquire of our success in our jour- 
 ney, and what we found answering our journey and in- 
 clinations. Then we fell to points of religion, and the 
 nature and end of true Christianity, and what is the way 
 that leadcth to the eternal rest. After some short debate 
 about complete sanctification in this life, we both agreed 
 that self-denial, mortification, and victory was the duty, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 193 
 
 and therefore ought to be the endeavor, of every sincere 
 Christian. 
 
 From this I fell to give him some account of my re- 
 treat from the world, and the inducements I had thereto, 
 and the necessity of an inward work, with which he 
 seemed much pleased. After this he fell to the hat, etc. 
 The Lord enabled me to open the thing to him, as that it 
 was no plant of God's planting, but a weed of degeneracy 
 and apostasy, a carnal and earthly honor, the effect, feeder, 
 and pleaser of pride and of a vain mind, and that no ad- 
 vantage redounded to mankind by it ; and how could they, 
 who ought to do all to the glory of God, use that vain 
 and unprofitable custom, which cannot be done to the 
 glory of God ? I entreated him seriously to consider 
 with himself the rise and end of it — w^hence it came, what 
 it pleased, and what that was wiiich was angry if it had 
 it not. 
 
 I also told him of the sincere, and serviceable respect 
 which Truth substituteth in place thereof; and I exhorted 
 him to simplicity and poverty of spirit ; to be like that 
 Jesus whom he professed to be his Saviour, whose outside, 
 as well as doctrine, pleased not the Jews ; and so we 
 parted. He took his leave of the Princess, and then- of 
 us, with great civility. 
 
 After he was gone we began our farewell meeting. The 
 thing lay weighty upon me, and that in the deep dread of 
 the Lord ; and magnified be the name of the Lord, He 
 overshadowed us with his glory. His heavenly breaking, 
 dissolving power richly flowed amongst us, and his min- 
 istering angel of life was in the midst of us. Let my sou' 
 never forget the divine sense that overw^helmed all. 
 17 N 
 
194 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 We went to our lodging, cleared the house, exhorted 
 the family, left books, and then took wagon for Wesel, 
 about two hundred English miles from Herwerden. We 
 rode three nights and days without lying down on a bed 
 or sleeping, otherwise than in the wagon, which was only 
 covered with an old ragged sheet. The company we had 
 with us made twelve in number, which much straitened 
 us. They were often, if not always, vain, even in their 
 religious songs, wliich is the fashion of that country, 
 especially by night. They call them Luther's songs, and 
 sometimes psalms. We were forced often to reprove and 
 testify against their hypocrisy. To be full of vain and 
 often profane talk one hour, and sing psalms to God the 
 next, we showed them the deceit and abomination of. We 
 passed through several great towns by the way, Lipstadt, 
 Ham, etc. Many discourses we- had of Truth, and the re- 
 ligion and worship that was truly Christian, and all w^as 
 very well. They bore what we said. But one thing was 
 remarkable, that may not be omitted. I had not been six 
 hours in the wagon before an heavy weight and unusual 
 oppression fell upon me ; yea, it weighed me almost to the 
 grave, that I could almost say, my soul was sad even 
 unto death. I knew not at present the ground of this 
 exercise ; it remained about twenty-four hours upon me. 
 Then it opened in me, that it was a travail for the seed 
 of God, that H might arise over all in them I had left 
 behind, and that nothing might be lost but the son of 
 perdition. Oh, the strong cries and deep agonies, many 
 tears and sincere bowings and humblings of soul before 
 the Lord that his holy sense, which was raised in them, 
 might be preserved alive in them, and they forever in it; 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 195 
 
 that they might grow and spread, as heavenly plants of 
 righteousness, to the glory of the name of the Lord. 
 
 The narrative from the 2tth of the Seventh month to 
 the 9th of the Eighth month inclusive, is inserted iu the 
 following letter to the Countess of Homes : 
 
 "For Anna 3faria de Homes, styled Countess of Homes, 
 at Herwerden, in Germany. 
 
 "My Dear Friend: — Oh, that thou mayst forever 
 dwell in the sweet and tender sense of that Divine love 
 and life which hath visited thy soul, affected and overcome 
 thy heart. Oh, tell me, hath it not sometimes raised thy 
 spirit above the world, and filled thee with fervent and 
 passionate desires, yea, holy resolutions to follow Jesus, 
 thy blessed Saviour, who hath given his most precious 
 blood for thee, that thou shouldst not live to thyself, but 
 tr Him that hath so dearly purchased thee ? 
 
 " Oh, the retired, humble, reverent frame I have beheld 
 thee in, when this blessed life hath drawn thee into itself, 
 and adorned and seasoned thee with its own heavenly vir- 
 tue. Oh, that this holy and chaste life may be always pre- 
 cious with thee, and that thou mayst be forever chastely 
 kept in the love and fellowship of it. 
 
 ''My dear beloved friend, be steadfast, immovable, 
 without wavering, and work out thy great salvation with 
 fear and treaibling, and lose not that sweet and precious 
 sense which the Lord hath begotten in thee. It is soon 
 lost, at least weakened, but hard to recover. Wherefore, 
 let not the spirit of the world in any of its . appearances, 
 vain company, unnecessary discourse or w^ords, or worldly 
 affairs prevail upon the civility of thy nature, for they 
 
196 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 will oppress the innocent life and bring grievous weights 
 and burdens upon thy soul, and prolong the coming of the 
 Lord, whom thou lookest for, and put the day of thy re- 
 demption afar off. Oh, beware of this compliance. Let 
 me put thee in mind of that sensible resolution, so fre- 
 quently and so passionately repeated by thee : ' II faut que 
 je rompe. II faut que je rompe.' Ah, this speaketh a 
 w^eight, this weight a sense, and this sense a strong con- 
 viction. Now, be assured, that till obedience be yielded 
 to that present manifestation and conviction, the good 
 things desired and thirsted after can never be enjoyed. 
 
 " Wherefore, my dear friend, be faithful, and watch 
 against the workings of the spirit of this world in thyself, 
 that the nature and image of it in all things may be cruci- 
 fied, that thou mayst know an entire translation, with 
 holy Enoch, and walk with God. Jesus, the holy Light, 
 is this power of God that killeth and maketh alive ; and He 
 is the heavenly vine, too ; if thou abidest in Him thou wilt 
 bring forth fruit ; but if thou abidest not in Him, thou wilt 
 not bring forth that fruit in which his heavenly Father 
 only can be glorified. 
 
 " Once more let me expostulate with thee. Wouldst 
 thou overcome the enemies of thy soul's peace, and enjoy 
 the delightful presence of the Lord with thee? Then 
 keep nothing back ; let nothing be withheld that He calleth 
 for. blessed are they that make no bargains for them- 
 selves ; that have no reserves for self, neither consult with 
 flesh and blood ; but that submit their wills in all things 
 to the Lord's, that they may be made perfect through 
 Bufferings. 
 
 *' At Dusseldorf we sent for N , who came to us, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 197 
 
 and three more in company. We had a blessed meeting 
 with them, and with one of the three that came with him 
 our souls were exceedingly affected. 
 
 *' The meeting done, they went away, but N re- 
 turned. The young man hath a zeal for God, and there 
 is a visitation upon him ; my soul desireth that it may not 
 be ineffectual ; but I have a great fear upon me. For this 
 I know certainly from the Lord God that liveth for ever, 
 and I have a cloud of witnesses to my brethren, that re- 
 tirement and silence before God is the alone way for him 
 to feel the heavenly gift to arise, and come forth pure and 
 unmixed. This only can aright preach for God, pray to 
 God, and beget people to God, and nothing else. But 
 alas! his office in that family is quite another thing; 
 namely, to perform set duties at fixed times ; pray, preach, 
 and sing, and that in the way of the world's appointments. 
 His very office is Babylonish, namely, a chaplain ; for it 
 is a popish invention. 
 
 " In the good old times, godly Abraham who was a 
 prince, and Joshua a great general, and David a king, 
 with many more, instructed their families in the knowl- 
 edge and fear of God ; but now people are too idle or too 
 great to pray for themselves, and so they worship God by 
 proxy. How can a minister of the Gospel be at the beck 
 of any mortal living, or give his soul and conscience to 
 the time and appointment of another ? The thing in it- 
 self is utterly wrong, and against the very nature and 
 worship of the new and everlasting covenant. And I 
 have a deep sense upon my soul, that if the young man 
 strive beyond the talent God hath given him, to answer 
 his office and fill up his place, and wait not for the Dure 
 17* 
 
198 TASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and living word of God in his heart to open liis mouth, 
 but either studieth for his sermons, or speaketh his own 
 words, he will be utterly ruined. 
 
 ''Wherefore, dear friend, have a care thou art no snare 
 to him, nor he to tho3 1 Man's works smother and stifle the 
 true life of Christ. What have you now to do, but to look 
 to Jesus, the author of the holy desires that are in you, who 
 himself hath visited you. Tempt not the Lord, provoke 
 not God. What should any man preach from, but Christ ? 
 And what should he preach people to, but Christ in them, 
 the hope of likny ? Consider, nothing- feedeth that which 
 is born of God, but that which cometh down from God, 
 even the bread of God, which is the Son of God, who 
 giveth his life for the world. Feel it, and feed on it ; let 
 none mock God, or grieve his Eternal Spirit, who is come 
 to seal them up from the mouth of man, who hath de- 
 ceived them, that Jesus the anointing may teach them 
 and abide with them forever. 
 
 '' Be steadfast and immovable ; and this will draw the 
 young man nearer to the Lord, and empty him of him- 
 self, and purge away mixtures ; and then you will all 
 come to the Divine silence. And when all flesh is silent 
 before the Lord, then is it the Lord's time to speak, and 
 if you will hear, your souls shall live. 
 
 " The Lord Jesus be with thy spirit, and keep thee jn this 
 the hour of thy temptation, that thou mayst come forth 
 as gold seven times tried ; so shall thy testimony shine 
 for the God that hath called thee, and He will reward thee 
 with honor, glory, and eternal life. Amen. 
 
 " Thy friend, that faithfully travailcth for thy redemption, 
 
 WiLLTAM PeNN. 
 
 "Amsterdam, the 10th of the Eighth month, 1077." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 199 
 
 [Returning home from Germany, he says :] I wont to 
 Worminghurst, my house in Sussex, where I found my 
 dear wife, child, and family all well : blessed be the name 
 of the Lord God of all the families of the earth. I had 
 that evening a sweet meeting amongst them ; in which 
 God's blessed power made us truly glad together ; and I 
 can say, truly blessed are they who cheerfully give up to 
 serve the Lord : great shall be the increase and growth 
 of their treasure, which shall never end. 
 
 The narrative of this journey, and of the interesting 
 interviews he had with many persons eminent for their 
 talents, learning, or social positioir, is almost the only 
 autobiography which William Penn has Ic^. The fore- 
 going extracts from it furnish only a partial view of the 
 industry and fervor with which he prosecuted his religious 
 services. This extensive journey was accomplished in 
 about three months, during which time, in addition to 
 the numerous religious meetings and conferences which 
 he held, and the distances traversed, sometimes on foot, 
 at others in the tardy conveyances of that day, his letters 
 and epistles occupy about sixty-five folio pages in his 
 printed works. Yet, at a subsequent period of his life, 
 he expressed a belief that if he had then had his time to live 
 over again, he could with God's grace, not only serve Him, 
 but his neighbor and himself, better than he had done, 
 and have seven years to spare. If we are to consider the 
 portion of his life which he has so minutely described as 
 a specimen of the rest, it is not easy to perceive out of 
 what portion of it these seven years could have been ob* 
 tained. 
 
200 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 IX. 
 
 SOME very severe laws had been enacted again-^t 
 the Roman Catholics by the British Parliament in 
 1582 ; one of v/hich imposed a fine of twenty pounds a 
 month for absence from the parish churches on the days 
 appointed for Divine worship, and another passed shortly 
 after the discovery of the gunpowder treason, in 1605, 
 made it optional with the king whether he should exact 
 twenty pounds a month, or all the personal and two- 
 thirds of the real estate of the offender. The persecutors 
 of Friends failing in their efforts to repress the rising So- 
 ciety by the cruel measures they had heretofore taken, had 
 recourse to these laws, which answered the double purpose 
 of grievously oppressing Priends and putting money into 
 the pockets of their oppressors. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1618, Parliament having 
 the laws against popery under consideration, a proposal 
 was made to insert a clause in the bill in favor of those 
 who should take an oath and subscribe a declaration of 
 a prescribed form. As the conditions upon which this 
 distinguishing clause was to be rendered available, could 
 not be complied with by Friends, it was concluded to 
 make a representation of their case to the two houses of 
 Parliament. One was accordingly prepared, drawn up 
 probably by William Penn, in which the hardships they 
 had endured by the operation of laws which were not 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 201 
 
 intended to apply to them or to persons of their charac- 
 ters, were briefly yet forcibly stated. Their inability to 
 avail themselves of the proffered distinction, was shown 
 to arise from their conscientious objection to oaths, and 
 not from an unwillingness to subscribe the required dec- 
 laration if reduced to an unexceptionable form. They 
 therefore requested that their word might be admitted in- 
 stead of the oath, with the condition annexed, that in 
 case of violating it, they should suffer the penalties of 
 perjury. 
 
 On the 22d of the First month, William Penn was ad- 
 mitted before a committee of Parliament, and in the course 
 of his address, said : 
 
 " That which giveth me a more than ordinary right to 
 speak at this time and in this place, is the great abuse that 
 I have received above any other of my profession ; for of 
 a long time I have not only been supposed a Papist, but 
 a Seminary, a Jesuit, an emissary of Rome, and in pay 
 from the pope, a man dedicating my endeavors to the in- 
 terest and advancement of that party. Nor hath this 
 been the report of the rabble, but the jealousy and insin- 
 uation of persons otherwise sober and discreet. Nay, 
 some zealous for the Protestant religion have been so far 
 gone in this mistake, as not only to think ill of us and to 
 decline our conversation, but to take courage to themselves 
 to prosecute us for a sort of concealed Papists ; and the 
 truth is, what with one thing, and what with another, we 
 have been as the wool-sacks and common whipping-stock 
 of the kingdom. All laws have been let loose upon us, 
 as if the design were not to reform, but to destroy us, and 
 that not for what we are, but for what we are not It ia 
 
202 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 hard that we must thus bear the stripes of another interest, 
 and be their proxy in punishment ; but it is worse that some 
 men can please themselves in such a sort of administra 
 tion. 
 
 " I would not be mistaken. I am far from thinking it 
 fit that Papists should be whipped for their consciences, 
 because I exclaim against the injustice of whipping Quak- 
 ers for Papists. No, for though the hand pretended to bo 
 lifted up against them hath, I know not by what discre- 
 tion, lit heavily upon us, and we complain, yet we do not 
 mean that any should take a fresh aim at them, or that 
 they must come in our room. We mu^t give the lib- 
 erty we ask, and cannot bo false to our principles, though 
 it were to relieve ourselves, for we have good-will to all 
 men, and would have none suffer for a truly sober and 
 conscientious dissent on any hand." 
 
 He subsequently made to this committee a second 
 speech, of which we give a part : 
 
 " I was bred a Protestant, and that strictly, too. I lost 
 nothing by time or study ; for years, reading, travel, and 
 observation made the religion of my education the religion 
 of my judgment. I do tell you again, and here solemnly 
 declare in the presence of Almighty God, and before you 
 all, that the profession I now make, and the society I now 
 adhere to, have been so far from altering that Protestant 
 judgment I had, that I am not conscious to myself of 
 having receded from an iota of any one principle main- 
 tained by those first Protestants and reformers of Ger- 
 many, and our own martyrs at home, against the pope 
 and see of Rome. 
 
 " On the contrary, 1 do with great truth assure you 
 
or WILLIAM PENN. 203 
 
 that we are of the same negative faith with the ancient 
 Pfotestant church, and upon occasion shall be ready, by- 
 God's assistance, to make it appear that we are of the same 
 belief as to the most fundamental, positive articles of her 
 creed, too. And therefore it is we think it hard, that though 
 we deny in common with her those doctrines of Rome so 
 zealously protested against (from whence the name Protes- 
 tants), yet that we should be so unhappy as to suffer, and 
 that with extreme severity, by those very laws on purpose 
 made against the maintainors of those doctrines we do so 
 deny. We choose no suffering, for God knows what we 
 have already suffered, and how many sufficient and trading 
 families are reduced to great poverty by it. "We think 
 ourselves a useful people. We are sure we are a peaceable 
 people ; yet if we must still suffer, let us not suffer as 
 Popish recusants, but as Protestant dissenters. 
 
 " But I would obviate another objection, and that none 
 of the least that hath been made against us, viz., that we 
 are enemies to government in general, and particularly 
 disaffected to this we live under. I think it not amiss, 
 but very seasonable, yea, my duty now to declare to you, 
 and that I do with good conscience in the sight of Al- 
 mighty God, first, that we believe government to be God's 
 ordinance, and ,next, that this present government is es- 
 tablished by the providence of God and law of the land, 
 and that it is our Christian duty readily to obey it in all 
 its just laws; and wherein we cannot comply through ten- 
 derness of conscience, in all such cases not to revile or con- 
 spire against the government, but with Christian humility 
 and patience tire out all mistakes about us, and wait their 
 better inforn ation, who, we believe, do as undeservedly 
 
204 PASSAGES FTvOM THE LIFE 
 
 as severely treat us; and I know not what greater security 
 can be given by any people, or how any government can 
 be easier from the subjects of it." 
 
 This application was so far successful that the committee 
 inserted, in the bill then depending before them, a clause 
 granting relief in the case, which passed the House of 
 Commons ; but before it had passed the House of Lords, 
 tbe Parliament was suddenly prorogued, and the bill lost. 
 
 The people of England were about this time thrown 
 into great consternation by the pretended disclosures of 
 Titus Gates and others in regard to a Popish plot. How- 
 ever destitute of truth those disclosures and the rumors to 
 which they gave birth must now appear, they were prob- 
 ably considered at that time, by the generality of the 
 people, as having at least some foundation in truth. 
 
 To prevent his friends in religious profession from being 
 drawn into the popular excitement, and from their accus- 
 tomed reliance on Divine protection, William' Penn wrote 
 an epistle, directed to '' the children of light in this gener- 
 ation." 
 
 He earnestly exhorted them to flee from the spirit and 
 cares of the world to their watch-tower, which is the 
 name of the Lord. A living, spiritual name, a strong 
 tow^er, a peaceable habitation, where they should rest in 
 safety while darkness and confusion prevailed in the 
 world. He particularly cautioned them against mingling 
 with the crowd, lest they should imbibe the spirit of the 
 world instead of diffusing their spirit into the people. 
 "They," said he, "must come to us, we must not go to 
 them. Yet we cannot be insensible of their infirmities, 
 as well as we shall not be free from some of their suffer- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 205 
 
 Ings. We must make their case as our own, and travail 
 alike in spirit for them as for ourselves. Let us stand in 
 the counsel of our God, and He will make us preachers to 
 them of the work of his divine power, and the virtue of 
 that faith which comes from heaven ; that they may come 
 to know the holy law and word of the Lord in their hearts, 
 and have their minds turned to Him and stayed upon Him, 
 that iniquity may no mora iibound, nor un;^odliness find a 
 place. But that in truth, righteousness, and peace they 
 may be established, and the land keep its sabbath to the 
 Lord forever." 
 
 In the year 1679, as the nation was still in commotion, 
 and great apprehensions were entertained of designs being 
 on foot for the subversion of the Protestant religion and 
 the introduction' of Popery, he wrote and published an 
 "Address to Protestants," in which he exposed the 
 vices which prevailed in church and state, and labored 
 to excite the people to repentance and amendment of life, 
 as the most effectual means of allaying their fears and 
 preventing the impending evils. 
 
 Having expostulated with them on account of the evils 
 which prevailed in civil society, he proceeds in the second 
 f>art of his address to treat of those which relate to the 
 ecclesiastical state of those kingdoms. In this part five 
 capital evils are noted. 
 
 " First. Making opinions articles of faith ; at least, giv- 
 ing them the reputation of faith, and making them the 
 bond of Christian society. 
 
 " Second. Mistaking the nature of true faith, and taking 
 that for faith which is not gospel faith. 
 
 " Third. Debasing the true value of morality under the 
 18 
 
206 PASSAGES FROM- TPIE LIFE 
 
 pretence of higher things, mistaking much of the end of 
 Christ's coming. 
 
 Fourth. Preferring human authority above reason and 
 truth. 
 
 Fifth. Propagating faith by force, and imposing religion 
 by worldly compulsion. 
 
 Under the first division he censures and exposes the 
 practice of expounding a belief on religious subjects, in 
 terms which are neither scriptural nor fairly deducible 
 from the Scriptures of Truth, and. requiring an assent to 
 such exposition as the condition of Christian communion. 
 Showing that inasmuch as the Scriptures were given by 
 Divine inspiration, and holy men gave them forth as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost, the language in which 
 they were given is to be preferred to any exposition w^hich 
 can be framed by men who are not endued with a like in- 
 spiration. 
 
 Under the second head it is stated that a mere assent of 
 the understanding to the truth and authority of the his- 
 tory and doctrines of Scripture, is not that true and living 
 faith which is "the saint's victory over the world. But, as 
 defined by the apostle, faith "is the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." '' True faith 
 in God," says William Penn, "is entirely believing and 
 trusting in God, confiding in his goodness, resigning up to 
 his will, obeying his commands, and relying upon his con- 
 duct and mercies, respecting this life and that which is to 
 come. This faith that works by love, that Divine love which 
 God places in the heart, it draws and inclines man, and 
 gives him power to forsake all that displeaseth God. What 
 of the Christian dispensation is so peculiar and important 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. , 207 
 
 as to challenge of right the name of creed or faith ? I say, 
 then, that the belief of Jesus of Nazareth to be the prom- 
 ised Messiah, the Son and Christ of God, come and sent 
 of God to restore and save mankind is the first, and was 
 then the only requisite article of faith,- without any large 
 confessions, or an heap of principles or opinions resolved 
 upon after curious and tedious debates by councils and 
 synods." 
 
 Of this, the testimony of the beloved disciple is ad- 
 duced as one conclusive argument. " These things are 
 written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
 Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through 
 his name." This belief, it is observed, fully and sincerely 
 admitted, necessarily leads to an assent to the doctrines of " 
 Christ, and to the precepts which He taught. And these 
 precepts include the moral and religious duty of man. 
 Hence, "as Christ is the rock on which true Christians 
 build, so none can be truly said to build on this Rock 
 but those that keep his sayings, that do his command- 
 ments, that obey his doctrine. Wherefore that faith, of 
 Jesus to be the Son and Christ of God, must be such a 
 faith as does the will of the heavenly Father, and keepeth 
 the sayings of Christ. 
 
 " Those, therefore, that would obtain this precious faith 
 that overcomes the world, must embrace the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by which this faith is begotten ; and 
 they who believe not in this grace, nor receive it in the 
 love of it, nor give themselves up to be taught and led by 
 it, can never be said truly to believe in Him from whom it 
 comes, any more than the Jews may be said to Ixilieve in 
 God, when they rejected Him that came from 3od, even 
 
208 P.ASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 his beloved Son. He that denies the measure, can never 
 own or receive the fulness. John bears record that He 
 was full of grace and truth, and that of his fulness they 
 had all received, and grace for grace. For the law was 
 given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 
 Christ. So that it is utterly impossible for a man to be- 
 lieve in Christ and not to be taught and led by the grace 
 that comes from Him and by Him." 
 
 In concluding this division, he says : " I do fervently 
 beseech Almighty God, the giver of all saving faith, mer- 
 cifully to vouchsafe, more and more, to beget a serious 
 inquiry in us, what that faith is which we have ? who is 
 the author of it ? and what fruits it hath brought forth ? 
 *that so we may not profane the name of God by a vain 
 profession of it, nor abuse ourselves unto eternal perdition. 
 But that we may endeavor, by God's assistance, to approve 
 ourselves such believers as sincerely fear God, love right- 
 eousness, and hate every evil way, as becomes the re- 
 deemed of God by the precious blood of his Son. Since, 
 therefore, we are not our own, but the Lord's, who hath 
 bought us with that great price, let us glorify Him in our 
 bodies, in our souls, and in our spirits, which are his. 
 Then shall we be children of Abraham indeed, heirs of 
 the promises, partakers of that resurrection and life, that 
 immortality and glory which God, the righteous Judge, 
 will one day plentifully distribute to them that abide in 
 this precious faith unto the end." 
 
 Under the third head he defines his moral man to be one 
 that does to all men as he would have all men to do to 
 him, and from this he argues that Christian morality is 
 the fruit of a sound practical belief in Christ, and in the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 209 
 
 doctrines which He taught. In regard to tlie end and 
 design of Christ's coming into the world, it is laid down 
 that He came to save his people from their sins ; not 
 merely to take away the guilt by his propitiatory sacrifice 
 on the cross, but to redeem from the nature of sin by the 
 power of his Spirit, and to establish an actual righteousness. ^ 
 
 Under the fourth head is noticed the great power of the 
 clergy, and the people's reliance upon them for the knowl- 
 edge of religion and the way of life and salvation. The 
 clergy were thus become a sort of mediators between 
 Christ and the people. This implicit faith and blind 
 obedience to the opinions of others, is noted as a species 
 of popery which Protestants are particularly required to 
 examine and avoid. 
 
 The author declares that every Christian ought to be- 
 lieve as the church believes, provided the church is right. 
 But the church is defined to be a congregation or company 
 of people agreed together in the sincere profession and 
 obedience of the Gospel of Christ. The rule then which 
 they jointly have for their belief, is the rule of each indi- 
 vidual. jS'ow the great foundation of the Protestant re- 
 ligion, is the Divine authority of the Scriptures without 
 us, and the testimony and illumination of the Holy Spirit 
 within us. Upon this ground the first reformers made 
 and supported their separation from the Church of Rome. 
 Hence Protestant . writers agree that neither traditions, 
 councils, nor canons of any visible church, much less the 
 edicts of any civil jurisdiction, but the Scriptures only, 
 interpreted by the Holy Spirit in us, give the final de- 
 termination in matters of religion, and that only in the 
 conscience of every Christian to himself. 
 18* O 
 
210 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Under the last head our author notices, with just dis- 
 approbation, the persecutions on account of dissent from 
 the national mode of worship which prevailed in the days 
 of Elizabeth and her two immediate successors, and more 
 particularly those of their own times, in which many fami- 
 lies had been reduced to poverty — not a bed left in the 
 house, not a cow in the field, nor any grain in the barn. 
 Widows and orphans stripped without pity, and no regard 
 paid to age or sex. And all this for no offence except 
 peaceably meeting to worship God in a manner different 
 from that prescribed by the Protestant authorities of the 
 day. 
 
 This address, which occupies about one hundred pages 
 in our author's folio works, closes in the following terms : 
 
 " God Almighty open our understandings and hearts, 
 and pour out the spirit of thorough reformation upon us ; 
 for it is in the spirit and not in the words of reformation 
 that the life and prosperity of reformation stands." 
 
 The Parliament, which had continued about eighteen 
 years, having been dissolved and w^rits issued for the 
 election of a new one, great excitement prevailed among 
 the people, and strenuous efforts were made by the opposing 
 paties to secure the ascendency. On this occasion William 
 Penn addressed a communication to the freeholders and 
 electors of the kingdom, entitled '' England's great Interest 
 in the Choice of this Parliament." 
 
 He states the great importance of choosing " wise men, 
 fearing God and hating covetousncss." " We must," he 
 says, " not make our public choice the recompense of 
 private favors from our neighbors." " They should be 
 honest and capable ; men of industry and improvement ; 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 211 
 
 possessed of liberal principles, and sincerely attached to 
 the Protestant religion ; for implicit faith and blind obedi- 
 ence in religion will also introduce implicit faith and blind 
 obedience in government. So that it is no more the law 
 in the one than in the other, but tlie will and power of the 
 superior that shall be the rule and bond of our subjection. 
 This is that fatal mischief popery brings with it to civil 
 society, and for which such societies ought to bcAvare of it, 
 and all those that are friends to it." 
 
 Besides communicating this address to the electors he 
 used considerable efforts to procure the election of his 
 friend, Algernon Sidney, whom he esteemed for his talents 
 and character. The arbitrary measures of the court, and 
 the unrelenting rigor with which dissenters, both in church 
 and state, were prosecuted, appeared to demand the re- 
 straining hand of statesmen of firm and liberal minds. 
 Men of that character were those whom he recommended 
 to the electors of England; and such an one he thought 
 he discerned in Algernon Sidney ; his efforts, however, 
 were not successful, and his friend did not obtain a seat in 
 the national legislature, having been defeated by unfair 
 means, as appears by a letter written to him immediately 
 afterwards by William Penn, in which he says, " Thou, as 
 thy friends, had a conscientious regard for England ; and 
 to be put aside by such base ways is really a suffering foi 
 righteousness. Thou hast embarked thyself with them 
 that seek and love and choose the best things ; and number 
 is not weight with thee. I hope it is retrievable ; for to 
 me it looks not a fair and clear election." The efforts of 
 William Penn to promote his election may be considered 
 as a complete refutation of the charge, so frequently and 
 
212 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 recklessly advanced, of his subserviency to the interests of 
 popery and arbitrary power. For Sidney was a man of 
 liberal, if not republican, principles, and fell, a few years 
 afterwards, a sacrifice to the jealousy of the dominant 
 party. 
 
 The elections having taken place, and the Parliament 
 having at length been returned, William Penn published 
 a book which he addressed to it under the title of " One 
 Project for the Good of England — that is. Our Civil Union 
 is our Civil Safety." He maintained that all English 
 Protestants, w^hether Conformists or Non-conformists, 
 agreed in this, that they owed allegiance and subjection 
 to the civil government of England alone ; whereas the 
 Catholics, owning another temporal power as superior to 
 the government they properly belonged to, made them- 
 selves the subjects, not of the government under which 
 they were born, but of the government of the pope. 
 Hence, whatever restrictions the existing Parliament 
 might think it right to put upon the latter, it was its duty 
 to maintain the civil interest entire, as it related to church- 
 men and dissenters ; for, it being to the advantage of both 
 that the pope should have no dominion in England, the 
 church-Protestant could not injure the dissenting Protest- 
 ant without weakening and destroying his own civil 
 interest. Having discoursed largel}^ upon this principle, 
 he proposed as his one project a certain public declaration 
 or test by which all Protestant dissenters might be enabled 
 to show that they were not Catholics. This declaration, 
 which he drew up himself, denied the pope's right to 
 depose any sovereign, or absolve the subjects of such 
 sovereign from their allegiance. It denied him to be 
 
OP WILLIAM PEN23-. 213 
 
 Christ's Vicar. It denied a purgatory after death, tran- 
 substantiation in the Lord's Supper, and the lawfulness 
 and efficacy of prayers to saints and images. The decla- 
 ration was to be made in all the towns and parishes on a 
 certain day. Every abuse of this declaration was to be 
 punished. In stating this, his project, however, he never 
 spoke of the Catholics so as to call in question their re- 
 ligious rights. His only object was to show that church- 
 men and Protestant dissenters having the same civil 
 interest in the government of England, the one ought not 
 to oppress the other, and particularly for shades of differ- 
 ence as to their religious faith. 
 
214 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 X. 
 
 IN" the year 1675, William Penn was engaged in an ar- 
 bitration between John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, 
 two members of his own religious society, who had pur- 
 chased of Lord Berkeley his half share of 'New Jersey in 
 North America. Having well considered the case, he had 
 made his award ; but Fenwick refused to abide by it. 
 This gave him great uneasiness, and produced from him 
 the following friendly letter : 
 
 *' John Fenwick ! — The present difference betwixt thee 
 and Edward Byllinge fills the hearts of Friends with 
 grief, and with a resolution to take it in two days intjp 
 their consideration to make a public denial of the person 
 that offers violence to the award made, or that will not end 
 it without bringing it upon the public stage. God, the 
 righteous judge, will visit him that stands off. Edward 
 Byllinge will refer the matter to me again, if thou wilt 
 do the like. Send me w^ord, and, as opprest as I am with 
 business, I will find an afternoon to-morrow or next day 
 to determine, and so prevent the mischief that will 
 certainly follow divulging it in Westminster-hall. Let 
 me know by the bearer thy mind. John ! let Truth 
 and the honor of it in this day prevail ! Woe to him that 
 causeth offences I I am an impartial man. 
 
 William Penn." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 215 
 
 This letter in about ten days was followed by a second, 
 in which he could not help rebuking Fenwick on account 
 of his conduct. He stated, however, that the original of 
 the dispute reflected upon both parties, and, what was 
 worse, upon Truth, that is, upon their religious profession 
 as Friends, 
 
 In thirteen days he wrote another letter, as follows : 
 
 ''John Fenwick! — I have upon serious consideration 
 of the present difference (to end it with benefit to you 
 both, and as much quiet as may be), thought my counsel's 
 opinion very reasonable ; indeed, thy own desire to have 
 the eight parts added, was not so pleasant to the other 
 party that it should now be shrunk from by thee as in- 
 jurious; and when thou hast once thought a proposal 
 reasonable, and given power to another to fix it, 'tis not 
 in thy power, nor indeed a discreet or civil thing, to alter 
 or warp from it, and call it being forced. John I I am 
 'sorry that a toy, a trifle, should thus rob men of their 
 time, quiet, and a more profitable employ. I have had a 
 good conscience in what I have done in this affair, and if 
 thou reposest confidence in me, and believest me to be a 
 good and just man, as thou hast said, thou shouldst not 
 be upon such nicety and uncertainty. Away with vain 
 fancies, I beseech thee, and fall closely to thy business. 
 Thy days spend on, and make the best of what thou hast. 
 Thy grand-children may be in the other world, before the 
 land thou hast allotted will bo employed. My counsel, 1 
 will answer for it, shall do thee all right and service in 
 the affair that becomes him, who, I told thee at first, 
 
216 PASSAGES FEOM TPIE LIFE 
 
 should draw it up as for myself. If this cannot scatter 
 thy fears, thou art unhappy, and I am sorry. 
 
 "Thy Friend. William Penn." 
 
 In the year 16t6, William Penn came accidentally into 
 the situation of a manager of colonial concerns in New 
 Jersey in North America, a situation not only important 
 in itself, but which produced the most important results ; 
 for, by being concerned there he was by degrees led to, 
 and fitted for, the formation of a colony of his own. Lord 
 Berkeley, who was joint proprietor of New Jersey with 
 Sir George Carteret, had in the preceding year sold his 
 half share of it to John Penwick in trust for Edward 
 Byllinge. It was on this subject that the dispute arose 
 between the latter^ which William Penn has just been 
 mentioned to have arbitrated, and which since that time 
 he had by means of the most exemplary perseverance 
 brought to an amicable issue. As soon as the adjust- 
 ment took place, Penwick in company with his wife and 
 family, and several Quakers, embarked for America in the 
 ship Griffith. They landed at a " pleasant rich spot on the 
 Delaware which they called Salem." Byllinge, however, 
 who had been drained of his money by the purchase, and 
 who since the sailing of Penwick had experienced mis- 
 fortune, found himself unable to meet the pecuniary 
 demands which were brought against him. He agreed, 
 therefore, to deliver over his new property in trust for his 
 creditors; but in consenting to do this, he had his eye 
 fixed upon the friendly assistance of William Penn. He, 
 therefore, applied to the latter with the most earnest en* 
 treaty to become a joint trustee with Gawen Laurie, of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 217 
 
 Iiondon, and Nicholas Lucas, of Hertford, two of the said 
 creditors, to carry his intention into effect. To this, but 
 not till after much consideration, he assented. 
 
 His new office requiring exertion, and this immediately, 
 he was at once overwhelmed in business. The first thing 
 he did in conjunction with the trustees, was to agree with 
 Sir George Carteret upon a division of the province. 
 They allotted to the latter the eastern part of it, which by 
 this time was tolerably well peopled ; and the western, in 
 which no settlements had yet been made, they took in be- 
 half of Byllinge to themselves. From this time the 
 former took the name of East, and the latter that of West 
 New Jersey, the dividing line running " straight north 
 from Egg- Harbor to the utmost branch of Delaware Kiver." 
 
 This division having been made, they then subdivided 
 their own portion into a hundred lots. Ten of these they 
 gave to Fenwick as a repayment for time, trouble, and 
 money advanced by him to Lord Berkeley, and the re- 
 maining ninety they reserved for sale, for the benefit of 
 the creditors of Byllinge. 
 
 The next step was to form a Constitution for those who 
 in consequence of purchase were to settle in the new land. 
 This task, the most difficult, fell almost exclusively upon 
 William Penn. He, therefore, drew up what he called 
 Concessions, or terms of grant and agreement, which were 
 to be mutually signed. The great outline of these may 
 be comprehended in few words. The people were to meet 
 annually to choose one honest man for each proprietary, 
 who had signed the Concessions. They who were so 
 chosen, were to sit in assembly. They were to make, 
 alter, and repeal laws. They were also to choose a 
 19 
 
218 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 governor, or commissioner, with twelve assistants, who 
 were to execute these laws, but onlv during their pleasure. 
 Every man was to be capable both of choosing and being 
 chosen. No man was to be arrested, imprisoned, or con- 
 demned in his estate or liberty, but by twelve men of the 
 neighborhood. No man was to be imprisoned for debt ; 
 but his estate was to satisfy his creditors as far as it 
 would go, and then he was to be set at liberty to work 
 again for himself and family. No man was to be in- 
 terrupted or molested on account of the exercise of his 
 religion. Such was the simple outline of the Concessions, 
 "by an adherence to which he hoped that he had laid a 
 foundation for those in after ages to understand their 
 liberty both as men and Christians, and by an adherence 
 to which they could never be brought into bondage but 
 by their own consent." 
 
 Having made these and other arrangements, he and his 
 colleagues gave notice of the same in a public letter which 
 they signed, and circulated through the kingdom. Through 
 the medium of this, they particularly invited those who 
 were of their own religious society to become the new 
 settlers. They cautioned these, however, against leaving 
 their country out of any idle curiosity, or rambling dispo- 
 sition, or improper motive, or to the violation of the 
 feelings of their kindred, or of their religious unity as 
 Friends. To this caution they annexed " A Description 
 of West New Jersey," of its climate, soil, and produce, 
 in order that none might be deceived, or have occasion 
 afterwards to repent of their undertaking. 
 
 In the early part of 1GT7 William Penn continued to 
 be employed an behalf of Byllinge. It appears thai he 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 219 
 
 bad then left his house at Rickmansworth in Hertford- 
 Bhiro and that he had established himself at Worming- 
 hurst in Sussex. Here, then, in the calm retreat of the 
 country, he took thought for the new colony. 
 
 While at Worminghurst applications came to him, in 
 consequence of the public letter which had been circulated, 
 for shares in the new adventure, by which it appeared that 
 there was a probability of disposing of a considerable 
 portion of West New Jersey. He and his colleagues 
 determined to appoint and send over commissioners, who 
 should be empowered to purchase lands of the Indians, to 
 examine the rights of such as might claim property in the 
 new territory, to give directions for laying out the allot- 
 ments there, and to administer, for the first year, the gov- 
 ernment according to the spirit of the Concessions before 
 mentioned. 
 
 They resolved next to open proposals for the immediate 
 sale of the lands. Among the purchasers were two com- 
 panies, both consisting of members of the Society of 
 Friends, one from London, the other from Yorkshire. 
 These contracted for large shares, and had patents for 
 them. The members of the Yorkshire company were 
 principal creditors of Byllinge, and they received a tenth 
 part of the whole land in consideration of their debts. 
 
 The commissioners, with several of the proprietors and 
 their families and servants, to the number of two hundred 
 and thirty, embarked in the ship Kent, and landed where 
 Burlington now stands, on the Delaware, above Phila- 
 delphia. 
 Witliin two years after the sailing of the ship Griffith, 
 
220 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 about eight hundred persons, mostly Friends, had been 
 sent by the trustees to West New Jersey. 
 
 In 1680 much dissatisfaction was caused in the colony 
 by the exaction of a duty of ten per cent., laid by the 
 government of New York, and renewed in the year 1669, 
 on all imports and exports at Hoarkill, now Lewistown, 
 at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. The settlers therefore 
 complaining to the trustees of Billynge, William Penn felt 
 himself called upon to take a part on the occasion. He was 
 aware that, if he succeeded in getting rid of this tax, it 
 would be to the detriment of his friend, the Duke of 
 York, and that he might even offend him on this account ; 
 but when he considered that his trusteeship involved in it 
 a serious duty, and that the demands in question were 
 unjust, he had no hesitation in pursuing the right path. 
 Accordingly, in conjunction with the other trustees, he 
 made a formal application to the duke on the subject. 
 The duke referred the matter to the council. There it 
 lay for some time. The council at length reported in 
 favor of Billynge ; for William Penn had made it appear 
 that Billynge had purchased the government of the coun- 
 try with the soil ; that the country therefore ought not to 
 be subject to any imposition of duties by the government 
 of New York ; the Duke of York having granted all his 
 right to the said country to the assigns of Lord Berkeley, 
 and the latter to Billynge, in as ample a manner as it had 
 been granted to the duke by the king. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 221 
 
 XI. 
 
 rpiIE important question to the Society of Friends, of 
 JL the establishment and extent of the discipline, occa- 
 sioning some diversity and even opposition of sentiments 
 among them, William Penn wrote, in 1681, a small tract 
 on this subject, in the way of question and answer, in 
 which he explained the nature and extent of the authority 
 which the church might justly exercise, and the obligation 
 of the members to submit to that authority. This tract, 
 entitled "A Brief Examination of Liberty Spiritual," 
 is here inserted in part. 
 
 Dear Friends and Brethren : — It hath of long time 
 rested with some pressure upon my spirit, for Zion's sake 
 and the peace of Jerusalem, to write something of the 
 nature of true spiritual liberty ; liberty, one of the most 
 glorious words and things in the world, but little under- 
 stood, and frequently abused by many. I beseech Al- 
 mighty God to preserve you, his people, in the right 
 knowledge and use of that liberty which Jesus Christ, 
 the Captain of our salvation, hath purchased for us and is 
 redeeming us into, who hath led captivity captive, and is 
 giving gifts to them that truly believe in his name. 
 
 Question. What is true spiritual liberty ? 
 Answer. Deliverance from sin by the perfect law in the 
 19* 
 
222 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 heart, the perfect law of liberty, James ii., otherwise called, 
 the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that makes 
 free from the law of sin and death ; elsewhere styled, the 
 law of Truth written in the heart, which makes free indeed, 
 as saith Christ, If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be 
 free indeed. In this blessed liberty, it is not the will nor 
 wisdom of man, neither the vain affections and lusts that 
 rule or give law to the soul. 
 
 Q. What is false liberty ? 
 
 A. A departing from this blessed Spirit of Truth, and 
 a rebelling against this perfect law of liberty in the heart, 
 and being at liberty to do our own wills. 
 
 Q. But are there not some things wherein we ought to 
 be left to our own freedom ? 
 
 A. We are not our own, for we are bought with a price ; 
 and in all things ought we to glorify God with our bodies, 
 souls, and spirits, which are the Lord's. 
 
 Q. But must we have a motion or command from the 
 Spirit of Truth for all things that we do ? 
 
 A. That may be according to the Truth, which may not 
 be by the immediate motion or command of the Truth ; 
 for that is according to the Truth, that is not against the 
 mind of the Truth, either particularly or generally ex- 
 pressed. The Truth commands me to do all to the praise 
 and glory of God; but not that I should wait for a motion 
 to do every particular thing. For example : The variety 
 of actions in trading, commerce, and husbandry, the va- 
 riety of flesh, fish, and fowl for food, with more of the same 
 nature, in all which there is a choice and liberty, but still 
 according to the Truth, and within the holy bounds and 
 limits of it. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 223 
 
 Q. Then it seems there are some things left to our 
 freedom ? 
 
 A. Yes; but it must still be according to the mind of 
 God's Truth. There are things enjoined, such as relate 
 to our duty to God, to our superiors, to the household of 
 faith, and to all men and creatures ; these are indispensa- 
 ble. There are also things that may be done or left un- 
 done, which may be called indifferent ; as what sort of 
 meat I will eat to-day, whether I will eat flesh, fish, or 
 herbs, or what hours I will cat my meals at, with many 
 such outward things of life and converse ; yet even in 
 such cases I ought to act according to the Truth, in the 
 temperance and wisdom of it. 
 
 Q. But doth not freedom extend further than this ; for 
 since God hath given me a manifestation of his Spirit to 
 profit withal, and that I have the gift of God in myself, 
 should I not be left to act according as I am free and per- 
 suaded in my own mind, in the things that relate to God, 
 lest looking upon myself as obliged by w^hat is revealed 
 unto another, though it be not revealed unto me, I should 
 be led out of my own measure, and act upon another's mo- 
 tion, and so offer a blind sacrifice to God ? 
 
 A. This is true in a sense, that is, if thou art such an 
 one that canst do nothing against the Truth, then mayst 
 thou safely be left to thy freedom in the things of God, 
 and the reason is plain ; because thy freedom stands in the 
 perfect law of liberty, in the law of the Spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus, and in the Truth, which is Christ Jesus, 
 w^hich makes thee free indeed, that is, perfectly free from 
 all that is bad, and perfectly free to all that is holy, just, 
 lovely, honest, comely, and of good rej)ort; but if thou 
 
224 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 pleadest thv freedom against such things, yea, obstructest 
 and slightest such good, wholesome, and requisite things, 
 thy freedom is naught, dark, perverse, out of the Truth, 
 and against the perfect law of love and liberty. 
 
 Q. But must I conform to things whether I can receive 
 them or no ? Ought I not to be left to the grace and spirit 
 of God in my own heart ? 
 
 A. To the first part of the question, Nay ; to the last, 
 Yea. But now let us consider what is the reason thou 
 canst not receive them. Is the fault in the things them- 
 selves? Are they inconsistent with Truth, or will not 
 the Truth own or assent unto them, or is the fault in 
 thee ? That is to say, is it thy weakness or thy careless- 
 ness ; if thy weakness, it is to be borne with, and to be 
 informed ; if thy carelessness, thou oughtest to be admon- 
 ished ; for it is a dangerous principle, and pernicious to 
 true religion, and which is worse, it is the root of ranter- 
 ism to assert. That nothing is a duty incumbent upon 
 thee, but what thou art persuaded is thy duty : for the 
 seared conscience pleads this liberty against all duty ; the 
 dark conscience is here unconcerned ; the dead conscience 
 is here uncondemned, unless this distinction be allowed 
 of, that there may be an ignorance or an insensibility from 
 inability or incapacity, or a dark education ; and an igno- 
 rance and insensibility, from carelessness, disobedience, 
 prejudice, etc. So that though thou art not to conform to 
 a thing, ignorantly, yet thou art seriously to consider why 
 thou art ignorant, and what the cause of such ignorance 
 may be ; certainly it cannot be in God, nor in his gift to 
 thee J it must then needs be in thyself, who hast not yet 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 225 
 
 received a sense for or against the matter, about which 
 thou art in doubt. 
 
 To the second part of the question : Ought I not to be 
 left to the grace of God in my own heart ? Answer, That 
 is of all things most desirable, since they are well left who 
 are left there ; for there is no fear of want of unity, where 
 all are left with the one Spirit of Truth ; they must be of 
 one mind, they cannot be otherwise. So that to plead this 
 against unity, is to abuse the very plea, and to commit 
 the greatest contradiction to that very doctrine of Scrip- 
 ture, viz., That all should be guided by the grace and spirit 
 of God in themselves ; for the end of that doctrine is cer- 
 tainty. '' They shall all know me, saith the Lord, from 
 the least to the greatest." "And I will give them one 
 heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the 
 good of them, and of their children after them." "And the 
 multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of 
 one soul." 
 
 Q. But are there not various measures, diversities of 
 gifts, and several offices in the body ? 
 
 A. True ; but are not the members therefore of one 
 mind, one will, and one judgment in common and univer- 
 sal matters, especially relating to the family and church 
 of God ? and indeed there cannot be a falser reasoning 
 than to conclude discord from diversity, contrariety from 
 variety. Well, say the holy Scriptures of Truth, there is 
 but one God ; the Lord our God is but one Lord ; there is 
 but one God and Father of all things (that are good) ; 
 and there is but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism ; 
 and bis light, life, and Spirit is at unity with itself in all; 
 what comes from the light, life, or Spirit in one, it is the 
 
 P 
 
226 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 same in truth arid unity to the rest, as if it did rise in 
 themselves. This is seen in our assemblies every day, 
 and will be throughout all generations in the church of 
 God, among those that live in the loverly Truth, in which 
 the pure sense and sound judgment stands; God is not 
 the God of confusion, but order. Every one in his order 
 is satisfied, hath unity and true fellowship with whatever 
 comes from the life of God in another ; for this precious 
 life reacheth throughout the heritage of God, and is the 
 common life that giveth the common feeling and sense to 
 the heritage of God. Degree or measure in the same life 
 can never contradict or obstruct that which is from the 
 same life for the common benefit of the family of God. 
 
 Saith that beloved evangelist and apostle of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, They that walk in the light have fellowship 
 one with another, 1 John i. Whence it is easy to conclude, 
 they that go out of the fellowship go out of the Light ; but 
 if they that walk in the Light have fellowship one with 
 another, what shall we say of those that plead being left to 
 the Light to justify their not having fellowship one with 
 another ? and, which is yet worse, who suppose people may 
 conscientiously and justifiably dissent within themselves, 
 and that by reason of the variety of the degrees of the Spirit 
 and grace that are given of God unto them ; as if the 
 lesser degree may dissent from the greater, because of its 
 not being able to comprehend it. The fallacy of all which 
 lieth, as I said before, in not rightly distinguishing be- 
 tween diversity and disagreement, variety and contrariety : 
 for this diversity hath concord, and this variety hath unity. 
 And it is a blindness that hath too much of late happened 
 to some, by going from the one life and spirit of our Lord 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 227 
 
 Jesus Christ, first to fall into disagreements, and then 
 plead for it, under the notion of diversity of measures. 
 
 They that have the mind of Christ are of one mind ; 
 for Christ is not divided. They that have Christ for 
 their head, have one counsellor and prophet, one seer and 
 bishop ; they disagree not in their judgments in things re- 
 lating to Him and the good of his church ; they have one 
 •and the same guide ; for the one Spirit, into which they 
 have all drank, and by it are baptized into one body, leads 
 them all. Now to every member is a measure of the 
 same Spirit given to profit with; and though every 
 member is not an eye, nor an ear, nor a mouth, yet every 
 member hath unity with the eye, with the ear,' with the 
 mouth, and in their proper and respective acts, and they 
 one with the other. The eye sees for the mouth, the 
 mouth speaks for the eye, and the ear hears for both ; this 
 variety hath no discord, but in this diversity of gifts and 
 offices, each member is sensible of the other, and moves 
 and acts by one and the same life, spirit, and guidance, 
 which is omnipresent, proportionable to every member in 
 its distinct office. 
 
 It must be granted, that there are helps in the church, 
 as well as that there is a church at all ; and the Holy 
 Ghost has compared those helps, as is before mentioned, 
 to several members and senses of man's body, as an eye, 
 a hand, a foot, hearing, smelling, etc. All then cannot be 
 the eye, neither can all be the hand, for then they would 
 confound their office, and act disagreeably to the ordina- 
 tion of the great orderer of his church. And if I will not 
 comply with him that God hath made an eye, because I 
 am not that eye, or a hand, because I am not that mem- 
 
228 PASSAGES FI^OM THE LIFE 
 
 ber myself, nor a party to the action or performance of 
 that member, I resist the Lord, though under pretence 
 of resistiii'j man for the Lord's sake. And truly this is 
 the rock that some of our own time, as well as persons of 
 former ag-es, have split upon ; they have not been con- 
 tented with their own station in the body, they have not 
 kept to their own gift, nor been taken up with the duty 
 of their own place in the church. If he that is a foot 
 would be an hand, and the hand covets to be an eye, en- 
 vying others their allotted station, through height of 
 mind, and walking loose from the holy cross, there can be 
 no such thing as concord and fellowship in the church of 
 Christ. 
 
 Q. But though this be true which hath been alleged 
 for heavenly concord, yet what if I do not presently see 
 that service in a thing which the rest of my brethren 
 agree in ; in this case, what is my duty and theirs ? 
 
 A. It is thy duty to wait upon God in silence and 
 patience, out of all fleshly consultations; and as thou 
 abidest in the simplicity of the Truth, thou wilt receive 
 an understanding with the rest of thy brethren, about the 
 thing doubted. And it is their duty, whilst thou behavest 
 thyself in meekness' and humility, to bear with thjee, and 
 carry themselves tenderly and in love towards thee ; but 
 if, on the contrary, thou disturbest their godly care and 
 practice, and growest contentious, and exaltest thy judg- 
 ment against them, they have power fi:om God to exhort, 
 admonish, and reprove thee ; and if 'thou perse verest 
 therein, in his name to refuse any further fellowship with 
 thee, till thou repentest of thy evil. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 229 
 
 Q. What is the extent of the power of the church of 
 Christ in case of schism or heresy ? 
 
 A. The power that Christ gave to his church was this, 
 that offenders, after the first and second admonition, not 
 repenting', should be rejected. 
 
 All these things have come to pass for want of humility, 
 for want of the ancient fear and keeping in the quiet habi- 
 tation of the just. The Truth in you all shall answer me. 
 And this I affirm, from the understanding I have received 
 of God, not only that the enemy is at work to scatter the 
 minds of Friends, by that loose plea, What hast thou to 
 do with me? Leave me to my freedom and to the grace 
 of God in myself, and the like ; but this proposition and 
 expression, as now understood and alleged, is a deviation 
 from and a perversion of the ancient principle of Truth. 
 
 For this is the plain consequence of this plea, if any 
 one, especially if they are but lately convinced, shall say, 
 I see no evil in paying tithes to hireling priests, in that 
 they are not claimed by Divine right, but by the civil 
 laws of the land ; I see no evil in marrying by the priest, 
 for he is but a witness ; furthermore, I see no evil in de- 
 clining a public testimony in suffering times, "or hiding in 
 times of persecution, for I have Christ's and Paul's ex- 
 amples ; I see no evil in worshipping and respecting the 
 persons of men, for whatever others do, I intend a sin- 
 cere notice that I take of those I know and have a good 
 esteem for. Lastly, I see no evil in keeping my shop shut 
 upon the world's holidays and massdays, as they call them, 
 though they are rather lewdly and superstitiously than 
 religiously kept, for I would not willingly give any 
 offence to my neighbors; and since your testimony is 
 20 
 
230 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 against imposition, and for leaving" every one to the meas- 
 ure of grace which God hath given him, not only. No 
 man hath power to reprove or judge me, but I may be as 
 good a Friend as any of you, according to my measure. 
 And now, here is measure set up against measure, which 
 is confusion itself — Babel, indeed. 
 
 This is the rock which both professors and profane 
 would long since have run us upon, namely. That a way 
 is hereby opened to all the world's libertines, to plead the 
 light within for their excesses ; which indeed grieves the 
 spirit of God, and was severely judged by our Friends in 
 the beginning, and is still reproved by them that keep 
 their habitation, though some are become as wandering 
 stars through their own pride and the prevalency of the 
 hour of temptation that hath overtaken them ; where- 
 as had they kept in the channel of love and life, in the 
 orbit and order of the celestial power, they had shined as 
 stars in the firmament of God forever. 
 
 The enemy, by these fair pretences, strikes at the godly 
 care and travail which dwells upon the spirits of many 
 faithful brethren, that all things might be preserved sweet, 
 comely, virtuous, and of good report in the church of God. 
 There never was greater necessity of this godly care than 
 at this day, since we were a people, wherein the cross, by 
 too many, is not so closely kept to as in days past, and in 
 which there is not only a great convincement, but a young 
 generation 'descended of Friends, who though they retain 
 the form their education hath led them into, yet many of 
 them adorn not the Gospel with that sensible, weighty, 
 and heavenly con vers ition as becomes the children of the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 231 
 
 nndcfilcd religion, and the seed of that precious faith which 
 works by the lo^'e that overcomes the world. 
 
 Wherefore I wafn all that they have a care how they 
 give way to the outcry of some, falsely entitled, Liberty 
 of conscience against imposition, etc. Indeed, it is a great 
 shame that any who have ever known the Truth of God in 
 the inward parts, and the sweet society of brethren, espe- 
 cially those who were early in the work of this blessed day 
 and heavenly dispensation, should so far depart from the 
 fear and awe of the Lord, as to use such unsavory as well 
 as untrue expressions. This is very far from that meek 
 spirit of Jesus which beareth all things, suffereth all 
 things, and endureth all things, and teacheth to keep the 
 word of patience in the hour of tribulation ; nay, but it is 
 judging of spiritual things with a carnal and prejudiced 
 mind, stumbling at the matter for the sake of the persons 
 through whom it comes, not eying nor weighing the 
 spirit the thing arises from, but the person by whom 
 it is spoken, which darkens the eye of the understand- 
 ing, and blinds, by prejudice, the mind that should dis- 
 cern, taste, and judge ; from whence many mischiefs have 
 sprung to the church of Christ in divers ages. 
 
 This, dear Friends, 1 send amongst you as a token of 
 my true love, in the revelation of the free spirit of our 
 God and Father, who have ever been a friend to true 
 liberty, as in the state according to law, so in the church 
 according to Scripture, and as it standeth in the Truth of 
 flesus, that makes them who love it free indeed. Let us 
 all keep low, and remember the rock from whence we 
 were hewn, and dwell in a tender and reverent sense of 
 the daily mercies and providences of the Lord, looking 
 
232 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 well to our own gr(/wth and prosperity in his heavenly 
 way and work ; then shall the desire of our hearts be 
 more and more after Him, and the remembrance of his 
 name ; and with our love to God, will our love increase 
 one towards another, helping and aiding one another. 
 
 And beware of that loose and irreverent spirit which 
 has not those in high esteem among you who are faithful 
 in the Lord's work, and who labor in his blessed word and 
 doctrine. They that love Christ, his servants are dear to 
 them, and they bear a tender regard to their trials, travails, 
 spendings, and sufferings, who seek not yours, but you, 
 that you may all be presented blameless at the coming of 
 the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; that so the 
 Gospel ministry and testimony may be held up with holy, 
 fervent love, and godly esteem, to the keeping under every 
 raw and exalted mind, and whatever may slight and turn 
 against it. Be watchful, keep to your first love and works, 
 that so you may endure to the end and be saved. And 
 having overcome, you may have right to eat of the tree 
 of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 
 
OF WILI>IAM PENN 
 
 XII. 
 
