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JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.

W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational Union, Edinburgh.
JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWEORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University, Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church History, Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
(Setteral (Bftxtat.
THOMAS SMITH, D.D., Edinburgh.

SERMONS

THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS,

(VERSES 1-4.)

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D.

EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO. DUBLIN: G. HERBERT
<

M.DCCC.LXVIII.

edinbukgh :
ballantyne and company, pmntkrs,
patjl's work.

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D.

OF the many excellent works which we have had the privilege of making accessible to Christian
readers by means of this series of reprints, there has been no one of which we have been led to
form a higher estimate than we have formed of that reproduced in this volume. It might be supposed
that a quarto volume occupied with the exposition of four verses would be tedious ; but we do not
think that the reader will find it so. Indeed, it may be said that while these four verses are
formally the subject of the volume, its subject substantially is the gospel system of redemption and
salvation ; — salvation both in its procurement by the obedience and death of the incarnate Son of
God, and in its application, in all its steps, from the no-condemnation with which the eighth chapter
of the Epistle to the Komans begins, to the no-separation with which it closes. Dr Jacomb's
exposition is at once' learned and practical, the production of an erudite theologian and an earnest
Christian. It deals with the controversies that have been raised respecting the great doctrines of
the faith delivered to the saints — especially with some of the most important parts of the Socinian
and Romish controversies — and it handles them with great ingenuity and dialectic skill. But it
deals also with things pertaining more directly to practical matters of life and godliness ; with the
hopes and the fears, the encouragements and the trials, the duties and the destinies of the humble,
earnest disciple of Christ. We know few books in which there is a finer blending of the doctrinal
and the practical, a richer exhibition of the fulness of the grace that is in Christ, a more uncompromis
ing demand of carefulness in maintaining good works on the part of those who have believed in
Christ. By way of introducing the author to such readers as may not be familiar with his name, we shall
content ourselves with transcribing (1) the notice of him contained in Anthony a Wood's " Athenae
Oxonienses ;" (2) the account that is given of him in Palmer's edition of Calamy's Nonconformist's
Memorial ; and (3) the estimate of his character given by Dr Bates in his funeral sermon ; only
omitting from the second of these the extracts borrowed into it from the third. To these we shall
add (4) a few brief notes of our own. (1) From Wood's Athena.
Thomas Jacomb, son of John Jacomb, was born at Burton Lazurs, near to Melton Mowbray,
in Leicestershire, became either a batler or a commoner of Magdalen Hall, in Easter Term, anno 1640,
aged eighteen years ; left it upon the eruption of the- civil wars ; went to Cambridge, and taking
the covenant, became Fellow of Trinity*College there, in the place of a loyalist ejected ; and having

Vi THOMAS JACOMB, D.D.

the degree of Master of Arts in that University conferred on him, became a person of high repute,
(as one of his persuasion tells us,) for his good life, good learning, and excellent gravity, greatly
beloved ofthe then master, who loved an honest man and a good scholar with all his heart. About
that time, taking orders according to the Presbyterian way, he retired to London, and much about.
the same time that he became minister of St Martin's Church, joining to Ludgate, he became one of
the assistants to the Commissioners of London for the ejecting of such whom the faction then called
scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient ministers and schoolmasters. From that time to his silencing
he was a very zealous person for promoting the cause, and in very great esteem by those of his per
suasion, as the above said author tells us, " for his piety, parts, prudence, sound, judicious, practical,
spiritual, substantial preaching ; " yet another of a contrary persuasion, who lived afterwards, as now, in
very great esteem for his loyalty and learning, represents him to have been the prettiest, nonsensical,
trifling goose-cap that ever set pen to paper. On the 14th of March 1659, he was one of those zealots,
who, by Act of Parliament, were appointed approvers of ministers according to the Presbyterian way,
before they were to be settled in church livings ; but that being soon after laid aside upon his
Majesty's restoration, he himself was ejected from St Martin's, and laid aside also for non-conformity
at Bartholomew-tide in 1662, he being about that time doctor of divinity. Afterwards he followed
the trade of conventicling, for which he was brought several times into trouble, and at length became
chaplain to the Countess of Exeter, in whose service he died.
After giving a list of his works, Wood continues : —
" Dr Jacomb also was one of the eight nonconforming ministers that undertook, in 1682, to finish
the English Annotations on the Holy Scriptures, in two vols, in folio, begun by Matthew Poole, and by
him carried on to the 58th chapter of Isaiah ; and no doubt there is but that he did his share in
that great work. At length he, giving way to fate in the house of Frances Countess of Exeter,
situate and being in Littles Britain, on the 27th of March (being then Easter Sunday) in sixteen
hundred eighty and seven, was buried five days after in the church of St Anne, within, and near,
Aldersgate, in the city of London, in the presence of very many, as well conformist as nonconformist
divines." (2) From Palmer's Memorial.
" Thomas Jacomb, D.D., of Magdalene Hall, Oxford. Born near Melton Mowbray, in Leices
tershire." When B.A. he removed to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was some time Fellow of
Trinity, and much esteemed there. He came to London in 1647, and being received into the
family of that excellent, pious, and devout lady, the Countess Dowager of Exeter, (daughter to the
Earl of Bridgewater,) as her chaplain, he had the opportunity of preaching in the city, and was soon
fixed in Ludgate parish, where his ministry was both acceptable and useful.
"He died at the Countess of Exeter's, March 27, 1687, leaving an incomparable library of the
most valuable books, in all kinds of learning, which were sold by auction for £1300 Dr Bates
preached his funeral sermon, from which the above account is principally extracted. No mention is
made of Mr Jacomb's age, but from the introduction to this discourse it appears that he was much
younger than Dr Bates, and that he had possessed a more vigorous constitution.
" Dr Jacomb's farewell sermon was on John viii. 29, ' He that sent me is with me : the Fath
hath not left me alone ; for I do always those things that please him.' The whole is so excellent d
sententious that it is not easy to do justice to it by an analyses. Having treated on the words"1
they refer to Christ himself, be applies them to his people ; to whom he recommends it as their era &&

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D. VJJ

object— not to please themselves, not to please men— but in all things to please God. This he urges
from what God is in himself their relation to him, and their expectations from him. Die that pleases
God profits himself, particularly in the enjoyment of his presence. Please God and he will please
you. He will never leave you ; no, not in a time of distress and trouble, though all others forsake
you. See that promise, Isa. xliii. 2. The saints in all ages have found he hath made it good. So
Jacob under his sharp trials. ' Behold I am with thee." So Joseph : his master threw him into
prison, but the Lord was with Joseph. So Jeremiah", when cast into the dungeon. So the three
children in the fiery furnace : there was a fourth with them, ' like the Son of God.' So Paul, when
brought to his trial, all men forsook him, but ' the Lord stood by him.' So the first Christians : per
secuted but not forsaken.
" Directions : Make conscience -of those duties which are certainly pleasing to him. Be steadfast
in his good ways in an apostatising age. Be not ashamed to own Christ before all the world.
Reckon reproaches for his name better than the pleasures of sin. Assert the purity and spirituality
of gospel-worship. Keep up religion in your families. Be good in bad times. Pray for and love
those ministers that have been instrumental for your spiritual good, whatever dirt is now thrown in
their faces, and though you never get more good by them. Forget not to distribute to the necessi
ties of God's people. Be patient and meek towards them that wrong you. Do your duty to those
in authority, and conduct yourselves, as Daniel did, against whom they had nothing, save in the
matter of Ms God. In a word, walk as becometh the gospel. Phil. ii. 16. Use of comfort under
sufferings : Pleasing God does not secure against suffering from men ; sometimes it rather exposes to
it ; but it takes away the sting and venom of suffering. The presence of God in a time of affliction
is exceedingly precious. Be not troubled in your thoughts about what you may undergo. If God
be with you, all will be well. If God comes when the cross comes, the weight of it will never hurt
you. What is a prison when God is there ? We have more reason to be afraid of prosperity, with
God's absence, than of adversity, with God's presence. A good God will make every condition to be
good. It is not a prison, but a palace, where God is ; and they that do the things that please him>
may be assured whatever condition they may be in, the Father will not leave them alone. Ministers
may leave you ; ordinances may leave you ; creature enjoyments may leave you ; but God never will,
0 bless his holy name.
" Lastly : — Be tender of them that differ from you because they dare not displease God. Pass a
charitable interpretation on our laying down the exercise of our ministry. There is a greater judge
than you, who must judge us all at the last day ; and to this judge we can appeal, before angels and
men, that it is nothing but conscience toward God, and fear of offending him, that puts us upon this
dissent. I censure none that differ from me, as though they displease God. But as to myself, should
I do thus I should certainly violate the peace of my own conscience, and offend God ; which I must
not do, no, not to secure my ministry, though that is, or ought to be, dearer to me than my life. And
dear it is, God knoweth. Do not add affliction to affliction ; be not uncharitable in judging of us,
as if through pride, faction, obstinacy, or devotedness to party, or (which is worse than all) opposi
tion to authority, we dissent. The judge of all hearts knows that it is merely from these apprehen
sions which (after prayer and the use of all means) yet continue, that doing [otherwise] we should
displease God. If we be mistaken, I pray God to convince us. But however things go, God will
make good this truth to us, that our Father tvill not leave us alone ; for it is the unfeigned desire
of our soul in all things to please God."

viii THOMAS JACOMB, D.D.

LIST OF HIS WORKS.
" A Commentary, or Sermons, on Rom. viii. 1-4. Treatise on holy Dedication, personal and
domestic. Fun. Serm. for Mr M. Martin. Another for Mr Vines, with an account of his life-
Another for Mr Case, with a narrative of his life and death. The life of Mr Whitaker. Two
Sermons in Morn. Ex. Serm, at St Paul's, Oct. 26, 1656. Serm. before Lord Mayor, &c, at the
Spittle. Wood is mistaken with respect to his concern in Pool's Contin."
(3) From Dr Bates's Funeral Sermon.
" I shall now address myself to the present occasion, which is to pay our last solemn respects to
the memory of the Reverend Dr Thomas Jacomb, who was so universally known, esteemed, and
beloved in this city, that his name is a noble and lasting elegy. I shall not give an account of the
time he spent in Cambridge, where he was Fellow of Trinity College, and worthily esteemed in that
flourishing society ; but confine my discourse to his ministry in London. Here the divine providence
disposed him into the family of a right honourable person, to whom he was deservedly very acceptable,
and whose real and most noble favours conferred upon him, were only to be equalled by his grateful
and high respects, and his constant care to promote serious religion in her family.
" He was a servant of Christ in the most peculiar and sacred relation; and he was true to his
title, both in his doctrine and in his life. He was an excellent preacher of the gospel, and had a
happy art of conveying saving truths into the minds and hearts of men.
"He did not entertain his hearers with curiosities, but with spiritual food. He dispensed the
Bread of Life, whose vital sweetness and nourishing virtue is both productive and preservative of the
life of souls. He preached Christ crucified, our only wisdom and righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. His great design was to convince sinners of their absolute want of Christ, that with
flaming affections they might come to him, and from his fulness receive divine grace. This is to
water the tree at the root, whereby it becomes flourishing and fruitful ; whereas the laying down of
moral rules for the exercise of virtue, and subduing vicious affections, without directing men to
derive spiritual strength, by prayer, and in the use of divine ordinances, from the Mediator, the
fountain of all grace, and without. representing his love as the most powerful motive, and obligation
to obedience, is but pure philosophy, and the highest effect of it is but unregenerate morality. In
short, his sermons were clear, and solid, and affectionate. He dipped his words in his soul in warm
affections, and breathed a holy fire into the breasts of his hearers. Of this, many serious and judi
cious persons can give testimony, who so long attended upon his ministry with delight and profit.
"His constant diligence in the service of Christ was becoming his zeal for the glory of 'his
Master, and his love to the souls of men. He preached thrice a week whilst he had opportunity and
strength. He esteemed his labour in the sacred office both his highest honour and his pleasure
"At the first appearance of an ulcer in his mouth, which he was told to be cancerous he was
observed to be not much concerned about it, than as it was likely to hinder his preaching that was
his delightful work. And when he enjoyed ease, and after wasting sickness, was restored to some
degree of strength, he joyfully returned to his duty. Nay, when his pains were tolerable preaching
was his best anodyne when others failed. And, after his preaching, the reflection upon 'the divine
goodness that enabled him for the discharge of the service, was great relief of his pains
" His life was suitable to his holy profession. His sermons were printed in a fair and liv 1
character in his conversation. He was an example to believers, in word, in conversation in h ""l ^
in spirit,, in faith, in purity. ' ''

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D. ix

" He was of a staid mind, and temperate passions, and moderate in counsels. In the managing
of affairs of concernment he was not vehement and confident, not imposing and overbearing, but was
receptive of advice, and yielding to reason.
" His compassionate charity and beneficence was very conspicuous amongst his other graces.
His heart was given to God, and his relieving beneficent hand to the living images of God, whose
pressing wants he resented with tender affections, and was very instrumental for their supplies.
" And as his life, so his death adorned the gospel, which was so exemplary to others, and so
gracious and comfortable to himself. The words of men leaving the world make usually the deepest
impressions, being spoken most feelingly, and with least affectation. Death reveals the secrets of men's
hearts : and the testimony that dying saints give, how gracious a Master they have served, how sweet
His service has been to their souls, has a mighty influence upon those about them. Now the deport
ment and expressions of this servant of Christ in his long languishing condition, were so holy and
heavenly, that though his life had been very useful, yet he more glorified God dying than living.
" When he was summoned by painful sickness, his first work was to yield himself with resigned
submission to the will of God. When a dear friend of his first visited him, he said, ' I am in the use
of means, but I think my appointed time is come, that I must die. If my life might be serviceable to
convert or build up one soul, I should be content to live ; but if God hath no work for me to do, here I
am, let him do with me as he pleaseth : but to be with Christ is best of all.' Another time he told
the same person, ' That now it was visible -it was a determined case. God would not hear the prayer,
to bless the means of his recovery,' therefore desired his friend to be willing to resign him to God,
saying, ' It will not be long before we meet in heaven, never to part more, and there we shall be per
fectly happy ; there neither your doubts and fears, nor my pains and sorrows shall follow us, nor our
sins, which is best of all.' After a long continuance in his languishing condition without any sensible
alteration, being asked how he did, he replied, ' I lie here, but get no ground for heaven or earth.'
Upon which one said, ' Yes, in your preparations for heaven.' ' 0 yes,' said he, ' there I sensibly get
ground, I bless God.'
" A humble submission to the divine pleasure was the habitual frame of his soul: like a die
that, thrown high or low, always falls upon its square. Thus whether hope of his recovery was raised
or sunk, he was content in every dispensation of Providence.
" His patience under sharp and continuing pains was admirable. The most difficult part of a
Christian's duty, the sublimest degree of holiness upon earth, is to bear tormenting pains with a meek
and quiet spirit. Then ' faith is made perfect in works : ' and this was eminently verified in his long
trial. His pains were very severe, proceeding from a cancerous humour, that spread itself in his
joints and preyed upon the tenderest membranes, the most sensible parts, yet his patience was in
vincible. How many restless nights did he pass through without the least murmuring or reluctancy
of spirit. "He patiently suffered very grievous things, 'through Christ that strengthened him:' and
in his most afflicted condition was thankful.
" But what disease or death could disturb the blessed composure, of his soul, which ' was kept
by the peace of God that passes all understanding ' ? Such was the divine mercy, he had no anxieties
about his future state, but a comfortable assurance of the favour of God, and his title to the eternal
inheritance. " He had a substantial double joy in the reflection upon his life spent in the faithful service of
Christ, and the prospect of a blessed eternity ready to receive him. This made him long to be above.
He said, with some regret, ' Death flies from me, I make no haste to my Father's house.' But the

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D.

wise and gracious God, ' having tried His faithful servant, gave him the crown of life, which He
hath promised to those that love Him.' His body, that poor relict of frailty, is committed in trust
to the grave: his soul sees the face of God in righteousness, and is satisfied with His likeness.
" The hope of this should allay the sorrows of his dearest friends. When the persons we love
and have lived with, are to be absent a few months, it is grievous ; but at the last lamenting separa
tion, all the springs of our tender affections are opened, and sorrows are ready to overwhelm us.
But the steadfast belief ofthe divine world, and that our friends are safely arrived thither, is able to
support our fainting spirits, and refresh all our sorrows. The truth is, we have reason to lay <to
heart the displeasure of God, and our own loss, when His faithful ministers are taken away. When
the holy lights of heaven are eclipsed, it portends sad things. When the saints are removed from
earth to heaven, and their souls freed from the interposition of their dark bodies, they truly live ;
but we that remain die, being deprived of their holy lives, and their examples, that are a preservative
from the contagion of the world. A due sense of God's afflicting providence is becoming us ; but
always allayed with hope of our being shortly reunited with our dearest friends for ever in the better
world. 0 that our serious preparations, our lively hopes, and the presence of the great Comforter in
our souls, may encourage us most willingly to leave this lower world, so full of temptations and
trouble, to ascend into the world above, where perfect peace, full joy, and the most excellent glory
are in conjunction for ever." (4.) Notes.
[1.] Mr Palmer was unable to ascertain the age at which Dr Jacomb died. He says that
" from the introduction to Dr Bates's discourse, it appears that he was much younger than Dr Bates,
•and that he possessed a more vigorous constitution." This in his article on Jacomb. Then in that
on Bates, he says : " It appears from Dr Bates's own account of himself, that he had for some years
been remarkably infirm. In the beginning of his funeral sermon for Dr Jacomb, preached April 3,
1687, when he was about 62 years of age, he says—" Oh frail and faithless life of man ! Who would
have thought that Dr Jacomb, whose natural vigour and firm complexion promised a longer continuance.
here, should have a period put to his days, and that I should survive, whose life has been preserved
for many years, like the weak light of a lamp in the open air." If, then, in 1687, Dr Bates was
about 62, he must have been born about 1625 ; (in fact he was born in November of that year), and
if Jacomb was " much younger" than he, it follows of course that he must have been born long after
that date. But he came to London in 1627, after having taken his degree of B.A. in Oxford and
having been for some time Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge. From these data it would ap
pear that at this time he must have been " much less " than 22 years of age ; which is altogether in
credible. But it is curious to notice that Dr Bates says not a word about Dr Jacomb's being
younger than himself ; but only of his having possessed a more vigorous constitution. Now Wood
whom Palmer had read, states that on Jacomb's coming to Oxford in 1640 his age was 18 ' He was
therefore bom about 1622 ; he was not " much younger," but three years older than Dr Bates ¦ at
his coming to London he was 25, and at his death he was 65 years old. '
[2]. From Palmer's account it would appear that he came to London as chaplain to the Countess
of Exeter ; and that his residence in her family was the means of his introduction to his parish From
Wood's account, it would appear that he did not get the chaplaincy till he was ejected from the
parish, after fifteen years' ministry in it. The former account seems to us likely to be .the cor
rect one.

THOMAS JACOMB, D.D. XI

[3. J It may be safely presumed that readers are sufficiently acquainted with the history of the
"Expurgators " and the " Triers," to put a right value on the reproach cast by Wood upon Jacomb,
as having served upon these two courts.
[4.] We have not been able to ascertain who the divines were who finished " Poole's Annota
tions." In their own preface they give no hint of it. This appears to us to be a matter worthy of
enquiry. T. S.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

ELIZABETH, COUNTESS DOWAGER OF EXETER,

MY EVER HONOURED LADY.

MADAM, — Although I know beforehand how the
prefixing of your name upon this account will
be resented by your Ladyship, yet I am by so many
reasons thereunto obliged, that I must venture to do
it, and cast myself upon your goodness for my
pardon. This volume of Sermons, which is but a
forerunner to two or three more, I presume there
fore humbly to dedicate to your Honour; which,
though in itself, and in your Ladyship's esteem, it
be a very insignificative thing, yet, however, it is a
declaration to the world that I am sensible of my
vast obligations to you, and that I would catch at
everything wherein I might testify how much I am
beholden to you. And I hope you will not be of
fended with me for the doing of that which all who
know my circumstances would have wondered if I
had omitted. Surely, madam, those extraordinary
favours which, for above twenty years, you have
been pleased to confer upon me and mine, deserve
over and over all those Httle expressions of humble
respect and gratitude which I can possibly make.
This dedication, therefore, being designed for those
ends, I beseech you that you will please to put a
favourable interpretation upon it.
But besides this, your Ladyship may, upon several
considerations, claim a special interest in this work,
if there be anything of good either in it or by it ;
one of which I shall not conceal, the rest I must.
When I had finished my preaching on the chapter

which I have gone over, you was pleased to desire
me, — and your desires are, and ought to be, com
mands to me, — to publish to the world what I had
done in a private auditory : which desire of yours,
in concurrence with my own hopes of doing some
good, did very much prevail with me to engage in
this difficult and painful undertaking, which was
before as much beside my intention as agamst my
inclination. So that, madam, you are in a special
manner to be owned in what is here done ; and
the truth is, if any benefit shall thereby accrue to
any, it must, under God, upon several accounts, in
a great measure be ascribed to your Honour, you
having been so instrumental in the promoting
thereof. Madam, that which once was preached to your ear'
is now presented to your eye ; and it is my hope,
and shall be my prayer, that those heavenly truths,
which in the hearing of them were not unto you, as
well as others, without some considerable efficacy
and sweetness, may not in the reading of them be
unto you less efficacious and sweet. The chapter
opened is a summary of evangelical duty and com
fort ; through the rich grace of God you are, in a
very eminent manner, a performer of the one, and
through the same grace of God you are also a par
taker of the other ; and shall, I trust, grow up
daily yet more and more to a higher participation
of it. I cannot wish you to be more holy than to do
A

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

what is here enjoined, nor more happy than to
possess what is here promised.
It pleases the merciful God (the sovereign disposer
of life and death, in whose hands yours and all our
times are) as yet to continue you in the land of the
living. When many, very many, of your dear rela
tions are taken away and are not, you yourself are
yet spared, with a small number of survivors. I
beseech you give me leave (if you do not give it me
I must take it) to pray for the long continuance of
this mercy, that your days may still be prolonged on
earth, and that you may arrive at a far greater age
than what as yet you have arrived at. You are im
patient, I fear a little too much, to be gone ; partly
from the dread you have of the infirmities which
attend old age, and your weariness of the world ;
and partly from the pantings of your soul to be with
Christ, and in the possessing of the heavenly glory.
But, good madam, I beseech you not too much haste,
no, not for heaven itself ; you '11 have it never the
sooner for that. He that hath determined your days
and months, and hath allotted you such work to do
in your generation, will have you, let your own
thoughts and desires be what they will, live out that
time, and finish that work which he hath set you ;
be entreated, therefore, quietly and cheerfully to wait
all the days of your appointed time, till your change
shall come. Heaven will be the same twenty years
hence that now it is ; and the longer you are kept
out of it upon the doing of God's work, the better
it will be to you at last. It is one of the highest
degrees of grace that here a saint is capable of, to
be sure of heaven, and yet, in order to service, to
be willing for a time to be kept out of heaven ; here
was the height of Paul's grace and the excellency
of his spirit:1 Phil. i. 23-25, Tor I am in a
strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and
to be with Christ ; which is far better : neverthe
less to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide
and continue with you all, for your furtherance and
joy of faith.' It is a saying of Seneca, It argues
a great and generous mind for one to be willing for
the sake of another to return to life again ;2 surely
that Christian discovers true greatness of spirit, who
1 Bavfiao-ai a£iov tov 8eiov i.ir&oro\ov. — Theodoret.
! Ingentis animi est aliena causa ad vitam reverti.

for the good of others is willing to continue in this
life, and to be kept out of that which is far better.
Madam, your serviceableness is known to all but
to yourself; many have cause to bless God for the
good which they reap by your means, who can
speak that which it is not convenient for me to write.
It will be a rare piece of self-denial for you to
submit, as to your own personal interest, to be a
loser, if others may be gainers thereby. Assure
yourself, many do earnestly beg of God the pro
longation of your days ; you pray for your death, but
they for your life ; I hope in this God will hear
them, and not you. Your gracious Father hath
given you a title to heaven, hath, in a great measure
fitted you for heaven, and will in due time take
you up into heaven ; it being thus, as to the order
ing of your passage thither, and the timing of your
entrance into it, all that, good madam, you should
wholly refer to his good pleasure.
Madam, the dedication of a book, I very well
know, signifies but Httle to your Ladyship. Prayer
is the thing which you desire and value ; wherein
should I be wanting, it being the only requital I can
make you for all your favours, I should certainly be
unworthy and ungrateful beyond all expressions. As
God shall enable me, according to the many obHga-
tions which I lie under, I shaU never cease to pray
for you and yours. It hath pleased the sovereign
and all-disposing God to cut off many branches which
grew from your stock; yet one, and the principal one
too, is hitherto spared; God grant he maybe so long,
and that all heavenly blessings as well as earthly may
be multiplied upon him ! And blessed be the Lord,
you live to see others who are of you, though not
immediately, yet but at one remove, whom God be^
gins to bless with a hopeful issue ; the best of his
blessings be upon them also ! That honourable
family to which you are so nearly related, when so
many great and ancient families are melted away Hke
snow before the sun, yet keeps up in its pristine
greatness and splendour ; and may it so continue
from generation to generation, till the world shaU be
no more! And for yourself, madam, the God of
heaven bless you, and recompense into your bosom
sevenfold aU that kindness that ever you have shewn
to any of his ! He grant that you may bring forth
fruit in your old age, and be fat and flourishing ¦

THE EPISTLE DEDICATOBY.

that you may come to your grave in a full age, like as
a shock of corn cometh in its season ; that, as your
outward man decays, your inward man may be re
newed day by day ; that you may never want the
Hght of his countenance ; that you may at the last
arrive at that peace, comfort, assurance which you
have so long been praying for ; that you may yet be
a shining Hght in that more public orb wherein you
are fixed, a pattern of humility and condescension,
of all graces and virtues and good works to all who
behold you ; and, finally, that when you have fought

the good fight, and shall have finished your course,
and kept the faith, you may receive that crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
shall give you at that day. These are, have been,
and ever shall be, the daily and ardent prayers of,
Madam, your Honour's most humble and ever
obliged Servant and Chaplain,
THO. JACOMB.
September 18, 1672.

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.

/CHRISTIAN READER,— That I may not be de-
'-' fective either in civility to thee, or in common
prudence and justice to myself, it is necessary that
I pre-advertise thee of some things convenient to be
known about the ensuing work, the doing of which,
therefore, is the design and business of this preface.
That which was the first rise and occasion of it
was this : I having in my ministry gone over several
of the most weighty points in divinity, relating both
to faith and practice, and finding myself too often
divided in my thoughts what text or subject next to
insist upon; upon this twofold consideration I re
solved to fix upon some continued discourse in holy
writ, where I might have my work cut out for me
by the Spirit of God from time to time, by which
being determmed I might be freed from self-perplex
ing and time-wasting distractions. No sooner was
I come to this resolution, but immediately it pleased
God to bring to my thoughts the eighth chapter to
the Romans, which, when I had a little surveyed in
my mind, and taken a short view of the fulness and
preciousness of its matter, without any further demur
or hesitancy I resolved also that that should be the
chapter which I would lay out my pains upon.
Accordingly, I entered upon it; and (for which I
heartily bless the Lord) he who directed me to that
undertaking was graciously pleased to assist me in
it, and to carry me through it.
The excellency of this chapter being my great in
ducement to pitch upon it, it would have been re
quisite that I should here have endeavoured to

have set forth that excellency, had I not in my first
entrance upon the work itself said enough upon that
account. To compare scripture with scripture,
that one place may give light to another, is a thing
very safe and good ; but to compare scripture be
fore scripture is a thing that must be done with
much tenderness and caution. I adore every part
and parcel of sacred writ — all being given by inspira
tion of God, and admirably useful to that end for
which it was appointed, 2 Tim. iii. 16 — and would
be very careful how I prefer one before another.
Therefore, I do not say that Paul's epistles are the
most excellent of all the New Testament writings,
or that this Epistle to the Romans is the most ex
cellent of all the other epistles, or that this chapter
therein is the most excellent of all the other chapters,
in which gradation some please themselves. Yet
this I might safely say, that this epistle- and this
chapter, for sublimity of matter, variety of evan
gelical truths, admirable support and comfort to be-
Hevers, are not inferior to any part whatsoever of
the Holy Scriptures. Which, if so, I have then
pitched upon a subject very weU worthy of my best
endeavours ; and none will blame me for attempting
to open so rich a cabinet.
In digging into this mine I found it to be so
full that it was a long time before I could get to the
bottom of it ; for I was two years, and something
more, in preaching over this chapter. In which
time I preached very many sermons upon it, but the
precise number I will not mention, because some

PREFACE TO THE READER.

from thence might take occasion to fasten that cen
sure upon me which I hope I do not deserve ; and
others, seeing here but eighteen of so many pub
lished, might think I shall never come to the end of all.
Well, though the work was long, yet it pleased God to
spare me till I had finished it. I have now entered
upon a work of another nature ; whether he will also
let me see the finishing of that, airou et yobvaei xurai.
Wherein it fares with me much as it sometimes
doth with seamen, who, after a long and tedious
voyage, are no sooner arrived at shore but presently
they are seized upon and sent to sea again, upon a
voyage far more tedious and dangerous than the
former. This is my case ; when I had but just set my
foot on land, and was got off from one service which
was enough painful and troublesome, by the over
ruling providence of. God I was commanded to sea
again, and put upon another service far more difficult
and dangerous than the former. But I must be at
his dispose who may command me whither and
about what he pleases ; and it becomes me with all
alacrity to go whithersoever he bids me go, and to
do whatsoever he bids me do.
When I had finished my sermons on the whole
chapter, several friends importuned me to print
them ; whose importunity, though I could not well
withstand, yet surely had there been nothing more
than that, I had not been drawn thereby to under
take such a task as I now have. And the truth is,
when I consider my great averseness to printing, the
vastness and difficulty of the present work, my great
unfitness for it, (as upon other accounts, so in respect
of my bodily infirmities, which daily grow upon me,) '
my sluggish, melancholy temper, the many diver-
tisements I meet with by other employments ; I say,
when I consider these things, I cannot but stand
and wonder how I came to be thus engaged. I
must, upon the whole matter, resolve it mainly into
the overpowering, aU-determining will of God, and
conclude he had appointed and cut out this work
for me, and would have me do it. I write not this
(I can appeal to the searcher of hearts) to heighten
my fitness for this service, or the worth of anything
that I have done ; but only that I may declare the
true ground of my engaging in the present business,
duly acknowledge God in such an enterprise as this
' is, and also that I may animate my faith and hope

in him for assistance and success ; as knowing that
what he calls unto he will carry through, and what
is of him shall be blessed by him.
As soon as my preaching work was off my
hands, after a very short respite I set upon this of
printing ; wherein what progress I have made, this
volume, which I pubhsh as a prodromus to what is yet
to come, will manifest. It contains what I preached
upon the four first verses. Some, I assure myself,
will be surprised, and think it strange that so few
verses should make a volume of this bulk and big
ness ; but I would desire these, before they judge,
to cast their eye upon the various heads discussed .
therein, to weigh the great latitude and importance
of those heads ; and I hope they will then be satis
fied that in the due handling of so many and so
material things less could not weU be spoken: I
did indeed design at first to have gone much farther;
but afterwards I saw, the "work growing so much
upon me, these verses were as much as I could grasp
in one book. And the apostle ending with them
the first part of his discourse — viz., the confirma
tion of the predicate in the proposition, ' there is no
condemnation,' &c. — I thought, without any un
handsome disjoining of the words, I might there
break off. What comes after in the following verses,
wherein there is the iUustration of the subject, who
' walk not after the flesh,' &c, shall next be insisted
upon, if God permit.
When I say that what I preached is here pub
lished, I would not be misunderstood, as if I had not
varied in the latter from the former ; for I acknow
ledge I have varied very much, and that too not
only in words and expressions, but in several places
even in the very method and matter ; which altera
tions proceeded not only from my infeficity— that I
cannot twice do the same thing in the same way— but
also because I found, upon the review of what I had
done, second thoughts to be necessary. Add to this
too, there must be a difference when we have to do
with the ear and when with the eye ; for that style
and method, yea, and matter too, which "is proper
for the one, is not always so for the other I hope
therefore, none will be severe against me because of
these variations ; but if any will be so, let them be sure
that they themselves do wear but the same clothes!
abroad which they do at home, which I think few do

PREFACE TO THE READER.

The matter in the first and second verses being,
comparatively, more plain and practical, in going
over them I have, to the best of my remembrance,
varied but Httle ; but in the third and fourth verses,
where the matter is more deep and controversial,
there I have varied much more. They point me to
Christ's natural sonship, incarnation, sacrifice for
sin, &c, which excellent heads I did not pass over
in preaching without some considerable enlargement
upon them ; but had I then so fully handled them
as here I do, I should but have tired and perplexed
the generahty of private auditors, and scarce have
edified them. Indeed, these are points, especially
if largely and thoroughly discussed, much more
proper for a reader, whose thoughts may dweU upon
them, he having them fixed before him, than for a
hearer, who, through the constant succession of new
matter, the slowness of understanding, the weakness
of memory, is not so able to take them in or to judge
aright of them. Upon this consideration I have
here added and inserted many things which then I
omitted, hoping that as what I then spake was not
too little for hearers, so that what I now write will
not be too much for readers.
Reader, I hope in the perusal of this book thou
wilt find that things of a practical nature, such as
concern faith, holy walking, deliverance from sin's
dominion, and the like, have far the greatest room
in it ; yet I am not ashamed to own that there are
in it several things of another nature, I mean con
troversial, which I neither could, nor, in truth, did
desire to avoid. As to controversies, more nice and
curious than necessary and profitable, none delights
in them less than myself, (who would love to walk
in the midst of briers and thorns that hath pleasant
meadows or gardens to walk in 1) much less do I de-
Hght to trouble weak Christians with knotty and
polemic matters. But the controversies which I
handle are of such weight and importance, unto
which, too, the texts I open did so unavoidably lead
me, that I knew not, without falsehood to my trust
as a minister of the gospel, how to shun them.
ShaU the natures, offices, sonship, incarnation, sacri
fice, &c, of our dearest Lord and Saviour be as
saulted by daring enemies, and shall not we, espe
ciaUy when they lie in our way, defend and vindicate
them 1 And are these the great things upon which

the salvation and happiness of believers do depend,
and shall not they understand how adversaries
attempt to undermine them 1 yea, so to be able to
answer such gainsayers as that they may stand firm
and fixed upon these gospel foundations 1 That I
might, therefore, heighten the knowledge and
confirm the faith of such, I have been somewhat
large upon these things ; in the managing whereof,
if I have done too much for the unlearned and too
Httle for the learned, I am sorry for it.
Of all the controversies with which the church
is pestered, I have, as the texts did lead me, most
concerned myself in those wherein we have to do
with Papists and Socinians, but principally with
the latter. These, not that I in other things acquit
the former, are the great impugners of the Christian
faith, in their denying Christ's Godhead, eternal
Sonship, pre-existence before his nativity of the
Virgin, (wherein they are worse than the old
Arians,) satisfaction, his being a proper sacrifice
for sin, the main ends of his death, &c. ; against
whom, therefore, I have endeavoured to assert* and
maintain these high and glorious truths, which are
indeed truths of the first magnitude. What
thoughts others may have of Socinianism I know
not — I know my own : and might I presume so far
as to give advice to my reverend brethren in the
ministry, I would humbly advise them to set them
selves to their utmost against it ; for it doth not
only strike at the whole platform of the gospel, but,
of all other opinions, it gets nearest to the very
vitals thereof. This cursed worm grows in the
gospel's best fruit ; 'tis for the poisoning of those
fountains from which the streams of life do most
immediately flow. Whilst many other errors en
danger but the remoter parts, this endangers the
very heart of Christianity. Can we say or do too
much to secure souls from it, and to defend the
gospel against it ? God-prevent the growth of it in
aU the churches of Christ !
If, in the discussing of these points, I have said
nothing but what the learned in their treatises about
them have said before, yet however two things I
have done : 1. According to my duty I have given
my testimony to the great truths of God, let it sig
nify what he pleases ; 2. I hope I have, — I am sure
it Hath been my endeavour, — made some things, in

8

PREFACE TO THE READER.

themselves dark and intricate, to be somewhat more
plain and intelligible to weaker capacities ; and if I
have done but that, though I have brought no new
matter, my pains have not been iU-spent. My soul's
desire is that the professors of this age may be well-
grounded in the articles of the Christian faith, and
that they may attain to a clearer insight into gospel
mysteries than what as yet they have attained to ;
and if what is here done shall conduce to the pro
moting of these most desirable things, it will be a
sufficient recompense to me for all the labour that I
have been at.
I observe that many private Christians will read
over those controversies in a sermon which they
care not to read in treatises professedly penned about
them. The reason of which, I suppose, is this,
they meet with that in a sermon which they do not
in a treatise — viz., when the argumentative part is
over, they come to something that is practical ; the
bone being broken, they have marrow and sweetness
to feed upon. It hath been my care aU along in this
work to answer herein the expectation and desire of
good souls, for at the close of every knotty subject I
have always made thereof some plain and useful ap
plication, that so I might reach both the head and
the heart too.
So long as the strife lay between an Israelite
and an Egyptian, the matter was not very sad ; but
when the IsraeHte and the IsraeUte strove one against
the other, then it was sad indeed. So here, so long
as the contention was 'twixt Romanists and Socin
ians on one hand, and Protestants on the other,
it was weU enough ; but when Protestants divide
and differ among themselves, that is matter of great
sadness. In the body of this work I have had occa
sion only to contend with the former, and there I
had nothing but comfort ; but in the end I was
necessitated to take notice of and to interest myself
in a difference between the latter, concerning the
imputation of Christ's active obedience, which some
are for1 and some against, and that afflicted me more
than all that went before. For though, in my own
judgment, I am very well satisfied for the affirma
tive, yet it troubles me that I should therein dissent
1 Amongst whom, iu its proper place, had not my memory
failed me, I should have cited that truly eminent person
Bishop Reynolds on Ps. ex. p. 440, &c.

from those whose names, as to the dead, I highly
honour, and whose persons, as to the living, I dearly
love. WeU, these differences will be till heaven unite
us aU ; and, blessed be God, in this point we may
differ salvo fidei fundamento. I hope we shaU make
it to appear to the world that we can dissent and yet
love; that whereunto we have attained we shall
walk by the same rule, and if in anything we be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
us, according to that exceUent decision of the apostle
in cases of this nature.
But, reader, I must not detain thee longer in
giving thee any further account of the particulars
treated of in these sermons. Do but thyself read
over the contents of the several chapters, and they
will, in short, give thee a prospect of the matter and
method of the whole. Thou seest already a great
part of my way hitherto hath been somewhat rough
and craggy ; I hope in what foUows it wiU be more
smooth and easy, bating those passages which some
expositors conceive Peter referred unto when he
spake of some things in Paul's epistles hard to be
understood ; however, I must take it as it faUs.
Two things as to the whole wiU be objected
against me. The one is overmuch prolixity. As
to which, all that I can say for myself is (1.) The
subjects insisted upon are so various, lying so near
the very heart of religion, bearing so high a place in
evangeHcal faith, so necessary to be understood by
all, and so desperately struck at by opposers, that
truly for my part 1 thought (pardon me if I was
mistaken) I could hardly be too full in the exphca- j
tion, confirmation, and application of them. Good j
reader, please to read over the bare heads I go upon,
as they wiU occur by and by, and then teU me whe
ther so many and such fundamental truths could j
well have been crowded into a lesser room. But (2.) 1
If this wiU not satisfy such as are most judicious, it
shaU be mended in what is to foUow. i
The other is the unnecessariness of this under- j
taking, so many abeady having wrote upon this
chapter. Answer, So many? Who or where are
those so many ? I wish I could see them. I deny
not but that many, both ancients and moderns, have
written' commentaries upon it for the clearing up of j
the sense of the words (for whose labours I bless
God, and shall in this work endeavour to make the ;

PREFACE TO THE READER.

best improvement of them) ; but having done that,
there they leave off. I hope I go further than so,
not satisfying myself barely to give the sense and
meaning of the text, which is the proper work of an
expositor ; but also drawing out that sense, and
making the best advantage of it for things doctrinal
and practical, which is the work of a preacher. I
acknowledge also that some have particularly and
fuUy Wrote upon it in the way which I take, as Mr
Elton, Cowper, Parr, Streso, Philips, Binning, to the
15th verse ; but not so but that there is yet room
for the industry of others : there are good gleanings
in this large field yet left for them that shall come
after. I wUl not for my vindication fly to that com
mon maxim, Good things we cannot hear (or read)
too often — 81s *a/ rgi's ra xaXa. \iyav xai siiio-M>iriie8a.i
x.a\bv ; but I desire so much right may be done me
as to compare what I have now done, with what
others upon this chapter have done before. If I do
no more than they, I deserve the severest censure ;
but if I do, the reader then, I hope, wiU be so can
did, yea, so just, as to let me have his favourable
sentence. I am conscious to myself of many weak
nesses in the work ; but as to the charge of but doing
that which was done before, pardon me if in that I
stand upon my vindication.
He gave good advice to them that will be
printing, who counseUed them to pitch upon such
subjects which might not be above their strength,
seriously to consider before they engaged whether
they were able to go through with what they under
took.1 I have duly weighed the mysteriousness and
difficulties of the things which I am to write upon ;
and the more I look into them, the more I find them
to be above me. Yet for all this I am not dis
couraged, because I trust I shall have a higher
strength than mine own to help me, and to carry me
through aU of them, so that some benefit may accrue
to souls. ' The way of the Lord is strength to the
upright,' Prov. x. 29. He that hath God's caU
needs not to question God's help ; and if he will
help, the weakest instrument shall be strong enough
for the highest and hardest work. Augustine, that
great and blessed man, tells us of himself he had
1 ' Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, sequam,
Viribus, et versate diu, quid f erre recusent,
Quid valeant humeri.' — Horat.

begun a comment upon this Epistle to the Romans,
but the difficulty of the matter he met with made
him give over.1 I have in what I have done
encountered with some difficulties — more are be
fore me as to what is yet to be done ; but I bless
the Lord I am not disheartened by them, so as
to think of giving over the work. ' But David en.
couraged himself in the Lord his God,' (1 Sam. xxx.
6 ; ) and in my present case I desire to do the same.
Difficulties in the way of service should but quicken
our dUigence and heighten our dependence upon
God, not take us off from doing our duty. Yea,
further, I am not without some discouragement as
to my eternal condition.' The sun, as to bodily
health, and some other considerations, is going off
from me — few plants are so situated as to have the
forenoon and afternoon sun too ; but that doth not
quite discourage me neither. May I but have the
warm influences of the blessed Spirit, and the Sun
of righteousness with his sweet beams yet shining
upon me, I trust, though outwardly I decline and
decay, I shall yet finish what I have begun.
The chapter being commonly divided into three
parts, I hoped I should have finished one in each
volume, and so have drawn the whole into three ;
but these four verses taking up so much room, I
am forced to allot two volumes to the first part,
hoping to grasp the two other parts in two more.
So that, in my four days' journey, as it were, I have
as yet gone but one of them ; but he that hath been
with me in that, will, I trust, be with me in the other

I must not be too bold with God in entitling him
to what I do, yet I would fain hope that it is by his
special -providence that I am engaged in this under
taking ; wherein I should be exceedingly confirmed
•might I see these first fruits, now published, owned
and blessed by him to the profit of many; and
with what cheerfulness should I go on if I might,
in my first setting out, have such encouragement !
TiU I be able about this to pass a better judgment
than as yet I can, it will be best for me for some
little time to stay my hand, which accordingly I re
solve upon. I am very loath to burden the world
with unprofitable labours. May I do good ! all that
1 Retract, lib. i. cap. 25.

10

PREFACE TO THE READER.

I shaU do wdl be too little ! but without that, that
which I have already done is too much. Well, suc
cess and good issues must be expected only of God,
and referred wholly to him. He hath enabled me
to do something, which, if he please to bless it, shall
prosper, but if he deny his blessing, I have laboured
in vain. Now, reader, for the helping on so great
a mercy I beg thy prayers, yea, thy best prayers.
When thou art with God in secret remember me
and the work in hand, I earnestly entreat thee;
indeed, I need all thy praying help, wherein if thou
beest wanting, thou thyself mayest be damnified
thereby. If thou wilt forget me, I trust I shall not
forget thee in my poor prayers, that God will bless
thee in the clearer revealing of gospel mysteries to
thee, the fuller iUumination of thy understanding

in spiritual things, the confirming and stabUshing of
thee in the great truths of God, the daily heighten
ing and perfecting of thy graces, the sanctifying of
all helps and means, pubUc and private, to the fur
therance of thy salvation ; in a word, that thou
mayest be the person in Christ Jesus, Hving the
spiritual life, and thereby that the no condemnation,
and all the other branches of the precious grace of
God spoken of in these verses, yea, in the whole
chapter, may be all thine. So for the present I
leave thee, remaining
An unfeigned wisher of thy
Spiritual and eternal good,
THO. JACOMB.

THE

GRAND CHARTER OF BELIEVERS OPENED.

CHAPTER I.
OF BELIEVERS' EXEMPTION FROM CONDEMNATION.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. — Rom. vm. ] .
The introduction to the work — The excellency of the
chapter — Its main scope and parts — How this first
verse comes in — Paul in the preceding chapter com
pared with himself in this — The proposition divided
into its parts — The predicate in it, no condemna
tion, first opened — Two observations raised from the
words — The first spoken to — Seven things premised hj
way of explication : As, 1. It is not no affliction, or
no correction, but no condemnation ; 2. It is not no
matter of condemnation, only no condemnation de
facto ; this enlarged upon against the Bomanists ;
3. It is God's condemnation only which is here ex
cluded, not the condemnation of man, or of conscience,
or of Satan ; 4. Of the import and significancy of the
particle now in this place ; 5. No condemnation may
be rendered not one condemnation ; 6. Of the In-
definiteness of the proposition with respect to the sub
ject ; 7. That the positive is included in the negative —
The observation itself more closely handled— Condemna
tion opened as to the quid nominis and the quid rei.
— It relates to guilt and punishment ; to the sentence
and state — It is either virtual or actual — The point
confirmed by parallel scriptures; by a double argu-

m the text — The first is couched in tl
therefore, which points to justification and sanctifica
tion, (both of which prove no condemnation) — The
second is grounded upon union with Christ — Use 1.
To shew the misery of such who are not in Christ
Jesus — The dreadfulness of condemnation set forth in
five particulars — Use 2. To exhort all to make sure of
exemption from condemnation — Six directions touched
upon about it — Use 3. To excite such as are in Christ
to be very thankful — Use 4. Comfort to believers.
I PURPOSE, with God's leave and gracious assist
ance, in the revolution of my ministerial labours,
to go over this whole chapter. It is a very great
undertaking, and I am very sensible how much it is
above me ; I have only this encouragement, I serve
a good master, one who both can, and I trust will,
help me in it, and carry me through it, for he uses
to give strength where he calls to work. And it is
no matter what the instrument is, if he will be pleased
to use it : the mighty God by weak means can effect
great things : Mat. xxi. 1 6, ' Out of the mouths of
babes and sucklings he can perfect praise to himself.'
Here is indeed a rich and precious cabinet, full of
grace, to be opened, yet a key of smaU value may
open it, if God please to direct the hand. There
fore in all humble yet steady reliance upon him
whose grace alone is sufficient for me, 2 Cor. xii. 9,
I shaU now enter upon this work, though it be vast
and difficult.

12

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

And in the midst of all my discouragements,
(which are very many, God knows,) yet I find my
self under a strong inclination to engage in it, when
I consider the transcendent excellency, preciousness,
usefulness of that matter which the Spirit of God
lays before us in this chapter. Who would not
be willing to take pains in a mine that hath such
treasures hid in it ? Where the breast is so full, who
would not be drawing from it ? I think I should not
hyperbolise should I say of it, Search all the Scrip
tures, (I will except none,) turn over the whole word
of God, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of
the Revelation, you wiU not find any one chapter
into which more excellent, subHme, evangehcal
truths are crowded, than this which I am entering
upon. The Holy Bible is the book of books ; in
some, though not in equal, respects, this chapter may
be styled the chapter of chapters. From first to last
it is high gospel, it is all gospel, (its matter being
entirely evangelical,) and it is all the gospel, either
directly or reductively, it having in it the very sum,
marrow, pith of all gospel-revelation. It is indeed
the epitome, abridgment, storehouse of all the saints'
privileges and duties : you have in it the love of
God and of Christ displayed to the utmost, and
shining forth in its greatest splendour. Would any
take a view of the Magnolia Dei with respect to his
glorious grace? here they lie open before them.
Paul in it speaks much of the blessed Spirit, and
surely he was more than ordinarily full of this
Spirit in the penning of it. x Blessed be God for
every part and parcel of holy writ ; and, in special,
blessed be God for this eighth chapter to the Romans.
Oh it is pity that it is not better understood through
the dimness of our light, nor better improved
through the weakness of bur faith. May I in my
poor endeavours be instrumental but in the least to
further these two in any, I hope I shaU own it as an
abundant recompense for aU my pains.
As to the scope and principal matter of it, it is
consolatory. There is a vein of heavenly comfort
running through the whole body of it ; with this it
1 Est caput aureum, et inter omnia hujus epistolse illustris-
simum ; iu quo cum de Spiritus muneribus disserere statuisset
apostolus, Spiritus ipse divinus pleno numine in ejus pectus
illapsus videtur ; cujus ideo suavitate et fragrantia singulis
verbis redolet, charismatibusque diffluit et esundat. — Sotc.

begins, with this it ends, (for it begins with no con
demnation, ver. 1, and ends with no separation from
the love of God, vers. 38, 39,) and aU the interme
diate parts do exactly correspond with these ex
tremes. The truth is, the sincere Christian here
treads upon nothing but roses and violets ; there is
nothing but honey to be found in this hive ; here is
balm in every line for the heaUng of the wounded
spirit. Let such as are in Christ — for that is the
foundation of all — study, weigh, digest, believe, apply,
what is laid down in this chapter, and let them walk
dejectedly if they can.
Divines who write upon it commonly divide it
into three parts. The first contains in it exceUent
supports and comforts for the people of God, as bur
dened under the reUcs and remainders of sin ; and
this reaches from the 1st ver. to the 17th. The
second contains in it further supports and comforts
in reference to the sufferings, afflictions which here \
are incident to the godly ; this reaches from the
17th ver. to the 31st. The third contains in it
those high and holy triumphs which the apostle, in
his own person and in the person of all behevers,
makes over both sin and suffering ; which reaches
from the 31st ver. to the end. In this threefold
channel the comforts of the whole chapter run. This
division of it I shall follow, and accordingly divide
my ensuing discourse into three parts.
For the first, The supporting and comforting the
saints as burdened under, the reHcs of sin; the
apostle begins with that, because he very weU knew
that sin to such is their greatest burden. Oh nothingl
Hes so sad and heavy upon their spirits as this ! It*
was so with Paul himself, as you see chap. rii. ; and
it is so too with aU that are gracious, they having
the same Spirit which he had. AU Paul's afflictions
without, (though they were very many and very
sharp, see his catalogue of them, 2 Cor. xi. 23, &c.,)
were nothing to his corruptions within. The former-
never made him cry out, " 0 wretched man that L
am," as the latter did, Rom. vii. 24. Oh this sin
went to the heart of him, and almost overwhelmed
him. And so, proportionably, it is with aU who
belong to God. For this reason, therefore, when
the apostle would comfort himself and others he
first appHes his discourse to that which might give
ease as to what was and is most burdensome

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

13

In order to which he first lays down a notable
faith-supporting and soul-reviving proposition ; then,
secondly, he ampHfies and enlarges upon that pro
position, which he doth chiefly with respect to the
description of the subject of it. And all that is
contained in this first part of the chapter will fall
either under the one or the other of these two heads.
The proposition itseK is this, ' There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus,' &c. In which the iUative therefore shews
that the words are an inference or conclusion drawn
from what went before. Take but that away
(though we must not so easUy part with it) and
they faU into a formal thesis or categorical proposi
tion, ' There is no condemnation,' &c. I wiU by
and by give you the force and strength of the illa
tion, and shew what it is grounded upon ; but at
present we are only to consider the position itself.
' No condemnation to ' them which are . in Christ
Jesus.' Oh great and blessed words ! How appo
sitely, fuUy, and convincingly doth Paul speak to the
thing in hand ! What a basis and foundation doth
he here lay for faith to buUd upon ! Is the gracious
heart burdened under the remainders of sin ? What
could be spoken more proper, more effectual for its
reHef, than to assure it, that though there may be
much corruption, yet there is no condemnation ?
No condemnation to them which are in Christ?
What a magnificent conclusion, what a faith-
strengthening and heart-cheering consideration is
this ! Here is dainties and cordials at the very first.
No sooner doth the apostle launch out, but immedi
ately he is in the great deeps of the grace of God
and of the happiness of beUevers.
By the way, I cannot but observe how the case is
altered and mended with him. View him in the
foregoing chapter ; there you find him pensive, sad,
cast down under the sense of sin, making sad com
plaints that he was ' carnal, sold under sin,' that
' in him (viz., in his flesh) there dwelt no good
thing ; ' that ' the good he would, he did not ; the
evil he would not, that he did ;' many such indict
ments he there draws up against himself, Rom. vii.
14, 18, 19. And thus it was with him in that chap
ter ; but now follow him to this. Here he is an
other man, he speaks at another rate ; now you
have him rejoicing, yea, triumphing over sin and all.

From the depth of sorrow he is got up to the high
est pinnacle of divine joy ; that eye which but just
now was fixed upon his own vUeness, is now fixed
upon his great blessedness in and through Christ.
And indeed usuaUy it is so with others too ; after
conviction comes consolation ; a deep sense of sin,
attended with brokenness of heart for it, doth com
monly usher in the highest peace and comfort to the
soul. After the dark night the day dawns ; when
the true penitent hath been most abased and cast
down, then comes exalting and lifting up. See Job
xxii. 29. There is, in this respect, post nubila Phoe
bus, a bright sun after the thick cloud, or a reaping
in yoj after a sowing in tears, Ps. cxxvi. 5. Peni
tential sorrow is rr\s XaZ"-$ MTfy, as Chrysostom ex
presses it, the mother, the precursor, of inward joy.
God wiU heal where he thus wounds ; he ' healeth
the broken in heart,' Ps. cxlvii. 3. Such as thus
mourn shaU be comforted, Mat. v. 4 ; these waters
Christ wUl turn into wine, John ii. 9. As joy in sin
wUl end in sorrow, so sorrow for sin wUl end in joy.
But to return to our apostle : he had, as to his out
ward state, his abasements and his advancements too,
(and he knew how to carry himself under both : ' I
know how to be abased, and I know how to abound,'
PhiUp. iv. 12.) So as to his inward state he also
had his abasements and -his advancements. Some
times it is, ' O wretched man that I am,' &c. ; there
it was abasement. Then presently is, ' There is no
condemnation,' &c. ; there it was advancement. And
let me add, that Paul's comfort in this chapter had
never been so high, so fuU as to himself, so encour
aging as to others, if he had not in the former chap
ter first smarted under the cutting and piercing
conviction of sin. Oh to have one who but even
now was almost pressed down under soul-burdens,
now saying, yet ' there is no condemnation to them,'
&c. How may this animate and strengthen the faith
of a poor Christian, whenever troubles of conscience,
by reason of sin, shaU be upon him !
This being the proposition, I wiU consider it in
its parts ; and so you have in it,
First, The predicate, or the privilege asserted,, viz.,
exemption from condemnation ; " There is therefore
now no condemnation," &c.
Secondly, The subject, or the persons described, to
whom, and to whom only, the privilege belongs.

14

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

And to take the most easy division of the words at
present, they are described,
1. By their union with Christ in reference to
their state ; they are such who are ' in Christ Jesus.'
2. By their qualification or property in reference
to their course : they ' walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit.' I conceive this clause doth more
immediately refer to the persons who are in Christ,
and is properly descriptive of them ; yet mediately
they may refer to, and be descriptive of, the persons
to whom there is no condemnation, as I shaU here
after shew.
If you take the words in the body of them, there
is some, yet no very great, difference in the reading
of them. The latter branch, ' but after the spirit,'
is wholly left out by the Vulgate translation, and by
those expositors who foUow it. I know not why,
unless it be because the Syriac version did the same,1
which version in the reading of the words is not
only defective as to this, but very harsh in the mis
placing of them : ' There is therefore no condemna
tion to those who walk not after the flesh in Christ
Jesus.' Some other such variations might be taken
notice of, but I will pass them by.
The general proposition, being taken in pieces,
wUl afford us these two observations :
1. That there, is no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus.
2. That such who are in Christ Jesus, and so
secured from condemnation, this is their property
or course, ' they walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit.'
The discussing of these two points will take me
up some time. I begin with the first, in the hand
ling of which I will, 1. Chiefly speak to the privi
lege, and only in a general way join the description
of the subject with it ; 2.1 will then more particu
larly speak to that, and shew what it is to be in
Christ Jesus, or how persons may be said to be in
Christ Jesus. Of the first at this time.
For the better opening of which I must premise
these seven things :
1. First, The apostle doth not say, There is now
no affliction or no correction to them who are in
Christ ; but there is no condemnation to them who
1 Proinde nulla est condemnatio iis qui non ambulant secun
dum carnem in Jesu Christo. — Vers. Syr.

are in Christ. It is one thing to be afflicted, another
thing to be condemned ; God may, and will, afflict his
children, but he will never condemn them ; it may be
much affliction, yet it is no condemnation ; indeed
God afflicts here that he may not condemn hereafter: •
1 Cor. xi. 32, 'When we are judged we are chastened
of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with
the world.' God is so gracious that he will not con- j
demn, yet withal so wise, so just, so holy, that he \
will afflict. Grace in the heart secures from eternal, :']
not from temporal evils. God cannot condemn yet
love, but he can chasten and yet love ; nay, there-l
fore he chastens because he loves : ' As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten ;' ' Whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth.' And it may be, even to them who are
in Christ, not only bare affliction, but there may be
something of the nature of punishment in that
affliction,1 though not in a vindictive way, or uponfi
the account of satisfaction. The nearer a person is*
to Christ, and the dearer he is to God, the surer he
is to be punished if he sin. 'You only have I
known of all the famiUes of the earth, therefore Ji
will punish you for your iniquities,' Amos iii. 2. '
God may pardon and yet punish ; temporal punish
ment is very consistent with pardoning mercy. Ps.
xcix. 8, ' Thou answeredst them, 0 Lord our God;
thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou
tookest vengeance of them for their iniquities. ' God
had put away David's sin, yet he shaU smart for it;
his own soul shall live, but his child shaU die as a
punishment for his sin. See 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14.
The malefactor may not be condemned to die; as to
his life he may be acquitted, yet he may be judged
to be whipped or burned in the hand for his offencef
so it is here. You must distinguish therefore .be
twixt no condemnation, and no affliction or no cor
rection ; saints are exempted from the former,' but
not from the latter.
2. Secondly, The apostle doth not say there is no
matter of condemnation in them who are in Christ
only, as to fact, he saith, there is no actual con-
iQuamvis Deus absolvit vere pcenitentes ab omni pa»
safasfactona propter Christ! mortem, non tamen illos liberal
1 Teenth "f ^ °^°™-~»™nl L S
14. See of this Burg, of Justif., leet. i 5 in • tj ; , t 1
P. 68, &c; Bolton's Bounds, &c, p. 163 I ' ^t *?%"*
vey, part ii. ch. 31. P ' &C" ; Rutherf" SuI"

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

15

demnation to such. There is a vast difference
betwixt what is deserved and what is actually in
flicted ; betwixt what is de jure and ex merito, and
what is de facto. Take the very best of saints;
there is enough and enough in them which deserves
eternal condemnation ; and, if God should proceed
according to their merit, it would be condemnation
over and over again ; for even they have sin and
commit sin, and wherever sin is there is matter of
condemnation. There is not a man to be found on
earth who, upon this account and in this sense, is
not obnoxious and Hable to a sentence and state of
condemnation ; for ' there is no man that sinneth
not,' 1 Kings vim 46 ; 'In many things we offend
all,' James iii. 2 ; 'If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,' 1 John
i. 8. Besides those actual sins which break forth in
external acts, which are committed upon delibera
tion and with consent, of which all are more or less
guilty — I say, besides these, there is in all a corrupt,
wicked, depraved nature, which nature puts forth
itself in evU motions, sinful propensions, strong in
clinations to what is evil. Oh that fomes peccati,
those motus primo-primi, as the schoolmen call them,
those inward ebullitions of indwelling sin in impure
and filthy desires, set forth in Scripture by concu
piscence ! What shaU we say to these ? Are not
they sinful ? Is there not in them matter of con
demnation, if God should enter into judgment, and
proceed according to the rigour of his justice, and
the purity of his law 1 Surely yes ! If it be proved
that they are sinful, unquestionably then it follows
that they expose a person to condemnation. Now
how full are our divines in the proof of that ! Con
cupiscence, the first risings and stirrings of corrupt
nature, even in renewed and regenerate persons, are
properly and formally sinful, whether they consent
or not, for consent is not so of the essence of sin
but that there may be sin without it; that may
have some influence upon the degree, but not upon
the nature of the thing itself. Those evil thoughts
and motions in the heart, with which the best are
so much pestered, are not mere mfirmities attending
the present state of imperfection, but they are plain
iniquities ; there is sin in them. The apostle,
speaking of them, sets the black brand of sin upon
them : Rom. vn. 7, ' What shaU we say then 1 Is

the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, ex
cept the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.' The
holy law forbids these inward workings of the sinful
nature as well as the exterior acts of sin, therefore
they are dvo/j,'ia, a breach of that law, and being so,
therefore they are sinful. They flow from sin, they
tend to sin, and yet are they not sin? ' When lust
hath conceived it bringeth forth sin,' James i. 13.
This is the doctrine of our church,1 of the ancient
fathers,2 of the body of protestants ;3 and they make
it good by several arguments of great strength.
The papists are wholly of another mind.4 And
whereas it is said here in the text, ' There is no con
demnation,' &c, they carry it so high as to affirm
that, in reference to original sin, the depravation of
nature, concupiscence, the inward motions and in
clinations of the heart to sin, after baptism, faith,
regeneration, there is no matter of condemnation or
nothing damnable in them who are in Christ. He
that will please to cast his eye upon the citations
here set down,5 which are taken especially out of
1 Art. ix.
8 August., lib. i. contra duas Pelag. Ep., cap. 13, and lib.
iii. contra Julian., cap. 3, with several others cited in Chamier,
torn. iii. lib. x. cap. 10.
3 Vide Cham., torn. iii. lib. x. cap. 4, &c. ; Chemn. Exam.
Deer., 5 sess. p. 93, &c. ; Calv. Instit., lib. iii. cap. 3; Daven.
Det., qu. 1 ; Ward. Determ. Theol., p. 136, &c.
i The Council of Trent anathematiseth all who hold concu
piscence, in renewed persons and after baptism, to be sin,
Sess. 5 ; Bellarm. de Amiss. Grat, lib. v. cap. 7 ; Valentin de
Pec. Orig., cap. 7, 8 ; Perer. Quwst., cap. 7, in Ep. ad Rom.
Disput., 7-9.
5 Non tarn significat nullam esse condemnationem justificatis
in Christo ob concupiscentiam, quam nihil esse in eis condem-
natione dignum. — Bellarm. de Am. Gr., lib. v. cap. 7. Tolli-
tur damnatio quantum ad culpam et quantum ad poenam.
Primus motus habet quod non sit peccatum mortale, ex eo
quod rationem non attingit, in qua completur ratio peccati,
&c. — Aquin. in loc, &c. Et consistit differentia in hoc, quod
in illis, justificatis nempe in Christo, nihil committitur dam-
nabile, propter donum Christi tarn externum quam internum ;
intendit itaque per nullam damnationem nullum actum quo
meremur damnari. Et dixit hoc ad differentiam primorum
motuum, qui sunt etiam apud justificatos in Christo, ut in"
telligamus illos non esse materiam damnationis. Primi enim
motus non reddunt sanctos damnabiles, turn ob eorum imper-
fectionem, turn quia absorbentur a copia sanctarum actionum
continuarum. — Cajet. in loc. Hinc patet nee concupiscen
tiam, nee aliud quippiam in renatis esse peccatum damnatione

16

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

their expositors upon the text, may see that this is
the interpretation which they put upon it.
What ! No matter of condemnation 1 Nothing
damnable in them who are in Christ 1 This is much
too high. Our adversaries, I suppose, though they
deny any merit of condemnation upon the fore-
mentioned things, yet surely they wUl not deny but
that sin in its fuU act merits condemnation ; if
they wiU be so absurd, the apostle plainly deter
mines it : ' Sin when it is finished brings forth
death,' James i. 15. Now is there not too much of
this to be found even in saints in Christ, and there
fore are not they worthy of condemnation ? True
indeed sin, whether in the conception or in the
finishing, is not imputed1 or charged upon them, and
so there is no condemnation ; but yet, as considered
in its own nature, it merits condemnation : it doth
so ex natura rei, ex judicio legis, only it is not so in
point of fact and in event, ex indultu gratios, as one
expresses it. Sin is sin in the children of God, and
it merits condemnation in them as weU as in others ;
whence is it then that there is no condemnation to
them ? Merely from the grace of God, who doth not
impute this sin to them. As Solomon told Abiathar
he was worthy of death, yet he would not, for some
considerations, put him to death, 1 Kings ii. 26 ; so
here the highest in grace have that in them which
renders them worthy of condemnation, but yet,
they being in Christ, and thereupon sin not being
imputed, they shaU not actually be condemned.
This is the true and genuine sense of the words,
' There is therefore now no condemnation to them,'
&c. ; and thus our protestant expositors open them,2
dignum. — A Zap. Non quod volo, ago, 4c, ex iis sequitnr
involuntarios esse coucupiscentise motus in renatis ac justis,
quibus proindeadpoanamimputarinonpossint. — Est. Quamvis
caro contra spiritum insultans molestias exhibeat iis qui sunt
in Christo Jesu, nihil tamen est in iis damnationis, quia dum
non consentiunt, non ipsi operantur illud, sed peccatum quod
per concupiscentiam habitat in corde. -^Soto.
1 Ad hsec respondetur, dimitti concupiscentiam carnis in
baptismo, non ut non sit, sed ut in peccatum non imputetur.
— Aug. de Nup. et Cone., lib. i. cap. 25.
2 Non dicit non esse peccatum, &c, sed remitti propter
fidem iu Christum. — Melanct. inDispos. Orat. ad Ep. ad Rom.,
p. 18. Credentibus nulla est condemnatio, non per se quidem
«ed ex accidenti, h.e., ex Dei misericordia non imputantis eis
peccata ad condemnationem. — Parens in JResp. ad Dub., i.
Notandum est quod non dicit, nihil condemnabile, aut oiSiv

wherein their opinions are so far from being ex orco
excitatce, fetched from heU, as Pererius,1 with viru-
lency and maHce truly ex orco excitata, is pleased to
say, that they are from heaven, from the God of
truth, and fully consonant to the word of truth. j
3. I premise, thirdly, That it is God's condemna-^
tion only from which such as are in Christ are
exempted : the universal .negative, no condemnation,
reaches no further than the supreme, final, irrevers
ible, condemnatory sentence of the great God. As
to this all in Christ are safe ; but there is other
condemnations which they do lie under. Take
a threefold instance of this.
(1.) Men condemn them. I mean the wicked,
who are, and always have been, condemners of the
righteous. The saints, as assessors with Christy
shall judge the world hereafter, 1 Cor. vi. 2, and
the world wiU be judging the saints here : the saints
condemn sinners by their holy conversation, as,
Heb. xi. 7, it is said of Noah, ' he prepared an ark
by which he condemned the world ; ' and they will
be condemning the saints in that false judgment,
those sharp censures which they are pleased to pass
upon them. What more common than for the godly j
to have their persons, practices, strict walking, con
demned by a mistaken and maHcious world ! Oh
they are hypocrites, factious, seditious, Ezra iv. 15,
turbulent, troublers of kingdoms, 1 Kings xviii. 17,
unnecessarily scrupulous, proud, selfish, false, cove- J
tous, and indeed what not ! Sometimes the con
demnation is only verbal, going no further than
bitter words, wherein their names are aspersed, the
innocency of their persons suUied, the goodness of
their cause blackened. Sometimes it rises higher;-
men condemn God's people even to the taking away
of their lives, as James v. 6, ' You have condemned
and kiUed the just,' &c. ; this is the ' condemning
of the soul of the poor,' Ps. cix. 31 : though possibly
there may be something more in this expression
than striking at the bare natural Hfe ; for such is the
inveterate malice of the wicked against the godly,
W^"" sed oisi>' Kardicpifn. Non dicit in Christianis nihil
esse amplius peccatorum, &c, sed esse illos condemnatU
quae peccato competit exemptos. Habent quidem et sancti
rehquias peccati, verum extra condemnationem sunt, propter
gratiam Christi, &o.— Muscul.
1 Disput. i. in cap. 8 ad Rom. ]

HAP. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

17

that they will be condemning of them even as to
their final and everlasting state ; they condemn the
soul of the poor even to hell itself: thus the con
demned world is a condemning world. But yet
God condemns not, neither here nor hereafter : all
this is but man's day and man's judgment, 1 Cor.
iv. 3 ; the righteous God judges otherwise of his
people. He is so far from condemning them, that
he wUl openly vindicate them against aU the ground
less accusations and condemnations of their enemies.
It was David's prayer to God, ' Let my sentence
come forth from thy presence,' Ps. xvu. 2, a.d.,
Lord, man doth thus and thus pass sentence upon
my person, cause, actions ; but, Lord, do thou thy
self pass sentence upon me ; that, I am sure, will be
as just and righteous as the sentence of my enemies
is false and maHcious; and do not keep thy sen
tence about me to thyself, but let it come forth from
thy presence, that the world may see and know what
I am, and what thoughts thou hast of me. It is a
very gracious promise that in Ps. xxxvii. 32, 33,
' The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to
slay him. The Lord wUl not leave him in his hand,
nor condemn him when he is judged ;' i.e., though
man condemn, God wiU not. He wUl not always
let such as are upright with him lie under the
world's condemnation ; he will clear up their inno-
cency as the Hght of the noonday ; probably be may
do this for them here, but certainly he wiU do it at
the great day; and certainly too, which is more
close to my business, though men are very free in
their condemning of them as to their present con
cerns, yet God wUl not condemn them as to their
state for eternity.
(2.) Sometimes conscience condemns them ; for
this conscience bears the place and office of a judge
in the soul, and therefore it wUl be passing sentence
with respect to men's state and actions; and its
sentence often is in a condemnatory way. ' If our
heart condemn us not, then have we confidence
towards God,' 1 John Hi. 21. Ay ! and it is so even
with God's own chUdren, upon the commission of
some great sin, or under some great darkness of
spirit in time of conviction or desertion. Oh how
forward is conscience then to condemn and to give
in sad judgment upon them ! And truly a con
demning conscience is a very dreadful thing ; be

they saints or sinners who lie under it, they wUl all
find it to be bad enough. It is a little hell, or an
anticipation of hell. There is no pain in the body
comparable to the torment of a condemning con
science. A man had better be condemned of all
the world than of his own conscience. Yet the
people of God have this to comfort them ; though
conscience condemns below, yet God doth not con
demn above. To the wicked, it is a condemning
conscience, and a condemning God too. Oh there is
the very height of misery ! To the godly, it is some
times a condemning conscience, but never a con
demning God ; even when that speaks nothing but
guUt and wrath, then God designs nothing but
grace and mercy. The inferior judge condemns in
the court below, but the supreme judge acquits and
justifies in the court above.
(3.) Satan, too, he will be condemning such as are
in Christ. He is a proud creature, and loves to be
upon the bench, and to assume that authority and
judicial power which doth not belong to him. Oh
it greatly pleases him to be judging of the spiritual
and eternal state of beHevers ! He that is but God's
executioner, he wUl take upon him to be a judge. And
as his pride puts him upon judging, so his malice
puts him upon condemning ; there is not an upright
person in the world, upon whom he either doth not,
or would not, pronounce a black sentence of con
demnation. He is condemned himself, and he is alto
gether for the condemning of others too. Especially
when he meets with a poor troubled soul, how doth
he bestir himself with his dreadful judgings to dis
courage and overwhelm that soul ! What ! thou a
ctrild of God ? no, thou art a chUd of wrath. What !
thou look for salvation? no, hell and damnation shall
be thy portion for ever. What ! thou pretend to
grace ? no, there is not one drachm of true grace in
thee ; thou art a hypocrite, a castaway — one that
must perish for ever. The word condemn^ in classi
cal authors, Greek and Latin, signifies to accuse also.
The devil is a great accuser; he accused Job to God;
he is styled ' The accuser of the brethren,' Rev. xii.
1 Extenditur interdum condemnandi verbum etiam ad accu-
satorem, ut idem sit quod reum peragere, vel efficere ut quis
damnetur. — Calepin. . Ego hoc uno crimine ilium condemnem
necesse est. — Cic. in Ver. AoXo^XXay &/«ce KaKibaem eirapxk.
— Plutarch in VU. Cms. C

18

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

10. But this wiU not satisfy him ; he must condemn
too', in the higher and stricter notion of the word ;
he is for absolute, decisive, irrepealable judgment
upon and against the repenting sinner, but God wiU
not let him proceed so far ; this is his own preroga
tive, and he will keep it to himself. Well, condemn
he doth, and very busy he is, in special, to condemn
those who belong to Christ. Where God condemns
least, there Satan condemns most ; but his condem
nation signifies nothing, for God condemns not.
Who will regard the condemnatory sentence of the
jaUer, if he stand acquitted by the judge ? so here.
But I am too long upon this head. You see here is
a great deal of condemnation, yet the no condemna
tion in the text is true ; for though men and con
science and Satan condemn, yet God condemns
not, and it is his condemnation only which is here
denied. 4. Fourthly, The particle now is to be taken
notice of. ' There is therefore now no condemna
tion.' &c. Beza looks upon this as so emphatical,
that he blames the Syriac translation for the omit
ting it.1 What then is the import and significancy
of it in this place 1 Answer, I suppose the apostle
doth not intend by it to point to any circumstance
of time, as, namely, the present time of life, or the
present time of the gospel. Cajetan applies it to
the present time of life.2 The apostle, saith he, says,
now, that we may understand that he speaks of the
present life, and that we may not think that he ex
cludes all condemnation only in respect of the state
of the future blessedness. Then the meaning must
be this, that the saints are secure against condemna
tion, not only when they shall actuaUy be instated
in the heavenly blessedness, or only upon the account
of that blessed estate, but even here whUst they are
but in the way, and with respect to the present state
of grace. Now there is no condemnation to them.
There is a truth in this interpretation, yet I shaU
not close with it.
Others apply it to the time of the gospel. Now
1 Magnum est pondus particulae universaliter negantis, et
adverbii prsesentis temporis a Syro interprete male praeter-
missi. 2 Dicit nunc ut intelligamus quod de prsesentis vitae statu
loquitur, ne intelligeres quod ratione status future beatitudi-
nis excludit omnem damnationem.

that is, when Christ is come. Now when the gospel
dispensation takes place, and the gospel grace is
advanced, 'Now there is no condemnation.' A
great truth ! but it must be taken with some cau
tion, or else it may be the occasion of a great and
dangerous error. What ! is there no condemnation
now in the times of the gospel ? Yes, surely there
is ! Yea, the highest and sorest condemnation is
now under the gospel. ' This is the condemnation,'
&c, by way of eminency, John iii. 19. No con
demnation Hke to gospel condemnation ; this is
double condemnation, as the prophet imprecates
double destruction, Jer. xvu. 18. And again, was
there no exemption from this tiU the time of the
gospel? Doth the apostle by this particle confine
and limit this privilege to those only who now hve
under the gospel ? God forbid ! BeHevers under the
law were justified and saved as weU as believers now
under the gospel. The Scriptures are exceeding
clear in this matter. It is therefore a false and
venomous gloss which a great Socinian gives upon
the words.1 He brings in Paul as setting the times
of the gospel against the times of the law, under
which, he saith, all, speaking of them in common,
were liable to damnation; but now, under the
gospel, to many there is no damnation, and, if all
would, there should be none to any. Here is a com
plication of errors, but I must not engage in the
refuting of them. To many now there is no damna
tion ; and was it not so even under the law? Oh let
us neither make the time of the law worse than
indeed it was, nor the time of the gospel better than
indeed it is ! There was salvation then, and there
is damnation now.
In short, with Pareus, I make this now to be only
parhcula a'moXoy,^, a causal particle; it is as much
as cum hve ita sint, since things are so, as the apostle
had made out in his preceding discourse. There is
now, or upon all this, no condemnation, &c. It is the
very W or foundation upon which aU is bottomed.
The therefore in the text points to this now, and de
rives aU its strength from it. The apostle crowds
1 Nunc, i.e., his temporibus ; opnonit h«w t
et publicati evangelii anteactis te^b^ J^T ^
lege, quibus omnes in commune iZ'/'"*11 ™b
jectierant. Nunc autem multis homm bU8 nuT Z
tio, et (si omnesvellent) nulla esset omn bus ^2/ £ *?T
'°™ — Slichtmgin loc.

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

the force of aU that he had said by way of argument
into this little word, and lays the whole stress of his
conclusion upon it: 'There is now no condemna
tion,' &c.
5. Fifthly, We read it no condemnation ; the ori
ginal will bear it if we read it not one condemnation.
ovdh xuruxginu is as much as olio's h xarcMg/,u,a. Such
is the grace of God to believers, and such is their
safety in their justified estate, that there is no con
demnation — no, not so much as one condemnation
to be passed upon them. Suppose a condemnatory
sentence for every sin, (I am sure every sin deserves
such a sentence, and in point of merit it is so many
sins, so many condemnations,) yet the pardon being
plenary and full, every way adequate to the sinner's
guilt, the exemption of the pardoned person from
condemnation must be plenary and full too ; so
that if there be not one sin unpardoned, there is not
one condemnation to be feared : Jer. 1. 20, ' In
those days the iniquity of Israel shaU be sought for,
and there shall be none.' It is an allusion to one
that turns over aU his bonds, searches into all his
debt-books, to see if he can find any debt due to him
from such or such a person ; but upon aU his search
ing he cannot find so much as one debt to charge
upon him. So it is with the pardoned, justified sin
ner. Imagine that God should be inquisitive to
find out some guUt as lying upon him, he might
indeed find out enough, as he is in himself; but as
he is in Christ, as he is pardoned and justified
through Christ, so there is nothing to be found
against him, and therefore not one condemnation.
How doth this tend to the comfort and encourage
ment of God's people ! This makes the proposition
to be -very emphatical and highly consolatory ; there
is not one condemnation for them who are in Christ.
Glcumenius opens the words with this emphasis, ouBi
fiia diet, a/totgrioLv xaradixrj.
6. Sixthly, The apostle speaks indefinitely with
respect to the subject : 'There is no condemnation to
¦them which are in Christ Jesus.' He takes all such
into the privUege, for the indefinite here is equipollent
to a universal. Paul doth not narrow or confine or
impropriate this non-condemnation to himself; it is
not there is now no condemnation to me ; but he ex
tends it td all who have an interest in Christ. And
herein he discovers much of wisdom, as Peter

Martyr observes •} for had he spoken in the singular
number, to me, many poor weak Christians would
have been afraid to have applied this blessedness to
themselves ; they would have been ready to object,
Ah blessed Paul, thou art high in faith, eminent in
grace, therefore thou mayest say there is no con
demnation to thee ; but it is not so with us, we are
but poor shrubs, mere dwarfs in grace, it is not for
us to lay hold upon so high a privilege. To obviate
this discouragement, saith the apostle, I teU you
there is no condemnation to any who are in Christ,
let them be who they wUl ; this belongs to all such,
to you as well as to myself. True, I am an apostle,
you are not so ; but then I am a believer, and so are
you : true, I may have more of grace than you, but
yet you are in Christ as well as I, and the union
being common the non-condemnation is common too,
for that is the ground of this. It is the same right
eousness ' to all and upon all that beUeve,' Rom.
iu. 22 ; it is the same faith for substance in the
highest and in the lowest, ' to them that have ob
tained like precious faith with us,' 2 Peter i. 1. It
is the same head, and the same union with this
head, in aU, and therefore it must be the same
exemption from condemnation.
The difference in Paul's expressing himself, ac
cording to the difference of the subject he was upon,
is very observable. Take him in the former chapter,
where he is bewailing sin; there he speaks altogether
in the first person singular, and goes no further than
himself; read from the seventh verse to the end,
and you wUl find I and me in every verse. But now
in this eighth chapter, where he is treating of privi
leges, there he speaks altogether in the plural num
ber, as taking in the whole body of believers. Run
over it aU, and except but one verse, in which it is
true he particularises himself — 'The law o'f the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from
the law of sin and death,' — I say, do but except this
one verse, and in all the rest you will find the ob-
1 Mirabilis sane est apostoli prudentia, qui cum de vi pec
cati scriberet, earn expressit in persona sua, ut intelligeremus,
&c. Postea vero, cum agitur de auxilio Spiritus Christi, in-
ducit personam aliorum, ne cuiquam in mentem veniret, non
quoslibet Christianos frui hoc auxilio Dei, sed tantum pri-
marios quosdam et eximios, quales fuerunt apostoli.— Pet.
Martyr.

10

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

ervation to be true ; but this will be further cleared
ip hereafter. And elsewhere too you find him very
areful not to engross or confine happiness to him-
elf, but to extend it to all who belonged to God as
veil as he himself did : as take but that one in-
tance, 2 Tim. iv. 8, ' Henceforth there is laid up
or me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the
ighteous judge shall give me at that day,' — thus far
le himself is concerned ; but doth he stop here and
lot take in others ? No, it is not enough to him to
>e sure of this happiness himself, but he will let
)thers know it shall be just so with thein too,
Herefore he adds, ' and not to me only, but unto
ill them also that love his appearing.' In the great
slessings of the gospel — justification, adoption, eternal
ife — aU the saints shall fare alike; they are all
3rod's children, and therefore all shaU have their
jortion, and the same portion too. Jude caUs it
common salvation,' (ver. 3 ;) and the same may be
said of all other blessings, it is common justifica-
;ion, common adoption, &c.
7. Seventhly, The positive is included in the
negative. There is no condemnation, &c. ; is this
UI that the apostle drives at or hath in his eye,
riz., to hold forth that such who are in Christ
shaU not be condemned ? no ; he aims at something
more, namely at this, that such are fully justified,
ind shall be most certainly saved ; they shall not
snly, upon their being in Christ, be looked upon as
not guUty, or barely kept out of hell, but they shaU
be judged completely righteous, and they shall also
be admitted into heaven and eternally glorified.
There is a meiosis in the words, more is to be under
stood than what is expressed ; the privative and
the positive part of the blessedness are to be linked
together, and blessed b% God for both ! Had it
been only freedom from condemnation, that would
have been rich and glorious mercy ; but when it is
not only that, but justification and salvation too,
oh here is mercy in the very height and zenith
of it ! Some inquire why the apostle expresseth it
in the negative rather than in the positive? they
answer, Because men generaUy are more sensible of
the goodness of God, in the freeing of them from
evil, than in the coUating or bestowing of good. No
condemnation more affects than positive justification
or salvation. It may be further added, the apostle

thus expresses it because negatives usually intend and
heighten the thing spoken of. As in the command
ments, such as are negative carry a higher obliga
tion in them than those which are positive, for they
oblige both semper and ad semper too ; and as in the
promises, when they are negatively expressed, this
makes them to rise the higher in the matter con
tained in them; as take that promise, which is
made up of so many negatives, Heb. xiii. 5, ' I wiU
never leave thee nor forsake thee ;' this is more
than if God had said, I will always be with thee.
So here as to propositions, when they are laid down
in the negative, this form of expression doth add
both greatness and certainty, at leastwise as to us,
to the matter of them. And therefore Paul design
ing here to set forth the safety and happiness of
beHevers with the greatest advantage, he chooses to
express it in the negative rather thah in the positive. '¦';.
These things being premised, I come now to the
more close handling 'of the point : ' There is no con
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.'
Here I wiU shew, 1. What this condemnation is,
which the persons spoken of are secured from. 2.
I will make out the truth of the assertion, and give
you the grounds of it.
1. First it is requisite I should a Httle open the
condemnation here mentioned. The word is xar<&.
xg/^a : here in this verse it is the substantive ; you
have the verb, ver. 3, ' and for sin condemned,' &c,
xarixgivs ; and the participle, ver. 34, ' who is he
that condemneth,' ris 6 xuraxgtm 1 Sometimes it is
set forth by «£/">«, as Mat. xxiii. U ; 1 Tim. in. 6 ;
2 Peter H. 3 ; Rom. iu. 8 : sometimes by xglsig, as
John Hi. 19, and v. 24; sometimes by xardxgmig, as 2
Cor. iii. 9. These several words are promiscuously
used to signify one and the same thing. That here
in the text commonly carries a very black and dread
ful, sense with it. I do not deny-but that sometimes %
it is used to set forth temporal evils and punish
ments, as condemnation to a temporal death, so
Mat. xx. 18, and xxvii. 3 ; but usually it, as the verb
in this composition, is expressive of spiritual and
eternal evils of everlasting death : so Rom. v. 16,
18 ; Mark xvi. 16 ; 1 Cor. xi. 32. As to its direct
and proper notation it signifies judgment against ou,
that is, xaraxfvut : it is a forensic word relating "to
what is m use amongst men in their courts of judi-

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

21

cature. To condemn, Proprie judicis est cum mulctam
reo vel pmnam per sententiam erogat ; it is the sentence
of a judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be in
flicted upon the guilty person. Amongst men, for
the parallel will illustrate that which I am upon, the
malefactor or guUty person is indicted, arraigned
before the judge, judicial process is formed against
him, his offence is proved, upon this the judge passes
sentence upon him ; that he is guilty of that which
is charged upon him, and then that he must undergo
the penalty or penalties which are answerable to the
nature and quality of his crime — if that be the capital
he must die for it. So here the impenitent unbe-
Ueving sinner is indicted, arraigned at God's bar ;
process is made against him, he is found guilty of
the violation of the holy law, and, which is worse,
of the contempt of the gospel too ; whereupon God
judges him to be guUty, and upon that guUt ad-
I judges him to everlasting death : this is God's
condemning or condemnation, in allusion to that
condemnation which is amongst men. Pareus
makes it to be the damnatory sentence of the law,
that curse which it denounceth upon all and against
aU because of sin, Gal. iii. 10 ; Grotius makes it to
be that eternal death spoken of, Rom. vi. 23 : several
, such glosses there are upon it, but all tend to one
j and the same thing.
Condemnation is either respectu culpce et reatus,
or poena;, in respect of guUt or punishment ; for
, both of these are included in it. God condemns the
, sinner ; how ? why, first he judges him to be ho%ps,
guUty of that which the law charges him with. 0,
j saith the law, sinner ! thus and thus thou hast of
fended ; such duties have been omitted, such sins
have been committed, such Sabbaths have been pro
faned, such mercies have been abused, such tenders
i of grace have been shghted ; here the gospel law
\ comes in as an accuser too, &c. Well now, saith
\ God, sinner ! what dost thou say to this charge 1 is
j" it true or false ? canst thou deny it ? what defence or
" plea canst thou make for thyself? Alas ! he is
speechless, Mat. xxii. 12, hath not one word to say
for himself; he can neither deny nor excuse or ex-
, tenuate what is "charged upon him. Why then,
[ saith God the righteous judge, I must pronounce,
and I do here pronounce thee to be guilty. And is
' this aU? no, upon this guUt the law pleads for a

further sentence, for the decreeing and inflicting of
the penalty, threatened by God himself, and in
curred by the sinner. Ah, saith God, and I cannot
deny it, I must be just and righteous, and there
fore, sinner, I here adjudge thee to die eternally.
This is condemnation in the extensive notion of it :
if you consider it with respect to guilt, so it
is opposed to justification ; if you consider it
with respect to punishment, so it is opposed to
salvation. In the former notion you have it, Rom.
v. 16, 18, ' And not as it was by one that sinned, so
is the gift : for the judgment was by one to condem
nation, but the free gift is of many offences to
justification. Therefore as by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even
so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life.' In the second
notion you have it, Mark xvi. 16, ' He that believeth
and is baptized, shall be saved, but he that believeth
not, xuraxgil)rigiru,i, shall be condemned.' These are
the two things which make up the condemnation in
the text, guilt and death ; from both of which such
as are in Christ are secured : they shall neither
be judged guilty, their guilt being done away by
Christ, and the sentence proceeding according to
what they are in Christ, and not according to what
they are in themselves ; nor shall a sentence of
eternal death pass upon them, for guilt being taken
off, that would not be righteous. There is there
fore none of this condemnation to beHevers.
There is the sentence of condemnation and the
state of condemnation; the former, actively con
sidered, refers to God, and is his act; the latter
refers to the sinner, and is consequential upon the
former. The sentence hath been already opened.
The state of condemnation is the sinner's undergoing
of the utmost of vindictive justice, in his eternal
separation from God and enduring of everlasting
torment's in hell, of which you wiU hear more in
what follows. Neither of these do belong to them
who are in Christ Jesus : not the former, they being
now justified ; not the latter, they being sure to be
glorified. I shall take in both, yet mainly freedom
from the state of condemnation ; the apostle, I con
ceive, had this chiefly in his eye when he here said,
' There is now no condemnation,' &c. Justification
and no condemnation with respect to the sentence

22

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

are all one, only the one notes what is positive, the
other what is negative : now the apostle in the words
inferring no condemnation from justification, (as you
will see he doth by and by,) it appears that his eye
was upon something distinct from, and consequential
upon, justification ; and that must be exemption from
the state of condemnation. ' There is no condemna
tion,' &c. ; it is as if he had said, Such shall not be
condemned hereafter, or lie under that damnation in
hell which wiU be the portion of unbeHevers : to this
therefore I shaU chiefly speak.
Further, as some distinguish of justification, it is
either virtual or actual; either in title as to the
sentence of the word here, or full and complete in
the sentence which shall solemnly be pronounced
by God at the great day. So we may also distin
guish of condemnation : it is either virtual, that which
is now, in the sentence of the law or gospel; or
actual, that which is to come, when God by Christ
will in a public and solemn way pass a condemnatory
upon men according to the word ; and this shall be
at the last and great judgment. You read of the
first, John iii. 18, ' He that believeth on him is
not condemned ; he that believeth not (#&j xix^trai)
is condemned already:' so ver. 26 of that chapter.
Of the second, Mark xvi. 16, and in divers other
places. In both of these senses also God's people
are exempted from condemnation ; take it virtually
or actually, in title here or in the final sentence of
the judge hereafter, it belongs not to them. And
this I am now to make good, which was the second
head that I propounded to speak to.
2. The negation in the text is so express, so ab
solute and peremptory, that there cannot be the least
doubt of the truth of it ; indeed, as to the application
of this to a man's self in, hypothesi, so there may be
many doubts arising in the soul concerning it ; but
as to the thing itself in thesi, nothing more sure and
certain than it is. You have it asserted not only in
this single scripture, but in divers others also : John
iii. 18, ' He that beHeveth on him is not condemned,'
neither is nor ever shall be. John v. 24, 'Verily,
verily, I say unto you, (Christ would have beHevers
fully settled in the belief of this precious truth, and
therefore he premises asseveration upon assevera
tion, and gives you his own authority for it,) he
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that

sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation, but is passed from death to Hfe.'
Read John iii. 16, 36; Mark xvi. 16; 1 Thes.
i. 10. If you -look into the text, (for I wfll go no further,)
you will find a double argument, or ground, for the
non-condemnation of believers.
(1.) The first lies couched in the Ulative particle,
' There is therefore now no condemnation,' &c. What
doth this therefore point to ? when that is found out,
we must then inquire what there is of strength in
it to prove and bottom non-condemnation upon.
For answer to this, expositors do somewhat differ
about it. Some make it to refer to all that goes be
fore from the 16th ver. of the 1st chap. Est conclusio
totius superioris disputationis a ver. 16, primi capitis.—',
Bern. It is a conclusion drawn from all that hath
been taught hitherto. — Deodate. Others limit it to
some special part of the apostle's foregoing discourse
in this epistle. And so some apply it to what he
had laid down in chap, ui., iv., and v., where he
insists upon justification, and proves at large that Jbe-
lievers are justified, and that through the righteous.
ness of Christ; which being so, from this their
blessed state and this gracious act of God upon
them, he here infers ' there is therefore now no
condemnation,' &c. Others again make the spring
head of the inference to lie in the 7th chap., especially
in the close of it : Paul there thanks God, who had
delivered him from the body of sin through Christ ;
he says with his mind, his renewed and sanctified
part, he served the law of God, though with the
flesh, the carnal and unregenerate part, he served
the law of sin. Now from this he draws the. con
clusion, ' There is therefore now no condemnation!
&C1
I, for my part, will not limit the inference to the
one or to the other, but I will take in all ; yet I will
consider the whole in its main parts, viz., justificar
1 Thus Bucer : Infert ad illud in proxima sectione, Gratias
ago, &c. Thus Pareus : Illatio est valde vehemens ex prsece-
denti querela et gratulatione. Thus Musculus : Nulla con-
demnatio, 4c. Quare ? referendum est istud exordium ad
gratiarum actionem capitis pracedentis, qua dixit, Gratiafl
ago, &c. Thus Tolet : Connexa esfchsec sententia ultimis prae-
cedentis capitis verbis, et ex ipsis deducitur. Pendet initium
hoc tarn faustum et faalix, ex hoc quod ultimo dictum est ta"
fine pracedentis.— Corn. Mussus.

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

23

tion and sanctification. The non-condemnation then
of persons in Christ may be proved by, or is grounded
upon, (1.) Their justification. He that is a justified man
cannot be a condemned man, for these two are con
trary and incompatible. If it be justifying, it cannot
be condemning ; if it be condemning, it cannot be
justifying. There being in justification an acquit
ting, absolving, discharging from gmlt, how can this
consist with the condemning of one as guilty, or be
cause guilty? this would be a plain contradiction,
oppositum in apposito. It is with law-contraries as
it is with physical-contraries, upon the position of
the one there needs must be the exclusion or nega
tion of the other ; now justification and condem
nation are law-contraries, ergo, &c. The apostle
argues upon this, ver. 33, ' Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect ?' and surely there must
be charging before there can be condemning ; but
there can be none of that ; why ? because ' it is God
that justifieth.' The beUever being justified, and
justified by God too, he must needs be exempted
from condemnation. He that wUl not acquit the
guUty wiU not condemn the righteous, ' for both are
equaUy an abomination to the Lord,' Prov. xvii. 15.
Now the justified person is a righteous person, for
else what doth his justification signify ? and wUl the
righteous judge condemn a righteous person ?
Pray, that you may the better perceive how the
deduction in the text is grounded, look back a little
into the epistle, and see what the apostle there lays
down concerning justification. He says, and this is
the main position, upon which he doth but enlarge
in all his foUowing discourse, ' Therein is the right
eousness of God revealed from faith to faith,' chap. i.
17: 'Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith
of Jesus Christ unto aU and upon all them that be
lieve,' chap. Hi. 22 : ' Being justified freely by his
grace tlirough the redemption that is in Jesus
Christ ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitia
tion through faith in his blood,' &c, ver. 24-26 :
' Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness,' chap. iv. 3 : ' Now it was not
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him ; but for us also, to whom it shaU be imputed,
if we beHeve on him that raised up the Lord Jesus
from the dead ; who was deHvered for our offences,

and was raised again for our justification,' ver.
23-25 : ' Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,'
chap. v. 1. Especially read what the apostle writes
in drawing up the parallel betwixt the two Adams,
chap. v. 15 to the end. I say, read and consider
what is before asserted over and over concerning
justification, and then tell me whether the apostle
might not well thus infer, ' There is therefore,' &c. ;
and whether there be not strength enough in these
premises to bear the weight of the conclusion, ' There
is therefore now no condemnation,' &c. : for un
questionably the illative, therefore, upon which the
proposition is bottomed, Hke the handle in the dial,
points to all that the apostle had been speaking of
concerning justifying grace.
(2.) The privilege is farther sure upon sanctifica
tion. Such as are in Christ are always sanctified ;
wherever the union is with the Son there is sanctifi
cation by the Spirit : now such as are sanctified
shall never be condemned. Rev. xx. 6, ' Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrec
tion : on such the second death, or condemnation,
hath no power.' Sanctification doth not carry in it
such a direct and intrinsic opposition to condemna
tion as justification doth, nor is it any meritorious
ground of non-condemnation. Yet where there is
sanctification there shaU be no condemnation : for
upon this the power and dominion of sin is taken
away, vigorous resistance is made against it, the
bent of the heart is for God, there is the participa
tion of the divine nature ;x the image of God is re
newed in the soul ; the creature, in part, is restored
to that original rectitude which was before the faU,
with many suchlike considerations, upon aU which
the sanctified person is secured from condemnation.
God hath such a love to grace, it being the work of
his own Spirit, and to gracious persons, they in
sanctification being made after himself, as it is ex-
i Dum non essent in Christo et consentirent concupiscentise,
erat illis damnatio. Nunc autem cum sint in Christo, et
repugnent concupiscentiae, nihil damnationis est illis, quam-
quam ex carne coneupiscant ; quia non pugriatores sed victi
damnantur ; nee est damnabile si existant desideria carnalia,
sed si eis ad peccatum obediatur.— Anselm. (This must be
understood of condemnation in event, and that too as grounded
upon the mere grace of God.)

24

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. ]

pressed Eph. iv. 24, that he will never suffer such
to perish eternaUy. Grace merits nothing, yet it
secures from the greatest evils, and entitles to the
greatest good. Nothing shall save where grace is
not, nothing shall damn where grace is. The sinner
shall not Hve, the saint shall not die. Oh this
sanctification ! though it be imperfect, yet how great
good doth result from it ! Paul had sad remainders
of sin in him, but withal grace was in him ; he had
his double self, (as the moralist expresses it, sxasro;
rifiZv iirrog earn,) his renewed self and his unrenewed
self : ' the law was spiritual, but he was carnal, sold
under sin;' ' what he would not, that he did; what he
would, that he did not ;' he was ' led captive by the
law of sin and death ;' here was his unrenewed self.
Yet where he complains most of sin, even there he
discovers much, if not most, of grace : he had a
sinning nature, but he allowed not himsetf in sin ;
he ' consented to the law that it was good ;' it was
not he that did so and so, but ' sin that dwelt in
him : ' ' to will was present with him, though how
to perform, he did not find :' he ' delighted in the
law of God in the inward man : ' ' with his mind he
served the law of God,' &c, here was his -renewed
self. Do not these things evidence grace 1 was all
this spoken in persona irregeniti, as some tell us ?
No, doubtless the apostle here speaks as a gracious
man, and in the person of gracious men.1 And"
what doth he infer from all this ? ' There is there
fore now no condemnation,' &c. Oh, saith Paul, I
have sin enough to humble me, but yet sin shall not
damn me ; there is too much of it in me, but yet it
hath not my heart : ' With my mind I serve the law
of God ;' the main bent of my heart is for holiness ;
the corrupt nature is very strong in me, but yet it
hath not its full strengiti, its entire unbroken power
and dominion over me ; that, through grace, I am
freed from. I am, though but imperfectly, yet truly
sanctified ; and hereupon, though I may lie under
much trouble here, yet I am safe as to my eternal
1 With my mind I serve the law of God. Ego, qui in me
significo quemlibet justum sub gratia constitutum. — Anselm.
Quod meo judicio tantam vim, tantam emphasin habet, ut
illi plane humanse naturae oorruptionem ignorare videantur, si
qui sint, qui earn cum tali animi constitutione consistere posse
putant, nisi aliunde sit aliquatenus immutata. — Amyral, Con-
sid., cap. sept. Ep. ad Rom. p. 16. (He might have gone
higher than aliquatenus immutata.)

state ; there is therefore now no condemnation to me
I desire it may be observed, that he doth not onl;
infer non-condemnation from the work of grace u
him, spoken of in the closure of the former chapter
but as soon as he had laid down in common thi:
great happiness of persons in Christ, he presently
confirms it, as to himself, from his sanctification, anc
the dethroning of sin in him by the regenerating
Spirit : ' For the law of the spirit of Hfe in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death.' And with respect to others he much en
larges upon it, Rom. vi. 5-8, 21-23. Well, then.
persons in Christ, they being justified and sanctified,
are above the. danger of condemnation ; and these
are the two great pUlars upon which the therefore, in
the words is buUt.
The text affords us another argument or ground
of non-condemnation, and that Hes in the subject
itself : ' There is no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus.' Why so ? Because they are in
Christ Jesus ; for these words are not only descrip
tive of the persons to whom the privUege belongs,
but they are also argumentative, and contain a
reason or proof of the thing spoken of. The ex
pression, as shall be hereafter opened, notes that
near and intimate union which is betwixt Christ
and believers. Now shaU there be condemnation
where there is such a union ? What ! in Christ, and
yet under condemnation? Those that are so near
to Christ here, shall they be set at an eternal distance
from him hereafter? WUl the head be so severed'
from his members? When Christ is in heaven,
shall a part of him lie in hell ? Oh, no ! A limb of
Christ shall not perish. Besides, upon this union
there is interest in aU that Christ hath done and
suffered. He that is in Christ hath a right to all of
Christ— the obedience, righteousness, merits, satis
faction, the Hfe* death, resurrection, intercession of
Christ. AU are his who are in Christ. It being so,
how can this person miscarry? The apostle upon
this triumphs over condemnation : ver. 34, ' Whb jf.
he that condemneth? it is Christ that died; yea^
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.'
What there is in each of these heads— the death,
resurrection, exaltation, intercession of Christ— to
secure those who are in him from condemnation,

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

25

shall in due time, if God please, be fully made out ;
but that is not now to be done. Only, for the fur
ther confirming of the truth in hand, let me a little
descant upon the question which the apostle here
doth so triumphantly propound, 'Who is he that
condemneth?' He seems to challenge all inferior
accusers, and bid them do their worst ; he hangs out
a flag of defiance to all. Who, saith he, will attempt,
or in case they should attempt, would be able, to
carry on such a thing as the condemning of those
who are in Christ ? For God himself, who must be
spoken of with aU reverence, he wUl not, for he jus
tifies, and he cannot justify and condemn too. His
justice is satisfied; he hath declared that he hath
accepted of Christ's satisfaction made in the sinner's
stead, and he wiU not be satisfied and yet condemn.
Then, to be sure, Christ wUl not; for his great
design was to prevent and keep off this condemna
tion. This was the very thing which he had in his
eye in his great and most blessed undertaking. He
is so far from doing this himself, that he will not
suffer it to be done by any other. Come to sin, that
shall not, for that is pardoned, expiated by the blood
of Christ; that is condemned itself, Rom. viii. 3,
and a condemned thing shall never be a condemning
thing. The law cannot, for that is fulfUled by the
surety, and that is appealed from as not a proper
judge, and beUevers are not under it — i.e., as to its
vis damnatrix — but under grace, Rom. vi. 14. The
gospel too wUl not, because its conditions are per
formed, though imperfectly, yet sincerely, which it
accepts of. It appears, then, by this induction, that
there is, there shall be, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. So much for the proofs or
grounds of the truth in hand. Observe that I have
only instanced in those which the text leads me to ;
for divers others might have been produced, as God's
eternal electing love, the covenant of grace, the
earnest of the Spirit, &c, but these I pass by. No
thing remains but the apphcation.
Use 1. And, first, This'proclaims the misery of all
who are not in Christ Jesus. The cloud is not so
bright towards Israel, but it is as dark towards the
Egyptians ; the point is not so full of comfort to
believers, but it is as full of terror to unbelievers.
Here is the very marrow and sweetness of the gospel
for the one, and yet withal here is the bitterest gall

and wormwood of the law for the other. There is
no condemnation to them who are in Christ ; what more
sweet ? But there is nothing but condemnation to them
who are out of Christ ; what more dreadful ? Art
thou a Christless, graceless, unbeheving, impenitent
person? Do not deceive thyself; this exemption
from condemnation belongs not to thee. The apostle
doth not say there is no condemnation, and so break
off ; but, that none may flatter themselves, and pre
sumptuously apply that to themselves which belongs
not to them, he puts down the subject which only
is concerned in the privilege. Oh you who are
out of Christ, know it and be assured of it, there is
condemnation to you-; you are condemned aheady
in the sentence of the law, John iu. 18 ; and it will
not be long before you be actually, solemnly con
demned by the sentence of the Judge ; so many un-
, believers, so many condemned persons. And if so,
is it nothing to you to be condemned? What a
dreadful word is condemnation ! How should we all
fear and tremble at the hearing of it ! All the evils
of the present Hfe are a mere nothing, mere trifles
to this. Put all afflictions, calamities, miseries
together, one condemnation outweighs them all.
Sickness, pain, poverty, sufferings, all are light,
inconsiderable things in comparison of this. I can
not but stand and wonder, and be filled even with
amazement, at the woeful stupidity and security of
sinners out of Christ. The condemnation of God
hangs over them ; wherever they are or go they are
no better than condemned men ; and yet how merry,
jovial, unconcerned are they ! Good God ! what
shall we say to this ! Amongst us, what a sad
spectacle is it to see a poor malefactor that is con
demned by man, and to be executed within a few
days, altogether unaffected with his condition ! He
spends that span of time which he hath to live in
feasting, drinking, trimming, and dressing of himself,
and considers not that he is a condemned man, and
must die within a day or two. Ah sinners, this is your
state ! Nay, yours is much worse, for you are under
a far worser condemnation, even the condemnation
of the great God, and that too to die eternally. And
yet how do you carry it ? You please the flesh, take
your fill of sensual pleasures; you 'chant to the
sound of the viol, drink wine in bowls,' Amos vi.
5, 6 ; Hve a merry life, nothing troubles you ; no,

26

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

though the dreadful sentence of God be passed upon
you, and is ready to be executed every moment, yet
all is well in your thoughts. What prodigious
security is this ! Belshazzar in his cups, and height
of mirth, when he saw the handwriting upon the wall,
this made him tremble, Dan. v. 5, 6. Sinner, thou
art at ease, sporting thyself in thy worldly delights,
look but into the word ; there is a dreadful hand
writing against thee, there is condemnation written
over and over in broad and legible characters as thy
portion, wilt not thou fear ? Surely it is sad dancing
over the mouth of hell. There is but a breath be
twixt thee and everlasting flames, and yet art thou
secure? Is eternal misery a thing to be dallied
with or slighted? If men were not downright
atheists, this condemnation would affright and startle
them.1 Now do I speak to any here of you as being
under this woeful security? If it be possible to
reach your consciences, and to stir up fear in you, I
would desire you to consider these four or five
things. 1. It is God himself who will be your judge, and
who wiU pass the condemnatory sentence upon you.
It is somewhat terrible to be arraigned and con
demned at the bar of man, but how much more
terrible will it be to be arraigned and condemned at
the bar of God ! What a vast disproportion is
here betwixt the crimes, the judge, the sentence,
the execution ! &c. O sinners, when you must
stand before such a judge, in order to the receiving
of such a sentence, for crimes so high and heinous,
wUl you not tremble ? Methinks the majesty, omni-
sciency, omnipotency, righteousness of this judge
should strike us all with fear and dread. There is
no standing before him4 such is his majesty ; no
hiding of anything from him, such is his omni-
sciency; no resisting of him, such is his omni
potency ; no corrupting of him, such is his infinite
righteousness. What, then, will become of you who
are in your sins, but out of Christ ? At the tribunal
of this God you jnust hold up your hands, be tried,
and so condemned. Is this nothing to you ? And
because he will not himsetf immediately judge the
world, but mediately by Christ — that man whom he
hath ordained to this office, Acts xvu. 31 — therefore
1 Haec cura omnes non omnino atheos necessario excruciat,
et est tristis consoientiarum tortura. — Parens in loc.

Christ in his own person shall appear and ride his
great circuit as the universal judge, and every one
of you shall be summoned before him to be judged)
by him : 2 Cor. v. 10, ' We must all appear before
the judgment-seat of Christ ; that every one,' &c.
And may not the consideration of this very much
heighten your fear 1 You not being in Christ, how
will you be able to stand before Christ? Where he
is not a gracious head, will he not be a severe
judge ? You must be judged by him whom you so
often, so scornfully have rejected. He wiU be your
judge, whom you would not have to be your King
and Saviour ; what favour can you expect from him
whom you have so basely used? In what glory
wUl this judge appear when you shall stand before
him ? Now you know the glory and solemnity of
the bench adds to the terror of the malefactor at the
bar: Mat. xxv. 31, 'When the Son of man shall
come in his glory, and aU the holy angels with him, '
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.' Oh
to be tried, cast, and sentenced by so glorious a
judge, in so solemn a manner, this must needs be
terrible to sinners when they see it and hear it,
though now they make nothing of it ! Rev. vi. 15-
17, ' And the kings of the earth, and the great* men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the
mighty men, and every bond man, and every free
man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks
of the mountains ; and said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb : for the great day of -his wrath is come ;
and who shall be able to stand 1 '
2. Think with yourselves what this condemnation
is. Men are fearless because they are thoughtless.
Did they but weigh and ponder what the things of
another world are, what it is to be everlastingly
condemned, they would not be so secure as'they are.
Condemnation, what is it? It is, in short, to be
adjudged to eternal death. Men condemn their
guilty persons to die a temporal death, and that is
as high as they can go; but God, being a higher
judge and greater offences being committed against
him than what are committed by man against man,
he inflicts a greater penalty, and his sentence is to
die eternally He doth not condemn to a prison, to
an axe, or gallows, just to die, and then there is an end

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

27

of all ; oh no ! he sentences to death, and eternal
death too. And this is no less than the loss of
God's love and favour and presence, which is the
poena damni ; and the undergoing of endless, cease
less, remediless torments in hell, which is the poena
sensus. Both are very sad, but divines generaUy
give the pre-eminence to the first.1 The hell of hell
is the loss of heaven and of God's love. But both
put together must needs make the sinner extremely
miserable; and he that is out of Christ shall feel
both of them. Would you know what this condem
nation is ? You have a sad draught or description of
it, Mat. xxv. 41, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devU and his
angels.' Every word here, if I could speak to it,
is thunder and Ughtning. To be thrust from Christ
and thrown into fire, into everlasting fire, into that
very fire which is prepared for the devU and his
angels, oh, here is misery indeed ! Hear me, there
fore, you who are out of Christ; if you so live
and so die, you shall never see God ; and this is not
aU, for you shaU also feel those torments, in com
parison of which stone, gout, strangury, racking by
men, the most exquisite pains here, are in a manner
perfect ease, or at least very inconsiderable pain.2
And this, too, you must lie under to all eternity.
Oh this is worst of aU ! this puts an accent, indeed,
upon this condemnation: it is eternal condemna
tion! This eternity fiUs up the measure of the
unbeliever's misery, and makes it to run over. In
heaven it is eternity of joy ; in heU it is eternity
of woe. To be miserable as long as God shall be
blessed ; to be always dying, and yet always to Hve;
to be always drinking, and yet the cup still to con
tinue full ; to launch out into a boundless ocean of
eternal wrath ; to. He under evils, and to see no end
of them ; that when millions of miUions of years are
over, aU is, as it were, to begin again, and the poor
creature is— but after the efflux of so much time-
just where he was at the first; to pass from dying
comforts to never-dying sorrows ;— what tongue can
express, what heart can conceive the greatness' of
1 Omnia Gehennse supplicia superabit, Deum non videre, et
bonis carere.— Bernard. See Bolton of the four last things,
p. 95, 4c.
2 Vide Chrys. ad pop. Antioch., Hom. 49, very full upon
this.

this misery ! It is ' everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord,' 2 Thes. i. 9 ; it is ' ever
lasting punishment,' Mat. xxv. 46 ; it is ' everlasting
fire,' Mat. xxv. 41 ; it is ' the worm that never dies,'
Mark ix. 44 ; it is ' everlasting chains,' Jude 6 ; ' the
blackness of darkness for ever,' Jude 13. Now, sirs,
what do you think of this ? are you able to bear it ?
Alas ! ' who among us shall dweU with devouring
fire? who among us shaU dwell with everlasting.
burnings ?' Isa. xxxui. 14. This made the sinners in
Zion afraid, and filled hypocrites with tearfulness ;
and will it not, sooner or later, have the same effect
upon you who are out of Christ ? If this condem
nation or eternal death was total abolition or an
nihilation, as some Socinians make it to be,1 it
would not be so bad ; this would be a great allay to
it ; for surely, whatever some learned men may say
to the contrary, no being would be more desirable
than such a being ; but it is not so.
3. The condemnatory sentence being once passed, it
will be irreversible and irresistible. When it is once
out of the judge's mouth there is no reversing of it ;
as the penalty is intolerable, so the sentence is irre
versible. The poor condemned sinner wUl presently
faU upon his knees and most earnestly beg mercy,
but all in vain ; all his entreaties, beseechings, tears,
wringing of hands, wUl avaU nothing; time was
when he would not hear Christ, and now Christ will
not hear him. Now, to be sure, the season of grace is
over — once condemned and ever condemned ; there
is neither appealing from the judge nor repealing
of the sentence. And then too, I say, it is irre
sistible ; as soon as it is passed, Christ wiU have his
officers by him, who shall see it put into execution :
his guard and retinue of angels shall be ready for
this service, these reapers shall < gather the tares and
bind them in bundles to burn them,' Mat. xiii. 30,
and who shaU be able to resist ? The judge amongst
the Jews was to see the offender punished before his
face, Deut. xxv. 2. Christ will not only pass sen
tence, but he himsetf will see execution done : Luke
xix. 27, 'Those mine enemies, which would not that
I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay
them before me.' And as there wUl be no turning of
1 See Calov. Socin. proflig. de morte seterna, Contr. tertia,
p. 1113. Cloppenb. Compend. Sooinian, cap. 8, p, 134, &o,,
with many others.

28

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

iim, so neither will there be either flying from him
>r making resistance to him. When man condemns
Sod can save, but who can save when God con-
lemns ? If the three children be thrown into, the
ire God can take them out, but when the unbeHever
s thrown into hell-fire, or to be thrown into hell-
ire, who then can either hinder or deliver ? Oh come
o Christ and get into Christ betimes ! If you defer
ill the sentence be passed,you must suffer it, and there
s no remedy. As God says, ' I will work, and who
haU let ? ' Isa. xlin. 13. So when he condemns, and
rill have his sentence executed, who shall let 1 what
an man do to defend himself, or to hinder God ?
"ob xxxi. 14, 'What shall I then do when God
iseth up ? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer
im?' 4. The unbeliever and Christless person will not
nly be condemned by God, but he wUl also be con-
emned by himself: self-condemnation will accom-
any God's condemnation, and that is very miser-
ble. Next to being condemned by God, nothing
) sad as to be aiiroxardxgiroc, condemned by one's-
jlf. When the poor sinner shaU be upon his trial,
onscience will accuse as well as the law, and con-
emn as weU as the judge. And as soon as ever
le judge shall have passed sentence, conscience will
UI upon the guilty condemned person and say, Is
ot this just and righteous ? ' hath not thou procured
bis to thyself? ' Jer. ii. 17 ; must not such a course
ave such an end ? is not this the fruit of thy sin ?
'his will highly justify God, (for the more the sin-
er condemns himself, the more he acquits God,) but
reatly heighten his own misery. You read how at
le great day there shall be the opening of the
ooks,1 Rev. xx. 21 ; these# books are mainly two, the
ook of Scripture, and the book of conscience. As
a the latter, men keep it shut here, but God will
pen it to some purpose then ; and sinners shall be
jrced to look into it, and read over the sins of their
ves written there in very legible characters. And
rhat a sad time will it then be, when as God con-
emns without and above, so conscience shaU com
emn below and within ! Such as are out of Christ
ill feel also this to be true, to their inexpressible
1 Per apertionem librorum significatur, unicuique con-
:ientia sua (nee enim opus erit testibus externis) suggestura
t omnem suam vitani. — Voss de Exlr. Judicio.

grief and torment, if it be not prevented by timely
repentance. 5. I might add, (which indeed wUl be but a more
particular explication of the former head,) this con
demnation wiU be the sadder, especially to such who
Uve under the gospel, because they will lie under
the sense and conviction of this, that they have
foolishly and wilfully brought all this misery upon
themselves. For — and their hearts wUl teU them
of it — Christ offered himself to them from time to
time, but they refused to close with him; he ten
dered pardon to them, but they shghted it ; and who
will pity the traitor that dies for his treason, when
his prince offered him a pardon and he scorned to
accept of it ? They might have been saved as well
as others, would they but have hearkened to the
free, gracious, hearty, often ' repeated invitations
which in the gospel were made to them ; how often
would Christ have ' gathered them as the hen gathers
her chickens, but they would not,' Mat. xxiii. 37 ;
and therefore now their souls are lost for ever. 0
sinner ! ' thy destruction is of thyself,' Hosea xhi. 9 ;
and the consideration of this wiU sadly gnaw upon
thy conscience for ever ; this is the worm that never
dies.- The Jews, when they had adjudged a malefac
tor to die, the judge and the witnesses used to lay
their hands upon him, and to say ' Thy blood be
upon thy own head;' in imitation of which the
murderers of our Saviour said, ' His blood be on us
and our chUdren,' Mat. xxvH. 25. Thus Christ, when,
he shall have passed the dreadful sentenced eternal
death upon the impenitent and unbeHeving, he will
say, Your blood be upon your own heads.
Now is not here enough, if the Lord woidd please
to set it home upon the conscience, to awaken and
terrify secure Christless sinners? You who are out
of Christ pray believe me, as sure as God is, and is
a just and righteous God, as sure as his word is true,
so sure are you, if you go out of the world before
you have got into Christ, to be condemned for ever.
And will ye not lay this to heart before it be too
late? is it not high time for you to think of these
thmgs? will nothing awaken you but only the feel
ing of everlasting flames? will you not mind the
damned state till you be in it? I tremble to think
of that distress that you wUl be in at the great day,
though now you are quiet and unconcerned; when

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

29

your sins shall fly in your faces and accuse you, when
the tremendous justice of God shall affright you,
when, if you look downwards, there is a hell ready
to receive you, if upwards there is' an angry judge, if
inwards there is the worm of conscience, if about
you there is a world all in flames. Oh what a time
wiU this be ! what would you then give to be in
Christ ? take heed, I beseech you, of an after wisdom.
Use 2. Secondly, I would exhort you to make
sure of this exemption from condemnation, to labour
to be in the number of those to whom there is no
condemnation. It is infinite mercy that such a
thing is attainable ; surely he must be strangely be
sotted and utterly void of all sense of eternity, who
doth not with the greatest care and diHgence put
in for a share in this happiness. No condemnation !
Justification here and salvation hereafter ! What can
be so worthy of our utmost pains and endeavours as
these ? what pitiful trifles and very nothings are all
other things in comparison of these ! It is no great
matter how things go at present, if the future ever
lasting state may be secured. Oh that all your
thoughts, desires, pursuits, might be swallowed up
in this ! You dread such and such evils here ; alas !
what are these to the eternal evils which have been
set before you ? You are set upon the world's good,
and what is that to an endless blessedness in the
vision and fruition of God in heaven? Think of
hell, and nothing here wiU be very evU, and of
heaven, and nothing here wUl be very good. Should
you come to a condemned man, and talk to him of
the riches, honours, crowns, and sceptres of this
world ; Ah ! saith he, what is this to me ? I am a
. poor condemned man ; can you tell me how I may
get out of the condemnation that I lie under ? Then
you wUl say something which wUl suit my condition.
Why, sirs, you trouble yourselves about the getting
of wealth, the greatening of yourselves in the world,
but you do not consider you are condemned men :
such you were as you came into the world. ' By the
offence of one, judgment came upon all to condemna
tion,' Rom. v. 13 ; and there is a worser condemnation
for you when you shall go out of the world. Oh
1 Indique erunt tibi angustise hinc erunt acousantia peccata,
tremeda justitia, subter patens horridum chaos, desuper iratus
judex, intus vermis eonscientise, foris ardens mundus. — BereS
de Consc.

what have you to do but to get out of this con
demnation? It is to be feared that the greatest
part of men (not out of any want of mercy in God,
or from anything to be charged upon God, but
merely through their own sin and foUy) will perish
therein. You read of the condemning of the world,
Cor. xi. 32 ; now therefore what are you, or what
do you do, that you may be exempted from the
general misery ? Certainly if you He in the common
state, and live in the common course, you must perish
in the common condemnation; think of it, and
make some timely provision against it. Yourgudge
deals very graciously with you ; he warns you before
hand, tells you how his terrible sentence may be
prevented, nay, he offers life and pardon to you if
you will but accept of it. And after all this, will you
force him to condemn you ? Then it will be con
demnation with a witness. I would upon this con
sideration be the more earnest with you in the
present advice, because though this condemnation
will be sad enough to all, yet to you it will be super
latively sad. You Hving under the gospel, where
the way of salvation is set before you, where tenders
of grace are made to you, if you be not wise and
serious in securing the main, this will not only
make your condemnation more unavoidable, — ' How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? '
Heb. u. 3, — but also more intolerable : it wUl be
condemnation with an accent or emphasis to you.
' This is the condemnation, that Hght is come into
the world,' &c, John iu. 19. The Scripture speaks
of 'greater damnation,' Mat. xxui. 14. It wUl be
great damnation to pagans and infidels, but greater
damnation to Christians. According to the different
measures of that gospel light and gospel grace which
men live under, so wUl the different measures of
their future misery be. If they live and die in im-
penitency and unbelief. OhJiow wtfl these aggravate
your condemnation ! If there be one place in hell
hotter than another, that very place shall be yours,
whilst others shaU mitius ardere. ' Thou Capernaum,
which art exalted into heaven, &c. But I say unto
you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you,' Mat.
xi. 23, 24.
You will ask me, What are we to do that it may
be to us no condemnation? For answer to this,

10

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

everal directions might be given and much enlarged
pon ; but I will give you only five or six, and be
ut short upon them.
Direc. 1. First, Let sin be condemned in you
nd by you. For thus the case stands : sin must
ither be condemned by you, or you for it; a
ondemnatory sentence must pass either upon the
in or the sinner. And is it not better it should
ass upon the sin rather than upon the sinner?
lat it should die rather than you should die ? Oh
st not sin live in you, nor do you Uve in it, for if
; be so it will be condemnation ! This sin is the
mdemning thing. Had there been no sin there
ad been no condemnation ; it is that, and that
nly, which makes the creature liable to eternal
eath : ' The wages of sin is death,' Rom. vi. 23.
>id not the malefactor break the law, by steaUng,
iiirdering, &c, he would not be obnoxious to the
iw's penalties ; and so it is here. We violate God's
lw, upon that violation there is guilt, upon that
ailt there is obnoxiousness to punishment and to
sentence of death. Oh take heed of sin ! Here Ues
le evil of it, it exposes to and ends in eternal con-
emnation. It pleases the sinner for a season, Heb.
i. 25, and then entails everlasting wrath upon him.
7 as it not for this a life in sin would be a fine life.
must recall myself. A life in sin a fine life ? No.
7 as there no hell hereafter, yet such a life would
e, and is, a base, sordid, cursed Hfe. But hell, and
Tath, and condemnation, and aU follow upon it, and
lis spoUs the pleasures and dehghts of a sinful life.
VHo would not fear and shun sin ? A child of God
reads it for the hell that is in it. Methinks all
bould dread it for the heU that is procured by it.
low therefore what is your course ? Every man's
sntence shaU be according to his course. Where it
i a holy course, it shall be the sentence of life ; where
; is the opposite course, it shall be the sentence of
eath. Bring it down to yourselves ; do not you live
a sin? Maybe you are not drunkards, swearers,
tc, ; but is there not some other, some secret way of
rickedness in which you walk — some bosom lust
id and cherished ? Do you endeavour after univer-
al holiness ? These things must be inquired into,
Dr the no-condemnation depends upon them. Mis-
ake me not. I do not say, tf no sin, then no con-
Lemnation, as tf to be sinless was the condition of

or way to the future blessedness. God forbid I
should go so high ! for then I should condemn every
man in the world; but this I say, no aUowed sin,
no reigning sin, no presumptuous sin, no course in
sin, and then it is no condemnation. That God
who is just to punish for known and presumptuous
sins, is gracious also to pardon sins of infirmity.
So that upon the whole, as ever you desire to see
the face of God with comfort, to lift up your heads
before your judge at the great day with joy, to be
freed from the sentence of condemnation — I say, as
ever you desire these blessed things, be holy, Hve a
godly Hfe, keep sin at a great distance, do not aUow
yourselves in it, but rather condemn it, that it may
not condemn you. If any think that the present
good of sin preponderates the future evil of condem
nation, or that they may live in sin and yet rely upon
God's mercy, as if he would not condemn them for
it, I heartily beg of God that he will convince them
of these soul-destroying mistakes, that they may not
persist in them tUl condemnation itself will be a
sad confutation to them.
Direc. 2. Secondly, Condemn yourselves, and God
will not condemn you. Self-condemnation prevents
God's condemnation. There is a self-condemnation
which is judicial and penal, which pains and tor
ments, but yet doth no good ; such was that of Cain
and Judas. Oh there is in some that condemnation
from their own consciences, which is but a prolepsis
to the condemnation of God at the great day. But.
then there is gracious and penitential self-condem
nation, such as that of David upon his numbering
of the people, and also upon his commission of other
sins. Now this is that which I would urge upon
you. Where the sinner, upon the sense of the
heinousness of sin, condemns himself, God wiU not
condemn him too : ' If we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged of the Lord,' 1 Cor. xi. 31 ;
and so here as to condemnation. The penitent self-
judger is safe; the self-condemning publican went
away justified, Luke xviii. 14. When the sinner
justifies, God condemns; but when he condemns, then
God justifies. This signifies but little in the courts
of men. Let the criminal person repent and judge
himself never so much, that is nothing ; for all this,
the law must be executed upon him; but this
always carries it in the court of God. ' Oh, saith

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

31

God, there is a sinner, but he is a penitent sinner ;
he hath sinned, but he is angry with himself for it ;
he arraigns and condemns himsetf for it ; well, upon
this I will acquit him; he condemns below, and
therefore I wUl absolve above.
Direc. 3. Thirdly, As you desire no condemnation,
speedUy get your peace made with God through
Christ Jesus. A pacified God is never a condemn
ing God. First, our apostle saith, ' Being justified
by faith we have peace with God,' Rom. v. 1 ; and
then he infers, ' There is now no condemnation,'
&c. Your first work is to look after the atoning of
God through the blood of Christ ; tf it be not recon
cUiation it will be condemnation. Are God and
you reconcUed ? Is your peace made with him ?
You have a reprieve for some time, but have you
sued out your pardon? Is the breach which sin
hath made healed and made up betwixt God and
you ? Oh, as Christ speaks, ' Agree with thine ad
versary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him,
lest at any time thy adversary deliver thee to the
judge,' &c, Mat. v. 25, 26 ; this is a thing which
admits of no procrastination.
Direc. 4. Fourthly, Pray that it may be to you
exemption from condemnation. You would have
others, yourselves, delivered from it, but are you
often with God, and earnest with God about this
matter ? Of all evils, deprecate this as the greatest
evil; teU God you are willing he should do any
thing with you, burn, cut, lance, modo in ceternum
par cat, tf he wiU but save you from eternal misery.
This is the thing you should every day, with the
greatest ardency, be begging of God : Ah, Lord, do
with us what thou pleasest,. but -for thy mercy sake
do not condemn us: You are to pray daily that
you may not ' enter into temptation,' Luke xxii. 40 ;
surely much more that you may not enter into con
demnation. Oh be often upon your knees pleading
with God, and saying, Lord, ' what profit wUl there
be in our blood?' Ps. xxx. 9. Why should such
souls be lost for ever? What wiU follow upon our
condemnation, but cursing and blaspheming of thy
sacred name? Whereas if thou wilt pardon and
save, we shaU bless, adore, and magnify thy name
for ever. If God give you a heart thus to pray for
this mercy, the mercy of mercies, it is to be hoped
he will not withhold, it from you. It is good to

pray now whilst prayer will do you good ; when the
sentence is once passed, it will then do you no good
at all. Is it not much to be lamented that there
are so few who go to God to plead with him about
the everlasting concerns of their immortal souls?
Many go from day to day, from week to week, nay,
from year to year, without prayer ; let it be salva
tion or damnation, it is all one to them. Oh this is
dreadful ! How seldom are the most of men at the
throne of grace beseeching the Lord, for Christ
Jesus' sake, to deliver them from wrath to come !
What can be expected upon this, but that their final
state will be very sad ? The end of the prayerless
cannot be good. Nay, I have too just occasion to
go higher; there is a sort of persons amongst us,
who, instead of humble, serious calhng upon God to
free them from condemnation, in their hellish im
precations they dare to call God to damn them.
Oh prodigious, amazing, astonishing profaneness ! I
tremble to speak of it ; but oh that it was not too
common in our ears ! What ! do men defy God,
and even bid him do his worst? Is damnation a
thing to be desired or wished for ? Do they know
what they say ? What if God should take them at
their word, and do that in his greatest wrath which
they seem to wish for with the greatest wickedness?
Oh let such take heed lest God hear them in a
dreadful manner ! I hope I speak to none of these ;
you, I trust, have a dread of God, and of the things
of eternity upon your spirits. Let exemption from
condemnation be the matter of your prayer ; and do
but join the right manner with the right matter,
and this will secure your souls for ever. God never
yet condemned a praying man : he that fears and
prays, shall never feel what he fears and prays
against. Direc. 5. Fifthly, Make sure of faith, I mean true,
saving, justifying faith ; where that is, yea, but the
least drachm of it, there shall be no condemnation.
It secures from this, both as it is the grace which
unites to Christ, and also as it is the great condition
of the gospel upon which it promises life and salva
tion. Unbelief is the damning sin, and faith is the
saving grace. If thou beest a sincere beUever, it is
not only thou shalt not be condemned, but thou
shalt most certainly be saved ; both are sure from
the frequent, often-repeated declarations, attesta-

32

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. I.

ions, promises of the word ; the whole gospel reve-
ation centres in this. God is as gracious to acquit,
ustify, save the believer, as he is righteous to charge,
mnish, condemn the unbeliever. He may set down
ivhat condition or conditions he pleases, in order to
;he giving out of his grace ; which, when they are
performed, he is engaged to make good what he
promises upon them.1 Oh, therefore, get faith, for
;his is the grand gospel condition : tf you beUeve
lot, the gospel itsetf cannot save you; tf you be-
ieve, the law itself cannot condemn you.
Direc. 6. I do not enlarge upon these things, be-
:ause that direction which is proper to the text is
;his, As you desire no condemnation, get into Christ,
so as to be in Christ Jesus ; for they, and they only,
ire the persons who are out of the danger of con-
lemnation. The privilege and the subject are of
;he same extent and latitude ; just so many as are
n Christ are safe, and no more. If thou beest one
)f these, do not fear ; if otherwise, do not flatter thy
self with false, presumptuous, and ungrounded hopes.
Ml that were not in the ark perished in the common
leluge; all out of Christ are lost. When it is a
Dhrist, it is no condemnation ; when it is no Christ,
t is nothing but condemnation. When the guilty-
rarsued malefactor had got into the city of refuge,
;hen he was secure. Oh thou poor awakened sinner,
ly to Christ, it is for the Hfe of thy precious soul,
md get into Christ, the alone city of refuge for the
)oor guilty creature, then guUt may pursue thee,
mt it shall never hurt thee. And here I would
idmonish all to take up with nothing short of union
rith Christ. You are members of the church, but
ire you members of Christ ? You are joined to the
murch upon baptism, but are you joined to Christ
oj a true and lively faith ? Here lies your security
'rom condemnation. The first Adam hath brought
milt upon us, and consequently death — how ? we
seing united to him ; so the second Adam frees us
"rom this, and makes over righteousness to us — how ?
n the same way and upon the same ground, viz.
sve being united to him ; without this all that Christ
1 Gratia Dei speranda est et acceptanda ad normam et pro-
jositum miserentis Dei, (neque enim convenit, ut qui condem-
lationis reus est, formulas gratiae prascribat ei a quo juste
potest condemnari,) sed requiritur, ut praescriptum gratiiE ab
Uo aceipiat et grato animo amplectatur — .Muscul. in prcefut.
id Ep. ad Rom.

is, hath done, or suffered, will avail, us nothing.
But I shall more fully insist upon this in that which
will follow.
Use 3. Thirdly, I would speak to those who are
in Christ, to excite them to be very thankful, and
highly to admire the grace of God. What? No
condemnation? not one condemnation? Oh the
riches, the heights, breadths,1 depths, lengths of the
love of God ! How should such be even astonished
because of this inexpressible mercy ! They who de
serve millions of condemnations, that yet there is
not one condemnation belonging to them ; they that
have in them matter enough to condemn them over
and over, that yet they shaU never be condemned ¦
how should God be admired by those to whom this
blessedness belongs ! Such as are not in this state
how should they be filled with self -awakening
thoughts ! Such as are in this state, how should
they be fiUed with God-admiring thoughts ! Oh you
that are in Christ, what wUl you think of this happi
ness when you shall see it accompUshed ? The truth
is, as sinners wUl never know, nor ever be suitably
affected with, their misery till they feel it in hell;
so the saints will never know, or be suitably affected
with, their happiness tiU that day shaU come where
in they shall be put into the possession of it in
heaven. When God shaU pick and single you out
of the common crowd, and shall say, I here acquit
you before all the world from aU your guilt, I here pro
nounce you to be righteous persons, and I will by
no means pass a condemnatory sentence upon you,
though I know what I might have done to you, and
what I will do to others ; I say, when it shall come
to this, how will your souls be drawn out (and if
you had a thousand more souls, how would they all
be drawn out) in the adoring and magnifying of the
grace of God ! But something should be done now
whUst you are here, though but in the hopes and
expectation of this felicity. Where there is no con
demnation there should be much thankfulness. How
doth the traitor admire the grace and clemency of
his prince who sends him a pardon when he ex
pected his trial and sentence to die !
And as you must be thankful to God the Father,
so m special to Jesus Christ. It is he who hath
'saved you from wrath to come,' 1 Thes. i 10 It is
he who was willing to be condemned himsetf. that

Chap. I.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

33

he might free you from condemnation. Judgment
passed upon him — ' He was taken from prison and
from judgment,' Isa. lui. 8 — that it might not pass
upon you. He was made a curse that he might de
liver you from the curse, Gal. iii. 13. When Adam
had entailed guilt and wrath upon you, Christ came
and cut off this sad entail, and procured justification
for you : ' As by the offence of one judgment came
upon aU to condemnation : even so by the righteous
ness of one the free gift came upon all to justification
of Ufe,' Rom. v. 18. It is upon union with him that
there is no condemnation to you. Oh let your whole
. soul go out in thankfulness to Christ ! He, as your
surety, paid your debt, else you had been arrested
and thrown into prison for ever. In him there was
nothing to deserve condemnation, and yet he was
wUHng to be condemned ; in you there is very much
to deserve condemnation, and yet you shaU never be
condemned. Here is the admirable, boundless, in
finite love of Christ !
Use 4. Lastly, The main tendency and drift of
this truth is comfort to beUevers ; and what a full
breast of consolation is here for such as are in
Christ ! No condemnation to them ! This no con
demnation is the ground of all consolation. What a
word is here for faith and hope ! 0 magna spei ver
bum! as he cries out. What a mighty support is
here for poor doubting and dejected souls ! l The
great thing that such are afraid of is condemnation ;
but here is that which secures them from it. The
assertion is very express and full, and it is grounded,
too, upon a sure foundation — ' There is now no con
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.' Oh,
you that are in Christ, as your thankfulness should
be high, so your joy should be high also! And
what will raise your joy if this wUl not? Pray,.
improve it upon aU occasions, and be cheerful. Set
this against all the present evils you meet with.
God afflicts you, but he wUl not condemn you.
Why should you be troubled? Affliction becomes
very tolerable upon no-condemnation. What though
it be sickness, pain, loss of relations, a low estate, so
1 Ut frustra sibi blanditur homo carnalis, si de emendanda
vita nihil sollioitus, hujus gratiae praetextu impunitatem sibi
promittat ; ita habent trepidae piorum conscientiae invictum
propugnaculum, quod dum in Christo manent, sciunt se esse
extra omne damnationis periculum. — Calv. in loc.

long as the soul is safe and the main state secured ?
There may be 'fiery trials' here, 1 Peter iv. 12, but
there is no ' unquenchable fire ' to burn in hereafter,
Mark ix. 43. Oh, there is comfort ! What are the
comforts of this world if we shall be kept out of
heaven, and what are the crosses of this world if we
shall be kept out of hell ? Take the wicked, there is
condemnation at the bottom of all their good ; take
the saints, there is salvation at the bottom of all
their evil. Again, men condemn you ; ah, but God
will not condemn you. This is but man's day, 1 Cor.
iv. 3, where you may have the worst of it; but
God's day is coming, and then all will go on your
side. Oh, let it be a very little thing to you to be
judged of man, so long as God doth and will acquit.
You have sin in you, (too much, God knows,) yet
it is no condemnation; and if sin itself — it being
pardoned and washed away by the blood of Christ,
Rev. i. 5 — if this, I say, shall not condemn you,
what then shall? After Paul's sad complaints of
sin, yet he here says there is no condemnation.
Condemn yourselves for sin you do; and so you
should do, provided this self-condemnation flow from
repentance, not from unbelief; but the great God,
by whose judicial sentence your everlasting state
shall be ordered, wUl not condemn you for it.
It will be so far from this, that, as some divines
hold, the sins of believers shall not be so much as
mentioned at the great day.1 The law is a condemn
ing thing : it is so indeed in itself, but it is not so to
you who are in Christ. You must die and be judged ;
but welcome death, welcome judgment, so long as
there is no condemnation. Why should you be
afraid of these, which will only let you see the ac
complishment of what is here affirmed 1 This is the
happiness of you who are in Christ; will you act
faith upon it, and take the comfort of it ? I would
have you Hve and die with this cordial always by
you, ' There is therefore now no condemnation,' &c.
And let me add, it is not only your privilege, but
your duty to rejoice because of this ; it is not only
1 Hinc fidelium peccata non prodibunt in judicium. Quum
enim in istac vita per sententiam justificationis tecta sunt
et ablata, et ultimum illud judicium confirmatio erit et
manifestatio ejusdem sententise, non esset consentaneum ut in
lucem denuo turn temporis proferantur. — Ames. Med., lib. i.
cap. 41.

14

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

ou may, but you ought to be cheerful : you cannot
le otherwise, unless you either distrust or disparage
chat is here spoken of. The sinner hath no reason
o be jocund and merry, for he is liable every mo-
neat to condemnation ; the saint hath no reason to
>e dejected and pensive, for he is out of all danger
if condemnation. The sinner is secure as though
here was no hell ; and the saint is sad and cast
lown as though there was no heaven. The good
jord convince the one, and comfort the other!
I will close all with two words of advice. 1. Get
issurance in your own souls that there is to you no
:ondemnation. It is a sad thing to live under per-
idventures about this ; maybe God wUl save, and
naybe too God wUl damn. To hang in doubtful-
less 'twixt heaven and hell is a very uncomfortable
tate. Were you but clear in your evidences about
his privilege, you could not but rejoice. Now, in
irder to this, do but make sure of your union
rith Christ, and that will assure you of no con-
lemnation. 2. Let this happiness be a great incentive to holi-
less. It is good to infer duty from mercy. Are
ou secured from condemnation ? What manner of
ersons should you be ? How should you differ from
thers here, who shall so differ from others here-
fter ? Though sin shall not condemn you, yet do
ou condemn it. I wUl end with an allusion to that
f our Saviour to the woman taken in adultery,
Woman,' saith Christ, 'where are those thine ac-
users? Hath none condemned thee? She said,
Jo man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
o I condemn thee ; go, and sin no more,' John viii.
0, 11.

CHAPTER II.
OF THE SAINTS' UNION WITH CHRIST.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, &c. — RoM. vUi. 1.
The subject of the proposition next opened — What it is
to be in Christ Jesus— The difference betwixt Christ's
being in believers, and their being in Christ — Union
with Christ a great mystery — A threefold union : The
union of three persons in one nature ; the union of

two natures in one person; the union of persons where
persons and natures are distinct — This is mystical,
legal, or moral — Scripture resemblances, by which the
mystical union is sliadowed out— Its properties — It is
a sublime, real, spiritual, intimous, total, immediate,
indissoluble union — Use 1. For trial whether we le
in Christ — A double distinction concerning this —
Union with Christ is either material and natural, or
spiritual and supernatural: either external and visible,
or internal and invisible — How it may be known
whether we be really and savingly in Christ — Some
scriptures insisted upon for the evidence of this — Use
2. To excite all to get into Christ — Use 3. Some
directions in order to it — Use 4. Several duties pressed
upon those who are in Christ — Use 5. Comfort to such
in eleven particulars.
Two things have been observed in these words, the
privilege, and the subjects of that privilege. I have
done with the first, and go on now to the second.
Here is no condemnation, a very high and glorious
privUege ; who are the persons to whom it belongs 1
Such as are in Christ Jesus. This I have hitherto
but touched upon in the general, but am now to
fall upon the more particular opening of it.
To them which are in Christ Jesus. Here are the two
great names or titles of our blessed Lord; Christ
with respect to God, Jesus with respect to us. He
is God's Christ and our Jesus ; God's anointed and
our Saviour. But I do not intend in the least to stay
upon these titles; I will only speak to that one thing
which here lies before me, viz., being in Christ
Jesus. To them (which are) in Christ Jesus.— So we fill
it up ; but in the original it is only roig iv Xg/or$S
'In<soZ, ' to them in Christ Jesus.' The words are de
scriptive; the apostle doth not design in them to set
down the meritorious cause of non-condemnation—
no, not with respect to Christ himself— but only to
describe the persons who have an interest therein;
for he doth not say there is no condemnation because
of Christ, or through Christ, though that be very
true, but there is no condemnation to them who are
m Christ. I grant that something argumentative
may be fetched out of them, but in their first and
mam scope they are descriptive.
Quest. What is it to be in Christ Jesus ?

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

35

Answ. It is generaUy opened by that mystical
union which is betwixt Christ and believers through
the Spirit and faith.1 To be in Christ, it is to be
ingrafted, incorporated, mystically united unto Christ.
This union in Scripture is set forth, sometimes by
the saints' being in Christ, sometimes by Christ's
being in them. Sometimes, I say, by their being in
Christ ; so here in the text, and so in several other
places. 1 John v. 20, ' We are in him that is true,
even in his Son Jesus Christ.' 2 Cor. v. 17, ' If any
man be in Christ he is a new creature.' 1 Cor. i.
30, ' But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,' &c. Then
it is also set forth by Christ's being in them : 2 Cor.
xiU. 5, ' Know you not that Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates ?' Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you the
hope of glory.' Rom. viu. 10, ' And tf Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin,' &c.
Now I conceive these two expressions do both
point to one and the same thing, viz., to the spiritual
and mystical union betwixt Christ and believers.
Yet possibly, as to some modes and circumstances,
there may be some difference betwixt them ; which
a reverend person in a late treatise thus sets forth : 2
Christ is in the believer, by his Spirit, 1 John iv. 1 3 ;
1 Cor. ni. 13 ; the believer is in Christ by faith,
John i. 12. Christ is in the beUever by inhabita
tion, Eph. Ui. 17 ; the believer is in Christ by im.
plantation, John xv. 2 ; Rom. vi. 3. Christ is in
the beUever, as the- head is in the body, Col, i. 18,
as the root is in the branches, John xv. 5 ; believers
are in Christ, as the members are in the head, Eph. i.
23, as the branches are in the root, John xv. 7.
Christ in the believer impUeth life and influence
from Christ, Col. Hi. 4 ; 1 Peter H. 5 ; the believer
in Christ implieth communion and fellowship with
Christ, 1 Cor. i. 30. When Christ is said to be in
the beUever we are to understand it in reference to
sanctification; when the believer is said to be in
Christ, it is in order to justification.
Further, this union in Scripture is set forth, some
times by the saints abiding in Christ, and Christ's
1 Qui sunt in Christo, i.e., qui credunt in Christum, et per
fidem ei sunt insiti.— Piscat. in Schol ; so Beza. Esse in
Christo Jesu, est fide Christo adhaerere, Spiritu insitus esse ut
membrum Capiti.— Pare. Conjunctis fide cum Christo Jesu.
— Vatabl. Qui sunt incorporate per fidem et dilectionem et
fidei Bacramentum. — Aquin.
8 Mount Pisgah, p. 22.

abiding in them : John xv. 4, ' Abide in me and I
in you,' 1 John Hi. 24, ' Hereby we know that he
abideth in us,' &c. Sometimes by their dweUing in
Christ, and Christ's dwelling in them : 1 John iv.
13, ' Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he
in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.' John
vi. 56, 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.' Eph. iii. 17,
' That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.'
Sometimes by Christ's Uving in them, Gal. ii. 20, &c.
— ' Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' Sometimes
by that oneness that is betwixt Christ and them,
John xvii. 21, 22. And some make that avaxupaXa./ -
umg, that gathering together in one all things in
Christ, Eph. i. 10, to point to this union. I dispute
not about that, but certainly this is that' which is
here held forth, when the apostle saith there is ' no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.'
It being so, my business then wUl be, as God shall
assist, to discourse of that admirable and glorious
union which is betwixt Christ and beUevers. It is a
very high, and noble, and excellent argument. Oh
that I may, in some measure, reach the greatness,
spiritualness, and glory of it ! I will, not at all insist
upon the proving ofthe thing, viz., that some persons
are in Christ, or that there is this blessed union be
twixt Christ and saints ; for the Scriptures before-
mentioned sufficiently prove it, and I do not meet
with any who deny it. Though there are some
different notions about it, and some different expli
cations of it, yet all grant there is such a thing. So
that my only work will be first to open, and then to
apply it.
And indeed there is great need of the former, be
cause this union is a very profound and abstruse
point ; it is a mystery, a very great mystery ; a truth
which lies very deep, and is not easily to be Under
stood. All believe it, but few understand it; all grant
the quod sit, but for the quid sit how much are the
most knowing persons in the dark about it ! The
apostle, speaking of it, calls it ' a great mystery,'
Eph. v. 32 ; and, Col. i. 27, he sets it forth ' by the
riches of the glory of this mystery' (what's that?
why) ' Christ in you the hope of glory.' Indeed, it
is such a mystery as that we shall never fully under
stand it till we come to heaven, where all mysteries
shall be unfolded, and particularly this ofthe mystical

36

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

union : John xiv. 20, ' At that day ye shaU know
that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you.' That day refers either to the time when the
Spirit should be given, which is promised ver. 16, 17,
or to the glorified state, spoken of ver. 1 9. Upon
the effusion of the Spirit men may come to know
something of this union, but it will never be fully
understood by them till they be in glory. In the
opening of it, so far as the present state and the
height of the mystery wtfl admit of, I must look into
the word, and keep to that, and fetch all from that;
for it is revelation and not reason which here must
give us Hght. The word having revealed it, reason
may be useful, as a handmaid, to shadow it out by
such and such resemblances, thereby to help us the
better to conceive of it ; but that which must be our
first and main guide about it is Scripture revelation.
Now the Scripture speaks of a threefold union :
1. There is the union of three persons in one
nature. 2. There is the union of two natures in one person.
3. There is the union of persons, where yet per
sons and natures are distinct.
1. There is the union of three persons in one na
me. This is in the Trin-unity, where you have
hree persons united in the Godhead, the Trinity in'
mity, and the unity in Trinity ; one in three, in re-
pect of nature and essence, and three in one, in
espect of personaUty. This is that ineffable, incom-
irehensible union, which is between the Father, Son,
nd Holy Ghost, in the same common nature of the
Godhead. Of which the apostle speaks, 1 John v. 7,
There are three that bear record in heaven, the
father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
bree are one.' Here are three, and yet one ; three
s to their distinct personal subsistences, and yet one
s to their common nature. This a mystery to be
dored, not to be fathomed ; a mystery much too
eep for the plummet of reason to reach ; x he that
1 The union betwixt the Three Persons, &c. The knowledge
: this is not, nay, cannot be attained unto by the light of
iture. No example can illustrate, no reason, angelical or
iman, can comprehend the hidden excellency of this glorious
ystery. But it is discovered to us by a divine revelation in
te written word, and our faith must receive, and our piety
Imire what our reason cannot comprehend.— Cheynel of the
imne Trin-Unity, chap, iv., p. 19. Vide Aquin., p. 1, qu. 39,
t. 1, 2; Lombard lib. 1, dist. 2, 3.

by reason wpuld go about to grasp it is as fooUsh as
he that would attempt to put the ocean into a bucket,
or to grasp the universe in the hollow of his hand.
2. There is the union of two natures in one
person. This is that which we commonly call the
hypostatical union, or the union of the two natures
in Christ, his Godhead and his manhood, both
making up but one person. You may thus conceive
of it.: It is the substantial, supernatural conjunction
of the two natures in Christ, the divine assuming
the human, and giving it a subsistence in itself, so
that both make but one person ; and yet so as that
the being and properties of both natures are pre
served entire. As to this twofold union, I am not
at present concerned to speak to them ; when I shall
come to the third verse, I shaU have occasion there
to speak to the latter.
3. There is the union of persons, where yet
persons and natures are distinct ; and this is the
mystical union, that which is betwixt Christ and
believers; this I am only now to speak to.
Concerning which, that you may not mistake the
nature of it, you must know here is union, but no
transmutation, confusion, or commixtion ; here is
the union of persons, but not personal union.
1. Here is union, but no transmutation, confusion,
or commixtion ; I wiU put them together for brevity
sake. Believers are united to Christ, but yet not so
as that they are changed or transformed into the
very essence or being of Christ, so as to be Christed
with Christ, as some too boldly speak ; or that he is
changed or transformed into the essence and being
of believers : no, you must not entertain a thought
of any such thing. Christ is Christ stUl, and
believers are but creatures stiU, notwithstanding
this union ; though they be really and nearly united,
yet both keep their natures distinct, and are the
same after the union that they were before it. As
it is in the persons in the sacred trinity, there is
union but -no confusion; they are essentiaUy one,
yet they have their personal properties and distinct
subsistences.1 And as it is in the two natures of
Christ, they are under a near union, they make but
' -Erofrnu ofc , &rTe ovyxpe^Ba^, dXV «iSTe (Xeo-8ac d\Xf .
X^(calr,,^dXX,Xals.e,tX(6„(r(J,,xwat)^orfKal oo^o^.-Damasc. De Ortkod. Fide, lib. i. cap. 11,

Chap. II. ]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

37

one person, yet for all this they are distinct j1 the
Godhead is not turned into the manhood, nor the
manhood into the Godhead ; they are united but not
confounded or converted, for both of them, even
after this union, do still retain their essential pro
perties without confusion or conversion. 2 So it is
in the union of believers with Christ ; for thus far
we may make use of the two former unions to open
the mystical'union by — they all agree in this, though
in other things they differ. You may take a lower
resemblance of it if you please. In man there is a
near union between soul and body, and these two
united make up the man ; yet upon the union the
soul is not turned into the nature of the body, nor
the body into the nature of the soul ;3 they are not
confounded though united, they yet retain their
essence and properties distinct ; the soul is the soul
-still, and the body is the body still. So it is in the
union between Christ and believers.
2. Here is the union of persons, but not personal
union. And here Ues the difference between the
mystical union and the hypostatical union. The
hypostatical union is personal, but not of persons ;
the reason is, because in Christ there are two
natures, but there is but one person. There is this
nature and that nature in Christ, but not this person
and that person in Christ, as Nestorius held ; there
is in Christ a'XXo xai aXKo, but not aXkog xai aXXoj,
aliud et aliud but not alius et alius, as the learned
express it. Christ did not assume the person of
man but the nature of man into his / person, Non
assumpsit hominem personam sed hominem in personam}
But now in the mystical union it is otherwise ; there
it is the union of persons, but not personal union.
This I will endeavour to clear as well as I can.
In the mystical union there is the union of
persons ; the person of Christ is united to the person
of the beUever, and the person of the believer is
united to the person of Christ. For faith being the '
uniting grace, and this faith receiving the person of
1 OiSapjiv tvs t&v tpiaew 8ia<f>opas 6.vr\piUvns Sla rnv huaai,
o-ufyjiArns Se pJiWov tvs ISibr-rfros -riKaTtpas tpiaeas, Kal its iv
irpiatairov, Kal plan vrrddTao-ai oovrpexoio-qs. — Synod. CaUed. '
2 To, ((>io-iKa l8i.ilipM.Ta uo-<iyxUTa- Koi irpem-a. — Damasc. Dial.,
cap. 66.
3 Vide Nemes. de Nat. Horn., p. ,97. "Ore Be aaiyKvrov
fievet, &c.
4 Vide Lombard, lib. iii. dist. 5.

Christ, 'to as many as received him,'1 &c, it must
also unite to the person of Christ. In the marriage
union it is person joined to person, and so it is in
the mystical union also. How is a believer said to
be in Christ ? it cannot so properly be said that he
is in the graces, or in the comforts, or in the gifts of
Christ ; but the meaning is, he is in the person of
Christ ; so that this is a union of persons. For,
further, this union doth not lie only in some moral
or spiritual acts, qualities, or gracious endowments,
as oneness of will, or oneness of disposition, &c,
but it lies in the oneness of person. And therefore
Cyprian's explication of this union with Christ is
not full enough. Our union, saith he, with Christ
does not mingle persons nor confound substances,
(so far very true,) but it unites affections and wills ;2
(tf he meant that this was all, then it is conceived
he came short :) there is more in it than so, for
there is besides this uniting of the affections and
wiU, the uniting, though not the mingling, of persons.
The Father, Son, and Spirit, are one, not only in
respect of consent, as some most falsely tell us ; but
also in respect of nature and essence. Now, far be
it from me to say that Christ and the saints are
one in this sense ; yet withal I say, even between
them there is a higher union than barely that of
oneness of affection and wUl. I say no more than what
others who write upon this argument generally say.3
But that you may not go too high, I add, this
1 John i. 12. Faith is a. receiving of Christ himself ; we
cannot receive the benefits that come by him without receiv
ing of himself : as in marriage.the consent is, I take thee, not
I take thine, &c. — Vines on the Sacram., p. 120.
2 Nostra et ipsius cODJunctio non miscet personas, nee
confundit substantias; sed affectus consociat, et confaederat
voluntates. — Cypr.
3 Vide Zanch. in cap. v. ad Eph., p. 245.; Polan., Synt.
Theol., lib. vi. cap. 35. p. 454. Hujus- unionis interventu fit,
ut turn beneficiorum Christi turn substantias ipsius fiamus
participes, quia beneficia omnia et vis ilia vivifica quaa animas
nostras sustentat in vitam aeternam, non possunt a corpore et
sanguine Christi cui inhaerent, adeoque ab ipso Christo, divelh.
—Treltat Inst. Theol, lib. ii. p. 189. Bucan L. C. 48. pp. 818,
819. It is not a union of Christ with a believer in accidents
only, as in opinion, affection, in consent of mind and heart, or
in likeness of disposition and conversation ; but it is a union
of substances, essences, persons. As Mr Perkins saith, the
person of him that believeth is united to the person of Christ.
— Reyn. Pra>c, p. 49.

8

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IL

nion is not personal ; it is but mystical, not
ersonal. For then Christ and the believer would
roperly and physically make but one person ; and
len it would be so many believers, so many Christs;
nd then the believer would have, no subsistence but
1 Christ, as the human nature of Christ hath no sub-
istence but what it hath in the Godhead ; and then
e would merit in what he did, as Christ qua man
id by virtue of the personal union. Therefore we
lust conclude, that though here is a union of
ersons, the person of Christ in a mystical way
eing united to the person of believers, yet here is
ot any personal union, they both, notwithstanding
his, remaining several and distinct persons. These
bings may seem, as indeed they are, abstruse and
Lark to you; I will come to that which will be
omewhat more plain and easy.
For the further explication of this great mystery,
here are three things which I will speak to :
1. I will endeavour to open the several kinds or
iranches of that union which is betwixt Christ and
>elievers. 2. I wUl give you those scriptural resemblances
>y which it is shadowed and set forth.
3. I will give you the several properties of it.
1. First, Let me open the several kinds or
tranches of this union; it is threefold, mystical,
egal, and moral. A believer is united to Christ
hree ways, mystically, legally, morally. Take any
>f these singly, and they will not be enough compre-
lensive ; but take them jointly, so there is all in them.
(1.) First there is the mystical union, so we
isually call it, which may be thus described : It is
;hat supernatural, spiritual, intimous oneness and
conjunction which is betwixt the person of Christ
md the persons of belieVers, through the bond of
she Spirit and faith, upon which there follows
mutual and reciprocal communion each with the
Dther.1 If this description be taken in pieces, it
jontains in it the most considerable things to be
known about the mystical union. For,
[1.] Here is the proper general nature of it, viz.,
oneness and conjunction. Christ and saints are
united ; how ? why, in respect of that oneness and
conjunction that is betwixt them. This the Scrip.
1 Vide Bodium in Eph. v. 28, p. 786, more fully describ
ing of it.

ture expressions do mainly refer to, and clearly hold
forth. They are said to be in Christ, and Christ in
them ; they are said to dweU in Christ, and Christ
in them ; to abide in Christ, and Christ in them ;
to be one with Christ, as he is one with the
Father ; (the several scriptures which speak to these
things have been already cited.) They are further
said to be joined to the Lord, and to be one Spirit, 1
Cor. vi. 17; to be one flesh, Eph. v. 31, 32; Christ lives
in them, Gal. ii. 20 ; he is the head, they the
members, Eph. i. 22 ; he the root, they the branches,
John xv. 5 ; he the foundation, they the buUding,
1 Cor. Hi. 9-11 ; he the husband, they the wife, Eph.
v. 28, &c. All these expressions, I say, point to
that oneness and conjunction which is betwixt
Christ and believers, in which the general nature of
the mystical union doth consist.
[2.] Here is the qualities or properties of this
union. It is a supernatural, spiritual, intimous
union ; to which I shall speak by and by.
[3.] Here is the subjects of this union, Christ and
beUevers. And that too is set down with this
modification, the oneness and conjunction is betwixt
the person of Christ, and the persons of beUevers, '
(of which before.)
[4.] Here is the media or macula unionis, the
means or bonds of this union, the Spirit and faith.
[5.] Here is also the effect or consequent upon
this union — namely, mutual and reciprocal com
munion each with the other. This wUl be opened
in what will follow.
Only at present let me open the fourth head,
the means and bonds of the mystical union. In all
unions there is something which binds and knits
thing and thing, person and person, together; what
is it then which binds, knits, conjoins Christ to
believers, and believers to Christ ? I answer, it is
the Spirit and faith. The Spirit unites Christ to us,
and faith unites us to Christ. First, the Spirit is
the bond of this union on Christ's part ; for by this
he takes possession of believers,1 dwells in them,
lays hold of them, apprehends them, as the word is
Phil. Hi. 12 ; in TertuUian's dialect,2 Spiritus nos
* Christ lives in us, not by local presence, but by the special
supernatural operation of his Spirit. -Perkins upon Gal. ii. 20
p. 216.
2 De Trinit. et de Poenit.

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

39

Christo confibulat, the Spirit doth join and button
believers to Christ. And then faith is the bond or
ligament on our part: Eph. iii. 17, 'That Christ
may dwell in your hearts,' how? 'by faith.' Christ
lays hold on us by the Spirit, and we lay hold on
him by faith ; he comes to us by the Spirit, and we
go to him by faith. The Spirit of God does not
only discover and make out the union of the soul
with Christ,— ' Hereby we know, that he abides in
us, by the Spirit which he hath given us,' 1 John
hi. 24 — but he works, promotes, and brings it about.
As it is in that union which is amongst the saints
themselves, 'by one Spirit they are all baptized into
one body,' 1 Cor. xii. 13, so it is in the union
which is betwixt Christ and them ; by this one
Spirit they are all made one with Christ. There
fore, saith the apostle, ' If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,' Rom. viii. 9 ; he
means he hath neither interest in him, nor union with
him. And then there is faith, which unites on our part ;
for that is the uniting grace, the sinew or ligament
which knits and binds the soul to Christ ; that by
which the soul clasps and clings about Christ. By
faith we apply ourselves to Christ, and Christ to our
selves ; and that application is the ground of union.
So also by faith we receive Christ, John i. 12, upon
which receiving of him we are united to him and
made one with him. The spiritual ingrafting too is
by this, as you may see, Rom. xi. 19, 20 ; and this
is our eating Christ's flesh and drinking Christ's
blood, upon which he dwells in us, John vi. 56.
Thus the union is brought about both on Christ's
part and on the believer's part; and this is the
mystical union.
Secondly, There is the legal or law-union betwixt
Christ and believers. The ground of this union is
Christ's suretyship, Heb. vu. 22. He, as the saints'
eyyvog, surety, struck hands with God, as the word
imports, put -himself into their stead, took their
debt upon himself, and bound himself, upon their
account, to make satisfaction to God. Now from
this act of Christ there results that law-union which
I am upon. Saints, as it is said by some, are united
to Christ three ways, Spiritu, came, et vadimonio ;
as they are partakers of his Spirit, as he hath as
sumed their nature, and as he hath engaged for
them as their sponsor or surety. You know in law

the debtor and the surety are but one person ; the
law looks upon them as one, and makes no difference
betwixt them, and therefore both are equally liable
to the debt ; and if the one pay it, it is in the eye of
the law as much as if the other had paid it. So it is
with Christ and us ; he is our surety, for he took our
debt upon himsetf, engaged to pay whatever we
owed, (as Paul once did to Philemon for his Onesi-
mus, PhU. 18, 19,) entered into bond, though not
with us, yet for us. Upon this, Christ and we are
but one person before God, and accordingly he deals
with us ; for he makes over our sins to Christ, and
also Christ's righteousness and satisfaction to us, he
now, in a legal notion, looking upon both but as one
person. And this consideration is of great use (and
so accordingly it is improved by the orthodox against
Socinians) to clear up and confirm those great truths
which concern Christ's sufferings, and the believer's
benefit thereby. For if it be asked, How could
Christ — he being a person perfectly innocent — suffer
in a penal manner as he did ? He being altogether
guUtless in himself, how could the Father, with jus
tice, fall upon him as though he had been guilty 1
Or grant that he did thus suffer, yet how can any
good by his suffering redound to others ? I say, if
any shall raise such questions, the answer is ready :
That Christ and believers in law are but one person,
he having submitted to be their surety, in a volun
tary substitution of himsetf in their stead, and sus-
ception of their guilt. Whereupon it came to pass
that their guilt was imputed to him, upon which the
Father might, without the least impeachment of his
justice, severely fall upon him ; and his righteous
ness, merit, satisfaction, was imputed to them, (for
that being performed by their surety, it is theirs to
all intents and purposes, as if they had performed it
in their own persons.) Briefly, upon this law-union
resulting from Christ's suretyship, our sins were very
well imputable to him, and his merits to us. This
doth so exactly fall in with the common notion and
case of suretyship amongst men, that I need not any
further insist upon the illustration of it. The adver
saries, therefore, who deny that Christ either did or
could suffer in the sinner's stead, or that there is any
imputation of his merit to believers, are so pinched
with this — his being a surety — that they oppose it
to their utmost, wholly deny that too, and are fain

40

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

;o make good one denial with another. But here I
ligress. Two things I shall add upon this head, and then
lismiss it :
1. That the oneness of person betwixt Christ and
he saints (which hath been affirmed of them more
ban once or twice in the opening of the matter in
iand) is not to be carried further than that particu-
ar sense and respect in which it is.affirmed. I mean
his : they are not one person Hi respect of nature,
ssence, or any personal union ; only they are so in
espect of that mystical and legal oneness of person
hat is betwixt them. And this latter oneness is
ery weU consistent with the different natures of the
ubjects united, though the former is not so.
2. That this law-union is only proper to Christ
be second person. The mystical and the moral
nion, in some sense, doth reach to the other per-
3ns ; for though the saints proximately and imme-
iately are united to Christ, yet the union is not so
jrminated in him, but that through him they are
nitedto the Father too. Therefore it is said, John
vu. 21 , ' That they also may be one in us ; ' it is not
ne in me singly, but one in us conjunctly. And the
postle saith, 1 Thes. i. 1, 2, ' To the church which
in. God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ ;'
le same you have, 2 Thes. i. 1. So that believers,
l some respects, are in both, and united both to
ather and Son.1 But as to the law-union arising "
om suretyship and vadimony, that is only proper
> Christ — he of all the persons being the alone
rrety for believers.
Thirdly, There is a moral union between Christ
id believers. It is called moral from the bond or
round of it, which is love ; and the word moral is
sed, not as it stands in contradistinction to spiritual,
ut to natural and physical. I say, the bond of this
nion is love, for faith unites mystically, and love
nites morally. Love is a uniting grace as well as
dth, though it doth not unite in the same way.
herefore it is said, ' He that dwelleth in love, dwell-
;h in God, and God in him,' 1 John iv. 16. It is all
ir union, and it produces union. Take two per
ms who love each other, their mutual affection
1 Of the saintB' union with the Father as well as with the
hi, see Burg, upon John xvii. p. 586 ; Newton upon John
450. '

makes them to be one ; there is a real oneness be
tween friend and friend. The phUosopher very
well defined friendship by one soul in two bodies^
fiia •vj/u^)i h Slioig aJ)'j.a,ei. A friend is but 'incog
uMg, alter idem, another self.1 Thus it is in that
which is before us. There is a mutual, reciprocal,
hearty love between Christ and believers ; he loves
them, and they love him, and by virtue of this
mutual love there is a real and close union betwixt
them. The husband and wife are one, not merely I
upon the marriage covenant and external relation
but also, and chiefly, upon that: love and affection
that is betwixt them. So it is betwixt Christ and
saints. Some, therefore, open, this pang in Christ
Jesus (or oneness, with him). by love';2 in respect of
this love believers are in Christ. And so I have
opened that threefold union which is between Christ
and beUevers. I have a Httle insisted upon the two
latter branches of it, but it is the first (the mystical
union) that I shall further mainly speak to ; for the
truth is, this is the union which the gospel princi
pally sets before us.
The second thing propounded was to instance in
those several Scripture resemblances by which the
mystical union is set forth. These are very many;
for this being a very high and mysterious thing, it
hath pleased God to make use of various resem
blances for the better describing of it, that he might
thereby make it to us more credible and more intel
ligible. And it is observable how the Spirit of God
summons in all unions, natural, relative, artificial,
that he might by aU of them more clearly and dis-
tinctly shadow out the grand union betwixt Christ
and saints. Yet I must tell you, though those are
very useful as to the end designed, and are very high
—the highest— in genere unionis, yet they all come
short of the mystical union which they refer to.
They may Ulustrate it, but they cannot reach or
equalise it. I will but briefly go over them, both
because they are fully handled by others, and also
because that which is proper from them to the busi
ness in hand may be despatched in few words.
1 Aristot. Ethic, lib. ix. cap. 3, 9
2 Qui scilicet dilecti a Christo vicissim Christum amant.
Hoc enim est in Chr.sto esse, non tantum a Christo amari, sed '
et Christum amare.-<W Mussus. Qui Christo incorporati
sunt puro et perfecto amore.— Idem. ' '

Chap. II.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4

41

The first is that of husband and wife. A very fit
and full resemblance (a Hype say some) of the
mystical union. Upon the conjugal relation there is
a very near and close conjunction. If you please to
look to its first institution, you will find a deep foun
dation of oneness laid therein : Gen. U. 23, 24,
' This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh ;
therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shaU cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one
flesh.' Now Christ and beUevers stand in this con
jugal relation each to the other. He is their hus
band, they his spouse ; they are ' espoused to Christ
their husband,' 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; ' married to Christ,'
Rom. vu. 4; 'betrothed' to God and Christ, Hosea
u. 1 9 ; their name is Sephsibdh and Beulah, Isa. lxii. 4.
The marriage-union, in the very height of it, the
apostle brings down to Christ and believers : Eph. v.
28, 29, &c, ' So ought men to love their wives as
their own bodies : he that loveth his wtfe loveth
himsetf. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh ;
but nourisheth it, and cherisheth it even as the
Lord the church ; for we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be
joined to bis wife, and they two shall be one flesh.'
Well, what of all this ? He adds, ' This is a great
mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the
church.' As if the apostle had said, Do not misap
prehend me ; though I speak so much of the union
that is betwixt husband and wife, according to the
primitive institution, yet that is not the main thing
which I drive at; I aim at a higher union than
that, namely, at that spiritual union which is be
tween Christ and the church. The husband and the
wife are one ; Christ and beUevers are so much more.
Another resemblance is that of the head and mem
bers. In the body natural there is a near and close
union between these two ; being fastened and joined
each to the other, they make up one and the same
body. Thus it is with Christ and beUevers in the
body mystical; he is the head, they are the several
members belonging to that head : Col. i. 18, ' He is
the head of the body, the church.' Eph. i. 22, ' God
gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is his body.' 1 Cor. xii. 27, ' Now
1 See Dr Cudworth's Union of Christ and the Church
Shadowed.

ye are the body of Christ, and members in parti
cular.' So Rom. xii. 5. As truly and as nearly
as the head and the members, so truly and so nearly
are Christ and believers united also.
A third resemblance is that of the root and
branches. There is also union betwixt these ; other
wise, how should the one convey juice, sap, nourish
ment, life, growth, to the other? So it is with
Christ and believers; he is the root, they the
branches : John xv. 5, ' I am the vine, ye are the
branches.' You read of being 'planted and in
grafted into Christ ; ' it is a metaphor which the
Sptfit of God much delights in, in the setting forth
of that which I am upon. See. Rom. vi. 5, and
xi. 17, &c. Also you read of being 'rooted in
Christ,' Col. ii. 7. There is a blessed analogy
or resemblance between Christ and beUevers, and
the root and the branches, in point of union, in
point of influence. The root is united to the branches,
and they to it ; so is Christ to believers, and they to
him. The root conveys life, and nourishment, and
growth to the branches; so does Christ to beUevers.
Another resemblance is the foundation and the
building. Here is union too ; for in a building, all
the stones and timber being joined and fastened
together upon the foundation, make but one entire
structure. So it is here. Believers are 'God's
building,' and Christ is the foundation in that build
ing : ' Ye are God's building,' 1 Cor. iii. 9. ' Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid,
which is Christ Jesus,' 1 Cor. iii. 11. Therefore
they are said to be ' built upon the foundation of
- the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being
the chief corner stone,' Eph. H. 20. As a man builds
upon the foundation, and lays the stress of the whole
building upon that ; so take the true Christian, he
builds upon Christ ; all his faith, hope, confidence,
is built upon this sure foundation, (as Christ is
styled, Isa. xxviu. 16, ' Behold I lay in Zion a sure
foundation.') Hence also they are said, ' as lively
stones to be buUt up a spiritual house,' &c, 1 Pet.
H. 5. Here is the mystical union under this resem
blance also.
Take but one more, that of meat or food. That
which a man feeds upon and digests, it is incorporated
and united with himself; it is turned into his own sub
stance and made a part of himself. The believing soul

:2

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1^4.

[Chap. II,

y faith feeds upon Christ, digests him, and turns him,
a it were, into his own substance ; so that Christ be-
omes one with him, and he one with Christ : John
i. 55, 56, ' My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
s drink indeed ; he that eateth my flesh, and drink-
th my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.' All
his must be taken, not in the literal, but in the
ptfitual notion ; the eating and drinking is believ-
tig, (so it is to be understood all along in that
hapter.) Upon which believing the union follows,
He dwells in me, and I in Him.'
Thus I have, with great brevity, given you those
Scripture resemblances by which the mystical union
3 shadowed out. The handling of them in their
tmost extent is a subject that would have admitted
f great enlargement ; but my business was but to
peak to that one thing from them which suits with
lie work in hand. In some of the preceding heads
was in the great deeps, but in this I have been
i the shallows ; there the elephant might swim,
ere the lamb may wade ; there things were not so
.ark, but here they are as clear ; therefore I shall
:ot need to make any further stay upon them.
I come to the third head, -The properties of this
nion. I wUl name these seven :
FHst, It is a sublime union. And that,
1. In respect of its nature, as considered in itself.
!hrist and a poor creature made one, and so made
ne ? Oh, what a union is this ! We have many
nions in nature, and some very considerable ; but,
las ! they all come short, and are but poor, mean,
jw things in comparison of this. Next to the union
f the three persons in the sacred Trinity, and the
Lypostatical union of the two natures in Christ, the
oystical union is the highest. Except but those
rhich I have named, and aU other unions must veil
o it.
2. It is sublime in respect of its rise, original, and
traduction. The more supernatural a thing is, the
aore subUme it is ; now, this union is purely super-
latural. What can nature be imagined to do for the
>ringing about of such a thing as this ? Oh, surely
t is all of the mere-grace of God ! As it is not
latural for the matter of it, so neither is it so for the
iroduction and application of it. It is supernatural
,s to the thing, and also as to the person to whom
t belongs.

3. It is subhme in respect of the high and glorious
privileges, effects, and consequents of it.
4. In respect of its mysteriOusness and difficulty
to be known. (Something I spoke to this at my first
entrance upon this subject.) The mystical union is
a mysterious union — so mysterious that we had
known nothing at all of it if God had not revealed it
to us in the word. And even now he hath revealed
it, yet it is but very little that we do understand of
it. That there is this union, that is as clear as the
light of the sun ; but what this union is, oh, that is
a hidden thing, and locked up from us. The union
of the body and soul in man is a great mystery ;
there is even in that union that which puzzles the
greatest philosophers ; but the union of Christ and
the beUever is a far greater mystery. That persons
every way so distant, so divided, should yet be made
mysticaUy one, here is a mystery indeed ! a mystery
which no finite understanding, angelical or human,
can comprehend.
Secondly, It is a real union. Not a notional,
fantastic, or opinionative thing, something that is
merely matter of fancy and imagination, or some
thing that dull and melancholy persons please them
selves with the thoughts of. Oh, it is not so ! but it
is a real thing, and as great a reality as any, whatso
ever it be. You have very many scriptures which
speak to it, under great variety of expressions, all of
which, with the greatest evidence and clearness, do
point to it, and cannot be otherwise understood;
and yet will you doubt of it, and look upon it as a
mere fancy ? As reaUy as the members are united
to the head, and the head to them ; the wife to the
husband, and the husband to the wtfe ; the branches
to the root, and the-root to the branches ; so really
are the saints united to Christ, and Christ to them,
for these several unions do confirm, as weU as repre
sent and open, the mystical union. Nothing in re
ligion is real if this be not ; take away this mystical
oneness between Christ and the soul, and take away
all. Is not the union betwixt God the Father and
God the Son a real union ? surely that will not be
denied ; if so, then this is real also ; for, John xvii.
22, ' The glory which thou gavest me I have given
them, that they may be one, even as we are one.'
Observe it, it is one, even as we are one,- but how?
not as to any equahty, but only as to verity ; not as

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

43

to the modus or qualitas unionis, but only as to the
Veritas unionis. This as is often but a note of lUie-
ness, not of sameness, (so Mat. v. 48, ' Be ye per
fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect.' So 1 Pet. i. 15, 16 ;) it is so to be inter
preted here. Believers are not one with Christ, as
he is one with the Father, in respect of the manner
of the union ; but as to the truth and reality of it,
so it is as verily, as truly one with Christ as Christ
is one with the Father. It is a higher union betwixt
the Father and the Son, but it is as real a union
betwixt Christ and believers.
Thirdly, It is a spiritual union. Not a gross
fleshly, corporal union — you must not so conceive
of it — but a divine, inward, spiritual union. It is the
uniting of hearts and souls together in an impercep
tible way ; and the bonds of this union are spiritual,
namely, the Spirit in Christ, and faith in us ; and
the union is to be judged by that which is the bond
of it. The husband and the wife are ' one flesh,'
Eph. v. 31 ; but ' he that is joined to the Lord is
one spirit,' 1 Cor. vi. 16, 17. I have set before you
several external and material resemblances of it ;
but the union itsetf is internal, immaterial, and spi
ritual. When Christ had been speaking so much of
it under the resemblance of eating and drinking,
he adds, to prevent mistakes, ' It is the spirit that
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
Hfe,' John vi. 63 ; q.d., You must take me in a right
sense ; in all that I have said I do not intend any
fleshly or corporal eating, as some grossly imagine ;
I only mean spiritual eating and drinking by faith.
Neither, saith he, would I be thought to speak of
any union that is carnal and earthly ; it is the
heavenly and the spiritual union only which I de
sign in all that I have spoken.
Fourthly, It is a near, intimous union. The per
sons here concerned are not only truly and really, but
nearly, closely, intimately united each to the other.
The union betwixt them is so near, that there is no
union, excepting what hath been excepted, to be
compared with it ; so near, that we know not how
to conceive of it, much less how to express it;
we may borrow some light here and there from
the scattered unions of nature, but they all, in point
of nearness, are vastly short of it. In the text cited

but now, 1 Cor. vi. 17, the apostle tells us, ' He
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit ; ' where he
opposes joining to Christ to joining to a harlot,
(ver. 16.) Of which he saith, ' He that is joined to
an harlot is one body ; ' and though this be out of the
due course, yet he carries it up to the marriage union
— for two,' saith he, ' shall be one flesh.' But he
heightens the mystical union with Christ : ' He that
is joined to the Lord is one spirit.' This is the high
est scripture which I know for the describing of the
intimousness of the spiritual union. First the apostle
says, He that is joined to the Lord. In the Greek it
is xoXh<A(j.ivog, he that is glued to the Lord ; it is
the same word which is used, Eph. v. 31, 'He shall
be joined (or glued, v^oaxoWriSrisirai) to his wife.'
It speaks the firmness and the nearness of the union.
And then he says, ' He that is thus joined to the
Lord is one spirit.' What an expression is this !
What could be spoken higher ? To be one spirit is
much more thah to be one flesh, inasmuch as the
union of sptfits is the nearest union that is imagin
able. The apostle opposes the spiritual conjunction
betwixt Christ and believers, to that carnal conjunc
tion that is betwixt person and person. He that is
joined to a harlot is one body and one flesh ; but
he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Saints
are not only flesh of Christ's flesh, and bone of his
bone, (by which phrase the height of the conjugal
union is set forth, and by which the Jews used to
express the greatest nearness in consanguinity,1) but,
which is much higher, they are one spirit with him.
It is not said they have one spirit, or that believers
are spirited as Christ was,2 or that they are led,
acted, animated by the same spirit that he was,
(though I conceive that is the very thing intended
in the expression ;) but the apostle says, the better
to set off the intimousness of the union, Christ "and
they are one spirit, which is as high as anything that
could be spoken. Again, believers are so near to
Christ, that, in a sober sense, they may be said to
be a part of him ; yea, such a part of him that he, as
head and mediator, would not be complete without
them ; for as he is so considered, they are his fulness :
1 Quae loquendi formula ex Uteris Veteris Testamenti vide-
tur esse desumpta. Ita enim fratres et cognati de se mutuo
loqui solent, os meum et caro mea.— Pet. Mart.
3 Vide Grotium in loc.

44

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

Eph. i. 23, ' The fulness of him that filleth all in all.'
It is spoken of the church, the body of believers.
Once more, the union is so near, that they both have
one and the same name ; Christ's own name and title
is given to them : 1 Cor. xu. 12, 'So also is Christ.'
The apostle means Christ mystical, not Christ per
sonal. Compare Jer. xxui. 6, ' This is the name
wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our right
eousness,' with Jer. xxxui. 16, ' This is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteous
ness,' (which is spoken, too, of the church.) The
wife upon the marriage union loses her own, and is
called by her husband's name. And so it is here :
he — that is, Christ — shaU be called the Lord our
righteousness ; and she — that is, the church — shaU
be called, too, the Lord our righteousness. Here is
communication of names which speaks the nearness
of the union. Nay, Christ and the believer are but
one,1 (mystically though not substantially ;) and this
is the highest of all. Oh this is a close and intimate
union indeed !
Fifthly, It is a total union. I mean this, the
whole person of Christ is united to the whole person
of beUevers, and the whole person of believers is
united to the whole person of Christ. Christ is not
in this or that single nature, but in both his natures ;
not in this or that office, but in aU his offices, made
one with them ; and they too, reciprocally, are made
one with him as to the whole man ; not as to the soul
only, but as to the body also. The soul indeed is the
principal subject of this union, but the body too
hath its share in it ; therefore the apostle saith,
1 Cor. vi. 15, ' Know ye not that your bodies are
the members of Christ ? ' As Christ in the assuming
of the nature of man took not the body only, or the
soul only, but both, and so united them to the God
head ; so it is in the mystical union, the whole man
is knit to whole Christ. And, which puts marvel
lous sweetness into it, the totality of this union, on
Christ's part, reaches to every individual beUever in
the world ; as the whole soul is united to every part
of the body, so it is whole Christ to every beUever.
1 Ex quo fit, ut ipsemet quoque Christus usque adeo arete
noster evadat, et nos vicissim illius, ut apud Patris tribunal,
Christus, et Ecclesia (non quidem hypostatica substantiarum
unitione, sed quod ad istam oommunionem attinet mysticam)
velut unum et idem i<purrd)iepoi>, et unus Christus efficacissme
censeamur. — Bucan. L. Com. 48, p. 821.

Sixthly, It is an immediate union. Christ and the
beUeving soul, they touch each the other, \ if I may
so express it, and the word encourages me so to do ;
there is nothing that doth intervene or interpose
between Christ and it. In other unions it is not
so ; there is union between the head and the mem
bers, yet all the members do not touch the head.
The foot is at a great distance from the head, though
it be united to it. All the parts of the building are
united to the foundation, yet they are not aU contig-
uou.s to it ; there is apposition, but no contiguity;
But now the union which I am upon is so imme
diate, that every beUever touches Christ, as it were,
and Ues close and near to him. Which yet is not to
be taken of any physical or local contact,2 but only
of that which is moral and sptfitual ; not of any im-
medietas suppositi, but only of that immedietas virtutis,
or unionis, which is through the Spirit and faith.
Lastly, It is an indissoluble union. The knot
therein is tied so fast that it shaU never be again
untied or loosened. Christ and believers are so
firmly joined together that none shall ever be able
to part them ; all the powers of heU, with aU their
united strength, shall never be able to disjoin or
separate one soul from Christ. As no distance of
place doth hinder the union,3 so no force or violence
from devils or men shall ever be able to dissolve the
union. And herein Hes the peculiar, transcendent
blessedness of this union above all other unions,
They all may cease, be broken, and come to nothing ;
the members may be separated from the head, and
the head from the members ; the tender husband
may, and shall, be parted from the affectionate wife ;
the buUding may be broken off from the foundation ;
the soul m£ty be divided from the body ; but the
mystical union stands fast for ever. Christ and a
gracious soul can never be separated ; God hath

1 See Davenant upon the 'A.tpal, Col. ii. 19. Per has com-
missuras Christus tangit nos, et nos tangimus Christum.
2 Omnis physicus contactus excludendus est. — Zomch. h
cap. 5, ad Eph., p. 242.
3 Non obstat unioni huic intercapedo locorum, sive distantia
coeli et terrae, qua Christus (qua homo) et fideles peregre ab
ipso versantes disterminantur : quia unio non est existentia
corporis Christi intra corpora nostra, nee locali contactu, aut
inclusione constat.— AlUng. Explic. Catech. part ii. qu. 76,
p. 266.

