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George Fox

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                                 George Fox
    19th-century engraving of George Fox, based on a painting of unknown
   date.
      Born July 1624
           Leicestershire, England
    Died   January 13, 1691
   Spouse  Margaret Fell
   Parents Christopher Fox, Mary Lago

   George Fox (July 1624 – January 13, 1691) was an English Dissenter and
   a major early figure — often considered the founder — of the Religious
   Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers. Living in a time of
   great social upheaval, he rebelled against the religious and political
   consensus by proposing an unusual and uncompromising approach to the
   Christian faith. His journal is a text known even among non-Quakers for
   its vivid account of his personal journey.

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; this parish
   was strongly puritan, in this case Presbyterian. He had no formal
   schooling but learned to read and write. Even at a young age, he was
   fascinated by the Bible, which he studied continually. "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." (Jones 1908 )
   Facsimile of portrait drawn on stone by Thomas Fairland.
   Enlarge
   Facsimile of portrait drawn on stone by Thomas Fairland.

   As he grew up, his relations "thought to have made him a priest," but
   he was instead made an apprentice to a shoemaker and grazier. This
   suited his contemplative temperament, and he became well-known for his
   diligence among the wool traders who had dealings with his master. A
   constant obsession for Fox was the pursuit of "simplicity" in life,
   meaning humility and the abandonment of luxury, and the short time he
   spent as a shepherd was important to the formation of this view. Toward
   the end of his life, he wrote a letter for general circulation pointing
   out that Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David were all keepers
   of sheep or cattle, and that a learned education should not therefore
   be seen as a qualification for ministry. (Marsh 1847, 364)

   Even so, he felt no shame in friendship with educated people. He
   frequently visited Nathaniel Stephens, the clergyman of his hometown,
   to engage in long discussions on religious matters. Stephens considered
   Fox to be a gifted young man, but the two disagreed on so many issues
   that he later called Fox a madman and spoke against him in his
   subsequent career. George Fox also had friends who were "professors"
   (followers of the standard religion), but by the age of nineteen he had
   begun to look down on their behaviour, in particular their drinking of
   alcohol. He records that in prayer one night he heard an inner voice
   saying, "Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old
   people into the earth; and thou must forsake all, both young and old,
   and keep out of all, and be as a stranger unto all." (Jones 1908 )

First travels

   For this reason, he left Drayton-in-the-Clay in September 1643, moving
   toward London in a state of mental torment and confusion. While in
   Barnet, where he was torn by depression, Fox would alternately shut
   himself in his room for days at a time, or go out alone into the
   countryside. 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.
   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 actively seek out the company of clergy, but
   "found no comfort from them", as they too seemed unable to help with
   the matters that were troubling him. One clergyman 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 suggested that
   bloodletting would cure the "mind diseased".

Unique beliefs begin to form

   Over the next few years, George Fox continued to travel around the
   country as his particular religious beliefs took shape. In prayer and
   meditation, he came to a greater understanding of the nature of his
   faith and what it required from him. This process he called "opening",
   because he experienced it as a series of sudden revelations of ideas
   that were already complete by the time he became conscious of them. He
   also came to what he deemed a deep inner understanding of standard
   Christian beliefs in creation and salvation. Among his ideas were:
     * Christians differ in external practice, but all are considered
       "saved" because of their belief; rituals can therefore be safely
       ignored, as long as one experiences a true spiritual conversion.
     * The qualification for ministry is given by the Holy Spirit, not by
       ecclesiastical study. This implies that anyone has the right to
       minister, assuming the Spirit guides them, including women.
     * God "dwelleth in the hearts of his obedient people": religious
       experience is not confined to a church building. Indeed, Fox
       refused to apply the word "Church" to a building, using instead the
       name "steeple-house", a usage maintained by many Quakers today. Fox
       preferred to worship in fields and orchards, believing that God's
       presence could also be felt in the natural world.
     * Though by no means the only charismatic throughout church history,
       being open to the Spirit could include the charismata. Among other
       things Fox recorded being used in exorcism, divine healing, and "a
       word of knowledge" (1 Cor.12:8-10).

