Christ's immaculate righteousness, as the unseemly cloak of such wickedness as is not so much as named among the Gentiles? O that salvation from this evil were given unto Israel out of Zion! O that the Lord would deliver his people from this preposterous error! O that the blast of divine indignation, and the sighs of thousands of good men, lighting at once on the great image, might tear away the loose robe of righteousness which Calvin put upon her in a "winter season!" Then could all the world read the mark of the beast and the fiend, which she wears on her naked breast: "Free adultery, free murder, free incest, any length of sin for the pleasant children, the little flock of the elect: Free wrath, free vengeance, free damnation for the immense herd of the reprobates!" But to return to Judas, the first of all christian apostates: waving the consideration of his justification in his infancy, I observe, that as he had once true faith, he undoubtedly believed to righteousness, and consequently it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, if this means, that God put upon him a loose robe of righteousness, which for ever screened him from condemnation, and under which he could conceal a bag of stolen money, as easily as you suppose David hid the ewe-lamb which he conveyed away from Uriah's pasture; it follows, upon your scheme, that "justification being one single immutable act, in which works have no place," Judas is still completely justified before God, by Calvinian imputation of righ⚫ teousness; although christians have hitherto believed, works have so important a place in justification, that the apostate is no less condemned before God, than before men and angels, by his avarice and treason. Let those who can split a hair, as easily as an eagle can find her passage between east and west, take the chosen apostle, who did not make his election sure by the works of faith; and let them split him asunder: So shall happy Iscariot, the dear elected child of God, wrapped in imputed righteousness, and carried by everlasting love, infallibly go to heaven without works, in consequence of his Calvinian justification before God; while poor reprobated Judas, for accomplishing God's decree, shall infallibly go to his own place, in consequence of his condemnation by the evidence of wicked works. Thus, Sir, by fixing my plain engine, common sense, upon the immoveable point which you have granted me, i. e. St. James's justi. fication by works, I hope I have not only removed the rock of offence from off Mr. Wesley's Anti-Crispian propositions, but heaved also your great Diana, and her brother Apollyon, (I mean unconditional Election and absolute Reprobation) from off the basis of orthodoxy, on which you suppose they stand firm as the pillars of heaven. May the God of pure, impartial love, whom they have so long indirectly traduced, as a God of blind dotage to hundreds, and implacable wrath to millions of his creatures in the very same circumstances; -the God whom those graceless doctrines have represented as fond Eli, and grim Apollyon: may He, I say, arise for His name's sake, and touch the Geneva Colossus with his own omnipotent finger: so shall it in a moment fall from the amazing height of reverence to which Calvin, the Synod of Dort, and Elisha Coles have raised it; and its undeceived votaries shall perceive, they had no more reason to call Geneva imposi tions the doctrines of grace, than good Aaron and the mistaken Israelites, to give the tremendous name of Jehovah to the ridiculous idol, which they had devoutly set up in the absence of legal Moses; so, giving glory to God, they shall confess that the robe of their image, with which some so officiously cover impenitent adulterers and murderers, is no more like the true wedding garment, than the imaginary appearances of armed men in the clouds, are like the multitude of the heavenly host. While you try to defend this robe, and I to tear it off the back of Antinomian Jezebel, let us not neglect putting off the old man, putting on Christ Jesus; and walking in him as St. Paul, or with him as Enoch, arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness imparted to the saints, when Christ is formed in their hearts by faith, and imputed to them so long as they walk in their measure as he also walked. That notwithstanding our warm controversy, we may walk in love with each other, and all the people of God, is the prayer of, Honoured and dear Sir, your obedient and devoted Servant in St. James's gospel, JOHN FLETCHER. Letter VII. To Riehard Hill, Esq. The Fourth Letter of your Review you produce as "a full and particular answer" to what I have advanced against Crisp's scheme of finished salvation and finished damnation. But to my great surprise, you pass in profound silence over my strongest arguments. Had I been in your place, I would have paid some regard to my word, printed in capitals in my title-page; I would have tried to prove, that, upon Crisp's scheme, St. Paul might, consistently with wisdom, exhort the Philippians to work out their [finished] salvation with fear and trembling. And if I could not have made it appear, that our Lord has finished his work, as an interposing Mediator, a teaching Prophet, and a ruling King; I would either have given up the point, or endeavoured to shew, that he has finished it at least as a Priest. But even this you could not do without setting aside two important parts of his priestly office for the