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

45

joined them, and ' what he hath joined together no
man shall ever put asunder,' Mat. xix. 6. There
are two abiding things in the saints, their unction
and their' union. Their unction abides : ' But the
anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in
you,' 1 John ii. 27 ; and their union abides, for it
foUows, ' and ye shall abide in him.' Our apostle
makes his chaUenge in the close of this chapter :
£ Who shaU separate us from the love of Christ 1 '
He tells you none should ever be able to do it, vers.
38, 39. So, who shaU separate us as to our union
with Christ ? None shaU — none can. Possibly the
influences of it for some time may be suspended ;
but yet the union itself is not, nay, cannot be, dis
solved. As it was Hi the hypostatical union, for a
time there was a suspending of the comforting in
fluences of the divine nature to the human, inso
much that our Saviour cried out, ' My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Mat. xxvii. 46 ; yet
for aU this, the union between the two natures was
not in the least aboHshed. So here, in the mystical
union, the sensible effects, comforts, benefits of which
may sometimes be kept in and not appear, but yet
the thing itsetf abides, and so shall abide firm and
inviolable for ever. It is an inseparable, an insuper
able, union. Yea, death itself, though that be the
bane of aU other unions, shall never reach this so as
to put an end or period to it.
And thus I have finished the heads necessary to
be spoken to for the opening of this admtfable and
blessed union ; in the clearing of which I have given
you the expHcation of the subject of the proposition,
' There is no condemnation to them wlio are in Christ
Jesus.' I must not dismiss so excellent, so useful a
point, without some practical improvement of it.
Use 1. And first, Are they, and they only, the per
sons to whom there is no condemnation, such as are
in Christ Jesus ? I would then put all of you upon
the most serious examination whether you be thus
in Christ Jesus. Pray bring it down to yourselves,
and ask yourselves, one by one, this question, Am I
in Christ ? Some are so Hi him, am I one of them ?
What is this mystical union to me ? It concerns you
to be very inquisitive about this, because the grand
privUege in the text depends upon it. You cannot
safely apply no condemnation if it be no union. If you
desire a solid foundation to build upon for exemption

from condemnation, you must make sure of this
union ; the happiness and safety of your future state
wholly depends upon your present being in Christ.
Oh that you would be persuaded, with the greatest
dUigence, faithfulness, impartiality, to search and
examine yourselves about this. The apostle is very
smart upon it : 2 Cor. xiu. 5, ' Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith ; prove your own selves.
Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ
is in you (and you in him), except you be repro
bates ? ' (and say I, except you be Hable to eternal
condemnation.) Now, that I may help you in this great inqmry,
viz., whether you have that very union with Christ
which will effectually secure you from this most
dreadful condemnation ? I must first distinguish
about it.
1. Union with Christ is either material and na
tural, or spiritual and supernatural. There is a
material or natural union with Christ, consisting in
oneness with him in respect of one of his natures :
for he having assumed the nature of man, and hypo-
statically united it to the Godhead, upon this, wher
ever the nature of man is, there is union or conjunc
tion with him, so far as the participation of one and
the same nature with him will go. The spiritual and
supernatural union is that which hath been opened,
viz., that which is brought about by the Sptfit, and
by faith ; upon which the creature is not one with
Christ merely in respect of his manhood, but he is
one with him in a higher manner, as being also,
according to his measure, made a ' partaker of his
divine nature ; ' that is to say, as the image of God
is imprinted upon him, as the several graces of the
Spirit are wrought in him, as Christ and he are not
only one flesh, but also one spirit, both having the
same Spirit dwelling in them, and both being ani
mated and acted by one and the same sptfit.
Now to apply this distinction. The first of these
unions is not sufficient to secure from condemnation,
or to entitle to salvation ; for then, that being com
mon and general, all men Uving should be saved,
and none should be condemned ¦>¦ even the graceless
i Nullus est hominum cujus natura non erat suscepta in
Christo.— Prosp. resp. ad cap. Gall. cap. 9. Of this see Cyril,
lib. x. cap. 13. In Joh. Dei Filius quia suscepit humanam naturam

46

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II,

and unregenerate are men, and have that very nature
which Christ assumed ; but is this enough for an
everlasting state of happiness ? Surely no ! It is
true, even this natural union is very precious, and
the foundation of great joy and comfort to believers.
Oh for such to remember that Christ hath matched
into thetf famUy, sits in heaven in their nature, and
is" of the same flesh and blood with themselves ; this,
I say, must needs be very sweet. The apostle speaks
of it as a very great thing : Heb. u. 11, ' He that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of
one.' This eg 'ing admits of various interpretations ;
I- conceive this is the best : Christ and the saints are
all of one, that is, all of one nature, of one and
the same flesh and blood; for it follows, ver. 14,
' Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself took part of the same,'
&c, and, ver. 16, ' For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham.' I say this union is matter of great com
fort to beUevers ; but for others who have nothing
more than that Christ is man, and hath assumed
their flesh, and is as they are, and they as he, what
will this avail them ? What is Christ's taking our
flesh if he doth not give us his Spirit ? What is it
for him to be made like to us in our nature, tf we be
not made like to him in his nature ? Christ with
the human nature is in heaven, and yet thousands
with the human nature are in hell. Oh rest not in
mere manhood, though Christ be man ! but get a
higher, a closer, a more special union with him, or
else it will be condemnation for all that.
2. I distinguish, secondly, union with Christ is
either external and visible, or internal and invisible.
The first is common and general, yet not so common
as the material and natural union spoken of before ;
for all are men, but all are not Christians. This lies
in church membership, the participation of church
privileges, living under the word and sacraments,
passing under the baptismal seal, making of some
external profession of reUgion, &c. The second in
cludes and supposes all this, but hath a great deal
more in it ; it notes real insition and implantation
into Christ. This distinction is evidently grounded
cum omnibus hominibus conjunctus est, &c, sed ista conjunc-
tio generalis est, et tantum (ut ita dicam) juxta materiam. —
Pet. Martyr.

upon that of our Saviour, John xv. 2, where he
saith, ' Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away.' Here is the external union, for
here is a branch which bears no fruit, and yet it
is in Christ. How? It must be understood in
respect of church membership, external profession,
&c. ' And every branch that beareth fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit'
Here is the internal and special union, that
which is, as was said, by real insition and im
plantation into Christ. Now the inquiry lies here,
whether you be so in Christ as to be ingrafted and
implanted into him ? The former without this will
signify but very little. It is indeed a great mercy
to be a member of the visible church ; but this, with
out a close and special membership with Christ, will
not secure a man's everlasting state ; tf it be only
external conjunction with Christ here, it may for all
that be eternal separation from him hereafter. What
,is it for the branch to be. tied or fastened to the
stock, if it doth not coalesce and incorporate with'
the stock ? What is it for a man to be in Christ's
mystical body only as the wooden leg or eye of glass
is in the natural body ? (where there is apposition,
but no coalition or union.) Certainly when Paul
here tells us,.' There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus,' he means such a being in
him, as is more than what is external and common,
br founded upon any such bottom.1 As particularly,
such as is by mere baptism, I mean when it is the
participation of the' external sign only, and there is
nothing more. They, therefore, who open the
words by this, are too large and general.2 Alas !
baptism alone will not do it ; 3 there must be some-
1 Mi in Christo esse dicuntur hoc loco, non qui mediate
tantum et secundum quid in Christo sunt, nempe, ratione
ecclesiaa ipsius quae corpus Christi mysticum, &c, sed ml
ifrxiiv intelliguntur veri Christiani, qui immediate in Christo
sunt per unionem mysticam cum ipsius persona, fide et virtute
Spiritus Sancti, &c. — Qomar.
2 Tois toO ^airriff/taros &,ba6el<nv.—Theophyl.
3 Non loquitur Paulus de iis qui sacramentum tantummodo
baptism! perceperunt, quos extrinsecus duntaxat unda alluit,
nonautem intns 'in animo gratia expiavit ; sed eos intelligit
qui sunt m Christo Jesu, h.e., rem etiam sacranienti adept!
sunt ,-JusUnmn m loe. Qui Bunt in Christo Jesu, i.e., qui
per baptismum Christum induerunt, eique per fidem et dike
tionem mcorporati sunt, factique tanquam vita ejus membra,
et tanquam palmites Christo ut viti insiti.-i>em- Dup 1

Chap. II.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

47

thing more than the external badge and livery of
Christianity, or else that will come short both of
union here and non-condemnation hereafter. Oh how
many are there who are baptized, live in the church,
are visible members thereof, who yet are far from
being inwardly knit to Christ, and therefore shall
perish eternally ! This is to be but on the outside
of the ark, which will not save, from drowning. It
is the internal, special union which you must look
after ; whether you be in Christ so as to receive life,
growth, spiritual influences from him, as the branch
doth from the root. Other unions might be alluded
to. It is very true, that baptism is an ingrafting
ordinance into Christ, therefore it is set forth by
being ' baptized into Jesus Christ,' Rom. vi. 3 ; and
Gal. Ui. 27, you read ' As many of you as have been
baptized have put on Christ ; ' and again, 1 Cor. xii.
13, ' By one Spirit we are all baptized into one
body.' But then it must be limited to such and
such subjects, and as the Spirit accompanies it,
working therein faith and regeneration ; so that
the matter comes to this, upon baptism alone in the
external reception of it you cannot be confident ;
but if you can find that you are also true believers
and regenerate persons, then you are right as to your
union, and safe as to non-condemnation.
This twofold distinction being premised and opened
in the general, the main question now Ues thus be
fore us : How may a person know whether the union
in which he stands to Christ be internal, special, and
saving, or whether it be only external, material, and
common ? It is a question of very high import ; for
answer to it I shall destf e you,
1. To fix your thoughts upon the double bond
of it.
2. To look into some trying scriptures which lay
down marks and characters about it.
Ftfst make your search after and by the bonds of
the mystical union — the Spirit and faith. As,
1 . Inquire whether you have the Spirit ; for it
being the bond of the union, it is evident that none
can be a partaker thereof who is not first a partaker
of the Spirit. The apostle lays it down very ex
pressly : ' If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of his,' Rom. viii. 9; that is, he is none of
in cap. 8 ad Rom. Qui sunt insiti per baptismum, et in eo re-
generati. — Estius.

those who are savingly united to him. Whoever is in
Christ, the Spirit of Christ is first "in him, that being
the agent by which this blessed in-being is brought
about. I told you the Spirit is the bond of the
union on Christ's part ; which yet you are to under
stand, not of the Spirit merely as it resides in
Christ himself, but as it is given and communicated
to us; he by his own Spirit, as poured out upon
beUevers, and dwelling in them, takes hold of them
and joins them to himself. Not that there is any
priority of time betwixt the gift of the Spirit and
the union, for they go together ; at the very same
instant wherem the Spirit is received the soul is
united to Christ ; but in order of nature, the recep
tion of the one is antecedent to the union with the
other. 1 John iii. 24, ' Hereby we know that he
abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us ;'
and chap. iv. 13, ' Hereby know we that we dweU in
him, and he in us, by the Spirit which he hath given
us.' Observe it, stiU the apostle grounds the evidence
of the union upon the Spirit as given to the saints,
not as it resides in Christ himself. Oh, therefore,
let the serious, inquisitive Christian put such inter
rogatories as these to himself : Have I the Spirit ?
is he given to me? doth he dweU in me? for ac
cordingly as he can answer these queries, so will
he be able to conclude whether he be in Christ or
not. And he that would know whether he hath the
Spirit, he must examine what he feels of its great
acts in himself. To have the Spirit, it is for a man
to be brought under the great and special effects
and operations thereof. At present I say no more
of it ; I hope hereafter I shall. These are various :
there is illumination ; whence he is called ' the
Sptfit of wisdom and revelation,' Eph. i. 17. Quick
ening ; whence he is called ' the Spirit of Ufe/ Rom.
viii. 2. Conviction ; the promise is, ' He shall con
vince the world of sin,' John xvi. 8. He is ' the
Spirit of grace and supplication,' Zech. xii. 10; the
sanctifying Spirit, 1 Pet. i. 2 ; the Spirit enabling
to mortify sin, Rom. viii. 13 ; working a person up
to all holy obedience, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Now then,
what do you find in yourselves of these high and
precious operations of the Spirit? Here lies your
participation or having of it, and consequently the
evidence of your union with Christ. This great

48

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II

Sptfit is never idle where he is; he is always an
active, operative, working Spirit ; is he so in you ?
doth he teach, enlighten, convince, humble, draw
to Christ, raise up the heart to heavenly things,
excite to duty, assist in duty ? &c. ; if so, then he is
in you, and you are in Christ : if it be not so, then
you have not the Spirit, and thereupon are none of
Christ's. 2. Inquire about the other bond, viz., faith.1 Ask
yourselves in secret how the case stands as to faith.
Say, Oh is this precious grace wrought in us ? are
we sincere and sound believers ? have we heartily
closed with Christ according to the gospel offer?
have we received Christ, and whole Christ? is our
trust, reliance, confidence, for pardon, life, salvation,
grounded upon him, and upon him only? do we
cast ourselves upon his alone merits, renouncing
everything in ourselves ? have we that faith which
is wrought by the almighty power of God? Eph.
i. 19; which purifies the heart? Acts xv. 9; over
comes the world? 1 John v. 4; works by love?
Gal. v. 6; is attended with igooi works? James
ii. 20. Is. it more than a mere dogmatical or histo
rical faith ? than such an easy, common, presump
tuous, false faith, as that which is in the generality
of men ? Oh that you would herein deal faithfully
with your own souls !. Let the search be deep and
thorough ; go to the very bottom of your deceit
ful hearts; bring things to an issue; be sure that
you be not mistaken. If the faith be right the union
is sure, yea, everything else is sure ; but if that be
unsound, do not flatter yourselves ; you are not in
Christ Jesus, but in the woeful state of disunion and
distance from him.
Thus the examination must be made from the
bonds of the union. To clear up the thing yet fur
ther, in order to your passing true judgment upon
yourselves, I would direct you to a few trying
scriptures. 1 . Let the first be that, 2 Cor. v. 1 7, ' If any man be
1 Soli vere fideles sunt membra Christi, idque non quatenus
homines, sed quatenus Christiani ? nee secundum primam
generationem, sed secundum regenerationem : acproinde non
secundum ipsam humanse naturae substantiam per se, sed
quatenus ilia in Christo ut altero Adamo renovatur, singulis
ejus partibus nova ac spirituali qualitate sanctificatis, ut
smus novi homines.— Polan. Synt. Theol, p. 454.

in Christ, he is a new creature.' What a glass is this
for every one of us to see our faces in ! The thing to
be known is our being in Christ. And how may that
be known? Thus, by our being new creatures. The
apostle sets it down indefinitely, that he may reach
every person, ' if any man be in Christ,' &c. This new
creature is one of the greatest riddles of Christianity to
men that have it not. It is that new creation which the
soul passes under in the work of conversion ; or that
great and universal change which follows upon con
version. A converted man is a changed man; a
quite other person than what he was before. He
may say, with Augustine, I am not I ; ' aU old things
are passed away, and all things are become new,' as
it follows Hi the place alleged. Upon conversion,;
understanding, judgment, thoughts, wtfl, affections,
conscience, heart, tongue, life, all is new. When the
sinner is turned from sin to God, he hath new prin
ciples from which he acts, new ends for which he
acts, new guides and rules by which he acts. Is npt
here a wonderful change ? Now are you acquainted
with this new creature ? What do you find of it in
yourselves ? It concerns you to make sure of it ; for
all is nothing without it. ' In Christ Jesus '—and
so in reference to the proof of being in Christ Jesus—
' neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncir-
cumcision, but a new creature,' Gal. vi. 15. Oh this
is aU in aU ! This must be the sure and infallible
witness of your union with Christ.
Therefore examine yourselves about it. I beseech'
you look back ; compare yourselves with yourselves.
Hath any thorough change been wrought in you?
Are you not the same you ever were— just such as
you came into the world ? Can any that hears me
say, Oh, blessed be God, it is not with me as it hath
been ! Time was when I was blind, as ignorant a
creature as any • but I hope now, in some measure,,
I am enlightened ; God hath shined into me, and
set up such a light in me that I see what I never
saw before-and I see it Hi another manner than I '
did before. Time was when I could swear, curse,
be drunk, take God's name in vain, profane sab
baths, &c. ; but I dare, not now give way to such
impieties Time was when sin and I agreed very
well ; but now my heart rises at it - I hate every
false way, Ps. cxix 104. Time was when I had no
love for duty; I Hved m the total omission of it ; but

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

49

now I love prayer, I love the word, and all the ordi
nances of Christ are precious to me. Time was when
I was all for the world, my whole heart was taken
up in it ; but now, ' I count aU but loss that I may
gain Christ,' Phil. iii. 8. Now, none but Christ,
none but Christ. Can any of you thus speak 1 Here
is a change indeed ! — upon that the new creature
indeed ! and upon that being in Christ indeed !
There is a double change which evermore accom
panies the mystical union.
>1. The state of the person is changed. He who,
before he was in Christ, was a child of wrath, is now,
upon his being in Christ, an heir of grace. He that
before the union was in a state of condemnation, is
now after the union in a state of salvation.
2. The nature is changed. There is a new nature,
a new soul (not physicaUy, yet moraUy) infused into
the regenerate person ; the divine nature itself is
now communicated to him, 2 Pet. i. 4 ; whereupon
he doth not think, speak, or act, as he did before ;
he doth not love or Hve as before ; he ' walks in
newness of Hfe,' as it is, Rom. vi. 4. This is the
change which we are to make sure of ; for assuredly
the Lord Jesus wUl put none into his bosom, or
make them a part of himself, but first the new crea
ture shaU pass upon them, to prepare and make them
fit for so near and so close a union. It is not con
sistent with his honour to take a sinner just as he
finds him, and without any more ado to own him as a
member of himself. There cannot be a passage from
one head to another, but there must be some notable
alteration. Christ wUl not break off a branch from
the first root and ingraft it into himself, but he will
first alter the very nature and property of it. It is
not in the power of creatures to change those whom
they take into union with them. The husband may
take the wtfe into his bosom, but he cannot change
her nature, temper, disposition. As Bernard saith,
of Moses : Ethiopissam duxit, sed non potuit Fthiopissce
mutare colorem. He married an Ethiopian, but he
could not alter her Ethiopian complexion ; much less
could he alter her inward temper. But Christ can
and doth thus work upon those whom he takes into
near union and relation. If he joins the black,
swarthy soul to himself, he puts a new complexion
upon it : he makes it ' comely with his own comeli
ness,' as God speaks, Ezek. xvi. 14. So, then, by

this you may know whether you be truly, really,
savingly, in Christ, — viz., if you be new creatures ;
without the new creation there is no mystical union.
2. Another trying scripture is that, Gal. v. 24,
' They that are Christ's ' — who are in him — ' have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.' This
also is a very close word, and it speaks this : No
crucifixion, no union. The crucified head will have
crucified members. He that is planted in Christ's
person, shall be ' planted in the likeness of Christ's
death,' Rom. vi. 4. Oh, is sin crucified in you ? Did
you ever set that upon the cross which brought the
Son of God to the cross ? Is there in you that death
to sin which carries some analogy to Christ's death
for sin ? Is the flesh, with aU its cursed retinue, the
affections and lusts thereof, mortified in you ? Is the
corrupt nature dead as to its former power and
sovereignty in the soul ? for that is the crucifixion
here spoken of. Assure yourselves, Christ wUl not
! have a member in him to be under a foreign power ;
the flesh shall not be the ruler where he is the head ;
where he brings about the union he will have the
dominion. My text, too, speaks of this flesh ; and it tells you
that ' they who are in Christ Jesus do not walk after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.' Paul here seems to
rise and to go on step by step ; would you know
who are exempted from condemnation ? he tells you,
such who are in Christ ; would you further know
who are in Christ ? he tells you, such who walk not,
&c. Here, then, is the characteristical note of all
who are in Christ, they live not the fleshly, carnal,
sensual life, but the spiritual, heavenly, holy Ufe.
Sirs, what is your walking ? It is the conversation
that must discover the union. Do but reflect upon
your course of life, and that will plainly tell you to
what head you belong. ' He that saith he abideth
in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he
walked,' 1 John ii. 6. Many will be saying they
are in Christ, pretending to union with him. Ay !
but do they walk as he walked? Do they live the
life of Jesus? Do they conform to his example?
He that doth not thus do, he may say he abides in
Christ, but he doth but say so,— it is not so in truth
and reality.
3. Take but one place more : John xv. 2, ' Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away :

50

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit' As this text
holds forth a twofold union betwixt Christ and men,
so it was spoke to but even now, I am only now to
consider it as it may be improved for trial. Some
are in Christ, but it is not by real insition, but
only by external profession and church membership,
which will avail them but little ; for, notwithstand
ing this, they are cast forth as dead branches, and
gathered, and cast into the fire, and burnt, (as you
see ver. 6 ;) and all this befalls them because they
bear no fruit. Others are in Christ in a saving and
special way, which is the thing to be inquired after.
For the finding out of which, let me ask you, What
fruit doth grow upon you ? Are you so in Christ as
to be fruitful ? then you are in Christ indeed. He
will have no dead, barren branches in him, for that
would reflect dishonour upon the root. All who are
united to him shall bring forth fruit, John xv. 5, 8 ;
much fruit, good fruit ; fruits ' meet for repentance,'
Mat. iii. 8 ; ' fruits of righteousness,' Phil. i. 11 ;
fruitfulness ' in every good work,' Col. i. 10. And
if so, oh how many empty, barren professors are
declared to be out of Christ by this evidence ! Thus
I have shewn, both from the double bond of the
union, and also from some notable trying scriptures,
how you may know whether you be really, inter
nally, specially in Christ Jesus, so as that you may,
with weU-grounded confidence, lay hold upon the
non-condemnation here pronounced to such. So
much for the first use.
Use 2. The second shall be to exhort you all to
endeavour to get into Christ. Oh that you would
with the greatest diligence make -out after this
blessed union ! What can be so desirable as it ?
What so worthy of your endeavours as to be one
with Christ ? To have a soul so nearly, so insepar
ably knit to him, what a great thing is this ! It
was exceeding high Hi Paul's eye, who counted all
things but loss for Christ, &c, Phil. Hi. 8, 9.
Wherein ? why, that he ' might be found in Christ,'
i.e., be in him as his head, root, surety, city of re
fuge, &c, for the expression admits of these several
iUustrations, though I think the last is most proper.
Now, did he thus highly esteem and value this being
in Christ, and shall we slight and make little of it ?
Surely, my brethren, it is better not to be at all,

than to be, and yet not to be in Christ. Better nc
union betwixt soul and body, than to have that, and
yet no union of the soul with Christ. Here is no
condemnation ; but for whom ? Only for them who
are in Christ ; to such there is no condemnation ; to
others there is nothing but condemnation, as hath
been often said. Doth it not highly concern all,
therefore, to endeavour to be one of them who are
in Christ ?
To enforce the exhortation, I wiU give you but
one motive, but that wiU be a very comprehensive
and considerable one : it is this, Union with Christ
is the foundation of aU good by and from Christ
It is the fundamental blessing, I mean with respect
to application. There can be no application of what
Christ hath purchased without antecedent union
with his person ; it is the very basis upon which aU is
buUt — the leading blessing — the inlet to all the grace
ofthe gospel — the ground of all communion and com
munication. Ah, sinner ! thou canst hope for nothing
from Christ unless thou beest in Christ ; without
Christ and without hope go together, Eph. H. 12.
I say union is the foundation of all communion.
So it is in nature, so it is in grace too : ' But of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption,' 1 Cor. i. 30 ; mark it, it is first in Christ
Jesus, and then he is wisdom, righteousness, &c.
As it was with Christ Hi his manhood, first that did
participate of the Gratia unionis, in its being united
to the Godhead ; and then, after this, all other grace
was poured out upon it. So it is with the believing
soul ; it is first taken into union with Christ, and
then upon that, all blessings, privUeges, benefits are
conveyed to it. You know the member receives
nothing from the head unless it be united to it ; so
it is with the branches in reference to the root :
and so here, without union with Christ there is no
justification, no pardon, no reconcUiation, no adop
tion, no salvation by him ; for it is a most certain
truth, Omnis communio fundatur in unione. If you be
one with Christ and in him, all is yours : 1 Cor.
Hi. 21-23. ' All things are yours, whether Paul or
Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come ; all are yours ;
and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's.' Here is a
vast propriety and possession, but it is all founded

Chap. IL]

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51

upon union ; we being Christ's, so God is ours ; the
promises are ours, heaven is ours, life, death, &c,
all is ours. As the wife upon the conjugal union
hath a right and title to all that her husband hath,
so as that she may say, TJbi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia, a
proverbial speech used among the Romans at thetf
marriages ; so the believer being joined and married
to Christ, all that Christ is or hath becomes his ;
but without this union there is nothing to be ex
pected by him or from him. It pleases God to deal
altogether with men according to their union, and
according to the head which bears them : now there
are two pubUc heads, to one of which every man and
woman in the world doth belong ; these are the two
Adams, of whom you read, 1 Cor. xv. 45. There
is the first Adam, and all the unregenerate seed are
united to him as their head ; and upon their union
with this head, they derive nothing but guilt and
wrath and condemnation. Then there is the second
Adam, Christ Jesus, and all the regenerate seed are
united to him as their head ; and he, by virtue of
union also, communicates pardon of sin, peace with
God, justification, eternal life, &c. Both of these
Adams and public heads proceed by the law, and
upon the terms of union ; for the first Adam could
do us no hurt,1 were we not descended out of his
loins, and in him as our common head; and so the
second Adam can do us no good, unless we be made
one with him and in him as our head also. If we so
be, then there shall be gracious communications,
most blessed derivations from him ; but tf not,
none of these can be looked for. And who would
not now desire to be in Christ ? who would not pur
chase this privilege with a world ? nay, who would
not give ten thousand worlds for it ? Oh that you
Would aU" make sure of it ! Do not trouble your
heads with curious inquiries into some difficulties
about this union ; but let this be your business, to
make sure of the thing. The poor low-gifted Chris
tian may get it, though the highest-gifted man can
not grasp it.
Use 3. But I must direct as well as persuade.
Methinks I hear some saying, How may this blessed
i Sicut per peccatum Adami non potuissemus peccatores
fieri, nisi fuissemus in ejus lumbis, ita per justitiam Christi
non possumus justificari, nisi ei inseramur, uniamur, et unus
spiritus cum eo fiamus.— Sireso.

union be attained ? what shall we do that we may
be in the number of those who are in Christ Jesus ?
For answer to this, I must again refer you to its
double bond and ligament, the Spirit and faith, and
advise you to get both of them. Would you have
Christ to be one with you ? then get the Spirit ;
would you be one with Christ ? then get faith.
1. First get the Spirit, which may be done by
attendance upon the word, and by prayer : Gal. iii.
2, ' Received ye the Sptfit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?' The apostle means the
hearing of the gospel, or the evangelical doctrine.
The gospel doth highly conduce to the obtaining of
the Spirit, for it is ' the ministration of the Spirit,'
2 Cor. iii. 8. Do any therefore want this Spirit?
let them wait upon the gospel dispensation and pub
lication, and, through the grace of God attending
that dispensation, they shall have it. Let me also
recommend prayer as an excellent means for the pro
curing of the Spirit. Oh sirs ! what will bring you
into Christ but the Spirit ? and what will bring the
Spirit into you but prayer ? You should be praying
for the Spirit, though you cannot as yet pray with
the Spirit. Oh that you would often go to God and
plead with him for the giving of it to you ! Say,
Lord, we read, ' If any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his ;' now, Lord, we dread the
thoughts of being none of Christ's. Oh to be out of
Christ is a woeful state ! and we perceive that is our
state tUl we have thy Sptfit. We hear it is the
Spirit that knits the soul to Christ ; till therefore
we are partakers of it we cannot be knit to him :
wherefore we beseech thee to give it to us. Oh
whatever thou deniest to us, do not deny us this
good Spirit ! Thou hast promised to ' give thy
Spirit to them that ask him,' Luke xi. 13. Lord,
upon our bended knees we ask him of thee; oh
now make good thy promise to us. I say, do you
but thus pray, and the thing shall be done ; a good
God never denies his good Spirit to the good seeker
of it.
2. Get faith also. This is a grace highly precious
and excellent. The apostle Peter speaks of several
precious things, and faith is one of them : it is
' precious blood,' 1 Peter i. 19 ; it is ' precious Christ,'
1 Peter ii. 7 ; it is ' precious promises,' 2 Peter i. 4 ;
and it is also ' precious faith,' 2 Peter i. 1. Now

52

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

amongst many other things which make it so preci
ous, this is one ; it is the grace which unites to
Christ.1 The woman consenting to take the man
for her husband, upon that the matrimonial union
follows ; so the sinner consenting to the receiving
and obeying of Christ, which is one great act, of
faith, upon this he is united to him : this, I say,
makes faith so precious. Oh this is one of faith's
royal exceUencies ! nothing puts a greater worth and
glory upon it than this great effect. Well then, see
that you make sure of it. Are you yet without it ?
in the sad state of unbeHef ? You have no share in,
and can make no claim to, this mystical union, so
long as it is thus with you ; you must be put into
another state, and become true believers, then it will
be well. These are the only persons who are in
Christ : ' We who believe are in him that is true,'
1 John v. 20. For whom did Christ ask of his
Father ' that they may be one even as we are one '?
it was for them 'that should believe' on him, John
xvii. 20, &c. Therefore let it be your great endea
vour to be beUevers ; for let me tell you, in the very
first moment of believing you will actually be the
members of Christ : the soul is in Christ as soon as
ever faith is in it. I will say no more, but only add
this, As you desire to get faith, first get the Spirit ;
for if you once come to have that Spirit, he will
most infallibly work faith in you. Of all the several
graces, he will not let that be wanting wherever
he is.
Use 4. The uses hitherto have been general, I shall
now more particularly direct myself to those who are
in Christ Jesus.
And first, is it thus with any of you, that you are
indeed taken into this near union with Christ ? how
should you admire the love of God ! I here consider
God personally, and so I would excite you to admire
the love of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost ; for indeed aU the persons have a great hand
in this union, and the love of each of them in it is
very admirable. The Father first lays the founda
tion of it, and then he orders the accomplishment
of it ; therefore it is said, 1 Cor. i. 30, ' Of him,' i.e.
of God the Father, ' are ye in Christ Jesus,' &c. ; and
1 Fidei gratia incomparabilis haec est, quod animam copulat
cum Christo, sicut sponsam cum sponso, &c — Luther, torn.
i. 466.

he also is said ' to call unto the fellowship of his Son
Jesus Christ,' 1 Cor. i. 9. The Son is wiffing to be
one with you ; what a condescension is that ! and he
is the person in whom the union is primarily ter
minated. Then the Holy Ghost brings it about as
one great agent therein. So that all the three per
sons are concerned in the mystical union ; it is to
the Son, by the will of the Father, through the
agency and operation of the Spirit. Oh let Father,
Son, and Spirit all be adored by you !
Which that I may the more effectually persuade
you to, let the thing itself be considered, and how
you stand in reference to it. To be in Christ Jesus,
so nearly, so indissolubly united to 'him, what
mercy is this !- There are in the union many things
of a very mysterious nature, but the greatest mystery
of aU is that there should be such a mystery; I
mean, that there should be such a thing for such
poor creatures. Oh consider, you ' who sometimes
were afar off, even you are made nigh,' Eph. ii. 13,
not only by Christ, but to Christ ; you who were so
far from being in Christ, that you were even ' in the
wicked one,' and in him you did lie, even as the
carnal world doth, 1 John v. 19 ; yet you are now
under a blessed conjunction with Christ. You who
by nature were grafted into the wild olive, are now
grafted into and made partakers of the root and fat
ness of the olive tree, Rom. xi. 1 7. Oh incomparable,
transcendent mercy! that so great a person as
Christ, the ' only begotten Son of God,' John iii.
16 ; ' God blessed for ever,' Rom. ix. 5 ; ' the bright
ness of his Father's glory,' Heb. i. 3 ; should stoop
so low as to be made one with dust and ashes : that
you who are no better than worms which erawl on
the earth, should be joined to so glorious a head ;
that he who did at first assume your nature into so
near a union with himself, should afterwards 'take
your persons also, and mystically unite them to his
own person ; that it should not only be God with
you, Mat i. 23, but God in you, and you in God.
Oh how will you be able, in some suitable manner,
to bless God and Christ for such unconceivable,
astonishing love as this is ! This being in Christ, as
a limb and part of him here on earth, will certainly
bear a great share in your highest thanksgivings
and hallelujahs, when you shall be with him in
heaven.

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53

2. Endeavour after a further clearness in 'this -
union. This I would urge,
1. With respect to the nature of the thing.
2. With respect to your personal interest in it.
First, Get the thing itself more and more cleared
up, that your knowledge of it may be more full and
more distinct. Some further head knowledge about
tf would not be amiss. It is a mystery, that very
< mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations ; but it is now made manifest to the
saints, to whom God hath made known the riches
of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you
the hope of glory,' as the apostle sets it forth, Col.
i. 27. Now it is a mystery which hath been hid so
long, but is now revealed in the gospel, and shall we
not labour after a clearer light about it ? It being
a privUege that is common to all believers, there
being also such a revelation of it, it is to be
lamented that it is no better understood by us. It
is true, in this life we cannot hope fully to compre
hend it, yet we might know much more of it than
generally we do. Paul speaks of the love of Christ
as 'passing knowledge,' Eph. Hi. 19 ; and yet he
prayed for the Ephesians that they might know it ;
i.e., that they might know as much of it as was
possible, though aU could mot be known. The
same I say concerning the mystieal union. But
chiefly, In the second place, Labour to be more clear as to
your personal interest in it. Are not many of God's
people very much in the dark about this — often
questioning with themselves whether they be in
Christ or not? Is it better with you? have you
assurance of your spiritual conjunction with Christ ?
As you value your comfort, your inward settledness
and establishment, take pains after this assurance ;
so as that, with the apostle's evidence and confi
dence, you may be able to say, ' We are in him that
is true,' 1 John v. 20. Could you but once arrive at
this, how great would your rejoicing be ! I have
told you, it is a sad thing for a man to get no
higher than a peradventure with respect to non-
condemnation. Now the assurance of that depends
upon the assurance of union. The apostle would
have Christians know distinctly how the case stands
with them in reference to their being in Christ, and
Christ's being in them. ' Prove your own selves.

Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates?' 2 Cor. xiii. 5.
In order to this assurance, you must pray much
for the Spirit's witness ; for that Spirit which pro
motes it doth also discover and give the evidence of
it. The objective evidence you may have in your
selves, viz., grace in the heart, the new creature,
faith, &c. ; but the subjective evidence you will not
have till the Spirit, by a divine irradiation, doth
make out the thing to you.
3. Are you in Christ ? Oh maintain and keep up
your union with him ! This is the abiding in him
which he himself speaks so much of : John xv. 4,
' Abide in me, and I in you ;' so ver. 5-7. It is not
enough to be in Christ unless you abide in him.
You wUl say, Is not the union indissoluble — that
which shall never cease ? I answer, Yes, it is so ;
yet you may do that which may tend to the dis
solving of it, though, through grace, it shall not
actuaUy dissolve it ; and you may do that which
may utterly deprive you of the sense and evidence
and comfort of it, though the thing itself shall
remain firm and sure : it concerns you therefore,
upon these accounts, to be very careful. Wherein ?
why, do not sin willingly and knowingly against
God, and do not abate in your constant and fervent
performance of duty; for these things strike at
the union, at the untying of that knot which God
hath tied so fast. And if it should once come to
that, what would become of you ? No sooner is the
branch broken off from the root but it immediately
withers and dies. Could you imagine a believer to
be broken off from Christ but for one moment, what
a withering, dying person would he be ! 0 sirs !
your life, strength, fruitfulness, comfort, your all is
in Christ, and secured by your union with him ; if
that should fail, all would fail : do nothing, there
fore, to endanger it. John xv. 4, 'As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the
vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me ; '
ver. 5, ' He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me
(xui'i faou, seorsim a me, separated from me, so Beza
renders the word) ye can do nothing.' So long as
you preserve your union you will be strong — strong
to do, and strong to suffer ; but if "you once make a
breach upon that, you will be no better than Samson

54

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

when his strength was departed from him, Judges
xvi. 19. What is the cutting off the hair to divulsion
and separation from the head ?
4. Improve your union with Christ. Are you in
him ? You should always be drawing and deriving
from him. So the member doth from the head ; and
Christ being your head, why do you not live under
more constant, more free and fuU derivations from
him ? Why is not this union improved, as a standing
cordial in and against those faintings and desponden
cies of spirit which sometimes you lie under ? Why
is not this more pleaded with God in the midst of
sad thoughts and misgivings of heart. Many other
things might be instanced in. It is too much a
truth, all other unions are better improved than
this great mystical union with Christ; the branch
makes the best of the root, and draws from it as
though it would exhaust all its life and virtue. Oh
that we could carry it so to Jesus Christ ! even to
draw from him as though we would draw him dry, if
such a thing were possible. We say in phUosophy,
the nearer anything comes to the first cause, the more
abundantly it doth receive from it ;J as the nearer
a thing is to the sun, the more it doth participate of
its Hght and heat. Now you, believers, are very
nigh to Christ, in whom 'all fulness dwells;' Col.
i. 19 ; you are even in him. Oh what full supplies
of grace should you be fetching from him upon aU
occasions ! why should they want, or what should
they want, who are not only at the fountain, but
in it !
5. Such as are in Christ must be very humble.
Christians, your union is very high, but your spirits
should be very low. High alhances are apt to puff
men up ; you are highly allied, indeed. Christ is your
head, your husband, your brother ; he and you are
' aU of one,' Heb. ii. 11 ; yet be not proud. When the
apostle was speaking of the ingrafting of the Gentile
beUevers into Christ, he adds, ' Others by unbelief
are broken off; you stand by faith; be not high-
minded, but, fear,' Rom. xi. 20 : the same I say to
you. Oh, ascribe nothing to yourselves ; do not
entertain or give way to any self-exalting thoughts ;
never think you can subsist by yourselves ; Hve
under a constant sense of your dependence upon
1 Unumquodque quo propius accedit causae primse, eo abun-
dantius recipit.

Christ; let there not be a thought in yoii thai
Christ is in the least beholden to you ; it is ' the
root which bears you; you do not bear the root,'
Rom. xi. 18. You are one with Christ, yet you
come infinitely short of him ; he is in you, yet above
you; it would be pride of the first magnitude to
equalise yourselves with him. Especially, never
think that, because of this union, you can merit
anything of God. The papists would fain prove
the saints meriting in what they do, from their
union with Christ ; but it is a weak proving of it ;
and our divines give a good reason against it,—
because the union betwixt Christ and beUevers is
only mystical, and not personal. Now it is the per
sonal union only that is the ground of merit. Oh,
' when you have done all, say you are unprofitable,"
Luke xvH. 10. How unprofitable, then, are you'
when you do so little ! nay, when you do nothing at
all as you ought to do !
6. Be very holy. They who are joined to such a
head, how should they live ! what holiness can be
high enough for such a union ! WiU you pretend
to be in Christ, and yet Hve in sin? wiU you dis
honour Christ your head by a loose, vain, unholy,
unsuitable conversation ? How should they ' shew
forth the virtues of Christ,' 1 Pet. ii. 9, who are the
members of Christ ! Methinks this union with him
should greatly sharpen the soul against sin, and
cause it to repel all temptations and soHcitations
thereunto with a holy detestation, as he once did :
Gen. xxxix. 9, ' How shall I do this great wicked
ness, and sin against God ?' What ! I, a member of
Christ, one with Christ, shall I do so and so?
As for others, who belong to a degenerate root,
they will bring forth degenerate fruit ; but I, who
am ingrafted into so noble, so excellent a stock,
shall I bring forth no better fruit? This precious
soul, which was so immediately created by God, and
is so immediately united to Christ, shall that be
prostituted to sin and Satan? This body, too,
hath its share in this union ; and ' shaU I take the
members of Christ, and make them the members of
a harlot?' 1 Cor. vi. 15. Surely such who are one
with Christ should in all things be like to Christ;
where there is union and communion there should
be conformity. Christians, if you live as others do,
you wUl make the world to question whether there

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

55

be such a thing as union with Christ, or at least to
think but meanly of it. Oh, therefore, '.as you have
received Christ, so walk ye in him,' Col. ii. 6. It is
obedience and holy walking which must evidence
your union to others, to yourselves : 1 John iii. 4,
'He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in
him, and he in him ; and hereby we know that he
abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.'
And the union itself calleth for it : 1 John ii. 6,
' He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also
so to walk, even as he walked.' Oh, how should they
live who Hve in Christ, and he in them ! Gal. ii. 20.
7. Are you in Christ ? then be heavenly-minded.
Such as are in him should be much with him in the
heavenliness of their thoughts and affections. Our
union is with our Lord in heaven, and our conver
sation should be with him in heaven also, Phil. iii. 20 ;
our head is there, Col. Hi. 1 ; and our treasure is
.there, Mat. vi. 21. Should not our hearts be there
also ? What a contradiction is an earthly conversa
tion to the heavenly union ? How sad a thing is it,
that a beUever, who is so near to Christ, should yet
Hve at so great a distance from him, and carry it as
though he was rather in the world than in Christ
Jesus ? If thou beest glued to Christ, do not live
as one who is glued to the world.
8. Be fruitful, and very fruitful. ' He that abideth
in me bringeth forth much fruit,' John xv. 4. Christ
saith it is so ; sure I am it should be so. If you
be branches ingrafted into Christ, there is a special
obhgation lying upon you to be very fruitful ; for
else you wtfl disparage your root, and also frus
trate the expectations of him who lays out much
cost upon you in order to your fruitfulness. The
husbandman, God the Father, looks for' much fruit
from such as you; and if you do not answer his
expectations, he wiU purge you, that is, he will lay
some sharp afflictions upon you, and thereby make
you to bring forth more fruit ; he will not take you
away, as he doth those who are only externally in
Christ, or cast you out for the fire, but he will afflict
you to some purpose. This is our Saviour's own
awakening doctrine, John xv. 2. The promise is,
Ps. xcii. 13, 14, ' Those that be planted in the house
of the Lord shaU flourish, &c; they shall bring forth
fruit,' &c. Oh, how fruitful should they be who are
planted in the Lord himself !

9. Such as are one with Christ should be one
amongst themselves. Saints are under a double
union ; one with Christ, and one amongst them
selves ; and the latter is as real as the former, and
purchased by Christ as well as the former— for the
proof of which read and weigh Eph. ii. 14, &c. The
members in the body natural, as they are united to
the head, so they are also united each to the other ;
and so it is here. Oh that this union among saints
was more conspicuous and evident ! But, with grief
of heart be it spoken, little is to be seen of that,
whilst much of that which is opposite to it is every
where too apparent. What schisms, rents, divisions,
are there to be found even amongst them ! Is not
this spoken of in Gath ? Are not the great enemies
of Christianity too well acquainted with it ? Now,
what a sad thing is this, that when they are 'all
one in Christ Jesus,' as it is in Gal. ui. 28, that there
should be such divisions, fractions, and distances
amongst themselves ! Some divines make this to be
the matter of Christ's prayer, John xvii., where he
prayed that all believers might be one, as the Father
and he were one ; i.e., that they might be one in
unity and concord amongst themselves. Which in
terpretation, though the higher union must by no
means be excluded, is very probable, from the argu
ment with which Christ twice backs his prayer :
' That the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.' It must, therefore, be some external and
visible union, of which the world, in order to this
conviction, might take notice; which the saints'
mystical union with Christ is not, but their union or
unity amongst themselves is. And it appears that
upon this very prayer of Christ there was a little
after great unity and concord amongst the primitive
Christians : Acts ii. 46, ' And they continuing daily
with one accord,' &c. ; Acts iv. 32, ' The multitude
of them that believed were of one heart, and of one
soul,' &c. — just as Christ had prayed. And oh that
the virtue of this prayer might reach us also at this
time ! for surely our divisions are so many and so
great, our breaches so wide, that I think nothing
can or will unite us but the alone efficacy of Christ's
intercession. A stronger motive to unity cannot be
set before the people of God than that which I am
upon. They who are so joined to Christ should not
be disjoined amongst themselves : as they have but

56

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II

one head, and are all members of the same body, so
they should have but ' one heart and one way,' Jer.
xxxii. 39.
10. Are you in Christ ? You should then be well
acquainted with him, so as to attain to a consider
able degree of the knowledge of him. Others, who
are afar off from him, may be ignorant of him, but
you, who are so nigh to him, should know him well.
He told his disciples that he would ' Pray the Father,
and he would give them the Comforter,' &c. ' Even
the Spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but
ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you,' John xiv. 16, 17. This was spoken of
the saints' knowledge of the Spirit; but it holds
true as to the knowledge of Christ himself. The
world knows him not, but beUevers know him.
How doth that come to pass ? Why, from this, for
he dwells, in them, and is in them, and they in him.
Oh, how should the consideration of this union
excite you to labour after a clearer knowledge of the
Lord Jesus ! Persons we live with we know them
fully. Christ Uves in you, and you in him. What
a shame wiU it be if you do not, so far as your
capacity will admit of, know him distinctly ! ' Surely,'
saith Jacob, ' the Lord was in this place, and I knew
it not,' Gen. xxviii. 16. Whoever thou art, tf thou
beest a gracious person, surely the Lord is in thee
and thou in him ; and yet thou neither knowest thy
union, nor the person to whom thou art united.
Pray, let this put you upon the daUy diligent study
ing of Christ, that you may arrive at a higher know
ledge of him. ' Acquaint yourselves with him,' Job
xxii. 21, and do it thoroughly. Upon the intimate-
ness of the union there should be intimateness of
acquaintance. Use 5. Hitherto I have been speaking to such
who are in Christ by way of exhortation. I shall
now further speak to them by way of consolation ;
and you that are such, oh rejoice and be exceeding
glad, let your hearts be even fiUed with joy ! What
abundance of comfort is there wrapt up for you in
this your union with Christ ! It is a flower out of
which all sincere Christians may suck a great deal
of evangelical sweetness. For the setting forth of
which let me go further than that special privilege
which the text holds forth.

1. Are you in Christ Jesus? This speaks the
excellency and dignity of your persons. How greal
and honourable must they needs be, who are thus
nearly united to so glorious a person as Christ, the
Mediator, the eternal Son of God ! ' This honour
have all the saints,' Ps. cxlix. 9. It is no great
matter what the world says or thinks of you ; men
viUfy you, and look upon you as the very ' scum and
filth of the earth,' so they did long ago to far your
betters, 1 Cor. iv. 13. 'The precious sons of Zion,
comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as
earthen pitchers !' Lam. iv. 2. And it is no great
matter what your outward condition is in the world
— that may be mean and inglorious enough. I say
these are things not much to be regarded, so long as
you are the members of Christ You being so, what
a glory and greatness must this needs reflect upon
you ! Mark that expression, John xvH. 22, ' The
glory which thou hast given me I have given them.-
What glory doth Christ speak of? it follows : ' That
they may be one, even as we are one.' This is glory
indeed. It is a great honour to be a member of the
church ; so the good emperor Theodosius judged of
it, who preferred his being a member of the church
before his being emperor of the world. But it is a
far greater honour to be a member of Christ. It is
a high expression concerning Israel, that they were
'a people near to God,' Ps. cxlviu. 14. You be
lievers are near to God indeed, for you have not
only, communion with him who is God, but union
also ; you are one with the Father, and one with
the Son. You must needs upon this be- excellent
and glorious. The excellency of persons and things
is to be measured by their appropinquation or ap
proximation to that which is most exceUent, Then
the saints are ' the exceUent in the earth,' Ps. xvi.
3, because they are so near to Christ, the centre of
all excellencies. How was the human nature ad
vanced and dignified, even above the angeHcal nature,
when it was so nearly united to the Godhead, as the
woman of mean descent is when she is matched into
some great famUy ! And hath not Christ highly
advanced your persons too, by taking them into so
close, so intimate a union with himself? It was
accounted honour for Esther to be taken into Aha-
suerus's royal bed ; it was a far greater honour to
her to become his wife. But this is nothing to the

Chap. IL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

57

honour which Christ hath put upon you in his join
ing and marrying of you to himsetf. -Oh let him
first be adored who hath thus exalted poor worms !
and then you should know how to judge of your
selves according to the advancement and dignity
conferred upon you by your being in Christ. As to
your being and order, the angels are above you :
' Thou hast made him a Uttle lower than the
angels,' Ps. vHi. 5. But as Christ hath assumed
your nature, and not theirs, and hath thus nearly
united your persons to himself, so they are a little,
nay, a great deal, lower than you. Let there be no
pride or sinful self-exaltation in you ; yet know how
to put a right estimate upon yourselves according to
your advancement by grace. The saint in his rags
is greater than the sinner in his robes ; for the one
is in Christ, and the other is not, and that puts a
superlative glory and excellency upon him.
2. Are you in Christ Jesus? Then, as your
dignity is great, so your safety is great too. You
need not fear the greatest dangers which threaten
you ; upon your being in Christ, even in the ' vaUey
of the shadow of death,' you are safe, Ps. xxui. 4.
The evUs you dread are either temporal and ex
ternal, or spiritual, internal, and eternal. You are
secure against aU. That special providence which
is over you secures against the first ; and that special
grace which is in you and towards you secures
against the last : ' Upon all the glory shall be a
defence,' Isa. iv. 5. You upon your union are a part
of this glory, for it points to persons as well as
things ; therefore there is a defence upon you to
keep off whatever might hurt you. You are not
merely a part of Christ through your conjunction
with him, but you are, in regard of his special and
tender affection, as ' the apple of his eye,' Zech. H. 8 ;
and will he not guard the apple of his eye ? He that is
in this ark must needs be safe in the greatest deluge.
The evU of evUs is eternal condemnation. But what
saith the text ? ' There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus.' How can they perish who
are one with Christ? Will he suffer persons so
united to him to be miserable? So long as it is
well with the head, shaU it not be well with the
members also ? In the body natural the head may
be safe, and yet some of the members may perish ;
but in the body mystical it is otherwise, where all

the members are safe in the head, and as safe as the
head itself. 0 believers ! you may with courage
look the greatest dangers, evils, in the face, as know
ing that none of them shall ever reach you, much
less to hurt you, because you are so strongly engar-
risoned in Christ. But more of this in the last
branch of comfort.
3. Are you in Christ Jesus ? Here is comfort for
you ; upon your union with him he sympathises with
you in all your afflictions, and looks upon aU done to
you as done to himself. I say, Christ sympathises
with you in all your afflictions, for he is a sym
pathising, compassionate, tender-hearted Saviour, as
you read, Heb. iv. 15, and v. 2. As there is, by
virtue of the union, a mutual sympathy betwixt the
head and the members, the husband and the wife,
so it is here betwixt Christ and you : ' In aU your
afflictions he is afflicted,' Isa. lxiU. 9. He that bore
your griefs when he was on earth, really and pro
perly, Isa. liii. 4, he bears them still, now he is in
heaven, in a way of sympathy. Further, I add, he
hath a tender sense of what is done to you, and
looks upon it as done to himsetf; and no wonder,
since he and you are but one : " He that touches
you, touches the apple of his eye,' Zech. ii. 8 ; ' Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me,'1 Acts ix. 4. When
the saint is persecuted, Christ himsetf in him is per
secuted. As tf any kindness or love be shewn to be
Uevers, Christ looks upon it as done to himself : Mat.
xxv. 40, ' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me ;'
so if any unkindness be shewn to them, Christ looks
upon it as done to himself. Oh that enemies would
be quiet, and let God's people alone, and fear to
wrong or injure them ! for they are so united to
Christ, so incorporated with him, that they who
strike at them do through them strike at Christ
himself. 4. Are you in Christ ? He wUl then most certain
ly supply you in aU your wants. In temporal wants
fear not, Christ will provide ; wUl he suffer that body
to starve which he hath united to himsetf? You are
full of anxious thoughts 'what ye shaU eat and
drink ; what ye shaU put on.' Christ would have
you ' take no thought ' about these things, Mat. vi.
1 Sic vocem pedis suscipit lingua ; clamat, calcas me. In
menibris Christi Christus est.— August, in Ps. xxx. H

58

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[Chap. II.

26. Your bodies being in union with him, he wiU
look after them, so that they shall not want what is
necessary. . O believer ! hath Christ thus admir
ably joined thee to himself, and will he deny thee a
Httle meat, and drink, and clothing ? And then as
to spiritual wants, in those Christ will supply too.
Every member in the body from this head shall
receive that grace, life, strength, that is proper for
it. The root suppHes every branch with what it
needs. Christ will do the same to every beHeving
soul; and this is part of that sV/^ogjjy/a rou mivparog,
that ' supply of the Spirit ' which you read of, PhU.
i. 19. This union is operative and communicative.
If thou beest in Christ, thou shalt most surely have
from him that measure of grace and comfort which
he sees best for thee, Rom. xii. 3. Every lamp in
the golden candlestick was supplied from the two
olives, Zech. iv. 12 ; and so every particular member
of Christ is and shall, as need requires, be supplied
from him. The apostle tells us, 1 Tim. v. 8, ' If any
provide not for his own, and especially for those of
his own house, he hath denied the faith.' You are
Christ's own, John xiu. 1, of his house and kindred,
nearly related to him, nay, members of himself, and
therefore certainly he will provide for you. And
that he will do in all your concerns, whether out
ward or inward. That, look, as you must 'glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, for both
are God's,' 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; so Christ wiU supply
you in your bodies, in your spirits, for both are
his. 5. Are you in Christ? Then you have no reason to
be afraid of death. Though it be ' the king of terrors,'
Job. xvUi. 4, of all terribles the most terrible, yet as to
you there is no cause of fear. Why ? Because it can
never dissolve the union that is betwixt Christ and
you ; and so long as that abides, death can never do
you much hurt. Hear me, thou sincere Christian !
Dost thou Hve ? thou art in Christ ; dost thou die ?
thou art in Christ ; neither life nor death, therefore
shall be hurtful to thee. Nay, it is so far from that,
that death itself shaU be thy advantage : 'To me to
Uve is Christ,, and to die is gain,' PhU. i. 21. You
read of ' dying Hi the Lord,' Rev. xiv. 13, of sleep
ing in Jesus,' 1 Thes. iv. 14. The saints die, their
bodies are thrown into the grave, (that vast reposi
tory,) yet there they are united to Christ ; yea, their

very dust is so. This death cuts asunder aU other
knots, but it cannot do so to the mystical knot ; it
dissolves the union betwixt soul and body, betwixt
husband and wtfe, &c, but it shaU never dissolve
the union betwixt Christ and the beHeving soul.
When the body of a child of God shall be no better
than a rotten carcase, Christ will say, Oh yet this
very carcase is precious to me, for it is in union with
me ! David speaks of the saints favouring the dust
of Zion, Ps. cii. 14. The very dust of dead
believers is valued by Christ, insomuch that he will
not lose the least atom of it
6. Are you in Christ ? Here is matter of com
fort as to the certainty of a happy resurrection.
Your bodies may be locked up in the grave for a
time, but Christ, who hath the key of the grave —
they being united to him — wUl certainly open it and
take them out. He wiU raise them up again, and.
that with advantage too, for they shall then be
fashioned like to his own glorious body, PhU. in. 21.
The head is risen, and the members shaU rise also,
by virtue of the union that is betwixt them. Quod
prascessit in capite, sequetur in corpore, as Augustine
speaks : 1 Cor. xv. 20, ' Now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that
sleep.' Rom. viH. 11, 'If the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dweUeth in
you.' So John vi. 54, 'Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal Hfe ; and I will
raise him up at the last day.' And this is not to be
limited to a bare resurrection ; there is more in it
than so, for all shaU arise ; the resurrection shall be
general and universal, Dan. xii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xv. 22.
But yet there wUl be a vast difference in it ; it will
be a happy resurrection to them who are in Christ,
but a dreadful resurrection to others. The wicked
shaU be raised by Christ as a judge, in order to their
trial, and the passing of the sentence of death upon
them ; but the saints shall be raised by Christ as a
head, vktute unionis, in order to the receiving of the
blessed sentence of life. John v. 28, 29, ' Marvel
not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall
come forth ; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil,

Chap. II.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

59

unto the resurrection of damnation.' How should
beUevers rejoice in this !
7. Are you in Christ ? Then great is the Father's
love to you. Take believers as they are in them
selves — the Father greatly loves them ; but now as
they are in Christ, and made one with him, there is
an additional love, a higher love belonging to them
from the Father, because they are so near to his own
Son. Therefore, upon this union, God loves them
with the same love wherewith he loves Jesus Christ
himsetf: John xvu. 23, 'I in them, and thou in
me, &c. ; that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.'
0 believers, what a love hath the Father for you
upon this ! And Christ's own love, too, is very great
to you ; for you are his flesh, and 'no man ever hated
his own flesh,' Eph. v. 29, 30. Yea, he told his dis
ciples, ' As my Father hath loved me, so have I
loved you,' John xv. 9. So near a union must
needs be accompanied with a very dear affection.
It is not always so with us ; but as to Christ, the
strength of the affection from him shall always be
answerable to the nearness of the union with him.
8. Are you in Christ Jesus ? Here is comfort as
to your perseverance, stability, and fixedness in the
state of grace. This, upon which aU depends, a
chUd of God may be fully assured of; for wUl Christ
lose a member, a part "of himself? shaU one united
to him finaUy and totally fall away from him ? No,
that shall not be. So long as the union is firm and
indissoluble, do not fear. I speak not agajnst the
duty of fear, but the sin of fear. It is not here in
and out; — in to-day and out to-morrow ; but it is once
in Christ, and ever in Christ ; there is your safety.
Indeed the saints stand firm upon several great
foundations, as the Father's election, the immuta
bility of his counsel, Heb. vi. 17, the tenor of the
covenant, &c, but this also must be taken in, their
inseparable union with Christ. You are not only
in Christ's hands, (out of which none shall pluck
you, John x. 28,) but you are in Christ, as your
head ; and who shall be able to sever the members
from this head ? If Christ should lose a member, he
would be imperfect as a head. You are his fulness,
as hath been said, Eph. i. 23, now he wUl be
Christusplenus, a full Christ, as he speaks,1 which he
1 Aug. in Ps. xxxvi.

would not be if any of his members should be taken
away from him. If he might lose one, he might
then lose another and another, and so he would be
sure of none. Oh ! ' your life is hid with Christ in
God,' Col. iii. 3; therefore it is sure and safe. Take
the saints apart from Christ, the strongest could not
stand ; take them as joined and united to him, the
weakest shall not fall. When the first Adam was
our head, our condition was mutable, in him we
stood upon very sUppery ground; but now, when
Christ is our head, we stand fast and firm, ' even as
mount Zion, never to be removed,' Ps. cxxv. 1.
It is but the same grace now, which we should
have had upon our first creation — I speak of the
kind, not of the degree — yet it is not amissible as
that was, because of our union with another head.
9. Are you in Christ ? This assures you of the
audience of your prayers. ' If ye abide in me,' saith
Christ, ' ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be
done unto you.' What an encouraging word is this !
God will grant your requests for the love he bears
you upon other accounts ; but to be sure he wUl do
this for you, you being under such a near conjunc
tion to the Son of his love.
10. Are you in Christ ? Know then that union
and communion go together, and is not this full of
comfort ? As all communion is founded upon union,
so all union terminates in communion; and the
closer is the union, the fuller is the communion.
Union with Christ is a very enriching thing; it
interests a person in all that Christ is or hath ; this
is that fellowship of the Son to which the saints are
called, 1 Cor. i. 9. You being in Christ, his person
is yours; you are his, and he is yours : 'My beloved
is mine, and I am his,' Cant. ii. 16. Upon the
covenant-relation God is yours ; upon the mystical
union Christ is yours. You being in Christ, aU his
attributes are yours : his wisdom yours to guide you ;
his power yours to protect you ; his mercy yours to
pity you ; his all-sufficiency yours to supply you;
and so in the rest. As the father in the Gospel
once said to his son, ' Son, thou art ever with me,
and all that I have is thine,' Luke xv. 31 ; so saith
Christ to the beHeving soul, Thou art ever in me ;
all that I am or have is thine. Being in Christ, you
share with him in all his offices, hence you are kings
and priests as he is, in a spiritual and mystical

60

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. II.

notion.1 Rev. i. 6, ' And hath made us kings and
priests unto God,' &c. 1 Peter ii. 5, saints are
styled ' an holy priesthood,' and, ver. 9, ' a royal
priesthood.' Being in Christ, you bear his name,
as hath been shewn, and you partake with him in
his high relations and dignities ; he is a son of God,
so are you : John xx. 17, 'I ascend to my Father,
and your Father ; ' he is ' heir of all things,' Heb. l
2 ; you 'joint heirs with him

Rom. viii. 17.
Being in Christ, all his merit is yours; his suffer
ings, satisfaction, are as much to your advantage,
as if you had suffered and satisfied in your own
persons.2 You being in Christ, all the blessings,
privileges, which he hath purchased are yours3 — as
justification, atonement, adoption, access to God,
&c. You being in Christ, that very glory which he
hath is yours. See Rev. iii. 21; John xvii. 24; Luke
xxii. 29. You being in Christ, all ' the promises in
him are yea and amen ' to you, 2 Cor. i. 20; Gal. iii.
29. You being in Christ, all his victories and
triumphs over enemies are yours, Rev. ii. 26, 27.
Upon union with Christ, you have union, too, with
the Father and the Holy Ghost.4 In a word, you
being Christ's, all is yours, 1 Cor. iii. 21, and what
can be said further? Is not all this enough for
your comfort ? Here is blessed communion flowing
from a blessed union ; here is partakirig indeed of
the fatness of the olive, upon your being ingrafted
into it, as it is Rom. xi. 17,
1 Omnes Christiani sunt sacerdotes, quia membra unius
sacerdotis. — August, de Civ. Dei, lib. xx. cap. 10.
2 Caput et membra sunt quasi una persona mystica, et ideo
satisfactio Christi ad omnes fideles pertinet, sicut ad sua mem
bra.— Aquin., S P. qu. 49, art 1.
3 Unio haec est spiritualis ilia relatio hominum ad personam
Christi, qua jus acquirunt ad omnes illas benedictiones quae
ab ipso praeparantur. — Ames. Medul, lib. i. cap. 26, sec. 2. Fides
pure docenda est, quod per earn sic conglutineris, ut ex te et
Christo fiat quasi una persona, quae non possit segregari ; ut
cum fiducia dicere possis, Ego sum Christus, h.e., Christi jus
titia victoria, vita, est mea ; et vicissim Christus dicat, Ego
sum ille peccator, h.e., ejus peccata et mors mea sunt, quia ad-
haeret mihi et ego illi, conjuncti enim sumus per fidem in unam
carnem et OS. — Luther. Homo cum fiducia possit gloriari in
Christo, et dicere, meum est quod Christus vixit, egit, dixit,
passus est, mortuus est, non secus quam si ego ilia vixissem,
egissem, dixissem, passus essem, mortuus essem ; sicut sppn-
sus habet omnia quae sunt sponsae, et sponsa habet omnia
quae sunt sponsi, &c. — Idem.
* See Sedgw. on the covenant, p. 208.

11 Are you in Christ? Then it is no condemna
tion : so the text expressly tells you. Oh what a
ground of rejoicing is exemption from condemnation!
What can be sweet to him who is obnoxious to it?
what can be bitter to him who is secured agamst it?
this is the happiness of all in Christ. Poor Christ
less souls are condemned over and over ; law, and
gospel, and conscience, and, which is worst of all,
the great God condemns them ; but it is not so with
you who are in Christ; to you it is no condemnation.
You are justified here, and shall be solemnly, pubHcly,
declared to be so at the great day. You are in
Christ, not only as the members in the head, which
is your mystical union, but as the debtor in the
surety, which is your legal union. Christ's payment
and satisfaction is yours, and God will not fall upon
him and you too for payment. The wife under
covert is not liable to an arrest or action at law, but
all must fall upon her husband. You being married
to Christ, this supersedes the process of the law
against you ; if it be not fully satisfied, it must seek
its reparation at the hands of your spiritual husband,
Christ himself : as to any condemnatory charge, it
cannot fall upon you. Amongst aU the damned in
hell there is not one in Christ to be found; that is no
place for such as are limbs of him. And, to shut up
all, upon this union it is not only no condemnation,
but it is also certain salvation : 1 John v. 12, ' He
that hath the Son, hath Hfe ;' John xiv. 19, ' Be
cause I live, ye shall Hve also.' Christ the head is
in heaven, and where he is, there he wiU have his
members also ; this is his great request to his Father,
John xvii. 24. Where it is union it shall be vision;
in Christ here, and with Christ hereafter, are insepar
able ; a Christ in you is a sufficient ground for the
hope of glory : Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you, the hope
of glory.' You therefore who are in Christ should
highly comfort yourselves with these things.
I would desire such not to put from them these
cordials, as if they were not proper for them, because
of the weakness of their graces, the imperfections of
their duties, the meanness of their persons, or upon
any other discouragement of this nature. Art thou
a believer ? be thou never so weak, yet thou art in
Christ ; thou art low in grace, in gifts, in thy out
ward condition, yet thou art in Christ. The
meanest member in the body is united to the head,

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

61

as well as that which is the highest ; and so it is
here. Though the eye was weak which looked upon
the brazen serpent, yet it looking thereupon there
was heaUng for aU that. The weakest faith is heal
ing faith ; and it is so, not only because it takes a
view of Christ, but also because it knits to Christ.
O Christian ! faith's uniting virtue doth not depend
upon its strength, but upon its sincerity ; the very
minimum quod sic is enough to put thee into Christ >
therefore be not discouraged because thy faith is so
weak and low. And for thy outward condition,
that is nothing at aU to the state or privilege ; the
poor are in Christ as well as the rich, the ignoble as
weU as the noble. He doth not choose his members
by any external considerations. If grace be in thy
heart, though thou art very mean Hi thy outward
state, hast scarce bread to put into thy belly, or rags
upon thy body, Christ is not ashamed to own thee
as one of his members and brethren, Heb. ii. 11.
Let this suffice for the opening of the subjects of
the privUege, so far forth as they are described by
their union : ' There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus'

CHAPTER III.
OF THE HOLY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE, IN OPPOSITION TO
THE SINFUL AND CARNAL LIFE.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. — Rom. viH. 1.
The subjects of the privilege are further characterised by
their course — The words repeated ver. 4, with some
little variation — They are descriptive both with
respect to the non-condemnation, and also to the
being in Christ Jesus — Why the apostle singles out
this character — What walking imports. The obser
vation raised — Eight things taken notice of from the
words: 1. The apostle doth not say, There is no
condemnation to them in whom there is no flesh, but
to them who walk not after the flesh ; 2. He doth not
lay his evidence upon particular acts, but upon the
general course ;¦ 3. Here is not redditio causae, but
only descriptio persons / 4. The description is not

laid down in the negative only, but also in the affirma
tive ; 5. The two walkings are supposed to be con-
trary ; 6. First it is being in Christ Jesus, and then
it is walking not after the flesh, &c. ; 7. There always
was and always will be different walkers; 8. The
apostle lays it down in the general, and the reason
given why he so doth — The parts of the description
opened. — What is meant by flesh, and by walking or
not walking after the flesh — Flesh considered,
1. More generally : what it is to walk after it in that
respect; why the corrupt nature is set forth by flesh; a
fivefold account given of that. 2. More particularly ;
what it is to walk after it in that respect — Of lust, or
lusting, the most natural act of the flesh — What is
here meant by the Spirit. — What it is ' to walk after
the Spirit — That opened in five particulars — The
doctrine confirmed — Applied, 1. By way of informa
tion, in three things; 1. That Scripture marks or
signs, grounded upon sanctification and holiness, are
not under the gospel to le rejected by believers;
2. That the popish calumnies against protestants and
the protestant doctrine are causeless and groundless.
3. That there are but few who are in Christ Jesus — ¦
Use 2. To examine the walking, whether it be after
the flesh, or after the Spirit — Use 3. 1. To dehort
from walking after the flesh; several motives to enforce
that dehortation ; what is to be done for the avoiding
of it ; 2. To exhort to walking after the Spirit: three
motives to that — Use 4. Such as do walk after the
Spirit are exlwrted, 1. To be very thankful ; 2. To
walk yet less and less after the flesh, and yet more and
more after the Spirit ; 3. To take the comfort of this
walking ; the great discouragement of troubled Chris
tians about it removed.
There is in the whole verse, as you have heard, the
privilege, and the description of the persons who
have a share in that privilege, they are described,
1. By their union with Christ : ' There is no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ; this
hath been spoken to.
2. By their holy course : they are such who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; this I proceed
now to speak to.
In the Greek the words run thus : "Ouhh &ga vuv
xara.Xfip.oi. rots h Xgitfrw 'Ijjffou, p^n xara eu^xa irigiiraroij-
em, aXXa xara\ vinup.ot. There is no condemnation

62

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

to them in Christ Jesus, not walking after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Our translators put in, 'to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after,'
&c. And they part the being in Christ, and the not
walking, &c, and read them as distinct ; but others
put them together and make aU but one sentence.
Thus the Syriac version, cited before. Thus
Grotius --1 'There is,' saith he, 'no condemnation to
them, who by Jesus Christ, or by the gospel, are
brought to this, not to go whither carnal affections
do carry them, but having obtained the Spirit they
constantly obey his motions.' Some difference there
is in this double reading, but I will not inquire
whether material or not2
The apostle recites these words, ver. 4, with a
double variation : 1. There he brings in the rela
tive and joins it with the participle, which here he
doth not ; for there it is roig negiKuroveiv, whereas the
relative here is joined with h Xg/nrS. 2. Here it is
expressed in the third person, there in the first per
son ; ' that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfiUed in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit.'
This clause is descriptive of the persons who have
an interest or share in that which goes before ; and
so it is an evidence or description either with re
spect to the no-condemnation, or to the being in
Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation ;
to whom? why, to them 'who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.' Wherever there is a
holy conversation in this life, there shaU be no con
demnation in the life to come ; and so vice versa.
Or it refers to the other branch immediately fore
going ; to them that are in Christ Jesus — who are
they? or how may they be known? The apostle
thus characteriseth them ; they are ' such who walk
not after the flesh, but*after the Spirit.' A holy,
spiritual course is an infalUble evidence and insepar
able concomitant of union with Christ. These two
may reciprocaUy be predicated each of the other;
thus, they who are in Christ walk not after the
1 Nulla condemnatio iis qui per Jesum Christum, sive per
evangelium, eousque perducti sunt, ut non eant quo carnis
affectus rapiunt sine discrimine, sed Spiritum sanctum adepti
ejus motibus constanter obsequuntur. — Grot.
2 Unica est in textu Pauli oratio, sed interpres distinxit in
duas, &c, quamvis ad sensum non intersit. — Cajet.

flesh, but after the Spirit, and they who thus walk
are in Christ. You may take the words Hi which
of these two references you please, but their, imme
diate conjunction seems to carry it for the latter,
they being linked and coupled with the roig h Xg/urS
'ijjroD, them that are in Christ Jesus ; but both may
very well be taken in. Which way soever we take
it, certainly there is, as to both, a restriction and
Hmitation in the words ; the non-condemnation and
the union belong only to those who walk not after
the flesh, &c. Yea, they are conditional, as to the
privilege, even to them who are in Christ Jesus.
There is no condemnation to such, provided or upon
this condition that they walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit; and so the Arabic version para-
phraseth upon them.1
The apostle designing to describe such who are
freed from condemnation, or such who are Hi Christ,
he pitches upon that evidence and character which
is plain and obvious, and not upon that which might
have been more dark, obscure, and hard to be un
derstood. He grounds it upon the course of a man's
Ufe and conversation; and what may better be
known than that ? He does not lay it upon elec
tion or the secret decree of God, and say, there is
no condemnation to them whom God hath chosen
before the foundation of the world, Eph. i. 4, to
them whom God hath ordained to eternal life, Acts
xHi. 48, whose names are written in the book of
life, Rev. xiii. 8, though that be a very great truth;
but because persons possibly herein might not be so
weU able to judge of themselves, therefore he saith
there is no condemnation to them ' who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Sptfit.' This walking
is a thing that is manifest, and easy to be known.
I cannot so easUy find out my election, for that lies
deep and hid, as I can my conversation, which, in a
great measure, is exposed to the view of others, much
more to my own. And whereas the apostle had
been speaking of union with Christ, that being a
great mystery, and men might not so weU know
how to judge of themselves concerning it ; therefore
he comes to that which would fully and plainly open
it to them. He saith, whoever they be who are in
i Non est igitur ulla damnatio eis qui sunt in fide Jesu
Christi, dummodo se exeroeant, non in his quae propria sunt
carnis, sed in his qua propria sunt Spiritus.- Vers Aral

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1 4.

63

Christ, this is the course they take, ' they walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit' They that can
find — which upon faithful searching may easUy be
found — that they do not Hve the carnal and sensual
life, but the holy and spiritual life, though this being
in Christ be a great mystery in itself, yet this walk
ing will clear it up to them, so far as their interest
in it is concerned, that they are indeed in Christ.
Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It
is a very usual metaphor in Scripture, to set forth
the course of life by walking : ' Enoch walked with
God,' &c, Gen. v. 24, i.e. — the course of his life was
holy. ' I am God all-sufficient ; walk before me, and
be perfect,' Gen. xvii. 1. Zachariah and Elisabeth
were righteous, ' walking in aU the commandments
and ordinances of God blameless,' Luke i. 6 ; with
very many such places. That which in this verse is
caUed walking after the flesh, in the 12th and 13th
verses it is caUed Uving after the flesh. I might in
several particulars shew you the aptness of this
metaphor, how proper it is to set forth the course
of life ; but I wiU not stay upon that.
Obs. 2. This branch of the text leads me to that
second observation, which I raised from the whole
verse at my entrance upon it, namely, That such
who are in Christ, and thereby freed from condem
nation, this is their property or course, they walk
not after the flesh, but after the Sptfit.
In the discussing of which, my main work will be
to open the twofold walking here mentioned; yet
before I faU upon that, let me take notice of seven
or eight tilings which He very plainly before us in
the words.
1. The apostle does not say, There is therefore
now no condemnation to them in whom there is no
flesh, or to them who have no flesh in them ; but he
saith, To them who walk not after the flesh. Alas !
tf the former should be the description and character
of justified persons, and of such who are in Christ,
then none would be justified or in Christ. There
would not be so much as any one person in the world
exempted from condemnation, or united to Christ ;
for there is not a man upon the earth, I except not
one, in whom there is not more or less of this flesh,
Rom. Hi. 10. The very best of saints in their lower
state, are not wholly freed from it ; the most spiritual
whilst here below are but mixed, imperfect creatures,

made up partly of flesh, and partly of sptfit ; so it
is in the natural, and so it is in the moral notion
also. Paul himsetf lay under a sad sense of this, as
you see Rom. vii. 24, 25. It is most truly said by
one upon the words,1 Perfect sanctification is the
rule that is to be laid to the saints in heaven, not to
those that are upon the face of the earth. And it is
a saying of Bernard, Felis, nolis, intra fines tuos habi
tant Jebusceus ; the poor burdened Christian, whether
he wiU or no, shaU have the Jebusite, the flesh,
dweUing in him. Men before conversion are en
tirely flesh, but they are not after conversion entirely
sptfit. The apostle here saith, -' There is now no
condemnation ; ' but he doth not say, There is now
no corruption, no flesh, no concupiscence in the
children of God.2 It shall be so hereafter, but it is
not so at present ; no, that perfect freedom from aU
mixtures of flesh is reserved for heaven. And there
fore Origen's gloss upon the words is much too
high : 3 There is no condemnation to them who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; that is,
saith he, to them who are so reformed and rectified,
that there is nothing of sin, of any vicious act, or of
flesh to be found in them. But who, Christ only
excepted, did ever arrive at this pitch and measure
of holiness and spiritualness here on earth ? There
is not only flesh in the best, but that is very stirring,
active, and powerful even in them. It hath not
only a bare being or existence in them, but a great
activity and strength : ' The flesh lusteth against the
Sptfit,' Gal. v. 17. These two opposite principles,
like Rebecca's twins in the womb, are daily con
tending in the gracious soul each against the other ;
and this combat will continue till the saint be in
heaven. It is well, therefore, that the apostle
grounds his description, not upon the not having of
flesh, but upon the not walking after the flesh,
which are two very different things.*
1 Elton upon the text.
a Et ne putares hoc postea futurum, ideo additum est nunc ;
postea expecta illud ut nee concupiscentia sit in te contra
quam contendas, quia nee ipsa erit. — Anselm.
3 Nihil absurdius, neque magis falsum dici potest, Origenis
in hunc locum expositione, qui haec de iis dici vult, qui sunt
(inquit) ita emendati, ut in seipsis nihil vitiosi operis invenia-
tur; i.e., de iis, qui, uno excepto Christo, nusquam unquam
fuerunt, neque sunt futuri. — Beza.
1 Secundum spiritum ambulare dicit, non qui penitus exue-

64

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

2. He doth not ¦ lay his evidence upon particular
acts, but upon the general course; not upon par
ticular steps, but upon walking, which notes the
continued, untform course of life. In the trial of
ourselves, about our union with Christ, or freedom
from condemnation, or the truth of grace, we are
not to judge so much by single acts, as by the gene
ral course. The reason is, because the state, whether
present or future, may infallibly be known by the
latter, but it cannot be so by the former ; for as to
some single acts, the bad may be very good, and the
good may be very bad. The best sometimes tread
awry, and take some steps — too many, God knows —
in the way of the flesh ; of which Noah's drunken- ,
ness, Lot's incest, David's adultery, &c, are too sad
proofs; but yet they do not walk after the flesh,
because this is not their general course. And on
the other hand, the worst may seem to take a step
or two now and then in the way of duty, to come
up to some particular good acts; Cain sacrificed,
Ahab humbled himself, Judas preached Christ, &c,
but yet they do not walk after the Sptfit ; both be
cause they are not thorough and sincere in the good
they do, and also because it is not their course to do
good. The coarsest web here and there may have
some finer threads in it, but they are nothing to the
whole piece. Even the blackest Moors have their
white teeth ; yet the whole body being black, from
that they receive their denomination. The appUca-
tion is obvious. That which constitutes this walk
ing after the flesh, or after the Spirit, is a constant,
continued, uniform course of life ; and therefore
this is that which we must judge by. A godly man
indeed is, and ought to be, careful as to his particu
lar steps : David prayed, ' Order my steps in thy
rint omnes carnis sensus, ut tota eorum vita praeter ccelestem
perfectionem nihil redoleat, sed qui in domanda et mortifi-
canda came sedulo laborant. — Calvin. Omnes carnem habent,
et violentiam peccati in se sentiunt, tamen modo ei non obedi-
ant, sed Spiritu actiones carnis mortifieent, nulla est eis con-
demnatio. — Parous. Attendendum est, non dicere apostolum
Bublatum in nobis esse peccatum, utpote regeneratis ; sed
nullam condemnationem in nobis superesse, quia summa et
perfectissima naturae nostrae in Filio Dei integritas, nostra
facta per nostram cum ipso per fidem spiritualiter apprehenso
unitionem, nos jam nunc licet vix ab ilia nativa eorruptione
liberari eceptos, sistit in sese apud Patris tribunal prorsus in-
tegros et securos. — Beta. Non dicit, qui non peccant, &c.
— Vide Muscvl. in loc, p. 120.

word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over
me,' Ps. cxix. 133 ; but that which doth denominate
him to be godly', it is that course of godliness which
he drives on in his whole life ; and this is that
which must evidence his being in Christ. Every
fleshly act doth not constitute fleshly walking,1
though even they must be avoided as much as may
be, and greatly repented of when they do prevail;
but when the conversation is filled up with them,
and the heart too delights in them, ~oh that is to
walk after -the flesh. And so it is e contra, as to
walking after the Spirit.
3. This spiritual walking is not redditio causes, but
only descriptio personal : or the words are not the
assignation of the cause of the privUege, but only
the description of the person to whom it belongs.
Here is walking not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit; how doth this come in? I answer, the
apostle doth not assign this as the cause of the
non-condemnation, as the popish doctors teach,2
or of the union with Christ ; only he brings it in
as a description of the person who is freed from
condemnation, and who is in Christ Jesus. He
doth not say, ' There is, no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, because they walk not i
after the flesh,' 3 &c, but to them who walk not
after the flesh, &c, so that this is merely descriptive
of the. person. The heavenly and spiritual life is
1 Aliud est peccare etiam actu, aliud in peccato ambulare;
h.e., eo delectari, et illi operam dare, eique maxime servire —
Gomar. Qui Spiritum sequitur ducem, quamvis interdum a
oarne quasi pertractus extra viam vestigium ponat, secundum
tamen carnem vivere non dicitur. — Beza. Non protenus
secundum carnem ambulat, qui imprudens aut affectu aliquo
abreptus delinquit. Lapsus hic est vel cespitatio quaedam,
non ambulatio, &c. — Slichting. Fidelis seipsum et omnes suas
naturales facultates subdidit magisterio Spiritus, et secundum
ilium ambulat. Sed dum ambulat in obedientia Spiritus, vio-
lentis motibus inhabitantis carnis per externa objecta et ex-
ternas occasiones excitatis, ita obruitur, ut labatur et vincatur,
atque ita dictamen carnis aliquando sequatur. Sic fuit cum
Noah, &c. — Streso.
2 Causa haec est cur non sit eis damnations, kc-^Tolet. TJt
haec posteriora causam contineant, cur nihil condemnationis,
kc.—JusUn. Vide Stapl. Antidok, p. 624, 625 ; Contzen. in
ver. 2, chap. viii. ad Rom. Quaest. 2.
s Non dicit quia non secundum carnem ambulamus, sed qui
non secundum, &c, ne faciat in hac justifications causa primum
esse, quod seoundarium est, &o.-Muscul in Rom., chap. viii.
ver. 4, p. 124.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

65

not the cause of justification,1 only it is the note or
evidence of justified persons. And as to the union
with Christ, the fruits of the Spirit and the effects
of grace and sanctification begun in us, these do not
unite us unto Christ, only they declare us to be so
united : 2 they are evidences, not causes. Wherever
there is justification and the mystical union, there
is sanctification and holiness ; yet the latter is not
the ground of the former : as wherever life is there
is sense and motion ; yet these are not the cause,
but only the sign, evidence, and consequent of Ufe.
There is a vast difference betwixt who is justified,
and why or upon what grounds he is justified : 3 the
holy walker is the justified person, but he is not
justified because of the holiness of his walking.
No, this causal influence upon justification is wholly
founded upon the merits of Christ applied by faith.
This is the Protestant doctrine, to which I shall
have occasion from these two first verses to speak
more than once.
4. The description is laid down, not in the nega
tive only, but in the affirmative also : it is not only
who walk not after the flesh, but it is also who walk
after the Spirit. In order to the participation and
evidence of the grace of the gospel, it is not enough
not to be evil or not to do evil, but there must be
being good and doing good.4 Mere negatives will
never justify or save ; for a man may go so far upon
bare restraining grace ; and besides, God requires a
great deal more. As when the repentance is right,
there is not only a ceasing to do evil, but there is
i Non propter novam aliquam qualitatem quam in nobis
operata est gratia Spiritus Sancti, extra condemnationem
sumus ; sed propter solam gratiam Dei, quam fide Christi
apprehendimus. — Muscul. Non causa justincatioms, sed con
ditio et nota justificatorum. — Parens. See more Dub., ii. p.
773. * Fructus spiritus sive eanctificationis in nobis inchoatae
effecta, nos non inserunt Christo, sed nos ei insitos esse de
clarant. — Beza.
3 Sunt cohaerentes quidem, sed diversae questiones, quare
eximamur omni condemnationi, &c, et quinam, in Christo
eximuntur condemnationi : ii videlicet qui se in Christo esse
ex regenerationis fructibus ostendunt. — Beza.
4 Non sat est non ambulare secundum carnem, abstinere a
malis, non peccare ; sed oportet secundum spiritum ambulare,
bene agere : qui enim non bene agit, hoc saltern malum com-
mittit quod bonum omittit.— Corn. Muffus. Ut intelligamus
non sufficere ad evitandam omnem damnationem abstinere a
carnalibus, sed oportere proficere in spiritualibus. — Cajet.

also a learning to do well, Isa. i. 16 ; Ps. xxxiv. 14,
'Depart from evil, and do good;' so when the
walking is right and evidential of gospel mercy,
there is in it both the absence of sin and also the
presence of virtue and grace. A religion made up
of nots is but a half-religion. To be magis extra
vitia quam cum virtutibus, as the historian describes
Galba,1 rather free from vice than virtuous, in the
positive fruits and effects of virtue, this is not 'suffi
cient ; it is to be as a cake that is baked but on one
side, as the metaphor is, Hosea vii. 8. The first is
well, but the last is better, as the philosopher tells
us.2 The gospel doth not only teach us to ' deny
ungodliness and worldly lusts,' but also to 'Uve
soberly, righteously, godly in this present world,'
Tit. ii. 12. And it threatens not only those who
bring forth evil fruit, but also those who do not
bring forth good fruit, Mat. Hi. 10. It is an ex
pression of Theophylact upon the words, Mere ab
stinence from vice doth not crown, but there must
be also the participation of virtue, and of that which
is spiritual;'3 and Chrysostom upon the fourth
verse speaks to the same purpose.4 You have in
the description of the text therefore the negative
and the positive part of holiness; and these two
must go together, for holiness is made up of both :
1 Pet. i. 14, 15, 'As obedient children, not fashion
ing yourselves according to the former lusts, in your
ignorance;' there is the negative part : 'But as he
which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation;' there is the positive part.
As some read the words, this head cannot be
grounded upon them; for they only put in the
negative, not walking after the flesh, leaving out the
affirmative, but after the Spirit. So the Syriac, so
the Vulgate, and the expositors who foUow it. But
generaUy the Greek copies have it ; and the Syriac
too brings it in ver. 4 ; and why not here as weU as
there ? It is not put in only as a true interpreta
tion, but it is a part of the text itself.5
1 Tacit. Hist., lib. i. p. 313, ex edit. Lips.
s Tijs apeTrjs to, KdXa -irpdrretv uSXXov i\ ra aloxpa P^
irpaTTet.ii. — Arist. Eth., lib. iv. chap. 1.
3 Oi yap i) airoxri T-qs Kadas txretpami ; dXX' i\ ttjs dpeTTJs Kal
twv Trvevpn.T\.K&v p.eToxr). — Theop.
4 AetKvis Sti oi ko.kS>v a-n-exeoOai Set pivov dXXa Kal iv ayaBU
Kopav. — Chrysost. in ver..i, hujus capitis.
5 Non est dubium, rectissime tanquam interpretationem I

G6

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

5. The apostle here brings in two walkings, and
he supposes them to be contrary, for he sets them
in opposition one to the other : ' who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit,' implying a contrariety
betwixt these two walkings. And so indeed there
is : the flesh and spirit are two contrary principles,
and therefore the walkings which proceed from these
contrary principles must needs be contrary too. They
are so contrary that they are incompatible and in
consistent in the same subject ; there may be flesh
and spirit in the same person, but there cannot be
walking after both in the same person. Therefore
saith the apostle, Gal. v. 16, 'WaUt in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;' as if
he had said, He that doth the one cannot do the
other too. He goes on, ver. 1 7, ' The flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these two are contrary;' contrary as to their
natures, their originals, and, which suits best with
the scope of the apostle in these words, contrary as
to their propensions, tendencies, workings, lustings
in the subject. Oh they put men upon different
courses ! so different, as that, in their proper ac
ceptation, they cannot consist; insomuch that he
who walks after the flesh cannot walk after the
Spirit; neither can he who walks after the Spirit
walk after the flesh. A man cannot move to two
contrary points, as east and west, north and south,
at the same time ; no more can a man walk heaven
ward and heU-ward at the same time : now the flesh
draws heU-Ward and the Spirit draws heaven-Ward,
so that it is impossible in sensu composito to follow
both. These are the two opposite masters , which
none can serve together, Mat. vi. 24. Friendship
with the flesh is enmity to the Spirit; whoever
therefore wUl be a friend of the flesh he must be an
enemy to the Spirit. I allude to James iv. 4.
6. The order of the things here spoken of is to be
observed. First it is being in Christ Jesus, and then
it is walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit ;
this I may briefly take notice of, though it be not the
thing' here directly intended. There must be union
with Christ before there can be spiritual walking ;
addi secundum spiritum: qui enim non ambulat secundum
carnem, necesse est ut ambulet secundum Spiritum ; medium
enim in vita-humana nullum est. — Contz. in chap. viii. ad
Rom., Qu. 1.

for walking is an act or operation of life. Dead things
do not move ; there can be no motion where there is
no life. Especially spiritual and holy walking de
pends upon life ; but now there is no such Hfe in
the soul, tUl, being united to Christ, it be quickened
by. him. He who is out of Christ cannot live the
holy Ufe, for it is union with him that lays the
foundation of all holiness in us. The branch must
first be ingrafted into the stock, and then it bears
fruit ; so here. Therefore saith Christ, John xv. i,
5, 'Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can
not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ;
no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the
vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit :
for without me ye can do nothing.' Hohness is the
evidence of union, so it comes in in the text ; and
union is the ground of holiness, so it comes in in
this head. Holy walking is an infalUble consequent
upon being in Christ, and that is a necessary ante
cedent to holy walking.
7. It is impUed that there were in the apostles'
time, and so will be to the end of the world, differ
ent walkers ; some wUl walk after the Spirit, and
some after the flesh. As it was said with respect to
persecution, Gal. iv. 27, 'As then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after
the Spirit, even so it is now : ' so it may be said
with respect to the different conversations of men ;
as then in Paul's days some walked after the Spirit
and some after the flesh, even so it is now.' So long
as the world stands, some wUl be carnal as weU as
some spiritual ; the distinction of saints and sinners,
of godly and ungodly, of good and bad, wUl abide
whUst this world shall abide. There is the broad
way of the flesh, there is the strait way of the
Sptfit, in both of which some or other wiU always
be walking; and the misery is, many walk in the'
broad way of the flesh, when but few walk in the
strait way of the Spirit, Mat vii. 13, 14; this may
have its thousands, but that hath its ten thousands.
8. The apostle expresses it in the general only, by
not walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit. He
doth not instance in those particulars which are
proper either to the one or to the other, (as he doth
Gal. v. 17, &c.,) only he speaks in the gross. But
all the several particulars are included in the general, .

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

67

and run into that, as all waters do into the sea. Be
it pride, covetousness, uncleanness, &c, aU centre in
the flesh ; so, be it humiHty, heavenly-mindedness,
holy love, &c, all centre in the Spirit, and derive
their being, operation, efficacy from the Sptfit.
Therefore the apostle sets it down thus generally —
under the flesh comprehending all evU, and under the
Spirit all good; he sums up all the several sins under
the former, and aU the several graces under the latter.
These things being premised, I come now to the
main point— such as are in Christ Jesus; this is their
property or course, they walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit.
• This I will, 1. Explain ; 2. Prove ; 3. Apply.
For expHcation, I must speak to the parts of the
description severally, and shew,
1. What is meant \>j flesh, and by walking or not
walking after it.
2. What is meant by Spirit, and by walking after
it. And as I go along I wiU take in the doctrine,
and particularly bring down to it the several expli
cations of the description, negative and affirmative.
I begin with the first. Which that I may the bet
ter clear up, observe that there is a being in the flesh,
and a walking in or after the flesh; which two, though
they be never parted, yet they are distinct : the first
refers to a man's state, the second to his course.
There is a being in the flesh, of which you read
Rom. vu. 5, ' For when we were in the flesh, the
motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in
our members to bring forth fruit unto death.' Rom.
viH. 8, 9, ' So then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit,' &c. Then there is a walking after the flesh ;
this inevitably foUows upon and suits with the for
mer. They who are in the flesh wUl certamly walk
after the flesh, for the conversation always agrees
with the state.
Now it is this walking which' the text speaks of.
You have the same expression 2 Peter ii. 10, 'But
chiefly them that walk after the flesh,' &c. It is also
set forth by living after the flesh, ver. 12, 13 of this
chapter. If you turn to one scripture you will find the
phrase there used in a quite other sense than that in
which it is here used ; it is 2 Cor. x. 3, ' Though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.'

What may be the meaning of walking in the flesh in
this place ? I conceive it notes the apostle's Hving
the same natural Hfe with other men, and also the
meanness of his external appearance in the eye of
the world.1 We walk in the flesh; it is as if he had
said, we are poor, frail, mortal men as well as others ;
made with them of the same flesh, living in the same
flesh, and encompassed with the same infirmities of
flesh ; and there is nothing from our outward con
dition and appearance to gain us any honour, esteem,
or success amongst men. Thus, saith the apostle, we
' walk in the flesh.' But then, he adds, ' we do not
war after the flesh,' h.e., we do not carry on our work
and business, as we are the apostles and ministers of
Christ, by the flesh ; it is not human power or any
fleshly advantage which we go upon ; it is only a
divine power that helps, assists, and prospers us, by
virtue of which God's work in our hands doth and
shall go on in spite of all opposition from men and
devUs. This clearly seems to be the apostle's mean
ing, for it immediately follows, ver. 4, ' The weapons
of our warfare are not fleshly and carnal, but spiritual
and mighty through God.' WeU ! but now walking
in the flesh, or after the flesh, here in the text carries
a quite other sense along with it.
For the finding out of which we must first inquire
what is meant by flesh ?
Now as to this inquiry, to give you the several
acceptations of the word flesh would be both tedious "
and unnecessary. Expositors generaUy agree about
its sense in this place, only I find some few a little
varying in their explications'of it. They by flesh here
understanding, — at leastwise taking in that sense
as weU as that which is usual and common, — the
Jewish ceremonial law, with the several rites, cere
monies, appurtenances thereof ;2 and so they make
the words to fun thus : Such are exempted from con-_
demnation who serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not
1 Porro hoo loco Paulus aliter dicit 'ambulare secundum car
nem,' quam alibi cum dixit 'in came ambulantesnon secundum
carnem militamus ; ' ibi enim in came ambulare, est mortalem
adhuc vitam ducere ; hic autem secundum carnem ambulare,
idem estquod militare secundum carnem, A.e.,genio ac volupta-
tibus indulgere,et pravis oupiditatibus morem gerere. — Justin.
2 Fortasse per oarnem ceremonias legis intelligit j vultque
dicere, Christianos illos a condemnatione exemptos et liberos
esse, qui Christo Jesu serviunt, non carnali ilia ceremoniarum
observatione, sed spirituali. — Mussas.

68

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

according to the fleshly observation of the ceremonies
of the law, but in a spiritual and evangelical manner.
Now it is true those may come under this title, of
flesh, for they are called ' carnal ordinances,' Heb.
ix. 10, and Paul, in part speaking of them, calls
them flesh over and over, Phil. iii. 3, 4. Yet I con
ceive they do not fall within the great intendment
of our apostle in these words. Our learned anno-
tator,1 in his paraphrase upon the text, and also upon
the following verses, though for the main he opens
it as others do, yet he makes it more specially to
refer to the Jews as under the law, and to Christians
as under the gospel. What there may be of that
notion in the words I shall not meddle with, but
rather come to the general and unquestionable inter
pretation of the word flesh as it is here used.
Where I will consider it, — 1. More generally;
2. More particularly.
1. More generally. So flesh in Scripture com
monly notes that corrupt, sinful, depraved, vitiated
nature that is in man as he comes into the world.
This nature is variously set forth. Sometimes by
' the old man : ' so Eph. iv. 22, ' That ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man,' &c.
Sometimes by the ' law in the members warring
against the law of the mind ; ' so Rom. vii. 23.
Sometimes by ' sin ' in the general : so Rom. vii. 8,
' Sin,' i.e., the corrupt nature, ' taking occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence.' Sometimes by ' indwelling sin ; '
so Rom. vu. 17. Sometimes by ' the sin which
doth so easily beset us ; ' so Heb. xu. 1. And some
times by ' flesh ; ' so here, and so in several other
places ; John iii. 6, * That which is begotten of the
flesh is flesh ;' John i. 13, ' Born again, not of the
wUl of the flesh, nor of tiie wiU of man, but of God ;'
Rom. vii. 18, ' I know that in me, that is, in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing ; ' and ver. 25, ' So
then, with the mind ' (he means the renewed and
1 There is therefore now no obligation lying on a Christian
to observe these ceremonies of Moses's law, circumcision, &c,
nor consequently danger of damnation to him for that neglect;
supposing that he forsake those carnal sins that the circumcised
Jews yet indulged themselves in, and perform the evangelical
obedience in doing what the mind illuminated by Christ directs
us to, that inward true purity, which that circumcision of the
flesh was set to signify, that is now required by Christ under
the gospel. — Dr Hammond.

sanctified nature) ' I serve the law of God ; but with
the flesh ' (he means the corrupt nature) ' the law of
sin.' Gal. v. 17, ' The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit,' &c. Once, indeed, in Scripture this corrupt
nature is set forth by ' spirit : ' James iv. 5, ' The
spirit that is in us lusteth to envy ; ' but usually it
is set forth by ' flesh.' And several reasons might
be given of that appellation. I wUl name some
few ; but wtfl not in the least enlarge upon them.
The sinful nature in man is styled flesh,
1. Because it is conveyed and propagated as the
flesh is.
2. Because it is propagated by the flesh, or by
fleshly generation.
3. Because it is very much acted in the flesh, or
fleshly part.
4. Because it is nourished, strengthened, and
drawn forth by the flesh, or by fleshly objects.
5. Because of its baseness, sordidness, and de
generacy. And by the most of these things the corrupt nature '
in man is distinguished from the corrupt nature of
the apostate angels. Theirs is set forth by ' spi
ritual wickedness,'Eph. vi. 12, because itvents itself in
spiritual, not in carnal acts, such as are envy, hatred,
pride, blasphemy, fretting at God himself, and at
his dispensations, &c. But ours is set forth by the
flesh, because it is conveyed through the flesh, and
acted in the flesh, and drawn forth by the flesh.
Now if you take flesh in this general notion, then
to walk after it, it is this : to have the corrupt, sin
ful nature to be a man's principle and guide ; and
not to walk after the flesh, it is not to have that
nature to be one's principle and guide. For the text
brings in these two, flesh and Spirit, as different and
opposite principles and guides ; and therefore they
who make flesh their principle and guide, they walk
after the flesh ; as they who make the Spirit their
principle and guide, they walk after the Spirit.
Take men out of Christ, and such as are unregene
rate, they -walk after the flesh.' How? Why,
flesh is their principle and flesh is their guide ; the
flesh is that which they act from, there is their
principle; and it is that which they act by, there
is their guide. That which is the spring of action,
that is the principle; that which puts upon aud
orders m action, that is the guide. Now take

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

69

Christless men, the persons of whom I am speaking ;
flesh is the spring and flesh is the guide of their
actings. If they think, it is from the corrupt nature ;
if they speak, it is from the corrupt nature ; if they
love, it is from the corrupt nature, &c. ; and so all
along, this is that spring in them which makes all
the wheels to move ; and this is that guide, too,
by which they steer, order, direct their whole course.
And it being so, their* conversation must needs be a
fleshly conversation, or a walking after the flesh, for
that is always denominated from, and answerable to,
its principle and guide ; tf it be a fleshly principle
and a fleshly guide, it must needs be a fleshly walk
ing. And thus it is with persons out of Christ, they
act from the flesh and by the flesh, and so they are
said to walk after the flesh. But such who are in
Christ, they do not thus walk ; corrupt nature is
neither their principle nor their guide ; there is
another nature in them by which they are acted and
guided — viz., the Spirit, as I shall shew you by and
by when I come to the affirmative part. Expositors,
whom to cite would be endless, do variously open
and iUustrate this walking or not walking after the
flesh ; but the most do pitch upon that illustration
of it which I have given. This concerning flesh in
the general consideration of it. But then,
2. Secondly, It may be considered, more particu
larly, with respect to its proper, radical, most natural
and vital act, and that is lust or lusting. This lust
is the great act, the most genuine issue of the flesh,
— the stream which does most immediately and di
rectly flow from that fountain. The most proper
notion of the flesh is to conceive of it as a lusting
thing. The apostle therefore, when he was speak
ing of it, presently he puts down this as its most
proper and essential act : ' The flesh lusteth against
the Spirit,' Gal. v. 17; and Rom. vi. 12, ' Let not
sin reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey
it in the lusts thereof.' Sin here is the flesh, and
you see how it works. You read of ' the lust of
the flesh,' Gal. v. 16 ; and of ' the lusts of the flesh,'
Eph. H. 3 ; Rom. xiH. 14 ; Gal. v. 24. These lusts,
I say, are the most proper issue and the most
genuine effects of the corrupt nature in man : Rom.
vii. 8, ' Sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.' (or lust.)
Eph. iv. 22, ' That ye put off concerning your former

conversation the old man, whicli is corrupt accord
ing to the deceitful lusts.' Observe how the flesh,
the old man, the corrupt nature, and lust or lusts,
are usually linked and coupled together.
To apply this now to the walking which I am
upon. To walk after the flesh, it is to Uve and act
as under the full power and strength of unmortified
lust ; it is to indulge, gratify, obey, and comply with
the flesh as a lusting thing, or as it puts forth itself
in sinful lustings. The apostle, 2 Pet. H. 10, having
spoken of walking after the flesh, immediately he
instances Hi the gratifying of a particular lust, there
by shewing what that walking after the flesh is :
' But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the
lust of uncleanness,' &c. On the other hand, not tp
walk after the flesh, it is to keep lust under, to beat
it down, to resist it, not to give way to it, in what
ever form or shape it may assault the soul ; to live in
the daily mortification of it, not to suffer such hell
ish fire to smother and burn in the soul ; to let it
have no harbour or entertainment in the heart, but
to thrust it out with abhorrency and detestation, &c.
This is not to walk after the flesh.
But this lust being so near to the flesh, so co-
natural with it, that which issues from it, even as
heat and burning doth from the fire, and the walk
ing or not walking after the flesh being so much to
be measured by it, I will, therefore, give you some
further explication of it.
Lust in Scripture, as it is taken in a bad sense,—
for the Spirit hath its lustings as well as the flesh, —
sometimes notes the habit, the root itself — viz., the
depraved nature ; sometimes the act, that • cursed
fruit which grows upon the forenamed cursed root.
The apostle James speaks of it as the mother-sin, if
I may so express it : James i. 14, 15, ' Every man
is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin,' &c. Paul speaks of it as the
daughter-sin : Rom. vii. 8, ' Sin, taking occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence,' or lust. The one considers it as the
fountain, the other as the stream. In this latter
notion I am to open it ; and so it is the bent and pro-
pension, the eager, fierce, vehement desire of the soul
after fleshly objects or sensual things ; for lust, in
its strict and primary sense, mainly lies in the bum-

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[Chap. III.

pug ewiSufirjnxr), the desiring or concupiscible faculty ;
therefore imfo/i'ia is the word by which it is set forth.
The soul of man is a desiring, craving, thirsting
thing ; it is a very mass of desires ; and there is no
faculty more natural to it, or wherein it puts forth
itself more vigorously, than the desiring faculty.
Now here is the principal seat of lust, and that
which gives it its very being : when the soul is ear
nestly, vehemently, impetuously carried out after
some sensual good, something that will please the
fleshly part, if it wUl but do that, let it be what it
will, this is lust. I say it refers principaUy to the
desires, as inordinately set upon and drawn out after
fleshly things. Therefore the apostle couples them
together, ' the lusts of the flesh ' and ' the desires
of the flesh,' Eph. ii. 3. And the other apostle,
speaking of the inordinate desire of worldly pleasure
and profit, he expresseth it by ' the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes,' 1 John H. 16. I know, if
you consider lust habitually and radicaUy, there is
more in it than this ; for so it is the bent and pro-
pension of the soul to whatever is evil, and its aver-
sation from whatever is good. But if you consider
it actuaUy and particularly, so fleshly and sensual
desires are the main and most proper acts of it.
Here, further, you must distinguish of lust or
lusts. Some are more rank and gross, such as lie Hi
the sensitive and fleshly part ; others are more re
fined and secret, such as lie in the upper part of the
soul, the reason, mind, and will. You read, 2 Cor.
vii. 1, of the ' filthiness of the flesh and spirit,' where
the apostle describes the lusts of the lower faculties
under the filthiness of the flesh ; and the lusts of the
higher faculties under the filthiness of the spirit :
go Eph. ii. 3, ' Among whom also we all had our
conversation Hi times past* in the lusts of our flesh.'
How 1 Why, in ' fulfilling the desires of the flesh,
and of the mind ; ' 1 so that aU lusts do not lie in the
desires of the flesh ; but there are some which lie in
the mind, and in the highest faculties of the soul.
Therefore the apostle in this chapter, ver. 6, speaks
of ' the wisdom of the flesh : ' where, God wUling,
we shaU shew, against the papists, that the flesh and
1 Non corporis tantum, h.e., partis ratione carentis, sed
etiam Sicwoias opera esse vult omnes ejusmodi cupiditates,
quas ex sola animae parte, quae censetur rationis expers, pro-
duci Platonici prohibent. — Salmas. in Epictet., p. 117.

the lusts thereof are not to be confined to the lower
and sensitive part in man, but that they do also
extend to the nobler and higher part in him. And,
to instance but in one place more, you read, Col. ii.
18, of ' a fleshly mind.' These are the lusts that
are situated in the upper region of the soul ; but
then there are others which reside in that region
which is lower; they are called ' fleshly lusts : '
1 Pet. H. 11, 'I beseech you as strangers and pil
grims, abstain from fleshly lusts,' &c. They are also
caUed ' worldly lusts :' Tit. ii. 12, ' The grace of
God, which hath brought salvation, teacheth us to
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.' They are styled
fleshly lusts, because they are altogether for the satis
faction of the fleshly and sensual part, or because
they reach no further than the fleshly part ; and
they are styled worldly lusts, because they are drawn
forth by worldly objects, or because they draw out a
man in eager propensions after worldly things.
Now to bring this down to the business in hand.
The flesh being thus particularly considered, so to
walk after it, it is this : for a person to be under the
regency and dominion of lust, in whatever part or
faculty it may reside or exert itself, so that he acts
in a ready, wilHng, full subjection to it and com-
pUance with it. It is to be under the unbroken
strength of sensual propensions, and to follow them
in the course of life. More closely, it is to be car
ried out with vehemency of desire after some fleshly
good, so as wholly to be swallowed up in pursuits
after it and deHghts in it, even to the sUghting, un
dervaluing, total neglect of what is truly and spirit
ually good; this is lust, by which whoever is thus
acted he is a walker after the flesh ; for wherever
lust commands and is obeyed, in one respect or
another, there it is walking after the flesh. Oh,
doth it bear sway in any of you, that you obey and
act by it in heart and life ? The dark side of the
character is towards you— you walk after the flesh,
and not after the Sptfit.
Saints in Christ Jesus do not thus walk ; the flesh
may sometimes be stirring and lusting in them, but
they dare not hearken or give way to it ; they repel
its evil motions and propensions ; do not foUow or
steer their course by the commands and counsels
thereof; and they are not inordinately desirous of
sensual things. In general, they do not, they dare not,

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JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

71

'obey sin in the lusts thereof,' Rom. vi. 12, or fall
in with the cursed suggestions and soUcitations of
the flesh to that which is evil : ' They that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts thereof,' Gal. v. 24. But let this suffice
for the opening of the negative, wlw walk not after
the flesh ; much more might be added, but that
which foUows wiU give more light about it.
Before I enter upon the applying of this, let me
proceed to the opening of the positive or affirmative
part, Such as are in Christ Jesus do" not walk after
the flesh. What then do they walk after ? Why,
after the Spirit.
Quest. The question here to be answered is, What
is it to walk after the Sptfit? or when and how
may persons be said to walk after the Spirit ?
Ans. For the better answering of which question,
we must first inquire what we are to understand by
the Spirit ; for that being cleared, the walking after
it wtfl be the more evident.
Here also, not to insist upon the several significa
tions and senses of the word spirit, in this place it
must be taken either personally for the Spirit of
God, the third person in the sacred Trinity ; or ha-
bituaUy for grace in us — the divine nature implanted
in the soul Hi the work of regeneration ; or it must
be understood of both. You find grace in Scripture
set forth by sptfit : John iii. 6, ' What is born of
the flesh is flesh ; and what is born of the Spirit is
spirit ; ' where the latter spirit must be understood
of the heavenly and renewed nature. Jude 19,
the apostle speaks of some who were ' sensual, hav
ing not the Spirit,' which though it be chiefly to be
understood of the spirit of grace, of which these per
sons were destitute, yet it takes in the grace of the
Spirit too : so Gal. v. 17, ' The flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; ' i.e., the
corrupt nature and the renewed and sanctified na
ture do reciprocally oppose and contend each against
the other. So some interpret that of our Saviour,
Mat. xxvi. 41, ' The sptfit is willing, but the flesh
is weak ; ' but I cannot lay so great a stress upon
this place for this import of the word. And as the
sinful nature may very well be set forth by flesh, so
grace or the sanctified nature may as well be set
forth by this appellation of spirit. And that for
these reasons : —

1. Because it is of the Spirit of God, it being im
mediately infused and created by him.
2. Because it is principally seated in the spirit —
the soul of man.
3. Because it is a spiritual thing, and vents itself
most in spiritual acts.
4. Because of the nobleness and exceUency of it.
Now you will ask, In which of these senses is spirit
here to be taken ? I answer, It is best to take in
both ; namely, both the spirit of grace, and also the
grace of the Sptfit, or the renewed spirit in the
creature. The thing here spoken of is applicable
to both, and therefore why should we limit it to
one? The word spirit throughout in this chapter is
generally taken in the personal notion, for the Holy
Ghost himself; and no sooner had the apostle
mentioned spirit in this verse, but presently in the
second verse he speaks of the Spirit as considered
personally : ' The law of the Spirit of life,' &c. ; he
means the Hving and quickening Sptfit of God :
therefore to be sure this sense must be taken in.
And grace habitually considered, or the renewed
nature in the soul, that too may have its place here
very properly ; for spirit being set in opposition, to
the flesh, which is the depraved nature, it must have
some reference to that other nature which is opposite
to this ; and interpreters generally so open it.1 It
is best therefore, I say, to take in both these notions
of the word spirit.
The natural and phUosophical notion of flesh and
spirit, is body and soul; though yet some philoso-
phers sometimes speak of them in a somewhat
different and more restrained sense. For spirit
they make to be, as the whole soul in general, so
sometimes only the highest part of the soul, viz., the
intellectual and discursive faculty; in compUance
with whom, or rather with the Jewish writers2 in
their Nephesh, Buach, and Nesama; Paul seems so to
use the word, 'I pray God your whole spirit and soul
and body be preserved blameless,' &c, 1 Thes. v. 23.
1 Spiritus sumitur pro animo regenerato per Spiritum.^ —
Parens. Per Spiritum intelligit novitatem naturae, effectam
per regenerationem Spiritus, vitiositate naturali emendata. —
Piscat. Vocat carnem universam hominis naturam, ut quae
corrupta exciderit a pristina dignitate, cui opponitur Spiritus,
eadem, viz., instaurata per Spiritum Dei. — Beza.
» Vide Drusium in 1 Thes. v. 23.

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[Chap. III.

And as to flesh, that they make to be not only
the body itself, but also the sensitive soul ; that part
which is void of, and sets itself against, reason, and
refuses to be subject to the laws and dictates of the
rational faculty. Thus the Platonists and Stoics
do frequently make use of the word caff, flesh ; 1
only they differ about the diversity of the faculty,
where it is seated, from the reasonable faculty.
Now though flesh and spirit in the text contain in
them something higher than what this phUosophical
notion of them reaches, yet it is not altogether to be
rejected ; and therefore in this discourse it wUl
accordingly be made use of.
Now I come to answer the question, What is it
to walk after the Spirit ?
In general, it is to walk in the way of the Spirit.
The flesh hath its way, and the Spirit hath its way :
the way of the flesh is sin, wickedness, rebelUon
against God, &c. ; the way of the Sptfit is holiness,
obedience, righteousness, &c. He then that walks in
the way of sin, he walks after the flesh ; and he that
walks in the way of holiness, he walks after the
Sptfit ; for the walking is according to the way that
men go in.
So again, to walk after the Spirit, it is to bring
forth the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit hath its
fruits, such as love, joy, &c, Gal. v. 22 ; and the
flesh hath its fruits, several of which are recited
Gal. v. 19 ; where the fruits of the Spirit fill up the
life, there it is walking after the Spirit, and so,
e contra, as to the flesh. In short, as to the general
opening of it, to walk after the Spirit it is to live
the holy and the spiritual life ; .it is to have God's
Spirit, and to act in compliance with and obedience
to it ; and it is, too, to have the divine nature in the
soul, to follow the motions and dictates of that
nature, and to live in the exercise of the several
graces which grow upon that root. I could very
much enlarge upon this general description, but I
shall choose rather to explain the thing particularly
under these five heads :
To walk after the Spirit, it is,
1. To have the Spirit to be the principle of
acting. 2. To have the Spirit to be the guide of life, and
to follow its guidance.
1 For this see Salmas. in Epict. and Simplic, p. 116, &c.

3. To have those affections which are proper to,
and suit with, the Spirit.
4. To live under, and to close with, holy inclina
tions and propensions to what is good.
5. To act for spiritual ends.
Here I instance in more particulars than I did in
the opening of the walking after the flesh, but they
are as appUcable to that as to this ; and they being
contraries, the one wUl Ulustrate the other.
1. To walk after the Spirit, it is for a person to
be acted by the Spirit, or to act from the Spirit, as
his principle.
That is the principle, as hath been said, which
acts a man, or from which he acts ; when the Spirit
is this to a person, so that he lives and acts by its
vital, quickening agency and working in him, then
he may be said to walk after, or according to, the
Spirit. You heard before, a man walks after the
flesh when the flesh is his principle, and so he walks
after the Spirit when the Spirit is his principle.
This is appUcable to the Spirit in both of the
respects which have been mentioned. As, 1. Take
it personaUy ; the Holy Spirit is in believers as the
spring and principle of their obedience and holy
actings. In a sober sense — all others I dread and
detest — that which acts and animates the saints in
their course, it is God's own Spirit ; he is not barely
in them, but he is in them as a Hvely and active
principle, to actuate their graces, to quicken and
excite them to all holy and spiritual acts. This is a
part of that walking in the Spirit which you read of
Gal. v. 25, ' If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk
in the Spirit ; ' as if the apostle had said, If the
Spirit hath been a quickening Spirit to us, and hath
wrought a supernatural Ufe in us, then let us walk
in the Spirit ; that is, let us all along live and act by
this Spirit as our great principle. Such as are in
Christ they pray, mortify sin, are heavenly-minded,
love God, deny themselves, &c. ; now Hi aU these
acti agunt, they act as they are acted from above;
the Spirit, on his part, stirs them up to what is
good, and gives out his influences to them in what
is good ; and they, on their part, fall in with his
exciting and assisting grace, in opposition to all the
interposures of the flesh ; and so they walk after the
Spirit. Then, 2. Take the Spirit habitually, for grace or

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

73

the sanctified nature in the heart ; this is a secondary
or subordinate principle — the principium quod, as the
former is principium quo — from which spiritual acts .
do proceed. You have the apostle speaking to this
double principle : Gal. H. 20, ' I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live : yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me,' there is the supreme and first principle;
' and the Hfe which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God,' there is the subordi
nate and secondary principle. Faith and love, those
two great branches of that general root which I am
upon, make all the several wheels in a gracious heart
to move ; that which is done in the life comes from
these in" the heart : the spiritual walker doth all
from these two graces, as his abiding principles ; he
' Uves by the faith of the Son of God,' and ' the love
of Christ constrains him,' 2 Cor. v. 14.
Now he who is acted by this twofold principle,
he is the walker after the Spirit. Pray observe, as
there are two pubhc heads to which all men in the
world do belong, the first and the second Adam ;
and as there are two common states under which all
are and shaU be comprehended — at present it is the
state of nature or the state of grace, and hereafter it
is the state of blessedness or the state of misery ;
so there are also two common principles by which
all men in the world are acted, viz., the flesh and
the Spirit. They that have flesh for their principle,
they walk after the flesh ; they that have the Spirit
for their principle, they walk after the Sptfit. So
far forth as our principle is divine and spiritual, so
far forth is our walking divine and spiritual; for
that is always answerable to its principle. ' Oh, are
you acted in your course by an inward principle ? is
that the Spirit of God and grace in the heart ? is all
done by and from this Spirit ? this is to walk after
the Spirit.
2. To walk after the Spirit, it is to have the
Sptfit for the guide of Hfe, and to follow its guid
ance. Where there is a fleshly guide, there it is
fleshly walking; where there is a spiritual guide,
there it is spiritual walking; for the course is
denominated, as from the principle, so from the guide
or rule. And indeed the latter is, in part, included
in the former ; for whatever is the principle, that
carries in it too the nature and use of a guide, inas
much as the action is always steered and ordered by

and according to the principle ; but yet I consider
them here as distinct. I say, when the Spirit is the
guide, and followed as the guide, this is to walk after
the Sptfit. As I may be said to walk after one
when he goes before me, shews me my way, and I
follow him step by step — where he goes I go, as he
bids me move so I move ; so it is in reference to
this walking after the Spirit. Thus it is very
commonly ' opened : Ambulare secundum spiritum,
quid ? est sequi in omnibus nostris actionibus ductum
Spiritus sancti; What is it to walk after the Spirit ?
it is for a man in all his actions and motions to fol
low the Spirit's conduct and guidance.
And here too, 1. God's Spirit is a guiding spirit;
he leads, directs the soul to and in the way of holi
ness. I say in the way of holiness, for this pure and
holy Spirit always leads to that which is pure and
holy, never to that which is sinful, his excitations
and guidance being evermore agreeable to his
nature : Ps. cxhii. 10, ' Teach me to do thy wUl, for
thou art my God.' How doth God teach or guide a
man to this ? it follows, ' thy Sptfit is good,' good in
itself, and good as a guide to us, ' lead me unto the
land of uprightness.' Now when this Spirit is the
dux vice, a person's leader and guide, and he follow's
its guidance in his conversation, then his walking is
right and good. It is set forth, ver. 14 of this
chapter, by being ' led by the Spirit : ' ' As many as
are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God.'
You read, Ezek. i. 20, of the living creatures,
' Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went ;
thither was their spirit to go.' And you read of the
people of Israel, Num. ix. 16, 'As the cloud moved,
they moved ; as that stood, they stood,' &c. Thus
it is with the spiritual walker; he is one who
fetches his guidance from the unerring Sptfit, and
who regulates all his motions according to the
Spirit's direction : what the Spirit bids him do, that
he doth, what the Spirit forbids him to do, that he
doth not; he moves or stands still as this great
guide directs him. Let not any mistake me, as
though I did in this assert or advance any enthu
siasms, immediate inspirations or directions from
the Spirit, without or besides, much less agamst, the
written word. No, God wUUng, I shall shew the
danger and vanity of such pretences when I come to
the 1 4th verse. I am for the Spirit and the word con
ic

74

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

junctly ; x he guides, but it is by and in the word,
and the guidance of the word is the guidance of the
Spirit. He that squares his life by the counsels,
commands, prohibitions of the word, he truly walks
after the Sptfit.
Again, 2. There is the sanctified nature, which is
a guide also, though inferior to the former : Gal. vi.
15, 16, 'In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avaU-
eth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new crea
ture. And as many as walk according to this rule,
peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of
God.' The new creature, or grace, is a rule ; it is not
only regula regulaia, but, in some sense, also regula
regulans. For, in subordination to the word, it
shews a man what is good, and directs him to and
in the doing of it ; what is evil, and how he is to
shun it ; it leads him to those things which are suit
able to itself, as to love God, to hate sin, &c. He
that Uves in compliance with this guide, he walks
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
3. To walk after the Spirit, it is to have spiritual
and heavenly affections, such as are proper to, and
suit with, the divine Spirit. The Spirit himself,
wherever he dweUs, and the spiritual life, wherever
it is wrought in the soul, are always attended with
spiritual affections ; and indeed much of the influence
and efficacy of both is exerted in the spirituahsing
of the affections. These are always suited to the
nature ; the fleshly nature hath fleshly affections,
and the divine nature hath divine and spiritual
affections ; so that the walking after the Spirit, or
after the flesh, is very much to be judged of and
measured by them. Doth the poor creature love
God ? is his delight and joy in spiritual things ? have
they his most strong and vehement desires? this is to
walk after the Spirit. • Our apostle himself here
opens the twofold walking by this : ver. 5, ' They
that are after the flesh (or who walk after the flesh)
mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are after
the Spirit (or who walk after the Sptfit) mind the
things of the Spirit.' This minding the things of
the flesh or of the Spirit is not to be limited either
to the inward acts of the mind, in the thoughts only,
1 Ambulare secundum spiritum est omnes actiones, qua-
lescunque sunt, dirigere et instituere secundum dictamen
Spiritus sancti in verbo, et in conscientia nostra secundum
verbum loquentis. — Streso.

or to the outward endeavours, but it includes and
takes in the affections also. Here, then, is the differ
ence. Such as are after the flesh, they mind, i.e.,
they savour and relish, the things of the flesh ; their
affections are wholly set upon and drawn out after
fleshly objects ; their love, delight, desires, run out
altogether upon these things. But they that are
after the Spirit, they mind the things of the Spirit ;
their affections are fixed upon spiritual objects ; they
run in the right channel, are placed upon God and
Christ ; they are, in a word, pure and heavenly. The
flesh hath carnal affections, and indeed it puts forth
itself very much, if not most, in them ; therefore
you have it coupled with them : Gal. v. 24, ' They
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts,' On the other hand, the Spirit
hath its affections too, but they are as contrary to the
former as heaven is to hell. Pray observe what the
apostle subjoins : ver. 25, ' If we live in the Spirit,
let us walk in the Spirit.' This walking in the
Spirit (for it wUl bear this sense as well as that which
I mentioned before) is brought in by way of oppo
sition to the affections and lusts of the flesh ; it is as
tf he had said, If we Hve in the Sptfit, then let us not
give way to those sordid affections which are of the
flesh, and suit with it ; but let our affections be such
as may suit with the Holy Spirit, and with that
divine Hfe which he hath wrought in us. Where any
thus walk in the Spirit, they walk after the Spirit.
4. To walk after the Spirit, it is to Uve under and
to close with secret inclinations and propensions in the
soul to what is holy and good ; so that the bent, bias,
tendency, and workings of the heart are for what is
good, and against what is evil. These two contrary
principles have always contrary propensions, they in
cline and draw contrary ways ; the good sptfit and
the sanctified nature are all for obedience, close walk
ing with God, the exercise of the several graces, &c.;
there is their tendency. The evil sptfit without, and
the evil nature within, (I put them together, for they
agree too well in that which I am upon,) they are
altogether for sin ; they perpetuaUy incline and urge
to pride, passion, envy, covetousness, uncleanness,
<fec. ; there is their tendency. And these different
propensions are so far in the saints themselves, that
they are the ground of that civil war and conflict
which they in this life feel so much of. They are

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

75

set forth by the lustings of the flesh against the
Spirit, and of the Spirit against the flesh, Gal. v. 17.
Now, according to the strength and prevalency of
these two principles, and the closure of the heart
with them in their different propensions and inclina
tions, so is the walking either after the flestf or after
the Spirit. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not
speak of the mere inexistence or inbeing of these
contrary propensions, no, nor of the prevalency of
them in some particular acts ; for both of these may
be in a chUd of God, and in one who walks after the
Spirit, as you see in Paul himself, Rom. vii. 23, 25.
I only speak of evil propensions in their full strength ;
when they are entire, unmixed, unbroken, do prevail
as to the general course ; when persons upon aU
occasions side with, and whoUy give up themselves
to them ; where it is so, doubtless there it is walking
after the flesh. But now, when these are resisted,
and the soul doth rather fall in with the good inchna-
tions of the good Sptfit, so as to cherish, obey, com
ply with, and act according to them, then it is walk
ing after the Spirit.
5. This walking after the Spirit consists in the
spiritualness and supernaturalness of the aims and
ends ; for the Spirit of God, wherever he is, always
raises and elevates a man in his ends ; and the
spiritual Hfe too, wherever it is, always is attended
with spiritual ends, namely, the glorifying of God as
the supreme and ultimate end, and the saving of the
soul as the subordinate end. Wherever there is a
supernatural principle, there wiU also be a superna
tural end, for the end is always adequate and answer
able to the principle ; as it cannot be higher, so it
wtfl not be lower. Men that are nothing but corrupt
nature and flesh, their aims are answerable to their
state ; aU that they drive at is the flesh, or self under
some fleshly consideration ; as they act altogether
from self, (some base fleshly principle,) so they act
altogether for self, (some base fleshly end ;) the great
end, the glory of God, is nothing to them ; but flesh
is all in aU. Here is no halting in the case, this is
downright walking after the flesh. But they that
are spirit, and have the Spirit, oh they look higher ;
the mark which they aim at, with the greatest steadi
ness they can, it is God's glory. You see it Hi
Paul : PhU. i. 21, 'To me to live is Christ, and to die
is gain.' Christ was the matter of his Hfe and the

end of his life, for these two things make the living
Christ. Paul was all for this, as he there speaks, ver.
20, that Christ might be greatened or magnified by
him. And he, speaking elsewhere of the saints in
general, he thus sets them forth, ' None of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself; for whether
we Hve, we live to the Lord ; and whether we
die, we die to the Lord : whether we live or die,
we are the Lord's,' Rom. xiv. 7, 8. Now, so far
forth as any in their course come up to these high
and spiritual ends, so far, and no farther, may they
be said to walk after the Spirit. Flesh always
centres in flesh ; but grace causes a man to aspire
and aim at the glory of God. The spiritual walker
makes this his chief end, and looks upon all other
things but as means to this; and herein lies the
very essence of holiness, or of holy walking. Would
any of you fully understand yourselves, so as to be
able to pass decisive judgment about this ? Let your
inquiry run out here, What are our ends ? what is
it that we mainly design and intend in our course ?
As every man's end hereafter, happy or miserable,
shaU be according to his walking here; so every
man's walking here is either spiritual or carnal, ac
cording to his end. Our Lord tells us, John vii. 18,
' He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory ;
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the
same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.' So
here, he that liveth to himself and of himself, he
seeketh himself ; but he that seeketh the glory of
God, the same is a true walker after the Spirit.
Thus have I shewn in these five particulars what
it is to walk after the Spirit ; concerning which, it
is not necessary that I should vouch an exact differ
ence betwixt them; I give them but as so many
illustrations of the thing, and so you must take
them. From all that hath been spoken, it appears
that this twofold walking is not to be limited to
mere external and visible acts in the life, but it lies
very much in the inward, secret acts of the heart.
There is the principle,, the affections, the propen
sions, the ends, and these are the things which do
constitute the walking either fleshly or spiritual;
but more of this in the use. I have done with the
opening of the description in both its parts, not
' walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit,' which
was my business in the exphcatory part.

76

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

I go on to the second thing, the confirmation of
the point, where it will be a very easy thing to
prove that this is the property, and deservedly the
character of such who are in Christ Jesus, they
' walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit' All
Christ's mystical members are spiritual walkers;
this is that very life which such do live, that very
course which such do follow : 1 John iH. 6, ' Who
soever abideth in him, sinneth not ; ' that is, he doth
not Hve in a course of sin, which is all one with not
walking after the flesh : Gal. v. 24, ' They that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts.' No sooner is a person brought into
Christ, but sin and the flesh are crucified and dead
in that person ; so that there is no more walking
after it : 1 Cor. i. 30, ' But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, right
eousness, sanctification, and redemption.' Here the
apostle sets down what Christ is to believers, but
first he sets down the ground of all, namely, the
mystical union ; and then he adds, to such who are
in him he is not only righteousness, to free them
from a guilty state, but he is also sanctification, to
free them from a carnal, and to bring them over to
a holy course. Wherever, then, there is this union,
there is and must be also this spiritual, heavenly,
and holy conversation, as the inseparable fruit and
consequent of sanctification.
I shaU not need to spend much time in the proof of
it ; two arguments, I conceive, may suffice for that.
1. The being in Christ Jesus, or the union with
him, is brought about, as hath been opened, by the
Spirit, and by faith ; now both of these necessarily
infer this walking after the Sptfit. The Holy Spirit
being in a person as the bond of his union with
Christ, wherever he is he will be a spring and prin
ciple of holiness ; he will not lie hid in the soul,
but it shall be seen in the heavenUness and spiritual-
ness of the conversation that he is there ; wherever
he comes, he comes as a commanding, overpowering
guide and principle, working with great efficacy
upon the sinner as to his walking : Ezek. xxxvi. 37
' I will put my Spirit within you ;' what then ? ' and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep
my judgments and do them;' mark it, saith God,
• I will cause you,' &c. The way of God in his
working upon the sinner is not merely by moral

suasion, which leaves the will undetermined and
pendulous, but it is by effectual inclination and over
powering ; so that here is a complication of several
things in the argument, which make it very strong.
As, 1. It is the Spirit which unites to Christ; 2.
This uniting Spirit is always an active, working
Spirit ; 3. The matter of his working is sanctifica
tion and universal holiness ; 4. The manner of his
working is effectual and irresistible. Now put all
these considerations together, and it wiU most un
deniably foUow, that such who are in Christ, they
shall walk not after the flesh, but after the Sptfit.
Moreover, it is the very Spirit of Christ himself
by which believers are united to him ; so that the
same spirit which was in him is in them also,
though in a different measure. Now hereupon, where
there is the same spirit, there will be the same course
or walking ; and therefore, as Christ was holy, so
will they be holy too ; and as Christ walked not
after the flesh, but after the spirit, so wiU they walk
also. If he indeed should take a person and imme
diately make him one with himself, possibly the
certainty of this spiritual walking would not be so
evident ; but the union being carried on mediately
by the Holy Spirit, that Sptfit wiU have an infallible
and powerful influence upon the way and walk of
him who is united to Christ.
Besides this, there is the other bend, viz., faith;
and that too, doth naturally operate and tend.to the
furtherance of that conversation which I am proving.
For it is of a purifying nature ; it first ' purifies the
heart,' Acts xv. 9, and then consequently the several
acts which issue and flow from the heart. Faith is
the justifying grace, but it is a sanctifying grace too,
Acts xxvi. 18 ; it justifies before God, but it also
sanctifies before men. It is not only a bare instru
ment or condition of justification, but it is likewise
an operative and influential grace upon sanctificar
tion. It is the lively faith which knits to Christ;
and being so, it will shew its Uveliness by its vigor
ous promoting of the hoHness and spirikialness of
the believer's course ; insomuch that ' as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith' without this
spiritual walking ' is dead also,' James ii. 26. It
would be a very easy thing to descend to particulars,
therein to shew the special methods in which the
Spirit of God, and faith under it, do work for the

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4,

77

keeping down of the walking after the flesh, and
the promoting of the walking after the Spirit, in the
distinct and several considerations proper to each of
them ; but I fear I am already too prolix.
2. The second argument is taken from Christ's
tenderness of his honour. He will advance the
creature, but he wiU do it in such a way as that he
may secure and advance his own glory. Now,
would this be for the honour of Christ, to take per
sons into so near a conjunction with himself, and yet
let them live the carnal and sensual life? to walk
just as others do who are afar off from him? Eph. ii.
13. To be in Christ, and yet to live in sin, im
mersed in flesh and sensuality, oh what dishonour
would this reflect upon the head, tf his members
should thus walk ! Christ wiU have his followers
to differ from others, yea, and from themselves too ;
therefore aU that are in him shall be ' new creatures,'
2 Cor. v. 17; and from the change in the heart
there shaU be a change in the Hfe and walking also.
He can join the greatest sinners to himself, but he
will first prepare, and adapt them for such a union,
by making them other persons, and so causing them
to Uve at another rate than they did before. Where
there is nearness, nay, oneness, there, as you have
heard, shall be likeness in a holy course. He that
will not have us ' take the members of Christ and
make them the members of an harlot,' 1 Cor. vi. 15,
wiU not himself take the members of harlots — I mean
great and gross sinners — they so continuing, and
make them the members of himsetf. It shall be
known by the goodness of men's walking that they
belong to a good head ; for Christ's honour is highly
concerned therein. And hence it is that such who
are in Christ shall walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Thus you have the doctrine explained
and confirmed, and I am now to faU upon the ap
plication of it.
Use 1. By way of information first, three things it
informs us of.
1. That beUevers, even in the times and under the
dispensation of the gospel, are not to lay aside or
cast off Scripture marks, signs, or evidences grounded
upon sanctification and holiness, in order to the find
ing out of their spiritual state and condition. For
wherefore doth the Spirit of God here thus charac
terise persons 'in Christ' which walk not after the

flesh, but after the Spirit, but for this end, that by
this character or mark men may know whether they
be indeed in Christ or not; the like you find in
very many other places. The Antinomians do not
approve of this doctrine ; they will not hear of any
evidences or signs of this or that privilege, fetched
from sanctification or holiness, or anything inher
ent in ourselves ; an opinion weak and false, yea,
directly contrary to the tenor of the word. How
great a part of the Bible might be blotted out, as
altogether useless, if what they affirm herein was
true. Read but the first Epistle of John, you wUl
find it throughout to be characteristical or eviden
tial of men's state from the fruits and effects of
sanctification ; the places therein are so many and
so common, that I neither well can, nor do I in the
least need to make any particular rehearsal of them.
It is strange that men cannot distinguish betwixt
grounds as to the thing, and evidences as to the
person. Far be it from us to make sanctification or
holy walking the grounds of our union with Christ,
or of our justification ; yet they are the evidences
by which we come to know that we are in Christ
and justified by him. And the question is not what
the Spirit of God can do, or possibly sometimes may
do, viz., whether he doth not in an immediate man
ner, without the making use of these signs, reveal
to a believer his union with Christ, and interest in
gospel-blessings; but the question is, What is the
ordinary method of the Spirit in the witnessing and
clearing up of these things to a soul 1 And surely
that is first by the witnessing of faith, sincerity,
holiness of life, and then by witnessing to them and
upon them. And a Christian cannot ordinarily ex
pect assurance of his union with Christ, or of any
other thing, but in this mediate way. Very much
might be spoken about this, but I think it is not
now so necessary as sometimes it hath been, and
divers have largely wrote upon it -,1 therefore I will
pass it over.
2. Secondly, It shews us how groundless and in
jurious those high calumnies and sharp invectives
are which some Romanists, in their writings upon this
text, are pleased to cast upon and let fly against
1 See Rutherf. Survey of Antinom., par. 2, cap. 55, p. 81, &c.
Binning, who hath some sermons upon Rom. viii. lately pub
lished, speaks something to it, p. 23, &e.

78

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

protestants and their doctrine. Because the apostle
here saith, that such who are freed from condemna
tion, and in Jesus Christ, do not walk after the
flesh, but after the Spirit, how do some popish ex
positors from hence take occasion to oppose, traduce,
revile, censure, and strangely misrepresent the pro-
testant doctrine, and the worthy assertors of it !
Amongst others, with what acrimony and virulency
doth Stapleton and Contzen,1 two who hadra ero/iara
irgbg Xo/oWav hXvru, as Libanius speaks of some,
here faU upon Calvin, Beza, Pareus, &c, as if they
did oppose, nay, quite nullify, the strict, holy, and
spiritual life ; and instead thereof, by their opinions
did encourage and promote the carnal and fleshly
life. I instance in these only, because they are the
persons who in their expositions upon the text in
hand, are pleased so freely to spit their venom upon
this account; but it is that reproach and scandal
which occurs very frequently in the body of their
polemic writers. Amongst whom, what more com
mon than to tell the world that protestants make
holiness, good works, &c, to be unnecessary? that
they are only for faith and imputed righteousness,
that their principles tend to looseness and profane-
ness, and what not? Now did we not too well
know the spirit which acts these adversaries, it
would make us to stand and wonder that opinions
so sound, so agreeable to the word of truth, as those
are which in these matters the protestants hold in
opposition to Rome, should yet be so mahciously
reflected upon; that scandals so undeserved, so
often answered, should yet be continued ; that men's
passions and censures should be so high and sharp,
where their grounds and reasons are so low. How
much hath been spoken and written, over and over
again, for the vindicating of opinions and persons
1 Ubi ergo umbraculum Calvinianum cum sola fide, et aliquo
pietatis studio pene inefficaci ? Stapl. Antidot., p. 624. Vide
plura, pp. 625, 626. Contzen in quaest. 3, p. 308. An sec-
tarii bona opera per suam expositionem condemnanda doceant ?
Et in v. 2, quaest. 2, p. 310. Si Phineez aliquis adulterum
Calvinianum in ipsa libidine configat, coelo eum continuo in-
serit, Justus est enim, et nulla est ei condemnatio, quamvis
secundum carnem cum occideretur ambularet. Justin. Mag-
nopere falli necesse est haereticos, qui manere in Christo nihil
aliud esse putant, quam aliquem sibi certo polliceri, Christi
merita sibi fuisse communicata, atque adeo peccatis omnibus
expiatis se esse justum.

from these imputations, for the due and right stat
ing of things, and yet it is all one! Dissenters
calumniated before, and so they will do stiU ; pro
testantism was blackened and branded before,' and
so it shaU be stUl.
I wUl not insist upon the making any apology or
defence for this or that person, in what they have
said by way of exposition upon the text; for -they
need no such thing, and, as to that for which they
are censured, they say nothing but what the body
of protestants hold. And for the forenamed authors,
Calvin, &c, do they not upon this very place say
that which might be enough to all ingenuous men
to obviate these calumnies ?x But let this pass. Give
me leave only in the general to vindicate our faith
in this matter, and to shew that what we beheve
herein is not at all repugnant to this, or any other
scripture. ,j
For do we hold that believers are exempted from
condemnation, and shall most certainly be saved —
upon their being in Christ — though they live a sin
ful, carnal, wicked life ? How often have our oppo-
sers been told that we detest and abhor such an
opinion ? We say, indeed, that sanctification, holi
ness, or walking after the Spirit are not the merito
rious causes of non-condemnation — that honour we
give to the alone merits of our Saviour — yet withal
we say, that whoever hath an interest in such bless
edness he is a sanctified person, and he must and
shall live a holy life. Is not this enough? as much
as what the word will bear us out in ? Can we not
be for walking after the Spirit unless we make it to
be a cause of our justification ? Or can we not hold
1 Tria simul con jungit apostolus, imperfectionem qua semper
laborant fideles, Dei indulgentiam in ea condonanda, regenera-
tionem Spiritus : atque hoc quidem postremum, ne quis vana
opinione se lactet, ac si liberatus esset a maledictione, carni suae
interim secure indulgens. Vt ergo frustra blanditur, &c—
Calvin. Non satis est Christum ore profited, oportet fide per
opera efficaci Christo adhaerere, quod fit non carnis sed Spiritus
ductum sequendo in vita. Observa secundo quod connexam
esse docet justifications et sanctificationis gratiam; adeo ut
divelli nequeant, ut frustra de priore glorietur, qui posteri-
orem non habeat. Qui igitur habenas laxant carni, testantur
se in Christo non esse, &c. Hinc refutatur trita papistarum
calumnia, &c. Atqui docemus cum apostolo, non esse in Christo
nisi qui secundum Spiritum ambulant : qui carni indulgent
eos inanem fidem profited, kc.-Pareus. Sunt coharentes
quidem, &c. — Beza.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

79

imputed righteousness, but we must deny inherent
righteousness? Are these two inconsistent? Our
adversaries asperse us as if we denied the latter,
which we do not ; but what may we say of them
who do most certainly deny the former ? To go on.
Do not we set inherent righteousness as high as
they, — bate but perfection and merit — the first of
which would make it impossible in this life, as the
other would derogate from the freeness of God's
grace, and the fulness of Christ's merit. And we
appeal to the world, Do our censurers with their
principles Hve more holily than protestants with
theirs ? We wish we could see it. Nay, take the
whole model and platform of their doctrine and of
ours, and let the world judge which doth most tend
to the promoting of a strict and holy conversation.1
Indeed, tf we give way to the flesh, and walk after
the flesh, we are to be blamed for our practices; but
the principles of our reUgion are strict, holy, and
good. In short, we are for the same things which
they contend for, and that, too, in the highest
measures and degrees, so far as the infirmities of the
present state wUl admit of, but not upon the same
grounds. We are for the spiritual Ufe as the fruit
and evidence of the union, and as always attending
the person who is in Christ and shall not be con
demned ; but we dare not make it to be the meri
torious ground, or to have any causal influence upon
the one or the other. If this will not satisfy, let
our revilers revUe on !
3. If this be the way and course of such who are
in Christ, that they walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit, it informs us then that there are but
few who are in Christ, or who have any interest in
the mystical union. I would not straiten or nar
row the grace of God or the happiness of the crea
ture, further than the word itsetf doth; but, on the
other hand, I must not make them wider than that
doth. The most, it is to be feared, are out of Christ,
because the most do walk after the flesh ; it is but
here and there some few who walk after the Sptfit.
Instead of walking not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, the generality of men walk after the flesh,
and not after the Spirit. They are ' in the flesh,'
(there is their state,) and they ' walk after the flesh,'
1 See Dr Stillingfleet of the Idolatry of the Church of
Rome, chap. iii. p. 178.

(there is their course.) Oh that this was not as evi
dent as the light of the noonday ! This flesh, as
you have heard, is either the corrupt nature in the
general, or more particularly it is the corrupt nature
venting itself in and about fleshly and sensual things.
Now, in both respects, how do fleshly walkers abound !
As to the first, what an unholy, sinful life do the
most live ! How doth the depraved nature break
forth and shew itself in their whole course ? this is
that which acts them all along, by which they ste,er
and order their conversation. And as to the second,
look upon the greatest number of men, how sensual
are they ? They lie tumbUng and wallowing in the
mire of lust ; are even immersed and swallowed up
in fleshly things, minding nothing so much as the
pleasing of the flesh. Go to them at their tables,
there is gluttony, excess in eating and drinking ;
they pamper the body, whUst they starve the soul.
Mind them in their pursuits ; it is some fleshly good
they mainly drive at — some fleshly interest by which
they steer their course. What do they most consult
but the flesh's ease and interest ? Oh, that is the
thing which they ' make provision for,' that they
may 'fulfil the lust thereof,' which the apostle so
expressly forbids ! Rom. xiii. 14. Their forecasts,
projects, contrivances are for the flesh ; yea, all their
thoughts are employed as so many caterers or pur
veyors for their sensual lusts. Is not this walking
after the flesh ? And is not this, more or less, the
walk of the most ? Alas ! as to that walking after
the Spirit which hath been opened, how few are
there that know anything of it ! The generality are
wholly strangers to it, understanding the angelical
life/ia heaven, as well as the spiritual holy life of
saints here upon earth. You can scarce make them
believe that there is such a life, so far are they from
the Hying of it. Thus it is with the multitude ;
and is not this, then, too clear an evidence, too full
a demonstration, of the paucity of such as are in
Christ ? Oh that we could bewail and lament it !
What more plain than that such who are in Christ
do walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ?
And what more plain too, than that the body of
men do walk after the flesh, and not after the Sptfit?
Sirs, let us not flatter and think too well of our
selves. We talk of faith, make our boast of the
gospel, glory in our baptism, lay a great stress upon

80

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

our church privileges, when yet, notwithstanding all
this, we are mere flesh-pleasers ; our conversations
are carnal and fleshly.1 Doth not this proclaim us
to be yet out of Christ?
Use 2. Secondly, Let me desire you to examine
what your walking is, whether it be after the flesh
or after the Spirit. Is spiritual walking the pro
perty of all who are in Christ? Must this evidence
your union with him ? How then doth it concern
you all to judge aright about it ! Here are two
sorts of walkers, and every man in the world comes
under the one or the other, for these two divide
the world betwixt them. Now, where are you?
what is your course ? which of these walkings do
you come under? what do you follow, flesh or spirit?
I told you at the first this is a thing which may be
known. The apostle doth not lay the evidence upon
something that is abstruse and hard to be under
stood, but upon that which is easy to be found out.
Surely with a little diligence every person may
know what his walking is. I entreat you, therefore,
to urge this home upon yourselves. Oh let every
one say, How do I walk? what kind of Ufe do I Hve —
holy or sinful, spiritual or carnal ? Brethren ! your
freedom from condemnation depends upon your
union with Christ ; will you not find out that ?
Then your union must be known by the holiness of
your walking, and will you not understand your
selves about this also? Oh what a blessed thing
is it when a man is clear in this ! so that he can
frame a syllogism upon it thus : He that walks
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, he is in
Christ ; but I, through grace, am one who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, therefore I
am in Christ. This is a good bottom to build
assurance upon ; these premises will bear the weight
of such a conclusion. Be sure you take" up with
nothing short of this. It is only the spiritual life
which must assure of the mystical union : 1 John
i. 6, ' If we say that we have feUowship with him
1 Ut eos omnes intelligamus esse exclusos, qui fidem et
evangelium jactitant, cum interim volutentur in crassissimis
vitiis, &c. — P. Mart. Addo quod fortasse Paulus non tam
spectasse videtur vim baptismi, qua omnis macula penitus
abstergitur, sed ad mores ac vitam eorum, qui, Christi gratia
percepta, omnes vitae suae rationes ad Christi legem exigunt,
atque ita pravae cupiditati non obsequuntur.— Justinian.

and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.'
1 John ii. 4-6 'He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word,
in him verUy is the love of God perfected ; hereby
know we that we are in him. He that saith he
abideth in him ought himself also to walk, even as
he walked.' Faith, indeed, is the bond of the union,
but holiness of heart and life is the mark or evidence
of it. And it is the walking which makes the Chris
tian ; it is not external profession, the being of such
or such a party, some good religious talking, but it
is the course of life which is the distinguishing char
acter betwixt person and person. Oh that God
would direct every one of you to pass righteous
judgment upon himself concerning this !
I need not add anything to what hath been laid
down in order to the helping of you in this trial.
The walking after the flesh and after the Spirit have
been opened, and by the particulars which make up
each of them you may be able to judge of yourselves.
Pray go over them in your own thoughts again and
again, and say, Is the flesh or the Spirit our prin
ciple, our guide? what are our affections? do we
savour the things of the flesh or of the Spirit ? what
are our secret and strongest propensions? are our
ends fleshly or spiritual ? I say, go over these things
again and again, and there is no question of it, but
that serious and frequent examination Hi a little
time will fully clear up the thing to you.
Only, to prevent mistakes, let me tell you there
is a twofold walking after the flesh — one more gross
and manifest, the other more close and more indis
cernible. The first is when the flesh breaks forth
and openly vents itself in external and bodUy lusts,
such as adultery, uncleanness, drunkenness, gluttony,
&c. ; this is ' the filthiness of the flesh,' 2 Cor. vii. 1.
The second is when the flesh more secretly vents
itself in internal heart-lusts, such as are kept in and
lie smothering in the soul, as pride, self-love, envy,
covetousness, &c. ; this is 'the filthiness of the
Spirit' The apostle gives a catalogue of the actings
of the flesh in both of these respects, Gal. v. 19, 20,
&c. Now here is the mistake of men ; they confine
walking after the flesh to the first of these— the
latter being little regarded by them— so that if they
do not live in whoredom, gross intemperance, open

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

81

profaneness, brutish sensuality, they think all is
well; whereas they may be free from these gross
practices, and yet be walkers after the flesh. The
corrupt nature hath other outlets besides these, and
there may be sins (ulcers) within, when they do not
externally shew themselves. Oh be not deceived !
You are not possibly so and so vicious in the out
ward conversation, but if there be within in the heart
malice, hatred, envy, uncharitableness, self-exalting,
inordinate affections to the world, covetousness, these
are enough to bring you within the compass of walk
ing after the flesh. Devils you will grant are bad
enough; x it is because of their envy, pride, &c, for
the grosser sins of the flesh they are not Hable to
them. Augustine proves 2 that the stoics (that
strict sect of phUosophers), were as guilty of this
upon their inward unmortified corruptions, as the
Epicureans themselves, a more debauched and sen
sual sort of men, if they be not wronged ; for as to
Epicurus himself, Laertius, Gassendus, &c, give a
quite other character of him.3 Do I see one Hving
a brutish Hfe, wallowing in his filthy lusts, laying
the reins upon the neck of his corruptions ? He is
i drunk, defiles his body, lives in open wickedness,
&c. I am sure this man walks after the flesh;
these are ' the Works of the flesh which are mani
fest,' Gal. v. 19. Every eye sees and every tongue
cries shame upon these courses. Ah ! but there is
another who is free from these'scandalous courses ;
yet he is worldly, revengeful, envious, proud, haughty,
under the power of earthly affections, full of evil
desires : this man now is a walker after the flesh as
Well as the former, though not in so gross a manner.
Therefore do not please yourselves upon your being
kept from the notorious and external eruptions of
the corrupt nature, if yet inward and more refined
corruptions have their full power and strength over
you. Oh, how many persons of a civil, unblameable,
conversation, nay, how many fair professing hypo
crites (though uo adulterers, no drunkards, &c.) will
yet be judged at the great day to be walkers after
1 lnvidientia vitium diabolicum, quo solus diabolus reus est,
&c. Non enim dicitur diabolo ut damnetur, adulterium com-
misisti, furtum fecisti &c, sed homini stanti lapsus invidisti.
— Aug. de. Disc. Chri., cap. 1.
2 De Civitate Dei. lib. xiv. cap. 2.
3 Against whom, see Dr M'eric Casaubon of Incredulity, par.
1, p. 202, &c.

the flesh! Pray look inward; any one aUowed,
cherished, unmortified lust in the heart will spoil
your walking before God, though before men it may
seem to be blameless, yea, very spiritual.
Use 3. Thirdly, The main use will be for counsel.
1. To dehort from walking after the flesh.
2. To exhort to walk after the Spirit.
1. First, Do not walk after the flesh. Particu
larly, let not flesh be your principle to act you in
your course; for what can be expected but evU
practices from so evil a principle ? ' Do men gather
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?' Mat. vii. 16.
How impure must those streams be which flow from
so impure a fountain ? How bitter must that fruit
be which grows upon so bitter a root ? So also let
not flesh be your guide, that you should choose to
be ordered and directed by it. Will you choose or
follow a blind guide ? ' If the blind lead the blind,
both fall into the ditch,' Mat. xv. 14; or will you
foUow a guide that will lead you to hell? God
forbid ! When you have the good Spirit of God,
and the good word of God, to lead you, will you
rather Hve under the leading and conduct of the flesh ?
Oh, have as little to do with its guidance as ever you
can ! It is not a thing that you must walk after,
but rather fly from ; for if you follow it, it wUl
certainly carry you to those rocks and precipices
which wiU endanger the dashing of you in pieces
for ever.
I know the best wUl not be wholly freed from
this flesh whUst they are here; but let not any
tamely give up themselves to it, so as to be subject
and obedient to it, or to walk after it : ' Let not sin
reign1 in your mortal body, that you should obey it
in the lusts thereof.' Avoid it, I beseech you, in all
the parts and Hmbs of it, for it is all naught. There
are 'the wiUs of the flesh,' to, QiXJipiMra rrig aaoxog,
Eph. ii. 3 ; the ' affections or passions of the flesh,'
rot wa^fiara r%g ed^xog, Gal. v. 24 ; Rom. vu. 5 ; ' the
works of the flesh,' ra, igya rtjg eugxog, Gal. v. 19;
all these flow from one and the same spring, only
they are several channels in which it runs. Now, I
say,- avoid it in all ; as it works in the soul by its
wiUs and affections, as it works in the body by its
grosser lusts, do not in anything comply with it or
wdlk after it ; we must be always mortifying, never
allowedly gratifying, this cursed flesh.

82

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[Chap. III.

To enforce the dehortation one would think the
motive in the text should be strong enough. If you
do not walk after the flesh, then you are in Christ ;
and if you be in Christ you will not walk after the
flesh, for such do never so walk. But besides this,
there are some other motives which have a great
force and efficacy in them.
(1.) Let it be considered that this walking after
the flesh is directly contrary to your baptismal dedi
cation and obligation. When you passed under that
blessed ordinance, did you not then dedicate your
selves to the Lord ? Have you not since owned and
acknowledged that dedication ? And shall persons
so dedicated to the Lord walk after the flesh ? That
would be like Belshazzar's making of himself drunk,
even out of the golden vessels which were dedicated
to the service of God in the temple, Dan. v. 2-4.
There is upon your baptismal dedication a sacred
ness upon your souls and bodies ; and yet shaU they
be made common, and prostituted to the service of
sin and lust ? This is not only to rescind, retract,
nuU your dedication, but even to profane that which
was consecrated to holy uses and ends. When you
were baptized, did you not then stipulate and cove
nant to renounce the flesh, as weU as the world and
the devU ? And notwithstanding this, will you yet
walk after it? What a high breach of covenant
would that be ! And shaU any break covenant with
God and prosper? Ezek. xvii. 15. If after baptism
you will be ffesh-pleasers and flesh:foUowers, where
will that ' answer of a good conscience ' be, which
the apostle speaks of? 1 Pet. Hi. 21. How will you
be said to be ' baptized into Christ's death,' Rom.
vi. 3, if the flesh yet Hve in you, and you in it ?
And what a poor insignificatiye thing is the out
ward washing, if heart and Ufe continue under flesh
pollutions ! What wiU the sprinkhng of baptismal
water profit him who Hes wallowing in fleshly lusts ?J
Oh think much of your solemn engagement in bap
tism, and surely you wiU not be so obsequious and
pliable to the motions of the flesh as hitherto you
1 Mikvvo-i troi, 8n oix ipxe? rb \ovrpbv ypXv eh adrr-qplav eav
p,v Kdra t6 \ovrpbv &^iov ein8eilj<hp.e0a jitov rns dapeas. — Chrysost.
in v. 4 hujus capitis. Restringitur generalis propositio, contra
eos qui in baptismo omnia collocabant, satis esse Christo per
baptismum insitum esse, recte credere, in ecclesia versari sac-
ramenta participare : vitam Christanam dignam etiam requiri
docet, vitam spiritualem non carnalem. — Contz.

have been ! How iU doth the Christian mark and
title agree with a pagan Hfe !
(2.) Secondly, I would desire you to consider
what the flesh is. He that knows it, and hath right
apprehensions of it, certainly will not walk after it.
In general, let it promise or pretend what it wUl, it
is an enemy ; and shall we cherish an enemy in our
bosom, nay, let him have the command and guid
ance of us ?
First, It is God's enemy ; yea, his inveterate, im
placable, tfreconcUable enemy ; the sinner may be •
reconciled to God, but sin itself, the flesh, the cor
rupt nature, never can. It is observable, ver. 7,
' The wisdom of the flesh ' — the carnal mind we
read it — ' is enmity against God.' The apostle sets
it forth in the abstract to "note the greatness of the
enmity ; it is more than tf he bad said it is an enemy
against God, for enemies may, but enmities cannot,
be reconcUed. And he speaks of the best of the
flesh too, the very wisdom of the flesh is enmity
against God ; and see what a full proof he gives of
it, for, saith he, ' it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.' Oh how evil a thing is this
flesh ! Now, shall that be your principle and guide
which is God's enemy? WiU you agree with that
which is at such variance with God ? and be subject
to that which neither is nor can be subject to the
law of God ?
Then, secondly, It is your enemy too ; ay, and the
very worst enemy you have in aU the world. For
was it not for this, all your other enemies could
never hurt you ;l the devil and the world without
do all their mischief to the souls by the flesh witliin.
Christ not having any of it was impenetrable against
all the fiery darts of Satan: John xiv. 30, 'The
prince of this world cometh and^hath nothing in
me.' We cannot say so, he hath a corrupt nature
in us, and that he works upon and endangers us by.
This flesh is the womb where aU is conceived and
formed, the anvil upon which all is wrought; it is
the false Judas that betrays us, the close enemy
within that is ready upon all occasions to open the
gates to the besieger. Was it not for this morbus
mentis, the morsus dentis could never hurt us.
And besides this relative consideration of the
1 Vide Najanz., torn. ii. in Carm., p. 93, describing the. mis
chievous effects of the flesh.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

83

flesh, as it gives advantage to our other grand ad
versaries, it is in itself a very dangerous enemy.
Partly in respect of its malice ; it carries on despe
rate aims and designs against the sinner ; it is full
of mischievous intentions, and those of a high nature
too ; it aims at nothing below the ruin of the pre
cious soul. The apostle, speaking of one part of its
working, viz., by ' fleshly lusts,' teUs you that those
' war against the soul,' 1 Pet. H. 11 — how? why, not
only as they would take away the soul's order,
beauty, strength, peace, comfort, &c, but as they
strike at the very life and happiness of the soul.
And the same is designed by this" malicious flesh in
aU its workings, for they all tend to the everlasting
destruction of the soul. Oh what a pernicious
enemy is the flesh ! Partly also in respect of its
subtlety ; for, which makes it the more formidable,
as it is a malicious and desperate, so it is a cunning
and subtle enemy. How craftily doth it insinuate
itself into us in order to the carrying on of its mis
chievous designs ! how cunningly, by its blandish
ments and aUurements, doth it entice us unto evU !
James i. 14, ' Every man is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust,' there is the force and
power of it, ' and enticed,' there is the fraud and
cunning of it. How finely doth it represent some
taking good to men in order to the alluring of them,
whilst it sUly conceals the evil which should deter
them! It shews the bait, but hides the hooks;
holds forth the milk, but keeps close the hammer
and the naU ; presents the apple, but conceals the
death. Here is the flesh's subtlety, and oh how
many poor souls are undone by it! Their eye is
upon the good which the flesh promises, they not at
all regarding the evil which indeed it designs, as
you read of Amasa, 2 Sam. xx. 8, 9. Joab took
Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him,
' but Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in
Joab's hand.' Oh what a cunning, deceiving enemy
is the flesh ! Rom. vii. 11, ' Sin taking occasion by
the commandment deceived me.' Eph. iv. 22, ' That
ye put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to the de
ceitful lusts;' in the Greek it is ro\g faihpius r>)s
&vdrqg, lusts of deceit, they are made up of deceit,
there is nothing but mere deceit in them. The
apostle, Tit iii. 3, says they were ' deceived ; ' how ?

' serving divers lusts and pleasures ; ' whoever serves
sin shall find at last he was sadly deceived by it.
Upon the whole, then, is flesh a thing to be walked
after ? Will you trust yourselves, your souls, your
everlasting concerns in the hands of an enemy, of
such an enemy ?
3. Thirdly, Consider what this walking after thg
flesh is.
(1.) It is sordid walking. It carries in it a great
abasement of the human nature ; man is degraded
by it, and divested of that glory and exceUency
which God and nature hath put upon him. To be
under the power of the flesh and the lusts thereof,
especially such as are gross and He in the sensual
part, how doth this turn the man into a very brute !
What is the difference, I pray you, between a brute
and a man who lives a brutish life ? Only this, that
of the two the man is the worst, for he hath reason
and reUgion to direct him to a better course, which
the brute hath not. Is it the shape only which
makes the man, without suitable actings to the
nature ? 1 To walk after the flesh ? how base and
unworthy is this for such a creature as man ! who
was once made after God's own image, and who yet
hath a noble, spiritual, and immortal soul. Oh how
is this soul depressed in its native excellencies by a
carnal course ! by this it is made an underling to the
body, and, to make use of that proverbial allusion,
the prince is forced to go on foot while the beggar
rides on horseback. Oh that flesh-followers would
often think of this ! This walking is not only
below the Christian, but the man too ; he that was
made by God Hke Nebuchadnezzar when upon the
throne, he, by Hving after the flesh, makes himself
like Nebuchadnezzar when grazing among the
beasts, Dan. iv. 32, 33. Pray, sirs, know your
selves, consider your original, whose workmanship
you are,2 that you are soul as weU as body,3 how
highly your maker hath advanced you, and scorn to
1 Ti oSv IXeyes Sti dvBpoiTOS itrrt ; pi/ yap iK \pi\ijs pop$TJs
Kplverai t&v &vtojv iKaarov. — Arrian. Epict., lib. iv. cap. 5, p. 391.
2 E( piv t6 #7<»X/ta ^s tou $eiSlov, •# 'ABnva., &c. — Arrian.
Epict, lib. ii. cap. 8, p. 188.
3 'AXV iireibfy 86o ravra iv rij yeviirei ypUm iyKarap.ipi.KTai,
rb owfia p,iv Koivbv irpbs to, ffia, 6 X670S 8k Kal ij yviip,n Koa/bv
irpbs tovs Beobs : &W01 pth iirl tAvtti)v avoKhvovtri rnv avyyl-
veiav tt)V &tv%V *a' veKpdv, SXlyoi oi rivet iirl rrp> Belav Kal pan-
aplav.—Idem., lib. i. cap. 3, p. 91.

84

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

live below yourselves. It is happy pride which
makes men to disdain a sordid life.
(2.) It is foolish walking; that which is the fruit
of ignorance, and only suits with the state of ignor
ance: 1 Pet. i. 14, 'Not fashioning yourselves accord
ing to the former lusts, in your ignorance.' It is both
the effect and the evidence of ignorance; if men were
not strangely blinded and besotted they would never
carry it towards the flesh as they do. But here is the
misery of it; first the flesh blinds and besots sinners,
puts out their eyes, as the PhiUstines did Samson's,
Judges xvi. 21, and then they are at its beck and dis
pose. Ah sirs ! have ye no knowledge, no wisdom ?
are you under total darkness and gross infatuation ?
are ye so foolish that you do not know what the flesh
is, and whither it leads ? and yet wtfl you walk after
it ? when there is a spiritual, heavenly, holy course
revealed to you, will you yet choose that which is
opposite thereunto ? will you prefer the conduct of
the flesh before the conduct of the Spirit ? Oh,
stupendous folly, most woeful infatuation ! The
apostle, describing the natural state, saith, ' For we
ourselves also were sometimes fooUsh,'(&i>oV<>', without
any understanding or intellective faculty, wherein,)
' serving divers lusts and pleasures ; ' oh that is to
be fooHsh indeed ! And he elsewhere, speaking of
lusts themselves, calls them too atoijroug xa,i fi\a{3u>o\g
' foolish and hurtful,' 1 Tim. vi. 9. Flesh-foUowers
are apt to admire their own wisdom, but they fall
under that sad character, Rom. i. 20, 'Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools.'
(3.) It is groundless and unreasonable walking.
Bate but the sinner's pleasing himself, which is a
pitiful reason, and what reason hath he to serve or
gratify the flesh? -what can it plead for any subjec
tion or obedience to it? This our apostle here takes
notice of: ver. 12, ' We are debtors not to the flesh,
to Hve after the flesh.' We are debtors indeed to
God every way ; to him we owe our love, obedience,
&c, our all ; but what do we owe the flesh? what
hath it done or suffered for us ? hath it redeemed
us ? was it crucified for us ? surely no ! Justice and
gratitude call upon us to live to God and Christ, but
for the flesh we are under no obligation at all to live
to it, rather the quite contrary. Why should we
pay where we owe nothing, and not pay where we
owe our all ? Were we but so just and honest as to

pay our debts, sure I am we should walk after the
Spirit and not after the flesh.
(4.) It is uncomfortable walking: Isa, lvH. 20,
21, ' The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it
cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked,'
Isa. lix, 8, 'They have made them crooked paths:
whosoever goeth therein shall not have peace.' Sin
and comfort cannot go together ; he loses the one
who closes with the other. A wicked life, saith
Plato,1 is not only a sordid, but a more unpleasant
life than that which is virtuous ; the bare Hght of
nature led divers x>f the ancient moraHstg to assert
this over and over.2 And sinners may put the best
face upon it, but they find this to be true by their
own sad experience ; they feel it, their consciences
plainly tell them of it every day, that there is httle
true joy in a sinful, sensual course. Oh, the sad
gripes of conscience which they meet with in the
way of gin ! which though they endeavour to smother,
yet they pursue and vex them from time to time.
But suppose the way of the flesh at present be not
uncomfortable, to be sure in the final issue it will be
so : when the' sensualist and ungodly wretch shall
see death making its near approaches to him, when
conscience shall force him to take a review of his ill-
spent life, when he shall be called to stand before
the tribunal of his judge; I say, how wUl it be then?
wiU it be joy and comfort ? no, but instead thereof
inexpressible anguish and horror of spirit. Oh let
not the flesh deceive you ! ' its pleasures are but for
a season,' Heb. xi. 25 ; its delights are soon over and
gone ; 3 and then that which was honey in the mouth
turns into gall and wormwood in the belly. Poor
deluded creatures think to take their fill of it, but
in a Httle time God finds them out, sets home their
sin and foUy, gives them the prospect of a dreadful
eternity; and what follows? first, hell is in then
souls, and then in a little time their souls are in hell
1 'AvayKalov tov &8lkov fUlov, oi p.bvov alxlta Kal poxBripbrepW
&\\a Kal d-riSio-repovTri aXvBela tou SiKatov re etvat Kal bolov j3/of.
—Plato de Leg., lib. ii. p. 663.
s n<>0 rb 1)8v tvs Kadas io-nv, &c— Plutarch. Ilepl apery! ra!
Kadas, p. 101. 16 ^Aos fj)* avev too ko\& avvirdpKTO* iarlv,
—Idem m Tract., &c„ p. 1087.
3 Delectatio occidit et praeteriit, vulnerayit te transit,
miserum fecit et abiit, infelicem reddidit et reliquit.—
August, de Temp., Serm. 3.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-1.

85

And therefore, as you desire to be kept from this
misery, and to have peace and comfort in Ufe and
death, see that you abandon the flesh so as not to
walk after it.
(5.) It is walking which ends in eternal perdition.
Oh that this might be believed before it be felt !
Sirs, whom will you believe? sin and the flesh,
which are made up of lies, and do their business by
Hes, or the God of truth and the word of truth?
He tells you therein, 'to be carnally minded is death,'
Rom. viii. 6. ' If ye Uve after the flesh, ye shall die,'
Rom. vm. 1 3. ' He that soweth to the flesh, shaU of
the flesh reap corruption,' Gal, vi. 8. 'There is no
condemnation to them which walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit ; ' then there is condem
nation to them who walk after the flesh, &c. ' Sin,
when it is finished, it brings forth death,' James i.
15 ; with many such scriptures. Now shall not this
deter you from a fleshly conversation ? if this will
not, what will ? Solomon, speaking of the strange
woman, tells us, ' her house inclineth unto death,
and her paths to the dead,' Prov. H. 18 ; just so it is
with fleshly walking. Nothing more certain than
that every man's end shaU be according to his
course : as he sows, so shaU he reap, Gal. vi. 7.
Now there are two very different ends, and two
very different courses ; there is heaven and hell,
two very different ends ; and there is walking after
the flesh and after the Spirit, two very different
courses. If you fall in with the former, that will
most certainly lead you to hell ; if with the latter,
that wiU as certainly lead you to heaven. Which of
these courses now will you choose ? Condemnation
is as sure to them who walk after the flesh, as
no-condemnation is to them who walk after the
Spirit. So much for the third motive.
4. Fourthly, Let me add but one dissuasive more,
and that is the death of Christ What a considera
tion is this to take men off from a carnal Ufe ! Oh
when this flesh begins to stir and pirk up itself, you
will do well, in order to the suppressing of it, to fix
your thoughts upon your dying Redeemer. Say;
When my Saviour hath died for sin, shall I live in
sin? when he was 'manifested on purpose to destroy
the works of the flesh and of the devU,' 1 John Hi.
8, shall I yet walk after them? was the sinless flesh
in Christ crucified, and shall the sinful flesh in me

be cherished ? You read of the crucifixion of the
flesh, Gal. v. 24 ; we should be for nothing short of
that, for no better usage doth it deserve from us.
When Pilate asked the enraged Jews against our
blessed Lord, ' What shall I then do with Jesus
which is called Christ?' they all said unto him,
' Let him be crucified ; ' and when he a little hung
off from this cruelty, ' What evil hath he done ? '
they cried out the more, saying, ' Let him be cruci
fied,' Mat. xxvii. 22, 23. This was not so much
their sin in being so cruel to the Lord of glory, but
it is as much your duty to deal thus revengefully
with the flesh. Oh let all cry out in the height of
their hatred against it, Let it be crucified ! Why, but
what evil hath it done ? nay, rather ask what evil
hath it not done ? therefore cry out the more, Let it
be crucified. And indeed the crucifixion of our
natural flesh in Christ, without the crucifixion of
moral and sinful flesh in ourselves, will not profit
us. Paul saith be was ' crucified with Christ,' Gal.
ii. 20. How ? why, in a spiritual and mystical sense,
so as to be dead to the flesh, and so as to live the
spiritual life. And the apostle lays it upon this,
1 Pet. iv. 1, 2, 'Forasmuch then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise
with the same mind : for he that hath suffered in
the- flesh hath ceased from sin ; that* he no longer
should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the
lusts of men, but to the will of God.' It is a scrip
ture somewhat dark ; but the strength of it Hes
thus, ' Christ hath suffered for us,' and we, in an
analogical sense, must be ready to suffer too, — this
is the same mind here spoken of, — and Christ
having suffered 'hath ceased from sin,' h.e., so as
to die for sin no more ; so, saith the apostle, you
too in your own persons must so die to sin as no
longer to live in it. This is the being 'planted
into the likeness of Christ's death,' Rom. vi. 5, and
you find the apostle there in that chapter, from
this very' topic, the death of Christ, earnestly
dissuading persons from walking after the flesh.
I have done with the motives to enforce the de-
hortation. Before I go off from this head, something must
be hinted by way of direction. What is to be done,
some may say, that we may no longer walk after the
flesh ? I answer :

86

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII.

1-4.

[Chap. III.

1. Get out of the flesh. For being in the flesh is
always attended with walking after the flesh ; as the
state is always according to the course, so the course
is always according to the state. If you be in the
fleshly state, your conversation wiU be a fleshly con
versation. Such as the man is, such are the prin
ciples ; and such as the principles are, such wUl the
practices be also. Therefore get out of the state of
nature — in which the flesh rules and carries a man
whither it pleases — and get into Christ : persons out
of Christ are all flesh, and thereupon will be wholly
followers of the flesh. Spiritual walking discovers
the union ; but first the union is the ground of spirit
ual walking .That will certainly follow upon being
in Christ, but being in Christ must necessarily ante-
cede it. Till thou beest ingrafted into Christ, no
good fruit can grow upon thee. He that is flesh
must needs hve and act flesh.
2. Get the Spirit, and walk after the Spirit. It
is the divine Spirit, and the divine nature from that
Spirit, which must dethrone and break the power
of sinning and sinful nature. TiU the Holy Spirit
and grace come into the heart, the flesh lords an d
domineers in the life (as you will hear more fully
when I come to the second verse.) The apostle
joins together sensual and not having the Spirit, Jude
19, where the latter clause is not only a further de
scription of the persons spoken of, but it is also the
assignation of the cause or reason of their being
sensual, viz., because they had not the Sptfit. Till
the mighty Spirit of God comes into the soul, by
saving illumination and overpowering influences, to
say efficaciously to a man, ' This is the way, walk
therein,' Isa. xxx. 21, there maybe convictions, pur
poses, resolutions to the contrary; yet stUl there
wUl be, one way or other,* walking after the flesh.
And so' for grace ; no sooner doth this take posses
sion but the walking is altered, which it never is
before to any purpose : Prov. H. 10, ' When wisdom
entereth into the heart, &c, discretion shaU preserve
thee, &c, to dehver thee from the way of the evil
man, &c, who leave the paths of uprightness to
walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do
evil,' &c. Your way to be rid of the flesh is to get
the Spirit ; set a thousand arguments, the most
effectual considerations imaginable, before the sin
ner, to draw him off from this fleshly walking, till

the regeneratmg, sanctifying Spirit take hold of him,
they are all weak and ineffective,
I add, Walk after the Spirit. Everyman wtfl be
walking ; there is no standing stiU. AU wUl be in
motion so long as they are in via ; and every man's
walking will be in one of these two ways, either
' after the flesh or after the Spirit, for non datur tertiump
and these being contrary, do mutually exclude each
the other. He that walks after the flesh cannot, in
sensu composito, walk after the Spirit ; and he that
walks after the Spirit cannot walk after the flesh.
Therefore, Gal. v. 16, 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shaU not fulfil the lusts of the flesh : ' the reason,
then, upon which this direction is grounded is strong
and evident. And let me teU you, principles you
wUl and must have, some or other, which, tf they be
not good, they wUl be bad. And so as to guides,
affections, propensions, ends, these will be in every
reasonable soul from one cause or another : so that
if you be not spiritual, you will be carnal ; for one of
these two you must be, as both you cannot be. Oh,
let it be the former, that it may. not be the latter!
3. Take heed of particular, aUowed fleshly acts,
for they make way for that general course which
you are to shun. Acts produce habits, as weU as
habits do produce acts. Particular acts of sin, espe
cially tf allowed and repeated, end in a course of sin.
If you gratify the flesh in some things, it will grow
upon you, as sad experience proves. The gangrene
or leprosy at the first begins with some particular
member, but if it be let alone, in a little time it
diffuses itself over the wholy body ; and so it is here
as to sin, ' A Httle leaven leavens the whole lump.'
It is true, as hath been observed, the apostle here
fixes his character upon the course, and not upon
single acts ; but he that allows himself in them will
not stay there— in time he wiU fall into a wicked and
fleshly course.
4. Timely suppress the first risings of the flesh; it
gains by delays. Oh as soon as the corrupt nature
begins to stir and shew itself, see that you fall upon
it presently, make speedy and vigorous resistance
to it. If you give the enemy time, he wiU grow
stronger, and the conquest wUl be the more difficult.1
You read, James i. 15, ofthe conceiving of lust, 'When
^ x PSox avo dpxvs n) ivSovvai Kadav, ka.— Vide
in Eclog., Serm. iii. p. 9.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

87

lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin.' Now sin
must be taken at the first conception ; as soon as the
temptation offers itself, and begins to allure and
tickle by something that it presents, so that the
heart inclines to a closure with it, now fall on pre
sently and parley no longer. This brat of Babylon
must be dashed in pieces in its very infancy ; it is
good to kill the cockatrice in the very egg, to quench
the fire at the first smotherings of it within, or else
it wiU quickly flame forth in the life, even to the
making the conversation carnal. Be very watch
ful over the initial suggestions of the flesh, and fall
upon the timely exercise of mortification ; upon the
first motions of sin say, Satan, flesh, ' get thee behind
me, thou art an offence to me,' Mat. xvi. 23. But
I must not further expatiate upon these things. So
much for the dissuasive part of this use, against walk
ing after the flesh.
I go on to the persuasive part, wherein I would
most earnestly exhort you to walk after the Spirit.
I will be but short upon this, because ' that which I
have atfeady spoken hath a great tendency to the
promoting of it ; for the truth is, whUst I have been
dissuading you from walking after the flesh, I have in
effect been persuading you to walk after the Spirit ;
in beating you off from that, I have been drawing
you on to this. You have heard what it is so to
walk. What now remains but that you would all
endeavour to put it in practice ; and oh that this
might be your way and course ! Let others live as
they please, let it be your fixed resolution that you
wUl Uve the holy, spiritual, heavenly life. True,
there are but few who do thus walk. The world is
but a great Exchange, wherein the Spirit's walk is
very thin, whilst the flesh's walk is full and crowded;
but it is better to be with the few in the way of the
Spirit, than with the many in the way of the flesh.
And I desire you to lay it to heart, Have not you
yourselves too long walked after the flesh ? is it not
high time for you to think of another course ? 1 Pet.
iv. 3, ' The time past of our life may suffice us to
have wrought the will of the GentUes, when we
walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine,' &c.
When wiU ye ' walk in newness of life ? ' as the ex
pression is, Rom. vi. 4. When shaU the renewing
and the renewed Spirit command, govern, act, guide
you in your whole conversation ? When will you

so walk that you yourselves, and others too, may
know, by the spiritualness of your deportment, that
you are indeed in Christ Jesus ?
Here consider, in opposition to what was said of
the former walking, but three things :
1. This is exceUent walking. The spiritual Ufe is
the excellent life. This speaks somewhat more than
what is of man ; there is something divine and su
pernatural in it.1 To be acted by, to live under the
conduct and guidance of, the blessed Spirit, to have
affections, propensions, ends, all holy : this is truly
great ; this is the life which is most agreeable to
the human nature, not only as considered in its
primitive unstained glory and excellency, but as it
is now under its sad ruins and decays. Oh how un
becoming, how ill doth a vicious conversation com
port even with that reason, natural Hght, and those
broken excellencies which are yet left in man !
Man is not so low, but that by complying with sen
sual lusts, he yet acts below himself; nay, so far as
he puts on the sinner, he puts off the man ; where
he unsaints himself, he unmans himsetf. Sensuality
and wickedness carry in them a contradiction to his
very being ; nothing so well suits with that as a
pious, reUgious, heavenly course. Further, the flesh
ly life is a base, sordid life ; but the spiritual Hfe is
a raised, noble Hfe. So much as the Spirit is above
the flesh, the soul above the body, so much is the
spiritual Hfe above the sensual or carnal life.2 The
life which I am urging upon you is the very life of
God himself; for the apostle speaks, Eph. iv. 18, of
some men 'being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them ; ' by which
Ufe of God he means, in part, the hohness of God,
or that holy life which God Uves. The holy liver,
then, he not being aHenated from God's holiness,
lives the life of God ; he acts in conformity, though
under a vast disproportion, to the great God.3 Must
there not, then, needs be unspeakable glory and ex
ceUency in spiritual walking 1 The more one Uves
1 '0 toiovtos hi eifij Kpetrruv fllos ij k6t &v8pii>iroV oi yap y
&v6puirs io-rlv oil™ /3«6<rerai, dXV j? Qewv ti iv aira iirdpxet.
— Arist. Eth., lib. x., cap. 7.
2 To oUeTov eKao-rtf rrj (pirei KpdnffTOV, &c, Kal ™ avBp&inp
8 % b Kara, ripi vovv plos, direp pdXiora tovto dvBpuiros. — Arist.
ibid., p. 138.
3 'Ofwlatns tw Bed oi'nuoe Kal $nov pira tppov-ficem yiveoBat.
— Plato in That.

88

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4,

[Chap. III.

the fleshly life, the more he resembles the beast ;
the more one lives the spiritual life, the more he re
sembles God. The creature is not so much debased
and depressed by the one,'but he is as much advanced
and dignified by the other. Saints may be censured
and misjudged by the world, but in truth they come
the nearest, and are most like to God : ' That they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the Spirit,' 1 Pet. iv. 6. I
do but allude to these words, for I know in their
first and proper sense they point to another thing
than that which I cite them for. God's people are
judged as if they Uved according to men, walking
in or after the flesh, as others do ; but it is not so,
they walk in or after the Sptfit, and so live accord
ing to God. What a great thing is this for poor
creatures, to live according to God ! Who would
not so live ?
And this, too, is the life of the blessed ones in
heaven. Take the glorified saints, how do they
walk ? Not after the flesh I assure you, for they
have no such flesh to walk after. They are wholly
freed from the sinning and sinful nature, are per
fectly renewed and sanctified, and accordingly they
act. All in them, or from them, is divine and spirit
ual ; there is nothing that they do but what flows
from a gracious principle ; all their thoughts and
affections are swaUowed up in God ; their love, joy,
delight are unmixedly spiritual ; the pleasures of the
flesh are nothing to them ; they have not the least
inclination to the least evil ; the great thing they
mind and rejoice in is the glory of God. Oh what
a holy, spiritual life do the saints live in heaven !
Must not the same life then needs be excellent in
the saints here, so far forth as they can reach it in
their imperfect state ? Surely none can undervalue
or think low of it, but only they who are altogether
ignorant of, and strangers to it. A child of God
would not for a thousand worlds live any other life ;
nay, should God leave him to his liberty to make
his own choice, and fully assure him of his future
blessedness, let his choice be what it would, yet he
would choose to live the spiritual rather than the
carnal life. Was there no heaven nor no hell, yet
the sincere Christian would be for holy walking, be
cause of that excellency and intrinsic goodness which
he sees in it.

2. Walking after the Spirit is pleasant, dehghtful,
comfortable walking ; that which begets true peace,
solid joy, unspeakable comfort in the soul. The
more spiritual a man is in his walking, the greater is
his rejoicing; oh what peace have they who thus
walk ! Ps. cxix. 165. The flesh must not vie with
the Spirit about true comfort ; men exceedingly mis
take themselves when they look for pleasure, delight,
and satisfaction in a fleshly course ; alas ! it is not
there to be had. Its very sweet is bitter; there is
gall and wormwood even in its honey: 'Even in
laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that
mirth is heaviness,' Prov. xiv. 13. It promises in
deed great things, but it falls exceedingly short in
its performances ; eminently it doth so in its promises
of joy and comfort. True peace is only to be found
in a holy course, : Rom. viii. 6, ' To be spiritually-
minded is life and peace ;' life hereafter, peace here:
2 Cor. vi. 10, 'As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing:'
2 Cor. i. 12, ' Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of
our conscience that in simpHcity and godly sincerity*,-
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God,
we have had our conversation in the world.' There
is no comfort like to that which attends holy walk
ing;1 the true Christian would not for a world ex
change that joy which he hath in his soul, in and
from meditation, prayer, the word, sacraments,
promises, mortification of sin, holiness, communion
with God, the hope of glory, for all that joy which
the sinner hath in the way of sin and in his sensual
dehghts. Would you have the 'joy which is un
speakable,' 1 Pet. i. 8, the ' peace which passeth all
understanding,' Phil. iv. 7, the ' consolations of God
which are not small,' Job xv. 11, oh, walk after the
Spirit ! Men have false notions of religion, which
experience . must confute. The devU belies and mis-
reports the ways of God, as if a godly Hfe was a
sad, pensive, melancholy life ; pray try and then
judge, be persuaded to fall upon this heavenly course,
and then tell me whether wisdom's ways be not
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace, Prov.
Hi. 17 ; Ps. cxix. 14, 'I have rejoiced in the way of
thy testimonies as much as in all riches.' The flesh
1 To« 0<WXo« io-rlv $Sia Ta <pio-u j,8ia. TomCra 81 d
kut' dper-v vpdiw fare Kal, &0. OiSiv 81, TpooSefrtu r„S
480*9. b pio, abruv, iarep nepcdirrov ™bh dXV Qti rnv Worry*
iv eairu— Arist. Eth., lib. i. cap. 9.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

89

is outdone by the Spirit ; if it gives some outward,
flashy joy, the Spirit, with, advantage, gives inward,
solid, abiding joy; should not this allure you to
walk after it ? We always love to walk where our
walking may be most pleasant and delightful.
Surely to walk with God, to Hve in communion with
Father, Son, and Spirit, to be taken up in the con
templation and fruition of heavenly things, to be
always sucking at the breasts of the promises, to
act in the daily exercise of grace ; I say, surely this
must needs be pleasant and delightful walking in-
deed. And the spiritual walker hath not only this
peace and satisfaction whilst he lives, but in a dying
hour too he is full of comfort. Oh the soul-cheer
ing reflections which he then can make upon a holy
life ! Oh that heart-exhUarating prospect which he
hath of the world to come ! Whether he looks back
ward or forward, all administers ground of rejoicing
to him. Is it thus with the sinner, the sensualist ?
alas ! it is quite otherwise. When death comes and
lays his cold hands upon him, what bitter pangs of
conscience doth he feel ! what dreadful terrors do
fill his soul ! how doth the sense of judgment and
eternity strike him with astonishment ! All his
sensual comforts do now fail him ; and he did not
Hve so full of joy, but he dies as full of sorrow.
' This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down
in sorrow,' Isa. 1. 11 ; but ' mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright, for the end of that man is
peace,' Ps. xxxvu. 37.
3. This is blessed walking, for it evermore ends
in salvation. It doth not only at present evidence
non-condemnation and union with Christ, but it
assures of heaven, and certainly brings to heaven at
last. Hohness and happiness never were, never
shall be, parted. Every motion hath its terminus or
end ; the end of this motion or walking is eternal
rest : Rom. vUi. 13, 'If ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shaU live : ' Gal.
vi. 8, 'He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the
Spirit reap Hfe everlasting : ' Prov. xH. 28, ' In the
way of righteousness is Hfe ; and in the pathway
thereof there is no death ; ' so that if you will be
persuaded to enter into and to hold on in the way
of the Spirit, it wUl infallibly lead you to eternal
Hfe ; and what can be spoken higher ? The sum of
¦all is this, I here set life and death before you, Jer.

xxi. 8 ; if the one wiU not allure you to a holy,
heavenly conversation, nor the other deter you from
a sinful, carnal conversation, I have then no more to
say ; but surely such as have any sense of God, of
the worth of the soul, and of the things of the world
to come, they will resolve for the spiritual life.
Athenagoras, in his apology for the primitive Chris
tians, states their practice thus : J If, saith he, we
did beHeve that we should only live the present Ufe,
there might then be some room for suspicion that-
we might be as wicked as others, indulging flesh and
blood, and drawn aside by covetousness and concu
piscence ; but we know that God is privy not only
to all our actions, but to all our thoughts and words ;
that he is aU light, and sees what is most hid in us ;
and we are fully persuaded, that after this life we
shall live a much better life with God in heaven ;
and therefore we do not Hve as others do, whose life
will end in hell fire. Oh that we could as easily
draw men to the heavenly Ufe, as we can apologise
for those who leave it, or set down the grounds and
reasons why they leave it I
And now you who are flesh-followers, will nothing
prevail with you ? Shall all these considerations be
ineffectual? Will you yet persist in your fleshly
course? Though an angel with a drawn sword
stands before you to stop you in your evU way, yet,
Balaam-like, will you go on? Num. xxii. 22. WiU
you ' set yourselves in a way that is not good,' as
the wicked are described? Ps. xxxvi. 4. Are you
at that language, ' We wiU every one walk after our
own devices, and we wUl every one do the imagina
tion of his evil heart'? Jer. xviii. 12. Or, as it is,
Jer. vi. 1 6, ' Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask
for the old paths, where is the good way, (the way of
the Spirit,) and walk therein, and ye shall find rest
for your souls. But they said, We will not walk
therein ' ? Do you walk after the flesh, and resolve
to do so still ? Then it is sad indeed, but I would
fain hope better of you. Pray be entreated to read
the motives again which have been set before you,
and in your most calm thoughts to pause and dwell
upon the things which have been spoken. ShaU I
need to add anything further, in telhng you that all
your walkings, yea, every step you take, is known to
' E( piv yap tva t-qv evravBa /3i6c, &c. — A thenag. Leg. pro
Christian., p. 35. M

90

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. III.

God ? Job xxi. 4, and xxxiv. 21 ; Ps. cxxxix. 3, and
cxix. 168. That God judges of every man here, and
hereafter wiU judge every man at the great day, ac
cording to his walking? Eccles. xi. 9 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ;
Eccles. xii. 1 4. That death will come with a dread
ful aspect where the life hath been carnal and sinful ;
that in the way of the flesh you are in danger of
treading upon serpents, vipers, adders, scorpions,
every step you take; that by this course you
'forsake the path of life,' Ps. xvi. 11, and, for a
Httle flesh-pleasing, put yourselves into the broad
way to everlasting damnation ? How much might I
yet say upon this account, but enough and enough hath
been already said, if God will but set it home upon
the conscience. The Lord hedge up your ways with
thorns, and make a wall that you may not find the
paths of the flesh, and thereupon may resolve to get
into the paths of the Spirit ; for surely it wUl be better
then than now it is ;— I allude to Hosea. ii. 6, 7.
Use 4. There is one use more, and that shaU be
directed to them who do walk after the Spirit. Three
things to such.
1. First, I would, with the greatest earnestness,
stir- up such to be highly thankful to God. Are any
of you through grace made spiritual, and do you Hve
the spiritual Hfe? Have you received the Spirit,
and do you also walk after the Spirit ? What cause
have you to bless God ! yea, what thankfulness can
be high enough to him who hath brought you to
this ! Why do you not walk just as others do 1
Why is not the flesh as powerful, as predominant in
you as it is in others? Why does not the very
worst of the flesh prevaU over you? Why are
not you atheists, scoffers at religion, drunkards,
adulterers, open and notorious sinners ? Surely all
must be resolved into the discriminating grace of
God ; that, and that only, hath made the difference.
Time was when your walking was bad enough, when
you were as carnal as any, and very tamely lackeyed
it after every base lust ; is not God to be admired
upon that blessed change which he hath wrought in
you ? Eph. ii. 1-3, ' You hath ye quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins ; wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this
world,' &c. ' Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ;

and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ:'
Tit. iu. 3, ' For we ourselves were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts, and plea
sures.' See also Col. Hi. 7 ; 1 Pet. iv. 3. Oh what
a sad course do the best follow before conversion !
and, as to yourselves, if God by his distinguishing
and almighty grace had not seized upon you, as you
began with that course, so you had continued in it
to this very day. Oh let the Lord be for ever mag
nified, who hath delivered you from fleshly walking,
and brought you over to that which is spiritual and
heavenly. And this must the rather be done, be
cause you now have so clear, so convincing an evi
dence of your being in Christ ; is not that a great
thing? The blessedness of this union with Christ
hath been fully set before you ; it is aU yours, you
not 'walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit'
Surely, though you cannot in your praises reach so
great mercy, yet you should go as far as ever you can.
2. Secondly, Such are to be exhorted to walk yet less
and less after the flesh, and yet more and more after
the Spirit. For this walking admits of degrees ; there
are none, in the present state, so freed from the flesh
and the fleshly conversation, but that yet they may
be more freed from it; and so too there are none who
have so much of the Spirit, and walk so much after the
Spirit, but that yet they may be more spiritual in
their walking. It is mercy that it is so well, as to the
main, but surely it may yet be better. Saints ! are
you so universally acted by the Spirit of God and
the sanctified nature as you might be ? Oh do you
so constantly Hve under the guidance and conduct
of the Spirit as you might and should ? is he your
guide no sooner to shew you the right way; but
presently and readily you engage therein I1 axe all
your affections so pure and heavenly as God requires?
are there not many strong inclinations to evtf yet
remaining in you ? are your ends in all things so
subhme and spiritual as the gospel commands?
1 'Q, o bSonrbpos irwBdverac napb. tov drravr^avros, woripa
twv oSAv fipei, oiK fe* ipefr rph, T^v g^ ^^ ^^ j
Tty dpiorepav, oi yap tovtwv tlvA, direXBeTv Bi\e, &\*a 7>
tipovoav-oBruse'Sei Kai M Tbv Bebv ipXeo8ah <6S. 68Vv6v.-Arrim.
Epict., hb. n. cap. 7, p. 186.

Chap. III.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

91

Ah, something is yet wanting ! there is yet room for
growth ; you have not yet arrived at perfection, as
the apostle speaks of himself, ' Not as though I had
already attained,' &c, PhU. Hi. 12. Oh that every
day you might rise higher and higher in heavenly
walking! that the flesh might decrease and the
Spirit increase ; the carnal part, like the house of
Saul, might stUl be going down, and the spiritual
part, like the house of David, might still He getting
up ; that heart and life might be refined and
spirituaHsed yet more and more ! I beseech you,
do not stay where you are, but still be ' pressing
forward,' Phil. hi. 14. Walking, it is motus progres
sives ; so it should be in your walking after the
Spirit : as there is a going ' from strength to
strength,' Ps. lxxxiv. 7, ' from faith to faith,' Rom.
i. 17, so there should be also from spiritualness to
spiritualness. And walking it is motus uniformis ;
are you so steady, so even and untform in your
walkings as you ought ? In a statue or piece of art
aU the several parts are untform and proportionable,
or else it loses in its exactness and curiosity ; 1 and
should it not be so too in the spiritual life ? But I
wUl only keep to the metaphor of- the evenness of
the Christian's walking. Oh the many crooked,
wandering, extravagant steps which you take !
Sometimes you are in the way of the Spirit, then
presently in the way of the flesh ; you do not make
'straight paths,' as the apostle advises, Heb. xii.
13 : how do your partial closures and compliances
with the carnal part too often intercept the light of
God's countenance, interrupt your communion with
bim, and cause a damp in aU your inward peace, as
you know by reason of this it sometimes was with
David himsetf ! When will you walk in the path of
hoHness, so as not to turn to the right hand or to
the left, as the word enjoins? see Prov. iv. 27;
Deut. v. 32. Again, is your spiritual walking so
visible as it should be — so as to convince the world
that there is such a life, such a course as hath been
described ? Truly, men question whether there be
such a thing, because you who pretend to it come so
short of it ; when you speak, act just as others, are
as worldly, vain, passionate, selfish, revengeful as
others, who wUl beHeve that there is in reality any
1 ToO pMov KaOdwep ay&Xparos irdvra ra perf koXo elvat Set. —
Socrat.

such walking after the Spirit 1 or that there is more
in it than mere fancy and pretence? How did Paul's
Spirit rise in him, upon the surmises and censures
of some who thought of him as though he walked
according to the flesh ! 2 Cor. x. 2 ; and can you, as
to yourselves, not only bear such censures, but,
which is much worse, give too just occasion for
them? Further, let me ask you, doth this holy
walking intermingle itself with your whole conver
sation? even in your natural and civil actions do
you walk after the Spirit ? when you eat and drink
is your eye upon the glory of God? 1 Cor. x. 31 ;
in common actions have you special and pecuhar
aims and principles ? the very animal life which you
' live in the flesh,' do you ' live by the faith of the
Son of God,' as Paul did? Gal. H. 20. It is a great
mistake to limit this walking after the Spirit to
actions materially spiritual, or to the positive duties
of religion ; no, at all times, in all actions you are
so to walk, doing all from a spiritual principle, by a
spiritual rule, to a spiritual end. It' is one thing to
be employed in some acts that are spiritual, and
another thing to be spiritual in all acts ; the fleshly
walker may do the first, but saints must endeavour
after the last. At your tables, in your shops, in
your civil converses, you may, and ought, to Uve
the heavenly life, as well as in hearing the word,
prayer, and such religious duties. A carnal man
sometimes engages in spiritual things, and yet even
then he doth not walk after the Spirit; and a child of
God sometimes is engaged in common things, civil and
natural, and yet even then he walks after the Spirit —
viz., as he intermingles grace with all he doth. Now
is it thus with you ? are you holy, spiritual ' in all
manner of conversation,' in every winding and turn
of the life, as the apostle exhorts? 1 Pet. i. 15. And
once more let me ask you — and pray call your own
souls to account about it — is there not some one or
other secret by-path of the flesh which you walk in ?
This holy David prayed against, Ps. cxxxix. 24, 'See
tf there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting.' Upon the whole, I fear there is
need to press this upon you, to walk yet more and
more after the Spirit : and we ' beseech and exhort
you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of
us how you ought to walk and to please God, so ye
would abound more and more,' 1 Thes. iv. 1.

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[Chap. III.

3. Thirdly, Are you such who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit ? Oh rejoice in this and
take the comfort of it ! Here is sufficient ground of
assurance that there is no condemnation to you,
that you are in Christ Jesus; and is not that matter
of rejoicing? You are within the character here
given of such who are in Christ, therefore you are
in him, and being in him, must it not needs be well
with you? And if you look into the following
verses there is yet more comfort for you : they tell
you that God sent his Son to condemn sin, to fulfil
the law, and all for such spiritual walkers as you
are, for upon them the character is repeated again.
Ah, you will say, if it was thus with us we would
desire no higher comfort in the world, but we fear
it is otherwise ; we cannot find that we come up to
this description, and therefore cannot apply the
happiness annexed to it. And why so? why, because
there is so much of flesh in us ; oh there is a very
sinful, carnal, and sensual part in us ! yea; this often
prevails and breaks forth in our conversation ; upon
which we cannot but judge that we walk after the
flesh rather than after the Spirit.
Now to this I answer : Nothing more certain than
that flesh is in you, and will be so whilst you are in
the flesh ; you must carry it with you to your very
grave, the body of sin and the other body must
both be buried together ; you will never be wholly
rid of a sinning nature and a carnal part till you be
in heaven. And it is true too, this flesh doth and
wiU sometimes prevaU over you, though the seldomer
the better : yet this doth not amount to walking
after the flesh, or to the nuHtfying of the walking
after the Spirit. Paul himself complained of the
flesh, yea, of the strength and power of it, yet for all
that he says here, ver. $, 'We walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit ; ' though it was so with
him, yet his state was good, and his course good too.
We must thus speak for the comfort of burdened
souls, though enemies without take occasion from
hence to revile, and sinners, amongst ourselves, to
presume. It would be happy if you might wholly
be freed from a corrupt nature;1 but that is rather to
1 Desiderium tuum tale debet esse ad Deum ut omnino non
sit ipsa concupiscentia cui resistere oporteat; resistis enim
et non consentiendo vinois, sed melius est hostem non
habere quam vincere. — Aug. Serm. de Tem., 45.

be desired than hoped for in this life. Yet here is
this to support you ; though that may carry the day
as to some particular acts, yet the bent of the heart
is for God, and as to the general course the renewed
part is uppermost. The flesh sometimes is too hard
for you, but you do not consent to it;1 it hath not
the full allowance and approbation of the wUl ; you
do not give up yourselves in a wilHng subjection to
it ; what it doth it is from mere force and strength;
you cry out to God daily for help against it : well !
God will not lay particular failings, thus circum
stantiated, to your charge. The damsel under the
law that was ravished, if she cried out for help and
did not consent to the fact, was to be acquitted,
Deut. xxii. 25 ; so you do to God under the assaults
of the flesh, and so God will do to you. True, sin
is sin though it hath not fuU and deliberate consent;
but God is so gracious that where that is not, he
will not impute it. I have also told you, that you
must distinguish betwixt lapses into sin and walk
ing in sin ;2 thou sometimes faUest by the flesh, but
yet thou dost not walk after the flesh. Where the
fleshly act, especially if it be gross, is not repeated,
where the soul resists it, where there is a rising
again by repentance, deep humiliation for what is
past, and all diligent circumspection and steadfast
resolution, in God's strength, for the time to come,
there it is but a lapse, and not a walking. This I
hope is your case ; and if so, then what you allege
against yourselves will not amount to make you
walkers after the flesh.
And as to the positive part, the walking after the
Spirit, though you come short as to degrees, and are
not so raised in the spiritual Hfe as you ought, yet
in such a measure, which God accepts, you do hve
it. The Spirit is your principle, your guide; spUitual
objects have your affections; the heart inclines and
bends chiefly to that which is good ; your great end
is to enjoy and glorify God ; oh be of good comfort,
this is walking after the Spirit ! You are imperfect
in it, yet sincere ; you aim at more than what you
i Nulla condemnatio iis qui sunt in Christo Jesu, non enim
damnatur nisi qui concupiscent carnis consentit ad malum.
-Aug. contra duas Ep. Pelag:, lib. i. cap. 10. Vide plura in
Aug. in Ps. cxviii. cone. 3.
2 Non dicitur vivere secundum carnem, qui Spiritum ducem
sequitur, etiamsi aliquando extra viam vestigium ponat.-
Justin.

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

93

can as yet arrive at ; God accepts of you, and will
deal with you as persons really ingrafted into Christ :
your holy walking discovers your union, and your
union secures your non-condemnation. What have
you to do, but to beg of God that he will yet guide
you, and more and more fix and stablish you in this
your spiritual walking. He that knows the good
ness of your way, knows also the weakness of your
graces. Oh pray much for strengthening grace, that
you may steadfastly continue in your holy course to
the end ! Ps. xvH. 5, ' Hold up my goings in thy
paths, that my footsteps slip not:' Ps. cxix. 117,
' Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe : and I will
have respect unto thy statutes continually.' So
much for the application of this point. Two things
should therein have been further spoken to, but now
must be omitted, namely,
1. To vindicate the true notion of the spiritual
life, against all the false monastic glosses and inter
pretations which some do put upon it.
2. To answer those usual and common objections
which too many do raise against it. But the due
handling of these two heads would take me up some
considerable time, and they wUl in the following
verses again offer themselves; and I fear I have
already been too long upon this verse, therefore at
present I shall not meddle with them. I have done
with the first verse : ' There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.'

CHAPTER IV.
OF THE SINNER'S BEING MADE FREE BY THE POWER
OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE POWER OF SIN AND
DEATH.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. —
Rom. vm. 2.
Vf the connexion of this verse with the former — Some
bring in the words by way of prolepsis—The proper
import of the particle for cleared, and made good

against the papists — In the words something implied,
something expressed — All reduced to three heads : a
gracious deliverance ; the subject ; the author of
that deliverance — What sin is here mainly intended —
How far the being made free from it doth reach —
Whether it points to the guilt or power of sin — What
is meant by the law of sin — Of deliverance from the
law of sin and death — Paul instances in himself as
the subject of it — How that is to be taken — Why he
speaks in the singular number — The law of the Spirit,
&c, opened — A fourfold exposition of the words —
What that is which is in Christ Jesus— Is it the life,
or the Spirit, or the law of the Spirit 2 — In the close,
one truth briefly handled, that the Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of Ufe — How or in wJiat respects he is so —
Some short application made thereof.
The apostle having in the former verse more suc
cinctly laid down that great truth upon which he
designed to buUd his following discourse, he here in
this verse falls upon the amplifying and enlarging of
himself about it ; and all that he says from this
verse to the seventeenth is but by way of amplifica
tion upon what he had more concisely said in the
first. It is obvious, at the first view, that this verse doth
not only immediately follow, but that in its matter
it is linked and embodied with the former ; the par
ticle for plainly shews that it is brought in to prove
or to explain something there asserted : ' For the law
of the Spirit,' &c. Now the apostle having there,
1. Propounded the happy state of persons in Christ ;
and 2. Having described and characterised those
persons, a question here doth arise, Which of these
two doth he in this verse design to prove or open ?
I say to prove or open, for the words may come in
by way of illustration as well as by way of proof or
argumentation. For answer to which, I see nothing of reason
why both may not be taken in; the words wUl
bear a fair reference both to the one and to the
other too. 1
1. First, as to the privilege. He had said, ' There
is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.'
Now this being the great prop or pillar of the be-
1 Hinc utrumque dependet, quod versu praecedenti statuit.
Prius, &c. — Lud. de Dieu.

94

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

liever's faith and hope, he wUl therefore fasten it
sure ; he is not satisfied barely to affirm it, but he
wiU confirm and make it good, and also shew how
it is brought about.
For the proof of it, he brings this argument : They
who are freed from the law of sin and death, to
them there is no condemnation ; but such who are
in Christ are thus freed from the law of sin and
death, ergo, &c. AU the difficulty lying in the minor
proposition, he shews how this freedom from the
law of sin and death is effected ; and as to that he
saith, it is ' by the law of the Spirit of life.' Which
being done, in this method, in and for believers, they
are in no danger of condemnation.
For the explication of it — if you take the words
in that notion — the apostle sets down the way and
manner how this non-condemnation is carried on.
That is done two ways : partly by the Spirit of
Christ ; partly by the merit of Christ. In order to
the sinner's justification and salvation two things
are necessary : 1. He must be freed from the tyranny,
usurpation, and dominion of sin ; 2. He must be
freed too from the guilt of sin, and the justice of
God must be satisfied. Now, saith the apostle, both
of these are accordingly done : the former by the
Spirit of Christ, which is spoken to in this second
verse ; the latter by the merit or satisfactory obe
dience of Christ in his own person, which is spoken
to in the third and fourth verses. Thus the apostle
clears up the way and method of God in the bring
ing about of the non-condemnation of believers ; and
this is the double reference which the words wUl
bear with respect to the privilege.
2. Then, secondly, they may refer, too, to the
character or description, ' who walk not after,' &c.
It might be asked, How doth the truth of this ap
pear, viz., that persons in Christ do thus walk ? or
rather, How comes it about that such do arrive at
this spiritual course ? The apostle answers, ' The
law of the Spirit of life hath freed such from the law
of sin ; ' q.d., I have spoken of the holy and heavenly
course of believers, and do not wonder at it ; you
may believe me in what I have asserted, for the
mighty power of the Spirit of God having subdued
sin and broke its strength and dominion in these
persons, upon this they are brought to holy walk
ing, or therefore they do so walk. In this reference

several expositors carry the words ; but this for their
connexion. 1
Some divines make them to be, in part, prolepti*-
cal, as if the apostle, foreseeing some objections
which might be made against what he had laid
down, did here design to prevent and anticipate
those objections. For as to both the forementioned
things, doubts and discouragements might arise in
some who were in Christ. They might object thus :
Blessed Paul! thou sayest there is no condemna
tion to them who are in Christ ; but how can this be 1
What ! so much sin and guilt, and yet no condemna
tion ? Can we who are nothing but a very mass of
sin be thus safe and secure as to our eternal state ?
Oh, this we scarce know how to believe ! And, again,
thou speakest of ' walking not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit.' Alas ! who do thus walk ? When
we have so much of flesh in us, and that doth so
often draw us to carnal acts, &c, how is this quali
fication practicable ?
To obviate this double objection or discourage
ment, the apostle brings in these words, in which he
renders both the privilege and the property of per
sons interested in it real and credible — viz., by their
being freed from the law of sin and death through
the law of the Spirit. It is as if he had said, It is
too true that even such who are in Christ wfll have
sin in them, and sin wiU too often be committed by
them ; yet for all this, I say that such shaU not be
condemned; why? because they are freed from the
law of sin, and. so, consequently, from the law of
death. Sin, I grant, is in them ; but it is not a law
in them, or to them ; it still keeps its residence in
them, but its reign, its commanding power, is gone.
Now, where it is not commanding it shaU not be
condemning. So then, this notwithstanding, the
foundation of a beUever's safety and comfort stands
firm and unshaken.
1 Lex spiritus vitae quae pertinet ad gratiam, et Hberat a lege
peccati et mortis, facit ut non concupiscamus, et impleamuB
jussa legis, kc-August. Octogint. Qumt., p. 575, t. iv. Verius
et certius est, quod hoo versiculo rationem reddere apostolus
voluent, non illorum verborum nihil nunc damnationis, sed cur
hanc quasi conditionem illis verbis adjecerit, iis qui non seem-
dum carnem ambulant.-Stapl. Antidot., p. 625. The apostle
proves the spiritual walking, a causa procreante, qu* est Spi-
ntus Sanctus.— Piscat. He gives a rpaa™ .l *.u .
v. t nu ¦ l , „ s reason why the true mem
bers of Christ do walk according to the Spirit.- Bead.

