The Seed of a Nation

Rediscovering America

Darrell Fields, Lorrie Fields

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781600372049
• eBook ISBN: 9781614482406
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

"Anyone who is losing hope for America must read The Seed of a Nation. The inspiration lives, the seed sprouts, the idea works" (Scott W. Boyd, Pennsylvania State Representative).
"The Seed of a Nation is a thoroughly researched and fascinating account of William Penn's efforts to establish a 'Holy Experiment' in Pennsylvania—a vision of governance grounded in faith and operating on the principles of tolerance and respect for all" (Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf). It was this "Holy Experiment," set out in Penn's Charter of Privileges, that provided the framework for the United States Government, including the essential underlying mandate to provide freedom for all people.
 
So brilliant was William Penn's legacy that Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, called him, "the greatest lawgiver the world has produced." This fascinating work looks at the life and impact of William Penn—an impact that still echoes today.
 

Part One

PROMISE

1

INTO THE LIGHT

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8

The idea of freedom has never ceased to be vitally important to any age, in any culture. However, the inherent realities of freedom are forever dependent on its continuance and application. America prides herself in the promise of freedom. But there is a problem; our interpretations and prejudices can contrive a freedom that changes in definition from generation to generation (sometimes from circumstance to circumstance). As freedom changes by the perspectives in which it is viewed, some gain, and tragically, some lose.

The enormous task of making freedom available is God-sized. The historical evidence you are about to read makes the conclusion irrevocable: men alone cannot create or sustain it. The mystery, amazingly, is that God wants and waits to use people to introduce the kind of freedom that only He can offer. William Penn was one of those persons. Through divine guidance and his indomitable spirit Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania on a grass roots government so powerful that it became the building blocks of a new nation. This story of his life and contributions are presented herein not as a biography to elevate Penn or Pennsylvania, but as historical proof that God limits Himself to people and is yearning for the continuation of “His”story to any who would ask in any place and any time.

Because of William Penn's precursory guidance in American liberties, it becomes imperative, if our judgments are to be accurate regarding our present culture, to look carefully into the world that produced such a man. What he meant by freedom and the Separation of Church and State may surprise you, and is addressed in later chapters. For now, I pray that as you peek into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the spark that ignited Penn for his life purpose may help you—and all of us—sort through the realities of this new millennium and prepare us for what lies ahead.

The late Dr. George P. Donehoo, foremost authority on the history of Pennsylvania (former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, State Librarian) explains why grasping the historical context of William Penn's life and times is vital today when he said:

In order to comprehend the character of William Penn, and to understand, with any degree of completeness the government which he founded, one should have a knowledge of the various elements which produced such a character, and of the conditions then existing, not only in England, but throughout the civilized world which made Penn's “Holy Experiment” a real experiment in government. The inherited traits, the environment, the training of any man has much to do with the part which he plays in the world. Every student of biography must take into consideration not only the character of the particular subject of his study, but also the causes which produced such a character, and the environment in which it was developed.¹

FROM OUT OF DARKNESS

October 31, 1517, marked a significant date in world history as men and women were consequently brought nearer to God when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, sounding the trumpet for the Reformation, bringing an end to the thousand-year reign of the Dark Ages. Simply put, the Light was being proclaimed as the Roman Catholic Church, Europe's central religious authority was being called to return to repentance not works and end its religious abuses upon the people.

As a result of Luther's actions the Reformation came in like a flood and created such a religious upheaval that the entire political system of Europe felt its torrent. As many powers struggled for a foothold, England's monarchy, ruled by King Henry VIII, England's king from 1509 to 1547, had become all the more determined to secure its position using fear and manipulation for control. Yet the transformation continued and there arose such groups as the Diggers, Levelers, Baptists, Seekers, Muggletonians, Fifth Monarchists and more creating the most powerful spiritual renewal since the birth of the Church after Christ's resurrection. Religious factions like the Puritans rose up from within the Church and called for reform of the monarchy and the Church.

Like a violent earthquake, the Reformation, and other events of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, shook all of Europe. Political upheaval and social unrest prevailed, devastating England with war, civil and foreign. The thinking of the Dark Ages was proving a contemptible foe against reform. Actions from both sides begged to forfeit the very freedom the Reformation was trying to bring. Tradition, as we shall see, tenaciously resisted change.

