American Puritan & Colonial

Answer to the Bishop of Londons Last Pastoral Letter 2

George Whitefield (1714-1770) · 4,969 words · 22 min

The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N03645.0001.001

Project Note

This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.

This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.

Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.

However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.

This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.

Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org

THE Rev. Mr. WHITEFIELD' s ANSWER. TO THE BISHOP of LONDON' s LAST PASTORAL LETTER.

LONDON Printed, and Re-printed by William Bradford In NEW-YORK, 1739.

THE Rev. Mr. WHITEFIELD's ANSWER To the BISHOP of LONDON's LAST PASTORAL LETTER.

My LORD,

I NEED make no Apology for troubling your Lordship with this. As your Lordship was pleased to make me the chief Subject Matter of your last Pastoral Letter, I think it my Duty to answer it in the best Manner I can.

Your Lordship is to be highly commended, for the Care you have taken in Watching over the Souls of those, who are committed to your Lordship' s Charge.— Luke-warmness and Enthusiasm are the two Rocks, against which even well-meaning People are in Danger of splitting All ought to be thankful to that Pilot, who will teach them to steer a safe and middle Course—I would gladly hope, that, a Zeal for God in the Discharge of your Duty, and a hearty Concern for the Safety of Souls moved your Lordship to write.—These are the Principles, I trust, which now excite me, to direct this Answer to your Lordship. And, blessed be God, that I can write with somewhat of that Love and Meekness which becomes a Disciple of Jesus Christ, and with all that Humility and Reverence, which is due from a Presbyter to a Bishop of the Church of God.

Lukewarmness and Enthusiasm, my Lord, are certainly the Bane of true Christianity. I thank your Lordship again for your kind Cautions against them. The only Query is,

Whether there was any Occasion for your Lordship's warning the People of your Dioc •• s, against running into either of these Extremes, upon account of anything I have either spoken or wrote?

Your Lordship thinks there was; And you quote Passages out of my Journal to prove it; if it can be proved, I will ask public Pardon, both of your Lordship and Them, with all my Heart.

As for your Cautions against Lukewarmness, I am not much concerned in them. You do not seem to point at me in particular; unless it is, where your Lordship, ( Page 10) informs your People,

That a diligent Attendance on the Duties of the Station wherein Providence has placed them, is, in the strictest Sense, the serving of God.

None but those, who condemn Me unheard, can justly charge Me with affirming to the contrary.

However, I beg Leave to observe, that your Lordship, ( Page 8.) calls that a very imperfect State of Christianity, which is no State of Christianity at all. St. Paul writing to the Corinthians, 2 Cor. Chap. 13. v. 5. says, Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the Faith; Prove your own selves. And that they might have a certain Rule, whereby to judge whether they were in the Faith, truly so called, or not; he immediately adds, Know ye not your ownselves, how that Christ Jesus is IN you, except ye be Reprobates? So that, according to St. Paul' s Rule,

He that finds, he has hitherto contented himself with a bare bodily Attendance upon the Public Worship of God, and following his daily Employment on other Days, and with abstaining from the more gross and notorious Acts of Sin, and from doing any Hurt or Injury to his Neighbor, and has rested finally upon these as the Whole of that Christianity requires of him;

is so far from being in a very imperfect State, as your Lordship is pleased to affirm, ( Page 8) that he is in no State of Christianity at Al • . No, My Lord, he is a Reprobate, i. e. one who at present is out of a State of Salvation, nor can he ever have any Assurance that he is in a State of Salvation, till he Knows that Jesus Christ is IN Him, by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. If I have mistaken your Lordship's Expression, I will freely beg your Pardon.

Another Thing, My Lord, to me seems darkly expressed in ( Page 8) (Oh ! let not your Lordship be angry, for indeed I will endeavor to speak with all Gentleness and Humility!) Your Lordship's Words are these.

Nor need they any other Evidence besides those Good Dispositions they find in their Hearts, that the Holy Spirit of God cooperates with their honest Endeavors to subdue Sin and grow in Goodness.