same Jesus, who offered up himself as the true paschal Lamb, who is now exalted at the right hand of God, to bless us as our Melchisedec, and make intercession for us as our Aaron, saying daily concerning a multitude of barren fig trees in his vineyard," Let them alone this year also, till I shall dig about them; and if they bear fruit well and if not, then after that thou shalt cut them down." Now if he daily carries on his own personal work of salvation, not only as a prophet and a king, but also as a Mediator and a Priest; common sense dictates, that his personal work," is no more finished than our own; and that the doctrine of finished salvation is founded upon a heap of palpable mistakes, if by that expression you mean any thing more than a finished atone ment. But, overlooking these unsurmountable difficulties, you open your "full and particular answer" by saying, p 62, 63, "Finished salvation is the grand fortress, against which all your artillery is played, and at which your heavy bombs of bitter sneer and cutting sarcasm are thrown:-Yet this very expression in its full extent, I undertake to vindicate, and in so doing shall fly to the sword of the Spirit: and the Lord enabling me to wield it aright, I doubt not I shall put to flight the armies of the aliens." Let us now see how you manage your sword, put us to flight, and establish finished salvation. I. Page 63, "When the Lord of Glory gave up the ghost, he cried, It is finished. And what was finished? Not merely his life; but the work which was given him to do. And what was this work, but the salvation of his people? One would have imagined, that the Lord's own use of this expression might have silenced every cavil." The Lord's own use of this contested expression, Finished Salvation! Pray, Sir, where does he use it? Certainly not in the two passages you quote. "I have finished the work thou gavest me to do," previously to my entering on my passion: and, "It is finished:" that is, All the prophecies relative to what I was to do, teach, and suffer before my death, are accomplished. These scriptures do not in the least refer to the work of sal vation on our part: nor do they even take in the most important branches of salvation's work on Christ's part. To assert it, is to take a bold stride into Socinianism, and main tain, it was not needful to our salvation that Christ should die, and rise again. For when he said, "I have finished the work thou gavest me to do," he was not yet entered upon his passion: nor had he died for our sins, much less was he yet risen for our justification: when he said upon the cross, 'It is finished." To suppose then, that salva 66 tion's work on Christ's part was finished, not only before his resurrection, but also before bis death, is to set aside some of his most im portant works; in direct opposition to the scriptures, which testify, that he died, the just for the unjust; and affirm that if he is not raised, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins. Thus, Sir, you have so unhappily begun to "wield your sword," as to cut down, at the first stroke, the two grand articles of the christian faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. II. Page 33. To mend the matter, you have recourse to the mysterious doctrine of the decrees; and because "All events are present unto God, and were so from eternity to eternity," you affirm, that "The glorification of the elect is as much finished as their predestination." By the same rule of Geneva logic, I may say, that because God has decreed, the World shall melt with fervent heat, the general conflagration is as much finished as the deluge. Were ever more strange assertions obtruded upon mankind? If this illustration does not convince you of your mistake, I turn the tables, and make your blood run cold with the dreadful counterpart of your own proposition. "The damnation of the non elect [born or unborn] is as much finished as their predestination." And are these the good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people? And is this the comfortable doctrine of free-grace, which we are to preach to every creature? Alas, Sir, you wield your sword so unskilfully, as absolutely to cut down all hopes and possibility of mercy for millions of your fellow creatures; even for all the poor reprobates on the left side of the ship, who "from eternity to eternity," were irresistibly enclosed in the net of finished damnation!" III. P. 63. To support your unscriptural assertion, you produce "Rom. viii. 29, 'Whom he did predestinate, them he called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Indeed, Sir, the Apostle no more meant to insinuate by these words, that David was justified and glorified, when he wallowed in the filth of adultery and murder, than that Judas was condemned and damned when he left all to follow Christ. he only lays before us an account of the method, which God follows in the eternal salvation of obedient, persevering believers who are the per sons that, as such, he predestinated to life, according to his foreknowledge, and the counsel of his holy will. These he called, but not these alone. When they made their calling sure, by believing in the light of their dispensation, these he also justified. And when they made their justification sure, by adding to their faith virtue, &c. these he also glorified; for the souls of departed saints are actually glorified in Abraham's bosom; and living saints are not only called