charge 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 preferably 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 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 them to produce.

I hope, honoured brethren, 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 to you, than he who, with undissembled respect, remains, honoured and dear brethren, your affectionate brother, and obedient servant in Christ,

J. FLETCHER.

CONTENTS OF FOURTH CHECK.

LETTER I.

To Richard Hill, Esq.

INTRODUCTION. The doctrine of justification by works in the last day, is truly Scriptural. It is essentially different from justification by faith in the day of conversion. Mr. Hill fully grants, and yet warmly opposes, such a justification.

LETTER II.

To the same.

Justification by the evidence of works, and St. James' undefiled religion, are established upon the liturgy, articles, and homilies of the Church of England.

LETTER III.

To the same.

The sober Puritan divines directly or indirectly maintain the doctrine of justifi cation by works in the great day, which Dr. Owen himself, and numbers of other Calvinistic ministers, do not scruple calling “an evangelical justification by our own personal obedience."

LETTER IV.

To the same.

Flavel, and many other Puritan authors, were offended at Crisp's doctrine. An important extract from Flavel's Treatise upon Antinomianism.

LETTER V.

To the same.

Mr. Wesley's Minutes, and St. James' pure religion, are established on Mr. Hill's important concession, that "we shall be justified by the evidence of works in the great day."

LETTER VI.

To the same.

If we shall be justified by the evidence of works in the last day, there is an end of Dr. Crisp's finished salvation, and Calvin's imputed righteousness: those two main pillars of Antinomianism and Calvinism are fairly broken.

LETTER VII.

To the same.

Mr. Hill's arguments in defence of Dr. Crisp's finished salvation are answered.

LETTER VIII.

To the same.

Mr. Hill is mistaken when he says, "We have Scripture authority to call good works dung, dross, and filthy rags."

LETTER IX.

To Mr. Rowland Hill.

An answer to Mr. Rowland Hill's arguments against justification by works in the day of judgment, closed by some strictures upon the friendliness of his friendly

remarks.

LETTER X.

To the same, and to Richard Hill, Esq.

An answer to Mr. Richard and Mr. Rowland Hill's remarks upon the Third Check, in which the Scriptural doctrine of justification, in its several branches, is vindicated from their witticisms, and Mr. Hill cut off from some of his subter. fuges.

LETTER XI.
To both the same

The doctrine of a believer's justification by works is reconciled with the doctrine of a sinner's justification by grace: and it is proved that Calvinism makes way for barefaced Antinomianism, absolutely destroys the law of Christ, and casts his royal crown to the ground.

LETTER XII.

To Richard Hill, Esq.

In which the author shows how far the Calvinists and the remonstrants agree, wherein they disagree, and what makes the latter dissent from the former concerning the famous doctrine of imputed righteousness.

LETTER XIII.
To the same.

Containing a view of the present state of the controversy, especially with regard to free will; and a conclusion, descriptive of the loving, apostolic method of carrying on controversy;-expressive of brotherly love and respect for all pious Calvinists; and declarative of a desire to live with them upon peaceable and friendly terms.

POSTSCRIPT.

Containing an account of the reasons which engage us to make at last a firm stand against our pious opponents; and of the hope we entertain, that in so doing, our labour will not be in vain in the Lord.

LOGICA GENEVENSIS ;

OR,

A FOURTH CHECK TO ANTINOMIANISM.

LETTER I

To Richard Hill, Esq.

HON. AND DEAR SIR,-My entering the field of controversy to defend St. James' " 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 resemble 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 thunderstruck, 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 clearer or cooler than before; and the smiling plains of evangelical truth, viewed through that defecated medium, appear more gay after the unexpected storm. Methinks even moderation, 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 listening 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, gracious Lord, overcome by thy wisdom 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

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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 Gilboa, 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, that is, by the evidence of works. A person of your penetration could not but see, that if this legal proposition stood, your favourite doctrine of finished salvation, and Calvinian imputation of righteousness to an impenitent adulterer, would lose their exorbitant influence. You design, therefore, to bend yourself, with Samson's might, upon this adamantine pillar of our "heretical" doctrine. Let us see whether your redoubled efforts have shaken it, or only shown 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 anonymous 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 three-fold 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 calumnias Nebulonis, I hasten to what looks a little like an argument.

Page 4, you say, concerning justification by works, that is, 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.

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' 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

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