 WE have seen how William Penn had become con- 
 cerned in the colonization of West Jersey. But in 
 16 Y 9, Sir George Carteret, proprietor of East Jersey, 
 died, leaving his property there to be sold for the benefit 
 of his creditors. This sale was effected in the beginning 
 of 1682, William Penn and eleven others being the pur- 
 chasers. They soon afterwards took into the concern 
 twelve others, thus constituting a company of twenty- 
 four proprietors, nearly all members of the Society of 
 Friends, and of whom Robert Barclay, the celebrated 
 Apologist, was one. Of this growing colony, Robert 
 Barclay was appointed governor for life, but he never 
 visited the country. He held the office of governor only 
 about two years, having entrusted the execution of his 
 official duties to a deputy. Thus it happened that New 
 Jersey, both east and west, was settled, in great part, un- 
 der the auspices of Friends. 
 
 It appears by one of his letters, that at an early period 
 of his life, even while he was a student at Oxford, William 
 Penn had a distant prospect of service in the western 
 world ; and his connection with the province of New 
 Jersey having made him partially acquainted with the 
 country on the opposite side of the Delaware, he formed 
 the idea of procuring the grant of a territory there ; in 
 which he might not only furnish an asylum to Friends 
 20- 
 
234: PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and others who were persecuted on account of their re- 
 ligious persuasion, but might erect a government upon 
 principles approaching much nearer the standard of evan 
 gelical purity than any which had been previously raised. 
 
 He inherited from his father a claim on the British gov- 
 ernment amounting to sixteen thousand pounds for ser- 
 vices and for money advanced. In 1680 he asked of 
 King Charles II., in satisfaction of this claim, a grant 
 of land in America, north of Maryland, " bounded on the 
 east by the Delaware River, on the west limited as Mary- 
 land, and northward to extend as far as plantable." 
 
 The grant to Lord Baltimore, which was made by 
 Charles I., lay to the south, and was understood to ex- 
 tend no further north than some point on the Delaware Bay. 
 The Duke of York obtained a part of the tract lying on 
 the cast of that bay. The application of William Penn 
 was laid before the privy council, and by them referred to 
 the Lords Committee of Trade and Plantations. The agent 
 of the Duke of York was heard in relation to the claims of 
 the latter. The rights of Lord Baltimore were also ex- 
 amined. The advice of Chief- Justice North and the attor- 
 ney-general was taken on the subject. After these con- 
 tiguous claims had been fully canvassed, a charter was 
 granted to William Penn, dated at Westminster, the fourth 
 of March, 1681, constituting him proprietary and gov- 
 ernor of the province of Pennsylvania. 
 
 William Penn informs his friend Robert Turner of the 
 grant in the following letter : 
 
 " Dear Friend : — My true love in the Lord salutes thee 
 and dear Friends that love the Lord's precious Truth in 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 235 
 
 those parts. Thine I have, and for my business here, 
 know that after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, 
 and disputes in council, this day my country was con- 
 firmed to me under the great seal of England, with large 
 powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania ; a 
 name the king would give it in honor of my father. 1 
 chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country, 
 but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penmanmoire in 
 Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buck- 
 inghamshire, the highest land in England, called this 
 Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands ; for 
 I proposed, when the secriitary, a Welshman, refused to 
 have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn 
 to it ; and though I much opposed it, and went to the 
 king to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, 
 and would take it upon him ; nor could twenty guineas 
 move the under secretary to vary the name ; for I feared 
 lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as 
 a respect in the king, as it truly was, to my father, whom 
 he often mentions with praise. Thou mayest communicate 
 my grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 
 
 " It is a clear and just thing, and my God, that has given 
 it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and 
 make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care 
 to the government, that it be well laid at first. No more 
 now, but dear love in the Truth. 
 
 "Thy true Friend, William Penn." 
 
 This province is described in the charter as bounded on 
 the east by the Delaware River, from a point twelve miles 
 north of Newcastle, to the beginning of the forty-third 
 
236 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 degree of north latitude, in case the river should bo found 
 to extend that far north — or if it should not, then a 
 meridian was to be run from its head waters to the said 
 latitude ; on the north by the parallel of latitude passing 
 through the beginning of the forty-third degree ; and 
 to extend westward through five degrees of longitude, 
 computing from this eastern boundary. The southern 
 boundary was to be determined by a circle described 
 at twelve miles from Newcastle, northward and west- 
 ward, until it intersected the beginning of the fortieth 
 degree of north latitude ; and thence the line was to ex- 
 tend on that parallel westward to the meridian previously 
 determined. The province was, therefore, designed to 
 include three degrees of latitude, except a small part on 
 the eastern side, and five degrees of longitude on the 
 northern parallel. It was afterwards discovered, that 
 owing to the ignorance of the people of that day in regard 
 to the geography of the country, the boundaries assigned 
 to Pennsylvania were irreconcilable with each other, and 
 encroached on the chartered limits of Maryland. This 
 involved the proprietaries in a controversy which was not 
 terminated during their lives. 
 
 In regard to the motives of William Penn in this under- 
 taking, it is evident that he was most influenced by 
 religious considerations. In one of his letters he has 
 this passage : 
 
 " And now give me leave to say, I have served the Lord, 
 his Truth and people in m}^ day to my ability, and not 
 sought myself, though much spent myself; so has He 
 made me to firmly believe that I shall not even outwardly 
 go without my reward ; I see his blessed hand therein, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 'idV 
 
 that has blessed my faith and patience and long attendance 
 with success. And because I have been somewhat exer- 
 cised at times about the nature and end of government 
 among men, it is reasonable to expect that I should en- 
 deavor to establish a just and righteous one in this province, 
 that others may take example by it — truly this my heart 
 desires. For nations want a precedent, and till vice and 
 corrupt manners be impartially rebuked and punished, and 
 till virtue and sobriety be cherished, the wrath of God 
 will hano: over nations. I do, therefore, desire the Lord's 
 wisdom to guide me, and those that may be concerned 
 with me, that we may do the thing that is truly wise and 
 just." 
 
 In a letter to a particular friend, written in ^ G81, he says: 
 
 " For my country I eyed the Lord in obtaining it ; and 
 more was I drawn inward to look to Him, and to owe it to 
 his hand and power than to any other way. I have so 
 obtained it and desire to keep it, that I may not be un- 
 worthy of his love ; but do that which may answer his 
 kind providence and serve his Truth and people ; that an 
 example may be set up to the nations. There may be 
 room there, though not here, for such an holy experiment." 
 
 The motives of the king in making this grant, as far as 
 they can be inferred from the charter itself, appear to have 
 been a desire to "favor William Penn in his laudable 
 efforts to enlarge the British empire, to promote the trade 
 and prosperity of the kingdom, and to reduce the savage 
 nations by just and gentle measures, to the love of civil- 
 ized life, and the Christian religion ; " and a regard to the 
 memory and merits of the deceased admiral. 
 
 Immediately after obtaining his charter, William Penn 
 
238 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 commenced his preparations for settling the province. He 
 prepared such an account of the country as could then be 
 obtained, which he published together with a copy of the 
 charter and other documents connected with it ; explain- 
 ing the terms upon which the lands were to be sold. The 
 conditions of sale were, forty shillings sterling, in cash, 
 and one shilling per annum forever, as the price of one 
 hundred acres of unseated land. These annual payments 
 were called quit-rents, and were allowed to be principally 
 purchased off at the option of the grantee. A small annual 
 sum, however, was designed to remain as a perpetual rent. 
 These quit-rents were a part of the original purchase. 
 The reason why they were not allowed to be totally ex- 
 tinguished by subsequent purchase, is said to have been, 
 that William Penn held his title from the crown by a 
 small annual rent, and therefore a small yearly rent from 
 the purchasers was requisite to give validity to their 
 titles. The yearly return of William Penn to the king 
 appears by the charter to have been merely nominal, ex- 
 cept under the contingency of discovering mines of silver 
 or gold ; in which case one-fifth of the ore was reserved. 
 Yet the title of the proprietary to the soil was, in point 
 of law, a feudal, not an allodial tenure, but divested of 
 the military character of such tenures ; he therefore did 
 not consider himself authorized to make sales upon allodial 
 principles. 
 
 The invitation which the proposals contained, to such 
 of his countrymen as might incline to emigrate to Penn- 
 sylvania, was marked by his usual solicitude for their 
 religious as well as temporal advancement. The address 
 was) closed with the following judicious admonition : 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 239 
 
 " I desire my dear country-folks to consider seriously the 
 premises, as well the inconveniency as future ease and 
 plenty; that so none may move rashly, or from a fickle, 
 but from a solid mind ; having above all things, an eye to 
 the providence of God in the disposing of themselves; 
 and I would further advise all such, at least to have the 
 permission, if not the good-liking of their near relations ; 
 for that is both natural and a duty incumbent upon nil. 
 And by this will natural affections be preserved, and a 
 friendly and profitable correspondence between them ; in 
 all which I beseech Almighty God to direct us, that his 
 blessing may attend our honest endeavors; and then the 
 consequence of all our undertakings will turn to the glory 
 of his great name, and all true happiness to us and our 
 posterity. Amen." 
 
 William Penn, having now a colony of his own to settle, 
 was obliged to give up his management of that of West 
 New Jersey ; but it was a matter of great satisfaction to 
 him that he had brought it from infancy to a state of man- 
 hood, to a state in which it could take care of itself. He 
 had sent to it about fourteen hundred people, of whom the 
 adults were persons of high character. The town of Bur- 
 lington had been built. Faruis had risen up out of the 
 wild waste. Roads had been formed. Religious meeting- 
 houses had been erected in the place of tents covered with 
 sail-cloth, under which the first settlers worshipped. A 
 respectable magistracy had been established. The Indians 
 in the neighborhood had been turned into friends and ben- 
 efactors. Such w^as the situation of West New Jersey 
 when he took his leave of it, and therefore it was w^ith 
 the less regret he left it to attend to his ow n concerns. 
 
240 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 After publishing bis "Account of the Province," ho 
 drew up next " Certain Conditions or Concessions to be 
 Agreed upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor 
 of the Province of Pennsylvania, and those who may be- 
 come Adventurers and Purchasers in the same Province " 
 These conditions related to the building, forming, and set- 
 tling of towns, roads, and lands, and to the treatment of 
 the natives, and other subjects. They consisted of twenty 
 articles. Among other things, it was stipulated in these 
 that no purchaser of ten thousand acres or more should 
 have above a thousand acres lying together, unless in 
 three years he planted a family upon every thousand of 
 the same. That in clearing the ground care should be 
 taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, 
 especially to preserve oaks and mulberries for silk and ship- 
 ping. 
 
 In behalf of the Indians it was stipulated, that, as it 
 had been usual with planters to overreach them in various 
 ways, whatever was sold to them in consideration of their 
 furs should be sold in the public market-place, and there 
 suffer the test, whether good or bad : if good, to pass ; if 
 not good, not to be sold for good; that the said native 
 Indians might neither be abused nor provoked. That no 
 man should by any ways or means, in word or deed, af- 
 front or wrong any Indian, but he should incur the same 
 penalty of the law as if he had committed it against his 
 fellow planter ; and if any Indian should abuse, in word 
 or deed, any planter of the province, that the said planter 
 should not be his own judge upon the said Indian, but 
 that he should make his complaint to the governor of the 
 province, or his deputy, or some inferior magistrate near 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN". 241 
 
 him, who should to the utmost of his power take care with 
 the king of the said Indian that all reasonable satisfaction 
 should be made to the said injured planter. And that all 
 differences between planters and Indians should be ended 
 by twelve men, that is, by six planters and six Indians, 
 that so they might live friendly together, as much as in 
 them lay, preventing all occasions of heart-burnings and 
 mischief. 
 
 These stipulations in favor of the poor natives will al- 
 ways give honor to the name of William Penn ; for, ris- 
 ing above the prejudices and customs of his time, by which 
 navigators and adventurers thought it right to consider 
 the inhabitants of the lands they discovered as their law- 
 ful prey, whom they might treat, use, and take advantage 
 of at their pleasure, he regarded them as creatures endued 
 with reason, as men of the like feelings and passions with 
 himself, as brethren both by nature and grace, and as per- 
 sons, therefore, to whom the great duties of humanity and 
 justice were to be extended, and who, in proportion to 
 their ignorance, were the more entitled to his fatherly 
 protection and care, 
 
 " The Account of Pennsylvania," which was before 
 mentioned, and the " Conditions or Concessions," part of 
 which have been detailed, having been made known to 
 the public, many purchasers came forward both in Lon- 
 don and Liverpool, and particularly in Bristol. Among 
 those in the latter city, J. Claypole, N. Moore, P. Forde, 
 and others formed a company, which they called, "The 
 Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania." They pur- 
 chased twenty thousand acres of land in trust for the said 
 company, and prepared for embarking in many branches 
 21 Q 
 
242 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 of trade. Other persons purchased also, and among these 
 a great number of Friends from Wales. 
 
 It was necessary, before any of the purchasers em- 
 barked, that they should know something of the political 
 constitution under which they were to live in the new 
 land, as well as that it should be such as they approved. 
 William Penn accordingly drew up a rough sketch, to be 
 submitted to their opinion, of that great frame of govern- 
 ment which he himself wished to become the future and 
 permanent one of the province. It consisted of twenty- 
 four articles. These were preceded by what he called his 
 first or great fundamental, by which he gave them that 
 liberty of conscience which the laws of their own country 
 denied them, and in behalf of which he had both written 
 and suffered so frequently himself. ''In reverence," says 
 he, " to God, the father of light and spirits, the author as 
 well as object of all divine knowledge, faith, and worship, 
 I do, for me and mine, declare and establish for the first 
 fundamental of the government of my province, that 
 every person that doth and shall reside therein shall have 
 and enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and exer- 
 cise of worship towards God, in such way and manner as 
 every such person shall in conscience believe is most ac- 
 ceptable to God. And so long as every such person useth 
 not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the destruc- 
 tion of others, that is to say, to speak loosely and pro- 
 fanely or contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, or religion, or commit any moral evil or injury 
 against others in their conversation, he or she shall be 
 protected in the enjoyment of the aforesaid Christian lib- 
 erty by the civil magistrate." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 213 
 
 The merchants and adventurers were well pleased with 
 (hem, and unanimously signed them. Nor was William 
 Penn less satisfied as having done his duty in proposing 
 them, if we may judge from a letter to K. Turner, which 
 he wrote just at the time when he had resolved upon 
 them. " I have been," says he, " these thirteen years the 
 servant of Truth and Friends, and for my testimony's 
 sake lost much — not only the greatness and preferment 
 of this world, but sixteen thousand pounds of my estate, 
 which, had I not been what I am, I had long ago obtained. 
 But I murmur not. The Lord is good to me, and the in- 
 terest his truth has given me with his people may more 
 than repair it; for many are drawn forth to be concerned 
 with me, and perhaps this way of satisfaction hath more 
 the hand of God in it than a downright payment. This 
 I can say, that I had an opening of joy as to these, parts 
 in the year IGGl, at Oxford, twenty years since; and as 
 my understanding and inclinations have been much directed 
 to observe and reprove mischiefs in government, so it is 
 now put into my power to settle one. For the matters of 
 liberty and privilege (alluding to these articles), I purpose 
 that which is extraordinary, and leave myself and suc- 
 cessors no power of doing mischief, that the will of one 
 man may not hinder the good of a whole country." 
 
 In a letter, dated September 4th, '81, to Robert Turner, 
 he says, " I did refuse a great temptation last Second day, 
 which was £0000, and pay the Indians for six shares, and 
 make the purchasers a company, to have wholly to itself 
 the Indian'trade from south to north, between Susquehanna 
 and Delaware rivers, paying me 2i per cent, acknowledg- 
 ment or rent ; but as the Lord gave it me over all and 
 
244 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 great opposition, and that I never had my mind so exer. 
 ciscd to the Lord about any outward substance, I would 
 not abuse his love, nor act unworthy of his providence, 
 and so defile what came to me clean.. No ; let the Lord 
 guide me by his wisdom, and preserve me to honor his 
 name and serve his Truth and people, that an example and 
 standard may be set up to the nations ; there may be room 
 there though none here." 
 
 James Claypole, who was largely interested in the colony, 
 says, in a letter of that time, " William Penn does not 
 intend starting for Pennsylvania till next spring; and then 
 it is likely there will be many people ready to go from 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland. He is offered great things : 
 £6000 for a monopoly in trade, which he refused, and for 
 islands and particular places, great sums of money ; but 
 he designs to do things equally between all parties, and I 
 believe truly does aim more at justice and righteousness 
 and spreading of Truth than at his own particular gain. 
 I tried him about the proposals to take £100 for 5000 
 acres and abate the quit-rent, which he refused, intending 
 to do equal by all." 
 
 Three commissioners were appointed by the proprietary 
 to lay out a town and treat with the Indians. His letter 
 of instructions to them contains these among other wise 
 directions: 
 
 " Be impartially just and courteous to all ; that is both 
 pleasing to the Lord and wise in itself. 
 
 ''Be tender of offending the Indians, and hearken by 
 honest spies, if you can hear that anybody inveigles them 
 not to sell, or to stand off and raise the value upon you. 
 You cannot want those that will inform you ; but to soften 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN-. 245 
 
 them to me, and the people, let them know that you arc 
 ( ome to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter 
 [ind conditions, with my purchasers about just dealing 
 with them, be read in their tongue, that they may see we 
 have their good in our eye, equal with our own interest ; 
 and, after reading my letter and the said conditions, then 
 present their kings with what I send them, and make a 
 friendship and league with them according to those con- 
 ditions, which carefully observe and get them to comply 
 with. Be grave ; they love not to be smiled on. 
 
 " Be sure to settle the figure of the town so as that the 
 streets hereafter may be uniform down to the water from 
 the country bounds. 
 
 " Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in the 
 middle of its plat, as to the breadth-way of it, that so there 
 may be ground on each side for gardens or orchards or 
 fields, that it may be a green country town, which will 
 never be burnt and always wholesome." 
 
 The conditions and frame of government having been 
 mutually signed, three ships full of passengers set sail for 
 Pennsylvania — two from London and one from Bristol. 
 It appears that the John and Sarah from London arrived 
 first, and the Bristol Factor the next. The last vessel ar- 
 rived at the place where Chester now stands. Here the 
 passengers, seeing some houses, went on shore ; and here, 
 the river being frozen up that night, they remained all 
 the winter. The other London ship, the Amity, did not 
 arrive at the province till the spring of the next year. 
 
 In one of these ships went Colonel William Markham. 
 He was a relation of William Penn, and was to be his 
 secretary when he himself should arrive. He was at 
 21* 
 
246 TASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 tended by several commissioners, whose object was to 
 confer with the Indians respecting their lands, and to 
 endeavor to make with them a Icag-ue of eternal peace. 
 With this view they were enjoined in a solemn manner 
 to treat them with all possible candor, justice, and hu- 
 manity. They were the bearers also of a letter to them, 
 which William Penn wrote with his owm hand, and of 
 which the following is a copy : 
 
 "There is a great God and power, wiiich hath made 
 the world and all things therein, to whom you and I and 
 all people owe their being and well-being, and to whom 
 you and I must one day give an account for all that we 
 have done in this world. 
 
 " This great God has written his law in our hearts, by 
 which we are taught and commanded to love, and to help, 
 and to do good to one another. Now this great God hath 
 been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the 
 world, and the king of the country where I live hath 
 given me a great province therein. But I desire to enjoy 
 it with your love and consent, that we may always live 
 together as neighbors and friends ; else what w^ould the 
 great God do to us, who hath made us, not to devour and 
 destroy one another, but to live sobcrl}^ and kindly to- 
 gether in the world ? Now I would have you well observe 
 that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice 
 which have been too much exercised towards you by the 
 people of these parts of the world, Avho have sought 
 themselves to make great advantages by you, rather than 
 to be examples of goodness and patience unto you. This 
 I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you, and caus'd 
 great grudging and animosities, sometimes to the she I 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 247 
 
 ding of blood ; which hath made the great God angry. 
 But I am not such a man, as is well known in my own 
 country. I have great love and regard towards you, and 
 desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind, 
 just, and peaceable life ; and the people I send are of the 
 same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves ac- 
 cordingly ; and if in anything any shall offend you or 
 your people, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction 
 for the same, by an equal number of just men on both 
 sides, that by no means you may have just occasion of 
 being offended against them. 
 
 " I shall shortly come to see you myself, at which time 
 we may more largely and freely confer and discourse of 
 these matters. In the meantime I have sent my commis- 
 sioners to treat with you about land and a firm league of 
 peace. Let me desire you to be kind to them and to the 
 people, and receive the presents and tokens which I have 
 sent to you, as a testimony of my good will to you, and 
 of my resolution to live justly, peaceably, and friendly 
 with you. 
 
 ** I am your loving Friend, William Penn." 
 
 About this time William Penn was elected a Fellow of 
 the Royal Society. He had before been acquainted with 
 tiie celebrated Dr. John Wallis, who had been one of the 
 chief instruments in founding it ; but in the present year 
 he Avrote him a letter, in which he expressed to him the 
 satisfaction he felt on hearing of the progress of the insti- 
 tution, as well as the high opinion he entertained of the 
 advantages which would result to science from its labors, 
 and in which (now going out to Pennsylvania) he of- 
 
248 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 forcd to contribute to its usoriilnoss to the utmost of his 
 power. 
 
 Amon<;' tlie letters which he wrote this year to private 
 persons, was one to Robert Vickris, who lived at Chew in 
 Somersetshire, who had a son who became a Quaker, and 
 afterw'ards an eminent sullcrer in that society. His lather 
 adhered to his own religion, but he did not persecute his 
 son for having left it. This made such an impression on 
 William Penn, who had suffered so much from his father 
 on that account, that he loved Robert as a brother, and 
 wrote him the following short letter : 
 
 '' Dear Fuiend : — In my dear and heavenly farewell to 
 the city of Bristol thou wert often upon my spirit, and 
 the wishes of my soul are that the Lord would abundantly 
 fill thee with the consolations of his Holy Spirit, and that 
 in the days thou hast to pass on this side of the grave, thou 
 mayest be fitted for his coming, that comes as a thief in 
 the night, that at what watch of the night soever it be, thou 
 mayest aw^ake with his likeness, and enter the rest that is 
 eternal. So the Lord more and more gather thee out of 
 every visible, fading thing, and prepare thee for himself. 
 Dear friend, be faithful to that appearance of God and 
 manifestation of the love of the Ijord to thy soul that visits 
 thee. The Lord is near thee, with thee, and in thee, to 
 enlighten, melt, and refresh thee. 'Tis his presence, not 
 seen or felt of the wicked, that gathers and revives the 
 soul that seeks Him. So the Ijord be with thee, and 
 remember into thy bosom the sincere love thou hast 
 shown to thy son and his friends, T say no more, but in 
 the Lord farewell. 
 
 "Thy trulv alTectionate Friend, William Penn.'' 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 249 
 
 About this time his mother, to whom he was most 
 affectionately attached, died. lie was so affected by her 
 death that he was ill for some' days, as appears by a letter 
 which has come down to us, which he wrote at this time. 
 Its conciseness and tone bespeak a chastened spirit occu- 
 pied with its own grief. 
 
 "Dear Friend: — Both thy letters came in a few daya 
 one of the other. My sickness upon my mother's death, 
 who was last Seventh day interred, permitted me not to 
 answer thee so soon as desired ; but on a serious weigh- 
 ing of thy inclinations, and perceiving thy uneasiness 
 under my constrained silence, it is most clear to me to 
 counsel thee to sink down into the seasoning, settling gift 
 of God, and to wait to distinguish between thy own de- 
 sires and the Lord's requirings." 
 
 ITaving paid the last earthly offices of respect to his 
 mother, he began to turn his mind to his American con- 
 cerns. The first thing he did was to publish the frame 
 of government or Constitution of Pennsylvania before 
 mentioned. To this he added a noble preface, containing 
 his thoughts upon the origin, nature, object, and modes 
 of government, most of which is appended : 
 
 "When the great and wise God had made the world, of 
 all his creatures it pleased Him to choose man his deputy 
 to rule it, and to fit him for so great a charge and trust. 
 He did not only qualify him with skill and power, but 
 with integrity to use them justly. This native goodness 
 was equally his honor and his happiness ; and, whilst he 
 stood here, all went well, there was no need of coercive cr 
 
250 PASSAGES FllOM THE LIFE 
 
 compulsivo means;. The precept of divine love and truth 
 in bif^ bosom was the guide and keeper of bis innocency. 
 But lust, prevailing' ag-ainst duty, made a lamentable 
 bveaeh upon it, and the law, that bad before no power 
 over him, took place upon him and his disobedient poster- 
 ity, that such as would not live conformable to the holy 
 law within, should fall under the reproof and correction 
 of the just law without in a judicial administration. 
 
 " This the apostle teaches in divers of his epistles. 'Let 
 every soul be subject to tlie higher powers. The powers 
 that be are ordained of God. Rulers are not a terror to 
 good works, but to evil. He is the minister of God to 
 thee for good. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not 
 only for wrath, but for conscience' sake.' 
 
 "This settles the divine right of government beyond 
 exception, and that for two ends, first, to terrify evil- 
 doers ; secondly, to cherish those that do well ; which 
 gives government a life beyond corruption, and makes it 
 as durable in the world as good men shall be, so that 
 government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing 
 sacred in its institution and end ; for, if it does not directly 
 remove the cause, it crushes the effects of evil, and is, as 
 such, though a lower, yet an emanation of the same divine 
 power that is both author and object of pure religion. The 
 difierence lying here, that the one is more free and men- 
 tal, the other more corporal and compulsive in its opera- 
 tion ; but that is only to evil-doers, government itself 
 being otherwise as capable of kindness, goodness, and 
 charity as a more private society. They weakly err who 
 think there is no other use of government than correcti('n. 
 which is the coarsest part of it. Daily experience tells ua 
 
OF WILT>TAM P£NX. 251 
 
 that the care and ro,:,^ulation of many other affairs, more 
 soft and daily neeessary, make up much the greatest part 
 of government, and which must have followed the peopling 
 of the world had Adam never fallen, and will continue 
 among men on earth under the highest attainments they 
 may arrive at by the coming of the blessed second Adam, 
 the Lord from heaven. Thus much of government in gen- 
 eral as to its rise and end. 
 
 " For particular frames and models it will become me to 
 say little. I do not find a model in the world, that time, 
 place, and some singular emergencies have not necessarily 
 altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil government that 
 shnll serve all places alike. I know what is said by the 
 several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, 
 which are the rule of one, of a few, and of many, and are 
 the three common ideas of government when men dis- 
 course on that subject. But I choose to solve the contro- 
 versy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all 
 three. Any government is free to the people under it, 
 whatever be the frame, where the laws rule and the peo- 
 ple are a party to those laws ; and more than this is tyr- 
 anny, oligarchy, and confusion. 
 
 " But, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of 
 government in the world so ill designed by its first founders 
 'that in good hands would not do w^ell enough ; and story 
 tells us that the best in ill ones can do nothing that is great 
 and good. Wherefore, governments rather depend upon 
 men than men upon governments. Let men be good and 
 the government cannot be bad. If it be ill th(^y will cure 
 it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so 
 good, thoy will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn, 
 
4 
 
 252 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 " That which makes a good constitution must keep it; 
 namely, men of wisdom and virtue, qualities that, because 
 they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be care- 
 fully propagated by a. virtuous education of youth, for 
 which after ages will owe more to the care and prudence 
 of founders and the successive magistracy than to their 
 parents for their private patrimonies. 
 
 " We have, with reverence to God and good conscience 
 to men, to the best of our skill, contrived and composed 
 the frame and laws of this Government to the great end 
 of government, to support power in reverence with the 
 people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power, 
 that they may be free by their just obedience, and the 
 magistrates honorable for their just administration ; for 
 liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience with- 
 out liberty is slavery. 
 
 " To carry this evenness is partly owing to the constitu- 
 tion and partly to the magistracy. Where either of these 
 fail government will be subject to convulsions, but where 
 both are wanting, it must be totally subverted ; then where 
 both meet, the government is like to endure ; which I 
 humbly pray and hope God will please to make the lot of 
 this of Pennsylvania. Amen." 
 
 Of the laws agreed upon and published with the frame of 
 government, two or three partake of a religious character : 
 
 " That all persons living in the province who confess 
 and acknowledge the one Almighty and eternal God to be 
 the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and that 
 hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably 
 and justly in civil society, shall in no ways be molested 
 or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice in 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 253 
 
 matters of faith and worship; nor shall they be compelled, 
 at any time, to frequent or maintain any religious worship, 
 place, or ministry whatever. 
 
 '' That, according to the good example of the primitive 
 Christians, and the ease of the creation, every First-day 
 of the week, called the Lord's-day, people shall abstain from 
 their common daily labor, that they may better dispose 
 themselves to worship God according to their under- 
 standings. 
 
 " That as a careless and corrupt administration of justice 
 draws the wrath of God upon magistrates, so the wildness 
 and looseness of the people provoke the indignation of God 
 against the country ; therefore, that all such offences against 
 God as swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunken- 
 ness, drinking of healths, obscene words, and several other 
 scandalous acts particularly named ; treasons, misprisions, 
 duels, murders, felony, sedition, maims, forcible entries, 
 and other violences to the persons and estates of the in- 
 habitants of the province ; all prizes, stage-plays, cards, 
 dice, may-games, gamesters, masques, revels, bull-baitings, 
 cock-fightings, bear-baitings, and the like, which excite the 
 people to rudeness, cruelty, and irreligion, shall be respec- 
 tively discouraged and severely punished according to the 
 appointment of the Governor and freemen in provincial 
 council and general assembly." This system was signed 
 by the Governor and freemen in the Third month, 1682. 
 
 The grant of territory which had been made to James, 
 Duke of York, having given him some claim, though at 
 best a very doubtful one, to the tract included within the 
 limits of Pennsylvania, William Penn, previous to enter- 
 ing himself upon his new possession, obtained from the 
 22 
 
254: PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 duke a full release of all bis claims upon the province. 
 This deed was dated the 20th of August, 1GS2. He also 
 obtained in the same 5"ear, by two separate deeds from the 
 duke, a grant of the tract on the Delaware river and bay, 
 commonly termed the three lower counties, now the State 
 of Delaware. This grant was obtained to secure the free 
 use of the river, and to prevent the trouble which might 
 probably arise from the access to the province being in the 
 possession of another. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 255 
 
 XIII. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN having completed his preparations 
 for a voyage to America, went, in the Sixth month 
 of this year, 1682, on board the ship Welcome, of three 
 hundred tons, Robert Greenaway commander ; and on the 
 30th of the month addressed a valedictory epistle to his 
 friends in England. He also wrote the following letter to 
 Stephen Crisp, a valuable minister of the Gospel in his own 
 religious society. 
 
 " Dear Stephen Crisp : — My dear and lasting love in 
 the*Lord's everlasting Truth reaches to thee, with whom 
 is my fellowship in the Gospel of peace that is more dear 
 and precious to my soul than all the treasures and pleasures 
 of this world ; for when a few years are passed we shall 
 all go the way whence we shall never return ; and that we 
 may unwearicdly serve the Lord in our day and place, and 
 in the end enjoy a portion with the blessed that are at rest, 
 is the breathing of my soul ! 
 
 '* Stephen I we know one another and I need not say 
 much to thee ; but this I will say, thy parting dwells with 
 me, or rather, thy love at my parting. How innocent, how 
 tender, how like the little child that has no guile I The 
 Lord will bless that ground (Pennsylvania). I have also 
 a letter from thee which comforted me ; for many are my 
 trials, yet not more than my supplies from my heavenly 
 
256 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Father, whose glory I seek, and the renown of his blessed 
 name. And truly, Stephen, there is work enough, and 
 here is room to work in. Surely God w^ll come in for a 
 share in this planting-work, and that leaven shall leaven 
 the lump in time. 1 do not hclieve the Lord's providence 
 had run this way towards me, but that he has an heavenly 
 end and service in it ; so with Him I leave all, and myself, 
 and thee, and his dear people, and blessed name on earth. 
 
 " God Almighty, immortal and eternal, be with us, that 
 in the body and out ofc|the body we may be his forever ! 
 
 " I am, in the ancienT dear fellowship, 
 
 " Thy faithful friend and brother, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 As this voyage and residence in America were likely to 
 keep him separated from his family during a considerable 
 time, he left behind him a letter addressed to his wife and 
 children, valuable for its wisdom as well as beautiful for 
 its simplicity and patriarchal spirit. 
 
 " My Dear Wife and Children : — My love, w^hich 
 neither sea nor land nor death itself can extinguish or 
 lessen toward you, most endearly visits you with eternal 
 embraces, and will abide with you forever ', and may the 
 God of my life watch over you and bless you, and do you 
 good in this world and forever I Some things are upon 
 my spirit to leave with you in your respective capacities, 
 as I am to the one a husband and to the rest a father, if I 
 should never see you more in this world. 
 
 " My dear wife, remember thou .wast the love of my 
 youth, and much the joy of my life ; the most beloved as 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 257 
 
 well as most worthy of all mv earthly comforts ; and the 
 reason of that love was more thy inward than thy outward 
 excellencies, which yet were many. God knows, and thou 
 knowest it, I can say it was a match of Providence's mak 
 ing ; and God's image in us both was the first thing, and 
 the most amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes. 
 Now I am to leave thee, and that without knowing 
 whether I shall ever see thee more in this world; take 
 my counsel into thy bosom and let it dwell with thee in 
 my stead while thou livest. 
 
 " First : Let the fear of the Lord and a zeal and love to 
 his glory dwell richly in thy heart ; and thou wilt watch 
 for good over thyself and thy dear children and family, 
 that no rude, light, or bad thing be committed ; else God 
 will be offended, and He will repent himself of the good 
 He intends thee and thine. 
 
 ''Secondly: Be diligent in meetings for worship and 
 business ; stir up thyself and others herein ; it is thy duty 
 and place ; and let meetings be kept once a day in the 
 family to wait upon the Lord who has given us much 
 time for ourselves. And, my dearest, to make thy family 
 matters easy to thee, divide thy time and be regular ; it is 
 easy and sweet ; thy retirement will afford thee to do it ; 
 as in the morning to view the business of the house and 
 fix ijb as thou desirest, seeing all be in order ; that by thy 
 counsel all may move, and to thee render an account every 
 evening. The time for work, for walking, for meals, may 
 be certain— at least as near as may be ; and grieve not 
 thyself with careless servants ; they will disorder thee ; 
 rather pay them and let them go if they will not be better 
 22* R 
 
258 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 by admonitions ; this is best to avoid many words, which 
 I know wound the soul and offend the Lord. 
 
 "Thirdly: Cast up thy income and see what it daily 
 amounts to ; by which thou mayest be sure to have it in 
 thy sigbt and power to keep within compass ; and I beseech 
 tlice to live low and sparingly till my debts are paid ; and 
 then enlarge as thou seest it convenient. Kemember thy 
 mother's example when thy father's public-spiritedness 
 had worsted his estate, which is my case. I know thou 
 lovest plain things, and art averse to the pomps of the 
 world — a nobility natural to thee. I write not as doubtful, 
 but to quicken thee, for my sake, to be vigilant herein, 
 knowing that God will bless thy care, and thy poor children 
 and thee for it. My mind is wrapt up in a saying of thy 
 father's, * I desire not riches, but to owe nothing ; ' and 
 truly that is wealth ; and more than enough to live is a 
 snare attended with many sorrows. I need not bid thee 
 be humble, for thou art so ; nor meek and patient, for it is 
 much of thy natural disposition ; but I pray thee be oft in 
 retirement with the Lord, and guard against encroaching 
 friendships. Keep them at arm's end ; for it is giving 
 away our power, aye, and self too, into the possession of 
 another ; and that which might seem engaging in the be- 
 ginning may prove a yoke and burden too hard and heavy 
 in the end. Wherefore, keep dominion over thyself ;^nd 
 let thy children, good meetings, and Friends be the pleas- 
 ure of thy life. 
 
 '' Fourthly : And now, my dearest, let me recommend 
 to thy care my dear children ; abundantly beloved of nie 
 as the Lord's blessings, and the sweet pledges of our 
 mutual and endeared affection. Above all things endeavor 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 259 
 
 to breed them up in the love of virtue, and that holy ])lain 
 way of it which we have lived in, that the world in no part 
 of it get into my family. I had rather they were homely 
 than finely bred as to outward behavior ; yet I love sweet- 
 ness mixed with gravity and cheerfulness tempered with 
 sobriety. Kcligion in the heart leads into this true civility, 
 teaching men and women to be mild and courteous in their 
 behavior, an accomplishment worthy indeed of praise. 
 
 " Fifthly: Next breed them up in a love one of another. 
 Tell them it is the charge I*left behind me, and that it is 
 the way to have the love and blessing of God upon them ; 
 also what his portion is who hates, or calls his brother 
 fool. Sometimes separate them, but not long ; and allow 
 them to send and give each other small things to endear 
 one another with. Once more I say, tell them it was my 
 counsel they should be tender and affectionate one to 
 another. For their learning be liberal. Spare no cost ; 
 for by such parsimony all is lost that is saved ; but let it 
 be useful knowledge, such as is consistent with truth and 
 godliness, not cherishing a vain conversation or idle mind ; 
 but ingenuity mixed with industry is good for the body 
 and mind too. I recommend the useful parts of mathe- 
 matics, as building houses or ships, measuring, survey- 
 ing, dialing, navigation ; but agriculture is especiall}^ in 
 iny.ej^e — let my children be husbandmen and housewives ; 
 it is industrious, healthy, honest, and of good example: 
 like Abraham and the holy ancients, who pleased God and 
 obtained a good report. This leads to consider the w^orks 
 of God and nature, of things that are good, and diverts 
 the mind from being taken up with the vain arts and in- 
 ventions of a luxurious wofid. It is commendable in the 
 
260 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 princes of Germany and the nobles of that empire, that 
 they have all their children instructed in some useful oc- 
 cupation. Rather keep an ingenious person in the house 
 to teach them, than send them to schools, too many evil 
 impressions being common y received there. Be sure to 
 observe their genius, and do not cross it as to learning; 
 let them not dwell too long on one thing ; but let their 
 change be agreeable, and all their diversions have some 
 little bodily labor in them. When grown big, have most 
 care for them ; for then there- are more snares l)oth withiu 
 and without. When marriageable, see that they have 
 worthy persons in their eye, of good life, and good fame 
 for piety and understanding. I need no wealth, but suf- 
 ficiency ; and be sure their love be dear, fervent, and mu- 
 tual, that it may be happy for them. I choose not they 
 should be married to earthly, covetous kindred. And of 
 cities and towns of concourse beware ; the world is apt to 
 stick close to those w^ho have lived and got wealth there ; 
 a country life and estate I like best for my children. I 
 prefer a decent mansion, of an hundred pounds per an- 
 num, before ten thousand pounds in London, or such like 
 place, in a way of trade. In fine, my dear, endeavor to 
 breed them dutiful to the Lord, and his blessed light, 
 truth, and grace in their hearts, who is their Creator, and 
 his fear will grow up with them. Teach a child, says tho 
 wise man, the wa}^ thou wilt have him to walk, and when 
 he is old he will not forget it. Next, obedience to the 3, 
 thoir dear mother ; and that not for wrath, but for con- 
 science' sake ; liberal to the poor, pitiful to th 3 miserable, 
 liumblo and kind to all ; and may my God make thee a 
 blessing, and give thee comfort in our dear children ; and 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 261 
 
 hi age gather thee to the joy and blessedness of the just, 
 where no death shall separate us forever I 
 
 *' And now, my dear children, that are the gifts and 
 mercies of the God of your tender father, hear ray coun- 
 sel, and lay it up in your hearts ; love it more than treas- 
 ure, and follow it, and you shall be blessed here and happy 
 hereafter. 
 
 '' In the first place, remember your Creator in the days 
 of your youth. It was the glory of Israel in the second 
 of Jeremiah ; and how did God bless Josiah because he 
 feared Him in his youth 1 and so he did Jacob, Joseph, 
 and Moses. my dear children, remember and fear and 
 serve Him who made you and gave you to me and your 
 dear mother ; that you may live to Him and glorify Him 
 in your generations ! 
 
 ''To do this, in your youthful days seek after the Lord, 
 that you may find Him ; remembering his great love in 
 creating you ; that you are not beasts, plants, or stones, 
 but that He has kept you, and given you his grace within, 
 and substance without, and provided plentifully for you. 
 This remember in your youth, that you may be kept from 
 the evil of the world ; for in age it will be harder to over- 
 come the temptations of it. 
 
 '' Wherefore, my dear children, eschew the appearance 
 of evil, and love and cleave to that in your hearts which 
 shows you evil from good, and tells you when you do 
 amiss, and reproves you for it. It is the light of Christ 
 that He has given you for your salvation. If you do. this, 
 and follow my counsel, God will bless you in this world, 
 and give you an inheritance in that which shall never 
 have an end. For the light of Jesu« is of a purifying 
 
262 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 nature ; it seasons those who love it and take heed to it, 
 and never leaves such till it has brought them to the city 
 of God, that has foundations. that ye may be seasoned 
 with the gracious nature of it ! hide it in your hearts, and 
 flee, my dear children, from all youthful lusts ; the vain 
 sports, pastimes, and pleasures of the world ; redeeming 
 the time because the days are evil I — You are now begin- 
 ning to live — what would some give for joiiT time ? Oh, 
 I could have lived better, were I, as you, in the flower of 
 youth I Therefore love and fear the Lord, keep close to 
 meetings, and delight to wait on the Lord God of your 
 father and mother, among his despised people, as we have 
 done ; and count it your honor to be members of that So- 
 ciety, and heirs of that living fellowship which is enjoyed 
 among them, for the experience of which your father's 
 soul blesseth the Lord forever. 
 
 " Next, be obedient to your dear mother, a woman 
 whose virtue and good name is an honor to you ; for she 
 hath been exceeded by none in her time for her plainness, 
 integrity, industry, humanity, virtue, and good under- 
 standing ; qualities not usual among women of her 
 worldly condition and quality. Therefore, honor and 
 obey her, ray dear children, as your mother, and your 
 father's love and delight ; nay, love her, too, for she loved 
 your father with a deep and upright love, choosing him 
 before all her many suitors ; and though she be of a deli- 
 catc constitution and noble spirit, yet she descended to the 
 utmost tenderness and care for you, performing the pain- 
 fulest acts of service to you in j^our infancy, as a mother 
 and a nurse, too. I charge you, before the Lord, honor 
 and obey, love and cherish your dear mother. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 263 
 
 ** Next, betake yourseh-es to some honest, industrious 
 course of life, and that not of sordid covetousness, but for 
 example and to avoid idleness. And if you change your 
 condition, and marry, choose with the knowledge and con- 
 sent of your mother, if living, or of guardians or those 
 that have charge of you. Mind neither beauty nor riches, 
 but the fear of the Lord, and a sweet and amiable dispo- 
 sition, such as you can love above all this world, and that 
 may make your habitations pleasant and desirable to 
 you. 
 
 " And, being married, be tender, affectionate, patient, 
 and meek. Live in the fear of the Lord, and fle will 
 bless you and your offspring. Be sure to live within com- 
 pass ; borrow not, neither be beholden to any. Kuin not 
 yourselves by kindness to others; for that exceeds the 
 due bounds of friendship, neither will a true friend expect 
 it. Small matters I heed not. 
 
 " Let your industry and parsimony go no further than 
 for a sufficiency for life, and to make a provision for your 
 children, and that in moderation, if the Lord gives you 
 any. I charge you help the poor and needy ; let the Lord 
 have a voluntary share of your income for the good of the 
 poor, both in our Society and others ; for we are all his 
 creatures ; remembering that ' he that giveth to the poor 
 lendeth to the Lord.^ 
 
 " Know well your incomings, and your outgoings may 
 be better regulated. Love not money nor the world ; use 
 them only, and they will serve you ; but if you love them 
 you serve them, which will debase your spirits as well as 
 offend the Lord. 
 
 " Pity the d/stressed, and hold out a hand of help to 
 
264 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 them; it may be your case; and as you mete to otliora 
 God will mete to you again. 
 
 " Be humble and gentle in your conversation ; of few 
 words, I charge you; but always pertinent when you 
 speak, hearing out before you attempt to answer, and 
 then speaking as if you would persuade, not impose. 
 
 "Atlront none, neither revenge the ailVonts that are 
 done to you ; but forgive, and you shall be forgiven of 
 your heavenly Father. 
 
 " In making friends consider avoU first ; and W' hen you 
 are fixed be true, not wavering by reports nor deserting 
 in afiliction, for that becomes not the good and virtuous. 
 
 " Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in it ; for, 
 like drunkenness, it makes a man a beast, and throws peo- 
 ple into desperate inconveniences. 
 
 " Avoid fiatterers, for they are thieves in disguise ; their 
 praise is costly, designing to get by those they bespeak ; 
 they are the worst of creatures ; they lie to flatter, and 
 flatter to cheat ; and, which is worse, if you believe them 
 you cheat yourselves most dangerously. But the virtu- 
 ous, though poor, love, cherish, and prefer. Remember 
 David, who asking the Lord, ' Who shall abide in thy tab- 
 ernacle ? who shall dwell upon thy holy hill ? ' answers, 
 * He that walketh uprightl}^ worketh righteousness, and 
 speaketh the truth in his heart; in w^hose eyes the vile 
 person is contemned, but honoreth them that fear the 
 Lord.' 
 
 " Next, my children, be temperate in all things ; in your 
 diet, for that is physic by prevention ; it keeps, nay, it 
 makes people healthy, and their generation sound. This 
 is exclusive of the spiritual advantage it brings. Be also 
 
OP WILLIAM PENN. 265 
 
 plain in your apparel ; keep out that lust wl ich reigns too 
 much over some ; let your virtues be your ornaments, re- 
 membering* life is more than food, and the body than rai- 
 ment. Let your furniture be simple and cheap. Avoid 
 pride, avarice, and luxury. Head my ' No Cross, no 
 Crown.' There is instruction. Make your conversation 
 with the most eminent for wisdom and piety ; and shun 
 all wicked men as you hope for the blessing- of God and 
 the comfort of your father's living and dying prayers. 
 Be sure you speak no evil of any, no, not of the mean- 
 est ; much less of your superiors, as magistrates, guar- 
 dians, tutors, teachers, and elders in Christ. 
 
 "Be no busybodies; meddle not with other folks' mat- 
 ters, but when in conscience and duty prest ; for it pro- 
 cures trouble, and is ill manners, and very unseemly to 
 wise men. 
 
 "In your families remember Abraham, Moses, and 
 Joshua, their integrity to the Lord ; and do as you have 
 them for your examples. 
 
 "Let the fear and service of the living God be en- 
 couraged in your houses, and that plainness, sobriety, and 
 moderation in all things as becometh God's chosen people ; 
 and as 1 advise you, my beloved children, do you counsel 
 yours, if God should give you any. Yea, I counsel and 
 command them as my posterity, that they love and serve 
 the Lord God with an upright heart, that He may bless 
 you and yours from generation to generation. 
 
 " And as for you, who are likely to be concerned in the 
 
 government of Pennsylvania and my parts of East-Jersey, 
 
 especially the first, I do charge you before the Lord God 
 
 and his holy angels, that you be lowly, diligent, and 
 
 23 
 
266 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 tender, fearing Gocl, loving the people, and hating covet- 
 ousness. Let justice have its impartial course, and the 
 law free passage. Though to your loss, protect no man 
 against it ; for you are not above the law, but the law 
 above you. Live, therefore, the lives yourselves you 
 would have the people live, and then you have right and 
 boldness to punish the transgressor. Keep upon the 
 square, for God sees you ; therefore, do your duty, and be 
 sure you see with your own eyes, and hear with your own 
 ears. Entertain no lurchers, cherish no informers for gain 
 or revenge ; use no tricks ; fly to no devices to support or 
 cover injustice; but let your hearts be upright before the 
 Lord, trusting in Him above the contrivances of men, and 
 none shall be able to hurt or supplant. 
 
 " Oh ! the Lord is a strong God, and He can do whatso- 
 ever He pleases ; and though men consider it not, it is the 
 Lord that rules and overrules in the kingdoms of men, 
 and He builds up and pulls down. I, your father, am the 
 man that can say, he that trusts in the Lord shall not be 
 confounded. But God, in due time, will make his enemies 
 be at peace with Him. 
 
 " If 3^ou thus behave yourselves, and so become a terror 
 to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well, God, my 
 God, will be with you in wisdom and a sound mind, and 
 make you blessed instruments in his hand for the settle- 
 ment of some of those desolate parts of the world, which 
 my soul desires above all worldly honors and riches, both 
 for you that go and you that stay ; you that govern and 
 you that are governed ; that in the end you may ))e 
 gathered with me to the rest of God. 
 
 "Finally, my children, love one another with a true 
 
OF WILLIAM. PENN. 267 
 
 endeared lo\c, and your dear relations on both sides, and 
 take care to preserve tender affection in yiour children to 
 each other, often marry ini^ within themselves, so as it be 
 without the bounds forbidden in God's law, that so they 
 may not, like the forge ting unnatural w^orld, grow out of 
 kindred and as cold as strangers; but as becomes a truly 
 natural and Christian stock, you and yours after you may 
 live in the pure and fervent love of God towards one 
 another, as becometh brethren in the spiritual and natural 
 relation. 
 
 ''So, my God, that hath blessed me with his abundant 
 mercies, both of this and the other and blessed life, be with 
 you all, guide you by his counsel, bless you, and bring 
 you to his eternal glory I that you may shine, my dear 
 children, in the firmament of God's power with the blessed 
 spirits of the just, that celestial family, praising and ad- 
 miring Him, the God and Father of it, forever. For 
 there is no God like unto Him ; the God of Isaac and of 
 Jacob, the God of the prophets, the apostles, and martyrs 
 of Jesus, in whom I live forever. 
 
 " So farewell to my thrice dearly beloved wife and 
 children ! 
 
 " Yours, as God pleaseth, in that w4iich no waters can 
 quench, no time forget, nor distance wear away, but 
 remains forever, William Penn. 
 
 '' WoRMiNGHURST, 4th of Sixth month, 1682." 
 
 The Welcome proceeded to sea about the beginning of 
 the Seventh month (September). The number of pas- 
 sengers, who were chiefly Friends, was about one hundred. 
 But they bad not been long on the ocean before the small- 
 
268 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 pox broke out among them, and carried off thirty of their 
 number. The voyage in other respects was prosperous, 
 and in about six weeks they came in sight of the American 
 shore. They soon afterwards entered the Delaware, and 
 on the 24th of the Eighth month landed at Newcastle. 
 
 As he sailed up the river, the inhabitants, consisting of 
 English, Dutch, and Swedes, met the proprietary and 
 manifested their satisfaction with his arrival. The town 
 of Newcastle, where he first landed, was originally com- 
 menced, and at the time of his landing principally occupied, 
 by the Dutch. It was first called Fort Cassimir, subse- 
 quently Delaware Town, and finally designated by the 
 name which it now bears. There was a court-house in 
 the town, to which, on the day after his arrival, he in- 
 vited the principal inhabitants of the place and its vicinity. 
 Possession of the territory w^as there taken in due form ; 
 after which he addressed the magistrates and people, ex- 
 plaining the design of his coming among them, his views 
 of the nature and end of government ; with an assurance 
 of the free enjoyment of their civil and religious rights, 
 and an admonition to live in sobriety and peace. He then 
 renewed the commissions of the magistrates. 
 
 Having arranged his concerns at Newcastle, he soon 
 afterwards proceeded to Uplands. The name of this 
 place was then changed to Chester, in compliment to one 
 of the companions of his voyage who emigrated from 
 Chester, in England. An assembly was convened at that 
 place, consisting of an equal number from the province 
 and territories. It was not composed of members elected 
 for the purpose, but of such freemen as chose to attend. 
 The session lasted but three days, yet some legislation of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 269 
 
 great importance to the colonists was effected. 1. An act 
 was passed for the union of the province and territories. 
 2. An act to naturalize the Dutch, Swedes, and other 
 foreigners then residing within the province and terri- 
 tories. 3. The laws agreed upon in England, were, with 
 some alterations and additions, accepted and confirmed. 
 
 These laws are understood to have been chiefly the 
 work of William Penn, and manifest a particular anxiety 
 to preserve the rights of conscience unimpaired, and to 
 maintain a sound morality in this growing community. 
 
 The preamble was in the following words : " Whereas 
 the glory of God Almighty, and the good of mankind, is 
 the reason and end of government ; and, therefore, govern- 
 ment itself is a valuable ordinance of God ; and foras- 
 much as it is principally desired and intended by the 
 proprietary, and governor, and freemen of the province 
 of Pennsylvania, and territories thereto belonging, to 
 make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true 
 Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, 
 licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have 
 his due, Caesar his due, and the people their due, from 
 tyranny and oppression on the one side, and insolence 
 and licentiousness on the other ; so that the best and 
 firmest foundation may be laid, for the present and future 
 happiness of both the governor and the people of this prov- 
 ince and territories aforesaid, and their posterity ; be it 
 enacted," etc. 
 
 The first of these laws was to the following import: 
 
 *' Almighty God being the Lord of conscience. Father of 
 
 lights, and the author as well as object of all Divine 
 
 knowledge, faith and worship; who only can enlighten 
 
 23* 
 
270 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the mind and convince the umierstanding of people in Juc 
 reverence to his sovereignty over the souls of mankind, 
 be it enacted, that no person now or hereafter residing in 
 this province, who shall confess one Almighty God to be 
 the creator, upholder, and ruler of the world, and profess 
 himself obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly 
 under the civil government, shall in any wise be molested 
 or prejudiced on account of his conscientious persuasion 
 or practice ; nor shall he be compelled to frequent or 
 maintain any religious wor:^hip, place, or ministry con- 
 trary to his mind, but shall freely enjoy his liberty in that 
 respect, without interruption or reflection. And if any 
 person shall abuse or deride another for his ditferent per- 
 suasion or practice in religion, such shall be looked upon 
 as disturbers of the peace and be punished accordingly.'' 
 
 The otlicers of the government were required to be such 
 as professed faith in Jesus Christ, and had not been con- 
 victed of unsober or dishonest conversation. Scandalous 
 vices of every description were prohibited, and provision 
 made for training children to business, to prevent beggary 
 and pauperism. 
 
 In the criminal code then established, a provision was 
 introduced which had previously been but little regarded 
 in the administration of jurisprudence. The reformation 
 of the criminals, as well as deterring others from the com- 
 mission of crimes, was viewed as an important object of 
 attention. Hence the prisons were required to be con- 
 sidered as workshops, where the oflenders might be 
 industriously, soberly, and morally employed. It ex- 
 empted from the infliction of death about two hundred 
 ofleuces which were capitally punished by the English 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN, 271 
 
 law, reserving the penalty of death for wilful murder 
 only. 
 
 A clause was soon after added, tbrou^rh the influence, it 
 is believed, of the Proprietary, which abolished the right 
 of primogeniture according to the English law, hy giving 
 the property of intestates to the wife anjl children, a meas- 
 ure in harmony with his views of justice and the well- 
 being of individuals and of society, and which would also 
 give stability to the republican government he desired to 
 establish by promoting equality of social position and dis- 
 tribution of wealth. An act was also passed at the first 
 meeting of the Provincial Council, providing for three 
 peacemakers, as arbitrators at every county court, to settle 
 differences between individuals. 
 
 Judge Sharswood, of Philadelphia, an eminent legal 
 authority, in an address before the Historical Society of 
 that city, says : " Our founder had well studied the science 
 of government and laws, though he was no lawyer by pro- 
 fession. He drew his first principles on the subject from 
 the most authoritative source. He held that 'the glory 
 of God Almighty and the good of mankind is the reason 
 and end of government, and therefore government itself is 
 a venerable ordinance of God.' 
 
 " Another of William Penn's principles was, that ' any 
 government is free to the people under it, whatever be the 
 frame, where the laws rule and the people are a party to 
 those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oli^j-archy, and 
 confusion.' He knew no more concise and perfect descrip- 
 tion of civil and political liberty than was contained in 
 these few words. He composed and published his frame 
 to advance, as he says, * the great end of government, viz., 
 
272 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to support power in reverence with the people, and to 
 secure the people from the abuse of power ; that they may 
 be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honor- 
 able for their just administration ; for liberty without 
 obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is 
 slavery.' 
 
 " By this frame the General Assembly was the first year 
 to consist of all the freemen of the "province. Accordingly, 
 we may say that the Assembly which convened at Upland 
 on the 7th, and adjourned on the 10th, of December, 1G82, 
 was the meeting of a pure democracy. It would have 
 been a solemn and touching sight to one who could have 
 foreseen all its consequences in the distant future — that 
 first meeting. They came together, the pioneers of the 
 wilderness — stern, grave, and earnest men — prepared for 
 toil", privation and danger — men of moral, rather than 
 mere physical courage — their hands hardened by the axe's 
 unw^caried stroke in felling the primeval forest and rais- 
 ing their rude log cabins — and there, within the hearing of 
 the yells of wandering savages of untried disposition, they 
 adopted, in the short space of three days, sixty-one laws, 
 many of them, indeed all of them, the foundation-stones 
 upon which has been since erected the superstructure of the 
 civil and criminal jurisprudence of this broad Common- 
 wealth. It was a fitting introduction to that simple but 
 noble code, — the law al)Out liberty of conscience, — ' that all 
 persons living in this province, who confess and acknowl- 
 edge the one Almighty and Eternal God to be the creator, 
 upholder, and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves 
 obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil 
 society, shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 273 
 
 their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith 
 and worship ; nor shall they be compelled at any time to 
 frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or 
 ministry.' 
 
