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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 standing firm in the power of God, equipped with spiritual armor and weapons to have victory, access to God, please Him, and maintain unity with one another. He emphasizes the importance of using the Word of God as a sword and being shod with the gospel to combat false teachings and remain in fellowship with God. Fox encourages believers to dwell in righteousness, truth, and justice, and to fearlessly tread on the power of the devil with the power of God.
Epistle 223
All friends and brethren, stand fast in the power of the Lord God Almighty, with the breast-plate of righteousness, with the shield of faith, your weapons [Eph 6:10-17], by which you have victory [1 Jn5: 4], and have access to God [Rom 5:2], in which you please him [Heb 11:6], and in which you have unity [Eph 4:13] one with another; take unto you all your spiritual weapons, and be ready with the sword of the spirit the word of God [Eph 6:17], which was in the beginning [John 1:1], before death and the power of it was. And all the false worships, churches, and teachers; and that your feet be shod with the gospel [Eph 6:15], the power of God [Rom 1:16], in which you have all fellowship [Phil 1:5], (which is a mystery [Eph 3:9],) by which life and immortality are brought to light in you all [2 Tim 1:10]; every one having the word of God, which hammereth [Jer 23:29] down all that which is gotten up since the beginning; and every one having the sword of the spirit, the word of God, which doth divide the precious from the vile [Jer 15:19], <238> in which you have wisdom, which cuts down all that for the fire; which hath gotten up since the beginning, who knows the earth in which dwells the righteousness [2 Pet 3:13], and dwell in righteousness, and truth, and justice, and equity, for in that ye dwell with God; and they that dwell not in this, dwell not with him, but are such as grieve, and vex, and quench God's spirit [Eph 4:20, Isa 63:10, 1 Th 5:19] in them. Be bold and valiant for the truth upon the earth [Jer 9:3], every one according to your measure, beholding the face of God. And fear not the power of the devil, but in the power of God, which was before he was, tread on his head [Gen 3:15]; and know the honour of the saints [Psa 149:9?], and the election in Christ the seed [1 Th 1:4], which was before the world began [2 Tim 1:9], and your salvation wrought out [Phil 2:12], and the glory of the Lord to be your reward. And keep your faith in the power of God, in which you may all know your health grow, and all your hearts to be established in grace [Heb 13:9], which is your teacher, and brings your salvation [Tit 2:11f], that all may see it is the grace of God, by which you stand, which establisheth, seasoneth, teacheth, and bringeth salvation. Heed not the earth, nor the rudiments [Col 2:8] of the world, nor the swine, nor dog's vomit [2 Pet 2:22], nor men's carnal understandings, wisdom, nor knowledge; but mind the wisdom of God, that is pure from above [James 3:17], and keeps so; and the spirit that gives the true understanding, and the right knowledge of God, which is life eternal [John 17:3]. And know your fellowship to be in the spirit, which is the bond of peace [Eph 4:3], in that live, and keep in it, in which you may have perfection, and the perfect gifts of God. And mind the worship of God, which is in the spirit and truth [John 4:24], which was before the devil was, which he is out of [John 8:44], and his ways. For God's ways are in the truth; and in his power meet, and in his life live, in which you may feed in the pastures of life [Ezek 34:14], in which pasture Christ is the leader and shepherd [John 10:11]. So all that be plucked out of the fall by his crook, which is the power of God, and that know him and his voice; follow him [John 10:4], and ye will have life abundantly [John 10:10], and riches eternal [Prov 8:18]. And every one keep on your watch and guard, against the enemy that led out from God, out of life and truth. For all the sufferings are by and through him that is out of the truth; so they that will live godly shall suffer persecution [2 Tim 3:13]; but you that suffer in the truth, and by the contrary for the truth's sake, the spirit of glory will rest upon you; and if you be evil spoken of for its sake, being faithful on your parts, Christ is glorified [1 Pet 4:14]. And, friends, your house being built upon the rock Christ Jesus, by whom the world was made, the storms, the floods, the tempests you fear not; but all whose house is built on the sands, the floods, the storms, beat down and wash away [Mat 7:24-7], as you may see before your eyes. So Friends that are come to the beginning, see over storms, and tempests, and floods, and live on the rock, which was before they were; on that you may rest safe, and in peace. And, friends, ‘Fear not him <239> that can kill the body [Mat 10:28],’ I say, fear him not that can spoil thy goods [Heb 10:34], be not afraid of them; for when they have done that, they can do no more; for the life is over them all, they cannot touch that. So mind that which is over them all. 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.