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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 the importance of dwelling in God's love, patience, and truth, emphasizing the eternal nature of God's Word and the need to abide in it. He encourages living in heavenly wisdom, maintaining a gentle and lamb-like nature, and valiantly upholding God's truth without compromise. Fox reminds believers that the truth sets them free and leads to a peaceable habitation, ultimately bringing glory to God in all aspects of their lives.
Epistle 400
Dear friends, to you is my love in the seed of life, that bruises the head of enmity [Gen 3:15]; and in this seed you all have life and peace that is everlasting. And my desires are, that you may all dwell in the love [1 Jn 4:16] that can bear all things [1 Cor 13:7]. And keep the word of patience [Rev 3:10], which will never be worn out; for the word liveth, and abideth, and endureth for ever [1 Pet 1:23], and over all trials keeps; for the word was in the beginning [John 1:1], and all things are upheld by the word of his power [Heb 1:3]; in it abide. And so live and walk in the wisdom that is from above, that is heavenly, pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated [Jas 3:17]. And keep in the lamb-like nature; for the suffering lamb must have the victory [Rev 17:14]. And so the man of God must not strive, but be gentle [2 Tim 2:24], and yet valiant for God's truth [Jer 9:3], and not to sell it [Prov 23:23]; for they that do, go into bondage and captivity; for the truth maketh all God's people free [John 8:32], and the peaceable <278> truth is a peaceable habitation [Isa 32:18]. And so in it God Almighty preserve you, and all the Lord's people every where, that they may glorify the Lord God of all their comforts, lives, and mercies. Amen. 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.