of St. Paul †Rom. 7.18 In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing seems inconsistent with those places where he says ‖ Gal. 2.20 I live 〈◊〉 yet not I but Christ liveth in me and where he informs us that the Spirit of God dwells * Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 in the Faithful and that their Bodies were the Temples †1 Cor. 6.19 of the Holy Ghost And I do not see what Solution can be given of this Difficulty unless it be that as Origen * Meris est Scripturae Divinae personas latenter res causas de quibus dicere videtur nomina commutare into potius eisdem nominibus in aliis atque aliis rebus uti Orig. ubi supra tells us It is the manner of the Holy Scripture tacitly to change the Persons and Things and Causes and Names of which it seems to speak or rather to use the same Names in representing different Matters An Observation which being rightly understood may be of great and frequent use but it requires great caution and judgment in the application of it With Origen many others both Ancient and Modern Writers of great eminence concur in this Interpretation And amongst the last some of our own Nation especially have done excellently on this Subject But the Learned Author of this Treatise hath handled it more copiously than any that I have seen and as he hath in my opinion managed it with great strength of Reason so he hath carried on the whole Work with that Spirit of Piety and Charity for the good of Souls that I hope it may contribute something towards the Reformation of a degerate Age which abounds both with Hypocrisie and Prophaneness and calls for the helping Hands of those that are in a capacity to stem the Torrent of Iniquity This is what I thought fit to say by way of Preface and I add no more but my hearty Prayers That the Almighty who is of purer eyes than to behold sin would bless those Endeavours that are employ'd against it and in the vindication of Holiness and that he would so dispose the Hearts of all Men that the Disobedient may be turn'd to the Wisdom of the Just and that the Just may be justified * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 22.11 still that they that are in Error may be brought into the Light of Truth and they that have received the Light may walk worthy of it and give diligence to make their Calling and Election sure April 20. 1693. Robert Burscough THE EPISTLE TO THE READER IN my first Address to thee I make a solemn Profession That I serve no Party of Men neither can I see any worldly Interest that I can promote in the Writing of this Treatise but rather the contrary and if I had not hoped it might be of some use to the Publick I should not have troubled my self in the Composing nor thee in the Perusing of it and having said thus much I shall shew thee first the Occasion and then the Reasons of my Vndertaking The Occasion was this I have for these Thirty Years and more kept my Thoughts suspended in the Controversie of Election and Reprobation and the Liberty of Man's Will not without making Enquiry by Reading Discoursing and Meditating with all which I have joyned serious Prayer But I was very loath to determine my Thoughts without a clearness and evidence At last observing the Clashing that there was in Books and in the Pulpit by one against the other the Animosities and Feuds raised in the Parties the Intricacy of the Knots and the Abstruseness of the Discourses upon this Subject as they lye in Controversal Writers I thought the safest quietest and surest way was to endeavour to find out the Truth as it lay in the Scripture alone and by it self and to this end I taskt my self to commit to my Memory all the first Eleven Chapters of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans in Greek for in the ninth and eleventh Chapters of that Epistle is the chief Seat of this Controversie and I was willing to learn all the Chapters before that so I might observe as warily and curiously as I could begging God's assistance how the Apostle made his Approaches to that great Mystery of Election and Reprobation which especially in the ninth Chapter hath been made the Rise and Occasion of dreadful Disputes for that I did not question but this wise Master-builder did raise this high and lofty Superstructure of his ninth and eleventh Chapters upon a sure Basis and though I know that an Epistle may contain distinct Subjects that may have no great if any connexion and dependance yet it is very obvious to any Observer that the most disputative and argumentative part of the ninth Chapter hath a clear relation to and connexion with the third and fourth Chapters foregoing wherein the Apostle is proving Justification by Faith Rom. 9.30 31 32. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after Righteousness have attained to Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of Faith But Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness Wherefore Because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law And this was the reason of their reprobation So that the Election of the Gentiles and some few Jews was really grounded upon their cleaving to the way of the Promise and Faith whereas the reprobation of the Jews was as I have said from the contrary reason And accordingly Dr. Hammond concludes his Paraphrase upon the ninth Chapter with these words The Sum then of this whole Chapter will be reduced to these five Heads 1. The Priviledges of the Jews and among them especially Christ's being born of that stock 2. That those of them which resisted and believed not in Christ were delivered up to obduration by God and the Gentiles taken in their stead 3. That 't was most just with God to deal thus with them 4. That some of the Jews at that time believed in Christ 5. That the cause that the rest believed not was that after a Pharisaical manner they sought Justification by the Works of the Law Circumcision c. despising the Faith and Doctrine of Christ and that Evangelical way of Justification and so stumbling at the Christian Doctrine which they should have believed were the worse for him and the preaching of the Apostles by whom they should have been so much the better And I bless God in about half a Year's time I picked up so many spare Hours as in which I obtained what I designed the getting by heart those eleven Chapters and have repeated them often exactly and in the getting of them and at last my ninth and eleventh I have attained a very comfortable Satisfaction in the Controversie about Election and Reprobation and do not at all repent any Hour's time spent in the endeavour with relation to
