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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 faithfulness in serving God and minding His business, encouraging believers to diligently spread the power of the Lord to those who oppose it. He urges the faithful to visit and support new believers, ensuring that none are left behind in spiritual bondage. Fox calls on everyone to actively seek out and bring back those who have strayed, illustrating the immense joy in heaven over one lost soul being rescued and returned to the fold.
Epistle 257
Dear friends,—Be faithful in the service of God, and mind the Lord's business, and be diligent, so will the power of the Lord be brought over all those that have gainsayed it. And all ye that are faithful, go to visit them that have been convinced, from house to house, that if it be possible ye may not leave a hoof in Egypt [Exod 10:26]. And so, every one go seek the lost sheep, and bring him home on your backs to the fold, and there will be more joy of that one sheep than the ninety and nine in the fold [Mat 18:12f, Luke 5:4-7]. . . . <309> . . . 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.