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

95

And for the other discouragement here is a kind
of tacit and implicit concession that the people of
God are flesh as well as spirit, and that as to some
particular acts, through infirmity, they may follow
the guidance and motions of the flesh ; but yet they
are not under the law and command of the flesh.
Why? because they are freed from the law of sin;
there is another law which hath thrust out that
law of sin, viz., the law of the Spirit. Indeed, time
was when they were at the beck and command of
the flesh, when they walked after it ; but the law
of the Sptfit having taken hold of them, now, for the
main, they do not, they cannot walk after the flesh.
I come more strictly and narrowly to look into
the words, ' For the law of the Spirit of life,' &c.
It is a scripture that either is dark in itself, or else
it is made so by the various and different interpre
tations put upon it ; which, before I can weU speak
to, the first word, for, must be a little considered ;
and the rather because it is made use of and in
sisted upon in some matters of controversy. That
which unites verse and verse divides party and
party ; this Uttle word is made to bear its part in
some sharp contests ; and though to us at the first
view it may seem but inconsiderable, yet it is not
so to the Romanists, who, in their arguings against
protestants, make no small use of it. They tell
us that it is here to be taken causally, as contain
ing in it the ground of justification ; l that it points
to inherent righteousness as the cause of the non-
condemnation before spoken of; and by this they
attempt to prove that the believer is not justified
by the imputed righteousness of Christ, but by his
own personal inherent righteousness. For, say they,
the apostle having said that there is no condemna
tion to them who are in Christ, he proves it from
inherent righteousness as the proper and formal
cause of it : there is no condemnation, '¦for the law
of the Spirit,' &c. And, that the argument may be
the more pressing and concluding to us protestants,
they urge that Calvin and Beza themselves do make
this law of the Spirit of Hfe to point to grace, regen
eration, inherent righteousness.
1 Subscribit causam prsedictae liberationis. — Soto. Apos
tolus hanc libertatem, a lege peccati per Spiritum Dei, ponit
ut causam ejus quod prius dixerafc. — Stapl. Anlid., p. 625;
with many others.

To whom I reply, 1. That it is not safe, either
for them or us, in matters of great moment, to lay
too great a stress upon little words, which only join
verse and verse together, unless that which we buUd
upon them or infer from them do agree with other
scriptures where the thing is fully and professedly
handled. I dare not undervalue the least, the
meanest particle in God's word; yet I would be
loath to bottom a fundamental article of faith upon
such a particle, especially when it admits of various
senses, as this here doth, if it hath not the current
of the word to back it. For our opinion of justifi
cation by the alone righteousness of Christ imputed
to the sinner, and laid hold on by faith, we ground
it upon several full and entire discourses, where our
apostle doth professedly handle that argument, prov
ing justification to be according to what we hold ;
but our adversaries, to prove their justification by
inherent righteousness, very often (I do not say
always) catch at some little single word, and that
they make the foundation which they build this
opinion upon. In short, against this for in the text
— I mean, too, only as they pervert it, for in truth
they have not so much as even this little word to
favour them — we set the whole third, fourth, fifth
chapter of this Epistle to the Romans, where the
apostle, in a full discourse upon it, doth plainly lay
justification upon imputed, not upon inherent right
eousness ; and which of us now do build upon the
surest and safest bottom ?
2. What if this particle, supposing it to be causal,
doth point to the description of the persons, and
not to the privilege — some of their own authors do
carry it so x — where, then, is the strength of their
argument from it to prove the formal cause of no
condemnation? All that then can be deduced from
the words is this, that grace in the heart is the
cause of a holy Ufe; that men upon regeneration
are dehvered from the law of sin, and therefore they
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What
is this against us? And, with respect to their
glosses, who questions or denies inherent righteous
ness, or that that doth free from sin, provided you
take it with a double limitation? — (1.) That the free
ing from sin upon regeneration be understood of the
1 Stapl. ut prius. Tolet : causam exponit cur qui sunt in
Christo non secundum carnem ambulant,

96

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

taking away its power ; (2.) That it be not carried
so far as quite to jostle out imputed righteousness, or
set so high as to have that attributed to it which is
only proper to Christ's righteousness. Our adversaries
misrepresent our opinions, and trouble themselves,
in a great measure, to prove that which we never
deny, and then asperse us as though we did deny it.1
3. It is one thing to be the proof of a thing,
another thing to be the cause of that thing. Re
generation, indeed, proves justification — for every
regenerate person is a justified person ; but it is not
the cause of justification ; for the person is not there
fore justified because he is regenerated, but because
Christ's righteousness by faith is made over to him.
It is one thing to say, therefore a man lives because
he hath sense and moves, and another thing to say,
therefore a man Uves because he hath a Uving soul
in him ; the sense and motion prove the life, but it
is the Hving soul which is the cause of life. So here,
the believer shall not be condemned because the law
of the Spirit of life, &c. ; this evinces the certainty
of the thing ; but it is not the proper cause of it.
So that the for in the text is only nota probationis,
but not causalitatis, and so it is used up and down
in the Gospel in very many places.
4. It is very true that Calvin, in part, doth inter
pret the words of regeneration and inherent right
eousness;2 but then, foreseeing the objection that
would be made upon it, he explains himself about
it, and saith, If any shall reply that then pardon or
justification doth depend upon regeneration, the
answer, says he, is obvious ; Paul doth not set down
the cause wherefore we are absolved from guilt,
only the manner wherein this is done.3 He adds
1 Si Spiritus vitae vivificaSs, sanctificans, &c. Ergo liberati
sumus a lege peccati et mortis, regeneratione, sanctificatione,
non sola justitiae imputatione ; gratia ergo inhserens est quae
liberat a peccato. — Contz. Qucest. 1, in ver. 2, cap. viii. ad Rom.
Torsit hic locus tarn Calvinum quam Bezam, quia inhaerentem
justitiam per veram peccati victoriam luculenter probat, et
imputativam subvertit. — Stapl. Antidot., p. 625.
a Legem Spiritus improprie vocat Dei Spiritum, qui animas
nostras Christi sanguine aspergit, non tantum ut a peccati labe
emundet quoad reatum, sed ut in verum pietatem sanctificet.
— Calvin.
3 Siquis excipiat veniam ergo qua sepeliuntur nostra delicta
pendere «. regeneratione, facilis est Bolutio. Non assignari
causam a Paulo, sed modum tradi duntaxat, quo solvimur a
reatu. — Calvin.

further, It is as much as if the apostle had said
that regeneration is never separated or parted from
the imputation of Christ's righteousness.1 So that
he doth not argue for non-condemnation or justifica
tion from inherent righteousness as the proper cause
of it, but only as these two always go together, and
as this is the order and method of God wherein he
justifies. And it is true too that Beza doth take in
here, under ' the law of the Spirit,' regeneration and
sanctification ;2 but then it is very weU known what
he makes to be the law ofthe Spirit of Hfe principally,
viz., the sanctity and holiness of Christ's human
nature, which, he saith, being imputed to the be
liever, he is thereupon justified. And now Calvin
and Beza have lost all their credit.3 So long as they
expounded the words of inherent righteousness they
were very sound and orthodox, but now they thus
explain themselves, no Censures are severe enough
for them. Now, tf Stapleton may be beheved, they
are not adulteratores sed carnifices verbi Dei. I know
Pareus, to avoid the popish objection, closes with
another interpretation of the words ; but there is
no necessity for that, as I conceive. In short, as
was said in the handling of the foregoing verse, we
are for inherent righteousness as well as our opposers,
though they are pleased very freely to calumniate
us, as if we denied the thing, because we deny it to
be the cause or ground of justification.4 We are for
infallibilis nexus, an inseparable connexion betwixt
justification and sanctification; where there is the
blood there is the water also ; for Christ came by
both, 1 John v. 6. We further hold that regeneration,
1 Perinde valet haec sententia, ac si dixisset Paulus regene-
rationis gratiam ab imputatione justitiae nunquam disjungi.
2 Legem Spiritus vitse, nee pro lege fidei, &c, sed pro ejus
efiicacia, per quam peccatum, i.e., corruptio, ipsaque adeo
mors, sensim aboletur, ut docet infra, v. 10 et 11, denique pro
regenerationis gratia aocipio, cui opponitur carnis, i.e., naturae
nostrae, corruptio. — Beza.
3 In his verbis Calvinum orthodoxae et Augustinianae expo-
sitioni conformiter dicere, quis dubitaverit? sed audiantur
reliqua, et impostoris technse ac fraudes apparebunt.— Stapl.
ubi supra. Quam legem Spiritus cum probe intellexissent
recentiores haeretici, perperam transferunt, non ad gratiam
justis inhaerentem, sed ad externam Christi justitiam, quam
nobis quodammodo affingi volunt et imputari.-.7i»*tn.
4 Becanus Opusc de Justif. Calvinist. cap. ii. ; Costeri Enckir,
cap. vi., p. 220 ; Campian, Rat. 8. Against which calumny
vide Chamfer, torn. iii. lib. i. ran 9 *

Chap. IV]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

97

habitual and actual righteousness, are the indispen
sable conditions of eternal life, and absolutely neces
sary thereunto. Nay, some worthy divines1 go so
' far as to make them causa sine qua non, even with
respect to justification. But all this is nothing
unless we make them the proper, formal cause of
justification; which we cannot do, that being a
thing so diametrically opposite to gospel revelation.
This block being removed out of my way, now I
proceed. The law of the Spirit of life, &c. In the former
verse you had contrary principles — flesh and Spirit ;
in this you have contrary laws. Here is law in
opposition to law, — the law of the Spirit set against
the law of sin, the law of the Spirit of life against
the law of death ; the law of sin enslaving us, against
the law of the Spirit freeing us from that slavery.
In the words something is implied, and something
is expressed. That which is imphed is this, that all men — the
very best of them — for a time, viz., tiU they be con
verted, are under the law of sin and death.
That which is- expressed is this, that beUevers by
the law of the Spirit of life are made free from the
law of sin and death. The opening of these things
wiU be my present business, for I cannot well pitch
upon the doctrinal observations till I have cleared
up the sense of the words, and the apostle's main
scope and design in them.
In order to which, I will reduce the whole matter
contained in them to these three heads : A gracious
dehverance, the subject, the author or efficient of
dehverance. 1. Here is a gracious deliverance. — Hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. As to the first of
these, tf you consider them as distinct — the being
made free from the law of sin — for the better under
standing thereof I desire you to take notice of the
foUowing particulars : —
(1.) That by sin the apostle chiefly aims at the
root sin, the sin of nature, or the sinful depraved
nature which is in faUen man. It is the same with
the flesh spoken of before, as also with the indwell
ing sin, the law in the members, &c, in the foregoing
chapter. This is that sin which hath the greatest
1 Pareus in Respons. ad Dub. ii., p. 773 ; with some eminent
divines of our own.

power in and over the soul. Particular and actual
sins do but derive their power from this ; all that
dominion and strength which they have is but dele
gated ; the supreme, sovereign, original dominion of
sin is seated in the corrupt nature : there chiefly is
that law of sin which believers are freed from ; yet,
in subordination to this, the power of particular sins,
and deliverance from that, is here also to be taken in.
(2.) The apostle doth not say, that believers are
simply and absolutely made free from sin, only that
they are made free from the law of sin. There is a
great difference betwixt sin and the law of sin :x a
total freedom from the former none have in this
life, no, not they who are most under the law of the
Spirit. The dearest of God's children must wait for
that till they come to heaven, the only place and
state of perfection; there they shall be perfectly,
completely freed from sin, yea, from the very being
of it, but here the utmost they can arrive at is to be
freed from its power in regeneration, and from its
guilt in justification. The text therefore doth not
speak of absolute freedom from sin, for that being
unattainable here below is yet to come, and so it
falls under the glorious liberty of the sons of God
mentioned ver. 21 : but the being made free in the
text is spoken of as a thing that is past ; ('hath made
me free,' &c. ;) and therefore it must be limited to
freedom from the law of sin only.
(3.) There is in this life a twofold freedom from
sin : the one respects its guilt, the other its power.
It is a law in both respects : in reference to guilt, as
it binds the creature over to answer at God's bar
for what he hath done, and makes him obnoxious
to punishment : in reference to power, as it rules,
commands, and exercises a strange kind of tyranny
and dominion over the sinner. Now believers are
freed from sin in both of these respects, namely, as
was said but just now, in justification from the
guUt, in regeneration from the power of it.
i Non sunt idem Peccatum et Lex peccati ; peccatum est
vitium inhabitans in carne, Lex peccati dominium peccati,
quod in carne non regenitorum plene exercet. Ab hoc pec
cati inhabitantis dominio, efficacia Spiritus regenerantis liberat
fideles, fraenando illud, non vero penitus tollendo. — Pareus.
Attendendum, quod non dicit, &c : Non enim gratia hominem
impeccabilem reddit, sed fomitis vim minuit, &c. — Com.
Muss. Nos ita a morte et peccato liberati sumus, ut tamen
horum malorum non parum adhuc supersit. — Pet. Mart. N

98

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

But here a question must be resolved, viz., Which
doth the apostle here speak of? which of these two
parts of the saints' freedom from sin is here primarily
and principally intended ?
For answer to which, divines do somewhat differ
about it. Austine took in both, and therefore he
sometimes opens it by the one, sometimes by the
other.1 Amongst modern expositors, some interpret
the words of freedom from the guilt of sin, they
making them chiefly to point to that grace which is
given out in justification.2 Others interpret them
of freedom from the power of sin, they referring
them to that grace which is proper to regeneration.3
The opinion of the latter I prefer, and shall follow
in the ensuing discourse. I conceive the law of sin
mainly refers to the power of sin, and therefore the
freedom from the law of sin must also mainly refer
to the being freed from the power of sin. As to the
taking away of its guilt, that the apostle speaks to
in the following verse, for that is the condemning of
it there mentioned ; in this verse the taking away
of its dominion was chiefly in his eye. You have
him, chap, vii, sadly complaining of the law in his
members, of the law of sin ; now nothing more evi
dent than that he hereby designs to set forth, not
sin's guilt, but that great, though not fuU, power and
strength which sin had in him ; and if that be the
proper notion of the law of sin there, then why not
here ? And besides, the word here used, ijXgudlgwffs,
'hath made free, 'both in Scripture and also in common
authors usually notes the freeing of one who is un-
1 Non damnatur nisi qui concupiscentiae carnis consentit ad
malum ; lex enim Spiritus vitae in Christo Jesu liberavit te a
lege peccati et mortis, ne Bcil. consensionem tuam concupis-
centia carnis sibi vindicet.— August, contra duas Pelag. Ep.
lib. i. cap. 10. Liberavit, quomodo ? nisi quia ejus reatum
peccatorum omnium remissione dissolvit, (lex Spiritus vitac
in Christo,) ut quamvis adhuc maneret — in peccatum tamen
non imputetur. — Idem de Nup. et Concup., lib. i. cap. 32.
2 A jure peccati, i.e., a reatu, &c. — Pet. Martyr. Liberatio
haec non est regeneratio, qua liberamur ex parte a peccato in-
haerente, sed est "peccatorum remissio, qua liberamur non ex
parte, sed plene, perfecteque a peccatorum quorumcunque re
missione. — Rolloc. Paulo post satis patebit de absolutione
gratuita loqui, &c. — Calvin. „
' Liberavit regenerando ad novam vitam. — Beza. TJt in
telligamus legem Spiritus non solum hoc in nobis agere
quod non condemnemur propter imputationem justitias, sed
et vim peccati in nobis extinguere, ut jam non regnet in nobis
peccatum, sed gratia et virtus Christi. — Muscul.

der bondage and slavery : it doth not so properly
note the freeing of a malefactor from his guilt, and
from that condemnatory sentence which he deserves;
as the freeing of a slave or captive who is under the
tyranny and dominion of another ; and so it faUs in
exactly with that notion of freedom which I am
upon. Therefore the Arabic translator well renders
it by emancipavit me h lege peccati, et mortis ; and
Tertullian by manumisji ?ne,1 in aUusion to the ma
numission of the Romans when they set their ser
vants or slaves at liberty. Oh when a man is
once regenerated he hath a blessed manumission,
he being made free from that cursed servitude
wherein he lived before under this cruel master, sin.
I say, this is the strict and proper notion of the
word ; which though, it is true, it be here applied
to death as weU as to sin, yet that is either in a
more large and improper sense, — for the apostle hav
ing first spoken of freedom from sin, and set it forth
by that term which was proper to it, he was not
soUcitous to be so accurate as to vary his expres
sion for the other, but would make the same to
serve for both; — or else because there is a bondage in
death as well as in sin, and therefore riXtvlliguai will
agree with it as well as with sin. And I desire that
this may be considered, which I lay a great stress
upon, the apostle in this verse speaks of the Spirit
personally considered, as in the next verse of the Son
personally considered also : it being so, we must then
interpret their several making free from sin accord
ing to that which is proper to them in their personal
consideration. Now it is the Spirit's personal act to
free, by regeneration, from sin's power, as it is the
Son's personal act, by satisfaction, to free from sin's
guUt; therefore the first is meant in this verse,
where the Sptfit is mentioned ; as the second is
meant in the next verse, where the Son is men
tioned. (4.) The law of sin. It is a metaphor which our
apostle often uses, and in which he seems much to
delight ; you have it often ; Rom. vii. 21, 'I find a
law, that when I would do good, evU is present
with me' : ver. 23, ' But I see another law warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
1 Tertull. de Resur. Cam., cap. 46 legit, manumisit me.
Fuimus enim quasi mancipia peccati et mortis, sed a Christo
manumissi et libertate donati sumus.— A. Lapide.

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

99

captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members:
ver. 25, ' With my mind I myself serve the law of
God, but with the flesh the law of sin.' What this
law of sin is, and in what respects it passes under
this appeUation, hereafter shall be opened : at pre
sent only in general observe, that this metaphorical
expression notes the power, dominion, tyranny of
sin.1 Some make the law of sin to be no more
than barely sin itself; but, I think, it carries a
special reference to and superadds the adjunct of
sin, the power of it. And some would have us read
it the right of sin rather than the law of sin ; the
matter comes much to one.2
So much for the being made free from the law of
sin : in the opening of which, as yet I have not
taken any notice of the opinion of some, who make
the law of sin to be the old Mosaical law ; but by and
by I wiU. It follows, and death. Now this is either
one and the same with sin, as being only an epithet
for it ; so several expound it sin and death? that is
deadly sin, or sin which is of a deadly nature. As
the Spirit of life is the living spirit, so sin and death
is no more than deadly sin ; it is an expression like
that of the poet, ' Pateris bVbavit, et auro ;'
(i.e., aureis pateris.) Or else you may take it as dis
tinct from sin : and so there is a double dehverance
held forth in the words, One from the law of sin,
another from the law of death : thus the most of
interpreters open it.* The law of sin is always at-
1 Ex adverso, legem peccati et mortis appellat carnis im-
perium, et (quae inde consequitur) mortis tyrannidem. — Calv.
A peccato inhabitante, quod instar legis mihi imperabat malas
actiones, et ad eas me impellebat. — Piscat. Est lex peccati,
quia ad peccatum movet incitatque velut lex quaedam. — Estius.
A lege peccati, i.e., a lege fomitis, quse inclinat ad peccan-
dum, vel a lege peccati, i.e., a consensu et operatione peccati,
quod hominem tenet ligatum per modum legis.— Aquin.
Dum absolvuntura dominio peccati super ipsos, ab obligatione
conformandi voluntarias suas operationes legi peccati, a quo
vinculo non absolvebat lex.— Cajetan. A lege peccati, h.e.
a dictamine, jure, "dominatu, reatu concupiscentise. — A. Lap.
2 Elegantius vertisset a jure peccati. — Erasm.
'"Byow rrjs BavaTonroiov apaprlas. — (Ecum. Apostolus con-
junctionem interposuit, eodem tamen sensu, ac si peccatum
mortiferum, ap,aprlav Bavarofybpov dixisset. — Piscat.
4'H tov -irveipaTOt x<fy'S Sla rty els rbv Xpiarbv irlo-nv, Svb aoi
iXevBeplas 8eS6pi)Tai, oi pJbvov yap t»;s ap.aprlas rty Svvaoreiav
KariXvoev, dXXa koU tov Bavarov rty rvpawlSa Karivavoev. —

tended with the law of death, and freedom from the
law of sin is always attended with freedom from the
law of death : the power and dominion of death
stands or falls by the power and dominion of sin.
But what is this law of death ?
Austine answers1 : The law of sin is, 'Whoever
sins shall die ; ' the law of death is, ' Dust thou art,
and to dust shalt thou return.' Cajetan2 makes it to
be permanentia in morte, the abiding or continuance
in the state of death. So believers are freed from
it ; for though they may for a time be subjected
under it, yet it shall not always have power over
them so as to hold them for ever, (as the word is
used concerning Christ, Acts ii. 24) ; they shall arise
and live again ; they are not under the law, i.e., the
everlasting, ever-continuing, full power and strength
of death. You have, ver. 10, 11, the matter of this
explication : ' If Christ be in you, the body is dead
because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of right
eousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' But to
pass these by ; as the law of sin is the power of sin,
so the law of death is that power and right which it
hath over men by reason of sin ; for it hath its em
pire and dominion as well as sin. Therefore as you
read of the reigning of sin, so also you read of the
reigning of death. Rom. v. 14, 'But death reigned
from Adam to Moses ;' l^aeiXsvSiv, it reigned as a
king, as the word imports. Death is either temporal
or eternal, both of which carry that in them which
may give them the title or denomination of a law ;
but regenerate persons, upon the law of the Spirit
of life, are freed from both. From the first, not
simply and absolutely, but only in a restrained sense,
viz. as it is strictly a curse, or the fruit and product
of that primitive curse, Gen. H 17. From the
second, as it notes eternal condemnation, for these
two are aU one,3 they are absolutely freed. This
Theodoret. Confer supra cap. vii. 23 et 24 ubi utriusque legis,
nempe legis peccati et mortis, mentio facta est. Quare non
videtur hic esse figura b> Sla Sio.— Vorstius in Schol.
1 August, contra Fortunat., Disput. 2.
2 Lex mortis est mortuum perseverare mortuum ; eBt de
morte non esse reditum ad vitam. — Cajet.
s Ut sibi respondeant mors et damnatio. — Estius.

100

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

death, they being in Christ, and by the sanctifying
Spirit delivered from the law of sin, hath no power
or authority over them ; I say no authority, for it is
l£ov«!a, Rev. xx. 6 — ' On such the second death hath
no power.' This is the first general in the words,
that gracious deliverance from the law of sin and
death which they hold forth.
The second is the subject of this deliverance. This
the apostle puts down in his own person : ' The law
of the Spirit, &c, hath made me free from the law
of sin and death.' Here is enallage personal, the
change of the person ; it was them in the foregoing
verse, it is me in this. I have already observed, and
I would now more fully open it, that our apostle
throughout this whole chapter, wherein he mainly
treats of the saints' privileges, speaks altogether in
the plural number, excepting only this one verse.
It is true, where he is speaking of some high act of
grace, as performed by himself, there he puts it in
the singular number, as, ver. 18, 'I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us.' And so too, where he'is speaking of some high
assurance, a thing not so common, there also he ex
presses it in the singular number, as, ver. 38, ' For
I am persuaded that neither,' &c. But wherever the
great and fundamental principles of believers are
before him, there he always expresses himself in the
plural number ; then it is us all together. And it is
observable that, even where he speaks of himself, as
to some special act or enjoyment, yet even there, as
to the main privilege, he takes in all the people of
God. You may see this made good in the two fore-
mentioned places ; it is I reckon, but it is the glory
that shall be revealed in us; and it is I am persuaded,
but it is ' shaU separate" us from the love of God.'
Well, here he puts in himself as the subject of the
privilege, but it is not to exclude or shut out others,
only he propounds himself as one great instance of
freedom from the law of sin by the law of the Spirit •
here is application and appropriation as to himself,
but no impropriation or exclusion with respect to
others. He that had so much of faith and experience
as to be able to apply this to himself, had withal so
much of knowledge and wisdom as to know that it
was with others, yea, with all regenerate persons,
just as it was with himself. And therefore it is in

the persons 1 of all these that he here thus speaks,
and this me is inclusive, not exclusive ; every child
of God in the world may say as here Paul doth,
' The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death ; ' and
indeed every believer should be so well acquainted
with the workings of the Spirit of God upon his
own heart as to be able to apply this to himself.
But why doth Paul here particularise himself, and
speak thus in the singular number in this place rather
than in others ? I answer —
1. Because he looked upon himself as a pattern.
And, indeed, God all along dealt with him as so ;
in reference to pardoning grace he was a pattern.
1 Tim. i. 16, ' That in me first Jesus Christ might
shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern,' &c. So
in reference to renewing grace he shall be a pattern
too. God would and did so effectually work upon
him in the miraculous changing of him, in the mighty
rescuing of him from the power of ignorance, carnal
confidence, prejudices against Christ, enmity to the
gospel and the professors thereof, that he should be
vghg ikotwmiv for a pattern, to all that should be
converted, of the freeness and efficacy of converting
grace. And therefore tf he was thus freed from the
law of sin, it should then be so with others also, for
what was done to him was not done to him as a mere
single or private person, but as to one that was to
be an instance or pattern of the grace of God towards
many. 2. Because he was the complainer, therefore he
shall be the triumpher; because he was the com-
bater, therefore he shall be the conqueror. And as
1 Observandum est, in causa gratiae nullum esse inter apos-
tolum, et quemvis Christianum (duntaxat verum) discrimen.
Non est quod dicamus Paulus fuit apostolus, nos non item;
ex eo quod sibi contigit per gratiam Christi, probat hoc quod
tribuit omnibus Christianis. — Muscul. Continet argumentum
& testimonio, viz. experientia apostoli, et ita simul argumentum
a. pari, quod enim apostolus in se expertus fuerat, id pari
ratione omnes credentes in se experiuntur, nempe operationem
illam Spiritus sancti regenerantis. — Piscat. Non ego solus, sed
omnes quotquot in Jesu Christo sunt, kc.—Zuingl. Me, et
fidelem quemvis. —Gomar ; i.e., quemvis verb Christianum.—
Grot. Pronomen me demonstrat ipsum in Christo ambulantem;
&c. , personam siquidem talium induit. - Cajet. In eorum per-
sona de se apostolus loquitur hsec verba.— Estius. Soto will
be sure to extend it far enough, for he glosses upon it, me,-,
i.e., genus humanum..

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

101

you have him in the foregoing chapter,1 in the per
son of believers, complaining of the law of sin ; so
here you shall have him, in the person of believers
too, triumphing over the law of sin, he being made
free from it by another and a higher law. But to
close this head ; be thou who thou wilt, if thou beest
a gracious person, and one upon whom the Spirit
hath put forth his efficacious power, thou as well as
Paul art made free from the law of sin. Therefore,
to make this the more indefinite and universal, the
Syriac, not without an emphasis saith Beza,2 reads it
not me but thee : ' The law of the Spirit of life hath
made thee free from the law,' &c.
The third general in the words is the author or
efficient of this freedom from the law of sin and
death, and the way or manner how it is effected.
It is by 'the Spirit of life,' and it is by ' the law of
the Spirit,' &c. Now here lies the greatest difficulty,
and that wherein expositors do most differ : I find
no less than four several interpretations put upon
these words.
1. First, Some would have them to refer to the
sanctity and perfect holiness of Christ's human
nature. This, say they, is the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus ; and the law of the Spirit of life is the power
and virtue of Christ's unspotted holiness and purity,
to acquit and make free the believer from the law of
sin and death, h.e., from the guilt of sin and con
demnation. So that they bring the matter to this ;
the habitual righteousness of Christ,, as man, being
imputed and made over to the believer, upon this
he is discharged from aU guilt, and looked upon by
God in Christ as perfectly righteous. This interpre
tation is that which several expositors, some of whom
are of great eminency, do pitch upon;3 yet, with
1 Ponit se pro exemplo, ut prius infirmitatum et luctae, ita
nunc fiduciae. Imo verbis quasi praeit, quibus singuli hanc
consolationem nobis applicemus. — Pareus.
2 Et quidem non sine emphasi, quasi admonente Paulo, ut
singuli credentes hoc sibi beneficium applicent. — Beza.
3 Cum adeo imbecilla sit via Spiritus in nobis, quomodo
inde possumus colligere, nullam esse condemnationem, &c.
quoniam, inquit, vis ista Spiritus vivificantis, quae tam imbe
cilla est in nobis, perfectissima et potentissima est in Christo,
et nobis credentibus imputata, facit ut perinde censeamur, ac
si nullae prorsus reliquiae corruptionis et mortis in nobis in-
haererent. Nunc autem de perfecta sanctitatis human ae naturae
Christi imputatione disserit, kc.—Beza in Paraphr. Distin-
guit legem Spiritus vitas quae est in ipso Christo Jesu, ab ea

submission, I shall crave leave to prefer another
before it.
For it is very well known, though I shall not in
the least concern myself therein, that some very
worthy persons do question the truth of the thing,
viz., the formal imputation of Christ's habitual and
original righteousness, they making the sanctity of
his human nature to belong to his justitia personce,
rather than to his justitia meriti or justitia fidejussoria,
and they looking upon it only as the necessary quaU-
fication of his person to fit him to be a mediator,
and also as that which was necessary in order to
the meritoriousness of his obedience, but denying
that it is directly and formally made over by impu
tation to the believer. But as to this, (which is the
Veritas rei,) as I said before, I wiU not at all concern
mysetf about that. I am only to inquire whether
this interpretation be proper to the text, and rightly
grounded upon it, (which is the veritas loci.) And
truly that I question very much, and must say with the
learned De Dieu, Nescio an id spectaverit apostolus,
&c. I know not whether that was the thing which
the apostle here had in his eye. I humbly conceive
the words, without great straining, cannot be brought
to this sense, their main scope and intendment look
ing to a quite other thing. And that branch of them,
in Christ Jesus, upon which they who close with the
exposition before us lay so great a stress, wiU bear
another explication much more easy and genuine, as
you will hear by and by.
2. Secondly, Others understand by the law of the
Spirit of life and the law of sin and death, the law of
faith and the law of works, or the evangelical and
the Mosaical law. You read, Rom. iii. 27, of the
law of faith and of works, two very opposite and
quae in nobis est ab eo effecta, i.e., perfectam naturae nostrae
iu Christo sanctificationem, ab ea quae in nobis est duntaxat
inchoata. Nam ilia quidem nobis imputata, cum perfecta sit;
nos liberavit, &c. Explicandum est igitur istud, de tertia
justificationis nostrae gratuitae parte, quae consistit in sanctifi-
catione ipsa Jesu Christi nobis communicata. — Idem in Notis.
Et porro, vis ilia Spiritus vivifici, cujus fons est in Christi
carne, facit ut peccatum, seu vitiositas Dla, cujus . reliquiae
adhuc in me supersunt, et quae me alioqui condemnationi ad-
judicarent, efficere nequeat ut condemner, quoniam quod est
in me duntaxat inchoatum, in Christo perfectissimum est, cui
sum insitus. This way goes Hemingius, Elton, Parr, Streso,
&c. Thus Downham interprets it, Of Justific, book i. chap. 3,

102

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

contrary laws. Now by that twofold law some open
the law of the Spirit and the law of sin and death.
Thus Ambrose expounds it: 1 ' The law, saith he, of
the Spirit of life, it is the very law of faith. The
law of Moses was a spiritual law,2 because it forbade
sin; but it was not the law of the Spirit of life,
because it could not remit sin, and so quicken the
dead. But this law of faith is the law of the Spirit
of life, because it doth not only restrain sin, but it
also restores from death, &c. This law in Christ
Jesus, that is by faith, doth free the believer from
the law of sin and death. The law of sin is that
which dweUs in the members, which persuades to
that which .is contrary to the will of God. The law
of death is the law of Moses, because it kills sinners.
And no wonder that this law should be the law of
death, when the gospel is to some the savour of
death unto death ; and so he goes on in the further
explication of it. Amongst modern interpreters,
Pareus foUows this exposition, making the law of
the Spirit of life to be the doctrine of the gospel,
and the law of sin and death to be the law of Moses.
The gospel, saith he, is the law of the Spirit, because
it is attended with the conveyance of the Sptfit ; the
law of Moses was spiritual, but not the law of the
Spirit, because it did not convey the Spirit. And
that was the law of sin, because it discovered sin,
irritated sin, made sin to be sin ; and of death too,
because it had a killing virtue in it. 2 Cor. iii. 6,
' The letter kUleth, -but the Spirit giveth life.' Thus
Pareus, who, after he had laid down and opened his
opinion, thus concludes, With submission to other
men's judgments, I judge this to be the most plain
and genuine meaning of this place. This way very
many others go, either as to the whole, or as to the
most considerable part of it.3
1 Lex ergo Spiritus vitae est lex fidei. Nam et Mosis lex est
Spirituals, quia prohibet peccare, non tamen vitae, &c. (It is
too large to be written out.)
* Chrysostom distinguishes much to the same purpose.
Kat toi Kal Trpi Muweus oVtus iKaXei, Xeyuv, otSapev Sri b
vbpos -wvevpariRbs ion, tI ovv to peaov ; iroXb Kat &Treipov ;
e/ceixos pev yap irvevpanKds, ootos Se vbptos irvevpuiTos, mi n tovto
Siea-rriKev ; Sn b pev biro toB irvevparos ibbBr, pjbvav, ovros Se rb
irvevpa ixopiyei toIs Sexopevois dvrbv 8a<j/iXis.—Chrysost. in loc.
' Lex Spiritus, ko., est doctrina evangelii fide apprehensa.
i—Osiand. Fortasse et legem Mosis intelligit per legem peccati
et mortis, a qua etiam lege liberati sumus, in vulgato Jesu

But neither shaU I close with this interpretation,
and that for two reasons: 1. Because, though the
gospel may very well be styled the law of the Spirit
of life, yet it sounds somewhat harsh to caU the
Mosaical law — God's own law — the law of sin and
death. There is, I grant, something of truth in it,
and it may admit of a very fair and sound explica
tion ; but then there must be a great deal of stating
and limitation and cautioning before you can come
at it. And therefore many expositors do not ap
prove of the application of this title to the Mosaical
law.1 Nay, our apostle himsetf warns us against it;
whose way and custom it was, whenever he had
touched upon anything which might seem to reflect
any disparagement upon the law, presently to sub
join something for the vindication of its honour:
Rom. vii. 7, ' What shall we say then ? Is the law
sin ? God forbid. When the commandment came,
sin revived and I died; and the commandment
which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death,'
&c. Yet, saith he, ' the law is holy, and the com
mandment holy, and just, and good ; was then that
which was good made death to me ? God forbid.
But sin that it might appear sin, working death in
me by that which is good ; that sin by the com
mandment might become exceeding sinful.' No
man did ever depress the law more than Paul did, in
the matter of justification ; yet in other respects none
did ever more vindicate and exalt it. Well, this is
one reason why I shaU not fall in with this sense.
A second is this, because the apostle Here is not
treating of the law state, or gospel state, or of the
Christi evangelic —Mussus. TJtraque est Spiritus Bancti ut
actoris, utraque est spiritus nostri directiva, sed haec est
Spiritus sancti, quatenus est vivificator noster in Jesu Christo,
kc— Cajetan. Legem peccati vocat literam legis, quae pec
catum excitare solet, et damnationem revelare.— Vatabl.
Opponitur hsec lex Spiritus legi Mosaics.— Crell. - Posset
etiam per legem peccati et mortis intelligi lex Mosis, &c—
Perer. Vide Lud. de Dieu in loc— Baldwin. Dr Hammond
in Paraphr.
1 'Ov tov Muvo-aucov, trav yap Xiyei -IjXevBipaa-i p.e drb tov
vbpov ttjs apaprlas, Kal toO Bavdrov, ov top MuiWojs vbpov Xiyet
ivravBa, ovSa/iov yap avrbv vb/iov ap-aprlas KaXei, kc.—Chrysost.
Legem peccati et mortis non ausim cum quibusdam accipere
pro lege Dei, &c. Quamvis enim peccatum augendo mortem
generet, Paulus tamen ab hac invidia consulto supra deflexit.
—Calvin. His verbis non significatur lex Mosaica, &c- Pet.
Mart.

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

103

covenant administration proper to either ; but he is,
more closely, treating of the state of nature and of
grace, of freedom from condemnation by the taking
away of sin's power and guUt ; Hi pursuance of which,
he pitches upon sanctification by the Spirit and
satisfaction by the Son. And therefore, though the
former notion may be taken in, yet certainly that
which directly falls in with the latter, as that sense
will which I shall presently give, must be most
agreeable to the apostle's scope in this place.
3. Thirdly, By the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus, some understand nothing but the very Spirit
of Christ Jesus. They make the law of the Spirit
to be the very Spirit itself, and nothing more ; thus
Chrysostom and his followers.1 This is a very good
foundation to build upon, but yet without some
further addition, it wtfl not so fully reach that special
matter in the words, which hath a great weight and
emphasis in it.
4. Fourthly, Therefore others do interpret them
not only as pointing to God's Spirit, but, to make it
the more express, they consider the Spirit of God as
renewing, as regeneratmg, as working the new and
heavenly life in the soul with great power and
efficacy. The Spirit is styled the Spirit of life, both
as he is a Uving Spirit himself, and also as he is a
quickening Spirit to the creature; as he makes
sinners who, Eph. ii. 1, were ' dead in trespasses
and sins,' to Hve, by working grace and regeneration
in them, and so life thereby. But what is the law
of the Spirit of Hfe ? Why, it is the mighty power
of the regenerating Spirit put forth upon men in
order to the freeing of them from the power and
dominion of sin. There are, I know, sundry other
explications given of it ; Origen makes it to be the
law of God in general, which, saith he, is also the
law of the Spirit ;2 Erasmus opens it by the spiritual
law ; 3 Pererius and Estius, by that grace of Christ
1 TSbp.ov -rveiparos to irvevpa KaX&v, oio-rep yap vbuov ap-aprlas
tV apapriav, oini vbpov irveip,aTOS rb irvevpa tpnal. — Chrysost.
T heophyl , (Ecumen., Theodor., say the same. Lex Spiritus,
i.e., lex quae est Spiritus. — Aquin.
2 Lex Spiritus vitae una eademque est quae et lex Dei, sicut
una eademque est lex peccati et mortis ; nihil damnationis
crit his, qui a lege peccati, quae est lex mortis, liberantur, et
legi Dei, quae est lex Spiritus, serviulit. — Orig.
3 Lex Spiritus perinde sonat, q.d., legem Spiritualem, juxta
proprietatem sermonis Hebraici. — Erasm.

or of the Spirit by which he ' writes the law in the
heart;1 ZuingUus by the grace of faith;2 several
such glosses are put upon it, which I shall not further
make recital of. That explication which I have laid
down is most usual and common ; 3 and so, to be
brief, all comes to this ; the Spirit of life is the Holy
Spirit of God, which is a Uving Spirit in himself,
and which also as a regenerating Spirit works the
divine and spiritual life in the soul ; and the law of
the Spirit of life is the power and commanding
efficacy of the sanctifying Spirit in his gracious
operations upon the hearts of such and such per
sons, by which they are made free from the law of
sin and death ; that is, from the absolute domina
tion, tyranny, and fuU power of sin and death.
Before I go off from this, one thing must be added,
viz., that though law be here joined with the Spirit
of life, yet it is to be taken not as ultimately refer
ring to the life, but rather to that which follows,
' hath made me free from the law of sin,' &c. I
mean this ; great is that power which the Spirit
puts forth in renewing, and thereby quickening the
soul, yet his power, as terminating in that effect, is
not here mainly intended ; but it is the power of
the Spirit terminating in the deliverance of the
sinner from sin's dominion which is here intended ;
that, I say, is the proper terminus of the Spirit's
power in this place, and whatever power the Spirit
puts forth in the life or regeneration, that is here
mentioned but as the way or medium of the Spirit
in his making free from the law of sin and death.
This interpretation of the words I judge most
agreeable to the apostle's scope in them, and there
fore I shall handle them according to it ; and then
the connexion will He thus, ' There is no condemna
tion to them who are in Christ Jesus, &c, because by
the mighty power of the regenerating and enlivening
1 Est periphrasis legis gratiae, quam Spiritus sanctus reno
vator et vivificator mentis humanae scribit in cordibus quae
inhabitat. — Perer. Legem Spiritus vocat gratiam Christi, qua
lex Dei per Spiritum sanctum scribitur in cordibus nostris. —
Estius. 2 Lex Spiritus vitae, i.e., certa et indubitata in Christum
fides, &c. Per antithesin legi peccati, fidem in Deum per
Christum legem appellat, abutens vocabulo legis. — ZuingUus.
3 Cum Paulus utitur voce legis, loquitur metaphorice, nam
per legem intelligit vim et efficaciam. — Pet. Martyr. Lex
Spiritus metaphorice, vis quasi imperans et dominans. — Gomar.

104

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

Spirit such are freed from the command and rule of
sin, so that it doth not reign over them as formerly
it did ; and they being thus freed from the power of
sin, consequently they are also freed from the power
of death, especiaUy of eternal death ; so that most
certainly there is no condemnation to them.'
But now against the truth of what is here asserted
a question or objection may be raised : How doth
Paul here say that he was made free from the law
of sin, when in the preceding chapter he had so
much complained of it? You have him there be-
waihng it over and over, therefore how is that con
sistent with what he here lays down ? I will not at
present stay to answer this objection, but in the
handling of one of the observations it shall be an
swered. Upon the review of the words I find one thing in
them which as yet hath scarce been touched upon,
that therefore must be a little opened ; and then I
shallhave done with the explication of them. It is
here said ' the law of the Spirit of Hfe in Christ
Jesus.' Now it may be asked, what doth this in
Christ Jesus refer to ? or what is that in special which
is in Christ Jesus ? Is it the life, or the Spirit, or
the law of the Sptfit ? for all of these go before. I
answer, each and all of them in different respects
may be said to be in Christ Jesus, but I conceive it
is spoken chiefly with respect to the Spirit itsetf.
1. The life, wrought in the soul at and by re
generation, that is in Christ Jesus ; partly as he by
the Spirit doth work that life, and partly as he pre
serves and keeps up that life when it is wrought.
The spiritual Hfe here, as well as the eternal life
hereafter, is in Christ; that' of the apostle, though
it be spoken of the latter, yet is applicable to both :
1 John v. 11, 'And this* Hfe is in his Son.' Beza,
with others,1 some of whom do a little differ in their
notion of the life itself, carries it in this reference,
according to his explication of the Spirit of life ; and
to make the thing more express he would have an
article inserted and added to the words, thus, rou
vnvpbarog rrjg Zpqg rijg h X«;ffr£j 'Irisov.
2. The Spirit is in Christ Jesus. And it may be
1 Lex Spiritus vitae, est vis Spiritus quae vitam earn inspirat
quae est in Christo, quaeque vivitur ejus Spiritu.— Bucer. Illius
inquam Spiritus, qui ad vitam aeternam ducit quam Christus
.daturus est. — Grot.

said to be so upon a fourfold account : (1.) As it
was at first poured out upon him in his human
nature, and doth yet reside in him in a very high
and eminent manner. - For ' God gave not the Spirit
by measure to him,' as he doth to us, John iii. 34 ;
he was ' full of the Holy Ghost,' Luke iv. 1 ;
' anointed with the Holy Ghost,' Acts x. 38 ; it was
prophesied of him that 'the Spirit of the Lord
should rest upon him,' Isa. xi. 2. Christ as man
hath the special residence of the Spirit in him, and
the special communication of the Spirit to him; it
is in all the saints, but eminently it is in Christ
Jesus. (2.) It is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
not only in respect of the great acts and operations
of this Spirit in and upon Christ himself, but also
in respect of the .order of the Spirit in its opera
tions; for it first wrought in and upon Christ,1 in
the sanctifying of his human nature, in the fitting
of him for his sufferings, in the supporting of him
under his sufferings, &c, and then subsequently it
works in and upon believers according to their
capacity. (3.) The Sptfit may be said to be in
Christ Jesus, as he doth convey and give this Spirit
where he pleases. Then the in Christ Jesus is as
much as by Christ Jesus : 2 the Spirit is given and
doth work as a regenerating Sptfit, or the Spirit of
life, according to the will and good pleasure of
Christ. (4.) As this Sptfit is given only to those
who are in Christ.8 Men out of Christ have nothing
to do with it ; his members are only its temples ;
without the Spirit there is no union, and without
the union there is no Spirit. As the member doth
not participate of the animal spirit but as it is
united to the head, so a man doth not participate
of the blessed quickening Spirit of God but as he is
united to Christ ; but these things wiU be more
largely insisted upon when I come to the ninth and
tenth verses. Now the words, which I am opening,
mainly point to this ; what is it which is in Christ
1 See of this Dr Sibbs in The Spiritual Jubilee, p. 36, &c.
2 'Autos -fip-tv atrios rijs Swpeas tov irveip.aTOS, Kal iirunraad-
pevos KaBb ianv avBpuiros to irvevpa, Kal folv peraSois.—
(Ecumenius. Lex Spiritus vitae, i.e., gubernatio Spiritus
vitalis, quern suppeditat Christus, non solum admonens nos
exemplo mortis suae ad charitatis opera perficienda, sed etiam
operans illam in cordibus nostris.— (Ecolamp.
3 In Christo Jesu, quia non datur nisi his qui sunt in Christo
Jesu. — Aquin.

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

105

Jesus? Why, it is the Spirit itself; therefore some
also would have an article inserted here to make the
reference to the Spirit more clear, thus, nv vnvp,a,Tog
rjjg £t>ri\g rou h ~S.siBrca 'ijjffoC.1
3. Then as to the third and last thing, the law of
the Spirit ; that too is in Christ Jesus. Thus, that
mighty power which the Spirit at any time doth
exert in the work of regeneration, it is conveyed to
a person, and doth take hold of him in Christ Jesus,
that is, in and through Christ ; viz., as this effectual
operation of the Sptfit is grounded upon Christ's
purchase, and is put forth in pursuance of Christ's rev
deeming love. This is a truth which might be largely
opened, but I fear I have been too long already
upon the clearing up of this branch of the text.
And yet I cannot omit to teU you that there is
one reference more, which some do mention ; 2 as this,
in Christ Jesus, may refer to and be joined with the
word, rtXivfigoiei, ' hath made free.' Then the sense
would be this, it is by Christ that saints are made
free from sin and death ; whatever spiritual freedom
believers have they owe it all to Christ, he hath the
great hand in it as the efficient and meritorious cause
thereof. But this I will pass by, because though it
be a thing unquestionably true, yet the generaUy
received pointing of the words will not admit it to
be here intended.
I have now finished the exphcatory part; the
difficulty of the words, and the different expositions
put upon them, all of which may be useful, though
all are not so pertinent and proper, must be my ex
cuse for my being so tedious and proHx upon it.
Having given you their proper sense and mean
ing, I should next draw out those doctrinal truths
which are contained in them ; but that I shaU not
do at present. Only there is one of them which I
shaU mention and briefly close with ; it is this, the
holy and blessed Spirit is the Spirit of life ; so he is
here expressly styled, ' the law of the Spirit of life.'
Which words are applied to the witnesses, Rev. xi.
11, where it is said of them that ' the Sptfit of life
1 Placet supplementum qui ut referatur ad Spiritum, et in
Graeco subaudiatur tou, quasi scriptum sit toO irveiparos ttjs
fays tov iv Xpurra 'Iij<rou. — Piscat. So Erasm.
2 Quamquam nihil vetat, quin ilia verba, iv Xpurrd 'L70-0O,
construantur cum verbo sequente ipXevBipoio-e, ko. — Piscat. m
Schol.

from God entered upon them ;' but yet know, though
it is the same words, yet it is not the same sense.
For by the Spirit of life, as applied to the witnesses,
nothing is meant but their civil living again in their
restoration to their former power, office, liberties of
service, &c. ; but when it is applied to the great
Sptfit of God it carries a quite other and much
higher sense in it. What is that? Why, it notes
his Hving in himself, and also his being the cause of
life to the creature. He is the Spirit of life ; —
1 . Formally. 2. Effectively or causaUy. A few
words to each.
1. First, as to the formal notion. The Sptfit of
God is the Sptfit of life as he is a Uving Spirit, as he
lives in himself, or hath Hfe in himself. For ' as the
Father hath life in himself,' and ' hath given to the
Son to have life in himself,' John v. 26, so the Spirit
hath Hfe in himself also. And it is not an ordinary
or common life which the Spirit Uves, but it is the
selfsame life which the Father and the Son do live;
he being truly God, Uves the same uncreated, infinite,
independent, blessed Hfe which the two other persons
do. Expositors1 generally observe that life, when it
is here joined with the Spirit, is not to be taken
substantive but adjective : it is according to the Hebrew
idiom, where when two substantives are put together,
the latter of which is in the genitive case, that is to
be rendered as an adjective or as an epithet of the
former ; as the bread of life is living bread, the water
of life is living water, the glory of grace is glorious grace,
&c. ; so here the Spirit of life is the living Spirit.
Theophylact, joining this life with the law going
before, saith this is spoken #gos avd/agoXfiv, as if the
law of Hfe was set in opposition to the law of sin
and death; but life is not to be joined with the law,
but with the Spirit himself.
2. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life
effectively or causally. He is a quickening, a life-
bestowing or life-working Spirit in the creature ; he
makes sinners to Uve, and is the spring of that hea
venly and supernatural life which is in the gracious
soul. As he hath life Hi himself, so he communicates
it to others ; he is not only a ' Hving Spirit,' but he
is also irvivpu tyovoioiiv, a ' quickening Spirit.' And
1 Genitivus Hebraico more pro epitheto ponitur. — Calvin.
—Est genitivus epitheti loco.— Estius. 0

106

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IV.

this is one of his great acts, namely, to quicken; he is
the Spirit of liberty, 2 Cor. Hi. 17, and he is also the
Spirit of life ; he is a teaching, enlightening, con
vincing, strengthening, comforting, purifying Spirit,
and he is also an enHvening and quiokening Spirit.
And as the father and the Son Hve in themselves,
and quicken whom they wiU, John v. 21 ; so the
Holy Ghost too hath hfe in himself and quickens
whom he wiU, as he is said to ' divide gifts to every
one severally even as he wiU,' 1 Cor. xu. 11. The
Sptfit is xkws zal Mnxog,1 the guide and the giver
of the spiritual life. As the soul gives life to the
body, so the Spirit of God gives life to the soul ; in
which respect he is called the Spirit of life.2
And this life or quickening by the Spirit is either
that which is at the first conversion, or that which is
subsequent and follows after conversion.
1. First, there is that life which is proper to the
first conversion. When the sinner is converted he
is quickened or made alive ; for, indeed, tUl that
great work was done in him, in a spiritual sense he
was no better than a dead man : before renewing
grace there is no life. It is the regenerating Spirit
which inspires this into the soul. I say into the
soul, for that is the receptive subject of this life.
There is another Hfe or quickening, to be wrought
also by the Spirit, which is proper to the body, of
which the apostle speaks here, ver. 11, 'Shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Sptfit that dweU-
eth in you,' in reference to which Christ too is called
a quickening Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45 ; but the proper
subject of the present and spiritual enlivening by the
Spirit is the soul. Now, take a man before conver
sion. He hath a soul spiritually dead, he Uves the
life of nature, the common animal life, and that is
all ; but when the Spirit tomes and renews him, it
breathes a divine and excellent hfe into him. Eph.
u. 1, ' You hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins.' Luke xv. 32, 'For this thy
brother was dead, and is alive again.' The Spirit of
life is the Spirit of regeneration, and he, working as
a regenerating Sptfit, is the Sptfit of life.
2. There is the Spirit's quickening after conversion.
1 QScumen.
2 Dicitur Spiritus vitae, quod animam vegetet et vivificet
divina gratia.-ftmfe^. Sicut spiritus naturalis facit vitam
naturae, sic Spiritus diviaus facit vitam gratiae.-^um

For this, in such a sense, is a continued, abiding/re
peated act ; we are but once regenerated, and there
fore but once habitually quickened, but the actual
and subsequent quickening is renewed and reiterated
from time to time. This lies in the exciting and
actuating of the several graces, the taking off the
deadness of the heart in holy duties, the drawing
out of vigorous and Hvely desires after God and
Christ, the raising and stirring up of the affections,
&c. And all this is done by the Spirit of life also ;
the life and HveHness too of a Christian is from the
vital, quickening influences of the Spirit, without
which there can be no spiritual vivacity in him.
Therefore the spouse prayed, Cant. iv. 16, 'Awake
0 north wind, and come thou south, blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.' She
directed her prayer to the Spirit, and what did she
pray for ? For that which I am upon, viz., the en
livening and exciting of her graces ; she expresses it
metaphorically, but this was the thing which her
soul breathed after. To apply this Hi a word, for
it is not a point which I intend to stay upon.
Use. — Sirs ! you see whither you are to go for life.
Here is the Spirit of life, to him therefore you must
aPPty yourselves for life; it is the living Spirit which
must make you live. Are you not sptfituaUy dead?
Is not this the sad condition of all who He in the
natural state? What are such but as so many walk
ing ghosts ? they are no better than dead even whilst
they Hve, as the apostle speaks of the widow that
lives in pleasure, 1 Tim. v. 6. Is not grace the life
of the soul ? What is Ufe itself but a kind of death
without Christ and grace ? Bavarbg lenv &viv Xo;ffrou £wij
saith Ignatius. Alas ! you may move, walk,' breathe,
eat, drink, sleep, put forth all the several acts ofthe
animal life, and yet for all this, in reference to any
spiritual life, be but dead persons. And is it so with
any of you ? Oh why do you not fly to the Spirit of
life that you may be quickened ? God convince you
of the misery of spiritual death, that you may en
deavour to get out of it ! and God convince you of
the glory, excellency, necessity of the spiritual life,
that you may with the most earnest desires pursue
after it ! What is it to have the Hfe of nature, and
to want the life of grace ? to have Hving bodies with
out and dead souls within? to be able to do whatever
is proper to nature, and not to be able to put forth

Chap. IV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

107

one vital act of grace ? Is not the spiritual death a
certain forerunner of the eternal death? Can he
that is dead here, being without God, hope to live
with God hereafter? 0 that you would be persuaded
to make out after the spiritual life ! I would in
hearty desires say that for every dead soul which
they once wrote upon the tomb of dead Brutus,
utinam viveres, would to God that thou mightest live !
But how shaU that be accomplished ? Why, thus,
here is the Spirit of life, whose office it is to quicken
the dead ; whoever thou art, therefore, if thou wilt
but betake thyself to this Spirit, he can and will
give thee life. Life thou must have, for it is better
to have no life than not to have this life. Life thou
mayest have, nay, Hfe thou shalt have, tf thou wilt
but implore, improve, wait, depend upon this Spirit
of Hfe.
Further, you that are saints, in whom the quick
ening Sptfit hath effectually wrought, yet do not
you find yourselves too often under great deadness ?
Certainly you are great strangers to yourselves if
you do not find it to be so ; you are not dead, yet
often under deadness. Oh now, whenever it is so
with you, and you groan under it as your burden,
do you also apply yourselves to this Spirit of life.
You go to duty, attend upon ordinances, pray, hear
the word, receive the sacrament, and you would fain
be Uvely in all; would you be so indeed? look
upwards then, as knowing it is the Spirit of Ufe that
must make you so. Quickening grace is very pre
cious to the soul that is sincere, a child of God
cannot be without it ; he cannot be satisfied in the
bare having of grace, unless it be Uvely; nor with the
bare performance of duty, unless he be Uvely in it.
How earnest was David in his prayers to God for
it! Ps. cxix. 25, 37, 40, 88, 'Quicken thou
me, according to thy word : ' ' Quicken thou me
in thy way:' 'Quicken me in thy righteousness:'
'Quicken me after thy loving kindness.' The
earnestness of his desires after it made him go
over it again and again. And no wonder it is so,
for how sweet are ordinances to a gracious person
when he hath Hfe in them ! when therein he can
get his graces up, his affections up and lively, when
he prays and hath life in prayer, hears and hath life
in hearing, receives and hath life in receiving, oh
then great is his joy ! Deadness very much hinders

comfort in duty ; as the soul is quickened, so pro
portionably it is comforted. In order therefore to
this, how doth it concern you to improve the Spirit
of God as the Sptfit of Ufe ! Who can thus animate
and enliven you but he ? He who freed you from
the law of sin and death must also free you from all
that dulness and deadness of spirit which sometimes
possesses you : therefore when David was desiring
this mercy he puts the Sptfit before it, ' Thy Spirit
is good, &c. : Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake,' Ps. cxliii. 10, 11. Indeed, as none can cleanse
the filthy heart but the purifying Spirit, nor soften
the hard heart but the mollifying Spirit, so none
can enliven the dead heart but the quickening Sptfit.
When the child was dead the prophet sent his staff,
but that would not do the work ; the child did not
revive till the prophet came himself; so you may
have quickening means, and quickening ordinances,
and quickening providences ; but if this quickening
Spirit dothjnot come himself, you will be dead still.
Oh therefore, whenever you find the heart under
inward deadness, presently carry it to this quicken
ing Spirit for quickening grace ! I would not have
any here mistake me, to put a wrong interpretation
or make bad inferences from what hath been spoken,
so as to slight, neglect, cast off external means,
ordinances, duties, because they are but dead things
of themselves, and it is the Sptfit only which gives
life ; some infer such a practice from the premises,
but they do it very unwarrantably. For it is true
that the Spirit of life only quickens, but then he
doth this for men when they are in the use of and
in attendance upon the means ; he first quickens to
duty and then in duty and by duty : his way and
method is to give out his enlivening influences when
the soul is waiting in holy ordinances. And there
fore these must be highly valued and duly attended
upon, though it be the Spirit only which works in
them effectually upon the heart. It was the angel
moving the waters that did the cure, yet the poor
cripples were to lie by the pool side ; so it is here.
It is a good caveat, therefore, that of Musculus upon
the words, Ista Spiritus Dei efficacia, &c, that effi
cacy of the Spirit, saith he, is always to be prayed
for, yet we must take heed that we have a due
respect for those outward means which the Spirit
wiU have us to make use of. But no more of this.

108

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. V.

CHAPTER V.
OF THE LAW OR POWER OF SIN UNDER WHICH ALL
MEN ARE BY NATURE.
For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. — Rom.
vtfi. 2.
The whole matter in the words drawn into several
observations — The main observation broken into three
— The first of which is spoken to, viz., That every
unregenerate person is under the law of sin — That
law of sin is opened in the twofold notion of it — Two
questions stated : (1.) How doth sin act as a law in
the unregenerate ? — (2.) How it may be known when
it is the law of sin ; or wherein doth the difference lie
betwixt the power of sin in the regenerate and in the
unregenerate 2 The point applied by way of informa
tion : to inform us (1.) of the bondage of the natural
state — The evil and misery of that set forth in some
particulars — (2.) To inform us of the necessity, power,
and efficacy of restraining and renewing graces—
Both spoken to.
Having opened the words, and fixed upon that
interpretation of them which I judge most proper
and genuine, which was my work the last time ; I
come now to fall upon those observations which are
grounded upon and do best comply therewith.
It hath been already observed, first, That the
Holy Spirit of God is the spirit of life : this I have
given some short account of, and will add nothing
further upon it.
I might secondly observe, That this sptfit of hfe
is in Christ Jesus : the* regenerating Spirit is in
Christ, though not as the regenerating Spirit,
according to our common notion of regeneration.
This was also cleared up in some particulars when I
was upon the explication of the words ; and in the
following verses I shaU have occasion to handle it
fully ; therefore here I will pass it over.
There is a third observation, which takes in the
principal matter in the text, that therefore I shaU
only insist upon; namely, That all regenerate
persons by the law of the spirit of life are made free
from the law of sin and death. For this is that

which Paul here affirms concerning himself; and he
speaking here not as an apostle but as one regene
rate quatenus regenerate, that which he saith of him
self is appUcable to all such, they are all made free
from, &c.
This being more generally laid down just as it hes
in the words of the text, and it being very compre
hensive, I will therefore more particularly branch it
out into three observations :
Obs. 1. That "every man in the world, as he is in
the natural and unconverted state, before the Sphit
of life, or the regenerating Spirit, takes hold of him,
is under the law of sin and death.
Obs. 2. That such who are truly regenerate are
made free from the law of sin and death.
Obs. 3. That it is by the law of the Spirit of hfe
that these are made free from the law of sin and
death. Each of these points are of great weight and
importance, therefore I shaU distinctly and largely
speak to them.
Obs. 1. I begin with the first, which you may
shorten thus : Every unregenerate man is under the
law of sin and death. In the handling both of this
and also of the two other, I shall mainly direct my
discourse to the law of sin ; as to the law of death,
that I shaU only speak to in the close of all.
This first doctrinal proposition is not so express in
the letter of the words as the two foUowing, but it
is strongly implied, and very naturally deducible
from them. Paul himself, that chosen vessel, Acts
ix. 15, who was so eminent in the love of God, the
graces of the Spirit, the work and privileges of the
gospel, tUl it pleased the Lord savingly to work
upon him, was under the law of sin ; for he says
here he was made free from it, implying there was a
time when he was enslaved under it. As to the civil
freedom of a Roman, he tells us he was born to that,
Acts xxii. 28 ; but as to evangelical freedom from
the command and bondage of sin, he doth not say he
was born free, but made free ; this was not the result
of nature, birth, or any such thing, but the mere
effect of divine grace. Further, he saith, ' the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free ; ' whence it follows that till this law of the
Spirit had taken hold of him he was under the law
of sin ; before the mighty power of the regenerating
Sptfit did effectually work in him to convert and

Chap. V]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

109

sanctify him, sin had its full power and dominion
over him. He gives a sad account of this, Eph. ii. 3,
' Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the de
sires of the flesh,' &c. And Tit. Hi. 3, ' For we our
selves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,' &c.
It is true, even after conversion, you have him com
plaining of the law of sin : Rom. vH. 21, 'I find a
law, that when I would do good, evil is present
with me,' &c. ; but there was a great difference be
tween that law of sin which he was under before
conversion, and that which he was under after con
version, as you shall hereafter understand.
And thus it is with all men in the world before
regenerating grace ; in the natural and unconverted
state, all are under the law of sin. Every man is
born a subject and vassal fo sin, and is, as he comes
into the world, under the power, tyranny, and domi
nation of a cursed nature. Sin is that truly univer
sal monarch which hath aU men, before they be con
verted, under its empire and sovereignty ; let them
be high or low, bond or free, in other respects, tUl
they be renewed and rescued by the law of the Spirit
of life,' they are aU under sin's command and regency.
For the proof of this, in the general, I shaU only re
fer you to Rom. vi., from the 12th verse to the end ;
where you have the law of sin, and the sinner's bond
age under its dominion, set forth Hi great variety of
expressions ; I wUl not recite any of them, it is best
to take them together as they He in the whole dis
course of the apostle.
For the better handling of the truth before us, I
wUl, 1st, Open this law of sin, and shew what is in
cluded in it, and why that is set forth by this meta
phor ; then, 2d, Prove that men whilst unregene
rate are under this law of sin.
Yet since, without any prejudice or disadvantage
to the matter contained in each of these heads, they
may be spoken to conjunctly as weU as apart ; and
because, too, the putting of them together will some
what shorten the work ; therefore that shaU be my
method. The word law, as a worthy person x hath observed
to my hand, is taken either properly or improperly.
Properly, so it is the edict or sanction of a person or
persons in authority, wherein he or they do order
1 Dr Owen ' On the Power, &c, of Indwelling Sin,' ch. i. and ii.

and enjoin something to be done, backing his or
their commands with promises of rewards, as also
their prohibitions with threatenings of punishment ;
this is the nature of a law in the strict and proper
notion of it. Now, if you insist upon this its exact
consideration, and take in all in this description, so
sin cannot be said to be a law, or to impose a law
upon the creature, — the reason is obvious, because
it hath no right of dominion or rightful authority,
which is essentially requisite to the law-maker, and
to the validity and obligation of the law. The power
of sin is but usurped, it hath dominion de facto, but
not de jure. God never gave the corrupt nature in
man any authority to be or to make a law which
should bind his creatures. He himself hath made
excellent laws, which are unquestionably and univer-
saUy obligatory ; and he hath set up magistrates, his
vicegerents, to whom he hath delegated a power of
making laws, which shall, in a lower degree, be obli
gatory also. But now for sin, what hath that to do
with this law-making or law-obUging authority ? so
that this consideration of a law doth not all suit
with it ; yet there is something in the description
that will suit with it well enough, insomuch that it
may be truly caUed the law of sin.
For, first, a law is a commanding thing : it lays
its imperative injunctions upon men, and expects
their obedience ; it doth not barely notify or repre
sent to men what they are to do or not to do, nor
only advise and persuade them to do so and so,, but
it commands authoritatively ; it carries dominion in
it, Rom. vii. 1, ' Know ye not the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth ? ' This is wrapped
up in the very nature of it, and is inseparable from
it. Now in this respect sin is a law, it commands
the sinner to act so and so, lays its precepts upon
him in a very imperious manner, assumes a strange
kind of authority over him, though justly it hath
none ; therefore you read of the reigning of sin, of
obeying sin, of the dominion of sin, Rom. vi. 12, 14.
This is the nature of a law in general, in reference
to which sin hath this appellation of a law. In this
respect such as are in the natural state may too justly
be said to be under the law of sin, for it hath the
command over them, and doth from time to time lay
its commands upon them. The subject is not more
under the law of his sovereign, nor the servant of

110

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. V.

his master, than the sinner is under the law of sin ;
it commands very proudly, and he as tamely obeys.
Oh, there is the law of sin !
There are indeed two things in a law; it is a
commanding, and it is a condemning thing. It first
commands men to order their actings according to
what it prescribes ; and if they do not so do, in case
of disobedience, then they are by it tried and con
demned. Unregenerate persons are in both of these
respects under the law of sin : (1.) Sin hath a com
manding power in them. Oh, that is upon the
throne in their hearts ! It rules them, and with a
strange kind of sovereignty, orders them to do what
it pleases ; it kings1 and lords3 it over them, as the
words are, Rom. vi. 12, 14. And as there is this
domination on sin's part, so there is subjection on
the sinner's part. No sooner doth it command, but
it is presently obeyed ; it doth but speak the word
and it is done. If it will have such a lust gratified,
the shiner readUy yields to it. As the centurion
speaks of his soldiers, Mat. viH. 9, 'I am a man
under authority, having soldiers under me ; and I
say to this man, Go, and he goeth; Come, and he
cometh ; Do this, and he doeth it.' Just such a power
or sovereignty hath sin in and over graceless per
sons. They are at its beck ; according to its com
manding propensions, they order and steer their
course. May they not therefore be said to be under
the law of sin ? Then (2.) for the other property of
a law ; as it is a condemning thing, that belongs to
sin too. Oh, it is not only of a commanding, but
also of a condemning nature. And, which is not
usual, where it commands and is obeyed, there it
condemns ; which shows the difference betwixt the
law of sin and aU other laws. They do not con
demn where they are obeyed ; it is only the breach
or non-performance of them which makes a person
Hable to condemnation. But herein Hes the cursed-
ness of the law of sin ; upon the obeying of it it
becomes a condemning law, and it only condemns
where it is obeyed. But observe how this comes
about, for there is a difference in this double act of
the law of sin. To command, that is sin's proper
and natural act ; to condemn, that is sin's act only
eventuaUy or meritoriously. It rules of itself direct
ly and properly, but it condemns only as it lays the
1 M^ paeiXevirw. * Ou Kvpleteet.

foundation of condemnation by another ; for there
is another law which formally is the condemning
- law, viz., the law of God upon the violation of it.
And this speaks the inexpressible misery of the un
regenerate ; they are under that law which tyranni
cally commands them here, and which, upon their
obeying of it, will most certainly condemn them
hereafter. 2. Secondly, That I may further clear up this ex
pression of the law of sin, let me compare it with
other laws — divine and human. Take the laws of
God or men ; they are usually backed with rewards
and punishments,1 and it is convenient it should be
so, if not for the strengthening of the laws in them
selves, yet, however, for the furtherance of men's
obedience to them : for men, generaUy, do not obey
them upon the authority of the legislators, or the
intrinsic goodness of the matter of the law, but as
they are thereunto either allured by rewards or de
terred by punishments. These are the things that
do most prevail with them to yield their obedience
to the laws both of God and men. Answerably now
to this, sin (indwelling sin, the corrupt nature,) will
be backing its commands with promises and threat
nings ; it will be pretending to rewards and punish
ments, which though in themselves they are but
sorry things, yet they have a great power and
efficacy upon besotted sinners. For instance, Sin
ner ! saith sin, I enjoin thee to faU in with me and
my ways ; to do as I bid thee do. I will that thou
dost go and swear, and steal, and be filthy, and pro
fane Sabbaths, and please the flesh, &c. Here is
the laws or commands of sin. Well ! how doth it
strengthen and back them ? Why thus, Sinner ! Do
but obey me, and here are such profits, pleasures,
dehghts, honours, preferments, all of which, upon
thy compliance with me, shall be thine. If thou
wUt but be my loyal subject, and do what I would
have thee, thou shalt live at ease, flourish in the
world, pass thy days in mirth, be respected'by all,
with a great many more promises of this nature.
Therefore, why dost thou demur? why dost not
thou presently submit and obey ? Particularly you
i Some, therefore, define a law, Ordo rectam gubernandi
rationem includens, ex prudentia prodiens, transgredientibus
pcenam obtemperantibus praemium decernens. See Wendel.
Poht., lib. u., cap. 11.

Chap. V]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

Ill

read of ' the pleasures of sin,' Heb. xi. 25 ; now it
represents and heightens these to sinners, and by
them urges and almost enforces obedience to its
commands. Oh, saith sin, do but hearken to me
and do thus and thus, then what a delightful, plea
sant Hfe will you live ; how will all comforts then
flow in upon you ! Then your good days will begin,
when you once resolve to comply with my laws, but
it will never be weU -till then. And are all these
promises and solicitations of sin in vain ? No ! the
poor deluded sinner beUeves, hearkens, yields, closes
with them, and knows not how to resist its com
mands backed with such promises and rewards.
But tf these soft and mild insinuations, these en
ticing and aUuring arguments will not do, sin then
appears in the Hon's shape, and begins to menace and
threaten : it alters its language, and saith, Sinner !
wUt thou cast off my laws, and choose to be subject
to some other ? Then look to thyself, and take what
follows. WUt thou engage in a course of duty, and
fall in with a strict and godly Hfe ? Then know
what wUl be the fruit of this. (Much better than
thine, 0 thou cursed Har ! ) Thou must expect the
loss of all that is good, the undergoing of all that is
evil ; thou must look for nothing but prisons, re
proaches, derision, contempt, poverty, persecution,
and what not ; thou must bid adieu to aU thy com-'
forts, prepare for the carrying of a heavy cross, live
a pensive, afflicted Hfe; this wiU cost thee dear,
expose thee to the loss of liberty, estate, relations,
credit, nay, of life itself. Oh how doth sin, to draw
and hold the sinner in vassalage to itself, and to
keep him off from the way of hohness, bestir itself and
summon in aU its threats and menaces. And may
not unrenewed souls too truly be said to be under
the law of sin in these respects ? With what efficacy
doth it entice them to what is evU by what it pro
mises, and deter them from what is good by what it
threatens ? Do not these promises and threatenings
of sin carry it with men in their natural state (the
former for sins of commission, the latter for sins of
omission,) that they know not how to withstand
them? Oh that what we do see every day was not
too full a demonstration of their being under the
power of sin, as promising and as threatening !
By this you understand what there is in a law, in
the strict notion of it, that is applicable to sin, upon

whicli the apostle might ground his metaphor of the
law of sin ; it is a commanding thing, and it urges
and seconds its commands with promises and threat
enings, both of which are proper to a law.
One thing further I desire you to take notice of,
and it is this ; that sin, considered as simply com
manding, so it is not a law; but it then becomes
formally and completely a law when it commands
and the sinner obeys ; so that he owns the power of
it, and wHIingly subjects himself to its dominion.
0 now it is a law indeed ! As it is in the laws of
usurpers, they, merely as imposed by them, are no
laws, because not made by persons in lawful autho
rity ; but if a people freely own these usurpers, and
wHIingly put themselves under subjection to them,
then to them their laws become valid and obliga
tory ; so here as to sin, it hath not the least right
to any dominion over the soul, it hath no power but
what is by usurpation, and therefore its laws are
mere nullities ; but yet tf men, which is the case of
the unconverted, will voluntarily put themselves
under its government and consent that it shall
rule them, to them de facto it becomes a law, and
hath the force and authority of a law, though de
jure it can challenge no such thing. This for a law
in its proper sense.
2. Secondly, the word law is taken improperly,
for anything that hath an impelling or impulsive
virtue in it, which though it be not strictly and
properly a law, yet it may pass under that appella
tion, because it hath the virtue and force of a law,
and doth that which a true and proper law uses to
do. And so an inward, operative, lively principle,
that which efficaciously moves and acts a man, or
impels and urges him so and so to act, may be
styled a law, because of its powerful and authori
tative influence Hi and upon the man in his acting.
A principle is a virtual law, or that which is equi
valent to a law, inasmuch as it inclines, urges,
impels with power and efficacy to such and such
operations which are suitable to it. And therefore
when sin is the principle which acts a person in his
general course, and which doth efficaciously excite
and impel him to those things which are suitable to
its own nature; I say when it is thus, there sin
may be called a law, and there it is the law of sin.
So that when Paul here supposes himself before his

112

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1 4.

[Chap. V.

conversion to be under the law of sin, he means
that then sin was his principle, the sole and active
principle in him, — that which with a strange kind of
power and efficacy did urge, excite, impel him to
wicked and sinful acts aU along in that state. The
law of sin notes the power of sin, as hath been
shown. Now that is twofold, moral or physical. I
will not upon several accounts undertake to justify
this distinction in the rigid acceptation of things ; I
only make use of it to help your conceptions in that
which I am upon. Sin's moral power lies in its
being a law, for that is the power of a law; its
physical power lies in its being a principle, for' that
is the power of a principle. As to its moral power,
it directs and regulates, prescribing to the sinner
what it would have him to do, and, in a sense, com
manding him to do accordingly : as to its physical
power, it doth so and so excite and act by its in
ward, effectual, powerful inclinations and impulsions.
I distinguish here between a law and a principle,
because I now consider the latter strictly in itself,
and not according to the improper application of the
word law to it : and I make use of this distinc
tion of sin's twofold power, not as designing to assert
any special difference betwixt them ; possibly some
thing might be objected against that ; I only design
thereby to set forth the several ways and modes
wherein sin doth exert its power ; for though it is
very true that moral and physical power, as con
sidered in themselves and when apphed to such and
such things, are distinct kinds of power ; yet when
they are applied to sin, they are but different modes,
the nature of the thing admitting nothing more.
Now to bring this to the point in hand. Unre
generate persons are under the law of sin, inasmuch
as in that state sin, {He depraved nature, is the
principle which acts them, and which strongly,
effectually, nay impetuously, inclines and excites
them to what is sinful. Every agent hath its
principle, which acts it strongly and irresistibly;
as natural agents in natural acts have their principle
working with great efficacy in them. The fire burns,
and cannot do otherwise, because it is determined
and influenced by that natural principle which is in
it : so moral agents in moral acts have their effica
cious principles too, which work as strongly and
powerfully in them, the difference being always pre

served betwixt natural and free agents. But now
these principles are very different according to men's '
different state ;" where it is the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, there the Spirit is the principle,
and the new nature too in the soul as the principle
doth with a great deal of power and efficacy excite
and quicken to what is good, 2 Cor. v. 14, 'The
love of Christ constraineth us.' But where it is the
law of sin, there sin is the principle which doth also
strongly excite to what is evil. The natural man
hath no other principle than this, and it is very
active in him, ever working with great power and
strength to draw out his corruption ; and so he is
under the law of sin.
I conceive this law of sin, as to its most proper
import, notes the activeness and- efficacy of a
principle, rather than the authority or sovereignty
of a law, though that be the word here used. But
however it is best to take in both notions, and in
both the doctrine holds true ; so long as any man is
unrenewed, sin is both a law to him to command,
rule, and govern him, and also a principle power
fully and efficaciously to act him in his whole
course; in both respects before regeneration it is
nothing but the law of sin. By which expression
the apostle seems to superadd something to what he
had said, ver. 1. He had there spoke of walking
after the flesh, thereby intimating the flesh to be
the principle by which men out of Christ do act ;
but now here in caUing it the law of sin, or of the
flesh, he intimates the power and strength of that
principle in those persons; it is a commanding
principle in them, which takes in the sum of both
the significations which I have been enlarging upon ;
it rules and acts them as it pleases ; it hath over
them the- authority of a law, and in them the energy
or efficacy of a principle, both of which do centre
and are comprehended in one word, the power of
sin. So much for the first thing, to show what the
apostle means by the law of sin, and in what re
spects it is so styled.
Two questions here arise, the answering of which
will give further light unto the doctrine ; the first is
this, How or wherein doth sin, as a law, exert and
put forth its power and dominion in and over
unregenerate persons ?
In the answering of this, should I fall upon par-

Chap. V.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

113

ticulars, to set forth the various workings of sin in
the matter or kind of them, or the various arts and
methods of sin in the manner of its working, it
would occasion a discourse too large for my present
design. I will therefore limit myself to two general
heads, under which the several particulars will fall.
The law of sin shews itself, partly with respect to
what is evil, and partly with respect to what is
good. You may understand its workings in the
unregenerate by its workings in the regenerate, for
it is the same in both, only in different degrees.
Now how doth it work in these ? that ' you shall see
in our great instance in the text. Paul complaining
of this law, as in himself, shews how it did put forth
its power and strength in him, namely thus : (1.) It
did strongly excite, impel, and draw' him to what
was evil ; so Rom. vii. 15, ' That which I do, I allow
not; what I hate, that do I.' Ver. 17, 'It is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.'
Ver. 19, 'The evil which I would not, that I do.'
Ver. 23, ' I see another law in my members,' &c.
2. It did strongly oppose, resist, hinder him as to
what was good: ver. 15, 'What I would, that do I
not.' Ver. 18, 'To wiU is present with me; but
how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would I do not.' Ver. 21, 'I find
then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is pre
sent with me.' Thus sin acted in Paul, in whom its
power and strength was much broken, and thus it
doth, in a much higher degree, act in the unregene
rate, in whom it is in its full strength and vigour.
1. Sin in such exerts its power in its vehement
urging and impelling of them to what is evil. I say
to what is etil ; for indeed aU its impulsions are to
that ; sin is for nothing but sin ; sin in the habit is
altogether for sin -in the act, indwelHng sin is whoUy
for dwelling in sin ; it bends and works entirely that
way, urget ad peccata peccatum. And no wonder that
it so doth, since the principle always moves and ex
cites to those acts which are consentaneous to itself;
therefore sin agreeing with sin, the sinful nature
solely stirs up a person to that which is sinful. And
how entire, restless, unwearied, impetuous is it in
this ! The truth is, though there was no devU to
tempt the graceless sinner, yet that law of sin which
is in himself would be enough to make him sin, in a
great measure, as he doth : as to many men, and

many sins of those men, it is but the devU's over-
eagerness which puts him upon tempting of them, for
without that the thing would be done to his hand,
as dry wood would burn without blowing. Corrupt
nature is continually egging, soliciting, exciting the
unsanctified man to what is evil ; it will not let him
alone day or night unless he gratify it; and its
motions are so urgent and violent that he, poor
creature, either cannot or will not make any con
siderable resistance. What an instance was Amnon
of this ! He was under the law of sin ; it had such
a power and sovereignty over him, and was so im
petuous in its workings in him, that he walked sadly,
pined away, feU downright sick, and all because he
knew not how to satisfy that lust which wrought so
strongly in him towards his own sister ; read 2 Sam.
xiii. 2, &c. So Ahab ; sin put him upon the covet
ing of Naboth's vineyard, and this it did with such
violence that he would eat no bread, because he could
not have his wiU, 1 Kings xxi. 5. Solomon tells us
of some who ' sleep not except they have done mis
chief; and their sleep is taken away unless they
cause some to fall,' Prov. iv. 16. 0 the law of sin !
it solicits to this and that evil, and its solicitations
thereunto are so pressing and earnest that it, will
receive no repulse ; yea, the sinner is so overpowered
that he is even carried away with it, like an empty
vessel in a fierce and rapid stream. In whatever
point the wind stands, it blows so fiercely, so strongly,
that there is no standing against it ; I mean, what
ever the lust be in which the sin of nature vents
itself, whether uncleanness, or ambition, or covetous
ness, or what you will, that comes with such a force
and violence upon the natural man' that he falls
before it and yields to it. We speak much, in an
other sense, of the law of nature ; truly the grand
law of nature as depraved is to command and inchne
men to sin against God ; and this it must needs do
with a mighty power and efficacy in those in whom
it is wholly depraved.
2. Secondly, This law of sin shews itself in its
opposing and hindering of what is good. It is a
law which always runs counter to God's law ; it wUl
be sure to further what that forbids, and to hinder
what that commands, for it always sets itself in a
direct opposition thereunto. Doth that call for such
and such duties ? are there some convictions upon
p

114

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[Chap. V

the sinner's conscience about them ? doth he begin a
little to incline to what is good ? how doth sin now
bestir itself to make head in the soul against these
convictions and good inclinations ! how doth it
endeavour to nip the blossoms, to stifle and smother
the initial propensions to what is good, to kill the
infant in the cradle, as Herod would have done
With Christ, to make all conceptions, in order to
-obedience and hohness, to prove abortive ! There
is in sin a fixed, rooted aversation to whatever is
holy and spiritual, which it puts forth to its utmost
Wherever it is upon the throne ; it doth not only
work a loathness to duty, but a loathing of duty ; it
countermands, where it is in its full power, all the
motions and excitations of the blessed Spirit there
unto. Oh sometimes the Spirit comes to a man and
says, Thou hast neglected prayer hitherto ; it is high
time now to set upon it ; thus long thou hast lived,
and all this time thou hast not minded the reading
of the Scriptures, the hearing of the word preached,
&c. ; come now, let them be minded ; all thy days
thou hast been a stranger to holiness, now be holy;
thou hast been a despiser of Christ hitherto, now
love, fear, receive, honour him : thus the good Spirit
would draw on the sinner to what is good. Well,
is indwelling sin quiet now? Oh no ! it puts forth
itself with its greatest vigour and strength in oppo
sition to the breathings of the good Spirit. It saith,
Sinner, let word and Spirit say what they will, do
-thou hold on thy course ; keep on thy way, God is
merciful, fear it not ; duty is burdensome, meddle
not with it ; what need is there of all this praying,
Hearing, believing, repenting, holy walking? &c.
These are the bold oppositions and subtle insinua
tions of sin against what is good, set forth by the
lustings of the flesh against the Spirit, Gal. v. 17;
these are its cursed renitencies and reluctancies
¦against duty. Now, till the regenerating Spirit .
comes With his victorious grace to conquer them
the sinner is wholly under their power, so that they
do most effectually and prevailingly keep him off
•from what is good. You have it exemplified in the
young man, Mat. xix. 22 ; in Felix, Acts xxiv. 2-5,
and in several others. This is the very case of men
before conversion : whether you consider the law of
sin as it puts forth itself with respect to evil or with
Respect to good, the unconverted are tfnder it; it

hurries them on to what is wicked, and as power
fully holds them off from what is holy; in both
respects they are entirely under the command 'of it
as a law, and entirely acted by it as a principle ; it
is no better than thus — and worser it cannot be —
with unregenerate persons. Let this general answer
to the first question be sufficient.
Quest. A second is this, How may it be known when
persons are under the law of sin ? or how may we
distinguish betwixt the law of sin as it is Hi the um
regenerate, and as it is in the regenerate ? : For even
the latter find too much of this law in them. Paul
here saith he Was freed from it, and yet in the fore
going chapter he sadly laments it, as you have often
heard. Reuewed and sanctified souls do by sad
experience feel the corrupt nature strongly urging
and pressing them to what is evil, and as strongly
Opposing and hindering them in what is good ; yea,
in both often prevailing. May not they, therefore,
as well as others, be said to be under the law of sin?
If not, where lies the difference ? or what is it that
doth indeed denominate a man to be under that
law? Ans. This being a question of great importance,
I shall be larger in the answering of it than I was
of the former, yet not so large as the nature of the
subject would admit of, nor as some of our own
divines are who write upon it : I shall reduce 'aU to
three heads.
1. First, Where the whole bent and tendency of
the heart is towards sin— that the propensions of
the-soul thereto are entire and unmi'xed---there it is
the law of sin, and that law of siu which is proper
to the unregenerate. This speaks sin to be upon
•the throne indeed, that its power and dominion is
habitual, plenary, and absolute. A child of God
may have very strong corruptions in him, and they
sometimes, too, may break forth into external acts.;
the sinful nature may vehemently incline him to
what is evil, and sometimes prevail too, yet the
bent of his heart is for God against sin, and the
stream doth not run whoUy one way ; he hath pro-
pensions unto •good as well as unto evil, whereupon
he is mot under the law of sin. But take an un-
•sanctified person, it is otherwise with hai ; his Heart
istfvsin<and set for sin, that is the thing to which
it -altogether bends, inclines, and works. TheTeis

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115

not a stronger bent in heavy bodies to descend, or
in light things to ascend, than there is in such a one
to sin against God. And further, he is not divided
in what is evil, he is all of a piece ; the sinful nature
in him is entire, and doth all. Now where it is thus,
certainly there it is the law of sin. Paul, in his saddest
complaints of this law, as in himself, yet says, ' It is
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.'
It was not he that did it, because the bent of his
heart was against it. And he says, 'With the
mind I myself serve the law of God.' The habitual
tendency and inclination of his soul was towards
good, and as he was himsetf it was thus with him,
for he puts I myself only to the serving of the law
of God, not to that of the law of sin : so that though
the law of sin was in him, yet he was not under it,
strictly, as the law of sin. Sin had too great a
strength in him, but it had not the sole and full
command of him.
2. Secondly, When all the several faculties of the
soul are altogether on sin's side, and wholly take its
part, then it is the law of sin, and that which is pro
per to the unregenerate. If this head be not distinct
from tbe former, yet it may be useful as a more par
ticular expHcation of it. In such persons, underr
standing, wtfl, affections, aU are engaged on sin's
side, and therein lies its power and dominion over
them. The understanding assents, the wtfl consents,
the affections answerably are drawn out. Oh here
is the law of sin, or sin regnant The understand
ing gives in its final and positive dictate that sin is
good, represents it as eligible to the will. The wUl,
upon this, closes with it, embraces it, cleaves to it ;
the affections, desire, joy, delight, &c, run out upon
it. Where it is thus, the case is determined. But
this must be taken with a threefold proviso : (1.)
That the assent of the understanding be deliberate,
for even a child of God upon a sudden surprisal,
pro hie et nunc, may judge better of sin than it de
serves. (2.) That the consent of the will be plenary
and ful}, for there may be in gracious persons some
times a broken half-consent to what is evil. (3.)
That both assent and consent be understood of a
course in sin ; for as to particular acts, no question
but one who is regenerate, under the power of a
temptation, may dp both of these. This threefold
proviso being taken in, the thing is clear ; whoso

ever shall be so far besotted, as upon deliberation
to judge a sinful course to be the best course, and
thereupon shall choose, embrace, fall in with and
continue, in it, yea, shall delight and please himself
in it, unquestionably in this man it is the law of sin.
Sin never gets thus high where grace is, for the
proof of which we must recur to our great instance.
Paul, after his conversion, found sin to be too power
ful in him, which was his great burden ; yet not
withstanding, the fixed acts of the several faculties
of his soul were for God against sin. As, for ex
ample, in his understanding he assented to the good
ness of the law of God, but not to the goodness of
the law of sin : Rom. vH. 12, ' Wherefore the law is
holy,' &c. In his will he also consented to this :
ver. 16, 'If then I do that which I would not, I
consent unto the law that it is good ; ' and for his
affections, he saith, 'I delight in the law of God
after the inward man.' Now these being, as I said,
the fixed acts of the several faculties in Paul, in him
it was not the law of sin. And thus for the main tf.
is with every gracious soul, but for others in whom
sin hath all, all the faculties — understanding, will,
affections— in their proper acts being entirely for
it, it is evident that they are under the law of
sin. Of all the faculties the will doth most discover
the power of sin, for there its dominion and sove
reignty is chiefly seated and acted. Oh, when it
once gains that, then it ascends the throne indeed !
That is the time, as it were, of its inauguration, whep
it is invested in all its regalities. It comes to the
sinner and says, Art thou willing that I should rule
thee ? Yes, saith he, with aU my heart ; I like thy
commands and government, I am thine, I submit to
thee to be at thy dispose, I here swear fealty and
allegiance to thee, &c. Dreadful language ! Oh that
ever it should be uttered by the heart of man !
Sinner ! dost thou know what thou sayest ? Pray
thee, make a little pause, be persuaded to consider
what thou dost. Is this spoken in good, or rather
in bad, earnest? Dost thou resolve upon it? Wilt
thou stick to it ? Oh then thou art a mere vassal,
thou puttest thyself under the reign of the worst
tyrant in all the world ; from this day forward thou
must carry chains and fetters about thee, from this
act of thine sin's reign commences. Therefore, if it

116

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[Chap. V

be not yet done, let tf never be done ; if it be done,
let it be rescinded speedily. But I forget myself.
The lowest act of the will, in order to the consti
tuting of this law of sin, is election or choice. There
is good and evU, holiness and sin, set before the soul,
and it chooses the evil "before the good ; this is a sad
evidence of sin's power : Isa. lxv. 12, ' But did evil
before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein 1
delighted not : ' Isa. lxvi. 3, 4, &c, ' They have
chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in
their abominations,' &c. But though I say that
this is the lowest act of the will in sin's being a law,
yet even this is enough to put a person under that
law. The godly man chooses the way of holiness :
Ps. cxix. 30, ' I have chosen the way of truth.' The
sinner chooses the way of sin ; this he prefers before
the other. Now, should there be nothing more than
this choice, (supposing it to be deliberate, full, and
peremptory,) that would be enough to evince sin's
dominion ; for wherever it hath the preference, it
hath the power. But there are higher acts of the
will than this, which do more highly constitute and
more fully demonstrate the law of sin, and which
are to be found only in the .unregenerate. As,
namely, when the will doth not merely choose, em
brace, prefer sin before holiness, but it is pertina
ciously set for sin, its full purpose and resolution is
for sin against holiness. The sinner says he hath
sinned, and so he wUl do still ; he is fixed and obsti
nate in his wickedness. Instead of cleaving to the
Lord with full purpose of heart, as Barnabas exhort
ed the Christians at Antioch to do, Acts xi. 23, he
cleaves to sin with full purpose of heart : Jer. ii. 25,
' I have loved strangers, and after them I will go : '
Jer. vui. 5, ' They hold fast deceit ; they refuse to
return : ' Jer. xxix. 16, "As for the word that thou
hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we wUl
not hearken to thee, but we will certainly do what
soever goeth out of our own mouth,' &c. Now,
wherever it comes to this, that sin is thus enthroned
in the wiU, there most certainly it is the law of sin.
But I must yet go one step further ; there is one act
of the wiU higher than this too, viz., when the heart
is wholly set for sin, and is not only resolvedly, but
impetuously carried out after it. Eccles. viii. 11
' Because sentence against an evil work is not exe
cuted speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of

men is fully set in them to do evil : ' Jer. 1. 38,
' They are mad upon their idols : ' Eph. iv. 19,
' Who being past feeling have given themselves over
unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with
greediness : ' Jer. viii. 6, ' Every one turned to his
course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.' Here
the power of sin rises high indeed, when the will
doth not barely consent to it, but it is eager and
fierce for it. Oh this speaks not only its own great
wickedness and most woeful depravation, but also the
sinner's full subjection to sin. This is the law of sin
with a witness ; where it is thus, it may easily be
knpwn who bears rule in the soul. Sin never arrives
at this height of power in the regenerate ; this is
altogether inconsistent with grace. Upon conversion
the will is sanctified, and the sanctified will can
never carry it thus towards sin.
You 'see what that is in the interior faculties
of the soul, which doth constitute and evidence the
law of sin in unregenerate persons. I might
instance also in the exterior parts of the body, for
though sin's power doth mainly reside and put forth
itself in the former, yet it reaches to these also;
therefore the apostle brings them in upon this
account, Rom. vi. 12, < Let not sin reign in your
mortal bodies,' &c. ; ver. 13, ' Neither yield you your
members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,'
&c; ver. 19, 'As ye have yielded your members
servants to uncleanness,' &c. When the body is
prostituted to sin's dmdgery, the several parts
thereof employed in its service— as the eyes, to let
in external objects for the exciting and feeding of
lust within; the feet, to run on sin's errands; the
tongue, to utter vanity and frothiness, &c. ; this is
a great demonstration of a man's being under the '
law of sin. It is true, it chiefly reigns in the heart;
there is its imperial seat, or the palace where it hath
its imperial residence, that is the inward citadel
where its main strength doth lie; but yet from
thence it issues out its laws and edicts to the body
also, and that is its outward fort or territory, where
it hath a great strength and command also. Indeed
the law of sin is best discerned, as to others, by its
venting of itself in and through the body; for so
long as sm keeps in its power within the interior
faculties of the soul, it is known only to the sinner
himself; but when that once breaks out in sins

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117

committed in and by the body, as intemperance,
drunkenness, uncleanness, &c, then it becomes
discernible to all to whom such sins shall be known.
And though it is certain that sin may have its full
dominion in the heart without the external eruptions
of it in the life, in gross and corporeal acts, yet
where they are added, they infallibly discover that
sin lords and domineers. Oh therefore how evident
is it that all who abuse and defile their bodies, who
use them as instruments for sin, and wear them out
in its service, are most particularly under the law of
sin ! But it is not thus wittfjany who are truly
sanctified ; sin hath not the command of their bodies ;
they ' yield up their members servants to righteous
ness unto holiness,' Rom vi. 19 ; they look upon
their bodies as the 'temples of the Holy Ghost,'
1 Cor. vi. 19, and accordingly they keep them holy;
they know they are themselves bought with a price,
and that their souls and bodies are both God's,
1 Cor. vi. 20, and therefore both to be employed in
the glorifying of God ; they scorn to let their bodies
be drudges to sin and Satan, and in this respect
they are not under the law of sin.
3. Thirdly, The law of sin, and its different work
ings in the people of God and others, may be opened
by the modification of the act of sin. As,
(1.) Where sin is committed industriously and
designedly, there it is the law of sin, and that which
is peculiar to the graceless. Some there are who set
themselves to sin; it is the thing they aim at, which
they dehberate, contrive, muse how to bring about,
their serious thoughts from time to time are at work
in order to it; like to that person whom David
describes, Ps. xxxvi. 4, ' He deviseth mischief on his
bed, he setteth himself in a way that is not good : '
Hke to the wickedness of men before ,the deluge,
Gen. vi. 5, &c, ' Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evU continuaUy : ' it is meant
not only of imaginations which had sin in them
materiaUy and subjectively, but also of those which
were for sin and in order to sin intentionally and
finally. The apostle sets it forth by ' making provi
sion for the flesh,' Rom. xiu. 14, when the sinner
hath his forecasts and projects for sin. Now where
it is thus,1 unquestionably it is the law of sin, this
1 When the flesh hath the (irpbvoiav) providential, project
ing, and forecasting ability at command and at her service, it

doth most certainly discover the absolute, unbroken,
full power and dominion of sin : John viii. 34,
' Whoever commits sin ' — o muv, who makes it or
frames it, as an artist doth a thing which is proper
to his trade or art, who sins de industria data, opera ;
what of him? why, he is the servant of sin, that is, he
is fully under its command, and is a perfect slave and
yassal to it It is never thus with regenerate
persons ; this ' spot is not the spot of God's children,'
Deut. xxxii. 5. 1 John iii. 9, ' Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin ; ' he doth not frame sin,
or contrive how to sin, in the sense named but now.
It cannot be denied but that even a child of God
may sin after deliberation, nay, as to some particular
sinful act he may dehberate in order to the doing of
it ; there was a great deal of deliberation in David's
killing Uriah — it was a plotted, contrived sin, that
which was brought about by many deliberate
thoughts : oh but in such a one this is very rare
and seldom, it is but in this or that particular act,
it is not a thing that he holds on in, God forbid it
should be so ! And therefore though this be a great
aggravation of sin, when it is committed deliberately,
and a sad evidence that it hath too much power and
strength in the heart, yet every deliberate sin is not
enough to prove a man to be under the law of sin ;
when the designing and contriving is customary, and
that too as to a course in sin, oh then it is the law
of sin.(2.) When the temptation easily prevaUs, and
there is little or no resistance and opposition made
to sin, then it is the law of sin, and that which is
proper to the unregenerate. If the town be surren
dered, and yields upon the first summons, it is a sign
that the assailers are very strong, and the defendants
very weak; if the tinder takes fire upon the first
little spark that falls into it, surely it is very dry ;
so here, when Satan doth no sooner lay the tempta
tion before the sinner but he immediately closes
with it, and falls before it, and yields to it, this
argues that sin and Satan have a full power in and
over him. But I lay the main stress of this head
upon little or no resistance to the motions, sugges
tions, commands of sin. Possibly it no sooner com
mands but the sinner readily obeys ; if he chance to
is certain her supremacy is in the full. — Mr Rich. Bifield
' The Gospel's Glory,' &c, 255. . . ¦

118

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[Chap. V.

make spme opposition, it is as bad as none at all; it is
not Uvely, vigorous, resolute, but cold, duU, faint,
and languid. Oh, this is a sad demonstration of sin's
height and regency in the soul ! The bare com
mands of sin, as hath been said, do not make it to be
a law ; but when there is a ready, wiUing subjection
to those commands, then it is a law. Rom. vi. 1 6,
' Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous
ness ? ' It is a brand upon Ephraim that he wiUingly
' walked after the commandment,' Hosea v. 11 ; may
not this be charged upon men before renovation
with respect to the commands of sin? We read of
Satan that he takes some captive at his will, 2 Tim.
vi. 26 ; and truly so it is with the sinful nature too;
it doth with the unregenerate what it will ; it com
mands, governs, orders them even as it will ; it meets
with little or no resistance ; upon all occasions . it
doth but speak the word, and the thing is done.
The true convert stands upon his guard, fights it
out to the last ; he will die rather than yield. Sin
doth not so easily do his work in him ; he may
sometimes be a captive to it, as being overborne
with its strength ; but he will not be a subject to
it, so as to give willing obedience to it; which
shews that he is not under the law of sin. When
it is willingness in the way of duty, then it is the
day of God's power, Ps. ex. 3 ; when it is willing
ness in the way of sin, then it is the day of sin's
power. There may be some resistance made to sin,
and yet its dominion may be high ; but when it is
no resistance, then its dominion is high indeed. A
sinner sometimes, from the stirrings of conscience,
may make a Httle opposition; but sin having his
will Hi its entire consent, that opposition soon goes
off, and so sin's sovereignty is as absolute as ever it
was. (3.) When sin carries it in spite of all opposition,
then it is the law of sin, and that power of sin
which only suits with the unregenerate state ; when
it is committed with Httle opposition ab intra, and
in spite of aU opposition ab extra, I assure you then
it hath a great power. Many there are who are so
much under the strength and dominion of the hellish
nature, that nothing shaU hinder them from what is
evil. As the sincere Christian, set never so many

hindrances and discouragements before him, yet,
being under the law of the Spirit, he will be and do
good ; so, e contra, the man that is destitute of grace,
set what hindrances or discouragements you will
before him, yet, being under the law of sin, he will
be and do evil. Let the threatenings of the law of
God stand in his way, like the angel with a drawn
sword in his hand, yet he will sin ; let the sceptre
of the gospel be held out to him, yet he will sin ;
set the love, grace, mercy of God before him, yet he
wtfl sin ; set the wrath, justice, severity of God be
fore him, yet he will sin ; set the death, sufferings,
agonies, wounds, blood of the Lord Jesus before
him, yet he will sin ; let conscience smite him, let
word, ministers, Christians, reprove him, yet he will
sin; let him resolve, purpose, vow, promise, cove
nant, yet he will sin ; tell him of heaven or hell,
that he wiU waste his estate, impair his health, undo
his family, ruin his body, nay, his precious soul, it .
is aU one, yet he wUl sin ; come plague, pestilence,
war, fire, yet he will sin ; set the law of Scripture
before him, yet he will sin ; nay, as to some acts,
set the very law of nature before him, yet he will
sin. Here is the law of sin to some purpose, the
power and strength of sin in their dxpij, and yet all
graceless and Christless souls are under this, though
not all in the same way or in the same degree; but sin
never rises thus high in God's people, they are more'
easily stopped and kept off from sinning against God.
You know the stream in a flood runs very fiercely,
and will not be stopped by any opposition ; it tears
and breaks the banks which would give a check to
it ; but let the flood be but over, and then it comes
to itself again, and its motion is not so boisterous
and impetuous; so it is with the true Christian;
possibly in some single act, under some strong temp
tation, upon some fit of passion, he may break
through all that Hes in his way as a let or hindrance
to him in sin ; but when the sudden gush of cor
ruption and the power of the temptation are a httle
over, he comes to himself again, and then the word
and Spirit do easily stop him in what is evil.
(4.) When it is sinning and no sense of sin, no
after repentance for it, then it is the law of sin, and
that power of it which is only in the unconverted.'
Sin always rules most where it is least felt, but it
never arrives at the highest pitch of dominion where

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119

the soul groans under it as its burden. As it was
with Paul, the corrupt nature was too powerful in
him, but he was very sensible of it : he cried out,
' Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me
from this body of death ! ' Thus, too, it is with all
gracious souls ; they may have much of sin in them,
yea, it may be so strong in them as that in some
particular acts they may be overcome by it, .yet it is
but peccatum vincens, non regnans — sin conquering, not
commanding — because they are greatly humbled in
the sense of this, and because they ever recover
themselves again by true repentance. Oh how do
they mourn and grieve over corruption, especially
when it hath been too hard for them ! If you read
of David's sins, you shaU also read of David's tears.
Now when it is thus, it is never the law of sin— sin
bewailed is never sin reigning; but when a man
sins insensibly and impenitently, there is no after-
shame or after-grief in him for sin, no rising again
after faUing ; verily in this man it is the law of sin.
But so much for the answering of this question, and
also for the explication of the point in hand.
Use. In the applying of it, there is but one use
which I shall insist upon, and that shall be for infor
mation. It is thus : that every person before rege
neration is under the law of sin. It informs us of
two things :
1. Ofthe bondage of the natural state.
2. Of the power, efficacy, necessity of restraining
and renewing grace.
1. Here is a sad demonstration of that bondage
which attends the natural state, and those who are
in it. Such being under the law of sin, and that
importing what you have heard it doth, hence it
follows that they are under bondage — the very
woTst bandage and thraldom that is imaginable.
This sinners wiU not beHeve nor lay it to heart, but
so it is ; they, being sin's subjects, and governed by
its laws, they are no better than slaves aud vassals,
for so .all its subjects are. We pity those who live
under tyrants, usurpers, hard masters, &c, and judge
their bondage to be very great ; but, alas ! what is
that if compared with this of graceless souls Hving
under the tyranny, usurpation, dominion of sin ?
Oh poor creature ! art thou out of 'Christ, unsancti-
fied and unregenerate, and consequently-acted, ruled,
govBrned by sin? Know thyself; thou art, in a

spiritual sense, no better than a slave ; yea, there is
no servitude or vassalage in the world comparable
to thine. The poor Christians who are captives and
bondmen under the barbarous Turks, or such who
are condemned to mines and galleys, are in a better
condition than thou who art under the power of thy
base lusts. The state of nature is a quite other
thing than what men imagine tf to be ; they think
there is nothing but freedom and liberty in it ; such
who are in it fancy none live so free and happy a
life as themselves ; but God knows it is quite other
wise. 'While they promise themselves liberty, they
are the servants of corruption ; for of whom a man
is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage,,'
as the apostle speaks, 2 Pet ii. 19. There are very
many sad attendants upon unregeneracy, as blind
ness, darkness, death, enmity, distance, and aliena
tion from God, &c, but none worse than the spirit
ual bondage which accompanies it. I add, too,
there is none of all these which sinners are with
more difficulty convinced of, and more hardly brought
to beUeve, than that which I am upon. We see it
in the Jews : John viii. 33, ' We be Abraham's
seed, and never were in bondage to any man ; how
sayest thou we shaU be made free ? ' Never in
bondage to any man ! that was false ; were they
not once in bondage in Egypt, which, therefore, was
called the house of bondage, Exod. xx. 2, where
they were under hard bondage ? Exod. i. 1-4. Were
they not again in bondage in Babylon ? yea, were
they not now in bondage under the Romans ? But
this not being the bondage which Christ aimed at,
he passed hy this — their vaunting of their exemption
from it — and fell upon their spiritual bondage, with
respect to which he told them, 'Whosoever com
mits sin is the -servant of sin.' So go to many now
and teU them they are under servitude, they wiU
not beHeve it. What! they in such a condition?
No, they are so and so descended ; such and such is
their birth and parentage ; they have such noble
blood running in their veins ; they live in the en
joyment of such privileges; have so many under
them at their beck, whilst they themselves are com
manded by none ; they can go and come and do as
they list,1 being free from that tri^eis aiiToweaytag
J Mbuoi v2 Set ftoiXeaBai p.a8bvres, ws povXovrai. .'fwo-t. —
Plutarch Mor., p. 35.

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[Chap. V.

wherein the stoics placed bondage, and" yet are they
slaves 1 Yes, notwithstanding all this, they may be
so, and are so, if sin hath the rule and regency over
them ; they have aU liberty but that which is the
best, and are exempted from all bondage but that
which is the worst. The moralists, by the light of
nature, had true notions about this, for they could
say that virtue and goodness only did entitle to
Hberty — that vice and wickedness were always at
tended with servitude.1 The satirist falls severely
upon some high pretenders to liberty,2 because they
were their own masters, at their own dispose, did
what they pleased, were not they free ? He answers
them sharply, shewing there might be external and
civil liberty, and yet they might be under bondage,
tf vice had the mastery and command of them ; nay,
if any one vice or lust did prevail over them, whether
covetousness or intemperance, &c, that would be
enough to prove them no better than vassals and
slaves, let their outward condition be never so high
and good. Now surely we may be more clear and
positive in this than they, who by Scripture light
know more of the law of sin than they could do by
the bare light of nature. Every regenerate, good
man is free, but every unregenerate, wicked man is
a very slave, and under most dreadful thraldom.3
Now it being thus, that I may the better convince
you of the evil and misery of this bondage, and also
excite you to the most vigorous endeavours to get
out of it, let me lay a few particulars before you.
As, 1. Consider that bondage to sin is always accom
panied with bondage to Satan. Whoever is under
the law of sin, he is thereupon also under the law of
Satan, for sin's and Satan's power always go together.
1 AovXoirpeiriis t\ Kada, iXevBepcnrpeir^s Se ij dper-// — Plato
Alcib., i.
2 ' An quisquam est alius liber nisi ducere vitam
Cui licet ut voluit ? licet ut volo vi^ere, non sum
Liberior Bruto ?
Liber ego ? unde datum hoc sumis tot subdite rebus ?
An Dominum ignoras nisi quem vindicta relaxat ?
. Servitium acre ;
Te nihil impellit, nee quicquam extrinsecus intrat
Quod nervos agitet ; sed si intus et in jecore segro
Nascantur domini, qui tu impunitior exis V
— Persius, Sat. 5.
3 Vide Philon. Jud. in Tract, cui titulus,
probus liber, p. 670.

The truth is, these two are, as it were, allies and
confederates ; nay, they are copartners in dominion,
they ever share in the government of the soul, and
rule jointly, so that he who is under the power of the
one is under the power of the other also. There is
a oneness of interest and dominion betwixt them ; as
Satan gets up sin gets up, and as sin gets up Satan gets
up too. The devU's reign depends upon the reign of sin.
Where it is not the law of sin his power is very low;
it is said of him that ' he rules,' Eph. H. 2 ; where, or
in whom ? Why, ' in the children of disobedience.'
Where it is disobedience to the laws of God, and
obedience to the laws of sin, there Satan's kingdom
is very high ; there he rules and doth what he will,
as he is said to take some men captive at his will, 2
Tim. ii. 11. Now is not this a dreadful thing— the
most deplorable bondage that a creature can lie
under ? what ? to be the devil's subject? a slave to
him who is in chains himself? ruled by him who is
the grand rebel, and the head of all the lower rebels
against God ? What more woeful ! Sinner, when
wilt thou consider it ; shall a damned creature be
thy lord and sovereign 1 shall he be thy ruler here,
who will be thy tormentor hereafter ? wUt thou hve
in subjection under him who is but a jailer and
executioner of God's displeasure? What bondage
can be so great, so much to be detested as this !
2. Secondly, Let it be considered what sin is, b&th
as it is in itself, and also as it manages its power,
command, and regency in and over the sinner.
1. Look upon sin in itself. It is the basest, the
vilest thing that is ; the whole world hath nothing
in it of so vile a nature as it. It is that only thing
which God never made. Other things may seem to
be vile, and comparatively they may reaUy be so,
yet they being God's creatures there is something of
excellency in them ; but as for sin, God hath nothing
to do with it, only as he doth' dispose and overrule
it to his own glory. It is the only thing that God
cannot do. There are many things which he will
not do, but sin is the only thing which he cannot
do. God can make a world, uphold a world, destroy
a world ; he can do all, only he cannot sin. Now,
whoever thou art, let this be thought of : Shall a
thing so vile and base, so contrary to God's nature,
shall that have the rule and command of thee?
How can the spirit of a man bear a thing so inde-

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121

cent, so unworthy of him ? But if he will stoop to
what is so much below him, what slavery and bond
age must needs result from it ! It is sometimes
matter of affliction to us to see vile and base men
exalted to places of high power and dignity : Ps. xii.
8, ' The wicked walk on every side, when the vUest
men are exalted.' Yet this must be submitted to,
because the aU-disposing God, in the methods of his
wise providence, hath a hand in it, as we read, Dan.
iv. 17, 'That the most high ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he wUl, and
setteth up over it the basest of men.' But that a
man, by his own act and choice, should set so base
a thing as sin upon the throne, and put himself under
the dominion of it, this is most strange, and indeed
would be incredible did we not see it done every day.
To be subject to a prince of high extraction, that
hath greatness and majesty in him, who refuses that ?
But to be subject to a feUow taken off from the dung
hill, that was born for the kitchen, not the throne,
to hold the plough rather than the sceptre, who
can bear that? The application is obvious as to
that which I am upon. Sin is of so vile a nature
that every heart should rise against its power. AU
subjection doth not infer bondage, but when it is to
a person or thing that is below one's-self, then it is
bondage : now that is the case as to sin. It is sad that
that which is so much below us in worth and excel
lency should be above us in power and dominion.
It was Noah's curse upon Ham to be ' a servant of
servants,' Gen. ix 25. What a servant or slave is he
who is a servant to sin and the several lusts thereof !
2. Look upon sin in the management of its power,
and by that you wiU the better see into the evil and
misery of that bondage which arises from subjection
to it. What are the laws of sin? always evU.
Usurpers amongst men often make good laws ; our
own histories, as to matter of fact, tell us that some
of our kings who had the worst titles made the best
laws ; and indeed they had need use their power well
who get it ill. But now sin doth not only usurp
that power which of right belongs not to it, but it
also manages its power very wickedly, particularly
with respect to the laws which it makes and imposes
upon its subjects. Oh it is sad living under its
government ! The philosopher teUs us that the in
tention of the legislator is to make his subjects good

— certainly it is either so, or it should be so — but
when sin gets upon the throne, and assumes a legis
lative authority to itself, its intention is only to make
its subjects bad, for the worse they are the better
they suit with it. It is a blessed thing to Hve under
the rule of Christ, because of the holiness, purity,
goodness of his laws ; but it is a woeful thing to live
under the rule of sin, because its laws are quite con
trary, helhsh, and wicked ; for here it holds true,
Like lord, like law. Nay, the laws of men, I do not
say all, have real goodness in them, so far as they
are founded upon reason and designed for good ends,
viz., to excite persons to what is good, and to restrain
them from what is evil ; 1 and so far it is the happi
ness of any to live under them, and their duty
readily and cheerfully to comply with them. But it
is not thus with the laws of sin, inasmuch as they
are always contrary to right and sound reason, and
always tend to what is evU, which therefore, so far
as any man is subject to, he must needs be miserable.
It is commonly said, Ex mails moribus bonne leges,
bad manners sometimes produce good laws ; but bad
laws, especially when they are written in the heart
and are the principle of action, as the laws of sin
are, can never produce good manners. If sin make
the law, I know what will be the life.
Further, this sin is not only out of measure sinful
in the exercise of its power where it is uppermost,
but it is also out of measure tyrannical. There have
been too many tyrants in the world, but never was
there such a one as sin. All the Neros, CaUgulas,
Domitians, &c, that ever hved, were nothing to it ;
this first acted the part of a tyrant in them before
they acted the part of tyrants over others. The
tyranny of sin appears in many things. I will in
stance in a few : 1. Its commands are innumerable ;
there is no end of its laws ; and multiplicity of laws
always speaks either a bad people or a bad prince.2
2. Its commands are contrary; one law thwarts
another. The poor sinner, under its dominion, is
haled contrary ways, that he scarce knows whither
1 Lex est nihil aliud nisi recta et a numine Deorum ratio,
imperans honesta, prohibens contraria.  profecto ita se res
habet, ut quoniam vitiorum emendatricem legem esse oportet
commendatricemque virtutum, ab ea vivendi doctrina petatur.
— De Legib. lib. i.
a In corruptissima republica plurimse leges.— Tacit. Q

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[Chap. V.

to go or what to do. Lust clashes with lust ; one
draws one way, and another another, so that the
poor enslaved soul is at a loss, and knows not how to
please all : Tit. iii. 3, ' Serving divers lusts,' irmxiXaig
twi6u,u.ioug, divers for their number, and diverse for
their nature and kind also. 0 quam multos habet
dominos qui unum non habet ! How many lords and
masters hath he who hath not Christ only for his
Lord ! 3. It is very rigorous in its demands ; it
must have full obedience or none at all : Eph. ii. 3,
'fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.' Partial and
half obedience will neither satisfy a holy God nor
an unholy nature ; and as God, for whom the all is
too Uttle, so sin too, for which the least is too much,
is for the doing of all it requires. 4. Its commands
are never at an end. Let the poor bondman sin to
day, he must sin again to-morrow, and so on in in
finitum ; yea, the more he doth in obedience to it,
the more it grows upon him in its commands, just as
tyrants and hard masters use to do. 5. When sin
once gets upon the throne, it is so imperious and
cruel that its vassals must stick at nothing. Be the
thing never so base, the costs and hazards never so
great, yet if sin calls for the doing of it, it must be
done. Sinners ! you must waste your estates, blast
your credit, impair your health, destroy your bodies,
damn your souls ; you must part with God, peace of
conscience, heaven itself ; you must quit all that is
good, and venture all that is bad in its service, and
in compliance with its edicts. Oh what an imperious,
insolent, insatiable thing is sin ! Here is the tyrant
indeed, both in titulo, and also in exercitio. And now
is not the poor, unregenerate sinner very miserable
who lives under such a tyrant ? is not his bondage
exceeding great ? Who that is not highly besotted
would be willing to continue under sin's power, that
may be brought under the holy, gracious, excellent
government of the Lord Jesus ?
3. Thirdly, The evil of this bondage, arising from
the law of sin, appears from its principal subject ; it
is a soul-bondage. Of all evils soul-evils are the
worst ; soul-famine is the worst famine, soul-death
the worst death, soul-plagues the worst plagues; and
so here soul-bondage is the worst bondage. The
bondage of Israel in Egypt was very evil, yet not
comparable to this which I am upon ; because that
was but corporal and external, but this is spiritual

and internal. When the best part is enslaved, that
must needs be the worst slayery. There may be a
servUe condition without, and yet a free and generous
soul within, as Seneca observes of servants -1 but if
the soul itself be under servitude, then the whole
man, the very top of man, all is in servitude. Sin
is of so proud and aspiring a nature that no place
will serve it for its palace, or principal seat, but the
very soul. Oh there it delights to have its residence,
and to exercise its dominion ! And this is its subtle
ty as well as its pride, for it knows if it can but
rule the soul, that then the soul will easily rule the
body; as the main fort within the town being gamed,
that will with ease command all the outward forts.
And it is the whole soul too that sin must have.
God, who made it, will have the whole heart, and
sin, which designs to enslave it, will have the whole
heart too. It is not satisfied with this or that faculty,
but all must be subject to it. It must reign in the
understanding, by darkness, ignorance, false conceits
of God, prejudices against the good ways of God,
&c. ; it must reign in the will, by perverseness,
obstinacy, and rebeUion against God ; it must reign
in the affections, by disorder, earthiness, and sensual
ity ; it must reign in the conscience, by insensible-
ness and searedness. Oh how great is sin's ambition !
Nothing will serve it but a universal empire, so as that
all men, and all in men, may be under its dominion.
Now what a dreadful thing is this, that the soul, the
whole soul, should be thus under the law of sin?
Who can express the greatness, the sadness of this
bondage, that the best in man should serve the worst
in man ? for the soul is the best, and sin is the worst
in him ; that that which was immediately created by
God and for God, which did at first participate of
the image of God, and was designed for the fruition
of God here and hereafter, that so glorious, so ex
cellent a being should be subjugated, enslaved, to
such a cursed thing as sin. Oh the misery and
evil of this is inexpressible, and yet thus it is with
all who are unregenerate !
4. Fourthly, Of all bondage this is the most un
profitable. As to other bondage there may be some
1 Errat siquis existimat servitutem in totum hominem
descendere ; pars melior ejus excepta est ; corpora obnoxia
sunt, et adscripta dominis, mens sui juris est, &c. — Sen; de
Bene/., lib. iii. cap. 20.

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123

profit in that, but there is none in this. The master
may be cruel enough to his poor servant, and hold
him to very hard and slavish work, but then he
makes him some amends by giving him good wages;
but here is the sinner's unhappiness, he serves that
master which pays him no wages at all, death ex
cepted. What doth he get by all his service ? drudg
ing and toiling for sin ; even nothing but what he
may put into his eye — I mean, to mourn and weep
over. ' What fruit had you then in those things
whereof ye are now ashamed?' Rom. vi. 21. Oh,
this sin is the basest master that "any can serve!
God is the best : there is enough to be gained under
him ; but sin the worst, for there is nothing to be
got in its service but broken bones, terrors of con
science, the loss of God's favour, and heU at last.
You must drudge for it from morning to night, be
at its call and beck upon all occasions, grind in its
miU, run upon its errands, carry its burdens, &c. ;
and what recompense shaU you have for all this?
I wiU tell you : the loss of all that is truly good,
and the bearing of all that is truly evU ; you shall
have shame before men, trouble in your own souls,
and the eternal wrath of the great God ; these are
the rewards and recompenses of sin. Now, are not
they miserable who serve such a master ? and yet so
it is with all men before conversion.
5. Fifthly, Sin's bondage is the worse, because
they who lie under it are altogether insensible of it.
Where it is external and civU bondage, men are
sensible enough of that. Oh, they groan under it,
would fain be rid of it, all their thoughts are em
ployed to contrive how they may get out of it ! The
people of Israel ' sighed, and groaned, and cried to
God because of their bondage,' Exod. ii. 23; and
you read in this chapter how the poor irrational
creatures, being under the bondage of corruption,
do groan after dehverance, ver. 21, 22. The poor
Christians in slavery under infidels, what a sense
have they of their thraldom ! how would they rejoice
might they be but set free ! But here is the evU of
spiritual bondage; men do not feel it, nay, they
wUl not believe it; they have other thoughts of
themselves than that they are under any such thing.
Who thinks himself so free as he that is a vassal to
sin ? The poor deluded sinner, like some distracted
persons, plays with his chains, sports himself with

his fetters, and looks upon them as if they were his
crown. Oh how doth sin, where it is in its full
command and power, besot its subjects, and make
them carry it as though they were in a plain frenzy !
Have you not sometimes been in bedlam — it is
a mercy you have been there only as spectators of
the misery of others — where you saw poor creatures
in a very dismal and deplorable condition, chained,
beaten, almost starved, lodged in straw, sadly used ;
and yet how do these carry it ? why, they laugh,
sing, are merry, behave themselves as if they were
the happiest persons in the world ; who so jovial as
they? Is not this a dreadful sight? Ah, my brethren,
the world in a spiritual sense is little better than a
large bedlam, where sin hath men in its chains and
fetters, doth with them what it pleases, keeps them
under cruel bondage ; and yet they eat, drink, feast,
game, hve a merry life, and feel nothing. Oh how
insensible, how stupid are sinners in the natural
state ! Nay, they are so far from lamenting and
groaning under this bondage, as their infelicity, that
they affect it and make it the matter of their choice ;
they love to have it so, and refuse to have it other
wise; they refuse the olive, the vine, and choose
rather the bramble to reign over them — I allude to
that parable, Judges ix. 7, &c. ; they had rather
swear allegiance and fealty to sin than to God ;
Christ's government and dominion is rejected, and
sin's is preferred; they rather hold their bondage
than their bondage them, according to that of the
moralist, Paucos servitus, plures servitutem tenent.1 In
a word, they are slaves, and it pleases them exceed
ingly to be so. Now here is a twofold aggravation
of the evil of this bondage, partly that it is volun
tary — for of all servitude that is the worst which is
voluntary, Nulla servitus turpior quam voluntaria2 —
and partly that it is not laid to heart. I know God
hath a judicial hand in this, as also in the power
itself which sin hath over the sinner ; but yet the
sinner's own will is as free, full, and entire in his
closing with it, and submitting to it, as though God
was not at all concerned in it.
6. Lastly, This bondage is the most hurtful and
most dangerous bondage; for it is deadly, yea, it
makes way for, and most certainly ends in, eternal
death. Death puts an end to other bondage ; the
1 Senec, Ep. 22, 2 Ibid., Ep. 47.

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[Chap. V

slave when he is dead is a slave no more : ' There
the prisoners rest together ; they hear not the voice
of the oppressor. The small and great are there, and
the servant is free from his master,' Job iii. 18, 19 ;
but the worst of spiritual bondage follows after
death ; this ends in death, but it doth not end with
death. And other bondage doth not make any
liable to eternal death; for that, simply considered,
is nothing either to heaven or to hell. God may
love and save the true penitent though in chains,
and condemn the impenitent though never so free
and flourishing in the world; the everlasting con
cerns of the soul do not at all depend upon civil
liberty or civil servitude ; but where this spiritual
servitude is, there God hath no love, there the sinner
must die eternally. You have in the text the ' law
of sin ' and the ' law of death ' coupled together. Oh
what a dangerous thing is the law of sin J Where
sin hath its full power over the creature to make
him wicked, death upon this will have its full power
also to make him miserable. So Rom. vi. 16, ' Know
you not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey,
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?' Ver. 21, 'For the end of these
things is death.' Ver 23, 'The wages pf sin is
death.' And is it so? Who then would be sin's
servant ? who would serve that master who pays no
better wages than death? You that are servants,
would you enter into the service of one that would
pay you such wages ? Such a master sin is, and such
wages it doth pay. Oh, therefore, quit its service!
be wise for your souls, be sensible of the danger of
continuing under the law of sin, otherwise this law
of sin wiU soon be turned into the law of death.
And indeed it is this which ends in death ; it is not
barely sin which condemns, but it is the law of sin
which condemns. When it hath the supreme and
sovereign commanding power in the soul, and reigns
there as lord paramount, then it is killing and
damning. And now, sirs, may not that which hath been
spoken be sufficient to convince you of the evil of
that bondage— that miserable hereditary bondage—
which you all lie under so long as you are in the
natural and unregenerate state. And will you not
be prevailed with to endeavour speedily to get out

of it ? by the law of the Sptfit to be made free from
the law of sin ? You may be freed from this bondage
if you will ; Christ is come, as for other ends, so
for this, to ' give Hberty to the captives, and to open
the prison to them who are bound,' Isa. Ixi. 1 ; to
knock off sinners' bolts and chains, and to make
them free indeed, John viii. 36. In his name I do
this day tender freedom to you, and deliverance
from sin's vassalage ; wtfl you not accept of it ? And
here is the law of the Spirit too, to make you free
from the law of sin ; why, then, shall not this be
done? Will you still like sin's yoke ? I assure you
Christ's is not so easy, but sin's is as uneasy. Will
you have its dominion yet kept up in you ? are you
loath to part with your old master ? then your ears
must be bored for sin and Satan, as the servant
under the law was to be served, Exod. xxi. 5, 6,
who might have been set at liberty from his master,
but he had no mind to it. If it be thus, I can say
nothing more ; only pray_ that the Lord will con
vince you what the reign and power of sin is, what
a miserable bondage attends it, that you may with
the greatest earnestness press after conversion and
the law of the Spirit of life, in order to freedom
from it. So much for the first branch of this use
of information.
Secondly, It informs us further of the necessity,
power, and efficacy of restraining and renewing
grace. I will speak to them apart.
1. For restraining grace. By which I mean that
grace whereby God keeps in men's corruptions, and
sets bounds and limits to them in sin, so as not to '
suffer them to be as vile and wicked as otherwise
they would be. That such a thing is done by God,
all grant ; he that bounds the sea, that it doth not
break forth and overflow all— it is most elegantly
set out, Job xxxviii. 8, 10, 11, 'Who shut up the
sea with doors, when it brake forth, as tf it had
issued out of the womb ? And brake up for it my
decreed place, and set bars, and doors, and said,
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further : and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed ? ' As also Jer. v.
22, ' Which have placed the sand for the bound of
the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it:
and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet
can they not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they
not pass over it : '-I say, he that thus bounds the

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125

sea, that unruly body, doth also bound the wicked
ness of man's heart, a far more unruly thing than
the sea itself; this God keeps in or lets out as seems
good unto him. You see it in the case of Abime
lech, whose lust did strongly work in him towards
Sarah, but, saith God, Gen. xx. 6, ' I withheld thee
from sinning against me, therefore I suffered thee
not to touch her;' the like you have in several
other instances. Now this law of sin proves both
the necessity and also the mighty power and efficacy
of this restraining grace ; for the making out of which
be pleased to take notice of the foUowing particulars :
(1.) That the most of men are under the law of
sin. AU are born under it, and the most continue
under it, for the most are in the state of nature, and
in that state the law of sin carries it. Here and
there you have a soul brought in to God, converted,
savingly wrought upon, ' one of a city, and two of a
family,' Jer. Hi. 14 ; but the generaUty of men are
strangers to this work, and therefore they are under
the fuU power and dominion of a cursed nature. It
being so, how necessary is restraining grace ! for the
less there is of regenerating grace, the more need
there is of restraining grace.
(2.) Men naturally being under this law, it doth
vehemently and impetuously put them upon sin ;
for herein Hes its being a law and a principle, as
you have heard. The depraved nature doth not
barely dispose men to sin, or faintly persuade them
to sin ; but it doth powerfully and efficaciously in
cline, urge, impel, nay, necessitate them to sin ; they
' cannot cease from sin,' 2 Pet. ii. 14.
(3.) It is not this or that sin which this law urges
men to ; but, tf it be left to itself, it urges to every
sin, yea, to the very worst of sins. This indwelling
sin contains all sin in it ; the corrupt nature is the
ira.naTioiu.dnov, the seminary or seed-plot of all wicked
ness ; in that one sinful habit all sinful acts do lie,
seminally and radically ; and sin, where it is a law,
is for all sin ; it wiU excite, instigate, provoke not
only to lesser evUs, such as the world puts a fairer
interpretation upon, but also to those which are
most enormous, hideous, and horrid, as atheism,
blasphemy, murder, theft, adultery, &c.
(4.) This law of sin hath great advantages in and
over men ; for it is a law that is in them, an innate,
ingenit, inbred law ; it is written and engraven in

their very nature. Sin is now connatural to them,
yea, it is as natural, in some respects, for apostatised
man to sin, as it is for the fire to burn or the stone
to descend. I have told you, and there is too much
of truth in it, that the great law of nature, it being
considered as depraved, is to sin against God. This
law of sin is written in the heart, and that gives a
mighty power and efficacy to it, and must needs
strongly incUne a person to comply with it ; as God,
when he would have men readily and effectuaUy to
close with his will, he writes his law in their heart,
Jer. xxxi. 33, and that being done, they cannot but
do what that law enjoins ; just so it is with sinners
in reference to the law of sin upon the writing of it
in their hearts.
These things being considered and put together,
what is the reason that there is no more sin in the
world ? God knows there is too much of it ; the law
of sin is too prevalent in the hearts and Uves of the
most ; but yet, I say, what is the reason that there
is no more of it ? for certainly this law of sin leads
the unregenerate to do more evU than what many,
yea, any of them do. Doubtless there are divers
who are fully under sin's power, who yet are kept
from many external gross acts of it, and are not
altogether so bad as it and Satan would have them
to be. Sometimes it breaks forth in this or that
unconverted person, but why doth it not do the
same in every such person ? And sometimes, too, it
breaks forth in this or that act ; but why doth it
not so do in every act, yea, in the grossest acts ?
Whence is it that every unconverted man is not a
Cain, a Judas, a Nero, &c, the law of sin inclining
him to aU this wickedness ? I answer, the reason
why it is not so, is whoUy grounded upon the re
straining grace of God. It pleases God, for the
good of the world, of human society, especially for
the good of his own people, to keep in and bound
that wicked nature which is in wicked men, that it
shall not in all such, at all times, in all acts proper
to it, vent itself as it pleases. And was it not for
this mighty restraint which God in his providence
lays upon sin and sinners, there would be no living
in the world, there would be nothing but killing,
and slaying, and stealing, &c, and, in a word, the
perpetration of all villanies imaginable. Was it not
for this, whither would not the law of sin carry

126

JACOMB ON ROMANS VUI. 1-4.

[Chap. V.

men ? They being under the full dominion of it, what
would they stick at ? Oh but God restrains them ;
he lets out so much of their corruptions as may be
to his own glory, and the residuum or overplus he
keeps in, according to that of the psalmist, Ps. lxxvi.
10, ' Surely the wrath of man shaU praise thee, the
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.' How neces
sary, therefore, is restraining grace ! it is necessary
in respect of the good, much more in respect of the
bad ; even they do need it for themselves, but these
much more for others. Ravenous and fierce crea
tures must be kept in chains, or else they would
worry and tear all that should come within their
reach ; if God had not devUs and men in chains,
they would be so exorbitant that the world could
not long subsist; blessed be God for restraining
mercy ! And how doth this also hold forth the
mighty power of this mercy, when sin lords it at
such a rate in the hearts of men, hath such an abso
lute power over them, doth so impetuously urge
them to all kinds and degrees of evil, that yet they
should be so bounded and limited that some order
and decorum should be kept up in the world ? Oh
the power of restraining providence ! It is. like the
fire's not burning into which the three children were
cast, or like the lions' not tearing of Daniel when he
was in the very midst of them ; which certainly pro
ceeded from the mighty restraint which God laid
upon the one and upon the other, in the suspending
and hindering of them in their natural operations.
It is no less power that which God puts forth in the
restraining of men's sinful natures, that they do not
so fiercely break forth in all wicked acts as other
wise they would. And tf this be so admirable in
the restraining of men, how much more admirable
is it in the restraining* of devils ! Their power,
rage, mahce, wickedness, is greater by much than
that in men ; oh therefore, why do not they do all
the mischief they eould and would ? Why do not
they destroy and worry all before them ? Especially
as to the saints, whom they most hate, why do they
not tear them Hi pieces every day? Why? No
thank to themselves ; they cannot do it because
God restrains them, binds and bounds them as he
pleases ; here is the great demonstration of the power
of restraining grace.
2. Secondly, It shews us also the necessity, power,

and efficacy of renewing grace. There is more in
this grace than in the former : in restraining grace
sin is a little curbed and kept in, but yet it retains
its inward strength and power, as it was with Sam
son when he was only bound, or as it is with fierce
creatures when they are in cages or chains ; but in
renewing grace sin is subdued, conquered, much
weakened in its strength, divested of its former
absolute power, not only kept in but brought under,
and the soul brought over to the wtfl and command
of God. Now this being effected in and by renew
ing grace, it is evident that there is a mighty power
and efficacy in that grace ; for that which frees from
so great a power as that of sin before conversion,
must needs have a great power in it. If renewing
grace was a weak thing, or did act in a weak manner,
it could never do what it doth ; was there not the
law of the Spirit in it, the law of sin would be too
hard for it. It is not to be imagined that sin will
ever be persuaded to resign or tamely to quit its
power and dominion, which it so dearly loves and
so fiercely contends for; no, tf must be forced to
this and plainly overpowered, or else it will keep
what it hath ; therefore in regeneration God conies
with that effectual, almighty grace which shaU infal
libly pull sin off from the throne, let it do its worst,
with that power which all the power of sin cannot
withstand ; and so the work is done. As you see in
the case of Peter — that I may open it by an aUusion
— you read Acts xii. 5, &c, how he was kept in
prison, bound with two chains, the keepers before
the door kept the prison, besides he had soldiers
by him, and he sleeping betwixt them : one would
think that now Herod had him fast enough, and
yet Peter is brought out ; how ? Why, the angel of
the Lord comes, in the strength of God, awakens
him, bids him arise, makes his chains fall off from
him, breaks open the prison doors, and so sets him
free. The like you read of Paul and Silas, Acts xvi.
23 : they were thrown into prison, the jailer charged
to keep them safely ; he throws them into the inner
prison, made their feet fast in the stocks, yet for all
this they were delivered; how? 'Suddenly there
was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of
the prison were shaken, and immediately all the
doors were opened, and every one's bonds were
loosed:' what could have brought these persons,

Chap. VI.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS Vill. 1-4.

127

under these circumstances, out of prison, but the
mtfaculous interposures of the mighty power of
God 1 and that did it effectually. Thus it is with
men in their natural state; sin and Satan have
them fast bound, secured in chains and fetters,
they cannot stir hand or foot to help themselves,
are fully under the power of their enemies ; how
are these now released? why, God comes, and the
Spirit comes, by renewing grace, and therein he
opens the doors of their hearts, though shut up
very fast, knocks off their fetters, conquers the
guard that is set upon them, breaks all the power
and force of sin, and so rescues them from that
thraldom and bondage which they were under.
Oh the power of renewing grace ! Well might Paul
say, Eph. iii. 20, 'According to the power that
worketh in us.' The truth is, in the freeing of a
soul from the law of sin, no less power is put forth
than that very power of God put forth in the raising
up of the Lord Jesus from the dead ; so the apostle
,makes the parallel, Eph. i. 19, 20; and that was
much above that power which was exerted in the
rescuing of the forementioned persons out of their
confinement. It had been morally impossible that
ever the children of Israel should have been freed
from the power of Pharaoh, and that woeful bondage
they were under, if God himself had not made bare
his arm and brought them out with a strong and
mighty hand, as it is Deut. vi. 21 ; Ps. cxxxvi. 12 ;
but it is a much harder thing to free the sinner from
his spiritual bondage, he being under a sadder cap
tivity, and held therein by a far greater strength
than what Pharaoh had. Oh surely no dehverance
could be expected from sin's dominion, unless in
finite power was engaged in the bringing of it
about : therefore how necessary as well as effica
cious is renewing grace ! But more of this when I
come to the third observation.
One use I have finished; several others should
have been made of the point in hand, as to shew
you yet further how you may find out your par
ticular cases, whether you be under the law of sin
or not ; how you may be freed from this law, if as
yet you be not so ; why you should labour after this
freedom, &c. But these things will as well fall in
under the next observation, and therefore I wiU
there insist upon them.

CHAPTER VI.
OF REGENERATE PERSONS BEING MADE FREE FROM
THE LAW OF SIN.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. — Rom.
viii. 2.
The second observation spoken to, viz., That persons truly
regenerate are made free from the law of sin — This
is, 1. cleared and stated : where it is shewn, that the
freedom is not to be carried further than the law of
sin — How sin is in the best, yea, and hath a great
power in them, and yet they are not under the law of
sin — when persons may be said to be so; or what
that is which constitutes the law of sin — That not to
be found in those who belong to God — The observation
2. confirmed by scriptures and reasons — It is, 3.
applied : First, By way of examination — Mistakes
about things which look like freedom from the law of
sin, and yet are not so : five particulars instanced in
—Secondly, AU are exhorted to make out after this
freedom — One direction in order to it — Thirdly, Such
as are made free, &c, ar'e exhorted, I. to be humble;
2. To stand fast in their liberty, and also to walk
suitably thereunto ; 3. To bless God — Fourthly, Gra
cious persons are comforted from hence.
The sum of these words, after the giving their
proper sense and meaning, hath been drawn into
three observations : the first of which hath been
spoken to ; the second now follows, and it is this,
That persons truly regenerate are made free from
the law of sin ; this is the privilege of all such, and
that, which always accompanies the state of grace or
regeneration, viz., freedom, from the law of sin.
Paul being such a person, here saith he was made
free from the law of sin.
For the better opening and stating of this truth,
the first thing to be done, I must necessarily remind
you of some things, which, in the explication of the
words, and elsewhere too, I have had occasion to
insist upon. As,
1. Though "the apostle here speaks in his own
person, ' the law of the Spirit of life hath made me

128

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

free,' &c, yet the thing spoken of is not to be limited
to him, individually considered, but to be extended
to all who are regenerated and sanctified ; his know
ledge of it might be somewhat special, but the thing
itself is common and general in all saints.
2. That the freedom mentioned in the. text refers
to the being made free from the commanding, reign
ing power of sin, rather than to the being made free
from the condemning power of sin.
3. The apostle speaks of it as an act that is past
— ' hath made me free,' &c. ; therefore that freedom
from sin which the saints shaU have hereafter in
their glorified estate is not here primarily intended,
but rather that which they have already upon their
sanctification. 4. This especially must be observed, which I must
more enlarge upon, that the thing which the saints
are freed from is but the law of sin. So the apostle
here states it, and therefore the words are to be
carried no further than to dehverance from that in
sin which doth properly denominate it to be a law,
or which doth belong to it in the notion and appel
lation of a law ; so far the saints in this life are
made free from it, but no further %
For the preventing of mistakes, and the due
bounding of the point, two things must be laid down
and made good :
As, 1. That this freedom is not to be taken simply
and absolutely for perfect deliverance from the very
being and inhesion of sin, but only for deliverance
from sin in the notion of a law. The highest saints —
God knows, and they themselves know too well — in
their present state are far from being wholly, com
pletely, perfectly made free from sin in this respect;
yet the very lowest saints are truly and really made
free from the law of sin. There is a great difference
betwixt the inbeing and the law of sin, betwixt the
residence and the reign of sin, betwixt sin's mansion
and sin's dominion. Sin will have a being in God's
people though it be not a law to them, a residence
in them though it doth not reign over them, a man
sion though it be cast out of dominion. There are
none on this side of heaven so pure but that there
is some mixture in them ; they have corruption as
well as grace, as the best grain has its chaff, and the
brightest marble its spots and flaws : 'the regenerate
themselves, whilst here on earth, are but like gold

in the ore, which hath much of baser matter mingled
with it. Oh this sin cleaves fast to us ! it will hve
as long as we live, and will not die tiU we die ; it
wUl be in the soul so long as the soul is in the body;
upon conversion it is cast down, but not whoUy cast
out; and therefore aU that we can safely ground upon
from the text, or that is designed in the present
truth, is deliverance only from the law of sin. It is
here according to what you read of Daniel's beasts :
Dan. vii. 12, 'They had their dominion taken away;
yet their lives were prolonged for a season and
time.' Sin's dominion at the first moment of the
sinner's conversion is taken away, yet for some time
it lives and hath a being in the soul. Or as you
read of the Canaanites, they were to be divested of
all their power, yet God, for some reasons, would
have them to continue in the Holy Land, and not
cut them off all at once, Exod. xxui. 28, &c. ; just so
he orders it with his people in reference to sin.
You have in the words, according to some, a double
freedom — one from sin, and another from death;-
now we are not absolutely freed from death, but
only from the law of it, that is, from the tyranny
and curse of it ; so neither are we absolutely freed
from sin, but only from the law of it, that is, the
power and tyranny of it.
Nay, 2. Even the deliverance of regenerate per
sons from the power of sin must be taken but in a
limited and quahfied sense ; not as if they were
wholly freed even from that, so as that sin should
have no power in them, for as to that too in this
life they come short. Alas ! it is the -affliction of
true converts not only to have sin, habitual and
actual, but, which is much worse, that sin hath a
great power and strength in them and over them.
True indeed, it hath not such a power in them as it
hath in the unregenerate, for its power is very much
broken, and is not so entire and absolute in them as
it is in the other ; yet it hath too much of power
even in them also. By which I do not mean only
sin's molesting power,1 as it can and doth here
greatly molest, disturb, disquiet, trouble, vex the
dearest of God's children ; nor only sin's assaulting
power, as it can and doth often invade and set upon
the saints, wherever they are or whatever they are
1 Of these things, and of sin's dominion, as to the whole, read
Sedgwick's Anatomy of Sin, chap. iv.

Chap. VI.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

129

about, in order to the overcoming of them ; nor only
sin's tempting and provoking power, as it doth
strongly excite, urge, provoke, solicit them to what
is evil ; we may go higher than so, it hath a worser
power than aU these, namely, a prevaUing power :
now at some times and in some cases God's own
people may be brought even under that. Oh sin
may carry the day and be victorious over them ! it
may with great efficacy and success prevaU even in
them, both in the keeping of them from what is
good, and also in the drawing of them to what is
evil. Is this a thing to be questioned, though the
truth of it is much to be lamented ? Do we not see
it by sad experience made good in ourselves and
others ? Did not Paul himself, who here saith he
was made free from the law of sin, yet, which hath
often come in my way, a little before, when he was
in the same state in which here he was, make sad
complaints about it? 'I find,' saith he, 'a law,
that when I would do good, evU is present with
me ;' as if he had said, others may dream of perfec
tion, and please themselves with the thoughts of
their high attainments, but, as to mysetf, I cannot
pretend to any such thing ; for my part, ' I find a
law,' &c. ; there is such a law, such a corrupt, cursed
nature in me, which hath too much strength and
power over me ; and, saith he, this law I find, I
plainly perceive it and cannot but take notice of it ;
I do not only hear of tf, but I find and feel it in my
self, in the sad fruits and effects of it ; yea, saith he,
this is no weak or languid thing, but that which
hath a great power in me ; for it wars against the
law of my mind, and leads me captive, &c. : thus
this great saint did groan under sin's power. And
if a Paul thus complains, how may others com
plain ? If sin had such a power in him, what hath
it in poor Christians of a far lower size and stature?
We have too many instances, not only of the having
and bare inbeing of sin, but of the prevailing power
of sin even in truly, yea, eminently gracious persons.
David commits adultery, plots the death of Uriah,
numbers the people, &c. Noah is drunk, Lot in
cestuous, Hezekiah proud, Job impatient, Peter
denies Christ, &c. Oh the strength and efficacy of
sin even in the regenerate themselves ! It may and it
doth sometimes prevail in the strongest, though it
never rules in the weakest ; yet you must know that

these partial successes of sin do not amount to the
law of sin : it may conquer and yet not command,
its prevalency doth not evince its regency ; the in
vader may win the field in some battles, and yet for
all that not be upon the throne. But, I say, sin
pro hic et nunc may have a prevaUing power even
over the best, notwithstanding their being made
free from the law of sin.
AU then that we can warrantably and truly fix
upon in this matter is this, that such who are in the
state of grace, in whom the Spirit hath wrought as
the Spirit of life, they are made free from the law of
sin ; that law being taken in its strict and proper
notion, according to the explication which hath been
given of it, and as noting something more than the
bare power of sin with respect to some particular
acts. In some sense sin may be said to be a law in
the regenerate, namely, in regard of that power and
strength which it hath in them ; but yet it is not a
law to the regenerate, because they do not own it or
submit to it, as to that which hath the authority or
dominion over them. You have heard there are two
things which make sin to be a law : one is authori
tative commanding on its part, the other is full and
free resignation on the sinner's part to its commands
and impulsions. Now the unsanctified in both of
these ways are under the law of sin, but with the
sanctified it is not so, especially in the latter respect.
Indeed, sin, on its part, wUl often be laying its com
mands upon them, magisterially and imperiously
enough, but they do not, on their part, yield obedi
ence or subjection to those commands ; possibly now
and then through infirmity they may hearken to
something that sin enjoins, but as to their general
course, and to the bent and purpose of their hearts,
they say, sin shall not reign over us. Sin is only
then a law when it hath habitual, universal, entire,
absolute dominion, and when the sinner gives up
himself in wUUng, ready, total subjection to it. Now
it is never thus bad with the regenerate, sin's power
never rises so high where grace is ; in this respect
every child of God is made free from the law of sin,
and in this notion the apostle here takes the law of
sin. In the former chapter he speaks to it as it
notes the power and strength of the relics of sin, and
as its power is but somewhat broken, and so he felt
too much of it ; but here in the text he speaks to
R

130

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

it as it is in its full power and strength, and so he
was freed from' it.1
Several of these things have occurred in what goes
before, but they being most necessary and proper in
this place, I could not but again mention them.
Having thus stated the doctrine, and given you the
explication of it, I am now, secondly, to make out
the truth of it, and to prove that persons truly re
generate are made free from the law of sin. And
surely so it is ; as certain as the unrenewed are
under this law, so certain are the renewed freed
from it. Paul here attests it as to himself : ' The
law of the Spirit,' &c. ; and elsewhere he asserts the
same in a more general manner. That text is not
impertinent to my present purpose, in 2 Cor. Hi. 1 7,
' Where the Sptfit of the Lord is ' (as the Spirit of
life, as renewing and regenerating,) ' there is liberty,'
(or freedom from the law of sin ;) for I conceive the
apostle doth not only speak of liberty of spirit, in
opposition to bondage of spirit, or the sptfit -of bond
age, but also of the liberty of the state, in opposition
to the state of bondage ; and that, too, is not to be
limited only to the hberty of the gospel state, in op
position to the bondage of the law, though I grant
the words are brought in more immediately upon
that account ; but it is applicable to persons with
respect to their inward and spiritual state, as by the
sanctifying Spirit they are freed from the power of
sin, and from that bondage which they were under
to it in their natural condition : so that the liberty
here spoken of is, in a great measure, one and the
same with the being made free from the law of sin
in my text ; and if so, then you see how positively
it is asserted, ' where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.' So, again, the apostle, Rom. vi.,
speaks much of the law or reign and dominion of
1 At inquies, quomodo Paulus se liberatum 'jactat a lege
peccati, qui capite pracedente questus sit se adhuc mancipari
legi peccati, et adhuc servire legi peccati ? Dixit se carne ei
servire, at mente legi Dei. Si carne tantum, non mente, ergo
vere liberatus ; a mente enim, non a carne, fidslis ajstimandus
est, kc. Adde quod lex peccati non eodem prorsus modo hic
sumitur atque prsecedente capite. Hic signifieat plenum illud
peccati dominium, cui totus homo naturalis extra Christum
constitutes, subjectus est, kc Illic autem per legem peccati
intelligebantur reliquiae quasdam istius dominii, quod pecca
tum non in totum hominem fidelem, sed in membra, sive in
carnem ejus tantum, i.e., in oorruptam naturam, adhuc exer-
c~et, &c. — Lud. de Dieu.

sin ; which he having dehorted from, ver. 12, ' Let
not sin reign in you,' &c, he then backs his dehor-
tation with a promise, ver. 14, ' For sin shall not
have dominion over you, because you are not under
the law, but under grace.' 1 The grace here mainly
intended is that assisting, helping, strengthening
grace which always accompanies the gospel or new
covenant state ; the law commanded much, but gave
no strength for the doing what it commanded ; but
the gospel, where it requires duty, it always enables
a person to perform it. Now upon this grace Paul
assures believers that, they endeavouring on their
part and making vigorous resistance to sin, it should
not have dominion over them, because they should
certainly have such strength and assistance given
them from God, as that their endeavours should be
successful against aU sin's assaults, — this, I say, is
the grace primarily intended in this place ; yet you
may take in, too, converting and renewing grace,
and then the words will run thus : Sin neither hath
nor ever shall ' have dominion over "y°u;' who are
believers, ' because you are not under the law,' ie.,
that law which only discovers sin, but doth not help
to conquer it, which leaves the person as it finds
him, without any changing of his heart or state,
' but you are under grace,' i.e., regenerating grace,
which always delivers from, and secures against, the
dominion of sin.
And besides these Scripture proofs, in point of
reason it must needs be so, because upon regenera
tion there is another active, operative, commanding
principle infused into the soul, viz., grace; now
grace and the law of sin are inconsistent. It may
consist with sin, for otherwise there would be no
grace in this lower world ; but it cannot consist with '
the law of sin, or with sin in its full and absolute
dominion and power. Two contrary principles can
not be together in the same subject in their full
vigour and strength ; the Hke, cceteris paribus, maybe
said of contrary powers ; if sin be the principle in
its full efficacy so as to make it a law, then there is
no grace, because if this was in the soul it would
1 Homo consideratur ante legem, sub lege, sub gratia, in
pace. . Ante legem non pugnamus, sub lege pugnamus, sed
vincimur, sub gratia pugnamus et vincimus, in pace non pug
namus quidem.— Aug. Lib. Octog., Quaest. 56 ; et in Expos.
quarund. Propos. Ep. ad Rom.

Chap. VI.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

131

certainly break the full strength of the opposite
principle. True grace is a commanding thing as
well as sin ; there is such a holy pride in it that it
disdains and scorns to be subject to corruption, or to
let sin be above it ; it can,' though not without re
luctancy, bear the inbeing of sin, but it cannot bear
sin as a co-rival or competitor with it in point of
rule and dominion. Here the elder must serve the
younger, (to allude to that of Jacob and Esau, Gen.
xxv. 23 ;) I mean, the corrupt nature must be an
underling to that which is sanctified. If Hagar will
be content to Hve in the house in a state of infe
riority, weU and good, that for a time must be sub
mitted to ; but if she wUl be presuming to vie with
her mistress for authority and rule, and nothing will
serve her below that, she must then be made to know
herself. The application is obvious.
To make the thing unquestionable, pray consider
what that in special is which is done by God at the
converting of a soul ; it is this very thing, the de
throning of sin and Satan, and the enthroning of
Christ and grace. Where God converts, he doth in
effect say : Sin, thou must now come down, and
Christ and grace shaU now ascend the throne.
Whenever the sinner is regenerated, in the first
moment of that state sin is divested of its usurped
power and regency, and the kingdom of Christ, in
and by grace, is set up in him. Now Christ's king
dom and sin's kingdom are incompatible ; where he
reigns it shall not, for he is impatiens consortis ; but
especiaUy he wUl not have such a base thing as sin
to share with him in the government of the soul.
Where Christ comes and takes possession, he always
aboHshes the law of sin, and instead of that sets up
another law ; for new lords will have new laws, and
different lords different laws. Therefore, in the work
of conversion, God promises to write his law in the
heart : Jer. xxxi. 33, ' But this shall be the cove
nant that I wtfl make with the house of Israel, I wUl
put my law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts.' Now upon the doing of that the law
of sin is defaced, antiquated, and cancelled, for since
contrary laws cannot be together in their full force,
the former must be abohshed upon the introduction
of the latter.
Once more. In the text you have ' the law of the
Sptfit of life' brought in in opposition to, and in

order to the abolition of, ' the law of sin ; ' which
being considered, it affords a very weighty argument
for the proof of the. truth in hand. The law of the
Spirit is the mighty power of the Spirit put forth in
the regenerate soul, for the rescuing of it from the
power of sin, and the bringing of it under the rule
and sceptre of the Lord Christ. Now shall this
Spirit put forth such a mighty power for this very
end, and yet sin continue as high in its sovereignty
as before? What advantage, then, would the be
liever have by the law of the Spirit, if the law of sin
should yet be kept up in him ? Certainly when this
great Spirit shall vouchsafe to exert his great power,
there must be some great effect produced by it. And
what can that be but the delivering of the poor captive
sinner from sin's bondage, the destroying of Satan's
kingdom, and the setting up of Christ's sweet and
gracious government in the soul. But I spend time
in the proving of that which indeed needs not much
proof. In the application of the doctrine, which I judge
wiU be more useful and necessary, I might here take
occasion to confute those who, misunderstanding this
passage, ' Being made free from the law of sin,' do
from thence infer and argue for the saints' perfection
in this Hfe. But having given you aU that this
freedom contains in it, which comes exceeding short
of perfection, I think I need not — I am sure I will
not — speak anything further for the obviating and
refuting of that proud opinion. He that here saith
he was made free from the law of sin, elsewhere
saith also he had not already attained nor was
already perfect, &c, PhU. Hi. 12, and surely he went
as far, nay, much further, than any of our modern
perfectionists. God make us sensible of imperfec
tion in this state, and ever to be pressing after and
waiting for that perfection which only belongs to
.the future state !
I might also from hence infer the happiness of
such who are truly regenerate, and the preciousness,
exceUency, advantage of regenerating grace : oh how
happy are they who are delivered from sin's yoke !
and how precious is that grace which instates the
soul in such liberty !
Use 1 . But passing by these things, I will in the first
place desire you to make diligent search whether
you be thus freed from the law of sin. 0 sirs !

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[Chap. VI.

how is it with you ? what can you say of yourselves
about this ? You heard in the former point that aU
in the natural state are under this law. Adam hath
entailed this bondage upon all his posterity ; had he
not faUen we had come into the world with the law
of God written in our hearts, but now we are born
with the law of sin written in them ; are we there
fore brought out of the state of nature? In this
point you have heard that they who are regenerate
are made free from it ; so that if you be not such,
you are concluded to be yet under the law of sin ;
these two do mutually prove each the other : if it
be the state of unregeneracy, it is the law of sin, and
if it be the law of sin it is the state of unregeneracy.
Well, it highly concerns you to be most seriously
inquisitive about this; I pray, therefore, bring it down
to yourselves one by one, and ask, How is it with
me? Am I under the law of sin? or am I made
free from it ? Some law or other I must be under,
for every man in the world is so, therefore what is
the law which hath the authority over me 1 is it the
law of Christ, the law of grace, or is it the law of sin ?
hath not the sinful nature in me the -dominion of a
law, and the efficacy of a principle ? is not all that
which makes up the law of sin to be found in me ?
To help you in this inquiry I need not say much
more than what I have already said : do but look
back to the explication of sin's being a law, as also
to the answer of that question how this may be
known, and there is enough to direct you in exami
nation and passing judgment upon yourselves. Yet,
however, a little further to help you herein, and also
to quicken you to the more serious searching into it,
let me teU you there are very great and dangerous
mistakes in this matter ; oh how far may sinners go,
and how well may they think of themselves, and yet
for all that be under the law of sin ! men catch at
false evidences, and lay that stress upon them which
they wiU not bear. Let me instance in a few parti
culars, to shew how far persons may go and yet not be
made free from the law of sin, or to set forth the weak
ness of some grounds which men build upon for this.
1. They make some resistance to sin, and there
fore they conclude they are not under its power.
But, alas ! this will not prove it, for (1.) This resist
ance may be but a faint, weak, half-resistance ; (2.)
It may be but to this or that sin, not to every sin :

(3.) It may be to sin, but not as sin — that is,.sin may
be resisted because of the effects and consequences
of it, as it kindles God's wrath, brings punishment,,
ends in hell, exposes to shame before men, &c, and
yet as considered in its own nature, as it is an
offence to God, a breach of the holy commandment, '
an aberration from the straight rule, so no resistance
may be made to it, but the sinner readily closes
with tf, and likes it well enough : now such a resist
ance as this wUl not amount to a proof or evidence
of not being under the law of sin. There is a resist
ance, indeed, which will undeniably prove it, as when
it is hearty, thorough, vigorous, universal ; when it
is such that the utmost strength of the soul goes out
in it against sin, when it is made to every sin, and
to sin as sin ; where it is thus, it is no law of sin; he
that thus opposes and resists it, it is most certain he
is none of sin's slaves and subjects ; if therefore it
be thus with any of you it is weU, but you must not
bottom too much upon mere resistance, tf it be not
thus qualified and stated. Indeed no-resistarice is a
good affirmative argument to prove sin.'s dominion,
but every kind of resistance is not a good negative
argument to prove no dominion thereof. Sincere
Christians may fetch much comfort from their resist-
ings of sin; but as to those which are common andordi-
naryin others,little comfort canbe fetched from them.
2. Persons may be free from very many sins, may
not have such violent inclinations to some particular
sins, and yet for all this be under the law of sin.
The reason is this, because there may be some other
sins in which, though not in these, it may exercise
full authority over them. Possibly they are not
proud, but they are covetous ; they are not openly
vicious, but they are worldly ; they are not unclean,
but they are spiteful and malicious. Now reigning
sin never limits itself to any one sin, though it be
not obeyed in this or that ; if its commands be
observed in any other sin, it is enough ; willing and
full subjection to it in any one sin — I speak not of
particular acts, but of the kinds of sin— evinces its
dominion. Thou pleasest thyself because such cor
ruptions and lusts do not prevail over thee ; ay, but
if any other single lust rules thee, so that it hath
thy heart, and thou yieldest free and entire obe
dience to it, this sufficiently determines thy case;
thou art under the law of sim As ' whoever keeps

Chap. VI.]

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133

the whole law of God, and yet offends in one point,
is guilty of all,' James ii. 10; so whoever opposes the
whole law of sin, and yet in some one point resigns
up himself to it, he is as truly under the power of it
as if he obeyed it in all its commands. There needs
not thirty tyrants at once to enslave a people ; one
is enough. 3. Sin may seem to He still and quiet in the heart,
to let sinners alone, that they shaU not feel its
urgings and impulsions to what is evil — especially
in such a violent and impetuous manner — and yet
they may be under its full strength and empire ; for
this stiUness and quietness of sin may proceed merely
from the entireness of its reign, or because it meets
with no opposition— the soul doth whatever it will
have it do ; no wonder, then, that it is still. Pharaoh
himself was so till the people of Israel would cast
off. his yoke; but then he bestirred himself, and
marched in all his rage and fury against them. Oh,
when the sinner begins to think of changing his
master, when Christ and grace are competitors with
sin, who shaU rule ? how doth it then, though it was
quiet before, shew itself, and put forth all its strength
for the securing of its dominion ! We say, Natura
vexata seipsam prodit ; when sin is vexed and crossed
a little, then you shall see and feel what it is ; but
so long as it is pleased, all is still and calm. And
do any say they feel not the impetuous risings,
stirrings, motions of sin ? doth not this proceed from
their insensibleness ? If so, then sin's power is very
high ; for the less is the sinner's sense, the greater
always is sin's power ; if aU be in peace, it is a sign
the strong man keeps the house, Luke xi. 21. Sin
evermore hath the fullest dominion where it gives
the least disturbance; where it troubles least it rules
most. If there be little or no sense, no conflict, no
trouble, it is a very bad sign that sin is entire upon
the throne.
L There may be some trouble upon the conscience
after the commission of sin, and yet it be the law of
sin. It was so in Cain, in Ahab, in Judas, &c. Where
there is no after-grief, sin indeed reigns ; there may
be some after-grief, and yet for all that sin may reign
too. Upon the commission of some known sin, na
tural and enlightened conscience may fall upon a
man and vex him sorely. Sin usually hath not that
power in the conscience which it hath in the other

faculties; it may entirely have the will and affec
tions, whilst yet conscience stands off, and is not so
fully on its side. No, that — unless it be a cauterised
conscience — will give in its dictates against sin, and,
if it be not hearkened to, it will smite and vex and
gall the sinner to some purpose. And because some
times it is fast asleep and neglects to do its office,
therefore God himself interposes to awaken and set
it on the sinner. Conscience, saith God, go and do
thine office ; make such a man know what he hath
done, tell him of his sin and spare him not, pursue
him from place to place with the sense of his guilt,
&c. Well ! now aU this may be but in order to
his smarting, and not in order to his healing ; this
trouble may be only penal, and not medicinal or peni
tential, and therefore doth not amount to any proof
of freedom from the law of sin. I would not discour
age any true penitent. Know, therefore, sin never
reigns where the soul grieves for it, provided, (1.)
That the ground of this belief be right, viz., because
God is offended, the good Spirit grieved, the holy
law violated, &c. ; (2.) That the effect of this grief
be reformation, and the leaving that sin which the
soul seems to mourn over.1 If there be not these
two things accompanying the trouble upon the con
science, it speaks nothing against the dominion of sin.
5. Men may do that which materially is very
good, and may hold on in so doing for some time,
and yet be under the law of sin. Oh, there are
many who pray, hear the word, attend upon ordi
nances, give alms, &c, and yet sin is stUl regent in
them; because, (1.) Though they do aU this, yet
the heart is not at all changed in them. Now sin's
power never goes off tUl the heart be made new.
(2.) Because, which is more demonstrative, the heart
is rotten in all this. Christ hath the external duty,
but sin hath the heart. Some outward respect is
shewn to God, but yet the heart is set for some lust
against God ; as you read of those, Ezek. xxxiii. 31,
'And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear
thy words, but they will not do them; for with their
mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth
i Pcenitentia est mala prseterita plangere, et plangenda
iterum non committere.— Amir, de Pom. Inanis est poeni-
tentia quam sequens inquinat culpa, et nihil prosunt lamenta
si iterantur peccata. — Aug.

134

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

after their covetousness.' It is(a thing too common
for men, even in their external serving of God, to
serve sin more than God ; and God's work is done
by them for the matter of it ; but sin so far inter
poses its authority and strength as that it. carries
it in the sinner as to his ends in whathe doth, and
if it can but sway and order him in them, God may
have the external act, but stUl it hath the sovereignty
and power within. The same holds true, too, as to
a plausible, outwardly good conversation ; external
piety is too weU consistent with the internal reign of
sin ; it rules in the fair professing hypocrite, as well
as in the gross and scandalous sinner.
By this, you see, you may run yourselves upon
great mistakes in taking up with such evidences as
wUl not prove your being made free from the law of
sin. Oh that the consideration thereof might make
you the more careful lest you, as many thousands are
to their eternal undoing, should herein be deceived ;
as also quicken you to the trial of yourselves by those
things which will infallibly prove the thing in hand !
What are they 1 Why, no allowed subjection to sin;
no tame, quiet submission to its commands ; inward
renouncing, nay, abjuring of its authority ; a rooted,
vigorous opposition to it in aUits cursed suggestions;
an utter dislike and hatred of it ; the bent and im
petus of the heart set against it ; universal resigna
tion of a man's self to the law and wUl of God ; a
hearty willingness, nay, desire, to come under the
rule and government of the Lord Jesus, &c. ; these
are the things you are to inquire after and to judge
by, for these are sure evidences which you may rely
upon. Happy is that man who finds these in him
self ! he may with confidence build upon them that
he is indeed made free from the law of sin ; but he
that is confident upon anything short of these, will,
sooner or later, find he was too credulous. So much
for this use.
Use 2. The next shall be to exhort you and
others, yea, all men in the whole world, tf I could
reach them, to labour after and make sure of a share
and interest in this blessed freedom from sin's power
and dominion. Regenerate persons, you hear, have
it ; shall the unregenerate sit still, and be quiet and
contented under the want of it ? God forbid ! To
be made free from the law of sin, what a mercy or
privUege is this ! Oh how much is there in it to ex

cite, draw, allure sinners to desire, love, and value it,
and to be industrious after it ! He that can upon
good grounds say over the words of the text, needs
no higher happiness. It was more for Paul to say
' the law of the Spirit of Hfe,' &c, than if he could
have said that God had given him aU the kingdoms,
crowns, diadems, riches, honours, pleasures of this.
world. You see he applies it to himself, and surely
he had comfort enough in that apphcation. Now,
sinners, when will you be able to say the same of
yourselves, that you also by the power of the Spirit
are made free from the law of sin ? Oh, as Eliphaz
once said to Job, ' hear it, and know it for thyself,'
Job v. 27 ; so I would say to you, Hear this and
know it for yourselves, so as to get it for, and to be
able to appropriate it unto, your own selves ; so as
to take the me here as coming out of Paul's mouth
concerning himsetf, into your mouths one by one
concerning yourselves. Sirs, this is a thing of such
importance that we ministers cannot speaktoo much,
or be too earnest about it. It is the great end of
our Lord and master, in his employing us in the work
of the ministry, ' to open your eyes, to turn you
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God,' Acts xxvi. 18 ; and therefore, though I
have said so much already to press the thing upon
you, yet I must further plead with you in order to
the more effectual pressing of it.
Therefore consider, hath not this sin tyrannised
long enough over you ? Are you willing stiU f o con
tinue under its thraldom and vassalage? Must this
cursed usurper for ever sit upon the throne ? Shall
it yet command and give law to you? What woeful
and miserable bondage attends its empire and go
vernment hath been described largely, shall all that
be nothing to you ? to be slaves, the very worst of
slaves, shall that be but a little thing in your eye ?
Other bondage, not half so bad, you cannot bear,
you detest and dread it ; shall the worst bondage
only be tolerable, nay, eligible, ? Pray look back to
the description of sin's bondage, p. 120, &c, and me
thinks your heart should rise at it. It is an astonish- '
ing thing to consider that so exceUent a creature as
man, who hath such an excellent being in him as a
reasonable and immortal soul, should so tamely sub
mit to so base a thing as sin, and make no more of
servitude to it. Doth God, in the gospel, so gra-

Chap. VI.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

135

ciously tender liberty, privative and positive, to you,
and will you not accept of it ? May you be made
free, and will you not ? Oh stupendous folly ! Is
this after the manner of men with respect to exter
nal liberty or bondage ? When God sent Moses to
dehver Israel out of their bondage, what madness
would it have been Hi them not to have accepted it !
Let there be a ransom sent to the poor captives
under Turkish cruelty, would they not readUy em
brace it ? Ah, sinner ! the Lord Jesus came from
heaven on purpose to redeem thy poor captive soul
out of the hands of sin and Satan ; he hath, on his
part, effected what he came about ; he now offers his
merit and Spirit to make thee free ; nay, he invites,
entreats, soUcits, beseeches thee that thou wUt accept
of the liberty purchased for thee ; and yet wilt thou
hug thy chains, play with thy fetters, love thy dun
geon, be fond of thy bondage, and prefer it before
liberty ? What is this but madness not to be paral
leled ! What ingratitude is this to thy Saviour !
what cruelty to thyself ! As to thee I may weU alter
Tiberius's 0 gentem, &c, into 0 animam ad servitutem
natam ! Further, I pray you, think of this : tf sin
rule you, wiU Christ save you? You cannot but
know the contrary. You know that he rules wher
ever he saves ; that he wUl be the governor where
he is the Saviour ; that sin's yoke must be taken off,
and his yoke taken up, or no salvation, Mat. xi. 29 ;
and yet shall sin be obeyed, and be thy lord and
sovereign, rather than Christ ? The business comes
to a narrow issue. Let Christ rule thee and he wiU
save thee,' but let sin command thee and it will con
demn thee. The law of Christ and of the Sptfit is
the law of life, but the law of sin is the law of death.
But these things have been insisted upon. Oh
that this Sptfit, which frees from the law of sin,
would shew you what there is in the law of sin !
Men do not endeavour to get out of it, because they
are not convinced of the evil that is in it ; did they
but know what it is, they would choose to die rather
than to live under it. And as for you, let me ask
you how you carry it in other respects. You hate
the tyrant without, will you love the tyrant within ?
You groan under the laws of men when they are a
Httle heavy, shall there be no groaning under the far
heavier laws of sin 1 You will not be called slaves
to any, will you be content to be indeed slaves to

sin ? Is a barbarous Turk cried out of, when a devU
and a cursed nature are never regarded ? •
But one consideration more. As God made you
at the first, you had nothing to do with this law of
sin. No, he made you for his own government,
to be subject to himsetf; his law was written within
you, to command and act you in your whole course ;
how, then, came sin by this power ? how did it get
up thus into the throne 1 Why, only by the first
apostasy from God. Adam's fall was sin's rise. Its
reign commenced from man's rebellion. It is a mere
upstart and intruder. God never designed this
power to it. Will you now, by your liking of it and
continuance under it, give an after-ratification or
approbation of its power ? It hath deprived you of
your primitive Hberty, and will you not endeavour
to regain it? When Sardis was taken by the
Grecians, Xerxes commanded that every day when
he was at dinner one should cry aloud, Sardis is lost,
Sardis is lost, that hereby he might be reminded of
what he had lost, and stirred up to endeavour the
regaining of it. 0 sirs, your original liberty is
lost ! Sin hath got it out of your hands. This we
proclaim in your ears from time to time, that you
may never be quiet tUl you have recovered it, and
yet will you do nothing in order thereunto ? WiU
you even sit still under this inexpressible loss ?
Oh that is sad !
All this hath been spoken to set you against sin's
dominion, to excite you to the most earnest endea
vours to be rid of its sovereignty, to cause you to
fly to the Spirit of life that you may be made free
from the law of sin, to work holy purposes in you
that sin shall no longer reign over you, that you
may say with the church, Isa. xxvi. 12, '0 Lord
our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion
over us, but by thee only will we make mention of
thy name.' Oh that I might prevail with some soul
to say with respect to sin, Ah, Lord, other lords
have had dominion over me ; lust, pride, passion,
covetousness, sensuality, have ruled me just as they
pleased, but I desire it may be so no longer ; I am
resolved now only to be subject to thyself; oh do
thou dethrone sin and enthrone thyself in me, let
me be brought under, universal, hearty, ready sub
jection to thy laws, and let not the law of sin carry
it in me any longer, &c.

136

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

In what ways and by what means a poor enslaved
sinner may be made free from the law of sin, is a
very weighty inquiry ; and I would hope that some
sinners, being convinced by what hath been spoken,
have it in their thoughts. For answer to it there
is one direction only which I shall at present give :
it is this : Get into the regenerate state. Regenerate
persons are the adequate subjects of this freedom ;
they, and none but they, are freed from sin as a
law. Paul, so long as he was unconverted, was as
much under this law as any person whatsoever, but
as soon as it pleased God to convert him he was
made free from it. This deliverance depends upon
the state; it must be the state of regeneracy, till
which, sin wUl keep up its regency and sovereignty
in the soul. Oh, as you have heard, when grace
once comes into the heart the kingdom of sin goes
down, and the kingdom of Christ goes up therein ;
but never before. AU your strivings, endeavours,
convictions, purposes, promises, will never make
sin's throne to shake and fall, tiU you be renewed
and sanctified. Therefore pray much for the re
generating Spirit, and attend much upon the re
generating, word in order to this great work : John
ni. 5, ' Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'
James i. 18, ' Of his own wtfl begat he us by the
word of truth,' &c. * 1 Cor. iv. 15, 'In Christ Jesus
I have begotten you through the gospel ; ' it is this
Spirit and this word which must renew and bring
about the new birth in you, and so ' deliver you
from the power of darkness, and translate you into
the kingdom of God's dear Son,' as the apostle speaks,
Col. i. 1 3. But this wiU be more properly enlarged
upon when I shaU come to the third observation,
therefore here I will say no more about it.
Use 3. I wiU direct mysetf to those who by the
Spirit of life are made free from the law of sin.
Something to them, 1. By way of counsel ; 2. Byway
of comfort.
By way of counsel I will urge three duties upon
them :
1. The first is hearty and deep humiliation ; and
this is incumbent upon such, partly upon what is
past, and partly upon what is present.
First, Hath the Lord been so gracious to any of
you as to bring you out of the natural bondage, to

dethrone and bring down this sin which did at such
a rate domineer over you? Oh you must be deeply
humbled upon your taking a view of what is past.
You are now — God be blessed for it ! — made free,
but how long was it before this was done? How
many years did you pass over in the unregenerate
state, in which you were as much under the com
mand and at the beck of sin as any ? How great
a part of your life hath been spent in its drudgery
and vassalage ? For how long a time did you tamely
submit to its yoke, when you would by no means be
brought to submit to the yoke of Christ ? Do you
not remember how it was with you a few days or
years ago, when the sceptre was in sin's hands, and
it ruled and acted you even as it pleased ? Should
not this now be thought of with the greatest
grief and sorrow? Oh the bondage, rebellion,
enmity of the natural state should, even by con
verted ones, often be remembered and bitterly be-
waUed ! That is a soul-humbhng, heartmelting
word, Eph. ii. 3, ' Among whom also we all had
our conversation in times past, in the lusts,! &c. ;
who can read that sad description of a sinner before
conversion, Ezek. xvi. 3-5, &c, and not be af
fected? Secondly, You must be humbled upon the con
sideration of what is present. It is better than it
hath been, yet not so weU as it might and should
be ; sin hath lost its absolute, fuU, entire power, but
yet it lives, nay, yet it hath a great strength and
power in and over you, ay, and against you too, so as
that it is still able to do you much hurt, notwithstand
ing its being weakened ; as Samson, though he was
much debUitated when his locks were cut, yet he
had strength enough left to do mischief to the Phil
istines. Do not you to this very day find the cor
rupt nature very strong and powerful? sin rising
and stirring in you with great vigour? many very
evil inclinations assaulting you with such vehemency
that you scarce know how to resist? Doth not cor
ruption, this and that lust, too often foil you, and
triumph over you as its captives? Now, though
these things are not enough to evince sin's domin
ion, yet surely they call for deep humUiation. It
doth not rule you here, it shaU not damn you here
after ; but it defiles you, often separates betwixt you
and your God, draws you off from him, prevailingly

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137

hinders you from what is good, and prevailingly
also excites you to what is evil. Is not this sad ?
Is there nothing to afflict a gracious heart but only
the unbroken power of sin ? Oh why are you not
more in crying out, ' 0 wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this body of death ! '
He that gloried here in his dehverance from the law
of sin, in one sense, was as much abased before
because of the law of sin, of which he felt so much
in another sense. The wise God orders it thus, that
sin shall not only have a being in his people, but
also a considerable power over them in this Hfe;
-amongst other ends for this, that he may keep them
humble, and draw out and heighten their godly
sorrow; and indeed there is more in the reHcs of
sin to humble the true Christian, than in all the out
ward evils that either do or can befall him. Oh
never think how it hath been, how yet it is, without
great self-abasement and humiliation ! When you
begin to be ' exalted above measure,' 2 Cor. xii. 7,
remember what you were, consider what you are.
2. Are you made free from the law of sin? let
me say to you what Paul once said to the Galatians,
in reference to their being made free from the cere
monial law, ' Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage,' Gal. v. 1. Is sin
brpught down ? be sure you keep it down ; it is pity
it should get up again, or ever recover its pristine
power. When a people have once got the usurper
off from the throne, it concerns them to look to it
that he doth not regain it ; for should he so do, their
condition then would be much worse than before.
Saints ! just so should you carry it towards sin.
That is brought under at present ; ay, but it watches
all opportunities for the regaining of that power
which it hath lost, for it is of a proud nature, and
cannot bear the loss of superiority ; you must there
fore always be upon your guard, with your weapons
in your hands, ready to make resistance against it
in all its attempts, or else it will soon rally its forces
and make head again upon you, and endanger aU.
I know all its attempts are in vain as to the recovery
of its former dominion ; God wUl not suffer it again
to lord it over you as before it did ; yet if you be
careless, especially if you in the least side with it,
it.wUl strangely get ground and grow upon you.

Therefore, as Christ once charged the healed man,
John v. 14, 'Thou art made whole, sin no more;'
so would I charge you, You are made free, oh
sin no more, that you may never come under its
bondage again. Though God had so miraculously
brought Israel out of Egypt, and out of that miser
able servitude that there they were in, yet upon all
occasions how desirous were they to be in Egypt
again. Shall it be thus with you ? shaU your gracious
deUverance be so undervalued ? have you such low
thoughts of sin's servitude as that you can be wUling
to come under it again ? Pray learn how to put a
due value upon your liberty ; prize it at a high rate,
and so prize it as to continue in it and to maintain
it to your utmost. Amongst other conditions which
were anciently imposed upon those who were set at
hberty this was one, that they should not servitutis
jugum iterum sponte suscipere, wUHngly submit to the
yoke of bondage again; and is not this obligation laid
upon souls in their being made free by Christ and
the Spirit ? The historian tells us a good man will
lose his life as soon as his liberty ;x oh, how should
you defend that spiritual Hberty which you have by
Christ and by grace ! I beseech you take heed lest by
your carelessness and little compliances with sin, you
provoke God to permit its former power and tyranny
in a great measure to return upon you, that he may
thereby let you see the difference betwixt his and
sin's government; read and apply Deut. xxviu. 47, 48.
It would be sad if God should deal with any of you
as once that master in Athens did with his servant,
whom he had formerly made free, but upon some
unworthy carriage he reversed and retracted that
freedom, saying to him, The city shall never have
one as a free denizen of it, who doth so Httle know
how to value such a privilege. Go thy way, there
fore, and be a slave again, since thou knowest not
how to carry it as becomes one that is free.2 Now
I say, if God should deal thus with any of you,
would it not be sad ? True, he will never wholly re
verse what he hath done in you and for you, but
thus far he may go, he may let corruption at some
1 Libertatem nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit. —
Salust. in Conjur. Cat.
2 Supersedeo te, habere civem tanti muneris impium sesti-
matorem, &c. Abi igitur et esto servus, quoniam liber esse
nescisti— Val. Max., lib. ii. cap. 6. S

138

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

times and in some acts prevail over you, and he
may whoUy deprive you of the sense and comfort of
your spiritual liberty; and would not these be bad
enough ?
Let me under this head press another thing upon
you, viz., to walk suitably to this your freedom.
Wherein doth that consist ? why, in this, in being
holy, and very holy. If you so be, this wUl suit
with the deliverance from the law of sin which you
have upon regeneration, and which you must there
fore be, because it is one great end of God in doing
that for you : Luke i. 74, 75, ' That we being de
hvered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve
him without fear, in holiness and righteousness be
fore him all the days of our Ufe.' It is observable
how God ushers in the ten commandments with his
delivering the people of Israel out of the Egyptian
bondage, thereby to lay the greater obligation upon
them to obey and keep those commandments : Exod.
xx. 2, 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage;' then the several cemmandments follow.
And as to that particular command of keeping the
Sabbath, you find God enforcing of it with this argu
ment only : Deut. v. 15, ' Remember that thou wast
a servant in the land of Egypt,' &c. Oh how holy,
how obedient should they be whom God hath brought
out of the state of spiritual bondage, the obligation
rising higher from this deliverance than from the
former. Christians, you should be very holy, partly
from a principle of gratitude, partly because now the
life of holiness is made more easy and facile ; if you
be not so now, the power of sin is broken in you, it
must be from your sloth, or something worse. Some
observe1 upon the latter clause of the preceding verse
' who walk not after the'flesh,' &c, that now under
the gospel tf is much more easy to Uve the heavenly
hfe than it was formerly under the law ; so that, say
they, tf men do not live that life it must be charged
merely upon their own negligence : so here, J say
persons being delivered from the reign of sin, to
them now it is much more possible, nay, easy to be
holy Hi their walkings than sometimes it was ; and
1 AeiKubs Sn eV iaBvfitas rb irdv Xoiirov ti,s i,peTipas, Sivarov
yap vvv pi, Kara rapta irepurarelv, rbre Se SiacoXov 1>v.-Chi-ymt
E^Itov vopov oi8ibfiovX6pevos & ipBQs lo^ve, pi,8evos ^Bovvros,
pr/Si avve-irurxiovTos. — CEc.

therefore if they do not so walk, it is merely from
their idleness and sinful neglects. Sirs, now the
holy life is made practicable to you, what an engage
ment doth this lay upon you to Hve it ! The
apostle here, according to that connexion of the
words which some pitch upon, brings in freedom
from the law of sin as the ground of not walking,
&c. ; therefore they who are in Christ do not follow
the sinful and carnal, but the holy and spiritual
course, because they are freed from sin's power. I
am sure, as to the thing, it is the duty of such so to
walk upon this account.
Let me add a third consideration : regenerate per
sons upon this must be very holy, that there may be
some proportion betwixt nature as renewed in the
way of holiness, and nature as depraved in the way
of sin ; pray observe it, so long as depraved nature
was upon the throne you were very sinful, therefore
now, when renewed nature is upon the throne, you
should be very holy. I do not from hence plead for
an equality,— that I very well know is not possible,
and the reason is, because corrupt nature before
conversion was entire, not broken or weakened by
any contrary, habit or principle ; but it is not so
with the renewed nature after conversion, for that
hath sin mingled with it, striving against tf, making
opposition to it ; therefore men cannot be .so entirely
good after grace as they were entirely evil before
grace ;— yet I may, and I do, plead from hence for
some proportion. Whilst sin ruled you, you were
very sinful, therefore, now Christ and grace rule you,
you should be very holy ; so the apostle argues :
Rom. vi. 19, 20, 'As you have yielded your members
servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto ini
quity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto hohness. For when ye were ser
vants to sin, ye were free from righteousness ;' there
fore (which though tf be not expressed, yet it is im-
phed) proportionably, now when you are the servants
of righteousness, you should be free from sin. Upon
this threefold consideration such as are made free
from the law of sin should be holy.
Now, that I may be somewhat more particular
about this, sin being that which is opposite to hoh
ness, and much of the nature of holiness lying in
refraining from sin, and also the dominion of any
particular sin very ill agreeing with dehverance

Chap. VI.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

139

from the law thereof, therefore in both of these
respects I would caution all regenerate persons
against it; but it is the latter only that I shall
speak a few words unto. Where I would be very
earnest with you who have passed under the re
generating work of the Spirit, to take heed even of
the actual and partial dominion of sin ; and there
is great need of this admonition, for though upon
regeneration you are secured from its habitual and
universal dominion, yet as to some particular sin
and some particular evil acts it may have that which
looks too much Hke dominion, though strictly and
properly it be not so. Here therefore I desire you
to be very careful that you do not suffer any one sin
to reign in you, for how would this consist with
your being made free from the law of sin ? since, as
hath been said, the power of any one sin and sub
jection thereunto, if it be full and free, plenary and
voluntary, doth as certainly prove its dominion as
the power of many, nay, of atf. Oh take heed that
this and that sin do not rule or be too high in you !
It was David's prayer, Ps. xix. 13, ' Keep back thy
servant also from presumptuous sins ; let them not
have dominion over me : then shall I be upright,
and I shaU be innocent from the great transgression.'
He goes further, and takes in all, Ps. cxix. 133,
' Order my steps in thy word, 'and let not any ini
quity have dominion over me.' Saints are not so
freed from the law of sin by the Spirit, but that
there is need of daily prayer, and that there be aU
endeavours and care on their part against it ; and
their care must reach even to this, that not any
single iniquity may have dominion over them.
And here especiaUy you must be careful and vigi
lant about that particular sin to which you are most
strongly inclined, or which hath the greatest strength
in you ; about the Diotrephes sin, the Herodias or
darling sin, that which is as the right eye or the
right hand ; I say your eye must be chiefly upon
this, that it do not prevaU and domineer over you.
Every man in the world hath some one sin which is
uppermost in him, which carries it before all the
rest, to which aU do veU and stoop ; it is pride Hi
one, fleshly lust in another, greediness after the
world in a third, and so on ; nay, a chUd of God
too usuaUy hath some particular sin which is pre
dominant Hi him, -which though it doth not ab

solutely reign in him, for then he would be under
the law of sin, yet comparatively it doth, i.e., it
hath a greater power over him than any other sin
hath. David calls it his iniquity, Ps. xviu. 23.
Look, as the saints, though they have every grace
in them, all being planted together in the new
nature, yet there is some particular grace which
shews itself more eminently in one than in an
other, as faith in Abraham, meekness in Moses,
patience in Job, zeal in Hezekiah, &c. So e contra,
though they and others have every sin in them
radically and seminally in the corrupt nature, yet
there is some particular sin which ordinarily vents
itself with more strength than the rest, which having
the advantage of the constitution, education, caUing,
condition, &c, is stronger than others ; how that
may be known divines shew in several things,1 but
I must not stay upon it. Now you that are regene
rate, look to yourselves here, act your greatest vigi-
lancy, and make your strongest opposition, with re
spect to your particular sin ; here is your weakest
part, and therefore here you must set your strongest
guard, as keepers of garrisons use to do ; as he said,
1 Kings xxu. 31, ' Fight neither with small nor
great, save only with the king of Israel,' so I would
say to you, Fight against n neither small nor great,
but only against the king sin or master sin in you.
This is to kill Goliath himself, which being done all
the Philistines fly ; to stab sin at the very heart,
upon which wound it must needs die ; and here is
the great evidence of sincerity, ' I was also upright
before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity,'
Ps. xvHi. 23 ; and herein dehverance from the law
of -sin mainly shews itself.
3. Thirdly, You that are upon regeneration thus
freed from sin's power, I am to bespeak your thank
fulness, your highest and most hearty thankfulness,
for so great a mercy. In the doing of this, what
hath God done for you ! oh whilst you pity others
who are under sin's bondage, bless God for your
selves who are delivered out of it ! The remainders
of sin caU for your deepest humiliation, but withal
the not reigning of sin caUs for your highest thank
fulness. Are you made partakers of such Hberty,
and will you not be thankful ? Is there any deliver
ance from any servitude whatsoever like to this?
1 See Burg. Refin., part ii. p. 232. With many others.

140

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VI.

Sin is the worst of evils, the power of sin the worst
of sin ; are you dehvered from that ? oh admirable
mercy ! Israel's deliverance out of Egypt and
Babylon, the rescuing of subjects from the dominion
of tyrants, the fetching poor captives out of chains
and bonds, are good things, yet all but very
nothings in comparison of the freeing a soul from
the power and vassalage of sin ; and this is done for
you ; shall not the Lord be greatly blessed for it ?
Here is a great part of that benefit which you have
by Christ as a Redeemer ; for what doth redemption
point to but to the sinner's release from his spiritual
captivity and bondage by sin? what did Christ
come for but to ' proclaim liberty to the captives,'
&c. ? Isa. Ixi. 1 . Now as you were captives in God's
hands by reason of guilt, so Christ redeemed you by
paying down a price or ransom for you ; as you are
captives in sin's and Satan's hands, so he redeems
you by power ; for they are no other way to be dealt
withal, by rescuing you out of their dominion and
slavery in spite of all the resistance they can make ;
and Christ redeeming both these ways, so he becomes
a full and complete Redeemer. So that your being
made free from the law of sin is a part of Christ's
redeeming love ; and what the Spirit of Hfe doth
therein, it is but in conjunction with Christ in the
carrying on of that love ; and tf so, have not you
great reason to be very thankful ? I pray look into
that precious promise, the matter of which is that
God will not only pardon your iniquities, but also
subdue them, he being every way as gracious in the
latter as in the former : Micah vH. 18, 19, ' Who is
a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his
heritage ? &c. He wiU turn again, he wiU have com
passion upon us ; he wUt subdue our iniquities.' It
is as great a mercy to have sin subdued in its power
as pardoned in its guilt ; you magnify God for the
one, oh do the same for the other also ! If God
himself had not brought about this freedom, you
had been without it for ever. Alas ! you yourselves
in the time of the natural thraldom never thought
of or desired it, you were altogether unable to
accomplish it, nay, you were set against it, and
opposed it to your utmost ; the law of sin was in the
heart and had the heart, you liked and loved its
government above any other, all your strength was

engaged for it ; insomuch that God was fain to
conquer, not only Satan and it, but your own selves
too, and by a mighty power to make you wiUing to
accept of deliverance out of its servitude; what
ground of thankfulness is here 1 Once more, why
should you be made free when others are let alone 1
what was there in you to move God to vouchsafe
this distinguishing mercy ? You had indeed been
eternally undone without it ; but was he under any
necessity or motive, but what was from his own
grace, to do it for you ? O you that are renewed,
shall not the Lord be admired by you ? I pray be
much in blessing of him for all mercies, but amongst
the rest be sure you never forget to bless him for
sin-subduing, sin-dethroning mercy. See how Paul
upon this account blesses God for others : Rom. vi.
17, ' But God be thanked, that ye were the servants
of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart the form
of doctrine, which was dehvered you.' He that
was so thankful for others surely would be so much
more for himself ; and so he was : Rom. vii. 24, 25 ,
' 0 wretched man that I am ! who shaU deliver me
from the body of this death ? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord.' Titus Hi. 3-5, 'For we
ourselves also were sometimes fooHsh, &c. ; but after
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour
toward man appeared, not by works of righteous
ness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost.' He lays it upon the
kindness and love of God, which indeed are admir
able in the freeing of a soul from the law of sin by
the regenerating Sptfit; this kindness of God
should draw out the thankfulness of every gracious
heart. So much for this use of counsel.
Use 4. A word, in the fourth place, for comfort. I
would have every truly gracious person upon this
truth to be even filled with joy. What glad tidings
doth it bring to thee, whoever thou art, upon whom
regenerating grace hath taken hold ! it tells thee
thou art made free from the law of sin. Sin may,
and doth, trouble thee, but it doth not rule thee ;
it lorded it over thee too long, but now its dominion
is gone ; from the very first moment of thy conver
sion thou hast been made free ; beHeve it, and take
the comfort of it. What think you? had not Paul
great joy in himself when he uttered these words,

Chap. VII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

141

' The law of the Spirit,' &c. ; thou mayest say the
same concerning thyself, the new birth having
passed~upon thee, why therefore . shouldst not thou
be brimful of joy also ? This is so great a thing that
the sense and comfort of it should revive and cheer
thy spirit under all outward evUs ; the laws of
men possibly may be somewhat heavy upon thee,
thou mayest groan under such and such external
pressures, there may be much of bondage in thy
outward condition, but the law of sin is abohshed,
thy soul is made free, the spiritual bondage is taken
off ; is not this well — very well ? Under the law,
how were the poor servants overjoyed when the
year of jubUee came, which gave them a release
from all their servitude? 0 Christian, thou hast Uved
to see a glorious jubilee ! wilt not thou rejoice ? So
also when oppressed subjects are freed from cruel
usurpers, it is a time of great rejoicing; men's joy
then runs over, and will be kept in no bounds or
Umits ; what a fuU tide of joy should be in their
souls whom God hath graciously delivered from sin's
tyranny and usurpation ! True, sin never had any
right to rule, yet de facto rule it did, therefore
triumph over it as though its authority had been
just, as the people of Rome once did with a mean
person.1 That sin which once had you under is now
brought under itself, and it is subdued, therefore
cannot much hurt you. Adoni-bezek himself when
in chains, Bajazet when in an iron cage, the fiercest
enemies when broken in their power, cannot do
much mischief ; God be blessed so it is with sin ;
and therefore, as to the main state, fear it not. I
know you He under many discouragements ; you feel
such cursed inchnations to evU, sin doth so often
prevaU over you, repeated backslidings afflict you
greatly, your corruptions daily pursue you, &c.
Well, I would have you to be very sensible of these
things, and mourn over them; but yet know the
reigning, commanding power of sin is gone, notwith
standing all these, yet it is not the law of sin. How
much good may an unregenerate person do and yet
sin reign in him, and how much evil may a regene
rate person do and yet sin not reign in him ! Under
the law every scab did not make one a leper, neither
1 Hoc illi in malis suis indulgente fortuna, ut de eo populus
Romanus quasi de vero rege triumpharet.— Florus, lib. ii.
cap. 14.

doth every prevalency of sin make one a slave to it.
The Spirit of life hath freed you from its dominion,
that being duly stated, and that too in such a
manner as that you shall never again be brought
under it : ' Sin shall not have dominion over you,'
&c, Rom. vi. 14. Is all this nothing or but little
in your thoughts? is not here sufficient matter of
great joy ? oh know what God hath done for you,
and make the best of it ! Being freed from the law
of sin you are freed from -guilt, wrath, heU, eternal
condemnation ; for the apostle having said ' There is
no condemnation,' &c, he proves his assertion by
this, ' For the law of the Spirit of life,' &c. And
where it is not the law of sin, there it is not the law
of death; these two laws are linked and fastened
each to the other, therefore he that is dehvered from
the one is delivered from the other also. Believers,
there is but one thing remaining to be done for you
—which in due time shall most certainly be done
too — and that is to free you from the very being of
sin, and from all those remainders of power which
yet it hath in you ; do but wait, and a little time
wtfl put an end to these also ; be of good comfort,
sin is dying and weakening and wearing out every
day, shortly it will die indeed, so as never to molest
you more. As you are justified its guUt is gone, as
you are sanctified its power is gone ; it wUl not be
long before you will be glorified, and then its very
being shall be'gone too. Here in grace Pharaoh's
yoke is broken, but above in glory sin shall be Hke
Pharaoh drowned in the bottom of the sea. Oh let
every regenerate soul greatly rejoice in these things !
So much for the second observation.

CHAPTER VII.
OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE MAKING
OF PERSONS FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. — Rom.
vui. 2.
The third observation, viz., That it is the law of the Spirit
of life which frees the regenerate from the law of sin

142

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VII.

— How this is brought about by the Spirit, by the Spirit
of life, by the law of the Spirit, &c. — What this im
ports — Of the necessity, sufficiency, efficacy of the
Spirifs power for and in the production of this effect —
The particular ways and methods of the Spirit in it
opened — Of its workings at the first conversion — Of its
subsequent regency in the renewed soul — Use 1. Of
the greatness and glory of the Spirit ; his Godhead
inferred from hence — Use 2. To shew the true and
proper cause of freedom from the law of sin ; where
men are exhorted, 1. To apply themselves to the Spirit
for this freedom : 2. In case it be wrought in them,
to ascribe and attribute the glory of it only to the
Spirit — Saints exhorted, 1. To love and honour the
Spirit ; 2. To live continually under the law of it ;
3. To set law against law.
Two observations I have gone through ; I come now
to the third and last. It is the law of the Spirit of
life which frees the regenerate from the law of sin ;
or thus, It is by the mighty power of the living and
regenerating Spirit that any are delivered from the
power and dominion of sin. This is the great effect
here spoken of, and the apostle shews who is the
author and efficient of it, or how it is brought about :
' The law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from
the law of sin.' I shall, as much as conveniently I
may, contract in what I have to say upon this point,
that I may draw towards the close of this verse
which I fear I have stayed too long upon.
Now here observe, 1. The Spirit frees from the
law of sin ; he is the true and proper agent in the
production of this effect. In reference to which you
may consider him either essentiaUy as he is God, or
personally as he is the third person, distinct from
the Father and the Son, in both of which considera
tions he makes free from the law of sin. As to the
first, so there can be no question made of the thing,
because the Spirit, so considered, acts in common
with the two other persons, and they with him • i
what the Father doth and the Son, as God, that the
Spirit doth also, and so vice versa. I speak of actiones
1 Factum Spiritus S. factum filiiDei est, et propter nature
et voluntatis unitatem. Sive enim Pater faciat, sive Filius
sive Spiritus sanct. Trinitas est quae operatur, et quicquid
tres fecerint Dei unius est operatio.— Aug. in Qu N T
qusest. 51. ' ''

ad extra, which only are indivisoz.1 As to 'the second,
so the thing is also clear, because it is the Spirit's
personal and proper act to weaken and dethrone sin
in the heart ; for as it is the Son's proper act to free
from the guilt, so it is the Spirit's proper act to free
from the power of sin ; that being a thing done within
the creature, this person is the proper author of it —
it belonging to the Son to do aU without, and to the
Spirit to do all within. The Father and the Son are
by no means to be excluded, yet it is the Spirit
which doth immediately bring about in the soul that
blessed freedom which I am upon. If you cast your
eye a little upon what lies very near the text, you
will find all the persons mentioned, as all concurring
to the advancement and promoting of the good of
behevers. It is Chrysostom's observation upon the
words : 2 That, saith he, which the apostle always
doth, going from the Son to the Spirit, from the
Spirit to the Son and Father, ascribing aU to the
Trinity, that here he doth also. For when he said,
' Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,' he
shews that the Father doth this by the Son ; then he
shews that the Spirit also doth this by the Son, when
he says that ' the law of the Spirit of Hfe which is in
Christ Jesus,' &c. Then he brings in again the Father
and the Son, ver. 3, 4. But, I say, this freedom
from the law of sin, it is the proper and immediate
effect of the Spirit ; therefore it is said, ' Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is Hberty,' 2 Cor. Hi. 17,
the meaning of which scripture I had occasion to
touch upon before. That which God once said to
Zerubbabel, in reference to the buUding ofthe temple,
' Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,'
Zech. iv. 6, is applicable to dehverance from sin's
dominion, which is not brought about by any exter
nal and visible force and strength, but only by the
internal, effectual operations of the Holy Spirit.
2. Secondly, Observe this is done by the Sptfit of
1 August, in Enchirid., cap. 38.
' "Oirep del iroiei dirb tov biov els to irvevp.a ptrapabav, dirb
tov Tveip-aros els tov icov Kal tov iraripa, Kal rij rptdSc irdvra rb.
rrapaiuMvXoyiftptyo,, tovto Kal ivravBa ipydterar Kalyap elwv,
rls p.e pvo-erat. iK tov o-c^aros toO Bavdrov tootov ¦ *5«|e iraripa
SlaitoO tovto irocovvra- etra irdXcv ro irveip.a rb llywv ptra toB .
vwv ,o yap vbfws, ka. Elra irdXiv tov iraripa Kal ro, far, ri
yapi.8vvarov,kc-Chrysost. Koivrj eiSoda r,s ayla, rpMos
o-eortio-peBa. — CEcumen.

