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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 addresses the importance of remaining steadfast in God's truth, urging those who have strayed into worldly behaviors such as drunkenness and dishonesty to return to the light that initially convinced them. He emphasizes the need for repentance and accountability, encouraging individuals to publicly acknowledge their transgressions and seek to honor God and His truth. Fox calls for a holy generation to rise up against the unholiness prevalent in society, reinforcing the necessity of living a life that reflects God's righteousness.
Epistle 255
Dear Friends, all who from the beginning have been convinced of God's truth, and are turned to the world, or gone into drunkenness, swearing, pleasure, and looseness, or to the old mass-house, or have sold the truth [Prov 23:23] for a wife or husband, and gone to the priests covertly to be married, contrary to the truth they have professed: these all must be admonished to come to the light that did first convince them, and give forth a paper of condemnation, and send it to the priests, and to those places where they have dishonoured God [Rom 2:23], his truth and people. And so to clear the truth, that none may make a jest of their transgressions: <308> and by walking out of the truth, cause the blind to wander [Deut 27:18]: so that the house may be swept, and ye being a holy generation [1 Pet 2:9], may stand up for holiness in your generation, as the wicked world stands up for unholiness. 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.