GEORGE FOX
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
[Illustration: GEORGE FOX
FROM A PAINTING BY S. CHINN]
GEORGE FOX
An Autobiography
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY
RUFUS M. JONES, M.A., LITT. D.
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HAVERFORD COLLEGE
[Illustration: printer's logo]
Philadelphia:
FERRIS & LEACH
29 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET
1909
COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY FERRIS & LEACH
Dedicated
TO THE SWEET AND SHINING MEMORY OF THE LITTLE
LAD WHOSE BEAUTIFUL LIFE WAS A VISIBLE
REVELATION TO ME OF THE TRUTH, WHICH
THIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY TEACHES, THAT
THE DIVINE AND THE HUMAN
ARE NOT FAR-SUNDERED.
"_It_ (_George Fox's Journal_) _is one of the most extraordinary
and instructive narratives in the world; which no reader of
competent judgment can peruse without revering the virtue of the
writer._"
--SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.
"_The basis of his_ [_George Fox's_] _teaching was the belief
that each soul is in religious matters answerable not to its
fellows, but to God alone, without priestly mediation, because
the Holy Spirit is immediately present in every soul and is thus
a direct cause of illumination. From this central belief flowed
two important practical consequences, both essentially modern;
one was complete toleration, the other was complete equality of
human beings before the law._"
--JOHN FISKE.
"_To sum up in fewest possible words the impression made by his_
[_George Fox's_] _words and works upon one who studies them
across the level of two centuries: he was a man of lion-like
courage and adamantine strength of will, absolutely truthful,
devoted to the fulfillment of what he believed to be his
God-appointed mission, and without any of those side-long looks
at worldly promotion and aggrandizement which many sincere
leaders of church parties have cast at intervals of their
journey._"
--THOMAS HODGKIN.
"_I have read through the ponderous folio of George Fox. Pray,
how may I return it to Mr. Skewell at Ipswich? I fear to send
such a treasure by a stage-coach, not that I am afraid of the
coachman or the guard_ READING _it, but it might be lost. Can
you put me in a way of sending it safely? The kind-hearted owner
trusted it to me for six_ MONTHS; _I think I was about as many_
DAYS _in getting through it, and I do not think that I skipped a
word of it_."
--CHARLES LAMB _to Bernard Barton, Feb., 1823_.
"_Fox judged truly that the new Protestant scholasticism
had not reached to the heart of things in any image of past
experience, or in any printed book however sacred: that academic
learning was not in itself an adequate passport to the Christian
ministry; that the words of God should not supersede the Word
of God. He realized, as few men have ever realized, that we are
placed under the dispensation of the Spirit: that the power from
on high with which the risen Christ promised to endue His People
was no exceptional or transitory gift, but an Eternal Presence,
an unfailing spring of energy, answering to new wants and new
labours. He felt that the Spirit which had guided the fathers
was waiting still to lead forward their children: that He who
spoke through men of old was not withdrawn from the world like
the gods of Epicurus, but ready in all ages to enter into holy
souls and make them friends of God and prophets._"
--Bishop BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT.
[Illustration:
MAP
OF THE
ENGLISH COUNTIES
AND THE
PRINCIPAL TOWNS
VISITED BY
GEORGE FOX
_Towns in which he was imprisoned marked thus_ *
The maps of Lancashire and of Middlesex used by kind permission
of the Meeting for Sufferings of London Yearly Meeting]
PREFACE.
The Journal of George Fox is one of the great religious
autobiographies, and has its place with the "Confessions" of St.
Augustine, Saint Teresa's "Life," Bunyan's "Grace Abounding to the
Chief of Sinners," the "Life of Madam Guyon, Written by Herself,"
and John Wesley's "Journal." The great interest which has developed
in recent years in the Psychology of Religion, and in the study of
mysticism, has most naturally given new interest and prominence to
all autobiographical writings which lay bare the inward states and
processes of the seeking, or the triumphant soul. Professor William
James has stated a well-known fact when he says that religion must
be studied in those individuals in whom it is manifested to an
extra-normal degree. In other words, we must go to those individuals
who have a genius for religion--for whom religion has constituted
well nigh the whole of life. George Fox is eminently a character of
this sort, as nearly every recent student of personal religion has
recognized.
Then, again, his Journal is one of the best sources in existence
for the historical study of the inner life of the Commonwealth and
Restoration periods. There were few hamlets so obscure, few villages
so remote that they did not have their streets traversed by this
strange man in leather who always travelled with his eyes open. He
knew all the sects and shades of religion which flourished in these
prolific times. He never rides far without having some experience
which shows the spirit and tendencies of the epoch. He never writes
for effect, and he would have failed if he had tried, but he has,
though utterly unconscious of it himself, filled his pages with the
homely stuff out of which the common life of his England was made.
The world-events which moved rapidly across the stage during the
crowded years of his activity receive but scant description from his
pen. They are never told for themselves. They come in as by-products
of a narrative, whose main purpose is the story of personal inward
experience. The camera is set for a definite object, but it catches
the whole background with it. So here we have the picture of a
sensitive soul, bent singly and solely on following a Divine Voice,
yet its tasks are done, not in a desert, but in the setting of great
historic events. Here are the soldiers of Marston Moor and Dunbar;
Cromwell and his household; Desborough and Monk; the quartering of
regicides and the "new era" under the second Charles. At every point
we have vivid scenes in courts, in prisons, in churches, and in inns.
People of all classes and sorts talk in their natural tongue in these
pages. Fox has little dramatic power, but everything which furthers,
or hinders his earthly mission interests him and gets caught in his
narrative. Pepys and Evelyn have readier pens, but Fox had many
points of contact with the England of those days which they lacked.
In its original, unabridged form, the Journal contains many epistles,
and long, arid passages which are somewhat forbidding, and it has
always required a patient, faithful reader. It has, however, always
had a circle of readers outside the religious body which was founded
by George Fox. This circle has been composed of those who were
somewhat kindred in spirit with him, and the circle has kept small,
mainly owing to the inherent difficulties of the ponderous, unedited
mass of material. Of the Journal, in its complete form, there have
nevertheless been thirteen editions published--nine in England and
four in America.
The present editor has undertaken the task of abridging and editing
it, in the belief that the time is ripe for such a work. The parts
of the Journal which have been omitted--and they are many--have
gone because they possess no living, present interest, or because
they were repetitions of what is left. The story, as it stands,
is continuous, and in no way suffers by omissions. The writer of
the Journal lacked perspective. Everything that came was equally
important, and his first editors, in 1694, looked upon these
writings as too precious and sacred to be tampered with or seriously
condensed. The original manuscript, which has never been published
(now in the possession of Charles James Spence, of North Shields,
England), shows us that the little group of early editors contented
themselves with improving the diction, introducing some system into
the spelling, and cutting out an occasional anecdote which they
feared might startle the sober reader. The original manuscript is a
little livelier, fresher and more graphic than any published edition,
though in the main we have in the editions a faithful reproduction of
what Fox wrote.
The notes which attend the text in this edition have seemed necessary
for a clear understanding of the passages to which they refer. They
have been made as brief and as few in number as the situation
would warrant. The Introduction is an attempt to put George Fox in
his historical setting, and to develop the central ideas which he
expounded, though all points of detail are postponed to the notes.
This estimate of his religious message is based on a study of the
body of his writings, which are voluminous, and on the writings of
his contemporaries and fellow-laborers. It is a pleasure for the
editor to acknowledge the valuable assistance which he has received
from his friends, Norman Penney, John Wilhelm Rowntree, Joshua
Rowntree and Prof. Allen C. Thomas.
Among recent writers the following have been appreciative students
of George Fox: Thomas Hodgkin, in his "George Fox"; Spurgeon, in his
"George Fox"; Bancroft, in his "History of America"; Barclay, in his
"Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth"; Arthur
Gordon's Articles on George Fox in the _Theological Review_; and in
the "Dictionary of National Biography"; Frank Granger, in his "The
Soul of a Christian"; Starbuck, author of "Psychology of Religion";
William James, in "Varieties of Religious Experience"; Josiah Royce,
in "The Mysticism of George Fox"; Canon Curteis, "Dissent in Its
Relation to the English Church" (see Chapter V., "The Quakers");
Westcott "Social Christianity" (see pp. 119-133, "The Quakers"), and
John Stephenson Rowntree, "Two Lectures on George Fox."
INTRODUCTION.
There are mysterious moments in the early life of the individual
which we call "budding periods." They are incubation crises, when
some new power or function is coming into being. The budding tendency
to creep, to walk, to imitate, or to speak, is an indication that the
psychological moment has come for learning the special operation.
There are, too, similar periods in the history of the race,
mysterious times of gestation, when something new is coming to be,
however dimly the age itself comprehends the significance of its
travail. These racial "budding periods," like those others, have
organic connection with the past. They are life-events which the
previous history of humanity has made possible, and so they cannot be
understood by themselves.
The most notable characteristic of such times is the simultaneous
outbreaking of new aspects of truth in sundered places and through
diverse lives, as though the breath of a new Pentecost were abroad.
This dawning time is generally followed by the appearance of some
person who proves to be able to be the exponent of what others
have dimly or subconsciously felt, and yet could not explicitly set
forth. Such a person becomes by a certain divine right the prophet
of the period because he knows how to interpret its ideas with such
compelling force that he organizes men, either for action or for
perpetuating the truth.
In the life history of the Anglo-Saxon people few periods are more
significant than that which is commonly called the Commonwealth
period, though the term must be used loosely to cover the span from
1640 to 1660. It was in high degree one of these incubation epochs
when something new came to consciousness, and things equally new came
to deed. This is not the place to describe the political struggles
which finally produced tremendous constitutional changes, nor to tell
how those who formed the pith and marrow of a nation rose against
an antiquated conception of kingship and established principles of
self-government. The civil and political commotion was the outcome
of a still deeper commotion. For a century the burning questions had
been religious questions. The Church of that time was the result of
compromise. It had inherited a large stock of mediæval thought, and
had absorbed a mass of mediæval traditions. The men of moral and
religious earnestness were bent on some measure of fresh reform. A
spirit was abroad which could not be put down, and which would not
be quiet. The old idea of an authoritative Church was outgrown, and
yet no religious system had come in its place which provided for a
free personal approach to God Himself. It has, in fact, always been
a peculiarly difficult problem to discover some form of organization
which will conserve the inherited truth and guarantee the stability
of the whole, while at the same time it promotes the personal freedom
of the individual.
