Dear friends in the peaceable truth,—The glory of God all mind, in all your lives and conversations, and that the heavenly fruits of the holy spirit [Gal 5:22f] of God you may all bring forth to his praise, living in righteousness, godliness, and meekness, lowliness, and humility, learning of Christ Jesus your saviour, who is meek [Mat 11:29]. For the humble God doth teach [Psa 25:9], and they grow up in his grace and favour. And therefore all take heed of going back again into the world's ways, spirit, and words but keep to the holy spirit of God, that doth lead you in the narrow way, that is to life eternal [Mat 7:14]. And in the Lord's light, power, and spirit meet together, and keep your meetings in the name of Jesus Christ [Mat 18:20], <251> who hath all power in heaven and earth given to him [Mat 28:18], that you may feel his living and divine presence among you, and in his pure, gentle, and heavenly love and wisdom [Jas 3:17], you may be valiant for the name of Jesus, and his truth upon the earth [Jer 9:3], and not to be ashamed of Christ [Luke 9:26] your teacher and prophet, that God hath raised up in his new covenant and testament, whom you are to hear [Acts 3:22]. Neither be ashamed of Christ your shepherd, who hath laid down his life for his sheep [John 10:15], whose voice you are to hear [John 10:27]; who doth feed his sheep, and give them life eternal, and none is able to pluck his sheep out of his hand [John 10:28], his power. Neither be ashamed of your high priest, who hath offered up himself for you [Heb 7:27], and doth sanctify you, who is a priest made higher than the heavens [Heb 7:26]. Neither be you ashamed of your bishop, and the chief shepherd of your souls, to whom now ye are returned [1 Pet 2:25] by his grace and truth, who doth oversee you with his heavenly eye, that you do not go astray from God. So in him let your faith stand, who is the author and finisher of it [Heb 12:2]. So with my love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is your sanctuary, in whom you all have life, peace, rest, and salvation, who is the Amen.
‘Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus [1 Pet 5:14].’ Amen. This charity keeps all God's people in the heavenly love and unity.
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."