none is of a capital nature) he fhall have my fincere thanks: But, if he involves the queftion in clouds of perfonal reflections, and of idle digreffions; he will only give me an opportunity of initiating the public more and more into the myfteries of Logica Genevenfis. I therefore intreat him, if he thinks me worthy of his notice, to remember that the capital questions-the questions, on which the fall of the Calvinian, or of the anti-Calvinian doctrines of grace turn, are not, Whether I am a fool and a knave; and whether I have made fome mistakes in attacking antinomianifin: but, Whether thofe mistakes affect the truth of the anti-folifidian and anti-pharifaic gofpel, which we defend;-Whether the two gofpel-axioms are not equally true; -Whether our Second scale is not as fcriptural as the firft; -Whether the doctrines of justice and obedience are not as important in their places, as the dotrines of grace and mercy ;-Whether the plan of reconciliation laid down in Sec. xvit, and the marriage of Free-grace and Free-will, defcribed in Sect, xxiv, are not truly evangelical;-Whether God can judge the world in righteousness and wisdom, if man is NOT a free, unneceffitated agent;-Whether the justification of abedient believers by the WORKS OF FAITH, is not as fcriptural as the juftification of finners by FAITH itfelf;-Whether the eternal salvation of adults is not of remunerative juftice, as well as of free-grace;-Whether that falvation does not SECONDARILY depend on the evangelical, derived worthiness of obedient, perfevering believers; as it PRIMARILY depends on the original and proper merits of our atoning and interceding Redeemer; -Whether man is in a ftate of probation; or, if you pleafe, Whether the Calvinian doctrines of finished Jalvation and finished damnation are true; Whether there is not a day of initial falvation for all mankind, according to various difpenfations of divine grace ;—Whether Chrift did not talle death for every man, and purchase a day of initial redemption and falvation for all finners, and a day of eternal redemption and falvation for all perfevering believers ;-Whether all the fins of real apoitates ;

or foully-fallen believers fhall fo work for their good, that none of them fhall ever be damned for any crime he fhall commit;-Whether they shall all fing louder in heaven for their greateft falls on earth ;Whether our abfolute, ferjonal reprobation from eternal life, is of God's free-wrath thro' the decreed, neteary fin of Adam; or of God's juft-wrath thro our own obftinate, avoidable perfeverance in fin;~ Whether our do&trines of non-neceffitating grace, and of just-wrath, do not exalt all the divine perfections; and Whether the Calvinian doctrines of neceffitating grace and free-wrath, do not pour contempt upon all the attributes of God, his Sovereignty not excepted.

Thefe are the important queftions, which I have principally debated with the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Shirley, Rich. Hill, Efq; the Rev. Mr. Hill, the. Rev. Mr. Berridge, and the Rev. Mr. Toplady. Some lefs effential collateral, queftions I have touched upon, fuch as, Whether Judas was an abfolutely-graceless hypocrite, when our Lord raised him to apoftolic honours; Whether fome of the most judicious Calvinists: have not, at times, done justice to the doctrine of Freewill and † co-operation, &c. Thefe and the like queftions I call collateral, because they are only occationally brought in; and becaufe the walls which defend our doctrines of grace fland firm without them. We hope therefore, that if Mr. Toplady, and the other divines who defend the ramparts of myftical Geneva, fhould ever attack the Checks, they will erect their main batteries again ft our towers, and not against fome infignificant part of the fcaffolding, which we could entirely take down, without endangering our Jerufalem in the leaft.-Should you refufe to grant our reasonable request; fhould you take up the

The Rev. Mr. WHITEFIELD in his anfwer to the Bishop of London's paftoral letter, fays, "That prayer is NOT the SINGLE "work of the Spirit, without any CO-OPERATION OF OUR OWN, I readily confefs. Whoever affirmed, that there was NO CO-OPERA "TION OF OUR OWN MINDS, together with the impulfe of the fpirit of God?"-Now, that MANY reft short of falvation merely by

NOT

the pen to perplex, and not to folve the queftion; to blacken our character, and not to illuftrate the obfcure parts of the truth; you must give us leave to look upon your controverfial attempt as an evasive shows of defence, contrived to keep a defenceless, tottering error upon it's legs, before an injudicious, bigoted populace.

If you will do us, and the public juftice; come to clofe quarters, and put an end to the controversy by: candidly receiving our Scripture-Scales, or by plainly fhowing that they are falfe, Our doctrine entirely de pends upon the two golpel axioms, and their necesary confequences, which now hang out to public view in Our Gospel-balances. Nothing therefore can be more eafy than to point out our error, if our fyftem is erroneous. But, if our Scales are JUST; if our doctrines of Grace and Justice, of Free-grace and Free will are TRUE: it is evident that the Solifidians and the Moralifts are both in the wrong, and that we are, upon the whole, in the right. I fay upon the whole, because infignificant mistakes can no more affect the ftrength of our caufe, than a cracked flate, or a broken pane can affect the folidity of a palace, which is firmly built upon a rock.

