Dear Friends every where, that have received the truth as it is in Jesus [Eph 4:21], which is holy and pure, and brings to live in him that is pure and holy. The truth is peaceable, and a peaceable habitation; and the truth is sufficient and able to make you free [John 8:32] from him that abode not in the truth, and in whom there is no truth [John 8:44]. And all that do not live and walk in the peaceable truth, follow him that is out of the truth, into strifes, and vain janglings [1 Tim 1:6] and disputings, like men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth [1 Tim 6:5]. And now the grace and truth that comes by Jesus Christ [John 1:17], is that which all people should be under in this new covenant of light, and life, and grace, and truth; as the law came by Moses in the old covenant, and the Jews were to be under the law. But the true christians who have received the grace and truth come to be under this grace's teaching, leading, and establishing; by which grace and truth they are united and joined to Jesus Christ, from whence it comes. And this grace and truth is able and sufficient to make you free from him that is out of the truth, and to come to have a peaceable habitation [Isa 32:18] in Christ Jesus, their eternal rest and sabbath. For Christ Jesus saith to his believers and followers, ‘In me ye have peace, but in the world ye have trouble [John 16:33];’ and the trouble is in the world of wickedness. And therefore God's people are not to love the world, nor the things of the world [1 Jn 2:15]; for the love of the world is enmity to God [James 4:4].
And therefore, feel God's love shed abroad in all your hearts [Rom 5:5], through Christ Jesus, to carry all your hearts and your minds above the love <163> of the world; and this love is that which will preserve you in the excellent way of bearing all things [1 Cor 13:7]; and the love of God fulfils the law [Rom 13:10].
And the fruits of the pure holy spirit [Gal 5:22] of the God of truth [Psa 31:5] is love, which is a peaceable spirit: but the foul, unclean spirit [Rev 18:2], that is out of the truth, is a ravenous, unquiet, unpeaceable spirit. And the faith that Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of [Heb 12:2], works by love [Gal 5:6]; and the spirit of faith [2 Cor 4:13] is a peaceable spirit; which faith gives the victory [1 Jn 5:4] over the unpeaceable, unruly, ravenous spirit; and by which faith you have the inheritance [Heb 6:12].
And the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus, which is the power of God [Rom 1:16], the gospel of peace, which is over the power of darkness, and was before it was, and it will be when it is gone; and in this gospel all the heirs of it have an everlasting unity, and an everlasting glorious fellowship in the glorious gospel of peace, yea, a glorious, peaceable fellowship and an access to God [Rom 5:2].
And the wisdom of God from above is gentle and peaceable [Jas 3:17], and justifies and preserves all her children [Mat 11:19?] above the unpeaceable wisdom that is below; and this peaceable wisdom preserves above all the unruly spirits, and vain talkers [Tit 1:10] and janglers, such as talk of the wisdom of God, but live not in it, but in the wisdom of the world.
And such as talk of the gospel of Christ, the power of God, but live not in it, but do live in the power of satan [Acts 26:18], the enemy and adversary, and the devil, the destroying power and spirit; and such have no comfort of the scriptures [Rom 15:4], nor of the things of God, nor of the grace, nor of the truth, nor of the wisdom of God, nor of faith, nor light, though they may talk of all these things, while they follow that unruly, foul, unpeaceable spirit, that abode not in the truth, (in whom there is no truth,) and where there is no truth there is confusion and disorder. Now the God of truth is a God of order [1 Cor 14:33], from whom you have grace, truth, and faith, which is his gift [Eph 2:8], and his spirit, and gospel, and wisdom, that you may all live in the order of it, and as it orders you. For God is a God of order, and his order is known in his light, grace, and truth, and spirit, and his gospel, the power of God, and in his wisdom. And all his children and people should live in the order of his light, spirit, and gospel, and wisdom, and delight in the order of it.
And all you that know God, and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life [John 17:3]; then in this eternal life you do know, that the God of truth is a God of order, and you love his order, in his light, and life, and grace, and truth, in his gospel, and in his spirit, and in his heavenly pure wisdom, by which all his children are justified.
And in his truth, that makes free from him that abode not in the truth, (in whom there is no truth,) that all his children should walk in the order of truth, which hath made them free, who are born again of the incorruptible seed by the word of God, that lives, and abides, <164> and endures for ever [1 Pet 1:23]. And so feeds of the milk of this immortal word [1 Pet 2:2], and so are of an incorruptible generation, which is above the corruptible; and here is the hidden man of the heart, that is incorruptible [1 Pet 3:4], known, that hath an everlasting fellowship, and hath an incorruptible crown [1 Cor 9:25], and is an heir of an incorruptible kingdom [1 Pet 1:4].
And now the God of this world, (and his followers,) that abode not in the truth, in whom there is no truth, cannot endure to hear talk of the order of truth, which is in the light, and life, and in the gospel, and in the wisdom of the God of truth. For the world is full of disorder and confusion; but the living, eternal, immortal God of truth is a God of order, and not of confusion, who hath sent his son to destroy the devil and his works [Heb 2:14/1 Jn 3:8]. Blessings and praises, with all glory and thanks, be unto him, who hath all power, might, majesty, and dominion, now, henceforth, and for ever. 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."