Chap. VII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

143

life. He doth not say only the Spirit had made him
free from the law of sin, but he joins this with it,
the Sptfit of life. What is contained in this, as it is
considered abstractly and in itself, I shewed at my
first entrance upon this verse, but I conceive it here
hath some special reference to the effect spoken of;
it being either a description of the Spirit who frees
from the law of sin — he is a Hving Spirit ; or it
pointing to the special time when the Spirit doth
this, viz., when he quickens and regenerates a man;
or it noting the way and method of the Spirit wherein
or whereby he frees from the law of sin, that is,
by working the spiritual Ufe or regeneration. The
Spirit wlw renews, when he renews, by renewing, brings
sin under. These are distinct things, and yet are all
couched in this Spirit of life. I might enlarge upon
each, but I will not ; because that which I have in
my eye cloth not much depend upon them.
3. Then observe, thirdly, It is the law of the
Spirit by which this is done. It is a metaphorical
expression, as was shewn in the opening of the
words. The law of the Spirit is the power of the
Spirit, as the law of sin is the power of sin. Here
is law against law, power against power ; the power
and efficacy of the Spirit against the power and
efficacy of sin. The apostle elsewhere speaks of
dvmp.ig mgyovftiiiri, an inworking power : Eph. Hi. 20,
'According to the power that worketh in us.' That
is the same with the law of the Spirit in the text ;
so that when he saith the law of the Spirit, &c, he
means this, that through the mighty power of the
Holy Ghost, authoritatively and effectually working
in him, sin's power was abolished, its dominion
brought down, its kingdom' in him destroyed ; and
not only so, but hkewise Christ's kingdom was erected
in him ; for this law of the Sptfit doth both con
junctly — wherever it dethrones sin, it also at the same
time enthrones Christ and grace in the heart. When
I was upon the law of sin I told you it hath a two
fold power — a moral and a physical power — in refer
ence to both of which it is called a law; so it is with
the Spirit; he hath his moral power, as he doth
persuade, command, &c. ; and he hath his physical
power, as he doth strongly, efficaciously incline,
urge, impel, the sinner to such and such gracious
acts ; yea, which is highest of all, as he doth effec
tually, nay, irresistibly, change his heart, make him

a new creature, dispossess sin of its regency, and
bring him under the sceptre and government of
Christ. And herein the law of the Spirit is above
the law of sin ; for though that puts forth a great
efficacy in the manner of its working, yet it doth
not rise to such a pitch or degree of efficacy in what
is evil as the Spirit of God doth in what is good.
Set corrupt nature never so high, yet it is but
a finite thing, and so hath but a finite power ; but
the Spirit is an infinite being, and in his saving and
special workings he puts forth an infinite power,
and therefore he must work more efficaciously than
sin can do. The law of the Spirit must carry it
against and notwithstanding the law of sin; for
though both pass under the same appellation of
laws, yet they are laws of a different kind and
nature with respect to their power and efficacy.
This law or power of the Spirit is that which I
will speak to ; and for the better opening of the
truth in hand, which mainly points thereunto, I wUl
do two things :
1. I will speak to the necessity, sufficiency, efficacy
of the power of the Spirit, in order to the freeing of
men from the power of sin.
2. I will shew in what way or method the Spirit
doth work and exert his power in his rescuing of
souls from sin's power.
In the first of these heads three things are put
together, which must be spoken unto apart.
1. First, Of the necessity of the power of the
Spirit. Concerning which, I may confidently affirm
that it is indispensably, absolutely necessary for the
divesting sin of its long-possessed sovereignty. No
less a power than the mighty power of this Spirit
can bring down sin's power. Oh, it is no easy thing
to rescue the poor enslaved captive soul out of its
bonds. Omnipotency itself is requisite thereunto :
that is the. strong man which keeps the palace, Luke
xi. 21, 22, tUl Christ through the Spirit, which is
stronger than it, comes upon it and overcomes it
Israel had never got out of their bondage under
Pharaoh if God himself had not brought them out
of it ' through a mighty hand and by an outstretched
arm,' as you read, Deut. v. 15;. and so it is here.
Let us bring it to a particular case. Take a sinner
who is under the law of unbelief — as there are too
many such, God knows — nothing shall ever free this

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1-4.

[Chap. VII.

sinner from the power of his unbelief unless a divine
and an almighty power from above be put forth
upon him; until this be done, all the caUs, com
mands, invitations, promises of the gospel are all
weak and ineffectual ; therefore it is said to be ' the
faith of the operation of God,' Col. H. 12; and the
apostle prayed that God would ' fulfil the work of
faith with power,' 2 Thes. i. 1 1 ; and, says the pro
phet, ' Who hath believed our report ? and to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? ' Isa. liii. 1. Without
the revealing of God's mighty arm there is no be
Heving ; and you read that God in sanctification and
the working of faith doth put forth ' the exceeding
greatness of his power, according to the working of
his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when
he raised him from the dead,' Eph. i. 19, 20. What
can be spoken higher than this ? You see the law
of the Spirit is necessary to the freeing of a person
from the law of unbelief; and is it not so in all other
things wherein sin's power shews itself? The power
of nature, which some do so much magnify, can
never conquer the power of sin. Alas ! it is impar
congressus, there is no even match betwixt them ;
and, besides, nature's greatest strength is on sin's
side ; its relics only, where it is good, are for God
against sin ; but its fuU and entire strength, as it
is bad, are for sin against God ; God hath but its
shattered forces, as it were, but sin hath its full
body. What can enfeebled nature, what will de
praved nature, do against sin ? Let it be considered,
if the power of grace in the regenerate be so small
that by that alone, without the concurrence of divine
and special assistance from above, they can do no
thing, which Christ affirms, John xv. 5, no, not so
much as think a good thought, as the apostle affirms,
2 Cor. iii. 5 ; what, then, can be expected from mere
nature in the unregenerate, in whom sin is in its full
strength, as to the weakening or subduing of it ? In
things of a spiritual nature the Scripture doth not
only deny the act, but the power too : John vi. 44,
' No man can come to me except the Father draw
him ; ' 1 Cor. ii. 14, ' The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned ; ' Jer.
xiii. 23, ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or
the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil' So in that which I am

upon ; it is not only the sinner doth not free himself
from the law of sin ; but of himself, without the
mighty power of the divine Spirit, he cannot so do.
He that is not strong enough to subdue some one
particular lust, how shall he be able to subdue the
whole body of sin in all its united and combined
force ? — as he that cannot conquer one single soldier
can much less conquer the whole army. If God
leave a man to grapple with sin merely by his own
strength, woe be to him !
That the power of the Spirit is absolutely neces
sary to free from the power of sin wiU be very
evident, if you consider those several advantages
which it hath for the securing and holding up of its
power in the sinner. As (1.) It is in possession.
(2.) It hath been so a long time; maybe twenty,
forty, threescore years, to be sure from the time of
the sinner's coming into the world, for its power and
his birth are of the same date; now usurpers in
possession, and who have long been so, are not so
easily conquered. (3.) Its dominion is entire, it
hath all on its side ; the whole soul is for sin, inso
much that when the Spirit of God comes to grapple
with it, he finds nothing there to side with him or
to take his part, which argues the necessity of his
infinite power. When there is a party within a
kingdom ready to faU in with the foreign force that
comes to depose the tyrant, he may with more faci
lity be vanquished ; but tf all the people unanimously
stick to him, then the conquest is the more difficult.
As Christ once said, ' The prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me,' John xiv. 30;
so the poor sinner may say, The sin-subduing Spirit
comes, but he finds nothing in me to close with
him. (4.) The natural man likes the power of sin ;
it hath his heart, which is worst of aU for the secur
ing of its empire ; he is fond of his vassalage, and
loves sin's government better than Christ's. Oh the
commands of it suit better with him than the com
mands of a holy God! so that upon the whole
matter he is peremptorily resolved to adhere to it
against whatever shall oppose it. (5.) Sin's strength
is not only very great in itself, but it hath also those
additional advantages which render it, as to any
finite power, invincible ; therefore it is set forth by
the strong man, and by the strong man armed too,
Luke xi. 21 ; it is engarrisoned in the heart, which

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145

of all places is the most inaccessible ; it hath its ros
oj£ugw,u,ara, strongholds, in which it is fortified, 2
Cor. x. 4. (6.) Sin is very resolute for and in the
maintaining of what it hath ; it hath a power, and it
will keep it ; it will fight it out to the last, and die
rather than yield ; all the persuasives in the world
signify nothing to it ; if the Spirit of God will
gain the soul he must gain it as soldiers do strong
towns which refuse to surrender, unciatim, to borrow
the comedian's word, inch by inch. (7.) Sin and
the sinner are under a covenant, Isa. xxvHi. 15 ;
they have engaged, as it were, to live and die
together; now to dissolve and break this engage
ment is no easy matter. (8.) Satan sets in with it,
and upon all occasions gives it aU the help he. can,
as alhes and confederates use to do ; he says to sin
what Joab once did to Abishai, 2 Sam. x. 11, 'If
the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt
help me : but tf the children of Ammon be too
strong for thee, then I wiU come and help thee.'
If he can hinder it, sin's kingdom shall never be
demoHshed, no, not in any one soul. Now put all
these things together, and it wUl appear that the
power of the Spirit is highly necessary to deliver
from the power of sin ; yea, that nothing below the
almighty strength of this almighty Sptfit can free a
soul from its dominion. Who but he who is God
could subdue and conquer such an enemy as this is ?
2. Secondly, There is the sufficiency of the Spirit's
power, as he is every way able to produce the effect
we are speaking of. It is indeed a great thing to
break the yoke of sin, to puU the crown off from its
head, to conquer it notwithstanding aU the things
which have been aUeged ; yet as great a thing as it
is, this great Spirit is able to do it. If he once en
gage in the work it is enough; the power of an
almighty God must needs be above the power of
what is but finite and Umited, as was said but now.
As Christ is able to save to the utmost from sin's
guilt, Heb. vii. 25, so the Spirit also is able to save
to the utmost from sin's power; let it be never so
high and lofty, tf this Spirit take it in hand I will
warrant you it shaU be brought down. God once
said to Paul, ' My grace is sufficient for thee,' 2 Cor.
xii. 9 ; it is meant chiefly of strengthening and sup
porting grace ; now as that grace is sufficient to bear
up under the heaviest afflictions, so this sanctifying,

sin-subduing, sin-mortifying grace is sufficient to
bring down the strongest corruptions. All things
considered, we may stand and wonder at the rescuing
of a soul out of sin's thraldom. Oh the bringing of
sin under, that but just now was so high, is a strange
and wonderful thing ! But if we consider the strength
of that person who is employed about it, the wonder
is at an end ; as it was Said upon another account,
Zech. viu. 6, ' If it be marvellous in the eyes of the
remnant of this people in these days, should it also
be marvellous in mine eyes ? saith the Lord of hosts.'
Jer. xxxii. 27, ' Behold, I am the Lord, the God of
aU flesh : is there any thing too hard for me?' — this
is appUcable to the Spirit in the personal considera
tion of God. We, alas ! must cry out, as David once
of the sons of Zeruiah, Sin is too hard for us, we
cannot get it down ; but it is not too hard for God
and his Spirit. Though it hath its strongholds, he
takes them or batters them all down with ease ; it
captivates the sinner, but the Spirit captivates it :
2 Cor. x. 4, 5, ' The weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ.' Oh the bound
less, infinite power of the Spirit ! nothing, no not
sin itself, even when it is at the highest, can stand
before him ; that which all the creatures in heaven
and in earth cannot do, that he can do omnipotent-
issima facilitate, as Augustine phrases it.1 ' Who is
sufficient for these things?' why, he, and none but
he, who hath illimited and infinite power.
3. Thirdly, There is the efficacy of the Spirit's
power, or the effectual working of the Spirit, in the
freeing of a person from the law of sin. When this
great agent comes to bring about this freedom, how
doth he act ? Ans. Efficaciously and irresistibly ;
I mean, he puts forth such a power as that the work
is certainly done. He doth not only in a moral way
advise, counsel,2 persuade the sinner to cast off sin's
bondage, but he in order thereunto puts forth an
insuperable and irresistible strength upon him, and
1 Epist. 107, ad Vitalem.
3 Vide Twiss. Vind. Grat., lib. i. par. 2, sec. 16, p. 160, &c ;
and Digress, vi. p. 163, kc With many others who every
where write upon this argument. T

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[Chap. VII.

so goes through with the work ; he conquers all oppo
sition both from without and from within, so that it
shall not be victorious, and in spite of all makes the
soul free ; he works herein omnipotenter, indeclin-
abiliter, insuperabiliter, as that great champion of
effectual grace expresses it. Further, when he
comes about this or any other saving act, he doth
not leave the sinner's will in suspense, pendulous,
in equilibrio, hanging Hke a pair of scales, even, and
not going down on either side ; but, in a way con
gruous to its liberty, he overcomes and determines
it for God against sin, so as that it shaU neither
hesitate nor make any successful resistance to his
grace.1 I am, before I was well aware of it, fallen
upon a nice and much controverted point, viz., the
efficacy of divine grace in its special operations, a
thing strongly defended of old by Augustine against
the Pelagians, and of late by the Dominicans and
Jansenists against the Jesuits ; and I could wish the
controversy had lodged there, but there are other
persons and parties concerned in it. Well, I am
thus fallen upon it, but I will presently get off from
it ; for it being a point only incidental in my pas
sage, I am not bound to stay upon it. In short,
therefore, this I assert, that gratia liberatrix est gratia
efficax, soul-freeing grace is effectual grace; wher
ever and whenever the Spirit undertakes to deliver
any man out of sin's power he doth it effectually ;
he then puts forth such a mighty power as that he
infallibly doth effect what he designed, which is all
that divines mean by that so much dishked word
irresistibly.2 As the power of nature, take it at its
best, cannot much further this freedom, so the power
1 Deo volenti salvum facere, nullum humanum resistit arbit-
rium. — Aug. de Corrept. et Grak, cap. 14. Vide Jansen.
August, t. iii. lib. ii. cap. 24. Haberlus de Grat., lib. ii. cap.
16. Vide etiam celeberrimum Doct. Ward de Grat. discr., p.
24, &c.
1 Non aliam irresistibilitatem propugnant nostri, quam
realem et efficacem operationem, cujus vi effectum certo vel
infallibiliter existit. — Ames Coron., art. 4, cap. 3. Dicimus
gratiam efficacem, quse operatur velle et perficere, adeo
potenter in opere conversionis et quovis opere salutari vol-
untatem movere, ut certo causaliter tollat non resistibilitatem
aut connatam aut adnatam, aut etiam omnem actualem resis-
tentiam, sed actualem resistentiam vincentem ; adeo ut gratia
semper eliciat consensum et aeceptationem : ac proinde eo
momento impossibile sit quod voluntas non annuat, aut de
facto resistat. — D. Ward, Cone, de Grat. discrim., pp. 31 32.

of nature, take it at its worst, as to the final issue,
shall not be able to hinder it. The Scriptures, which
hold forth the efficacy of saving grace in general, are
appUcable to that particular branch of it which I am
upon : Cant. i. 4, ' Draw thou me, we wtfl run after
thee.' John vi. 45, ' Every man that hath heard and
learned of the Father comes to me.' Jer. xxxi. 18,
' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned.' Ezek.
xxxvi. 27, ' I will put my Sptfit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep
my judgments, and do them.' 'There is much in
each of these texts to prove what is before me,
might I but stay upon them. It is in the acts of
grace as it is in the acts of providence, in which
sometimes the stream runs with such a mighty force
that there is no resisting of it : Isa. xliH. 13, 'I will
work, and who shall let it?' And so, I say, it is
in the acts of grace; it works with such a power
that none can let it. Our apostle himself here be
fore conversion was as much under the law of sin as
ordinarily any are, and yet as soon as the renewing
acts of this Spirit took hold of him, he yielded pre
sently and made no prevaUing opposition ; indeed
at first he was at his ' Who art thou, Lord?' but it
was not long before he threw himself down at the
feet of Christ, saying, ' Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do?' Acts ix. 5, 6. So much for the three
fold consideration of the power of the Spirit with
respect to the effect here mentioned, making free
from the law of sin.
The second thing propounded was to shew in
what ways or methods the Holy Spirit doth exert
his power in the making a person free from the law
of sin.
For the explaining of which we must distinguish
of his workings : they are either those which are at
the first conversion, by which sin's habitual domin
ion is destroyed ; or those which follow after con
version and continue the whole life, by which sin's
actual dominion is prevented and kept down ; by
the first he makes free, by the second he keeps free
from the law of sin. With respect to each of these
workings the Spirit hath his different ways and
methods, which therefore must be distinctly spoken
unto. 1. As to the first in the general ; he puts forth his
power in and by the doing of the main work, viz.,

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147

the converting of the soul. He comes and turns it
from sin to God, Acts xxvi. 18; brings about the
new creature in it, 2 Cor. v. 17 ; forms Christ therein,
Gal. iv. 19 ; translates it out of one state into another,
Col. i. 13 ; and herein you have the law or mighty
power of the Spirit exerted. I say the mighty power
of the Spirit, for this is a work which calls for such
power, without which it would never be done. Oh
it is no easy thing to convert a sinner ! indeed there
is nothing more difficult than that is. Though aU
things are alike easy to an almighty agent, as God
and his Sptfit are, yet as things are considered in
themselves, and as we conceive of them, so some are
more easy or hard than others are. As here, it is
easier to create a world than to convert a soul ; the
new creation is more difficult than the old ; for in
the latter there was nothing to oppose or make re
sistance, but in the former there is sin, Satan, a
wicked heart within, a cursed world without, all
uniting and combining in aU their strength to oppose
to their utmost the work of conversion. There the
matter was indisposed and unfit to be cast into such
a form, and that was all ; but here it is not only
unfitness, but renitency, reluctancy, the highest op
position that is imaginable ; it being so, it follows
that that must be a mighty power by which the
work is done notwithstanding aU this resistance.
The Spirit therefore puts forth such a power, whereby
he makes mountains to become plains, Zech. iv. 9,
cuts his way through the very rock, conquers all
that vast host which is mustered up against him,
in spite of aU opposition converts the sinner ; here
is the law of the Spirit. Now upon and by this he
frees from the law of sin, for upon conversion sin is
as much deposed and pulled off from the throne as
Athaliah once was, 2 Kings xi. ; then its reign ex
pires, from that time forward it must not any more
lord it as before it did ; — but this hath been atfeady
spoken to. Observe it, it is the law of the Spirit of
hfe which frees from the law of sin ; it is not abso
lute or mere power that doth it, but it is power
as regenerating, as changing the heart, as implant
ing the divine nature, by which sin is brought
under. But more particularly ; in freeing from the law of
sin this is the way of the Spirit : (1.) He effectually
works upon the understanding ; that being the lead

ing faculty, and there being in it several things by
which in special sin's dominion is kept up, and he
working upon reasonable creatures in that way
which best agrees with them as such, therefore there
the Spirit of God begins and first exerts his power
upon that faculty. And whereas he finds it under
darkness, blindness, woeful ignorance, he is pleased
to act as a Spirit of illumination, irradiating the
mind with beams of divine light, dispelling the op
posite darkness, filling the soul with heavenly and
saving knowledge. This is the Spirit's proper act,
and that which carries a marvellous power in it. It
is no easy thing to open a blind eye ; this is just
such a thing as that. When the world lay in the
abyss of darkness it required omnipotency to say,
' Let there be light,' Gen. i. 3 ; no less a power is
requisite to the saving enlightening of the sinner,
who is not in darkness, but ' darkness ' itself, Eph.
v. 8. But this being done, sin is exceedingly broken
in its power by it ; for ignorance is one of the great
supporters of its throne, one of its royal forts
wherein its main strength lies ; where that is in the
head, sin domineers in the heart and life. You
read, Eph. iv. 19, of some 'who being past feeling,
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to
work all uncleanness with greediness ; ' here was the
law of sin to purpose, sin at the very height and
top of its dominion ; how did things come to this
pass? why, ver. 18, their 'understanding was
darkened,' and they were ' alienated from the life of
God through the ignorance that was in them, be
cause of the blindness of their heart.' What a
friend to sin is ignorance ; how by this is the sinner
at its beck, even to do whatever it would have him.
No wonder, then, that the Spirit, when he comes to
take sin down, first removes this ignorance : Acts
xxvi. 18, 'To open their eyes, and to turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God,' &c. Here is the order or method in
which the Spirit acts ; he first opens men's eyes, and
turns them from darkness to Hght, and so he frees
them from the power of sin and Satan. Again,
whereas the understanding lies under sad mistakes,
misapprehensions, misjudgingsi having false notions
of things, and accordingly passing false judgment
upon them, by which sin's power is highly
strengthened and kept up; therefore the Spirit

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[Chap. VII

doth rectify it, delivers it from these mistakes, &c,
makes it to judge aright of things as things,' brings
it to pass true dictates, that sin is evil, Christ good,
holiness exceUent, &c, gives that 'sound mind'
which the apostle speaks of, 2 Tim. i. 7. This
too being done, sin as commanding exceedingly falls
and sinks ; upon this there is a great abatement and
diminution of its power, for that never continues
absolute and entire in a rectified judgment; the
convincing Spirit, working as such, always destroys
commanding sin. Its kingdom stands by lies and
falsehoods ; let but the soul be enabled to see into
them and through them, so as no longer to be de
luded by them, and down goes that kingdom. To
be made free from a deceived and deceiving judg
ment, Isa. xhv. 20, is the way to the being made
free from the law of sin ; therefore the Spirit will
be sure to have that done. Once more, the under
standing is full of high and proud thoughts, of
strange imaginations and reasonings, which Uft up
themselves against God and subjection to his will-
Oh, saith the Spirit, these I must take a course with,
these must be thrown out of the heart, or else Christ's
kingdom wiU never go up in it ; till something be
done to bring these down, sin's regency will con
tinue as high as ever ; wherefore I will do it effect
ually. 2 Cor. x. 5, 'Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ.' I assure you
this is an act of great power, but the Spirit goes
through with it when he comes as a sin-dethroning
Spirit ; thus he exerts his power in the understand,
ing. (2.) He then proceeds to the will, where you have
heard sin chiefly exercises its dominion, and which
of all the faculties is most enslaved to it and by it.
The Hberty of the will is very much cried up. by
many, and in such a sense none can deny it ; but
out of that sense, there is nothing in man more
under bondage than his will ; it is not now liberum,
but servum arbitrium, as Luther used to phrase it • i
and Augustine long before him.2 In natural and
purely moral acts there is no question but it yet re
tains its freedom; but in things of a spiritual and
1 See him, De Servo Arbitr.
8 Vide Jansen. Aug., lib. i. p. 3, cap. 3 and 5.

supernatural nature, that upon Adam's fall it hatl
wholly lost, since which it is only libera quatenm
liberata, free no further than as it is made free.
Well, the Spirit undertakes this faculty, lays forth
his power upon it, that he may rescue it out of the
hands of sin, and bring it over to God ; and surely
it is most necessary he should so do, for tiU the will
be effectually wrought upon and subdued, how can
it be imagined that ever the law of sin should be
abohshed ? Of all the faculties, sin contends most
for the wtfl, which when it hath once gained it will
not easily part with ; whatever it loses, that it will
not lose ; it puts forth its utmost strength to defend
and make good its conquests over that. And so
too, of all the faculties, the blessed Spirit contends
most for the will ; that being the determining faculty
with respect to sm's reign, he puts forth the greatest
efficacy of his grace for the setting of that right and
straight for God, that it may choose, close with,
cleave to his good and holy commands, in opposition
to what it was wont to do to the laws and com
mands of sin.
But it wUl be asked, How far or wherein doth he
exert his power upon the sinner's wUl in order to
the freeing of him from sin as a law ? I have al
ready answered this in what I said but now, when
I affirmed that the Spirit doth not work upon it only
in a persuasive way, barely presenting someaUuring
considerations or motives for the inchnmg of it to
this or that, but stUl leaving it under a perfect in-
differency, so as that the sinner may after aU yet
choose whether he will beUeve or not, repent or not,
cast off sin's yoke or not ; but he doth efficaciously
incUne, bow, overpower, determine it, so as that it
shall most certainly, yet most freely, consent to
what is good, and close with it. And if God by his
Spirit did not thus determine the will, either the
sinner would never be converted, or if he should be
converted, the completing of his conversion would
be brought about by the determination of his will as
his own act, God doing no more than only leavmg
it to its own indifferency ; and so he would have.
whereof to glory, he himself having done that which
was the highest and the hardest thing in conver
sion.1 And herein Hes the mysterious operation of
1 Domine, gratia* ago tibi, quod supernatural auxilium
mini contalerismisericorditep, nempe posse, velle, converters

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149

the Spirit, in that though he acts thus efficaciously
and victoriously upon the wiU, yet he doth not at
all violate, infringe, or intrench upon its natural
liberty;1 which is yet secured, because the Spirit
exerts aU this power in such a way as doth very well
agree with that Hberty, for he carries on the work
suaviter, as well as fortiter, with efficacy, but without
any co-action or violence ; all being done by him in
an accommodation and congruous attemperature of
things to the wUl's native and ingenite Uberty, and
he working per certam scientiam et victricem delecta-
tionem, as Augustine speaks.2 Therefore it is said,
Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people shaU be wUHng in the day
of thy power.' Mark what a sweet harmony and
consistency there is betwixt the efficacy of grace and
the wiU's Hberty : Cant. i. 4, ' Draw me, we wUl run
after thee.' Draw me, there is efficacious grace ; we
will run, there is free and voluntary obedience. And
see how weU they agree : ' Draw me, and we will
run ; ' what more forcible than the former, what
more free than the latter ? Let us but- fix upon the
right notion of Hberty, viz., spontaneity, not indif-
ferency, and that which I have said wiU be clear
enough. But to come to what is easy, the convert
ing Sptfit so puts forth his power upon the wUl that
he makes it willing to close with what is good ; he
removes that averseness, obstinateness, reluctancy,
that is in it against what is holy and spiritual, where
upon it most readUy compHes therewith. And in
reference to the casting off the yoke of sin, and the
At vero simile sequaleque auxilium condiscipulo Judae contu-
llsti, sed ego superaddidi quod tu mihi supernaturaliter non
dedisti, viz., velle convertere ; cumque non amplius receperim
quam ille, tamen ego amplius feci quam ille, cum jam justifi-
catus evadam, et ille in peccato permaneat ; itaque non am
plius tibi tuseque gratise debeo, quam iste Judas, qui non est
conversus. Hoc autem Christianas aures audire exhorrescunt.
— Bannez in D. Ward, De Grat. Discrim., p. 40.
1 Ne arbitreris istam asperam molestamque violentiam ;
dulcis esti, suavis est, ipsa suavitas te trahit. — Aug. Gratia
Dei humanum arbitrium non aufertur, sed sanatur, &c- — Ful
gent., lib. ii.. De Verit. Prsed. Divina hsec actio non lsedit vo
luntatis libertatem, sed roborat ; neque tamen extirpat radici-
tus vitiosam resistendi possibilitatem, sed effieaciter et suaviter
dat homini firmam obediendi voluntatem. — Theol. Mag. Brit.
in Acta Syn., part i. p. 679. Deus ita utitur voluntate, ut
ipsa voluntas sese elective, vitaliter, et ex practico rationis ju-
dicio a,g3,t.—Rkcetorf. De Grat. Exerc, iii. cap. 3, Vide Nor
ton's Orthod.sEvangel,, p. 114.
3 De Peccat. Mer. et Rem., lib. ii. cap. 19, torn, vii.

taking up of the yoke of Christ, he never gives the
wiU off tiU he hath brought the sinner to say, " Sin !
from this day forward I break off all my allegiance
to thee ; I will be ruled by thee no longer ; I resolve
now to change my master. Lord Jesus, I am thine !
I have been a traitor and rebel against thee too
long, but now I fully surrender up myself to thy
government ; thy laws only I will be subject unto ;
do thou rule, command, order, dispose me as thou
pleasest ; put thy yoke upon me, I willingly stoop to
it." Thus his wUl is subdued, and now he is made
free from the law of sin. So much of the power of
the Spirit, and of its way of working upon the wiH
in order to this effect.
(3.) I might go on to shew the way of the Spirit's
agency upon the affections, as he doth disengage and
disentangle them from sin, nay, set 'them directly
against it, and so freeing the sinner from the law
of sin ; but this being necessarily consequential
upon the two former, I wiU not at all stay upon it.
So much for the Spirit's workings at the first con
version. 2. Secondly, I am to consider the exertings of his
power in his subsequent workings after conversion,
during the whole life, by which he keeps free from
the law of sin, and secures from its actual dominion.
This being not so proper to the text, I will despatch
it very briefly. The good Spirit doth not put forth
his power only in his first regenerating, sin-subduing
acts ; but he continues so to do to the end of the
beHever's Ufe. Having brought sin under, he will
keep it so ; it will be endeavouring to regain what
it hath lost, but this gracious Spirit wUl not suffer
it. Having made the conquest, he will parta tueri,
make good the conquest. Having gained the throne
in the heart for God and Christ, he will order it so
that that shall be secured for them, that sin- shall
never ascend it any more. And truly there is much
power in this, as weU as iu that which went before.
Oh this corrupt nature wiU be stirring, making head
upon all occasions to get up again ! It must be a
mighty strength which must suppress and break it
in all its attempts ; therefore, here too it is the law
of the Spirit.
But how is this done by him 1 Ans. By his con
stant and continued agency in, and regency over,
the renewed soul. The law of the Spirit may have

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[Chap. VII.

reference to these also ; that look, as sin is a stand
ing law in the unregenerate, it having in their whole
course the command of them, and it being the con
stant, active principle in them, efficaciously urging
and exciting them to what is evil ; so the Spirit is a
standing law in the regenerate, it, too, in their whole
course having the command of them, and it being
the constant, abiding, lively principle in them, effica
ciously urging and exciting them to what is good,
by which continued actings he keeps sin under for
ever. For tf it shall offer at any time, by its soHci-
tations, promises, threatenings, to recover its former
dominion, the Spirit is ready at hand to set in with
other commands, promises, threatenings, thereby to
obviate and countermine sin in its interposures. He
watches sin in all its motions and assaults, and ac
cordingly applies himself in his guiding, governing,
strengthening grace, so that sin can make but little
of it in all its endeavours. You read here in this
chapter, ver. 14, of the leading of this Sptfit, ' As
many as are led by the Sptfit of God, they are the
sons of God ; ' and it was David's prayer, Ps. li. 12,
that God would ' uphold him with his free Sptfit ; '
so we read it ; but Chrysostom renders it by iwev/iu
rjytp.o\iixh\i, the leading, governing, commanding Spirit ;
which, he saith, is so caUed, because it doth ?iysft.o<:-
eoioBai run iraBSiv, &c, bridle and command the affec
tions, and put forth its power over sensual plea
sures.1 This is certain, the Spirit of God doth
authoritatively lead and govern the children of God
in their course ; and by virtue of that constant re
gency which it keeps up in and over them, sin's
power is kept down. Here also is the law of the
Spirit freeing from the law of sin.
Use 1. I have done with the doctrinal part, let
me make some short application. Where, first, we
see what a great and glorious person the Spirit of
God is. He is the Spirit of Ufe ; by a mighty power
he dehvers from the law of sin ; the corrupt nature,
with all its strength and advantages, cannot stand
before him ; that which to the creature is invincible
he overcomes with ease. Oh, he that doth such
great things must needs be a great Spirit ! the ex
cellency of the effect proves the excellency of the
agent. Some from this very passage fetch an argu
ment to prove the Godhead of the Holy Ghost;
1 De Spir. Sanct., lib. vi. p. 213.

Cyril, from his being the Spirit of life ;x Chrysostom,
from his making free from the law of sin.2 Hast
thou not, saith he, heard Paul saying, The law of the
Spirit, &c. ; doth the Sptfit make slaves free, it not
having liberty in its own nature ? if it be created
and in subjection itself, it cannot make others free.
The argument may be thus drawn up : He that in
the way of primary efficiency is the Spirit of life to
quicken the dead soul, and the spirit of liberty to
free the enslaved soul, he is God; but the Holy
Spirit of God in this way is and doth aU this, ergo.
I put in these words, in the way of primary efficiency,
because other things as means or instruments, by a
derived and subordinate power, may have some in
fluence upon these things, and yet not be God ; but
whoever doth produce them by an immediate, pri
mary, underived power, as the Sptfit doth, certainly
he is more than a bare creature, he is truly God.
To make free from the law of sin is work for a God,
and for a God only : for to this, infinite knowledge
is requisite, in order to the finding out of all the
secret recesses and close workings of sin ; and also
infinite power, for none below that is fit to grapple
with so great a power as that of sin. So long as it is
finite against finite the match is but equal, and so
there would be no victory ; tf therefore the Spirit
carries through such a work as this, it speaks him to
be infinite in his knowledge and in his power, and
consequently to be God. But this I do but touch
upon here ; hereafter, if the Lord give leave, I shaU
have occasion to speak more fuUy to it.
Use 2. Secondly, We have here the assignation
of the true and only cause of freedom from sin's
bondage. Mistakes about this are very dangerous ;
and yet nothing more common than for men to run
themselves upon such mistakes. The apostle here
speaking of his being made free from the law of sin,
what doth he fix upon as the proper cause thereof?
doth he resolve it into the power of nature ? alas !
that is a thing so feeble and weak that corrupt
nature despises it, not fearing that that wiU ever do
1yvp.vbrepov Si 8la tS>v itpetfs, Sti Bebs eify rb irvevpa, Seucviei
powv, 6 vbpos tov irvevfiaros rns fwijs, &c. — Cyril Alexandr. in
Thesaur. Assert. 34. p. 235, t. v.
2 OiK iJKOvo-as IlaiXov Xiyovros, b yap vbpios, kc ; iXev8epot
rb irvevp.a robs SoiXovs, to pn exov iv rij <pwei tvv iXivBeplav; it
yap e'lcmorat Kal SeSoiXurat, oiK iXev8epoi.—Chrys. de Spir,
Sanct., p. 206.

Chap. VII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

151

any great thing against it. Doth he resolve it into
his own free-wUl ? 1 no, that he understood little of.
I chaUenge the whole world to give me one instance
of a sinner that was ever, by the power, election,
and determination of his own will, made free from
the reign of sin. The will, as now constituted, is go
corrupted that it is rather for the continuance than
for the shaking off of sin's dominion. Oh it is loath
to be dehvered even by a foreign power, it Hkes its
bondage so weU ! One of.the greatest things that
the converting Sptfit, when it so works, hath to do,
is to bow and incline the sinner's wiU so as to make
it willing to accept of deUverance from sin's yoke ;
and he is never brought to this tiU the day of God's
power dawn upon him : Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people shall
be wiUing in the day of thy power.' The evangel
ist, setting down the proper causes of regeneration,
first removes the false ones, among which man's will
is one, and then assigns the true one : John i. 1 3,
' Which were born, not of blood, nor of the wUl of
the flesh, nor of the wUl of man, but of God :' the
same holds true of that which is a consequent upon
regeneration, viz., being made free from the law of
sin. How can he that is a captive himself dehver
others out of their captivity? how can that bring
down sin's power which is itself most under that
power ? This was not the thing in Paul's eye when
he was giving an account of his happy state ; it was
free grace and not free wiU that he magnified.2
Again, doth he resolve it into anything out of him
self, as the word, ordinance, the means of grace?
&c. No ; it is very true that these, God having set
his divine stamp upon them, he also being pleased
to accompany them with his own presence and
blessing, may be productive of high and great
things ; yet, as considered in themselves, they are
but means or instruments, and therefore do not
operate from any natural or inherent virtue, but
only as they are used by the first cause, and as the
Spirit of life puts energy and power into them.
1 Neque liberum arbitrium quicquam nisi ad peccandum
valet, si careat veritatis via. — August, de Sp. et Lit., cap. 3.
.Liberum arbitrium captivatum non nisi ad peccatum valet. —
Aug. adversus duas Pelag. Ep., lib, iii. cap. 3.
2 De cbrpore mortis hujus non liberum hominis arbitrium,
neque legis sanctum justumque mandatum, sed sola nos liberat
gratia Dei per Jesum Christum. ' Lex enim Spiritus vitae,'
&c. — Fulg. de Incam. et Grat., cap. 16.

' Our weapons,' saith the apostle, ' are not carnal but
spiritual, and mighty, through God, to the pulling
down of strongholds,' &c, 2 Cor. x. 4 ; the same
may be said of all gospel institutions. Oh how
many live under the most effectual means, the ordi
nances of God in the most lively and powerful ad
ministration thereof, and yet sin stands its ground
and keeps up its full power in and over them ! It is
not Goliath's sword that makes execution upon the
enemy, unless it be wielded with Goliath's arm : the
word is ' the sword of the Spirit,' Eph. vi. 17, which
when he manages himself with his own arm, Isa.
liii. 1, then sin falls and dies before it, but in any
other hand it doth but little execution. J would
fain convince you of the insufficiency, inability of all
causes or things, within or without, and consequently
of the absolute necessity of the Spirit's efficiency, in
order to the divesting sin of its dominion; and
thence it is that I stay so long upon this argument ;
but I will close it with this one consideration, viz.,
take the saints themselves, such as have true grace
wrought in them, who consequently are made free
from the law of sin, and put even these upon par
ticular and gradual mortification, the mortifying of
some one lust, be it what it will, or the mortifying of
it in a higher degree than before ; I say, take these
very persons, and let things too be brought thus low,
yet they of themselves, without the mighty assist
ance of God's Spirit, can do nothing about them :
special grace from above is requisite to every act and
degree of mortification by the saints themselves :
Rom. viii. 13, 'If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' It was spoken
to renewed persons, therefore it must be understood
of gradual and progressive mortification : now saith
Paul, 'If ye through the Spirit,' &c, implying that
even such persons, in such mortification, which of
all is most easy, must be enabled thereunto by
strength from the Holy Spirit conveyed to them.
Whence I infer an utter inabihty in the unregene
rate to free themselves from the law of sin ; they
having no principle in them to further such a thing,
as the saints have for their mortification, sin having
its full unbroken strength in them, which it hath
not in the other, their work not being gradual mor
tification but habitual, and the first mortification of
the whole body of sin, which therefore is much

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[Chap. VII

harder than the former. I say, upon this stating of
things, how unable must these be to throw off sin's
power ! If the saint be so weak, how weak is the
sinner? tf the saint must have the Spirit's help or
else sin will be too hard for him in its relics, how
much more must the sinner have it, in whom sin is
in its full strength ? He being under the law of sin,
what can he do, further than attend upon the means,
to free himself from it ? Blessed be God that this
Sptfit is engaged in this work, otherwise there would
be no such thing in the world as freedom from the
law of sin.
It being so, two things I would infer by way of
advice :
1. Let sueh who desire this mercy betake them
selves to the Spirit for it. Such who desire it, did
I say? Methinks, upon what hath been said, all
should passionately desire it. WUl any be wUling
still to continue under sin's command ? I will sup
pose all that hear me to be heartily desirous to cast
off its yoke, no longer to live in subjection to it, &c. ;
the only thing that troubles them is the difficulty of
the thing, and all their inquiry is how they may be
rid of this tyrant who hath so long domineered over
them. If so, then I would give them this direction :
Fly to the Spirit of hfe ; let them cast themselves
down at the feet of the Spirit, expecting only de
hverance by and from him. It is a great whUe
before sinners wiU be brought to desire such a thing ;
when they are brought to that, then they mistake
themselves about the way of obtaining it ; fain they
would be made free, but they do not betake them
selves to that Spirit which alone can make them so.
Sirs, your case is desperate if this Spirit of life
do not undertake it ; no power in heaven or in
earth can reheve you Sut his. As that evil spirit
once said to him that would undertake to cast it
out, ' Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are
ye?' Acts xix. 15; so here, sin despises and defies
aU that wiU meddle with it; it only knows and
cannot stand before this omnipotent Spirit. Christ's
infinite merit alone frees from its damnation, the
Spirit's infinite power alone frees from its dominion •
therefore to that you must fly for this freedom. You
may possibly think this and that may do the work,
but you will be deceived. Suppose you are brought
under some convictions, sin wUl do well enough for

aU them ; suppose you resolve thus and thus for th<
future, sin's throne may stand fast enough for all
that ; suppose you sit under such a ministry, sin can
let you hear the word powerfully preached, and yet
rule you as much as ever. Oh do not deceive your
selves ! I tell you, nothing wiU or can effectuaUy
pull the sceptre out of this usurper's hand, and dis
engage the heart from obedience and bondage under
sin, but this one thing, the law of the Spirit of life.
With the most humble, hearty, fervent prayer, there
fore, go to him, and say, ' 0 blessed Spirit, pity and
help me ; deliver a poor captive that is held in sin's
chains and fetters ; break its yoke for me, rid me
out of the thraldom I have so long Uved in, put
forth thy power in me to free me from sin's power
over me; I am undone for ever if thou dost not help
me; I know not what to do against sin's mighty
host, only ' mine eyes are unto thee,' 2 Chron. xx.
12. I have heard that it is thy office to rescue and
set free poor enslaved souls ; such a one am I. Oh
do this for me, thou blessed Spirit ! I must not let
thee alone until this be done; take thine own course
and method ; convince, humble, terrify, &c; do any
thing with me, only let not lust, pride, ignorance,
passion, covetousness, sensuahty, any sin whatso
ever, any longer reign over me.' Could I but bring
you thus to pray, the thing was done ; tf it be the
' Spirit of supplication,' it wUl be the law of the
Spirit, &c. Never did any sincerely desire to be
freed from sin's dominion but it was done for them,
at the Spirit's time, in the Spirit's method, and
according to that measure which the Spirit sees
best. In your betaking of yourselves to him in prayer,
1. See that you pray in faith, believing the suffi
ciency of his power. Let sin be never so high, he is
able to bring it down. Do you beHeve this ? All
other things are weak, and can contribute but httle
to your help ; but the mighty Spirit can do it easily
and effectually. Sin cannot stand before him, no
more than you can before it; when he undertakes
it, he wUl subdue it to purpose, notwithstanding all
its strength. You cannot be too diffident as to
yourselves, nor too confident as to the Spirit.
2. Let all other means be joined with prayer.
They are but means, and therefore not to be relied
upon ; yet they are means, and therefore not to be

Chap. VII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

153

neglected. In things of this nature men are very
prone to run themselves upon one of these two
rocks : either they rest upon the means, not looking
up to the Spirit ; or they cast off the means, casting
all upon the Spirit ; either they are proud, and can
do all without God, or dejected and slothful, so as
that God must and shall do all without them;1
both of which are most dangerous mistakes. You
have heard that it is the Spirit's sole act to free
from sin's poWer — that you yourselves, and all causes
and means whatsoever, are utterly unable to pro
duce this effect; what now will you draw from
hence ? What ! that you have nothing to do ? that
it is a vain thing for you to use any endeavour on
your part, or to attend upon any means, for it is
God and his Sptfit that must do all ? Oh pray do
not so argue ! You wUl err most perniciously if you
do. The Spirit's sole efficiency, as to the formal
production of the act, is very weU consistent with
the creature's endeavours; he indeed doth the thing,
yet he wiU have the creature do what he can in
order to it ; he doth aU in us and for us, yet he will
do nothing without us ; therefore the confidence
must be on him, but yet dUigence is required of us.
It is the warmth and influences of the sun which
make the fruits of the earth to grow ; yet the hus
bandman must plough the ground and sow his seed.
It was the angel stirring the waters that wrought
the cure ; yet the poor cripples were to lie by t£ie
pool-side, which allusion was before made use of
upon this account ; and thus it is here. So then as
to that which I am upon, unquestionably it is the
power of the Spirit which alone frees from the
power of sin ; but yet you in your sphere are to be
active, and to do what in you lies in order to this
very thing ; as, namely, you are to attend upon the
word, the several ordinances Hi and by which the
Spirit works ; to read the Scriptures, to be much in
consideration of the evil of sin, and the sad effects
1 Quosdam nimia voluntatis suae fiducia extulit in super-
biam, et quosdam nimia voluntatis suae dimdentia dejecit in
negligentiam. Illi dicunt, quid rogamus Deum ne vincamur
tentatione, quod in nostra est potestate ? isti, quid conamur
bene vivere, quod in Dei est potestate ? 0 Domine, 0 Pater,
qui es in ccelis, ne nos inferas in quamhbet istarum tenta-
tionum, sed libera nos a malo. — August. Agendae gratiae sunt,
quia data est potestas, et orandum ne succumbat infirmitas, —
Bradw., lib. ii. cap. 4, p. 473.

of its dominion ; not to do anything that may tend
to the strengthening of its power, by abstinence,
fasting, &c. ; to keep it under where it vents itself
in some bodily lusts, &c. And in the doing of these
things, with all faithfulness and dihgence, you may
with the greater confidence expect that the Spirit
wtfl exert his power for the real and thorough
delivering of you from the law of sin.
2. The second word of advice is this : Let such
who are made free from the law of sin own the
Spirit of life as the author of their freedom, and
ascribe the glory of it to him. Is this done for any
of you ? You are infinitely engaged to God and to
his Spirit. How high should you be in the admir
ing of him, how humble in the ascribing of all to
him ! how should you evermore be crying out, ' Not
unto us,' 0 Lord and Spirit, ' not unto us,' nor unto
anything in aU the world besides, ' but unto thy
name be all the glory.' Assuredly tf this Spirit had
not effected this liberty for you, you had been to
this day as much under sin's bondage as you your
selves ever were, or as any others yet are ; you may
take the comfort, but God must have the sole glory
of it. The apostle prayed for the Romans that God
would ' fill them with all joy and peace in believing,
that they might abound in hope, through the power
of the Holy Ghost,' Rom. xv. 13. It is this power
of the Holy Ghost that hath done your work ; keep
your eye there : Acts Hi. 12, ' Why look ye so
earnestly on us,' saith Peter, ' as though by our own
power we had made this man to walk ? ' Possibly
God was pleased to make use of such instruments in
order to your spiritual rescue ; but why is your eye
so much upon them, as though they had done it by
any power of their own ? No, it was not so ; all
was done in the power of God. We poor ministers
must say, ' We -have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and
not of us,' 2 Cor. iv. 7 ; and aU other things what
soever must say the same. But is nothing to be
ascribed to a man's self; to the acting and deter
mination of his own will ; to the improvement of his
natural abilities ? is it not enough to ascribe part,
yea, the better part, to the Spirit, but some part to
tbe creature ? Oh this we Uke dearly, to divide be
twixt God and ourselves, to share with him in part
of the glory due upon his speoial grace ! Some seem
u

154

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VIII.

highly to cry up the grace of God, and very much
to assert the impotency of nature;1 and yet in after-
positions and distinctions the creature must come in
for a part ; maybe God shall have the nine hundred
ninety-ninth proportion, but the thousandth part man
himself must have ; which, if it be granted to him,
in a Httle time he will put in for more, tiU at last
it come to this, man did all, and God did nothing.2
It is safest and best to ascribe all to God. It was a
good speech of Prosper, ' It is not devotion to give
almost all to God, but it is dishonesty to keep the
very least part from him.3 The all is not too much
to be attributed to him ; the least is too much to be
attributed to the creature.
I cannot confine my advice to God's people to this
only head ; three things further I would say to them,
and I have done.
1. You are greatly to love and honour the Spirit.
This you do, or ought to do, to the Father, to the
Son ; pray do the same to the Spirit. He is the
great agent in your regeneration, deUverance from
sin's sovereignty, iUumination, conviction, turning
to God, beHeving, mortification, &c. From him your
light, life, strength, liberty, joy, peace, do all proceed.
Why do you not more love and honour the Spirit ?
Oh love the Son for what hath been done without,
but love the Spirit also for what he hath done within !
the whole management of soul-work within, in order
to salvation, now lies upon the hands of the Spirit ;
let him be adored and honoured by all saints.
2. As you have found the law of the Spirit in
your first conversion, so you should live under the
law of the Spirit in your whole conversation. There
is the power of the Spirit at the first saving work,
that is here spoken of ; and there is, in what sense
you have heard, the continuation of it in the whole
hfe. Now this you are to labour after. I mean two
things : 1. You are to live under the constant in
fluences ; 2. Under the constant government and
rule, of the Spirit. Blessed is the man that hath it
1 Aquin. 1, 2, Quaest. 109, A. 6 and 7 ; Syn. Trid.,'Sess. 6,
cap. 2. cant. 3 ; Bellar. de Lib. Arb., lib. vi. cap. 15 ; Remonst!
in Acta Syn., pp. 1, 64 ; Armin. Declar. Sent., p. 98, and in
Ep. ad Hip. Addo ilium doctorem mihi maxime placere, qui
gratiae quam plurimum tribuit, &c.
2 J. G. Red. red. in Praef.
s Non est devotionis dedisse prope totum, sed fraudis re-
tinuisse vel minimum.— Contra Collat, cap. ult.

always working in him and ruling of him ! What a
hfe doth he Hve who ever Uves under the Sptfit's
authoritative guidance ! Col. iH. 15, ' Let the peace
of God rule in your hearts,' &c. Ay, and let the
Spirit of peace rule in your hearts. It is a great
motive to men to come under the rule of Christ, to
consider that where he rules, there he saves ; and it
is also a great motive to sanctified persons to live
under the rule of the Spirit, to consider where he
rules there he comforts ; his governing and his com
forting go together. He that is acted by the Spirit's
command, and yields up himself to the Sptfit's guid
ance, shall neither want peace here, nor come short
of heaven hereafter.
3. Set law against law ; the law of the Spirit
against the law of sin. You yet find too much of
this latter law, and it goes to the heart of you that
sin should yet have so great a power over you. Well,
what have you to do in this case ? Why, set law
against law, power against power, the power of the
Spirit against the power of sin. This should humble
you, that should support you. That power which
could baffle sin when in its full strength, can it not
subdue it in the remainders thereof? That power
which could bring you in to God, in spite of all
opposition, is it not sufficient to keep you now you
are brought in to God ? 1 Peter i. 5, ' We are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation.'
That very power is put forth for your establishment
now, which was put forth for your conversion at the
first. Oh fear not the law of sin against you, so
long as the law of the Sptfit is for you ! When you
are beset, and enemies press hard upon you, see that
you improve, both for duty and comfort, this power
of God's own Spirit. Thus I have finished the three
observations which take in the sum of this verse.

CHAPTER VIII.1
From the law of sin and death. — Rom. vim 2.
Of the law of death — The connexion betwixt sin and
death — Where it is the law of sin, there it is the
1 Reader, the contents of this chapter were insisted upon
only in the close of a sermon; I having under the former

Chap. VIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

155

law of death — Regenerate persons are made free from
this law : that opened with respect to death temporal
and death eternal — Use 1. Men persuaded to believe
that sin and death go together ; dehorted from thence
not to sm — Use 2. Of the happiness of God's people.
The apostle here sets a twofold law before us — the
law of sin, and the law of death. The former I have
been large upon, the latter I must despatch in a few
words. And death. The word law is not repeated, but
according to that interpretation which some put upon
the words, it is to be repeated ; a it is the law of sin,
and it is the law of death too. As if the apostle
had said, The law, &c, hath made me free both
from the law of sin, and also from the law of death.
In the opening of them I told you there is a two
fold sense given of them.2 1. Some tell us there is
in them the figure h diu Svo, wherein one thing is set
forth by two words ; therefore they render this and
death as being only an adjective or epithet of sin ;
thus, the law, &c, from the law of sin and death,
that is, from deadly sin, or from the law of sin, which
is of a deadly nature. 2. Others take the word sub
stantive, making the law of death to be a law by it
self as well as the law of sin ; as if this death was
not to be melted into sin, and the deUverance from
it into the deliverance from sin, but that they are
distinct things, and point to distinct deliverances.
Now both of these senses are very true and good,
and indeed I know not which to prefer. From the
first, one single point offers itself to us, viz., that sin
is a deadly thing; from the second, these three,
which, mutatis mutandis, perfecty answer to the three
former under the law of sin :
1. That men by nature, and before regeneration,
are under the law of death.
2. That upon regeneration, or such as are regener
ate, are made free from the law of death.
3. That it is the law of the Spirit of life which
frees from the law of death.
The due handling of these heads would take up a
head, the law of sin, exceeded the bounds allowed by the press,
cannot upon this head, the law of death, make any considerable
enlargement. 1 Ut lex ad utrumque ex sequo referatur. — Erasm.
1 See p. 99.

great deal of time ; but I having already stayed too
long upon this verse, and upon some other consider
ations, I am necessitated to contract ; and therefore,
for the better shortening of the work, I must pitch
upon another method, wherein I may draw all into
a narrow compass.
Three things only shall be observed :
1. That sin and death go hand in hand together.
There is an inseparable connexion or conjunction
betwixt them ; they come here in the text very near
each to the other ; there is but an and betwixt them,-
and that too is copulative, ' the law of sin and
death.' And well might the apostle put them
together, when God himsetf in the methods of his
justice, and in the threatening of his law, hath so
put them together; and surely what he hath so
joined no man can put asunder. When sin came
into the world death came alongwith.it; the one
trod upon the heels of the other ; if man will sin,
he shall die : Rom. v. 12, ' Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
even so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned.' Ver. 17, 'For if by one man's offence,
death reigned by one,' &c. Here is death, and the
law of death too ; by sin it hath got a power over
men so as to reign over them. Had there been no
sin there had been no death ; if man had continued
Hi his sinless and innocent state, he might have
been mortal, i.e., under a posse mori, he being but
a creature and made up of contrary principles ; 1 but
he had not actuaUy died, much less had he been
under a necessity of dying, tf he had not sinned.
Death did not come into the world upon God's
mere dominion and sovereignty, or merely upon the
frailty of the human nature, as Pelagians of old
and Socinians of late assert,2 but as the fruit and
punishment of sin.3 Immortality was a part of
God's image at first imprinted upon man ; 4 that
1 Vide Grot, de Sat., cap. 1, p. 18.
2 Mors non erat poena vel effectus transgressionis Adami,
sed conditionis naturalis consequens. — Socin.de Statu primi
hominis. Vide Prcelect., cap. 1, and contra Puccium, cap. 5.
3 Calov. Soc. Prost., p. 250 ; Hoorn Soc. conf., vol. i. lib. iii.
cap. 4, p. 583, ka. ; Franz. Scho. Sacr., Disp. 1, p. 7.
4 Molih. Enod. Grav. Qu. de Statu Innoc, Tract. 3, p. 62 ;
Gerhard. Loc. Com. de Imag., ko., torn. i. cap. 4, p. 199 ;
Zaeem.de Imag., tec., cap. 8, art. 2; Moreton's Threefold State
of Man, p. i. cap. 2, p. 35.

156

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. VIII.

image being defaced, mortality took place. You
know, in God's dealing with our first parents, how
he backed his command or prohibition with the
threatening of death : Gen. ii. 1 7, ' Of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die ; ' they disobeyed this most equitable com
mandment, and thereby brought death both upon
themselves, Gen. ui. 19, and also upon all their
posterity. Besides the guUt of this sin, made over
to all mankind by imputation, there is men's per
sonal sin, habitual and actual, which renders them
yet more obnoxious unto death ; and that too not
only to temporal, but also to eternal death : Rom.
vi. 21, ' The end of those things is death;' ver 23,
'The wages of sin is death.' The apostle, in James
i. 14, 15, treats of the first and last of sin, shews
where it begins and where it ends, sets down its
rise, progress, and final issue : ' But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed ; then when lust hath conceived it
bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, it
bringeth forth death;' sin is the issue of lust, and
death is the issue of sin. So that our apostle here
in the text might upon very good grounds hnk and
couple sin and death.
2. Observe that it is the law of- sin and the law
of death which is here coupled together; so that
where it is the law of sin, there, and there only, it
is the law of death. When sin is reigning and com
manding, then it is ruining and condemning ; it is
the power of sin that exposes to the power of death :
Rom. vi. 46, ' Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, bis servants ye are to
whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness ? ' It is true every sin
in its own nature deserves death ; the Scripture
knows no such thing as venial sin ; it being judge,
all and every sin is mortal. Indeed, as to event, the
apostle saith, ' There is a sin not unto death,' 1 John
v. 1 7, but as to merit, every sin, be it what it will,
deserves death ; yet God is so gracious as that sin
shaU not condemn and end in death where it doth
not command. Pray mark it how in the words the
law of the Spirit is joined with life, and the law of
sin with death ; as where the power of the Spirit is
there is Hfe, so where the power of sin is there is

death. I know the death in the latter clause doth
not carry a direct opposition to the life in the former;
for the hfe there referring to grace and regeneration,
and not to glory hereafter, the death, which refers
to eternal condemnation and the misery of the future
state, cannot be looked upon as directly opposite to
that life ; yet there is a truth in the paraUel. As
upon the law of the Spirit there is Hfe, spiritual
and eternal, so upon the law of sin there is death,
spiritual and eternal too. Further, I know there is
a great disparity betwixt the Spirit's working life,
and sin's working death ; the law of the Spirit works
hfe in the way of proper efficiency and causality,
the law of sin works death only in a final, conse
quential, meritorious way ; yet here also we ¦ may
speak by way of parallel ; as the power of the
Spirit works Hfe in its way, so the power of sin
works death too in its way. That which I drive at
is very plain, if I be so happy as to express myself
clearly about it.
3. Observe that such who are brought under the
power of the regenerating Spirit, they are made free
from the law of death. This was Paul's happiness
here laid down, and it is the same to all that are
regenerate; the proof of which I need not insist
upon, for this deliverance undeniably foUows from
the former ; they who are made free from the law of
sin, by that grace are also made free from the law of
death, it being the law of sin which subjects the
creature to the law of death. The power, or right,
of death stands or falls by the power of sin ; so that
if the person be freed from the latter, as you have
heard every regenerate person is, it certainly follows,
in the course and methods of God's grace, that every
such person shaU be freed from the former too ; for
the law of death is penal, or the effect of the law
of sin ; now take away the cause, and the, effect
ceases. Quest. But a little explication wiU be necessary.
How may regenerate persons be said to be made free
from the law of death?
For answer to this, you know death is either
temporal or eternal ; (I do not instance in spiritual
death, because though it is very true that the saints
upon the law of the Spirit are made free from this
death, yet I conceive that is not so much intended
here :) the former lies in the separation of the soul

Chap. VIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

157

from the body for a time, the latter in the everlast
ing separation of both soul and body from the love
and favour and presence of God. This separation
from God is the death of this death, or that wherein
it mainly consists ; hence though it doth not carry
in it any annihUation, yea, though it be attended
with a kind of life, both soul and body retaining
their physical being, existence, and union, yet it is
called death, because there is in it a separation from
the fountain of true life and of all blessedness; upon
which account it is not only death, but the worst
death ; and this too is the worst part of this worst
death, for though there be more included in it than
the loss of God's presence, viz., the punishment of
sense, eternal torment in hell fire, yet it might
easily be proved that herein hes its greatest evil;
the departing from God is worse than the going into
everlasting fire, Mat. xxv. 41. But to apply this
distinction to the business in hand.
1. The law of the Spirit of life frees the regene
rate from death temporal. Not simply and abso
lutely, from death considered abstractly and in itself,
for so all must die. Believers themselves are within
the compass of the general statute : Heb. ix. 27, ' It
is appointed unto men once to die ; ' Ps. lxxxix. 48,
'What man is he that liveth, and shall not see
death ? shaU he deliver his soul from the hand of the
grave ? ' but it frees from death as so quahfied and
so circumstantiated ; in the language of the text, it
frees from the law of death. How is that? why,
take a gracious man, death hath not a full right or
an absolute power over him, so as to keep him under
its dominion for ever, for so I shewed you some open
this law of death. Such a one may die, but he shall
Hve again ; the grave shall not always hold him ; he
may be thrown into prison for a time, but Christ
will fetch him out, and then death shall never again
exercise its power over him ; after he hath died once
he shall die no more, as it is said of Christ, Rom. vi.
9. Again, grace frees from the law of this death,
that is, from the hurtfulness, sting, and curse of it.
Death carries much of a curse in it ; it is the result
and fruit ofthe primitive curse, Gen. u. 17; now in
this notion sanctified persons are freed from it. The
nature and property of death is altered to a godly
man ; to him it is now but the paying of that debt
or tribute which is due to nature ; but a sleep,

1 Thes. iv. 14; but a change, Job xiv. 14; but a
departure or going out of prison, Luke ii. 29 ; but a
going to bed, Isa. Ivii. 2 ; but an unclothing, 2 Cor.
v. 4 ; but a passage into an endless and everlasting
Hfe, an inlet into the immediate fruition of God.
Oh set but sense aside, what a harmless, innocent
thing is this death to such a person ! the lion being
slain by Christ, there is honey now in the beUy of
it ; I aUude to that of Samson, Judges xiv. 8 ; 1 Cor.
xv. 55, '0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.' Christ by death hath overcome death,
unstung it and taken off its hurtful quality ; by
dying himself he hath expiated sin, vanquished
Satan, atoned God, satisfied the law, secured from
hell, purchased eternal life, and, these things being
done, where is now the law of death? Heb. ii. 14,
15, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part
of the same ; that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;
and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage.'
2. There is that death which is much worse than
this, viz., eternal death; that which indeed is the
death incomparably surpassing any other. As no life
like to eternal life, so no death like to eternal death.
To have the body separated for a while from the
soul is a thing to nature very dreadful, but what is
that to the separation both of body and soul from
God for ever ? This is sometimes set forth by death
without the addition of any epithet, as John viii.
51, ' If a man keep my sayings he shall never see
death ; ' Rom. vi. 23, and vitf 6, et passim. Sometimes
by the second death; and it is so styled because it
succeeds upon, and doth not commence till after the
first death : Rev. ii. 11, 'He that overcometh shaU
not be hurt of the second death;' Rev. xx. 6, and xxi.
4. This, is that death which the unconverted and
impenitent are obnoxious unto,1 but such as turn to
God by true repentance, and live a holy Hfe, they
are freed from it. And this deliverance is absolute ;
' Sicut is qui liberatur a lege Spiritus vitae, permanet in
Christo qui est vita ; ita qui servit legi peccati permanet in
morte, quae venit ex damnatione peccati. — Orig.

158

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[Chap. VIII.

the former was but in such1 a qualified sense, but
this, I say, is absolute. Even such may, and shaU,
die the first death, but they shall never die this
second death : Rom. xx. 6, ' Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection ; on such the
second death hath no power.' You read of the
abolishing of this death by Christ, 2 Tim. i. 10;
eternal death is quite abohshed to all regenerate
persons. But this very much falls in with the
no-condemnation in the foregoing verse; of which
having there said enough I will add nothing more.
Use 1. By way of use, 1. 1 would exhort you all to
live Hi the steady behef of this, and often to revive it
upon your thoughts, that it is sin and death. Espe
cially when at any time Satan and your own hearts
solicit and tempt you to sin, be sure then you think of
this, so as to retort it upon the temptation speedily.
What ! shaU I sin and die ? shaU I for the pleasures,
delights, satisfaction of sin, which are but for a
season, Heb. xi. 25, expose myself to death ? yea,
to eternal death ? no, that I dare not, that I must
not do. It is good to break the force of a tempta
tion by such reasonings as these ; for though it is
true the great restraints from sin should be taken
from the love of God, the fear of offending God, &c,
yet it is good, and God allows it, to take Hi the ad
vantage of self-love too, and the fear of self-destroy
ing. Surely tf men did indeed beheve, or did not
strangely smother and suppress aU serious convic
tions about this, that it is sin and death, they durst
not sin as they do. Where is the man, let him be
never so thirsty, or let the draught be never so
alluring, that would venture upon it should he be
told there is poison in it, and that tf he drinks it he
is a dead man ? Oh the stupendous folly, nay, mad
ness of men ! We tell tfiem from God's own mouth
there is death at the bottom of sinful practices ; and
yet, because these suit with and please their sensual
part, they wUl venture upon them. The fear of
temporal death to be inflicted by the magistrate
keeps off many from those enormous acts which
otherwise they would commit ; they dare not thus
and thus transgress the law, by steahng, killing, &c.
though they have a good mind to it. Why ? because
they know if they so do, they must die. Ah, sinner !
God backs his laws with the penalty of eternal death,
1 Qu. ' such in ' ?— En.

to which thou makest thyself Hable by the violation
of them, and yet wilt thou dare to do it ? shaU the
fear of this not at all restrain thee from what is evil?
Here is the devil's cunning in his temptations ; he
presents the bait, but hides the hook; he tempts
from and by the pleasure, delight, contentment that
is in sin, but conceals the death that will follow upon
it ; nay, he doth not only conceal the evU threatened,
but, either in thesi or in hypofhesi, he flatly denies
it. This lying spirit wUl tell the sinner he may sin
without danger ; what ! die for it ? no, there is no
such thing: ' Thou shalt not die.' Thus he began in
his first assault upon our first parents : Gen. hi. 4,
'And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not
surely die;' and thus he doth with sinners to this
very day. He always sharpens his temptations by
blunting the edge of the law's threatening, assuring
the poor besotted creature that he may sin and yet
not die. Now, I beseech you, do not hearken to
him or beHeve him, for he is what he always was, a
liar, and so a murderer, John viii. 44. Let the
temptation be never so inviting and aUuring, yet I
pray, consider, death is in the pot; 2 Kings iv. 40,
and therefore there is no meddhng with it ; let the
enticements of sin be never so specious and plausible,
yet know nothing less than eternal death wiU inevi
tably foUow upon it; and doth not the evU of that
infinitely weigh down all the good which sin pro
mises ? Sin is the falsest thing in all the world ; its
promises are very fair, but its performances are quite
contrary ; it pretends to this and that, which takes
with the sinner exceedingly, but the very upshot
and end of aU is everlasting destruction. Suppose
it be as good as its word, as to some temporal con
cerns, yet, alas ! its good is soon over and gone, but
its bad abides for ever; the pleasant taste of its
honey in the mouth is but short, but its gaU hes
fretting in the bowels to aU eternity ; now what
madness is it for a man for a few minutes' delight
to run himself into everlasting and endless tor
ments ! It is one of the saddest things that is
imaginable, that men do, and cannot but know
that it is sin and death ; and yet in a strange defi
ance of God, and in a bold contemning of aU that
he threatens, yea, even of eternal death itself, they
will venture upon sin: Rom. i. 32, 'Who knowing
the judgment of God, that they which commit such

Chap. VIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

159

things are worthy of death, not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them.' But
surely did they but know and consider what this
death is, they would not carry it thus. I cannot
now enter upon any particular description of it,
only let me tell them what there is in it, the absence
of aU good, the presence of all evil; is not this
enough? that, in short, it is the summary and
abridgment of all that misery which the human
nature is capable of; and should not such a thing
make a poor creature tremble? As to this death,
the sinner jwould fain die, but cannot; he must
live, though he be dead even whilst he lives. At
the first death the body and soul are loath to part,
but in the second death they would fain part if
they might;1 but the just God wiU keep them
together, that as they sinned together, so they
shall suffer together. What a sad meeting will
there be betwixt these two at the general resur
rection, when they shall be reunited only in order
to their being eternally miserable ! Now do not
sinners tremble at this ? do they not dread that
which wUl bring all this upon them ? tf not, what
can we further say or do ?
As to you, dearly beloved, I hope you are not
given up to a reprobate mind, to this desperate
hardness of heart to make nothing of dying eter
naUy ; pray therefore, ' stand in awe, and sin not,'
Ps. iv. 4 ; do not dare to Uve in that for which you
must die and perish for ever ; let sin die that you
may never die, for it must be either its death or
yours. If you love sin, you love death ; and is death
a thing to be loved? Prov. viH. 36, 'He that sin
neth against me wrongeth his own soul : aU they
that hate me love death.' Methinks that is a very
sad description of the carriage of the poor amorous
wanton under the enchantments of the whorish
woman : Pxov. vii. 21-23, ' With much fair speech
she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her
hps she forced him. He goeth after her straight
way, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to
the correction of the stocks; tiU a dart strike through
his Hver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth
not that it is for his Hfe.' Sirs, will you carry it thus
1 Mors prima pellit animam nolentem de corpore, mors
secunda detinet animam nolentem in corpore. — Aug. de CivU.
Dei, lib. xxi. cap. 3.

under sin's enchantments, not considering that it
aims at your life, and exposes you to eternal death ?
A fool sees but a little way, but a wise man looks to
the issues and consequences of things ; you know
what I mean. Simply to die is not so much, but to
die eternally, oh that is a formidable thing ! as you
would shun that, shun sin ; for ' its house is the
way to hell, going down to the chambers of death,'
Prov. vii. 27.
Use 2. Let the people of God see their happiness,
and take the comfort of it. You that by the power
of the regenerating Spirit are made free from the
law of sin, know that upon this you are also made
free from the law of death ; oh precious and admir
able mercy ! what a cordial is this to revive you
under all your faintings ! As to temporal death, you
are not wholly exempted from it, that is common^to
you as well as to others ; yet it is a quite other thing
to you than what it is to others ; oh whenever it
shaU come, bid it welcome and do not fear it ! 1 For
to you it wUl come without a sting, and you know
the serpent that hath lost its sting may hiss but can
not hurt. It is in itself an enemy, and the last enemy,
1 Cor. xv. 26 ; but to you it is a harmless, because
a conquered enemy; it may seem to threaten the
greatest evU, but, in truth, it shaU do you the
greatest good. But here Hes your main happiness,
you are wholly exempted from eternal death, the
second death ; you shall die but once, and then live
with God for ever. It is this second death that
makes the first to be so formidable ; for. a man to
die that he may Hve, that is not at aU dreadful ; but
to die here in order to a worser death hereafter,
there is the thing which is only dreadful. When
death is but an inlet to eternal Hfe, a departure to
be with Christ, Phil. i. 23, when there is no con
demnation to foUow after it, you may and you
should meet it with joy and holy triumph. And
know, that to you it shall not be bare freedom from
eternal death, but it shall also be the possession of
eternal Hfe ; there is very much in the privative part
of the mercy, but when the positive part too is
joined with it, how high doth it rise ! oh admire and
adore the grace of God ! The least of your sins
1 Non est formidandum quod liberat nos ab omni formid-
ando. — Tertull. Ejus est mortem timere, qui ad Christum
nollet ire. — Cypr.

160

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

deserve death, the best of your duties doth not
deserve Ufe ; and yet you are freed from that which
you so much deserve, and shall be put into the pos
session of that which you so little deserve ; here is
the riches of the grace of God towards you. Sin
and death are the two comprehensive evils -,1 all evil
is summed up in and under them, but you are freed
from both ; what reason have you to rejoice and to
admire the Lord's boundless goodness ! Oh the
damned in hell, who are under this death and feel
it, what would they give to be freed from it ! You,
through the merit of Christ and the power of the
Spirit, are made free from it, therefore you should
first be very thankful and then very cheerful. What
great things hath the gracious God done for you !
he hath delivered you from the rule of sin whilst
you Hve, from the hurt of death when you die ; have
not you abundant cause of blessing and rejoicing ?
It will not be long before this death wUl look you
in the face and lay its cold hands upon you ; it is
every minute making its nearer approaches to you ;
by every breath you draw tf gets ground upon you :
well, be not troubled at this ; you know the worst
of it ; it is death, but not damnation, it is the part
ing of the soul from the body, but no parting of the
soul from God ; it is but dying temporaUy that you
may live eternally : how great is your happiness ! pro
portionable to which, how great should your thank
fulness and holy joy be ! So much for this verse.

CHAPTER IX.
OF THE LAW'S INABILITY TO JUSTIFY AND SAVE.
For what the law couloT not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh; God sending his own Son, in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh :
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
— Rom. vm. 3, 4.
High and glorious matter contained in these two verses
1 Peccatum et mors sunt duae partes adsequatae human se
miseries ; nam in culpa et poena tota miseria hominis consistit.
— Streso.

 Of their coherence with what went before— The
difference amongst expositors about that — Thegeneral
sense and meaning ¦ of the words— The various read
ings and explications of them — They are divided into
five parts — There is a complication in them of the
several'causes of the sinner's justification and salvation
— The first branch of the text insisted upon, ' What
the law,' &c. — Four things observed in it — Of its
literal exposition — What is here meant by law—
What that was which the law could not do — How
it is said to be weak — What the flesh is by which ii
is weakened — The whole matter drawn into one
observation — Of the special matter of the law's impo
tency, as it refers to justification and salvation*— Three
grounds or demonstrations of its impotency : 1. It
requires more than what the fallen creature can per
form; 2. It doth not give what the fallen creature
needs; 3. It cannot make reparation for what the
fallen creature hath done — Use 1. To humble us,
because we have a nature in us by which God's own
law is thus weakened: where something is said
against the power of nature — Use 2. First, To vindi
cate the honour of the law, notwithstanding the weak
ness charged upon it ; secondly, The law's obligation
not to be cast off because of this ; thirdly, Nor yet is
it to be looked upon as altogether weak or useless —
Use 3. To take men off from expecting righteousness
and life from and by the law — Use 4. To stir up
believers to adore the love and mercy of God in send
ing his Son, when the law was under an utter
inability to justify and save.
Our apostle here, eagle-Hke, soars aloft, and rises
up in his discourse to the most sublime truths of the
gospel. These two verses set things before us so
high and glorious as may fill heaven and earth, angels
and men, with amazement and astonishment. Here
is the whole gospel summed up in a few words, con
tracted and brought into a narrow compass. Here
is in one view man undone and man recovered, the
depths of the creature's misery and the heights of
God's mercy, in a short abridgment. Here is God's
sending his Son, which surely was the greatest thing
that ever he did, it being the highest contrivance of
his infinite wisdom, and the highest product of his
infinite love. Here is this Son sent in our flesh, the
first and the great mystery of the gospel ; for it

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

161

comes in the front of the gospel mysteries, 1 Tim.
Hi. 16. Here is sin condemned and the sinner ac
quitted ; the law represented as impossible for us to
keep, yet fulfilled for us in a most strange and won
derful manner; as Christ hath done, and suffered that
for us which we were utterly unable to do and suffer
ourselves. Oh the breadths, lengths, depths, heights
of the wisdom, mercy, justice, hohness of God! Eph.
Hi. 18; for all these several attributes, in what is
here set forth, do concur and shine forth in their
greatest lustre. Who can hear or read these two
verses with due consideration, and not be in a divine
transport and ecstacy ? For the truth is, whatever
is short of the most raised workings in the soul is
too low for the glorious things here spoken of.
We must first inquire into their coherence or con
nexion with what goes before. They are a further
proof or confirmation of the main proposition laid
down in the first verse, ' There is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus.' That which might
endanger as to condemnation was sin, and there are
two things in sin to endanger about it, its power and
guUt ; therefore the apostle shews how such who are
in Christ are freed from both of these. As to the
taking away its power, that is spoken to in the second
verse: 'The law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus,
hath made me free from the law of sin,' &c. As to
the taking away its guUt, that he speaks to in these
two verses, ' What the law could not do,' &c. As
tf the apostle had said, If anything could condemn
God's people it would be sin, but that cannot, for it
is condemned itself. Christ, or God by him, hath
condemned sin, and so the sinner himsetf shall not
be condemned by it or for it. The guilt of sin being
expiated, and the sinner made righteous upon the
imputation of Christ's obedience and satisfaction,
which are the two things here asserted, surely there
is, there can be no condemnation to those who have
an interest in this grace. And this I judge to be the
chief scope and proper reference of the words, which
I wtfl endeavour to clear up a little further.
The beHever's non-condemnation, as you have
heard, is brought about, partly by sanctification, in
which the strength and dominion of sin is broken ;
and partly by justification, in which the guilt of sin
is done away and not imputed. The first of these
is done by the Spirit in the heart within, in the put

ting forth of his mighty power in the work of re
generation : ' The law of the Spirit of life,' &c. The
second is done by the Son for the person without, in
that propitiatory sacrifice which he offered up to
God, upon which God is atoned, reconciled, satisfied,
and so doth acquit the sinner. Now the apostle,
having spoken to that act which is proper to the
Spirit, ver. 2, he here expressly speaks to that which
was proper to, and to be effected by, the Son : ' God
sending his Son in the,' &c. And he speaks of con
demning sin for sin, that is, for Christ's being a sac
rifice for sin ; and therefore this must properly and
strictly refer to justification rather than to sanctifica
tion. Yet I would not be too nice ; for as, in a
large sense, the law of sin in the foregoing verse may
point to the guilt as well as to the power of sin, so
here, in a large sense too, the condemning of sin
may point to the abolishing of the power, as well as
to the expiating of the guilt of sin. Expositors
take in both, and I would not straiten the words
more than needs ; though yet I conceive, in their
main and primary intendment, they refer to what is
done in justification. The apostle's argument then
stands thus : To them for whom God sent his Son,
all other ways being impossible, for sin to condemn
sin, and in their stead to fulfil the righteousness of
the law, to them there is no condemnation. But for
believers, and such who are in Christ, God upon
these terms sent his Son ; therefore to them there is
no condemnation. I shall foUow those interpreters
who make the main scope and drift of the words to
lie in this.1
I know there are several Who go another way ; 2
i Nunc sequitur expositio vel illustratio probationis, quod
scilicet Dominus gratuita sua misericordia nos in Christo justi-
ficavit, id quod legi erat impossibile. — Calvin. Duobus argu-
mentis consolationem de indemnitate piis confirmavit ; quorum
prius f uit, quod Lex Spiritus, kc. Alteram, quod Deus misso
filio suo, kc — Pareus. Jam accedit ad probationem sententiae
prioris, quae f uit de justificatione ; neinpe credentes in Christum
esse justificatos, seu nullam esse eis condemnationem. — Piscat.
in Pavaphr. Observandum sententiam hanc non cohaerere
cum proxime praecedente, sed cum priore membro versiculi
primi. — Id. in Schol. ; vide Cajet. in locum. Quorum causa
Deus Pater misit Filium suum coaeternum in carne conspicuum
fieri, iis nulla est condemnatio ; at qui nostra causa, ko.-^Gryn. ;
see Dutch Annot.
* Pirmamentum est in hoc versu superioris conclusionis, &c.
— Beza. Pertinent ista declarations vice ad id quod dixit, se
X

162

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

they making the words to be rather the further ex
plication or continuation of that matter which is
laid down in the second verse. The saints are made
free from the law of sin and death. How is that
brought about ? Why thus, God sent his Son into
the world, by whom he is reconciled to them ; being
reconciled, upon this he hath taken away from sin
that commanding power that it had before, abohshed
its strength, divested it of its former dominion and
regency ; and this they make to be the condemning
of sin in the text. Well, I will not now object any
thing against this interpretation. Hereafter I shall
speak more to it, when I come to the more particular
opening of the clause, ' And for sin condemned sin,'
only at present give me leave to prefer the former.
Let us now consider the words in themselves.
As to their general sense and meaning, it is plainly
this, though somewhat more darkly expressed : what
the law, it standing in such circumstances, could not
do for the guilty, undone sinner, that God through
Christ hath fully done for him.1 This is that plain
truth which they resolve themselves into.
I find some considerable difference amongst expo
sitors in the reading of them.- Some would have a
word inserted, as iwoltias, IriXsai, fecit, prcestitit :2 thus,
' What the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God did, he sending his own Son,'
&c. They conceive, with the addition of this one
word, the sense would be more clear, and the words
per legem Spiritus, &c. , et transf ert totius hu j us negotii causam
et meritum in gratiam Dei.— Muscul. He proves the foresaid
making free, because that God being reconciled by Christ's
death, he hath taken away from sin that power, which he had
granted it over man for a punishment of his first transgression.
— Deod. Hic affertur ratio, qua ostenditur istum Dei Spiritum
liberatorem nobis donatum esse, kc—Pet. Mart. Ratio superi-
oris sententie, qua explicat apostolus quomodo lex Spiritus,
ko.— Justin. Hic versus continet aetiologiam itemque exegesin
eorum quje versu secundo dicta fuerunt. — Vorst. So Staplet.
Streso, Rolloc, &c
1 Quod impossibile erat legi, Deus in Christo fecit.— An
selm. Mens apostoli hoc loco est etsi verbis obscurioribus ex-
pressa, id nobis praestitum per gratiam quod lex praestare non
potuit.— Estius. 8 b vop.os ifioiXero, -tiaBivei. Si, tovto Xpio-rbs
iirolrjcre Si ijpas — Theophyl.
8 Mihi locum hunc pro virili mea perpendenti, videtur aliquid
verborum deesse ad explendam sententiam, veluti si sic lega-
mus ; nam quod lex Mosaica non potuit juxta partem carnalem,
secundum quam imbecillis erat et inefficax, hoc Deus prcestitit
misso Filio suo, qui Spiritualem legis partem absolvit.— Erasm.

would run much more smooth ; but others will not
admit of this addition.1
Some again would have the conjunctive particle
xui, and — ' and for sin,' &c. — to be expunged, ap
prehending that it makes the words to be more
obscure. 2 They would have us read them thus :
' What the law,' &c, ' God sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin condemned sin in
the flesh.' But this, too, is not approved of, for
Calvin lays a great stress upon that particle, as
heightening the matter spoken of, s ' and for sin ; ' it
is as much^as yea or even ' for sin condemned sin,' &c.
It is not a pleonasm or superfluous word, but it is
particula intensiva, to shew the greatness and strange
ness of the thing spoken of. It is not omitted by
any of the Greek scholiasts, and I see no reason why
we should put it out.
Tolet would solve all, first, By adding some illa
tive word, as ideo, igitur, &c. Secondly, By turning
the participle sending into the verb sent. Of which
hereafter. Take the words in the; gross, as I am now consider
ing them, I think our translators render them very
well ; and there will be no necessity either to add to
them, or to take from them. Only it is necessary
that you make this variation or addition, whereas it
is said, 'and for sin condemned sin,' — read, 'and by
a sin-offering, or sacrifice for sin, condemned sin.'
And so they will run thus, ' For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending (or sent) his own Son in the Hkeness of sin-
Subaudiendum verbum prmstitit, aut aliquid simile.— Estius.
Omnino videtur iXXelireiv verbum kirol-rjae aut simile.— Pisco*.
Ut huic malo succurreretur tale quid enim necessario intelli-
gendum est.— Staplet. Antid., p. 626. Sane conjunctio et pos-
tulare videtur, ut aliquid subaudiatur, ut sensus sit, perfecit id
Deus quod lex efficere non poterat. — Justin. Subaudiendum
videtur prcestitit, aut aliquid hujusmodi. — Bucer. To the
same purpose, Salmer, torn. xiii. p. 531; Catharin Vorst.,
Muscul, Seming., kc.
Hoc supplementum non est necessarium. — Tolet, kc Sed
non est opus, et Socinus haereticus illud ad suam blasphemiam
trahit. —Pareus. Mihi videtur aliter contextus optime fluere.
— Calv.
2 Una tantum conjunctione expuncta, nullo praeterea opus
est supplemento. — Soto, with divers others.
3 Copula Kal Erasmum decepit, ut insereret verbum pra-
stitit, ego vero amplificandi causa positam fuisse sentio.—
Calv.

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

163

ful flesh, and by a sacrifice for sin condemned sin in
the flesh : that the righteousness,' &c.
There are great difficulties in their several branches
and parts ; but they shall be opened as I go over
them in their order.
If you take them in pieces, you have these five
things in them : —
1. It is here implied that something was to be
done Hi order to the recovery, justification, salvation
of the lost sinner.
2. Here is an express assertion of the weakness,
inability of the law to do what was to be done ;
with the true cause of that inability of the law :
1 What the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh.'
3. The way and method which the wise and gra
cious God took upon this, that he might effectually
do that which the law could not do : he ' sent his
own Son in the Hkeness of sinful flesh.'
4. The double effect produced by this, or the
double end and design-of God in this sending of his
Son : ' For sin he condemned sin in the flesh ; that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled.'
5. The description of the persons who have an
interest in aU this grace : ' Who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.'
We have in the whole a complication of the seve
ral causes of the sinner's justification and redemp
tion. Here is the deficient cause, the law ; here is
the principal efficient cause, God the Father ; here
is the subordinate agent, (I mean with respect to the
Father,) or the meritorious cause, Christ the Son ;
the formal and also the material cause, ' for sin
condemning sin in the flesh;' the final cause, the
finis ov, ' that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfiUed,' and the finis 3>, ' in us, who walk not after
the flesh, but,' &c. Here I bring in the words ' for
sin condemned sin' under another head of causes
than that laid down but now in the division of the
words ; but that I may do weU enough, because they
wUl bear diverse causal respects.
I begin with the causa deficiens, which comes in
also as the procataric or impulsive cause, as that
which moved God to send his Son, viz,, the weakness
and impotency of the law to help the lost sinner.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the fiesh. Here observe,

1. The thing spoken of, the law.
2. That which is asserted concerning this law, it
could not do.
3. The ground or reason of this its inability to do,
in that it was weak.
4. The assignation of the true cause of its weak
ness, viz., the flesh, in that it was weak through the
flesh. It could not do because it was weak, and it
was weak because of the flesh.
I will a little insist upon the literal explication of
this branch, and then come to the matter contained
in it.
For what the law could not do. In the Greek it is rb
yaa uduvaroti roij w/j,ov ; which, if you render word for
word, runs thus : For the impossible of the law, or
the invalid of the law ; so Tertullian renders it.1 The
sense and meaning of the expression is plain enough;
our translation gives us that very well, ' What the
law could not do ;' -but the form and manner of it
in the original, especially when it is turned into our
language, is somewhat harsh and unusual.
Interpreters, for the opening of the phrase and
the clearing up of the connexion of the matter, do
several ways comment upon the words. Some bring
in this first paragraph under a parenthesis ; but that
signifies but little one way or another. Some
would read it absolutely, and change the nomina
tive case into the genitive, the Greeks using that
case as the Latins do the ablative in that form of
expression ; 2 thus, for rb uduvuroii rov vb/iov, they turn
it rou vop.ou aduvarov, or a.dump.hov, the law being un
able, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sent, &c. Some take it in the accusative case, and
put in the word iirointe ; the impossible part of the
law God performed or made good by the sending
of Christ. Some change the rb into S, putting in
r\i, (o h ai-limrot ;) what was the impossible of the
law, or to the law, that God supplied by the send
ing of his Son ; this comes nearest to our transla-
1 Quod invalidum erat legis. — De Resur. carnis, cap. 46.
2 tov dSwdrov toO vbpov, impotentia legis existente. — Beza.
Mihi placet, ut dSivarov nominativus positus sit absolute loco
genitivi, ut sensus sit, cum enim esset impossibile, &c. —
Erasm. Fateri necesse est Pauli orationem mutilam esse et
imperfectam, nisi dicamus, rb dSivarov positum esse absolute
loco secundi casus, quo Graeci eo firme modo utuntur quo
Latini casu auferendi, &c. — Justin.

164

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

tion. Some make the impossibile legis to be taken
substantive, for impossibilitas implencke legis ; 1 which
impossibility of fulfilling the law proceeded from
hence, because the law was weak through the flesh.
Some tell us2 the words are an atticism, and they
make a double atticism in them ; it is first rb aSvuarov
for Slot, rb dSivarov, and then it is Slot, rb aivvarov for
bia ri\i o\ivmp,ia\i. Then vthe sense of them runs
thus : For the impotency and inability, or because
of the impotency and inability of the law, therefore
God sent his Son. The ancient versions bring it in
with a since or because, ¦* since there was an utter
impossibility or inability in the law to justify or re
cover lost man, therefore God pitched upon another
way, viz., the incarnation, obedience, satisfaction of
his own Son. I thought it not amiss to put down
these several exphcations and readings of the words
for the satisfaction of more inquisitive persons con
cerning the expression itself, and the coherence of
the matter ; but as to the plain sense, that our trans
lators, as I said before, give us very well : ' For what
the law could not do, or because of the law's ina
bility to do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
therefore God sent his Son,' &c.
I pass from the letter of the words to the matter
contained in them ; and that may be summed up in
these two propositions ;
Prop. 1. There was something to be done by and
for the sinner which the law could pot do ; it was
under an impossibility of doing tf.
Prop. 2. Therefore the law could not thus do, be
cause it was weak through the flesh.
For the better understanding of which propo
sitions, it will be necessary to resolve these four
questions :
1. Of what law dotb the apostle here speak?
2. What was the rb adutqrov rov topou, that which
the law could not do ?
1 Impossibile legis: i.e,, impossibility implendaa legis ex
eo procedebat, quoniam lex infirma erat per parnem.  Tolet.
8 So Camerarius. rb dSivaTqv tov vbpov Attica construction
usitata accipi commode potest, pro f/ris Ijv dSvuaplq. Tgv vbpov.
—Beza. Propter impotentiam legis, eo quod per carnem erat
infirmata. — Pare.
3 Quum impotens esset lex propter infirmitatem carnis, kc
— V. Syr. Ob defectum virium legis, quo Jaborabat in came,
kc—V. Arab. Et cum impotentes eramus ad prEestandum
mandata legis, kc—V. Ethiop.

3. How is the law said to be weak ?
4. What is meant by the flesh, from which the
law's weakness proceeds ?
Quest. 1. First, Of what law doth the apostle here
speak, when he saith, What the law could not do ?
Ans. I answer, Of God's own law, and that too
in its strict and proper acceptation. For the word
law is taken sometimes in an improper, abusive,
metaphorical notion ; as in the verse foregoing,
where you read of the ' law of the Spirit ' and of
the ' law of sin,' which is nothing but the power
and commanding efficacy of the Spirit and of sin.
But here in this verse it is to be taken in the strict
and proper, notion of a law, viz., as it notes that de
claration or revelation which God, the great law
giver, hath made of his wiU, therein binding and
obliging the reasonable creature to duty. I know
some understand the law here of that law of the
mind spoken of, chap, vii, 23,1 which Hes in strong
propensions, efficacious and commanding impulsions
to what is holy and good, springing from the sanc
tified nature in regenerate persons, But I conceive
this interpretation is not so genuine, nor so well
suiting wtfh the apostle's scope in the words; where
he is treating not of the law which is in some per
sons-, but of the law which is imposed upon all ; of
that law the righteousness of which was to be ful
filled, as tf follows, ver. 4; and therefore it must
be understood of God's own law, that being it which
Christ was to fulfil and satisfy, and not any other
law. Since then the words point to the law of God,
we must bring the question into a narrower com
pass, and inquire, What law of God is here spoken
of? For answer to which, that I may as much as I
can avoid unnecessary excursions, I shaU only say
this, that it is either that primitive law which God
imposed upon Adam, and in him upon all mankind,
upon the keeping of which he promised life, upon
the breaking of which he threatened death, it being
the summary of the covenant of works ; or else it is
that law which God gave the people of Israel from
1 Lex mentis, quae impleri non poterat propter carnem pec
cati. — Tolet. Crediderim ego, non hic legem Mosis, sed legem
illam mentis accipiendam ease.-^Justin. Potest et de lege
mentis intelligi, quam supra dixit velle facere bonum, sed per
infirmitatem et fragilitatem carnis implere non posse.— Orig.

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

165

Mount Sinai, namely, the decalogue or moral law.
Which law was but a new draft of the law first
made with Adam ; for that being by his fall much
defaced, nay, almost quite obliterated, as it was
written in his heart, it pleased the Lord to copy it
out again, and to write it afresh, in tables of stone,
in fair and legible characters. And this, too, was a
scheme or transcript and summary of the covenant
of works first made with Adam, though it was not
given to the people of Israel purely and absolutely
as the covenant of works, for in reference to its end
and design there was much in it of the covenant of
grace. For matter and substance they were both
but one and the same law ; the terms and conditions
of both were the same, ' Do and Uve,' Rom. x. 5 ;
but there were certain appendixes of grace to the
moral law, which were not in that made with Adam
in the state of innocency, as is fully made out by
several writers upon the covenant ; 1 so that it was
a mixed thing, there being something in it of the
covenant of works, and something also of the cove
nant of grace. Now the law considered as first
given to Adam, and then as renewed to the people
of Israel, so far as in both it was the covenant of
works, is the law here spoken of as being concluded
under an impossibility of doing what was requisite
to be done. It was not the ceremonial law which
the apostle here had in his eye, but the moral law
itself,2 which, if it was necessary, might be evinced
by several considerations ; but this one is enough,
he speaks of that law, the righteousness of which
was to be fulfilled in beUevers, for law in the 3d
verse must be expounded by law in the 4th verse ;
now it is the righteousness of the moral law which
is fulfilled in us ; ergo, it is very true, Paul insisting
upon the law's weakness", doth sometimes direct his
discourse to the ceremonial, and sometimes to the
moral law ; and it would be of great use to us to
understand his epistles, tf we could exactly hit upon
the true notion of that law of which he occasionally
speaks ; but undoubtedly here it was the moral law,
1 Camero de tripl. Fcedere; Cocceius de Foedere ; Bulkely
on the Covenant, p. 57.
2 Legem dicit, non praecepta sacrificiorum, et caetera quae
erant umbra usque ad tempus Christi data, sed illam quam,
kc.—Bieron. Quare nihil est quod quisquam cavilletur, Mud
quod Paulus ait impossibile fuisse legi, non ad moralem sed
ad ceremonias referri. — P. Martyr.

as the covenant of works, of which he affirmeth that
' it could not do,' &c. Let this suffice for answer to
the first question.
Quest. 2. The second is, What doth this impossible
of the law refer to ? or what is the thing in special
which the law could not do ?
Ans. To this it is answered several ways. You read,
ver. 1, of exemption from condemnation; now this
the law could not do ; the law, in separation from
Christ, and especially in opposition to Christ, can
condemn millions, but it cannot save one person
from condemnation. Thus some do open it.1 You
read, ver. 2, of being made free from the law of sin
and death. Herein, too, was the law impotent ; it
might lay some restraints upon sin, but it could
never bring down the power of sin. Some apply it
to this.2 There is the blessed empire or regency of
the Sptfit over the flesh, as also the fuU and perfect
obeying of the law's commands ; neither of these
could the law effect. So Cajetan opens it.3 There
is the amendment and reformation of the life and
manners ; this the law could not do. This explica
tion some fix upon.4 The text speaks of the con
demning of sin ; this the law could not do ; it can
condemn the sinner, but it cannot, in a way of ex
piation, condemn sin itself. So De Dieu para-
phraseth upon it.5 Musculus puts many things
together.6 What is it, saith he, that was impossible
to the law 1 He answers, To abolish sin, to make
righteous, to free from the law of sin and death, to
give that the righteousness which it taught and
exacted should be fulfilled in us.
All these several explications are very true ; but,
1 Nempe condemnationem ab homine auferre. — Piscat.
2 Aptissimus mihi sensus videtur, ut ilia verba non modo
sequentia, sed multo magis praecadentia respiciant, &c, ut in
carnis contumaciam domandam vires non haberet. — Contz.
' Duo quantum ad propositum spectat subordinata sunt,
quae lex nequit efficere. Alteram est Dominium Spiritus
super carnem, alterum hinc consequens est, perfecta praecep-
torum legis executio. — Cajet.
4 Dr Hammond.
6 Quae erat impossibilitas legis ? nempe id facere, quod Deus
deinde fecit in carne Filii sui, condemnare peccatum. — Lud.
De Dieu.
6 Quid est illud, quod legi erat praestitu impossibile?
Abolere peccatum, et reddere justos, liberare a jure peccati et
mortis, dare ut justitia, quam docebat et exigebat, in nobis
impleretur. — Muscul.

166

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[Chap. IX.

further, there is the reconciling of God and the sinner,
the atoning and propitiating of an incensed God, the
satisfying of infinite justice, the paying of vast debts
contracted, the justifying of the guUty, the giving of
a right and title to heaven, with many other such
like great things. Now the law was under an
impossibility of doing or effecting any of these;
insomuch that God must send his Son, or no justifi
cation, no reconcUiation, no atonement, no satisfac
tion, no payment, no pardon, no righteousness, no
salvation 1— which wiU be by and by particularly
made out in the two most eminent branches of the
law's impotency.
I must mind you, that I am in aU this speaking of
the moral law. The inability of the ceremonial law —
abstracted from Christ, who was the pith and mar
row, and who put energy and efficacy into all the
types, rites, shadows of that law — I say, its inability
to do anything, further than to point or direct and
lead to Christ, is easily granted. It is the very thing
which the apostle largely insists upon the proof of
in his excellent Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. vii.
18, 19, 'For there is verily a disannulling of the
commandment going before, for the weakness and
unprofitableness thereof; for the law made nothing
perfect ; but the bringing in of a better hope did,
by the which we draw nigh unto God.' Heb. ix. 9,
' Which was a figure for the time then present, in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that
could not make him that did the service perfect, as
pertaining to the conscience.' So Heb. x. 1, 'For
the law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never,
with those sacrifices which they offered year by
year continually, make the comers thereunto per
fect,' (ov&inors bharai; Here is a total negation of
the ceremonial law.) And that law had its udvmrov
also ; for the apostle adds, ver. 4, ' It is not possible'
(dduvaron y«f) ' that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sins.' Thus it was with that law,
of which it is very clear Paul speaks in these places.
And it was but Httle better with the moral law
itself, though that was a far higher and better law ;
even this was and is as weak as the former. This
1 -ijoBivei 6 vbpos els rb SiKaiwBvvai. rbv dvBpoiirov. — Athan.
Significat legem fuisse imbecillem et invalidam ad justifican-
dum hominem. — Perer. Disp. 3, in cap. 8, ad Rom.

very law, which is so much for doing, which requires
and commands the creature to be so much in doing,
itself can do little or nothing. The lost sinner hath
great things to be done by him and for him ; but in
all these the moral law, though God's own law, and
an excellent law, cannot, without Christ, give the
least help or assistance to him.
Quest. 3. The third inquiry is, What is the weak
ness of the law here spoken of?
Ans. The word is rtaQivii, which is used to set forth
any debility or weakness, whether it be natural or
preternatural, as being occasioned by some bodily
disease or distemper, in which sense it is often used
in the New Testament. It is appHed here to the
law ; and it is brought in as the ground of its rJ
u&vvctTov before mentioned. Elsewhere the apostle
uses it, he speaks of the rb aaktig rng hroXrig, ' the
weakness of the commandment,' Heb. vii. 18. And
speaking of the ordinances, rites, injunctions of the
ceremonial law, he calls them ra dskn ?-<*> wruyv. \ I;
oraiyua, ' weak and beggarly elements,' Gal. iv. 9.
Here, in the text, a higher law was in his eye, and
yet he attributes weakness to it also : it could not
do because it was weak, and it was weak because it
could not do; for these two do reciprocaUy open and
prove each the other.
And let me add, that this weakness of the law
is not gradual or partial, but total ;x it is not the
having of a lesser strength, but it is the negation of
all strength ; it is so weak that it hath no power at
all to accomplish what is here intended. The apostle
carries it up to an impossibility : he doth not say
it was somewhat hard or difficult for the law to do
thus and thus, or that it could do something, though
but imperfectly; but he says this was impossible
to it, as being utterly above its power and abihty.
A man that is weak may do something, though he
1 'AoSiveia ex qua rb dSiicarov tov vbp.ov nascitur, virium
non imbecillitatem, sed omnem destitutionem declarat. — Beza.
Non dicit, quod legi erat grave et difficile, sed quod, &c,
quibus sane verbis adimit legi in universum justificandi vim,
&c. — Muscul. Infirmitatem legis accipe, quomodo solet usur-
pare apostolus vocabulum dcBevelas, non tantum pro modica
imbecillitate, verum pro impotentia ; ut significet legem nihil
prorsus momenti habere ad conferendam justitiam. — Calv. „| ;
Quamquam per verbum infirmari dtrBevetv ab interprete versum
sit, vis tamen illius verbi Grace potius significat vires nullas
quam imbecillas. — Salmer., torn. xiii. p. 532.

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

167

cannot do it vigorously, exactly, and thoroughly;
but now, as to justification and salvation, the law,
considered in itself, is so weak that it can do no
thing ; it cannot have the least influence into these
effects, further than as God is pleased to make use
of it in a preparatory or directive manner. Its weak
ness as to the great things of the gospel is Hke the
weakness of the body when it is dead. 1 Cor. xv.
43, ' It is sown in weakness,' (l» uafcnia, it is the
same word with that in the text' concerning the
law,) 'it is raised in power.' A dead body is so
weak that it cannot put forth one vital act ; it may
be- weak in part whUst it Uves, but when it is dead
it Hes under a total weakness. Such is the weak
ness or impotency of the law in reference to the
taking away of guilt, and the making of a person
righteous before God.
Quest. 4. Fourthly, It wiU be queried what the
flesh is here by which the law is made thus weak ?
Ans. The word flesh occurs thrice in this verse, &c. :
'In that it wasweak through theflesh,Qoc\ sent his Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh.' As it is used in the first place, it
carries in it a very different sense from what it doth
in the two following places ; and it is not unusual
in holy writ for one and the same word in one and
the same verse to be taken in different senses ; as
you may see Mat. xxvi. 29, and viii. 22. When it
is said the law was weak through the flesh ; here
flesh is taken morally for the corrupt nature in man :
but when it is said, God sent his Son in the like
ness of sinful flesh, and so on, there flesh is taken
physicaUy, for the human nature of Christ. But to
come to the business in hand. The law was 'weak
through the flesh.' By this flesh, the Manichees of
old understood the very being and substance of flesh,
that which constitutes the body in man ; but this
interpretation is rejected by all. Origen, with some
others, expounds it ofthe ceremonial law,1 with re-
1 Puto quod legem Mosis in duas partes apostolus dividat,
et aliud in ea carnem, aliud Spiritum nominat ; et illam qui
dem observantiam quae secundum literam geritur, sensum
carnis appellat, illam vero quae accipitur spiritualiter, Spiritum
nominaW-impossibile legis eo quod, &c. Intellects qui
secundum literam est accipi potest, ipse enim impossibilis
erat, &c—Orig. Vel per carnem infirmabatur lex, i.e., per
carnalem intellectum, et per carnalem observantiam erat im-
becilla, non per seipsam.— Anselm. Per carnem, h.e., Per

spect to the gross and literal sense and meaning of
that law. Now it is true, as hath been already ob
served, that that law may be styled flesh, because it
lay very much in fleshly things ; it is called ' the law
of a carnal commandment,' Heb. vii. 16 ; 'it stood
only in meats, and drinks, and divers washings, and
carnal ordinances, imposed till the time of reforma
tion,' Heb. ix. 10. And it is also most true, that
they who looked no further than the fleshly part,
the letter of that law, who did hcerere in cortice and
only rodere literarum ossa, as the Jews did, to them
it must needs be weak, and unable to bring about
any evangelical and saving good. But this is not
the law, as you have heard, which the apostle here
doth mainly intend. Beza is very sharp against
Origen for this his exposition ofthe flesh.1 Cajetaine
interprets it of the carnal state of the Jews under
the law ; they being in that state, by means there
of to them the law was weak. But, as to this
explication, our learned annotator well observes,2
that flesh here is not so properly the state of men
under the law, as that which is the means by
which occasionally the law became weak and unable
to restrain men, viz., the carnal or fleshly appetite
which is so contrary to the proposals of the law ;
therefore he expounds it by that, and Grotius be
fore him went the same way.3 The fullest and best
interpretation of this flesh, and that which is most
generally followed, is this : tf is the corrupt, sinful,
depraved nature that is in fallen man.4 Oh this is
carnalem legis intelligentiam, Bive carnis infirmitatem, cui
deerat evangelica gratia. — Erasm. Origenes per carnem intel
ligit crassam, literalem, et carnalem legis intelligentiam ; atque
etiam legis infirmitatem in eo collocat, quod impossibile fuerit
legis ceremonias omnes secundum carnem, i.e., secundum
literam observare. — A Lapide.
1 Distinguit hoc loco impurissmus ille scriptor legem in car
nem et spiritum, &c. — Beza in loc.
2 Dr Hammond in Annot. (a)
3 Caro, i.e., c'arnales judasorum affectus vires ejus retuderant.
Acts xiii. 38 ; Heb. ix. 15. — Grot.
4 Per carnem, i.e., vitiatam hominis naturam, Piscat, kc,
i.e. , per carnis desideria, et per f omitem vitiorum qui est in
carne. — Anselm. Ideo lex infirma est, quia in vitiatam natu
ram incurrit. — P. Mart. Quum vel legem infirmatam fuisse,
&c, nemo sibi finget damnari hic substantiam carnis aut
naturam corporis, nam haec a Deo creata sunt bona; sed per
carnem inteUigit pravitatem et corruptionem, quae per lapsum
Adami transivit in nostrum genus. — Idem.

168

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

that which puts such a weakness and inability upon
the law, to help and recover the undone sinner ! it
is by this that the law is so enfeebled and debilitated
as to its production of any spiritual or saving effects.
The apostle lays it upon this, ' the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh,' that is, be
cause it was weak through the flesh. For the h 3,
is causal ; 1 therefore it is usuaUy rendered here by
quia, quoniam, quandoquidem, eo quod, &c. And so it
is in other places, as Heb. ii. 18, 'Form that he
himself hath suffered,' h & yag xixovfov, because he
hath suffered, ' being tempted, he is able to succour
them that are tempted : ' it is as much as the l<p' &,
Rom. v. 12. Sometimes indeed it is only expressive
of such a time or state or condition : as Mark ii. 1 9,
' Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the
bridegroom is with them?' hub vvppiog. Some
times again it is rendered by whereas, as 1 Peter ii.
12, and iii. 16; but here in the text it is taken
causally. Let it then be observed, that the weakness of the
law is not properly inherent or from the law itself,
only it is adventitious, accidental, and from the state
and condition of the subject with whom it hath to
do.2 It is the wickedness of man's nature which is
the sole cause of the law's weakness. If man was
the same now that at first he was, the law would be
the same too now that at first it was, and have the
same power and ability that then it had; but he
being faUen now the law is weakened. It is not, I
say, from any intrinsic defect or weakness in the
law, but only because it meets with a subject in
which there is flesh, a depraved nature ; and so tf
cannot do that which before it did, when the nature
was holy and good. When man was in the state of
innocency, the ' law, Samson-Hke, was Hi its full
strength, and could do whatever was proper to it ;
yea, as to itself, it is able yet to do the same ; but
the case with us is altered : we cannot now fulfil
this law, nor come up to what it requires of us, and
therefore it is weak. True, the apostle lays it upon
1 iv ffi valet hic quia, more Hebraico. — Grot.
2 Impotentia legis, &c, non fuit ex ipsa lege, quasi justifi-
care homines earn praestantes nequiret, sed ex carne, h.e., ex
corruptione naturae humanae, quae hominem reddit impotentem
ad praestandam legem.— Pareus. Non infirmitatem illi impin-
git quasi intrinsecus inhajrentem, sed quasi extrinBecus ratione
carnis ei adjacentem — Soto.

the weakness of the law : he saith it was weak ; but
then he tells you what was the ground of that weak
ness, namely, our flesh. The law is only weak to us
because we are weak to it ; the strongest sword in a
weak hand can do but little execution ; the bright
est sun cannot give light to a blind eye, not from
any impotency in itself, but merely from the
incapacity of the subject ; and that is the case
in the law's a5vvap.ia with respect to the sinner.
Pray observe, the law strengthens sin, and sin
weakens the law : 1 Cor. xv. 56, ' The strength of
sin is the law;' viz., as the law gives it a killing
and condemning power, and as, through man's cor
ruption, it makes sin to be more active, impetuous,
and boisterous, thus sin is strengthened by the law.
But then the weakness of the law is sin, for because
of that it cannot now do what formerly it could.
Thus I have answered the four questions pro
pounded ; under which I have cleared up the words,
and also, in part, the matter contained in them.
Which being done, I might from the whole raise
this observation, that the law, yea, the moral law
itself, though it was an exceUent law, the law of
God's own making, and designed by him for high
and excellent ends, yet it having now to do with
fallen man, with sinners that have flesh (a corrupt
nature) in them, it is become weak and altogether
unable to justify and save.
I must not enter upon any large prosecution of
this, point, yet let me speak something to it, both to
fill up what I have hitherto but just touched upon,
and also to supply what as yet I have said nothing
to. There are but two things which I would further
open :
1. The special matter of the law's weakness.
2. The grounds or demonstrations of the law's
weakness. For the first, the special matter of the law's weak
ness, that will be cleared up,
1. With respect to justification.
2. With respect to salvation and eternal life.
' What the law could not do in that it was weak'
What was the thing particularly which the law could
not do ? what did its weakness especially refer to ?
Ans. The Scripture mainly fixes it upon these two
things ; it could not justify, it could not eternally
save. There are indeed many other things — some

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

169

of which have been atfeady hinted — which the law
could not do ; but these two are most usually in
stanced in, in the word when it speaks of, or would
set forth the law's weakness.
1. The law, upon its terms of doing and working,
ever since man's fall, always was, and yet is, unable
to justify ; it may possibly attempt such a thing, or
rather the sinner may look for such a thing from it,
but it cannot carry it on to any good issue. This, I
conceive, Paul's thoughts were in special upon, when
he says ' what the law could not do ; ' for it is the
sinner's justification which he in this place is dis
coursing of, and he first begins with the law, as
being impotent and insufficient to accomplish this
justification. God by Christ condemned sin, i.e., he
abohshed and cut off sin's guilt, and by him he
brought about a righteousness for the sinner ; but
the doing of this by the law was a thing altogether
impossible — that could not make the creature to
cease to be guUty, or to become righteous. The
proving of this truth was elsewhere his main busi
ness, as, namely, in the 3d, 4th, 5th chapters of this
epistle, where he doth professedly and largely insist
upon it. That one place is a sufficient proof of it,
chap. Hi. 20, ' Therefore by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in Ms sight : for by
the law is the knowledge of sin.' He pursues the
same argument in his Epistle to the Galatians, where
he goes over it again and again: Gal. ii. 16-21,
' Knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works
of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. I do not frustrate the grace of
God; for if righteousness come by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain,' Gal. Hi. 11, 21, 22, 'But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of
God, it is evident : for the just shaU live by faith.
Is the law then against the promises of God ? God
forbid : for if there had been a law given which
could have given Hfe, verily righteousness should
have been by the law. But the Scripture hath con
cluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.'
So also in his sermon at Antioch, Acts xui. 39, ' By
him all that believe are justified from all things,

from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses.' How full and positive are the Scriptures
in the denial of any power to the law to justify ! It
can discover sin, accuse and judge for sin, but it can
not expiate sin, or make a man righteous before God.
There is indeed the righteousness of the law, and
upon that, righteousness by the law ; but that now
is altogether unattainable, further than as it is
brought about and accomplished in the hands of
Christ. The law in Christ's hands can do great
things, but in ours it can do nothing.
2. So also the law is weak in reference to eternal
hfe. 'It could not do,' i.e., it could not save; it
never yet, as separated from Christ, carried one sin
ner to heaven : it is above the ability of the law to
save one soul. Consider it as the covenant of works ;
so its language is ' Do and live : ' Rom. x. 5, ' For
Moses describeth the righteousness of the law, that
the man which doth these things shall live by them.'
Now man in his lapsed state cannot do according to
the law's demands, therefore by it there is no life
for him. Had he continued in the state of innocency,
he had been able to have done all which the law re
quired, and so would have attained life by it in the
way of doing ; but now the case is altered. If sal
vation depended upon the creature's perfect and per
sonal obedience, not a man would be saved. There
must indeed be obedience to the law, or no salva
tion ; but should it be that very obedience which
the law calls for, and as the law calls for it, viz., as
the condition of the first covenant, this would make
salvation absolutely impossible. You know Moses
brought Israel to the borders of the Holy Land, but
Joshua must lead them into it ; so the law, as God
uses it in subserviency to the gospel, may do some
thing towards the saving of a poor creature ; but it
is the alone merit and obedience of the Lord Jesus,
apphed by faith, which must put the sinner into
the possession of the heavenly rest. That which
now saves is Christ, not Moses ; the gospel, not the
law ; believing, not doing : I mean only in the old
covenant sense. So much for the matter of the law's
impotency. Secondly, Let me give you the grounds, or, if you
wUl, the demonstrations of the law's impotency and
weakness to justify and save. I wUl instance in three :
1. It requires that which the creature cannot per-
Y

170

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

form. Before the law do any great thing for a per
son, it must first be exactly fulfilled. For that is
its way, the terms and condition which it stands
upon, and it is as high in these terms now as ever it
was : for though man hath lost his power, the law
hath not lost its rigour ; it doth not sink or faU in
its demands because of man's inability to answer
them. Though the sinner be as the poor broken
debtor, utterly undone, yet the law will not com
pound with him, or abate him anything, but it will
have full payment of the whole debt. Now this, in
statu lapso, as I shall shew when I come to the 4th
verse, is impossible.1 None but such a one as Christ
could thus answer the law's demands. For nothing
will serve it below perfection : inherent righteousness,
actual obedience, all must be perfect, or else the law
despises them. The gospel accepts of sincerity, but
the law will bate nothing of perfection ; if there be
but the least faUure, aU is spoiled: Gal. iii. 10, 'For
as many as are of the works of the law, are under
the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one
that continueth not m all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them : ' James H. 10,
' For whosoever shaU keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all.' And is it
thus? Are these the terms and demands of the
law ? What then can it do 1 or rather what can we
do ? It must needs be weak to us, because, in these
rigours, we are so weak to it ; it cannot do much
for us, because we can do but little to it ; it cannot
do what we desire, because we cannot do what it
demands. Oh how exceeding short do the best
come of the high measures of the law ! ' Who
can say, I have made my heart clean ; I am pure
from my sin,' Prov. xx. 9. ' In many things we
offend all,' James iii. 2t ' There is not a just man
upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,' Eccles.
vu. 20. ' Our very righteousness is as a polluted
rag,' Isa. lxiv. 6. ' How should man be just with
God? If he wUl contend with him, he cannot
answer him one of a thousand. If I justify myself,
mine own mouth shall condemn me ; tf I say I am
1 Unde sequitur plus in lege praecipi, quam praestando simus,
quia si pares essemus implendae legi, frustra aliunde esset quae-
situni remedium. — Calvin. Hic locus efncacissime convincit
justificationem non esse ex operibus, &c. — P. Martyr. Non
implet legem infirmitas mea, sed laudat legem voluntas mea.
— August.

perfect, it shall also prove me perverse,' Job ix. 2, 3.
See Job xv. 14-16 ; Job xxv. 4-6. ' If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall
stand?' Ps. cxxx. 3. 'Enter not into judgment
with thy servant, for in thy sight shaU no man
living be justified,' Ps. cxhii. 2.1
2. The law doth not give what the creature
needs ; 2 it asks above his strength, and gives below
his want. He must have grace, sanctification, holi
ness, &c, but will the law help him to these? no;
it is high in the commanding of them, but that is all,
it doth not work them in the soul ; it asks very high,
but gives very low. It is holy itself, but it cannot
make others holy ; it can discover sin, but it cannot
mortify sin; as the glass discovers the spots and
blemishes in the face, but doth not remove them.
The law is a killing thing, 2 Cor. Hi. 6, but it is of
the sinner, not of the sin : it Hath by accident, by
reason of the flesh here spoken of, a quite other
effect; for it doth rather enliven, increase, and
irritate sin, as water meeting with opposition grows
the more fierce and violent; and the disease, the
more it is checked by the medicine, the more it
rages.3 Paul found in himself this sad effect of the
law : Rom. vii. 8, ' But sin taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concu
piscence : for without the law sin was dead.' More
over, the law calls for duty, but it gives no strength
for the performance of it,1 Pharaoh-Uke, who exacted
1 Quis melior propheta de quo dixit Deus, inveni virum se
cundum cor meum, et tamen ipse necesse habuit dicere Deo,
' Ne intres in judicium cum servo tuo.'— Bernard, in Annunt.
Marios. Sine peccato qui se vivere existimet, non id agit ut
peccatum non habeat, sed ut veniam non accipiat. — August.
Enchirid. In pessimis aliquid boni, et in. optimis nonnibil
pessimi, solus homo sine peccato Christus. — Tertul.
2 Lex Moysi quamvis spiritualis esset, quia tamen non
adjuvabat intus per gratiam, lex erat inflrma et imbecillis ob
statum carnalem hominum, in quo relinquebat illos. — Cajet.
Non quod ipsa infirma sit, sed quod infirmos faciat, minando
poenam, nee adjuvando per gratiam. — Anselm. Lex prater-
quam quod peccati rationem aperiebat, nihil praeterea auxilii
praestabat Spiritui adversus carnem, et ideo neque sufficiebat
ad justificandum, neque ad perficienda legis opera. — Soto.
3 Non de legis praestatione hic agitur, sed de ipsius vi in
noBtris immutandis animis, et ad illud legis praescriptum
efformandis, utpote quae corruptionem illam in qua nascimur
non modo non sanet, sed augeat potius. — Beza.
4 Per legem non adjutorium sed nostri mali indicium et
monitorium habemus. — Luther.

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

171

brick, but aUowed no straw. The gospel helps
where it commands, the law commands but helps
not : Lex jubet, evangelium juvat. Remember I still
speak of the law as it stands in opposition to the
gospel, and as it is the matter and transcript of the
first covenant. It neither pardons what it forbids,
nor doth it enable to do what it enjoins ; and much
of the abwapuct, impotency of the law, lies in these
two things.1 Take a particular instance, great is
the sinner's need of faith ; for without this, no justi
fication, no peace with God, no heaven ; it is the
gospel-condition on which all depends. Now the
law knows nothing of this faith ; nay, it is diamet
rically opposite to it ; it is so far from working it
that it hinders it to its utmost. It is all for work
ing, for doing: Gal. Hi. 12, 'And the law is not of
faith : but the man that doth them shall live in
them-' BeHeving belongs only to the gospel;
therefore that is styled the law of works, and this
the law of faith, Rom. Hi. 27. If faith come under
the law, it is only that faith which is a general faith,
or as it is a part of obedience, not as the condition
of gospel grace. The law therefore not helping as
to these things, so indispensably necessary for grace
here and hereafter, what can it do for the lost
sinner? 3. The law could not do, because it could not
heal that breach which sin had made betwixt God
and the shiner. It stiU looks forwards, and is
always calUng for perfect obedience ; but what if sin
hath been committed for the time past ? Oh there
the law is weak ! It can make no reparation for
what is past ; as to that, all it says to the guUty
person is, as they to Judas, Mat. xxvu. 4, ' What is
that to me? see thou to that' Suppose the sinner
could for the future come up to a fuU conformity to
the law, and in everything answer its highest com
mands. Suppose bim now to arrive at such a pitch
of perfection that he should do nothing which this
law forbids, and do everything which this law
commands : yet, supposing the fall from God, and
1 Necessarius f uit adventus Christi, qui legi suppetias ferret,
&c. Nam ilia quidem recte docuerat, &c. Verum adhuc
duo erant necessaria quae lex conferre non potuit, 1. Ut condo-
nentur ea quae contra ejus precepta admissa fuerint : 2. Ut
vires hominis corroborentur, quibus possit legis jussa perficere.
— P. Martyr.

the guilt thereby contracted, or any one sin com
mitted, the law would be weak, and the creature
could not thereby be justified ; the reason is, because
here is now reparation and satisfaction to be made
for what is past, which to make is impossible to the
law. This perfect obedience, present and future,
might do the work, was it not for what is past ; but
guUt hath been contracted, God hath been offended,
his first covenant violated ; therefore there must be
reparation made to him for this. Now this the law
cannot do, nor the creature upon the terms of the
law ; for all that he can arrive at is but perfect obe
dience, and that is his duty ; he is under an obliga
tion to it, and therefore by it he can make no satis
faction for what is past : this is but the paying of
the present debt, which can quit nothing of the
former score. This is very well if we look forward,
but what becomes of us when we look backward ?
So that the apostle did very deservedly thus speak of
the law, ' what the law could not do,' &c. So much
for the opening of the matter held forth in these
words ; let me close this head with some application.
Use 1 . First, Here is matter of deep humUiation tous.
How should we lament that sinful nature, that flesh
which is in all of us ! we aU come into the world
under a sad and woeful depravation of nature. Well,
suppose we do, what of this ? Oh this should
bitterly be bewaUed by us, because by reason of this
the law is weak, that it cannot do that for us
which otherwise it could and would have done. As
we were created at the first, before our nature was
corrupted, we were strong to the law and the law
strong to us ; we could fulfil its highest demands,
and it could fulfil our highest desires ; we were able
to keep it and it was able to save us ; its perfect
righteousness was not above us, and we had been
righteous in that righteousness. But now it is far
otherwise; sin hath got into us, our natures are now '
depraved and vitiated, insomuch that even from this
law itself we can look for nothing : it is upon our
degeneracy weakened to us to all intents and
purposes; and is not this sad? Oh that there
should be such natures in us as even to debilitate
and weaken God's own blessed law ! And would to
God the sad effects of the flesh in us stayed here! but
it goes further : it doth not only bring a weakness
upon the law, but upon the gospel too. The gospel

172

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[Chap. IX.

itself, the new and remedial law, though it be the
power of God, Rom. i. 16, yet it would be alto
gether ineffectual to our justification and salvation,
tf God did not accompany it with a mighty power.
It tenders and holds forth that in Christ which is
every way sufficient for these great things ; yet we
should be never the better for it, this too ' could not
do,' if God, in spite of all opposition from our cursed
natures, did not overpower us to believe, to close
with Christ, to accept of restoring grace in the way
of the gospel. Truly if God should leave us to our
selves, and should not rescue us from the power of
natural corruption, neither law nor gospel could do
our work; notwithstanding both we should perish
for ever. Should not this be greatly bewailed and
lamented by us, that sin should be so rooted in our
nature, and have such a strength in us, as that it
should be too hard both for law and gospel, and
bring both under an inability to do us good ?
And is it so ? I might then from hence infer, that
certainly in the fallen creature the power of nature
is very low; nay that, with respect to the keeping
and fulfilling of the law, it is quite lost. Pelagius
of old, with whom some in latter ages do almost
concur, only they put a better varnish upon their
opinions, held that though nature by the fall is
somewhat weakened and impaired in its strength,
yet still it can do great things ; yea, especially with
some ordinary assistance, it may enable a man to
fulfil the law of God. Now against this the argu
ment in the text is considerable -,1 is the law weak,
and yet is the sinner strong ? is that under an impos
sibility, and yet is this and that possible to the
creature ? The flesh is but extraneous to the law,
and yet by reason of that it cannot do ; but it is
inherent in the sinner, and yet he can do; what more
absurd ! Especially it being considered, that the
law's weakness is not attributed to it in respect of
itself, but only in respect of us ; so that if we now
1 Quid hic dicent naturalium virium praedicatores ac
doctores ? Reddant rationem quare per carnem infirma fuerit
lex Dei; ita ut necessitas humanae salutis opus ha'buerit
missione Christi, &c. Si virtus et judicium rationis tarn
potens est, ut quae bona praecipiuntur, agnoscat, approbet, et
praes are valeat, quomodo iu illis non potuit qui sub paedagogio
legis fuerunt 1— Muscul. Paulus ait legem sine Christo infir-
mam esse ; isti aiunt, nos priusquam simus participes Christi
posse bene operari, et obtemperare legi Dei.— P. Martyr.

could perfectly obey, perform, keep the law, its rj
d&waron would then cease ; and tf so, why was Christ
sent ? But no more of this.
Use 2. Secondly, It is necessary that I should
vindicate the honour of the law, and obviate those
mistakes and bad inferences which some possibly
may run upon from what hath been spoken. Three
things therefore let me say to you.
1. Notwithstanding this weakness of the law, yet
keep up high thoughts of it, and give it that honour
and reverence which is due to it.
It is weak indeed, but yet remember whose law
it is, as also what an exceUent law it is in itself. It
is a perfect draught or model and delineation of ori
ginal righteousness ; it is the measure, standard, test,
of that purity and perfection which man would have
had in the state of innocency ; yea, it is the copy,
transcript, exemplar of God's own holiness, for
God framed and modeUed this law according to his
own purity and sanctity. And let us be what we
wiU, still the law, in itself, is all this, and the same
that ever it was, though we be not so. And there
fore we should adore, and reverence, and magnify it,
though now to us accidentally it be thus weak.
But doth not this weakness reflect disparagement
and dishonour upon the law? Ans. No, not in
the least. Two things wiU sufficiently vindicate it
as to any such reflections : 1. The apostle only says
of it that it was weak ; he chargeth nothing upon
it but only weakness. He doth not say'that it was
any way impure, or unholy, or unrighteous ; he
affirms the contrary : Rom. vii. 12, ' The law is holy,
and just, and good,' only he saith it was weak. This
the Greek expositors take notice of, and from it
apologise for the law.1
2. It is weak, but how comes it to be so ? Why,
through our flesh.2 It is not so in and from itself,
1 Aokci p,iv SiafldXXeiv rbv vopbv, el Si rls dxpifUZs ir/xxrfyot,
Kal o-ip68pa airbv i-waiveX, oip.<poivov Tip XptoTU Seucvis, &c. oBi
yap etire rb irov-qpbv roS vbp.ov, S.XX6, rb dSivarov. Kai iriXi-V i>
S> -t/o-Bivei, oiK iv c5 iKaKovpyet.- Kal ovSe rty AoBiveiav airy 'Xoyt-
teTai, &XXa tt) o-apxl — Chrysost. 'Opas Sti oi tov vbpov K0.ro.-
^i)0i^to(, &c. — Oecum., Theophyl. to the same purpose. CM
rolvvv iravripbs b vbp.os, aXX' dyaBbs, doWros Se.—Theodor.
2 Ne legem incusare videatur, culpam rejicit in carnem, i.e.,
concupiscentiam, quae fomes est peccati— Estius. Vide quanta
arte legem simul extollit, deprimit, et excusat. Deprimit, cum
dicit quod non potuit peccatum damnare ; excusat, cum dicit

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

173

but only through our depraved nature ; it is merely
by accident, et aliunde, that it Hes under this impo
tency. The law is not to be blamed, but we ; had
not we sinned, the law would have been stUl as able
and mighty in its operations as ever it was. Did it
but meet with the same subject, it would soon
appear that it hath the same power which it had
before Adam feU. So that, I say, the law is not at
all in the fault, but only we because of the flesh.
Observe here the wisdom and care of our apostle ;
wherever he seems to tax the law, there he will be
sure to vindicate it. As where he speaks of its irri-
tating-of corruption, he there lays the blame upon
his own wicked nature, not at all upon the holy
law: Rom. vtf. 8-11, 'Sin taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concu
piscence : for without the law sin was dead. For I
was alive without the law once, but when the com
mandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the
commandment which was ordained to life, I found
to be unto death. For sin taking occasion by the
commandment deceived me, and by it slew me.'
Yet verses 12-14, ' The law is holy, and the com
mandment holy, and just, and good. Was then
that which is good made death unto me? God
forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. For
we know that the. law is spiritual : but I am carnal,
sold under sin.' And thus we should carry it with
respect to the law's weakness. Oh in itself it is
mighty and powerful, but there is sin in us by which
only the law is made weak ; there, therefore, the
blame must lie. Could we but get rid of this sin,
we should soon find what a mighty thing the law is,
so mighty that nothing would be too high or too hard
for it.
2. Secondly, Take heed that you do not cast off
the law upon this pretence. It is indeed weak, as
hoc non accidisse ejus vitio, sed carnis potius; extollit quam
maxime, cum concludit Christum advenisse ut legi contra
carnem subsidium ferret. — Mussus. Transfert legis impoten-
tiam alio, ut legem absolvat a culpa, quam dat carni, viz.,
nostrae, i.e., corruptee nostrae naturae. — Muscul. Ne quis
parum honorifice legem impotentiae argui putaret, vel hoc re-
stringeret ad ceremonias, expressit nominatim Paulus defec
tum ilium non a legis esse vitio, sed carnis nostrae corruptela.
— Calvin.

to such ends, but yet it is a law, and that which is
obligatory to all, even to believers themselves under
the gospel state and covenant. Shall we, because
of this weakness (especially it being occasioned by
ourselves) cast off the law, and pretend that we
are not under the obligation of it ? We must not so
argue. Observe it in the apostle, even when he was
proving the weakness of the law as to justification,
and shewing that God had found out another way
for that, viz., the way of faith ; yet foreseeing that
some might run themselves upon this rock, and infer
from hence that they had nothing to do with the law,
he therefore adds, ' Do we then make void the law
through faith ? God forbid. Yea, we establish the
law,' in its proper place and sphere, Rom. iii. 31. The
creature, as a creature, is under a natural, and there
fore indispensable, obligation to this law, so as that
nothing can exempt him from that obligation. It
commands to love, fear, serve, honour, obey God ;
wherein it obliges so strongly that God himself —
with reverence be it spoken — cannot free the crea
ture from its obligation to these duties. True, in
deed, believers are not under the curse, rigour, or
bondage of this law, or under it as it is the condi
tion of life ; but they are (and it cannot be other
wise) under the obHgation of its commands as to a
holy life. There may be, and blessed be God there
is, a great change as to circumstances, a great relax
ation as to the law's rigours, severities, and penal
ties ; but for the main duties of" obedience and holi
ness it is eternally obligatory, and never to be
abrogated. Oh therefore do not look upon your
selves as made free from this law, though it be weak
and unable to justify and save you ! It can damn
upon the breaking of it, though it cannot save by
the keeping of it.
3. Thirdly, Neither must you, upon this, look
upon the law as altogether weak or useless. I say,
not as altogether weak ; for though as to some
things it be under a total impotency, yet as to other
things it still retains its pristine power. It cannot
take away sin, or make righteous, or give life, which
it promised at first, and for which it was appointed ;
for 'the commandment was ordained to life,' Rom.
vii. 10. Here is the weak side of the law, as to
these it is rb u&maTov too vo,u,ov. But as to the com
manding of duty, the directing and regulating of

174

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

the Ufe, the threatening of punishment upon the
violation of it, here it can do whatever it did be
fore. The law's preceptive and punitive part, where
it is not taken off by Christ, are yet in their full
strength ; only as to the promissory part of it, viz.,
its promising life upon the condition of perfect obe
dience, there it is at a loss. In a word, its authority
to oblige to duty or punishment is the same that
ever it was, but its abUity to give righteousness or
life, in which respects only the apostle here speaks
of it, is not the same. If God open this law to you,
and set it home upon your consciences, you will find
it hath yet a very great strength and efficacy in it.
Let it not, therefore, be altogether weak in your
eye- Nor altogether useless. For some wUl be ready
to say, If the law be thus weak, then what use is
there of it ? to what end doth it serve ? what is to
be looked for from that whicli can do so little for
us ? But do not you thus reason ! For though the
law be not of use to you as to justification, (I mean in
a way of immediate influence upon the act or state :
a remoter influence it may have,) yet in other re
spects it is of great and admirable use, viz., as a
monitor to excite to duty, as a rule to direct and
guide you in your course, as a glass to discover sin,
as a bridle to restrain sin, as a hatchet to break
the hard heart, as a schoolmaster to whip you to
Christ, Gal. Hi. 24. The Lord Jesus, indeed, hath
taken sin-pardoning, God-atoning, justice-satisfying,
soul-saving work into his own hands. He would
not trust this in the hands of the law any longer,
because he knew the weakness of it ; but for other
work, the awakening and convincing of a sinner, the
terrifying of the secure, the humbling of the proud,
the preparing of the semi to close with Christ,—
though this last act be only eventual and accidental
as to the law,— aU this work, I say, yet lies upon the
law. Be you who you wUl, believers or unbelievers,
regenerate or unregenerate, the law is of marvellous
use to you. It is a rule to all, whether they be good
or bad, and as so none are exempted from it, as is
by several divines sufficiently proved against the
Antinomists ; and it hath, too, very good and useful
effects upon all, whether called or uncalled, saints or
sinners. Our apostle, who here doth so much de
press the law in respect of justification, doth else

where in other respects speak much of its usefulness :
Rom. Hi. 1 9, ' Now we know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God : ' Rom. vu. 7
' What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God
forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law
for I had not known lust, except the law had said
Thou shalt not covet :' Gal. Hi. 19-24, 'Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of
transgressions, till- the seed should come to whom
the promise was made ; and it was ordained by
angels in the hand of a mediator. Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ
that we might be justified by faith.' I must not
launch out into this vast ocean. You have variety
of treatises upon this argument,1 namely, to prove
that the law is stiU a rule, and stUl very useful in
those great effects which have been mentioned. I
refer you to them for further satisfaction. This I
only touch upon as it lies in my way, both that I
may prevent dangerous mistakes, and also shew you
how you are to carry it towards the law. Oh let it
be highly esteemed, reverenced, honoured by you !
Yea, bless God for it; for though, indeed, it is weak
and unprofitable, as the covenant of works, yet as it
is a rule, and as it produces such effects upon the
conscience, so it is of great use and highly beneficial.
So much for the second use.
Use 3. Thirdly, Was the law thus unable to do
for the sinner what was necessary to be done ? Then
never look for righteousness and life from and by the
law. For as to these, it cannot do your work unless
you could do its work ; it cannot justify or save you
unless you could perfectly obey and fulfil it. Oh
pray expect little from it, nay, nothing at all in
this way ! You cannot answer its expectations, and
it cannot answer yours. It highly concerns every
man in the world to make sure of righteousness and
Hfe ; but where are these to be had ? Only in Christ
in the way of beUeving, not in the law in the way of
doing. We would fain make the law stronger than
indeed it is ; and it is natural to us to look for a
* Taylor's Reg. Vitae ; Burg. Vinde. Legis; Bolton's Bounds,
ko. ¦ Baxter, in several treat., with divers others. Facessat
longe ex animis nostris profana ista opinio, legem non esse
regulam ; est enim inflexibilis vivendi regula.— Calvin.

Chap. IX.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

175

righteousness from it, because there was our right
eousness at first, and that suits best with the pride
of our hearts. Man is not so averse to the law in
point of obedience, but he is as apt to rest upon the
law for heaven and happiness, if he can but do some
thing which the law requires. Oh this he looks upon
as a sufficient righteousness, and as a good plea for
heaven. Especially when conscience is a Httle awak
ened, then the poor creature betakes himself to his
doing, to his obedience to the law; and this he
thinks wiU do his work, till God lets him see his great
mistake. As it is said, Hosea v. 13, 'When Ephraim
saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then
went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King
Jareb, yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of
your wound ; ' just so it is with the convinced sin
ner in reference to the law, both as to his practice,
and also as to his success.
I would not be mistaken in what I have said, or
shaU further say, as tf I did design to take off any
from obedience to the law. God forbid ! AU that
I aim at is only to take men off from trusting in
that obedience, and from leaning upon that as their
righteousness. We should be doers of the law ; for
' not the hearers of the law are just before God, but
the doers of the law shall be justified,' Rom. ii. 15 ;
yea, we should go as far as ever we can in our en
deavours after a law-righteousness ; for though that
be not sufficient to justify us before God, yet that
must make us righteous in his eye as to qualitative
and inherent righteousness;1 and so we are to under
stand that text, Deut. vi. 25, with many others of
the same import : ' It shall be our righteousness
if we observe to do aU these commandments before
the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.' But
yet, when we have gone the furthest, the righteous
ness which we are to rely upon is only the gospel
righteousness, or the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus ; tf we take up with anything short of
that we are miserable and lost for ever.2 As to the
law, is it thus weak, or rather, are you thus weak,
and yet will you bottom your expectation and
confidence there ? can you fulfil or satisfy it in its
demands of perfect, personal, universal, constant
1 Vide Burg, of Justif., p. ii. Serm. 22, p. 215.
' Oh nos miseros, si vel tantillum nostra salus basi tarn
infirma nitatur ! — Beza in 1 John i. 8.

obedience? If you cannot — than which nothing
more certain — tf can never then do your business ;
nay, upon the least failure it wUl be your enemy, to
plead against you for the non -performance of its
conditions ; and so, though it cannot as a friend do
you much good, yet as an enemy it can and will do
you much hurt. What a sad case is the legalist in !
The law condemns him because he doth no more
obey, and the gospel condemns him because he doth
no more believe. He is lost on every hand. Oh this
is woeful ! And yet how many precious souls split
themselves upon this rock ! Millions of men look
no higher than the law; that is the foundation upon
which they buUd their confidence for life and salva
tion. Could we but get into them, and be privy to
the grounds of their hope, we should find that it is
not Christ and faith in him, but the law and some
imperfect obedience thereunto, upon which they
bottom. They deal honestly, wrong nobody, live
unblameably, make some external profession, per
form such duties, are thus and thus charitable to
the poor, &c, and hereupon they are confident of
their salvation. Now I deny not but that these are
very good things ; I wish there was more of them ;
yet when any rest in them or upon them for right
eousness and life, they set them much too high. As
good as they are, in reference to these great con
cerns they are no better than so many fig-leaves,
which will not cover a sinner's nakedness when God
shall come to reckon with him. Whosoever bottoms
his trust and confidence upon these, he builds upon
the sand, and sooner or later there will be a sad
downfall of all his hopes. These are things which
ghtter in our eye, but they are but coarse and mean
things, without Christ, in God's eye.1
Sirs, I am upon a point of as great importance as
any that can be spoken to ; and therefore give me
leave to stay upon it a Httle, and to deal plainly and
faithfully with you about it. I would fain leave every
one of you upon a good bottom, built upon the rock,
that 'sure foundation,' Isa. xxviu. 16, which will
stand firm and steady in all winds and weather,
having that anchor-hold which will abide under all
storms. And therefore let me prevail with you to
cast off aU legal confidence, and to rely, trust, rest
1 Sordet in districtione judicis quod fulget in conspectu
operantis. — Gregor.

176

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. IX.

upon nothing short of Christ and his righteousness.
Duties, graces, holiness, obedience, good works — all,
in their proper places, are excellent things ; but it is
the alone merit, righteousness, satisfaction of Christ
that must justify and save you. Would you have
that righteousness which will bear the test at the
great day? — that righteousness in which you may
be able to stand before the disquisition of the right
eous God ? Oh, then, fly to Christ, to his imputed
righteousness, and there let all your trust and reli
ance be placed ! What is that ' one thing ' which
the New Testament revelation mainly drives at ? It
is this : to carry sinners from Moses to Christ, from
the way of the law to the way of the gospel, from
doing, as the old covenant condition and ground of
Hfe, to believing. The not understanding, receiving,
embracing of this grand truth, was the sin and ruin
of the Jews; all that Christ, and the apostles
could say or do would not prevail with them to
shake off their depending upon the law ; but still
they 'rested in the law,' Rom. ii. 17, 'followed after
the law of righteousness,' and ' sought righteousness
not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the
law,' Rom. ix. 31, 32 ; they, ' being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their
own righteousness, would not submit to the right
eousness of God,' Rom. x. 3. Oh, therefore, how
full, how earnest was Paul in his dealings with
them, and with others too, to undeceive and con
vince them about this ! He saith the whole matter
of righteousness was now taken out of the law's
hands and put into the hands of Christ. ' Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth,' Rom. x. 4. ' Therefore by the deeds
of the law there shaU no flesh be justified in his
sight, &c. But now the righteousness of God with
out the law is manifested, being witnessed by the
law and prophets : even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
aU them that believe,' Rom. iii. 20-22. He sets
down the miserable state of those who would be
resting upon the law, such as were Ix ™„ 'iiym ToZ
rip.ov, as he describes them : ' For as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse ; for it is
written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in
aU things written in .the book of the law to do them '
Gal. iii. 10. He tells them, by this they made the

sending, dying of Christ to be to no purpose : ' I do
not frustrate the grace of God ; for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain,' Gal.
ii. 21 ; see, too, Gal. v. 3, 4. He tells them, further,
that God had such a respect for his own law, that if
righteousness and life had been possible by it, he
would have taken no other way : ' If there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law,' Gal,
ui. 21. But why do I give you a few gleanings,
when you yourselves may go into the full field?—
Now was all this spoken only to the Jews and Gen
tiles who Uved at that time ? doth it not concern us
also? have not these several considerations their
strength to us as well as to them ?
To come nearer home. The text tells us ' the law
could not do.' Will you not be convinced of the
law's inability to help you, so as to betake your
selves to that better and effectual way of justifica
tion and salvation which God hath so graciously
provided for you ? The law is weak, as weak now
as ever; but Christ is strong, as strong now as
ever. The law can do nothing, but Christ can do
all. TUl it pleases God to convince you of the law's
impossibility to make you righteous and happy, you
will never seek out after help in Christ, or close
with him ; for as Christ had never come to you, had
it not been because it was impossible for the law to
save you ; so you will never come to him till you
see that it is impossible for the law to save you.
This is that which moved God to send. Christ, and
this is that which moves the sinner to embrace
Christ and his way of salvation. If this work of
conviction was but once passed upon you, oh you
would soon quit the law, and all your confidence
would be bottomed upon Christ. Well! shall I
bring it to a head 1 Here are two ways set before
you for righteousness and life,— the way of the law
and the way of the gospel, the way of doing and
the way of believing. Now which of these two will
you choose? If the former, so as to venture your
souls upon what you can do, your case is desperate.
By this you plainly put yourselves under the cove
nant of works, and there is nothing but perishing,
as things now stand with us, under that covenant.
If the latter, there is hope, nay, certainty— suppos
ing you close with the gospel way in a right gospel

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

177

manner — that it shall be well with you. Who would
not now say with David, ' I will make mention of
thy righteousness, even of thine only ' ? Ps. lxxi. 1 6 ;
who would not, with Paul, ' count all but dross and
dung, that he may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having his own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith'? Phil. iii. 8, 9.
Use 4. Fourthly, See here the admHable love of
God, and be greatly affected with it. The law was
weak, utterly unable to reheve us in our forlorn con
dition ; as to that conclamatum est, the case is despe
rate ; and now the merciful God finds out another
way, pitches upon another course, he will see what
that will do, the former failing ; what is that ? he
' sent his own Son in the Hkeness,' &c. Oh. the in
finite love, mercy, compassion of God ! The weaker
was God's law, the stronger and higher was God's
love. Oh that he should not let us all perish under
the law's impotency! that he should employ one
for our recovery who was every way able to do what
the law could not ! How should we adore his mercy
in this ! But this leads me to the following words
in the text, ' God sent,' &c, where I shall have oc
casion more fully to press this duty upon you. So
much therefore for this first branch of the words,
'What the law could not do, Hi that it was weak
through the flesh.'

CHAPTER X.
OF CHRIST'S MISSION; AND OF GOD'S SENDING HIM.
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
&c. — Rom. vm. 3.
Man being utterly lost upon the terms of the law, it
pleased God to find out and to pitch Upon another way,
which he knew would be effectual — That was the send*
ing of his own Son, &c. — Four things observed in the
words; all reduced to three observations — Of Christ's
mission : how he was sent .- and sent by God— It notes
his pre-existence, before his mission and incarnation ;
his personality ; his being distinct from the Father —
It is opened first negatively : 1. It was not Christ's

ineffable and eternal generation ; 2. It was not any
local secession from his Father — Secondly, Affirma-
¦tively : It ivas, 1. God's preordaining of him to the
office and work of a mediator ; 2. His qualifying and
fitting of him for that office and work ; 3. His author
ising and commissionating of Mm to engage therein ;
4. His autlioritative willing of him to assume man's
nature, and therein so to do and so to suffer ; 5. His
trusting of Mm with his great designs — How was
this sending of Christ consistent with Ms equality with
the Father ? this answered two ways — Why was Christ
sent ? answered first more generaUy, then more par
ticularly in four things — Use 1. To stir up persons,
1. To admire God; 2. To admire, in special, the love
of the Father ; 3. To love Christ ; 4. To imitate
Christ, with respect to his sending ; 5. Not to rest in
the external sending of Christ; 6. To believe on him
whom God hath sent — Use 2. This is improved for the
comfort of believers.
The law's impotency and weakness, nay, utter in-
abUity to recover, justify, and save the lost sinner,
hath been spoken to ; I go on to that which there
upon the wise and gracious God was pleased to do.
And what was that? Why, to the praise of his
glorious grace, he ' sent his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh.' The great God is never at a loss ;
if one means fails he hath another, if all means fail
whicli fall within the view of the creature, yet God
hath his secret reserves, and that under the deck,
which shall do the work. Upon Adam's sin all
mankind was lost, plunged into a woeful abyss of
misery, obnoxious to eternal wrath, and accordingly
God might have dealt with them in the utmost
severity of his justice. What is there now to pre
vent this, to give any relief to man in this deplor
able state ? Alas ! the sinner cannot help himself ;
the law stands with a withered arm and can do
nothing ; there is no creature in heaven or earth to
interpose ; as to all of these the case was desperate.
Therefore God himself engages to let the world see
what he could do : 1 ' He looked and there was none
to help, therefore his own arm brought salvation,'
Isa. lxiH. 3. Here indeed was @ibg civb firj^av^g, a
God helping, at a dead lift, in the greatest straits,
1 Deus solus in hac intricata causa poterat prospicere reme-
dium. — Slreso. Z

178

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. X.

and in the most admirable manner. If ever — with
reverence be it spoken — infinite wisdom was put to
it, now was the time; yet, even in this intricate
and perplexed state of things, that found out a way
which would do the business, a way which none
could have thought of but God alone ; he ' sent his
own Son,' &c. None could cry ev^xa to this but
God himself ; this was -his alone invention and con
trivance. The restoring of fallen man was impos
sible to the law, yet it shall be done ; God wUl take
another strange and wonderful course, which shall
do it effectually.1 What his own law cannot do his
own Son can, therefore him he will send. Avery
high and costly way ! yet rather than all mankind
shall perish, God will make use of it. Here is the
very mirror of the wisdom, love, grace, pity of the
blessed God.
God sending his own Son, &c. To make the sense
run more smoothly, some turn the participle ¦n-t/j.-^ag
into the verb 'ivi^e, reading the words thus : ' God
sent his,' &c. If the following conjunctive particle
and be kept in, this reading is not much amiss.
Some render it in the passive form, Deus misso Filio
suo, &c.2 Some would put in the word ideo, there
fore :s 'Since the law was weak through the flesh,
therefore God sent his own Son, and for sin,' &c. But
as to these things there is no great difficulty.
In the whole paragraph you have, 1. The act, or
the thing done — namely, the sending of Christ ; 2.
The person whose act this was, or the person send
ing, viz., God the Father : ' God sent,' &c. It is a
known rule, when the name or title of God is set in
contradistinction to the Son, it is then taken not
essentially, but personaUy, for the first person, God
the Father, instances of which are very common.
It is here said God sen* his own Son, therefore it
must be understood of God the Father, Christ being
i Noluit propterea quod lex imbecillis erat per pravitatem
humanae naturae, opus salutis humans abjicere ; quasi non
posset per aliam, quod ista legis via non succedebat, efficere.
— Muse. 2 Dictio interpretata mittens participium est, &c, et prop
terea ad servandum et participium et tempus, aliqui inter-
pretes verterunt, et recte, activum in passivum, legendo sic,
Deus Filio suo misso in carne. — Cajet.
3 Duplex est Hebraismus, unus est, oportet supplere Latine
ideo ,- alter, quia participium mittens ponitur loco verbi misit
— Tolet.

his Son, and upon that consideration he being styled
the Father. And this person is caUed God, not
because he partakes more of the Godhead than the
other persons, Son and Holy Ghost, do, but because
he is the first in the order of the three divine per
sons ; and because he is the beginning of the Son and
ofthe Holy Ghost, but hath no beginning of his own
person ; for he doth not receive the Godhead, in the
personal consideration of it, by communication from
any other ; in which respect he is in Scripture more
frequently styled God than either the Son or the
Holy Ghost.1
3. You have the person sent, our Lord Jesus
Christ ; and he is set forth, 1. By his near relation
to God : God sending his Son. In order to the sin
ner's redemption God did not employ an ordinary
person, a mere servant, a creature that stood at a
great distance from him ; but, so great was his love,
he employed a Son. 2. By the speciality and pe
culiarity of this relation, God sending his own Son.
In the Greek it is rfo <aurou viov, the Son of himself:
In ver. 32 it is rov id/ov viov, his proper Son, or his
own Son. There is that in this expression which
very much heightens Christ's sonship ; he was not
barely a Son, but God's own Son, a Son in a special,
extraordinary, incommunicable manner.
4. Here is the further explication of this sending
with respect to the way and manner of it ; how did
God send his Son ? Why, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
If you go further into the words than that branch
of them which I have now read, there are two gene
rals more to be observed in them ; but they wUl be
taken notice of Hi their proper place.
There are three great doctrinal truths here to be
handled :
Obs. 1. That Christ was sent, and sent by God
the Father.
Obs. 2. That Christ, thus sent, was God's own
Son. Obs. 3. That Christ, God's own Son, was sent in
the Hkeness of sinful flesh.
I begin with the first, That "Christ was sent, and
sent by God the Father. Here are two things
to be spoken to, Christ's being sent, and his being
sent by the Father ; but they may very weU be put
together. 1 Mr Perkins on Gal. iv. 4, p. 271,

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

179

Before I fall upon the close handling of this send
ing of Christ, there are three things which it presents
to our consideration : his pre-existence, his person
ality, his personal distinction from the Father ; let
me therefore a Httle touch upon each of these.
1. This sending of Christ strongly imphes his pre-
existence before his incarnation. For if he had not
had a being before, how could the Father send him ?
That which is not, cannot be sent. It is not said
here that God now created him or made him, as if
he did not exist before, but he sent him, which
must, as I said, strongly imply that he did exist
before this sending.1 This the Socinians fiercely
oppose; and therefore in this matter they are
worse than the Arians.2 For these, though they
denied that Christ was from all eternity, and made
him to be only first created by God, upon the mis
understanding and perverting of his being called
'the first born of every creature,' Col. i. 13; the
'beginning of the creation of God,' Rev. iii. 14;
yet they asserted Christ's existence long before his
incarnation. But the Socinians, following Photinus,
deny that he had any being or existence before he
was conceived and brought forth by the virgin Mary;
so that their opinion about the person of Christ is
somewhat worse than that of the old Arians, for
which they are admonished and dealt with a little
sharply by a late Arian writer himself.3 The or-
1 Non de novo creans vel faciens, sed quasi praeexistehtem
misit. — A quin. Misit, non creavit aut condidit, sed qui secum
erat coaeternus, eundem ad nos delegavit ; non ut esset ubi non
fuerat, &e. Sed ut appareret ubi invisibili modo erat. — Soto.
2 The whole body of the Socinian authors agree in this, ex
cept Erasmus Johannes, who fell in with the Arians. See
Socinus's Disp. with him, De Filii Dei existentia.
3 Sandius in Nucleus Histor. Eccles., who, p. 229, lib. i., con
cerning the pre-existence of Christ thus expresses himself:
Licet dogma de praeexistentia Christi antesaeculari, in Bymbolo
dicto non-contineatur, kc, nihilo minus praestat tutiorem viam
sequi, Christi praeexistentiam hon denegando. Nam si Christus
praeextitit, quanti res plena periculi Christo id nolle concedere
quod ei jure competit, et quam mitem judicem habituri sunt
qui ita sentiunt ? Et si Christus non fuit ante Mariam, peri-
culo tamen vacat confessio praeexistentiae ; nam Christus non
succensebit illis qui ei nimium honoris attribuerint. Nee est
quod timeant se eo ipso detrahere majestati Patris : Nam, ut
fcaceam non esse contra rationem vel impossibile, filium fuisse
primogenitum ante omnes creaturas; certe majestati patris
magis convenit, quod talem filium ante saecula genuerit.
Deinde nee habent, quod vereantur se per praeexistentiam

thodox fully prove the eternity of Christ against
the one, and consequently the pre-existence of Christ
before his incarnation against the other.
And one would think the Scriptures are so clear
in this, that there should not be the least contro
versy about it ; for they tell us that Christ was in
Jacob's time: Gen. xlviii. 16, ' The Angel which
redeemed me from all evil,' &c. It might easily be
proved that this angel was Christ.1 That he was in
Job's time, for he said, Job xix. 25, ' I know that
my Redeemer liveth,' meaning Christ. That he was
in the prophets' time under the Old Testament, for
the 'Spirit of Christ was in them,' 1 Pet. i. 11.
That he was in Abraham's time, yea, long before it :
John viii. 56, &c, 'Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and was glad. Then said the Jews
unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast
thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.'
That he was in the Israelites' time, for, 1 Cor. x. 9,
it is said, ' Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of
them also tempted ; ' him is added in some transla-~
tions, however the sense will so carry it. That he
was in the prophet Isaiah's time, for John xii. 41,
you read, ' These things said Esaias, when he saw
his glory, and spake of him,' that is, of Christ.
Now were not these periods of time before, long
before, Christ's being born of the Virgin? there
fore he had an existence before that. How fully
and plainly is, this asserted in the Gospel ! John i.
1-3, 10 : 'In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him ; and without him was not any
thing made that was made. He was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not.' Eph. Hi. 9, &c, 'Who created all
things by Jesus Christ;' by him, not as an instru
ment, but as a social or co-ordinate cause. Col. i.
16, 17, ' By him were all things created, that are
in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
tollere veri Christ humanitatem, potest enim virtute Divina
quilibet angelus incarnari et uniri cum carne in unitatem
personae, sic ut ille unitus simul dici possit et homo et
angelus ; et Plato non negavit animas praeexistentes post
incarnationem fieri homines.
1 Vide Franzii Disput. Theolog., Disp. 14, The. 40, p. 436. •

180

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. X.

whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi
palities, or powers ; all things were created by him,
and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him
all things consist.' Heb. i. 2, ' By whom also he
made the worlds.' Now could Christ have thus co
operated with the Father in the creation, and yet
not have a being before his incarnation, which was
so long after the creation ? John i. 15, 'John bare
witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of
whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred
before me; for he was before me.' How was Christ
before John Baptist, if he did then only exist when
he was born ? for in reference to that John Bap
tist was before Christ, he being born before him.
John xvii. 5, 'And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was : ' mark the latter words,
' With the glory which I had with thee before the
world was.' Phil. ii. 6, ' Who being (6«^«i/, subsist
ing, existing,) in the form of God,' &c. John xvi, 28,
' I came forth from the Father, and am come into
the world : again, I leave the world, and go to the
Father.' John vi. 62, ' What and if ye shall see the
Son of man ascend up where he was before?' in re
spect of his divine nature, or as he was the Son of
God. Do not these scriptures sufficiently evince
that Christ had a being before he was incarnate ?
The drawing forth of' their full strength, and the
answering of the several cavils and evasions of the
adversaries about them, would fill up a volume ; the
learned know where and by whom both of these are
fully done.1
This sending of Christ therefore speaks his exist
ence before he assumed flesh ; he must have an ante
cedent being, otherwise he would not have been
capable of being sent.2* And he was first sent, and
then incarnate, his mission being antecedent to his
incarnation, though this be denied by the enemies
1 See Arnold. Catech. Racov. Major de Persona Christi p.
187, &c. ; Hoorneb, Socin. Conf., torn. ii. de Christo, cap' 1
Calovius Socin. Proflig. de Filio Dei, controv. 1 ; but espe
cially PlaceiDisput. de Argum. quibus efficitur Christum prius
fuisse, quam in utero beatae Virginis secundum carnem con-
ciperetur. This is fully and learnedly discoursed of by Dr
Pearson on the Creed, art. ii. p. 213 to 237.
2 Necesse est ut qui mittitur existat priusquam mittatur
fatente Enjedino.— Calov., Socin. Proflig., p. 183.

with whom we have to do.1 For God sent him, that
is, appointed that he should assume the human na
ture ; and this is his being sent in the hkeness of
sinful flesh, as a judicious expositor descants upon
the words.
2. Secondly, This sending of Christ speaks his
personaHty. He did not only exist before he took
flesh, but he existed as a person ; he had his woVoj
rrjg bwaefyaig, wherein the notion of a divine person
consists, his manner of subsistence distinct from the
subsistence of the Father and of the Holy Ghost.
But this explication of Christ being a person more
properly belongs to the next head. Here I say
Christ was a person, by which I mean he was not a
thing, quality, dispensation, or manifestation, as some
fondly and dangerously speak ; but he was, and is,
a person, having a proper, personal subsistence. And
he must be so, or else he could not be the subject of
this sending. It is very true, God may be said to
send or give that which is but mantfestative, as he
sends his gospel, which yet is not a person, but only
a manifestation of his will, grace, love, wisdom, &c.
But now in Christ there is something more than
bare sending, even that which will amount to the
proving of him to be nothing less than a person ; -for
he is sent to be incarnate, to take the Hkeness of
sinful flesh upon him. Now a bare quahty or mani
festation are under an utter incapacity of being thus,
or doing thus. Who will be so absurd as to assert
such a thing ? If Christ be sent by God the Father,
and upon that doth assume flesh, then certainly he
was a person, for none but a person could do this.
Had the apostle only said that God sent Christ, the
truth in hand had not been so evident, at leastwise
from this text; but when he adds 'he sent him in
the hkeness of sinful flesh,' this undeniably proves
his personahty.
3. Thirdly, It notes the distinction that is betwixt
the Father and Christ. Which appears not only as
one is the Father and the other is the Son, though
that evidently infers a distinction, for the same per
son in the same respects cannot be Father and Son
2 Misit a se per virtutem Spiritus Sancti genitum, et ex
matre sua natum, et ad virileni *tatem perductum, non adhuc
generandum et oriturum, quod dicta ipso absonum est et
Scripturae plane diasonum—SUchting.

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

181

too — cannot beget and be begotten too ; but also as
the one sends and the other is sent. 1 The Father and
the Son are one in nature and essence, with respect
to which he saith, John x. 30, ' I and my Father are
one ; ' yet they are distinct persons. 2 The number
and distinction ofthe persons iri the Trinity is usually
taken notice of by divines from this scripture. The
apostle, saith Theophylact, had spoken of the Spirit in
the former verse, in this he speaks of the Father and
of the Son, rriv reiufta Sidagxon, teaching the Trinity.
And saith Peter Martyr from these words, the
number and distinction of the persons in the holy
Trinity doth appear.3 Which great truth is also
frequently held forth in other places : Isa. xlviii. 16,
' Come ye near unto me,' (Christ is the person here
speajring,) ' hear ye this : I have not spoken in se
cret from the beginning ; from the time that it was,
there am I : and now the Lord God, and his Spirit,
hath sent me.' A full Old Testament proof of the
distinction of the persons. But it is most plainly
held forth Hy the New Testament. At the baptism
of Christ there was a manifestation of God in the
Father, Son, and Sptfit j the Spirit descended in the
form of a dove, the Father gave the testimony, ' This
is my beloved Son,' &c. ; * Christ was the object of
it. Christ directed his apostles to baptize ' in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' which
surely he would not have done had there not been a
personal distinction betwixt them : John xiv. 16,
' I will pray the Father, and he shall give you an
other comforter,' &c. Here is all the persons as dis-
1 "AXXos 6 diroo-riXXuv, fiXXos 6 dirooreXXbpevos. — Epiphan.
adv. Sceres., p. 740. See Gerhard. Loc. Com, torn. i. cap. 6,
p. 263, De personali Filii a Patre et Spiritus Sancti dis-
tinctione. 2 Una est Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti essentia, in qua
non est aliud Pater, aliud Filius, aliud Spiritus Sanctus ; quamvis
personaliter sit alius Pater, alius Filius, alius Spiritus Sanctus.
— Fulgent., lib. i. De Fid. Ecce dico alium est Patrem, et alium
Filium, et alium Spiritum Sanctum. Male accepit idiotes quis
que aut perversus hoc dictum quasi diversitatem sonet, et ex
diversitate separationem pretendat Patris et Filii et Spiritus.
— Tertul. adv. Praxeam. Of the distinction of the three di
vine persons, see Dr Cheynel on the Trin-unity, chap, vii, p.
181, &c, and p. 227 to 248.
3 Ex his verbis apparet divinarum personarum in Sancta
Triade numerus et distinctio.
4 Pater auditur in voce, Filius manifestatur in homine, Spi
ritus dignoscitur in columba. — August.

tinct : John xiv. 1, ' Ye believe in God, believe also
in me.' John xii. 44, ' He that believeth on me,
believeth not on me ' (i.e., on me only,) ' but on him
that sent me.' John v. 32, ' There is another that
beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness
which he witnesseth of me is true.' Many such
places might be cited, but these may suffice. Here
is enough in the text ; the same person, considered
in the same respects, cannot both send and be sent
too, therefore the Father and the Son are distinct
persons. True, as Augustine observes, 1 in some
sense Christ might be said to send himself, that is,
consider him essentially, so he did what the , Father
did, so he sent himself; but if you consider him
personally, so he did not send but was sent : upon
which he and his Father are distinct. So much for
these three things, which are but implied in Christ's
mission. I come more closely to the thing itself, and to the
point which lies before us, namely, That Christ was
sent, and sent by God the Father. The redemption
of lost man was a blessed work, a most glorious un
dertaking ; never was there any like to it, or to be
paralleled with it ; yet our Lord Jesus would not of
his own head engage in it, or thrust himself upon
it ; no, he must first be sent ; then, and not till then,
did he undertake it. And who sent him ? Surely
he who only had authority to employ and commis-
sionate him about such a work, viz., God the Father :
' God sent his own Son,' &c. ; where, as hath been
already hinted, God is to be taken in the personal
notion, and as relating to the first person. 2
This sending of Christ, and that by the Father,
are two points of such unquestionable verity to all
who pass under the denomination of Christians, that
as to them — and with Jews and heathens I will not
meddle — it is not necessary to spend the least time
in the proving of them. Yet, even as to them, it is
needful that these truths should be a little opened
and explained.
In order to which I will endeavour,
1. To clear up the nature of the act.
1 Lib. ii. De Trin. cap. 5. Vide Lombard., lib. i. Dist. 15.
2 Personaliter sumpto vocabulo, quia opponitur persona
mittens personae missae. — Grynceus. Ubi ait quod Deus misit
Filium, nominatione Dei Patrem intelligit, ad quern Filius
refertur. — Soto.

182

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. X.

2. To remove a difficulty or answer an objection
about it.
3. To give the grounds and reasons of it.
As to the first, the question is, What was the
Father's sending of Christ? in what respects is he
said to be sent, and sent by the Father ? for I shall
open both together.
To which I answer, 1. Negatively, in two things :
(1.) This sending of Christ was not his ineffable
and eternal generation, or Sonship grounded upon
that. He was sent who was the Son of God ; but
he was not the Son of God as he was sent, nor said
to be sent as he was the Son of God.1 His Sonship
was the result of his generation, not of his mission.
These two are very different things ; for Christ was
begotten of the Father from everlasting; but he was
sent by the Father — the sending being taken in its
strict and most proper notion — in time : ' When the
fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son,'
&c, Gal. iv. 4. He was a Son long before he was
sent ; and he was not a Son because he was sent, but
he was sent because he was a Son.
(2.) Christ's sending was not any local secession
from his Father,2 or any local motion from the place
where he was to some other place where he was not.
You must not so conceive of it, nor fetch your
measures concerning it from your own sending of
persons; for there when you send one upon your
errand or business, he leaves the place where he was,
and goes to the place where he was not; but so it was
not with Christ. The Father sent him to this lower
world, yet here he was before; the Father sent him
from heaven, yet, as to his Godhead, he remained in
heaven still. He saith, indeed, John xvi. 28, ' I came
forth from the Father'— yet not so but that he was
still with the Father — 'and am come into the world'
— yet not so but that he was there before ; for ' he
1 Non eo ipso quod Patre natus est, missus dicitur Filius, sed
eo quod apparuit huic mundo, verbum caro factum est.— Aug.
de Trin., lib. iv. cap. 10. Duobus modis dicitur mitti Filius^
praeter Ulam aiternam genituram quae ineffabilis est; secundum
quam etiam missus posset dici, (ut videtur quibusdam,) sed
melius ac verius secundum earn dicitur genitus.— Lomb. lib i
dist. 15.
2 Non missus est mutando locum, quia in mundo erat
Quapropter Pater invisibilis una cum Filio secum invisibili'
eundem Filium visibilem faciendo, misisse eum dictus est &c'
-August, de Trinit., lib. ii. cap. 5.

was in the world, and the world was made by bim '
John i. 10 ; ' again I leave the world and go to the
Father,' he speaks in respect of his bodily presence.
Look, as when Christ ascended, he went from earth
and yet he was on earth stUl as to his spiritual pre
sence ; for he saith, ' Lo, I am with you unto the end
of the world,' Mat. xxviii. 20. As man he went from
us, but as God he is as much with us as ever.1 So
when Christ descended, he came from heaven, and
yet he was in heaven stiU; for he tells us, 'No man
hath ascended up into heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of man which is
in heaven,' John iii. 13. So that in Christ's sending
there was no mutation of place, only upon that he
assumed the human nature, and so became visible ¦
whereas before, as God, he was invisible.2 He was
but where he was, only he was more than what he
was, for he was now God-man ; and he was here in
a different manner, for now he was visible. You see
what the sending of Christ was not.
2. Secondly, To open it affirmatively, this sending
of Christ lies in five things :
(1.) In God's choosing, appointing, ordaining of
Christ from everlasting to the office and work of the
mediator. This, I confess, is somewhat remote from
that strict notion of his sending in which the Scrip
ture usually speaks of it. However, I take it in, it
being the foundation of his being sent in time. God
the Father from all eternity did choose, decree,
ordain that his Son should take flesh, and in that
flesh redeem man; therefore he calls him his elect:
Isa. xiii. 1, ' Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.'
And Rom. iii. 25, it is said, 'Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,' &c. ;
1 A quibus homo abscedebat, Deus non recedebat.— Aug.
Tract. 78, in John. Et abiit et hic est, et rediit et nos non
deseruit.— Idem. Tract. 50, in John. '
2 Missio divinae personae convenire potest, secundum quod
importat ex una parte, processionem priginis'a mittente; et
secundum quod importat ex alia parte, novum modum exist-
endi in alio. Sicut Filius dicitur esse missu3 a Patre in
mundum, secundum quod incepit in mundo esse per carnem
assumptam, et tamen ante in mundo erat, ut dicitur Johni.—
Aquin., parti, qu. 43, art. i. in corp. art.; et in Resp., ad 2.
Illud quod sic mittitur ut incipiat esse ubi prius nullo modd
erat, sua missione localiter movetur. Sed hoc non accidit in
missione divinae personas, quia persona divina missa, sicut
non incipit esse ubi prius non fuerat, ita nee desinit esse ubi
fuerat.

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183

Kgolforo, it relates to God's poking or purpose; and
it notes not only God's setting forth and revealing of
Christ in the gospel, which was done in time, but
also, and chiefly, his decreeing, foreordaining of
Christ in his secret purpose from all eternity to the
work and office of a Redeemer. So the word is
used, Eph. i. 9 ; and therefore the marginal ren
dering of it, whom God foreordained, is better than
that in the text itself, whom God hath set forth. The
apostle Peter speaks expressly of it : ' Who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you,' 1 Pet.
i. 20. You read of a decree concerning Christ, Ps.
ii. 7, * I wiU declare the decree,' &c. ; but that which
I am upon was not the matter of the decree there
spoken of.
(2.) Christ's sending— I take it passively — lies in
God's qualifying and fitting of him for his great
work. This also is more remote from the close
intendment ofthe sending; yet it also may be taken
in. The wise God first fits and then sends ; he never
puts a person upon any special service but first he
qualifies and fits him for that service. You have it
exemplified in Moses and in several others. Now
the restoration of man to God's image and favour,
the redeeming and reconciling of the sinner to
God, was the greatest work that ever was under
taken ; and therefore if God will employ Christ
about such a work, his wisdom engaged him first to
fit him for it. Which accordingly he did; for in
order thereunto, whereas Christ must have a body
to fit him for dying and suffering, that God pro
vided for him. ' Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared' (or
fitted) ' me,' Heb. x. 5. And whereas he must also
have the Spirit, in a large proportion and plentiful
effusion thereof, that too the Father doth furnish
him with : Isa. xlH. 1, ' I have put my Spirit upon
him ; ' John Hi. 34, ' God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him.' Our blessed Saviour could
need nothing more than a body and the Spirit to
quahfy and fit him for his work, and both, you see,
were given to him : John x. 36, ' Say ye of him
whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the
world, Thou blasphemest, because I said I am the
Son of God ? ' What was the Father's sanctifying of

Christ ? I answer, It was partly his setting of Christ
apart to, and partly his gifting and qualifying of
Christ for, his office and undertaking ; the latter of
whicli the Father did for him as well as the former';
and so he sanctified him. And observe, it was first
sanctifying, and then sending. ' Whom the Father
hath sanctified and sent,' &c.
(3.) Thirdly, It Ues in God's authorising and com-
missionating of Christ to what he was to be and to
do. The Father sent him, that is, gave him autho
rity to engage as the Redeemer of the world. Christ
had a commission from God under hand and seal,
as it were, before he meddled in his great negotia
tion : John vi. 27, ' Him hath God the Father sealed,'
or authorised by special commission; for though that
be not all which is intended in the sealing, yet that
is a great part of it. As princes, when they send
abroad their ambassadors, or appoint their officers
at home, they give them their commissions sealed
to be their warrant for what they shaU do ; so God
the Father did with Christ. He did not intrude or
thrust himself upon what he undertook; no, but
though he had in himself a strong inclination there
unto, yet first his Father must call him to it. He
did not run before he was sent, as those prophets
did, Jer. xxiii. 21. So the apostle tells us, Heb.
v. 4, 5, ' No man taketh this honour to himself, but
he that was called of God, as was Aaron. So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made an high
priest ; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee.' John viu. 42, ' I
proceeded forth and came from God ; neither came I
of myself, but he sent me.' You see how his send
ing is opened by this ; the due consideration of
which doth administer matter of great support and
encouragement to faith, as you will hear in the
applying of the truth in hand.
(4.) Fourthly, This sending of Christ consists in
the Father's authoritative wUling of him to take
man's nature upon him, and in that nature so to do,
and so to suffer. This is higher than the former ;
God did not only authorise Christ to engage, so as
that he might, if he so pleased, undertake to redeem
sinners, without any intrusion or usurpation; but
he made this known to him as his will, and so, to
speak according to our conceptions, he laid his com
mand upon him to act accordingly. So as that

184

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[Chap. X.

Christ was under an obligation — which yet did not
in the least destroy or lessen his Hberty, or his merit,
or his love — to come and to do as he did., Sending
is an authoritative act amongst men ; it was so in
God towards Christ; the Father did not proceed
with him in a way of mere offer or bare proposal
or entreaty, but in a way of authority ; he laid his
injunction upon him to assume flesh, and in that
flesh to make satisfaction. Therefore when Christ
entered upon this work, speaking to his Father, he
saith, ' Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is
written of me,) to do thy wiU, O God,' Heb. x. 7.
And when he was discoursing of laying down his
life, he adds, ' This commandment have I received
of- my Father,' John x. 18 ; the apostle also
tells us that ' he became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross,' Phil. ii. 8, which obedience
necessarily supposes a command. And Christ was
under a command in reference to his incarnation, as
well as to his death and passion, for indeed without
that there could have been none of this ; therefore
the text saith, 'God sent him in the likeness,' &c,
that is, God ordered him to take our flesh. This
sending then of Christ was the Father's authorita
tive calhng of him to the office and work of a Re
deemer, which call was also backed with positive
and peremptory commands as to the management of
both ; in respect of which God is said to send him,
for mittere Deus dicitur ubi mandata dat, as Grotius
glosses upon it. And the truth is, Christ in the
management of the whole work of our redemption
was under, acted by, and according to, his Father's
command; whereupon God calls him his servant,
Isa. xiii. 1, and liii. 11 ; and Christ himself, speak
ing to his Father, says, John xvii. 4, ' I have glori
fied thee on the earth, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do;' mark that, which
thou gavest me to do, intimating that all his work
was cut out for him by the will of his Father. So
John iv. 34, ' Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to
do the wUl of him that sent me, and to finish his
work.' John vi. 38, ' I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own wUl, but the wiU of him that
sent me ; ' upon this account therefore Christ may
well be said to be sent by the Father. In Scrip
ture it is sometimes God gave him, and sometimes
God sent him; Christ was given, in respect of the

freeness of the grace of God towards us, and he was
sent, in respect of the Father's authority over him
self. (5.) Fifthly, Take one thing more, God's sending
of Christ imports his trusting of him with his great
designs ; this comes in too, tf not directly, yet at
leastwise coUaterally or concomitantly. In aU send
ing there is trust ; when we send a person about our
affairs we repose a trust in him, that he wiU be
faithful in the management of our concerns; God
sent Christ, that is, he put a great trust into his
hands. It is as if the Father had said, ' My Son !«.
here is a great work to be done, a work upon which
my glory doth infinitely depend, all now lies at the
stake, as this is managed it will be weU or UI with
souls. Well, I will send, thee, I will put all into
thy hands, venture aU with thee ; I know thou
wilt be faithful to secure my glory and to pro
mote the good of souls; I will trust thee, and
none but thee, with such great things as these
are.' This, I say, is implied in God's sending of
Christ. And now, by all put together, you see how or in
what respects Christ was sent, and sent by God the
Father. You may, both to strengthen what hath
been said, and also further to clear it up, take his
own parallel: John xx. 21, 'As my Father hath
sent me, even so 1 send you.' So that look, what
Christ's sending of the apostles was in reference to
their office, the same was God's sending of Christ in
reference to his office. How then did he send them J
Why, 1. He designed, chose, selected, them to and
for the work of the ministry ; 2. He qualified and
fitted them for that work ; 3. He authorised them
by his special commission to undertake it ; 4. He
sent them out authoritatively to preach the gospel,
and laid his commands upon them so to do ; 5. He
reposed a special trust in them that they would be
faithful. Just thus — allowing for the pre-eminence
of the person and of his office — did God send Christ,
which fully agrees with the particulars that have
been insisted upon. And as to the apostles, Christ
had said the same before to his Father : John xvii.
18, 'As thou hast sent me into the world, even so
have I also sent them into the world;' not that
there was a parity or perfect equality betwixt the
one and the other, only a harmony and great agree-

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

185

ment.1 So much for the first thing, the opening the
nature of the act.
I proceed to the second, to answer an objection,
or to remove a difficulty which here lies before us.
That which hath been spoken seems to derogate
from the greatness and glory of Christ's person ; for
did God thus send him? Surely then, as some
argue, he is a person inferior to the Father ; this
sending seems to be inconsistent with his equality
to his Father ; tf he was sent, and thus sent, doth
not that speak his inferiority to that God who sent
him, and by consequence that he is not God ? Thus
the Socinians argue from it ; and this is one of those
heads from which they fetch their arguments against
Christ's deity.
For the explaining of the thing, and the answer
ing of the adversary, divines commonly lay down
two things about it :
1. That sending doth not always imply inferiority
or inequality; for persons who are equal, upon
mutual cpnsent, may send each the other, and if the
person sent doth freely concur and consent with the
person sending, there is no impeachment or in-
trenchment then upon the equality betwixt them.2
And thus it was between God the Father and Christ.
Had he been sent merely from the wiU of the Father,
whether he himself would or no, then indeed the
case had differed, and the objection would have
carried strength in it ; but it was quite otherwise.
For Christ readUy consented to and perfectly cou-
curred with the Father, and he was as willing to be
sent as the Father was to send him : ' Lo, I come
to do thy wiU, O God.' When the master sends the
servant he goes because he must, but when the
Father sends the Son he goes readily, because his
wUl falls in with his Father's will ; he obeys not
upon necessity, but upon choice and consent. So it
was with Christ in reference to his Father's sending
of him ; the wUl of the Son was as much for the
work as the wUl of the Father himself. You must
not look upon Christ as merely passive in the send
ing, for, in some respects, he sent himself; and his
1 Vocula KaBiis non omnimodam paritatem, sed aliquam
convenientiam indicat. Nam et ab alio, et alio modo, et alio
fine Christus missus est quam apostoli.— Bisterf. contra Orel-
Hum, lib. i. sec. 2, cap. 31.
2 See Mr Perkins on Gal. iv. 4, p. 271.

coming upon that great errand of man's redemption
was his own act as well as the Father's. As the
Father is said to sanctify him, John x. 36, and yet
he also is said to sanctify himself, John xvu. 19; and
as the Father is said to give him, Rom. viii. 32, and
yet he also is said to give himself, Gal. H. 20 ; so
here the Father is said to send him, yet he also, as
he was one in nature and in will with the Father,
may be said to send himself ; thus Augustine opens
it.1 The expression in the text, ' God sent his Son,'
doth not exclude the Son or the Spirit from the
sending, or wholly appropriate it to the Father ; it
only notes the order of the persons in their working.
The Father being the first in working, therefore the
sending of Christ is ascribed to him ; but there
being nothing more in it than so, that wiU not prove
any inequality in the persons, or any superiority
that one hath over the other. The schoolmen give
some nice and curious distinctions about Christ
being sent by himself, and by the Holy Ghost, as
well as by the first person ; but it is not convenient
to perplex the reader with them. This is one an
swer for the clearing up of the difficulty, and the
weakening of the objection which we have to do
with. 2. The learned further distinguish of a twofold in
feriority ; one in respect of nature, and one in re
spect of office, condition, or dispensation. As to the
first, Christ neither was nor is in the least inferior
to the Father, both having the same nature and
essence, in respect of which he ' thought it not rob
bery to be equal with God,' Phil. ii. 6. As to the
second, Christ being considered as Mediator, as
having assumed flesh, put himself into the sinner's
stead, and undertaken to make satisfaction to God ;
so, without any derogation, it may be said of him
that he was inferior to the Father. In reference to
which it follows in the forementioned place, ver.
7, 8, ' He made himself of no reputation, and took
1 Forte aliquis rogat, ut dicamus etiam a seipso missum esse
Filium, quia et Mariae conceptus et partus operatio Trinitatis
est. Sed inquit aliquis, quomodo Pater eum misit, si ipse se
misit? Cui respondeo quaerens utdicat, quomodo eum Pater
sanctifieavit, si ipse se sanctificavit ? utrumque enim Dominus
dicit, &c. Item quaero quomodo Pater eum tradidit, si ipse
se tradidit? utrumque enim legitur. Credo respondebit, si
probe sapit, quia una voluntas est Patris et Filii, et insepara-
bilis operatio. — Aug. de Trin., lib. ii. cap. 5.
2 A

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[Chap. X.

upon him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.' And upon
this he saith, John xiv. 28, ' My Father is greater
than I.' 1 He was in nature every way as great as
the Father, but be having submitted to be made
man, to be a surety, having condescended to the office
and work of a redeemer in our flesh, so in respect
of economy and dispensation the Father was greater
than he. And by virtue of his superiority over
Christ, as considered in this his voluntary exanini-
tion, so he sent him, and laid his commands upon
him, and dealt with him as you have heard : but yet
his- natural and essential greatness or equality with
the Father was not at all by this impaired or les
sened,2 which was the great truth to be secured
against the adversary.
The third thing which I am to speak to is to
inquire, so far as the word will warrant, into the
grounds and reasons of Christ's mission ; wherefore
did God send him ? He who is so wise that he doth
nothing, be it never so little or mean, but he hath
his reasons for it, surely in so great a thing as the
sending of his own Son he had very high and weighty
reasons upon which he acted. And though it is
most certain that he neither had, nor could have,
any motives ab extra, in a way of merit, to move
1 See this text fully opened in Estwicke against Biddle, p.
121, &c, vid. etiam Epiph. adver. ffceres., lib. ii. torn. ii. p. 775,
&c. Loquatur Filius hominis; Pater major me est ; loquatur
Filius Dei, ego et Pater unum sumus. — A ug. de Temp., Serm. vi.
2 Non ideo arbitrandum est, minorem esse Filium quia missus
est a Patre, nee ideo minorem Spiritum Sanctum quia et Pater
eum misit, et Filius. Sive enim propter visibilem creaturam,
sive potius propter principii authoritatem vel commendationem,
non propter inequalitatem vel imparitatem et dissimilitudinem
substantiae, in Scripturis haec posita intelliguntur. Non ergo
ideo dicitur Pater misiss'e Filium, vel Spiritum Sanctum, quia
ille esset major, et illi minores ; sed maxime propter authori
tatem principii commendandam, et quia in visibili creatura non
sicut ille apparuit. — Aug. de Trin. lib. iv. cap. 21. Missio im-
portatminorationem in eo qui mittitur, secundum quod importat
processionem a principio mittente, aut secundum imperium
aut secundum consilium, quia imperans est major, et con-
silians est sapientior. Sed in divinis non importat nisi pro
cessionem originis, quae est secundum equalitatem. — A quin. i.
p. Quaest. 43, Art. 1, resp. ad primum. AfjXov Sri. rb pelfav
kori rijs dirtas, rb Se Wov tt)s tpifrews. — Naz, Orat, 2 de Filio,
p. 582.

him to this ; yet it is as certain that he had great
and urgent grounds for it, even such as might be
come a God in doing such a thing. He that in
other things is a ' God of judgment,' Isa. xxx. 18,
undoubtedly in this, which was his masterpiece, he
would shew himself to be a God of judgment. It
wiU therefore be worthy of a modest inquiry, to find
out the reasons which the wise and gracious God
went upon in the sending of his Son.
In the general, some must be sent. When I say
must, I do not mean any simple or absolute neces
sity, as though it was simply and absolutely necessary
that God should take some course, or employ some
person from heaven for the redeeming and saving of
the world : God forbid that I should assert a thing so
utterly false, and so highly derogatory from the free
ness of the grace of God in what he did ! I only
mean therefore that which we caU hypothetical or
conditional necessity; and so the business stood thus.
God designed to glorify and advance his mercy to
sinners, he had gracious purposes in himself towards
man ; and whereas all mankind lay before him in an
undone and ruined condition, he would not leave
them to perish eternally in that condition. Then
supposing this, which cannot, be denied, God must
send, something must be done, or else these gracious
purposes of God will be lost, and aU men must in
evitably perish for ever. For as to all other ways
the sinner's case was desperate, with respeet to them
there was no hope or help ; some new and strange
course must be taken, or else, as things stand, on the
creature's part there is nothing to be looked for but
heU and damnation. Now things being brought to
this pass, therefore God will send, yea, he wiU send
his own Son ; for he wUl be sure to pitch upon a
way Which shall infallibly and effectuaUy do the
work. Observe it in the text, when, or because, it
was impossible for the law to do, then, or therefore,
God sent his Son ; since neither the law, nor any
thing else, could operate to any purpose towards the
advancing of God's honour, and the promoting of
the sinner's good, it was necessary, in order to these
great ends, that God himself should" interpose in
some extraordinary way, which thereupon he ac
cordingly did in the sending of Christ.
But more particularly ; let us take it for granted
that there was a necessity of sending, yet why did

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187

God pitch upon his Son and send him ? Might not
some other person have been sent as well as he ? or
might not some other way have been found out as
good as this ?
I answer, no ; Christ the Son must be the very
person whom God will send. And him he pitched
upon, so far as we poor shallow mortals are able to
judge of his deep and unsearchable actings, or to
assign the reasons of them, for these reasons :
1. First, Because he was the person with whom
the Father had covenanted about this very thing.
There was a covenant, commonly called the cove
nant of redemption, which had passed betwixt these
two persons, in which the Father engaged so and so
to Christ, and Christ reciprocally engaged so and so
to the Father — a considerable part of the terms and
matter of which covenant is set down, Isa. liii. 10,
' When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
he shaU see his seed,' &c. The Father covenants
to do thus and thus for fallen man ; but first, in
order thereunto, the Son must covenant to take
man's nature, therein to satisfy offended, justice, to
repair and vindicate his Father's honour, &c. Well,
he submits, assents to these demands, indents and
covenants to make all good ; and this was the cove
nant of redemption. Now upon this covenant God
sends his Son, that being done in pursuance of, and
agreeable to, that admirable compact or stipulation
that had passed betwixt them both. So that this
sending was not founded merely upon the Father's
absolute wiU or sovereignty over Christ, but upon
the federal agreement made betwixt them as to this
very matter : of which I wiU say no more here, having
formerly had an opportunity to pubhsh some thoughts
about it.
2. Secondly, God sent Christ because he saw that
was the very best way which could be taken, and
therefore in wisdom he pitched upon it. Oh there
was no way like to that ! The Father had great
designs now to carry on ; as, for example, to let, the
world see what an evU thing sin was, what a dread
ful breach it had made betwixt himself and the
creature, how terrible and impartial his justice was,
what an ocean of love he had in his heart to promote
the sinner's happiness, yet so as, in the first place,
to secure and advance his own glory in the magnify
ing of all his attributes, to endear himself, his Son,

and all his mercies to his people, to lay a sure foun
dation for the righteousness and salvation of be
lievers. Were not these great and glorious designs ?
Now there was no way for the accomplishing and
effecting of these comparable to this of God sending
his Son. What God might have done some other
way by his absolute power and will, abstracting
from his decree, I dare not inquire into, much less
determine anything about it ; or whether this was
the only way, I leave to others to discuss. But cer
tainly this was the best, the fittest way, and there
fore the wise God pitched upon it. Augustine went
no higher than thus.1
3. Christ was sent, because as this was the best
and the fittest way, so he was the best and the fittest
person to be employed in such an embassy. God
always sends the fittest messengers upon his errands.
It was a great errand for Christ to come from heaven
to earth about man's redemption, but God saw that
he was the fittest messenger to be employed therein,
and therefore he sent him. For as he employs none
in his work, especially when it is high and of great
importance, whom he doth not either find or make
fit for it ; so the more fit any are for his work, the
rather he doth employ them ; and therefore this was
that which induced him to send Christ, none being
so fit for the managing and transacting the work of
redemption as he was, which I shall endeavour to
make out in a few particulars.
Christ's superlative fitness for it appears from, and
was grounded upon,
(1.) His two natures, the hypostatical union of
both in his person. He was God, John i. 1 ; Phil.
ii. 6 ; 1 John v. 20 ; Rom. ix. 5 ; Isa. ix. 6 ; Tit. ii. 13 -
he was also man, 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; then too he was
God-man in one person, Col. ii. 19. Now who
could be so fit to bring God and man together, as he
who was himself both God and man ? who so fit to
negotiate with both, as he who was a middle person
1 Eos itaque qui dicunt, itane defuit Deo modus alius quo
liberaret homines a miseria mortalitatis hujus, ut unigenitum
Filium, &c. Parum est sic refellere, ut istum modum, quo nos
per Mediatorem Dei et hominum hominem Jesum Christum Deus
liberare dignatur, asseramus bonum et divinae congruum dig-
nitati : verum etiam ut ostendamus non alium modum possi-
bilem deo defuisse, cujus potestati aequaliter cuncta subjacent,
sed sanandae nostrae miseriae convenientiorem alium non fuisse.
Aug. de Trin., lib. xiii. cap. 10.

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[Chap. X.

betwixt both ? who so fit to treat with an offended
God, as he who was God ? who so fit to suffer as he
who was man, and to merit by suffering as he who
was God-man ? Had he been only God, he could
not have suffered ; had he been only man, he could
not have merited ; but being both he was eminently
fit for both, viz., for suffering and meriting, for obsy-
ing and satisfying. Thus his not to be paralleled
fitness was grounded upon his personal considera
tion. (2.) It was grounded upon his glorious attributes,
his power, wisdom, mercy, goodness, faithfulness,
holiness, &c. He that will undertake to redeem
sinners must have all these, for they all were indis
pensably requisite to such an undertaking. The
Lord Jesus had them all, and that too in an eminent
and extraordinary measure, as I might easily shew
at large. Never did any mere creature arrive at
that pitch of wisdom, power, holiness, &c, which he
did, therefore none so fit to be sent as he.
(3.) It was grounded upon his Sonship and near
relation to God. Who so fit to make others the
adopted sons of God, as he who was himself the
natural Son of God ?
(4.) Upon the glory and dignity of his person.
He was 'the image of the invisible God,' Col. i. 15;
'the express image of his Father's person,' Heb. 13.
Now who so fit to restore man to God's image, as
that man who was the essential image of God ?
(5.) Christ's admirable and transcendent fitness
was grounded upon his threefold office, as he was
king, priest, and prophet. For hereupon he was,
and is, fit to deal both with God and man ; he is a
priest to deal with God, a king and prophet to deal
with man. Doth God stand upon satisfaction?
Christ is a priest to die, and to offer up himself an
expiatory sacrifice ; or will God keep his distance
from the creature, and be known in his greatness ?
Christ is a priest to mediate and intercede. Then
is the sinner under ignorance and darkness ? Christ
is a prophet to enhghten and teach. Or is he under
the tyranny of sin and a rebel against God? Christ
is king to rescue, subdue, and conquer him to him
self, to bring and keep him under his own dominion
and government. To sum up all. There are but
two things to be done for the sinner in order to his
happiness, viz., impetration and application. Now

both of these are done by Christ's threefold office.
By the first part of his priestly office, his oblation,
there Was the impetration, for by that he procured,
purchased, merited all good ; by the second part of
his priestly office, his intercession, there is the appli
cation. And because both God and the creature are
to be dealt withal in order to this application, there
fore Christ doth accordingly deal with both of them.
With God he deals in the way of prayer or inter
cession; for God, because of his majesty and sove
reignty, will be treated in this manner; with the
creature he deals in the way of power, partly by
dispelling the darkness of the mind, which he doth
as a prophet, and partly by taking off the rebellion
of the wiU, and bringing the stubborn sinner under
a ready subjection to God, which he doth as king.
Which things being done, all that Christ hath pur
chased is now made over and actually applied to the
creature. Upon the whole, then, it follows, that
Christ being invested with these offices, which are
every way so full, of so great virtue, so suited to the
nature and demands of God, and the condition of
the sinner, he must needs be by many degrees the
fittest person to be sent by God.
Before I go off from this head, I desire one thing
may be taken notice of. It must be granted, that
the sending of Christ was previous and antecedent
to several of the things which have been mentioned,
as the demonstrations of his superlative fitness to be
sent, and the grounds of his being sent. Yet never
theless they may be alleged and made use of in that
notion, because though in our apprehension, if not
also in the nature of the thing, they were after the
sending, yet in the eye and estimation of God they
were before it. ' For instance, Christ, just at his
sending, had not then assumed the human nature,
(we suppose that to antecede his incarnation,) yet
God judged him a person fit to be sent because of
that nature. And so he might very weU ; for though
the incarnation, as considered in itself, was future,
yet as to the knowledge, consideration, estimation of •
God, it was present and done already. I thought it
necessary to put in this, for the preventing of an
objection which might arise in the thoughts of some
upon the reading of what had been laid down.
4. Fourthly, God therefore sent Christ, not only
because he was the fittest person to be sent, but be-

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189

cause indeed he was the only person that could be
sent ; for none but he could effect or accomplish
man's redemption. If God will be so gracious as to
send, it was not only convenient but necessary that
he should send this very person, his own Son, for
there was none other in heaven .or earth that could
go through an undertaking of this nature. There
were evils to be endured which were above the
strength of any mere creature to endure ; there were
evils to be removed — the wrath of God, the guilt of
sin, the curse of the law — which no mere creature
was able to remove ; there were also blessings to be
procured — as reconciliation with God, justification,
adoption, eternal salvation — which no such creature
possibly could procure. Oh no ! Therefore Christ
himself must come, or nothing can be done. Why
did not God send an angel rather than his Son ?
Why, because he knew redemption-work was no
work for an angel ; no, not for the whole body of
angels. If the whole order of them had come from
heaven and combined all their strength together,
they could not have redeemed so much as one soul.
I dispute not how far God, by his mighty power,
might have enabled an angel to have borne up under
the greatest sufferings. Suppose he might have had
such a strength as to have been able to undergo all
that Christ did, yet under the highest communica
tions of the grace of God to him, he, being stiU a
mere creature, could never satisfy for what was past,
nor merit for what was to come ; he could neither
expiate sin nor procure eternal life. No ; these are
things which could only be accomplished by him who
was more than a mere finite or created being, even
by the Lord Jesus, who was man, but God too ;
wherefore he is the person: whom the Father will
send. And he very weU understood himself in what
he did ; if the work had been possible to have been
effected by any creature, God would have employed
that creature and spared his own Son ; nothing but
absolute necessity made him to fix upon this course.
So much for the reasons why God sent his Son ;
which we poor dim-sighted creatures do but in a
manner guess at, but he himself understands them
fuUy. As ' aU his works are known to him,' Acts
xv. 18, so also the special reasons of all his works
are known to him, and eminently those which he
went upon in this his highest and greatest work.