not only they Verse 23 that is the brute Creatures the Gentiles saith Dr. Hammand but ourselves also which have the first-fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies I shall not pretend here to give an Account of every particular word but shall content myself with the general fence as hastning to the end of the Chapter only observing the Temper and good Qualities of the sanctified Man till he comes to the top of his Attainments And here I find a 4th Priviledge or excellent Quality of this person that waâ—keth not after the Flesh but after the Spirit which is this Though he bear the heaviest Afflictions as light and thinketh them not worthy to he compared with the Glory to come yet he groans mightily within himself not for the pressure of the Afflictions but for the presence of that which he longs * Gemimus propter faturum quod deest after He hath received the First-fruits in earnest but longs after and groans for that of which he hath received the earnest waiting for the adoption viz. The redemption of our bodies This Scripture seems to be much of the same import with 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we would be uncloathed they do not desire to die to be freed of the burthen of affliction but that they might be cloathed upon with their house from heaven that mortality might be swallowed up of life So here they did groan waiting for the Adoption viz. The Redemption of our Body Corporis nostri id est Corporum nostrorum a corruptione mortalitate concupiscentia aliisque vitae miseriis quae in resurrectione demum nobis continget adoptionem expectantes id est redemptionem vel liberationem Appositio redemptionis filiationem declarat Adoptio hic metonymice sumitur vel pro patefactione adoptionis vel pro adoptionis fruitione Adoptio ergo sicut redemptio hic intelligitur quoad effectum qui in resurrectione perfectus erit c. Vide Polum By Adoption and Redemption is here meant the declaring our Adoption and Redemption and the full enjoyment of both and this all Saints when themselves do groan after For it is certainly an essential part of the new Creature to have at times if not frequently a desire to be dissolved that they may be with Christ for seeing God hath made that their happiness and they have made it their own choice when they act like themselves they must needs with St. Paul have a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and the only reason of a Saint's desiring to live here should be that he may glorifie God for by Faith he hath made a discovery of a far better state than that of this Life can be and this he must needs desire far more than to live here or he is absurd For we are saved by hope All the salvation that we have here excepting the First-fruits Verse 24 spoken of before called the First-fruits of the Spirit is a salvation of hope which the prophane wretches of the World have gotten into an Oath with which they bind that they would have you to believe As I hope to be saved say they True Saints hope to be saved And this is the chief salvation they are possessed of For hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for Verse 24 But if we hope for what we see not then do we with patience wait for it Verse 25 Though we groan as longing for our hope yet we groan not as impatient of our burthen but with patience wait Likewise also the spirit helpeth our infirmities Verse 26 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit Verse 27 because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God This I take to be a fifth Priviledge of the sanctified person that walks not after the Flesh but after the Spirit That he hath the Spirit of God helping his infirmities and teaching him to pray both for what he ought and as he ought for these are both specified in the 26th Verse For we know not what to pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with unexpressible groans groans of that force urgency and fervency which cannot be expressed that is what the force of them is All true Saints have the Spirit of Grace and Supplication they are enabled some way to pray for what they ought and as they ought and they have Groans that follow their Petitions that have a meaning in them that God only knows no Man can conceive of the workings of their Hearts and Affections so as God the searcher of the Heart understands them For thither it is ultimately reserred by the Apostle He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have spoken somewhat to that Phrase in the 5th 6th and 7th Verses of this Chapter Whether it be the Mind of our Spirit in its groanings which comes not forth into words or rather what is the Mind of his own Spirit because it maketh Intercessions for the Saints according to the Will of God The Mind and Meaning of the Spirit answers to the Will of God and therefore is so acceptable to him But whose shall be the Groaning Will any one ascribe these to the Spirit as groaning I question the Divinity of such an Ascription Therefore the Groanings are made in the Saints and actually exerted or groaned by the Saints only guided and effected by the Spirit it self dwelling in them If so then the Intercession that is made for us with these Groanings is not only made for us in Heaven but in us on Earth therefore we are taught what to pray for and how to pray by the Spirit which makes these Intercessions for us within us of which God who searcheth the Hearts judgeth according to what of the Spirit is in them I cannot here descend to speak to the Controversie of Praying by Forms or without Forms I think we may pray in the Holy Ghost as the Phrase is Ephes 6.18 with a Form and I question not at all but many good Ministers and private Christians pray in the Holy Ghost without a Form And that is all I have to say at present Only both ways you see that the sanctified person in this Chapter hath this fifth Priviledge to be assisted by the Holy Ghost in offering his Prayers and Supplications to God he doth not only groan within himself for the glory to come for the hope which yet he doth not see but the Spirit it self helpeth him in his Groanings and to his groanings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit