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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 a message of peace, grace, and truth to various places, emphasizing the importance of walking in holiness, righteousness, and godliness in all aspects of life. He reminds the listeners that the only way to God is through Christ Jesus, who serves as a prophet, bishop, shepherd, and high priest to guide and protect them. Reflecting on the Yearly Meeting, Fox acknowledges the presence of the eternal God and His peaceful glory that blessed the gathering.
Epistle 403
Dear friends, in Holland, Friesland, Hamborough, Frederickstadt, Dantzic, Palatinate, and all other places thereaway, where God's truth and ensign are set up [Isa 11:12]; peace, grace, and truth be multiplied [1 Pet 1:2] among you from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the fountain of all life, peace, grace, and heavenly wisdom, and understanding; and the God of all power and peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ, fill you with it, and his heavenly riches, and that you may all walk worthy of his heavenly calling [Eph 4:1/Phil 3:14], in all holiness, righteousness, and godliness, &c. in life and conversation, and that by the word of life [1 Jn 1:1] and patience [Rev 3:10], you may answer the truth in all both high and low; so that you may be of good savour to God in the hearts of all people. For you know there is no other way to God but by Christ Jesus [John 14:6]; and you know, that God has raised up Christ to be a prophet in his new testament to be heard in all things [Acts 3:22]; and you know, ‘he opens, and none can shut, and he shuts and none can open [Rev 3:7];’ and you know, that Christ is the bishop of your souls, to oversee, that you do not go astray from God [1 Pet 2:25]. And you know that Christ is the true shepherd, and has laid down his life for his sheep [John 10:15], ‘and they know his voice, and they follow him, and he gives them life eternal [John 10:27f].’ And also you know, that Christ is your high priest, made higher than the heavens [Heb 7:27], by the power of an endless life [Heb 7:16], and by him you are made a spiritual priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God [1 Pet 2:5]. And as for our Yearly Meeting, the presence of the eternal God was amongst us, and his glory, which shines over all; and all was quiet and peaceable; and it was the Lord's doing [Psa 118:23], blessed be his name for ever. . . . 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.