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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 waiting in the light to see Christ as wisdom and righteousness, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the church as the body of Christ. He urges the congregation to wait on the Father of life to experience true reign in life, filled with pure joy and love. Fox encourages them to discern between those who need judgment and to eliminate fleshly-mindedness. By standing in the power of God, they will witness the seed overcoming challenges and providing support to the vulnerable.
Epistle 108
Friends, wait in the light, that with the light every one of you may come to see Christ to be your wisdom, and your righteousness, and so come to see the body, his church, of which is the head [Col 1:18]: and in the measure of life waiting on the Father of life, ye may come to reign in the life. All that are kept here, are in pure joy and love. And in the light wait, that ye may see the harlots and idolaters, &c. which are to be fed with judgment [Ezek 34:16]. Spare not that which is for the sword [Jer 21:7] and for <109> the fire; let all fleshly-mindedness be trodden under your feet. And standing in the power, ye will see the seed slaying the fat [Ezek 34:16], and chaining and binding the unruly, and succouring all the lambs and babes. This is the word of the Lord to you. 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.