If by Good Dispositions, your Lordship only means Good Inclinations or Desires, I deny That to be a sufficient Evidence, that the Spirit of God co-operates with their honest Endeavors to subdue Sin and grow in Goodness▪ For there is a great Difference between Good Desires and Good Habits. Many have One, who never attain to the Other. Many have good Desires to subdue Sin, and yet, resting in those good Desires, Sin has always had Dominion over them. A Person sick of a Fever! may desire to be in Health, but that Desire is not Health itself. In like Manner many have good Dispositions or desires to be Good, but That is not Goodness itself. And consequently Men need more Evidence than good Depositions, to prove to Themselves or Others,

That the Holy Spirit of God co-operates with their honest Endeavors to subdue Sin.

If by good Dispositions, your Lordship means Good Habits wrought in the Heart by the Spirit of God, such as Peace, Love, Joy, Long-suffering, Goodness, Truth, &c. I then agree, a Man needs no other Evidence. For these are the proper and genuine Fruits of the Spirit itself.

Your Lordship immediately adds,

Nor that, persevering in their Course, and praying to God, for his Assistance, and relying upon the Merits of Christ for the Pardon of all Such Sins, Failings, and Imperfections, as are more or less unavoidable in this mortal State.

I beg leave to ask your Lordship, whether this does not favor too much of the common Divinity, viz. That we are to do something for ourselves; or, in other Words, that we have partly a Righteousness of our own, and that Jesus Christ is • o make UP the Deficiencies of That Righteousness? What else can your Lordship mean, by saying, That we must rely on the Merits of Christ, for the Pardon of

all Such Sins as are more or less unavoidable in this mortal State?

Did Jesus Christ come into the World, My Lord, only to save us from the Guilt of Such Sins, as are more or less unavoidable in this mortal State? The Scriptures everywhere affirm, That Man hath no Righteousness of his own, That there is none Righteous, no not one: That all Our Righteousness is as filshy Rags; and that Jesus Christ died not only to save us from the Guilt of all such Sins, Failings, and Infirmities, as are more or less unavoidable in this mortal State, but from all willful Sins, and also from that original Corruption, which every Man naturally engendered of the Off-spring of Adam, brings into the World with him. I hope, I have not misunderstood or overstrained your Lordship's Expression.

I come now to your Lordship's Caution against Enthusiasm. For that I suppose your Lordship intended more particularly against me.

And here, my Lord, I beg Leave to observe, That, in my Opinion, your Lordship has by • o Means been clear enough in your Definition of the Word Enthusiasm.

According to the fair Rules of Writing▪ was it not first Incumbent on your Lordship to show, that the Word Enthusiast had a good as well as bad Meaning: That it signifies no more than a Person in God, and consequently every Christian, in the proper Sense of the Word, is an Enthusia • t? For St Peter writes, That to us are given exceeding great and precious Promises, that by these we might be Partakers of the divine Nature.

And our Church says. If we receive the Sacrament worthily, We are one with Christ and Christ with us, We dwell in Christ and Christ in us. For which she has sufficient Warrant from our Lord's Prayer, John 17. 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their Word. Ver. 21. That they all may be one, As Thou Father art in me, and I in Thee, that they also 〈◊〉 be one in us. Ver. 23. I in them and they in Me, that they may be made perfect in one. Ver. 26. that the Love wherewith Thou hast loved me, may, be in them▪ and I in them.

But, indeed your Lordship's Definition of Enthusiasm, when examined, does not convey any ill Idea at all.

Enthusiasm, is a strong Perswasion on the Mind that they are guided in an extraordinary Manner, by immediate Impulses and Impressions of the Spirit of God.

Had your Lordship said, a strong but Groundless Perswasion, that they are guided in an extraordinary Manner, it would have been to your Lordship's Purpose. But to affirm, without any Restriction, that a strong Perswasion that we are guided man extraordinary Manner by immediate Impulses, is Enthusiasm in the worst Sense of the Word, when your Lordship yourself says, ( Page 54)

There is, no doubt, but God, when He pleases can work upon the Minds of Men by extraordinary Influences,

to me seems a little inconsistent.

