.^ Ho:. r - ^ ^^^6 •^ ."^ .-5^' "O 1/ --•-^, V o ^ » „ "^ SmM; #^ ^ <*, -'- o <».> ^:;<. 4q, .V>^^ ^. ^ ':.%t! * <•? ^'-^ ^?<^^^ -^^o^ ^0^ -> ^ *s V '. *> . ♦ • "* o PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE FIFTEENTH AND RACE STREETS, PHIL,ADEI,PHIA PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY INTERPRETED BY REPREvSENTATIVES OF SIXTEEN DENOMINATIONS FOUNDERS' WEEK Philadelphia, October Sixth 1908 ^^" ^ Ps^ €H'^i 22 J e '09 Universalist DR. SWEETSER Mennonite REV. N. B. GRUBB Friends HENRY W. WIEBUR Colored Churches BISHOP COPPIN Presbyterian DR. ROBERTS Baptist DR. CONWELL Episcopalian DR. TOMKINS Catholic MONSIGNOR KIERAN THE CHAIRMAN Hebrew RABBI KRAUSKOPF Lutheran DR. DELK Congregational DR. RICE Friends DR. BARTON Reformed DR. MUSSER Methodist BISHOP F. M. BRISTOL Unitarian DR. ST. JOHN Disciples DR. BATMAN ^ tr" n> o ►-I eu (T) •-t t-». P ^ ts- I-" n tJ* <-r ^ a> ?3 cn c« X* (T) r+ ^ (T) w ]->. ^ w 3* (T) r-t 05 ^ •13 a> w g > P p^ (-^_ <* w Crq C/J ^ O 05 w 1-*^ o <-h r/1 S m c/^. o" en o P !-•• N O P cn PREFACE. I -ROUNDERS' WEEK was ushered in October 4, 1908. -^ In the midst of the days of celebration, with their spectacular features, in which the progress of in- dustry and commerce, and the epochs of our history were portrayed, the still waters of religious progress sought deeper and more significant expression. On the evening of the sixth of the month, by invitation of the Religious Committee of Founders' Week, repre- sentatives of sixteen of Philadelphia's religious denomi- nations came together in the two Friends' meeting-houses on Race and Cherry Streets, west of Fifteenth Street, freely granted by Friends for the purpose, and considered unitedly the topic, "Penn's Contribution to Religious Liberty." Nearly three thousand persons filled the two meeting-houses and listened with deep interest to the tributes paid to the great Founder of Philadelphia, and observed the exhibition of friendship and fellowship in religious association with a delight that will remain an inspiring and enduring memory. To make the event fully understood by those who were not present, it should be said that two meetings were in progress at the same time, the addresses in the Race Street meeting being repeated in the Cherry Street house. Isaac H. Clothier presided at the Race Street meeting, and Joseph Swain, President of Swarthmore College, in the Cherry Street house. Both meetings were (5) PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. called to order and each chairman introduced by Nathan- iel Richardson, of Byberry, a member of the Religious Committee of the General Founders' Week Committee. The event had no sooner become a thing of the past, than its unique and important character began to make a still deeper impression upon those who were privileged to be present, and also a much larger company, who were only able to share the uplift of the occasion by the narra- tion of others, or by reading the published accounts. A demand has since arisen from many quarters that the words spoken at the meeting might be preserved as a permanent memorial of the occasion, and serve as a legacy to posterity and a guide to those in the future who may be called to write the history of the progress of religious liberty in our country. With the kind co-operation of the sixteen participants in the meeting, this volume has been prepared, contain- ing the words spoken on the memorable occasion, with other matter relating thereto. Wherever men and women dream of and struggle to- ward a spiritual fellowship approaching the broadness of the universal brotherhood, we trust the story of this meeting may be a sign of promise, and may become a semblance of a hope, that inasmuch as for one evening brethren of widely different denominations and faiths came together in unity, so may that experience be re- peated as the years go on, and become increasingly the realization of the children of a common Father the wide world over. PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. RELIGIOUS BODIES HONOR PENN. rFrom the Friends' Intelligrencer, Tenth month 10, 1908. J Unique meetings were held in both the Race and Cherry Street meeting-houses, on Third-day evening, the sixth inst., under the auspices of the Religious Committee of the City of Philadelphia's Founders' Week Committee. Nathaniel Richardson, of Byberry, representing the Reli- gious Committee, called both meetings to order, and intro- duced Isaac H. Clothier as Chairman of the Race Street meeting, and President Joseph Swain, of Swarthmore College, as Chairman in the Cherry Street house. Sixteen representatives of as many religious organizations briefly considered "William Penn's Contribution to Religious Liberty," each speaker appearing in both meeting-houses. Both places of worship were filled with representatives of various religious denominations. On taking the chair in the Race Street house, Isaac H. Clothier said: "This is not a Friends' meeting, but as it is held in a meeting- house of the Friends, I ask for a brief period of entire silence." After the silence, the Chairman opened the meeting with the following remarks: — " Friends (I use the term in no denominational sense, but as including every person present, and especially the members of the sixteen churches): " In the anniversary celebrations now going on, it is natural that the popular taste should incline to military and other spectacular demonstrations illustrating the power and progress of the State; but as the founding of this Commonwealth was of a strictly religious character, it is proper that at least some of the exercises of the week should be of deeper significance, as illustrating the things which are not merely temporal but eternal. Recognizing PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. this fact, it has been thought especially fitting that the different religious denominations of our city should come together in one body in recognition of the high and enduring character of the work of the great founder and his memorable contribution to religious liberty. "It has also been deemed fitting by members of the committee entirely outside the Society of Friends, that as the founder of the city and his associates were members of the religious organization called Friends, or Quakers, and the city has ever since been styled The Quaker City, that this gathering of the representatives of the different denominations should be held in a meeting-house of the Friends. "Thus have we met this evening, and on behalf of the inheritors of the testimonies of George Fox, of Robert Barclay, and of William Penn, I extend a warm welcome to every representative and every interested individual present. "While all denominations could not be included, sixteen of the most prominent and historic church organ- izations are represented in this assembly. It is most proper that all the representatives of the sixteen churches should be heard from, and it is therefore obvious that each address must necessarily be very brief. The commit- tee has arranged that the time of each shall be limited to six minutes. I call your attention to the fact, that under the unique — perhaps unprecedented — conditions, the chairman of this meeting occupies a responsible and most delicate position. The representation is an imposing one, and the participants are among the most eminent and scholarly churchmen of the period. There is perhaps not one among them to whom all of us would not esteem it a privilege to listen for an entire evening. It will, never- theless, be the hard duty of the Chairman, under his instructions and out of respect to all and the necessities PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. of the occasion, to restrict each address to the short time named. At the expiration of five minutes he will therefore give notice, 'One minute more,' and when the six minutes have passed, the gavel will fall. "As economy of time is the order of the evening, unnecessary speech, especially by the Chairman, should be avoided, and therefore all formal introductions will be omitted, and a simple announcement made of each church organization in alphabetical order through its representative. "This room is not nearly large enough to contain all who desire to be present, and therefore an overflow meet- ing has been arranged, to which each speaker will pass after delivering his address here, and repeat it to another audience almost equally large." lO PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. PBNN'S CONTRIBUTION TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. AS PRESENTED BY MINISTERS OP MANY RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. [From the Friends' Intelligencer, Tenth month 17, 1908.] The William Penii meeting in Race and Cherr>' Street meeting-houses on Third-day evening of Founders' Week, in Philadelphia, was felt by Friends and Churchmen to be in some respects the most wonderful religious meeting ever held. In a row on the highest seats of a house, built by a sect that was despised and persecuted 225 years ago, were seated prominent ministers of sixteen religious denominations. At the right of the Chairman, Isaac H. Clothier, sat a Catholic Monsignor, with red cap and sash and at his left a Jewish Rabbi ; at one end sat a Unitarian and at the other a Univeralist; and in between were white and colored Methodist bishops, and ministers representing the Baptist, Congregational, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Pres- byterian and Reformed Churches, the Disciples, the Men- nonites, and both branches of the Society of Friends. All these had come to give their individual answers to the question, "What is William Penn's contribution to reli- gious liberty?" This meeting had its origin in the Religious Committee appointed for Founders' Week by the city authorities. At first, the only Friend on this committee was Nathaniel Richardson, with whom the idea of the meeting originated ; afterwards Henry W. Wilbur's name was added to the committee. The arrangements for the meeting were admirable. No more tickets were given out than there are seats in the two houses. The Race Street house PENN AND RELIGIOUS UBERTY. II was filled before 7.30; at 7.45 those who had no tickets were admitted to the Cherry Street house, which was so full that many stood during the entire evening. The Chairman : In the alphabetical order THE BAPTIST CHURCH comes first, and as its representative, I present the Rev. Russell H. Conwell, D. D. Remarks of Dr. Conwell. Mr. Chairmati: — Having taken upon myself, without due meditation, the duty of this hour, I must first apolo- gize to the great body of Christians I am expected to represent and to the beneficent and influential body of Friends whose hospitality we all so gladly share. But it is now too late to retreat. So let me say that the holy influence of William Penn, as the benefactor of our Baptist family of Christians, is too great and too subtle to be understood, and consequently too far-reaching and constant to be adequately appreciated. The example of bravery which William Penn gave to the world, when possessed with wealth, high birth, education and also the power given by intimate association with kings, when he obeyed his conscience and turned aside from all to be the friend of the lowly teacher, George Fox, will always sug- gest and inspire like brave deeds among all intelligent nations. When royal courts pressed on him their honors, and palaces invited him to their luxuries, he meekly fol- lowed his tender heart into the homes of the lowly. He, who could have been the orator in cathedrals and univer- sities, became the sweet teacher of a sweeter gospel of love to the common people, the dome of whose place of wor- ship was God's sky ; and whose chandelier was the burning sun or the vicarious moon. Such an imitation of the Galilean teacher makes his debtors all who hear his stor)-. 12 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. The Baptists came to this land abused and hunted strangers, seeking for some retreat where they could follow the leadings of the Spirit without danger to the lives of those they loved, and only two communities would receive them with a fraternal welcome, and they were founded by William Penn and Lord Baltimore. The Baptist conscientious belief that each individual should be permitted to choose his own manner of worship, un- disturbed by the forces of the State, was the practical position of the Quakers when the Baptists came to Phila- delphia. Toleration here was sincere, and the fraternal welcome was a new and sweet experience to our fathers. God help us all to follow their God-fearing example ! Our debt ! Who can compute it in speech or figures ? Every stranger who comes to the Quaker City to find shelter for his family and employment for his hands or brain, soon feels the pressure of that brooding spirit of the Quakers, which is the Spirit of God. The Quaker homes are plain, unassuming, substantial, neighborly buildings. Within is cleanliness in food, purity of char- acter, economy of means and clothing, and a loving state of devotion. Never in the history of all lands was there found homes which teach the holiness of motherhood, the honor of fatherhood, the reverent obedience of chil- dren, the restraint from folly and wickedness, the liberty to be and to do good, as have and do the Quaker homes of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Feminine grace, beauty, intelligence and love found there their greatest protection and most consistent encouragement. Manhood's truth, strength, courage and self-control were brought nearest to perfection. Education which was useful to man, to better interpret the voices of God in their hearts, was strongly encouraged, and education for pride, show or folly were equally condemned. We are all indebted alike to the moral, social and PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 13 religious life of the Friends, whose simplicity of worship, integrity of business dealings, perseverance and accuracy in industrial affairs have shaped beyond our tracing the sentiments and the commerce of our great country. As a denomination, the Baptists are ever grateful to William Penn's father for his powerful friendship in the days when martyrdom was the possible death of any Baptist. We owe a debt of gratitude to William Penn's disciples for their willingness to die with our fathers in the prisons of Virginia during the persecutions of 1771. For the unbroken brotherhood of two hundred and twenty -five years in which we have worked together, reaping often in fields where the other had sown, believ- ing in the same God, the same Saviour, the same Holy Scriptures, the same soul liberty, the same dependence on the Holy Spirit, and the same love and tolerance toward all other denominations, and all other races, v/e, as Baptists, here re-dedicate ourselves to the continuance of our sincere friendship through the centuries yet to come. The Chairman : C comes next to B in the alphabet, and the CATHOLIC CHURCH is next on the program. From the inception of the idea of this meeting, perhaps no-one has taken greater interest in it than the venerable and venerated Archbishop of Philadelphia. He has not been able to be with us in person this evening, but he has sent a letter which I have pleasure in reading. Philadelphia, September 29, 1908. My Dear Mr. Clothier: — I regret that I shall not be able to deliver the address on Tuesday next. I am confident, however, 14 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. that you and our friends will be pleased with the address of Right Rev. Monsignor Kieran. The Catholic Church owes so much to Pennsylvania, and especially to its admirable founder, William Penn, and the Society of Friends, to which he belonged, by their advocacy of religious liberty at a time when it was but little appreciated in this country, I feel that the present occasion is opportune for the expression of our gratitude and our fidelity to the great principles, to which we owe, under God, our progress and our preservation. I hope that the celebration shall prove worthj^ of the great occasion and help to perpetuate the basic principles of our institutions. I remain, dear Mr. Clothier, Yours most faithfully, P. J. RYAN. As shown in the letter just read, Archbishop Ryan has selected an eminent representative of the Church to act in his stead, and I have pleasure to introduce to you the Right Rev. Monsignor William Kieran. Address of Monsignor Kieran. Mr. Chairman: — On reading the life of William Penn, which should be read by every man who loves "justice and hates iniquity," one is filled with admiration for the founder of this Commonwealth ; but the subject this evening is limited to one view alone of his character — his noble defense of religious liberty for all men. In an age when the only cry for freedom of public worship was the groans and moans, heard through prison bars, from the victims of a cruel persecuting age, he began the struggle for religious tolerance in