and justi. fied but also in part glorified; for, by the Spirit of glory and of God, which rests upon them, they are changed, into the divine image from glory to glory; yea, they are already all glorious within. How much more reasonable and scriptural is this sense of the apostle's words; than that you fix upon them, by which you would make us believe, that, on the one hand, Solomon's salvation (including his justification and glorification) was finished "in the full extent of the expression," when he worshipped the abomination of the Zidonians, and gloried in his shame while, on the other hand Demas's damnation was finished, when he was St. Paul's zealous companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ? O Sir, have you not here also inadvertently used the sword of the Spirit, to oppose the mind of the Spirit, and make way for bare faced Antinomianism? You proceed, IV. P. 63. "The same Apostle, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, speaking to believers, addresses them as already (virtually) seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Hence you infer, that their salvation was fin ished, "in the full extent of the expression." But your conclusion is not just; for the apostle, instead of supposing their salvation finished, exhorts them not to steal, not to be drunk,and not to give place to the devil, by fornication, uncleanness, filthiness, or covetousness; for this ye know, adds he, that no unclean person, &c. hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ; so far is he from being "already virtually seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." What need is there of darkening counsel by words without knowledge? By the dark word "virtually ?" While the Ephesians kept the faith, did they not set their affections on things above? Were not their hearts in heaven with Christ, agreeably to our Lord's doctrine," Where your treasure is there will your hearts be also?" And by a lively faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, did not they already share the glory of their exalted Head? Will you still endeavour to persuade the world, that, when David defiled his neighbour's bed, he was "seated in heavenly places in Christ?" Is it not evident, that these, and the like expressions of St. Paul, must not be understood of idle, antinomian speculation: but of such a real change, as our Church mentions in her collect for Ascension-day? "Grant, that as Christ, ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and continual ly dwell?" Such powerful exertions of faith, hope, and love, as are described in the 77th hymn of Mr. Madan's collection? By faith we are come, To our permanent home, By hope we the rapture improve; By love we still rise. And look down on the skies-For the heaven of heaven's is love! But this is not all: If the elect, whether they be drunk or sober, chaste or unclean, are already virtually seated in heavenly places in Christ," according to the doctrine of finished salvation; are not poor reprobates, whether they pray or curse, repent or sin, already virtually seated in hellish places in the devil, according to the doctrine of finished damnation? O Sir, when you use the sword of the Spirit to storm the New Jerusalem, and cut the way through law and gospel before an adulterer in flagrante delicto that he may virtually [that is, I fear, comfortably and securely] sit in heavenly places in Christ, do you not dreadfully prostitute God's holy word! inadvertently fight the battle of the rankest Antinomians, and secure the foundation of Sandiman's as well as Crisp's increasing errors? But you have an excuse ready: V. P. 63. "Christ has purchased the Spirit, to work mortification of sin, &c. in the hearts of his children: and in this respect their sanctification is really as much fiinished as their justification." I reply, 1. If their justification by works is not finished, before the day of judgment, as our Lord informs us, Matt. xii. 37, your observation proves just nothing. 2. The scriptures in direct opposition to your scheme declare, that the Spirit strives with, and consequently was purchased for all; those who quench it, and sin against the Holy Ghost, not excepted. Therefore, neither the sanctification nor salvation of sinners, is absolutely secured by the purchase you mention. If it were, all the world would be saved. But, alas! many deny the Lord that bought them, and by doing despite to the Spirit of grace purchased for them, bring upon themselves swift destruction, instead of finished salvation. Here then, the sword which you wield, flies again to pieces, by clashing with the real sword of the Spirit, brandished by St. Peter and St Paul. VI. P. 64. You bring in "The immutability of God's counsel confirmed by an oath," and add, "The will and Testament is signed, sealed, and properly attested.-The whole affair is finished. There remains nothing to do but to take possession," I thank you, dear Sir, for this concession; something then "remains to do:" we must, at least, "take possession:" and if we neglect doing it, farewell finished salvation: we shall as much fall short of the heavenly, as the Israelites, who perished in the wilderness, because they refused to take possession, fell short of the earthly Canaan. Again, we grant, that God's "Will and Testament is finished, and sealed by Christ's most precious blood; and that "the everlasting covenant is ordered in all things, and sure:' But if part of that will and covenant runs thus: "Ye are saved by grace through faith-You are kept by the power of God through faith;-If ye continue in the faith: -Faith without works is dead :-Wherefore work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: For him that sinneth, I will blot out of my book: If ye walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you :-I will cut my staff, beauty, asunder, that I may break my covenant which I have made, with all the people, Zech. xi. 10.