My dear friends,—To whom is my love in the everlasting seed, that reigns over all, and will overcome all your persecutors, and the devil, that is the cause thereof, who fighteth against the light, (which is the life in Christ,) [John 1:4] as they did against him in the flesh, above sixteen hundred years ago.
And now, my friends, suffer as lambs in the time of your sufferings; let all your wills be subjected with the patience that hath the victory; and run the race, and obtain the crown of life [Heb 12:1/1 Cor 9:24f]; and be willing to go to suffer for Christ's sake; for the apostle said, ‘It is not only given you to believe, but also to suffer for his name sake [Phil 1:29], in whom you have salvation [Phil 1:28?];’ for ‘they that suffer for righteousness' sake are blessed, and theirs <143> is the kingdom of God [Mat 5:10];’ and by faith the holy men of God had victory [1 Jn 5:4], as you may see at large in Heb. xi [Heb 11]. So nothing is overcome by any man's will, but by faith that giveth access to God [Rom 5:2], in which they do please God [Heb 11:6]. And I do believe that all your sufferings will be for good, for your establishing upon the holy rock of life, which was the rock of all the sufferers, the prophets, and the apostles, who is the anointed saviour, to the answering that of God in all people; for the Lord hath a great work and seed in that place. So live in the spirit [Gal 5:25], that mortifieth all, and circumciseth all, and baptizeth all; so that with the spirit you may sow to the spirit, and of the spirit reap life everlasting [Gal 6:8].
And my desire is, that you may all be kept alive to God, and live in the living unity of the spirit, which is the bond of the heavenly peace, that passeth the knowledge [Eph 4:3/Phil 4:7/Eph 3:19] of the world; which peace brings such joys which transcend all your sufferings, and will carry you above them. And so in love to God, and in love to your persecutors, you can pray for them who persecute you [Mat 5:44]; and this suffering is above all the sufferings in the world, which are without love and charity [1 Cor 13:4], who maketh one another to suffer, when they get the upper hand. But such are not the sufferers for the true Lord Jesus, who suffered; though he was above all, yet he made none to suffer; and when he was reviled, he reviled not again [1 Pet 2:23], but said, ‘Father, forgive them [Luke 23:34];’ and committed himself to him that judgeth righteously [1 Pet 2:23]. So let the same mind be in you as was in Christ Jesus [Phil 2:5]; for the apostle said, that they had the mind of Christ [1 Cor 2:16], and the Lamb overcame, and had the victory [Rev 17:14]; and this his sanctified ones, that follow him, are partakers of. Glory to his name for ever. Amen.
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."