Friends,—All ye whose minds are turned with the light towards Jesus Christ, from whence it comes, in it wait, that with it ye may all see Jesus, and all that condemned which is contrary to it; that so by that ye may be kept from all extremes, passions, agonies, and hastiness, presumption, and desperation. For dwelling in the light which doth never change [James 1:17], this keeps your minds out of all those things before mentioned, which lead nature out of its true course; and with the light all that is seen and condemned, which is contrary to it. And that which doth condemn, keeps you in peace and order, and leads to the door of mercy, and nature into its right course, and into the virtue of that word by which the creatures were made, and with it to use them all to his glory [1 Cor 10:31]. Which light is the condemnation of the carnal wisdom and knowledge of the wicked world, and the condemnation of the disobedient, and the condemnation of them whose deeds are evil, who hate <98> the light [John 3:19f]. Which brings to witness the word to be as a fire [Jer 23:29], to burn up that which is to be condemned, and to the purging of the floor, and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire, and to the gathering of the wheat into the garner [Mat 3:12]. Therefore, in this light dwell and wait, from which the true words did proceed, that with it all those words may be opened again, and all they condemned with the light which have the words, and act contrary to it; such must go empty away [Luke 1:53?]. And to you this is the word of the Lord, that ye may come to have savour and salt in yourselves [Mar 9:50]. For dwelling in the light, ye will be manifest to the light in their consciences, (though they hate it,) who have the words declared from the light; such go empty away from God, who is light. And all they who abide in the light of the Lord, see all such to be out of the true course of nature, who act contrary to the light, which defiles the flesh [Jude 1:8]; and they are such who were of old ordained to condemnation [Jude 1:4] with the light.
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."