George Fox | |
|---|---|
 A 17th century portrait of Fox[1] | |
| Church | Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 1624 |
| Died | 13 January 1691 (aged 66) |
| Buried | Quaker Gardens, Islington |
| Nationality | English |
| Denomination | Church of England (Puritan) 1624-1648 Seeker 1648-9 Quaker 1649-1691 |
| Parents | Christopher Fox (father) Mary Lago (mother) |
| Spouse | Margaret Fell (née Askew) |
| Occupation | Itinerant preacher, founder and principal early leader of theQuakers |
| Signature |  |
George Fox, July 1624O.S. (July–August 1624N.S.)[3] – 13 January 1691 O.S. (23 January 1692 N.S.),[2] was anEnglish Dissenter, who was a founder of theReligious Society of Friends, commonly known as theQuakers or Friends. The son of aLeicestershireweaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and war. He rebelled against the religious and political authorities by proposing an unusual, uncompromising approach to the Christian faith. He travelled throughout Britain as a dissenting preacher, performed hundreds of healings, and was often persecuted by the disapproving authorities.[4]
In 1669, he marriedMargaret Fell, widow of a wealthy supporter,Thomas Fell; she was a leading Friend. His ministry expanded and he made tours of North America and theLow Countries. He was arrested and jailed numerous times for his beliefs. He spent his final decade working in London to organise the expanding Quaker movement. Despite disdain from someAnglicans andPuritans, he was viewed with respect by the Quaker convertWilliam Penn and the Lord Protector,Oliver Cromwell.
Fox was born in July 1624 in the village of Drayton-in-the-Clay, now known asFenny Drayton, inLeicestershire.[5] He was the eldest of six children of Christopher Fox and his wife, Mary,née Lago.[2] There is no record of either his birthday or hisbaptism, however thebaptismal record of his sisters Mary and Sarah survived.[6] The names of his other siblings, extracted from scattered references in Fox's writings and parish records, were John (later ofPolesworth), Dorothy, and Catherine.[7] His father Christopher was a successfulweaver, called "Righteous Christer" by his neighbours,[8] respected sufficiently to be madechurchwarden[5] and part of the relatively financially securemiddle class. Christopher would leave his son a significantlegacy when he died in the late 1650s which would help to support Fox's travelling ministry for the remainder of his life.[9] He described his mother as "an upright woman... of the stock of the martyrs," likely referring to a family connection toRobert Glover, burned inCoventry in 1555, orJoyce Lewis, burned inLichfield in 1557 (or perhaps both).[10][11][2] These forebears were executed during theMarian Persecutions for theirProtestant faith.William Penn would later describe Fox's parents as "honest and sufficient" people, and Mary Lago especially as "a woman accomplished above most of her degree in the place where she lived."[12]
His birthplace was, and remains, a small rural community, situated about 15 miles (24 km) south-west ofLeicester, 10 miles (16 km) north ofCoventry, and about a mile fromMarket Bosworth.[13] Located just a few hundred yards off the ancientRoman road ofWatling Street,[14][15] the Leicestershire–Warwickshire andEast–West Midlands boundary, once the border between theDanelaw andAnglo-Saxon England, and about eight miles north-west ofHigh Cross, where Watling Street meets theFosse Way,[16] it lies close to the geographical centre of England.[13][15][17] The manor house and the freehold of the village were held by the Purefoy family, Puritans and relatives of the regicide,William Purefoy.[18] No buildings survive in Fenny Drayton from Fox's time with the exception of the parish church of St Michael and All Angels, containing thefont in which he and his siblings werebaptised and the elaborate tombs of the Purefoysquires.[13] The house where Fox was born and grew up was demolished in the 19th century however its location is marked by a monument erected in 1872.
