Methodists clearly insist on salvation by faith alone, faith has its inevitable fruit. Wesley himself writes in a letter to Elizabeth Bennis that one of the Methodists preaches salvation by faith in the same manner that my brother and I have done; and as Mr. Fletcher (one of the finest writers of the age) has beautifully explained it None of us talk of being accepted for our works: That is the Calvinist slander. But we all maintain, we are not saved without works; that works are a conditon (though not the meritorious cause) of final salvation. It is by faith in the righteousness and blood of Christ that we are enabled to do all good works; and it is for the sake of these that all who fear God and work righteousness are accepted of Him. 1 Fletcher had added his pen to that of Wesley's during the predestination/free will controversies of the late 1760s and early 1770s. In publishing his Checks to Antinomianism he notes, ... it appears if I am not mistaken that we stand now as much in need of a reformation from antinomianism as our ancestors did of a reformation from popery. People, it seems, may now be "in Christ" without being "new creatures" without casting "old things" away. They may be God's children without God's image; and ''born of the Spirit" without the "fruits of the Spirit. "2 In light of this last statement (although necessarily anticipating the chapters to follow) we should make at least some brief reference to Fletcher's application of the work of the Holy Spirit to Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection. The first three Checks basically defend_ Wesley's doctrine of perfection. The Fourth Check, however, uses ithe language of Pentecost to describe a process of Holy Spirit baptism/perfection as a number of experiences culminating in entire sanctification. 3 In a sermon outline for the text Acts 1:5: "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit," Fletcher discusses the general necessity of Holy Spirit baptism. Basically we are helpless and unfit for heaven or bliss without God's Holy Spirit to empower us. Water baptism alone serves only Clwpfrr X: flu· Xe1•· Uirth: Uaptism i11 tilt' Holy Spirit
/117