 " Looking at the scope and spirit of our early laws and in- 
 stitutions, the celebrated Montesquieu pronounced William 
 Penn a true Lycurgus ; that though the object of the one 
 was to form a peaceful, and of the other a warlike, State, 
 they resembled each other in the ascendancy they were able 
 to acquire over the opinions, prejudices, and passions of the 
 people. Penn infused his own spirit into the laws, and 
 certainly the whole history of our jurisprudence shows 
 how largely we have drawn from these original fountains. 
 The character of the code comports with its introduction. 
 Moderate in its penal enactments, just and equal in its 
 civil provisions, it is an instance unparalleled in the world's 
 history pf the foundations of a great State laid in peace, 
 justice, equality. It is necessary to refer merely to the 
 abolition of capital punishment in all cases except for wil- 
 ful murder ; that all prisons shall be workhouses ; to the 
 acts for the recording of deeds and registry of wills ; for 
 the regulation of process and pleading ; for making lands 
 chattels for the payment of debts, and that the laws should 
 not only be printed for general information, but taught in 
 the schools." 
 
 Before the assembly broke up, which they did on the 
 7th of Tenth month, they returned their grateful ac- 
 knowledgments to the Governor. The Swedes deputed 
 an individual to assure him that they would love, serve, 
 and obey him with all they possessed. 
 
 It appears that previous to the meeting of this assem- 
 S 
 
274 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 bly, "William Penn paid a visit, in part at least of a relig- 
 ^ious character, to New York, Long Island, and East 
 Jersey, of which nothing but a brief notice remains. 
 Shortly after its dissolution he repaired to Maryland, 
 where he was kindly received by Lord Baltimore and the 
 principal inhabitants of that colony. One oljject of this 
 visit was to settle with Lord Baltimore the boundaries of 
 their respective colonies ; but, two days having been spent 
 in the discussion of the subject, with very little prospect 
 of a speedy adjustment of their adverse claims, and the 
 winter coming on, they agreed to meet in the ensuing 
 spring. When he was about returning to Pennsylvania, 
 Lord Baltimore accompanied him several miles on his way. 
 From this circumstance we may infer that the conference 
 between them was amicably conducted, and that they parted 
 in a friendly manner. After taking leave of Lord Baltimore, 
 he proceeded to a meeting of Friends, which was held at the 
 house of Thomas Hooker, and from thence to an appointed 
 one at Choptank, on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay, 
 which was attended by persons of divers ranks and quali- 
 ties. Of this visit to Maryland, and the previous one to 
 New York, he briefly states, in a letter to one of his friends, 
 that he had had good and eminent service for the Lord. 
 Thus it appears, that amidst ihe cares of his new political 
 station, he was sedulously engaged in the exercise of his 
 ministerial gift. 
 
 In a letter dated at Chester, on the 29th of Tenth 
 month of this year, he says : " I bless the Lord I am 
 very well and much satisfied with my place and portion, 
 yet busy enough, having much to do to please all, and yet 
 to have an eye to those who are not here to please them- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 275 
 
 selves. As to outward things we arc satisfied ; the land 
 good, the air clear and sweet, the springs plentiful, and 
 provision good and easy to come at, an innumerable quan- 
 tity of wild-fowl and fish ; in fine, here is what an Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob would be well contented with ; and 
 service enough for God, for the fields are white for har- 
 vest. Oh, how sweet is the quiet of these parts, freed 
 from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, heresies, 
 and perplexities of woeful Europe. . . . 
 
 " Blessed be the Lord, of twenty-three ships none mis- 
 carried, only two or three had the small-pox, else healthy 
 and quick passages, generally such as had not been known ; 
 some but twenty-eight days, and few longer than six 
 weeks. Blessed be God for it, who is good to us, and 
 follows with his abundant kindness. My soul fervently 
 breathes, that in his heavenly guiding wisdom we may be 
 kept ; that we may serve Him in our day and lay down 
 our heads in peace." 
 
 We have abundant evidence that the toils and cares 
 which William Penn encountered in the settlement of 
 Pennsylvania, and the establishment of the government, 
 were not submitted to for the gratification of a worldly am- 
 •bition, or the promotion of bis personal interests ; but that 
 the advancement of the cause of universal righteousness, 
 and the increase of happiness to the human family, were 
 the primary and principal objects of these arduous en- 
 gagements. The following letter, addressed to a person 
 who had cast some unkind reflections upon him, affords a 
 forcible exposition of his motives and labors : 
 
 "My old Friend — : — I could speak largely of God's 
 
276 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 dealings with me in getting this thing. What an inward 
 exercise of faith and patience it cost me in passing. The 
 travail was mine, as well as the debt and cost, through the 
 envy of many, both professors, false friends, and profane. 
 My God hath given it me in the face of the world, and it 
 is to hold it in true judgment, as a reward of my suffer- 
 ings, and that is seen here, whatever some despisers may 
 say or think. The place God hath given me, and I never 
 felt judgment for the power I kept, but trouble for what I 
 parted with. It is more than a worldly title or patent 
 that hath clothed me in this place. Keep thy place : I am 
 in mine, and have served the God of the whole earth since 
 I have been in it. Nor am I sitting down in a greatness 
 that I have denied. I am day and night spending my life, 
 my time, my money, and am not six-pence enriched by this 
 greatness. Costs in getting, settling, transportation, and 
 maintenance, now in a public manner at my own charge 
 duly considered ; to say nothing of my hazard, and the 
 distance I am at from a considerable estate, and which is 
 morcj my dear wife and poor children. 
 
 " Well, the Lord is a God of righteous judgment. Had 
 1 sought greatness I had stayed at home, where the differ- 
 ence between what I am here and was offered, and coul I . 
 have been there in power and wealth, is as wide as the 
 places are. No ; 1 came for the Lord's sake, and there- 
 fore have I stood to this day, well and diligent, and suc- 
 cessful, blessed be his power. Nor shall I trouble myself 
 to tell thee what I am to the people of this place, in tra- 
 vails, watchings, spcndings, and my servants every way : 
 freely (not like a selfish man), I have many witnesses 
 To conclude, it is now in Friends' hands. Through my 
 
PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 277 
 
 traA^ail, faith, and patience it came If Friends here keep 
 to God, and in the justice, mercy, equity, and fear of the 
 Lord, their enemies will be their footstool. If not, their 
 heirs, and my heirs too, will lose all, and desolation will 
 follow ; but, blessed be the Lord, we are well and live in 
 the dear love of God, and the fellowship of his tender 
 heavenly Spirit, and our faith is for ourselves and one 
 another that the Lord will be with us a King and a 
 Counsellor forever. 
 
 " Thy ancient, though grieved friend, 
 
 William Penn. 
 " Chester, 5th of the Twelfth month, 1682." 
 
 William Penn, tradition says, went from Chester to the 
 site of Philadelphia, with some of his friends, in a barge, 
 and landed at the mouth of Dock Creek, the present Dock 
 Street. Some streets, it is supposed, had been laid out in 
 accordance with his plan, part of which was that the whole 
 river-front for a considerable distance back should be for- 
 ever kept open for public use. He also designed the plot 
 of the city to embrace 10,000 acres. The first of these 
 provisions has been disregarded, and the last was changed 
 in condescension to the judgment of his surveyor, and lim- 
 ited to 1200 acres. The far-seeing wisdom of William 
 Penn, with regard to both of them, has appeared clearly 
 in the light of the succeeding years. 
 
 In the autumn of this year (but whether previously to 
 his visit to Maryland or not, is a little doubtful), was held 
 at Shackamaxon the celebrated treaty with the Indians. 
 It is a subject of regret, that so little information which 
 can be entirely relied upon, in relation to this troaty, now 
 
278 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 remains. There are, however, relations in Indian speeches, 
 and traditions in families descended from those who were 
 present on the occasion, from which we may learn some- 
 thing- concerning it. It appears that, though the parties 
 were to assemble at Coaquannoc, the treaty was made a 
 little higher up, at Shackamaxon, now Kensington, a part 
 of Philadelphia.* There was at Shackamaxon, near the 
 river-side, a very large elm-tree, and under its widespread 
 branches William Penn and his friends and the Indians 
 assembled. He addressed them through an interpreter, 
 saying that the Great Spirit who made him and them, who 
 ruled the heaven and the earth, and who knew the inner- 
 most thoughts of man, knew that he and his friends had a 
 hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with them, 
 and to serve them to the utmost of their power. It was 
 not their custom to use hostile weapons against their fel- 
 low-creatures, for which reason they had come unarmed. 
 Their object was not to do injury, and thus provoke the 
 Great Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on 
 the fcroad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no 
 advantage was to be taken on either side, but all was to 
 be openness, brotherhood, and love. After these and 
 other words, he unrolled the parchment, and by means of 
 the same interpreter conveyed to them the words of the 
 compact then made for their eternal union. Among other 
 things, they w^ere not to be molested in their lawful pur- 
 suits even in the territory they had alienated, for it was 
 to be common to them and the English. They were to 
 have the same liberty to do all things therein relating to 
 the improvement of their grounds, and providing suste- 
 nance for their families, which the English had. If any 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 279 
 
 disputes should arise between the two, they should be 
 settled by twelve persons, half of whom should be Eng- 
 lish and half Indians. He then made them many pres- 
 ents from the merchandise which had been spread before 
 them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parchment 
 on the ground, observing again, that the ground should 
 be common to both people. He then added that he would 
 not compare the friendship between him and them to a 
 chain, for the rain might sometimes rust it, or a tree 
 might fall and break it ; but he should consider them as 
 the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the 
 same as if one man's body were to be divided into two 
 parts. He then took up the parchment and presented it 
 to the sachems, and desired them to preserve it carefully 
 for three generations, that their children might know 
 what had passed between them, just as if he had remained 
 himself with them to repeat it. 
 
 That William Penn must have done and said a great 
 deal more on this interesting occasion than has now been 
 represented, there can be no doubt It is also to be re- 
 gretted that the speeches of the Indians on this memora- 
 ble day have not come down to us. It is only known 
 that they solemnly pledged themselves, according to their 
 country manner, to live in love with William Penn and 
 his children as long as the sun and moon should endure. 
 It was at this time that William Penn first entered 
 personally into that friendship with them which ever 
 afterwards continued between them, and which, for the 
 space of more than seventy years, was never interrupted, . 
 or so long as the Friends retained power in the govern- 
 ment. His conduct to these people wa-s so engaging, his 
 
280 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 justice so conspicuous, and the counsels T^hich he gave 
 them were so evidently for their adv^antage, that he be» 
 came very much endeared to them. The Iroquois called 
 him Onas, and the Delawares Miquon, both words signi- 
 fying a quiil or pen; and wherever any remnants of the 
 Indian tribes who knew him then are found, his name is 
 held in honor ; and even a membership in the religious 
 Society with whom he is associated in their memory, is 
 a passport to their confidence. 
 
 In the early part of 1683, William Penn met the Pro- 
 vincial Council, and afterwards the Assembly, at Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 The three lower counties, now the State of Delaware, 
 having been united, by their request, to the Province of 
 Pennsylvania, the council was composed of three mem- 
 bers from each of those counties and from the counties of 
 Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester ; and the Assembly had 
 nine members from each. The charter being under con- 
 sideration, the Proprietary told them ''they might amend, 
 alter, or add for the public good, and that he was ready to 
 settle such foundations as might be for their happiness and 
 the good of their posterit\^" 
 
 A new charter was accordingly agreed to, embracing 
 the same principles as the first, but altering a few details. 
 The Assembly voted the Proprietary an impost on certain 
 imports and exports, which he generously declined. 
 
 After this it appears that he was occupied in making 
 
 purchases of land from the Indians. By the terms of 
 
 . one of them it was to extend "as far back as a man could 
 
 walk in three days." William Penn and some of his 
 
 friends and a number of Indian chiefs started to measure 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 281 
 
 it, and walked leisurely up the Delaware, from the mouth 
 of the Neshaminy, for a day and a half, and then stopped, 
 William Fenn concluding that that was enough for pres- 
 ent settlement, leaving the rest to be measured when it 
 might be needed. The remainder was not marked out 
 till 1733, when the then Governor of Pennsylvania — an 
 unworthy successor, as surveyor, of the generous Proprie- 
 tary and simple-hearted Indians — employed a noted fast 
 walker, who made eighty-six miles in the remaining day 
 and a half. This disgraceful act made the first breach in 
 the confidence of the Indians. 
 24* 
 
282 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 XIV. 
 
 WITHIN little, nore than a year after the arrangements 
 were made for settling the province, between twenty 
 and thirty vessels arrived, bringing more than two thou- 
 sand individuals. A large part of these were members 
 of the religious Society of Friends. They had left their 
 own country to avoid the vexations and vices of Europe, 
 that they might lead quiet and peaceable lives and wor- 
 ship God according to their conscientious persuasion. 
 Though these emigrants were not generally rich, yet 
 many of them possessed considerable estates, and were 
 persons of good education. They were mostly sober, 
 industrious people, of reputable characters, well qualified 
 to advance the interests of this rising colony. As they 
 arrived in succession, they were kindly received and as- 
 sisted by those who were there before them ; and scat- 
 tering along the Delaware, as choice or convenience sug- 
 gested, the country was thinly peopled from the falls at 
 Trenton to Chester. The inhabitants, including the Dutch 
 and Swedes, who had been long resident in the country, 
 are computed at the time to which we have arrived to be 
 about four thousand, so that William Penn may be said to 
 have raised up a colony at once in his new domains. 
 
 In the course of 1682 and the two following years great 
 numbers of emigrants arrived from England, Ireland, 
 Wales, Holland, aud Germany, who extended their settle- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 283 
 
 ments into the interior of the country. The Welsh set- 
 tled on both sides of the Schuylkill, and have left, in the 
 names of the townships Merion, Haverford, Radnor, Gwy- 
 nedd, etc., a lasting- memorial of their old homes. Among 
 the emigrants from Germany were a number of Friends, 
 formerly inhabitants of Crisheim in the Palatinate, among 
 whom William Penn had travelled in the service of the 
 Gospel during the year 1677. They formed the flourish- 
 ing settlement of Germantown, and by their opportune 
 removal to the asylum which was provided for them, es- 
 caped the calamity which a few years afterward overtook 
 their native land, when Louis XIY., in the wantonness of 
 power, desolated the Palatinate with fire and sword. 
 
 William Penn having dispatched the public business of 
 the colony, as far as his presence was necessary, and hav- 
 ing superintended the works in his new city, went on a 
 journey of observation into the province. On his return 
 to Pennsbury, his residence on the Delaware above Phil- 
 adelphia, he wrote a letter to " The Free Society of Trad- 
 ers of Pennsylvania," in which he communicated the re- 
 sult of his discoveries, from which the following extracts 
 are taken : 
 
 " My Kind Friends .-—The kindness of yours by the 
 ship Thomas and Ann doth much oblige me ; for by it I 
 perceive the interest you take in my health and reputation 
 and in the prosperous beginning of this province. 
 
 " In the first place I take notice of the news you sent 
 me, whereby I find some persons have had so little wit, 
 and so much malice, as to report my death ; and, to mend 
 the matter, dead a Jesuit, too. One might have reason- 
 
284 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 obl}^ hoped that this distance, like death, would have been 
 a protection against spite and envy ; and, indeed, absence 
 being a kind of death ought alike to secure the name of 
 the absent as of the dead, because they are equally unable 
 as such to defend themselves. But I perceive many frivo- 
 lous and idle stories have been invented since my depart- 
 ure from England, which perhaps at this time are no more 
 alive than I am dead. 
 
 " But if I have been unkindly used by some I left be- 
 hind me, I found love and respect enough where I came — 
 an universal, kind welcome, every sort in their way. For 
 here are some of several nations, as well as divers judg- 
 ments. Nor were the natives wanting in this, for their 
 kings, queens, and great men both visited and presented 
 me, to whom I made suitable returns." 
 
 After giving full and interesting accounts of the cli- 
 mate, character of the land, and productions, he speaks of 
 the Indians : "For their persons they are generally tall, 
 straight, well built, and of singular proportion. They 
 tread strong and clever, and mostly walk with a lofty 
 chin. Their language is lofty, yet narrow ; but, like the 
 Hebrew in signification, full. Like shorthand in writing, 
 one word serveth in the place of three, and the rest are 
 supplied by the understanding of the hearer — imperfect in 
 their tenses, wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, 
 conjunctions, interjections. I have made it my business 
 to understand it, that I might not want an interpreter 
 on any occasion ; and I must say that I know not a lan- 
 guage spoken in Europe that hath words of more sweet- 
 ness or greatness, in accent and emphasis, than theirs. 
 
 *' If an European comes to see them, or calls for lodging 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 285 
 
 at their house or wig-warn, they give him the best place 
 and first cut. If they come to visit us, they sal ate us 
 with an Itah, which is as much as to say, ' Good be to 
 you ! ' and set them down, which is mostly on the ground, 
 close to their heels, their legs upright. It may be they 
 speak not a word, but observe all passages. If you give 
 them anything to eat or drink, well, for they will not ask ; 
 and be it little or much, if it be with kindness, they are 
 well pleased ; else they go away sullen, but say nothing. 
 
 "But in liberality they excel. Nothing is too good 
 for their friend. Give them a fine gun, coat, or other 
 thing, it may pass twenty hands before it sticks : light of 
 heart, strong affections, but soon spent : the most merry 
 creatures that live ; they feast and dance perpetually ; 
 they never have much nor want much. Wealth circu- 
 lateth like the blood. All parts partake ; and though none 
 shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of pro- 
 perty. Some kings have sold, others presented me with 
 several parcels of land. The pay or presents I made them 
 were not hoarded by the particular owners; but the 
 neighboring kings and their clans being present when the 
 goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned con- 
 sulted what, and to whom, they should give them. 
 
 "They care for little, because they want but little ; and 
 the reason is, a little contents them. We sweat and toil 
 to live. Their pleasure feeds them ; I mean their hunting, 
 fishing, and fowling, and this table is spread everywhere. 
 They eat twice a day, morning and evening. Their seats 
 and table are the ground. Since the Europeans .came into 
 these parts, '.hey are grown great lovers of strong liquors, 
 rum especia ly ; and for it exchange the richest of their 
 
286 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 skins and furs. If they are treated with liquor, they are 
 restless till they have enough to sleep. That is their cry, 
 'some more and I will go to sleep;' but when drunk, 
 one of the most wretched spectacles in the world. In 
 sickness impatient to be cured, and for it give anything, 
 especially for their children, to whom they are extremely 
 natural. They are choice of the graves of their dead ; 
 for, lest they should be lost by time, and fall to common 
 use, they pick off the grass that grows upon them, and 
 heap up the fallen earth with great care and exactness. 
 
 "These poor people are under a dark night in things re- 
 lating to religion, to be sure the tradition of it ; yet they 
 believe a God and immortality without the help of meta- 
 physics ; for they say there is a great King, who made 
 them, who dwells in a glorious country to the southward 
 of them ; and that the souls of the good shall go thither, 
 where they shall live again. Their worship consists of 
 two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is their 
 first-fruits. The first and fattest buck they kill goeth to 
 the fire, where he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him 
 who performeth the ceremony, but with such marvellous 
 fervency and labor of body that he will even sweat to a 
 foam. The other part is their cantico, performed by round 
 dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts ; 
 two being in the middle who begin, and by singing and 
 drumming on a board direct the chorus. Their postures 
 in the dance are very antic and differing, but all keep 
 measure. This is done with equal earnestness and 
 labor, but great appearance of joy. In the fall, when 
 the corn cometh in, they begin to feast one another. 
 There have been two great festivals already, to which 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 287 
 
 all come that will. I was at one myself. Their enter- 
 tainment was a great seat by a spring under some shady 
 trees, and twenty bucks with hot cakes of new corn, both 
 wheat and beans, which they make up in a square form in 
 the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes, and 
 after that they fall to dance. But they who go must 
 carry a small present in their money ; it may be sixpence, 
 which is made of the bone of a fish ; the black is with 
 them as gold; the white silver; they call it wampum. 
 
 " I have had occasion to be in council with them upon 
 treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. Their 
 order is thus ; the king sits in the middle of a half-moon, 
 and has his council, the old and wise on each hand. 
 Behind them, or at a little distance, sit the younger fry in 
 the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their 
 business, the king ordered one of them to speak to me. 
 He stood up, came to me, and in the name of his king 
 saluted me, then he took me by the hand, and told me that 
 he was ordered by his king to speak to me, and that now 
 it was not he but the king who spoke, because what he 
 should say was the king's mind. Having thus introduced 
 his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had 
 agreed to dispose of, and the price ; which now is little 
 and dear, that which would have bought twenty miles 
 not buying now two. During the time that this person 
 spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or 
 smile, the old grave, the young reverent, in their deport- 
 ment. They speak little, but fervently, and with elegance. 
 I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them 
 without the help (I was going to say, the spoil) of tradition ; 
 and he will deserve the name of wise, who outwits them 
 
288 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 in any treaty about a thing they understand. When the 
 purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us 
 of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the English 
 and .Indians must live in love as long as the sun gave 
 light ; which done, another made a speech to the Indians 
 in the name of all the Sachamakers or Kings ; first to tell 
 them what was done ; next, to charge and command them 
 to love the Christians, and particularly to live in peace 
 with me and the people under my government ; that many 
 governors had been in the river ; but that no governor had 
 come himself to live and stay there before ; and having 
 now such an one, who had treated them well, they should 
 never do him or his any wrong ; at every sentence of 
 which they shouted, and said Amen in their way. 
 
 " TTe have agreed, that in all differences between us, six 
 of each side shall end the matter. Do not abuse them, but 
 let them have justice, and you win them. The worst is, 
 that they are the worse for the Christians, who have pro- 
 pagated their vices, and yielded them tradition for ill and 
 not for good things. But as low an ebb as these people 
 are at, and as inglorious as their own condition looks, the 
 Christians have not outlived their sight with all their pre- 
 tensions to an higher manifestation. What good then 
 might not a good people graft where there is so distinct a 
 knowledge left of good and evil ? I beseech God to in- 
 cline the hearts of all that come into these parts to outlive 
 the knowledge of the natives by a fixt obedieGce to their 
 greater knowledge of the' will of God ; for it were miser- 
 able indeed for us to fall under the just censure of tho 
 poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of things 
 BO far transcending. 
 
OF WILLIAM P E N X . 289 
 
 " For their original, I am ready to believe them of the 
 Jewish race, I mean of the stock of the ten tribes, and 
 that for the following reasons ; first, they were to go to a 
 land not planted nor known, which, to be sure, Asia and 
 Africa were, if not Europe : and He who intended that 
 extraordinary judgment upon them, might make the 
 passage not uneasy to them, as it is not impossible in 
 itself from the easternmost parts of Asia to the western- 
 most of America. In the next place, I find them of the 
 like countenance, and their children of so lively re- 
 gemblance, that a man would think himself in Duke's 
 Place or Berry Street, in London, when he seeth them. 
 But this is not all ; they agree in rites ; they reckon by 
 moons ; they offer their first-fruits ; they have a kind of 
 feast of tabernacles ; they are said to lay their altar upon 
 twelve stones ; their mourning a year ; with many other 
 things that do not now occur. 
 
 " Philadelphia, the expectation of those who are con- 
 cerned in this province, is at last laid out, to the great 
 content of those here who are any way interested therein. 
 The situation is a neck of land, and lieth between two 
 navigable rivers, Delaware and Schuylkill, whereby it 
 hath two fronts upon tbe water, each a mile, and two 
 from river to river. Delaware is a glorious river ; but 
 the Schuylkill, being an hundred miles beatable above the 
 falls, and its course north-east towards the fountain of 
 Susquahanna (that tends to the heart of the province, 
 and both sides our own), it is like to be a great part of 
 tlie settlement of this age. This I will say for the good 
 providence of God, of all the places I have seen in the 
 world I remember not one better seated ; so that it seems 
 25 T 
 
290 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 to me to have been appointed for a town, whether we re- 
 gard the rivers, or the conveniency of the coves, docks 
 and springs, the loftiness and soundness of the land, and 
 the air, held by the people of these parts to be very good. 
 
 " I bless God I am fully satisfied with the country and 
 entertainment I got in it ; for I find that particular content 
 which hath always attended me, where God in his provi 
 dence hath made it my place and service to reside. You 
 cannot imagine my station can be at present free of more 
 than ordinary business ; and, as such, I may say it is a 
 troublesome work. But the method things are putting in 
 will facilitate the charge, and give an easier motion to the 
 administration of affairs. However, as it is some men's 
 duty to plough, some to sow, some to water, and some to 
 reap, so it is the wisdom as well as the duty of a man to 
 yield to the mind of Providence, and cheerfully as well as 
 carefully embrace and follow the guidance of it." 
 
 The conference with Lord Baltimore was renewed this 
 year, as agreed upon in the preceding, relative to the 
 boundaries of the territories. But William Penn, finding 
 that the difference was not likely to be soon adjusted by 
 the claimants, referred the matter to the Lords' Committee 
 of Plantations in England ; subsequently the Lord Balti- 
 more commissioned Colonel George Talbot to take forcible 
 possession. 
 
 This question continued for many years to be a subject 
 of controversy, and was not finally adjusted till long after 
 William Penn's death. Lord Baltimore's claim included 
 all the lands on the western side of the Delaware from 
 l^hiladelphia to the capes. William Penn resisted it with 
 firmness, but with courtesy, moderation, and candor. 
 
OF. WILLIAM PENN. 291 
 
 The mind of William Pemi had been, as may be naturally 
 supposed, harassed by his attention to his various Ameri- 
 can concerns, and particularly by the dispute between him 
 and the Lord Baltimore. But that which grieved him 
 most was the receipt of accounts from England at the 
 persecutions under which persons who dissented from the 
 Established Church, but particularly those of the Society 
 to which he himself belonged, were then subjected to on 
 account of their religion. Meetings in places of w^orship 
 not acknowledged by the law continued to be deemed riots, 
 so that many convicted on this account were then in a state 
 of suffering, nearly 1500 members of his Society being im- 
 prisoned in England and Wales. 
 
 Accounts of these persecutions coming to his ear from 
 time to time across the Atlantic, worked upon his benevo- 
 lent feelings so as to bring him by degrees to the resolution 
 of returning to England. He indulged a hope that his 
 affairs in America would not suffer by a short absence ; 
 and that in the interim he might become an instrument, 
 by using his personal influence with the king-, which, on 
 account of the place he had with his brother, the Duke of 
 York, was greater than that of any other Friend, of re- 
 lieving the sufferings of his oppressed countrymen and 
 Friends. Xo doubt the desire he had to settle the dispute 
 with Lord Baltimore, which could only be finally terminated 
 by the Lords' Committee of Plantations in London, in- 
 fluenced him the same way. His desire and duty to be 
 with his wife and children, who were not, probably, able 
 to leave their affairs at home and undergo the privations 
 of a new settlement, could not bit draw him the same 
 way. Nor did it escape him that by meeting his enemies 
 
292 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 thorc, wlio were then numerous, he would be enabled to 
 do away the many calumnies which they had propagated 
 concerning him in his absence. 
 
 But many things were to be done before he could depart 
 with satisfaction. An object near his heart was to know 
 not only all the Indians within his own domains but those 
 bordering upon them, with a view to their civilization and 
 the perpetuation of love and friendship on both sides. He 
 had held frequent conferences with them for these purposes; 
 in which he had advised them against the use of strong 
 liquors, and endeavored to inculcate in them a just sense 
 of the benefit of a Christian life and conduct ; but now he 
 redoubled his efforts, and this with so much success that, 
 before the time of his departure came, he had made, at 
 Pennsbury and other places, treaties of amity with no less 
 than nineteen tribes of a different name. Indeed nothing 
 could exceed his love for these poor people, or his desire 
 of instructing them, so as to bring them by degrees to the 
 knowledge of the Christian religion ; and in this great 
 work he spared no expense, though whatever he bestowed 
 in this way came solely out of his own pocket. Oldmixon 
 says " that he laid out several thousand pounds to instruct, 
 support, and oblige them." The consequence was, on their 
 part, an attachment to him and his successors which was 
 never broken. 
 
 About this time he wrote an epistle to the members of 
 his own religious Society in Pennsylvania, part of which 
 is subjoined : 
 
 " Friends, it is upon me, and long hath been, from the 
 God of truth and righteousness, to communicate to you a 
 short word of counsel and advice. God hath brought us 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 293 
 
 hither, and we are yet among the living. He hath a work 
 for us to do here, though the spiteful and envious will not 
 believe us. that we may be faithful to the measure of 
 grace received, that the evil-minded may be disappointed ! 
 Friends, keep in the sense of that which first visited you 
 and kept you, and He that was with you to bless you in 
 your native country, will be with you and bless you and 
 yours, and make you a blessing to them that you are 
 come among, who know Him not, in this wilderness, 
 also. The earth is the Lord's, and his presence fills it, 
 and his power upholds it, and it is a precious thing to 
 enjoy and use it in the sense and feeling of the same ; 
 truly this honor have all the saints, to whom He will 
 give it for a quiet habitation. Have a care of cumber and 
 the love and care of the world. It is the temptation that 
 lieth nearest to those who are redeemed from looseness, or 
 not addicted to it. God hath ordained the world for a 
 footstool, and we must not make a throne of it, nor doth 
 it become them who seek heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 
 Show forth a blessed example, for the Lord's sake ; and 
 truly, blessed is that man and woman w^ho in the invisible 
 powder rule their afi'ections about the visible, things, and 
 who use the world as true travellers and pilgrims, whose 
 iiome is not here below; such do not extort, grind, or 
 oppress their neighbors in their dealings, but are con- 
 tent with moderate gain, looking to the blessing that fol- 
 lows. And, dear friends, remember who it was that said 
 to his children and followers, ' Ye are brethren ; ' where- 
 fore love one another, and help and assist and comfort one 
 another. This was the new and living commandment of 
 our blessed Lord and Master, which if you keep, then cud 
 25* 
 
294 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 you not fall out, backbite, slander, go to law, or hate ono 
 another, in the sight of the world, and that for the thinga 
 that perish. 
 
 " My friends, remember that the Lord hath brought 
 you upon the stage. He hath now tried you with liberty, 
 yea, and with power, too ; He hath now put precious oppor- 
 tunities into your hands ; have a care of a perverse spirit, 
 and do not provoke the Lord ; but sanctify God, the living 
 God, in your hearts, that his blessings may fall and rest as 
 the dew of heaven upon you and your offspring ; then 
 shall it be seen by the nations, that there is no enchant- 
 ment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel, but 
 your tents shall be goodly, and your dwellings glorious ; 
 which is the daily humble supplication of my soul to my 
 God and your God, and to my Father and your Father." 
 
 While he was making preparations for going to Eng- 
 land, the ketch Endeavour arrived from there, and an- 
 chored off Philadelphia. She brought passengers and 
 letters, among them one to William Penn from Stephen 
 Crisp, his old friend, to whom he wrote with so much 
 feeling at the time of his first sailing for his new colony. 
 It is the teijder counsel of a man of great wisdom and 
 spiritual discernment ; who knew his friend well, and had 
 a sense of the trials which were upon him and awaiting 
 him, and of his need to "receive a sound judgment of 
 men," to be a defence against his own generosity and 
 nobility of spirit. 
 
 "Dearly Beloved in the Lord: 
 
 *' My soul salutes thee in the fellowship of that life that 
 reigns over death and darkness, in which is the kingdom 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 295 
 
 we seek. Nothing enters tbis kingdom but what is born 
 of this life immortal ; and that we maybe kept in it to the 
 end of our days is the humble prayer of thy true friend 
 and brother in this heavenly relation, in which thou may 
 feel my integrity in a few words. 
 
 . ''Dear William, I have had a great exercise of spirit 
 concerning thee, which none knows but the Lord ; for my 
 spirit hath been much bowed into thy concern, and dif- 
 ficulty of thy present circumstance. I have had a sense 
 of the various spirits, and intricate cares, and multiplicity 
 of affairs, and they of various kinds, which daily attend 
 thee, enough to drink up thy spirit and tire thy soul ; and 
 which, if it is not kept to the inexhaustible fountain, may 
 be dried up.. This I must tell thee which thou also knows, 
 that the highest capacity of natural wit and parts will not, 
 and cannot, perform what thou hast to do : viz., to propa- 
 gate and advance the interest and profit of the govern- 
 ment and plantation, and at the same time to give the in- 
 terest of Truth and testimony of the holy name of God its 
 due preference in all things ; for to make the wilderness 
 sing forth the praise of God is a skill beyond the wisdom 
 of this world. It is greatly in man's power to make a 
 wilderness into fruitful fields, according to the com- 
 mon course of God's providence, who gives wisdom 
 and strength to be industrious ; but, then, how He who is 
 the Creator, may have his due honor and service thereby, 
 is only taught by his spirit, in them who singly wait upon 
 Him. 
 
 "There is a wisdom in government that hath respect to 
 its own preservation by setting up what is profitable to it, 
 and suppressing what may be a detriment. This is the 
 
296 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 image of the true wisdom ; but the substance is the birth 
 that is heavenly, which reigns in the Father's kingdom 
 till all is subdued, and then gives it up to Him whose it 
 is. There is a power on earth which is of God, by which 
 princes decree justice — this is the image ; and there is a 
 power which is heavenly, in which the Prince of Peace, 
 the Lord of lords, doth reign in an everlasting kingdom, 
 and this is the substance. By this power is the spiritual 
 wickedness in high places brought down. He that is a 
 true delegate in this power can do great things for God's 
 glory, and shall have his reward, and shall be a judge 
 of the tribes; and whosoever else pretend to judgment 
 will seek themselves. Beware of them ; the times are 
 perilous. All men pretending to be believers have not 
 faith in the Lord Jesus; thou hast a good comprehen- 
 sion of things, wait also to receive a sound judgment of 
 men. 
 
 " I hope thou wilt bear this my style of writing to thee; 
 my spirit is under great weight at the writing hereof, and 
 much I have in my heart, because I love thee much. I 
 cannot write much at present, but to let thee know I very 
 kindly received thy letter, and was glad to hear from thee, 
 and always shall be. My prayer to God is for thee and 
 you all, that you may be kept in the Lord's pure and holy 
 way ; and above all, for thee, dear W. P., whose feet are 
 upon a mountain, by which the eyes of many are upon 
 thee. The Lord furnish thee with wisdom, courage, and 
 a sound judgment. Prefer the Lord's interest, and He 
 will make thy way prosperous. 
 
 " Well, dear William, I might write long ere all were 
 written that lives in my heart towards thee, but, in summaj 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 297 
 
 I love thee well, and salute thee dearly, in that which ia 
 unchangeable, in which 
 
 " I remain thy true friend, Stephen Crisp. 
 
 "London, the 4th of the Third month, 1684." 
 
 Having made the necessary dispositions relative to the 
 administration of the government during his absence, 
 strictly charging the officers entrusted with the principal 
 authority to do justice to all of all degrees, without delay, 
 fear, or regard, he repaired on board the vessel which was 
 to convey him to the land of his nativity. He wrote from 
 on board the vessel the following epistle, viz. : 
 
 ''For Thomas Lloyd, J. Clmjpoole, J. Simcock, Charles 
 Taylor, and J. Harrison, to be communicated in meet- 
 ings in Pennsylvania, etc., among Friends. 
 
 " Dear Friends :— My love and my life is to you and 
 with you ; and no water can quench it, nor distance wear 
 it out or bring it to an end. I have been with you, cared 
 over you, and served you with unfeigned love ; and you 
 are beloved of me and near to me beyond utterance. I 
 bless you in the name and power of the Lord ; and my 
 God bless you with his righteousness, peace, and plenty, 
 all the land over. Oh, that you would eye Him in all 
 through all, and above all the works of your hands ; anti 
 let it be your first care how you may glorify God in your 
 undertakings. For to a blessed end are you brought 
 hither ; and if you see and keep in the sense of that Provi- 
 dence, your coming, staying, and improving will be sancti- 
 fied ; but if any forget God, and call not upoii his name 
 in Truth, He will pour out his plagues upon them ; and 
 
29S PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 they shall know who it is that judgoth the children of 
 men. 
 
 "0, von are now come to a qniet land; provoke not 
 the Lord to trouble it. And now that liberty and authority 
 are with you, and in your hands, let the government be 
 upon his shoulders, in all your spirits ; that you may rule 
 for Him, under whom the princes of this world will one 
 day esteem it their honor to g-overn and serve in their 
 places. I cannot but say, when these things come mightily 
 upon my mind, as the apostle did of old, ' What manner 
 of persons ought we to be, in all holy conversation and 
 godliness ? ' 
 
 "And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this 
 province, named before thou wert born, what love, what 
 care, what service, and w4iat travail has there been to bring 
 thee forth and preserve thee from such as would abuse and 
 defile thee ! 
 
 " that thou mayst be kept from the evil that would 
 overwhelm thee! that, faithful to the God of thy mercies, 
 in the life of righteousness thou mayst be preserved to th© 
 end. My soul prays to God for thee, that thou mayst 
 stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed 
 of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power. 
 
 " So, dear friends, my love again salutes you all, wish- 
 ing that grace, mercy, and peace, with all temporal bless- 
 ings, may abound richly among you; so says, so prays 
 your friend and lover in the Truth, 
 
 William Pexn. 
 
 "From on board ^lie ketch Eudeavor, the Sixth month, 1G84." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 299 
 
 XV. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN landed in England after a passage 
 of about seven weeks. A letter has been preserved 
 which he wrote soon after his arrival to Margaret Fox, the 
 wife of George Fox, in which he says : " It is now a few 
 days above three weeks since I arrived well in my native 
 land. It was within seven miles of my own house, where 
 I found my dear wife and poor children well, to the over- 
 coming of my heart, because of the mercies of the Lord to 
 us." We find by this letter, in which he thanked her for 
 the love she had shown his wife during his absence, " that 
 he had not missed a meal's meat or a night's rest since he 
 went to that country ; and that wonderfully had the Lord 
 preserved him through many troubles, in the settlement 
 he had made, both with respect to the government and the 
 soil." With respect to the settlement, notwithstanding 
 the false reports in circulation, — reports arising from envy, 
 he could say " that things went on sweetly with Friends 
 there ; that many increased finely in their outward things, 
 and gi'ew also in wisdom, and that their meetings were 
 blessed, of which there were no less than eighteen in the 
 province." 
 
 Another letter has been preserved which he wrote, some 
 weeks after that to Margaret Fox, to his friend Stephen 
 Crisp. This worthy minister had written to him since 
 his arrival in England, to inform him of the many reports 
 
800 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 in circulation that were injurious to his character. One 
 of the charges that were made against him was, that he had 
 dishonored his religious profession as a Quaker. To this 
 he replied " that he knew of no act of hostility. There 
 was an old timber-house at Newcastle, above the sessions- 
 chamber, standing upon a green, on which lay seven old iron 
 small cannon, some on the ground, and others on broken car- 
 riages ; but there was neither a military man, nor powder, 
 nor bullet, belonging to them. They were the property 
 of the government of New York. How far the people 
 of Newcastle might, in consequence of Colonel Talbot's 
 threatenings, have drawn them into security, and paled 
 about their prison since he came away, he could not tell ; 
 but he was sure that, while he was there, no soldier or 
 militiaman was ever seen ; nor had any individual any 
 commission of war from him, nor was there any law to 
 that end. With respect to making money of the settle- 
 ment, another of the charges, he had never made it a matter 
 of gain, but had hazarded his life, and maintained govern- 
 ment and Governor these four years past. With respect 
 to the alteration of the charter, about which there had been 
 so much clamor, what had been altered (and that very 
 little) had been by the people's desire, and not for any end 
 of his ovrn. Besides the alteration was not immutable, as 
 it was to be submitted to time and place and the public 
 good. And with regard to the addition lately made to 
 Philadelphia, it could afford no just cause of complaint. 
 lie had bought the land there of the old inhabitants, the 
 Swedes. This had enabled him to add eight hundred acre? 
 to the city, and a mile on a navigable river. What he had 
 thus bought, he had given freely to the public ; though, 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 301 
 
 had he retainod it, considering its situation, it had been 
 of extraordinary advantage to himself. Bat ho could not,' 
 he said, " hope to please all." 
 
 Soon after his arrival in England he waited on the king 
 and Duke of York, as related in the following extract from 
 fragments of an autobiography, published by the Ilistorical 
 Society of Philadelphia : 
 
 ''I arrived from America the 6th of October, '84, at 
 Wonder, in Sussex, being within seven miles of my own 
 house ; whence, after some days of refreshment, I went 
 to wait upon the king and duke, then both at New Mar- 
 ket, who received me very graciousl}^, as did the ministers 
 very civilly. Yet I found things in general with another 
 face than I left them — sour and stern, and resolved to hold 
 the reins of power with a stiffer hand than heretofore, es- 
 pecially over those that were observed to be state or church 
 dissenters, conceiving that the opposition which made the 
 government uneasy came from that sort of people, and, 
 therefore, they should either bow or break. 
 
 " This made it hard for me, a professed dissenter, to 
 turn myself ; for that party having been my acquaintance, 
 my inclination, and my interest too: to shift them I would 
 not, to serve them I saw I could not, and to keep fair with 
 a displeased and resolved government, that had weathered 
 its point upon them, humbled and mortified them, and was 
 daily improving all advantages against them, w^as a diffi- 
 cult task to perform. 
 
 " Finding myself narrowed in this manner, I cast about 
 
 in mind what way I might be helpful to the public and as 
 
 little hurtful to my concerns as I could, for I had then a 
 
 cause depending about bounds of land in America with 
 
 26 
 
ii02 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the Lord Baltimore, before the council, that was of im- 
 portance to me. 
 
 " Upon the whole matter, I found no point so plain, so 
 honest, so sensible, that carried such weight, conviction, 
 and compassion with it, and that would consequently find 
 an easier reception and more friends than liberty of con- 
 science, my old post and province. I therefore sought out 
 some bleeding cases, which was not hard to do, Bristol, 
 Norwich, etc., being ready at hand in bloody letters, — bar- 
 barities never used certainly in a Protestant country, 
 especially at Bristol. The relations are in print. But 
 finding them uneasy under generals, as too much to grant 
 at once, I beg'an with a particular case. It was that of 
 Richard Yickris, an honest, sober, and sensible man, of 
 good reputation and estate in that city. He was under 
 sentence of death, upon the statute of the o5th of Queen 
 Elizabeth, for not abjuring the realm as Dr. Cheny did, 
 that was under sentence. His crime only worshipping 
 of God his own way, but could not abjure because ho 
 could not swear at all. The heat had been great in that 
 city, and an example they would make, and chose these 
 two men, as eminent in their persuasion and as having 
 something to lose. Bat the thing looked so like a snare, 
 the fruit of private malice and avarice, and the said B. 
 Vickris being a meek and quiet person, upon my assuring 
 them he was, and would live peaceably under the govern- 
 ment, the duke promised to press the king in his favor, 
 who grew harsh and very tender to be spoken to upon 
 that head, though for the very Papists in the new case of 
 the long writ set a-foot about that time. And the duke 
 was as good as his word. He was pardoned. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. SOo 
 
 "That my design might succeed the better with the 
 king, it came into my mind to write something of the 
 true interest of the king and kingdom, have it transcribed 
 ftiir, and present it in manuscript, the times being too set 
 and rough for print. In this I undertook to show, that 
 since it was so that this kingdom was divided into such 
 great bodies, opposite to each other, and near an equality 
 in strengtli and value, all things considered, though not 
 perhaps in number, and that nothing would serve either 
 party but the ruin of the other, and that it was too great 
 a loss to his crown to gratify either so far, he was not to 
 suffer his authority to humor their passions, but overrule 
 both with justice, wisdom, and goodness, that he might 
 be king and have the benefit of his whole people. 
 
 "Adding, that he might be easy if the uneasy are made 
 so, and not sooner ; and that the revenue was not as in 
 old time, upon tenures and in lands, but upon trade, which 
 lay much in the hands of the party he was angry with ; 
 however, that it would discourage and confound trade, to 
 be sure, if he changed the course of his government, and 
 therefore to look upon past things as a king, and not as a 
 man, without passion, and not suffer his own resentment 
 or his ministers' flatteries, interests, or revenges to carry 
 him further than was good for his interest. And that 
 upon the trial of a true liberty of conscience, he would 
 find [it] more the advantage of the crown than any pri- 
 vate man or particular party." 
 
 A letter of William Penn to Thomas Lloyd, dated the 
 16th of the First month (March), 1685, informs him of 
 the death of King Charles II. : 
 
 " The king is dead, and the duke succeeds peaceably 
 
804 PASSAGES FROM THE LlJE 
 
 He was well on First day night, being the first of Feb- 
 ruary, so called. About eight next morning, as he sat 
 down to shave, his head twitched both ways or sides, 
 and he gave a shriek and fell as dead, and so remained 
 some hours. They opportunely blooded and cupped him 
 and plied his head with red-hot frying-pans. He returned 
 (revived), and continued till Sixth day noon, but mostly 
 in great tortures. ,He seemed very penitent, asking par- 
 don of all, even the poorest subject he had wronged ; 
 prayed for pardon, and to be delivered out of the world 
 . — the duke appearing mighty humble and sorrowful. . . . 
 He was an able man for a divided and troubled kingdom. 
 The present king was proclaimed about three o'clock that 
 day. A proclamation followed, with the king's speech, to 
 maintain the church and state as established, to keep prop- 
 erty and use clemency. Severities continue still, but some 
 ease to us faintly promised. Be careful that no indecent 
 speeches pass against the government, for the king, going 
 with his queen publicly to mass at Whitehall, gives occa- 
 sion. He declared he concealed himself to obe}^ his orother, 
 and that now he would be above-board, which we like the 
 better on many accounts. I was with him-, and told him 
 so ; but, withal, hoped we si^ mid come in for a share. He 
 smiled, and said he desired not that peaceable people should 
 be disturbed for their religion. And till his coronation, the 
 23d, when he and his consort are together to be crowned, 
 no hopes of release ; and till the Parliament no hopes of 
 any fixed liberty. My business, I would hope, is better. 
 The late king, the Papists will have, died a Roman Cath- 
 olic; for he refused (after his usual way of evading un- 
 easy things, with unpreparedness first and then weakness"^ 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 805 
 
 the Church of Eng-land's communion, Bishop Ken, of Wells, 
 pressing him that it would be to his comfort and that of 
 his- people to see he died of that religion he had made pro- 
 fession of when living, but it would not do ; and once all 
 but the duke, Earl of Bath, and Lord Feversham were 
 turned out, and one Huddlestone, a Komish priest, was 
 seen about that time near the chamber. This is most of 
 our news. The popish lords and gentry go to Whitehall 
 to mass daily, and the tower or royal chapel is crammed, 
 by vieing with the Protestant lords and gentry. 
 
 ''Alas ! the world is running over to you ; and great 
 quantities together [alluding to large purchases made by 
 speculators at first prices] is to put the sale of lands out 
 of my own hands, after I have spent what I got by my 
 own on the public service, for I am £3000 worse in my 
 estate than at first : I can say it before the Lord : I have 
 only the comfort of having approved myself a faithful 
 steward to my understanding and ability ; and yet I hope 
 my children shall receive it in the love of yours when 
 we arc gone." "Keep up the people's hearts and loves, 
 etc. I hope to be with them next fall, if the Lord pre- 
 vent not. I long to be with you. No temptations pre- 
 vail to fix me here. The Lord send us a good meeting. 
 Amen, etc." 
 
 AVilliam Penn had for many years been admitted to 
 familiar friendship by James, while Duke of York. Being 
 desirous of improving the influence which he possessed 
 with the king, to the advantage of his suffering friends, 
 he took lodgings at Kensington, a village two miles west 
 of London. He appears to have made it his business to 
 serve his friends ; and as every man is a friend to him thai 
 
306 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 giveth gifts, he soon found the number of his very great. 
 His house and gates were daily thronged with clients and 
 suppliants desiring him to present their addresses to the 
 king. According to Gerard Croese, there were sometimes 
 upwards of two hundred of these applicants in attendance. 
 But instead of becoming impatient with their importu- 
 nity, he treated them with the utmost kindness, and pro- 
 moted their desires with promptitude and cheerfulness. 
 Instead of seeking emolument from these incessant labors, 
 he often defrayed, out of his own funds, the expense un- 
 avoidably attendant upon the preparation of the documents 
 which passed through his hands. Yet, numerous as were 
 the applications for the employment of his interest at court, 
 he does not appear to have waited for an application when 
 he knew of cases in which his interference could be of use ; 
 nor were his efforts confined to those in which the members 
 of his own religious Society were concerned. 
 
 Soon after the accession of King James, an address was 
 presented to him showing that upward of 1400 members of 
 the Society of Friends were prisoners in England and 
 Wales, on account of their religion. " Besides some 
 hundreds had died prisoners, many by means of this 
 long imprisonment, since the year 1G80, thereby making 
 widows and fatherless, and leaving poor innocent families 
 desolate in distress and sorrow." But they were not 
 freed till a year afterwards, and then chiefly through 
 William Penn's efforts. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter by William 
 Penn to his steward, James Harrison, dated Kensing- 
 ton, 11th of Fifth month (July), 1685. "We are all 
 well through the Lord's mercy, and long to be with you, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 307 
 
 especially the children ; my business here has been 
 thrown off, with other people's, first by the late king's 
 death, then the coronation, next the Parliaraent, now this 
 insurrection, almost over, for the Duke of Monmouth is 
 defeated, and he and Grey taken ; will be brought up to 
 London next third day. I hope now I may be dispatched. 
 We had a blessed, quiet, though but a small General Meet- 
 ing ; things are very well on Truth's account in' this nation 
 and Ireland. 
 
 " Salute me to Friends generally, and to your meeting 
 especially. I beseech God to bless you with Joseph's 
 portion. My love to my family [his servants at Penns- 
 bury]. 
 
 '' that they would, from the Lord, be sober and dili- 
 gent, that they may have a good name and be my joy." 
 
 The Duke of Monmouth's insurrection and defeat was 
 followed by many cruel executions. In a letter of Penn 
 to James Harrison, dated 2d of Eighth month (October), 
 1C85, he says; "About three hundred hanged in divers 
 towns in the west, about one thousand to be transported. 
 I begged tvfenty of the king. Col. Holmes, young Hays, 
 the two Hewlings, Lark, and Hix, ministers, are executed. 
 Preparations in Westminster Hall for trial of Lords Grey, 
 Delamere, Gerard, etc. Sir G. Gerard and Sir R. Cotton 
 committed. 
 
 " The keeper dead, and Lord Jeffreys, Chief-Justice and 
 
 Baron of W , made Lord Chamberlain, and is, as said, 
 
 to be Earl of C ." 
 
 In another of his letters to his stert^ari, near the same 
 date, he thus refers to two executions which had just 
 taken place, one of them of an excellent woman who had 
 
308 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 spent her life in doing goccl to the poor. " There is daily 
 inquisition for those engaged in the late plots, some die 
 denying, as Alderman Cornish, others confessing, but 
 justifying. Cornish died last sixth day, in Cheapside, for 
 being at the meeting that Lord Russell died for, but 
 denied it most vehemently to the last. A woman, one 
 Gaunt of Wappen, of Doct. Moore's acquaintance, was 
 burned the same day at Tyburn for the high treason of 
 hiding one of Monmouth's army, and the man saved came 
 in [as witness] against her. She died composedly and 
 fearless, interpreting the eanse of her death God's cause. 
 Many more to be hanged, great and small. It is a day to 
 be wise. I long to be with you, but the eternal God do 
 as he pleases. ! be watchful, fear and sanctify the 
 -Lord in your hearts. In France, not a meeting of Prot- 
 estants left ; they force all, by not suffering them to 
 sleep, to conform ; they use drums or fling water on the 
 drowsy till they submit or run mad. They pray to be 
 killed, but the king has ordered his dragoons to do any- 
 thing but kill. * * * Such as fly and are caught, are ex- 
 ecuted or sent to the galleys to row. Thus they use all 
 qualities, from dukes and duchesses to the meanest of that 
 way. Many [persons] and much wealth will visit your 
 parts. Be wise, weighty, and strict against looseness. 
 Believe me, it is an extraordinary day, such as has not 
 been since generations ago. Read this to weighty Friends 
 and magistrates, in private, and gird up your loins and 
 serve the Lord in this juncture. No matter in what part 
 they settle in our country, let not temporal interest sway, 
 on my land or on their 3 that have bought of me ; no matter, 
 the public will [gain] in a while by their establishment.'- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 309 
 
 The history of Monmouth's invasion has little connen- 
 lion with the biography of William Penn, except as he 
 was indirectly involved in its consequences. It is well 
 known that after the defeat of the duke, the military 
 commanders, Feversham and Kirk, manifested very great 
 cruelty towards his unfortunate accomplices ; and that 
 Chief-Justice Jeffreys astonished and disgusted the nation 
 by the severity with which he punished those who were 
 charged with participating in the rebellion. So great 
 indeed was the terror infused into the juries by the men- 
 aces of the judge, that very little evidence of guilt was 
 required to insure conviction ; and so unrelenting the 
 rigor with which trifling offences were visited, that some 
 w^ere executed for having furnished hay or victuals to 
 Monmouth's soldiers. The sufferers being mostly persons 
 in the humbler walks of life, could not be objects of 
 jealousy with the court. Hence the severity with which 
 they were treated created the greater odium. Although 
 these barbarities were originally inflicted by the military 
 and judicial organs of the government, the king turned 
 the odium upon himself by rewarding the inhumanity of 
 Jeffreys with a peerage and the office of chancellor. The 
 measures which followed were generally considered as 
 clear indications of a determination, on the part of the 
 king, to govern the nation without regard to the restraints 
 of law ; and the proceedings in favor of the Eomish re- 
 ligion awakened anew the dread of popery and arbitrary 
 power, w^hich the declaration of James, upon his accession 
 to the crowm, had contributed to allay. 
 
 Every part of William Penn's conduct leads to the 
 conclusion that he countenanced none of these things, yet 
 
3l0 passages from the life 
 
 his intimacy at coart, and his supposed influence with the 
 king, turned upon him no inconsiderable share of the 
 odium which attended the religion of the king and the 
 measures of government. But in this case, as usually 
 happens, the tongue of slander defeated its own purposes, 
 at least with posterity, by loading his character with 
 charges too inconsistent with its general tenor to admit 
 of belief. Not satisfied with imputing to him a participa- 
 tion in the political errors of James, over which he certainly 
 had no control, they represented him to be Papist or Jesuit, 
 or engaged in a correspondence with the Jesuits at Rome. 
 He was even said to have been bred at St. Omer's, and to 
 have received a priest's orders at Rome. As it was ob- 
 vious he was married, which the Romish priests were 
 not permitted to be, it was asserted that he had obtained 
 a dispensation from the pope for that purpose. 
 
 The charge of his being at least popishly inclined, some 
 persons even in the higher ranks appear to have given 
 credit to. Among this class was Dr. Tillotson, afterwards 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who, having imbibed a suspi- 
 cion of him, dropped some expressions which were after- 
 wards reported to his disadvantage. This coming to the 
 ears of William Penn, he wrote to the doctor on the sub- 
 ject; a correspondence followed, which terminated in a 
 full conviction, in the mind of the latter, that the sus- 
 picion was groundless. The correspondence is subjoined. 
 
 William Penn to l)r. Tillotson. 
 " Worthy Friend : — Being often told that Dr. Tillot- 
 son should suspect me, and so report me, a Papist, I think 
 a Jesuit, and being closely prest, I take the liberty to ask 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 311 
 
 tli(;e if any such reflection fell from thee ; if it did, I am 
 sorry one I esteemed ever the first of his robe should so 
 undeservedly stain me, for so I call it ; and if the story 
 be false, I am sorry they should abuse Dr. Tillotson, as 
 well as myself, without a cause. I add no more but that 
 I abhor two principles in religion, and pity them that own 
 them. The first is obedience upon authority \wthout con- 
 viction ; and the other, destroying them that differ from 
 me for God's sake. Such a religion is without judgment, 
 though not without teeth — union is best, if right ; else 
 charity — and, as Hooker said, ' The time will come when 
 a few words spoken with meekness and humility and love 
 shall be more acceptable than volumes of controversies ; ' 
 which commonly destroy charity, the very best part of 
 true religion — I mean not a charity that can change with 
 all, but bear all, as I can Dr. Tillotson in what he dissents 
 from me, and in this reflection, too, if said, which is not 
 yet believed by 
 
 *'Thy Christian true friend, William Penn. 
 
 « CrrARiNG-CROSS, 22d of the Eleventh month, 1685-86." 
 
 Dr. Tillotson to William Penn. 
 
 " January 26th, 1685. 
 " Honored Sir : — The demand of your letter is very just 
 and reasonable, and the manner of it very kind, therefore 
 in answer to it, be pleased to take the following account. 
 The last time you did me the favor to see me at my house, 
 I did, according to the freedom I always use, where I pro- 
 fess any friendship, acquaint you with something I had 
 heard of a correspondence you held with some at Rome, 
 and particularly with some of the Jesuits there. At 
 
312 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 which you seemed a little surprised, and after •some 
 general discourse about it, you said you would call on 
 me some other time, and speak further of it ; since that 
 time I never saw you, but by accident and in passage, 
 where I thought you always declined me, particularly at 
 Sir William Jones's chamber, which was the last time, I 
 think, I salV you ; upon which occasion I took notice to him 
 of your strangeness to me, and told him what I thought 
 might be the reason of it, and that I was sorry for it, be- 
 cause I had a particular esteem of your parts and temper. 
 "Whenever you will please to satisfy me that niy suspi- 
 cion of the truth of that report I had heard was groundless, 
 I will heartily beg your pardon for it. I do fully concur 
 with you in the abhorrence of the two principles you men- 
 tion, and in your approbation of that excellent saying of 
 Mr. Hooker's, for which I shall ever highly esteem him. 
 I have endeavored to make it one of the governing prin- 
 ciples of my life, never to abate anything of humanity or 
 charity to any man for his difference from me in opinion, 
 and particularly to those of your persuasion, as several 
 of them have had experience. I have been ready upon 
 all occasions to do all offices of kindness, being truly sorry 
 to see them so hardly used ; and though I thought them 
 mistaken, yet in the main I believed them to be very hon- 
 est. I thank you for your letter, and have a just esteem 
 of the Christian temper of it, and rest, 
 
 "Your faithful friend, Jo. Tillotson." 
 