   A female Quaker preaches at a meeting in London
   Enlarge
   A female Quaker preaches at a meeting in London

   Fox had some experience among " English Dissenters", groups of people
   who had broken away from the state church because of their unusual
   beliefs. He had hoped that the dissenters would be able to help his
   spiritual understanding, where the established church could not, but
   this was not the case: he fell out with one group, for example, because
   he maintained that women had souls. From this comes the famous passage
   from his journal:

          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]. (QFP §19.02)

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 to share his
   beliefs in the spirituality of "true religion". 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, but there
   was certainly a group of people who often travelled together. The term
   "children of the light" was at one time used, as well as simply
   "friends". Fox seems, however, to have had no desire to found a sect,
   but only to proclaim what he saw as the pure and genuine principles of
   Christianity in their original simplicity — though he afterward showed
   great prowess as a religious legislator, in the organization which he
   gave to the new society.

   Fox's preaching was grounded in scripture, but mainly effective because
   of the intense personal experience he was able to project. He was
   scathing about contemporary immorality, and urged his listeners to lead
   lives without sin — though avoiding the Ranter (or Antinomian) view
   that all acts of a believer became automatically sinless. At the time,
   there were a great many rival Christian denominations holding very
   diverse opinions; the atmosphere of dispute and confusion gave George
   Fox an opportunity to put forward his own beliefs through his personal
   sermons. By 1651 he had gathered many other talented preachers around
   him, and continued to roam the country seeking out new converts. They
   continued to do this despite a harsh reception from some listeners, who
   would whip and beat them to drive them away.

   An interest in social justice was slowly developing, marked by Fox's
   complaints to judges about decisions he considered morally wrong — for
   example, his letter on the case of a woman due to be executed for
   theft. Oppression by the powerful was a very real concern for the
   English people, in the turmoil of the English Civil War following the
   excesses of Charles I (executed in 1649) and the beginnings of the
   Commonwealth of England. George Fox's conflict with civil authority was
   inevitable.

   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 people directly.

Imprisonment

   At Derby in 1650 Fox was imprisoned for blasphemy; 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 .
   He suffered harsh treatment in prison following his refusal to fight
   against the return of the monarchy (or indeed to take up arms for any
   reason). A further conviction came in 1653 in Carlisle; it was even
   proposed to put him to death, but Parliament requested his release
   rather than have "a young man… die for religion" .

   The beginnings of persecution forced Fox to develop his position on
   oaths and violence. Previously implicit in his teaching, the refusal to
   swear or take up arms came to be a much more important part of his
   public statements: he was determined that neither he nor his followers
   would give in under pressure. In a letter of 1652 (That which is set up
   by the sword), he urged Friends not to use "carnal weapons" but
   "spiritual weapons", saying "let the waves [the power of nations] break
   over your heads".

   Further imprisonments came at London in 1654, Launceston in 1656,
   Lancaster in 1660 and 1663, Scarborough in 1666, and Worcester in 1674.
   Often, Fox was arrested on no charge other than generally causing
   "disturbance", but he and the other Friends were also accused of more
   specific offences. Quakers fell foul of laws forbidding unauthorized
   worship, though these statutes were very irregularly enforced. Actions
   motivated by belief in social equality — never using titles, or taking
   hats off in court — were seen as disrespectful. Refusal to take oaths
   meant that Quakers could be prosecuted under laws compelling subjects
   to pledge allegiance, as well as making testifying in court
   problematic.

   Even in prison, George Fox continued writing and preaching. He felt
   that a benefit of being imprisoned was that it brought him into contact
   with people who needed his help — the jailers as well as his fellow
   prisoners. He also sought to set an example by his actions there,
   turning the other cheek when being beaten and refusing to let his
   captors make him feel dejected.

