‘The truth must be as accessible to us now as it was to the people of George Fox’s time.’

Consciousness raising: Tony D’Souza on the ‘divine psychotherapy’ proposed by George Fox

‘Inner truth does not change with time.’ | Photo: Alina Grubnyak / Unsplash.

Perhaps the most remarkable fact about Quakerism, and what makes it almost unique among other religious societies, is that at its heart is individual experience. This is hardly ever spoken about today, which makes it even more remarkable. But the fact remains: George Fox founded the society on his own experience of inner truth, and said so in this well-known quotation from Quaker faith & practice 19.02: ‘Oh then, I heard 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. Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give him all the glory… Jesus Christ… enlightens and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus, when God doth work who can let [i.e. hinder] him? And this I knew experimentally [from experience].’

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