GEORGE FOX: FRIEND AND PROPHET

A Biography Presented to Dr. Nathan Finn in partial fulfillment of the requirements for HIS5120C: Church History: Reformation and Modern

Kevin P. McAloon Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary April 1, 2011

INTRODUCTION

You must all of you know much more about that honored man than I could possibly tell you, and I can only say that if you do not you should, for his Life well repays the earnest student. It is a rich mine. Every page of it is precious as solid gold.1 Such are the words C.H. Spurgeon spoke in reference to the life story of George Fox. One of the most enigmatic Christian Dissenters during the 17th Century, George Fox is a name that to this day continues to stir controversy and discussion among those who are familiar with his life and teachings. For those who are not, he is often overlooked as some misguided remnant of religious history who helped establish a strange and quiet group that has no relevance today. To think the latter is to make an utterly grave mistake. The man's life simply demands the utmost attention, especially among evangelical Christians who live in the shadows of early forefathers such as he. Although, like all of the great men of the Faith, not without his errors, if there is one man in Church History whose life most resembled those of the Apostles, it is Fox's. The presence of God in his life, the power of God in his ministry, the unceasing travels, slanders, persecutions, imprisonments, etc.; all force one to have to make a conclusion regarding this man. Akin to what has been said about the One he claimed to serve, after examining the life and claims of George Fox, one is left with only three possible options regarding this person: he was a brazen liar; he was a crazed fanatic; he was a prophet of God.

1 C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p. 1.

THE LIFE OF GEORGE FOX

The Puritans shined and were beginning to fade, same with the Independents, and at that very moment God sent into the world George Fox, who must have been the most troublesome of men to those good easy souls who counted upon a quiet season of sleep.2 At the time, 17th Century England was a place with much religious and political unrest. Protestantism had diverged into multiple sects, primarily out of the common objections many had to the Church of England. Among the more popular of these sects were the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. It seems as if within each subsequent generation God had shed new light where the old had faded, thus building upon their foundations and continuing the purification of His Church from the corruptions inherited by Rome. Similar to the Anabaptists during the beginnings of the Reformation, George Fox may be viewed as that new light of progression sent as a beacon to alert the contemporary Church as to where it was falling short. In fact, his work with the Quakers has been said to be the logical outcome of Puritanism. The shift from Presbyterians, to Congregationalists, to Baptists, and finally Quakers appears to be a smooth logical development.3 The validity of this statement may be open to some debate; however, it is apparent that Foxs entire ministry was a reaction against the errors he saw in the Christendom of his day, which stemmed from both his walk with God and experiences with his contemporaries that began to affect him from the very beginning.
2 C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p. 4.

3 Geoffrey F. Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p.xxvii, p. 14.

Conversion George Fox was born in July 1624 in Drayton-in-the-Clay, a country village located in Leicestershite, England. Raised in a Christian home, he had a godly disposition about him even as a youth and many of his relatives thought that he should become a minister. He received a basic education and was apprenticed a shoemaker, all the while observing the operations of the world and noticing the corruptions therein.4 This all came to dramatic climax, when at nineteen he beheld the corruption of those who were the utmost professors of religion. One night he was invited to join his cousin and another professing Christian at a local tavern, and after having a drink, was shocked to hear that they were going to continue drinking and that the first to drop out had to pay for everyone else. At that he was appalled, put in his money and left, and then spent the rest of the night troubled and felt that he must separate himself from all of the vanity he saw.5 Then, in September 1643, he left his family and job and began a long period of wandering around the country and soul-searching. While traveling Fox came under much torment of soul and temptations to sin, feeling helpless to fight and seek comfort. He looked for help among professors and priests (Foxs labels for those who outwardly professed to be believers and ministers, respectively, without bearing the fruits of such), but saw that they neither had answers nor that which they professed. He spent some years traveling and often returning home, looking everywhere and finding nothing but disappointment. He often found that he had more insight into the Scriptures than those whose help he sought, and most of them were vain and hollow, one even suggesting him to 4 George Fox, Autobiography of George Fox, ed. Rufus M. Jones, Chapter I, http://strecorsoc.org/gfox/title.html (accessed March 29, 2011).
5 Ibid.

satisfy his soul with simply smoking tobacco and singing psalms.6 During this time Fox was also spending much time alone with God and reading the Bible. He had many openings, which he reported were direct revelations God had given him of biblical truths. After many years of praying, reading, fasting, and searching God in solitude, this all culminated in his conversion sometime during the middle of the century: But as I had forsaken the priest, 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. When all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I 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 shit 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 hinder it? And this I knew experimentally.7 Thus marked the beginning of Fox's experimental walk with Christ and His salvation. Unlike the majority of professors he came across, his was a faith based upon an intimate abiding with Christ in His Spirit as opposed to what he saw as merely intellectual assents and opinions. This experiential knowledge and walk with Christ was the flame that ignited Fox to labor unceasingly for the rest of his in speaking out against the errors he saw during his day, and to bring others into what he believed to be authentic New Testament Christianity.