The long struggle for religious reforms in England followed two lines
of development. There was on the one hand a well-defined movement
toward Presbyterianism, and on the other a somewhat chaotic search
for freer religious life--a movement towards Independency. The
rapid spread of Presbyterianism increased rather than diminished
the general religious commotion. It soon became clear that this was
another form of ecclesiastical authority, as inflexible as the old,
and lacking the sacred sanction of custom. Then, too, the Calvinistic
theology of the time did violence to human nature as a whole.
Its linked logic might compel intellectual assent, but there is
something in a man as real as his intellect, which is not satisfied
with this clamping of eternal truth into inflexible propositions.
Personal soul-hunger, and the necessity which many individuals feel
for spiritual quest, must always be reckoned with. It should not be
forgotten that George Fox came to his spiritual crisis under this
theology.
Thus while theology was stiffening into fixed form with one group, it
was becoming ever more fluid among great masses of people throughout
the nation. Religious authority ceased to count as it had in the
past. Existing religious conditions were no longer accepted as final.
There was a widespread restlessness which gradually produced a host
of curious sects. Fox came directly in contact with at least four
of the leading sectarian movements of the time and there can be no
question that they exerted an influence upon him both positively
and negatively. The first "sect" in importance, and the first to
touch the life of George Fox, was the Baptist--at that time often
called Anabaptist. His uncle Pickering was a member of this sect,
and, though George seems to have been rather afraid of the Baptists,
he must have learned something from them. They already had a long
history, reaching back on the continent to the time of Luther, and
their entire career had been marked by persecution and suffering.
They were "Independents," i. e., they believed that Church and
State should be separate, and that each local church should have
its own independent life. They stoutly objected to infant baptism,
maintaining that no act could have a religious value unless it were
an act of will and of faith. Edwards, in his "Gangræna," 1646,
reports a doctrine then afloat to the intent that "it is as lawful
to baptize a cat, or a dog, or a chicken as to baptize an infant."
Their views on ministry were novel and must surely have interested
Fox. They encouraged a lay ministry, and they actually had cobblers,
leather-sellers, tailors, weavers and at least one brewer, preaching
in their meetings. John Bunyan, who was of them, proved to general
satisfaction that "Oxford and Cambridge were not necessary to fit men
to preach." Still stranger, they had what their enemies scornfully
called "She-preachers." Edwards has recorded this dreadful error in
his list of one hundred and ninety-nine "distinct errors, heresies
and blasphemies": "Some say that 'tis lawful for women to preach,
that they have gifts as well as men; and some of them do actually
preach, having great resort to them"!
Furthermore, they held that all tithes and all set stipends were
unlawful. They maintained that preachers should work with their
own hands and not "go in black clothes." This sad error appears
in Edwards's chaotic list: "It is said that all settled certain
maintenance for ministers of the gospel is unlawful." Finally many of
the Baptists opposed the use of "steeple houses" and held the view
that no person is fitted to preach or prophesy _unless the Spirit
moves him_.
The "Seekers" are occasionally mentioned in the Journal and were
widely scattered throughout England during the Commonwealth. They
were serious-minded people who saw nowhere in the world any adequate
embodiment of religion. They held that there was no true Church, and
that there had been none since the days of the apostles. They did
not celebrate any sacraments, for they held that there was nobody
in the world who possessed an anointing clearly, certainly and
infallibly enough to perform such rites. They had no "heads" to their
assemblies, for they had none among them who had "the power or the
gift to go before one another in the way of eminency or authority."
William Penn says that they met together "not in their own wills"
and "waited together in silence, and as anything arose in one of
their minds that they thought favored with a divine spring, so they
sometimes spoke."
We are able to pick out a few of their characteristic "errors" from
Edwards's list in the "Gangræna." "That to read the Scriptures to a
mixed congregation is dangerous." "That we did look for great matters
from One crucified in Jerusalem 1600 years ago, but that does no
good; it must be a Christ formed _in_ us." "That men ought to preach
and exercise their gifts without study and premeditation and not to
think what they are to say till they speak, because it shall be given
them in that hour and the Spirit shall teach them." "That there is
no need of human learning or reading of authors for preachers, but
all books and learning must go down. It comes from want of the Spirit
that men write such great volumes."
The "Seekers" expected that the light was soon to break, the days of
apostasy would end and the Spirit would make new revelations. In the
light of this expectation a peculiar significance attaches to the
frequent assertion of Fox that he and his followers were living in
the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures, and received direct
commands as did the apostles. "I told him," says Fox of a "priest,"
"that to receive and go with a message, and to have a word from
the Lord, as the prophets and apostles had and did, and as _I had
done_," was quite another thing from ordinary experience. A much
more chaotic "sect" was that of the "Ranters." There was probably a
small seed of truth in their doctrines, but under the excitement of
religious enthusiasm they went to wild and perilous extremes, and in
some cases even fell over the edge of sanity. They started with the
belief that God is in everything, that every man is a manifestation
of God, and they ended with the conclusion which their bad logic gave
them that _therefore what the man does God does_. They were above
all authority and actually said: "Have not _we_ the Spirit, and why
may not _we_ write scriptures as well as Paul?" They believed the
Scriptures "not because such and such writ it," but because they
could affirm "God saith so in me." What Christ did was for them only
a temporal figure, and nothing external was of consequence, since
they had God Himself in them. As the law had been fulfilled they held
that they were free from all law, and might without sin do what they
were prompted to do. Richard Baxter says that "the horrid villainies
of the sect did speedily extinguish it." Judge Hotham told Fox in
1651 that "if God had not raised up the principle of Light and life
which he (Fox) preached, the nation had been overrun with Ranterism."
Many of the Ranters became Friends, some of them becoming
substantial persons in the new Society, though there were for a time
some serious Ranter influences at work within the Society, and a
strenuous opposition was made to the establishment of discipline,
order and system. The uprising of the "Fifth-monarchy men" is the
only other movement which calls for special allusion. They were
literal interpreters of Scripture, and had discovered grounds for
believing in the near approach of the millennium. By some system
of calculation they had concluded that the last of the four world
monarchies--the Assyrian, Persian, Greek and Roman--was tottering
toward its fall, and the Fifth universal monarchy--Christ's--was
about to be set up. The saints were to reign. The new monarchy was
so slow in coming that they thought they might hasten it with carnal
weapons. Perhaps a miracle would be granted if they acted on their
faith. The miracle did not come, but the uprising brought serious
trouble to Fox, who had before told these visionaries in beautifully
plain language that "Christ _has_ come and has dashed to pieces the
four monarchies."
The person of genius discovers in the great mass of things about him
just that which is vital and essential. He seizes the eternal in the
temporal, and all that he borrows, he fuses with creative power into
a new whole. This creative power belonged to George Fox. There was
hardly a single truth in the Quaker message which had not been held
by some one of the many sects of the time. He saw the spiritual and
eternal element which was almost lost in the chaos of half truths and
errors. In his message these scattered truths and ideas were fused
into a new whole and received new life from his living central idea.
It is a strange fact that, though England had been facing religious
problems of a most complex sort since the oncoming of the
Reformation, it had produced no religious genius. No one had appeared
who saw truth on a new level, or who possessed a personality and
a personal message which compelled the attention of the nation.
There had been long years of ingenious, patchwork compromise, but
no distinct prophet. George Fox is the first real prophet of the
English Reformation, for he saw what was involved in this great
religious movement.[A] Perhaps the most convincing proof of this
is not the remarkable immediate results of his labors, though these
are significant enough, but rather the easily-verified fact that the
progress of religious truth during the last hundred years has been
toward the truth which he made central in his message.[B] However his
age misunderstood him, he would to-day find a goodly fellowship of
believers.
[A] "But of 'prophets' there are very few. The good God does
not seem to need many. Centuries pass, as He orders history, in
which there are none. So we call them Dark Ages. Then comes some
John in the desert, and the world is wakened; some Wesley in the
Church of England, and there is a revival of religion.
"For our English races, since there were English races, I
count three or four such prophets; for the world of Europe I
count perhaps eleven worthy of our gratitude to-day. I mean
the gratitude of all mankind. Saint Paul and Saint John are
two; Augustine of Hippo is three; Dante and Francis of Assisi
are two more; Thomas à Kempis and Jacob Böhme, two more; and,
coming across to England, Wiclif, John Milton, George Fox, and
John Wesley."--_Edward Everett Hale, in an Address at the Wesley
Bicentennial Celebration in People's Temple, Boston._
"The three most influential Englishmen of the last three
centuries were George Fox, John Wesley and John Henry Newman.
Those who wish really to understand those three centuries must
read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest Fox's Journal, Wesley's
Journal, and Newman's Apologia. The entire future of England and
the English Empire depends upon the answer to this question:
Will Newman defeat Fox and Wesley, or will Fox and Wesley defeat
Newman?"
_Editorial in "The Methodist Times."_
[B] "The Quaker religion which he (George Fox) founded is
something which it is impossible to overpraise. In a day of
shams, it was a religion of veracity rooted in spiritual
inwardness, and a return to something more like the original
gospel truth than men had ever known in England. So far as our
Christian sects to-day are evolving into liberality, they are
simply reverting in essence to the position which Fox and the
early Quakers so long ago assumed. No one can pretend for a
moment that in point of spiritual sagacity and capacity, Fox's
mind was unsound. Every one who confronted him personally, from
Oliver Cromwell down to county magistrates and jailers, seems to
have acknowledged his superior power."
_James's "Varieties of Religious Experience," page 6._
The purpose of this book is to have him tell his own story,
which in the main he knows how to do. It will, however, be of
some service to the reader to develop in advance the principle
of which he was the exponent. The first period of his life is
occupied with a most painful quest for something which would
satisfy his heart. His celebrated contemporary, Bunyan, possessed
much greater power of describing inward states and experiences,
but one is led to believe on comparing the two autobiographical
passages that the sufferings of Fox, in his years of spiritual
desolation, were even more severe than were those of Bunyan,
though it is to be noted that the former does not suffer from
the awful sense of personal sin as the latter does. "When I came
to eleven years of age, _I knew pureness and righteousness_,"
is Fox's report of his own early deliverance from the sense of
sin. His "despair," from which he could find no comfort, was
caused by the extreme sensitiveness of his soul. The discovery
that the world, and even the Church, was full of wickedness and
sin crushed him. "I looked upon the great professors of the city
[London, 1643], and I saw all was dark and under the chain of
darkness." This settled upon him with a weight, deep almost as
death. Nothing in the whole world seemed to him so real as the
world's wickedness. "I could have wished," he cries out, "I had
never been born, or that I had been born blind that I might
never have seen wickedness or vanity; and deaf that I might never
have heard vain and wicked words, or the Lord's name blasphemed."
