ΤΟ ALL CANDID CALVINISTS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Honoured and dear Brethren, A STUDENT from Geneva who has had the honour of being admitted a minister of your church, takes the liberty of dedicating to you these Strictures on GENEVA LOGIC, which were written both for the better information of your candid judgment, and to obtain tolerable terms of peace from his worthy opponents. Some, who mistake blunt truth for sneering insolence, and mild ironies for bitter sarcasms, will probably dissuade you from looking into this FOURTH CHECK TO ANTINOMIANISM. They will tell you, that Logica Genevensis is" a very bad book," full of calumny, forgeries, vile slanders, acrimonious sneers, and horrid misrepresentations." But candour, which condemns no one before he is heard, which weighs both sides of the question in an impartial balance, will soon convince you, that if every irony proceeds from the spleen and acrimony of Spirit, there is as much of both in these four words of my honoured opponent, Pietas Oxoniensis, and Goliah slain*, as in all the Four Checks: and that I have not exceeded the apostolic direction of my motto, rebuke them sharply, or rather (arотоμws) cnttingly, but let brotherly love continue. I do not deny that some points of doctrine, which many hold in great veneration, excite pity or laughter in my Check. But how can I help it? If a painter, who knows not how to flatter, draws to the life an object excessively ridiculous in itself, must it not appear excessively ridiculous in his picture? Is it right to exclaim against his pencil as malicious, and his colours as unfair, because he impartially uses them according to the rules of his art? And can any unprejudiced person expect that he should draw the picture of the night, without using any black shades at all? If the charge of "bitterness" does not entirely set you against this book, they will try to frighten you from reading it, by protesting, that I throw down the foundation of Christianity, and help Mr. Wesley to place To this dreadful charge works and merit on the Redeemer's throne. I answer, 1. That I had rather my right hand should lose its cunning to all eternity, than use it a moment to detract from the Saviour's real glory, to whom I am more indebted than any other man in the world: 2. That the strongest pleas I produce for holiness and good works, are quotations from the homilies of our own church, as well as from the puritan divines, whom I cite preferable to others, because they held what you are taught to call the doctrines of grace: 3. That what I have said of those doctrines recommends itself, to every unprejudiced person's reason and conscience : 4. That my capital arguments in favour of practical Christianity, are founded upon our second justification by the evidence of works in the great day; a doctrine, which my opponent himself cannot help assenting to: 5. That from first to last, when the meritorious cause of our justification is The ironical titles of two books written by my opponent, to expose the proceedings of the University of Oxford, respecting the expulsion of six Students belonging to Edmund-Hall. considered, we set works aside; praying God not to enter into judgment with us, or weigh our merits, but to pardon our offences for Christ's sake; and gladly ascribing the whole of our salvation to his alone merits, as much as Calvin or Dr. Crisp does: 6. That when the word meriting, deserving, or worthy, which our Lord himself uses again and again, is applied to good works or good men, we mean absolutely nothing but rewardable, or qualified for the reception of a gracious reward. And 7. that even this improper merit or rewardableness of good works, is entirely derived from Christ's proper merit, who works what is good in us; and from the gracious promise of God, who has freely engaged himself to recompense the fruits of righteousness, which his own grace enables us to produce. I hope, honoured brethren, that these hints will so far break the waves of prejudice which beat against your candour, as to prevail upon you not to reject this little means of information. If you condescend to peruse it, I trust it will minister to your edification, by enlarging your views of Christ's prophetic and kingly office; by heightening your ideas of that practical religion, which the scriptures perpetually enforce; by lessening your regard for some well meant mistakes, on which good men have too hastily put the stamp of orthodoxy; and by giving you a more favourable opinion of the sentiments of your remonstrant brethren, who would rejoice to live at peace with you in the kingdom of grace, and walk in love with you to the kingdom of glory. But, whether you consent to give them the right hand of fellowship or not, nobody, I think, can be more glad to offer it you, than he, who with undissembled respect, remains, Honoured and dear Brethren, Your affectionate Brother, and Obedient servant in Christ, JOHN FLETCHER. LOGICA GENEVENSIS; OR, A FOURTH CHECK