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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 unity among believers, urging them to walk in the Light of Christ, which is the source of their faith and oneness. He explains that all who are in the Spirit are united as one body, guided by the same Light that reveals evil and leads them away from worldly distractions. Fox warns against living in darkness and following worldly assemblies that lack true life, encouraging friends to focus on the inner Light that connects them to the true Church of God. He highlights that true unity is found in the Spirit and the Power of God, rather than in external appearances or words. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to the oneness that keeps believers aligned with God's purpose.
Scriptures
Mind the Oneness
TO all Friends who are in the Unity, which is in the Light; Walk in the Light. It is one Light that doth Convince you all; and one Christ, that doth call all to Repentance, up to himself, the one Head, which is Christ. . . . It is he alone that gives Faith, and all who are in this Faith, are one. It is one Power that raiseth up the Seed; and your Faith being out of Words, in the Power, ye are all one, and that Seed is one; and ye are all one, if ye be Ten Thousand; which Seed is one; and all the Brethren, who are in the Spirit, are one. Ye have all one Eye, which is the Light; one Fire, which Consumes all, which the Light discovers to be Evil; and one Spirit which baptises all into one Body, where there is no Confusion, but Pureness and Oneness. Therefore all Friends, mind the Oneness, and that which keeps you in the Oneness and Unity, it is that which keeps you out of the World; and this one Light leads you out of Darkness into the Everlasting Day, where ye see the Church of God. But living in the Darkness, and following that Mind, it leads into the World's Assemblies, who have the Letter of the Saints' Words, but live out of the Life, smiting one another, fighting for the Husks: But minding the Light within, it leads you into the Assemblies of the Righteous, who are in the Life. The Kernel is (to be found) within, the Husk is without. . . . They are Outsides, who feed upon Outsides.
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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.