He was overwhelmed, however, not merely because he discovered
that the world was wicked, but much more because he discovered
that priests were "empty hollow casks," and that religion, as far
as he could discover any in England, was weak and ineffective,
with no dynamic message which moved with the living power of God
behind it. He could find theology enough and theories enough,
but he missed everywhere the direct evidence that men about him
had found God. Religion seemed to him to be reduced to a system
of clever substitutes for God, while his own soul could not rest
until it found the Life itself.
The turning point of his life is the discovery--through what
he beautifully calls an "opening"--that Christ is not merely
an historic person who once came to the world and then forever
withdrew, but that He is the continuous Divine Presence, God
manifested humanly, and that this Christ can "speak to his
condition."
At first sight, there appears to be nothing epoch-making in these
simple words. But it soon develops that what he really means is
that he has discovered within the deeps of his own personality
a meeting place of the human spirit with the Divine Spirit. He
had never had any doubts about the historical Christ. All that
the Christians of his time believed _about_ Christ, he, too,
believed. His long search had not been to find out something
_about_ Christ, but to find _Him_. The Christ of the theological
systems was too remote and unreal to be dynamic for him. Assent
to all the propositions about Him left one still in the power of
sin. He emerges from the struggle with an absolute certainty in
his own mind that he has discovered a way by which his soul has
immediate dealings with the living God. The larger truth involved
in his experience soon becomes plain to him, namely, that he
has found a universal principle, that the Spirit of God reaches
every man. He finds this divine-human relation taught everywhere
in Scripture, but he challenges everybody to find the primary
evidence of it in his own consciousness. He points out that every
hunger of the heart, every dissatisfaction with self, every act
of self-condemnation, every sense of shortcoming shows that the
soul is not unvisited by the Divine Spirit, To want God at all
implies some acquaintance with Him. The ability to appreciate
the right, to discriminate light from darkness, the possibility
of being anything more than a creature of sense, living for the
moment, means that our personal life is in contact at some point
with the Infinite Life, and that all things are possible to him
who believes and obeys.
To all sorts and conditions of men, Fox continually makes
appeal to "that of God" within them. At other times he calls it
indiscriminately the "Light," or the "Seed," or the "Principle"
of God within the man. Frequently it is the "Christ within." In
every instance he means that the Divine Being operates directly
upon the human life, and the new birth, the real spiritual life,
begins when the individual becomes aware of Him and sets himself
to obey Him. He may have been living along with no more explicit
consciousness of a Divine presence than the bubble has of the
ocean on which it rests and out of which it came; but even so,
God is as near him as is the beating of his own heart, and only
needs to be found and obeyed.
Instead of making him undervalue the historic revelations of God,
the discovery of this principle of truth gave him a new insight
into the revelations of the past and the supreme manifestations
of the Divine Life and Love. He could interpret his own inward
experience in the light of the gathered revelation of the ages.
His contemporaries used to say that, though the Bible were lost,
it might be found in the mouth of George Fox, and there is not
a line in the Journal to indicate that he undervalued either
the Holy Scriptures or the historic work of Christ for human
salvation. Entirely the contrary. As soon as he realized that the
same God who spoke directly to men in earlier ages still speaks
directly, and that to be a man means to have a "seed of God"
within, he saw that there were no limits to the possibilities
of a human life. It becomes possible to live entirely in the
power of the Spirit and to have one's life made a free and
victorious spiritual life. So to live is to be a "man"--for
sin and disobedience reduce a man. The normal person, then, is
the one who has discovered the infinite Divine resources, and
is turning them into the actual stuff of a human life. That it
happens now and then is no mystery; that it happens so seldom is
the real mystery. "I asked them if they were living in the power
of the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures" is his frequent and
somewhat naïve question, as though everybody ought to be doing it.
The consciousness of the presence of God is the characteristic
thing in George Fox's religious life. His own life is in
immediate contact with the Divine Life. It is this conviction
which unifies and gives direction to all his activities. God has
found him and he has found God. It is this experience which puts
him among the mystics.
But here we must not overlook the distinction in types of
mysticism. There is a great group of mystics who have painfully
striven to find God by a path of negation. They believe that
everything finite is a shadow, an illusion--nothing real. To
find God, then, every vestige of the finite must be given up.
The infinite can be reached only by wiping out all marks of the
finite. The Absolute can be attained only when every "thing" and
every "thought" have been reduced to zero. But the difficulty
is that this kind of an Absolute becomes absolutely unknowable.
From the nature of the case He could not be _found_, for to have
any consciousness of Him at all would be to have a finite and
illusory thought.
George Fox belongs rather among the _positive_ mystics, who seek
to realize the presence of God in this finite human life. That
He transcends all finite experiences they fully realize, but the
reality of any finite experience lies just in this fact, that the
living God is in it and expresses some divine purpose through it,
so that a man may, as George Fox's friend, Isaac Penington says,
"become an organ of the life and power of God," and "progagate
God's life in the world." The mystic of this type may feel the
light break within him and know that God is there, or he may
equally well discover Him as he performs some clear, plain duty
which lies across his path. His whole mystical insight is in
his discovery that God is near, and not beyond the reach of the
ladders which He has given us.
But no one has found the true George Fox when he stops with an
analysis of the views which he held. Almost more remarkable than
the truth which he proclaimed was the fervor, the enthusiasm, the
glowing passion of the man. He was of the genuine apostolic type.
He had come through years of despair over the wickedness of the
world, but as soon as the Light really broke, and he knew that
he had a message for the world in its sin and ignorance, there
was after that nothing but the grave itself which could keep him
quiet. He preached in cathedrals, on hay stacks, on cliffs of
rock, from hill tops, under apple trees and elm trees, in barns
and in city squares, while he sent epistles from every prison in
which he was shut up. Wherever he could find men who had souls to
save he told them of the life and Truth which he had found.
Whether one is in sympathy with Fox's mystical view of life or
not, it is impossible not to be impressed with the practical
way in which he wrought out his faith. After all, the view that
God and man are not isolated was not new; the really new thing
was the appearance of a man who genuinely practiced the Divine
presence and lived _as though he knew_ that his life was in a
Divine environment.
We have dwelt upon the fundamental religious principle of Fox at
some length, because his great work as a social reformer and as
the organizer of a new system of Church government proceeds from
this root principle. One central idea moves through all he did.
His originality lies, however, not so much in the discovery, or
the rediscovery, of the principle as in the fearless application
of it. Other men had believed in Divine guidance; other
Christians had proclaimed the impenetration of God in the lives
of men. But George Fox had the courage to carry his conviction
to its logical conclusions. He knew that there were difficulties
entailed in calling men everywhere to trust the Light and to
follow the Voice, but he believed that there were more serious
difficulties to be faced by those who put some external authority
in the place of the soul's own sight. He was ready for the
consequences and he proceeded to carry out both in the social
and in the religious life of his time the experiment of obeying
the Light within. It is this courageous fidelity to his insight
that made him a social reformer and a religious organizer. He
belongs, in this respect, in the same list with St. Francis
of Assisi. They both attempted the difficult task of bringing
religion from heaven to earth.
1. In the light of his religious discovery Fox reinterpreted man
as a member of society. If man _has_ direct intercourse with
God he is to be treated with noble respect. He met the doctrine
of the divine right of kings with the conviction of the _divine
right of man_. Every man is to be treated as a man. He was a
_leveler_, but he leveled up, not down. Every man was to be
read in terms of his possibilities--if not of royal descent,
certainly of royal destiny. This view made Fox an unparalleled
optimist. He believed that a mighty transformation would come as
soon as men were made aware of this divine relationship which he
had discovered. They would go to living as he had done, in the
_power_ of this conviction.
He began at once to put in practice his principle of
equality--_i. e._, equality of privilege. He cut straight through
the elaborate web of social custom which hid man's true nature
from himself. Human life had become sicklied o'er with a cast of
sham, until man had half forgotten to act as _man_. Fox rejected
for himself every social custom which seemed to him to be hollow
and to belittle man himself. The honor which belonged to God he
would give to no man, and the honor which belonged to any man
he gave to every man. This was the reason for his "thee" and
"thou." The plural form had been introduced to give distinction.
He would not use it. The Lord Protector and the humble cotter
were addressed alike. He had an eye for the person of great gifts
and he never wished to reduce men to indistinguishable atoms of
society, but he was resolved to guard the jewel of personality in
every individual--man or woman.
2. His estimate of the worth of man made him a reformer. In
society as he found it men were often treated more as things than
as persons. For petty offenses they were hung,[C] and if they
escaped this fate they were put into prisons, where no touch of
man's humanity was in evidence. In the never-ending wars the
common people were hardly more than human dice. Their worth as
men was well nigh forgotten. Trade was conducted on a system of
sliding prices--high for this man, low for some other. Dealers
were honest where they had to be; dishonest where they could be.
The courts of justice were extremely uncertain and irregular, as
the pages of this journal continually show. Against every such
crooked system which failed to recognize the divine right of
man George Fox set himself. He himself had large opportunities
of observing the courts of justice and the inhuman pens which
by courtesy were called jails. But he became a reformer, not
to secure his own rights or to get a better jail to lie in,
but to establish the principle of human rights for all men. He
went calmly to work to carry an out-and-out honesty into all
trade relations, to establish a fixed price for goods of every
sort, to make principles of business square with principles of
religion. By voice or by epistle he called every judge in the
realm to "mind that of God" within him. He refused ever to take
an oath, because he was resolved to make a plain man's "yea"
weigh as heavy as an oath. He was always in the lists against the
barbarity of the penal system, the iniquity of enslaving men, the
wickedness of war, the wastefulness of fashion and the evils of
drunkenness, and by argument and deed he undertook to lead the
way to a new heroism, better than the heroism of battlefields.
[C] At this epoch there were more than two hundred capital
offenses.
3. The logic of his principle compelled him to value education. If
all men are to count as men, it is a man's primal duty to be all
he can be. To be a poor organ of God when one was meant for a good
one belongs among the high sins.[D] If it was "opened" to him that
Oxford and Cambridge could not make men ministers, his own reason
taught him that it is not safe to call all men to obey the voice and
follow the light without broad-basing them at the same time in the
established facts of history and nature. Fox himself very early set
up schools for boys and girls alike in which "everything civil and
useful in creation" was to be taught. It is, however, quite possible
that he undervalued the æsthetic side of man, and that he suffered by
his attempt to starve it. In this particular he shared the puritan
tendency, and had not learned how to hold all things in proportion,
and to make the culture of the senses at the same time beautify the
inner man.
