THE 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 O F 
 
 The Reverend Dr. HAWKER's 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Reverend R. POLWHELE, 
 
 Vicar of Manaccan, Cornwall, 
 
 IN REPLY 
 
 TO HIS ADDRESS, 
 
 ENTITLED, 
 
 A Letter to the Rev. Robert Hawker, D. D, 
 Vicar of the Parilh of Charles, Plymouth, 
 Occafioned by his late Expedition into Cornwall, 
 
 But why dofi thou judge thy brother? or why dojl thou fet at nought 
 thy brother ? for we /hall all Jland before the judgment-feat of 
 Chrifl. Romans xiv. \ o. 
 
 PLYMOUTH: 
 
 Printed and Sold by P. Nettleton, No. $7, Market-Street: Sold alfo by T. 
 Richards, in Plymouth, E. Hoxland, Fore-Street, Dock ; S. Woolmer, at 
 Exeter ; W. Bulgin, Briftol ; S. Hazard, Bath j T, Chapman, London, and 
 by various otfier Bo^Usrs. 
 
• 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/secondeditionofrOOhawk 
 
Dr. Hawker's Reply^ &c. 
 
 Plymouth, Charles Vicarage, Aug. 24, 1799. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 A Letter, dated from Manaccan, fo long fince as the 
 firft of June, is this moment put into my hands, 
 which in the title-page is faid to be written by you, and 
 addreiTed to me. I shall aflume it for granted that 
 you are the Author of it, though other authority I 
 have none than what the title-page affords. The 
 method to be fure is novel, and fo* the prefervation 
 of good order and decorum in fociety, I hope it will 
 long remain peculiarly your oivn ; to addrefs a letter 
 oftenfibly to an individual, and that too on the fubjecl 
 of reproof, and yet to fuffer it to come to him only, 
 through the indirect channel of the public. Would 
 it not have been more confident with the candor you 
 fo highly profefs, to have given me the earlier! oppor- 
 tunity of vindicating myfelf, before you held me up 
 to the deriiion of the world ? In our boyish days, it 
 was ever deemed the decided mark of a very daftardly 
 fpirit, to lirike the firft blow from behind. And I be- 
 lieve the general fenfe of mankind, in riper years, is 
 not in favor of a contrary opinion. You will forgive 
 me therefore, I hope, that in reply to your favor, I 
 venture to depart from your plan. 
 
 Indeed I conceive it to be but a common act of 
 Honor, of honefty, and of candor, to afford an oppo- 
 
 A 2 neat 
 
4 
 
 nent the earlieft moment of felf-j unification. As fuch, 
 Sir, you may affure yourfelf, that the very firfl im- 
 pielTion of my letter from the prefs, shall be the copy 
 which I fend to you. And when that is difmiffed I 
 shall confider myfelf at liberty, and not till then, of 
 fen 7 ing my anfwer after your letter, before the public, 
 to which you have thought proper to appeal. 
 
 You will pardon me a!fo, I hope, in prefurning to 
 fwerve from your example in anuther inflance. Your 
 letter comes to me, and to the public at large, with an 
 expence of eighteen-pence. My reply to you will be 
 folded up in a three-penny pamph'et. Perhaps there 
 are forne in the world who may be ready to conftrue 
 this wrongfully, as if it were an a 61 of rudenefs to an- 
 fwer a letter wriiten on gilt-edge paper on coarfer ma- 
 terials. But your mind, I hope, is above fuch preju- 
 dices. The mere shadow is nothing, provided the 
 fubftance be not wanting. I am very fure that all [ 
 shall have to fay in anfwer to your letter, may be 
 contained within the compafs of as many pages as 
 three-pence ought to purchafe. And furely to ufe 
 more would be throwing away time, paper and money 
 unneceffarily. That the public will be pleafed to have 
 our correspondence with the leaft pofiible expence 
 cannot be doubted ; and as to all other confederations, 
 depend upon it, however intcrcfting you or I may 
 fancy our controverfy to be, fuch is the Athenian 
 ipirit of the age in their luft for fomething new, that 
 when the novelty of* our writing is a little worn off, 
 our letters will ceafe to amufe, and be thrown ahde 
 among the rubbish of the day, or furnish materials 
 for the trunk-makers. 
 
