George Fox: An Autobiography

[Here follows (January 10th, 1691) the last entry in the Journal, with the letter written to the Irish Friends who were enduring almost indescribable sufferings, occasioned by the civil war in Ireland.]

Not long after I returned to London, and was almost daily with Friends at meetings. When I had been near two weeks in town, the sense of the great hardships and sore sufferings that Friends had been and were under in Ireland, coming with great weight upon me, I was moved to write an epistle, as a word of consolation unto them.253

[The next day he went to Gracechurch Street Meeting, which was large and in which he preached a long and powerful sermon, "opening many deep and weighty things." He then offered prayer, and the meeting closed. When some Friends came to his room in White-Hart-Court, later in the day, he told them he had "felt the cold strike to his heart, as he came out of meeting"; "yet," he added, "I am glad I was here (i. e., in the meeting). Now I am clear, I am fully clear!" Later, when Friends were visiting him, he said: "All is well; the Seed of God reigns over all and over death itself. And though I am weak in body, yet the power of God is over all, and the Seed reigns over all disorderly spirits." "Lying thus in a heavenly frame of mind, his spirit wholly exercised towards the Lord," he fell asleep in peace on the evening of January 13th, 1691. The funeral was attended by a very large concourse of people, and the body was laid in the burying-ground near Bunhill Fields, where the grave is now marked with a modest stone. Few men in the dying hour could say more truly, "I am clear."]

1

"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."

2

"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.

3

At this epoch there were more than two hundred capital offenses.

4

"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.

5

"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.

6

From William Penn's "Preface to the Journal of George Fox."

7

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.

8

This martyred ancestor of Mary Lago was probably a member of the Glover family, of Mancetter, a few miles north of Drayton. (See article on Fox in Dict. of Nat. Biog., which refers to Riching's "Mancetter Martyrs," 1860.)

9

"Creatures" here and frequently means "created things."

10

"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.

11

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.

12

"Professor" means here and everywhere throughout this book a nominal Christian. Our modern substitute for the expression would be "a church member."

13

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.

14

"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.

15

From his return home in 1644, George Fox dates the beginning of his religious society. (See Epistles, Vol. I., p. 10. Philadelphia edition, 1831.)

16

The Civil War was at its height.

17

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.)

18

Richard Abell.

19

Of Atherstone.

20

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.

21

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.

22

That is, gave them Scripture references.

23

This was one of the many curious religious sects with which the England of the Commonwealth was overrun. (See Edwards's "Gangræna.")

24

"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."

25

In the northern part of Derbyshire.

26

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.

27

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.

28

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.

29

The "Separatists" – especially here the Congregationalists and Baptists.

30

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."

31

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.

32

That is, why should I have suffered such troubles and temptations.

33

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.

34

In the year 1648.

"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 fulness 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." – Preface to George Fox's "Journal."

35

William Penn gives the following testimony to Fox's power in prayer:

36

This is a characteristic illustration of the way Fox passed beyond theories and doctrines, and demanded practical life-results.

37

That is, members of the English or Episcopal Church.

38

The Friends from the time of Fox until the present have been careful to use the word "church" only for the community of spiritual believers. The cathedrals and churches were called "steeple-houses," and their own places of worship were called "meeting-houses."

39

A beautiful valley southwest of Nottingham, near the edge of the counties of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, just west of Bardon Hills.

40

See Whittier's poem, "Revelation."

41

He means experience.

42

There is no account of the origin of this meeting, which seems to have been in existence before Fox came to Eton. There seems to have been considerable definite work done which is not detailed in the "Journal." [See "Epistles," Vol. I., page 2, "Truth sprang up (to us as to be a people of the Lord) in Derbyshire in 1647."] Eton is in Derbyshire.

43

This is an interesting illustration of Fox's sensitiveness to wrong social conditions and of the practical character of his religion.

44

This passage which records a striking personal experience is undated. It is strangely like an experience of the great German mystic, Jacob Boehme, whose works were published in England about the time Fox was beginning his missionary labors. He, too, had all nature opened to him, so that he says he saw the true significance and essence of things. See Jacob Boehme, "Signatura Rerum," which was published in English in 1649. Muggleton, in his "Looking Glass for G. Fox" (second edition, 1756, page 10), says that the writings of Boehme are the "chief books" bought by the followers of Fox.

45

The name "Friends" is apparently used as formerly on page 77 to designate the gatherings of persons who sympathized with Fox's message and who afterwards were called "Friends."

46

One could wish that this important account of Fox's practical mission to the world were more clearly expressed than is here done in his phraseology, which needs translation into modern terms. There is, he means to say, a universal Divine principle or law of life which finds expression or voice in every soul. "That of God" in the individual "answers" or corresponds with the universal Divine principle. But, unfortunately, this Divine Light within is disobeyed, and thus men are astray – out of their true life and function. Fox's mission is to call all such to obedience to "that of God" within them.

47

This is the central teaching of George Fox. Everything else comes out of this elemental truth. It is, as he says, clearly enough taught in the Scriptures, but he now saw the truth as an immediate revelation – as a primary fact of experience.

48

The soul's own assurance of salvation was well proclaimed by Luther, but the high and joyous experience was well-nigh lost in Calvinistic England. Fox reaffirms the privilege of this experience. He proclaims no man's infallibility, but rather the infallibility of the Spirit, in union with which a man may know that he pleases God.

