George Fox
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George Fox (July 1624 – January 13, 1691) was an English religious dissenter and a major early figure in the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers. He is often considred the founder of the Society, because he was one of its most vocal and visible early proponents.
Living in a time of great social upheaval, Fox eagerly sought a deep relationship with God. As a youth, he responded to what he believed were the Lord's commands to seek him in isolation from others. For several years, sometimes walking all night, he listened to the Lord's teachings in His heart. At the age of 22 he became an itinerant preacher who sought to change the world by establishing a society that, to Fox and other like-minded people, exhibited the fruits of Christianity. He and the other Quaker preachers spread their beliefs throughout England, the rest of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British colonies in the New World.
Fox, as well as other early Quakers, experienced persecution for his beliefs and practices. He was arrested and taken to court over sixty times, and he spent over six years in prison. His autobiographical journal, describing his spiritual journey and his forty-three year ministry, is a text popular even among non-Quakers for its vivid account of his life and spiritual growth.
Early life
George Fox was born at Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire, England (now known as Fenny Drayton), 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Leicester. His father, Christopher Fox, was a weaver, called "righteous Christer" by his neighbours; his mother, Mary Lago, was—he tells us—"of the stock of the Martyrs". From childhood, Fox was of a serious, religious disposition. His education was based around the faith and practice of the Church of England, of which his parents were members; he had no formal schooling, but was able to read and write. Even at a young age, he was taught by the Lord: "I being brought up into the covenant as sanctified by the word, (not the Bible, rather by revelation from Christ [link] Chapter 1 of Fox’s Journal); the Living Word which was in the beginning, by which all things were upheld, in which there is unity with the creation." [link] Chapter 1 of Fox's Journal"When I came to eleven years of age," he said, "I knew pureness and righteousness; for, while I was a child, I was taught how to walk to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful, in all things, and to act faithfully two ways; viz., inwardly to God, and outwardly to man." [link] Chapter 1 of Fox's Journal
As he grew up, his relations "thought to have made him a priest," but he was instead made an apprentice to a shoemaker and [[wikt:Grazier|grazier]]. This suited his contemplative temperament, and he became well-known for his diligence among the wool traders who had dealings with his master. Fox was for using the creation for health, rather than consuming it on excessive eating and drinking. He was a tradesman and noted [link] Chapter 11 of Fox’s Journal that the Lord had called tradsmen and shepards in the past, including: Peter, Paul, Andrew, Luke, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David; and that a learned education was no qualification for the ministry.
Even so, Fox was a friend of all classes of people. He was later in life a close friend with William Penn, an upper-class, educated man who founded the colonies of West Jersey and Pennsylvania in America; they often traveled and ministered together throughout Europe; Penn was selected to write an introduction to Fox's Journal [link] Intoduction to Fox’s Journal. Earlier, George Fox also had friends who were "professors" (stated believers in Christ and the scriptures), but by the age of nineteen he had begun to disassociate with their behaviour, in particular their excessive drinking to "healths." He records that as he was walking alone one night he heard the Lord say to him, "You see how young people associate in vanity, and old people into the things of the world; but you must forsake all, young and old, keep out of all, and be as a stranger to all." [link] Chapter 1 of Fox’s Journal
First travels
For this reason, he left his family Drayton-in-the-Clay in September 1643, to seek the Lord in isolation without conversing with anyone; he left any town where he began to be recognized and drawn into conversation. While in Barnet, Fox would alternately shut himself in his room for days at a time, or go out alone into the countryside. As he continued to seek, he experienced very troubling temptations. He thought intensely about Jesus' temptation in the desert, which he compared to his own spiritual condition, but drew strength from his conviction that God would support and preserve him. He fasted much and walked alone all night in the countryside; during these walks he experienced most of his revelations from Christ. At times, he attracted the attention of various religious scholars, but he rejected them because he did not feel they lived up to the doctrines they taught. Fox did early actively seek help and advice from priests, but "found no comfort from them," as they too were unable to help or even give advice with the matters that were troubling him. One priest in Worcestershire advised him to take tobacco (which Fox detested) and sing psalms; another, in Coventry, was helpful at first but lost his temper when Fox accidentally stood on a flower in his garden; a third priest/physician suggested that bloodletting would help him; but they could not draw a drop of blood from his body or head because he was so dried up from his griefs.Disillusioned by the inability of the priests to help him and still subject to the spiritual temptations, he returned home in June 1644. But there was no help to be found there either. Fox's family and friends suggested either marriage or military service as a direction to his life. He left to travel in isolation again, but never as a vagabond; he always had money, even enough to give some money to the widows at Christmas, (he knocked on doors to find them), and to poor, newly married couples.
