THE WHOLE WORKS OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY, A. M. RECTOR OF WESTON-FAVELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOLUME IV. CONTAINING ASPASIO VINDICATED. IMPROVEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. A DEFENCE OF THERON AND ASPASIO. AMENDMENTS ON THERON AND ASPASIO. MARSHALL ON SANCTIFICATION RECOMMENDED. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73. CHEAPSIDE; AND R. GRIFFIN & CO. GLASGOW. PREFACE. 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 * Afterwards he read it again, and gave it, what he calls in the beginning of the first letter, "a careful perusal.” |