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George Fox

George Fox (1624 - 1691). English Dissenter, founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), born in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire. Apprenticed as a shoemaker, he left home at 19, seeking spiritual truth amid Puritan and Anglican tensions. In 1647, after visions and direct experiences of God, he began preaching an “inner light” accessible to all, rejecting clergy and formal worship. By 1652, he gathered followers in northern England, forming the Quakers, known for pacifism and simplicity. Fox traveled across England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and America, enduring eight imprisonments for his beliefs, including at Lancaster Castle. He wrote Journal (1694) and numerous letters, shaping Quaker theology with calls for equality and justice. Married to Margaret Fell in 1669, a key Quaker leader, they had no children, but she had eight from her prior marriage. His 1660 Declaration rejected violence, influencing conscientious objection. Fox’s emphasis on personal revelation transformed Protestantism, and his writings remain central to Quaker thought.
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George Fox preaches about not being against any person but desiring God's blessing to come upon all and the destruction of anything that brings curses. He emphasizes the spiritual battle using patience and spiritual weapons, focusing on Christ as King who brings blessings and destroys curses. Those who walk in righteousness, love mercy, act justly, and humbly with God are supported, while those who act unrighteously and seek honor over humility will be overturned by God's power. Fox encourages faith in God's power and the reign of Christ, advocating for the salvation and blessing of all individuals.
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Epistle 242
We are not against any man, but desire that the blessing of the Lord may come upon all men, and that which brings the curse may be destroyed; and in patience do we wait for that, and with spiritual weapons against it do we wrestle [Eph 6:12f], and not against any man or woman's person. For amongst us Christ is King, who bringeth the blessing, and destroyeth that which brought the curse. And whoever dwells in righteousness, (man or woman,) and loves mercy, and doth justly, and walks humbly with God [Mic 6:8], and hath the humility, which goes before the honour [Prov 15:33,18:12], we are not against. But whosoever doth unrighteously, or doth not justly, nor righteously, nor walk humbly before God, and will have honour before humility, God will overturn such by his power. And in that let your faith be; for we look not at persons, but at the power of God; and know the reign of Christ amongst us. And as it is said, ‘God save the king,’ or ‘God bless the king;’ we would not have him nor any man destroyed, but saved; and so blessed. And the saved man will not suffer any thing to rule that destroys; and so our mind is, and we would that all men were saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth [1 Tim 2:4], which the persecutors are out of. And all Friends, dwell in the endless power of the Lord, in which the supremacy is known, and the power which hath no end; whose dominion is over all dominions, and will stand when all other have an <273> end [Dan 4:34]; and in that is the patience felt, which runneth the race, and obtaineth the crown [Heb 12:1/1 Cor 9:24f]; and that hath the wisdom, which is sweet, and cool, and pure [James 3:17], whereby the living truth hath the supremacy and dominion [1 Esd 4:35-41], and in that keep your meetings. G. F.
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George Fox (1624 - 1691). English Dissenter, founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), born in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire. Apprenticed as a shoemaker, he left home at 19, seeking spiritual truth amid Puritan and Anglican tensions. In 1647, after visions and direct experiences of God, he began preaching an “inner light” accessible to all, rejecting clergy and formal worship. By 1652, he gathered followers in northern England, forming the Quakers, known for pacifism and simplicity. Fox traveled across England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and America, enduring eight imprisonments for his beliefs, including at Lancaster Castle. He wrote Journal (1694) and numerous letters, shaping Quaker theology with calls for equality and justice. Married to Margaret Fell in 1669, a key Quaker leader, they had no children, but she had eight from her prior marriage. His 1660 Declaration rejected violence, influencing conscientious objection. Fox’s emphasis on personal revelation transformed Protestantism, and his writings remain central to Quaker thought.