Wesley Corpus

‘But if repentance and faith would not be valid and acceptable without the righteousness of Christ, then they cannot be necessary qualifications for our justification’ (page 22). I cannot allow the consequence. They are not acceptable without the righteousness or merits of Christ; and yet He Himself has made them necessary qualifications for our justification through His merits. But the grand objection of this gentleman lies against the doctor's next paragraph, the sum of which is: ‘The merits of Christ were never intended to supersede the necessity of repentance and obedience’ (I would say, repentance and faith), ‘but to make them acceptable in the sight of God, and to purchase for them’ (I would add, that obey Him) ‘a reward of immortal happiness.’ I am not afraid to undertake the defense of this paragraph, with this small variation, against Mr. Chapman, Mr. Nyberg, [Laurentius Nyberg, of Haverfordwest, a Moravian minister, and correspondent of James Hutton.] Count Zinzendorf, or any other person whatever; provided only that he will set his name to his work, for I do not love fighting in the dark. And I, as well as Dr. T., affirm that ‘to say more than this concerning Christ’s imputed merits,’ to say more than that ‘they have purchased for us grace to repent and believe, acceptance upon our believing, power to obey, and eternal salvation to them that do obey Him,’--to say more than this ‘is blasphemous Antinomianism,’ such as Mr. Calvin would have abhorred; and does ‘open a door to all manner of sin and wickedness.’ ‘I must likewise affirm that to talk of imputed righteousness in the manner many do at this day is making the imaginary transfer of Christ's righteousness serve as a cover for the unrighteousness of mankind’ (page 26). Does not Mr. Chapman do this at Bristol Does not Mr. Madan at London Let them shudder then, let their blood run cold, who do it; not theirs who tell them that they do so. It is not the latter but the former who 'trample Christ's righteousness underfoot as a mean and vile thing.’