A Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great Minds — John Shaqi
A Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great MindsBoreham, Frank
Religion
A Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great Minds
Boreham, Frank
Bible -- Influence; Christian biography
Immediately upon his arrival he called the Indians to meet him. They
gathered under the great elm at Shakamaxon--a spot that is now marked by
a monument. He approached the chiefs unarmed; and they, in return, threw
away their bows and arrows. Presents were exchanged and speeches made.
Penn told the natives that he desired nothing but their friendship. He
undertook that neither he nor any of his friends should ever do the
slightest injury to the person or the property of an Indian; and they,
in reply, bound themselves 'to live in love with Onas'--as they called
him--'and with the children of Onas, as long as the sun and the moon
shall endure.' 'This treaty of peace and friendship was made,' as
Bancroft says, 'under the open sky, by the side of the Delaware, with
the sun and the river and the forest for witnesses. It was not confirmed
by an oath; it was not ratified by signatures and seals; no written
record of the conference can be found; and its terms and conditions had
no abiding monument, but on the heart. _There_ they were written like
the law of God and were never forgotten. The simple sons of the
wilderness, returning to their wigwams, kept the history of the covenant
by strings of wampum, and, long afterwards, in their cabins, they would
count over the shells on a clean piece of bark and recall to their own
memory, and repeat to their children or to the stranger, the words of
William Penn.' The world laughed at the fantastic agreement; but the
world noticed, at the same time, that, whilst the neighboring colonies
were being drenched in blood and decimated by the barbarity of the
Mohicans and the Delawares, the hearths of Pennsylvania enjoyed an
undisturbed repose. No drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian.
So complete was the victory of the faith of William Penn!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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