POWER STRUGGLE

Reform was in the air but so was the will of the king. And in 1534 decisions were made that set into motion a powerful chain of events—events so powerful that they would not only challenge the Reformation, but also forever challenge the way we look at Church and Government and their involvement, one with the other. King Henry VIII wanted a divorce from his first wife. When the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church refused to grant the king his divorce the King exerted power of his own and annulled the marriage himself. The Pope excommunicated King Henry from Rome. King Henry then broke off relations with Rome and quickly established an autocracy that consolidated the spiritual and political power of England. He then passed the Act of Supremacy. The Act of Supremacy established King Henry as the Supreme Governor of his new church, the Church of England. This political doctrine, which was soon to become known as The Divine Right of Kings, or the Right to Rule, held that Kings and Queens were appointed by God, and therefore, not answerable to any man. Having a divine right gave the king certain privileges and governing the Church was one of them.

After King Henry's death England's political Right to Rule supremacy over her Church continued into the seventeenth century. Queen Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603, and when she died she left no heir apparent to succeed her to the throne. King James VI of Scotland, a Stuart and distant relative to the queen was chosen, and in 1603 became King James I of England, thus uniting Scotland with England. King James had reigned as Scotland's king for thirty-six years and continued the rule upon England by The Divine Right of Kings.

King James also took on the role of Supreme Governor of the Church. Under King James' rule, England's religious and political structure became so closely woven together that the monarchy became intolerant of those who would not conform to the Church. Enemies of the Church became enemies of the State, and therefore, a threat to national security.

Many, including Parliament, were beginning to feel that too much power lay in the hands of the king. The Puritans wanted to see the Church purified from within (thus their name). King James was initially sympathetic towards them, for he too had been raised a Calvinist. He appeased their grumbling by authorizing the first printing of the English translation of the Bible in 1611. Many Puritans, however, fled to the New World to escape persecution, and founded the Massachusetts Colony of Plymouth in 1620.

King James died in 1625, and his second son, Charles, was made king over England. Ascending to the throne of his father, King Charles I also took upon himself The Divine Right of Kings. He too brought both Scotland and Ireland under English rule and pushed them both to conform to the Church of England. In 1642 rivalry between Parliament and the king's monarchy broke out in one of the greatest upheavals in British history. Led by Puritan General Oliver Cromwell, the Puritans, along with the Scots, sided with Parliament and revolted against the Irish-backed monarchy, thereby starting the English Civil War.

King Charles lost the war, was captured by the Puritans and beheaded in 1649. Cromwell rose to the throne, taking the title, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. His rule, however, was short-lived; he died in 1658. Weary of Puritan restrictions, many were ready for a return to the monarchy. The year 1660 brought the dawn of the Restoration, bringing back to the throne of England the Stuarts. King Charles II, a Stuart and son of the deceased, ascended to the throne of his father.

The Stuarts had come back into power during the emergence of the Age of Reason where secularism had penetrated its way into the religious mainstream. As early as 1648, schools of thought were asking questions like, “Who needs God? Does man need to answer to an invisible creator?” The Restoration subsequently became a free-spirited, pleasure loving time in which theatre, fanciful dress, music and dance, poetry and romance flourished. Some let their inhibitions go wild, giving rise to brawling and dueling, seduction and scandal, and the king was no exception.

In 1665 war broke out between England and the Dutch as the Bubonic Plague (the Black Death) besieged London. The plague claimed the lives of more than one hundred thousand within one year, taking as many as seven thousand lives a week. Corpse-haulers pushed open carts through the cobble stoned streets of London, crying, “Bring out your dead.” Immediately following the plague, in September of 1666, four-fifths of London was destroyed as the “Great Fire” swept through the city. Many believed that God was punishing the city for its sins.

Within this chaotic environment William Penn was raised, the eldest of three children, born October 14, 1644 to the affluent Vice-Admiral, Sir William and Lady Margaret Penn.

THE CALL

Amid these turbulent times, at the age of twelve, profound disillusionment began to touch the young William. Probing for answers to great injustices he could not reconcile, he found a great storm in his own conscience beginning to unravel the English traditions to which he was being groomed. That would comprise a difficult plight for any pre-teen—on the one hand groomed to continue the values and traditions of a wealthy responsible heritage, and on the other impelled by his conscience to challenge and resist that very life he was to inherit. In the midst of this turbulence, God visited William in a dramatic way. Listen to Dr. Donehoo as he relates this revealing account of twelve-year-old William Penn while he was alone at school.

He was suddenly surprised with an inward comfort; and, as he thought, an external glory in the room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction of the being of God, and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying communication with Him. He believed also, that the seal of Divinity had been put upon him at this moment, or that he had been awakened or called upon to a holy life.²

Donehoo suggests it must have been the same sort of experience:

As in the case of the vision of the Apostle Paul, when on the way to Dam...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One: Promise
• Part Two: Broken Trust
• Part Three: A Time for War
• Part Four: Reconnecting