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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,