Unique Experiences and Teachings from Christ
Fox learned directly from Christ. As he said:"But as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the separate preachers also, and those esteemed the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition [address my spiritual needs]. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, oh, then, I heard a voice which said, 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition;' and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give Him all the glory; for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the pre-eminence who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall let [hinder] it? and this I knew experimentally [through experience]." [link] Chapter 1 of Fox's JournalFox continued to move around the country, usually walking all night, as he continued to receive teachings from the Christ. He experienced the appearance of "the Light" [link] Chapter 1 of Fox's Journal to expose the conditions of his heart, and the "refiner's fire" to burn away his sin. He believed that this purification was necessary for salvation and worship. He claimed that he was taken by Christ up to paradise and to the state of Adam and Eve before their fall and then beyond to the state of Christ, incapable of being tempted. [link] Chapter 1 of Fox's Journal He also came to believe that Christ had come to teach people himself, Christ being the Light that enlightens all men and women that have come into the world, and that if people silently waited on the Lord, the Light would change them to be a child of Light.
Among the things that Fox claims he was taught by Christ were:
- that he should ecourage people leave all religious institutions and follow Christ directly.
- that a university education was not sufficient to become a minister; rather a minister of Christ must be educated directly by him.
- that the priests and the laity in the church read about the sins of characters such as Cain, Esau, and Judas in the Bible without realizing that they themselves were sinners as well.
- that God did not dwell in church buidlings but in the hearts of people, going so far as to say that church buildings were idols and abominations.
- that people who were faithful to Christ would achieve the sinless state of Adam before he fell.
- that he should speak against amusements such as sport, games, plays.
Fox's basic message was: that Christ had come to teach his people himself; and that the people had no need of any teacher but the Light that was in all men and women, ([the anointing they had received.)]''And if people would be silent, waiting on God, the Light would teach them how to conduct their lives, teach them about Christ, show them the condition of their hearts; and, they loving the Light, it would rid them of the cause of sin. And soon after, Christ would return in his glory to establish his Kingdom in their hearts.
The Light destroying the cause of sin was what George Fox called the result of the Cross of Christ, the Power of God: to sit quietly waiting on the Lord; look at what the Light shows to be one of the evils within your heart; and not running in shame, but remaining focused on the Light while it removes the condition - the destruction of the evil, the cause of sin. He said Christ had come to lead man from darkness to the destruction of sin, and this was the way to have it destroyed.
The Religious Society of Friends takes shape
In 1648 Fox began to exercise his ministry publicly: he would preach in market-places, in the fields, in appointed meetings of various kinds, or even sometimes in "steeple-houses" after the priests had finished. His preaching was powerful, and many people were convinced of the truth that he preached. Over the years, he addressed hundreds of thousands of people. He became so famous that at the mention of his arrival in a town, people would spontaneously assemble to hear him speak. The worship of Friends, in the form of silent waiting, seems to have been well established by this time, though it is not recorded how this came to be. It is not even clear at what point the Society of Friends was formed; though one could believe it coalesced around the frequent retreats of the early proponents to Swarthmoor, Margaret Fell and Judge Fell's estate. The term "Children of Light" was at one time used, as well as simply "friends." In one of Fox's many trials, a judge mocked Fox's exhortation to "tremble at the word of the Lord," calling him and his followers "Quakers" — now the common name of the Society of Friends [link] . Fox seems, however, to have had no desire to found a sect, but only to establish people who walked in the original purity, holiness, and power of the early Church and the apostles — though he afterward showed great prowess as a religious legislator, in the organization which he gave to the new society.Fox's preaching was always backed up by the scriptures; his listeners usually remarked that they had never heard anyone explain the scriptures more thoroughly. He often delayed speaking until he could feel the "power of God settle on the people" to quiet them and prepare them for his words. He also waited until the he felt the promptings of the Lord to begin to speak. Fox said he spoke by the Spirit of God. He was an extremely effective preacher, seeding an assembly of people at almost every stop. It is recorded that several times entire buildings would shake when he prayed. He was scathing about contemporary morality, taking strong aim at the requirement to pay tithes to support institutions of the church, and he harshly attacked the "deceit" that characterized the haggling at local market times. At the time, there were a great many rival Christian denominations holding very diverse opinions; the atmosphere of dispute and contention gave George Fox an opportunity to show the people the errors and shortcomings of each sect, always winning the debate and "convincing many observers and opponents of the truth." By 1652 other talented preachers had been raised around him, Valiant Sixty and they all continued to preach throughout England, sharing the news that Christ the Light was in them all and ready to teach each man or woman personally. They continued to do this despite a harsh reception from some listeners, who would whip them out of their "churches" and [beat them]to drive them away - as [Christ had said would happen to his true believers.]
In 1652 Fox felt that God led him to walk up Pendle Hill. There he had a vision of thousands of souls coming to Christ. From there he traveled to Sedbergh in Westmorland, where he heard a group of Seekers were meeting. He preached on the nearby Firbank Fell and convinced many, including Francis Howgill, to accept his teachings on Christ being able to speak to and to teach people directly.