[D] "Dear friends and brethren that have gone into America and
the islands thereaway, stir up the gift of God in you and improve
your talents. Let your light shine among the Indians, the blacks
and the whites, that ye may answer the truth in them and _bring
them to the standard and ensign that God hath set up, Jesus
Christ_. _Grow in the faith and grace of Christ that ye be not
like dwarfs_, for a dwarf shall not come near to offer upon God's
altar."
_From an Epistle of George Fox written in 1690._
4. On the distinctively religious side his discovery of a direct
divine-human relationship led to a new interpretation of worship
and ministry. God is not far off. He needs no vicar, no person
of any sort between Himself and the worshipper. Grace no more
needs a special channel than the dew does. There is no special
holy place, as though God were more _there_ than _here_. He does
not come from somewhere else. He is Spirit, and needs only a
responsive soul, an open heart, to be _found_. Worship properly
begins when the soul discovers Him and enjoys His presence--in
the simplest words it is the soul's appreciation of God. With his
usual optimism, he believed that all men and women were capable
of this stupendous attainment. He threw away all crutches at the
start and called upon everybody to walk in the Spirit, to live
in the Light. His house of worship was bare of everything but
seats. It had no shrine, for the shekinah was to be in the hearts
of those who worshipped. It had no altar, for God needed no
appeasing, seeing that He Himself had made the sacrifice for sin.
It had no baptismal font, for baptism was in his belief nothing
short of immersion into the life of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit--a going down into the significance of Christ's death and
a coming up in newness of life with Him. There was no communion
table, because he believed that the true communion consisted in
partaking directly of the soul's spiritual bread--the living
Christ. There were no confessionals, for in the silence, with
the noise and din of the outer life hushed, the soul was to
unveil itself to its Maker and let His light lay bare its true
condition. There was no organ or choir, for each forgiven soul
was to give praise in the glad notes that were natural to it. No
censer was swung, for he believed God wanted only the fragrance
of sincere and prayerful spirits. There was no priestly mitre,
because each member of the true Church was to be a priest unto
God. No official robes were in evidence, because the entire
business of life, in meeting and outside, was to be the putting
on of the white garments of a saintly life. From beginning to
end worship was the immediate appreciation of God, and the
appropriate activity of the whole being in response to Him.
William Penn says of him: "The most awful, living, reverent frame
I ever felt or beheld was his in prayer." And this was because
he realized that he was in the presence of God when he prayed.
He believed that the ministry of truth is limited to no class of
men and to no sex. As fast and as far as any man discovers God it
becomes his business to make Him known to others. His ability to
do this effectively is a gift from God, and makes him a minister.
The only thing the Church does is to recognize the gift. This
idea carried with it perfect freedom of utterance to all who felt
a _call_ to speak, a principle which has worked out better than
the reader would guess, though it has been often sorely tested.
In the Society which he founded there was no distinction of
clergy and laity. He undertook the difficult task of organizing a
Christian body on which the priesthood of believers should be an
actual fact, and in which the ordinary religious exercises of the
Church should be under the directing and controlling power of the
Holy Spirit manifesting itself through the congregation.
Not the least service of Fox to his age was the important part
which he took in breaking down the intolerable doctrine of
predestination, which hung like an incubus over men's lives.
It threw a gloom upon every person who found himself forced by
his logic to believe it, and its effect upon sensitive souls
was simply dreadful. Fox met this doctrine with argument, but
he met it also with something better than argument--he set over
against it two facts: that Divine grace and light are free,
and that an inward certainty of God's favor and acceptance is
possible for every believer. Wherever Quakerism went this inward
assurance went with it. The shadow of dread uncertainty gave
place to sunlight and joy. This was the beginning of a spiritual
emancipation which is still growing, and peaceful faces and
fragrant lives are the result.
No reader of the Journal can fail to be impressed with the fact
that George Fox believed himself to be an instrument for the
manifestation of miraculous power. Diseases were cured through
him; he foretold coming events; he often penetrated states and
conditions of mind and heart; he occasionally had a sense of what
was happening in distant parts, and he himself underwent on at
least three occasions striking bodily changes, so that he seemed,
for days at a time, like one dead, and was in one of these times
incapable of being bled. These passages need trouble no one, nor
need their truthfulness be questioned. He possessed an unusual
psychical nature, delicately organized, capable of experiences of
a novel sort, but such as are to-day very familiar to the student
of psychical phenomena. The marvel is that with such a mental
organization he was so sane and practical, and so steadily kept
his balance throughout a life which furnished numerous chances
for shipwreck.
It is very noticeable--rather more so in the complete Journal
than in this Autobiography--that "judgments" came upon almost
everybody who was a malicious opposer of him or his work.
"God cut him off soon after," is a not infrequent phrase. It
is manifestly impossible to investigate these cases now, and
to verify the facts, but the well-tested honesty of the early
Friends leaves little ground for doubting that the facts were
substantially as they are reported. Fox's own inference that all
these persons had misfortune as a direct "judgment" for having
harmed him and hindered his cause will naturally seem to us a too
hasty conclusion. It is not at all strange that in this eventful
period many persons who had dealings with him should have
suffered swift changes of fortune, and of course he failed to
note how many there were who did _not_ receive judgment in this
direct manner. One regrets, of course, that this kindly spiritual
man should have come so near enjoying what seemed to him a divine
vengeance upon his enemies, but we must remember that he believed
in his soul that his work was God's work, and hence to frustrate
it was serious business.
He founded a Society, as he called it, which he evidently hoped,
and probably believed, would sometime become universal.[E]
The organization in every aspect recognized the fundamentally
spiritual nature of man. Every individual was to be a vital,
organic part of the whole; free, but possessed of a freedom
which had always to be exercised with a view to the interests
and edification of the whole. It was modelled exactly on the
conception of Paul's universal Church of many members, made a
_unity_ not from without, but by the living presence of the One
Spirit. All this work of organization was effected while Fox
himself was in the saddle, carrying his message to town after
town, interrupted by long absences in jail and dungeon, and
steadily opposed by the fanatical antinomian elements which had
flocked to his standard. It is not the least mark of his genius
that in the face of an almost unparalleled persecution he left
his fifty thousand followers in Great Britain and Ireland formed
into a working and growing body, with equally well-organized
meetings in Holland, New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. His personality and his
message had won men from every station of life, and if the rank
and file were from the humbler walks, there were also men and
women of scholarship and fame. Robert Barclay, from the schools
of Paris, gave the new faith its permanent expression in his
Apology. William Penn worked its principles out in a holy
experiment in a Christian Commonwealth, and Isaac Penington,
in his brief essays, set forth in rich and varied phrase the
mystical truth which was at the heart of the doctrine.
[E] "In 1658 there was not a Quaker living who did not believe
Quakerism to be the one only true Church of the living God."
_Hancock's "Peculium," page 8._
This is the place for exposition, not for criticism. It requires
no searchlight to reveal in this man the limitations and
imperfections which his age and his own personal peculiarities
fixed upon him. He saw in part and he prophesied in part. But,
like his great contemporary, Cromwell, he had a brave sincerity,
a soul absolutely loyal to the highest he saw. The testimony
of the Scarborough jailer is as true as it is unstudied--"as
stiff as a tree and as pure as a bell." It is fitting that this
study of him should close with the words of the man who knew him
best--William Penn: "I write my knowledge and not report, and
my witness is true, having been with him for weeks and months
together on diverse occasions, and those of the nearest and
most exercising nature, by sea and land, in this country and
in foreign countries; and I can say I never saw him out of his
place, or not a match for every service or occasion. For in all
things he acquitted himself like a man, yea, a strong man, a new
and heavenly-minded man; a divine and a naturalist, and all of
God Almighty's making."[F]
[F] From William Penn's "Preface to the Journal of George Fox."
THE TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM PENN CONCERNING THAT FAITHFUL SERVANT
GEORGE FOX.
The blessed instrument of and in this day of God, and of whom I am
now about to write, was George Fox, distinguished from another of
that name, by that other's addition of younger to his name in all
his writings; not that he was so in years, but that he was so in the
truth; but he was also a worthy man, witness and servant of God in
his time.
But this George Fox was born in Leicestershire, about the year 1624.
He descended of honest and sufficient parents, who endeavoured to
bring him up, as they did the rest of their children, in the way
and worship of the nation; especially his mother, who was a woman
accomplished above most of her degree in the place where she lived.
But from a child he appeared of another frame of mind than the rest
of his brethren; being more religious, inward, still, solid, and
observing, beyond his years, as the answers he would give, and the
questions he would put upon occasion manifested, to the astonishment
of those that heard him, especially in divine things.
His mother taking notice of his singular temper, and the gravity,
wisdom, and piety that very early shone through him, refusing
childish and vain sports and company when very young, she was
tender and indulgent over him, so that from her he met with little
difficulty. As to his employment, he was brought up in country
business; and as 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.
I shall not break in upon his own account, which is by much the best
that can be given; and therefore desire, what I can, to avoid saying
anything of what is said already, as to the particular passages of
his coming forth; but, in general, when he was somewhat above twenty,
he left his friends, and visited the most retired and religious
people, and some there were at that time in this nation, especially
in those parts, who waited for the consolation of Israel night
and day, as Zacharias, Anna, and good old Simeon did of old time.
To these he was sent, and these he sought out in the neighboring
countries, and among them he sojourned till his more ample ministry
came upon him.
At this time he taught and was an example of silence, endeavouring to
bring people from self-performances, testifying and turning to the
light of Christ within them, and encouraging them to wait in patience
to feel the power of it to stir in their hearts, that their knowledge
and worship of God might stand in the power of an endless life, which
was to be found in the light, as it was obeyed in the manifestation
of it in man. "For in the Word was life, and that life was the light
of men." Life in the Word, light in men, and life too, as the light
is obeyed; the children of the light living by the life of the Word,
by which the Word begets them again to God, which is the regeneration
and new birth, without which there is no coming unto the kingdom of
God; and which, whoever comes to, is greater than John, that is,
than John's ministry, which was not that of the kingdom, but the
consummation of the legal, and opening of the gospel-dispensation.
Accordingly, several meetings were gathered in those parts; and thus
his time was employed for some years.
In 1652, he being in his usual retirement to the Lord upon a very
high mountain, in some of the hither parts of Yorkshire, as I take
it, his mind exercised towards the Lord, he had a vision of the
great work of God in the earth, and of the way that he was to go
forth to begin it. He saw people as thick as motes in the sun, that
should in time be brought home to the Lord, that there might be but
one Shepherd and one sheepfold in all the earth. There his eye was
directed northward, beholding a great people that should receive him
and his message in those parts. Upon this mountain he was moved of
the Lord to sound out his great and notable day, as if he had been in
a great auditory, and from thence went north, as the Lord had shewn
him: and in every place where he came, if not before he came to it,
he had his particular exercise and service shewn to him, so that the
Lord was his leader indeed; for it was not in vain that he travelled,
God in most places sealing his commission with the convincement of
some of all sorts, as well publicans as sober professors of religion.
