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PENN BIOGRAPHY
CONTINUED
PART II
William had been engaged with another
preacher in visiting Friends' meetings in the
country, one of which had been broken up by a
magistrate, who wrote to Sir William, telling him
what tumult his son had been making, and the admiral
immediately dispatched a letter ordering him
to come home. The Friend, who had been traveling
with him, advised him to obey his father.
William decided to do so, and on his return he
came to London; but, before going to Wanstead,
he attended a meeting in the city. After that
meeting, happening to be in the house of a Friend
who resided in the neighborhood, Gulielma Maria
Springett came in and was introduced to him; this
was in the year 1668, and was the first time he
ever saw his future wife.
The manuscript account continues :-" Returning
home, his father told him he had heard what
work he had been making in the country, and after
some discourse bid him take his clothes and be gone
from his house, for he should not be there any longer.
Also, that he should dispose of his estates to them
that pleased him better. William gave him to
understand how great a cross it was to him to disoblige
his father, not because of the disposal of his
estates, but “from the filial affection he bore to him."
Thus father and son parted, William declaring his
deep sorrow, but his still deeper conviction that he
must in the first place obey God. Kissing his mother
and his sister Margaret, he left the house with their
cries of distress sounding in his ears.
But his mother, well knowing his deep feeling and
devotedness, never suffered her heart to be hardened
against her son. She saw him occasionally,
and supplied him with the means of procuring the
necessities of life; while the Friends received him
cordially in their midst as a brother beloved.
His mother was secretly sending him
money from time to time. Finally Lady Penn
won her husband's consent to allowing William to
return home; but his father treated William like
a stranger and gave up trying to help a son, who,
in his opinion, was such an ungrateful and stiff necked
fellow.
The Admiral had hoped that both he and his son could enter the nobility. Later in life, the Admiral had suffered an impeachment hearing by jealous rivals. The impeachment was dropped, and he retired to Ireland. The king, anxious to reward him, was about to
raise him to the peerage under the title of Viscount
Weymouth; but his son William, having
become a Quaker and protesting loudly against
all titles as vanities of the flesh, it seemed ridiculous
to give a title that would descend to such a
strange fanatic, and the king's good intentions were
checked. So the admiral, through his nuisance of a
son, failed to attain what was, no doubt, one of the
chief objects of his life's ambition.
The people of the court and town in the England of Charles II were a very dissipated and an unprincipled set. Most of the fashionable people
were proud of their lack of morals, and the plays,
the writings, and even the speech of the ruling
class were coarse and vulgar beyond belief. William
Penn saw all this, and his nature, being on a
higher plane and more serious than that of his
father's friends, turned instinctively to those who
were living clean and respectable lives. In the
jumble of new ideas and new religions he found
comfort in the simplest and quietest sect; and now,
having publicly declared himself a Quaker, he
became one of their eminent preachers.
The Quakers were glad to have a man of William
Penn's education and position join their
ranks. Penn himself kept his cavalier dress,
and even continued for a time to wear his sword,
which was a sign of a person of fashion. Early in his Quaker faith, he asked
the advice of George Fox about keeping his sword,
and the latter, in spite of his views, said,
"I advise you to wear it as long as you can." Afterwards, meeting Penn without the sword, he
said, "William, where is your sword?"
"Oh," said Penn, "I have taken your advice. I
wore it as long as I could."
Site Editor's Comment: Fox not telling Penn to stop wearing his sword illustrates and important part of the true Christian religion. While lying, stealing, murder, adultery, drunkenness, swearing, etc., were clearly not permissible within the Quaker membership; no one was to criticize another for what was not against the moral law of the Scriptures. No one was to be criticized about food, drink, or observation of days. These matters were left to individual conscience, including the wearing of a sword; Penn wore it until the Lord spoke through the light of his conscience, showing him that he did not want him to wear the sword.
When we each start on our Christian journey to purification, we all have a hundred problems which have to be dealt with. Only the Lord can see through these tangled brambles of our passions, habits, bondages, and pleasures - to know in what order to deal with each. What he may ask one person to give up first, may be for another to be his last - or another may never be asked to give it up - only the Lord know, if and when it is necessary. If we make up rules about carrying a sword, or what to not drink, or what days should be observed - we are creating a new law - a form of religion - not a religion of conscience and of the heart - which is true Christianity.
The new minister was very useful to the
religious party he had joined. Besides preaching,
he wrote a number of tracts, the first of which he
called Truth Exalted. In this he attacked,
according to the custom of the times, all religious
views that differed from his own, and answered
the criticisms of other sects. He was even more
useful in interceding for Quakers who had been
put in prison. Having friends at court, and being
still regarded as something of a courtier, he could
appeal to the officers of state better than others of
the new sect. His arguments in favor of setting
the Quaker prisoners at liberty were listened to
respectfully by the high officials, but his requests
at that time were not granted.
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 myself 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 all the Friends. Taking
me by the hand, he spoke thus :
'Dear heart, bear your
cross, stand faithful for God and bear your testimony in your
day and generation; and God will give you an eternal
crown of glory that none shall ever take from thee. There
is not another way. Bear your 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! 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
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 centered; and at last he went
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 day following,
we laid the mortal part in the ground, it having done its
Master's work.
Two
men, who belonged to the congregation of the
Presbyterian preacher Thomas Vincent in London,
became Quakers. Thomas Vincent was very angry
and called Penn unpleasant names. So
Penn and his friend George Whitehead challenged
Vincent to an open debate in the latter's church.
The challenge was accepted.
Penn and Whitehead went to Vincent's church,
which was crowded, and as they pushed their way
forward Vincent denounced them in no measured
words. The two Quakers joined in the wordy
warfare, and began a heated religious argument,
while the congregation hissed and flung at them
such names as "blasphemers" and "villains."
Vincent himself kept interrupting, and at length,
pretending to be shocked at what the two men were
saying, began to pray for them. The people blew
out the candles that lit the church and tried
to eject the two Quakers. The meeting ended in
uproar.
Not in the least daunted by the harsh and unkind
criticisms that were showered on him from all
sides, Penn wrote more pamphlets, criticizing the
religious views of some of the older sects, and calling
many of their ideas relics of the ignorance and
superstition of the Middle Ages. He was a clear
and powerful writer and showed his satisfaction in
stating in black and white the views that had led
him to believe that truth was to be found in the
religion of the Quakers rather than in any other
creed. This was doubtless more satisfactory to
him than holding noisy and hot-tempered arguments
with opponents on street comers or in public
halls, and won for him the reputation of being the
ablest of all the early Quaker leaders. Samuel
Pepys, of the famous Diary, says thus frankly of
Penn's pamphlet, The Sandy Foundation
Shaken, "I find it so well written that I think it is too
good for him ever to have written it; and it is a serious
sort of book and not fit for everybody to read."
Site Editor's Comment: Peppy's was a secular person, unaware of the ability of the true Teacher, Christ to teach his people himself, training his true ministers himself, and speaking and writing by His Spirit within his true ministers. Penn was one such minister trained
- readjusted, restored, set to rights and perfected - to be like his teacher. . In this pamphlet, Penn challenged the Trinity as being unscriptural, a man made invention, and a denial that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three separate persons, but rather the three were all one spirit - the specifics contained, being a very complex paper. (Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD, Deu 6:4). He also stated that: 1) "imputed righteousness" of Christ was not sufficient for salvation by simply claiming it, unless it was followed by works of faith, particularly repentance; and 2) "the impossibility
of God pardoning sinners [permanently] without a full satisfaction," - a complete change of heart [the new man] by grace being necessary to receive the pardon, approval, and heavenly reward from God. These three positions cut at the root all the Protestant sect's belief in a heavenly reward without anything required of their members, other than claiming the blood in confession, water baptism, and periodic eating of bread and wine.
The great controversy between Quakers and others sects of Christianity was exactly what the blood of Jesus purchased for the believer.
The other sects said, (and say), Jesus' sacrifice made any believer righteous and justified, with nothing else required on their part.
The Quakers said his blood purchased forgiveness for past sins with sincere repentance and imputed a righteousness that allowed them to approach the throne of God, requesting his powerful grace to remove sin, and the desire to sin, from their hearts; and that justification and lasting righteousness only came after the workings of grace to convince them of sin and remove it from their hearts; thus the Quakers said Christ's blood could cleanse them from all sin and the desire to sin, not just forgive them for sins.
In reply, the other sects screamed in outrage, the blood of Jesus did it all - I am saved by belief! You Quakers are blasphemers by denying the power of the blood and sacrifice of Jesus. Since Jesus did it all, I don't have to do anything.
While the Quakers said: your belief has saved from what? If you are still sinning, you are not saved; and the blood of Jesus is more powerful than to justify your presumption of being saved. The blood of Jesus is powerful enough to cleanse your heart of even the desire to sin, providing you abide in his Spirit and Light to receive cleansing through the process of convincement and further repentance - by carrying the inward cross of self denial. The saving grace of Christ is to be experienced, not just presumed. This blood of Jesus Christ, the heavenly man,
is to be felt and witnessed in the hearts and consciences of people;
by which blood they are sanctified and are cleansed from all their dead works. Such experience righteousness, justification, and sanctification by possession of Christ to be their Lord and King, controlling their every word and deed.
Penn stated this in a letter to a friend, explaining the position he staked in The Sandy Foundation Shaken:
I say that Jesus Christ was 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 remission
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 scapegoat
did of old, not excluding inward work; for, until that
has 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 advances
him), and to this the acquittal 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 working
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 righteousness.
So, that which I wrote against, is such doctrine as
extended Christ's death and obedience, not to the first,
but this second part of justification; not the pacifying [of]
conscience, as to past sin; but I wrote against complete salvation, without
cleansing and purging, from all filthiness of flesh and
spirit, by the internal operation of his holy power and
Spirit.
