George Fox (July 1624 - 13th January 191) and the Quakers |
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One day, on Pendle Hill, in Northern England, George Fox had a vision of a great crowd of people being brought together by Jesus Christ. He felt God was calling him to do the job of bringing this crowd together. He began a career of open-air preaching that resulted in the growth of a Christian movement that numbered some 50,000 within a few years, and about 100,000 by the end of the century. Their numbers included people from all sections of society, and class barriers broke down within the group. |
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This growth went along with opposition. In 1650, George Fox was sentenced to 6 months in prison. It was then that the judge mockingly referred to George's followers as "quakers", because they sometimes shook with emotion. The name stuck! As Fox and his followers came to question more and more things that other Christians accepted, the opposition grew. Because they took Jesus literally when he said, 'Swear not at all', they refused to take the oath in court. They refused to pay church tithes. They did not go to the official (Church of England) church services, and met in their own (illegal) meetings. Imprisoned and ill-treated, they spoke out against the state church, referring to its buildings as 'steeplehouses'. |
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Quaker Tapestry Scheme © Permission to use this illustrations has been given by the Quaker Tapestry at Kendal. info@quaker-tapestry.co.uk |
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| Quakers believed in 'the light of Christ within you'. You needed to hear God's voice in a direct way to keep your faith fresh and real. Sometimes this led Quakers to do things they thought God told them to do, but which turned out to be foolish, and led to people ridiculing them. Later, they became more careful to check individual ideas against what it says in the Bible, and the convictions of other Christians. | |
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The Quaker's readiness to listen to God also meant they were more ready than many other Christians to think in a new way. They were the first to speak, and act, against slavery. They treated people like Native Americans and Eskimos as equals, and were friends to them. They spoke up for religious liberty at a time when almost everyone else expected you to fit in with the religious forms of your society. And they believed that what you did was as important as what you said you believed. |
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The Quaker Meeting House at Long Sutton was built in 1717. |
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Go to 'Churches - Quakers' |
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John Smyth and the Baptists |
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Go back to 'History' |