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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 the importance of minding the light within to judge and condemn strife, guiding our minds to Christ where there is peace and truth. He emphasizes the need to condemn all that leads to weakness, prejudice, and many words, as they go against the light that leads to Christ, the covenant of peace. Fox urges listeners to learn the ministry of self-condemnation before preaching peace by Jesus Christ, highlighting the significance of patience, moderation, and receiving the love of God to bear all things and resist the attacks of the enemy.
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Epistle 145
Friends,—Where there is strife among any of you, mind the light to judge it down and condemn it; by which light your minds may be guided up to Christ, where there is no strife, to learn of him [Mat 11:29], and to condemn all that with the light, which a ground to reproach truth, and to see your nakedness. For that which is out of the light will fall and confound itself. So mind that which keeps your <138> peace, and condemns that which leads into weakness; and that which will let in prejudice, goes from the light. All which is to be condemned with the light, which leads to Christ the covenant of peace [Ezek 37:26]. And where there is strife which leads out into many words [1 Tim 6:4?], such will wither and bring themselves under condemnation at last. Such must be silent and mind that which doth condemn them; that the life in them may arise, wherein is no strife. For where men's spirits are high, something is stirring that should be kept under; take heed that get not up into rule. So first learn the ministry of condemnation [2 Cor 3:9] in yourselves, that life may arise, before ministry in the spirit be known, which preacheth peace by Jesus Christ [Acts 10:36], where there is no strife. Therefore wait to know the time of silence [Eccl 3:7]. And all Friends, let your patience and moderation be known to all men [Phil 4:5]; for nothing is attained to that is good by strife, for that is out of Christ in the forward will, which is to be condemned with the light, (where is the unity,) which cometh from Christ, and leadeth up to Christ the covenant of life. And take heed, all Friends, of causing his name to be blasphemed through you among the heathen [Ezek 36:20-23], but mind and wait to receive the love of God which bears all things, and suffers all things [1 Cor 13:7]; and so comes to receive the armour of righteousness [2 Cor 6:7], which quenches all the fiery darts of satan [Eph 6:16], that the patience that bears and suffers all things may be witnessed. 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.