6 Ibid.; C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p. 6. 7 George Fox, Autobiography of George Fox, ed. Dr. Rufus M. Jones, Chapter I, http://strecorsoc.org/gfox/title.html (accessed March 29, 2011).

Ministry Following his conversion Fox spent some time battling with trials and temptations, all the while traveling and ministering and gaining popularity. He felt extremely burned by the Lord to call everyone out of the churches (which he labeled steeple-houses ), false religions, and secular enjoyments. He suffered as he discerned the worldly spirit of the priests, and he would often grieve when he heard the church bells summoning people to worship.8 Soon he began to speak out more publicly and thus received more resistance. His first of many imprisonments took place in Nottingham in 1649 for interrupting a church service. He recollects the oftrepeated incident in his journal: And when I came there, all the people looked like fallow ground, and the priest, like a great lump of earth, stood in his pulpit above. He took for his text these words of Peter, [2 Pet. 1:19]. And he told the people that the Scriptures were the touchstone and judge by which they were to try all doctrines, religions, opinions. . . . [I] was made to cry out and say, 'Oh, no; it is not the Scriptures!' and I told them what it was, namely, the Holy Spirit, by which the holy men of God gave forth the Scriptures, whereby opinions, religions, and judgments were to be tried; for it led into all truth, and so gave the knowledge of all truth. The Jews had the Scriptures, and yet resisted the Holy Spirit, and rejected Christ, the bright morning star. . . . they erred in judgment, and did not try them aright, because they tried without the Holy Ghost.9 After spending a brief time in prison, Fox went on his way traveling all over England preaching, being attacked, beaten, imprisoned in unimaginable conditions, and stoned while in stocks. He showed partiality to no one, only using the common Thees and Thous as opposed to the formal custom of his day, refused to bow to those in high positions, and took of his hat only in prayer. He believed in working with his hands and avoided all materialism and luxury,
8 Henry Van Etten, George Fox and the Quakers, trans. E. Kelvin Osborn (London: Longman, Green & Co., 1959), p. 30-31. 9 George Fox, Autobiography of George Fox, ed. Dr. Rufus M. Jones, Chapter III, http://strecorsoc.org/gfox/title.html (accessed March 29, 2011).

and because of his simple dress was commonly known as the man in leather breeches.10 During his travels the power of the Lord was upon him, and often when opponents confronted and tried to argue with him they would either become convinced (Fox's term for both theological and spiritual conversions), or bested by the wisdom and Scriptural insight that Fox reported the Spirit gave him. It was a matter of time before he began to attract a following throughout the country who referred to each other as Friends and Children of Light, and who were later dubbed Quakers because of an incident when Fox bade a local justice to tremble at the word of the Lord. The inauguration of this movement occurred in June 1652 in Westmoreland. As he and his companions traveled Fox felt led to climb to the top of Pendle Hill, where he reported that the Lord had given him visions where he saw places where He had people to be gathered. Something of a revival broke out has he ministered in the towns, and a week later he stood upon that same hill and preached Christ to over one thousand people.11 It was during this time that he greatly influenced Margaret Fell, wife of local judge Thomas Fell and who later became Fox's wife in 1669 after the death of her husband. Margaret joined the movement, and although her husband never became an official Quaker, he was quite sympathetic to Fox and his movement; and as a result of his legal protection, the Fell's home became the center of the movement throughout the 1650s. The movement continued spreading as Fox, despite being repeatedly imprisoned, zealously preached all throughout England and abroad his apocalyptic Day of the Lord proclamation. According to Gwyn, this proclamation was based upon three assertions: 1. Christ
10 Henry Van Etten, George Fox and the Quakers, trans. E. Kelvin Osborn (London: Longman, Green Co., 1959), p. 30-31.

11 Douglas Gwyn, Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1984), p. 29.

had come at that time in history to lead His people in new paths, setting up a new government and order; 2. The general tenor of Church government since the Apostles were 1600 years of apostasy, the government and oppression of antichrist; 3. Christ's teaching and government were by means of the Spirit and the emphasis was on Christ Himself as the creating and redeeming Word of God. He denied Scripture by itself to be the intrinsic Word of God and touchstone of doctrine, instead affirmed it to be the words which God inspired the prophets and Apostles to write in order to record the true Word'sJesus Christ'sdealings with the world.12 In response to these convictions, Fox felt led to organize a Gospel order, a Society where Friends could maintain functional openness to Christ's own direct government as a tightknit community.13 He was not authoritative, but believed that each person's inspiration should be checked in light of the collective whole. True gospel ministers did not become so through educational or man-made systems, but rather they received vocation and inspiration directly from God. He recommended that each fellowship take care of its poor and provide work for those who were unemployed for valid reasons; parents were to help educate their children so that there would be no poor among Friends; alms-houses and hospitals were to be set up for elderly Friends who were past work; houses should be set up to take care of the mentally insane who were generally neglected by society; and he also founded many schools. 14 He also adamantly rejected to taking up arms and swearing any sort of oath whatsoever, both of which Spurgeon greatly commended him for and could not understand how other Christians did not hold these

12 13

Ibid. p. 30. Ibid. p. 74.

