- Home
- Speakers
- George Fox
- Epistle 80
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.
Download
Sermon Summary
George Fox emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the kingdom of God and His righteousness above all earthly concerns, such as food and clothing. He encourages believers to trust in God's provision, as seen in nature, where He cares for the lilies and the ravens. By seeking God's kingdom, individuals can live in a way that glorifies Him, using all things for His praise. Fox contrasts this with the worldly mindset that is consumed by material needs, highlighting that true wisdom comes from seeking God first. Ultimately, those who abide in God's kingdom experience freedom and truth.
Epistle 80
Friends, seek the kingdom of God first, and the righteousness thereof, and those things, ‘what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, and wherewith ye shall be clothed,’ will be added [Mat 6:33], and will follow. Therefore take no thought, what ye shall eat, nor what ye shall drink, nor wherewithal ye shall be clothed [Mat 6:31]; for the Gentiles seek after these things [Mat 6:32], who seek not after the kingdom of God and the righteousness of it. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness of it. And consider the lilies of the field [Mat 6:28], and who clothes the earth with grass [Mat 6:30], and who feeds the young ravens, when they cry [Psa 147:9]. And the kingdom of heaven being sought after, and the righteousness of it, he that is here lives out of the creatures up to the Creator, which differs him from the people of the world, who take thought, (which thoughts they live in,) ‘what they shall eat, what they shall drink, and what they shall put on.’ And they that be there are out of the wisdom of God, which the saints are in, that have sought and found the kingdom of God and his righteousness; which (wisdom) brings them to use the creatures to his glory; whether they eat, or whether they drink, all is done to the praise and glory of God [1 Cor 10:31]. Such as abide there, can do nothing against the truth [2 Cor 13:8], which truth hath made them free indeed [John 8:36]; who into the kingdom of the dear son of God are come [Col 1:13], which is without end, who over the kingdoms of the world reigneth. G. F.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
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.