THE GOD OF THE QUAKERS

The God of the Quakers

George Fox and John Woolman both had a passionate love and a deep belief in God. They both wrote about this love and belief in an extraordinary way, as few people have. George Fox is the human founder of the Society of Friends; John Woolman, a Quaker mystic and social activist, lived a remarkable life in the eighteenth century that shows how to be a good Friend.

Why these two Friends in particular? Because they are experts in knowing and loving God. Love of God fills their lives. There is a goodness, wholesomeness, depth and genuine excitement to their belief in God that isn't often found in this world.

George Fox wanted Friends to love God and do His will in their lives. They should not be troubled if they suffer, for Christ also suffered. They must live a life of purity and Truth so that they will live with God forever.

Fox uses the imagery of plants – that as plants of the Lord I may grow. He names God, the Living God, Life and living Food.

Power is a name he uses often for God. The Power of God keeps Friends from all strife, keeps them from all deceit.

The Pure Spirit of God keeps Friends up to Him.

Friends are to wait in the Light for Power, heed He.

The Light calls us to repentance. teaches, turns, informs (each of these leads to the other) Friends’ minds toward the Kingdom of God.

The Light prepares not only our minds but our whole being to be ready and able to enter the Kingdom of God which is joy and peace for evermore. Here I will receive faith and love from the Lord, well in the Eternal.

A benediction: You children of the Light, seek to turn many to the Light and bring them to Wisdom’s gate, that you may all come to be door-keepers in the house of the Lord. George Fox believed that God had specially called and chosen him. His mission was to turn people from darkness to Light. (Acts 26:1)

God loves us, but expects us to be responsible adults. We are to worship the Living God, the Creator, Lord of all.

The most amazing thing about Fox is that he believes that, like him, I can be a mystic and know God and the things of God because He pours His Spirit on all flesh; Christ lives in both men and women as the Light. All I have to do is pay attention to the Light within me.

For the Light Christ is of God and will renew my mind and turn it inward to find God and worship Him. I should get my mind off all externals and concentrate on worshiping the Living God, Christ, the Light and the Seed within and try to acquire things above. I do this by having a pure mind, one that focuses inwardly towards God. A pure minds deals with things that are true and actually exist in each of us.

For Fox, God is One. He addresses God with many names – Light, Lord of hosts, Pure, Living God, Eternal, Exalted, Lord God Almighty, Creator, Power, Wisdom – but he is One. These names are not a list of His attributes of God; these are God.
God the Creator is Power.
Almighty is a name for God.

Fox calls God unchangeable Life. He can always be counted on. He is also Wisdom and Order; He orders me to His glory.

I should live in the still Life; the still life is one in which a pure mind turns away from the world, inward to God.
I am to keep in unity in the Life. God is One; He has Unity, integrity. Being in Unity also means being out of strife. I am supposed to get along with other Friends.

God is Almighty Power. He never varies nor changes.

John Woolman believes in a God of goodness and generosity. He writes often of God's mercy and wisdom; he admires the goodness and loving kindness of God. In the opening sentence of his journal he writes, "I have often felt a Motion of Love to leave some Hints in writing of my Experience of the Goodness of God."

When John made a journey of peace to the Delaware Indians, he believed that God was very near. "In a sense of God's goodness in helping me in my distress, sustaining me under trials, and inclining my heart to trust in him." He believed that to "place my whole trust in God was best for me." He believed that God is a beautiful and bountiful God, a God of peace, and of providence.

One of John's favorite words is Divine. Divine principle, divine mediator, divine providence, divine goodness, divine wisdom, divine blessing, divine meditation are some of the ways in which he uses this word. Often he uses divine love. The opposite of divine love is pride. Calling on his experience as a tailor, he writes of "clothing of divine fortitude."

To God be all honor, glory, dominion, praise, and thanksgiving both now and forevermore.

Wisdom

My Dear Friends, dwell in the life and love and power and wisdom of God, in unity one with another and with God; and the peace and wisdom of God fill your hearts, that nothing may rule in you but the life, which stands in the Lord God. George Fox

God is only wise. Only wise would seem to mean that only God has perfect knowledge and wisdom, and that all other knowledge and wisdom are less than this.

Power

The name Fox uses most often for God is Power. He writes that I should pay attention to it, be obedient to it. It is possible to contact this incredible Power: know, walk in, stand in, keep in, skip and leap in, or work together in it. I should put on the armor of Light and stand fast in the Power of God. God has incredible power but still cares for all people.

Woolman also writes of power: the eternal power of God, the power of Christ and the cross, the power of Truth and love. At Meeting for Business God's power "prevails over many hearts." Woolman trusts in the protection of Almighty Power.
I have Power, the Power of an endless life. I will live with God forever.

Lord God Almighty

Almighty is another name showing God's power. Almighty means having power over all.
And so dear Friends, be of one mind, heart, and spirit, and God Almighty arm you with patience and humility. And so with my love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what anyone of you lacks, God is all-sufficient to supply you; trust in him, and in fear walk before him.

A blessing: Dear hearts, may God Almighty be with you all and bless, guide, and prosper you unto his kingdom where there is no tribulation.

King of Kings, Lord of Lord, Shepherd

A king is a person in a high position with supreme political power and authority. But God is not just a King. He is the King of Kings, His power and authority are greater than any power on earth.

This King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this powerful, all sufficient God is also the true shepherd who protects the lambs from dogs. He feeds them in green pastures which He waters with His heavenly dew of mercy. This shepherd gives life abundantly. Fox, 1684.

Some synonyms for eternal and everlasting are always, forever, evermore, perpetual, time without measure, enduring through all time. Eternity is to be with God forever. This may sound complicated but as always Fox makes it sound easy. All I have to do is be a babe of God and wait for the living food from the living God. This will nourish me up to eternal life.

Invisible, Immortal

Invisible means that God is spirit and I can't see Him. God is radically different from me; the word invisible sums this up. Immortal means that God will never die.
Invisible Lord, invisible power.

"God who is invisible, by his invisible power and spirit, brings down the carnal mind in you, so the invisible and immortal things in you are brought to light."

The Living God

Another name for Creator is Living God. God is the creator of the universe and this creation reveals God's incredible power. But Fox just mentions in passing the creation of the world, how God divided the great sea from the land and the light from the darkness.

What really interests him is that creation continues each day, God is interested in and involved in these day to day changes. God causes the snow to melt and the rain to water the plants. He causes a spring to break out of the rocks. What I especially like is that Fox wrote that God created the sun just to warm me when I am cold.

This living God brings spring each year with new plants and grass. He causes the trees and crops to grow; He makes the fishes of the sea to breathe and live.

This living God is to be worshiped.