OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 53 



Spired by their weakness, the house resolved that the future naturaliza- 

 tion of foreigners should be made by special laws." 



3. The "Great Law," as already characterized, was the work of Penn 

 and long formed the basis of jurisprudence in Pennsylvania. Its first 

 section, justly celebrated for its provision for "liberty of conscience," ran 

 as follows : 



"Almighty God being only Lord of conscience, Father of lights and 

 spirits, and the Author as well as Object of all divine knowledge, faith 

 and worship, who only can enlighten the mind, and persuade and con- 

 vince the understanding of people in due reverence to His sovereignty 

 over the souls of mankind. It is enacted by the authority aforesaid, that 

 no person now or at any time hereafter living in this province, who shall 

 confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be the Creator, Upholder 

 and Euler of the world, and that professeth him or herself obliged in 

 conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, shall 

 in anywise be molested or prejudiced for his or her conscientious per- 

 suasion or practice, nor shall he or she at any time be compelled to 

 frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever, 

 contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her 

 Christian liberty in that respect, without any interruption or reflection; 

 and if any person shall abuse or deride any other for his or her different 

 j^ersuasion and practice in matter of religion, such shall be looked upon 

 as a disturber of the peace, and be punished accordingly. But to the 

 end that looseness, irreligion and atheism may not creep in under pre- 

 tence of conscience, in this province, be it further enacted by the au- 

 thority aforesaid, that according to the good example of the primitive 

 Christians, and for the ease of the creation, every first day of the week, 

 called the Lord's Day, people shall abstain from their common toil and 

 labor, that whether masters, parents, children or servants, they may the 

 better dispose themselves to read the Scriptures of truth at home, or to 

 frequent such meetings of religious worship abroad as may best suit 

 their respective persuasions." ^ 



On the 19th of December [1682] Penn by appointment met Lord Balti- 

 more at AVestriver, but their interview led to no solution of the vexa- 

 tious question of boundary, as is evident from the subjoined extract from 

 Penn's letter to "the Lords of the Committee of Plantations" in London. 



" The first thing I did was to present the King's letter, which consisted 

 of two parts; one that the Lord Baltimore has but two degrees; and the 

 other, that beginning at Watkins' Point, he should admeasure his said 

 degrees at sixty miles to a degree. This being read to him, first pri- 

 vately, then publicly, he told me the King was greatly mistaken and that 

 he would not leave his patent to follow the King's letter, nor could a 



1 Hazard's Aimals, p. 620. 



