william penn

william penn

Known primarily as the founding father of Pennsylvania, William Penn was also an accomplished writer and Quaker.   He was born on October 14, 1644 in London and was raised primarily by his mother because his father was a naval commander and rarely at home.   He attended a private school in Chigwell where he studied Greek and Roman classic education.   At the age of 12 he heard a traveling Quaker minister, Thomas Loe speak a message which touched him on many levels and would later change his belief system.   Penn attended Oxford University, but was expelled at age 17 for protesting due to his religious nonconformity.   His parents then sent him to France where he enrolled in a French Protestant University called l’Académie Protestante.
At the age of 23, Penn again crossed paths with Thomas Loe and became a friend and later converted to Quakerism.   It was at a Quaker meeting that he was arrested.   However, because of his fathers rank he was awarded his freedom.   Soon after his meeting with Loe he wrote a book called Sandy Foundations Shaken, which was an attack on Trinitarian doctrines.   He was imprisoned for writing this book and sent to the Tower of London.   While in the Tower of London he wrote another book called No Cross, No Crown.   This book was expanded years later and still spoken for centuries to come.   He was once again released from prison due to his father.   He then wrote Innocency with her Open Face, which justified and modified his position in the first book he wrote that was so controversial.
Returning to England in 1964, Penn studied at the most prestigious law school in London, Lincoln's Inn.   Penn was then brought to work with his father Admiral Penn as a courier to the King.   Penn formed a cordial relationship with King Charles II and his brother the Duke of York who later became known as King James II.   Penn landed himself in prison several more times for his “radical’ preaching for personal, property, and religious rights.  
In 1668,...