Having now vindicated the three first propositions of the Minutes levelled at three dangerous tenets of Dr. Crisp, and shewn, that not only yourself, Sir, but moderate calvinists, are (so far) entirely of Mr. W. sentiment; I remain, Hon. and Rev. Sir, your obedient servant, in the bond of a free and peaceful gospel.

J. FLETCHER.

Fourth Letter to the Rev. Mr. Shirley.

Hon. and Rev. Sir,

If the three first propositions of the Minutes are scriptural, Mr. W. may well begin the remaining part, by desiring the preachers in his connection to emerge along with him from under the noisy billows of prejudice, and to struggle quite out of the muddy streams of antinomian delusions, which have so long gone over our heads, and carried so many souls down the channels of vice, into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Well may he intreat them to "Review the whole affair."

And why should this modest request, alarm any one? Though error dreads a revisal, truth, you know, cannot but gain by it.

1. Mr. W. says in this review, 1. "Who is now accepted of God? He that now believes in Christ with a loving, obedient heart." Excellent answer! Worthy of St. Paul and St. James; for it sums up in one line the Epistles of both. In the first part of it, (He that now believes in Christ) you see St. Paul's Gospel calculated for lost sinners, who now fly from the babel of self-righteousness and sin, and find all things in Christ ready for their reception. And in the second part, (with a loving and obedient heart) you see the strong bulwark raised by St. James, to guard the truth of the Gospel against the attacks of Antinomian and Laodicean professors. Had he said, "he that shall believe the next hour is now accepted," he would have bestowed upon present belief the blessing that is promised to present faith. Had he said "he that believed a year ago, is now accepted of God," he would have opened the kingdom of heaven to apostates, contrary to St. Paul's declarations to the Hebrews. He therefore very properly says, "he that now believes ;" for it is written, "he that believeth, (not he that shall believe, or he that did believe) hath everlasting life."

What fault can you then find, with Mr. W. here? Surely you cannot blame him for proposing Christ as the object of the Christian's faith, or for saying that the believer hath a loving and obedient heart; for he speaks of the accepted man, and not of him who comes for acceptance. Multitudes alas! rest satisfied with an unloving, disobedient faith,-a faith that engages only the head, but has nothing to do with the heart ;—a faith that works by malice, instead of working by love;-a faith that pleads for sin in the heart, instead of purifying the heart from sin;—a faith that St. Paul explodes, 1 Cor. xiii. 2; and that St. James compares to a carcass, ii. 26. There is no need that Mr. W. should countenance such a faith by his Minutes. Too many alas! do it by their lives; and God grant none may do it by their Sermons. Whosoever does, Sir, it is not

you; for you tell us in yours, page 150, that "Christ is to be found only by living faith; even a faith that worketh by love; even a faith that layeth hold of Christ by the feet, and worshippeth him;"—the very faith of Mary Magdalen, who certainly had a loving and obedient heart," for our Lord testified that "she loved much," and ardent love cannot but be zealously obedient.

There is not then the least shadow of heresy, but the very marrow of the Gospel in this article. Let us see whether the second is equally defen sible.

II. "But who among those that never heard of Christ? He that feareth God and worketh righteousness, according to the light he has." And where is the error here? Did not St. Peter begin his evangelical Sermon to Cornelius by these very words, prefaced by some others that make them remarkably emphatical? "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." Surely, Sir, you will never insist. upon a formal recantation of a plain Scripture!

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But perhaps you object to those words which Mr. W. has added to St. Peter's declaration, "according to the light he hath." What should it be, "according to the light he has not? Are not there people enough among us who follow the wicked servant that intimated his Lord was an hard and austere man, reaping where he had not sown, and gathering where he had not strew'd? Must Mr. W. increase the number? Or would you have him insinuate that God is more cruel than Pharaoh, who granted the poor Israelites daylight, if he allowed them no straw to make bricks ;-that he requires an heathen to work without any degree of light, without a day of visitation, in the Egyptian darkness of a merely natural state?-And that he will then damn and torment him everlastingly, either for not doing, or for marring his work? O Sir, like yourself, Mr. W. is too evangelical to entertain such notions of the God of Love.

"At this rate, say some, an heathen may be saved without a Saviour; his fearing God and working righteousness will go for the blood and righteousness of Christ." Mr. W. has no such thought: whenever an heathen is accepted, it is merely through the merits of Christ: although it is in consequence of his fearing God and working righteousness. But how comes he to see that God is to be feared, and that righteousness is his delight? Because a beam of our Sun of righteousness shines in his darkness. All is therefore of grace, the light, the works of righteousness done by that light, and acceptance in consequence of them. How much more evangelical is this doctrine of St. Peter, than that of some divines, who consign all the heathens by millions to hell torments, because they cannot explicitly believe in a Saviour, whose name they never heard? Nay, and in whom it would be the greatest arrogancy to believe, if he never died for them? Is it not possible that heathens should by grace, reap some blessings through Adam the second, though they know nothing of his name and obedience unto death; when they, by nature, reap so many curses through Adam the first, to whose name and disobedience they are equally strangers? If this is an heresy it is such an one as does honour to Jesus and humanity.

