Three Apostles of Quakerism: Popular Sketches of Fox, Penn and BarclayRhodes, Benjamin
History
Three Apostles of Quakerism: Popular Sketches of Fox, Penn and Barclay
Rhodes, Benjamin
Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690; Fox, George, 1624-1691; Penn, William, 1644-1718; Society of Friends
Now begins the story of Pennsylvania. As boy and youth it had been his
favourite dream that in America might be planted a new England, without
the faults of the old--a home of civil and religious freedom. Events
now ripened the scheme. On the one hand, fierce persecution urged
him on; England and Germany seemed to be bent on driving out their
most energetic and high-souled children. On the other, the way opened
gradually and safely. In 1675, he was induced to become a manager of
West New Jersey. After five years experience he bought East New Jersey
in 1681, and in the same year the King granted him, by charter, the
fine tract adjoining, now called Pennsylvania. This was in lieu of
£16,000 due to his father for pay, and for money advanced in desperate
times to strengthen the navy. We are told that the Admiral obtained
the promise of this tract, having heard from a relative glowing
accounts of its richness. From the first, the "holy experiment," as
Penn called it, was popular. Algernon Sidney, with whom he kept up
constant correspondence, and whom he loved as a brother, helped him to
sketch a constitution for it. The Quakers, who had long been discussing
(especially since George Fox's visit to America in 1672) some scheme
of colonisation, were ready to supply emigrants of the right class
in large numbers. He had but to publish a sketch of the intended
constitution, and a statement of the resources and attractions of the
colony, and the response was immediate.
The constitution which he gave to Pennsylvania, and which he spent
many of the best years of his life in reducing to practice, has been
universally admired. Hepworth Dixon has sought for the genius of it
in the experiences of ancient Greece, and in the dreams of More and
Sir Philip Sidney. Penn was, indeed, acquainted with these, but his
inspiration was found in the instincts and aims of Quakerism. Plato
and Sir Thomas More, and even Algernon Sidney, had less to do with his
constitution than had George Fox. He found in the Society to which he
belonged a body combining a rare amount of freedom with admirable
organisation--a Society with abundant elasticity yet with excellent
discipline and cohesion. Quakerism not only acknowledges that methods
and governments exist for the sake of men, it believes that manhood,
especially sanctified manhood, is the great security of liberty and
justice. Its aim is to give scope to the individual to live out the
dictates of his own conscience, and to contribute his utmost share to
the general well-being. We are greatly mistaken if this was not also
the aim of Penn in the constitution which he gave Pennsylvania.[10]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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