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ing this, you have all along quoted (and that unfairly) the first impreffion of each, intirely overlooked fuch paffages as obviate the objections you have raised, and have even brought against me an erratum, which you acknowledge to have feen in the table of errata annexed, and which made no alteration at all in the fenfe, whether it had been placed as an overfight or not, yea, which was intirely rectified in the edition I desired you to refer

to.

Now, Sir, I cannot upon any principles of generofity, much less of Chriftianity, reconcile this conduct of your's, with the profeffions you make of love and regard; however, as you have made feveral appeals to all candid unprejudiced Calvinists, I will even venture to make one to all uncandid prejudiced arminians among your greatest admirers, whether you are juftifiable in their efteem, for defending your favourite tenets by fuch flanderous pofitions and grofs mifrepresentations. And let me tell you, that I think there are certain invariable rules, which ought to be obferved with the fame ftrictnefs between controverfial writers, as even what are called the laws of nations, ought to be adhered to, between one kingdom and another and among these rules are certainly the two following; elfe, under pretence of investigating truth, we fhall only lead our readers into a maze of error.

First, Never to mifquote or mifrepresent our opponent.

Secondly, In referring to other authorities, always to give the plain fcope and defign of the author's meaning; and on no account to make him fpeak what he does not intend, much less what he abhors, and what he is even bearing his teftimony against.

How grievously you have tranfgreffed against both thefe fundamental rules of controversy, must be very apparent to the confcience of every man, who is not aoiolutely determined to put out his eyes; and though,

you

you may probably find a falvo to your own mind, by looking upon fuch things in the light of pious frauds, yet it fhould never be forgotten that the girdle of truth is an effential part of the Chriftian's armour: but at all events Calvinifm must be erased, though Jerufalem itself fhould become an heap of ftones by its overthrow; though all the protestant churches and puritan divines fhould be mangled and perverted; though the venerable duft of Leighton, Hopkins, Bunyan, Owen, Flavel, Whitefield, &c. fhould be raked out of their feveral graves, in order to be blown into the eyes of the by-ftanders, to prevent them from feeing the ftrength of our towers, and from marking well the antiquity of our bulwarks. But antinomians we muft be, whether we will or not, though thofe of our fentiments have in all ages made the most vigorous ftand against real antinomianifm, and particularly against that which Dr. Owen, in the very treatise you have quoted fo mal a propos, calls the worft fort of antinomianifm, (viz. that of the perfectionists) which confifts in derogating from the honor, extent, purity and fpirituality of the moral law, talking of partial breaches of the law, and fetting up a milder law, to which they give the name of the law of Chrift, as if God gave one law and Chrift another, calling fins by the foft appellation of infirmities, and speaking of fome tranfgreffions, which we cannot determine whether they do or do not bring the foul under condemnation, as Mr. Wesley has exprefsly faid by what he calls fins of furprife [L]. Yet herein confifts your artifice;

for

[L] However Mr, Fletcher may fneer at the righteousness ofChrift, as a loose flimsy robe which covers adulterers and murderers, I beg to inform him, that though we neither plead for adultery nor murder, yet unless this robe covers him from both thefe fins, he muft lie under the guilt of them to all eternity. This no man can deny, who knows any thing of the extent of the moral law, or who has ever confidered the interpretation

given

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for by making Calvinism and antinomianism fynonimous and convertible terms, you the more eafily

pre.

given of its commands by our Lord and the apoftle. According to which interpretation every unclean thought is heart-adultery, Matt. v. 28.-xv. 19. and every angry thought is heart-murder, Matt. v. 21, 22.-xv. 19. 1 John iii. 15. If then the righteousnefs of Chrift covers thefe fins in the fountain head, the heart, which is the fpring of all wickednefs, (call me antinomian or what you please for the affertion) it certainly covers them in the freams, unless you again fly to your old popifh distinction between fins and infirmities, and draw the line between some tranfgreffions of the law, which do, and fome which do not, bring the foul under condemnation. And to this it is moft evident, that the arrogant doctrine of finlefs perfection leads all its votaries; therefore if I were to be asked to define the term, "what is finless perfection ?" I should anfwer, it means nothing more or less, than a total blindness of heart joined to the most confummate ignorance of the extent and purity of the law; and confequently no man can ever think himself finlessly perfect, who is not first intoxicated with the highest degree of spiritual pride and diabolical delufion.