When we come to heaven we shall more fully know
why Christ was sent, but here our knowledge is very
dark and imperfect about it.
I have done with the three things which I pro
pounded to open, and so have despatched the doc
trinal part. I am now to make some practical im
provement of it.
Was Christ sent, and did God thus send him 1
What doth this great act of God call for from us 1
I will tell yoli in a few things.
Use 1. It calls upon us greatly to admire God.
Oh how should all our souls be drawn forth and ele- '
vated in the adoring of God, for his sending of Christ !
What rich mines of grace have we in these few words,
God sent his own Son I Here is the greatest thing
that ever God did, or ever will do. It was much
that he should make a world, but what is the making
of a world to the sending of a Son ? The apostle,
in the text, seems to ascend step by step, and to
crowd together variety of great and glorious things,
that he might the more heighten God's love, and
draw up the hearts of believers to the admiration of
it. For, 1. Here is sending ; 2. God sending ; 3.
God sending a Son ; 4. His own Son ; 5. The send
ing of this Son in our flesh ; yea, 6. In the likeness
of sinful flesh ; yea, 7. In that flesh to offer up
himself as a sacrifice for sin ; 8. Doing this for this
end, that sin might be condemned, and that the
righteousness of the law might be -fulfilled in us ; 9.
Doing this too when the sinner's case was desperate
as to the law. Is not here magnum in parvo 1 and
doth not the apostle thrust things together, heaping
one thing upon another, that he might the better
set off and aggrandise the love of God ? There is
enough in any one of them to make you stand and
wonder ; but when you have them conjunct, and
all set before you in their proper emphasis and
import, how should you be affected and wrought
upon to admire the grace of God ! The truth is,
take all together, and you have here a representa
tion of that love, mercy, goodness, which was too
great and big for any but a God. If you read
no further than the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, there man is utterly lost ; but
if you go on to God's sending of his Son, &c, there
the day of salvation begins to dawn ; there is an
effectual remedy for a desperate malady ; now the

190

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[Chap. X.

case is altered. Oh let the blessed God be therefore
for ever magnified and adored !
2. More particularly, this calls upon you to ad
mire the love of God the Father, and always to
entertain good thoughts of him ; they are distinct
heads, however let me put them together. I would
not too curiously divide or distinguish betwixt the
sacred persons in their several acts ; much less
would I set them in competition, or prefer one be
fore another, as if we were more beholden to the
one than to the other. As they centre in the same
common essence, it is the same love and the same
gracious actings in all ; but yet they being person
ally distinct, and they having those acts which are
proper to them as so distinguished, so they have
their special and peculiar love. And it is very
good for us to understand what is immediately
done by the Father, what by the Son, what by the
Spirit ; which we must the rather endeavour after,
because the Scripture usually, I do not say always,
appUes this effect to the first, that to the second, and
another to the third person. I am at present only
to speak to the acts of the Father, wherein he hath
displayed that love which is proper to him ; which
if you please to look into, as the Scripture sets them
forth, you wUl find yourselves under a strong obli
gation to admire him, as personally so considered.
For I pray, observe, who did from all eternity pre-
, destinate, elect, choose you ? was it not God the
Father ? Predestinating love is the Father's love :
Eph. i. 3-5, ' Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;
according as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, &c. : having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.'
After this came redeeming love, and had the Father
no hand in that love ? nay, had not he the first and
the chief hand therein ? For did not he find out the
ransom? Job xxxiU. 24, 'I have found a ransom.'
Did not he contrive and lay the whole model and
platform of redemption in his eternal purpose and
ordination? Therefore it is said, Isa. HU. 10, ' The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand ;' that
great work resolves itself into the will and pleasure
of the Father, as the first and principal cause of

it ; Christ, as mediator, is brought in but as sub
ordinate to him, as being but the ministerial and
executive agent in redemption, for it is but in his
hands that the pleasure of the Lord should prosper.
Who chose, sent, called Christ to that work, and
fitted him for it, but the Father, as you have
heard? So also who assisted and strengthened
him in it, but the Father? Isa. xhi. 1, 'Behold my
servant, whom I uphold;' of which upholding and
strengthening grace by the Father Christ assured
himself beforehand, as you read, Isa. 1. 7, 9; and
it was accordingly made good to him, as you read,
Mat. iv. 11; Luke xxii. 43. Then again, who re
warded Christ when he had finished his work, but
the Father? Therefore to him Christ prayed for
this : John xvii. 4, 5, 'I have glorified thee on the
earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest
me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was.' And now Christ hath
made the purchase, who doth authoritatively collate
upon persons the blessings purchased, but the
Father? Rom. viii. 33, 'It is God that justifieth.'
2 Cor. v. 18, ' All things are of God, who hath re-"
concUed us to himself by Jesus Christ,' &c. Luke
xii. 32, ' Fear not, little flock ; it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Who is it
that works in sinners their meetness for heaven, but
the Father? Col. i. 12, 'Giving thanks unto the.
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light.' Who is it
that reveals the great mysteries of the gospel, but
the Father? Mat. xi. 25, ' I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes.' Who bestows and gives
the Spirit, but the Father? John xiv. 16, 'I will
pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
even the Spirit of truth.' And, to shut up this, who
secures and keeps in a state of grace, but the Father?
John x. 29, ' My Father, which gave them me, is
greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand.' Now, Christians, may
you not be fuUy convinced by all this, that the
Father's love to you is very great? and if so, will
you not admire him for it ? You must ' honour the

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4,

191

Son, even as you honour the Father,' John v. 23;
and you must adore, bless, love the Father even as
you do the Son. God forbid that I should go about
to lessen your most thankful sense of what the Son
and Spirit have done for you ! but yet know, that
these the Father, as the first cause doth work by, it
is he who by them doth so great things for you : I
pray, think high of their love, but then think high
of his love too.
Further, I would persuade you to entertain good
thoughts of the Father. It is a temptation, though
not so usual, which some gracious persons lie under,
they can with more comfort think of the Son than
of the Father ; they do not so much question the love
of the Son as of the Father ; they cannot deny but
that the Son is indeed a very gracious person, for* he
came from heaven to seek and to save what was lost,
Luke xix. 10 ; to save sinners, yea, the chiefest of
them, 1 Tim. i. 15, &c. Hereupon they can, in some
comfortable manner, encourage themselves to hope
in him. But as to the Father they are not so con
fident ; they are more jealous and suspicious, and
have a greater dread of him than they have either of
the Son or of the Spirit. Doth Satan assault any
of you Hi this manner? Or do such thoughts as
these prevaU over you ? Oh be convinced of your
mistake ! You have as great encouragement for faith
and hope from the Father as you have from the Son ;
for you hear it was he who sent Christ, and what
ever Christ was or did, all was but in pursuance of
his good pleasure ; therefore have you any reason to
think otherwise than well of him ? Surely ' God is
love,' 1 John iv. 16. This very thing, his sending
of his Son, represents him as full of mercy, goodness,
and grace ; the sinner hath not the least cause to be
jealous or afraid of him. Oh when unbehef and
hard thoughts of God the Father begin to rise, beat
them down by arguing thus : Was not he the first
spring from which redeeming grace did flow? the
great contriver and wUler of man's recovery ? Who
set Christ on work but he ? Who sent him into the
world to be a Saviour but he ? Who employed his
own Son for the good of sinners but he ? Oh that
you would labour to get your faith encouraged and
strengthened as to the first person ; and that it
might rise up to the first cause of all, and there fix
and'terminate, ' that your faith and hope may be

in God,' as the apostle expresses it, 1 Pet. i. 21.
Christ says, John xiv. 1, ' Let not your heart be
troubled : ye believe in God, believe in me also ; '
and, let me say, Ye believe in Christ, believe in
God also, as the fountain and original of all your
happiness. 3. It calls upon us to love Christ greatly. Oh
how should the consideration of this endear Christ
to every gracious heart ! God sent him, but not
against his will. How willing was he to be sent
upon the errand of your salvation ! He freely con
sented to whatever the Father was pleased to put
him upon for your good. He very well knew before
hand what would follow upon this sending, what he
was to undergo, how he was to be abased, if he do
engage to redeem and save you ; yet notwithstand
ing this, no sooner did the Father call him to it, but
he most readUy and cheerfully obeyed. Oh the in
finite love of Christ ! He came down from heaven
that he might carry you up to heaven ; he that was
a Son, for your sake stooped to be a servant, that
you of slaves might be made sons. What had be
come of you if Christ had refused to come when the
Father sent him ? Oh love the Lord Jesus ! let his
person be very dear and precious to you ; admit him
into your hearts, who was willing to take the whole
business of your salvation into his hands. What
love can be enough for a Father sending, and a Son
coming ! It is true God sent him ; but his obedi
ence to his Father was no diminution of his love to
you ; and it is true in this embassy he acted in a
way of inferiority to his Father ; but it was his pity
to you which made him willing to put himself into
such a state of subjection and inferiority : for that
did not proceed from his nature, before he had
assumed yours, but merely from his dignation and
gracious condescension. And now, after all this,
will you not love him ? How can you do otherwise
than love him? Suppose you had heard him, as
soon as ever God had signified his pleasure to him,
and said, Son ! the fulness of time is come, I must
send thee down to earth to redeem man ! saying,
Father, I am ready ; here I am, send me whither
soever and about whatsoever thou pleasest. To pro
mote thy glory, and the good of souls, I am wUling
to go wherever thou wilt have me ; yea, I will stick
at nothing which thou shalt judge necessary for the

192

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[Chap. X.

preventing of the sinner's everlasting ruin. Send
me to be made flesh, I submit ; to Ue in a manger,
I submit ; to die upon a cross, I submit ; lay what
commands upon me thou pleasest, to further the sal
vation of souls, they shall aU be obeyed. Suppose, I
say, you had heard Christ uttering such words to his
Father, doubtless it would have wrought very much
upon you ; your hearts would have been all in flames
of love to him. 0 wretched creatures ! we know
all this was spoken and done too by our Lord Jesus,
and yet how cold, how weak, is our love to him !
4. It calls upon you to imitate Christ in his car
riage with respect to his being sent. Thus never
go till you be sent, then go readily ; both of these
were admirably done by our Lord Jesus. He went
not tUl he was sent. Before he would move one
step he would have his Father's mission and com
mission. A great mind he had to be at redeeming
work, his heart was exceedingly set upon it ; yet he
would stay till he was sent, called, authorised there
unto by his Father. But as soon as he was so called,
how readily and cheerfully did he engage ! ' Lo, I
come to do thy will, 0 God ! ' Heb. x. 7. Now, in
this his deportment he hath set us an excellent copy
to write after, teaching us always humbly to wait for
a call from God, and when it comes, let it be what it
will, faithfully to comply with it. Whatever rank or
station God hath set you in, see that you therein
abide, 1 Cor. vii. 17, 20, 24, and that you meddle
with no work, employment, office, undertaking, fur
ther than as you are called thereunto. This is a duty
in special incumbent upon public officers, magistrates,
and ministers, as also upon Christians in a private
capacity, with respect to public offices ; none must
presume to invade an office, or to intrude themselves
into it, where they are not sent by God. Oh that is
an act of high presumption, and usually attended
with sad and fatal consequences, as several instances
shew. Concerning the office and work of the minis
try the apostle is very smart : Rom. x. 13, ' How
shaU they preach except they be sent ? ' The inter
rogation carries a vehement negation in it, viz. with
out a call and mission from God none ought, none
:an, (that is, lawfuUy, warrantably, you may put in
Soo successfully,) preach the gospel.1 But now, though
Deus non fortunat labores eorum qui non sunt vocati et
juamvis salutaria quaedam afferant, tamen non sdificant 
Luther.

in things of this nature a divine call be eminently
requisite, yet it is not to be limited to them. Who
ever you be, whatever work or service you engage
in, you must look to your call and commission from
God. For you can no further expect assistance,
acceptance, success in anything you do, than as you
are thereunto called. When it is so, you may rely
upon it God will assist, accept, succeed, prosper; but
when it is otherwise, nothing can be hoped for. Our
Lord being sent, it was prophesied that the work
should prosper in his hands, Isa. UH. 10, and we find
that from the consideration of his sending aU along
he fetched encouragement, that his Father would he
with him, and would not leave him alone, as you see
John viii. 29, et passim. Hence, therefore, I would
give you this advice : in every undertaking, especially
when it is very weighty and momentous, make sure
of a call and commission from above. To run upon
anything without this you will find to be not only
uncomfortable, but very dangerous. And in order to
the finding out of this call, pro Mc et nunc, there must
first be the serious studying ofthe word, and then the
prudent weighing and considering of providences, so
far as they comply with the word ; for providences,
so bounded, may sometimes, in such and such parti
cular cases, give much light concerning the will and
call of God. But I must not engage in this point.
But then I add, which is the second branch of this
exhortation, When once you are clear in your call,
stick at nothing. If God bids you go, be sure you
go, let the errand be what it wiU. Suppose the work
be difficult, dangerous, contrary to the interest ofthe
flesh, &c, it is no matter for that ; if God commands,
you must obey ; if God sends, you must run. No
dangers, difficulties, discouragements, sufferings,
fleshly concerns, are then to be regarded.. Paul's
example herein was excellent, and most worthy of
our imitation. Gal. i. 15, 'When it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that
I might preach him among the heathen; immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood,' No question
but flesh and blood were very apt to suggest many
things, to make this blessed man to balk the caU and
work of God. Ay ! but, says he, I would not con
fer with them, so as to hearken to their suggestions,
so as to fetch my guidance and direction from them.

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193

No ; these he laid aside, that he might wholly steer
his course by God's will. Oh let the service be what
it will, be it the preaching of the gospel amongst
heathens, there must be no consulting with carnal
reason or carnal interest against a divine call and
command. But I am upon a far higher example, the
example of Christ himself. Never was any sent
upon such work as his was. That was hard woik
indeed, abasing work indeed, painful' work indeed,
never was any to be compared with it; and yet, upon
his Father's caU, with what readiness did he set upon
it ! And this is that very thing wherein the apostle
would have us to conform to Christ : PhU. ii. 5, ' Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.'
What mind doth he mean ? Why, this ; upon all
occasions, in ready compliance with the will and call
of- God, to be willing to be emptied and abased, to
be, to do, to suffer anything. It is a great evil for
any, upon carnal and selfish grounds, to shift off and
withstand a call from God. Therefore the Lord took
it very UI from Moses that he was so backward to go
upon his sending, and would so fain have put it off :
Exod. iv. 1 3, ' Send I pray thee by the hand of him
whom thou wilt send ; ' but tf follows, ver. 14, ' The
anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.'
Jonah's disobedience in this cost him dear. God
sent him to Nineveh, but thither he would not go ;
wherefore God sent him to the bottom of the sea,
and thither he shall go. Oh let all dread the like
disobedience ! Pray be always wUling to observe
and obey God's call ; balk not any service which he
puts upon you ; stir not a step till he sends ; be sure
you run when he sends. It is the wisdom of a
Christian not to stir a foot tUl he be sent ; it is the
zeal of a Christian to run when he is sent. It is a
blessed thing when we can so carry it as neither to
be over-forward in running before we are sent, (for
which, though possibly in a sense somewhat different
from that which I am upon, God so much complained
of the false prophets, Jer. xiv. 14, and xxUi. 21,) nor
over-backward in demurring and hanging off after
we are sent. When God asked the prophet, Isa.
vi. 8, ' Whom shall I send, and who wiU go for us? '
see how presently he answered, ' Here am I, send
me.' Oh that there was such a readiness in all of us
to comply with God's caU ! Believe it, no errand is,
or can be, bad, which he sends about.

5. A word of cautionary advice will here be very
necessary ; it is this, take -heed that you do not rest
or take up with the external sending of Christ.
When the everlasting concerns of your souls are
upon your thoughts, and you are casting with your
selves what may be necessary to bring you to heaven,
take heed of looking no farther than merely a Christ
sent. True, this is the great thing which faith
builds upon, the proper and sole foundation of all
its reliance and confidence ; for that which it doth
ultimately eye in the hope of pardon, justification,
eternal life, is merely a Christ sent by God ; but
yet as to the qualification and actual entitling of the
person to the things believed and hoped for, so there
must be. something more than the bare external
sending of Christ. Every one knows there is a two
fold sending of him, the one external and visible,
the other internal and invisible : 1 the first was
Christ's sending to be man — that is past and over,
and was to be but once ; the second is Christ's send
ing into man — that yet continues, and is reiterated
from time to time. Now these two, though they
are of a different nature, must not be parted; he
that would regularly hope for salvation by Christ
must have the latter as well as the former sending ;
for it is most certain that a Christ without, tf it be
not also a Christ within, will never save. A Christ
in our flesh must be accompanied with a Christ in
our hearts ; there must be not only a Christ sent to
us, but also a Christ sent into us, or else he will not
profit us. The whole business of merit lies upon
the Christ without, as he took our nature and therein
fulfilled the law ; but the fitting or qualifying of
persons to have a share in the blessings merited,
that hes in the Christ within, as he is received into
the heart. In a word, the impetration is by Christ
without, but the application is by Christ within.
Now therefore, I say, you must not rest in the one,
unless you find the 'other too ; there are very dan
gerous mistakes abroad in the world about this.
" Ecce distincti sunt duo modi missionis Filii, et secundum
alteram semel tantum missus est Dei Filius, secundum alterum
saepe missus est, et mittitur quotidie. Nam secundum alter
um missus est ut sit homq, et semel tantum factum est ;
secundum alterum vero mittitur ut sit cum homine, quomodo
quotidie mittitur ad sanctos, et missus est etiam ante incar-
nationem, et ad omnes sanctos qui ante fuerunt, et etiam ad
Ios. Vide Aug. de Filio, ko. ; Lomb., lib. i. d. 13.
2B

194

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[Chap. X.

Some are all for a Christ within, malting nothing of
a Christ without; a most pernicious opinion, and
destructive of all Christianity. Others again are all
for a Christ without, contenting themselves with
this, that he was sent into the world to save sinners,
and this to them is enough for future happiness,
they look no farther. But now, whoever would be
wise to salvation, must take in both ; so as to adore,
believe in, rest upon a Christ as externally sent,
and yet so as to make sure of a Christ in himself,
Col. i. 27, through the gracious operations of the
Spirit. Paul here in this verse speaks of the exter
nal sending, in the 10th verse he speaks of the in
ternal sending, ' And if Christ be in you,' &c. ; all
that Hve under the gospel know the former, but few
know the latter. Oh how is it with you ? Christ
was sent to you, but is he in you ? He was formed
in the Virgin's womb, but is he formed in your
hearts? as the expression is, Gal. iv. 19. He came
from heaven in a corporeal manner for you, but did
he ever in a spiritual manner come into you ? You
have the external mission, but have you also the
mystical union ? Hath the Father, who sent his own
Son in your flesh, sent also his own Spirit into your
hearts? which is the great promise of the -New Tes
tament, as the former was the great promise of the
Old; see John xiv. 26, xv. 26, and xvi. 7. Pray
search dUigently into these things, for be assured
that a Christ as only sent in the likeness of sin
ful flesh, if he and his Spirit be not also received
within, I say a Christ, so stated, wiU never make
you happy.
6. Did God thus send Christ? It calls aloud to
you aU to beUeve in him. Hath the Father chosen
him, set him apart, every way fitted him to be a
redeemer, sent him into the world for that end,
and after all this, will you not receive, embrace, fly
to, and venture yourselves, your all upon him ? Oh
what an argument is this to draw sinners to a hearty
closure with Christ! What wUl engage souls to
believe on him if this will not?. Christ, as sent, is
the object, the ground, and also the great encourage
ment of faith. Sinners ! you may very safely believe
on him, for he is no imposter or deceiver, but that
very person whom God sent to be the Saviour of the
world. And it is not only so, that you may safely
beHeve on him, but it is your great duty to believe

on him ; for he who sent him, lays this as his great
command upon you so to do : 1 John Hi 23, ' And
this is his commandment, that we should believe on
the name of his Son Jesus Christ.' John vi. 29,
' This is the work of God,' that great work which
he enjoins, ' that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent.' It is observable how high Christ speaks of
the knowledge of himself under this notion, as he
was sent of God : John xvH. 3, ' This is life eter
nal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' As also
how desirous he was that the world might know
and believe that he was thus sent of God : John
xvii. 21, 23, ' That they all may be one, as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee ; that they aU may
be one in us, that the world may beUeve that thou
hast sent me : ' ' I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me.' Now
what was it that Christ propounded to himself in
all this ? Certainly he had more in his eye than the
bare notional knowledge of, or naked assent to, this
great truth, that he was the person sent of God.
Yes, his desire reached to a practical and fiducial
knowledge of it, to such a knowledge as might be
attended with true and saving faith. So that it is
not enough for you to know and beheve, in a com
mon and general way, that Christ was indeed sent
of God, which will only make you differ from Jews
and heathens ; but you must so know and so beheve
it as to receive, accept, close with, rest upon him tft
a saving manner, which wiU make you differ from
all outside and formal Christians.
Further, let it be considered what was God's
great design in the sending of Christ. It was this,
that sinners believing in him might live ; so the
gospel tells you over and over : ' God so loved the
world, that he gave, or sent, his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. ' For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved,' John hi.
16, 17. Is not here a strong engagement as well as
a high encouragement to believe? And it being
God's act to send his Son, he looks upon himself as
highly concerned according as men carry it towards
him : therefore saith Christ, Mat. x. 40, ' He that

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195

receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me ; ' Luke x.
1 6, ' He that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent
me.' And especially this holds true in the matter
of believing or not beHeving. Oh do you close with
Christ and receive him upon the gospel offer ! not
only he himself, but his Father also is highly pleased
herewith, and takes it very kindly at your hands.
Ay ! says God, here are souls that do not throw
away or tread upon that costly remedy which I pro
vided for them ; who give me the glory of my wis
dom and mercy ; who would not have my great
designs, in the sending of my Son, to be frustrated ;
who duly entertain the messenger whom I sent to
transact the great affairs of my glory and their good ;
who answer my expectations Hi my highest love, &c. ;
I say, this pleases God exceedingly. But, on the
other hand, do you reject Christ, make little of him,
stand it out against him, refuse to believe ? how
heinously doth God resent such carriage ! This he
looks upon as a high despising and undervaluing of
his mercy, a desperate striking at his glory, which is
very dear to him, a very unworthy requital of his
love, a dangerous attempt to make aU his grace to
be to no purpose ; and must not all this highly pro
voke him ? Suppose some great person, hearing of
the sad condition of some poor captives, should, out
of mere compassion to them, send from a far country
his own and only son to redeem them ; and this son
should in person come to them, and treat with them
about their redemption, he offering to pay down
their ransom, to free them from all their misery,
provided they wUl but trust on him and be subject
to him ; tf now these captives should slight all this,
and choose still to continue in their chains, rather
than upon these terms to accept of deliverance,
would not this folly and obstinacy greatly incense
both father and son? Or suppose, again, some
offended prince, against whom the treason had been
committed, should send his son to the traitor with
a pardon in his hand, and he should take no notice
of this son, or pardon brought by him, but reject
and slight both, what could be expected to follow
upon this but the greatest indignation? Now is not
this the very case of unbelievers ? nay, is not theirs
much worse, in respect of the person sending, the
person sent, the benefits offered, the conditions re
quired? and therefore must not they incur a higher dis

pleasure, and make themselves obnoxious to a worser
severity? Sinners ! shall not these things be thought
of ? will nothing prevail upon you to believe ? Was
Christ sent, and did he come to you, and will not
you come to him ? will you not yet understand that
it is he only who must save you ? To allude to that
Acts vii. 25, ' He supposed his brethren would have
understood, how that God by his hand would deliver
them, but they understood not.' Do you look for
another Son or another Saviour to be sent ? indeed
hath God such another Son to send ? or was not the
once sending of his Son enough ? Hath not God in
Christ given you his last way and method for salva
tion, so that there is no other to be expected after
that ? And was he only sent ? Did he not do all
for which he was sent, and so returned back again
to his Father? Is there anything further to be
done, but only that you will repent and believe ?
Methinks these considerations should work upon
you ; aud yet I am sure they wUl not, unless the
Lord persuade your hearts to believe, and he him
self be pleased to work faith in you. We may speak
much to convince you of your duty ; but when we
have said all, it is God who must both incline and
enable you to believe, who must overpower against
unwUHngness, and strengthen against weakness.
Faith is his gift, Eph. ii. 8 : he who gives the Christ
to be believed on, must give the grace to believe
with ; he who sent Christ to you, must draw you to
Christ : John vi. 44, ' No man can (or will) come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw
him.' So much for the duties proper to be urged
upon God's sending of Christ, in which you have
the first use.
Use 2. Secondly, It affords abundant matter of
comfort to all sincere Christians. The truth which
I have been upon, Christ sent by God, may be use
ful, not only as a powerful incentive to duty, but also
as a firm foundation of inward comfort. 0 be
Uevers ! set your faith, hope, joy, as high as ever
you can, this sending of Christ will bear you out in
it ; you cannot, God having done this, over-beheve
or over-rejoice. I will shew you what there is
wrapped up in a Christ sent ; and for the better
raising of your comfort I wUl instance in particulars ;
for it is with gospel-truths as it is with your per
fumed things, which so long as they are wrapped up

196

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. X.

do but weakly affect the sense ; but when they are
taken out, opened and parted, then they do more
strongly send forth their fragrant odours.
1. Did God send Christ? Surely then great was
his good-will towards you ; for had it not been so,
would he ever have done such a great thing for you
as this? Therefore that heavenly choir of angels
singing in concert upon the birth of Christ made
this a part of their spiritual song, Luke ii. 14,
' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good-wiU toward men ;' I foUow our reading of the
latter clause, though I know it might be, and is,
otherwise rendered; why did they say, good-will
toward men ? Oh because now in the sending and
incarnation of Christ God had given out the highest
demonstration that was possible of his good-will
towards them. Had there been anything but that
in his heart, and had there not been an abundance
of that in his heart, he would never have sent, and
so sent, his own Son.
2. Did God send Christ ? Surely then he is in
good earnest, real, hearty in the matters of salva
tion. After such a thing as this saints have not the
least reason to be jealous of God, or to question
the reality of his call, offers, invitations, intentions,
promises, declarations concerning their happiness.
What higher assurance could God give of his hearti
ness and reality in these than this ? If he once send
his Son there is no room left for suspicion or doubt
ing. This assures us that God is real in his pro
mises, and will be faithful to his promises, for by it
they are all at once ratified and confirmed. If God
make good the grand promise of sending his Son,
what other promise will he not make good? A
Christ sent is the seal of all the promises ¦ see
Isa. vii. 14.
3. Did God send Christ? Then you need not
fear but that the work of redemption is completed.
When such a person sends, and such a person is sent
the thing shall be done effectually and throughly ; be it
never so high, so hard, if Christ undertake it, he will
accomphsh it. Had a creature been sent, there might
have been some ground of fear that he would not
have been able to have gone through suoh a work •
but when Christ is pitched upon, all ground of fear
is removed ; to be sure he can and will finish what
he engages in. And it is evident that he perfected

what he came about, from the Father's re-admitting
him into heaven ; had there been anything left un
done by him, would the Father have given him such
a reception as he did ? Believers, do not fear, all is
finished, John xvii. 4 ; Christ gave not over tiU he
brought it to that, John xix. 30. You do your work
by halves, very weakly and imperfectly, but Christ
did his completely; yea, though the law itself,
tlirough your flesh, was weak, yet Christ, in your
flesh, was strong ; he did that throughly which the
law was altogether unable to do.
3. Did God send Christ ? Know to your comfort
he hath not yet done. As to his own satisfaction
he hath no more to do, but as to your glory and
happiness he will yet do more. He sent Christ once
into the flesh, and he will send him again in the
flesh, not to suffer and die again ; no, Christ being
dead dies no more, Rom. vi. 9, &c. There is now no
further need of any suffering and dying, but to
appear like himself in glory, and then to take you
up into glory.1 Once already he came down from
heaven to earth, from thence he wiU come again ; for
what end? why, to carry you up from earth to
heaven. Heb. ix. 28, ' Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many ;' that is past : ' and unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time,
without sin, unto salvation;' this is yet to come!
Oh long for it, and rejoice in it ! His first sending
was to make the purchase, his second shall be to put
you into possession ; which shall be done as certainly
as the former is done, and then there wUl be nothing
further to be done.
5. Wherefore did God send Christ? For most
gracious ends and purposes: 2 Tim. i. 15, 'Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' &c.
1 John iv. 9, 10, ' In this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his
only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.' John Hi. 17, 'For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through him might -be
saved.' Now were these God's ends, and shall they
1 Tij» Sevripav air$ iraXlv irpbs r^as frJofoj- Kal Belav aXij6Sif
iTupavelav, &re oiK h-i. fier eireXelas, ko.—Athan. de Incur.
Verbi., p. 110.

Chap. X.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

197

not be accomphshed ? May not faith fetch strong
encouragement from these? for in order to the
strengthening of faith we are to look to God's
works and their great ends, as well as to his word
and promise.
6. Did God send Christ? Set this against all.
Against the weakness of the law : that which the
law could not do, Christ did ; that which was too
hard for it was not too hard for him. The text tells
you he was sent on purpose to make up what was
defective in the law. Set it also against the guilt of
sin ; upon Christ's sending, presently you read of the
condemning of sin : ' God sent his own Son, &c,
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.' Sin was to
be destroyed, and the wise God took a fit course,
employed a fit messenger for that end, as the scape
goat with the sin of the people was to be sent away
by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, Lev.
xvi. 21. Several other things might be instanced
in ; whatever it is which troubles the dejected Chris
tian, let him therein study a God sending, a Son
sent, and there he may find very proper and con
siderable satisfaction in every case.
7. God sent Christ, for whom ? for you who see
your lost and undone condition : Mat. xv. 24, 'I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.' So his commission was straitened at first,
but afterwards it was enlarged to the lost sheep of
the Gentiles also: Luke xix. 10, 'The Son of man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost ; '
Matix. 13, 'I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance ; ' 1 Tim. i. 15, ' This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief.'
8. He that sent Christ was also pleased to lay a
special trust and charge upon him to secure aU the
elect, and to look to it that not one of those should
perish. Here is a truth which is Hke the full honey
comb ; you cannot touch it but honey and sweetness
drops from it. And I the rather here take notice of
it, because I find our Saviour himself, when he is
speaking of his sending, to make mention of it ; or
when he mentions it, to take in also his sending ; as
John vi. 39, 40, 'This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of aU which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again

at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and
believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day.' Oh, when the
Father sent Christ he made this known to him as
his will and pleasure, that he should take special
care of all his elect, and see that not one of them
should be lost. And this Christ submitted to as a
part of his suretyship, and ever since he hath with
all faithfulness observed this his Father's will, and
made good his trust in the securing of every sin
cere Christian. And, for your comfort, know that
this trust doth as much lie upon Christ's hands now
as ever it did ; that even as to your individual per
sons, if you be true believers, it is the Father's will
to Christ that he should not lose one of you, or let
one of you perish. A child of God perish ! Oh, by
no means ! that neither Father nor Son will permit.
Rather than that should befall any of the elect, God
would send his Son again to do and suffer all over
again, if such a thing was to be imagined. Here
then, believers, is matter of strong consolation for
you, viz., as to your spiritual and eternal state you
are safe. Christ is under a special obligation to
secure you. For the Father did not only send him
in order to the bringing of you into a good estate,
but he did also then entrust him with the keeping
of you in that estate when he should have brought
you into it. And what can be spoken higher for
your support and comfort ? But I must leave these
things with you. Oh that you would often think of
them, especially in soul distresses, and be ever draw
ing from them till your hearts be even brimful of
heavenly consolation !
Use 3. A third use offers itself, which might be as
useful in order to information as the two former were
in order to exhortation and consolation. Something
hath been spoke for the opening of the nature and
grounds of Christ's being sent ; but as to the deter
mination or close application of that to his person,
wherein we have to do with Jews and infidels, 'little
hath been spoken — I mean in that way and method
which is proper to those opposers of Christ and
Christianity. Here, therefore, I should lay down
and make good these two propositions :
1. That that Jesus in whom we Christians beheve,
even he who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered

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[Chap. XI.

under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried,
and rose again, &c. I say this Jesus was the very
person whom God sent, and consequently that he
was the Shiloh or Messias prophesied of.
2. That this Jesus was so sent by God to be the
true and only Messiah, as that besides and after him
no other person is to be expected in that nature or
quahty to be sent by God.
Now though these be two as weighty and as funda
mental truths to us Christians, as Christians, as any
whatsoever ; and though I could not hope to reach
the great enemies of the gospel so as to fasten any con
viction upon them, yet probably I might, in the pur
suing of this argument, reach some weak Christians,
so as to confirm and stablish them in the belief of
these great truths ; yet I shall not at present engage
in the discussing of these two propositions. First,
Because Hi so great points it is better to say nothing,
than not to speak fully and thoroughly to them;
which tf I could, other discouragements being re
moved, hope to do, yet here in this place, without
making the work in hand too vast and big, to be
sure I could not. Secondly, Because however perti
nent this undertaking might be to some other texts,
to that which I am upon it would not be so perti
nent ; where the apostle's drift and design is not so
much, in opposition to Jews and infidels, to assert
that Christ was the very person sent of God, as to
assign, for the comfort of believers, the way and
course which God took to bring about their salva
tion, when upon the terms of the law it was impos
sible — namely, he sent his own Son, &c. The text,
therefore, not tying me to it, I may waive it; I shall
have work enough to go over what the proper and
immediate sense of the contents of this chapter will
lead me to, and therefore I may well cut off what is
of a more remote and foreign consideration ; so that
this shaU suffice for the first observation, Christ was
sent, and sent by God the Father.

CHAPTER XI.
OF CHRIST BEING THE NATURAL AND ETERNAL
SON OF GOD.
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
— Rom. viii. 3.
The second observation spoken to, Of Christ being Gods
Son — How his Sonship is attested in Scripture— Of
his being God's own Son— That opened as he is con
sidered both relatively and absolutely — That he is the
natural Son of God, co-equal, co-essential, co-eternal
wtth the Father, is asserted and proved by sundry
Scriptures — The true notion and ground of Chrish
Sonship vindicated against the Socinians — Where it
is made good against them, that he is not the Son of
God, 1. In respect of his miraculous ^conception ¦
nor 2. Of his extraordinary sanctification; nor 3. Of
his resurrection; nor 4. Of the dignity and advance
ment of his person ; nor 5. Of the Father's special love
to him; nor 6. Of adoption; nor 7. Of his likeness to
him — But he is the Son of God in respect of his par
ticipation of Ms Father's essence, and of his eternal
generation — Some others, besides Socinians, somewhat
concerned in this controversy — Of the different com
munication of the divine essence from the Father to
the Son and to the Holy Ghost — Use 1. In which, by
way of inference, it is shewn, 1. That Christ is God;
2. That he is a very great and glorious person; 3. That
the work of redemption was a high and costly work— •
Use 2. Christians from thence are exhorted, 1. To
study Christ in this relation, as God's own Son : some
directions given about that; 2. To believe him and on
him as such; 3. To honour and adore Christ; 4. To
admire the greatness of God's love — Use 3. To dram
forth the comfort wrapped up in this relation of
Christ.
I proceed to the third general observed in the
words— the description of the person sent. He is
described by his near and special relation to God, as
being God's own Son. From whence the second
observation will be this, That the Lord Jesus, the
person sent by God, as you have heard, was his
Son, yea, his own Son: 1 John iv. 14, 'We have

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

199

seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to
be the Saviour of the world.'
Here two things are to be spoken to : 1. Christ
was God's Son ; 2. He was God's own Son.
1. First, Christ was God's Son. He was truly
the Son of man, but not only the Son of man, for he
was also the Son of God ; and he was as truly the
latter as the former. In reference to his human
nature he is styled ' the seed of the woman,' Gen.
iii. 15; 'the seed of Abraham,' Gal. iii. 16; 'the
Son of David,' Mat. i. 1 ; the ' branch of the root
of Jesse,' Isa. i. 1 ; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ; Zech. vi. 12 ; the
Son of man. In reference to his divine nature he
is styled the Son of God. This relative appellation
or title is so frequently applied to Christ that tf I
should cite the several texts where it occurs, I must
transcribe a great part of the New Testament.
Yet it wtfl not be amiss to take notice of the
several attestations there upon record to this great
truth. As that of John Baptist : John i. 34, ' I
saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God ; '
that of Nathanael, John i. 49, ' Rabbi, thou art the
Son of God ;' that of Peter, Mat. xvi. 16, ' Thou art
Christ the Son of the Hving God ; ' that of the cen
turion, Mat. xxvii. 54, ' Truly this was the Son of
God ; ' that of the eunuch, Acts viii. 37, ' I beHeve
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ; ' that of
Martha, John xi. 27, 'Yea, Lord, I believe that
thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should
come into the world.' The devils themselves wit
nessed to it, Mat. vHi. 29 ; they cried out, saying,
' What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of
God?' Mark Ui. 11, 'Unclean spirits, when they
saw him, feU down before him and cried, saying,
Thou art the Son of God.' Christ himself, even
when he was speaking to God the Father, often
asserted and pleaded his Sonship. And the Father
himself, in a most solemn and open manner, attested
it; first at Christ's baptism, Mat. iii. 17, 'Lo, a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am weU pleased ; ' and then at his trans
figuration, Mat. xvii. 5, ' Behold a voice out of the
cloud which said, This -is my beloved Son.' The
apostle, .1 John v. 7, 8, speaks -of the witness of
heaven and of earth : ' There are three that bear
record in heaven, the- Father, the word, and the
Holy Ghost ; and these three are one. And there

are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and
the water, and the blood ; and these three agree in
one.' Now what is the thing which they bear wit
ness to ? It is Christ's Sonship ; for that is instanced
in as to the first and supreme witness : ver. 9, ' If we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater : for this is the witness of God, which he
hath testified of his Son.' You see how fully this
truth is attested, and how abundantly God was
pleased to clear it up in the first promulgation of
the gospel, it being the great thing necessary to be
known and believed. Indeed the Jews, as to the
body of them, had a veil before their eyes, so that
they could not discern this near relation of Christ
to God ; they saw the Son of man, but they did not
see the Son of God. They went no higher than, ' Is
not this the carpenter's son ; is not his mother called
Mary? and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon,
and Judas ? and his sisters, are they not all with us ?'
Mat. xHi. 55,56. 'Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know ; how is it then
that he saith, I came down from heaven? ' John vi. 42.
Nay, when Christ plainly and boldly told them that
he was the Son of God, they could not bear tf : John
x. 33, ' For a good work we stone thee not, but for
blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.' You may know what they
meant by this by Christ's reply, ver. 36, ' Say ye of
him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into
the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am
the Son of God ? ' Nay, they were so offended at it,
that for this very thing they took away his life:
John xix. 7, ' The Jews answered him, We have a
law, and by our law he ought to die, because he
made himself the Son of God.' You have a full ac
count of it, Mark xiv. 61-65, 'Again the high
priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the
Christ, the Son of the blessed ? And Jesus said, I
am, &c. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and
said, What need we any further witnesses ? Ye
have heard the blasphemy : what think ye ? and they
aU condemned him to be guilty of death.' Thus
the eyes of that people were then — and oh that they
were not so stiU ! — so blinded, that they could not
perceive Christ to be the Son of God ; but the Lord
hath given sufficient evidence thereof to all who do
not wilfully shut their eyes upon the light. It is a

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JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

truth out of aU question to us who are called Chris
tians ; yet about the nature and manner of Christ's
Sonship there are some unhappy controversies
raised amongst us.
2. Secondly, Christ was God's own Son : so it is
here signanter, God sending his own Son. I have
told you in the original it is rbv saurov vlbv, the Son
of himself, or tU 78io\i vlbv, his proper Son, as it is
ver. 32. God is Christ's proper Father, 'Idiog <z-arr,o,
John v. 18 ; and Christ here is God's proper Son, 7diog
viog. He is not barely a Son, but a Son in a special
and peculiar manner, God's own Son. This being a
truth of very high import, a most fundamental point,
I will endeavour first to explain and prove it, and
then to vindicate and make good its true and
genuine notion against opposers.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's own Son, whether
you consider him comparatively and relatively, I
mean in reference to other sons, or absolutely as he is
in himself, abstractly considered from all other sons.
1. Consider him comparatively. And so he is
thus styled to difference or distinguish him from all
other sons. For God hath three sorts of sons : (1.)
Some are so by creation, or in respect of their im
mediate creation by God. So the angels are the sons
of God ; of whom divines commonly interpret these
passages in Job, chap. i. 6, ' There was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord;' chap, xxxviii. 7, 'When the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy.' So Adam upon this account, he being im
mediately made by God, is called the ' son of God,'
Luke iii. 38. (2.) Some are the sons of God by
grace, viz., the grace of regeneration and adoption.
Thus believers are the sons of God, as they are
spiritually begotten of him, and adopted by him :
John i. 12, 13, ' As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, &c. ;
which were born not oftflood, nor ofthe will ofthe
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' James i.
18, 'Of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth,' &c. Gal. iv. 3, ' To redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons.' Eph. i. 5, ' Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will.' Rom.
viu. 14, ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God,

they are the sons of God.' Gal. Ui. 26, 'Ye are ah
the chUdren of God by faith in Christ Jesus.' 1
John v. 1, 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ, is born of God; and every one that loveth
him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of
him.' Then (3.) in contradistinction to these there
is God's own Son, or his Son by nature ; one that is
a Son of another rank and order than the former.
In this respect God hath but one Son, namely, Christ.
True believers are his sons, which speaks the exu
berancy of divine love towards them : 1 John iii.
1, ' Behold what manner of love the Father hath be
stowed upon us, that we should be caUed the sons
of God ! ' Therefore Christ owns them for his
brethren: Heb. ii. 11, 'Both he that sanctifieth,
and they who are sanctified, are all of one : for Which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren ;' and
ver. 17, 'In all things it behoved him to be made
like unto his brethren.' But yet they are not sons
as Christ is ; his Sonship and theirs are of a very
different nature, differing no less than specifically.
Upon which account he sometimes appropriates the
paternal relation in God unto himself : Luke x. 22,
' All things are delivered to me of my Father,' &c.
John xiv. 2, 'In my Father's house are many
mansions.' And elsewhere he distinguishes betwixt
God as being his Father, and as being the Father of
believers: John xx. 17, 'Go to my brethren, and
say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God ;' where he plainly
makes a difference, for he doth not say, I ascend to
our Father, as though he and they had one and
the same common interest in this near relation to
God, as he teaches us . to say our Father, because
we all stand upon the same foot and bottom of filia
tion : but he saith, ' I ascend to my Father and your
Father,' thereby intimating that there was a differ
ence betwixt God's being a Father to him, and a
Father to them. And so indeed there is a vast one,
for he is the Father of Christ by nature and by
eternal generation ;J but he is the Father of saints
only by grace, by adoption and regeneration, which
also are not eternal but accomplished in time. Thus
in this comparative notion Christ may be called
God's own Son.
^'AXXus ipov Kara (piaiv, dXXus bpuv Karat. Bioiv.—CyriU.
Ilierbs.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS Vill. 1-4.

201

2. Consider him absolutely and abstractly from
all other sons, so he is God's own proper Son. It
will be asked, how or wherein ?
That I may a little insist upon the explication of
this sublime mystery, I answer, Christ is God's own
Son, not only as God hath a special interest or pro
priety in him, as beUevers are said to be ol loioi, Christ's
own, John xui. 1 ; nor only as Christ is the Son of
no other father but of God, as the Socinians would
turn off the word 'idiog -,1 for so the saints themselves
maybe called God's own sons, they being sons as
to their spiritual sonship by and from God the
Father only : there must be therefore something
higher than this intended in this glorious title of
God's own Son. What may that be ? Ans. That
Christ was, and is, God's natural and essential Son ;
that he was in a peculiar manner begotten of him
and from him in his eternal generation ; that he did
. participate of the Father's own nature and essence;
that he was a Son co-equal, co-essential, co-eternal
with God the Father.
To draw aU into as narrow a compass as may be.
Our Lord Jesus is God's own Son, as God the Father
did from all eternity, in an ineffable manner, beget
bim in his awn1 divine essence; so that it points to
two things — to his being eternally begotten, to his
being begotten in the divine essence. As to the
latter, I choose to express it so, because it is more
safe, if not more true, to say that the Son was be
gotten in that essence rather than out of it. And
some, who endeavour to open these profound mys
teries, teU us that here we are not to consider Christ
essentially as he is God, but personally as the divine
essence subsists in him as the second person. In
the. first consideration, as he was God, he had the
divine essence in and of himself, and so he could not
be begotten to it, for he was abrohbg, God from him
self; though some, who yet were no Arians, do not
agree to this.2 In the second notion, as he was God
personally considered, or as he was the second per
son and the Son, so he was of the Father and not of
himself; for though he was aurofohg, God of himself,
yet he was not nlrovibg, Son of himself. The usual
1 Proprius Dei Filius jure optimo dicitur, propterea quod non
sit alienus, nee cujuspiam alterius, kc — Slichting.
2 Amongst others see Armin. Declarat. Sent., p. 100, Sec,
et Resp. ad Artie, p. 181.

language of the ancients was ' God of God, very
God of very God,' &c. ; and this was very true ; but
then you must take it as spoken of God, personally
considered with respect both to the person begetting
and the person begotten;1 for in the sacred persons
essence doth not beget essence, but person begets
person, as it is usually expressed.2 I fear these
things may be too high for our weak capacities, that
they do but darken rather than illustrate the Son-
ship of Christ ; yet divines know not how to speak
more plainly concerning these mysteries. Well, I,
for my part, will not venture too far into these great
depths. That Christ is the Son of God, yea, thus
the Son of God, as hath been laid down, is evident
enough ; but he that wUl engage in a curious inqui
sition into all particulars resulting from or referring
to Christ's natural and eternal Son-ship, will find at
last he attempted that which was infinitely too high
for him.
Contenting ourselves, therefore, with this more
general explication of it, and not launching out too
far into particulars, that we may be the more firmly
rooted in the belief of this great article of the Chris
tian faith, viz., that Christ is the natural and eternal
ly begotten Son of God, and therefore called his own
Son, it wUl be necessary for us to look into the word
of truth, to see what foundation we have there for
1 Christus non est Filius essentiae sed personae ; non Dei
essentiae sed Dei Patris. Genitus enim est non essentiatus,
ergo non suae essentiae, vel sui Filius. Est Filius unius veri
Dei, videlicet Patris, non divinae in Patre essentiae, &c. — Soor-
neb., Socin. conf., lib. i. cap. 1, p. 36. Cum dicitur quod Filius
est a Patre, novimus ex ipsis fidei principiis hoc ita esse expli-
candum, ut Filius sit a Patre quoad personalitatem, nimirum se
cundum quod est Filius ; non quoad Deitatem, et secundum
quod est Deus. Siquidem cum Deitas Filii sit una ilia simplex
et ipsissima Patris Deitas, ab alio esse non possit ; nam et Filius
juste airoBebs dicitur. Cum ideo in symbolo Nicaeno de
Christo occurrit, quod sit 0fis iK <pwbs, Bebs dX-nBivbs iK Beov
dX-qBtvov, hoc sensu Catholico intelligendum est, ut sit Deus de
Deo, non quoad Deitatem et essentiam, sed potius quoad perso
nalitatem et subsistentiam, &e. — Barlow, Exercit. 5, p. 107,
&c. The Son, in respect of his person, is of the Father, but
in respect of his Godhead he is of none. The Son of God,
considered as he is a sod, is of the Father, God of very God ;
but considered as he is God, he is God of himself, because the
Godhead of the Son is not begotten more than the Godhead
of the Father. — Perkins on Gal., p. 271 ; see Cheyn., Trin-unity
p. 134.
2 Alting. Theol. probl., loc. 30, probl. 32 and 34.
2C

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JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XL

this our belief. For it would be equally dangerous
for us to believe it if the word doth not affirm it, as
not to believe tf if the word doth affirm it, because
we cannot fathom several things in it by the plum
met of reason. I shall desire you, therefore, to weigh
the foUowing scriptures :
John vii. 29, ' I know him, for 1 am from him,
and he hath sent me.' They are the words of
Christ uttered with reference to God the Father,
concerning whom he saith that he was nrao owrtiu,
from him. How was Christ from the Father? I
answer, Not only in respect of his mission by and
from the Father, that indeed foUows immediately
upon it, ' and hath sent me,' but not as the sole or
main thing in respect of which Christ is said to be
from his Father. I conceive, his being sent is
brought in as a quite other thing and distinct from
that. But Christ saith he was from the Father in
respect of his eternal generation by the Father : that
was the thing principally intended by him in this
expression. As the Holy Ghost is said to be from
the Father, because of his procession from him, that
is the reason I go upon : John xv. 26, tojk toD
Tlurfog ixwoaevirai, ' He proceedeth from the Father;'
so the Son, the second person, is said to be from the
Father because of his generation by him, and I find
the ancients thus opening the place.1
Another text for the proof of this eternal Sonship
of Christ is Ps. ii. 7, ' The Lord hath said unto me,
Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee.'
To me this is a very considerable scripture for the con
firming the truth in hand, though our adversaries, I
know, make a contrary use of it, and some others
who are friends speak somewhat diminutively about
it.2 It is beyond all dispute that Christ was the
person here spoken of; it was not said to David,
further than as he was a type, but to Christ himself,
' Thou art my Son,' &c. Thus some of the Jewish
writers themselves do carry it,3 and the matter of
1 Ab ipso (inquit) sum, quia Filius de Patre, et quicquid est
Filius de illo est cujus est Filius. Ideo dominum Jesum dici-
mus Deum de Deo ; Patrem non dicimus Deum de Deo sed
tantum Deum. — August.
2 As the learned Dr Jackson, who saith he dares not insist
upon this text to prove Christ's eternal generation. — On the
Creed, 7 B. sect. 3, chap. xxv. p. 257.
3 One of which hath this notable passage about this 2d
Psalm : Magistri nostri quicquid hoc psalmo canitur, de rege

the psalm, with the several expressions in it are
only applicable to Christ; see. verses 8, 9, &c. to
the end. And as to that verse which I have to do
with, you have it thrice cited in the New Testament
and it is always appHed to Christ : so Acts xiii. 33 ¦
Heb. i. 5, and v. 5. WeU, then, what doth God
here say concerning Christ ? Why, ' Thou art my
Son.' But how did Christ come to be his Son?
Why, as he had ' begotten ' him, for that comes in
as the fundamentum relationis, ' Thou art my Son I
have begotten thee.' But when did God thus beget
him ? Why, from all eternity : ' to-day have I be
gotten thee.' Various are the apprehensions of men
about the import and reference of this word, to-day,
and what that matter or period of time is to which
it refers. Some make it to point to the time of the
rage and opposition of enemies against Christ, spoken
of ver. 1, &c. ; some to the time of the New Testa
ment administration ; some to the time of Christ's
resurrection and advancement, as we shall see here
after. But I must concur with those who do not
understand it of this or that particular, determinate
day or time, but make it to point to and be expres
sive of eternity.1 This eternity is but one day, or
but one continued now, in which there being no
succession, whatever God doth from eternity, he
may be said to do it now, or to-day. So here, ''this
day have I begotten thee,' that is from everlasting.
True, indeed, the word itself, in its first and strictest
sense, doth not signify or import eternity ; 2 yet be
cause in this place it must be interpreted according
to the matter spoken of, therefore here it must have
that signification, the nature of the thing so deter
mining it. For God's begetting of his Son being
an immanent act, it must, as all acts of that nature
Maria interpretati sunt ; sed secundum verborum sonum et
ob refutationem haereticorum, (he means us Christians,) con-
venit, ut eum intftrpretemur de ipso Davide.-KaoM Solomon
Jarchi. ! Hodie non tempus certum, sed aeternitatem designat. Est
descriptio naturae aeternitatis optime conveniens, omne prate-
ntum a Deo removens, omne futurum a Deo praescindens, om
nem successionem excludens, seternitatem his omnibus caren-
tem optime explicans.-^oZd. Catech. Racov. Major., p. 208.
Nonvolunt nostri vocem hodie aeternitatem significare, sed
pro subjecta materia exponi debere ; et quando Deo tribuitur,
non infrmgere ejus aeternitatem, sed ei propter nos et dvBp^m .
duntaxat adjungi-tfooroeS de Christo, cap. 1, p. 17.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

203

are, be from everlasting ; and it being spoken after
the manner of men, it must be so understood as
may best suit with the nature of God, and with the
nature of the thing which it speaks of. When, there
fore, you read, ' Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee,' it is as if God had said, Oh my Son,
I own thee to be so before the world, and I here
attest that from all eternity I have begotten thee,
and that thou art my Son by eternal generation.
And thus the great lights of the ancient church,
in their contest swtfh the Arians, did make use of
and expound it.
That text in Prov. vUi. is exceeding full and
clear : ver. 22-24, &c, ' The Lord possessed me in
the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the begin
ning, or ever the earth was. When there were no
depths I was brought forth ; when there were no
fountains abounding with water. Before the moun
tains were settled, before the hills, was I brought
forth.' This is further, with great elegancy, set
forth, ver. 26-28. He concludes, ver. 29, 30, ' When
he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should
not pass his commandment ; when he appointed the
foundations of the earth ; then I was by him, as one
brought up with him, and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him.' Of whom can all this be
understood but of Christ?1 to whom is it applicable
but to him who is the personal Wisdom of God the
Father? and tf so, doth it not then plainly hold
forth his eternal existence, and also his eternal gene
ration ? So Micah v. 2, ' Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be Uttle among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting.' In the Hebrew it is
' from the days of eternity.'
If we look into the New Testament this will yet
be more clear. There Christ is styled 'the only
begotten of the Father,' which title the evangelist
John often repeats. The other evangelists speak
much of Christ's manhood, and of his birth as man ;
but John is altogether taken up with the Godhead
of Christ, and with his eternal generation as the Son
of God ; 2 whence Nyssene saith of him that he did
1 Vide Synopsis Critic, vol. 2 in cap. viii. Prov. in initio.
2 Tirapros 6 'ludwvs rrpi KopavtSa Kal rb &Kpaupvis rijs &va

indeed fcoXoyiiv. and some think he was from hence
called ' John the divine ; ' in reference to which he
calls him over and over God's only begotten Son, as
you see John i. 14, 18, and ui. 16-18 ; 1 John iv. 9.
Now how is Christ the only begotten Son of God ?
Surely it must be in respect of some extraordinary
way and manner of his Sonship peculiar to himself;
and what can that be but that which I am upon ?
Never was any person so begotten of the Father as
he was.1 God hath other sons begotten of him, as
some pre-alleged scriptures testify, but yet Christ is
styled his only begotten Son, because of his special
and incommunicable generation, because he is the
Son of God by nature, and hath that very nature
and essence which God the Father hath. Take
away this specialty of his Sonship, and how shall we
interpret this exclusive title of Christ, the only
begotten of God 1 He is not only called God's own
Son, but also his only Son ; and nothing can make
him to be so, as will appear by and by, but his
being the natural Son of God, and by eternal gene
ration. It is observable, after the evangelist had
been speaking of the sonship of believers, John i.
12, 13, immediately he speaks too of the Sonship of
Christ, ver. 14; and he speaks of this as being of a
different kind and order from the former, upon
which he calls him ' the only begotten ofthe Father.'
The old Arian heretics had a pretty evasion for this.
Christ, says Eunomius, whom Basil and his brother
Nyssene have so profoundly confuted, was the only
begotten of the Father, inasmuch as he was begotten
only of the Father ; which evasion exactly falls in
with that modern gloss which some Socinians give
upon the text, Christ was God's own Son, i.e., he
was the Son of no other but of God. But to this
it is answered, there is a great difference betwixt
being, begotten only of the Father, and being the
only begotten of the Father. The first makes God
to be the only begetter, but not Christ to be the
only begotten ; without which this title of his would
7-rifews, Kal del &vo-ns BebraTos, to ilffTepov iS-qXao-ev. — Epiphan.
adv. Her., lib. ii. torn. ii. p. 747.
1 Aiyerat povoyev-qs Sn pbvos iK pbvov tov Ttdrpbs pbvas
iyevv-qB-q, oiSe yap bpoiovrai iripa yiw-qais rij tov vlov tov 6fo0
yewtfeei, oiSi yap iarai fiXXos vlbs tov Beov. — Damasc. ; —
Nazianz. Orat. ii. de Filio et Sp. Sancto, page 590, puts in
another word, povorpbiras.

204

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

signify nothing. For it is true as to the saints, they
are begotten only of the Father ; but yet it is not
true that they are the only begotten of the Father.
Indeed this belongs not to them at all, but only to
Christ ; their sonship by regeneration, and Christ's
Sonship by eternal generation, are things of a quite
different nature and species ; and it must be so, or
else he could not truly be styled ' the only begotten
ofthe Father.'
The apostle in this chapter, ver. 32, calls Christ
God's own Son, ' he that spared not his own Son,'
&c. Now the word 'i&iog imports as much as God's
proper or natural Son. That is the signification of
it in other references : Luke vi. 44, ' Every tree is
known by his own fruit ;' it is "ihog xdgao;, that fruit
which is proper and natural to it ; so that 7Siov e'w,u,a
is to be taken, 1 Cor. xv. 38, ' God giveth it a body
as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own
body.' And so Christ is 7Siog v'iog, God's own Son,
that is, his Son who hath the same nature and
essence with himself.
There are three properties, if the two first be not
one and the same, belonging to Christ in his Sonship,
which are incommunicable to any other. As,
(1.) He is a Son co-equal with his Father : John
y. 18, ' The Jews sought the more to loll him, not
only because he had broken the Sabbath, but said
also that God was his Father, making himself equal
with God.' The Jews were in the right as to the
thing, only they erred as to the person, because they
would not see that Christ was this Son of God, and
therefore equal to the Father. Their argument was
good, and their inference proper and genuine ; if
Christ do claim to be the proper Son of God, then
he must be equal with God ; nothing could be more
true. And he had and must have such a sonship
as will rise up to this ; therefore his whole discourse,
in which he is very large, John v. and x., tends to
the proving of nothing lower than his natural Son-
ship, and consequently his equahty with his Father.
And if he had been only the Son of God in a lower
way, why did he not so explain himself? why did he
suffer the charge of blasphemy upon it ? nay, why
did he lose his life upon it ? Had he been the Son of
God only as others are, the very telling of that had
quieted the people, acquitted him from blasphemy,
and saved his life ; but he lets them alone to go on

in their malice against him, because that was the
very truth which they pitched upon, and which he
would have to be known, namely, that he was so
the Son of God as to be equal with God. For a
further proof of this, take that of the apostle where
he speaks it out expressly, Phil. ii. 6, ' Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God.' Surely there is more in this,
being equal with God, than what some, particularly
Grotius, are pleased to make it to be,1 It notes
equality of nature and essence, not only some ex
ternal show, or appearance, or estimation by others,
The latter clause must be expounded as it is joined
with the former, and then its sense and emphasis
will be clear enough. Christ being in the form of
God, existing in the divine nature, and really par
ticipating of that nature, thought it no robbery, no
bold encroachment upon the honour of God, to be
equal with God, to assume and apply that nature to
himself which he had in truth. And , which will much
strengthen this exposition of the words, as that which
foUows, ver. 7, 8, speaks Christ's natural equality with
us, as he was man, and must be so interpreted; so this
here speaks Christ's natural equality with the Father
as he was God, and must be so interpreted also.
(2.) Christ is a Son co-essential with the Father.
He is not only like him, but of the same nature and
essence with him ; not only under some resemblance
of God, ofioioveiog, but under a perfect identity and
oneness of essence with God, oftooveiog -. John x. 30,
' I and my Father are one.' Hence he is styled
'the image,' the essential and substantial image of
God, Col. i. 15 ; Heb. i. 3. This was that great
truth which the Nicene fathers asserted and main
tained with such renowned courage and zeal. But
I will but touch upon this head, because it is the
same with the former ; that is more comprehensive,
but in its main import it perfectly agrees with this.
(3.) Christ is the co-eternal Son of God the Father.
They were both of the same standing, if I may with
reverence so express it, both from everlasting. Christ
was eternally a Son ; there never was any time when
he was otherwise, or when he began so to be, oux fa
qtu.ii ovx flu, as the ancients used to express it. If the
1 Elrai To-a Bed est spectari tanquam Deum.— Grotius. As
though there were no more in rb elvai Xoa Bed, than in rb
elo-opaq-Bai Xaa Beu.—Dr Pearson on the .Creed, p. 246.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

205

Father was eternal and always a Father, then the
Son was eternal and always a Son, for relatives must
be simultaneous.1 This was that which greatly
troubled and vexed Arius, so often to hear the
orthodox speaking of semper Pater semper Filius,
simul Pater simul Filius ; I say, this offended him
very much, as appears by what he himself wrote in
his letter to Eusebius ; but the thing is never the less
true because he was offended at it. The Scriptures
are very plain concerning Christ's eternity and eter
nal generation, some of which have been already
cited ; take a few more : Rev. i. 8, 'I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to
come, the Almighty.' Eev. ii. 8, 'These things
saith the first and the last, which was dead and is
alive.' As soon as the apostle had spoken of Christ's
Sonship, Heb. i. 5, presently he falls upon his eternity :
ver. 8, ' Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God,
is for ever and ever.' Thus I have shewn in what
respects Christ is styled God's own Son, and how
far those are grounded upon the word of truth.2
But all this being vehemently denied and opposed
by some, and it highly concerning us truly to appre
hend and firmly to beHeve a thing of so high a
nature, upon these considerations I judge that it
wiU not be enough barely to assert the truth, but it
will be necessary also to hear what opposers say
against it, and how they endeavour to undermine
it ; give me leave therefore to spend some time about
that. I think I may confidently and warrantably affirm,
that amongst aU the articles of faith which make up
the Christian religion, not any one of them ever met
with so much opposition, and was the ground of so
1 Uore b iraTTjp ; oiK fy Sre oiK Ijv, tovto] oiK Kal b vlbs.—
Nazianz. Orat. 35, torn, i., p. 563. Qebs dKardX-qirTOS &v Bebv
dKardX-qirrov iyivvvo-e irpb vdvroiv tOiv aliivav, Kal irpb xpbvwv :
ml ovk iori. Sido-r-qpa dva/iio-ov vlov Kal irarpbs, AXX' apa voeis
iraripa, &pa voeis vlov, &p.a ivopd£eis vlbv &pa SeiKvieis iraripa,
kc, irbBev yap vlos el pi] iraripa i%ei.; Kal irodev Harty, el pi]
iyivv-qo-e rbv ptovoyevij, kc — Epiph. adv. Hares., lib. ii. torn.
ii. p. 796. tbo-re trap aird rb yivv-qpa del yeyivv-qrai, Kal p/q
iv xpbvoi dp£dp.evov, dXX' del obv Uarpl yeyevv-qpivov iirdpxei,
Kal oiSiirore 8ia\elirei.—Id., p. 794.
2 He that would see the texts which have been cited, and
divers others, opened and improved in reference to Christ's
Sonship, as it hath been stated, let him read Zanch, de Tribus
Elohim, lib. iv. cap. 6, &c, p. 125, &c.

many and so fierce disputes, as this great article
which refers to the Godhead of Christ, and to his
being the natural and essential Son of God. They
who know anything of what hath passed in former
times in the matters of religion, know what contests
there were about it in the first ages of the church.
In the very infancy of the gospel Satan stirred up
some, as Ebion, Cerinthus, &c, to oppose it, for it
being the great fort and bulwark of Christianity, he
would be sure first to make his batteries against it.1
But things never came to their full height till about
three hundred years after Christ, when Arius and
his party with great zeal, such as it was, set them
selves against it, boldly denying Christ to be God,
or the eternal Son of God.2 After a long flux of
time, these controversies were pretty well composed,
yea, the church had,, in a great measure, after its
sharp conflicts, gained the belief of this fundamental
truth, and was in the quiet possession of it ; till in
these latter ages that unhappy Socinus came upon
the stage, and he muddied the waters again, revived
the old Arian heresies which seemed to be dead and
rotten, and did, with no less boldness and more
subtlety, veterem serram reciprocare. With him and
his followers, all of which do unanimously agree in
their denial of Christ's Sonship in that sense wherein
it hath been opened, we now have to do ; 3 and the
difference betwixt them and us stands thus : they
agree with us that Christ is the Son of God, but as
to the nature, quality, manner, foundation of his
sonship, there they differ from us. We say he is
the proper, natural Son of God ; they make him, in
effect, no better than an improper, allusive, meta
phorical son of God ; we say he is the eternal Son
of God, they say he is only so in time ; we say he is
the Son of God by eternal generation, and there
upon called God's own Son, they say he is God's
1 Of whom Ignatius is conceived to speak when he saith,
aXXorpiovat rov warpos, they made the Son to be of another
and different essence from the,Father, and so the Father from
the Son ; so the expression is usually opened. — Ep. ad Tral-
lian., p. 69. Edit. Usser.
2 Vide Hist. Trip., lib. i. cap. 12 and 13.
3 Socinus contra Wiekum. lib. Suasor. Animadv. in Assert.
Posnan. ; Smalcius de vera Divinit. Jesu Christi. Refut. ;
Franz, contra Smiglet ; Crellius de uno Deo Patre ; Slichting,
contra Meisner ; Ostorod. contra Tradel ; Enjedinus. Catech.
Racov. de Pers. Christi, cap. 1.

206

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

own Son upon other grounds and causes; which
what they are we are now to inqutfe after, and
whether they be true and consonant to the word.
This is a work which hath been done over and over
by many, by some in our own language, yet the
subject in hand necessarily leads me also to speak
something to it.
1. First, They affirm that Christ is God's own
Son in respect of his mtfaculous conception and pro
duction in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy
Ghost ; for the proof of which they allege, Luke i.
35, 'The angel answered and said unto her, The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of
the highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shaU be
caUed the Son of God.'
Here the defenders of the truth take notice of the
adversaries'fallaciousandfraudulent dealing, which in
deed is very gross ; for the greatest of them sometimes
seem to grant that Christ is the natural and essential
Son of God — it is the very title which they prefix
before some of their treatises — in which one would
think that they did concur with us, holding the same
thing which we do, and giving the same honour and
respect to Christ which we do, when in truth there
is no such thing ; they do but speak fraudulently,
according to the custom of their old predecessors.1
For here is the fallacy; they mean by all this nothing
more than that Christ was the Son of God in regard
of his wonderful conceptionand nativity by the Virgin
Mary. But to pass by their frauds, let us come to the
thing. We say Christ's filiation or Sonship was
grounded upon something of a far higher nature
than this, that he was the Son of God antecedently
to it, even from all eternity. They ground his Son-
ship upon it only, making it but then to commence,
1 T6 ph, vlos bvbpan bpoXoyovtn, rij Se Sovdpjei ml Siavola
dpvoCvrac, kc. See much of the fraud of the Arians in this,
in Epiphan. adv. Haeres., lib. ii. torn. ii. p. 738. Of them
Hilarius speaks to the same purpose :— Tribuunt Christo Dei
nomen, quia hoc et hominibus sit tributum. Fatentur Dei vere
Filium, quia Sacramento baptismi vere Dei filius unusquisque
perficitur. Ante tempora et SEecula confitentur, quod de angelis
et diabolis non est negandum. Ita Domino Christo sola ilia
tnbuuntur, quse sunt vel angelorum propria vel nostra. Carter-
um quod Deo Christo legitimum et verum est, Christus Deus
verus, i.e., eadem esse Filii quse Patris divinitas, denegatur-
Contra Auxent. Mediolan.

when he was begotten by the Holy Ghost, conceived
and born by the Virgin.
Against which dangerous opinion we argue thus :
(1.) If Christ's Sonship did result from this, as the
true and proper ground of it, then the Holy Ghost
the third person, should rather be intituled the
Father of Christ than the first person;1 because that
effect, which was the foundation of Christ's Sonship
was more immediately produced by him than by the
first person. But this is notoriously false ; for all
along, in the whole current of the word, Christ is
brought in as the Son of the Father, and as standing
in this relation to the Father and not to the Spirit.
(2.) Christ himsetf never resolves his Sonship into
his miraculous conception or birth. You find him
sometimes professedly treating upon it, and giving
the world an account about it, and what doth he then
ground it upon ? Why, he carries it up to his doing
what the Father did, John v. 19 ; to his quickening
whom he will, even as the Father doth, John v. 21 ;
to his having life in himself, as the Father hath life
in himself, John v. 26 ; to his being one with the
Father, John x.'30 ; to his being in the Father, and
his Father in him, John x. 38. He doth not at all
mention his mtfaculous conception, which in all pro
bability he would have done if that had been the
proper ground of his Sonship, but he insists altoge
ther upon things tending to the proof of his partici
pating of his Father's nature and essence, and by
them he designs to make out his Sonship ; yea, and
that it was such a Sonship as did render him equal
with his Father ; but this he could not have done,
either with truth or evidence, had he been only the
Son of God upon what is here pretended.
(3.) Though Christ's conception and temporal gen
eration was very wonderful, yet that did but reach
to his flesh or human nature, and there terminate.
Now the Scripture doth not place his great Sonship
in his human, but in his divine nature ; therefore as
to that it speaks him to be the Son and seed of David,
or the Son of man,2 in contradistinction to his being
1 Vide Stegm. Photin. Dip. 16, p. 180. Arnold. Catech.
Racov. major., p. 176.
2 Qui factus est ex semine David secundum carnem, hic erit
homo et Filius hominis, qui declarandus est Filius Dei secundum
Spiritum sanctificationis, He erit Deus, et sermo Dei Filius.-
Tertul. adv. Praxean. Torquetur frustra locue Luc. i. 35, &c.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

207

the Son of God. And his Sonship to God cannot
be grounded upon that which was the ground of his
Sonship to man, for where the sonships are so differ
ent, they must needs have different grounds and
foundations. Pray let these two texts be well
weighed, and they wUl sufficiently prove what I say :
Rom. i. 3, 4, ' Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead.' Rom. ix. 5, ' Whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.'
The sum of all : Christ hath two natures, according
to which two natures he hath two distinct sonships ;
he is the Son of God, and he is the Son of man ;
these different sonships must have different causes
and grounds, therefore his conception, upon which
he was the Son of man, cannot make him also to be
the Son of God.
(4.) As to the text alleged by our adversaries to
prove their opinion, there is a double answer com
monly given to it.
[1.] The particle therefore in tf is not causal but
illative. It is not brought in as signifying the ground
of Christ's Sonship, but as a note of inference, where
in something is inferred from what went before.
The angel had told Mary that 'the Holy Ghost
should come upon her, and the power of the highest
should overshadow her,' and then adds : ' Therefore
also the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God.' Therefore ? what may be
the force of this word in this place ? It is a mere
deduction, drawn from the premises to this effect :
since such a thing shaU be done by the Holy Ghost,
therefore, according to what was prophesied, Christ
shaU be called the Son of God. The words plainly
refer to the prophecy, Isa. vii. 14, 'Therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a sign : Behold, a vir
gin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel.' The evangelist brings them in
A nudaenimconceptioneet nativitate carnis ex Virgine, manavit
non Filii Dei, sed Filii hominis appellatio. Quod vero angelus
porro affirmat, illud est, hac filiatione non obstante, etiam
vocandum Filium Dei ; adhibita exacte particula Kal, ad con-
ciliandam utramque filii hominis et Filii Dei uni Christo tribu-
endam appellationem, per communicationem idiomatum, &c.
Clopperib. Ant. Smalc, p. 71.

expressly in that reference, Mat. i. 21, and xxii. 23,
' And she shaU bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the pro
phet, saying, Behold, a virgin shaU be with chUd,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God
with us.' And their sense and tendency is the same
here, ' therefore also that holy thing,' &c. ; as if the
angel had said, This being the thing which was fore
told, which must be accomplished, and is now near
to be accomplished, therefore it shall so be, ' that
which shall be born of thee shaU be caUed the Son
of God.' So that this therefore is only a note of con
sequence, as to the event or the fulfilling of the pro
phecy, not a note of causality as to the thing itself,
viz., Christ's Sonship to God.
[2.] It is, ' therefore he shall be called the Son of
the Most High.' It is not, therefore he shall be the
Son, &c, but therefore he shall be called, &c. And
so it points not to that which was constitutive of
Christ's filiation, but only to that which was mani-
festative and declarative of it.1 Christ was God be
fore he assumed flesh, but he was God manifested in
the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; so Christ was the Son of God
before he was thus conceived, but this was a great
manifestation or declaration that he was the Son of
God. It is true, as to us, our being ' called the
sons of God,' 1 John iii. 1, notes our being made the
sons of God ; but here, as to Christ, it only notes that
he should be declared, evidenced, acknowledged to
be the Son of God. He was not now made the Son
of God — that was done by his eternal generation —
only it was now made to appear that he was the Son
of God. In short, the Lord Jesus, who was thus mi
raculously conceived, was the very Son of God ; but
as he was thus conceived, or because he was thus
conceived, so he was not the Son of God ; for of this _
1 Angelus non dixit quare sit Filius Dei, sed quod sit Filius
Dei, et quare fideles ipsum pro Filio Dei sint agnituri. Chris
tum autem ab aeterno a Patre esse genitum, humanamque
naturam in unitatem 'Filii esse assumendam, satis indicavit,
dum dixit, quod nascetur ex te sanctum, Filius Dei vocabitur,
ko. Nee tamen hoc vult, quod Mariae Filius, qua Mariae Fi
lius est, etiam sit Filius Dei; sed quod inter alia signa ex
quibus Christum Dei Filium esse agnoscatur etiam hoc sit. —
Bisterf. contra Crellium, lib. i. sec. 2, cap. 31, p. 305.

208

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4;

[Chap. XI.

there was an antecedent foundation, that which was
of a far more ancient date, namely, his being begot
ten of the Father from everlasting.
2. Secondly, It is said that Christ Was the Son of
God in respect of his Sanctification and mission :
John x. 36, ' Say ye of him, whom the Father hath
sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphem-
est ; because I said, I am the Son of God ? ' Christ
being sanctified by the Father, that is, the Spirit of
grace and hohness being in so eminent a degree
poured out upon him, and he being designed and set
apart and fitted by God to, and for, a most high and
eminent office ; as also he being sent upon a great
work, for an extraordinary end, to redeem and save
lost sinners ; therefore upon these grounds, and not
upon his being eternally begotten of the Father, he
was God's Son.
Ans. More is inferred from this text than what
it will bear ; we may thus far Very well argue from
it, He who was sanctified and sent was undoubtedly
the Son of God ; but if we go further and infer, He
who was sanctified and sent was therefore the Son
of God, as if the sanctification and mission were the
ground of his being so, we stretch the words too far,
and endeavour to fetch that out of them which is not
at all in them.1 There is a great difference betwixt
the applying of such a relation to such a person, and
the assigning of the proper cause and foundation of
that relation. Christ being sanctified and sent is
the Son of God ; upon these that relation may truly
be attributed to him ; but yet they do not amount
to the being the cause of that relation. Christus qui
fuit sanctificatus et missus est Filius Dei is a proposi
tion very true ; but Christus qua fuit sanctificatus et
missus est Filius Dei, aS> pointing to the fundamentum
Filidtionis, is a proposition very false ; and there lies
the controversy betwixt us and our opponents. The
words cited have reference to the preceding -verses
where Christ is vindicating himself from that blas-
1 Ex loco Joh. x. 36, negamus hoc effici posse, Jesum Chris
tum Deum, ac Filium Dei unigenitum dici aut esse, &c. Sanc-
tificatio et missio qua Pater Filium sanctificavit et missit in
mundum, nee Deitatem Filii nee filiationem fuudat, sed fun-
datur in ilia, atque illam demonstrat a posteriori. Quia ad
munus mediatorium sanctificari et mitti in mundum non po-
terat, qui non esset co-seternus et co-essentialis Patri mittenti
Filius.— Cloppenb. Compend. Socin., p. 38.

phemy which the Jews charged him with, ' because
he made himself God,' ver. 33. Now this he doth
first in a lower way, by an argument drawn from
the title usuaUy given to men in places of office and
authority; they are called gods, and tf so, then
saith Christ, do I blaspheme because I caU myself
God, and the Son of God, whom God hath sanctified
and sent, and invested with such high offices ? Do
not mistake here ; Christ is not God only in a titular
way, because of his office, he is so truly, properly, in
respect of his nature and essence ; this he speaks to,
vers. 30, 37, 38 ; but he instances only in his office
in this place, and from thence fetches that argument
which was very proper to his present design, viz.,
the vindicating of himself as to the charge of blas
phemy : vers. 34-36, ' Jesus answered them, Is
it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
If he Galled* them gods, unto whom the word of God
came, and the scripture cannot be broken ; say ye
of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent
into the world, Thou blasphemest : because I said,
I am the Son of God ? ' Now what is there in this
to undermine Christ's eternal Sonship, or to make
his sanctification and mission the ground of his filial
relation to God ? 1 One word further, as to the lat
ter of these. If Christ was the Son of God before
he was sent, then his sending did not make him to
become the Son of God ; but so he was ; for it is said,
here in the text, ' God sent his Son, implying he was
a son before he was sent. Had it not been so, it
must have been said, God sent Mm to be his Son, and
not God sent his Son, which supposes him before the
sending to be actually a son.
3. Another cause assigned of Christ's Sonship, and
of the appellation here given him, God's own Son, is
his resurrection. That begetting which the psalmist
speaks of, Ps. H. 7, is not, say they, to be interpreted
of Christ's being eternally begotten of the. Father,
but only of what the Father did when he raised him
up from the dead. For so the apostle brings it in,
Acts xiii. 32, 33, ' We declare unto you glad tidings,
how that the promise which was made unto the
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their
children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again : as
1 Hoc non dicit causam suae filiationis, sed praestantias su
pra alios, unde .potius queat nuncupari Dei Filius quam illi
dii.— Hoornb. Socin. Confut. de Christo, cap. 1, p. 39.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

209

it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee.'
For answer to this, (1.) How many causes and
grounds shaU we have of Christ's Sonship? We
have had two atfeady ; here is a third ; we shall
have, by and by, a fourth and a fifth, and I know
not how many more ; where shall we stop ? Christ's
Sonship is but one, I mean as he is the Son of God,
and therefore admits not of the multiplication of
causes. In all relations there is some single act
which is the foundation of them, upon which in their
relative notion they are complete. And why should
it not be so here in the relation betwixt God and
Christ ? Our opponents teU us that Christ upon his
miraculous conception was the Son of God. I then
ask, Was he so, truly, fully, perfectly, completely ? if
so, which they by their principles cannot deny, then
what need is there of anything further ? or how doth
the nature of the "thing admit of anything further ?
For he that is a son already, perfect and complete, can
not by any addition or new emergency be made more
a son, because the essence of things, whether absolute
or relative, cannot be intended or remitted. We are
inquiring what is it which makes Christ the Son of
God ? We ground it, as we should and must, upon
one thing, namely, upon the Father's begetting of
Christ from aU eternity, and communicating his own
nature and essence to him ; they who oppose lay it
upon several things, as you have already heard in
part, and will yet further hear in what foUows. Now
we say this cannot be, for there can be but one foun
dation of one and the same relation ; therefore they
must pitch upon some such one foundation and waive
all the rest. I know what they say : Christ upon his
conception, &c, was the Son of God in a way of in-
choation, but upon his resurrection and exaltation
he was the Son of God in a way of consummation.
I reply, (1.) Then the texts urged before are out of
doors, and signify Httle or nothing ; for they only
prove that Christ, upon his conception and sanctifi
cation and mission, began to be a Son of God ; but
he was not so, indeed, fuUy and properly ; for there
must be yet something more which must foUow after
to complete and consummate his Sonship. (2.) This
is a very strange and most ungrounded distinction,
it arguing a growth and progress in Christ's Sonship,
for which there is not the least warrant from the

word of God. We read, Luke ii. 52, of Christ's 'in
creasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with
God and man ; ' but we never read of his increasing
in his Sonship ; that admitted of several manifesta-
tive evidences as to us, but not of several perfective
degrees as to itself. Even the sonship of beUevers at
the first moment of their conversion is entire and full;
they may grow and be more perfect in their gifts,
graces, comforts ; but as to their covenant-state and
relation to God, that is complete at the first, and admits
of no further addition. And shall the Sonship of the
blessed Son of God be-a partial, imperfect, progres
sive thing ? Neither the glory of the person, nor the
nature of the relation itself, wiU bear such a thing.
(2.) Secondly, Nothing more evident than that
Christ was the Son of God before his resurrection :
Mat iii. 17, ' Lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Was
not this witness given of Christ before his resurrec
tion ? Rom. viii. 32, ' He that spared not his own
Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? ' Christ here
is called God's own Son, which must be understood
of him before his resurrection ; for the Father's not
sparing of him was antecedent to that, and yet then
he was his own Son, otherwise how could it be said
that God spared not his own Son? Mat. xvi. 16,
' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.' Was
not this confession made by Peter before Christ's
resurrection ? I might go much higher in the dating
of Christ's Sonship than merely before his resurrec
tion ; but that is high enough to shew the falsity of
what is asserted by the adversary.
(3.) We say Christ was declared and manifested,
but not made or constituted, the Son of God, by his
resurrection.1 So the apostle himself states it, Rom.
i. 4, ' Declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrec
tion from the dead' — that the word bsiaihrog is truly
rendered by declared is sufficiently proved by many.
It is one thing to be made God's Son, another thing
to be declared God's Son. The first Christ had from
his eternal generation ; it was only the second that
1 Non quod turn Filius Dei esse caeperit, qui ab seterno
fuerat, sed quia tunc res aliqua fieri dicitur, quando talis
cognoscitur ; seu turn demum dicitur facta yiveois cum fuit
facta yvibois. — Portus contra Ostorod., cap. 9j p. 67.
2D

210

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

he had from his resurrection. You read, ver. 19
of this chapter, of the ' manifestation of the sons of
God.' Believers are not made the sons of God when
they enter upon the glorified estate, but they are
then manifested both to be the sons of God, as also
what their glory is upon their being so : 1 John iii. 9,
' Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not vet
appear what we shall be ; but we know that when
he shall appear we shaU be like him.' Mark it, the
relation itself is present, ' now are we the sons of
God ; ' but the dignity and glory which is to follow
upon this relation, that ' doth not yet appear,' but
hereafter it shall. So here, Christ was the Son of
God long before his resurrection, but the manifesta
tion thereof was when God raised him from the
dead. Till then his Sonship and glory had been
very much veiled and hid, but then it broke forth
like the sun after it hath been shut up under a dark
and thick cloud ; then God owned him as his own
Son before all the world, and made it to appear who
and what he was. And this is that which the apostle
aimed at in the place cited ; his only design there
being to prove that God had given the world suffi
cient evidence that Christ was his very Son ; and
amongst other evidences of it he instances in the
miraculous raising of him out of the grave. So that
the begetting in Ps. ii. and in Acts xiu. are of a
quite different nature, the one being proper, as relat
ing to the thing itself, the other improper, as relat
ing only to the declaration or manifestation of the
thing. We argue from the proper and primary Sense
of the words, ' Thou art my Son,' &c, the adverse
party from their improper and secondary sense, as
the apostle makes use of them in that place. In the
Scripture dialect several things are said to be done,
when they are declared' and manifested to be done ;
so Paul brings in Christ as begotten at the day of
his resurrection, because it was then declared that
he was the eternally begotten Son of God.
4. It is said Christ is God's Son, and so called,
because of the pre-eminence and dignity of his per
son, or because of his great advancement and exalt
ation to the offices of king and priest : J Heb. i. 4 5
' Being made so much better than the angels, as he
1 Deus misit suum Filium, i.e., Christum ilium suum, cui
communis alioqui Filii Dei titulus, propter singularitatem et
eicellentiam, proprius est f actus.— Slichting in loc.

hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels said he
at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I be
gotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a Father,
and he shall be to me a Son.' Heb. v. 5, ' Christ
glorified not himself to be made an high priest ; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day
have I begotten thee.' Here, you see, Christ's Son-
ship comes in upon his exaltation with respect to
his person and office.
I answer, this proves as little as that which went
before ; for here also,
(1.) It is clear that Christ was the Son of God
before he was thus exalted.
(2.) His exaltation was not the ground, but the
result and consequent of his Sonship. He was not a
Son because he was exalted, but he was exalted be
cause he was a Son. First the apostle describes him
in what relates to the formality and essence of his
Sonship : Heb. i. 3, ' Who being the brightness of
his glory, and the express image of his person ; ' and
then he sets down the honour which the Father
put upon him, not to be a Son — for that he was
already — but because he was a Son ; for that is the
ground of the more excellent name given to him ;
and so the words in ver. 4, 5 come in.
(3.) It is strange that this day of Christ's beget
ting should be so multiphed. There is the day of
his nativity, and then it was ' to-day have I begotten
thee ;' there is the day of his resurrection : and then,
too, it was ' to-day have,' &c. ; there is the day of his
exaltation : and then again it was ' to-day have,' &c.
Had this text been cited forty times in forty several
cases, we must have had so many several grounds
and causes of Christ's Sonship.
But why then, some may say, is this place so often
repeated in the New Testament ?
I answer, not only because it is applied to the
several declarations of Christ's Sonship, but also
to shew that all which the Father did to and for
Christ was all to be resolved into his eternal Son-
ship as the ground thereof. He was raised again
because he was the Son of God, exalted to great
honour and dignity because he was the Son of God,
entrusted to be mediator because he was the Son of
God; all was grounded upon this his relation. And
therefore, whenever such great things are brought .:

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

211

in concerning Christ, this text is mentioned as point
ing to that Sonship which was the ground of them,
but not to assert that they were the ground of it.
(4.) Though the glory which the Father hath con
ferred upon Christ as king, prophet, and priest, be
very great, yet it wUl not reach that which is wrapped
up in his being the proper and only begotten Son
of God.1 Sonship and office are different things, and
the highest office can never come up to what is in
Sonship by eternal generation.
5. Fifthly, It is said that Christ is the Son of
God in respect of that special love and affection
which the Father bears to him : Mat. iii. 1 7, ' Lo, a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.' And whereas Christ
is called ' the only begotten Son of God,' they with
whom I have to do say there is no more in it than
only this, that Christ is the most beloved of God.
As Isaac is styled Abraham's only son, Gen. xxU. 2,
his only begotten son, Heb. xi. 17, now how is this
to be taken ? Had not Abraham an Ishmael as well
as an Isaac ? how is Isaac, then, called his only be
gotten son ? Why, only as he had a greater share
in his father's love than Ishmael had. For the same
reason Solomon calls himsetf an only son, Prov. iv. 3 ;
therefore the Septuagint render the word there used,
TrW, by rbv ayairriTw, the beloved; and so our trans
lators fill it up, ' and only beloved in the sight of my
mother.' So, say they, it is here as to Christ's being
the only begotten Son of God; God hath a special love
for him, and that is all.-
Ans. But we must not suffer this great title of our
Lord Jesus to be thus wrested out of our hands.
Without aU question God hath transcendent, super
lative love for Christ ; his ' dear Son ' he is called,
Col. i: 13 ; but yet we say,
(1.) As before, this love is not the cause of his Son-
ship, but his Sonship the cause of it. He is not a Son
because beloved, but he is beloved because a Son ;
therefore it cannot be the cause which is but the effect,
(2.) If this was the proper foundation of Christ's
Sonship, then there would be only a gradual differ
ence betwixt his Sonship and the sonship of be-
1 Christ not the Son of God because of his kingly dominion.
Vide Jacob, ad Portum contra Ostorod. Def. Fid. Ortbod. cap.
37, p. 512 ad 518. Not because of his pre-eminence, &c,
Epiph. adv. Heres. p. 740. M yap dvbpari p.bvov, &c.

lievers.1 For they being beloved of the Father as
well as he, and even as he is — for the nature and
quality of the love, though not for the degree of it :
John xvii. 23, &c, 'And hast loved them as thou
hast loved me' — I say it being so, if the love of the
Father to Christ was the proper ground of his Son-
ship, it would then follow that they are sons just as
Christ is, only in a lower degree. But surely the
Scripture holds forth more than a gradual differ
ence betwixt his Sonship and theirs ; that rb iiaipa-
goirteot wnpici, ' more excellent name,' which the
apostle speaks of, Heb. i. 4, carries more in it than
barely a higher degree of sonship ; it points even
to a different kind and order thereof.
(3.) As to the instances alleged for that use and
signification of the word which might undermine
that which we put upon it, it is answered that Isaac
is called the only son and the only begotte i of
Abraham, not only because of all the sons he bad
his greatest love, but there were other grornds and
reasons of it ; he was the only son by Sarah, the
only son by promise, and the only heir of the pro
mise, upon which accounts, as well as upon the
highest proportion of his father's love to him, he is
styled the only begotten son. The same, under
different circumstances, may be said concerning
Solomon. But suppose that this was the only
thing held forth in the unigeniture of these persons,
will it follow that therefore it is all in the uni
geniture of Christ too ? when there is so great a
disparity betwixt person and person, sonship and
sonship, as hath been already, and might yet further
be demonstrated if it was needful?
(4.) There is in Scripture another title given to
Christ, to which the Father's greater love towards
him than towards others doth more properly belong;
namely, his being the woutotoxoc, ' the first-born,' or
'the first-begotten:' Heb. i. 6, 'When he bringeth
in the first-begotten into the world,' &c. Col. i. 15,
' The image of the invisible God, the first-born of
every creature.' And elsewhere, upon some special
and particular considerations with respect to his re
surrection, he is called ' the first-born from the dead,'
Col. i. 18 ; 'the first-begotten from the dead,' Rev. i.
1 W piv ot>v vtos pivov iyKaXeirai lis Kal irdvres iKX-qB-qo-av
vioi Beov, apa oiSiv SiaXXdrrei twv &XX<ov, Kal irm iis Beos irpoa-
Kweirau— Epiph. adv. Heer., lib. i. cap. 2, p. 741.

212

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

Chap. XI.

5. But as the title in that reference is applied to
Christ, I am not now to meddle with it.
What doth his being the first-born or first-begotten
hold forth ?
Ans. Some expound it of his eternal generation
by the Father;1 some of the pre-eminence and dig
nity of his person, as also of the immunities and
privileges which belong to him above others. As
the first-born under the law had an excellency put
upon him from his primogeniture, to him the dominion
and authority over the famUy did belong, Gen.
xxvii. 29, and xlix. 8, as also the double portion in
the inheritance, Deut. xxi. 15-17, and he was the
most beloved ; in reference to which the people of
Israel are styled God's first-born : Exod. iv. 22,
'Israel is my son, even my first-born;' because of
that great glory which God put upon that people,
and that singular affection which he bore to them.
In all these respects Christ is God's first-born ; if
you understand it of his eternal generation, so it is
incommunicable to any other, so be is primogenitus
et unigenitus, first-begotten and only begotten too ;
but if you understand it of the excellency of his
person, and of the other particulars mentioned, so,
in such a degree, it is communicable to others. For
Israel you see in a subordinate and aUusive sense
was styled God's first-born; and all believers too
may be so styled in respect of the dignity of their
persons, and of God's special love towards them.
As Christ is the only begotten of the Father, that is
exclusive to all, as he is the first-begotten of the
Father, that signifies prelation but not exclusion.
Saints are excellent, though not so excellent as
Christ ; beloved, though not so beloved as Christ ;
heirs, though not such heirs as Christ. And there
fore, had Christ been called only the first-born, and
that too in its second import and significancy, some
thing then might have been inferred from it for the
nulling of that sonship which we plead for, as only
belonging to him ; but besides this he is also called
the only begotten, wherefore he must be alone in
this relation. And though the saints do in a lower
degree share with him Hi the Father's love as he is
the first-born, yet they do not at aU share with him
1 Quomodo primogenitus eBse potuit, nisi quia secundum
Divinitatem ante omnem creaturam ex Deo Patre Sermo pro-
cessit. — Terlull.

in the glory of his eternal generation as he is the only
begotten. 6. Sixthly, We are told that Christ is the Son ot
God in respect of adoption; that he is not the
natural or essential, only the adopted Son of God.
This our opposers are not afraid or ashamed to
assert. Oh how low wiU they bring the Sonship of
our blessed Lord and Saviour ! they wUl make him
anything rather than grant what indeed he is ; but
for answer. This is no novel opinion, or that which
was never broached in the church before ; it was the
old heresy of those two Spanish bishops, Felix and
Elipandus,1 condemned in a councU held at Frank
fort very near a thousand years ago ; 2 both fathers
and schoolmen, all but Durandus, argue much
against it.3
Take, in brief, these four arguments against it.
(1.) In all the Scriptures Christ is never styled
the adopted Son of God f nay, there is nothing there
to be found in the least to countenance the attribut
ing of such a sonship to him ; it is a mere forgery
of man, to evade and put off what the word expressly
asserts. We read much of God's adopting of saints,
but nothing at all of his adopting of Christ.
(2.) Then Christ and beUevers would have the
same sonship, they being sons by adoption as well
as he, and he having no higher foundation for his
Sonship than they.
(3.) Christ is the true and proper Son of God,
but should he be his Son by adoption he would then
cease to be his true and proper Son ; 5 for he that is
1 See Forbesii Instruct. Historico-Theolog., lib. vi. cap. 1.
2 Concil. Tom. xx. p. 82, &c, secundum Edit. Reg. Paris.
3 vtos tov Beov i<rrl tpiffei, Kal oi 8i<rei yiwijBets iK irarpos. —
Cyrill. Hierosol. Quod si etiam unigenitus Filius dicitur ex
gratia, non vere genitus ex natura, proculdubio nomen et
veritatem unigeniti perdidit, postquam fratres. habere jam
caepit. Privatur enim hujus veritate nominis, si in unigenito
non est de Patre Veritas naturalis. — Fulgent. Si quaeritur, an
Christus sit adoptivus Filius secundum quod homo, Bive alio
modo : Respondemus, Christum non esse adoptivum Filium
aliquo modo, sed tantum naturalem, quia natura Filius Dei
est, non adoptionis gratia. — Lombard. Vide alios e Scholas
tics in Hoorneb. Socin. Confut., torn. ii. cap. 1, de Christo^
p. 30, et e Patribus in Zanch. de Tribus Elohim, p. 249. i
4 Legi, et relegi Scripturae, Jesum Filium Dei adoptione^
nusquam inveni. — Amhros. ' *'
6 In materia et negotio filiationis, propriua et adoptivus
opponuntur ; ut proprius non sit adoptivus, et adoptivus non

Chap. XI]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

213

adopted is only a son in an improper and allusive
notion, and but in the esteem and repute of him
who doth adopt. Socinus himself so- describes such
an one : J An adopted son is one who is accounted a
son, but in truth and reality he is not so ; then ac
cording to his own explication of it, if Christ be an
adopted son, he is no true and proper son, but only
so as the Father doth so repute him. And is not
Christ now greatly beholden to these persons ? is he
not highly advanced by them ? do they not shew
great respect and give great honour to him, accord
ing to what they pretend, in making of him only a
putative Son? Adoption, indeed, is not so much
too high for us, but it is as much. too low for Christ.
(4.) If begotten, then not adopted, for these two
are incompatible or inconsistent : the same son can
not be begotten and adopted too, therefore adoption
comes in to supply the want of generation. Christ
must be the one or the other; and if he be the one, he
cannot be the other ; if begotten, then not adopted, and
if adopted, then not begotten. It is true, in the son-
ship of beUevers there is both ; they are sons by re
generation and adoption too ; but the reason of that
is because they are sons but in an improper and
metaphorical respect ; I mean in contradistinction to
Christ, who is the very true and natural Son of God.
7. Once more, they say Christ is God's own Son
because of his resemblance and likeness to him.
This comes exceeding short, for it is not likeness
but oneness, not resemblance but equality, upon
which Christ is called God's Son ; he himself draws
it up to that, as you have already heard. No like
ness here wUl suffice but essential likeness, answer
able to that, Gen. v. 3, ' Adam lived an hundred
and thirty years, and begat a son in his own like
ness, after his image.' Amongst us you know like
ness is not the foundation of sonship ; the son is a
son, not because he is Hke his father, but because he
is begotten by his father ; and so it is with respect
to Christ. There may be resemblance where yet
there is no filial relation : in the glorified state we
shaU be ' like the angels,' Luke xx. 36, yet I never
sit proprius ; sed adoptivus opponitur naturali, et proprio, et
naturalis non est adoptivus; adoptivis liberis opponuntur
naturales ac veri, dicunt jurisconsulti, — Hoprneb.
1 Adoptivus filius est„ qui pro filio quidem habetur, sed
tamen revera non est filius.

read of any paternal and filial relation betwixt them
and us. In time I fear, according to the old heresy
of some, it will come to Christ's being the Son of
man too but in likeness. He is the Son of man as
he hath the very nature and essence of man, and
why is he not the Son of God also, as he hath the
very nature and essence of God ?
Thus I have both laid down the truth, and also
made it good against opposers. And now the false
grounds and notions of Christ's Sonship being re
moved, the true ground and notion of it is more
evident, viz., that he is God's own Son as he partakes
of his essence, and was from everlasting begotten by
him. He that would read full and large discourses
upon this great subject, let him peruse the writings
of those worthy instruments whom God hath raised
up and enabled to assert and defend it.1 If any
think I have been too long, or have unnecessarily
troubled myself and the reader about it, I -must, for
several reasons, crave leave to differ from them.
We cannot say too much, or too often go over those
things in which the honour of God's own Son, our
Lord and master, and the good of souls, are so highly
concerned. Give the Socinians their due — it is but
a sad commendation — all along they make their
thrusts at the very heart of religion, they fight
against neither great or small, but only against the
great King of all the world, the very Son of God ;
whom they strike at in his deity, eternal Sonship,
incarnation, satisfaction, in what not ? Surely we
cannot too much endeavour to antidote men against
their desperate soul-destroying venom and poison,
especially in times wherein men seem more than ordi
narily to incline to close with their pestilent opinions ;
upon which considerations I would encourage myself
to hope, that such who are friends to Christ and souls
will put a candid interpretation upon what hath been
done. Yet as to the learned, tf any such shall cast
their eye upon these papers, I beg their pardon for the
'Bisterf. contra Crell., lib. i. sec. 2, cap. 31. Smiglet. de
Vero et naturali Dei Filio contra Smalcium. Jacob, ad Portum
adv. Ostorod. Def. Fid. Orthod. cap. 9. Arnold. Catech. Racov.
Maj. cap. 1, de Person. Christi. Idem against Biddle, cap. 7.
Calov. Socin. Proflig. De Filio Dei Controv., iv. Hoorneb.
Socin. confut., torn. ii. cap. 1, de Christo. Dr Owen against
Biddle, chap. vii. Estwick against Biddle, p. 110, &c. ; et 375
Cheyual Trin-unity, p. 100, &c. Alting. Theol. Elenptica, p,
149 ad 187.

214

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

repeating of things so well known and common to
them, and which they have elsewhere with great ad
vantage. I have only this to say for myself, my eye
hath been upon private Christians, to make things
plain to them, and to set that before them here which,
as written in other languages, they could not reach.
So much for these. But though I have been too
prolix already, I have not yet done : there are some
others, of a different, party and denomination, who
do, in part, concur and symbolise with the afore
named dissenters ; for though they hold that Christ
in a more special manner is the Son of God by
eternal generation, yet they also hold that he is the
Son of God too in respect of his conception, office,
resurrection, and exaltation. Arminius himself
pitches upon the first as the only ground of the
Sonship of Christ -,1 but his successors take in the
latter also : so the Remonstrants,? so Episcopius, a
person of great eminence.3 These tell us that God
is the proper Father of Christ, and he the proper
Son of God; but how? why, not only as he was
eternally begotten by him, but also as he was mira
culously conceived by the Virgin Mary, that agree
ing to none but only to him. And therefore in this
point, upon their blending of these things together,
they are judged by some to Socinianise.4
Now though this opinion doth come incomparably
short of that which absolutely denies Christ's eternal
generation, provided that the abettors of it who
seem to grant this generation do state it right, that
is, that they hold Christ to be begotten in the very
nature and essence of God and therein equal to him,
b/Movwg, of which there is just matter of doubting
as to the person named but now, he making the
Son in the deity itself not co-ordinate but sub
ordinate to the first person.5 I say, though this
opinion, thus stated, be nothing near so bad as the
former, yet divines of another persuasion cannot
close with it, or let it pass without some confutation.6
1 Vide Disput. publ. Thes. v.
2 Confess, cap. 3, sec. 2, p. 14 ; et Apolog. contra Censur
cap. 2, p. 48. '
3 Instit Theol., lib. iv. sec. 2, cap. 33.
4 See Peltius Harm. Remonstr. et Socin., Art. 4.
5 Instit. Theol., lib. iv. cap. 32.
"Censura Profess. Leid. in cap. 3, p. 51. Trigland in
Exam. Apolog., cap. 5. Alting. Theol. Elena, p. 151, &c. et p.
181, &c.

The arguments against it do very much fall
in with those which have been insisted upon
already. 1. First, If Christ be the Son of God as eternally
begotten with respect to his divine nature, and also
the Son of God as conceived in time, &c, with re
spect to his human nature, then the Scripture doth
groundlessly and needlessly distinguish betwixt his
being the Son of God in reference to the one, and his
being the Son of man in reference to the other
nature. Why doth it make him to be God's Son
' according to the Spirit of hohness,' i.e., his divine
nature, and the 'Son of David according to the flesh '
i.e., his human nature, Rom. i. 3, 4, if with respect to
both he be the Son of God ? This is to confound
those things which the Scripture makes distinct, and
places under several references. Christ's Sonships,
as the Son of God and as the Son of man, are two
very different things, and therefore they cannot have
the same foundation. It is true, he who is the Son
of man is also the Son of God ; but as he is the Son
of man, or in what is proper to him as the Son of
man, so he is not the Son of God. And it is true
these two in concreto may convertibly be predicated
each of the other, thus, the Son of God is the Son
of man, and the Son of man is the Son of God ; but
this is founded not upon the oneness of the founda
tion ofthe relation, nor upon the oneness of the two
natures ; but upon the communication of properties,
and the union of the two natures in one person.1
It comes to this, where the relations are distinct the
grounds of these relations must be distinct; and
therefore Christ's Sonship, as the Son of God and as
the Son of man, being distinct, there cannot be one
and the same ground of them.
2. If this was so, that Christ was the Son of God
conjunctly upon his eternal generation, and also
upon his conception and advancement in time, then
he would strangely differ in the same relation. I do
not contradict myself in what I said but now under
the former head ; for there I spake of both the Son-
ships of Christ, which differ very much, and must not
1 Inficiamur Christum esse fiXbv avBpairov diroBeoBevra, &c,
quamvis propter naturam humanam personae divinse hype- sj
statice unitam, dicamus etiam in concreto, hunc hominem
Jesum Deum ac Filium Dei unigenitum esse, per communicar
tionem idiomatum, kc—Cloppenb. Comp. Socim., p. 38.

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

215

be confounded, but here I speak only of his single
Sonship as he is the Son of God, which is but one,
and must not be divided. Observe me, as the
difference of the Sonships of Christ, as the Son of
God and as the Son of Mary, depends upon the
difference of their grounds ; eternal generation being
the ground of the one, and temporal generation
being the ground of the other; so the oneness of
the same single Sonship of Christ, as the Son of
God, depends upon the oneness of the_ground of it,
viz., his generation by the Father : for if you add
any other ground to this, then Christ ceases to be
one Son, then he is the Son of God partly by nature
and partly by grace; partly begotten and partly
made ; partly from eternity and partly in time :
what a strange Son would Christ be upon these
terms !
3. There can be but one true and proper cause of
one and the same filiation ; this hath been already
proved. Divines are so tender of multiplying this
relation of Christ, that several of them, though they
grant the distinction of his natures, and hold his
twofold generation, yet they argue but for one son-
ship to belong to him ; for, say they, sonship be
longing to the person, and being founded upon the
person, Christ being but one person, therefore he
can have but one sonship ; so Aquinas argues.1 I
concur with others who attribute a twofold sonship
tp Christ ; 2 but then I affirm that each of them have
but that one single cause or foundation which is
respectively proper to them ; it is only eternal gener
ation of the Father which makes Christ to be the
Son of God, and it is only temporal generation
of the Virgin which makes him to be the Son of
man. 4. We say oppositorum opposita ratio, if Christ be
the Son of man only because he was conceived of the
substance of his mother, then he is the Son of God
only upon the account of his being begotten of
the substance of his Father, as a worthy author
argues.3 5. Whatever is over and above eternal generation
is but manifestative and not constitutive of Christ's
1 3 p. quest. 35, art. 5 in Corpore Art.
2 See Durandus, Rada, kc, Junius, Martinius, Amesius in
Hoorneb., Socin. Conf., torn. ii. -de Christo, cap. 1, p. 30-32.
3 Dr Owen ag. Biddle, p. 179.

sonship. This hath been made out in the several
particulars alleged, therefore it will be needless to
add anything further upon it.
I have shewn wherein and how Christ is the Son
of God, his own proper Son. I wtfl but propound
one question, and very briefly answer it, and then I
shall have finished the explicatory part ; it is this,
If Christ be God's Son because in his ineffable gene
ration the divine essence was- communicated to him,
why may not the Holy Ghost, the third person, also
be styled the Son of God, to whom the same essence
was communicated as well as unto Christ ?
I answer no, for two reasons :
(1.) Because it is the same essence in both, yet
not the same person. When we speak of the com
municating of the divine essence from the first to
the second and third persons, we must be under-
' stood, as was before hinted, to speak this of them
as persons, or as they are personally considered j for
that essence, simply and absolutely considered, is
not communicated to the Son and Spirit, but only
as it subsists in them as such persons ; the Godhead
itself they have in and from themselves, but their
distinct personalities, in which the Godhead subsists,
are of the Father. It being thus, from hence it fol
lows that, according to the distinction of the persons
there must also be a distinct communication of the
divine essence ; not that there is one- essence in the
Son and another in the Spirit, for both are God ;
only that is distinguished according to their perso
nal consideration and the personal properties be
longing to them, which, notwithstanding their one
ness in nature, do always remain. Well, then,
Christ's Sonship being a personal thing, proceeding
not simply from the divine essence, but as it subsists
in the second person, therefore it must be proper
and peculiar to him, and not common to the Holy
Ghost, he being another person, and the divine
nature subsisting in him accordingly, with respect
to his personal properties.
(2.) Because though the same divine essence be
communicated to both, yet not in the same way and
manner. For though both come from the Father,
yet it is in divers respects, the Son coming from him
by generation, the Spirit by procession. And there
fore, though both are God, and both come from God,
yet both are not the sons of God, because it is com-

216

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XI.

ing from God in the way of generation only which
entitles to sonship. Thus Augustine answers it :
Thou askest of me, saith he, if the Son be of the
substance of the Father, and the Holy Ghost be of
the substance of the Father also, why is one the
Son and not the other? I answer, whether you
comprehend it or not, the Son is of the Father, the
Holy Ghost is of the Father, but the Son is be
gotten, the Spirit proceeds.1 Thus this great divine
did solve this difficulty, stopping here and going no
further. If any "will be so curious as to inquire
further wherein the difference lies betwixt eternal
generation and eternal procession, I am not
ashamed to give them this answer ; I cannot tell, it
is a mystery far above my reach ; God hath not re
vealed it, and there is nothing in nature which will
give us any light about it, therefore it becomes us
rather to adore than to be inquisitive. I know the
schoolmen, who are privy to all secrets, and have a
key to open every difficulty, though it be locked up
never so close, attempt the opening of it, but they
had better have let it alone ; here humble ignorance
is better than saucy curiosity. I think they speak
best who say, we know and believe there is a differ
ence betwixt generation and procession, but what
that is, and wherein it lies, that is to us incomprehen
sible.2 It is time therefore for me to leave this point,
and to come to the application of the main truth.
Use. 1. Is Christ thus God's own Son 1 I infer then
That he is God. Not a mere titular or nuncu
pative god; not a god by office only; not a made
god, a contradiction in the adject; but he is God
truly, properly, essentially— which great truth is
most strongly asserted and proved by various con
vincing arguments against Jews, Arians, Socinians,
aU the opposers of it. « I must not engage in so vast
a subject, I will only argue from this relation where
in Christ stands to God as he is his own Son, which
indeed by itself is sufficient, if there was nothing
more, to demonstrate his Godhead. He who is the
1 Quaeris a me si de substantia Patris est Filius, de subtaritia
Patris est etiam Spiritus Sanctus, cur unus Filius sit, et alius
non sit Filius ? Ego respondeo, sive capias sive non capias, de
Patre est Filius, de Patre est Spiritus Sanctus, sed ille genitus
est, iste procedens.— August contra Maxim., lib. iii. cap. 14.
2 rb bvri hujus differentiae scifi et credi ex divina revela-
tione. At rb Scbri est nobis incomprehensibile et ineffabile.—
Alting. Theolog. Prolem., loc. 3, problem 38, p. 238.

true Son of God, and such a Son of God, is truly
God ; but Christ is the true Son of God, and such a
Son of God, (his own Son,) therefore he is truly God,
&c. The apostle joins the' true Son and the kue God
together, therefore the argument is good : 1 John v.
20, ' We know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding that we may know
him that is true ; and we are in him that is true,
even in his Son Jesus Christ : this is the true God,
and eternal life.' I do not say that every son of
God is God, for the saints are sons, and yet not God •
but I say he who is such a Son as God's own pro
per, natural, consubstantial, co-essential, only begot
ten Son, he is God : wherever this sonship is, there
is the deity or the divine essence. Now Christ is
thus God's Son, therefore he is God. What the
Father is as to his nature, that the Son must be
also ; now the first person, the- Father of Christ, is-
God, whereupon he too, who is the Son, must be
God also. A son always participates of his father's
essence ; there is betwixt them evermore an identity
and oneness of nature. If, therefore, Christ be God's
Son, as hath been fully proved, he must then needs
have that very nature and essence which God the
Father hath, insomuch that tf the second person be
not really a god, the first person is but equivocally
a father.1 Therefore he himself tells us, John x. 30,
' I and my Father are one : ' where he is speaking
of a far higher oneness than that of consent or will
only. Christ being both the natural Son of God,
and also his Son by eternal generation, that makes
the one thing unquestionable ; for what is that gene
ration but the Father's communicating of his own
nature and essence to him ? This is that which is
done in aU generations, for generation is always the
production of another in the same nature.2 Like
1 Nisi esset Jesus Christus (pio-ei Bebs, natura Deus, non esset
0iV« vlbs Beov natura seu naturalis Dei Filius.— Cloppeiib. Anti
Smalc, cap. 3, p. 72. Vide Jacob ad Portum contra Ostorod,
cap. 9, p. 59. EstWick against Biddle, p. 442, &c.
2 Uav rt yevvuv, tlpwibv tI yew-faa. AvBpwiros HvBpufrov
yevva, Kal Bebs 8e6v. otos o yevvusv avBponms, roioOros /col J
if' airov yevviip.evos, kc—Epiph. Hceres.,69, p. 750. Koa*
iirdpxei irdat. Kal airoSlSaKTOv bp,oXbyqp.a, & itiras vlds njs
airrjs i<m tw yeyevvnKbn oiolas Kal <pi<rews, (bairep b rbv iraripa
8-qpiovpyi.Kijs oi<rlas Kal d'CSlov ipioew, etSm, rijs airris elm Kill
rbv vlbv ovvavapjtXoyqo-eiev.—Phot. Ep., p. 4. Afinj <picis-
yew-qropds Kal yevv-qparos, ka.—Nazioynz., Orat. 35, torn. i. p. 568.

Chap. XL]

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217

ever begets like, as it is said of Adam ; he begat a
son in his own likeness, after his image, Gen. v. 3.
And must it not be so here in the Father's begetting
of Christ? If man begets man, then God begets
God; this being taken in that sense which I laid
down in my first entrance upon this subject. I
know this will not hold as to all modes and circum
stances, (with respect to which I grant there is a
great disparity,) but as to the conveyance of the
same nature and essence, so far it will hold. The
Jews, therefore, John v. 18, argued very well ; if
God was Christ's Father, and he God's Son, then he
was equal with God, for such an equality must natu
rally and necessarUy result from such a relation :
John x. 36, ' Say ye of him, whom the Father hath
sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest ;
because I said, I am the Son of God ? ' Why doth he
say because I said I am the Son of God ? He should
have said because I said I am God, for that was the
blasphemy charged upon him : ver. 33, ' Because
that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.' But
the answer is obvious, Christ knew that these were
equipoUent terms ; to be God, and to be the Son of
God, axe all one ; tf Christ be the one, he must be the
other too. You find Nathanael breaking forth into
this witness concerning him : John i. 49, ' Thou art
the Son of God/ &c. His meaning was ' thou art
God ; ' for that which drew this confession from him
was that which was proper to him as God, namely,
his omnisciency : see John i. 48. God and the Son
of God axe so much one, that he who speaks Christ
to be the Son of God speaks him to be God also.
As soon as the apostle had set down Christ's Son-
ship, Heb. i. 5, presently he faUs upon those testi
monies which relate to his Godhead : verses 6, 8,
10-12, 'When he bringeth in the first-begotten
into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of
God worship him. Unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of
the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy
hands. They shaU perish, but thou remainest ; and
they aU shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a
vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be
changed; but thou art the same, and thy years
shaU not faU.' You see how Christ's Sonship is

linked with the Godhead, therefore the argument
is good to prove the latter by the former. And
indeed, as his being the Son of man doth most evi
dently evince him to be truly man, so his being the
Son of God doth as evidently evince him to be truly
God. 2. Is Christ God's own Son ? I infer, surely then
he is a very great and glorious person : such a rela
tion cannot but be the foundation of great glory.;
Though Christ's dignity and pre-eminence is not
the ground of his Sonship, yet his Sonship is the
ground of his dignity and pre-eminence. He is
styled 'a. great high priest,-' ..Heb. iv. 14, not only
because of the greatness of his sacerdotal office, but
also because of the greatness of his person who doth
manage that office, he being God's own Son ; there
fore it follows, 'seeing we have a high priest, &c,
Jesus the Son of God.' It is no smaU honour
amongst us to be the son of some great man ; oh
what an honour is it to Christ to be the own and
only Son of the great God ! It puts a marvellous
glory and greatness upon the saints, that they are
the adopted sons of God, upon the angels that they
are the created sons of God ; but what is this to
Christ being the natural, only-begotten Son of God?
Herein and hereby ' he hath obtained a more excel
lent name' than either angels or men, Heb. i. 4;
for ' in all things (or amongst all persons) he must
have the pre-eminence,' Col. i. 18. The higher and
nearer the relation is to God, the higher and greater
is the glory which accrues to a person standing in
that relation. Now what relation to God can be
higher and nearer than this of Christ, as he is his
own Son ? Therefore his glory must needs be ex
ceeding great. Oh let not any entertain low thoughts
of him who is thus the Son of God ! The Lord
Jesus is the Father's best Son for gifts, grace, holi
ness, &c, and he is the Father's greatest Son for
dignity, glory, and majesty. I say he is the Father's
best Son : how short do all sons come of this Son !
We read of one who feared he might seem to adopt
better sons than those whom he begat.1 There is
no such thing to be imagined with respect to God ;
to be sure, his only-begotten Son shall infinitely
exceed all his adopted sons, for ' God hath anointed
1 Micipsa in Salust. — Ne ego mdiores liberos sumpsisse videor
quam genuisse.

218

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[Chap. XI.

him with the oil of gladness above his feUows,' Ps.
xiv. 7. And he is the greatest Son too, for God
' hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come,' Eph. i. 20, 21. True, indeed, this great Son
for a time emptied himself of his glory, Phil. H. 7,
and for our sake submitted to great abasement ; but
yet even then in himself he was very high and glo
rious. • He who clothed himself with our rags, put
on our flesh, condescended to lie in the manger, to
die upon the cross, he even under aU this was the
proper Son of God, and therefore fuU of glory. And
it is very notable to consider how in Christ, even
when he was under his lowest abasement, when this
Sun was hid under the thickest cloud, I say how
even then there were some beamings out and break
ings forth of his glory suitable to this his relation.1
He is laid in the manger, but there the wise men
come and worship him ; he is tempted by Satan, but
then the angels minister unto him ; he is crucified,
but then the veil of the temple was rent, the earth
quaked, the rocks were rent, the graves opened, the
sun stepped in and hid itself, as being ashamed to
be seen in its glory when the far brighter Sun was
under such an eclipse ; upon all which the centurion
might well cry out, ' Truly this was the Son of God.'
But what a person is Christ now, when the time
of his humihation is over, and when he appears in
all things like himself, as the Son of God in his
greatest glory !
3. Thirdly, Was Christ God's own Son? I infer,
certainly then the work of redemption was a very
great work ; for God sent his own Son about it, and
therefore surely it was .no ordinary or common thing.
Always the greater the person is who is employed in
the work, the greater is that work ; it is thus from
the wisdom of a man, much more shall it be thus
from the wisdom of a God. Kings do not use to
1 Infantia parvuli ostenditur humilitate cunarum, magni-
tudo altissimi declaratur vocibus angelorum ; similis est rudi-
mentis hominum quern Herodes impius molitur occidere, sed
Dominus est omnium quern magi gaudentes veniunt suppliciter
adorare.— Leo Magn. Ep. ad Flavian, Ep. Const. Nazianzen.
Orat. 35, torn. i. p. 375, instances in several particulars about
this, and very elegantly enlarges upon them.

send, their sons upon mean and petty services, but
only upon such as are high and weighty ; and can it
be imagined that ever God would have sent his own
Son into the world to redeem sinners, tf this had not
been a work very high and great in his eye ? Indeed
this makes redemption to be the greatest work that
ever was done by God himself. The making of the
world was a great thing, but God never sent his Son
about that ; that was despatched by a word ; he did
but speak the word and it was done. Works of
providence are very great, but there is no sending
of a Son about them ; but when redemption work
was to come upon the stage, in order to that Christ
God's own Son, must come from heaven, and be in
carnate, and do, and die, and aU was necessary for
the accomphshing of that. Oh how great a work
was this ! So much for the first use by way of, infer
ence. Use 2. Secondly, Was Christ God's own Son?
Let me from hence urge a few things upon you.
1. Study Christ much in this relation, that you
may know him as the proper, natural, essential Son of
God. The knowledge of Christ, in whatever notion
you consider him, is very precious ; it was so to, Paul,
who determined not to know anything save Jesus
Christ,' &c, 1 Cor. ii. 2, and who ' counted all things
but loss for the exceUency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus,' Phil. iii. 8 ; but to know him as he stands
in this near relation to God, as God's own Son, oh
this is precious knowledge indeed ! Now, shs, you
have heard much of him, read much of him, but do
you know him, and know him as the eternal, only-
begotten Son of God ? This is that truth upon
which all religion depends ; in which you have the
very heart and sptfit of the gospel ; upon which the
whole stress of your happiness is laid ; it is one of
the most fundamental articles of the Christian faith ;
and yet will you be ignorant of it ? You aU have
some general knowledge of it, and you aU profess to
believe it, it is a part of your creed ; but do you dis
tinctly and clearly know, always allowing for the
mysteriousness of the object and the dimness of your
faculties, how Christ is the Son of God ? how his
Sonship was brought about, and wherein it lies? that
he is God's natural Son, begotten by him from all ¦
eternity in a most mysterious and admirable manner;
do you understand anything about this ? Some tell

Chap. XL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

219

us that the knowledge and belief of Christ's Sonship,
according to the particulars wherein it hath been
opened, is not necessary to salvation.1 I wiU not en
gage in this controversy, wherein some do as much
affirm as others deny ; but this I say, it being so
momentous a truth in itself, .and the Scriptures
speaking so much of it, and giving so much light
about it, it is of great concern to all who live under
gospel-revelation to endeavour to know as much of it
as the height of the thing and the lowness of their
capacities wUl admit of.
And because I would hope that there are some
here whose thoughts are taken up about it, and who
desire to arrive at a fuller knowledge of it, therefore
to such I would commend three things by way of
direction. (1.) In aU your inquiries and searchings into
Christ's Sonship, especiaUy into the ground and mode
of it, viz., eternal generation, be sure you keep within
the bounds of sobriety. I mean this, take heed that
in this deep mystery you ' be not wise above what is
written,' 1 Cor. iv. 6 ; that you do not therein con
sult your own purblind and carnal reason, but Scrip
ture revelation altogether. Pray study it, but in so
doing do not pry too far into those secrets which
God hath locked up from you ; 2 content yourselves
1 Cognoscere quando Filius Dei primum extiterit, et utrum
ex ipsius Patris essentia necne genitus fuerit, non est neces-
sarium creditu ad salutem. — Socin. Solut. ScrupvJ. resp. ad
scrup., 1. So Episcopius Inst. Theol., lib. iv. cap. 34, per totum.
2 Quaero abs te quando vel quomodo Filium putas esse gen-
eratum ? mihi enim impossibile est generationis scire secretum,
mens deficit, vox silet, non mea tantum sed et angelorum ;
supra potestates, et supra angelos, et supra cherubim, et supra
Beraphin, et supra omnem sensum est, &c. Tu ergo ori nianum
admove, scrutari non licet superna mysteria. Licet scire quod
natus sit, non licet discutere quomodo natus sit. Illud mihi
negare, non hoc quaerere metus est. Iheffabilis enim est ilia
generatio. — Ambros. de Fide, cap. 5. Si Christus dixit se
nescire de die ilia et hora, sed solum Patrem, quanto minus
possumus nos scire quomodo genitus sit Filius ex Patre? Non
debere igitur nos erubescere fateri, neminem hunc modum
nosse, sed solum ilium qui genuit, et eum qui genitus est. —
Iren., lib. ii. cap. 48. Quomodo Deus Pater genuerit Filium,
nolo discutias, nee te curiosiusinferas in profundi hujus ar
canum . — Cyprian, in Symbol. 'Atp' iavrov iyevvr\ae rbv povoyevrj
d/5/5i5™s Kal dKaraXi)irTii>s. — Epiph. adv. Hmres., lib. ii. torn. ii.
p. 739. The mystery of mysteries, which corrupt and wanton
reason derides, but prudent faith admires and adores. — (
Trin-unity, p. 190.

with what he hath revealed in his word, and stay
there. It is both sinful and also dangerous for poor shal
low creatures to venture too far into these depths,
where, if they once lose their bottom, the written
word, they drown themselves presently ; there is no
clue but that to guide us in this labyrinth. That
Christ is the Son of God is very clear; that he is the
Son of God by eternal generation is very clear ; but
wUl you be inquisitive further to know what this
generation is ? What can your reason, the Scripture
being silent about it, say of that ? Oh go not too far
there! Human reason, considered as merely natural,
is a very incompetent judge of this divine and sub
lime mystery ; a mystery to be adored by faith, not
to be comprehended by reason. Isa. liii. 8, ' Who
shall declare his generation ? ' I may make use of
this text, though possibly the generation mentioned
in it be not that which I am treating of; for I much
incline to think that it here notes that numerous
issue and seed that Christ should have upon the
preaching of the gospel, rather than his being eter
nally begotten by the Father. Yet it is very well
known that several of the fathers take it in the lat
ter sense, they making this to be the meaning of the
words : Who can be able to understand in himself,
or to declare to others, the hidden, ineffable, incom
prehensible generation of the Son of God ? Surely
none can. Without controversy this, as well as
Christ's incarnation, is a great mystery, 1 Tim. Hi. 1 6.
Nicodemus was a knowing man, yet strangely puzzled
at the regeneration of beUevers : John iii. 4, ' How
can a man be born when he is old ? can he enter the
second time into his mother's womb, and be born ? '
Certainly the eternal generation of God's own Son
is a thing much more abstruse and unsearchable. And
there are riddles in natural generation which we can
not resolve : Eccles. xi. 5, ' As thou knowest not
the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow
in her that is with chUd.' Now, are we so much
at a loss and nonplus there, how much more shaU
we be at a loss when the far more unconceivable gen
eration of Christ is before us I1 Oh, therefore, I ad
vise you to be very humble and sober in all your
disquisitions about that ! There are two things in
reason which you must always oppose and beat down,
1 Vide Nazianz. Orat. 35, torn. i. pp. 566, 567.

220

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[Chap. XI.

viz., the curiosity of it — for it loves dearly to be
prying into God's ark, into things which he sees good
to lock up from the creature — and the pride of it —
for it also loves to sit upon the bench as judge of the
matters of faith, to be giving out its decrees and
edicts as to believing or not believing — now do not
you give way to it in either of these respects ; in
your most earnest desires after knowledge stUl keep
within the compass of what the word reveals, and
let the word alone command and order your faith ;
and especiaUy in such profound mysteries as that
which I am upon, see that these things be done by
you. When I consider the several nice and curious
questions which some have raised and discussed about
the generation of the Son of God, I cannot but
stand and wonder at the pride and sauciness of the
wit of man; and so far I do concur with that learned
person1 in his severe censure upon these men. What
is more than the thing itself, the Father's communi
cating of his own nature and essence to Christ, we
must humbly submit to be ignorant of; by soaring
too high we shaU but scorch and hurt ourselves.
(2.) In your eyeing of God the Father's active gen
eration of Christ, take heed of all gross conceptions
about it, so as not in the least to measure it by, or
to parallel it with, any physical or carnal generation.
Our apprehensions must be rightly informed about
this, otherwise what absurd and wretched notions
shall we run ourselves upon ! So far as there is that
in common generations which speaks goodness and
perfection, so far you make use of them to help you
in your conceiving of the divine generation of the
Son of God ; but there being much in them which
speaks defect and imperfection, aU that you must
prescind, and cut off, and lay aside, when you are
thinking of that generation which is the ground of
Christ's Sonship. As, for instance, for like to beget
Hke, for one thing to convey its nature and substance
to another, this is good in physical generations, and
so far they may be improved to shadow out unto us
the mystery of God's eternal generation. But now
dAtlt™- T"' qUaDd° * ^o^™*1 queues
de his rebus incido, qu.n in totidem salebras, labyrinthos
X Ve^a'' r^ ^ ^ ^™'^- Voider
mihi vdear. Quanto satius tutiusque est intra Scripture
-S 2 2?? * sapere noue ** * ™££
°j>mop. unit. Pkeol., hb. iv. cap. 33, sect. 2.

there being sundry other respects which carry imper
fection in them, these you must be sure to keep out
of your thoughts, and by no means to conceive by
them of that which I am upon. As in our know
ledge and conceptions of God by the creatures we
pick out of them what is good and perfect, and lay
aside what is evU and imperfect, and so by them we
ascend to know and conceive of God ; so we must
do in natural and physical generations, with respect
to God the Father's supernatural and hyperphysical
generation of Christ.
To shew the difference betwixt these two, let me
particularise, in a few things, without much enlarg
ing upon them.1 Natural 'generation, upon the fail
ing of individuals, is necessary for the preservation
of the species ; in God the Father's begetting of
Christ it was quite otherwise. In natural generation
there is multiplication ; there, though the thing be
getting and the thing begotten have the same nature
and essence, yet numerically they are not the same;
but in the Father's begetting of Christ these, as the
learned prove, are perfectly one and the same ; they
have not only the same specifical, but the same
numerical essence. Here, as the divine essence was
not divided, so neither was it multiphed ; for it is
as incapable of multiplication as of division. Na
tural generation in the creature is a transient act,
that in God was an immanent act. In natural gen
eration the thing begetting precedes the thing begot
ten, and begets that which is after it in time; in God
the Father's generation of Christ it was not so, both
Father and Son being co-eternal. In natural gene
ration there must be such a time before things arrive
at their prolific virtue; far be it from us to entertain
such a thought as to the Father's generation of Christ.
So that you see there is a vast disparity betwixt these
two, and therefore you must in your apprehensions
reverently distinguish betwixt them, and not in com
mon judge of the one by the other. God forbid that
you should so sadly mistake ! Though the Father's
communicating of the divine essence to the Son was
a true and proper generation, so far agreeing with
generations amongst us, yet, hi other respects it was
quite of another nature ; and so you are to conceive
* Of this see Zanch. de tribus Elohim, lib. v. cap. 8, p. 254;
Altmg. Theol. Elenct., pp. 170, 171 ; Estwick against Biddle, I
p. 443 ; Dr Pearson on the Creed, p. 275, kc

Chap. XLI

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

221

of it, otherwise you will entertain very gross and
unworthy thoughts of God.
(3.) Join study and prayer together. Would you
know Christ as the eternal Son of God ? especially,
would you go beyond a literal, speculative, notional
knowledge of him as such, so as to know both him
and his Sonship practically and savingly ? Oh then
be much in prayer ! Bead and pray, hear and pray,
meditate and pray, study and pray. He studies this
mystery, and aU others, best, who studies it most
upon his knees. This special and supernatural Son-
ship of Christ is not savingly to be known without
special and supernatural illumination from Christ
through the Spirit. It is observable that in Mat.
xvi. 17, when Peter had made that good confession,
' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,' see
what Christ resolved tf into : ' Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not re
vealed it. unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven.' You know that passage, Mat. xi. 27, ' All
things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no
man knoweth the Son,' or makes others to know
him, ' but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the
Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
wUl reveal him.' These two p<3rsons do make known
each the other ; the Father reveals the Son, and the
Son reveals the Father. The Son is a fit person to
reveal the Father, for he is his only-begotten Son,
and Hes in his bosom; therefore he saith, John i. 18,
No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-be
gotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him.' And the Father is also a fit per
son to reveal the Son ; for he having begotten him,
and having had him with himself from everlasting,
he knows him exactly. Oh, therefore, go to him
by prayer, and beseech him to reveal his Son to you !
It is a great thing to know Christ in this relation —
so great that there must be a heavenly Hght, a
spiritual understanding given to a man before he
can come up to it. Mark that of the apostle, 1 John
v. 20, ' And hath given us understanding that we
may know him that is true.' He speaks of the
knowing of Christ as the true Son of God. It is as
if the apostle had said, If God had not iUuminated
our understandings, and irradiated them with a
divine light, we had never known Christ savingly in
this notion. He who begat the Son of himself from all

eternity, to him it appertains by his Spirit in time
savingly to reveal this Son to the creature; and there
fore your work lies with him in prayer to beg of him
this revelation of his Son. So much for the first thing.
2. A second branch of the exhortation shall be
this : Is Christ God's own Son ? Then do you be
lieve him to be such, and believe on him as such ?
The first we call dogmatical, the second justifying
and saving faith ; the first is assent to the proposi
tion that Christ is God's own Son, the second is
rehance upon the person who is, and as he is, God's
own Son. The first is more general and common ;
for all who bear the name of Christians, in some
sense or other, come up to it ; yet notwithstanding
there is much worth and excellency in it, though
not so much as in the latter ; and that is absolutely
necessary in order to the second ; for how can he
beHeve on Christ as the Son of God, who doth not
first dogmatically believe him to be the Son, and
such a Son, of God? And this general faith too,
as well as that which is more special, admits of
degrees; for though all Christians believe it, yet
some are more confirmed, rooted, stablished in the
belief of it than others are. Now, therefore, this is that
which I would press upon you, to labour after a more
steady, unshaken, fixed beHeving of this great foun
dation truth. I hope you do believe it ; but do you
believe it in such a degree ? doth not your faith
sometimes waver about it ? is not your assent weak
and languid, attended with doubtings and question
ings? are you rooted and stablished in the faith,
Col. H. 7, as of other things, so in special of this
great article of the Christian religion? Are you
come up ' unto all riches of the fuU assurance of
understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mys
tery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,' as
the apostle speaks ? Col. ii. 2. I could most heartUy
wish that it was thus with you, and with all who
do profess that they beUeve Christ to be the Son of
God ; but I fear it is not so. Now, my brethren, that
I may the better excite you to labour after a full and
firm assent hereunto, consider that one special reason
or end why a great part of the New Testament was
written was this, that you might believe and be con
firmed in your belief of this very thing : John xx. 31,
' But these are written that ye might beheve that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believ-

222

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[Chap. XI.

ing ye might have life through his name.' You may
observe, concerning this evangelist St John, as of all
the other evangelists he was most inspired in the
revealing of Christ's divine Sonship, so he was also
most inspired in the pressing of men to believe it, and
in the setting out ofthe weightiness ofthe belief of it :
1 John ii. 23, ' Whosoever denieth the Son, the same
hath not the Father : but he that acknowledgeth the
Son, hath the Father also.' 1 John iv. 15, 'Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dweUeth
in him, and he in God.' 1 John v. 5, ' Who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God?' What a mighty stress did this
great apostle lay upon it ! Oh how doth it concern
all, upon the considerations laid down by him, to Hve
under a steady beUef of Christ's being the Son of God !
Indeed this is the foundation truth ; Christ himself is
the personal foundation, and this truth, not exclu
sively, but eminently, is the doctrinal foundation, to
both of which that famous and so much controverted
text is applicable, Mat. xvi. 18, ' I say also unto thee,
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I wUl buUd
my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.' Upon this rock ? What rock doth Christ
mean ? Was it Peter, personaUy considered ? or was
it Peter and his successors? as some would have
it, they meaning by these successors the popes of
Borne, whom I trust I shall never close with in this
interpretation so long as it is this rock, and not this
sand. Undoubtedly, let but persons be unbiassed,
and not wedded to parties and opinions calculated
for worldly designs and interests, nothing is more clear
than that by this rock we are to understand either
the person of. Christ, or that doctrinal proposition
which Peter had laid down concerning him, ver. 16
' Thou art Christ the Son of the living God;' after
which it immediately follows, ' upon this rock I will
build my church;' or else we may put them together
and take in both. Upon this person and this faith
the church of God is built, and therefore it shall
stand fast for ever ; so that, according to this expo
sition, which is with great strength defended by our
protestant divines, this Sonship of Christ is the
foundation truth. And therefore no wonder that
in aU ages the zeal of the church hath been so much
engaged therein ; for it is very well known that in
its drawing up of creeds and summaries of faith, this

one article, viz., Christ's being the co-essential, co-
eternal, only-begotten Son of God, hath ever been
put in — witness the Nicene, Constantinopolitan
Athanasian creeds — because this was judged a thing
most necessary to be believed. And indeed there is
not any one branch of the Christian faith which the
church hath gained more out of the fire, after much
trouble and opposition, than this one. Nay, this
was that very truth for the owning and asserting of
which above any other our blessed Lord lost his
Hfe, as you may plainly see by the evangehcal history,
John xix. 7 ; Mark xiv. 61, &c. And I deshe that
it may yet further be .considered, that as God him
setf began and ended with the witness and declara
tion of Christ's Sonship ; — for as soon as he entered
upon his public ministry the Father set him out
with this witness, ' This is my beloved Son,' &c,
Mat. iii. 17; and when he had well-nigh finished
his work, and was going off the stage, then the
Father renewed his witness again, ' This is my be
loved Son,' &c, Mat. xvii. 5 ; — so the devil, too, he
began and ended with the Sonship of Christ; for
presently after the Father's testimony thereof he
took him aside to tempt him, and when he had him
alone, and began the duel with him, how did he
assault him ! Why, ' If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread,' Mat.
iv. 3. He comes over it again, ' If thou be the Son
of God, cast thyself down,' &c, ver. 6. If thou, be
the Son of God ? Why did Satan harp so much
upon this ? what might his design be in laying his
temptation thus ? I answer, it must be for one or
for all of these reasons ; either that he might, by the
observing of Christ's behaviour in the contest, more
fully inform himself whether Christ was indeed the
Son of God, which was the thing he was deadly
afraid of, knowing that such a person would be the
ruin of his kingdom ; or that he might see whether
he could make Christ to doubt of his Sonship, after
and notwithstanding the plain testimony of his
Father ; or that he might go as far as ever he could
to draw him to the doing of what was evil, and so,
tf such a thing had been possible, null this his near
relation to God. Surely there was some special
cause why Satan picked out this, and so much in
sisted upon it. Well ! here he began ; these were
the very first words which this cursed spirit uttered

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223

when he dared to assault our Saviour, wherein he
plainly struck at his Sonship itself, though cunningly
he made his temptations to point to some wicked
inferences which he would have had drawn from
Christ's relation, rather than directly to the truth
of the relation itself. And as he began with this, so
he ended with this ; for it was he — which speaks a
prodigious infatuation in him, that he should be so
forward in the promoting of that which certainly
would end Hi his ruin — who stirred up PUate, the
high priest, the body of the Jews, against Christ,
and they through his instigation feU upon Christ
and took away his life; for what? for this very
cause, because ' he made himself to be,' as indeed he
was, ' the Son of God.' By all this you see of what
great moment and importance this truth concerning
Christ's Sonship is. And, to add yet one thing fur
ther, pray look to that grand seducer and enemy of
Christ and of the Christian faith — I mean Moham
med, of whom we read that he also set himself to
his utmost to oppose and decry the Sonship of Christ.
He was wiUing to grant Christ to be a great prophet,
but by no means to be the very Son of God. This
particularly and expressly he principled his followers
agamst in his ridiculous Alcoran ; and he gave them
in special this command, "Era p,bnt rgoexuvei'v fcbv xai
rbv ygierov rip.a.i oig Xoyov rou itov f/,ii>, ov-^J vlov &e, to
worship one only God, and to honour Christ as the
word of God, but not as the Son of God.1
From all these premises I infer, is this such a
foundation-truth, and shaU not we firmly assent to
it ? Hath the church with such zeal contended for
it, and shaU we yet doubt of it ? Do heathens, Jews,
Turks, so much oppose it, and shall not we Chris
tians, who have and own Scripture revelation,
steadily believe it ? Hath Christ sealed it with his
blood, and yet shall we stagger about it ? Have we
such attestations from God and man, and yet shall
there be questionings and reasonings in our souls
against it? 1 John v. 9, 10, 'If we receive the
witness of men, the witness of God is greater ; for
1 Constanter die illis, Deum unum esse, necessarium omnibus,
et incorporeum. Qui nee genuit, nee est generatus, nee habet
quenquam sibi similem.— Azoar., 122 ; Alcor. in Bibliandri.
edit., p. 188. Vide Cribrat. Alcorani. per Nicol. de Cusa.,
lib. i. cap. 10, 11, 13, 14, &c. See Dr Pearson on the Creed,
p. 272. 1

this is the witness of God which he hath testified of
his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God,
hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not
God, hath made him a liar, because he beheveth not
the record that God gave of his Son.'
But some will say, To what purpose is all this ?
who questions whether Christ be God's own Son ?
I answer, Oh that there was not too much need of
this advice ! Many poor souls think they do fully
and firmly believe tf, and yet it is to be feared they
do not ; and the truth is, that weakness which is in
our faith of adherence proceeds in part from that
weakness that is in our faith of assent, much of that
dejectedness which is upon our spirits under trouble,
and of those inward sinkings under the sense of
guilt, comes from one of these two causes, either we
do not revive upon our thoughts, or else we do not
fixedly believe in our hearts, that Christ is God's
Son, and his own Son. And as to loose and com
mon professors, if ever Arianism, old or new, should
get upon the throne, which God forbid, I fear the
belief of Christ's Godhead and eternal Sonship
would soon be laid aside. Oh therefore, I would
be very earnest with you to get your faith yet more
and more strengthened and confirmed about it.
But though this be very good, yet it is not
enough ; besides the believing of Christ to be the Son
of God, there must be believing on Christ as the Son
of God. You find in Scripture that saving faith is
described by its special reference to Christ as stand
ing in this relation ; so Gal. U. 20, ' The life which
I now live Hi the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.' Why doth the apostle thus express it by the
faith of the Son of God ? I answer, Partly because
Christ the Son of God is the efficient and author of
faith, Heb. xii. 2, partly because this Son is the
great object of faith, and partly because faith in its
essential act doth very much eye Christ as thus re
lated to the Father, for it is a believing or relying
upon him as the Son of God. It is very usual in
the gospel, where it speaks of believing, to mention
Christ with it as standing in this relation : 1 John
Hi. 23, ' This is his commandment, that we should
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.' 1
John v. 1 3, ' These things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God ; that ye

224

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[Chap. XI.

may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God.' John iii.
16, ' God so loved the world that he gave his only-
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him,' as
the only-begotten Son, ' should not perish, but have
everlasting life.' Oh what a person is God's own
Son for sinners to believe on ! What an all-suffi
cient Saviour, how ' able to save to the utmost' must
he needs be who is God and man, the Son of God
and the Son of man ! Heb. vH. 25. And indeed it
is not enough barely to believe on Christ, but there
must be such a beHeving on him as may in some
measure be answerable to this his relation : is he
God's own Son ? At what a rate should we believe !
What a faith should we act upon him ! What great
things should we expect for him and from him !
Can anything be too high for our faith, when we
have the proper, natural Son of God in our eye as
its basis and foundation ? Saints should have their
faith raised not only upon the, encouragement of the
promises, but also upon the consideration of Christ's
person, as he is so near and dear to God. I have
formerly observed how our apostle in the text rises
higher and higher in the setting forth of the love of
God. He says God sent, there was love ; he sent
his own Son, there was more love'; this own Son he
sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, there was yet more
love ; and this he did for this end, that he might for
sin condemn sin in the flesh, &c. ; there was the very
top and zenith of love. Now as there is a rise in
these things in the setting off the love of God, so
there is also a rise in them in their several engage
ments and encouragements to us to believe in Christ,
and to believe in him yet more and more firmly and
fiducially : he was sent, therefore we must beheve ;
he was and is God's own Son, therefore we must the
rather and the more strongly believe ; he took our
flesh, here is a higher argument for a higher faith ;
iii that flesh he condemned sin, performed all that
the law commanded, suffered all that the law
threatened ; what a faith doth this call for ! Now if,
notwithstanding all this, it shall yet be either no-
believing or but faint-believing, both will be sad,
though in a great disparity, for the faint-believing is
unanswerable to what is revealed, and uncomfortable
to the saint, but the no-believing is damnable to the
sinner.

3. - Thirdly, Is Christ God's own Son ? How then
should all honour and adore him ! Certainly upon
this Sonship the highest, yea, even divine adoration
itself is due to him. Is he a Son ? — such a Son ? —
the Son of such a Father ? The greatness of his per
son, arising from that high and near relation wherein
he stands to God, calls for the highest respect, reve
rence, veneration, which angels or men can possibly
give unto him. Besides this, it is the absolute will
of the Father that all should ' honour his Son even
as they honour himself,' John v. 23 ; for he having
the same nature and essence with the Father, the
Father wUl have him have the same honour which
he himself hath : which whosoever denies to him
reflects dishonour upon the Father, who will not
bear anything derogatory to the glory of his Son.
It is a known story that of the carriage of Amphi-
lochius to the Emperor Theodosius ; 1 he had peti
tioned the emperor to be severe against the Arians,
to discountenance and suppress them, because in
their opinions they did so much disparage the
Son of God ; but could not prevaU ; whereupon he
made use of this device : coming one day into the
presence of the emperor, and of his son Arcadius,
who now ruled jointly with his father, he made his
humble obeisance to the emperor himself, and shewed
him all reverence ; but as for his son he passed him
by, shewed him no respect at all, rather dealt deri-
sorily with him, stroking him upon his head, and
saying to him, in a way of contempt, salve et tu, fill
The emperor upon this was much offended, sharply
reproves Amphilochius for his affront to his son, &c.
Whereupon the good man vindicates his carriage,
plainly teUing the emperor he had given reverence
enough to his son. And now the emperor was more
incensed, commands him with great indignation to
be thrust out of his presence, &c, which whilst some
was doing, AmphUochius turned himself to the em
peror and said thus : 0 emperor ! thou being but a
man canst not bear the contempt or disparagement
of thy son ; how dost thou think the great God can
bear that contempt of his Son which the Arians cast
upon him ? The emperor was much affected at this,
begged the bishop's pardon, commended his ingeny,
and did that now which he refused to do before.
The inference is undeniable, if great men stand so
1 Nicephor., lib. xii. cap. 9. Sozom., lib. vii. cap. 6.

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225

much upon the giving of aU honour and due observ
ance to their sons, much more will the great God
stand upon the giving of all due honour and reve
rence to his own and only Son. Oh, therefore, let
Christ be highly adored and honoured by you ! If
you ask me, how? I answer, every honouring of
him is not sufficient, but it must be such as may suit
with his infinite majesty and greatness ; you must
conceive of him as God, as the natural and eternal
Son of God, and according to that honour which is
due to him as such, so you must honour him. The
apostle speaks of some who, ' when they knew God,
they did not glorify him as God,' Eom. i. 21 ; so
some pretend to give some glory to Christ, but they
do not glorify him as God. Oh, this is that which
you must come up to, to adore and reverence Christ
in such a manner as may be suitable to his nature
and relation, as he is the infinite God, and the eter
nal only-begotten Son of God ; and what honour
can be high enough for such a person 1
But more particularly there is a twofold honour
which you must aU give to Christ.
1. The honour of worship : Heb. i. 6, ' When he
bringeth in the first-born into the world, he saith,
And let aU the angels of God worship him.' God
wiU have his only-begotten Son to be worshipped,
though he be very tender to whom that honour is
given. Divines do from hence strongly argue- — yet
I know some make but little of this argument — to
prove the Godhead of Christ.1 Thus, if religious
worship be God's pecuUar, tf a God be the sole and
adequate object of divine worship, if no creature be
to share with him therein, it being that glory which
he ' wiU not give to another,' Isa. xhi. 8 ; and Mat.
iv. 10, ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
him only shalt thou serve ;' and yet the Father will
have Christ to be the proper object of divine wor
ship ; hence it foUows, that then he is and must be
more than mere man, that he is true and very God.
And surely it would be no better than flat idolatry
in us Christians to give proper and formal religious
worship to Christ, was he not truly God as well as
truly man. Therefore as to this Franciscus David
and Christianus Franken, both Socinians, were in
the right against Socinus, tf Christ was but mere
1 Remonstr. Apolog., cap. 2 and 16. Episcop. Inst. Theo-
log., lib. iv. sec. 2, cap. 34 and 35.

man — the common principle in which they all agreed
— then he could not be worshipped with religious
worship without idolatry; whereupon they would
not give any such worship to him. And as this
worship proves Christ's Godhead, so his Godhead is
the ground of it ; 1 for the adequate, immediate,
proper, ground of divine worship, as attributed to
Christ, is his divine nature, essence, and Sonship.
True, he as man is to be worshipped, but not be
cause he is man ; the human nature of Christ is the
object of worship, but it is only as it is taken into
personal union with the divine. As he is mediator,
and set in such an office, he is to be worshipped ;
but this is not the proper and fundamental reason
thereof; for though he never had been mediator, yet
worship would have been due to him, "as the Father
and Spirit are to be worshipped, though the office of
mediator belongs not to them. Further, the Lord
Jesus, as he in our nature hath done such great and
excellent things for us, is to be worshipped ; yet
this is only a forcible motive and inducement there
unto, not the proper ground of it. It remains, then,
that the alone reason of worship given or done to
Christ is his being God, and the co-equal, co-essen
tial Son of God. And he being so, what an obliga
tion doth this lay upon you to worship him ! There
is inward worship, consisting in the trust, fear, reve
rence, adoration of the heart ; there is outward wor
ship, consisting in attendance upon, and clue observ
ance of, gospel institutions, as prayer, hearing the
word, &c. ; in both of these respects let Christ be
worshipped by you, both are due to him as he is
God's own Son. WeU may you tender your homage
to him in this way, when angels themselves bow be
fore him and worship at his throne.
2. Secondly, There is the honour of obedience,
which you must also give to Christ. This is an
nexed to the declaration of his Sonship ; at the same
time in which the Father attested that Christ was
his Son, he enjoined obedience and subjection to
him : Mat. xvH. 5, ' This is my beloved Son in whom
I am weU pleased ; ' what follows ? ' hear ye him.'
1 Of this see Zanch., De Tribus Elohim., lib. iii. cap. 12 ;
Junius, Def. Trinit. contra Samosat., Profess. Leid., Cens.,
cap. 16 ; Voetius, De Adorat. Christi ; Cheynel on the Trin-
unity, (very largely,) p. 334, &c. ;• Dr Stilhngfleet on the Idola
try of the, &c, chap. ii. pp. 112-114.
2F

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[Chap. XL

This hearing of Christ is the creature's obeying of
him in all his holy laws, commands, and institu
tions ; and so it is as tf God had said, Here is a per
son whom I own for my Son, in a special and pecu
liar way, whom therefore I have ' set as my king
upon my holy hill of Zion,' Ps. ii. 6 ; into whose
hands I have put ' aU power,' Mat. xxviii. 18 ; upon
whose shoulders I have laid ' the government,' Isa.
ix. 7 ; therefore I charge you to h«ar him, and to
yield all obedience and subjection to him. 0 sirs,
it is God himself, and not such a poor worm as I,
who requires this of you ; it must be reverence and
it must be obedience too, this high relation of Christ
calls for both ; and believe it, without this obedience
he that is God's Son will never be your Saviour, for
Heb. v. 9, ' Being made perfect, he became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them,' and to
none but them, ' that obey him.' I have spoken
much to press believing on this Son upon you, but
let me add, there must be obeying of him as well
as beHeving on him. Obedience is not so of the
very essence of faith, but that faith may very well
be defined without it, yet it is an inseparable adjunct
or consequent or fruit of faith; and these two do
always concur in the subject, though they be differ
ent in themselves, and have a different influence
upon justification and salvation. But that which I
aim at is this, since Christ is the Son of God, and
this is clearly revealed to you, since this Son hath
made known to you in the holy gospel what his
will and pleasure is, how he would have you to live,
what to do, what to shun, I beseech you now
hearken to him, comply with him in all his excel
lent commands, give up yourselves in a universal
subjection to his blessed laws, let there be an obedi
ential frame of heart 'to his whole will. This is
indeed to honour him, and to honour him in such
a way as best answers his Sonship to God and his
lordship over you.
4. Fourthly, Is Christ no lower a person than
God's own Son ? What cause have we then to ad
mire and wonder at the greatness of God's love in
his sending of him ! Here is a glass indeed to trans
mit and represent unto us the love of God ; oh how
shaU we get our hearts affected with it! What
thankfulness in us can bear any proportion to the
mercy before us ! For God to send, to send a Son,

such a Son, in such a manner, as follows in the
words, here is the wonder of wonders ; God never
did the like before, and he will never do the like
again ; and, blessed be his name, there is no need
he should ! It would have been admirable mercy if
God would have sent some other person upon this
errand, to redeem and save undone sinners ; if send
he will, why did he not send an angel, or a body of
angels, to try their skill and see what they could
do ? nay, why did he not send an angel, as he once
did, with a flaming sword in his hand, to keep off
sinners from the tree of life ? Gen. Hi. 24. Oh, this
did not comport with his gracious designs, though
it did too weU with the creature's merit, therefore
he would not do it ; no, his own Son shall be pitched
upon, he is the person whom God will send. And
his end in sending this Son was as gracious as the
person whom he sent was glorious. Surely here
was love, great love, great even to the degree of
infiniteness ! MUlions of angels were nothing to
one Son, to one such Son. The nearer the relation
was betwixt God and Christ, the greater was the
affection shewn to us; Christ God's own Son, his
first-born, his only-begotten Son, the Son of his love,
who lay in his bosom, had been his delight for ever
lasting, for him to be sent to recover and save man,
vile, sinful, wicked, undone man! the Son to he
employed for the servant, the slave, the enemy ! Oh
astonishing mercy ! Oh admirable goodness and con
descension ! How may we here cry out, ' Lord,
what is man that thou art thus mindful of him? and
the son of man that thou makest this account of
him?' Ps. viu. 4, and cxliv. 3. Here was God so
loving of the world, so as can never be expressed ;
he 'so loved the world as that he gave his only-
begotten Son,' &c, John iii. 16. ' So loved the
world.' What is there in this so? Why so inex
pressibly, so unconceivably. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 'In
this was manifested the love of God towards us,
because that God sent his only-begotten Son into
the world, that we might Hve through him ; herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins.' God owned it as a great discovery of Abra
ham's love to him, when upon his command he was
willing to offer up his only-begotten son ; but, alas !
how infinitely short did that come of his own love

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227

in his sending and parting with his only-begotten
Son for the good of sinners ? Here he intended to
give out the highest manifestation of his grace, and
he hath done it to purpose. The heavens and the
earth were once called upon to be filled with
astonishment because of the ingratitude of a sinful
people, Isa. i. 2 ; may not now heaven and earth,
angels and men, all creatures whatsoever, be called
upon to be filled with astonishment because of the
stupendous love of God ? 0 Christians ! what in
fluence hath this upon your dull and sluggish hearts?
What are you made of that you are no more, in the
sense of it, drawn out in the blessing, loving, admir
ing of God ? Pray, tf there be any holy ingenuity
in you, take some pains with yourselves that you
may be much more affected -with it, and give not
over tUl you have such thoughts and affections,
upon God's sending his own Son, raised in you, as
may in some measure answer to those thoughts and
affections which you shall have about it when you
shall be in heaven.
So much for exhortation. The third and last use
shaU be for comfort. And surely here is ground of
strong consolation to believers, that which may
highly conduce to the furthering of their joy, and
the strengthening of their faith. You who are such,
study this Sonship of Christ, dwell upon it often in
your most serious thoughts, make the best of it, and
then tell me whether you do not find that solid sup
port and comfort from it which you desire and need.
Shall I broach this full vessel, and draw out a little
of that heart-cheering Hquor which is in it ? Then
know that,
1. As Christ is the Son of God, so are you. When
I say so are you, you must understand me of the
verity, not of the kind or manner of the sonship ;
you are not sons as Christ is, viz., by eternal
generation ; yet sons you are in another way, viz.,
by regeneration and adoption ; and though herein
you come short of Christ, you being but adopted
sons, and he the natural Son, yet as you are but such,
there is greater glory put upon you than if you were
descended from, or adopted by, the greatest monarch
of the world. May not this be matter of great com
fort to you, to consider that whatever Christ is, that
you are, according to your capacity and necessary
subordination to him ? that all that grace which fell

upon him falls upon you likewise ? And yet so it
is. Is he the anointed of God? so are you ; is he a
Son ? so are you ; is he the beloved of God ? so are
you ; is he the heir of God ? so are you ; in these
respects also it is 'grace for grace,' John i. 16. I
am upon your sonship in conformity to Christ's
Sonship, the truth of which you have no reason to
question, since the procuring of this for you was one
thing that God in special aimed at in the sending of
his great Son into the world : Gal. iv. 4, 5, 'When
the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son, &c, that we might receive the adoption of
sons,' and therefore in this relation Christ takes you
in with himself: John xx. 17, 'Go to my brethren,
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and
your Father, and to my God and your God.'
2. You may now, upon this, confidently expect
the bestowing of all good. For Christ being God's
own Son, and he having given him to you, what can
come after that can be too great, or too good, for him
to give to you? What will God now deny after the
gift of such a Son ? ' He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he
not with him also freely give us all things ? ' Bom.
viii. 32. Saints, let this be thought of ; as all bless
ings come to you from God, as he is the God and
Father of Christ, (for, Eph. i. 3, it is ' Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with aU spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ ; ') so all blessings are assured to
you from this relative consideration of God, viz., as
he is first the God and Father of Christ, and then
in him your God and Father too.
3. You may be sure that there is an infinite value,
worth, and efficacy in Christ's obedience, and that
he was a person able to accomplish your redemption.
Christ being such a Son, this speaks him to be a
person of great dignity ; that dignity of his person
gives the highest assurance to faith, both that he
was every way able to go through what he under- ,
took, and also that there must be an infinite virtue
and merit in whatever he did or suffered. What
can be so hard as that the power of the Son of God
cannot effect it ? And what can be so high as that
the obedience of the Son of God cannot merit it ?
Had Christ been only the Son of man, then indeed
faith could not have borne up with such confidence ;

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[Chap. XIL

but he being the Son of God also, and having the
nature, essence, attributes of God, how may faith
triumph as to the efficacy and meritoriousness of his
obedience. It was the blood of God which he shed,
Acts xx. 28. Oh what a greatness and mfiniteness
of merit must needs result from the greatness and
infiniteness of such a person ! 1 Heb. ix. 13, 14, 'If
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the puri
fying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himsetf without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the Uving God ? '
4. You may go boldly to the throne of grace upon
all occasions. For you have God's own Son to lead
you thither and to make way for you ; and not only
so, but this own Son improves all his interest in and
with the Father for your good. Why are you afraid
to go to -God? Heb. iv. 14-16, 'Seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, (Jesus, the Son of God, &c.,) let us there
fore come baldly nnto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.' &. You need not in the least question the preva
lency ef Christ's intercession. Doth Christ inter
cede, and shall He awt prevail ? Will not the Father
Lear such a 'Soaa 1 Suppose he may deny you, which
He will not, yet surely lie mil not deny his own and
only Son. Christ upon .this relation may ask any
thing, and He shall hav© it. Mark the connexion,
Ps. ii 7, * I wiU declare the decree : the Lord hath
said umte me, Thorn art my Son, this day have I be
gotten thee.'' What follows now upon this 1 Why,
ver. 8, ' Ask ef me, and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession.' God thinks nothing too
much for this Son when he asks it of him ; and it is
the same when he asks for you as when he asks for
himself Therefore, fear not but that your prayers
shall be graciously answered, Christ himself inter
ceding for you. When the King's own Son carries
the petition, doubtless it shaU be granted.
1 Superest, ut poena ilia Fidejussoris nostri pretio, dignitate,
atque merito f oret infinita, id quod aliter fieri non potuit, quam
si persona patiens foret ipsa infinita. Nam ut peccati, &c.
Vide Thes. Sal-mur. de Christo Mediat., part i. th. 13j p. 246.

6. This is the person to whom you are mystically
united, and therefore his glory and greatness reflects
a glory and greatness upon you. You are in Christ
not only as he is the Son of man, but as he is the
Son of God also ; for the union is terminated not in
this or that nature, but in the whole person. The
apostle, therefore, takes special notice of this, 1 John
v. 20. ' We know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding that we may know
him that is true ; and we are in him that is truej
even in his Son Jesus Christ.' Oh to be in this Son*
there is the glory and safety of a believer !
I have done with this high and most evangelical
truth, The Lord Jesus is God's own Son; upon
which I have been somewhat large, partly because
of the excellency of the argument itself, and partly
because of the great opposition made against it : 2
John 3, ' Grace be with you, mercy, and peace
from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father, Hi truth and love.'

CHAPTER XII.
of Christ's incarnation and abasement in
FLESH.
In the likeness of sinful flesh. — Rom. vUi. 3.
A fourth general in the words handled — Why the apostle
is so express in the further adding of these words to
the former — Five things laid down for the explication
of them — Flesh not taken here in the same sense with
flesh in what went before — A double synecdoche in the
word flesh — Christ did not bring flesh from heaven
with him, but assumed it here on earth — His sending
in flesh was not, his taking a mere human shape, &c.
— Likeness to be joined not with flesh, but with smfvi
flesh — Two propositions raised from the words— Of
the first, that Christ was sent in flesh — What Ms send
ing in flesh imports ; this opened more strictly and
more largely — Of Marcion, and others, who denied
the verity of Christ's incarnation and body-*That
proved as to both, as also the verity of his whole mm--
hood— Of his having a true soul— Of his submitting:
to the common adjuncts and infirmities of fleshy-How

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

229

the human nature in Christ and in us differ — His
incarnation not impossible, not incredible — The reasons
of it : 1. That the Old Testament prophecies, pro
mises, types, might thereby receive their accomplish
ment; 2. That Christ might be qualified for Ms office,
as mediator, and the work of redemption ; 3. Because
it was the fittest and the best way in order to the re
deeming of man — Seven propositions laid down for
the due stating and opening of Christ's incarnation ;
As, 1. That Christ, who before was the eternal Son
of God, and had a previous existence, was made flesh ;
this made good against tlie Socinians ; 2. That the
second person only was incarnate ; 3. That this was
not done till the fulness of time ; 4. That it was not
the divine essence absolutely considered which assumed
flesh, but that essence considered as subsisting in the
second person ; 5. That the nature assuming was the
divine nature ; 6. That the human nature was so
assumed as to subsist in the divine, and that both of
these natures make but one person, where the hypo
statical union is opened and proved; 7. It is probable
that if Adam had not fallen Christ had not been sent
in the -flesh — Of the second proposition, That Christ
was sent in the likeness, yet but in the likeness,
of sinful flesh — Of the sanctity of Christ's human
nature — The grounds thereof — Use 1. To inform,
1. Of the excellency of the gospel and of the
Christian religion; as also, 2. Of the excellency
of Christ's flesh or manhood — 'Use 2. Wherein
several duties are urged upon Christians : as, namely,
1. To give a full and firm assent to the truth of
Christs incarnation, and also firmly to adhere to
Christ as having assumed our flesh: where something
is spoken against those who make little of a Christ in
flesh, but are all for a Christ within ; 2. To be much
in the study and contemplation of Christ incarnate ;
3. To adore the mystery itself, and also the Father
and the Son in the mystery ; 4. To endeavour after
the powerful influence of it upon heart and life : so
as, 1. To be humble ; 2. Not to give way to sin -, 3.
Especially not to those sins which do more directly dis
parage and debase the human nature ; 4. To love God
and Christ ; 5. To be willing to do, to suffer, to be
abased for Christ ; 6. To labour after a participation
cf the divine nature j 7-. To be highly thankful, both
for the thing itself and also for the revelation of it —
Use 3. Of comfort: as (1.) Christ in flesh must needs

be an effectual way for promoting God's glory and the
sinner's good; (2.) In this God hath given out a very
high demonstration of his love; (3.) By this all the
promises are sealed, and all the great things of faith
and hope made sure and credibel, particularly, 1.
The mystical union ; 2. Communion with God,
Christ's special presence, the inhabitation of the Spirit;
3. The communications of grace from God ; 4. Our
sonship to God ; 5. The resurrection of our bodies ;
6. The future glory — (4.) God is now knowable and
accessible ; (5.) The human nature highly dignified
and advanced; (6.) Christ upon this is the more com
passionate ; (7.) There are few troubles of conscience
wherein this may not afford matter of ease and relief.
This branch of the words contains a fourth head in
it, which comes next to be opened. Our apostle
having spoken of God's sending his own Son, he
goes on to shew in what manner he sent him ; and,
as to that, he saith God sent him in the likeness of
sinful flesh. Here is nothing in the text but won
ders, but the ro\ p,iya.\i~a, the great things of God !
The further we go the deeper the waters are, and
still new matter offers itself to heighten our admira
tion. It was wonderful that God should send such
a Son ; but that he should send such a Son Hi such
a manner, in flesh, yea, in the likeness of sinful flesh,
this is yet more wonderful. 0 Christian ! stay a
little, pause upon these words, get thy thoughts up,
thy heart elevated in the contemplation of what is
here set before thee, and then read on.
In my entrance upon them, it may be inquired
why the apostle is so particular and so express in
this matter. Had it not been enough for him to
have said, God sent his own Son, and so to have
broke off, but he must also add that God sent him
in the likeness, &C.1 To which I answer, There
was great reason for this amplification; for the
apostle being here treating of such great mysteries,
of such high and glorious discoveries of the wisdom,
grace, love of God towards lost sinners, he thought
in these he could not be too full or too- express ; and
he being to set down in a little room the whole
1 Nonne satis erat dicere, mittens Filium suum ? Hoc ipso
verbo declaratum non f uisset istud magnum mysterium scituque
dignissimum : quomodo videlicet peccatum peccati damnavit
omnipotens, similitudine carnis peccati peccatores a peccato
liberans, &c. — Corn. Mussus.

230

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII;

model and platform of man's salvation, the good
Spirit of God directed him to put in enough, both for
the setting forth of God's admirable love, mercy, &c,
and also for the encouragement of the believer's faith
with respect to the certainty, completeness, and ful
ness of his salvation. Now Christ's incarnation and
abasement in man's nature being so pertinent and
proper, and so necessary as to both of these ends,
therefore our apostle wiU not pass that over without
a particular mentioning of tf. And elsewhere you
find him, when he had spoken of Christ's mission,
presently to subjoin Christ's incarnation also; as
Gal. iv. 4, ' When the fulness of time was come, God
sent his Son, made of a woman,' &c. It was not only
God's sending of Christ, but his so sending of him,
viz., in flesh, yea, in the likeness of sinful flesh,
which puts such an emphasis and accent upon his
own grace, and which doth give such full assurance
to poor creatures that they shall be v effectually re
deemed and saved. Upon these considerations,
therefore, besides the admirableness of the thing in
itself, Paul, when he is upon such an argument,
might very well superadd this to what preceded; and
he is not satisfied with the once mentioning of it in
the general, but he repeats it, and more particularly
shews what use God made of Christ's flesh, or what
good did by that redound to us : ' for sin he con
demned sin in the flesh,' that is, in the flesh of
Christ. For the clearing up the true meaning of the
words, and the vindicating of them from those false
interpretations which some of the old heretics put
upon them, I will lay down a few particulars.
1. First, That flesh, as here used concerning
Christ, carries a quite other sense in it than what
it did when it was spoSen of before. You had it,
ver. 1, ' Who walk not after the flesh,' &c. ; in this
verse, ' what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh;' in which sense, as it is
there used, it occurs in many following verses.
Now flesh in these places is taken in a very different
notion from flesh in this ; for in them it is taken
morally and accidentally, but here, where Christ is
concerned in it, it is taken physically and substan
tially. In them it notes man's nature as corrupted,
but here the very being and substance of the human
nature, or the verity of the human nature itself,

abstracted from any such adjunct; and so it is twice
taken in this verse.
2. That flesh in this application is not to be
understood in its more narrow and limited sense,
but in its more general and comprehensive sense.
Here is a double synecdoche in the word, as it signi
fies, (1.) The whole body; (2.) The whole man, or
the whole nature of man. Flesh in its strict accep
tation is but a part of the body, and the body but a
part of the man ; but so you are not here to take it •
for Christ had a perfect, entire, complete body, and
everything, as well as mere flesh, which is proper to
a body. For instance, he had blood as weU as flesh
therefore both are named: Heb. ii. 14, 'He also took
part of the same,' i.e., of flesh and blood; and he had
bones as well as flesh : Luke xxiv. 39, ' A spirit hath
not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' Further,
Christ was not only clothed with flesh, as that is
limited but to one part of man, but he assumed the
whole nature of man ; he had a soul as well as a
body, which two are the essential, constitutive part
of man.1 What more common in Scripture than by
flesh to set forth man in his whole, entire, human
nature ? See Gen. vi. 12 ; Ps. lxv. 2 ; Isa. xl. 5 ; Joel
ii. 28 ; Luke iii. 6 ; Rom. iii. 20 ; John xvii. 2 ; 1 Cor.
i. 29. And so the word is frequently used there to
represent the whole manhood of Christ. So John
i. 14; ITim. iii. 16 ; Heb. x. 20; IPet. iii. 18, etpassim.
When, therefore, it is said God sent his Son Hi flesh,
you are thus to conceive of it, that Christ did not
only take flesh, but that with it he took the whole
nature of man, that he was, as truly, so completely,
man, consisting of flesh and spirit, body and soul;
yea, that he assumed the entire human nature with
whatever is proper to it, two things only being ex
cepted, of which by and by. In this extent and
latitude you are here to take the word flesh, a part
being put for the whole.
3. Although it be said God sent his Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, yet we must distinguish be
tween the mission and the incarnation. They differ
in their order, Christ being first sent and then in
carnate ; as also in the place where each was done,
for the mission was above, but the incarnation was
here below. This I take notice of that I may the
1 'E/c pipovs t6 BXov o-vXXa^Siv iiro rrjs ffapKbs bvopafa rbv
&v8puirov.— Cyrill. Alexandr. in John, p. 95.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

231

better clear up that ambiguity which seems to be in
the expression, which some among the ancients not
understanding aright, runned themselves upon very
erroneous opinions. For it being said that God sent
his own Son in the likeness of sinful fiesh, they from
hence inferred that Christ came from heaven actually
clothed with flesh, that his body was immediately
created there, and that from thence he brought it
down with him hither ; and, to take in another of
their heresies, that it was of such a nature as that it
only passed through the Virgin's womb, w; b"ia
eaiX^iog uowj, as water through a pipe, or as light
through a glass.1 But you are not to give way to
these apprehensions, the true meaning of the words
being this : Christ was sent in the likeness of
flesh ; not that he had it before he was on earth, but
it was his Father's will, for the fulfilling of which
he sent him, that he should descend and here below
assume flesh. So that though the apostle expresses
it by being sent in the Hkeness, &c, yet his meaning
is rather to or for, or in order to, the Hkeness of sin
ful flesh : this was not done beforehand, just at his
sending, but this was to be subsequent upon it,
in its proper time and place. And earth was that
place where this stupendous mystery of a Christ in
carnate did commence ; there was the attiring house
where he put on his mean and mourning dress ; it
was in the Virgin where his body was so curiously
and so wonderfully wrought. When he ascended
he carried up his body from earth to heaven, but
when he descended he did not bring down his body
from heaven to earth ; the foundation of his being
incarnate was laid above, in the purpose and com
mand of the Father, with respect to which he is
said to be sent in the Hkeness, &c, but his actual
assumption of flesh was done here below. True he
saith, John. Hi. 13, 'No man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of man which is in heaven ;' and John vi.
62, ' What if you shall see the Son of man ascend
up where He was before?' but this you are to un
derstand as spoken only upon the xoi»wfa rm ibio.-
fidroit, communication of properties, that being here
attributed to Christ in one nature, as the Son of
1 The first broachers of which were Apollinaris, Valentinus,
kc Of and against whom see Nazianz. ad Nectarium. Athan.
de Incarn. Christi, torn. i. p. 619 et 1083.

man, which was only proper to him in the other, as
the Son of God. It is also said of him that the
second man is the Lord from heaven, 1 Cor. xv.
47, but that you are to take not as referring to the
matter and substance of his body, as if he brought
that from heaven, but only as pointing to his de
scent from heaven, and the miraculous formation of
his body here on earth. And whereas some speak,
as you heard, of Christ's body being immediately
created, and but passing through the Virgin as
water through a pipe, the falsity of that opinion is
very notorious ; for the Scripture plainly tells us
that it was produced in another way — that he was
conceived and born of the Virgin, that the produc
tion of his substance was of hers, though in an • ex
traordinary manner. Therefore it is said, Mat. i. 18,
' She was found with child of the Holy Ghost ;' and
ver. 20, ' That which is conceived in her is of the
Holy Ghost;' and Luke i. 35, 'That holy thing
which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son
of God ; ' and Elisabeth speaks of Christ as the fruit
of her womb, Luke i. 42, and Paul says he was made
of a woman, Gal. iv. 4, not made in a woman, but of
a woman. From all which texts two things are evi
dent : (1.) That though the formation of Christ's
fiesh was extraordinary and miraculous, yet tf was
not immediately, created, especially not in heaven ;
(2.) That the Virgin Mary had a proper causality
in the production of Christ's body, and therefore
was not a mere pipe through which it did only

4. This sending of Christ in the likeness, &c,
was not his* assuming of a mere human shape, or his
apparition only in the shape and form of a man,
but it was the real assumption of the human nature
consisting of soul and body. There is a vast differ
ence betwixt Christ's incarnation and such appari
tions as those which we have instances of in the Old
Testament ; and that, too, not only with respect to
the apparitions of angels, but also of Christ himself ;
for it might easily be proved that it was he who ap
peared to Abraham, Gen. xviii. 13, 14, 17 ; to Jacob,
Gen. xxxii. 24; to Moses, Exod. Hi. 2, compared with
Acts vii. 30-35. But now his incarnation was a
quite other thing ; for in that there was not the
1 Of these things read Tertull. in his excellent Treatise de
Carne Christi, p. 374.

232

JACOMB ON ROMANS VHI. 1-4.

[Chap XII.

taking of man's shape but of man's nature, not the
taking of it so as to lay it down again after a short
time, as was in apparitions, but so as to keep it and
continue in it for ever. The apostle cries out,
1 Tim. Hi. 16, 'Without controversy great is the
mystery of godUness, God manifested in the flesh,'
&c. ; but had there been in that nothing more than
a mere apparition of Christ in flesh or in human
shape, the thing had not been so strange that he
should make such a mystery of it, for he knew this
was very common ; therefore there must be more in
it than so. To convince us of the truth and reahty
of Christ's flesh in opposition to all phantasms and
mere apparitions, the Scripture speaks of him not
only as appearing : Mai. iii. 2, ' Who shall stand
when he appeareth?' 2 Tim. i. 10, 'But is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ,' &c. ; Heb. ix. 26, ' Once in the end of
the world hath he appeared,' &c. ; nor only as mani
fested, 1 John i. 2, and iii. 5, 8, ; 1 Tim. Hi. 16;
nor only as taking flesh, which expression to some
might be more doubtful and general," as Heb. U. 14,
1 6 ; but to put this- out of all question, it says he
was made flesh, John i. 14, which must be more
than a bare appearance or manifestation in imaginary
and fantastic flesh. It was enough for angels,
when God • had only some particular and ordinary
message to send them upon, to assume an external
shape and then lay it down again ; 1 but when Christ
is to be born, to converse in the world a consider
able time, to die, to make satisfaction in that nature
in which the offence had been committed, here must
be more than a spectrum, an apparition, here must
be real flesh. And, indeed, the former Old Testa
ment apparitions were but as so many preeludiums of
Christ's real incarnation ; in all these he did but
prasludere humanitati sum, as Tertullian phraseth it.2
5. Therefore, as to the letter of the words, when
it is said Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful
flesh, this likeness is to be linked, not with flesh, but
1 Nullus unquam angelus ideo descendit ut crucifigeretur
&c. Si nunquam ejusmodi fuit causa angelorum corporando-
rum, habes causam cur non acceperint carnem. NOnvenerant
mori, ideo nee nasci. At vero Christus mori missus, nasci
quoque necessario habuit ut mori posset.— Tertull. de Came
Christi, p. 363.
2 Vide Ireuasum advers. Haeres, lib. iv. cap. 37.

with sinful flesh. He had true, real, very flesh, but
he had only in appearance and likeness sinful flesh;
he had not a putative, imaginary body, but as to
sin, though there was something Hke to that Hi his
outward state and condition, yet it was but like to
it, there was no such thing in truth and reahty in
hering in that nature which he assumed. This is
that plain, genuine interpretation of the words
against the old heretical pervertings of them which
the orthodox, ancient and modern, put upon them;1
the truth of which I shaU endeavour to make out in
what wUl follow : at present I need say no more
about it.
These things being thus premised, the whole
matter will fall into these two propositions ;
1. That Christ was sent in flesh.
2. That he was sent in the likeness, yet but in
the Hkeness, of sinful flesh. Two very weighty and
important truths ! therefore I hope the opening and
confirming of them will not be judged tedious or un
necessary. I begin with the first, where I shaU consider the
flesh in which Christ was sent, (1.) In its more
strict ; (2.) In its more large notion. More strictly
as it relates to the verity of Christ's incarnation and
the reality of his body ; more largely as it relates to
the verity of his whole manhood, which, as hath
been already said, is made up and constituted of
something more than flesh.
But before I enter upon either of these heads, I
1 Non in similitudine carnis, quasi caro non esset caro, sed in
similitudine peccati carnis ; quia caro erat sed peccati caro non
erat. — Aug., vide serm. 3 and 6, de verbis Apostoli. In simi
litudine carnis peccati fuisse Christum ait, non quod simili-
tudinem carnis accepit, quasi imaginem corporis et non
veritatem, sed similitudinem carnis peccatricis vult intelligi,
quod ipsa non peccatrix caro Christi ejus fuit par cujus erat
peccatum, genere non vitio Adse, kc. — Tertull. de Carne Christi!,
p. 372. Similitudo ad peccati titulum pertinet, non ad sub-
stantise mendacium, &c. — Idem adv. Marci., lib. v. cap. 14.
Ala tovto etpip-ai iv bpoabpan yeyeirqa-Bai. eapKbs apaprtas oi yh,p
iv bpouipari aapKbs, (is roirois SoKei, dXX' iv bpoubpari <rapm
apaprtas. — Basil., Ep. 65. 'T&iretSav elirev apaprtas, Sla tovto,
Kal rb 6/io(to/ia riBeiKev, kc. — Clirysost. in loc. OiK elirev b
bpouipari, kc (piviv yap dvBpuiretav IXafie, dpaprUxv Si dvBpa-
ireiav oiK IXafie. — Theodoret. Misit Deus, &c, ut in vera carnis
susceptione agnoseeretur Veritas non fuisse peccati ; et quan
tum ad corpus veritas intelligeretur, quantum ad peccatmn
similitudo peccati. — Cassian. de Incarn. Dom., lib. iv.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

233

cannot but bewail, and oh that I could do it with
the most inward and most intense sadness of spirit,
that unworthy, wretched usage which our blessed
Lord Jesus hath aU along met withal ever since he
was revealed to the world ! He hath but two natures,
and how hath He been impugned, opposed, struck at
in both ! First some attempted to undermine his
Godhead, then others succeeded who attempted to
ur lermine his manhood. It is very sad to consider,
that he who is both God and man, if several men
might have had their wiU, should have been long
before this neither God nor man, but a very nothing.
Ebion first comes upon the stage, and he denies him
to be God ; then come Marcion, Manes, &c, and
they deny him to be man. The Arian ungods him,
and the Manichee unmans him ; what will they
leave us of him who is our all ? How was the primi
tive church fain to dispute, argue, contend to their
utmost — and aU Httle enough — for the defence of
these natures of Christ ! and God be blessed for their
exceUent zeal in such fundamental articles of the
Christian faith. It is pity the church's zeal
should ever run in any other channel. But Christ
must be opposed some way or other, for he is ' set for
a sign which shall be spoken against,' Luke ii 34.
The present contests of the world are now against
him, chiefly with respect to his offices ; but the past
contests were against him chiefly with respect to his
natures. I have, according to my ppor ability, vin
dicated his natural and eternal Sonship, and conse
quently his Godhead ; I am now to vindicate the
truth of his incarnation and manhood.
This the forementioned Heretics, peremptorily de
nied, as appears by the ancients who wrote against
them ; 1 they asserted that Christ had no true flesh,
it was only the likeness of flesh which he appeared in ;
that His body was only a fantastic, imaginary body.2
And this pestilent opinion they did, in part, ground
upon the words which we have at present before us.
1 Athanas. torn. i. de Incarn. Christi ; Tertull. de Praescrip.
advers. Hseret., cap. 46, Hser. 3, et de carne Christi, et advers.
Marcion., agamst whom he writes five books ; Epiphap. torn.
ii. lib. i., Ha:r. 24 et 80, et torn. iii. Hser. 42 ; August., torn.
v. p. 925, &c. ; Cyrill. Alexandr., torn. v. p. 678, &c.
2 oi &vtois SXXa Kara SbK-qtnv .—Ignat. Hence they were
called AoKirrdi. Valentinus carnem Christi putativam intro-
duxit.— Tertull. de Carne Christi. They say Christ did but yj/ev-
o-ao-Bat ivdvBpunrneiv, as Theophylact expresses it.

But as to them, by the giving of their true sense
this weapon has been rescued out of the enemy's
hand. And some expositors 1 (the more to weaken
the objection of the adversaries as grounded upon
this text) tell us, that the likeness here of sinful
flesh is the sameness of sinful flesh ; that Christ took
that very flesh which was and is sinful, not that it
was so in him, but that it is so in us; that he
assumed that very flesh which in man is defiled by
sin, yet not as defiled, but as true flesh. As when
it is said concerning him that he was in the form of
God, in the form of a servant, in the likeness and
fashion of man, Phil. ii. 6-8, h bpiioiufi.aTi, it is the
same word with that in the text ; the meaning is
that Christ was truly God, truly a servant, truly
man. And as it is said concerning Adam, he begat
a son in his own Hkeness, Gen. v. 3, that is, he
begat a son who was as truly a man and as truly a
sinner as himself; so Christ was sent in the hke
ness, &c, viz., in just such flesh, or in the very self
same flesh which man hath made in himself sinful,
and therefore passible and mortal. Now, though I
cannot deny the truth of this exposition, as thus
stated, nor that it may very well be grounded upon
parallel places, yet because to some at the first hear
ing it may seem somewhat harsh, I rather inchne to
that which was laid down before in the opening of
the words ; it was the same flesh in Christ and in
us in its physical consideration, but it being morally
considered, it was but the likeness of sinful flesh.
But to come to that which I propounded, let us
consider flesh in its strict acceptation, as it relates to
the fleshly and -bodily part ; so I wiU lay down two
things about it.
1. That Christ was indeed sent in flesh, was really
incarnate, and did verily take flesh upon him. And
what one thing is there in the whole gospel wherein
it is plain and positive, tf it be not so in this : John
1 bpolapa aapKbs est ipsa caro, etiamsi non cum peccato, &c.
Missus ergo Filius Dei iv bp.oubpa.Ti crapKbs apaprtas, i.e., in
carne non peccatrice, eadem tamen, quae in nobis peccarat,
sive polluta, non in ipso, sed in nobis. Naturam peccati, h.e.,
peccatorum Dei Filius suscepit, puram quidem sed ut nostram,
quse peccarat expiaret. Cum notissimb Hebraismo bp.olupa
res ipsa dicatur, ut cum bp.otiap.a dvBpdiirov ipse homo dicitur,
non video cur non et bpolapa aapKbs vera sit caro. Cum pec
cati non ab eo dicatur, qui assumsit atque hoc ipso expiavit,
sed ab eo qui peccando corrupit.— Heins. 2 G

234

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. Xir

i. 14, 'And the word was made flesh.' 1 Tim. iii.
16, 'Without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness; God manifested in the flesh.' Heb. ii.
14-16, 'Forasmuch then as the children are par
takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is
the devil ; for verily he took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.'
Eom. i. 3, ' Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh.' Bom. ix. 5, ' Whose are the fathers,
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen.' Hence
he is said to be 'made of a woman,' Gal. iv. 4.
Many such places might be produced, to prove that
Christ really assumed flesh ; but these may suffice.1
And this flesh, wherein Christ was sent, was or
ganised and formed into a perfect body. The apostle
doth not only call it his flesh, but the body of his
flesh : Col. i. 22, ' In the body of his flesh, through
death,' &c. Heb. x. 5, 'Wherefore when he cometh
into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.'
1 Pet. i. 24, ' Who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree,' &c. Our Saviour did not
assume a confused, indigested, and unshapen mass
or lump of flesh — that was not his incarnation ; but
he assumed flesh cast into the very mould and form
of our bodies, having the same several parts, mem
bers, lineaments, the same proportion which they
have. 2. I add, not as a distinct head from the former,
but only that I may more distinctly speak to it than
a3 yet I have done, that as Christ was indeed sent
in flesh, so the flesh in which he was sent was flesh
indeed. He saith, ' My flesh is meat indeed,' John
vi. 55 ; and I say his flesh was flesh indeed — as true,
real, proper, very flesh as that is which any of us
carry about with us. It was, as was said before, but
the Hkeness of sinful flesh, but it was the reality of
physical or substantial flesh. Christ's body was no
spectrum or phantasm, no putative body, as if it had
1 See the strength of these, with other texts, drawn forth and
vindicated against objections by Mr Tombes, in a little treatise
called, Emmanuel or God-man, sect. 15, 16, &c, to the end of
the book.

no being but what was in appearance and from im
agination, but as real, as solid a body as ever any
was ; J therefore the apostle, in the forecited place,
Col. i. 22, calls it a ' body of flesh ; ' a body to shew
the organisation of it, and a body of flesh to shew
the reality of it, in opposition to all aerial and im
aginary bodies. It had all the essential properties
of a true body, such as are organicalness, extension,
local presence, confinement,' circumscription, pene
trability, visibility, palpabiUty, and the Hke : Luke
xxiv. 39, ' Behold my hands and my feet, that it is
I mysetf; handle me and see ; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' 2 1 John i. 1,
' That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of
the word of life,' &c. He had also those natural
affections, passions, infirmities which are proper to a
body ; 3 as hunger, Mat. iv. 2, ' When he had fasted
forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an
hungered ; ' thirst, John iv. 7, and xix. 28, 'I thirst;'
sleep, Mat. viii. 24 ; weariness, John iv. 6, ' Jesus,
being wearied with his journey,' &c. He was con
ceived, retained so long in the Virgin's womb,4 born,
circumcised, lived about thirty years on earth, con
versed all .that time with men, suffered, died, was
crucified, buried, rose again, ascended, sat down with
his body at the right hand of God; with it wUl come
again to judge the world. Doth not all this speak
him to have a true body ? Could all this be done
in, and upon, and by an imaginary body? Had it
been only such, then his conception, nativity, death,
resurrection, ascension, are all too but imaginary
things ; his sufferings, crucifixion, but mere fancies;5
1 Vide Aquin., p. iii. qu. 5, art. 1.
2 Quomodo hanc vocem interpretaris. — Marcion, kc. Ecce
fallit et decipit, &c. Ergo jam Christum non de coelo deferre
debueras, sed de aliquo circulatorio csetu, nee salutis pontifl-
cem, sedspectaculi artificem, &c. — Tertull. de Carne Christi, p.
362. 3 Esuriit sub diabolo, sitiit sub Samaritide, lacrymatus est '
supra Lazarum, trepidavit ad mortem, sanguinem fudit post-
remo ; hsec sunt opinor signa ccelestia.-— Idem, ibid., p. 367.
4 Marcion ut carnem Christi negaret, negavit etiam nativi-
tatem ; aut ut nativitatem negaret, negavit et carnem, scilicet
ne invicem sibi testimonium redderent, et responderent na-
tivitas et caro quia nee nativitas sine carne, nee caro sine na
tivitate. — Tertull. de Carne Christi, p. 358.
6 M-q Sivarai tpavraala riirreoBai -q irpoo-qXwBijvUi iv tw oravpH,

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

235

and what then would become of us ? Then all our
faith, hope, yea, all our religion would vanish into a
mere fancy also.1 When Satan had him in the wil
derness and was tempting of him, he thus assaulted
him : Mat. iv. 3, ' If thou be the Son of God, com
mand that these stones be made bread ; ' and ver.
6, ' If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.'
Now what an absurd, ridiculous thing had it been
for Satan thus to have tempted Christ, supposing
that he had only had a fantastic body? What
need would there have been of food for such a body ?
or what hurt could such a body have received by
faUing from the highest pinnacle ? Nay, further, as
TertuUian argues, what evU did his murderers do in
the crucifying of him tf he had not a true body ? 2 for
without that he could not have truly suffered ; they
then would have been excused, he suffering nothing
at all by their means. The sacrament of the Lord's
supper is a symbol and representation of his body :
1 Cor. xi. 24, ' This is my body, which is broken for
you,' &c. Now what a pitiful thing would this sacra
mental representation thereof be, if in itself it was
not a true body ? Divers such considerations might
be insisted upon tf it was necessary.
So much for Christ's flesh in its stricter notion ; I
come now, in the second place, to consider it in its
more large and extensive notion. So Christ was
sent in flesh, that is, in the verity of man's nature ;
he verily took upon him the whole human nature,
became true man, of the same make and substance
with us, in aU things Hke to us, some things ex
cepted which do not in the least abolish or destroy
the truth of his manhood. He is called 'the man
Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5. ' Since by man came
death, by man came also the" resurrection of the
dead,' 1 Cor. xv. 21. 'He was made in the likeness
— Athan. de Incarn., p. 1083. Haec quomodo in illo vera erant
si ipse non fuit verus ? Si non vere habuit in se quod figeretur,
quod moreretur, quod sepeliretur, et resuscitaretur ? Carnem
scilicet sanguine suflusam, ossibus structam, nervis intextam,
venis implexam, quas nasci et mori novit ? — Tertull. de Came
Christi, p. 361.
1 Falsa est et fides nostra, et phantasma erit totum quod
speramus a Christo. — Tertull., ibid.
2 Scelestissime hominum, qui interemtores excusas Dei.
Nihil enim ab eis passus est Christus, si nihil vere est passus.
Parce unicae spei totius orbis, quid destruis necessarium de-
decus fidei ? — Tertull.

of men,' Phil. ii. 7. He is styled ' the Son of man,'
Dan. vii. 13 ; John iii. 13 ; ' the seed of the woman,'
Gen. iii. 15 ; 'the seed of Abraham,' Gen. xxii. 18 ;
' the seed of David,' Bom. i. 3 ; ' the Son of David,'
Mat. i. 1 ; ' the branch of David,' Jer. xxUi. 5 ; he
is said to be ' of the fruit of his loins,' Acts ii. 30.
The two essential or constitutive parts of man
are soul and body; where these two are, there is the
true man ; Christ had both, therefore he was such.
That he had a real body hath been already proved,
I am- only now to shew that he also had a real soul.1
And indeed the former proves the latter ; for if
Christ would assume the body, which is but in a
manner the bark, shell, or case of man, but the
lowest and meanest part of him, but as the covering
and garment of the soul,2 ttJ33n ttho?, as the Jews
call it, certainly he would assume the soul, the
reasonable soul, that being the highest and the
noblest part. This is that which principally makes
the man, and hath the greatest influence into his being
and essence; tf therefore our Lord had only had
a human body without a human soul, he had
wanted that part which is most essential to man,
and so could not have been looked upon as true and
perfect man ; but it was far otherwise. For indeed
Christ redeemed and saved nothing but what he
assumed, the redemption and salvation reach no
farther than the assumption ; 3 our soul then would
have been never the better for Christ had he not
taken that as weU as our body ; for rb avgoeXrivrov,
ah^dirsvrot, as Nazianzen expresses it, if he wiU save
the whole man from sin he must assume the whole
man without sin.4 It is said of him, Luke ii. 52,
he increased in wisdom and stature ; here is stature
1 Vide Aquin. Sum., 3 p. quest. 5, art. 3. Suscepit non
solum corpus humanum, ut quidam putant, sed et animam
nostrarum animarum similem per naturam. — August, de In
carn, Verbi Dei, torn. iv. lib. ii. p. 243.
2 Si o-irep ivSeSvpiv-qv trupa. — Nemes. de Nat. Horn., cap. 3,
p. 94.
3 Hoc Deus in nobis salvavit, quod pro nobis suscepit, et
illam naturam participem fecit salutis quam sibi conjunxit. —
Fulgent, ad Trasimund, kc
4 Totum hominem sine peccato suscepit, ut totum quo con-
stabat homo a peccatorum peste sanaret.— August, de Civit.
Dei., lib. x. cap. 17. Si totum debuerat liberare pietas, totum
debuit suscipere divina majestas. Totus ergo fuit hominis a
Deo suscipienda natura, quoniam in toto fuit captivitas cap-
tivanda, &c. — Fulgent, ad Trasimund. de Mysterio Mediat.

236

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII,

for his body and wisdom for his soul, his growth in
that speaks the truth of the former, and his growth
in this speaks the truth of the latter ; his body
properly could not grow in wisdom nor his soul in
stature, therefore there must be both. There are
three things in a reasonable soul, understanding,
wiU, affections ; now it is evident aU these were in
Christ. He had a human understanding, distinct
from his divine understanding, otherwise how could
he have been said to increase in wisdom ? and how
could he have been under the nescience of some
things ? as it is plain he was, for he knew not the
precise time of the day of judgment,1 Mark xiU. 32 ;
as he was God he knew all things, so his under
standing was infinite, he must therefore have some
other understanding which was but finite, in refer
ence to which there might be something which he
did not know. He also had a human will, distinct
from his divine will; for what could that wUl be
which he did submit and subordinate to the will of
his Father but this ? Luke xxii. 42, ' Nevertheless
not my wUl, but thine, be done.' Then for those
affections which are proper to the soul, it is clear
Christ had them ; as namely, anger, Mark iii. 5, and
x. 14; love, Mat. x. 21 ; sorrow, Mat. xxvi. 38,
Luke xix. 41; fear, Heb. v. 7; joy, Luke x. 21,
John xi. 15 ; pity, Mat. ix. 36, and xiu. 32. Now
where these three things are, most certainly there is
a true and real soul.
Yet here also our blessed Lord and Saviour is
assaulted. He hath two natures which make up his
person, his deity and his humanity, but both of
them by several persons are taken away, as you
heard but now ; and there are two essential parts
which make up one of his natures, his manhood,
viz., soul and body, but both of these two by several
persons are taken away also. Marcion divests him
of a body and Apollinaris of a soul,1 the Arians
also are charged with this heresy ; 2 these held that
Christ had no soul, but that the deity was to him
instead of a soul, and supplied the office thereof;
that what the soul is to us and doth in our bodies
all that the divine nature was to Christ and did in
his body.3 Oh what light can be clear enough for
1 Vide Nazianz. Orat. 36, p. 588.
¦ 2 See Epiphan., vol. i., p. 743, 771,
'"Apeios^aVEwbpios o&papiv dwrov i<paoav elX-q^evaiBebr-qra

their conviction and guidance in the way of truth,
whom God hath given up to ' strong delusions that
they should believe lies '? 2 Thess. ii. 11. Are not
the Scriptures clear enough in this matter that
Christ had a real soul ? What was the subject of
his inexpressible sorrow and agonies in the garden,
but his soul ? Matt. xxvi. 38, ' My soul is exceed
ing sorrowful, even unto death,' &c. John xh. 27,
'Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?'
What did he in special recommend to God- when he
was breathing out his last gasp, but his soul ? Luke
xxui. 46, ' When Jesus had cried with a loud voice,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit, and having said thus he gave up the ghost.'
What was the part affected in his sore desertion
when he cried out, ' My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?' Surely his body could not be
the immediate subject of a punishment purely
spiritual ; no, that must terminate in his spiritual
part, the soul. By aU this it appears then that
Christ was as truly God, so also truly man, he hav
ing a true body and a true soul.
Yet a little further, that I may take in the whole
truth, and leave out nothing which may tend to the
heightening of Christ's incomparable love and con
descension to sinners, he was not barely sent in
flesh, so far as the verity of the human nature is
concerned, in his assuming the essential parts
thereof, but he also submitted to the common
accidents, adjuncts, infirmities, miseries, calamities,
which are incident to that nature. He lay so many
weeks and months in the Virgin's womb, received
nourishment and growth in the ordinary way) was
brought forth and bred up just as common infants
are, abating some special respects shown to him to
discover the greatness of his person, had his life
sustained by common food as ours is, was hungry,
thirsty, weary, poor, reproached, tempted, deserted,
&c. ; lived an afflicted life, then died a miserable
death ; was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief, Isa. UH. 3 ; made himsetf of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, was made
in the likeness of man, PhU. ii. 7, not only in
the taking of their nature, but also in submitting
to those abasements and miseries which now that
Se fvxys evijpy-qKivai Ti)v xpetav. — Theodor., lib. 5, contra
haeres., cap. 11.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

237

nature is liable unto ; his whole life was a life of
sufferings, wherein as there was enough in his holi
ness, miracles, to shew him to be. God, so there
was also enough in his meanness, poverty, suffer
ings to shew him to be man.1 In a word, he took
all our infirmities upon him ; take it with a double
restriction, 1. To all our sinless infirmities:2 such
as are culpable and carry sin in them they must
be excepted, for though he was made like to us
in all things, yet without sin, Heb. iv. 15. 2. To
all our natural infirmities : as to personal infirmities,
such as are proper to this and that person, as
blindness, deafness, lameness, &c, these Christ did
not put himself under ; for he did not assume this
or that person, but the nature in common, and
therefore was not liable to the particular infirmities
of individuums, but only to those which properly
belonged to the common nature. I would carry
this a little higher ; though I have said so much
concerning the reality and sameness of Christ's
human nature with ours, yet you are not in all
respects to equaHse that nature as it is in him and
as it is in us ; for substance and essence it is one
and the same in both, yet in other considerations
there is a great disparity ; for
1. The human nature is solely and singly in us,
in Christ it is conjunctly with the divine.
2. We have it in the way of common and ordinary
generation, Christ had it in a special and extra
ordinary way.
3. It is tainted and defiled in us, in Christ it is
perfectly pure and holy.
4. In us* it hath its proper subsistence, in Christ
it subsists only in his Godhead.
Thus I have shewn what this sending of Christ
in the flesh is, and what it imports, viz., the truth
of his incarnation, of his body, and his assumption
of the whole, entire, and perfect nature of man;
and also, as the several heads fell in my way, I have
out of the word given you the proof of them : I say
out of the word, for these mysteries are only to be .
1 Qebs vooip,evos ttj t&v repa rav ivepyela, dvBpairos Se SeiKvipe-
vos rrj tvs (pioeois bp.oioira8iux. — Justin Martyr, Expos. Fidei.
2 'Op.6Xoyovpi.ev oti irdvra rd <pv<riKa Kal dSiafiX-qra irdB-q dvBpu-
irov dviXafiev : SXov yap rbv dvBpoywov Kal irdvra to, tov dvBpdiirov
dviXafie, irX-qv tt)s ap.aprlas.—Damascen. de Orthod. Fid. lib,
iii. c. 20,

known and beUeved upon the light and authority
thereof; if it asserts them, that certainly must be
sufficient to command the belief of Christians, who
profess in all things to make the Scriptures to be
the rule of their faith. And as to the credibility of
Christ's incarnation from rational considerations, in
subserviency to and grounded upon gospel revela
tion, sundry authors, ancient and modern, have
written very much, with great strength and evi
dence, to prove that it was neither impossible nor
incongruous, neither absurd as to the thing nor
unbecoming as to the person, for Christ to be made
flesh ; a but I will not engage so vast an argument,
having to do with those who are sufficiently satisfied
with what the word reveals.
Having thus explained and confirmed by Scrip
ture authority the point in hand, I now proceed to
a second thing — to give some short account of the
grounds and reasons why Christ was thus sent in
flesh. Paul puts an wps/Xs before it : Heb. ii. 17,
' Wherefore in all things, it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren ; ' which behoving he
brings down to one particular, ' that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God,' &c. But I must take in more.
1. Our Lord Jesus was incarnate that the Old Tes-
1 Tertull. de Carne Christi. Deo nihil impossibile nisi quod
non vult. — Quodcunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit. —
Quid magis erubescendum nasci an mori ? Carnem gestare an
crucem ? circuncidi an suffigi ? educari an sepeliri ? in praesepe
deponi an in monumento recondi ? — Vide Athanas. de Incarn.
Verbi Dei. torn. 1, p. 88, more fully, p. 95, &c. Isidor. Pehis,
Epist. 1. 1 Epist. 141. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 12, 111. Cyprian
de Bapt. Christi. p. 492. Lactant. de Vera Sapient, cap. 22.
Fulgent, ad Regem Trasim. de Christo Mediat. Anselm. cur
Deus Homo. lib. i. cap. 3, p. 92. — Hoc mysterium a recta
ratione abhorrere ac tanquam impossibile rejici, nunquam pro-
babit. Ratio quidem corrupta ac primse philosophise ignara,
futilia quaedam argumenta contra illud fingit : verum ratio
quae infinitam divinse essentiae perfectionem agnoscit, ac Scrip-
turam, ea qua par est modestia ac diligentia, consulit ac con-
fert, mysterium hoc divinae naturae omnibusque ejus attri-
butis quam convenientissimum esse fatetur. Incarnatio ilia
non solum fuit possibilis, sed ejusmodi, Patris consilio posito,
quale in hominum salute exe.qui decrevit, simpliciter necessaria ;
tantumque abest ut a divina majestate abhorreat, ut nihil ejus
omnipotentiam, omniscentiam, summam misericordiam ac
justitiam, uno verbo, infinitam ejus perfectionem magis
patefaciat ac illustret. — Bisterfeld. contra Crellium, lib. i. sect
ii. cap. 32, pp. 341, 342.

