Dear friends, to whom is my love, I am glad to hear of the increase of truth amongst you, and the Lord prosper his work, and increase people in his knowledge, who will fulfil his promise, ‘that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea [Isa 11:9],’ in the new covenant; though in the old covenant, the word was to Jacob, and the statutes to Israel [Psa 147:19]; the like was not to other nations, but the new covenant is to all nations, Jews and Gentiles; ‘For I will give him for a covenant of light to the Gentiles, and he shall be my salvation to the ends of the earth [Isa 42:6/49:6];’ therefore he saith, ‘Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved [Isa 45:22]:’ and there is no salvation by any other name under heaven, but by the name of Jesus [Acts 4:12], which signifies a saviour. And in his name keep your men's and women's, and all your other meetings, that you may feel him in the midst of you [Mat 18:20], exercising his offices; as he is a prophet, which God has raised up [Deut 18:15], to open to you, and as he is a shepherd, who has laid down his life for you [John 10:15], to feed you [Isa 40:11, Ezek 34:23], so hear his voice [John 10:27]; and as he is a counsellor [Isa 9:6], and a commander, follow him and his counsel; and as he is a bishop [1 Pet 2:25] to oversee you, with his heavenly power and spirit; and as he is a priest, who offered up himself for you [Heb 7:27], who is made higher than the heavens [Heb 7:26], (and that is higher than all the priests that are made upon the earth,) who sanctifies his people [Heb 13:12], his church [1 Cor 1:2], and presents them to God without blemish, spot, or wrinkle [Eph 5:27]: so, I say, know him in all his offices, exercising them amongst you, and in you. . . . <55> . . .
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."