Fox's birth and upbringing fell during the earlyStuart period, towards the end of the comparatively peaceful interval that fell between theEnglish Reformation and theEnglish Civil War.[19] The Reformation had taken the once homogeneouslyRoman Catholic England to a place of deep religious divisions: firstly between Protestants and Roman CatholicRecusants, and secondly betweenAnglican Protestants andPuritans, the former content withElizabeth I’sCalvinistEpiscopalreform of theChurch of England, the latter thinking it insufficiently radical.[20] The Puritans themselves were subdivided between thePresbyterians (before theRestoration of 1660, mostly members of the Established Church seeking to reform itspolity andliturgy) and thedissenters such as theSeparatists, theIndependents, theBaptists, and theFamilists. Finally, within both theHigh Church Episcopalian party of the Established Church, and among Independents and Baptists, there were further tensions between those with eitherCalvinist orArminian views onvolition andsoteriology.[21] These divisions would proliferate during the Civil War, thanks in large part to Fox's adult ministry. As noted, his own family had been touched by the violence of the Reformation. He was born roughly eight months before the death ofJames I and the accession of his son,Charles I, whose contempt for theHouse of Commons, persecution of Puritans and unpopular High Church religious policy would help spark the Civil War.[19]
In Fenny Drayton, thepatronage (right to appoint clergy) of the parish church was held by the Puritan Purefoy squires.[13][22] This had developed the parishes staunchLow Church allegiance fromElizabethan times. Anthony Nutter, a notably radical Presbyterian, wasrector between 1586 and 1605.[22] The records of theDiocese of Lincoln show that he refused to wearvestments, kneel during services, make thesign of the cross during baptisms, or adhere to any of the vestiges of Roman Catholic ritual in Church of England liturgy.[23] He briefly faced imprisonment in 1590 and was removed from office in 1604 for refusing to conform to James I's religious reforms following theHampton Court Conference.[23] Despite the relatively uncontroversial approach of his successor Robert Mason, rector from 1606 to his death in 1638 and Fox's childhoodcatechist,[24] memory of Nutter's radicalism persisted in its influence on Fox's birthplace. Throughout the reigns of James and Charles I, cases of residents beingexcommunicated for refusing to receiveHoly Communion appear in church records, notably Margaret Petty, George Heard, George Orton, George Batling, and George Smith.[25] Smith's last case came as late as 1638, when Fox was 14 during Christopher Fox's tenure as churchwarden.[26] The Puritan radicalism widespread in the village extended to Fox's parents, who, according to hisJournal, "saw beyond the priests" despite external conformity.[27] Fox was, therefore, born into an atmosphere of pious resistance to church authority.
According to William Penn, Fox's parents "endeavoured to bring him up, as they did the rest of their children, in the way and worship of the nation"[12] - that is to say as a practicing member of the Church of England as by lawestablished and, given the character of Fenny Drayton as aparish, a radical Puritan. There is no record of any formal schooling, but it is clear from his literacy that Fox learned to read and write. It may be concluded that, like most children in the Stuart period, his education and his religious formation were interconnected, focused nearly exclusively on knowledge of theKing James Version of theBible, theBook of Common Prayer, and theAnglican Catechism.[28] His later writings show a thoroughgoing saturation in the King James Version of the Bible, with either direct quotations or clear allusions appearing every few lines in many works.
Fox'sJournal emphasises his serious disposition from an early age: "a gravity and staidness of mind not usual in children."[8] By the end of his childhood this developed into an earnest religious commitment to purity and integrity:
When I came to eleven years of age, 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... to keep to 'yea' and 'nay' in all things(Mt.5:37,Jas.5:12); and that my words should be few and savoury, seasoned with grace(Col.4:6).[29]
He reacted with shock and disapproval when he met contrasting behaviour in the adults around him, an attitude arising from the Puritan sensibilities of his upbringing.[30] Modern biographers have described Fox early character as shy, idealistic and judgemental: "something of a prig"[31] and "one who loved men in the aggregate but who strongly disapproved of them as individuals."[30]
As he grew up, Fox's relatives "thought to have made me a priest" (of the state Church of England) but he was insteadapprenticed to a localshoemaker andgrazier, George Gee of nearbyMancetter.[32][33] As William Penn noted after his death, "he took most delight in sheep, so he was very skilful in them; an employment that very well suited his mind in several respects, both for its innocency and solitude; and was a just figure of his after ministry and service."[12] Toward the end of his life he wrote a letter for general circulation pointing out thatAbel,Noah,Abraham,Jacob,Moses andDavid were all keepers of sheep or cattle and so a learned education should not be seen as a necessary qualification for ministry.[34]
In his dealings with others during his apprenticeship, he gives the impression of an earnest, reserved, scrupulously honest, kind, and resolute character.[citation needed] Of his honesty and resoluteness he recalls that he was so fond of the Biblically pregnant wordverily that "it was a common saying among people that knew me, 'if George says 'Verily' there is no altering him.'"[10][35] He also recalls times of bullying and mockery from other less sensitive youths, but that "I never wronged man or woman in all that time" and that "people had generally a love to me for my innocency and honesty."[10] Throughout his adolescence Fox's longstanding discomfort with the behaviour of his elders deepened - particularly their religious hypocrisy, levity of attitude, excessive consumption of alcohol, and violence in the name of religion. In hisJournal he characterised them as "professors" - outwardly practicing members of the established church, or anonconformist Puritan church, who showed no signs of spiritual and moral conversion.[10] This disillusionment became a spiritual crisis following an incident when he was aged 19.
