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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 the Light of Christ as a guiding force for believers, urging them to heed this divine illumination to recognize their sins and the transient nature of worldly desires. He encourages individuals to rely on the Light for personal revelation and understanding, rather than on human teachings, leading to a deeper relationship with God. By embracing this Light, believers can witness the New Covenant and experience true rest and salvation. Fox warns against the distractions of vain thoughts and idolatry, reminding that true life comes from hearing the voice of Jesus.
With the Light See Salvation
FRIENDS, All to the Light, which Jesus Christ hath enlightened you withal, take heed, that with the Light of Christ, the Saviour of your Souls ye may all come to see and enjoy Rest; and the New Covenant ye may all witness, where ye need no Man to teach you, saying, Know the Lord. And this Light shows you Sin, and the Evil of the World, and the Lust of it, and the vain Fashions of it, that pass away, and the Unrighteousness, and the Ungodliness of it; for they are . . . contrary to the Light and to be condemned with the Light. Therefore to the Light I direct you, that with it ye may see your selves; then in it stand, that with it ye may see Jesus, from whence it comes: And not to join with your vain Thoughts, nor that which doth consult, and set, and frame Ways; there is the Idol-maker and the Image-maker, and the Founder of the Images, whom ye will see with the Light, if ye to it take heed. And so . . . ye will come to hear the Voice of the Son of God; and who hears his Voice, shall live.
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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.