He that would reap and not labor, must faint with the wind and perish in disappointments; but an hair of my head shall not fall without the providence of my Father that is over all."

He wrote a letter to Sir Henry Bennett, Lord Arlington, then principal secretary of state, by whose warrant he was committed to prison. In this letter he denies the charges which had been brought against him, attributes the zeal shown by his persecutors to malice and ignorance, and requests that he may be restored to his liberty, as being imprisoned without just cause or proper examination of his case.

He says: "What if I differ from some religious apprehensions? Am I therefore incompatible with human societies? Shall it not be remembered with what success kingdoms and commonwealths have lived under the balance of divers parties?" "I know not any unfit for political society, but those who maintain principles subversive of industry, fidelity, justice, and obedience; " "but to conceit that men must form their faith of things proper to another world, according to the prescriptions of other mortal men of this, is both ridiculous and dangerous."

"The understanding can never be convinced by other arguments than what are adequate to its own nature. Force may make hypocrites, but it can make no converts." "If I am at any time convinced, I will pay the homage of it to truth, and not to base hypocrisy."

He requests the liberty of presenting his case to the king, and of clearing himself before him of the accusations of his enemies; and, finally, if that request should be denied, that Sir Henry Bennett himself would allow him

an opportunity of vindicating his innocence; but he adds, "I make no apology for my letter, as a trouble, the usual style of supplicants, because I think the honor that will accrue to thee by being just, and releasing the oppressed, exceeds the advantages that can succced to me."

It appears that his commitment was altogether arbitrary-that he was detained as a state prisoner, and not. even informed of the accusation on which his imprisonment was founded His request to be brought before the king, or the secretary of state, to be informed of the of fence laid to his charge, and permitted to vindicate his innocence, was disregarded. Having waited for some time in expectation of the desired opportunity, he resumed his pen, and produced a small tract, by way of apol ogy or explanation of "The Sandy Foundation Shaken." This he entitled "Innocency with her open Face." In that tract he reviewed the subjects discussed in the former, and explained himself more clearly on some points which had been misunderstood.

Of the cause of his confinement, he remarks:

"That which I am credibly informed to be the greatest reason for my imprisonment, and that noise of blasphemy which hath pierced so many ears of late, is my denying the Divinity of Christ, and divesting Him of his eternal Godhead; which most busily hath been suggested, as well to those in authority as maliciously insinuated amongst the people." He then enters into an argument of considerable length, to prove the Godhead of Jesus Christ, which he thus concludes: "In short, this conclusive argument for the proof of Christ, the Saviour's, being God, should certainly persuade all sober persons of my inno

cency, and my adversaries' malice. He that is the everlasting Wisdom, Divine Power, the true Light, the only Saviour, the creating Word of all things, whether visible or invisible, and their upholder by his own power, is, without contradiction, God; but all these qualifications, and Divine properties, are, by the concurrent testimonies of Scripture, ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, without a scruple, I call and believe Him really to be the mighty God."

On the other points, he says: "However positively I may reject my adversaries' unscriptural and imaginary satisfaction, let all know this, that I pretend to know no other name by which remission, atonement, and salvation can be obtained, but Jesus Christ, the Saviour, who is the power and wisdom of God." "As for justification by an imputed righteousness, I still say, that whosoever believes in Christ, shall have remission and justification; but then it must be such a faith as can no more live without works than a body without a spirit; wherefore I conclude that true faith comprehends evangelical obedience."

His belief is summed up in the following declaration : "I sincerely own, and unfeignedly believe, by virtue of the sound knowledge and experience received from the gift of that holy unction and Divine grace, inspired from on high, in one holy, just, merciful, Almighty, and eternal God, who is the Father of all things; who appeared to the holy patriarchs and prophets of old at sundry times and in divers manners; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the everlasting Wisdom, Divine Power, true Light, only Saviour and preserver of all; the same one holy, just, Almighty, and eternal God who in the fulness

of time took and was manifest in the flesh. At which time He preached, and his disciples after Him, the everlasting Gospel of repentance, and promise of remission of sins and eternal life to all that heard and obeyed; who said, 'He that is with you (in the flesh) shall be in you' (by the spirit); and though He left them as to the flesh, yet not comfortless, for He would come to them again, in the spirit: for a little while and they should not see Him as to the flesh; again a little while they should see Him in the spirit: for the Lord Jesus Christ is that Spirit, a manifestation whereof is given to every one to profit withal. In which Holy Spirit I believe as the same Almighty and eternal God; who, as in those times He ended all shadows, and became the infallible guide to them that walked therein; by which they were adopted heirs and co-heirs of glory; so am I a living witness, that the same holy, just, merciful, Almighty, and eternal God, is now, as then (after this tedious night of idolatry, superstition, and human inventions, that hath overspread the world), gloriously manifested to discover and save from all iniquity, and to conduct unto the holy land of pure and endless peace; in a word, to tabernacle among men. And I also firmly believe, that without repenting and forsaking of past sins, and walking in obedience to his heavenly voice, which would guide into all truth and establish there, remission and eternal life can never be obtained; but them that fear his name and keep his commandments, they, and they only, shall have right unto the tree of life."

Soon after the publication of this work the author was discharged from the Tower, after being detained there upon

terms of unusual severity. His discharge came suddenly from the king, who had been moved to it by the intercession of the Duke of York. Whether the father of William Penn applied to the duke for his interference, or whether the act was spontaneous on the part of the latter, is not now known. It is, however, understood that his enlargement was owing to the friendly offices of the duke. This and other acts of kindness are sufficient to explain the reason of William Penn's friendship for James when he became involved in trouble.

The following notes are from a fragment of Penn's autobiography, preserved in his own handwriting, and published in the memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

"The first time I went to court after I had embraced the communion I am of was in '68. The business that engaged me was the suffering condition of my Friends in several parts of this kingdom, the cause of it tenderness of conscience, no evil fact. Those in company with me were George Whitehead, Josiah Cole, and Thomas Loc. The person went to was the Duke of Buckingham; but an application at that time did not answer our expectation, though in his own inclination he favored liberty of conscience.

"The second time I went to court, was the same summer, and upon the same errand, in company of G. Whitehead and Josiah Cole. We addressed ourselves to Sir Henry Berwick, then Secretary of State, with whom our business had no better success than before. I was much toucht with the sense of our Friends' many and great hardships, and the more for that they were inflicted in a