In the early summer of 1643 Fox reached whatWilliam C. Braithwaite called the "hour of decision,"[33] after an incident at a fair inAtherstone, a market town about three miles from Fenny Drayton.[2] Fox was sitting and drinking with other young men – his cousin and their friend, both professing Puritans – who demanded he pay their bill if he refused to join them indrinking games. Disgusted, he left them, and, after a period of restless despondency and prayer, felt a divine call to forsake friends and family:
Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth; thou must forsake all, young and old, keep out of all, and be as a stranger unto all.[36][10]
The onset of Fox's great spiritual crisis coincided with the beginning of theEnglish Civil War, which was initially focused heavily on the midland counties where he lived. It had started in August 1642 whenCharles I raised his standard atNottingham, around 50 miles north of Fenny Drayton. Charles had thenbesieged Coventry later that month, andthe first major battle of the conflict had been fought the following October atEdgehill, around 30 miles south. The war would continue until 1646 and briefly break out again in 1648.
Between 1643 and 1647–8, Fox experienced a lengthyspiritual, and likelymental health, crisis.[37] The exact nature of his difficulties is unclear, veiled by terms such as "condition," "sorrow," "exercises," "great darkness," and "trouble of mind" as well as conventional sentiments of Calvinist spiritual crisis such as "tempted to sin" and "tempted to despair." Subsequent biographers have characterised it as depression brought about by adolescent malaise and the political situation.[38] Fox came to understand it as a providential part of his formation:
I cried to the Lord, saying, 'Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils?' And the Lord answered that it was needful I should have a sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions; and in this I saw the infinite love of God.[39]
It was accompanied by what he called "the command of God" to embark on asolitaryitinerant lifestyle as he sought a solution from various so-called religious authorities: Puritan clergy of both the established Church of England and emerging nonconformist sects.[40] Their failure to "speak to my condition" initiated his rejection of almost all outward forms of religion, and a determination to know all religious truth only "by experiment."[41] His discipline of silent prayer gradually brought about a change in his condition, he came to experience what he called "great openings", interiorreligious revelations.[42] This crisis was played out against the backdrop of theFirst English Civil War (1642–1646).[43][44]
In September 1643 Fox "left my relations, and broke off all familiarity or fellowship with young or old."[45][46] His journey progressed slowly at first, and he spent time living near to Drayton-in-the-Clay, inLutterworth, the former home and the burial place of theLollard leaderJohn Wycliffe, and inNorthampton. Later he traveled south from Northampton, staying awhile atNewport Pagnell, before arriving atBarnet in June, 1644.[46] He passed through predominantly parliamentarian regions, however bothRoundhead andCavalier troops were stationed in the villages and towns along his route.[9][47] While at Barnet, Fox was torn by depression (perhaps from the temptations of the resort town near London). He alternately shut himself in his room for days at a time or went out alone into the countryside. He was about 20 years old at this time.[48][46]
Though still afflicted by melancholy, Fox notes in his Journal that he did at length leave Barnet for theCity of London in 1644, securing lodgings and renewing acquaintance with his uncle, Pickering, a Baptist minister.[48][46] Fox's first visit to London coincided closely with serious developments within both the conformist Puritans and the pre-existing nonconformist churches – perhaps referred to obliquely by his line in theJournal, "I looked upon the great professors of the city of London".[48][46] His own uncles nascent Baptists were still firmly on the radical edge of the Puritan movement and, as he noted, "still tender".[48][46] It was in October 1644 that seven London Baptist congregations issued theFirst London Baptist Confession.[49][50] This was itself a response to the officialWestminster Assembly of Puritan divines, meeting just up theRiver Thames, in theJerusalem Chamber atWestminster Abbey, on the orders of theLong Parliament.[51][19] This group was responsible for drafting the constitutional documents for a never realised state Presbyterian Church of England - theWestminster Confession and theDirectory of Public Worship, both of which were published in 1644.[52][19] Fox's depression continued during his time in London, and his increasing disaffection from both mainstream and radical Puritanism is evident in his reaction to the Londonprofessors: "I saw all was dark and under the chain of darkness."[48][46]
After nearly a year of travelling, Fox returned to his family in Drayton, probably in 1645, the year of the decisiveBattle of Naseby, his spiritual despondency still unresolved.[53][54] He returned out of concern for his parents, fearing they were anxious for his safety amid the turmoil of the Civil War.[48] His family urged him to marry, while others advised him to enlist with the Roundheads. Dissatisfied with either prospect, he instead spent several months lodging with a Puritan cleric inCoventry, about 10 miles south of Drayton.[55] He mentions encounters with many "tender people" (i.e. those open to true religious experience) and must have witnessed firsthand the impact of the Puritan revolution that was reshaping religious life in most Parliamentarian towns across England. After this, he returned to reside at Drayton.[41] During this time his spiritual despair deepened. TheJournal speaks of deep melancholy, long bouts of solitary nocturnal walking, and a frantic search for advice.[56] The localcurate,Nathaniel Stephens, a Calvinist Presbyterian and an academic theologian in thescholastic tradition, at first did his best to minister to Fox with kindness, and they often visited one another.[57] Stephens considered Fox a gifted young man, but the two disagreed on many issues, and he later called Fox mad and spoke against him.[58]