his youth and continued it during the best twenty years of his manhood. The whip of his father could not beat it out of him, cruel imprisonment only strengthened it, and the majesty of a king could not awe him to betray it. PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 15 It is remarkable that the zeal for religious freedom drew upon him the suspicion that he was a Papist, a seminary priest and even a Jesuit. And in his address to a committee of Parliament on January 22, 1678, while modestly denying the truth of these accusations, he boldly proclaimed : " I am far from thinking that Papists should be whipped for their conscience because I exclaim against the injustice of whipping Quakers for Papists. We must give the liberty we ask and cannot be false to our prin- ciples though it were to relieve ourselves, for we have good-will to all men and would have none to suffer for a truly sober and conscientious dissent." For these principles he suffered several imprisonments. It is no wonder then that he made tolerance in religion the fundamental principle of the new colony, and in a law prepared in England and passed in Chester, Pa., Decem- ber 10, 1682, two months after his landing, he declared that "all persons living in this province shall in no way be molested or prejudiced in their religious persuasion or practice, or in matters of faith or worship ; " and in an account of Pennsylvania, "We aim at duty to the king, the preservation of rights to all, the suppression of vice and encouragement of virtue and arts, with liberty to all people to worship Almighty God according to their faith and persuasion." In 1683, the year we now celebrate, he wrote to the Duke of Ormond : "It is not our will to vex men for their belief and modest practice of their faith with respect to the other world, into which province and sovereignty, temporal power reaches not from its very nature and end." The year after, 1684, his agent in Rotterdam, Benja- min Furley, gave an explanation of the establishment of Pennsylvania: "In order that each may enjoy that liberty of conscience which is a natural right belonging to all men * * * it is established firmly that full l6 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. power is given to each to make freely, the public exercise of his, without meeting with any trouble or interference of any kind." This tolerance was so well guaranteed during the life- time of Penn and after, that Pennsylvania was the only land under the British flag where Catholics could publicly in the sight of all men worship God according to their conscience. Fifty years before Pennsylvania, Maryland had been founded on the same spirit of tolerance, but a triumphant majority had deprived many of her fellow- citizens of that right. They looked to Pennsylvania as a place of refuge where they could exercise their duties of religion according to their conscience. There is even a letter of Charles Carroll, father of Charles of Carrollton, in which he speaks of removing to Pennsylvania from Maryland in order to enjoy liberty of conscience which was denied to him at home. This tolerance to Catholics became one of the principal counts against Penn in the accusations sent by his enemies to the home government. Yet he never yielded by giving up his principle of reli- gious liberty, but ever defended his Catholic friends and subjects against all their persecutors. When, in 1688, William Popple, his friend, wrote to him a long letter to impress upon Penn the dangers he was exposing himself to by his frequent visits to the Catholic King James II. ; that his enemies were calling him a Papist ; believe him to be a priest and Jesuit, Penn answered him in a noble letter, in which are these words: "If the assertion of an impartial liberty of con- science ; if doing to others as we would be done by, and an open avowing and a steady practicing of these things at all times and to all parties, will justly lay a man under the reflection of being a Jesuit or a Papist of any sort, I must not only submit to the character, but embrace it, too." PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 17 How flattering to every Catholic ! What an answer to their accusers, to think that, in that cruel age, every man who defended religious freedom was hounded as a Papist and a Jesuit ! Is it possible that in the time of Penn the conviction was common among the adversaries of the Catholic Church that she alone believed in and advocated the spirit of religious freedom and that Jesuits were the stanchest defenders and champions of that doctrine? The Catholic King James II., the friend of Penn, was the first King of England to proclaim the equality of all subjects in their religious rights ; but, alas ! his liberality cost him his throne. Under this monarch 1400 Friends came out of their prisons. If there were Friends in hundreds then under restraint and to be liberated, how many thousands of Catholics must have been deprived of their freedom? The example of the founder was followed by those who came after him and has continued until this day. It is the glory of Pennsylvania that during the 225 years of its existence no law has been passed and allowed to stand which would limit the rights of its people to the free and public exercise of their religion, and to William Penn, the noble founder, we owe this just and liberal spirit. We Catholics will ever hold his memory in deep rever- ence and benediction. Just fifty years after the foundation of the Common- wealth, in 1733, the first Catholic church was erected in Philadelphia. A protest, however, was made, calling in question their right to have a place of public worship. In answer Father Greaton, the pastor, appealed against such a protest to the charter of Penn granting liberty to all, even the Catholic, and Lieutenant-Governor Patrick Gordon and his counsel tabled the protest and thus admitted that the charter of William Penn granting liberty of conscience was more powerful than the narrow- minded laws depriving men of such liberty. l8 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. The Friends and Catholics were so united that the old first chapel was next to the Friends' almshouse — one for the ills of the body, the other for the ills of the soul. On its site St. Joseph's church, Fourth and Willing's Alley, now stands, and at the entrance on Walnut Street to that church the Knights of Columbus last Sunday placed and dedicated a bronze tablet bearing this inscription : St. Joseph's Church 1733- In memory of the Founders of the Faith in Philadelphia, and in gratitude for the triumph of Religious Liberty. 1908. This is the first tablet proclaiming religious liberty ever erected so near a place of worship, and, strange to say, the church was erected and is still served by Jesuits. The bronze of that tablet will in time rust into dust, but may the noble principle it recalls be engraved on the hearts of all men and be ever an inspiration and a stimulus to Christ-like deeds! The Chairman: It is most fitting that the various COLORED CHURCHES of the city should be heard from in this house, which long before the Civil War was a citadel of freedom for the race. I have the pleasure to introduce as their representa- tive Bishop Levi J. Coppin. Remarks of Bishop Coppin. Mr. Chairman : — Viewed from any standpoint, William Penn must be considered one of the foremost men of his age, and a good example for men of every age. PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 19 Refusing to take the condition of his illustrious father, Admiral Penn, and follow the fortunes of war, he chose for himself an ideal that constantly appealed to the highest and best instincts of his nature, and with admir- able courage, made that ideal the guiding star of his eventful life. Providentially, it would seem, it became his lot to tread a new path and do initiative work in a new field, instead of undertaking the very uncertain task of changing old conditions and customs in an old and long-established government. It was fortunate for the new State which he was destined to found, that his religious bent was settled and fixed before he entered upon the perplexing work of its organi- zation and developments. The time was ripe for breaking away from old forms of government where privileged classes took the place of true democracy, and the leader of such an important movement must needs be one whose sense of religious obligation would enable him to withstand the almost irresistible tide of popular sentiment. It