CHAPTER XV.
EARLY COLONIAL HISTORY.
RISE OF QUAKERISM—GEORGE FOX—WILLIAM PENN—FOUNDS PENNSYLVANIA—KINDNESS TO THE INDIANS—PHILADELPHIA FOUNDED—MARYLAND, CAROLINA AND GEORGIA SETTLED—ROGER WILLIAMS—RHODE ISLAND FOUNDED—ITS TOLERATION.
The history of Pennsylvania as a distinct colony began in 1682. Its founder, William Penn, was the son of Admiral Penn, who had gained many victories for England and enjoyed the favor of the king, as well as of the great statesmen of his time. At this time there was in England a numerous sect called Quakers. Some of their principles were true, and most of them were far in advance of the opinions generally entertained in that age.
The rise of the people called Quakers is one of the memorable events in the history of man. It marks the moment when intellectual freedom was claimed by the people as an inalienable right. The sect had its birth in a period of intense national activity, when zeal for reform was invading all ranks of society, and even subverting the throne. Its creed was summed up in one short phrase, "The inner light or voice of God in the soul." Their leader, George Fox, professed to have visions from heaven. Having listened to the revelation which had been made to his soul, he thirsted for a reform in every branch of learning. The physician and the scientist should quit their strife of unintelligible words and solve the appearances of nature by an intimate study of the laws of being. The lawyers should abandon their deceit and seek to establish justice among men according to the teachings of the Savior. And the priests should cease to preach for hire, and seek God in prayer as the oracle of all truth.
Fox in Discussion.
No wonder there was a great commotion. In Lancaster, forty priests appeared against him at once. Nothing could daunt his enthusiasm. When cast into jail among felons, he claimed of the public tribunals a release, only to continue his exertions. If cruelly beaten, or set in the stocks, or ridiculed as mad, he none the less proclaimed the principles of his faith. When driven from the church, he preached in the open air; when refused shelter at a private dwelling or humble tavern, he slept without fear under a haystack.
His fame increased; crowds gathered like flocks of pigeons to hear him. His voice and frame in prayer are described as the most awful and reverent ever felt or seen. His clear convictions and glowing thoughts delivered in plain words made him powerful among the masses and the terror of the priests in public discussions to which he defied the world. By degrees "the hypocrites," as the historian Barclay called them, feared to dispute with him. The simplicity of the truth he uttered and the plainness of his speech found such ready acceptance among the people, "that the priests trembled and scud as he drew near, so that it was a dreadful thing to them when it was told them, 'The man in leathern breeches is come.'"