covenant, which the Scriptures contrast with the Sinai covenant, instead of being opposed to the Abrahamic, is made with believers in fulfilment of the great mercy, which God promised to Abraham, and to his seed. "Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy."* The gospel was before preached unto Abraham. The new covenant is made with the houses of Israel and Judah; that is, with all the spiritual seed of Abraham. God promised to Abraham, that he would be a God to him and to his seed; and in the new covenant he promises to be a God to believers. According to the new covenant, believers have that righteousness, which was sealed to Abraham; and their sins and iniquities will be remembered no more. 6. God's covenant with Abraham was sealed by the sign of circumcision. "God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee, in theirgenerations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of *Rom. xv. 8, 9. Compare Gal. iii. 14. your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations; he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger," who "is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with money, must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."* covenant. Circumcision was God's seal, ratifying his Whatever God, in his covenant with Abraham, promised, concerning him, or his seed, was ratified by circumcision. It was implied in the covenant, that God would continue a true church, and, consequently, that he would circumcise, or renew the hearts of some of his natural seed, from one generation to another, and, at length, renew the hearts of many of all nations. Outward circumcision was a sign, or visible representation, of spiritual circumcision, or of a renovation of heart. This appears from many figurative expressions in the Scriptures. * Gen. xviii. 9-14. Moses said to the children of Israel, "the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."* In Jeremiah it is said, "For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,"-" Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn, that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."+ The command to the Jews to circumcise their hearts, was just the same, as a command to have a new and a penitent heart. It was the same as this; "Make you a new heart and a new spirit.”‡ Under the Jewish economy, an uncircumcised heart was an impenitent heart. By the prophet Jeremiah, God threatened to punish the house of Israel, because they were " uncircumcised in the heart." By the prophet Ezekiel, he charged Israel with rebellion, because they brought into his sanctuary those, who were "uncircumcised in heart," and "uncircumcised in flesh;"|| "uncircumcised in heart;" that is, those, whose hearts were unsanctified. SteEzek. xviii. 31. *Deut. xxx. 6. † Jer. iv. 4. Ezek. xliv. 7. phen said to the impenitent Jews, “Ye stiffnecked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."* Though the Jews were circumcised in their flesh, yet remaining impenitent, they were considered as uncircumcised. Says the Apostle, " Circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law, but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision"—"For he is not a Jew," that "is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew," who "is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God."+-For we are the circumcision," who "worship God in the Spirit."-" Ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ."§ Though many received the outward sign of circumcision, who never had the thing signified, yet this did not alter the nature of the everlasting covenant, nor the design of the seal, Circumcision was not only a sacramental sign of a new heart, but, when submitted to by *Acts vii. 51. † Rom. ii. 25–29. ‡ Phil. iii. 3. § Col. ii. 11. . Abraham, and other pious parents in Israel, was a proper expression of an obedient temper. It was an explicit consent to the covenant; a public confession of their faith; and a solemn dedication of themselves and their households to God. Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of faith. It sealed to Abraham this truth, that he was justified in consequence of his faith; and it sealed this general truth, that God "justifieth the ungodly" through faith. Abraham was made the father of all who should believe. All, of whatever nation, who are "of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham," and justified in the same way. After the gospel dispensation took place, those of Abraham's natural seed, who were, also, his spiritual children, desired "to be found in" Christ, "not having" their "own righteousness, which" was "of the law, but that, which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith;" and righteousness is imputed to all sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, who believe in "Jesus Christ the righteous," whom, when he "knew no sin," God "made to be sin for" men, "that" those, who believe, might be made the righteousness of God in him;" Jesus Christ is "the head," whom we |