The outcry which was thus raised soon stirred
up the persecuting spirit in some of the heads of
the Church which he had forsaken. They were not
slow in procuring an order for his imprisonment in
the Tower, on an accusation of blasphemy. None
of his friends except his father, who was not likely
to avail himself of the permission, was allowed to
visit him there. His servant, who alone had free
access to him, brought him word that the Bishop
of London was resolved that he should either publicly
recant, or die a prisoner. To this he replied,
You may tell my father, who I know will ask
you, that these are my words in answer, 'My
prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot,
for I owe obedience of my conscience to no mortal
man.' But I have no need to fear; God will make
amends for all. They are mistaken in me; I value
not their threats and resolutions. In me they shall
behold a resolution that is above fear, conscience, that is above cruelty, and a baffle put to 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."
That "faith which overcomes the world" was now his in truth; and its sustaining power kept
up his spirit in the solitude to which he was condemned.
And though he could not then go forth
from place to place as a preacher of righteousness,
his pen could send abroad his thoughts even more
widely than his voice. Conscious of this, he used
indefatigably in his Lord's service the talent he
could command. Beside some rejoinders to the attacks
of his enemies, which he sent forth from the
Tower, he there and then wrote his great work, No Cross, No Crown. As coming from the pen of
so young a man, this work, on account of the intimate knowledge of ecclesiastical history and the
breadth of thought which it displays, was regarded
as a marvelous composition, and passed through
several editions during the author's lifetime.
Finding that many serious persons, who were not mere cavilers, were led by the representations
put forward against him to think that he did not
recognize the deity of Christ the savior, because
of its not being noticed in The Sandy Foundation
Shaken, he wrote Innocence with her Open Face. In this work he gave a full exposition of his convictions
on that important subject. His statements
indicate so much careful examination and clearness
of intellect, that I think it right in this connection
to quote some of them. He says :
That which I am credibly informed to be the
greatest reason for my imprisonment, and that
noise about blasphemy which has pierced so
many ears of late, is my denying the divinity of
Christ, which most busily has been suggested as
well to those in authority, as maliciously insinuated
among the people. Wherefore, let me plead with you
to be impartial and considerate in the perusal of
this my vindication; which, being written in the
fear of the Almighty God, and in the simplicity
of Scripture dialect presented to you, I hope my
innocence will appear beyond scruple.
The prophets David and Isaiah speak thus,
'The Lord is my light and my salvation'- 'I will
give thee for a light unto the Gentiles' - and,
speaking to the Church, 'For the Lord shall be
your everlasting light;' to which the evangelist
adds concerning Christ, 'that was the true light
which lights every man that cometh into the
world. ' - 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness
at all.' From which I assert the unity of God and
Christ, because though nominally distinguished, yet
essentially the same divine light; for if Christ is
that light, and that light be God, then is Christ
God. Or- if God is that light, and that light is
Christ, then is God Christ. Again, in Rev. 7,
'And the city had no need of the sun, for the glory
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb (Christ) is
the light thereof,' by which the oneness of the nature
of these lights plainly appears; for since God
is not God without His own glory, and that His
glory lightens (which it could never do if it were
not light), and that the Lamb or Christ is that
very same light, what can follow but that Christ
the light and God the light are one pure eternal
light?
Next, from the word savior it is manifest, 'I,
even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no
savior;' 'and thou shall know no God but me, for
there is no savior beside;' and Mary said, ' My
spirit has rejoiced in God my savior;' and
the Samaritans said unto the woman, 'Now we
know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of
the world.'-' Therefore we suffer reproach because
we trust in the living God, who is the savior of all
men.' - To the only wise God our savior be glory.'"All these prove Christ to be God; for if none
can save, or be properly styled the savior, but
God, and yet that Christ is declared to save, and
be properly called the savior, it must follow
that Christ the savior is God.
He that is 'The everlasting wisdom ;' 'The
divine power;' 'The true light;' 'The only savior;' 'The creating Word,' and 'Upholder of
all things by His own power,' is without contradiction
God. All these qualifications and divine
properties are by the concurrent testimonies of
scripture ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore,
without a scruple I call Him and believe Him
really to be the Mighty God.
After such a full solemn statement as this, of
course no room was left for calling in question
William Penn's entire belief in the divinity of the
Lord Jesus. But still there remained his un-recanted
declarations of the unscriptural character of the
scholastic terms, and the other teaching against
which he wrote in The Sandy Foundation, Shaken. From these he did not recede in the slightest degree,
when writing Innocence with her Open Face. Instead of doing so, his remarks only went to confirm
or reiterate his former statements. Thus he
concludes :
However positively I may reject or deny my
adversaries' unscriptural and imaginary doctrine of
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 savior, 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 belief, such faith as can no
more live without works than a body without a
spirit; therefore I assert that true faith comprehends
evangelical obedience. And herein Dr.
Stillingfleet (then Anglican Bishop) comes to my support by this plain
assertion, that is:
'Such, who make no other condition
of the gospel but believing, ought to have a care to
keep their hearts sounder than their heads,'
thereby
intimating the great imperfection and danger of
such a notion. God Almighty bears me record
that my design was nothing less or more than to
wrest those sin-pleasing principles out of the hands,
heads, and hearts of the people, from the fond
persuasion of being justified by the personal righteousness
of another, without any relation to their
own obedience to God - that they might not sin on
upon such a trust, until irrecoverably overtaken by
eternal punishment.
William Penn, still continuing a prisoner without
being brought to trial, despite all he had
written and published, at length addressed a long
letter to Lord Arlington, Secretary of State, asking
him to interfere. He showed how contrary it was
to every principle of justice, and every legal idea,
ancient or modern, to keep a man imprisoned for
holding certain opinions which he really did not
hold, without allowing him an opportunity of clearing
himself on open trial; and he asked, even if he
did hold all the opinions objected to, by what law
could he be legally imprisoned for doing so; and,
if they wished to convince him of error, could they
hope to effect it by such means. He says in conclusion
:
I make no apology for my letter as trouble; because I think the honor that will
accrue to you by being just, and releasing the oppressed,
exceeds the advantage that can succeed to
me. And I am well assured any kindness and
justice it may please you to employ on that account
cannot miss a plentiful reward from God,
and praise of all virtuous men.
This letter bears date the 1st of Fifth-month,
1669, and in little more than a month after it was
written the writer was released, after about eight
months' imprisonment. On the 24th of Eighth month
he sailed from Bristol for Cork, where he
arrived on the 26th. By his father's express orders;
he was again to undertake the management of the
Shangarry estate.
He then began to look about to see how he could
be of most service to the people who were of his own
religious faith.
CHAPTER V
PENN HELPS HIS FRIENDS
By this time no one could doubt that William
Penn had courage, for it took considerable bravery
to face and endure imprisonment in the Tower of
London as he had done, and this show of courage
won admiration even from his father the Admiral.
At this time Sir William was having troubles of
his own. The command of his fleet had been taken
from him, and he was suffering from the gout;
altogether he was not in a very pleasant frame of
mind, but he softened sufficiently toward his son
to ask him to go again to Ireland to look after the
family property there, although the request was
made through William's devoted mother, and not
directly. When he wrote to his son, he showed
that he still rather doubted William's filial regard,
for he said, "If you are ordained to be another cross
to me, God's will be done, and I shall arm myself
as best I can against it."
When William reached Ireland, he found the lot
of the Quakers was then no better than it had
been before. Their very virtues - for they were
generally a hard-working and thrifty people - had
set many against them. Indeed, nearly all the
Quakers in Cork had been lodged in prison. Even
in prison, however, they managed to carry on their
affairs; for, said Penn, “they turned the jail into
a meetinghouse and a workhouse, for they would
not be idle anywhere."
He at once set to work to help these friends of
his, and drew up a statement of the charges against
the imprisoned Quakers and a defense of them, and
with the help of some friends took the matter to
the Lord Lieutenant at Dublin, with the result
that before long the Quakers in Cork were given
their freedom. Encouraged by this success, he
made it his business to try to free people of his
religion whenever he found them in the grasp of
the law.
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
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 rebellion
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 revealed 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, pragmatic Christians
whose religion consists much more in words than works,
confessing than forsaking, and in their own will - performances
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 followers
meet with. Oh, let us be valiant in God's cause on
earth, as who have but a few days to live. Let the constance
of the world to the momentary fashions, pleasures, and
pollutions of it, the more ardently stir us up to express
ours for the honor of our God against them all, who will
reward us for whatever 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 constance. 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 traveler in his way, I beseech
you all, in the holy awe of God, that you never forsake
meeting and assembling yourselves with the holy remnant
among 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 examples,
and a sweet savor for God, who has 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 salutations,
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, either by inward exercises or outward bonds
and suffering, which may overtake us for the trial of our
most precious faith; so shall we sensibly experience that
heavenly blood of cleansing which only can give remission,
cleanse from all sin, and finally purge the conscience from
dead works to serve the living God."
He managed the family estate in Ireland so well
that when he went back to London in 1670, his father
decided to forgive his son all the trouble he had
put him to, and the courtier father and the Quaker
son were completely reconciled. That did not
mean, however, that the son had given up any of
his opinions. It happened that at about the same
time the government decided that the new religion
was winning too many converts, and so put into
effect a law that made unlawful any meetings for
religious worship other than those held by the
Church of England, by the terms of which law the
magistrates were allowed to fine and imprison
offenders without giving them a trial by jury;
it also allowed to those who gave information about
such illegal meetings one third of all the fines that
were imposed. Whenever the Quakers held a
meeting, therefore, some enemy was sure to give
notice of it, and many Friends were imprisoned
and more were fined, of course to the advantage
of meddling busybodies.