ΤΟ ANTINOMIANISM. LETTER I. TO RICHARD HILL, ESQ. Honoured and dear Sir, My entering the field of controversy to defend St. James's pure religion, procured me your five letters, which I compare to a shower of rain gently descending from the placid heaven. But the six which have followed, resembled a storm of hail, pouring down from the lowering sky, ushered by some harmless flashes of lightning, and accompanied by the rumbling of distant thunder. If my comparison is just, it is no wonder that when I read them first, I was almost thunder-struck, and began to fear, lest instead of adding light, I had only added heat, to the hasty zeal which I endeavoured to check. But at the second perusal, my drooping hopes revive: the disburdened clouds begin to break: the air, discharged of the exhalations which rendered it sultry or hazy, seems cooler and clearer than before; and the smiling plains of evangelical truth, viewed through that defecated medium, appear more gay after the unexpected storm. Methinks even mo deration, the phoenix consumed by our polemic fires, is going to rise out of its ashes; and that, notwithstanding the din of a controversial war, the voice of the turtle is still heard in our land. May the gentle sound approach nearer and nearer, and tune our lightening hearts to the melodious accents of divine and brotherly love! And Thou Prince of Peace, Thou true Solomon, Thou pacific Son of warlike David; should an evil spirit come upon me, as it did upon Saul, to make me dip my pen in the envenomed gall of discord, or turn it into a javelin to strike my dear opponent through and through; mercifully bow the heavens, gently touch the strings of my heart and play upon them the melting tune of forgiving love! Teach me to check the rapid growth of Antinomian errors, without hindering the slow progress of thy precious truth; and graciously instruct me how to defend an insulted, venerable father, without hurting an honoured, though alas! prepossessed brother. If the latter has offended, suffer me not to fall upon him with the whip of merciless revenge; and if I must use the rod of reproof, teach me to weigh every stroke in the balance of the sanctuary with tender fear and yet with honest impartiality. Should I, in this encounter, glorious Lord, overcome by thy wisdom, VOL. I 2 P my worthy antagonist, help me by thy meekness to give him an example of Christian moderation; and while I tie him with the cords of a man and a believer, while I bind him with reason and scripture to the left wheel of thy gospel chariot, which alas! he mistakes for a wheel of antichrist's carriage; let me rejoice to be tied by him with the same easy bonds to the right wheel, which he, without reason, fears I am determined to stop. And when we are thus mutually bound to thy triumphant car, draw us with double swiftness to the happy regions, where the good, as well as the wicked cease from troubling, and those who are weary of contention are at rest. So shall we leave for ever behind the deep and noisy waters of strife, in which so many bigots miserably perish; and the barren mountains of Gilboah, where hurried Saul falls upon the point of his own controversial sword, and lovely Jonathan himself receives a mortal wound. You remember, honoured Sir, that I opened the Second Check to Antinomianism, by demonstrating, that in the day of judgment we shall be justified by works, i. e. by the evidence of works. A person of your penetration could not but see, that if this legal proposition stood, your favourite doctrines of finished salvation, and Calvinian imputation of righteousness to an impenitent adulterer, would lose their exhorbitant infuence. You design therefore to bend yourself with Sampson's might upon this adamantine pillar of heretical doctrine. Let us see whether your redoubled efforts have shaken it, or only shewn that it stands as firm as the pillars of heaven. You enter upon the arduous labour of deciding, in your first paragraph, that I deal in " Sneer, banter, sarcasm, notorious falsehood, calumny, and gross perversions;" and to confirm this charge, you produce three anony mous letters, one of which deposes that what I have written upon finished salvation" is enough to make every child of God shudder:" while another pronounces, that my "book is full of groundless and false arguments:" and the third, that I am "infatuated," and have "advanced pernicious doctrines in bitter expressions." Your initial charge, supported by this threefold authority, will probably pass for a demonstration with some of your readers; but as I consider it only as a faint imitation of Calvin's book, called, Responsio ad calumnies Nebulonis, I hasten to what looks a little like an argument. Page 4, you say concerning justification by works, i. e. by the evidence of works in the last day, "I may safely affirm that it has no existence in the word of God." So, honoured Sir, the plainest and fullest passages of the sacred Oracles, are, it seems, to fly like chaff before your safe affirmation; for you have not supported it by one single text. Near twenty have I produced, which declare with one consent that we shall be judged, not according to our faith, but according to our works; and that the doers of the law, and they alone, shall be justified in the last day; but in your "full and particular answer to my book," you take a full and easy leap over most of these texts. Two however you touch upon; let us see if you have been able to press them into the service of your doctrine. 