After despairing of Stephens's advice, he sought the counsel of a spate of local clergymen around the Leicestershire–Warwickshire border. The "ancient" vicar ofMancetter, Richard Able, told him to take tobacco (which Fox disliked) and singthe psalms (he couldn't sing). Able soon tired of him, grew annoyed, and gossiped to his flock about what he had said.[59] Another clergyman inTamworth struck him as foolish.[60] A third, Dr Cradock of Coventry, lost his temper when Fox accidentally stepped on a flower bed in his garden.[60] A fourth, John Machin ofAtherstone, recommendedbloodletting, which, when attempted, drew no blood.[60] As each clerical counsellor disappointed him, Fox's condition grew worse.[59] His Puritanasceticism intensified during this period, and in 1645 he abandoned the celebration ofChristmas to devote himself to missions of poverty relief. He also refused to attend wedding celebrations, sending only a present of relief money to poor couples.[61]
Fox's experience of dissenters in this formative period was more mixed than that of the clerics of established church. He expressed admiration for the “tenderness” of many, particularly Baptists[48] and mystics,[62] and horror at others, specifically atCalvinist rigidity, an overemphasis on “sin and imperfection”, and at blatant scriptural unorthodoxy, notably from those who denied that women had immortal souls.[62] In spite of occasional sympathies, however, he resolutely refused to join any of the existing dissenting groups.[63]
Fox's crisis of confidence came to a head in spring 1646 with his first revelations, or "openings" to use his term. They led him to withdraw from all conventional external religious activity (except Scripture reading), thus entering intoschism with the Church of England. The step is presented in the Journal as three visions, revelations, realisations, or "openings":[64]
Though central to his later message, these were symptoms of a broader conviction forming around 1646: that religion is not external because God is directly accessible without a mediator. This breakthrough is summarised, retrospectively, a few pages later in theJournal in one of his best-loved and most quoted passages:
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. 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'(Rm11:32) as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the preeminence(Col1:18) who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall let(i. e. prevent) it(Is43:13)? And this I knew experimentally.[41][68]
Both Fox's family and Nathaniel Stephens were alarmed by his refusal to attend church, which followed shortly after, and it occasioned considerable objection from both. In response he cited theFirst Epistle of John (2:27): "The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you."[69][70]
It is important to note that Fox's personal crisis of confidence in religious authority coincided with a complete collapse of order in the Church of England.[71] By the execution ofWilliam Laud,Archbishop of Canterbury, in January 1645, the authority of the bishops had effectively disintegrated. Later that year, in October, theLong Parliament passed theOrdinance Abolishing Archbishops and Bishops, formally removing the episcopal structure from the Church.[44] FollowingPride's Purge in 1648, the Puritans' longstanding hope for Presbyterian reformation based on the Westminster Assembly's proposals was foiled.[72] By September 1650, Parliament repealed the Act of Uniformity, making Sunday attendance at parish churches optional. This both recognised and encouraged the existing flood of dissenting sects,[72] including theSeekers, an informal movement of individuals and communities who rejected formal worship and sought a more direct religious experience. It is generally accepted that Fox belonged to this group, and that the earliest Quaker meetings were largely formed of former Seekers.
Fox continued to wrestle seriously with religious questions by himself. He developed an alternative habit of worshiping in solidarity silence, particularly while reading and meditating on Scripture. TheJournal describes this charmingly in the following terms: "for I would go into the orchard or the fields, with my Bible, by myself...[61] in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently in the night walked about."[62] This interior prayer and reflection led to spiritual breakthroughs, but not immediately. A period of ambiguity followed, marked by joyful “openings” and ongoing sorrow:
I kept much as a stranger, seeking heavenly wisdom and getting knowledge from the Lord, and was brought off from outward things to rely on the Lord alone. Though my exercises and troubles were very great, yet were they not so continual but that I had some intermissions, and I was sometimes brought into such an heavenly joy that I thought I had been inAbraham’s bosom(Lk16:22). As I cannot declare the misery I was in, it was so great and heavy upon me, so neither can I set forth the mercies of God unto me in all my misery.[73]
In 1647 Fox began to preach publicly:[74] inmarket-places, fields, appointed meetings of various kinds or even sometimes in "steeple-houses" (churches) after the service. Fox said in his journal ‘and as I was walking by the steeplehouse side, in the town of Mansfield the Lord said unto me, that which people do trample upon must be thy food. And as the Lord spoke he opened it to me how that people and professors did trample upon the life, even the life of Christ was trampled upon…’[75]Mansfield inNottinghamshire was a town to which George Fox lived. The steeplehouse in Mansfield was the church ofSt Peter and St Paul.[76][77][78]
His powerful preaching began to attract a small following. It is not clear at what point the Society of Friends was formed, but there was certainly a group of people who often travelled together. At first, they called themselves "Children of the Light" or "Friends of the Truth", and later simply "Friends". Fox seems initially 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 organiser in the structure he gave to the new society.
