Since Macaulay so grossly caricatured Fox, it has been assumed that Penn and Barclay added to Fox's ideas whatever was meritorious in Quakerism. On the contrary, not only the theology of the society and its polity, but also its philanthropy and its enlightened views on religious liberty, must be ascribed to him as their chief exponent. If the Quakers object to call him their Founder, it is only because they wish to honour God, rather than the human instrument. They never hesitate to give him his due, nor do they falsify their own teachings by seeking to win favour for them by great names. There is no clearer testimony than that of Penn, that Fox's services received full recognition in the Society during his life-time. Indeed the position accorded him moved the envy of some, in spite of his own meekness and humble carriage.
Fox's personal spiritual experience may be regarded as the laying of the foundation-stone of Quakerism. Now let us turn to the rearing of the superstructure. Having learnt where to look for help and enlightenment, his heart soon found rest. His bodily strength returned, and his mind as well as his soul received a vast impulse. He seemed to have a sympathetic insight not only into the hearts of men, but also into the secrets of nature, so that at one time he questioned whether he ought not to practice medicine. To the end of his life he remained an ardent lover of nature and of science, so that his friend, William Penn, calls him "a divine and naturalist too, and all of God Almighty's making." But soon he settled down to his true life-work as an itinerant preacher of the gospel. His patrimony was sufficient to enable him to devote himself freely to the work. In his wanderings in search of light, he had made the acquaintance of many anxious seekers after truth. To these he naturally went in the joy and ardour of his heart, to tell them what God had taught him; and many of them received "the truth." His first convert was a woman, Elizabeth Hooton, who also became the first lady preacher in the new Society, and after much service died in the West Indies, whilst accompanying Fox and others on a preaching tour. Soon we find him preaching in ordinary congregations, and in the conferences common in that day, and gaining a name for spiritual discernment.
Though but a youth of 23 when he began to preach, there was a spiritual power attending his ministry that was remarkable. Macaulay speaks of his "chant" in preaching; many Welsh preachers now "chant" the gospel with great effect, and the recitative in Mrs. Fry's ministry was acknowledged to be wonderfully impressive. But it must not be supposed that it was deliberately chosen, it is probable that he fell into it unconsciously. The intensity of his emotion too added to the impression; his large frame quivered and shook with his strong feeling. Charles Lamb has given a vivid description of what he calls "The Foxian orgasm:" probably the description would accurately apply to Fox. We can judge from his Journal how keen and penetrating his appeals must have been, and how exultant his praises and thanksgivings.
Then again he preached, not metaphysics, nor formal theology, but a living, present Christ. He told his experience with pathos and power. No wonder that people wept and laughed for joy, for they felt it was true glad tidings that he brought. His word was literally "in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance," and many received it as the word of God to them. Soon his converts were numbered by hundreds. In 1647 he first began to preach publicly, and in that and the next year several "meetings" were gathered.
Any one who passes along the East Lancashire Railway from Colne to Burnley, must be struck by the towering grandeur of Pendle Hill; and if he climbs it, he will be rewarded by a glorious panorama. Whilst looking on this magnificent view, George Fox tells us he had a vision, in which he saw that this region would be the home of thousands of Quakers; and certainly nowhere did Quakerism find such a stronghold, and receive such sturdy helpers and gifted preachers. Alas! the glory has departed! Partly as the result of extensive emigration, many of the meeting-houses then so full of devout worshippers are now empty, whilst in some others a formal few, whom Fox would hardly acknowledge as his followers, meet in cold silence sabbath by sabbath.
Fox did not long work single-handed; in a few years, especially from this district on and about the Penine Range, a band of preachers gathered round him whom Quakers still delight to honour. In 1654 he tells us there were sixty preaching in all parts of England and Wales. Some of his helpers had been ministers, like Francis Howgill and John Audland. But it was not taken for granted that they would still preach, unless there was the manifest call. Thus Thomas Lawson, a clergyman at Ramside near Ulverston, a man of considerable learning, seems to have relinquished preaching when he was converted by Fox. He was a great botanist, and says Sewel, "one of the most skilful herbalists in England," so he seems to have gained his livelihood by this skill and by tuition. Yet the authoress of "The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall" calls him a man of fervid eloquence, so that it was not lack of gifts that kept him from preaching, but it must have been the persuasion that he was not called to the work. So in our own day, that master of eloquence, John Bright, though a man of strong religious feeling, never preaches, in spite of the freedom which Quakerism allows.
Besides clergymen and other ministers, the converts included magistrates, like Justice Hotham and Anthony Pearson, author of "The Great Case of Tithes;" and officers in the army like Col. West and Capt. Pursloe, besides gentlemen of substance and standing like I. Pennington, and scholars like Samuel Fisher and Thomas Lawson just mentioned. But among them all Fox stood chief, not only as the father of the fathers among them, but also in his firm and clear grasp of the truth, his entire devotion, his gifts of leadership, his many labours and sufferings, and his God-given success. "I notice," says a contemporary letter, "that in any company when George is present all the rest are silent;" and a joint letter by Edward Burrough and Francis Howgill says, "Oh but for one hour of his company! what a treasure it would be to us!" Even those who had held similar views before they met with him, often gained from him more clearness of view and fulness of knowledge.
The manner of conducting the Quaker "meetings for worship," was the result of practical conviction rather than of theory. They thought that for Christians to meet together in order to go through a stated form of service, was at once to cramp the outpouring of the heart to God, and to interfere with the Holy Spirit in his direction of the utterances of Christ's ministers. When they met in silence, each could speak to God what was in his heart, and each could hear in his spirit "what God the Lord would speak;" and if any one was "moved" to declare any truth, the way was clear. Thus Christ was owned practically as a present Lord, and the Holy Spirit trusted as a real and practical guide. They read in their New Testaments that when the saints met together, all the gifted might prophesy one by one as anything was revealed to them; and that each might contribute to the service his psalm of thanksgiving, or hymn of adoration, or edifying doctrine. It seemed to them that in the "apostacy" of the churches not only the rights of private Christians, but the claims of the Holy Spirit had been interfered with by the "one-man ministry." And probably none of them, whatever his gift of discernment, imagined in those days of burning zeal and abundant labours, that the time would come when their simple system would prove a rigid bond, which would leave half their meetings without ministry of any kind. Encouragement of a true ministry is as needful as discouragement of the spurious.
Very early in the history of the Society, the distinguishing views of Friends on the Sacraments were clearly enunciated. In 1656, Fox sent out a manifesto clearly stating his views, especially on the Lord's Supper. He thought the outward rites were simply adaptations of Jewish customs, temporary condescensions to the weakness of the converts from Judaism until the destruction of Jerusalem, and even during that period, optional, not obligatory. If the early Christians kept up the old custom of sipping the wine and breaking the bread, then they must do it in remembrance of Christ's death, and not of the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. But he believed the outward rite Jewish in its style, and foreign to the pure spirituality of Christianity. So also with regard to Baptism.[4]
[4] The other leading "testimonies" of Friends were against all war, and against oaths, even in a court of justice.