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Isaac Penington
Isaac Penington (1616 – October 8, 1679) was an English preacher and writer whose calling from God within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) profoundly shaped early Quaker theology and practice through preaching and prolific writing across the mid-17th century. Born in London, England, to Isaac Penington, a Puritan merchant and Lord Mayor of London (1642–1643), and Abigail Allen, he was the eldest son in a prominent family. Educated at the Inner Temple (admitted 1634) and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (matriculated 1637), he was called to the bar in 1639 but abandoned a legal career after a spiritual quest led him to reject formal religion, embracing Quakerism by 1658 following his 1654 marriage to Mary Proude Springett, a widow with similar spiritual leanings. Penington’s calling from God emerged after encountering Quakers like George Fox, prompting him to preach an inward faith rooted in the "light of Christ within," a message he shared through sermons at meetings and writings despite six imprisonments between 1661 and 1670 for refusing oaths and attending banned gatherings. His sermons, delivered with a gentle yet convicted tone, called for a direct experience of God, free from outward forms, influencing Quakers like William Penn, his stepdaughter Gulielma’s husband. A key author, he penned works like The Way of Life and Death (1656) and The Scattered Sheep Sought After (1659), with over 100 titles, many written from prison cells in Aylesbury and Reading. Married to Mary, with whom he had five children—John, Isaac, William, Edward, and Mary—he passed away at age 63 at Goodnestone, Kent, and was buried at Jordans Quaker Burial Ground in Buckinghamshire.
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Isaac Penington expresses deep gratitude for the mercy and restoration he feels from the Lord, acknowledging a sense of brokenness, fear, and humility that he has been seeking. He also conveys a strong sense of unity with fellow believers and a profound love for George Fox and others engaged in the work of the Lord. Penington humbly asks for Fox's prayers, desiring to be further broken, filled with the fear of the Lord, and to walk in humility and tenderness before God. He seeks settlement in the truth and complete separation from anything contrary to it, yearning for the pure and undisturbed reign of the Life within him.
Letter - to George Fox
DEAR G. F., I feel the tender mercy of the Lord, and some portion of that brokenness, fear, and humility which I have long waited for, and breathed after. I feel unity with, and strength from, the body: oh! blessed be the Lord, who hath fitted and restored me, and brought up my life from the grave. I feel a high esteem and dear love to thee, whom the Lord hath chosen, anointed, and honored, and of thy brethren and fellow-laborers in the work of the Lord. And, dear George Fox, I beg thy love, I entreat thy prayers, in faith and assurance that the Lord hears thee, that I may be yet more broken, that I may be yet more filled with the fear of the Lord, that I may be yet poorer and humbler before the Lord, and may walk in perfect humility and tenderness of spirit before him, all my days. Dear George Fox, thou mayest feel my desires and wants <494> more fully than my own heart. Be helpful to me in tender love, that I may feel settlement and stability in the truth; and perfect separation from, and dominion in the Lord over, all that is contrary thereto. I. P. Aylesbury Jail, 15th of Fifth Month, 1667 I entreat thy prayers for my family, that the name of the Lord may be exalted, and his truth flourish therein. Dear G. F., indeed my soul longs for the pure, full, and undisturbed reign of the Life in me.
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Isaac Penington (1616 – October 8, 1679) was an English preacher and writer whose calling from God within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) profoundly shaped early Quaker theology and practice through preaching and prolific writing across the mid-17th century. Born in London, England, to Isaac Penington, a Puritan merchant and Lord Mayor of London (1642–1643), and Abigail Allen, he was the eldest son in a prominent family. Educated at the Inner Temple (admitted 1634) and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (matriculated 1637), he was called to the bar in 1639 but abandoned a legal career after a spiritual quest led him to reject formal religion, embracing Quakerism by 1658 following his 1654 marriage to Mary Proude Springett, a widow with similar spiritual leanings. Penington’s calling from God emerged after encountering Quakers like George Fox, prompting him to preach an inward faith rooted in the "light of Christ within," a message he shared through sermons at meetings and writings despite six imprisonments between 1661 and 1670 for refusing oaths and attending banned gatherings. His sermons, delivered with a gentle yet convicted tone, called for a direct experience of God, free from outward forms, influencing Quakers like William Penn, his stepdaughter Gulielma’s husband. A key author, he penned works like The Way of Life and Death (1656) and The Scattered Sheep Sought After (1659), with over 100 titles, many written from prison cells in Aylesbury and Reading. Married to Mary, with whom he had five children—John, Isaac, William, Edward, and Mary—he passed away at age 63 at Goodnestone, Kent, and was buried at Jordans Quaker Burial Ground in Buckinghamshire.