There were a great many rivalChristian denominations holding very diverse opinions in that period; the atmosphere of dispute and confusion gave Fox an opportunity to put forward his own beliefs through his personal sermons. Fox's preaching was grounded in scripture but was mainly effective because of the intense personal experience he was able to project.[9] He was scathing about immorality, deceit and the exacting oftithes and urged his listeners to lead lives without sin,[79] avoiding theRanter'santinomian view that a believer becomes automatically sinless. By 1651 he had gathered other talented preachers around him and continued to roam the country despite a harsh reception from some listeners, who would whip and beat them to drive them away.[80] As his reputation spread, his words were not welcomed by all. As an uncompromising preacher, he hurled disputation and contradiction to the faces of his opponents.[81] The worship of Friends in the form of silent waiting punctuated by individuals speaking as the Spirit moved them seems to have been well-established by this time,[82] though it is not recorded how this came to be;Richard Bauman asserts that "speaking was an important feature of the meeting for worship from the earliest days of Quakerism."[83]
Fox complained to judges about decisions he considered morally wrong, as he did in a letter on the case of a woman due to be executed for theft.[84] He campaigned against paying thetithes intended to fund the established church, which often went into the pockets of absentee landlords or religious colleges distant from the paying parishioners. In his view, as God was everywhere and anyone could preach, the established church was unnecessary and a university qualification irrelevant for a preacher.[9] Conflict with civil authority was inevitable. Fox was imprisoned several times, the first atNottingham in 1649.[85] AtDerby in 1650 he was imprisoned forblasphemy; a judge mocked Fox's exhortation to "tremble at the word of the Lord", calling him and his followers "Quakers".[86] After he refused to fight against the return of the monarchy (or to take up arms for any reason), his sentence was doubled.[87] The refusal to swear oaths or take up arms came to be much more important in his public statements. Refusal to take oaths meant that Quakers could be prosecuted under laws compelling subjects topledge allegiance and made testifying in court problematic.[9] 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".
In 1652, Fox preached for several hours under a walnut tree atBalby, where his discipleThomas Aldham was instrumental in setting up the first meeting in theDoncaster area.[88] In the same year Fox felt that God led him to ascendPendle Hill, where he had a vision of many souls coming to Christ. From there he travelled toSedbergh, where he had heard a group ofSeekers was meeting, and preached to over a thousand people onFirbank Fell, convincing many, includingFrancis Howgill, to accept that Christ might speak to people directly.[89] At the end of the month he stayed atSwarthmoor Hall, nearUlverston, the home ofThomas Fell, vice-chancellor of theDuchy of Lancaster, and his wife,Margaret. Around that time, thead hoc meetings of Friends began to be formalised and a monthly meeting was set up inCounty Durham.[9] Margaret became a Quaker, and although Thomas did not convert, his familiarity with the Friends proved influential when Fox was arrested for blasphemy in October. Fell was one of three presiding judges, and the charges were dismissed on a technicality.
Fox remained atSwarthmoor until the summer of 1653, then left forCarlisle, where he was arrested again for blasphemy.[9] It was even proposed to put him to death, butParliament requested his release rather than have "a young man ... die for religion".[90] Further imprisonments came in London in 1654,Launceston in 1656,Lancaster in 1660,Leicester in 1662, Lancaster again andScarborough in 1664–1666 andWorcester in 1673–1675. Charges usually included causing a disturbance and travelling without a pass. Quakers fell foul of irregularly enforced laws forbidding unauthorised worship, while actions motivated by belief in social equality – refusing to use or acknowledge titles, take hats off in court or bow to those who considered themselves socially superior – were seen as disrespectful.[91] While imprisoned at Launceston, Fox wrote, "Christ our Lord and master saith 'Swear not at all, but let your communications be yea, yea, and nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.' ... the Apostle James saith, 'My brethren, above all things swear not, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath. Lest ye fall into condemnation.'"[92]
In prison George Fox continued writing and preaching, feeling that imprisonment brought him into contact with people who needed his help—the jailers as well as his fellow prisoners. In his journal, he told his magistrate, "God dwells not in temples made with hands."[93] He also sought to set an example by his actions there, turning the other cheek when being beaten and refusing to show his captors any dejected feelings.
