“Some of our friends will undoubtedly blame us for not yet dropping the contest; but others will candidly consider that controversy, though not desirable in itself, yet properly managed, has, a hundred times, rescued truth, groaning under the lash of triumphant error. We are indebted to our Lord’s controversies with the Pharisees and Scribes for a considerable part of the four Gospels; and, to the end of the world, the Church will bless God for the spirited manner in which St. Paul, in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, defended the controverted point of a believer’s present justification by faith; as well as for the steadiness with which St. James, St. John, St. Peter, and St. Jude carried on their important controversy with the Nicolaitans, who abased St. Paul’s doctrine to Antinomian purposes.
“Had it not been for controversy, Romish priests would, to this day, feed us with Latin masses and a wafer-god. Some bold propositions, advanced by Luther against the doctrine of indulgences, unexpectedly brought on the Reformation. They were so irrationally attacked by the infatuated papists, and so scripturally defended by the resolute Protestants, that these kingdoms opened their eyes, and saw thousands of images and errors fall before the ark of evangelical truth.
“From what I have advanced in my Second Check, it appears, if I am not mistaken, that we stand now as much in need of a reformation from Antinomianism, as our ancestors did of a reformation from Popery; and I am not without hope that the extraordinary attack which has been made upon Mr. Wesley’s anti-Crispian propositions, and the manner in which they are defended, will open the eyes of many, and check the rapid progress of so enchanting and pernicious an evil. This hope inspires me with fresh courage; and, turning from the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Shirley, I presume to face (I trust in the spirit of love and meekness) my new respectable opponent.”
Fletcher’s first purpose, in this important controversy, was to attack Antinomianism; now he was obliged to attack Calvinism, which, though the parent of Antinomianism, did not in the present instance approve of it. It is needless to recapitulate Fletcher’s arguments in favour of the two doctrines, that all mankind are redeemed by the infinite sacrifice of the incarnate Son of God, and that, through the same sacrifice, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor. xii. 7). A few brief extracts, however, will help to illustrate his spirit, and his style of writing.
“The grace of God is as the wind, which bloweth where it listeth; and it listeth to blow, with more or less force successively, all over the earth. You can as soon meet with a man that never felt the wind, or heard the sound thereof, as with one that never felt the Divine breathings, or heard the still small voice, which we call the grace of God. To suppose the Lord gives us a thousand tokens of His eternal power and Godhead, without giving us a capacity to consider, and grace to improve them, is not less absurd than to imagine that when He bestowed upon Adam all the trees of paradise for food, He gave him no eyes to see, no hands to gather, and no mouth to eat their delicious fruits.”
“Waiving the case of infants, idiots, and those who have sinned the sin unto death, was there ever a sinner under no obligation to repent and to believe in a merciful God? Oh, ye opposers of free grace, search the universe with Calvin’s candle, and among your reprobated millions, find out the person who never had a merciful God; and show us the unfortunate creature, whom a sovereign God bound over to absolute despair of His mercy from the womb. If there is no such person in the world; if all men are bound to repent and to believe in a merciful God, there is an end of Calvinism. An unprejudiced man can require no stronger proof that all are redeemed from the curse of the Adamic law, which admitted of no repentance; and that the covenant of grace, which admits of, and makes provision for it, freely extends to all mankind.
“Out of Christ’s fulness all have received grace, a little leaven of saving power, an inward monitor, a divine reprover, a ray of true heavenly light, which manifests first moral, and then spiritual good and evil. St. John bears witness of that light, and declares it was the spiritual life of man, the true light which enlighteneth not only every man that comes into the Church, but every man that comes into the world—without excepting those who are yet in darkness. For the light shineth in darkness, even when the darkness comprehends it not. The Baptist also bore witness of that light, that all men through it, not through him, might believe; φως, light, being the last antecedent, and agreeing perfectly with δι’ αυτου.”
The reader has already seen Mr. Hill’s strange and pernicious doctrine respecting eternal justification. Fletcher treats this Calvinistic dream with terrible though polite severity. Without attempting to condense his arguments, the following extract will serve to show his perfect victory over his respected opponent:—
“You go on, ‘If Christ fulfilled the whole law and bore the curse, then all debts and claims against His people, be they more or be they less, be they small or be they great, be they before or be they after conversion, are for ever and for ever cancelled.’
“Your doctrine drags after it all the absurdities of eternal, absolute justification. It sets aside the use of repentance and faith, in order to pardon and acceptance. It represents the sins of the elect as forgiven not only before they are confessed, but even before they are committed. It supposes that all the penitents who have believed that they were once children of wrath, and that God was displeased at them when they lived in sin, have believed a lie. It makes the preaching of the Gospel one of the most absurd, wicked, and barbarous things in the world. For what can be more absurd than to say, ‘Repent ye, and believe the Gospel;’ ‘He that believeth not shall be damned;’ if a certain number can never repent or believe, and a certain number can never be damned?”