 In your title-page you profefs that your addrefs to 
 me, is occajioned by my late expedition into Cornwall, 
 
 And 
 
5 
 
 And from the general complexion of your letter, as 
 well as from what you pofitively advance, that the 
 regular Clergy, and the more fober part of their Jloch 
 are difpleajed with that prefumptuous fpirit which hath 
 apparently prompted me to vifit their parijhes as a 
 mijfionary of the go/pel : (page 4) it cannot but ftrike 
 every reader, that according to your reprefentation, 
 my late vifit into Cornwall was with no other view but 
 to preach ; and that I am in the frequent habit of 
 going into other pa rimes on this errand. I prefume 
 this to be your meaning, and that under this impreffion 
 of your mind, you have placed yourfelf in the Cenfor's 
 chair, and fummoned me to appear before you. But 
 if it should be found on examination that my late ex* 
 curfion into Cornwall was upon very different motives 5 
 and that perhaps no one among the whole body of 
 Clergy, in this or any other Diocefe, wanders lefs from 
 his Parish than I do, what will you then fay, Sir?—. 
 You muft, you cannot, I think, but allow, that this 
 part at leaft of your crimination of me is ill-founded, 
 and that you have done me manifeft wrong, in wan- 
 tonly attacking my character on a premature and 
 groundlefs foundation. 
 
 In explaining this bufinefs I can with much truth 
 aver, (and if it required further proof, the fact might 
 eafily be fubftantiated irom the teftimony of many 
 witneffes) that my late Quixotic expedition (as you 
 confider yourfelf at liberty to call it) was folely with 
 the view of fpending a few days with fome very dear 
 and very valuable friends at Falmouth, and to fetch 
 from thence, when thofe days were over, a part of my 
 family, which had been there on a much longer vifit. 
 And during the twelve days which were appropriated 
 to this purpofe, (and they were but twelve ; three of 
 
 which 
 
6 
 
 which were necefTdiil y fpent in the journey to, and from,) 
 I was never abfcnt from Falmouth but once, and that 
 not to preach, but to dine: I never officiated in any 
 church but Falmouth, and that at the particular re- 
 queft of the Miniftet of the Parifli, except on my 
 return through Truro, when, by the earned folicitation 
 of fome in that place, who had at their inftance, and 
 not mine, obtained permiffion for the ufe of the pulpit, 
 from the Miniflers of St. Clement and Kcnwyn. — I 
 preiched once in each of thofe churches. And from 
 the politenefs ..shewn me by both thofe Clergymen, I 
 had i.o reafon to fufpect, that the liberty I had ob- 
 tained from their courtefy, was the effect of any in- 
 direct or improper means ufed by thofe who applied 
 to gain their favor. And therefore by the bye, with- 
 out you will acknowledge that you contradict yourfelf, 
 what you obferve in one part of your letter is not to 
 be reconciled with what drops from your pen in ano- 
 ther. You fay in your i ft page, that the fame of my 
 f reaching has reached from the caft and from the weft, 
 and been echoed from the heights of Maker, and re- 
 echoed from the fhores of the Lizard. And yet in the 
 36th page you fay, that under the impofing mafk of my 
 divinity, 1 took pojfejfion of the pulpits of fome who 
 rvcrc unacquainted with my doffrines. On what prin- 
 ciples of truth you will reconcile thofe bold and un- 
 authorized anertions I leave you to determine. 
 
 With refpeQ: to the charge of itinerancy, fo very 
 oppofuc is this to my real character, that during the 
 perfbi of more than twenty years, in which I have ex- 
 ercifed my feeble mimfiry in the Parish of Charles, I 
 have never been abfent from it, in any one year of 
 that time, three Sundays. Mark! I befeech you what 
 I fay. Not thr.ee Sundays in any one year ; and con- 
 
 fequently 
 
7 
 
 iequently not threefcore Sundays, put them altogether, 
 in the -hole term of twenty years. Can Mr. Polv. hele 
 contend for greater refidence ? Is there a fingle 
 Minifter in the whole Diocefe, nay, in the whole 
 ri, unlefs from fome particular caufes, more 
 ltationary? I prefume, Sir, you h^d no confeioufnefs 
 of this when you came forward to tell the public that 
 the regular Clergy , and the more fob er part of their 
 Jlock are difpleafed with that prcfumptuous fpirit which 
 hath apparently prompted me to vijit their parifhes as a 
 miffionary of the gofpel ! (page 4.) 
 
