- Home
- Speakers
- George Fox
- Epistle 115
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.
Download
Sermon Summary
George Fox emphasizes the significance of the eternal Word, which embodies life, peace, and reconciliation, urging believers to abide in this unity that transcends division. He warns against the divisive nature of evil language and encourages waiting in the light where true oneness with God exists. Fox calls upon the faithful to sound the trumpet of Christ's kingdom, reminding them that the true ministry is one of service and unity, standing against the antichrists of the world.
Epistle 115
Friends and brethren, the eternal word, from which ye have both spoken and ministered to others, is the word of life [1 Jn 1:1], the word of peace, the word of reconciliation [2 Cor 5:19], which makes of twain one new man [Eph 2:15]; and if ye do abide there, there is no division but unity in the life which was before death was, and before division was. Therefore that which is divided is of the kingdom that cannot stand [Mark 3:24], and is for condemnation by the life and word of reconciliation. That which speaks the evil language I do deny; for that which speaks so doth not see thoroughly. Therefore in the light wait, where the unity is, where the peace is, where the oneness with the Father and the son is, where there is no rent nor division; but all one in Christ Jesus [Gal 3:28], the everlasting fountain of life [Psa 37:9] and covenant of peace [Ezek 37:26]. The son of man cometh not to be ministered unto, but to minister [Mat 20:28]. Where the life and fulness dwells it hides and covers from that to which the curse is; that so it may minister forth to the seed's seed. Sound, sound the trumpet abroad, ye valiant soldiers of Christ in his kingdom, of which is no end [Luke1:33]! All the antichrists in the kingdoms (of fallen men) are up in arms against Christ. G. F.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

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.