Some of the first and most eminent of them, which are at rest, were
Richard Farnsworth, James Nayler, William Dewsberry, Francis Howgil,
Edward Burrough, John Camm, John Audland, Richard Hubberthorn, T.
Taylor, John Aldam, T. Holmes, Alexander Parker, William Simpson,
William Caton, John Stubbs, Robert Widders, John Burnyeat, Robert
Lodge, Thomas Salthouse, and many more worthies, that cannot be well
here named, together with divers yet living of the first and great
convincement, who after the knowledge of God's purging judgments in
themselves, and some time of waiting in silence upon him, to feel
and receive power from on high to speak in his name (which none else
rightly can, though they may use the same words), felt the divine
motions, and were frequently drawn forth, especially to visit the
publick assemblies, to reprove, inform and exhort them, sometimes
in markets, fairs, streets, and by the highway side, calling people
to repentance, and to turn to the Lord with their hearts as well as
their mouths; directing them to the light of Christ within them, to
see and examine and consider their ways by, and to eschew the evil
and do the good and acceptable will of God. And they suffered great
hardships for this their love and good-will, being often stocked,
stoned, beaten, whipped and imprisoned, though honest men and of
good report where they lived, that had left wives and children, and
houses and lands, to visit them with a living call to repentance. And
though the priests generally set themselves to oppose them, and write
against them, and insinuated most false and scandalous stories to
defame them, stirring up the magistrates to suppress them, especially
in those northern parts, yet God was pleased so to fill them with his
living power, and give them such an open door of utterance in his
service, that there was a mighty convincement over those parts.
And through the tender and singular indulgence of Judge Bradshaw and
Judge Fell, in the infancy of things, the priests were never able
to gain the point they laboured for, which was to have proceeded to
blood, and if possible, Herod-like, by a cruel exercise of the civil
power, to have cut them off and rooted them out of the country.
Especially Judge Fell, who was not only a check to their rage in the
course of legal proceedings, but otherwise upon occasion, and finally
countenanced this people; for his wife receiving the truth with the
first, it had that influence upon his spirit, being a just and wise
man, and seeing in his own wife and family a full confutation of all
the popular clamours against the way of truth, that he covered them
what he could, and freely opened his doors, and gave up his house to
his wife and her friends, not valuing the reproach of ignorant or
evil-minded people, which I here mention to his and her honour, and
which will be I believe an honour and a blessing to such of their
name and family as shall be found in that tenderness, humility, love
and zeal for the truth and people of the Lord.
That house was for some years at first, till the truth had opened
its way in the southern parts of this island, an eminent receptacle
of this people. Others of good note and substance in those northern
countries had also opened their houses with their hearts to the many
publishers, that in a short time the Lord had raised to declare his
salvation to the people, and where meetings of the Lord's messengers
were frequently held, to communicate their services and exercises,
and comfort and edify one another in their blessed ministry.
But lest this may be thought a digression, having touched upon
this before, I return to this excellent man: and for his personal
qualities, both natural, moral, and divine, as they appeared in his
converse with his brethren and in the church of God, take as follows.
I. He was a man that God endowed with a clear and wonderful depth,
a discerner of others' spirits, and very much a master of his own.
And though the side of his understanding which lay next to the
world, and especially the expression of it, might sound uncouth
and unfashionable to nice ears, his matter was nevertheless very
profound, and would not only bear to be often considered, but the
more it was so, the more weighty and instructing it appeared. And
as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his sentences would fall
from him about divine things, it is well known they were often as
texts to many fairer declarations. And indeed it shewed beyond all
contradiction that God sent him, that no arts or parts had any
share in the matter or manner of his ministry, and that so many
great, excellent, and necessary truths as he came forth to preach to
mankind, had therefore nothing of man's wit or wisdom to recommend
them. So that as to man he was an original, being no man's copy.
And his ministry and writings shew they are from one that was not
taught of man, nor had learned what he said by study. Nor were they
notional or speculative, but sensible and practical truths, tending
to conversion and regeneration, and the setting up the kingdom of
God in the hearts of men, and the way of it was his work. So that I
have many times been overcome in myself, and been made to say with
my Lord and Master upon the like occasion, "I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent of this world, and revealed them to babes"; for
many times hath my soul bowed in an humble thankfulness to the Lord,
that he did not choose any of the wise and learned of this world to
be the first messenger in our age of his blessed truth to men; but
that he took one that was not of high degree, or elegant speech,
or learned after the way of this world, that his message and work
He sent him to do might come with less suspicion or jealousy of
human wisdom and interest, and with more force and clearness upon
the consciences of those that sincerely sought the way of truth in
the love of it. I say, beholding with the eye of my mind, which the
God of heaven had opened in me, the marks of God's finger and hand
visibly in this testimony from the clearness of the principle, the
power and efficacy of it in the exemplary sobriety, plainness, zeal,
steadiness, humility, gravity, punctuality, charity, and circumspect
care in the government of church affairs, which shined in his and
their life and testimony that God employed in this work, it greatly
confirmed me that it was of God, and engaged my soul in a deep love,
fear, reverence, and thankfulness for his love and mercy therein to
mankind; in which mind I remain, and shall, I hope, to the end of my
days.
II. In his testimony or ministry he much laboured to open truth to
the people's understandings, and to bottom them upon the principle
and principal, Christ Jesus, the light of the world, that by bringing
them to something that was of God in themselves, they might the
better know and judge of him and themselves.
He had an extraordinary gift in opening the Scriptures. He would go
to the marrow of things, and shew the mind, harmony, and fulfilling
of them with much plainness, and to great comfort and edification.
The mystery of the first and second Adam, of the fall and
restoration, of the law and gospel, of shadows and substance, of the
servant and son's state, and the fulfilling of the Scriptures in
Christ, and by Christ the true light, in all that are His, through
the obedience of faith, were much of the substance and drift of
his testimonies. In all which he was witnessed to be of God, being
sensibly felt to speak that which he had received of Christ, and was
his own experience in that which never errs nor fails.
But above all he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and weight of his
spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behaviour,
and the fewness and fullness of his words, have often struck even
strangers with admiration, as they used to reach others with
consolation. The most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or
beheld, I must say, was his in prayer. And truly it was a testimony
he knew, and lived nearer to the Lord than other men; for they that
know him most will see most reason to approach him with reverence and
fear.
He was of an innocent life, no busy-body, nor self-seeker, neither
touchy nor critical: what fell from him was very inoffensive, if not
very edifying. So meek, contented, modest, easy, steady, tender, it
was a pleasure to be in his company. He exercised no authority but
over evil, and that everywhere and in all; but with love, compassion,
and long-suffering. A most merciful man, as ready to forgive as
unapt to take or give offence. Thousands can truly say, he was of an
excellent spirit and savour among them, and because thereof the most
excellent spirits loved him with an unfeigned and unfading love.
He was an incessant labourer; for in his younger time, before his
many great and deep sufferings and travels had enfeebled his body
for itinerant services, he laboured much in the word and doctrine
and discipline in England, Scotland, and Ireland, turning many to
God, and confirming those that were convinced of the truth, and
settling good order as to church affairs among them. And towards
the conclusion of his travelling services, between the years
seventy-one and seventy-seven, he visited the churches of Christ in
the plantations in America, and in the United Provinces, and Germany,
as his following Journal relates, to the convincement and consolation
of many. After that time he chiefly resided in and about the city
of London, and besides the services of his ministry, which were
frequent, he wrote much both to them that are within and those that
are without the communion. But the care he took of the affairs of the
church in general was very great.
He was often where the records of the affairs of the church are
kept, and the letters from the many meetings of God's people over
all the world, where settled, come upon occasions; which letters he
had read to him, and communicated them to the meeting that is weekly
held there for such services; he would be sure to stir them up to
discharge them, especially in suffering cases: showing great sympathy
and compassion upon all such occasions, carefully looking into the
respective cases, and endeavouring speedy relief according to the
nature of them; so that the churches and any of the suffering members
thereof were sure not to be forgotten or delayed in their desires if
he were there.
As he was unwearied, so he was undaunted in his services for God and
his people; he was no more to be moved to fear than to wrath. His
behaviour at Derby, Litchfield, Appleby, before Oliver Cromwell at
Launceston, Scarborough, Worcester, and Westminster-hall, with many
other places and exercises, did abundantly evidence it to his enemies
as well as his friends.
But as in the primitive times some rose up against the blessed
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, even from among those that they
had turned to the hope of the gospel, and who became their greatest
trouble, so this man of God had his share of suffering from some that
were convinced by him, who through prejudice or mistake ran against
him as one that sought dominion over conscience; because he pressed,
by his presence or epistles, a ready and zealous compliance with such
good and wholesome things as tended to an orderly conversation about
the affairs of the church, and in their walking before men. That
which contributed much to this ill work, was in some a begrudging of
this meek man the love and esteem he had and deserved in the hearts
of the people, and weakness in others that were taken with their
groundless suggestions of imposition and blind obedience.
They would have had every man independent, that as he had the
principle in himself, he should only stand and fall to that and
nobody else; not considering that the principle is one in all, and
though the measure of light or grace might differ, yet the nature of
it was the same, and being so they struck at the spiritual unity,
which a people guided by the same principle are naturally led into:
so that what is evil to one is so to all, and what is virtuous,
honest, and of good report to one, is so to all, from the sense and
savour of the one universal principle which is common to all, and
(which the disaffected profess to be) the root of all true Christian
fellowship, and that spirit into which the people of God drink, and
come to be spiritually minded, and of one heart and one soul.
Some weakly mistook good order in the government of church-affairs
for discipline in worship, and that it was so pressed or recommended
by him and other brethren; and they were ready to reflect the
same things that dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the
national churches, that have coercively pressed conformity to their
respective creeds and worships: whereas these things related wholly
to conversation, and the outward and (as I may say) civil part of the
church, that men should walk up to the principles of their belief,
and not be wanting in care and charity. But though some have stumbled
and fallen through mistakes and an unreasonable obstinacy, even to a
prejudice, yet blessed be God, the generality have returned to their
first love, and seen the work of the enemy, that loses no opportunity
or advantage by which he may check or hinder the work of God, and
disquiet the peace of His church, and chill the love of His people to
the truth, and one to another; and there is hope of divers that are
yet at a distance.
