- Home
- Speakers
- George Fox
- Epistle 97
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
Sermon Summary
George Fox emphasizes the importance of surrendering one's own will to God's will, echoing the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He warns against striving against God's providence and encourages believers to wait in reverence to understand their duties to the Lord. Fox reminds the faithful of God's everlasting love and blessings, urging them to avoid rashness that could lead to curses and a broken covenant with God. He concludes with a prayer for faith in Christ, who fulfills God's promises.
Epistle 97
Stand in the will of God, with thy own will offered up, as his was who said, ‘Not my will, but thine be done [Luke 22:42].’ And beware of striving in thy own will against the eternal providence and power, which is now working invisibly, cross and contrary to all the powers of darkness. And wait in the fear of the Lord, that thy duty to the Lord thou mayst know, whose everlasting love is to thee; whose blessing reacheth unto thee, if thou be faithful with faithful Abraham, who received the blessing [Gal 3:9], and to his seed after him. So beware, lest through thy forwardness and rashness thou bring the curse upon thee, and so break thy peace in covenant with the Lord God. The everlasting God give thee faith in Christ Jesus, in whom the promise is yea and amen [2 Cor 1:20]. 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.