believe what we do not understand; this the scripture affirms; Deut. xxix. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto us, and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law;' and all that is not revealed is to us the same as a nonentity, and will forever remain so, until it is revealed; and that which is revealed enables us, agreeably to the apostle's exhortation, to give a reason of the hope that is in us, to honest inquirers."-E. Hicks' Letter to Dr. E. A. Atlee.

"As to what she [Anna Braithwaite,] relates as it regards the manner of our coming into the world in our infant state, it is my belief that we come into the world in the same state of innocence, and endowed with the same propensities and desires, that our first parents were, in their primeval state; and this Jesus Christ has established, and must be conclusive in the minds of all true believers, when he took a little child in his arms, and blessed him, and said to them around him, that except they were converted, and became as that little child, they should in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Of course, all the desires and propensities of that little child, and of our first parents, in their primeval state, must have been good, as they were all the endowments of their Creator, and given to them for a special and useful purpose. But it is the improper and unlawful indulgence of them that is evil."

"I readily acknowledge I have not been able to see or understand how the cruel persecution and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, by the wicked and hard hearted Jews, should expiate my sins; and Inever have known any thing to effect that for me, but the grace of God, that taught me, agreeably to the apostle's doctrine, to deny all ungodliness and the world's lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; and as I have faithfully abode under its teachings, in full obedience thereto, I have been brought to believe that my sins were forgiven, and I permitted to sit under the Lord's teaching, as saith the prophet, that the children of the Lord are all taught of the Lord, and in righteousness they are established, and great is the peace of his children. And so long as I feel this peace, there is nothing in this world that makes me afraid, as it respects my eternal condition. But if any of my friends have received any known benefit from any outward sacrifice, I do not envy them their privileges. But surely they would not be willing that I should acknowledge, as a truth, that which I have no kind of knowledge of." -Ibid.

We shall now quote some extracts from Elias Hicks' sermons, recently delivered in the city of Philadelphia, and the neighbouring counties, which will be found to correspond with the sentiments expressed in his letters.

Sermon I. at Arch street, pages 10, 11. Speaking of Christ, he said, "Who was his father? He was begotten of God. We cannot suppose that it was the outward body of flesh and blood that was begotten of God, but a birth of the spiritual life in the soul. We must apply it internally and spiritually. For nothing can be a son of God, but that which is spirit; and nothing but the soul of man is a recipient for the light and spirit of God. Therefore, nothing can be

a son of God but that which is immortal and invisible. Nothing visible can be a son of God. Every visible thing must come to an end, and we must know the mortality of it. Flesh and blood cannot enter into Heaven. By the analogy of reason, spirit cannot beget a material body, because the thing begotten must be of the same nature with its father. Spirit cannot beget any thing but spirit ; it cannot beget flesh and blood. No, my friends, it is impossible.”

Sermon III. Western District, Twelfth street, pages 50, 51."We must never look for the way without us; 'I am the way, the truth, and the life,' Jesus declared, when he was outwardly present as a teacher and Messiah to Israel. They did not look any higher. He was their director, their Saviour. He it was that saved them from their outward sicknesses. He was only an outward Saviour, that healed their outward diseases, and gave them strength of body to enjoy that outward good land. This was a figure of the great comforter, which he would pray the Father to send them; an inward one, that would heal all the diseases of their souls, and cleanse them all from their inward pollutions; that thing of God; that thing of eternal life. It was the soul that wanted salvation; but this no outward Saviour could do; no external Saviour could have any hand in it. It was altogether inward, for as God is a spirit, invisible to all our exernal senses, he is incomprehensible to all rational creatures. The work must be by some secret thing in the soul, and every one to whom it is communicated has a soul in which it dwells."

Sermon IX. Middletown. "As man gains honour by victories in worldly things, so we may consider it in a religious sense. When we meet with that which would lead us from the divine law, instituted by perfect wisdom; if we meet it with firmness, and stand our ground against all the allurements to vice and temptation to evil, we come to be in a degree like our great pattern, who rose up to a situation FIT to be a communicant with the great Creator in the realms of eternal happiness."-Pages 231, 232.

