My dear friends,—To whom is my love, and to the rest of Friends that aways. And my desire is, that you may all suffer as lambs of Christ; ‘for when he was reviled, he reviled not again; and he gave his back and cheek to the strikers and smiters, and his hair to be plucked off [Isa 50:6] , and was as a ‘lamb led dumb before his shearers, and he opened not his mouth [7" class="scriptRef">Isa 53:7];’ though he was the King of kings, and Lord of lords [Rev 19:16]: and so left his followers and believers an example, that they should follow him, like innocent lambs; for the Lamb and the saints have the victory [Rev 17:14/Dan 7:22] over all the tearers, and strikers, and pluckers, and devourers, and persecutors. And so let patience have its perfect work [Jas 1:4] in you and among you, in which you run the race, and do obtain the crown of eternal life [Heb 12:1/1 Cor 9:24f]. And do not strive, but keep down that spirit that would strive, with love, which differeth you from all other sufferers that <144> have not love, which envieth not, neither is provoked, but beareth all things, and endureth all things [1 Cor 13:4f,7], and will wear out all evil doers. And so be faithful, and of the good faith that hath the victory [1 Jn 5:4], and in it suffer joyfully, as the saints did, and leave the gainsayers to the Lord God, who will reward and repay them. And keep in the seed that will out-last all, and bruise the head of the serpent [Gen 3:15]. And so the Lord God preserve you all both in life, word, and conversation to his glory; and that all your words may be gracious. Amen.
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."