Sermons Preached on Romans 8, Title page – Dedication
SEVERAL SERMONS Preach'd on the whole EIGHTH CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE to the ROMANS.
EIGHTEEN OF WHICH Preach'd on the FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOƲRTH VERSES are here Publiſhed.
WHEREIN The Saints Exemption from Condemnation, the Myſtical Ʋnion, the Spiritual Life, the Dominion of Sin and the Spirits agency in freeing from it, the Law's inability to juſtifie and ſave, Chriſt's Miſſion, Eternal Sonſhip, Incarnation, his being an Expiatory Sacrifice, Fulfilling the Laws righteouſneſs (which is imputed to Believers), are opened, confirmed, vindicated, and applied.
BY THO. JACOMB, D. D.
The FIRST VOLUME of the FIRST PART.
Hoc mihi concedetur nihil unquam fuiſſe inter homines tam abſolutum, in quo vel expoliendo, vel ornando, vel illuſtrando, non fieret locus ſequentium induſtriae.
Calvin in Ep. ad Gryn.
London, Printed by W. Godbid, and are to be Sold by M. Pitt at the White-Hart in Little-Britain, and R. Chiſwel at the Roſe and Crown, and J. Robinſon at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church yard, 1672.
To the Right Honourable ELIZABETH CONƲNTESSE DOWAGER OF EXETER, My Ever Honoured LADY.
MADAM,
ALthough I know before hand how the prefixing of your Name upon this account will be reſented by your Ladyſhip, yet I am by ſo many Reaſons thereunto oblig'd that I muſt venture to do it, and caſt my ſelf upon your Goodneſs for my pardon. This Volume of Sermons (which is but a Forerunner to Two or Three more) I preſume therefore humbly to dedicate to your Honour; which, though in it ſelf and in your Ladyſhips eſteem, it be a very inſignificative thing, yet however 'tis a declaration to the World that I am ſenſible of my vaſt obligations to You; and that I would catch at every thing wherein I might teſtifie how much I am beholden to you. And I hope you will not be offended with me for the doing of that, which all (who know my Circumſtances) would have wondred if I had omitted. Surely (Madam) thoſe extraordinary Favours which (for above Twenty Years) you have been pleas'd to confer upon me and mine, deſerve over and over all thoſe little expreſſions of humble Reſpect and Gratitude which I can poſſibly make: This Dedication therefore being deſign'd 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 any thing of good either in it or by it); One of which I ſhall not conceal, the reſt I muſt. When I had finiſh'd my Preaching on the Chapter which I have gone over, You was pleas'd to deſire me (and your Deſires are, and ought to be, Commands 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 beſides my intention as againſt my inclination). So that (Madam) you are in a ſpecial manner to be own'd 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 Comfort; 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 partaker of the Other; and ſhall (I truſt) grow up daily yet more and more to an higher participation of it. I cannot wiſh you to be more holy than to do what is here enjoyned, nor more happy than to poſſeſs what is here promiſed.
It pleaſes the Merciful God (the ſoveraign 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 Relations are taken away and are not, you your Self 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 impatient (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 it-ſelf; you'l have it never the ſooner for that. He that hath determin'd 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 chearfully 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 Gods work, the better it will be to you at laſt. 'Tis 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*foreign. Theodoret. heighth of Pauls grace and the excellency of his Spirit, Philip. 1.23, 24, 25. For I am in a ſtraight betwixt two, having a deſire to depart, and to be with Chriſt, which is far better. Nevertheleſs, 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. 'Tis a Saying of*Ingentis animi eſt alienâ causâ ad vitam reverti. Seneca, It argues a great and generous mind for one to be willing for the ſake of another to return to life again; ſurely that Chriſtian diſcovers true greatneſs of Spirit, who 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 your Self; many have cauſe to bleſs God for the good which they reap by your means, (who can ſpeak that which 'tis not convenient for me to write): it will be a rare piece of Self-denyal, for you to ſubmit (as to your own perſonal intereſt) to be a loſer if others may be gainers thereby. Aſſure your ſelf, many do earneſtly beg of God the prolongation 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 ordering 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 Book (I very well know) ſignifies but little 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 ingrateful beyond all expreſſions. As God ſhall enable me, according to the many obligations which I lie under I ſhall never ceaſe to pray for You and Yours. If hath pleaſed the ſoveraign 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 may be 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 begins to bleſs with an 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 like Snow before the Sun, yet keeps up in its priſtine Greatneſs and Splendor; and may it ſo continue from generation to generation till the World ſhall be no more! And for your Self (Madam) the God of Heaven bleſs you, and recompence into your boſome ſevenfold all that kindneſs that ever you have ſhown to any of his: He grant that you may bring forth fruit in your old age and be fat and flouriſhing; 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 renewed day by day; that you may never want the light 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 light in that more publick Orb wherein you are fix'd, a pattern of Humility and Condeſcenſion, of all Graces and Vertues 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 HONOURS Moſt humble and ever obliged Servant and Chaplain, THO. JACOMB. SEPT. 18. 1672.