SERMON IV.

BY ELIAS HICKS.

DELIVERED, (IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE BY THOMAS WETHERALD,) at ROSE STREET MEETING, N. Y., MAY 28TH, 1826.

"HONESTY is the best policy." This is an old and a very true saying; but I know of no word in our language which has been more flattered, more cajoled, and more abused than this term. For all seem ready and willing to acknowledge the fact, but where is there a man or a woman willing to comply with its contents, and practically and operatively become truly honest men and women? Can we find any? And yet it is not only acknowledged, and every man and woman will find it in their own experience to be an eternal and immutable truth, yet after all, how very few are willing to comply with its reality. Now this honesty is an ingredient that we must have in every thing that is good; for we cannot profit by any thing without honesty. We hear a great many excellent and plain truths de

clared to us, but it is only the honest and upright in heart that will profit by them. If we were willing to make a right use of them, they would bring things home to our own minds, and we could test our conduct by them. And yet, as I have observed, we acknowledge the truth, and shall be obliged, by our own experience, to acknowledge that it is truth, and the best thing for

And I will appeal to every disposition and condition present for the assurance of these things. And I will begin with the lowest grade, for they have as sure evidence of this truth as any man can have; and they never can arrest its force, for their own experience will testify to it continually. It will be so with every condition and with every state; and were we all concerned to be honest and truly upright, it would not only tend to bring about a conversion and reformation in every individual of us, but it would bring us into unity together, and, as it were, compel us to love one another. There is nothing like justice to induce love between man and man. It would so regulate our whole lives, and it would so regulate all our conduct, that we never could, through any medium whatever, receive any thing from a fellow creature without an equal reward for it. It would keep our minds in a continual state of watchfulness. Its tendency would be

to lead us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and therefore we could not take a bribe,-we never could take any thing as a reward for any labour or work which we do, that should exceed its true value. Here, not only would all our moral conduct be regulated toward one another, but it would produce a confidence in one another

-a confidence that could not be shaken;-we should depend on one another as on ourselves. It would put an end to all hirelings. Whether in matters of a moral nature, or of a religious character, none could receive any pay for that which was not worth what was received.

Every man and woman would stand on the right ground, and it would be owing to that principle of which we have heard so much expressed; and this would lead our attention up to it as our rule of faith and practice. I say none of us could receive a reward beyond its true worth. It would be impossible, then, that there should be any hirelings, in a religious sense-no one that could be considered as a true gospel minister. It would be impossible for them to receive any reward for preaching the gospel. Because why? None can preach the gospel, none can dispense of its power and excellency, but in the same proportion as it is given to them. And it

is given for the only purpose, that they should. dispense it to their fellow creatures.

Under the law, when they made their offerings, the priests had a share in them, and they partook with the people in the use of them; so we should understand the declaration of the apostle Paul: "If any preach the gospel, let them live of the gospel." But it is not the natural and animal life that is to be supported by the gospel. There is another medium appointed by the Most High from the beginning. He has, in the depths of wisdom, appointed how we shall provide for these animal bodies. And there is no preference among the children of men concerning it; they are all upon the same ground. For, "by the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." And every man and woman must labour for their own living. They have no right to depend on one another, but on the Almighty, who will bless us when we are worthy of it.

But with respect to the gospel, that food only which can nourish the immortal soul, man, by all his labour, can never provide any thing for it. With all his exertions, all his science and learning, he never can find one drop which will be consolatory to the soul. It must all come from the hand of Almighty goodness. It must first be handed to us as his stewards. And when

he raises any up and sends them out to preach the gospel, they will dispense it freely; as the disciples of Jesus did, when he sent them out, in an external way, to relieve the external bodies of the children of men, and to do those miracles that he commanded them to do. They were to do it freely, as it was communicated unto them. For they did not derive that power from any ability they had in themselves, or from any exertion which they could make, as men and creatures. It was by their depending on God that they were enabled to do these mighty miracles.

Freely ye have received, freely give." As ye have received this power freely, freely dispense it unto the people. And so it is in a spiritual sense; for as those outward miracles only had relation to the outward senses, they enabled them to receive the blessings of the outward good land. Therefore all their external bodily diseases were healed, and all those who believed were prepared to receive benefits. But these were nothing but figurative representations of what is to be brought about under the gospel dispensation, where the soul is the principal object of care and concern; and, therefore, Jesus commanded his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem till they should receive power from on high. For he assured them that it was expedient for him to go away. It was a great

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