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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 the importance of staying in the Lord's power to maintain His kingdom in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, free from the devil's influence of strife and discord among brethren. He emphasizes the need to walk in the new and living way, separate from the dead ways of the world, and to uphold the pure religion established centuries ago to remain undefiled before God. Fox encourages adherence to the gospel of Christ, ensuring that men's and women's meetings are ordered by the wisdom of God, promoting peace and gentleness.
Epistle 349
Dear friends,—Keep in the Lord's power, that his kingdom stands in [1 Cor 4:20], and in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy ghost [Rom 14:17], which the devil and all his instruments of strife and debate, and sowers of discord [Prov 6:14] among brethren, are out of; and keep that spirit out with the power of <148> God, which was before it was; in which gospel (the power of God) [Rom 16:1] is your holy and heavenly order; in the possession of the same labour, walking in the new and living way [Heb 10:20], over all the dead ways in Adam, let them be what sect they will; and in this new and living way you have the life and the truth, which death and darkness cannot get into, which is out of the truth, though they may talk of the words of the truth. But keep in the pure religion that was set up above sixteen hundred years ago; and this pure religion, which is undefiled before God, will keep you from the spots of the world [Jas 1:27], and above all the spotted and dirty religions that are not pure, but are defiled before and in the sight of God. And in this religion, in your men's and women's meetings, that are in the gospel of Christ, and in the order of it, you will see that nothing is lacking [1 Th 4:12], being ordered by the holy, pure, peaceable and gentle wisdom of God from above [Jas 3:17]. And so keep in the worship of God, in the new covenant, in the spirit, and in the truth; which the devil, that foul spirit who is out of the truth [John 8:44], cannot get into, nor his company: and so in the seed of life, which bruiseth the head of the serpent [Gen 3:15], all dwell, and sit down, who is the Amen [Rev 3:14], the first and last [Rev 22:13], in whom you have peace with God; and then nothing can get between you and the Lord God. 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.