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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 choosing the eternal joy found in Christ as the source of true riches and blessings, encouraging believers to make Christ their portion and to fear not losing worldly possessions. He emphasizes the importance of fellowshipping in the gospel, worshiping the Father in spirit and truth, and living in unity to overcome worldly distractions and false worship. Fox reminds the congregation that those who worship God in spirit may face persecution, but they will ultimately reign with Christ, the victorious cornerstone of faith.
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Epistle 194
Dear friends, who have found the better part, and chosen the better thing, the one thing [Luke 10:42], which lasteth for ever, which is the ground of all true rejoicing and joy [1 Th 2:19?], in whom ye have all riches and life, and the blessings, and the immortal power, to be your crown and covering. And it may be, there will be a time of shearing and clipping; but the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof [Ps 24:1]. So, mind him to be your portion, and the seed Christ [Gal 3:16] your all, and your life; and fear not losing the fleece, for it will grow again. And keep your meetings in the name of him that never fell [1 Pet 2:22], which is above all the meetings of Adam's sons and daughters in the fall. And keep in the fellowship in the gospel [Phil 1:5], which is the power of God [Rom 1:16], which was before the devil was; and this fellowship is above all the national fellowships in the fall of Adam. And keep in the worship of the Father in the spirit and in the truth [John 4:24], which the devil is out of [John 8:44], and in that ye will live in the truth and spirit in yourselves, and walk in unity in the same; and then ye are over all the will-worships [Col 2:3] in the fall of Adam, where they are in the strife about them. And who are come to the church in God [1 Th 1:1], do see above all the churches of Adam in the fall, drove from God. And as the outward Jews suffered by the outward Egyptians and Babylonians, and they persecuted them and killed their children; so the spiritual Egyptians [Rev 11:8] and mystery Babylon [Rev 17:5] persecute and would kill the Jews in spirit [Rom 2:29], that worship God in the spirit, whose praise is of God, and not of man [Rom 2:29], and such have none from fallen men, but by them are persecuted. But all such go, as dumb before their shearers [Isa 53:7]; for he that gave his back and his cheek to the smiters [Isa 50:6], overcame, and reigns, and hath the victory and the honour, who is Christ, the amen [Rev 3:14], the first and last [Rev 1:11], the top and corner stone [Eph 2:20]; in him sit down [Eph 2:6], in life, and peace, and rest. So no more, but my love in the everlasting seed, the second Adam [1 Cor 15:45,47], that never fell nor changed, whose love is above all the love in Adam's house in the fall. 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.