George Fox's Style

BAPTISMAL FONTS IN ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, FENNY DRAYTON. At the older font, in the rear, was baptized the child George Fox, who in later years was to testify against all outward ordinances of religion. THE TERCENTENARY MEETING.69 For one week they sailed backward and forward trying to make the windward passage between the islands of Cuba and Haiti. Day by day as they scanned the horizon the island of Jamaica remained in sight. At length they decided to sail around the island of Cuba, so they passed around its western end and after passing the Florida Keys, rounded the Florida peninsula. Now they began to encounter bad weather. Two severe storms broke upon them, in one of which their bow-sprit and jib sail were carried away, and in the other, worn out by fatigue, they tied their rudder amidships and let her run. It was thè 18th of Fourth Month, 1672, before they reached Cape Henry and entered Chesapeake Bay to sail up that bay and anchor off Patuxent River on the 20th. And now again a severe storm blew up and the sea was so rough that they were prevented from landing until Fifth Month 2d, 1672. Their voyage from Jamaica was as long, therefore, as their voyage across the Atlantic, they having been on board fifty-five days. GEORGE FOX'S STYLE. By Frank Aydelotte, President of Swarthmore College. When Dr. Jones suggested that I should write a paper on George Fox for the Friends' Historical Association, he gave me the title, " George Fox as a Man," thinking it might be of interest to Friends to have a personal impression of their hero from someone outside the fold. I have altered my title only to make it less ambitious, and shall treat style not in the narrow, " literary " sense but rather broadly, as a revelation of the man. A man's style is not the only revelation of his character ; it may be misleading in some cases, but it gives a picture of his ways of thought, and " as he thinketh in his heart so is he." I am well aware that in reading George Fox's Journal as a revelation of his character one must make certain allowances. The Journal was not written out in the ordinary way but was dictated , and Fox's language was probably modified to a certain 70 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. extent by his amanuenses. In the second place one must make allowance for his editors and especially for Ellwood, who, even if he was, as I believe, one of the best who ever undertook such a task, was nevertheless not Fox himself. The fact of dictation probably accounts for certain extraordinary contrasts in the style of the Journal. There are many wonderful phrases, instinct with nervous force and brevity, and along with them a great deal of diffuseness and repetition. Fox's language was, according to William Penn, " uncouth and unfashionable to nice ears," and unquestionably many readers are repelled by passages which seem awkward and verbose. On the other hand Fox thought of himself as a man of few words. " The Lord showed me," he says, " that my words should be few and savoury, seasoned with grace." One need only think back over the Journal to remember many expressions of this kind, pithy and full of grace and power. I cannot forbear quoting a few, familiar though they may be to all of my readers since they have become a part of the devotional language of Friends. " It struck at my life." " Speak to their condition." " Unity with the creation." " All things were new ; and all creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter." (Of the Scriptures) " For I was in that spirit by which they were given forth." " I sat still, with my mind retired to the Lord." " Having cleared myself of that which lay upon me from the Lord." " So, Friends, come into that which is over all the spirits of the world, fathoms all the spirits of the world, and stands in the patience ; with that, ye may see where others stand, and reach that which is of...