The Prayer composed for this occasion will be found at the end of the second volume of this edition.

No. VII.

SIR,

From Mr. Daubeny to Mr. Wilberforce..

Bath, April 23d, 1797.

The respect I entertain for your character, added to the opinion I have formed of your abilities as a writer, has created no small degree of diffidence in my mind upon the subject of this letter. Fully persuaded that the object you have in view in writing is to do good, I feel a disinclination, where so many excellent things are to be met with, to remark any thing that to me appears liable to produce a contrary effect. It is but truth, Sir, to say, that I read your book with increasing satisfaction from the 1st to the 123d page. From that page to the conclusion of the section, I have been obliged to pause often, from doubts that have from time to time arisen in my mind, with respect to the precise meaning intended to be conveyed. Though, from the general tenor of your writing, I am convinced that our faith is the same; I yet think that our manner of defining it, would, in certain points, be somewhat different. We both build upon the same rock, the only rock upon which any Christian can build with security. We both look to the same cross, as our only hope and only title to salvation. But agreed as we are in this essential point, it appears to me that what you say, in the 131st page, on the subject of the final judgment, is calculated to convey an idea which may lead the Christian disciple to an erroneous conclusion.

The line between the Covenant of Works and Covenant of Grace cannot, in my opinion, be too exactly drawn; because, as man is now circumstanced, the one is a Covenant of Death,

the other a Covenant of Life. When we talk of works, therefore, a proper distinction should be made between the works of the Law, to which the Judaizing Christian trusted in part for salvation, and those which are required to be performed under the Gospel. These works the sacred writings have taught me to consider, not as the meritorious cause of man's salvationfor that is the free gift of God through Christ—but as a sort of sine quâ non, if I may so express it, by which the fallen creature man, through the operation of the Spirit, becomes qualified, or, in the words of the Apostle, " meet to be partaker with the saints in light." When we speak, therefore, of the Gospel scheme of salvation, we think that terms and performances on our part should be mentioned; because the promises of God to man through Christ, are not absolute, but conditional; and the only danger that can accrue to the Christian cause from the mention of them, appears to be derived from the false estimate that may be put upon them. If, for instance, they are considered as making any part of man's title to salvation, on that ground they are inadmissible, because incompatible with the Gospel scheme; and the party who sees them in that light, is what the Judaizing Christian was in St. Paul's days—he is going about to establish his own righteousness, not submitting himself to the righteousness of God. But if these fruits of the Spirit are weighed in their proper scale; not as man's title to salvation, but merely his qualification for it; upon the Gospel axiom, that" without holiness no man shall see the Lord,"

it

appears to me a matter of essential importance that they should be pressed upon the Christian disciple, as that condition upon which salvation, through Christ, has been suspended “They shall walk with me in white," says Christ, "for they are worthy;" worthy, not absolutely so in themselves, for that is quite out of the question; but relatively so; worthy, in that sense in which God, through Christ, has graciously thought fit to consider them. Upon the fundamental doctrine of the Gospel there can be but one opinion with all who understand it; for "other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid in Christ

Jeans," I readily adopt your own words, therefore, in toto, that
there is no other ground of dependence, no other plea for par
don.
But when you say, as it were in contradiction to the event
of the final judgment which has been revealed, « vain wisdom
all, and false philosophy!" and "this is the work of God, that
ув
believe in Him whom he hath sent;" I doubt whether an
idea may not be conveyed to the mind of a reader, unfurnished
with that comprehensive knowledge on the subject which you
possess, very different from that which you mean to convey.
It is scarce possible for me, in the short page of a letter, to
place my ideas before you in that methodized form, in which, to
do justice to my subject, they ought to be placed. Perhaps
I should entreat your indulgence and pardon for the
attempt to place them before you at all; such as they are,
however, they are left to be weighed in your own scale of
judgment, from a confidence that the degree of weight will be
given to them which they may appear to deserve.

With respect to the present state of the Christian world, you have spoken, alas! not less truly than admirably. When we call to mind what the Church of Christ once was, we cannot help feeling ourselves in a condition similar to that of the captive Israelites, who wept by the waters of Babylon when they remembered Sion. Could you, Sir, become the blessed instrument in God's hand of raising the dead to life, by bringing back the soul of Christianity to that body from which it has long since departed; every minister of Christ, who feels as he ought, must congratulate himself that the declining cause of his Master has found so able an advocate; and in His name bid you God, speed.

Though I fear my silence may justly have caused you to entertain some doubts concerning the impression produced on

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me by your letter, yet I can assure you, with perfect sincerity, that I felt much indebted to you for such a mark of confidence and frankness; and that the spirit which it breathed, of concern for the interests of Christianity, was highly gratifying to me. It was my first impulse, on perusing it, to take up my pen and return you thanks for it; but I laid aside this design, meaning to do myself the pleasure of calling on you, in order to discuss, with more advantage than by letter, the important topic you had brought to my notice. A multiplicity of affairs and engagements, which have rendered it impossible for me even to keep down my correspondence, has prevented my executing this intention; and I now doubt if I shall be able to do myself that honour before I leave Bath-my stay, which must be regulated by public affairs, being very uncertain. If I should not, however, be able to effect an interview with you whilst I am this time at Bath, I shall be happy in any future opportunity of conferring with you, either here or in Palace Yard, Westminster. I have purposely avoided entering at all on the question, conceiving it better to abstain altogether, than to head it imperfectly

I remain, with real esteem, dear Sir,

Your obliged and faithful servant,
W. WILBERForce.

Queen-square, April 27.

The following letter was prefixed to the first edition of the

"Guide."

SIR,

To William Wilberforce, esq.

The respect which I have for your character, joined to the consideration of your being a professed friend to the Church of England, has induced me to prefix your name to the following Discourses. Some apology, I am well aware, Sir, ought to be made for addressing to you Discourses, many parts of which have no claim to your notice, being calculated only for the use of those misinformed persons for whom they were originally written. On this head, therefore, I have to

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crave your indulgence. Agreed, as I am convinced we are, in the object which we have in view, namely, the promotion of genuine Christianity; and feeling, as I do, in common with all serious persons, the obligation due for your late spirited exertion in its cause; it would give me great satisfaction to think, that we were not less agreed in every idea that bears relation to that important subject. From some passages in your late publication, I conclude that our opinions upon Church matters may be somewhat different. If," to make use of the words of St. Bernard, "I shall offer to bring in any strange opinion, it is my sin." But though I think the ordinance mentioned by the historian* to have taken place among the Thurians, "that he who would bring any new law among them to the prejudice of the old, should come with a halter about his neck into the assembly, and there either make good his project or die," not the most judicious, because it threw too great a stumbling-block in the way of national improvement; yet, when speaking of the Church, not less than its doctrine, I feel confirmed in opinion with the prophet, that "the old way is the good way."

The forming a correct notion of the Church, as a spiritual society under the regular establishment of its Divine Founder, I consider to be a part of that knowledge which every member of it ought to possess. At the same time I cannot help regarding it as a circumstance most to be lamented, that, in consequence of the prevailing ignorance upon this subject, the clergy of the present day should be called upon to examine foundations, which by wise master-builders have so long since been firmly laid.

The object in view in bringing forward this subject, (and I trust, Sir, you will thus far at least give me credit) is not to create a bigotted prejudice in the mind of any person, for the mere word Church, considered as “Vox et præterea nihil;" but to promote that rational attachment to its constitution, which is best calculated to advance the purpose of its establishment,

* Diodorus Siculus.

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