The Isaac Penington Study Group (IPSG) began meeting last fall to examine and discuss the tract “Some of the Mysteries of God’s Kingdom Glanced At.”1 Over the summer, our group reduced the frequency of our meetings to once a month. In the last session on Eighth month, the 21st, just a few of us showed up for the Zoom meeting where we read and discussed Penington’s description of the nature and cause of joy.2 It turned out to be an especially appropriate topic for our small group of three, as our exchanges during the evening were heart-felt and gracious, thus making for joyful conversation, with Penington having first set the tone with his exuberant telling of the love given by and received from God.
Beginning with recognition of Penington’s references to Scripture (Psalm 42 and Luke 1:47-48) in this passage, we soon focused our discussion on his extended use of the metaphor of earthly love to describe and illustrate heavenly love, which is bestowed by God upon the soul, as can be seen in this excerpt from the passage:
I, who long have been desolate and forsaken, have now found favor in the eyes of my beloved, and my heart feeleth (in measure) that I am his, and he mine, who hath touched me, won my heart, undertaken for me, and what can separate?
Midway through the hour, our discussion turned to the qualities and benefits of the Church in Christ. Comparisons were set forth between the composition and effects of the Church in its healthy state as opposed to “faith” communities that harbor corruption. Comparisons were also made between the Church whose essence is knowledge and worship of Christ, the Truth, on the one hand, and, on the other, the empty pretence of man-made religion; and further differences were noted between the essential practice of gathered obedience to Christ, and the extraneous, inessential concerns and activities that occupy false religion.
A recording of this session (as well as each of the earlier 21 sessions) can be found on the YouTube channel titled “Isaac Penington Study Group.”
- Works of Isaac Penington, Quaker Heritage Press: Farmington, ME 1999, 332–353. ↩︎
- Penington, Works, 344-5. ↩︎
Sacro Amor Profano (detail), Titian, 1514, Borghese Gallery in Rome
Abiding Quaker 