He avoided attracting personal followers and declined groups who tried to hire him as their minister; he said "this showed that they did not really understand us or our principles very well: but when I heard of it, I said, ‘it was time for me to be gone; for if their eye was so much to me, or any of us, they would not come to their own teacher.' For this thing (hiring ministers), had spoiled many, by hindering them from improving their own talents; whereas our labor is to bring everyone to their own teacher in themselves."
Fox instructed Quakers to address single persons as "thee" or "thou"; they suffered persecution for this even though the grammar books of the day taught such; persons wanted to be addressed as "you" instead of "thee" and "thou," because the plural form was used a means of flattery and respect, which they demanded and became outraged if they were addressed in the singular "thee" or "thou". Following Fox's exhortations, the Quaker movement was marked by their opposition to flattering speech or behaviour, regardless of class addressed; refusal to bow or curtsy to others; refusal to pay tithes, (the early Quakers said any priest or minister who asked for money was a false prophet); refusal to remove their hats to honor people; and their refusal to swear or take oaths. The Quakers' adherence to their principles was their mark, aside from their simplicity, [honesty, and integrity]which was generally observed and respected by most of England's population. While at first the general population rejected them, once their honesty was observed, their business's volume doubled; people new to a town were known to ask directions to the nearest Quaker shop of their particular need.
He and the many thousands of early Quakers were convinced of the Bible expressing essential truths. However, they identified the Bible as the "words of God" as recorded by men controlled by the Spirit of God; they denied the scriptures to be "the Word of God", whom they said was Christ, the Living Word. In one trial where Fox was being accused of blasphemy again, he and the priests had a dispute on whether the Bible was the Word of God, the priests maintaining that the letter and the spirit were inseparable. Fox said that being true, one could buy the spirit of God; the listening judges agreed and said "according to that position, they might carry the spirit in their pockets as they did the scriptures."
The early Quakers insisted their members' conduct complied with Christian and the Assemblies' standards. If a member violated those standards, members from his local assembly would plead with him to acknowledge his error and condemn his past actions, usually in writing. If the errant member admitted the error, the incident was forgotten. If the person refused to change, after repeated pleas and reasonings with them, they would be expelled from the assembly; and to preserve the Quakers' reputation, there would be a public notice that the person in question was no longer associated with Friends. This was done as a last resort after many pleadings, but was thought to be necessary to preserve the reputation of Truth and the unity of the spirit within the Society. Anyone expelled could return at any time, [providing they condemned their past actions.] By the same token, any report of misconduct investigated, which proved to be false, was traced to the originator, who was rebuked for "raising a false report on the people of God."
Regarding the Quakers' care for Friends within the Society: widows, orphans, sick, poor, imprisoned, old, young; they were all cared for by the Quakers. If one assembly was overburdened with expense of care, other assemblies would contribute to their assistance, nationwide. Their care for their own was so thorough that "there was not a beggar among them," and when a local government would discover that they were providing assistance, which the government was obligated to fund, the government would suddenly drop their opposition to their meetings and assemblies.
Regarding their care for all men: from the Journal, "Sometimes there would be two hundred of the poor of other people (non-Quakers) to come and wait until the meeting was done, (for all the country knew we met about the poor); and after the meeting, Friends would send to the bakers for bread, and give everyone of those poor people a loaf, however many there were of them; for we were taught 'to do good all, though especially to the household of faith.'"
Imprisonment
At Derby in 1650 Fox was imprisoned for blasphemy, having stated that he had been freed from sin by Christ and now lived in paradise. He suffered [unimaginable, deplorable, harsh treatment in prison], and he repetitively refused to join the army as a means to escape imprisonment; he refused to take up arms for any reason. (However, he never opposed any government; Fox, the early Quakers, Penn,] [Peter,] and Paul taught the opposite, being [submissive to government and authorities,]even if persecuted.) A further conviction came in 1653 in Carlisle; it was even rumored that he was to be put to death, but Parliament, hearing the rumor, requested his release rather than have "a young man… die for religion" [link].Fox was usually put in prison, as were most Quakers, for their refusal to take oaths. They refused because of the statements of Jesus: ["But I tell you, Do not swear at all"] and the Apostle James ["Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned."] He was also imprisoned a full year for nothing but failing to take off his hat in court. As Quakers began to suffer persecution, he spoke out strongly against his persecutors taking the sword against them because they disagreed with the ruling Protestants' interpretation of the scriptures. He pointed out the scriptures warned against [taking revenge on enemies] or[" living by the sword".] In a letter of 1652 (That which is set up by the sword), he urged Friends in disagreements with others not to use "carnal weapons" but "spiritual weapons", saying "let the waves [the power of nations] break over your heads". He preached that carnal weapons were forbidden by Christ, and shamed the persecutors of the Quakers for using carnal weapons against them.
