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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 emphasizes the importance of purity and unity among believers, urging them to silence fleshly desires and avoid contention. He warns against striving for mastery and exercising lordship over one another, encouraging a humble mindset that focuses on God's will. Fox highlights that departing from purity leads to pride and division, while waiting on the Lord brings nourishment and glorifies God. He calls for believers to gather in humility, listen, and be cautious of contention, which can lead them away from the fear of the Lord.
Epistle 122
Friends,—To that which is pure, I speak, in which is unity, where no defiled thing shall enter. Silence all flesh [Zech 2:13], who strive about words, in which is no profit; who would draw you out of your conditions, and others out of their conditions [2 Tim 2:14]. Therefore be low, and mind that which is low, to draw you out of contention. And strive not for mastery [1 Cor 9:25], and do not exercise lordship over one another [Mark 10:42]; but mind that which is pure, which keeps you in the fear of the Lord God. For if your minds go from that which is pure, which leads to God, your nakedness will appear [Rev 3:18] to the world; and then ye go in your own wills and strength, and there is the seat for mastery and pride, out of the will of God, and that is out of the unity, out of the oneness, out of the way; and instead of building, ye destroy; and instead of edifying, ye draw back into the world. Therefore all be low, and wait upon the Lord [various, e.g. Isa 40:31], and be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath [James 1:19]; be low, and wait upon God, to receive the living food from God, to nourish you in time, with that which was before time; that God in all things may be glorified [1 Pet 4:11]. So the Lord God Almighty direct you and bring down all fleshly wills; that the pure may be raised up. So meet together and wait upon God, if there be not a word, I charge you. Beware of contention, for there ye get above that of God in the conscience, and so go out of the fear of the Lord. 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.