SIX QUERIES PROPOSED TO ELIAS HICKS, WITH HIS ANSWERS. TO THOMAS LEGGETT, JR. NEW YORK. DEAR FRIEND, Thy affectionate letter I have duly received, and its contents were grateful to my best feelings, as they appear to be the result of sincere friendship. But I may acknowledge it was really marvellous to my mind to think how it could be possible, that thou, my friend, should find any inducement to propose to me such questions, as are comprehended in thy first four queries, as I should suppose that no person who has had the opportunity thou hast had, of seeing and of hearing me, in public and in private, and who has known my manner of life for more than twenty years, would have given the least possible credit to any of those irrational and false reports to which these queries allude; and although I consider them as unworthy of my notice, yet friendship induces me, as thou hast requested it, to make a brief reply to them severally. First Query-Dost thou wish to be understood, by any thing thou may have said, publicly or privately, that thou denies the miraculous conception of the fleshly body of Jesus Christ, or dost thou believe that Joseph was his father? Answer. I have ever believed and asserted, from my youth up, that I had as full a belief in the miraculous conception of the fleshly body of Jesus Christ, as it was possible for the history to give belief. And I may now assure thee that I never thought or said, that I believed Joseph was his father. Second Query.-Dost thou mean to be understood, by any thing thou may have said publicly or privately, that thou denies the divinity of Jesus Christ? Answer. As respects the divinity of Jesus Christ, I appre hend no minister in the Society of Friends has more often in his public communications asserted the divinity of Jesus Christ the Son of God, than I have, assuring my hearers, that he was fully swallowed up into the divine nature, and complete divinity of his heavenly Father. But I never believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the father of himself, but that he was truly the Son of God, endued with power from on high, by which he was qualified to usher in and introduce the new covenant dispensation, as prophesied long before by Jeremiah the prophet, when all outward mediation should cease, as the law of God was now to be written on the inward table of the heart, and not on tables of stone, or with pen, ink, and paper; after which no man was to say to his neighbour or brother, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. This is the covenant that I acknowledge, and I acknowledge no other, and this I consider the only real gospel covenant. Third Query.-Dost thou wish to be understood as denying the authenticity of the Scriptures of truth, or as wishing to undervalue them; or would thou encourage all to the frequent and diligent perusal of them, as being able, under divine illumination, to make wise unto salvation? Answer. As respects the Scriptures of truth, I have highly esteemed them from my youth up, have always given them the preference to any other book, and have read them abundantly, more than any other book, and I would recommend all to the serious and diligent perusal of them. And I apprehend I have received as much comfort and instruction from them as any other man. Indeed they have instructed me home to the sure unchangeable foundation—the light within, or spirit of truth, the only gospel foundation, that leads and guides into all truth, and thereby completes man's salvation; which nothing else. ever has, or ever can do. But why need I say these things, as all men know that have heard me, that I confirm my doctrine abundantly from their testimony: And I have always endeavoured sincerely to place them in their true place and station, but I never dare exalt them above what they them selves declare; and as no spring can rise higher than its fountain, so likewise the Scriptures can only direct to the fountain from whence they originated-the spirit of truth: as saith the apostle, "The things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God;" therefore when the Scriptures have directed and pointed us to this light within, or spirit of truth, there they must stop it is their ultimatum-the topstone of what they can do. And no other external testimony of men or books can do any more. And Jesus in his last charge to his disciples, in order to prevent them from looking without for instruction, in the things of God, after he had led them up to the highest pinnacle that any outward evidence could effect, certified them, that this light within, or spirit of truth, by which only their salvation could be effected, dwelt with them, and should be in them. And this every Christian knows to be a truth; and there never was a real Christian made by any other power than this spirit of truth; and every thing that can be done by man without it, must fail of effecting his salvation. Fourth Query.-Dost thou believe there is no accountability beyond the grave, or that there is no state of rewards and punishments after death? Answer. This charge, which I hear has been made against me, is altogether such a barefaced and palpable falsehood, that I can hardly believe that any man could be ignorant and wicked enough to fabricate such a story, nor that any man that knew any thing about me could give the least possible credit thereto; as I have spent a great portion of my time in travel and exercise, having travelled thousands and tens of thousands of miles, leaving behind me every tender and sweet enjoyment that this life can afford, for no other cause than to promote truth and righteousness among my friends and fellow creatures, that they might be prepared to die, and enter into that eternal inheritance prepared for the righteous, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest; fully believing that every man will reap the reward of well done good and faithful servant, or receive the sentence, depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I know you not. Fifth Query.-When thou speaks of our coming up to a level with the man Christ Jesus, dost thou mean level in our several capacities—I mean that the one talented servant, perfectly occupying his one talent, is as perfect as the five talented servant perfectly occupying his? Answer. To this I need say but little, as thou hast given a correct solution of it. That as God is no respecter of persons, he therefore deals out to all his rational children with an equal hand, as is beautifully set forth by Jesus in the parable of the talents; for had the one talented servant faithfully employed his one talent, and gained another, he would have stood as high in his Lord's favour, as the five talented servant. Thereforę as his beloved son had a much greater work on earth than any other man, so he had a much greater fulness of the spirit than any other man; "For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." John iii. 34. I believe with Peter, when he thus expressed himself, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God ainong you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." Acts ii. 22. And again, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed with the devil: for God was with him." Acts x. 38. This "Holy Ghost and power," I believe is the only Saviour that can cleanse the soul of man from sin, and give him an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.* Sixth Query.-What relation has the body of Jesus to the Saviour of man? Dost thou believe that the crucifixion of the outward body of Jesus Christ was an atonement for our sins? Answer. In reply to the first part of this query I answer, I believe, in unison with our ancient Friends, that it was the outward garment, in which he performed all his mighty works, * John, xvii. 21, 22, 23. 1 John, iii. 1 to 7. Ephe. iv. 11, 12, 13. Rom. viii. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. or as Paul hath expressed it, "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you;" therefore he charged them not to defile those temples. "What is attributed to that body, I acknowledge and give to that body, in its place, according as the Scripture attributeth it, which is through and because of that which dwelt and acted in it. But that which sanctified and kept the body pure, (and made all acceptable in him,) was the life, holiness, and righteousness of the spirit. And the same thing that kept his vessel pure, it is the same thing that cleanseth us."* In reply to the second part of this query, I would remark, that I " see no need of directing men to the type for the antitype, neither to the outward temple, nor yet to Jerusalem, neither to Jesus Christ or his blood, [outwardly;] knowing that neither the righteousness of faith, nor the word of it, doth so direct."+ "The new and second covenant is dedicated with the blood, the life of Christ Jesus, which is the alone atonement unto God, by which all his people are washed, sanctified, cleansed, and redeemed to God."‡ I may add, it has always been the lot of the Lord's faithful servants, in every age of the world, to be cried out against, and it makes good the saying of the apostle. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." I conclude thou hast not given thyself the trouble to read any of my public communications, as taken down by M. T. C. Gould, the stenographer; as in them, all objections are answered, in regard to my belief and doctrine :-Read; volume 1st, and first communication, and a letter I wrote to a Friend in Chester county, Penn., under date 7th mo. 22d, 1827, in answer to four queries similar to thine, published I believe in the latter part of the fourth volume of the same work. With love to thy dear wife and children, I remain thy sincere friend. Isaac Pennington, vol. iii. p. 34. + Whitehead's Life and Light of Christ, p. 34. George Fox's Doctrinals, p. 646. ELIAS HICKS. § A work called "the Quaker," containing sermons, &c. |