 William Penn to Dr. Tillotson. 
 " Worthy Friend : — Having a much less opinion of 
 my own memory than of Dr. Tillotson's truth, I will al- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 313 
 
 low the fact, thoitg^h not the jealousy. For bcisides that 
 I cannot look strangely where I am well used: I have 
 ever treated the name of Dr. Tillotson with another re- 
 gard. I might be grave, and full of my own business ; I 
 was also then disappointed by the doctor's ; but my nature 
 is not harsh, my education less, and my principle least of 
 all. It was the opinion I have had of the doctor's mod- 
 eration, simplicity, and integrity, rather than his parts, 
 or post, that always made me set a value upon his friend- 
 ship, of which, perhaps, I am better judge, leaving the 
 latter to men of deeper talents. I blame him nothing, but 
 leave it to his better thoughts, if in my affair, his jealousy 
 was not too nimble for his charity. If he can believe me, 
 I should hardly prevail with myself to endure the same 
 thought of Dr. Tillotson on the like occasion, and less to 
 speak of it. For the Roman correspondence T will freely 
 come to confession. I have not only no such thing with 
 any Jesuit at Rome (though Protestants may have with- 
 out offence), but I hold none with any Jesuit, priest, or 
 regular in the world, of that communion. And that the 
 doctor may see what a novice I am in that business, I 
 know not one anywhere. And yet, when all this is said, 
 I am a Catholic, though not a Roman. I have bowels for 
 mankind, and dare not deny others what I crave for my- 
 self. I mean liberty for the exercise of my religion ; think- 
 ing faith, piety, and Providence a better security than force, 
 and that if Truth cannot prevail with her own weapons, 
 all others will fail her. 
 
 " Now, though I am not obliged to this defence, and 
 that it can be no temporizing now to make it, yet that Dr. 
 Tillotson may see how much lvalue his good opinion, and 
 27 
 
814 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 dare own the truth and myself at all turns, let him be con- 
 fident I am no Roman Catholic, but a Christian, whose 
 er.-^-^ "■ is the Scripture, of the truth of which I hold a no- 
 bler evidence than the best church authority in the world. 
 I recommend him to my ' Address to Protestants,' from 
 page 133 to the end, and to the four first chapters of my 
 * No Cross, No Crown ; ' to say nothing of our most in- 
 ceremonious and unworldly way of worship, and their 
 pompous cult ; where at this time I shall leave the busi- 
 ness, with all due and sensible acknowledgments to thy 
 friendly temper, and assurance of the sincere wishes and 
 respects of thy affectionate real friend, 
 
 William Penn. 
 " Charixg-Cross, the 29th of the Eleventh month, 1686." 
 
 Dr. Tillotson to William Penn. 
 
 "April the 29th, 1686. 
 " Sir : — I am very sorry that the suspicion which I had 
 entertained concerning you, of which I gave you the true 
 account in my former letter, hath occasioned so much 
 trouble and inconvenience to you. And I do now declare 
 with great joy, that I am fully satisfied there was no just 
 ground for that suspicion, and therefore I do heartily beg 
 your pardon for it. And ever since you were pleased to 
 give me that satisfaction, I have taken all occasions to vin- 
 dicate you in this matter. I am very much in the coun- 
 try, but will seek the first opportunity to visit you at 
 Charing-cross, and renew our acquaintance, in which I 
 took great pleasure. I rest, 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 
 Jo. Tillotson.'' 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 315 
 
 XVI. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN had received, since his residence 
 in Eng-land, several letters, both private and official, 
 from Pennsylvania. He was pleased to find that the 
 members of his own Society had conducted themselves 
 generally well, and that they had endeavored to promote 
 one of his favorite objects. They had been careful to pre- 
 vent the introduction of strong liquors among the Indians, 
 and they had held several religious meetings with them. 
 The Indians, it appears, generally heard with patience 
 what was said to them at these times, and seemed affected 
 by it ; but the impression was not durable. These efforts^ 
 however, were very pleasing to one who knew well that 
 every work must have a beginning, and that the best 
 could not be brought to perfection without perseverance. 
 Other intelligence contained in these letters was far from 
 agreeable. 
 
 In a letter from William Penn to James Harrison, his 
 steward, dated 30th of Fifth month (July), '85, he says : 
 " I have had two letters more with three bills of exchange. 
 I am sorry the public is so unmindful of me as not to pre- 
 vent bills upon me, that am come on their errand, and had 
 rather have lost a thousand pounds than have stirred from 
 Pennsylvania. The reproaches that I hear daily of the 
 conduct of things, bears hard upon my spirit too. 
 
 *' The Lord order things for his glory. James, send no 
 
816 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 more bills, for I have enough to do to keep all even here, 
 and think of returning with my family : that can't be 
 (done) without vast charge." In a letter, about the same 
 time, to him and others, he says: "I am sorry at heart for 
 your animosities. Cannot more friendly and private 
 courses be taken, to set matters right in an infant prov- 
 ince, whose steps are numbered and watched? For the 
 love of God, me and the poor country, be not so govern- 
 mentish, so noisy, and open in your dissatisfactions. Some 
 folks love hunting in government itself." He deprecated 
 the heavy charges which had been made for titles to land. 
 " It is an abominable thing to have three warrants for 
 one purchase ; 't is oppression that my soul loathes. Why 
 not one warrant for all, at least for liberty-lot and the 
 remainder ? This is true and right oppression, besides 
 several things set down that are not in law nor in my 
 regulations," 
 
 It appears that he had not long left the colony before it 
 fell into disorder, which shows how much his presence had 
 been the life and support of it. And this disorder, which 
 began with one or two individuals of looser character, 
 spread to the bodies politic. The Assembly, where the 
 animosities above mentioned first showed themselves, pro- 
 ceeded so far as to impeach one of their members, Nicholas 
 Moore, and instructed their Speaker to inform the Gov- 
 ernor of the fact. 
 
 The letter from the Assembly, though it had the appear- 
 ance of being both affectionate and respectful, was the 
 cause of great uneasiness to William Penn, for Moore had 
 conducted himself so well, not only as a private man, but 
 in his office as President of the Free Society of Traders of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 817 
 
 E'ennsylvania, that the Governor had made him one of 
 the provincial judges before his departure for England. 
 He believed that he had been far too rigidly dealt with, 
 the reputed misdemeanors being of a political and not of a 
 moral nature ; and, believing this, he foresaw that he 
 should be obliged to signify his opinion to the Assembly, 
 by which the first stone would be cast, as it were, for at 
 least a temporary disagreement between them. 
 
 Soon after this he ushered into the world a work called 
 ** A Persuasive to Moderation to Dissenting Christians, in 
 Prudence and Conscience, humbly Submitted to the King 
 and his Great Council." 
 
 In the opening paragraph, he says : " Moderation, the 
 subject of this discourse, is, in plainer English, liberty of 
 conscience to church dissenters ; a cause I have, with all 
 humility undertaken to plead against the prejudices of 
 the times. By conscience I understand the apprehen- 
 sion and persuasion a man has of his duty to God ; by 
 liberty of conscience, I mean a free and open profession and 
 exercise of that duty, especially in worship. But I always 
 premise this duty to keep within the bounds of morality, 
 and that it be neither frantic nor mischievous, but a good 
 subject, a good child, a good servant in all the affairs of 
 life ; as exact to yield to Cgesar the things that are Caesar's, 
 as jealous of withholding from God the things that are 
 God's. In brief, he that acknowledges the civil govern- 
 ment under which he lives, and that maintains no princi- 
 ple hurtful to his neighbor in his civil property. 
 
 " In our own time we see the benefit of a discreet indul- 
 gence. Holland, that bog of the world, neither sea nor 
 dry land, now the rival of the tallest monarchs, not by 
 27* 
 
3J8 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 conquests, marriage, or accession of royal blood, — the usual 
 way to empire, — but by her own superlative clemency and 
 industry, for the one was the effect of the other ; she cher- 
 ished her people whatsoever were their opinions, as the 
 reasonable stock of the country, the heads and hands of her 
 trade and wealth, and making them easy on the main 
 point, their conscience, she became great by them. This 
 made her fill up with people, and they filled her with 
 riches and strength." 
 
 He proceeded to show both the prudence and reason- 
 ableness of religious toleration, by the great benefits 
 which would follow it. Among other arguments, such 
 as that property would be more secure, and that subjects 
 would be more industrious, flourishing, satisfied, and 
 happy, he contended, as no trifling additional argument, 
 that the prince would in that case have the benefit, not 
 of a part only, but of his whole people. " As things then 
 stood, no Churchman meant no Englishman, and no Con- 
 formist meant no subject. Thus it may happen that the 
 ablest statesman, the bravest captain, and the best citizen 
 may be disabled, and the prince forbid their employment 
 to his service." 
 
 " He concluded by an appeal to nature. He considered 
 the natural world as full of discordant things ; but yet, 
 Providence, by his own all-wise disposition, had so brought 
 them together as to produce the most perfect harmony. 
 In like manner, he believed that the concord of discords 
 afforded a firm basis for civil government. The business 
 was to tune these discords well ; and that could be done 
 by one who was a skilful musician." 
 
 The last argument which he advanced was the happj 
 
OF WTLT.IAM PENN. 319 
 
 effect of the Declaration of Indulgence made by the late 
 king in 16tl. Dissenters being "uneasy, their persons and 
 estates being exposed to pay the reckoning of their dissent, 
 no doubt but every party shifted as they could. Most 
 grew selfish, at least jealous." But after the declaration, 
 "" Whitehall and St. James' were as much visited and 
 courted by the dissenters and their respective agents as 
 if they had been of the family ; for, that which eclipsed 
 the royal goodness being by his own hand thus removed, 
 his benign influences drew the returns of sweetness and 
 duty from that part of his subjects which the want of 
 those influences had made barren before. Then it was that 
 we looked like the members of one family, and children of 
 one parent ; nor did we envy our eldest brother Episcopacy 
 his inheritance, so that we had but a child's portion. For 
 not only discontents vanished, but no matter was left for 
 ill spirits, foreign or domestic, to brood upon or hatch to 
 mischief, which was a plain proof that it is the union of in- 
 terests, and not of opinions, that gives peace to kingdoms." 
 Such a declaration of indulgence he hoped would be made 
 again. He saw no other way of putting an end to civil "an- 
 imosities, which, by fresh accidents falling in, had swelled 
 to a mighty deluge ; such an one as had overwhelmed our 
 former civil concord and security. And pardon me if I 
 say I cannot see that those waters are likely to assuage 
 till this olive-branch of indulgence be some way or other 
 restored. The waves will still cover our earth ; and a spot 
 of earth will hardly be found in this, our glorious isle, for 
 a great number of useful people to set a quiet foot upon." 
 The " Persuasive to Moderation " was said to have had 
 a considerable effect both upon the king and his council ; 
 
320 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 for very soon after its appearance in public, a proclamation 
 was issued by the former for a general pardon to all those 
 who were then in prison on account of their consciences. 
 The result was that, of the Friends only, not less than 1200 
 persons were restored to their families, many of whom had 
 been in confinement for years. That this happy event 
 might have sprung in part, or, as far as the council had 
 any hand it, from the '' Persuasive to Moderation," as was 
 then believed by many, is not-improbable ; but certain it is, 
 as far as the king was concerned, that it was to be ascribed 
 in a great measure to the personal solicitations of William 
 Penn. While he resided at Kensington he never lost sight 
 of the great object which he had left his own government 
 to promote. He had opportunities of unfolding much more 
 to the king on this subject than the " Persuasive to Mod- 
 eration " itself contained ; and of enforcing his arguments 
 by bringing to view affecting cases of individual suffering, 
 and the distress and ruin of their nearest and dearest con- 
 nections, deprived of their comfort and support. These 
 opportunities he used freely ; and it is to his honor that 
 when his most earnest entreaties were poured forth in 
 behalf of the members of his own religious society, they 
 were extended for all others of his countrymen, of what- 
 ever religious denomination, who were suffering from the 
 same cause, 
 
 William Penn, having witnessed the happy effects of 
 this proclamation, determined upon a tour to the continent 
 to visit the churches there. The king, learning his i)iten- 
 tion, gave him a commission which he was to execute in 
 his way. He was to go to the Hague, and there confer 
 with the Prince of Orange, and endeavor to gain his con- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 321 
 
 sent to a general religious toleration in England, together 
 with the removal of all tests. It has been usually supposed 
 that when the king wished for toleration to his subjects, 
 he had in view his favorites, the Roman Catholics, and 
 that it was on their account solely that he was desirous 
 of the measure. William Penn was not of this opinion. 
 It was his belief that though James the Second was him- 
 self a Papist, he was yet a friend to religious liberty. But 
 whether this, his belief, was correct or not, the commission 
 given him by the king was congenial to his own principles 
 and feelings. Accordingly, when he went to the continent, 
 he went first to the Hague, where he had several interviews 
 with the prince on the subject. At this time, Burnet, the 
 historian, was at the same court, endeavoring to prevail 
 upon the prince to give his sanction to a toleration in 
 England, but not to the removal of tests. Here he and 
 William Penn met. They spent several hours together in 
 conversing upon the point in question. William Penn 
 would not relax in the least. If tests were to be a security 
 for toleration, they were unnecessary, because if dissenters 
 conducted themselves unconstitutionally they would come 
 within the reach of the laws. This perseverance irritated 
 Burnet. Indeed Burnet was not well disposed to him 
 before, believing him to be a Papist, if not a Jesuit. But 
 now he was prejudiced against him, so that he mentioned 
 him in a way to lower him in the estimation of the reader 
 when he had occasion to speak of him in the History of 
 his own Times. 
 
 Having left the Hague, he proceeded to Amsterdam and 
 Utrecht ; but we know nothing after this of the particular 
 places which he visited. All we know is, that he extended 
 
 V 
 
322 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 his journey to Germany, and that he was satisfied with 
 the result of it ; for, in a letter which he wrote to one of 
 his friends in America after his return from it, he says, 
 that " he had had a blessed service for the Lord." 
 
 On his arrival in England he proceeded directly to 
 Worminghurst. But here he did not remain long. The 
 same cause which had occasioned him to go into Holland 
 and Germany impelled him to travel over a considerable 
 part of his native land. He visited Oxfordshire, War- 
 wickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, 
 Yorkshire, and the counties of Westmoreland and Durham. 
 In all these he labored in the vineyard of the Gospel ; and 
 it appears that he was equally satisfied with this as with 
 his foreign journey, thankfully confessing- that '' the Lord 
 had been with him at this season in a sweet and melting 
 life, to the great joy of himself and refreshment of his 
 friends." 
 
 It appears by a letter dated Worminghurst, addressed 
 to Thomas Lloyd, the president of his council, to have been 
 William Penn's opinion that the Assembly had conducted 
 themselves rashly. ''I rejoice," says he, "that God has 
 preserved your health so well, and that his blessings are 
 upon the earth, but grieved at the bottom of my heart for 
 the heats and disorders among the people. This quarrel 
 about ' the Free Society of Traders ' has made your great 
 guns heard hither. I entreat thee to consider of the true 
 reason of our unhappiness of that side (Pennsylvania) 
 among our magistrates. Is it not their self-value ? Men 
 should be meek, humble, grave. This draws reverence 
 and love together. This wise and good men will do. Is 
 any one out of the way ? They should not so much look 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 323 
 
 at his infirmities, as take care they are not also overtaken ; 
 eyeing how many good qualities the offender has to serve 
 the public, and not cast a whole apple away for one side 
 being defective." 
 
 Penn wrote to his friend, James Harrison, as follows : — ■ 
 " For my coming over (to Pennsylvania) cheer up the 
 people ; I press what I can, but the great undertakings 
 that crowd me, and to raise money to get away, hinders 
 me yet, but my heart is with you, and my soul and love 
 is after you. The Lord keep us here in this dark day. 
 Be wise, close, respectful to superiors. The king has 
 discharged all Priends by a general pardon, and is court- 
 eous to us, though as to the Church of England things 
 seem pinching. Several Koman Catholics get much into 
 places in the army, nav}^, and court." ''My 'Persuasive' 
 works much among all sorts, and is divers spoken of. I 
 have been thrice taken at meetings, but got off, blessed be 
 the Lord." 
 
 By letters written subsequently, to the before-mentioned 
 Thomas Lloyd, and to James Harrison, his agent for the 
 estate and manor of Pennsbury, it appears that he had 
 serious cause to be grieved on other accounts. He writes, 
 *' Being come home, I found thine from Philadelphia of 
 the 3d of Eighth month past, by which I am both 
 gladdened and troubled. 
 
 " Glad that three such honest Friends, whom I love in 
 my heart, are in that station of service, as your being the 
 provincial judges. I know also that you are men of a 
 good understanding, and friends to me and my honest 
 interest, but I could have wished you easier and better 
 work. * * * 
 
824 pj^ssages from the life 
 
 *' Next I am sorry at heart that my letters to the council 
 are so slightly regarded. * * * 
 
 " I have with a religious mind consecrated my pains in 
 a prudent frame [of government], but I see it is not 
 valued, understood, or kept to, so that the charter is over 
 and over again forfeited if I would take advantage of it. 
 .Nay, I hear my name is really not mentioned in public 
 acts of state, nor the king's, which is of dangerous con- 
 sequence to the persons and things they have transacted, 
 since they have no power but what is derived from me, as 
 mine is from the king." 
 
 He also complained that they had entirely neglected the 
 supply which they had promised him. On this latter 
 subject he descended to particulars. He stated ''that his 
 quit-rents were then at least of the value of five hundred 
 pounds a year, and then due, though he could not get a 
 penny. I am above six thousand pounds out of pocket 
 more than ever I saw by the province ; and you may 
 throw in my pains, cares, and hazard of life, and leaving 
 of my family and friends to serve them." 
 
 From the same letters it.may be collected, that he began 
 to be embarrassed for want of remittances from America, 
 so that, though it was his intention to have returned there 
 in the autumn of the present year, he was prevented in 
 some measure from so doing on this account. He declared 
 that the neglect of the supply, which the council had 
 promised him in consequence of his great expense on 
 account of the province, was one cause which kept him 
 from Pennsylvania, adding, " that he would not spend his 
 private estate to discharge a public station." " There is 
 nothing my soul breathes more for in this world, next my 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 325 
 
 dear family's life, than that I may see poor Pennsylvania 
 again, but I cannot force my way hence, and see nothing 
 done on that side inviting." 
 
 To remedy these and other matters, it appears that, after 
 having taken into consideration the conduct of the council, 
 he resolved, though they had forfeited their charter, to let 
 them remain as such ; but he would no longer allow them 
 to have also the executive power in their hands. One 
 reason of their tardiness and negligence he conceived 
 might be their number, great bodies being more unwieldy 
 and moving with less celerity than smaller. He determined, 
 therefore, to reduce the executive to five persons, and made 
 out a fresh commission accordingly. The following are 
 the opening and closing clauses of the commission : 
 
 WILLIAM PENN, 
 PROPRIETOR AND GOVERNOR. 
 
 " To my trusty and icell-beloved Friends, Thomas Lloydy 
 Nicholas Moore, James Claypoole, Robert Turner, and 
 John Eccles, or any three of them, in Philadelphia. 
 
 " Trusty and well beloved ! I heartily salute you. Lest 
 any should scruple the termination of President Lloyd's 
 commission with his place in the provincial council, and 
 to the end that there may be a more constant residence 
 of the honorary and governing part of the government, 
 for the keeping all things in good order, I have sent a 
 fresh commission of deputation to you, making any three 
 of you a quorum to act in the execution of the laws, en- 
 acting, disannulling, or varying of laws, as if I mys^'^f were 
 28 
 
826 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 there present; reserving to myself the confirmation of 
 what is done, and my peculiar royalties and advantagei?. 
 
 ''Be most just, as in the sight of the all-seeing, all- 
 searching God ; and, before 3^ou let your spirits into an 
 all'air, retire to Him, (who is not far away from any of 
 you, and by whom kings reign and princes decree justice), 
 that He may give you a good understanding and govern- 
 ment of yourselves in the management thereof; which is 
 that which truly crowns public actions, and dignifies those 
 that perform them. The ship is ready to sail ; so I shall 
 only admonish you in general, that, next to the preserva- 
 tion of virtue, you have a tender regard to peace and 
 my privileges, in which enact from time to time. Love, 
 forgive, help, and serve one another ; and let the people 
 learn by your example, as well as by your power, the 
 happy life of concord. So, commending you to God's 
 grace and keeping, I bid you heartily farewell. 
 
 " Given at Worminghurst, in old England, the 1st of 
 the Twelfth month, 168G." 
 
 Some time after he wrote : 
 
 " To my trusty and well-beloved friends, Thomas Lloyd, 
 Rohert Turner, James Claypole, John Simcock, and 
 John Eccles, Philadelphia. 
 
 " I salute you all with unfeigned love ; and in Christ 
 Jesus, wish you health and happiness. My last is by the 
 same hand, this being sent to the Downs after him, upon 
 the receipt of Thomas Lloyd's and William Markham's 
 letters. I am heartily sorry that I had no letter from the 
 government ; indeed, I have hardly had one at all ; and 
 [as] for private letters, though from public persons, I 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN". 327 
 
 regard them but little ; I mean, as to taking of my public 
 measures by; for I find such contradiction as well as 
 diversity, that I believe I may say, I am one of the un- 
 bappiest proprietaries with one of the best people. 
 
 '* I shall henceforth expect letters from the government 
 recounting the affairs of it, that they may be authorita- 
 tive to me ; and as many private ones of love and friend- 
 ship as you please besido, for that I also rejoice in ; and 
 any particular advices that may inform me, as to the 
 public, or remedy what may be amiss, or ameliorate 
 what is in itself well, will also be very acceptable to me. 
 
 '' Now I have said this, I cannot but condole the loss of 
 some standards in the province — honest men, and of good 
 understandings in their kind. The Lord avert his judg- 
 ments, and constrain all by his visitations, to amend, be 
 it in conversation, or be it in peace, concord, and charity. 
 They that live near to God will live far from themselves ; 
 and from the sense they have of his nearness and majesty, 
 have a low opinion of themselves ; and out of that low 
 and humble frame of spirit it is that true charity grows, 
 the most excellent way. Ah ! what shall I say ? There 
 can be no union, no comfortable society without it ! Oh, 
 that the people of my province and parts annexed, felt 
 this gracious quality abounding in them. My work would 
 soon be done, and their praise and my joy unspeakably 
 abound to us. . "Wherefore, in the name and fear of God, 
 •let all old scores be forgotten as well as forgiven. Shut 
 out the remembrance of them, and preach this doctrine to 
 the people in my name, yea, in the king's name, and his 
 that is greater and above all, namely, God Almighty's 
 name. 
 
328 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 ''I have only to recommend to you the due execution 
 of the divers good laws among you impartially and dili- 
 gently ; not neglecting the orders from hence sent, espe- 
 cially for peace and concord. Government is not to make, 
 but to do, and despatch bq^iness ; in v^hich few words, and 
 a quiet but brisk execution does best. I write to you about 
 my quit-rents ; I am forced to pay bills here, for the sup- 
 port of my family when there, while I have four or five 
 hundred pounds per annum in quit-rents there. You may 
 remember the vote of council to pay my charges in this 
 expedition. I could draw a large bill upon the provincial 
 council in that regard — I am sure I need it — but have for- 
 borne ; though it is none of the endearingest considera- 
 tions, that I have not had the present of a skin or pound 
 of tobacco since I came over ; though they are like to 
 have most advantage by it, and promised so much. 
 
 *' Pray prevent people withdrawing from us what you 
 can. They cannot mend themselves, and they that go 
 will find it so in a while, for I believe God has blessed 
 that poor place ; and the reason of my stay here, and the 
 service I am, and have been, to the conscientious, shall be 
 rewarded on my solitary province. Kemember me to the 
 people ; and let them know my heart's desires towards 
 them, and shall embrace the first opportunity to make my 
 abode wilh them." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. . 329 
 
 XVII. 
 
 SOON" after the proclamation of pardon already noticed, 
 King James checked the rapacity of the informers 
 about London and Middlesex by signifying his pleasure 
 to the justices that they should withhold their encourage- 
 ment from that unprincipled crew. Still, Friends were 
 persecuted as popish recusants, particularly by the act of 
 23 Elizabeth, for twenty pounds a month, on account of 
 absence from the national worship. Application being 
 made to the king, he was pleased to grant a nolle prose- 
 qui, and gave orders to the attorney-general that no writs 
 should be issued out of the exchequer against Friends on 
 these accounts. Thus the rum of great numbers of 
 Friends was prevented, and their estates saved to the 
 amount of many thousand pounds ; a result which the 
 labors and influence of William Penn were no doubt in- 
 strumental in producing. 
 
 The relief thus afforded may perhaps be considered as 
 fairly included in the royal prerogative ; but in the early 
 part of 1G87, the king issued a declaration of general in- 
 dulgence, or liberty of conscience, by his sovereign au- 
 thority and absolute power, to his subjects of all religions ; 
 ordering that thenceforth the execution of all penal laws 
 concerning ecclesiastical affairs, for not coming to church, 
 for not receiving the sacraments, or for any other non- 
 28* 
 
330 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 conformity with the established religion, or for performing 
 religious worship in other ways, should be suspended. 
 
 This was certainly a stretch of the royal prerogative 
 irreconcilable with the nature of a limited monarchy 
 Yet as the boon, so far as liberty of conscience was re- 
 garded, was nothing more than reason and justice required, 
 the dissenters in general accepted it with gratitude. Ad- 
 dresses of thanks to the king were therefore presented 
 from numerous quarters. Among others, Friends of the 
 city of London presented one, and deputed William Penn, 
 in conjunction with some others, to present it. 
 
 In his speech to the king, he said : 
 
 " I would not that any should think we come hither 
 with design to fill the gazette with our thanks ; but as our 
 sufferings would have moved stones to compassion, so we 
 should be harder if we were not moved to gratitude." 
 
 The address of the Yearly Meeting having been read, 
 the king replied : 
 
 " Gentlemen : — I thank you heartily for your address. 
 Some of you know — I am sure you do, Mr. Penn— that it 
 was always my principle that conscience ought not to be 
 forced ; and that all men ought to have the liberty of their 
 consciences. What I have promised in my declaration, I 
 will continue to perform as long as I live. And I hope, 
 before I die, to settle it so that after ages shall have n.o 
 reason to alter it." 
 
 It has been made a subject of censure that Friends and 
 other dissenters should offer their acknowledgments to the 
 king for a favor which was dispensed by the violation of a 
 constitutional principle. A few observations will be suffi- 
 cient to vindicate the Society of Friends. Their principles 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 331 
 
 have always led them to live peaceably under the established 
 governments, but to take no part in setting them up or 
 pulling them down. They were not accustomed to scru- 
 tinize very closely the extent of the powers exercised by 
 men in authority. The limits of the royal prerogative 
 were at that time very imperfectly defined. Indeed, Sir 
 Edward Herbert, Chief-justice of the King's Bench, had 
 declared a few months before that there was nothing 
 wiiatever with which the king, as supreme law-giver, 
 might not dispense ; and this decision was confirmed by 
 eleven judges out of the twelve. It was not then to be 
 expected that the exercise of this dispensing power would 
 be disputed by those who were relieved by it from an op- 
 pressive burden. The penal laws, inasmuch as they 
 abridged the freedom of worship, were justly considered 
 as an usurpation of the Divine prerogative ; the suspen- 
 sion of those laws, by royal authority alone, might there- 
 fore be viewed as counteracting usurpation. As the king 
 had always professed himself a friend to liberty of con- 
 science, and the measures of his government, so far as 
 they were then developed, were not incompatible with 
 such profession, Friends were at liberty to attribute his 
 proclamation to justifiable motives. And they intimated 
 in their address the necessity of a concurrent action by 
 the Parliament, to render the measure permanent. 
 
 In the summer of 1681 William Penn again travelled, 
 in the work of the Gospel, through various parts of Eng- 
 land, and in the course of the journey held several meet- 
 ings for worship at Bristol, where Friends had been so 
 violently persecuted. These meetings were remarkably 
 crowded, the people flocking to them in great numbers ; 
 
332 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 showing that their zeal was rather increased than dimin- 
 ished by the recent persecutions. At Chew, about five or 
 six miles from Bristol, he had a meeting in- the open air. 
 there being no building to be had sufficiently capacious to 
 accommodate the multitude that attended. " A. large and 
 heavenly meeting it was," says J. Whiting, ''many 
 Friends and others of the country round about being 
 there ; and the more, that it was the first time, as I re- 
 member, that William Penn was ever in our county." 
 
 Among the places he visited in Cheshire was Chester 
 itself. The king being then on a journey, and arriving 
 there at the time, aittended the meeting, as he did at two 
 or three other places where he happened to be when the 
 meetings were held. Visiting Oxford in the course of his 
 journey, he there met with the king again. James was 
 then attempting to introduce into the presidentship of 
 Magdalen College, Parker, a man of dissolute morals, and 
 strongly suspected of popish principles. The members of 
 the college, considering the interference of the king as 
 an encroachment upon their rights, had elected a presi- 
 dent whose character was more congenial to their princi- 
 ples. This brought on a contest between the king and the 
 members of the college, in which the latter applied to Wil- 
 liam Penn for his interposition with the king. He had 
 the courage and magnanimity to express, as modestly as 
 the nature of the case would admit, yet in terms sufficiently 
 explicit, his disapprobation of the measures the king Avas 
 pursuing; and though he had endeavored to procure a 
 repeal of the test act as well as the penal laws, he proved 
 himself no friend to popish ascendency. His remonstrance, 
 however, did not arrest the proceedings of James, by 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 333 
 
 whose orders the fellows of the college were displaced, 
 and Parker forcibly installed in the presidency. 
 
 In the same year, probably after his return from the 
 journey just mentioned, he again took up his pen in the 
 cause of liberty of conscience. 
 
 The freedom from persecution which Friends and other 
 dissenters enjoyed, being founded upon the dispensing 
 power of the king, was evidently held by a precarious 
 tenure, as the proclamation might be revoked, as that of 
 Charles II. had been. William Penn, therefore, with a 
 view of promoting the good work of placing the religious 
 liberties of the people upon a solid and permanent basis, 
 produced a tract, entitled, " Good Advice to the Church 
 of England, Roman Catholics, and Protestant Dissenters. 
 In which it is endeavored to be made appear that it is 
 their duty, principle, and interest to abolish the penal 
 laws and tests. Beati Pacifici.''^ 
 
 This tract was published without the author's name, as the 
 " Persuasive to Moderation " had been, probably from an 
 apprehension that the unjust odium under which he labored 
 might prejudice the public against any production which 
 was known to be his. It is classed in his printed works 
 among his political tracts, but is decidedly of a religious 
 rather than a political character, for the subject is argued 
 on Christian principles. 
 
 He urges that it is the duty of the three classes to 
 whom the work is addressed, to promote the abolition of 
 the penal laws and tests, because they all profess the Chris- 
 tian religion, and Christianity requires us to believe that 
 faith is the gift of God; that He only is Lord of conscience, 
 and is able to enlighten, persuade, and establish it. Con- 
 
334 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 sequcntly, to injure men in their persons or property, or 
 to exclude them from stations of trust on account of their 
 religion, is contrary to the tenderness and equity of Chris- 
 tianity. This is confirmed by the consideration that the 
 Christian religion is founded in love. Its origin, progress, 
 and consummation were all in love. Our Lord's rebuke 
 to his disciples, who wished to call down fire from heaven 
 to consume those who rejected Him, is applicable to all 
 times and places. Christ commanded that the tares should 
 be permitted to grow with the wheat until the harvest ; so 
 that He was in favor of a toleration, and his mandates are 
 not to be modified by reasons of state. When the disci- 
 ples related the circumstance of having found one casting 
 out devils in their Master's name, whom they forbade, 
 because he followed not with them, their decision was 
 reversed by the Saviour himself, the great wisdom of God 
 to his people, from whom there is no appeal. 
 
 Throughout this essay we perceive a constant effort to 
 lead the people of that day in the path which their relig- 
 ious duty as well as civil interest pointed out, and to allay 
 the jealousies which the conflict of parties had excited. 
 
 He says, in his concluding section : " Shall I speak within 
 our own knowledge, and that without offence ? There 
 have been ruined since the late king's restoration above 
 fifteen thousand families, and more than five thousand 
 persons died under bonds, for matters of mere conscience 
 to God. But who hath laid it to heart ? " 
 
 In letters to James Harrison, written this year, he says : 
 "A blessed general meeting we had, the Lord good 
 among us, many of thy old friends at it. As yet I can- 
 not get clear, for besides that I am not in my private 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. .335 
 
 affairs fit to move for a stay, as that I intend when I 
 come there. I am engaged in the public business of the 
 nation, and Friends and others in authority would have 
 me see the establishment of the liberty, that I was a small 
 instrument to begin in this land. The Lord has given 
 me great entrance and interest with the king, though not 
 so much as 't is said, and I confess I should rejoice to see 
 poor England fixt, the penal laws repealed that are now 
 suspended, and if it goes well with England it cannot go 
 ill with Pennsylvania. Perhaps thou -^ilt hear more 
 from some passengers ; but this I say, no temporal honor 
 or profit can tempt me to decline poor Pennsylvania, as 
 unkindly used as I am, and no poor slave in Turkey 
 desires more earnestly, I believe, for deliverance, than I 
 do to be with you ; wherefore be contented awhile, and 
 God in his time will bring us to^'ether. 
 
 ''8th of Seventh month, '87. I am straitened, beins: 
 just come home from the king's progress through Berk- 
 shire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Chesh- 
 ire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, 
 and so home. I had two meetings on a First day at Ches- 
 ter, in the Tennis court, where were about a thousand 
 people, while the king was there." 
 
 In the spring of 1688 the king renewed his declaration 
 for liberty of conscience, with this addition, that he would 
 adhere firmly to it, and that he would put none into public 
 employments but such as would concur with him in main- 
 taining it. He also promised that he would hold a Par- 
 liament in the November following. This was what 
 William Penn desired. He wished the king to continue 
 firm to his purpose ; but he knew that neither tests nor 
 
330 PASSAGES FROM Til 10 LIFE 
 
 penalties could be legally removed without the consent of 
 Parliament. 
 
 At the time when this declaration was renewed, an order 
 of council came out that it should be read in the churches 
 within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the kingdom. San- 
 croft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and six other bishops, 
 presented a petition to the king in behalf of themselves 
 and several other bishops, and a great body of the clergy, 
 in which they laid before him the reasons why they had 
 opposed the reading of the declaration in the churches, as 
 the order in council had prescribed. They intended, they 
 said, no disrespect to his majesty, nor did they breathe 
 any spirit of hostility towards the dissenters; but the 
 declaration being founded on a dispensing power, which 
 had been declared illegal no less than three times in eight 
 years, they could not become parties to it by giving it the 
 extraordinary publicity required. The king having heard 
 the jK'tition, of w^hich this w\as the substance, took time to 
 deliberate upon it, after which the seven bisho})s were sent 
 to the Tower. In process of time they were brought to trial, 
 and lliey were accpiitted among the plaudits of the nation. 
 
 AVilliiun l^'Mn was not only against this commitment, 
 but the day the Prince of Wales was born he went to the 
 king and j)ressed him exceedingl}^ to set them at liberty; 
 but after this event he became more unpoi)ular than ever. 
 It had transpired, probably by means of Burnet, that he 
 had ])cen employed by the king on the embassy to the 
 Hague to obtain the Prince of Orange's consent not only 
 to a toleration, but to the removal of tests. It had been 
 siispected that he was the mover of the royal proclamation 
 in 1G8G and of the declaration in 1G8T. It had become 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 337 
 
 known that he was the author of " Good Advice to the 
 Church of England, Koman Catholics, and Protestant 
 Dissenters." It was, therefore, now taken for granted 
 that he had a hand in the imprisonment of the bishops, 
 though he had never any concern, on any occasion, in the 
 recommendation of force. The consequence was that he 
 became very odious to the church. The dissenters, too, 
 whose very cause he had been pleading, turned against 
 him. Considering his intimacy with James the Second, 
 they judged him to have the like projects and pursuits. 
 Now it happened that the king had made this year a more 
 open acknowledgment of popery than ever. He had per- 
 mitted the Jesuits to erect a college in the' Savoy in 
 London, and suffered the friars to go publicly in the dress 
 of their monastical orders, which was a strange sight to 
 Protestants. He had permitted also the pope's Nuncio 
 d'Ada to make his public entry into Windsor in great 
 state. He was, therefore, most openly a Catholic. Hence 
 they considered William Penn to be of the same religious 
 persuasion. But they carried the matter still further; for, 
 believing that the king, when he wished to establish a 
 toleration and to abolish tests, had no other motive than 
 that of protecting the Roman Catholic religion, and thus 
 giving it an opportunity to flourish, they attached to Wil- 
 liam Penn the same motive in his furtherance and defence 
 of the measure. The clamor, indeed, was so great against 
 him, being spread both by dissenters and the church, that 
 several, who had not the courage to go against the spirit 
 of the times, avoided his acquaintance. Others, who were 
 of a firmer texture, and who valued him from what they 
 knew of his worth and character, did not follow the stream. 
 29 W 
 
333 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Among those, William Popple, Secretary t«) the Board of 
 Trade and Plan rations, an intimate friend both of Dr. 
 Tillotson and John Locke, wi-ote to him : 
 
 "To the Honorable William reuu, Esq., Pf^opricfor ajid 
 Gover}wr of Fcnnsylvania. 
 
 ''Honored Sir: — Though the friendship with which 
 you are pleased to honor me doth afford me sufficient 
 opportunities of discoursing with you upon any subject, 
 yet I choose rather at this time to offer unto you in writing 
 some reflections which haye occurred to my thoughts in a 
 matter of no common importance. 
 
 " You are not ignorant that the part you haye been 
 supposed to haye ha,d of late years in public afiairs, though 
 without either the title, or honor, or profit of any public 
 office, and that especially your avowed endeavors to intro- 
 duce among us a general inviolable liberty of conscience 
 in matters of mere religion, have occasioned the mistakes 
 of some men, provoked the malice of others, and, in the 
 end, have raised against you a multitude of enemies, who 
 have unworthily defamed you with such imputations as, 
 I am sure, you abhor. This I know you have been suf- 
 ficiently informed of, though I doubt you have not made 
 sufficient reflection upon it. The consciousness of your 
 own innocence seems to me to have given you too great a 
 contempt of such unjust and ill-grounded slanders ; for, 
 however glorious it is, and reasonable for a truly virtuous 
 mind, whose inward peace is founded upon that rock of 
 innocence, to despise the empty noise of popular reproach, 
 yet even that sublimity of spirit may sometimes swell to 
 a reprovable excess. 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXX. 339 
 
 " The source of all arises from the ordinary access you 
 have unto the king, the credit you are supposed to have 
 with him, and the deep jealousy that some people have 
 conceived of his intentions in reference to religion. Their 
 jealousy is that his aim has been to settle popery in this 
 nation, not only in a fair and secure liberty, but even in a 
 predominating superiority over all other professions; and 
 from hence the inference follows that whosoever has any 
 part in the councils of this reign must needs be popishly 
 affected ; but that to have so great a part in them as you 
 are said to have had, can happen to none but an absolute 
 Papist. That is the direct charge ; but that is not enough ; 
 your post is too considerable for a Papist of an ordinary, 
 form, and therefore you must be a Jesuit ; nay, to confirm 
 that suggestion it must be accompanied with all the cir- 
 cumstances that may best give it an air of probability ; as, 
 that you have been bred at St. Omer's, in the Jesuit's 
 college ; that you have taken orders at Rome, and there 
 obtained a dispensation to marry ; and that you have since 
 then frequently officiated as a priest in the celebration of 
 the Mass at Whitehall, St. James's, and other places. And 
 this being admitted, nothing can be too black to be cast 
 upon you. Whatsoever is thought amiss, either in church 
 or state, though never so contrary to your advice, is boldly 
 attributed to it. 
 
 " It is not a trifling matter for a person raised as you 
 are, above the common level, to lie under the prejudice 
 of so general a mistake in so important a matter. The 
 general and long prevalency of any opinion gives it a 
 strength, especially among the vulgar, that is not easily 
 shaken. The design of so universal a liberty of conscieniic 
 
8-10 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 as your principles have led you to promote has offended 
 many of those whose interest it is to cross it. I need not 
 tell you how many and how powerful they are, nor can I 
 tell you, either, how far or by what ways and means they 
 may endeavor to execute their revenge. But this, how- 
 ever, I must needs tell you, that in your present circum- 
 stances there is sufficient ground for so much jealousy at 
 least, as ought to excite you to use the precaution of some 
 public vindication. This the tenderness of friendship 
 prompts your friends to desire of you, and this the just 
 sense of your honor, which true religion does not extin- 
 guish, requires you to execute. 
 
 " But what do I say, or what do I wish for ? I confess 
 that I am now struck with astonishment at that abundant 
 evidence which I know you have constantly given of the 
 opposition of your principles to those of the Komish 
 church, and at the little regard there has been had to it. 
 
 '' I could not but be much affected that any man who 
 had deservedly acquired so fair a reputation as you have 
 formerly had — whose integrity and veracity had always 
 been reputed spotless, and whose charity had been con- 
 tinually exercised in serving others, at the dear expense 
 of his time, his strength, and his estate, without any other 
 recompense than what results from the consciousness of 
 doing good — I say I could not but be much affected to see 
 any such person fall innocently and undeservedly under 
 such unjust reproaches as you have done. 
 
 " Since therefore it is so, and that something remains yet 
 to be done — something more express and especially more 
 public than has yet been done — for your vindication, 1 
 beg of you, dear sir by all the tender efficacy that friend' 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 34:1 
 
 sLip, either mine or that of your friends and relations 
 together, can have upon you, bj the due regard which 
 humanity, and even CIn'istianity, obliges you to have to 
 your reputation, by the duty you owe unto the king, by 
 your love to the land of your nativity, and by the cause 
 of universal religion and eternal truth, let not the scandal 
 of insincerity that I have hinted at lie any long-er upon 
 you ; but let the sense of all these obligations persuade 
 you to gratify your friends and relations and to serve 
 your king, your country, and your religion, by such a 
 public vindication of your honor as your own prudence 
 upon these suggestions will now show you to be most 
 necessary and most expedient. 
 
 ''I am, with unfeigned and most respectful affection, 
 honored sir, your most humble and most obedient servant, 
 
 William Popple." 
 
 William Penn was at Teddington, near London, when 
 this letter reached him. It was dated the 20th of October, 
 and on the 24th he answered it. 
 
 ''Worthy Friend: — It is now above twenty years, I 
 thank God, that I have not been very solicitous what the 
 world thought of me ; for since I have had the knowledge 
 of religion from a principle in myself, the first and main 
 point with me has been to approve myself in the sight of 
 God through patience and T^ell-doing, so that the world 
 has not had weight enough with me to suffer its good 
 opinion to raise me or its ill opinion to deject me. And 
 if that had been the only rac tive or consideration, and not 
 the desire of a good friend in the name of many others, 
 29* 
 
342 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 I had been as silent to thy letter as I use to be to the idle 
 and malicious shams of the times ; but as the laws of 
 friendship are sacred with those that value that relation, 
 so I confess this to be a principal one with me, not to 
 deny a friend the satisfaction he desires, when it may be 
 done without offence to a good conscience. 
 
 " The business chiefly insisted upon is my popery, and 
 endeavors to promote it. I do say then, and that with 
 all sincerity, that I am not only no Jesuit, but no Papist, 
 and, which is more, I never had any temptation upon me 
 to be it, either from doubts in my own mind about the 
 way I profess, or from the discourses or writings of any 
 of that religion. And in the presence of Almighty God 
 1 do declare that the king did never once, directly or indi- 
 rectly, attack me or tempt me upon that subject the many 
 years that I have had the advantage of a free access to 
 him — so unjust, as well as sordidly false, are all those 
 stories of the town ! 
 
 " The only reason that I can apprehend they have to 
 repute me a Roman Catholic is my frequent going to 
 Whitehall, a place no more forbid to me than to the rest 
 of the world, who yet, it seems, find much fairer quarter. 
 I have almost continually had one business or other there 
 for our friends, whom I ever served with a steady solic- 
 itation through all times since I was of their communion. 
 I had also a great many personal good offices to do, upon 
 a principle of charity, for people of all persuasions, think- 
 ing it a duty to improve the little interest I had for the 
 good of those that needed it, especially the poor. I might 
 add something of my own affairs too, though I must own 
 (if I may without vanity) that they have ever had the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 34:3 
 
 least share of my thoughts or pains, or else they would 
 not have still depended as they yet do. 
 
 '' But because some people are so unjust as to render 
 instances for my popery (or rather hypocrisy, for so it 
 would be in me), 'tis fit I contradict them as particularly 
 as they accuse me. I say then solemnly, that I am so far 
 from having been bred at St. Omer's and having received 
 orders at Rome that I never was at either place, nor do I 
 know anybody there, nor had I ever a correspondence with 
 anybody in those places, which is another story invented 
 against me. And as for my officiating in the king's chapel, 
 or any other, it is so ridiculous, as well as untrue, that, 
 besides that nobody can do it but a priest, and that I have 
 been married to a woman of some condition above sixteen 
 years (which no priest can be by any dispensation what- 
 ever), I have not so much as looked into any chapel of the 
 Roman religion, and consequently not the king's, though 
 a common curiosity warn^nts it daily to people of all per- 
 suasions. 
 
 ^'And, once for all, I do say that I am a Protestant dis- 
 senter, and to that degree such that I challenge the most 
 celebrated Protestant of the English church, or any other 
 on that head, be he layman or clergyman, in public or in 
 private. For I would have such people know 'tis not 
 impossible for a true Protestant dissenter to be dutiful, 
 thankful, and serviceable to the king, though he be of the 
 Roman Catholic communion. We hold not our property 
 or protection from him by our persuasion, and therefore 
 his persuasion should not be the measure of our allegiance. 
 I am sorry to see so many that seem fond of the reformed 
 religion, by their disaffection to him recommend it so ill. 
 
844 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 Whatever practices of Koman Catholics we mig-ht reason- 
 ably object against (and no doubt but such there are), yet 
 he has disclaimed and reprehended those ill things by his 
 declared opinion against persecution, by the ease in which 
 he actually indulges all dissenters, and by the confirma- 
 tion he offers in Parliament for the security of the Prot- 
 estant religion and liberty of conscience. And in his 
 honor, as well as in my own defence, I am obliged in 
 conscience to say that he has ever declared to me it was 
 his opinion, and on all occasions when duke he never re- 
 fused me the repeated proofs of it, as often as I had any 
 poor sufferers for conscience' sake to solicit his help for. 
 
 " But some may be apt to say, ' Why not anybody else 
 as well as I ? Why must I have the preferable access to 
 other dissenters, if not a Papist ? ' I answer, I know not 
 that is so. But this I know, that I have made it my 
 province and business ; I have followed and prest it ; I 
 took it for my calling and statiqn, and have kept it above 
 these sixteen years ; and, which is more (if I may say it 
 without vanity or reproach), wholly at my own charges 
 too. To this let me add the relation my father had to 
 this king's service, his particular favor in getting me re- 
 leased out of the Tower of London in lfJC9, my father's 
 humble request to him upon his death-bed to protect me 
 from the inconveniences and troubles my persuasion might 
 expose me to, and his friendly promise to do it, and exact 
 performance of it from the moment I addressed myself to 
 him ; I >ay, when all this is considered, anybody that has 
 ihe least pretence to good-nature, gratitude, or generosity, 
 must needs know how to interpret my access to the king. 
 Perhaps some will be ready to say, ' This is not all, nor 
 
OF WILLIAM pe:nn. 845 
 
 is this yet a fault ; but that I have been an adviser in 
 other matters disgustful to the kingdom, and which tend 
 to the overthrow of the Protestant religion and the 
 liberties of the people.' A likely thing, indeed, that a 
 Protestant dissenter, who from fifteen years old has been 
 (at times) a sufferer in his father's family, in the Univer- 
 sity, and by the government for being so, should design 
 the destruction of the Protestant religion! This is just 
 as probable as it is true that I died a Jesuit six years ago 
 in America. ^ Will men still suffer such stuff to pass upon 
 them ? Is anything more foolish, as well as false, than 
 that because I am often at Whitehall, therefore I must 
 be the author of all that is done there that does not please 
 abroad ? But, supposing some such things to have been 
 done, pray tell me, if I am bound to oppose anything that 
 I am not called to do ? I never was a member of council, 
 cabinet, or committee, where the affairs of the kingdom 
 are transacted. I have had no ofQce, or trust, and conse- 
 quently nothing can be said to be done by me ; nor, for 
 that reason, could I lie under any test or obligation to 
 discover my opinion of public acts of state ; and, there- 
 fore, neither can any such acts, or my silence about them, 
 in justice be made my crime. Yolunteers are blanks and 
 ciphers in all governments. And unless calling at White- 
 hall once a day, upon many occasions, or my not being 
 turned out of nothing (for that no of&ce is), be the evidence 
 of my compliance in disagreeable things, I know not what 
 else can, with any truth, be alleged against me. However, 
 one thing I know, that I have everywhere most religiously 
 observed, and endeavored in conversation with persons 
 of all ranks and opinions, to allay heats and moderate 
 
816 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 extremes, even in the politics. It is below me to be 
 more particular ; but I am sure it bas been my endeavor, 
 that if we could not all meet upon a religious bottom, at 
 least we might upon a civil one, the good of England, 
 which is the common interest of king and people ; that he 
 might be great by justice, and we free by obedience; dis- 
 tinguishing rightly, on the one hand, between duty and 
 slavery, and, on the other, between liberty and licentious- 
 ness. 
 
 " But, alas, I am not without my apprehc;ision of the 
 cause of this behavior towards me, and in this I perceive 
 we agree ; I mean my constant zeal for an impartial liberty 
 of conscience. But if that be it, the cause is too good to 
 be in pain about. I ever understood that to be the natural 
 right of all men ; and that he that had a religion without 
 it, his religion was none of his own. For what is not the 
 religion of a man's choice is the religion of him that im- 
 poses it ; so that liberty of conscience is the first step to 
 have a religion. This is no new opinion with me. I 
 have writ many apologies within the last tw^enty years to 
 defend it, and that impartially. Yet I have as constantly 
 declared that bounds ought to be set to this freedom, and 
 that morality was the best ; and that as often as that was 
 violated, under a pretence of conscience, it was fit the 
 civil power should take place. Nor did I ever think of 
 promoting any sort of liberty of conscience for anybody 
 which did not preserve the common Protestancy of the 
 kingdom and the ancient rights of the government ; for, 
 to say truth, the one cannot be maintained without the 
 other. 
 
 " Upon the whole matter, I must say, I love England, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 347 
 
 1 over did so ; and that I am not in her debt. I never 
 valued time, money, or kindred, to serve her and do her 
 good. No party could ever bias me to her prejudice, nor 
 any personal interest oblig-e me in her wrong; for I 
 always abhorred discounting private favors at the public 
 cost. 
 
 ''Would I have made my market of the fears and 
 jealousies of the people, when this king came to the 
 crown, I had put twenty thousand pounds into my pocket, 
 and an hundred thousand into my province ; for mighty 
 numbers of people were then upon the wing; but I 
 waived it all ; hoped for better times ; expected the effects 
 of the king's word for liberty of conscience, and happi- 
 ness by it ; and till I saw my Friends, with the kingdom, 
 delivered from the legal bondage which penal laws for 
 religion had subjected them to, I could with no satisfac- 
 tion think of leaving England, though much to my preju 
 dice beyond sea, and at my great expense here, having in 
 all this time never had either office or pension, and always 
 refusing the rewards or gratuities of those I have been 
 able to oblige. 
 
 '' If, therefore, an universal charity, if the asserting an im- 
 partial liberty of conscience, if doing to others as we would 
 be done by, and an open avowing and steady practising of 
 these things, in all times and to all parties, will justly lay 
 a man under the reflection of being a Jesuit, or Papist of 
 any raak, I must not only submit to the character, but 
 embrace it too; and I care not who knows, that I can 
 w-ear it with more pleasure than it is possible for them 
 with any justice to give it me. For these are corner- 
 stones and principles with me ; and I am scandalized at 
 
3^8 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 all buildings which have them not for their foundations. 
 For religion itself is an empty name without them, a 
 whited wall, a painted sepulchre, no life or virtue to the 
 soul, no good or example to one's neighbor. Let us not 
 flatter ourselves ; we can never be the better for our re- 
 ligion, if our neighbor be the worse for it. Our fault is, 
 we are apt to be mighty hot upon speculative errors, and 
 break all bounds in our resentments ; but we let practical 
 ones pass without remark, if not w^ithout repentance ; as 
 if a mistake about an obscure proposition of faith were a 
 greater evil than the breach of an undoubted precept. 
 Such a religion the devils themselves are not without ; 
 for they have both faith and knowledge ; but their faith 
 doth not work by love, nor their knowledge by obedience. 
 And if this be their judgment, can it be our blessing ? 
 Let us not then think religion a litigious thing, nor that 
 Christ came only to make us good disputants, but that 
 He came also to make us good livers ; sincerity goes 
 further than capacity. It is charity that deservedly ex- 
 cels in the Christian religion ; and happy would it be if, 
 where unity ends, charity did begin, instead of envy and 
 railing, that almost ever follow. It appears to me to be 
 the way that God has found out and appointed to moder- 
 ate our differences, and make them at least harmless to 
 society ; and, therefore, I confess I dare not aggravate 
 them to wrath and blood. Our disagreement lies in our 
 apprehension or belief of things ; and if the common 
 enemy of mankind had not the governing of our affec- 
 tions and passions, that disagreement would not prove 
 such a canker, as it is, to love and peace in civil societies. 
 " He that suffers his difference with his neighbor about 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 349 
 
 the other world to carry him beyond the line of modera- 
 tion in this, is the worse for his opinion, even though it 
 be true. 
 
 " What sort of Christians must they be, I pray, that 
 can hate in his name who bids us love, and kill for his 
 sake, that forbids killing and commands love, even to 
 enemies ? 
 
 '* Though people say to God, Thy will be done, they do 
 their own ; which shows them to be true heathens, under 
 a mask of Christianity, that believe without works, and 
 repent without forsaking; busy for forms and the tem- 
 poral benefits of them ; while true religion, which is to 
 visit the fatherless and the widow, and to keep ourselves 
 unspotted from the world, goes barefoot, and, like Laza- 
 rus, is despised. Yet this was the definition the Holy 
 Ghost gave of religion before synods and councils had 
 the meddling with it and modelling of it. 
 
 ''In no age or time was there more need to set men at 
 work in their own hearts than this we live in, when so 
 busy, wandering, licentious a spirit prevails ; for, what- 
 ever some men may think, the disease of this kingdom is 
 sin, impiety against God, and want of charity to men. 
 And while this guilt is at our door, judgment cannot be 
 far off. 
 
 "■Now this being the disease, I will briefly offer two 
 things for the cure of it. 
 
 " The first is David's clean heart and right spirit, which 
 he asked and had of God: without this we must be a 
 chaos still ; for the distemper is within, and our Lord said, 
 all evil comes from thence. Set the inward man right, and 
 the outward man cannot be wrong ; that is the helm that 
 30 
 
360 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE ' 
 
 governs the human vessel ; and this nothing can do but 
 an inward principle, the light and grace that came by 
 Christ, which, the Scriptures tell us, enlightens every 
 one, and hath appeared to all men. He that gave us an 
 outward luminary for our bodies, hath given us an inward 
 one for our minds to act by. We have it, and it is our 
 condemnation that we do not love it, and bring our deeds 
 to it. 'T is by this we see our sins, are made sensible of 
 them, sorry for them, and finally forsake them. And he 
 that thinks to go to heaven a nearer way, will, I fear, be- 
 late his soul, and be irrevocably mistaken. There are but 
 goats and sheep at last, whatever shapes we wear here. 
 Let us not therefore, dear friend, deceive ourselves. Our 
 souls are at stake ; God will not be mocked ; what we sow 
 we must expect to reap. To sum up this divinity of mine, 
 it is the light of Jesus in our souls that gives us a true sight 
 of ourselves, and that sight that leads us to repentance ; 
 which repentance begets humility, and humility that true 
 charity that covers a multitude of faults, which I call God's 
 expedient against man's infirmity. 
 
 " The second remedy to our present distemper is this : 
 Since all of all parties profess to believe in God, Christ, 
 the Spirit, and Scripture ; that the soul is immortal ; that 
 there are eternal rewards and punishments ; and that the 
 virtuous shall receive the one, and the wicked suffer the 
 other ; I say, since this is the common faith of Christen- 
 dom, let us all resolve in the strength of God to live up 
 to what we agree in, before we fall out so miserably about 
 the rest in which we differ. I am persuaded the change and 
 comfort which that pious course would bring us to, would 
 go very far to dispose our natures to compound easily for 
 
'OF WILLIAM PENN. 851 
 
 all the rest, and we might hope yet to see happy clays in 
 poor England, for there I would have so good a work be- 
 gun. And how it is possible for the eminent men of every 
 religious persuasion (especially the present ministers of 
 the parishes of England) to think of giving an account 
 to God at the last day, without using the utmost of their 
 endeavors to moderate the members of their respective 
 communions towards those that differ from them, is a 
 mystery to me. But this I know, and must lay it at their 
 doors ; I charge also my own soul with it ; God requires 
 moderation and humility from us ; for He is at hand who 
 will not spare to judge our impatience, if we have no pa- 
 tience for one another. The eternal God rebuke (I be- 
 seech Him) the wrath of man, and humble all under the 
 sense of the evil of this day; and yet (unworthy as we 
 are) give us peace for his holy name's sake. 
 
 "It is now time to end this letter, and I will now do 
 it without saying any more than this: Thou seest my 
 defence against popular calumny ; thou seest what my 
 thoughts are of our condition, and the way to better 
 it ; and thou seest my hearty and humble prayer to Al- 
 mighty God to incline us to be wise, if it were but for our 
 own sakes. I shall only add that I am extremely sensible of 
 the kindness and justice intended me by my friends on this 
 occasion, and that I am for that and many more reasons, 
 '' Thy obliged and affectionate Friend, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 In about a fortnight after the writing of this letter, the 
 nation being in a ferment on account of the arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings of James II., William Prince of Orange landed 
 
852 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 at Torbay. He was received there with open arms as 
 well as afterwards by the country at large. Officers and 
 men, abandoning their former banners, deserted to serve 
 under him. The national discontent indeed was such that 
 James found it necessary to leave the kingdom and to re- 
 tire to France. In process of time, as is well known, the 
 Prince of Orange and his consort were advanced to the 
 sovereignty of the realm. 
 
