Howard Brinton, Director of Pendle Hill from 1936 to 1952, wrote sixteen pamphlets on Quaker thinking, mysticism, and a variety of religious topics. As Brinton described it, this pamphlet is "an effort to classify and characterize the religious experience of Quakers throughout their history."
"Though largely historical, this pamphlet has an intimate bearing on the present. The debate between Quakers and Puritans in the 17th century bears some resemblance to the "death of God" debate and other theological controversies today. Also, recent writing on Quaker experience and Quaker thought has, in this writer's opinion, contained three misconceptions: (1) that the Quakers were not mystics, (2) that they were radical Protestants, and (3) that 18th century Quietism was different from the activism of the preceding or subsequent centuries."
Rufus Jones says, "I shall use the word mysticism to express the type of religion which puts the emphasis on immediate awareness of relation with God, on direct and intimate consciousness of the Divine Presence", and that is the Brinton's usage as well. "By Ethical Mysticism, I mean that type of mysticism which first withdraws from the world revealed by the senses to the inward Divine Source of Light, Truth, and Power, and then returns to the world with strength renewed, insight cleared, and desire quickened to bind all life together in the bonds of love."
Brinton then leads the reader through the difficult history of Quakerism, and how it distinguishes itself. From "The Call to Service," "Group Mysticism," and "Nature Mysticism," to the final sections on "A Theology of Experience," and "Science and Mysticism," Howard elaborates eloquently on the Quaker experience.
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