Dear friends,—I am glad to hear of the good Yearly Meeting at Rhode Island, and that the Lord's power and presence were there <291> among you; and it would be very well to visit the generation of the righteous [Psa 14:5], and to see how their seed and vines do grow in their heavenly vineyards and plantations, and what heavenly riches they have laid up in store [Mat 6:20] in God's kingdom, and to see how the wheat is gathered into God's garner [Mat 3:12]; and that all keep in the worship that Christ set up in his spirit and truth [John 4:24]; and that all walk in the new and living way [Heb 10:20], over all the dead ways in the world; and that all walk in the pure, undefiled religion, that keeps from the spots of the world [Jas 1:27]; and to see that all are guided in the pure and gentle wisdom that is easy to be entreated [Jas 3:17], and in the love of God that can bear all things [1 Cor 13:7]; by which all peevish, short, and brittle spirits may be kept down; so that all may have their good conversation in Christ Jesus, all striving for unity in the spirit [Eph 4:3], and the holy faith, that giveth and keepeth victory [1 Jn 5:4] over the enemy. And so that all may have a care of their minds running into the earth and carnal things; ‘for to be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace [Rom 8:6].’ And let all take heed of neglecting the gift of God [1 Tim 4:14], but stir up the pure mind [2 Pet 3:1] one in another; and the Lord, with his eternal arm and power, preserve you diligent in his heavenly work and service in his vineyard, that it may not grow over with briars, thorns, and thistles, to choak the tender plants [Mat 13:7,22].
And so my desires are, that you may live and walk in Christ Jesus, and that you may answer the truth in all the professors, and the heathen. And prize your liberty, both natural and spiritual, while you have it; and labour in the truth, while it is day [John 9:4]. Remember me to all Friends, as though I named them; and as for the state of Friends here, we are under great sufferings, and spoiling of goods, and imprisonments; and they have of late increased in spoiling of our goods; but God is all-sufficient, who doth support us. Glory to his name for ever. So, with my love in Christ Jesus, to you all, in whom you have all eternal rest and peace with God. 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."