Parliamentarians grew suspicious of monarchist plots and fearful that the group travelling with Fox aimed to overthrow the government: by this time his meetings were regularly attracting crowds of over a thousand. In early 1655 he was arrested atWhetstone, Leicestershire and taken to London under armed guard. In March[94] he was brought before theLord Protector,Oliver Cromwell. After affirming that he had no intention of taking up arms, Fox was able to speak to Cromwell for most of the morning about the Friends. He advised him to listen to God's voice and obey it, so that as Fox left, 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."[95]
This episode was later recalled as an example of "speaking truth to power", a preaching technique by which subsequent Quakers hoped to influence the powerful.[96] Although not used until the 20th century, the phrase is related to the ideas of plain speech and simplicity which Fox practised, but motivated by the more worldly goal of eradicating war, injustice and oppression.
Fox petitioned Cromwell over the course of 1656 to alleviate the persecution of Quakers.[97] Later that year, they met for a second time at Whitehall. On a personal level, the meeting went well; despite disagreements between the two men, they had a certain rapport. Fox invited Cromwell to "lay down his crown at the feet of Jesus" – which Cromwell declined to do.[98] Fox met Cromwell again twice in March 1657.[99] Their last meeting was in 1658 atHampton Court, though they could not speak for long or meet again because of the Protector's worsening illness – Fox even wrote that "he looked like a dead man".[100] Cromwell died in September of that year.
One early Quaker convert, the YorkshiremanJames Nayler, arose as a prominent preacher in London around 1655. A breach began to form between Fox's and Nayler's followers. As Fox was held prisoner at Launceston, Nayler moved south-westwards towards Launceston intending to meet Fox and heal any rift. On the way he was arrested himself and held atExeter. After Fox was released from Launceston gaol in 1656, he preached throughout theWest Country. Arriving at Exeter late in September, Fox was reunited with Nayler. Nayler and his followers refused to remove their hats while Fox prayed, which Fox took as both a personal slight and a bad example. When Nayler refused to kiss Fox's hand, Fox told Nayler to kiss his foot instead. Nayler was offended and the two parted acrimoniously. Fox wrote that "there was now a wicked spirit risen amongst Friends".[101]
After Nayler's own release later the same year he rode intoBristol triumphantly playing the part of Jesus Christ in a re-enactment ofPalm Sunday. He was arrested and taken to London, where Parliament defeated a motion to execute him by a vote of 96–82. Instead, they ordered that he be pilloried and whipped through both London and Bristol, branded on his forehead with the letter B (for blasphemer), bored through the tongue with a red-hot iron and imprisoned in solitary confinement with hard labour.[102] Nayler was released in 1659, but he was a broken man. On meeting Fox in London, he fell to his knees and begged Fox's forgiveness. Shortly afterward, Nayler was attacked by thieves while travelling home to his family, and died.[9]
The persecutions of these years – with about a thousand Friends in prison by 1657 – hardened Fox's opinions of traditional religious and social practices. In his preaching, he often emphasised the Quaker rejection ofbaptism 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 a deliberate provocation of adherents of those practices, so providing opportunities for Fox to argue with them on matters of scripture. The same pattern appeared in his court appearances: when a judge challenged him to remove his hat, Fox replied 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 presentBritain Yearly Meeting system.[103] Fox 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 ofMeeting for Sufferings, which has continued to the present day.[104]
The 1650s, when the Friends were at their most confrontational, was one of the most creative periods of their history. Under the Commonwealth, Fox had hoped that the movement would become the major church in England. Disagreements, persecution and increasing social turmoil, however, led Fox to suffer from severe depression, which left him deeply troubled atReading, Berkshire, for ten weeks in 1658 or 1659.[105] In 1659, he sentparliament his most politically radical pamphlet,Fifty nine Particulars laid down for the Regulating things, but the year was so chaotic that it never considered these; the document was not reprinted until the 21st century.[9]
With therestoration of the monarchy, Fox's dreams of establishing the Friends as the dominant religion seemed at an end. He was again accused of conspiracy, this time againstCharles II, and fanaticism – a charge he resented. He was imprisoned in Lancaster for five months, during which he wrote to the king offering advice on governance: Charles should refrain from war and domestic religious persecution, and discourage oath-taking, plays, andmaypole games. These last suggestions reveal Fox'sPuritan leanings, which continued to influence Quakers for centuries after his death. Once again, Fox was released after demonstrating that he had no military ambitions.
