TO FRIENDS, to stand still in Trouble, and see the Strength of the Lord.
Whatever ye are addicted to, the Tempter will come in that thing; and when he can trouble you, then he gets Advantage over you, then he gets Advantage over you, and then ye are yourselves; and then Mercy comes in. After thou seest thy Thoughts and the Temptations, do not think, but submit; and then the Power comes. Stand still in that which shews and discovers; and there doth Strength immediately come: And stand still in the Light and submit to it, and the other will be hush'd and gone; and then Content comes. And when Temptations and Troubles appear, sink down in that which is pure, and all will be hush'd and fly away.
Your Strength is to stand still, after ye see your selves. Whatsoever ye see your selves addicted to, Tempations, Corruptions, Uncleanness &c. then ye think, ye shall never Overcome. and Earthly reason will tell you, what ye shall lose; hearken not to that but stand still in the Light, that shews them to you, and then Strength comes from the Lord, and Help, contrary to your Expectation: Then ye grow up in Peace, and no Trouble shall you move. David fretted himself when he look'd out; but when he was still, no Trouble could him move: When your Thoughts are out, abroad, then Troubles move you: But come to stay your Minds upon the Spirit which was before the Letter; here ye learn to read the the Scriptures aright. If ye do anything in your own Wills, then ye tempt God; but stand still in that Power, which brings Peace.
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."