Further imprisonments came at London in 1654, Launceston in 1656, Lancaster in 1660 and 1663, Scarborough in 1666, and Worcester in 1674. Often, Fox would commonly be arrested for causing a "disturbance," but he and the other Friends were also arrested for refusal to pay tithes, refusal to swear an oath of loyalty, refusal to swear, travelling on Sunday, and attending an "unofficial" religious service. Refusal to take oaths meant that Quakers could be prosecuted under laws compelling subjects to swear allegiance, as well as making testifying in court an automatic jail sentence. Fox and his fellow Quakers would be arrested on a false charge, and then imprisoned for refusing to take an oath before being able to deny or respond to the false charges. Not only were they imprisoned, but thousands of Quakers had their homes and property seized as "spoils" for violating the laws. But Fox and the early Quakers always conducted themselves like lambs, forgiving their persecutors and never organizing for resistance or even protest. However, the vast majority of their virulent persecutors mysteriously suffered loss of life, children, wife, property, or sanity; so many of their persecutors experienced an early death, that there was a book written and distributed by the Quakers documenting "God's revenge" upon the persecutors of His people.
While in prison, there were several plots to kill him which he perceived and avoided. When he was not in prison, there were many attempts on his life; but he was miraculously spared by timing or being warned by prior visions.
Fox suffered very harsh conditions in prison. It was apparent that his persecutors hoped he would die in prison and made sure he received the worst possible treatments, which most men did not survive without death or serious, permanent impairment of their health. In Derby he was placed in "Doomsdale, a nasty, stinking place, where they used to put witches and murderers after they were condemned to die;" [he was confined to standing in human waste up to his ankles, unable to even lie down.]In Lancaster he was put in a room where smoke was continuously so thick that it dripped from the walls and a lit candle could not be seen, bordering him on suffocation; he was also placed in a room with an open window facing the wind and storms, raining on his bed, without any heat for an entire winter. Animals in England were treated better; he suffered terribly. Despite these torturous conditions, he endured them for years without mental or spiritual depression, even though his body was racked with weakness, swelling, and numbness. His jailers remarked on him as ['he is as stiff as a tree and as pure as a bell; for we could never bow him.'] He declined several offers of release from prison because: they required him to take up arms, or to promise to cease from preaching, or to admit to some wrongdoing of which he was innocent; instead, he chose continued imprisonment rather than a loss of his integrity. Even in prison, George Fox continued writing and preaching. Many priests, professors, and other persons came to prison to debate with him and to examine him; despite his disadvantage of harsh captivity, he always met their questions and challenges with conviction and persuasiveness. He turned the other cheek when being beaten and never become despondent or depressed. [As happened with the Apostle Paul,]several of Fox's jailers were so impressed that they became Quakers also.
Encounters with Oliver Cromwell
After a bloody civil war of Puritan against Royalists, the Puritan soldier Oliver Cromwell had come to power as Lord Protector, deposing and executing the king, Charles I of England. The Puritan government feared plots to restore the monarchy, and regarded the Quakers with suspicion – by this time, Fox's preachings were regularly attracting crowds of thousands. In 1653 Fox was arrested and taken to London for a meeting with Cromwell. After affirming that he had no intention of taking up arms, Fox was able to speak with Cromwell for some time about the differences between Friends and members of the traditional denominations; and he advised Cromwell to 'keep in the fear of God in order to receive wisdom to govern to God's glory.' He records that on leaving, Cromwell remarked, "with tears in his eyes said, 'Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other'; adding that he wished me (Fox) no more ill than he did to his own soul." George Fox was at liberty again [link] .
Later hearing that George Fox had refused an invitation to elegantly dine with his court, Cromwell remarked, "Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win either with gifts, honors, offices, or places; but I can all other sects and people." Cromwell was much impressed with George Fox, not only for his unimpeachable integrity, but because he spoke from the Spirit, which was compatible with scriptures that Cromwell knew well. As Fox spoke, Cromwell several times remarked: it was very good, it was true.
In 1656 the next meeting took place when Fox saw Cromwell's caravan travelling. With Cromwell telling his horse-guards to let Fox through to his coach, per Fox: "So I rode by his coach side with him, 'declaring what the Lord gave me to say to him, of his condition, and of the sufferings of Friends in the nation; showing him how contrary this persecution was to Christ and his apostles, and to Christianity.' When we were come to James's Park Gate, I left him; and at parting he desired me to come to his house. Cromwell rushed to one of his wife's maids, who was a Quaker, and excitedly announced 'George Fox has come to town!'" Fox and Edward Pyot laid the sufferings of the Quakers before him and directed him to the Light, which he denied as divine and claimed to be a natural light. Fox told Cromwell several times to "lay down his crown at the feet of Jesus" — which, however, Cromwell declined to do. When Fox left, Cromwell expressed disappointment in his leaving with so little agreement between them. Later, Fox and several Quakers warned Cromwell that his failure to intervene in the persecution of innocent Friends would be revenged by God. His demise was prophesied by several Quakers including Fox. Their third meeting was in 1658 at Hampton Court, though they could not speak for long, because of the Protector's worsening illness — Fox even wrote that "he looked like a dead man" [link] . Cromwell died in September of that year. Richard Cromwell succeeded his father as Lord Protector for eight months before the English Restoration.
