Chapter I: Front Matter

GEORGE FOX

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

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

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.

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]