Letter 7.

LETTER 7.

To Richard Hill, Esq.

HONOURED AND DEAR SIR, — The fourth letter of your Review you produce as “a full and particular answer” to what I have advanced against Dr. 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 the doctor’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 show, 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, 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 atonement.

But, overlooking these insurmountable difficulties, you open your “full and particular answer” by saying, pp. 62, 63, “Finished salvation is a 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, dear 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 salvation 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 maintain, 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 salvation’s work on Christ’s part was finished, not only before his resurrection, but also before his death, is to set aside some of his most important 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 Gospel of free grace, which we are “to preach to every creature?” Alas, my dear 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. Page 63. To support your unscriptural assertion, you produce Romans 8:29, “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 persons 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 justified, 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 which 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’ 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 barefaced Antinomianism? You proceed:

IV. Page 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 finished, “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 with wine, 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.

What need is there of “darkening counsel by a word 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 heart be also?” And by a lively faith, which is “the substance of things hoped for,” did they not 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 speculations; 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 continually dwell.” Such powerful exertions of faith, hope, and love, as are described in the 77th hymn of the Rev. 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 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 Mr. Sandiman’s, as well as Dr. Crisp’s increasing errors? But you have an excuse ready: —

V. Page 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 finished as their justification.” I reply,

(1.) If their justification by works is not finished before the day of judgment, as our Lord informs us, Matthew 12:37, 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. Page 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, Zechariah 11:10. And ye shall know my breach of promise, Numbers 14:34. 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, afterward 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 weapons to beat you out of the field. But you soon come back again to say, —

VII. Page 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 already 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 is lost. If the salvation of some people “was as firmly secured from the beginning as if they had already been in glory,” all the Gospel ministers who have addressed them at any time 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; 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 some “perish for whom Christ died;” and that others, by “denying the Lord who 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 already 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. Page 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, honoured sir, 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,” Isaiah 49:4. 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 salvation.”

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 Diabolonians, who by the best of laws must die as election doubters.” IX. Page 64. “If any thing be 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 deprive 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 inamissible? 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 beams 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 it not Satan’s masterpiece 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, Genesis 17:8. Just as the seed of Phinehas lost “the everlasting priesthood,” Numbers 25:13. Just as the Israelites “broke the everlasting covenant,” Isaiah 24:5. Just as Hymeneus and Philetus forfeited the everlasting privileges of believers; that is, by “making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.” Here, then, the edge of your own sword is again blunted, and the stroke given to the “aliens” easily parried with the unbroken “sword of the Spirit:” I mean the word of God illustrated by itself, and taken in connection with itself. However, you proceed: —

X. Page 64. “The chosen vessel, Paul, tells his beloved Timothy, that God ‘hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,’” &c. Hence you conclude, that if we are elect, our salvation is finished. I grant, that God hath saved us from hell, placed us in a state of salvation begun, and “called us with a holy calling, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling;” under some dispensation of that” grace which was given us in Christ before the world began; according to God’s own purpose, that Christ should be the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe.” But alas! though “many are thus called, yet but few are chosen; because few walk worthy of their high vocation, few make their calling and election sure.” Numbers, like David and Solomon, Demas and Sapphira, believe for awhile, and “in time of temptation fall away;” some of whom, instead of rising again, “draw back unto perdition.”

Hence “the chosen vessel, Paul,” himself cries to halting believers, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” So far was he from imagining that the salvation of some, and the damnation of others “were as firmly secured” as if the one were already in heaven, and the other in hell! So little did he think that to preach the Gospel was to present the elect with nothing but the cup of finished salvation, even when they take away the wives and lives of their neighbours; and to drench the reprobates with the cup of finished damnation, even while they ask, seek, knock, and endeavour to make their mock calling sure!

