so ingrost the truth that others may not in some points be righter then they or that they may not be guilty of running too farre in any one point either by the power of prejudice or heat of opposition or some other disadvantage temptation or imperfection this is such arrogancy as modest Christians should not be guilty of Much lesse should they be unwilling to heare and try whether it be so or not Undoubtedly there are many differences that seeme real and momentous through mis-informations and prejudice which indeed are but in words or methods or of inferiour nature And abundance of good might be done by drawing differences into a narrower compasse and discovering the true point of disagreement and cutting off all the superfluous contentions were it not that by zealous censorious faction and by men that know not what Spirit they are of the world is swayed by reproaches and prejudice and the matter brought to that passe that none can set their hand to so blessed a work til they first resolve to subject themselves to the scorne and slanders even of Divines and to cast overboard their interest and reputation even with zealous godly men And how few are they even among those that can contemn the censures of the openly profane that are able to deny themselves so far as to conquer in this assault We look on the ignorant vulgar as fooles and therfore pride it selfe can spare their applauses But when wee take such pious persons and Learned Divines to be men of valuable judgments that are able indeede to honour or dishonour us How hardly will a proud heart lie down to be trod upon Think not that I injuriously dishonour the pious or the Church guides in supposing any or many of them to be such and become such instruments to hinder the work of Christ and to further the cause and kingdom of the divel were they perfect Saints it would not be so But he that observeth not the sad imperfections of the best of Saints and how farre they make them serviceable to the enemie and that all men even the best are vanity and lyars and that the Churches greatest danger is from it selfe more then from all enemies without yea and that every one is the greatest enemy to himselfe he knoweth not himself he hath sure beene a sleepe at least these 12 years and not seen the discoveries that our late tryals have made and he hath more of the Popish opinion of perfection then is safe To be ignorant after our convincing experiences is to be mad Well may the best of Divines say to them that call them Rabbie and see wholly with their eyes and bow down to their understandings as the Angel said to John Rev 22.9 see thou doe it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren and of them which keepe the sayings of this book Which I speak not to diminish the just estimation and authority of the Ministry which I am blamed by some for maintaining to be so great and which God of late hath vindicated by delivering their most raging enemies Quakers and such like to be plainly possest or ruled by the divel nor yet do I lay these accusations upon all seeing by the great mercy of God we have many of eminent moderation and sobriety and I observe among the best that within this year or two their zeale for the Churches unity is very much increased for which I heartily blesse the Lord. But the number of such is too smal and of the selfe conceited and contentions so considerable as cannot be hid For my owne part when I remember that it is but about the sixth part of the world that are Christians all the rest being Pagans Infidels and Mahometans and of that sixth part how few the Protestants are in comparison of the Papists the Greeks the Abassines and the rest and of the Protestants how many countries are Lutherans besides all others I confesse I have no great zeale to confine the Church to the party that I best like nor to shut Christ out of all other Societies and coope him up to the congregations of those few that say to all the rest of the Church Stand by wee are more holy then you In a word and a plaine word I am loth to make Christ only the head of the Calvinists in stead of being the head of Christians and Catholicks and loth he should cease to be the head of the body and become only the head of any party or faction and therefore I would contribute the utmost of my endeavours to reconcile the differing members of that body If I have digressed unprofitably I crave pardon and returne to the subject of this Exercitation And because the Reverend Authour seems to mee in some few passages to have exprest his mind somewhat obscurely or in terms lyable to mis-construction I shall adventure upon a presumption of his consent to give the Reader a key for the understanding of them and to tell him my thoughts of some of them in particular leaving the rest to his judgment As to the nature of pardon of sin from which all the consectaries of this Treatise are drawn I conceive there are three distinct species of it arising from the three parts of Gods regiment of mankind 1. As God is Legislator he doth conferre on all believers a right to impunity or dissolve the obligation to punishment in regard of the Law of works he doth this as he is about that law by relaxing it In regard of the Law of grace he doth it as the free Legislator thereof And it is this law it self or promise that is his instrument of doing it and the act of that Law which is his pardoning act it is conditional to all before faith It is actual pardon