sometimes happens, that a people who are themselves fleeing from political and religious oppression, will become forgetful of the golden rule when they themselves become dispensers of the law. In the day when Penn launched his ship of state, the evil of human slavery had not only received the sanction of the potentates of the Old World, but had dragged its debauching form into the New. A writer of those times speaks thus : " Queen Elizabeth had the honor of extending the commerce of England to the slave-pens of the gold coast, and long before her time, in continental countries, anything made in the image of God, in a black skin, was considered property." Contin- uing, he says: "Slaves were held in all the American 20 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. colonies, and if a man did not own slaves it was because he was too poor to buy them." Here, then, was the soil into which William Penn must sow the seed of his ideal commonwealth and organize a government that must stand for religious liberty, civic righteousness, and the new doctrine proclaimed by the Friends, that " God has made men peers, and that setting up marks of separation was but dividing men without a cause, and trifling with the noblest work of God." That the new venture would be sure to meet with nu- merous obstacles, must have been evident. How well it succeeded, the story of 225 years of effort must tell. In 1688, at the Friends' meeting-house in Germantown, a protest was made against slavery, and although its suc- cess at first was not all that was hoped for, it was the " leaven in a measure of meal " that continued to work until the blight of slavery was finally banished forever from our fair land. Thus it was that the city founded by Penn became the cradle of abolitionism, and the Society with which he had identified himself amid much persecution became a most potent force against the evil that has been fitly styled " the sum of all villainies." But in answering the question : " William Penn's con- tribution to religious liberty," it will be well to ascertain who in his day was considered eligible to profess religion. The status of a negro, as a moral being, was undecided. Indeed, it was generally agreed that he was but a higher order of the beast creation, and that his brain was minus the gray matter that would entitle him to a place among men in the realm of thought. Be it said, to the everlasting credit of the Society of Friends, that after a mighty wrestling, like Jacob, with their conscience, they were the first to discover that the negro was nothing more nor less than a human being with an immortal soul. PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 21 Daniel Pastorious and others advised that Friends be careful not to encourage the bringing- in of any more negroes, and that such as had them should be careful to bring- them to meetings and to restrain them from loose living. In the year 1700, William Penu introduced a bill in the Council to regulate the morals and marriages of the negroes, with this significant injunction : "Friends should be very careful in discharging a good conscience toward the negroes and Indians in all respects." Following this injunction, a meeting was appointed for them once a month, which marked an epoch in the religious life of the African in America. This forward movement in the interest of God's sable children proved to be seed sown into good ground, and bore its first fruit in the city where it was set in motion. The soul, once unfettered, began that growth and devel- opment that lifts a human being into his proper sphere. The idea of religious liberty, that w^as all-pervading, found a response in these newly awakened souls and a change began to take place. In 1787, a blacksmith shop became their meeting-house, and in the true spirit of William Penn they made an heroic struggle for religious independence. Out of the smoke and ashes of that humble beginning grew an organization that now numbers nearly a million souls, and upon the very spot where stood the black- smith shop, stands a spacious building, modern in all its appointments : a building, eloquently telling its own story of what a people may do when given an opportunity. History bears testimony to the fact, that in every great movement in the unfolding of the divine plan for the betterment of society, God always finds a man whom He can rely upon as a leader. Richard Allen, himself once a slave, became an apostle of the doctrine of religious liberty among his people, and 22 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. it was through him that they were led on from a handful to a great religious denomination. When Philadelphia is compared with other great cities of the country for churches, and schools, and libraries, and hospitals, and organized charities, and institutions for the protection of dumb animals, and kindred societies, I think it will not suffer in comparison. That the moral and religious forces set in action by the Founders of the city — and especially by its one great Founder — still have their influence upon the city's life, there can be no reasonable doubt. The statue of William Penn upon the city's highest monument, visible to all, and overlooking all, is a con- stant declaration, that the principles for which he stood are the principles by which we hope still to be guided. The inhabitants of the city find no good reason to change the name given it by its illustrious Founder. The spirit of fair play and equal justice to all is still the dominant spirit. Those who from afar visit the City of Brotherly Love during these series of celebrations, will do well to imbibe her spirit, and carry to the uttermost parts of America the doctrine of friendship and good-will ; of religious liberty and equal opportunity for all men of every nationality, color and creed. The Chairman : As representing the CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH I present the Rev. Edward Wilbur Rice, D. D. Remarks of Dr. Rice. Afr. Chairman : — In the fullness of time. Heaven's great clock had struck the hour for liberty of the soul. iVfter a long period of religious ferment within the civil- PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 23 ized nations of the world, America became an asylum for the oppressed. From five great families of peoples came those who were longing for freedom to get in right rela- tions with God. Liberty of conscience was to become a religious axiom. From his prison at Newgate, where Penn had been sent for preaching the gospel, he wrote the first of a series of vigorous tracts, declaring that whoever fettered the con- science, defeated God's work of grace. He demanded liberty in religion as an " Undoubted right by the law of God, of nature, and of his country." In this demand, the great Founder of Philadelphia joined that galaxy of noble reformers, who for two generations had been persecuted and in prison for proclaiming the principle of religious liberty. Puritan and Pilgrim (early Congregationalists) stoutly held to the belief ; i, that the revealed written Word of God was the final authority in religion ; 2, that every soul had the right freely to follow the doctrines of that Word, in his worship of God, and in the conduct of his life. From these two principles sprang the great cause of liberty to the individual. However widely Puritan and Pilgrim and Penn differed on other points of faith, they agreed in this— the authority of the Bible, and the right of private interpretation thereof. The Pilgrim carried the latter principle to its logical end in his church polity. From these principles, liberty of conscience was a neces- sary corollary. These principles made John Milton (an original Congregationalist) an apostle of liberty of the press. They made the Pilgrim, John Robinson, the apostle of liberty of conscience before Fox was born ; they made the Puritans John Owen and John Howe apostles of freedom of faith ; they forced the learned John Cotton and Increase Mather into exile — pilgrims to America — where they became the apostles of civic liberty and foremost advocates of personal freedom to worship 24 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. God as their consciences dictated, and as enlightened by God's Word and Spirit. Out of these same seething conditions of religious un- rest came the fervid spirit of George Fox, accounted like many other reformers as a fanatic, wrong-headed in a right direction. Later also came the sober, calm, edu- cated Oxford man, William