 "William Penn lost, by the flight of the king, one who, 
 with all his political failings, had been his firm friend. 
 He was left exposed to the popular indignation as a Papist 
 and Jesuit, and .as one who had aimed to establish 
 popery and arbitrary power in the kingdom. To return 
 to America, though she presented to him a peaceful asy- 
 lum, would have led persons to conclude that he had been 
 guilty of what had been laid to his charge. Conscious 
 of his own innocence, he resolved to remain where he 
 was, following those occupations by which he thought he 
 could best promote the good of his fellow-creatures. 
 
 But it was not long after this determination before he 
 felt the effect of the political change which had taken 
 place ; for on the 10th of Twelfth month, walking in White- 
 hall, he was sent for by the Lords of the Council, who 
 were then sitting. Here he underwent an examination. 
 In reply to some questions which were put to him, he 
 protested that " he had done nothing but what he could 
 answer before God and all the princes in the world ; that 
 he loved his country and the Protestant religion above his 
 life, and had never acted against either ; that all he had 
 ever aimed at in his public endeavors was no other than 
 what the prince himself had declared for; that King 
 
OF WILLIAM pp:nn. 353 
 
 James Iiad always been his friend and his father's friend ; 
 and that in gratitude he himself was the king's, and did 
 ever, as much as in him lay, influence him to his true 
 interest." Notwithstanding this manly and open declara- 
 non, and that nothing appeared against him, the council 
 obliged him to give security for his appearance the first 
 day of the next term. 
 
 30* X 
 
o5J: PASSAGES FROM T PI E LIFE 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 WHILE William Penn was in England, the want 
 of his presence in Pennsylvania was felt and la- 
 mented by the inhabitants there. The burden of govern- 
 ment had rested principally upon Thomas Lloyd, a valua- 
 ble member and minister of the Society of Friends ; but as 
 he was desirous of being released from the care and respon- 
 sibility of his public station, William Penn reluctantly 
 granted his request, and nominated Captain John Black- 
 well as his deputy. In his letter to his friends in Penn- 
 sylvania, he says: " For your ease, I have appointed one 
 that is not a Friend, but a grave, sober, wise man, to be 
 (jrovernor in my absence. He married old General Lam- 
 bert's daughter, was treasurer to the Commonwealth's 
 army in England, Scotland, and Ireland : I suppose inde- 
 pendent in judgment. Let him see what he can do awhile. 
 I have ordered him to confer in private with jon, and 
 square himself by your advice. If he do not please you, 
 he shall be laid aside. I desire you to receive him with 
 kindness, and let him see it, and use his not being a Friend 
 to Friends' advantage. He has a mighty repute of all 
 sorts of honest people w^ere he has inhabited, which, 
 with my knowledge, has made me venture upon him. I 
 have rough people to deal with about my quit-rents, that 
 yet cannot pay a ten-pound bill, but draw, draw, draw, 
 still upon me. And it being his talent (Blackwell's) to 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 355 
 
 regulate and set things in method, easy and lust, I have 
 pitched upon him to advise therein." 
 
 Among the instructions accompanying the commission 
 sent to this officer are the following: ''That the widow, 
 orphan, and absent may be particularly regarded in their 
 rights, for their cry will be loudest in all ears ; but by 
 absent, I mean such as are so of necessity. To have a 
 special care that sheriffs and clerks of the peace impose 
 not upon the people, and that the magistrates live peace- 
 ably and soberly, for I could not endure one loose or liti- 
 gious person in authority. Let them be men having some 
 fear of God, and hating covetousness, whatever be their 
 persuasion ; to employ others is to profane an ordinance 
 of God. Rule the meek meekly, and those that will not 
 be ruled, rule with authority, and God Almighty prosper 
 all honest and prudent endeavors." 
 
 The appointment of Deputy-Governor Blackw^ell did not 
 answer the expectations of the Proprietary. He did not 
 harmonize with the inhabitants there, and William Penn 
 was induced in a short time to revoke his commission. 
 
 While under bail for his appearance before the council, 
 William Penn wrote to Friends in Pennsylvania : 
 
 " My Dear Friends and Brethren: — If it be with you 
 as I -can say it is with me, in the presence of God, then 
 are we one in Him, for neither length of days, nor distance 
 of place, nor all the many waters between us, can separate 
 my heart and affection from you. . . . 
 
 " Great revolutions have been of late in this land of 
 your nativity, and where they may period the Jjord knows. 
 It can be no new thing for us to meet with exercises. 
 
356 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Europe look^ like a sea of trouble — wars all over it like to 
 be this summer. I strongl}' desire to see you before it be 
 spent, if the Lord will ; and I can say in his sight, that to 
 improve my interest with King* James for tender eon- 
 sciences, and that a Christian liberty might be legally 
 settled, though against my own interest, was that which 
 separated me from you chiefl}^. I desire your remem- 
 brance before the Lord; as you are not, and cannot be, 
 forgotten in my addresses and approaches to Him, w^ho 
 rest in his unchangeable love, dear friends and brethren, 
 yours unalterably, in the communion of the blessed truth, 
 
 William Penn. 
 " The 2d of the Fii-st month, 1GS9." 
 
 When William Penn's case was finally brought before 
 court he was cleared, there being no charge against him. 
 
 After the retirement of Governor Blackwell, Thomas 
 Lloyd again consented to act as president of the council, 
 the executive duties having now reverted to it. William 
 Penn at this time wrote to them : 
 
 " London, 12th of Sixth month, 1GS9. 
 
 " Friends : — I heartily wish you all well, and beseech 
 God to guide you in the ways of righteousness and peace. 
 I have thought fit, upon my further stop in these part^, to 
 throw all into your hands, that you may all see the confi- 
 dence I have in you, and the desire I have to give you all 
 possible contentment. I do earnestly press your constant 
 attendance upon the government, and the diligent pursuit 
 of p*eace and virtue ; and God Almighty strengthen your 
 hands in so good a work. I also recommend to you the 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 857 
 
 particular discipline of that town you meet in ; that so- 
 briety and gravity be maintained, and authority kept in 
 respect. As it comes in your way, countenance my offi- 
 cers in collecting my small revenue. Whatever you do, I 
 desire, beseech, and charge' you all to avoid factions and 
 parties, whisperings and reportings, and all animosities; 
 that putting your common shoulders to the public work, 
 you may have the reward of good men and patriots, and 
 so I bid you farewell. 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 He afterwards wrote to the Provincial Council : 
 
 "Hammersmith, the 30th of the Tenth month, 1689. 
 
 "Dear Friends: — I cannot slip this opportunity, but 
 send you the endeared salutations of my love, that, in the 
 truth, gives me frequent occasion to remember you, and 
 earnestly desire your preservation to God, as well as your 
 comfort and prosperity in outward things. About which 
 have a care, that they grow not too fast upon you, nor too 
 many for you — I mean as to the care and concerns that 
 attend them in the exercise of your spirits ; for it is a 
 blessed state to enjoy and use of the world, in the domin- 
 ion of his life and power, that has quickened us by his 
 light and spirit a people to himself, for in this stands all our 
 peace and blessedness, that God be eyed in the first place, 
 that we set Him on our right hand, that we set Him con- 
 tinually before our eyes, and that our eye be directed 
 towards Him in all things, as the eye of a handmaid to 
 her mistress, that we may be able to say in truth and 
 righteousness, we have none' in heaven but Him, nor any 
 
358 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 on earth besides Him. This it is that keeps- God's people 
 everywhere ; for hereby they put on Christ in all his. 
 blessed teachings and leadings, and make no provision for 
 the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. Friends, these are 
 deep words and deeper things. And now. Friends, I 
 have a word more to you, and that is this : that faith, hope, 
 and charity are the great helps and marks of true Chris- 
 tians ; but above all charity is the love of God or divine love. 
 It will preserve peace in the church, peace in the State, 
 peace in families, aye, and peace in particular bosoms. God 
 Almighty draw, I beseech Him, all your hearts into this 
 heavenly love more and more, that the work of it may 
 shine out to God's glory and your comfort. For matters 
 here, as to myself, I am well and free ; and for the church 
 of God liberty continues. But in the nations of Europe 
 great wars and rumors of war, such as have not been, 
 almost from the beginning ; suns are turned into dark- 
 ness and moons into blood, for the notable day is at the 
 door. It could [not] be borne from some of you when 
 you went for America, that such a day would come ; but 
 come and coming it is, for almost every eye sees it and 
 tongue says it, and some thousands, alas ! have already 
 felt it. Sanctify, therefore, the Lord in your hearts ; be 
 satisfied in Him and in your lot, and walk worthy of his 
 daily mercy and attendance upon you and care over you. 
 And the Lord keep you to the end. 
 
 " I am, in the truth that makes us near to God and one 
 to another, your faithful friend and brother, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 359 
 
 XIX. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN, though he saw no disposition 
 either in the king or in the Parliament to amend the 
 toleration act, so as to bring it nearer to his own wishes, 
 had yet the pleasure to find that it had at least become 
 so popular, except among some of the clergy, that it was 
 likely to maintain its ground. He resolved, therefore, to 
 embark for Pennsylvania in the course of the present year. 
 He had been in the habit of writing to the Duke of 
 Buckingham, who was then deceased. A friend of his 
 had fallen in with some of his letters, and was then col- 
 lecting them, with a view of preventing them from passing 
 into improper hands ; for he supposed, probably, that they 
 might contain political matter ; and as William Penn was 
 then daily watched by the new government as a persoi 
 suspected to be hostile to it, there might be expressions in 
 them which might afford his enemies a handle for putting 
 him to trouble. He wrote to this friend : 
 
 '* Being informed by Jer. Grimshaw that some of my 
 letters to the late Duke of Buckingham are in thy hands, 
 and that thy wonted kindness to all of our communion hiid 
 shown itself in my regard by collecting them apart, to pre- 
 vent their falling under any improper notice, I thought 
 myself obliged, both to return my acknowledgments for 
 that friendlv caution, and to desire thee to let them follow 
 
860 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 him they were written to, who can be no more known to 
 the living. Poor gentleman I I need not trust another 
 hand than that which was unwilling any other should be 
 trusted with them but my own. I know not what the 
 circumstances of that time might draw from me ; but my 
 only business with him ever was to make his superior 
 quality and sense useful to this kingdom, that he might 
 not die under the guilt of misspending the greatest talents 
 that were among the nobility of any country. However, 
 in the rubbish of those times, and the late extraordinary 
 revolution, let them lie ; and let us all think of this only 
 way to the peace and happiness we pretend to seek, namely, 
 to give God his due out of us, and then we shall have our 
 dues out of one another ; and without it, let us not wonder 
 at the nimble turns of the world, nor reflect upon the mis- 
 chiefs that attend them. Things do not change. Causes 
 and effects are ever the same ; and they that seek to over- 
 rule the eternal order, fight with the winds and overthrow 
 themselves. But what is this to my subject? I close 
 with the true sense of all thy tenderness to our poor folks, 
 and regards to myself, beseeching God that more than the 
 reward of him that gives a cup of cold water in the name 
 of a disciple may be thy portion, when this very trifling 
 world may be no more. 
 
 "I am thy affectionate, true Friend, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 Soon after the writing of this letter, and while he was 
 turning his thoughts towards the things to be done pre- 
 paratory to his voyage, he was arrested by a body of 
 military, and brought again before the lords of the council 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 361 
 
 The charge then against him was that he was holding a 
 traitorous correspondence with the late king, who was 
 then in France. Upon this, he desired to appeal to King 
 William in person. His request was granted. The king 
 and council appeared together. A letter was then pro- 
 duced which had been written to him by James, and 
 which had been intercepted by government on its way, in 
 which he (James) " desired him (Penn) to come to his 
 assistance, and to express to him the resentments of his 
 favor and benevolence." The question first put to William 
 Penn was why King James wrote to him ? He answered 
 that it was impossible for him to prevent the king from 
 writing to him if he (the king) chose it. He was then 
 questioned as to what resentments these were which James 
 seemed to desire of him. He answered, " he knew not ; 
 but he supposed the king meant that he should endeavor 
 his restoration. Though, however, he could not avoid the 
 suspicion of such an attempt, he could avoid the guilt of 
 it. He confessed he had loved King James, and, as he 
 had loved him in his prosperity, he could not hate him in 
 his adversity ; yes ; he loved him yet for the many favors 
 he had conferred on him, though he could not join with 
 him in what concerned the state of the kingdom. He 
 owned again that he had been much oblis-ed to the kins:, 
 and that he was willing to repay his kindness by any 
 private service in his power ; but that he must observe 
 inviolably and entirely that duty to the State which be- 
 longed to all the subjects of it; and therefore that he 
 had never had the wickedness even to think of endeavor- 
 ing to restore him that crown which had faUon from his 
 head ; so that nothing in that letter could in any wise fix 
 31 
 
362 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 guilt upon him." This defence, which was at once manlj, 
 open, and explicit, had its weight with the king, so that 
 he felt himself inclined to dismiss him as an innocent 
 person ; but some of the council interfering, he, to please 
 them, ordered him to give bail to appear at the next Trin- 
 iiy term. After this he was permitted to withdraw, and 
 to go at large as before. 
 
 At the time appointed he appeared in court ; but here, 
 as before, no one coming forward as evidence against him, 
 he was honorably discharged. 
 
 Being once more at liberty he returned to his home, 
 and his voyage occupied his attention again. At this time 
 the country was in great consternation on account of an 
 expected invasion by the French. The French fleet had 
 already beaten the English in conjunction with the Dutch, 
 and was then hovering off the coast. King William, too, 
 was in Ireland. The queen therefore was obliged to exert 
 herself in defence of the nation. This she did by calling 
 out the militia and in other ways ; but in order to strike 
 terror at this moment into the supposed conspirators with 
 France, she published a proclamation for apprehending 
 about twenty persons, mostly noblemen, and including 
 William Penn. The proclamation was not out long be- 
 fore he was again apprehended and sent to prison. He 
 was obliged to lie there till the last day of Michaelmas 
 term, when he was brought up before the King's Bench 
 Court, Westminster, for trial. The result was equally 
 honorable as in the former cases ; for, though evidence 
 appeared, it failed to prove anything against him. 
 
 Just at this time he attended at the death-bed of his 
 loved and honored friend Georce Fox. It fell to his lot 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 353 
 
 to communicate this event to his wife, who was then in 
 Lancashire. His letter was very short. ''I am to be," 
 says he, " the teller to thee of sorrowful tidings in some 
 respect, which is this, that thy dear husband and my be- 
 loved and dear friend finished his glorious testimony this 
 night about half an hour after nine, being sensible to the 
 last breath. Oh, he is gone, and has left us in the storm 
 that is over our heads, surely in great mercy to him, but 
 as an evidence to us of sorrows to come ! " In alluding 
 to his powers as a minister of the Gospel he says, "A 
 prince indeed is fallen in Israel to-day ; " and to his irre- 
 proachable life, " He died as he lived, a lamb, minding the 
 things of God and his church to the last, in an universal 
 spirit." After this, when the time came, he attended his 
 remains to the grave. Here he spoke publicly, and for a 
 considerable time, to about two thousand persons who at- 
 tended the funeral. 
 
 A day or two before the funeral of George Fox, an in- 
 famous character of the name of Fuller, one whom Par- 
 liament afterwards declared a cheat and an impostor, had 
 come forward with an accusation against him upon oath, 
 so that messengers had been sent to the very funeral itself 
 with a warrant to apprehend him ; but, mistaking the hour, 
 they arrived too late for their purpose. Unable now to 
 leave the kingdom with honor, the vessels proceeded with- 
 out him to Pennsylvania. 
 
 William Penn had hitherto defended himself before the 
 king and council, and established his innocence to general 
 satisfaction. * But the prosecution which now awaited him 
 seems to have assumed a more threatening aspect than any 
 preceding one. His biographers have not given a very 
 
364 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 clear account of the specific charge which was preferred 
 against him. It appears to have been a participation with 
 others in a conspiracy for the restoration of James. This 
 plot was principally charged upon the Roman Catholics, 
 and William Penn was, in the idle rumors of the day, 
 ranked with the adherents to the Popish faith. There 
 was therefore reason to apprehend that the general odium 
 resting upon the professors of that religion would be 
 brought to bear upon this prosecution. The trials and 
 executions upon the pretended disclosures of Gates and 
 Bedloe must have been fresh in his memory. Under these 
 circumstances William Penn judged it most prudent to 
 remain for a time in retirement. He accordingly appeared 
 but little in public for two or tlwee years. 
 
 There seems no doubt that, as his private residence at 
 London could have easily been known, the king and queen 
 had no desire to bring him to trial, believing his inno- 
 cence ; but that his name had been included in the war- 
 rant by some of the king's advisers for the sake of the 
 effect on the public mind. 
 
 From the place of his seclusion he sent the following 
 letter to the Yearly Meeting of Friends; 
 
 "Third month 30th, 1691. 
 " My Beloved, Dear, and Honored Brethren : — My 
 unchangeable love salutes you, and though I am absent 
 from you, I feel the sweet and lowly life of your heavenly 
 fellowship, by which I am with you, and a partaker 
 amongst you, whom I have loved above my chiefest joy. 
 Receive no evil surmisings ; neither suffer hard thoughts, 
 through the insinuations of any, to enter your minds 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 865 
 
 against mc, your afflicted, but not forsaken, friend and 
 brother. My enemies are yours, and, in the ground, mine 
 for your sakes ; and that God seeth in secret, and will one 
 day reward openly. My privacy is not because men have 
 sworn truly, but falsely, against me ; ' for wicked men 
 have laid in wait for me, and false witnesses have laid to 
 my charge things that I knew not ; ' who have never sought 
 myself, but the good of all, through great exercises ; and 
 have done some good, and would have done more, and 
 hurt no man ; but always desired that truth and righteous- 
 ness, mercy,' and peace, might take place amongst us. 
 Feel me near you, and lay me near you, my dear and 
 beloved brethren, and leave me not, neither forsake, but 
 wrestle with Him that is able to prevail against the cruel 
 desires of some ; that we may yet meet in the congrega- 
 tions of his people, as in days past, to our mutual comfort. 
 The everlasting God of his chosen, in all generations, be 
 in the midst of you, and crown your most solemn as- 
 semblies with his blessed presence, that his tender, meek, 
 lowly, and heavenly love and life, may flow among you, 
 and that He would please to make it a seasoning and 
 fruitful opportunity to you, desiring to be remembered of 
 you before Him, in the nearest and freshest accesses, who 
 cannot forget you* in the nearest relation. 
 
 " Your faithful friend and brother, 
 
 William Penn.'' 
 
 Soon after he wrote to Thomas Lloyd, President of the 
 Council in Pennsylvania. 
 31* 
 
o66 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 "London, 14tli of Fourth montli, IfiOl. 
 
 " Dear Friend : — My love in the unchangeable truth 
 Balutes thee and thine, and the friends and family of God, 
 in those parts, desiring your temporal and everlasting wel- 
 fare, with an unfeigned affection. 
 
 '* By this time thou wilt have h(iard of the renewal of 
 my troubles, the only let of my return, being in the midst 
 of my preparations, w-ith a great company of adventurers, 
 when they fell upon me. The jealousies of some, and un- 
 worthy dealing of others, have made way for them ; but 
 under and over it all the ancient rock has beeTi my shelter 
 and comfort ; and I hope yet to see your faces, with our 
 ancient satisfactions. The Lord grant, if it be for his 
 glory, whose I desire to be, in all conditions ; for this 
 world passeth away and the form and beauty of it fadeth ; 
 but there are eternal habitations for the faithful ; amongst 
 whom I pray that my lot may be, rather than amongst 
 the princes of the earth. I hope I need not urge my 
 circumstances to excite thy love, care, and concern for me 
 and my suffering interest in the country. I know thou 
 hast better learned Christ and Cato, if I may so say, and 
 wilt embrace such an opportunity to choose to express 
 thy friendship and sincerity. By all this God may pre- 
 pare me to be fitter for future service even to you there. 
 I ask the people forgiveness for my long stay ; but when 
 I consider how much it has been my great loss, and for 
 an ungrateful generation, it is punishment I It has been 
 £20,000 to my damage in the country, and above £10,000 
 here, and to the province five hundred families; but iIk? 
 wise God that can do what He pleases, as well as see what 
 is in man's heart, is able to recpiite all ; and I am persuaded 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 367 
 
 all ^hall yet work together for god in this very thing, if 
 W6 can overlook all that stands in the way of our views, 
 Godward, in public matters. See that all be done prudently 
 and humbly, and keep down irreverence and looseness, 
 and cherish industry and sobriety. 
 
 " Thou hast heard of our great loss of dear John Burn- 
 yeat, and Robert Lodges, one in Ireland, and t'other in 
 England, in about the same week ; and Robert Barclay, 
 Th. Salthouse, and dearly beloved George Fox, since. He 
 died at Henry Goulney's, by Gracious Street meeting- 
 house, where he preached his farewell the First day, and 
 departed the Third, at night, between nine and ten. I 
 was with him ; he earnestly recommended to me his love 
 to you all, and said, 'William, mind poor Friends in 
 America.' He died triumphantly over death ; very easily 
 foresaw his change. He was got into his inn, before the 
 storm that is coming overtook him, and that night, very 
 providentially, I escaped the messenger's hands. I shall 
 add only, that Friends have had an extraordinary time 
 this General Meeting, so that God supplied that visible 
 loss with his glorious presence." 
 
3()S PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 XX. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN did not permit the time of his seclu- 
 sion to pass unemployed, but produced several valu- 
 able tracts. One of them is entitled 
 
 *'A Key, opening the way to every capacity how to 
 
 DISTINGUISH THE RELIGION PROFESSED BY THE PEOPLE 
 
 CALLED Quakers from the perversions and misrep- 
 resentations OF their adversaries." 
 
 The following passages are taken from it. 
 
 Reader : — Observing the prevailing power of prejudice, 
 we have the less wondered at the hard treatment which 
 we, as a people, have suffered from other persuasions. 
 The credulous have been excited to look upon and treat 
 us as heretics, seducers, blasphemers, and what not, while, 
 blessed be God, our aim and bent have been the very power 
 and work of religion upon our souls, that we might be 
 God's workmanship, through Christ Jesus his blessed Son 
 and heavenly agent; taking this to be the very life and soul 
 of true religion, the effect and fruit of the Divine nature, 
 which makes us Christians indeed here and fits us for glory 
 hereafter. It will be the business of this little key to 
 open a way to so clear and plain an understanding of our 
 true principles, distinguished from our enemies' perver- 
 sions, that we hope, with God's blessing, all impartial 
 
OF WILLIAM PR NX. 30)0 
 
 inquirers will be satisfied of our holy and Cbristian pro- 
 fession. 
 
 Fej^version. The Quakers hold that the natural light in 
 the conscience of every man ^*n the world is sufficient to 
 save all that follow it, and so ihey overthrow salvation by 
 Christ. 
 
 A mighty error indeed, if it were true. 
 
 Principle. But it is at best a great mistake. For their 
 belief and assertion is, that Christ, who is the Word that 
 was with God, and was God, and is so forever, hath en-. 
 lightened every man that cometh into the world with his 
 own light. And that such as follow the reproofs, con- 
 victions, and leadings of that light, with which He en- 
 lightens the understandings and consciences of men, shall 
 not walk in darkness, that is, in evil and ignorance of 
 God, but shall have the light of life, that is, be in a holy 
 and living state or condition towards God — a state of 
 acceptance and salvation, which is fi'om sin here as well 
 as from wrath hereafter, for which end Christ was given 
 of God. So that they assert the light of Christ to be 
 sufficient to save, that is, to convince of sin, lead out of it, 
 and quicken the soul in the ways of holiness, and not to be 
 a natural light ; but as all men born into the world have a 
 measure of Christ's light, so it may, in a sense, be said to 
 be natural to all men, because all men who come into the 
 world have it. This light is something else than the bare 
 understanding man hath as a rational creature ; since, as 
 such, man cannot be a light to himself, but has only a 
 capacity of seeing by means of the li,i;-ht with which 
 Christ, the Word, enlighteneth him. But as the sun in 
 the firmament is the light of our bodies, so the light of the 
 
 Y 
 
370 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Divine Word is the sun of our souls — the glorious lumi- 
 nary of the intellectual world ; and they that walk in it 
 will by it be led to blessedness. 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers hold that the light within them 
 is God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit ; so that every Quaker 
 has whole God, Christ, and Holy Spirit in him, which is 
 gross blasphemy. 
 
 Principle. This is also a mistake of their belief. They 
 never said that every Divine illumination, or manifesta- 
 tion of Christ in the hearts of men, was whole God, 
 Christ, or the Spirit, which might render them guilty of 
 that gross and blasphemous absurdity some would fasten 
 upon them. But that God, who is light, or the Word 
 Christ, who is light, styled the second Adam, the Lord 
 from heaven, and the quickening Spirit, who is God over 
 all, blessed forever, hath enlightened mankind with a 
 measure of saving light ; who said, I am the Light of 
 the world ; and they that follow me shall not abide in 
 darkness, but have the light of life. So that the illumi- 
 nation is from God, or Christ the Divine Word; but not, 
 therefore, that whole God or Christ is in every man, any 
 more than the whole sun or air is in every house or cham- 
 ber. 
 
 Yet in a sense the Scriptures say it, and that is their 
 sense, in which only they say the same thing. I will 
 walk in them and dwell in them. He that dwelleth with 
 you shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, 1 
 will come to you. I in them and they in me. Christ in 
 us the hope of glory. Unless Christ be in you, ye are 
 reprobates. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 371 
 
 Per\:ersion. By the Quaker's doctrine every man must 
 be saved, for every man, they say, is savingly enlightened. 
 Princiijle. Not so either. For though the light or grace 
 of God hath and doth, more or less, appear to all men, 
 and brings salvation to as many as are taught by it to 
 deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly 
 and righteously and godly in this present world, as the 
 Scripture teacheth, yet it no way follows that men must 
 obey and learn so to do whether they will or not. God 
 tenders saving light or grace to all, and by it calls all, 
 and strives and pleads with all, according to the measure 
 and manifestation of it ; but if they will not hearken to 
 it, He is clear of their blood. 
 
 Per version. By the Quakers' Light or Spirit' they may 
 be moved to murder, treason, theft, or any such like wick- 
 edness, because they say that such as are so led have the 
 light within them. 
 
 Principle. This never was their doctrine, nor is it con- 
 sequent of it. For though they hold that all have light, 
 they never said that all obeyed it, or that evil men, as 
 such, or in such things, were led by it. For herein they 
 know the Spirit of God and the motions of it from the 
 spirit of this world and its fruits— that the Spirit of God 
 condemns all ungodliness, and moves and inclines to 
 purity, mercy, and righteousness, which are of God. 
 
 They deny and abominate that loose and ranting mind 
 which would charge the Spirit of God with their unholy 
 liberty. • God's Spirit makes people free from sin, and not 
 to commit sin. Man's sin and destruction are of 'himself ; 
 but his help is in God alone, through Jesus Christ, our 
 blessed sacrifice and sanctifier. 
 
372 PASSAGES F R O >r T IT E T. T F E 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers must all be infallible and per- 
 fect, if they have such an infallible light in them. 
 
 Principle. No such matter. This is also a great abuse of 
 their true meaning. They say the spirit of Truth is pure, 
 perfect, unerrable in itself, or else it were very unfit to 
 lead men out of error and impurity. But they never did 
 assert themselves such, merel}'' because it was within them, 
 by no means. But that all who are led by it, and live ac- 
 cording to its manifestation, are so far perfect, and so far 
 infallible in the right way as they are led by it, and not a 
 jot farther. And let it be noted that though this Spirit 
 be in man, yet it is not of man, but of God, through 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers deny the Scriptures, for they 
 deny them to be the Word of God. 
 
 PiHnciple. They own and style the Scriptures as they 
 own and style themselves, viz., a declaration of those things 
 most truly believed, given forth in former ages by the 
 inspiration of the Holy Spirit; consequently, that they 
 are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
 instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be 
 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. They 
 are the form of sound words. We profess to believe them 
 and read them, and say it is the work we have to do in 
 this world, and the earnest desire of our souls to Almighty 
 God that we may feel and witness the fulfilling of them in 
 nnd upon ourselves; that so God's will maybe done in 
 earth as it is in heaven. But to call them the Word of 
 God, the ground of the charge, which they never call 
 themselves, but by which they peculiarly denominate and 
 call Christ, in reference to Christ and in no slight to them, 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXX. 373 
 
 (wbich we believe to be of Divine authority, and embrace 
 as the best of books, and allow to be as much the Word 
 of God as a book can be,) they do, as in duty and reason 
 bound, attribute that title to Christ only. 
 
 And yet, as the word of God may, in some sense, sig- 
 nify the command of God, referring- to the thing or matter 
 commanded as the mind of God, it may be called the Word 
 of the Lord, or Word of God ; as, on particular occasions, 
 the prophets had the Word of the Lord to persons and 
 places, that is to say, the mind or will of God, or that 
 which was commanded them of the Lord to declare or do. 
 So Christ uses it when He tells the Pharisees that they 
 had made the word (or command) of God of none effect by 
 their traditions. But because people are so apt to think 
 if they have the Scriptures they have all (for that they 
 account them the only word of God, and so look no far- 
 ther, that is, to no other Word, from whence those good 
 words came), therefore this people have been constrained, 
 and, they believe, by God's good Spirit, once and again to 
 point them to the great Word of words, Christ Jesus, in 
 whom is life, and that life the light of men ; that they 
 might feel something nearer to them than the Scriptures, 
 to wit, the ¥/ord in the heart, from whence all Holy Scrip- 
 ture came, which is Christ within them the hope of their 
 ■glory. And to be sure He is the only right expounder, 
 as well as the author, of Holy Scripture, without whose 
 light, spirit, or grace they cannot be savingly read by those 
 that read them. 
 
 God hath made use of the Scriptures, and daily doth 
 and will make use of them, for instruction, reproof, com- 
 fort, and edification, through the Spirit, to those that read 
 32 
 
374 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 them as they ought to do. Thus they say they have felt 
 them, and ::.o they have been and are made unto them, 
 and wish heartily they were more in request -with the 
 professors of Christianity. 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers assert the Spiri\ of God to be 
 the immediate teacher, and that there is no other means 
 now to be used, as ministry, ordinances, etc. 
 
 Frinciple. They never denied the use of means, but to 
 this day, from the beginning, they have been in the prac- 
 tice of them. But then they are such means as are used 
 in the life and power of God. They cannot own that to 
 be a Gospel ministry that is without a Gospel Spirit, or 
 that such can be sent of God who are not taught of God, 
 or that they are fit to^teach others what regeneration and 
 the way to heaven are who have never been born again 
 themselves ; or that such can bring souls to God who are 
 themselves strangers (like those in the Acts xix. 21) to 
 the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This unexperienced and lifeless ministry is the only 
 ministry, and such the only ministers that the people 
 called Quakers cannot own and receive, and therefore can- 
 not maintain. For the ministry and the ministers that 
 are according to Scripture, they both own, respect, and 
 delight in, and are ready to assist and support in their 
 service for God. 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers deny the Trinity. 
 
 Principle. Nothing less : they believe in the holy three, or 
 Trinity of Father, Word and Spirit, according to Scripture. 
 And that these three are truly and properly one ; of one 
 nature as well as will. But they are very tender of quit- 
 ting Scripture terms and phrases for schoolmen's, such as 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 375 
 
 distinct and separate persons and subsistences, etc., are ; 
 from whence people are apt to entertain gross ideas and 
 notions of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And they 
 judge that a curious inquiry into those high and divine 
 revelations, or into speculative subjects, though never so 
 great truths in themselves, tend little to godliness and less 
 to peace, which should be the chief aim of true Christians. 
 Therefore they cannot gratify that curiosity in themselves 
 or others. Speculative truths are, in their judgment, to 
 be sparingly and tenderly declared, and never to be made 
 Ihe measure and condition of Christian communion. For 
 besides that Christ Jesus hath taught them other things, 
 the sad consequence, in all times, of superfining upon 
 Scripture texts, do sufficiently caution and forbid them. 
 
 Percersion. The Quakers deny Christ to be God. 
 
 Principle. A most untrue and unreasonable censure, for 
 their great and characteristic principle being this, that 
 Christ, as the Divine "Word, lighteth the souls of all men 
 that come into the world, with a spiritual and saving 
 light, according to John i. 9, viii. 12, which nothing but 
 the Creator of souls can do, it sufficiently shows that they 
 believe Him to be God, for they truly and expressly own 
 Plira to be so, according to Scripture, viz. : *'In Him was 
 Life, and that Life the light of men ; and He is God over 
 all, blessed forever." 
 
 Perversion. The Quakers deny the human nature of 
 Christ. 
 
 Principle. We never taught, said, or held so gross a 
 tiling, if by human nature be understood the manhood of 
 Christ Jesus. For as we believe Him to be God over all, 
 blessed forever, so we do as truly believe Him to be of the 
 
S76 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 seed of Abraham and David after the flesh, and therefore 
 truly and properly man, like us in all things, and once sub- 
 ject to all things for our sakes, sin only excepted. 
 
 Pei^version. The Quakers expect to be justified and 
 saved by the Light within them, and not by the death 
 and sufferings of Christ. 
 
 Principle. This is both unfairly and untruly stated and 
 charged upon us. But the various senses of the word 
 justification, oblige me here to distinguish the use of it, 
 for in the natural and proper sense it plainly implies mak- 
 ing men just who were unjust, godly that were ungodly, 
 upright that were depraved; as the apostle expresseth 
 himself, 1 Cor. vi. 11, "And such were some of you, but 
 ye are washed, but 3'e are sanctified, but ye are justified 
 in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
 God." Li the other use of the word, which some call a 
 law-sense, it refers to Christ as a sacrifice and propitiation 
 for sin, as in Rom, v. 9, '' Much more then, being now 
 justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
 through Him ; " and 1 John ii. 1, 2, " If any man sin, we 
 have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the right- 
 eous, and He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for 
 ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 
 Which, though a great truth and most firmly believed by 
 us, yet no man can be entitled to the benefit thereof, but 
 as he comes to believe and repent of the evil of his ways, 
 and then it may be truly said that God justifieth even the 
 ungodly, and looks upon them through Christ, as if they 
 had never sinned, because their sins are forgiven them for 
 bis beloved Son's sake. 
 
 Not thai God looks on people to be in Christ, who are 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXJS-. 377 
 
 tot in Christ, that is, who ore not in the faith, obedience 
 and self-denial of Christ, nor sanctified, nor led by his 
 Spirit, but rebel against it, and instead of dying to sin 
 through a true and unfeigned repentance, live and indulge 
 themselves daily in it; for they that are in Christ become 
 new creatures, old things are passed away, and all thing&i 
 with them become new. Wherefore, we say, that what- 
 ever Christ then did, both living and dying, was of great 
 benefit to the salvation of all who have believed, and now 
 do, and who hereafter shall believe in Him unto justifica- 
 tion and acceptance with God. But the way to come to 
 that faith is to receive and obey the manifestation of his 
 Divine light and grace in their consciences, which leads 
 men to believe and value, and not to disown or under- 
 value Christ, as the common sacrifice and mediator. For 
 we do affirm, that to follow this holy Light in the con- 
 science, and to turn our minds and bring all our deeds 
 and thoughts to it, is the readiest, nay, the only right way 
 to have true living and sanctifying faith in Christ as He 
 appeared in the flesh, and to discern the Lord's body, 
 coming, and sufferings aright, and to receive any real 
 benefit by Him, as their only sacrifice and mediator. 
 According to the beloved disciple's emphatical passages, 
 " If we walk in the light, as (God) is in the light, we 
 have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus 
 Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." And because 
 this people say, that Christ's outward coming and suffer- 
 ings profit not to their salvation who live in sin and rebel 
 against this Divine light, so^ne have untruly and unchar- 
 itably concluded that they deny the virtue and benefit of 
 Christ's coming and sufferings in the flesh as a sacrifice for 
 32* 
 
378 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 sin. Whereas we only deny and oppose a false and dan. 
 g-crons application of them in and to a disobedient state. 
 For we believe Christ came not to save men in their sins, 
 but from their sins ; and that those that open the door of 
 their hearts at his inward and spiritual knocks (to wit, 
 the reproofs and convictions of his light and grace), have 
 their consciences sprinkled with his blood (that is, dis- 
 charged from the guilt of them), from dead works, to serve 
 the living God. And so far only as men come by faith, 
 repentance, and amendment to be Christ's, Christ is theirs, 
 and as He has an interest in their hearts, they have an 
 interest in his love and salvation, that is, so far as they 
 are obedient to his grace and take up his cross and follow 
 Him in the ways of meekness, holiness, and self-denial ; so 
 far they have an interest in Christ, and no farther. And 
 here there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ 
 Jesus, because such walk not after the flesh, but after the 
 Spirit, for we have seen a shoal or sand here upon which 
 we fear many thousands have split, and which we desire 
 to avoid, and are earnest that others may beware of it 
 also, viz., that because Christ died a sacrifice for the sins 
 of the whole world, by which He put mankind into a 
 capacity of salvation, and has given every one a talent 
 of grace to work it out by, they presume upon that sacri- 
 fice, and sin on, without a thorough repentance, reforma- 
 tion, and conversion to God, not dying with Christ to the 
 world, but living in it according to the lusts and spirit of 
 it. Such as these may be assured that where Christ is 
 gone they shall never come, for, says the blessed apostle, 
 God sent his Son to bless us, by turning every one of us 
 from the evil of our way. 
 
Of WILLIAM PENN. 379 
 
 Perversion. Thus it is the Quakers set up works, and 
 meriting by works, like the Papists, whereby justification 
 by faith in Christ is laid aside. 
 
 Principle. By no means. But they say with the Apostle 
 James, ch. ii., that true faith in Christ cannot be without 
 works, any more than a body can live without a spirit ; 
 and that where there is life there is motion, and where 
 there is no Divine life and motion, there can be no true 
 faith, believing being a fruit of Divine life. The very be- 
 lieving is an act of the mind, concurring with God's work- 
 ing in or upon the mind, and therefore a godly work. 
 And no sooner is true faith begotten in a soul, but it falls 
 to working, which is both the nature and, in some respects, 
 the end of it. 
 
 Nor yet do we say that our very best works, proceed- 
 ing from the true faith itself, can merit. No, nor faith 
 joined with them, because eternal life is the gift of God. 
 All that man is capable of believing or performing can 
 never properly be said to merit evei'lasting blessedness, 
 because there can be no proportion (as there must be in case 
 of merit) between the best works that can be performed 
 in the life of man and an eternal felicity. Wherefore, all 
 that man can do, even with the assistance of the Holy 
 Spirit, can never be said strictly to merit as a debt due to 
 the creature. But on the other hand, that right faith, 
 and good works which arise out of it or will follow it, 
 may and do obtain the blessed immortality which it 
 pleaseth Almighty God to give and to privilege the sons 
 of men with, who perform that necessary condition, is a 
 Gospel and necessary truth. And this the Quakers ground 
 upon, and therefore boldlv affirm to the world. 
 
380 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 So that they deny all merit from the best of works, 
 especially by such as some Papists may conceive to be 
 meritorious. But as they ou the one hand deny the meri- 
 toriousness of works, so on the other hand neither can they 
 join with that lazy faith which works not out the salva- 
 tion of the soul with fear and trembling. Blessed is he 
 that hears Christ's words and does them. The doer is 
 only accepted. Wherefore, it shall be said at the last 
 day, not well professed, but well done good and faithful 
 servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou holy, 
 humble, patient, and meek liver, thou that lovedst me 
 above all, and thy neighbor as thyself, enter thou. For 
 thee, and such as thou art, was it prepared from the foun- 
 dation of the world. Which recompense of his faithful- 
 ness is the infinite love of God, revealed and given to 
 man through Christ. For though death be the wages 
 of sin, yet the gift of God is eternal life to such. So that 
 as the people called Quakers do not hold that their good 
 works merit, neither believe they that their good works 
 justify them ; for though none are justified that are not 
 in measure sanctified, yet all that man does is duty, and 
 therefore cannot blot out old scores, for that is mere 
 grace and favor, upon repentance, through Christ the sac- 
 rifice,and mediator, our great scapegoat. So that men are 
 not justified because they are sanctified, but for his sake 
 that sanctifies them, and works all their good works in 
 them and for them, and presents them blameless, to wit, 
 Christ Jesus, who is made unto them, as He was to the 
 saints of old, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 redemption, that he that glorieth might glory in the 
 Lord. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 381 
 
 Perveraion. The Quakers deny the two great sacraments 
 or ordinances of the Gospel, baptism and the supper. 
 
 Principle. Whatever is truly and properly a Gospel ordi- 
 nance they desire to own and practise ; but they observe 
 no such language in the Scripture as in the reflection. 
 They do confess the practice of John's baptism and the 
 supper is to be found there ; but practice only is no insti- 
 tution, nor a sufficient reason of continuation. That they 
 were then proper, they believe, it being a time of great 
 infancy, and when the mysteries of truth lay yet couched 
 and folded up in figures and shadows, as is acknowledged 
 by Protestants. But it is their belief that no figures or 
 signs are perpetual or of institution under the Gospel ad- 
 ministration, when Christ, who is the substance of them, 
 is come ; though their use might have been indulged to 
 young converts in primitive times, because of the conde- 
 scension of former practices. 
 
 It were to overthrow the whole Gospel dispensation, 
 and to make the coming of Christ of none efl^ect, to render 
 signs and figures of the nature of the Gospel, which is 
 inward and spiritual. If it be said, but they were used 
 after the coming of Christ, and his ascension, too: they 
 answer, so were many Jewish ceremonies, not easily abol- 
 ished, as circumcision, etc. It is sufficient to them that 
 water baptism was John's, and not Christ's, see Matt. iii. 
 11, Acts i. 5; that Jesus never used it, John iv. 2 ; that 
 it was no part of Paul's commission, which if it were 
 evangelical and of duration, it certainly would have been, 
 1 Cor. iv. 15, 16, IT ; that there is but one baptism, as 
 well as one faith, and one Lord, Eph. v. 4 ; and that bip- 
 tism ought to be of the same nature with the kingdom of 
 
382 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 which it is an ordinance, and that is spiritual. The same 
 holds also as to the supper, both alluding to old Jewish 
 practices, and used as a signification of a near and accom- 
 plishing work, viz., the substance they represented. 
 
 If any say, but Christ commanded that one of them 
 should continue in remembrance of Him, which the apostle 
 to the church of Corinth explains thus : that thereby they 
 do show forth the Lord's death till He comes. We allege 
 that He that said so, told his disciples also that He would 
 come to them again ; that some should not taste death 
 till they saw Him coming in the kingdom ; and that He 
 that dwelleth with them should be in them ; and that He 
 would drink no more of this fruit of the vine till He should 
 drink it new with them in the kingdom of God, which 
 is the new wine that was to be put into the new bottles, 
 and is the wine of the kingdom, as He expresseth it in 
 the same place ; which kingdom is within, as may be read 
 in Luke. He was the heavenly bread that they had not 
 yet known, nor his flesh and blood, as they were to know 
 them, as may be seen, John vi. So that though Christ 
 came to end all signs, yet till He was known to be the 
 substance to the soul, as the great Bread of life from 
 heaven, signs had their service with them, to show forth 
 and hold in hand, and in remembrance of Christ; espe- 
 cially to the people of that day, whose religion was at- 
 tended with a multitude of the like types, shadows, and 
 signs of the one good thing and substance of all, Christ 
 manifested in his people. And that great Apostle Paul 
 says expressly of the Jewish observations, that they were 
 shadows of the good things to come, but the substance 
 was of Christ. Hence it is, that the people called Quakers 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 383 
 
 caimot be said to deny them. That is too hard a word ; 
 but they, truly feeling in themselves the very thing which 
 outward water, bread, and wine do signify or point forth 
 (to say nothing here of their abuse, and what in that case 
 may be argued, from the instance of Hezekiah's taking 
 away the brazen serpent by God's command), they leave 
 them off, as fulfilled in Christ, who is in them the hope of 
 their glory, and henceforth they have but one Lord, one 
 laith, one baptism, one bread, and one cup of blessings ; 
 and that is the new wine of the kingdom of God, which 
 is within. 
 
 During his retirement he wrote a most excellent work, 
 entitled '' Some Fruits of Solitude, in Reflections and 
 Maxims relating to the Conduct of Human Life." 
 
 In the preface, he speaks thus of his seclusion from the 
 world. 
 
 "Reader: — This enchiridion I present thee with is the 
 fruit of solitude, a school few care to learn in, though none 
 instructs us better. Some parts of it are the results of 
 serious reflection, others the flashing of lucid intervals, 
 written for private satisfaction, and now published for aii 
 help to human conduct. 
 
 "The author blesseth God for his retirement, and kisses 
 that gentle hand which led him into it ; for, though it 
 should prove barren to the world, it can never do so to him. 
 
 " He has now had some time he could call his own, — a 
 property he was never so much master of before, — in which 
 he has taken a view of himself and the world, and observed 
 wherein he has hit or missed the mark; what might have 
 
384 PASSAGES FROM TUE LIFE 
 
 been done; what mended, and what avoided in human con- 
 duct ; together with the omissions and excesses of others, 
 as well societies and governments as private families and 
 persons. And he verily thinks, were he to live over his 
 life again, he could not only, with God's grace, serve Him, 
 but his neighbor and himself, better than he hath done, 
 and have seven years of his time to spare. And yet, per- 
 haps, he hath not been the worst or the idlest man in the 
 world, nor is he the oldest. And this is the rather said, 
 that it might quicken thee, reader, to lose none of the time 
 that is yet thine. 
 
 " There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish 
 as of time, and about which we ought to be more solici- 
 tous, since, without it, we can do nothing in the world. 
 Time is what we want most, but, what, alas! we use worst, 
 and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon with 
 us when time shall be no more I " 
 
 During this retirement, it probably was, that he pro- 
 duced a small work, bearing the appearance of a political 
 character, but essentially a philanthropic and religious 
 essay. 
 
 The nations of Europe were, at that time, very gener- 
 ally engaged in a sanguinary war. William Penn com- 
 miserating the sufferings inevitably attendant on these 
 extensive hostilities, made an effort to draw the attention 
 of his cotemporaries to a more rational method of adjust- 
 ing the controversies of nations. In pursuance of this 
 design he wrote ''An Essay towards the Present and 
 Future Peace of Europe, by the Establishment of an 
 European Diet, Parliament, or Estates." In this he 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 3S5 
 
 first lays clown the advantages of peace, and th( evils, the 
 dangers, the expenses, and desolations ol war. He then 
 explains the ostensible object of war to be the establish- 
 ment of justice, but that a lawless ambition is a more 
 common stimulant. That justice in a government pre- 
 serves the internal peace of a country, but violence on the 
 part of those in power seldom fails to excite discontent and 
 insurrections among the people. Domestic peace is main- 
 tained by justice, which is a fruit of government, as gov- 
 ernment is from society, and "society from consent. 
 
 He shows that the object of government is the preser- 
 vation of peace among its members. That as by the re- 
 straint which government imposes upon the passions of 
 individuals, the prevention and redress of injuries are in- 
 trusted to impartial hands, each individual receives the 
 protection of society, and thereby gains more than he 
 loses by giving up the privilege of being judge and exe- 
 cutioner in his own cause. 
 ^ He suggests the expediency of applying the same prin- 
 ciples to the disputes of nations which are applied to those 
 of individuals; by forming a general congress among the 
 princes of Europe, by which a code of laws for the regu- 
 lation of their mutual intercourse should be established, 
 and to which they should all be required to submit. 
 
 He shows that the usual causes of war would be in great 
 
 measure removed by the establishment of such a tribunal, 
 
 without the necessity of exercising its compulsive power. 
 
 A number of objections which may be offered to the plan 
 
 are afterwards stated and answered. 
 
 In the conclusion he shows that a plan, nearly analogous 
 to his, had been actually adopted to a limited extent in some 
 33 Z 
 
PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 provinces of the Netherlands ; and that Henry TV., one of 
 the greatest monarchs who ever reigned in France, had it in 
 contemplation to compel the princes to adopt one of a sim- 
 ilar character, when he was suddenly cut off by the hand 
 of an assassin. He adds, "this great king's example tells 
 us it is fit to be done ; Sir William Temple's history shows 
 us by a surpassing instance that it may be done ; and 
 Europe, by her incomparable miseries, makes it now neces- 
 sary to be done." 
 
 AVilliam Penn had now been about three years, in great 
 measure, secluded from the world and from the public ser- 
 vice of society. It is probable that many who were ac- 
 quainted with the rumors of the day gave credit to the 
 charges against him. Yet there were a number of men, 
 conspicuous for their talents and standing in the world, 
 who had formed a more just estimate of his character. 
 Among these was the celebrated John Locke, who had 
 returned to England in the same fleet with the Princess 
 of Orange. Finding in what manner William Penn was 
 persecuted, he used his interest with the king to procure 
 a pardon for his supposed offences. But William Penn 
 had too much regard for his own character, and was too 
 confident that his innocence would be eventually proved, 
 tp accept of enlargement upon conditions which implied 
 that he had been guilty of an offence. Several noble- 
 men, conscious of his worth, and fully convinced that the 
 charges against him were unfounded, interested them- 
 selves in his favor. Three of them, Kanelagh, Rochester, 
 and Sidney, went together and represented the hardship 
 of his case to the king. They stated that there was noth- 
 ing against him but what was advanced by impostors, or 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 387 
 
 such as had fled their country ; or by men who, when 
 pardoned for their crimes, had refused to verify their 
 charges. They had themselves long known "William Penn, 
 some of them not less than thirty years, and had never 
 known him do an ill action, but many good ones ; and that 
 it was because he was unwilling to incur the suspicion of 
 leaving the country, in defiance of government, that he 
 had continued in it. King William told them that Wil- 
 liam Penn was his old acquaintance as well as theirs, and 
 that he might follow his business as freely as ever, for he 
 had nothing to say against him. It however appears 
 probable that William Penn was desirous his innocence 
 should be more openly acknowledged, for we find that he 
 appeared before the king and council, where he so success- 
 fully pleaded his cause as to obtain a full acquittal. 
 
 Though the cloud which had so long hung over him 
 was now dissipated, and his innocency clearly established, 
 yet another heavy trial, and one that affected the tenderest 
 sensibilities of his heart, was at hand. In about a month 
 after his discharge his wife was removed by death. 
 
 William Penn has himself left a tribute to the memory 
 of this noble character in '' an account of the blessed end 
 of my dear wife, Guliclma Maria Penn," which closes 
 with these words : 
 
 '' She quietly expired in my arms, her head upon my 
 bosom, with a sensible and devout resignation of her soul 
 to Almighty God. I hope I may say she was a public 
 as well as private loss; for she was not only an excellent 
 wife and mother, but an entire and constant friend, of a 
 more than common capacity, and greater modesty and 
 humility; yet most equal, and undaunted in danger; re- 
 
388 PASSAGES FEOM TflE LIFE 
 
 ligious, as well as ingenuous, without affectation ; an easy 
 mistress and good neighbor, especially to the poor ; nei- 
 ther lavish nor penurious ; but an example of industry as 
 well as of other v.rtues ; therefore, our great loss, though 
 her own eternal gain." 
 
 Soon after he wrote to Robert Turner : 
 
 ■ "HoDSOX, 27th of Twelfth month, 1G93. 
 " Loving Friend : — My extreme great affliction for the 
 decease of my dear wife, makes me unfit to write much, 
 whom the great God took to himself from the troubles of 
 this exercising world the 23d inst. In great peace and 
 sweetness she departed, and to her gain, but our incom- 
 parable loss, being one of ten thousand — wise, chaste, 
 humble, plain, modest, industrious, constant, and un- 
 daunted; but God is God, and good, and so I hope, tho' 
 afflicted, not forsaken." 
 
 As William Penn had been honorably acquitted of those 
 charges which prevented his return to America, it might 
 naturally be supposed that he would immediately prepare 
 for a voyage thither. But the decease of his wife had left 
 a charge upon him which he could not neglect. She left 
 two sons and one dau^'hter, whose education demanded a 
 father's care. His heavy expenditures in Penns3Tvania, 
 the very small returns from that quarter, and the losses 
 sustained in Ireland, in consequence of the commotions 
 there, had subjected him to considerable pecuniary diffi- 
 culty. Moreover, the events which had occurred in rela- 
 tion to the government of Pennsylvania, as will be related 
 hereafter, left a task to be accomplished at home. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 389 
 
 XXI. 
 
 IN the year 1694 William Penn wrote a prefate to the 
 Journal of George Fox, who died, as already mentioned, 
 in 1690. The preface is a treatise of itself, and has been 
 frequently published separately from the work to which it 
 was originally prefixed, under the title of '' The Rise and 
 Progress of the People called Quakers." A consider- 
 able part of it is subjoined. 
 
 Divers have been the dispensations of Grod since the 
 creation of the world unto the sons of men ; but the great 
 end of all of them has been the renown of his own excel- 
 lent name in the creation and restoration of man — man, 
 the emblem of Himself, as a god on earth and the glory 
 of all his works. The world began with innocency. All 
 was then good that the good God had made ; and as He 
 blessed the works of his hands, so their natures and har- 
 mony magnified Him their Creator. Then the morning 
 stars sang together for joy, and all parts of his works 
 said Amen to his law ; not a jar in the whole frame ; but 
 man in paradise, the beasts in the field, the fowls in the 
 air, the fish in the sea, the lights in the heavens, the fruits 
 of the earth; yea, the air, the*earth, the water and fire 
 worshipped, praised, and exalted his power, wisdom, and 
 goodness. .0 holy sabbath I holy day to the Lord I 
 33* 
 
390 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 [After speaking of the fall of man, the successive dispen- 
 sations of God, the apostasy from Christianity, and the 
 progress of the reformation to his own time, he writes :] 
 
 It was about that time that the eternal, wise, and good 
 God was pleased, in his infinite love, to honor and visit 
 this benighted and bewildered nation vfith his glorious 
 dayspring from on high ; yea, with a most sure and cer- 
 tain sound of the word of light and life, through the tes- 
 timony of a chosen vessel, to an effectual and blessed pur- 
 pose can many thousands say. Glory be to the name of 
 the Lord forever ! 
 
 For as it reached the conscience, and broke the heart, 
 and brought many to a sense and search, so that which 
 people had been vainly seeking without, with much pains 
 and cost, they by this ministry found within, where it was 
 they wanted what they sought for, viz., the right way to 
 peace with God. For they were directed to the light of 
 Jesus Christ within them, as the seed and leaven of the 
 kingdom of God; near all because in all, and God's talent 
 to all, a faithful and true witness and just monitor in every 
 bosom, the gift and grace of God to life and salvation that 
 appears to all, though few regard it. 
 
 God owned his own work, and this testimony did effect- 
 ually reach, gather, comfort, and establish the weary and 
 heavy laden, the hungry and thirsty, the poor and needy, 
 the mournful and sick of many maladies, that had spent 
 all upon physicians of no value, and waited for relief from 
 heaven, help only from above, seeing, upon a serious trial 
 of all things, nothing else would do but Christ himself — 
 tlie light of his countenance, a touch of his garment and 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 391 
 
 help from his hand, who cured the poor woman's issue, 
 raised the centurion's servant, the widow's son, the ruler's 
 daughter, and Peter's mother. And like l-^v they no sooner 
 felt his power and efficacy upon their souls, but they gave 
 up to obey Him, in a testimony to his power, and with 
 resigned wills and faithful hearts, through all mockings, 
 contradictions, beatings, prisons, and many other jeopard- 
 ies that attended them, for his blessed name's sake. 
 
 • And as their testimony was to the principle of God in 
 man, the precious pearl and leaven of the kingdom, as the 
 only blessed means appointed of God to quicken, convince, 
 and sanctify man, so they opened to them what it was in 
 itself, and what it was given to them for, how they might 
 know it from their own spirit, and that of the subtle ap- 
 pearance of the evil one ; and w^iat it would do for all 
 those whose minds are turned off from the vanity of the 
 world and its lifeless ways and teachers, and adhere to 
 this blessed light in themselves, which discovers and con- 
 demns sin in all its appearances, and shows how to over- 
 come it, if minded and obeyed in its holy manifestations 
 and convictions ; giving power to such to avoid and resist 
 those things that do not please God ; and to grow strong 
 in love, faith, and good works, that so man, whom sin hath 
 made as a wilderness overrun with briars and thorns, might 
 become as the garden of God, cultivated by his divine 
 power, and replenished with the most virtuous and beau- 
 tiful plants of God's own right-hand planting, to his eter- 
 nal praise. 
 
 But these experimental preachers of glr.d tidings of 
 God's truth and kingdom could not run when the}^ list, 
 or pray or preach when they pleased, but as Christ their 
 
392 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 Redeem or prepared and moved them by his own blessed 
 Spirit, for which they waited in their services and meet 
 inji's, and spoke as that gave, them utterance. They were 
 diligent to plant and to water, and the Lord blessed their 
 labors with an exceeding great increase, notwithstandihg 
 all the opposition made to their blessed progress by false 
 rumors, calumnies, and bitter persecutions. 
 
 Two things are to be considered, the doctrine they 
 taught and the example they led among all people. J 
 have already touched upon their fundamenta^l principle, 
 which is as the corner-stone of their fabric ; and, indeed, 
 to speak eminently and properly, their characteristic or 
 main distinguishing point or principle, viz., the light of 
 Christ within as God's gift for man's salvation. This, I 
 say, is as the root of the goodly tree of doctrines that 
 grew and branched out from it, which I shall now men- 
 tion in their natural and experimental order. 
 
 First, repentance from dead works to serve the living 
 God, which comprehends three operations : first, a sight 
 of sin ; secondly, a sense and godly sorrow for it; thirdly, 
 an amendment for the time to come. This wns Hie repent- 
 ance they preached and pressed, and a natural result from 
 the principle they turned all people unto. For of light 
 came sight, and of sight came sense and sorrow, and of 
 sense and sorrow came amendment of life ; which doc- 
 trine of repentance leads to justification, that is, forgive- 
 ness of the sins that are past, through Christ the alone 
 propitiation ; and to the sanctification or purgation of tho 
 soul from the defiling nature and habits of sin present, by 
 the Spirit of Christ in the soul, which is justification in 
 the complete sense of that word, comprehending both jus- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 393 
 
 tification from the guilt of the sins that are past (as if 
 they had never been committed), through the love and 
 mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and the creature's being 
 made inwardly just through the cleansing and sanctifying 
 ptTwer and Spirit of Christ revealed in the soul, which is 
 commonly called sanctification. But that none can come 
 to know Christ to be their sacrifice that reject Him as their 
 sanctifier, the end of his coming being to save his people 
 from the nature and defilement, as well as guilt of sin ; 
 and that, therefore, those that resist his light and Spirit 
 make his coming and offering of none effect to them. 
 
