The Political Writings of William Penn

Notes on Texts and Annotations

Penn i-xxviii.indd 25 1/17/12 8:56 AM NOTES ON TEXTS AND ANNOTATIONS William Penn's political writings can pose challenges to the modern reader. Like many of his contemporaries, Penn refers to Scripture, classical sources, church fathers, Reformation and post-Reformation history, and other sources prodigiously, unsystematically, and often obliquely. Many references presented as direct quotes turn out, upon visiting the primary sources, to be Penn's paraphrases. Italicization and capitalization follow no discernible pattern. Such procedures were the norm, not the exception, in early modern political writing, especially for a writer like Penn who often wrote in the heat of political debate. The purpose ofmy annotations is not to provide an exhaustive clarification of each of Penn's many citations- such an endeavor would be unhelpful and distracting-but rather to guide the reader in appreciating the many building blocks upon which Penn built his theory of religious liberty. Thus, the antiquated spelling, punctuation, and syntax have not been altered; however, typographical errors have been silently corrected. For general references to individuals and groups, I have not, as a rule, included an annotation: Penn simply makes too many, too scattered references for a volume of this sort to address each one individually. I would refer readers interested in pursuing such references to the Dictionary ofNational Biography or to the Oxford Encyclopedia ofthe Reformation. Where individuals or groups are mentioned in connection with specific texts, I have generally provided a note. I have also annotated Penn's many scriptural references, and all quotations of my own are taken from the King James version of the Bible. Where Penn provides the reference in his text, I have not provided any additional annotations. Otherwise, I have included some general information on the author or text to guide those readers who wish to explore Penn's sources more deeply. (For sources that have gone through multiple printings, I have cited by chapter rather than page number.) Similarly, on Latin quotations, I have not translated where Penn himself includes a translation in the text, and I have not annotated single-word Latin phrases or ones whose meaning seems clear in context. None of the editorial annotations can be considered a substitute for reading Penn's works alongside good histories of England, of the Reformation, of Penn i-xxviii.indd 26 1/17/12 8:56 AM {xxvi} NOTES ON TEXTS AND ANNOTATIONS the Christian Church more generally, and of the rise of religious toleration in early modern Europe; below I suggest a few. Regardless ofwhether the reader is fully conversant with the wide range of historical, philosophical, scriptural, and political references that fill Penn's political works, however, I hope that this edition will renew interest in Penn as a political thinker and in Penn's works as an important element of the Anglo-American heritage. All texts in this volume are reproduced from A Collection ofthe Works of William Penn, 2 volumes (London, 1726). EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THE REFORMATION Chadwick, Owen. The Reformation (Penguin History of the Church, vol. 3). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964. Dickens, A. G. The English Reformation. New York: Schocken, 1964. The Encyclopedia ofEarly Christianity. 2d ed. Edited by Everett Ferguson (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, vol. 1839). New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1997. The Oxford Encyclopedia ofthe Reformation. Edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand. 4 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. ENGLISH HISTORY The Dictionary ofNational Biography. 22 vols. Edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921-22. Kishlansky, Mark. A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714. London: Penguin, 1996. The statutes ofthe realm ... From original records and authentic manuscripts ... 10 vols. London: G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1810-28. RELIGIOUS TOLERATION Jordan, W. K. The Development ofReligious Toleration in England and America. 4 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932-40. Leder, Joseph. Toleration and the Reformation. 2 vols. Translated by T. L. Westow. New York: Association Press, 1960. ...