Encounters with Oliver Cromwell

   Cromwell was sympathetic to Fox and almost agreed to follow his
   teaching – but persecution of Quakers continued.
   Enlarge
   Cromwell was sympathetic to Fox and almost agreed to follow his
   teaching – but persecution of Quakers continued.

   The Commonwealth had grown suspicious of monarchist plots, and fearful
   that the large group travelling with George Fox aimed to overthrow the
   government – by this time, his meetings were regularly attracting
   crowds of thousands. In 1653 Fox was arrested and taken to London for a
   meeting with the Lord Protector, Oliver 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 advised him to listen to
   God's voice and obey it. He records that on leaving, Cromwell "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 [Fox] no more ill than he did to his own soul."
   George Fox was at liberty again .

   This episode is often recalled as an example of "speaking truth to
   power", a preaching technique by which subsequent Quakers hoped to
   influence the powerful. It is closely related to the ideas of plain
   speech and simplicity which George Fox practiced, but motivated by the
   more worldly goal of eradicating war, injustice and oppression.

   Fox met Cromwell again in 1656, petitioning him over the course of
   several days to alleviate the persecution of Quakers. On a personal
   level, the meeting went well; despite the serious disagreements between
   the two men, they had a certain rapport. Fox even felt moved to invite
   Cromwell to "lay down his crown at the feet of Jesus" — which, however,
   Cromwell declined to do . 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" .
   Cromwell died in September of that year.

Suffering and growth

   The persecutions of these years — with about a thousand Friends in
   prison by 1657 — hardened George Fox's opinions of traditional
   religious and social practices. In his preaching, he often emphasised
   the Quaker rejection of baptism by water; this was a useful way of
   highlighting how the focus of Friends on inward transformation differed
   from what he saw as the superstition of outward ritual. It was also
   deliberately provocative to adherents of those practices, providing
   opportunities for Fox to argue with them on matters of scripture. This
   pattern was also found in his court appearances: when a judge
   challenged him to remove his hat, Fox riposted by asking where in the
   Bible such an injunction could be found.

   The Society of Friends became increasingly organised 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.
   [QFP §7]

The Restoration

   With the restoration of the monarchy, the fate of the Quakers was
   uncertain. George Fox was again accused of conspiracy, this time
   against Charles II, and fanaticism — a charge he resented. Once again,
   Fox was released after demonstrating that he had no military ambitions.
   During imprisonment in Lancaster, he even wrote to the king offering
   advice on governance: Charles should refrain from war and domestic
   religious persecution, and discourage oath-taking, plays, and maypole
   games. These last suggestions reveal Fox's Puritan leanings, which
   continued to influence Quakers for centuries after his death.

   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 the suppression of that sect and the repression of
   other nonconformists, including Quakers . In the aftermath of this
   attempted coup, Fox and eleven other Quakers issued a broadside
   proclaiming what became known among Friends as the "peace testimony,"
   which led them to resist all outward wars and strife as contrary to the
   will of God. Not all his followers accepted this statement; Isaac
   Penington, for example, dissented for a time.

   Meanwhile, Quakers in New England had been banished, and Charles was
   advised by his councillors to issue a mandamus condemning this practice
   and allowing them to return. George Fox was able to meet some of the
   New England Friends when they came to London, stimulating his interest
   in the colonies. Fox was unable to travel there immediately: he was
   imprisoned again in 1663 for his refusal to swear oaths, and on his
   release in 1666 was preoccupied with organizational matters — he
   normalized the system of monthly and quarterly meetings throughout the
   country, and extended it to Ireland.

   Visiting Ireland also gave him the opportunity to preach against what
   he saw as the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the
   use of ritual. More recent Quaker commentators have noted points of
   contact between the denominations: both claim the actual presence of
   God in their meetings, and both allow the collective opinion of the
   church to augment Biblical teaching. Fox, however, did not perceive
   this, brought up as he was in a wholly Protestant environment hostile
   to "Popery". He was also more strict in his reliance on the Bible than
   most of his followers.

