EDITOR'S PREFACE TO ASPASIO THE following letters were written by my late Brother, in answer to a piece which was first sent him from the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, by way of private letter, containing some remarks which that gentleman had made on reading Theron and Aspasio. When my brother had read it over, he thought it best to be silent, as it contained nothing which could materially affect his judgment in regard to the work it censured. For this reason, as well as for peace sake, he laid it by him unanswered. Mr. Wesley then published a pamphlet, which he entitled, "A Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion; in which he printed the above-mentioned letter. This my brother looked upon as a summons to the bar of the public, and upon this occasion, in a letter to a friend, dated June 23, 1758, writes as follows: "MY DEAR FRIEND,-I little thought, when I put Mr. Wesley's manuscript into your hand, that I should see it in print so soon. I took very little notice of it, and let it lie by me several months, without giving it an attentive consideration *. It seemed to me so palpably weak, dealing only in positive assertions and positive denials, that I could not imagine he would adventure it into the world, without great alterations. But it is now come abroad, just as you received it, in a two shilling pamphlet, entitled, 'A Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion.' Of this pamphlet, what he has wrote against me makes only a small part. Now, then, the question is, whether I shall attempt to answer it? Give me your opinion, as you have given me your assistance; and may the Father of mercies give you an increase of knowledge and utterance, of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Between this and the October following, my brother began the letters contained in this part of the volume, of which he thus speaks in another letter to his friend, dated October 24, 1758 : "MY DEAR FRIEND,-Let me repeat my thanks for the trouble you have taken, and for the assistance you have given me in relation to my controversy with Mr. Wesley. He is so unfair in his quotations, and so magisterial in his manner, that I find it no small difficulty to preserve the decency of the gentleman, and the meekness of the Christian, in my intended answer. May our divine Master aid me in both these instances, or else not suffer me to write at all." Afterwards he read it again, and gave it, what he calls in the beginning of the first letter, "a careful perusal !" 466 d EDITOR'S PREFACE TO ASPASIO VINDICATED. When in the December following I was sent for to Weston, in the very last period of my brother's long illness, I asked him (the evening before he died) "what he would have done with the letters to Mr. Wesley; whether he would have them published after his death?" He answered, "By no means, because he had only transcribed about half of them fair for the press; but as the corrections and alterations of the latter part were mostly in short-hand, it would be difficult to understand them, especially as some of the short-hand was entirely his own, and others could not make it out; therefore, he said, as it is not a finished piece, I desire you will think no more about it." As these were his last orders concerning these letters, I thought it right to obey them, and therefore I withstood the repeated solicitations of many of his friends who wanted to have them printed; alleging the service they might be of to allay the groundless prejudices which the Preservative might occasion in the minds of many against my brother's other writings, as well as the utility of them in general, as they contain so masterly a defence of " the truth as it is in Jesus." But notwithstanding the regard I had for the person who solicited the publication, I could not be persuaded to print the letters; and they never had appeared in public with my consent, had not a surreptitious edition of them lately made its way from the press, and was I not under a firm persuasion that it will be followed by more. As this is the case, I think it my duty to the memory of my late brother, to send forth as correct an edition as I possibly can; for as to that which has appeared (from what editor I know not) it is so faulty and incorrect, that but little judgment can be formed from it of the propriety and force of my brother's answers to Mr. Wesley. As to the unfairness of publishing my brother's letters without my consent, and the injustice to his memory, in sending so mangled a performance out under his name, they are too apparent to need any proof: and though the editor, as I have been informed, gave away the whole impression, so that it is plain lucre was not the motive of his proceeding, and I would charitably hope he did it with a view of benefiting his readers, yet it is so like doing evil that good may come, as, in my opinion, to be quite unjustifiable. However, as the only way now left to remedy in some sort what has been done, and to prevent a farther imposition on the public from worse motives than actuated this publisher, I have called a friend to my assistance, and by this means present the reader with as perfect a copy of these letters, as can possibly be made out from the original manuscript in my hands. That the reader may judge more clearly of the state of the controversy between my late brother and Mr. Wesley, I have thought it right to subjoin Mr. Wesley's letter, word for word, as it stands in the "Preservative." 1 MR. WESLEY'S LETTER *. DEAR SIR,-A considerable time since, I sent you a few hasty thoughts, which occurred to me on reading the Dialogues between THERON and ASPASIO. I have not been favoured with any answer. Yet upon another and a more careful perusal of them, I could not but set down some obvious reflections, which I would rather have communicated before those Dialogues were published. In the first Dialogue there are several just and strong observations, which may be of use to every serious reader. In the second, is not the description often too laboured, the language too stiff and affected? Yet the reflections on the creation make abundant amends for this. "Is justification more or less than God's pardoning and accepting a sinner through the merits of Christ ?" That God herein "reckons the righteousness and obedience which Christ performed as our own," I allow, if by that ambiguous expression you mean only, as you here explain it yourself, "These are as effectual for obtaining our salvation, as if they were our own personal qualifications." "We are not solicitous as to any particular set of phrases. Only let men be humbled, as repenting criminals at Christ's feet, let them rely as devoted pensioners on his merits, and they are undoubtedly in the way to a blissful immortality." Then for Christ's sake, and for the sake of the immortal souls which he has purchased with his blood, do not dispute for that particular phrase, the imputed righteousness of Christ. It is not scriptural, it is not necessary. Men who scruple to use, men who never heard the expression, may yet be humbled as repenting criminals at his feet, and rely as devoted pensioners on his merits. But it has done immense hurt. I have had abundant proof, that the frequent use of this unnecessary phrase, instead of furthering men's progress in vital holiness, has made them satisfied without any holiness at all; yea, and encouraged them to work all uncleanness with greediness. "To ascribe pardon to Christ's passive, eternal life to his active righteousness, is fanciful rather than judicious. His universal obedience, from his birth to his death, is the one foundation of my hope." This is unquestionably right. But if it be, there is no manner of need to make the imputation of his active righteousness a separate and laboured head of discourse. O that you had been content with this plain scriptural account, and spared some of the Dialogues and Letters that follow! The third and fourth Dialogues contain an admirable illustration and confirmation of the great doctrine of Christ's satisfaction. Yet even here I observe a few passages, which are liable to some exception. • The quotations from Theron and Aspasio are distinguished by double inverted commas. |