Dear friends,—Keep in the power of the Lord; for if you lose that, you lose the kingdom which stands in power [1 Cor 4:20], and peace, and righteousness, and joy in the holy ghost [Rom 14:17]; for out of the kingdom is strife, and no peace; and therefore keep in the power, and life, and love, which you did first receive; that you all may be heirs of the kingdom [Jas 2:5], and sit under your teacher the grace of God, which will bring your salvation [Tit 2:11f], that you may witness that you have a teacher from God [John 3:2], that doth bring your salvation; which salvation is your walls and bulwarks [Isa 26:1], that he may be glorified, and ye may have your comfort in your salvation. . . . For the foundation of our men's and women's meetings is Christ Jesus, who bruiseth the serpent's head [Gen 3:15], who is the head of all false orders and foundations, and the gospel, which is the power of God [Rom 16:1], which bringeth life and immortality to light [2 Tim 1:10], shines over him that did darken you; which power of God he is out of. And therefore all in the power and spirit, encourage both men and women in their duty, in the order of the gospel of Christ, in whom you have dominion, and in him who changeth not. My love is to you all.
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."