Sermon X. Falls. "This animal body of Jesus Christ, was born of the Virgin Mary, and therefore must be nothing, as to the visible part, but flesh and blood; as nothing else could emanate from her but what was of her. So here, now, this outward body, this flesh and blood, was born of a woman, which shows us why Jesus always calls himself the son of man-because he was verily and actually so, for he could not use evasions. Now, I have heard suggestions from rational beings, that Jesus mentioned this, to deceive the people; to turn them away; to make them believe something that was not correct; that it was only a speech that did not apply to him. But it was the truth, for he could speak nothing but the truth, and he knew, with a full certainty, that he was the son of man, as well as any of us can know so; and therefore he asserted it abundantly. And the highest station he assumed, while in that prepared body, was, that he was not only the son of man, but the son of God. Here, now, we learn, as rational beings, by his own testimony, what it is that makes a son of God. We see that this flesh and blood never could have been in a strict sense the son of God, but a creature created by God, by his power, because spirit and matter cannot be united to

gether, and make a being, nor make a son of God. Nothing but the rational souls of men and women can come to know a birth of God: and the rational soul never was created by flesh, or through flesh. The animal part is taken, and created flesh, by the power of God."

In the same sermon, speaking of "the life which was the light of men," " he says, "Here now are we all to have a portion of the same light, for the life was the light of men, and it remains eternally so. It all comes from God, and is dispensed to the children of men, and it was to Jesus Christ likewise, as man, in the same proportion as to inscrutable wisdom seemed necessary and consistent, to effect the great design in the creation and redemption of the children of men."

"So here we see Jesus made lower than the angels, on account of his suffering death. He was tempted in all points, as we are. Now, how could he be tempted, if he had been fixed in a state of perfection in which he could not turn aside? Can you suppose, as rational beings, that such a being could be tempted? No, not any more than God Almighty could be tempted. Perfection is perfection, and cannot be tempted. It is impossible: and here it is proved to a demonstration, that he came to be an example to the children of men; a great high priest and teacher in those things which concern the salvation of the children of men. And here he did his office, as a great high priest of the Jewish covenant, in that outward dispensation, in which he was limited to the Jewish people as a child of Abraham; to sum up all the righteousness of the law; by faithfulness to it: and when he had effected that part, by the grace of God that was upon him, for we read that he grew in stature and in favour with God and man; and the grace of God was upon him.' Then it was not His grace, but the grace of God, communicated to him, as it was communicated to the rest of Abraham's children; to every one in a sufficient degree to enable them to come up to the law and commandments given them. It will not do for us to suppose, for a moment, that the Almighty, when he gave this law, did not at the same time give them power to fulfil it in all its parts. For if he did not, they could not be accountable for a neglect. But we see that he did this, for here was a child of Abraham, endued with his spirit, which he has given to every rational creature to profit with. He lived up to the law and covenant given by the Father, and in this he justified his heavenly Father in giving this law and covenant, and thereby condemned the Israelites for not fulfilling it. Well, when he had done this, for we hear of no miracles till after all this was done, none at all; nor any thing of his righteousness or acts; but now, when he went into the last institute of the legal dispensation, which was called watery baptism, and the ministry of John, his forerunner, was nearly at an end, divine wisdom thought fit to reveal to John, by what medium he should know who it was that was to baptize with the Holy Ghost. It was him on whom the spirit should be seen descending and resting upon him.

"Now, we find, that when he came up out of the water, John having baptized him, the Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape like a dove, and rested upon him. Now, whether this was open to John's

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external eye, or whether it might not rather be an expression of John's, that as the dove is the most innocent creature of the feathered race, he made use of it, to express what he beheld in him, and in this power that descended upon him. This was a power from heaven-an additional power and gift from heaven; as by his righteousness in fulfilling the law, he was prepared to enter into a higher dispensation.

"I consider, according to the tenor of the law, that the whole design was to lead up some of the Israelites into this state of perfection, and fulfilment of the law; and then that it should be abolished. Hence, the fulfilment of the law was the abolishment of the law. He abolished it by nailing it to his cross. Oh! had the professors of Christianity left it there, and been willing to go forward, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, which alone could qualify Jesus to be a gospel minister; so likewise, according to his own testimony, nothing ever did or can qualify for the ministry, but the descending of the Holy Ghost from heaven, upon rational creatures. And, therefore, in the same proportion as we have the descending of the holy spirit upon us, in the same proportion, till we gain a conquest over our passions and propensities, we shall be more tempted and tried. So it was with Jesus, when this holy spirit descended upon him, the spirit drove him into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan.

