Knowing the Mystery of Life Within: Selected Writings of Isaac Penington in Their Historical and Theological Context, and: The History of the Life of Thomas Elwood, Written by Himself (review)

54Quaker History other contemporary issues, such as women's roles or abolitionism, would have been useful. More important, the lack ofan index reduces the research utility of the collection. Skidmore's volume is a book to dip into, savor, and revisit; it provides welcome access to an admirable woman of faith and action. Through her writings, Elizabeth Gurney Fry continues to remind us ofthe challenges, in nineteenth-century England as well as today, of not only being good but doing good. Alice Almond ShrockEarlham College Knowing the Mystery ofLife Within: Selected Writings ofIsaac Penington in Their Historical and Theological Context. Ed. by R. Melvin Keiser and Rosemary Moore. London: Quaker Books, 2005. xiv + 322 pages. Illustrations , appendix, notes, bibliography, Indexes. Paper, £18. The History of the Life of Thomas Elwood, Written by Himself. Ed. by Rosemary Moore. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira, 2004. xii + 227 pages. Appendixes, notes, and bibliography. Paper, $24.95; cloth, $69. Students ofearly Quaker history and thought can be grateful for two new contributions by Rosemary Moore. Both admirably fill serious gaps in current Quaker studies literature. First, Moore has collaborated with American Friend, R. Melvin Keiser (recently retired from the Religion Department at Guilford College), on the first book-length scholarly treatment of the early Quaker Isaac Penington. Penington did not engage in a prophetic, public ministry like that ofGeorge Fox, James Nayler, Edward Burrough and other first-generation leaders. Nevertheless, his writings have long been regarded as among the most discerning and sublime in any period of Quaker literature. Only recently have the four volumes of his collected writings have been republished (by Quaker Heritage Press, 1995-97). The last edition was published 1861-63. With all the work taking place in Quaker studies today, it is surprising that Penington has been so long ignored. Perhaps the lack ofa robust, prophetic life-story, combined with the complexity and subtlety of his writings, accounts for that lapse. In any case, Moore and Keiser have rendered considerable service through this volume. Part I is written by Moore. It outlines Pcnington's life, allowing him to speak extensively for himself in letters and other writings. Priority has been given to materials not previously published. Moore's Book Reviews55 careful scholarship supplies helpful historical context for new students of early Quakerism, as well as considerable biographical detail. She sketches Penington's familybackground, earlyyears, briefflirtation withRanterism, marriagetoMaryProude Springett, theirfamily life, Quakerconvincements, and subsequent troubles with persecuting authorities. Moore efficiently conveys the context and details necessary to carry his story along, while allowing good space for the immediacy of Penington's own writing. For example, responding in 1659 to his father's censure ofhim for his Quaker convincement, he wrote: "Dear Father, How can I hold my peace, and behold thy ruin, thy eternal ruin! This spirit (whereofthy letters savour) I am sure is not to inherit the kingdom ofGod" (20). To the Earl of Bridgewater (who had Penington jailed for addressing him with Quaker plainness), he wrote in 1666: "Why do you persecute and afflict a man, who desirethto live inthe love andpeace ofGodtowardyou? Willnothing satisfy you, unless I deny the Lord . . . whose favour andpresence I cannotbut value above all things?" (55). Good examples of Penington's letters of spiritual counsel, some previously unpublished, are included alongside samples of his dealings with controversy among Friends. Caught for a while in the middle of the Perrot controversy of 1660, Penington wrote with a more generous spirit than most Friends on either side. PartII,byMelvinKeiser,presentsPenington'sspiritualityandthought, again with copious excerpts. Keiser organizes his analysis ofPenington's thought accordingtokeythematics, suchas "the life," growthinthe Spirit,the Church, the political realm, knowing/sensing, freedom, virtue, prayer, language, the self, God, andinterpretation ofthe Bible. Keiser's interpretationofPenington is partly apologetic; he is concerned to make a seventeenth-century Quaker writer comprehensible and palatable to a liberal, secular readership. That approach appears to indicate Keiser's ownjourney with reading Penington. It leads, however, to some debatable conclusions. For example, Keiser suggests that in abandoning Perrot by 1666, Penington "advocated subjecting oneself to Fox's dominating authority," that "Penington failed in this matter" (159). I cannot see that key transition in early Quaker history quite that simply...