01 1. You find fault with our translation of Rev. xxii. 14, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life." You say, that the word which is rendered right, properly signifies privilege. Granting it, for peace's sake, I ask, What do you get by this criticism Absolutely nothing: for the word privilege proves my point as well as the word right; unless you can demonstrate that it makes a material difference in the sense of the following similar sentence. Blessed was the Son of Aaron, whom Moses anointed high priest, that he might have the right, (or, that he might have the privilege) of entering once a year into the holy of holies. If those different expressions convey the same idea, your objection is frivolous, and Rev. xxii. 14, even according to your own translation still evidently confirms the words of our Lord and his favourite disciple. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments: And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another." 2. The text you touch upon is Matt. xii. 36, 37, "In the day of judgment, by thy words shalt thou be justified." Page 10, you thus comment upon it. "Our Lord points out the danger of vain and idle words; and affirms, that as every tree is known by its fruit, so may the true state of the heart be known by the evil or good things which proceed out of the mouth; and having laid down this rule of judgment, he adds the words which you have so often cited in defence of your doctrine, "By thy words thou shalt be justified," &c. i. e. "As words and works are the streams which flow from the spring of the heart, so by these it will appear whether that spring was ever" (I would say with more propriety, is now)" purified by grace; or whether it still remains in its natural corrupt state; the actions of a man being the declarative evidences, both here and at the great day, whether or no he was' (I would say, he is) among the trees of righteousness which the Lord hath planted. This is the plain, easy sense of this passage." Is it indeed, honoured Sir? Well then, I have the pleasure of informing you, that, supposing you allow of my little alterations, we are exactly of the same sentiment: and I think that, upon second thoughts, you will noc reject them for it is evident, the actions of to-day show what a free agent is to-day, and not what he was yesterday, or will be six months hence. By what argument will you prove that because Lucifer was once a bright angel, and Adam a godlike creature, they continued such under all the horrors of their rebellion? Or that David's repentance after Nathan's expostulation, evidenced that he was a penitent before è In the last day the grand enquiry will not be, whether Hymeneus, Philetus, and Demas, were ever purified by grace;" but whether they were so at death. Because our last works will be admitted as the last, and consequently the most important and decisive evidences, for as the tree falls so it lies. Apostates, far from being justified for having been once purified by grace, will be counted worthy of a sorer punishment for having turned from the way of righteousness. Would not the world hiss a physician, who should publicly maintain, that by feeling people's pulse now, he can tell whether they were ever sick or well? Or that because one of his patients was alive ten years ago, he is alive now, though every symptom of death and corruption is actually upon him? And shall your hint, honoured Sir, persuade your readers, that what would be an imposition upon common sense in a gentleman of the faculty, is genuine orthodoxy in Mr. Hill? But I have too high an opinion of your good sense and piety, dear Sir, to think that you will persist in your inaccuracy, merely for the pleasure of maintaining the ridiculous perseverance of Antinomian apostates, and contradicting the God of truth, who expressly mentions the righteous turning from his righteousness, and dying in the sin that he has sinned. My hopes that you will give it up, are the more sanguine, as it is rectified in the same page, by two quotations, which have the full stamp of your approbation. The judicious Dr. Guise, say you, paraphrases thus on the place: Your words, as well as actions, shall be produced in evidence for or against you, to prove" (not whether you ever were, but) " whether you are a saint or a sinner, a true believer or not; and according to their evidence you shall be either publicly acquitted or condemned in the great day." And as it is absurd to suppose that Christ shall enquire whether |