Certain it is, that if the apostle spoke of your finished salvation, when he said, “God hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,” reprobated myriads may reasonably give over wrestling with almighty, ever, lasting wrath, and cry out, “He hath damned us, and called us with an unholy, hypocritical, and lying calling, according to his own purpose and wrath, which was given us in Adam before the world began.” O sir, by this frightful doctrine you give a desperate thrust to the hopes which millions entertain, that God is not yet absolutely merciless toward them, and that they may yet repent and be saved; but happily for them, it is with the dagger of error, and not with “the sword of the Spirit.”

XI. Page 65. “But farther. Believers are said to be ‘saved by faith,’ and to be ‘kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ Now true faith and salvation are here inseparably linked by the apostle.” Inseparably linked! Pray, sir, where is the inseparable link? I see it not. Nay, when I consult the apostles, on whose strained words you raise your argument, they rise with one consent against your doctrine. The one says, Some branches in Christ “were broken off because of unbelief; thou standest by faith; [undoubtedly true faith;] nevertheless, fear, lest he also spare not thee. Behold his goodness toward thee, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” The other declares, “If after they [fallen believers, whom he does not call “pleasant,” but cursed children] have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, (that is, through true faith,) they are again entangled therein, and overcome; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning, 2 Peter. 2:20, compared with 2 Peter 1:2, 8, 9, 10. Thus, sir, St. Paul and St. Peter, whom you call to your assistance, agree to wrench your sword out of your own hand. But you soon take it up again. XII. Page 64. “Christ being styled not only the author, but the finisher of our faith, he must be, consequently, the finisher of our salvation.” So he undoubtedly is, when we are “workers together with him,” that is, when using the gracious talent of will and power, which he freely gives us, we “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” But if we bury that talent, “do despite to the Spirit of grace, forget that we were washed from our sins,” and wallow again in the mire of iniquity; “Christ,” the author of the faith which we destroy, “profiteth us nothing; we are fallen from grace.”

Is it right to rock feeble believers in the cradle of carnal security, by telling them they can never lose the faith; when part of St. Paul’s triumphant song, just before he received the crown of martyrdom, was, “I have kept the faith?” What wonder was it that he should have kept, what even the carnal, incestuous Corinthian could never lose! When the Scriptures mention, not only those who “have kept the faith,” but those who “have made shipwreck of it, and of a good conscience; those who “believe for awhile, and in time of temptation fall away;” and those who one day believe, another day have little faith, and by and by have no faith; — are we not “wise above what is written,” and sow we not Antinomian tares, when we give lukewarm Laodiceans to understand they can never lose what, alas! they have already lost?

If Christ was to believe in his own blood for us, I grant, that the work of faith and salvation could not miscarry. But what ground have we to imagine that this is the case? Did the apostles charge Christ or sinners to believe under pain of damnation? If believing is entirely the work of Christ, why did he marvel at the unbelief of the Jews? Did you ever marvel at the sessions that the constables in waiting did not act as magistrates? Did you ever send them to jail for not doing your work, as you suppose Christ sends unbelievers to hell for not believing, that is, upon your scheme, for not doing his work?

While we readily grant you, that the talent of faith, like that of industry, is the “free gift of God,” together with the time, opportunity, and power to use it; should you not grant us, that God treats us as rational, accountable creatures? That he does not use the gift of faith for us: that we may bury our talent of faith, and perish; as some bury their talent of industry and starve? And that it is as absurd to say, the faith of every individual in the Church is inadmissible, because Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, as to affirm that no individual ear of corn can be blasted, because Christ (who upholds all things by the word of his power) is the unchangeable author and finisher of all our harvests?

Once more, permit me, honoured sir, to hang the mill stone of reprobation about the neck of your Diana, to cast her back with that cumbrous weight into the sea of error, from whose scum she, like another Venus, had her unnatural origin. If the salvation of the elect is finished, because “Christ is the author and finisher of their faith,” it necessarily follows, that the damnation of the reprobates is also finished, because “Christ is the author and finisher of their unbelief.” For he that absolutely withholds faith, causes unbelief as effectually, as he that absolutely withholds the light, causes darkness.