But the perfectionists, the better to gild their pill, call it by the name of perfect love and Chriftian perfection, to neither of which in the fcriptural sense of the words we have any objection, but quite the contrary. Perfect love, which cafteth out fear, is the privilege though not the portion of every true Christian; and as all who believe have an abfolute perfection in Christ, so they have a principle of grace and fanctification in their hearts, whereby they are enabled to die unto fin, and to rife again unto righteoufnefs, but ftill the flesh lufteth against the spirit and the fpirit against the flesh, fo that they cannot do the things that they would,

This is all the perfection the fcripture knows any thing of on this fide heaven. But Mr. Wesley tells us that his adult believers have no indwelling fin, no contrary principles of nature warring against grace, no evil thoughts, no wandrings in prayer; in fhort, that fin is totally deftroyed in them root and branch.How this gentleman and his vindicator dare to subscribe to the 1Xth article of our church, which declares that even in the regenerate, the flesh lufteth ALWAYS contrary to the fpirit; and efpecially to the XVth article, entitled Chrift alone without fin, which fays in fuch pofitive terms, that "ALL OF US, though baptifed and born again in Chrift, yet offend IN MANY THINGS, and if we fay we have no fin we DECEIVE ourselves," I leave to their mature confideration; but I humbly apprehend, that most of my readers will be of opinion, that if I were to declare, that I believed

prejudice the hearts of your readers against the former. But only fuppofe, that I were to face you down, and insist upon it again, again, and again, that you were a mahometan; and that I were gravely or fneeringly to bring an hundred quotations and arguments against mahometanifm, and were to addrefs them all to you, and to tell you, that though nobody did it with greater bluntness, yet I challenged you to

I believed from my heart a doctrine, which I detefted from my heart, I fhould thereby give no convincing proof of my own perfection.

Be that as it will, I think our petitioning gentlemen can do no less than fend an invitation to Mr. Wefley and Mr. Fletcher to dine at the Feathers Tavern; and if I might be allowed the liberty of drawing up the card, it should run in the following terms.

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"The Feather's tavern fraternity prefent compliments to "Meff. J. Welley and Fletcher, as they perceive that they are "univerfalifts, free-willers, perfectionifts, and merit-mongers, (and as they have a better opinion of them than to suppose "they don't find the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, "16th, and 17th articles of the church of England very galling "to their confciences,) defire their company to dinner, on when proper measures will "be confulted on for obtaining relief in the matter of subscrip"tion. In the mean while, the fraternity beg to affure Meff. "Wesley and Fletcher that they perfectly agree with them in "their cordial hatred of Calvinism; and that they love free-will, ❝ man's-merit, and justification by works, as well as either of those "gentlemen."

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I hope, Sir, you will pardon the mild irony of this card, which (though it carries much more propriety with it,) is intended by way of return for the mock proclamation, which you have given us, Log. Gen. p. 182. Signed at Geneva by four of his Majefty's fecretaries of state for the predeftinarian department.

JOHN CALVIN.
DOCTOR CRISP.

THE AUTHOR OF P. O.
RH-

out for four fecretaries of state Who do you think I would pitch

But fuppofe now I were to feek for the perfection department. upon;-probably the following.

JOHN WESLEY.
JOHN FLETCHER.
THOMAS OLIVERS.
GEORGE BELL.

find

find any body that did it in greater love. No doubt fome few infatuated readers might be brought to lament the dreadful cafe of the vicar of Madely, and to cry out, "Poor Mr. Fletcher is certainly "turned Turk." And yet I have just as much reafon to do this, as you have fo liberally to dub Mr. Shirley, my brother, and me, a triumvirate of antinomians; as I hope what follows will very clearly evince.

ift. It is certainly an antinomian affertion, that a believer is not to confefs fin, nor to be humbled for it. But none of us ever afferted this, God forbid. But if Mr. Wesley has not afferted it in words, his practice of leaving the confeffion of fin out of the communion fervice [M], looks as if he did' not believe confeffion and humiliation to be very effential.

2dly. It is certainly rank antinomianifm to affert that believers need not pray for pardon of fin.-But though we never afferted any fuch thing, yet I beg to ask if it was not debated at one of Mr. Wesley's conferences, whether a believer might not be in fuch a ftate as not to need the blood of Chrift, nor to pray for the pardon of fin?

3dly. We look upon it, to say the leaft, to be a very unguarded expreffion, that "fin can do a believer no burt," and therefore we never make use of it.But Mr. Wesley fings before a whole congregation that as his best actions cannot fave him, so, (because be. is a believer,) his worst cannot condemn him. Yea, he has given it under his own hand, that the fins of the whole world cannot hurt a believer.

4thly. We believe that it is the effence of antinomian dotage to affirm, that we have nothing to do

[M] Mr. Wefley has told the public in his late remarks, That he has often done this in order to fave time, but it would have carried an appearance of greater fincerity, if he had honestly faid, "We do not confefs fin, because we have no fin to confefs."

with

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