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For PDF Version: No Cross, No Crown: The Life Message of William Penn

By Stephen McDowell

In December 1668, William Penn was thrown in jail for expressing his religious views. While imprisoned for over eight months he wrote the book, No Cross, No Crown, in which he states that “Christ’s Cross is Christ’s way to Christ’s Crown.” Penn’s life is a great example of one who bore the cross and, therefore, did bear the crown. He brought the crown to millions more as well.

The Life of William Penn

William was born on October 24, 1644, in London, England, the son of Sir William Penn, a wealthy Admiral in the King’s navy. William had a good moral upbringing and education and was instilled with Puritan convictions. His father had high hopes that his namesake would follow in his footsteps, benefiting from the wealth, prestige, and noble friends he had obtained. When William, as a young man, began associating with the new religious sect called Quakers, it was more than the Admiral could bear. These people, whom the Admiral regarded as simple and ignorant Puritan fanatics, were leading his son William astray.

Penn was first exposed to the Quakers as a teenager living with his parents in Ireland when he heard one of their leaders, Thomas Loe, speak. William forgot Loe’s message as he pursued his education, first at Christ Church College in Oxford, next in France, and then more study of law back home in London. In 1665 a plague drove him back to his father’s country estate in Ireland. One day he happened to hear Thomas Loe preach at a Quaker meeting. “On this crucial day the old man preached from the text: ‘There is a faith that overcometh the world, and there is faith that is overcome by the world.’ He made the greatest convert of his career, for the young gentleman doubted no longer. On that day William Penn definitely and finally became a Quaker.”^[1]

Penn’s Cross

From the beginning Penn had many crosses to bear. Shortly after his conversion, Penn was at a Friends (the name Quakers called themselves) gathering where a soldier burst into the room to stop the meeting. Unlike most Quakers, Penn was not the passive type, so he grabbed the soldier and started to toss him down the stairs. Other Friends had to stop him and remind him that Quakers did not use violence. Penn reluctantly released the soldier.

Everyone was arrested and thrown in jail. Penn did not suffer in silence like hundreds of Quakers who had been jailed before him. He dashed off letters to his father’s friend, a leader in the province, reminding him their only “crime” was choosing their own religion. As a result they were released, but Penn’s father was notified of his son’s actions and associates, and he asked William to return to London.

In England Penn openly and actively identified with the Friends by writing and speaking on their behalf. When William met with his father, the Admiral tried everything to get William to give up his Friends and his new found religion, and to continue on a good career and follow in his father’s steps. At one point in their lively discussion, the Admiral said he was going to get down on his knees and pray that William would not be a Quaker. Upon hearing this William ran to the window and threatened to jump out if he prayed such a thing. William’s mother was helpless in calming them down. She was thankful that a friend came by to visit at this moment which stopped the hysterical scene.

After William kept speaking at Friends meetings, his father kicked him out of the house and said he would leave his money and large holdings to someone else. Even being disinherited did not change William’s mind.

In 1668 Thomas Loe died. On his death bed Loe spoke to William Penn:

Bear thy cross, and stand faithful to God; then He will give thee an everlasting crown of glory, that shall not be taken from thee. There is no other way which shall prosper, than that which the holy men of old have walked in. God hath brought immortality to light, and life immortal is felt. Glory, Glory to Him! for He is worthy of it. His love overcomes my heart, nay, my cup runs over: glory be to His name forever.^[2]

In this same year, Penn published “The Sandy Foundation Shaken,” and in December he went to the Tower on account of it. About his imprisonment in the Tower Penn wrote:

I was committed the beginning of December, and was not discharged till the Fall of the Leaf following; wanting about fourteen days of nine months.