helps with us and over against us at the other end of the burden under which we groan because of our Infirmities which else would cause that the burthen would be too heavy for us Onus attollit ex altera parte ne sub eo fatiscamus Cum multa potuisset opera Spiritus Sancti proferre quibus ab ipso juvamur hoc solum exponit eum adjuvare nos in orando Tol. Therefore it is not his praying for us in Heaven Spiritus Sanctus hic ut in praeced membro intelligitur E. Tol. Be. Qui interpellare dicitur non quod apud Patrem aut filium ut perverse dicebant Arriani sit Mediator sed quod efficaci sua in nobis operatione nos orare faciat doceat Menochius ex Estio Pole in loc Quia nos ad preces instigat Beza Quia preces ad Deum nobis dictat Grotius Beza Postulat Spiritus non in se sed in nobis per nos tanquam per instrumenta rationalia libera quod autem per instrumentum fit ipsi moventi causae primae tribuitur Tolet. And that fancy of Grotius as I presume to call it begging pardon of that great Name that in Ecclesia Diaconus imaginem quodammodo gerit Spiritus Sancti In the Church the Deacon in reading the Prayers bears after a sort the resemblance of the Holy Ghost strengthens this Interpretation that as the Reader goes before the Assembly in suggesting or rehearsing what they are to pray for so the Holy Ghost is the great Guide and Leader of every Saint in his private and secret Prayer at least not to mention others in shewing them what they are to pray for There are many rare things in Pole's Quotations which are too long to be here inserted and translated I shall add a few more and then translate them because this is an important Matter They are called Groans which cannot be uttered for several reasons One Quia Spiritus ea desideria vota nobis saepe inspirat quae nec ante cogitata nec obvia fuerant nec scitur unde veniant quo tendant Tolet. Ver. 27. He that searcheth the hearts knoweth the mind of the spirit Gemitus illi surt nobis non Deo inenarrabiles scit Deus quo cor ipsum sertur a Spiritu S. motwn quid Spiritus intendit per nos postulat Tolet. Because it maketh intercession for us according to the Will of God Interpellat intercedit postulat orat nâ—mpe per ipsos sanctos qui ipsius instrumenta sunt quorum Corda movet excitat regit Novit quid studeat spiritus nempe sanctorum preces dirigere secundum Deum suggerendo eis illa precari quae Deo serviant Grotius Ex Polo ioidem The English of some of those Latin Quotations above is this Whereas he might have mentioned many Works of the Spirit by which we are helped of it he only insists upon this That he helped us in Praying It is the Holy Spirit himself who is here to be understood who is said to make intercession not that he is a Mediator with the Father or the Son as the Arrians falsly said but that by his effectual operation in us he makes and teaches us to pray Menochius out of Estius Because he urges to pray Beza Because he dictates to us Prayers which we are to offer to God Grotius and Beza The Spirit makes Intercessions not in himself but in us and by us as rational and free Instruments Now that which is done by an Instrument is attributed to the first moving Cause Tâ—lâ—t They are called Groanings which cannot be uttered for several Reasons One Because the Spirit doth often Inspire into us those Desires and Petitions which neither were thought on before nor were any way obvious or at hand for us to think upon neither do we know whence they come and whither they tend Tolet. But for this last Passage I must needs say I know not with what Authority or Allowance we can utter such Passages in Prayer as we know not whither they tend unless we should act purely as inspired and know that we are inspired I am much taken with that Heathen Sentence Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia I know not that we may act in any thing towards Man much less in our Addresses to God beyond what we understand Once more those Groanings are unutterable to us not to God God knoweth whither the heart is carried being moved by the Holy Ghost what the Spirit intends or means and asks by us Tolet. The Spirit intercedes asks prays viz. by the Saints who are his Instruments whose hearts he moves excites and governs God knows what the Spirit means viz. to direct the Prayers of the Saints according to God by suggesting to them those things to be prayed for which may serve for the glory of God Grotius in Pole's Synopsis I have insisted the larger upon this Text and Matter because I find a strange Interpretation of the words in a Learned and Reverend Authour wherein he carries all this Assistance in Prayer to the Spirit of Christ's interceding and praying for us at the Right Hand of his Father where he always makes Intercession for us So that when we Pray but know not ourselves what is best nor consequently what we ought to pray for particularly Health Wealth or Honour then Christ joyns his helping Hand to ours joyns his All-wise and Divine Prayers for that which he knows we most want to our Prayers and so helps to relieve us in all our Distresses And he that searcheth the hearts c. Paraphrase and then God that knoweth our wants exactly understands also the desire and intention of the Spirit of Christ This Interpretation you see is contrary to the current of Expositors both Popish and Protestant Grotius and Beza and turns these two Verses which carry so much matter of Support and Consolation in them only upon the Intercession of Christ in Heaven which indeed is a most Comfortable Article of our Faith but why should we be robb'd and despoiled of the Comfort of the Advocate on Earth which our Lord hath sent us to supply his absence from us by making Intercession within us as he doth without us most effectually at his Father's Right Hand I meet with one that says upon this Paraphrase these words Those that say that by the spirit that helpeth our infirmities Ver. 26. is meant Christ by his Spirit praying for us in Heaven can neither make it agree with the Context nor prove that the Spirit groaneth in Heaven or is called our Intercessor there but within us And so I pass to the 28 Verse And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God Verse 28 to them who are called acording to his purpose After the Apostle had reckoned up and insisted upon these five several Priviledges which the sanctified Person is invested with he seems to come in a general way to