Penn. But both of these drew their creed, if not their inspiration, from the study of God's Word, and a personal interpretation of it, by the inward light of the Spirit. Penn carried the principle of religious liberty a step farther than had the Pilgrim Fathers, demanding liberty of conscience and of worship not alone for himself, but the same liberty for every soul, provided that liberty did not run into license and lawlessness. His liberty of con- science had a narrow interpretation from our point of view, forbidding any soul to speak loosely, profanely or contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures or religion, on pain of forfeiting the protection in his liberty before the civil magistrate. Puritan and Pilgrim regarded the extreme radical claim of Fox and his followers, "to wit," that they, though illiterate, were directly inspired of God, to reveal His will — as evidence of madness, or of being under the power of the devil. The then not very peaceful Quaker (so called) was irritable, if not warlike, in arrogating his claim, which, in the light of the Puritan, was subversive of all true liberty of conscience, and a menace to the safety of the colony. Hence, the Puritan commanded silence. When they refused to observe more than a Quaker silence, and were constantly " moved " to speak forth their claims of inward light as apparently superior to the written Word, the Puritan was moved to put them forth out of the colony for its safety. They exercised the same rights which every church still exercises for its own purity and life. Later, both parties came to a better PENN AND RKLIGIOUS LIBERTY. 25 interpretation of their principles, as applied to conduct. From this belief, held in common by Congregational ists, and confessed by the Friends, to wit, the authority of and the right of personal interpretation of the Word of God, Penn deduced several rules — fundamental in character and of foremost value now as then. We have time to cite only these : — 1. Whoever is right, the persecutor must be wrong. 2. Liberty for the souls of men calls for freedom from bribery and corruption. Penn declined an offer of 6000^^ and 25^ % from a syndi- cate for control of the Indian trade between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Modern syndicates in this terri- tory have not met the spirit of Penn ; more's the pity. 3. Punishment of criminals should not be merely to deter others, but, if possible, to reform the criminals themselves. 4. Education : physical, intellectual and spiritual ; by worship, by schools, by the printing press ; by every other lawful mode, is needful to perpetuate liberty, civic and spiritual, and for the safety of the State. Congregationalists welcome with both hands Penn's contribution to the cause of liberty of conscience and freedom to worship God. The Chairman : I now present to the meeting the Rev. L. G. Batman, D. D., as representing THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. Address of Rev. L. G. Batman, D. D. Mr. Chairman: — William Penn has long been at rest, but his work is going on. This evening, almost two centuries after his death, we have met in the city which he founded to review his work. As the geologist goes 26 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. forth with pick and shovel to dig in the earth among the rocks in search of the traces of some long-since vanished glacier, so we have come this evening to search in our religious institutions and life for the traces of Penn. It is not always easy to follow a stream back through the fields, the valleys and among the hills, to the spring from which it bubbles forth. There are always so many contributing brooks ; so many springs in the hills, each sending forth its water to swell the stream, that it is diffi- cult to find and know the fountain -source. So it is difficult to trace back through the centuries any phase of our religious life to its beginning. There are always so many persons working simultaneously, that it is hard to say that this or that man is the source. However difficult it may be to trace back any phase of our religious life to Penn, we may be sure that some of the ideas which pre- dominated his thinking are common with us to-day. The fundamental conception of Penn, out from which all others grew and radiated, was that of the capability of man to have direct divine communion with God. To the man who holds this conception the voice within is sovereign. He knows, in the matter of religion, no ex- ternal authority — neither that of the State, nor that of the Church, nor that of the Book. He hears and obeys only the voice within as it is taught by the Church, the Book and his God. In the course of time he naturally casts off" the shackles of State, of tradition, of creed, and of ecclesiastical organization which bind his soul. William Penn and the Society to which he belonged, in empha- sizing this fundamental conception, have pointed men to the voice within which has helped to set them free. In a tract published in 1668, the title of which is the "Sandy Foundation Shaken," Penn attacked some of the doctrines of the Church which have long been under dis- cussion, and appealed for the restoration of the primitive PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 2^ faith and worship. This appeal, with the simple faith, worship and organization of the Society of Friends, has helped men to free themselves from all external authority, and to find the satisftiction of their souls in the freedom of the fellowship of the Man of Galilee. The bigotry of the age in which Penn lived, and the struggle of the Church to maintain its authority over the conscience of man, had resulted not only in strife and persecution, but also in war. Penn's soul, taught by direct divine communion with God, revolted against the war-spirit of the day and cried for peace, peace ; first for* the peace of God and then for peace among men. It was his desire to found a colony without the support of mili- tary power ; a colony in which fair dealing, righteousness and love would bind men together in one great brother- hood. As this spirit of peace which predominated his life spread abroad it tempered men's lives, turned bigotry into charity, hatred into love, and gave men liberty. As a representative of the Disciples of Christ, a Christian body which had its origin in America a century and a quar- ter after the founding of Philadelphia, I want to express my gratitude for the contribution which Penn made to religious liberty, and which we as a people have inherited. In the eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews we have a gallery of the heroes of religious faith. He who reads, there beholds the men of ages long since past who, under the most difficult circumstances, contributed to the world's faith in God. Some modern preacher and prophet should write another letter and give us a gallery of the heroes of religious liberty. The list of names which he would record would be a long and illustrious one. He who would walk and read therein would behold the name of William Penn, and out of the past would rise a vision of the founding of Philadelphia, the " City of Brotherly Love," for the sake of religious liberty. 28 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. The Chairman : I now present to you as represent- ing the PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH the Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins, D. D. Remarks of Dr. Tomkins. Mr. Chairman: — Three words by way of introduction : First, I shall exercise my inherited religious liberty by speaking without notes. Secondly, I shall say nothing about the Episcopal Church ; she speaks for herself. Thirdly, I am taking the place of Bishop Whitaker, and I know you sympathize with me. " Nolo Episcopariy When we speak of William Penn as advocating reli- gious liberty, we must guard against exaggeration. Some people, when they mention religious liberty, mean " irre- ligious license ;" but that was not what Penn stood for or urged upon his followers. Liberty must have a shape, a skeleton, a backbone ; it cannot be all flesh, else its flabbiness would make it useless. Our founder was no weak man, nor did he show himself satisfied with those who lacked stability, character, and fixedness of opinion. Some folks have a very large wishbone and a very diminutive backbone. Not so William Penn. From his youth he had passed through man}' strenuous experi- ences ; he spent more time in prison, because of his honest convictions, than