All Friends in Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cumberland, Northumberland, Bishoprick, and about Newcastle, whose minds are turned to the light, meet together, and wait upon the Lord, and keep your several meetings in the light of Christ; that all your hearts may be joined together [Col 2:2], and ye all kept in unity up to God, the Father of lights [James 1:17]. The Lord God Almighty keep you and preserve you, that ye may all see the blessings of God; for the blessings of the Lord are among you. And that ye all with the light may know your minds kept up to God, to receive the wisdom of God, by which all things were made [Wis 7:22]; that with it ye may come to order the creatures [Wis 8:1], and in the wisdom of God ye may be preserved to walk wisely. And that no deceit nor slothful spirits be amongst you, nor hangers-on, getting the form, &c. who speak what they are not; all such I do deny, and with the light all such are to be condemned. Such cumber the ground [Luke 13:7], and stain the earth, that it cannot enjoy her sabbaths [Lev 26:34], nor yield her increase [Lev 26:4-6]. They that are so, and act contrary to the light, are by it to be condemned, and with it I do them deny, which light is one in all your consciences; that with the light your minds may be kept up to God, and all that which is contrary <68> may be condemned to the fire, which is for the fire. And I warn you all, in the presence of the living God, to take heed to the measure of the grace of God [Eph 4:7]; that with it your minds may be kept up to God, and that ye may all come to profit in the spirit. And from you all God doth look for the fruits of that spirit [Gal 5:22], of which a manifestation is given you to profit withal [1 Cor 12:7]. And to you this is the word of the Lord.
O friends! mind the seed of God, and the life of Christ. And take heed of being hurried with many thoughts, but live in that which goes over them all, that in it ye may reign, and live in the seed of 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."