 From hence sprang a second doctrine they were led to 
 declare, as the mark of the prize of the high calling to all 
 true Christians, viz., perfection from sin, according to the 
 Scriptures of Truth ; which testify it to be the end of 
 Christ's coming, and the nature of his kingdom, and for 
 which his Spirit was and is given, viz., to be perfect as 
 our heavenly Father is perfect, and holy, because God is 
 holy. And this the apostles labored for, that the Chris- 
 tians should be sanctified throughout in body, soul, and 
 spirit; but they never held a perfection in wisdom and 
 glory in this life, or from natural infirmities, or death, as 
 some have, with a weak or ill mind, imagined and insinu- 
 ated against them. 
 
 This they called a redeemed state, regeneration, or the 
 new birth ; teaching everywhere according to their foun- 
 dation, that without this work were known, there was no 
 inheriting the kingdom of God. 
 
 Thirdly, this leads to an acknowledgment of eternal 
 rewards and punishments, as they have good reason ; for 
 else, of all people, certainly they must be the most miser- 
 
394 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 able, who, for above forty years, have been exceeding 
 great sufferers for their profession. 
 
 Besides these general doctrines, as the larger branches, 
 there sprang forth several particular doctrines, that did 
 exemplify and farther explain the truth and efficacy ol 
 the general doctrine before observed, in their lives and 
 examples ; as. Communion and loving one another. To 
 love enemies. The sufficiency of truth-speaking, accord- 
 ing to Christ's own form of sound words, of yea, yea, 
 and nay, nay, among Christians, without swearing. Not 
 fighting, but suffering, because all wars and fightings 
 come of men's own hearts' lusts, and not of the meek 
 Spirit of Christ Jesus. Refusing to pay tithes or main- 
 tenance to a national ministry ; believing all compelled 
 maintenance to be unlawful. Not to respect persons; 
 affirming it to be sinful to give flattering titles, or to use 
 vain gestures and compliments of respect. They used 
 the plain language of thee and thou to a single person, 
 whatever was his degree among men. They recommended 
 silence by their example. They were at a word in deal- 
 ing ; and, when in company, they would neither use, nor 
 willingly hear unnecessary or unlawful discourses ; where- 
 by they preserved their minds pure and undisturbed from 
 unprofitable thoughts and diversions. For the same 
 reason they forebore drinking to people, or pledging of 
 them, as the manner of the world is. They say that 
 marriage is an ordinance of God, and that God only can 
 rightly join man and woman in marriage ; therefore they 
 use neither priest nor magistrate ; but the man and wo- 
 man concerned take each other as husband and wife, in 
 the presence of divers credible witnesses, promising to 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 8P5 
 
 each other, wilh God's assistance, to be loving and faith- 
 ful in that relation, till death shall separate them ; their 
 care and checks being so many, and such, as that no clan- 
 destine marriages can be performed among them. Their 
 burials are performed with simplicity ; the corpse being in 
 a plain coffin ; at the ground, they pause some time before 
 they put the body into its grave, that if any there should 
 have anything upon them to exhort the people, they may 
 not be disappointed, and that the relations may the more 
 retiredly and solemnly take their last leave of the body 
 of their departed kindred, and the spectators have a sense 
 of mortality. Otherwise, they have no set rites or cere- 
 monies on these occasions; neither do the kindred of the 
 deceased ever wear mourning, deeming that what mourn- 
 ing is fit for a Christian to have at the departure of a 
 beloved relation or friend, should be worn in the mind, 
 and the love they had to them and remembrance of them 
 be outwardly expressed by a respect to their advice and 
 care of those they have left behind them and their love of 
 that they loved. 
 
 These and such like practices of theirs were not the 
 result of humor, but a fruit of inward sense, which God, 
 through his holy fear, had begotten in them. They did 
 not consider how to contradict the world, or distinguish 
 themselves as a party from others. But God having 
 given them a sight of themselves, they saw the whole 
 world in the same glass of Truth, and sensibly discerned 
 the affections and passions of men, and the rise and ten- 
 dency of things; what it was that gratified the ''lust of 
 the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which 
 are not of the Father, but of the world." 
 
396 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 They were changed men themselves before they went 
 about to change others. Their hearts were rent as well 
 as their garments ; and they knew the power and work 
 of God upon them. 
 
 They went not forth, or preached in their own time or 
 will, but in the will of God ; and spoke not their own 
 studied matter, but as they were opened and moved of 
 his Spirit. And as they freely received what they had to 
 say from the Lord, so they freely administered it to others. 
 
 The bent and stress of their ministry was conversion to 
 God ; regeneration and holiness. Not schemes of doc- 
 trines and verbal creeds, or new forms of worship; but a 
 leaving off, in religion, the superfluous, and reducing the 
 ceremonious and formal part, and pressing earnestly the 
 substantial, the necessary and profitable part to the soul. 
 
 They directed people to a principle in themselves, though 
 not of themselves, by which all that they asserted, preached, 
 and exhorted others to, might be wrought in them, and 
 known to them, through experience, to be true ; which is an 
 high and distinguishing mark of the truth of their ministry, 
 both that they knew what they said, and were not afraid 
 of coming to the test. For as they were bold from certainty, 
 so they required conformity upon no human authority, 
 but upon conviction, and the conviction of this principle, 
 which they asserted was in them that they preached unto ; 
 and unto that they directed them, that they might ex- 
 amine and prove the reality of those things which they 
 had affirmed of it, as to its manifestation and work in man. 
 
 They reached to the inward state and condition of 
 people, which is an evidence of the \irtue of their prin- 
 ciple, and of their ministering from it, and not from their 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 397 
 
 own imaginations, glofises, or comments upon Scriptare. 
 The very thoughts and purposes of the hearts of many- 
 have been so plainly detected, that they have, like Nathan- 
 iel, cried out of this inward appearance of Christ : " Thou 
 art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." 
 
 They came forth low, and despised, and hated, as the 
 primitive Christians did, and not by the help of worldly 
 wisdom or power, as former reformations, in part, have 
 done. But in all things it may be said, this people were 
 brought forth in the cross; in a contradiction to the ways, 
 worships, fashions, and customs of this world ; yea, 
 against wind and tide, that so no flesh might glory before 
 God. 
 
 They could have no design to themselves in this work, 
 thus to expose themselves to scorn and abuse ; to spend 
 and be spent ; leaving wife and children, house and land, 
 and all that can be accounted dear to men, wilh their lives 
 in their hands, being daily in jeopardy, to declare this 
 primitive- message, revived in their spirits by the good 
 Spirit and power of God : That God is light, and in 
 Him is no darkness at all ; and that He has sent his Son 
 a light into the world, to enlighten all men in order to 
 salvation ; and that they that say they have fellowship 
 with God, and are his children and people, and yet walk 
 in darkness (viz., in disobedience to the light in their 
 consciences) and after the vanity of this world, they lie, 
 and do not the truth. But that all such as love the light, 
 and bring their deeds to it, and walk in the light, as God 
 is light, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, should cleanse 
 them from all sin. 
 
 This people increasing daily both in town and country, 
 34 
 
398 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 an holy care fell upon some of the elders amon^a: them, for 
 the benefit and service of the church. And the first busi- 
 ness in their view, after the example of the primitive saints, 
 was the exercise of charity ; to supply the necessities of 
 the poor, and answer the like occasions. They were also 
 very careful that every one that belonged to them an- 
 swered their profession in their behavior among men, 
 upon all occasions ; that they lived peaceably, and were 
 in all things good examples. In case of marriage, they 
 took care that all things were clear between the parties 
 and all others. 
 
 But because the charge of the poor, the number of or- 
 phans, marriages, sufferings, and other matters multiplied, 
 and that it was good that the churches were in some way 
 and method of proceeding in such affairs among them, it 
 pleased the Lord, in his wisdom and goodness, to open the 
 understanding of the first instrument of this dispensation 
 of life, about a good and orderly way of proceeding. 
 This godly elder, in every country where he travelled, ex- 
 horted them, that' some out of every meeting for worship 
 should meet together once in the m.onth, to confer about 
 the wants and occasions of the church. And that these 
 Monthly Meetings should, in each county, make up one 
 Quarterly Meeting, where the most zealous and eminent 
 Friends of the county should assemble to communicate, 
 advise, and help one another. Also that these several 
 Quarterly Meetings should digest the reports of their 
 Monthly Meetings, and prepare one for each respective 
 county against the Yearly Meeting, in which all Quarterly 
 Meetings resolve. 
 
 At these meetings any of the members of the churches 
 
OF WILL [AM PEXX. 399 
 
 may come, if they please, and speak their minds freely, 
 in the fear of God, to any matter. These meetings are 
 opened and usually concluded in their solemn waiting 
 upon God, who is sometimes graciously pleased to answer 
 them with as signal evidences of his love and presence as 
 in any of their meetings of worship. 
 
 In these solemn assemblies for the churches' service 
 there is no one presides among them after the manner of 
 the assemblies of other people, Christ only being their 
 president, as He is pleased to appear in life and wisdom 
 in any one or more of them, to whom, whatever be their 
 capacity or degree, the rest adhere with a firm unity, not 
 of authority, but conviction, which is the divine authority 
 and way of Christ's power and Spirit in his people, mak- 
 ing good his blessed promise that He would be in the midst 
 of his where and whenever they were met together in his 
 name, even to the end of the world. 
 
 The power they exercise upon members of their society 
 is such as Christ has given to his own people to the end 
 of the world, in the persons of his disciples, viz., to over- 
 see, exhort, reprove, and, after long suffering and waiting 
 upon the disobedient and refractory, to disown them as any 
 more of their communion, or that they will any longer 
 stand charged in the sight and judgment of God or men 
 with their conversation or behavior as any of them, until 
 they repent. They distinguish between imposing any prac- 
 tice that immediately regards faith or worship (which is 
 never to be done, or suffered, or submitted unto) nnd re- 
 quiring Christian compliance with those methods that only 
 respect church business in its more civil part and concern, 
 and that regard the discreet and orderly maintenance of 
 
400 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the character of the society as a sober and religions com- 
 munity. In short, what is for the promotion of holiness 
 and charity, that men may practise what they profess, live 
 up to their own principles, and not be at liberty to give 
 the lie to their own profession without rebuke, is their use 
 and limit of church power. They compel none to join 
 them, but oblige those that are of them to walk suitably, 
 or they are denied by them ; that is all the mark they set 
 upon them and the power they exercise, or judge a Chris- 
 tian society can exercise, upon those that are members of it. 
 
 This account of the people of God called Quakers, both 
 with respect to their faith and worship, discipline and con- 
 versation, I judge very proper in this place, because it is 
 to preface the journal of the first blessed and glorious in- 
 strument of this work. George Fox was born in Leices- 
 tershire about the year 1624. From a child he appeared 
 of another frame of mind than the rest of his brethren, 
 being more religious, inward, still, solid, and observing 
 beyond his years, as the answers he would give, and the 
 questions he would put, upon occasion, manifested, to the 
 astonishment of those that heard him, especially in divine 
 things. 
 
 His mother, taking notice of his singular temper and 
 the gravity, wisdom, and piety that very early shined 
 through him, refusing childish and vain sports and com- 
 pany when very young, was tender and indulgent over 
 him, so that from her he met with little difficulty. As to 
 his employment, he was brought up in country business, 
 and as he took most delight in sheep, so he was very skil- 
 ful in them, an employment that very well suited his 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 401 
 
 nnnd in several respects, both for its innocency and soli- 
 tude, and was a just emblem of his after ministry and 
 service. 
 
 When he was somewhat above twenty he left his friends 
 and visited the most retired and religious people in those 
 parts. At this time he taught, and was an example of 
 silence, endeavoring to bring them from self-performances ; 
 testifying of, and turning them to, the light of Christ with- 
 in them, and encouraging them to wait in patience, -and to 
 feel the power of it to stir in their hearts, that their knowl- 
 edge and worship of God might stand in the power of an 
 endless life, which was to be found in the light, as it was 
 obeyed in the manifestation of it in man. 
 
 In 1652, he being in his usual retirement, his mind ex- 
 ercised towards the Lord, upon a very high mountain (in 
 some of the hither parts of Yorkshire, as I take it) he had 
 a vision of the great work of God in the earth, and of the 
 way that he was to go forth in a public ministry to begin 
 it. He saw people as thick as motes in the sun that should 
 in time be brought home to the Lord, that there might be 
 but one shepherd and one sheepfold in all the earth. There 
 his eye was directed northward, beholding a great people 
 that should receive him and his message in those parts. 
 Upon this mountain he was moved of the Lord to sound 
 out his great and notable day, as if he had been in a great 
 auditory, and from thence went north as the Lord had 
 shown him. And in every place where he came, if not 
 before he came to it, he had his particular exercise and 
 service shown to him, so that the Lord was his leader 
 indeed. For it was not in vain that he travelled, God in 
 most places sealing his commission with the convincement 
 34* 2 A 
 
402 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 of some of all sorts, as well publicans as sober professor? 
 of relig'ion. Those that came forth in a public ministry 
 were frequently drawn forth, especially to visit the public 
 assemblies, to reprove, inform, and exhort them, some- 
 times in markets, fairs, streets, and by the highway side, 
 calling people to repentance and to turn to the Lord with 
 their hearts as well as their mouths, directing them to the 
 light of Christ within them, to see, examine, and consider 
 their ways by, and to eschew the evil and do the good and 
 acceptable will of God. And they suffered great hardships 
 for this their love and good- w- ill, being often stocked, stoned, 
 beaten, whipped, and imprisoned, though honest men and 
 of good report w^here they lived, that had left wives, chil- 
 dren, houses, and lands to visit them with a living call to 
 repentance. And though the priests generally set them- 
 selves to oppose them, and write against them, and insin- 
 uated most false and scandalous stories to defame them, 
 stirring up the magistrates to suppress them, especially in 
 "those northern parts, jet God was pleased so to fill them 
 with his living power, and give them such an open door 
 of utterance in his service, that there was a mighty con- 
 vincement over those parts. 
 
 But lest this may be thought a digression, I return to 
 this excellent man, and for his personal qualities, both 
 natural, moral, and divine, as they appeared in his con- 
 verse with the brethren, and in the church of God, take 
 as follows : 
 
 He was a man that God endued with a clear and won- 
 derful depth ; a discerner of others' spirits and very much 
 a master of his own. And though that side of his under- 
 standing which lay next to the world, and especially the 
 
OF \V 1 1. L r A M P E N N . 403 
 
 expression of it, might sound uncouth and unfashionable 
 to nice ears, his matter was nevertheless very profound, 
 and would not only bear to be often considered, but the 
 more it was so the more weighty and instructing it ap- 
 peared. And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his 
 sentences would seem to fall from him about divine things, 
 it is well known they were often as texts to many fairer 
 declarations. And, indeed, it showed beyond all contra- 
 diction that God sent him, in that no art or parts had any 
 share in the matter or manner of his ministry ; and that 
 so many great, excellent, and necessary truths as he came 
 forth to preach to mankind had therefore nothing of man's 
 wit or wisdom to recommend them. So that as to man 
 he was an original, being no man's copy. And his min- 
 istry and writings show they are from one that was not 
 taught of man, nor had learned what he said by study. 
 Nor were they notional or speculative, but sensible and 
 practical truths, tending to conversion and regeneration 
 and the setting up of the kingdom of God in the hearts 
 of men. And the wa}^ of it was his work. So that I 
 have many times been overcome in myself, and been made 
 to say with my Lord and Master upon the like occasion, 
 " I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 
 thou hast'hid these things from the wise and prudent of 
 this world and revealed them to babes." For many times 
 hath my soul bowed in an humble thankfulness to the Lord 
 that He did not choose any of the wise and learned of this 
 world to be the first messenger in our age of his blessed 
 trulh to men ; but that He took one that was not of high 
 degree, or elegant speech, or learned after the way of this 
 world, that his message and work He sent him to do might 
 
4:04 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 come with less suspicion or jealousy of human Avisdom 
 and interest, and with more force and clearness upon the 
 consciences of- those that sincerely sought the way of 
 truth in the love of it. I say, beholding with the eye 
 of my mind, which the God of heaven had opened in me, 
 the marks of God's finger and hand visibly in this testi- 
 mony, from the clearness of the principle, the power and 
 efiScacy of it, in the exemplary sobriety, plainness, zeal, 
 steadiness, humility, gravity, punctuality, charity, and 
 circumspect care in the government of church affairs which 
 shined in his and their life and testimony that God em- 
 ployed in this work, it greatly confirmed me that it was 
 of God, and engaged my soul in a deep love, fear, rever- 
 ence, and thankfulness for his love and mercy therein to 
 mankind ; in which mind I remain, and shall, I hope, 
 through the Lord's strength, to the end of my days. 
 
 In his testimony or ministry he much labored to open 
 Truth to the people's understandings, aid to bottom them 
 upon the principle and principal, Christ Jesus, the light 
 of the world, that by bringing them to something that 
 was from God in themselves, they might the better know 
 and judge of Him and themselves. 
 
 . He had an extraordinary gift in opening the Scriptures. 
 He would go to the marrow of things, and show the mind, 
 harmony, and fulfilling of them with much plainness, and 
 to great comfort and edification. 
 
 The mystery of the first and second Adam, of the fall 
 and restoration, of the law and gospel, of shadows and 
 substance, of the servant's and son's state, and the fulfill- 
 ing of the Scriptures in Christ, and by Christ, the true 
 light, in all that are his through the obedience of faith, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 405 
 
 were much of the substance and drift of his testimonies. 
 In all which he was witnessed to be of God, being sensibly 
 felt to speak that which he had received of Christ, and was 
 bis own experience in that which never errs nor fails. 
 
 But above all he excelled in prayer. The inwardness 
 and weight of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of 
 his address and behavior, and the fewness and fulness of 
 his words, have often struck even strangers with admira- 
 tion, as they used to reach others with consolation. The 
 most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld, 
 I must say, was his in prayer. And truly it was a testi- 
 mony he knew" and lived nearer to the Lord than other 
 men ; for they that know him most, will see most reason 
 to approach him with reverence and fear. 
 
 He was of an innocent life, no busybody, nor self-seeker ; 
 neither touchy nor critical. What fell from him was very 
 inoffensive, if not very edifying. So meek, contented, 
 modest, easy, steady, tender, it was a pleasure to be in 
 his company. He exercised no authority but over evil, 
 and that everywhere, and in all ; but with love, com- 
 passion, and long suffering. A most merciful man, as 
 ready to forgive as unapt to take or give an offence. 
 Thousands can truly say he was of an excellent spirit and 
 savor among them ; and because thereof, the most ex- 
 cellent spirits loved him with an unfeigned and unfading 
 love. 
 
 He was an incessant laborer ; as he was unwearied, so 
 he was undaunted in his services for God and his people. 
 He was no more to be moved to fear than to wrath. 
 
 This man of God had his share of suffering from some 
 that were convinced by him, who, through prejudice or 
 
406 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 mistalve, ran against him, as one that sought dominion 
 over conscience, because he pressed, by his presence or 
 epistles, a ready and zealous compliance with such good and 
 wholesome things as tended to an orderly conversation 
 about the affairs of the church, and in their walking be- 
 fore men. Though there was no person the discontented 
 struck so sharpl}^ at, as this good man, he bore all their 
 weakness and prejudice, and returned not reflection for re- 
 flection ; but forgave them their weak and bitter speeches, 
 praying for them, that they might have a sense of their 
 hurt, and see the subtilty of the enemy to rend and divide, 
 and return into their first love that thought no ill. 
 
 And truly I must say, that though God had visibly 
 clothed him with a divine preference and authority, — and 
 i:ideed his very presence expressed a religious majesty, — 
 yet he never abused it ; but held his place in the church 
 of God with great meekness, and a most engaging humility 
 and moderation. For, upon all occasions, like his blessed 
 Master, he was a servant to all ; holding and exercising 
 his eldership in the invisible power that had gathered 
 them, with reverence to the head and care over the body ; 
 and was received, only in that spirit and power of Christ, 
 as the first and chief elder in this age ; who, as he was 
 therefore worthy of double honor, so for the same reason 
 it was given by the faithful of this day, because his 
 authority was inward and not outward, and that he got 
 it and kept it by the love of God, and power of an end- 
 less life. I write my knowledge, and not report, and my 
 witness is true ; having been with him for weeks and 
 months together on divers occasions, and those of the 
 nearest and most exercising nature ; and that by night 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 407 
 
 and by day, by sea and by land; in this and in foreign 
 countries ; and I can say, I never saw him out of his 
 place, or not a match for every service or occasion. 
 
 For in all things he acquitted himself like a man, yea, 
 a strong man, a new and heavenly-minded man, a divine 
 and a naturalist, and all of God Almighty's making. I 
 have been surprised at his questions and answers in 
 natural things ; that whilst he was ignorant of useless 
 and sophistical science, he had in him the grounds of use- 
 ful and commendable knowledge, and cherished it every- 
 where ; civil beyond all forms of breeding in his behavior ; 
 very temperate, eating little, and sleeping less, though a 
 bulky person. 
 
 Thus he lived and sojourned among us. And as he 
 lived, so he died ; feeling the same eternal power that had 
 raised and preserved him, in his last moments. So full 
 of assurance was he, that he triumphed over death ; and 
 so even in his spirit to the last, as if death were hardly 
 worth notice or a mention ; recommending to some of us 
 with him the despatch and dispersion of an epistle just 
 before given forth by him to the churches of Christ 
 throughout the world, and his own books ; but above all, 
 Friends, and of all Friends, those in Ireland and America ; 
 twice over saying. Mind poor Friends in Ireland and 
 America. 
 
 And to some that came in and inquired how he found 
 himself, he answered, " Never heed, the Lord's power is 
 over all weakness and death ; the seed reigns, blessed be 
 the Lord; " which was about four or five hours before his 
 departure out of this world. He was at the great meeting 
 near Lombard Street, on the First day of the week, and it 
 
408 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 was the third following-, about ton at night, when he h^t 
 us. 
 
 In a g-ood old age he went, aftev having" lived to see his 
 children's ehiUlren in the truth to many generations, lie 
 had tlie eon\fort of a short illness, and the blessing- of a 
 clear sense to the last; and we may truly say, with a man 
 of God of old, that being- dead, he yet speaketh ; and 
 thoug-h now absent in body, he is present in spirit: 
 neither time nor place being able to interrupt the com- 
 munion of saints, or dissolve the fellowship of the spirits 
 of the just. Ilis works praise him, because they are to 
 the praise of Him that wroug-ht by him; for which his 
 memorial is and shall be blessed. I have done, as to this 
 part of my subject, when I have left this short ei)itaph to 
 his name : " Many sons have done virtuously in this day ; 
 but, dear George, thou excellest them all." 
 
 And now. Friends, you that profess to walk in the way 
 that this blessed man was sent of God to turn us into, 
 sniVer, I beseech you, the word of exhortation, as well 
 fathers as children, and elders as young- men. The glory 
 of this day. and foundation of the hope that has not made 
 us ashauuHl since we were a people, you know, is that 
 blessed principle of lig-ht and life of Christ which we pro- 
 fess, and direct all people to, as the g-reat and divine in- 
 strument and agent of man's conversion to God. It was 
 by this that we were first touched and etfeetually en- 
 lig-htened, as to our inward state; which put us upon the 
 consideration of our latter end ; causing us to set the 
 liOrd before our eyes, and to number our days, that we 
 might apply our hearts to wisdom. In that day wo 
 
OF W i L T. I A M P i: N X . 409 
 
 judged not after the sight of the eye, or after the hear- 
 ing of the ear ; but according to the light and sense this 
 blessed principle gave us, so we judged and acted in ref- 
 erence to things and persons, ourselves and others ; yea, 
 towards God our Maker. For, being quickened by it in 
 our inward man, we could easily discern the difference of 
 things, and feel what was right, and what was wrong, 
 and what was fit, and what not, both in reference to re- 
 ligious and civil concerns. That being the ground of the 
 fellowship of all saints, it was in that our fellowship stood. 
 In this we desired to have a sense of one another, acted 
 towards one another and all men, in love, faithfulness, 
 and fear. 
 
 In feeling of the stirrings and motions of this principle 
 in our hearts, we drew near to the Lord, and waited to 
 be prepared by it, that we might feel drawings and mov- 
 ings before we approached the Lord in prayer, or opened 
 our mouths in ministry. And in our beginning and end- 
 ing with this, stood our comfort, service, and edification. 
 And as we ran faster or fell short in our services, we 
 made burdens for ourselves to bear ; finding in ourselves 
 a rebuke instead of an acceptance ; and in lieu of w^ell- 
 done, who has required this at your hands ? In that day 
 we were an exercised people — our very countenances and 
 deportment declared it. 
 
 Care for others was then much upon us, as well as for 
 ourselves ; especially of the young convinced. Often had 
 we the burthen of the word of the Lord to our neighbors, 
 relations, and acquaintance, and sometimes strangers also 
 We were in travail likewise for one another's preserva- 
 tion ; not seeking, but shunning occasions of any coldness 
 
410 PJ^SSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 or misunderstanding ; treating- one another as those that 
 believed and felt God present ; which kept our conversa- 
 tion innocent, serious, and weighty ; guarding ourselves 
 against the cares and friendships of the world. 
 
 We held the Truth in the spirit of it, and not in our 
 own spirits, or after our own will and affections ; they 
 were bowed and brought into subjection, insomuch that it 
 was visible to them that knew us. We did not think 
 ourselves at our own disposal, to go where we list, or say 
 or do what we list or when we list. Our liberty stood in 
 the liberty of the Spirit of Truth ; and no pleasure, no 
 profit, no fear, no favor could draw us from this retired, 
 strict, and watchful frame. We were so far from seeking 
 occasions of company, that we avoided them what we 
 could ; pursuing our own business with moderation, in- 
 stead of meddling with other peoples' unnecessarily. 
 
 Our words were few and savory, our looks composed 
 and weighty, and our whole deportment very observable. 
 True it is, that this retired and strict sort of life, from the 
 liberty of the conversation of the world, exposed us to the 
 censures of many, as humorists, conceited and self-right- 
 eous persons, etc. But it was our preservation from many 
 snares, to which others were continually exposed, by the 
 prevalency of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and 
 the pride of life, that wanted no occasions or temptations 
 to excite them abroad in the converse of the world. 
 
 I cannot forget the humility and chaste zeal of that day. 
 Oh, how constant at meetings, how retired in them, how 
 firm to Truth's life as well as Truth's principles! jlnd 
 bow entire and united in our communion, as indeed be- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 411 
 
 came those that profess one Head, even Christ Jesus the 
 Lord. 
 
 And now as to you, my beloved and much honored 
 brethren in Christ, that are in the exercise of the ministry : 
 Oh, feel life in your ministry — let life be your commission, 
 your wellspring and treasury on all such occasions, else 
 you well know, there can be no begetting to God, since 
 nothing" can quicken or make people alive to God but the 
 life of God ; and it must be a ministry in and from life 
 that enlivens any people to God. It is not our parts, or 
 memory, or the repetition of former openings, in our own 
 will and time, that will do God's work. A dry doctrinal 
 ministry, however sound in words, can reach but the ear, 
 and is but a dream at the best. There is another sound- 
 ness, that is soundest of all, viz., Christ the power of God. 
 This is the key of David, that opens and none shuts, and 
 shuts and none can open. As the oil to the lamp, and the 
 soul to the body, so is that to the best of words, which 
 made Christ to say, "-My words, they are spirit, and they 
 are life," that is, they are from life, and therefore they 
 make you alive that receive them. If the disciples, that 
 had lived with Jesus, were to stay at Jerusalem till they 
 received it, much more must we wait to receive before we 
 minister, if we will turn people from darkness to light, and 
 from Satan's power to God. 
 
 I fervently bow my knees to the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that you may always be like-minded ; 
 that you may ever wait reverently for the coming and 
 opening of the Word of Life, and attend upon it in your 
 ministry and service ; that you may serve God in his 
 Spirit. And be it little or be it much, it is well ; for 
 
412 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 much is not too much, and the least is enough, if from the 
 motion of God's Spirit ; and without it, verily, never so 
 little is too much, because to no profit. 
 
 For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately, or through 
 the ministry of his servants, that teacheth his people to 
 profit; and to be sure, so far as we take Him along with 
 us in our services, so far we are profitable and no farther. 
 For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us for 
 our salvation, much more is it the Lord that must work in 
 us for the conversion of others. If, therefore, it was once 
 a cross to us to speak, though the Lord required it at our 
 hands, let it never be so to be silent when He does not. 
 
 Wherefore, brethren, let us be careful neither to outgo 
 our Guide, nor yet loiter behind Him, since he that makes 
 baste may miss his way, and he that stays behind lose his 
 guide. For even those that have received the word of 
 the Lord had need wait for wisdom, that they may see 
 how to divide the word aright, which plainly implieth 
 that it is possible for one that hath received the word of 
 the Lord to miss in the dividing and application of it, 
 which must come from an impatience of spirit, and a self- 
 working, which makes an unsound and dangerous mix- 
 ture, and will hardly beget a right-minded living people 
 to God. 
 
 And wherever it is observed that any do minister more 
 from gifts and parts than life and power, though they 
 have an enlightened and doctrinal understanding, let them 
 in time be advised and admonished for their preservation, 
 because insensibly such will come to depend upon a self- 
 sufficiency ; to forsake Christ, the living fountain, and hew 
 out unto themselves cisterns that will hold no living 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 413 
 
 waters; and by cleg-rees such will come to draw others 
 from waiting upon the gift of God in themselves, and to 
 feel it in others, in order to their strength and refreshment, 
 to wait upon them, and to turn from God to man again, 
 and so make shipwreck of the faith once delivered to the 
 saints, and of a good conscience towards God, which are 
 only kept by that divine gifL of life that begat the one 
 and awakened and sanctified the other in the beginning. 
 
 Nor is it enough that we have known the divine gift, 
 and in it have reached to the spirits in prison, and been 
 the instruments of the convincing of others of the way of 
 God, if we keep not as low and poor in ourselves, and as 
 depending upon the Lord as ever, since no memory, no 
 repetitions of former openings, revelations, or enjoyments, 
 will bring a soul to God, or afford bread to the hungry, or 
 water to the thirsty, unless life go with what we say, and 
 that must be waited for. 
 
 Oh, that we may have no other fountain, treasure, or 
 dependence. That none may presume, at any rate, to act 
 of themselves for God, because they have long acted from 
 God ; that we may not supply want of waiting with our 
 own wisdom, or think that we may take less care and 
 more liberty in speaking than formerly ; and that where 
 we do not feel the Lord, by his power, to open us and 
 enlarge us, whatever be the expectation of the people, or 
 has been our customary supply and character, we may not 
 exceed or fill up the time with our own. 
 
 I cannot but cr}^ and call aloud to you, that have been 
 
 long professors of the Truth, and know the Truth in the 
 
 convincing power of it, and have had a sober conversation 
 
 among men, yet content yourselves only to know Truth 
 
 35* 
 
414 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 for yourselves, to go to meetings, and exercise an ordi- 
 nary charity in the church, and an honest behavior in the 
 world, and limit yourselves within these bounds ; feeling- 
 little or no concern upon your spirits for the glory of the 
 Lord in the prosperity of his Truth in the earth, more 
 than to be glad that others succeed in such service. Arise 
 ye in the name and power of the Lord Jesus 1 Behold 
 how white the fields are unto harvest in this and other 
 nations, and how few able and faithful laborers there are 
 to work therein I Your country-folks, neighbors, and 
 kindred want to know the Lord and his Truth, and to 
 walk in it. Does nothing lie at your door upon their 
 account? Search and see, and lose no time, I beseech 
 you, for the Lord is at hand. 
 
 Ponder your ways, and see if God has nothing more 
 for you to do ; and if you find yourselves short in your 
 account with Him, then wait for his preparation, and be 
 ready to receive the word of command, and be not weary 
 of well-doing, when you have put your hand to the 
 plough ; and assuredly you shall reap, if you faint not, 
 the fruit of your heavenly labor in God's everlasting 
 kingdom. 
 
 And you, young convinced ones, be you intrcated and 
 exhorted to a diligent and chaste waiting upon God, in 
 the way of his blessed manifestation and appearance of 
 Himself to you. Look not out, but within ; lot not 
 another's liberty be your snare ; neither act by imitation, 
 but sense and feeling of God's power in yourselves ; 
 crush not the tender buddings of it in 3^our souls, nor 
 overrun, in your desires and warmness of afi'ections, the 
 holy and gentle motions of it. Remember it is a stilJ 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 415 
 
 voice that speaks to us in this day, and that it is not to be 
 heard in the noises and hurries of the mind ; but it is 
 distinctly understood in a retired frame. Jesus loved and 
 chose solitudes ; often going to mountains, gardens, and 
 seasides, to avoid crowds and hurries, to show his dis- 
 ciples it was good to be solitary, and sit loose to the 
 world. Two enemies lie near your states, imagination 
 and liberty ; but the plain, practical, living, holy Truth, 
 that has convinced you, will preserve you, if you mind 
 it in yourselves, and bring all thoughts, inclinations, and 
 affections to the lest of it, to see if they are wrought 
 in God, or of the enemy, or your ownselves. So will a 
 true taste, discerning, and judgment be preserved to- you, 
 of what you should do and leave undone. And when 
 you are converted, as well as convinced, then confirm 
 your brethren ; and be ready to every good word and 
 work that the Lord shall call you to. 
 
 And now, as for you, that are the children of God's 
 people, a great concern is upon my spirit for your good. 
 you young men and women ! let it not suffice you, that 
 you are the children of the people of the Lord ; you 
 must also be born again, if you will inherit the kingdom 
 of God. Have you obeyed the light, and received and 
 walked in the Spirit, which is the incorruptible seed of 
 the Word and kingdom of God, of which you must be 
 born again ? God is no respecter of persons. The father 
 cannot save or answer for the child, or the child for the 
 father. Your many and great privileges above the chil- 
 dren of other people, will add weight in the scale against 
 you, if you choose not the way of the Lord. For you 
 have had line upon line, and precept upon precept, arid 
 
416 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 not only good doctrine, but good example ; and, which is 
 more, you have been turned to, and acquainted with, a 
 principle in yourselves, which others have been ignorant of. 
 Wherefore, ye young men and women ! look to the 
 rock of your fathers. There is no other God but Him, 
 no other light but his, no other grace but his, nor spirit 
 but his, to convince you, quicken and comfort you ; to 
 lead, guide, and preserve you to God's everlasting king- 
 dom. So will you be possessors as well as professors of 
 the Truth, embracing it not only by education, but judg- 
 ment and conviction ; from a sense begotten in your souls, 
 through the operation of the eternal Spirit and power of 
 God.' 
 
 I shall conclude with a few words to those that are not 
 of our communion, into whose hands this may come. 
 
 I beseech you, ponder with yourselves your eternal 
 condition, and see what title, what ground and founda- 
 tion you have for your Christianity ; if more than a pro- 
 fession, and an historical belief of the gospel. Have you 
 known the baptism of fire, and the Holy Ghost, and the 
 fan of Christ that winnows away the chaff 'in your 
 minds, and carnal lusts and affections ? — that divine leaven 
 of the kingdom, that, being received, leavens the whole 
 lump of man, sanctifying him throughout in body, soul, 
 and spirit. 
 
 If you have true faith in Christ, your faith will make 
 you clean ; it will sanctify you ; for the saints' faith was 
 their victory of old. By this they overcame sin within, 
 and sinful men without. And if thou art in Christ, thou 
 walkcst not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, whose 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 4.17 
 
 fruits are manifest. Yea, thou art a new creature : now 
 made, new fashioned, after God's will and mould. Old 
 things are done away, and behold all things are become 
 new ; new love, desires, will, affections, and practices. 
 Therefore, have a care how you presume to rely upon 
 such a notion, as that you are in Christ, whilst in your 
 old fallen nature. 
 
 If you would know God, and worship and serve God 
 as you should do, you must come to the means He has or- 
 dained and given for that purpose. Some seek it in books, 
 some in learned men ; but what they look for is in them- 
 selves, though not of themselves ; but they overlook it. The 
 voice is too still, the seed too small, and the light shineth in 
 darkness. Wherefore, Friends, turn in, turn in, I beseech 
 you. There you want Christ, and there you must find Him ; 
 and blessed be God, there you may find Him. Seek and 
 you shall find, I testify for God. But then you must seek 
 aright, with your whole heart, as men that seek for their 
 lives, yea, for their eternal lives ; diligently, humbly, 
 patiently, as those that can taste no pleasure, comfort, or 
 satisfaction in anything else, unless you find Him whom 
 your souls desire to know and love above all. Oh I it is 
 a travail, a spiritual travail, let the carnal, profane world 
 think and say as it will. And through this path you 
 must walk to the city of God, that has eternal founda- 
 tions, if ever you will come there. 
 
 Well ! and what does this blessed light do for you ? 
 Why, first, it sets all your sins in order before you ; it 
 detects the spirit of this world in all its baits and allure- 
 ments, and shows how man came to fall from God, and 
 the fallen estate he is in. Secondly, it begets a sense and 
 
 2B 
 
418 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 sorrow in such as believe in it, for this fearful lapse. You 
 will then see Him distinctly whom you have pierced, and 
 all the blows and wounds you have given Him by your 
 disobedience, and how you have made Him to serve with 
 your sins ; and you will weep and mourn for it, and your 
 sorrow will be a godly sorrow. Thirdly, after this it will 
 bring you to the holy watch, to take care that you do so no 
 more, and that the enemy surprise you not again. Then 
 thoughts, as well as words and works, will come to judg- 
 ment ; which is the way of holiness, in which the redeemed 
 of the Lord do walk. Here you will come to love God 
 above all, and your neighbors as yourselves. Nothing hurts, 
 nothing harms, nothing makes afraid on this holy mountain. 
 Now you come to be Christ's indeed ; for you are his in 
 nature and spirit, and not your own. And when you are 
 thus Christ's, then Christ is yours, and not before. And 
 here communion with the Father and with the Son you 
 will know, and the efficacy of the blood of cleansing, even 
 the blood of Jesus Christ, that immaculate Lamb, which 
 speaks better things than the blood of Abel ; and which 
 cleanseth from all sin the consciences of those that through 
 the living faith come to be sprinkled with it, from dead 
 works to serve the living God. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 419 
 
 XXII. 
 
 IN the year 1695, an anonymous writer published what 
 he called an answer to William Penn's Key ; a tract 
 which has been noticed under the transactions of 1G92. 
 
 The writer, having charged him with prevarication, and 
 attributed his conduct to an intemperate zeal for an un- 
 bounded liberty of conscience, according to the doctrine 
 of King James's declaration, William Penn refers him to 
 several of his works which were published in Charles's 
 time, to show that he alwa3^s defended the same principles, 
 and was not more intemperate in the reign that favored 
 liberty of conscience than he was in the one which did 
 not. To which he adds, '' No man but a persecutor can, 
 without great injustice or ingratitude, reproach that part 
 I had in King James's court. For I think I may say, 
 without vanity, upon this provocation, I endeavored at 
 least to do some good at my own cost, and would have 
 been glad to have done more. I am very sure I intended, 
 and I think I did-, harm to none, either parties or private 
 persons, my own family excepted." 
 
 On the 5th of First month, 1696, William Perm accom- 
 plished his marriage at Bristol with Hannah Callowhill, 
 'daughter of Thomas Callowhill, and granddaughter of 
 Dennis Hollister, both eminent merchants of that city. 
 
 Shortly after this he was subjected to a heavy trial, by 
 the death of his eldest son, a youth of very promising 
 
420 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 characti r, both in regard to his understanding, which was 
 of the brightest order, and the more substantial virtues 
 of the heart. 
 
 His father has left the following record : 
 
 " My very dear child and eldest son, Springett. Penn, 
 from his childhood manifested a disposition to goodness, 
 and gave me hope of a more than ordinary capacity ; and 
 time satisfied me in both respects. Besides a good share 
 of learning and especially of mathematical knowledge, he 
 showed a judgment in the use and application of it, much 
 above his years. He had the seeds of many good quali- 
 ties rising in him, which made him beloved, and conse- 
 quently lamented ; but especially his humility, plainness, 
 and truth ; with a tenderness and softness of nature that, 
 if I may. say it, were an improvement upon his other good 
 qualities. And though these were no security against sick- 
 ness and death, yet they went a good way to facilitate a 
 due preparation for them. Indeed the good ground that 
 was in him shewed itself very plainly sometime before his 
 illness. For more than half a year before it pleased the 
 Lord to visit him with weakness, he grew more retired, 
 and much disengaged from youthful delights ; showing a 
 remarkable tenderness in meetings, even when they were 
 silent. But when he saw himself doubtful as to his re- 
 covery, he turned his mind and meditations more appar- 
 ently towards the Lord ; secretly, as also when those 
 were in the room who attended upon him, praying often 
 with great fervency to the Lord, and uttering many 
 thankful expressions and praises to Him in a very deep 
 and sensible manner. One day he said to us, ' I am re- 
 Bigned to what God pleaseth j He knows what is best. I 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN". 421 
 
 would live, if it pleased Him, that I might serve Him. 
 But, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done.' 
 
 "One speaking to him of the things of this world, and 
 what might please him when recovered, he answered, 
 'My eye looks another way, where the truest pleasure is.' 
 When he told me he had rested well, and I said it was a 
 mercy to him, he quickly replied upon me, with a serious 
 yet sweet look, 'AH is mercy, dear father ; everything is 
 mercy.' Another time when I went to meeting, at part- 
 ing, he said, ' Remember me, my dear father, before the 
 Lord. Though I cannot go to meetings, yet I have many 
 good meetings; the Lord comes in upon my spirit. I 
 have heavenly meetings with Him by myself.' 
 
 " Not many days before he died, while alone, the Lord 
 appeared by his holy power upon his spirit, and at my 
 return, asking him how he did, he told me, 'Oh, I have had 
 a sweet time, a blessed time ! Great enjoyments. The 
 power of the Lord overcame my soul : a sweet time in- 
 deed ! ' 
 
 " On my telling hini how some of the gentry who had 
 been to visit him were gone to their games, and sports, 
 and pleasures, and how little consideration the children 
 of men had of God and their latter end ; and how much 
 happier he was in this weakness, to have been otherwise 
 educated, and to be preserved from those temptations to 
 vanity, etc., he answered, ' It is all stuff, my dear father : 
 it is sad stuff. Oh, that I might live to tell them so ! ' ' Well, 
 my dear child,' I replied, 'let this be the time of thy enter- 
 ing into secret covenant with God, that if He raise thee, 
 thou wilt dedicate thy youth, strength, and life to Him and 
 his people and service.' He returned, ' Father, that is not 
 36 
 
422 PAiSSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 now to do ; it is not now to do;' with great tenderness 
 upon his spirit. 
 
 " Being' almost ever near him, and doing anything for 
 him he wanted or desired, he broke out with much sense 
 and love, * My dear father, if I live I will make thee amends.' 
 And speaking to him of Divine enjoyments, that the eye 
 of man saw not, but the soul, made alive by the spirit of 
 Christ, plainly felt ; he, in a lively remembrance, cried 
 out, 'I had a sweet time yesterday by myself! the Lord 
 hath preserved me to this day I blessed be his name ; 
 my soul praises Him for his mercy I Father, it is of the 
 goodness of the Lord that I am as well as I am I ' Fixing 
 his eyes upon his sister, he took her by the hand, saying, 
 ' Poor Tishc, look to good things, poor child, there is no 
 comfort without it. One drop of the love of God is worth 
 more than all the world. I know it ; I have tasted it. I 
 have felt as much or more of the love of God in this weak- 
 ness than in all my life before.' At another time, as I 
 stood by him, he looked up upon me and said, ' Dear father, 
 sit by me. I love thy company, and I know thou lovest 
 mine ; and if it be the Lord's will that we must part, be 
 not troubled, for that will trouble me.' 
 
 " Taking something one night in bed, just before going 
 to rest, he sat up, and fervently prayed thus ; ' Lord 
 God, thou whose Son said to his disciples. Whatsoever ye 
 ask in my name ye shall receive, I pray thee, in his 
 name, bless this to me this night, and give me rest, if it 
 be thy blessed will, Lord I ' And accordingly he had a 
 very comfortable niglit, of which he took a thankful notice 
 before us next day. 
 
 "And when he at one time, more than ordinarily, ex- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 423 
 
 pressed a desire to live, and entreated me to pray for him, 
 he added, * Dear father, if the Lord should raise me and 
 enable me to serve Him and his people, then I might travel 
 with thee sometimes, and we might ease one another,' 
 (meaning in the ministry :) he spoke it with great mod- 
 esty. Upon which I said to him, ' My dear child, if it 
 please the Lord to raise thee, I am satisfied it will be so ; 
 and if not, then inasmuch as it is thy fervent desire in the 
 Lord, He will look upon thee just as if thou didst live to 
 serve Him, and thy comfort will be the same : so either 
 way it w^ll be well. For if thou shouldst not live, I do 
 verily believe thou wilt have the recompense of thy good 
 desires, without the temptations and troubles that would 
 attend, if long life were granted to thee.' 
 
 "Saying one day, ' I am resolved I will have such a thing 
 done,' he immediately catched himself, and fell into this 
 reflection, with much contrition, 'Did I say, I will? O 
 Lord, forgive me that irreverent and hasty expression I 
 I am a poor weak creature and live by thee, and therefore 
 I should have said, if it pleaseth thee that I live, I intend 
 to do so or so ; Lord, forgive my rash expression.' 
 
 '' Seeing my present wife ready to be helpful and do 
 anything for him, he turned to her and said, ' Don't thou 
 do so ; let them ; don't trouble thyself so much for such a 
 poor creature as I am.' On her taking leave of him a few 
 nights before his end, he said to her, * Pray for me, dear 
 mother : thou art good and innocent, it may be the Lord 
 may hear thy prayers for me, for I desire my strength 
 again, that I might live, and employ it more in the Lord's 
 service.' 
 
 "Two or three days before his departure, he called his 
 
424 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 brother to. him, and looking awfully upon him said, 'Be a 
 good boy, and know there is a God, a great and mighty 
 God, who is a re warder of the righteous, and so He is of 
 the wicked, but their rewards are not the same. Have a 
 care of idle people and idle company, and love good com- 
 pany and good Friends, and the Lord will bless thee. I 
 have seen good things for thee since my sickness, if thou 
 dost but fear the Lord. And if I should not live, though 
 the Lord is all-sufficient, remember what I say to thee, 
 when I am dead and gone : poor child, the Lord bless 
 thee ; come and kiss me I ' Which melted us all into great 
 tenderness, but his brother more particularly. 
 
 " Many good exhortations he gave to some of the ser- 
 vants, and others who came to see him, that were not of 
 our communion, as well as those that were, which drew 
 tears from their eyes. 
 
 " The day but one before he died, he went to take the 
 air in a coach ; but said at his return, ' Really, father, I am 
 exceedingly weak ; thou canst not think how weak I am.' 
 ' My dear child,' I replied, 'thou art weak, but God is strong, 
 who is the strength of thy life.' ' Ay, that is it,' said he, 
 'which upholdeth me.' The day before he departed, being 
 alone with him, he desired me to fasten the door ; and look- 
 ing earnestly upon me, said, ' Dear father, thou art a dear 
 father, and I know thy Father ; come let us two have a 
 little meeting, a private ejaculation together, now nobody 
 else is here. O my soul is sensible of the love of God I ' 
 And indeed a sweet time we had, like to precious oint- 
 ment for his burial. 
 
 " He desired to go home, if not to live, to die there, and 
 we made preparation for it, being twenty miles from my 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 425 
 
 house ; and so much stronger was his spirit than his body, 
 that he spoke of going next day, which was the morning 
 he departed; and a symptom it was of his great journey 
 to his longer home. That morning he left us, growing 
 more and more sensible of his extreme weakness he 
 asked me, as doubtful of himself, 'How shall I go 
 home ? ' I told him in a coach ; he answered, ' I am 
 best in a coach.' But observing his decay, I said, ' Why, 
 child? thou art at home everywhere.' 'Ay,' said he, 'so 
 I am in the Lord.' I took that opportunity to ask him if 
 I should remember his love to his friends at Bristol, Lon- 
 don, etc. 'Yes, yes,' said he, 'my love in the Lord; my 
 love to all friends in the Lord.' 'And relations, too?' 
 He said, ' Ay, to be sure.' Being asked if he would have 
 his ass's milk, or eat anything, he answered, 'No more 
 outward food, but heavenly food is provided for me.' 
 
 " His time drawing on apace, he said to me, ' My dear 
 father, kiss me. Thou art a dear father. I desire to prize 
 it ; how can I make thee amends ? ' 
 
 " He also called his sister, and said to her, * Poor child, 
 come and kiss me ; ' there seemed a tender and long fare- 
 well between them. I sent for his brother that he might 
 kiss him, too, which he did ; all w^ere in tears about him, 
 and turning his head to me, he said softly, ' Dear father, 
 hast thou no hope for me ? ' I answered, ' My dear child, 
 I am afraid to hope, and I dare not despair ; but am and 
 have been resigned, though one of the hardest lessons I 
 ever learned.' He paused awhile, and with a composed 
 frame of mind, said, ' Come life, come death, I am re- 
 signed. Oh, the love of God overcomes my soul I ' Feel- 
 ing himself decline apace, and seeing him not able to bring 
 36* 
 
426 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 up the matter that was in his throat, somebody fetched 
 the doctor, but so soon as he came in, he said, ' Let my 
 father speak to the doctor, and I will go to sleep ; ' which 
 he did, and waked no more, breathing his last on my 
 breast, the 10th day of the Second month, between the 
 hours of nine and ten in the morning, 169G, in his one 
 and twentieth year. 
 
 " So ended the life of my dear child and eldest son, 
 much of my comfort and hope, and one of the most tender 
 and dutiful, as well as ingenuous and virtuous, youths I 
 knew, if I may say so of my own dear child. In him I 
 lost all that any father can lose in a child, since he was 
 capable of anything that became a sober young man ; my 
 friend and companion, as well as most affectionate and 
 dutiful child. 
 
 " May this loss and end have its due weight and im- 
 pression upon all his dear relations and friends, and those 
 to whose hands this account may come, for their remem- 
 brance and preparation for their great and last change ; 
 and I shall have my end in making my dear child thus 
 far public. William Penn." 
 
 The year in which the events 'last mentioned occurred 
 appears to have been passed by William Penn chiefly at 
 home ; yet he was not entirely occupied with his secular 
 concerns, for he published a tract, entitled, " Primitive 
 Christianity Revived, in the Faith and Practice of 
 THE People called Quakers," (from which the following 
 is taken.) 
 
 That which the people called Quakers lay down as a 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 427 
 
 main fundamental in religion, is this, That God, through 
 Christ, hath placed his Spirit in every man, to inform him 
 of his duty, and to enable him to do it ; and that those 
 who live up to this, are the people of God, and those that 
 live in disobedience to it are not God's people, whatever 
 name they may bear or profession they may make of re- 
 ligion. This is their ancient, first, and standing testimony. 
 With this they began, and this they bore, and do bear to 
 the world. 
 
 By this Spirit they understand something that is Divine ; 
 and though in man, yet not of man, but of God ; and 
 that it came from Him, and leads to Him all those that 
 will be led by it. 
 
 There are divers ways of speaking, which they have 
 been led to use, by which they declare and express what 
 this Spirit is, about which I think fit to precaution the 
 reader, viz., They call it. The light of Christ within man, 
 or light within, which is their ancient and most general 
 and familiar phrase ; also the manifestation or appearance 
 of Christ, the witness of God, the seed of God, the seed 
 of the kingdom, wisdom, the word in the heart, the grace 
 that appears to all men, the Spirit given to every man to 
 profit with, the Truth in* the inward parts, the spiritual 
 leaven that leavens the whole lump of man ; many of 
 which are figurative expressions, but all of them such as 
 the Holy Ghost hath used, and which will be used in this 
 treatise, as they are most frequently in the writings and 
 ministry of this people. But that this variety and manner 
 of expression may not occasion any misapprehension or 
 confusion in the understanding of the reader, I would 
 have him know tliat they always mean by these terms 
 
4:28 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 or denominations, not another, but the same as before 
 mentioned ; whieh as I said, though it be in man, is not 
 of man, but of God, and, therefore, divine ; and one in 
 itself, though diversely expressed by the holy men, accord- 
 ing to the various manifestations and operations thereof. 
 
 It is to this spirit of light, life, and grace that this 
 people refer all ; for they say it is the great agent in re- 
 ligion; that, without which, there is no conviction, so no 
 conversion or regeneration ; and consequently no enter- 
 ing into the kingdom of God. That is to say, there can 
 be no true sight of sin or sorrow for it, and, therefore, no 
 forsaking or overcoming it, nor remission or justification 
 from it. 
 
 The doctrines of satisfaction and justification, truly 
 understood, are placed in so strict a union, that the one is 
 a necessary consequence of the other, and what we say of 
 them, is what agrees with the suffrage of Scripture, and 
 for the most part in the terms of it ; always believing that 
 in points where there arises any difficulty, be it from the 
 obscurity of expression, mis-translation, or the dust raised 
 by the heats of partial vrriters, or nice critics, it is ever 
 best to keep close to the text, and maintain charity in the 
 rest. 
 
 We do believe that Jesus Christ was our holy sacrifice, 
 atonement, and propitiation ; that He bore our iniquities, 
 and that by his stripes we were healed of the wounds 
 Adam gave us in his fall ; and that God is just in for- 
 giving true penitents upon the credit of that holy offering 
 which Christ made of himself to God for us; and that 
 what He did and suffered, satisfied and pleased God, and 
 was for the sake of fallen man, who had displeased God : 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 429 
 
 and that through the offering up of himself once for all, 
 through Ihe eternal Spirit, lie hath forever perfected those 
 (in all times) that were sanctified, who walked not after 
 the flesh, but after the spirit, Rom. viii. 1. 
 
 Justification consists of two parts, or hath a twofold 
 consideration, viz. justification from the guilt of sin, and 
 justification from the power and pollution of sin ; and in 
 this sense justification gives a man a full and clear accept- 
 ance before God. For want of this latter part it is, that 
 so many souls, religiously inclined, are often under doubts, 
 scruples, and despondencies, notwithstanding all that 
 their teachers tell them of the extent and efficacy of the 
 first part of justification. And it is too general an un- 
 happiness among the professors of Christianity, that they 
 are apt to cloak their own active and passive disobedience 
 with the active and passive obedience of Christ. 
 
 The first part of justification, we do ' reverently and 
 humbly acknowledge, is only for the sake of the death 
 and sufferings of Christ ; nothing we can do, though by 
 the operation of the Holy Spirit, being able to cancel old 
 debts, or wipe out old scores ; it is the power and efficacy 
 of that propitiatory offering, upon faith and repentance, 
 that justifies us from the sins that are past; and it is the 
 power of Christ's spirit in our hearts, that purifies and 
 makes us acceptable before God. For until the heart of 
 man is purged from sin, God will never accept of it. He 
 reproves, rebukes and condemns those that entertain sin 
 there, and therefore such cannot be said to be in a justified 
 state; condemnation and justification being contraries. 
 So that they that hold themselves in a justified state by 
 the active and passive obedience of Christ, while they are 
 
430 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 not actively and passively obedient to the spirit of Christ 
 Jesus, are under a strong and dangerous delusion ; and 
 for crying out against this sin-pleasing imagination, not 
 to say doctrine, we are reproached as deniers and despisers 
 of the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. But 
 be it known to such they add to Christ's sufferings, and 
 crucify to themselves afresh the Son of God, and trample 
 the blood of the covenant under their feet, who walk 
 unholily under a profession of justification ; for God will 
 not acquit the guilty, nor justify the disobedient and un- 
 faithful. 
 
 Wherefore, my reader, rest not thyself wholly satis- 
 fied with what Christ has done for thee in his blessed per- 
 son without thee, but press to k?iow his power and king- 
 dom within thee, that the strong man, who has too long 
 kept thy house, may be bound and his goods spoiled, his 
 works destroyed and sin ended, according to 1 John iii. 
 Y. For which end, says that beloved disciple, Christ was 
 manifested ; that all things may become new ; new heav- 
 ens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Thus 
 thou wilt come to glorify God in thy body and in thy 
 spirit, which are his ; and live to him and not to thyself. 
 Thy love, joy, worship, and obedience ; thy life, conversa- 
 tion and practice; thy study, meditation and devotion, will 
 be spiritual. The Father and the Son will make their 
 abode with thee, and Christ will manifest himself to thee ; 
 for the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear Him ; 
 and an holy unction or anointing have all those, which 
 leads them into all truth, and they need not the teachings 
 of men. They are better taught, being instructed by the 
 Divine oracle. They are not bare hearsay or traditional 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 431 
 
 Christians, but fresh and living witnesses : those that have 
 seen with their own eyes, and heard with their own ears, 
 and have handled with their own hands the Word of life, 
 in the divers operations of it, to their souls' salvation. 
 In this they meet, in this they preach, and in this they 
 pray and praise ; behold the new covenant fulfilled, the 
 church and worship of Christ, the great anointed of God 
 and the great anointing of God in his holy high priest- 
 hood and offices in his church ! 
 
 And lest any should say we are equivocal in our ex- 
 pressions, and allegorize away Christ's appearance in the 
 flesh — meaning only thereby our own flesh ; and that as 
 often as we mention Him, we mean only a mystery or a 
 mystical sense of Him, be it as to his coming, birth, mira- 
 cles, sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension, mediation, 
 and judgment ; I would yet add, to preserve the well dis- 
 posed from being staggered by such suggestions, and to 
 inform and reclaim such as are under the power and preju- 
 dice of them : 
 
 That we do, v/e bless God, religiously believe and con- 
 fess, to the glory of God the Father, and the honor of his 
 dear and beloved Son, that Jesus Christ took our nature 
 upon Him, and was like unto us in all things, sin except- 
 ed ; that He was born of the Yirgin Mary ; sufl*ered under 
 Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor ; was crucified, dead, 
 and buried in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea ; rose 
 again the third day, and ascended into heaven, and sits 
 on the right hand of God, in the power and majesty of his 
 Father, who will one day judge the world by Him, even 
 that blessed man, Christ Jesus, according to their works. 
 