In the year 1670 the famous Conventicle Act was passed
by Parliament, which prohibited dissenters from worshipping
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 Ellwood,
" broke down and overran the bounds and banks
anciently set for the defense and security of Englishmen's
lives, liberties and properties, namely, trials by jury, instead
of directing and authorizing justices of the
peace, (and that, too, privately out of sessions), to convict,
fine, and by their warrants seize upon offenders against
it, directly contrary to the Great Charter." [Magna Carta]
It was impossible that an act like this could pass without
becoming a source of new suffering to William Penn
situated as he then was, first, as a minister of the Gospel,
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, they
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 considerable
assembly on the spot. By this time William Penn
felt himself called upon to preach ; but he had not advanced
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 persecution
; 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
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 me in order to a
mittimus, he told his clerk to write one for Bridewell, and
there he would see me whipped himself, for all I was
Penn's son that had 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,
what - if this is 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 consol and
support you by his holy power, and preserve you to
eternal rest and glory. Amen.
Thy faithful and obedient son,
My duty to my mother.
WILLIAM PENN."
According to Quaker custom, Penn kept his hat
on before the mayor, and this so maddened that
official, that he said the prisoner "should have his
hat pulled off, for all he was Admiral Penn's son."
Then he went on to abuse the Admiral himself,
saying that he had starved the sailors of his fleet,
and repeating other stories that were popular
among the Admiral's enemies. He threatened to
send young William to Bridewell Prison, and see
that he was soundly whipped! Finally Penn was
taken to a certain jail known as the Black Dog,
where he was locked up with a number of other
Quakers and Baptists and Independents, who had
all been holding meetings in despite of the law.
Penn and a man named William Mead were put
on trial in the Old Bailey* early in September, 1670, charged with having preached at an unlawful
meeting, thereby causing a great concourse and
tumult, to the disturbance of the king's peace and
the great terror of many of his subjects. The two
prisoners went into court with their hats having been removed before their entrance; the
the judges ordered the officers to put the hats
back on the prisoners' heads, and then began to question
them about their wearing hats in court. Despite the judges being responsible for their hats being on in court, they used that as an excuse to fine each
man forty marks for such "contempt of court."
The prisoners were not allowed lawyers to defend
them, and the judges proceeded to make sport
of the two Quakers, as if the trial were a form of
bull-baiting. Penn said that he had broken no law,
but had only been worshiping God according to
his own conscience. He stood up for his rights as
an Englishman, and appealed to the jury to uphold their rights as Englishmen; this so impressed the jury
that in spite of all the
efforts of the judges, the jury would only find him,
"guilty of speaking" in Gracechurch-street, and of
no crime whatever. The judges sent the jury out
again and again, finally keeping them locked up
for two days and nights without beds or food, but
the jury was not to be browbeaten. The judges
at last had to accept the verdict, "not guilty,"
but in revenge fined each of the prisoners forty
marks and ordered them imprisoned until the
fines were paid; and in addition, actually fined and sentenced the
jury for bringing in what they considered a mock
verdict!
*The transcript of this famous trial is available on this site.
Penn and Mead and the jury were then sent to
Newgate, where they simply refused to buy their
liberty by paying the unjust fines. Thus ended this famous trial, which was sustained by
William Penn with so much ability at the age of twenty-five.
A few days afterwards he wrote to Admiral Penn :
DEAR FATHER :
I desire you 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 you not
to purchase my liberty.
I desire in fervent prayer the Lord God to strengthen
and support you, and to anchor your mind in thoughts of
the immutable, blessed state which is over all perishing
concerns.
I am, dear father, your obedient son,
WILLIAM PENN
The next day he wrote :
DEAR FATHER :
I am truly grieved to hear of your
present illness. If God, in his holy will, did see fit
that I should be freed, I could heartily embrace it; yet,
considering I cannot be free except on 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 your physician unto a cure, and then much of
my solicitude will be at an end. Solace your 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 decided.
Suit was brought by Edward Bushell and his fellow
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 jurymen
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 of important beneficial 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 practiced 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 intimidate
them, opened the eyes of the people to their true interests,
and the necessity of claiming their chartered privileges; 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. [It was Penn's eloquent pleas to the jury as free Englishmen to never abrogate their rights, which inspired the jury to courageous resistance to the tyranny of the judicial officials of the City and court. See Trial.]
The Court of Common Pleas decided that the fines were unlawful and ordered the jury set at liberty.
Penn and Mead, however, had been fined for wearing their hats in court, and there is no knowing
how long they might have been kept in prison if the Admiral, who was ill, had not disregarded his
son's letters, and paid the fines of both Penn and Mead, when they were at once set at liberty.
Penn later wrote a book about this trial and published it, which was widely read in England, and resulted in Parliament passing several laws designed to prevent such outlandish abuses of unchecked power in the courts. The recorder was investigated and lost his job. In his Journal, Fox also reports that the above abuses, and many more, the "mayor's name became a stink and the Lord cut him off."
The case of the courageous jurymen, (Thomas Vere, Edward Bushell, and ten others), was reviewed on a Writ of Habeus Corpus and England's Chief Justice Vaughan delivered the opinion of the court which established The Right to Juries to give their verdicts according to their convictions or conscience. In effect, this established the legal precedent of jury nullification, which still exists in USA and English courts; although in the USA, the judge often questions potential jurors of their willingness to forego disagreement with the law, resulting in nullification; excusing any potential jurors who do, regardless of conscience.
The account we have of the trial was published
soon after the trial was held, with a preface and a
long appendix, which discussed very fully all the
questions of civil liberty involved, and had a great
deal to say of Magna Carta and other sources of British freedom.
Some one, signing himself S. 5., wrote
an answer to it, attacking Penn's father for stealing
prize-money and amassing ill-gotten riches for a conscientious
fool of a son, who made such a noise in
court that the judge could not charge the jury. As
for the Quakers, they were a libeling, lying, discontented
people, who would set the country in a flame.
When the king seized their meeting-house, they
broke in the doors, overpowered the constables, and
kicked and spurned the officers who attempted to
break up their unlawful assembly. Against this
attack Penn wrote a long reply called Truth Rescued
from Imposture; and, reading all these three
documents together, it does not seem that the original
Quaker report of the trial is at all seriously
impugned.
The publication of the report and the sturdy conduct
of Penn and William Mead, as described in
it, were unquestionably useful. It was another effort
in the long struggle of Anglo-Saxon liberty; and
although it is not possible to point to any specific
change in criminal trials as the result of it, yet,
together with the other protests, it gradually, in the
course of years, educated public opinion and wrought
the improvement which has now long been enjoyed
in all English-speaking countries.
When Penn reached home he found that his father
had only a few days to live. Their meeting must
have been an affecting one. The admiral had been
thinking what terrible things might happen in the
future to his stubborn offspring, who had such a passion
for making a martyr of himself in loathsome
prisons. He had accordingly sent a friend to the
Duke of York to make his dying request that the
duke would watch over his son and intercede with
the king when necessary for his protection. Both
the duke and the king sent back the kindest answers
and promises, which must have greatly relieved the
dying admiral; and these promises were afterwards
fulfilled to the letter.
The admiral could no longer quarrel with his son;
natural affection had got the better of all other feelings.
As he approached death, he reviewed his life and times, focusing of how he was prepared for the next life. He declaimed against
the wickedness and impurity of the age
and prophesied judgments upon England for the
dissolute and profane lives of her gentry and nobility.
He also realized his own shortcomings, and as described by William, gave this excellent fatherly advice to his eldest son and principal heir:
"Son William, I am weary of the world. I 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 that has followed me to this day. Oh! have a
care of sin! 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;
so you will keep peace at home, which will be a feast to
you in the day of trouble.
Secondly - Whatever you design to do, lay it justly and time it
seasonably, for that gives security and dispatch.
Lastly - Be not troubled at disappointments, for if they may be
recovered, do it; if they cannot, trouble is 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."
The admiral died on the 16th of September, 1670,
and with almost his last breath said to his son,-
"If you and your friends keep to your plain way of preaching and
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 in love.
Shun all manner of evil, and I pray God to bless you all, and he
will bless you."
With this noble advice, surprising for a man of the world, the Admiral died leaving William to look after his mother and his
younger brother Richard. His sister Margaret
had married Antony Lowther, of Maske, in Yorkshire.
CHAPTER VI
PENN BECOMES A MAN OF WEALTH
ADMIRAL PENN had managed to accumulate a
very considerable fortune, and as a result William,
the eldest son, became a rich man. His family
was a prominent one, he had many influential
friends, and now had plenty of money; so it was
thought that he would naturally become a cavalier
and gentleman of fashion. He soon made it clear,
however, that he meant to retain the simple way of
living adopted by the Quakers. Friends of his own
age made fun of him, saying it was preposterous
that a man of his means and abilities should spend
his time with such dull people as those of the new
religion. Sir John Robinson, the Lieutenant of
the Tower of London, said to him, "I vow, Mr.
Penn, I am sorry for you; you are an ingenious
gentleman, all the world must allow you and do
allow you that, and you have a plentiful estate.
Why should you render yourself unhappy by associating
with such a simple people?"
"I confess," frankly answered Penn, "I have
made it my choice to relinquish the company of
those that are ingeniously wicked, to converse with
those that are more honestly simple."
In those days men challenged each other to arguments
over their religions much as they might
have challenged each other to a duel. Penn enjoyed
defending the Quaker cause in public. A
Baptist preacher by the name of Ives denounced
Penn and the Quakers in a sermon, and Penn
sent him a challenge to argue the question in
public.
Ives did not appear at the meeting, but his
brother took his place, and, according to the rules of
such arguments, had to speak first. When he had
finished his argument, he, with some friends, left the
hall, hoping to draw so many people away with him
that few would be left to listen to his opponent.