Suffering and growth
In the reign of Charles II alone, records show that [13,562 Quakers were imprisoned; 338 died from injuries inflicted in meetings or imprisonment, and 198 were sent into slavery over the seas.] [Per Fox's Journal:]"Friends never feared their acts, prisons, jails, houses of correction, banishment, nor seizure of personal property; no, nor the loss of life itself; nor was there ever any persecution that came, but we saw how it would result in good; nor were there ever any prisons that I was in, or sufferings, except it was for the bringing multitudes out of prison; though they who imprisoned the truth, and quenched the spirit in themselves, would imprison and quench it without them; so that there was a time when so many were in prison, that it became as a by-word, 'truth is scarce any where to be found but in jails.'"They suffered without ever an organized protest; they made many orderly appeals by letter and in person to parliament, judges, kings, and magistrates; but they were always careful to make all objections in loyal submission to any government without group action or protest. As a people they prayed for their enemies and turned their other cheeks to their smiters. [George Fox was always encouraging and supporting this great people in their sufferings,]as their enemies tried to silence their words and extinguish their great light. Their sufferings and peaceful appeals to the various governing authorities largely contributed to the freedom of religion which is enjoyed today in the British Commonwealth nations and America.
Fox published a [Statement of Principles] book, defining all the principles of the Quakers, including perfection, Revelation, baptism, communion, salvation, marriage, manners, tithing, oaths, teachers, preachers, the cross, fellowship, persecution, etc. Fox produced many other books as well, some to refute the constant slanders that were made against them.
In 1657 Fox had the first of two meetings with official delegations of Jesuits, to debate their respective faith's positions. In both instances he asked if they were in the same spirit as the Apostles were? In both meetings, the Jesuits admitted they were [not in the same spirit as the Apostles,]in which Spirit the early Quakers claimed to be. He asked, ["What scripture they had for setting up cloisters for nuns, abbeys and monasteries for men; for all their several orders; for their praying by beads and to images; for making crosses; for forbidding of meats and marriages; and for putting people to death for religion?"] (Modern Quakers are far more compatible with the Roman Catholic faith, noting their similarities rather than their differences.) Fox opposed the Roman Catholic sect, as well as all the protestant sects, because they did not insist on holiness and purity as necessary for salvation; the result of purity being the receipt of the same spirit as the Apostles were in. As Fox said: ["we had reasonings with all the other sects: Presbyterians, Independents, Seekers, Baptists, Episcopal-men, Socinians, Brownists, Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians, Fifth-monarchy-men, Familists, Muggletonians, and Ranters; none of which would affirm they had the same power and spirit that the apostles had and were in. So in that power and spirit the Lord gave us dominion over them all."]
The Society of Friends became increasingly organized towards the end of the decade. Large meetings were held, including a three-day event in Bedfordshire, the precursor of the present Britain Yearly Meeting system. Fox also commissioned two Friends to travel around the country collecting the testimonies of imprisoned Quakers, as evidence of their persecution; this led to the establishment in 1675 of Meeting for Sufferings, which has been in continuing existence to the present day.
In 1659 Fox is purported, with controversy as to his authorship, to have produced his most politically and socially radical pamphlet, an appeal to members of Parliament listing "Fifty-nine Particulars laid down for the Regulating of Things." In it, is proposed not only to ban fiddling at pubs but also for the government to confiscate priest's lands and Whitehall, the buildings being made alms houses "so that there may not be a beggar in England." Evidently Parliament ignored it.