2d Obj. "Mr. W. allowing the possibility of a righteous heathen's salvation, goes point blank against the 18 th article of our Church, which he has solemnly subscribed."

Ans. This assertion is groundless. Mr. W. far from presuming to say that au heathen can be saved by the law or sect that he professes, if he frames his life according to the light of nature," cordially believes that at! the heathens who are saved, are so through the name, that is, through the merit and Spirit of Christ; by framing their life, not according to I know not what light naturally received from fallen Adam, but according to the supernatural light which Christ graciously affords them, in the dispensation they are under.

3d. Obj. "However if he does not impugn the 18th Article, he does the 13th, which says, that "Works done before justification, or before the grace of Christ, and inspiration of his Spirit, forasmuch as they proceed not from faith in Christ, are not pleasant to God, yea have the nature of sin.

Nay, this Article does not affect Mr. W.'s doctrine; for he constantly maintains, that if the works of a Melchisedec, a Job, a Plato, a Cornelius, are accepted, it is only because they follow the general justification abovementioned: (which is possible what St. Paul calls the free gift that came upon all men to justification of life, Rom. v. 18.) and because they proceed from the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit, they are not therefore done before the grace and inspiration, and are the works which the Article condemns.

4th Obj. "But all that is not of faith is sin, and without faith it is impossible to please God."

Ans. True; therefore "he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Cornelius had undoubtedly this faith, and a degree of it is found in all sincere heathens. For Christ, the light of men, visits all, though in a variety of degrees and dispensations. He said to the carnal Jews that believed not on him: "Yet a little while the light is with you; walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you while ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light." All the heathens that are saved, are then saved, by an implicit faith in Jesus the light of the world; or, to use our Lord's own words, by believing in the light of their dispensation, before the day of their visitation is past, before total darkness comes upon them, even the night when no man can work. 5th Obj. "But if heathens can be saved without the Gospel, what need is there of the Christian dispensation?"

Ans. 1. None of them were ever saved without a beam of the internal light of the gospel, which is preached in (v) every creature under heaven, Col. i. 23. 2. The argument may be retorted: if sinners could be saved under the patriarchal dispensation, what need was there of the Mosaic? If under the Mosaic, what need of John's baptism? If under the baptism of John, what need of Christianity? Or to answer by a comɲɛrison If we can see our way by star-light, what need is there of moonshine? If by moon-shine, what need of the dawn of day? If by the dawn of day, what need of the rising-sun?

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The brightness of divine dispensations, like the light of the righteous shines more and more unto the perfect day. And though an heathen may be saved in his low dispensation, and attain unto a low degree of glory, which the apostle compares to the shining of a star (for in my Father's house, says Christ, there are many mansions), yet it is an unspeakable advantage to be saved from the darkness attending his uncomfortable dispensation, into the full enjoyment of the life and immortality brought to light by the explicit gospel. Well might then the angel say to Cornelius who was already accepted according to his dispensation, that Peter should tell him words whereby he should be saved:-saved from the weakness, darkness, bondage, and tormenting fears attending his present state, into that blessed state of light, comfort, liberty, power, and glorious joy, where "he that is feeble is as David, and the house of David as God, or as the angel of the Lord."

Having thus briefly answered the objections that are advanced against St. Peter's and Mr. W.'s doctrine, proceed we to the 3d query, in the review of the whole affair.

III. "Is this the same with,-he that is sincere? Nearly, if not quite. In the name of charity where is the error of this answer? Where the shadow of heresy? Do you suppose, by he that is sincere, Mr. W. meaus a carnal, unawakened wretch, who boasts of his imaginary sincerity? No Sir, he means one who, in God's account, and not barely in his own, sincerely and uprightly follows the light of his dispensation. Now, if you expose Mr. W. as guilty of heresy, for using this word once, what protests

will you enter against St. Paul, for using it over and over? How will you blame him for desiring the Ephesians (according to the fine reading of our margin) to be sincere in love! aλndevoνtes, ev ayaπn :---Or, for wishing nothing greater to his dear Philippians, than they might be sincere in the day of Christ! Oh, Sir! to fear, and much more to love the Lord in sincerity, is a great and rare thing, Eph. vi. 24. We find every where too much of the old leaven of malice, and too little of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, 1 Cor. v. 8. Think not therefore that Mr. W. betrays the cause of God, because he thinks that to be sincere, and to fear God and work righteousness, are expressions nearly, if not quite synonymous. But you do not perhaps find fault with Mr. W. for setting accepted heathens too low, but too high, by giving them the character of being sincere. For you know that our translators render the Hebrew word [Thumim] sometimes sincere, at other times upright, undefiled, and most commonly perfect. As in these sentences, Noah was a perfect man, Job was a perfect man, &c. May not then Mr. W. secretly bring in his abominable doctrine of perfection, under the less frightful expression of sincerity? Of this more by and by.

