Stephen McDowell: There were many early influential Americans

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. A number of years ago, I was asked to give a talk on the five most influential early Americans. Now to present, you know, the five most in a certain order. It's very difficult to do because there was many early influential Americans. some you, have certainly heard of, some you may not have heard of. And so, as I considered, well, who am I going to put on this list of the five most influential early Americans? I thought that I would pick from a variety, of people who influenced in different spheres of life because early Americans impacted every sphere of life because they had a biblical understanding of our calling to transform culture as well as to transform men. They understood that God gives us talents and skills, that we are to develop and use those to bring flourishing, to bring liberty, to advance, his kingdom in the earth. So, one, I wanted to look, at people who impacted various spheres of life. And then also I wanted to draw upon people in different time frames of early Americans from the colonial period, from the, beginning in the, 1600s, look at someone in the 1700s and the 1800s to draw from individuals from different, periods as well.

Five influential early Americans had tremendous impact in different spheres of life

And so what I want to begin to do in this and the following four, podcasts is to present to you five influential early Americans. Of course, we could debate or argue were these the most influential. And we could put lots of different people in here besides the ones that I am going to cover. But certainly these five individuals had tremendous impact in early America in different spheres of life. And so I want to introduce them to you in these next five, podcasts. Now, before I begin to take a look at the fifth, you know, I'm going to cover these in, descending order from number 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, as far as their influence. But I want to reiterate just a general understanding of what we as God's people are called to do. some have been taught in recent times that, well, if you're really going to be an important person in the kingdom of God and really be influential, that you need to be a pastor, a minister or a missionary, or you must work in the area of religious activity or Christian activity. but that's not how God looks at things because, m most individuals, most of us, he does not call to full time Christian service in the sense of being a minister serving directly in ministry, though we're all called to ministry as we'll see. I want to remind you of a parable that Jesus taught, the Parable of the talents in Luke 19:11, 27. I'm sure you're familiar, with this parable, but Jesus told us about a man who was ready to take a journey, and he was going to be away a while. So he called some of his servants together, and he gave each of them a coin, a mina, a talent. And he told each of them to do business with this until I come back, or one translation of this scripture says, occupy until I come. And so the master went away, and one of those that he had given this charge to and given a coin to, went and through trade, turned his one mina, his one talent, his one coin into ten. And then the second servant, who'd been given a coin as well, went and did what the master said. He did business with that, while his master was away. And through trade, that is through business, he turned his one talent into five. But the third guy was, as he would later say, he knew his master was an exacting man, and he was afraid. So he didn't want to lose what his master had given him on his return and wanted to be able to give it back to him and not say, I squandered it and don't have it anymore. So he went and buried his talent to keep it preserved so he could give it back to the master. Well, you remember the story. The master came back, and each servant began to give an account of what he had done with the talent, the mina that he had been given. And the first one said, look, master, your servant has your talent, has produced 10. The master said, well done, good and faithful servant. And he then was put in charge over cities, 10 cities. The second in turn came and said, look, master, your mina has made five more. And so he said, well done, good and faithful servant. And he was put in authority over cities as well. Then the last guy came, and he was in big trouble because he said, look, I know you're an exacting man, reaping where you do not sow. So I was afraid and buried your talent. Here it is. I've returned to you what you've given me. And the response of the master was, not positive to that servant. And he told him, he said, look, you should at least put the money in the bank, because you had at least gotten a little return for that. Which I've given you, and so he was cast where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.

