by Leonard Ravenhill
“The most remarkable incident in modern history perhaps is not the Diet of Worms, still less the battle of Austerlitz or Peterloo, or any other battle.
“The most remarkable incident is passed over carelessly by most historians and treated with some degree of ridicule by others – namely, George Fox’s making for himself a suit of leather.
“No grander thing was ever done than when George Fox, stitching himself into a suit of leather, went forth determined to find truth for himself – and to do battle for it against all superstition and intolerance.”
This was Thomas Carlyle’s considered opinion about the poor, uneducated English shoemaker, George Fox. So hard was his itinerate preaching life that he made for himself that famous pair of leather breeches, which have since become historical. Those breeches were known all over the country, says Macauley the historian. In the middle of the 17th century men feared the man dressed in that famous suit as much as the Jordan spectators, centuries before, feared the man who had the leathern girdle about his loins and who ate locusts and wild honey. And rightly so, for George Fox and John the Baptist were kindred spirits.
George Fox first saw the light of day in 1624 at Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leichestershire, England. His godly parents belonged to the Church of England and endeavored to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord. George’s first step in his long quest for spirituality was at the age of eleven when he surrendered his heart to the Lord. Ever after, he sought to live an honest and upright life.
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