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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 dwelling in the power of the Lord God to stand firm in the world, handling the word of God correctly as a hammer, sword, and fire to discern the precious from the vile. He emphasizes waiting in the wisdom of God to respond to the divine presence in everyone, leading them away from worldly distractions and false teachings towards the true foundation in Christ. Fox urges people to turn to Christ as their husband and cornerstone, moving from outward symbols to experiencing the power of God within them, ultimately restoring the image of God they have lost by straying from the light.
Epistle 100
Friends,—In the power of the Lord God dwell and live, that over all the world ye may stand, in that which fathoms it, that ye may handle the word of God aright [2 Tim 2:15], which is as a hammer, and as a sword to divide the precious from the vile; and is a fire, to burn up that which is hammered down, and divided from the precious [Heb 4:12, Jer 15:19, Jer 23:29] And in the wisdom of God wait, that ye may answer that of God in every one [Col 4:6/Rom 1:19]; which light will bring them off those things, which they have set up in that nature, which is gone from the light. Which things the light goes over, and brings to see the beginning and ending of all those, whom Christ said should come, which John saw, were come, who went out from them, whom all the world went after; amongst whom have come up all these heads and horns, and Babylon, beast, and false prophet, and mother of harlots [Rev 17:3,5], who have sat upon the waters, which have been peoples, nations, and languages [Rev 17:15]. And these have been from the light, and so from the rock, and from the true foundation [Mat 7:24f]; and the kings of the earth have drunk of the cup of her fornication [Rev 17:2]. And all nations, that have been from the life and the foundation of God, have been in this fornication, from Christ the husband [2 Cor 11:2]. So now people are to be turned by the light to Christ their husband , the rock, the corner stone [Eph 2:20], and are to be brought from their outward crosses to the cross of Christ, the power of God [1 Cor 1:18] within them, and from the dead image to the image of God [Col 3:10], which they have lost through their going forth from the light, and thereby have lost the power of God. And all these crosses of wood and stone, and the founder of them must all be thrown down by the power of God [Jer 10:14f], which is the cross of Christ; and to the light must they be turned, which answers to that of God in every one, before they come to feel Christ to rule and reign in them. Then the outward, dead crosses of stone, wood, silver, or gold they shall not need (to have) to put them in remembrance of Christ, or to bring him into their minds; for such as <104> are come to the light which Christ hath enlightened them withal [John 1:9], and believe in it, they feel the power of God, they feel Christ and his cross, which is the power of God [1 Cor 1:18]. 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.