God desires us through our labor to add wealth to his creation

Now there's many things we can learn from this parable, don't have time to explore them all. But one thing that, that I do want to highlight is that God desires us to be productive. God desires us through our labor to add wealth to his creation. That's the intent that God had for man from the very beginning when he created man. So in this parable that the mina or the talent, what does it represent? Well it does represent wise use of money. We will give an account to God of how we use the material resources that come into our hands. And how do we use them? Do we use them to advance the kingdom of God, to bring flourishing, to bring blessing, to add value to God's creation. So the miners represent that. But I believe they represent more than just wise use of money. I believe, believe those minas represent all the talents, skills and abilities that God has given each one of us. And what he tells us, he said, look, I want you to do business with this, with all the talent, skills and abilities each of us God has given a. We have a unique calling. We have unique ability to fulfill that calling. Now we must labor and work with God to increase our ability to be productive, so we are co laborers with him, but he wants us to take those skills and talents to bring increase to the creation. So we're to work as partners with him to take dominion over the earth. And we see that in Genesis chapter one, the very beginning, when God created man in his image, put him in the garden, he gave him a mission to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to take dominion over over the earth. In other words, to be productive, to add value to my original creation. And this is the mission that Jesus or commission that Jesus gave to his servants, to us when he came into the world and before he ascended to heaven. He said go and bear fruit to make disciples of all the nations that were to work with him to occupy until I return. And so Jesus will be coming back in the future the second time. But we don't know when. But we do know what we're supposed to be doing. And that's doing business with everything that he's given us. Our talents and skills, to use our work, to add value to God's creation, to provide a needed good or service to mankind, to advance liberty, to advance blessing, to advance his truth. See, our work is a vital part of God's Plan for us in the nations. And our work includes all kinds of things, things some, God has called to be missionaries, Some God has called to the pulpit ministry. But that's not most of his people. They're called to different spheres of business and education and government and training children and, inventing and being farmers and all kinds of things that we're called to. This is our work. And we're to. Through our work is the means that we're going to do business, to occupy, to fulfill this command that Christ gave us in this parable of the talents we will or we are to occupy through our occupation. I think this is summarized well by a quote that's engraved on a statue in the United states Capitol building. U.S. capitol contains scores and scores of statues of heroes of early America and more recent America as well, that every state gets to send statues of two people from their state that made significant contributions. Now, one of those, statues is of Dr. Crawford W. Long. Engraved on that statue is this. First, it tells what he does, this discoverer of the use of sulfuric ether as an anesthetic in surgery on March 30, 1842, at Jefferson, Jackson County, Georgia, USA. So that's what he did. Here's the man who discovered the use of discovered anesthetics. And so certainly we have. If you've ever had surgery and had to be cut open and have anesthesia, you can thank Dr. Crawford W. Long that you didn't have to, be inflicted with all the pain that would come from that if you weren't. Did not have anesthesia. But then there's also engraved right under what he did, this quote from him which says, my profession is, to me, a ministry from God. See, he had, as our founders did, had a biblical understanding of work, of calling that. He said, my profession is to be a ministry from God. His profession was a medical doctor, but he also invented or discovered, anesthesia. And this has been a great blessing to mankind. It's added value, it's made our life easier and better. Because this Christian man used his talents like in the parable of the talents he was given. Here's a mina. And he multiplied it and brought great blessing and increase. to that, this is the view that we should have of our calling, of our work and our labor. We're to be excellent and increase our capacity to be efficient and to be productive as well. Because, you know, the more fruitful we are, the more productive we are, the more that God can entrust us with more. It's interesting. You know, in that parable of the talents, remember the unfaithful servant who buried his one talent. The master took his talent from him and he gave it to the man who had produced 10 talents. Now some people today would say, well that's not fair, he's already got 10 talents. Give it to somebody else that doesn't have so much. Kind of sounds like what socialists would say today. But see, God understood that the man with the 10 talents, if you gave him one more, he's going to increase it tenfold, he's going to increase many jobs, he's going to add, to the increase of goods and services. He's going to be a great blessing. And so to those who have much, God will give more. And to, those who are productive in using our talents and skills, it brings more and more and more. And so we need to, I want to keep this parable in mind, keep biblical calling, understanding, biblical understanding of work in mind as we look at these five influential early Americans because they made contributions in many different spheres of life, in government and education and in invention and missionary work in all spheres of life. Because this is a great example for all of us today as we seek to fulfill our biblical calling.

This podcast looks at five influential early Americans who helped shape the United States

So let's begin to look at five most influential early Americans, understanding that we certainly could put other people in this. And as I said earlier, I just wanted to draw from people in different spheres of life and different time periods. And we could certainly add many, many others to this who had great influence in the birth, growth and development of the United States. So in this podcast then, I'm going to take a look at what I might call of these five people, the number five guy who's influential in early America, and this was gentleman who is involved in the colonization period in giving birth to a colony during the 1600s because these early 13 colonies formed the foundation, the seed, if you will, of what became the United States of America. As we look at each of these colonies and individuals that God used to give birth to these, we certainly gain insight into the foundation of what produced the United States of America that has lasted for 250 years. The number five guy was the founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, William Penn. Now William Penn, during his lifetime, in fact, when he was in prison for his faith, he a number of times were thrown in prison because he, he was not worshiping in accordance with the established religion of England at the time. But he believed there should be religious freedom and he stood upon that and was put in jail. And one of these times, when he was jailed for his faith, he wrote a book entitled no Cross, no Crown. By the way, some of these individuals in previous podcasts we've looked at in more detail. And if you want to learn more, more about them, you can go back and look at some of the earlier podcasts to get some more knowledge of these five guys I've touched on one way or another, probably all five of these. Some, in more detail than others.

