And All Ye Believers In the Heavenly Light (1669)
And all ye believers in the heavenly light, as Christ hath taught, you seek that which is lost and driven away; but the false prophets, false ministers, and teachers, they did not seek that which was lost, and driven away from God; they put no difference between the precious and the vile, but mash all togather, like the priests and prophets of our time. Therefore, seek that which was lost and driven away. Some may away by the storms, some may be driven away by the great winds of the wicked, and storms of the ungodly; some may be driven away by tempests and foul weather, and some may be lost in the foul weather, and lost in the sea of the world; for it is this wicked one that raiseth all this foul weather and these storms. Therefore seek that which is lost, ye that believe in the light, by which you see, then you are distinguished from the false prophets and teachers, and by the light you put a difference between the precious and the vile; for Jacob was found in a desert land, and you see all the prophets, how they sought that which was lost, and the apostle, and how Christ encouraged to seek that which was lost. And when the lost sheep was found, what joy there was , more than the ninety and nine. And who are they that make the land desolate, but the rough Esaus, and wild Ishmaels, and Cores? And who makes the world as a wilderness but the devil? and who brings the whole world to lie in wickedness, but the devil, that wicked one? And if you should not find that which is lost and driven away, at the first, nor second, nor third time of seeking, if you should not find him that is lost, go again, that you may have your joy, and rejoice others; for Christ in the parable saith, "the prodigal son was lost, yea, was dead, and is alive again;" when he had been feeding among swine, and upon husks, and could never fill his belly. When any such come back again, they will tell you how hungry they were, they could never fill their bellies among the husks, while they went astray, and tell you long declarations of the citizen that they were joined to: and therefore when the lost is found, and brought back again to the Father's house, where there is bread enough, there is joy, and the heavenly instruments of music, and the heavenly feast of the heavenly fat things, and the heavenly robes of righteousness are enjoyed. And so all be diligent, ye believers in the light, as Christ hath taught you; look up and down, in the light you will see where the lost sheep are, and such as have been driven away, you will spy them out, out of the woods, or brambles, or pits, where there is no water, where they are ready to be famished, where they are tied with thorns and briars; and so with the light you will see, and put a difference between the precious and the vile. For "whatsoever makes manifest is light;" for by that you see, and you will see with it, how the false prophets, and ministers, and teachers drive people away; they drive them away from God, and his way, from Christ, and the covenant of light. How angry they are with them that believe in it! With their clubbed, how have they beaten many, and wounded many, and imprisoned many, because they would not be driven by them into the devil's pit-fold, or prison! But do you never give over seeking, for the light shines over all, which believe in, and walk in the path of the just, which is as a shining light; for it hath been the work of all the false teachers and ministers to drive away from God, and his truth, and light, and those have been the devil's servants, and the wages he gives them is death. this hath been the way of all true minister, "to seek that which was lost, and that which was driven away;" as you may see Christ and the apostles, and all the true prophets did, and to bring them to feed in the pastures of life, and gently to lead them, whose wages is life; and he gives them their heavenly penny of life eternal.
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."