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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 importance of turning our minds inward towards the Lord, urging believers to heed the Light of Christ that calls us away from worldly distractions. He describes how this inward focus leads to the discovery of the pure treasure found in a relationship with God, where eternal nourishment and wisdom are received. Fox encourages the faithful to serve God continuously, resulting in a profound peace that surpasses all understanding. The sermon highlights the transformative power of the Light that guides us to a deeper spiritual life and connection with the divine.
Scriptures
The Treasure Found
ALL Friends of the Lord every where, whose Minds are turned within toward the Lord, Take heed and hearken to the Light without you, which is the Light of Christ and of God, which will call your Minds to within (as ye heed it) which were abroad in the Creatures. . . . That which calls your Minds out of the Earth, turns it towards God, where the pure Babe is born in the Virgin-Mind; and the Babe's Food is known, and the Children's Bread witnessed, which comes from the living God, which nourisheth up to Eternal Life. . . . Therefore, take heed to the Light. . . . And so ye will come to see the Candle lighted, the House sweeping and swept, and then after the Pure Treasure will be found. . . . And the same Light, that calls your Minds, which were abroad, out of the World, the same turns them to God, the Father of Light. Here the pure Mind is known, and the pure God is waited upon for Wisdom from above; and the pure God is served night and day, and the Peace, which hath no End, is enjoyed.
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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.