About this time arose the illustrious William Penn,who established the power of the Quakers in America,and would have made them appear venerable in the eyes of the Europeans,were it possible for mankind to respect virtue when revealed in a ridiculous light.He was the only son of Vice-Admiral Penn,favourite of the Duke of York,afterwards King James II.
William Penn,at twenty years of age,happening to meet with a Quaker in Cork,whom he had known at Oxford,this man made a proselyte of him;and William being a sprightly youth,and naturally eloquent,having a winning aspect,and a very engaging carriage,he soon gained over some of his intimates.He carried matters so far,that he formed by insensible degrees a society of young Quakers,who met at his house;so that he was at the head of a sect when a little above twenty.
Being returned,after his leaving Cork,to the Vice-Admiral his father,instead of falling upon his knees to ask his blessing,he went up to him with his hat on,and said,"Friend,I am very glad to see thee in good health."The Vice-Admiral imagined his son to be crazy,but soon finding he was turned Quaker,he employed all the methods that prudence could suggest to engage him to behave and act like other people.The youth made no other answer to his father,than by exhorting him to turn Quaker also.At last his father confined himself to this single request,viz.,"that he should wait upon the King and the Duke of York with his hat under his arm,and should not 'thee'and 'thou'them."William answered,"that he could not do these things,for conscience'sake,"which exasperated his father to such a degree,that he turned him out of doors.Young Pen gave God thanks for permitting him to suffer so early in His cause,after which he went into the city,where he held forth,and made a great number of converts.
The Church of England clergy found their congregations dwindle away daily;and Penn being young,handsome,and of a graceful stature,the court as well as the city ladies flocked very devoutly to his meeting.The patriarch,George Fox,hearing of his great reputation,came to London (though the journey was very long)purely to see and converse with him.Both resolved to go upon missions into foreign countries,and accordingly they embarked for Holland,after having left labourers sufficient to take care of the London vineyard.
Their labours were crowned with success in Amsterdam,but a circumstance which reflected the greatest honour on them,and at the same time put their humility to the greatest trial,was the reception they met with from Elizabeth,the Princess Palatine,aunt to George I.of Great Britain,a lady conspicuous for her genius and knowledge,and to whom Descartes had dedicated his Philosophical Romance.
She was then retired to the Hague,where she received these Friends,for so the Quakers were at that time called in Holland.This princess had several conferences with them in her palace,and she at last entertained so favourable an opinion of Quakerism,that they confessed she was not far from the kingdom of heaven.The Friends sowed likewise the good seed in Germany,but reaped very little fruit;for the mode of "theeing"and "thouing"was not approved of in a country where a man is perpetually obliged to employ the titles of "highness"and "excellency."William Penn returned soon to England upon hearing of his father's sickness,in order to see him before he died.The Vice-Admiral was reconciled to his son,and though of a different persuasion,embraced him tenderly.William made a fruitless exhortation to his father not to receive the sacrament,but to die a Quaker,and the good old man entreated his son William to wear buttons on his sleeves,and a crape hatband in his beaver,but all to no purpose.