In the mean time, I shall close my Vindication of the 2d and 3d query, by the sentiments of two unquestionable protestants on the present subject. The one is Mr. Henry, in his comment on St. Peter's words, God, says he, never did, nor never will reject an honest gentile, who fears God and worships him, and works righteousness: i. e. is just and charitable towards all men, who lives up to the light he has, in a sincere devotion, and regular conversation. Wherever God finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God. Psalm xviii. 25.-And those that have not the knowledge of Christ, and therefore cannot have an explicit regard to him, may yet receive grace for his sake, to fear God, and work righteousness; and wherever God gives grace to do so, as he did to Cornelius, he will, through Christ, accept the work of his own hands." Here, Sir, you have the very doctrine of Mr. W. quite down to the heretical word sincere.

The other divine, Sir, is yourself. You tell us, in your sermon on the same text, that "We cannot but admire, and adore God's universal tenderness, and pity for every people and nation under heaven, in that he willeth not the death of any single sinner, but accepteth every one into gospel-covenant with him, who feareth him and worketh righteousness according to the light imparted to him."

Now, Sir, where is the difference between your orthodoxy and Mr. W.'s heresy ? He asserts, God accepts "him that fears God and works righteousness according to the light he has:" Mr. Henry says, "him that lives up to the light he has:" and you, Sir," him who feareth God and worketh righteousness according to the light imparted to him." If Mr. W. must share the fate of Shadrach for his heresy, I doubt Mr. Henry will have that of Meshech, and you, of Abednego; for you are all three in the same honourable condemnation.

But Mr. W. foreseeing that some will be offended at St. Peters evangelical declaration, concerning the acceptance of sincere heathens who work righteousness, proposes and answers the following objection.

IV. "Is not this salvation by works? Not by the merit of works, but by works as a condition:" In the former part of this answer, Mr. W. freely grants all you can require, to guard the gospel, against the Popish doctrine of making satisfaction for sin, and meriting salvation by works: for he maintains that though God accepts the heathen that works righteousness, yet it is not through the merit of his works, but solely through that of Christ. Is not this the very doctrine of our church in the 11th Article which treats of Justification? "We are accounted righteous before VOL. I.

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God only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings." Does not the opposition of the two sentences, and the explanatory word deservings, evidently shew that works. meet for repentance are not excluded from being in the sinner that comes to be justified, but from having auy merit or worth to purchase his justification?

Our church expresses herself more fully on this head in the homily on salvation, to which the article refers. "St. Paul," says she, " declares nothing [necessary] on the behalf of man concerning his justification, but only a true and lively faith, and yet (N. B.) that faith does not shut out repentance, hope, love, [of desire when we are coming, love of delight when we are come] dread, and the fear of God, to be joined with it in every man that is justified; but it shutteth them out from the office of justifying; so that they be all present together in him that is justified, yet they justify not all together." This is agreeable to St. Peter's doctrine, maintained by Mr. W. Only faith in Christ for Christians, and faith in the light of their dispensation for heathens, is necessary in order to acceptance: but though faith only justifies, yet it is never alone; for repentance, hope, love of desire, and the fear of God, necessarily accompany this faith if it is living. Our church therefore is not at all against works proceeding from, or accompanying faith in all its stages. She grants, that whether faith seeks or finds its object, whether it longs for or embraces it, it is still a lively, active, and working grace. She is only against the vain conceit that works have any hand in meriting justification or purchasing salvation, which is what Mr. W. likewise opposes.

If you say, That his heresy does not consist in exploding the merit of works in point of salvation, but in using that legal expression, salvation by works, as a condition. I answer, that as I would not contend for the word Trinity, because it is not in the Bible, no nor yet for the word Perfection, though it is there; neither would I contend for the expression, salvation by works, as a condition; but the thing Mr. W. means by it is there [in the Bible] in a hundred different turns and modes of expression. Therefore it is highly worth contending for; and so much the more, as it is, next to the doctrine of the atonement, the most important part of the faith once delivered unto the Saints.

Any candid person acquainted with Mr. W.'s principles, (and for such only the Minutes were written) cannot but see that he meant absolutely nothing, but what our Saviour means in these and the like Scriptures, namely, that salvation is suspended on a variety of things which divines call by various names, and which Mr. W. with a majority of them, chooses to call Conditions. "Except ye repent, ye shall all perish.Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."-Here, repentance and conversion, are conditions of eternal salvation." If ye believe not, ye shall die in your sins; for this is the work of God [the work that God requires and approves] that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."-Here, the work of faith is the condition," I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." And here it is, doing God's commandments.

St. Paul, evangelical Paul, says the same thing in a variety of expressions." If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema." If love the noblest work of the heart, does not take place, the fearful curse will. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live." Spiritual morsincation is here the condition." Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Here holiness is the condition." Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor covetous nor drunkards, nor thieves, nor revilers, shall