Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied among you [1 Pet 1:2, Jude 1:2] all from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fountain of all: and God, who hath called you by his grace [Gal 1:15], and gathered you to be a people by his power and spirit, to his son Christ Jesus, your holy, heavenly, spiritual head, life, rock, and foundation. Now that you may all walk in Christ Jesus [Col 2:6], and abide in him your vine, and in him you will all bring forth heavenly fruit [John 15:4f] to the praise and glory of God.
Christ saith, ‘In me ye have peace, in the world ye have trouble [John 16:33];’ <198> and therefore keep out of the spirit of the world [1 Cor 2:12]; let not the spirit of the world come into you; for if ye do, ye go into trouble both inwardly and outwardly: but if ye keep in Christ, who is not of the world [John 17:14], you keep in your heavenly place and region: for, ‘He that hath the son of God, hath life [1 Jn 5:12];’ and therefore keep in the life in Christ; and he that hath not the son of God, is in old Adam, in death, without life [1 Jn 5:12].
And, ‘without me (says Christ) ye can do nothing [John 15:5] ;’ without his grace, his light, his truth, his gospel, his power, his spirit, his faith, ye can do nothing; and, ‘if Christ be not in you, ye are reprobates [2 Cor 13:5];’ and if he be in you, and you in him [John 15:5], you are in the election, and in the seed, in which all nations are blessed [Gen 22:18].
And therefore, my friends and brethren, both males and females, keep and walk in the seed, in which all nations are blessed, which bruises the head of the serpent [Gen 3:15], and destroys the devil and his works [4" class="scriptRef">Heb 2:14/1 Jn 3:8], which brought misery and the curse upon all nations. So that in this holy seed, you all may be the children of the kingdom of God [Mat 13:38] that stands in righteousness, and power, and joy in the holy ghost [Rom 14:17/1 Cor 4:20]: I say, in the righteousness of Christ, which was before unrighteousness was; and in the power of God, which was before the power of satan and dragon [Acts 26:18/Rev 13:2,4] were; and in the peace of God, that passes all the understanding [Phil 4:7] of the world, and was before the god of the world [2 Cor 4:4] was; and in the holy ghost, which was before the unclean ghost got into man and woman.
And so that you may all come to walk in the new covenant of light [Isa 42:6], which was before the prince of darkness [Eph 6:12] was, and life, that is over death, and was before death was. Here in this you will have your heavenly religion to walk in, which will keep you out of all the world's unruly ways and actions, and ungracious words and languages, that all your words be seasoned with the grace of God, that hath brought you salvation [Col 4:6/Tit 2:11], that you may edify the hearers [Eph 4:29], and your conversation may be in heaven [Phil 3:20].
And keep in the cross of Christ, the power of God [1 Cor 1:18], that keeps you crucified to the world; that is, dead to the world, and the world dead and crucified to you [Gal 6:14]: for if you do not keep in this power of God, which was before the world and its god was, to keep you crucified to the world, but let in the spirit of the world, you let in its god, which will crucify the good in you, and you will come to crucify to yourselves the son of God afresh, and put him to open shame [Heb 6:6]. Therefore keep that crucified with the power of God, the cross of Christ, which did and would crucify the just [Jas 5:6]; and then you will keep alive in the power of God, and live in Christ Jesus, and he is alive in you, and you in him.
And now, all friends and brethren, let your meekness, your temperance, and your gentleness and sobriety, and tenderness and moderation <199> appear to all men [Phil 4:5], ‘that your light may so shine, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven [Mat 5:16].’
And ye being the salt of the earth, you will make all savoury; therefore take heed of losing your salt, lest you be trodden under the feet of men [Mat 5:13].
And keep out of the restless, discontented, disquieted spirit of the world about the government: for you know it has been always our way to seek the good of all, and to live peaceably under the government, and to seek their eternal good, peace, and happiness in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to lay our innocent sufferings before them, who have suffered as lambs and sheep, and made no resistance [Mat 5:39, Jas 5:6], but have ‘prayed for them that persecuted us, and despitefully used us, and hated us [Mat 5:44],’ according to the command of Christ.
‘For ye were as sheep gone astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls [1 Pet 2:25]: for hitherto ye are called; because Christ hath suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously [1 Pet 2:21-23]. And he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from speaking evil, and his lips that he speak no guile [1 Pet 3:10].’ 2 Pet. ii.
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."