If, in direct opposition to the words of our Lord, John 3:18, you say, with some Calvinists, that “Christ does not damn men for unbelief, but for their sins,” I reply, This is mere trifling. If Christ absolutely refuses them power to believe in the light of their dispensation, how can they but sin? Does not Paul say, that “without faith it is impossible to please God?” Is not unbelief at the root of every sin? Did not even Adam eat the forbidden fruit through unbelief? And is not “this our only victory, even our faith?” An illustration will, I hope, expose the emptiness of the pleas which some urge in favour of unconditional reprobation, or, if you please, non-election. A mother conceives an unaccountable antipathy to her sucking child. She goes to the brink of a precipice, bends herself over it with the passive infant in her bosom, and, withdrawing her arms from under him, drops him upon the craggy side of a rock, and thus he rolls down from rock to rock, till he lies at the bottom beaten to pieces, a bloody instance of finished destruction. The judge asks the murderer what she has to say in her own defence. The child was mine, replies she, and I have a right to do what I please with my own. Beside, I did neither throw him down nor murder him: I only withdrew my arms from under him, and he fell of his own accord. In mystic Geneva she is honourably acquitted; but in England the executioner is ordered to rid the earth of the cruel monster. So may God give us commission to rid the Church of your Diana, who teaches that he, the Father of mercies, does by millions of his passive children, what the barbarous mother did by one of hers; affirming, that he unconditionally withholds grace from them; and that, by absolutely refusing to be “the author and finisher of their faith,” he is the absolute author and finisher of their unbelief, and consequently of their sin and damnation. XIII. However, without being frightened at these dreadful consequences, you conclude as if you had won the day: p. 65, “Now I appeal to any candid judges, whether I have not brought sufficient authority from the best of authorities, God’s unerring word, for the use of that phrase, finished salvation,” which, p. 63, “in its full extent, I undertook to vindicate.” I cordially join in your appeal, honoured sir, and desire our unprejudiced readers to say, if you have brought one solid proof from God’s unerring word in support of your favourite scheme, which centres in the doctrine of finished salvation: and if that expression, when taken “in its full extent,” is not the stalking horse of every wild Nicolaitan ranter; and the dangerous bait, by which Satan, transformed into an angel of light, prevails upon unstable souls to swallow the silver hook of speculative, that he may draw them into all the depths of practical, Antinomianism. XIV. I do not think it worth while to dwell upon the lines you quote from Mr. Charles Wesley’s hymns. He is yet alive to tell us what he meant by “It’s finished; it’s past,” &c. And he informs me that he meant “the sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, which Christ made upon the cross for the sins of the whole world, except ‘doing despite to the Spirit of grace,’ or the sin against the Holy Ghost.” The atonement, which is a considerable part of the Redeemer’s work, is undoubtedly finished; and if by a figure of poetry, that puts a part for the whole, you choose to give the name of finished salvation to a finished atonement, I have already observed, in The Third Check, that we will not dispute about the expression. We only entreat you so to explain and guard it, as not to give sanction to “Antinomian dotages,” and charge the God of love with the blasphemy of finished damnation.

XV. The Calvinistical passage which you produce from the Christian Library is unguarded, and escaped Mr. Wesley’s or the printer’s attention. One sentence of it is worthy of a place in the Index Expurgatorius, which he designs to annex to that valuable collection. Nevertheless, two clauses of that very passage are not at all to your purpose. “Christ is now thoroughly furnished for the carrying on of this work: he is actually at work.” Now if Christ is actually at work, and carrying on his work, that work is not yet finished. Thus, even the exceptionable passage which you, or the friends who gave you their assistance, have picked out of a work of fifty volumes, shows the absurdity of taking the expression, “finished salvation,” in its full extent.