But the audience stayed to hear Penn, and he spoke
so eloquently that he won the house over to his
side, and cost Ives the support of many of his followers.
The young Quaker was proving as convincing
a speaker as he had already shown himself
to be a vigorous writer. He was fast becoming a
power in the new sect.
He soon found a bigger man than Ives to argue
with, for as he traveled through Oxfordshire preaching
the Quaker cause he came to the University
of Oxford, where he had been a student, and learned
that the young men there who were interested in
Quakerism were treated worse than ever. The
Vice Chancellor of Oxford thought that the Quakers
might become a dangerous political party, and was
doing all in his power to abolish the new religion.
Penn wrote him a letter in which, with fiery ardor,
he denounced the Vice Chancellor for his persecution
of Quaker students, and followed it up with
other broadsides of attack on all who held similar
views. He was a militant character, and when he
argued before a public meeting, or wrote a letter
that was to be read by his opponents, he never
hesitated to express himself as strongly as he knew
how. So in his letter to the Vice Chancellor he
gave himself free rein. He wrote: "Shall the multiplied
oppressions which you continue to heap
upon innocent English people for their peaceable
religious meetings pass disregarded by the eternal
God? Do you think to escape his fierce wrath
and dreadful vengeance for thy ungodly and illegal
persecution of his poor children? I tell you, no.
Better if you had never been born. Poor mushroom, will you war against the Lord,
and lift up yourself in battle against the Almighty?
Can you frustrate his holy purposes, and bring
his determination to nothing? He has decreed to
exalt himself by us, and to propagate his gospel
to the ends of the earth." Fine, spirited words
are these, worthy of the valiant courage of young
William Penn! (The author is obviously not acquainted with religion, never considering the words might actually be spoken by the Spirit of God, through Penn).
Penn returned from Oxfordshire to London, and
went one day to a meeting in Wheeler Street. He
started to address the meeting, but no sooner had
he begun than a sergeant marched in with a file of
soldiers, dragged him from the platform, and carried
him off to the Tower. That evening an officer
and some musketeers marched him from the
Tower to Sir John Robinson, the lieutenant, who
asked him many questions, trying to make it appear
that Penn was a dangerous man, who, unless
he were checked, might turn out to be another
Cromwell. Sir John, knowing that the Quakers
were opposed to all oaths, called on Penn to swear
that he would never take up arms against the king,
and also to take a solemn oath that he would never
try to make any change of government either in
church or state. This oath Penn refused to take,
saying that the Quakers were opposed to all fighting
as well as oath-taking. "If I cannot fight against
any man (much less against the king)," said he,
"what need I to take an oath not to do it? Should
I swear not to do what is already against my conscience
to do?"
Sir John and the other judges sneered at him,
told him that he was bringing an honorable name
to disgrace, and treated his principles with haughty
contempt. Finally Sir John said, "But you do
nothing but stir up the people to sedition; and one
of your friends told me that you preached sedition
and meddled with the government."
Penn looked these accusers squarely in the face.
"We have the unhappiness to be misrepresented,"
he answered, "and of which I am not the least concerned. 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 instill principles of peace and moderation,
(and only war against spiritual wickedness,
that all men may be brought to fear God and work
righteousness), I shall contentedly undergo the
severest punishment all your laws can expose me
to.
“As for the king, I make this offer, that if any
living can make it appear, directly or indirectly,
from the time I have been called a Quaker (since
from that you call me seditious), I have contrived
or acted anything injurious to his person, or
the English government, I shall submit my person
to your utmost cruelties, and esteem them all but
a due recompense. It is hard that I, being in assent,
should be reputed guilty; but the will of God
be done. I accept of bad reports as well as good."
But he could not make Sir John and the other
judges believe in his innocence. "You will be
the heading of parties and drawing people after
you," said Sir John, doggedly, and ordered Penn
taken to Newgate, the worst prison in London for the offence of
preaching the Gospel to his brethren, and refusing to
disobey the commandment of Christ. Penn replied:
Is that all? You know a larger imprisonment
has not daunted me. I accept it at the hand of the
Lord, and am contented to suffer his will. Alas ! You
mistake your interest, you will miss your aim; this is not
the way to accomplish your ends.
I would have you and all men to know that I scorn the
religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain
those that are afflicted for it. Mine is worth it and able to sustain me, 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.
Your 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.
In Newgate Quakers were herded with criminals of the
lowest type. People with money could hire rooms for themselves
at Newgate and so avoid some of the discomforts
of that vile place, and Penn spoke to his jailers
about having a private room, but they answered
him so abusively and insultingly and charged him
so much for a private room that he said he preferred
to share the lot of the poorest criminals in the stinking common room.
And there this man of wealth and education bravely
stayed for six months, writing a number of essays
and a spirited religious pamphlet.
William Penn did not permit the time of his imprisonment
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 Liberty
of Conscience, once more briefly debated, and defended
by the Authority of Reason, Scripture, and Antiquity."
In the preface he maintained that the enacting 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 those 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
meekness ; in the promotion of it, for it was clear that
they never designed 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 condemnation
and not peace ; that they opposed the plainest testimonies
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 promised.
We have long waited for it, we have written much
and suffered in its defense, and have made many true complaints,
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 sufferings 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 encourage
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 apprehensions
of such may be concerning this discourse, it was
written in love, and from a true sense of the present state
of things, and time and the event will vindicate it from
untruth. In the meanwhile, it is matter of great satisfaction
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 Principles
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 illumination
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 intoxications,
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 :
I think our demonstration, should satisfy all;
when neither man nor Scriptures are near us, yet there
continually attends us that Spirit of Truth which immediately
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 you are led by
the spirit of God, then you are sons of God. Lot this suffice
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 superstitious
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 did the apostle say, urged by his godly jealousy, to the
Galatians? "But now after you have known God, or rather
are known of God, how you again turn to the weak and
beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in
bondage? You 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 how we cannot own so strict an institution
as to make the the First day the Sabbath, or that it has any
holiness inherent to it; yet, as taking the primitive saints
for an example, with godly reverence we constantly assemble
upon it.
His charge 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 we may receive
strength from Him, and feel his heavenly peace and blessing
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 express
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 life, power, mediation, and blood we only ascribe our
sanctification, justification, redemption, and perfect salvation.
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 confinement
passed away, and at the expiration of the six
months he was released. He had spent
half of the last three years in jails. It appears that soon after, he
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. The reasons for his journey are unknown. Possibly,
as he found he was so seriously suspected of political intentions, he may have thought it would be
well to go away for a time and let the suspicions die
out. Perhaps, too, his health had suffered, and he
needed a change. For three years he had led a
very strenuous life of controversy, preaching and
writing, and half of those three years had been
passed in loathsome prisons.
He has left us no account of this journey, as he
did of a subsequent one to the same countries; but
from the few scraps of information we have about it,
he seems to have been still following his great mission.
There were people in those countries who
were in the Seeker state of mind, disgusted with the
corruption of religion which they saw around them,
and already tinged with the first principles of Quakerism.
Possibly, they were not at this time so numerous as they afterwards became, or Penn would
have had more to say about them.
At Emden, however, he found a physician named
Hasbert in a receptive state of mind, and through
him ten other people of the town held a silent meeting
in the doctor's house. But this strange worship
roused terrible suspicions, and these unfortunate
converts were afterwards banished over and over
again, and stripped of their property.
It is not likely that Penn made many such converts
on his journey, and his time was probably
largely passed in investigating the religious conditions
of the people in his liberal way, a study
which had always strongly attracted him; but apparently
he did not find much that was pleasing to
him.
On his return to England, in the autumn of 1771,
there seems to have been a pause in the aggressive
activity which had been his characteristic before his
journey to Holland; and from a letter which his
most recent biographer, Dr. Stoughton, has unearthed
in the Report of the Historical Manuscripts
Commission, it is probable that he was looking about
for a permanent residence, with a view of marrying
Guli Springett, a very pretty Quaker maiden who
had captured his fancy. In spite of the ferocious
religious controversy, the preaching, the jury trials,
and the imprisonments, there had been a romance,
a touch of human tenderness amidst the hardness of
conflict and the dry spirituality of religion. It was
time; for he was twenty-seven years old.
Guli, or Gulielma Maria Springett, as she would
perhaps prefer to be called by a writer of the world's
people, was the daughter of a very gallant young
Puritan officer, who at the age of only twenty-three
found himself on his death-bed at the siege of
Bamber. His young wife was hastening to him
through difficulties and perils; and the story of her
devotion and his tender farewell, as described in The Penns and the Peningtons, is doubly beautiful
because it is a relief to find that there was at that
time anything in England besides hard intolerance,
devilish cruelty, and ribald conversation.
Guli was born a few weeks after her father thus
died. Her mother soon, like many others, became
very unsettled in religion, and could endure neither
the formal prayers of the Church of England nor
the whining cant of the Puritans. While in this state
of mind she met with Isaac Penington, whom she
found to be also a Seeker who could find nothing in
all the religions of the time but deceit They were
married, and shortly discovered that the Quaker
faith was what they sought; and Guli also became a
Quaker.
They were people of means. Penington's father
had been a Puritan alderman in the civil wars, and
one of the court for the trial of Charles I. They
lived contentedly at Chalfont in Buckinghamshire
until they suddenly became one of those families
whose ruin Penn said was impoverishing and depopulating
England. Penington was thrown into
prison for his opinions, and his wife and Guli had
to wander about as best they could until he was released.
