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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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Sermon Summary
George Fox emphasizes the necessity of obedience to the power of God, which surpasses all earthly authority and darkness. He urges believers to recognize their authority derived from God's power, enabling them to confront and overcome the forces of evil. Fox warns against relying on mere words or human wisdom that lack divine power, encouraging a focus on the true authority found in Christ. He contrasts the authority of the scribes and Pharisees with that of true believers who embody the life of Christ, highlighting the importance of living in accordance with God's will. Ultimately, he calls for a deep connection to the seed of God to truly fulfill the law and the prophets.
Epistle 185
All Friends, be obedient to the power of God, which is the higher power, and is above that which abode not in the truth [John 8:44]. So ye that know the power of God, be obedient to it; for ye have authority from the power of God, which comprehends all the powers of darkness, to answer the witness of God in every one [Gal 4:6/1 Jn 5:9f]; and to trample upon all the power of darkness, and its authority. For ye that feel the power that comprehends the world, and all the powers of darkness, keep in the <175> authority, in the power of God. Mind not words without the power, nor the pleasing of the reason and carnal knowledge, wisdom and understanding [Rom 8:6f], of fancies and thoughts of men; but dwell in the authority, (the power of God,) ye that know it: that over all ye may reign in the seed, who fulfilled the law and the prophets [Mat 5:17]; who spake with authority, and speaks with authority now, more than the scribes and Pharisees [Mat 7:29], the writers of the law and of the prophets, and the speakers of them, who were transgressors against the life that gave forth the words which were written. And so, the authority of the scribes and Pharisees, who wrote Moses and the prophets, is as the authority of the professing christians, who profess Christ and the apostles' writings, but are without the life and from the seed of God; these are one with them who put Christ to death, and knew not the authority of the seed. 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.