 You profefs to be actuated in your conduct towards 
 me "not from any perfonal prejudice" page 88; that 
 however miflaken my religious perfuafions may be, you 
 are willing to hope that 1 believe all I preach, page 3 : 
 that you are ready to make allowances for the infirmities 
 common to many, and to affist your weaker brethren by 
 every aft of kindnefs, page 90 : and that whatever our 
 tenets may be, nothing can afford comfort at the hour of 
 death, but the confeioufnefs of having done juflice, loved 
 mercy, and walked humbly with our God, page 91. 
 
 To this ftandard of character, erected by yourfelf, I 
 beg to appeal ; leaving with you the decifion, whether 
 in your condu6t towards me, either of the virtues of 
 which you (ketch the outlines, and with your own 
 pencil, have been called forth into exercife. And in 
 order to make a fair eftimate, I shall not fingle out 
 any detached parts of your conduct, as manifefted in 
 the prefer it inftance only, but by a retrofpective view, 
 collect into a point, the whole of your deportment, as 
 it refers to me, from the flrft moment in which I have 
 been honored with your notice, to this hour. 
 
 The commencement of our correfpondence, Reve- 
 rend Sir, you cannot but recollect, opened on your 
 
 part 
 
8 
 
 part as long fince (as appears by the date of your letter) 
 as September 1793, in which you were plea'ed to en- 
 truft me with a commiflion, and which a fubfequent 
 acknowledgment with thanks from you fully teUified 
 that I had executed with fidelity, and to your appro- 
 bation. I have never to my knowledge, either before 
 or fince that period, had the honour of feeing you in 
 perfon; and never any other communication with you 
 by letter or otherwife, but in the inftance to which I 
 advert, and the prefent letter which is now before me, 
 confequently I can have given you no perfonal offence: 
 and the fentiments expreffed in your firfl letter on the 
 prefumption of their fincerity, might very fairly be ex- 
 peeled to have their operation in the prefent moment. 
 As it is very poflible you may have forgotten the con- 
 tents of that letter, I beg to refrefh your memory with 
 it. You may affure yourfelf the following is a faithful 
 copy : 
 
 " Kenton, near Exeter, Sept. 6th, 1793. 
 
 < ; Rev. Sir, 
 
 "A (hort time fince an advertifement ap- 
 a peared in our provincial papers, announcing the in- 
 *' tended publication of the Hiflory of Devon, and of 
 " the Hiftorical Views of Devon. The latter are now 
 "publifh'd. And, I have difperfed throughout the 
 ' County, fuch a number of copies as, 1 think, may be 
 f fufficient for my fubferibers. For your neighbour- 
 • hood, I had committed 31 fetts to the care of Mr. 
 '< Cookworthy, (accompanied with a profpe&us or plan 
 « of the whole work, to be diftributed gratis; — But 
 <r Mr. C's avocations (as he writes me) will prevent his 
 • c paying the attention he could wifh, to my publication. 
 The copies, therefore, remain in his bands, to be 
 
 ^intrufted 
 
9 
 
 c; intruded to any friend who may interefl himfelf in 
 
 <: the fuccefs. Have you leifure, yourfelf ; or can you 
 
 " recommend me to any Gentleman who will under- 
 
 " take to diftribute the copies in Plymouth and the 
 
 " neighbourhood ? You may, poflibly, think the ap- 
 
 " plication to you, rather extraordinary, as we have 
 
 11 no perfonal acquaintance. But I am well acquainted 
 
 iC with your writings. My religious and political fenti- 
 
 " merits perfectly accord with yours. And I have taken 
 
 " every opportunity of recommending your late valu- 
 
 " able publications on the Trinity, Sec. to my literary 
 
 " friends, and to the world at large. - - — — - - 
 < c _ _ _ _ 
 
 [Tins part of the letter being irrelevant to the prefent occafioa is omitted.] 
 
 " That I am your literary friend, may poflibly be re- 
 " ceived as a fuflBcient apology for this intrufion: If 
 " I am not greatly miftaken in your difpofition, you 
 " have ingenuoufnefs enough to overlook my violation 
 44 of forms. At all events, I shall ever, I hope, retain 
 " a lively fenfe of obligation to you, for much religious 
 " inftruclion and exhortation : And, if I have ever the 
 " honor of being perfonally acquainted with you, it 
 ;< will add greatly. I am well allured, to the pleafures 
 " and fatisfa&ions of my life. 
 
