Fox's  claims  to  the  gift  of  prophecy  and  to  the  power  of  detecting


A.  D.  1644-1718.]  .  PENN.    BARCLAY.  185

witches  bear  witness  at  once  to  his  ignorance  and  simplicity,  and  to  tlie
universal  prevalence  of  gross  superstition ;  but  we  cannot  deny  to  him
the  praise  of  ardent  faith,  deep,  if  unenlightened,  benevolence,  and  a
truly  Christian  spirit  of  patience  under  insults  and  injuries.
William  Penn  (1644-1718),  the  founder  of  the  colony  of  Pennsyl-
vania, played  a  very  active  and  not  always  very  honorable  part  at  the
court  of  James  II.  when  that  prince,  under  a  transparent  pretext  of
zeal  for  religious  liberty,  was  endeavoring,  by  giving  privileges  to  the
dissenting  and  nonconformist  sects,  to  shake  the  power  and  influence  of
the  Protestant  Church,  and  thus  to  pave  the  way  for  the  execution  of
his  darling  scheme,  the  re-establishment  of  Romanism  in  England.
Penn  was  a  man  of  good  birth  and  academical  education,  but  early
adopted  the  doctrines  of  the  Quakers.  His  name  will  ever  be  respec-
table for  the  benevolence  and  wisdom  he  exhibited  in  founding  that
colony  which  was  afterwards  destined  to  become  a  wealthy  and  enlight-
ened state,  and  in  the  excellent  and  humane  precepts  he  gave  for  the
conduct  of  relations  between  the  first  settlers  and  the  Indian  aborigines.
The  sect  of  Quakers  has  always  been  conspicuous  for  peaceable  beha-
vior, practical  good  sense,  and  much  acuteness  in  worldly  matters.
Their  principles  forbidding  them  to  take  any  part  in  warfare,  and
excluding  them  from  almost  all  occupations  but  those  of  trade  and
commerce,  they  have  generally  been  thriving  and  rich,  and  their  num-
bers being  small  they  have  been  able  to  carry  out  those  excellent  and
well-considered  plans  for  mutual  help  and  support  which  have  made
their  charitable  institutions  the  admiration  of  all  philanthropists.