As I saw very few, so I saw them but seldom, except my own Father and Dr. Stillingfleet, the present Bishop of Worcester. The one came as my relation, the other at the Kings command to endeavour my change of judgment. But as I told him, and he told the King that the Tower was the worst argument in the world to convince me; for whoever was in the wrong, those who used force for Religion could never be in the right.^[3]

Penn later wrote Lord Arlington that this action might make hypocrites but not converts.^[4]

The Bishop told Penn he must take back what he had written or stay in prison. Penn’s response was: “My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man.”^[5] It was during this imprisonment that Penn wrote No Cross, No Crown, probably his most famous work.

Penn was released from the Tower in August of 1669. In September he went to Cork, Ireland, to his father’s estate. He found the Friends “under…general persecution, and those of the City of Cork almost all in Prison.”^[6] He immediately took up their cause and labored to get them out of prison, and succeeded in getting an order-in-council on June 4, 1670, for the release of Quaker prisoners in Ireland.

His father had become ill, so soon after this Penn returned to England to be with him. On August 14, 1670, Penn and fellow Friend, William Mead, went to a Quaker meeting in Gracechurch Street, London. The meeting house had been padlocked by the authorities, so Penn preached in the street to the group that remained. Penn and Mead were arrested for this, and after two weeks in that “noisome and stinking” prison, they went to trial on September 1^st. Later, William would publish a complete report on the trial.^[7]

Precedent Trial

Penn and Meade were charged with unlawful assembly by force of arms, disturbing the peace, conspiring to preach, and terrorizing the people. After pleading “not guilty,” the prisoners were put aside and forced to wait the rest of the day while other cases were heard. Court was then adjourned until the 3^rd.

Upon entering the court, well-meaning police, wishing to avert problems for the defendants and knowing that Quakers were conscientiously opposed to doing so themselves, took off Penn’s and Meade’s hats so that they would comply with court policy. Upon approaching the bench, orders were given to have their hats put on, and then a fine of forty marks was laid to each man for contempt of court. William said that since the bench was responsible for their hats being on, the bench should be fined.

During proceedings, William explained to the jury that they were guilty of nothing but worshiping God and asked the bench to let the jury and himself know upon what law he was prosecuted. The bench replied that it was upon the common law. William then asked, “Where is that common law?” The answer being it was too difficult to produce, William responded: “If it be common, it should not be so hard to produce.”

In defense of common rights and individual liberties, Penn quoted Lord Coke’s Institutes, which he had studied in school, even mentioning page numbers. This infuriated the judges, mayor, and recorder, who shouted to a guard to take William away and throw him into the bale-dock, which was a small pen partitioned off in the courtroom.

As he was being hauled away, Penn exclaimed: “I plead for the fundamental laws of England….If the ancient fundamental laws which relate to liberty and property…are not…maintained and observed…our liberties are openly to be invaded, our wives to be ravished, our children slaved, our families ruined, and our estates led away.”

Meade then began to defend himself with the same insightfulness as Penn, which caused the bench’s rage to increase to the point where one judge bitterly remarked to Meade, “You deserve to have your tongue cut out.”

Meade was also ordered to the bale-dock. Then the recorder began giving the charge to the jury, pointing out how the defendants were surely guilty. As this was occurring, Penn climbed to the top of the bale-dock wall and shouted to the court and jury that the proceedings of the court were “void of all law, on offering to give the jury their charge in the absence of the prisoners. I say it is directly opposite to and destructive of the undoubted right of every English prisoner,” and he quoted Coke’s Institutes.

The Recorder screamed, “Pull that fellow down! Pull him down!”

He then ordered them to be thrown into “the Hole,” a stinking place of confinement in Newgate Prison.

After some hours of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict. The only thing the defendants were guilty of was speaking in Gracechurch Street. This unexpected verdict infuriated the judges who began to menace the jury. One observer said the mayor and recorder “exceeded the bounds of all reason and civility.” The bench ordered the jury to be “locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco” until “we have a verdict that the court will accept.”

As the jury was being removed to their chambers, William cried out to them: “You are Englishmen, mind your privilege, give not away your right.”

