Strangely enough, it was a Quaker who fired the young man's fancy with
this proud ambition. Thomas Loe was William Penn's good angel. There
seemed to be no reason why their paths should cross, yet their paths
were always crossing. A subtle and inexplicable magnetism drew them
together. Penn's father--Sir William Penn--was an admiral, owning an
estate in Ireland. When William was but a small boy, Thomas Loe visited
Cork. The coming of the Quaker caused a mild sensation; nobody knew what
to make of it. Moved largely by curiosity, the admiral invited the
quaint preacher to visit him. He did so, and, before leaving, addressed
the assembled household. William was too young to understand, but he was
startled when, in the midst of the address, a colored servant wept
aloud. The boy turned in his astonishment to his father, only to notice
that tears were making their way down the bronzed cheeks of the admiral.
The incident filled him with wonder and perplexity. He never forgot it.
It left upon his mind an indelible impression of the intense reality of
all things spiritual. As a schoolboy, he would wander in the forests
that so richly surrounded his Essex home, and give himself to rapt and
silent contemplation. On one occasion, he tells us, he 'was suddenly
surprised with an inward comfort.' It seemed to him as if a heavenly
glory irradiated the room in which he was sitting. He felt that he could
never afterwards doubt the existence of God nor question the possibility
of the soul's access to Him.
It was at Oxford that the boy's path crossed that of the Quaker for the
_second_ time. When, as a lad of sixteen, William Penn went up to the
University, he found to his surprise that Oxford was the home of Thomas
Loe. There the good man had already suffered imprisonment for conscience
sake. The personality of the Quaker appealed to the reflective
temperament of the young student, whilst the good man's sufferings for
his convictions awoke his profoundest sympathies. To the horror of his
father, he ardently espoused the persecuted cause, involving himself in
such disfavor with the authorities of the University that they
peremptorily ordered his dismissal.
But it was the third crossing of the paths that most deeply and
permanently affected the destinies of William Penn. Soon after his
expulsion from Oxford, he was appointed Victualler of the Squadron lying
off Kinsale, and was authorized to reside at, and manage, his father's
Irish estate. It was whilst he was thus engaged that Thomas Loe
re-visited Cork. Penn, of course, attended the meetings. 'It was in
this way,' he tells us, 'that God, in His everlasting kindness, guided
my feet in the flower of my youth, when about two and twenty years of
age. He visited me with a certain testimony of His eternal Word through
a Quaker named Thomas Loe.' The text at that memorable and historic
service, like a nail in a sure place, fastened itself upon the mind of
the young officer. Thomas Loe preached from the words: '_This is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith._'
_The faith that overcomes!_
_The faith by which a man may conquer the world!_
_The faith that is itself a victory!_
'_This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith!_'
Penn was electrified. His whole being was stirred to its depths. 'The
undying fires of enthusiasm at once blazed up within him,' one record
declares. 'He was exceedingly reached and wept much,' the Quaker
chronicle assures us. He renounced every hope that he had ever cherished
in order that he might realize this one. This was in 1666--the year in
which London was devoured by the flames.
'Penn's conversion,' says Dr. Stoughton, 'was now completed. That
conversion must not be regarded simply as a change of opinion. It
penetrated his moral nature. It made him a new man. He rose into another
sphere of spiritual life and consciousness.'
In his lecture on _Evangelist_, Dr. Alexander Whyte says that the first
minister whose words were truly blessed of God for our awakening and
conversion has always a place of his own in our hearts. Thomas Loe
certainly had a place peculiarly his own in the heart of William Penn.
Penn was with him at the last.
'Stand true to God!' cried the dying Quaker, as he clasped the hand of
his most notable convert. 'Stand faithful for God! There is no other
way! This is the way in which the holy men of old all walked. Walk in it
and thou shalt prosper! Live for God and He will be with you! I can say
no more. The love of God overcomes my heart!'
_The love that overcomes!_
_The faith that overcomes!_
'_This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith!_'