In all these occasions, though there was no person the discontented
struck so sharply at as this good man, he bore all their weakness and
prejudice, and returned not reflection for reflection; but forgave
them their weak and bitter speeches, praying for them that they might
have a sense of their hurt, and see the subtlety of the enemy to rend
and divide, and return into their first love that thought no ill.
And truly, I must say, that though God had visibly cloathed him with
a divine preference and authority, and indeed his very presence
expressed a religious majesty, yet he never abused it, but held his
place in the church of God with great meekness, and a most engaging
humility and moderation. For upon all occasions, like his blessed
Master, he was a servant to all, holding and exercising his eldership
in the invisible power that had gathered them, with reverence to the
head and care over the body, and was received only in that spirit and
power of Christ, as the first and chief elder in this age; who as he
was therefore worthy of double honour, so for the same reason it was
given by the faithful of this day; because his authority was inward
and not outward, and that he got it and kept it by the love of God
and power of an endless life. I write my knowledge and not report,
and my witness is true, having been with him for weeks and months
together on divers occasions, and those of the nearest and most
exercising nature, and that by night and by day, by sea and by land,
in this and in foreign countries: and I can say I never saw him out
of his place, or not a match for every service or occasion.
For in all things he acquitted himself like a man, yea a strong man,
a new and heavenly-minded man. A divine, and a naturalist, and all
of God Almighty's making. I have been surprised at his questions and
answers in natural things, that whilst he was ignorant of useless
and sophistical science, he had in him the foundation of useful and
commendable knowledge, and cherished it everywhere. Civil beyond all
forms of breeding in his behaviour; very temperate, eating little and
sleeping less, though a bulky person.
Thus he lived and sojourned among us, and as he lived so he died,
feeling the same eternal power that had raised and preserved him
in his last moments. So full of assurance was he that he triumphed
over death; and so even to the last, as if death were hardly worth
notice or a mention: recommending to some with him the dispatch and
dispersion of an epistle, just before written to the churches of
Christ, throughout the world, and his own books; but above all,
friends, and of all friends those in Ireland and America, twice over:
saying, Mind poor friends in Ireland and America.
And to some that came in and inquired how he found himself, he
answered, "Never heed, the Lord's power is over all weakness and
death, the Seed reigns, blessed be the Lord": which was about four
or five hours before his departure out of this world. He was at the
great meeting near Lombard Street on the first day of the week, and
it was the third following about ten at night when he left us, being
at the house of H. Goldney in the same court. In a good old age he
went, after having lived to see his children's children to several
generations in the truth. He had the comfort of a short illness, and
the blessing of a clear sense to the last; and we may truly say with
a man of God of old, that "being dead, he yet speaketh"; and though
absent in body, he is present in Spirit; neither time nor place being
able to interrupt the communion of saints, or dissolve the fellowship
of the spirits of the just. His works praise him, because they are
to the praise of Him that worked by him; for which his memorial is
and shall be blessed. I have done, as to this part of my preface,
when I have left this short epitaph to his name: "Many sons have done
virtuously in this day, but, dear George, thou excellest them all."
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE, 9
INTRODUCTION, 15
THE TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM PENN CONCERNING THAT
FAITHFUL SERVANT, GEORGE FOX, 46
I.--BOYHOOD--A SEEKER, 65
1624-1648.
II.--THE FIRST YEARS OF MINISTRY, 90
1648-1649.
III.--THE CHALLENGE AND THE FIRST TASTE OF PRISON, 109
1648-1649.
IV.--A YEAR IN DERBY JAIL, 118
1650-1651.
V.--ONE MAN MAY SHAKE THE COUNTRY FOR TEN
MILES, 132
1651-1652.
VI.--A NEW ERA BEGINS, 150
1652.
VII.--IN PRISON AGAIN, 179
1653.
VIII.--A VISIT TO OLIVER CROMWELL, 197
1653-1654.
IX.--A VISIT TO THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES, WHICH ENDS
IN LAUNCESTON JAIL, 222
1655-1656.
X.--PLANTING THE SEED IN WALES, 269
1656-1657.
XI.--IN THE HOME OF THE COVENANTERS, 297
1657.
XII.--GREAT EVENTS IN LONDON, 317
1658-1659.
XIII.--IN THE FIRST YEAR OF KING CHARLES, 331
1660.
XIV.--LABORS, DANGERS AND SUFFERINGS, 363
1661-1662.
XV.--IN PRISON FOR NOT SWEARING, 392
1662-1665.
XVI.--A YEAR IN SCARBOROUGH CASTLE, 436
1665-1666.
XVII.--AT THE WORK OF ORGANIZING, 459
1667-1670.
XVIII.--TWO YEARS IN AMERICA, 482
1671-1673.
XIX.--THE LAST IMPRISONMENT, 536
1673-1678.
XX.--THE SEED REIGNS OVER DEATH, 562
1679-1691.
INDEX, 579
[Illustration: Signature George Fox ]
CHAPTER I.
Boyhood--A Seeker.
1624-1648.
That all may know the dealings of the Lord with me, and the various
exercises, trials, and troubles through which He led me, in order
to prepare and fit me for the work unto which He had appointed me,
and may thereby be drawn to admire and glorify His infinite wisdom
and goodness, I think fit (before I proceed to set forth my public
travels in the service of Truth) briefly to mention how it was with
me in my youth, and how the work of the Lord was begun, and gradually
carried on in me, even from my childhood.
I was born in the month called July, 1624, at Drayton-in-the-Clay,[1]
in Leicestershire. My father's name was Christopher Fox; he was by
profession a weaver, an honest man; and there was a Seed of God in
him. The neighbours called him Righteous Christer. My mother was an
upright woman; her maiden name was Mary Lago, of the family of the
Lagos, and of the stock of the martyrs.[2]
[1] Now called Fenny Drayton; a little hamlet about five miles
from Nuneaton, in a flat, though beautiful farming country. The
house in which George Fox was born has long since vanished,
and the few cottages which cluster here about the crossing of
two roads are of modern structure. An obelisk, with a long
inscription, stands within a hundred yards or so of the site of
the birthplace.
[2] 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.)
In my very young years I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and
spirit not usual in children; insomuch that when I saw old men behave
lightly and wantonly towards each other, I had a dislike thereof
raised in my heart, and said within myself, "If ever I come to be a
man, surely I shall not do so, nor be so wanton."
When I came to eleven years of age I knew pureness and righteousness;
for while 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; and to keep to
Yea and Nay in all things. For the Lord showed me that, though the
people of the world have mouths full of deceit, and changeable words,
yet I was to keep to Yea and Nay in all things; and that my words
should be few and savoury, seasoned with grace; and that I might
not eat and drink to make myself wanton, but for health, using the
creatures[3] in their service, as servants in their places, to the
glory of Him that created them.
[3] "Creatures" here and frequently means "created things."
As I grew up, my relations thought to have made me a priest,[4] but
others persuaded to the contrary. Whereupon I was put to a man who
was a shoemaker[5] by trade, and dealt in wool. He also used grazing,
and sold cattle; and a great deal went through my hands. While I was
with him he was blessed, but after I left him he broke and came to
nothing.
[4] "Priest" here means clergyman in the established Church,
though the "priests" with whom he comes in contact in the early
years of his ministry are Presbyterian. The word is usually
employed for any minister who receives pay for preaching.
[5] This brief connection with shoemaking has been effectively
used by Carlyle in his famous characterization of George Fox.
(See "Sartor Resartus," book iii., chapter 1: "An Incident in
Modern History.") There is, however, no historical foundation for
Carlyle's picture. Sewel denies that there was any connection
between Fox's suit of leather and "his former leather-work."
Croese says the shoemaker and cattle grazer lived in Nottingham.
I never wronged man or woman in all that time; for the Lord's
power was with me and over me, to preserve me. While I was in that
service I used in my dealings the word Verily, and it was a common
saying among those that knew me, "If George says verily, there is no
altering him." When boys and rude persons would laugh at me, I let
them alone and went my way; but people had generally a love to me for
my innocency and honesty.
When I came towards nineteen years of age, being upon business at
a fair, one of my cousins, whose name was Bradford, having another
professor[6] with him, came and asked me to drink part of a jug of
beer with them. I, being thirsty, went in with them for I loved any
who had a sense of good, or that sought after the Lord.
[6] "Professor" means here and everywhere throughout this book a
nominal Christian. Our modern substitute for the expression would
be "a church member."
When we had drunk a glass apiece, they began to drink healths, and
called for more drink, agreeing together that he that would not
drink should pay all. I was grieved that any who made profession of
religion should offer to do so. They grieved me very much, having
never had such a thing put to me before by any sort of people.
Wherefore I rose up, and, putting my hand in my pocket, took out a
groat, and laid it upon the table before them, saying, "If it be so,
I will leave you."
So I went away; and when I had done my business returned home; but
did not go to bed that night, nor could I sleep, but sometimes walked
up and down, and sometimes prayed and cried to the Lord, who said
unto me: "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."
Then, at the command of God, the ninth of the Seventh month, 1643,
I left my relations, and broke off all familiarity or fellowship
with young or old. I passed to Lutterworth, where I stayed some time.
From thence I went to Northampton, where also I made some stay; then
passed to Newport-Pagnel, whence, after I had stayed awhile, I went
to Barnet, in the Fourth month, called June,[7] in the year 1644.
[7] Until 1752 the English year began in March, so that by the
calendar then in use June was the fourth month. This method of
reckoning time runs through the entire book, and may be mentioned
here once for all.
As I thus traveled through the country, professors took notice of me,
and sought to be acquainted with me; but I was afraid of them, for I
was sensible they did not possess what they professed.
During the time I was at Barnet a strong temptation to despair came
upon me. I then saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I was
in. Sometimes I kept myself retired to my chamber, and often walked
solitary in the Chase to wait upon the Lord. I wondered why these
things should come to me. I looked upon myself, and said, "Was I ever
so before?" Then I thought, because I had forsaken my relations I had
done amiss against them.
So I was brought to call to mind all my time that I had spent, and
to consider whether I had wronged any; but temptations grew more and
more, and I was tempted almost to despair; and when Satan could not
effect his design upon me that way, he laid snares and baits to draw
me to commit some sin, whereof he might take advantage to bring me to
despair.
I was about twenty years of age when these exercises came upon me;
and some years I continued in that condition, in great trouble; and
fain I would have put it from me. I went to many a priest to look for
comfort, but found no comfort from them.
