Epistles to Friends

Year 1666 – 1671
Type Letter
Genre spiritual letters
Tradition Quaker (Early Friends)
Original language English

Authorship Traditional — the long-standing attribution, not questioned in the sources consulted.

For readers who want Penington's counsel to a congregation, as against his letters to single friends.

Length About 7,700 words, under an hour.

Should I read this?

Rated by AI during research.

For the general reader: 3 of 5 worth your time
For the researcher: 2 of 5 useful
Difficulty: 3 of 5 demanding

Pastoral letters to the Quaker meetings around the two Chalfonts and elsewhere, some written from prison, on watchfulness and the life of God in their meetings.

How it proceeds

Philosophic 1 of 5
Scriptural 3 of 5
Experiential 4 of 5
Sociological 3 of 5
Historical 1 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

Pastoral epistles to the Friends in and about the two Chalfonts and to other meetings, some written in prison, urging them to keep watch and to feel the life and power of God in their hearts and meetings.

Editions

External off-site sources

Free to read or hear elsewhere

Epistles to Friends (Quaker Heritage Press)
The Quaker Heritage Press online text, from their edition of Penington's Works, transcribed from the fourth edition of 1863 without modernizing its language; only some punctuation and the form of Scripture references were changed. Their print edition's page numbers are marked in the text. Free to read in the browser.
📄 View on Quaker Heritage Press ↗

Catalog IDE.C1NVZS.1Report
PDF Epistles to Friends (Internet Archive (Works, 1863, vol. 4)) PD
1863
Volume 4 of the fourth edition of the Works (four volumes, 1863), where this piece is printed among others. A Google scan of a library copy on the Internet Archive.
📄 View on Internet Archive (Works, 1863, vol. 4) ↗
Catalog IDE.H7Q9DZ.WReport

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Catalog IDW.HQ13MV.Q

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