Why did Quakers like William Penn believe?

Answer 1

William Penn lived in turbulent times in England. It was like the 60's in the United States. His father, William Penn Sr., was an Admiral in the English civil wars, fought between the Royalist Cavaliers and the Puritan Roundheads-a conflict between parliament and the monarchy. The Puritans won, and the Penn family had to go to Ireland in exile. William Penn was a young man, and there he met a Quaker missionary, Thomas Loe who made a deep impact on adolescent William. Quakerism was a nascent movement, discredited by both Catholicism and Protestantism. William Penn was a bit of a rebel, and it was attractive to him.

Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England and leader of the Roundheads, soon died, and the English Middle Class, after decades of Puritan monochromatic life desired the return of the monarchy, and thus Admiral William Penn was sent to bring home Charles Stuart II. This time was known as The Restoration, and was a brilliant time of color and life. This was just another opposite of clashing political and religious ideas, a turbulent time for England.

With the Cavaliers restored, they prosecuted religious minorities such as Quakers. William Penn Jr., son of the famous Admiral who had been knighted, had sympathy for Quakers while he studied at Oxford. Young Penn was on a journey of self-discovery. He did not aspire to his parent's views-a bit of youth rebellion: "I had no relations that inclined to so solitary and spiritual way; I was a child alone. A child given to musing, occasionally feeling the divine presence."

William Penn Jr. was a bit of a hippie and an embarrassment to his father, so he was sent to France in the hopes that he'd find refinement. He studied Catholicism, but it did not appeal to him.

Finally, after a second chance meeting with Thomas Loe, he began to attend Quaker Meeting and was even arrested. This was a faith with no political agenda, and this appealed to him after living through a civil war that divided the country between Catholics and Protestants-a conflict raging since Good King Henry. Quakers have no authority figures in their worship, no clergy, no hierarchy. It was worship sans the political element.

This put young Penn in conflict with the Crown, and his father disowned him. He then lived with Quaker families, deepening his religious convictions. He even befriended George Fox, the founder of Quakerism.

In his youth, William Penn Jr. had a long journey of conscience. He sought a faith without political element, one closer to the heart. To get rid of him and pay a debt to his late father, Admiral Penn, King Charles Stuart II granted him land in America, where Penn could begin his religious experiment, Pennsylvania.