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ELIAS HICKS IN CONTINUATION.

AND if we attend to this, we shall be instructed to see, that Christ who followed Israel, never was, and never could be, crucified by the sons of men. We are told by the holy apostle, that the same rock that they built upon, was the rock that followed Israel. "They did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." And this Christ has never been crucified by human power-no outward cross has ever taken the life of this Christ. He has been crucified from the foundation of the world-a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. For when man was created, the Lord breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Now it is this life of God in the soul of man, this innocent life, or lamb of God, that was slain by Adam's transgression; and he is slain in every one of us, when we go into Adam and transgress. Thus when Israel was coming through the wilderness, every one who turned away from the law, which came through

Moses, crucified Christ in their own souls; and so he is now crucified. This was the view of the apostle, that he saw the Lord Jesus crucified, long after his ascension, in the streets of Sodom and Egypt. And what are these streets but the hearts of men?

That Christ, which is the Saviour of the world that holy anointing which is comprehended in the name Immanuel, that is, God with us, never was crucified by the sons of men. They crucified only the outward part, the flesh, but that was not Christ the Saviour of the soul. It was that outward animal body, through which he did those miracles in saving the Israelites from their afflictions. Therefore, it was a part of that great figure or type of a superior dispensation. It was like a schoolmaster to lead unto Christ, the Immanuel, God with us.

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say, therefore, let us be wise for ourselves; and we shall find that this Christ never was crucified outwardly. But the children of men have an opportunity of crucifying him in their own hearts. Every evil has a tendency to crucify him in the soul, and separate from God.

SERMON VIII.

BY THOMAS WETHERALD.

DELIVERED AT ROSE STREET MEETING, NEW-YORK, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 4TH, 1826.

"Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?"

Now where is the instruction, which is to be derived from records like this? We acknowledge

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the superintending providence of the Most High: yet, if we would be fed, we must labour; we must sow, and reap, and gather into barns. If we would be clothed, we must toil and spin. And, therefore, I have concluded that these expressions are parabolical or allegorical, and that they convey lessons of deep and important instruction. The sparrows are fed by the bounty of the Most High, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. The lilies are clothed, not by their own labour, but by the same God who sheds the light of his countenance on all the works of his creation: for if there was no light for the lily, its beauty would never make its appearance; and it is the immediate gift of the Most High. But mark, there is no opposition in the lily. It is willing to appear in the beauty of nature and of nature's God. It is clothed by his hand, because it is submissive to his operative power. And so, if we come under the same state of submission, we shall, by the same operative power, be clothed and fed. But all the learning and wisdom of man cannot feed the soul, nor can all our speculative ideas, notions, and opinions of religion, bring down bread and clothing from God out of heaven.

It was a declaration of Jesus Christ, when in that prepared body in which he came to do his

heavenly Father's will, that that bread, which he would give, was his life, which he would give for the life of the world. But are we again turning unto external objects? Are we turning to that act of unparalleled malignity of the Jews, which crucified him? No, verily, there is another spiritual and deeply instructive allusion-" And the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And this is synonymous with another declaration. "If any one will be my disciple, let him take up his daily cross and follow me." It is through the crucifying operation of his spirit, that we are made. willing to give up every disposition which would separate us from the source of purity. And if we are willing to "let him that stole, steal no more," and whatever evil we have been guilty of, to give it up, and avoid it;-and if we are willing to give up our life-that in which we have delighted, and in which our perverted hopes of happiness consisted-what is the consequence of becoming thus stripped of these perverted dispositions? The consequence is, that our life comes into unison with the life of Christ, and his heavenly dispositions govern us. Thus he gives his life unto us, for the life and spirit of the world.

Here is a happy exchange within our reach,

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