   In 1669 Fox married Margaret Fell of Swarthmoor Hall, Swarthmoor, a
   lady of high social position, and one of his early converts. Her
   husband Thomas Fell had died in 1658, and she had been imprisoned in
   Lancaster alongside Fox for several years. Their shared religious work
   was at the heart of their life together, and they later collaborated on
   a great deal of the administration the Society required.

Travels in America and Europe

   In 1671 he went to Barbados and the English settlements in America,
   remaining two years. From Barbados he sent an epistle to Friends
   spelling out the role of women's meetings in the Quaker marriage
   ceremony, a point of controversy when he returned home, and wrote a
   letter to the governor and assembly of the island in which he refuted
   charges that Quakers were stirring up the slaves to revolt and tried to
   affirm the orthodoxy of Quaker beliefs; this letter, particularly its
   doctrinal portions, would two centuries later become important in a
   division among his followers. Fox's first landfall on the North
   American continent was at Maryland, where he participated in a four-day
   meeting of local Quakers. He remained there while various of his
   English companions travelled to the other colonies, because he wished
   to meet 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" .

   Elsewhere in the colonies, Fox helped to establish organizational
   systems for the Friends there, along the same lines as he had done in
   Britain. He also preached to many non-Quakers, some of whom were
   converted; others, including Ranters and some Catholics, were
   unconvinced. He did not seem to mind this so much as he resented the
   suggestion (from a man in North Carolina) that "the Light and Spirit of
   God ... was not in the Indians", a proposition which Fox refuted .
   Fox established a Yearly Meeting in Amsterdam for Friends in the
   Netherlands and German states.
   Enlarge
   Fox established a Yearly Meeting in Amsterdam for Friends in the
   Netherlands and German states.

   Following extensive travels around the various American colonies,
   George Fox returned to England in 1673 where he found his movement
   sharply divided among mostly provincials who resisted establishment of
   women's meetings and the power of those who resided in or near London.
   With William Penn and Robert Barclay as allies, he successfully put
   down this challenge. He was soon imprisoned again, and his health began
   to suffer. Margaret Fell petitioned the king for his release; this took
   place, 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 and essays; he also began dictating what
   would be published after his death as his journal. Much of his energy
   was devoted to the topic of oaths, having become convinced of its
   importance to Quaker ideas. By refusing to swear, he felt that he could
   bear witness to the value of truth in everyday life, as well as to God,
   who he associated with truth and the inner light.

   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 exhausted.
   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.

   In the last years of his life, Fox continued to participate in Yearly
   Meetings, and still made representations to Parliament about the
   sufferings of Friends. 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.

Death and legacy

   George Fox died on January 13, 1691, and was interred in the Quaker
   Burying Ground at Bunhill Fields in London.
   George Fox's marker in Bunhill Fields, next to the Meeting House.
   Enlarge
   George Fox's marker in Bunhill Fields, next to the Meeting House.

   His journal was first published in 1694, after editing by Thomas
   Ellwood — a friend of John Milton — and William Penn. Like most similar
   works of its time the journal was not written contemporaneously to the
   events it describes, but rather compiled many years later, much of it
   dictated. 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 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.

   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," skillful 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." [1694 Journal front matter]

   Fox's influence on the Society of Friends was of course tremendous, and
   his beliefs have largely been carried forward by that group. Perhaps
   his most significance achievement, other than his influence in the
   early movement, was his leadership in overcoming the twin challenges of
   government prosecution after the Restoration and internal disputes that
   threatened the stability of the organization during the same period.
   Not all of his beliefs were welcome to all Quakers, however; his
   Puritan-like opposition to the arts, and rejection of theological
   study, prevented the development of these practices among Quakers for
   some time. The name of George Fox is often invoked by traditionalist
   Friends who dislike liberal attitudes to the Society's Christian
   origins. At the same time, Quakers and others can relate to Fox's
   religious experience, and even those who disagree with him can regard
   him as a 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."

   George Fox University in Oregon, founded as Pacific College in 1891,
   was renamed for him in 1949.

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