Many Baptists in England were attracted to George Fox when he became a traveling preacher in about 1650. Fox championed an inner illumination of spirit, in contrast to the Congregationalists who stressed church membership and the Baptists who emphasized personal responsibility to God and the baptism of believers. Fox, though an uneducated man, believed that he had a message to give to the public. He preached the possibility of direct enlightenment through the influence of the Holy Spirit and the experience of God’s love. In the face of war and hate, he pleaded for peace and goodwill, and in the midst of an uncompromising Calvinism, he proclaimed that God was striving to reconcile everyone to Himself. He gave the Bible less prominence than did most of the Dissenters, and he saw no need for sacraments or ordained ministers. The common people welcomed this unconventional kind of religion.
Impact: Within ten years about sixty preachers were imitating Fox. Few leaders of high standing joined them, except for William Penn, an admiral’s son, who was able to plant a Quaker colony in America in 1681. From here the Quakers carried their message through the colonies. In parts of the South, they were the most popular of the religious sects. Their idiosyncrasies, however, annoyed the Puritans of Boston so much that several persons were hung after a sentence of banishment had failed to dispose of them. In the Middle colonies, they became one of the most respectable and prosperous elements in society.