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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 to friends in the ministry, urging them to speak the Word of the Lord faithfully without adding their own reasoning or diminishing it with a disobedient mind. He emphasizes that the Word of the Lord is powerful, cutting down deceit, purifying the speaker, and breaking down all that is contrary. Fox encourages humility, service to one another in love, and following the example of Christ to avoid strife and pride. He reminds them to fear the Lord, condescend to the lowly, and spread themselves abroad to be of service to God's Truth.
Spread Your Selves Abroad
(To Friends in the Ministry) ALL Friends, who are moved of the Lord to speak the Word of the Lord, whom the Lord hath made to be his Mouth, speak not your own Words to feed the sensual part of Man, in your own Wills; for there God is not honoured, and Wisdom is not justified. But ye that are moved to speak . . . speak the word of the Lord faithfully, neither add to it with your Reason, nor diminish from it with a disobedient Mind, but speaking the Word of the Lord (faithfully) it is sharper than a Two-edged Sword, to cut down all Deceit, and as a Fire to burn up the Chaff, and it purifies you, that speak it. And so as an Hammer, it will break down all the Contrary. And the Word is but One, which Sanctifies all, and cleanseth the heart, and sanctifies and reconciles to God. And the Light is but One; and all being guided by it, all are subject to One, and are One in the Unity of the Spirit. And if your Minds turn from the Light, and that Mind speak of the Light, there gets up Pride and Presumption,a nd the Will; and then ye begin to strike your Fellow-Servants. Therefore all Dear Friends and Brethren, Be Servants to the Truth and do not strive for Mastery, but serve one another in Love. Wash one another's Feet, take Christ for your Example that I may hear of no Strife among you. . . . Children would be striving, but that which would have the Mastery, must dye, and shall not enter into the Kingdom of God. Therefore mind not high things, but fear, and condescend to Men of Low Degree; for the Fear of the Lord keeps the Heart clean, and the pure in Heart sees God. And Friends, spread your selves abroad, that ye may be serviceable for the Lord and his Truth . . . and trample all that which is Contrary to God, under your Feet; that ye may Answer that of God in everyone.
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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.