DEAR Friends, in the Eternal Truth of God, whose Minds by the Light of Jesus Christ are turned towards God, Meet often together in the Fear of the Lord, and to the Light take heed, that with it all your Minds may be kept up to God, from whence it comes. And in all your Meetings wait Low in his Fear, that ye may come to know the Life and Power of Truth one in another. And all ye, whom the Lord hath made Over-Seers over his Church in your several Places, be faithful to the Lord, and watch over the Flock of Christ with all Diligence; ye which are Strong, watch over the Weak, and stir up that which is Pure one in another; see, that in order all your Meetings be kept. . . . And take heed of forward Minds, and of running out before your Guide, for that leads out into Loosness; and such plead for Liberty, and run out in their Wills, and bring Dishonour to the Lord . . . and an Exalted Spirit gets up, and Pride and Haughtiness, and high Words. And such are they which add to the Burden, and do not take it off. There fore all wait Low in the Fear of the Lord, and be not hasty or rash, but see the Way be made Clear; and as the Lord doth move you, so do, and return with speed (when ye have done) to the Place, where ye were abiding, and be faithful there.
. . . So Farewell in the Lord. . . . Be diligent every one in your Places, where the Lord hath set you, for the Work of the Lord is great; and God Almighty keep you to be faithful Labourers in his Work.
From one, who is a Lover of your Souls, and whose care is over the Church of God, that it may be kept in order, and that all, that are guided by his Spirit, may be led into all good order.
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."