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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 to all individuals, whether they have family members, employees, or are in any social relationship, urging them to walk in the light that enlightens every person, as mentioned in John 1:9. He emphasizes the importance of living a pure and upright life, guided by the light within, to serve as a testimony to those who oppose the light. By demonstrating a chaste lifestyle and good works, one can lead others to acknowledge the truth and glorify God, as stated in Matthew 5:16. Fox encourages believers to receive divine wisdom from above, aligning their lives with God's glory and divine order, as described in James 3:15, Wisdom 8:1, and 1 Corinthians 10:31.
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Epistle 53
All Friends every where, that have wives, or that have husbands, or that have children, or that have servants; or servants that have masters, or children that have parents, that are not Friends,—this is to you all, that are in the light, ‘which lighteth every man that cometh into the world [John 1:9],’ that they, that act contrary to the light, and believe not in it, who know not the word, and will not be won with the word, (speaking to them,) that your chaste conversation [1 Pet 3:2] (ye walking in the light which comes from the word) may answer to the light in them, which they hate and walk contrary to; that your chaste conversation may judge them, and ye may win them by your chaste conversation, walking in the light, which answereth the light in them wherewith they are enlightened; which light comes from the word, which casteth down all that is contrary to it. That they that act contrary to the light, beholding your chaste conversation, and your good works, the light which they act contrary to may make them confess to your good conversation, and glorify your Father which is in heaven [Mat 5:16]; who are born of the light, children of light. That ye may receive the wisdom from above, which is neither earthly, nor sensual, nor devilish [James 3:15], with which ye may be ordered [Wis 8:1] to the glory of God [1 Cor 10:31], and with that order all that ye have to order. And to you this is the word 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.