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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 about the wisdom of God in creation and the necessity for all things to be ordered back to God's glory. He emphasizes the importance of living in truth, being faithful in one's place, and showing mercy and kindness to others, especially those who are persecuted for their faith. Fox encourages believers to honor God with their lives, substance, and spirit, and to allow the wisdom of God to guide their actions and conversations. He reminds them of the high calling in Christ Jesus, the need for holiness, and the promise of abiding in God's love forever.
Epistle 157
Friends,—By the wisdom of God were all things made [John 1:3, Wis 7:22], and by the wisdom of God must all things be ordered again to God's glory [Wis 8:1, 1 Cor 10:31]. Transgression and sin bring death and destruction; but that wisdom is hid from all their eyes that live in sin, by which wisdom all things were made and created; which was, before sin, death, and destruction were. And so, that is it, which the creatures and creation of God must be ordered by, that wisdom which made them, and doth not change; which is hid from death and destruction, and from that which is in the transgression of life, and must not rule. So Friends every where, be tender to those that have forsaken any thing for truth. And if that their parents have put them out from them, or their masters put them away for truth's sake, and them that are put out of their places for truth's sake, such in the truth receive and cherish; that they may be kept in the service of the creation to God's glory, answering that of God in all. For every one is to abide in their places [Exo 16:29], and there to be faithful, except they be put out, or put away, and be buffeted for no fault, and take it patiently; that is thanksworthy. And do good unto all, especially to them that are of the household of faith [Gal 6:10], and be as the church of God, guided in the wisdom of the Most High, who causeth his rain to fall upon the just and upon the unjust [Mat 5:45]. And so, be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful [Luke 6:36]. And know the seed of God that is heir of the promise [Gal 3:29] in every one of you, and the wisdom, by which all things must be ordered to his glory, who upholds all things by his word of power [Heb 1:3]. By which word of wisdom all things were created, and must be ordered again to the glory of the Creator; in which man will be kept clean unto God, and honour God with his substance, and glorify God in his spirit. Whereby every one's conversation will come to be ordered aright [Psa 50:23], and ye come to set down in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus [E;ph 2:6]; and to know the high calling of God in Christ Jesus [Phil 3:14], who calls out of darkness into the light [1 Pet 2:9], out of death into life. For he that calls, is holy [1 Pet 1:15], and calls into holiness [1 Th 4:7], without which none shall see the Lord [Heb 12:14]. And all Friends, be faithful in the seed and life of the Lord God; that is it which abideth in the love of God for ever, where every one hath his bread which comes down from above [John 6:35-58]. That is the birth, <150> which abideth in the house of the Lord God for ever [Psa 23:6], and shall go no more forth; which is greater than he that is in the world [1 Jn 4:4]. And in the seed and life keep your meetings with God and one with another. So in that the Lord God Almighty preserve you all to his glory. 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.