UHI Thesis - pdf download summary Anthony Burgess and the Westminster Doctrine of Assurance Master, Jonathan Lair DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (AWARDED BY OU/ABERDEEN) Award date: 2012 Awarding institution: The University of Edinburgh Link URL to thesis in UHI Research Database General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author. 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Sep. 2021 ANTHONY BURGESS AND THE WESTMINSTER DOCTRINE OF ASSURANCE A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen Jonathan Lair Master, BS, mdiv, ThM 2012 ABSTRACT Anthony Burgess and the Westminster Doctrine of Assurance Master, Jonathan L., University of Aberdeen, 2012 This work is an examination of the a 17th century theologian and pastor Anthony Burgess (d. 1664), and specifically his contribution to the doctrine of the assurance of faith codified for many in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Burgess’ contribution to an understanding of assurance is found in his two-volume treatise on assurance, Spiritual Refining, and is especially relevant given his status as a delegate to the Westminster Assembly. Burgess’ writings are informed by three aspects of his personal background. The first of these is his status as part of the English Puritan movement in the 17th century; the second is his status as a pastor; the third is his scholastic training, which informed his method of argumentation on the assurance of faith. After examining these three key elements, this study then looks briefly at the contemporary debate on the Reformed doctrine of assurance. This study then examines the nature of the Westminster Confession itself. It analyses how the Assembly was designed, and how it operated with respect to its consensus on assurance. After establishing this, it assesses the way in which Burgess expanded on the Westminster consensus, doing so in ways which were fundamentally different from others of his day, particularly John Owen and Thomas Goodwin. ii This work affirms the basic finding of Muller regarding the influence of scholasticism on 17th century English Puritanism. It also affirms Beeke and others who have drawn attention to the pastoral necessities which drove 17th century English Puritan theology. Finally, it highlights the high degree of diversity that existed among those who held to the Westminster Confession of Faith on the matter of assurance, postulating that this diversity was to be expected given the way in which the Assembly at Westminster formulated its conclusions. iii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ vii-viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 Overview of Burgess’ Life .......................................................................................... 3 Importance of Assurance in 17th Century English Church History ............................ 6 Thesis Method and Sources .................................................................................... 12 Primary Source Editions .................................................................................... 12 Secondary Sources on Burgess ......................................................................... 15 II. FORMATIVE CONTEXT: PURITAN, PASTOR, SCHOLAR ................................................ 19 Burgess and Puritanism .......................................................................................... 20 Burgess the Pastor .................................................................................................. 25 Burgess the Scholar ................................................................................................ 31 Grammar School ................................................................................................ 32 The University Curriculum ................................................................................. 36 The University Exercises .................................................................................... 39 Graduate Studies ............................................................................................... 43 Scholasticism .......................................................................................................... 49 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 52 III. SETTING THE STAGE: CALVIN, BEZA, AND THE REFORMED DOCTRINE OF ASSURANCE BEFORE WESTMINSTER ............................................................................................... 55 Calvin and Assurance .............................................................................................. 56 Assurance in Theodore Beza .................................................................................. 64 The Syllogisms ........................................................................................................ 70 Conclusions on Calvin, Beza, and the Syllogisms ................................................... 72 The Contemporary Debate ..................................................................................... 74 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 88 IV. ASSURANCE: THE WESTMINSTER CONSENSUS .......................................................... 90 The Historical Background of the Westminster Assembly .................................... 90 The Solemn League and Covenant ................................................................... 97 The Assembly and Its Work ................................................................................... 98 The Process for Debate ................................................................................... 100 The Debate on Assurance .................................................................................... 103 iv General Observations on the Deliberations ................................................... 106 Burgess and the Deliberation on Assurance ................................................... 108 The WCF Theology of Assurance ......................................................................... 111 Sections I-II ..................................................................................................... 112 Section III ........................................................................................................ 116 Section IV ....................................................................................................... 117 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................. 118 V. ANTHONY BURGESS’FRAMEWORK FOR ASSURANCE: BEYOND THE WESTMINSTER CONSENSUS............................................................................................................... 127 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 127 Goodwin and Owen .................................................................................................. 128 Background of Thomas Goodwin ......................................................................... 128 Background of John Owen ................................................................................... 131 Areas of Agreement on Assurance ........................................................................... 133 Owen’s View of Assurance in His Catechisms ...................................................... 133 Owen’s View of Assurance in His Polemical Writings .......................................... 136 Goodwin and Owen: Assurance Through Communion with God ........................ 137 The Savoy Declaration .......................................................................................... 141 Owen on Psalm 130 .............................................................................................. 143 Owen and Goodwin on the Sealing of the Spirit .................................................. 146 Goodwin and Owen on the Use of Syllogisms ..................................................... 149 Owen and Goodwin and the Westminster Consensus: Conclusions ................... 151 Anthony Burgess and the Westminster Consensus .................................................