Note 42 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
A close intimacy existed between William Penn and George Fox, which enabled the former to indite so admirable an introduction to these volumes. The name of William Penn occurs frequently in these pages. Scarcely any name is more generally known or respected, by those of other religious persuasions than his; indeed, so familiar are most readers with his history, that it would be superfluous to enter into much relating to him.
It may suffice briefly to state that his birth and education were both good; he being the son of Admiral Penn, who was knighted by Charles II; and became a great favourite with the Duke of York, afterwards James II. William, his son, was born at London in 1644. He imbibed religious impressions as early as his twelfth year. In his fifteenth year he entered a student at Christ Church, Oxford. On his return home he exhibited a religious seriousness and manner of deportment, which (as likely to stand in the way of his worldly preferment) was so displeasing to his father that he turned him out of doors.
Ultimately he joined the despised Quakers, a step which highly displeased his father the Admiral; but he became quite reconciled to him before his death. Penn continued to advance in religious growth, became a minister amongst the Quakers, and a considerable writer in defence of their principles, suffering persecution and imprisonment in consequence. It was whilst he was imprisoned in the Tower that he wrote that excellent work, No Cross, No Crown.
The persecution of Dissenters continuing to rage in England, notwithstanding their repeated applications to parliament for sufferance and protection, William Penn turned his thoughts towards a settlement in the New World, as a place where himself and his friends might enjoy their religious opinions without molestation, and where an example might be set to the nations of a just and righteous government. He therefore, in 1681, obtained a patent from Charles II., for a province in North America, in consideration of his father’s services, and of a debt still due to him from the crown. He founded the colony of Pennsylvania, and watched it with a paternal eye, till his death in 1718. Its prosperity is a lasting monument of his wisdom as a politician and a legislator. For further particulars the reader is referred to Clarkson’s Life of William Penn; a highly interesting work, and well worthy of perusal.