I have heard of thy tenderness toward the Lord and his holy Truth, by some Friends that have visited thee, and also by some of thy letters, which I have seen; which indeed is a great thing, for a person of thy quality to have such a tender mind after the Lord and his precious Truth, seeing so many are swallowed up with voluptuousness, and the pleasures of this world; yet all make an outward profession of God and Christ one way or other, but without any deep inward sense and feeling of him. For it is not many mighty nor wise of the world that can become fools for Christ's sake, or can become low in the humility of Christ Jesus from their mighty state, through which they might receive a mightier estate, and a mightier kingdom, through the inward Holy Spirit, the divine light and power of God; and a mightier wisdom, which is from above, pure and peaceable; which wisdom is above that which is below, that is earthly, sensual, and devilish, by which men destroy one another about their religions, ways, worships, and churches: but this they have not from God nor Christ. The wisdom which is from above, by which all things were made and created, which the holy fear of God in the heart is the beginning of, keeps the heart clean. By this wisdom are all God's children to be ordered, and with it come to order all things to God's glory. This is the wisdom that is justified of her children. In this fear of God and wisdom, my desire is, that thou mayst be preserved to God's glory. For, the Lord is come to teach his people himself, and to set up his ensign, that the nations may flow unto it.
There hath been an apostasy, since the apostles' days, from the divine light of Christ, which should have given them the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.;"--and from the Holy Spirit, which would have led them "into all truth;" and therefore have people set up so many leaders without them, to give them knowledge;--and also from the holy and precious faith which Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of, which faith purifies the heart, and gives victory over that which separates from God; through which faith they have access to God, and in which faith they please God, the mystery of which is held in a pure conscience;--and also from the gospel which was preached in the apostles' days, (which gospel is the power of God,) which brings life and immortality to light in man and woman, by which people should have seen over the devil that has darkened them; which gospel will preserve all them that receive it in life and immortality. For the eyes of people have been after men, and not after the Lord, who doth write his law in the hearts, and puts it into the minds of all the children of the new covenant of light, life, and grace; through which they all come to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest: so that the knowledge of the Lord may cover the earth, as the waters do the sea.
This work of the Lord is beginning again, as it was in the apostles' days; people shall come to receive an unction in them from the Holy One, by which they shall know all things, and shall not need any man to teach them, but as the anointing doth teach them; and also to know what the righteousness of faith speaks, the word nigh in the heart and mouth, to obey it and to do it. This was the word of faith the apostles preached; which is now received and preached again, and is the duty of all true Christians to receive. So now, people are coming out of the apostasy, to the light of Christ and his Spirit; to receive faith from him, and not from men; to receive the gospel from him, their unction from him, the Word; and as they receive him, they declare him freely, as his command was to his disciples, and is still to the learners and receivers of him. For the Lord God, and his Son Jesus Christ is come to teach his people, and to bring them from all the world's ways to Christ, ''the Way, the Truth, and the Life," who is the way to the Father; and from all the world's teachers and Speakers, to him the speaker and teacher, as Hebrews 1:1, and from all the World's worshippers, to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth:--which worship Christ set up above 1600 years ago, when he put down the Jews' worship at the temple at Jerusalem, and the worship at the mountain where Jacob's well was; and to bring people from all the world's religions, which they have made since the apostles' days, to the religion that was set up by Christ and his apostles, which is pure and undefiled before God, and keeps from the spots of the world; and to bring them out of all the world's churches and fellowships, made and set up since the apostles' days, to the church that is in God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thessalonians 1:1; and to bring to the unity and fellowship in the Holy Spirit, that doth mortify, circumcise, and baptize, to plunge down sin and corruption, that has got up in man and woman by transgression. In this Holy Spirit there is holy fellowship and unity; yea, it is the bond of peace of the Prince of princes, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords: which heavenly peace, all true Christians are to maintain with spiritual weapons, not with carnal.
And now, my Friend, the holy men of God wrote the Scriptures as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost; and all Christendom are on heaps about those Scriptures, because they are not led by the
same Holy Ghost as those were that gave forth the Scriptures; which Holy Ghost they must come
to in themselves, and be led by, if they come into all the truth of them, and to have the comfort of
God, Christ, and them. For none can "call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost;" and all that call
Christ Lord without the Holy Ghost, take his name in vain. Likewise, all that name his name, are
to depart from iniquity; then they name his name with reverence, in truth, and righteousness. O!
therefore, feel the grace and truth in thy heart, that is come by Jesus Christ, that will teach thee
how to live, and what to deny. It will establish thy heart, season thy words, and bring thy
salvation, and will be a teacher unto thee at all times. By it, thou mayst receive Christ, from
whence it comes; and as many as receive him, to them he gives power not only to stand against
sin and evil, but to become the sons of God: if sons, then heirs of a life, and a world, and kingdom
without end, and of the eternal riches and treasures thereof. So, in haste, with my love in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who tasted death for every man, and bruised the serpent's head, that has been
betwixt God and man, that through Christ man may come to God again, and praise him through
Jesus Christ, the Amen,--the spiritual heavenly Rock and Foundation for all God's people to build
upon, to the praise and glory of God, who is over all, blessed for evermore!
George Fox.
Amsterdam, the 7th of the 6th month, [then called August,] 1677.
1. 1.. Penn, William. William Penn's Journal of his Travels in Holland and Germany, in 1677, in the Service of the Gospel; Containing Several Letters and Addressed Written While There To Persons of Eminence and Quality. Fourth Edition, Revised by the Author's Own Copy. London: Darton and Harvey, 1835, as Vol. One of Barclay, John, ed., A Select Series, Biographical, Narrative, Epistolary, and Miscellaneous: Chiefly the Productions of the Early Members of the Society of Friends: Intended to Illustrate the Spiritual Character of the Gospel of Christ, pages 192-196.