Friends,—Consider, you that have known the mercies of the Lord God, and of Jesus Christ. Look back, and see how they that had known much of God, how soon they forgot him, as in the days of the old world, and in the days of Moses, and in the days of the Judges, how they soon forgot God, that had done great things for them, and forsook God, and his way, and religion, and worship, and followed such gods as men had made. And in the days of the prophets, how the people forsook the Lord God; and in the days of Christ and his apostles, how they were mostly gone astray from God; though they kept an outward profession of their words, yet denied Christ in his light, and life, and power; who was the end of the law and the prophets [Rom 10:4]. And they that did receive Christ Jesus, and believed in him, in a few ages after the apostles, how most of Christendom ran from the life into death, and ran from the light into darkness; and into error, from the holy spirit, and into Babylon, which is confusion [Gen 11:1-9]; and from the worship in the spirit, and in the truth [John 4:24], that Christ set up, and followed after the worship of the beast and the dragon [Rev 13:4]; and went from the true church after the whore; and from Christ, the way to God, after the ways that men had made; and from the religion that is pure from above [Jas 1:27/3:17], after the religions that men have made. And so, now the gospel is preached again, and the living way (Christ) to the living God, and his religion and his worship are set up and received of many, and they come to the true worship, which is in God. And all be faithful, and take heed of running back again, where you were before, lest you and your children perish, as others have done, that forsook the Lord God of mercies. And therefore train up your children in the fear of God [Prov 22:6/Psa 34:11], and in the way of Christ, and in his worship and religion, that they may observe and keep in it, when you are gone.
And walk in the spirit and truth, in which God is worshipped, and keep in the order of the gospel, in the power of God [Rom 1:16], which was before the devil was; which power of God will keep you pure to God, that nothing may get betwixt you and the Lord God. And be obedient to <37> the law, that God hath written in your hearts [Jer 31:33], and put in your minds, that you may be the children of the new covenant; and that you may be the royal priesthood [1 Pet 2:9], offering up to God the spiritual sacrifices [1 Pet 2:5]. And sitting under your teacher, the grace of God, which bringeth salvation [Tit 2:11], and seasoneth your words [Col 4:6], and establisheth your hearts [Heb 13:9]. And this grace saveth [Eph 2:8], and is sufficient [2 Cor 12:9], saith God Almighty. And you need no man to teach you, but as the same anointing doth teach you to know all things: which anointing abideth in you [1 Jn 2:27]. And hearken all what the righteousness of faith saith, speaking on this wise, ‘The word is nigh thee, even in thy heart and in thy mouth, to obey it and do it. That thou need not say, who shall ascend to bring Christ from above, or descend to bring Christ from the grave, &c. for that is the word of faith which we do preach.’
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."