In the 17th century, the Quaker movement adopted the use of the word epistle following the example of its use in the New Testament. A Quakerepistle is an advisory or admonitory letter sent to a group of people; such a letter is sometimes termed a "general epistle".[a] Epistles continue to be sent by Yearly Meetings in session to all other Yearly Meetings.[1][2][3]
^For examples of the titles of these 17th-century Quaker epistles, search on "epistle" in the catalogueArchived 2009-05-12 at the Wayback Machine of the Religious Society of Friends Library, London. Examples may also be found on Wikisource, including the text of a short epistle written by Isaac Penington in 1667 which is available on Wikisource.
"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) ISBN0-9510152-1-4. pp. 91 – 99.