O Friends! keep close to the light in you, and do not look forth at words that proceed from a vain and light mind; but at the power of words. For the words of God, that proceed from him, are powerful and mighty in operation, to the throwing down of all the strong holds [Mic 5:11, 2 Cor 10:4] of the man of sin [2 Th 2:3]. The Lord is coming in power, to gather his chosen ones to himself, and to judge and condemn the wicked one for evermore. He will plague the beast [Rev 16:10?], and burn the whore [Rev 17:16], and plague and torment the disobedient, and rebellious, and backsliders very sore. Therefore, ye that know the voice of the Lord, hearken to it, and see how ye stand in his fear, and how ye are brought into the obedience of the truth. And take heed of looking forth at man; but keep close to the light in you, and see that your minds be kept close to that, and guided by that; and being guided by that, it will keep you clear and pure to receive the teaching of the Lord. Have salt in yourselves [Mark 9:50], and let your words be few [Eccl 5:2] and seasoned [Col 4:6], that they may be savoury. And watch over one another in love, and walk in wisdom, and sobriety, and gravity, and sincerity, in purity, and cleanness. And keep free from deceit, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful words of darkness, but rather reprove <30> them [Eph 5:11]. And be faithful to the Lord; walk so that the world may be confounded and ashamed, when they speak evil of you, as evil doers [1 Pet 3:16]; walking in humbleness, lowliness, and uprightness before them, it will take away all just occasion of speaking evil against the truth. And be bold and valiant for the truth [Jer 9:3], and press forward, towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus [Phil 3:14], and let no man take your crown [Rev 3:11].
Dear Friends, watch over one another in love, and stir up that which is pure in one another, and exhort one another daily [Heb 3:13. And the Lord keep you all in his fear, and in his obedience now and evermore!
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."