Should you say, “Christ is thoroughly furnished for his work, (namely, the salvation of the elect,) therefore that work is as good as finished,” I once more present you with the frightful head of Geneva Medusa, and reply, “Christ is thoroughly furnished for his work, (namely, the damnation of the reprobates,) therefore that work is as good as finished.” Thus all terminates still in uncovering the two iron-clay feet of your great image, absolute election and absolute reprobation, or, which is all one, finished salvation and finished damnation.

O sir, the more you fight for Dr. Crisp’s scheme of free grace, the more you expose his scheme of free wrath. I hope my judicious readers are shocked at it, as well as myself. Your “sword” really “puts us to flight.” We start back, — we run away: but it is only from the depths of Satan, which you help us to discover in speculative Antinomianism, or barefaced Calvinism.

XVI. If you charge me with “calumny,” for asserting that speculative Antinomianism and barefaced Calvinism are one and the same thing; to clear myself, I present you with the creed of an honest, consistent, plain-spoken Calvinist. Read it without prejudice, and say if it will not suit an abettor of speculative Antinomianism, and, upon occasion, a wild Ranter, wading through all the depths of practical Antinomianism, as well as an admirer of “the doctrines of grace.”

Five Letters, 1st edit. pp. 33, 34, 27. “I most firmly believe, that the grand cause of so much lifeless profession is owing to the sheep of Christ being fed in the barren pastures and muddled waters of a legalized Gospel. The doctrines of grace are not to be kept out of sight for fear men of corrupt minds should abuse them. I will no more be so fearful to trust God with his own truths, as to starve his children and my own soul: I will make an open confession of my faith.”

“1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, who from all eternity unconditionally predestinated me to life, and absolutely chose me to eternal salvation. Whom he once loved he will love for ever; I am therefore persuaded, (pp. 28, 31,) that as he did not set his love on me at first for any thing in me, so that love, which is not at all dependent upon any thing in me, can never vary on account of my miscarriages: and for this reason; when I miscarry, suppose by adultery or murder, God ever considers me as one with his own Son, who has fulfilled all righteousness for me. And as he is ‘always well pleased’ with him, so with me, who am absolutely ‘bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.’ (pp. 26, 31.) There are no lengths, then, I may not run, nor any depths I may not fall into, without displeasing him; as I see in David, who, notwithstanding his repeated backslidings, did not lose the character of the man after God’s own heart. I may murder with him, worship Ashtaroth with Solomon, deny Christ with Peter, rob with Onesimus, and commit incest with the Corinthian, without forfeiting either the Divine favour or the kingdom of glory. ‘Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?’ to the charge of a believer? to my charge? For,

“2. (Pages 26, 27, 32.) I believe in Jesus Christ, that ‘by one offering has for ever perfected’ me, who am ‘sanctified’ in all my sins: in him I am complete in all my iniquities. What is all sin before his atoning blood? Either he has fulfilled the whole law, and borne the curse, or he has not. If he has not, no soul can be saved; if he has, then all debts and claims against his people and me, be they more (suppose a thousand adulteries, and so many murders) or be they less, (suppose only one robbery,) be they small or be they great, be they before or be they after my conversion, are for ever and for ever cancelled. I set up no more mountainous distinctions of sin, especially sins after conversion. Whether I am dejected with Elijah under the juniper tree, or worshipping Milcom with Solomon; whether I mistake the voice of the Lord for that of his priest, as Samuel, or defile my neighbour’s bed, as David, I am equally accepted in the Beloved. For in Christ I am chosen, loved, called, and unconditionally preserved to the end. All trespasses are forgiven me. I am justified from all things. I already have everlasting life. Nay, I am now (virtually) set down in heavenly places with Christ; and as soon shall Satan pluck his crown from his head, as his purchase from his hand.”