—And ye shall know my breach of promise, Numb. xiv. 34. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not:Although through faith they kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest the destroyer should touch them: and did all drink the same spiritual drink, (for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was CHRIST :)-Now all these things happened to them for examples; and they are written for our admonition. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall" If part of God's will and covenant, I say, runs thus: is it not absurd to suppose, that any man's salvation is finished, while he not only does not comply with the gracious terms of God's "sure covenant," but notoriously incurs the dreadful threatenings recorded in his unalterable "will and testament." Here then, instead of "turning to flight the armies of the aliens," you have given us wea. pons to beat you out of the field. But you soon come back again to say, VII. P. 64. "Certain it is, that the salvation of every soul given by the Father to the Son, in the eternal covenant of Redemption, is as firmly secured, as if those souls were al ready in glory." The certainty which you speak of, exists only in your own imagination. Judas was given by the Father to the Son; and yet Judas was lost. If the salvation of some people "was as firmly secured from the beginning, as if they had been already in glory," all the ministers of the gospel who have addressed them at any times as children of wrath, have been preachers of lies, and the Holy Spirit witnesses to an untruth, when he testifies to the unregenerate elect that they are in danger of hell. But this is not all upon your dangerous scheme, the foundations are thrown down; this man is no more in a state of trial; the day of judgment will be a mere farce; and the Scriptures are a farrago of the most absurd cautions, and the most scandalous lies; for they perpetually speak to believers, as to persons in danger of falling and being cut off, if they do not walk circumspectly; and they assert, that "perish for whom Christ died; and that others, by "denying the Lord who some bought them, bring upon themselves swift destruction." But pray, Sir, when you tell us, "The salvation of every soul given by the Father to the Son, in the eternal covenant of redemption, is as firmly secured, as if those souls were al ready in glory;" do you not see the cloven foot on which your doctrine stalks along? Permit me to uncover it a moment, and strike my readers with salutary dread, by holding forth the inseparable counterpart of your dangerous opinion, "Certain it is, that the damnation of every soul given by the Father to the devil, in the eternal covenant of reprobation, is as firmly secured, as if those souls were already in hell." Shame on the man that first called such horrid tenets the doctrines of grace, and the free gospel of Jesus Christ! Confusion on the lying spirit, who broke out of the bottomless pit, thus to blaspheme the Father of mercies, delude good men, and sow the tares of Antinomianism! O, Sir, when you plead for such doctrines, instead of wielding aright "the sword of the Spirit," do you not plunge it in muddy, Stygian waters, till it is covered with sordid rust, and reeks with poisonous error? But you pursue : VIII. P. 64. "To scruple the use of that expression, finished salvation, argues the greatest mistrust of the Mediator's power, and casts the highest reflection upon his infinite wisdom, by supposing that he did not count the cost before he began to build, and therefore that either his own personal work, or that which he does in his members (for they are only parts of the same salvation) is left unfinished." If we do not admit your doctrine, it is not because we mistrust the Mediator's "power," and have low thoughts of his "wisdom;" but because we cannot believe, that he will use his Power in opposition to his Wisdom and Truth, in taking the elect by main force into heaven, as a strong man takes a sack of corn into his granary; much less can we think, that he will use his Omnipotence in opposition to his Mercy and Justice, by placing millions of his creatures in such forcible circumstances as absolutely necessitate them to sin and be damned according to the horrible doctrine of finished damnation. Nor do we suppose, that Christ unwisely forgot to "count the cost." No from the beginning he knew, that some would abuse their liberty, and bury their talent of good❤ will, and gracious power to come unto him, "that they might have more abundant life." But far from being disappointed, as we are when things fall out contrary to our fond expectation, he declared beforehand: "I have laboured in vain, yet surely my work is with my God," Isa. xlix. 4. As if he had said, "If I cannot rejoice over the obstinate neglecters of my great salvation; if my kindly dying for their sins, excepting that against the Holy Ghost; and my sincerely calling upon them to turn and live, prove useless to them, through