1768 EPISTLE PREPARING FOR WAR. American Quakers Urged to Follow "Ancient Way" Rather than American Patriotism.

This 1768 epistle holds substantial historical significance as an official administrative document that shaped the early American spiritual and political landscape on the eve of the Revolutionary War. Printed by the central London Yearly Meeting and distributed internationally, this document was the primary mechanism used to maintain theological alignment and strict organizational cohesion between British Quakers and their American counterparts, particularly in colonial hubs like Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. During the mid-eighteenth century, these annual circulars established a unified transatlantic code of conduct, directly reinforcing the societal and political counter-culture for which American Quakers became known, and which would soon be tested.

The Epistle for 1768 laid heavy focus on structural reform and internal purification, which directly fueled the early American abolitionist movement. By the late 1760s, the Society of Friends was transitioning from a period of general warnings against the slave trade toward strict internal enforcement, pushing its members to entirely divest from holding human property.

While London epistles from this specific decade focused on cleansing the church of material vices, worldly compromises, and lax discipline, they provided the exact institutional mandate that American Yearly Meetings needed to aggressively enforce manumissions (the freeing of enslaved people) among their own members. This era of self-reckoning effectively turned the Quaker community into the first fully unified, non-slaveholding block in early America, setting the stage for their broader, public anti-slavery campaigns in the post-revolutionary era.

Furthermore, the document captures the delicate balance of Quaker pacifism and social engagement during a period of rising imperial tensions. In 1768, the American colonies were actively resisting British taxation through the Townshend Acts, creating a highly volatile political climate that tested the Quaker commitment to non-violence and submission to government authority. By counseling regional meetings to reject the aggressive, nationalistic politics of the surrounding world and focus instead on spiritual integrity and peaceful community building, this epistle helped guide colonial Friends through a wave of intense societal pressure. 

Not at auction since 1908. 

Hustler, John. The Epistle from the Yearly-Meeting, Held in London, by Adjournments, from the 23d Day of the Fifth Month 1768, to the 28th of the same, Inclusive. To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends and Brethren in Great Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere. 4pp.

In good + to very good condition, an attractive bifolium with original folds, some light weakness at bottom fold on rear leaf. Else very good.