Friends,—Stand still and see [Exo 14:16], be still and hear, sit at Jesus' feet, and choose the better thing [Luke 10:38-42]; to do the work of God is to believe in his son Jesus Christ [John 6:29] the light; and your hope and faith are to stand in God, and in his son, walk by that faith which he is the author of [Heb 12:2], and walk in the light [1 Jn 1:7], and walk in the spirit [Gal 5:16]. As every one hath received Christ, so walk in him [Col 2:6], and so serve God in the spirit [Rom 7:6], and worship him in the spirit and in the truth [John 4:24]; for God is not worshipped out of the spirit and truth. The babes' milk is from the word [2 Pet 2:2], and their bread is from above [John 6:47f], and there is no true religion but what is pure from above [James 1:27/3:17]; and <244> the stayed, patient people abide in their own house, but the whore is gadding abroad [Prov 7:11f]; and there is no true church but where Christ exercises his offices in and amongst them, and they are asking their husband at home [1 Cor 14:35], and he is their head [Eph 5:23], and the true marriage to Christ the heavenly man is witnessed by such as are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone [Gen 2:23]; none come to be children of the light but such as believe in the light [John 12:36]; no sons of God, but by receiving Christ [John 1:12], and by being led by his spirit [Rom 8:14]; no coming into all truth, but by being led by the spirit of truth [John 16:13]; no running the true race [Heb 12:1] in the straight way [Jer 31:9] to get to the glorious crown [1 Pet 5:4], but with patience [Heb 12:1]; no purifying, but by coming to Christ, the hope of glory, the purifier [Col 1:27/1 Jn 3:3]; and no overcoming, but by believing in Christ [1 Jn 5:5] the light, and he that doth so is born of God [1 Jn 5:1]. And there is no true witness within but the light, the life, and spirit of Christ, the true record [John 8:14]; no true faith but that which Christ is the author of [Heb 12:2], which giveth victory [1 Jn 5:4]; no true anchor to the immortal soul [Heb 6:19] but by Christ, the hope of glory [Col 1:27]. So by hope you are saved [Rom 8:24]; no true liberty but in Christ, and in his law of the spirit of life [Rom 8:2], and in his gospel; no true knowledge of God, but by his light and spirit in the heart [2 Cor 4:6]; no salvation, but by the name of Jesus [Acts 4:12]; no true praying, but in the spirit; no true singing, but in the spirit [1 Cor 14:15]; no true fast, but that which breaks the bond of iniquity [Isa 58:6/Acts 8:23]; no true fellowship, but in the pure faith, light, spirit, and gospel [Phil 1:5,2:1] of God and Christ; no true foundation, but Christ [1 Cor 3:11], to build upon; no true way, but Christ [John 14:6]; no true seed, but what Christ hath sown in the heart [Mat 13:19]; no true rest, but in Christ [Mat 11:28]; no true peace, but in Christ [Rom 5:1]; no true service to God and Christ, but in the newness of life [Rom 6:4/7:6]; no knowing the things of God, but by the spirit of God [1 Cor 2:11]; no knowing the son nor the Father, but by the revelation of the holy spirit; no knowing the scriptures, but by the same holy ghost that moved the holy men to give them forth [2 Pet 1:21]; no calling Jesus, Lord, but by the holy ghost [1 Cor 12:3], by which he was conceived [Mat 1:20]; no grafting into Christ, but by believing [Rom 11:23] in the light [John 12:36], which is called the light in men, and the life in him [John 1:4]; no true wisdom, but from above [James 3:17]; and no true receiving it, but in the fear of the Lord [Job 28:28]; and no true understanding of spiritual things, but what Christ gives [1 Jn 5:20]; no divine reason, but in the faith that Christ is the author of [Heb 12:2], which giveth victory over that which is unreasonable [2 Th 3:2], and separates from God; and no true love to God, but what he sheddeth abroad in the heart [Rom 5:5]; and to know a fellowship with Christ in his death and sufferings [Phil 3:10], is above the fellowship of bread and wine, which will have an end; but the fellowship in the gospel and holy spirit hath no end.
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."