From Barnet I went to London, where I took a lodging, and was
under great misery and trouble there; for I looked upon the great
professors of the city of London, and saw all was dark and under the
chain of darkness. I had an uncle there, one Pickering, a Baptist;
the Baptists were tender[8] then; yet I could not impart my mind to
him, nor join with them; for I saw all, young and old, where they
were. Some tender people would have had me stay, but I was fearful,
and returned homeward into Leicestershire, having a regard upon my
mind to my parents and relations, lest I should grieve them, for I
understood they were troubled at my absence.
[8] "Tender" is one of George Fox's favorite words. It will
come often. It means that the persons to whom it is applied are
religiously inclined, serious, and earnest in their search for
spiritual realities.
Being returned[9] into Leicestershire, my relations would have had me
married; but I told them I was but a lad, and must get wisdom. Others
would have had me join the auxiliary band among the soldiery,[G] but
I refused, and was grieved that they offered such things to me, being
a tender youth. Then I went to Coventry, where I took a chamber for
awhile at a professor's house, till people began to be acquainted
with me, for there were many tender people in that town. After some
time I went into my own country again, and continued about a year, in
great sorrow and trouble, and walked many nights by myself.
[9] From his return home in 1644, George Fox dates the beginning
of his religious society. (See _Epistles_, Vol. I., p. 10.
Philadelphia edition, 1831.)
[G] The Civil War was at its height.
Then the priest of Drayton, the town of my birth, whose name was
Nathaniel Stephens, came often to me, and I went often to him; and
another priest sometimes came with him; and they would give place to
me, to hear me; and I would ask them questions, and reason with them.
This priest, Stephens, asked me why Christ cried out upon the cross,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and why He said, "If it
be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will, but thine,
be done"? I told him that at that time the sins of all mankind were
upon Him, and their iniquities and transgressions, with which He was
wounded; which He was to bear, and to be an offering for, as He was
man; but died not, as He was God; so, in that He died for all men,
tasting death for every man, He was an offering for the sins of the
whole world.
This I spoke, being at that time in a measure sensible of Christ's
sufferings. The priest said it was a very good, full answer, and
such a one as he had not heard. At that time he would applaud and
speak highly of me to others; and what I said in discourse to him on
week-days, he would preach of on First-days,[10] which gave me a
dislike to him. This priest afterwards became my great persecutor.
[10] It was a settled custom, in fact, a matter of conscience
with Fox, to avoid the names of the days and of the months. He
disliked them because they commemorated heathen divinities, and
he always makes a point of using numeral adjectives instead of
the names. It was not an original scruple with him, but a similar
position was taken by some of the leading "Separatists" before
the Commonwealth period. (See Barrow's "False Churches," p. 204.)
After this I went to another ancient priest[H] at Mancetter, in
Warwickshire, and reasoned with him about the ground of despair and
temptations. But he was ignorant of my condition; he bade me take
tobacco and sing psalms. Tobacco was a thing I did not love, and
psalms I was not in a state to sing; I could not sing. He bade me
come again, and he would tell me many things; but when I came he was
angry and pettish, for my former words had displeased him. He told
my troubles, sorrows, and griefs to his servants, so that it got out
among the milk-lasses. It grieved me that I should have opened my
mind to such a one. I saw they were all miserable comforters, and
this increased my troubles upon me. I heard of a priest living about
Tamworth, who was accounted an experienced man. I went seven miles to
him, but found him like an empty, hollow cask.
[H] Richard Abell.
I heard also of one called Dr. Cradock, of Coventry, and went to
him. I asked him the ground of temptations and despair, and how
troubles came to be wrought in man? He asked me, "Who were Christ's
father and mother?" I told him, Mary was His mother, and that He was
supposed to be the Son of Joseph, but He was the Son of God.
Now, as we were walking together in his garden, the alley being
narrow, I chanced, in turning, to set my foot on the side of a bed,
at which the man was in a rage, as if his house had been on fire.
Thus all our discourse was lost, and I went away in sorrow, worse
than I was when I came. I thought them miserable comforters, and saw
they were all as nothing to me, for they could not reach my condition.
After this I went to another, one Macham,[I] a priest in high
account. He would needs give me some physic, and I was to have been
let blood; but they could not get one drop of blood from me, either
in arms or head (though they endeavoured to do so), my body being,
as it were, dried up with sorrows, grief and troubles, which were
so great upon me that I could have wished I had never been born, or
that I had been born blind, that I might never have seen wickedness
or vanity; and deaf, that I might never have heard vain and wicked
words, or the Lord's name blasphemed.
[I] Of Atherstone.
When the time called Christmas came, while others were feasting and
sporting themselves I looked out poor widows from house to house,
and gave them some money. When I was invited to marriages (as I
sometimes was), I went to none at all; but the next day, or soon
after, I would go and visit them, and if they were poor I gave them
some money; for I had wherewith both to keep myself from being
chargeable to others and to administer something to the necessities
of those who were in need.[11]
[11] It is difficult to find out where George Fox's money came
from. He reports in the original MS. of the Journal, p. 17, a
remark his relatives made about him when he left home: "When hee
went from us hee had a greate deale of gould and sillver about
him." He is always well supplied. He goes to inns, always has a
good horse, wears clean linen and frequently gives to charity. In
signed papers in the Spence collection he gives orders for the
disposal of money invested "in ships and trade," as well as of
a thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania which William Penn had
assigned to him.
About the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to Coventry,
and approaching towards the gate, a consideration arose in me, how
it was said that "All Christians are believers, both Protestants and
Papists"; and the Lord opened[12] to me that if all were believers,
then they were all born of God, and passed from death to life; and
that none were true believers but such; and, though others said they
were believers, yet they were not. At another time, as I was walking
in a field on a First-day morning, the Lord opened unto me that
being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify
men to be ministers of Christ; and I wondered at it, because it was
the common belief of people. But I saw it clearly as the Lord opened
it unto me, and was satisfied, and admired the goodness of the Lord,
who had opened this thing unto me that morning. This struck at priest
Stephens's ministry, namely, that "to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge
was not enough to make a man fit to be a minister of Christ." So that
which opened in me I saw struck at the priest's ministry.
[12] This expression "opened" has a mystical import, and will
be of frequent occurrence. He means to say that it was directly
revealed in his soul so that he assuredly knew it to be true.
Often he uses the expression in reference to some truth which he
might easily have discovered in the Scriptures or have learned
from contemporary sources. But in this solemn way he announces
that this truth has now at length come to be a _living truth
for him_. It is no longer a mere statement of fact--it is a
principle, the truth of which he _sees_.
But my relations were much troubled that I would not go with them
to hear the priest; for I would go into the orchard or the fields,
with my Bible, by myself. I asked them, "Did not the Apostle say to
believers that they needed no man to teach them, but as the anointing
teacheth them?" Though they knew this was Scripture, and that it was
true, yet they were grieved because I could not be subject in this
matter, to go to hear the priest with them. I saw that to be a true
believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be; and I saw
that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualify or fit a man
to be a minister of Christ; what then should I follow such for? So
neither them, nor any of the dissenting people, could I join with;
but was as a stranger to all, relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus
Christ.
At another time it was opened in me that God, who made the world, did
not dwell in temples made with hands. This at first seemed a strange
word, because both priests and people used to call their temples, or
churches, dreadful places, holy ground, and the temples of God. But
the Lord showed me clearly that He did not dwell in these temples
which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts; for both
Stephen and the apostle Paul bore testimony that He did not dwell in
temples made with hands, not even in that which He had once commanded
to be built, since He put an end to it; but that His people were His
temple, and He dwelt in them.
This opened in me as I walked in the fields to my relations' house.
When I came there they told me that Nathaniel Stephens, the priest,
had been there, and told them he was afraid of me, for going after
new lights. I smiled in myself, knowing what the Lord had opened in
me concerning him and his brethren; but I told not my relations,
who, though they saw beyond the priests, yet went to hear them,
and were grieved because I would not go also. But I brought them
Scriptures,[J] and told them there was an anointing within man to
teach him, and that the Lord would teach His people Himself.
[J] That is, gave them Scripture references.
I had also great openings concerning the things written in the
Revelations; and when I spoke of them the priests and professors
would say that was a sealed book, and would have kept me out of it.
But I told them Christ could open the seals, and that they were the
nearest things to us; for the epistles were written to the saints
that lived in former ages, but the Revelations were written of things
to come.
After this I met with a sort of people that held women have no souls,
(adding in a light manner), No more than a goose.[13] But I reproved
them, and told them that was not right; for Mary said, "My soul doth
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
[13] This was one of the many curious religious sects with which
the England of the Commonwealth was overrun. (See Edwards's
"Gangræna.")
Removing to another place, I came among a people that relied much on
dreams. I told them, except they could distinguish between dream and
dream, they would confound all together; for there were three sorts
of dreams; multitude of business sometimes caused dreams, and there
were whisperings of Satan in man in the night season; and there were
speakings of God to man in dreams. But these people came out of these
things, and at last became Friends.[14]
[14] "Friends" is here used for the first time in the Journal as
the name of the new denomination. It is not possible to determine
when the name was adopted or why it was chosen. When the Journal
was written the term had already become fixed and Fox uses it
without comment or explanation, referring it back to a period
before it came into use as the name of the Society. At first the
word "friends" was probably used in an untechnical sense for
those who were _friendly_, and little by little it hardened into
a name. At the very beginning they called themselves "Children of
the Light."
Now, though I had great openings, yet great trouble and temptation
came many times upon me; so that when it was day I wished for night,
and when it was night I wished for day; and by reason of the openings
I had in my troubles, I could say as David said, "Day unto day
uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." When I had
openings they answered one another and answered the Scriptures; for I
had great openings of the Scriptures: and when I was in troubles, one
trouble also answered to another.
About the beginning of the year 1647 I was moved of the Lord to go
into Derbyshire, where I met with some friendly people, and had
many discourses with them. Then, passing into the Peak country,[15]
I met with more friendly people, and with some in empty high
notions.[16] Travelling through some parts of Leicestershire, and
into Nottinghamshire, I met with a tender people, and a very tender
woman, whose name was Elizabeth Hooton.[17] With these I had some
meetings and discourses; but my troubles continued, and I was often
under great temptations.
[15] In the northern part of Derbyshire.
[16] These were "Ranters" who will appear again and often. They
claimed to be perfect and above the possibility of sinning. Some
even went to the wild extreme of claiming to be Christ, or God.
They went on living for the most part much as they chose, and
justified their acts on the ground that it was God who was acting
in them. It is clearly apparent from this autobiography that such
persons were very numerous at the time. It will be noticed that
George Fox believes also in the possibility of freedom from sin,
but perfection as he holds it means something quite other than
this doctrine of the Ranters, as the Journal will show.