It was after their sufferings had begun that Penn
first knew them. Thomas Ellwood, Milton's friend,
lived with them, and he has left us a quaint and
serious description of Guli as “in all respects a very
desirable woman, whether regard was had to her outward
person, which wanted nothing to render her
completely comely, or to the endowments of her
mind, which were every way extraordinary." A fair
fortune would go with her, an accompaniment which
lovers do not usually refuse. She had, indeed, many
suitors of all ranks and conditions; but, as the excellent
Ellwood tells us, she bore herself "with so
much evenness of temper, such courteous freedom,
guarded with the strictest modesty, that none were
unduly encouraged, nor could any complain of
offence." A very tantalizing young woman she certainly
was, and it seems that Ellwood himself was a
little touched.
Being the child of parents who could love with
devotion, Guli herself was no doubt a strenuous
heroic little soul. Penn could attract her, for she
could see in him a Quaker hero who feared not the
face of man.
Unfortunately the children she bore were not
what we should expect from either Penn or her.
Heredity often plays queer tricks just at the time
when you look for a sure result. Penn's heirs who
became the owners of the great commonwealth of
Pennsylvania were the children of his second wife, a
less lovely woman than Guli; and to this day there
are Pennsylvanians who regret that they could not
be ruled in colonial times by Guli's sons.
But all that came afterwards. Let us be content
that now in the spring of 1672 Penn and Guli were
married and settled down at Rickmansworth in
Hertfordshire, far from the dirt and turmoil of London,
with its terrible Tower and foul Newgate. They
were rich and could live at ease, and they seem to
have been very happy lovers as long as Guli lived.
The terrors of persecution had for a time passed
away. Charles II had issued a sort of document
always detested by the sturdy Anglo-Saxons even
when it relieved them from suffering. He called it
a Declaration of Indulgence, and in it he arrogantly
announced that by virtue of his supreme authority
he dispensed with, or, in plain English, abrogated and
annulled, for the time being, all the penal laws against
Quakers, Presbyterians, Romanists, and other dissenters
from the Church of England.
Although he outwardly conformed to the Church
of England, Charles was at heart and in secret a Romanist,
and his brother, the Duke of York, was now
openly one. Charles had, two years before, signed
a secret treaty with Louis XIV of France, by which
he agreed to make public his profession of the Roman
faith, to assist Louis in destroying the power of Holland,
and to support the claims of the House of
Bourbon to the Spanish throne. In return for this
Louis had agreed to supply Charles with money and
to help him with an army to suppress any insurrection
that might arise among his subjects. In other
words, Charles, like his predecessors, wished to make
himself independent of Parliament. He wished, if
possible, to govern without Parliament, and this base
treaty with France was to help him to attain that
end.
The Declaration of Indulgence was also calculated
for the same end. It, of course, relieved the
Roman Catholics as well as the Quakers and Puritans
from the penal laws, and thus assisted the king's
secret Catholic friends and gratified the Catholic
king of France. But it performed also the more important
function of creating a precedent for ruling
without Parliament. It relieved the people from
very oppressive laws; and they could hardly refuse
its benefit; and that put them at once
in the position of assenting to the king's power to
abrogate and annul laws as he pleased. In a few
years this became a very momentous question and
one with which Penn was closely concerned.
But at present, while he was enjoying his first year
of married happiness, he had nothing to say about
the Declaration of Indulgence. He was probably
glad enough to see the hapless Quakers come trooping
out of the dismal prisons. Nearly five hundred
of them came out into the light of day and were
restored to their families. In view of that benefit
Penn and others were willing to overlook for the
time the king's attempt to rule solely by his own
will.
Most of the spring of the year of 1672 Penn seems
to have spent in the enjoyment of his honeymoon.
In the summer he again resumed his preacher's life
- that is, the life of a Quaker preacher, who
serves without pay, is under no orders or compulsion from men,
(only the Lord), and may have some other occupation to support himself. During his preaching of
this summer he traveled through the counties of
Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, working hard; for within
three weeks he and his companion are said to have
attended twenty-one meetings, and were much gratified
at the increasing numbers and earnestness of
their people. He summarizes his efforts in the
following manner:
The Lord sealed up our labors and travels according
to the desire of my soul and spirit with his heavenly refreshments
and sweet living power and word of life, to
the reaching of all, and consoling our own hearts abundantly.
Thus has the Lord been with us in all our travels
for his Truth, and he has rewarded us with his blessings of peace,
which is a reward beyond all worldly treasures."
The traditions of Penn which Clarkson collected
among the Quakers in England describe him as a
very hard-working minister. He worked hard, in
fact, at all his undertakings. Though a learned man,
he preached, it is said, in very simple language, easy
to be understood. He was not eloquent, because
under the peculiar restrictions against vanity and
excitement which the Quakers place on preaching,
as on all their actions, eloquence in the usual meaning
of the word is unknown among them.
He was of such humility that he used generally to sit at the
lowest end of the space allotted to ministers, always taking care to
place above himself poor ministers, and those who appeared to him
to be peculiarly gifted. He was also no less remarkable for encouraging
those who were young in the ministry. Thomas Story,
among many others, witnessed this. 'I had no courage,' says he,
'of my own to appear in public among them (the ministers). I
thought, however (on seeing Atkinson's ministry acceptable), that I
might also probably go through the meetings without offence, which
was the full amount of my expectation or desire there; and that
which added much to my encouragement was the fatherly care and
behavior of the ministers in general, but especially of that great
minister of the Gospel, and faithful servant of Christ, William Penn,
who abounded in wisdom, discretion, prudence, love, and tenderness
of affection, with all sincerity, above most in this generation;
and, indeed, I never knew his equal'" (Clarkson's Penn, vol. H.
P·271.)
These same traditions describe him as very neat
though plain in his dress. He usually walked with
a cane, and in later life, when dictating to an secretary,
as was frequently his practice, he would take
the cane in his hand, and, walking up and down the
room, would mark by striking it against the floor
the emphasis on points which he wished particularly
to be noticed.
Everything, now that he was happily married, was
peaceful. His days of imprisonment seemed to be
ended. He had served through them as an apprenticeship
to his calling; he had borne himself in them
in a way which gave him a standing and influence;
and he was now in a position to accomplish some
really valuable results. In the following year, 1673,
he and his wife traveled in the western part of England,
and at Bristol welcomed George Fox on his
return from America. It must have been a delightful
meeting for the accomplished, learned Penn and
his pretty wife. Fox was so unlike them in his education
and associations, and yet so full of force, intelligence,
and fire, that he must have been perpetually
interesting. In his rugged, eloquent way he was full
of the enthusiasm of his travels, the adventures and
perils of the wilderness, the strange things he had
seen, the zeal and steadfastness of the American
Quakers, and the great increase and strengthening
he now found among those in England. He and
the Penns attended the meetings at Bristol and its
neighborhood, and Fox describes these meetings as
"glorious and powerful."
The Quakers were, indeed, at this time reaping
large rewards for their courageous and steady endurance
through many years. In our time the religion
that draws numbers to itself most effectually is apt
to be the one that promises a little social eminence,
that seems to be in the line of fashion and good
society, but the Quaker faith was becoming popular
because it seemed to arm its followers with fortitude.
If it could give such contentment and satisfaction in
the midst of suffering, it must, men thought be true.
So many, we are told, from the Presbyterians and
other Puritans began to turn towards the Quaker
belief that the ministers of those sects bestirred themselves
to call back their wandering sheep and to
keep others from straying, They wrote pamphlets;
and the cleverest of them was called A Dialogue
between a Christian and a Quaker, in which it was
assumed that the Quaker was not a Christian at all,
and he was made to maintain very ridiculous principles,
which were easily confuted.
The life of Penn prefixed to the old edition of his
works calls this pamphlet a forgery, because it was
put forth as a real discourse which actually happened,
and many people believed it to be real. Its author
was a Baptist minister, Thomas Hicks, and Penn,
to counteract his influence, wrote The Christian
Quaker, a very dull performance as it seems now,
but possibly of value in its time. At any rate Hicks
continued his attacks and brought out a second part
of his dialogue, and then a third part. Penn trying
to keep pace with him by issuing Reason against
Railing and The Counterfeit Christian Detected.
The Quakers called on Hicks's congregation
for a public debate and a chance to clear themselves.
The congregation got the advantage by jockeying,
for they forced on the meeting at a time when Penn
and Whitehead could not be present, and the vote
was overwhelmingly in favor of Hicks.
Penn and Whitehead protested and demanded another
meeting, which was finally obtained, and is said
to have been attended by six thousand people. In the tumultuous state of religious
opinion at that time there was an intense desire to
hear these scholastic and metaphysical debates.
The principal Quaker leaders and the principal
Baptist leaders were present, and there was one
of those extraordinary religious debates which occurred. The debate lasted the entire day without a decision
reached, but they enjoyed the debate; both sides
felt better, and had no more to say to one another.
Penn had to answer some author who wrote The
Spirit of the Quakers Tried; he had to attend to
the case of a pair of pretenders, Reeve and Muggleton,
who with their “fond imaginations" drew away
much people after them; he had to down John
Faldo, who wrote a Curb to W. Penn's Confidence;
and Harry Hailywell had to be looked after
because he wrote An Account of Familism as it
is Revised and Propagated by the Quakers. But
Faldo was soon on his feet again, and procured
the signatures and approval of “one-and-twenty
learned divines"* to his book Quakerism no
Christianity, and Samuel Grevil assailed the inward
light, and John Perrot, who had attained some
distinction among the Quakers, turned renegade and
attacked his own people in The Spirit of the Hat and in Tyranny and Hypocrisy Detected. These
things and long letters of rebuke to magistrates and
of encouragement to the faithful in the Netherlands
and in Maryland kept Penn busy enough for two
years while he lived in his pleasant country home
at Rickmansworth, and learned what a charming
woman his young wife was.
