Holy Experiment Research Articles

John Winthrop's "Modell of Christian Charity" in a Wider Context

John Winthrop's Modell of Christian Charity has probably enjoyed as much attention from historians as it did from Winthrop's shipmates aboard the Arbella in 1630. It offers an explicit statement, convenient for quotation, of the idea that the Bay Colony was in covenant with God, a chosen people, a new Israel. It has accordingly become the very emblem of the Puritan quest, the manifesto in which Winthrop proclaimed the place of Massachusetts as a city upon a hill. The document deserves the attention it has received and perhaps a little more. Historians have generally related it to the events that followed it. It represents the ideal by which the later actuality is measured or the key by which to explain the sense of mission that engaged first New England and then the United States. The validity of this interpretation is not in question, but a look at the context in which Winthrop was operating may enrich our understanding of what he was doing in his shipboard sermon. The Modell of Christian Charity was an explication of the love that flows from regeneration in Christ, and of the hope that this love would inform and sustain the holy experiment on which Winthrop and his companions were embarked. More immediately it was an appeal for subjection to authority. God himself, Winthrop said, had ordained that must be rich some poore, some high and eminent in power and dignitie; others meane and in subjeccion. This was the lesson, the model, which the rest of the sermon or essay was designed to uphold.' The passengers must have expected some iteration of the lesson, for it was the central platitude of sixteenthand

Theocracy in New England: The Nature and Meaning of the Holy Experiment in the Wilderness

Theocracy in New England: The Nature and Meaning of the Holy Experiment in the Wilderness

The American Revolution and the Testimony of British Quakers Against the Slave Trade

THE AMERICAN REVOLUWON AND THE TESTIMONY OF BRITISH QUAKERS AGAINSTTHESLAVE TRADE By Judith Jennings* Some years ago, Sydney James observed that the Revolution had a decisive impact on the American Society of Friends. Because of it, James argued, American Quakers were forced to rethink and then to redefine their position in the life of the newly independent nation. American Friends concluded that "they must take a more responsible role in propagating virtue and practicing benevolence, both as individuals and as a Society."1 The Revolution had a similar effect on British Quakers in at least one very important instance . After the break with America, British Friends politicized their opposition to the slave trade and began a campaign to end it which was to have far-ranging consequences. It was American Friends who first brought the problems of slavery and the slave trade to the attention of the British Quaker organization. As early as 1712, Pennsylvania Friends requested the London Yearly Meeting to make some official statement regarding the holding and selling of slaves by Quakers.2 The British Friends were not eager to get involved in what they had evidently considered a colonial problem because it was not until 1727 that the London Yearly Meeting pronounced the slave trade a "Practice . . . not commendable nor Allowable" for Friends.3 With that, the British Society was content to let the subject rest for another thirty years, until 1757 when two London Friends visited the Colonies and reported "That in some places great injury seems to arise to our Society from the keeping of Negroes ... as well as *Associate Professor of History, Union College, Barbourville, Kentucky. 1.Sydney James, "The Impact of the American Rev/olution on Quakers' Ideas about their Sect." William and Mary Quarterly, XIX (1962), 382. 2.Thomas Drake, Quakers and Slavery in America (Gloucester, Mass., 1965), 25. 3.London Yearly Meeting, Minutes of the Yearly Meeting held in London , vol. 11, 4 June 1757, in the Friends Reference Library, Friends House, London. 99 100Quaker History dealing in them. . . ." The London Yearly Meeting of 1758 was moved to warn "Friends everywhere, that they endeavour to keep their hands clear" of the slave trade.4 Three years later, at the urging of the newly-formed Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings, London Yearly Meeting decreed that any British Friend participating in the trade would be disowned by the Society.5 American Friends were pleased but prodded the British Society to make a public statement. In May 1767, Philadelphia sent the London Meeting for Sufferings an anti-slave trade tract by Anthony Benezet and suggested that it be printed and distributed. The request wasn't as strange as it may seem; the Meeting for Sufferings was experienced in distributing literature, and in drafting proposed legislation and for making personal applications to Members of Parliament as well. London granted Philadelphia's request and delivered Benezet's pamphlet to every Member of both Houses of Parliament.6 The testimony against the slave trade became public. Then Maryland Friends hinted that London might try to persuade the Government to abolish the slave trade to that colony. Uneasy that slaveholding had "crept in, and got deep Root amongst us," the Maryland Yearly Meeting thought that if London Quakers would "communicate the Concern of Friends in general on this Account, to those in Authority with you . . . [it] might be instrumental to prevent . . . further importation amongst us."7 London approved the sentiment but balked at action. Lacking the benefit of the Holy Experiment, the British Society distrusted political activity more than its transatlantic offspring. The parent organization had always limited political involvement to cases directly affecting the Society and was not accustomed to seeking political remedies to the ills of the world. 4.Ibid., 17 May 1758. Epistles from the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in London, to the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings in Great Britain, Ireland and Elsewhere from 1681 to 1857 (2 vols., London, 1858), vol. 1, 307-308. 5.London Yearly Meeting, Minutes, vol. 12, 14 May 1761. 6.London Meeting for Sufferings, Minute Book of the Meeting for Sufferings , vol. 32, 22 & 29 May 1767, in the Friends Reference Library, Friends House, London. For a discussion of...