 " I have the honor to remain, 
 " Rev. Sir, 
 
 " Your mod obedient, 
 <c And moft humble fervant, 
 
 <f R. POLWHELE." 
 " To the Rev. Dr. Hawker, Plymouth." 
 
 Now, Sir, on the prefumption that this letter ex- 
 prelfed the real fentiments of your heart at the time it 
 
 B was 
 
10 
 
 was written, (which of courfe you would wish every 
 one to be'ieve) and that you now poiTefs all thofe re- 
 fined feelings of doing juflice, loving mercy, and the 
 ]ike, profeffed in your late letter to me, (which you 
 take for granted no one will deny) will you be good 
 enough, on thofe principles, to explain the confiflency 
 of fuch profeffions with the change of conduct shewn 
 towards me ? 
 
 Suppofing, all that you wish to have fuppofed, that 
 fome great alteration, an 1 that for the worfe, hath 
 taken place in my fentiments and deportment fince 
 you honored me with your firft letter: don't you ftill 
 conceive, on the prefumption that you was fincere in 
 the expreflbns of that letter, that your treatment of 
 me is not to be reconciled with thofe benevolent prin- 
 ciples ? To a fallen chara£t,er, and one more efpeci- 
 ally of whom you once thought fo highly, and even 
 now you dill fay, however mi flak? n ; you are -willing 
 to hope that I believe all I preachy (page 3,) it hath 
 ever been a maxim among men, and even among fome 
 not very remarkable for tendernefr, to she w pity and 
 compaffion. But you, from whom I had fome little 
 pretenfions to expect mercy, no fooner do you behold 
 me according to vour ideas of things in error, but 
 viewing me as an admirable target for the shaft of ri- 
 dicule, difcharge every arrow in your quiver, and 
 deeply dippeiin bitternefs; as if fearful amidft the 
 military ar lor of the day, the rage should reach the 
 church, and provincial volunteers of the corps might 
 come forward o share with you in the glory of the 
 attack. 
 
 Miftake me not, Sir, as if I felt any refentment. — 
 You will miferably lofe fight of the drift of my rea- 
 foning, if you think fo. Believe me it is for you I feel, 
 
 and 
 
11 
 
 and not for myfelf. My defign by this mode of ar- 
 gument is to take off a little of that film fiom your 
 eyes, which in the midlt of fo much boaflingo ads of 
 juftice, and the love of mercy, as the only conizations 
 of a dying hour, makes you blind to your own mfin- 
 ceiity, and renders you unconfcious of your own con- 
 duel. I want, you to fee, Sir, and, if pofiible, to feel 
 alio, what a bubble man is to himfelf, when, in an 
 inftance like yours, where the Scholar, the Gentleman, 
 the Chuftian, and the Divine are fuppofed to be united, 
 fuch proteflions and fuch practice meet together. 
 
 Had Mr. Polwhele really felt what he faid, when 
 profeffing, thai at all events he Jhould ever r tarn a, 
 lively fnje of obligation to Dr. H &c. and that if he 
 ever had the honor of being p rfonally acquainted, it 
 would add to the pleasures of his life, &c. tho gh after- 
 wards he had been told that Dr. H. was acting in a 
 way derogatory to his character, ftill he would have 
 generoufly laid, <f I will attempt to refcue a man 
 whom I once fo highly efteemeJ, from his error."— 
 And if after repeated remon ft ranees I 1 ad proved in- 
 corrigible, fuch a Letter, and in fuch a ftile as the one 
 fent forth to the public, would have been fufficiently 
 sharp, and fufficiently fevere to have corrected much 
 greater wanderings than mine. 
 
 But what is the fact ? You have, Sir, either on the 
 ill-founded opinion of your own mind, or misinfor- 
 mation received from others, not only, by way of con- 
 tempt, turned my private vifit to a friend, into a Quix- 
 otic expedition ; and charged me with an itinerancy, to 
 which I am a ftranger; but what is infinitely worfe, 
 by indirect infinuation in fome instances, and by open 
 charge in others, you have reprefented me in fuch a 
 point of view, as, if true, would make me not barely 
 B a unworthy 
 
12 
 
 unworthy the confidence of a man, but totally unfit to 
 fuftain the character of a minifter of Chrift. 
 