238

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII

tament promises, prophecies, types, might all be ful
filled and accomplished. The incarnation of Christ
was no new thing, or that which was never spoken
of before it was done. It was that very thing which
the Spirit of God had testified beforehand, as the
apostle speaks of his sufferings, 1 Pet. ill. It pleased
God betimes, very early to give out some, though
darker discoveries of it. You have it hinted in the
nguroivajyiXiov, the first gospel, or first gospel promise
that ever God made : Gen. Hi. 15, 'I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel.' Here is a Christ incarnate.
Then it was more clearly intimated in the promise
to Abraham : Gen. xxii. 18, 'In thy seed shaU all
the nations of the earth be blessed.' In process of
time it was again held forth in the promise made to
David, 2 Sam. vii. 12, which the apostle makes to
point to Christ : Acts H. 30, ' Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an
oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne.' Afterwards this was most expressly pro
mised and foretold ; God would have it veiled and
clouded no longer, but it shall shine forth more
clearly: Isa. vii. 14, 'Behold a virgin shall con
ceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Em
manuel ;' Isa. ix. 6, ' Unto us a child is born, unto us
a Son is given.' Yea, Moses, long before this, had
given a plain prediction of it : Deut. xviii. 15,
' The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet
from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto
me ; unto him shaU ye hearken;' ver. 18, ' I wUl raise
them up a prophet from among their brethren, like
unto thee,' &c. Now this prophecy Peter applies to
Christ, Acts iH. 22, and pray mark those words in it,
from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, which
clearly refers to his manhood and incarnation. And
that prophecy of Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 17, had some
reference to this also. You perceive I only meddle
with those Scriptural predictions of it which are un
questionable, and which God would have fulfilled ;
as to the Sybilline predictions thereof, how far they
are to be credited or valued, I concern not myself at
all in that inquiry. But if any great stress could
be laid upon them, one of these sybils went very
far — so far that some learned persons do therefore

doubt whether its prediction was genuine, upon this
very reason, because it was so express and clear.1
But I have not to do with them, but with the sure
oracles of God. Then as to types, which were no
thing but real prophecies or promises wrapped up
in visible representations, these also pointed to a
Christ in our flesh. The Old Testament dispensa
tion lay much in types, all of which pointed to
Christ as the sum and substance of them ; he was
the kernel in those shells ; all were but as so many
fascial or swaddling bands in which the babe Jesus
was wrapped, as Luther used to say. Christ, saith
a reverend author,2 was Abel's sacrifice, Noah's dove
Abraham's first fruits, Isaac's ram, Jacob's ladder
Moses' passover, Aaron's rod, the IsraeUtes' rock
the patriarchs' manna, David's tabernacle, Solomon's
temple ; and all of these, saith he, prefigured his in
carnation. But to wade into the several typical
adumbrations of this would be a long work In
short, under the law, when persons or lands were to
be redeemed, he that was next akin was to make
the redemption ; see Levit. xxv. 25, Buth ui. 13, &c.
Christ being to redeem sinners, he must take their
flesh, that he may be akin to them, their Goel, (as he
is sometimes styled,) and so be a fit person to be their
Bedeemer. The tabernacle seems to have a special
reference to Christ's manhood, so the apostle brings
tf in Heb. viii. 2 : ' A minister of the sanctuary, and
of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and
not man.' So again, Heb. ix. 11 : 'But Christ being
come an high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building,' &c. By
this tabernacle of the Lord's pitching, and not made
with hands, he means the body or flesh of Christ,
which was the true tabernacle, and of which the
common tabernacle was but a type. And, indeed,
there was so great a resemblance betwixt these two,
as that the one might very well prefigure and typify
1 Sybilla Cumaea in Virgil, Eclog. 4 —
' Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas :
Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo :
Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna :
Jam nova progenies coelo dimittitur alto,' &c.
Of this see Athanasius, torn. ii. p. 336 ; Dr Jackson on tho
Creed, book vii., sect. 2, chap. 8, p. 40, &c.
3 Bishop Brownrigge, Serm. p. 115.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

239

the other. For (1.) the outside of that tabernacle
was but mean. It was made without of very ordi
nary and common things — within, it was rich and
glorious, it being beautified with gold, silver, precious
stones, &c. ; but without all was plain, it being
covered only with rams' skins and goats' skins, and
such materials, Exod. xxv. 1, &c, and xxvi. 14, &c.
Sp here, Christ's outside was, especially to some,
but very mean : Isa. lii. 2, ' He hath no form nor
comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him ;' but yet he was
exceeding glorious ' within,' as it is said of the
church, Ps. xiv. 13. Such as had a discerning eye,
they could see the inward glory of his Godhead
shining through the cloud of his manhood : ' And
the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father,) full of grace and truth,' John i. 14.
(2.) God's special presence was in the tabernacle.
There was the Shechinah, or habitation of God,
wherein at first by an extraordinary cloud, he soni
fied his glorious presence to be, as afterwards he
did in the temple too ; by which therefore Christ
sets forth his body : John ii. 19-21, ' Jesus
answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I wiU raise it up ; but he spake
of the temple of his body.' Both tabernacle and
temple were types and resemblances of his flesh or
manhood, in respect of the special presence and in
habitation of the divine nature in it.1 Hence, some
make all those great promises made to the people
of Israel concerning God's presence with them, in
speeial Hi the tabernacle and temple, to point to
Christ's incarnation, and in that to receive their
accomplishment ; 2 (you may read them in Exod. xxv.
8; Exod. xxix. 44-46; Levit. xxvi. 11-13; Ezek.
xxxvH. 26-28.) (3.) The tabernacle was a moveable
thing.3 Whilst Israel was in the wilderness in an
itinerary posture, as they moved, the tabernacle
moved with them — it was not fixed all that time, as
afterwards it was. So it was with Christ : he was
1 Dr Cudworth on the True Notion of the Lord's Supper, p.
62. 2 Dr Jackson on the Creed, book vii. sect. 3, ch. 20.
8 Josephus calls it rao? peratpepbpevov, templum portatile. —
Antiq. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 5. And Augustine, Templum deambu-
latorium.

here on earth with his body for some time, but
neither he nor it were here long to abide. He as
cended up to heaven, and thither he carried his
body with him, and there it is fixed. This the
evangelist alludes unto : Johni. 14, ' The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt amongst us,' &c. : es7.r)iiMi, he
tented or tabernacled it for a time amongst us, in re
spect of his short abode here ; in reference to which
our bodies too are set forth by tabernacles, 2 Cor. v.
1,4; 2 Pet. i. 13, 14.
I might also instance in Melchisedech as a personal
type of Christ ; he was ' without father and mother,'
&c, Heb. vii. 3, which is very applicable to Christ;
for he, as the Son of God, was without mother, and
as the Son of man, without father.1 Well, then,
that aU these prophecies, promises, types, might be
fulfilled, it was necessary that Christ should assume
flesh. There is the first ground of it.
2. This was necessary in regard of Christ's office
and work.
(1.) As to his office. He was to be the mediator
betwixt God and man, and that was to be his great
and standing office. Now in order to his administra
tion thereof, it was requisite that he should be man
and take our nature ; for he who will be a mediator
betwixt God and man must himself be both God
and man. He must be God that he may be fit to
transact, treat, negotiate with God ; and he must be
man that he may be fit to do the same with man.
God alone was too high to deal with man, and man
alone was too low to deal with God ; and therefore
Christ was a middle person betwixt both, that he
might deal with both. He could not have been fit
to be the mediator in respect of office, if he had not
first been a middle person in respect of his natures ;
for, saith the apostle, Gal. Hi. 20, ' A mediator is not
of one, but God is one.' Not of one, that is, (1.) Not
of one person ; for mediation supposes more persons
than one. Was there none besides God himself,
Christ's mediatory work would be at an end ; that
necessarily implying different parties betwixt whom
he doth mediate. (2.) Not of one nature ; the media
tor must necessarily have more natures than one.
Observe it, God, saith the text, is one, viz., as he is
essentially considered, and therefore as so he cannot
be the mediator; but Christ, as personally con-
1 dirdrwp evreCBev, dp-qrup iKeWev. — Nazianz., torn. i. p. 375.

240

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII,

sidered, he is not of one, that is, not of one nature ;
for he is God and man too ; whereupon he is the
person who is qualified to be the mediator. And
therefore when he is spoken of as mediator, his
manhood is brought in, that nature being so neces
sary to that office : 1 Tim. ii. 5, ' For there is one
God, and one mediator between God and man, the
man Christ Jesus.'
(2.) Christ's incarnation and manhood was neces
sary in respect of that work which he was wiUing
to undertake — I mean the work of redemption. If
he will engage to redeem and save lost sinners, he
must be so qualified as that he may first make satis
faction to an injured and offended God; for that
God stood upon, and would not recede from -,1 he
had decreed, as appears by the event, to save man
that way, and what he decrees must accordingly
be accomplished; he had threatened death to the
sinner, which threatening therefore must be inflicted
either upon the offender himself or his surety ; and
God, as rector mundi, will vindicate the honour of his
government, and therefore will punish the transgres
sion of his laws. Upon such considerations as these
there must be satisfaction: Now, in order to that
there must be suffering; yea, Christ himself must
suffer, partly because he was pleased to substitute
himself in the sinner's stead, and partly because his
sufferings only could be satisfactory. But unless he
be man, how can he suffer ? So that the chain or
link Hes thus : without satisfaction, no redemption ;
without suffering, no satisfaction ; without flesh, no
suffering; therefore Christ must be incarnate. Look,
as he must be more than man, that he may be able
so to suffer, that his sufferings may be meritorious,
that he may go through with his work and conquer
aU enemies, difficulties, discouragements whatsoever,
all which could not have been done by a mere man ;
so he must be man that he may be in a capacity to
suffer, die, and obey ; for these are no works for one
who is only God.2 A God only cannot suffer, a man
1 Vide Anselm. Cur Deus Homo, lib. i. cap. 11, 12, 19 20.
2 Suscipitur a virtute infirmitas, a majestate humilitas, ut
quod nostris remediis congruebat, unus atque idem Dei et
hominum mediator et mori ex uno et resurgere possit ex
altero. Nisi enim esset verus Deus non adf erret remedium
nisi esset verus homo non prseberet exemplum.— Leo de Nativ.
Quum mortem nee solus Deus sentire, nee solus homo supe-

only cannot merit ; God cannot obey ; man is bound
to obey, whereupon his obedience will be but matter
of debt, and therefore not meritorious; wherefore
Christ, that he might obey and suffer, he was man ;
and that he might merit by his obedience and suffer
ing, he was God-man. Just such a person did the
work of redemption call for.
3. Christ must be made flesh because, as was said
before concerning his sending, this was the best, the
fittest, the most convenient way that God could
pitch upon in order to the bringing about of his
great designs. To make it the necessary way, espe
cially with respect to satisfaction, that to some pos
sibly may seem too high -,1 but surely none wUl deny
but that this was the fittest and most convenient
way ; and had it not been so, the wise God would
have taken some other way rather than it. But
did he design to advance his own glory and the sin
ner's good; to give out the highest manifestation
and utmost advancement of all his attributes; to
promote and ascertain pardon, justification, salva
tion, all grace to believers; what way could have
been thought of so proper, so effectual, as this of
Christ's coming in our flesh ? If God wiU punish
sin, was it not meet that he should punish it in that
nature in which it had been committed? What
more congruous than, since man had been the sinner,
that man should be the sufferer? By man we feU; ..
God will therefore in wisdom so order it that by
man too we shall rise again; that in the same nature
wherein the rh T^a\jp\a, the wound, had been given,
the rb <pdsp,aiiox, the cure and remedy, shaU be pro-
rare posset, humanam naturam cum divina sociavit, ut alterius
imbecillitatem morti subjiceret, ad expianda peccata ; alterius
virtute luctam cum morte suscipiens, nobis victoriam acqui-
reret. — Calvin Instit., lib. ii. cap. 12, &c. twciSav oiK iSivan ij
Bebr-qs, iraBetv, &c. — Vide Epiphan. adv. Heer., lib. ii. torn. ii.
p. 748.
1 De necessitate si quaeritur, non simplex quidem et abso-
luta fuit, sed manavit ex coelesti decreto unde pendebat homi
num salus ; caeterum quod nobis optimum erat statuit clemen-
tissimus Pater.— Calvin. Instit., lib. ii. cap. 12. Licet Deus
solo nutu voluntatis abolere potuisset peccatum, convenientius
tamen ei visum fuit, si hac justitiae via procederet ad destru-
endum regnum peccati. — Estius in loc. Poterat Deus suam
incomprehensibilem misericordiae largitatem patefacere, con-
donando noxam humano generi absque ullo actu perfects
satiefaetionis, &c— Vide Soto in Mom. viii. 3 ; et Aquin. Sum.,
p. 3, qu. 1, art. 2.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

241

vided also, as one expresses it.1 1 Cor. xv. 21,
' For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead: Bom. v. 12, 'As by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin ; and so death passed upon aU men, for that aU
< have sinned.' The human nature was to be redeemed,
therefore it was fit" that that nature should be as
sumed ; that was corrupted and spoUed in us, there
fore it was expedient that Christ, to heal this nature,
should take it upon himself pure, unstained, and
uncorrupted.2 In short, Satan had foiled and baffled
the first Adam in this nature; wherefore in it Christ,
the second Adam, wUl foU and baffle him. To man
was the law given, by man was the law broken ;
therefore by man also shaU the law be fulfilled. So
much for the grounds and reasons of Christ's incar
nation. Hitherto I have insisted upon what is more plain
and easy, and have only in a more general way
spoken to some things that concern the incarnation
and manhood of Christ. I must now endeavour
more particularly to open some other things, about
them, which are of a more mysterious and abstruse
nature. I wiU reduce aU to these seven proposi
tions. Prop. 1. That the Lord Jesus, who antecedently
to his incarnation was the Son of God, and as such
had a previous existence, even he was incarnate and
made flesh. Here the Socinians again make their
opposition; for though they acknowledge Christ's
flesh and manhood, — they had not need to deny him
that, it being all they grant him ; 3 — yet that he, as
pre-existing in the essence of God, and Hi the rela
tion of God's natural Son, did assume the human
1 Cyrill. Alexandr. Comment, in John, p. 95.
2 Nascitur ut ipsam quam prius homo vitiaverat naturam
melioraret.— August, de. Temp., Serm. 20, p. 613, &c. Et
quia ea natura pro nobis plecti debuit quae peccaverat,
quaeque erat redimenda. — Thes. Salmrnr. de Christo Mediat.,
p. 244. Quoniam justitia et lex Dei ita flagitabant, ut caro
humana quae peccaverat, eadem pro peccato lueret. — Pareus
in loc. Homo qui debuit, homo qui solvit, &c. — Bern. Ep.
ad Innocent.
8 Socin. in Explic. cap. 1 John, et in Disput. de Nat. Christi.
Smalcius Homil. in 1 John, Hom. 8, refut. thes. Qrawer et
in refut. thes. Franzii. Crellius de uno Deo Patre., lib. ii. sec,
2, cap. 5, p. 562. Ostorod. instit., cap. 17. Catech. Racov.,
p. 89.

nature and unite it to the divine in one person, this
they wiU by no means acknowledge ; nay, this they
fiercely and vehemently oppose. With what vile
reflections and opprobrious speeches do they load
this great article of our faith, as thus stated. Soci
nus is pleased to call it merum humani ingenii com-
mentum, a mere fiction of the wit of man;1 Smalcius,
a very fable ; yea, Dogma in Christiana religione fere
monstrosissimum,2 with many other such vile expres
sions which I either dread or disdain to mention.
Only there is one, from this last-named author, which
outstrips all the rest; it Is this, ' We believe, saith
he, that though it should be written not once or
twice, but very often, and that too very plainly,
that God was made man ; yet it would be much
better, (this being a thing very absurd, contrary to
sound reason, blasphemous against God,) to find out
some other sense of it which might suit with the
nature of God, rather than to take it literally accord
ing to what such words do hold forth, thereby to
expose religion to scorn.' 3 Oh the boldness and even
blasphemy of the man ! It is a vain thing to argue
with these persons, either in this or any other point
from the holy Scriptures ; for let God say there what
he will, if their reason, as the supreme judge of what
is to be believed or not to be believed, doth not Hke
it, the divine revelation, let it be never so plain,
signifies nothing. Lord, whither wUl the pride of
reason and the wickedness of the heart carry men
who are given up to themselves ? But if Scripture
revelation must be thus subjected to human reason,
let us bid adieu to aU religion, saving what is
natural. I thought this had been the highest reason
in the world ; that creatures, should beHeve what
1 Disp. de. Nat. Christi, p. 10. Humanationem merum hu
mani ingenii fuisse commentum; p. 8, stupenda Dei meta
morphosis. 2 Smalcius refut. thes. Franzii. de Person. Christi, p. 67.
Quod alicui persuaderi potuisse valde mirum esset, nisi homi
nes vivi capti et damentati essent a Sathana, &c. Dogma tre-
mendum.— Id. Hom. 8, in 1 cap. John, p. 87.
8 Credimus etiamsi non semel atque iterum, sed satis crebro
et apertissime scriptum extaret, Deum esse hominem factum,
multo satius esse, quia haec res sit absurda et sanae rationi plane
contraria, et in Deum blasphema, modum aliquem discendi
comminisci, quo ista de Deo dicipossint, quam ista simpliciter
ita ut verba sonant intelligere, &c— Smalcius, Homil. 8, in
John, p. 89. 2

242

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

God reveals, because he reveals it, though they with
their poor, dim, and shallow reason cannot compre
hend what is so revealed by him. But I am fallen *
upon another controversy.
I hope to speak to those who bear a greater reve
rence to the sacred Scriptures ; and surely tf these
may be believed, what can be more clear than this,
that Christ is not only man, but that he who was
before the Son of God was afterwards in time made
the Son of man ? Mark the text, ' God sent his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ; ' where Christ is
supposed antecedently to be God's Son, then as such
he was sent, and then incarnate. So Gal. iv. 4,
' When the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son made of a woman, made under the
law : ' John i. 14, ' The Word was made flesh.' It
is not only he, that is Christ the personal Word, was
flesh, but he was made flesh ; so the word tyltsro is
rendered elsewhere, John i. 12 ; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Bom.
vii. 13 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; Bom. i 3 ; Gal. iv. 4 ; and the
subject matter determines it to be so rendered here
also. But how was Christ made flesh ? Was this
spoken of him only in respect of his mean, afflicted,
calamitous state and condition here ? Was that all
that was meant by it? Surely no. That was so
far from being all, that the evangelist had it not at
all in his eye when he uttered these words ; for he
adds, ' And we saw his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father;' he joins his being
made flesh with the glory of his person, not with
the meanness of his condition. And further, the
substance must antecede the adjunct ; the truth of
the human nature must go before the abasement and
miseries of it. So that when it is said, ' the Word
was made flesh,' it can carry no other sense than
that Christ took- the very nature and substance of
man upon him ; I say Christ, for it is very evident,
where men do not wUfully shut their eyes, that he
is all along set forth by the Word, he being the per-
. sonal, essential, and substantial Word. Now, observe
he was the Word before he assumed flesh, and he who
was so pre-existing he assumed flesh ; for it is ' the
Word was made flesh,' plainly implying the antece
dency of his being in that notion to this his incarna
tion. Socinus is shrewdly pinched with this text,
insomuch that he is fain to faU upon every word in
it, with his usual criticisms and forced senses, there

by to evade and elude the strength of it ; but all his
attempts are in vain. So also (for the word is not
sparing in the revealing of this truth, though our
adversaries are pleased to assert the contrary,)1' Heb.
ii. 14-16, ' Forasmuch then as the children are par
takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death he might
Uestroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil : for verily he took not on him the nature of
angels, but. he took on him the seed of Abraham.'
Here the apostle lays tf down over and over by
taking : ' he took part of the same,' ' he took not on
him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed
of Abraham,' thereby to note Christ's assuming of
the human nature, and joining of it to that other
nature which he had before : 1 Tim. Hi. 16, 'With
out controversy great is the mystery of godliness ;
God was manifest in the flesh,' &c. A person here
must be spoken of, and the Lord Jesus must be that
person ; for the following matter, ' justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory,'
is only applicable to a person, and to Christ as that
person. By the way, they who alter the reading
of the text, putting out hoc, and putting in 6,2 and so
carrying it from the person of Christ to the gospel,
have done no good service either to the truth in
general, or in special to that particular truth which
I am upon. Now it is not here said only that Christ
was manifested in the flesh, but God was, &c, to shew
that he who was incarnate ' (for that is the manifes
tation in the flesh here intended) was first God, or
God before, and then he was incarnate. It is a
mighty scripture that in PhU. U. 6, 7, ' Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God.' Here is Christ's pre-existing in
the nature of the Godhead, and then after this
comes his manhood. ' But made himself of no re
putation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men.'
It would be a long work to draw out the full
strength of these and several other texts, in order
to the more undeniable proving of the proposition
before us ; as also to answer the various replies, eva-
' Socin. de Nat. Christi, p. 7. Smalc. Hom. 8, in 1 c. John,
p. 88. ' '
2 Erasmus, Grotius, &c.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

243

sions, misinterpretations about them by such who
dissent ; and yet I could most wilhngly engage
therein did I think such an undertaking would be
proper in such a discourse as this, or tend to the
advantage of any. But the truth is, I fear I should
but perplex private Christians with things that pos
sibly would be too high for them ; and I am sure I
should do that which is needless for others who
know where this is done already.1 And indeed the
whole matter in this controversy is by Crellius him
setf brought into a narrow compass, wherein we are
very wUling to join issue with him, for he grants if
Christ did pre-exist before he was incarnate, that
then his incarnation must needs be believed and
owned according to our stating of it ; but I have
already proved 2 — and others do it much more fully
—that he did so pre-exist ; therefore, upon that
concession, the thing is clear, and I need say no
more upon it. Only let me leave this one word with
our opposers, their homo Deus f actus is the greatest
falsehood ; but our Deus homo f actus is the greatest
truth. Prop. 2. The second proposition is this : That
Christ the Son of God, the second person in the in
effable Trinity, he only was incarnate. It is here
said, ' God sending his own Son in the likeness,'
&c. ; the taking, then, of flesh was that personal act
which was proper to the Son alone : and in that so
often alleged text, John i. 14, it is said, ' The Word
was made flesh ; ' which title, the Word, is never at
tributed to the Father, or to the Spirit, but always
to the Son, and you see he is the person who was
made flesh. It is true, incarnation was the act of
the whole Trinity approbative, but it was only the
Son's act terminative ; aU the persons approved of
it and concurred to it, but it was terminated only in
Christ, the second person.3 The schoolmen compare
Christ's flesh to a garment made by three virgin
sisters, which yet but one of them only wears. A
1 Arnold. Catech. Racov: major, p 271 ; Calov. Socin. Pro
flig., p. 285; Cocceius against Socin., in cap. 1, John, cap. 15 ;
Bisterf. against Crellius, p. 564 ; Jacob, ad Portum against Os-
torod., p. 166 ; Owen against Biddle, chap, xiii., p. 289, &c.
2 See p. 179, &c.
3 Sola persona filii incarnata est, operante tamen eandem
incarnationem tota sancta Trinitate, cujus opera sunt insepara-
bilia. — August. Quest, de Trinit., torn. iii. p. 1040. Vide An
selm. de Incarn. Verbi, cap. 3 et 4.

question is commonly here started, Why the second
person rather than the first or the third was thus
incarnate ? J Which some do venture to answer by
assigning the reasons of it. I humbly conceive
there is too much of curiosity in the question, and
too much of boldness in the answer. Why Christ
was incarnate, I can give several reasons ; but why
he rather than the other persons, there I must be
silent. It is also queried, there being such an one
ness betwixt all the persons, How the Son can be
said to assume the human nature, and yet the Father
and Spirit not assume it ? 2 To which the answer
is obvious : this difference might very well be upon
that personal distinction which is betwixt them, for
this assumption of flesh being not the act of the
nature, which is common, but of the person, which
is limited, the second person might so assume, and
yet the other persons not.
Prop. 3. Thirdly, Christ's incarnation was in time,
and not tUl the fulness of time. He was always
God, for he that is not always God is never God,
the divine essence admitting neither of beginning
nor end ; but he was not always man ; there never
was a time in which he was not God, but there was
a time in which he was not man.3 His generation
as the Son of God was eternal ; but his generation
as the Son of man was but temporal. ' In the ful
ness of time God sent his Son, made of a woman,'
&c, Gal. iv. 4. The evangelist sets him forth in his-
two natures, John i. ; with respect to his divine na
ture, he shews that he was from everlasting : ' In
the beginning was the Word,' &c. ; ' the same was
in the beginning with God,' &c. ; then he comes to
his human nature, and that he shews was in time,
' the Word was made flesh ; ' he was not so ab
ceterno, but he was m'ade so in time. In such a sense
Christ may be said to be incarnate from aU eternity,
viz., in regard of God's eternal purpose and decree,
as in reference' to that he is said to be ' the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world,' Eev. xiU. 8 ;
1 See Lombard., lib. iii. dist. 1. Dr Jackson on the Creed,
book vii. p. 255.
2 Of this see Zanchy de Tribus Elohim,- lib. v. cap. 6, p.
546, &c. ; Tilen. de Incarn. Filii Dei, disp. 1, sec. 20 ; Aug.
Serm. 3, de Temp.
3 Neque enim caro ilia quae ex carne virginis nata est semper
fuit, sed Deus, qui semper fuit, ex carne virginis in carne ho
minis advenit. —Cassian. de Incam.-Dom., lib. 6.

244

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

but as to the actuality of his incarnation, that was
but sixteen hundred and odd years ago.
A double inquiry here wiU be made. As (1.) If
this was deferred so long, what then became of those
who Uved and died before Christ was incarnate?
If that was so necessary as hath been sheWn, what
became of the patriarchs, — of all who lived under
the law before that was in being ? I answer, they
had the merit, virtue, benefit of the thing, though
they had not the thing itself ; for God having de
creed it, and Christ having covenanted and engaged
to the Father, that in the fulness of time he would
take flesh, the Father all along looked upon it as
actually done, and accordingly dealt with believers
under the law as though it had been actually done ;
insomuch that they had the same benefit by a Christ
in flesh which we now have. Therefore, it is said,
Bom. Ui. 25, ' Whom God set forth to be a propi
tiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God:' Heb. ix. 15,
' For this cause he is the mediator of the new tes
tament, that by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first testa
ment, they which are called might receive the pro
mise of eternal inheritance. Whatever our Lord is
now, since the actual exhibition of him, he was the
same before effectively and virtually, for it is ' Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever,'
Heb. xiii. 8. We read Mark xi. 9, 'They that
went before, and they that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna : Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord.' BeUevers who lived before Christ's in
carnation, and they who foUow since, both are
equaUy obUged to magnify God for him, both re
ceiving the same benefifby him.
(2.) It may be inquired why at this very epocha,
or period of time, rather than at any other, was
Christ incarnate ? Why not either before or after,
but just then ? Ans. : Why, because it was that
very time which God had set, therefore called ' the
fulness of time,' Gal. iv. 4. He that is pleased to
set the time for other things — as for the church's
deliverances : ' Thou shalt arise and have mercy
upon Zion, for the time to favour her, yea, the set
time is come,' Psa. cii. 13 ; and so in several other
cases— surely he was pleased to set the tune for so

great a thing as the coming of his own Son in the
flesh. He, in his eternal decree, had determined the
precise time for this, which, therefore, when it was
come, then Christ came. Now, I say, aU must be
resolved into this. True, there were some more im
mediate reasons why he came just when he did. He
was to come before the sceptre was whoUy departed
from Judah, Gen. xlix. 10 ; whilst the seeond temple
was standing, Hag. ii. 6-9 ; during the fourth mon
archy, 'Dan. H. 44 ; Daniel's seventy weeks were al
most expired, Dan. ix. 24. There was a general ex
pectation raised in the world of the coming of the
Messiah, as might easily be made out. Now, with
respect to these things, the Lord Jesus came at that
very period of time whereat he did ; but they all
falling out but in compUance with and subordination
to the decree of God, therefore the determination of
the time of Christ's coming and incarnation must
ultimately be resolved into that : Oh he just came
when he did, neither sooner nor later, because the
Father had appointed that very time.
Prop. 4. It was not the divine nature or essence,
simply and absolutely considered, which assumed
flesh, but it was that nature considered as subsisting
in the second person.1 If this restriction and stating
of the point be not admitted, we cannot avoid our
holding the incarnation was common to aU the per
sons, contrary to what the church hath ever held,
and to what was asserted but even now ; therefore
when it is said, 'God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim.
Hi. 16, you are to understand God in the personal,
not in the essential notion.
Prop. 5. The nature assuming was the divine na
ture, that being considered as was laid down in the
foregoing proposition. The manhood did not assume
the Godhead, but the Godhead it ; man did not be-
1 Tota igitur natura divina fuit incarnata, sed non quatenus
absolute et in se consideratur ut omnibus personis communis,
sed quatenus personalibus proprietatibus seu rbira birdp£eusw
persona filii determinata consideratur.— Davenant. in Col. ii.
9, p. 240. Solus Filius suscepit humanitatem in singularitatem
personae, non in unitatem naturae divines  Concil. Tolet.
Neque enim divina natura, si proprie et accurate loqui velimus,
sed persona divina assumsit naturam humanam. Divina quidem
natura unitur humanae, sed earn non assumsit, assumere enim
non est naturae sed suppositi.— Bisterf. contra CreU. p. 565.
Vide Alting. Theol. Problem., pp. 562, 577.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

245

come God, but God became man.1 It is not said
that the flesh was made the Word, but the Word was
made flesh.2 This is a thing so unquestionable, that
the very naming of it is enough.
Prop. 6. The Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God,
God blessed for ever, did so assume the human nature
as in a most mysterious and inconceivable manner
to unite it, upon the first framing or forming of it,
to his divine nature, and to give that a subsistence
hi this, so as that both do make but one person ; the
essence, properties, operations of both natures yet
remaining the same, without either conversion or
confusion. Here the hypostatical union is both
asserted and also described, for wherein doth the
nature of that union consist, but in that which is
here laid down ? Of it you read, Col. ii. 9, ' In him
dweUeth aU the fulness of the Godhead bodily,' i.e.,
personaUy and hypostatically. Bom. ix; 5, ' Whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.'
Here is both the natures of Christ, and both in him
making but one person ; upon the personal conjunc
tion of which he is called ' Emmanuel, God with us,'
Mat. i. 23.
But not to insist upon the proof of this union,
which all but infidels and Socinians do believe, I will
endeavour, as weU as I can, rather to explain and
open it; an undertaking which I enter upon, the
Lord knows, with great fear and dread, because of
the loftiness and mysteriousness of the thing to be
opened. Oh it is a thing so sublime and mysterious
as that it transcends the capacity of angels and men !
How then shaU I be able to speak of it or to it?
Take whom you will, single out a person of the
sharpest wit, the profoundest judgment, the most
elevated reason, let all the most raised abilities con
cur in him, and then set the hypostatical union be
fore this person. Alas ! poor man, how will he be
puzzled, nonplussed, unable to fathom so great a
depth as this ! And well he may, since it is the
mystery of mysteries, one of the first magnitude,
than which by a narrow intellect none more hard to
be conceived of or understood. It is indeed sure
1 Aio oi AvBponrov diroBeaBivra, dXXd Bebv ivavBponr^o-avTo,.
—Damasc. de Orthod. Fide, lib. iii. cap. ii., p. 167.
2 0 Xbyos o-dpi. yiyovev, oixl t\ <rdp% Xbyos Upnrai.—Athan.
de Inc. Christi, torn. i. p. 612.

and certain to faith, which beheves it because God
reveals it ; which readily answers all objections, and
solves all difficulties about it by resting on divine
revelation -,1 but if reason, beyond its proper bounds,
will be prying into and judging of a thing so abstruse,
its blindness as well as its boldness will soon appear.
Its bucket wiU not go to the bottom of a well so
deep ; its Une is too short to measure such heights,
breadths, lengths, depths as are here to be found. I
do not in the least wonder that they who make rea
son to be the supreme judge of matters of faith do
throw off the belief of this mystery, for though it
be not at all contrary to reason, that being supposed
to be modest and rectified, yet it is infinitely above
it. There are several unions in nature, but all come
short of this ; there is no resemblance in the whole
compass of nature that doth exactly reach it. Some
I know speak of a plant which hath no root of its
own, only it grows and is sustained by a tree of
another kind,2 by which they would shadow out the
subsistence of the human nature of Christ in the
divine. Others tell us the union of the soul and
body in man is of all resemblances the most fully
expressive of this union.3 Now it is granted these
or some other such like resemblances may hold forth
something of it; but, alas ! it is but something — they
go but a little way. Their discoveries are as imper
fect as those which some travellers make ofthe world,
who when they have seen and said aU they can do,
yet leave a vast terra incognita undiscovered. ' With
out controversy great is the mystery of godhness,
God manifested in the flesh,' &c. Christ's incarnation
hath the precedency before all the other mysteries
which are there mentioned about him. If that in it
self be such a mystery, how must the mystery there
of be heightened, the hypostatical union being taken
in and added to it ? The mystical union is very
mysterious, the hypostatical union much more. Well
therefore might I in the proposition thus lay it down,
that the uniting of the human nature in Christ to
the divine is done in a most mysterious and incon
ceivable manner. Well, upon the due weighing of
1 irpb<pepe irotp-qv Xiaiv, rty trianv. — Justin. Martyr.
2 See Mr Perkins on Gal., p. 273.
3 Yet there is a disparity in the union of these two in man,
and of the two natures in Christ. Of which see Dr Jackson
on the Creed, book vii., p. 333.

246

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

that which hath been said, it concerns me with all
tenderness and humiUty to treat of this argument,
and to fetch in all the light and dtfection that ever
I may — for I shaU need it all — from the word and
Spirit. (1.) I desire that this in the general maybe taken
notice of, that the hypostatical union is no common
or ordinary union, but that which is special and
extraordinary. Oh it is a union by itself, that
which is of a very different and peculiar nature
from all other unions, of which there is great
diversity. For instance, there is a union by appo
sition, as in the several parts of a building; by
mixtion, as in the several elements in a compound
body ; by alteration, as when water is turned into
wine. There is a natural union, as in the soul and
body in man ; a moral union, as betwixt friend and
friend; a relative union, as betwixt husband and
wife ; a mystical union, as betwixt Christ and be
Uevers ; a union in respect of special presence or
inhabitation, of special assistance, of special grace
and favour, which was all that Nestorius would
grant in the union of Christ's divine nature with his
human ; but most falsely, for then there would be
no more, for substance, in the hypostatical union
than what there is in that which belongs to all be
Uevers, Christ being in these respects united also to
them, though in a lower degree.1 Now some of these
unions are not at all appUcable to Christ ; such as
are so do yet come short of that high and glorious
union that is betwixt his Godhead andhis manhood;
alas ! take the highest of them, what is it when
compared with the hypostatical union ! You will
ask me, why? or what is there in that more than in
them? Let the following head be observed, and
there wiU be the solution of this question. I add
therefore, (2.) The two natures are so united in Christ as
that the human doth subsist in the divine, and that
both do make up but one person. Herein lies the
formal nature of the hypostatical union, that wherein
it differs from and transcends all other unions what
soever ; the explication of this therefore I must a
little insist upon.
[1.] First, The conjunction of the two natures in
1 oiSiv oiv SiaQipei -qpwv, kc. — Athan. de Inc. Verbi Dei p
593.

Christ is so near, as that the Godhead imparts sub
sistence to the manhood ; for the manhood as it is
in Christ is awxSa* -arog, having no subsistence but
what it hath in the personaHty of the eternal Word •
so it subsists, and no otherwise. And here is one
great difference betwixt the human nature as in us
and as in Christ ; in us it hath its proper person
ality and subsistence, in Christ it hath not so. But
how comes this .about ? Take an answer to that
from a judicious divine,1 ' It is true, saith he, the
essential parts of a man's body and soul being
united, would have constituted a person, as they do
in all other men, if they had been left to themselves •
but it was prevented and stayed from subsisting in
itself, and was drawn into the unity of the second
person by divine and supernatural operation •
whereby it was highly advanced, and subsists in a
more eminent sort than tf could have done if it had
become a rational human person. And this may
also prevent that objection which -from hence so
readUy offers itself, viz., that if the human nature in
Christ hath not a personal subsistence belonging to
it, then it wants that*, perfection which that nature
commonly hath in all men, which seems to make it
less perfect and excellent in him than it is hi them.2
This is easily answered : the consequence is not good,
because the want of this subsistence is compensated
with advantage in that subsistence which the man
hood hath in the Godhead; in which the human
nature subsisting, it is so far from being depressed.
that it is highly advanced ; as the sensitive soul in
man, being joined with a nobler soul and subsisting
in it, is thereupon more excellent than the sensitive
soul in a beast, though there it hath a subsistence
distinct from and independent upon the reasonable
soul. [2.] Secondly, Such is the union of the human
with the divine nature in Christ, that it is taken
into his person, and both make but one person.8
1 Estwick against Biddle, p. 113.
2 Incarnatio non est qualiscunque unio, sed est specialissima,
proxima, et immediatissima unio, qua persona divina humanam
naturam sua personalitate carentem ita terminat, ut earn per
sonaliter sustentet, ipsique illud complementum, attamen
longe eminentiori modo, communicet, quod a sua connaturali
personalitate accepisset.— Bisterf. contra CreU., p. 568. Vid.
Davenant. in Colos., p. 244.
3 Deus in acternain personam .Deitatis temporalem accepit

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

247

Here is the difference betwixt the essential union of
the three persons, where there is but one nature yet
three persons ; as also betwixt the mystical union of
believers, where there is the union of persons, yet
not so as to make one person ; and the hypostatic
union of the two natures in Christ ; for against the
former, here is distinction of natures, yet but one
ness of person ; and against the latter, here is the
union of natures, and so as to make but one person.
And this foUows upon the former head ; for if the
manhood hath not personaHty in itself, but only
subsists in the Godhead, then it cannot cause any
personal multiplication in him. In short, in Christ
there is nature and nature, but not' person and per
son ; aliud et aliud, but not alius et alius, for it is
but one Christ ; as soul and body make but one man,
so God and man make, I say, but one Christ.1 We
caU it the personal union, but how ? Not because it
is .made up of persons, but because it centres in one
person. Christ took the nature of man, but not
the person of man ; nature did not assume nature,
nor did person assume person, but person assumed
nature.2 He was a person before incarnation, and
his personality, or distinct personality, did not result
from the unition of the two natures, only they are
said to make one person, as the latter nature makes
no personal addition to Christ. And he was a per
fect person before the union, only in ordine adfinem,
the redeeming of man, he was pleased to take the
manhood into communion with the Godhead.3 So
much for these two things, wherein the nature of
the hypostatical union mainly lies.
(3.) Though this union be thus close and intimous,
yet notwithstanding, the essence, properties, opera
tions of both natures are preserved entire, without
any conversion or confusion. Nestorius multiplies
the person ; Eutyches errs upon another extreme, as
it is usual when the staff is crooked and bends too
much one way, they that would make it straight do
often make it to bend as much the other way. He
substantiam carnis. — August. Duas substantias accipimus in
uno filio Dei, unam Deitatis, aliam humanitatis, non duas
personas.— Idem, de Trinit. et Unit. Dei. Vid. Anselm. de
Incarn. Verbi., cap. 5, p. 87.
1 In Deo non aliud et aliud, quia una natura ; in Christo
non alius et alius, quia una persona.
2 Aquin. Sum., 3 part, quaest. 4, art 2.
3 Vide Daven. in Colos:, 242.

confounds the natures ; to shun the plurality of
persons he destroys the distinction of the natures ;
asserting that after the union the human nature was
wholly swallowed up in the divine, and so leaving
but one nature to Christ : both of these opinions
were condemned by the primitive Church as equally
false, heretical, and dangerous. Here is the admir-
ableness of this union ; though the Godhead and the
manhood are brought into so near a conjuntion, yet
both retain that which is essential and proper to
each ; the one is not converted into the other, nor
yet both confounded in one. ' The Word was made
flesh,' but not so as to cease to be the Word still ; x
when Christ was incarnate he did not part with
what he had, only he took what he had not ; there
was assumption, but no abolition, no conversion, no
confusion.2 Indeed the two natures stand at so
great a distance, that though they may admit of
union, yet they are not capable of any transmuta
tion or commixtion ; the Godhead can never be so
1 "O p,iv fy Stipeivev, b Si our ijv irpoaiXafiev. — Nazianz. Orat.
35, 375. Non potes dicere, nisi natus fuisset et hominem
vere induisset, Deus esse desiissit, amittens quod erat, dum fit
quod non erat. Periculum enim status sui Deo nullum est,
kc — Tertull. de Carn. Chr., p. 359. Quasi non valuerit
Christus vere hominem indutus Deus perseverare. — Idem., p.
360. Verbum caro factum est, &c, non in carnem mutatum,
ut desisteret esse quod erat, sed caepit esse quod non erat. —
August, de Trin. et Unit., torn. iv. p. 947 and Ep. 174. Non
mutando quod erat, sed assumendo quod non erat.
2 Nemo credat Dei Filium coaeternum et coaequalem con-
versum esse in hominis Filium, sed potius credamus, ut non
consumpta divina, et perfecte assumpta humana substantia,
manentem Dei Filium factum hominis Filium. — August, de
Temp., Serm. 23, p. 616, kc Neutra tamen ex duabus naturis
in aliam mutata est substantiam, unita quippe est, non conf usa,
verbi Dei hominisque substantia, ut in Deum quod ex nobis
susceptum fuerat perveniret. 0 admirabile mysterium ! 0
innarrabile commercium ! — Aug. Medit., cap. 16. oi rpairels
tt)v (pifftv : ivoiBels KaB' iiroo-Tatnv davyxirois Kal dvdXXouliTUs
xal dSuxipirois, p-q perapaXoiv r'qv rrp Bebrqros dvrov (piaiv els
ri\v t?)s ffapxbs oialav, p-qre T-h/v oifflav rijs aapKbs dvrov els T-qv
(piaai -rijs dvrov Bebr-qros. — Damasc. Orth. Fid., lib. iii. cap. 2,
vide etiam ibid., cap. 3. oiK b fjv p,era§aXwv, arpeirTov yhp, &XX&
b oiK fjv -irpoo-Xa^av. — Nazianz. Orat. 39. Xbyos Kal irpb t^s
oapKbs Kal perd t4\v iv <rapd diKovoplav Xbyos, Kal ipi Kal earl, ko.1
b Bebs irpb ttjs tov SoiXov pop<pijs Kal p*ra rdvT^v b Bebs iffrc, ke.
— Nyssen. contra Apollinar., lib. ii. p. 69. oihe 6 9jv rpairels,
Kal 6 oiK fy irpoaXafiuv. — Isidor. Pelus., lib. i. Ep. 323. ttj
ivtlxrei Kal -ri? owaipela (v ionv b Bebs Xbyos Kal -q aap£, oi ovy-
Xio-eus yevopivvs, oi&i dfpavurpov t&v opamv, dXX ivuxreas

248

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. Xli

depressed as to be turned into the manhood, nor
the manhood ever be so advanced as to be turned
into the Godhead. The Athanasian creed thus sets
it forth : ' Although Christ be God and man, yet he
is but one Christ ; one, not by conversion of the
Godhead into the flesh, but by taking of the man
hood into God ; one altogether, not by confusion of
substance, but by unity of person.' The Scriptures
plainly hold forth the two natures of Christ to be
distinct even after the union ; turn to Bom. i. 3, 4,
and ix. 5 ; 1 Peter iii. 18 ; 2 Cor. xHi. 4. To which
texts let me add a few considerations drawn out of
some other texts. Christ says, John x. 30, ' I and
my Father are one,' there is his Godhead; but
withal he says, John xiv. 28, ' My Father is greater
than I,' there is his manhood too ; he says, John vUi.
58, ' Before Abraham was, I am,' there is his being
God ; and yet he was born but the other day, there
is his being man too : he had the divine nature, for
he was omniscient ; but he had the human also at
the same time, for he is said to grow in wisdom, Luke
ii. 52 ; and not to know the time of the last judg
ment, Mark xiu. 32, of which before. He was God,
and so the Father's will and his were all one, but
he was also man, and so he prayed, 'nevertheless not
my will, but thine, be done,' Luke xxii. 42. He was
the Lord of David and the Son of David, the branch
of David and the root of David, Mat. xxu. 45 ; both
root and offspring, Eev. xxii. 16 ; how could such
different things be affirmed of him, but upon the
distinction of his two natures ? That therefore' is not
in the least impeached by the hypostatical union.
True, upon this union there is the communication of
properties betwixt them, so as that that which is
proper to one nature is apphed to the other, as you
see, John Hi. 13 ; 1 Cor. ii 8 ; Acts xx. 48, and so
as that that which is predicated of the one may be
also predicated of the other; I mean in the con
crete, for in the abstract this will not hold, as I can
not say the Deity is the humanity or the humanity
is the Deity, yet I may truly say God is man and
appfy-ov.—CJirysostAn John i. 14. Vide Athan. de Inc. Christi,
p. 624. See Leporius., his recantation in Cassian. de Incarn.
Dom. lib. 1. Agit utraque forma cum alterius communione
quodproprium est, verbo sciL operante quod verbi est, et carne
exequente quod carnis est.-ieo in Ep. ad Flav. Ep. Constan-
tinop.

man is God : a communication of properties, thus
far or in this sense, we deny not ; it foUows upon the
union ; but that that which is essential to one nature
should really, physically, be conveyed and made
over to the other nature, as omnipresence, ubiquity
omniscience, &c, from the Godhead to the man
hood, which is the popish and Lutheran communi
cation; this, as implying a contradiction, and carrying
in it a perfect repugnancy to the nature of the thing,
we cannot assent unto.
(4.) No sooner was the human nature framed or
formed, but in that very instant of time it was united
to the divine nature. This also I put down as
another branch of the main proposition. It was
taken as soon as it was made ; its first existence and
its union were contemporary.1 We distinguish be
twixt the formation, sanctification, and assumption
of the human nature, and we conceive of these as
done successively in such an order, first that nature
was formed, then sanctified, then assumed. But
this is merely founded upon our conception, not that
it was so indeed and really as to the things them
selves ; for in truth there was no priority of time-
priority of nature I deny not— betwixt the one and
the other ; but at the very same moment wherem
by the power of the Holy Ghost the manhood of
Christ was formed, it was also sanctified and united
to the Godhead. A question here is moved by
some whether Christ's human nature was complete
and perfect at the first ; that is, whether, as soon as
ever his flesh was formed, his soul was infused and
united to it ? or whether, as it is with us, there was
not some space of time intervening betwixt the for
mation of the flesh and the infusion of the soul? In
the discussing of which there is a difference among
them ; some being for the affirmative,2 and others
being for the negative.3 But, which is to my pur
pose, all agree in this, that whether it was only
flesh for some time, or whether both flesh and soul
were formed together, yet still the union began at
the first instant of the incarnation. There was a
time before Christ's manhood did exist ; but as soon
1 "Apd o-api, «/»a Xoyov o-dp^.—Damasc. Orth. Fid., lib. iii.
cap. 2. Vide Lombard., lib. iii. dist. 2.
2 Sharp. Cursus Theol., p. 362.
3 Lud. Capellus in Thes. Salmur., part ii. p. 12, thes. 15;
Dr Jackson on the Creed, book vii. sect. 3, cap. 29, p. 324.

Chap. XII.] '

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

249

as ever it did exist there was no time wherein it was
under disunion and disjunction from his Godhead.
Thus I have endeavoured by these four things to
give you a little light concerning the hypostatical
.union of the two natures in Christ's person, which
this sixth proposition led me unto ; a point of such
high importance, and so proper to the subject in
hand, that I could not wholly pass it over, and yet
withal so sublime and mysterious that I can neither
speak nor conceive of it according to what is in it.
Prop. 7. Let me add but one thing further. It is
probable, had there been no sin, that Christ had riot
been sent in flesh ; or had not Adam fallen, and
thereby involved his whole posterity in a state of
sin and guilt, it is probable that Christ had not been
incarnate. I express it modestly, going no higher
thatf it is probable; because though the Scriptures
make it certain to me, yet it is not so to others, nay,
some are of a quite other opinion. The question is
not, de possibili, what God by his absolute power
and wUl might aud could have done ; but only de
facto, whether, tf man had not sinned, Christ should
' actually have assumed our nature ; about which the
schools, with other divines, are divided, some affirm
ing it,1 some denying it.2
The former affirm, though sin had not been, yet
Christ would have come in flesh, not to have died
or suffered, but only to have let the world see the
glory and excellency of his human nature, that so
great a work as his incarnation might not have
been lost or not done, that God thereby might give
out ' a singular demonstration of his love to man . The
latter cannot lay so great a stress upon these things,
and therefore assert, if man had not sinned, Christ
had not been incarnate. And indeed their opinion
seems to be more agreeable to the word ; for that
usually mentions saving from sin, and the taking
away of sin, as the end and ground of Christ's taking
1 Scotus in part iii. disput. 7, quest. 3 : Absque praejudicio
concedi potest, etiamsi humana natura non peccasset, adhuc
Christum carnem sumpturum fuisse. Alex. Alens., part iii. qu. 2,
memb. 13 ; Catharinus de praed. Christi ; Pet. Galatinus de Arc.
Cathol. ver., lib. vii. cap. 2 ; Osiander, &c.
2 Aquinas, part iii. qu. 1, art. 3 ; Vasquez. in part iii. torn. i.
disp. 10, art. 3 ; Becan. Theol. Schol., part iii. cap. 1, qu. 7 ;
Calvin. Instit., lib. ii. cap. 12, against Osiander; Hoorneb.
Socin. Confut., torn. ii. lib. i. cap. 2, p. 253 ; Stegm. Photin.,
disp. 15, p. 176 ; Alting. Theol. Probl., Loc. 12, Prob. 5, p. 564.

flesh. My text describes the state of the sinner to
be desperate upon the terms of the law ; and then
upon that God sent his Son in flesh. It adds, fur
ther, he was thus sent to ' condemn sin in his flesh,'
so that, had there been no sin to have been con
demned, he had not been sent in flesh. So Mat. i.
21, ' She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins.' 1 Tim. i 15, ' This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' &c.
John i. 29, ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.' Dan. ix. 24, ' Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon
the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity.' Tit. ii. 14, 'Who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity.' Mat. xviii.
11, ' For the Son of man is come to save that which
was lost.' As soon as man fell Christ was promised
as incarnate, Gen. iii. 15, but not before. The truth
is, had we not been captives, what need would there
have been of a redeemer? had we not been sick
and wounded, what need of a physician ? had there
been no breach betwixt God and us, what need of a
mediator in the way of reconciliation I1 As to that
which some allege, that Christ might have come
though there had been no siu, for this end, that he
might have secured man, though in innocency, from
death, that is grounded upon a mere falsehood ; for
had there been no sinning, there would have been
no danger of dying, and consequently no need of
one to secure from death in a sinless state.2
I have done with the first thing observed in the
words, Christ was sent in flesh, in the opening of
which I have been somewhat large ; but if that be
all, I hope none will blame me for it ; for the incar
nation and manhood of the Son of God being the
great foundation of our happiness, a thing wherein
we have the very pith and marrow of the gospel, the
1 Venit Filius hominis quaerere et salvare quod perierat ; si
homo non periisset, filius hominis non venisset— Aug., Serm. 8,
de Verbis Apost. Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino,
nisi peocatores salvos facere : tolle vulnera, tolle morbos, et
nulla est medicinae causa. — Idem, Serm. 9.
2 Smalcius, disp. 12, contra Franzium. See Franzius's
answer to him de Sacrif., disp. 15, th. 75, &c. 2 I

250

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

highest demonstration of the love of God, surely I
could not stay too long upon it. It is an argument
which very many have wrote upon, and some very
fully ; x but that which I have said, as it was neces
sary, because tbe text led me to it, so it is sufficient
with respect to my design in this work.
Before I fall upon the application of this head I
must speak something to the second, namely, that
Christ was sent ' in the likeness of sinful flesh ;' the
apostle doth not say only God sent him in flesh, but
he adds in the likeness of sinful flesh.
In the handUng of this I have two things to open :
1. Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh.
2. It was but in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Of the first. The apostle again uses his former
Hebraism, for in the Greek it is ' in the Hkeness of
.the flesh of sin,' which is as much as, according to
our rendering of it, ' in the likeness of sinful flesh.'
The meaning of it is this, as Christ had true flesh, so
he was under some appearance of having sinful flesh,
there was some outward show, as if his human nature
had been tainted with sin ; he externally appeared
like a sinner, yea, as like a sinner as one could do
who yet indeed and in truth was none; such as
looked upon him and saw how it was with him in
his external condition, might be apt to conceive of
him as they once did, John ix. 24, ' We know this
man is a sinner.' There was something about Christ
that had some resemblance of sin, otherwise Paul
would not have called it 'the Hkeness of sinful
flesh.' He saith, Heb. ix. 28, ' Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time with
out sin unto salvation ;' implying that Christ at his
first coming was not without some appearance of
sin. When he shall cmne the second time there
shall not be the least show or appearance of it in
him, nothing then but majesty and sanctity, but
greatness and goodness, shaU be seen in him ; but at
his first coming it was otherwise.
1 As Athanas. de Incarn. Verbi Dei, torn. i. p. 53; kc et
p. 591, kc, et de-Hum. Nat, suae. 595, &c. ; Cyril. Alex.,' torn. v.
p. 67S, kc; Tertull. de Carne Christi, et contra Marcion
Cassian:, Petav. Theol. Dogm., torn. iv. ; Ragusa in part iii •
Aquin. with Vasquez, &c. ; Zanch. Oper. Theolog., torn viii ¦
Gerhard, Loc. Com, torn. i. de Pers. et Officio Christi p 312'
kc, et in Uber. Exeg. Artie, torn. ult. lib. iv. p. 424 &c •
Calvin. Instit, lib. ii. cap. 12, 13 ; with innumerable others ' '

But wherein was it the likeness of sinful flesh?
I answer, If you take it in the restrained notion
of the flesh or body of Christ, that was Hke to sinful
flesh. How ? why, inasmuch as it was so far like to
our flesh, which is really sinful, as to be passible and
mortal; passibiUty and mortality, the suffering of
pain, anguish, &c, and dying, are shrewd signs and
tokens of sin.1 Had man continued in his innocent
and sinless state, his body had not been hable to
either of these ; but he sinning it became liable to
both ; and it being so too with Christ's own body,
here was the Hkeness of sinful flesh.
If you take it in the large notion, of the whole
human nature or person of Christ as man, so it was
the likeness of sinful flesh in several respects. He
was truly man, and in appearance and likeness he
was sinful man, for he was dealt with, handled, used
just as guilty and sinful persons are, and that both
by God and by men.2 By God ; he charged upon
Christ the sin of aU the elect : ' The Lord laid on
him the iniquity of us aU,' Isa. liii. 6 ; he ' made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin,' &c, 2 Cor.
v. 21. He then let out his wrath upon him, de
manded satisfaction of him, would have him to
suffer, did not spare him in the least, Bom. viii. 32,
yea, ' it pleased the Lord to bruise him,' Isa. liii. 10 ;
though he prayed that the cup might pass from him,
Mat. xxvi. 39, yet his Father would have him
drink of it ; was not here the Hkeness of sinful flesh
in God's dealing thus with him ? By men ; to them
it was more than Hkeness, they charged bim to be
1 Carnem peccatrici similem in poena, non in culpa. Habet
tamen similitudinem carnis peccatricis per passibilitatem et
mortalitatem.— August. In carnem suam non peccatum trans-
tulit tanquam venenum serpentis, sed' tamen transtulit mor
tem, ut esset in similitudine carnis peccati, poena side culpa j
unde iu carne peccati et culpa solveretur, et poena.— Idem.,
See him, lib xiv. cap. 5, contra Faustum Manich. Similem
carni peccatrici in hoc quod erat passibilis, nam caro hominis
ante peccatum passioni subjecta non erat.— Aquin. Si pecca
tum cum carne accepisset, dictus esset missus in carnem pec
cati : si etiam carnem immortalem et impassibilem sumpsisset,
qualem modo habet, non diceretur missus in similitudinem
carnis peccati ; at quia carnem accepit sine peccato, passibilem
tamen et mortalem, qualis est peccatorum caro propter pecca
tum talis effecta, ideo dicitur missus in similitudinem carnis
peccati. — Tolet.
2 Ut tractaretur quomodo nocentes tractari solent— Grot.
in Loc.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

251

really and actually guilty of sin, that he was a
glutton, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and
sinners, an impostor, a deceiver, a blasphemer, a
breaker of the law, and what not, Mat. xi. 1 9, and
xxvii. 63 ; John x. 36. Towards the close of his
Hfe they accused him of crimes of a very high and
heinous nature, arraigned him as a malefactor, con
demned him to die, executed him, crucified him
betwixt two thieves, numbered him amongst trans
gressors, Isa. UH. 12 ; Mark xv. 28 ; he that had sin
upon him by imputation was also a sinner by repu
tation ; was not here the Hkeness of sinful flesh ?
Look upon him in his sorrows, afflictions, sufferings,
he was ' a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,'
Isa. UH. 3; his whole life was but one continued
passion ; never was any sorrow Hke to his sorrow ;
afflicted without, afflicted within, he suffered from
God, he suffered from man, drank such a cup as
never any drank before him ; was not here the like
ness of sinful flesh ? Did not the bhnd and sadly
mistaken world judge Christ's own personal sin to
be the proper cause of aU his suffering ? Isa. HU. 4,
' Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of
God and afflicted.' Are not suffering and sin so
conjoined and Hnked together, that where there is
the one there is some appearance of the other also.
I do not say that reaUy and in truth where there is
suffering there is also sin, yet I say apparently, and
in the opinion and judgment of men, who take their
measures in their judging of persons by their out
ward condition, wherever there is suffering there is
sin ; so that Hi our most holy and innocent Saviour
it was the likeness of sinful flesh, because it was the
reahty of suffering flesh. Will you go on to his
death, the worst and most exquisite part of his suf
ferings?1 Did he die, did he so die, undergo a
death so ignominious, so painful, yea, and so penal
too, the punishment due for the sin of all believers
being therein inflicted upon him ? 2 Oh surely here
was a very great Hkeness of sinful flesh ! There
1 In morte ejus potissimam causam sitam arbitramur, cur
ei similitudo carnis peccati attributa sit ab apostolo. — De Dieu.
Caro peccati habet mortem et peccatum, similitudo autem
carnis peccati habuit mortem sine peccato. Si haberet pecca
tum caro esset peccati ; si mortem non haberet, non esset
similitudo carnis peccati. — Anselm,
2 Tametsi mjllis maeulis inquinata fuit Christi caro, pecca-

seemed to be much of mere man in Christ's low con
dition whilst he continued in the world, but there
seemed to be much of sinful man iri the manner of
his going out of the world. What ! so to suffer and
so to die, and yet no sin ? no, no sin for all that ;
but so to suffer and so to die, and yet no show or
appearance of sin? yes, that there was, especially
to them who could not look into things, and who
were altogether ignorant of Christ's person, and of
the great designs which he was carrying on. There
was such a likeness of sin in these things as that it
never yet failed, and was but a likeness, but only in
this one great and unparalleled instance of our
blessed Saviour.1 As he submitted to the ordinary
infirmities of the human nature, hunger, thirst, &c,
in them there were some features and lineaments of
sinful flesh ; but as he submitted to death, to such
a death, there was a more lively draught, a fuller
resemblance of sinful flesh. As it was with the
creatures which were offered in sacrifice, they in
themselves were harmless and innocent, yet having
the sins of the people laid upon them, and they
dying for them, so they had the likeness of sinful
flesh ; and just so it was with Christ, upon his being
offered up upon the cross as the sacrifice for our sins.
2. Here was much Hkeness, you see, of sinful
flesh, yet it was but likeness and nothing more ; some
external appearance of sin there was, but that was
all, yet no sin in truth and reality ; it was the verity
and sameness of natural flesh, it was but the like
ness of sinful flesh. . As it was with the brazen ser
pent, that was made in an exact resemblance of the
fiery serpents, having that very shape and form
which they had ; yet it was but the likeness of them,
for it had not that poison and venom in it which
was in them ; so here as to Christ, of whom the
brazen serpent even in this was an excellent type ;
he seemed to have that very flesh which we have,
and so he had in such a sense, but yet there was this
difference, ours is envenomed, his not ; it is truly
sinful flesh in us, it was but like sinful flesh in him.
This, as before, may be understood either of
trix tamen in specie visa est, quatenus debitam sceleribus
nostris poenam sustinuit. — Calvin.
1 Christus induebat personam peccatum habentis, &c, cum
caro passionibus mortique subjecta signum est comniunissi-
mum hominis peccatum habentis, nee in aliquo fefellit nisi
in Christo, — Cajetan.

252

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

Christ's fleshly part, or of his whole human nature.
In the first respect, so his flesh was sinless. He had
a true body, but there was no sin in that body. It
was pure, holy, untainted flesh.1 It was made, as
to purity and sanctity, Kara tkv aoyirvnoi irXuan,'2 ac
cording to the primitive and archetype formation of
Adam's body in the state of innocency ; that was
created holy and spotless, and just such a body
Christ did assume. It is true his body and Adam's
differed in the manner of their production, but as to
their purity and undefiledness by sin, so they did
agree. He says his Father had 'prepared him a
body,' Heb. x. 5. Now, if the holy God in such a
wonderful and immediate manner, for such high and
glorious ends, will prepare him a body, to be sure it
shall be a holy body, and such an one as shall be
proper for the attaining of those ends, which only a
holy body was. It was, indeed, upon our account, and
Christ's putting himself into our stead, a passible and
mortal body, and so far like to sinful flesh ; but had
it not been for that, it had neither suffered nor died.
In the second respect, so the whole human nature
in Christ was sinless.3 He was true and very man,
but not in the least sinful man. He was made man
for the sin of man, but yet was man without the sin
of man. That nature which is so sadly depraved,
vitiated, corrupted in us, in him had its primitive'
original purity and holiness. Sin was not so essen
tial, or so inseparably twisted into it, but that God
knew how to separate betwixt the nature itself and
the deordination of it. Christ took the one, but not
the other. The human nature is made up of soul
and body ; both of these in Christ were unstained,
1 Tb o-Qpa tov Xputtov oiK Ijv apaprtas aCopa, dXX' bpolapa oap-
Kds &papTtas.-Cyrill., lib. xv. contra Julian. Peccatricem car
nem non assumpsit qualis est nostra, naturalem vero illam
nostram assumpsit. Si caro Adas erat. vera caro antequam
peccavit in paradise, utique et Christi caro vera est humana
caro, etiamsi peccati qualitatem non assumpserit.— jfesraZ
Nostram induens suam fecit, suam faciens non peccatricem earn
leoit-Tertull. de Car. Christi. Jerome's gloss upon the words
if those commentaries upon this Epistle be his, is liable to ex
ception. Suscepta postea carne quae ad peccandum esset pro-
elivior, ipse tamen absque peccato earn suscepit. See Perer
upon this, Disp. 3, p. 850.
2 Athan. de Incarnat. Christi, p. 620.
3 Habuit natura humana quam Christus suscepit speciem
peccati, non tamen ea revera peccato contaminari potuit -P
Martyr. c ' '

not having the least macula or spot of sin cleaving to
them. As it was an unpolluted, undefiled body, so it
was also a pure, holy, spotless . soul. The human
nature, too, is attended with such affections 1 and such
infirmities,2 to all of which Christ submitted so far
as they were sinless, but no further. As to the for
mer, he had anger, sorrow, joy, compassion, love,
but without the least stain or tincture of sin ; as to
the latter, he underwent hunger, thirst, pain, &c.
but yet, under all, he was without sin. He could
suffer; but he did not, nay, he could not, sin. Hence
he is called God's 'holy one,' Ps. xvi. 10 ; 'the holy
child Jesus,' Acts iv. 27 ; 'the most holy,' Dan. ix.
27 ; ' Jesus Christ, the righteous,' 1 John ii. 1 •
God's 'righteous servant,' Isa. liii. 11. He was 'a
lamb without blemish and without spot,' 1 Pet. i.
19; 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin
ners,' Heb. vii. 26. It is said of him, 'he did no sin,'
1 Pet. H. 22 ; ' he knew no sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21 ; he
knew it in a way of imputation, for he was made sin,
but as to any inhesion or commission, so he knew it
not. The apostle saith he was 'tempted in all
things as we are, yet without sin,' (that must always
be excepted,) Heb. iv. 15. He challenged all his
enemies: 'Which of you convinceth me of sin?' John
viii. 14. He says of himself, he 'always did the
things which pleased his Father,' John viii. 29 ; and
now it is said of him, ' In him is no sin,' 1 John Hi.
5. So that upon all this it appears that it was but
the likeness of sinful flesh.
Christ, as man, had a threefold holiness— original,
habitual, actual. (1.) He was originally holy. David
bitterly lamented it, that he was 'shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did his mother conceive him,' Ps. h. 5.
And so it is with every man that comes into the "
world in the way of common generation. The very
foundation of our being is laid in sin. But it was
not so with our blessed Saviour ; in his conception,
the first framing and forming of his human nature, '
there was nothing of sin ; for he was therefore con
ceived in the Virgin's womb in an extraordinary
manner by the 'overshadowing of the Holy Ghost,8
1 (palverai. b Kipios, &c— Vide Oecum. in loc, p. 301.
2Particeps factus est infirmitatis, hon iniquitatis.— Aug.
Trahens de homine mortalitatem, non iniquitatem.— Id. torn.'
iii. p. 1072.
3 Haec est similitudo carnis, quia cum eadem sit caro qua! et
nostra, non tamen ita facta in utero est et nata sicut et caro

.Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

253

that he might be preserved pure from the common
pollution ; so the angel told Mary, Luke i. 35, ' The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore, also,
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God.' (2.) He was habitually
holy. There was in his nature nothing but a
universal rectitude and conformity to the rule and
pattern of holiness ; he had therein grace, all grace,
nothing but grace, without the least mixture of habi
tual corruption. We bring with us into the world
natures most woefully depraved, such as are a very
seed-plot and seminary of aU evil ; but our Lord
Jesus had a quite other nature, one that was per
fectly sanctified, and not in the least tainted
with sin. This also was brought about by his
mtfaculous and extraordinary formation, for had he
been begotten as we are, his nature had been tainted
as well as ours is ; ' that which is begotten ' — so I
would read it rather than 'that which is born' — ' of
the flesh, is flesh,' John iii. 6 ; ' Who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean ? not one,' Job xiv. 4.
The liquor wUl taste of the cask into which it is put-
As water, when it comes from the fountain, may be
very pure, yet tf it runs through a dirty pipe, it will^
contract filth ; so let - the soul as it comes out of
God's hands be never so pure, yet upon union
with the body begotten and propagated in the usual
way, both it, and the nature of the person too, will
be defiled. Therefore, to avoid this, Christ was be
gotten in another way ; by which means he was
also freed from the imputation of Adam's sin ; for
he not descending naturally and serninally from
Adam, his sin was not imputed, nor imputable unto
him. The apostle indeed saith, Heb. H. 11, 'Both
he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are
aU of one,' i.e., of one Adam as the common root ;
but they are not both of this one Adam in the same
manner, for they who are sanctified are of him and
from him in a way of seminal propagation, but he
who sanctifieth was not so. Whereupon, though
Adam's sin be imputable and imputed to the former,
it is not to the latter. As, according to the usual
nostra. Est enim sanctificata in utero et nata sine pecccato,
et neque ipse in ilia peccavit. Ideo enim Virginalis uterus
electus est ad partum dominicum, ut in sanctitate differret
caro doinini a carne nostra. — Ambrose.

illustration,1 Levi being in the loins of Abraham
paid tithes in him, Heb. vii. 9, 10 ; and yet Christ,
who was also in the loins 'of Abraham, did not. So
all men being in the loins of Adam, and carnally de
scended from him, sinned in him, and became par
takers of his guilt ; but Christ, though in some sense
he might be said to be in Adam's loins too — for his
genealogy is carried up to Adam, Luke Hi.— yet he
not descending from him in the ordinary fleshly
way, his person was exempted from the guilt of his
sin, and his nature from the general depravation.
(3.) Christ was actually holy ; there was nothing
but holiness in whatever he did ; all his actings, in
ward and outward, did exactly correspond with the,
nature and will of his Father. He never was guilty
of the least sin in thought, word, or deed. Sin
was neither contracted nor committed by him;2
grace and holiness were advanced in him to the
highest pitch, according to the utmost capacity of
the human nature, without the least mixture of what
is contrary thereunto. In a word, he lived in his
whole course a most holy, innocent, spotless, sinless
Ufe, as the scriptures which have been alleged do
abundantly testify.
This sanctity and sinlessness of Christ's human
nature was necessary upon" a double account.
1. To fit it for the personal union with his divine
nature. Can it be imagined that ever the Lord
Jesus would take a nature tainted with sin, and so
nearly unite it to himself? When the divine nature
stood at so great a distance from sin, can we, with
out blasphemy, think that it would assume the human
nature, had tf been sinful, into so close a union as
that both should make one person ? Oh such a
thing was not possible ! God can take a sinning —
if repenting — creature into his bosom, but he cannot
take a sinning nature into his person. Christ might
condescend to take flesh, and yet be God ; but He
could not have taken sinful flesh, and yet be God.
The human nature, simply considered, was not in
consistent with his Godhead ; but that nature, if
sinful, was.
2. This was necessary in respect of Christ's office
1 Alting. Theol. Prob., prob. 8, p. 571; Dr Pearson on the
Creed, p. 365.
2 Eandem assumsit naturam Christus, sed in ea non peccavit.
— Ambrose.

254

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1-4.

[Chap. XII.

and undertaking for our good. In order to which,
as he must be man, so he must be man perfectly
holy and righteous ; for he that is a sinner himself,
cannot be a saviour to other sinners. Then it would
be ' physician, heal thyself,' or ' saviour, save thyself;'
all that such a one could do would be little enough
for himself. Christ was both priest and sacrifice :
with respect to both he must be without sin. As
priest ; for if sin had been chargeable upon him, he
must then have offered for himself, and so have been
in the same condition with the priests under the
law, which the apostle shews he was not, Heb. vii.
26, 27. As sacrifice too ; for whatever was offered
up to God, it was to have no blemish in it. In
allusion to which the apostle calls him ' a lamb
without blemish and without spot,' 1 Peter i. 19;
answerably to the paschal lamb, Exod. xii 5, and to
the two lambs in the fire offering, Num. xxviii. 3 ;
and he is said to ' offer himself without spot to
God,' Heb. ix. 14. How could Christ have taken
off guilt from us had he had it lying upon himself ?
Or how could he have made us righteous had he not
been righteous himself? Therefore, 2 Cor. v. 21,
' He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him ; ' and Isa. liii. 11, 'By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many.' Mark it,
Christ being a righteous person himself, so he comes
to justify and make others righteous. So 1 John
Hi. 5, 'And ye know that he was manifested to
take away our sins, and in him is no sin.' The con
nexion is observable, he that wUl take away sin
from others, must have no sin in himself;1 Christ
coming for that end, therefore in him there was no
sin. Three things, as one observes from the words,2
were requisite to him that should be the mediator ;
he must be God, he must be man, he must be per
fectly and unmixedly holy. All these three quali
fications you have in the text; Christ was God's
own Son, there is his Godhead ; he was sent in flesh,
there is his manhood ; he was sent but in the like
ness of sinful flesh, there is his purity and holiness.
Use. 1. Having done with the exphcatory part, I
come now to what is appUcatory. Where, in the
1 Si esBet in illo peccatum,. auferendnm esset illi, non ipse
auf erret.— A ugusl.
2 Piscat.

first place, passing by other things, these two we
are mainly informed of :
1. Of the excellency of the gospel and Christian
reUgion. 2. Of the excellency of Christ's flesh or manhood.
1. First, That great truth which I have been
upon informs us of the excellency of the gospel and
Christian religion. The more raised and mysterious
the things are which the one reveals and the other
beheves, the more exceUent must both of them needs
be; for this is a principle grounded upon reason,
and strengthened by the consent of all who pretend
to religion, whether it be true or false. What more
common amongst men, when they would argue for
the excellency either of that from which they fetch
their reUgion, or of their religion itself, than to cry
up the mysteries, and to tell us what high, sublime,
mysterious things are contained in them. These
make a great impression upon men's minds, and
strongly induce them to believe that whatever hath
in it such mysteries, must certainly be of God, and
have a divine original. Therefore heathens them
selves, as well as Christians, have much pleased
themselves with this, and have been great pretenders
tto such and such mysteries, thereby to gain credit
and reputation to their way. Now let us apply this
principle or common, test to the gospel-revelation
and the Christian religion, and then I am sure their
excellency above all other pretended revelations and
religions will be evident. For look into aU those
admired and rare secrets, those high and raised my
steries, which they who know not the gospel did so
much cry up and magnify; and do but compare
them with this one mystery, God's own Son sent in
flesh. Alas ! what trifles, what shallow, contempti
ble, ridiculous things are they in comparison of it.
A God incarnate shames all the little mysteries of
the pagan religion, if so good a title may be given
to so bad a thing ; they all vanish before this, and
are not able to stand in competition with it. Now
where is this profound mystery revealed but in the
gospel ? And where is that revelation beheved but
in the Christian reUgion 1 Therefore how excellent
must both needs be upon this account. The hea
thens knew nothing at all of this ; they dreamt of
men being made gods, but that he who was truly
God should be made truly man, this they were altfh

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

255

gether ignorant of : in all their religion there was
no such mystery. The apostle cries out, 1 Tim. iii.
16, 'Without controversy great ^s the mystery of
godliness, God manifested in the flesh,' &c. His
design in these, and in the following words, was to
set forth the exceUency of the gospel, which he calls
godliness, because its main scope and tendency is to
that. And how doth he do it ? Why, by the glo
rious mysteries held forth therein, of some of which
he there gives a particular enumeration. As to the
height and verity of which mysteries he saith,
' Without controversy,' &c, confessedly, beyond all
dispute or denial, these are mysteries indeed. It is
as if he had said, I know the poor heathens pretend
to great and high mysteries, but indeed they are so
far from being high mysteries, that they are no
mysteries at all, they being but the fancies of delud
ed men. But, saith he, I wiU tell you of mysteries
that are both real and subhme, which are so beyond
all contradiction : ' Without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness, &c. But how doth he make
that appear 1 He makes it out in some instances,
and his first instance is in the incarnation of the
Son of God : ' Without controversy great is the mys
tery of godliness ; God was manifested in the flesh,'
&c. Oh there is a mystery indeed, a transcendent
mystery, one which aU the GentUes cannot parallel.
A very learned author,1 in a very learned discourse
upon this whole verse, proves that Paul therein
throughout had his eye upon the Gentile rites, cus
toms, pretensions to mysteries, &c, especially upon
those amongst the Greeks, and amongst them espe
cially upon those in their Eleusinia sacra, which
above aU others were in highest repute at that
time when the apostle wrote this epistle. Now,
therefore, against them he sets down the great my
steries of the gospel and Christianity, which certainly
were infinitely to be preferred before the other. The
making out of this was our apostle's design, accord
ing to the opinion of the fore-named author, in every
branch of the words ; but I wiU go no further than
the first, that only suiting with the thing I am upon.
And there are in it four things to prove the thing in
hand : (1.) As to gospel mysteries, the true God
was the object of them, and concerned in them ; but
1 Jac. Gothofredus in 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16 ; in Critic, vol. vii.
p. 3770, &c.

the Gentiles in their mysteries had to do with those
which 'by nature were no gods,' which were but
' called gods,' as they are described, Gal. iv. 8 ; 1
Cor. viii. 5. (2.) In gospel mysteries one God only
was the object of them, and Christians had to do
with this one and only true God ; but the Gentiles
in their mysteries had to do with variety and multi
plicity of gods, and so indeed with no god, for many
gods are no god : 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6, ' Though there
may be that are called gods, whether in heaven or
in earth, as there be gods many and lords many ;
but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.' It
is God (one God) manifested, &c. (3.) In gospel
mysteries there is a God, as incarnate, commem
orated and remembered in them ; in the GentUe
mysteries it was not so. In them they had some
notions, and made some commemorations of their
gods ; but how ? only as common benefactors, as
giving them bread and wine and corn, &c.,but they
went no higher; but now Christians under the
gospel, they commemorate God as taking flesh, and
suffering in that flesh for their good. Oh there is
mercy indeed, a mystery indeed ! (4.) Whereas
the Gentiles in their mysteries pretended such and
such apparitions of their gods, in opposition to these
the apostle sets down the great and glorious appear
ance and manifestation of Christ. He was indeed
manifested in the flesh, for he was so manifested in
the flesh as to be made flesh ; his was not an appear
ance only, but a real assumption ; there is a mystery
indeed. In these respects the apostle advances the
mysteries of the gospel and of the Christian religion,
above those which the blind Gentiles were such ad
mirers of in their idolatrous way. Well ! we who
know and beHeve these things, what high thoughts
should we have of the gospel and of the Christian
religion ! How should we adore and magnify God
for his infinite mercy to us, in bringing of us under
that revelation and that faith wherein this unpa-
raUeled mystery of a Christ incarnate is made
known and embraced !
2. Secondly, This further informs us of the excel
lency and glory of Christ's flesh and manhood ; from
the premises it clearly appears that that is, and needs
must be, superlatively great. Was Christ himself

256

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap, XII.

sent in flesh ? Did God's own Son assume, and so
assume, flesh ? Oh what a lustre and glory must
there be upon that flesh (or body) which such a per
son doth so assume ! It is called, after its being glo
rified in him, ' a glorious body,' Phil. iii. 21, but it
was a glorious body long before, even from the first
moment of its formation and assumption. It is true,
its glory whilst it was here on earth did not shine
forth in its full brightness, there was a veil and cov
ering upon it during the state of Christ's humilia
tion ; but yet even then it was full of glory, though
the fulness of its glory did not appear, as the sun is
very glorious even when it is hid under a cloud.
And, indeed, it was requisite, not only from the state
of his abasement, but also from the weakness of
those with whom he was to converse, that here he
should very much keep in its glory, for we see when
at his transfiguration he let it break forth in a more
than ordinary manner, the beholders thereof could
not well bear it, it filled them with consternation ;
read Mat. xvii. 1, &c. But yet, upon its miracu
lous framing, its unstained and unspotted sanctity,
its near union with the Godhead, even here, I say,
its glory was exceeding great. Oh what a sight will
it be in heaven, to see this body of Christ in all its
splendour, and to see him in this flesh sitting at the
right hand of God ! As he was at first sent in it, it
was but mean in external appearance and to -mere
sense ; but now he is ascended, and hath carried it
up with him, and it is placed at the right hand of
God : so it is an object so glorious that it is fit only
for a glorified eye to behold.
And doth the body of Christ engross all this
glory? Hath his soul no part or share therein?
Yes, surely ! It may rather be asked, Hath not that
the greatest share, it 'being the better and nobler
part, and capable of that of which the body is not ?
If God prepare so excellent a body, he will be sure
answerably to prepare as excellent a soul to dweU in
that body; as they that build stately houses will
put in inhabitants that shaU be answerable to them.
Imagine a soul untouched and unblemished with sin,
fully and perfectly sanctified, filled with grace to the
utmost of its capacity, having nothing in its several
faculties but truth in the understanding, holy con
formity in the wUl, heavenliness Hi the affections ;
I say, represent to yourselves in your thoughts such

a soul, and then think what an exceUent soul would
that be 1 Just such a soul is in Christ. Indeed if
we consider these constitutive parts of Christ's man
hood as they stand apart and by themselves, they
are excellent, to a very high degree ; but tf we go
further and consider them in the hypostatic union
then we are at a mighty loss, and cannot conceive
what a glory is by that conferred upon them. As
suppose a pearl was put into a glass of crystal, that
would put a great radiancy upon it ; but what if the
sun itself could be put into this glass, how radiant
then would it be ? So here, the Lord Christ having
so precious a soul dwelling in his flesh, even that,
if there was nothing more, must make it very glo
rious ; but when the Godhead itself dwells in it, how
unspeakable must its glory and splendour needs be !
Leaving the parts, let me speak to the whole.
Tbe whole human nature in Christ is transcendently
excellent. If the essential and eternal Son of God
will so far condescend as to assume man's nature,
certainly in him the manhood must have all that
dignity, glory, perfection that ever it was capable
of : and surely never was the human nature so ad
vanced as in Christ. If you consider it as it is in
us, so it hath its worth and exceUency ; for man is
yet a glorious creature, though it is too true by the
loss of God's image he hath lost very much of his
glory. As he was at first created in the state of in-
nocency, he was high indeed ; by the fall the case is
sadly altered, the human nature now is exceedingly
debased and depressed ; but yet even in its ruins,
as it was with old Carthage, it may be seen what
once it was. Much is lost, and the best is lost, but
all is not lost ; the glory of the saint is gone, but
the glory of the man, in a great measure, yet re
mains. He is yet, as to his natural composition and
endowments, very exceUent, the top of the whole
creation, God's masterpiece, and highest workman
ship, endowed with a body curiously wrought, with
a soul of divine original, excellent in its being and
operations.1 And besides this, which is general, it
1 Vide Nyssen De Hom. Opis., cap. 3, p. 51. rb 8-qwv &v6pu-
vov iroXvTeXio-TaTov £Qov eh rbv Kb<rp,ov io-iimoev, dvrlnpov pb
rds ISias <pioeas, &<p6aXpov Si rds twv Svtuv SiaKocpdaios.—
Euryphamus iu Stobce., Ser. ci. p. 556. Theophrastus calls
him dvrlnpov irapdSeiypa, as though God in him would vie
with and outvie all that he had done besides in the whole
visible creation. See Weems's Portrait, pp. 60, 61.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

25'7

pleases God in some to restore the human nature, in
part, to what it lost in Adam's fall, to advance it
again by grace and regeneration ; yea, to take it up
to heaven to the vision and fruition of himself. And
now it is at its axp,ri, here is its non ultra, its high
est advancement ; it is not capable, as in us, of
higher exaltation than what it hath by grace and
glory. This dignity and glory the human nature
hath in us ; but yet as it is so subjected, take it
even at its highest elevation, it comes infinitely short
of the dignity and excellency of the human nature
of Christ ; the reason is, because in it there is all
that hath been spoken in an eminent manner ; and
besides, which is higher than all the former, tf is
taken into a near conjunction with the divine nature.
How glorious must that manhood be, which subsists
in the Godhead, and hath no subsistence but in
that ! The nearer the union is with that, the greater
is the perfection and glory of that which is admitted
into that union. And hence it is that there is such
a fulness of grace in Christ as man, over and above
what is in the best of men, that he is ' anointed
with the oU of gladness above his fellows,' Ps. xiv.
7 ; that his manhood bears a part in the mediatory
office ; that it is to be worshipped with divine wor
ship, as hath been proved before ; I say all this be
longs to it by virtue of the hypostatical union, from
which in aU things it derives super-excellent glory.
And yet I must tell you this human nature, as high
as it is, is the lowest thing in Christ ; that which is
the highest in us is but the lowest in him, supremum
infimi, infimum supremi. As man he is glorious ; but
what is he then as God ? What a person is Christ,
take him altogether ! Oh let him be adored and re
verenced by you as man ; but especially as he is God-
man. So much for information.
Use 2. Secondly, Was Christ sent in flesh ? hence
ariseth matter of exhortation to several duties.
1. I would exhort you to give a fuU and firm as
sent to the truth of Christ's incarnation, as also
firmly to adhere to Christ as sent in flesh. Here
are two things which I will speak to apart : first,
See that you give a full and firm assent to the truth
of Christ's incarnation. It is a thing which the
Scripture lays a great stress upon : 1 John iv. 3,
' Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ
s come in the flesh is not of God : and this is that

spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it
should come, and even now is it in the world.' 2
John 7, ' Many deceivers are entered into the world,
who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh : this is a deceiver and an antichrist.' It
seems the incarnation of Christ met with early op
position ; his flesh was no sooner translated to heaven
but it was denied on earth. This apostle therefore,
who in his Gospel had been a great asserter of it, in
his epistles wUl be also a zealous defender of it ;
and see how warm he was upon tf. The denial of
Christ's coming, and of his coming in the flesh, for
there Hes the main emphasis, he carries as high as
antichristianism, and sets no lower a brand upon it.
Antichristianism doth not only lie in the opposing of
Christ in his offices, which is the latter and modern
antichristianism, but also in the opposing of him in
his natures as God and man, which was the first and
ancient antichristianism. To deny Christ's manhood
and assuming flesh, this is downright antichristian,
the very spirit of antichrist, if the apostle here may
be believed. Now there is a twofold denial of this ;
one open, express, direct ; the other implicit, virtual,
interpretative.1 The former, I hope, is very rare,
the latter, I fear, is too common ; he is no Christian
who comes under the former, but there are too many
Christians who come under the latter. As you read of
some who ' profess that they know God, but in works
they deny him,' Tit. i. 16 ; so here, all that own the
gospel profess they believe Christ's incarnation, but
yet virtually, interpretatively, consequentially, too
many of them do no better than deny tf. Now for
you, my brethren, I assure myself I need not spend
time in warning you against the denial — I mean the
rank and gross denial — of our Lord's manhood and
incarnation ; that antichristianism I hope you will
never be guilty of; yet two things I would say to
you : (1.) Get such a firm and rooted behef of this
fundamental doctrine, as that there may be no secret
doubting about it ; no, not the least doubt stirring
in the mind, for any doubting may by degrees, by
little and little, work up to the fuU denial of it. (2.)
That you will take heed not only of the open and
1 Non attendamus ad linguam sed ad facta ; si enim omnes
interrogantur, omnes uno ore confitentur Jesum esse Christum;
quiescat paullulum lingua, vitam interroga.— Aug. m Ep. Joh.,
Tract. 3. ^ R

258

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

direct denial of it, but also of all those opinions and
practices which may amount to a virtual, implicit
denial of it.
This minds me of something, upon which I crave
leave a little to digress, that passes betwixt papists
and protestants : the former do greatly insult upon
the forementioned texts, from which they think they
have enough to free the pope, in whatever notion
you consider him, from the charge of being anti
christ ; and therefore thus they argue, He is anti
christ who confesses not that Christ is come in the
flesh ; but the pope doth confess this ; ergo, he is not
antichrist ; this is one of Sanders's demonstrations.1
To which it is answered,
1. That the apostle in these texts doth not define
or describe 'the antichrist' by way of eminency,
him who was to come afterwards, who is set forth
2 Thes. ii. 3-8 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1, but some lesser anti
christs, who were already risen up in the apostles'
days ; for he saith ' even now there are many anti
christs,' 1 John ii. 18. ' This is that spirit of anti
christ, whereof you have heard that it should come,
and even now atfeady it is in the world,' 1 John iv.
3, and 2 John 7. ' Many deceivers are entered into
the world,' &c. ; ' this is a deceiver and an antichrist,'
though not the antichrist. As to the grand anti
christ, there was a rb xars^nt about him, a let and
impediment in his way, to be removed before he
could come, 2 Thes. ii. 7 ; but for the lesser anti
christs, the precursors of the great one, they were
atfeady come. And it is probable that the apostle
in these descriptions in special had his eye upon
Simon Magus, who denied that Christ came in
true flesh.2 The argument then, so far as it is
grounded upon these texts, only proves that his
holiness is none of the, little antichrists, of whom
John spake as already come, which we readily grant,
for we make him to be the great antichrist, of whom
Paul spake as yet to come.s
2. Yet our divines wiU not whoUy acquit him
and his party as to this character of antichrist ; for
though as to words and profession they confess that
Christ is come in the flesh, yet implicitly and by
consequence they plainly deny it, they maintaining
1 Vide Whittak. ad Sanderi Demonstr. Resp., p. 765.
2 Of him as to this see Cyrill., Catech. vi.
3 Vide Antichrist. Demonstrat. per Rob. Abbat.

those opinions and practices which are interpreta-
tively opposite to Christ's incarnation ; ' as their
burdening the church with such swarms of unneces
sary ceremonies. If the substance be come indeed
and they believe it, why do they keep . up the
shadow ? A! axlai wagaTgiyovei, >) ukrjfciu, fawis-
XSTC"> (Nazianz.,) under the gospel the shadows
vanish, the truth and substance being come. Their
doctrine of transubstantiation in effect denies
Christ's body to be a true body ;2 for can a true
body exist in puncto, as they say Christ doth 1 can
it be a true body, and yet not extense ? Can it be a
true body, and yet be present in a thousand places
at once ? Can it be a body, and yet have none of
those adjuncts which are inseparable from a body 1
So, again, their invading of Christ's great offices, ad
vancing of their own merits, Satisfactions, &c, with
many other things which might be instanced in,
are all and each of them interpretative denials of
our Saviour's being come in the flesh. Now, sirs,
your religion doth not expose you to this guUt, but
rather highly secures you from it ; but take heed
you do not draw some opinion or practice into it,
which may also make you guilty of denying im
pUcitly the incarnation of the Son of God.
But I go further. It is not enough for you not to
deny this great truth, no, nor just to believe it, but
there must be a firm believing of it, a full and steady
assent given to it. I would assure myself that you
do believe the verity of Christ's manhood, the reahty
of his flesh, the truth of his incarnation ; but do you
believe it steadUy? do you come up to a full assent
to it? are there no wavering, doubting thoughts
about it? are you rooted, stablished, confirmed in
the belief of it ? This I pressed upon you before
with respect to Christ's Sonship, and now I am to
press it upon you with respect to his incarnation.
Whence let me teU you, that though the belief of
1 Quanquam P. R. et corde credit et ore confitetur Jesum
esse Christum, hoc tamen non integre ac simpliciter, sed ex
parte tantum facit, dum Jesu multa detrahit quae Christo con-
veniunt : et Christum negat in carne venisse, non quidem
totidem verbis atque aperte, sed per consequens et oblique,
vere tamen et necessario.— WhittaJc. resp. ad Sanderi Dem., p.
768. 2 Pet. Molin. in Th. Sedan., vol. i. de Transub., p. ii. p. 831,
where he proves ecclesiam Romanam destruere naturam
humanam Christi, &c.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

259

this be not the main, vital, essential act of faith,
qua justifying, yet it is absolutely necessary to that
which is so ; for there will be no fiducial reliance
upon Christ's person, which is the great act of faith
as justifying, tf antecedently there be not a firm
belief of his being made flesh. Oh therefore, see
that you be fully settled in your minds as to the
unquestionable verity of this great article of the
Christian religion. It would be sad if, in our cir
cumstances, we should fluctuate about it ; for did
ah the Old Testament prophecies point to it, as old
Zacharias tells us they did : Luke i. 70-73, ' As he
spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which
have been since the world began,' &c. ' To perform
the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember
his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our
father Abraham,' &c. ; in all which expressions his
eye was chiefly upon the birth and incarnation of
Christ. And have these prophecies received their
fuU accomplishment ? and have we Uved to see this ?
and yet shall we doubt of the thing ? Surely that
would be sad. The patriarchs, and they who lived
under the law, had but some dimmer discoveries of
it ; here and there an obscure promise, and that was
all. To them, for a long time, this was revealed but
Hi types and shadows. And it was, too, a great way
off from them ; yet they ' saw the promises afar off,
and were persuaded of them,' as the apostle teUs us,
Heb. xi. 13. And now when Christ is come, when
the thing is done, shall we be doubting and ques
tioning Hi ourselves about it ? When our Hght is so
clear, shaU our faith yet be weak ? Our Lord's coming
in flesh to redeem man was that great thing held
forth in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and
they are full of it. Observe that passage, Heb. x.
5-7, 'Wherefore when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book
it is written of me) to do thy wUl, 0 God.' What
. doth Christ mean by ' the volume of the book ' ? I
answer, The whole body of the Old Testament
Scriptures. This was not written only in this or
that particular text, but you have it all along inter
woven into the body of those Scriptures. Now when
the whole stream and current ofthe Scripture runs to

this very thing, shall we yet give but a languid assent
about it, especially when we have the New Testa
ment revelation superadded to the former ? the New
Testament, I say, which gives us so full an account as
to matter of fact in reference to the conception, nati
vity, life, death of Christ ; which shews us how this
and that prophecy, pointing to his incarnation, was
fulfilled ; which asserts it over and over again, telling
us expressly that the word was made flesh, God was
manifested in the flesh, &c. ; shall we, notwithstand
ing all this, yet stagger in our faith about the truth
of Christ's being sent in flesh ? Oh believe it, and
believe it steadUy, so as to look upon it as a thing
without controversy ! Satan hath aU along, more
or less, made his assaults upon Christians in this as
weU as in other matters; and no question he wUl do
the same to you, tf it be possible to undermine and
hinder your firm assent to it. But let him not pre
vail. 2. But under this branch of exhortation I am to
urge, not only firmness of assent, but also firmness
of adherence. I mean this : you must believe that
Christ was sent in flesh, so as to cleave and stick to
him as sent in flesh. There are some amongst us
— whom therefore I cannot but look upon as most
sadly deluded, and most dangerously erring in the
very fundamentals of the Christian religion — who
make little of a Christ in this notion. They are aU
for a Christ within them ; but as to a Christ with
out them, or a Christ in flesh, as born of the Virgin
Mary, crucified at Jerusalem, &c. — I say, a Christ
thus stated, they decry and disregard. Oh that,
from what I have heard and read, I had not too just
occasion for this charge ! It is highly necessary,
therefore, that I should say something to antidote
you against this venom, that under the pretence of
a Christ within you, do not lose or overlook a Christ
without. In a sober sense we are for a Christ within
as much as any — viz., as he is formed in the soul at
the new birth, Gal. iv. 19, as he is united to and
dwells in believers, Col. i. 27 ; Bom. viu. 10; but
yet it is a Christ without; as incarnate, whom we rely
upon for life and salvation. As he is so considered,
we eye him in the great acts of faith, and ground
all our hope and confidence upon him. I have be
fore told you (p. 194) that a Christ, as formed in
the heart, is necessary to justification and salva-

260

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

tion, for he saves none but those who have this
inward work ; but yet it is a Christ as formed in
the Virgin's womb, and as dying upon the cross, who
is the proper, efficient, meritorious, procuring cause
of justification and salvation. These two must by
no means be parted, yet their efficiency or causal
influence upon sinners' good is very different; for
by the one mercy is procured, by the other it is
only applied. The impetration is by the Christ
without, the application only is by the Christ within.
And therefore, though you are to put a high value
upon the latter, and to endeavour to make sure of
it as the way and condition of receiving benefit by
Christ, yet you are to know it is the former by
which all is merited, and therefore there the great
stress of your faith must lie ; it is a Christ as taking
flesh, and dying in flesh, that you must stick unto :
Mat. i. 21, 'She shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins.' Christ the Son of Mary was to
save : 1 Tim. i. 15, ' This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners,' &c. The apostle
lays the meriting of salvation upon a Christ with
out, as coming into the world, and not as coming
into the heart; he who died upon the cross, was
slain, suffered at Jerusalem, he is the person whom
God hath exalted to be Prince and Saviour: Acts
v. 30, 31, ' The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and
a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and for
giveness of sins.' Surely where persons have not
forfeited the very principles of Christianity, this is
a thing which needs no proof. Indeed Christ in the
spirit will very Uttle profit those who disregard him
in the flesh.
But no more of this ! Paul hath a passage which
I would a little open : 2 Cor. v. 16, 'Henceforth,'
saith he, ' know we no man after the flesh ; yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
uow henceforth know we him no more.' How?
Know Christ no more after the flesh ? What doth
he mean by this ? Did he cast off all respects to
him, all reUance upon him, as considered in his
flesh ? Oh no ! All that he, aims at is this ; he
knew Christ no more after the flesh, that is, so as to

have any further converse with him in a fleshly way;
he did not expect again to eat and drink with him,
as sometimes the apostles had done ; all that exter
nal converse was now at an end. Or he means that
he did not look for any fleshly advantages by him,
as worldly honour, preferment, riches, &c. Or again,
that he did not know him as in the state of his
former abasement and humiliation, so the word flesh
is somewhat taken more restrainedly, see Heb. v. 7.
Thus you are to understand the apostle in these
words, and not as if he laid aside all knowledge of,
or respects unto, the Lord Jesus, as considered in his
human nature.
In beHeving we must eye a whole Christ, Christ
God and Christ man too ; his whole person with
both his natures is the proper object of faith. And
certainly there is something in it that believing is
so much set forth by its reference to his flesh ; as
John vi. 53, 54, 56, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,
and I wiU raise him up at the last day. He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in
me, and I in him.' Take away this flesh, and
Christ's fitness to be a mediator to God, and a
Saviour to us, ceases ; and consequently his fitness,
too, to be the object of saving faith. It is Christ
God-man whom in beHeving you have to do with ;
and you are neither so to eye his manhood as to
overlook his Godhead, nor so to eye his Godhead as
to overlook his manhood : both together do your
work. Upon the whole, therefore, you are in the
actings of faith to look upon Christ as having
assumed your nature, and .so to rest upon him.-
2. Secondly, Be much in the study and contem
plation of Christ as sent in flesh. What an object is
a Christ incarnate for these ! I have pressed you to
study him as the Son of God ; I would also press
you to study him as the Son of man. To know him
as God's own Son, and as having taken our own
flesh, there is the rb viri^ov, ' the excellency of the
knowledge of him,' Phil. iii. 8. What dry, insipid,
jejune knowledge is all other in comparison of the
knowledge of Christ as God-man. One drachm of
this, especially if saving, practical, and fiducial, is
better than great heaps of mere natural and philo-

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

261

sophical knowledge. It cannot be enough lamented
that Christ in his person, natures, offices, is so little
known ; as- to that which I am treating of, his as
suming man's nature, how little do the most under
stand of it. All hope to be saved by a Christ incar
nate, but, alas ! they know not what a Christ incar
nate is. In the general, possibly they can tell you
he was a man ; but tf you examine them about par
ticulars, what woeful ignorance wUl you find in
them ! Is not this to be greatly bewailed ! Nay,
go even to saints themselves, how scant and dim is
their light and knowledge about this ! None can
know'it fuUy, some know nothing of it; they who
know something, tf is, God knows, but very Httle in
comparison of what they might; they wade but ankle
deep into this great depth. Is there not need, there
fore, of this advice, to stir you up to the studying of
Christ as sent in the flesh ? Oh that you would
study other things less, and this more ! that you
would every day, with all due sobriety, be prying,
searching, diving into this mystery of a God mani
fested in the flesh ! So the angels do. This is one
of those things which they / desire to look into,' 1 Pet.
i. 12 ; and we being more concerned in it than they,
shall not we be looking into it? David says, Ps.
cxi. 2, ' The works of the Lord are great, sought out
of aU them that have pleasure therein.' Here is a
great work indeed, the greatest that ever was done
by God; many great and glorious things he hath
done, but the sending of his own Son in our flesh
exceeds them aU. Now shall not this be sought out
by us ? Things are to be studied according to their
excellency in themselves, and their influence upon
the good of others. There are, in a very eminent
manner, both of these inducements in the incarna
tion of Christ, to draw out our most serious endea
vours after the knowledge of it ; for what so excel
lent in itself, so beneficial to man, as that ? It stands
very high in the place and reference which it bears
in and to the gospel ; it is the soul and spirit, the
marrow and kernel, of the whole gospel ; one of the
highest discoveries which the gospel makes ; all the
articles of faith, saith one, stoop and veil to it.1
And tf so, what a necessity doth this lay upon you
to search as narrowly into it as ever you can ? Pray
do not object the mysteriousness of the thing, as if it
1 Dr Sibbs on 1 Tim. iii. 16, p. 65.

was so much above you that you were not to meddle
with it. For (1.) Though it be a great mystery,
yet it is a mystery, in a great measure, revealed.
(2.) The more mysterious it is, the more need there
is of the most diligent inquisition into it. (3.) It is a
mystery to curb curiosity and pride, but not to stifle
sober and modest inquiries.
Further, be much in meditating upon and con
templating of Christ as sent in the flesh. You are
to study him that you may know more of him ; to
meditate upon him that you may draw out and im
prove what you do know. 0 sirs ! he that is in
your nature in heaven, should he not be very much
in your hearts here on earth ? A Christ incarnate !
How should our souls be swallowed up in thinking
of him as such ! What doth the whole world afford
so deserving of our most fixed thoughts ? Is there
any flower in nature's garden out of which such
sweetness may be sucked? What divine comfort,
what heavenly delights, must needs flow from hence
to the soul that is much in the contemplation of it ?
Is the foundation of our eternal happiness laid in it,
and shall we not mind it ? Is it a thing so rare, so
unparalleled, and yet shall it be seldom in our
thoughts 1 What fools are we to suffer ourselves to
be so much taken up with trifles and shadows, when
we might live in the daily view of Christ God-man !
Why should an empty, perishing world engross our
thoughts, when we have such an object as a Jesus
incarnate to contemplate ? Why do we dwell so
much upon fleshly things of a deceiving and defiUng
nature, when the flesh-assuming Christ, the spotless
and undefiled flesh of the Holy Jesus, is either not
at all regarded, or very hastUy passed over ? It is
said of Isaac, Gen. xxiv. 63, ' He went out to medi
tate in the field.' 0 Christians, what a spacious
and delicious field is Christ's human nature for you
to meditate in and upon ! Oh that you would go
out frequently and so do ! You say, sometimes you
would employ your thoughts in divine meditation
and contemplation, but you cannot call to mind a
proper object for it ; or you are presently on ground,
and want matter for your thoughts to work upon.
Pray when it is so, fix upon the Word as made flesh;
there is a fit and full object for these things, where,
think and think as long as you will, yet fresh matter
will offer itself; that is a weU out of which the more

262

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

you draw, the fuUer you will find it to be : Ps. civ.
34, ' My meditation of him,' saith David, ' shall be
sweet.' Surely the believer may say, My meditation
of God, (who and as he was made man,) shall be
sweet. Oh that you would live in the daily exercise
of this heavenly duty upon this excellent object !
What a blessed thing would it be if we could lie
down, rise up with a Christ, and especially a Christ
incarnate, in our minds ! Methinks that which was
the product and matter of God's thoughts from ever
lasting, should very much be the subject and matter
of our thoughts in time.
3. Thirdly, Was Christ sent in flesh, yea, in the
likeness of sinful flesh ? This should strike us all
with amazement and astonishment. How should
we admire and wonder at this dispensation ! Was
it so indeed that such a person did become man —
such a man ? Oh the wonder of wonders ! Here is
nothing but wonders, a conflux and comphcation of
wonders ; in this one thing there are many wonders,
and those too not of the lowest rank, but the highest
that ever were. Who can duly think of, weigh,
ponder upon what is here laid down, without being
transported and swallowed up in high and holy ad
miration ! The glorified ones in heaven are always
wondering, and what is it which causeth them so to
do? It is the beholding of Christ in our flesh.
They began betimes so to do, even as soon as ever
Christ had assumed our nature, and they continue
stiU to do the same, and so they will to all eternity.
The angels were so full of joy and admiration upon
the first breaking out of this, that they must come
from heaven and give some vent to themselves, in
singing, ' Glory to God in the highest, on earth
peace, good will towards men,' Luke ii. 14. Now
when there is such admiring and wondering in
heaven, shall there be none in earth ? Things which
are mysterious and strange affect us very much.
Was there ever anything so mysterious and strange
as the incarnation of the Son of God ? This is a
mystery indeed, the first Unk in that chain of mys
teries, 1 Tim. ui. 16. When little things make
us wonder, it is an evidence of weakness; when
great things do not make us wonder, it is an evi
dence either of great inconsideracy or gross stupidity.
The proud philosopher scorns to wonder at anything
in nature, but the humble Christian, who hath things

before him far more sublime and unsearchable than
any mysteries in nature, may well stand and wonder
at those things in religion which it is not possible
for him to comprehend. Amongst which, what
more incomprehensible, (take it in all respects,) than
the incarnation of God's own Son ? He that doth
not wonder at this, pray what will he wonder at ?
To be more particular and distinct in the urging
of this duty, of humble and thankful admiration
two things I would say :
1. Admire in reference to the thing itself.
2. Admire God and Christ, the persons who had
the hand in it.
1. For the thing itself; Christ in our flesh. Pray
pause and ruminate a while upon it, and then tell
me what you think of it ; the more you look into it
and consider it, the more you will admire it. A God
to be made man ; a God to take dust — for flesh is
but Uving or breathing dust — into intimate conjunc
tion with himself; a God to submit for sometime to
lie in the womb of a virgin. Oh wonderful ! Here
is finite and infinite joined in one, eternity matched
with time, the Creator and a creature making but
one person ; here is the Lord and Sovereign of the
world marrying into a mean and broken family ; the
maker of the universe made himself; here is two
natures, which stood at an infinite distance each
from the other, hypostatically united; here is the
verity of flesh, and yet but the simUitude of sinful
flesh; here is a man begotten without man, a son
without a father, for though Christ had more than
a putative body, yet, as man, he had no more than
a putative father : 1 Luke iii. 23, ' Jesus began to be
about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed,
the son of Joseph,' &c. ; here is a virgin conceiving
and bringing forth a son, she remaining a virgin
still : Jer. xxxi. 22, ' The Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man ;
are not all these stupendous, amazing, never enough
to be admired things ? How do wonders here grow
upon us ! No sooner doth one go off, but presently
another succeeds in its room. Christ wrought many
miracles in his flesh, but the greatest miracle of all
was his assuming flesh. Let Jews and infidels scoff
1 Filius Dei de Patre sine matre, Filius hominis de matre
sine Patre.— Aug. de temp., Serm. 23. Vide Tertull. de carne
Christi, p. 373. Vacabat viri semen, &c.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

263

and deride, the sincere Christian must admire and
adore. 2. For the persons who had the great hand in
this, they are to be admired too. I will instance,
(1.) In God the Father ; (2.) In God the Son.
(1.) God the Father he is to be admired ; for it
was he who ' sent his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh;' he ordained and ordered all about
this ; he laid the foundation of it in his own purpose
and will. It was ' the Lord's doing,' from first to last ;
should it not be ' marvellous in our eyes ' ? Ps. cxviii.
23. Ay ! and, as was said before, it was the highest
thing that ever he did ; in this, with reverence be it
spoken, he went to the utmost of all his attributes.
' In Christ's incarnation,' saith a reverend divine,1
' we may see God, as it were, resolving to do a work
from himsetf to the uttermost, to manifest the utter
most of his glory in a work out of himself. The
work of God within himself was his eternal gener
ation, and the procession ofthe Holy Ghost; but now
God would work out of himself, and that to the
utmost extent. He had made a world, but there he
had not manifested the uttermost of his glory ; there
fore God wUl, &c. ; what is that ? to take the nature
of man into a personal union with his Son, that is
the uttermost.' Now where God goes to the utmost
of his attributes, it becomes us to go to the utmost
of our thankfulness and admiration.
There are four attributes in God which upon the
account of Christ's incarnation can never be enough
admired. (1.) His wisdom, in finding out such a
glorious way for the sinner's recovery. This was
his invention and contrivance, and his only; the
- wisest creatures in the world, had they united aU
their wisdom, could never have thought of such a
way for the redeeming of lost man. In so desperate
a case God himself, to speak after the manner of
men, was fain to set his own wisdom on work to
find out a remedy ; and this was that which he
found out and pitched upon. Oh the . infinite, un
searchable, incomprehensible wisdom of God ! The
apostle speaks of ' the deep things of God,' 1 Cor.
ii. 10; of 'the manifold wisdom of God,' Eph. iii.
10 ; of his ' abounding in all wisdom and prudence,'
Eph. i. 8. What may these expressions refer to,
but to God's deep and most wise designs and
1 Mr Burrough*'s Gosp. Conv., p. 89.

methods displayed in the work of man's redemption
by a Christ incarnate ? And, whicli was a great
demonstration of his wisdom, see how the remedy
was suited to the malady ; man at first would be as
God, and that ruined him ; therefore now God shall
be as man, and that shall restore him ; man gave the
wound, and man shall heal that wound; oh the
wisdom of God ! (2.) His power ; for Christ, as he
was ' the wisdom of God,' so also ' the power of
God,' 1 Cor. i. 24, and as he was so in other respects,
so eminently in that which I am upon. It was an
act of mighty power for God so nearly to unite the
Godhead and the manhood; the bringing of two
natures so distant together in one person must
needs be the product of infinite power. For God to
make something out of nothing, that speaks the
greatness of his power; but for God to be made
man, there being, in some respects, a greater dis
tance betwixt the Godhead and the manhood than
betwixt something and nothing, this speaks a greater
power. It is much that soul and body, two such
different beings, should be so conjoined as to make
a man, that such disagreeing elements should be re
conciled in corpore mixto ; but what are these to the
joining of the Godhead ' and manhood in one hypos
tasis? (3.) His justice. Is sin committed? the
holy law broken ? Doth the creature lie under guilt ?
God stands upon the vindication of his honour, the
making good of his threatenings, the satisfaction of
his justice. Satisfaction he will have, and in that
nature too in which the offence had been committed ;
and because the creature was altogether unable to
make it, in order thereunto God will have his own
Son to take flesh, that he may be in a capacity to
obey, do, suffer what justice required; and when
this Son had so assumed flesh God fell upon him,
charged him with the guilt of aU believers, exacted
of him that punishment which was due to them,
would not spare him in the least or abate him any
thing. Oh the severity and impartiality of God's
justice ! (4.) His mercy, goodness, and love. And
doth not this attribute shine forth as brightly in our
Saviour's being made flesh, as any of the former ?
Here was ' the tender mercy of our God,' Luke i.
78 ; God's so loving of the world, John Ui. 16 ; the
great manifestation of his love, 1 John iv. 9 ; his
' glorious grace,' and ' the riches of his grace,' Eph.

264

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

i. 6, 7. Did ever God give the world such a de
monstration of his love and grace as in the incar
nation of his Son ? Oh matchless, infinite, unlimited
love and grace ! He had done exceeding well for
man as he made him at first ; for he put him into a
very good state, stamped his own image upon him,
made him above all other creatures to be his favour
ite ; but he foolishly sinned, and fell from God, and
thereby lost all his happiness. Well, what did God
now do ? Did he let man alone, shut up his bowels
against him, fall upon him with his utmost wrath ?
Did he say, Nay, since it is thus, let him even rise
as he has fallen ; since he would be so foolish as for
a trifle to break with me, let him rot and die and
perish for ever, I will do no more for him ? Oh no !
Not such a word or thought did pass from the
gracious God towards his miserable creature. He
pitied undone man, found out help for him, yea,
sent his own Son to restore him. And how did he
send this Son ? Why, in flesh. But in what flesh ?
Surely it shall be altogether glorious flesh, such as
shall be of a quite other nature than that is which
we poor mortals have ! Ay ! so it was in some
respects, but in others but just like to sinful flesh.
Put all this together, and was not here love ? God
will have sin to be punished, but then the punish
ment shall be laid upon his own Son, and the sinner
himself shall be acquitted. Oh the height of justice,
and yet oh the height of mercy too ! There is more
of mercy in God's sending Christ, and sending him
in this way, than there would have been in his abso
lute pardoning of sin without any sending or any
satisfaction ; because always the more costly a mercy
is, the more there is of mercy in that mercy. And
mere pardon, nay, salvation itself, have not so much
of mercy and love in them, as what was in Christ's
assuming our nature ; for, as to the first, it is more
for a king to put himself into the traitor's stead, and
himself to make satisfaction for his offence, than
just to pardon him ; and as to the second, in sal
vation there is our advancement, but in Christ's
incarnation there was his abasement ; now it is more
for such a person as Christ to be abased, than it is
for such a creature as man to be advanced. AU
which being considered, what an obligation doth
there lie upon us to get our hearts raised up unto and
drawn out in the highest admiration of God's mercy !

(2.) Secondly, God the Son, or Christ himself,
the person who was incarnate, he, too, is greatly to
be admired, with respect [1.] To his love; [2.] To
his holiness ; [3.] To his power. -
[1.] For his love, which, indeed, was superlative
and admirable, transcending the reach of the highest
finite capacity. Christ knew what our flesh was,
how much it was below him to take it.; yet for our
good he readily condescended to it, and was willing
to debase and depress himself if he might but ad
vance and exalt us.1 Here was the mirror of love !
The greatness of his person speaks the greatness of his
love : Phil. ii. 6-8, ' Who being in the form of God,
thought it'not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation,' &c. What a person was
Christ before his incarnation! What a fall was
here thereby for such a, person ! He who sate
upon the throne was willing to lie in the manger.2
He that was clothed with brightness and majesty
disrobed himself, put off his own royal attire, and
put on our coarse rags ; he who filled the world con
fined himself to a womb ; he who was the Maker of
all owned a poor woman for his mother ; he who
was David's Lord became David's Son. What un
searchable mysteries of the grace of Christ are here !
He had angels at his beck, and might have em
ployed one of them upon this service ; but he would
not — he wUl come himself, and trust no creature in
such an undertaking. Was not this love? God's
first love, saith one,3 to man, was in making man like
himself, his second great love was in making himself
like man. There is a what manner of love upon the
sons of men being made the sons of God, 1 John iii.
1 ; but what maimer of love was there in this, that
the Son of God should be made the Son of man?
I have nothing to say, but wonder, wonder. This
great person vouchsafed to come so near to believers
that he is ' not ashamed to call them brethren,'
Heb. ii. 11. He was willing to be made like to
1 ' Te propter vitamque tuam sum Virginis alvum
Ingressus, sum factus homo,' &c.
— Lactant de Benefic. Chridi.
3 Jacet in pannis qui regnat in coelis. Mundum implens, in
prjesepi jacens. Sidera regens, ubera lambens, &c. Conditor '
Marias natus ex Maria. Filius David Dominus David, semen
Abrahse qui est ante Abraham ; factor terras factus in terra.
— August, de Temp., Serm. 20, and Serm. 23.
3 DrReyn. on the Passions, cap. xi. p. 99.^

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

265

them that they might be made like to him ; he
took of theirs that he might give them of his;
and since they could not ascend to him, he was
pleased to descend to them.1 Oh inexpressible
love! He did not only take flesh, but that very
flesh and blood which we have ; yea, he stooped to
the likeness of our sinful flesh,2 and how did he
abase himself by and in this flesh ! Phil. ii. 7, 8 :
'But made himself of no reputation, (iximee, he
emptied himself, as it were, of all his former glory
and fulness,) and took upon him the form of a ser
vant, and was made in the Hkeness of men; and
being found Hi fashion as a man he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross.' Christ's external state in our nature was
so low and mean (which he yet never stuck at or re
garded, his design being to do good, and not to ap
pear in any worldly pomp or grandeur,3) that it
seemed to be below him, not only as he was God,
but even as he was man. He who before was equal
to God, was now scarce equal to man. It was pro-
pbeticaUy spoken in his person, Ps. xxii. 6, ' I am
a worm and no man ;' nay, he was scarce equal to
the meanest of other creatures, for he saith, Mat.
vim 20, ' The foxes have holes, and the birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head.' Now, surely, the lower Christ's
condition was, the higher should be our admiration
of his love. When the human nature, as in us,
was at the worst, sadly tainted by Adam's fall, then
Christ took it upon him. Though our stock was
now sour and degenerate, yet he was wUling to be
ingrafted into it. When the noblest families are
under an attainder of treason, persons are very shy
of matching into them. It was no better than so
with ours, and yet the Lord Jesus did not refuse to
match into it. My brethren, had he assumed our
nature before we had spoUed it, even that had been
an admirable condescension ; but to assume it when
in us it was so spoiled and defaced, here was the
highest condescension that was imaginable. The
"^Deplorata certe res erat, nisi majestas ipsa Dei ad nos des-
cenderet, quando ascendere nostrum non erat. — Calvin. Instit.,
hb. ii. cap. 12.
2 oiSe iripav tXafie aapKa, dXX' airijv rav-rqv ri]V Kara-
trovovpivqv. — Chrysostom.
3 oiK iinSel^aaBai. fjXBev b Kvpios, &XXa Bepairev<rai Kal Si8d£ai
-toOs iraaxovTas.—Athan. de Inc. verbi., p. 96.

angelical nature was pure and untainted ; for
though many angels had sinned, yet their nature was
not touched, because they, not standing in a com
mon head, as man did, the fall of some did not
reach the whole order ; and yet Christ meddled not
with that nature, but with ours : Heb. ii. 16,
' Verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but
he took on him the seed of Abraham.' Oh the grace
and love of Christ to man ! There are five expres
sions concerning him under the word made, every one
of which holds forth the greatness of his humilia
tion, and consequently of his love. (1.) He was
made flesh, John i 14. (2.) He was made of a woman,
Gal. iv. 4. He might have had flesh immediately
created, but tf was not so ; there was the instru
mental concurrence of a woman to it, which
heightens his humiliation therein. Then (3.) he was
made under the law, Gal. iv. 4 ; yea (4.) he was made
a curse for us, Gal. iii. 13 ; yea, (5.) he was made sin,
2 Cor. v. 21. Now though there be some gradual
rise, or rather fall, in all these, yet I conceive the
first holds forth the greatest humiliation ; the reason
is, because there is a greater distance, and repugnancy
betwixt God and flesh, than there is betwixt flesh
and any of the other things which follow. But shall
not all put together highly affect us, and fill our souls
with high thoughts of the love of Christ 1 Blessed
God ! what hearts have we if such considerations as
these wtfl not work them up to a Christ-admiring
frame ? Dear Saviour ! thou who didst once take
our sinless flesh, be pleased to take away our lumpish,
dull, sinful hearts ; that there may be in us some
such warm and raised affections as may, in some
measure, answer to thine immense love in thy incar
nation. [2.] Admire the holiness of Christ. That he should
take tru e flesh, and yet but the likeness of sinful flesh ;
be so like a sinner, and yet no sinner ; come so near
to sin, and yet be so far off from it; assume our nature,
so woefully corrupted and vitiated, as it is in us, and
live so long in that nature after it was assumed, and
yet be perfectly free from sin; that so much sin
should lie upon him, and yet not the least sin be
committed by him; oh this is very strange and won
derful ! Who can touch pitch and not be defiled ?
who can take a nature which, in its proper subject,
was wholly depraved, and yet be holy? Why,

266

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

Christ did so, and yet was holy. And tf he could
not have so done without impeaching his holiness,
as well as he loved man he would never have been
made man. Oh let the hohness of Christ be adored
by you !
[3.] Admire the power of Christ. That that nature
which is so weak in us should be so strong in him ;
that he, even in our flesh, should be able to do and
suffer as he did, this is admirable. Therein he
baffled a tempting devU, bore up under the greatest
pressures that ever lay upon any, did not sink under
aU his sufferings, wrought unquestionable miracles,
pacified divine wrath, satisfied God's justice, fulfilled
the law, condemned sin, subdued and conquered all
the powers of hell, held it out till all was finished ;
aU this was done in our flesh by Christ-man, though
not as mere man. I say in our flesh ; for had it not
been so, the thing had not been so great ; but that
Christ in our very nature and flesh should be able
to do such things, there is the wonder.1 Doubtless
he must be assisted and strengthened by a higher
nature, otherwise it could not have been thus. Nay,
that Christ -man should continue yet to do such
strange and mighty things, oh stand and wonder at
his power ! It was the ' stone cut without hands ' — by
which you are to understand Christ in the miraculous
production of his human nature — whicli ' smote the
image,' &c, Dan.H. 34. You read of 'one sitting upon
the cloud, Hke unto the Son of man, having on his
head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle'
for the cutting down of his enemies, Bev. xiv. 14 ;
and ' the Son of man is brought before the Ancient
of days, and there was given him dominion and
glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages should serve him,' &c, Dan. vii. 13, 14.
Now that Christ in the nature of man should be
thus exalted, and also do such great and glorious
things, is not this wonderful? Suppose you had
seen Moses, when a child, in his ark of bulrushes,
laid in the flags by the river's brink, Exod. H. 3, and
then afterwards had seen him, when grown up, at
the head of the people of Israel, as their ruler and
1 El pr) iv rr) oapKl vikt) yiyovev, oiK oBtu Bavpaorbv r)v, kc 
Chrysost. Hsec erat Dei virtus, in substantia pari perficere
salutem. Non enim magnum si Spiritus Dei carnem reme-
diaret, sed si caro consimilis peccatrici, dum caro est sed non
peccati. — Tertull. adv. Marcion., lib. v.

dehverer, as he is styled, Acts vii. 35, subduing
Pharaoh and all his host, would not this have struck
you with admiration? What, then, shall we say
and think of Christ ? He that for some time was
shut up in his mother's womb, lay as a weak infant
on her lap, sucked at her breasts, &c, and when
grown up suffered and died upon the cross, this
very Christ is the Eedeemer of the world, the Saviour
of man, the king of all the earth, the universal con
queror over devils and all enemies whatsoever, ex
alted far above principalities, &c. - What shall we
say to these things ? Verily they command adoring
silence and wonderment.
I have been very long — yet not too long, I hope—
upon this head. When the incarnation of the Son
of God is before me, than which there never was a
greater thing to be wondered at, could I say too
much in order to the raising of your hearts to the
highest adoration, both of the thing, and also of the
persons concerned in it? What more proper and
necessary to be urged upon such an argument than
such a frame of spirit ?
4. Fourthly, This great mystery of Christ's incar
nation must have some powerful influence upon your
hearts and lives. My brethren ! it is not enough
to believe it, to have an ineffective light in the head
about it ; no, nor sometimes to have the affections
wrought upon in the admiration of it; but this must
be attended with deep impressions upon the heart,
and have a great efficacy upon the Hfe. The apostle
having spoke of the ' mystery of godhness,' 1 Tim.
ui. 16, presently he falls upon Christ's being mani
fested in the flesh, as a great part of that-mystery of
godhness; and this in particular, as well as the whole
gospel in general, is set forth thereby, because,
where it is known and beUeved aright, it doth very
much conduce and operate to the promoting of god
liness. St John tells us, 1 John iv. 2, ' Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is of God.' Is every spirit that confesseth this
of God ? Yes, so far as assent to the truth, and a
faithful profession of that truth, will carry it. But
such as would be said to be of God in a more
special and saving way, they must not only assent
and profess, but they must live suitably to what
they do so believe and profess. This truth, of
Christ's being come in the flesh, must have an

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

267

efficacy upon them in what is practical, and then
they wiU be of God indeed. A God incarnate is
both the great encouragement to faith, and also the
great incentive to duty.
Should I here fall upon the several particulars
which offer themselves, and enlarge upon them, I
should too much trespass. Briefly, therefore, let me
but touch upon six or seven things.
1. Was Christ sent in flesh? And do you know
and beHeve it ? Oh how humble should you be !
What an argument is here, from Christ's incarnation,
for humUity. In his assuming flesh he hath set
before you the highest, the most glorious pattern of
humUity that ever was. WUl you not follow it?
1 Learn of me, for,' saith he, ' I am meek and lowly,'
Mat. xi. 29. He gave sufficient evidence of his low
liness in becoming mam Now is it not better to
learn of a humble God than of a proud man? 0
Christian ! after such abasement of thy Lord and
Saviour, wUt thou be haughty and proud? How
unsuitable is a proud sinner to a humble Saviour !
What, saith one, more mysterious than God humbled,
more monstrous than man proud ? Whenever pride,
self-conceitedness, self-exalting, begin to rise Hi the
heart, think of the humUity of the Son of God, how
he emptied himself, made himsetf of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, &cv and
surely this wiU be an effectual antidote against pride.
The apostle, when he would further lowhness of
mind in the PhiHppians, this is the consideration
which he sets before them, PhU. H. 3, 6, 7, &c. We
were undone by a proud devU and a proud heart ; if
ever we be saved it must be by a humble Saviour
and a humble heart.1
2. Do not sin. Partly that there may be in you
as full a conformity to Christ as here you can come
up to. He took your nature and sinned not therein;
you should be as like to Him as ever you may. Partly
that Christ may have bis end in his coming in the flesh,
for why did he so come, but ' that he might destroy
the works of the devil,' 1 John Hi. 8 ; that he might
'redeem you from all iniquity, and purify unto him-
1 Diabolus superbus hominem superbientem perduxit ad
mortem, Christus humilis hominem obedientem reduxit ad
vitam ; quia sicut ille elatus cecidit et dejecit consentientem,
sic iste humiliatus surrexit et erexit cre.dentem. — August.,
torn. iii. p. 1051.

self a peculiar people, zealous of good works,' Tit.
H. 14 ; that ' you being delivered out of the hands
of your enemies, might serve him without fear, in
holiness and righteousness before him all the days
of your life,' Luke i. 74, 75. Partly, too, because
upon Christ's sending in the flesh you have so full a
demonstration of the evil of sin, how hateful it was
to God, &c. For it having got into the world, no
thing could expiate it unless God's own Son will
take flesh, yea, and suffer and die in that flesh, and
so bring about the expiation of it. Oh what an evil
is sin ! Now, notwithstanding and after all this, will
you ye*t love it, and live in the commission of it ?
What wiU this be but, in effect, to say you regard
not what Christ was or did ? that you desire, as far
as in you lies, to make this his great act, the taking
of flesh, to be insignificant and to no purpose ; as
also to declare to the world by your practices that
you have quite other thoughts of sin than what God
himself hath.
3. Of all sins be sure you shun those which do
most directly disparage and debase the human nature,
such as drunkenness, intemperance, bodily unclean
ness, &c. What a sad thing is it that ever such
things should be done where there is such a nature !
When Christ hath assumed that nature, and by as
suming it hath so dignified and advanced it, nay,
when he hath so highly glorified it as to carry it up -
with him to heaven, and there to sit with it at the
right hand of God, shall we by such and such sinful
courses, the gratifying of such base lusts, dishonour
and disparage it ? 1 God forbid ! Sinners, let me
entreat you, whenever the temptation comes to ex
cite you to those evUs which in special do intrench
upon the glory of the human nature, as to drink to
excess, to defile your bodies by fleshly lusts, &c, do
but seriously think with yourselves that you are men,
and shaU such carry it as beasts ? that your Saviour
hath just such a body as you have, and doth he abuse
it by the committing of such evUs? that he hath
your nature, and doth he so and so sin in it ? that
he hath restored it, as it is in himself, to its pristine
glory, and wUl you, as it is in yourselves, keep it as
vile as ever? Surely if such who are drowned
1 Agnosce, 0 Christiane, dignitatem tuam, et divinaj consors
factus nature, noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversation
redire. —Leo. de Nativ.

268

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

in sensuality did but seriously think of this, they
would abandon thetf base lusts, rather than by them
debase their excellent nature.
4. Love God and Christ ; yea, love them strongly,
ardently, to a very intense degree of love. 1 John
iv. 16, ' God is love,' (he hath made it to appear so
in his sendingof Christ in flesh,) therefore he deserves
love ; he hath sufficiently acted and declared his love
to you, how will you act and declare your love to
him, &c. He loved, and so loved you, John iii. 1 6 ;
will you not return love for love,1 ay! and so love him
too to the utmost of your capacity ? What will fire the
cold heart with love to God tf this will not do it,
viz., his sending his own Son in the likeness of sin
ful flesh 1 He that knows and considers, certainly
he cannot but be full of divine love. And then love
Christ. Was he wUling to put on your rags, to
clothe himself with your flesh ? Did he take your
nature, and that too under those circumstances which
have been mentioned, doing this not for himself, but
wholly for your good ? Was he pleased so far to
condescend as to become one of you, nay, to put
himself not only into your nature but also into your
stead — he might have been a man, and yet not a
surety? Oh let him have your love, your most
hearty and cordial love ! Pray let it be your greatest
grief that you have no more love for him who de
serves so much. Alas ! it is but a drop when it
should be an ocean, but a poor spark when it should
be a vehement flame. And I would have you to love
Christ, who is incarnate, as well as because he was
incarnate. What an aUuring, attracting object of
love is Christ, God-man ! God loves him as he is in
our flesh ; the angels love him as in our flesh ; the
glorified saints love him too in that notion ; wdl not
you also love him as be is so considered ? Christ in
our nature is a person very amiable. What is there
in mere man to draw our love to him, which is not
in Christ, God and man, with great advantage ? He
indeed is the delicice humani generis, ' fairer than the
children of men,' Ps. xiv. 2 ; the ' chiefest amongst ten
thousand, altogether lovely,' Cant. v. 10, 16. Those
exceUencies which are but scattered in us, do all, like
lines in the centre, concur in him. A Christ incarnate
is the love of heaven; let him be the love of earth too.
1 Si amare pigebat, saltern reamare non pigeat.— August, de
Catech. Bud.

5. So love Christ as to be willing, nay ambitious
to do, to suffer, to be abased for him. 0 sirs ! what
shaU we do for him who hath done such inexpres
sible things for us ? 1 ShaU we be loath to take his
cross who was so willing to take our nature ? He
had but the Hkeness of sinful flesh, and yet how will
ingly and patiently did he suffer ! We have the
reaUty of sinful flesh, shall we hang off from suffer
ing, or be impatient under it? What abasement
can be too much for the sons of men, when the Son
of God was thus abased ? What service can be too
mean for us, when Christ stooped to the form of a
servant? He that knows how much Christ's love
was above him, will never think any work or service
to be below him.
6. As Christ was pleased to partake with you in
your nature, so let it be your desire and endeavour
to partake with him in his. I mean that which the
apostle speaks of when he saith, ' that by these you
might be partakers ofthe divine nature,' 2 Pet. i. 4 ;
even man, in such a sense, is capable of this, and
therefore should pursue after it. It was part of
Christ's humiliation to take our human nature, but
it is our highest exaltation to be brought under the
participation of his divine nature ; of which, though
we cannot be partakers as he was of the former, for
then we should be properly and formaUy deified,
which is high blasphemy, yet in the fruits and
effects of it, and in regard of conformity and like
ness to it, so we may. God may become very man,
but man cannot become very God ; he may be like
to God by grace and hohness, but that is aU,— thus
we are to understand some passages of the ancients
which seem to be very high.2 Now this is that
which I would have you to labour after ; that as
Christ hath taken of yours, so you may receive of
his ; as he was made like to you Hi what is proper to
man, so you, according to your capacity, may be
made like to him in what is proper to God.
7. Be thankful: not in a common, ordinary, formal
1 Deus homo factus est, quid facturus est homo, propter
quern Deus factus est homo i.-Aug., torn. iii. p. 1070.
2 Factus est Deus homo, ut homo fieret Deus.— Aug. de
Nativ. Divinitas verbi asqualis Patri facta est particeps mor-
tahtatis nostras, non de suo sed de nostro, ut et nos effice-
remur participes Deitatis ejus, non de nostro sed de ipsius.-
Aug., torn. iii. p. 1051. Airbs ivav8piiiri,aev tva foels fern*
Bup,ev.—Athan. de Incarn. Verb., lib. i. p. 108.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

269

manner, but in tbe most lively, enlarged, raised
manner that is possible. Where the mercy is high
and great, the thankfulness must bear some propor
tion to it. Did Christ condescend to take your
flesh for such gracious ends? Oh, where is your
praising and magnifying of God ? Should not the
whole soul be summoned in to give its most united
acknowledgment of so signal a mercy ? The angels
never reaped that advantage by his incarnation
which we do, and yet as soon as ever that took
place they were "at praising work : Luke ii. 13, 14,
' Suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of
the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory
to God in the highest,' &c. Good old Zacharias
began his prophecy with thanksgiving : Luke i. 68,
69, ' Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath
visited and redeemed his people,' &c. And Simeon,
upon the sight of Christ in the flesh, was transported
with joy : Luke H. 29, &c, ' Then took he him up
in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people ; a Hght to Hghten the GentUes, and the
glory of thy people Israel.' To move you to this
thankfulness, I can say no more than what I have
aHeady said ; let but that be considered, and you
wfll daUy, heartily, with the most raised affections,
bless God for a Christ incarnate.
And as you should do this for the thing itself, so
also for the revelation of it in the gospel ; where
' the mystery which was kept secret since the world
began is now mademanifest,' as the apostle speaks,
Bom. xvi. 25, 26. This we had never known if God
had not there revealed it ; and the deeper is the
mystery, the higher is his mercy in the disclosing of
it. ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven ; to others it is not so,' Mat.
xiu. 11. How little doth the greatest part of the
world know of a God in flesh ! Nature may dis
cover a God, but it is Scripture only which discovers
God-man. Now, why is that revealed to you which
is hid to so many ? ' Even so Father, for so it
seemed good in thy sight,' Mat. xi. 26. Nay, fur
ther, you have the clear , revelation of this ; what
was hid in darker prophecies and types to the fathers
under the Old Testament, is now under the New

made as evident to you as the light of the noon-day.
You do ' with open face behold ' the truth and glory
of Christ's manhood, 2 Cor. iii. 18. You live under
' the days of the Son of man ; ' that which others ex
pected and waited for, and saw but afar off, Heb.
xi. 13, is now accomplished and made good to you.
Under the law believers looked for the Son of God
in flesh ; you under the gospel look on the Son of
God in flesh. Their language was, ' I shall see him,
but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh,' as
Balaam prophesied, Num. xxiv. 17 ; but under the
gospel the language is, ' That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled of the word of life : for the
life was manifested, and we have seen it,' &c, 1 John i.
1,2. I may say to you, what Christ once did to his
disciples, Luke x. 23, 24, ' Blessed are the eyes
which see the things which ye see : for I tell you,
that many prophets and kings have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them ;
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not
heard them.' Oh put the thing and the revelation
thereof together, how should God for both be mag
nified by us ! Had we as many tongues as mem
bers, was the whole body turned into this one
member, yet we should not be able, for this high
and glorious mercy, sufficiently to speak out and
celebrate the praises of the most high God, as Au
gustine pathetically expresses it.1 So much for this
second use by way of exhortation.
Use 3. The third and last is for comfort. The
point in hand is every way as fruitful for consola
tion as for exhortation. Christ sent in flesh ! made
flesh ! what abundance of matter is wrapped up in
this for the heightening of the true believer's joy ! I
have brought you to the very spring-head of divine
consolation ; oh that you might feel it flowing forth
arid running into your souls ! ' Abraham rejoiced to
see Christ's day,' the day of his incarnation ; ' he saw
it and was glad,' John vUi. 56. Let me tell you, you
see that about it which he never saw ; wUl not you
rejoice and be glad ? ' Fear not,' said the angel to
the shepherds, ' for behold I bring you good tidings
1 Si certe omnia membra nostra verterentur in linguas, ad
rependendum tibi debitas laudes nequaquam sumceret exigui-
tas nostra.— Aug. Medit., cap. 15.

270

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

of great joy, which shall be to aU people.' What
were these good tidings ? why, ' Unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord,' Luke H. 10, 11. Christ born ! the
Son of God incarnate! Good tidings indeed ! blessed
be God that they were ever brought to our ears !
surely such tidings call for great joy. If God would
please to open your eyes to let you see what there
is in a Christ sent in flesh, to fix your thoughts upon
it, to help you to make the best improvement of it,
I cannot but assure myself that your hearts would
be brimful of comfort, that your fears would vanish,
like the dark cloud before the bright-shining sun ;
that instead of your sad despondencies of spirit you
would triumph in Christ, and Uft up your heads with
joy. Oh how injurious are they to the saints in
their heavenly glorying who would take away from
them the manhood of Christ ! since, as it is truly
said, no man can glory in that head in which he
believes there is not his own nature.1 And how in
jurious are the saints unto themselves, who do so
little meditate upon, improve, and draw comfort
from Christ in this consideration !
If it be asked, What is there in a Christ incarnate
for the strengthening of the faith, the heightening of
the comfort of God's children? Give me leave to
answer this question in several particulars.
1. There is this in it : certainly this must be an
effectual, and the most effectual way imaginable, for
the promoting of God's glory and the sinner's good.
If Christ become man, that must be a very proper
and powerful means in order to these ends ; for, be
sides the greatness of the thing in itself, if it shall
please God out of his abundant mercy to propound
to himself the bringing about of such things, he out
of his infinite wisdom will be sure to pitch upon
such means as shall certainly reach them; and
therefore he pitching upon this, unquestionably it
shall attain what it was designed for. Is not this
then ground of joy, and a great support to faith, to
consider that there is a way, and such a way, found
out, as shall infaUibly and effectuaUy promote your
good? 2. In this you have a high demonstration of his
love, yea, the highest that was possible ; for there
1 Nullus protest eo capite gloriari, in quo asserit naturam
suam non haberi. — Leo., Epist. xi.

was in it ultimus divini amoris conakis ; infinite love
itself could go no higher than a Christ in flesh.1
Now this love of God is the strongest, the most
heart-reviving cordial that can be given to a gracious
person ; and answerable to the degree of that, so is
the degree of his comfort : for evermore where God
displays his highest love, there he hath the highest
comfort. You that are such, do you desire an evi
dence of this, and would that cheer you ? Here you
have one, the very highest that God could give, viz.,
his sending his own Son in the Hkeness of sinful flesh.
3. By this, as hath been already observed under a
former head, all the promises are sealed, confirmed,
and ratified. Christ's incarnation was not only one
of the promises itself, yea, the grand Old Testament
promise, but it was the seal and confirmation of all
the rest. When God would give Ahaz a sign for the
encouraging of his faith as to the making good of a
particular mercy promised, what was that sign?
Why, ' Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel,' Isa. vii. 14;
and so it is in all other respects. The promises in-
,deed are confirmed several ways, but there is not any
one thing which gives a higher confirmation to them
than this, Christ's being made flesh. Whatever God
hath promised, it is all sure now to be made good.
Why ? because his great promise of the incarnation
of his Son, than the which nothing could be more
high and more improbable, is exactly accomplished.
A Christ incarnate is faith's highest security. Saints,
you have no reason now to question either God's
power ; — for what cannot he do who can unite the
Godhead and the manhood ? What can be too hard
for him who can make a virgin to conceive — or his
mercy and wiUingness to do anything for you ;— for
he that wUl send his own Son in the likeness of sin
ful flesh, what will he stick at ? What can come
after that can be so great as that ? ' He that spared
not his own Son, how shall he not with him give us
all things ? ' Bom. vm. 32. WeU, therefore, might
the apostle say, ' All the promises of God Hi him (in
Christ) are yea, and in him Amen,' &c, 2 Cor. i. 20.
Nihil tarn necessarium fuit ad erigendam spem nostram,
quam ut demon straretur nobis quantum nos diligeret Deus.
Quid vero isto indicio manifestius quam quod Dei Filius na
turae nostra dignatus est inire consortium %—Aug. de Trin.,
lib. xiii.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

271

A very great and precious truth here lies before
me, which therein I would fain speak more fully
unto. It is this, that all the excellent objects of the
Christian's faith and hope are made .credible, nay,
sure and certain, upon the incarnation of the Son of
God. This I wUl endeavour to make out in some
instances. (1.) There is first the mystical union betwixt
Christ and believers ; a very great mystery, as you
have heard. Christ in beUevers, and one with them,
what caji be more wonderful ! Yet it is sure there
is such a thing, and we may be assured of it, for it
is made credible and certain by that which I am
upon. The hypostatical union ascertains the mysti
cal union. The union of persons is not so much as
the personal union. He that hath thus united our
manhood to his Godhead in one person, why may he
not mysticaUy unite our persons to his person, this
latter union not being so high as the former? As it
is said, Heb. vH. 7, ' the less is blessed of the better,'
so I may here say, the less is confirmed by the greater.
If Christ had not come so near us in the taking of
our nature, the mystical union might have been more
doubtful ; but now there is no room for doubting.
Observe that place, Heb. H. 11, ' Both he that sanc
tifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one,' —
there is the union in the same common nature ; ' for
whicli cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,'
—there is the near relation, or the mystical union,
grounded upon the former.
(2.) There is communion with God, Christ's special
presence in the soul, the inhabitation of the Spirit.
All very high and glorious things, so high that the
poor creature knows not how to believe them ; yet
they also are very credible and certain upon Christ's
incarnation. It is more for God to be made man
.than it is for God to converse with man ; God
manifested in the flesh is more than God manifesting
himself to flesh. Moreover, Christ in our flesh laid
the foundation of the creature's communion with God,
and removed that whichhindered it, namely, distance
and enmity. These two stood in the sinner's way
as to this blessed communion, but Christ removed
them both, and so brought it about. It is observable,
the apostle having spoken ofthe incarnation of Christ,
1 John i. 1-3, presently he adds, 'and truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus

Christ.' Oh if he had not condescended to take our
flesh, there had been no such thing as our communion
with God ; 1 but now it is sure. And so it is in the
other things which were mentioned. What is Christ's
gracious presence in the soul, or the indwelUng of
the Spirit in a child of God, both of which are often
spoken of in Scripture, to the personal presence and
inhabitation of the Godhead in the manhood of Christ?
' In him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily,'
Col. ii. 9.
(3.) There are such and such communications of
grace from God to a gracious heart. These are very
secret, yet very sure and credible. Upon communion
of nature communications of grace do certainly fol
low. Christ having assumed flesh, there is now a
way made through which God may convey his mercy
and love to creatures as he pleases. The Godhead
is the fountainfrom which all flows, and there is now a
pipe to convey supplies from that fountain, viz., the
manhood of Christ. 1 Cor. viii. 6, ' To us there is
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are
all things, and we by him.' By Christ, in our flesh,
all things come to us, and we by him go to God. He
is the way, as he saith of himself, John xiv. 6 ; the
way by which our duties are handed to God, and
God's mercies to us. Oh, so long as Christ is medi
ator betwixt God and man as God-man, there may,
and there shall be mutual intercourses and com
munications betwixt God and man.
(4.) The Scripture speaks much of the sonship
and adoption of believers. A very great and glori
ous privilege ! infinitely too great for such despicable
worms as we are, considered in ourselves ; yet
through the grace of God in a Christ incarnate it is
ours. This near relation to God upon the manhood
of his own Son is now made very credible ;2 for if
the Son of God was made the Son of man, why may
not the sons of men be also made the sons of God ?
1 Alioqui nee satis propinqua vicinitas, nee afBnitas satis
firma, unde nobis spes fieret Deum nobiscum habitare ; tantum
erat inter nostras sordes et summam Dei munditiem dissidium.
— Calvin. Instit., lib. ii. cap. 12.
2 ' Vjyivero vlbs dvBptbirov, Beov yvr)<nos <!>v vlds, Iva rois tuv dv-
Bptbiroiv vlois riyya iroi-qo-q tov Beov. — Chrysost. in 1 John. Si
natura Dei Filius propter filios hominum factus est hominis
filius, quanto est credibilius natura filios hominis gratia Dei
filios fieri, &c. — Aug. de Trinit., lib. xiii. cap. 9.

272-

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

If the one was so abased, why may not the other
be so advanced ? especiaUy tf we consider that the
bringing of believers into this new relation was one
great and special end why Christ was incarnate :
Gal. iv. 4, 5, ' When the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons.' When the evangelist had laid down the
exaltation of beUevers to a state of sonship, John i.
12, and had shewn how that is brought about, ver.
.13, immediately he falls upon Christ's being made
flesh, ver. 14. Whether the latter carries any refer
ence to the former, or is brought in upon this or
that account with respect to the saints' sonship
spoken of, I will not be positive in determining one
way or another ; only this I say as to the thing, it
is not incredible that such who believe should be
come the sons of God, when the Word was made
flesh. (5.) There is the resurrection of the body. And
what more incredible to us than that ! Though the
Scriptures are very express and plain in the assert
ing of it, though we know the power of God, and
have many considerations for the assuring us of its
truth and certainty, yet how apt are we to stagger
and to be under doubtful thoughts about it ! But
saith the apostle, Acts xxvi. 8, ' Why should it be
thought a thing incredible with you, that God should
raise the dead ?' Blessed Paul ! is the resurrection
of the dead a thing not incredible ? What is there
to take off the incredibility of it ? why, enough and
enough, especiaUy to us Christians. Christ's incar
nation, and that which followed upon it, is sufficient
to remove the incredibility of this mystery ; for he
took our flesh, then 'died in our flesh, then rose
again in our flesh — I say, in our fiesh,-f or he rose
not only with a true body, but with the self-same
body that ours is, with that very body in which he
died and was buried — and tf so, why then should
the resurrection of our flesh or bodies be incredible ?
This is nothing but what hath been done already to
and in our flesh ; and it is less to raise flesh than to
take flesh ; it was more strange for him who was
God to die, than it is for him who is man, being
dead, to live again. If it be said that Christ was an
extraordinary person, and therefore that his resur

rection is not to be bottomed upon for the making of
ours sure and certain ; I answer, But it is ; because
he did not rise as a single person, but as a common
head ; and therefore he rising, we may be assured
that we shaU rise too. 1 Cor. xv. 20-22, ' But now
is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-
fruits of them that slept : for since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive.' He that believes Christ's
incarnation will upon that believe the resurrection.
As it is well observed by some upon that passage
betwixt Christ and Martha, which we read of, John
xi, where he asked her, ver. 25, 26, ' I am the re
surrection and the life : he that beheveth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whoso
ever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die ;
believest thou this?' Mark her answer: ver. 27,
' She said unto him, Yea, Lord : I believe that thou
art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come
into the world :' as tf she had said, Yea, Lord, I
do believe that thou canst raise the dead, since
thou art the Son of God which wast to be, and now
art, incarnate. He questions her about the resurrec
tion ; she professeth her faith in his incarnation ; yet
her answer was very pertinent, because she believing
this could not but believe that also.
(6.) The possessing of the heavenly glory is the
highest of all, and therefore of aU the most in
credible ; for usually the higher the mercy is, the
harder it is to believe it. What ! saith the poor
Christian, shall I in this flesh see God, and Uve with
him for ever ? Oh this is a thing very improbable,
'much too big for my hope and faith ! but whoever
thou art, if thou beest a sincere Christian, thou
mayest believe it and be sure of it. For Christ
took thy flesh, purchased heaven for thee in thy
flesh, ascended up to heaven in thy flesh, and is
there glorified in thy flesh ; and therefore mayest
not thou assuredly hope that thou also thyseff in
thine own flesh shalt go to God, and have it glorified
in its measure, as well as the flesh of Christ is?
What encouragement is here for faith ! By Christ
incarnate we do not only see that the human nature
is capable of the future blessedness, but we have
thereby ground of full assurance of it ; for what
could he aim at in his being so, short of heaven!

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273

In our nature he both purchased it, and also took
possession of it, and all for us : Heb. vi. 20,
'Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order
of Melchisedec' He being glorified, in him we are
glorified j1 as he rose as a public head, so he was
glorified as a public head too. He who hath so ad
vanced our nature, wUl in time advance our persons ;
his incarnation, which is past, secures our glorifica
tion, which is to come. It was more for Christ to
come down to earth than it is for him to carry us up
to heaven ; if he will condescend to be Uke to us in
his humiliation, he will have us to be like to him in his
exaltation. What can be too high for man, when
for him God was made man?2 Well, believers,
Christ being sent in flesh, what can now be too great
for your faith ? You have great and glorious things
in your eye, but do not in the least question the ac
complishment of them ; aU is made easy, credible,
nay, certain, upon Christ's incarnation ; that being
done, all shall be done. This is the third thing for
the comfort of God's people.
4. Fourthly, Was Christ sent in flesh ? There is
this in it for the strengthening of faith and the
heightening of joy, that God is now knowable and •
accessible. It is beyond aU contradiction, some may
say, a blessed thing to know God ; ay ! but who can
know him ? can any see God and live ? can a finite
eye take a view of such an infinite majesty, the least
ray of which outshines the sun in its greatest
brightness ? What ! man to know God ? alas ! poor
creature! his weak faculties wiU not bear the be
holding of so glorious an object. To which I answer :
All this, in such a sense, is very true, yet let not
humble souls be discouraged ; for this notwithstand
ing, they may yet know God savingly and comfort
ably, though not perfectly. In and by a Jesus in
flesh the great God is knowable ; partly as he by
Christ, so considered, is most clearly manifested ; in
Christ God-man we have the brightest objective
manifestation of God. The whole creation, though
thereby much may be known of God, as you read,
1 Est in ipso Jesu Christo unius cujusque nostrum portio,
caro et sanguis. Ubi ergo portio mea regnat, ibi me regnare
credo, ubi caro mea glorificatur, ibi gloriosum me esse cognosco,
&c — Aug. Medit., cap. 1 5.
!Quid futurus est homo, propter quem Deus factus est
homo ? — Prosper.

Bom. i. 20, makes no such discoveries of him as
Christ doth ; therefore he is said, for this is one ex
plication which the words will very well bear, to be
' the brightness of his Father's glory,' Heb. i. 3 ;
and hence some style him Speculum Patris, the glass
wherein the Father in the most clear and lively
manner is represented : ' He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father,' John xiv. 9 ; and the apostle speaks
ef ' the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face,' i.e., in and by the manhood, ' of Jesus
Christ,' 2 Cor. iv. 6. Partly too, as Christ in our
flesh is a fit medium to transmit God as knowable
to us ; indeed God, as considered absolutely and in
himself, is so infinitely above us, that we cannot
here immediately behold him ; so his glory, his im
mense and infinite perfections, should they be let
out upon us, would soon reduce us to our first
nothing. But he being considered in Christ, so
mediately through Christ we can look upon him,
see him and live ; in this way the majesty of God
is, as it were, so refracted, tempered, and qualified,
that the poor dim eye of the creature may behold it.
As we cannot immediately look upon the body of
the sun, so its splendour and intense light presently
dazzles us ; yet we can look upon it in a pail of
water ; so here, we cannot immediately behold God
in the brightness of his glory — a finite faculty must
needs be dazzled by an infinite majesty — yet take
him in the flesh and manhood of Christ, there his
glory is so brought down to us that we can see him
and know him to our comfort. -Christ-man inter
poses not only between us and God's anger, to
screen us from it, that we be not thereby con
sumed, but also between us and God's majesty, that
we may not be overwhelmed by the infiniteness of
it ; he lets it out as our capacity will bear, and so
by him God becomes knowable : he both carries us
up to God, -and also brings down God to us. Oh
study God much ! but then be sure you study him
in Christ incarnate ; in that way you may come to
the knowledge of him. Augustine saith,1 by the
hypostatical union of the human nature with the
divine, there is such a collyrium or eyesalve made
for us, that we may with these very eyes almost see
1 Per illam unionem hypostaticam, et assumptionem
human* naturte factum collyrium, per quod et oculis pene
insis divinitas cerneretur. — Aug. Tract, iii. in John.
V 2 M

274

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XII.

the Deity. How should we rejoice in the manhood
of Christ ! By that flesh in which the Godhead was
sometimes hid it is now revealed ; that which was
once a Veil to cover it, is now a glass to represent it.
Do but know Christ, and you wiU know God.
I add, God is now accessible. Christians ! Christ
having taken your flesh, carried it up with him to
heaven, sitting in it at the right hand of God, and
therein interceding for you, through him you may
now go to God, and that too with all holy boldness
and confidence. You have not to do with a Deus
absolutus, which Luther so much dreaded, but with
God through a mediator; and, which may be a
great encouragement to your faith, that mediator is
'the man Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5. You go to
God, and you go by God, as clothed with your
nature ; it is Deus qua itur, et Deus quo itur ; the God
to whom you go commands your reverence, the God-
man by whom you go encourages .your confidence.
Oh that -you would more explicitly in duty revive
upon your thoughts Christ's mediation and interces
sion in heaven in your nature ! surely that would
much embolden you in your addresses to God :
Eph. iii. 12, ' In whom we have boldness and ac
cess with confidence by the faith of him.' Heb.
iv. 14, 16, 'Seeing we have a great high priest,
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. Let us come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.' Heb.
x. 19-22, ' Having therefore boldness to enter into
the hohest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh ; and having an high
priest over the house of God ; let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water.' Had Joseph's
brethren known that their own brother had been
so near to Pharaoh, with what confidence would
they have addressed themselves to him ! Believers !
Christ your brother, who is flesh of your flesh, is at
God's right hand as the great master of requests,
the great dispenser of mercies ; why do you not
more improve this for the emboldening of your
spirits when in prayer you go to God ?
It is a great thing for the saints' comfort to con

sider how things were formerly under the law, and
how they are now under the gospel. Then God
carried it in a way of greater state and majesty-
then he kept a greater distance, arid was more hardly
accessible. See how the apostle sets it forth, Heb.
ix. 1, &c, 'Then verily the first covenant had also
ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary,
For there was a tabernacle made ; the first, wherein
was the candlestick,' &c. ' And after the second veil
the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all, which
had the golden censer,' &c. Now when these things
were thus ordained, the priests went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God ¦
but into the second went the high priest alone once
every year, not without blood, which he offered for
himself and for the errors of the people.' The
apostle here takes notice of the partition or division
of the tabernacle ; for the atrium, or outer court,
where the people used to be, that he speaks not of ;l
only he meddles with the first and second tabernacle,
where the ordinary priests and the high priest did
officiate. Now, he saith the first of these were to go
no farther than the first tabernacle^the people might
not go so far;— the high priest might go into the
second tabernacle, the Sanctum Sanctorum. But how ?
With great restrictions. He must go alone, but
' once a year,' 2 and that too f not without blood,'
see Exod. xxx. 10 ; Lev. xvi. ; and God was so
strict about this, that it was as much as his life was
worth, even for him at any other time to venture
into the Holy pf holies : Lev. xvi. 2, ' The Lord said
unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he
come not at all times into the holy place within the
veil, before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark;
that he die not .- for I will appear in the cloud upon
the mercy-seat.' Well, (not to instance in the re-
1 Of this and of the whole tabernacle, see Joseph. Antiq,
Jud., lib. iii. cap. 5.
^ 2 Augustine, whom Sigpnius follows, differs in his interpreta
tion of this : Quod autem scriptum est, Pontificem, semel in
anno solum sancta esse ingressum, S. Augustinus interpretatur,
eum quotidie quidem iugressum esse propter incensum, ac
semel in anno propter expiationem cum sanguine purificatio-
ms. Verum possumus etiam dicere, eum quotidie quidem
sanctuarium esse ingressum, sed sacerdotum comitatu stipar
turn, semel autem in anno solum, i.e., sine sacerdotibus in die
expiationum.— Sigon. de Rep. Hebrce.,lib. v. cap. 2. For this
opinion he is severely taken up by P. Cunmus de Rep. Heb., lib.
i. cap. 4.

Chap. XII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

275

straints laid upon the priests, Levites, &c, which
the word also mentions,) what might God's mean
ing be in this ? See ver. 8, ' The Holy Ghost this
signifying, that the way into the Holiest of all was
not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing.' As if the apostle had said, Let
not any wonder that God then would keep men
at such a distance ; here was the reason of it,
or the inystery which was at the bottom of it :
Christ was not yet come — the true tabernacle was
not as yet erected, the first tabernacle was only then
standing. Christ had not assumed the nature of
man, thereby to make way for man freely to go to
God ; therefore ' the way to the Holiest of all was not
yet made manifest.' But now, under the gospel,
Christ being incarnate and gone to heaven in our
flesh, now all may go to God freely. The way
to him is open ; every believer in the world may
now enter into the Holy of holies, all former
restraints and distances are now taken away.
Mark the scripture cited already, Heb. x. 19, 20,
'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the HoHest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and hving way, which he hath consecrated for
us, through the veU, that is to say, his flesh.' By
this flesh, Christ's human nature, or Christ in the
human nature, is unquestionably meant, which he
calls the veU, in allusion to that in the tabernacle,
wherein there was a twofold veil, one that covered
the ark — Exod. xl. 3, ' And cover the ark with the
veil;' — the other, which separated betwixt the atrium
and the first tabernacle, as also betwixt the first taber
nacle and the second — Exod. xxvi. 33, 'And the veil
shall divide unto you between the holy place and the
most holy.' So Heb. ix. 3, ' And after the second
veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all : '
to which also he alludes, Heb. vi. 19, 'which
• entereth into that which is within the veil.' Now
with respect to these veils, Christ's flesh, or man
hood, is set forth by the veil. (1.) As his Godhead
for a time was hid and covered under it ; (2.) As
believers through this do go to God, as it is the way
into the Holiest. And so it is here brought in, for
he saith, ' by a new and Uving way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
his flesh.' You see what these texts drive at, and
what the apostle draws from them, viz., that saints

now, upon the manhood of Christ, should with bold
ness enter into the Holiest, and draw near to God
with full assurance of faith. This is their unspeak
able privilege under the gospel, which they should
improve and rejoice in. This is the fourth thing
for comfort, God is now knowable and accessible.
5. Fifthy, This cannot but be exceedingly delight
ful to us, to consider the advancement and dignity of
our nature. How is that nature advanced by
Christ's assuming of it? That which was his abase
ment was its advancement. As a mean family is ad
vanced when some person of eminency marries into
it, so Christ having matched into our broken and de
cayed nature, what an honour did he thereby reflect
upon' it ! God put a great deal of glory upon it
in its first creation; Christ hath put much more
glory upon it in the hypostatical union. The angel
ical nature, in some respects, is above ours, but in
others ours is above it. The angels are not so con
cerned in the mystical conjunction to Christ as we
are ; their advantages by a Saviour are not so high
as ours — they are confirmed by Christ in a state of
happiness, and that is all; but We are confirmed
and restored too. The great things which are done
by Christ as mediator he doth them in our nature,
and the great honour which is conferred upon him
refers to him in our nature. It is the Son of man
who ' stands on the right hand of God,' Acts vii. 56.
' Dominion, and glory, and the kingdom is given to
the Son of man,' Dan. vii. 13, 14. He will judge the
world as the Son of man, Mat. xxv. 31 ; John
v. 27. But the main pre-eminence of the human
nature above the angelical lies in the intimate unit
ing of it to the divine nature : Heb. ii. 16, ' Verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham.' Man was the creature
that was to be redeemed, and therefore it was the
nature of man that shall be assumed. Can we
think of this without great joy ? Christ himself as
man is above us — ' in all things he' must have the
pre-eminence,' Col. i. 18; but angels, who are of ar.
other order, in several respects are below us.
6. A Christ incarnate is, and must needs be, very
compassionate. This was one great reason why he
took our nature upon him, and in that nature was
exercised with such sorrows and sufferings, that he
might the better know how to sympathise with his

276

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[Chap. XII.

members in all their sorrows and sufferings : Heb.
ii. 17, 18, ' In all things it behoved him to be made
like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people. For in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.'
Heb. iv. 15, 'We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeHng of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.' He that hath felt what others undergo,
knows the better how to pity them ; sense and ex
perience further compassion, where persons are not
made of flint ; none sympathise so much with those
who labour under gout, stone, &c, as those who have
been afflicted with those pains themselves. God
told the people of Israel, ' they knew the heart of a
stranger, seeing they themselves were strangers in
the land of Egypt,' Exod. xxUi. 9. How then must
the bowels of Christ work towards afflicted ones, he
himself having been afflicted just as they are. Be
sides the mercifulness and tenderness of his heart,
there is also his own former experience, which is
yet fresh in his memory, of their miseries, which
doth much draw out his compassion to them. Pray
what are your afflictions ? Let them be what they
will, Christ underwent the same. Are you poor?
so was he. Are you tempted ? so was he. Are you
deserted ? so was he. Are you burdened under the
weight of sin 1 so was he, though in a different way.
Do you suffer by men ? so did he. And if there be
any infirmities which he did not lie under, yet he
knows how to pity you ; for though he did not feel
those particular infirmities in kind, such as sickness,
blindness, &c, yet he had some others which were
equivalent to them, ami so by proportion he knows
how to commiserate you ; so it comes in, Heb. v. 2,
' Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on
them that are out of the way, for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity.' It is some alle
viation to our grief in our troubles when we know
we have some who sympathise with us under them.
0 you that fear the Lord, know, in all your sorrows,
sufferings, troubles whatsoever, Christ in heaven
hath a feUow-feeling and sympathy with you ; he
suffers no more, but he sympathises still. Let this
be an allay to your grief, and a support to your faith.

7. Lastly, There is something in this which may
give ease and relief under all troubles of mind.
There is such a fulness in this truth for the comfort
of souls, that there is scarce any inward trouble or
discouragement which gracious persons here are ex
ercised with, wherein they may not find consider-.
able rehef and satisfaction for conscience from this
incarnation of the Son of God. Christ's flesh is
precious balm for a wounded spirit, as it is meat
indeed to feed the hungry soul, so it is balm indeed
to heal the wounded soul ; it is a universal, catholic
cordial to revive and cheer under aU faintihgs what
ever. Do I speak to any who are under spiritual
darkness ? Oh that a Christ in flesh might be thought
of and improved by such !
To instance in the special fears, complaints, dis
couragements, burdens of troubled souls, and to
shew what there is in Christ as incarnate proper
for their support and comfort under all, would ba
a vast work ; I must therefore only hint a few things.
Are you tempted to entertain hard thoughts of
God, to question on the mercifulness of his nature,
his goodness, &c. ? Do you conceive of him in some
hideous and frightful manner ? You greatly mistake
God, and think very much amiss of him. Frist
think of God in Christ, and then of Christ in flesh,
and surely you will have other apprehensions. A
Christ sent in flesh represents God as benign, good,
merciful, gracious, full of pity, tender-hearted, as
designing nothing but good to repenting sinners.
Did he thus send his own Son, and is he not all
this ? After he hath done such a thing, can you
imagine that he delights in the death of sinners, or
that he wiU not be gracious to all who fly to him?
Are you afraid because of the justice and wrath
of God ? Pray remember therefore, Christ came in
flesh that he might satisfy the one and pacify the
other ; these were the very things which he under
took to accomplish; and what he undertook, no ques
tion but he went through with.
Doth sin lie heavy upon your consciences ? Mark
the text, ' God sent his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh ;' for what end ? 'for sin to condemn sin
in the flesh;' sin brought Christ from heaven, and
he would not return thither again till by a sacri
fice offered in his flesh he had fully expiated it. Sin
itself could not stand before him as in our flesh

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

277

dying and suffering for it. If God will become man,
the guilt of mere man shall not be so able to damn
as the merit of God-man to save. 0 thou true
penitent, be thy sins never so many, never so great,
yet do not give way to despairing thoughts ! Bring
out thy sins, saith one,1 weigh them to the utmost
aggravation of them, and set but this in the other
scale, God manifested in the flesh to take away sin,
now will all thine iniquities seem lighter than vanity,
yea, be as nothing in comparison of that which is
laid down as a propitiation for them. And again,
saith he, what temptation will not vanish as a cloud
before the wind, when we see God's love in sending
his Son, and Christ's love in taking our nature upon
him, to reconcile us by the sacrifice of his blood ?
But some may object, it is a great while since
Christ took flesh, and in that flesh made satisfaction
to God, is not the efficacy and merit thereof im
paired by that? No, not in the least. Christ's
merits are as fresh, and have as great an efficacy
now, as they had at the first moment of his incar
nation and passion. May not that of the apostle,
Heb. ii. 16, have some reference to this, where he
speaks of Christ's taking flesh in the present tense,
as if it was done but now ? for it is lin\aiJ.Ba.nrai,
' he taketh not on him the nature of angels, but He
taketh on him the seed of Abraham.' I speak this
for the comfort of Christians, but not so as to give
advantage to the Socinian, who because the words
run in this tense would therefore have them to be
no proof of Christ's incarnation.
Do your many defects, the imperfections in your
graees and duties, trouble you? you have Christ's
perfect manhood, his perfect holiness and obedience
in that nature to fly unto. The apostle, Col. ii., sets
down the hypostatical union, ver. 9, ' In him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodUy. ' Well, suppose
it doth so, what is this to believers ? Why, it follows
immediately, ver. 10, ' And ye are complete in him.'
Christ being such a person, so full and perfect a
mediator, in him every believer is and must be com
plete. So that though the sense of imperfections in
yourselves must humble you, yet it must not over
whelm you, because in Christ you are perfect.
Are you afraid, notwithstanding aU the calls, in
vitations, promises of the gospel, yet to close with
1 Dr Sibbs on 1 Tim. iii. 16, p. 59.

Christ ? Oh do not give way to such fears ! If you
come to him, cast yourselves upon him, will he cast
you off? He hath assured you he will not : John
vi. 37, ' Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast off.' Besides his word you have this to secure
you j he in his person came from heaven to you, and
if you by faith shall go to him, do you think he will
not give you kind reception ? I am sure, and I will
venture my soul upon it, that the gracious promises
and encouragements of the gospel to draw sinners
to Christ shall aU be made good ; for since he was
pleased to take my flesh, I have not the least reason
to doubt, but fully to be assured, that he is real,
hearty, in good earnest in all of them. Many things
of this nature might here be spoken unto, but it is
full time to put an end to this subject.

CHAPTEE XIII.
OF CHRIST'S BEING A SACRIFICE, AND EXPIATING
SIN THEREBY.
And for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the right
eousness of the law miglii be fulfilled in us. — BOM.
viii. 3, 4.
A fifth head in the words discussed, viz., the end of God
in sending his own Son, or the effect thereof — How the
wisdom of God is secured by this end — Of the placing
of the words for sin — The whole a little descanted
upon — What the condemning of sin is, opened more
generally, more particularly in three things — The
condemning of sin for sin opened : a twofold inter
pretation given of it — Of the flesh in which sin is
said to be condemned — The observation raised from
the words: where, 1. Of Christ 's being a sacrifice for
sin — How he excels the old law sacrifices, and of their
reference to Mm — Six things in those sacrifices which
are all to be found in Christ, the true sacrifice. It is
inquired, (1.) What kind of a sacrifice he was? — -
Proved that he was an expiatory sacrifice — Of the
difference and distinction of the Jewish sacrifices —
Four heads insisted upon for the confirming of the
main truth : as, (1.) That our sins were the meri
torious cause of Christs sufferings; (2.) That he did

278

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[Chap. XIII.

substitute himself in the sinner's stead; where two
questions are briefly answered, [1.] Whether he under
went the same punishment that was due to the sinner,
or only that which was equivalent thereunto? [2.]
Whether he took the guilt of sin upon himself, or only
submitted to the punishment thereof? (3.) That he was
killed and slain, and Ms blood shed, in correspond
ency with the Levitical expiatory sacrifices ; (4.) This
is proved from the ends and effects of his death, viz.,
atonement and expiation, both of which are opened —
Of the concurrence of the heathens in their notions
about sacrifices — It is inquired, (2.) When and where
Christ was an expiatory sacrifice ? — It is answered,
when he died upon the cross. 2. Of the effect of Ms
sacrifice, the condemning of sin — Parallel expressions
cited — Of the nature of the expiation of sin — Of the
extent of it with respect to the subject and object —
Whether were all sins expiated by the law sacrifices ?
— Use 1. I infer from the premises, (1.) The verity of
Christ's satisfaction; (2.) The true nature and prin
cipal ends of Ms death; (3.) The vanity and false
hood of all human satisfactions; (4.) The true notion
of the Lord's supper; (5.) The happiness of believers
under the gospel above theirs who lived under the
law; (6.) The excellency of Christ's priesthood and
sacrifice; (7.) The evil of sin; (8.) The severity of
God's justice — Use 2. Several duties urged from
hence: as lioliness, the love of Christ, &c. — Use 3.
This improved several ways for the comfort of be
lievers.
In the preceding words, God sending Ms own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, four things have been ob
served and opened. In these now read a fifth head
offers itself to our consideration ; and that is the
effect of Christ's mission, incarnation, and of what
followed thereupon, or God's end in all this. Did
he pitch upon so admirable a way and method?
Surely some high and glorious effect must be pro
duced thereby. And so there was ; for thereby sin
was condemned. And surely, too, therein the wise
God must propound to himself some great and very
considerable end to be accomplished ; and so he did ;
for he aimed at nothing lower than that the right
eousness of the law might be fulfilled in believers.
In the words, then, we have both the effect, what
God did by his own Son as first assuming and then

suffering in flesh ; and also the end of God in his
taking this strange and wonderful course ; for these
two, though they be distinct in themselves, and carry
in them notions somewhat different, yet here in this
place they both are alike appUcable to the matter
spoken of, and it to them. If it be considered with
respect to God's intention, so it falls under the nature
of an end ; if with respect to his execution of what
he intended, so it falls under the nature of an effect;
therefore upon the oneness and coalition of these
two, and the equal applicableness of the matter to
each ; whereas there are two branches in the text,
each of which contains distinct matter in it — in the
former the thing is expressed under the notion of
an effect, ' and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh ; '
in the latter under the n6tion of an end, 'that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.'
It pleasing God to send his own Son, &c His
wisdom would have been liable to impeachment, if
(1.) he had not effected some great thing thereby ;
if, (2.) which indeed should have been first men
tioned, he had not designed some great thing therein.
For the wisdom of an agent Hes not only in his
having an end in what he doth, but in his having
such an end as shall be proportionable to the means
which he pitches upon. If they be high, and the
end but low, this speaks a defect in point of wisdom;
for that ever shews itself, as in the fitting of the
means to the end, so in the proportioning of the
end to the means. If, therefore, the blessed God will
single out such a medium as the sending of his own
Son, &c, he then stands engaged, upon the account
of his wisdom, to propound to himself such an end
as may be answerable to that medium ; which, there
fore, accordingly he did, inasmuch as in that great
act he had this great end or ends, the satisfying of
his justice, the expiating of sin, the fulfilling of the
law, &c, these were ends worthy of such means as
the coming, incarnation, death of his own Son. Now
all these are set down in the words before us, in
which therefore you have that which is a fuU vindi
cation, nay, the highest manifestation, of God's infi
nite wisdom.
I begin with the first effect or end here specified,
'And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.' At my
first entrance upon the whole paragraph I touched
upon the reading of this clause, there being some

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

279

difference amongst expositors about it ; therefore
that I will not again insist upon ; only let me take
notice of another difference among them which was
not there mentioned. That refers to the placing of
the words ; for whereas we take in for sin into this
branch, some would have it placed in the former,
thus : ' God sending for sin his own Son, in the like
ness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh.'1
But though this ranking of them may possibly seem
to some to make the words run more smoothly, yet
if it be admitted of, the conjunctive particle and
must be quite expunged, which I should be loath to
submit unto, because of its special significancy and
emphasis in this place ; partly as it heightens the
thing spoken of, and intimates the wonderfulness of
the way in which it was brought about, and partly
as it notes the joining together of that here men
tioned with that which went before.2 God did not
only send his own Son in our flesh, but (which is to
be superadded to that as an effect or consequent
thereof) he also in that flesh for sin condemned
sin. I wUl therefore keep to our methodising of
the words, and tf you take them as here they lie,
there will be no necessity either of putting in or
putting out. Yet if you wiU go by their sense, then
you may read them with this addition, And by a
sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Good and
blessed words ! No condemnation to them who are
in Christ, ver. 1. Sin itself condemned, ver. 3.
What could be spoken higher to raise the thankful
ness, encourage the faith, heighten the joy of sincere
Christians ! The word condemned is not so terrible
when applied to the sinner, but it is as comfortable
when apphed to sin itself. That which had been the
condemning is now the condemned thing ; how may
a gracious soul rejoice at this ! The non-condemna
tion of persons spoken of in the first verse, is secured
by and grounded upon the condemnation of sin in
this, for both must not be condemned ; if sin be
condemned, the sinner shall not. Observe here, sin
1 Tiepl apaprtas pertinet ad participium iripfas.—Beza. Om
nino referendum puto irepl apaprtas ad participium iripipas. —
Justin. So Cyril, reads them in John, lib. ix. cap. 47.
2 Appositam siquidem intelligimus conjunctionem, ad dgni-
ficandam sequelam alterius beneficii ; ut scil. notemus, Deum
non tantum misisse Filium suum in similitudine carnis pec
cati, sed et de peccato damnasse peccatum in carne. — Cajetan.

was the thing which God fell upon and dealt thus
severely with. The apostle had told us 'the law
was weak,' unable to help poor fallen man, where
upon he saith, ' God sent his own Son ; ' but where
fore did he so do ? Was it that he might fall upon
this law, and condemn the condemning law ? Oh no !
It was so far from that, that he would rather have
it fulfilled, for so it follows, ver. 4. He had no evil
eye at all upon his law, for that was good ; upon
what then ? Why, upon sin, for that was evil, and
very evil. Christ was sent that sin only might be
condemned. And no wonder that God was so set
against it, and resolved upon this severe process
against it, it being the principal offender, the arch-
traitor and rebel against himself, the only object of
his hatred, the bold opposer of his glory, the great
obstructor of his grace, the cursed fomenter of
breaches betwixt himself and his creatures, the
murderer of souls, &c. Did not such a malefactor
highly deserve to be condemned ? Yes, surely, and
therefore so it shall be. Oh, saith God, I must take
a course with this sin ; I must and will despatch it
out of the way, and then my work is done. All my
gracious designs will then be carried on without any
let or impediment ; then the happiness of my people
will be sure and full ; neither my own wrath, nor the
curse of my law, nor the sting of death shall then be
able to hurt them. Upon such grounds as these
God would have sin condemned, and he was so set
upon tf, that in order thereunto he will on purpose
' send his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ; '
yea, in that flesh to offer up himself as a sacrifice,
and so to bring about sin's condemnation.
But to come to the close handling of the words.
They being somewhat obscure, my first work must
be to open them, that I may the better make way
for the main observation which they resolve them
selves into. There are three things in them to be
explained. 1. The condemning of siu.
2. The condemning of sin for sin.
3. The condemning of sin in the flesh.
1. What doth the apostle mean by the condemn
ing of sin? 'And for sin condemned sin,' &c. The
word in its usual acceptation is applied to persons
rather than to things ; yet in such a sense it is pro,
perly enough applicable to them also, viz., as it sig.

280

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII

nifies the disallowing, disapproving, sentencing, or
judging of them to be so and so evil ; according to
which signification, sin may as truly be said to be
condemned as the sinner himself in any other notion.
But this will not reach the full scope and emphasis
of the word in this place ; for unquestionably there
is a great deal more intended in God's condemning
sin, than barely his sentencing or judging it to be a
very evil thing ; though Christ had never come in
flesh, nor suffered in flesh, yet God would thus have
condemned sin. Its condemnation is here brought
in as a singular effect of the grace of God to sinners,
but, according to this stating of it, it would only be
an effect of his hohness, not at all of his grace ; he
may thus judge of sin, and yet the sinner perish by
it. It is very true that God, in the death of his
Son, did in this respect signally condemn sin. Oh, in
that he made it to appear what thoughts he had of
sin, what an evil thing he judged it to be, how he
was set against it, &c. ; but yet this is not the only
thing, no, nor the main thing, held forth in this ex
pression of God's condemning sin.
Well ! for the right understanding of that, I con
ceive we must borrow our light from condemnation
amongst men ; for though sin be not a person, yet
its being condemned will best be known by what is
proper to condemned persons. Amongst us male
factors are seized upon, brought to trial, arraigned,
proved guilty, sentenced to die, if their offence be
capital ; then the sentence is executed upon them, to
cut them off, that they may do no more mischief ;
and this is their being condemned. Just so, so far
as the nature of the thing would admit of, virtually
and analogically all this was done by God in Christ's
death against sin. It had been a heinous malefactor,
guUty of high and notorious crimes, had done inex
pressible mischiefs, for all which God will arraign,
judge, sentence, cut it off, that it also may do no
more mischief to his people; and this is its condem
nation. Divers expositors, in their opening of the
words, conceive of sin here as a person, and accord
ingly they open its being condemned by this allusive
and analogical notion. Whatever is commonly
done amongst men in their judicial processes against
great offenders, all that, in effect, was done by God
tlirough Christ's death against sin ; and so he con
demned it.

But not to take up with generals, this may b<
more particularly opened in three things :
(1.) God by Christ condemned sin as he abolished
its power. Sin's condemnation is its abolition,
wherein doth that lie?1 Why, partly in the tak
ing away of its power, in the divesting it of that
rule and command which it had over sinners for a
long time : thus God condemned or aboUshed sin
he put an end to its reign and dominion, pulled it off
from the throne, turned it out of office and autliority
yea, adjudged it to die for all the evils of which it
had been guilty. Thus it is with condemned men ¦
upon the passing of the condemnatory sentence upon
them they are ipso facto dispossessed of aU their
power and authority, and further than this too they
must suffer the penalty of death for what they have
done ; so answerably it was with sin Hi God's deal
ings with it. It had acted the tyrant's part in and
over the world a great while, had domineered and
lorded it over its poor subjects at a strange rate, did
with men what it pleased. Oh, but in the flesh of
Christ God condemned it ; that is, he broke it in its
power, brought it down to some purpose, stripped it
of that absolute, illimited dominion which it had be
fore : Christ's cross was the ruin of sin's throne.
And not only so, but there is a sentence of death
too passed upon it ; it shall not only lose its power>
but its life also ; God wUl have it kiUed, slain, put to
death in all who have an interest in Christ's merits;
he would not suffer such a malefactor to hve, he will
rid the world of it. This condemnatory sentence
was passed upon it long ago, which though it be but
gradually and in part executed whilst the saints are
here below, yet when they shall once ascend to God
then it shall be fully executed ; insomuch that then
sin shall quite be taken out of the way, and shall
not have so much as a being in them in the glorified
state. Thus many interpreters do open the con
demning of sin ;2 and Socinus likes this interpret*
* Secundum phrasin Hebraicam positum est damnuvit pro
abolevit, extinxit, sustulit Deus.  Perer.
2 TV Svvapiv aMp i£iXvcre.—Chrys. Damnavit peccatum,
i.e., dominio suo mulctavit ne regnaret in came.— StapQjlM
Ut ejus dominium et robur auferret.— Tolet. Damnavit, W
terfecit; KaTaKPlveiv est interficere sicut KariKpipa pro morte,
quia damnati internet solent. Interf ecit vero, i. e., interBciendi
vires nobis prasstitit. InterBcere est efficientiam adimere.-
Grot. See Melanch., Bucer., P. Mart., De Dieu, Deodat. $

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VKT. 1-4.

281

tion so well that he contends for it, but fiercely
opposes those which follow.1
(2.) Sin's condemnation lies in the abolition or
expiation of its guUt. It here properly notes the
taking away of that which was the hurtful, destruc
tive, mischievous part of sin. Condemned men can
do no hurt ; let them be never so hurtful before, yet
when once the sentence of condemnation is passed
upon them they can be so no longer. Sin had been
a very hurtful thing, and would have been so still,
to precious souls, but God in the flesh of his Son,
as suffering and satisfying, put a stop to it, took it
out of the way, condemned it, that is, disabled it
from doing the hurt it had done before, and removed
that in it which was of so hurtful a nature. What
was that ? I answer, its guilt. Oh that is a hurtful
thing indeed ! it binds the sinner over to answer at
God's tribunal for all the evUs committed by him,
exposes him to the wrath of the great God, renders
him liable to a sentence of eternal death ; but now
it pleased God for sin to condemn sin, i.e., by
Christ's being a sacrifice to expiate this guilt of sin,
which in itself was so pernicious and hurtful, so that
believers should not lie under it or eternaUy suffer
for it. Now this is that expUcation of the word
which is most commonly given by the best exposi
tors, and I prefer it before the former upon these
reasons :2
[1.] As to the aboHshing of sin's power, that the
apostle had spoken to atfeady in the foregoing verse,
'the law ofthe Spirit,' &c, and he instances in the
Spirit there as he doth in the Son here. Now, ac
cording to what was said before, as it is the proper
act of the Spirit to free from sin's power, therefore
that must be understood there ; so it is the proper
act of the Son to free from sin's guilt, therefore that
must be understood here.
[2.] The word here used, xarexgrn, aU along in
Scripture points to the guUt of sin and the punish
ment inflicted .thereupon, never to its power or
'Who renders it by exauctoravit, extinxit, abolevit, &c.
De Servat., part ii. cap. 23.
'Damnatio peccati nos in justitiam asseruit, quia deleto
reatu absolvimur, uti nos Deus justos reputet. — Calvin, with
many others: Beza dissents, Non mihi facile persuaserim de
peccatorum expiatione hic agi, est enim pars ilia jam pridem
ah apostolo explicata, adeo ut a ver. 12, cap. 5, aliud argumen
tum sit exorsus.

dominion; for the proof of which several texts
might be cited if it was denied. It is usually ap
plied to the sinner ; here only, if I well remember, it
is applied to sin itself; and in this different applica
tion it carries a different sense : for as it is elsewhere
applied to the sinner, it notes the imputation of
guilt to him, and the passing of a condemnatory
sentence upon him for that guilt ; and as it is here
applied to sin, it notes the expiation or abolition of
its guilt; yet this doth not weaken what I have
said, because in both references, though in a different
sense, it still points to guilt and punishment, which
is enough for my purpose.
[3.] The apostle speaks of that abolition of sin
which was effected in Christ's flesh ; therefore it
must be understood ofthe abolition of its guilt rather
than of its power, that being the thing which was
most directly and immediately done in Christ's flesh.
[4.] It is that condemning sin which is for sin, i.e.,
by a sacrifice for sin ; wherefore it must be taken in
that sense which best suits with what was done in
and by sacrifices. Now they abolished sin not so
much by turning men from it, or by lessening its
power, though that might follow as a consequent
upon them, as by the expiating of its guUt -,1 this
was the proper and primary effect of the Levitical
sacrifices, in allusion to which when Christ, the true
sacrifice, is said to purge away sin, to purify, &c,
you are to understand those expressions as respect
ing the expiation of sin's guilt, as I shall have occa->
sion further to prove in what will follow. For these
reasons, though I would not exclude wholly the
former sense, yet I prefer this before tf.
(3.) There is a third interpretation put upon the
word ; 2 namely, God's condemning sin was his
punishing of it in Christ's person, or his exacting
of Christ that punishment which was due to the
sinner himself. For this condemning must be joined
with, that which follows, in the-flesh, and expounded
by that ; and then the meaning will be this, ' For
1 This proved in Essenius de Satisf. Christi, cap. 8, p. 422 ;
Turretin. de Sat., &c, part. vi. p. 202 ; Dr Owen against
Biddle, p. 574.
2 See Pareus in loc, and in Dub. iii. p. 779. Condemnare
perpetuo significat apostolo poenas peccati irrogare. Damnare
peccatum est illud dignum poena judicare, poenasque pro eo
exigere. — Contzen, his sense of the word justified by Calov.
Socin. profl., p. 433.
2 N

282

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

sin God condemned sin in the flesh ; ' that is, he fell
upon sin, severely punished it, inflicted the curse and
punishment due to us for it in and upon the person
of his own Son ; he ' laid the iniquities ' of believers
upon Christ, Isa. liii. 6, and then punished them in
him, so that he bore that penalty which sinners them
selves should have undergone. God did of him in
our nature pcenas peccato debitas exigere, or maledic-
tionem nobis debitam irrogare. Man having sinned,
either he himself or his surety must suffer the
punishment thereby deserved; God will have sin
punished somewhere; therefore Christ having put
himself into the sinner's stead, he must bear the
punishment due to the sinner ; for though God will
so far relax his law as to admit of a substitution or
commutation as to the person suffering, yet he will
have its penalty inflicted either upon the proper
offender himself, or upon the Saviour, who was will
ing to interpose for the offender, so as to suffer
what he should have suffered -,1 and God accord
ingly dealing with him and proceeding against him
in the laying of the punishment due for sin upon
him, this was his condemning sin in the flesh of
Christ. I am not now to prove the truth of the
thing — of that hereafter ; at present I am only shew
ing how it is held forth in the word which 1 am
opening. So much for .the first thing, what this con
demning of sin is.
2. The second thing that needs explanation is the
condemning sin for sin ; what may our apostle mean
by this for sin ?
Augustine gives a threefold sense of it ;2 (1.) For
sin, that is, by that flesh which looked like to sinful
flesh ; which therefore might be called sin, since, as
he saith, the resemblances of things do usuaUy pass
under the names of the things which they resernble,:
by that flesh sin was condemned. (2.) For sin he
makes to be as much as by a sacrifice for sin. (3.) He
expounds it of the sin of the Jews, not as heighten
ing it, in which sense all the Greek expositors take
it, but as pointing to the effect of it ; by that sin of
theirs in crucifying Christ eventuaUy sin was con
demned or expiated. But these things must be
further inquired into.
1 See of God's relaxing his law and the threatening thereof
Mr Baxter Aphor., p. 36, kc ; Mr Burgesse of Justif., p. 84.
2 Contra duas Pelagian. Ep., Hb. iii. cap. 6.

It is in our translation exactly as it is in the ori
ginal — equally concise in both ; and as the one is to
be fiUed up, so is the other also. The preposition
irtgi signifying of or for, accordingly it is rendered
both ways ; some reading it of sin, as the old ver
sion, Anselm, the Greek interpreters generaUy, &c.
they making the words to run thus : ' Of sin God
condemned sin.' ParaUel to which mo} upagrias is
elsewhere so rendered ; as John vUi. 46, ' Which of
you convinceth me of sin ? ' John xvi. 8, 9, ' He
wUl convince the world of sin, &c. Of sin, because
they believe not on me.' In all it is iriy a/iaorias,
just as tf is in the text. They who foUow this read
ing make the sense of the words to be this : God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
in that flfish -of his Son, as suffering and dying, he
condemned sin of sin, inasmuch as by that strange
and wonderfo.1 course he made it to appear to the
world that sin was full of sin, highly guilty and cri
minal, ' exceeding sinful,' as the apostle speaks upon
another account, Bom. vii. 1 3.
Now though I shall not follow this exposition, yet
it containing nothing in it but what is true for the
matter of it, and it being given by some authors of
great repute, I will so far insist upon it as to give a
double illustration of it.
(1.) As it is applicable to sin in the general. Take ',
the whole body of sin, or sin in its utmost extent,
it was all condemned of sin in Christ's flesh, as first
assumed and then crucified. How ? Why, by that
it was proved and judged to be a thing out of mea
sure evil and faulty, thereby God let the world see
what sin is, what an excess of poison and malignity
there is in its nature. Did he send his own Son to
be incarnate ; yea, to appear in the likeness of sin
ful flesh — so to be abased, suffer, and die ? and was
sin the meritorious cause of all this ? Was aU this
done and suffered for the making of satisfaction for
the mischiefs and injuries which sin had been guilty
of? Oh what a condemnation was here of sin!
Never was there such a demonstration of sin's evil,
— what a heinous and capital offender it is, — as in
Christ's being made man and dying upon the cross.
The strangeness of the remedy shews the malignity
of the disease ; the high terms of satisfaction the
greatness of the crime ; God's severity laid upon the
flesh of his own Son in such unparalleled sufferings,

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

283

made it apparent to the world that sin is a quite
other thing than what men generally take it to be.
Had it not been evil, desperately evil, God had never
dealt with Christ as he did, therefore in his flesh sin
was condemned of sin.
(2.) This may more particularly be appUed to that
sin of killing and murdering the Lord Jesus; God
did not only condemn sin of sin in the gross, but in
special that sin which was committed against and
upon the flesh of Christ in the crucifixion of' him.
Here it was the sin of sin ; here sin was sinful in
deed. That it should so- boldly, so injuriously, so
wickedly fasten upon a person so near and dear to
God, so inoffensive and innocent, so holy and gra
cious, what an aggregation of sins, and what an ag
gravation of sin's guUt was there in this ! Sin never
was more sin than in this act ; here- it was jn its
highest stature and fullest dimensions ; this was its
masterpiece, the vilest thing that ever it did ; all its
other crimes were but dwarfish things in comparison
of this gigantic and overgrown crime: Well, accord
ing to its acting and carriage herein, so God judged
it to be very guilty and sinful, and accordingly
passed sentence upon it. And as to- those- that had
a hand in this horrid fact, whether Satan , to whom
some apply the words,1 or the Jews, oh- it- was in
all sin, fuU of sin ! Thetf offence was superlatively
great in doing what they did' to the flesh of God's
own Son : sin in this act did rise exceeding high.
Now the Greek expositors are very large upon this
notion : 2 ' Of sin God condemned sin,' &c. ; that is,
say they, God judged the sin of the Jews according
to what it was in its own nature, to be very great ; 3
it, or rather they, were guUty of a most unparalleled
offence, high injustice, prodigious cruelty, inexpress
ible ingratitude, strange impudency, upon their
crucifying of the holy Jesus, the Lord of glory.4
And in the pursuance of this explication, these
1 Damnavit peccatum, i.e., Satanam de peccato, quod nempe
Christum innocentem in cruce interfeciset. — Ambros. So also
Hilarius in Ps. lxvii.
a Vide Chrysost. in loc. (very largely insisting upon this.)
8 — , t& pjyiora Trdiovvav Kal ap.aprdvov<rav. tovto S-qXoi.
rb Kal irepl dpaprlas, Sicgas dvaiSws dp-aprdvovoav T-qv dpap-
rkv.—CEcum. , * rbv twv apaprojXwv Cis dp-aproAbs Bavarbv biropetvas ¦Ifi.cyl-e
ttjs Apaprtas rty dStxlav, 8n Kal p,ij iiroKelpevov Bavdriff awpa
Bavarif irapiSmev. — Theodoret.

expositors bring in sin as a person— as a person
arraigned by God for this particular crime— after
trial and process sentenced to be highly guilty, and
accordingly to be dealt with. And they also insist
upon God's way and method in his dealing with sin,
which was not in the way of power, but of justice ; he
did not downright subdue it by plain force, but he
condemned it after the hearing of that plea it could
make for itself : as also upon God's order, first he
condemned it, and then he punished it. 1
This interpretation some later writers do fall in
with, and much applaud.2 Bucer himself at first
was taken, with it, but afterwards he altered his
thoughts. Beza passes a severe censure upon it.3
The truth is, the apostle in the words seems to look
at another thing ; this was not the condemnation of
sin which he had mainly- in-his eye, viz., the height
ening, or aggravating,- or proving of its guilt, and
then passing sentence upon it according to that ;
no, but there was another condemnation which he
drove- at, viz., the abolition and expiation of its
guilfc God so condemned sin as that it might never
condemn the sinner. That is the apostle's proper
and principal scope, as I humbly -conceive. Augus
tine, though he reads it, too, de peccato condemnavil,
&c.,4 yet he opens it in a different sense, he making
this of sin to be as much as by sin ; and so he thus
glosses upon it : By the sin of the Jews, in their
putting of Christ to death, God abolished and took
out of the way all the sin of all the elect. He so
overruled the matter that even by sin sin was de
stroyed. By the greatest sin that ever was com
mitted, sin itsetf was condemned. Had not the
blood of Christ been spilt, though that in itself was
a most wicked act, there had been to believers no
remission, no expiation. As death was destroyed by
death, so sin by sin ; it condemned Christ, but by
so doing it was condemned itself. So much for the
first reading of the words.
1 Miya Tipapr-qKetav ijXey^e xal Tori airfyv KareSlKao-ev. —
Chrysost. 2 Hsec Chrysostomi expositio convenientissima et inter
omnes accommodatissima videtur. — Tolet. Hsec Grsecorum
expositio ita placet ut earn cseteys anteponendam cum To-
leto censeam. — Estius. Vide Alap. Cathai-in., kc.
3 Hsec expositio nihil aliud est quam subtilis argutia. —
Beza.r 4 In loco prius citato.

