Page "George Fox" Paragraph 20

Fox complained to judges about decisions he considered morally wrong, as in his letter on the case of a woman due to be executed for theft.

He campaigned against the paying of tithes, which funded the established church and often went into the pockets of absentee landlords or religious colleges far away from the paying parishioners.

In his view, as God was everywhere and anyone could preach, the established church was unnecessary and a university qualification irrelevant for a preacher.

Conflict with civil authority was inevitable.

Fox was imprisoned several times, the first at Nottingham in 1649.

At Derby in 1650 he was imprisoned for blasphemy ; a judge mocked Fox's exhortation to " tremble at the word of the Lord ", calling him and his followers " Quakers ".

Following his refusal to fight against the return of the monarchy ( or to take up arms for any reason ), his sentence was doubled.

The refusal to swear oaths or take up arms came to be a much more important part of his public statements.

Refusal to take oaths meant that Quakers could be prosecuted under laws compelling subjects to pledge allegiance, as well as making testifying in court problematic.

In a letter of 1652 ( That which is set up by the sword ), he urged Friends not to use " carnal weapons " but " spiritual weapons ", saying " let the waves power of nations break over your heads ".