 But, because we so believe, must we not believe what 
 
432 PASSAGES. FROM THE LIFE 
 
 CJhrist said ? " He that is with you shall be in you." "I 
 in them, and they in me," etc. " When it pleased God to 
 reveal his Son in me." " The mystery hid from ages is 
 Christ in the Gentiles, the hope of glory." " Unless Christ 
 be in you, ye are reprobates 1 " Or must we be industri- 
 ously represented as deniers of Christ's coming in the 
 flesh, and the holy ends of it, in all the parts and branches 
 of his doing and suffering, only because we believe and 
 press the necessity of believing, receiving and obeying his 
 inward and spiritual appearance and manifestation of him- 
 self, through his light, grace, and Spirit in the hearts and 
 consciences of men and women, to reprove, convict, con- 
 vert, and change them ? 
 
 Regeneration we must know, or we cannot be children 
 of God and heirs of eternal glory. To be born again, an- 
 other spirit must prevail, leaven, season, and govern us 
 than either the spirit of the world or our own depraved 
 spirits ; and this can be no other Spirit than that which 
 dwelt in Christ ; for unless that dwell in us, we can be 
 none of his (Rom. viii. 9). And this Spirit begins in con- 
 viction, and ends in conversion and perseverance; and the 
 one follows the other. Conversion being the consequence 
 of convictions obeyed, and perseverance a natural fruit of 
 conversion, and being born of God ; " For such sin not, 
 because the Seed of God abides in them." But such, 
 through faithfulness, continue to the end, and obtain the 
 promise, even everlasting life. 
 
 But let my reader take this along with him, that we 
 do acknowledge that Christ, through his holy doing and 
 suffering, for being a Son, lie learned obedience, has ob- 
 tained mercy of God, his Father, for mankind, and tlat 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 43S 
 
 his olbedience has an influence to our salvation, in all the 
 parts and. branches of it, since thereby he became a con- 
 queror, and led captivity captive, and obtained gifts for 
 men, with divers great and precious promises, that there- 
 by we might be partakers of the Divine nature, having 
 escaped the corruption that is in the world, through lust. 
 I say, we do believe and confess, that the active and passive 
 obedience of Christ Jesus affects our salvation throughout, 
 as well from the power and pollution of sin as from the 
 guilt, he being a conqueror as well as a sacrifice, and both 
 through suffering. Yet they that reject his Divine gift, 
 so obtained, and which He has given to them, by which to 
 see their sin and the sinfulness of it, and to repent and 
 turn away from it, and do so no more ; and to wait upon 
 God for daily strength to resist the fiery darts of the 
 enemy, and to be comforted through the obedience of 
 faith in and to this Divine grace of the Son of God, such 
 do not please God, do not believe truly in God, nor are 
 they in a state of true Christianity and salvation. " Wo- 
 man," said Christ to the Samaritan at the well, " hadst 
 thou known the gift of God, and who it is that speaketh 
 to thee," etc. People know not Christ and God, "whom 
 to know is life eternal," because they are ignorant of the 
 gift of God, viz. : " A manifestation of the Spirit of God 
 is given to every man to profit withal ; " which reveals 
 Christ and God to the soul. Flesh and blood cannot do 
 it, Oxford and Cambridge cannot do it, tongues and phil- 
 osophy cannot do it : for they who by wisdom knew not 
 God, had these things for their wisdom. They were 
 strong, deep, and accurate in them ; but, alas ! they were 
 clouded, puffed up, and set further off from the inward 
 37 2C 
 
434 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 and saving knowledge of God, because they sought for it 
 in them, and thought to find God there. But the key of 
 David is another thing, which shuts and no man opens, 
 and opens and no man shuts ; and this key have all they 
 that receive the gift of God into their hearts, and it opens 
 to them the knowledge of God and themselves, and gives 
 them quite another sight, taste, and judgment of things 
 than their educational or traditional knowledge afforded 
 them. This is the beginning of the new creation of God, 
 and thus it is we come to be new creatures. 
 
 And we are bold to declare there is no other way like 
 this by w^hich people can come into Christ, or be true 
 Christians, or receive the advantage that comes by the 
 death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where- 
 fore we say, and upon good authority, even that of our 
 own experience, as well as that of the Scriptures of Truth, 
 Christ will prove no saving sacrifice for them who refuse 
 to obey Him for their example. They that reject the gift, 
 deny the Giver instead of themselves for the Giver's sake. 
 Oh that people were wise, that they would consider their 
 latter end, and the things that make for the peace thereof I 
 Why should they perish in a vain hope of life, while death 
 reigns ; of living with God, who live not to Him, nor walk 
 with Him ? Awake thou that sleepest in thy sin, or at 
 best in thy self-righteousness I Awake, I say, and t^hrist 
 shall give thee life I For He is the Lord from heaven, the 
 quickening Spirit, who quickens us by his Spirit, if we do 
 not resist it and quench it by our disobedience, but receive, 
 love, and obey it in all the holy leadings and teachings of 
 it. Rom. viii. 14, 15. To which Holy Spirit I commend 
 my reader, that he may the better see where he is, and also 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 435 
 
 come to the true belief and advantage of the doings and 
 sufferings of our dear and blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, who saves from the power and pollution, as well as 
 guilt of sin, all those who hear his knocks, and open the 
 door of their hearts to Him, that He may come in and work 
 a real and thorough reformation iu and for them. 
 
 William Penn in 1691 paid a visit to Peter the Great, 
 Czar of Russia. This extraordinary man took the singu- 
 lar resolution of visiting several parts of Europe in person, 
 for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the arts, which 
 were but very imperfectly understood in his own country. 
 Having resided for some time in Holland, where he worked 
 in one of the dock-yards, at ship-building, he went to Eng- 
 land, and engaged in a similar employment at Deptford. 
 
 The Czar became so much interested in Friends, that 
 he sometimes attended their meetings at Deptford. William 
 Penn afterwards wrote him the following letter : 
 
 " William Penn to the Czar of Muscovy. 
 
 " It was a profound respect, and not a vain curiosity, 
 great Czar, which brought me twice to wait upon thee. 
 My desire was, and is, that as God Almighty has distin- 
 guished thee above so many millions of thy fellow-creatures, 
 so thou mayest distinguish thyself above them by an ex- 
 traordinary zeal for piety and charity, which are the two 
 legs the Christian religion stands upon ; and where they 
 are wanting or defective, it must needs fall in the streets 
 to the scorn and triumph of the heathen. May thy ex- 
 ample show thee to be as good as great, that thou mayst 
 bear his image by whom kings reign and princes decree 
 
436 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 justice, which, without goodness, power itself can never 
 do. Optimus was, of old, preferred to Maximus among 
 heathen princes, much more it should be among Christian 
 emperors. If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for 
 God ; and to do that, thou must be ruled by Him who 
 has given to kings his grace to command themselves and 
 their subjects, and to the people the grace to obey God 
 and their kings. Know, great Czar, and take it with 
 thee, as one part of the collection of knowledge thou art 
 making in this unexampled travel, that 't is in this king- 
 dom of England that God has visited and touched the 
 hearts of a people, above forty years ago, by the holy 
 light and grace of his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 By which their minds have been turned from false wor- 
 ship and evil living to worship God, who is a Spirit, in 
 and by his own Spirit, and be led by it in their conversa- 
 tion, that they may bring forth the fruits of it among men 
 to his praise that has called them. They are an inward 
 and retired people, that dare not conform themselves to 
 vain inventions and fashions of the world, either in re- 
 ligious or civil conversation, but live and act as believing 
 that God seeth them in all they do, and will judge them 
 according to what they do. They teach that men must 
 be holy, or they cannot be happy — that they should be 
 few in words, peaceable in life, suffer Avrongs, love enemies, 
 deny themselves — without which, faith is false, worship 
 formality, and religion hypocrisy. Yet they are an in- 
 dustrious people in their generation, and though against 
 superfluity, yet lovers of ingenuity. It was in their name 
 five of us came to salute thee, who wish thou mayst have 
 an eye to this divine principle of life and light in the soul, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 437 
 
 a measure of wliicli is given to thee and all men to profit 
 with. That by it piety, wisdom, and charity may dwell 
 with thee, and thou mayst be qualified to serve the mighty 
 God suitable to the great opportunities He hath put into 
 thy hands, so prays a little iiian, but thy great friend and 
 well-wisher, William Penn." 
 
 " Seventh mo., 2, '98." 
 
 William Penn appears to have spent much time, after 
 his release from seclusion by order of King William, in 
 travelling through England and Ireland in the work of the 
 ministry. There was in the public mind a reaction in his 
 favor and he rose higher than ever in the estimation of 
 his friends. 
 
 It is said of some of his meetings, in the Life prefacing 
 his writings, '' The people flocked in abundantly, and his 
 testimony to the Truth, answering to that of God in. their 
 consciences, was assented to by many." 
 
 Thos. Story speaking of the Half- Yearly Meeting at 
 Dublin, says, " Great was the resort of people of all ranks 
 and professions to our meetings, chiefly on account of our 
 friend William Penn, who was ever furnished by the Truth 
 with matter fully to answer their expectations. Many of 
 the clergy were there, and the people, with one voice, spoke 
 well of what they heard." 
 
 In other places in Ireland, William Penn and the Friends 
 who accompanied him had large meetings attended by 
 people of all ranks. During this journey, Thomas Story 
 says that some members of his own Society, ''filled with 
 envy and unwisely emulating that glory and dignity the 
 Lord was pleased to put upon William Penn for the ex- 
 37 ->^ 
 
438 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 latation of his own holy name, had made very unworthy 
 and unchristian attempts against his character in his 
 absence, and even in the Yearly Meeting, to the great 
 grief of all the right-minded among them." Again he 
 says, " On the First day following we had another very 
 large meeting there, and the Lord was mightily with 
 William Penn that day, clothing him with majesty, holy 
 zeal, and divine wisdom, to the great satisfaction of Friends 
 there, even increasing that unsought praise which some 
 did much grudge him, who by attempting his character 
 unjustly greatly lost their own." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 439 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 ABOUT fifteen years had now passed away since Wil- 
 liam Pcnn left his province in America. In the year 
 to which we have arrived, he found his way open to re- 
 turn. On his former visit, we may remember, he left his 
 family behind ; but he now resolved upon taking his wife 
 and children with him ; expecting in all probability to 
 spend the remainder of his days in Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the course of this year, (1699,) and probably while 
 he was preparing for his American voyage, he wrote a 
 valuable compendium of Christian morality, in the form 
 of '' Advice to his Children," relating to their civil and 
 religious conduct^ from which the following characteristic 
 passages are taken. 
 
 " I will begin with that which is the beginning of all 
 true wisdom and happiness, the holy fear of God. 
 
 '' Children, fear God ; that is to say, have an holy awe 
 upon your minds to avoid that which is evil and a strict 
 care to embrace and do that which is good. The measure 
 and standard of which knowledge and duty is the light of 
 Christ in your consciences, by which, as in John iii. 20, 21, 
 3^ou may clearly see if your deeds, aye, and your words 
 and thoughts, too, are wrought in God or not; for thoughts 
 are the deeds of the mind for which you must be judged. 
 And as you come to obey this blessed light in its hcly con- 
 
440 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 victions, it will lead you out of the world's dark and de- 
 generate ways and works, and bring- you unto Christ's 
 way and life, and to be of the number of his true, self- 
 denying followers, to take up your cross for his sake, who 
 bore his for yours. 
 
 " Christ is called light because He gives man a sight of 
 his sin. And He is also called the quickening Spirit. It 
 is the great end, and benefit, and blessing of the coming 
 of Christ, viz., the shining forth of this light and pouring 
 forth of this Spirit. God sent his Son to bless us in turn- 
 ing us from the evil of our ways ; therefore have a care 
 of evil, for that turns you away from God ; and wherein 
 you have done evil, do so no more ; but be ye turned, my 
 dear children, from evil in thought, as well as in word and 
 deed, or that will turn you from God your Creator, and 
 Christ, whom He has given you for your Redeemer, who 
 redeems and saves his people from their sins, not in their 
 sins. This holy, divine principle is called grace, too. And 
 why grace ? Because it is God's love and not our desert, 
 his good-will, his kindness. ' He so loved the world that 
 He gave his only-begotten Son into the world, that who- 
 soever believcth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life ; ' and this holy Son is declared in John i. 14, 
 16 to be full of grace and truth, and that of his grace we 
 receive grace for grace, that is, we receive of Him the ful- 
 ness, what measure of grace we need. 
 
 " This is that which is come by Christ, and a measure 
 of this light, spirit, grace, and truth is given to every man 
 and woman to see their waj^ to go by. 
 
 " Oh, my dear children, this is the pearl of price ; part 
 with all for it, but never part with it for all the world. 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXJ^. 441 
 
 Yea, this is the divine and incorruptible seed of the king- 
 dom, of which all truly regenerate men and women, Chris- 
 tians of Christ's making, are born. Keceive it into your 
 hearts, give it room. there, let it take deep root in you, and 
 you will be fruitful unto God in every good word and work. 
 As you take heed to it and the holy enlightenings and mo- 
 tions of it, you will have a perfect discerning of the spirit 
 of this world, in all its appearances in yourselves and 
 others. And you will also see that the testimony unto 
 which the eternal God hath brought our poor Friends, as 
 to religion, worship, truth-speaking, ministry, plainness, 
 simplicity, and moderation in apparel, furniture, food, 
 salutation, as you may read in their writings, from the 
 very beginning, is a true and heavenly testimony of his 
 mind, will, work, and dispensation in this last age of the 
 world to mankind, being the revival of true primitive 
 Christianity ; where your most tender father prays that 
 you may l)e kept, and charges you to watch that you may 
 be preserved in the faith and practice of that blessed tes- 
 timony ; and count it no small mercy from God and honor 
 to you that you come of parents who counted nothing too 
 dear or near to part with, nor too great to do or suffer, 
 that they might approve themselves to God, and testify 
 their love to his most precious Truth in the inward parts 
 in their generation. 
 
 " Having thus expressed myself to you, my dear chil- 
 dren, as to the things of God, his Truth and kingdom, I 
 refer you to his light, grace, Spirit, and Truth within you, 
 and to the Holy Scriptures of Truth without you, which 
 from my j^outh I loved to read, and were ever blessed to 
 me, and which I charge you to read daily ; the Old Testa- 
 
4:42 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 mcnt for history chiefly, the Psalms for meditation and 
 devotion, the prophets for comfort and hope, but especially 
 the New Testament for doctrine, faith, and worship : for 
 they were given forth by holy men of God in divers ages, 
 as they were moved of the Holy Spirit ; and they are the 
 declared and revealed mind and will of the holy God to 
 mankind, under divers dispensations, and they are cer- 
 tainly able to make the man of God perfect, through faith 
 unto salvation, being a true and clear testimony to the 
 salvation that is of God, through Christ the second Adam, 
 the light of the world, the quickening Spirit, who is full 
 of grace and truth. I say, having thus expressed myself 
 in general, I shall now descend to particulars, that you 
 may more directly apply what I have said. 
 
 " I will begin here, also, with the beginning of time, the 
 morning. So soon as you wake, retire your minds into a 
 pure silence from all thoughts and ideas of worldly things, 
 and in that frame wait upon God, to feel his good pres- 
 ence, to lift up your hearts to Him, and commit your whole 
 self into his blessed care and protection. Then rise, if 
 well, immediately ; being dressed, read a chapter or more 
 in the Scriptures, and afterwards dispose yourselves for 
 the business of the day, ever remembering that God is 
 present, the overseer of all your thoughts, words, and 
 actions. As you have intervals from your lawful occa- 
 sions, delight to step home, within yourselves, I mean, 
 and commune with your own hearts and be still. This 
 will bear you up against all temptations, and carry you 
 sweetly and evenly through your day's business, support- 
 ing you under disappointments, and moderating your sat- 
 isfaction in success and prosperity. The evening being 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 443 
 
 come, read again the holy Scripture, and have your tiraea 
 of retirement before you close your eyes, as in the morn- 
 ing, that so the Lord may be the Alpha and Omega of 
 every day of your lives. And if God bless you with fam- 
 ilies, remember good Joshua's resolution, ' But as for me 
 and my house, we will serve the Lord.' 
 
 *' In conversation, mark well what others say or do, and 
 hide your own mind, at least till last. A just observance 
 and reflection upon men and things give wisdom ; these 
 are the great books of learning seldom read. Interrupt 
 none, anticipate none : ' Be quick to hear, slow to speak.' 
 Affect not words, but matter, and chiefly to be pertinent 
 and plain. ^ Truest eloquence is plainest, and brief speak- 
 ing is the best. Return no answer to anger, unless with 
 much meekness, which often turus it away, but rarely 
 make replies, less rejoinders, for these add fuel to the fire. 
 It is a wrong time to vindicate yourselves, the true ear 
 being then never open to hear it. 
 
 " Have but few books, but let them be well chosen and 
 well read, whether of religious or civil subjects. Shun 
 fantastic opinions ; measure both religion and learning by 
 practice. Beading yourselves and nature, in the dealings 
 and conduct of men, is the truest human wisdom. The 
 spirit of a man knows the things of man, and more true 
 knowledge comes by meditation and just reflection than 
 by reading. 
 
 " Keep close to the meetings of God's people ; and wait 
 diligently at them, to feel the heavenly life in your hearts, 
 Look for that more than words in ministry, and you will 
 profit most. Above all, look to the Lord, but. despise not 
 
444 PASSAGES FROlvI THE LIFE 
 
 iastruments, man or womail, young or old, rich or poor, 
 learned or unlearned. 
 
 '' Avoid discontented persons, unless to inform or re- 
 prove them. Abhor detraction, the sin of fallen angels, 
 and the worst of fallen men. Excuse faults in others, 
 own them in yourselves, and forgive them against your- 
 selves, as you would have your heavenly Father and 
 Judge forgive you. 
 
 " Love one another. Live as near as you can, visit 
 often, correspond oftener, and communicate with kind 
 hearts to one another, in proportion to what the Lord 
 gives you ; and do not be close, nor hoard up from one 
 another as if you had no right or claim in one another, 
 and did not descend of one most tender father and mother. 
 What I write is to yours, as well as you, if God gives you 
 children. And in case a prodigal should ever appear 
 among them, make not his folly an excuse to be strange 
 or close, and so to expose such an one to more evil. 
 
 "Love silence, even in the mind; for thoughts are to 
 that, as words to the body, troublesome ; much speaking, 
 as much thinking, spends, and in many thoughts, as well 
 as words, there is sin. True silence is the rest of the 
 mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, 
 nourishment and refreshment. 
 
 " Meddle not with government ; never speak of it, let 
 others say or do as they please. But read such books of 
 law as relate to the office of a justice, a coroner, sheriff, 
 and constable ; also the doctor and student ; some book 
 of clerkship, and a treatise of wills, to enable you about 
 your own private business only, or a poor neighbor's. 
 •For it is a charge I leave with you and yours, meddle not 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 44:5 
 
 with the public, neither business jior money ; but under, 
 stand how to avoid it, and defend yourselves, upon occa- 
 sion, against it. For much knowledge brings sorrow, and 
 much doing more. Therefore, know God, know your- 
 selves ; love home, know your own business and mind 
 it, and you have more time and peace than your neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 "If you incline to marry, then marry your inclination 
 rather than your interest; I mean what you love, rather 
 than what is rich. But love for virtue, temper, education, 
 and person, before wealth or quality, and be sure you are 
 beloved again. In all which, be not hasty, but serious ; 
 lay it before the Lord, proceed in his fear, and be you well 
 advised. Seek the Lord for one another ; wait upon Him 
 together, morning and evening, in his holy fear, which 
 will renew and confirm your love and covenant ; give 
 way to nothing that would in the least violate it ; use all 
 means of true endearment, that you may recommend and 
 please one another ; remembering that your relation and 
 union is the figure of Christ's to his church ; therefore, 
 let the authority of love only bear sway your whole life. 
 
 "If God give you children, love them with wisdom, 
 correct them with affection. Punish them more by their 
 understandings than the rod, and show them the folly, 
 shame, and undutifulness of their faults rather with a 
 grieved than an angry countenance, and you will sooner 
 affect their natures, and with a nobler sense, than a servile 
 and rude chastisement can produce. Breed your children 
 yourselves ; I mean as to their morals, and be their bishops 
 and teachers in the principles of conversation ; as they 
 are instructed, so they are likely to be qualified, and your 
 38 
 
446 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 posterity by the precepts and examples which they receive 
 from yours. 
 
 ''Distrust is of the nature of jealousy, and must be 
 warily entertained upon good grounds. Yet I have often 
 been whispered to in myself of persons and things, at first 
 sight and motion, that hardly ever failed to be true ; though 
 by neglecting the sense, or suffering myself to be argued 
 or importuned from it, I have more than once failed ofjnj 
 expectation. Have therefore a most tender and nice re- 
 gard to those first and unpremeditated sensations. 
 
 "Be humble: it becomes a creature that lives not of 
 itself, but breathes in another's air with another's breath, 
 and is accountable for every moment of time, and can call 
 nothing its own, but is absolutely a tenant at will of the 
 great Lord of heaven and earth. The fear and love of God 
 beget humility, and humility fits you for God and men. 
 You cannot step well amiss, if this virtue dwell richly in 
 you ; for then God will teach you. The humble He teach- 
 eth his ways, and they are all pleasant and peaceable to 
 his children. 
 
 "From humility springs meekness. It seems to be hu- 
 mility perfectly digested, and from a virtue become a na- 
 ture. A meek man is one that is not easily provoked, yet 
 easily grieved ; not peevish or testy, but soft, gentle, and 
 inoffensive. Oh, blessed will you be, my dear children, if 
 this grace adorn you ! 
 
 " Patience is an effect of a meek spirit and flows from 
 it. Patience inquires, deliberates, and brings to a mature 
 judgment. Through your civil as well as Christian course, 
 you cannot act wisely and safely without it. 
 
 "Show mercy whenever it is in your power, that is, for- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENI^. 447 
 
 giv(;, pity, and help, for so it signifies. Mercy is one of 
 the attributes of Gocl. It is exalted in Scripture above 
 all his works, and is a noble part of his image in man. 
 Wherefore, I charge you, oppress no body, man or beast. 
 Take no advantage upon the unhappy, pity the afflicted, 
 make their case your own, and that of their wives and 
 poor innocent children the condition of yours, and you 
 cannot want sympathy, forgiveness, nor a disposition to 
 help and succor them to your ability. 
 
 "Avoid that great sin of needless expense on your per- 
 sons and on your houses, while the poor are hungry and 
 naked. Let the moving passage. Matt. xxv. 35 to the end, 
 live in your minds : ' I was hungry and thirsty, and naked, 
 sick and in prison, and you administered unto me, and the 
 blessing that followed:' also what He said to another sort, 
 'I was hungry and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in 
 prison, and you administered not unto me ;' for a dreadful 
 sentence follows to the hard-hearted world. 
 
 " Liberality or bounty is a noble quality in man, enter- 
 tained of few, yet praised of all. Wheresoever, therefore, 
 my dear children, liberality is required of you, God en- 
 abling you, sow not sparingly nor grudgingly, but with a 
 cheerful mind, and you shall not go without your reward; 
 though that ought not to be your motive. But avoid os- 
 tentation, for that is using virtue to vanity, which will run 
 you to profuseness, and that to want ; which begets greed- 
 iness, and that avarice, the contrary extreme. As men 
 may go westward till they come east, and travel till they 
 and those they left behind them stand antipodes, up and 
 down. 
 
 "Justice or righteousness is another attribute of God, of 
 
448 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 targe extent in the life and duty of man. Be just there- 
 fore in all things to all. To God as your Creator, render 
 to Him that which is his, your heart, for that acknowledg- 
 ment He has reserved to himself, by which only you are 
 entitled to the comforts of this and a better life. And 
 if He has your hearts, you have Him for your treasure, 
 and with Him all things requisite to your felicity. Ken- 
 der also to Caesar that which is his, lawful subjection ; not 
 for fear only, but conscience' sake. To parents, a filial love 
 and obedience. To one another, natural affection. To 
 all people, .in doing as you would be done by. Hurt no 
 man's name or person. Covet no man's property in any 
 sort. 
 
 " I have said but little to you of distributing justice," or 
 being just in power or government, for I should desire 
 you may never be concerned therein, unless it were upon 
 your own principles, and then the less the better, unless 
 God require it from you. But if it ever be your lot, know 
 no man after the flesh ; know neither rich nor poor, great 
 nor small, nor kindred, nor stranger ; but judge the cause 
 according to your understanding and conscience, and that 
 upon deliberate inquiry and information. 
 
 " Integrity is a great and commendable virtue. A man 
 of integrity is a true man, a bold man, and a steady man. 
 He shines brightest in the fire, and his friend hears of him 
 most when he most needs him. He runs with truth, and 
 not with the times ; with right, and not with might. 
 
 " Gratitude or thankfulness is another virtue of great 
 lustre, and so esteemed with God and all good men. It is 
 indeed a noble sort of justice, and might, in a sense, be re- 
 ferred as a branch to that head, with this difference, that 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 44:9 
 
 since benefits exceed justice, the tie is very strong to be 
 grateful, and consequently there is something exceedingly 
 base and reproachful in ingratitude. It is an evangelical 
 virtue, and works as faith does, only by love. In this it 
 exactly resembles a Christian state. ' We are not under 
 the law, but under grace,' and it is by grace and not by 
 merit 'that we are saved.' But are our obligations the 
 less to God, that he heaps his favors so undeservedly upon 
 us ? Surely no. 
 
 " Diligence is another virtue useful and laudable among 
 men. It belongs to you, throughout your whole man; 
 be no more sauntering in your minds than in your bodies. 
 Shun diversions, think only of the present business till 
 that be done. Be busy to purpose, for a busy man and a 
 man of business are two different things. Consider your 
 end well, suit your means to it, and then diligently em- 
 ploy them, and you arrive where you would be, withr 
 God's blessing. Temperance I must earnestly recom- 
 mend to you. throughout the whole course of your 
 life; it is numbered amongst the fruits of the Spirit. 
 That which keeps the body low makes the spirit 
 clear, as silence makes it strong. As in diet so in ap- 
 parel, observe, I charge you, an exemplary plainness. 
 Choose your clothes for their usefulness not the fashion, 
 and for covering and not finery, or to please a vain mind 
 in yourselves or others. They are fallen souls that think 
 clothes can give beauty to man. Bound your desires, 
 learn your wills subjection, take Christ for your example 
 as well as guide. It was He who led and taught a life of 
 faith in Providence, and told his disciples the danger of 
 the cares and pleasures of this world. His sermon upon 
 3S ^ 2D 
 
450 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 the mount is one continued Divine authority in favor of 
 universal temperance. 
 
 " I will close with this one most comprehensive passage 
 of the apostle, ' Let your moderation be known unto all 
 men, for the Lord is at hand.' Let this excellent, this 
 home and close sentence live in your minds : let it ever 
 dwell upon your spirits, my beloved children, and influence 
 all your actions, aye, your affections and thoughts. It is 
 a 'Qoble measure, sufficient to regulate the whole. They 
 that have it are easy as well as safe. No extreme pre- 
 vails; the world is kept at arm's end, and such have 
 power over their own spirits, which gives them the truest 
 enjoyment of themselves and what they have." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 451 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 As the object of this work is to give an account of the 
 life and religious labors of William Penn rather than 
 the history of his province, but little mention has been 
 made of the events which occurred there during his 
 absence. Some notice of these will now be in place. 
 
 After the recall of Governor Black well, in the Twelfth 
 month, 1689, the charge of the government again devolved 
 upon Thomas Lloyd, who, although a man of excellent 
 abilities and unquestionable integrity, does not appear to 
 have possessed either the talents or the influence of William 
 Penn. ^ Difficulties and jealousies arose among the mem- 
 bers of the government. The representatives from the 
 province and those from the territories or three lower 
 counties, being supposed to have separate interests to 
 promote, could not cordially unite. The proprietary had 
 taken abundance of pains to form an intimate connection 
 between the province and territories, both in the legisla- 
 tive and executive capacities. But the members from the 
 territories, seeing themselves likely to be outnumbered by 
 those from the province, and consequently thrown into the 
 minority upon all questions in which their separate interests 
 were involved, demanded concessions for their security, 
 which were considered unreasonable, and consequently 
 refused. These jealousies at length, in the early part of 
 1691, rose to such a height as to occasion a rupture be- 
 
452 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 tween them, which resulted in the establishmcsnt of two 
 separate governments. To this separation William Penn 
 gave a very reluctant assent. It may fairly be consid* 
 ered as a consequence of his absence, for we find that he 
 retained the confidence and affection of both parties. He 
 had penetration enough to discover the ill consequences 
 likely to result both to his interest and theirs from these 
 animosities. The unpleasant news reached him soon after 
 the commencement of his troubles arising from the accu- 
 sation of Fuller. He did not fail to apprise his friends in 
 America of his apprehensions on their account, and to 
 urge upon them the necessity of cultivating a better 
 temper ; but the people of the territories appear to have 
 been too jealous of their rights and too tenacious of their 
 opinions to be diverted from their purpose by his influence 
 or authority while residing on the other side of the At- 
 lantic. 
 
 In 1691 the province of Pennsylvania was agitated in 
 a manner which must have caused greater pain to the sen- 
 sitive mind of William Penn than the dissensions between 
 the province and territories. The latter arose from ques- 
 tions of worldly interest ; but the new disturbance arose 
 in the bosom of his own Society. George Keith, who for 
 between twenty and thirty years had been an approved 
 member and minister in the Society, became about that 
 time a subject of much concern to his friends. He began 
 to differ with them on points of discipline, proposing alter- 
 ations which Friends were not free to adopt. Finding his 
 influence in the Society less than he seems to have sup- 
 posed due to his talents and service, he gave way to a 
 captious and acrimonious spirit. He began to qucs'tion 
 
OF WILLIAM PEKN. 453 
 
 the soundness of the ministers on some doctrinal points, 
 and falling under the government of his passions rather 
 than his understanding, indulged in harsh and vituperative 
 language towards Friends of the fairest character. 
 
 This opposition to Friends was not confined to questions 
 of doctrine or discipline, but extended to the measures of 
 civil government. A large part of the original settlers in 
 Pennsylvania being of the same religious profession with 
 the founder, many of the executive and judicial offices were 
 exercised by members of this Society. George Keith 
 indulged his spleen by representing the conduct of these 
 Friends in bringing robbers to justice as a violation of 
 their peace principles. His opposition to the measures 
 and officers of the government rendered him at length an 
 object of judicial inquiry. He and another were presented 
 by the grand jury of Philadelphia as the authors of a 
 defamatory publication ; for which, on conviction, they 
 were fined five pounds each, but the fines were not levied. 
 
 News of the disturbances occasioned by him and his 
 party were soon carried to the mother country ; and those 
 who were inimical to Friends, the province, or the propri- 
 etary took care to circulate them with the usual exaggera- 
 tions. The account of his trial was circulated with such 
 coloring as to give it the appearance of a religious perse- 
 cution. It was industriously reported at court, Westmin- 
 ster Hall, and the Parliament house, and excited much 
 odium against William, Penn and the Society of Friends. 
 It was laid hold of as an evidence of their unfitness for 
 the exercise of political power, and William Penn himself 
 does not appear to have approved of this prosecution. The 
 magistrates published a declaration exculpating themselves 
 
454 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 from the charge of religious persecution, showing that they 
 had not proceeded against George Keith and his adherents 
 without ample provocation, and giving an opinion that such 
 conduct, if not restrained, tended to sedition and the sub- 
 version of the existing government. 
 
 Although Ring William seemed to have entertained a 
 friendship for William Penn, yet the general complexion 
 of his court was averse to the adherents of James ; and 
 this aversion to the political friends of the exiled monarch 
 would naturally extend to his personal friends also, of 
 which number William Penn was avowedly one. This 
 circumstance, together with the exaggerated reports which 
 were circulated respecting the disorders and maladminis- 
 tration existing in the province and territories, prevailed 
 wath the king and council to adopt the resolution of depriv- 
 ing William Penn of his authority there. In pursuance 
 of this resolution, a commission was issued, bearing date 
 the 21st of October, 1692, to Benjamin Fletcher, Governor 
 of New York, authorizing him to assume the government 
 of Pennsylvania and the territories thereto belonging. 
 This, as far as can be ascertained, was a simple act of 
 power, without even the color of law or legal procedure. 
 In the commission no notice was taken of William Penn 
 or the charter of Charles 11. 
 
 The commission of Governor Fletcher was not received 
 by him until the spring of the following year, at which 
 time he notified Thomas Lloyd of his appointment, and 
 soon afterwards repaired to Philadelphia to engage in the 
 concerns of his new government. Official information of 
 the change was not given to the constituted authorities of 
 Pennsylvania by the king yet upon the arrival of Colonel 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 455 
 
 Fletcher the government was surrendered to him without 
 opposition ; but Friends who held the offices of magistrates 
 generally refused to accept from him the renewal of their 
 commissions. It is not probable that the government at 
 home gave William Penn notice of their proceedings, and 
 he was probably ignorant of them till the information 
 reached him from the western side of the Atlantic. 
 
 The administration of Governor Fletcher was not 
 marked by any event of such permanent interest as to 
 demand particular recital. He appears to have been, or 
 at least to have become, convinced that the exclusion of 
 William Penn from the government was an unjust assump- 
 tion of power, and that his own exercise of that authority 
 was likely to be of very short duration. 
 
 In the Twelfth month, 1694, William Penn wrote to 
 Robert Turner at Philadelphia: 
 
 *' I do beseech thee by our ancient acquaintance, by thy 
 gravity and age in the truth, thy love for the poor country, 
 and, above all, for the truth's sake, to be the means of a 
 better understanding among you thereaway, both as to 
 church and state. The more I hear of your animosities, 
 the sad effects of them upon the place, the contempt it 
 brings upon the country, and the irreparable injury it is 
 to me and my poor children, yea, upon yourselves and 
 posterity, methinks should prevail. I can say no more, 
 only my love to thee and thine and son and daughter, and 
 entreat George Keith, with my love, by the same motives, 
 in my name, to the same end and purpose ; and God Al- 
 mighty modify and dispose all hearts to the ancient, ten- 
 der, b'essed unity, that his peace may be with you, and 
 
'156 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 your enemies may not, as now they do, triumph over you 
 all and the holy profession you make. I am the more 
 earnest with you because I am thought by several to have 
 too much encourag-ed your George Keith, etc., by my let- 
 ters. I am for patience, forbearance, long-suffering, and 
 all true moderation ; but I abhor contention, doubtful dis- 
 putations, divisions, etc. Oh, that the Spirit of God may 
 rule and overrule our spirits, or all we have to say for God 
 can never glorify Him ; it is his own that praise and serve 
 Him. I could wish my own concerns there were in a 
 better way, but of that no more now. I yet hope in the 
 Lord to see you again, and that not long first. Farewell 
 " Thy real, well-wishing friend, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 In the year 1694 William Penn was restored to the 
 government, of which he had been unjustly divested, by 
 letters-patent, dated the 20th of August. In this docu- 
 ment the disorders assigned as the cause of the royal as- 
 sumption of authority there are attributed to the absence 
 of the proprietor. An intimation, at least, is given that 
 his prudence and authority, if present, would have pre- 
 vented the disorders complained of. 
 
 Thomas Lloyd, who was during several years the dep- 
 uty of William Penn in the government of Pennsylvania, 
 having died in the Seventh month, 1G94, the appointment, 
 upon William Penn's restoration, was conferred upon Wil- 
 liam Markham, who held it till the arrival of the Gov- 
 ernor himself in 1699. Little remarkable seems to have 
 occurred \inder his administration to attract the historian's 
 notice. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 457 
 
 The following passages are from a letter from William 
 Penn to Friends in Pennsylvania : 
 
 " Bristol, 24tli of Nintli month, 1694. 
 
 " Dear Friends and Brethren : — My ancient love 
 without reserve salutes and embraces you in the sense of 
 that which has been the root of our fellowship, and of all 
 God's people since the world began, in which the Lord 
 preserve us to the end. 
 
 " By this you will understand that by the good provi- 
 dence of God I am restored to my former administration 
 of government, which I hope will be some relief and com- 
 fort to you that have been exercised by the late interrup- 
 tion upon us. That things are not just now put into that 
 posture as you may reasonably desire you must not take 
 amiss, for neither will the straitness of the times nor the 
 circumstances we are under to the lords of the plantations 
 permit another method at this time. And as soon as I 
 can make my way to that which is as much my inclination 
 as yours (and which I hope to do in a short time), depend 
 upon it I shall do my utmost to make you entirely easy. 
 Accept this part of the goodness of God and wait for the 
 rest. 
 
 " We must creep where we cannot go ; and it is as nec- 
 essary for us, in the things of this life, to be wise as to be 
 innocent. A word to the wise is enough. My return will, 
 I hope, put an end to all our civil griefs, which at least I 
 long for, not for any worldly advantage, but to discharge a 
 conscience to God and to you, and I hope that shall singly 
 be the mark and rule of the remainder of my life, both 
 in this and all other things that may attend it. 
 39 
 
458 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 " You know, I believe, as well as I, what has been a 
 main obstacle and is still, of which S. J. can be more 
 particular, to whom I have opened myself that he may do 
 so to you, and whose integrity, I think, ought, with reason, 
 to be unquestionable to us both. I cannot tell you here 
 through what difficulties we are come where we are, and I 
 hope you will be sensible of it, and from thence satisfied, 
 if not pleased. Pray be careful that the charter be strictly 
 observed, and vice and impiety diligently suppressed." 
 
 In the Sixth month, 1699, William Penn, with his wife 
 and family, embarked for Pennsylvania in the ship Canter- 
 bury ; and from on board, while lying at the Isle of Wight, 
 he addressed a farewell epistle to his friends wherever scat- 
 tered in England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Germany, or 
 other parts of Europe, of which the following is part: 
 
 ''And now, my dear friends, whom I know and love, 
 and you also whom I truly love, though I do not know 
 personally, since it has pleased the good and all-wise God 
 to order my course from you, so that I cannot visit you, as 
 I have often desired before I left you, this therefore is to be 
 my brotherly farewell unto you. And surely my soul is 
 bowed in humble petitions to Israel's God, the true and liv- 
 ing and powerful God, that it may be well with you all here 
 and forever. Though God has appeared to us, and given us 
 many and undeniable testimonies that it was He, and not an- 
 other, who reached our hearts, and touched our consciences, 
 and brought us to confession, yea, and forsaking, too, of that 
 which offended Him, in great measure, blessed be his name, 
 vet we are not to stop, or take up our rest here ; we must 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 459 
 
 watch still, pray still, fight still, that good fight of faith, till 
 we have overcome the enemy of our souls. And even then 
 must we watch and pray, and that to the end of our days; 
 that w^e may not lose that crown of glory which God, the 
 righteous judge, shall give to all those that love his appear- 
 ance, overcome, and persevere to the end. For be assured 
 we shall reap if w^e faint not; but w^e shall faint, if we wait 
 not upon God, who alone is the strength of his people. 
 
 '' God is not wanting : He w^ho long stood at the door of 
 our hearts, under our impenitency in times past, till his 
 locks were wet with- the dew, and his hair with the drops 
 of the night, till w^e were wakened out of our carnal secur- 
 ity, and came to judgment in ourselves, unto unfeigned 
 repentance, to be sure He is not weary of waiting to be 
 gracious now^ to his poor people ; especially if they are poor 
 in spirit, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. 
 
 '' And though Balaams there are, who may be hired by 
 the Balaks of our age, to curse our Israel-family of God, 
 who know^s but even some of these may yet live to say, 
 before they die, ' How goodly are thy tents, Jacob ! ' 
 * How pleasant is thy dwelling-place, Israel I ' But then, 
 friends, we must keep our tents, we must be a retired and 
 a peculiar people, and dwell alone. We must keep above 
 the world, and clear of the spirit of it, and those many 
 trifles, cares, and troubles that abound in it. 
 
 '' It is in Christ ye have peace, in the w^orld is the trouble ; 
 keep therefore in Him who has called himself, and we have 
 found Him so, the way, Truth, and life ; and you shall 
 live, because He lives : He the root, you the branches, by 
 whom yo'i w^ill be kept green and fruitful, bringing forth 
 the fruits and graces of the Holy Spirit in all your con- 
 
460 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 verse and commerce, that it may be seen and said, God 
 is with you and amongst you. Oh, let humility, charity, 
 meekness, and self-denial shine amongst you I so will you 
 come to sit, as did the primitive Christians, in heavenly 
 places in Christ Jesus, and be preserved through the 
 noise, snares, and hurry of this present evil world. 
 
 ''But the condition of some, who pretend to follow 
 Christ, yet are afar off, affects my spirit. 
 
 " Oh I my dear friends, let me prevail with you, in this 
 my farewell to you, to turn your minds inward, and wait 
 to feel your Redeemer, and meet Him in the way of his 
 righteous judgments; for there is no redemption but 
 through judgment, nor conversion but through righteous- 
 ness. Come and be baptized by Christ: He will baptize 
 you with his fire and Holy Ghost. So will you come to 
 find your interest in Christ, as you feel his workmanship 
 and interest in and over you. And as you thus come to 
 be related to Christ, the heavenly Head, by knowing Him 
 to be head in you, so will you come to be related to his 
 body, the church, and see your proper membership and 
 service therein ; which I pray God effect, to his glory and 
 your comfort. 
 
 "And now to the whole family and flock of God, in this 
 European part of the world, of the same communion, 
 according to the dispensation of God, be they high or low, 
 young or old, rich or poor, wise or simple, strong or weak, 
 male or female, bond or free, I send this parting salutation, 
 of my most dear love in the Truth ; beseeching you all to 
 have me and mine in your remembrance, not only when 
 upon the mighty waters, but when in the solitary deserts 
 of America, if it please the Lord to bring us safe thither. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENX. 461 
 
 '■' I must leave you, but I can never forget you ; and 
 suffer me to say that, to my power, I have from the first 
 endeavored to serve you and my poor country too, and 
 that at my own charges, with an upright mind, however 
 misunderstood and treated by some whom I heartily for- 
 give. Accept you my services, and ever love and remem- 
 ber, my dear friends and brethren, your old, true, and 
 affectionate friend, brother and servant, in Christ Jesus, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 The certificate which he bore from Friends at home is 
 as follows : 
 
 "From our Monthly Meeting held at Horsham, Old England, 
 
 14th of Fifth month, 1699. 
 
 " To the churches of Christ in Pennsylvania, and to all 
 the faithful Friends and brethren unto whom this may 
 come. In the covenant of life and fellowship of the gos- 
 pel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the unity of the one 
 Eternal Spirit of our God, we dearly salute you ; most 
 earnestly desiring your everlasting prosperity in the 
 blessed Truth. 
 
 " Now, dear Friends and brethren, whereas our worthy 
 friend and elder, William Penn, did acquaint our Monthly 
 Men's Meeting with his intended voyage into his province 
 of Pennsylvania, and although we are right sensible that 
 he needeth no letter of recommendation from us to pass 
 into his own country, yet, at his request, and for the good 
 order's sake that God hath established in his church and 
 amongst his people, and for the sincere love we bear to 
 our well-esteemed friend, we could do no less than give 
 this small token of our unity and communion with him, 
 39* 
 
4:62 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 as a testimony for Mm and his service in the church of 
 Christ ; wherein he hath been a worthy and blessed in- 
 strument in the hand of the Lord, both in his ministry 
 and conversation, and hath always sought the prosperity 
 of the blessed truth, and peace and concord in the church 
 of Christ; and hath walked amongst us in all humility, 
 godly sincerity, and true brotherly love, to' our great re- 
 freshment and comfort. Who hath, with much labor and 
 great travail, on all occasions endeavored the defence of 
 truth against its opposers, and the preservation of true 
 unity and good order in the church of Christ. So, in the 
 unity of the one Eternal Spirit, which is the bond of true 
 peace, we take our leave of him with earnest breathings 
 and supplications to the great God, whom the winds and 
 seas obey, that He would mercifully be pleased to go along 
 with him, and conduct him by the angel of his divine pres- 
 ence to his desired port, and preserve him to the end of 
 his days, and in the end that he may receive an immortal 
 crown, and be bound up in the bundle of life amongst 
 them that have turned many to righteousness, who shine 
 as the sun in the firmament of God's eternal power, for- 
 ever and ever, amen." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 463 
 
 XXV. 
 
 THE Canterbury was three months on the voyage to 
 Philadelphia. James Logan, in a letter to William 
 Penn, Jr., the only surviving son of Gulielma Penn, gives 
 an account of his father's reception. James Logan was 
 William Penn's secretary as well as steadfast friend and 
 wise counsellor. He was a high-toned gentleman, too 
 unbending in his integrity to be universally popular. He 
 had a fine mind, and was devoted to literary and scien- 
 tific tastes and pursuits. He became Secretary of the 
 Province, for some time President of the Council, and 
 afterwards Chief Justice. 
 
 David Lloyd, who is referred to in the letter, was a 
 Friend, a man of ability as a lawyer, of good private 
 character, but a persistent disturber of the peace in the 
 councils of the province, and, as the professed upholder of 
 popular rights, was an unscrupulous leader of weaker 
 minds in opposition to the proprietary and the best 
 measures of the government. 
 
 Colonel Quarry was a member of the Church of Eng- 
 land, the admiralty judge appointed by the Crown, and 
 therefore independent of the proprietary. He was his 
 pertinacious opponent for a long time. He disliked his 
 views in regard to war, the use of oaths, and the position 
 in Pennsylvania of the Established Church of England, 
 and, as a leading member of a party which sympathized 
 
464 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 with him, gave great annoyance to William Penn and his 
 friends. 
 
 James Logan to William Penn, Jr. 
 
 " Philadelphia, Seventh month, 25th, 1700. 
 
 *' The highest terms I could use would hardly give you 
 an idea of the expectation and welcome that thy father 
 received from the most of the honester party here. Friends 
 generally concluded that after all their troubles and disap- 
 pointments, this province now scarce wanted anything 
 more to render it completely happy. The faction that 
 had long contended to overthrow the settled constitution 
 of the government received an universal damp, yet endeav- 
 ored what mischief they could by speaking whispers, that 
 the proprietary could not act as governor without the 
 king's approbation, and taking an oath as obliged by act 
 of Parliament; but that in a great measure soon blew 
 over. Colonel Quarry, judg^, and John Moore, advocate 
 of the admiralty, the two ringleaders, went down to the 
 water-side among the crowd to receive the Governor at 
 his landing, who not seeming to regard the very submis- 
 sive welcome they gave him, and taking notice of an old 
 acquaintance that stood by them, expected nothing but 
 almost as open hostility from the proprietary as they were 
 at before with Colonel Markham, especially having heard 
 that copies of Colonel Quarry's letters to the admiralty at 
 home against the Governor were also brought over. 
 
 "Directly from the wharf the Governor went to his 
 deputy's, paid him a short formal visit, and from thence, 
 with a crowd attending, to meeting, it being about three 
 o'clock on First-day afternoon, where he spoke on a doable 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. • 465 
 
 account to the people, and praying, concluded it ; from 
 thence to Edward Shippen's, where we lodged for about a 
 • month. 
 
 " For two or three days the Governor seemed to admire 
 at Colonel Quarry's distance, and perceiving that he was 
 not like to come pay a civil visit as might be expected, 
 sent me to him with an inviting compliment, with which 
 he presently complied, and entered into a very familiar 
 conversation with the Governor, who endeavored to make 
 it appear that he would treat all parties with equal civility 
 and regard in this province that were not directly injurious 
 to him ; confessed he believed there was occasion given for 
 the complaint that went home ; blamed the mal-adminis- 
 tration of affairs in some particulars relative to the king, 
 and resolved to have a hearing of the whole matter before 
 himself and council. The two persons chiefly struck at by 
 Quarr}^ was the Lieutenant-Governor, and David Lloyd, 
 Attorney- General; a man very stiff in all his undertak- 
 ings, of a sound judgment and a good lawyer, but ex- 
 tremely pertinacious and somewhat revengeful. He, at 
 that time, was one of the council, and those mighty wrongs 
 that had been put on the king coming to be debated there, 
 David resolutely defended all that had been done, and too 
 highly opposed the Governor's resolution of composing all 
 by mildness and moderation, and reconciling all animosi- 
 ties by his own intervention, which he thought the only 
 advisable expedient to put an end to those differences that 
 had cost him so much trouble. This soon created some 
 small misunderstanding. Several of the most noted 
 Friends were involved more or less in David's business, 
 and though troubled at his stiffness, yet wished him in 
 
 2E 
 
4:6Q PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 the right, because the most active enemy and assiduous 
 counsellor against the other party, who on all occasions 
 would be glad, they thought, of their utter ruin. His 
 obstinacy the Governor could by no means brook ; he 
 could not but think there was more deference and consid- 
 eration due to his character and station. The other knew 
 not what it was to bend, he was engaged in the cause, 
 and would stand or fall by it, offering to plead it at West- 
 minster Hall. But the Governor, who was most sensible 
 of the pulse of the court and affairs in general at home, 
 knew this course would never take, and therefore was 
 sometimes warm enough to inveigh highly against past 
 proceedings, not sparing several in express words that 
 were concerned in them, and laying open in large dis- 
 course what would be the consequence if they took not 
 some more effectual ways to satisfy superiors at home, 
 who, perhaps, would be very well pleased with any occa- 
 sion, by whatsoever hand administered^ to wrench the 
 government out of the proprietor's hands and throw it 
 on the king. 
 
 " Friends' love to the Governor was great and sincere ; 
 they had long mourned for his absence and passionately 
 desired his return. He, they firmly believed, Avould com- 
 pose all their difficulties and repair all that was amiss." 
 
 At a meeting of the council, William Penn said to them : 
 
 " Friends : — Though this be a colony of nineteen years' 
 standing, and not inferior to any of its age and establish- 
 ing, yet we have much to do to make a free constitution 
 and the courts of justice therein. There are in it some 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 467 
 
 laws which may be accounted obsolete, others hurtful, 
 others imperfect, that will need improvement ; and it will 
 be requisite to make some new ones. We cannot go too 
 slowly to make them, nor too fast to execute them when 
 made, and that with diligence and discretion. You, 
 friends, are the people's choice and my council. You will 
 see what laws are fit to be left out, and what are fit to be 
 made ; and you, with me, are to prepare and propose them. 
 I say this the rather, because of a false notion some have 
 got, that because you are my council, therefore you are 
 not the people's representatives. The ablest men have 
 always been chosen to be of the council to prepare the 
 laws, and the assembly are to consent to them. Though 
 two bodies, yet are we but one power — the one prepares, 
 the other consents. Friends, if in the constitution by 
 charter there be anything that jars, alter it. If you want 
 a law for this or that, prepare it; I advise you not to 
 trifle with government; I wish there were no need of 
 any ; but since crimes prevail, government is made neces- 
 sary by man's degeneracy. Government is not an end, 
 but a means ; he who thinks it to be an end, aims at 
 profit, to make a trade of it ; but he who thinks it to be 
 a means, understands the true end of government. Friends, 
 away with all parties, and look on yourselves, and on what 
 is good for all as a body politic ; first as under the king 
 and crown of England ; and next as under me by letters- 
 patent from that crown. Study peace and be at unity. 
 Provide for the good of all ; and I desire to see mine no 
 otherwise than in the public's prosperit}^. The last as- 
 sembly made two laws against piracy and forbidden trade. 
 I hear they have not sat easy on the books of some ; but 
 
468 PASSAGES FHOM THE LIFE 
 
 I hope we having- therein been careful, we shall have 
 thanks for making them before we had orders so to do ; 
 and after so many calumnies and complaints we have been 
 loaded with, I hope those two laws will in some degree 
 wash us clean. What concerns myself I also leave it with 
 you to consider. I hav-^^ been now nineteen years your 
 proprietor and governor, and have at my charge main- 
 tained my deputy, whereby I have much worsted myself 
 and estate. I hope it will be no wonder to any here to 
 hear me make this mention of it." 
 
 After the separation of the legislature, "William Penn 
 retired to his mansion at Pennsbury, the usual place of 
 his residence. 
 
 This estate was situated above Bristol, on the river 
 Delaware. It comprised six thousand 'acres of land, 
 mostly covered with forests, ten acres • only being" cleared 
 at this time. 
 
 " The mansion-house was seated on a moderate emi- 
 nence. A broad walk through an avenue of poplars led 
 to the river, descending from the upper terrace to the 
 lower grounds by a flight of steps. The house was sur- 
 rounded by gardens and lawns, and the more distant woods 
 w^cre opened in vistas looking down the river and upward 
 to the falls. These woods had been laid out in walks, at 
 the proprietary's first visit, and the preservation of the 
 trees is enjoined in several of his letters. 
 
 " The proprietor sent out from England Vt^alnuts, haw- 
 thorns, hazels, fruit-trees, and a great variety of the rarest 
 seeds and roots; while in this country (as we learn from 
 his cash-book) he procured from Maryland several panniers 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 469 
 
 of trees and shrubs, indigenous in that province, and he 
 directed by his letters that the most beautiful wild-flowers 
 should be transplanted into his gardens." 
 
 The affairs of the government niust have occupied great 
 part of his care and attention, for many things had got 
 out of order. But there were two subjects which particu- 
 larly claimed his consideration ; viz., the instruction and 
 civilization of the Indians ; and the improvement of the 
 negroes. He had devoted considerable attention to the 
 former while in America before, and during his absence 
 the subject does not appear to have been entirely neglected. 
 
 At the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia, which oc- 
 curred in the First month, 1*700, William Penn o\}ened 
 his concern, which he informed them had long engaged 
 bis mind, for the benefit and welfare of the Indians and 
 negroes ; pressingly exhorting Friends to discharge their 
 duty to those people ; more particularly in relation to the 
 improvement of their minds. Advising that they should, 
 as frequently as possible, enjoy the advantage of attend- 
 ing religious meetings, and receiving instruction in the 
 principles of the Christian religion. In consequence 
 of this communication, a meeting was appointed particu- 
 larly for the negroes, to be held once a month. Measures 
 were also adopted for having meetings more frequently 
 with the Indians, William Penn taking upon himself the 
 charge of regulating the manner, and procuring inter- 
 preters. 
 
 It has been mentioned that the three lower counties, in 
 
 1691, separated from the province, and that William Penn, 
 
 then in retirement on account of the accusations of Fuller, 
 
 was induced to give a reluctant assent to this separation 
 
 40 
 
470 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 When the government of the province and territories was 
 conferred upon Colonel Fletcher, he reunited them, ap» 
 parentlj without consulting their choice on the subject. 
 The legislative assembly, thus composed of members from 
 the province and territories, was convened at Philadelphia 
 in the Third month, lYOO. In the commencement of the 
 session, William Penn sent them information, that as he 
 understood they were not satisfied with the charter which 
 was granted by his deputy in 1696, he was prepared to 
 offer them another. This information was given at the 
 opening of the session, for the double purpose of proving 
 his readiness to oblige them, and of giving time to con- 
 sider the subject deliberately. 
 
 His next object was to secure, by legislative enactments, 
 the improvement in the condition and treatment of the 
 negroes and Indians in the province ; which he had pre- 
 viously labored to effect within the limits of his own 
 religious Society. In pursuance of this object, he pre- 
 sented soon afterwards a bill for regulating the morals 
 and marriages of the negroes, and another for the regu- 
 lation of their trials and punishment, substituting the 
 judgment of the law for the will of the master. A third 
 was also laid before the assembly, for preventing abuses 
 upon the Indians. Of these bills he had the mortification 
 to find the first and last rejected, the reasons for which 
 are not transmitted to us in the history of the time. What 
 portion of the members of the assembly belonged to the 
 Society of Friends is uncertain ; but the council of the 
 Governor, consisting altogether of Friends, had united 
 with him in proposing these bills, and the Monthly Meet- 
 ing of Philadelphia had sanctioned the principle of them. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 471 
 
 Hence we may very rationally conclude that this rejection 
 was the efifect of an influence extraneous to his own So- 
 ciety. The assembly after a short session was dissolved 
 by the Governor. 
 
 When William Penn was released from his attendance 
 on the legislature, he took the opportunity of renewing 
 his friendly intercourse with the Indians. For this pur- 
 pose he visited them in the forests, and received them in 
 return at his mansion at Pennsbury. 
 
 Another legislative assembly was convoked in the 
 autumn of the same year, 1700, to meet at Newcastle. 
 One of the objects to which their attention was called by 
 the Governor, was the adjustment of the new charter or 
 frame of government, which the former assembly had 
 left unfinished. 
 
 They made,- however, very little progress, before the 
 jealousies and surmisings which had formerly rent the 
 territories from the province began to appear. The mem- 
 bers from the lower counties, perceiving that the growing 
 population and wealth of the province must inevitably at 
 no distant day render the balance of power very unequal, 
 and fearing or professing to fear that an improper advan- 
 tage would be taken, demanded that no greater number 
 of representatives should at any subsequent time be sent 
 from the province than from the territories. This pro- 
 posal being rejected by the provincial members, a sepa- 
 ration seemed in danger of taking place. But both par- 
 ties agreed to consult the Governor upon the subject ; and 
 he suggested an expedient, to which they all a,greed, viz., 
 that in all legislative acts in which the interests or privi- 
 leges of the territories were separately involved, the con- 
 
472 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 currcDce of two-thirds of the members from the lower 
 counties, as well as a majority of those from the province, 
 should be required. 
 
 This question being settled, another almost immediately 
 arose. It was agreed that provision should be made for 
 defraying the expense of government ; but the adjustment 
 of the mode and the proportion to be paid by the different 
 sections was the difficulty. Several plans were proposed 
 and rejected, the members from the territories, and those 
 from the province, uniformly taking opposite sides. As 
 there were then only three counties in the province, this 
 division of their votes produced an exact equilibrium. But 
 again the wisdom and discretion of William Penn brought 
 the contending parties to' an agreement. 
 