The Restoration
With the restoration of the monarchy the nation was again locked in bloody revenge, this time returned-to-power Royalists against their Puritan predecessors. [Fox and Quakers had been offered commands and positions] in the Puritan armies, but they refused and cautioned all Quakers to stay out of the conflict. The fate of the Quakers was uncertain. George Fox was again accused of disturbing the peace, being an insurrectionist and an enemy of the king, Charles II— a charge he replied to as ridiculous since he had been imprisoned when he refused to take up arms against the king's father, Charles I. Once again, Fox was released after demonstrating that he had no military ambitions. Since the Quakers and Fox believed God had removed Cromwell and allowed the restoration because of Cromwell's failure to halt massive persecution of Quakers, [Fox wrote to King Charles II, warning him to "show mercy and forgive, or suffer the judgment of God, including being overthrown."]He also told Charles that he should refrain from domestic religious persecution, and discourage: drunkenness, oath-taking, plays, and May-day games. (These last suggestions are disputed by modern Quakers to be Puritan leanings, and were a major point of contention between Quakers for centuries after his death; the early Quakers opposed plays and shows believing they trained up people to vanity and looseness, and led them from the fear of God.)At least on one point, Charles listened to George Fox. The seven hundred Quakers who had been imprisoned under Richard Cromwell were released, though the government remained uncertain about the group's links with other, more violent, movements. A 1661 revolt by the Fifth Monarchy men led to further suppression of the Quakers and the repression of other nonconformists sects.[link]. Quakers fell afoul of laws forbidding unauthorized worship; after the Monarchist plot was discovered to overthrow the King, Parliament enacted laws forbidding the assembly of more than five persons, other than for "approved" national worship. The Quakers, an "unapproved body," under Fox's leadership and example, refused to stop meeting to worship; and the whole nation watched as thousands of Quakers were imprisoned for meeting together. The Quakers' blood ran in the streets from beatings and stabbings, and they were killed by musketfire. The soldiers put locks on their meeting houses, so they met in the streets in front of the meeting houses. When the soldiers would arrest one speaker and take him away, another would immediately and courageously take their place in prayer or speaking. In the same year, Fox and Richard Hubberthorne co-authored a [statement signed by twelve Friends that the group would never take up arms, neither for themselves nor for the Kingdom of Christ, and were hence not a threat to the newly restored monarch; (this statement became the basis for the modern Quaker "Peace Testimony,"] which broadened from "refusal to bear arms" to oppostion to wars and governments policies of war, whatever the reason). Fox preached that wars were the result of lusts within man and advocated the crucifixion of lusts with the spirit of Love's replacement. He refused to take up arms, never opposing any specific war, only opposing the root cause of all wars, lust and greed; and instructing Quakers to refuse to bear arms themselves. He did, however, when consulted, permit Quakers on the Caribbean islands to cooperate with the authorities there in watching for bands of raiding pirates and reporting their intrusions, which resulted in armed repulsion of the invaders.
Meanwhile, Quakers in New England had been banished. Four Quakers, three men and a woman, were hung for returning after banishment; Fox stated he knew exactly when it happened and [could feel the noose around his neck.] So they (Fox still in prison, Edward Burrough approached the King) immediately appealed to the King to bring other Quakers imprisoned for life or scheduled for execution back to freedom in England. King Charles immediately issued a mandamus condemning this practice and requested all convicted Quakers to be returned promptly to England; a group of Quakers quickly set sail for New England with the King's mandamus in hand, and [Friends were suddenly and dramatically rescued from prison and their scheduled executions.]George Fox later personally confronted, shamed, and forced a confession of guilt from some of those Puritan English magistrates who had participated in sentencing the Quakers to death. (It is ironic that one hundred years later Quakers would accuse George Fox of being "Puritan" because of his opposition to plays.)
He was imprisoned again in 1663 for his refusal to swear oaths, and was released in 1666; he said, ["But I was so weak with lying almost three years in cruel and hard imprisonments, my joints and my body were so stiff and benumbed, that I could hardly get upon my horse, or bend my joints, or tolerate being near a fire, or to eat warm meat, I had been kept so long from it."] Nevertheless, he immediately continued his travels and meetings with Friends, even going to Ireland later to visit Friends.
According to Fox, at the command of Christ, (honoring marriage), in 1669 he married Margaret Fell of Swarthmoor Hall, Swarthmoor, a lady of high social position, and one long convinced of the truth with resulting Christian maturity. Her former husband, Judge Thomas Fell, had died eleven years prior. After they were married, she was also imprisoned for several years in Lancaster, even after Fox was released. She was also a prolific writer and stated many principles and exhortations to the assemblies of early Quakers. Although imprisonment and his constant travelling allowed little time for them to be together, their shared commitment to Christ and the work of the Church sustained joy in their marriage, and they later collaborated on a great deal of the administration the Society required.