 I can, and do fmile, when I hear you fay Whitfeld 
 is my teacher, whofe perfon I never faw, and with 
 whole writings I am unacquainted. I can, and do 
 fmile again, when you tell me you have heard of my 
 making boaftings of numerous congregations, which I 
 never made ; and of exulting in hofannas which were 
 never uttered. I feel upon thofe occafions juft as I 
 think every man should feel, lefs pain than pleafure, 
 in fuch a fportive difplay of the powers of your imagi- 
 nation. But when you prefume to infinuate a difpo- 
 fition unfavorable to the church, and flate, in a man 
 with whofe perfon you are unacquainted, and with 
 whofe political writings,* had you read them, you 
 would have difcovered very different fentiments ; by 
 what name shall this feature of your mind be termed? 
 
 I dare not forget, Sir, the refpeft I owe myfelf, fo 
 far as to drop the manners of the Gentleman ; and, I 
 truft, the Lord will not fufFer me to pafs by the re- 
 verence I owe Him, fo far, as to lofe the temper of the 
 Chriflian and the Minifter. No, Sir ! It shall be 
 enough for you to fay, as you do in the firfl page of 
 your letter, that there is a lying fpirit gone forth 
 among the people : while I feel no concern to en- 
 quire to whom you meant to apply this. But when 
 in adopting your language, I fay there is indeed a 
 
 lying 
 
 * I have aflamed the freedom of fending with this letter a copy of an 
 Appeal of mine to the People of England, on the tttbjeft of the French 
 devolution, written in the end of the year 1794. When I wrote it I fentit 
 forth into the world anonymoully, that neither the inlignificance of the 
 Author on the one hand, nor his particular iituation as a Minifter of the 
 Eftablifiiment on the other, might impede its utility. When you have read 
 it, (if you condescend To to do) I hope you will fee the injury you have done 
 me in judging 10 unfavorably of my political ien.timen.ts. 
 
lying fpirit gone forth among the people, I beg it may 
 be underftood, that I rather hope Mr. Pohvhele is 
 among the deceived, than thofe who deceive. 
 
 But whatever you may think of the matter, in my 
 apprehenfion, the moft awful part is that of which you 
 feem to be perfectly unconfcious : For to find fuch a 
 train of conduct: in one, whofe chief confidence, as he 
 tells us, at the hour of death, can only refult from the 
 fenfe of having done juftice, loved mercy, and walked 
 humbly with God, while attempting by fo many ways 
 to blacken the reputation of a man who never offended 
 him, and that of a great mafs of people together : the 
 mind fickens at the view of fuch an awful inflance 
 of felf-deception. It affords a juft, but melancholy 
 proof of what fcripture declares, that the heart is de- 
 ceitful above all things, and defperately wicked, who 
 can know it 
 
 For my part I never beheld a more decided tefti- 
 mony of the doctrine brought into actual practice, 
 than what you have shewn in this double correfpon- 
 dence. And pardon me, Sir, when I add, that as 
 often as I think of you, I fear I shall ever connect 
 with the remembrar.ee, the melancholy ftate of thofe, 
 who, prefuming on the fame affurance in a dying hour, 
 depart under the fame deception of their real character 
 before God ; when, even in the inftance of a Mr. 
 Polwhele, we fee how poffible it is for a man to fancy 
 himfelf to be fomething when he is nothing. 
 
 From the view of your moral profeflion and practice 
 in its reference to man, fuffer me to turn over the 
 page and infpect the ferioufnefs of your religious fyftem 
 as it refpects God. You have thought proper to cad 
 me into the ordeal of your examination; and I fee no 
 
 I Jer. xyii. 9. 
 
 reafon 
 
14 
 
 reafon why I may not aflume an equal freedom in 
 leading you into mine. Indeed, if you are fterling, 
 you will thank me, and not shrink from the furnace. 
 It is impofhble that the true ore should fu'tain any lofi 
 in the crucibe., from the hotted fire: it ferve:, but to 
 refine it more, and bring it out again with in< reafed 
 brightnefs. It is the falfe metal only, which cannot 
 bear the heat. 
 