Your Lordship proceeds thus.

And this is owing chiefly to the Want of distinguishing aright between the ordinary and extraordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit. The extraordinary Operations were those, by which the Apostles and Others, who were entrusted with the first Propagation of the Gospel, were enabled to work Miracles, and speak with Tongues in Testimony, that their Mission and Doctrine were from God.

I suppose, by extraordinary Operations, your Lordship means the same as being guided in an extraordinary Manner just above. And if so, according to your Lordships own Definition, I am no Enthusiast. For I never did pretend to those extraordinary Operations of working Mirac ••• , or 〈◊〉 with Tongues, in Testimony, that my Mission and Doctrine were from God; I only say Claim to the ordinary Gifts and Influences of the Spirit, which your Lordship, ( Page 20) says, ' Still continue ': And what Need was there then, my Lord, that the People of your Lordship's Diocese should be cautioned against Enthusiasm upon my Account?

But your Lordship farther adds, the ordinary Gifts,

However real and certain in themselves, are no otherwise discernible, than by their Fruits and Effects.

Had your Lordship said, No otherwise discernible to others, than by their Fruits and Effects▪ it would have been right. But if your Lordship means they are no otherwise discernible to ourselves, in my Opinion it is wrong; for it is possible, my Lord, for a Person to feel and discern these ordinary Gifts and Influences of the Spirit in himself, when there is no Opportunity of discovering them to others. For instance, on Supposition that your Lordship was assisted by the blessed Spirit, in writing your Pastoral Letter—might not your Lordship be sensible of an inward Joy and Complacency, wrought by that felt same Spirit, which was not then discernible to others? So likewise it is possible for another to feel Joy in the Holy Ghost, with the rest of his Fruits, which at that Time may not be discernible to others; and which they who have never experienced the like, may not believe, though a Man d • c • a • e i • unto them. I hope, my Lord, these R •• sonings carry with them their own Evidence.

But to proceed: ( Page 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25▪) your Lordship has taken Pains to collect several Passages out of the public Liturgy, to prove the Doctrine of Regeneration or our New Birth, to be the Doctrine of the Church of England. Your Reason for so doing, appears ( Page 25.)

to arm your People against any Suggestions, as if our Church were regardless of the Doctrine of Regeneration and New Birth, as if there were Need for any Member of it, to seek elsewhere for a more Spiritual Service.

If this, my Lord, was intended to arm your People against any such Suggestions made by me; indeed, your Lordship does not do me Justice. As your Lordship, I find, has done me the Honor, to peruse my third Journal, your Lordship may remember this Observation, ( Page 39) that, after I had baptized an Adult, I proved the Necessity of the New Birth, from the Office of our Church.

In my Sermon, upon the Indwelling of the Spirit of God, which I have made bol • to •• nd your Lordship with this Letter, you will find. I have quoted the Expressions of our own Church Offices, to prove the Doctrine of the New Birth, as your Lordship does in your Pastoral Letter. My constant Way of preaching is, first, to prove my Propositions by Scripture, and then to illustrate them by the Ar •••• s and Collects of the Church of England. Those that have heard me, can witness, how often I have exhorted them to he constnat at the Public Service of the Church. I attend on it myself, and would read the Public Liturgy every Day, if your Lordship's Clergy would give me Leave. What further Satisfaction can your Lordship require, that I do not suggest to your Lordship's People,

as if our Church were regardless of the Doctrine of Regeneration and New Birth, and as if there were Need for any Member of it, to seek elsewhere for a more Spiritual Service.

In the following Paragragh, your Lordship has the same Insinuation, as though I wanted to introduce Extempore Prayer, and to lay aside the public Liturgy of our Church. For after your Lordship had been speaking against praying by the Spirit, and affirming that the Scripture nowhere tells us, that Prayer is the single Work of the Spirit, your Lordship says to your People,

You have great Reason to be thankful to God, for a public Service prepared to your Hands.

