George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, was born in 1624, the son of a weaver. Apprenticed to a livestock dealer, he acquired, he tells us, a reputation for fair dealing: ‘A good deal went through my hands. . .People had generally a love to me for my innocency and honesty." In 1643, ‘at the command of God’ Fox ‘left my relations and broke off all familiarity or fellowship with old or young.’ There followed several years of wandering and seeking spiritual counsel (the advice received from one priest was to take up smoking).
Fox began to receive internal revelations from God, what he called ‘openings’, such as hearing a voice which said, ` There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.’ “And when I heard it my heart did leap for joy."‘As the 1911 Britannica says, ‘it would be here out of place to follow with any minuteness the details of his subsequent imprisonments’. He was imprisoned many times for expressing his views forcibly in the street or in church, but his force of character was such that even those who jailed him (including the Sheriff of Nottingham), were often sympathetic.
In 1652, several of Fox’s followers formed the nucleus of the so-called ‘Quaker’ movement in Preston and the movement grew rapidly. In 1653, Fox was arrested for the umpteenth time, but on this occasion was taken to meet the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. The 1650s had become an age of many plots involving many groups and many charismatic leaders with agendas ranging from restoration of the monarchy to the abolition of private property. Fox was attracting large crowds wherever he went. Cromwell was possibly more curious than suspicious, and the meeting was quite an emotional one. Fox confirmed the peaceful nature of the movement, and asked Cromwell to listen to the voice of God: ‘As I was turning, he caught me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes said, "Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other"; adding that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul. I told him if he did he wronged his own soul; and admonished him to hearken to God’s voice, that he might stand in his counsel, and obey it; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of heart; but if he did not hear God’s voice, his heart would be hardened. He said it was true’.
What Happened Next
The possibility that Cromwell could have become a Quaker was never very likely. Though this was an age of dramatic conversions, there were no more tears on Cromwell’s part when they met again. in 1656, Fox seeking toleration for his persecuted Quakers, urged Cromwell not to think of the crown but to lay down his worldly power at the feet of the Lord. It was clearly another meeting of mutual liking, but not one of minds. They met again just before Cromwell died, in 1658 – Fox wrote that he looked like a ‘dead man’.