any other religious Englishman, unless we except John Bunyan. He never receded from his original convictions. Such a man must have had some principles to govern, for without strong principles to shape it there can be no such thing as religious liberty. What were these principles? I name them as four — a kind of quadrilateral to enclose the boundaries of liberty and give it content. First, William Penn urged to a belief in God, and he PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 29 had little regard for the man who was either atheist or agnostic. He agreed with the Psalmist, that only a fool could say in his heart, "There is no God." It is well for us to remember this, in an age when religion is con- founded with esthetic morality, and when the human will is exalted to a place of too great supremacy, and God's will is easily ignored. Secondly, William Penn emphasized the responsibility of the individual to both God and man. Excellent were his appeals to the sovereignty of the single man, but he always based them upon a clear duty, never to be dis- regarded, which he owes to his Maker and his brother. Man's personal sense of his being a son of God should make him strong not in any cheap disregard of the rights of others, but in the intelligent knowledge of his responsibility. "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power." We are not advocating religious liberty when we cry out for that so-called freedom which permits every man to do as he pleases. My "please" must be ruled by the "please" of God and of my fellows; and he only can enter into the fullness of liberty who hears and answers the claims of the Almighty and of his brethren. Thirdly, William Penn made it clear that every man was bound to observe the laws of righteousness. No man can be free to live a bad life ; no man can defy the laws of God regarding holiness without sinking into a slavery to vice which robs him of character and sovereignty. Our founder manifested this in many ways. His treatment of the Indians ; his treatment of other religious bodies ; his indignation at the idea of slavery, all testify to his strong conception of right. And he urged that conviction in the individual which should make his faith and his right- eousness exactly his own. "I abhor," he wrote, "two 30 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. principles in religion and pity them that own them ; the first is obedience upon authority without conviction ; and the other, destroying them that differ from me for God's sake. Such a religion is without judgment, though not without teeth." And, fourthly, Penn emphasized the duty of public service. He only is free who seeks to banish public wrong and establish public right. He is the meanest slave, and knows not the alphabet of liberty, who sits selfishly in the enjoyment of his own emoluments and cares not that sin and injustice and crime are sitting in high places. He only can be possessed of religious liberty who battles for public righteousness and seeks for the reign of holy law. Penn did not hesitate to castigate those who ruled the people as if they were children or slaves. His ideas of individual sovereignty were so lofty that he could not admit for a moment that one should sit supine and quiet under wrongs which ate the marrow out of the common life. Quaker though he was and opposed to conflict, he demanded of men the heroism which he himself manifested again and again in his deeds and writ- ings — a heroism which should take such part in public affairs as the enforcement of law and the principles of morality demanded. Whenever I think of William Penn I am reminded of those fine words written by J. G. Holland in 1851 : — " God give us men ! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands ; Men whom the lust of oflBce does not kill ; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; Men who possess opinions and a will ; Men who have honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And down his treacherous flatteries without winking ! ' Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinking." PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 31 At this stage of the proceedings Mayor Reyburn en- tered, and after being introduced to the meeting by the Chairman, made a few remarks of greeting to the great assembly of different church members, and then taking a seat to the right of the Chairman, listened to the remarks of Rabbi Krauskopf before leaving for the meet- ing in the Cherry Street end of the house. The Chairman : I have now to present a distinguished member of the HEBREW CHURCH whom in my representative capacity I am exceedingly happy to welcome this evening, Rabbi Joseph Kraus- kopf, D.D. Remarks of Rabbi Krauskopf. M7\ Chairman: — I have heard of great men tackling great subjects, and doing full justice to them within a very short time, but I have never yet heard of so small a man as myself tackling so great a personality as William Penn, and doing justice to it within the space of five minutes. I shall scarcely be able to do more than to express to Mayor Reyburn and his committee my deep sense of gratitude for having instituted the celebration of this week. Not so much because of the festivities it affords, but because of the opportunity it presents to Philadel- phians to become acquainted with themselves, and more especially because of the attention it calls to Religion's part in the founding of our city, State, and republic. No-one can reflect upon the meaning of this week and not become deeply conscious of the fact that it was be- cause of religion that the seekers of liberty of conscience forsook the Old World for the New ; that with the aid of 32 PBNN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. religion they formed their settlement ; that in religion they founded our Government, and that by it has it been maintained unto this day. Oh, that we might every now and then have a celebra- tion such as this so that the people might perceive more and more clearly that the foundations of our republic are imbedded in the rock of faith, and that only so long as that rock continues intact, so long will our Government continue secure. I never appreciated this truth so clearly as I did this summer, when it was my privilege to behold the monu- ment which our nation erected in honor of the Pilgrim Fathers, upon an eminence overlooking Plymouth Har- bor. It is built of granite, of material typical of the men it commemorates. On its main pedestal stands an heroic figure, said to be the largest and finest piece of granite statuary in the world, as it well deserves to be. It is the figure of a woman and symbolizes Faith. In her left hand she holds a Bible ; her right hand uplifted, points to heaven. Upon each of the four smaller pedestals is a seated figure, emblematic of the four basic principles upon which our Commonwealth was founded — one represents Morality, the other Law, the third Education, the fourth Freedom. Great as is the art of that monument, yet greater to me is the thought which is sculptured into its enduring stone. In language far more eloquent than tongue can tell or pen can write, it tells of the rocks upon which our forefathers reared our mighty republic. For its chief support they chose the rock of Faith^ and for its four cornerstones they chose Morality^ Educatio7i^ Laze and Freedom. Upon these rocks our nation has rested securely from the day it was founded, and, in the light of recent happenings, we may well prophesy that only so long as our nation will continue to rest upon these rocks will it continue to be secure. PENN AND RELIGIOUS UBERTY. 