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such as had fled their country; or by men who, when pardoned for their crimes, had refused to verify their charges. They had themselves long known William Penn, some of them not less than thirty years, and had never known him do an ill action, but many good ones; and that it was because he was unwilling to incur the suspicion of leaving the country, in defiance of government, that he had continued in it. King William told them that William Penn was his old acquaintance as well as theirs, and that he might follow his business as freely as ever, for he had nothing to say against him. It however appears

probable that William Penn was desirous his innocence should be more openly acknowledged, for we find that he appeared before the king and council, where he so successfully pleaded his cause as to obtain a full acquittal.

Though the cloud which had so long hung over him was now dissipated, and his innocency clearly established, yet another heavy trial, and one that affected the tenderest sensibilities of his heart, was at hand. In about a month after his discharge his wife was removed by death.

William Penn has himself left a tribute to the memory of this noble character in "an account of the blessed end of my dear wife, Gulielma Maria Penn," which closes with these words:

"She quietly expired in my arms, her head upon my bosom, with a sensible and devout resignation of her soul to Almighty God. I hope I may say she was a public as well as private loss; for she was not only an excellent wife and mother, but an entire and constant friend, of a more than common capacity, and greater modesty and humility; yet most equal, and undaunted in danger; re

ligious, as well as ingenuous, without affectation; an easy mistress and good neighbor, especially to the poor; neither lavish nor penurious; but an example of industry as well as of other v. rtues; therefore, our great loss, though her own eternal gain."

Soon after he wrote to Robert Turner:

"Hopson, 27th of Twelfth month, 1693. "LOVING FRIEND:-My extreme great affliction for the decease of my dear wife, makes me unfit to write much, whom the great God took to himself from the troubles of this exercising world the 23d inst. In great peace and sweetness she departed, and to her gain, but our incomparable loss, being one of ten thousand-wise, chaste, humble, plain, modest, industrious, constant, and undaunted; but God is God, and good, and so I hope, tho' afflicted, not forsaken."

As William Penn had been honorably acquitted of those charges which prevented his return to America, it might naturally be supposed that he would immediately prepare for a voyage thither. But the decease of his wife had left a charge upon him which he could not neglect. She left two sons and one daughter, whose education demanded a father's care. His heavy expenditures in Pennsylvania, the very small returns from that quarter, and the losses sustained in Ireland, in consequence of the commotions. there, had subjected him to considerable pecuniary difficulty. Moreover, the events which had occurred in relation to the government of Pennsylvania, as will be related hereafter, left a task to be accomplished at home.

IN

XXI.

N the year 1694 William Penn wrote a preface to the Journal of George Fox, who died, as already mentioned, in 1690. The preface is a treatise of itself, and has been frequently published separately from the work to which it was originally prefixed, under the title of "THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS."

able part of it is subjoined.

A consider

Divers have been the dispensations of God since the creation of the world unto the sons of men; but the great end of all of them has been the renown of his own excellent name in the creation and restoration of man-man, the emblem of Himself, as a god on earth and the glory of all his works. The world began with innocency. All was then good that the good God had made; and as He blessed the works of his hands, so their natures and harmony magnified Him their Creator. Then the morning stars sang together for joy, and all parts of his works said Amen to his law; not a jar in the whole frame; but man in paradise, the beasts in the field, the fowls in the air, the fish in the sea, the lights in the heavens, the fruits of the earth; yea, the air, the earth, the water and fire worshipped, praised, and exalted his power, wisdom, and goodness. O holy sabbath! O holy day to the Lord!

[After speaking of the fall of man, the successive dispen sations of God, the apostasy from Christianity, and the progress of the reformation to his own time, he writes:]

It was about that time that the eternal, wise, and good God was pleased, in his infinite love, to honor and visit this benighted and bewildered nation with his glorious dayspring from on high; yea, with a most sure and certain sound of the word of light and life, through the tes timony of a chosen vessel, to an effectual and blessed purpose can many thousands say, Glory be to the name of the Lord forever!

For as it reached the conscience, and broke the heart, and brought many to a sense and search, so that which people had been vainly seeking without, with much pains and cost, they by this ministry found within, where it was they wanted what they sought for, viz., the right way to peace with God. For they were directed to the light of Jesus Christ within them, as the seed and leaven of the kingdom of God; near all because in all, and God's talent to all, a faithful and true witness and just monitor in every bosom, the gift and grace of God to life and salvation that appears to all, though few regard it.

God owned his own work, and this testimony did effectually reach, gather, comfort, and establish the weary and heavy laden, the hungry and thirsty, the poor and needy. the mournful and sick of many maladies, that had spent all upon physicians of no value, and waited for relief from heaven, help only from above, seeing, upon a serious trial of all things, nothing else would do but Christ himselfthe light of his countenance, a touch of his garment and

help from his hand, who cured the poor woman's issue, raised the centurion's servant, the widow's son, the ruler's daughter, and Peter's mother. And liker they no sooner felt his power and efficacy upon their souls, but they gave up to obey Him, in a testimony to his power, and with resigned wills and faithful hearts, through all mockings, contradictions, beatings, prisons, and many other jeopardies that attended them, for his blessed name's sake.

And as their testimony was to the principle of God in man, the precious pearl and leaven of the kingdom, as the only blessed means appointed of God to quicken, convince, and sanctify man, so they opened to them what it was in itself, and what it was given to them for, how they might know it from their own spirit, and that of the subtle appearance of the evil one; and what it would do for all those whose minds are turned off from the vanity of the world and its lifeless ways and teachers, and adhere to this blessed light in themselves, which discovers and condemns sin in all its appearances, and shows how to overcome it, if minded and obeyed in its holy manifestations and convictions; giving power to such to avoid and resist those things that do not please God; and to grow strong in love, faith, and good works, that so man, whom sin hath made as a wilderness overrun with briars and thorns, might become as the garden of God, cultivated by his divine power, and replenished with the most virtuous and beautiful plants of God's own right-hand planting, to his eternal praise.

But these experimental preachers of glad tidings of God's truth and kingdom could not run when they list, or pray or preach when they pleased, but as Christ their

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