Dear friends,—My love to you all in the holy peaceable truth; and my desires are, that whatsoever ye do may be done in the name of Jesus [Col 3:17], to the glory of God [1 Cor 10:31] the Father. And all be subject one to another [1 Pet 5:5] in the fear of the Lord God, so that ye may all come to dwell in the love of God, which edifies the body of Christ [Eph 4:16], who is the heavenly man. And let all strifes, and divisions, and backbitings, or whisperings, or prejudices, cease and be buried; and so whatsoever is amiss, or hath been amiss, let it be put down by the truth and spirit of God, that it may be uppermost, which is a strong bond to unite your hearts, and minds, and souls together, and to the Lord. And be kind and courteous one towards <191> another, all studying to be quiet [1 Th 1:11], and to excel one another in virtue, and purity, and holiness, and righteousness, and godliness, in all your words, and lives, and conversations; so that you may all walk as become saints and christians, every one esteeming and preferring one another above yourselves [Phil 2:3/Rom 12:10] in the truth, in meekness, and lowliness of mind, and humility; for he that inhabits eternity, dwells with an humble heart [Isa 57:15]. And therefore, do not quench the least motion of God's good spirit [1 Th 5:19/Neh 9:20] in yourselves, nor in any other; but let truth and goodness be cherished in all; and let all harshness, and bitterness, and revilings be kept down by the truth, that it may have its passage through you all, and in it you may bear one another's weakness and infirmities, and so fulfil the law of Christ [Gal 6:2/Rom 15:1]; keeping down revenge, hastiness or passion, as knowing vengeance is the Lord's, and he will repay it [Rom 12:19] on every one that does wrong, without respect of persons [Acts 10:34]. For, friends, you there should be as lights, or as a city that cannot be hid. Lights, I say, to give light in all people [Mat 5:14f]; and also to be as the salt of the earth, to be a good savour, and savoury to all people; for he or she, that is an ill savour, hath lost the salt's savour, and is good for nothing, and is trodden under the foot of men [Mat 5:13]. And therefore take heed of losing the salt's savour, either in word or conversation; for if you do, you will come under the foot of men, they will trample upon you; therefore be careful, fervent, circumspect, and faithful in the truth, and let your moderation, temperance, and sobriety appear to all men [Phil 4:5], showing forth the work of the Lord, and your honesty and justness in all your words and dealings between man and man; and that you may owe nothing to any man but love [Rom 13:8], that every one of you may be adorned with a meek and quiet spirit, which is with the Lord of great price [1 Pet 3:4]. And every one of you to be indued with wisdom from on high [Luke 24:49], which is pure and peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, and full of mercy and good works [Jas 3:17]; let the fruits of this appear among you all, and then you will all be gentle and easily entreated one of another. And keep in the unity of the spirit, which is the bond of the heavenly peace [Eph 4:3], (and then none quench it,) and all walking as becomes the glorious, joyful, peaceable gospel of Christ [Phil 1:27], which is the power of God [Rom 1:16], which was before the devil, and his power was, and is over him; in this gospel you all know life and immortality brought to light [2 Tim 1:10], that you all see your everlasting glorious fellowship, in the everlasting gospel of peace [Rev 14:6/Rom 10:15]; in this gospel, the power of God, that was before enmity was, and will remain when it is gone. And therefore all you who know this glorious gospel of peace live and walk in it, keeping your glorious, heavenly, comfortable fellowship in this glorious gospel of peace, in which enmity cannot come, as before. And in this everlasting gospel, the everlasting God, (who is over <192> all, from everlasting to everlasting,) will have the praise, glory, and thanks, who is worthy of all, for ever and evermore.
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."