Friends,—Seek the peace of all men; which peace is in Christ, which is a peace that the world cannot take away. And blessed are the peacemakers [Mat 5:9], that make peace among the brethren and people; these shall have a blessing from the Lord, the king of peace [Heb 7:2]; but wo be unto them that cause strife and offence [Mat 18:7]. And all walk in the righteousness of Christ the Lord, over your own righteousness, and do, and act, and speak in his righteousness; then you act, and do, and speak, and walk in that, in which you have peace, and then God will delight in you, and you will be loved of him, for he loveth the righteous.
And let it be below any of God's people to raise an evil report [Exo 23:1] on his people, or any others, or to give both their ears to any one's report of his people or matter, till they have heard both parties; so that righteousness, and truth, and judgment, may be kept up, and not fall. And in your men and women's meetings, you are in and about the Lord's business [Luke 2:49], and not your own; and therefore let the Lord be in your eyes [Ezek 38:23?], that all of you his presence, and power, and wisdom, and judgment may receive, to do, and act, and speak in. And this keeps all in his fear, to be careful of their words and doings, and keeps all solid, and virtuous, and sober; and then whatsoever is of a good report, and is decent and comely, and whatsoever is virtuous, and tends to virtue, and is lovely, that to follow after and cherish [Phil 4:8]. And here your eyes are kept open, to see that nothing be lacking [1 Th 4:12], and that you stand in that which shall never fall, in the power, and spirit, and seed Christ, who is the sure foundation [Isa 28:16], and the rock of ages [Isa 26:4 KJV margin].
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."