49

By a clear spiritual insight Fox saw how large a contribution both Judaism and Paganism had made to the historic church. He went to work to carry the reformation to its logical conclusion. To re-instate primitive Christianity was his aim.

50

The real principles here involved were simplicity of life, equal respect for all men alike, and strict sincerity. It must be confessed that these principles have sometimes been lost sight of, and dress and language have sometimes become a form to those who opposed all forms.

51

That is, the testimony of the Spirit.

From Derby prison he wrote many letters, to the magistrates, to the justices, to the "priests," to the court at Derby, to the mayor, to the individual justices, and to "the ringers of bells in steeple-houses." He calls them all to obedience to the light within them. "Mind that which is eternal and invisible." "Keep in the innocency and be obedient to the faith in Him."

52

This is one of the very few instances in his entire career when Fox interrupted a minister. It was neither illegal nor contrary to custom for any one to speak after the minister was done – a privilege which Fox often used. On this particular occasion, his feeling overmastered him, and he spoke before his time.

53

This gives a glimpse at the medical practice of the time. Fox frequently showed remarkable power in dealing with cases of hysteria, such as the one here reported. He evidently did not understand the nature of the disease. But his commanding presence, his piercing eye (testified to by even his persecutors), and the absolute assurance which his voice gave that he was equal to the occasion, were worth a thousand doctors with their lancets. Those who understand the psychology of suggestion, and the effect of faith on certain diseases, will hardly question the simple accounts given here and elsewhere.

54

As everywhere, he is interested in the state of the person himself, and in the real and vital things of religion. Many of Fox's followers came from the Baptists.

55

No single sentence better sums up George Fox's whole theology than this: "I told them they were not to dispute of God and Christ, but to obey Him."

56

These answers sufficiently differentiate George Fox from the "Ranters."

57

Here begins Fox's first serious imprisonment. The charge was direct and distinct. He was committed as a blasphemer. Under the law passed by both Houses of Parliament, in 1648, Fox might easily have been condemned to suffer a death penalty. It was an offense, punishable by death, to deny that the Scriptures are the Word of God, or that the bodies of men shall rise after they are dead. It was blasphemy to say that the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are not commanded by God. It was also blasphemy to declare that man has by nature free will to turn to God. It was, of course, not difficult to find a charge of the violation of this drag-net act.

58

This is the whole of our data for the origin of the name "Quaker." Fox told the Justice to tremble at the word of the Lord, and the Justice thereupon fixed the name "quaker" upon him. There is probably, however, something back of this particular incident which helped give the name significance. The editors of the New English Dictionary (see the word Quaker) have discovered the fact that this name for a religious sect was not entirely new at this time. Letter No. 2,624 of the Clarendon collection, written in 1647, speaks of a sect from the continent possessed of a remarkable capacity for trembling or quaking: "I heare of a sect of woemen (they are at Southworke) come from beyond the Sea, called quakers, and these swell, shiver and shake, and when they come to themselves (for in all this fitt Mahomett's holy-ghost hath bin conversing with them) they begin to preach what hath been delivered to them by the Spirit." It seems probable that Justice Bennet merely employed a term of reproach already familiar. It is, further, evident that the Friends themselves were sometimes given to trembling, and that the name came into general use because it fitted. (See Sewel's "History of the People Called Quakers," Vol. I., p. 63. Philadelphia, 1823.) The name first appears in the records of Parliament, in the Journals of the House of Commons, in 1654.

59

This is the true ground of opposition to war, namely, that a Christian is to live a life that does away with the occasion for war.

60

He was imprisoned on a definite charge for six months, and then, without any further trial, apparently because he would not join Cromwell's army, he was held in close confinement for nearly six months more.

61

It must be remembered that this act of George Fox occurred at the close of a year of imprisonment, part of which had been in a horrible jail. He was throughout his life restless and active to an extreme degree. For an entire year, just as his work was getting well begun, he had been forced to live in this nut-shell of a prison – day after day inactive. Now he was free again, and the old restlessness to be doing something came upon him with irresistible force. He was in no condition to inhibit suggestions. It is quite possible that some subconscious memory here gave the suggestion. In 1612 one Wightman was burned at the stake in Lichfield, and the deed was fresh in the minds of men at this time. Then the name Lichfield means "field of dead bodies," a name which doubtless had its origin in some baptism of blood, and George in his boyhood may have heard some tale of those bloody times.

62

The light of Christ working on the heart.

63

This is the foundation for the famous passage on George Fox, in Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," Book III., Chap. 1. There is, however, no foundation for Carlyle's picture of Fox cutting and stitching his own leather suit. Sewel distinctly says that these leather breeches had no connection with "his former leather work." Croese says that his entire suit was leather. This form of dress was not very unusual at the time, and was probably chosen for its durability.

64

This remark of Justice Hotham is an observation of considerable historical significance.

65

Foolish.

66

Fox's power of endurance will be noticed in every part of this autobiography. He sleeps under hedges, fences or haystacks. He goes days without suitable food. He speaks in difficult places as often as occasion presents, and goes through the attacks of hostile crowds with an endurance which is astonishing. This iron constitution carried him through the long imprisonments which thinned the ranks of his co-laborers.