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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 addresses the Monthly Meeting of Charleston, encouraging them to stand faithful in truth and righteousness, bearing fruits of holiness that lead to everlasting life. He urges them to be examples of virtue, modesty, and sobriety, displaying the fruits of Christianity in their lives to preach righteousness to all, including the indigenous people. Fox emphasizes the importance of valuing both natural and spiritual liberty, serving without swearing and maintaining the heavenly salt that seasons their lives with truth and righteousness. He calls them to spread God's truth, turning people from darkness to light through Christ Jesus, seeking the good and salvation of all while living in love and overcoming evil with good.
Epistle 386
Dear friends, of the Monthly Meeting of Charleston, in Ashley Cooper River, in Carolina, I received your letter, dated the sixth day of the Eighth-month, 1683. Wherein you give an account of your meeting, and of the country, and of your liberty in that province, which I am glad to hear of, though your meeting is but small; but, however, stand all faithful in truth and righteousness, that your fruits may be unto holiness [Rom 6:22]; and your end will be everlasting life. And that you may be patterns [Tit 2:7] of virtue, modesty, chastity, and sobriety, showing forth the fruits and life of christianity in your lives and conversations, that they may preach righteousness, truth, and holiness to all people in that dark wilderness, that you may answer the truth both in them that are called christians, and in the Indians. And my desire is, that you may prize your liberty, both natural and spiritual, and the favour that the Lord hath given you, that your yea is taken instead of an oath [Mat 5:33-37]; and that you do serve both in assemblies, juries, and other offices, without swearing, according to the doctrine of Christ: which is a great thing, worth prizing. And take heed of abusing that liberty, or losing the savour of the heavenly salt, which seasons your lives and conversations in truth, holiness, and righteousness. For you know, when the salt hath lost its savour, it is good for nothing but to be trodden under the foot of men [Mat 5:13]. For we here are under great persecution, betwixt thirteen and fourteen hundred in prison; an account of which hath <234> lately been delivered to the king. . . . But in Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Germany and Dantzick, we hear that Friends are in peace and quietness; and therefore you that have great liberty, both natural and spiritual, (as aforesaid,) be valiant for God's truth upon the earth [Jer 9:3], and spread it abroad, both among them that are called Christians and Indians, turning them from darkness to light [Acts 26:18], Christ Jesus, the saviour, whom God hath set up for an ensign among the Gentiles or heathen [Isa 11:10], and to be his salvation unto the ends of the earth [Isa 49:6]: so seek the good of all, and the profit of all, and the salvation, and the glory of God above all, and the exalting of his name and truth in your day and generation; and live in love, and in the truth, and the love of it; and overcome evil with good [Rom 12:21]; and hold fast that which is good, then you can try all things [1 Th 5:21]. . . . 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.