Concerning those that go out of Unity and Deny Forms.

CCLXXI (271) [1669] - Concerning those that go out of unity and deny forms.

Those that are gone from the light, from the spirit and power of God, and so from the unity, by the light, and by the spirit, and by the power are judged; and the power, and light, and spirit are over them. And they being gone into their own wills, and into a perverse spirit, then they say, they will not be subject to men’s will, nor to the will of man; and that spirit leads them out of the bonds of humanity. When they are thus gone from the light, and the power and spirit of God, they go out of all true forms, into confusion and emptiness, without form; then they say, they will not be subject to forms, and cry down all forms with their darkness and a perverse spirit, and so mash all together. XR3896

For there is a form of godliness, and there is a form of sound words; many have a form. All creatures have a form, the earth hath a form, and all things were brought into a form by the power of God; for the earth was once without form, and was void, and empty and confused. XR2163

So they that be gone out of the covenant of God and life, and out of the power of God, are gone in a confused condition without form, a state which is out of the bond of civil men and women. And so such are confused without the right form; for the form that God hath made, viz. the form of the earth, the form of the creatures, the form of men and women, the form of sound words, the form of godliness, nor the form of sound doctrine, was never denied by the men and women of God. But such as got the form only, and denied the power of godliness , those were denied, for they deny the power; and do not only so, but quench the spirit, and grieve and vex it, and hate the light; by which light they are condemned. G.F.

[Source: A Collection of Many Select and Christian Epistles, Letters and Testimonies, Written on Sundry Occasions, by that Ancient Eminent, Faithful Friend, and Minister of Jesus Christ, George Fox. Vol. 2 pg. 16. Philadelphia: Marcus T.C. Gould, No. 6 North Eighth Street. New York: Isaac T. Hopper, No. 420 Pearl Street. J. Harding, Printer. 1831.]