Travels in America and Europe
In 1671 he went to America for two years, stopping first in Barbados. Here, well ahead of the times, he urged Quaker slaveholders on Barbados to [give their slaves freedom]after years of service. Having many meetings with the slaves fostered a rumor that Quakers advocated slave revolts, which he denied in a letter he wrote to the governor and legislature of the island. In the same letter he also outlined the sect's religious beliefs, which portion of [the document became the basis for later assertions for the orthodoxy of Quaker doctrines.] Here he had a good meeting with the Governor, and as a result his later meetings were attended by many officers of the island, both civil and military. He also advised local Friends to cease the practice of marrying in their early teens. He spent several months in Barbados visiting Friends and recovering from a serious illness. He then went to Jamaica for seven weeks.Fox next traveled to the American colonies, (New England); his first major meeting on the North American continent was in Maryland, where he participated in a four-day meeting of local Quakers. Because he believed the Light was in all men, he was eager to meet with the Indians of North America; here he had his first meeting with some Native Americans who were interested in Quaker ways — though he records that they had "a great debate" among themselves about whether to participate in the meeting. Fox was impressed by their general demeanour, which he said was "loving" and "respectful" [link], and they confirmed there was something (the Light) in them which made them feel bad if they lied or stole. He then commenced to travel throughout the colonies including: Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York. To travel in America he swam rivers, traveled by canoe and horse, traversed bogs, sleeping in Indian wigwams, and sleeping by a campfire in the snow and [freezing cold] for weeks, traveling twenty to thirty miles per day. Even though he was old and his body was wasted from many years of harsh imprisonments, his zeal for the Lord drove him to ignore his pain and suffering for over fourteen months as he endured daily hardships. He met with Quaker friends and Indian tribes throughout his journeys in the colonies. In the colonies, Fox helped to establish organizational systems for the Friends there, along the same lines as he had done in Britain.
Following extensive travels around the various American colonies, George Fox returned to England in 1673. He was almost immediately imprisoned again travelling home with his family, this time with serious sickness besetting him. His wife, Margaret Fox, petitioned the king for his release; the King offered several pardons, but Fox refused, stating "to accept a pardon would imply guilt to the charges of which he was innocent." He was eventually released by judgment of error in his case, but Fox felt too weak to take up his travels immediately. He compensated by increasing his written output: letters, both public and private, as well as books, essays and what became his Journal. He exhorted the many Quakers throughout the world to walk worthy of the true Church of God; to do good to all men, especially their fellow believers; and to continue their [testimony against fashion, slothfulness, swearing, tithing, dishonesty, profaneness, oppression of any people, and pleasures.]
In 1677 and 1684 he visited the Friends in the Netherlands, and organized their meetings for discipline. He also made a brief visit to what is now Germany. Meanwhile, Fox was participating by letter in a dispute among Friends in Britain over the role of women in meetings, a struggle which took much of his energy and left him feeling exhausted; [he was an ardent defender of women's co-roles in the Church, stating that Christ was the same in women and men;]this position of woman's equality was the cause of [many defections within the Quaker ranks.]Returning to England, he stayed in the south in order to try to end the dispute. Fox's health became worse towards the end of 1684, but he continued his new, more restricted form of activities — writing to leaders in Poland, Denmark, Germany, and elsewhere about his beliefs, and their treatment of Quakers.
The 1689 Act of Toleration put an end to the uniformity laws under which Quakers had been persecuted, and in that year many Friends were released from prison.
In the last years of his life Fox spent as much time in heavily populated, but air-polluted London as his frail health could tolerate, alternating time in London with recovery in the country. He continued to participate in Yearly Meetings, wrote many letters, still made representations to Parliament about the sufferings of Friends, and continued to meet with Friends. Two days before he died, ["after he had written an epistle to Friends in Ireland, he went to the Quaker meeting at Gracechurch-street, (the main meeting in London), which was large because it was the First-day (Sunday), and the Lord enabled him to preach the truth fully and effectually, opening many deep and weighty things with great power and clearness."]
Death and legacy
In the last two days of his life he peacefully lay on his deathbed, ["as in the whole course of his life, his spirit, in the universal love of God, was set and bent for the exalting of truth and righteousness, and the making known the way of truth and righteousness to the nations and people in distant locations."]His last request was ["the spreading of Friends' books, and therefore truth in the world."]Penn reports that he twice admonished Friends "to remember poor Friends in Ireland and America."George Fox died on January 13, 1691, (the 11th month being January, 1690 by the then in use Julian calendar), and was interred in the Quaker Burying Ground at Bunhill Fields in London. He was 66 years of age.
[His journal]was first published in 1694, after editing by Thomas Ellwood — a friend of John Milton — and William Penn. As a religious autobiography, it has been compared to such works as Augustine's Confessions and John Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners — an intensely personal work that nevertheless succeeds in appealing to readers. It has also been used by historians because of its wealth of detail on ordinary life in the 17th century, and the many towns and villages which Fox visited.
Hundreds of [George Fox's Letters]. — mostly epistles intended for wide circulation, along with a few private communications — have also been published. Written from the 1650s onwards, with such titles as Friends, seek the peace of all men or To Friends, to know one another in the light, the letters give enormous insight into the detail of Fox's beliefs, and show his determination to spread them. These writings have found an audience beyond Quakers, with many other church groups using them to illustrate principles of Christianity.