their doing despite to the Spirit of grace, and committing the sin unto death; yet my work will not be lost with respect to my God. For my impartial, redeeming love will effectually stop every mouth, and abundantly secure the honour of all the divine perfections, which would be dreadfully sullied, if by an absolute decree, that all should necessarily fall in Adam, and that millions should never have it in their power to rise by Me, I had set my seal to the horrible doctrine of finished damnation." Here then in flourishing with your sword, you have beaten the air, instead of turning to flight the armies of—" those who are not clear in the doctrine of absolute predestination, whom you call"-" aliens;" and in a quotation, p. 37, “absolutely place among the numerous hosts of the Diabolians, who by the best of laws must die as election-doubters." IX. P. 64. “if any thing is left unfinished, Christ would never have said, He that believeth hath everlasting life: it is already begun in his soul." Well, if it is but begun, it is not yet finished. But you add, "It is so certain in reversion, that nothing shall de prive him of it."-True, if he continues in the faith, and abides in Christ, hearing his voice, and following him: for who shall pluck you out of the Redeemer's hand ?—“Who shall harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?" But if the believer makes shipwreck of his faith, and ends in the flesh, after having begun in the Spirit, with all apostates he shall of the flesh reap destruction. Again, Everlasting life, in the passage you quote, undoubtedly signifies a title to eternal bliss, as it appears from these words of our Lord, "He that has left brethren, &c. for my sake, shall receive in the world to come eternal life;" and from these words of St. Paul, "Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life;" Now if we give over following after holiness, and do not continue to leave all for Christ's sake, may we not forfeit our title to glory, as the servant who had ten thousand talents forgiven him, forfeited his pardon and the privilege annexed to it, by taking his fellow-servant by the throat, and arresting him for a hundred pence? But supposing the expression everlasting life, means as you intimate, "the life of God already begun in the soul," agreeably to these scriptures; "The life that I live: I live by faith in the Son of God; for the just shall live by faith;" how can you infer, that the life of faith is inadmissible? If you can believe, that every child quickened in the womb, grows up to be a man, because he has human life in embryo; I will grant, that no soul, quickened by the seed of grace, can miscarry, and that the seed of the word brings forth fruit to maturity in every sort of ground. Should you reply, "That the life of faith, or spiritual life, cannot be lost, because it is of an eternal nature" I deny the consequence. Suppose I have lost an everlasting jewel, do I not quibble myself out of my invaluable property, if I say, "I have not lost it, for it is everlasting?" Did not Satan and Adam lose their spiritual life? Do not all apostates lose it also? Is there a damned soul but what has lost it twice! once in Adam, and the second time by his own personal transgressions? Are not all men who burn in fire unquenchable, trees plucked up by the roots; not because they died in Adam, but because they are twice dead: because they personally destroyed themselves, and when Christ gave them a degree of life, would not come to him, that they might have it more abundantly? Thus by resisting to the last the quickening beam, of the Spirit that strove with them, they quenched him in themselves, and became apostates. If Christ is the light and the life of men, and if he enlightens every man that comes into the world, are not all the damned, apostates? Have they not all fallen from some degree or other of quickening grace? Have they not all buried one or more talents? And is not Satan's master-piece of policy, to make good men assure quickened sinners, that they cannot lose their life, no not by plunging into the whirlpools of adultery, murder, and incest? The ancient serpent deceived our first parents by saying, "Ye shall not surely die," if ye eat of the forbidden fruit: but now, it seems, he may take his rest; for, O astonishing! gospel ministers do his work: they inadvertently deceive the very elect, and overthrow the faith of some by making them the very same false promise. I have already observed, that he who believeth is said to have everlasting life; not only because, while he keeps the faith, he has a title to glory, but because living faith always works by love, the grace that never faileth, the grace that lives and abides for ever; not indeed in this or that individual, during his state of probation, but in the kingdom of heaven, among the spirits of just men made perfect in love, and confirmed in glory. However, you still urge, "To say that everlasting life can be lost, is a contradiction in terms: if it is everlasting, how can it be forfeited or lost?" How! Just as the Jews forfeited the land which God gave to Abraham for an everlasting possession, Gen. xvii. 8. Just as the seed of Phineas lost the everlasting priesthood, Num. xxv. 13. Just as the Israelites broke the everlasting covenant, Isa. xxiv. 6. Just as Hymeneus and Philetus forfeited the everlasting privileges of believers; that is, by making shipwreck of faith, and a good conscience. Here, then, that |