William Penn wrote book, no Cross, no Crown. And in the book he wrote this statement

So I know a year or more ago that we looked at William Penn and m. more about his life. But. So he wrote this book, no Cross, no Crown. And in the book he wrote this statement, christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. I love the title of this book, no Cross, no Crown. It really exemplifies the life message of William Penn. And this statement helps to expound on the title of that book. See, Christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. And as we'll see, what was true for him is also true for us that God, has promised us, a crown. But the way of the crown is through the cross. And William Penn in his life exemplified this very important message.

William Penn converted to Christianity under the influence of Quaker preacher Thomas Lowe

So let me briefly give you, some insight into how Penn became a Christian and how God set him on his course of his life. William, Penn was born in London, England, on October 24, 1644. He was the son of a wealthy admiral, sir, William Penn. Sir William Penn knew all the leaders, the big shots in England, and was wealthy, influential, and that was the environment that William Penn grew up, up in. Now, Penn was brought up in the established church and had a good moral upbringing, but he never encountered the living God until he came under the influence of the preaching of a Quaker preacher named Thomas Lowe when he was, 21 years old. Now, the Quakers, they call themselves Friends, were a new sect of Christianity that was beginning during, during this time. Many of them were very zealous for the Lord and preached truths that the established Church of England was not preaching. And like any new sect, certainly there were some, ideas or actions that, we might take issue with. But nonetheless, these individuals were sincere, devout, orthodox in the basic tenets of the Christian faith. And so when he was 21 years old, he was converted under the preaching of Thomas Lowe. Now, after his conversion, just like the title of his book, at his conversion, he took up his cross and he said, I will follow you, Lord. I see that you died on the cross for me. I believe that you purchased penalty for my sin. That you were raised from the dead. That I might have eternal life. And so he committed to follow him wherever you want to go. So he had many crosses to bear. It wasn't just that one time acknowledging the cross. But when he said, I'll follow you, Jesus, no matter the cost. Well, it did cost him, something as it so throughout Christian history has cost so many of the followers of Christ, so much. Well, after his conversion, Penn joined the Quakers, and began to worship with them. But he also suffered with them because since they were a new sect outside the established church, they were persecuted. Many of them were thrown in jail and imprisoned for their faith. And that included William Penn. That he was imprisoned for his faith in Ireland and in England and other places. And when his father, Sir William Penn, heard that his son was hanging around this religious. This new religious sect, these group of fanatics he would call them, he, tried to persuade him to leave them and said, you should have nothing to do with these individuals, these, Quakers. But Penn believed that God had called him. He touched his heart and he loved his dad, but he couldn't deny his faith. And so his father said, well, I will disinherit you if you don't leave the Quakers. And again, he was very wealthy. But Penn said, no, I must obey God must follow him and do what I believe he's called me to do. And so he was. He was disinherited by his father. Now, it wasn't long after this that Penn, for a second, time at least, was imprisoned in 1668 for riding a track. As he began to promote the. The cause of the Christian faith and the. And the Friends. He wrote a tract called the Sandy Foundation. Shaken, you can imagine what was, in it. But the ideas in it, though they were basic orthodox Christian ideas, the authorities didn't like it. So they threw him in jail. They threw him at Newgate Prison. Now, William Penn wrote about his imprisonment with these. I was committed the beginning of December. And was not discharged till the fall of the leaf. Following wanting about 14 days of nine months. And as I saw very few, so I saw them but seldom except my own Father and Dr. Stealingfleet, the present Bishop of Worcester. The one came as my relation, the other at the King's command to endeavor my change of judgment. But that 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 use force for religion could never be in the right. And there's certainly great truth in this that those who have to use force to impose their religion, cannot be in the right because God doesn't convert through force. Certainly many other faiths and religions, man made religions do that. It's the only way they can advance, like Islam. That's how it's advanced over the last 1600 years. But 1400 years, but not true Christianity. And so it was during. So he's thrown in prison. They came to try to convince him to leave the Christian faith and said, you're going to stay here in prison unless you repent, unless you turn from following these Quakers and get back on the right path. You're going to rotate here in jail. But when he was told this, his response, 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. So he was ready to rot in prison, stay there the rest of his life if he, had to. Now is during this imprisonment in the Tower of London that Penn wrote his famous book, no Cross, no Crown, again containing that wonderful phrase, Christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. Well, Penn was released from the tower in 1669, not because he recanted, but his, He was. Someone pleaded his case and paid his fines, likely his, his father. And then he went to Cork, Ireland. And that's. His father had an estate there and that's where he was converted in Ireland. And he worked with his friends to get them out of prison. He continued to, to do all he could to support the quakers. Well, in 1670 he got word that his father was very ill, deathly ill. So he returned to England to visit him. Now while there he planned to go to a meeting, a Quaker meeting, there in London. And so when he and a friend, Mead, got to the meeting, they were going to lead the meeting. And, and that was to take place that they found that the authorities had padlocked the Meeting house door so nobody could get in for the meeting. Well, Penn and me just decided, well, if they won't let us in, then we'll just have our meeting out here in the street. So they began to have a meeting in the street when the authorities came and arrested the them for preaching. And so they were thrown in jail. And then the trial for this offense, took place in September of 1670. Now Penn would later write an extensive record, of this trial that you can find today and read if you're interested. But the charge against Penn and Mead was inciting a riot, carrying arms and terrorizing the people. Well, Penn explained to the jury that he wasn't guilty of anything but worshiping God. And he quoted Cook, whom he had studied in law school. Because Penn. You know, it's interesting, Penn, was brought up in a military family. His father was an admiral. In fact, the first painting we have of William Penn is in his military, garb in armor. Military armor. Which is ironic because the Quakers were known as pacifists who would not go and fight. But here's Penn, who became a Quaker, very influential one is seen, in his armor. And so, ah, Penn was, in a military family. He had the best of education. He studied to be a lawyer and that's where he studied Coke. Coke was a well known English jurist.