Pages 27, 28. “Yes, I avow it in the face of all the world; no falls or backslidings can ever bring me again under condemnation; for Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Should I outsin Manasses himself, I should not be a less pleasant child; because God always views me in Christ, and in him I am without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Black in myself, I am still comely through the comeliness put upon me: and therefore He ‘who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,’ can, in the midst of all adulteries, murders, and incests, address me with, ‘Thou art all fair, my love, my undefiled; there is no spot in thee!’ And, “3. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of grace, against whom I can never sin, (p. 26,) whose light and love I can never quench, to whom I can never do despite, and who, in his good time, will irresistibly and infallibly (Review, p. 38) work in me to will and to do. In the meantime I am perfectly secure; for I can never perish, my salvation being already finished in the full extent of the expression.” (Review, p. 63, &c.)

“Once, indeed, I supposed, that ‘the wrath of God came,’ at least for enormous crimes, ‘upon the children of disobedience;’ and I thought it would come upon me if I committed adultery and murder’ but now I discover my mistake, and believe (p. 28 and 25) it is a capital error to confound me and my actions. While my murders, &c, certainly displease God, my person stands always absolved, always complete, always pleasant in the everlasting righteousness of the Redeemer. I repeat it, (2d edit. p. 37,) it is a most pernicious error of the school-men, to distinguish sins according to the fact, and not according to the person. He that believeth hath as great sin as the unbeliever: nay, his sins, (p. 32,) for the matter of them are perhaps more heinous and scandalous than those of the unbeliever; but although he daily sinneth, perhaps as David and the Corinthian, by adultery, murder, and incest, he continueth godly.

“Before I was acquainted with the truth, I imagined that sin would dishonour God and injure me: but since the preachers of finished salvation have opened my eyes, I see how greatly I was mistaken. And now I believe that God will overrule my sin, (whether it be adultery, murder, or incest,) for his glory and my good.

“(1.) For his glory. (Pages 36, 30, 31, 32.) God often permits his own dearest children to commit adultery, murder, and incest, to bring about his purposes. He has always the same thing in view, namely, his own glory and my salvation, together with that of the other elect. This Adam was accomplishing when he put the whole world under the curse; Onesimus when he robbed Philemon his master; Judah when he committed incest with Tamar; and David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. How has many a poor, faithless soul even blessed God for Peter’s denial! As for the incestuous Corinthian, the tenderness shown him after his crime, has raised many out of the mire, and caused them to recover their first love.

(2.) “For my good. (Page 32.) God has promised to make ‘all things work for good to me;’ and if all things, then my very sins and corruptions are included in the royal promise. Should I be asked, What particular good sin will do me in time and in eternity? I answer: A grievous fall [suppose into adultery, murder, or incest] shall serve to make me know my place, to drive me nearer to Christ, to make me more dependent upon his strength, to keep me more watchful, to cause me to sympathize with the fallen, and to make me sing louder to the praise of free, sovereign, restoring grace, throughout all the ages of eternity. Thus, although I highly blame (p. 33,) those who roundly say, ‘Let us sin that grace may abound,’ I do not legalize the Gospel, but openly declare, (p. 27,) that if I commit adultery, murder, or incest, before or after my conversion, grace shall irresistibly and infallibly abound over these, and all my other sins, be they small or be they great, be they more or be they less. My foulest falls will only drive me nearer to Christ, and make me sing (p. 32) his praises louder than if I had not fallen. Thus [to say nothing of the sweetness and profit which may now arise from sin] adultery, incest, and murder shall, upon the whole, make me holier upon earth, and merrier in heaven.”

I need not tell you, honoured sir, that I am indebted to you for all the doctrines, and most of the expressions of this dangerous confession of faith. If any one doubt of it, let him compare this creed and your Letters together. Some clauses and sentences I have added, not to “misrepresent and blacken,” but to introduce, connect, and illustrate your sentiments. You speak, indeed, in the third person, and I in the first, but this alters not the doctrine. Beside, if the privileges of a lean believer belong to me as well as to David, I do not see why I should be debarred from the fat pastures you recommend, (p. 34,) which, I fear, are so very rich, that if the leanest sheep of Christ do but range, and take their fill in them, they will in a few days wax wanton against him, butt at the sheep which do not bleat to their satisfaction, attack the under shepherds, and grow so excessively fat as to outkick Jeshurun himself.