At least on one point, Charles listened to Fox. The 700 Quakers who had been imprisoned underRichard Cromwell were released, though the government remained uncertain about the group's links with other, more violent, movements. A revolt by theFifth Monarchists in January 1661 led to the suppression of that sect and the repression of otherNonconformists, including Quakers.[106] In the aftermath of this attempted coup, Fox and eleven other Quakers issued a broadside proclaiming what became known among Friends in the 20th century as the "peace testimony", committing themselves to oppose all outward wars and strife as contrary to the will of God. Not all his followers accepted this commitment;Isaac Penington, for example, dissented for a time, arguing that the state had a duty to protect the innocent from evil, if necessary by using military force. Despite the testimony, persecution against Quakers and other dissenters continued.[9]
Penington and others such as John Perrot andJohn Pennyman were uneasy at Fox's increasing power within the movement. Like Nayler before them, they saw no reason why men should remove their hats for prayer, arguing that men and women should be treated as equals, and if, as according to the apostle Paul, women should cover their heads, then so could men. Perrot and Penington lost the argument. Perrot emigrated to the New World, and Fox retained leadership of the movement.[9]
Parliament enacted laws which forbade non-Anglican religious meetings of more than five people, essentially making Quaker meetings illegal. Fox counselled his followers to violate openly laws that attempted to suppress the movement, and many Friends, including women and children, were jailed over the next quarter-century. Meanwhile, Quakers inNew England had been banished (and someexecuted), and Charles was advised by his councillors to issue amandamus condemning this practice and allowing them to return.[107] Fox was able to meet some of the New England Friends when they came to London, stimulating his interest in thecolonies. Fox was unable to travel there immediately: he was imprisoned again in 1664 for his refusal to swear the oath of allegiance, and on his release in 1666 was preoccupied with organizational matters – he normalised the system of monthly and quarterly meetings throughout the country, and extended it to Ireland.[citation needed]
Visiting Ireland also gave him a chance to preach against what he saw as the excesses of the RomanCatholic 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 had been in a whollyProtestant environment hostile to "Popery".[citation needed]
Fox marriedMargaret Fell ofSwarthmoor Hall, a lady of high social position and one of his early converts, on 27 October 1669 at a meeting in Bristol. She was ten years his senior and had eight children (all but one of them Quakers) by her first husband, Thomas Fell, who had died in 1658. She was herself very active in the movement, and had campaigned for equality and the acceptance of women as preachers. As there were no priests at Quaker weddings to perform the ceremony, the union took the form of a civil marriage approved by the principals and the witnesses at a meeting. Ten days after the marriage, Margaret returned to Swarthmoor to continue her work there, while George went back to London.[108] Their shared religious work was at the heart of their life together, and they later collaborated on much of the administration the Society required. Shortly after the marriage, Margaret was imprisoned in Lancaster;[109] George remained in the south-east of England, becoming so ill and depressed that for a time he lost his sight.[110]
By 1671 Fox had recovered and Margaret had been released by order of the King. Fox resolved to visit the English settlements in North America and the West Indies, remaining there for two years, possibly to counter any remnants of Perrot's teaching there.[9] After a voyage of seven weeks, during which dolphins were caught and eaten, the party arrived inBarbados on 3 October 1671.[111] From there, Fox sent anepistle to Friends spelling out the role of women's meetings in the Quaker marriage ceremony, a point of controversy when he returned home. One of his proposals suggested that the prospective couple should be interviewed by an all-female meeting prior to the marriage to determine whether there were any financial or other impediments. Though women's meetings had been held in London for the last ten years, this was an innovation in Bristol and the north-west of England, which many there felt went too far.[9]
Fox 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. After a stay inJamaica, Fox's first landfall on the North American continent was atMaryland, 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 some Native Americans who were interested in Quaker ways—though he relates that they had "a great dispute" among themselves about whether to participate in the meeting. Fox was impressed by their general demeanour, which he saw as "courteous and loving".[112] He resented the suggestion (from a man inNorth Carolina) that "the Light and Spirit of God ... was not in the Indians", a proposition which Fox rejected.[113] Fox left no record of encountering slaves on the mainland.
Elsewhere in the colonies, Fox helped to establish organizational systems for the Friends, along the same lines as he had done in Britain.[114] He also preached to many non-Quakers, some but not all of whom were converted.
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After extensive travels round the various American colonies, George Fox returned to England in June 1673 confident that his movement was firmly established there. Back in England, however, he found his movement sharply divided among provincial Friends (such as William Rogers, John Wilkinson and John Story) who resisted establishment of women's meetings and the power of those who resided in or near London. WithWilliam Penn andRobert Barclay as allies of Fox, the challenge to Fox's leadership was eventually put down.[9] But in the midst of the dispute, Fox was imprisoned again for refusing to swear oaths after being captured atArmscote, Worcestershire.[115] His mother died shortly after hearing of his arrest and Fox's health began to suffer.[116] Margaret Fell petitioned the king for his release,[117] which was granted,[118] but Fox felt too weak to take up his travels immediately. Recuperating at Swarthmoor, he began dictating what would be published after his death as his journal and devoted his time to his written output: letters, both public and private, as well as books and essays.[119] 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, whom he associated with truth and theinner light.