14 Henry Van Etten, George Fox and the Quakers, trans. E. Kelvin Osborn (London: Longman, Green Co., 1959), p. 67-69.

same positions.15 Fox and Quakers were also especially hated and persecuted for the latter, so much so that a Quaker Act was passed in 1672 which penalized anyone who refused to take oaths. As has been seen, Fox's relationship with governing officials wavered throughout his ministry. In fact, early on he won the support and sympathy of Oliver Cromwell, whose heart knit with him and who pleaded Fox to keep in contact.16 The Quakers were even invited to participate in Parliament in 1659, and even Charles II was at first favorable towards them; however, after the failed insurrection attempt by Fifth Monarchists in 1661 things began turning bitter for Dissenters, Quakers included. Two Conventicle Acts were passed forbidding religious assemblies of four or more people to be held outside of the Church of England, and thus many Friends bore the brunt end of this policy. This was to result in Fox's last imprisonment in England from 1673 to 1675, where he was falsely accused and offered pardon, but refused because he said that he did not commit any crime in need of pardoning.17 After being released, Fox spent some time traveling throughout Northern Europe and corresponding with groups of Friends he established overseas His health continued to fail him and, after preaching his last sermon, he died on January 13 1691. After zealously preaching all throughout Northern Europe, America, and the West Indies; being imprisoned eight times and

15 C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p. 18-19. 16 Douglas Gwyn, Apocalypse of the Word: The Life and Message of George Fox (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1984), p.
17 Henry Van Etten, George Fox and the Quakers, trans. E. Kelvin Osborn (London: Longman, Green Co., 1959), p. 64.

spending six years of his life in dungeons and rat infested cells; witnessing God's power and revelations mightily throughout his life; George Fox was ready to exclaim right before his death, It is clear! It is clear!18 Indeed, Fox's life was one of unusual labor and self abandonment to his God, and it was worthy of the complement repeated by the Prince of Preachers: Many sons have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.19

Contributions to the Church William Livingston, first governor of New Jersey, once said of George Fox, George Fox alone has, without human learning, done more than any other reformer in Protestant Christendom towards the restoration of real, primitive, unadulterated Christianity and the destruction of priest craft, superstition, and ridiculous, unavailing rites and ceremonies.20 Although like many other more pietistic-minded men of God throughout the history of the Church, George Fox had slight deficiencies when it came to methodical and prudent theology; nevertheless he is unequaled in his life and practice of authentic Spirit lead, experiential Christianity. Unlike the worldly members of the apostasy from the days of the apostles, his unwavering conviction was that the same Spirit who was in the prophets and apostles in the New Testament truly continued to dwell in and lead all followers of Christ. He saw the dead formalism of his day, and considered all of their ideas to be merely notional if not grounded in experience. This especially applied to his 18 C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p. 12
19 Ibid. p. 3.

20 Leonard Ravenhill, George Fox: The Unshakeable Quaker, Dayspring (Minneapolis,MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1963), p.2.

approach to Scripture. Without a living experience of the indwelling Word, men may speak and discuss the words of the Apostles, but they neither truly know what they were saying nor the God they are talking about. However, contrary to popular opinion due to some of his overreactions, Fox was not in any sense opposed to Scripture. His contemporaries were often confounded with his insight and intimate knowledge of the word, and it was said that though the Bible was lost, it might be found in the mouth of George Fox.21 Rather, what Fox was opposed to was the fact that the Christendom of his day lacked the power and Spirit of those who gave forth the Scriptures. For him, the truths of the Scriptures were to be internalized by the Spirit, not by the letter, and the the former could take place even outside the pages of the Bible. Perhaps most importantly, however, was Fox's confidence that the Holy Spirit was the means for all true biblical and vital Christian community. Although many others during his day recognized the need for more freedom within the assemblies, and prophesying (expositing) by the laity was commonly practice in Independent churches , Fox continued to push the envelope and seek to allow the Spirit to have full governance over the people. He exposed traditions that seemed to be foreign to the churches observed in the New Testament, and sought to avoid quenching the Spirit in everything he did. His entire life and ministry can be summed up in the following words: to George Fox, 'Our Father who is in heaven' was one near at hand, and the Holy Spirit was one who dwelt with him, and remained with him for ever. He did not imagine that God was oblivious of his servants, but he expected that God would speak to him, commune with him, cheer him, guide him, comfort him, chide him, uphold him. He had inward communications from God, in the strength of which he went his way to suffer and to serve with
21 Geoffrey F. Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p.26

all his hear, and soul, and strength.22

22 C.H. Spurgeon,"George Fox": An Address Delivered to the Society of Friends in the Devonshire House Meeting House, Bishopsgate Street, London, on Tuesday Evening, November 6th, 1866., (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1898), p.