PASSAGES

FROM THE

Life and Writings of William Penn.

I.

WILLIAM PENN was honorably descended; his

paternal ancestors, for several generations, having been persons of high respectability and considerable note in the world. His grandfather, Giles Penn, was a captain in the English navy. His father, Sir William Penn, at an early age, became a distinguished naval officer, and passed rapidly through the successive grades of promotion, so that at the age of thirty-one he was created Vice Admiral. He was a man of good understanding and a thoughtful turn of mind; amiable in natural disposition, but accustomed to the exercise of absolute authority; and honorable, but ambitious of distinction and wealth.

William Penn was born in London on the 14th of the Eighth month, (now the Tenth,) A. D. 1644. Of his very early years but little is known. Being the heir to a considerable estate, and a youth of promising abilities, his father appears to have spared no expense to confer upon

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him the best education which the country could afford. He received the rudiments of learning at Chigwell school, which was near Wanstead, in Essex, then the country residence of his father. Although he left this place at the age of twelve years, yet he appears while there to have received serious religious impressions. The Lord, who designed to make him an instrument of good to many souls, visited him by his Holy Spirit, comforting him with a sense of his presence, giving him an assurance of the reality of communion with Him, and calling him to a holy life.

On leaving Wanstead, Admiral Penn went with his family to live on a large estate near Cork, in Ireland, which had been given him by Cromwell for services rendered. Here his son pursued his studies under the

care of a tutor.

In an account which William Penn is said to have given of some of the circumstances of his early life, it is stated, "That while he was but a child, living near Cork with his father, Thomas Loe came thither. When it was rumored a Quaker was come from England, his father proposed to some others to be like the noble Bereans, and hear him before they judged him. He accordingly sent to Thomas Loe to come to his house, where he had a meeting in the family. Though William was very young, he observed what effect Thomas Loe's preaching had on the hearers. A black servant of his father's could not restrain himself from weeping aloud; and little William, looking on his father, saw the tears running down his checks also. He then thought within himself, What if they would all be Quakers!' This opportunity he never quite for got; the remembrance of it still recurring at times."

When a little over fifteen years of age, William Penn entered as "a gentleman commoner " at Oxford, where he remained three years, distinguishing himself as a hard and successful student. We learn from himself that he was preserved uncorrupted in the midst of the dissipations and wickedness which abounded in the University. He took great delight in manly sports, and in the society of those young men who were distinguished for talents or worth. Among those with whom he was intimate were Robert Spencer, afterwards the well-known Earl of Sunderland, and the venerable John Locke.

After the Restoration, the court set to work to remodel the University, by displacing those who held Puritanical opinions, or who had found favor during the Commonwealth, and installing others friendly to the re-established church and the lax moral principles then prevailing. Dr. Owen, conspicuous as a scholar and a strict religionist, was ejected to make room for a royalist partisan; and the students became divided into parties, applauding or denouncing the changes made.

There is reason to believe, from observations made by William Penn himself, that throughout his youth he was repeatedly visited by the Dayspring from on high, bringing him into serious thoughtfulness. While at college his associates appear to have been those of a religious cast of character like himself, who had probably been influenced by the teaching and advice of Dr. Owen. It so happened. that while much controversy was going on among the scholars relative to religious opinions and practices, Thomas Loe, who had belonged to the University, and had now joined the Society of Friends, came to Oxford,

and held several meetings. To these meetings William Penn and his associates went, and a deep impression was made upon their minds by the powerful preaching of this devoted servant of Christ. They declined being present at what were now the regular "services" of the college, and held private meetings for worship and religious exhortation and prayer; and for this they were fined. When an order came down from Charles the Second that the surplice should be worn, according to the custom of ancient times, which was an unusual sight then at that University, they refused to wear them, and tore them off those they met. How far William Penn was implicated in this is not known; but his course gave great offence, and he was expelled the University with his associates.

When he returned home his father received him coldly. Indeed, he could not be otherwise than displeased with his son, on account of the public disgrace which he had thus incurred; but that which vexed him most was the change now observable in his habits, for he began to abandon what was called the fashionable world, and to mix only with serious and religious people. The Admiral was fearful that all the prospects in life which he had formed for his son, and which he could have promoted by his great connections, would be done away. Anxious, therefore, to recover him, he had recourse to persuasion and argument. This failing, like one accustomed to arbitrary power, he proceeded to blows; and the latter failing also, he turned him out of doors.

The Admiral, after a procedure so violent, began at length to relent. His wife, an amiable woman, lost no opportunity of intercession. Overcome, therefore, by his

own affectionate nature on the one hand, and by her entreaties on the other, he forgave his son. But he was desirous of meeting the evil for the future, and he saw no other means of doing it than by sending his son to France. He indulged a hope that the change of scene might wean him from his old connections, and that the gayety of French manners might correct the growing gravity of his mind. Accordingly, in 1662, he sent him to that country in company with certain persons of rank who were then going upon their travels. The place where he first resided was Paris.

Though William Penn was kept pure in the midst of the seductions of this gay and licentious metropolis, it furnished little society calculated to strengthen his pious resolutions. He afterwards resided some time at Saumur, where he went for the purpose of receiving instruction from the celebrated Moses Amyrault, a learned Calvinistic minister and professor of divinity, who was then held in high estimation. Under this instructor he renewed his studies, read the ancient fathers as well as the modern works of theology, and acquired an accurate knowledge of the French language. After leaving Saumur, he proceeded towards Italy, but when he arrived at Turin a letter from his father reached him, desiring his return home. The Admiral having received orders to take command of the fleet under the Duke of York against the Dutch, wished to leave his family in the care of his son. William accordingly retur ied in 1664, having been absent about two years. On his return his father perceived not only that he had become a good French scholar, but that he brought with him the air and bearing of the courtly life