Liberty, Equality and Fraternity have been preached through all time but it was left for William Penn, the Quaker, to come nearer establishing the ideal of this Trinity than any other being called Human before or since his day.
It may be argued that more was due to the Faith he held than to the Man. Yet this must be answered that it took some more than ordinary Man to absorb and fulfill the requirements of such a Faith. There have been many Quakers and but one Penn!
Born on the 15th of October, 1644, in the angry days of the Roundhead Revolt, his early years were spent in an intensely religious atmosphere that saturated his soul, but at the same time bred detestation of bigotry and persecution. If he seemed to be performing out of his class because of his family's eminence, it should be recalled that this was acquired, not inherited. His father, Admiral Sir William Penn, was the son of Giles Penn, a merchant navigator trading into the Mediterranean, and his wife Margaret Jasper, daughter of Hans Jasper, a sea trader of Rotterdam: From these forbears the youth received independence of thought and firmness of mind. He was therefore less of an anomaly than he appeared to be.
The rigid religious rule of Cromwell, under which he had spent his youthful years, had passed and in its stead befell a period of loose living and easy ways. Puritanism, though speaking and acting in the name of Liberty, possessed but little of that quality either for mind or body. In setting up for the great cause he fared as well, or better, with all his persecutions, than did his Quaker brethren in that New England which had been founded for opinion's sake.
Entering Oxford at fifteen the boy soon fell under the influence of Thomas Loe, a preacher of Quaker doctrine and became imbued with his teachings. This clashed at once with his surroundings and the College requirements. He refused to attend chapel or to wear the customary gown, deeming it a sort of surplice. A little group of students who had accepted Loe's principles joined him in this obduracy, going so far as to strip the gowns from the persons of willing wearers. This led to his expulsion.
Samuel Pepys mentions him in his diary on October 31st, 1661, as having "but come from Oxford" and meeting his father at Pepys' house. On the 25th of January, 1662, the Admiral discussed with Pepys a plan for sending his son to Cambridge or some private college. Pepys undertook t