GEORGE FOX AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY [Illustration: GEORGE FOX 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 [Illustration: printer's logo] 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_.