 Happily for the purpofe, this part of my fubjeft. will 
 be brought within a very narrow compafs. The pe- 
 culiarity of our fituation as Minifters of the eftabli>h- 
 ment, places us within an inclofure, whofe boun lanes 
 are marked with a line, which can nut be miftaken. — 
 The Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church of 
 England, to which we both lubfcnbed, and declared 
 our unfeigned alTent, and confent, when we were ad- 
 mitted into Holy Orders, afcertain the point in a mo- 
 ment, refpccling our religious principles. It is no 
 longer the queftion with us, whether thefe Articles, 
 Homilies, and Liturgy be founded in the real fenfe of 
 Scripture, (for of that, as honeft men, we muft be 
 fuppofed to have duly examined, before we fubfcribed 
 to them) but the iingle enquiry with us now is, whether 
 as confcientious men, our fubfcription and belief carry 
 a perfect conformity together. A short comparative 
 view on this ground of the queftion of religious fin- 
 cerity, will do more to afcertain the point in five 
 minutes, than as many years would accomplish, from 
 the mere effect of inconclufive reafoning and argument. 
 And that you may not complain, I beg to come firft 
 nnder this fcrutiny. Uncalled upon, I profefs and 
 declare, that without any mental refervation whatever, 
 1 do very cordially and heartily fubfcribe to the doc- 
 trines of the Church of England, as fet forth in her 
 
 moll 
 
*5 
 
 moft excellent Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy, as by 
 law eflahl i shed. And if in any one point I have de- 
 parte 1 from them, either in my writings or preaching, 
 it is on' nowingly ; and I .shall thank any man to point 
 out mv error, that, through God's grace, it may be 
 acknowle IgerJ and corrected. 
 
 Nov . Sir, for you. In your ordination fervice this 
 queHion a? pr p >fed to you by the Bishop; to which 
 you were fuppofed to have given an unreferved anfwer 
 in the affirmative — " Do you truft that you are in- 
 war Fly moved by the Holy Ghoft to take upon you 
 this offi e and minifbation to ferve God. for the pro- 
 moting of his glory, and the edifying of his people ?" 
 
 Paufe — for one moment — and then compare your 
 declaration then, with the whole fum and fubftanceof 
 what you have faid in your letter to me now, (for it 
 would be endlefs to make quotations) and then let your 
 own heart determine 'for to that, and not the public, 
 in this inftance. I appeal) what correspondence there 
 is between both ! 
 
 Again — In the 9th article of our Church the doclrine 
 of Or ginal S : n is thus fet forth. Original fin Jlandeth 
 not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do 
 vainly talk ) but it is the fault and corruption of the 
 nature of every man, that is naturally engendered of the 
 offspring of Adam : whereby man is very far gone from 
 original righteoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclined 
 to do evil : fo that the flefh lufleth always contrary to 
 the fpirit, and therefore in every perfon born* into this 
 world, it defervtth God's wrath and damnation. 
 
 Your fentiments on this point you have delivered 
 in the note of the 48th an 1 49th pages of your letter 
 to me, where calling this do&rine of our Church Cal- 
 viniliic, you fay, from John ix. %> 3, Where our 
 
 Saviour's 
 
i6 
 
 Saviour's difciples afk him, Who did fin, this man or 
 his parents, that he was born blind ? &c. We may 
 draw an inference that the Calvin i ft ic do&rine of 
 original fin is falfe. 
 
 Once more — In the nth Article of our Church, of 
 the Juftification of man; the words are: We are ac- 
 counted righteous before God only for the merits of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, by faith, and not for 
 our Awn works or defervings. Wherefore, that toe are 
 jujlifed by faith only, is a mo ft whclefome doctrine, and 
 ' very full of comfort, as more largely is cxprejfed in the 
 Homily of Juftification. Your fentiments, Reverend 
 Sir, on this point you have very fully shewn in your 
 letter to me, when you fay, in the 90th and 91ft 
 pages : Let us all be aware whatever our tenets may be, 
 that nothing can afford us comfort at the hour of death, 
 but the confeioufnefs of having done juflice, loved mercy, 
 and walked humbly with our God. 
 
 Again — In the 18th Article of our Church, of ob- 
 taining eternal Salvation only by the name of Chrift, 
 she thus expreffe- herfclf : They alfo are to be held 
 accurfed that prefume to fay that every man fhall be 
 faved by the law or feci which he profeffeth, fo that he 
 be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and 
 the light of nature. For Holy Scripture doth fet out 
 unto us only the name of Jefus Chrift, whereby men 
 muft be faved. 
 
