if the rite was totally neglected, "that soul (God says to Abraham) shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."* But this is generally, and, no doubt, truly interpreted, as s applying only where the neglect was wilful, by the party being of age to understand the obligation. For you read in Exodus, that when the child of Moses was uncircumcised, the Lord sought to kill, not the infant himself, but Moses the father, who ought to have seen God's law obeyed. †

The design of circumcision was, first, that Jehovah, by requiring it, should, on his part, set a visible mark upon the body of every male child of Abraham, so to distinguish him for one of his own people, and to assure him, first, of his title to an inheritance in Canaan; and also of God's willingness to bestow upon him those higher, and better, and spiritual privileges, which he promises to the "circumcised in heart." And, secondly, the design of it was, that the Israelite, by submitting to it, should, on his part, acknowledge himself bound to be God's servant, a debtor to keep his whole law, and resolved to seek his whole portion of good from God in the way of his appointment.

And then, besides this, the ordinance was an instituted mean of grace; and the whole action did also figuratively represent the necessity of + Exod. iv. 24.

* Gen. xvii. 14.

VOL. III.

K

cutting off all "fleshly lusts which war against the soul," and so of having that circumcision of the heart which is spoken of in my text, and is, as I said at first, that thing which constitutes the chief and real distinction between God's people and all others.

And now to this account it seems only necessary to add, that as on this day, the eighth from his birth, our Lord himself was circumcised; and that this is a fact in which we are all personally and most materially concerned for St. Paul intimates as much in the epistle for the day. There could, of course, be no need that He who is absolute purity should be reminded of the necessity of any change of heart. But being on our account "made of a woman," or made man, he was also, on our account, "made under" or subject to the law"* by which man is bound. If so, (the law of circumcision being then in force,) to submit to that rite was a necessary part of what was required of him on our behalf. And this submission of his, whereby, like any other person, he owned himself obliged by all the commandments of God, was moreover, his pledge, -since redeemed to the uttermost,-that he would go through with his work unto the end, and "fulfil" for us, as it behoved him, "all righteousness." On these accounts our church

hath appointed a day for the special commemoration of his great goodness in this particular, and hath also put into our mouths a special prayer that we may plead this part of his performances for us, as well as others, at the throne of grace; and that we may be at the same time reminded of the bearing which it has upon our salvationBy thy holy nativity and circumcision, good Lord deliver us."

to God. And it is, besides, both an instituted mean of grace, and, in the act itself, a lively figure or representation of that "death unto sin and new birth unto righteousness" without which all other things are vain, and all form of godliliness hypocrisy. Wherefore, whilst it is as true of the outward baptism as it was anciently of the outward circumcision, that it cannot wilfully be omitted without great sin and great danger, yet the truth does not rest or finish there. But as he was not a Jew, so also he is not a Christian, which is one outwardly; nor is that baptism which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Christian which is one inwardly, and baptism is that of the heart, or, as St. Peter expresses it, "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God." And so I come to the second and most important head of my discourse that is to speak,

II. Of the inward change or cleansing typified both by circumcision and by baptism, to which the Jew was pledged by the one, and the Christian by the other, and without which there is no salvation.

i. Observe then, in the first place, in how peremptory and express a manner this inward change or cleansing is required throughout God's word, and how clearly it is spoken of as consti

* 1 Pet. iii. 21.

tuting in all ages of the church the main substance of practical religion.

In the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, it is thus that God sums up his demands upon his people Israel : "Cast away from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit."* When, by the same prophet, he promises to bestow upon them when they should return from captivity, all those graces which he would require in order to their being his people and his being their God;-"I will sprinkle clean water upon you,” he says, "and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart, also, will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."† "Create in me a clean heart," therefore, "and renew a right spirit within me." That is the corresponding supplication which his spirit dictates to the repenting backslider David. And when, on the other hand, that case is to be set forth in which, at all times and under all circumstances, salvation is impossible,-" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab: for all these nations * Ezek. xviii. 31. † Ib. xxxvi. 25. + Psal. li. 10.