ALL Dear Friends everywhere . . . Be faithful, and dwell in that which is Pure. . . . Take heed of the World's evil Ways, Words, Worships, Customs and Fashions, neither let fair Speeches draw you out, nor hard Speeches trouble you and make you afraid; But fear the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, who by his mighty Power upholds all things. And be bold in the Power of Truth, and valiant for it upon the Earth; treading, triumphing over, and trampling all Deceit under Foot, inward and outward; having done it in your selves in particular, ye have power over the World in general.
And Meet together every-where and keep the Unity of the Spirit which . . . Baptiseth all into one Body with one Spirit. And being written all in one another's Heart, have all one Voice, and the pure Language of Truth, where in all plainness of Speech, things may be spoken in Nakedness of Heart one unto another in the Eternal Unity in one Spirit . . . which draws off and weans you from all things that are Created and External (which fade and pass away) up to God, the Fountain of Life, and Head of all things.
And all Friends and Brethren, in what ye know, be faithful. . . . Oh! dwell in Love in your Hearts to God and to one another! And the God of Love and Life keep you all in his Power, and Love, and Spirit to himself.
. . . My Prayers to God are for you, that ye may be faithful, and be kept faithful in the Work.
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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."