George Fox, a Christian Mystic

"A mystic is one who has had the experience that the divine Ultimate and the essence of the individual Self are fundamentally one and the same." In his maturity George Fox dictated a vivid account of his profound mystical experience, which transformed him from an unhappy questing youth into a charismatic spiritual giant. Unlike some other mystics he resolved to share his experience with others. This became his life's work, and resulted in establishing the community known today as the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. He did this by travelling widely, addressing crowds, and by an amazing output of documents. Hugh McGregor Ross made an intensive study of these documents in the majestic Quaker Library in London. He there identified that Fox's record of his spiritual awakening, which involved what in the seventeenth century was regarded as a blasphemy, had been tampered with. Here it is restored to its original form. It is followed by a great number of the documents Fox created to guide and support his followers, all given in his own words but edited sensitively for the modern reader. This is a unique record of the awakening of a mystic in the Christian tradition, and of living out that experience in his way of life.