to those only that believe I conceive this pardon is the main observable Act that Scriptures and Divines do commonly treat of And that it is the same in substance with justification constitutive though some respective difference is imported in the terms 2. As God is judge of the world according to his lawes so he hath a sentential remission of sinne or justification But there is this difference between these two terms Remission of sin doth more properly signifie the legal or donative remission and lesse properly the judicial sentence it being in strictest sense the Prerogative of a Ruler as he is above all law to pardon the faults against the Law and not of a Judge who as such must be regulated by law yet the word Pardon may be applied to the sentence too But contrarily justification signifieth very fitly both acts legal and judiciall but more fully and strictly the sentence then the grant And therefore justificatio juris justificatio judicis is a most necessary currant distinction but justificatio judicis is the more proper phrase But remissio juris et judicis is tolerable but the later member somewhat less proper 3. As God is the executioner
distinction CONSECT VI. 6. IT followes that we may safely distinguish the pardon of sinne how harsh and unsavorie soever the distinction may seeme in the sound thereof into totall and partial perfect and imperfect into Remissionem magis or minus plenariam for pardon of sinne being the taking off of the obligation to punishment and consequently punishment it selfe a man is no farther pardoned executivè and plenarily then his punishment is taken off which being sometimes more and sometimes lesse taken off we must needes say that pardon is somtimes more and sometimes lesse perfect CHAP. XIII That one and the same sinne may be more or lesse pardoned CONSECT VII 1. IT followes that one and the same sinne may be more or lesse pardoned because it may be more or lesse punished And the contrary assertion thereof though it be the assertion of our Divines See his book of justif p. 21. 19. 143 261. as I think generally and in particular of that very learned and pious Divine Mr. Anthony Burges a man for sound judgment and School learning much renowned I say the contrary assertion viz. that one and the same sinne cannot be more or lesse pardoned I cannot assent unto but must needs by vertue of the premises professe yet humbly my dissent from CHAP. XIIII That no sinner is fully pardoned in this life nor yet afore the day of judgment CONSECT VIII 8 IT followes that however a believer is pardoned in this lsfe yet he is not fully pardoned til the day of judgment because he is not till that day of refreshing freed from all the sad effects and punishments of sin viz. death and the grave of corruption The premises considered do also give us to see a reason of that saying of Christ Mat. 12 32 And moreover plainly and easily to interpret the sense of it he saying that the sin against the H. Ghost shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come And for that cause the day of judgment may as wel be stiled the day of Remission or Absolution as the day of Redemption as it is stiled Ephes 4.30 And for the same cause doth Saint Peter assert our sins to be blotted out in a signal sense viz fully and compleatly at and not before that Great and good day of the Lord Act. 3.19 there being certain remainders of grace to be brought unto the Saints at and not before the revelation of Jesus Christ for which till that time they are to wait and hope according to the counsel of the same Apostle 1 Pet. 1.13 And in this sense Saint Paul prayes to God that good Onesiphorus with his compassionate houshold may find mercy with the Lord at that day 2 Tim. 1.16 17 18. CHAP. XV. The difference betwixt remission of sinne and Sanctification commonly assigned that being said to be perfect in this life this imperfect rejected and refuted CONSECT IX 9. IT followes that the difference commonly said to be betwixt the remission of our sins and our sanctification that the one is perfect in this life the other is imperfect is a plain mistake and in very deed not a justifiable but a pardonable saying I mean an errour that stands in need of pardon and not of pardon only but also of amendment And besides the premises for a farther detecting and rectifying this mistake let it be considered that the selfe same reason which proves the imperfection of our sanctification in this life wil also prove the imperfection of our remission for the reason demonstrating the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that our sanctification is here imperfect is besides the testimony of Scripture the experimental sense of that Fomes peccati that Peccatum peccans or relicks of sin which doe still remaine in our natures which said sinne in being both sinne and punishment for which cause it may well be stiled in a peculiar sense peccatum puniens as well as peccans it being I say both a sin and the punishment of sin it must of necessity and infallibly follow from thence as I humbly conceive that a sinners remission or release from sinne is imperfect also And if any one shall except saying that a sinner even in this life hath right to perfect remission I answer looke what right a sinner hath in this life to perfect remission the same right he hath to glorification and to sanctification with the Saints made perfect so that in this respect there is no difference Briefly then If wee