Such perfons feel their fpiritual infirmities; and fo did Paul, and the faints at Rome, and this is the cordial he hath to comfort them with. Likewife the Spirit alfo helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we fhould pray for as we ought: but the Spirit felf maketh interceffion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that fearcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh interceffion for the faints, according to the will of God. The truths contained in these words, being more precious and valuable than the gold of Ophir, I will endeavour to divide the fubject thus.

Firft, by confidering the infirmities of the faints, and their not knowing what they fhould pray for as they ought.

Secondly, how the Holy Spirit helpeth them. The Spirit itself maketh interceffion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Thirdly, how acceptable this is to God. And he that fearcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh interceffion for the faints, according to the will of God.

Or, if this divifion does not feem fo eafy as you might wish, take it thus: here is, firft, our infufficiency to pray without the Spirit. Secondly, the Spirit's fufficiency to quicken and direct us in prayer, and that, both as it respects manner and matter. As for the manner, it is with groanings which cannot be uttered. As to the matter, it is according to the will of God. Choose which divifion you pleafe, I fhall endeavour to preferve all that is contained in both in my expofition on the words before us.

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I propofed, as the firft particular, to confider the' infirmities of the faints, thofe which Paul's eye was' upon, and which attend them in the exercise of prayer. Likewife the Spirit alfo helpeth our infirmities: for we' know not what we should pray for as we ought: which manifeftly points out our infufficiency to pray without the Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells as a life-giving,' and life-maintaining Spirit in all the faints. He abides' in them as a Spirit of regeneration and fancification: and as the Spirit of God and of glory, he refteth upon them. Notwithstanding which, the people of God, all of them, more or less, have their natural, finful, and fpiritual weakneffes and infirmities in this life. They are not indeed all equally and alike weak and infirm. Some are weaker in knowledge, faith, and experience, than others. Some are more eafily drawn afide through corruption and temptation than others. Some have lefs gifts in prayer than others, yet all have their infirmities. They have Satan's temptations to refift, their own internal concupifcence and corruptions to deny and oppofe, and have their particular weakneffes and infirmities attending them in the difcharge of duty, and in their daily walk with God. Thefe, to their grief, they find will attend them before, in, and after prayer. Such a burden are indwelling fin, coldnefs of heart, and want of fervent love to the Lord Jefus Chrift, their natural backwardness to pray, and the deadnefs and diftraction! which fometimes befet them in the difcharge of the privilege and duty of prayer, that they would inevi tably fink with foul-distress, and faint in their minds, did not the Spirit help their infirmities. By the Spirit,

is not meant the Spirit of prayer in us, or the gift of the Spirit in prayer, but the Holy Spirit of God himfelf, who helpeth faints, by drawing forth into act and exercise, their faith, hope, and love, upon our Lord Jefus Chrift; bringing home to their memories the precious truths and promises of God's word; fhedding abroad the love of God in their hearts; acting the part of a comforter to them, and by strengthening them with ftrength in their fouls. He affifts them in a very particular manner in prayer, gives them a feeling sense of their wants, teaches them their conftant need of Chrift, fends them to the throne with outcries for grace and mercy to help them in every time of need, and makes them importunate with their heavenly Father, that they may receive and obtain the bleffings which they defire of him. The people of God cannot pray without the Spirit; they are quite infufficient of themselves for this glorious, divine, and heavenly exercise. Prayer is an inftituted means of grace, whereby the foul converses with God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, in which his people at times have actual fellowship with the Father in his love, with the Son in his falvation, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And the eternal Three likewife converfe with faints herein; fo that the principal communion which believers have this fide glory, with the Three which bear record in heaven, is chiefly in the ordinances of prayer and praife: this being the very defign of it, that the Lord's regenerated and called ones fhould breathe out their defires after him, make known their wants unto him, and find, by bleffed experience, that

it is good to draw nigh unto God. Real faints are infufficient of themselves, without the facred agency, and energy of the divine Spirit, for this heavenly exercife, feeing they know not what they fhould pray for as they ought. This, however, has not a reference fo much to fpiritual as temporal things. The child of God hath in the written word, a blessed directory for prayer: follow him to the throne, and you will find him pray agreeably to his present cafe and experience: if under the hidings of the Lord's countenance, he will beg for it to be lifted up upon him: if under prefent guilt and diftrefs, he will pray for difcoveries and manifeftations of pardoning mercy: if iniquities prevail, he will pray to Chrift to put forth his power to fubdue them: if in trouble through manifold temptations, he will be entreating the Lord to be with him in the hour of temptation, and make a way for his efcape. Spiritual bleffings, fuch as communion with God, enlargement of heart heavenward, and fpiritual alacrity to run with delight the way of God's commandments, are the principal things requested. So that here, as we shall fee before we conclude, the believing people of God, are not so much at a lofs about what they fhould pray for respecting their fouls, as they are for what belongs unto, and hath refpect to their temporal concerns. Under peculiar difpenfations of divine Providence towards them, when exercifed with bodily affliction, such as sickness, poverty, and outward dif. trefs, they, not knowing clearly the mind and will of. their heavenly Father herein, nor his end and defign by them, are at a lofs to know what to pray for,

whether for deliverance from it, or for a fanctified ufe of affliction, and a refigned will to their heavenly Father's pleasure with and towards them. They are not capable of judging for themfelves, nor know which would be beft for them, a ftate of profperity or adverfity; riches or poverty; freedom from temptations, or to be tried with them. The Lord's people are not ignorant that God is the object of prayer; and that JEHOVAH, in his divine perfons, is to be addreffed, and his divine perfections celebrated. They are brought by the Holy Spirit to approach the divine perfons in their covenant offices; to know the Lord their God; to love him for his great love wherewith he hath loved them, of which he hath given them this surprising inftance, the gift of his only begotten Son to be the propitiation for their fins. Under the teaching of the Spirit, they approach the throne of grace, to call upon the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift; and under the fame teaching they are enabled to come into his prefence in the name, perfon, righteoufnefs, and atonement of God's beloved Son, who is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, the all-glorious Mediator of his church and people. The accefs which they have to the Father in the Son, is through the grace of the eternal Spirit. He dwells in believers, and confecrates their hearts for the enjoymefit of fellowship with the Father and the Son; He is fent from the Father and the Son, and beftowed by them upon believers, as the Spirit of grace and of fupplications; he is the breather of all spiritual life into them; he acts the part of a moft gracious Comforter