*a divine was someone who had studied the Bible in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, thereby becoming an expert in the divine tongues, actually they were called a divine. George Fox frequently ridiculed this distinction and title, saying by this qualification, Pilate, the Roman governor who crucified Christ, was the first divine, for Pilate had written a sign in all three languages saying "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews," which he had placed at the top of the cross.
By this time the Quakers had gained so many
converts that the other sects were beginning to be
afraid of them, and continually challenged them to
more and more of those strange public debates
in which the speakers did not hesitate to call their
opponents harsh names. It was said of Penn that
"he never turned his back in the day of battle,"
and he apparently threw himself into these arguments with the same ardor his ancestors had
shown in warfare. Besides taking up the cudgel
in defense of the new creed, he wrote many pamphlets
and letters to people who disapproved of
the Quakers. In this way he kept himself very
busy during the two years he lived at his charming
country home.
PERSECUTION, OATHS, AND CONTROVERSY
The declaration of indulgence to those who dissented
from the established church, which was issued by the
king in 1671, 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
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 1673 complained of this suspension
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 indulgence
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 proceedings
soon attracted the attention of our author, and furnished
employment for his pen through a considerable
part of the year 1674.
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
declaration of indulgence was revoked, not because there
was any objection to its principles, but on account of the
authority 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. Penn wrote:
We came not to our liberties
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 are you (says
the Holy Scripture) that judges another man's servant?
He must stand or fall to his master, the great God. Let
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 hypocrites
in doing what we believe in our consciences we
ought not to do, or performing 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
dying bed, to have acted moderately than severely.
You cannot but know how fallible Protestants acknowledge
themselves to be in matters of religion, and, consequently,
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, however
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.
George Fox had been one of the first to suffer
almost immediately after his return from America.
They had caught him in the trap in which they
caught so many. They required him the oath of
allegiance, and when he refused it because he could
take no oaths of any kind, they imprisoned him without
trial as a seditious and dangerous person, an
enemy to the government. He was in jail for over
a year on this occasion, suffering severely at times
from illness, with his wife rushing about the country
to procure influence for his release and returning to
the prison to nurse him. The king offered him a
pardon; but the Quakers were always obliged to
refuse pardons, because their acceptance would imply
that they admitted that they had done wrong; and,
indeed, the pardons were usually intended to force
such an admission.
Penn and the leading Quakers exerted themselves
to obtain Fox's release, and Penn went to court, where
he had not been for five years. He appealed to his
old friend and his father's friend, the Duke of York,
and the interview is significant because of the duke's
rather fulsome language in favor of liberty of conscience
and Penn's relations with him on this subject
in after years.
The time being fist, we found that gentleman as was agreed,
and went with him to the Duke's palace, where he endeavored our
admission by the means of the Duchess' Secretary; but the house
being very full of people and the Duke of business, the said Secretary
could neither procure our nor his own admission ; but Colonel
Aston, of the bed-chamber, then in waiting, and my old acquaintance
and friend (yet I had not seen him in some years before)
looking hard at me, thinking he should know me, asked me in the
drawing-room, first my name and then my business, and upon understanding
both, he presently gave us the favor we waited for, of speaking
with the Duke, who came immediately out of his closet to us. After something I said as an introduction to the business, I delivered
him our request.
He perused
it, and then told us that he was against all persecution
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 judgment,
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 expressed.
When he had done upon this affair, he was pleased to
take a very particular notice of me, both for the relation
my father had had to his service in the navy, and the
care he had promised him to show in my regard upon all
occasions.
That he wondered I had not visited with him, and that
whenever I had any business there he would 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 1765. 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 :
Your dear and tender love in your
last letter I received, and for your business thus : a great
lord, a man of noble mind, did as good as put himself in
a loving way to get your liberty. He prevailed with the
king for a pardon, but that we rejected. Then he pressed
for a more noble release, that better answered truth. He
prevailed, and got the king's hand to a release. It is in the hands 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 promises very largely and lovingly; so
that, if we have been deceived, you see the grounds of
it. But we have sought after a writ of error these ten
days past, and we are very close to resolution as sure as we can be;
and a habeas corpus has either been issued or will be issued tomorrow night.
My dear love salutes you and your 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
and hope before long to see you.
So, dear George Fox,
I am,
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.
Penn believed that this Roman Catholic duke was
entirely sincere in his professions about liberty.
Afterwards, when the duke became king, as James II,
Penn retained the same confidence. He could never
forget the many kindnesses the duke had shown him,
and gratitude it instilled a deep loyalty in Penn.
In continuing his account of the interview, he says,
"That it should be grateful to me was no wonder;
and perhaps, that with some was the beginning of
my faults at court."
It was about this time that Penn wrote his Treatise
of Oaths. It was an important little book for
his sect, because their objection to oaths was
causing them much difficulty and countless imprisonments.
The book was carefully prepared in Penn's most
learned manner, and was in effect issued by the
Quakers as a body; for twelve of their principal
men signed the preface, which was addressed "To
the King and Great Council of England assembled
in Parliament."
The argument would not now carry much weight;
but as minds were then constituted it was not without
influence. His strongest points were the
passages in the New Testament in which Jesus
says, "But I say unto you, swear not at all," and James says, Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned. He goes
on to argue that it is presumptuous and irreverent to
summon God as a witness on every occasion; that
it is inconsistent with Christianity, which removes
in man the treacherous lying which first led to oaths;
that it is no safeguard against perjury, since oaths
have become so common that they have lost any
awe-inspiring influence they may have had; that the
form of oath is a superstitious ceremony of kissing a
book.
"The use of So help me God, we find from the law of the
Almains, of King Clotharius; the laying on of the three fingers
above the Book is to signify the Trinity; the thumb and the little
finger under the Book are to signify the damnation of body and
soul, if they violate their oath."
The most interesting part of the treatise is the
learning it displays. Beginning with the Persians
and Scythians, he goes on quoting scores of writers,
Greek and Roman, fathers of the church, in every
age of history, and succeeds most effectually in
showing that a large number of the great and good
men of the past, especially among the early Christians,
had the same objections to oath-taking as the Quakers.
A few quotations taken at random will show
his method.
" Xenocrates was so renowned at Athens for his virtuous life and
great integrity that, being called to give his evidence by oath, all the
judges stood up and forbade the tender, because they would not
have it thought that truth depended more upon an oath than the
word of an honest man."
"Menander, the Greek poet, saith, 'Flee an oath though thou
should swear justly.' "
"Cherillus saith, oaths bring not credit to the man, but the man
must bring credit to the oaths. What serve they for them? To deceive?
It seems by this that credit is better than an oath; for it is
credit that is security, not the oath."
" Epictetus, a famous and grave Stoic, counseled to refuse an oath
altogether."
"Quintilian saith that in time past it was a kind of infamy for
great and approved men to swear."
Ponderous oaths, these ancient sages reasoned,
were unnecessary, because in the end you judged
of the truth by comparison of circumstances and
likelihood. The Quakers were unable to abolish
oaths; but they succeeded in greatly modifying their
usage. As time went on statutes were passed
allowing Quakers,* or anyone who wished it, to give
his simple affirmation instead of an oath. These
statutes prevail now in most English-speaking countries,
and thousands who are not Quakers avail themselves
of the privilege either because, like the
ancient sages and fathers, they think an oath absurd,
or because they wish to avoid disobeying the specific commands of Jesus and the Apostle James.
*An affirmation as a substitute for an oath was finally approved by Parliament in 1696, largely through the efforts and leadership of George Whitehead, as documented in The Christian Progress of George Whitehead, available on this site. In 1721, the Quakers petitioned Parliament for a simplification of the previously passed affirmation language. This was granted, and the new, simpler wording permitted was: "I [named person] do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare, and affirm."
As a collection of all the ancient wisdom on this
question, and as contributing, no doubt, in shaping
human conduct, this treatise by Penn is one of the
most interesting of his writings. 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 jail, 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
seized for court security, so that even a stool was not left in some cases
to sit on. These enormities sometimes took place on suspicion
only that persons had preached to or attended an illegal meeting; 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 government,
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 determination
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 possession,
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
solemn covenant to maintain the good, approved, and ancient
laws of the kingdom, and to inhibit all spoil and unjust
judgment. The same covenant was adopted by his successors,
and confirmed by Magna Carta.
The second birthright of Englishmen consisted in the
voting of every law that was made, whereby that ownership
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 judicatory
power, so that they were not to be condemned but
by the votes of freemen. This practice, though not perhaps
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
Carta restored it." Magna Carta, however, he maintained,
" 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 deprived of any of these fundamentals. "
Nothing
could be more unjust than to sacrifice the liberty and property
of any man for religion, where he was not found
breaking any law which related to natural or civil things.
Religion under any modification or church government
was no part of the old English constitution. ' Honeste
vivcre, alterum non laedere, jus suum cuique tribuere,'
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 has not
been the most infirm 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
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 pretend
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 Christian
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 practice, their edge would be
taken off, their blood would be sweetened by mercy end
truth, and this unnatural sharpness qualified. They would
quickly 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 another'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 has 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
temperate. We may expect good neighborhood and cordial
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."
That he might be still more busy, Richard Baxter
challenged him to a controversy. Baxter had been
in the country round Rickmansworth and found it
“abounding with Quakers because Mr. W Pen, their
captain, dwells there." He was anxious, he said,
to save these poor people from their delusion; so in
knight-errant fashion he called on their captain, Penn,
to draw and defend. From ten in the morning till
five in the afternoon they fought it out before a
great crowd of hearers, who went without their dinners,
so intent were they to hear the hair-splitting
that would now be scarcely understood, and the
rough retorts which would not please a modern religious
audience. Nothing was settled; each one
claimed the victory, and Penn and Baxter continued
the controversy by correspondence, and it was still
unsettled.