must believe either Scripture or our owne experience wee must acknowledge that our remission is in this life as well imperfect as is our sanctification CHAP. XVI That remission of sinne doth imply somewhat positive as well as privative and for that reason that it differs not from Justification as hath beene by some supposed CONSECT X. 10. IT followes that seeing Gods pardoning sinne is his not punishing it unto which I adde and that which all do acknowledge nemine contradicente that seeing punishments are either privative or positive if I may be allowed the latter expression notwithstanding the common saying Omne malum est formaliter quid privativum but my meaning is seeing punishments are either damni or sensus of losse or sense it wil I say follow from thence that the pardon of sinne is not only Ablativa mali but also Collativa boni as the Schoolemen expresse it or that the pardon of sinne is not only a privative but also a positive blessing and benefit i. e. it doth in the precise nature thereof import not only a freedome from the punishment of sense or from the bare suffering of paine and torment but it importeth also a restoring of the sinner to the positive enjoyment of such comforts or to the enjoyment of such positive comforts and to such a state of love friendship and favour with God as by his sins were lost and forfeited I speake this in humble dissent from those who do for this cause make justification to be more then forgivenesse of sinne in that as they say justification doth connote or connotate a state of favour that the subject or sinner is put into whereas I see not how we can acknowledge any state of favour which justification puts a sinner into which remission of sin doth not likewise invest him with or put him into as I shall have occasion to say againe and shall prove more at large in my progresse upon this subject in hand Only note that which is here said concerning pardon of sin is to be understood not concerning any of those three sorts of pardon which for distinction sake I stiled of the halfe blood those also being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing to the text in hand but of that kind of pardon which is by the Apostle promised in my present text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called CHAP. XVII That one and the same sinne may be said and that in a Scripture sense to be pardoned and not pardoned
and thing yet had not been continued under some new name e. g. Apollinis tripos Concessus Apostolicus Aarons Brest-plate Vrim and Thummim Englands Oracle The Church Vertual or the like Notio secunda as unto whom all dissenting persons and parties both in our own and in all the Nations throughout the world might have had recourse for resolution in the great things and truthes of God But seeing that it was concluded by themselves that their company so constituted was no longer profitable to the Commonwealth I believe that Mr. Eyre is now convicted that their longer sitting was not like to be profitable for the Church whereupon I shall conclude that it was for want of foresight that Mr. Eyre did so far luxuriate in their high praises as to say That of any company of men on earth they were the fittest to umpire in such Theological Disputes as are betwixt him and his old School fellow Mr. Benjamin Woodbridg Let the second Negative Proposition be this viz. No sin is actually pardoned till a person bee made capable of it or put into a capacity of receiving or enjoying it This Proposition carries its owne evidence in the body or bowels of it for nothing is before it can be I shall therefore immediately apply my self to the resolution of the following Question Quest When is a person capable of receiving the actual pardon of his sins Or When are the Elect capable of receiving or actually enjoying that pardon which was so long since purposed purchased promised to and for them Answ 1. When they need it Quest When do they need it Answ When they are or do become sinners have committed sin or are guilty of sin Till sin be past pardon is to come To pardon sin before it is committed is to pardon sin that is no sin it is to pardon that which is not which is a contradiction and a meere impossibility for where there is no guilt there can be no pardon As a man is not capable of an Almes till he be miserable and indigent so nor of pardon till he be peccant Or as a man is not capable of a cure by Physick and Chyrurgery till he be sick and wounded so nor of pardon till he be sick of sin and wounded by it These similitudes are the rather apt because Gods pardoning sin is said to be his taking compassion on us Mic. 7.19 Luke 18. 13. God compassionate me a sinner saith the Publican and his healing us Isai 53.5 Hos 14.4 This is a remote capacity The next particular doth declare and set forth the sinners proximous or immediate capacity of pardon 2. Then are the Elect capable of actual pardon when they are in Gods way fit or fitted for it Quest When is that Answ When they see their sins I speak of persons adult or of ripe age confesse them repent for them believe in Christ See Act. 