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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 encourages the Friends at Kendal to nurture the divine presence within them, emphasizing the importance of watching over the weak and fostering growth in faith. He urges them to walk in joy and love, serving God with a pure heart while rejecting all that is ungodly. Fox stresses the necessity of keeping the light of God in their lives to avoid condemnation and remain clean and pure. He calls for obedience to God's commands, warning against the influence of contrary human commands. Ultimately, he wishes them to walk in the living light and remain steadfast in their faith.
Walk in the Living Light
(To Friends at Kendal) TO that of God in you I do speak, that ye may watch over the Weak, and see, how the Plants of the Lord do grow. And walk in the Joy and Love of the Truth, serving God with Joyfulness of Heart; and to you this is the Word of the Lord. And keep all that is bad, down and out with the Light, which condemns all Ungodliness; so keep all that out, which is for Condemnation; that ye may all be preserved clean and pure, that out of Condemnation ye may be kept, and walk in the living Light. So God Almighty be with you all! And I charge you to read this among the Brethren, and these Words mind with the Light, that no Loosness be amongst you; but own and be obedient to the Commands of the Lord, that ye may stand out of, and above all the contrary Commands of Man. And so Fare-well. 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.