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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 significance of aligning marriages with the light of Christ, warning against unions formed in opposition to this divine guidance. He asserts that those who act contrary to this light are aware of their wrongdoings and face condemnation. True marriages, according to Fox, are those joined by God through His light, which should not be separated by man. He highlights that such unions are honorable and blessed, reflecting God's command and power. Ultimately, Fox calls for a commitment to the divine light in all relationships.
Concerning Marriages
Friends,—All they who act contrary to the light which comes from Christ Jesus, and hate it, whose deeds are evil [John 3:19f], and live in strife about words, and their minds are in earthly things [Phil 3:19], defrauding and wronging one another, they know when they do so, with the light which comes from Christ Jesus. So this light, which lets them see and know, when they act contrary to it, with this light are they condemned. And all that do act contrary to the light, and do join together in marriage contrary to the light, and are joined with that which is contrary to the light, this is their condemnation, the light, which leads to God. But who are joined together with the light, are joined together in God; and let no man put them asunder [Mat 19:6]. Here is the true joining; and there will be a clear testimony unto them, that God did move and command, and join them with his light, among all the children of light; and this marriage is honourable, and the bed not defiled [Heb 13:4]. And whom God doth move, and command, and join together, it was and is by his power. 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.