Advices & Queries

Advices & Queries is a painting of a Quaker Meeting taking place. It takes its name from the first chapter of Quaker Faith & Practice, which is called Advices & Queries.

Faithful living

Unlike many religious traditions that rely on strict creeds or dogmas, Friends approach faith through continuous reflection. At the heart of this practice is Advices & Queries, a concise, practical guide for faithful living rather than a set of rigid commandments.

Formally published by Britain Yearly Meeting, known publicly as Quakers in Britain, it forms the opening chapter of their larger book of discipline, Quaker Faith & Practice. Friends still turn to it today, much as earlier generations have.

A shared tradition with regional voices

Because Quakers emphasise individual conscience and local community guidance, there is no single version of the text that applies everywhere. Instead, different regional bodies around the world draft, adapt, and publish their own editions.

The core message stays the same everywhere, but Yearly Meetings in places like New England, Australia, or Aotearoa New Zealand write their texts to speak to their own land, history, and people.

A New Zealand edition, for example, speaks to the land in ways a British edition never would.

Structured self-examination

Structurally, these texts are organised into short, numbered sections for easy reference and contemplation. The current British edition features exactly 42 numbered paragraphs. Within each one, Advices and Queries sit side by side, gentle historical wisdom paired with a searching, open-ended question.

Together, they hold the reader steady while also unsettling them — comfort in one line, challenge in the next. They push individuals to examine their own motives, biases, and actions across core Quaker values, such as peace, simplicity, truth, and equality.

An evolving spiritual companion for everyday life

Today, Advices & Queries is used in a variety of practical ways. During silent Quaker meetings for worship, specific numbered paragraphs are often read aloud to anchor or prompt group ministry. Individuals also look to it privately for personal prayer, meditation, and ethical decision-making.

Because it sums up the faith so plainly, it is often the first piece of literature handed to newcomers in the form of a small booklet to take away and keep.

Because Quakers believe that revelation is continuous, each edition is revised periodically, so the words themselves keep changing even as their purpose stays the same.

Painted by the Lincolnshire Quaker and artist Graham Lewinton, Advices & Queries hangs in the 1910 room of Lincoln Quakers Meeting House. Written into the floorboards of the painting is the complete British version of Advices & Queries.

With every face in the painting turned downward, it is as if the whole Meeting is reading the text together.