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Quaker Pennsylvania: Refuge from Priestcraft?
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Calvert – 9
the Quakers, he said, “I meddle not with their Religeous but civill polity; though I could draw a parallel thence.”
50
The early concerns formed among the non-Quaker members of the Pennsylvania
Assembly demonstrate the extent of the Quaker domination of the government of that body. “There are grudges in some,” wrote a non-Quaker devotee of William Penn’s, “that none are put in places of power but friends.” These people worried about “confusion and sad events” that might ensue if the proper “bounds and limits of Ch[urch] and state” were not observed.
51
Not
surprisingly, now that the Quakers controlled a government, the charges of popery against them that flourished in the seventeenth century evolved naturally into charges of priestcraft in the eighteenth. Concerns over these charges led to the publication of a pro-Quaker pamphlet entitled, A Conference Between a Parish-Priest and a Quaker: Published for the preventing (if possible) the vile Deceits of Priestcraft in America (1725). In it, a mild-mannered, yet forthright Quaker and a suspicious Anglican clergyman debate the merits (or demerits, from the Anglican’s perspective) of Quakerism in general and Quaker government. The veiled accusations of priestcraft by the clergyman prompt an explanation and defense from the Quaker of Friendly political thought and practice on the matter of the separation of the civil and ecclesiastical realms:
“Civil Power,” explains the Quaker, “[is something] which Christianity is a Stranger
unto; and which is an Enemy to Christianity, when it meddleth therewith.” To this the Anglican responds, revealing his own inclinations towards priestcraft, “How! are we not all subject to the Laws of the Church?” The Quaker explains the Pennsylvania policy of liberty of conscience: “To the Laws of Christ, if thou pleaseth; my Conscience knowth no other Master: Doth thine?” “No,” replies the Anglican, “but my Conscience tells me that there ought to be spiritual Governors in the Church.” “Governors are Masters,” asserts the Quaker, “and the Conscience cannot be master’d.”
52
Certainly Quaker Pennsylvania was the greatest experiment in religious liberty in the
world at the time. The diversity of the population, its relative harmony, and the lack of active government persecution of dissenters was praised by most who visited the colony. The novelty of religious toleration in Pennsylvania was clear from the reaction of visitors to the province. The array of religions available to strangers to sample in cafeteria style became something of a tourist attraction for visitors to Philadelphia. Rather than the sight-seeing of today, visitors to eighteenth-century Philadelphia strolled around the city, taking in the services at whatever meeting they came to. William Black, a Scotsman visiting the colonies in 1744, took the opportunity while in Philadelphia to attend the services of Anglicans, Moravians, Presbyterians, “New Lights,” several Quaker meetings, and a sermon by Gilbert Tennant. His experience was a positive one, and he remarked that “I found everything come up to, or rather exceed the Character I had often heard of Philadelphia.”
53
Similarly in 1751 George Washington
commented that Pennsylvania “has flourished under that delightful liberty [of conscience], so as to become the admiration of every man, who considers the short time it has been settled.”
54
In
his famed travel narrative written in the 1760s, Anglican minister Andrew Burnaby claimed that
50
Blackwell to Penn, 1 May 1689. PWP, 3: 243.
51
Holme to Penn, 25
th
of the 9
th
mo. 1686. PWP, 3: 131.
52
Conference Between a Parish-Priest and a Quaker, 18-19.
53
William Black. “The Journal of William Black,” PMHB vol. 1. No. 3, 233-49.
54
George Washington to John Hanbury, The Writings of George Washington. ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, 1838), 2:
481.
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Calvert – 9
the Quakers, he said, “I meddle not with their Religeous but civill polity; though I could draw a
parallel thence.”
The early concerns formed among the non-Quaker members of the Pennsylvania
Assembly demonstrate the extent of the Quaker domination of the government of that body.
“There are grudges in some,” wrote a non-Quaker devotee of William Penn’s, “that none are put
in places of power but friends.” These people worried about “confusion and sad events” that
might ensue if the proper “bounds and limits of Ch[urch] and state” were not observed.
surprisingly, now that the Quakers controlled a government, the charges of popery against them
that flourished in the seventeenth century evolved naturally into charges of priestcraft in the
eighteenth. Concerns over these charges led to the publication of a pro-Quaker pamphlet
entitled, A Conference Between a Parish-Priest and a Quaker: Published for the preventing (if
possible) the vile Deceits of Priestcraft in America (1725). In it, a mild-mannered, yet forthright
Quaker and a suspicious Anglican clergyman debate the merits (or demerits, from the Anglican’s
perspective) of Quakerism in general and Quaker government. The veiled accusations of
priestcraft by the clergyman prompt an explanation and defense from the Quaker of Friendly
political thought and practice on the matter of the separation of the civil and ecclesiastical
realms:
“Civil Power,” explains the Quaker, “[is something] which Christianity is a Stranger
unto; and which is an Enemy to Christianity, when it meddleth therewith.” To this the Anglican
responds, revealing his own inclinations towards priestcraft, “How! are we not all subject to the
Laws of the Church?” The Quaker explains the Pennsylvania policy of liberty of conscience:
“To the Laws of Christ, if thou pleaseth; my Conscience knowth no other Master: Doth thine?”
“No,” replies the Anglican, “but my Conscience tells me that there ought to be spiritual
Governors in the Church.” “Governors are Masters,” asserts the Quaker, “and the Conscience
cannot be master’d.”
Certainly Quaker Pennsylvania was the greatest experiment in religious liberty in the
world at the time. The diversity of the population, its relative harmony, and the lack of active
government persecution of dissenters was praised by most who visited the colony. The novelty
of religious toleration in Pennsylvania was clear from the reaction of visitors to the province.
The array of religions available to strangers to sample in cafeteria style became something of a
tourist attraction for visitors to Philadelphia. Rather than the sight-seeing of today, visitors to
eighteenth-century Philadelphia strolled around the city, taking in the services at whatever
meeting they came to. William Black, a Scotsman visiting the colonies in 1744, took the
opportunity while in Philadelphia to attend the services of Anglicans, Moravians, Presbyterians,
“New Lights,” several Quaker meetings, and a sermon by Gilbert Tennant. His experience was a
positive one, and he remarked that “I found everything come up to, or rather exceed the
Character I had often heard of Philadelphia.”
Similarly in 1751 George Washington
commented that Pennsylvania “has flourished under that delightful liberty [of conscience], so as
to become the admiration of every man, who considers the short time it has been settled.”
his famed travel narrative written in the 1760s, Anglican minister Andrew Burnaby claimed that
50
Blackwell to Penn, 1 May 1689. PWP, 3: 243.
51
Holme to Penn, 25
th
of the 9
th
mo. 1686. PWP, 3: 131.
52
Conference Between a Parish-Priest and a Quaker, 18-19.
53
William Black. “The Journal of William Black,” PMHB vol. 1. No. 3, 233-49.
54
George Washington to John Hanbury, The Writings of George Washington. ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, 1838), 2:
481.
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