Friends,—Where there is strife among any of you, mind the light to judge it down and condemn it; by which light your minds may be guided up to Christ, where there is no strife, to learn of him [Mat 11:29], and to condemn all that with the light, which a ground to reproach truth, and to see your nakedness. For that which is out of the light will fall and confound itself. So mind that which keeps your <138> peace, and condemns that which leads into weakness; and that which will let in prejudice, goes from the light. All which is to be condemned with the light, which leads to Christ the covenant of peace [Ezek 37:26]. And where there is strife which leads out into many words [1 Tim 6:4?], such will wither and bring themselves under condemnation at last. Such must be silent and mind that which doth condemn them; that the life in them may arise, wherein is no strife. For where men's spirits are high, something is stirring that should be kept under; take heed that get not up into rule. So first learn the ministry of condemnation [2 Cor 3:9] in yourselves, that life may arise, before ministry in the spirit be known, which preacheth peace by Jesus Christ [Acts 10:36], where there is no strife. Therefore wait to know the time of silence [Eccl 3:7]. And all Friends, let your patience and moderation be known to all men [Phil 4:5]; for nothing is attained to that is good by strife, for that is out of Christ in the forward will, which is to be condemned with the light, (where is the unity,) which cometh from Christ, and leadeth up to Christ the covenant of life. And take heed, all Friends, of causing his name to be blasphemed through you among the heathen [Ezek 36:20-23], but mind and wait to receive the love of God which bears all things, and suffers all things [1 Cor 13:7]; and so comes to receive the armour of righteousness [2 Cor 6:7], which quenches all the fiery darts of satan [Eph 6:16], that the patience that bears and suffers all things may be witnessed.
G. F.
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George Fox (1624 - 1691)
Was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. This was a group the Lord started through the ministry of George Fox. God called him apart from all other forms of Christendom in his day because of the lack of Biblical obedience and holiness.The emphasis in George Fox's ministry was firstly prophetic. He called out the people of God to show them that they had the Holy Spirit of God and could be taught of Him and not to solely rely on the teachings of ecclesiastical leaders. Secondly, he spoke directly to many ministers in his day to show them they were hirelings and did not have a true shepherds heart for the people of God rather they were seeking after financial gain.
Founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers). George Fox was born in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire, England, the son of Puritan parents. Little is known of his early life, apart from what he wrote in his journal: "In my very young years, I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and spirit not usual in young children. Insomuch that, when I saw old men behave lightly and wantonly toward each other, I had a dislike thereof raise in my heart, and I said within myself, `If ever I come to be a man, surely I shall not do so, nor be so wanton.'"
At the age of 19, he gained deep, personal assurance of his salvation and began to travel as an itinerant preacher, seeking a return to the simple practices of the New Testament. He abhorred technical theology, and preached a faith borne of experience, freshly fed and guided by the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit.
Fox was persecuted almost daily, yet his power of endurance was phenomenal. He was beaten with dogwhips, knocked down with fists and stones, brutally struck with pikestaves, hard beset by mobs, incarcerated eight times in the pestilential jails, prisons, castles and dungeons--yet he went straightforward with his mission as though he had discovered some fresh courage which made him impervious to man's inhumanity.
He undertook as far as possible to let the new life in Christ take its own free course of development in his ministry. He shunned rigid forms and static systems, and for that reason he refused to head a new sect or to start a new denomination, or to begin a new church. He would not build an organization of any kind. His followers at first called themselves "Children of the Light," and later adopted the name "The Society (or Fellowship) of Friends."
Fox preached and traveled for 40 years throughout England, Scotland, Holland, and America. His life demonstrated the truth of his famous saying, "One man raised by God's power to stand and live in the same spirit the apostle and prophets were in, can shake the country for ten miles around."