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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 setting our affections on heavenly things to avoid bondage and evil influences, emphasizing the importance of true humility in Christ and keeping our focus on the immortal God. He urges believers to watch for their souls with an immortal eye, focusing on the immortal gospel and the sinless government of God. Fox highlights the establishment of the church in righteousness and truth, calling believers to holiness and purity to see God among them.
Epistle 254
Friends, let your affections be set on things that are above [Col 3:2]; for if they be on things below, then your minds, bodies, souls, and spirits, will be brought into bondage, and in that the evil will get into you and burden you, which ought to be kept down by the seed of life: and learn the true humility of Christ the second Adam [1 Cor 15:45,47]. And so all they that watch for the soul [Heb 13:17], must have the immortal eye; for the soul is immortal: and therefore all eyes must be kept above that which is mortal, and out of it up to the immortal God, whose dwelling is in the light. And so mind the gospel, which is immortal, and the government of him that never sinned nor fell, and to know the increase of it daily, which hath no end. For the Lord is establishing his church in righteousness and truth, whose church is without spot, wrinkle, and blemish [Eph 5:27], or any such thing; and his people are a holy generation [1 Pet 2:9], and they are to stand up for holiness, in which holiness they will see God [Heb 12:14] among them: and let every one see that they do keep their own vineyard clean. Dear friends, mind the gospel, which is the power of God [Rom 1:16], that was before the devil and old Adam were; in this power is the comely order; and out of this power is all the uncomely orders. And so know the government of Christ, and the increase thereof, which hath no end [Isa 9:7]: and this governor and government was before the devil and old Adam was, and will stand when all that is gone. 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.