The Framing of Government in Pennsylvania: Ideas in Contact with Reality

L ITTLE is known of the pressures and influences which bore upon William Penn as he pieced together the instruments of government for his Holy Experiment between March 4, i68i, when he received his charter from Charles II, and April 25, i682, when his Frame of Government was published in London. Most historians, upon reading the widely heralded Frame of i682, have been content to believe that Penn was given the rare opportunity of forging a government of his own and that the result was a pure distillation of his political philosophy, drawn from studies of classical Republican writers, his practical experience since i675 in the affairs of West New Jersey, and the counsel of a few intimate advisers such as Algernon Sidney, the radical parliamentarian, and Benjamin Furly, the Rotterdam Quaker merchant. This uncomplicated view assumes a confidence in the Quaker founder on the part of his principal supporters that probably never existed. Penn, in all likelihood, was far from a free agent in the work of constituting a government. William Markham, his cousin and a trusted adjutant in the colony for many years, indicated as much when he later wrote: I know very well it [the Frame of Government] was forced from him by friends who unless they received all that they demanded would not have settled the country.' But beyond this intriguing comment little direct evidence of such pressures survives to illuminate the government-making process in i68i and I682; nor is it likely that any interplay between Penn and his supporters was recorded at the time. But what is evident from an examination of Penn's remaining correspondence and from a close analysis of the various drafts of government fashioned in i68i and i682 is that the ideal state which Penn had constructed theoretically in the i670's in a series of essays and pamphlets was

William Penn's "Holy Experiment": The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701

William Penn's "Holy Experiment": The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701

William Penn's "Holy Experiment": The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701

Journal Article William Penn's “Holy Experiment”: The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681–1701. By Edwin B. Bronner. (New York: Temple University Publications, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1962. [x] + 306 pp. Map, chronology, notes, appendix, bibliography, and index. $6.00.) Get access David S. Lovejoy David S. Lovejoy University of Wisconsin Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 50, Issue 1, June 1963, Pages 108–109, https://doi.org/10.2307/1888990 Published: 01 June 1963

William Penn's "Holy Experiment": The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701 (review)

William Penn's "Holy Experiment": The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701 (review)

The Twilight of the Holy Experiment: A Contemporary View

The Twilight of the Holy Experiment: A Contemporary View

Puritan Political Thought and the “Cases of Conscience”