William Penn was convicted of speaking in Grace Church Street during trial

He wrote commentaries on the law. And everyone would have studied Coke at this time. Penn, had studied and knew the law of England, his rights and liberties as an Englishman. And during this trial he quoted Coke, whom he had studied in law school, on the rights of the common man. He even gave to page numbers for each case as if he had the law books stacked up beside him. Well, the 12 jurors listened intently to his and Meade's calm, clear evidence. And this seemed to infuriate the judges, recorder and mayor, who kept shouting interruptions. One of the judges snapped at Meade when he was testifying, you ought to have your tongue cut out. But most of their fury was aimed at William Penn. He was entirely too convincing and too aware of his legal rights. The mayor roared to a guard, take him away. Take him away. Two guards hauled him to the far side of the courtroom and threw him down in the bail dock, which was a kind of pen surrounded by a high partition. Penn climbed up to the top, hung onto the edge and shouted over the top of the bell dock, I plead for the fundamental laws of England. If these are not observed, our liberties are openly to be invaded, our families ruined. Well, at this point the judge has instructed the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty. Penn, still hanging on, protested again. It's intolerable that my jury should be menaced. Well, the recorder screamed, pull that fellow down. Pull him down. Well, the prisoner wasn't a man to be kept down. As the jury filed out, he scrambled up again and called to them to remember they were Englishmen. Mine, your privileges do not give away your right. Well, the jury was so fired by his words that they came back in an hour and a half and gave their defiant verdict. Only thing Penn was guilty of was speaking in Grace Church Street. That's where they had their meeting in Grace Church Street. Well, the judges scream with anger. One observer said they exceeded the bounds of all reason and civility. Well, the mayor ordered the jury locked up again without meat, drink, fire or tobacco until they brought in the right verdict. See, there were jury trials in England at this time, but the jurist didn't have freedom to give the verdict that they believed was correct and ripe after they waived the evidence as witnessed here in this trial. So the mayor ordered the jury to be locked up until they brought in the right verdict. Well, Penn climbed up the side of the bail dock again and asked ringingly, what hope is there of ever having justice done when juries are threatened and their verdicts rejected? Well, the mayor ranted, stop his mouth and bring fetters to stake him to the ground. Three times in the next two days, the cold, hungry jurors filed back in and repeated the same verdict. Penn had appealed to their sense of justice, and four of the jurors held out to the end. The final verdict was not guilty of anything. Well, the spectators in the courtroom roared their approval. Sir Jon Robinson and several of the other judges, you might say, turned as scarlet as their robes. Well, after an angry huddle, they said the 12 jurors must go to jail along with the prisoners they had just acquitted. And there they would all have to stay until they paid a whacking fine. So again, no justice, no ability for jurists to give their verdict without fear of some kind of retribution. And so we see here, this is, one of those significant crosses that William Penn had to bear in his life. There are many more throughout his life. I've written a booklet on, William Penn that you can [email protected] in fact, it's called no cross, no crown. To read more about this early American hero, and you might say, well, he's English, yes, but as we'll see, because he stood up, embraced the cross, then God was able to bring up to crown him with great success. Now, again, Penn was not going to pay his fine, from this, but someone else paid it for him so that he was able. He was released from jail, and then he was able to spend time with his dying father. And during those days, before his father died, Penn was reconciled with his father. His father had come to see the great conviction that his son had and the example, of how he's lived and what he did and before he died, his father said to him, son William, let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your conscience. And so he was reconciled with his father. This was because he stood strong. He embraced the cross, he began to receive the crown, the blessing, the flourishing and one reconciliation with his father. but that also includes being restored to the inheritance, which was very important in American histories. We'll see here in just a minute. Now, the trial, this unjust trial that just gave you a little insight into actually was reviewed by higher authorities. There's a memorial tablet in the sessions House on the side of Old Bailey in London, regarding the review of this trial. And it's engraved on that memorial tablet. It says, on review, quote, the court established the right of juries to give their verdict according to their convictions. So because of this trial, where William Penn stood upon his, rights as a British citizen. And by the way, just like the apostle Paul, William Penn considered his civil liberties a sacred cause. He understood his rights as a British citizen, really as a citizen of the earth and as a Christian, he stood upon those rights. And because he stood strong, it led to a change in, jurisprudence in England that the rights of juries to give a verdict according to their own convictions began to be established and secured in the, English speaking world. This was one great fruit that came about from the crosses that William Penn bore. This is one aspect of the crown he received. Not only that, but as one historian wrote, the sufferings and the death under persecution of the Quakers mark the end of grand scale persecution for conscience sake in the English speaking world. And so because of work of especially William Penn and other leaders in the Quaker sect who were suffering great persecution, thrown in jail, as we've seen since, they stood up, made, this, fought the battle and fought back against religious tyranny and civil tyranny. It brought about the end of persecution for conscience sake in the English speaking world. Another fruit and benefit.