[17] Elizabeth Hooton was a woman of good standing, who was born
in Nottingham about the year 1600. She was the first person of
her sex to become a minister in the newly-gathered Society. The
preaching of women at this time was not entirely novel, as it
was allowed by several of the religious sects of the period.
Elizabeth Hooton had her faith severely tested by persecution and
long imprisonment. She performed two religious visits to America
and the West Indies and died in Jamaica in 1671.
I fasted much, walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often
took my Bible, and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night
came on; and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by
myself; for I was a man of sorrows in the time of the first workings
of the Lord in me.
During all this time I was never joined in profession of religion
with any, but gave up myself to the Lord, having forsaken all evil
company, taken leave of father and mother, and all other relations,
and travelled up and down as a stranger in the earth, which way
the Lord inclined my heart; taking a chamber to myself in the town
where I came, and tarrying, sometimes more, sometimes less, in a
place. For I durst not stay long in a place, being afraid both of
professor and profane, lest, being a tender young man, I should be
hurt by conversing much with either. For this reason 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 in
Abraham's bosom.
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. O the everlasting love of God to my soul, when I was
in great distress! When my troubles and torments were great, then
was His love exceeding great. Thou, Lord, makest a fruitful field a
barren wilderness, and a barren wilderness a fruitful field! Thou
bringest down and settest up! Thou killest and makest alive! all
honour and glory be to thee, O Lord of Glory! The knowledge of Thee
in the Spirit is life; but that knowledge which is fleshly works
death.[18]
[18] All profound spiritual teachers contrast _wisdom_ and
_knowledge_--what is here called "knowledge in the Spirit" and
"knowledge in the flesh," or, what is perhaps more frequently
called "knowledge of the heart" and "knowledge of the head."
The latter expression means a knowledge of fact--the knowing
that a thing is so by evidence which satisfies the mind. The
former expression means the soul's immediate grasp of truth by
the test of practical experience. The goal in one case is the
establishment of some fact; the goal in the other case is the
production of positive life and character by the appreciation of
the truth.
While there is this knowledge in the flesh, deceit and self will
conform to anything, and will say Yes, Yes, to that it doth not know.
The knowledge which the world hath of what the prophets and apostles
spake, is a fleshly knowledge; and the apostates from the life in
which the prophets and apostles were have got their words, the Holy
Scriptures, in a form, but not in the life nor spirit that gave them
forth. So they all lie in confusion; and are making provision for the
flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, but not to fulfil the law and
command of Christ in His power and Spirit. For that they say they
cannot do; but to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, that they can do
with delight.
Now, after I had received that opening from the Lord, that to be
bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a man to be
a minister of Christ, I regarded the priests less, and looked more
after the Dissenting people.[K] Among them I saw there was some
tenderness; and many of them came afterwards to be convinced, for
they had some openings.
[K] The "Separatists"--especially here the Congregationalists and
Baptists.
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. 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";[19] and when I heard it, my heart did leap
for joy.
[19] Compare this great passage where George Fox describes his
conversion with Paul's account of the spiritual _fiat lux_ in
2 Cor. 4: 6, "For God who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness [the first _fiat lux_] _hath shined in our hearts_ to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ."
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 hinder it? and _this I knew experimentally_.
My desire after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure
knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man,
book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spoke of
Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who
hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son
by His Spirit. Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see His
love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge
that men have in the natural state, or can obtain from history or
books; and that love let me see myself, as I was without Him.
I was afraid of all company, for I saw them perfectly where they
were, through the love of God, which let me see myself. I had not
fellowship with any people, priests or professors, or any sort of
separated people, but with Christ, who hath the key, and opened the
door of Light and Life unto me. I was afraid of all carnal talk and
talkers, for I could see nothing but corruptions, and the life lay
under the burthen of corruptions.
When I myself was in the deep, shut up under all, I could not
believe that I should ever overcome; my troubles, my sorrows, and my
temptations were so great that I thought many times I should have
despaired, I was so tempted. But when Christ opened to me how He was
tempted by the same devil, and overcame him and bruised his head, and
that through Him and His power, light, grace, and Spirit, I should
overcome also, I had confidence in Him; so He it was that opened to
me when I was shut up and had no hope nor faith. Christ, who had
enlightened me, gave me His light to believe in; He gave me hope,
which He Himself revealed in me, and He gave me His Spirit and grace,
which I found sufficient in the deeps and in weakness.
Thus, in the deepest miseries, and in the greatest sorrows and
temptations, that many times beset me, the Lord in His mercy did keep
me.
I found that there were two thirsts in me--the one after the
creatures, to get help and strength there, and the other after
the Lord, the Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ. I saw all the
world could do me no good; if I had had a king's diet, palace, and
attendance, all would have been as nothing; for nothing gave me
comfort but the Lord by His power. At another time I saw the great
love of God, and was filled with admiration at the infiniteness of it.
One day, when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come
home, I was taken up in the love of God, so that I could not but
admire the greatness of His love; and while I was in that condition,
it was opened unto me by the eternal light and power, and I therein
clearly saw that all was done and to be done in and by Christ, and
how He conquers and destroys this tempter the devil, and all his
works, and is atop of him; and that all these troubles were good for
me, and temptations for the trial of my faith, which Christ had given
me.
The Lord opened me, that I saw all through these troubles and
temptations. My living faith was raised, that I saw all was done by
Christ the life, and my belief was in Him.
When at any time my condition was veiled, my secret belief was stayed
firm, and hope underneath held me, as an anchor in the bottom of the
sea, and anchored my immortal soul to its Bishop, causing it to swim
above the sea, the world, where all the raging waves, foul weather,
tempests and temptations are. But O! then did I see my troubles,
trials, and temptations more clearly than ever I had done. As the
light appeared all appeared that is out of the light; darkness,
death, temptations, the unrighteous, the ungodly; all was manifest
and seen in the light.
I heard of a woman in Lancashire that had fasted two and twenty days,
and I travelled to see her; but when I came to her I saw that she
was under a temptation. When I had spoken to her what I had from the
Lord, I left her, her father being one high in profession.
Passing on, I went among the professors at Duckingfield and
Manchester, where I stayed awhile, and declared truth among them.
There were some convinced who received the Lord's teaching, by which
they were confirmed and stood in the truth. But the professors
were in a rage, all pleading for sin and imperfection, and could
not endure to hear talk of perfection, and of a holy and sinless
life.[20] But the Lord's power was over all, though they were
chained under darkness and sin, which they pleaded for, and quenched
the tender thing in them.
[20] At the very beginning of his ministry in 1647 George Fox
evidently preached the possibility of complete freedom from sin.
But he was very careful to avoid presenting the mere theory or
"notion" of perfection, which was common among all the types of
"Ranters." He believed that Christ came to destroy sin, and he
stoutly held that when He ruled in a man sin and the dominion of
it were done away. Man could come into "the condition Adam was
in before he fell," to use his own expression. One of his most
frequent challenges was to demand that modern Christians should
come into "the same life and power which those were in who gave
forth the Scriptures." But George Fox's test of holiness was the
practical test of daily life. No man was to be accounted holy if
he were not _in fact_ holy.
About this time there was a great meeting of the Baptists, at
Broughton, in Leicestershire, with some that had separated from them,
and people of other notions went thither, and I went also. Not many
of the Baptists came, but many others were there. The Lord opened my
mouth, and the everlasting truth was declared amongst them, and the
power of the Lord was over them all. For in that day the Lord's power
began to spring, and I had great openings in the Scriptures. Several
were convinced in those parts and were turned from darkness to light,
from the power of Satan unto God, and many were raised up to praise
God. When I reasoned with professors and other people, some became
convinced.
I went back into Nottinghamshire, and there the Lord showed me
that the natures of those things, which were hurtful without, were
within, in the hearts and minds of wicked men. The natures of dogs,
swine, vipers, of Sodom and Egypt, Pharaoh, Cain, Ishmael, Esau,
etc.; the natures of these I saw within, though people had been
looking without. I cried to the Lord, saying, "Why should I be
thus,[L] 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.
[L] That is, why should I have suffered such troubles and
temptations.
I saw, also, that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an
infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of
darkness. In that also I saw the infinite love of God, and I had
great openings.
Then came people from far and near to see me; but I was fearful of
being drawn out by them; yet I was made to speak, and open things
to them. There was one Brown, who had great prophecies and sights
upon his death-bed of me. He spoke only of what I should be made
instrumental by the Lord to bring forth. And of others he spoke, that
they should come to nothing, which was fulfilled on some, who then
were something in show.
When this man was buried a great work of the Lord fell upon me,
to the admiration of many, who thought I had been dead, and many
came to see me for about fourteen days. I was very much altered
in countenance and person, as if my body had been new moulded or
changed.[21] My sorrows and troubles began to wear off, and tears
of joy dropped from me, so that I could have wept night and day with
tears of joy to the Lord, in humility and brokenness of heart.
[21] For those who are interested in the psychology of George Fox
this is one of the most important passages in the Journal. These
sweeping psychical and physical changes are most significant.
On two other occasions of his life, which will be noted later,
he underwent similar, though perhaps profounder, changes. These
passages in the Journal reveal, to those who are familiar with
such phenomena, the fact that George Fox was subject to deep
subliminal transformations. The passage, too, throws much light
back upon his long travail through distress and darkness.
I saw into that which was without end, things which cannot be
uttered, and of the greatness and infinitude of the love of God,
which cannot be expressed by words. For I had been brought through
the very ocean of darkness and death, and through and over the power
of Satan, by the eternal, glorious power of Christ; even through that
darkness was I brought, which covered over all the world, and which
chained down all and shut up all in death. The same eternal power of
God, which brought me through these things, was that which afterwards
shook the nations, priests, professors and people.
Then could I say I had been in spiritual Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and
the grave; but by the eternal power of God I was come out of it, and
was brought over it, and the power of it, into the power of Christ. I
saw the harvest white, and the seed of God lying thick in the ground,
as ever did wheat that was sown outwardly, and none to gather it; for
this I mourned with tears.
A report went abroad of me, that I was a young man that had a
discerning spirit; whereupon many came to me, from far and near,
professors, priests, and people. The Lord's power broke forth, and I
had great openings and prophecies, and spoke unto them of the things
of God, which they heard with attention and silence, and went away
and spread the fame thereof.
Then came the tempter and set upon me again, charging me that I had
sinned against the Holy Ghost; but I could not tell in what. Then
Paul's condition came before me, how after he had been taken up
into the third heaven, and seen things not lawful to be uttered,
a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. Thus by the power of
Christ I got over that temptation also.