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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 maintaining purity and unity among believers, likening them to salt and light in the world as instructed in Matthew 5:13-16. He urges them to let the light of Christ guide their actions so that others may see their good works and glorify God. Fox encourages serving one another in love, avoiding strife and presumption, and seeking unity through God's guidance as outlined in Galatians 5:13.
Epistle 156
All Friends,—I do warn and charge you in the presence of the living God, in his wisdom and life keep, that no ill savour be nor get up amongst you. For ye are the salt of the earth, to season and to make savoury to God; but if the salt have lost its savour, it is henceforth good for nothing [Mat 5:13]. Therefore I do warn you all, mind that which doth keep your peace; whereby ye all may grow in love, and know Christ in you all, in whom is peace. Ye are the light of the world [Mat 5:14] to answer the light in every one, that with the light they may see your good works, and by seeing them, they may glorify your Father which is in heaven [Mat 5:16]; for all deceit is judged and condemned by it. And every one keep in the measure of the life of God, and see that there be no strife nor presumption among you; but all serve one another in love [Gal 5:13], and let that of God guide every one of you, in which ye may have unity one with another and with God. And in his life wait to receive power to bind and chain all down which is contrary to truth. And so, in the life and power of God, the Lord God Almighty preserve you to his glory. Amen. The light is precious to him that believes in it, and walks according <149> to its leading. So, while ye have the light, walk in the light [John 12:35f], and live in the light, Christ the truth: that ye may, through obedience to it, be the children of the light and of the day [1 Th 5:5]. For the light and the truth were before darkness and deceit were. 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.