Penn's patience with Christian kindness and love was evident,
for after telling Baxter "the scurvy of the mind is
your disease, and I fear it is incurable," he says
he has great kindness for him, and would like to
give him a room in his house, "that I could visit
and get discourse with you in much tender love."
Penn was very active at this time, and seems to
have written many pamphlets, some of which do not
appear in his works. Several of them had the
queer titles of the time, such as Naked Truth
Needs no Shift, which was an answer to The
Quaker's Last Shift Found Out.
CHAPTER VII
Travels to Holland and Germany
and Political Troubles at Home
HIS wife having inherited a house and lands at
Worminghurst, in Sussex, Penn left his home at
Rickmansworth, and moved to this new estate. Soon
afterwards, in company with George Fox, Robert
Barclay, and some other leading Quakers, he started
on a missionary journey to Holland and Germany.
This was in the summer of the year 1677,
and since his previous journey, six years before, the
Quaker feeling in those countries had been increasing.
The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick V,
and the Countess of Hornes had become conspicuously
inclined towards the faith of the inward light,
and many people were in that seeking state of mind,
disgusted with all forms of religion, which had been
so fruitful of Quakers in England.
So Penn and his companions set out well supplied
with Quaker books in the Dutch and German languages,
and Penn kept a journal of their travels and
success. They traveled often on foot, even sleeping in fields at night. Their meetings seemed concentrated on the nobility of these countries, perhaps because of they were educated in English.
They went from town to town encouraging the
congenial souls they found, helping them to organize
meetings like those in England, corresponding with
and visiting countesses, princesses, and governors of
provinces, and Penn had not forgotten his old habit
of writing a letter of rebuke to any ruler who had
not treated the Quakers well.
In a letter to the King of Poland he pleads for
religious liberty and reminds him of a saying of one
of his ancestors, Stephen, King of Poland, who had
said, "I am king of men, not of consciences; a
commander of bodies, not of souls." This striking
sentence had long been a favorite quotation with
those who sought liberty, and Roger Williams, of
Rhode Island, was fond of using it in his controversies
with the rulers of Massachusetts.
They passed out of Holland and, entering Germany,
traveled through many of the places where
afterwards so many German Mennonites and similar
sects allied to the Quakers migrated to Pennsylvania,
forming that large body of people still known in our
State as the "Pennsylvania Dutch." Evidently a
great change had taken place in the religious condition
of the country since Penn's visit of six years
before. The Germanic mind was growing more and
more into a state of religious ferment, and was breaking
away from the old forms, and breaking up into
the innumerable sects whose history in Pennsylvania
was so curious. The people were becoming Seekers,
like the English, and Penn and his companions were
eager to find those who were in this state of mind. The Quaker group split up and covered most of Holland, Friesland, and parts of Germany. Penn covered Germany.
Here is an excerpt from his well-kept Journal, describing one day of their travels:
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 with life dawned upon us, and
the searching life of Jesus was in the midst of us! The
Word that never fails them that wait for it, and abide
in it, opened the way and unsealed the book of life; yes,
the quickening power and life of Jesus wrought and
reached to them, and virtue from him in whom dwells
the Godhead bodily, went forth, and blessedly distilled
upon us his own heavenly life, sweeter than the spices
with pure frankincense, yes, 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-worship, 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
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 whatever.
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, therefore,
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, insomuch
that they confessed to the truth of our testimony.
Of these persons there were two women, one unmarried
(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
fearful spirit together with the shame of the cross has
entered, against which our testimony in part striking, we
took notice it was as life to these 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
well with us until 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.
Penn wrote prodigiously on this journey, with many letters to those with whom they met. Below is an example of the letters written, selected for inclusion because it is a testimony to Penn's own spiritual experiences. The Countess was a seeker and her father was very opposed to her quest, expelling Penn and his friends from his dominion. So Penn, wrote to her his excellent instruction in the inward way:
To the Countess of Falkenstein and Bruck, at Mulheim.
MY DEAR FRIEND :
Jesus, the immaculate Lamb of
God, grieved and crucified by all the workers of iniquity,
illuminate your understanding, bless and be with your spirit
forever!
Though unknown, yet your are much beloved, for the
sake of your desires and breathings of soul after the living
God; and because of that suffering and tribulation you
have begun to endure for the sake of your 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 magistrates
of this world. The remembrance whereof has
so much the more endeared your condition unto me; and
my soul has often, in the sweet sense and feeling of the
holy presence of God, and the precious life of his clear Son
in my heart, with great tenderness implored his Divine
assistance unto you, that you may 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 your
soul.
Know certainly that which has discovered unto you
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, where He has enlightened your 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 enlighten 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 hidden in Him, yes, all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge; who is the light of the Gospel
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 will you be forever, if in
the way of this holy light your mind walks to the end!
Let what has visited you lead you; this seed of
light and life, which is the seed of the kingdom. Yes, 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, O that I knew the Lord as I
ought to know Him. O that I served Him as I ought to
serve Him. Yes, 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 of
trouble. Now was all the glory of the world as a bubble;
yes, nothing was dear to me that I might win Christ, for
the love, friendship, and pleasure of this world were a burden
unto my soul. And in this seeking state I was directed
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 destroys his power and kingdom.
And having made me a witness of the death of the cross,
He has 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! 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 overcomes 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
the glory that is invisible to carnal eyes, in the midst of
the greatest tempest.
It is the same blessed seed of light, life, and grace
which from God the Father is sown in your heart, and
which has moved and wrought there the change which
you have witnessed from the spirit of this world. Turn
to it, watch in it, that by it you may be kept from all
that it discovers to be contrary to God; especially from
yourself, from your own runnings, willings, and strivings.
For whatever 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 you will come to feel,
not only all sin to be a burden, but all your own righteousness;
yes, all man's righteousness to be a burden. You
will see the difference between the duties and prayers which
you make and the duties and prayers which, in your true
silence from all self-activity of mind, the Lord produces in you.
That you might 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 lives, and
breathes, and has its beginning and being in that life
which is hidden with Christ in God, and by which it has
been quickened to the knowledge and worship of Christ
and God. And this you shall not fail to know and
enjoy, as you patiently allow the Lord- to work his
own work in you by his own blessed Spirit. And that
which will give you to savor and discern the right
motions and conceptions, duties and performances in yourself
from the false, will give you to savor and discern
that which is right from that which is false in others;
that which is of God from that which is of man.
Have a care of gathering sticks and kindling a fire of
your own, and then compassing yourself about with the
sparks of the fire which you have kindled, for the end
of this state is to lie down in sorrow, because the heavenly
fire is absent which makes the sacrifice acceptable. Without
Christ we can do nothing, and blessed are they that
stir not before the angel moves the waters, and go not
before Christ, but are led by Him, and that awaken not
their Beloved until He pleases; in whose hands the times
and the seasons are blessed are they whose eyes are
opened to see Him always present, a God always near
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, retired,
sweet, and tender frame of spirit, and God, who has
called me and you by the light of his dear Son, open your
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 you, the watchman and
keeper of Israel. The Lord be your strength and holy
comfort, and speak peace to you, and never leave you
nor forsake you until He has conducted you, through
all tribulations, to his everlasting kingdom of rest and
glory.
O dear heart! Be valiant, and stay yourself upon Christ
Jesus, the everlasting rock, and feel Him a fountain in your
soul; feel his blood to cleanse, and his blood to drink, and
his flesh to eat; feed upon Him, for God has given Him
for the life of the world.
I had seen you, had not your father's strange sort of
severity hindered. And this let me add for your particular
comfort, that though I have been a man of great anguish
and sorrow because of the scorn and reproach that has
attended my separation from the world (having been
taught 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. Yes, God
has turned the hearts of my enemies towards me; He
has fulfilled 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! Yes, the ways of his mercy are even past finding
out.
Therefore, my dear friend, trust in the Lord forever;
and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of
the prophets and of the apostles, the God of all the holy
martyrs of Jesus, illuminate, fortify, and preserve you
steadfast, that in the end you may receive the reward
of life and eternal salvation, to whom be glory, and to the
Lamb that sits upon the throne, one God and one Lord,
blessed and magnified forever and ever. Amen.
Your great and faithful lover for the blessed and holy
Truth's sake,
William Penn
DUYSBURG, the 13th of the Seventh month, 1677
People in Holland and Germany, as well as in
England, had now felt the new spirit of religious
liberty, so that William Penn and George Fox
found more men and women in those countries
eager to listen to their teachings than they had
found elsewhere. The Quaker leaders traveled
from one town to another, meeting many people,
giving them copies of the pamphlets that Penn
and others had written, and urging them to turn to the Light of Christ within, to take up the cross of Christ, to eventually obtain everlasting peace and joy. The Quaker missionaries
met with considerable success.
Penn had assumed a great leadership, writing again with great encouragement and deep spiritual understanding to the assemblies in the world:
To the churches of Jesus throughout the world, gathered
and settled in his eternal light, power, and spirit, to be
one holy flock, family, and household to the Lord.
DEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN :
The Lord of heaven
and earth has heard our cries, and the full time has come,
yes, the appointed time has come, and the voice of the
eternal Spirit in our hearts has been heard on this
wise many a time; awaken you that sleep, and I will
give you life; arise out of the dust and shine, for your
light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
you! And the Lord God has given us that light by
which we have comprehended the darkness in ourselves
and in the world; and as we have believed in it, dwelled 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
blood of Jesus, in this holy way of the light, we have felt
in our souls, to cleanse us from unrighteousness, and give
us knowledge of 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 night, to do his will, as
becomes 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 remembrance,
what our God has done for us, since He has
made us a people. Has He called us, and not protected
us? Has He not sheltered us in many a storm? Did He
ever leave us under the reproaches and contradictions of
men? No, has He not spoken peace to us? Were we
ever cast out by men, and did He ever forsake us? No; the Lord
has taken us up. When were the jails so closed that He
could not come in? And the dungeons so dark that He
caused not his light to shine upon us? He has 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 traveling 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 has been deeply upon me, and my soul has
frequently been possessed with a holy and weighty concern
for the glory of the name of the Lord, and the spreading
of his everlasting Truth, and the prosperity of it
through all nations; that the very ends of the earth may
look to Him, and may know Christ, the light, to be given
to them for their salvation.