For three months in 1677 and a month in 1684, Fox visited the Friends in theNetherlands, and organised their meetings for discipline. The first trip was the more extensive, taking him into what is now Germany, proceeding along the coast toFriedrichstadt and back again over several days. Meanwhile, Fox was participating 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 to try to end the dispute. He followed with interest the foundation of the colony ofPennsylvania, where Penn had given him over 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land.[9] Persecution continued, with Fox arrested briefly in October 1683. Fox's health was worsening, but he continued his activities – writing to leaders inPoland,Denmark, Germany and elsewhere about his beliefs and their treatment of Quakers.
In the last years of his life, Fox continued to participate in the London Meetings, and still made representations to Parliament about the sufferings of Friends. The new King,James II, pardoned religious dissenters jailed for failure to attend the established church, leading to the release of about 1,500 Friends. Though the Quakers lost influence after theGlorious Revolution, which deposed James II, theAct of Toleration 1689 put an end to the uniformity laws under which Quakers had been persecuted, permitting them to assemble freely.
Two days after preaching as usual at theGracechurch Street Meeting House in London, George Fox died between 9 and 10 p.m. on 13 January 1690O.S. (23 January 1691 N.S.). He was interred three days later in theQuaker Burying Ground, in the presence of thousands of mourners.[121]
George Fox performed hundreds of healings throughout his preaching ministry, the records of which were collected in a notable but now lost book titledBook of Miracles. This book was listed in the catalogue of George Fox's work maintained by the Library of the Society of Friends at Friends House, London. In 1932, Henry Cadbury found a reference toBook of Miracles in the catalogue, which included the beginning and ending of each account of a miraculous cure. The book was then reconstructed based on this resource and journal accounts. According to Rufus M. Jones, the Book of Miracles "makes it possible for us to follow George Fox as he went about his seventeenth-century world, not only preaching his fresh messages of life and power, but as a remarkable healer of disease with the undoubted reputation of miracle-worker." TheBook of Miracles was deliberately suppressed in favour of printing Fox'sJournal and other writings.[122]
A sample fromBook of Miracles: "And a young woman her mother ... had made her well. And another young woman was ... small pox ... of God was made well."[123]
Fox's journal was first published in 1694, after editing byThomas Ellwood – a friend and associate ofJohn Milton – with a preface byWilliam 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. Parts of the journal were not in fact by Fox at all, but constructed by its editors from diverse sources and written as if by him.[124] The dissent within the movement and the contributions of others to the development of Quakerism are largely excluded from the narrative. Fox portrays himself as always in the right and always vindicated by God's interventions on his behalf.[9] As a religious autobiography,Rufus Jones compared it to such works asAugustine'sConfessions andJohn Bunyan'sGrace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. It is, though, an intensely personal work with little dramatic power that only succeeds in appealing to readers after substantial editing. Historians have used it as a primary source because of its wealth of detail on ordinary life in the 17th century, and the many towns and villages which Fox visited.[125] A notable edition was published in 1852 by Quaker abolitionistWilson Armistead annotated with historical and biographical footnotes[126] which, according to Armistead, "must materially increase its interest".[126]
Hundreds of Fox's letters – mostly intended for wide circulation, along with a few private communications – were also published. Written from the 1650s onwards, with such titles asFriends, seek the peace of all men orTo Friends, to know one another in the light, they give enormous insight into the detail of Fox's beliefs and show his determination to spread them. These writings, in the words ofHenry Cadbury, Professor of Divinity atHarvard University and a prominent Quaker, "contain a few fresh phrases of his own, [but] are generally characterized by an excess of scriptural language and today they seem dull and repetitious".[127] Others point out that "Fox's sermons, rich in biblical metaphor and common speech, brought hope in a dark time."[128] Fox's aphorisms found an audience beyond the 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", 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".[129]
Fox had a tremendous influence on the Society of Friends and his beliefs have largely been carried forward. Perhaps his most significant achievement, other than his predominant influence in the early movement, was his leadership in overcoming the twin challenges of government prosecution after the Restoration and internal disputes that threatened its stability during the same period. Not all of his beliefs were welcome to all Quakers: his Puritan-like opposition to the arts[130] and rejection oftheological study, forestalled development of these practices among Quakers for some time. The George Fox room atFriends House, London, UK is named after him.[131]
Walt Whitman, who was raised by parents inspired by Quaker principles, 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."[132]
George isremembered in theChurch of England with acommemoration on 13 January.[133]
A building is named after him at Lancaster University, currently part of Fylde College.
Note 8 - "This martyred ancestor of Mary Lago was probably a member of the Glover family, of Mancetter, a few miles north of Drayton. (See article on Fox in Dict. of Nat. Biog., which refers to Riching's "Mancetter Martyrs." 1860.)"
Various editions of Fox's journal have been published since the first printing in 1694:
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