"Now, let us pause a little, and consider what is here meant. Can it be supposed that he was driven into an outward wilderness? Or shall we not suppose, that he was brought, by the power of divine light, to see the wilderness state in his own mind? Because, in the outward wilderness a man loses his way, and meets with many trials; and so there is a spiritual wilderness, where man is tempted and tried. Here the natural propensities which are fixed in man, no doubt for an excellent purpose, rise up and attempt to gain an ascendency over us. Here we find it in all things in us. The propensity to thirst-what does it do? It is a gift of God to the children of men. It leads them to do that which might sustain their natural life. But if not regulated and kept under subjection by the immortal soul, which is placed in us to regulate these animal desires and propensities, it will become injurious to us, by being indulged to excess. For you know we have many propensities; many that are necessary to us: for we could not eat or drink, or have a desire to do it, if we had not a propensity to it. We could not fulfil the com. mand, to increase and multiply, and replenish the earth, had we not a desire which led to it. These propensities are all good in their place; and we could not answer the end of our creation without them. As it is not in bones to think, or flesh to reason, so there is no bounds to our natural desires: but the soul must wait for counsel from on high, and direct the body, and by faithfulness to it, regulate all these desires, and keep them within the bounds of reason and truth. This was the case with the blessed Jesus, so that he never offended in any one point; but learnt obedience by the things he suffered. He had all these desires. The desire after knowledge, and the things of the world, presented itself to his animal part; and thus it is said to have driven him into the wilderness: that is, he felt that wilderness

which man feels, while in a state of probation. It is the way in which divine wisdom speaks of the church. I will allure her, and draw her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.' I will allure her-see, I will draw her. Now what wilderness was this? It was not an outward wilderness; but the same which Jesus was led up into: and here it was that he was tried. Here the tempter led him up to aspire after the glory of the world. He told him if he would fall down and worship him, that he could arrive at it-if he would only submit to this desire, and fall down and worship it, all should be his: but you see how ready he was to reply to this temptation. The divine law always gives us an answer, and if we are faithful, we shall be like Jesus; when we are tempted to aspire after the glories of the world. We shall be always able to give a righteous answer, if we are faithful to the truth in our own minds, as fully as he was, no doubt; because he is our example, and we are to follow his steps. Jesus said, 'Get thee behind me, satan.' Oh! how often has my poor soul been brought to this point, when temptations have arisen, Get thee behind me, satan.' Oh! I have seen that it was mine enemy; the light of truth has revealed it to me; and I have felt sometimes, in a degree, like the blessed Jesus. I have seen that mine enemy hath wanted to exalt me: but I could ask no honour or power, for I knew that he had none to give, nor any power to pre

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serve me one moment.

"Get thee behind me, satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' Is not this the case with all of us? Have we not this language in our souls; that sometimes tells us it is not right to serve any thing else in this world. Here, if we are faithful to the divine light, we shall in proportion be able to withstand every temptation that may assail us in our state of wilderness, travel, and probation.

"We read that he was taken up and set upon a pinnacle of the temple. And do you suppose there was some power which actually took him up, and set him upon a pinnacle? No, I hope there are none so ignorant as to suppose so. It was a temptation to exalt himself, for his righteousness his goodness. And have you not, many of you, been set upon this pinnacle of high honour? Have you not a little religious pride? What was that saying then to the tempter? He was placed in a dangerous situation; but not more so than the soul is when tempted to aspire in consequence of its righteousness. The tempter saith unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Pages 252 to 259.

Sermon XI. Trenton. Page 292. "If we believe that God is equal and righteous in all his ways; that he has made of one blood all the families that dwell upon the earth, it is impossible that he should be partial; and therefore, he has been as willing to reveal his will to every creature, as he was to our first parents, to Moses and the prophets, to JESUS CHRIST, and his apostles. He never can set ANY of these above us, because, if he did, he would be partial. His love is the same for all, and as no man can save his brother, or give