My Lord, I never said to the Contrary. But does not your Lordship seem to insinuate at the same Time, that we are not to depend on the Spirit of God to enable us to pray extempore, either in Public, or private? That Prayer is not the single Work of the Spirit, without any Co-operation of our own, I readily confess. But that the Spirit of God does assist true Christians to pray extempore, now, as well as formerly, is undeniable, if the Scriptures be true. For what says the Apostle? We know not what to pray for, as we ought, but the Spirit itself helpeth our Infirmities, and maketh Intercession for us with Groanings, that cannot be uttered. And this is founded upon a general Promise, made to all God' s People. Zacharias 12. 10, I will pour upon the House of David, and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of Grace, and of Supplication. And I believe, my Lord, we may appeal to the Experience of all true Christians, whether or no they did not find the spirit of Supplication, or a Power of praying without a Form, increase in Proportion to the Encrease of God' s Grace or Holy Spirit in their Hearts. This is all, my Lord, that I pretend to: And where is the Impropriety of this, when your Lordship confesses in the same Page, that the

Spirit of God does particularly assist us, in a due Performance of Religious Offices?

Farther, as your Lordship seems to deny the immediate Assistance of the Holy Spirit in our particular Addresses at the Throne of Grace, so your Lordship seems to deny it also in our particular Actions.

In like Manner, your Lordship says, we are firmly persuaded in general, that we live under the gracious Influence of God' s Holy Spirit, and that he both excites and enables us to do Good. But that this or that Thought or Action is an Effect of the sole Motion, or immediate Impulse of the Spirit, without any Co-operation of our own Mind;

(My Lord, whoever affirmed, that there was no Co-operation of our own Minds, together with the Impulse of the Spirt of God? Your Lordship adds,

Or that the Holy Spirit, and our natural Conceptions, do respectively contribute to this or that Thought or Action, in such a Measure or to such a Degree; these are Things we dare not say.

Indeed my Lord I dare say them. For if there be any such Thing as a Particular Providence, why may we not expect particular Direction from God's Holy Spirit in a particular Cases? Does not our Church, my Lord▪ teach us to pray, that God' s Holy Spirit may in all Things direct and rule our Hearts? But your Lordship says, we dare not say this, because our Savior has told us, that we know no more of the working of the Spirit, than we know of the Wind, from whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. Neither need we know anymore of them: But you must allow, that we know as much. Cannot your Lordship feel the Wind then? Does not your Lordship know when it makes any Impression upon your Body? So easy it is for a Spiritual Man to know when the Holy Spirit makes an Impression upon his Soul. Without acknowledging this, all the Expressions of being led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, and such like, must be only so many Words without any real Meaning. Your Lordship acknowledges, that the Holy Spirit does act in general, and why not • n the particular Actions of our Lives also? For, can the One be without the Other? Does it not frequently happen, my Lord, that the Comfort and Happiness of our whole Lives, depend on one particular Action? And where then, my Lord, is the Absurdity of saying, that the Holy Spirit may even in the minutest Circumstance direct and rule our Hearts? I have been the more particular, my Lord, on this Part of your Lordship's Letter, because if this be proved, many of your Lordship's Objections against my Journals, will fall to the Ground.

Page 27. Your Lordship has the following Paragraph.

God forbid, that in this profane and degenerate Age, everything that has an Appearance of Piety and Devotion, should not be considered in the most favorable Light that it is capable of. But at the same Time, it is surely very Proper, that Men should be called upon for some reasonable Evidence of a Divine Commission.

I take it for granted, that I am one of those Men, whom your Lordship thinks should be called upon for some reasonable Evidence of a Divine Commission.

But, my Lord, what reasonable Evidence does your Lordship require? Did I not receive Letters dimissory from your Lordship's own Hands to be ordained Priest? Did I not, when ordained Deacon

affirm that I was inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon me that Office and Ministration?

Did not my Lord of Gloucester, when he ordained me Priest, say unto me,

Receive thou the Holy Ghost now committed unto thee, by the Imposition of our Hands, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?

