Exploring Isaac Penington: Seventeenth-century Quaker mystic, teacher and activist, by Ruth Tod

Author: Ruth Tod. Review by Jonathan Doering

Isaac Penington was one of Quakerism’s earliest, most articulate spokespeople, working deeply with images of the Inner Light and the seed. The son of a prominent Puritan, Penington spent his early adulthood carousing with the smart metropolitan set. Yet these fast times and high living didn’t lead to the mountain top that he realised he wanted to reach; so began his spiritual searching. Like so many seekers, he and his wife Mary encountered the sheer power of the Quaker message and worship. It was as if their eyes had been scorched by the sun. Everything had changed, and so had they. As Ruth Tod explains in this book on Penington’s life and teachings, neither of them wanted to jump onto any old bandwagon, but when they became convinced they dedicated themselves utterly.

The book has three sections. Part I offers background, initially on Ruth’s own roots (raised in a Quaker home in Leeds) and her journey to appreciating Penington. We then have a brisk overview of Penington’s life and the rise of Quakerism within the ferment and foment of the civil war.

Part II moves thoughtfully through Penington’s work, offering texts that Ruth has found helpful. Many will be familiar to Friends, such as Penington’s memory of meeting ‘with the inner seed, with God, the true knowledge that is life, with the true peace and rest of the soul’. Others bring a welcome freshness, as when we read of how ‘Prayer is letting go of our own will, wholly out of our power – in the spirit of the Father who is the fountain of life’.

Part III offers a series of guided reflections. Drawing on Ruth’s experiences of Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique, these integrate her own images and methods with Penington’s concepts in six short sections: The Seed Within; Gifts and Community; Rooftop View; The Wisdom of our Hearts; The Way of Peace; and The Garden.

I must mention that I have known Ruth for almost twenty years. Reading this book brought to mind one Sunday when I was still new to Quakerism. Usually there would be some kind of flower arrangement on the table, but that week Ruth had brought a bowl of apples. In ministry, she explained that they had struck her as a helpful image, as they held seeds. I can’t remember if she name-checked Penington, but it indicates how long Penington and the seed have been germinating in her consciousness.

Penington speaks to Quakers right now, not only from the centre of his Christian faith and deep biblical reading, but also his raw sense of the Spirit’s living fire, goodness, and sheer urge of making. This slice of his work, and Ruth’s ruminations upon it, are a welcome map of Penington’s legacy, both for the unfamiliar and for those wanting to deepen their existing engagement. Penington grasped that the Divine ‘is the fountain of beings and natures, the inward substance of all that appears’. He offers us timeless truths; how we interpret them is our responsibility. This book is an excellent way into that exploration.

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