Therefore, if you are an admirer of Zelotes, and a Solifidian oppofer of Free-will, of the law of liberty, and of the remunerative juftification of a believer by the works of faith; raile no dust: candidly give up antinomianifm; break the two pillars

NOT CO-OPERATING WITH THE SPIRIT'S IMPULSE, is evident, if we may credit thefe words of the fame reverend author. "There is a great difference between GOOD DESIRES, and good habits. MANY "have the one, who NEVER ATTAIN to the other. MANY" [thro' the Spirit's impulfe] "have GOOD DESIRES to fubdue fin: and yet "RESTING" [thro' want of co-operation] "in thofe GOOD defires, "fin has ALWAYS the dominion over them." WHIT. WORKS, Vol. iv. page 7, 11.-Mr. Whitefield grants in these two paffages all that I contend for in thefe pages, refpecting the doctrine of our concurrence or co-operation with the Spirit of free-grace, that is, refpecting the doc. trine of Free-will: And yet his warmeft admirers will probably be my warmest oppofers. But why? Because I aim at [what Mr. Whitefield sometimes overlooked] Confiftency.

pillars on which it ftands; neceffitating Free-grace, and forcible Free-wrath: Or prove, if you can, that our SECOND SCALE, which is directly contrary to your doctrines of grace, is irrational, and that we have forged or milquoted the paffages which compofe it.— But, if you are a follower of Honeftus, and a neglecter of Free grace, and falvation by faith in Jefus Christ; be a candid and honeft difputant. Come at cnce to the grand question; and terminate the controverfy, either by receiving our FIRST SCALE, which is directly contrary to your fcheme of doctrine: Or by proving, that THIS SCALE, is directly contrary to Reafon and Scripture, and that we have mifquoted or mistaken most of the paffages which enter into it's compofition. I fay mo, tho' I could fay all: For if only two paffages properly taken in connexion with the context, the avowed doctrine of a facred writer, and the general drift of the fcriptures; - if only two fuch paffages, I fay, fairly and truly fupport each fection of our Scripture-fcales, they hang firmly, and can no more, upon the whole, be invalidated, than the Scripture itself, which, as our Lord informs us, CANNOT BE BROKEN. John x. 35.

I take the Searcher of hearts, and my judicious, unprejudiced readers to witnefs, that, thro' the whole of this controverfy, far from concealing the most plaufible objections, or avoiding the frongest arguments which are, or may be advanced again ft our reconciling doctrine, I have carefully fearched them out, and endeavoured to encounter them as openly as David did Goliath. Had our opponents followed this method, I doubt not but the controversy would have ended long ago in the deftruction of our prejudices, and in the rectifying of our mistakes Õh, if we all preferred the unfpeakable pleafure of finding out the truth, to the pitiful honour of pleafing a party, or of vindicating our own mistakes; how foon would the useful fan of fcriptural, logical, and brotherly controverfy, farge the floor of the church! How foon would the light of truth, and the flame of love, burn the chaff of error, and the thorns of prejudice

prejudice with fire unquenchable! May the past triumphs of bigotry fuffice! and, inftead of facrificing any more to that deteftable idol, may we all henceforth do whatever lies in us, to haften a general re conciliation, that we may all fhare together in the choiceft bleffings, which God can bestow upon his peculiar people; the Spirit of pure, evangelical truth; and of fervent, brotherly love!

Madeley, March 30, 1775.

An

EXPLANATION

Of fome Terms used in thefe Sheets.

THE word Solifidian is defined, and the characters of-Zelotes, Honeftus, and Lorenzo are drawn in the ADVERTISEMENT prefixed to the first part of this work. It is proper to explain here a few more words or characters.

PHARISAISM is the religion of a pharifee.

A PHARISEE is a loose or ftrict profeffor of natural or revealed religion, who fo depends upon the fyftem of religion which he has adopted, or upon his attachment to the school or church he belongs to; [whether it be the fchool of Plato, Confucius, or Socinus ;whether it be the church of Jerufalem, Rome, England, or Scotland]-who lays fuch a stress on his religious or moral duties, and has fo good an opinion of his prefent harmleffnefs and obedience, or of his future reformation and good works, as to overlook his natural impotence and guilt, and to be infenfible of the need and happiness of being justified freely [as a finner] by God's grace thro' the redemption that is in Jefus Chrift, Rom. iii. 24.. -You may know him: (1) By his contempt of, or coldness for, the Redeemer and his free-grace :-(2) By the antichriftian, unfcriptural confidence, which he repofes in his best endeavours, and in the felf righteous exertions of his

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