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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 prisoners in Exon, urging them to remain meek and lowly, guided by the Spirit that leads to peace. He warns against relying on carnal wisdom, which can lead to confusion and exclusion from God's Kingdom. Fox encourages unity and love among the prisoners, emphasizing that true victory comes not from a hasty spirit but from the Lamb who reigns. He calls for patience and peaceable conduct, encouraging them to be examples of Christ's image even in their imprisonment.
Scriptures
Pudling
(To the Prisoners in Exon; written whilst J.N. [James Naylor] was there, with many more in Prison) FRIENDS, Mind that, which keepeth you all Meek and Low. to be guided with it. And all consider that, which keepeth you in the way of Peace; that none of you may be pudling in your own carnal Wisdom, which is to be confounded, which is shut out of the Kingdom of God. All wait to have Dominion over that, that ye may know Peace and Unity, and the Love of God, tat doth not change. And do not strive one with another, lest ye do hurt one another; for it is not the hasty Spirit that doth get the Victory, but the Lamb, who must reign over the World, and was, before it was. And the Mind, which is forward, Judge, and dwell in the Peaceable way; that ye may be Patterns in your Imprisonments, to them which be out of the Image of the Son of God. 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.