Dear friends,—Keep in the Lord's power, that his kingdom stands in [1 Cor 4:20], and in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy ghost [Rom 14:17], which the devil and all his instruments of strife and debate, and sowers of discord [Prov 6:14] among brethren, are out of; and keep that spirit out with the power of <148> God, which was before it was; in which gospel (the power of God) [Rom 16:1] is your holy and heavenly order; in the possession of the same labour, walking in the new and living way [Heb 10:20], over all the dead ways in Adam, let them be what sect they will; and in this new and living way you have the life and the truth, which death and darkness cannot get into, which is out of the truth, though they may talk of the words of the truth. But keep in the pure religion that was set up above sixteen hundred years ago; and this pure religion, which is undefiled before God, will keep you from the spots of the world [Jas 1:27], and above all the spotted and dirty religions that are not pure, but are defiled before and in the sight of God. And in this religion, in your men's and women's meetings, that are in the gospel of Christ, and in the order of it, you will see that nothing is lacking [1 Th 4:12], being ordered by the holy, pure, peaceable and gentle wisdom of God from above [Jas 3:17]. And so keep in the worship of God, in the new covenant, in the spirit, and in the truth; which the devil, that foul spirit who is out of the truth [John 8:44], cannot get into, nor his company: and so in the seed of life, which bruiseth the head of the serpent [Gen 3:15], all dwell, and sit down, who is the Amen [Rev 3:14], the first and last [Rev 22:13], in whom you have peace with God; and then nothing can get between you and the Lord God.
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."