284

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

2. Secondly, The preposition is rendered by for,
and that rendering of it our translators, according
to other versions and the general current of inter
preters, follow; 'and for sin condemned sin,' &C.1
If we take it so, the words then may carry a three
fold sense in them.
(1.) That sin was the procuring, meritorious cause
of all that which God the Father did in a way of
severity upon and against Christ. He condemned
sin in Christ's flesh, fell very severely upon him,
testified great anger and displeasure against him,
inflicted sharp and dreadful punishments upon him.
Why did such a Father so deal with such a Son ?
What might be the cause that a person so innocent
should suffer as he did ? Why, it was sin, not his,
but ours, which brought all this upon him. Had it
not been for that God had never sent his Son in flesh
into the world, and then have punished him in that
flesh as he did. Christ might thank sin for all his
sufferings, and lay all the evils which he sustained
in soul and body at its doors ; that set his Father
against him, that laid the foundation of all his sor
rows, that brewed that bitter cup which he was to
drink ; that was the meritorious cause of all the
miseries that ever befell him. It was for sin that
God so condemned sin in his flesh. The preposition
irtgl is sometimes used in this sense : so John x. 33
'For a good work we stone thee not, but (irsgl
PXuefwias) for blasphemy, and because that thou
being a man makest thyself equal with God.'
1 Peter iii. 18, 'For Christ also hath once- suffered
(tjj/ apaprim) for sins,' &c, which is as much as iw£g
a/ictgnSv ; Gal. i. 4 ; Heb. x. 12.
(2.) The for sin may be taken finally. Wherefore
did God thus condemn sin in his Son's flesh? Where
fore was it with Christ-as it was ? Oh, it was for sin !
namely, that he might take it away, acquit the sin
ner from its guUt, make satisfaction for it, overrule
it in aU its pleas and power, quite destroy it. God
would deal with sin in the person of his own Son,
he having submitted to take the guilt of it upon
himself, that thereby he might give a thorough de
spatch to it, and thoroughly rid believers of its hurt-
fulness : 1 John Hi. 5,.' And ye know that he was
manifested to take away our sins ; and in him is
* Propter peccatum.- V. Syr. Propter ipsum peccatum -
Tremell.

no sin.' Ver. 8, 'tFor this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil.' In this final notion vegi is taken Mat.
xxvi- 28 ; 1 Cor. xv. 3.
(3.) It may be understood materially, with respect
to Christ's being a sacrifice for sin. For sin God
condemned sin. How ? Why, as Christ submitting
to be a sin-offering, was and did that by which this
effect was produced. According to this interpreta
tion we must read the words, as is noted in the mar
gin, thus i1 'By a, sacrifice for sin God condemned
sin.' Whatever there is in this condemning of sin
and there is abundance in it, tf was all brought about
by that sin-offering or sacrifice which Christ in his
flesh offered up to God. It was cut off, expiated,
disabled as to its destructive and damning nature
&c. All this was effected by Christ's being a sac
rifice. So that the words are eUiptical, there being
in them something cut off and left out, which must
be supplied by the inserting or adding of by a sac
rifice, or some other such word. Which ellipsis is
very usual and common in holy writ, especially when
it is treating of sacrifices. Lev. x.' 17, 'Wherefore
have ye not eaten the sin-offering ? ' So we read it,
but in the Hebrew it is only ' the sin,' ' in the holy
place,' &c. It would be tedious to cite the very
many places of this nature which do occur in that
book, Lev. iv. 3, xxix. 33, v. 6, 7, ix. 11, 22,
xii. 6-8, xiv. 13, and xvi. 16. Isa. liii. 10, 'When
thou shalt make his soul sin ; ' we fiU it up by ' an
offering for sin.' Hosea iv. 8, ' They eat up the sin
of my people ;' that is, the sacrifices which were to he
offered up for the people. Ezek. xiv. 1 9, ' The priest
shall take of the blood of the sin ; ' we read it ' of
the sin-offering.' Nothing more usual in the Old
Testament than to make the words Chattaath and
Ascham to be expressive both of sin, and of the sac
rifice too by which that sin was to be expiated ; 2
answerably to which is apua^ia, used in the New :
2 Cor. v. 21, 'He that knew no sin was made sin,'
&c. ; that is, a sacrifice for sin. An ellipsis Hke to this
in the text, you have, Heb. x. 6, ' In burnt-offerings
1 Phrasi Hebrsea peccatum vocat sacrificium pro peccata — ;s
Franz. Schola Sacrif., disp. vii. th. 56. ""'
2 Sicut hostias quae pro peccato offerebant in lege, peccati ,
nomine vocabant cum ipsas delicta nescirent, sic et Christi caro,
quae pro peccati nostris qblata est, peccati nomen accepit t.
Huron. See Grotius de Sat. Christi, cap. 1, p. 16.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB QN ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

285

and for sin thou Hadst no pleasure,' where sacrifices
is left out, but must be put in ; so here in the words
which I am upon. This, now, is that interpretation
which is most generally pitched upon, which seems
best to correspond with other parallel texts, and with
the matter and scope of this which we have in hand,
and therefore that only I shall insist upon.1 And
indeed the two former senses are included in this,
and do most naturaUy incorporate with it, as you
wiU perceive in the following discourse.
3. There is a third thing to be opened, which in
a very few words shaU be despatched. It is said
here, ' For sin God condemned sin in the flesh;' now
this being indefinitely propounded, it may be asked,
Of what or of whose flesh doth the apostle speak ?
I answer, Of the flesh of Christ. God sent him in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and in that very flesh sin
was condemned. I know some interpret it of our
flesh,2 but the most apply it to Christ's flesh. There
is in different respects a truth in both ; for in our
flesh sin is condemned as to the effect and benefit
thereof, but in Christ's flesh it was condemned meri
toriously and causaUy. The Syriac, therefore, (to
make this the more express,) turns it, ' and for sin
condemned sin in his flesh.' Sin shall be punished
and expiated Hi that, nature wherein it had been
committed. Man in the flesh had committed sin,
and God in the flesh (of him who was man) will
condemn sin, ut caro humana quae peccaverat eodem
1 Per hostiam carnis suae quam obtulit pro peccante dam
navit peccatum in carne sua. — Orig. Hostia pro peccato dam
navit peccatum in carne. — Melanch. Per hostiam pro peccato
Christum, Deus abolevit peccatum in hominibus. — Vatabl.
Sed quid si, mittens filium, &c., vult dicere, et quidem hostiam
pro peccato, sive ut esset hostia pro peccato. — Drus. Ego
adduci nequeo ut nomen peccati alio sensu hic positum esse
existimem, quam pro expiatrice victima, quae Dt^N dicitur
Hebrseis, sicuti Graeci KaBappa vocunt sacrificium cui maledictio
injungitur.— Calv. For sim, that he might be a sacrifice for
Bin  Dr Ham. To be a propitiatory sacrifice for sin.— Deod.
To the same purpose P. Martyr, Heming., Piscat., Vorst, Lud.
de Dieu, kc, whom I need not cite ; yet Beza will not admit
of this exposition : Prsepositio irepl nulla ratione potest hanc
interpretationemadmittere; neque nunc apostolus agitde Christi
morte et nostrorum peccatorum expiatione, sed de Christi in-
carnatione et naturae nostrae corruptione per earn sublata. —
Beza. 2 Augustinus exponit de nostra carne in qua peccatum tyran-
nidem possidet extra Christum.— Muscul. Sed melius est ut
dicamus, debilitavit fomitem peccati in carne nostra. — A quin.

pro peccato lueret. Our Saviour's being a sacrifice
pointed to his flesh;1 it was the human nature where
in he offered up himself, and therefore in that God
is said to condemn sin. And as sin shall be expiated
in that nature wherein it had been committed, so
Satan too shall be baffled in that nature over which
he had been victorious. Christ will beat him upon
his own ground ; he had overcome man, and man
shall overcome him. Oh the wisdom, mercy, power
of God ! But these things were, under the former
head, much enlarged upon. I will only further take
notice of two things :
1. This condemning of sin is here brought in as
God's act : ' God sent his own Son, &c, and for
sin condemned,' &c. But is not this applicable to
Christ also ? Yes, if you consider him as God and
as the eternal Son of God;2 so it was and is his act
as weU as the Father's to abolish, acquit, and absolve
from sin's guilt in an authoritative way. But in the
clause which I am opening Christ is not spoken of
in that notion as he was God, only as he was man,
and as a victim and sacrifice for sin, and so he acquits
from sin, not authoritatively, but as the way and
means which God made use of for the bringing about
of this mercy for sinners.
2. The flesh of Christ here is not to be considered
simply and absolutely, but under this restriction or
special consideration as dying, and thereby satisfy
ing divine justice.3 I would take in his whole humi
liation, but this being the highest degree thereof,
therefore eminently by it sin was condemned. Oh
when this flesh of Christ hung upon the cross, then,
sin received its condemnatory sentence, its mortal
wound ; then when Christ was condemned, sin, in
another sense, was condemned also. This, I say,
1 Sacerdos noster a nobis accepit quod pro nobis offerret, ac-
cepit enim a nobis carnem, in ipsa carne victima factus est. —
August, in Ps. cxxix.
2 Quamvis de Christo ut est Filius Dei posset vere dici eum
expiare authoritative et judicialiter, quatenus ipse cum Patre
potestatem habet remittendi peccata, quia tamen hic conside
ratur non ut Deus sed ut Mediator, ut sacerdos et victima —
non potest aliter expiatio quam per pcenae lationem succed-
aneam et vicariam mortem explicari. — Turret, de Sat. Christi,
pars. vi. p. 204.
8 Hoo factum est per carnem, i.e., per mortem quam in carne
et juxta humanam naturam passus est. — Zuingl. In carne,
i.e., per carnem Filii sui suspensam et mortificatam in cruce.
— Estius.

286

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

was brought about in his flesh, as suffering the pen
alty of death, so the apostle puts it in Col. i. 22,
' In the body of his flesh through death.' I will add
nothing further upon this.
The words being thus explained, it is high time
that I come to that doctrinal truth which they mainly
hold forth, that is this, The Lord Jesus submitting
to be a sacrifice for sin, and offering up himself as
such to God, he did thereby take away, aboUsh, ex
piate all sin in all its guilt, so as that it shall never
be charged upon believers to their eternal ruin. In
the language of the text it is, in short, ' For sin, sin
was condemned.' You heard but now in the open
ing of the condemning of sin, that that admits of
more senses than that one which I now instance
in the observation ; yet, however, this being most
agreeable to the nature of a sacrifice, in reference to
which Christ is here set forth, I therefore only men
tion it.
In the handling of this point, which carries me
again into the very midst of the Socinians' camp,
where I should not choose to be, but I must follow
the word whithersoever it leads me, there are two
things to be spoken to :
1. To Christ's being a sacrifice for sin.
2. To the blessed effect of that blessed sacrifice,
viz., the condemnation or expiation of sin.
1. I begin with the first, Christ was a sacrifice for
sin ; which though in the general none deny, yet
when we come to particulars about it, as, namely, the
true notion of his being so; the efficacy, ends, effects
of his sacrifice, the time when and the place where
it was offered, with several other things which are
incident about it, there many differences do arise.
Certainly there are none who believe the Scriptures,
but in some sense or oflier they must grant Christ to
be a sacrifice, because they are so plain and express
about it: Isa. Uii. 10, 'When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sins.' 1 Cor. v. 7, ' For even
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.' 2 Cor. v.
21, 'He that knew no sin, was made sin,' a sacrifice
for sin, &c. Eph. v. 2, 'Walk in love, as Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smell
ing savour;' where the apostle seems to allude (1.)
To the Mincah and Zebach amongst the Jews,1 the
1 Cloppmb. Schola Sacrif., p. 3. Franzius, disp. 13, thes. 2, 3.

former of which did refer ' to their oblations of
the fruits of the earth, set forth here by moo-pea,
the latter to the sacrificing and offering of living
creatures, set forth here by Ovrs'ia.. (2.) He aUudes
to the pleasingness and gratefulness of the primitive
sacrifices to God: Gen. vui. 21, 'And the Lord
smeUed a sweet savour,' &c. Noah's sacrifices
(spoken of ver. 20) were highly pleasing to God •
the like you have of the Levitical sacrifices : Lev. i.
9, ' An offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto
the Lord;' so ver. 13, 17. Answerablyto which,
yea, far above them, Christ was ' a sacrifice of a
sweet smelling savour to God.' Heb. vii. 27, ' This
he did once when he offered up himself.' Heb. ix.
14, ' Who tlirough the eternal Spirit offered up
himself to God : ver. 26, ' But now once in the ena
of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself : ' ver. 28, ' So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many.' Indeed the
great business of the apostle, in his excellent epistle
to the Hebrews, is both to assert and also to illus
trate Christ's being a sacrifice for sin, which he doth
so fully and plainly as that one would think there
should be no doubts or differences amongst any that
bear the name of Christians, about either the thing,
or the true nature and notion thereof.
Yea, Christ was not only a sacrifice, a true, real,
proper sacrifice, in opposition to those who would
make him but an improper, figurative, metaphorical
sacrifice, but he was the sacrifice in a way of enri-
nency ; unto which therefore all the law sacrifices
did bear a special reference ; for,
1. Those were the types of this, all of them typi
fying and prefiguring Christ the grand sacrifice, and
like the gnomon in the dial pointing to him in this
consideration.1 I say, all were typical adumbrations
of him ; therefore we find they are, not only in the '
body and lump of them, but as taken severally and
apart, applied and brought down to him ; yea, he
was shadowed out by them not only with respect to
1 Propter hoc etiam omnia sacrificia veteris testamenti
leguntur, ut hoc unum sacrificium designarent, per quod vera
est remissio peccatorum, et mundatio animae in eternum.—
Ambros. in Ep. ad Heb., cap. 9. puit apud Teteres ohlatio
holocausti concio quaudam de morte Christi, qua nos a peocatis
per fidem purgati sumus. Quin omnia sacrificia legis in unum
Christum respiciunt, atque unicum ejus sacrificium adum
brant. — Munster. in Lev. i. 1.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

287

matter, but also with respect to the several rites and
modes used about them ; both of which assertions
are sufficiently made out in the forenamed epistle.
And whereas some affirm that the annual expiatory
sacrifices, of which you read Lev. xvi, only did
prefigure Christ and his being a sacrifice ; 1 it is a
very great falsity. Those indeed might so prefigure
him eminently, but not solely ; for we find others
applied to him as well as those, as, namely, the lamb
in the daUy offering, the paschal lamb, which was
partly a sacrifice and partly a sacrament, John i. 29 ;
1 Pet. i. 19; 1 Cor. v. 7; Eev. v. 6, &c, and xui.
8 ; the red heifer, to be sacrificed upon occasion for
the expiating of the guilt of unknown murder, Num.
xix. ; Heb. ix. 13 ; the daily sacrifices, Heb. vii. 27,
and x. 11. But, passing by these things, I say
Christ was typified by the old sacrifices ; and pro
bably that might be one end of God in his insti
tuting of them. For that they were of divine and
positive institution,2 and not taken up upon the
hght or law of nature, is to me, though I know
others 3 think otherwise, a truth clear enough. But
why did God institute them ? to appoint the slaying
of so many poor creatures, such various and costly
sacrifices to be offered, so often to be repeated, such
for every day, such for every Sabbath, such for every
new moon, such every year at the solemn and anni
versary expiation, besides what were offered at the
passover, at several feasts, at the lesser and greater
jubUee, upon particular and special occasions, as dedi
cations, &c. ? Pray, what might be God's end or
ends in all this ? Was it that he might shew his
dominion over the creatures ? was it that he might
by this demonstrate the evil of sin, and what the
sinner deserved upon it? was it to gratify the
1 Socin. de Servat., part ii. cap. 9. Against him in this, see
Grotius de Sat. Christi, pp. 126, 127 ; Turretin. de Satis., p.
216 ; Franz., disp. 6, thes. 34, kc ; Essen. Tri. Crucis, p. 226 ;
Hoornb. Socin. Conf., 597, 599.
2 For this vide Suarez. in 3 part. Sum. Aquin., quest. 83,
art. 1, disp. 71 ; Rivet in Gen., exerc. 42, p. 170, &c, et p.
222 ; Franz, de Saerif., disp. 2, thes. 76, disp. 3, thes. 76,
disp. 16, thes. 33 ; Cloppenb. Scho. Sacrif., probl. 2, p. 51, &c;
Dr Owen de Theologia Adamica, lib. ii. cap. 1, pp. 133, 134.
8 The Papists generally : Bellarm. de Missa., lib. i. cap. 29 ;
Valentia de Missse Sacrificio, lib. i. cap. 4. Others are of this
opinion also : the author of Eccles. Policy, p. 100, kc, De
fence, fas., p. 421, &c, who yet grants expiatory sacrifices to
be of divine institution, p. 427, &c.

Jews, who having been amongst the Egyptians,
where sacrifices did abound, might therefore be
taken with them and fond of them, and thereby to
prevent their idolatry?1 Several such ends and
reasons are assigned, but surely that which I am
upon must not be left out, if not preferred before
any other, viz., therefore God did ordain and insti
tute sacrifices, that by them he might typify and
prefigure that great sacrifice which was to come ; 2
thereby the better to prepare and inform the world
about it. But how, or in what measure, and in what
extent God did clear up this notion, use, and end of
sacrifices, I shall not be too forward to determine.
2. As the law sacrifices were types, so they were
but types. There was Uttle in them, take away the
typical nature of them; what poor things were they
further than as they did point to Christ ! The
apostle calls them but ' shadows of good things to
come,' Heb. x. 1 ; ' figures for the time then present,'
chap. ix. 9 ; ' patterns of things in the heavens,' ver.
23 ; ' examples and shadows of heavenly things,'
chap. viii. 5.
3. Nay, thirdly, all that virtue and efficacy
which was in them was all derived from, and did all
depend upon, this great sacrifice, the Lord Jesus.3
Alas ! what could they do by any inherent virtue in
themselves for the expiating of sin and pacifying of
God ? Heb. x. 4, ' It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sins.' How
often doth the apostle go over this, viz., the weak
ness of the Levitical sacrifices with respect to expia-
1 Theodoret for this, vol. iv. de curandis Grsec. affectibus,
cap. 7, p. 584.
2 Fagius in Lev. i. 2 gives two reasons of them. Ut
populus in idololatriam pronus ab idolis averteretur et in cultu
Dei retineretur. Deinde ut typos haberet populus Dei sacri-
ficii Christi, quem oportebat aliquando in crucem agi pro
peccatis suorum. — Rivet, in Gen., p. 222. Prsecipue quia
voluit adumbrari Bacrificiis passionem futuram mediatoris
et, &c.
3 Hujus sacrificii a Christo peragendi sacrificia csetera typi
erant ; quia ut pecus moriebatur pro homine Levit. xvii. 11,
ita et Jesus Christus esset sanguinem suum effusurus pro nobis.
Utraque igitur auferebant reatum; hoc tamen discrimine, quod
sacrificium Christi id praestabat virtute sua, ilia vero legalia
proprie et directe solum tollebant reatum ratione poense tempo
ralis ; in figura tantum promitterent piis effectum spiritualem
et aeternTim, puta ablationem reatus aeterni sive poenae infer-
nalis. — Vossius de Idolol., lib. i. p. 297.

288

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

tion and atonement ! Doubtless whatever virtue or
efficacy was in them in order to the production of
these effects^ it wholly depended upon Christ the
sacrifice that was to come.
Yet here I would not be misunderstood. In such a
sense I do not make the law sacrifices to be mere
types or altogether weak ; for as to that which the
apostle calls ' the purifying of the flesh,' Heb. ix. 13,
they were more than types, and had more than a
typical expiation;1 and with respect to that by
virtue of God's institution they Were able to effect
it. But besides this there was ' the making of per
sons perfect as pertaining to the conscience,' the
•purging of the conscience,' &c, Heb. ix. 9, 14;
now as to this their strength was wholly derived,
and their use whoUy typical. By the purifying of the
flesh is meant exemption from those civil and ecclesi
astical penalties which upon such transgressions of
the law the Jews were liable to. God gave them,
with respect to their polity, such and such laws,
which if any did break they were so and so to be
punished; yet he was so gracious to them as to
allow in several cases the offering of sacrifices, in
order to the expiating of their guilt, and the pre
venting of the punishment threatened to them, as
they stood in such a politic capacity ; therefore as
to this sacrifices had a real efficiency and also a full
efficacy. By the making perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience, is meant the doing away of sin's guilt in
the sight of God, the setting of things right betwixt
God and the sinner, the pacifying of his wrath,
securing from eternal punishment. Now as to this
the Mosaical Sacrifices could do nothing ; here they
were mere types and altogether weak ; this was to
be done by the alone sacrifice of Christ. So that
whereas some do argue against the sacrifices under
the law as not prefiguring Christ, because they had
no power or virtue in them to take away sin, I
answer (1.) As to the taking away of external guUt
and obligation to external punishment, so far they
had a power;, (2.) Suppose they had had none at
all, yet for all that they might have had this use • 2
as, I hope, the brazen serpent was a real type and
See Dr Stillingfleet in his discourse concerning the True
Reason of Christ's Sufferings, p. 423, &e.
2 This made good by Jacob, ad Portum contra Ostorod. p.
468 ; Turretiu. de Sat. Christi, p. 237.

prefiguration of Christ, in reference to his spiritual
healing of the poor sin-stting soul, and yet that of
itself had no virtue at all to bring about that effect
which should bear any analogy unto the thing
typified. 4. That those old sacrifices had a special reference
to Christ, the great sacrifice^ is evident from this
because with him they began, and with him they
ended.1 For as soon as ever Christ had been ex
hibited in that primitive promise, Gen. Hi. 15, that
' the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's
head,' &c, immediately upon this, as divines do not
only conjecture but prove, sacrifices did commence ;
and as soon as he himself came and had offered him
self upon tbe cross, as the true sacrifice, within a very
little while the Jewish sacrifices ceased. Within a
few years after thetf temple was destroyed, and with
that all their sacrifices expired ; yea, in process of
time, though Julian gave them encouragement to
re-edify the temple,2 for this very end that sacrifices
might again be used, and the Jews thereupon en
deavoured to their utmost so to do, yet God from
heaven blasted them in all their attempts in a mHa-
culous and extraordinary manner. Oh, the true sac
rifice was come, therefore there shall be no more
use of what was but typical thereof, as the dark
shades Of the night vanish when the sun itself
arises.3 The heathen oracles intrenched too much
upon Christ's prophetical office, and therefore at his
coming they must cease ;* and sacrifices did as much
intrench upon his priestly office and the oblation of
himself, and therefore after his death they shall and
did cease too. It was prophesied of the Messiah
that he should ' cause the sacrifice and the oblation
to cease,' Dan. ix. 27; and Heb. x. 8, 9, 'Above
when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offer
ings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither
hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered by the
law : then said he, Lo, I come to do thy wiU, 0 God.
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the
1 Cum promisso Messiee inceperunt sacrificia, cum Messia
defuncto defuncta sunt, kc—Franzius, disp. 10, thes. 98'. See
him also disp, 21, p. 757.
2 The full story in Socrates, lib. iii. cap. 20 ; Sozom.; fib.
v. cap. 22.
3 Vide Cyprian, adversus Judaeos, lib. i. cap. 16; Tertull.
contra Marcion., lib. ii.
4 Read Plutarch, de Oraculorum Defectn, p. 409.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

289

second;' that is the observation which the apostle
makes upon it. And this very thing, the ceasing of
sacrifices, was revealed to some amongst the Jews
themselves; for in the age before Christ's coming
they had got this prophecy amongst them, Omnes
oblationes cessabunt infuturo sceculo, In the age that is
next to come all sacrifices shall cease.1 And if there
be not sometlung extraordinary in the case, why do
the modern Jews, they knowing how express and
positive God's institution and command is about
sacrifices, Hve in the omission of them? for as to
that which some speak of, as to their annual sac
rificing even now at the time of the great expiation,
I cannot give any great credit to it.2
Let not any think that all this discourse, concern
ing the reference of the ancient sacrifices to Christ
the true sacrifice, is unnecessary ; for I have gained
two things by it : (1.) That the Lord Jesus is the
great sacrifice ; aU former sacrifices pointing to him
as the end, matter, substance, accompUshment of
them.3 (2.) That he is also a true and real sacri
fice; for was there reaUty in the type, and shaU
there not be the same, with advantage, Hi the anti
type ? or shaU they be shadows of a shadow ? Shall
there be such a sheU and no kernel, such a bone and
no marrow in it ?
But to go on. In the old sacrifices there were
these six things :
1. The person who did institute, ordain, and ap
point the use of them ; who was God himself, whose
institution of them, though it be not expressed in
the Scriptures, yet it may very strongly be inferred
from them.
2. The person unto whom they were offered ; and
he also was God himself.
3. The persons offering, viz., the priests, to whom
by divine appointment this work was committed,
and it was a great part of their work, and one great
end of thetf office : ' For every High priest taken
from among men is ordained for men in things per-
1 Vorstius ex Jalcutt ad finem Ezrse, &o. Sic consentiunt
in abolitionem sacrificiorum. — Alting. Shiloh., p. 423.
2 Buxtorf. Synag. Judaica, cap. 20, p. 357.
3 Omnia haec suo modo in typo facta, perfectissime in
Christo prsestita sunt in veritate et reipsa, kc. Utpote qui
mortis suae sacrificio peccata nostra delevit, ab ira Dei nobis
est umbraculum, et sacrificio suo apud Deum nos reconciliavit.
—Zarnov. de Sat. Christi, p. 38.

taining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins,' Heb. v. 1.
4. The matter of the sacrifice, or the thing offered;
whicli was very various, according to what God was
pleased to specify and appoint, oxen, bulls, heifers,
sheep, rams, goats, &c.
5. The oblation itself. When the beast was slain
it was to be offered up, and then part of the blood
thereof was to be carried into the Holy of holies,
there to be presented before the Lord; and the
main stress of the expiation lay not upon the pre
sentation, which followed after, but upon the mac-
tation and solemn oblation of the sacrifice.1
6. The altar upon which all was to be offered.
Now answerably and in correspondency to all
these :
1. God instituted, appointed, ordained Christ to
be the sacrifice. It was his will and ordination that
his Son should offer up himself a propitiatory or
expiatory sacrifice : Bom. Hi. 25, ' Whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood.' 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ recon-
cihng the world to himself,' &c. 1 Pet. i. 20, ' Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world,' &c. It was as much the appointment of God
that Christ, the true sacrifice, should die, be slain,
offered up, as that under the law any of those sacri
fices should be so used. And as from all eternity
he decreed and appointed Christ to be the sacrifice,
so in time he fitted and prepared him for his being
so ; therefore, saith Christ, ' But a body hast thou
prepared me,' Heb. x. 5, without which he could not
have been a sacrifice.
2. Christ offered up himself to God. He had to
do with God as he stood in the quality and respect
of a sacrifice, for this was a part of his priestly
office which primarily refers to God ; 2 as king and
prophet he hath to do with us, but as priest he had
to do with God, that he might propitiate and atone
him. So it was with the Aaronical priests ; they
were ' ordained for men in things pertaining to God,'
Heb. v. 1, and surely so it must be too with the
great priest whom they did typify. Heb. ii. 17,
'That he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God.' The apostle
1 See Dr Stillingfl. against Crellius, chap. v. p. 451.
2 Grot, de Sat. Christi, cap. 10, p. 121. 2 O

290

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII

speaks it expressly : ' And hath given himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smell
ing savour.'
3. Here was the person offering, and that was
Christ himself. He as mediator, as God-man, was the
priest to offer up himself. They under the law had
variety of sacrifices and variety of priests ; we under
the gospel have but one sacrifice 'and one priest,
who first offered up himself, and now continues, in
another way, to offer up our duties and services to
God. 4. As Christ was the priest offering, so he was
the sacrifice offered; for he was both, which was
unusual and extraordinary. The Levitical priests
and the sacrifices which they offered were distinct —
they were not bound to offer themselves ; but our
Lord Jesus was priest and sacrifice too ; in his per
son he was the offerer, in his human nature he was
the thing offered.1 It was necessary that he should
offer something, ' For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices ; wherefore it is of neces
sity that this man have also somewhat to offer,'
Heb. viii. 3. What then did he offer ? such things
as had been offered before? the blood of bulls and
goats? No, he offered 'his own blood,' Heb. ix.
12 ; his own body : Heb. x. 4-7, 10, ' Through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ; '
that very body which was so miraculously framed,
with which he lived here on earth, which he carried
up with him afterwards to heaven ; that very body,
I say, he freely offered up upon the cross as a sacri
fice to God. His soul comes in too, but that is him
self: Isa. liii. 10, 'When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin.' His whole self in his whole
human nature was the matter of this sacrifice : Eph.
v. 2, ' And hath givfcn himself for us an offering,'
&c. Heb. i. 3, ' When he had by himself purged
our sins.' Heb. ix. 14, ' Who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God.' So Heb.
vii. 27. The text saith, 'For sin God condemned
1 Ut quoniam quatuor considerantur in omni sacrificio, Cui
offeratur, a quo offeratur, quid offeratur, pro quibus offeratur :
idem ipse unus verusque mediator, per sacrificium pacis recon-
cilians uos, unum cum illo maneret cui offerebatur, unum iu
se faceret pro quibus offerebatur, unus ipse esset qui offere-
bat et quod offerebat.— August, de Trinit. Utrum Chris
tus simul fuerit sacerdos et hostia ?— Aquin. in 3 p., qu. 22
fl/rt, 2t,

sin in the flesh;' by which fiesh the apostle under
stands the whole manhood of Christ, and that wai
the sacrifice for sin by which sin was condemned.
5. There was Christ's formal and proper oblation
performed upon the cross, by and upon which tht
sins of beUevers were to be expiated. That there
was in Christ an oblation none deny, but that this
was done at his death, or here on earth, and was
expiatory in that sense which we put upon it, both
of these are vehemently denied by the Socinians •
but I shall have occasion to vindicate both by and
6. In Christ's sacrifice there was an altar too,
namely, his Godhead : ' The altar sanctified the gift,'
Mat. xxUi. 19 ; so it was here. The deity of Christ
did not only sustain and strengthen his human
nature in his being a sacrifice therein, but it also
gave merit and efficacy to his sacrifice ; for how did
that come to be so meritorious and effectual for the
good of sinners, but from this, that he who offered
up himsetf was God as weU as man ? Therefore the
apostle, speaking of the efficacy of this sacrifice
above the Levitical sacrifices, lays it upon Christ's
Godhead : Heb. ix. 14, ' How much more shaU the
blood of Christ, wtfo through the eternal Spirit (his
deity) offered himself,' &c.
The chiefest difficulties not lying in these things,
I do not, you see, make any long stay upon them ;
but there being a twofold inquiry which will carry
us into the very bowels of the main truth, and take
in what is most struck at by our adversaries, that
I would rather spend my time upon. The Lord
Jesus being a sacrifice, it will be asked—
1. What kind of a sacrifice he was ?
2. When and where he was that sacrifice?
1. To the first I answer, He was a propitiatory
or expiatory sacrifice, answering unto, yet infinitely
exceeding, the Jewish expiatory sacrifices, by which
he was shadowed out and typified. The proof and
illustration of this very thing is the design and
business of the apostle in that epistle, I mean that
written to the Hebrews, which gives us more hght
into it than all the books that ever were written
before or besides. Pray read, again and again, the
5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th chapters thereof, and you
will find the apostle there doing these three things.:
(1.) He proves that Christ was not only a sacriuG6j;

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

291

but that he was, truly and really, an expiatory sac
rifice ; for he instances in all, the proper constitutive
ingredients into and effects of the law-expiatory sac
rifices, all of which he applies and brings down to
Christ. (2.) He shews the analogy and resemblance
betwixt those expiatory sacrifices and this of Christ,
and what respect they all carried to this. (3.) He
shews wherein and how far the latter exceeded the
former. The discussing of these three heads takes
up the greatest part of that most excellent commen
tary upon the law sacrifices ; the particular texts in
it I wUl not at present cite, as they are proper to
what I have now laid down, but that will be done
in what will follow.
For our better procedure in speaking to this im
portant truth, before I can well faU upon the close
handling of it, it wUl not be amiss for us a Httle to
cast our eye upon and to take a short view of the
Jewish sacrifices,1 with the general nature whereof
I intend not at all to meddle ; only give me leave —
that being proper to the business Hi hand, and in
deed necessary for the better understanding of it —
to shew how these were diversified and distinguished :
concerning which several divisions and distinctions
are given of them ; but the best and shortest is this,
viz., some were gratulatory and some propitiatory,
or some eucharistical and some expiatory.
Eucharistical were those that were designed for
the expressing of gratitude, for the giving of thanks
and praise to the Lord upon the receiving of mercy,
of which you read, Lev. vii. 15, and xxu. 29 ; Ps. 1. 14;
Hosea xiv. 2 ; but these I am not concerned about.
Expiatory were those that were designed for the
atoning and pacifying of God, the averting of his
anger, the doing away the guilt of sin, and the pre
venting or removing of the punishment of it. These
were the sacrifices which took up the greatest room
in the body of Mosaical sacrifices, and which did
in special point to the grand sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus, and to that too as expiatory.
Now these expiatory sacrifices were many and
various, all of them carrying something in them
whereby they differed and were distinguished each
1 Of which, in particular, see Philo. Jud. de Victimis; Joseph.
Antiq. Jud., lib. iii. cap. 10; Sigon. de Repub. Hebr., lib. iii.
cap. 2, with very many others ; Dr Owen on the Hebr. in
Proleg. Exercit., 24; Dr Stillingfl. Answer to Crellius, p. 473.

from the other ; which differences, with the grounds
and reasons of them, if we could exactly hit upon,
it would be of marvellous great use to us in many
things ; but, alas ! excepting where the gospel itself
opens this for us, we are much in the dark about tf.
The Jewish writers, that should help therein, con
tribute but very little help, as they tell us who are
most conversant in them. If we take a brief and
general scheme of them, this is clear : the old ex
piatory sacrifices differed in the matter of them ; for
in some it was living creatures, in others it was what
grew from the earth ; and often these two were
joined, the Zebach and the Mincah going together in
the same sacrifice, as in the daily sacrifice, Exod.
xxix. 39, 40, and in divers others. They differed in
the rites used about them, all of which were pre
scribed by God himself. Some were to be poured
out, some burnt ; some to -be slain and offered by
the ordinary priests, some by the high priest him
self; the blood of some to be carried into the Holy
of hohes, of others not so ; some to be wholly con
sumed ; and God to have all, as in the holocausts ;
some but in part consumed, in which of what was
left, one part was to go to the priests, as in the sin
and trespass offering, and the other to the persons
who brought the sacrifice, as in the peace-offering,
provided that that which was offered was for private
persons ; for if it was offered for the whole congre
gation, then no private person might share in the
residue, Lev. xxiii. 19, 20. They differed in the
time which was appointed for them : for some were
to be offered every day, morning and evening, called
the daily sacrifice, Exod. xxix. 38-40 ; Num. xxvui.
3-5 ; 2 Chron. vUi. 13 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 40 ; Ezek. xlvi.
13, 14; Dan. viU. 11, ix. 21, xi. 31, and xii. 11 ; Neh.
x. 33 ; Ezra ix. 4, 5 ; some to be offered but every
Sabbath-day, Num. xxviii. 9, 10 ; some at the new
moons, Num. xxviii. 11 ; some at the revolution of
the sabbatical year, Lev. xxv. 2, &c. ; some at the
great jubilee, Lev. xxv. 8, &c. ; some at the solemn
feasts, as that ofthe passover, Exod. xU. ; Num.
xxviii. 26 ; of pentecost, Lev. xxiii. 17, &c; of taber
nacles, Num. xxix. 12 ; some but once a-year at the
great anniversary expiation, Lev. xvi., per tot. They
differed in the rise of them; some being purely from
the will of the offerer, the free-wUl offerings,1 Lev.
1 Vide L'Empreur de Leg. Hebr., p. 264.

292

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII.

1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

vii. 16, and xxii. 21 ; others occasioned by some spe
cial emergency of providence, when some eminent
mercy was received, or some great judgment to be
removed, &c, 2 Sam. vi. 13, 17; 1 Chron. xv. 26 ;
2 Chron. xxix. 21, &c. ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 25; others
were constant, being set and stated by God himself,
as those that have been already mentioned. They
differed according to the persons for whom they
were appointed ; some for the prince, some for the
priests, some for private men, some for the whole
community, for each of which directions are given,
Lev. iv. And then as to the kinds or species of
them, there were the burnt-offerings, about which
rules are set down Lev. i. ; meat-offerings, of which
Lev. ii.; peace-offerings, Lev. iii. ; the sin-offering,
Lev. iv. ; the trespass-offering, Lev. v. and vi. Some
reduce all to three : the burnt-offering, the peace-
offering, the sin-offering -,1 some to two, the holocaust
and the thank-offering ;2 but of such different appre
hensions there is no end.
Now, though these sacrifices were thus diversified
amongst themselves, yet the most, if not all of them,
agreed in this, that they were in their use, end, and
effects of an expiatory nature. I say all, for unques
tionably it belonged not only to the sacrifices used
at the anniversary expiation, nor only to the sin-
offering and trespass-offering, to expiate sin, but all
the rest, more or less, were designed for this end,
and accordingly did produce this effect. Agreeably
to which Christ, the true and great sacrifice, in the
offering up of himself to God, did truly, properly
expiate sin ; for if they did so, he then much more ;
because they in their expiation were types of him in
his expiation. Now, whatever is in the type must
needs be in the thing typified ; as also because thetf
expiation was done in the strength and virtue of
Christ's sacrifice. Now, surely that which gives
expiatory virtue to other things must needs have
such virtue in itself.
For the better opening and proving of Christ's
being an expiatory sacrifice, by making a collation
or parallel between bim and the expiatory sacrifices
under the law, there are these four things which I
shaU endeavour to make good :
1 Philo. Jud. de Vict., p. 648: rb oXoKavorbv, rb aurr^piov, rb
irepl dpaprtas.
2 Joseph. Ant., lib. iii. cap. 10 : Avb elaiv Upovpylai, kc.

1. That in those expiatory sacrifices, whatever
was laid upon them it was for, the sin of the people,
as the impulsive and meritorious cause thereof; and
that so it was with Christ in his sufferings.
2. That those sacrifices were substituted in the
place and stead of the offenders themselves, bearing
thetf punishments ; and that so it was with Christ
in reference to sinners.
3. That those sacrifices were to be offered up,
kiUed, slain, consumed, and in that way they became
expiatory ; and that so it was with Christ.
4. That by those sacrifices God was actually
atoned and propitiated, the expiation and remission
of sin procured ; and that so it was by Christ.
These things being cleared and proved, it will be
evident that Christ was a true expiatory sacrifice.
I will go over them as briefly as the nature of the
thing will admit of.
1. First, I say in those expiatory sacrifices, what
ever was laid upon them it was for the sin of the
people, as the impulsive and meritorious cause
thereof. For wherefore were the poor innocent
beasts and living creatures killed and slain- as they
were ? what had they done that so many of them
must be put to death from day to day ? Did God
delight in making his temple a slaughter-house?
was it his pleasure to have it thus that he might
shew his dominion and sovereignty over the creature?
Surely that was not the great thing which he de
signed therein ! he had other ways, which might
seem more suitable to his goodness and pity to his
creatures, wherein he might have made known his
dominion over them. And, besides, tf this was the
only thing aimed at, why must the people lay their
hands upon the cattle when they were sacrificed?
why must they confess their sins over them, as you
will see under the next head they were to do?
These rites evidently declare that God did not here
proceed in the way of absolute dominion, but that
there was sin in the case as the procuring cause of
all this ; and tf so, they having no sin of their own
for which they could thus suffer, thetf suffering
must be resolved into the sin of the people as that
which brought it upon them. So it was with Christ
our sacrifice; his sufferings were exceeding sharp,
his precious life was taken from him, he died upon
the cross, endured hard usage indeed. Whence

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

293

did aU this befall him ? Was there not some special
cause why it should be thus with God's own Son ?
Yes. What was that ? Why, sin ; sin was that cause.
But whose sin? not his own, for he was perfectly
free from all sin — 'he knew no sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21 ;
he was 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners,' Heb. vU. 26 ; 'a lamb without blemish and
without spot,' 1 Pet. i. 19. It must be our sin, then,
that was the meritorious cause of all Christ's suffer
ings : Dan. ix. 26, ' After threescore and two weeks
shaU Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.' Isa.
liu.4-6, 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with
his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray ; we have turned every one to His own
way ; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of
us aU.' Bom. iv. 25, ' Who was dehvered for our
offences, (Sia ra c-ajaffrw.u.ara,) and raised again for
our justification.' It is the same preposition in both
branches, but its sense is different, which difference
rises from the different nature of the matter spoken
of; for when it is joined with sins or offences it
imports that they were the meritorious cause of
Christ's sufferings; but when it is joined with
Christ's resurrection and the sinner's justification,
there its signification and import is final; yet too
in such a sense the ha. may be taken meritoriously
in the latter as weU as in the former branch. Socinus
tells us that this, with some other paraUel expres
sions, only notes our sins to be the occasion, but not
the impulsive cause of Christ's sufferings ; J as also
that the particle ha, is, both here, and elsewhere,
always taken in a final, never in any meritorious
sense. But most untruly ; for it is said, Eph. v. 6,
'Because of these things the wrath of God comes
upon the chUdren of disobedience ; ' 2 Sia, ravra, for
these things, as those which merit and bring down
the wrath of God upon sinners. But I will not stay
1 De Servat., part ii. cap. 7, and part iii. cap. 7.
2 Ubi est Sid cum accusativo ; quae apud Graecae linguae
authores sacros et profanos usitatissima est nota causae im-
pulsivse. Ut cum dicitur Sid ravra propter haec, venit ira Dei
in filios contumacise, Eph. v. 6.— Grot, de Sat. Christi, cap. 1,
in Rom. iv. 25.

upon the refuting of the usual cavils and false asser
tions about this, because I conceive this head may
not be so proper to that which I am upon; for I
am not now speaking to the sufferings or death of
Christ under the consideration of a punishment, to
which a meritorious cause doth point, but of a sacri
fice. The expiatory sacrifices, it is very true, were
punished for the sins of men ; but yet that wherein
they were expiatory, and as they were expiatory,
more immediately pointed to something else,
namely, to that which will follow in the succeeding
particulars ; and so it is here too with respect to
Christ, whose death, as is usually observed, falls
under a threefold "consideration ; it was a punish
ment, a sacrifice, a ransom. With respect to the
first, the effect thereof was satisfaction; to the second,
the effect thereof was atonement ; to the third, the
effect thereof was redemption. Now I, at present
considering tf in the second notion, as it is a sacri
fice, have not so much to do with that which refers
to it in the notion of a punishment ; therefore this
first particular I pass over.
2. Secondly, In the Levitical expiatory sacrifices
there was the substitution of them in the place and
stead of the offenders themselves. The people's sin,
and the punishment due to them thereupon, was
laid upon the thing sacrificed ; insomuch that whereas
they should have died, by surrogation and commuta
tion the poor beasts died for them. This was the
great thing intended and designed in those sacrifices j1
and that it was really so done in them the Scripture
is very clear. Take that one place, Lev. xvii. 11,
' For the life of the flesh is in the blood : and I have
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement
for your souls : for it is the blood that maketh an
atonement for the soul.' In all the four books of
Moses, which treat so much upon sacrifices, there is
not a more pithy and plain account given of their
use and end than here in this place. The Lord, in
the 10th verse, severely prohibits the eating of blood.
In this verse he backs his prohibition with a double
argument : (1.) Because the Hfe of the flesh was in
the blood ; (2.) Because he had set that apart for a
1 Nequaquam sacra Scriptura admittit alium finem sacri-
ficiorum quam hunc ipsum, quod niniir'um vice hominum sunt
passa pecora sacrificialia. —Franzius in Prof at. ad. Schol.
Sacrif. Patriarch.

294

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1^4.

[Chap. XIII.

high and sacred use, viz., to be used in sacrifices in
order to atonement : ' And I have given it you
upon the altar to make atonement,' &c. For this
great effect mainly lay upon the blood : ' It is the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul.' Now
mark it, it is to make atonement for your soul, and it
makes atonement for the soul, that is, in the stead of
your soul,1 (he speaking to tbe people of Israel ;) so
that in the blood sacrificed there was soul for soul,
life for life ; the soul and life of the sacrifice for the
more precious soul and life of the sinner. Was not
here substitution of the one in the room of the other?
Hence it is that the sacrifices were said to ' bear the
iniquities of the people,' because of the transferring
of the guilt and punishment of sin over to them ; so
you read Lev. xvi. 22, and x. 17. Hence also was
the laying on of hands upon the sacrifice, sometimes
by the priests, sometimes by the people. You have
it prescribed in the burnt-offering, Lev. i. 4 ; in the
peace-offerings Lev. iii. 2, and viii. 13 ; in the sin-
offering, Lev. iv. 15, 24, 29, 33. Atthe great expiation
Aaron was to ' lay both his hands upon the head of
the live goat, and to confess over him all the iniquities
of the children of Israel,' &c, Lev. xvi. 21. Now
what might be the meaning of this rite ? Was it to
signify that the thing offered was now Deo sacrum,
as being set apart for God and consecrated for his
use, upon which account imposition of hands was
used in other cases ? or was it expressive of obtes
tation, to hold forth the people's praying to God,
Quicquid a nobis peccatum est, sit in hujus vidimus
caput, Whereinsoever we have offended, let all be
laid upon the head of this victim ? or did they by this
testify the sense of their deserts to die themselves ?
These things, I grant, may very well be taken in ;
but the main thing held forth in it was the transla
tion of the sinner's guilt to the sacrifice, and the sub
stitution of it in his stead. Whenever the people
thus laid their hands upon the sacrifice they did in
effect say, Upon this beast we lay all our sins ; and
this was the primary intendment of that rite.2 And
had there not been a strange conveyance or imputa-
1 So it is rendered in several versions of the words, set down
in Franz., p. 446. See this text improved and vindicated in
Dr Stillingfl. against Crell., p. 429, &c.
2 Hoc ritu qui offerebat, significabat se scelera sua conjicere
n caput bovis qui propterea mactabatur. - Drusius in' Lev. i. 4.

tion of something of this nature to the things sac
rificed, I would fain know a reason why the mes
senger that only went with the scape-goat into the
wUderness, as also why he who only burnt the residue
of the bullock, whose blood had been carried into
the Holy of holies, I say why both of these should
be accounted unclean, so unclean, as that before they
had been purified and washed they were not to be
admitted into the congregation ; for so God enjoined
Lev. xvi. 26-28. And now, after all this, when the
great Lord and sovereign was pleased to have it thus,
hath given out so full a declaration of himself about
it, when Scripture is so clear, yea, and when nature
too, as you will hear, hath given such a confirmation
of it ; I say, after and notwithstanding all this, for
any yet to deny it, to bring their little objections
against it, (as that because there was no communion
of nature and species betwixt men and beasts, there
fore there could be no substitution,1 &c.,) this must
needs discover excess of pride and folly. The thing
possibly, in some respects, may seem somewhat
strange, but it becomes us to acquiesce in what God
himself was pleased to determine upon, and,then to
order and reveal in his law.
From these sacrifices I proceed to the much higher
sacrifice, Christ himself; where we shall find an ex
act correspondency between the type and the anti
type, the one fully answering to the other. Did they
carry substitution in them ? that eminently was in
Christ. He indeed substituted himself in the sin
ner's room, took our guilt upon him, and put him
self in our place ; died not only for our good, but in
our stead ; did undergo what we should have under
gone ; vouchsafed to die that we might not die ; bare
himself in his soul and body as our awi-^uyoc, the
punishment due to us. Here was substitution far
above what was in the law sacrifices. But this
Socinus and his followers cannot endure to hear of.2
Oh they rally all their force, unite all their strength,
set themselves with aU thetf might to oppose and
beat down this great truth ! There are but few of
the evangehcal mysteries which these pernicious
gospel-destroyers do not assault, some way or other;
1 That objection answered in Grotius de Sat., cap. 10, p.
123 ; Essenius Tri. Crucis, p. 218 ; Turretin. de Sat., p. 246.
2 De Servat., p. ii. cap. 4 (et passim). In Prelect., cap. 18.
With him concur Crellius, Smalcius, &c., and all of that party.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

295

but as to that which is now before us, Christ's suf
fering, dying, satisfying in our stead, the sum of
gospel revelation, the great article of the Christian
faith, the main prop and foundation of the believer's
hope, this they make their fiercest assaults upon ;
whatever stands, if they may have their will, this
shall not. But alas, poor men ! when they have
done their worst, it will stand firm upon its sure
basis as an eternal, unmoveable truth. It is so estab
lished in the word, and so rooted in the hearts of
Christians, that, in spite of the most subtle and
fierce oppositions of all gainsayers, it shall abide for
ever. AVell, however, let us see what ground we
have for our behef of it, and surely upon inquiry it
will appear we have enough and enough. If the
gospel be not clear in this, it is clear in nothing; and
blessed be the Lord, who, in a point of such vast
importance to souls, hath given the world a revela
tion of it so plain and full ! Substitution in the case
of the old sacrifices is not so evidently held forth in
the law, but substitution with respect to Christ and
his sacrifice is more evidently held forth in the gos
pel : Bom. v. 6, ' For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly ; '
ver. 8, ' But God commendeth his love towards us,
in that whUe we were yet sinners Christ died for us.'
1 Peter Ui. 18, ' For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust.' 1 Peter iv. 1, ' For
asmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the
flesh,' &c. 1 Peter ii. 21, ' Because Christ also suf
fered for us,' &c. Johnx. 15, 'I lay down my Hfe for
the sheep. ' John xi. 5 0, ' Nor consider that it is expedi
ent for us that one man should die for the people, and
that the whole nation perish not.' Heb. ii. 9, ' That
he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man.' 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, ' If one died for all, then
were aU dead : and that he died for all, that they
which Hve should not henceforth live unto them
selves, but unto him which died for them, and rose
again.' In aU these places the preposition uTsg is
used, which, though not. always, yet most frequently,
notes substitution — the doing or suffering of some
thing by one in the stead and place of others ; 1 see
Bom. ix. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 20. And so it is all along
1 Of this and the other prepositions, Grot, de Sat., cap. 10,
p. 3, and cap. 9, p. 115 ; Hoorneb, p. 566-568 ; Calov., p. 421,
kc, and p. 453.

here to be taken, where it being used of persons, the
nature of the matter spoken of, the use of the word
in parallel texts, as also in Greek authors, gives this
sense the preference before any other. But suppose
this may be eluded, the other preposition an] proves
the thing undeniably. Mat. xx. 28, ' Even as the
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many,'
Xvrgov avri woXXZv. 1 Tim. ii. 6, ' Who gave himself
a ransom (avriAurgov) for all.' Christ did not barely
deliver poor captive souls, but he delivered them in
the way of a ransom, which ransom he paid down
for them in their stead ; so as that what they them
selves should have paid, that he was pleased to pay
for them. This is and must be the sense and im
port of the word, for every one knows that avri in
composition (out of that I know it hath other senses,
see Heb. xii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xi. 15) signifies but two
things, either opposition and contrariety, 1 John
ii. 18 ; or substitution and commutation, Bom.
xii. 17 ; Mat. v. 38 ; 1 Peter iii. 9 ; Luke xi. 11 ;
so that the matter wUl come to this, we must either
carry it thus, that .Christ gave himself a ransom
against sinners, than which nothing more absurd ; or
else thus, that he gave himself a ransom in the stead
and place of sinners, than which nothing more true.
I might further prove it by 2 Cor. v. 21, ' He
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.' Gal. iii. 1 3, ' Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.' If
he had not so been in his own person, woe to poor
sinners ! they must then have lain under it them
selves to all eternity. What a fuU and convincing
chapter is that of Isa. HU. for the proof of that which
I am upon ! It would take up a great deal of time
to go over it, and to draw out the strength and
emphasis of the several expressions in it.1 I must
not engage so far. But surely the tongue of man
could not utter, nor the head of man invent, any
words or phrases more plain and apposite for the set-
1 This is done by very many anti-Socinian writers. Particu -
larly see Grot de Sat., p. Ill, &c. (Oh that he had not after
wards spoiled in his commentaries upon Isa. liii. what he had
before, in this excellent treatise, so nervously and orthodoxly
asserted ! but there he is as weak as here is strong.) Dr
Owen against Biddle, p. 499, &c. ; his vindication of the true
sense of it against Grotius, p. 521, &c.

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[Chap. XIII.

ting forth of Christ's substitution than what you
have there. The truth is, its edge is every way as
sharp against the Socinian who denies this, as it is
against the Jew who denies Christ's Messiahship.
Ver. 4, ' Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows,' &c. ; ver. 5, ' The chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
healed ; ' ver. 6, ' The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all,' or ' the Lord hath made the ini
quities of us all to meet on him ; ' ver. 7, ' He was
oppressed and he was afflicted,' &c, or, as the words
are rendered by some, ' it was exacted and he an
swered;'1 ver. 8, 'For the transgression of my people
was he stricken;' ver. 11, 'For he shall bear
their iniquities;' ver. 12, 'And he bare the sin
of many.' Is not all this spoken of our Lord Christ,
and is there not in it sufficient proof of his suscep-
tion of the sinner's guilt, and bearing the punish
ment due for it ? It runs much in the style of the
old sacrifices ; they had the sins of the people ' laid
upon them,' Lev. xvi. 21. And the priests, too, are
said to 'bear thetf iniquity,' Lev. x. 17; 'that
Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things,'
Exod. xxviu. 38. Answerably to which the prophet
teUs us that Christ, our sacrifice and priest too, had
the iniquities of all believers laid upon him, and that
he bare them in his own person. So the apostle,
Heb. ix. 28, ' So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many,' &c. And that is a great scripture,
1 Peter ii. 24, ' Who his own self bare our sins in
bis own body on the tree ; ' atfayxit, he ' took them
up ' with him when he ascended the cross. The
apostle uses the word, Heb. vu. 27, ' Who needeth
not daily, as those high priests, to offer up (dmp'ipnv,
to carry up) sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he offered
up himself,' (dmiyxuc, when he carried up himself.)
So in the place cited but now, ' Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many,' umiyxuv apapriac.
It is an allusion to the priests, who carried up the
sacrifice, and with it the sins of the people, to the
altar. Christ did the same with respect to his cross,
whither he first carried up sin, and then he carried
or bore it away.
1 So the word Nagas is taken, 2 Kings xxiii. 35 ; Zech.
ix. 8. Significat adigere ad solutionem debiti. — Forer. Op-
primi et ad solvendum adigi ab exactore.— jtf orus in loc.

I have but just mentioned these scriptures to
prove the thing in hand, to which should I have
spoken as largely as the matter in them would have
borne, or should I now faU upon the refutation of the
adversaries' replies, such as they are, by which they
endeavour to weaken them, I should certainly run
myself upon unpardonable prolixity.
To back this notion of these expiatory sacrifices
which were of God's own appointment and institu
tion, I thought, though it would have been but as
the holding of a candle to the sun, to have shewn
that it was the very notion of the heathens them
selves in their idolatrous sacrifices ; which, whether
persons or things, they always looked upon as sub
stituted in the room and stead of the offenders them
selves; but I have altered my purpose, because I
conceive it will be most proper, at the close of the
four heads which I am upon, to bring in altogether
of what I have to say upon those pagan sacrifices,
by way of paraUel with the true sacrifices.
It is no time for us to divide amongst ourselves,
or unnecessarily to run into parties, when the
common enemy is in the field, yea, making fierce
assaults upon us ; to defend ourselves against whom
all our united strength will be little enough. Other
wise two things should here be further inquired
into; as,
1. It having been said that Christ did so far
substitute himself in our stead as to undergo the
punishment due to us, it may be queried, Whether
he underwent the idem, the very self-same punish
ment that we should Have undergone, or only the
tantundem, that which did amount and was equiva
lent thereunto ? To which I answer, though I am
very loath to meddle in points wherein persons
eminent for learning and piety seem to differ, that
in different respects both may be affirmed: the
punishment which Christ endured, if it be con
sidered in its substance, kind, or nature, so it was
the same with what the sinner himself should have
undergone ; 1 but tf it be considered with respect to
certain circumstances, adjuncts or accidents, which
attend that punishment, as inflicted upon the sinner,
so it was but equivalent, and not the same.2 The
1 Mr A. Burg, of Justif., pp. 73, 74 ; Turret, de Sat., p. ix.
p. 281.
2 Non quidem idem Deo solutum quod debebatur abiisdem,

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297

punishment due to the sinner was death, the curse
of the law, upon the breach of the first covenant ;
now this Christ underwent, for he was 'made a
curse for us,' Gal. iu. 13; the adjuncts or circum
stances attending this death were the eternity of it,
desperation going along with it, &c. ; these Christ
was freed from, the dignity of his person supplying
the former, the sanctity of his person securing him
against the latter; therefore, with reference to these,
and to some other things which might be mentioned,
it was but the tantundem, not the idem. But suppose
there had been nothing of sameness, nothing beyond
equivalency in what Christ suffered, yet that, say
some,1 would be enough for the making good of the
main truth against the adversary; for it was not
necessary to his substitution that he should undergo
in every respect the same punishment which the
offender himself was Hable unto, but tf he shall
undergo so much as may satisfy the law's threat
ening, and vindicate the lawgiver in his truth,
justice, and righteous government, that was enough.
Now that was unquestionably done by Christ.
2. Secondly, It having also been said that our
Saviour took upon him the guUt of our sins, it may
further be queried, Whether he took the guilt itself
of them, or whether he did anything more than bear
the punishment due for them ? Ans. He first took
the guUt upon bim, and then he bare the punish
ment. Far be it from me to assert anything which
may reflect the least dishonour upon Christ — I dread
with my soul such a thing — but I see nothing, in
the asserting of his voluntary susception of our guilt,
which hath any tendency to that, therefore I hope I
may affirm it safely and confidently; it is so far from
that, that it was the highest manifestation of his love,
and that which was necessary for our justification.
There is in sin the macula and the reatus, the stain,
or filth, and the guilt of it ; or there is in it the fact,
the fault, and the guilt ; the two former are solely
ours,2 but the third and last Christ was pleased to
nos etenim debebamus aeternas poenas exsolvere, verum, pe-
pendit aequivalens Christus, &c. — Hoornb. Socin. Conf., p. 253 ;
V. Stegm. Photin., p. 260 ; Mr Baxter's Aphor., p. 26 ; Life
of Faith, p. 325 ; also the author of The Great Propitiation,
p. 71, &0.
1 Dr Stillingfl. against Crellius, p. 441.
2 Suscipiendo poenam et non suscipiendo culpam, et culpam
delevit et poenam. — August, de Serm. Dom. in Luc, Serm. 37.

take upon himself. What is guilt but obligation to
punishment ? If the holy Jesus will freely put him
self under that obligation, what can be said against
it ? certainly that he might do, and yet in himself
be as holy and innocent as ever he was, and neither
be the committer of sin, nor in the least be defiled
by it, for the macula and the reatus are two different
things. And indeed I do not weU see how he could
be said to bear the punishment of sin, that being
strictly taken, if first he should not take its guilt.
We all grant Christ's sufferings to be penal, but how
could they have been so without guilt? therefore
having no guilt of his own, he must be looked upon
as assuming ours, upon which he might be said pro
perly to undergo punishment. Had no guilt lain
upon him he might have suffered, but he could not
have been punished, punishment always necessarily
presupposing guilt. I would not stretch too far
allusive and metaphorical descriptions of Christ;
but yet in all such that which is the first and most
natural import of them must he improved and made
use of. Now such a description of Christ is his being
a surety ; of which what is the first and natural im
port ? surely this, a surety is one who takes the debt
of another upon himself, and so, in case of the
debtor's insufficiency, becomes hable to the payment
of it; as to the consequences and inconveniences
that follow, if he submits to them, that is but more
remote, but the first and proper thing in his surety
ship is his making of the debt to be his own ; the
application of this to the thing in hand is plain
enough. 2 Cor. v. 21, ' He hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him;' what is this being
made sin ? is it Christ's being a sacrifice for sin ?
Yes, but that is not all ; it notes also, I am sure I
am not singular in this interpretation, his being
under the guilt of sin. Where Christ is said to ' bear
sin,' that may possibly signify no more than the
bearing of the punishment thereof, as the phrase is
used, Lev. v. 1, and xx. 17; 2 Kings vii. 9; but
when tf is said he ' was made sin,' that implies his
voluntary susception of the sinner's guilt ; and that
this is the sense of the words in this place is evident
from what follows, 'that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.' It is not said he bare
the punishment of sin, that we thereupon might not

298

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[Chap. XIII

be punished, but he was made sin, under the guilt
of it, for it is opposed to righteousness, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, i.e.,
that he taking our guilt, and so taking it away, as
that was made over to him, so his righteousness
might be made over to us, upon which we might be
made guiltless and righteous before God. For my
part,, unless this sense be admitted, I do not under
stand what tolerable interpretation can be put upon
the words. He is said to ' carry up our sins in his
own body,' &c, 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; did he carry up the
punishment of them ? that is somewhat harsh ; it
was their guilt that he carried up with him when he
ascended the cross. This was the very way wherein
he must justify and save ; for as he could not have
saved us if first he had not taken our nature, so he
could not have justified us or taken away our guilt,
if first he had not taken it upon himself. For the
maculapeecati, that he was not capable of, therefore'
that shall be removed another way ; but for guilt,
it being not contracted but assumed, that he was
capable of, and- that was the thing for which satis
faction was to' be made ; therefore that he must take
upon him and so take it away. Oh the transcendent
love of Christ in this submission ! his righteousness
made over to us, and our sin made over to him ; we
made, righteous and He made guilty, by imputation
and in a law sens<e, what grace- can be higher than
this !
I have done with the second thing, Christ's sub
stituting himself in our stead, in correspondency
with what was done in the old Jewish sacrifices.
The third follows, viz., Those sacrifices were to be
consumed and slain, their blood to be shed and
offered, and so they became expiatory. Such as
consisted or were made up of inanimate things were
to be consumed; others that consisted of Hving
creatures were to be killed. As for instance, the
meat-offering, that was to be burnt, Lev. ii. 1, 2 • it
follows, indeed, ver. 12, the oblation of the first
fruits was not to be burnt, they being to be kept for
the priests' use, Num. xviii. 13 ; but the meat-offer
ing offered by and for the priests was to be burnt,
vers. 14-16. The sacrifices of this kind and nature
were to be consumed as well as others ; for where
their materials were liquid, those were to be poured
out; where solid, those were to be bruised and

burnt ; still in every sacrifice some way or other
there was destructio rei oblatce. But eminently this
was true in those wherein living creatures were to'
be sacrificed, they were to be destroyed or consumed
indeed. And it is observable, the higher the sacri
fice was, the greater was the destruction or consump
tion of it; for in such as were more ordinary, as
those that were offered for private persons, there
commonly but part of the sacrifice was consumed,
and part reserved for the priests ; but in the higher
and more extraordinary, such as were designed for
the priests and the whole community, especially
those whose blood was carried into the Holy of
holies at the solemn anniversary expiation, in them all
was to be consumed ; read Lev. vi. 30, and xvi. 27.
The scape-goat seems to be an exception against this
destroying, even of the great expiatory sacrifices, it
being not to be slain, but sent into the wilderness
by some fit messenger, Lev. xvi. 21, &c. ; but the
truth is, though that, for some typical reasons, was
not presently and downright destroyed, yet virtually
and in effect it was ; for upon the sending of it into
the wilderness it would in a little time be either
starved to death, or devoured by wUd beasts. But
to come more closely, to the business : the living
creatures in sacrifices were to be ktfled, and then
after that their blood in a special manner was to
be offered upon the altar, it being that upon which
the expiation did mainly depend. So the Lord him
self tells us, Lev. xvii. 11, ' For the hfe of the flesh
is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls : for it is
the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul ; '
where the first words, for the life of the fiesh is in tfa
blood, come in not only as a reason to back the pro
hibition that went before, ver. 10, in which notion I
considered them before ; but also as a reason of that
which follows, viz., why God appointed the use of
blood in sacrifices for atonement. It was upon this
ground, because therein was the Hfe of the creature.
Now he designing life for life, therefore he pitched
upon blood, wherein the life did lie. The apostle
tells us, Heb. ix. 22, ' And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of
blood is no remission.' And if you look into the'
Levitical sacrifices you will find what he saith to be
true. In the burnt-offering for private persons there

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

299

was killing and blood, Lev. i. 5 ; the same in the
peace-offerings, Lev. Hi. 2, 8, 13; the .same in the
sin-offerings, Lev. iv. 7, 16-18 ; and so in the rest.
And the observation of these commands, which run
so much upon blood, was so necessary, that should
any of the priests have dared to have entered into
God's presence in any other way than by sacrifices,
and the blood thereof, he would not have taken it
well at their hands ; yea, should they have brought
into the temple never so many bullocks, rams, goats,
,&c, and not have slain them, or having slain them
had not presented their blood before him according
to his institution, they would have done no good
either to themselves or others ; for God, to shew his
justice, hatred of sin, &c, stood upon blood, and
Mood he would have. From aU this we may infer,
that those old sacrifices did not expiate as bare ante
cedents or conditions, without which God would not
pardon, or as the- offering of them carried in it some
obedience to God's commands, both of which were
common to many other things as well as to them.
Surely there was more in it than so ; 1 for can we
reasonably think that God would have been so posi
tive and so express in his injunctions about so many
sacrifices, so severe in the punishing the neglect of
them, have ordered the taking away the Uves of so
many creatures, and have so much insisted upon
their death and blood in order to expiation, had he
looked upon them only as prerequisite and remoter
conditions of pardon, or common acts of obedience,
and that as such only they should be expiatory?
Certainly had there been nothing in them more than
this, the merciful Creator would have spared the
blood of the poor creatures, and would have pitched
upon some other course, which might have seemed,
at least; more consistent with his wisdom and good
ness. We may conclude them therefore to be means
instituted by God in order to atonement and expia
tion, to the effecting of which, by virtue of his own
institution and the merit of the great sacrifice to
come, they had a direct and effectual tendency.
This foundation I have laid for the better under
standing of the destroying, kiUing, shedding of
blood that was in the typical sacrifices. I come
now to build upon it with respect to the real sacri
fice, Christ Jesus. In conformity to them, therefore,
1 Dr Stillingfieet against Crellius, p. 516, kc.

Christ was slain, died upon the cross, his body
broken, his blood spilt, &c. — all which speaks him
to be a true expiatory sacrifice. Had he not died.
and suffered he could not have been such ; but
upon that he is not only such a sacrifice really but
eminently, the dignity of his person putting a
superlative worth and efficacy upon his .death and
sacrifice. Oh what was the death of creatures to the
death of God's Son ? What was the blood of beasts
to the blood of him who was God? Acts xx. 28
— for such a person to die, to shed his blood for
the expiation of sin ? Here was a sacrifice indeed !
And surely one great end of God in ordering the
death of the old sacrifices, was to convince the world
of the necessity of the death of this far greater
sacrifice. By them he designed, in ways best known
to himself, to lead men to a dying and bleeding
Christ. How much doth the Scripture1 speak of his
blood ! and though his whole humiliation must be
taken in as making up his sacrifice, yet in special
what a stress and emphasis doth it put upon his
death and blood, wherein his greatest humiliation
lay, with respect to their influence upon the good of
sinners ! Eph. i. 7, ' In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.' Bom. iii.
25, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood,' &c. Bom. v. 9, ' Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shaU
be saved from wrath through him. ' 1 John i. 7,
' And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.' Bev. i. 5, ' Unto him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood.' 1 Pet.
i. 19, ' But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot.' Mat. xxvi.
28, ' This is my blood of the New Testament which
is shed for many, for the remission of sins.' Heb.
ix. 12, &c, 'Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal re
demption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats/ &c. Col. i. 14, 'Having made peace
through the blood of his cross.' Surely there must
be some special reason why this blood of Christ is so
often mentioned, and why the great benefits which
sinners receive by him are in such a way of emi-
nency ascribed to it, of which some account will be
given in the following particular. Oh the severity

300

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[Chap. XIII.

of God's justice, which nothing could satisfy but the
blood of his own Son ! Oh the love of Christ, who '
thought not the best blood in his veins too good for
sinners ! Oh the truth of his satisfaction ! for what
could such blood be spUt but for that? what end
could be proportionable to such a medium but satis
faction ? Oh the admirable harmony between type
and antitype, the shadow and the substance, sacri
fice and sacrifice ! Under the law it was blood,
under the gospel it was blood too ; only that was
common blood, but this excellent and precious.
4. Fourthly, If we compare Christ with the Jewish
sacrifices in their ends and effects, that will further
demonstrate him to be a true expiatory sacrifice.
What were they ? Atonement and expiation. By
them God was to be atoned and sin to be expiated.
Now both of these were designed and admirably ef
fected in and by Christ ; therefore he was what I
am proving.
That those sacrifices were of an atoning nature,
and appointed for that end, what can be more plain ?
Here the so often cited text, which indeed is the
key to the whole body of the Levitical sacrifices,
doth recur: Lev. xvii. 11, 'I have given it to
you upon the altar ;' for what end? 'to make an atone
ment for your souls ;' where the word used; as in very
many other places, is caphar, which signifies to pacify,
appease, or assuage the anger of one that is incensed.1
So it is taken, Gen. xxxii. 20, ' I will,' saith Jacob
concerning his brother Esau, ' appease him with the
present that goeth before me.' So 2 Sam. xxi. 3.
It signifies also to cover, Ps. xxxii. 1 ; to redeem,
&c, Ps. xlix. 7, 8 ; but this of atoning, or pacifying,
is most usual. Now in order to this atoning, God
appointed sacrifices, the shedding of whose blood was
to make an atonement^ saith the Lord here, and he
goes over it again, ' for it is the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul.' All along in the several
kinds of sacrifices it runs, ' It shall be accepted for
him to make an atonement for him; ' ' The priest shall
make an atonement for them,' &c. This always comes
in as the great end or effect of the law sacrifices ;
whence they are said to be ' of a sweet savour unto
1 This sense of the word justified by all anti-Socinian writers.
Franz., disp. 15, th. 38 ; Turretin. de Satisf., p. 208; Grot.
de Sat., p. 39 ; Hoorneb, Socin. Confut., p. 607 ; Dr Stillingfl.,
p. 509, &c.

the Lord,' not only because of their pleasingness to
God, but also because they made him propitious to,
and well pleased with, such as had offended him ; so
Lev. i. 9, 1 3, 1 7. It is the same word, but sometimes it
rendered by reconcUing : as Lev. vi. 30, ' No sin-
offering ... to reconcile withal in the holy place ;'
Lev. viii. 15, 'To make reconciliation upon it.' We
find when at any time in some particular judgments
the anger of God did break forth, either against the
people or against particular persons, presently they
betook themselves to. sacrifices, thereby to atone and
propitiate him: Num. xvi. 46, 'And Moses said
unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from
off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly
unto the congregation, and make an atonement for
them : for there is wrath gone out from the Lord ;
the plague is begun.' 2 Sam. xxiv. 25, 'And David
built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord was
entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed
from Israel.'
As to the other end or effect, viz., expiation, that
also belonged to sacrifices ; they had a power or
virtue in them to cleanse and purify from sin's guUt,
to procure pardon and remission, whence they were
called expiatory ; and had it not been for this effect
they could not have passed under that denomina
tion. A full proof of it you have in that one sacri
fice, the heifer, which was to be offered for the
cleansing of the people, when murder had been com
mitted, but the actor of it was concealed : Deut. xxi.
7, 8, 'And they shall answer and say, Our hands
have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen
it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel,
and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of
Israel's charge : and the blood shaU be forgiven
them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent
blood from amongst you,' &c. Was not here expia
tion ? And wherein did that lie, but in the putting
away of the guilt of innocent blood, and in the ob
taining of pardon ? for it is said, ' And the blood
shaU be forgiven them.' This is that which is -set
forth by cleansing from sin : Lev. xvi. 30, ' For on
that day shall the priest make an atonement for
you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all
your sin before the Lord.' Num. Ui. 5, < For blood
defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed

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301

of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood
of him that shed it.' The apostle sets it forth by
'purifying of the flesh,' Heb. ix. 13, by which he
means the taking away of that ceremonial, ritual, or
civil guilt which any did lie under. And he puts it
out of all doubt, that expiation in the old sacrifices
did not point to the abolition of sin's power, but to
the ablation of sin's guilt ; for having said, Heb. ix.
22, that ' almost all things are by the law purged
with blood,' he teUs you what he meant by that
purging, adding, ' without shedding of blood is no
remission,' or expiatwn of sin's guilt. And this is the
notion which always he drives at in that epistle, in
those several words which he there uses, viz., sanc
tifying, purifying, purging, &c. Indeed this was
the chief and most proper effect of sacrifices ; 1 other
things might be done by them, but this was the
main, therefore it so often comes in upon this ac
count, ' And the priest shaU make an atonement for
them, and it shaU be forgiven them,' Lev. iv. 20 ;
so verses 26, 31, 35. And this might be one reason
why God prohibited the offering of sacrifices to any
but to himself, because the end of them being the
forgiveness of sin, and none being able to reach
that end but himself, therefore none should be sacri
ficed unto but himself.2
For the better understanding of this double effect
of the law sacrifices, I desire four things may be con
sidered :
1. That the atonement and expiation effected by
those sacrifices must be conceived of as done by
them in that notion which was proper to them as
sacrifices. None can deny but that they did atone
and expiate; but how did they so do ? There is the
question. I answer, this was done by them as they
were substituted in the place of offenders, and were
slain in their stead and for their sake. Other ac
counts I know by some are given of this, but that
now set down is the true, as appears by what hath
been aheady spoken under the two foregoing heads.
2. That this atoning and expiating virtue was
not limited only to the sacrifices used at the anni-
1 Vide Essen. Tri. Crucis, lib. i. sec. 4, cap. 8, p. 6.
2 Causa cur noluerit Deus alteri sacrificari quam sibi, ea
potissimum videtur, quod sacrificia imprimis fierent ad expi-
anda peccata, solus vero Deus jus habeat ea condonandi. —
Vohius de Idol., lib. i. p. 977.

versary great expiation, but it belonged to the other
sacrifices. For instance, to burnt-offerings, (I take in
those that were made use of before the giving of the
law about sacrifices ; ) see Job i. 5 ; xhi. 8 ; after
the giving of the law to free-will offerings, Lev. i. 3,
4, &c. ; to the meat-offering and drink-offering, Lev.
ii. per tot. ; and xxiii. 13 ; Num. xv. 7, 10, 13, 14;
to the peace-offering, Lev. iii. 15, 16; to the sin-
offering and trespass-offering, Lev. iv. 6 ; to the
ram, which was therefore called the ram of atone
ment, Num. v. 8. There is no end of such instances.
3. That yet the atonement and expiation proper
to those sacrifices is to be limited according to the
bounds which God himself was pleased to set ; for it
was but in such cases, and for such sins, wherein he
did admit of them in order to these effects, of which
more by and by.
4. That these effects were not produced by any
inherent or innate virtue in the sacrifices themselves,
but only as they were instituted by God, and as
they derived efficacy from the sacrifice to come,
Christ himself. Take away these two things, and
what could these sacrifices have done ? What could
there be in them to pacify an angry God, or to purify
a guilty sinner ? What was the blood of a beast, as
considered in itself, to expiate the sin of a man ?
The apostle plainly tells us, Heb. x. 4, ' It is not
possible that the blood of buUs and goats should
take away sin.' Therefore he says there was ' no
perfection by the Levitical priesthood,' Heb. vii. 11 ;
and ' the law made nothing perfect,' Heb. vii. 19 ;
' in which were offered gifts and sacrifices, that could
not make him that did the service perfect, as per
taining to the conscience,' Heb. ix. 9. So that what
ever virtue those sacrifices had, further than the
taking away of civil guilt, ritual uncleanness; securing
from church and state penalties, it wholly depended
upon the institution of God and the merit of Christ.
The brazen serpent healed such as were stung, yet
not from any intrinsic power in itself, but only as
God was pleased to give that power and efficacy to
it ; and so it was here in the case of the old sacri
fices. These four things I have laid down, both to
clear up the sacrifices themselves, and also because
they are of great use to set us right in our concep
tions about Christ the great sacrifice, which must be
opened by them.

302

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

Answerably now to these two great ends and
effects of the Mosaical sacrifices, the same were de
signed to be done, and were actuaUy done, by "the
Lord Jesus, when he offered up himself to God upon
the cross; whereby he also, (1.) Atoned God; (2.)
Expiated the sin of the elect. As God was angry
:and offended with the sinner, so Christ by his death
procured atonement, pacification, reconciliation; as
the sinner lay under guUt, so Christ brought about
the purgation or expiation of his guilt. Both of
these were done by him, and that too not only really,
but in a much higher way than what was done by the
old sacrifices, therefore he was a true proper expiatory
sacrifice, yea, the most eminent expiatory sacrifice.
1. For atonement or reconciliation. By Adam's
fall a sad breach had been made betwixt God and
man ; sin' had greatly incensed the holy God against
his sinful creatures, nay, there was a mutual and
reciprocal enmity contracted between them. Things
being in this dismal state, the blessed Jesus inter
posed himself in order to the appeasing of an offended
God, and the reconciling of him and the sinner, the
two parties that were at variance. For the effect
ing of which, he did not only as a bare internuntius
treat with both, or only offer up prayers to the one,
(in which respect Moses atoned God, Exod. xxxiv.
10-14,) and entreaties to the other, 2 Cor. v. 20, and
so proceed by some verbal interposures ; but, when
nothing else would do it, he was willing even to
lay down his own hfe, to die as a sacrifice upon the
cross, by this means to bring God and man together
again in amity and love. By which death of Christ
the offended God was perfectly atoned and recon
ciled to the sinner ; so as that now, upon the satis
faction made to him therein, he could without any
injury to his justice and holiness receive the sinner
into his favour, and not inflict upon him that wrath
and punishment which he had made himself ob
noxious unto. This is the true notion of atonement
and reconciliation by Christ, and all that we mean
by it.1 But that this was thus done by him, what
one thing is there in all the matters of faith wherein
the gospel is more clear and full? 1 John ii. 2,
1 Non statuimus Deum ex irato proprie factum esse pro-
pitium, sed Christi satisfaction causas irse divina: obliteratas
esse, ut salva justitia sua possit gratiam exhibere.— Essenius
p. 253.

' And he is the propitiation for our sins.' 1 John
iv. 10, ' Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his :Son to be the pro
pitiation for our sins.' Bom. iii. 25, ' Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood,' &c. Bom. v. 10, 11, 'For if when we
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more being reconcUed we
shaU be saved by his life : and not only so, but we
also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the atonement.' 2
Cor. v. 18, 19, 'All things are of God, who hath
reconcUed us to himself by Jesus Christ.' ' God
was in Christ reconciling the world to himseff.'
Col. i. 20, 21, 'And, having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcUe all things
unto himself,' .&c. ' And you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works
yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh
through death.' So Eph. ii. 13, 14, &c. Isa. liii.
6, ' The chastisement of our peace was upon him,0
i.e., by his penal sufferings our peace was made with
God. It is true, which our adversaries would fain
improve to their purpose,1 that all along in these
scriptures the reconciliation is said to be on man's
part, as if sinners were reconcUed to God, not God
to them ; but there is a special reason for that, viz.,
because they were the first in the breach, they fell
out with God before he fell out with them;2 as also
because the averseness to reconcihation is on their
part ; wherefore if they be wUling to be reconciled
to God, and are actually reconciled to him, there is
no question of it but that he is willing to be recon
ciled to them, and is so actuaUy. Some would have
the reconciliation, as on God's part, to be spoken of :
Heb. ii. 17, ' That he might be a merciful and faith
ful high priest, in things -pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people;*
where iXaexasiai rag apaerlus is, according to the
Hebrew enallage, as much as iXaextSai hbv mgl tw
a/tagriut, as Grotius well observes.3 However, sup
posing that this text doth not so expressly hold
forth the thing, yet there is enough in those con
vincing reasons, arguments, and consequences, which
1 Socin. de Serv., p. i. cap. 8.
2 Baxter's Life of Faith, p. 189.
3 De Satisf., p. 93.

Chap. XLU. J

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

303

the word elsewhere affords, to prove the reconcilia
tion to be mutual, as is fuUy proved by divers.
Which reconcihation, you see, was accomplished by
Jesus Christ, yea, by his death and blood ; so that
he exactly answers to the first effect of the Jewish
sacrifices. 2. Then for the second, the expiation of sin, that
also was done, with great advantage, by Christ; his
death carried indeed a sin-expiating virtue in it,
and was most truly of an expiatory nature. Let us
a httle look into the Scripture and see what it saith
about this ; and that we shaU find not only to assert
the thing, but so to assert it as withal to set down
and determine the nature and true notion of it. I
mean this, the Scripture doth not only in general
speak of Christ's taking away or expiating of sin,
but it shews Hi what manner he did it, and wherein
the nature of that expiation did consist ; as, namely,
that he did expiate it in that way which was agree
able to what was done in and by the old sacrifices,
and that according, to the notion proper to thetf
expiation, so his must be understood. For in speak
ing thereof it uses those expressions which point
to those sacrifices and to their expiation ; thereby
noting, (1.) That Christ did expiate in that very
way wherein they did ; and (2.) That therefore his
expiation, in the nature of it, must run parallel with
theirs. Take a few instances : Heb. ix. 13, 14, 'For
if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth (ayidfyi)
to the purifying of the flesh : How much more shaU
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Sptfit
offered himself without spot to God, purge (xudapiu)
your conscience from dead works to serve the Hving
God ? ' Ver. 22, 23, ' And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood ; and without shedding
blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified (xaQugifrctla/) with these ; but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these.'
Heb. i. 3, 'When he had by himself purged our
sins,' or as it is in the Greek, he having by himself
made purgation or expiation (xuDaeieph aottisd/Mvos)
of our sins. 1 John i. 7, ' And the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth (xaOagigu) us from all sin;'
by which cleansing the apostle meant the expiation
or remission of sin ; for ver. 9, he puts them together,

' He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' Heb. x. 22,
' Having our hearts sprinkled QUanisphoi) from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed (Xs?u)u,abo;)with
pure water.' Eev. i. 5, ' Unto him that loved us and
washed (Xobmtn) us from our sins in his own blood.'
Now pray observe from these scriptures —
1. That the expiating of sin, under the terms of
purifying, purging, cleansing, washing, sprinkling,
is expressly attributed to Christ.
2. That he, as being a sacrifice, by dying and
shedding his blood, so did expiate sin.
3. That the proper and primary effect of his death
and blood was the expiation of sin's guilt, and as
a consequent thereof its remission : Mat. xxvi. 28,
1 This is my blood of the New Testament' which is
shed for many for the remission of sins.' Eph. i 7,
' In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sms.' So Bom. iii. 25.
4. That as the Jewish sacrifices were truly ex
piatory, they, in their way, taking off sin's guilt
and the punishment due thereupon, wherein the
formal nature of their expiation did consist; so
answerably Christ Jesus was a true expiatory sacri
fice, he, in his way too, taking off sin's guilt, &c,
wherein the formal nature of his expiation did and
must consist also.
This I ground upon a twofold consideration : (1.)
Because by those very words which were proper to
those sacrifices, and by which their expiation of sin
was set forth, I say by those very words the sacrifice
of Christ, and the efficacy thereof, is described; there
fore it must be as truly expiatory of sin as they
were : this is sufficiently proved in the places that
have been cited. And I might further add, that the
words there used are the very same with those which
the Greek profane authors do always use, when they
are speaking of their expiatory sacrifices, and of the
effect of them, of which many instances are given by
the learned.1 (2.) Because the apostle, who most
uses these words, and in the place too where he
most uses them, I mean in his Epistle to the
Hebrews, doth professedly draw a parallel bewixt
Christ and the law sacrifices, shewing there was a
great analogy and resemblance betwixt them. True,
1 Stuck, de Sacrif., fol. 148 ; Grot, de Sat., pp. 128, 129,
with many others.

304

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

he asserts a greater exceUency and efficacy in the
one than in the other, and as to the manner of
working he shews there was a vast difference
between them ; but yet as to the great effect of a
sacrifice, expiation of sin, in that, so far as the
nature of the things would admit of, they did agree.
Well then, if they did purify and expiate, so must
Christ; and as they did purify and expiate, in
taking away guilt by death and blood, so must
Christ ; otherwise where would the analogy be be
tween them ? Was it not thus, there would be ex
piation in the type, and none in the antitype ; and
one way of expiation in the type, and another in the
antitype, both of which are directly contrary to the
apostle's scope and design in the forenamed epistle.
Some possibly will ask why I multiply so many
words, and stay so long upon this point ? I will
tell them ; I do it to vindicate both the reality, and
also the true notion, of our Saviour's expiatory sacri
fice. For the Socinians, who have not left us one
fountain of evangehcal comfort unpoisoned, herein
deal with their usual subtlety.1 Very fair words are
spoken by them, as though they were for and did
own Christ's expiation of sin ; but when they come
to open it, and to shew what they mean by it, they
make it a quite other thing than what indeed it is ;
they keep the word, but quit the Scripture-sense
thereof. Christ, say they, did expiate sin ; but how?
Why, by begetting faith in the sinner, by working
repentance in him, by turning and drawing him off
from sin, by delivering from the effects of it, by
declaring the will of God about remission and the
way thereunto, as his death was an antecedent to
his exaltation in heaven, where, say they, he only
expiates sin, &c. In such things as these, but not
in Christ's undergoing* the punishment due to the
sinner and dying in his stead, they make his expia
tion of sin to lie. Now though much might be, and
is, said against each of these particularly,2 yet that
which I have in the general insisted upon is a suffi
cient confutation of them all, viz., Christ must ex
piate sin in that way and sense wherein the sacri-
1 Socin. de Serv., p. ii. cap. 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 ; Crellius
contra Grot., cap. 10, sec. 2.
2 Grot. de'Sat., p. 136 ;Hoorneb, p. 581, &c. ; Franz., p.
207 and 450 ; Dr Stillingfl. against Crell., cap. 6, p. 507, &c. ;
Turret., p. 202, &c. ; Jacob, ad Portum., p. 464, &c.

fices under the law did. Now did they expiate any
other way than as they were substituted in the
offender's room, and as they died in his stead?
Therefore that must be the way wherein Christ our
sacrifice doth expiate also. Thus I have gone over
the four heads propounded for the proving of Christ
to be a true, proper, expiatory sacrifice.
Only for the further clearing and confirming of
what hath been said, it wUl not be amiss, before I
go off from this, to shew how the heathens them
selves, in their notions about their sacrifices, did
exactly agree with what I have now dehvered con
cerning the Jewish sacrifices, and also concerning
Christ, the far greater sacrifice. The business of
sacrificing was not a thing used and practised only
amongst the Jews, but amongst GentUes and hea
thens also ; yea, even amongst those this practice in
ancient times was so catholic and universal, as that
there was scarce any considerable nation or people
in the world of whose using of sacrifices we have
not some account. Whence this came about I am
not now to inquire ; only, in a word, it proceeded
partly from the instigation and delusion of the
devil,1 who loves to ape it after God, and to stir up
his bUnd and deluded foUowers to do that to false
gods which should only be done to the true God.
Partly from the practice and example of the patri
archs,2 the knowledge of whose sacrificing, according
to divine institution, being diffused and spread over
the world by tradition, (which commenced first from
Adam to Seth; then continued from Seth to Noah;
then from Noah to his sons ; and they peopUng the
world transmitted the use of sacrifices to their pos
terity,) it had this effect, to draw men universally
to conform unto and imitate the example of these
patriarchs in this matter. And though they soon
degenerated from the primitive and right use of
sacrifices, in their departing from the true object of
them, and in their sacrificing to them that were no
gods, Gal. iv. 8, yet, in their idolatrous way, they
continued and kept up the observation of them from
one generation to another. In process of time when
1 See Rivet, in Gen., Exerc. 42 ; Dr Owen Theol. Nat., i.
cap. 8, p. 89.
2 Prima victimarum Gentilium origo est ex divina institu-.
tione patriarchis facta, urgente insuper conscientia. — Essen., p.
237.

Chap. XIIL]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

305

the Jews, after their coming out of Egypt, were
formed into a distinct pohty, and sacrifices were
re-instituted by God, and all things in special laws
made by him precisely ordered about them. It is
probable that from thence the Gentiles did receive
further light, which accordingly they in a great
measure complied with ; for do but bate the dif
ference in the object, and in some other things, and
there was a great agreement betwixt the sacrifices
pf the one and of the other, as also in the concep
tions of both about them. This being the thing
which falls Hi with what I design, I must be more
particular about it ; for instance therefore thus : In
the Jewish expiatory sacrifices there was a surroga-
tion or substitution of the things sacrificed in the
room and stead of the offenders themselves, as hath
been shewn ; the same was also done in the Gentile
sacrifices, and this was that very notion which they
in them went upon.1 Nothing more usual amongst
them than for one to die for another, especially
for the community ; 2 and tf they apprehended their
gods by the inflicting of such and such evils upon
them to be angry, presently they substituted some
(whom they called Viri piaculares, nsgixao'aeij.u.ra,
vietywaTa. 3) to die in the stead of all the people, so
to make expiation. And as the Jews testified their
designing and beHeving of this by their laying on of
hands upon the sacrifices, so did the GentUes also.4
In the Jewish sacrifices there was the killing of
them, the shedding of their blood, &c. ; the Gentiles
in theirs, too, were for death and blood.5 The Jews
1 Which, therefore, they called Hostice succedanece. Men'
piaculum oportet fieri propter stultitiam tuam, ut meum ter-
gum stultitise tuse subdas succedaneum ? — Plant.
2 As the Decii amongst the Romans ; Codrus amongst the
Athenians ; Menecseus amongst the Thebans, &c.
Hanc tibi Eryx meliorem animam pro morte Daretis,
Persolvo. — Virgil.
3 In allusion to whom, some think, the apostle uses these
words, 1 Cor. iv. 13 ; Suidas in V., ireplf-qpa ; Dr Hammond
in loc. In the lustration or purgation of their cities they used
to put to death some malefactor, and at the execution of him
to say, ireplf-qpa -qp.£>v yevoC, be thou a victim in our stead.
4 See Dr Stillingfl. against Crellius, p. 444.
6 Et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt.— Virg.
Date gaudia Thebis
Quse pepigi, et toto quse sanguine prodigus emi.
— Statius.
Upon this, Porphyry wrote much against these sacrifices,
irepl dirox-, lib. ii. p. 59.

hoped by their sacrifices to propitiate and atone God
when offended ; the Gentiles by theirs designed and
hoped the same, for they had their sacrificia iXaarixa,
too.1 The Jews had their burnt-offerings, whole
burnt-offerings, their sin-offerings, their solemn and
annual expiations, and all for purging, purifying,
expiating of sin ; the GentUes in all these concurred
with them.2 Nay, because they would be sure to do
this effectually, by the sacrificing of their best to
their gods, and conceiving that the life of man was
most proper to expiate for the life of man ; there
fore, though this was thetf great sin, in order to the
pacifying of thetf gods and the expiating of guilt,
they stuck not at the sacrificing of men themselves,
yea, of their dearest children ; 3 instances of which,
with commands against it, frequently occur in
Scripture, 2 Kings iii. 27, xvii. 31, and xxiu. 10;
2 Chron. xxviii. 3 ; Jer. vii. 31, xix. 5, and xxxii.
35; Ps. cvi. 37, 38; Lev. xviii. 21, and xx.
2. In other things the heathens borrowed from
the Jews ; in this the Jews from the heathens.
Upon the whole then it appears, that Scripture and
nature do both concur in that notion of expiatory
sacrifices which I have insisted upon ; and surely in
1 V. Stuckium de Sacrif., fol. 146 ; Gyrald. Synt. 17, p.
491. Placuit ad averruncundam Deorum iram victimus coedi.
 IAv., lib. viii. Mactata veniet mitior hostia — Horat.
2 Et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis — Virgil.
See Grot, on Lev. i. 9.
Ssepe Deos aliquis peccando fecit iniquos,
Et pro delictis bostia blanda fuit. — Ovid.
Annua quse differre nefas celebrate faventes
Nobiscum. — Virgil.
They called these sacrifices, dyvlanKd KaBapnKd, from their
purging and purifying from guilt. See instances in Grot, de
Sat.,' p. 124. Teque piacula nulla resolvent. — Horat.
3 Pro vita hominum nisi vita hominis redattur, non posse
Deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur — Ccesar de
Bel. Gallico. Sanguine quserendi reditus animaque litandum
Argolica. — Virg.
Sanguine placastis ventos et virgine C33sa.— Idem.
Omnis et humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor.— Lucan.
This dvBpairoBvala prevailed so much, that the senate of
Rome was fain to make a decree against it.— Plin. Nat. Hist.,
lib. iii. cap. 1. See of it Euseb. de Prrspar. Evang., lib. iv.
cap 16 ; Tertull. Apol, cap. 9 ; Theodoret, vol. iv. p. 589 ;
Porphyr., irepl diroX-, lib. ii- sec. 27 ; Saubertus de Sacrif., cap .
21, p. 517 ; Stuck., fol. 41 ; Grot, de Sat, p. 132 ; Cloppenb.
Spicileg., p. 212. g

306

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII

the applying of it to Christ — the grand expiatory
sacrifice — the gospel is exceeding clear. So that
when we assert his substitution in the stead of sin
ners, his dying for them, his atoning God, and ex
piating sin by his death and blood, we say nothing
but what Jews and heathens in their expiatory
sacrifices apprehended, beheved, and acted upon.
They then who differ in these things, (as to the
general nature, use, and end of such sacrifices,) they
differ not only from us, but from all mankind ; of
whom it might be expected they would better agree
with heathens, since they do so ill agree with Chris
tians. I have despatched the first inquiry, What a kind
of sacrifice Christ was ? The second follows, When
and where he was such a sacrifice? To which I
answer, When he was here on earth, and especially
when he died upon the cross, then and there he
was this expiatory sacrifice. All are not of my mind
herein. The enemy, who waylays me in every step
I take in these great truths, is upon me again, and
forces me to defend myself, or rather the truth I
have laid down. He saith, Christ's being thus a
sacrifice points to his being in heaven, and to what
he there doth ; that his death here was but a pre
paration to his sacrifice as there to be made, or but
an antecedent condition to his having of power
there to expiate sin, with much more to that pur
pose.1 Here, then, lies the difference between us
and Socinians. We say Christ's being the expiatory
sacrifice belongs to that part of his priestly office
which he executed here upon earth ; they make it
to refer to that part of his priestly office which he
now executes in heaven. We time it in Christ's
dying upon the cross ; they in his sitting upon the
throne. Now that I may at once prove what is true, and
also confute what is false, I argue thus :
1. It appears that here Christ's sacrifice was ex
hibited, or that here he made his expiatory offering,
because the Scriptures speaks of it as a thing that is
past, and antecedent to his exaltation and glory,
and therefore it must be done here on earth, and
not in heaven: Eph. v. 2, 'And hath given him-
1 Socin. de Serv., part ii. cap. 12, 15; Smalc. de Divin.
Christi, cap. 23 ; Catech. Racov. de Mun. Christi. Sacerd.,
qusest. 2.

self for us an offering, a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelUng savour.' Heb. i. 3, ' When he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high.* Mark it, the
sacrifice-purgation or expiation of sin was over and
done, and then Christ's exaltation in heaven followed
after : Heb. ix. 1 2, ' Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained (not to obtain)
eternal redemption for us.' Heb. x. 12, 'But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, sat down on the right hand of God.' He did
not first sit down on the right hand of God, and
then offer up his sacrifice for sins ; but he first offered,
and then he sat down on the right hand of God.
2. When the Scripture speaks of Christ's expiation
of sin by the sacrifice of himself, it speaks of it as a
thing done but once ; therefore it must refer to his
death, which was but once, not to his intercession,
or any other act in heaven, which is a continued,
repeated, and reiterated act : Heb. ix. 26, ' For
then must he often have suffered since the founda
tion of the world ; but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sac
rifice of himself:' ver. 28, 'Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many.' Heb. vH. 27, ' This he
did once when he offered up himself.' Heb. x. 10,
' By the which wUl we are sanctified, through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all'
Doth this once agree with anything that he now doth
in beaven?
3. If Christ had not despatched his expiatory work
at his death, why did he then say, ' It is finished'?
John xix. 30. If his expiating of sin was yet to
come and to be done in heaven, how could he with
truth have spoken these words, that all was finished,
when the great thing was yet undone ?
4. That of the apostle is pertinent to our purpose:
Heb. x. 5, ' Wherefore when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me,' &c. Wherefore
did Christ come into the world? Why, to be a
sacrifice, and to do that which the old sacrifices
could not. God was even weary of them, could no
longer ' take pleasure ' in them, Heb. x. 8 ; he will
have Christ, the better sacrifice, to come into the
world, which accordingly he did. ' Ay ! but what.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

307

was the world into which he came ? Surely it must
be this lower world ; for it must be understood of
that world into which he came to do the wiU of
God, as appears ver. 7-9. Now that was this world
below rather than that above; for where do we
read that Christ ascended into the upper world to
do the wUl of God, especially this will of God re
ferring to his assuming a body, and offering up that
body? ver. 5, 10. These were things to be done
only on this lower stage of earth ; whence, then, it
foUows that here his sacrifice was made.
5. There was, as hath been observed, to be an
analogy and resemblance betwixt Christ's sacrifice
and the Levitical sacrifices, and he was to expiate
in that way wherein they did expiate ; but if you
do not place his sacrifice in his death, where wUl
that analogy be ? or how wUl he expiate, in that
way wherein they did ? What is there in Christ as
in heaven that carries any resemblance to the kill
ing, slaying, shedding the blood, offering of the
Levitical sacrifices ? There he sits in great glory,
puts forth his regal power, is head of bis church, &c. ;
but what is aU this to suffering, dying, pouring out
his blood, wherein he was to answer to those sacri
fices? Doth the Scripture lay so much upon his
death and blood for expiation, and yet shall that be
done where there is none of these ?
It wUl be said, there is this in Christ in heaven to
carry resemblance to the old sacrifices : thetf blood
was carried by the high priest into the Holy of holies,
and there sprinkled by him towards the mercy-seat,
upon which expiation and atonement followed. Now
paraUel to this Christ himself, our high priest, is
entered into heaven, the sanctuary not made with
hands, and there he executes His priestly office, after
a sort, for expiation and atonement also. To which
I reply, Christ's entrance into heaven cannot be
denied, nor that that doth much resemble what was
done by the high priest under the law, all that being
but typical of this : Heb. ix. 24, ' For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us.' And
therein we have the second part. of his priesthood,
the oblation of himself here on earth being the first,
and his intercession in heaven the second; which
two must not be divided, but conjoined ; the former

must not jostle out the latter, nor the latter the
former. Which second part of his priesthood was
necessary, partly in respect of Christ himself, for the
completing and consummating of his priesthood, the
perfection and excellency of which depended upon
it ; for, saith the apostle, Heb. viii. 4, ' If he were
on earth he should not be a priest,' i.e., not a priest
of the highest rank ; he would come short of the
high priest, and be but as one of the ordinary
priests, if he should only offer without, and after
that not enter into the sanctuary as the high priest
did, and he only. And partly too in respect of
believers, that he might not only make his oblation
for them in order to impetration, which he had done
on earth, but that he might further present and
plead the merit of that oblation in order to applica
tion, and the actual giving out the benefits pur
chased and merited thereby, which was to be done
in heaven. Therefore this we readUy grant and
firmly believe. But that our Lord's whole priest
hood doth lie in this, or that he only in this place
and state doth expiate sin, or that his resemblance
herein to the high priest is sufficient, that we utterly
deny. For,
1. The Scripture, as hath been proved, in drawing
the parallel betwixt Christ and the law sacrifices,
doth not instance only in what was done by the high
priest in the Holy of holies, but also in what was
done by the other priests in the temple, and in those
sacrificial acts which were proper to them as well as
to him ; nay,
2. It mainly instances in these ; making the re
semblance chiefly to lie in the mactation and obla
tion of those sacrifices, which was done without;
and therefore it must be Christ's death on the cross,
and not his intercession in heaven, which must be
meant by them.
3. As that which is asserted by our opposers
would utterly destroy all analogy betwixt Christ
and those priests, and the far greatest part of sin-
expiating sacrifices, so it would in truth leave Christ
no sacrifice or oblation at aU ; inasmuch as what he
doth in heaven cannot, in any strictness or propriety
of speaking, come under the notion of an oblation
or sacrifice. There indeed is the presenting, com
memorating, pleading of the sacrifice which he
offered here on earth, but that is all ; he improves

308

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[Chap. XIII.

the sacrifice there upon the throne, but he made it
here upon the cross ; he applies the expiation there,
but he wrought it here.
4. It is true the high priest entered into the
sanctuary and there expiated sin, but it was with
the blood which had been shed and offered without :
some of that blood, before offered upon the priest's
altar, he carried into the Holy of holies, and there
presented it before the Lord, and so made atone
ment. Had he gone in thither without this blood,
and only have shewn himself before God, it would
have signified nothing; what he there did was
grounded upon the virtue of the preceding obla
tion, which was only now in a more solemn manner
represented before the Lord. Just so it is with our
Lord Jesus; he entered into heaven, and there inter
cedes as our high priest to his Father, but the effi
cacy of this his intercession is founded upon his
blood shed when he was here on earth : take away
his oblation here and take away his intercession
there, for it is that which gives the efficacy and pre
valency to this. Therefore he is said ' to enter into
the holy place,' but how 1 why, ' by his own blood,'
Heb. ix. 11 ; he must first shed his blood here upon
earth, and then carry the virtue and merit of it with
him into heaven, and so he may expect to do some
thing which upon his mere appearance in heaven he
could not have done. So that there must be some
thing in Christ's priesthood and 'sacrifice more than
what is proper to him now he is above, in corre
spondency to what was done by the high priest in
his entering into the Holy of holies and there expi
ating sin. I think if all be put together which hath
been spoken upon this account, the truth, which I
contend for, is written as with the beams of the sun
therefore I wUl say no more.
Thus I have finished the first thing propounded
for the clearing of the observation, namely, Christ's
being a sacrifice for sin ; where I have shewn that
he was a sacrifice, what a kind of sacrifice he was,
and when or where he was such a sacrifice. The
second thing propounded to be opened was the
effect or efficacy of this sacrifice, viz., the con
demning of sin: 'And for sin condemned sin in
the flesh.' In this I will be but very brief, because
it falls in with what hath been already insisted
upon.

Here was a strange and wonderful sacrifice, the
most costly one that ever was offered up to God •
therefore surely something that is extraordinary and
great must be effected by it ; and so there was.
What was that ? why, sin was cut off, taken out of
the way, as condemned persons use to be, its guilt
abolished or expiated, wherein you have heard the
condemning of it doth mainly consist. How this is
set forth by such terms as answer to the law sacri
fices, I have already shewn : Heb. i. 3, ' When he
had by himself purged our sins.' 1 John i. 7, 'And
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from
all sin.' Bev. i. 5, 'Unto him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood;' but
there are some other terms by which it is set forth
which have not as yet been mentioned ; as, namely,
the taking away of sin : John i. 29, ' Behold the
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world.' 1 John iii. 5, 'And ye know that he was
manifested to take away our sins,' which taking
away of sin was a thing far above the power of the
Levitical sacrifices. Heb. x. 4, ' For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins.' So also the finishing and making an end of
sin: Dan. ix. 24, ' To finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins : ' where the finishing of trans
gression is not the filUng up of its full measure, of
of which you read Gen. xv. 16; 1 Thes. ii. 16; neither
is it the completing or perfecting of it, as we com
monly take the word, in which respect Christ is said
to be ' the author and finisher of our faith,' Heb. xii.
2, and to finish what he had to do and suffer, John
xvii. 4, and xix. 30 ; but it is as follows, the making
an end of sin, such a finishing as is destructive, not
perfective. By Christ's sacrifice sin was destroyed,
he thereby made an end of it, or sealed it up, as the
word signifies, so as that it should never be seen or
come forth again to the hurt of God's people.
Again, it is set forth by the putting away of sin :
Heb. ix. 26, 'But now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared (il; aBirnm) to put aWaysin by the
sacrifice of himself;' the word is rendered by disan
nulling, Heb. vii. 18, by making void or abrogating,
Mark vii. 9. Set it as high as you will, the rirtue
and efficacy of Christ's sacrifice wiU reach it ; by the
oblation of himself he hath quite disannulled or ab
rogated and put away the guilt of sin. Put all

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

309

together, here is purging, cleansing, washing, taking
away, putting away, finishing, making an end of sin,
all of which are the same with the condemning of
sin in the text ; do not all prove the real expiation of
the sin of believers as the result and issue of the
sacrifice of Christ ?
I having in what goes before said enough for the
opening of the true notion of our Saviour's expiating
of sin, under the present head I have but two things
further to speak unto — the one referring to the na
ture of the act, the other to the extent of the act.
1. As to the nature of the act, know that Christ
hath so expiated sin's guilt as that it shall never be
imputed to the believing sinner, in order to the in
flicting of eternal punishment upon him. This must
be rightly apprehended, or else we shall run our
selves upon great mistakes. When you read of the
expiating, condemning, taking away of sin, (and so
on in the other expressions named but now,) you are
not only to understand them as pointing to the re
moval of sin's guilt, Hi their proper and primary in
tention, but also as holding forth no more about that
removal of guUt than the non-imputation thereof to
punishment. Christ indeed, by the sacrifice of him
self, hath done aU that which I am speaking of ; but
howl Not but that beUevers have yet guilt upon
them ; that that guilt, as considered in itself, makes
them liable to the penalty threatened ; that the formal
intrinsic nature of guilt, viz., obligation to punish
ment, doth yet remain, and is the same in them
which it is in 'others. AU, therefore, which it
amounts unto is only this, that this guUt shall not
be charged upon such, or imputed to them for eter
nal condemnation. Sin is sin in the godly as well
as in the ungodly; thereupon there is guilt upon
them as well as on the other, and upon this guilt
they are equaUy obnoxious to the law's sentence. But
now here comes in the expiation by the obedience,
death, satisfaction of Christ, by which things are
brought to this happy issue, that though this be so,
yet these persons shaU be exempted from wrath and
hell, and the punishment deserved shall not be in
flicted. Thus far we may safely go, but beyond this
we cannot ; we may, for the encouraging of faith,
the heightening of comfort, set this sin-expiatory
act of Christ very high, but we must not set it so
high as to assert contradictions. But these things

wUl be more fully stated when I shall come to the
handling of the main doctrine of justification.
2. For the extent of the act, that must be con
sidered two ways; either as it respects the subject
for which this expiation was wrought, or as it re
spects the object, the thing expiated.
1. As to its extent in reference to the subject.
And so Christ's expiatory sacrifice reaches, (1.) both
to Jew and Gentile ; not to the one or to the other
exclusively, but to both : 1 John ii. 2, ' And he is
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world.' (2.)
To those who lived under the law, as well as to
those who now Hve under the gospel. The for
mer had the benefit of Christ's expiation of sin
as well as the latter : Bom. iii. 25, ' Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood, to declare his righteousness, for the remis
sion of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God' — where by sins past you are to understand
those that were committed under the first testament,
before Christ's coming in flesh. So the apostle
opens it : Heb. ix. 15, ' And for this cause he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of
death, for the redemption of the trangressions that
were under the first testament, they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.'
Nay (3.) there is a sufficiency of virtue and merit in
Christ's sacrifice to expiate the sins of all men in the
world. Yet (4.) in point of efficacy it extends no
further than to true believers. Others may receive
some benefits by a dying Christ; but this of the
full and actual expiation of sin belongs only to those
who have saving faith wrought in them. As this
which I here assert is matter of controversy, I have
no mind to engage in it. As it is practically to be im
proved and enlarged upon, so I shall speak to it
in the use ; therefore at present I will say no more
to it.
2. As to its extent in reference to the object or
the thing expiated, it reaches to all and every sin.
Christ is such a sin-offering as doth take off from
those who believe in him all guilt whatsoever.
By his sacrifice for sin he condemned sin, that
is, all sins whatsoever ; it is indefinitely expressed,
and to be . understood universaUy. Take sin col
lectively in the whole heap or mass of it, or

310

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

take it distributively for this or that particular sin,
all is expiated and done away by Christ's blood.
The expiation is so full and complete that there is
not the guilt of any one sin, little or great, left un-
removed : 1 John i. 7, ' The blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from all sinl Acts xiii. 39,
' And by him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which ye could not be justified by the
law of Moses.'
Whether the Levitical sacrifices did thus univer
sally expiate sin is a controverted point; wherein
the Socinians hold the negative, the orthodox the af
firmative. The former say those sacrifices did free
from the guilt of lesser sins, such as were sins of
ignorance, committed through incogitancy, inadvert
ency, human infirmity ; but for great and grievous
sins, such as were committed against knowledge, or
willingly and wilfully, they did not free from their
guilt. The latter assert and defend the contrary ; 1
and not without very good and weighty reasons ; for
if we look into the annual expiatory sacrifice, we
find that all sins were expiated by it : Lev. xvi. 21,
' Aaron shall lay his hands upon the head of the live
goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the chil
dren of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, &c.
And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities,
unto a land not inhabited/ Ver. 30, ' On that day
shaU the priest make an atonement for you, to
cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sin
before the Lord.' Ver. 34, ' And this shall be an
everlasting statute unto you, to make an atone
ment for the chUdren of Israel for all their sins, once
a year.' And as it was thus in the public sacrifices
for all the people, so also in the private sacrifices for
particular persons. Therefore as you read of the
chataath,2 tbe sin-offeringwhich was appointed for sins.
of ignorance, Lev. iv. 2,xiu., xxii, xxvu. ; so of the
asham, the trespass-offering, which was appointed
for sins committed knowingly and wHIingly, such as
1 Vide Calov. Socin. Proflig., p. 625; Lubert. contra Socin. ;
Hoorneb. Socin. Confut., p. 602 ; Turretin. de Sat. Christi, p!
226; Stegm. Photin., p. 282; Owen against Biddle, p 474
and p. 469. '
2 Of the difference of these two {chataath and asham) much
is written. Fagius makes the one to refer to sing of omission,
the other to sins of commission. -In Lev. iv. 2. Others make
asham to point to sins particularly enumerated, chataath to

were of a more high and heinous nature ; as false
hood in the detaining of what was deposited, lying,
violence, perjury, &c, Lev. vi. 2, 3, &c. Were not
these great and horrid sins ? And yet God appointed
sacrifices for the expiation of them : Num. v. 6, 'When
a man or woman shall commit any sin that men com
mit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person
be guilty, then they shall confess their sin,' &c. The
priest is said, Heb. v. 1, to be ' ordained in things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins.' It is set down without any ex
ception or limitation ; so Heb. vtf. 27. It is true,
which the adversaries make great use of, the apostle
sets it forth by ' the errors of the people :' Heb. ix.
7, ' Into the second went the high priest alone once
every year, not without blood, which he offered for
himself and for the errors of the people.' But then
you must know that by these errors he means not
only smaller sins, but all whatsoever, even such as
were of a very crimson dye. And the Greek word
a-ymr,p,ara, here rendered by errors, with the
Hebrew word scagag, do often point to great and
grievous sins,1 Acts iii. 17, and xiii. 27; 1 Tim. i.
13 ; 2 Pet. ii. 12 ; 1 Sam. xxvi. 21 ; John vi. 24 ; Ps.
cxix. 21. Therefore why should we limit it to sins
of a lower size and stature, especially if we consider
that in that sacrifice, to which the apostle here
plainly refers, the expiation was general of all sins,
as you heard but now out of Lev. xvi. ? And it is
very true too, that for sins which were committed
with a high hand, contumaciously, in open defiance
of God, &c, there he would not admit of a sacrifice
for the expiating of sins so circumstantiated : Num.
xvt 27, &c, ' If any soul sin through ignorance, then
he shall bring a she-goat. And the priest shall make
an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly,
when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to
make an atonement for him, &c. But the soul that
doth aught presumptuously, the same reproacheth the
Lord, and that soul shaU be cut off from among his
people : because he hath despised the word of the
sins in general.— See Dr Owen, Exerc. 24, on the Heb., p. 317;
Dr Stillingfl. against Crellius, p. 474. But the most distin
guish them as one was for sins of ignorance, the other for sins
knowingly and willingly committed.— Vide Petit. Var. Leot.,
lib. ii. cap. 8 ; Saubert. de Sacrif., cap. iii. p. 65.
1 See Franz. Schol. Sacrif., disp. 6, th. 60.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

311

Lord, that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity
shall be upon him.' Heb. x. 26, ' For if we sin
wilfuUy after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment,'
&c. But this doth not weaken the truth of what I
have said, viz., that even great offences were expiated
by sacrifices, because they might be such and yet not
come up to this sinning with a high hand and wil
fully against the Lord, and thereupon might be expi-
able. Were there no sins of a middle nature betwixt
such as were of mere infirmity and such as were
committed perversely and obstinately, out of open
contempt and defiance of God ? Surely there were,
(you have had instances of such ;) and was there no
expiation for such ? The contrary hath been proved.
To clear up this whole matter I would lay down
three things :
1. When we say that the law sacrifices did take
off the guUt of all sins, yea, of great sins, we always
except such as God himself did except ; where he
was pleased to make a Hmitation, there we must do
the same, but not otherwise.
2. It is evident that, as to some sins, God did
make an exception. For the case stood thus : it
pleased the Lord to give excellent laws to the people
of Israel, those laws he backed with a severe penalty,
that penalty was death, which was due upon every
violation of the law.1 It being so, yet out of his
great compassion, he who, being the lawgiver, might
therefore relax and alter his laws and the penalties
annexed to them as seemed good to him, would not
proceed in the utmost rigour, but he would graciously
moderate and mitigate his threatenings. And there
fore though death was incurred by every sin, yet it
shall not accordingly be inflicted, but a substitution
shall be admitted of, the beast shall die, but the
sinner himself shaU Uve. Upon this God appointed
sacrifices, wherein the punishment due to the offen
der should be laid upon the thing sacrificed, and
thereby his sin expiated. Well, but though he will
be so gracious as thus to admit of the expiation of
sin, yet, partly out of respect to his own honour,
and partly out of respect to the Jewish polity, civil
and ecclesiastical, he wiU do this with some kind
of restriction ; that is, he will admit of sacrifices for
1 See Grotius de Sat. Christi, p. 122.

the expiating of some sins, but not of all. The
murderer was to die, and no sacrifice to be accepted
of on his behalf, Num. xxxv. 30-32, with reference
to which some understand that of David, Ps. li. 16,
'Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it,'
&c. ; so the adulterer, Lev. xx. 10, the idolater, and
so in several other cases. Here now was a limita
tion set by God himself, and therefore here could
be no expiation, in the external and ordinary way.
Indeed upon repentance there might be the doing
away of the, moral guUt, which made the offender
liable to God and to eternal death; but as to
pohtical guilt, which made the offender liable to
temporal death, that, if public and known, could
not by sacrifices be taken off. When therefore you
hear so much spoken of the virtue and efficacy of
the old sacrifices as expiatory, you must always
understand it according to this stating of it.
3. Those sacrifices may be considered absolutely
or relatively. Absolutely and in themselves, and so
their expiation reached only to some sins, and to
the removal of some guilt, viz., that which was
ritual and ceremonial. Belatively with respect to
Christ, who was typified by them, and so by virtue
of his great sacrifice to come, which they prefigured ;
to persons duly qualified their expiation was general
of all sins and of all guilt — I mean of all moral
guilt before God, though not of all political guilt
before men.
But though there be this difficulty as to the type,
as to the antitype there is none. By Christ's offer
ing up of himself to be sure all sins are expiated,
even the greatest are washed away by his blood ;
none can stand before his infinite merit and satis
faction. Former sacrifices were weak, but Christ the
grand sacrifice he is strong, 'able to save to the
utmost aU that come to God through him,' Heb. vU.
25. He is not only a sin-offering to remove the
guilt of lesser sins, but a trespass-offering to remove
the guilt of the greatest sins ; therefore as he is set
forth by the former in the text, so by the latter in
Isa. liii. 10. Where final impenitency and unbeUef
do not hinder, the death of Christ is sufficient to
acquit from all guilt; by it all who perform the
gospel-conditions have a full and universal dis
charge. I have now gone through the several things neces-

312

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[Chap. XIII.

sary to be spoken unto for the explaining and con
firming of the point ; the use follows.
Use 1. Was Christ a sacrifice for sin? and did he
thereby condemn sin ? I shaU from hence infer
something, (1.) By way of information ; (2.) Of ex
hortation ; (3.) Of consolation.
First for information; and so this great truth
may be useful in the informing of our judgments in
sundry particulars. As,
1. We learn from it the truth of Christ's satisfac
tion. Here, amongst many others, is a very con
siderable argument to prove that Christ did reaUy
satisfy God's justice for man's sin ; which therefore
all who write upon, and for the verity of his satis
faction, do in special insist upon, with great evi
dence and advantage to the cause which they defend.
And indeed it carries such light and conviction in
it, as that the grand opposer of this satisfaction was
more troubled to get off from it than from any other
argument whatsoever ; for when he came to answer
Covetus's arguing for it from the legal sacrifices as
prefiguring Christ, he was forced to say, &c, in quo
major vis esse videtur,1 in which (head of testimonies)
there seems to be greater strength than in any
of the former. And the annual great expiation
being urged, as to that he saith, difficilis sane nodus
solvendus restat,2 one hard knot remains to be untied •
it was a hard knot indeed, which he might endea
vour to loose, but could not. The word satisfaction,
it is very true, we have not ^ru;, expressly, in so
many letters and syllables in the whole Bible, but
the thing we have ; yea, as to that the Scripture is
so copious and fuU that it is not in any one other
thing more copious and full. But suppose we had
there the word as well as the thing, what would
that signify to those with whom I have now to do ?
when Socinus is so bold as to say, For my part,
although I should find that, meaning Christ's satis
faction, asserted in Scripture, not once but often,
yet I should not therefore beHeve the thing to be as
dissenters do hold;3 wherein he comes but little
short of what his friend Smalcius dared to speak
1 Socin. de Servat., p. ii. cap. 9.
s Ibid., cap. 12.
3 De Servat., p. iii. cap. 6. Ego quidem etiamsi non semel,
tied ssepe id in sacris monumentis scriptum extaret, non idcirco'
tamen ita rem prorsus se habere crederem, ut vos opinamini.

concerning the incarnation of the Son of God, of
which you had an account before.
It is not for me here to launch out into that vast
controversy of Christ's satisfaction, in the opening,
stating, proving, defending of which so many volumes
have been written ; I must confine myself to that
one thing which lies before me. And there is
enough in it to stablish you in the belief of what
we contend for ; for was Christ, truly and properly,
a sacrifice for sin ? Were our sins the meritorious
cause of his sufferings? Did he put himself into
the sinner's stead, taking his guilt upon him, and
undergoing that punishment which he should have
undergone? Did he die, shed his blood, that he
might thereby atone God and expiate sin, all of
which have been proved out of the unerring word ?
And doth not all this amount to a demonstration of
the truth of Christ's satisfying the justice of God
for sin ? Do we mean anything by his satisfaction
but these things ? And are not they clear enough
from scripture light? The truth is, all the other
arguments brought for the proof of Christ's satisfac
tion — I say all of them do either run into or faU
under this one, of his being a sacrifice for sin. If
God would pardon sin, be appeased towards the
creature, &c, absolutely and without the interven
tion of any satisfaction, why did he appoint sacri
fices under the law 1 Why must so many creatures
die? Why must so much blood be spilt? Quorsum
perditio luec ? He whose tender mercies are over all
his works, Ps. cxiv. 9, who hath pity and goodness
for all that he hath made, would he unnecessarily,
or merely to shew his absolute dominion, have
ordered so many creatures to be killed, slaughtered,
destroyed from day to day ? Why did he so peremp
torily stand upon this, that ' without shedding of
blood there should be no remission ' ? Heb. ix. 22.
But I go higher, if God had not required satisfac
tion, why must Christ himself be made a sacrifice
for sin I1 Why must he take flesh, and then die in
that flesh ? Why must his precious blood be poured
1 Si non fuisset peccatum, non necesse fuerat Filium Dei
agnum fieri, nee opus fuerat eum in carne positum jugulari,
sed mansisset hoc quod erat in principio, Deus verbum.
Verum quoniam introiit peccatum in mundum, peccati autem
necessitas propitiationem requirit, et propitiatio non sit nisi
per hostiam, necessarium fuit provider! hostiam pro peccato.-'
Orig in Num., Hom, 4.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

313

out ? Why must he feel the wrath of his Father t
be under a necessity of suffering, and of such suffer
ing too? Was there not a cause for this? Yes,
surely. And what could that be but satisfaction?
God had great and weighty reasons which made him
to insist upon this, so as that he would in this, and
hi no other way, let out his love and mercy to
shiners. For instance, he must vindicate his truth,
make good his threatenings, maintain his own
honour, as also the honour of his laws, make known
his holiness, let the world see what sin was, what
an extreme hatred he had to it, keep up and assert
his rectoral righteousness, &c. ; for though, as pars
offensa and creditor, he might have done what he
pleased, yet, as rector mundi, he must do that which
shaU speak him to be just and righteous in his
government.1 Now were not these great and weighty
reasons for God to do what he did, and could these
high ends have been attained without satisfaction?
AU his attributes were equally dear to him, and
thereupon shaU aU be advanced alike ; He was not
for the advancing of mercy only, but of justice also ;
1 and therefore he wiU so carry it in his dealings with
man as that He may glorify the one as well as the
other, li he justify the sinner, wherem he displays
so much of mercy, he wtfl do it in such a way as
that he may display his justice too ; wherefore
Christ must be a sacrifice, first, to expiate sin by
bis blood, and then God wtfl not charge it upon the
sinner : Bom, Hi. 25, 26, ' Whom God Hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past,' &c. ; he goes over it' again, ' To de
clare, I say, at this time his righteousness ;' wherem
.or for what end ? ' that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' What
could the apostle have spoken fuUer and plainer to
determine the business in hand? How can the
deniers of Christ's satisfaction, and of the necessity
thereof, stand before the light, of this scripture?
Propitiation must be made by blood, by the blood
of Christ, that thereby God might declare his right
eousness; that he might be just, not so much in
himself and in the general, as in this special act of
the justifying of a sinner. Had we no other text in
1 Vide Hulsium in Theol. 3ud., p. 473; Grot, de Sat.,
cap. 2.

all the sacred records but this one, methinks it
should be enough to silence and convince gainsayers;
it is a bulwark for faith, which will stand firm in
spite of all the Httle batteries that men can make
against it. But the truth of Christ's satisfying
divine justice will yet more fully appear from
what follows in the next head, therefore I go on to
that. 2. Secondly, This may help us to right notions con
cerning the nature and ends of Christ's death. For
tf it be asked, How or in what manner he died ? we
see he died as a sacrifice ; if it be further asked,
Wherefore did he die, or what were the main ends
of his dying ? I answer, He died chiefly for such ends
as are most proper to sacrifices. If God's own Son
die, undoubtedly there must be something special in
his death, and some great ends must be designed to
be promoted thereby — ' died Abner as a fool dieth ? '
2 Sam. iii. 33— but what were they? Ans. Such
as may best comport and suit with the common ends
of all sacrifices, especially of those by which he was
more directly typified, and therefore the pacifying of
an angry God, the purifying of a guilty sinner, being
the principal ends in the death of the typical sacri
fices, as you have heard, answerably these must also
be the principal ends' of the death of Christ, the real
sacrifice. The Socinians, in this matter, run into two dan
gerous errors : (1.) They make that in Christ's death
to be supreme and principal which was indeed but
subordinate ; nay (2.) They make that which was
but subordinate to be the sole thing therein, altoge
ther excluding and denying what was supreme and
principal. Now this one thing which I am upon,
viz., Christ's being and dying as a sacrifice, in cor
respondency with the ends of the Levitical sacrifices,
was it rightly understood and firmly believed, would
be a sufficient confutation of, and antidote against,
their pernicious tenets. For do they say that the
main end of the death of Christ was to turn men
from sin ? The contrary appears, because that was
not the main end in the law sacrifices. Or do they
say that Christ died only for our good ? It was not
so, because that doth not agree with the law sacrifices,
which were offered not only for the sinner's good,
but in the sinner's stead. Or do they say that he
died only as a witness of the truth, as an example ?

314

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.'

&c. It was not so neither, because it shuts out that
which was the principal intendment of the law sac
rifices. But besides this there are some other things of
considerable strength, which, that we may the better
take in, we must more particularly inquire into those
causes or ends of Christ's death which they assign ;
that by the removal of false causes and ends — I mean
in their exclusive sense — the true ones may the bet
ter appear.1
They say, therefore, (1.) Christ died for this end,
that he might bear witness to the truth, confirm the
evangehcal doctrine, and give assurance to the world
of the verity of what he had taught. To which we re
ply, The question is not whether these were true and
proper ends — that we readily grant — but whether
they were the principal, much more the sole ends of
Christ's death — that we utterly deny. And our
denial is grounded upon these reasons.
1. All along in Scripture the confirmation of the
doctrine of the gospel is laid upon Christ's works
and miracles," not upon his death, read Acts U. 22 ;
John x. 25, et passim. And he, having by these
given a sufficient proof or evidence of the truth of
what he had taught, it cannot be imagined that he
died only or chiefly for this, that by his death he
might give a further proof or evidence thereof. Be
sides, if this was the main thing designed and
effected thereby, then, in the remission of sin, recon
ciliation with God, &c, we should owe as much to
Christ's miracles as to his death; than which nothing
can be more repugnant to the whole tenor of the
word. 2. This would take away the peculiarity or speci-
ahty of Christ's death. Fpr tf there was nothing in
it more than bearing witness to the truth, or confir
mation of the gospel doctrine, then all the apostles
and martyrs who ever died did the same, inasmuch
as they by dying bore witness also to the truth, and
confirmed the gospel doctrine. Then, as he saith to
us, Mat. v. 47, ' What do ye more than others ? ' we
1 Socin. de Serv., p. i. cap. 3, &c, et de Officio Christi ;
Crellius de Caus. Mortis Christi, with all the rest. Against
them see Grot, de Sat., p. 26, &c. ; Franz, de Sacrif., p. 400,
&c. , and 606, &c. ; Hoornb. Socin. Conf., lib. iii. p. 492, &c. •
Portua contra Ostorod., p. 447, &c. ; Turret., p. vii. p. 247
&c, ; Dr Stillingfl. discourse concerning the true reasons of the
sufferings of Christ, with many others.

may say the same to him, What, blessed Jesus, dost
thou more than others ? And would not this be a
fine question ? Certainly the death of the mediator
and the death of the martyr are two different things,
not only quoad gradum, but quoad speciem ; but if it
was as this sort of men would have it, there might be
a gradual difference betwixt them, but nothing more.
Must Christ's dying for us amount only to his dying
as a martyr for the truth ? Here is the p,aerv£M, but
where is the Xvrgbv ? Paul laid down his hfe upon
this account, and yet saith he, ' Was Paul crucified
for you?' 1 Cor. i. 13.
3. Nay, thirdly, If Christ had died only upon this
ground and for this end, then several of the martyrs
had gone beyond him. How readily and cheerfully
did many of them die ! How desirous were they of
laying down their lives for the gospel ! They did
not fear death ; all thetf fear was that God would
not so far honour them as to call them out to suffer
it for his sake. And when they came to die, what
abundance of inward peace and comfort had they 1
how were their souls brimful of heavenly consolation !
They had as much thereof as ever heart could hold;
so much that all their outward torments were nothing
to them. But was it thus with Christ ? True, he
was very ready and willing to die, yet there was a
time when he prayed, again and again, that the cup
might pass from him : ' Father, tf it be possible, let
this cup pass from me,' Mat. xxvi. 39, 42, 44; and he
had an innocent, sinless fear of death, for he ' was
heard in what he feared,' Heb. v. 7. And had he
such raptures and ecstasies of joy at his death as
several .of the martyrs had ? Oh no ! His soul was
' exceeding sorrowful; ' he was under bitter agonies
and conflicts, had great terrors in his spirit, &c,
Mat. xxvi. 38; Luke xxH. 44. Now, had he
died only as they did, merely to have borne his testi
mony to the truth, and for the confirmation of the
doctrine of tbe gospel, would it have been thus?
What ! saints so full of joy, and God's own Son so
full of sorrow ? Saints in their sufferings to have
such a mighty presence of God with them, and God's
own Son to cry out, ' My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? ' Surely there must be something
special and extraordinary in his death above thehs.
And so there was, for he had the guUt of aU believers
upon him, lay under the wrath of God, bare the

Chap. XIII.]

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315

punishment due to sinners, was under the curse of
the law, &c. These were the sad ingredients in his
death which put such a bitterness into it. Had there
been nothing more in it than bare martyrdom, or
what is proper to that, how would he have been said
to be 'a curse for us '? Gal. iii. 13 ; what singular
thing would there have been in his being ' obedient
to death, even the death of the cross ' ? Phil. iii. 8.
2. Secondly, It is said Christ died for this end,
that be might set before men an example of obedience,
patience, submission to God's will, zeal, and the like. -
I answer, that this was one end is very true, but
that this was the only end is very false. Christ did
not design his death to be only exemplary to us, but
that it should also be satisfactory to God. He had
in his eye the expiation of our sin, as well as our
imitation of his example. ' Christ,' saith the apostle,
' also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we
should foUow his steps,' 1 Pet. H. 21. But was that
ah? No. Ver. 24, ' Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree.' Here was substitution
in our stead, susception' of our guUt, as weU as the
propounding of an example. If Christ should further
the happiness of sinners only in this exemplary way,
what then would become of the fathers, and of all
those who Uved before he came and died in the flesh,
who therefore could reap no benefit by his example ?
And- this would make the effects of his death to
terminate whoUy in us, and not at all to reach to
God ; whereas he is ' a priest in things pertaining to
God,' Heb. U. 17.
3. They say Christ died for this end, that by his
death he might strengthen and encourage faith, and
thereby raise up men to the assurance of the remis
sion of sin, freedom from eternal death, the posses
sion of eternal Ufe, &c. Ans. We grant that faith
receives eminent support and encouragement from
this, that it gives the highest satisfaction that is pos
sible as to the certainty of gospel blessings; yet this
must not be looked upon as the primary, much less
as the only end of Christ's death. For (1.) The bless
ing must be procured before there can be any assur
ance of it ; the thing must be supposed to be before
persons can be sure of it. Now how was that brought
about but by the death of Christ ? and if so, then the
only end thereof was not assurance; but there must be
another antecedent end, viz., the purchasing or effect

ing of the thing which was to be the matter of that
assurance ; and by that the Scripture mainly repre
sents Christ's death: Mat. xxvi. 28, 'This is my
blood. of the New Testament, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins.' Mark it, it was shed for
the procuring of this great blessing, not for the assur
ing persons of it. (2.) This assurance is as much, if
not more, the effect of Christ's resurrection as of his
death. Indeed for him to die, that contributes very
much, but it is his dying and rising again that hath
the greatest influence upon it: 1 Pet. i. 3, 'Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which,
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope ; ' by what ? ' by the resur
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' As to pur
chase and impetration we owe more to Christ's death
than to his resurrection; but as to assurance and
subjective certainty, we owe more to his resurrec
tion than to his death ; therefore the apostle brings
this in with a rather : Bom. viii. 34, ' It is Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again.' He is
said to be ' delivered for our offences, and to be
raised again for our justification,' Bom. iv. 25.
The sinner's justification was merited by his death,
but it was manifested by his resurrection ; thence,
therefore, faith in its being assured of that privilege,
must fetch its main encouragement ; so that this
cannot be the only thing aimed at in his death, since
it more properly belongs to another head. (3.) The
Old Testament" saints were high in their assurance,
and yet they lived before the death of Christ. (4.)
His death, simply considered, gives no such encour
agement to faith, or ground of assurance. Consider
it, indeed, as we state it, that is, as he died in our
stead, to satisfy God's justice, appease his Father's
wrath, expiate our sin, &c, and so it is highly
strengthening to faith ; but tf you take it in itself,
and as our adversaries state it, so there is but little
in it for faith's advantage. What inducement or
encouragement would this be to sinners to believe,
to set before them the death of Christ, unless those
ends and considerations about it be taken in which
our antagonists oppose ? Without which it would
rather draw out men's fear than their faith, rather
drive them from God than to God ; for so more of
his justice and severity would therein appear to
deter them, than of his mercy to allure and en-

316

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIU

Courage them. Oh, did God deal so with his own
Son, who too was innocent and blameless ? what,
then, will he do to such vile, wretched, guilty
creatures as we are? Must Christ so die? would
not God spare him in the least? what, then, wUl
become of such as we ? Upon the whole matter, the
Socinians say Christ's death was not at all intended
to be satisfactory to God. I am sure, according to
their stating of it, it is not at all consolatory to sinners.
4. They say Christ died for this end, that he
might have a right and power after his death, when
he should be in heaven, to forgive sin. Ans. Whilst
he was here on earth, before his death, he had that
right or power, therefore that could not be any end
thereof : Mat. ix. 2, ' Son, be of good cheer ; thy
sins be forgiven thee ; ' and when some murmured
at this, see how he stood upon the asserting of it :
ver. 6, ' That ye may know that the Son of man
hath power on earth to forgive sins,' &c.
5. It is said Christ died for this end, that he
might procure for himself such and such power,
dignity, and glory. But to this we say, it was so
far from being the main end, that it was indeed no
end at all ; it being but the consequent, not the end
of his death. See Phil. ii. 8, 9.
These defective causes and ends being removed,
it remains that I set down those which were the
chief and principal. And they were such as these :
Christ died to be a sacrifice for sin, Heb. ix. 26, and
x. 12 ; a ransom, 1 Tim. H. 6 ; Mat. xx. 28 ; a pro
pitiation, 1 John ii. 2 ; to reconcile God to us, and
us to God, Bom. v. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 19 ; Eph. ii. 13, 14 ;
Col. i. 20, &c. ; to dehver us from the curse of the
law by his being made a curse for us, Gal. iii. 13 ;
to save from wrath to come, 2 Thes. i. 10 ; to justify
and make righteous, 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Bom. v. 9 ; to
procure remission of sin by his blood, 1 John i. 7 ;
Eph. i. 7 ; Mat. xxvi. 28 ; to overcome death by
death, Heb. ii. 14 ; to purchase eternal life, John vi.
51 ; Heb. ix. 12. As he died in our place and stead,
taking our guUt and bearing our punishment, so he
died for these ends, that he might restore us to
God's love and favour, and expiate aU our sins by
his making satisfaction for them. These were not
only ends, but the supreme and primary ends of his
death. I do not exclude the former, provided '
that, (1.) They be taken in conjunction with these;

nay (2.) In subordination to them. Christ in his
dying might intend this and that, as his bearing
witness, &c, but his main and principal intendments
were satisfaction, reconciliation, forgiveness of sin,
&c. ; in the revealing of which the Holy Scriptures
are so express and plain that to me it is very
strange that any opposition, much more that so
vehement opposition, should be made against it.
Good Lord ! how are opposers fain to strain then
wit, to summon in all thetf invention and subtlety,
for the finding out of some forced and pitiful inter
pretations of the texts aUeged, thereby to evade the
true sense and meaning of them ! how do they set "
these scriptures, and themselves too, upon the rack,
that they may seem to reconcUe them with their
hypotheses ! but all in vain, as is abundantly proved.
3. Thirdly, From hence I infer the vanity and
falsehood of all human satisfactions. Was the Lord
Jesus himself a sacrifice for sin ? and did he there
by condemn, abolish, expiate aU sin for his members ?
Then what needs to be done, or can be done, further
by any creatures in the way of satisfaction ? ' What
can the man do that cometh after the king?' Eccles.
ii. 12. I cannot but take notice, how whoever will
engage in these weighty points he must tread upon
thorns and briers every step he takes ; no sooner
shall he have got off from one enemy, but there wiU
be some other at hand with whom he must encoun
ter also. I find it, I am sure, to be so ; for no sooner
have I quit myself of the Socinians, but the papists,
in a full body, make head against me. The former
would wholly take away Christ's satisfaction, the latter
would add man's to it ; the one denies the verity, the
other the perfection of it. For they teU us, it is very
true that Christ did fully satisfy the justice of God
by his being a sacrifice for sin, and fully expiate the
sms of believers, in respect of their guilt and of the
eternal punishment due thereupon ; but not in re
spect of temporal punishments : these, they say, they
are yet liable unto, notwithstanding aU that Christ
hath done and suffered, and that, too, not only in
the present, but for some time in the future state ;
for the preventing or removing of which, satisfaction
must be made to God, either by themselves or by
others. This is the Eomish doctrine ; in which, so
far as I have gone, we have falsities enough, but
should we go farther to their particular explication

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

317

and stating of the latter branch — men's satisfying
by themselves or by others — what a mass and heap
of ungrounded, unscriptural, absurd opinions should
we there meet with : for there come in their pe
nances, fastings, pilgrimages, corporal punishments,
voluntary poverty, masses and prayers for them who
are in purgatory, indulgences, &c. Oh what a big-
bellied error is this of human satisfactions ! What
a numerous train of falsities is it attended with !
Contrary to this we hold that Christ, by the once
offering up of himself to God, did so fully free from
all guUt and from aU punishment too whatsoever, as
that there is no need of any satisfaction at aU to be
added to his.1
The truth of ours, the falsehood of their opinion,
might very largely be made out from these following
considerations :
1. In the Jewish sacrifices, with which our Lord's
doth correspond, there was no satisfaction or com
pensation, but only what was in and by the sacrifices
themselves. Indeed in them God ordered, in case
any private person had been injured, that satisfaction
should be made to him by the sacrificer, Lev. vi. 5 ;
but otherwise, as to the expiation of all guilt before
God, and exemption from all punishment, the sacri
fices themselves — their absolute and relative notion
too being taken in — were sufficient. Bespect being
had to Christ, and moral conditions being performed,
they alone did acquit from guilt and from eternal
punishment, and they too of themselves did acquit
from temporal punishment, without the intervention
of any other satisfaction.2 If the guilty person did
offer up his sacrifice, that was judged enough to free
him from aU the penalties which otherwise he was
obnoxious unto. And shall more be done by the
type than by the antitype ? must they not agree in
' this as weU as in other things ?
2. AU punishment, in order to satisfaction, is in
consistent with the nature and tenor of the remis
sion of sin. This gracious act is set forth by ' blot
ting out ' of sin, Isa. xlHi. 25 ; by ' covering ' it, Ps.
xxxii. 1 ; 'not imputing ' it, Bom. iv. 8 ; ' not re-
1 See the thirty-first article of our church.
2 Dominus qui exactissime omnes expiandi ritus per Mosem
exBequitur, nuspiam tamen hanc aut illam satisfaciendi ratio-
nem constituit, sed totam in Bacrificiis compensationem re-
quirit.— Turret, de Sat., p. 329.

membering ' it, Isa. xlHi. 25 ; ' casting it into the
depths of the sea,' Micah vii. 19. It goes so high in
its degree as that God promises upon the sinner's
repentance his sin should not be so much as men
tioned, Ezek. xviii. 22 ; if it should be sought for it
should not be found, Jer. 1. 20 ; and it is so universal
in its extent, that where one sin is pardoned every
sin is pardoned, Isa. xxxviii. 17 ; Micah vii. 19 ; Col.
ii. 13. Now how is punition reconcilable with this?
For God to do all this, and yet to punish in a vin
dictive way, or in order to satisfaction, — for I only
speak of punishment in that notion, — is a contra
diction. I know what our adversaries say, that in
remission God acquits from the guilt, but not from
the temporal punishment. I reply, this is their irpu-
rov ¦^nuhoi, that rotten foundation upon which thetf
whole superstructure is built. I am not afraid, not
withstanding the decree and anathema of the Coun
cil of Trent,1 to aver it to be an utter falsehood ; for
if the guilt be done away, as they affirm, what room
is there then for punishment ? that being the ground
of this, if it be removed, this must be removed also.
Pray let me ask, a person by pardoning grace being
made guiltless, whence should the punishment of
this person arise ? That common maxim which our
writers so much insist upon, viz., Sublata culpa tolli-
tur poena, is of most unquestionable truth, and backed
with the concurrent suffrages 'of the ancients. The
guilt being taken away, the punishment is taken
away also, saith Tertullian ;2 and where there is par
don there is no punishment, saith Chrysostom. 3 And
indeed to affirm the contrary is to make the remis
sion of sin little better than a ludicrous thing ; it
Would then be as if the creditor should say to his
debtor, I freely forgive thee all thou owest me, only
I must throw thee into prison, there to lie all thy
days ; or as if the judge should say to the offender,
I acquit thee from all thy crimes, only thou must die
for them : just so it would be here, if God should re
mit the fault and yet exact the punishment. I do not
deny but that He may lay many evils even upon par
doned persons, but then I deny them to be, properly
1 Sess. iv. cap. 8, can. 13.
2 Exempto reatu eximitur et poena.— Tertul. de Bapt.,
cap. 5. .„
3 "Oirov o-vyx<!>PV"-h "iS-qpia KbXaas.— Chrysost., Hom. vm.
ad Rom.

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[Chap. XIII,

and strictly, punishments ; for the matter of them
they may be so, but formally they are not so ; chas
tisements they are, but not punishments ; medicinal,
but not penal ; they do not come from God's vindic
tive wrath, nor doth he design them for the satisfac
tion of his justice, but they proceed from other
causes, and are designed for other ends ; 1 as, namely,
to quicken them to repentance, to make them more
Sensible of the evil of sin, to refine them more from
their dross, to heighten their graces, to draw out
their patience, to make themselves and others to
fear, &c. For God thus to afflict or correct is very
well consistent with pardoning grace ; but to punish,
under any notion of satisfaction, save only that of
Christ's, is not. In different respects we may and
do both affirm and deny punishment to be incident
to God's people ; for when we have to do with the
Antinomian, in such a sense we affirm it ; but when
with the papists, who would have it to be satisfac
tory to divine justice, we utterly deny tf.
3. Thirdly, Human satisfactions are but mere
human inventions, groundless, unnecessary, because
Christ himself hath made satisfaction, yea, full and
plenary • satisfaction ; his expiatory sacrifice being
complete and perfect, why should anything be added
to it ? Heb. x. 10, ' By the which wUl we are sancti
fied, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all :' ver. 14, 'For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified;' for by
that he procured remission of sins. ' Now,' saith the
apostle, ver. 18, 'where remission of these is, there
is no more offering for sin,' that is, no need of any
further expiatory sacrifice. Hath the Lord Jesus,
by the sacrifice of himself, satisfied or not ? If he
hath, for that our opposers dare not deny, then I
argue, Shall he satisfy and the sinner too ? will God
have the debt twice paid ? shall the surety pay it
arid the debtor too ? This double satisfaction would
1 Ad demonstrationem debitse miserise, vel ad emendatio-
nem labilis vitse, vel ad exercitationem necessarise patientise
temporaliter hominem detinet poena, etiam quern jam ad dam-
nationem sempiternam reum non detinet culpa.  Aug. tr.
postr. in Joh. Poense ante remissionem peccatorum sunt sup-
plicia peccatorum, post remissionem sunt certamina, exercita-
tionesque justorum.— Id., lib. ii. De Peccat. Mer. et Rem., cap.
34. T&ovBea-tas paXXov -fj KaraSk-qs rb yivbpevov, larpetas -fj
i-ipuplas, SiopBtio-eus f/ KoXdaews. — Chrysost., Hom. xli in
Mat.

impeach both the justice and also the grace of
God.1 I ask further, hath Christ fully satisfied, or
not ? if he hath, for this is not denied neither, then
I ask, what need is there of any additional or supple
mental satisfaction? If he hath paid the utmost
farthing, what hath the creature then left to pay '
but only duty, love, thankfulness ? &c. The papists
speak very high concerning this satisfaction of our
Saviour, for they say it is not only sufficient and
full, but redundant and overflowing ; they talk of a
nnpisaivy,a, a superfluity or pleonasm and overplus
there is enough in it and to spare ; and this overplus
they make to be the matter of that treasure which
is deposited in the church's hands, out of which the
pope fetches his indulgences. That speech of Cle
ment the Sixth is famous, One drop of Christ's
blood was sufficient for the redemption of aU man
kind ; as tf all the rest might have been spared,
which in effect speaks the Father to be too profuse
and prodigal of his Son's blood. But notwith
standing all these high words, they are not con
tented with Christ's satisfaction alone, but there
must be some assumenta, some of their own satisfac
tions to piece with it. We do not greatly-fancy
such high expressions, yet as to the thing we go
higher than they; for we fully acquiesce in our
Lord's most perfect satisfaction, without adding
anything, under the notion of satisfaction, thereunto.
All that they say is this, Christ hath fully satisfied
with respect to guUt and to eternal condemnation,
but not with respect to temporal punishments. Ans.
The vanity and unsoundness of this distinction hath
been already refuted ; all punishment resulting from
guilt, if there be a full expiation of that, the punish
ment ceases, let the kind of it be what it will. But
where do we find in the word any such restriction
or Hmitation, that Christ satisfied for eternal, not for
temporal punishments ? did he not bear the one as
well as the other? Isa. Uii. 4, ' Surely he hath borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows,' &c. ; and did he
not take off from the sinner whatever he bare in his
own person, so far as satisfaction is concerned? As
to that question of Bellarmine, If Christ hath satis
fied for our whole guilt and punishment, why after
1 Non patitur justitia Dei ut duas exigat satisfactiones
propter unum debitum, cum una ei abundantissime est satis-
factum.— Thes. Sedan., vol. ii. p. 357.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

319

the remission of the guilt do we suffer so many
evils ? a It hath been already answered, they are but
chastisements, not punishments ; corrections to us,
not satisfactions to God.
4. Take one thing further. To satisfy an offended
God is Christ's peculiar, an act wherein no creature
must share with him. Human satisfactions do not
only derogate from the perfection of his satisfaction,
in which the strength of the former head did lie, but
they also intrench upon the confinement of it to him
self; it is for man to sin, but it is only for the Son
of God to satisfy ; this carries glory in it, wherein
there must be no partner or co-rival with Christ :
Heb. i. 3, ' When he had by himself purged our sins ;'
mark that by himself, he and he alone could do such a
thing as this. What can creatures do in God-satis
fying work ? can they do anything for themselves
that shaU amount to a compensation for faults com
mitted ? it is not satisfaction unless it be the pay
ment of the whole debt, but, alas ! they cannot pay so
much as a farthing ; they who when they have done
and suffered aU they can must say they are unprofit
able, Luke xvH. 10, are very unfit persons to com
pensate injuries done to God. And tf they cannot
satisfy for themselves, much less can they do tf for
others,2 as he that cannot pay his own debts is very
unfit to pay the debts of others. The wise virgins
had but just oU enough for their own lamps ; they
could spare none for the supply of the foolish
virgins, Mat. xxv. 8, 9. There is a great difference
betwixt suffering for the good of others, and satis
fying for the fault of others ; a Paul may do the
former, 2 Tim. H. 10 ; Col. i. 24, a Christ only can
do the latter.
Obj. But Christ satisfied that the saints might
satisfy.3 Ans. We desire a Scripture proof of that ;
"otherwise our negation is as authentic as their
affirmation. Obj. But Christ's satisfaction is applied by the
saints' satisfactions. Ans. We find no means of
'applying his satisfaction, but only the word and
1 De Purgat., lib. i. cap. 10 : Si Christus satisfecit pro omni
culpa et poena, cur adhuc tarn multa mala patimur ?
2 "Os oiSi irepl t&v ISloiv dp.apr-qpdToiv bios ivTW ii-lXao-pp,
Sovvcu ra Beta, ttws loxicret tovto iirip iripov irpd^at. — Basil, in
Rs. xlviii.
3 Bellarm. de Poen., lib. iv. cap. 15.

sacraments without, and the Spirit working faith
and repentance within. i
Obj. But we, say they, make the saints only sub
ordinate, not co-ordinate agents with Christ, in the
matter of satisfaction. Ans. 1. Even that is too
much. 2. They go higher ; for their great writers
maintain,1 that the saints apart, by and of them
selves, without being beholden to Christ's merit or
satisfaction, may as to temporal punishments make
full satisfaction. These are but very weak preten
sions to build an opinion upon, which doth so much
intrench upon the glory of Christ's person, and the
perfection of his sacrifice. There is but one argu
ment for human satisfactions which is considerable,
and that is that vast profit, those large incomes and
revenues, which this brings in to the dispensers of
them ; and this I confess I cannot answer. Were
but these taken away, I assure myself this contro
versy would soon be at an end ; it is the satisfying
of corrupt men in thetf pride, avarice, filthy lucre,
rather than the satisfying of a punishing God, that
is at the bottom of these disputes. I look upon this
point, with its appurtenances, to have as much of the
core and venom of popery in it as any one point
whatsoever ; therefore I could not omit to speak a
little about it. But for those who desire to look
further into it, to see the things which I have
but touched upon fully made out and vindicated,
the arguments to the contrary answered, they may
peruse the authors cited in the margin.2
4. Fourthly, Hence ariseth matter of information
concerning the true nature and ends of the sacra
ment of the Lord's supper. When I have spoken
something to this, I hope I shall be off of all briers.
The difference betwixt papists and protestants was
not so great about the foregoing head, but it is every
way as great about this. They hold,3 that in the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, (or mass, as they are
pleased to- call it,) under the elements of bread and
1 Amongst others see Vasquez in iii. part ; Thom., qu. 94,
art. 2 and 3.
2 Dallseus de Pcenis et Sat. ; Sudeel Adversus Humanas Satis-
factiones; Rivet. Sum. Controv., tract 3, qu. 12 and 13; Thes.
Salmur., p. ii. p. 61, &c. ; Thes. Sedan., vol. i. p. 594, &c. ;
Chamier, t. iii. lib. xxiii. ; Chemnit. Exam., lib. ii. sess. 4,
cap. 8; Calvin. Inst., lib._ iii. cap. 4; Turretin. de Satisf., Disp.
11, p. 305, &c.
3 Concil. Trident., sess. 22, cap. 1, &c.

320

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap, XIII.

wine, as broken and poured out, the body and blood
of Christ are offered up to God as a true and proper
propitiatory sacrifice, and that too not only for the
Uving, but also for the dead. The other hold that
the sacrament neither is, nor ever was, designed to
be a propitiatory sacrifice, but only a commemora
tion and appHcation of that one and only sacrifice
which the Lord Jesus, when he died upon the cross,
offered up to God.1 Now which of them in these
different opinions have truth on thetf side, it is our
present work to inquire after.
In order to which I have two things to do : (1.)
To shew what the sacrament is not ; (2.) To shew
what it is.
For the first, it is not a sacrifice, I mean it is not
a propitiatory sacrifice, as if there was any proper
oblation of Christ's body and blood in it (further
than what is done in a symbolical and sacramental
manner) for propitiation and expiation. There is
in it indeed, in a sacramental way, that body and
blood which was really offered up to God upon the
cross, but not as so offered up in this ordinance. I
say it is not a sacrifice ; for it is a sacrament, there
fore not a sacrifice. These tWo carry a great differ
ence in them : there is giving in the one, receiving
in the other ; in the one we offer to God, in the
other God offers to us.2 Accordingly with respect
to Christ ; as a sacrifice he was offered for us, in
the sacrament he is offered to us, which are two
things of such different notions as must needs be the
ground of an inconsistency betwixt them ; for can
he at the same time be offered for us and to us too ?
If the Lord's supper be a sacrifice, it must cease to |
be a sacrament, for it cannot be both. True, the i
passover was both ; it was a sacrament, (as it was a
sign or token of Israel's dehverance in Egypt, Exod.
xii. 13, and as it was to be eaten,) and it was also,
in respect of the mactation and killing of the pas
chal lamb, a sacrifice ; 3 therefore we read of sacri
ficing the passover : Deut. xvi. 5, 6, ' Thou mayest
1 Of this controversy see Phil. Mornseus de Euch., lib. iii.
.cap. 1, kc; Hospin. Hist. Sacram., lib. v. cap. 13, p. 548,
&c. ; Camer. Opusc. Misc, p. 522, in 4to.; Masonus de Min.
Anglic, lib. v. cap. 1 ; Forb. Instr. Historico-Theol., lib. xi.
cap. 20.
2 Sunt proprie sacrificia populi ad Deum, ut sacramenta
Dei ad populum.— Morn, de Euch., fib. i. cap. 1.
3 See this proved in Cloppeob. S.eho, Sacrif., p. 142, kc

not sacrifice the passover,' &c. ' There thou shalt
sacrifice the passover at even,' &c But the reason
of its being a propitiatory sacrifice as weU as a com
memorative sacrament was this, because it was a
special type of Christ, the great propitiatory sacri
fice ; whereupon it is said, 1 Cor. v. 7, ' Christ our
passover is sanctified1 for us.' Had it not been for
this — its typical nature and reference — it could not
have been both. Now in the Lord's supper there
being nothing of this — it being wholly a representa
tion of what is past, not at all a type of what is to
come — it is not capable of being a sacrifice and a
sacrament too ; so that if we give to it the nature
and notion of the former, we take from it and de
stroy the nature and notion of the latter.
But to argue more closely. That the eucharistis no
propitiatory sacrifice, I prove by these arguments.
1. As Isaac once to his father, Gen. xxii. 7,
' Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for a burnt-offering ? ' So I would say, Behold
the bread and the wine, the body and the blood,
but where is the priest to turn these into, and to
offer them as a sacrifice? Are there priests how
under the gospel entrusted with an office, and in
vested with a power of sacrificing ? It was always
thought that with the ceasing of the old law sacri
fices the sacrificing priesthood ceased also. I know
it is very- usual to give the title of priests to gospel
ministers, which if taken in such a sense may be ad
mitted ; but if by priests you understand persons in
office to whom it should appertain to offer up new
expiatory sacrifices, in that sense all protestants
deny any such now to have a being. Whence it
follows, that as where there are no sacrifices, there
there is no priesthood, so where there is no priest
hood, there there are no sacrifices, for these two
mutually depend each upon the other ; and conse
quently that the Lord's supper is no sacrifice, upon
the defect of this priesthood. We are told, indeed,
that our Saviour, when this ordinance was instituted
by him, did authorise and empower his apostles, and
after them all ministers successively, at the conse
cration of the elements to turn them into a sacrifice,
whereupon they may strictly and properly be looked
upon as priests. Which if it be so, (as it is not,)
they must then be priests either according to tbf ,
1 Qu. ' Sacrificed ? '—Ed. '

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

321

Aaronical order, or according to that of Melchisedec,
those being the two orders to which the sacrificing
priesthood did belong. But neither of these can be
true : not the first, the Aaronical priesthood being
abrogated; not the second, the priesthood of Mel
chisedec being incommunicable to any but to Christ
himself, as the apostle strongly proves, Heb. vii.
It is observable amongst the Levitical priests, whilst
the high priest himself was ministering in the Holy of
holies, such as were of a lower rank were not at that
time to sacrifice without; andwhynot so here? Christ
our high priest is now in heaven, presenting the merit
of his great sacrifice offered upon the cross ; and he
himself being so employed, it is not for any ordinary
priests to be sacrificing, in an expiatory way, here on
earth. And further, those priests, so long as they
hved, were to execute their office themselves, into
which none were to intrude till by their death room
was made for others' succession ; so that if they had
lived for ever, none had meddled with sacrificing but
they. Christ therefore Hving for ever to manage
the busmess of what is propitiatory, none without
great intrusion can pretend in a thing of that nature
to join with him : Heb. vH. 23, 24, ' And they truly
were many priests, because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death ; but this man, be
cause he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable (airag-
d@aro>,) priesthood,' or that priesthood which passeth
not from him to another. When Christ was here
on earth he offered up himself as a propitiatory sac
rifice ; tf any now after him should pretend in that
way to offer up his body and blood, as to the matter
of the sacrifice, they would, in part, do that which
he himself did ; and so there would be a passing of
his priesthood in some way of equality, though not
of cessation, to others.
2. It hath been observed, that in every expiatory
sacrifice there was the destruction or consumption
of the thing sacrificed, either in part or in the
whole; there being, therefore, no such thing in the
- Lord's supper, it cannot be looked upon as a true
and proper expiatory sacrifice. Pray what is de
stroyed therein? Doth Christ's body and blood
cease to be what they were ? In his sacrifice upon
the cross there was a destruction, in the separation
of his soul and body for a time, but what is there
hke to this in the sacraments Bellarmine having

taken notice of this argument,1 thinks to elude it
with a very pretty distinction, viz., that Christ's
body in itself is untouched in the sacrament, it losing
nothing of its esse naturale when it is eaten there ;
yet it doth lose its esse sacramentale, the bread being
eaten by which it was signified and made visible.2
Ans. As if the ceasing of something which was
but external, visible, and representative, the thing
itself remaining untouched, and the same that it was
before, would amount to that destruction which was
in the Levitical sacrifices, and which was necessary
to be made upon the body of Christ at his death, in
order to his being an expiatory sacrifice ! Surely
either we are a sort of men so weak and sottish as
that we will believe anything, or they are a sort of
men so wedded to their opinions as that they wiU
say anything that will but suit with their purpose,
otherwise so great a man had never given so pitiful
an answer to so considerable an objection.
3. Thirdly, If the sacrament be a real, propitiatory
sacrifice, then so many sacraments, so many propitia
tory sacrifices ; and as oft as that is administered, so
oft there is a real, substantial oblation of Christ's body
and bfood in a propitiatory way. But this is directly
contrary to what the word saith ; therefore it is by
no means to be admitted. For that speaks but of
one only propitiatory sacrifice, of Christ's once offer
ing himself, namely, when he died upon the cross ;
which one offering was so full and perfect, so effec
tual to all intents and purposes for redemption, pro
pitiation, &c, as that it is not in anywise to be
repeated or reiterated : Heb. vii. 27, ' Who needeth
not daily,, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins, and then for the people's ; for
this he did once when he offered up himself.' Heb.
ix. 12, 'By his own blood he entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us.' Ver. 26-28, 'For then must he often have
suffered since the foundation of the world ; but now
once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many,' &c. Heb. x. 10, 12, 14, ' By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all. But this man,
1 De Missa., lib. i. cap. 2. 2 De Missa., lib. i. cap. 27.
2 S

322

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God. For by one offering
he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'
Now how shall we reconcUe the multiplication of
propitiatory sacrifices, the reiteration of Christ's
offering, with these texts? There is, saith the
apostle, but one only propitiatory sacrifice, that which
our Saviour offered upon the cross. Nay, say our
adversaries, but there is ; the mass is a propitiatory
sacrifice also. The true propitiatory sacrifice, saitH
he, was made but once; nay but, say they, it is not
so ; it is renewed, repeated, and made over and over
again. Christ, says he, did once, and but once, offer
up himsetf; nay, say they, but he is offered again
and again, as often as the mass is celebrated, in
which his body and blood are as really offered as
they were when he died upon the cross. Christ,
saith he, by the. one oblation of himself, hath ob
tained eternal redemption, put away sin, perfected
for ever them that are sanctified; nay, say they,
but he hath not ; for besides that there must be. the
propitiatory oblation of him in the sacrament. Now
let every person judge whether these things be not
flat contradictions to the word of God, according to
what we charge them with.
For the solving of this, therefore, they give us
another pretty distinction, viz., of our Saviour's
bloody and unbloody sacrifice, of that which was
offered on the cross, and that which is offered at the
mass. That, they say, it is very true, was but once,
and is not to be iterated ; but it is not so with the
latter ; wherefore the apostle, in all that hath been
cited, must be understood as designing to exclude
only the multiplying and repeating of the bloody,
but not of the unbloody sacrifice ; and so the mass
is not at all concerned therein.
To which I answer, In shunning one contradiction
they run upon another ; for what can be more con
tradictory to the word, as also to the nature of the
thing, than an unbloody, propitiatory sacrifice? It
says, Heb. ix. 22, ' Without shedding of blood there
is no remission.' Yes, say they, but there is ; in the
sacrament there is no shedding of blood, and yet
thereby there is remission. Do they not still main
tain that which plainly contradicts the Scripture?
and instead of stopping one gap, do they not make
another? The apostle, after he had been speaking

so fully of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross, in the
perfection and unrepeatableness thereof, draws an
inference universaUy to exclude all other propitia
tory sacrifices : Heb. x. 18, ' Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin.' They
then must be highly bold who wiU presume to
except and limit where the Spirit of God doth not,
and where the matter spoken of doth not require
any such exception or limitation ; nay, where indeed
the matter will not bear any such thing, as here it
wUl not; for if by Christ's oblation sin be fully
remitted, how can any further sacrifice be joined
with it in order to remission ? To me this is a most
necessary principle, viz., when men wUl distinguish
upon the letter of the Scripture, so as to affirm
what that denies, or to deny what that affirms, or
so as to enlarge what that straitens, and to straiten
what that enlarges. It highly concerns them to look
to this, that their distinctions be well grounded
upon other scriptures, and consonant thereunto;
for otherwise they must run themselves into danger
ous errors without all possibility of being convinced;
and without this all religion wiU be undermined, and
the word of God made wholly insignificant. Now
to apply this rule. Our dissenters, when we urge
the forementioned places, which are so clear and
cogent for what we hold, would put off all by dis
tinguishing of a bloody and unbloody sacrifice. I
desire to know what Scripture ground or warrant
they have for this distinction, in the sense wherein
they use it? what is there to be found there to
justify such a thing as an unbloody propitiatory
sacrifice ?
Something I know they offer at, but, alas ! it is
that which will not satisfy or command the faith of
such who are serious and considerative. For in
stance, Gen. xiv. 18, 'And Melchisedec king of
Salem brought forth bread 'and wine ; and he was
the priest of the most high God.' Whence they
thus argue: Melchisedec did sacrifice bread and
wine; there, say they, was an unbloody sacrifice,
and that which was typical of Christ's sacrifice, and
of his being offered at the sacrament modo incruento,
under the species of bread and wine; therefore
there was such a sacrifice thereat to be offered, which
accordingly was done first by Christ himself, and yet
is done successively by his ministers. Yea, they tell

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

323

us that this unbloody sacrifice was the great thing in
respect of which he is said to be a priest ' after the
order of Melchisedec,' Heb. vi. 20 ; Ps. ex. 4.
Ans. AU this is denied with the same, but better
grounded, confidence with which it is affirmed. It
is sad that any should build so great an article of
faith as this is amongst the Bomanists, upon so weak
and sandy a bottom ; but how much more sad is it,
that men's zeal should be so fierce upon it as to
make it a matter of life or death, accordingly as it is
beheved or not believed? for the truth is, that
which they call the unbloody sacrifice hath occasion
aUy been made - bloody enough in the death of
thousands of martyrs, who could not look upon it as
others do. But as to the argument, our divines re-
• ply, (1.) It is not evident that what Melchisedec here
did was done in the way of a sacrifice to God. It is
said he brought bread and wine ; it is not said that
he offered bread or wine to God. There is a great
difference betwixt protulit and obtulit, betwixt a civil
gift to men and a religious offering to God. Jose
phus1 carries this bringing of bread and wine no
higher than Melchisedec's kindness or hospitality
tp Abraham and his weary soldiers.1 (2.) Suppose
this was done in the way of a sacrifice, how will it
be proved that tf was done in the way of a propitia
tory sacrifice, since tf is only said that ' he blessed
Abraham,' ver. 19. Nay, (3.) Suppose that too, yet
what wiU it be to those who cannot justly pretend to
be priests according to the order of Melchisedec,
that being an incommunicable order ? And (4.) The
apostle, Heb. vH., opening this Melchisedec, in his
priesthood, and in this very act, shewing how he was
the type of Christ, and wherein Christ, the antitype,
suited with him, doth not at all instance in his bring
ing of bread and wine, or in his offering any unbloody
sacrifice, which surely he would have done had the
resemblance or analogy betwixt Christ and him lain
in that. But he instances in the oneness of Melchi
sedec's priesthood, Hi his eternity, in his authorita
tive benediction even of Abraham himself, in Abra
ham's paying tithes to him, &c. These are the
things wherein all along in that chapter he Ulus-
trates Christ's agreement with Melchisedec. So
that for any to infer, from his bringing of bread and
1 Antiq. Jud., lib. i. cap. 11. 'Exopv^ ° MeXx«n«XU* ™
'Ji-flpapov OTparG) l-ivux, kc.

wine, that Christ at the sacrament, (for I do not
love the word mass,) is offered up to God by every
ordinary priest, as an unbloody propitiatory sacri
fice ; I say, for any to make such an inference from
such premises, it argues them to be either injudi
cious, or over-credulous, or too much devoted to a
party. The paschal lamb also is alleged for the
making good of this distinction, with some other
things ; but neither barrel better herrings, as is fully
made out by our protestant writers, where persons
are not resolved to shut thetf eyes upon the clearest
light. 4. Fourthly, In the present contest it will be best
to have recourse to the institution of the sacrament.
Now if that, with the whole administration about it,
be consulted, what shall we find to give it the notion
of a sacrifice ? Obj. It is said, this we find : Christ
there saith, ' Do this in remembrance of me,' Luke
xxii. 19 ; 1 Cor. xi. 24. Now this hocfacite is as much
as hoc sacrificate. Ans. What is it to play with the
Scripture if this be not so? A few things being
considered, the vanity of this criticism will soon ap
pear. If this do was as much as this sacrifice, cer
tainly that would have been a thing of such high im
port, as that of the three evangelists which set down
the sacramental institution, two of them would not
have whoUy omitted it ; and yet so it is. Luke re
cites it, but Matthew and Mark make no mention at
all of it. And if that was the sense of the word,
then the sacrificing act would lie upon the people as
well as upon the priests,; for as the Do this was
spoken by Christ to the disciples, Luke xxii. 19, so
it was also spoken by Paul to the body of the saints
at Corinth, 1 Cor. xi. 24. When there is nothing
spoken in the whole institution of the Lord's sup
per as referring to a sacrifice, it is somewhat strange
that this word should come in by itself and carry
such a sacrificial sense in it.1 Besides, doth not
that which follows sufficiently clear it up ? Do this.
How ? or for what end ? To be a sacrifice ? No,
but ' in remembrance of me.' We deny not but that
facere doth sometimes signify to sacrifice,2 answerably
to the Hebrew word TWy< Nmn' vi' 16 > Ps" ]xvl
1 Ineptum est interpretari verbum facere sensu sacrificatorio,
ubi nulla in tota reliqua narratione fit sacriacii aut oblationis
mentio.— Forbes. Instruct. Historico-Theol, p. 616.
2 Cumfaciam vitula, kc— Virgil.

324

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

15, and the Greek gigim.1 But where hath to/ew,
which is here used, that signification ? Nay, where
have the other words that signification, but when
they are joined with a noun setting forth a thing
that is usually designed and set apart for sacrifices ?
whereas the word here is joined with a bare pro
noun. Obj. But they have a stronger plea than this,
grounded upon the words of the institution, where
Christ saith, ' This is my body which is given for
you,' Luke xxii. 19; and 'broken for you,' &c, 1
Cor. xi. 24 ; ' This cup is the New Testament in
my blood which is shed for you,' &c, Luke xxii.
20 ; Mat. xxvi. 28. Now doth not this body as
given and broken, and this blood as shed, prove
a sacrifice? yea, that under the bread and wine
there was a real oblation of Christ's body and
blood ?
Ans. No ; unless it be understood, as it ought
to be, of his oblation upon the cross, and not at
the table. When he saith, ' This is my body which
is given for you,' &c, 'This is my blood which is
shed,' &c, did he mean that giving of his body .or
that shedding of his blood which was done just at
the sacrament ? That we utterly deny. What then
did he mean ? Why, that which would shortly be
when he should die on the cross; then his body
should be broken and his blood poured out in a real
and substantial manner, but not till then. And
this interpretation is not at all weakened by Christ's
expressing himself in the present tense, (which is
given, which is shed,) it being usual in the Scripture
to put that tense for the paulo-post futurum ; and I
hope this answer will not be either opposed or
slighted by our adversaries, since the vulgar transla
tion itself renders the* words in the future tense,
which shall be given, shall be shed ; yea, in their
Canon Misses, too, they are so rendered.
2. But, secondly, Having shewn what the Lord's
supper is not, I am now to shew what it is. As to
that, in brief, it is a lively representation and solemn
commemoration of that sacrifice which the Lord
Jesus offered up to God when he died upon the
cross. It is not a sacrifice, but a memorial of a
sacrifice. Herein lies the nature of this ordinance,
and this was the great end of Christ in the institut-
1 Yefav io-n rb Bveiv.—Casaub. in Athnn.,lib. xv. cap. 23.

ing of it. ' Do this,' saith he, ' in remembrance of
me,' Luke xxii. 19.' As oft as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he
come,' 1 Cor. xi. 26. This, too, was the great end of
the passover, unto which the sacrament of the Lord's
supper succeeds: Exod. xii. 14, 'And this shall be
unto you for a memorial.' Great mercies have always
had their memorials, that they might not be for
gotten ; x what a mercy was Christ's dying arid sacri
ficing himself! What glorious and unspeakable
benefits do believers receive thereby! Therefore,
lest this should wither and decay in their memories
this ordinance was appointed to be a standing me
morial thereof. And this is that notion which the
fathers had of the sacrament,2 though some would
fain draw them to be of another opinion, than which
nothing more false. It is not to be denied but that
they very often did call it a sacrifice ; yea, sometimes
they speak of unbloody sacrifices ; 3 but did they
thereby mean any real, propitiatory, and unbloody
sacrifice, in the popish sense? No; they explain
themselves by the commemorating of Christ's sacri
fice, by the offering up of praises, thanksgivings,
penitential tears to God, and the like, in which
respects only they did so speak of it.4
To this also we may add, the Lord's supper
is not only a memorial of, but a feast upon, Christ's
sacrifice.5 The believing soul doth therein by
faith feed and feast itself upon a crucified Sav
iour. Anciently sacrifices were attended with feasts,
1 See Vines on the Sacrament, pp. 143, 144.
2 This proved by Morn, de Euch., lib. iii. cap. 4 and 5, with
divers others.
3 Euseb. Demonstrat. Evang., lib. i. cap. ult.
TV airrtpi del iroiovp,ev, p.aXXov Si dvap,v-q<riv Bvclas ipyo,-
tbpeBa.— Chrysost. Hom. 17 in Ep. ad Heb. Quid ergo nos!
Nonne per singulos dies offerimus ? offerimus quidem, sed re-
cordationem facientes mortis ejus.— Ambros in Ep. ad Heb., cap.
10. Illud quod ab hominibus appellator sacrificium signum est
ven sacrificii, in quo caro Christi post ascensionem per sacra-
mentum memoriae celebratur.— August. deCivit. Dei, lib. x.
cap. 15. Vide etiam contra Faustum Manichceum, lib. xx. cap.
21. Tlieodoret in cap. 8 Ep. ad Heb. Sacrificium quod quo
tidie in ecclesia offertur, non est aliud a sacrificio quod ipse
Christus obtulit, sed ejus commemoratio.— Aquin. in iii. p., qn.
22, art. 3, resp. ad. 2. Illud quod offertur et consecratur,
vocatur sacrificium et oblatio, quia memoria est et reprassen- ¦
tatio veri sacrificii et sancto immolationis factse in ara crucis,
&c. — Lombard., lib. iv. dist. 12.
5 See Dr Cudworth's True Notion of the Lord's Supper.-chJ.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

325

milum sacrificium sine epulo.1 As soon as the sacri
fice was over, men used to have a feast, to eat and
drink together ; and this custom prevailed both
amongst Jews and Gentiles.2 Gen. xiU. 54, ' Then
Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called
his brethren to eat bread,' &c. ; Exod. xviii. 12,
' And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took burnt-offer
ings and sacrifices for God : and Aaron came, and
all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses'
father-in-law before God.' See also Exod. xxxiv.
15; Num. xxv. 2; 1 Cor. x. 18, &c. Now parallel
to this, after Christ's sacrifice, there is the sacra
mental feast, wherein the communicant doth spiri
tually feed upon the body and blood of the Lord Jesus,
eats and drinks of the bread and water of life. Here
is not oblatio, but participate sacrificii. The apostle
having spoken to the sacrifice, ' Christ our passover
is sacrificed for us,' he presently subjoins the feast
which was to go along with that sacrifice, ' There
fore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,' &c.
1 Cor. v. 7, 8. At the sacrament there is not only
a commemoration of Christ's death, but there is the
Christian's fetching out of the sweet and comfort
thereof for inward strength and nourishment.
Yet further, the Lord's supper is a seal of all those
blessings which Christ, by his death and sacrifice, did
purchase for his. But this I must pass over. I have
been very long upon this fourth inference, but no
longer than what the nature of the thing and our
present state did make to be necessary. It is highly
requisite that we should all have right apprehensions
concerning the blessed sacrament ; therefore to help
you therein, and to obviate all popish delusions, I
have been thus large upon this head.
5. Fifthly, I infer the happiness of such who live
under the gospel above those who Uved under the
law. It is none of the least of our mercies that
we are cast under the evangelical, rather than under
the legal administration. Old Testament believers
were the elder brethren, but the younger, those who
hve under the New Testament, are the best provided
for. For the making out of this I shall not insist
upon the comparing of sacraments and sacraments,
^tuckiusde Sacrif, p. 145; Rosin. Antiq. Rom., lib. iii.
cap. 33. Ubi quod diis tributum erat conflagrassent, ad epulas
ipsi etconviviavertebantur, &c.
2DrCudworth, ch. 2.

priesthood and priesthood, privileges and privileges,
but only touch upon the matter of sacrifices. In
reference to which we have the advantage in sundry
respects ; for they, in a manner, had but the shell,
it is we that have the kernel ; they had but the
shadow, it is we that have the substance ; they had
but the type, it is we that have the antitype. All
their sacrifices were but darker adumbrations of that
great sacrifice which is now fully revealed to us, and
actually exhibited for us. They had variety and
multiplicity of them, we have all in one ; theirs were
costly and burdensome, ours costs us nothing but
thankful application ; theirs, of themselves, could
only cleanse from ritual and civil guilt, ours from all
guilt whatsoever ; they had the blood of beasts, we
the blood of God's own Son. One of the great
differences betwixt the covenant of grace, as then
and as now dispensed, lies in the difference of the
sacrifices.1 To them it was testified and ratified by
the blood of ordinary creatures, to us it is so by the
blood of Christ ; compare Exod. xxiv. 8 with Mat.
xxvi. 28. Surely we have the advantage over them,
' God having provided some better things for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect,' as it
is Heb. xi. 40. Oh what degree of thankfulness
can be high enough for that knowledge of, interest
in, benefit by Christ's sacrifice which we now have
under the gospel, above what they had who lived
under the Jewish sacrifice ?
And if our state be better than theirs, how much more
is it better than the state of the poor Gentiles ! As
to Jews and Christians, it is happiness and happiness
compared together ; but as to GentUes and Chris
tians, it is happiness and misery. The Jews had
their sacrifices from God himself, to whom they
were offered, and by whom they were owned, but in
the pagan sacrifices there were none of these ; they
were neither instituted by God nor directed to him,
therefore it could not be expected that ever they
should be blessed by him. And besides this, there
was nothing of Christ in their sacrifices. Men sac
rifices they had, but as to the sacrifice of Christ,
God-man, that they knew nothing of; without which
what could all their sacrifices signify for the purging
away of guUt 1 They had great variety of them ;
1 Vide Alting. Shiloh, lib. v. cap. 17. In hoc sacrificio verti-
tur omnia ratio et variatio f sederis, &c.

326

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

some blind notions of expiation, purgation, atone
ment by them, but, alas ! not being offered to the true
God, nor backed with the true and only propitiatory
sacrifice of Christ, they were all in vain. They used
to twit Christians with their want of temples, altars,
sacrifices, &c. ; x but we can easily answer them, We
have all in Christ, whose one sacrifice upon the cross
was more than all their hecatombs and sacrifices
whatsoever. We may be the objects of thetf derision,
but surely they should be the objects of our com
passion ; and whilst we pity them, let us be highly
thankful for ourselves that ever this one, only, per
fect sacrifice was made known to us, as well as offered
for us.2
6. Sixthly, We may from hence take notice of the
excellency of Christ's priesthood and sacrifice. I
put them together, because they do mutually prove
the excellency each of the other ; his priesthood
must needs be excellent, because he offered up such
an excellent sacrifice, and his sacrifice must needs be
exceUent, because it was offered by such an excellent
priest. The setting forth of the excellency of both
is the main scope and business of the apostle in his
Epistle to the Hebrews, that full and most evangeli
cal commentary upon the Levitical sacrifices ; but he
reduces the latter under the former, proving the
glory and excellency of the priesthood of Christ
from the excellency of his sacrifice. Indeed in the
making out of that he makes use of several other
mediums or arguments : as, (1.) The greatness and
dignity of Christ's person, Heb. iv. 14 ; (2.) The
extraordinariness of his call, Heb. v. 4, 5 ; (3.) The
pre-eminence of the order, according to which he
was priest, above the Aaronical order, he being priest
after the order of Melchisedec, Heb. v. 6, 10, and vi. 20 ;
(4.) His oneness and singleness in this office, Heb.
vii. 23, 24; (5.) His solemn inauguration into it,
Heb. vii. 20, 21 ; (6.) Its perpetuity and everlasting-
ness, Heb. v. 6, and vii. 16, 24; (7.) The exceUency of
the sanctuary where it is discharged, Heb. viii. 1,
&c, andix. 11, 12, 24; (8.) The betterness ofthe cove
nant to which it refers, Heb. vUi. 6, &c. All these
heads the apostle doth distinctly insist upon ; but
that medium or argument which he is most large
1 'Origen. contra Celsum,, lib. viii.
2 See the grounds of this fully set forth by Stuckius de
Sacrif., f. 154, &c, in his Antithesis Ethnicismi et Christianismi.

upon to prove the excellency of Christ's priesthood, is
the excellency of his sacrifice above all the law sacri
fices. And that he makes out, (1.) From the matter
of it. The priests under the law offered such and
such things only, not themselves, but Christ offered
himself; they the blood of creatures, he his own
blood : Heb. ix. 12, ' Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place,' &c. ; ver. 14, ' How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself,' &c. ; ver. 23, 'It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these, («.e.,the blood of beasts,)
. but the heavenly things themselves with better sac
rifices than these.' Heb. i. 3, ' When he had by
himself purged our sins; ' so Heb. vii. 27, and ix. 26.
(2.) From the virtue and efficacy of it. The law
sacrifices were weak and unprofitable, could ' make
nothing perfect,' Heb. vii. 18, 19 ; ' could not make
him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience ; ' they only ' sanctified as to the purify
ing of the flesh,' Heb. ix. 9, 13. ' It is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins,' Heb. x. 4. But Christ by his sacrifice
hath 'obtained eternal redemption,' Heb. ix. 12, that
reaches the conscience to ' purge it from dead works,'
&c, Heb. ix. 14. (3.) Those sacrifices being thus
weak were many, and often to be repeated; but this
of Christ, having such an efficacy in it, was but one,
and but once offered, never any more to be repeated.
Heb. vii. 27, ' Who needeth not daily, as those high
priests, to offer up sacrifice, for this he did once when
he offered up himself;' Heb. ix. 12, 'By bis own
blood he entered once into the holy place;' ver. 25,
&c, ' Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as
the high priest entereth into the holy place every
year with the blood of others ; for then must he
often have suffered since the foundation ofthe world :
but now once in the end of the world hath he ap
peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.'
Heb. x. 1, &c, ' The law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect. For then would they not have ceased to he
offered? because that the worshippers once purged,
should have had no more conscience of sins,' &c. To

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB Otf ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

327

these now the apostle opposes Christ's sacrifice, ver.
5, 6, &c. ; and of that he saith, ver. 10, 'By the
which will we are sanctified, through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all ; ' ver. 11,12,
.' And every priest standeth daily ministering, and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God ;' ver. 14, ' For by one offering
he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'
The heathens had their sacrifices, which they called
hostia succedanece,1 which they offered up to their
gods in case those which they had offered before did
not succeed. The Lord Jesus, by his one sacrifice,
did so effectually do what he designed and the sin
ner needed, as that there is no room for or need of
any hostia succedanea. (4.) The apostle makes it out
from the sanctity of Christ's person and the perfec
tion of his sacrifice. The law priests offered ' first
for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people,'
Heb. vu. 27. ' They ought, as for the people, so
also for themselves, to offer for sins,' Heb. v. 3. 'The
high priest went once every year into the second
tabernacle, not without blood, which he offered for
himself (Lev. xvi. 11) and for the errors of the
people,' Heb. ix. 7. But now as to Christ, he was
'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,'
Heb. vu. 26. He had no sin of his own to expiate
by his sacrifice. He was ' made sin,' but yet he ' knew
no sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21. Under the law both priest and
sacrifice were to be perfect, i.e., without any open and
external blemish. As to the first, read Lev. xxi. 17
to the end ; as to the second, God gave several pre
cepts about it. The paschal lamb was to be without
blemish, Exod. xU. 5 ; the oblation for vows and for
freewiU-offerings, the sacrifice of peace-offerings, were
to be without blemish, perfect, otherwise they should
not be accepted, Lev. xxii. 18-25. So the red
heifer was to be without spot, and wherein there was
no blemish, Num. xix. 2 ; so the firstlings of the
cattle, Deut. xv. 21, and all sacrifices whatsoever,
Deut. xvii. 1. And this the heathens2 themselves
1 Succedanea? dictse, si primis hostiis litatum non erat aliae
post easdem ductse hostia: osedebantur, quae quasi prioribus
jam cassis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur et succedebant.—
Gyrald. Synt., xvii. p. 465 ; Saubert. de Sacrif, cap. 19, p. 477.
2 OiSiv Ko\o<pbv irpoo-ipipopev irpbs ToCr 8eobs, dXXa irdvra

made conscience of in their sacrifices. In corres
pondency to all this, in a moral and spiritual sense,
our Lord's sacrifice was perfect, without the least
blemish. He offered himself without spot to God,
Heb. ix. 14 ; he was a lamb without blemish and
without spot, 1 Peter i. 19. (5.) The excellency of
Christ's sacrifice appears from the great effects of it.
He ' put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,' Heb.
ix. 26. So that ' there is no more offering for sin,'
Heb. x. 18. ' Being made perfect, he became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him,' Heb. v. 9. By this sacrifice sin was condemned,
abolished, expiated, God appeased, the law satisfied,
eternal redemption obtained, Heb. ix. 12. Oh what
an excellent sacrifice was Christ's sacrifice, and, con
sequently, what an exceUent priesthood was Christ's
priesthood !
7. Seventhly, Was Christ a sacrifice for sin in
order to the condemning of it ? and could it be con
demned by nothing short of that? hence we are
informed that sin is a very evil thing, and of a very
heinous nature. Had it not been a notorious and
capital offender, would God have condemned, and
thus condemned it? Would he so severely have
punished it in the flesh of his own Son? Must
even this Son be offered up upon the cross as a sac
rifice for the expiation of it ? Oh what a cursed
heinous thing is sin ! that had made such a breach
between God and his creatures, that Christ must
die or else no reconciliation; that had so highly
struck at the honour of the great God, that nothing
below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son
could make satisfaction for it ; its poison and venom
was such that there was no cure for the sinner, into
whom that poison had got, but only the precious
blood of Christ himself. God had such a hatred
and abhorring of it, as that for the testifying thereof,
even he whom he loved from all eternity must be
made a curse,1 Gal. iii. 13; what a demonstration
was this of the transcendency of the evil of sin !
Would you take a full view thereof? Pray look
upon it in and through this glass ; a sacrificed Christ
gives the clearest, the fullest representation of sin's
riXeut Kal 8Xa— Athen. Deipn., lib. xv. cap. 5. &c, quas cum
immolabant, nisi purse integraeque fuissent, minus proficere
putabant— Gyrald.,?. 491.
1 Grot, de Sat. Christi, p. 67.

328

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

heinousness. True, we may see much of that in
sin's own nature, as it is the transgression of God's
most holy and most excellent law ; as also in the
threatenings which are denounced against it; and
further in the dreadful effects of tf, both here and
hereafter, the loss of God's image and favour, and
eternal damnation; is it not a very evil thing?
What a mischievous thing hath this sin been ! It
cast the falhng angels out of heaven into hell, and
turned them into devils ; it thrust Adam out of para
dise, made God to be an enemy to him who but
now was his favourite, cut off the entail of happi
ness, and instead thereof entailed misery and a curse
upon all his posterity : it made God at once to
drown a whole world, it laid Sodom in ashes,
levelled Jerusalem itself to the ground, caused God
to forsake his own people the Jews, &c. ; it would
be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of sin.
Now, I say, in these things we may see much of
the evil of it, but not so much as what we see in the
death and sufferings of the Lord Christ; there,
there is the highest discovery and fullest represent
ation of it. He to be 'a man of sorrows and ac
quainted with grief,' Isa. liH. 3 ; he to be bruised
and broken, yea, and his Father to be pleased in
the bruising of him, Isa. liii. 10 ; he in his own per
son to undergo the law's penalty, to tread the wine
press of the wrath of God, Isa. lxiii. 3 ; he to be
obedient to death, even the death of the cross, PhU.
H. 8 ; he to cry out, ' My God, my God,, why hast
thou forsaken me ? ' he to be killed, and slain, and
hanged upon a tree, Acts v. 30 ; and all this for sin.
Oh what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to
be in it ! Indeed that the poor creatures should be
so destroyed in the law sacrifices, that so many mil
lions of them, they in*themselves being harmless
and innocent, should die and be sacrificed for man's
sin, this represents very much of its cursed nature ;
but yet that comes infinitely short of that repre
sentation thereof which we have in a dying, cruci
fied, sacrificed Christ. The death of all those sac
rifices was nothing to the death of this one sacri
fice, whereby sin eminently appears in its own
colours. What a sad thing is it that men generally
make so little a thing of it, as though there was not
much evil either in it or by it ; but in so doing
how do thetf thoughts differ from God's thoughts,

for surely if he had not judged it to be very hein
ous, he had never carried it towards his Son as he
did. I would desire sinners to take their prospect
of it through this medium, of Christ's being a sacri
fice for it ; if anything in the world will bring them
to the sight of its malignity, this will do it. It
pleases God to look upon believers through, a dying
Christ, and so he loves them; but could we but
look upon sin, a thing never, to be loved, through a
dying Christ, how should we hate tf !
8. Eighthly, This demonstrates also the severity,
impartiality, terribleness of God's justice. By
Christ's death and sacrifice we have not only a
declaration of the justice of God in itself, in that he
would not remit sin without blood for satisfaction,
Bom. iii. 25, but a declaration also of the adjuncts
and properties of his justice, viz., that it is very-
severe, impartial, and terrible. He was inflexibly
set upon the punishment of sin ; such was his hatred
of it and his respect to the honour of his law, that
sin shall not by any means escape his punishing
hand ; and every punishment too shaU not suffice,
but it shall be such as may fully answer the hein
ousness of the offence. Ay ! and if his own Son
shall interpose in the sinner's stead, and take his
guUt upon him, and become his surety, even he, be
he never so dear to God, must undergo the utmost
punishment that ever he was capable of, both for
matter and degree. God will fall upon him and
' not spare' him, Bom. vUi. 32, no, not in the least.
Oh how severe and impartial is his justice ! Never
was there such an instance or demonstration of
these, as in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. For
pray consider what it was that he suffered ; besides
all the sufferings of his life, at last he suffered death ;
and that not a common or ordinary death, but the
very worst of deaths ; a death that had aU ingre
dients into it to make it bitter, wherein was all that
bitterness which either the wrath of man, or, which
was much worse, of God himself, could squeeze into
it. And though Christ, foreseeing what this death
was, prayed again and again that he might be saved
from it, John xii. 27, that this cup might pass from
him, Mat. xxvi. 39, 42, 44; yet his Father was in
exorable and would not hear him ; but die he must,
and so die too ; surely here was divine justice under
the highest severity and impartiality, yet without

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

329

the least mixture of injustice. And when the
thoughts and sense of this were upon Christ, they
made his soul exceeding sorrowful, Mat. xxvi. 38 ;
cast him into most bitter agonies, insomuch that he
.sweat, as it were great drops of blood faUing to the
ground, Luke xxii. 44. How dreadful and terrible
is punitive justice! what a 'fearful thing is it to
fall into the hands of the living God ! ' Heb. x. 31 ;
this we see and know in our Saviour's case. Oh
that we may never know and feel it in our own
experience !
I might further infer from the premises, (9.) The
unsearchable wisdom of God; (10.) Also his un
conceivable love and grace ; (11.) The preciousness
of souls ; (12.) The costliness of salvation ; (13.)
The great dignity of Christ's person, from which his
sacrifice derived aU its virtue and efficacy ; but I
must not speak to all that this vast subject would
lead me to. So much for the inferences drawn from
the main point.
Use 2. The next use shall be exhortation, in which
I would press some of those duties which do best
suit with the truth before us. Hitherto I have
chiefly been upon the informing of the judgment ; I
now come to matters of practice. ,
1. And first, as Christ's Sonship and incarnation,
(ef which before,) so his being a sacrifice, and there
by condemning sin, should be very much the object
of your study and meditation. This you are to
study, that you may know more of it ; to meditate
upon, that you may draw out and improve what
you already know about it ; for so I would at present
distinguish betwixt these two, supposing the one to
be hke the fiUing of the vessel, the other hke the
drawing out of that vessel As to the first, I would
be earnest with you to be much Hi studying a sacri
ficed, crucified Christ. If the knowledge of him
as taking flesh is to be laboured after, as you have
heard it is, surely the knowledge of him as dying in
flesh, and as condemning sin in his flesh, is also to
be laboured after. In this sacrifice of Christ you
have the very mirror of the grace of God, the mas
terpiece and highest elevation of his love, the glori
ous product of his infinite wisdom, the great basis
and foundation of man's happiness ; should it not,
therefore, with the greatest diUgence be looked into?
Our excellent apostle determined to 'know nothing

save Jesus Christ, and him crucified,' 1 Cor. ii. 2.
The preaching of this was the great matter of his
ministry: 1 Cor. i. 23, ' We preach Christ crucified ; '
and he makes the gospel in its revelation mainly
to point to this, which therefore he calls ri» Xoyov
rov aravsov, 'the word ofthe cross,' 1 Cor. i. 18. It
being so, how should the consideration hereof
heighten our endeavours after a full and distinct
knowledge of it ! God's own Son to be offered up
as a sacrifice for the sin of man ! Oh admirable and
wonderful dispensation ! what a mystery is this !
how should all be prying into it ! Here we have
Christ at his worst ; now the knowledge of him as at
the worst is the best knowledge for Christians ; for
they having their best by his worst, the knowledge
of him under that notion must needs be the best
knowledge for them. If Christ, as a sacrifice, in
the full import thereof, was but better understood
by sinners, oh what benefit and advantage would
thereby accrue to them ! How steadily would they
beUeve ! how ardently would they love ! how patient
ly would they suffer ! how thankfully would they
adore ! how cheerfully would they walk ! Should
not these be prevaihng inducements to such to
labour after a fuller knowledge of him, as so con
sidered ? But in the enforcing of this duty let me
not be mistaken ; it is not a notional, historical
knowledge only of Christ as sacrificed that I would
have you to pursue after, but I would state it as
practical, as operative and powerful : this, this is
that knowledge which is to be desired. When
Paul had spoken so high of the knowledge of Christ
— Phil. iii. 8, ' Yea, doubtless and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord' — see how he opens that
knowledge of him which he looked upon as so excel
lent: ver. 10, 'That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.-'
It is a poor thing to have light about this in the
head, if that light be not attended with power and
efficacy upon the heart and Ufe ; the clearest notions
concerning Christ's death, without suitable impres
sions within, and that which in the sinner himself
may bear some analogy and conformity thereunto,
do not profit. Oh therefore so study a crucified
Saviour as to be crucified with him, Gal. ii. 20, dead
2 T

330

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[Chap. XIII.

with him, Bom. vi. 8, so as to feel the energy of
his death in the heavenliness of your affections, and
holiness of your conversations : this is the know
ledge which we should study, and pray for, and
aspire after.
For the second, Christ as a sacrifice is also much
to be meditated upon. Oh how frequent, how seri
ous and fixed should our thoughts be upon this !
How should we be often reviving this upon our
minds, never suffering it to decay or wither in our
memories ! This is so great and necessary a duty,
' that we have an ordinance instituted by Christ on
purpose, and for this very end, often to inmind us
of his dying as our sacrifice, and to keep it fresh
upon our memories for ever : ' Do this in remem
brance of me.' 'As oft as ye eat this bread, and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he
come,' 1 Cor. xi. 24, 26. But it is not enough to think
of this just before or at the sacrament, but we
should live in daily, frequent meditation upon it. I
say we should do so ; but, alas ! it is to be feared we
do not so. Oh how little is a dying, crucified Christ
thought of ! The dying friend or relation is remem
bered, but the dying Saviour is forgotten. This
proclaims to the world that we have but a low
sense of his great love, that we see but little in his
oblation ; for' surely if we did, we should think
oftener of it, and after another manner than now
we do. Christians ! pray be sensible of former
neglects, and let it be better for the future ; let not
a day pass over you wherein some time shall not be
spent in remembering and considering what Christ
your sacrifice upon the cross suffered for you. Upon
this also you would reap great advantages ; for cer
tainly, was Christ's death but duly thought of and
improved, oh, it would highly embitter sin, effec
tually wean from the world and the sensual delights
thereof, mightily encourage and strengthen hope and
faith, strongly engage the soul to obedience. There
fore, pray be persuaded to think less of other things,
and more of this. And do not barely think of it,
but think what there is in it ; yea, labour to go to
the very bottom of it, and by serious meditation to
press out all that juice and sweetness which is in it.
The believer should be always sitting upon this
flower, and sucking comfort from it. What is the
full breast to the child that doth not draw it ?