Pennsylvania played a significant role in the birth of, of America

And then another thing that this is certainly affects us and the United States of America. And why I put him on one of the five most influential early Americans is that, being brought back into the inheritance of his father, part of that inheritance that he got when his father died was a huge debt that the Crown owed the admiral his father, because the admiral had financed his own naval voyages in, conflicts that England had with other nations. And he had amassed like a 16,000 pound debt that the Crown owed to the Admiral, which then he owed to William. And William recognized, well, the Crown probably never will pay it back. And at this time he couldn't. So he, petitioned the king, approached the king and said, look, in place of this huge debt that I, you owed my father now owed me, I will take instead of that a tract of land in the new colonies of America. And so the king thought, sure, I'll be glad to issue you a charter for land. So he was granted the land between, NewSong York and Maryland and issued a charter in 1681 giving him the authority to establish a colony, start a colony, and to really govern it as he saw best. William Penn said, after he received this charter from the king, that my God has given it me through many difficulties will I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. See, the reason William Penn wanted this tract of land because he wanted, as he wrote, to set up a holy experiment. He had suffered great persecution in England and in Europe. The Quakers had, and other religious dissenters as well were experiencing persecution, just because they wanted to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience as they understood the scripture, told them that they were to worship. So he thought, I want to set up a place where people can come and freely worship God. A free colony for all mankind. William Pent a holy experiment, a place where people can come and worship God without fear of being tossed in jail, fined, persecuted, beaten or anything else. That's why he asked for this, tract of land. And so he said, I believe God will bless it and make it the seed of a nation. And it did become a vital part, a vital seed that became part of the nation of the United States of America. and Pennsylvania played a significant role in much of the beginning of America. Certainly all 13 colonies contributed to that. But by the time we get to 1776, it was there in Philadelphia that the Declaration of Independence was drafted and approved. Some years later, the Constitution was drafted, and approved. It served as the national capital for seven of the first eight years in Washington's term or even first few years of Adams term as well. So Pennsylvania played a significant part in the birth of, of America. And it was William Penn's vision to start a holy experiment that provided a great, great foundation, a great, contribution to the United States of America. Now, William Penn also wrote the frame of government of Pennsylvania embraced many biblical ideas of governments reflected in that document. It was adopted a prop 25th, 1682. And you can go and read that, get that to see some ideas, governmental ideas of William Penn. Another thing Penn did in contribution to early America, help colonize that, help Write laws, biblical laws, provide religious liberty and civil liberty. But he also, made, ah, treaty with the Indians. You know, Penn received the land of Pennsylvania from the king, who claimed right to it through, through exploration. but when he got here, he also recognized that Native Americans lived here. So he said, I'm going to purchase the land from them as well. So he got it from the crown. Then the Indians who lived in the territory, he made agreement with them. I'm going to purchase, purchased this land. In fact, later he discovered that the Indians that were living there were actually in subjugation to other Indians who lived outside the area. Because in a previous battle they had, they were subjugated to it. So it was those other Indians who really had claim to, that land. And Penn paid them as well. So in some way paid three times for the land of Pennsylvania. But Penn made a treaty with the Indians that lasted throughout his whole life. And the Indians, the Native Americans love William Penn. He