 Your opinion, Reverend Sir, on this point alfo, Is 
 to be gathered from your letter to me, wherein, in the 
 88th and 89th pages you fay: Yet be our perfuafions 
 what they may, I am well affured, that if within our 
 fever al par iflies, or according to our different fations, 
 we do cur duty to the best of our knowledge and abilities, 
 zve fhall be finally accepted at the throne of mercy. — 
 
 Though 
 
17 
 
 Though treading different paths, yet we have but one 
 object be/ore us, and if finccre, we Jhall all meet, I be- 
 lieve, in the road to falvation. 
 
 Once more, and that shall be all — In the 13th Ar- 
 ticle, of Works before [u ft in* cation, the Church thus 
 fpeaks : Works done before the grace of Chrijl, and the 
 infpiration of his Spirit are not pleafantto God, foras- 
 much as they fpring not of faith in Jefus 1 hrifi, neither 
 do they make men meet to receive grace, or as the fchool 
 authors fay, defervc grace of congruity : yea rather for 
 that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded 
 them to be done, toe doubt not but they have the nature 
 of fin. 
 
 Now, Sir, if you pleafe you shall fpeak again, in the 
 words of your letter. According to this doctrine our 
 regeneration depends not in the flightefl degree upon 
 ourfelves, it is the fole effect cf the divine agmcy. We 
 may be fober, and chafte, and fufl, and honeft, and cha- 
 ritable to the poor, benevolent to all: we may offer up 
 our praifes and thank fgivings to God, both in public 
 and private ; join in the holy communion, and liften to 
 the word of exhortation, and yet be on a footing, in re- 
 fpeft to a fpiritual life, with drunkards, and robbers, 
 and fabbath-breakers.* page 11. 
 
 C Thefe 
 
 * I cannot forego the occafion afforded me of correcting your ideas of regeneration* 
 I never fhould have believed if I had not found it in your letter, that any man of 
 Mr. Polwhele's difcernment, could have committed himfelf fo much as to fay ; 
 «« according to this doctrine our regeneration depends not in the fliehieft degree upon 
 ourfelves." Moft unqueftionably not ! The very term regeneration, carries with 
 it the fulleft refutation of fuch an abfurdity. For the reiteration of any act, be that 
 act what it may, implies that it is the doing fomevhat, which hath been done be- 
 fore. So that unlcfs it could be faid that a man contiibuted to his generation be- 
 fore, it would be a mifapplication of the term to call it regeneration after. And 
 the mereft fthool-boy, in the firft rudiments of grammar, is fuppofed to know this. 
 
 If Mr P. would attend more to the information of fcripture, and lefs to the pre- 
 fumptuous reafonmgs of his own mind on this grand point, his ideas would be 
 Clearer, It is the diftinguifhing character by which infpiration hath marked the 
 
 regenerate, 
 
 1 
 
i8 
 
 Thefe comparative views will be fufficient to anfwer 
 my prefent purpofe; an : ccitainly they exhibit as curi- 
 ous a fyecimen of your religious fincerity, as hath 
 before been shewn of your moral. 
 
 Before I difmifs the fubjecr, I think it necelfary once 
 more to remind you, that I am not now contending on 
 the ground, whether the doctrines of our Church are, 
 or are not, agreeably to the fcriptures. That you and 
 I have fcJemaly accepted them, and fubferibed to them 
 as fuch, and at our orc^i nation pruf< ffed before God, 
 that we would be guided by them in all our preachin s 
 and in the exeruie of our irfinfftry among tht people : 
 this is the fingle point, Sir, now in coniideration. — 
 Paufe then ,ur a moment, and determine for yourfelf, 
 whether the portrait which I have drawn, and from the 
 outlines you youifelf have given, doth not afford fo 
 (hiking a refemblance of the features and complexion 
 of your religious fincerity, as when compared to your 
 moral, muft enable every looker-on to difcern that it 
 is a family-piece. 
 
 I folemniy proteft before God, that if my creed ror- 
 
 refponded 
 
 regenerate, that 41 they are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flefb, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God." John i. 13. And to define it pi>iriS!e, ihli more 
 accurately the characters ot the divine agency in the work, as, difthvuilhed irom any 
 co-operation with human power, 'he eppofite properties ma k them dirhn&lj : 
 44 That which is born of flefh, ia flelh ; and that which is bom o. the "pint, is 
 fpirit." John iii. 6. And moreover to Ihew h w free and fpon -neo s his mercy 
 is on ihe part of God, and how wholly unmeri ed on he par ot m i: , the operation 
 of the Divine v puit is compared to ihe unknown fource of he air, 44 which b'owe' h 
 where itlirteth." For as we hear the found ot the air, and fee, and tee', its effe£h, 
 yet all :he while " we know uol whence it cometh, nor whi.her ir gouth." 4l So" 
 (fays Chrift; adopting this figure by way of explanation, 44 is every one that is born 
 of the Spirit " John iii. 8. 
 