 During the time which William Penn had passed in 
 America, he had applied himself industriously to the 
 affairs of the government ; endeavoring to rectify the dis- 
 orders which had crept into the province ; always pre- 
 ferring the good of the country and its inhabitants to his 
 own private interest ; rather remitting than strictl)^ ex- 
 acting his lawful revenues ; so that under his paternal 
 administration the people of the province were advancing 
 in prosperity and accumulating the necessaries and com- 
 forts of life. But the ambition of rulers and the intrigues 
 of their enemies raised another storm, which in a short 
 time separated William Penn forever from his province. 
 
 The growing wealth and population of the American 
 colonies began before this time to excite the jealousy of 
 the government at home, and the project appears to have 
 been formed soon after the revolution to purchase the 
 proprietorship of the more important ones, if not of all, 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN-. 473 
 
 and vest their government in the crown. A bill was at 
 this time actually before the House of Lords, for chang- 
 ing the colonial governments into regal ones. The excuse 
 for tliis intended assumption of power, was the national 
 advantage to be derived from it on one hand, and the pre- 
 tended abuses existing among them on the other. The 
 friends of William Penn and others interested in the 
 affairs of Pennsylvania, represented to Parliament the 
 hardship of his case, and solicited a suspension of their 
 proceedings until he could return and answer for himself 
 Letters were also despatched, giving him information of 
 the measures in progress and urging his immediate return. 
 
 Painful as the prospect of abandoning the colony in 
 which he had expected to spend" the evening of his day 
 unquestionably was, there appeared no alternative. The 
 experiment w^hich he had attempted, of maintaining a 
 government upon Christian principles, and making the 
 settlement of the country subservient to the civilization 
 of the original inhabitants, was in danger of being totally 
 frustrated. A military government might be reasonably 
 expected in case the bill in question should be completed ; 
 and very possibly the barbarous contests with the natives 
 which marked the early settlements in Virginia and New 
 England, would be renewed upon the banks of the Dela- 
 ware. 
 
 Having decided upon a voyage to Europe, William 
 Penn again convened the assembly at Philadelphia, to 
 w^hom on the 15th of Seventh month he delivered an 
 address, in which he said : 
 
 "I cannot think of such a voyage without great re- 
 luctancy of mind, having promised myself the quietness 
 40* 
 
474: PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 of a wilderness, and that I might stay so long at least 
 with you as to render everybody entirely easy and safe 
 For my heart is among you as well as my body, what- 
 ever some people may please to think, and no unkindness 
 or disappointment shall, with submission to God's prov- 
 idence, ever be able to alter my love to the country, and 
 resolution to return and settle my family and posterity in 
 it ; but having reason to believe I can at this time best 
 serve you and myself on that side of the water, neither 
 the rudeness of the season, nor tender circumstances of 
 my family, can overrule my inclinations to undertake it. 
 
 '' Think therefore, since all men are mortal, of some 
 suitable expedient and provision for your safety, as well 
 in your privileges as property, and you will find me 
 ready to comply with whatsoever may render us happy 
 by a nearer union of our interests. 
 
 " Review again your laws ; propose new ones that may 
 better your circumstances, and what you do, do it quickly, 
 remembering that the Parliament sits the end of the 
 next month, and that the sooner I am there the safer I 
 hope we shall be here." 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into a detail of the proceed- 
 ings of this assembly. Suffice it to observe, that the 
 jealousies of the lower counties again appeared, but were 
 so far allayed by the mildness and firmness of the Governor, 
 that the members agreed to proceed with those from the 
 province in the settlement of the business for which they 
 were convened. The charter of privileges was completed 
 and signed, to the general satisfaction of the parties con- 
 cerned. 
 
 The news that William Penn was going to England 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. * 475 
 
 Boon brought n, number of Indians to visit him. Some of 
 these visits were received at Pennsbury, probably before 
 the meeting of the assembly, and one, at least, at Phila- 
 delphia, during the session. 
 
 John Richardson, who was then in Pennsylvania upon 
 a religious visit, has left us a brief account of an interview 
 between William Penn and the Indians at Pennsbury. 
 The conference was conducted with great sobriety and 
 decorum. One of the chiefs, speaking of their covenants 
 which they were then reviving, told them that they never 
 first broke their covenants with any people ; for, striking 
 his hand upon his head, he said they did not make them 
 there ; but said, striking his hand on his breast, they 
 made them there. After the proper business was finished, 
 William Penn presented them with some articles of cloth- 
 ing, and before they left him, assured them that if any 
 differences should arise between them and any of his 
 people, it need not be the cause of war; for that justice 
 should be done in such cases ; that animosities might be 
 prevented on both sides forever. 
 
 Of the visit made during the session of the assembly, 
 but little is now known, though the interview is Said to 
 have been very interesting. It appears to have been in 
 the presence of the council. 
 
 William Penn told them, the assembly was then about 
 enacting a law, according to the desire of the Indians, to 
 prevent their being abused by the sale of rum among 
 them ; and he requested them to unite their utmost efforts 
 with those of the government, to secure its due execution. 
 
 Observing to them at the same time, that this was likely 
 to be his last interview with them, at least until his return, 
 
476 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 he assured them he had always loved them, and been kind 
 to them, and should always continue so to be, not from 
 policy or to promote his own interest, but from a real 
 affection ; and he desired them, in his absence, to cultivate 
 friendship with those whom he should leave in authority 
 behind him ; for they would always, in some degree, con- 
 tinue their friendship to them as he had ever done. Lastly, 
 he told them, that be had charged the members of council, 
 and he then repeated the charge, that they should in all 
 respects be kind to them, and entertain them with all 
 courtesy and demonstrations of good-will, as he had always 
 done. The members then promised that they would faith- 
 fully observe the charge. Some presents were then made 
 to the Indians, after which they withdrew. 
 
 Preparations being made for his voyage, and the vessel 
 nearly ready to sail, he appointed a council of state, con- 
 sisting of ten persons, of whom Thomas Story was one ; 
 he likewise presented the citizens of Philadelphia with a 
 charter, constituting it a city, with the necessary powder 
 for its government ; and lastly, he constituted Andrew 
 Hamilton, who was sometime governor both of East and 
 West New Jersey, his deputy governor for the province 
 and territories. 
 
 On the 31st of Eighth month, ItOl, he embarked with 
 his wife and family, and arrived safely at Portsmouth 
 about the middle of the Tenth month .following. 
 
 At the time of his sailing, Isaac Norris wrote : 
 
 "27th 8br. 1701. 
 *' This comes by our proprietor and governor, Penn, 
 who with his family are undertaking this hazardous voy- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 477 
 
 a^e at too hard a season. I earnestly desire and pray 
 for their preservation and safety : him we shall want. 
 The unhappy misunderstandings in some, and unwar- 
 rantable opposition in others, have been a block to our 
 plenary comforts in him and his own quiet; but these 
 things are externals only, our communion in the church 
 sweetens all, and our inward w^aitings and worship [have] 
 often been a general comfort and consolation ; and in this 
 I take a degree of satisfaction after all, that we part in 
 love ; and some of his last [expressions] in our meeting 
 yesterday were, that 'he looked over all infirmities and 
 outwards, and had an eye to the regions of spirit, wherein 
 was our sweetest tye,' and in true love then he took his 
 leave of us. His excellent wife, and she is beloved by 
 all, (I believe I may say in its fullest extent,) so is her 
 leaving us, heavy and of real sorrow to her friends ; she 
 has carried, under and through all, with a wonderful even- 
 ness, humility, and freedom ; her sweetness and goodness 
 have become her character, and are indeed extraordinary." 
 
 From on board the ship, he wrote to James Logan : 
 
 " I have left thee in uncommon trust, with a singular 
 dependence on thy justice and care. Use thy utmost en- 
 deavors to receive all that is due to me. Pay off all my 
 notes and orders on thee, settle my accounts, discharge all 
 my debts honorably but carefully, make rent-rolls, draw 
 up an estimate of my estate, and of what may be raised 
 from it, which send over to me as speedily as possible, for 
 it may be of great use to me. Give my dear love to all 
 my friends, who I desire may labor to soften angry spirits, 
 and to reduce them to a sense of their duty." 
 
i78 PASSAGES FKOM THE LIFE 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 THERE can be no doubt that William Penn, upon his 
 arrival in England, paid all the needful attention to 
 the subject which occasioned his voyage ; yet we do not 
 find that any considerable efforts on his part were required. 
 The attention of the government was sufficiently engrossed 
 by objects of greater interest to the nation, and the death of 
 the king, which occurred on the 8th of First month, 1*701-2, 
 produced a sensible change in the situation of William 
 Penn in relation to the government at home. His well- 
 known friendship for the unfortunate and bigoted James, 
 as we have had ample reason to observe, without and 
 participation in the arbitrary measures of the court, ren- 
 dered him an object of suspicion during the reign of Wil- 
 liam. But upon the accession of Ann, the second daughter 
 of James, those jealousies disappeared, and he became 
 once more an acceptable visitor at court. Amidst these 
 changes of influence and power, the bill for converting the 
 colonial into regal governments was suffered to fall into 
 oblivion. 
 
 But another was enacted, requiring the royal assent to 
 the appointment of deputy governors. This indicates a 
 disposition to render them more dependent upon the crown 
 than they had hitherto been. It was probably with a view 
 of being at hand to counteract any measures on the part 
 of the government injurious to the interests of the colo- 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 479 
 
 nies, that William Penn took lodgings for himself and 
 family at Kensington, where he appears to have resided 
 during the year 1102. 
 
 Frequent communications passed between William Penn 
 and James Logan which give an insight into both private 
 and public affairs. From one of the first letters after Wil- 
 liam Pcnn's arrival in England, it is evident that the 
 habits of his son William, a young man of fine talents and 
 pleasing address, were causing him great anxiety. He 
 had married before his father's family went to America, 
 and therefore did not go with them. It was now in pros- 
 pect to send him to America, probably in order to break 
 ofl" hurtful associations. William Penn writes : 
 
 " My son (William) shall hasten ; possess him, go with 
 him to Pennsbury, advise him, contract and recommend 
 his acquaintance. He has promised fair. I know he will 
 regard thee. But thou wilt see that I have purchased the 
 mighty supplies at a dear rate. • God forgive those wretched 
 people who have misused me so, and preserve my spirit 
 over it. Pennsylvania has been a dear Pennsylvania to 
 me all over, which few consider, and with me lay to heart. 
 Be discreet. He has wit, kept the top company, and must 
 be handled with much love and wisdom ; and urging the 
 weakness and folly of some behaviors, and the necessity 
 of another conduct from interest and reputation, will go 
 far. And get Samuel Carpenter, Edward Shippen, Isaac 
 Norris, Phineas Pcmberton, Thomas Masters, and such 
 persons, to be soft, and kind, and teaching. It will do 
 wonders with him, and he is conquered that way. Pre- 
 tends much to honor, and is but over-generous by half, 
 
480 PASSAGES FEOM THE LIFE 
 
 and yet sharp enough to get to spend. He cannot well 
 be put off. All this keep to thyself." 
 
 William Penn writes to James Logan ; 
 
 " London, 21st of Fourth month, 1702. 
 
 ..." Never had poor man my task, with neither men 
 nor money to assist me. I therefore strictly charge thee 
 that thou represent to Friends there, that I am distressed 
 for want of supply ; that I am forced to borrow money, 
 and add debts to debts, instead of paying them off. 
 Besides, my uncomfortable distance from my family, and 
 the unspeakable fatigue and vexation of following attend- 
 ance, drafts of answer, conferences, council's opinions, 
 hearings, etc., with the charge that follows them, guineas 
 melting, four, five, six a week, and sometimes as many in 
 a day. My wife hitherto has been maintained by her 
 father, whence she is coming next week to Worminghurst 
 on my daughter's account, in likelihood to marry. I have 
 been more sensibly touched for the honor of the country's 
 administration than for myself. 
 
 " I have had the advice of some of the wisest and great- 
 est men in England, that wish me well, about bargaining 
 with the crown for my government. They all say, ' Stay 
 awhile, be not hasty ; ' yet some incline to a good bar- 
 gain." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn : 
 
 " Philadelphia, 17th of Seventh month, 1702. 
 *' We are sensible of thy great exigencies for want of 
 sufficient supplies there, but I can see no better way to 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 481 
 
 remedy it than those I am upon. When thy son arrives, 
 he will be a witness of our circumstances, and that I pre- 
 tend nothing for the sake of excuse, but what we too feel- 
 ingly experience to be true. 
 
 '' I cannot advise against a bargain with the crown, 
 if to be had on good terms for thyself and the people. 
 Friends here, at least the generality of the best informed, 
 think government at this time so ill fitted to their princi- 
 ples, that it renders them very indifferent in that point, 
 further than that they earnestly desire thy success in vin- 
 dicating the country's reputation, and that they may not 
 fall a spoil to such base hands as now seek our ruin. 
 Privileges, they believe, such as might be depended on 
 for a continuance both to thee and them, with a moderate 
 governor, would set much more at ease, and give thee an 
 happier life as proprietor only, than thou hast yet had as 
 governor. Besides, that it would exempt thee from the 
 solicitude they are under, both from their own impotence 
 and the malicious watchfulness of enemies. . . ." 
 
 William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 " 24th of Twelfth month, 1702. 
 
 ... "I never was so low and so reduced. For Ire- 
 land, my old principal verb, has hardly any money. 
 
 "I have great interest, as well as my son's settlement 
 to deduct, with three or four per cent, tax here and 
 twenty or twenty-six per cent, exchange from Ireland to 
 England, to answer. I therefore earnestly urge supplies, 
 and by the best methods and least hazardous. 
 
 " I know thy ability, I doubt not thy integrity, I desire 
 41 2F 
 
482 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 thy application and health, and, above all, thy growth in 
 the feeling of the power of Truth, for that fits and helps us 
 above all other things, even in business of this world — • 
 clearing our heads, quickening our spirits, and giving us 
 faith and courage to perform. 
 
 " I am sorry to find by thine, thou art so miich op- 
 pressed in thy station, and wish I could make it lighter. 
 If my son will apply himself to business, he may, by the 
 authority of his relationship, etc., render "the post easier 
 to thee. I know the baseness of the temper of too many 
 of the people thou hast to deal with, which calls for judg- 
 ment and great temper, with some authority." 
 
 Governor Hamilton's administration was terminated by 
 his death in about two years. The contest between the 
 three upper and three lower counties, which finally re- 
 sulted in the dissolution of their union, was kept up dur- 
 ing the whole time, and his- efforts to bring them into 
 agreement failed of any effect. 
 
 His successor was John Evans, described by William 
 Penn, in writing to James Logan, as "a young man, not 
 above six and twenty, but sober and sensible ; the son of 
 an old friend that loved me not a little. He will be dis- 
 creet, advisable, and especially by the best of our friends." 
 He was accompanied by William Penn, Jr., whom his 
 father was desirous to interest in the business of the 
 province, and thus withdraw him from the dissipations 
 of Europe. William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 " Take him away to Pennsbury, and there give him the 
 true state of things, and weigh down his levities, as well 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 483 
 
 as temper his resentments, and inform his understanding, 
 since all depends upon it, as well for his future happiness 
 as, in measure, the poor country's." ... 
 
 " Watch him, outwit him, and honestty overreach him 
 for his good. Fishings, little journeys (as to see the In- 
 dians, etc.) will divert him. And interest Friends to bear 
 all they can, and melt towards him, at least civilly, if not 
 religiously. He will confide in thee. If S. Carpenter, 
 Richard Hill, and Isaac Norris could gain his confidence, 
 and tender Griffith Owen — not the least likely, for he sees 
 and feels — I should rejoice. Pennsylvania has cost me 
 dearer in my poor child than all other considerations. 
 The Lord pity and spare in his great mercy. I yet hope." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn after his arrival : 
 
 " Thy son's voyage hither I hope will prove to the sat- 
 isfaction of all and to his, and therefore thy, happiness. 
 It is his stock of excellent good nature that, in a great 
 measure, has led him out into his youthful sallies when 
 too easily prevailed on ; and the same, I hope, when sea- 
 soned with the influence of his prevailing better judgment, 
 with which he is well stored, will happily conduct him 
 into the channel of his duty to God, himself, and thee. 
 He is very well received, and seldom fails of drawing love 
 where he comes. 'T is his good fortune here to be with- 
 drawn from those temptations that have been too success- 
 ful over his natural sweetness and yielding temper with 
 his associates." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn . 
 
484 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 " I lie under a great hard-ship for want of a more full 
 adjustment of matters in relation to his (Wm. Penn, Jr.) 
 supplies here. Before he left England he threw himself, 
 he says, entirely upon thy generosity, and therefore re- 
 sents it the more nearly when I am not able to come up 
 to his expectations, which, though far from extravagant, 
 are much above the limits set me. The directions given 
 me can by no means satisfy him, nor answer what is 
 thought suitable to the presumptive heir of the province, 
 upon his first appearance in it, even by the most reason- 
 able. He expresses himself dutifully to thee, but notwith- 
 standing it forces him on thoughts that render his visit of 
 less service to him." 
 
 William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 "Bristol, 2d 8br., 1704. 
 
 ..." If my son proves very expensive, I cannot bear 
 it ; bat must place to his account what he spends above 
 moderation, while I lie loaded with debt and interest 
 here ; else I shall pay dear for the advantage his going 
 thither might entitle me to, since the subscribers and 
 bondsmen cannot make ready pay, according to what he 
 has received for his land there. So excite his return or 
 send for his family to him, since I cannot come to him as 
 soon as I wish. For if he bring not wherewith to pay 
 his debts here, his creditors will fall foul upon him most 
 certainly. . . . 
 
 " I have done when I tell thee to let my poor son know 
 that, if he be not a very good husband, I must sell there 
 as well as here ; and that all he spends is disabling me so 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 485 
 
 far to clear myself of debt, and that lie will pay for it at 
 the long run. Do it in the friendliest manner, that he 
 may co-operate with me to clear our encumbered estate 
 and honors." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn, Ninth month 28, 
 1704: 
 
 "The Governor (Evans), upon the queen's letter, 
 thought himself obliged to establish a militia. It was 
 proposed that all who would enlist should be exempted 
 from all services of the wards, as watching, constables, 
 etc. Upon this those of the church party who desired to 
 discourage a militia refused to watch at all. Not long 
 after this, the watch meeting with a company at Enoch 
 Story's, a tavern in which some of the militia officers 
 were, a difference arose that ended with some rude- 
 ness. Next night, the watch coming again to the same 
 place, and thy son happening to be in company, there was 
 something of a fray, which ended with the watch's retir- 
 ing. This, with all the persons concerned in it, was taken 
 notice of the next mayor's court, and not any regard had 
 to names. The indignity, however, put upon the eldest 
 son of the founder is looked upon by most moderate men 
 to be very base, and by him (the Governor) and all others 
 not quite of their party is deeply resented as a thing ex- 
 ceedingly provoking." . . . "He thought himself obliged 
 no longer to keep to any measures with such as, making 
 more than ordinary pretences to religion, could so little 
 observe any rule of decency with him or gratitude and 
 
 respect for their founder. Notwithstanding this, he still 
 41 X- 
 
486 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 expresses such a tender regard to his father's profession 
 that nothing can disturb him more than to hear it un- 
 kindly treated." 
 
 In another letter he says ; " Let me take the freedom 
 to request thee to be very tender to him in thy resent- 
 ment, lest those he has already conceived, from the abuses 
 put upon him, should by any addition precipitate him into 
 ruin," 
 
 There seems reason to believe that some of those in 
 authority suffered their opposition to the proprietary's 
 government to make them willing to weaken his position 
 by making his son's deficiencies conspicuous. 
 
 Isaac Norris writes respecting this affair : *' William 
 Penn, Jr., is quite gone off from Friends. He being in 
 company with some extravagants that beat the watch at 
 Enoch Story's was presented with them, which unman- 
 nerly and disrespectful act (as he takes it) gives him great 
 disgust, and seems a waited occasion. He talks of going 
 home in the Jersey man-of-war next month. I wish things 
 had been better or he had never come." 
 
 Having sold his manor of tOOO acres on the Schuylkill 
 (now Norristown) for £850, he left the country, 
 
 William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 " London, 16th of Eleventh month, 1704. 
 
 "A melancholy scene enough upon my poor child. 
 Pennsylvania began it by my absence here, and there it 
 is accomplished, with expense, disappointment, ingrati- 
 tude, and poverty. 
 
 " The Lord uphold me, under these sharp and heavy 
 
OF w I L L T A :\r P E X N . 487 
 
 burdens with bis free Spirit. I should have been glad of 
 an account of his expenses and more of a rent-roll, if I 
 must perish with gold in my view but not in my power. 
 To have neither supplies nor a reason of credit here is 
 certainly a cruel circumstance. I want to know what I 
 have to stand upon and help myself with. He [his son] 
 is my greatest affliction, for his soul's and my country's 
 and family's sake. . . . 
 
 " Nor did thou send me word what my son sold his 
 manor for ; but after his arrival he drew a bill for £10 to 
 ride two hundred miles home, and which he performed in 
 two days and a night. I met him by appointment be- 
 tween this and Worminghurst. We stayed but three 
 hours together. See how much more easily the bad 
 Friends' treatment of him stumbled him from the blessed 
 truth, than those he acknowledges to be good ones could 
 prevail to keep him in possession of it, from the prevail- 
 ing ground in himself to what is levity more than what 
 is retired, circumspect, and virtuous." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn : 
 
 " Tenth month, 1704. 
 " The return of thy son and the representation that he 
 brings, with the unhappy effects those have had upon him, 
 accompanied, at the same time, with that unparalleled piece 
 of baseness from D. L., will soon put thee (I doubt not) 
 on measures for thy case from such an accumulation of 
 troubles. I cannot foresee any probability of being 
 brought into regular order again till under the crown ; 
 and it seems all owing to those unhappy charters, which, 
 
488 PASSAGES FUOM THE LIFE 
 
 being designed as favors, are made use of by ill men as 
 tools for mischief. 
 
 " It seems as if we were all in a ferment, and whatever 
 was impure among the whole people rose in its filth to 
 the top. I wish we may ever be skimmed, so as to leave 
 anything pure behind. I am fully convinced, at least, 
 that prudence and counsel are much in vain, unless they 
 are made the instruments of the only guiding power of 
 all human things." 
 
 James Logan had before written to William Penn : 
 
 " Philadelphia, 14th Fifth montli, 1704. 
 ..." This people think privileges their due, and all 
 that can be grasped their native right ; but when dis- 
 pensed with too liberal a hand, as not restraining licen- 
 tiousness, may produce their greatest unhappiness. Char- 
 ters here are in danger of being made of fatal consequence, 
 for some peoples' brains are as soon intoxicated with power 
 as the natives are with their beloved liquor, and as little 
 to be trusted with it. A well-tempered mixture in gov- 
 ernment is the happiest, the greatest liberty and property ; 
 and commonwealth's men, invested with power, have been 
 known to be the greatest tyrants." 
 
 Isaac Norris wrote afterwards : " Things in Governor 
 Evans' time ran to a great height between him and the 
 assemb'y. On his first arrival, and two years after, a 
 niggardly and untoward temper seemed to reign in the 
 assembly against the proprietor and him, his lieutenant, 
 fomented and managed by the arts of some that were 
 
OP WILLIAM PENN. 489 
 
 either professed or secret enemies of the proprietor. All 
 bis management from the beginning was nicely scanned, 
 and from thence [was] raked together everything that 
 could be thought of as a material for remonstrances and 
 reproaches, dressed up in the most indecent manner. And 
 this was made a pretence to give nothing towards the sup- 
 port of government, but starve the deputy." 
 
 James Logan writes to William Penn : 
 
 " 3d 8br., 1704. 
 
 . . . "David Lloyd being recorder of the city, and 
 likely, in all probability, to be speaker of the next as- 
 sembly, from his temper so well known, there seems but 
 little good to be anticipated. The generality, however, 
 are honestly and well inclined, and 5ut of the assembly 
 are very good men ; but when got together, I know not 
 how, they are infatuated and led by smooth stories. 
 David himself makes as great a profession as any man, 
 but we can see no good effects from it. • 
 
 " The part thou hast hitherto had to manage in the 
 world will not suffer thee with any honor utterly to de- 
 sert this people ; and, on the other side, I cannot see why 
 thou should neglect thy own interest while no more grat- 
 itude is shown thee. Were one man from among us we 
 might, perhaps, be happy ; but he is truly a promoter of 
 discord, with the deepest artifice under the smoothest lan- 
 guage and pretences. I cannot but pity the poor misled 
 people, who really design honestly, .but know not whom 
 to trust for their directors. They are so often told that 
 things want to be mended that at length they are per- 
 suaded it is the case, and not knowing how to set about 
 
490 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 it themselves, believe that those who can discover the 
 disease arc the most capable to direct the proper reme- 
 dies. I believe in the whole assembly there are not three 
 men that wish ill to thee, and yet I can expect but little 
 good from ttem. 
 
 " I have never been under a greater depression of 
 thought than for these few months past. Thy estates 
 here daily sinking by the country's impoverishment, with 
 thy exigencies increasing, suffer me not to know what 
 any of the comforts of life are." 
 
 William Penn writes to James Loffan 
 
 1704. 
 
 . . . "As difficult as my circumstances are, and as mean 
 a prospect as thou glvest me of any supply, yet that hardly 
 troubles me equally to the weakness and worse (I fear) 
 of some of our folks in reference to your government 
 matters. Will they never be wise ? These assemblies, 
 held so unwisely, as well as so hazardously, will, in the 
 end, subject the whole to laws made for them in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 " I am sorry to have such a prospect of charges — two 
 houses and the governor's salary, my son's voyage, stay, 
 and return ; and no revenue nor Susquehanna money paid, 
 on which account I ventured my poor child so far from 
 his wife and pretty children, and my own oversight. Oh, 
 Pennsylvania, what hast thou not cost me ! Above £30,000 
 more than I ever got by it, two hazardous and most 
 fati lining voyages, my straits and slavery here, and my 
 (^hild's soul almost; as I have formerly expressed myself, 
 but ] must be short — .1 shall be further loaded, instead of 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 491 
 
 his coming being instrumental to relieve me. In short, 
 I must sell all or be undone, and disgraced into the 
 bargain." ... 
 
 William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 " Hyde Park, 30th Second month, 1705. 
 
 . . " I can hardly be brought to turn my back en- 
 tirely upon a place the Lord so specially brought to my 
 hand, and has hitherto preserved against the proud swell- 
 ings of many waters, both there and here. What with 
 the load of unworthy spirits with you and some not much 
 better here ; with my poor son's going into the army or 
 navy, as well as getting into Parliament, through so many 
 checks and tests upon his morals as well as education; 
 with the load of debt, hardly to be answered from the 
 difficulty of getting in what I have a right to, of twice 
 their value, which is starving in the midst of bread, my 
 head and heart are filled sufficiently with trouble ; yet the 
 Lord holds up my head, and Job's over-righteous and 
 mistaken friends have not sunk my soul from its confi- 
 dence in God. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " My son has lost his election, as also the lord-keeper's 
 son-in-law ; but both hope to recover it by proving brib- 
 ery upon the two that have it. Lord Windsor and Squire 
 Argell. I wish it might turn his face to privacy and good 
 husbandry, if not nearer to us." . . . 
 
 This unworthy son of great and good parents after- 
 wards left his wife and children dependent on his father 
 
492 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 and lived on the Continent. He died in France, about two 
 years after his father's decease, expressing on his death- 
 bed; it is said, his reg-ret for the " wrongs he had done." 
 
 An added source of trial to William Penn was the in- 
 considerate pressure of his son-in-law, Aubrey, for his 
 wife's portion. James Logan calls him " one of the 
 keenest men living." William Penn, in one of his letters 
 to James. Logan, says, " My son-in-law Aubrey grows very 
 troublesome because he gets nothing thence — almost an 
 open break, did I not bear with him extremely ; " and 
 again, " I desire thee to hasten all the relief thou canst, 
 both to me and my son Aubrey, of whom I would be clear 
 of all men ; he has a bitter tongue, and I wish I had noth- 
 ing to do with him in money matters." 
 
 About this time we learn that he visited the meetings 
 of Friends in the west of England, and had good and 
 effectual service in the ministry. He also wrote a short 
 epistle addressed to his own Society. 
 
 " My Dear Friends : — Hold all your meetings in that 
 which set them up, the heavenly power of God, both min- 
 isters and hearers, and live under it and not above it, and 
 the Lord will give you dominion over that which seeks to 
 draw yoLi again into captivity to the spirit of this world 
 under divers appearances ; that the truth may shine 
 through you in righteousness and holiness, in self-denial, 
 long-suffering, patience, and brotherly kindness ; so shall 
 you approve yourselves the redeemed of the Lord, and 
 his living witnesses to an evil generation. So prays your 
 friend and brother through the many tribulations ::;hat lead 
 to the kingdom of God.'- 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXN. 493 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 T71R0M 1105 to 1108, while oppressed by many heavy 
 J- cares and anxieties of both public and private char- 
 acter, William Penn had the unhappiness to be involved 
 in law-suits with the heirs of Philip Ford, who had been 
 entrusted with the management of his estates in Ireland. 
 Ford was a member of his own religious society, whom he 
 had treated with great kindness, and, supposing him bound 
 by a sense of gratitude, had imprudently trusted to his in- 
 tegrity and had accepted accounts and signed papers pre- 
 sented to him without sufficient examination. 
 William Penn writes to James Logan : 
 
 "28th Tenth month, 1705. 
 
 " I offered upon the adjusting the accounts, (against 
 which I have great and equitable exceptions,) that the 
 half should be then presently paid, and the other reason- 
 ably secured ; and that, as I desired not to be a judge in 
 my own case, I did propose to refer it to Friends of their 
 and my own choosing. Both which (after three years' agi- 
 tation) they refused. The rea,son why they will not refer 
 their case, is supposed to be the blackness and injustice 
 of the account, which by chancery the}^ hope to stifle, and 
 have the oppressive sum allowed, being upon security." 
 
 A minute of Devonshire House Meeting, London, de- 
 clares its disunity with the widoAV and son and daughter 
 of Philip Ford for having refused to arbitrate the case 
 42 
 
494 PASSAGES F R O ]\I T HE LIFE 
 
 according to the "Christian principle and good order" 
 of the Society of Friends, and leaves William Penn " at 
 liberty now to make his defence in law." 
 
 James Logan writes to Thomas Callowhill, William 
 Penn's father-in-law : 
 
 "13th of 6th mo., 1706. 
 
 " I fear we shall be engaged in great perplexities, by 
 reason of that most unfortunate business of Philip Ford. 
 Never was any person more barbarously treated or baited 
 with undeserved enemies. He [William Penn] has been 
 able to foil all attacks from public adversaries; but 'tis 
 his fortune to meet with greatest severities from those 
 that owe most to him. One would think there was almost 
 a commission granted, as against Job, for his trial ; for 
 such an accumulation of adversaries has seldom been 
 known to attack a person that so little deserved them. It 
 must be confessed that something of it all is owing to his 
 easiness and want of caution. 
 
 " I wish some of those that are acquainted with the 
 more effectual way of transacting such concerns would 
 search into the bottom of it ; consider, by the most unbi- 
 assed advice, the strength of his antagonists, and endeavor 
 to fix on the most effectual means for his security ; for, 
 as far as I can gather from the accounts which I have 
 at such a distance, Philip Ford's designs were base and 
 barbarous from the beginning. 
 
 " And what an old, cunning, self-interested man, with 
 such intentions, might be capable of doing, when he had 
 so much goodness, open-heartedness, and confidence in hi3 
 honesty to deal with, is not difficult to imagine." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 495 
 
 About the time of the war in IrelaDfl, when William and 
 James were contending for the mastery of the island, 
 Ford made, or professed to have made, considerable ad- 
 vances on William Penn's account. The heavy expenses 
 which the latter had incurred in the management of his 
 province had embarrassed his circumstances, so that in- 
 stead of paying these advances, he mortgaged his property 
 in Pennsylvania, as security for the debt. But Ford 
 managed to procure an absolute conveyance of the prov- 
 ince, and gave an informal defeasance in return. During 
 the life of Ford this transaction remained a secret, but 
 after his death, his executors claimed not only the pro- 
 prietorship but the government of the province. The 
 latter claim was, however, abandoned, as it was not in- 
 cluded in the conveyance. William' Penn insisted that 
 the transaction was a mortgage, not a conveyance, and 
 instituted a suit in chancery for opening and liquidating 
 Ford's accounts, whose demand amounted to about twelve 
 thousand pounds sterling. He considered two-thirds of 
 this charge to be unjust, being made up by computing com- 
 pound interest, and by exorbitant commissions. The chan- 
 cellor seems to have been convinced that the account was 
 not fairly stated, but the settlements which had been 
 sanctioned at several times by William Penn rendered it 
 Improper in his view to open the accounts. While this 
 suit was pending in chancery, the representatives of Ford 
 instituted a suit in the King's Bench for arrears of rent, 
 upon a lease of the province, made by Philip Ford to the 
 proprietary, and obtained a verdict for three thousand 
 pounds. Execution was issued, and an officer sent to 
 arrest William Penn while he was attending a public 
 
496 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 meeting for worship. Bat the bailiff permitted him to 
 stay the meeting-, upon the assurance of Henry Gouldney 
 and others that he would surrender himself when it was 
 over. This was accordingly done, and he in consequence 
 was obliged to live for nine months within the rules of 
 the Fleet. A compromise was at length effected, and the 
 sum of seven thousand pounds accepted in lieu of tho 
 sums demanded. The money was chiefly advanced by his 
 friends, and a mortgage on the province for six thousand 
 six hundred pounds was given as security. The imposi- 
 tion practised • by this unworthy confidant may be in 
 part computed from the fact, that he received seventeen 
 thousand pounds of William Penn's money, and disbursed 
 on his own account only sixteen thousand pounds, and 
 yet brought his employer twelve thousand pounds in debt 
 for interest and services. 
 
 After this painful affair was adjusted, he again travelled 
 through some of the western parts of England, in the 
 work of the ministry, as his health and strength would 
 admit. He likewise visited the counties of Berks, Buck- 
 ingham, Surrey, and other places. 
 
 About this time we find the first notice of the failure of 
 his physical powers. The numerous perplexities through 
 which he had recently passed, together with necessary 
 decays of nature, were producing their visible effects on 
 his once athletic constitution. The air in the vicinity of 
 London was found unfavorable to his declining powers, and 
 he removed to Rushcomb, in Buckinghamshire, where he 
 resided for the rest of his life. 
 
 The following letter from William Penn to Friends in 
 Pennsvlvania was written while imprisoned at the Fleet. 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 497 
 
 " London, 28th Seventh month, 1708. 
 
 " Dear Friends and Brethren. — My ancient love, if 
 you can believe it, reaches to you as in times past and 
 years that are gone ; even in the Divine root and principle 
 of love and life that made us near to one another, above 
 all worldly considerations ; where our life, I hope, is hid 
 with Christ in God, our Father; so that when He appears 
 we shall also appear with Him in glory ; and in the mean- 
 time through us, to those that love and wait for his 
 appearance, as the desire of nations, that we may glorify 
 God, his, and our everlasting Father, in our bodies, souls, 
 and spirits, in temporal and eternal affairs. . . . 
 
 "Oh, my dear friends, let all below this keep on the 
 left hand ; and wait to feel those blessed things, to inherit 
 the right hand ; and in faith and courage cry aloud to the 
 Lord, for his renewing and refreshing power, that may 
 revive and reform his work upon your hearts and minds ; 
 and our humility, meekness, patience, self-denial, and 
 charity, with a blameless walking, may appear and mani- 
 fest the work of God upon our hearts, to those that are 
 without ; which is not only the way to bring up the 
 loiterers, and gather in the careless ones to their duty, 
 but fetch home and bring in the strangers and the very 
 enemies of the blessed Truth, to confess and acknowledge 
 that God is in you and for you of a truth. 
 
 "I earnestly beseech you to assist James Logan, and 
 who else the trustees for the payment of the money here 
 advanced shall nominate, not only to get in, but turn into 
 money, the best you are able, that I may come honora- 
 bly to you and speedily, which I hope to do, as soon as 
 you and these Friends here think fit. Let me have this 
 42* 2G 
 
•J 98 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 pledgee of your love, and it shall be a lasting one, to ad- 
 vise and assist you for the expediting of the matter, for 
 be assured I long to be with you ; and if the Lord bring 
 me and mine there, I hope not to return on almost any 
 terms, at least not without your advice and satisfaction ; 
 for care of you, and settling plantations for my poor 
 minors ; for planters, God willing, they shall be in their 
 father's country, rather than great merchants in their 
 native land ; and to visit Friends throughout the conti- 
 nent, at least, their chiefest business. 
 
 " In the first love I leave you and yours, and all the 
 Lord's people amongst you ; my family and affairs, to the 
 merciful providence and orderings of our great and gracious 
 God, that welcomed us in poor America with his excellent 
 love and presence, and will, I hope, once more ; and re- 
 main your loving friend, William Penn." 
 
 The administration of Governor Evans was an unhappy 
 one. From a number of his actions which are recorded, 
 there can be no doubt that the proprietary was misin- 
 formed of his character, or that his character underwent 
 an unfavorable change after his appointment. There is 
 also reason to believe that the influx of emigrants, of a 
 class less moral and religious than those who accompanied 
 William Penn in 1682, had somewhat deteriorated the 
 general tone of morals in the province. 
 
 After a turbulent administration of about five years, 
 Governor Evans was removed and Charles Gookin ap- 
 pointed in his place. 
 
 Governor Gookin was a man of years and experience, 
 from whose temper and abilities considerable hopes were 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 499 
 
 entertained of a satisfactory and harmonious administra- 
 tion. He arrived at Philadelphia on the first of First month, 
 n09, when the assembly for the province was in session. 
 
 Dissensions soon arose between the Governor and the 
 assembly, which greatly impeded the public business, and 
 were the source of much painful anxiety to William Penn. 
 James Logan, secretary of the province, the firm and 
 faithful friend of the proprietary, became an object of 
 manifest aversion to the assembly. They even issued a 
 warrant signed by the speaker, for apprehending and 
 committing him to jail, when on the eve of embarking 
 for England, but a supersedeas from the Governor pre- 
 vented its execution. He prosecuted his voyage, and 
 proved the integrity of his conduct to the satisfaction of 
 the proprietor,, his own religious society, and the civil 
 authorities. 
 
 A letter of Isaac Norris, written soon after, says : 
 
 '' Most of these sticklers in assembly are either Keitheans, 
 or such as stand loose from Friends, who have other ends 
 than what is penetrated into by some pretty honest, but 
 not knowing men." 
 
 Three years before this, James Logan had written to 
 William Penn : ''It is the very leaven of George Keith 
 left among the people at his separation, and now ferment- 
 ing up again ; and these proceedings are contrary to the 
 minds of honest Friends." 
 
 The despatches which reached William Penn through 
 the instrumentality of James Logan, or through other 
 channels, gave him full knowledge of the turbulent spirit 
 which distracted the province. He addressed to the 
 assembly the following energetic expostulation : 
 
500 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 "London, 29th Fourth month, 1710. 
 
 "My old Friends: — It is a mournful consideration, 
 and the cause of deep affliction to me, that I am forced, 
 by the oppressions and disappointments which have fallen 
 to my share in this life, to speak to the people of that 
 province in a language I once hoped I should never have 
 occasion to use. But the ipany troubles and oppositions 
 I have met with from thence, oblige me, in plainness and 
 freedom, to expostulate with you concerning the causes 
 of them. 
 
 " When it pleased God to open a way for me to settle 
 that colony, I had reason to expect a solid comfort from 
 the services done to many hundreds of people ; and it is 
 no small satisfaction to me that I have not been disap- 
 pointed in seeing them prosper, and growing up to' a 
 flourishing country, blessed witK liberty, ease, and plenty, 
 beyond what many of themselves could expect ; and want- 
 ing nothing to make them happy, but what, with a right 
 temper of mind and prudent conduct, they might give 
 themselves. But, alas ! as to my part, instead of reaping 
 the like advantages, some of the greatest of my troubles 
 have arisen from thence ; the many combats I have en- 
 gaged in ; the great pains and incredible expense, for 
 your welfare and case, to the decay of my former estate; 
 of which (however some there would represent it) I too 
 sensibly feel the effects ; with the undeserved opposition 
 I have met with from thence, sink me into sorrow ; that, 
 if not supported by a superior hand, might have over- 
 whelmed me long ago. And I cannot but think it hard 
 measure, that while that has proved a land of freedom 
 and flourishing, it should become to me, by whose means 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXX. 501 
 
 it was principally made a country, the cause of grief, 
 trouble, and poverty. 
 
 ''For this reason I must desire you all, even of all pro- 
 fessions and degrees, for although all have not been en- 
 gaged in the measures that have been taken, yet every 
 man who has an interest there is, or must be, concerned 
 in them by their effects. I must, therefore, I say, desire 
 you all, in a serious and true weightiness of mind, to con- 
 sider what you are or have been doing. Why matters 
 must be carried on with these divisions and contentions, 
 and what real causes have been given, on my side, for 
 that opposition to me and my interest which I have met 
 with, as if I were an enemy and not a friend, after all I 
 have done and spent, both here and there. I am sure, I 
 know not of any cause whatsoever. Were I sensible you 
 really wanted anything of me in the relation between us, 
 that would make you happier, I should readily grant it, if 
 any reasonable man would say it were fit for you to de- 
 mand, provided you would also take such measures as 
 were fit for me to join with. 
 
 " Before any one family had transported themselves 
 thither, I earnestly endeavored to form such a model of 
 government as might make all concerned in it easy, which 
 nevertheless was subject to be altered, as there should be 
 occasion. Soon after we got over, that model appeared, 
 in some parts of it, to be very inconvenient, if not im- 
 practicable. The number of members, both in the council 
 and assembly, was much too large. Some other matters 
 also proved inconsistent with the king's charter to me, so 
 that, according to the power reserved for an alteration, 
 there was a necessity to make one, in which, if the lower 
 
502 PASSAGES FPtOM THE LIFE 
 
 counties were brought in, it was well known, at that 
 time, to be on a view of advantage to the province itself, 
 as well as to the people of those counties, and to the gen- 
 eral satisfaction of those concerned, without the least 
 apprehension of any irregularity in the method. 
 
 " Upon this they had another charter passed, nemine 
 contradicente ; which I always desired might be con- 
 tinued, while you yourselves would keep up to it, and put 
 it in practice ; and many there know liow^ much it w^as 
 against my will that, upon my last going over, it was 
 vacated. But after this was laid aside (which indeed 
 was begun by yourselves, in ^oloncl Fletcher's time), I, 
 according to my engagement, left another, with all the 
 privileges that were found convenient for your good gov- 
 ernment; and if any part of it has been, in any case, 
 infringed, it was never by my approbation. I desired it 
 might be enjoyed fully. But though privileges ought to 
 be tenderly preserved, they should not, on the other hand, 
 be asserted under that name to a licentiousness. The 
 design of government is to preserve good order, which 
 may be equally broken in upon by the turbulent endeav- 
 ors of the people, as well as the overstraining of power in 
 a. governor. I designed the people should be secured of 
 an annual fixed election and assembly, and that they 
 should have the same privileges in it that any other as- 
 sembly has in the Queen's dominions. Among all which 
 this is one constant rule, as in the Parliament here, that 
 they should sit on their own adjournments ; but to strain 
 this expression to a power, to meet at all times during the 
 year without the Governor's concurrence, would be to dis- 
 tort government, to break the due proportion of the parts 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 603 
 
 of it, to establish confusion in the phice of necessary order, 
 and mal^e the legislative the executive part of government. 
 Yet, for obtaining this power, I perceive much time and 
 money have been spent, and great struggles have been 
 made, not only for this, but some other things that cannot 
 at all be for the advantage of the people to be possessed 
 of, particularly the appointing of judges, because the 
 administration might, by such means, be so clogged, that 
 it would be difficult, if possible, under our circumstances, 
 at some times, to support it. As for my own part, as I 
 desire nothing more than the tranquillity and prosperity 
 of the province and government in all its branches, could I 
 see that any of these things that have been contended for, 
 would certainly promote these ends, it would be a matter 
 of indifference to me how they were settled. But seeing 
 the frame of every government ought to be regular in it- 
 self, well-proportioned and subordinate in its parts, and 
 every branch of it invested with sufficient powder to dis- 
 charge its respective duty for the support of the whole, I 
 have cause to believe that nothing could be more destruc- 
 tive to it than to take so much of the provision and execu- 
 tive part of the government out of the Governor's hands 
 and lodge it in an uncertain collective body, and more 
 especially since our government is dependent, and I am 
 answerable to the crown, if the administration should fail 
 and a stop be put to the course of justice. On these con- 
 siderations I cannot think it prudent in the people to 
 crave these powers, because not only I, but they them- 
 selves, would be in danger of suffering by it. Could T 
 believe otherwise, I should not be against granting any- 
 thing of this kind that were asked of me with any degree 
 
501 PASSAGES FROM TilE LIFE 
 
 of common prudence and civility. But, instead of find- 
 ing cause to believe that the contentions which have been 
 raised about these matters, have proceeded only from mis- 
 takes of judgment, with an earnest desire, notwithstand- 
 ing, at the bottom, to serve the public (which, I hope, has 
 still been the inducement of several concerned in them), I 
 have had but too sorrowful a view and sight to complain 
 of the manner in which I have been treated. The attacks 
 on my reputation, the many indignities put upon me, in 
 papers sent over hither, into the hands of those who could 
 not be expected to make the most discreet and charitable 
 use of them ; the secret insinuations against my justice, 
 besides the attempt made upon my estate ; resolves past 
 in the assemblies for turning my quit-rents, never sold by 
 me, to the support of government ; my lands entered upon 
 without any regular method ; my manors invaded (under 
 pretence I had not duly surveyed them), and both these 
 by persons principally concerned in these attempts against 
 me here ; a right to my overplus land unjustly claimed by 
 the possessors of the tracts in which they are found ; my 
 private estate continually exhausting for the support of 
 that government, both here and there, and no provision 
 made for it by that country, to all which I cannot but 
 add, the violence that has been particularly shown to my 
 secretary, of which (though I shall by no means protect 
 him in anything he can be justly charged with, but suffer 
 him to stand or fall by his own actions) I cannot but thus 
 far take notice, that from all the charges 1 have seen or 
 heard of against him, I have cause to believe that had he 
 been as much in opposition to me as he has been under- 
 stood to stand for me, he might have met with a milder 
 
OF WILLIAM PEXX. 505 
 
 treatment from his prosecutors ; and to think tliat any 
 man should be the more exposed there on my account, and 
 instead of finding favor, meet with enmity ibr his being 
 engaged in my service, is a melancholy consideration I 
 In short, when I reflect on all these heads, of which I 
 have so much cause to complain, and, at the same time, 
 think of the hardships I and my suffering family have 
 been reduced to, in no small measure owing to my en- 
 deavors for, and disappointments from, that province, I 
 cannot but mourn the unhappiness of my portion, dealt to 
 me from those of whom I had reason to expect much 
 better and different things ; nor can I but lament the un- 
 happiness that too many of them are bringing on them- 
 selves, who, instead of pursuing the amicable ways of 
 peace, love, and unity which I at first hoped to find in 
 that retirement, are cherishing a spirit of contention and 
 opposition ; and, blind to their own interest, are overset- 
 ting that foundation on which your happiness might be 
 built. 
 
 " Friends, the eyes of many are upon you ; the people 
 of many nations of Europe look on that country as a land 
 of ease and quiet, wishing to themselves in vain the same 
 blessings which they conceive you enjoy ; but to see the 
 use you make of them is no less the cause of surprise to 
 others, while such bitter complaints and reflections are 
 seen to come from you, of which it is difficult to conceive 
 even the sense or meaning. Where are the distresses, 
 grievances, and oppressions that the papers sent from 
 thence so often say you languish under, while others 
 have cause to believe you have hitherto lived, or might 
 live, the happiest of any in the queen's dominions ? 
 43 
 
?>06 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 " Is it such a grievous oppression that the courts are 
 established by my power, founded on the king's charter, 
 without a law of your making, when upon the same plan 
 you propose ? If this disturb any, take the advice of 
 other able lawyers on the main, without tying me up to 
 the opinion of principally one man, whom I cannot think 
 so very proper to direct in my affairs (for I believe the 
 late assembly have had but that one lawyer amongst 
 them), and I am freely content you should have any law 
 that, by proper judges, should be found suitable. Is it 
 your oppression that the officers' fees are not settled by an 
 act of assembly ? No man can be a greater enemy to ex- 
 tortion than myself; do, therefore, allow such fees as may 
 reasonably encourage fit persons to undertake these offices, 
 and you shall soon have (and should have always cheer- 
 fidly had; mine, and I hope my lieutenant's concurrence 
 and approbation. Is it such an oppression that licenses 
 for public houses have not been settled, as has been pro- 
 posed? It is a certain sign you are strangers to oppres- 
 sion, and know nothing but the name, when you so highly 
 bestow it on matters so inconsiderable ; but that business, 
 I find, is adjusted. Could I know any real oppression you 
 lie under, that is in my power to remedy (and what I 
 wish you would take proper measures to remedy, if you 
 truly feel any such) I would be as ready, on my part, to 
 remove them as you to desire it ; but according to the best 
 judgment lean make of the complaints I have seen (and 
 you once thought I had a pretty good one), I must, in a 
 deep sense of sorrow, say that I fear the kind hand of 
 Providence, that has so long favored and protected you, 
 will, by the ingratitude of many there to the great morcios 
 
OF WILLIAM PEN.N. 507 
 
 of God hitherto shown them, be at length provoked to 
 convmce them of their imworthiness ; and, by changing 
 into cakimities the blessings that so little care has been 
 taken by the public to deserve, reduce those who have 
 been so clamorous and causelessly discontented, to a true 
 but smarting sense of their duty. I write not this with 
 a design to include all. I doubt not many of you have 
 been burdened at, and can by no means join in, the meas- 
 ures that have been taken ; but while such things appear 
 under the name of an assembly that ought to represent 
 the whole, I cannot but speak more generally than I 
 would desire, though T am not insensible what methods 
 may be used to obtain the weight of such a name. 
 
 " I have already been tedious, and shall now, therefore, 
 briefly say that the opposition I have met with from 
 thence must, at length, force me to consider more closely 
 of my own private and sinking cii'cumstances in relation 
 to that province. In the meantime, I desire you all 
 seriously to weigh what I have written, together with 
 your duty to yourselves, to me, and to the world, who 
 have their eyes upon you, and are witnesses of my early 
 and earnest care for you. I must think there is a regard 
 due to me that has not of late been paid. Pray, consider 
 of it fully, and think soberly what you have to desire of 
 me on the one hand, and ought to perform to me on the 
 other, for from the next assembly I shall expect to know 
 Mdmt you resolve, and what I may depend on. If I must 
 continue my regards to you, let me be engaged to it by a 
 like disposition in you towards me. But if a plurality 
 after this shall think they owe me none, or no more than 
 for some years I have met, with, let it, on a fair election, 
 
508 P A S S A G E S FRO M T HE LIFE 
 
 be so declared, and I shall then, without fuither suspense, 
 know what I have to rely upon. God give you his wis- 
 dom and fear to direct you, that yet our poor country 
 may be blessed with peace, love, and industry, and we may 
 once more meet good friends, and live so to the end ; our 
 relation, in the truth, having but the same true interest. 
 
 " I am, with great truth and most sincere regard, your 
 real friend, as well as just proprietor and governor, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 At the election an entirely new set of members was 
 returned to the assembly, and a degree of harmony be- 
 tween them and the Governor, which had been unknown 
 for several years, marked the progress of the session, and 
 this state of things continued with little interruption dur- 
 ing the short time in which William Penn was capable of 
 taking an active part in these concerns. 
 
 In the year 1712, William Penn agreed with the minis- 
 ters of the crow^n upon a sale of his interest in the prov- 
 ince and territories, to which he had devoted so large a 
 part of his laborious life. His pecuniary difficulties and 
 the impossibility of giving his personal attention to their 
 concerns, were probably the moving causes of this measure. 
 He announced the sale to his friends as follows: 
 
 *'For my dear Friends, S. Carpenter, Ed. Shippen, Rich, 
 Hill, I. Norris, G. Pusey, S. Preston, T. Story, Gr. 
 Gwen, etc., at Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. 
 
 ''KuscoMBE, Berks, 24th of Fifth month, 1712. 
 "Dear and Worthy Friends: — Having so fair an 
 opportunity, and having hoard from you by the bearer, 
 
OF w r L L r A M P E N X . 509 
 
 John French, I choose by him to salute you and yours, 
 and all unnamfed Friends that you think worthy, for my 
 heart loves such, and heartily salutes them and theirs, and 
 prays for your preservation in the Lord's everlasting 
 truth to the end of time ; and the way of it is, to take 
 the Lord along with you in all your enterprises, to give 
 you right sight, true counsel, and a just temper of modera- 
 tion in all things, you knowing right well the Lord our 
 God is near at hand. Now know, that though I have not 
 actually sold my government to our truly good queen, yet 
 her able lord treasurer and I have agreed it. 
 
 '' I have taken effectual care that all the laws and priv- 
 ileges I have granted to you shall be observed by the 
 queen's governors, etc., and that we who are Friends 
 shall be in a more particular manner regarded and treated 
 by the queen. So that you will not, I hope and believe, 
 have a less interest in the government, being humble and 
 discreet in our conduct. 
 
 " I purpose to see you, if God give me life, this fall, but 
 I grow old and infirm, yet would gladly see you once 
 more before I die, and my young sons and daughter also 
 settled upon good tracts of land, for them and theirs after 
 them, to clear and settle upon, as Jacob's sons did. I close 
 when I tell you that I desire fervent prayers to the Lord 
 for continuing my life, that I may see Pennsylvania once 
 more before I die, and that I am your faithful, loving friend, 
 
 William Penn." 
 
 The sum to be paid was twelve thousand pounds, one 
 thousand of which wore actually paid. But before the 
 documents for making a legal transfer were completed, he 
 43* 
 
510 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE 
 
 was attacked with a disease of an apoplectic character, 
 which left him with a memory so far impaired that he 
 was judged incompetent to their execution. 
 
 The account which we have of William Penn from this 
 time, though authentic, is very short. Two years after- 
 wards, his old friend, Thomas Story, arrived in England, 
 and went to Ruscomb to see him. He says, " His memory 
 was almost quite lost, and the use of his understanding sus- 
 pended, so that he was not so conversable as formerly, and 
 yet as near the Truth, in the love of it, as before, wherein 
 appeared the great mercy and favor of God, if it be consid- 
 ered how little time of rest he ever had from the impor- 
 tunities of the affairs of others, to the great hurt of his 
 own and suspension of all his enjoyments till this hap- 
 pened to him, by which he was rendered incapable of all 
 business, and yet sensible of the enjoyment of Truth as 
 at any time in all his life. When I perceived the great 
 defect of his expressions for want of memory, it greatly 
 bowed my spirit under a consideration of the uncertainty 
 of all human qualifications, and what the finest of meii are 
 soon reduced to by a disorder of the organs of that body 
 with which the soul is connected and acts during this 
 present mode of being. His mind was in an innocent 
 state, as appeared by his very loving deportment to all 
 that came near him, and we were greatly comforted by 
 some very clear sentences he spoke in the life and power 
 of Truth in an evening meeting we had together ; so 
 that I was ready to think this was a sort of sequestra- 
 tion of him from all the concerns of this life which so much 
 oppressed him, not in judgment, but in mercy, that he 
 might have rest, and not be oppressed thereby to the end." 
 
OF WILLIAM PENN. 511 
 
 In reviewing his life, the disappointments that attended 
 it fade out of sight, and we feel assured that the equal 
 Judge of all has placet! the seal of enduring influence upon 
 the institutions he established, the views of equal right 
 and justice he advocated, and the declarations of eternal 
 truth he recorded in conformity to his will. 
 
 By the inward retirement of soul and withdrawal of 
 mind from outward and earthly influences which he so 
 often called others to know and enjoy for themselves, he 
 had known his spiritual strength to be renewed, his heart 
 enlarged, his mental vision quickened and extended, and 
 his judgment calmed and balanced as in the Divine 
 presence ; and his spirit had been raised above the influ- 
 ence of human institutions, customs, maxims, and creeds, 
 and from that height a sight had been given him of eter- 
 nal truth and right, and of God's own gracious ways. 
 And now, in the failure of mind and body, this blessed 
 communion which he had been drawn into the enjoyment 
 of in his very early years, which had been his stay and 
 rest throughout his active and troubled life, was accorded 
 to him in bountiful measure. His peace was made to flow 
 as a river which finds the last of its course through quiet 
 meadows. 
 
 His wife writes to James Logan the last of the year 
 1113 : " He was at Reading Meeting last First-day, as also 
 two or three times before, and bore it very comfortably, 
 and expressed his refreshment and satisfaction in being 
 there, as he frequently does in the enjoyment of the 
 Lord's goodness to him in his private retirements. He 
 frequently expresses his loving concerns for that country's 
 good, and sends his love in a general manner to all its 
 
512 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN. 
 
 well-wishers." And about a year afterwards: " When 1 
 keep the thoughts of business from him he is very sweet, 
 comfortable, and easy, and is cheerfully resigned to the 
 Lord's will, and yet takes delight in his children, his 
 friends, and domestic comforts, as formerly. It is the 
 public and his family who feel the loss, and myself the 
 trouble of his (I may say) translation." 
 
 Clouds lay upon his understanding, but the sun shone 
 on his eternal prospects, and the long evening sky was 
 clear and full of light. The first historian of his life says : 
 *' After a continued and gradual declension for about six 
 years his body now drew near to its dissolution, and on 
 the thirtieth day of the Fifth month, 1718, between two 
 and three in the morning, in the seventy-fourth year of his 
 age, his soul, prepared for a more glorious habitation, for- 
 sook the decayed tabernacle, which was committed to the 
 earth on the fifth of the Sixth month following at Jordans, 
 in Buckinghamshire, where his former wife and several of 
 his family had been interred. And as he had led in this 
 life a course of patient continuance in well-doing, and 
 through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ had been enabled 
 to overcome the world, he is, we doubt not, admitted to 
 that everlasting inheritance which God hath prepared for 
 his people, and made partaker of the promise of Christ. 
 ' To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in 
 my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down 
 with my Father in his throne.' " 
 
 The End. 
 
UBBABVOFCONGBeSS 
 
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