33 What was done there in the New England States was done in Pennsylvania. The spirit which the Pilgrim Fathers implanted there, the Friends implanted here. Yea, they had Faith^ these founders of our nation, and it was because of it they succeeded where others without it have failed. There was no suffering so great, no hard- ship so trying, but that they had their God before whom to lay their trouble and from whom to draw their help and hope. While establishing for themselves home and liberty, they felt that they were at the same time the instrument chosen by God to secure the same privileges for the homeless and oppressed of other nations. For that purpose had God guided Columbus to the New World ; for that same end had He guided the " Mayflower " into Plymouth Harbor and the " Welcome " into the Delaware river. They regarded themselves the Chosen of God of the New U^orld^ the people whom God had led out of a house of bondage, across the Atlantic, even as, in the days of yore, he had led the Children of Israel across the Red Sea to the Rock of Sinai. Had William Penn, the Friend, not landed here, we of the Jewish people could probably never have come to these shores, nor could I have spoken to you to-night. You have heard to-night from representatives of other denominations of their sense of gratitude to William Penn. But what is their debt to the noble founder of our city compared with that which the Jews feel ? We honor the name of William Penn as we reverence the names of our prophets of old, and we love his people as we love our own. Penn and his followers were people of the true faith, and because they had that faith did they establish the true freedom of conscience upon the soil of the New World, and did they spread it to the confines thereof. It was because of that faith that they wrote upon the bell, that was ultimately destined to ring out 34 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. liberty throughout the land, the words of the Old Testa- ment, " Proclaim ye liberty throughout the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof." It was because they had the true faith of God within their hearts that their lips spake also to the Jew, "Come hither, and freely share our bless- ings with us." And this at a time when, throughout the Old World, the Jew was hounded and lashed from country to country, denied not only his human rights but even humane treatment, by people who called themselves Christians ; by people who professed to worship the God whom the Jews gave them ; to reverence the Bible which the Jews wrote ; to follow the Commandments which the Jewish law-giver proclaimed, and to obey the precepts, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," " Do unto others as thou wouldst have others do unto thee," which Jewish masters taught. To this day, the lessons which William Penn and his followers preached and practiced within this city, two hundred and twenty-five years ago, have not yet been learned in some such European lands as Russia and Roumania. God grant that one of the results of the celebration of this week may be the spreading across the Atlantic the gospel of universal peace and mutual good-will preached within this city two and a quarter centuries ago, so that the spirit of '''' Philadelphia^'^'' of ^''Brotherly Love'''' may spread wider and wider, and embrace more and more of the human family into a universal brotherhood of men, under the Common Fatherhood of God. The Chairman : I greatly regret to have to announce to this assembly, that there are two branches of the Society of Friends. Perhaps no portion of the Christian world regrets the fact as much as the two divisions of the PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 35 Society, as in these days of Christian advance and reli- gious fellowship such a separation as occurred eighty years ago would nowadays be most improbable if not, indeed, impossible. The great, though small, Society could be adequately represented by either of the repre- sentatives of the two Branches of the Society present. As representing one Branch of THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS I have pleasure to welcome and present my friend, Dr. George A. Barton. Remarks of Dr. Barton. Mr. Chairmaft: — William Penn was one of the greatest religious statesmen that ever lived. Religious leaders are of three kinds — the prophet who inspires with new visions and hopes and leads multitudes to a higher spiritual and ethical life; the thinker who outlines a reasonable explan- ation of the new experience, becoming its theological leader, and the statesman who organizes a land in such a way and with such a religious purpose that the new life may express itself without fetters. Some men, like Cal- vin, have been both the theologian and the statesman of a religious movement. Of the great Quaker revival of the seventeenth century, George Fox was the prophet, Robert Barclay the theologian, and William Penn its statesman. William Penn not only created a new province in which the new faith should be free, but a province in which all other faiths should also be free. This tolerance, which grew so naturally out of the great doctrine of the Inner Light — i. e. , the Quaker faith that God had revealed him- self in a measure to the soul of every man — was in part the mainspring of Penn's treatment of the Indians — a treatment that reveals William Penn removed as far from race prejudice as he was from religious bigotry. 36 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. As this splendid assemblage, composed of representa- tives of many of the faiths which have flourished in the free air of Pennsylvania, gathers to celebrate the anniver- sary of the founding of Philadelphia, one of the most important events in the early history of the colony, the one fact of most importance to us all — which indeed should be uppermost in the minds of us all — is this great principle of liberty of conscience — of tolerance and the kind of life to which it should give rise. As Pennsylvanians or as Quakers we may look with pride to the fact that the example of Penn was followed by the Kramers of the National Constitution, and that by this act liberty of conscience has become the heritage of one of the greatest nations on earth. Are there not, however, in the history of our city and our State some facts which go to prove that we have used our heritage of liberty too selfishly? Invited by the free- dom which Penn instituted, the Welshman came, the German came, the Scotch-Irish came, each with at least one, and often with several new types of creed — each settled in a section of his own, enjoying not only his own creed but his own language, and keeping aloof from other sections not only in religious sympathy but in civic sym- pathy. It has thus come about that to this day there is no unified civic consciousness nor a unified civic con- science in Pennsylvania. Each faction has worked for itself, each has been an easy prey for demagogues, and politically the city and State of Penn is, to put it mildly, not regarded as a model by citizens of her sister common- wealths. It was, perhaps, inevitable in the past that we should each appropriate the great boon of liberty somewhat self- ishly, and that each faith should seek to build up itself, while looking on other forms of religion with such aloof- ness, if not suspicion, as to prevent the development of a PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 2>1 civic conscience. While this condition is not the fault of the Quaker alone, the Quakers must bear their portion of responsibility for it. We have manifested our fair share of the spirit of aloofness from our fellows. In reality, the condition to which I am referring is the outcome of a grand principle applied to a human nature that did not fully appreciate its significance. Owing to human weakness, liberty of conscience has been made hitherto an occasion for exclusive denominationalism which has stifled the growth of a healthy civic sensitive- ness ; it should have been regarded as an opportunity for the development of a broad sense of Christian brother- hood, of mutual respect and love, of reciprocal trust and cooperation, which should have united all the religious forces of the Commonwealth in working for the overthrow of every form of evil, and the creation of a city and a State which should be steps toward the establishment of the kingdom of God in the world. No celebration of the founding of Philadelphia could be more appropriate than the beginning, by such a meet- ing as this, of a new and different era — an era in which there should be no emulation except to see who could be foremost in broad-minded respect and in unselfish love, and no rivalry except in unselfish service of God and of men — the men of the city, the State and the world. Such an attitude on the part of the religious bodies of the State would soon make it a commonwealth with a civic conscience worthy of its great founder. To such a course our age is by many voices calling us. The conscience of humanity is awakening to the terrible indictment that the existence of a submerged tenth brin^rs against our civilization and the religion which finds in it its highest social expression. Men are demanding not simply individual charity, but social and industrial jus- tice. The conscience of our generation is awakened — 38 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. it