And is not this, my Lord, a reasonable Evidence that I act by a Divine Commission? If this be not true, must not All those whom your Lordship, or the other Bishops ordain, act only by a Human Commission? Nay, (to use the Words of Bishop Burnet in his Pastoral Letter )

Must not they who are ordained, Lie not only unto Man but unto God, by saying, They are inwardly moved by the Holy Spirit?

If your Lordship in any wise disputes my acting by a Divine Commission, you disclaim your own Divine Right and Authority; nor can you possibly avoid the Dilemma, of either allowing my Divine Commission, or denying your own. After your Lordship has insinuated a Demand for the Evidences of my Divine Commission, immediately follows these Words,

When they tell us of extraordinary Communications they have with God.

If by extraordinary Communications, your Lordship means the extraordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit, as working Miracles, and speaking with Tongues; your Lordship may assure yourself, I never pretended to any Such Thing—If, by extraordinary Communications, your Lordship means more Assistances and Comforts from God, at sometimes than I have at others, (which is all I mean by extraordinary Communications ) I own the Charge? And what is there, my Lord, extraordinary in that?

Again, your Lordship says, ( Page 28.)

When they talk in the Language of th • se, who have a special and immedia •• Mission from God.

And does your Lordship, and the rest of the Bishops, ordain any without obliging them first to give good Proofs, that they have a Special C •• l or Immediate Mission from God to the Work of the Ministry? If ever you so do, my Lord, do not your Lordships lay Hands too suddenly upon Men?

( Page 29.) Your Lordship writes thus.—

When they profess to think and act under the immediate Guidance of a Divine Inspiration.

And does not your Lordship think an act by the same Rule? Why, otherwise does your Lordship Pray when you administer the Holy Communion, that God would cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of his Holy Spirit?

( Page 31.) Your Lordship says,

When they speak of their Preaching and Expounding, and the Effects of them, as the sole Work of a Divine Power.

And would your Lordship have me ascribe anything in the least to myself? The Good that is done upon Earth doth not God do it Himself? Does not the Apostle say, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God? And where then, my Lord, is the Absurdity of ascribing the Effect • of Expounding and Preaching to the Sole Work of a Divine Power?

Again, ( Page 33)

When they boast of sudden and surprizing Effects as wrought by the Holy Ghost, in Consequence of their Preaching.

Wh ••• , my Lord, is the Enthusiasm of such a Pretension? Has your Lordship been a Preacher in the Church of England, for so many years, and have you never seen any sudden or surprizing Effects, consequent upon your Lordship's Preaching? Was this my Case, should I not have Reason to doubt, my Lord, whether I had anymore than a bare Human Commission? Or might I not take up the Prophet's Lamentation, Oh my Leanness, my Leanness! My Lord, the Gospel, like it. Author, is the same Yesterday, To-day, and forever; and, if preached as it ought to be, will prick Numbers to the Heart, and extort the 〈◊〉 of the trembling Goaler, What must I do to be s • v • d! as surely Now, as it did Seventeen Hundred Y ••• s ago.

These then are the sudden and surprizing Effects, my Lord I always desire to have, and I 〈◊〉 pray God, your Lordship and all your Cl • rgy may always see Such Effects in Consequence of 〈◊〉 Preaching.

( Page 34.)

When they claim the Spirit of Prophecy.

What I have said about my Success. God has been pleased to fulfil already. What I have said about Suffering • , they who without Cause are my Enemies, are fulfilling daily. And as for the Promises mentioned in my Journal, I freely own there are some particular Promises, which God has so▪ strongly impressed, and does still impress on my Heart, that I verily believe, they will be fulfilled.

( Page 25.)

When they speak of themselves in the Language, and under the Character of Apostles of Christ, and even of Christ himself.

If I am not to speak in an Apostolical Language, why did my Lord o • Gloucester give me an Apostolical Commission▪

〈…〉 thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose Sins thou dost retain, they are retained?