XVII. Some half-hearted Calvinists, who are ashamed of their principles, and desirous to conceal their Diana’s deformity, will probably blame you for having uncovered the less frightful of her feet, and shown it naked to the wondering world. But to the apology which you have already made about it, I hope I may, without impertinence, add one or two remarks.

1. Whoever believes either the doctrine of unconditional election, or that of righteousness absolutely imputed to apostatizing believers, or that of the infallible perseverance of all who were saints yesterday, and to-day commit adultery, murder, or incest; and, in a word, whoever believes the doctrine of finished salvation implicitly receives two-thirds of the Antinomian creed which you have helped me to. And those who have so strong a faith, and so large a conscience, as to swallow so much, (together with the doctrine of finished damnation, eternal wrath flaming against myriads of unborn creatures, and everlasting fire prepared for millions of passive, sensible machines, which have only fulfilled God’s secret and irresistible will,) might, one would think, receive the whole creed without any difficulty: for why should those who can swallow five or six camels as a glib morsel, strain at three or four gnats, as if they were going to be quite choked. Again:

2. If Calvinism is true, you are certainly, honoured sir, the honest and consistent Calvinist, so far as consistency is compatible with the most inconsistent of all schemes. Permit me to produce one instance, which I hope will abate the prejudices which some unsettled Calvinists have conceived against you for speaking quite out with respect to the excellent effects of sin in believers.

If man is not a free agent, (and undoubtedly he is not, if from all eternity he has been bound by ten thousand chains of irresistible and absolute decrees,) it follows, that he is but a curious machine, superior to a brute, as a brute is superior to a watch, and a watch to a wheelbarrow. Upon Calvin’s principles this wonderful machine is as much guided by God’s invisible hand, or rather by his absolute decrees, as a puppet by the unseen wire which causes its seemingly spontaneous motions. This being the case, it is evident that God is as much the author of our actions, good or bad, as a show-man is the author of the motions of his puppets, whether they turn to the right or to the left. Now as God is infinitely wise, and supremely good, he will set his machines upon doing nothing but what, upon the whole, is wisest and best. Hence it appears, that if the doctrine of absolute decrees, which is the fundamental principle of Calvinism, is true, whatever sin we commit, we only fulfil the absolute will of God, and do that which, upon the whole, is wisest and best; and therefore that you have not unadvisedly pleaded for Baal, but rationally spoken for God, when you have told us what great advantages result from the commission of the greatest crimes. In doing this strange work, then, you have acted only as a consistent predestinarian; and though some thoughtless Calvinists may, yet none that are judicious will blame you, for having spoken agreeably to the leading principle of “the doctrines of grace.”

I have observed, that speculative Antinomianism, or barefaced Calvinism, stalks along upon the doctrine of finished salvation, and finished damnation, which we may consider as the two feet of your great Diana; and the preceding creed, which is drawn up for an elect, uncovers only her handsome foot, finished salvation. To do my subject justice, I should now make an open show of her cloven foot, by giving the world the creed of a reprobate, according to the dreadful doctrine of finished damnation. But as I flatter myself that my readers are already as tired of Calvinism as myself, I think it needless to raise their detestation of it, by drawing before their eyes a long chain of blasphemous positions, capable of making the hair of their heads stand up with horror. I shall, therefore, with all wise Calvinists, draw a veil over the hideous sight, and conclude by assuring you, few people more heartily wish you delivered from speculative Antinomianism, and possessed of salvation truly finished in glory, than, honoured and dear sir, your affectionate and obedient servant, in the bonds of what you call the “legalized Gospel,”

JOHN FLETCHER.