After spending the night without food or drink or proper accommodation, the jury brought back the same defiant verdict. The bench would not accept it and began threatening the jury. William declared: “It is intolerable that my jury should he menaced. What hope is there of ever having justice done, when juries are threatened and their verdicts rejected?”

The Mayor roared, “Stop his mouth! Jailer, bring fetters and stake him to the ground.”

The jury was forced to spend another night without food, fire, or other accommodations until they brought back the right verdict. The next morning, their resolve had not weakened, but had grown stronger. Their verdict: not guilty of anything. The approval of the spectators in the courtroom was matched by the disapproval of the judges, who fined the jury forty marks each, and ordered their imprisonment until it was paid.

—

William Penn bore the cross in many other ways as he determined to stand for truth and follow the leading of God. He went on many missionary trips, often preached at Quaker meetings, and worked unceasingly to get Quakers and religious dissenters out of jail. He faced more imprisonments, persecution, and ostracism, but gladly endured them all. Since he gladly bore the cross, he also received a crown.

___

To learn of Penn’s Crown – how he contributed to civil and religious liberty, to the establishment of Pennsylvania, and to the advancement of Biblical governmental principles – order a copy of No Cross, No Crown.

[1] Joseph Haines Price and Stanley R. Yarnall, William Penn: A Short Life with Selections from His Writings, published for the Book Committee of the Religious Society of Friends, 302 Arch Street, Philadelphia, 1932, quoted in Remember William Penn, compiled by the William Penn Tercentenary Committee, Harrisburg, PA: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1945, p. 20.

[2] William Sewel, The History of the Rise, Increase and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers: With Several Remarkable Occurrences, Intermixed, Written originally in Low-Dutch, and also translated into English, the Third Edition Corrected, Isaac Collins, New Jersey, 1774, quoted in Remember William Penn, p. 24.

[3] Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Memoirs, HSP], Philadelphia, 1826, quoted in Remember William Penn, p. 33.

[4] Elizabeth Janet Gray, Penn, New York: The Viking Press, 1967, p. 103.

[5] John W. Graham, William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania, New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1916, p. 43.

[6] Memoirs HSP, in Remember William Penn, p. 33.

[7] The quotes related to this trial are from Penn’s account in Samuel M. Janney, The Life of William Penn: With Selections from His Correspondence and Autobiography, Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852, pp. 67-81.

For PDF Version: George Washington Carver Transformed the Economy of the South by Applying Biblical Truth

By Stephen McDowell

George W. Carver was born into slavery just before the close of the Civil War. His mom was a slave, but after emancipation she stayed in Missouri with the family who had owned her. George and his mother were carried off from the Carver family by raiders when he was just a baby. Mose Carver offered 40 acres and a horse (since he had no cash) to a man to find the mother and child. He brought back George, but was unable to find the mother. George, therefore, grew up on the Carver farm, but in relative poverty.

As a child he loved the woods and plants and things related to botany. He was very observant of nature and always asked questions. He also enjoyed using his hands. At about age ten he left the farm and worked his way through high school. As a young man he worked hard and saved money to go to a certain college, but was not allowed to attend. A couple helped him to go to an artist school, but he found there were no jobs for an artist. He eventually was able to study his first love, agriculture.

After obtaining his university degree, Carver was invited by Booker T. Washington to teach at his newly formed Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. His work while there transformed the economy of the South and affected many nations as well.

Carver would rise every morning at 4:00 AM, read the Bible, and seek God concerning what He wanted him to do. Toward the end of his life Carver remarked: “The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible, ‘In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.’”[1]

One thing Carver sought God concerning was how to improve the economy of the southeastern part of the United States. Continual planting of cotton had depleted the soil and the invasion of the boll weevil was destroying much of the cotton crop.

Biographer Rackham Holt wrote that, “He devoutly believed that a personal relationship with the Creator of all things was the only foundation for the abundant life. He had a little story in which he related his experience:

I asked the Great Creator what the universe was made for.

“Ask for something more in keeping with that little mind of yours,” He replied.

