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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 the prisoners of the Lord Jesus Christ, reminding them that they are not their own but purchased with His blood, cleansed, and justified. He encourages them to stand as witnesses for their master, king, and prophet against the powers of darkness, emphasizing victory through being born of the Word and the power that upholds all things. Fox warns against the deceiver, false prophets, and beasts that make war against the Lamb and His saints, urging the children of light to heed the Word of God, which is powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword.
Epistle 138
Friends,—Ye that are the prisoners of the Lord Jesus Christ [Philem 1:9] in outward bonds, who witness him by whom the world was made [John 1:3], who is the King of saints [Rev 15:3], and who are his, and come under his dominion and government, ye are not your own [1 Cor 6:19]; but purchased with his blood Acts 20:28], which washes and makes you clean [1 Jn 1:7, Rev 1:5], and justifies [Rom 5:9], whose bodies are his temple [1 Cor 6:19]. Though he suffers you to be imprisoned, yet in his power your bodies are kept, and your spirits also; ye standing witnesses for your master, for your king, for your prophet, for your covenant of light [Isa 42:6], for your wisdom of God [1 Cor 1:24], (him by whom all things were made,) for the word and power, by which all things were made and upheld [Heb 1:3], against the powers of darkness, who are out of the light, out of the truth, who cannot bind, stop nor limit the unlimited power, which is over it, and comprehends it. They who are born of the word [1 Pet 1:23], and in the power which upholds all things, over that, (and the power of the evil one,) have victory, and sing over the false prophet. For the devil was the deceiver [Rev 12:9], who abode not in the truth [John 8:44]; and there is the false prophet, who speaks of his own, and not from the Lord [Jer 23:16]; and there is the beast, that makes the war against the lamb and his saints [Rev 13:7, 17:14] who witness the testimony of Jesus, and the word of God. Therefore mind the word of God, ye children of the light, who are in the light, that comes from the word; mind the word of the Lord, which is as a hammer, and as a fire [Jer 23:29], and sharper than a two-edged sword [Heb 4:12]. And ye who are the Lord's, are not your own; but they who are in their own time, see not the time which is in the Father's hand; their time is always, and they do their own works [Psa 106:39], and not the works of God, which the son of God did [John 10:37f]. 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.