- Home
- Speakers
- George Fox
- Thresh Down Deceit
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
Topic
Sermon Summary
George Fox preaches about knowing the life and power of God within ourselves and each other, emphasizing obedience to that power to overcome deceit both internally and externally with wisdom. He encourages dwelling in the rest that is available for the people of God through belief. Fox highlights the unshakeable nature of God's power that can bring down all that needs to be shaken and changed, leading to a life that stands in God's strength and stability.
Thresh Down Deceit
FRIENDS, know the Life and Power of God in your selves, and one another, and to that Power be Obedient, to Thresh down all Deceit within and without you in Wisdom, and in that dwell, which comprehends the World; and know the Rest, which is for the People of God, which he that believeth, hath entred into. So know the Life, that stands in God; and all know the Power of God, for that Power shall never be shaken nor change, but will shake down all, that must be shaken and will change. So in that the Lord God Almighty preserve you, which giveth you to see, where there is no Changing nor Shadow. 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.