And I hope, my Lord, using the Words which Jesus Christ used, is not taking upon me the Character of Christ.

( Page 36.)

When they profess to plant and Propagate a New Gospel, as unknown to the Generality of Ministers and People, in a Christian Country.

'It is true, my Lord in one Sense, mine is a New Gospel, and will be always Unknown to the Generality of Ministers and People, even in a Christian Country, if your Lordship's Clergy follow your Lordship's Directions. For what says your Lordship ( Page 46)

I hope, that when Ministers Preach to you of Justification by Faith alone, which is a ••• rted in the strongest Manner by our Church, they explain it in such a Manner as to leave no Doubt upon your Mind, whether good Works are a necessary Condition of your being justified in the Sight of God.

But pray, my Lord, where has the Scripture made good Works a Necessary Condition of our being justified in the Sight of God? St. Paul says, By grace ye are saved, thro' Faith, not of Works, and that, least any Man should 〈◊〉 . For Eternal Life is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. your Lordship exhorts your Clergy to preach Justification by Faith alone, and quotes the 11 th Article of our Church, which tells us, we are justified by Faith only, and not for our own Works or Deservings. At the same Time, your Lordship bids them

explain it in such a Manner as to leave no Doubt upon their Minds, whether good Work are a necessary Condition of their being justified in the Sight of God.

Your Lordship, in my Opinion, could not well be guilty of a greater inconsistency. This, my Lord, is truly a New Gospel. I am sure it is not what the Apostles Preached; and it is as contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England, and the whole Tenour of the Gospel, as Light is contrary to Darkness. Had your Lordship insisted on your Clergy's preaching up good Works as a necessary Fruit and Consequënce, instead of a necessary Condtition of our being justified, your Lordship would have used your Authority aright. For we are commanded to show forth or declare to others, that we have a True Faith by our Works. And the 12 th Article of our Church says, that ' good Works follow after Justification; and how then, my Lord, are they a necessary Condition of our Justification? No, my Lord, Salvation (if the Gospel be true) is the Free Gift of God through Jesus Christ. Faith is the▪ Means whereby that Salvation is applied to our Hearts, and good Works are the necessary Fruits and Proof of that Faith.

This, my Lord, is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, This is the Doctrine of the Church of England, And it is, because the Generality of the Clergy of the Church of England do not Preach this Doctrine, that I am resolved, God being my Helper, to continue instant in Season and out of Season, to declare IT unto all Men, let the Consequences, as to my own private Person, be what they will.

As for your Lordship's blaming me for rashly censuring the Clergy, for their Practice, none are concerned, but my Indolent, Earthly-minded, Pleasure-taking Brethren, ( Page 39) And surely, your Lordship will not stand up in their Defense. No.—I hope your Lordship will not fail to rebuke THEM sharply. And as for your Lordship's Suspicions, ( Page 50.)—(For your Lordship's Sake I would not Mention them) I hope my Life and Doctrine will always prove them to be Groundless.

Would Time permit, I could now proceed to satisfy your Lordship more particularly about the Case of Mr. Benjamin Seward: But as that is done in a Letter sent to my Lord of Gloucester, and published in my last Journal; and as I am now to embark in a few Hours, I hope, your Lordship will excuse me, if I only add my hearty Prayers for your Lordship's temporal and eternal Welfare, and subscribe myself,

My LORD,

Your Lordship's Obedient, Tho' unworthy Son, and Servant, GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

London, Monday, August 13. 1739.

XI, Of the Justification of Man.

WE are accounted righteous before God, Only for the Merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own Works, or Deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith ONLY, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of Comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

XII. Of good Works

ALbeit that good Works, which are the Fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our Sins, and endure the Severity of God's Judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith, insomuch that by them a lively. Faith may be as evidently known, as a Tree discerned by the Fruit.

XIII. Of Works before Justification.

WOrks done before the Grace of Christ, and the Inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make Men meet to receive Grace, or (as the the School-Authors say) deserve Grace of Congruity: Yea, rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin.

FINIS.