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Josiah Tucker on Justification: Source for a Wesley Letter

John Wesley repeatedly found it necessary through the course of the Methodist revival to clarify his emphasis on justification by faith and the imputation of the merits of Jesus Christ to the believer. In the early years these clarifications were frequently occasioned by Anglican charges, such as that by Josiah Tucker (currently a priest in Bristol and later Dean of Gloucester), that he affirmed justification by faith alone in a way that let to antinomianism. Over time the clarifications increasingly shifted to focus on the danger of antinomianism that Wesley perceived in the larger evangelical movement. The latter concern is particularly evident in Wesley’s Letter to a Gentleman of Bristol, published in 1758. As Wesley recounts, this letter was in response to a request for his opinion about a debate in Bristol. The debate was sparked when “Dr. T.” published a paper addressed to the inhabitants of St. Stephen’s parish, cautioning against some current misunderstandings of the doctrine of justification of faith. This paper provoked a strongly worded response titled A Seasonable Antidote against Popery, which accused “Dr. T.” of teaching works-righteousness, and thus being a papist in disguise. Wesley’s letter makes clear that he read both pieces, and that his sympathy lay more with the concerns of “Dr. T.” He specifically defends the claim that faith and repentance are conditions of justification—against the one-sided emphasis on “imputed righteousness” in the Seasonable Antidote. This defense in itself is interesting; identification of the participants with whom he was engaged adds further insight into the tension within which Wesley struggled to defend and define his affirmation of justification by faith. The author of the Seasonable Antidote was William Romaine, one of the more vigorous Reformed voices among the clergy sympathetic with the revival. Romaine’s target—Dr. T—turns out to be (again) Josiah Tucker, still serving as a priest in Bristol and a defender of the Anglican mainstream.