To Hugh Judge.
Please present my love to all my friends, as way opens.
The writing of the preceding letter was the last act in the life of this eminent individual, and the attentive reader will not fail to regard it as an act of peculiar interest. It was as a seal to the labours of a long life, and evinced the abiding and lively efficacy of that internal principle which he had uniformly sought as his director and preserver. But the work of this faithful servant was now accomplished; “the silver cord was loosed,” and that spirit which had been so diligently active in the service of its Divine Master, was now to rest from its labours, and to reap its reward. Just when he had finished the letter alluded to, he was attacked with a paralytic affection, under the effects of which he became gradually weaker; but his mind remained established in great peace and serenity, and on the 27th of 2d month, 1830, he calmly expired, aged nearly eighty-two years.
Of the character of this extraordinary man, it is not necessary now to speak. The preceding pages describe the nature of his engagements; and an estimate may thence be formed, of the fervency of his spirit, and the brightness of his example. In his general deportment, and in the expression of his countenance, there was a remarkable union of gentleness and dignity, indicating the habitual benevolence and solemnity of his feelings; and his public communications were accompanied with a power and an authority which demonstrated the purity of the source from whence they were derived. The promotion of spiritual holiness and practical righteousness in the earth, were the objects of his constant solicitude; and he endeavoured, through divine assistance, to exemplify in his own daily experience, the comprehensive command of the prophet, “To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
THE MEMORIAL OF JERICHO MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS CONCERNING OUR ANCIENT FRIEND ELIAS HICKS.
We believe the example exhibited in the life and religious exercise of this our beloved Friend, is eminently calculated to set forth the efficacy and sufficiency of that divine grace, which, when believed in and obeyed, bringeth salvation.
He was born in the town of Hempstead, Queens county, Long Island, state of New-York, the 19th day of the 3d month, 1748. His parents’ names were John and Martha Hicks. At the age of seventeen he was placed as an apprentice to learn the trade of a carpenter; on the expiration of his term, he returned to his father, with whom he lived until the time of his marriage, which took place about the twenty-third year of his age, to Jemima, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Seaman, of Jericho, in said county, where he resided the remainder of his life.