About the theme: Living the Holy Experiment
Sessions Planning Group discerned Living the Holy Experiment as the theme for Annual Sessions 2012, in celebration of our Quaker history in Philadelphia, and the ongoing exploration of our witness in the wider world, especially in these times of change.
William Penn’s Holy Experiment was about applying religious principles to the work of the world. The colony was to offer religious and civil liberty so that all could live peacefully according to their principles. During these session we will explore the meaning of Penn's Holy Experiment for us today. How do we apply our principles to how we live in the world, with one another in community, and how we conduct our business?
Howard Cell, of Germantown Monthly Meeting and member of the Sessions Planning Group, writes:
William Penn’s first use of this expression occurs in a letter to James Harrison, who became the first steward of Pennsbury—Penn’s estate on the Delaware north of Philadelphia, but who was still in England when this letter was written on 25 August 1681 (or 25th 6mo 81). Penn says that he ‘sees the hand of the Lord in the obtaining of it’ [the grant], and expresses the desire to do what might ‘answer to God’s kind providence and serve His truth and people by setting up an example to the nations.’ Penn states his hope that ‘there may be room there (in Pennsylvania), though not here (in England), for such a holy experiment.’
The key elements of Penn’s Holy Experiment, according to one commentator, are: ‘religious toleration; liberty disciplined by altruism; recognition of the primacy of the divine, natural, fundamental or “eternal” law; government, limited by law and by the consent of those of the governed who are properly qualified, “subservient to an higher end, to wit, the general good”; and protection of the rights of property, both tangible and intangible.’
Though religious toleration was clearly the cornerstone of Penn’s Holy Experiment, it was more qualified in the case of Pennsylvania than it had been for West Jersey. His Concessions and Agreements of 1677 for West Jersey ‘provided that all persons in the province be permitted without question complete freedom of conscience “in matters of religious worship.” But in The Frame of Government and Laws Agreed upon in England (May 1682), religious toleration is significantly restricted in three respects:
1. All government officials and electors of the members of the two branches of the provincial legislature must ”profess faith in Jesus Christ;”
2. All who live in the province are to free ‘in matters of faith and worship,’ so long as they “confess and acknowledge the One Almighty and Eternal God, to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world…”; and
3. Those who live in the province ‘shall abstain on First Day (the Lords Day) from their common daily labor, so that they may worship God according to their understandings.’ [The document does hold that this practice not only follows ‘the good example of early Christians, but also allows for the ease of the Creation.’ That’s certainly a plus!]
Penn had intended to include a less qualified guarantee of religious toleration in the Frame and Laws, but it took some 10 drafts of the document before it was approved—and then it faced ratification by the first provincial legislature (in March 1683). One lesson, apparently, is that all Quakers were tolerant, but some were more tolerant than others (to paraphrase George Orwell). Another, that the Quaker enthusiasm for wordsmithing goes way back.
“True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.”
William Penn
Click on the links below to read more about William Penn and the Holy Experiment:
William Penn and Arch Street Meeting
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