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witnesse that whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sins Luke 24.47 And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all Nations Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and remission of sin observe Repentance is given first and then remission As the ground is not capable of receiving the seed of the Husbandman till it be plowed so nor are the Elect capable of receiving the precious seed of pardon till the fallow ground of their hearts be plowed up by Repentance to speak in the metaphor of the Prophet Jeremy chap. 4.4 In this sense that saying of the Evangelist is most true according as by some it is interpreted John 1.16 Of his fulnesse we receive and grace for grace i. e. by reason of one grace we receive another even as the God of all grace doth give one grace in order to another e g. for or by reason of the grace of faith repentance and conversion all which were merited by Christ God gives us the grace of Remission according to that Proverbial saying among the Jewes and in this case appliable Habenti dabitur As God doth by Grace adapt or make us fit and meet for glory Col. 1.12 Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet for the inheritance among the Saints in light So by one grace God doth make us meet for receiving of another And as the Wedding Garment did fit and make meet the Guests for the Wedding Supper so doth Faith Repentance and new obedience being as the Wedding Garment fit or make meet the sinner for partaking in the pardon of his sins which is as the Wedding Supper This particular is the rather to be observed because it is useful as otherwise so specially for these two purposes 1. To prevent and redresse the presumption of impenitent and ungodly sinners who are apt to expect to reap where they have not sowed and to gather where they have not strawed I mean who do usually expect an harvest of comfort in the pardon of their sins and to reape in mercy when they have not sowen to themselves one seed the least mustard seed of grace or one graine of righteousnesse to speak in the phrase of the prophet Hos ch 10.12 2. It is useful whereby to obviate or answer the common objection of the Antinomians wherby they would involve us as guilty of impeaching the freedom of Gods grace in the pardon of our sins because we affirme with the Scriptures that pardon of sinne cannot actually be enjoyed without the performance of such and such conditions the performance of which said conditions is notwithstanding of and cannot be without Gods free grace given to us and enabling us for that end and purpose I shall close this particular with the words of that very Learned and godly man Mr. Anthony Burges in his book of justification p. 18. There goe more causes to the pardon of sin besides the meritorious cause faith the instrumental cause which is as necessary in its kind for this great benefit as the meritorious cause is in its kind that though Christ hath born such a mans sins yet they are not pardoned till he doe believe for as the grace of God which is the efficient cause of pardon doth not make a sinne compleatly forgiven without the meritorious cause so neither doth the meritorious without the instrumental but there is a necessity of the presence and the cooperation of all these Caution Though I have not expresly made mention of the merits of Christ through his bloud shed in order to a sinners being made capable of pardon Neverthelesse 1. I doe acknowledg and let it be knowne that the intervention of his merits are necessary to the said sinners capability of pardon Whether his merits be so absolutely necessary hereunto as that God could not have pardoned a sinner without it although that be a question in the resolution whereof Learned and Godly men doe differ Mr. Owen the Learned Deane of
safety and defence from all enemies whatsoever so long as we keep to or continue in the wayes of his service God having said Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3.13 This I say is that fear our deliverance from which is the scope or one part of our redemption by Jesus Christ but Christ did not intend to deliver his Saints in this life from the latter kind of fear they being so long as they live on earth to fear hell and damnation upon supposition of their not continuing in his service as was afore said and proved As Saint Paul sayes to the believing Romans with respect to the power wrath and vengeance of Gods Vicegerent the Magistrate so may I say unto the best among the Saints on earth with respect to the power wrath and vengeance of God himselfe Wilt thou not be afraid do that which is good for in so doing thou hast cause to serve God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldly and without fear but If thou dost evil bee afraid Rom. 13.3 4. Briefly Albeit Believers serving God or in their service of God they are to serve him without fear yet they are to fear if they do not serve him or not persist in his service Object 8. Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage to fear again but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 Answ I have already said that the fear of hell as that which a man is actually obliged to suffer upon the consideration of his present estate and condition is the effect of the spirit of bondage and that indeed which subjects a man unto bondage But as for that fear of hell which is only upon supposition of a Saints Apostasie 1. It is in no sort contrary unto but it is altogether consistent with the spirit of Adoption For 1. The adopted children of God are commanded in such sort to fear hell as was before proved 2. This kind of fear poth not in any sort hinder the Saints from crying Abba Father The whole family of the Saints on earth notwithstanding this their fear can cal God their Father no lesse then the family of the Saints in heaven 2 This is more especially to be observed for the satisfaction and right information of those who because they are exercised with doubts and fears and do want assurance of their salvation are apt to conclude from thence but unwarrantably that they have not the Spirit of Adoption 2. This fear is not only consistent with the Spirit of Adoption but it is moreover from the Spirit of Adoption for the Spirit of God which is in them the Spirit of Adoption doth dictate to them and doth dictate in them this very fear And when I say that this fear is not only with the Spirit but also from the Spirit of Adoption I would have it the rather to be observed for this reason viz. Because there may be and sometimes actually there is a fear with the Spirit of Adoption that is not from the said Spirit of Adoption E.G. Gods Adopted ones for want of Assurance and through a mis-apprehension of their state and condition to God ward may possibly and oft-times do actually fear hell and damnation even with that kind of fear which we commonly stile legal or slavish i.e. they fear hell as that which they think they are actually obliged to suffer but this fear in them is not from the Spirit of Adoption by vertue of which they should cast off or cast away that fear it being for the slaves of Satan and not for the sons and daughters of the living God to fear hell in such sort Having been so large in proving and cleering this Confectary I shall be briefer in the next I shall conclude this Confectary with the saying of Bernard as I have seen him quoted who writing to one whom he thought not to be sufficiently solicitous about the Judgments of God in steed of wishing him according to the usual form of salutation Salutem plurimam much health said Timorem plurimum much fear So shall I wish to all the Saints and servants of God not only much joy but also as in the sense before explicated much fear And if any one shall object against me That I do not as becomes a Gospel Minister endeavour to help forward the joy of the Saints I have these two things to answer 1. I do conceive That the great work of a Minister and the grand bent of his preaching and that which he should chiefly and directly have an eye upon in all his preaching ought to be the future and eternal safety of people rather then their present ravishments and comforts in the way 2. Whatsoever I have written in this or in any other part of this Exercitation doth most directly tend unto and make for the safety of the Saints and if for their safety then consequently and necessarily for their comfort both in this world and in the world to come Yea I am perswaded that no Doctrine is indeed and in a Scripture sense comfortable Doctrine but that which doth of its own nature minister to the safety of the Saints and to their preservation in the state of grace And if I be not herein mistaken I would to God that people would make use of that saying whereby to judg what manner of Preachers are the most comfortable Preachers and what Doctrines are the most comfortable Doctrines CHAP. XXVII That a Minister of the Gospel hath no warrant so to absolve a Believer as in the name of God to tell him That his sins are as absolutely pardoned and that he is as absolutely sure of heaven as if he were already in heaven CONSECT XX. 20. IT followes That a Minister hath no warrant to tell a Believer how that he may assure himself for his comfort that his sins are as absolutely pardoned and that he shall as absolutely be saved as if he were already in the bosom of Abraham and actually translated with Enoch and Elias The obligation of a sinner as to eternal condemnation being taken off not absolutely but conditionally for what is to come or as to the actual enjoyment of what mercy is to come for what dismission soever God doth vouchsafe to a sinner in this life we must suppose the sinner to be dismissed of God no otherwise then with such an Item or admonition which Christ giveth to the restored Cripple Sin no more lest the same thing or a worse thing come unto thee John 5.14 My meaning in this Confectary is plainly this as I have before expressed it and which I desire to be remembred viz. That though the obligation of a sinner to eternal condemnation be actually taken off so soon as he is converted neverthelesse the continuance of that mercy is not absolute but conditional God not having intended and Christ not having intended and Christ not having purchased full and final pardon
and Preserver of life for health and strength May not we depend on bread as bread and upon the Physician as the Physician for health and strength i. e. as the means appointed of God for the restoring and continuing of health strength so as with a dependance subordinate to God Or do we make an Idol of Gods Creatures as of bread and the Physician by making them such as God hath made them viz. Means under him to accomplish their end and in such sort making use of them and depending upon them What colour of reason then is there to say That by depending upon our own works and holiness for salvation in such a sense as aforesaid we do idolize and make a Christ of them Caution Only let not the former similitudes be wrested beyond their scope and my intent which is not to assert or evince that our good works are physical causes of eternal life as meat drink are of our natural life but only to intimate that they