was a man of his word. He kept his word. And, they had, great relationship because of his, action. So Penn came, he actually came to help oversee and lived in the Philadelphia area. He named it City of Brotherly Love. He helped lay out, lay that territory out, colony out, and began to wrote the law, its government and involved in its laws. And so he lived here for a number of years, but then did return to England. And that's where he died in 1718 at the age of 74. And as one, gentleman made the comment, in a eulogy to William Penn, he said, as he faithfully bore the cross, the crown which was his hope and long since is his eye, is his possession. So here it was William Penn who had demonstrated what he had written in his book, no cross, no Crown. Christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ Crown, marvelously exemplified that principle. He gladly took up the cross, the crosses that God had for him. And of course, we all have to take up the cross. We take up that recognition of the death of Christ, and then we follow him in that. But throughout our life there are many things that we, lay down for the Lord. We say, not my will, but your will, be done. I will follow you wherever you direct. I'm willing to do whatever you call me to do. And if we're faithful to take up the cross, to follow the Lord, to develop our talents and skills as the parable of the talents tell us, to do business with them, to flourish with them as we're faithful to do that Then God. God can bring great blessing upon us, upon our family and upon the whole nation at large. See, to disciple the nations, we must pay the price. We must take up our cross. If we want to transform America today, and it needs a lot of transformation, then every one of us, of God's people must fulfill the calling, the part that he has called us to do. We all have a different part in different spheres of life. We most likely aren't going to give birth to a new colony like William Penn did. We're not going to be able to write the governments, the constitutions, the charters, frame of government of a colony or do all the things he did. But if we all do our part, however big or small in the scope of things, then we're going to all be contributing to advancing liberty. See, if we bear the cross, we will obtain the crown. If we're willing to say, lord, I'll follow you wherever you want me to go. I'll, do whatever you want me to do. I'll, labor, I'll work hard and being productive in my calling and training my children and, being a good steward in every sphere of life. If we all do that, then we can rest assured that God will bring blessing. He'll bring the crown. He'll bring flourishing, not only to us personally, but to the nation at large. So William Penn is one of those men that I chose to be one of the most influential early Americans. And you can, I think, began to appreciate him and see why, because his contributions were so great to the cause of the kingdom of God. Well, thanks for joining us. I encourage you to visit our website, Providence Foundation. As I mentioned, I do have a little booklet on William Penn called no Cross, no Crown. If you want to read more, about him. If you want to read more about the founding of America and the colonization period, get our book, America's Providential History, where we take a look at how God prepared the seed, planted the seed to give birth to the United States of America. And, want you to come back next week because there's. We're going to take a look at another individual who is very significant in, America. So hope to see you then. God bless you.

Five Most Influential Early Americans: 5. William Penn 

Chapters:

(00:00) Stephen McDowell: There were many early influential Americans

(02:02) Five influential early Americans had tremendous impact in different spheres of life

(07:12) God desires us through our labor to add wealth to his creation

(15:10) This podcast looks at five influential early Americans who helped shape the United States

(17:27) William Penn wrote book, no Cross, no Crown. And in the book he wrote this statement

(18:24) William Penn converted to Christianity under the influence of Quaker preacher Thomas Lowe

(28:33) William Penn was convicted of speaking in Grace Church Street during trial

(37:00) Pennsylvania played a significant role in the birth of, of America