The Basics about George Fox

The BCW-Project has an article about George Fox. So far I have quoted him without introducing him, but now the reader can become acquainted with him too. Here are a few quotes:

"The son of a prosperous Puritan weaver of Leicestershire, George Fox was apprenticed to a shoemaker around 1635. During his youth, he was plagued by periods of melancholy and religious torment, which led him to adopt an itinerant life as a travelling shoemaker. He travelled around Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire seeking out clergymen and others for spiritual guidance, but broke away from the established church when he found it unable to meet his needs.
At some time in 1647, Fox experienced a spiritual revelation which convinced him that all earthly authority (church or state) was corrupt; God's message came to individuals directly through the Inner Light of their personal inspiration. Fox proclaimed his message as he travelled around the Midlands and the North, attracting small groups of followers who called themselves Friends of the Truth, but became popularly known as Quakers."

"During the mid-1650s, the Quaker movement spread to Bristol, London and southern England. When Fox came to London in March 1655, he was personally interviewed by Lord Protector Cromwell, whom he impressed with his plain speaking and religious sincerity. Despite Cromwell's broadly sympathetic view, however, many Quakers were imprisoned by local magistrates for causing disturbances in their regions. Fox himself was imprisoned under harsh conditions at Launceston in Cornwall from January to September 1656 when he travelled to the West Country."

"During the reigns of Charles II and James II, Fox struggled to consolidate the Quaker movement in the face of persecution from the government and internal divisions within the movement itself. He travelled to the West Indies and the American colonies and visited Ireland, Holland and Germany, but his health was weakened by fourteen months' imprisonment at Worcester for refusing to take the oath required by the Test Act of 1673. While at Worcester, he began dictating his autobiography, also known as his "Journal", which was published posthumously in 1694. George Fox's Autobiography is regarded as a classic of inspirational religious literature, though it tends to downplay or ignore the controversies within the early Quaker movement."

Source:The BCW-project's homepage <http://bcw-project.org/biography/george-fox>27.03.2017.