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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 living in the unchangeable power of God to maintain righteousness, truth, love, unity, and dominion over spiritual obstacles and challenges. He emphasizes the importance of patiently waiting in God's power, staying low in love and unity, and serving the Lord diligently in order to overcome earthly distractions and limitations. Fox encourages believers to focus on the wisdom of God, departing from sin, and allowing the seed of God to reign within them, leading to a life of purity, holiness, and spiritual growth in Christ.
Epistle 181
Friends—Live in the unchangeable power of God, which will keep you in righteousness, and truth, and love, and unity, and dominion over all the unclean spirits [Mat 10:1], and rough ways, and mountains [Isa 40:4] within and without: that the power of the Lord God may be supreme amongst you, and that ye may in the wisdom of the Lord be preserved. And none abuse it, but all patiently in the power of the Lord wait, that in it ye may be all kept low, in love and unity with God and one with another; <171> that in the seed ye may be kept, which is heir of the power. And all be diligent in your places, serving the Lord, and that your spirits may not be plucked down with earthly things nor limited by them; but that in the power of the Lord God ye may act over them, (the handiworks of God,) out of the entanglements and thraldom of them, and out of the vain inventions of men, but keep in the power of the Lord God over them; in which power is the mystery of the fellowship [Eph 3:9] and the dominion, and let every one's eye behold it and mind it. For that is it which will keep you out of the changeable things, and present your minds, souls, and spirits to the Lord; and there the seed comes up which is heir of the power, and of the wisdom which is pure from above [James 3:17], where the city is known that lets no uncleanness in [Isa 52:1], and the salt is known that savours all things [Job 6:6? Mark 9: 49f]. Therefore feel it in the heart, which is more than in the head or tongue; which many may strive for, but do not obtain the power nor the kingdom. Therefore all be wise in the wisdom of God [1 Cor 1:24], and let every one's eye be unto that wisdom, which the departing from sin and evil is the beginning of [Job 28:28, Prov 14:16]; that with it ye may be ordered [Wis 8:1], and do whatsoever ye have to do with it and by it. In that ye will feel his presence and blessing, that ye may know the seed immortal to have the dominion in you; that there ye may come to know Christ to reign. And your growth in the seed is in the silence, where ye may all find a feeding of the bread of life [John 6:35]. And all Friends, keep in the wisdom of the Lord that is pure and holy from above, by which wisdom ye may be preserved and kept holy and pure, above that which is below, and out of that which is below, the wise part wherein is the strife; that being kept down by the power of the Lord, the seed comes up which is heir of the power. And there innocency, and simplicity, and nakedness of heart and spirit are lived in and life is fed upon. 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.