are meanes of their kind in the use whereof or that they are wayes of Gods ordaining wherein we walking God will save us and not otherwise or in other wayes I say no otherwise for we have no more warrant to trust unto Christ as our Mediator and Advocate for the life of our soules without the use of all spiritual means of his appointment in order thereunto then we have to trust unto God as Creator and Preserver for the life of our bodies without using the means appointed for that end Be it therefore knowne and well considered That there is no trusting to Christ for salvation but in Christs own way which is not the way of profanenesse Ephes 5.3 4.5 6. Gal. 5.19 20. but the way of holinesse i.e. of a godly righteous and sober life Tit. 2.11 12 13. To rest upon Christ for salvation otherwise then in Christs owne way is to presume not to believe it is I say to presume and that in such sort as if a man should resolve never to eat and drink or as if a man should resolve to take poison a knife or halter to stâ—b or strangle himself and yet should trust unto God and rest upon the power providence and mercy of God for the preserving and prolonging of his life There is a double kind of presumption which as rocks upon which we shall undoubtedly split our selvs we are carefully to avoid in the steering of our course towards the haven of eternal happinesse 1. Presuming upon trusting unto and resting in our own good works duties graces and holiness without Christ This was that rock upon which the Pharisaical Jewes did dash themselves and perish Rom. 10.3 They being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and going about to establish their own righteousnesse have not submitted themselves to the Righteousnesse of God Such kinde of zeal for good works is not according to the knowledge of the Gospel 2. Presuming upon trusting unto and resting on Christ and his Righteousnesse for salvation without any personal righteousnesse and holiness in our selves which latter is the common and most damning presumption of the ignorant and profane multitude who though they allow themselves in known wickednesses yet will rest upon Christ for salvation as is evident to be seen in sad experience this being no new thing but a common thing of old for wicked men in their wickedness to leane and to stay themselves upon the Lord as appears by Isai 48.2 They did call themselves of the holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel albeit they did persist in their obstinacy their neck being as an iron sinew and their brow as brasse ver 4. See also Micah 3.11 The Heads thereof judg for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us none evil shall come unto us And that it shall be thus with very many in the Church to the worlds end doth seem to be a thing as it were foretold by our Saviour saying Matth. 7.22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out divels Have not we eat and drunk in thy presence And then I will professe unto you I never knew you depart from me all ye that work iniquity The sin of those Professors was not as some suppose alledging that Scripture as a warning whereby to drive people from resting in their duties that they did make a Christ of their duties and did rest upon them for salvation but their sin as is evident by the answer which Christ gives to them was this viz. That they trusted to Christ and expected that Christ should save them they making an external profession of his name in their profane course of life for could those formal Professors have said to Christ as Saint Paul did I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith or could they say with that faithful servant Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds or with Hezekiah I have walked before thee with a perfect heart Christ would not have said to them Depart from me ye Scribes and Pharisees ye Merit-mongers that expect salvation from your own righteousness and not from mine but he would have said to them Euge hone serve Well done good and faithful servants enter ye into the joy of your Lord. But as David did trust God for his bodily safety in such sort should we trust in God for our souls safety and salvation Psalm 44.6 I will not trust to my bow neither shall my own sword save me sayes he And yet for all that David did not trust in God that God would save him without his bow or without his sword for if so he would never have blessed God for teaching his hands to war and his fingers to fight and for girding him with strength in so much aâ— that a bow of steel was broken by his armes Even so let a Christian say I will not trust to my own Duties Works Graces Holinesse neither shall my owne inherent righteousnesse save me and yet I will not trust to be saved without them If what I have so largely spoken in this place be thought by any to be insufficient whereby to prevent or wipe off from me the said imputation of making good works to be physical causes of salvation I shal wish such a one to consider That as the Prophet Isaiah doth stile a Saints eternal reward the fruit of his doings and his enjoyment of that reward his eating the fruit of those his doings chap. 3.10 So the blessed Apostle Saint Paul that great Preacher of free grace and Exalter of Christs righteousness doth resemble good works to seed sown and salvation to the crop or harvest Gal 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting by sowing to the Spirit meaning as he interprets