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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 emphasizes the importance of love and faith in fostering unity among believers, urging them to bring their actions into the light for purification and condemnation of deeds contrary to it. He encourages the congregation to grow in peace and righteousness, guided by God's grace towards the eternal Kingdom of God. Fox highlights the necessity of repentance and attentiveness to the light that leads to everlasting love, joy, and peace.
Unity in the Light
. . . AND let Love proceed one towards another, from the Faith, which purifies, that all Actions to the Light may be brought, that all Deeds contrary to the Light, may with it be Condemned; that in Peace and Righteousness ye may all grow up in that which is Eternal, guided to him who is Eternal, taking all heed to the Measure of God's Grace, that with it your Minds may be guided up to God, the Father of Life, and all your Minds with the Eternal kept to him, who is Eternal: That the Kingdom of God ye may all come to see, waiting in the Light, taking heed to it, which calls to Repentance, which informs your Minds toward the Kingdom of God, where there is no End, but Love, Joy and Peace for Ever more.
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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.