And in the earnest and fervent motion of the power and Spirit of Jesus, I beseech you all, who are turned to
the light of Christ which shines 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 He compasses us about, shall
not become a snare unto us, nor shall we turn the grace
and mercies of the Lord into a license for unrestraint; but we shall eat
and drink in a holy fear, clothe ourselves in fear, buy and
sell in fear, visit one another in fear, keep meetings, and
there wait upon the Lord in fear; yes, whatever 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; yes, we shall deny ourselves, not
only in the unlawful things, but in the things that are
even lawful to us, for the sake of the many millions that
are unconverted to God.
For, my Friends and brethren, God has laid upon us
whom He has 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 Him 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 your gift be ever so small, your testimony ever
so little. Through your whole conversation bears it for God;
and be true to what you are convinced of. And wait all
upon the Lord that you may grow in your heavenly testimony,
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, hungering,
seeking people, solitarily scattered up and down this
great land of Germany, where the Lord has 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 faithful
witnesses to visit the inhabitants of this country, where
God has a great seed of people to be gathered; that his
work may go on in the earth until 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 has laid it upon me
to write to you to wait for the further pourings out of the
power and Spirit of the Lord; that nothing which is careless,
sleepy, earthly, or exalted may get up, in which to
displease the Lord and cause Him to withdraw his sweet
and preserving presence from any that know Him.
And all you, my dear Friends and brethren, who are
in sufferings for the testimony of Jesus and a good conscience,
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 sat 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.' Therefore, let it not
seem as if some strange thing had happened to you. It
is the old quarreling 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 spite 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, has 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, despite,
so noble and valiant for the Truth on earth,
that they did not love their lives even to the death, and suffered
joyfully the spoiling of their goods for the testimony of
Jesus; how much more ought you all to be encouraged
unto faithfulness, who are come to the resurrection of the
day which shall never more be eclipsed; in which the
Bridegroom is to come, to gather 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
Penn had visited a young woman in Frankfort, where he had met with her friends. He says, "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 has raised in my heart by
his living word to all mankind, (but more especially unto
those in whom He has begotten a holy hunger and thirst
after Him,) salutes you. And among those of that
place where you live the remembrance of you, with
your 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 testimony
of Jesus delivered by us to you has deeply engaged
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
affected you. For this know, it was the life in yourselves
that so sweetly visited you, by the ministry of life through
us.
Therefore, love the divine life and light in yourselves.
Be retired and still. Let that holy seed move in all heavenly
things before you move; for no one receives anything
that truly profits but what he receives from
above. Thus said John to his disciples. Now what
stirs in your hearts draws you out of the world,
slays you to all the vain glory, and pleasure, and empty
worships that are in it; this is from above, the heavenly
seed of God, pure and incorruptible, which has 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.
O 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 has wrought, and
how mankind is corrupted in all things, and what part
you yet have which belongs not to the paradise of God,
that you may lay it all down at the feet of Jesus, and follow
Him, who is going up and down doing good to all who
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 circumspectly,
for fear that the enemy surprises you, or your Lord comes
at an unaware time upon you, and you are unprepared to receive
his sweet and precious visitations.
Your faithful friend and the Lord's day-laborer,
William Penn
Penn had previously become aware of a separate seeking people, following the teachings of a J. de Labadie, who had refused to allow Penn to address his congregation on his first visit to Europe. Now he heard there was a group of these people, living nearby their travels. He relates the story of their meeting:
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 there 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, putting them in mind how unhandsomely
I was used at Herwerden six years ago by
J. de Labadie, their spiritual father, who, though I came a great
journey to visit him and his people, did not allow me not to
speak with them, they presently complied, and went in
to let her know that such a person desired to speak with
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 unknown way to our lodging, I desired
that they would give me an opportunity the next morning,
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 Glaus
along with me. So soon as we came we were brought
into Anna Maria Schurmans' chamber, where also was
with her one of the three Soinerdykes.
This Anna Maria Schurmans previously mentioned is an ancient
maiden above sixty years of age, of great note and fame
for learning in languages and philosophy, and had obtained
a considerable place among the most learned men
of this age. The Somerdykes are daughters to a nobleman
of the Hague, people of great breeding and inheritances.
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, separated
themselves from the common Calvinistic churches,
and followed him in the way of a refined independence.
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 silence,
I proposed this question to them : What was it that
induced them to separate from the common way they formerly
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 argue, 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
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 God 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 resolved
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 mourned from her young years because
she did not know the Lord as she desired, often saying
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 deadness and formality of the
Christians she was bred among, saying to herself,
Oh,
the pride, the lusts, the vain pleasures in which Christians
live! 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 iny heart; I hought 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 that 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 the Holy Spirit, it was to me as the day of my salvation,
he did so livingly touch my heart with a sense of the trim
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 what we have to say concerning
the work of God amongst us."
All this while I did not mind so much their words because I
felt and had unity with a measure of divine sense that was
upon them. Certainly the Lord has been among them;
yes, 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 came 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 has 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 has 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 concerning
you, they are what I respect you for, being well
acquainted with, the nature and practice of this world towards
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 experiences,
give me the like Christian freedom to tell you mine,
to the end you may have some sense of the work 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 ans wereth 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 1656. 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 banished
the college; the bitter usage I underwent when I
returned to my father whipping, beating, and turning
out of doors in 1662; 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 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 resolutions
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 myself
unto it, seeing as yet no such thing as the primitive
spirit and church on the earth, and 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 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 companions; 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 notwithstanding
all my sufferings and trials by magistrates, parents,
companions, and, above all, from the priests of the false
religions in the world, the Lord has preserved me to this
day, and has 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
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 takes away the sins of the world!"
And even
John's disciples left him to follow Christ. No, John
testifies of himself that he was to decrease and Christ was
to increase. Therefore I pressed them to have their eye
to Christ, who takes away the sin; who is from heaven
heavenly; to see that He increase in them. Yes, that
from time on 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, by whom
God speaks in these latter days. 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 gives way to him that uses it, the servant
to the Lord. Which, though it seems 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 the day of the
Lord God was come, and all people must look to Him for
salvation; that all people must now 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, departing
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,
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 has 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 we parted, being about the twelfth hour at
noon.
While Penn was in Europe, a schism in the Society occurred led by Wilkinson, who wanted to forbid singing from the Spirit in the meetings, and who opposed women's meetings and church discipline in general. Penn, insisted on the Quakers' firm repudiation of these people without negotiation, in writing a letter to the Assemblies as follows: (which show his strength in the Society),
To Friends everywhere, concerning the present Separatists,
and their spirit of separation.
FRIENDS AND BRETHREN.
By a mighty hand and by
an outstretched arm, has the Lord God everlasting gathered in to be a people, and in his own power and life has
He preserved us a people to this day; and praises be to
his eternal name! No weapon that has yet been formed
against us, either from without or from within, has
prospered.
Now, this I say to you, and that in his counsel who
has visited us; whoever goes 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 stands; and the least member of the body in
the unity stands on the top of them, and has a judgment
against them. To which judgment, of both
great and small among the living family that in unity
are preserved, they must bow before they can come into
the unity again. Yes, this they will readily do, if they
have come into unity with the life and power of God in
themselves, which is the holy root that bears the tree,
the fruit, and the leaves, all receiving life and virtue from
it, and thereby are nourished to 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 workings, 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.
Therefore, all that labor for the restoration of those
who are out of unity with the brethren, let them be such
as are of a sound mind themselves, else what will they
gather to? Or what will they gather from? And let them
labor in the simplicity, integrity, love, and zeal of the
power that first gathered us to God. For that which is
rightly gotten will endure, but that which is obtained by
the contrivance, interest, and persuasions of men gets
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 has God ordained to
bruise the serpent's head. Therefore, let us be still, and
trust and confide in it 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 with at all; do not enter 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 to 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;
but love, peace, and joy had filled their hearts, and not
the troubler and accuser of the brethren, who hath
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.
O let none tempt the Lord ! Let us all dwell in that
divine sense that He has 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 keeps the house,
who is Prince of peace. He will keep all in his heavenly
peace. 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 goes
before us, and gives 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 the lack of watchfulness the enemy has entered, begotten
coldness to the brethren, and carelessness of embracing
the opportunities by which the unity is renewed and increased,
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 brings
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
leads them, in which they gather not to God but to
themselves.
Enter not into disputes and contests with it;
it is that
it seeks and loves; but go on in your testimony and
business for 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
Penn concluded his visit to Germany, returning to Holland and joining those who had been ministering in Holland and Friesland, they all took a boat back to England, having concluded a very successful mission.
When he returned to England, Penn found the
condition of the Quakers there as unsatisfactory
as ever. The majority of the English people were
so afraid that King Charles II wanted to turn the
country over to the Catholics that they were making
the laws more and more strict against all who
were not members of the Church of England, and
this, of course, included the Quakers. They were
being fined and imprisoned right and left, and
treated worse than if they had no religion at all.
As it was against the Quaker rule to take an oath
of any kind, members of the new sect were at a great
disadvantage in courts of law and in all places
where an oath of allegiance to the government was
required.
<Part III of PENN>>>>
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