“What was man made for?”

“Little man, you still want to know too much. Cut down the extent of your request and improve the intent.”

Then I told the Creator I wanted to know all about the peanut. He replied that my mind was too small to know all about the peanut, but He said He would give me a handful of peanuts. And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth … to you it shall be for meat…. I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”

I carried the peanuts into my laboratory and the Creator told me to take them apart and resolve them into their elements. With such knowledge as I had of chemistry and physics I set to work to take them apart. I separated the water, the fats, the oils, the gums, the resins, sugars, starches, pectoses, pentosans, amino acids. There! I had the parts of the peanuts all spread out before me.[2]

Carver’s story teaches us the importance of preparation in fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. Carver had labored hard to develop his skills of chemistry. Consequently, God could answer the question Carver posed to Him. God could not reveal the answer to this question to me today; I would need much preparation before I would be in a position to understand and act upon the answer. Diligent preparation is vital to understand and fulfill our calling. God may not answer many of our inquiries or lead us deeper into our providential purpose because we have not learned enough or been properly prepared to hear and understand what He may say. It is important to learn this lesson. To continue with Carver’s story, he relates:

I looked at Him and He looked at me. “Now, you know what the peanut is.”

“Why did you make the peanut?”

The Creator said, “I have given you three laws; namely, compatibility, temperature, and pressure. All you have to do is take these constituents and put them together, observing these laws, and I will show you why I made the peanut.”

I therefore went on to try different combinations of the parts under different conditions of temperature and pressure, and the result was what you see.[3]

The results: Carver discovered over 300 uses for the peanut. Food items included nuts, soup, a dozen beverages, mixed pickles, sauces, meal, instant and dry coffee. Other items included: salve, bleach, tan remover, wood filler, washing powder, metal polish, paper, ink, plastics, shaving cream, rubbing oil, linoleum, shampoo, axle grease, synthetic rubber.

He produced milk which would not curdle in cooking or when acids were added. Long-lasting cream and cheese could be made from this milk. “This milk proved to be truly a lifesaver in the Belgian Congo. Cows could not be kept there because of leopards and flies, so if a mother died her baby was buried with her; there was nothing to nourish it. Missionaries fed the infants peanut milk, and they flourished.”[4]

George worked with many other plants and items — making 107 products from sweet potatoes; making synthetic marble from sawdust; and making wallboard from many different Southern plants.

For his work, Carver received many awards and became the advisor to many world leaders, including President Franklin Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, and Thomas Edison. In all his work he never failed to acknowledge God. In 1921 when he testified before a committee of Congress, he was asked by the Chairman:

“Dr. Carver, how did you learn all of these things?”

Carver answered: “From an old book.”

“What book?” asked the Senator.

Carver replied, “The Bible.”

The Senator inquired, “Does the Bible tell about peanuts?”

“No Sir” Dr. Carver replied, “But it tells about the God who made the peanut. I asked Him to show me what to do with the peanut, and he did.”[5]

Carver looked for divine direction and saw God as the revealer of truth. He said:

I discover nothing in my laboratory. If I come here of myself I am lost. But I can do all things through Christ. I am God’s servant, His agent, for here God and I are alone. I am just the instrument through which He speaks, and I would be able to do more if I were to stay in closer touch with Him. With my prayers I mix my labors, and sometimes God is pleased to bless the results.[6]

He knew his purpose in life: “My purpose alone must be God’s purpose — to increase the welfare and happiness of His people.”[7] Godly service, not money or fame, was his primary motivation. In fact, Edison offered him a job with a six-figure income, a fortune in those times, but he turned it down so he could continue his agricultural work in his laboratory that he called “God’s little workshop.” “George Washington Carver worked for the riches of God rather than the wealth of this world.”[8]

Carver helped transform the economy of the South, and affected agriculture all over the world. Carver had to overcome all kinds of obstacles to fulfill his destiny (only a few have been mentioned here). In all of these he persevered, labored hard, and pursued the desires in his heart. He had a great impact upon many people, upon agriculture, and the economy at large.