Under Fox's leadership, the early Quakers initiated social reforms that are still beneficial to us today. They forced prices to be marked in stores, rather than all pricing being negotiable, even for food and clothing. They reformed the treatment of the mentally insane from being chained in dungeons. They initiated education for women in the trades. They initiated reform in the prisons. They provided rest homes for the aged, unable to work. In 1688 Pennsylvania Quakers passed an anti-slavery resolution, initiating slavery's long demise in America. Their suffering and patient appeals to the governments resulted in religious toleration and freedom throughout Europe. Their ideals even influenced the United States Constitution in its separation of powers, the separation of Church and State, and the United States Bill of Rights, (William Penn's Frame of Government for Pennsylvania implemented a democratic system with full freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment, fair trials, elected representatives of the people in power, and a separation of powers. Ahead of his time, Penn was also the first to formally propose a plan for the United States of Europe.)
Fox is described by Ellwood as "graceful in countenance, manly in personage, grave in gesture, courteous in conversation." Penn says he was "civil beyond all forms of breeding." We are told that he was "plain and powerful in preaching, fervent in prayer," "a discerner of other men's spirits, and very much master of his own," skilful to "speak a word in due season to the conditions and capacities of most, especially to them that were weary, and wanted soul's rest;" "valiant in asserting the truth, bold in defending it, patient in suffering for it, immovable as a rock."
Fox's influence on the Society of Friends was of course tremendous. However, later Quakers abandoned many of his and the early Quakers' basic beliefs including: the necessity of purity and a sinless state, [as with Job],through the Light's changing grace; monthly meetings which disciplined members violating standards of Christian conduct, necessary to preserve the body's unity of the Spirit; opposition to the plays and the theatre; and rejection of theological study as a means to becoming a minister or teacher - all of which have broadened the Quaker society to be inclusive of diversity in conduct, thinking, and spirit. Modern Quakers have also expanded their Peace Testimony from the early Quaker's personal submissive appeals to objectionable government policies, to become organized group opposition and protests against governmental policies of war; and from their refusal to bear arms, to become confrontation with others who bear arms. The name of George Fox is often invoked by traditionalist Friends who dislike liberal attitudes opposing the Society's Christian origins. At the same time, liberal Quakers and others can relate to Fox's religious experience; and even those Quakers who find his Christian experience distasteful can regard him as a memorable pioneer.
Walt Whitman, who always felt close to the Quakers, later wrote: "George Fox stands for something too—a thought—the thought that wakes in silent hours—perhaps the deepest, most eternal thought latent in the human soul. This is the thought of God, merged in the thoughts of moral right and the immortality of identity. Great, great is this thought—aye, greater than all else." [Walt Whitman essay, V. November Boughs part 22 George Fox (and Shakspere)] Caution: site uses pop-ups
George Fox University in Oregon, founded as Pacific College in 1891, was renamed for him in 1949.
See also
- Society of Friends
- Christian anarchism
- English Dissenters
- List of people on stamps of Ireland
- Fifty nine Particulars laid down for the Regulating things
External links
- [George Fox University]
- [George Fox — An Autobiography]. Annotated and significantly abridged text of Fox's journal, by Rufus Jones.
- [The Journal and Letters of George Fox]. The unabridged Autobiographical Journal of George Fox and the 410 Letters; edited for updated language, with commentary, by Hall Worthington and Joan Worthington
- [House of Commons Journal Volume 8, 21 May 1660, Geo. Fox, &c.] Order by the House that George Fox & Rob. Gressingham who "made a great Disturbance at Harwich" and are to be handed over to the Serjeant-at-Arms.
References
Footnotes
General
Various editions of Fox's journal have been published from time to time since the first printing in 1694. The John Nickalls revisions of 1952 and following are generally considered to contain the most accurate text (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; ISBN 0-94130-805-7); this Journal is [available from Friends General Conference Bookstore]; Fox's Complete Works (Journal, Letters, and Doctrinal Books - 8 book set) are available from the [USA New Foundation Fellowship.]or the [UK New Foundation Fellowship.]The linked references imbedded in the text to the Journal and Letters are from the 1831 Complete Works [on line at www.georgefoxwritings.com]); the References above are to a 1908 significantly abridged version by Rufus Jones, which is also available in print (Friends United Press, 1976; ISBN 0-91340-824-7).Other useful sources include:
- An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, Robert Barclay (1678). A systematic treatment of Quaker theology at the end of the seventeenth century; [available online].
- First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism, H. Larry Ingle (Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19510-117-0 [1996 reprint]). Interpretation of Fox's use of politics within the Society of Friends showing his desire to ensure conformity with his views so the group would survive.
- A Popular Life of George Fox, Josiah Marsh (London: Charles Gilpin, 1847). Somewhat biased but thorough biography of Fox.
- [Quaker Faith and Practice], Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. (ISBN 0-85245-307-8 [1999 revision]). Shows a modern Quaker view of Fox, and a great deal of historical information about Friends and their institutions.
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