Christ as a sacrifice for sin is a full breast, but yet
if sinners by faith, prayer, and meditation do- not
draw from this breast, they will be little the better
for it. He was indeed but once offered, but that
one oblation is often to be remembered and continu
ally to be improved, with respect both to duty and
comfort. How that is to be done, the foUowing
particulars wUl .shew.
2. This should have a very powerful influence
upon you to break your hearts for sin and from sin.
First for sin. Was Christ indeed made a sacrifice ?
as such was his body broken and his precious blood
poured forth ? did he undergo such sufferings in his
hfe, and then complete all in his dying on the cross?
and all for sin ? How can this be thought of with
any seriousness, and the heart not be kindly and
thoroughly broken ! What will cause the hard heart
to melt and thaw into godly sorrow for- sin, if the
consideration of Christ's sacrifice and death will not
do it ? Oh methinks His blood, as shed for sinners,
should soften the most adamantine heart that is !
Did we but consider our Saviour's passion in the
matter and quality of it, in its bitter ingredients
and heightening circumstances, and then also con
sider that our sins were the meritorious cause of it,
that they brought him to the cross, and laid the
foundation of all his sorrows; did we, I say, but
consider this, certainly we should be more deeply
afflicted for sin than now we are. What ! that I
should be accessory to the death of the Son of God!
that I should bring the nails and spears which
should pierce him ! that I should be the occasion
of all his sufferings in soul and body ! What a cut
ting, heart-breaking consideration is this ! Zech.
xii 10, ' They shall look upon me whom they have
pierced ; ' what foUows ? ' And they shall mourn for
him as one mourneth for his only son ; and shall be
in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for
his first-born,' The true penitent cannot look upon
a crucified Saviour, especially when he considers
what he hath done to further his Saviour's cruci
fixion, without the highest degree of holy grief. But
especially this heart-brokenness should be in us when
we are at the sacrament, where we have such a sen
sible and lively representation of Christ's death and
sacrifice. Oh shall we there see his broken body,
and yet our hearts be unbroken ? Shall we view

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

331

him there shedding his blood, and we shed no peni
tential tears ? Shall we there behold what he en
dured and felt for sin, and we yet have no pain, no
contrition for it? How unsuitable is such a frame
to such an object, under such a representation !
What was the temper, think you, of the women who
were spectators of Christ when he was hanging
upon the cross 1 Mat. xxvii. 55. Unquestionably
they were fiUed with inexpressible sorrow. Why,
sirs, when you are at the Lord's table, in a spiritual
way you see him also as dying upon the cross ; he is
.there before your eyes, evidently set forth and cru
cified among you, Gal. iii. 1. Oh how should your
eye affect your heart, Lam. iU. 51, even to fill you
with evangehcal sorrow !
But this is not enough; therefore, (2.) There
must be brokenness from sin as well as for sin.
Surely after such a thing as Christ's death sin
must be loved and Uved no more; the heart must
eternaUy be broken off from it. Pray look into the
text, and see what pressing motives there are in it
for this. (1.) Here is Christ dying as a sacrifice,
making his soul an offering for sin. Now, sinners,
shall that live Hi you, or will you live in that, which
made your Saviour to die ? shall he die for sin, and
will you yet Hve in sin ? shall his death, as to you,
be in vain?1 wUl you continue sin upon the throne
when Christ was upon the cross ? do you desire to
have him there again, crucified afresh ? as the apostle
speaks, Heb. vi. 6 ; would you renew his wounds,
and cause them to bleed again ? was it not enough
for such a person to be once sacrificed? can you
wade even through his precious blood to' the gratify
ing of your base lusts ? Oh dreadful ! I remember
that passage of David, 2 Sam. xxui. 15, &c, where
you find him longing for the waters of Bethlehem :
' Oh that one would give me drink of the water of
the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate !' Upon
this his earnest desire, ' three of his mighty men
brake through the host of the PhUistines and
brought him some of this water ; but,' saith the
story, ' he would not drink thereof, but poured it
1 Ergo et tu dignum te gere tali pretio, ne veniat Christus
qui te mundavit, qui te redemit, et si te in peccato invenent
dicat tibi, quae utilitas in sanguine meo ? quid profeci tibi
dum descendo in corruptionem, kc — Ambros. de Virgin.,
lib. iii.

out unto the Lord.' Why so ? Oh, saith he, ' be it
far from me that I should do this ; is not this the
blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their
lives?' So here; sometimes your desires and in
clinations are strongly carried out to such and such
sins ; but pray consider there is blood in the case.
Those sins cost Jesus Christ his blood ; he did not
only jeopard, but actually lose his life ; will you,
then, meddle with them, be they never so sweet or
pleasing to the flesh ? I hope you will not ; I am
sure you should not. To strengthen this further,
pray consider what Christ's end or ends were in
his being thus a sacrifice : they refer either to God
or to you ; to God, as he designed to satisfy his
justice, appease his wrath, vindicate his honour, &c. ;
to you, as he designed your sanctification, holiness,
the abolition of sin's power, &c. — I say, the aboli
tion of sin's power ; for though the primary end, and
the most immediate effect of Christ's sacrifice was the
expiation of its guilt, yet in subordination to this,
however in conjunction with it, the breaking of its
power and freedom from its evil acts were by him
also aimed at therein : Gal. i. 4, ' Who gave himself
for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world, according to the will of God and
our Father.' Tit. ii. 14, 'Who gave himself for us,
that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a pecuhar' people, zealous of
good works.' 1 Pet. H. 24, ' Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being
dead to sin, should live unto righteousness : by whose
stripes ye were healed.' Now was this one of Christ's
great ends in his sacrificing of himself, and shall he
not have tf ? Hath he accomplished his ends with
respect to God, and shall he not accomplish his ends
with respect to you ? Would you divide and com
pound with him to let him have half of what he
designed and purchased, but no more? would you
separate between justification and sanctification?
That will not be allowed. How smartly doth the
apostle argue for the death of sin from the death of
Christ ! Bom. vi. 3-11, ' Know ye not, that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap
tized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death : that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the. Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of Ufe. For

332

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

if we have been planted together in the Hkeness of
his death, we shall be also in the Hkeness of his
resurrection : knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might' be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we
be dead with Christ, we beUeve that we shall also
live with him : knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more ; death hath no more
dominion over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God.' Sirs, was Christ sacrificed for sin ? I will tell
you what we should now do : let us sacrifice our
sins for Christ. There is a great difference in the
sense of the one and of the other; yet take but
that aright, and both are true. Christ was a blessed
person, and he was sacrificed out of love ; but sin is
a cursed thing, which therefore must be sacrificed
out of hatred. It was pity that Christ should die ;
it is pity that sin should live. He was sacrificed
for our sin that he might take that away which was
injurious to us ; we must sacrifice our sins for him
that we may take that away which is so injurious
and offensive to him. But to go on in the text.
(2.) God condemned sin. There is very much in
this also to set us against sin, in whatever notion
the word condemning be taken. Did God condemn
it, and shall we approve of it ? Hath he passed a
sentence of death upon it, and shall we yet be for
the life of it, as tf we would reverse or contradict
his sentence, or hinder the execution of it ? Did he
look upon it as a traitor, rebel, capital offender, and
shall we look upon it as a harmless and innocent
thing ? Hath he in the death of his Son given out
such a declaration of his hatred of it, and shall we
yet love it, and like it, and Hve in it ? Yea, (3.) God
'condemned sin in the flesh' of Christ; now shall
it be judged, punished, abohshed in Christ's flesh,
and yet reign in ours ? Bom. vi. 12 ; shaU he in his
flesh suffer for it, and we in ours commit it ? What
an absurd, incongruous thing would this be ! Upon
the whole matter, therefore, how do we all stand
engaged by the strongest obligations that are pos
sible to be holy, and not to sin! Let it be con
demned in our flesh, as, in a different respect, it was
condemned in Christ's. As God hath condemned it
so as that we shaU not die for it, so let us condemn

it so as not to live in it. And in special, whenever
it shall come to tempt you to what is evil, pray
remember that Christ was made a sacrifice for it ;
and let it appear by your holy and circumspect
walking that you have a due sense thereof, and that
you do not from thence fetch any encouragement
to sin against God, which was one of Porphyry's
objections against sacrifices in general, viz., they
would encourage men to be wicked.1
3. Thirdly, I would excite you to labour after,
and to make sure of a personal interest in this great
sacrifice, and in the benefits resulting from it. For
it is a thing to be resented with the greatest sadness
imaginable, that where there is such a -sacrifice, so
at first offered up to God, and now so revealed to
men, that yet so many mUUons of souls should
perish, and, as to their spiritual and eternal state*
be little the better for it ; because they regard not,
as to themselves, either the thing, or the good that
flows from it. My brethren, I beseech you, tf you
have any love for your souls, let it not be so with
you ; but let it be your greatest care to secure an
interest in tlus sacrifice, and to partake of the bless
ings procured by it; be often considering and
questioning with yourselves, Here is a sacrifice for
expiation and atonement, but what is this to us?
here is a dying Christ, but did he die for us ? shaU
we be ever the better for his death? if this propi
tiatory oblation be not ours, what wUl become of us ?
Under the law the Gentile strangers were to offer
sacrifices as well as the born Jews, see Num. xv.
14, 15 ; Lev. xvU. 8 ; and amongst the Jews the
poor as well as the rich ; with respect to which
difference in men's outward condition God accord
ingly appointed different sacrifices, Lev. xiv. 21;
but yet something or other both were to sacrifice ;
and in thetf offerings for the ransom of thetf souls
aU were to give alike: Exod. xxx. 15, 'The rich
shaU not give more, the poor shall not give less,
than half a shekel' Now all this was to shadow
out two things about Christ's sacrifice : 1. Its equal
extent to all men, notwithstanding all national or
civil differences ; be they Jews or Gentiles, rich or
poor, it is the same Christ to all, if they beheve, for
1 TLus KexapurpAva Bieiv -qyoipevos rocs Bebis ravra, oiK i%eiv<u,
dSiKttv ol-qoerai. airw, p.iXXovn Sid twv BvaiCiv i%oivel<r6ai Tip
dp.aprlav.—Porphyr., irepl dirox-, lib. ii. p. 97.

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

333

'there is no difference,' Bom. iU. 22. (2.) The equal
obligation lying upon all men to look after, make
sure of, and rest in this one and the same all-suffi
cient sacrifice. None, in order to remission, justifica
tion, atonement, eternal life, need to carry more to
God, by faith and prayers, and none must carry less.
SHs, let us aU put in for a share Hi Christ's offering,
and in the benefits purchased thereby ; for if we
should come short of that, We are lost eternally.
Are not reconcUiation with God, the expiation of
sin, eternal redemption, &c, things most necessary
and most desirable? If so, where can we hope to
have them but in a sacrificed Bedeemer — but in the
imputation of the merit of his death and sacrifice ?
And I add, do not only make sure of the thing, ob
jectively considered, but labour also after the sub
jective assurance of it. Oh when a Christian can
say, Christ died for me, ' gave himself for me,'
Gal. H. 20; his body was broken and his blood
shed for me ; he took my guUt and bare my punish
ment; how is he filled with 'joy unspeakable,' 1 Pet.
i. 8, with ' peace .that passes all understanding,'
Phil. iv. 7; what a fuU tide of comfort is there
in his soul ! This is the receiving of the atonement,
as some open it, and that is very sweet : Bom. v. 11,
'And not only so, but we also joy in God, through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now re
ceived the atonement.'
4. In the actings of faith eye Christ as a sacrifice
for sin, and there let aU your hope and confidence
be bottomed. I say, in the actings of faith eye
Christ as a sacrifice ; for indeed this grace hath to
do with him mainly and principally as dying and
sacrificed. The apostle speaks of ' faith in his blood,'
Bom. Ui. 25 ; it is a bleeding, crucified Saviour that
is the great and most proper object of faith : true, it
takes in a whole Christ, aU of Christ, his nativity,
holy life, resurrection, ascension, intercession, &c,
but that which it primarily and chiefly fixes upon is
his death and passion. When a soul is brought into
Christ to close with him in the way of believing,
what of him is first in its eye in that act ? is it a
Christ as ascending, as sitting at the right hand of
God, as interceding? no, thus it beholds him for
the after-encouragement and support of faith ; but
that which it first considers is a Christ as dying
upon the cross, and so it lays hold upon him. And

no wonder that it is so, since all the great blessings
of the gospel do mainly flow from Christ's death ;
they are assured and applied by his resurrection,
ascension, and intercession, but they were procured
and purchased by his death, as the Scriptures abun
dantly shew, Bom. v. 9, 10 ; Eph. i. 7, et passim.
Now that which hath the most causal and most im
mediate influence upon these, that deserves to be
first and most eyed by faith. Here is the difference
betwixt faith and love ; this chiefly looks to the
excellencies of Christ's person, but that to the merit
and efficacy of his sacrifice. When the apostle, Gal.
ii. 20, had spoken so high of his ' faith in the Son of
God,' he tells you in what notion he did therein con
sider him, by adding, ' who loved me and gave him
self for me.' The stung Israelite was to look upon
the brazen serpent as lifted up, and so he was healed;
do you desire to find healing, redemption, salvation
by Christ ? Oh look upon him as lifted up upon the
cross, so all good shall come to you.
Further, I say, let all your hope and confidence be
bottomed here; this is that firm rock which you must
only build upon for pardon, peace with God, salvation,
for all. Oh take heed of relying upon anything be
sides this sacrifice ! Gal. vi. 14, 'God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ ;' he that glories or trusts in anything besides
that, his glorying is vain. The forlorn undone sin
ner should be always clasping and clinging about
this cross, resting upon the merit of Christ thereon,
and upon that only ; for all that hope wUl be but
dying hope which is not solely bottomed upon a
dying Saviour. The heathens could not believe
that ever the death of sacrifices should do the guilty
person good ; 1 they looked upon tf as folly to hope
for Hfe by another's death ; but, blessed be God, we
see that which they did not ! we firmly believe and
steadily hope for expiation and salvation by Christ's
one offering of himself, and lay the sole stress of our
faith and happiness upon that which they counted
folly. But let us be sure we do not mistake here —
I mean, let us indeed place our whole confidence in
Christ's meritorious death, for tf we rely partly upon
that, and partly upon something else, we spoU all.
5. Fifthly, You must so confide and rely upon
1 Quum sis ipse nocens, moritur cur victima pro te?
Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem.

334

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

Christ's one, most perfect, and all-sufficient sacrifice,
as yet withal to be careful that you, on your part,
do perform those gospel conditions which God en
joins and requires of you, in order to remission,
justification, glorification. This word of advice is
so necessary that it is by no means to be passed
over. Christians, it is a thing of very high import
ance for you rightly to understand yourselves in this
matter ; therefore take it thus : AU your trust and
reUance is solely to be bottomed upon the death and
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus ; but yet you cannot regu
larly and warrantably act this trust and reliance upon
this only ground or foundation, unless in your own
persons you perform those conditions which God
prescribes in his word. The whole business of
merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ — that is wholly
out of your hands and only in his ; but as to believ
ing and repenting, the two grand gospel conditions,
they lie upon yourselves — I speak with respect to
the act, not to the power — and must be done by
yourselves ; yea, and the doing of these is as neces
sary on your part under the notion of conditions, as
suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the
notion of merit. And it is most certain that the
latter without the former wUl not profit you, because
Christ never designed to impute or make over his
merit to any, further than as they should make good
these conditions of faith and repentance. We have
here two dangerous rocks before us, and it must be
our care and skill to shun both of them ; the one is
the setting of inherent grace or duty too high, as
when we make it to share with Christ in merit and
trust ; the other is the setting of inherent grace or
duty too low, as when upon the pretence of Christ's
alone merit and full satisfaction we quite throw it
off, and are altogether careless about it, as supposing
it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary. Now we
are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the
other of these rocks ; either we run ourselves upon
popery in the former, or upon antinomism and
libertinism in the latter. Oh what need have all to
beg the guidance of the unerring Sptfit, that thereby
they may evenly steer betwixt both, and avoid each
extreme! which they shall most happily do, tf
Christ and his sacrifice be only eyed by them in the
way of reliance, and yet hohness, obedience, faith,
repentance have also that respect which is due to

them as means and conditions. Much hath been
said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of
Christ's sacrifice, that he hath thereby put away all
sin, fuUy expiated its guilt, perfected for ever them
that are sanctified, &c. ; shall any now from hence
infer that all is done by Christ, that the creature
hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits
prepared and purchased? God forbid. True, Christ's
sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni
genere; it was perfect as to what was meritorious
and satisfactory, so as to exclude all other sacrifices
and supplements whatsoever upon that account, but
not so as to exclude all conditions which God will
have the creature to perform ; which though they
can add nothing to the perfecting of the behever's
great sacrifice, yet they do prepare and fit sinners
for the participation of the benefits merited thereby.
To instance in all these conditions, or to enlarge
upon any one of them, would be a long work;
briefly therefore, as ever you desire to be the better
for a dying Saviour, to share in the great and
blessed effects of his sacrifice, look to it that you
repent and believe. Oh if you be found at last in
the number of the impenitent and unbelieving, all
that Christ hath done or suffered wiU be a very
nothing to you ! notwithstanding all that you will
eternally perish. Here is indeed an expiatory sac
rifice ; ay ! but yet, as to you, no repentance, no ex
piation : here is sin condemned by Christ's oblation
of himself ; ay ! but yet if the sinner doth not peni-
tentially condemn sin in himself, and himself for sin,
for all this he will be judicially condemned at the
great day. The Scripture everywhere makes re
pentance the way to and condition of remission of
sin : Acts ii. 38, ' Bepent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the re
mission of sins.' Acts v. 31, ' Him hath God ex
alted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and for
giveness of sins ; ' with very many other places to
this purpose. The apostle having said, 1 John i
7, ' The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin;' presently subjoins, ver. 9, 'If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
Great is the efficacy of Christ's blood, but it is upon
condition of the sinner's repentance : ' if we confess

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

335

our sins,' &c. At the Jewish anniversary expiation
aU the sins of the people were by the sacrifices done
away, yet God would have them then to 'afflict
their souls,' Lev. xvi. 29 ; and the high priest was
in their stead to ' confess their iniquities and all
their transgressions in all their sins,' ver. 21 ; we
under the gospel have our great expiation by the
death of Christ, but this also must be attended with
penitential abasement and humiliation. So like
wise as to faith ; this too is a grace or condition
indispensably necessary to the partaking of the
benefits of Christ's propitiatory sacrifice. There
fore the apostle, speaking of propitiation, brings in
our faith as well as Christ's blood, it having an in
strumental as well as that a meritorious influence
thereupon : Bom. iu. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation tlirough faith in his blood,' &c.
To the blessings of the new covenant as the blood
of Christ was necessary, that thereby there might
be impetration ; so faith also is necessary, that
thereby there may be apphcation.1 Our Lord's sac
rifice is every way sufficient for atonement, yet ' he
that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on
him,' John iii. 36 ; so also it is sufficient for expia
tion, yet it is only 'whosoever believeth on him
shall receive remission of sins,' Acts x. 43. Under
the law the blood of the sacrifice was to be so and
so sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop, Exod. xii. 22 ;
Heb. ix. 19, to which custom David alludes, Ps. U.
7, 'Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.'
Now answerably to this, Paul speaks of ' the blood
of sprinkHng,' Heb. xH. 24 ; it was not enough for
Christ only to shed his blood, but that must be
sprinkled upon the sinner; how? why by faith,
which under the gospel answers to the hyssop under
the law. Well, after our Saviour's being an offering
for sin, as we have nothing further to do but only,
through grace enabUng of us, to perform these evan
gelical conditions, so nothing less than that will
serve our turn for a share and interest in the great
effects and fruits thereof.2
6. Sixthly, You are not to rest in some one single
application of yourselves, or in the first application
of yourselves at your first believing, to this great
sacrifice, for expiation and remission ; but you are
1 Grotius de Sat., p. 141.
2 Vide Cameron Misc., p. 529.

to repeat and renew it daily. For though, it is
true, all the guilt of believers is removed thereby,
yet that is done in this method ; it is removed as it
is contracted, and as the benefit of it is accordingly
drawn forth by the fresh applications of it. Oh do
not rest in what you did at your first conversion,
but be you every day applying yourselves to a sac
rificed Christ ! New guilt must have new pardons,
and daily sins call for daily expiations. It is ob
servable that Christ is set forth not only by the
yearly expiatory sacrifices, or by those that were
but seldom offered ; but also by the daily sacrifices :
John i. 29, 'Behold the Lamb of God,' &c. We
should not lie down in our beds at night before we
have applied ourselves to a dying Christ for the
cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins
of the day past ; yea, we should never go to God
in duty, 'but we should revive upon our thoughts,
and make use of this sacrifice. Under the law the
blood was to be sprinkled even upon the mercy-seat,
Lev. xvi. 14. God sits upon a throne of mercy, but
even that requires the blood of Christ; no mercy
from him, no acceptance with him, can be expected,
but upon the intervention of this sacrifice.
7. Seventhly, Upon this sacrifice, and what fol
lowed thereupon, God and Christ are highly to be
admired and adored by you. This holy admiration
hath been atfeady again and again pressed upon
you, under the foregoing gracious acts mentioned
in the text; but surely that which is now before
us doth as much deserve and call for it as they or
any other whatsoever. Is God to be admired be
cause he sent his own Son, because he sent this Son
in flesh, yea, in the likeness of sinful flesh ? And is
he not to be admired also for his making of him to
be a sacrifice for sin, and for the condemning of sin
in his flesh? Doubtless he is. What! Christ a
sacrifice? a sacrifice for such as we? such great
things brought about thereby ? Oh what matter is
here to draw out admiration ! What so great, so
wonderful as this ! How much are the highest
thoughts, the most raised affections, below the great
ness of this mystery ! It hath, my brethren, been
largely set before you ; now I would ask, How are
your hearts affected with it ? It is very sad, if we
can hear of such stupendous mercy, and yet be but
little wrought upon under the hearing of it. Pray

336

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[Chap. XIII.

fancy to yourselves what the angels thought of this,
what frame they were in when they saw the Son of
God hanging and dying upon the cross as an expia
tory sacrifice. Oh you may well suppose that it
fiUed them with astonishment; they were even
amazed at this strange and wonderful spectacle.
Never such wondering in heaven as when the Lord
Jesus was thus suffering on earth. Now, shall that
be little to you which was so great to them ? ShaU
they thus admire, and will you, who were most con
cerned in the thing, and the greatest gainers by it,
be stupid and unaffected ? In Christ's being a sac
rifice God on his part hath displayed and advanced
all his attributes, yea, they by this have received
thetf utmost advancement ; infinite wisdom, justice,
hohness, mercy, could go no higher than a Christ
crucified. And, on your part, by this your work is
done, your happiness being every way secured and
your misery fully prevented ; by this you are recon
ciled to God, and God to you ; condemning sin is
condemned itself, all its guUt expiated, the right
eousness of the law fulfilled, &c. ; by a strange and
unthought-of method God hath fetched the greatest
good out of the greatest evil ; by Christ's dying you
Uve. All which being considered, is there not suffi
cient ground why you, and all, should admire and
adore God ? And, amongst other things, pray in
special admire his love, his transcendent, superla
tive, matchless love. What manner of love was
this, that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice
for you! 1 John iv. 10, 'Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' Bom. v. 8,
' But God commendeth his love towards us, in that
whUe we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' Had
not Christ been a person, infinitely dear to God, the
thing had not been so much ; but that he should
devote him to be sacrificed whom he so dearly
loved, there is the incompreherisibleness of his love.
It is reported of the Phoenicians that in their sacri
fices they did not use to sacrifice an enemy or a
stranger, but nun <pi\ra.rm r/i/a,1 some one that they
had a special love for. This I am sure was done
by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a
sacrifice for us ; therefore what admiration can be
high enough for him ! When Abraham had the
1 Porphyr. de Abstin., lib. ii.

knife in his hand, and was just going to offer his
son Isaac, Gen. xxii. 10, &c, God stopped his hand,
and provided a cheaper sacrifice for him. This was
more than what he did for his own Son ; him he
would have to be offered up, and would admit of
no other sacrifice ; and when the hand of justice was
lifted up, ready to destroy us, then God, to secure
us, interposed and found out a sacrifice of propitia
tion, not a ram, but his only-begotten Son. Oh the
heights, breadths, lengths, depths of his love !
And must not Christ be admired also? Surely
yes. Was not his love, too, admirable as well as the
Father's ? Oh weU might the apostle say, Gal. H
20, ' Who loved me, and gave himself for me.' Eph.
v. 2, ' And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.' Ver.
25, 'As Christ also loved the church, and gave him
self for it.' Bev. i. 5, ' Unto him that loved us,
and washed us from, our sins in his own blood.'
This was loving indeed ! When the Jews saw
Jesus weeping over Lazarus, they said, 'Behold
how he loved him ! ' John xi. 36 ; but, alas ! what
was Christ's weeping over him to his dying for us !
What was the shedding of a few tears to the shed
ding of his blood ! How may we come with a more
emphatical, ' Behold, behold how he loved us ! '
He that 'knew no sin' was willing to be 'made
sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21 ; to ' bear our sins in his own body
upon the tree,' 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; to put himself in our
stead, yea, to die in our stead, for our sakes to be
' obedient to death, . even the death of the cross,'
Phil. ii. 8 ; to let out his precious blood for the ex
piation of sin, when nothing else would do it ; and
when all Mosaical sacrifices were weak, he, by a far
higher sacrifice, undertook the work : ' Lo, I come
to do thy will, 0 God,' Heb. x. 7. Was not here
love, even love 'passing knowledge '? Eph. Hi. 19.
Such high affection on his part should draw out high
admiration on our part.
Let me here add, we should so admire God and
Christ as to love them and to be thankful. Have
they ' so loved' us, John Hi. 16, and shall not we
return love for love ? What monsters and prodigies
shall we be, tf, after such a manifestation of theh
love to us, there be not reciprocation of our love to
them ! God designed and prepared the sacrifice,

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

337

therefore He must have our love ; Christ was the
sacrifice, therefore he must have our love too. Both
deserve it, both must have it : John x. 17, ' There
fore doth my Father love me, because I lay down
my life.' Now doth the Father love him for this;
and shall not we much more ? Did we but think of
this sacrifice, and hold our hearts close to it in
holy meditation, surely it would cause them to love
Christ !
Then, I say, be thankful; yea, let your whole
soul upon this go out in thankfulness; be ever
praising, magnifying God for his unspeakable mercy
in Christ your sacrifice, your Eedeemer, your Saviour.
Often caU upon your sluggish hearts and say, ' Bless
the Lord, 0 my soul, and aU that is within me bless
his holy name.' Did God ' set forth Christ to be a-
propitiation ' ? Bom. iU. 25. Did he ' lay upon him
the iniquities of you aU ' ? Was the chastisement
of your peace upon him, and by his stripes are you
healed ? Isa. UH. 5, 6. That guilt and wrath which
would have ruined you for ever, are they now both
done away, so as that they shall never hurt you ?
Did Christ die that you might not die, but live for
ever ? 1 Did you sin and he suffer ? Was the inno
cent person punished that the guilty might be ac
quitted ? 2 Was sin condemned for you who deserved
to be condemned for it ? What praise and admira
tion can be high enough for such things as these !
The Jews in the day of atonement were to make the
trumpet sound throughout their land, Lev. xxv. 9 ;
so we, having received the atonement by Christ's
sacrifice, should evermore be sounding forth the
praises of the Most High. You read of the elders,
Bev. v. . 8, &c, they ' fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps,, and golden vials
full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.. And
1 Mediator noster puniri pro seipso non debuit, quia nullum
culpse contagium perpetravit. Sed si ipse indebitam mortem
non susciperet, nunquam nos a debita morte liberaret. — Gre-
gor., hb. iii. Moral., cap. 13.
2 Peccat iniquus et punitur Justus ; delinquit reus et vapu-
lat innocens ; offendit impius et damnatur pius ; quod mere-
tur mains patitur bonus, &c. Quo nate Dei, quo tua descendit
humilitas ? quo tua flagravit charitas ? kc Ego inique egi, tu
pcena mulctaris ; ego facinus admisi, tu ultione plecteris, &c.
Me ad illicitam concupiscentiam rapuit arbor, te perfecta cha
ritas duxit ad crucem ; ego praesumsi vetitum, tu subiisti acu-
leum, ka. — August, in Quest, in V. and N. Testam., Qu. 55.

they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to
take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood,' &c. Christians ! why are not your
harps always in your hands? Why are not your
souls always full of holy affections, as the golden
vials full of odours, in the remembrance of him who
was slain and sacrificed for you ?
8. Lastly, Do you offer to God the sacrifices
proper to you, as Christ offered to God the sacrifice
proper to him? For expiatory sacrifices, as you
need them not, Christ's one sacrifice being every
way sufficient for that end, so you are not able to
come up to them, for you can present nothing to
God properly and formally expiatory ;" yet there are
other sacrifices which you may offer up to him.
And though the external and fleshly sacrifices of the
law are out of date, yet there are the internal and
spiritual sacrifices of the gospel, which you now are
as much obliged to observe and offer as ever the
Jews were the former. What are they ? Why, you
are to present yourselves, your bodies, souls, the
whole man, ' a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable
to God,' Bom. xii. 1. You are to dedicate your
persons to Christ, so as to ' live to him who died
for you,' 2 Cor. v. 15 ; yea, so as to be ' ready to be
offered ' in sacrifice, by dying for him, to allude to
that, Phil. H. 17. You are, as ' an holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ,' 1 Pet. ii. 5 — =which spiritual sacrifices
are spiritual duties and evangelical worship, prophe
sied of Mai. i. 11, ' In. every place incense shall be
offered unto my name, and a pure offering ' — here
come in prayer and praise, those two eminent sacri
fices under the gospel : x Ps. cxii 2, ' Let my prayer
be set forth before thee as incense : and the lifting
up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.' Ps. cxvi.
17, ' I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiv
ing : and will caU upon the name of the Lord ; ' so
Ps. cvii. 22, and liv. 6 ; Heb. xiU. 15, ' By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continuaUy, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to his name.' This is set forth, as here by
' the fruit of the lips,' so elsewhere by the ' free
will offerings of the mouth,' Ps. cxix. 108 ; by ' ren-
1 Oratio pure directa de corde fideli, tanquam de ara sancta
sureit incensum.— August, in Ps. cxii.
2U

338

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

dering the calves of our lips,' Hosea xiv. 2. And for
the pleasingness of this to God above all the Leviti
cal sacrifices, see Ps. 1. 13, 14, and lxix. 30, 31.
Oh this is a sacrifice which we should often be offer
ing up to God through Christ Jesus. Another evan
gelical sacrifice is a broken spirit, than which, next
to a broken Christ, nothing more acceptable to God :
Ps. H. 16, 17, ' For thou destfest not sacrifice; else
would I give it : thou deUghtest not in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken
and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise.'
So also bounty to the poor distressed saints, this is
< an odour of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-
pleasing to God,' PhU. iv. 18. ' But to do good and
to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased,' Heb. xiii. 16. And, to sum up
all, holiness of heart and life, that is an excellent
sacrifice, excelling all the old law sacrifices whatso
ever : 1 Sam. xv. 22, ' Hath the Lord as great de
light in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice ; and to hearken, than the fat of rams.'
Micah vi. 6-8, ' Wherewith shall I come before the
Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? shall
I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves
of a year old 1 Will the Lord be pleased with thou
sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ?
shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? He hath
shewed thee, 0 man, what is good ; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ' The
heathens themselves, upon the light of nature, looked
upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable
sacrifice.1 I am sure evangelical holiness is so. The
wickedness of the Jewsnnade God even to abhor and
slight the sacrifices which were instituted by him
self ; as we find, Isa. i. 11, &c, and lxvi. 3 ; Jer. vi.
20, and vii. 21, &c. ; Amos v. 21, 22. If we live Hi
1 Vis Deos propitiare ? bonus esto. Satis illos coluit quis-
quis imitatus est.— Senec, Ep. ix. 5. 'Non immolationibus et
sanguine multo colendus est Deus ; sed mente pura, bono
honestoque proposito. — Idem. MdXXov rb Saipbviov irpbs rb
tG>v Bvbvruv ^Bos ij irpbs t&v Bvopivav irXrjBos plXi-irei. 
Porphyr., irepl diroX., lib. ii. p. 62. OiK dubs rois Beois
Xaipeiv Tals Sairdvais tuv Bvopivav dXXd rats eio-efieiais tQv
BvbvruK— Arist. Rhet., lib. iii. With many more in Stuck de
Sacrif., p. 153, col. 2 ; Saubert. de Sac, cap. 1, p. 4.

sin, we may offer this and that to God, but it. is all
nothing ; nay, that makes all our sacrifices an abo
mination to him, Prov. xv. 8. Oh live the holy life,
keep the heart pure, mortify whatever is evil, do
good, shun all excesses, be heavenly in your affec
tions, in aU things act in compliance -with God's
nature and will, &c, this will please him more than
the most costly oblations which you can bring to
him. These are the sacrifices which now under the
gospel we are to offer ; and surely we should offer
them with all readiness and faithfulness. Our Lord
having submitted to the bloody sacrifice of himself
on the cross, and left us none but these easy and
delightful sacrifices, how readily should we close
with them ! But so much for this use.
Use 3. A third shall put an end to this subject,
and that is of comfort. Was Christ a sacrifice for
sin ? Did he thereby condemn sin ? What doth this
truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are
in Christ ? I say, to them who are in Christ ; for
they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the
grace contained in it : as the non-condemnation of
the person in the first verse, so the condemnation of
sin in this, belongs only to such. You that are in
the number of these, to you I bring glad tidings,
matter of great joy. Out of the bitten comes sweet ;
for Christ to die as a sacrifice, this was bitter to
him, but it is sweet to you. His death, passion,
and whole humiliation speak nothing to you but
consolation. Oh did believers, especiaUy such as
are under a troubled spirit, but better understand
and better improve this sin-condemning sacrifice,
they would certainly have more of inward peace and
comfort than now they have. I must not insist
upon the particular and full drawing out of that
consolatory matter which it affords ; therefore shall
conclude with a brief review only of what the text
offers. And so, 1. Here is a sacrifice for sin. All men in
Adam having ' sinned wilfully, after that they had
received the knowledge of the truth,' there might
have been ' no sacrifice for their sin,' (to allude to
that, Heb. x. 26 ;) but the gracious God, notwith
standing aU this, was pleased to admit of a sacrifice; .
yea, himself to find out and ordain that sacrifice.
Here is matter of comfort.
2. Christ himself was this sacrifice. And ff so,

Chap. XIII.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

339

how pleasing must it needs be to God ! Eph. v. 2,
' And hath given himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.' I tell
you, there was infinitely more in this one sacrifice to
please God than there is in all your sins, put them
all together, to displease God. If Christ be the
sacrifice, there must be an infinite efficacy and merit
in it. From the dignity of his person an infiniteness
of merit must needs result. If he will die and shed
his blood, what can be too high for you? Surely,
too, there is more in his offering to save you than
there is in sin to damn you. If he be the sacrifice,
no question but the Father did accept of it. And in
deed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the
world, not only by his carriage towards the saints,
but also, and chiefly, by his carriage towards Christ
himself; for whereas of old he was wont to testify
his acceptation ofthe sacrifices by consuming them by
fire from heaven, Gen. xv. 17 ; Lev. ix. 24 ; Judges vi.
21 ; 2 Chron. vH. 1 ; here, with respect to Christ's sac
rifice, he testified his acceptance in a higher way, viz.,
by raising him from the dead, taking him up to heaven,
re-admitting him into his presence, and setting him
at his own right hand ; for would the Father have
done aU this to his Son had he not been well pleased
with his person and oblation ? Oh there is a con
vincing evidence of this in his going to the Father,
John xvi. 8-10. By this sacrifice, thus accepted, you
are made perfect, as you have often heard out of
Heb. x. 14, 18 ; there is nothing now to be done by
Christ or by you, but only to apply and improve
what he hath atfeady done. Is not this ground of
strong consolation? And know, further, for your
comfort, that the virtue of Christ's offering is as
great now as it was at the first; his blood is as
effectual with God for your good now as it was
when it was just running warm from his veins, and
so it shaU be to the end of the world.1 And that
he may make the best of it, he is entered into tbe
holy place., where it is his business to present and
plead the merit thereof. He backs his oblation on
earth with his intercession in heaven, and what
can be spoken higher for your support and comfort !
he that was the sacrifice here is the advocate there.
3. By this sacrifice sin was condemned. Sin con-
1 Adeo magnum, est hoc sacrificium, ut quamvis unum sit
et semel oblatum, sufficiat ad aeternitatem.— Anselm.

demned ! What a word is that ! That which would
have condemned you, and which only can condemn
you, that is by Christ condemned itself: condemn
ing sin is condemned by a condemned Saviour. And
shall it be condemned, and you too ? Shall Christ
suffer the penalty due to it, and you too ? Oh no !
As God was just to punish it once, so he is gracious,
and just too, not to punish it twice. What this
condemning of sin is you have heard. If you follow
the word the comfort Hes thus : a condemnatory
sentence is by God, upon Christ's account, passed
upon it ; he hath adjudged it to die for all the mis
chiefs done by it, both against himself and against
you too. This cursed tyrant, this heinous male
factor, is under a sentence to be cut off, that it may
no longer either dishonour God or hurt you. And
should not you rejoice in this ? Who fears a con
demned person ? What do the accusations of a con
demned man signify ? Sin is a condemned thing ;
fear it not. If you leave tbe word, and come to the
main import of it, then the comfort lies thus : the
guilt of all your sins is fully done away and expiated
by Christ's sacrifice. This lamb of God, as offered,
hath taken tf all away ; his blood hath cleansed you
from all sin ; your scape-goat hath carried all your
iniquities into the land of forgetfulness. Oh, your
guilt was charged upon Christ, and it shall not be
charged upon you too ; you are to mourn over it,
but yet know he hath fully satisfied for it. What
would you have more? You have in the former
verse the power of sin abolished by the law of the
Spirit; in this, the guilt of sin abolished by the
sacrifice of Christ. Oh how complete is your re
demption ! The plaster is every way as large as
the sore. What holy triumphs may you now make
over all which may seem to endanger you ! Bom.
viii. 34, ' Who is he that condemneth ? it is Christ
, that died,' 1 &c.
4. Observe, it is sin that was condemned. The
apostle speaks of it in the lump and mass ; and so he
saith it is expiated. Our Lord's sacrifice did not
take off the guilt of this or that particular sin, but
of all sin; his expiation was total and universal.
Under the law sacrifices the blood was to be sprinkled
seven times, Lev. xvi. 19, thereby to prefigure the
1 Mortuum Caesarem quis metuat ? sed morte Christi quid
efficacius !— Cyprian, de Dupl. Martyrio.

340

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIII.

thoroughness and perfection of the expiation of sin
by Christ's sacrifice.
5. This is brought in as God's act : ' God sent his
own Son, and for sin condemned sin.' He that was
the persona Icesa, the injured person, the just judge,
against whom sin was committed, and who therefore
was to punish it, he who is the supreme and autho
ritative agent in and about the great concerns of
souls, he appointed Christ to be a sacrifice, owned
and. accepted his sacrifice, and upon that acquits
sinners from all guilt. Oh there is much in this to
encourage the drooping Christian ! Bom. viH. 33,
'Who shaU lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? it is God that justifieth.' The Father cannot
but be well pleased with Christ's propitiatory sacri
fice, since this was of himself: Bom. Hi. 25, ' Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation,' &c.
6. This was done too in Christ's flesh, which also
hath great sweetness in it. It is added, saith one,1
for our further assurance, to the end that we may
not doubt of the forgiveness of our sins, which are
destroyed in our proper nature which the Son of
God took upon him. Had Christ clone and suffered
what he did in the nature of angels, we might have
questioned whether any good would thereby have
accrued to us ; but all being done in our nature, surely
he did it for us, and we shall reap the benefit thereof.2
7. To all this let me add one thing further, and
it is a great one, namely, that by this sacrifice of
Christ you have not only the bare condemnation or
expiation of sin, but with that you also have a right
and title unto, and collation of all gospel blessings
and privileges whatsoever. Was it only the taking
off of guilt, and the appeasing of divine wrath, that
would be very much; but over and beyond these
there is, Christ's active fulfilling the law being
taken in, a positive righteousness made over to you,
an interest in God's fatherly love, the purchase of
heaven ; and in this sense we are for a redundancy
of Christ's merit. The benefits of Christ's sacrifice
to believers are not only those which are priva
tive, such wherein they are freed from all evil;
1 Deodat. in loc.
2 Addit Paulus in, carne, quo certior sit nostra fiducia,
dum videmus peccatum in ipsa natura nostra fuisse devictum
et abolitum ; sic enim sequitur, naturam nostram vere fieri
participem ejus victorias.— Calvin,

but there are also those which are positive, such
wherein they are entitled to and instated in the
possession of all good; yea, even of the heavenly
blessedness itself : Heb. v. 9, ' And being made per
fect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto
aU them that obey him.' Heb. ix. 12, ' Having ob
tained eternal redemption for us ; ' tf comes in as.
the effect of Christ's blood and sacrifice. In his
great undertaking to redeem and save sinners, we
may suppose him to have two things in his eye:
the one -was that he should have a people in the
world ; the other was that through him this people
should partake of all blessings requisite to their
happiness. Now both of these were effected-and
secured by his sacrifice. As to the first, that was
made sure by this, according to that promise or
prediction : Isa. liii. 10, 11, ' When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shaU see his seed, &c.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied ; ' in reliance upon which he himself said,
' And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me,' John xii. 32 ; and that upon his
death and sacrifice he had a people, and a numerous
people too, the evangelical history doth abundantly
testify. Then as to the second, that also was pro
moted and secured by his sacrifice, inasmuch as
thereby the covenant of grace, the summary of all
blessings, was ratified- and confirmed. It was an
ancient custom,1 used amongst men at the sanction
and ratification of their covenants, to make use of
sacrifices, as we find, Gen. xxi. 22-24, &c. ; Jer.
xxxiv. 18 ; Exod. xxxiv. 7, 8 ; in allusion to which
custom it is said, Ps. 1. 5, ' Gather my saints toge
ther unto me; those that have made a covenant
with me by sacrifice.' Answerably now to this,
Christ by his sacrifice confirmed and ratified the
covenant of grace betwixt God and behevers;
wherefore he said, ' This cup is the New Testament
in my blood,' i.e., the seal and ratification of the
new covenant, Mat. xxvi. 28 ; 1 Cor. xi. 25 ; and
the apostle doth in special insist upon this in Heb.
ix. 15, 16, &c. WeU, then, by Christ's sacrifice— the
blood of the covenant, as it is called, Zech. ix. 11—
aU blessings whatsoever are insured and made over
to God's people ; and if so, is not that a sufficient
1 Et csssa jungebant foedera porca.— Virgil.
See Mr Mede on Mai. i. 11.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

341

ground of comfort to such ? What shall I say ? If
the atoning of an angry God, the washing away of
all sin, the fulfilling of a righteous law, the satisfy-.
ing of infinite justice, the ratification of the cove
nant of grace, the purchase of heaven ; if there be
anything in all these things (as surely there is) to
promote spiritual joy, you have them all by this
great sacrifice ; therefore rejoice, and again I say
rejoice. So much for this head, which I, very well
know I might have despatched with much more
brevity ; but it containing that matter in it which
is not commonly so fully opened, and which is of so
high concern to us, therefore I have been thus large
- upon it.

CHAPTEE XIV.
OF THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW'S RIGHTEOUSNESS
IN BELIEVERS.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.
— Bom. vui. 4.
Of the second end or effect of Christ's being sent in flesh,
viz., the fulfilling of the law's righteousness — A
general explication of the main scope of the words,
and of the principal matter contained in them — More
particularly it is inquired, 1. Of what latv doth the
apostle here speak ? 2. What is the hx.a!up,o. or right
eousness of the law ? 3. What is it to fulfil the law's
righteousness ? 4. How the righteousness of the law is
fulfilled in us? — Four interpretations given of it: 1.
That it is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the
saints themselves ; 2. That it is personally fulfilled in
them, though not perfectly, yet inchoately, and in re
spect of God's acceptation; 3. That it is perfectly but
not personally fulfilled in them, Christ's obedience and
perfect fulfilling of the law being imputed to them;
4. That it is fulfilled in them in respect of the remis
sion of sin — Three propositions laid down to clear up
the third interpretation and the main truth : as, 1.
That Christ was made under the law ; that opened in
some particulars ; 2. That Christ perfectly fulfilled the
law; 3. That Ms fulfilling of it is imputed and
reckoned to believers — Two questions raised and
answered : Whether Christ's active and passive obedi

ence, or his passive only, be imputed ? — In what sense
may it be said to be imputed ? — Use 1. First, To shew
' upon what terms believers are justified and saved -,
secondly, What a respect God hath for his law — Use
2. To exhort persons (1.) To get an interest in this
privilege ; (2.) Such as have an interest in it are
exhorted [L] To go as far as ever they may in the
personal fulfilling of the law ; [2.] To look after the
fulfilling of the evangelical law in themselves ; [3.]
To admire the love of Christ — Use 3. The comfort of
this drawn forth to believers.
These words hold forth another end or effect of
Christ's' being sent in the Hkeness .of sinful flesh ;
for I do not understand them to refer to the clause
immediately foregoing, ' and for sin condemned sin
in the flesh,' as if they were an assignation of the
end or effect of Christ's condemning sin by the sacri
fice of himself ; but I take them as referring to that
which is before spoken of, ' God sent his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh,' and as they do represent
God's end in that. Wherefore did God so do ? What
did he design or aim at therein ? Why, at this, ' that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us.' The conjunctive particle, ha, may be taken either
TikixZn or ildmug. In the first notion, which is most
usual and common, it carries a final sense, and notes
the end why God sent his Son in flesh ; namely, that
he might fulfil, in his own person, the law's right
eousness, and so imputatively, or in a law-sense, be
lievers in him. I say this was God's end ; for it
doth not come in as a bare event or consequent upon
Christ's taking our nature, and doing in that nature
what he did ; but it was the very end which God
designed and propounded to himself therein ; x viz.,
that Christ might perfectly fulfil the law, which to
do to the saints themselves in thetf own persons was
altogether impossible ; and yet upon which, it being
accepted of by God on their behalf and made over
to them, they should be accounted just and right
eous, even as if they had fulfilled it in their own per
sons. This is the first import of the word. Then it
may be taken tlSixZg, or by way of apposition ; and
1 Idque totum hoc consilio fecit, ut nos perfecte justi coram
ipso perficeremur, non secus atque illi habiti fuissent qui:
omnia divinae legis prsecepta conservassent. — Vorst.

342

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

so it notes the superadding of some further matter,
and that which is distinct from what went before.1
In this appositive sense it is used, John xv. 12, and
xvii. 3. And so the apostle's meaning is this : God
sent his Son into the world not only to be a sacrifice
for sin, and thereby to condemn sin, by his bearing
the law's penalty due to it ; but also, by his active
obedience and conformity to the law's commands, to
bring things to this, that the righteousness of the
law should be fulfilled in believers. Christ's being a
sacrifice for sin was not sufficient to answer aU the
ends and demands of the law ; there must be the
doing of what it commanded as well as the suffering
of what it threatened ; therefore Christ was sent for
both, and both were accomplished by him. Man in
his lapsed state stood in need of two things, satisfac
tion and merit:2 satisfaction, with respect to God's
punitive justice, the expiation of sin by the under
going of the punishment incurred by it, &c. ; merit,
with respect to eternal Hfe and the possession of the
heavenly blessedness ; the measure and foundation
of which merit was the fulfilling of the law in active
obedience. Now both of these are here distinctly
spoken unto ; Christ for sin condemned sin in the
flesh ; there is satisfaction ; and he also fulfilled the
righteousness of the law in the stead, at leastwise
for the good, of believers ; there is merit. So that in
the words we have a further account of that full
benefit and complete salvation which sinners have
by the Lord Jesus; and so much for their main
scope, and the general explication of the matter con
tained in them.
In the more particular opening of them four
things are to be inquired into :
1. Of what law doth Paul here speak?
2. What he means bytlie righteousness of the law.
1 See Burg, of Justif., 2 part, p. 361.
2 Cum duo nobis peperisse Christum dixerimus, impunita
tem et prsemium, illud satisfactioni, hoc merito Christi dis-
tincte tribuit vetus ecclesia. Satisfactio consistitin peccatorum
tralatione, meritum in perfectissima obedientiEe pro nobis
prsestitse imputatione.— G. Vosdus in Prefat. ad Grotium de
Sat. Christi. In homine lapso duo eonsideranda, quod pro
peccatis ejus solvendum fuit, ut liberaretur ; turn ut vita; in-
super fieret particeps, quod prsestari debuit id ad quod vita
promissa erat, &c. Utrumque apostolus docet et conjungit
Rom. viii. 3, 4, kc—Hoornb. Socin. Confut, lib. iii. cap. 1, p'.
657.

3. How this righteousness of the law is said to
be fulfilled.
4. In what sense is it said to be fulfilled in us ?
To the first of these inquiries TshaU answer very
briefly : It is the moral law which is here chiefly
spoken of. That which is called ' the law of works,'
Bom. iii. 27, in contradistinction to the evangelical
law, or the law of faith ; the law which God at first
made with Adam in the state of innocency, and
afterwards, for the matter of it, renewed and copied
out again to the people of Israel, abridging it in the
ten commandments ; the law which called for uni
versal, perfect, constant obedience, and promised life
thereupon, which was a draught, or model and sum
mary, of all that duty which God required of man ;
this is that law which the apostle here had mainly
in his eye. It is the same with the law spoken of
in the foregoing verse, ' What the law could not do
in that it was weak,' &c, (where I had occasion to
speak something about it, to which I refer you.1)
It is here said, that ' the righteousness of the law,'
&c. Now the law to which righteousness is an
nexed is commonly the moral law ; see Bom. x. 5 ;
PhU. iii. 9, et passim ; and that is the law which
Christ in special fulfilled. Therefore he having said,
' Think not that I am come to destroy the law or
the prophets ; I am not come to destroy, but to ful
fil,' Mat. v. 17, he explains himself, vers. 21, 27,
&c, what law he meant, by instancing in some
branches of the moral law. And the apostle having
styled Christ ' the end of the law,' Bom. x. 4, 5,
shows that he also by this meant the same law, as
appears by what he immediately adds, ' For Moses
describeth the righteousness which is of the law,
that the man which doth those things shaU live by
them.' I add further, it is that law, the righteous
ness whereof is fulfiUed in us, that is, by imputa
tion. Now,' it is the righteousness of the moral law,
as fulfilled by Christ, which is most eminently
imputed to us ; therefore that law must here chiefly
be understood. I deny not but that there are
other laws besides this with which righteousness is
coupled ; as those particular and positive laws laid
upon Christ with respect to the management of his
office. When the business of his baptism was before
him, he would have it done ; for, saith he, ' thus it be-
1 See page 164, &c.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

343

cometh us to fulfil all righteousness,' Mat. Hi. 15.
Yea, the ceremonial law itself had its hxatup-ara,
' for that is the word, Heb. ix. 1 ; and it is said of
Zacharias and Elisabeth, Luke i. 6, ' They were both
righteous before God, walking, h iraaaig rati hroXaTc
xa! &ix,utu(tu6i, in all the commandments and ordi
nances of the Lord blameless ; ' where some distin
guish, making the evToXai to refer to the com
mands of the moral law, and the dixai<A,a,ara to
the rites and ordinances of the ceremonial law.1
Neither do I deny but that other laws besides the
moral law were fulfilled by Christ, for he fulfilled all,
and that bis fulfilling of them also was for our good ;
but yet it was the moral law with which especiaUy
righteousness is joined, which Christ eminently ful
filled, and which fulfilling is in a higher notion im
puted to us. Therefore I interpret the word law
here as mainly pointing to that ; and in so doing I
have the concurrent suffrages of all the expositors
that I have looked into, one or two only ex
cepted. 2. What is here meant by the hxaioip-a, or right
eousness of the law ? The Vulgate, Ambrose, Eras
mus, TremeUius, &c, read it, ' the justification ofthe
law,' as the word dixaiupua is translated, Bom. v. 1 6 ;
and the Greek interpreters pitch upon the sense as
to the thing, ' that the righteousness of the law,' &c,
that is, say they, that the primary end and scope of
the law, (viz., to justify, for that was the end of the
law as given at first,) might be fulfilled in us.2 Beza,
with divers others, render it, ' that the right of the
law,' &c. The law had a right to lay its commands
upon the creature, and to exact his obedience there
unto ; it being God's own law, the declaration of
his wUl, it having his authority stamped upon it ;
and it enjoining nothing but what was righteous,
just, and good, it was its right to command, and to
be obeyed when it did so command. And in case
it was not so, it had a further right, viz., to demand
satisfaction in the enduring of its penalty ; for it
had a double right— one as it did and might require
active obedience, the other as it did and might re
quire satisfaction by suffering in case of disobedi
ence ; and these two put together make up its
¦See Dr Hammond on Rom. viii, 4, in Annot.
. To SiKalapa toO vbpov, Tovrian rd riXos, b oKoirbs (o-Koirbv
ydp eifce to SiKatovv rbv &vBponrov) irXnpovrai iv ^piv.—Theoph .

righteousness.1 Some make this to lie in the law's
threatenings or damnatory sentence against sinners,
in that curse which it denounces against the trans
gressors of it, Gal. iii. 10 ;2 as the hxa.!oiu.a tov ®toZ
spoken of, Bom. i. 32, is God's punishing and aveng
ing justice, and that dreadful sentence passed by
him, that they who do such things are worthy of
death, so the dixalu/ta tov \bjj,cv is the penal or
maledictory part of the law. But this is only a
part of its righteousness, and the secondary part
thereof too ; its preceptive righteousness, in its de
manding of active obedience, must be taken in,
and that too as that which is primarily and princi
pally intended by it ; therefore it is generally
opened by that.3 The Scripture speaks of ' the law
of righteousness,' Bom. ix. 31 ; of ' righteousness by
the law,' Gal. iii.|21 ; of ' the righteousness ofthe law,'
Bom. ii. 26, and in the text. Some difference there
is betwixt these, but that I shall not stand upon.
The latter is all that duty, righteousness, obedience
which the law requires, with the penalty which it
threatens, and will have inflicted upon disobedience.
3. We are to inquire what this fulfilling of the
law's righteousness is ? Ans. The former head
1 AiKalapa tov vbpov duplex, condemnandi peccatores et
rursus exigendi obedientiam perf ectam. — Pareus. Jus legis ut
qui peccaverant punirentur, et qui ad vitam intrare volebant
servarent mandata. — Streso. AiKatupa illud quod requirit
lex ; nempe turn plenam poenae reatibus nostris debitam luitio-
nem, ut a condemnatione liberemur ; turn plenam legis praesta-
tionem, ut ad seternam vitam tmvoi inveniamur, ex ilia pro-
missione, hoc fac et vives, &c. — Beza ; see Burg, of Justif.
part ii. p. 358.
2 AiKaiaua seu jus legis nihil aliud est quam KardKpipa
et damnatoria sententia legis, qua maledictionis et mortis
aeternae supplicio, &c. — Jacob, ad Portum Fid. Orthod. Defens.,
cap. 34, p. 975 ; vide Pareum in loc. birep ijv SiKalapa tov
vbpov, rb pr) ylveoBai vireiBovov rrj apa. — Chrysost.
3 Significat earn rectitudinem quae praecipitur in lege. — P.
Martyr. Justitia quam lex exigebat.— VataoZ. Totum quod
lex praecipit. — Alap. Aixalupa ipsa legis praecepta, &c — Perer.
Justitia legis est justitia quam praecipit lex. — Estius. Implere
. justum legis est totum quod lex precipit efficere.— Tolet. Ut
justificatio legis, i.e., justitia quam lex prescribit et exi-
git impleretur, kc— Staplet. Antidot., p. 627. Ut ad impleret
opus praeceptorum legis.— Ver. JZthiop. Ut nos prastaremus
omnia quae in lege Mosis per se honesta sunt. — Grot. Jus,
justitia, justificatio legis in eo consistit, ut per omnimodam
cum lege conformitatem justi atque inculpati habeamur coram
De0_  De Dieu. AiKalapia is anything that God hath thought
meet to appoint or command his people. — Dr Hammond.

344

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

being rightly apprehended, there will be little or
no difficulty in this. To fulfil the righteousness of
the law, it is fuUy to answer all its demands, to
come up to perfect and universal conformity to it,
to do whatever it enjoins, or to suffer whatever it
"threatens, or both. For so it was fulfilled by
Christ — in his active obedience as to the one, in
his passive obedience as to the other; as he was
perfectly holy he did what the law commanded,
and besides this, as he was made a curse, Gal. iH.
13, he underwent what the law threatened. It is
questioned whether one of these be not enough for
us, either to obey or to suffer; but all grant that
both were necessary on Christ's part, and that both
were done by him, and so he fulfilled the law's
righteousness.- This is the genuine and plain notion
of the word, yet I know other interpretations are
given of it. The righteousness of the law was ful
filled, inasmuch, say some,1 as that righteousness
which it did foretell was actually accomplished in
Christ: Bom. iii. 21, 'But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being wit
nessed by the law and the prophets;' that righteous
ness, which before was witnessed, promised, foretold
in the law, received in Christ its full accomplishment,
and therein lies the fulfilling of its righteousness.
But this exposition of the word is, I conceive, not
so proper to the thing here spoken of; it is another
fulfilling which is here intended ; not so much that
which is the bringing into act what was foretold, or
which is the verifying of a prophecy or prediction,
in which sense it hath usually joined with it rb
gntev, as Mat. xui 35 ; or n yraipri, as James ii. 23 ;
or ro\ yeypap,,u,im, as Luke xxiv. 44 ; or y ^o^nla,
as Mat. xui. 14 ; as the perfect obeying of what was
enjoined in the command, and the doing to the full
what the law as preceptive did require, rather than
what the law as predictive did foretell.
Again, some make this fulfilling of the law to be
no more than adeptio finis,2 the bringing about of that
1 This interpretation noted and confuted by Burg, of Justific
pp. 361, 362.
2Bodius in Eph. v. 28, p. 799, who yet afterwards sets
down that notion which I close with: Impleri quoque dicitur
cum perfecte prsostatur et observatur, quod a Christo pro nobis
factum est, etsi ea- praestatione vitam aeternam non dicatur
nobis acquisivisBe.

which was the great end of it. What was that ? why
to drive sinners to Christ. By its discovering sin
and guilt, for ' the law was added because of trans
gressions,' Gal. iii. 21, and wrath, the consequent
thereof, and the sinner's utter inability to help him
self, eventually it was a means to bring such to look
out for help in Christ. Therefore, Gal. Hi. 24, it is
said, ' The law was our schoolmaster, to bring us
unto Christ ; ' and in this sense some take that pas
sage, Bom. x. 4, ' Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness ;' i.e., that which God mainly designed
in the law, and which was the great end that he
aimed at therein, it was to drive, sinners to Christ
to obtain righteousness in and through him. This
explication I do not close with neither, for I suppose
the apostle is not here speaking so much of the ful
filling of the end of the law as of the fulfilling of the
matter of the law ; for he speaks of that which is
imputable to us, as you will hear : now it is Christ's
performing the matter of the law, and not the end
of the law in itself, which comes under imputation.
' That the righteousness of the law might be ful
filled,' that is, say others,1 that it might not be com
manded in vain, nor without effect, as it is in respect
of unbelievers. But this exposition wiU carry us to
that fulfilling of the law which is in our own per
sons, which is not here intended; and this wiU
better suit with the rbv vofiov puXarrm, Bom. ii. 26
and the rov v6p.ov rsXs/rfa/, Bom. ii. 27, rather than
with the rb hxaloj^a, tov \io/j,ov TXrjPusar in the text.
These and such like explications of the word there
fore being rejected, I stick to that which was first
laid down; to fulfil the law's righteousness, it is
fully, exactly, to do and to suffer whatever that
righteous law demanded.
4. The resolution of the fourth inquiry will take
me up more time : How are we to understand the
fulfilling of the law's righteousness in the saints?
'That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us;' he means in such who are in Christ Jesus,
and who do believe on him. Every true believer is
a fulfiller of the law ; but how or in what sense he
is so, there is the difficulty : in one sense nothing .
more true, in another nothing more false.
In the resolving of this a fourfold answer is given,
and a fourfold interpretation put upon the words.
1 Deodate in loc.

Chap. XIV]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

345

(1.) First, say some, the righteousness of the law
is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the saints
themselves. This the popish writers, in their
polemical discourses, and also in their commentaries
upon the text, do assert ; wherein yet, to give every
one thetf due, they differ from the old Pelagians ; 1
for whereas they held that a man by the mere power
of nature might perfectly keep the whole law, these
hold that a man cannot do this without the assisting
grace of God ; but that being vouchsafed, they say,
regenerate persons may keep the whole law. Thus
they expound the words, and then from them they
endeavour to prove, against us, a possibility of per
fect obedience to the law of God by the saints Hi .
this life ; insomuch that, say they, saints may here
hve without all sin, venial sins only excepted, which
break no squares betwixt God and the creature ;
that they may do all the good which the law re
quires ; nay, that this perfect conformity to the law
is not only possible but easy; nay, that such who
are high in grace, may not only do just what the law
demands, but that they may supererogate and do
more than what it demands. This is the doctrine
which they of the Bomish church teach and main
tain with great zeal.2
We are not ashamed to declare our dissent from
them in this proud opinion, which, in a great mea
sure, owns its descent from the old pharisees.3 We
beHeve that since Adam's fall no man, Christ only
excepted, did ever thus in himself fulfil the law's
1 Hinc patet per solam naturam et legem sine gratia
Christi, hominem in hac corruptione non posse totam legem
totumque decalogum implere. — A Lapide.
2 Concil Trident., Sess. 6, cap. 18 ; Bellarm. de Justif., lib.
iv. cap. 10, &c. ; Becan. Man. Controv., lib. i. cap. 17; Perer.
Disp. iii. in cap. 8 ad Rom. Ut justificatio legis, &c, i.e., ut
nos legem impleremus, idque faciendo justi essemus, quia
factores legis justificabuntur.— Estius. Peccato in nobis per
redemptionis Christi gratiam abolito, factaque cum Deo recon-
ciliatione, legem implere nobis est jam possibile, et facile. —
Tolet. Vide Justinian., Catharin., Staplet., Rhemists in loc,
kc Nemo miretur quod dixerim posse nos absque omni culpa
absolute esse. Nam et iterum dico, posse per Dei gratiam
• et liberum arbitrium, hominem perfectam assequi justitiam
coram Deo, immunitatem scilicet ab omni peccato, modo
voluntas ejus non desit, adjuvante divina ope.— C. Mussus.
8 See Calvin. Instit., lib. ii. cap. 7, sec. 5 ; Chemnit. Exam. De
Bonis Operibus, 3 qu., p. 181 ; Chamier. tom. iii. Hb. xi.; Whit-
tak. contra Durseum. de Parad., lib. viii. pp. 201, 202 ; Bradsh.
de Justif., cap. 11.

righteousness. Indeed, in the state of innocency,
man had a power to do this, but not since ; and to
hold the contrary is to confound the two states, and
to make little difference between man as standing
and man as fallen. The law's righteousness is a
draught or copy of man's primitive holiness, so that
to say that he can now in himself come up to that
righteousness is in effect to say he is as holy and
righteous as ever he was, and no ways impaired by
Adam's fall. By that we are all made unrighteous,
and such as are unrighteous can never perfectly fulfil
a righteous law. He must be sinless, do no evil, who
will exactly reach the law's righteousness ; but are
any such here on earth ? 1 1 Kings vUi. 46, ' There
is no man that sinneth not ; ' Eccles. vii. 20, ' For
there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good
and sinneth not ; ' James iH. 2, ' In many things we
offend all; ' 1 John i. 8, 'If we say that we have no sin
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ;'
Prov. xx. 9, ' Who can say, I have made my heart
clean, I am pure from my sin?' Bead Ps. cxxx. 3, and
cxlH. 2 ; Job ix. 2, 3, and xv. 15, &c. ; Bom. Hi. 19;
Gal. iii. 22. Further, he must not only do good,
all good, but he must do it in the most intense and
highest degree that he is capable of, or else he doth
not fulfil the law's righteousness : Mat. xxii. 37,
' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;'
but where is the man who thus loves God ? Now if
there be but a gradual defect, the law is not fulfilled.2
Its righteousness extends to the inward man, and to
the inward acts of the soul. As to external acts, if
evil, especially if grossly and scandalously evil, it is
possible for one to refrain from them ; if good, it is
possible for one to come up to them ; but this will
not amount to the perfect keeping of the law unless
there be an abstaining from heart-evUs, from evil
thoughts and concupiscence within — so Christ, the
maker and expounder of the law, opens it against the
pharisees, Mat. v. — and unless also there be the
doing of what is good from a right principle to a
right end. If the righteousness ofthe law did lie only
in external acts, something might be said ; but when
1 'Avapdpr-qros avBpibvwv oiSels irdpeg tou yivopivovSi -qp.S,s
dvBpibirov.—Clem. Constit., lib. ii. cap. 18.
2 Peccatum est cum non est charitas quae esse debet, vel
minor est quam esse debet.— Aug. de Perfect. Justitia.
2 X

346

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

it reaches to internal acts, who can say that there all
is right 1 Oh how great is the law's strictness !
Deut. v. 32, ' Ye shall observe to do therefore as the
Lord your God hath commanded you : you shall not
turn aside to the right hand or to the left.' And its
demands are so severe, that if you fail in any one
point, you are gone, you fail in all : Gal. iii. 10,
' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them.'
James u. 10, ' For whosoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all,'
and tf so, he must be strangely arrogant and ignorant
too that will pretend to come up in himself to the
law's righteousness. If any could so do, to him the
reward would be reckoned not of grace, but of debt,
Bom. iv. 4 ; his justification would be by works,
whereas the Scripture excludes any from being justi
fied that way, Bom. iii. 19, 20; Gal. ii. 16. His
righteousness would be of the law, and so, as to him,
Christ ' died in vain,' Gal. ii. 21. If the law's right
eousness was fulfillable in this sense, why did the
apostle in the verse foregoing speak of the law's
aSuvafiia, or weakness ? Whence doth that proceed
but from our weakness, and utter inability perfectly
to obey it ? If tf be said, as it is, that Christ came
in flesh for this very end, to take off this weakness,
that we might be able fuUy to, keep it in our own
persons, that we peremptorily deny. He came that
the righteousness of the law should be fulfiUed for
us and in us imputatively, but not personally. Had
he designed the latter, it is strange that we should
not have one instance in all the New Testament of
any one person who ever did so fulfil the law. I
know some are mentioned, but all that is said of
them doth amount only to integrity of parts, not to
perfection of degrees ; to eminency in grace and
obedience, but not to law exactness ; to evangelical,
but not to legal perfection.
Obj. But doth God enjoin the creature that which
is impossible ? 2
Ans. Just thus the Pelagians of old argued for the
possibility of men's keeping the law; and Augustine,
writing against them, was fain again and again to
answer this very objection.2 We say, what is simply
1 Belarm. de Lib. Arb., lib. v. cap. 18.
2 De Nat. et Grat., cap. 43 ; De Peccat. Mer. et Rem., lib.
ii. cap. 6, 7, 9.

and absolutely impossible God doth not impose upon
the creature ; 1 but what he himself hath -made im
possible voluntarUy and by his own default, that the
great lawgiver may and doth impose. This im
possibility doth no way intrench upon the goodness
of God, because the sinner hath contracted and wil
fully brought it upon himself. I hope the creditor
may demand his debt, though the debtor cannot pay
tf, if through sloth, prodigality, bad husbandry, he
hath disabled himself thereunto. That is the sin
ner's case with respect to perfect obedience to the
law. God may demand his right, though the crea
ture hath lost his power. This objection at the first
hearing seems to have something in it, and it is very
plausible to put an ugliness upon the protestants'
doctrine; but when it is looked into and duly weighed,
there is nothing at all of strength in it. Others, for
brevity sake, I must omit. It appears, then, that
the fulfilling of the law's righteousness in this sense,
viz., of the saints' perfect and personal fulfilling
thereof in themselves, is not according to truth, and
therefore must be rejected.
(2.) Secondly, It is said that the law is fulfilled
in and' by the saints inherently and personally, but
not perfectly. Thus some of our own divines do
expound the words ; they making them to refer to
that obedience which belongs to sanctification, and
which sanctified persons in themselves come up un
to ; who though in the high and rigid notion they
do not fulfil the law, yet in a soft and mild notion
they do.2 There is a begun, inchoate obedience
in them thereunto, which is continued and car
ried on higher and higher till it be consummate.
They do not only love and like the law, and consent
to it that itis good, but they obey it in part; which,
though it be but in part, yet they being sincere
therein, and desiring to arrive at what is perfect,
God accepts of them as though they did perfectly
fulfil it. Thus evangelically, though not legally,
the law's righteousness is fulfilled in them. It is
not unusual in Scripture to set forth inchoate, par
tial, imperfect obedience, by the fulfilling of the
law: Bom. ii. 27, 'And shaU not uncircumcision
1 Vide Chamier., tom. iii. lib. xi. p. 328 ; Thes. Sedan., vol.
i. p. 479 ; Pet. Martyr (in loc) : Quanquam si quis recte, &c.
2 Lex data est ut gratia qusereretur, gratia data est ut lex
impleretur.— August, de Spir. et Lit., lib i. cap. 19.

Chap. XIV]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

347

which is by nature, tf it fulfil the law, judge thee,'
&c. Bom. xiii. 8, ' He that loveth another hath ful
filled the law;' ver. 10, 'Love is the fulfilling of
the law.' Gal. v. 14, ' All the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this ; Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself' Gal. vi. 2, ' Bear ye one another's bur
dens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.' Now in this
sense the saints in. themselves, in this life, may be
said to fulfil the law's righteousness. They who go
this way differ in this. Some interpret the words
solely of inherent and personal obedience ; 1 others
take in that also which is by imputation.2
I cannot deny the truth of what is here said as to
the thing ; but whether it be the proper interpreta
tion of the text, that I question : I think not. My
reasons why I so think are these : (1.) The apostle
speaking of that obedience, or fulfilling of the law,
which was one of the great ends of God in sending his
Son, it must be most proper here to understand that
obedience and that fulfilhng of the law which was
first effected in the person of this Son, and then
made over to believers by imputation. (2.) This
law-fulfilling coming in as the high product of the
love and wisdom of God, it may very probably be
conjectured that if there be one fulfilling of the law
higher than another, the highest here must be taken ;
and therefore it must not be that which is but in
choate and imperfect in us, but rather that which was
complete, full, perfect in Christ. (3.) Though the
fulfilling of the law be sometimes taken in that
lower sense which hath been mentioned, yet the law-
righteousness more usually notes that exact, univer
sal obedience which the law requires ; which notion,
therefore, we may the rather be induced here to fol
low. (4.) The interpretation given by these worthy
persons wiU not so well suit with what the apostle
is now upon ; he is, in short, summing up the grand
benefits that saints have by Christ, shewing how
they are secured from condemnation, and restored
to a state of happiness. In order to which, he first
sets down the expiation of sin, the satisfaction of
1 Id quod nonnulli de justificatione interpretantur, &c, ideo-
que de sanctificatione vitae inteHigitur. Nam quod objici potest,
nos non esse perfectos,-ideoque, &c. Illud non sequitur, quia
etsi legem non compleamus simpliciter ac simul, complemus
tamen secundum quid, secundum omnia praecepta, inchoata
obedientia, et successive.— 6?omar. in loc. ; Balduin, Deodat, &c.
2 Pareus in Dub., p. 780 ; P. Martyr.

God's justice, &c, which were done by Christ's
sacrifice or passive obedience in dying. Then he
goes on to that which was further to be done ; the
holiness of God and of his law must be satisfied
also, eternal life must be merited, &c. Now these
must be done by Christ's active obedience or fulfil
ling the law's righteousness ; therefore that he adds,
that the righteousness of the law, &c. Wherefore
we must here understand Christ's obedience as im
puted, not our own as inherent, if that word be
proper ; otherwise we shall leave out one of the great
benefits which we have by Christ, viz., that which
results from his active obedience, and one of the
ways wherein he did promote our salvation ; whereas
the apostle designs to set down both distinctly.
(3.) Thirdly, Others open it thus : the righteous
ness of the law is fulfilled in believers perfectly, yet
not personally, but imputatively. Their meaning is
this : the Lord Jesus in his own person, whilst he was
here on earth, did fully obey the law, perfectly con
forming to it in aU its holy commands ; now this
his most perfect obedienoe to the law is made over,
reckoned, imputed to his members, as if they them
selves in thetf own persons had performed it. The
law's righteousness is not fulfilled in them formally,
subjectively, inherently, or personally, but legally ;
they being in Christ as their head and surety, and
imputatively, so it is. This is the fulfilling which
suits with the words, for it is said that the right
eousness of the law might be fulfilled in us ; not by
us, but in us : in us, that is, not only for our sake and
for our good, but as Christ's obedience is ours by im
putation. If the former senses be rejected, this must
be received ; for since the law's righteousness must
be fulfilled in the saints, (otherwise what the apostle
here affirms would not be true,) and since there are
but two ways wherein tf can be fulfilled, either by
themselves or by some other, it necessarily follows,
if they do not fulfil it the first way, that the second
must take place ; and so it must be fulfilled by
Christ for them, and his obedience be imputed to
them. And this is that exposition of the words
which our protestant divines,1 so far as imputation
1 Obedientia Christi, quae in carne nostra exhibita nobis im-
putatur, ut eo beneficio pro justis censeamur. — Calvin. Quo
modo justitia Christi in nobis impleta est per Christum ?
Duplici nomine, 1. Imputative, aliena justitia, quae Christi est,

348

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

in general is concerned, do commonly give. But
about it many things are necessary to be spoken un
to, both for the explaining and also for the vindicat
ing of it, which, therefore, shall be done by and by.
(4.) Fourthly, The fulfilling of the law's righteous
ness, say some, is no more than the remission of sin-
He that hath his sins pardoned is a fulfiller of the
law. Christ by his death having procured for us the
remission of all our sins, upon that we are looked
upon by God as if we had done or kept the whole
law ; thus Piscator opens the words.1 And before
him Ambrose speaks the same : Quomodo impletur in
nobis justificatio legis, nisi cum datur remissio omnium
peccatorum ? How is the righteousness of the law
fulfilled in us, unless it be in the remission of all our
sins ? To which we may add that of Augustine : 2
Omnia mandata Dei facta deputantur, quando quicquid
non fit ignoscitur ; all the commands of God are
deemed to be done, when that is pardoned which is
not done, (if it be good, or which should not have
been done tf it be evil.)
Two things I would say against this intepreta-
tion : (1.) It sounds very harsh to say we fulfil the
law, when God is pleased to pardon the violation of
it ; nay, the thing is not true. God's remitting the
breach of the law, and our actual fulfilling of the
duties of the law, are not equipoUent, but distinct
and different things. Upon remission the sinner is
exempted from the law's penalty, but he cannot
upon that alone be said to fulfil it. If the prince
adeoque et nostra, &c. 2. Quod per Spiritum Christi regene
rate pro mensura gratise Dei vitam et justitiam earn exprimi-
mus quam lex Dei exigit. Magis placet prior sententia hoc
loco. —Muscul. Vide Bezam in loc. ; Vorstium in loc. Jus
tificatio legis, quae requirit vel opera vel poenam, impleta est
in Christo per se, et ut sic dicam inhaesive, quia ipse prseter-
quam quod passus est, etiam operatus est perfectissime ; in
nobis vero impleta est per fidem, et ut sic dicam applicative
nam per fidem fit ut Christi justitia, nostra, quodammodo
evadat. — Rolloc. See Fulk? and Cartwright against the
Rhemists ; Elton upon Rom. viii. p. 97, &c.
1 Christus sua morte nobis acquisivit remissionem omnium
peccatorum, ac proinde effecit, ut habeamur pro iis qui perfec
tam legi obedientiam prsestiterint. — In Paraphr. The right.
eousness, &c, quatenus Christus sua morte eis acquisivit om;
nium peccatorum remissionem, quod perinde est ac si perfec
tam legi obedientiam praestitissent ; aequipollent enim haec
nihil pecavisse, et perfectam legi obedientiam praestitisse.— In
Observ. 2 Retract., lib. i. cap. 19.

be pleased to pardon the breaker of the laws, will
that amount to the making such a one to be a
keeper of the laws ? There is enough upon his
pardon for non-punition, but nothing more. (2.) In
the justification of sinners there is not only the re
mission of sin, but also the imputation of Christ's
righteousness ; these are the two parts of justifica
tion, and which take in the whole nature of it ; it
is not complete in the one or in the other part, but in
both conjunct. I know some very learned persons
make remission of sin to be the whole of justifica
tion ; 1 I humbly differ from them. When God
justifies, he doth not only pardon, and so look upon
the sinner as not guilty ; but he doth also impute
Christ's righteousness, upon which he looks upon
him as positively righteous ; 2 this wtfl hereafter be
made out more fuUy, if God give leave. Thus it is
in the justification or righteousness of the law ; to
the making up of which it is not enough only to be
pardoned, and so not to be judged a breaker of the
law, but there must be the doing of what the law
enjoins, otherwise its righteousness is not fulfilled.
It is one thing to be innocent, in the taking off
of guilt, and another thing to be righteous in the
way of positive obedience ; 3 both are necessary as
to that which I am upon, and included in it. Not
guilty is not a sufficient plea or answer to the law's
demands; there must be something, either in the
sinner himself or in his surety, which maybe looked
upon as a formal and actual obeying, of it.
Thus I have given a fourfold explication of the
fulfilUng of the law's righteousness in the saints.
The third is that which seems to me to be the best,
viz., this righteousness of the law is fulfiUed in the
saints, as Christ for them in his own person did
perfectly obey the law, and as that his perfect obe
dience is imputed and reckoned to them, upon which
it is theirs to all intents as if they had so obeyed in
1 "Wotton de Reconc. Pec, part 1, lib. ii. cap. 3, &c.
2 Vide Zanch. ad Eph., cap. 5, p. 249, et quam plures alios.
Uti Christus nobis factus et SiKaiocivq et diroXirpao-is, ita ad
salutem atque justificationem requiritur, praeter remissionem
peccatorum, etiam justitiae Christi imputatio, qua vitae jus
nobis addicitur, ko.—Hoorneb. Socin. Confut., lib. iii. p. 658.
8 Justus dicatur cui peccata omnia remittuntur justitia in-
nocentise, quia posita hac remissione innocens censetur, &ft,
sed non justitia obedientiae cui praemium vitas debetur, &c,-r
Twrretin. de Sat. Christi, p. 273,

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

349

thetf own persons. But there being many diffi
culties about this, and it leading me to the main
truth which the words hold forth, I must endeavour
further to open it.
Which I shall do in the discussing of these three
propositions :
1. That our Lord Christ was made under the law.
2. That being made under the law he fulfilled it.
3. That his fulfilling of the law is imputed to
believers; so as that in him they fulfilled the law also.
Prop. 1. Christ was made under the law. The
apostle is express in this : ' When the fulness of the
time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a
woman, made under the law,' Gal. iv. 4 ; made
under the law, that is, made subject to the law, so
as that he was under the obhgation thereof, and
bound in all things to conform to its righteousness.
And this subjection of Christ to the law did result
partly from his nature, partly from his office. From
his nature, as he was man, and so a creature, for his
manhood was a created thing ; now every creature
as such is indispensably subject to the law of God,
a creature necessarUy must be under the law of his
Creator and sovereign. So far therefore as Christ
was such he was indispensably obhged to the law ;
so far his subjection was natural, and thereupon
necessary. From his office, or that economy and
dispensation which he had submitted unto as media
tor, redeemer, surety, &c, with respect to this he
was to be subject too, yet in it his subjection was
purely free and voluntary. It is a nice' question
which some discuss,1 Whether Christ's subjection to
the law did arise from the natural necessity of his
being, as he was man and a creature, or whether it
did arise only from that mediatory office which he
had submitted to? I think, things being rightly
stated, both may be taken in; both nature and
office did require that Christ should be subject to
the law, though in different ways.2
For the better understanding of Christ's being
made under the law, I desire you to take notice of
four or five things.
(1.) This must be understood of him with respect
to his human nature. This was the nature which
only was capable of subjection ; Christ as man
1 See Bodius on Eph., cap. 5, p. 812, &c.
1 -This opened in Turretim. de Sat. Christi, pp. 277, 278.

only could be obedient. As to his divine nature
he made the law, so he was the lawgiver, and so he
was in all acts of power and authority equal with
the Father ; it was solely in respect of his human
nature that he was made under the law, which was
part of that form of a servant which he took upon
him, Phil. ii. 7. As he was God it was proper to him
to command, as he was man only it was proper to him
to obey ; in the former notion he was ' Lord of the
Sabbath,' Mat. xii. 8 ; in the latter he was bound
to keep the Sabbath. Christ as man, and because
man, was subject ; but then it was only as such.
(2.) Christ, as being made under the law, is to be
considered not merely as a creature, upon which he
was subject to it, but as a creature in the state of
his humiliation and suretyship, during which state
only his subjection to the law was to continue. For
his human nature now in heaven is a creature, and
yet there it is not, if we . speak strictly, under the
law ; for though Christ there doth materially the
tilings which the law requires, as to be holy, to love
God, &c, yet he doth not do them formally as acts
of obedience to the law, but as things which spring
from the perfection of his nature and state ; there
fore, I say, when we are speaking of Christ's being
subject to the law, we must not consider him only
as man, but as man in such a way or state, in the
carrying on of such an undertaking, which when
he had effected, his subjection was to cease. Some
say, that though the subjection which Christ was
under in reference to his office as mediator be at an
end, yet his subjection to the law, which was natu
ral, and did arise from his being a creature, that yet
remains. I answer, If by this natural subjection
they mean only that which results from his being,
or that obligation which results from the intrinsic
goodness of things, so we grant him even in heaven
to be under it ; but if they mean that subjection or
that obligation which relates to and results from an
external law, so we deny Christ there to be under
it ; in his glorified state he doth the things which
the law commands, but not as or because they are
commanded by the law.
(3.) The principal law that Christ was made
under, and which he was principally obHged to
fulfil, was the moral law.1 This was the law which
1 Vide Bradsh. de Justif., cap. 18.

350

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

at first was made to Adam, which he brake, and so
entailed the curse upon aU his posterity ; therefore
Christ, the second Adam, was also made under this
law, that he might fulfil it, and so restore man to
his primitive happiness. This was the law which
was the rule and standard of righteousness ; where
fore tf Christ will convey a righteousness to the
creature, he must be made under and fulfil this law.
He is said to be ' a curse for us ; ' now that curse
doth mainly refer to the moral law, though it is very
true, by way of allusion it is set forth by that which
was proper to the judicial law, Gal. iii. 1 3. And he
is also said to ' redeem us from the law,' that is,
from the curse of the law; now it is tbe curse an
nexed to the moral law that he redeemed us from ;
therefore that was the law which he was made
under. This was the law most excellent ; if Christ
would submit to put himself under the obligation of
a law less excellent, surely he would not refuse to
submit to put himsetf under the obligation of this,
which was the most excellent law. EspeciaUy con
sidering how necessary this was for the good of
sinners ; for since God stood upon the performance
of this law as the way wherein he would justify, it
was most necessary that Christ should be subject to
it and perform it, or else there would have been no
justification. Had he been made only under the
ceremonial law, then the benefits of his obedience
would have reached no further than that people who
were concerned in that law ; and so the Jews would
have had aU, and the poor Gentiles nothing. If
Christ will redeem and save both, he must make
good that law which did equally oblige both ; now
that was the moral law : Gal. iv. 4, &c, ' God sent
forth his Son made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them thai; were under the law, that
we (Gentiles as well as Jews) might receive the adop
tion of sons.' Christ came not to save this or that
nation or people, but mankind ; wherefore he must
be subject unto and fulfil that law in order thereunto
in which not any particular people, but all mankind
were concerned ; which, I say, was the moral law.
(4.) Yet besides this general law, which concerned
all mankind,1 (which therefore the Saviour of man
kind subjected himself unto,) there were other par
ticular and special laws to whose obligation he sub-
1 Bradsh. of.Justif., cap. 19.

mitted, and unto which he was obedient. As he
was a man, he was subject to the moral law ; as he
was of the seed of Abraham, of the stock Of Israel,
so he was subject to the ceremonial law ; as he was
mediator, there were some particular and positive
laws laid upon him, to which he was subject also.
In obedience to the ceremonial law he was circum
cised, Luke ii. 21, presented in the temple, with the
usual offering of the poor and mean, Luke ii. 22,
kept the passover, Mat. xxvi. 1 7, and the like. In
obedience to the special laws laid upon him as me
diator, the chiefest of which was that he should so
and so suffer, yea, lay down his Ufe, he did accord
ing to the will of his Father ; therefore he is said to
be ' obedient to death, even the death of the cross,'
PhU. ii. 8, and to ' learn obedience by the things he
suffered,' Heb. v. 7 ; and John x. 18, ' No man taketh
it (his life he speaks of) from me, but I lay it down
of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This commandment have I
received of the Father ; ' so John xiv. 31. We com
monly distinguish between the moral law, under
which, as being general, Christ was, and that special
law which was laid upon him as mediator. But
some I find do not very well approve of this distinc
tion ; 1 their reason is, because it seems to assert that
something was imposed upon Christ by the latter
law, unto which he was not obliged by the former,
which, say they, was not so. For there was nothing
enjoined in the mediatory and positive law, unto
which Christ was not obliged by the moral law ;
there was, indeed, in it a more particular application
and determination of Christ's duty in his cHcum-
stances, but the thing itself was pre-enjoined, and
he pre-engaged thereunto from the moral law. But
this I wUl not concern myself about. He that would
see a particular draught of Christ's obedience to the
severals laws which he was made under, and the
several capacities in which he all along obeyed,
may find it done to his hand by others largely and
distinctly, as particularly by Zanchy on Phil. h. 8,
p. 114, &c.
(5.) Though Christ was thus made under the law,
and so obliged to keep tf, yet this notwithstanding,
his obedience thereunto was meritorious for us, and
1 Burg, of Justif., p. ii. p. 396, &c. ; Bodius on the Eph.; pp.
386, 387.

Chap. XIV]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

351

imputable to us. For this is usually objected by
the Socinian opposers of the imputation and merit
of his obedience ;J for if Christ, say they, was subject
to the law, as he was, and so bound for himself to do
what he did, how can his obedience be made over to
others, or merit for others ? for debitum tollit meritum.
For answer to this several things are said, but I
will instance only in three.
[L] In the business before us, Christ is not to be
considered only as man, but as God-man. Had he
obeyed as mere man, his obedience could not have
been meritorious, for so all would have been but a
due debt and for himself ; but he obeying who was
God-man, so it became meritorious for others.2 His
obedience and subjection was indeed terminated in
his human nature, but that must not be abstracted
from his divine, both being now united in one per
son ; which union, though it did not make Christ
incapable of obeying, yet it did put a singular virtue,
and worth, and merit into his obeying. And as to
his obeying for himself, take the explication of that
in the words of a reverend divine : 3 ' It is, saith he,
alleged that Christ as man fulfilled the law for him
self, and therefore not for us. Ans. The flesh or
manhood of Christ considered by itself, apart from
the Godhead of the Son, is a creature that owes
homage unto God. Yet if it be considered as it is
received into the unity of the second person, and is
become a part thereof, it is exempted from the com
mon condition of all other men, and is not bound to
perform subjection as aU men are ; for if the Son of
man be Lord of the Sabbath, then also is he Lord
of the whole law.'
[2.] Though Christ, when he had submitted to
assume man's nature, was bound to keep the law,
yet his keeping thereof was in effect free and volun
tary, and so imputable and meritorious, inasmuch as
he, for the sake of man, freely consented to the tak-
1 Quocirca nee pro aliis magis quam quilibet alius homo,
legem divinam conseryando satisfacere potuit, quippe qui ipse
earn servare omnino deberet. — Socin. de Servat., p. iii. cap. 5.
Against him see Calov. Socin. Proflig., sect. 5, controv. 1,
p. 642.
2 Obediens factus fuit ad mortem Patri, non necessum id
habuit natura sed oeconomia nostrae redemptionis. Ut etiam
meriti vis non naturae humanse qua natura, sed qua Deo unita,
est adscribenda. — Stegman., disp. 23, p. 266.
3 Mr Perkins on Gal. iv. 4, p. 274.

ing of that nature, without which he had not been
under any obligation to the law.1 When he was
man he was bound to obey ; but he was not at alb
but by his own consent, bound to be man, and there
fore his obedience was free, because his incarnation
was free and without any obligation. A worthy
person thus expresses it : 2 ' Even Christ's obedience
to the moral law was not his duty, till he voluntarily
undertook it ; it being, therefore, upon his consent
and choice, and not due before consent, must needs
be meritorious. And though when he was once a
servant, he was bound to do the work of a servant,
yet when he voluntarily put himself in the state of
a servant, and under the law, not for his own sake,
but for ours, his work is nevertheless meritorious.'
As it is with a surety, he having engaged with and
for the debtor, is thereby bound to pay the debt ; yet
he pays it freely, inasmuch as it was his own free
act to bring himself under such an obUgation ; and
so it was here in what Christ did.
[3.] It is further added, that though Christ, con
sidered simply and absolutely as man, might be
obhged by the law, yet as our surety, and undertak
ing for us in a fide-jussorial manner, so his obligation
was wholly voluntary and free.3 My author goes on
and opens himself thus : ' Suppose Christ to be made
a man, and thereby absolutely obliged to fulfil the
law for himself, yet that he should enter into agree
ment with the Father to obey it as a surety, for such
a term of years upon earth, thereby to procure sal
vation for a sinner undone otherwise, this was
wholly gracious and voluntary, and Christ was not
obUged to it as man.' Upon the whole, these three
things being well weighed, the objection is sufficiently
answered ; for suppose that Christ in such a sense
1 Quicunque pro se et suo loco vel Adae vel Abrahae factus
est filius, is quoque pro se et suo nomine ad legem implen-
dam tenebatur; qui vero non pro se sed pro aliis vel homo fieri
' vel Israelita nasci voluit, is quoque non pro se sed pro aliis ad
legem quamlibet implendam obligatus est. At Christus, &c.
—Turret, de Sat., p. 276. Vide Polanum in Dan. ix. p. 196 ;
Bodium on Eph., pp. 811, 812; Hoorneb. Socin. Confut., lib.
iii. p. 627. Quamvis humana natura, ut creatura quaevis, Deo
sublex observantiam debuit, attamen quia nee earn assumere
tenebatur, neque simplicis creaturae obedientia fuit sed Beav-
SpiKT), ideo pro quibus hoc et istud factum, quidni et pro iisdem
satisfecisse dicatur ?
2 Mr Baxt. Aphor., p. 58.
3 Burg, of Justif., p. ii. p. 409.

352

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[Chap. XIV

was bound to keep the law, yet there were other re
spects, peculiar to his person and obedience, which
made it so voluntary and for us, as that it may truly
be looked upon as meritorious and imputable. So
much of the first proposition.
Prop. 2. The second is this, Christ being thus made
under the law, he fulfilled it. Mat. iU. 15, ' Thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness; ' chap. v. 17,
18, ' Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets ; I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, TiU heaven and
earth pass, one iota or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, tiU aU be fulfilled.' Bom. x. 4, ' Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth ; ' the end of the law, viz., as the law
in him received its full and final accomplishment.
Two things, as you have heard, were contained in its
righteousness — the duty it commanded, the penalty
it threatened ; in both respects Christ fulfilled it.
For in his active obedience he did the former, and
in his passive obedience he underwent the latter.
The preceptive and mandatory part of the law he
fulfilled actively, both as he shunned whatever evil
that prohibited, and also as he did whatever good
that enjoined. He was originally and actually holy,
acted all along in exact and universal conformity to
the law's commands ; so he fulfilled it actively, John
viii. 46 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; 1 Peter ii. 22, and i. 19 ; Acts
iii. 14 ; Dan. ix. 24 ; 1 John ii. 2 ; Heb. vii. 26. The
penal and minatory part he fulfilled passively, by his
bearing of its curse when he died upon the cross.
With respect to both, Christ's obedience was so full
and perfect, so adequate to all the law's demands,
that it could not but say, I have enough, I am fully
satisfied, I can ask no more.
And this fulfilling of the law was the foundation
upon which his satisfaction and merit was built;
without which he could neither have satisfied nor
merited. Oh, saith God, Son ! if thou wilt satisfy
me, there is my holy and just law, satisfy it ; unless
that be satisfied I cannot be satisfied ; by its viola
tion I was offended, by its fulfilling I must be ap
peased. WeU, Christ accepts of the terms. ' Lo,
(saith he,) I come : in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, oh my God :
yea, thy law is within my heart,' Ps. xl. 7, 8. And
what he undertook he made good ; he went so far

that neither the righteous God nor the righteous law
could tax him with any defect. If it had not been
thus, though he had obeyed never so much for us,
though his obedience had been never so free and
voluntary, yet it would not have been either satisfac
tory or meritorious ; for all satisfaction and merit
are founded upon the fulfilling of the law's righteous
ness. The gracious God is pleased to accept of an
imperfect obedience, if sincere, from us, but the just
God would have a perfect obedience for us. He can
accept of a mite from us, but from our surety he
would have the whole debt paid down.
Whether Christ's active fulfilling of the law, as
considered in itself, in its intrinsic worth and value
could properly and formally merit of God, as some
hold ; 1 or whether it did merit, respect being had to
God's ordination, covenant, and promise, as others,2
is a nicety that I have no mind to engage in. That '
was the way wherein he merited, which is the thing
that I only design to speak unto.
Prop. 3. The third proposition : Christ having
thus fulfilled the law, this his obedience is made
over and imputed to believers. For otherwise how
doth the apostle here say, ' that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us?' This is that
imputed righteousness which is so often spoken of in
that one chapter of Bom. iv. In reference to this,
Christ is said to be 'made righteousness to us,'
1 Cor. i. 30 ; to be ' the Lord our righteousness,'
Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and we are said to be ' the righteous
ness of God in him,' 2 Cor v. 21 ; to be 'accepted
in him,' Eph. i. 6 ; to be 'presented' to God as 'not
1 Opera Christi absolute considerata meriti proprie dicti
rationem habent ; non respectu promissionis alicujus, sed insita
sua vi, tanquam opera BeavSpiKb absolute indebita. Eadem
autem benigna promiBsione Dei niti, quatenus meritum illud
ad nos refertur, omnino concedimus.— Essen. Tri. Crucis, p.
294. 2 Equidem fateor, si quis simpliciter et per se Christum op-
ponere vellet judicio Dei, non fore merito locum, quia non
reperiretur in homine dignitas quae possit Deum promereri.—
Calvin. Instit., lib. ii. cap. J 7, sec. 1. Vide Chamier., tom. iii.
Hb. ix. cap. 1, sec. 7. Nee aliter Christi meritum accipimus,
quam quod legi plenissime satisfecit, non solius dbedientise iu-
sita vi ac dignitate ad divini juris rigorem appensa, sed ad
legem satisfactoriae, sic meritus ex divina promissione fuit, non
absque ea. Meritum ad fcedus non extra illud iestimatur, non
ad merum Dei jus, quasi ulla cujusquam actione in rationem
debiti trahi posset. — Hoornb. Socin. Conf., p. 627.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

353

having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,' Eph.
v. 27; by His obedience to be 'made righteous,'
Eom. v. 19. Many other scriptures might be cited
which hold forth this great evangelical truth, and
also these that I have cited might be much enlarged
upon ; but the difficulty lying not so much in the
general as in the particular stating and explication
of it — where indeed there is enough of difficulty —
therefore I shall rather direct myself to that.
And here two weighty questions must be dis
cussed. 1. Whether Christ's active fulfiUing the law, or
his active as weU as his passive obedience, be imputed
to beUevers ?
2. In what sense may it be said to be imputed to
them? My text, and the subject which I am upon from it,
laya necessityupon me of speaking something to these
points ; otherwise I should most gladly have passed
them by. It is much against my sptfit, God knows,
to revive and keep up those controversies, which I
could wish with aU my soul had never been started,
but being started, that they might now be buried.
And further, it grieves me exceedingly to meddle
in those matters wherein I must unavoidably differ
from some or other of those who, for their piety and
learning, are of great eminency and repute in the
church of God, and for whose names and persons I
have a very high veneration. Yet for all this I
dare not, to please myself, and to avoid what is
ungrateful to me, go out of my way. It is merely
sense of duty, as I apprehend it, which makes me
to engage in this unwelcome province. These con
troversies, as they are managed by some in their
utmost latitude, are grown to a great vastness ; but
it would be highly inconvenient for me, now I am
upon the close of this work, which is already grown
above its due proportion^ to be prolix about them.
I shaU contract myself, therefore, and only in short
speak to that which I conceive is absolutely neces
sary for the clearing up of the things in question.
1. As to the first question, Whether Christ's active
fulfilhng the law, or whether his active as well as his
•passive obedience, be imputed' to believers ? I shall
not spend any time about the terms, in inquiring
whether they be proper or not, or whether the
things be rightly distinguished or not, since there

was action in Christ's passive obedience, and passion
in his active. All understand the thing which we
intend in the use of the words ; therefore, without
any further debate, I will take them as they are
commonly used and understood.
In answer to this question, I find four opinions
about it :
1. That neither the active nor the passive obe
dience of Christ are properly and really imputed to
believers. 2. That the passive obedience of Christ only is
imputed. 3. That both active and passive are imputed.
4. That the active obedience of Christ is imputed
as well as the passive, but not in the same way; not
quatenus active, but as it was a part of Christ's satis
faction and merit.
For those who espouse the first opinion, Socinians
and papists, I will not at present meddle with
them. One of their great arguments against the
imputation of Christ's obedience, particularly his
active obedience, about which only I would con
tend, viz., that he being a creature was under an
obligation to obey, that he obeying for himself, his
obedience could not be imputed to others ; this
argument, I say, hath been already answered. And
as to the other arguments which they use, they wUl
fall in with those which shall be presently spoken
unto, as they are urged by others, who yet are far
from being Socinians or papists, against the impu
tation of Christ's active obedience.
Secondly, There are others, much more orthodox
and sound in the faith than the former, who, though
they hold the imputation of Christ's obedience, yet
they Hmit that imputation to his passive obedience ;
asserting that that only is imputed to believers.
They deny not but that his active obedience was
necessary for his person and office, for the qualifying
of him for his mediatorship ; but that it is formaUy
imputed to them who believe, that they deny. They
say, God did accept of the death and sufferings of
his Son as a full satisfaction for his violated law ;
that the righteousness thereof is fulfilled by his bear
ing its penalty ; that upon the alone bearing of that
penalty sin is remitted, and the sinner completely
justified ; that this passive obedience is sufficient, to
aU intents and purposes, for satisfaction and merit
2 V

354

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV

too, without any further imputation of his active
obedience ; so that if the sinner do but perform the
conditions on his part, of believing and repenting,
in Christ's death alone there is every way enough
for him. The grounds they go upon in the defence of
this, opinion are many. One is, that when the Scrip
ture speaks of reconciUation with God, remission
of sin, justification, &c, still it lays the stress of all
upon Christ's passive obedience, or upon his death
and blood. So Mat. xx. 28, and xxvi. 28 ; John vi.
51, &c. ; Acts xx. 28 ; Bom. iii. 25, and v. 9 ; Gal.
iu. 13; Eph. i. 7, and ii. 13, &c. ; Col. i. 20-22;
1 Pet. i. 19 ; Heb. ix. 12, and x. 14. Besides this
they prove it by several reasons, which are chiefly
drawn from the sufficiency of Christ's passive obe
dience for the sinner's relief in his lost condition,
and also from the great difficulties, if not absurdi
ties, as they judge, which attend the other opinion
for the imputation of his active obedience. This
opinion hath the more prevailed since the first
broaching of it — which was not very long ago; for tf
was not made matter of controversy till these latter
ages of the church — not only from the strengtH
and weightiness of the arguments with which it is
backed, which cannot be denied, but also from the
assertors of it, they being many, and some of them
persons deservedly of very great reputation in the
church of Christ ; such as Piscator, Pareus, Scultetus,
CapeUus, Camero, Forbes, with divers others.
The third opinion is, that Christ's whole obedience,
active as well as passive, is imputed to us ; his obey
ing the law to the full, perfect conforming to its
commands, his doing as well as his dying obedience,
is, say these, made over and reckoned to believers
in order to their justification and salvation. This
also is asserted by several divines of great note ; J
1 Cum Christus descenderit de coelis, omniaque egerit et
passus sit propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem
(nobis enim natus est, nobis vixit, pro nobis factus est sub lege,
ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret)idcirco utraque pars obedien
tia! Christi, i.eftota, ejus obedientia nostra facta est, cessitque
in salutem nostram.— Zanch. in Phil., cap. 2, 8, p. 115. See
Calvin Instit.',' lib. ii. cap. 16, sect. 5. This way goes Junius in
Thes. de Justif. ; Polanus in Syntag., lib. vi. cap. 36 ; and in
Comment in Dan., p. 186, kc; Brocmand. de Servat. Jesu
Christo, art. 16, sect. 12, qu. 4; Gomarus de Justif. against
Kargius ; Rivet against Camero ; Lucius against Piscator and
Gataker; Downeham of Justif., lib. i. cap. 4, p. 24, &c. ¦
Burgess of Justif., partii. serm. 34, p. 338.

and that not only by some of them by the by,
oii h mapfthi), but also by others who do largely
insist upon the proof and making of it good against
those who think otherwise.
The reasons upon which they ground this opinion
are such as these :
1 . As the disobedience of the first Adam, in which
he brake the law, is imputed to men, upon which
they become guilty; so the obedience of Christ
the second Adam, even that in which he kept the
law, must be imputed also to them, that thereby
they may be made righteous. For thetf guilt and
righteousness must not only be conveyed in the
same way or manner, viz., by imputation ; but these,
being opposites, must proceed from hke opposite
causes ; and therefore if their guUt arises from
Adam's breach of the law, which is imputed to
them, answerably their righteousness must arise
from Christ's obedience to the law, which therefore
must also be imputed to them. So the apostle draws
the parallel or comparison : Bom. v. 19, ' As by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.'
Where observe, (1.) He speaks of Christ's obedience
in the general — 'by the obedience of one,' (fee-
wherefore to limit this to one branch of his obedience,
his passive obedience, as though by it alone sinners
were made righteous, is neither safe nor warrantable.
(2.) If we will proceed in that way, so as to single
out this or that part of Christ's obedience, and
ascribe righteousness to it, then the antithesis will
carry it for his active rather than for his passive
obedience; for that being the obedience which stands
in direct opposition to Adam's disobedience, it must,
by the rules of opposition, most properly here be
understood. (3.) The apostle makes the imputation
of both to run paraUel, according to the acts and
effects which are proper to each : ' As by the dis
obedience of one many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.'
So that as the one act is imputed for guilt, so the
other is imputed for righteousness ; and as in the
one person, he being a public person and head, we
broke the law, so in the other, he being a pubhc
person and head too, we perform the law. If it he
said that Adam's disobedience did not lie in the
transgression of the moral law, but only of that

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

355"

particular positive law which God gave him of not
eating of the tree of knowledge ; and so that Christ's
obedience did not lie in the keeping of the moral
law, but in his obeying of that positive law which
God laid upon him, namely, of laying down his life ;
— which tf so, then the text proves nothing of that for
which it is aUeged, but rather the quite contrary ; — I
answer : Though it is very true that in Adam's dis
obedience, immediately and proximately, there was
only the transgressing of that positive law, yet in
the transgressing thereof there was virtually and
collaterally the breach of the whole moral law, all
this law being summed up in and guarded by that
lex primordialis, as TertulUan caUs it.1 The [argu
ment then from the comparison Holds good : As
Adam violating the moral law, his active disobe
dience is imputed for guUt; so our Lord Jesus
obeying the moral law, his active obedience there
unto is imputed for righteousness, which is ths thing
to be proved.
2. That obedience of Christ must be imputed,
without the imputation of which the righteousness
of the law is not, or could not be fulfilled in be
lievers ; this cannot be denied, for it is brought in
here expressly as the end of God's sending his Son,
' that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us.' Now I assume, but without the imputation
of Christ's active obedience, the law's righteousness
is not and could not be fulfilled in believers, ergo.
This I prove from what hath been atfeady said ; the
law's righteousness consists in two things: (1.) In its
requiring perfect conformity to its commands ; (2.)
In its demanding satisfaction, or the undergoing of
its penalty upon the violation of it. This being so,
how can the law's righteousness be fulfilled in saints
either by the active or by the passive obedience of
Christ apart and alone? Put them both together
and the thing is done; there is that in both which is
fully adequate to the law's, demands ; but divide
them, and it is not so. The passive obedience satis
fies as to the law's penalty, and secures from the law's
curse, but where is our performing of the duty which
1 In hac lege data Adae omnia praecepta condita recognos-
cimus, quae postea pullulaverunt data per Mosen, &c. Igitur
hac generali et primordiali Dei lege, omnia praecepta legis
pflBterioris specialiter indita fuisse cognoscimus, quse suis tem-
poribus edita germinaverunt.— Tertull. adv. Jud., cap. 2.

the law requires, if the active obedience be not im
puted also ? And it is conceived that this righteous
ness of the law doth mainly and primarUy refer to
the preceptive and mandatory part of the law, and
but secondarily to the penal and minatory part of
the law ; for in all laws, civU or sacred, that which
is first intended in them is active obedience — the
bearing the penalty is annexed but to further and
secure that ; so that he who only bears the penalty
doth not answer the first end and the main inten
tion of the law. Whence I infer, since the righteous
ness of the law is fulfilled in behevers, as the apostle
here saith it is, that therefore the commanding part
of the law must be fulfilled in them, that being the
main branch of its righteousness, and that which is
principally designed by it ; but that cannot be, un
less the active obedience of Christ be imputed to
them. This argument, with submission to better
judgments, is to me of great weight ; and I destfe
the words may be well observed. It is not said
that the righteousness of the law might be endured,
suffered, or undergone by us, as if it did relate to
the penalty of the law ; but that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, which surely most
properly must relate to the doing part of the law.
Doth he fulfil who suffers ? 1 that is very harsh. To
say that one of the things that have been spoken
of was or is sufficient, viz., the undergoing of the
punishment without the doing of the duty, and that
therefore the imputation of Christ's death and suffer
ings is enough ; I say, for any to assert this, they
do, in my thoughts, offer some violence to the text
in hand, which teUs us the righteousness, the whole
righteousness, of the law, was to be and is fulfilled in
believers. 3. It is urged, thirdly, It is necessary, not only in
respect of the law, but of ourselves also, that Christ's
active obedience should be imputed, inasmuch as our
righteousness and title to eternal life do indispensably
depend upon it. The law is the measure and stan
dard of righteousness ; let that be fulfilled and a
person is righteous, otherwise not; without this
none can stand before the great God as being such.
Well then, the sinner himself being altogether un-
1 Qui maledictionem legis perpetitur, per hoo non implet
mandata legis, aut operatur justitiam, kc—Wegelin. de Obed.
Christi.

356

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV

able thus to fulfil the law, thereby to be made
righteous, Christ's fulfiUing of it must be imputed
to him in order to righteousness. Guilt and
righteousness do both carry in them a reference to
the holy law : when that is broken, it is guUt ;
when that is kept, it is righteousness ; therefore as,
supposing that law had not been transgressed, we
had not been guilty, so unless that law be fully con
formed to, we cannot be righteous, Deut. vi. 25.
Now where shall we find this full conformity to the
law but in Christ? and what will that in Christ
avail us if it be not imputed and made over to
us ? So as to eternal life, unto which, without ful
filling the law, we can have no claim or title ; for
the old law condition or covenant being yet in force,
Hoc fac et vives, ' Do and live,' Lev. xviii. 5 ; Bom. x.
5 ; Gal. iii. 12 ; Luke x. 28 ; unless this condition
be performed we cannot hope for life. True indeed,
under the covenant of grace God accepts of what is
done by the surety, and he doth not exact of the
sinner in his own person the perfect obeying of the
law as the condition of life, but yet he will have the
thing done either by or for the sinner, either by
himself or by his surety, or else no life ; doth not
this then evince the necessity of the imputation of
Christ's active obedience ?
But it is queried, Was not Christ's passive obedi
ence, without the active, sufficient for both of these —
for righteousness and for life ? To which they of
this opinion answer, No; they say upon Christ's
death and suffering we are freed from guilt, but
upon that, abstractly from his active obeying of the
law, we are not strictly and positively made right
eous ; so also, upon his death and suffering, they
say, we are saved from wrath and hell, but yet upon
that alone we are not entitled to heaven. They grant
in Christ's death a fulness and sufficiency of satis
faction, but as to merit, for that they must take in
the holiness and obedience of his life. I do but re
cite, not undertaking, at present, to defend what is
here asserted ; only let me close this head with one
thing which to me is observable. Our Lord being
both to do and to suffer, to obey actively and
passively, that he might fuUy answer the law's
demands for the justification and salvation of sin
ners, it is considerable how the New Testament, in
two eminent places, speaks distinctly to both these

parts of his obedience, in their distinct reference to
both the parts of the law under the Old Testament,
and in their distinct influence upon the sinner's
good: Gal. iii. 13, 'Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for
it is written, Cursed is every one,' &c. ; or as it is,
ver. 10, ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in
aU things,' &c. Here is Christ's passive obedience,
with respect to the old curse or penal part of the
law here mentioned, and the benefits which we reap
thereby, viz., deliverance from the law's curse. That
is one place ; the other is Bom. x. 5, ' Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that
| beUeveth. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, That the man which doeth these
! things shall live by them.' Here is Christ's active
obedience, with respect to the mandatory part or
doing righteousness of the law here mentioned also,
and the imputation and benefit of this to beUevers,
viz., righteousness and life. ' Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness,' that is, to convey that
righteousness which the law could not, or to per
form the law in order to righteousness, which the
sinner could not ; take it as you will, it must have
reference to the moral law and to the preceptive
part thereof, for so the apostle opens it in that
which foUows, ver. 5. Now Christ's active obedience
thereunto is imputed to believers, otherwise why is
it said that He is the end of the law for righteous
ness to every one that believeth ? All that I drive
at is (1.) That the imputation of the passive obedi
ence in Gal. iii. 13 must not jostle out the imputa
tion of the active obedience in Bom. x. 5. (2.) That
as the imputation of the one is necessary to free from
the law's curse, so the imputation of the other is
necessary for the having of righteousness and life;
4. If Christ actively fulfilled the law for us, then
his active fulfilling thereof must be imputed to us,
but so he did, ergo. The consequence I judge to be
good and strong ; for surely whatever Christ did on
our behalf, in our stead, as designing and aiming at
our good as his main end, that must needs be im
puted to us ; otherwise he and we too might lose
that which he principally designed in his obedience,
which is not to be imagined. As to the assumption
that Christ actively fulfiUed the law for us, that is
generally asserted and defended by divines agaiusfi

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

357

Socinians and others. For whereas these affirm
that Christ fulfilled the law for himself, he as a
ereature being under the obhgation of it, they prove
the contrary, of which before ; shewing that Christ
was not, in that way wherein he fulfilled the law, at
aU obliged so to fulfil it for himself ; but that all
was done by him purely upon our account : he
obeyed not merely as a subject but as a surety, there
fore his obedience must be for us, and so imputable
and imputed to us. And whereas others affirm,
that Christ actively fulfilled the law, that he might
thereby be fitted and quaHfied for his mediatory
office, two things are answered : (1.) The Scripture,
when it speaks of Christ's subjection to the law and
accomplishment of it, doth not lay it upon this end
or upon what refers to Christ himself, but upon that
which refers to us as the proper end thereof. He
was ' the end of the law for righteousness to them
that beheve,' &c, 'made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might re
ceive the adoption of sons.' (2.) They say that
Christ's fitness for his mediatory office did result
from his person, from the personal union of the
divine and human natures in him, rather than from
his active obedience to the law ; for else he could
not have been looked upon as one fit to be a media
tor tiU he had finished his whole obedience to the
law ; whereas from the first instant of the personal
union he was fit for that work and office. It was
fit, nay necessary, that Christ the Mediator should
conform to the law; but these are two different
things — what was fit for the mediator to do, and
what must fit him to be the mediator. These ends
therefore respecting Christ himself being removed,
it foUows that it was wholly for us that he fulfilled
the law : whence then I infer that that must be im
puted to us, otherwise the end of it would not be
attained ; for without the imputation of it we should
neither be the persons designed in it, nor profited by
it. To prevent mistakes, and to give this argument
its full strength, I would state it thus : Whatever
Christ did, that we were obhged to do, and which
was to be our righteousness before God, that certainly
must be imputed to us. I do not say that all which
Christ did is strictly and properly imputed to us,
but whatever he did, if we were bound to do it, and
if the doing of that was to be our righteousness, that

must be imputed, or else we are in a sad case. He
was incarnate for us, yet that is not formally im
puted. Why ? because sinners were not under any
obligation to any such thing ; so I might instance
in his working of miracles, intercession, &c. But
now if our Lord will be pleased to put himself under
the law, and to fulfil the law, that must be made over
to us, because that was a thing which we ourselves,
according to the capacity of creatures, were bound
unto, and this was to be our righteousness before
God. What is so circumstantiated must be imputed ;
therefore this being taken in, the argument is good.
Several other arguments are produced for the im
putation of the active as well as the passive obedi
ence. As that both together make most for the glory
of Christ, 1 and for the ease and comfort of burdened
souls.3 That it is a mighty loss for Christians to
lose Christ's active obedience ; and why should it be
the active only, or the passive only, tf they may have
both ? Quidni utraque ? saith Pareus himself, can
we have too much of Christ ? Is not all of him
precious ? And do not we need all ? Surely the
safest way is to take in as much of him as ever we
warrantably may.3 They who go this way also
urge the consent of the reformed churches, the
suffrages of several famous divines, as concurring
with them ; that their opinion hath the advantage of
being judged the more ancient and orthodox, which
that excellent person Mr Bradshaw, though he some
what dissents about the thing, doth ingeniously
confess.* But these things I shall pass over ; if the
foregoing arguments will not convince and satisfy, I
shall hope for less from these. So much for this
third opinion.
1 See Bodius in Eph., p. 796.
2 Neque conscientias pacaret aliqua justitiae portio ; sed'pef-
petuo illas trepidare necesse esset, nisi firmiter persuasae
forent totam justitiam legis sibi imputari. — Polan. in Dan., p.
187. 3 Certe tutius ibit ille, qui plus Christo ad majorem gloriam
ascribit quod in eo quaerat, quam qui ei quicquam adimit.
Et qui totam salvatoris et sponsoris nostri obedientiam legi
divinae praestitam amplectitur, quam qui praecipuam ejus par
tem pro justitia coram Deo sibi imputari non credit. — Wegelm
Disp. de Obed. Christi.
4 Noram probe, sententiam priorem antiquiorem et orthti-
doxam magis passim audire. Sed et re apud me accuratius
perpensa penitusque perspecta, suo merito ea id audire- visa
est.— In Prcefat. ad Tract, de Justif, p. 6.

358

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

4. There is a fourth. Say some,1 the active as well
as the passive obedience of Christ is imputed, yet
not in the sense of the promoters of the former
opinion, but only thus, as it was a part of Christ's
satisfaction for the violation of the law ; 2 as it is so
considered, they say, it is imputed, but not in any
other notion. They say Christ's active obeying was
satisfactory and meritorious as well as his passive,
than which nothing more certain ; and indeed the
passive without the active had not been satisfactory
or meritorious. It was Christ's voluntary subjection
to the will of his Father, which was an active thing,
even in his dying, which put such an efficacy into
his death.3 Now his active obedience being thus
taken, is, they grant, made over and reckoned to
believers. Others, to the same purpose, consider
Christ's active obedience two ways ;4 either strictly
as active, as tf lay in conformity to what the
law commanded, or as there was humiliation and
abasement attending that obedience : in the former
respect they deny it to be imputed, in the latter
they say it is. This middle and reconciliatory
opinion is somewhat new and modern, and owned,
as yet, but by very few, but in those few, for their
worth and eminency, there are very many. I shall
not set myself to argue or object anything against
it, though something might be said upon that ac
count ; I rejoice with all my heart that we may have
the active obedience of Christ upon any terms or
under any considerations. I am so far from arguing
against tf that I keep it by me as a reserve ; that if
there be not solid and satisfactory answers to be
given to the weighty objections made against the
imputation of Christ's active obedience as commonly
asserted, which is to be tried by and by, I may fall
in and close with it. No»more at present therefore
about the first question.
1 Bradshaw de Justif. in Praefat., p. 10.
3 Thus Grotius de Sat., cap. 6, p. 89 ; Bradshaw de Justif.,
cap. 18, sec. 5, 6 ; Mr Baxter's Aphor., p. 54 ; Great Propit.,
pp. 92, 93.
3 Neque tamen excluditur reliqua pars obedientiae qua de-
functus est in vita, &c. Et sane in ipsa, (i.e., in morte crucis,
for that he is speaking of and doth immediately go before,)
primum gradum occupat voluntaria subjectio ; quia ad jus
titiam nihil profuisset sacrificium nisi sponte oblatum. — Calvin.
Instit., lib. ii. cap. 16, sec. 5.
4 Gataker. Animadv. in Lucium., p. i. sec. 1, p. 2 ; Bodius
in Eph., p. 798.

I go on to the second. The imputation of Christ's
fulfilling the law, or of his active obedience being
granted, it is further to be inquired in what sense
this imputation is to be taken, and how far it is to
be carried ? This question hath its difficulties as
well as the former. The learned differ not only
about the matter of imputation, or what is imputed,
but also about the nature and the right stating of
the act. Even they who agree in the imputation of
Christ's active obedience, do yet differ in the stating
of that imputation.
For it is the opinion of some that Christ's active
obedience is so imputed to believers as that God
reckons it to them as done in their stead ; that hi
his obeying and fulfilling the law, they legaUy, and
in God's estimation, obeyed and fulfiUed the law
also ; that his obedience is accepted for them, and
made over to them, even as if they had so obeyed in
their own persons. Others cannot close with this
high and rigid imputation, as they are pleased to
call tf. They say the imputation is to be carried no
higher than thus : That Christ's obedience is imputed
to believers, that is, it is reckoned to them for then
good, but not as done in their stead; that it is thehs
in the effects and benefits of it, but not as to the
thing itself, so as that they in their persons should be
lookedupon as having in Christ fulfilled the law. They
are for Christ's obeying propter nos, but not pro nobis.
This latter stating of imputation is that which
some follow, whom, upon many accounts, I am bound
to respect and reverence ; and I acknowledge, as
before, the former stating of it to lie open to very
weighty and considerable objections. Yet, in com
pliance with my present light, I must crave leave to
differ from them, though I do it with aU modesty
and submission ; and the objections made against the
high and strict imputation wiU, as I judge, admit of
fair and satisfactory answers. Therefore I believe
and affirm that our Saviour's active obedience is im
puted, reckoned, made over to us, as being done in our.
stead, and not only finally for our good; that it is ours,
not only as to such and such effects, but that the thing
itself is ours, in a law sense; that God reckons it to us
as if we had done tf in our own persons, and that there
in, in part, consists our righteousness before God. <
The arguments upon whicli I buUd this position
are these :

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4,

359

1. If the imputation of Christ's righteousness or
obedience be not taken for the imputing thereof to
us as done in our stead, but only as done for our
good, then whatever he did, or doth, may as properly
be said to be imputed to us as his righteousness and
obedience. The reason of the consequence is plain,
because that all which Christ did or doth is for our
good ; his incarnation, nativity, ascension, interces
sion, &c, aU are for the good of those who love God.
If therefore there be nothing more in the imputation
of his obedience than the reckoning of it to us for
our good, then the forementioned things may equally
and as properly be said to be imputed to us as it,
which I suppose wiU not be affirmed ; if it be, it
will admit of a very easy confutation.
2. That must be the right stating of the imputa
tion of Christ's obedience which best suits with his
suretyship, but that which I plead for doth so, ergo.
A surety doth not pay the debt only for the debtor's
good, but as standing in the debtor's stead, and so
his payment is reckoned to the debtor ; the same
we must hold with respect to Christ and sinners, or
else we quit the main notion of his being a surety.
Take away Christ's obeying in our stead, and make
it to be only for our good, and so imputed, and you
may then suppose him to be a loving and compas
sionate Saviour, but not strictly a surety ; for to that
it is requisite that he pay our very debt, and that
that payment be accepted of as made in our stead.
3. Christ's obedience is imputed as Adam's dis
obedience was imputed. This is grounded upon the
apostle's parallel between them in Bom. v., of which
before. Now how is Adam's disobedience imputed
to us ? Ans. Not only for our hurt, or in the mis
chievous effects of it, but the guilt itself of his dis
obedience is imputed, insomuch that in his sinning
we aU sinned. Answerably, ex opposite, Christ's
obedience is, and must be, imputed to us ; viz., not
only for our good, and in the happy effects of it, but
the thing itself is ours, insomuch that in his obeying,
*T;eputatively and legaUy, we obeyed also. I cannot
understand the analogy betwixt the two Adams,
wherein the apostle is so clear, unless this imputation,
as here stated, be granted ; and I humbly conceive
he who grants we disobeyed in Adam, must grant
we also obeyed in Christ.
4. Christ's righteousness is imputed to us in that

way wherein our sin was imputed to him ; this is
grounded upon 2 Cor. v. 21. Now our sin was im
puted to Christ, not only in the bitter effects of it,
but he took the guilt of it upon himself,1 as hath
been already proved. So then his righteousness, or
active obedience itself, must be proportionably im
puted to us, and not only in the effects thereof.
5. The proper terminus of imputation is righteous
ness. It is, according to its notion in Scripture, the
reckoning or making over of a thing to a person for
righteousness : ' Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed to Him for righteousness,' Bom. iv. 3.
If therefore Christ's obedience be imputed to us, it
must be so imputed ras to be our righteousness be
fore -God ; no imputation lower than this will serve
our turn, nor suit with the Scripture notion of the
word. 6. They who dissent bring in the imputation of
Christ's active obedience as a part of his satisfaction,
whence I argue he satisfied in our stead ; as he
obeyed he satisfied, therefore he obeyed in. our stead.
Christ's active obedience being satisfactory as well
as his passive, why should not that eo nomine come
under the same imputation which the passive doth ?
7. If this be all in the imputation of Christ's
obedience, that it is reckoned to the sinner for his
good, then we are all agreed, all controversies are at
an end. For who, even amongst the rankest deniers
of imputation, do not assent to this, that all was
done and suffered by Christ for our good, and is so
far reckoned to us ? Wherefore either our protes-
tant divines have been grossly mistaken in disputing
for that which was not denied, or else they had other
apprehensions about imputation.
These, in short, are the arguments which incline,
yea command me, to believe the high and strict im
putation of Christ's active obedience or fulfilling the
law. But I have as yet done but hatf of my work ;
the objections which are made against what hath
been asserted must be answered. It hath been af
firmed that Christ's active as well as passive obedi
ence is imputed to believers ; now that is objected
against. It hath been affirmed also that the im
putation of Christ's obedience is to be taken as hath
been stated ; that, too, is objected against : both,
therefore, must be defended. The objectors do not
1 See Mr. Bradshaw de Justif., cap. 16, p. 77.

360

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV

all concur in their opinions about these two heads ;
yet in their main objections about them in a great
measure they do ; wherefore I shall take them as
they He before me promiscuously and in common,
and so endeavour to answer them.
Obj. 1. First, It is objected that in the Scripture
remission of sin, justification, reconciliation with
God, eternal life, are wholly and solely ascribed to
Christ's passive obedience, to his death on the cross,
under which yet is included the whole humiliation
and abasement of Christ. The particular scriptures
cited for the proof of this have been already set down.
Ans. They who are for the active obedience as a
part of Christ's humiliation, and as such do hold the
imputation of it, making it and the passive to be
but one and the same obedience, only diversified in
its acts, all of which do yet meet and concur in his
humiliation — these, I say, are not at all concerned
in this argument ; and they who take them as dis
tinct parts of his obedience, and as such hold the
imputation of them, are very little pinched by it ;
for the answer is easy and obvious. These great
effects are attributed to Christ's death and blood,
not exclusively and solely, as to jostle out the influ
ence of his holy Hfe and active obedience, but emi
nently only. In his dying there was the highest
piece, the consummation of all his obedience ;
therefore the main stress is laid upon that, the
chiefest part being, by a usual synecdoche, put for the
whole ; but yet the obedience of his life is to be
taken in in conjunction with the obedience of his
death, and so the sinner's happiness is completed.
It is not only here said that God for sin condemned
sin, which refers to Christ's death, but also ' that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,'
which refers to his Hfe. As we read of being justi
fied by his blood, and the like, so we read of his
being 'made under the law, to redeem them who
were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons,' and of his being ' the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that believeth.'
Obj. 2. If Christ's active obedience be imputed,
and in such a manner, too, so that in his obeying
and fulfilling the law believers did obey and fulfil it,
thence it will foUow that his passive obedience, his
death itself, was in vain, and needless; for this
being so, the saints must be perfectly righteous, as

having done what the law required, and so there
would be no need of Christ's suffering or satisfaction,
for that supposes guilt and the non-performance of
the law.
Ans. This objection is very considerable, yet I
conceive the consequence is not so pressing. The
reason is, because, though upon the imputation of
Christ's active obedience one part of the law is
satisfied, yet there being another part of the law to
be satisfied also,- for that his passive obedience was
necessary. Suppose that believers upon the former
might be looked upon as now fulfilling the law's
commands, yet guilt being before contracted, the
penalty of death thereupon incurred, that the one
might be expiated by the undergoing of the other,
it was necessary that Christ should die and suffer.
The law requiring both of these, in both it must be
satisfied; insomuch, saith one,1 that if we could
have a perfect righteousness conformable to the law,
de novo, and not have satisfied the punishment, our
debt would not have been discharged — we had still
been in our sins. The twofold obedience, or double
righteousness of Christ, do not destroy or undermine
each other. It was necessary that he should obey
actively for the doing of what the law enjoined ; it
was necessary also that he should obey passively for
the suffering of what the law threatened, for both of
these were necessary to reach the law's righteousness,
and so to lay the foundation of a complete right
eousness for the creature — in order to which, there
fore, both must be imputed to him. I know what
is objected against this, but all cannot be spoke
unto at once.
For the better answering of the objection in
hand, it is said by some that the imputation of
Christ's passive obedience must be supposed to ante-
cede in order of nature, though not of time, the
imputation of his active; for in the justifying
of believers, God dealing with them as sinners, we
must suppose him first to take off guUt and punish
ment due for what was past, before he makes over a
positive righteousness to them for the time to come.
If this be so, we shall easily get off from what is objec- -
ted ; wherein dissenters go upon this, that a person
being judged righteous upon his imputative, active
fulfilling of the law, to him no further or subsequent ;
1 Mr Burg, of Justif., part ii. p. 411.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

3G1

imputation is necessary. We say so too ; but then
we suppose an antecedent imputation of that obedi
ence which was proper to free from guilt and wrath,
viz., Christ's passive obedience. So that the mat
ter comes to this : Though Christ's active obedience
being imputed, a child of God is righteous, and a
fulfiller of the law, and so nothing further is neces
sary for him ; yet it doth not hence follow that
Christ's passive obedience was in vain, or need
less, because in the methods of divine grace that
is first imputed for freedom from guilt and hell,
before the active is imputed in order to righteous
ness and heaven. Very large discourses there are
abroad in the world about these things. I only de
sign to set down in short what is satisfactory to
myself, but how far it may be so to others, that I
must leave with God.
Obj. 3. Christ's passive obedience was sufficient ;
for thereby the justice of G°d was fully satisfied, the
sinner's guUt fuUy expiated, full payment made of
all that he owed, &c. What need, therefore, is there
of any imputation of his active obedience to be
superadded to the imputation of the former ?
Ans. If the passive obedience be taken in conjunc
tion with the active, we grant the sufficiency of it to
all intents and purposes ; but if it be taken disjunctly
from the active, then we grant its sufficiency for
such and such ends or effects, but not for all. For
the removal of guUt, the satisfying of the penal
part of the law, the freeing from hell and death,
so it was sufficient ; but besides this, the precep
tive part of the law was to be fulfilled, the con
dition of Ufe was to be performed, the sinner was
to be made positively righteous, heaven was to be
merited. Now as to these, abstractly from the
active obedience of Christ, the passive was not suffi
cient. Upon his dying, believers shall not die or be
damned, or be looked upon as guilty ; but for thetf
being righteous and entitled to eternal life, Christ
must actively fulfil the law ; for the promise of life
is annexed to doing : ' Do this and live,' Lev. xviU.
5 ; Eom. x. 5. ' There needs no more,' saith a
reverend person,1 'than innocency, not to die; and
when guilt is taken away we stand as innocent, no
crime then can be charged upon us. But to reign
in life, as the apostle speaks, to inherit a crown, there
1 Blake on the Covenant, cap. xii. p. 77.

further is expected, which we not reaching, Christ's
active obedience supphed to us, not adding to ours,
but being in itself complete, is accounted ours, and
imputed to us.'
Obj. 4. But it is said the law requires no more
than either doing or suffering. If one of these be
done, it is enough ; both of them the law neither
doth nor can demand. Wherefore, if we suffered in
Christ, and that be reckoned to us, it is not required
that we should also obey in Christ.
Ans. The truth of the antecedent is not only
questioned, but flatly denied ; and the contrary
thereunto is proved, viz., that in statu lapso the law's
obligation is not disjunctive, ad alterutrum, either to
do or suffer ; but it is conjunctive or copulative, ad
utrumque, both to do and suffer.1 Indeed, say they
of this opinion, if man Had continued in the state
of innocency, one of these had been enough, namely,
the active obeying of the law ; for he being then
without sin could not lie under any obligation to
suffer. But he being fallen, stands obliged to both
— to obey, as he is a creature, to suffer, as he is an
offender. So that it was not enough for Christ in
suffering to answer the one obligation, but he must
also by doing answer the other also. In the laws
of men one of these is enough, but in the laws of
God, there being a vast disparity betwixt the crea
ture's subjection to him and to men, it is not so ;
and, as I apprehend it, they who differ in this point
do too much run themselves upon that absurdity
which they would fasten upon' those from whom
they differ : for whereas they charge the opinion of
these that it acquits us from all obeying on our part,
this principle which they maintain seems to do
it much more ; for if either obeying or suffering be
as much as the law requires, then, CHnst having
suffered the utmost of the law's penalty, We are not
under any obligation to obey too.
Obj. 5. It having been said that Christ's passive
obedience was necessary to free from guilt and eter
nal death, and his active necessary for righteousness
and eternal Ufe, against this it is objected that it
supposes a medium betwixt being freed from guilt
and being made righteous, and so betwixt being
2 See Advers. inter Piscat. et Lucium., p. i. sec. 4 ; Polan.
in Dan., p. 191, &c. ; Turret, de Sat. par. viii. p. 271, &c. ;
Bodius, in Eph., p. 80,5.

362

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

freed from eternal death and the having of eternal
life, which is a great mistake. For these are such
contraries as do admit of no medium between them,
and therefore upon the negation of the one, the affir
mation of the other, in a fit subject, must needs fol
low ; and so vice versd. As if it be not night, it is
day ; if it be not darkness, it is light ; if it be not
crookedness, it is straightness, &c. So here, if it be
not guilt, it is righteousness ; and if it be not eter
nal death, it is eternal life ; these being contraries,
oiv o'vx i6n p.iru%,u. Therefore they who grant free
dom from guUt and hell upon Christ's death, and
yet assert the necessity of the obedience of his life
for righteousness and heaven, buUd upon a false
hypothesis. Ans. To this it is answered, what is here alleged
holds true in natural and physical contraries, but
not in. moral or law contraries. The malefactor, upon
his prince's or the judge's pardon, is. acquitted from
his guilt, and with respect to that he is innocent ;
but yet he cannot upon this be looked upon as being
righteous, or as having done what the law required
of him : so it is in that which I am upon. It is one
thing for the sinner not to be unjust, and another
thing for him to be just ; upon the non-imputation
of sin he is the former, but the latter he cannot be
without a positive righteousness. Not to be judged
as a transgressor of the law, and to be judged as a
fulfiller of the law, are two distinct things. And
so as to the other ; although there be no medium
betwixt natural life and death, so that upon the
negation of the one there is always the position of
the other, yet between eternal life and eternal death
there is a medium. For we may suppose a person
to be freed from the one, and yet not ' presently ad
mitted into the other ; he may be saved from hell,
and yet not be taken up to heaven; for he may be
annihilated, or continued in some state of happiness
here below, this notwithstanding. I only speak of
the possibility of the thing, not asserting that ever
de facto it is so. The traitor may be freed from
death, and yet not restored to all those high digni
ties and privileges which he had before. And why
not so here ? It is true, whoever is freed from hell
is admitted into heaven ; but this is not neces
sary from the nature of the thing, as though there
might not be a status intermedins, but only from the

will and ordination of God. The necessity there
fore of the imputation of Christ's active obedience
for righteousness and Hfe is not weakened or nulled
by this objection.
Obj. 6. To put more strength into it, it is further
urged that the opinion argued against makes justi
fication to consist of different parts, viz., remission
of sin and imputation of righteousness ; also it makes
these different parts to proceed from different causes,
as the remission of sin from Christ's bearing the
penalty of the law, and the imputation of righteous
ness from his fulfilling the precepts of the law.
Whereas, say some, the whole nature of justification
lies in the remission of sin ; to be pardoned and to
be made righteous, are in Scripture terms equipol
lent and synonymous. And, say others, all in justi
fication is but one act, proceeding from one and the
same cause ; that very act which makes the sinner
not guilty makes him also at the same time to be
righteous ; as that which takes away crookedness at
the same time makes straight, that which" expels
darkness at the same time introduces light. The
putting on of the garment, and the removal of the
nakedness, are but one and the same thing, and done
together. Ans. Many things are here mentioned which can
not so distinctly be spoken to in the answering of
an objection. What place remission of sin hath in
justification, whether of being the form of it, or but
an integral part, or only an effect and consequent,
is a thing that divines are not very weU agreed
about. Whether the whole of justification doth lie
in remission is a point wherein also they differ. But
I must not at present engage in these debates ; I will
defer the discussing of them till I come to open the
doctrine of justification, which the 30th verse of this
chapter 'will lead me to. I shaU now only suggest
what is proper for the answering of the objection
before us.
And 1. What if the opinion argued against doth
make remission of sin and imputed righteousness to
be different parts of justification, they both as inte
gral parts concurring to the completing and per
fecting of it ? 1 I say, what if it so doth ? is it the
worse for that ? Is this a novel tenet, or that which
but few or none do own ? Have not several with
1 See Burg, of Justif., part ii. serm. 27.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

363

great solidity and judgment defended it 1 As to any
error in it, 0r any absurdities that will follow upon
it, I must confess I do not, as yet, understand either
the one or the other. A difference of parts in sanc
tification is commonly granted, viz., mortification
and vivification; the abolition of the power of sin,
and the implantation of the divine nature ; the put
ting off the old man, and the putting on the new
man, Eph. iv. 22. Now, why may not justification
have its parts as well as sanctification ? If the be
liever's righteousness doth lie in the fulfilling of the
law, and there be different parts in that law, its
commanding and its punishing part, then that right
eousness which results from the fulfilling of it must
admit of different parts too. So that remission of
sin is one part, that being grounded upon the satis
fying of one part of the law, and imputation of
righteousness is another part, that being grounded
upon the satisfying of the other part of the law.
The Scripture speaks of these not as one and the
same, but as distinct : Bom. iv. 25, ' Who was de
livered for our offences,' there is remission ; ' and
was raised again for our justification,' or righteous
ness, there is the other part. How the latter is at
tributed to Christ's resurrection is not my business
now to inquire, I only cite the words as holding
forth a distinction betwixt remission and righteous
ness. So Bom. v. 9, compared with Bom. v. 19 ;
and Dan. ix. 24, ' To make reconciliation for ini
quity, and to bring Hi everlasting righteousness ; '
here are the two parts of justification set forth as
different and distinct. It is true, the apostle, Bom.
iv. 6-8, speaking of the sinner's righteousness, in
stances only in the forgiveness or non-imputation of
sin ; but he doth not do it as if that was the all in
that righteousness ; but, 1st, Because that being one
eminent part thereof, he puts it for the whole ; 2d,
Because that remission of sin and the imputation of
a positive righteousness being never parted, in nam
ing the one he included the other, not as if they
were one and the same in thetf nature, but because
they are never separated in the subject. I cannot
yet be convinced but that the removal of sin's guilt,
and the introducing of a positive righteousness, are
things of a different nature and carry distinct no
tions in them ; for, besides what hath been already
said though in God's dealing with fallen sinners

they are never parted, yet as they are considered in
themselves they may be parted. Amongst us some
times sin is remitted when yet the offender is not
justified : as we see in the case of Joseph's brethren,
Shimei, Abiathar, &c. And it is possible for a per
son to be justified though he hath no sin to be re
mitted, as it would have been with Adam had he
stood, he was then capable of justification, but not
of remission. Now this their separableness evinces
a difference or distinction betwixt them. To object,
therefore, against the imputation of Christ's active
obedience, as well as of his passive, one being sup
posed to free us from guilt, the other to make us
righteous, that this would infer two different parts
of justification ; this is so far from being an objec
tion, that it is but a plain asserting of what is so
indeed. 2. Whereas it is said that this doth also make
different causes of justification, I say, as before, what
if it doth ? Provided that by those ye understand
only the different grounds or matter of justification
according to its different parts ; that is, as Christ
died and shed his blood, there is the ground of the
sinner's discharge from guilt, that which is imputed
to him in order to that effect ; then, as he in all
things actively conformed to the law, there is the
ground of the sinner's positive righteousness, or that
which is imputed to him in order to that effect.
Such a multiplication of causes, which are not so of
a diverse nature but that they do unite and concur
in some one as the general cause, as these do in
Christ's righteousness or obedience, carries in it no
thing repugnant to Scripture or reason. This right
eousness of Christ is the one only material cause of
the sinner's righteousness ; but that dividing itself
into his active and passive righteousness, accordingly
the causes ofthe sinner's righteousness are diversified.
3. The allusions brought against the truth in ques
tion seem to fasten some absurdity upon it. For
they tend to this, that for any to say upon one act
sin is remitted, and upon another the person is made
righteous, it is as if one should say that by one act
the crookedness of a thing is removed, and that by
another it is made straight, and so as to light and
darkness. To which I reply, I except against these simili
tudes as not suiting with the thing in hand ; they

364

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4

[Chap. XIV.

are proper for things of another nature, not for that
which we are upon, for that being a law act, is not
to be judged of by things of a physical nature. Sup
pose the effects mentioned are produced by one and
the same act, yet they are not so pertinently alleged,
because what we are speaking of falls under another
consideration. We are not concerned about crook
edness and straightness, but about guilt and right
eousness. All allusions which suit not with these,
as things of a legal nature, are insignificative. WiU
they say that that which frees the offender from
guUt, when he stands arraigned before the judge,
doth also make him a true and exact keeper of the
law ? that at the same time, and by the same sen
tence, wherein he is acquitted from the violation of
the law, that he is also thereupon to be looked upon
as a person that hath really kept the law ? Such an
instance as this would be pertinent ; but then we
should determine it in the negative. And, indeed,
I could humbly desire that in these points we might
be very sparing in argumentative similitudes of this
nature, for it is very well known how by them some
endeavour to decry and undermine all imputation of
Christ's righteousness. To be made righteous by
the righteousness of another, tf is, say they, as if a
man should see with another's eyes, or be learned
with another's learning, or wise with another's wis
dom, &c. There is similitude for similitude, though
upon a far more pestilent and mischievous design.
Therefore in law acts, such as weall grant justification
to be, let us keep to those allusions which are proper
to such acts'; or else, upon the disparity. of physical
and law acts, we shall run ourselves and others upon
great mistakes.
Obj. 7. This seems to reflect upon God some error or
mistake in his judging, as If he should esteem the
sinner to do that in Christ which he did not do, and
which he knows the sinner did not do. And it is
said that it is not possible that we, by any estimation,
can be the subjects of those acts, qualities, accidents,
which belong to another subject.
Ans. Though the debtor himself doth not pay the
debt, but the surety in truth pays it, yet without
any mistake the creditor may in a law sense look
upon the debtor as having paid tf, inasmuch as his
surety paid it for him ; and what his surety doth he
doth; they being in law but one person. The appli

cation of this, as to God's judging with respect to
Christ and sinners, is plain and obvious. But I ask,
Why should this be thought a mistake in God to look
upon us as obeying in Christ, when, I hope, it is not
made a mistake in him to look upon us as disobeying
in Adam ? Wherein is the truth of God more im
peached in the one than in the other ? We did not
personally eat of the forbidden fruit, and yet I pre
sume it will not be denied but that, in Adam's eating
of it, legally we did eat it too, and that God doth
most truly and righteously reckon us guilty of it as
though we had done the fact in our own persons.
Grant, then, that there is no mistake there, and it
wiU follow that there is none here. Nay, further,
Why may we not as well be said to obey in Christ
as to suffer in Christ ? His sufferings were as re
mote and alien from our persons as his active obey
ing, and yet it is granted that they are so reckoned
to us as that in them even we may be said to suffer
and satisfy ; and if the passive obedience of Christ
be thus imputed without any mistake, why may not
the active without any mistake be imputed also ?
Clear God in the one, and you must likewise clear
him in the other. And whereas it is said that those
acts, qualities, or accidents which belong to one sub
ject cannot be made over to another ; this strikes at
all imputation, though-I suppose it is not so designed,
for that which is imputed must be out of that sub
ject unto which it is imputed, otherwise it is inhesion
and not imputation. Adam's disobedience was his
own personal and subjective act, and yet it is ours
imputatively and legally. But of this I will say no
more. Obj. 8. If Christ actively obeyed and fulfilled the
law, as in our stead, so that his obedience be im
puted to us, hence it will follow that we are not at all
obliged ourselves to obey or keep the law, Christ
having done that in his person for us.1 For as he,
bearing the curse and penalty of the law in our
stead, we are thereupon freed from that curse ; so if
he did obey the law's commands in our stead, we
must also thereupon be freed from any obUgation to
obedience on our part thereunto.
Ans. All that follows from hence is this, that
Christ obeying the law for us and in our stead, we
are not bound to obey it for those ends and upon
1 Mr Bradsh. of Justif., p. 85.

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

365

hose accounts upon which he obeyed it, as, namely,
for satisfaction and for righteousness before God • i
but as to other ends, and upon other accounts, we
are yet, and must be so, under an obligation to obey
it. For being creatures, we are indispensably bound
to keep that law which our Creator and Lord is
pleased to lay upon us, so as that nothing can absolve
us from that obUgation. And, besides, not only love
and gratitude to God do caU for this obedience from
us, but it is the way wherein we can only hope for
benefit by Christ's satisfactory and meritorious obe
dience. We must not carry our Saviour's fulfiUing
the law for us beyond what he intended. Now, it
appears by the whole tenor of the gospel that he
never intended it to exempt beUevers from obedience
as it speaks duty, but only as it was the condition of
the first covenant. I therefore think that it may as
weU be argued that saints should not die, or bear
any punishment for sin, because Christ died for them,
and bore the penalty of the law for them, as that
they should not obey actively because Christ obeyed
the law for them. It is true, upon the imputation
of his passive obedience they are freed from suffering
in order to satisfaction, yet in other respects suffer
they shall. And so upon the imputation of his active
obedience they are freed from obeying, so as that
their righteousness before God should not He in that,
yet upon other accounts obey they must, notwith
standing aU that Christ hath done. In short, we
may as weU argue against others, that upon their
principles God's people are not Hable to any punish
ment, as they do against us, that upon our principles,
God's people are not under any obUgation to obey
the law. And that exphcation or distinction which
will clear and justify their opinion in the consistency
of the saints' sufferings with Christ's passive obe
dience, will do the same for ours in the consistency
ofthe saints' obedience with Christ's active obedience.
Obj. 9. It is objected, that the imputation of
Christ's obedience, as thus stated, makes believers
to be no sinners, yea, as righteous as Christ himself
was. They in him fulfiUing the law, where is their
sin? andhis righteousness being made over to them,
are they not as righteous as he was ?
Ans This is one of the beaten, threadbare argu
ments 'with which the Eomanists impugn in gene-
i Vide Luciam in Advers., p. i-, sec. 5.

ral the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Our
protestant writers thus answer them : Though
Christ's righteousness be imputed to believers, yet
for all that they are sinners, and may justly be so de
nominated, inasmuch as the denomination is taken
from what is inherent in them, notwithstanding
what is imputed to them. Saints may be consi
dered either as they are in themselves, (and so who
can deny them to be sinners ? so the best must
cry out, Unclean unclean,) or as they are in Christ,
they being justified through the imputation of his
righteousness, and accepted in him as their head and
surety, and so who will deny them to be righteous ?
He fulfilled the law for them, which obedience of
his being reckoned to them in God's account, and
imputatively, they may be said to be without sin —
there is no Antinomism in this tf it be rightly under
stood; — yet, as they are in themselves, and as to what
is inherent and done by them, there is, God knows,
too much of sin in them. It is no absurdity for the
same subject, under diverse considerations, to be
looked upon as sinless, and yet as sinful : Cant. i. 5,
' I am black, but comely.' Oh what a pure, spotless,
righteous person is the believer in respect of imputa
tion ; and yet what an impure, defiled, sinful person
is he in respect of inhering corruption !
As to the other part of the objection, I deny the
consequence. May we not be righteous but upon
this we must be as righteous as Christ himself was ?
As the former I would be loath to deny, so the latter
I would be as loath to affirm. It doth not foUow, if
Christ's obedience and righteousness be imputed to
us, that therefore we must be as righteous as he was ;
because it is made over to us, not in the fulness and
infiniteness of it, but only so far as our case and ne
cessity doth require ; 1 or not absolutely in the ut
most extent and degree of it, but in tantum quod hoc,
that we may be looked upon as fulfillers of the law,
and as partakers of that righteousness which we need
and are capable of. And pray wherein doth tha im
putation of Christ's passive obedience come short as
1 Per justitiam Christi nobis imputatam non possumus dici
absolute sive omnimodo justi, &c. ; sed — eatenus nos justos
factos aestimat Deus, quatenus legis divinae transgressores exti-
terimus. Ut in tantum ex ilia Christi justitia justi facti dica-
mur, in quantum ex inobedientia nostra injusti constituti
simus. — Bradsh. de Justif., c. 24, sec. 27.

366

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

to what is here charged upon the imputation of his
active ? Will not the argument He as much against
that as against this? For upon that, it is said, the
law was fully satisfied, and received from Christ, in
our stead, its full accomplishment. Upon that we
are looked upon as having committed no evil and
omitted no good, that Christ's infinite merit and
satisfaction is ours, &c. Wherefore may it not with
equal strength be inferred from the imputation of
this that we are not sinners, and that we are right
eous as Christ was, as it may from the imputation
of the other ?
Obj. 10. This makes Christ to have done that very
thing, for matter, which we ourselves should — that he
paid that very debt of obedience in kind, and not in
value only, which the law required, and which we
should have paid ; which if so, and that that be
reckoned to us, we are then justified by works, and
our righteousness is legal rather than evangelical.
Ans. I have had occasion, in what went before, to
speak a little of the idem and tantundem, as they refer
to Christ's sufferings, in answer to that question,
whether he suffered the self-same penalty which the
law threatened, and the sinner himself should have
endured; or whether he suffered only that which
was equivalent thereunto ? — in the deciding of which
I closed with the common determination, that
Christ's sufferings, for kind and substance, were the
same which the law threatened ; but as to some cer
tain circumstances and accidents, they were but equi
valent. The same resolution I shall give concern
ing the idem and tantundem with respect to his active
obedience. As to the substantial duties required by
the moral law, to them in kind he submitted, and to
that very obedience which we were obliged unto ;
so it was the idem. But then there were some cir
cumstances arising from some special considerations
about his person, which in other things made a dif
ference, with respect to which it was but the tantun
dem. What aU were bound to do in the great and
indispensable duties of the law, as holiness, love to
God, &c, that Christ did ; but what some only are
bound to do, upon certain special obligations lying
upon them, as they stand in such and such relations,
as magistrates, husbands, &c, that was not done by
Christ in specie, he not standing in those relations.
In the substantial duties of the law, and in those

acts of obedience which were in general necessary,
Christ did just that which we should have done,
(understand me that I speak of legal, not of evan
gelical obedience ; for though Christ did that for us
which the law demanded, yet he did not do that for
us which the gospel demands.) But as to some parti
cular duties of the law proper to such persons in such
circumstances, those he, not being under those cir
cumstances, did not do ; and yet there is no defect in
his obedience, the want of this particular being sup
plied and made up by his general obedience. The
text saith ' that the righteousness ofthe law might be
fulfilled in us.' Now why may we not content our
selves with this, that Christ fulfiUed the law's
righteousness, without running of ourselves upon per
plexing debates about the idem and the tantundem ?
The case, in brief, stands thus : the law must be
obeyed. In ourselves we neither did nor could obey
it : our surety, therefore, must do it for us ; he doing
it for us, his obedience must be imputed to us. This
imputation must be of that very obedience which we
were bound unto; otherwise, (this, and not some
thing else in the lieu of it, being demanded by the
law,) we are yet debtors to the law. Therefore it
follows that Christ did the idem which we should
have done. For as he delivered us from the curse
of the law by bearing that very curse in his own
person which we should have borne, so he fulfilled
the righteousness of the law for us by conforming to
that very righteousness in his own person which we
should have come up to.
As to our justification by works, which is pleaded
against this imputation, to that I shall speak imme
diately in the use.
And thus I have, — with no small grief and trouble,
the Lord knows, to see in this point differences
amongst persons so godly, so learned ; and as to my
self, that I should so unavoidably be concerned in these
unhappy controversies, — gone over and answered
the most material objections that I have met with
against the imputation of Christ's active obedience.
I would not be so fond or weak as to hope, that
what I have said should have any influence upon those
learned and judicious persons from whom I differ, so
as to alter their opinion ; they knew it all before,
and had it from others with great advantage, and yet
could not be thereby convinced. However, I thought

Chap. XIV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

367

I could not do less than what I have done. Possibly
thereby weaker Christians may come to some clearer
insight into these matters; if there, too, I be disap
pointed, yet I have laid down the grounds of my
own persuasion, which this subject made necessary.
Whether the answers I have given to the objections
will be satisfactory to others, I know not ; but I
seriously profess, as to the main, they are so' to me.
I must acknowledge in some of them there are those
difficulties which it is not an easy thing to get over ;
yet upon the whole matter I must say that, after the
most serious thoughts, I, as to myself, can with
more ease and satisfaction answer the arguments
brought against the imputation of the active obe
dience, than I can those which are brought for it,
otherwise I had not embraced an opinion which
some knowing men oppose with scorn and derision.
I come to the application, wherein I must be very
short. Use 1. From the truth I am upon we learn, (1.)
In what way or upon what terms a believer is justi
fied. What are they ? why, the fulfilling of the law's
righteousness ; which though it could not be done
by the beUever himself, yet by Christ tf is done for
him. In the justifying of sinners God proceeds
upon the perfect righteousness and full demands of
the law ; and being justified, they are righteous ac
cording to that strict and exact righteousness which
the law itself holds forth.1 You read much of legal
and of evangelical righteousness, of justification by
works and by faith ; there seems to be a contrariety
between these two — and so there is in some respects
— but if you consider them materially and funda
mentally, they are one and the same. The righteous
ness by which we are justified, it is both legal or the
righteousness of works, and also evangelical or the
righteousness of faith ; in reference to Christ it is
legal, as He exactly fulfilled the law ; in reference to
us it is evangelical, (that righteousness which was
never performed in our own persons, being gracious
ly made over to us, and accepted for us.) And so
as to ourselves we are justified by faith, but as to
1 Justi sumus coram Deo ex ilia etiam absolutissima legis
formula.  Beza. If with our justification from sin there
be joined that active obedience of Christ which is imputed to
us we are just before God according to that perfect form
which the law requireth.— Engl. Annot.

our head and surety we are justified by works. God
deals with us in our own persons upon the terms of
the covenant of grace, but he dealt with us in Christ
upon the terms of the covenant of works ; and, in
deed, in the justification and salvation of a sinner all
these concur. The Scripture, it is true, sets them in
opposition one to the other, and makes them incom
patible ; but that is only in reference to the same
subject, under the same personal consideration. The
same person as considered in himself, and by him
self, cannot be justified by works and by faith too,
by the covenant of works and by the covenant of
grace too. But let Christ be taken in, and so these
things are reconcilable. As Christ in his person
did all which the law or covenant of works required,
so in him our justification is by the law of works,
&c. ; but as that his righteousness is imputed to us
and applied by us, so our justification is of grace, by
faith, &c. That very righteousness which is legal in
the head, is evangelical in the members, in respect
of the application of it. Blessed be God for the
sweet harmony and concurrence of both covenants ;
of law and gospel, works and faith, in the sinner's
justification and salvation ! It is admirably brought
about by this great thing which the text speaks of,
Christ's fulfilling the righteousness of the law for us.
2. Secondly, It shews us what great respect and
value the great God had for his holy law, and what
a High honour he put upon it. Which appears
from this ; the apostle here setting down God's high
and glorious ends in the sending of his Son into the
world, he makes them all to centre in the satisfaction
and accomplishment of his law. That it might be
satisfied in its penalty, Christ shall be a sacrifice, as
you had it before ; that it might be satisfied in its
commands, Christ in his own person shall fulfil the
righteousness of it, as you have it here. Here was
by bbth plenary satisfaction made to the law, which
was the very thing which God stood upon and would
have done. And rather than it should not be done,
his own Son must come from heaven, and put on
flesh, and be himself made under the law ; he must
live a holy life, and die a cursed death, and all to
satisfy the law. And this was a thing so great in
God's eye, as that he looked upon the fulfilling and
answering of the law's demands as a valuable com
pensation for all the abasement and humiliation of

368

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

his dearest Son. Oh let us think honourably of the
law, for surely God did so ! The apostle had seemed
to speak somewhat diminutively of it before, ' What
the law could not do in that it was weak ; ' but here
he puts a great deal of glory upon it, in making this
the end of the incarnation of the Son of God, ' that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.'
God never designed by the sending of Christ to have
his law abolished or abrogated ; x no, but rather to
have it accomplished and fully satisfied. 'Think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the pro
phets ; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil,'
Mat. v. 17. In Christ's obedience, active and pas
sive, we have a high demonstration of that singular
respect which God bare to his law. Sin was a base
thing, therefore that shall be condemned ; but the
law was good, therefore that shall be satisfied.
Use 2. Secondly, From hence, by way of exhorta
tion, I would urge a few things upon you. As (1.)
Make sure of an interest in the privilege here spoken
of. To have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in
us ! Oh what a privilege is this ! Is it yours ? Are
you in the number of the us in the text ? Is Christ's
obeying the law so made over to you, as that, in
God's estimation, the' righteousness thereof is ful
filled in you? Sirs, this is a thing that must be
done either by you or for you. The former being
impossible, what relief have you from the latter?
If you cannot plead this fulfilling of the law's right
eousness, either by yourselves or by your surety,
you are lost for ever ; you are under that debt to
the law which you will never be able to pay, Gal.
v. '3 ; you are yet ' in your sins,' unjustified persons ;
you lie open to the wrath of that God whose law
you have violated ; can make no good claim of life,
(for the law is not done,*ts condition of life is not
performed;) and, which is very dreadful, if the law's
righteousness be not fulfilled in you, the law's curse
wiU most certainly be inflicted upon you. God will
have a perfect righteousness and obedience some
where, or he will not justify and save. If, there
fore, the perfect righteousness and obedience of
Christ be not imputed to you, what wUl you do?
what will become of you ? Woe to that man who,
1 Nota per Christum non abolitam esse legis justitiam, non
respectu quidem nostri; verum impletam earn etiam respectu
nostri et in nobis. — Rolloc.

when he shall come at the great day to stand before
God's tribunal, shall not be judged in and through
Christ, a fulfiller of the law ! that shall then be
found without the garment of Christ's imputed
righteousness ! how will the law fall upon him for
non-obedience, and thereupon demand satisfaction
of him in the suffering of eternal torments ! Pray
think of this in time, so as to get an interest in
Christ's fulfiUing the law's righteousness. Some
dispute whether his righteousness be imputed to
any; let your inquiries (you taking the thing in
thesi, for granted) be about something else, viz.,
whether in particular it be imputed to you? and
what you may be and do that it may be imputed
to you ?
For your direction and help in both of these in
quiries, look to three things, union with Christ,
faith, the spiritual conversation ; these are the evi
dences of the privilege, and also (especially the two
former) the grounds and means of obtaining it. The
us of whom the apostle speaks, in whom the law's
righteousness is fulfilled, are, (1.) Such who are in
Christ, 1 Cor. i. 30; (2.) Such who believe, Bom.
iii. 22, and iv. 24 ; Phil. iii. 9. (3.) Such who live
the spiritual life ; for so they are here characterised,
' that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.'
So that would you either know whether Christ
obeyed the law for you, and that his obedience
be imputed to you, or would you take some course
in order to the securing of this grace to yourselves,
these are the things which your eye must be upon,
that you be in Christ, that you be true beUevers,
that you be holy and' spiritual in your walking.
God never intended that his Son's obedience should
be imputed to any but only to such as these.
2. You who pretend to the having an interest in
this glorious privilege, I would with the greatest
earnestness exhort you to go as far in your own
persons as is possible in the fulfilling of the law's
righteousness. And this I. would with the more
vehemency press upon you, because of those ugly
aspersions and calumnies which some do cast upon
this precious truth, and the worthy assertors of it.
How do papists let fly whole volleys of bitter invec
tives against protestants, because they assert the im
putation of Christ's obedience, and so expound these

Chap. XIV]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

369

words ! And there are some others who are high
enough in their censuring and calumniating of this
doctrine, as if it tended to nothing but to make men
careless and loose and profane; as if it opened a wide
door to all licentiousness, and did cut the sinews of
all piety and godhness. Oh therefore I would entreat
you to be the more strict, exact, holy, obedient in
your course, that you may live down all these
scandals, and that your conversation may be a
visible confutation of them. It is no new thing for
the doctrines of imputed righteousness, of not rest
ing on the law for justification, the decrying of
works for righteousness, the crying up of faith as
the great condition of righteousness and life — I say,
it is no new thing for these evangeHcal truths to be
reviled by some and perverted by others. There
fore, as to the latter, the apostle, when he was
speaking of them, was fain ever and anon to inter
pose something by way of caution, that he might
obviate these misinterpretations, perversions, abuses
which some might make of what he had said.
' Do we,' saith he, ' make void the law ? ' Bom. iii.
31. 'Is Christ the minister of sin?' Gal. ii. 17.
And surely we have need to do the same as to that
which I am upon. Oh, say some, 'did Christ in our
stead obey the law ? is his fulfilling the law made
over to us 1 Then we have nothing to do ; we are
under no obUgation on our part to obey too ; is not
Christ's perfect fulfilling the law enough ? what can
be further required of us? what need we trouble
ourselves about any obedience or holy walking?
But God forbid that any of you should thus reason !
We are indeed too prone to such reasonings ; it is
very natural to us to catch at anything that may
comply with the gratifying of the flesh, and with
the easing of us as to the severities of a holy,
obediential course; and hence it is that we suck
poison out of the sweetest flowers, 'turning the
grace of God into wantonness.' But, I assure you,
there is nothing in Christ's obedience, and in the
imputation thereof, that hath any tendency or gives
1 Ita nunc juxta hujus bestiae sanctimoniam, (he means
Beza,) renatus-in Christo et credens in eum, Christique justi
tiam forti fide apprehendens, f ornicetur, inebrietur, omni spur-
citia contaminetur, peccatum pro nibilo habetur, utcunque
supersint reliqtiiae ejus in nobis. - Staplet. Antidot., p. 630.
Haec ffoaSd <pdpp.aKa sunt et dasmonum prsestigiae, quibus legem
Dei eludere, kc—Vide Contzen. in loc, qu. 1.

any encouragement or patronage to any such loose
inferences ; for though he obeyed the law for us,
yet we ourselves must obey it too ; his obedience
must not jostle out 'ours ; both together, upon dif
ferent accounts, do very well agree. Indeed, he
having obeyed the law, we are not bound to obey it
for such an end as for satisfaction and merit, for
righteousness and life ; yet in other respects, and for
other ends, as that we may conform to the will of
God, and so please him ; that we may in our sphere
imitate our holy Saviour ; that we may testify our
love and gratitude to God, &c, so we are as much
bound to keep and obey the law as ever. Oh it is
such an excellent law, in the commands and injunc
tions of it, that all should delight in conforming to
it ! As1 it is the law of works, calling for perfect
and personal obedience, and giving no strength there
unto, so it is burdensome ; but as it puts the creature
upon works, and is the rule and matter of obedience,
so the gracious soul will delight Hi it. Wherefore,
though Christ hath fulfilled it for you, yet it becomes
you too to live in all obediential compliance with it,
and subjection to it.
And, I say, herein go as far as is possible. You
cannot perfectly fulfil it, (blessed be God that is not
required of you,) but yet you should do as much as
ever you can ; you should endeavour after perfect
obedience, though you cannot arrive at it. Our
Saviour's perfect obedience may encourage us in our
lamented defects, but we must not thereupon stint
or limit ourselves in our obedience. A gracious
man's wiU is always above his power ; he can do
but little, but he would do all. It was a high com
mendation given to Caleb, Num. xiv. 24; saith Gcd
of him, ' He followed me fully,' or, as it is in the
Hebrew, vajemalle achari, he ' fulfilled after me;' and
thus it is with every Caleb, one that is after God's
own heart, as the- word signifies, he is for fulfilling
after God. The apostle speaks of •s-Xjjo&xr/s r^;
viraxoric, the fulness or fulfilling of obedience, 2 Cor.
x. 6. Epaphras prayed for the Colossians, chap iv. 1 2,
that they ' might be complete in all the will of
God;' and it is said of Zacharias and Elisabeth,
Luke i. 6, ' they were righteous in all the command
ments and ordinances of God.' Oh that it might be
thus with you ! If straight bodies be put together
there is a universal contiguity betwixt them ; they

370

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XIV.

will meet and touch each the other throughout ; and
so where the heart is sincere it will close with every
part of God's law. Christians, pray rejoice in Christ's
fulfiUing the law's righteousness, and rest upon that
only; but yet in the way of duty arid obedience aspire
in yourselves at the highest fulfiUing of the law which
here you are capable of.
3. Thirdly, The law righteousness Christ hath ful
filled for you, but the gospel righteousness you must
perform yourselves. The moral law, as it was strictly
and properly the covenant of works, Christ hath satis
fied in his doing of what it required, but the evan
gelical law, requiring faith and repentance, you your
selves must satisfy ; Christ's obedience to the former
is made yours by imputation, but as to the latter
there must be your own personal and inherent obe
dience. We read of Christ's being ' made under the
law,' and of his ' fulfilling the law,' but we never
read of his being made under the gospel, or fulfiUing
the conditions thereof; no, you must repent your
selves, believe yourselves, or else all that Christ hath
done upon the account of the law will not profit you.
I would not be mistaken in this ; therefore (1.) I do
not mean that you are to perform the gospel condi
tions in your own strength ; was it so, you might as
well do what the law as what the gospel requires, it
being as easy in your own strength to obey the one
as the other : you yourselves are to repent and be
lieve, but it is not of yourselves ; these are the gift
of God. Nor (2.) do I mean that the performing
of the gospel conditions is left to the lubricity of
your wills, so as that it should be uncertain and
undetermined whether you should perform them or
.not ; for, upon the election of God, and the purchase
of Christ, all that do belong to him shall certainly
believe and repent. Nor (3.) do I mean, that upon
the fulfilling of the gospel law you should have an
other formal righteousness before God distinct from
that which results from Christ's obeying the moral
law, which is imputed to you ; but only that upon
your performing of the gospel conditions way may
be made for the application of Christ's legal obe
dience to you, as the only thing wherein stands your
righteousness. These are things which might be
very much enlarged upon, but I am now in haste.
AU therefore that I drive at is this, Christ fulfilled
the moral law for you, but he never fulfilled the

gospel law for you ; you must repent and beUeve
yourselves, or else you cannot rely upon the imputa
tion of Christ's obedience to the law ; if you be im
penitent and unbelieving, both law and gospel are
unfulfilled and in full force against you. It wiU be
an insignificant plea at the great day, when the law's
righteousness shall plead against you, for you to say,
Lord, Christ fulfilled that righteousness ; true, will
God say, he did so, but the gospel righteousness was
not fulfilled by you ; therefore what my Son did as
to the other is nothing to you.
4. One thing more, you that are believers take a
further view of the great love of God and Christ,
and let the sense of it work up your hearts to the
highest thankfulness. Was God pleased to send his
own Son in flesh, for this very end, that he might
fulfil the law ?. and when his Son had so done, doth
he reckon- that obedience to you as if you had
done it yourselves? Oh incomprehensible, infinite,
amazing love ! Was Christ wUling to submit to
this, on these terms to take flesh ? Oh the trans
cendent, superlative love of Christ ! He who made
the law to be made under the law ! he who was the
Lord and Sovereign to be wiUing to become a sub
ject ! he to undertake to do that which you could
never have done, and without the doing of which
you must have eternally perished ! he to condescend
to do what the law demanded, to suffer what the
law threatened ! What shaU we say to this love 1
surely we can never enough adore it, or sufficiently
bless God for it. Saints, did you but consider what
humiliation this was iH the Son of God, what a
dreadful enemy this law would have been had not
its righteousness been fulfilled, into what a blessed
state things are now brought ; it would certainly
highly affect you with the love of Christ, and en
gage you to love, serve, praise him eternaUy.
Use 3. The third use is comfort to the people of
God ; and indeed to such here is not a little matter
of rejoicing. The righteousness of the law fulfiUed
in us ? great and blessed words ! Did God employ
such a person, in such a way, for such an end?
That end must needs then be attained ; and if so,
what shall hurt them for whom it was attained?
Yon who beHeve do often fear that the law's right
eousness is ready to rise up against you ; you tremble
at the thoughts of it when you consider how short

Chap. XV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

371

you come of it ; but fear it not, for in Christ it is
exactly, perfectly fulfilled; and that for you too,
in your stead, that it is as well as if you had obeyed
it fully in your own persons ; is not here ground of
comfort? You eye the imperfection of your own
obedience, and you do well ; but pray eye too the
perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus, which is yours
by imputation. ' There is now no condemnation to
them who are in Christ.' Why now no condemna
tion? because now Christ hath fulfilled the law's
righteousness for such ; and thereupon who or what
shall condemn them ? You are troubled because of
the law of sin, but that the Spirit hath freed you
from ; you are troubled because of the law of God,
inasmuch as you come so much short of its right
eousness, but that by Christ is fulfilled for you.
You destfe a righteousness, such a one as will bear
you out before God ; here it is for you, Christ's own
righteousness is yours ; oh you may say, ' In the
Lord we have righteousness,' Isa. xiv. 24. When
you had none of your own, God provided another
and a better for you ; Assignata est ei aliena justitia,
qui caruit sua, Bernard. Epist. 190, ad Innoc. ; Christ
was wiUing to be made sin that you might be made
the righteousness of God in him.1 You may with
holy confidence say, Law ! thou demandest much of
me, and that very justly, and I cannot myself
answer thee in these demands ; but there is my
Saviour, my surety, he hath paid the full debt for
me, he hath in my room and place done and suffered
aU that thou canst require, to his satisfaction I ap
peal. A good appeal ! the Lord give you more and
more of the comfort of it ! That which often causes
a gracious soul to be troubled, is the consideration
not only of the law's penalty, but also of the law's
purity. Oh it is a righteous law, and it calls for an
exact doing righteousness in the creature ; what wiU
become of me, who cannot answer it herein ? Now
under this trouble, the belief of the imputation of
Christ's active obedience may be of great use. And
this is one reason why I would be the more loath to
part with the imputation of that obedience, because
under troubles of conscience it is so proper, so
necessary, so sovereign a cordial for many fainting
Christians. To shut up all : believers, Christ's
¦ 1 Delicta nostra sua delicta fecit, ut justitiam suam nostram
justitiam faceret. — August.

whole obedience, active and passive, is yours ; what
would you have more ? What can sin, or Satan, or
conscience, or the law itself now object against you ?
Be humble and mourn in the sense of the imperfec
tion of your own inherent righteousness, yet withal re
joice and glory in the fulness, perfection, everlasting-
ness of that righteousness which is imputed to you.
It is a terrible word to sinners, the righteousness of
the law must be fulfilled on them, it is a comfort
able word to the saints ; the righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in them.

CHAPTEB XV.
SPIRITUAL WALKERS THE SUBJECTS OF THE FORE
GOING PRIVILEGE.
Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. —
Bom. viii. 4.
The sixth head in the words, viz., the description of the
persons to whom the privilege belongs — Some shori
animadversions upon the words — The main doctrine
raised from them, but not handled — A brief survey
of these four verses, and recapitulation of the princi
pal matter in them — The conclusion of this volume.
In the opening of the matter which the apostle is
upon in this and in the preceding verse, 1 have taken
notice of,
1. The act itself, viz., the sending of Christ.
2. The person whose act this was ; God sent, &c.
3. The person who was sent; as he stands in a
very near relation to God ; God sent his own Son,
&c. 4. The way or manner in which this Son was
sent; in the likeness of sinful flesh.
5. The great ends of God in all this, or the great
effects produced thereby ; namely, the condemning
of sin, &c, and the fulfilling of the law's righteousness
in and for believers. These several heads have all,
more or less, been opened.
6. The apostle having appropriated the last end
or effect, the fulfilling of the law's righteousness, to

372

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

[Chap. XV.

such a sort of persons, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, he goes on to describe
those persons by thetf qualification and course ; they
are such who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. This description or character we had before, with
respect to union with Christ, or exemption from con
demnation : ' There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.' Here it is repeated with
respect to Christ's fulfilling of the law, and the im
putation of that his obedience. Who are the per
sons who have a share also in this, and who shaU be
the better for it? why, such 'who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.' As the mystical
union and freedom from condemnation, so the im
putation of Christ's righteousness is attended, in
every subject that is a real partaker thereof, with a
spiritual and holy conversation. These are different
privileges, but for the evidence of them the apostle
makes use of the same character or description.
Who walk not after the flesh, &c. The words are
not descriptive of the nature of the thing spoken of
before, as if the righteousness of the law was ful
filled in believers in their not walking after the
flesh, &c, as some would have it;1 but they are
descriptive of the persons for whom and in whom
that thing was done. There is a vast difference
betwixt these two ; our holiness is not the fulfilling
of the law, but whoever is a holy man, Christ's ful
fiUing of the law is imputed to him ; and so he doth
fulfil it.2
In the bringing in of this description three things
might be designed by the apostle :
1. To assert the happiness of all who live the
spiritual Hfe ; in them by Christ the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled.
2. To stave off all others from laying claim to
this grace;3 none but holy Hvers can warrantably
apply Christ's satisfying of the law to themselves.
1 Pererius, Disp. 3 in cap. 8 ad Rom.
* Apostolus non affirmat justificationem legis a nobis impleri
sed in nobis ; nee quia incedimus secundum Spiritum ut haec
causa sit, sed ut hoc testimonio et judicio intelligamus legis
justificationem in nobis impleri qui secundum Spiritum ince
dimus. — Whittak. contra Durceum.de Patad., lib. viii. fol. 203.
* Ideo apostolus admodum apposite, &c. — Vide Bezam. in
loc. Christus est illis justitia qui juxta Spiritum, non juxta

3. To obviate all abuses of this precious truth, all
misinterpretations of it,1 as also all security and
carelessness in them who have an interest in the
privilege.2 Hath Christ fulfilled the law for usl
Some from hence might be apt to infer, Then we
may Uve as we list, there is nothing now for us to
do ; no, not so, saith the apostle, for though Christ
hath fully satisfied the law, yet all for whom he
hath done this do and must walk ' not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.'
Who walk not, &c. Faith being the proper and
immediate condition of the imputation of Christ's
righteousness or obedience to the law, why doth not
the apostle instance in that, rather than in spiritual
walking? Ans. Because he is not here so much
shewing how Christ's righteousness is imputed, as
who they are, (or how they carry it,) to whom it is
so imputed.3 He that would have Christ's righteous
ness to be his, must believe, for that is the proper
act in order thereunto. But he that would know
himself, or would manifest to others, that he is right
eous in Christ's righteousness, that must be brought
about by the heavenliness of his conversation.
The observation which lies plainly before us from
these words is this, That all such who have Christ's
righteousness imputed to them, they are not fleshly
but spiritual walkers ; they do not live the carnal
and sinful, but the holy and the heavenly life. Or
thus, None can warrantably pretend to an interest
in Christ's obedience, (active or passive,) but only
such who in their course are acted by the Sptfit, and
not by the flesh. But I shall not say anything upon
this point ; both because this walking not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit, hath been already fuUy
opened ; and also because as to the inseparable con
nexion betwixt this imputation and this conversation,
I may hereafter have occasion to speak more con-
carnem, ambulant ; Christus enim iis duntaxat justitia et legis
satisfactio est, qui crucifixo jam vetere homine Spiritui obtem-
perant, h.e., solis fidelibus. — Zuingl.
1 Quia suam justitiam nullis communicat Christus, nisi
quos Spiritus sui vinculo sibi conjungit, additur iterum re
generate, ne putetur Christus esse peccati minister, sicuti
proclive est multis ad carnis lasciviam rapere quicquid da
paterna Dei indulgentia traditur. — Calvin.
5 Vide Chrysost. et GScum. in loc.
3 Etsi fides principalis conditio sit, quia tamen interna est,
&c. Ideo addit illam externam, de qua nemo gloriari possit,
nisi se habere foris demonstret. — Pareus.

Chai

XV.]

JACOMB ON ROMANS VIII. 1-4.

373

veniently to it, when I shall have more room for it
than here I have.
I will close all with a brief survey of the verses
which I have gone over, that we may the better un
derstand the apostle's method in them, and also
what progress we have made in the thing which he
is upon. He first lays down his main foundation, in this
proposition, ' There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus,' ver. 1. Then he amphfies
himself about this proposition: where (1.) He cha
racterises the proper subject of the privilege, (viz., of
non-condemnation,) ' who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit.' This only he names in the
general, ver. 1 and 4 ; but then ver. 5 he falls upon
a more full and particular illustration of it, which he
continues in several verses. The second thing he
doth about the proposition is to prove the truth of
the predicate, that there is no condemnation, &c.
And this he doth by these mediums : They who are
freed by the regenerating Spirit from the power of
sin, and by Christ's death and sacrifice from the
guUt of sin, as also who have Christ's full obedience
and satisfaction of the law imputed to them, to them
there is no condemnation. But thus it is with all
in Christ Jesus : ' By the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ' they are 'freed from the law of sin and
death,' (there is dehverance from the power of sin ;)
God, by Christ's being a sacrifice, hath condemned
sin, (there is dehverance from the guilt of sin ;) and
the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them,

(there is Christ's obedience imputed to them ;) upon
all this it must needs follow that to them there is no
condemnation, (which was the thing to be proved.)
Now these being things of great weight and im
portance, wherein the very vitals and spirit of the
gospel do lie, the due and distinct opening of them,
with other truths interwoven in the words, hath
made this volume grow to a far greater bigness than
what I expected. Wherein I have been unneces
sarily prolix, I humbly beg the readers pardon ; but
truly in speaking to the saint's exemption from con
demnation, the mystical union of believers with
Christ, the spiritual life, the Spirit's agency in free
ing souls from the bondage of sin, the law's inability
to justify and save, Christ's mission, eternal Son-
ship, sacrifice, active fulfilling the law, &c. ; I say, in
these weighty and fundamental points, so little un
derstood by the most, so much oppugned by some, I
thought I could scarce say too much. Yet if such
who are judicious shall tell me this is a fault, I will
endeavour to mend it in what shall follow, wishing
that I could as easUy mend other faults as that.
Well ! I have begun, and having so done I purpose,
with God's grace and leave, to go on till I shall
come to the end of this excellent chapter ; with this
proviso, if I may have some encouragement that
these past labours may, in some measure, be useful
and profitable. Without that, why should I proceed
to trouble others and myself too ? The good Lord
give a blessing to what is done, and assist in what
is yet further to be done !

the end.

THE INDEX,

DIRECTING TO THE PRINCIPAL THINGS INSISTED UPON IN THIS BOOK.

SUCH as are in Christ must abide in him,
Of Christ's active obedience. Vide Obedience.
Particular acts do, not evidence the state, but
the general course, ....
Of spiritual affections, .....
There is no condemnation, yet much affliction
to beUevers, ......
It is antichristianism directly or by consequence
to deny Christ's coming in flesh,
Of atonement by Christ, ....

53

6474 14
257298

46

35

B
Baptism alone not sufficient to prove union
with Christ, ......
Fleshly walking contrary to baptismal dedica
tion, .......
Being in Christ opened, . .
Christ being sent by God, that is a great en
gagement and encouragement also to sin
ners to believe on him, . • .194, &c.
How sin exerts its power in and by the body, 116
The miserableness ofthe sinner's bondage under
sin opened and set forth, . • 119, &c.
The proper and only cause of deliverance from
sin's bondage, 

150

Great changes in the godly with respect to their
inward comfort or sorrow, . • .13

The weakness of the ceremonial l&W, . .166
Of Union with Christ. Vide Union.
Of Christs being sent by God the Father. Vide
Sending.
Of Christ's Sonship to God. Vide Son.
Of Christ's incarnation. Vide Incarnation.
Of Christ's being a sacrifice. Vide Sacrifice.
Of Christ's obedience. Vide Obedience.
Christ's pre-existence before he was born of the
Virgin proved, .....
Christ is a person, .....
His personal distinction from his Father
proved, ......
Christ's Godhead proved, ....
His manhood. Vide Man.
The excellency of Christ's priesthood and sacri
fice, .......
Christ's fitness to be a Redeemer, and to
be sent by God, opened in some particu
lars, .......
Communion depends upon union, and follows
upon it, . . . ' . . 50
Communion with God and communications
from him are made credible by Christ's in
carnation, . . . . . .271
Christ being man must be compassionate, . 275
Concupiscence is sin, . . . . .15
No condemnation to such as are in Christ, . 14
This proved  23

179180180
216

326

187

59

376

INDEX.

PAGE
Condemnation opened as to word and thing, . 21
It refers to guilt and punishment, . . 21
There is the sentence and state of condemnation, 21
It is virtual or actual, . . . .21
There is matter of condemnation in the best, 15
Condemnation by men, by conscience, by
Satan,  .16
Condemnation under the gospel as well as un
der the law, . . . . . .18
It is not only no condemnation to believers, but
positive salvation, . . . .20
Of the dreadfulness of condemnation, . . 26
How it may be avoided, .... 30
Persons exempted from it are to be thankful
and cheerful, . . . . 32, &c.
What the condemning of sin is, . . .279
There may be troubles in the conscience after
sin, and yet sin may reign, . . .133
The contrariety of the two walkings, . . 66
The corrupt nature set forth by flesh. Vide
Flesh.
The covenant of redemption. touched upon, . 187
Of the new creature, ..... 48
Of the crucifying the flesh, ... 49

D
The law of death opened, . . .99, 155
Sin and death go together ; especially when it
is the law of sin, .... 99, 155
How the regenerate are freed from the law of
death,  156, &c.
Comfort from hence to such against the fear
of death, ...... 159
In temptations to sin it is good to consider that
it is sin and death, . . .158
Comfort to believers as to death, from their
union with Christ, . . . .58
Christ's death a strong dissuasive from walking
after the flesh  85
The main ends of Christ's death made good
against the Socinians, . . . 313, &c.
Man had not died if he had not sinned, . 155
Of the saints' dignity from their union, with
Christ,  56
Of the dominion of sin. See the Law of Sin.

E
The converting Spirit works efficaciously and
irresistibly, 
Of the spiritualness of a man's ends,
Expiation of sin by Christ's sacrifice,
That finished on earth, not done in heaven,
The nature of this expiation,
The extent of it, 
Vide Sacrifice.

God the Father's love to.be admired in his send
ing of Christ, 
Saints are to think well of God the Father as
well as of God the Son,
Faith the bond in the mystical union, .
Faith to be repeated in fresh applications to
Christ, .....
There are but few in Christ, ....
Flesh is in the best, 
All particular sins comprehended in flesh,
Of being in the flesh and walking after the
flesh, . . .
Flesh taken for corrupt nature,
Why that is set forth by flesh,
Flesh considered more generally,
Flesh considered more particularly,
The phUosophical notion ot flesh and spirit,
What it is to walk after the flesh. Vide Walk
ing.
What the flesh is by which the law is made
weak, 
Of Christ's being sent in flesh; that opened,
He did not bring his flesh from heaven,
Of the verity of his flesh, (against the ancient
heretics,) .....
That proved, ....
How he was sent in the Ukeness of sinful flesh,
And but in the likeness of sinful flesh, . 251,
Of the excellency of Christ's flesh,
He as sent in flesh is to be believed on
Of freedom from the law of sin. Vide the Law
of Sin.
Freedom from its guilt and from- its power,
Of Christ's fulfilling the law. Vide Law.

145 75
274
307
309309

190
191 48
335 79
6368 68
68

69 72

167
230231 231231250 &c.
255259

97

INDEX.

377

'-"' PAGE
The eternal generation of Christ the Son of
God proved, .... 201, &c.
The difference between that and common
generation, .... 220
Its mysteriousness, ... 219
Of the exceUency of the gospel and Christian
religion,  254
The privileges of believers under the gospel
above those under the law, . . ,274
Grace set forth by Sptfit, and the reasons why
it is so,  71, &c.
There should be in saints a growth in spiritual
ness, ....... 90
Of the Sptfit's being a guide, . . .73
Whether Christ took our very guilt upon him ;
affirmed,  297
H
Heaven made credible upon Christ's incarnation, 272
Holiness pressed from union with Christ, . 56
From being made free from the law of sin, 138
From the incarnation of Christ, . .267
The holiness and sinlessness of Christ's human
nature, ...... 252
The necessity thereof, .... 254
The difference of the human nature as in Christ
and as in us,  237
Of the advancement of the human nature by
Christ's assuming it, . . . .275
Christ to be highly honoured. It is shewn
wherein,  224
Humiliation the way to consolation, . .135
Saints to be humbled, that they were so long
under the law of sin, and that sin stUl
hath such a power in them, . . .136
As. also that there should be that flesh in
them by which God's own law is made
weak,  • ¦ l71
Humility pressed from Christ's taking our
nature, • • •
Of the hypostatical union. Vide Union.

267

About the idem and the tantundem ;
With respect to Christ's sufferings,
¦ To his active obedience, .

. 296
366, &c.

Of the imputation of Christ's active obedience.
Vide Obedience.
How the imputation thereof is to be stated.
fide Obedience.
The incarnation of Christ largely discoursed
of,  229, &c.
His mission and his incarnation two distinct
things,  230
The latter not impossible, not incredible, . 237
The grounds laid down why Christ was incar
nate,  237, &c.
Prophecies and types of it, . . .238
Seven propositions insisted upon for the ex
plication of it, .... 241, &c.
What benefit had they by Christ who lived
before his incarnation ? . . . .244
Why he was incarnate just at that time when
he was inearnate ? . . . . .244
A firm assent is to be given to the verity of
Christ's incarnation ; as also a firm , adher
ence to him as incarnate, . . 257, &c.
Many other duties urged from this incarna
tion,  260, &c.
As also the comfort of it to believers is set
forth in several particulars, . . 269, &c.
Whether, if man had not sinned, Christ had
been incarnate ? Neff., . . . .249
Of inclinations, good or evil, and their differ
ence in the godly and others, . . 74
The severity of God's justice in Christ's being a
sacrifice, ...... 328
The law unable to justify, . . . .169
Whether there be two distinct integral parts of
justification, . . . . . .362
In the justifying of sinners God proceeds upon
the fulfilling of the law's righteousness, 367
As to Christ, we are justified by works ; as to
ourselves, by faith, .... 367

Law of sin, what it is,  98
What the law of the Spirit is, . . .101
All unregenerate persons under the law of
sin,  108, &c.
How sin is a law; opened in the proper and
improper notion of a law, . . . 109 &c.
3 b

378

INDEX.

PAGE
Wherein sin acts as a law, . . . .112
How it may be known when it is the law of
sin ; that particularly opened, . 114, &c.
All the regenerate are freed from the law of
sin,  100, 128, &c.
They are freed from sin only as it is a law, 37, 128
Their freedom from the law of sin proved from
Scripture and argument, . . 130, &c.
How far men may go, and yet not be freed
from the law of sin, . . . .132
A serious exhortation to all to get free from
it,  184, &c.
One direction given in order to it, . .136
What is incumbent upon those who are made
free from the law of sin, . . 136, &c.
Comfort to such, . . .140, &c.
Of the law as weakened by the flesh : of what
law doth the apostle speak? . . .164
How it is said to be weak, . . .166
Wherein it is weak, . . . 165, 169
Grounds or demonstrations of its weakness, 169
Yet the law is holy and good, and not dis
paraged by this, . . . .172, &c.
Nor to be cast off as useless, . . . 1 73
Nor is it altogether weak in other respects, 173
There is no looking for justification or right
eousness by the law, . . .174, &c.
Of the law as Christ fulfilled the righteousness
thereof,  342
Which is to be understood of the moral law, 342
Of the righteousness of that law, . . 343
In what respects Christ is said to fulfil it, 343, 352
How the law's righteousness is fulfilled in be
lievers ? Four opinions about it, . 345, &c.
Christ was made under the* law : opened in five
things, ".  349
Whether the law jrequired both suffering and
doing too, ...... 361
Of the honour that God had for his law, . 367
AU to get an interest in Christ's fulfilling the law, 368
BeUevers themselves to go as far as ever they
can in the fulfiUing of the law, . .368
The admirable love of Christ in being made
wilUng to be made under the law, . .370
The comfort that results from thence to be
lievers, . . , . . .370

Christ hath fulfilled the moral law, but we our
selves must fulfil the evangelical law, . 370
Saints being made free from the law of sin
must stand fast in their Hberty, . .137
And walk suitably to it, . . . .138
Also be very thankful for it, . . .139
Christ to be loved greatly for his readiness to
come when he was sent, . . .191
The love of the Father in sending Christ, . 226
Of lust, or lusts, the most natural act of the
flesh  69, &c.
Lusts distinguished, . . . . 70, 80
M
Of Christ's manhood, . . . . .230
He was a real man, . . 231
Had a soul and body as we have, . . 234
Yea, he submitted to all our sinless infirmi
ties,  236
The excellency of Christ's manhood, . .256
Marks and signs grounded upon sanctification
not to be neglected under the gospel, . 77
Our sin the meritorious cause of all Christ's
sufferings, ...... 284
Whether there be a medium betwixt not guUty
and righteous, ..... 361
Of Christ's mission. ' Vide Sending.
The misery of all out of Christ, . . .25
The moral law as given to Israel not only a
covenant of works, . . . .165
N
The two natures in Christ united but not con
founded, nor converted, . . .247
Negative promises carry a great emphasis, . 20
Negatives in religion not sufficient, . .65
O
Of Christ's obedience, active and passive, » 344
His obedience imputed to us, ... 347
He being bound to obey, how doth his obedi
ence become imputable to us or meritori
ous for us? That cleared up in three
things, ....... 351
Whether his active as well as his passive obedi
ence is imputed. Four opinions about it, 353

INDEX.

379

Arguments to prove its imputation, . .354
Whether it be imputed as done in our stead ;
aff->  358
Arguments to prove it, . . . 359
Ten objections against both answered, . 360
Though Christ obeyed, yet we also are bound
to obey,  368
The opposition which sin makes to what is good, 113

Agamst papists it is proved,
That in all in this Hfe there is that which
deserves condemnation, . . .15
That inherent righteousness is not the proper
cause of justification, .... 95
That thetf granting of Christ's being come
in the flesh, doth not acquit their supreme
head from being antichrist, . . . 258
That no man in this life doth, or can person-
aUy and perfectly fulfil the law, . . 345
That thetf calumnies against protestants/ as
if they were against inherent righteousness
and good works, are false and groundless, 77
That thetf Human satisfactions are vain and
groundless, . . . . . .316
That the Lord's supper is not a sacrifice but
a commemoration only of Christ's sacrifice, 319
Pardon of sin plenary, . . . . .19
Perseverance inferred from union with Christ, 59
Of the different 'principles by which men are
acted, ....... 72
The Spirit the principle in the regenerate, . 73
Sin the principle which acts the unregene
rate, . . -,  112
All the promises sealed by Christ's taking flesh, 270
When propensions to sin are entire, it is the law
of sin,  114
Protestants vindicated, . . • • .77
The people of God are Hable to punishment for
sin,  14
But not under the notion of satisfaction, or
in a vindictive way, . . • .318
R
Christ's fitness to be a Redeemer. Opened in
some particulars,  187

The work of redemption a great work, . .218
All believers have an equal share in remission, 20
Remission of sin not the fulfilling of the law, 577
Of the necessity and efficacy of renewing grace, 126
Also of the necessity and mighty power of re
straining grace, . . . . .124:
Resurrection sure from our union with Christ, 58
Also from Christ's incarnation, . . . 272
The law's righteousness, .... 343
S
Christ a real, proper sacrifice for sin : proved, 286
AU the old sacrifices types of Christ the great
sacrifice, ..... 286
They received all their virtue from him, . 287
They all began and ended with him, . 288
Six things in the Levitical sacrifices : all which
are answerably to be found in Christ, . 289
Christ a propitiatory and expiatory sacrifice, . 290
Four heads, (much enlarged upon,) to prove
Christ to be such a sacrifice, . . .292
Of atonement and expiation (and the true notion
thereof) by his sacrifice, according to what
was done by the Jewish sacrifices, . 297
Christ was a sacrifice when he died upon the
cross. That proved, .... 306
• Of the nature and extent of the expiation of sin
by Christ's sacrifice, . . . 309, &c.
The excellency of Christ's priesthood and sacri
fice,  326
Duties incumbent upon us in reference to
this,  .329
The comforts which flow from it to be
lievers, ...... 338
Whether the old sacrifices were merely typical, 288
The division and distinction of the Jewish sac
rifices, ....... 291
Whether they did expiate aU sin ; opened, 310
Of the Gentile sacrifices and their notions in
them,  304, &c.
Evangelical sacrifices now to be offered up by
Christians, . . . . . .337
Salvation under the law and condemnation un
der the gospel,  18
The truth of Christ's satisfaction proved, . 314
The vanity of human satisfactions, . . 316, &c.

380

INDEX.

Of the sending of Christ, . . . If7, &c.
When the case of sinners as to the law was des
perate, Christ was sent,
God the Father sent him, ....
Christ came not till sent, ....
What this sending of Christ was not, .
What it was : opened in five things, .
How this was consistent With his equality
with his Father, explained, .
The grounds of Christ's being sent,
The love of Father and Son to be adored
upon this, . ....
All are to go When they are sent, not before,
None to rest in the external sending of Christ,
Christ as sent to be believed on,
Comforts from Christ's being sent,
None free from sin here,
Sin a vile and base thing,
The tyranny of it,
Its advantages against us, . . .
It hath not barely a being, but too great a
power, even in the regenerate,
The special and most prevaUing sin must be
most resisted, .....
Christ's death the highest demonstration of the
evil of sin, . . ...
What the condemning of sin is, .
Of the breaking of the heart for and from sin
upon Christ's being a sacrifice)
Socinians dealt with, and these great truths
made good against them :
1. That Christ did pre-exist before he was
born of the virgin,
2. That Christ was the Son of God, not in
things which they allege, (seven of which
are instanced, and largely refuted,) but
in respect of his eternal generation,
3. That he who was antecedently the Son of
God was in time made the Son of man,
or was incarnate, . . . 241.
4. That Christ was a true and proper expia
tory sacrifice ; and the true notion of
his expiation is made good against
them,  292,
5. That he made satisfaction to tbe justice
of God, . . . . 312

177 178
181 182182
186186
190192
193194195 15
120
127 144128 139
328279330

179

201

&c.

&c.

6. The principal ends of Christ's death are
asserted ; and their ends thereof proved
not to be the principal, . .314, &c.
7. That Christ is truly and essentially God, 216
Sons of God by creation, by grace, by nature, 200
Christ, God's Son,  199
Scripture attestations of it, . . 199, &c.
Christ, God's own Son, . ... 280
That opened comparatively and absolutely, 280
His being the natural Son of God, co-equal, co-
essential, co-eternal with the Father, be
gotten of him by eternal generation, is
explained, proved, and -largely vindicated
against opposers, .... 281, &c.
He is not God's own Son, partly in respect of
eternal generation, and partly in respect of
his miraculous conception, &c, . .214
Of the different communications of the divine
essence from the Father to the Son and to
the Spirit,  215
Christ's Godhead inferred from his Sonship, . 216
How Christ's Sonship is to be studied, . .221
All are to believe Christ to be the Son of God,
and to believe on him as such, . .221
How he is to be honoured as the Son of God, 224
What comfort doth arise from Christ's Sonship, 227
How the Spirit is the Spirit of life, . .105
How it is said to be in Christ Jesus, . 104
He is the Spirit of life,
Formally, . . . , . . . 105
Effectively, .... 105, 163, &c.
What is meant by the law of the Spirit, . 161
His making free from the law of sin opened, 142
Of the necessity, sufficiency, efficacy of the
. Spirit's power and operation in that, . 142
The Spirit the sole efficient therein, . .151
How he secures against the law of sin after
conversion, . . . . .150
Deliverance from sin's power is to be expected
from this Spirit, and to be ascribed to him,l52,&c.
Of the Spirit's greatness and glory, . . 150
He is greatly to be honoured, . . .153
How the Spirit may be obtained, . . .51
The Spirit taken personaUy and habitually, . 71
What it is to walk after the Spirit. Vide Walk
ing.

INDEX.

381

Of Christ's substituting himself in the sinner's

stead,

. 294

The true nature and ends of the sacrament of
the Lord's supper, . . . . .319
Christ sympathises with his members, . . 57
T.
The tabernacle a type of Christ's body, . 239
Of the distinction of the persons in the sacred
Trinity,  180
Great reHef under troubles of conscience from
Christ's incarnation, . . . .270
U.
How sin reigns in the understanding, . .115
How the Sptfit works on the understanding in
order to freeing from the law of sin, . 147
Of the union : of three persons in one nature i of
two natures in one person : of persons where
yet both natures and persons are distinct, 36
Of the hypostatical union, .... 245
Of the sublimeness and mysteriousness of it, 245
Opened in four things, . . . 246, &c.
The mystical union opened, ... 36, &c.
That also is a great mystery, . . .36
Of the threefold union betwixt Christ and be^
lievers : mystical, legal, moral, . . 38
The bonds ofthe former, the Spirit and faith,38, 49
Several Scripture resemblances by which it is
set forth,  40, &c.
Seven properties of it, . . . 42, &c.
How persons may know whether they be
under it,  45
Of natural and spiritual union with Christ, . 45
Of external or common, and internal or special 46
union, ...••»'*"
Sinners exhorted to labour after this union, 50
How it may be attained, . . ¦ ' ]}
Without union no communion, . . 50
Several duties urged upon such who are united
to Christ,  53
Several comforts directed to such, . 56, &c.
The mystical union made credible by Christ's
incarnation, . . . ¦ •

271

W PAGE
Of walking not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, .......
Why the apostle pitches upon this evidence,
Spiritual walking not the cause of the privUege,
but the property of the person to whom it
belongs, ......
The contrariety of the two walkings,
Men must be in Christ before they can live the
spiritual life, .....
There always was, and always will be, different
walkers, ......
What it is to walk after the flesh, opened, 67, 70
Walking in the flesh taken in a good sense, . 67
Of the more gross and the more close walking
after the flesh, ..... 80
Men dehorted from fleshly walking, . . 81
The dehortation enforced with divers mo
tives, ..... 82, &c.
Directions in order to it, . . . 85, &c.
What it is to walk after the Spirit, . . 71
Opened by the spiritualness ofthe principle,
guide, affections, propensions, ends, 72, &c.

6364

64
66 66
66

All in Christ thus walk; proved, .
This walking,
Excellent, ......
Pleasant, 
Saving 
Spiritual walkers are,
To be very thankful, ....
To be yet more spiritual,
To take the comfort of it : some discourage
ments about it removed, .
The will is the principal seat of sin's power, .
How the Spirit works upon the will efficaci
ously, yet without the infringing of its
liberty, 

76
87
8889 90
9092
115

148

Reader, in the drawing up of this index many
things occasionally spoken unto have slipped me;
but thou wUt find them under those main heads
which I chiefly insist upon, to each of which thou
art here directed.

9002 05047 9147