Looking back over the stormy times of Revolution and Civil War, Thomas Hobbes came to the conclusion that it was superior force which had been decisive. The sword rather than the heavens had passed judgment upon the people of the Lord. The holy zeal of the early Puritans had run its course; the crusade was ended. Had Thomas Hobbes looked across the Atlantic he would have seen another “Holy Experiment” in decline. The second half of the Seventeenth century saw a debacle of Puritanism of such dimension that not even their most purposeful enemies of an earlier date would have had cause to complain. One recent historian has even called the Restoration of Church and King a “Laudian triumph.” Yet for all this, the Revolution took place and triumphed, if only for a time. In evaluating the political ideas which the Puritans held before and even during their rise to power, subsequent events have too often been taken into account. Puritanism led to Revolution; thus doctrine of resistance to authority must be stressed. The movement failed to hold on to power largely due to the Utopianism of its proponents. This also must be explained. The first view has often led to stress upon a straight line of Puritan thought from Christopher Goodman to John Milton. The second contention based itself on the literal application of Scripture which Puritans were sometimes apt to make. It was their urge “to build Jerusalem on England's green and pleasant strand” which led them into all sorts of follies. We are still inclined to think of the Puritan in sombre dress, his intellectual equipment symbolized by the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other.

Philadelphia: Holy Experiment. By Struthers Burt. (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1945. xiii + 379 pp. Illustrations and index. $3.75.)

Journal Article Philadelphia: Holy Experiment. By Struthers Burt. (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1945. xiii + 379 pp. Illustrations and index. $3.75.) Get access William A. Russ, Jr. William A. Russ, Jr. Susquehanna University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 32, Issue 1, June 1945, Pages 139–140, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/32.1.139 Published: 01 June 1945

Articles in Quaker Periodicals

ARTICLES IN QUAKER PERIODICALS51 its fine essential characteristics as democracy, religious liberty, justice to settlers and aborigines, the absence of a militia even for defense, and the abolition of oaths. Minor regulations are referred to, such as the use of prisons as an instrument of reform rather than vengeance, the limitation of lawyers' fees, and the education of poor children at public expense. Later chapters tell of Pennsylvania as Penn found it and as it grew under his constitution, of his treatment of the Indians (one of the longer chapters), of difficulties in the actual government, of the beginning of injustice to the Indians and its resulting complications, of pressure from the outside due to the rivalry of England and France, which led to the popular feeling that a standing army was a practical necessity; and finally of the withdrawal of Friends from politics in 1756. Thus the "Holy Experiment," markedly successful as long as the Founder's principles were followed, did not succeed in maintaining itself in the world as it then was, and was deemed to have failed. The book is intended as a sort of primer from which one may judge whether it really failed, or whether the world about it failed. The answer will depend on what one means by "fail."TKB ARTICLES IN QUAKER PERIODICALS The Friend (London) HPENTH Month 28, 1938, pp. 920-22. As background information for the special peace issue of The Friend (London), John L. Nickalls, Librarian of Friends Reference Library, has an article, "The Quaker Peace Testimony: Some Notes on its History." He traces the varied expression of Quaker peace principles, from the absolutist position of Fox's day to the humanitarian activities of the present, and maintains that an effective peace program must be based on an inner religious experience. Eleventh Month 4, 1938, pp. 959-60. "Friends Service, Some Historical Notes on a War-time Committee," recounts some of the early steps in 1915 by which a "Friends Service Committee" was formed to deal with the problem of a peaceful service as an alternative to combatant service. This committee was the original form of the present Friends Service Council in England and the inspiration for the organization of the American Friends Service Committee. Eleventh Month 11, 1938, p. 992. Cutlers' Hall, one of the units in the group of medieval buildings which belong to Friends in Bristol and are known as Quakers Friars, has recently been restored. It was re-dedicated on Saturday, November 5, 1938, with ceremonies recalling its use by Dominican Friars in the fourteenth century, by the Cutlers' Guild in Queen Elizabeth's time, and by Friends since 1845. 52 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION November 18, 1938, pp. 1018-19. In an account of the 250th anniversary celebration of the Winchmore Hill Meeting House, Tottenham Monthly Meeting, Middlesex, it is recalled that Thomas Shillitoe was a member of the meeting, and that Dr. John Fothergill was buried at Winchmore Hill in 1780. December 2, 1938, p. 1091. Plans are being drawn up to commemorate, on either June 24 or July 1, 1939, the tercentenary of the birth of Thomas Ellwood at his burial place at Jordans. It is also hoped that a new edition of Ellwood's autobiography will be forthcoming during this year. The Friend (Philadelphia) PLEVENTH Month 3, 1938, pp. 154-55. In an article on "The Value of Quaker Biography," Ernest E. Taylor, an English Friend, emphasizes his conviction that interest and inspiration are the rewards of reading in the extensive literature of Quaker lives. His list of the twelve "best" Quaker biographies is a highly individual one, drawn up primarily to arouse discussion. Twelfth Month 15, 1938, pp. 211-14. The Germantown Friends Library was for fifty years after its founding in 1845 the only public library in Germantown, according to an account of its history by Elizabeth Gray Vining. Fiction has been excluded from its shelves by reason of early conviction and the specific restriction of some of its endowment funds, but the Library has not suffered from lack of popular patronage as a result, and it is increasingly the "intellectual center and the resort for youth" that its...

