Dear friends, now is the time for you to stand; therefore put on the whole armour of God [Eph 6:11,13], from the crown of the head unto the soles of your feet, that you may stand in the possession of life: and you that have been public men, and formerly did travel abroad, mind to keep up your testimony, both in the city and in the countries, that you may encourage Friends to keep up their meetings as usual thereaway; so that none faint in the time of trial; but that all may be encouraged, both small and great, to stand faithful to the Lord God, and his power, and truth; that their heads may not sink in the storms, but may be kept up above the waves. So, go into your meeting places, as at other times: and keep up your public testimony, and visit Friends thereabouts, now in this time of storm; for there is your crown, in the universal power and spirit of God. So let your minds, and souls, and hearts, be kept above all outward and visible things. Few travel now the countries: it may be well to visit them, lest any should faint. Stir up one another in that which is good [2 Tim 1:6, 2 Pet 3:1], and to faithfulness in the truth, this day. And let your minds be kept above all visible things; for God took care for man in the beginning, and set him above the works of his hands [Heb 2:7]: and therefore mind the heavenly treasure [Mat 6:20], that will never fade away [1 Pet 1:4]; and dwell in the seed, in which you may know your election [1Th 1:4]. It is hard for me to give forth in writing what is before me, because of my bodily weakness; but I was desirous in some measure to ease my mind, desiring that you may stand fast, and faithful to truth. Of my travels and weakness it is like you have heard, and of my affliction, both by <33> them that are without, and also by them that are within, which are hard to be uttered and spoken. My love is to all faithful Friends.
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."