is in many respects in advance of the conscience of organized religion, and unless Christianity can apply its lofty principles to conduct and to ecclesiastical, social and political institutions so as to prove its worth, not by words, but by social, industrial and civic results, more and more men will have none of it. If the religious bodies represented here do not heed this call, we shall soon find written on the wall over each unfaithful one, "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." Could this religious celebration beget in us all a mutual respect and a unity of devotion to the high call which God is sending us in the twentieth century, such that we should cooperate rather than antagonize one another, there would be more hope that the creative power of religious faith might so work upon the hearts of men, that the present opportunity of religion — the greatest that the history of mankind has furnished — might be successfully met. Such an outcome would prove us not only worthy followers of the great founder of our city, but of that divine Man of Nazareth, who, whether we call ourselves Jews or Christians, is in this work the Master of us all. The Chairman : I now present the representative of the other Branch of THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, may I not say as also representative of both Branches? Henry W. Wilbur. Remarks of Henry W. Wilbur. Mr. Chairman: — Penn's mental and spiritual make-up was broad, tending to brotherliness and toleration. In PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 39 his personal experience he had tasted the cup of religious big-otry and intolerance to its dregs, and this led him to seek the protection of consciences as tender as his own. In so far as the early Friends had any theology, if con- sistently and logically applied, its tendency was naturally in the direction of religious liberty. Denying such a thing as divine favoritism, and affirm- ing that all men had in them a measure of the Divine Spirit, it has always been an unpardonable Friendly act to grieve the Spirit, in the neighbor. But inasmuch as Friends are intensely human people, it would be claiming too much to contend that they have never lapsed from their own logically right line. If God does reveal himself individually and inwardly to every human spirit ; if the law of mathematics holds good in the vaster concerns of the spiritual universe, and the whole of a thing is still equal to the sum of all its parts, then it will take the united revelation to all souls to even inadequately represent the sum of God's revealed will and way to men. Therefore we may conclude that every religious organ- ization, and the choice spirits of every faith, have made their contribution to the sum of spiritual truth, and to that inner wisdom which helps every soul to clear up the great mysteries and maintain its right attitude toward the Heavenly Father. Considering the mind of Truth as the mind of the Father impressed upon His children, no sect or system can claim the last word of God to men, nor monopolize the knowledge of His will to His children. This claim classifies the abundant spiritual insistence and egotism which have characterized the religious world at many points, as not of the right spirit but rather the stuff out of which bigotry and intolerance have been made. We may be glad that the religious world has improved 40 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. its manners, and now behaves itself better than it did aforetime. ' But we have not yet reached the limit of our conception and application of real religious liberty. That means that we shall learn how more industriously to spiritually mind our business and let our brethren do the same thing. In other words, we may be content in apply- ing our own conceptions of truth, resting assured that they will at the best be partial, while our souls rejoice in the thought that others in their way are doing as well as we. We cannot have too large an application of the real pith of Penn's conception of liberty and brotherhood, based on unity of spirit and purpose rather than on uni- formity of doctrine and conformity of creed. To get the latter, the human sf)irit will not be dwarfed or the individ- ual conscience crippled and crushed, while genuine unity of spirit broadens and sweetens all lives. In front of all of our theories and philosophies are the fog-banks of the mysteries, and around us the material be- setments that militate against the right life. We need the largest measure of love for men, and the broadest sense of the spiritual brotherhood to enable us to help each other up the hills of life. Penn had a large heart, a comprehensive faith, and an abundant hope. He believed in the final triumph of the truth, and in the full realization of the religious liberty which as the founder of a commonwealth he did so much to establish. That made him a prophet of a new social order and a broader religious system. It fortified him in that phenomenal friendliness which was not bounded by the theological and doctrinal fences which have helped to promote ignorance and foster prejudice in the world. He could see in defeat the potency of victory, and in delay the prophecy of better things. Like every brave soul that has ever blessed the world he could sing in his heart, as PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 41 he embodied iu his life, the spirit of Massey's optimistic poem : — " 'Tis weary watching wave on wave, But still the tide heaves onward ; We build like corals, grave on grave. The path that leadeth sunward. We're driven back in many a fray, Yet fresher strength we borrow ; And where the vanguard camps to-day. The rear shall rest to-morrow. " The Chairman : THE LUTHERAN CHURCH is represented by the Rev. Edvi^in Heyl Delk, D. D., whom I now present to you. Remarks of Dr. Delk. Mr. Chai'rman : — It is with peculiar feelings that I rise to speak within these hallowed walls. As a little boy I was brought from the South, at the close of the Civil War, and placed in the lowest form of the school con- nected with this Society of Friends. My father was known as a "Rebel" and firmly believed in the right of white men to hold in slavery the negro race. He was an ardent "States' Rights" champion, and fed me on Alexander H. Stephens' War Between the States. I had never seen a Quaker or attended a Friends' meeting. For eight years I was compelled to attend your Fourth- day meeting, and though I was not always attentive to the words spoken by the good men and women who then sat upon these benches, nor, I confess, was I always in a heavenly frame of mind, nevertheless, I wish to express my profound gratitude for two great lessons I learned in this place of worship. I learned first of all the value of 42 PENN AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. silence — a silence in which the human unrest subsides and is made vocal by the still voice of God. Since those days I have never doubted the value and eloquence of a devout silence. There was a still greater lesson you taught the boy of those days. Many words and faces impressed upon me the privilege and the duty of securing political and religious freedom for all men ; but there was one face and one form which is burned inefifaceably upon the walls of my brain and heart — the slight, gentle, brave, flaming figure of Lucretia Mott. It was through her ardent, refined, spiritual appeal to the sleeping sense of justice and brotherhood which exist in the heart of every normal soul that the vision of freedom for the black man and the more glorious union of the States took pos- session of me. I hope you will pardon this personal reference on this public occasion, for I feel that I would be ungrateful to the Friends in whose place of worship we meet to-night if I did not make this public acknowl- edo-ment of the endless debt of gratitude I owe to Lucretia Mott and to your Society. It is very difficult, after so many comprehensive and eloquent tributes to the character and work of William Penn have been spoken by the gentlemen with me on these benches, to say anything that is new and important. I venture, however, to offer a thought, as yet unexpressed, which seems to me fundamental to all Penn's heroic martyrdom, his generous plan of colonization, and the actualized liberty of civil and religious life found in his "Holy Experiment." I refer to his doctrine of the "Inner Light." There are three sources of authority in religion, i. 'h^^'^^^