A quill and bottle of ink against a pale background. Photo: By Pierre Bamin on Unsplash.
Friend in the Divine: Robin Arnold’s Thought for the Week
‘I have never been able to discern the context in which Penington wrote.’
by Robin Arnold
10th April 2026
As I have sought to address Quaker conflicts over the years, I have often been drawn to Isaac Penington’s letter to Amersham Friends. You’ll probably know the key line from it, as it appears in Quaker faith & practice (10.01): ‘Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.’
