The Inward Journey of Isaac Penington

by Isaac Penington, Robert J Leach (Editor)

Overview

Penington's life and writings reveal the purest, finest, and most genuine mysticism which has appeared in the Society of Friends. He was the first convert to the movement to write with literary taste and scholarly knowledge. Though not so practical as Penn and less systematic than Barclay, two other scholars who were soon to follow him, he is surpassed by none in his excellent, fervent, vivid sense of the Divine Presence within. All else seemed to him an unsubstantial "world of shadows" which served only to obscure the brilliance of the Inward Light.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940148133995
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #29
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	87 KB

About the Author

Isaac Penington (1616-1679) was born in London, son of Alderman Isaac Penington, a distinguished Puritan who was at one time Lord Mayor of London. He received an excellent education which was reflected in his able use of the English tongue. A fashionable fling in London society eventuated in his marriage to Lady Mary Springett whose daughter by a prior marriage was later to become the wife of William Penn.
In 1658 the Peningtons, who had long been religious seekers, fully associated themselves with the then new Society of Friends. Rejecting their worldly advantages, they became consistent and fervent members of the new spiritual movement. As public Friends and ministers of God’s holy word, Isaac Penington and his wife traveled in the company of James Naylor, George Keith, William Penn, George Fox, and Robert Barclay. Half of Isaac Penington’s twenty-two Quaker years were spent in prison — “in outward bonds for Christ’s sake.” At first hand he knew of the blessed community, of the persecuting spirit, and of men’s dependence upon war and violence.