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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 living in the pure and undefiled life, rooted in the holy seed that transcends transgression. He highlights that this seed, which is eternal and unchanging, empowers believers to overcome persecution and suffering that comes from the unjust. Fox encourages his listeners to remain steadfast in love, humility, and righteousness, as they navigate the challenges of living godly lives in a world that often opposes them. He reassures that those who endure persecution for their faith will ultimately reign in truth and life. His message is a call to be valiant for the Lord's truth and to embody the love of Christ.
Epistle 274
My dear friends,—In the pure and undefiled life [James 1:27] all live, in the holy seed that changes not, that will wear out all in the transgression, and was before transgression was, (and this seed was never a transgressor,) and it will be when transgression is gone, and is over that spirit which is in transgression, and is a burdensome stone [Zech 12:3] to the transgressor, and him that is out of truth [John 8:44], and it will outlast all. And so in that live, in which ye may reign in the life and truth, and in its time it will break all their bonds. For that spirit that doth transgress, doth persecute in the particular the just, and persecution makes the just to suffer in the general; and so, they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer <19> persecution [2 Tim 3:12] by them that persecute those that are godly; it is no wonder for them to persecute the godly in Christ the heavenly man [1 Cor 15:47]: so the just suffereth, within and without, by the unjust. And so be valiant for the Lord's truth upon the earth [Jer 9:3], and dwell in love, and in humility, and meekness, and patience, and righteousness, in which the love of the Lord is manifested. So no more but my love. 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.