Dear friends,—This is the day for all to take your possessions, that know the gospel, the power of God [Rom 1:16], which brings life and immortality to light [2 Tim 1:10] in them. . . . So every one take your possessions of this holy, everlasting, joyful, and peaceable gospel and order; for the peace is in the power of God; so it is called the gospel of peace [Rom 10:15, Eph 6:15], that keeps all in the peace, which you have from the Prince of peace [Isa 9:6], that the world cannot take away from you; and likewise that you may be heirs and possessors of Christ, and of his government, which is pure, holy, righteous, and heavenly, of the increase of this heavenly man's government there is no end [Isa 9:7]; but there will be an end of old Adam's and the devil's, which began in time, and will end in time, but there will be no end of his, that was set up from everlasting to everlasting. So all be possessors of this heavenly government, and of this heavenly, glorious, and comely order. . . . <52> . . .
And whereas it hath been said by them without, you must come and hear Christ preached. The answer is from the possessors of him, I have examined myself, and proved myself, and have found Christ Jesus in me, and he rules in my heart by faith [Eph 3:17]; and I am in him, and he is in me [John 15:5]; ‘and behold ye’ (that is as much as to say, take notice) ‘all things are become new [2 Cor 5:17].’
And whereas the saying has been by them that are without, why do not you come to hear the word preached? The answer is, and will be, from the possessors of him, the word is nigh me, in my heart and mouth, to obey it and do it [Deut 30:14]; and need not say to any, who shall ascend to bring it down from above, or who shall descend to bring it up from the grave [Rom 10:6f]; for I am come to the righteousness of faith's speaking [Rom 10:6], (mark, faith's speaking,) that saith on this wise, ‘The word is nigh thee, in thy heart and mouth, to obey it and do it;’ by which word I am born again of the immortal seed, which lives, and abides, and endures for ever [1 Pet 1:23]; by which word I have milk to give freely to babes [1 Pet 2:2] and sucklings. So the possessors have breasts; and the possessors' breasts are not dry; glory to the Lord for ever. So no more but love; and God Almighty preserve you in his wisdom, that is pure and gentle from above [Jas 3:17], by which you may be all ordered [Wis 8:1], and order all that you have under your hands to his glory [1 Cor 10:31]. And keep in the unity of the holy spirit, which is the bond of peace [Eph 4:3], of the Prince of princes' peace [Dan 8:25], which is every one of your duty to keep this heavenly peace of the Prince of princes, which none can take away from you; for you are bound with the spirit to keep it, so that your praise may be in the gospel [2 Cor 8:18]; that you may admonish and exhort all that do profess the truth of the gospel, that they may walk in the truth, as becomes the gospel [3 Jn 1:3/Phil 1:27], and that every one that does profess Christ Jesus, and has received him, may walk in him in the new and living way [Heb 10:20], out of the old way.
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."