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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 emphasizes the importance of meeting together in the light to see the Father of Life among them, urging for peace, love, and unity in the power of the Lord God during their gatherings. He advises to let wisdom guide with patience, avoiding strife and instead focusing on what leads to peace, love, and edification among friends.
Strive Not in Meetings
ALL Friends, Meet together in the Light, that with it ye may see the Father of Life amongst you in your Meetings. And so, the Lord God of Power be with you, and keep you. . . . And all live in Peace, in Love, in Life, and in the Power of the Lord God, and keep your Meetings, every one of you waiting in the Power of God upon him; that in it ye may have Unity with God, the Father, and the Son, and one with another. And Dear Friends, Let Wisdom guide you in Patience, and do not strive with any in Meetings; but dwell in the Power of the Lord God, that can bear and suffer all things. And make no Strife among Friends, but live in that which makes for Peace, and Love and Life, in which Edification is known. 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.