Friends Meet in World Conference

70 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS* HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION In particular, the London Friend printed, under the general heading "Quakerism in Many Lands," a considerable series of articles, taking up the following countries on the dates given: Japan,October 8,1937France,November 19, 1937 Syria,October IS, 1937Ireland,November 26, 1937 Sweden,October 22, 1937West China,December 3,1937 Mexico,October 27, 1937Germany,December 10, 1937 East Africa,November 12, 1937Cuba,December 31, 1937 The Conference Committee was itself not idle in the matter of appropriate literature. It issued in 1936, under the editorship of D. Elton Trueblood, a pamphlet of sixty-four pages containing Advance Study Outlines referring to the concerns of the several Commissions, as follows: Commission I : the spiritual message of the Religious Society of Friends Commission II : the individual Christian and the State Commission III : methods of achieving economic, racial, and international justice Commission IV: Friends' contribution to education Commission V : international cooperation of Friends At the conclusion of the Conference, an editorial committee appointed by the Conference Business Committee issued an Official Report of 138 pages, containing the minutes, the addresses delivered at the public meetings, summaries of the discussions carried on by the various discussion groups, a register of attenders, and other pertinent information. This Report is on sale at 20 South Twelfth Street, Philadelphia ; price, 50 cents. FRIENDS MEET IN WORLD CONFERENCE By Charles Daniel Brodhead Reprinted from the Christian Century, September IS, 1937, pp. 1144-45 SWARTHMORE and Haverford Colleges, in the attractive suburbs of this Quaker City, have been for three days now hospitable hosts to the first Friends' World Conference ever held on this continent. The only other world conclave of the Quakers was in 1920 at London. One thousand delegates are here, 225 of whom are from 23 foreign countries where Friends are at work: Austria, Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia , Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, India, FRIENDS' WORLD CONFERENCE71 Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland. Happily, the German delegates had no difficulty in coming, for the land of Hitler cannot forget how after the World War the Quakers fed the German children, and their Quaker meetings have freedom of worship. "Penn's Woods," where that illustrious Friend, William Penn, began what he called his "Holy Experiment," is a fitting commonwealth for this assembly. Fifty yearly meetings and 17 independent meetings have sent delegates. In his welcome in behalf of the churches in the metropolitan area of Philadelphia, Dr. Joseph Fort Newton called the Society of Friends "one of the miracles of history, the most spiritually influential group in the world." THIS is a unique world conference. About half of the delegates are women. Only ten per cent are their "elder statesmen ." One-third are "Young Friends" under thirty-five years of age. Other ecclesiastical councils do not so include their youth leaders. In fact, the leaders in this very conference go back in their training and association together in their earlier years to the first Young Friends Conference, which was held about 1915 in Indiana. Another distinction is how Quaker simplicity of dress takes the place of clerical garb. Here is a conference, indeed, not only in name but in procedure. People have met to confer. For the first hour and a half each morning they are divided into 23 fellowship-worship groups. Then for an hour and a quarter they hold five group discussions on their religious message, their contribution to education, their international cooperation, and methods of achieving economic, racial and international justice. These are based upon reports of five commissions on these issues. They are further developed in the afternoon and evening plenary sessions. This gathering is not a legislative body for the 160,000 Friends around the world but rather a conference to clarify the convictions of their basic spiritual testimonies. They reaffirm their fundamental belief that there can be no peace in the individual and in all the social relationships of industry, race and nations, except through a spiritual approach and a constant maintenance of good will. 72 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION They are seeking to translate this distinctive testimony into greater and more positive social action...

