[11] It is difficult to find out where George Fox's money came
from. He reports in the original MS. of the Journal, p. 17, a
remark his relatives made about him when he left home: "When hee
went from us hee had a greate deale of gould and sillver about
him." He is always well supplied. He goes to inns, always has a
good horse, wears clean linen and frequently gives to charity. In
signed papers in the Spence collection he gives orders for the
disposal of money invested "in ships and trade," as well as of
a thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania which William Penn had
assigned to him.
About the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to Coventry,
and approaching towards the gate, a consideration arose in me, how
it was said that "All Christians are believers, both Protestants and
Papists"; and the Lord opened[12] to me that if all were believers,
then they were all born of God, and passed from death to life; and
that none were true believers but such; and, though others said they
were believers, yet they were not. At another time, as I was walking
in a field on a First-day morning, the Lord opened unto me that
being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify
men to be ministers of Christ; and I wondered at it, because it was
the common belief of people. But I saw it clearly as the Lord opened
it unto me, and was satisfied, and admired the goodness of the Lord,
who had opened this thing unto me that morning. This struck at priest
Stephens's ministry, namely, that "to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge
was not enough to make a man fit to be a minister of Christ." So that
which opened in me I saw struck at the priest's ministry.
[12] This expression "opened" has a mystical import, and will
be of frequent occurrence. He means to say that it was directly
revealed in his soul so that he assuredly knew it to be true.
Often he uses the expression in reference to some truth which he
might easily have discovered in the Scriptures or have learned
from contemporary sources. But in this solemn way he announces
that this truth has now at length come to be a _living truth
for him_. It is no longer a mere statement of fact--it is a
principle, the truth of which he _sees_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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