 Mr. P. may, if he pleafes, Nicodemus-like, cry out, 44 how can thefe things be ?»' 
 But the queftion will only ferve to (hew, that he is a ftranger to thr principle, but 
 by no means tend to call in queftion the principle itfelf. That bo*h ' his, and he 
 other great poin's of the gofpel, at which Mr. P. cavils, are capable of being proved 
 from fcripture, I aver, ar.d profefs myfelf always ready, Cod helping me, to afTert 
 igainft any man, or any fet of men, who being ignorant of experimental rcljgjon 
 Memfelves, venture to queftion its reality in others. 
 
f 
 
 19 
 
 reipon^Ied to the account you have given in your letter 
 of yours, at once fo foreign to the Articles of the 
 Church of England, and to many parts of the Liturgy, 
 which you a:c obliged to ufe in your miniftration; I 
 repeat again, I folemnly proteft before God, not all 
 the tender charities of life, in the fweet and endearing 
 chiims of a large family, should induce me to retain 
 my fituation in the Chuich, no, not for a moment. — 
 You may fancy what you pleafe of the confolation in 
 a dying hour, from the rectitude of your life. I shud- 
 der at the idea of fuch a miftaken calculation, while 
 deficient in the higheft pofiible inflance of doing juftly, 
 as it refers to God by the moft awful prevarication 
 and duplicity. 
 
 You are pleafed to make merry in the difle6lion of 
 my little bantling which I chnftened The Three Lead- 
 ing Points of the Gofpel. But in doing this, Sir, you 
 L miftook your province. Nature cannot qualify for 
 ^ this department. It may make a man an Hiftorian, 
 01 a Scholar ; but it muft be Grace to form a Spiritual 
 Anaromift. And foi this fervice your letter lufficiently 
 indicates that you are totally incompetent. 
 
 Fn>m the authority of fcripture I aflert, that every 
 one of the leading points which I have brought for- 
 wara in that little production, the Bible confirms in 
 every part. Nay, I will aflume yet greater confidence 
 and lav, that Mr. P. himfelf is perpetually giving an 
 unconicious teftimony to their truth, in the exercife 
 of his mmiflry. For when you tell the congregation 
 at the Baptifm of Children, that all men are conceived 
 and born in fin ; when you beg of Chrift, by his agony 
 and bloody Jweat, by his crofs and pciffion^ to deliver you 
 from the burden of fin ; do you not confirm the two firft 
 points I contend for ? I feai indeed, I cannot call upon 
 
 you 
 
20 
 
 you as a living teftimony to the truth of the third, 
 but the Apoflle John will do it effectually — Hereby we 
 know that we dwell in him, and he in us, becaufe he hath 
 given us of his Spirit, 1 John iv. 13. 
 
 I fhall now take my leave of you for the prefent, 
 until you may be pleafed to call me forth again. I 
 believe I have noticed every thing in your letter ex- 
 cepting indeed that farrago of quotations from the 
 "writings of others, with which vou muft be ronfcious 
 I have nothing to do. What Geo ge Whitfield, or 
 John Wefley, or Bifhop Lavington was, belongs nei- 
 ther to your province or mine now to judge. You 
 ought to have recollected, Sir, that to their own Mafter 
 they ftand or fall. Your praife or cenfure are both 
 alike indifferent to them. They are gone to their 
 final audit. And you, and I, are haflening faft after. 
 
 However confident you may be, Sir, of the re&u 
 tude of your mind, and reft upon it as the confolation 
 of a dying hour, I blefs God that I have not fo learned 
 Chrift. Though very earned to exercife a confcience 
 void of offence towards God, and towards men; vet my 
 final appeal will be, not to human merit, but to the 
 divine mercy. / count all things hut lofs, that I may 
 win Chrift. And my~dying hopes will be I truft, to 
 be found in Him, not having mine own right eoufnefs, 
 which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of 
 Chrift. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 ROBERT HAWKER.