An Estimate of William Penn

90 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION It is a gratification to find erected here, in the New World, to the memory of one of the founders of the ancient town of Chester, a mural tablet of such " antiquity, picturesqueness and excellence of execution." References Ashmead, Henry Graham : History of Delaware County, 1884. Keen, Gregory B. : The Descendants of Jöran Kyn. Martin, John Hill : History of Chester, 1877. Record of the Chester County Court, 1681-1697. Record of the Court at Upland. AN ESTIMATE OF WILLIAM PENN By Rayner W. Kelsey 1 The year 1932 witnesses the 250th anniversary of the coming of William Penn to Pennsylvania. In the prime of life, at thirtyeight years of age, he sailed up the stately Delaware and caught his first view of his " fresh new country." He brought the enthusiasm of youth and the idealism of religious faith to the tasks of his " Holy Experiment in Government." We now have the goodly perspective of two and a half centuries in which to view his work. Hence it may be worth while to outline here some of his larger contributions to human thought and life. One naturally recalls at the beginning Penn's contribution to the cause of religious freedom. He spoke, wrote, wrought and suffered for this cause. He was expelled from Oxford University for non-conformity. For a time he was exiled from his father's house because of his adherence to a despised sect. He went to prison again and again for his faith. On one such occasion he declared : " My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man." In a constitution for West New Jersey he wrote : " No Men nor number of Men upon Earth, hath Power or Authority to rule over Men's Consciences in religious Matters." In his famous Frame of Government of 1682 1 This article is the Foreword, somewhat adapted, of an anniversary edition of Sydney George Fisher's The True William Penn, 1932. It is used in this place by the courtesy of the J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. For a notice of The True William Penn see Books and Notes below. AN ESTIMATE OF WILLIAM PENN91 for Pennsylvania he provided that all believers in God " shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for their religious Persuasion or Practice in Matters of Faith and Worship." Those who know this chapter of William Penn's life are likely to count him one of the world's great leaders in the struggle for religious freedom. His life also counted heavily in the cause of political liberalism. In spite of friendly connections with the Stuart court, inherited from his father, the voice of Penn was often raised for the rights and liberties which were threatened by the Stuart despotism. At one time he suffered imprisonment to help establish the freedom of English juries from the dictation of judges. In his pamphlet, " The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted," and in various similar treatises he argued for security of person and property, for the right of a fair trial by jury, for free and frequent parliaments , and for other ancient and fundamental rights of Englishmen . In the library of Haverford College is preserved the only complete copy known to exist of a pamphlet by Penn entitled, " The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property, being the BirthRight of the Free-born Subjects of England." It contains a copy of Magna Charta, the Confirmation of the Charters, the Charter of Liberties granted by Penn to Pennsylvania, and other historic documents of English liberty. It was published in Philadelphia in 1687, and the high purpose of it, as stated in the Foreword, was to inform Pennsylvanians and other Americans of the " many precious Priviledges of Liberty and Property, by which every man that is a Subject to the Crown of England, may understand what is his Right, and how to preserve it." In Penn's political activities in the New World he strove earnestly to advance the cause of democracy. He was the chief author of the Concessions and Agreements of 1677 for West New Jersey. Of that...