Trust Not In Man (1661)
Friends, - Trust not in man, nor in the arm of flesh, neither put confidence in them, but in the Lord. Judge yourselves, and keep down the boaster, and that which would be high; under judgment keep that down, but the power of God in yourselves, lest the Lord God bring upon you something without you to bring you down, who do not keep that down in yourselves. And therefore keep all that down with the power of the Lord God in yourselves; and then ye will have domino over it all, in the power of the Lord God. And live all in the power of God, which was before the fall, in which ye will have fellowship over all the fellowships in the fall, and above all outward things that have an end; which fellowship seeth over all that which is in the strife. For in the power of God your fellowship there hath no end, which was before the fall and strife was, in which is peace; which fellowship will remain when all that which is in the fall is gone, and in which is the perfect unity, which keeps over all such spirits which run into outward things; from which arise quarrels, and strife, and imperfections. And therefore keep in the power of the Lord God, that is everlasting, in which is the fellowship that hath no end; in that live and dwell. And feel the seed of God over all that which makes to suffer, and it will remain when that is gone, in that ye will feel life over death, and light over darkness. And so in that the Lord God Almighty preserve you, and keep you in the dominion! This day I came into the isle of Ely, where I hear nothing, but things are peaceable, and Friend's minds kept over all the bustlings in the world, and take little notice thereof; but mind the power of God, which was before the fall was; in which fall are bustlings. And so to the Lord God be faithful.
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."