I was to bring them off from all the world's fellowships, and
prayings, and singings, which stood in forms without power; that
their fellowship might be in the Holy Ghost, and in the Eternal
Spirit of God; that they might pray in the Holy Ghost, and sing in
the Spirit and with the grace that comes by Jesus; making melody in
their hearts to the Lord, who hath sent His beloved Son to be their
Saviour, and hath caused His heavenly sun to shine upon all the
world, and His heavenly rain to fall upon the just and the unjust,
as His outward rain doth, fall, and His outward sun doth shine on all.
I was to bring people off from Jewish ceremonies, and from heathenish
fables,[34] and from men's inventions and worldly doctrines, by which
they blew the people about this way and the other, from sect to
sect; and from all their beggarly rudiments, with their schools and
colleges for making ministers of Christ,--who are indeed ministers
of their own making, but not of Christ's; and from all their images,
and crosses, and sprinkling of infants, with all their holy-days (so
called), and all their vain traditions, which they had instituted
since the Apostles' days, against all of which the Lord's power was
set: in the dread and authority of which power I was moved to declare
against them all, and against all that preached and not freely, as
being such as had not received freely from Christ.
[34] By a clear spiritual insight Fox saw how large a
contribution both Judaism and Paganism had made to the historic
church. He went to work to carry the reformation to its logical
conclusion. To re-instate primitive Christianity was his aim.
Moreover, when the Lord sent me forth into the world, He forbade me
to put off my hat to any, high or low; and I was required to Thee and
Thou all men and women, without any respect to rich or poor, great or
small.[35] And as I travelled up and down I was not to bid people
Good morrow, or Good evening; neither might I bow or scrape with my
leg to any one; and this made the sects and professions to rage. But
the Lord's power carried me over all to His glory, and many came to
be turned to God in a little time; for the heavenly day of the Lord
sprung from on high, and broke forth apace, by the light of which
many came to see where they were.
[35] The real principles here involved were simplicity of life,
equal respect for _all_ men alike, and strict sincerity. It must
be confessed that these principles have sometimes been lost sight
of, and dress and language have sometimes become a form to those
who opposed all forms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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