My dear friends,—In the order and wisdom of life order all things to God's glory [Wis 8:1, 1 Cor 10:31], and dwell in the love of God [1 Jn 4:16] together, all serving one another <167> in love [Gala 5:13], and in the life of the truth; and ye that ‘give to the poor, lend to the Lord ’ and he will give you again [Prov 19:17] with advantage. And so be fruitful in every good work [Col 1:10], and be subject to one another [1 Pet 5:5] in the fear of the Lord, and do that which ye do in love and peace; and in that keep in the authority and power of God, in kindness. And keep down and be master over all passion, and the hasty and cross spirits, and silence that which is sudden; and let love have the pre-eminence in all and over all. And provoke one another to love and to good works [Heb 10:24], and be diligent in all your places; that ye may be a good savour [2 Cor 2:15] in the hearts of all, and that the truth may flow over all. And let nothing be wanting amongst you, and then all is and will be well. And encourage one another to seek out the poor, and sick, and fatherless, and widow, and imprisoned, and make up their necessities and wants [Mat 25:35f, James 1:27]; then there will be nothing lacking [1 Th 4:12]. And keep in discerning, that ye may not be ensnared, nor made a prey upon; but that in the power and wisdom of God ye may be kept over all such, and to feel through all states and conditions. That the Lord God may be honoured in and by you all, and ye all may be preserved in his power and life to his glory. For your bestowing of outward things to such as stand in need, is the least love, and things of little value in comparison to the things that are above and immortal. And so keep over all in that in which ye have the blessing poured upon you from the Lord God, to clothe and cover you.
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."