PP

To read about other Christians who applied Biblical truth in their vocations see Stephen McDowell, Building Godly Nations, Chapter 1.

[1] William J. Federer, America’s God and Country, Coppell, Tex: FAME Publishing, Inc., 1994, p. 98.

[2] Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver, An American Biography, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, and Co., Inc., 1943, pp. 226-227.

[3] Ibid., p. 227.

[4] Ibid., p. 229.

[5] Charles E. Jones, The Books You Read, Harrisburg, PA: Executive Books, 1985, 132. Quoted in Federer, p. 96.

[6] Holt, p. 220.

[7] Federer, p. 97.

[8] James Manship, “George Washington Carver,” notes of speech, 1998.

By Stephen McDowell

Noah Webster wrote that “the education of youth [is] an employment of more consequence than making laws and preaching the gospel, because it lays the foundation on which both law and gospel rest for success.”[i]

Is this really true? Many Christians would say this is a heretical state­ment, for nothing is more important than preaching the gospel. Its truth depends upon how you define education. According to modern definitions it certainly is not true. Consider Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language which defines education as:

1. the process of educating, especially by formal schooling; teaching,· training. 2. knowledge, ability, etc. thus developed. 3. a) formal schooling. b) a kind or stage of this: as, a medical education. 4. systematic study of the methods and theories of teaching and learning.[ii]

However, if we looked at how Webster defines education in his original dictionary published in 1828, we would readily agree with his statement.

Education – The bringing up, as a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.[iii]

To Webster, the central goal of education was to train youth in the precepts of Christianity. He stated,

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.[iv]

We can see why such education lays the foundation for the success of the Gospel and the making of good laws, for only a people of good character and ideas can preserve religious and civil liberty. It was such a people that gave birth to liberty throughout the world. Webster stated:

Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion…. The religion which has introduced civil liberty, is the religion of Christ and his apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.[v]

How we educate the next generation will determine how our nation is governed in the next generation. This truth reveals why education of youth is of utmost importance. Modern day “educrats” would agree with the importance of education for determining the future of our nation. They would agree as well with Webster’s statement at the beginning of this article, yet the way they define education is much different than the way Webster defined education, as seen with the above comparison. They recognize the philosophy of education in this generation will be the philosophy of government, business, and social matters in the next. Humanistic secular educators have been using the public school rooms as their pulpits to propagate their anti-God religion throughout America.

In the battle for the education of our children, and the future of our country, we must recognize that words and their definitions are very important. Webster understood this as he set out to provide a uniquely American education after we gained our independence from Britain.

While governmentally independent, Americans were still dependent upon Britain and Europe for much of their education, thought, and ideas. Webster desired to liberate the nation from the bondage caused by many of the ideas from the old world. He wrote:

Americans, unshackle your minds, and act like independent beings. You have been children long enough, subject to the control, and subservient to the interest of a haughty parent. You have now an interest of your own to augment and defend: You have an empire to raise and support by your exertions, and a national character to establish and extend by your wisdom and virtues.[vi]

Today, we have need of liberation from the bondage caused by the secular, humanistic philosophy that permeates our educational and governmental institutions. Americans need to unshackle their minds and restore an American Christian philosophy of education and government to the land, which will enable us to fulfill our God-given destiny as a nation.

Noah Webster spent his entire adult life working to reform America and to provide a foundation of liberty, happiness, and prosperity for all citizens. He understood that ideas have consequences, that the battle for the future of our country would be waged in the market place of ideas, and that those adhering to Godly truth must enter into the battle in every conceivable sphere. Webster’s life gives us a great example of how to bring reform to America, or any nation, today. As we briefly look at his life and accomplishments we can learn what we need to do, where we need to be involved, strategies for bringing reform, proper motives and reasons for action, and the fruit we can expect from planting Godly seeds.

[to read more order Noah Webster and the Reformation of America]