Epistle (Quaker)

Quaker epistle: in the 17th century, the Quaker movement revived the Gospel use of the word "epistle" to mean an advisory or admonitory letter, sent to a group of people, sometimes termed a "general epistle".^[1] The text of a short epistle, written by Isaac Penington in 1667 is in Wikisource.

The term is still in use for letters sent by Yearly Meetings in session to all other Yearly Meetings.^[2][3][4]

References

1. For examples of the titles of these 17th-century Quaker epistles, search on "epistle" in the catalogue of the Religious Society of Friends Library, London.
2. links to Britain Yearly Meeting Epistle sent in 2012 (.pdf)
3. Epistles received by Britain Yearly Meeting from other Yearly Meetings, printed as part of Documents in Advance of Yearly Meeting 2009 - pdf file.
4. Blog of Epistles received by The Friend (Quaker magazine).

Further reading

• "To Friends everywhere" : reflections on the epistle in the life of London Yearly Meeting" by Edward H. Milligan. - In: The Friends' quarterly ; Vol.22 ; no.11 (July 1982 ) p. 724-736.
• "Epistles in context: London Yearly Meeting in the nineteenth century" by Peggy Heeks - In Friends quarterly; Vol. 40; No. 3 (August 2012) pp. 12–23.
• "Written epistles of London Yearly Meeting in the eighteenth century" by David J. Hall in A Quaker miscellany for Edward H. Milligan, edited by David Blamires, Jeremy Greenwood and Alex Kerr, published by David Blamires (1985) ISBN 0-9510152-1-4. pp. 91 – 99.

External links

• Epistles in English from Yearly Meetings in the Americas
• Epistles in Spanish from Yearly Meetings in the Americas/Epístolas de las Juntas Anuales