minded 'whose he was, and whom he | more properly falls within the range of was bound to serve.' (3.) Another a New Testament commentary, we reason for the adoption of this painful shall not enlarge upon it here. (5.) In rite was its adaptedness to represent addition to the reasons above cited for certain spiritual truths intimately con- the adoption of this rite, there is annected with the great scope of the cov- other suggested by Saurin, which, enant. The Scriptures very frequent- though intrinsically more appropriate ly hold forth some of the most impor- to Abraham himself than to his postant moral doctrines under metaphors terity, is yet well deserving of notice. drawn from the practice of circumcis- Whoever looks into the life of this pa ion. Thus the mortification of sin is triarch will perceive that God especialspoken of as the 'putting off the whole ly designed him for an eminent pattern body of sin;' 'the crucifying of the of faith and obedience to all succeedflesh with the affections and lusts;' ing generations. The prominent dis'the putting off the old man, and put-pensations of God's providence toting on the new;' are all of them expressions exactly coinciding with the chief intent of this ordinance, showing that we bring a corrupt nature into the world with us which it must be the great labour of our lives to put away. But there are also other expressions of Scripture which show that this rite imported the highest degree of sanctification and holiness. Moses repeatedly speaks of the 'circumcising of the heart to love the Lord with all our heart and all our soul,' Deut. 10. 16.30. 6. And the prophet Jeremiah's language is singularly emphatic, Jer. 4. 4, 'Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it.' From all this it is clear that the ordinance was figurative and designed to instruct the Lord's people in the nature and extent of their duties towards him. (4.) From the reasonings of Paul in the epistle to the Romans, ch. 4. 9-13, we learn a still higher import of this institution, which without such a clew we should perhaps never have gathered from it. He instructs us to consider it as 'a seal of the righteous-vanced years, even if he survived it, ness of faith,' inasmuch as it shadows out a circumcision of the heart, which is an inward seal that the sinner is justified by faith as Abraham was. But as this is a view of the subject which wards him seem to have been all ordered with a particular view to the trial of his faith, which continually became the more illustrious, the more it was subjected to the ordeal. It was for this end that so long a delay was ordained before the birth of the promised son; and after he was born, that he was required to offer him up in sacrifice, to the extinction of his own hopes, and the apparent nullification of all the gracious promises made to him. Now may we not conceive the command relative to circumcision to have been a part of the same severe but salutary discipline? God did not only defer for the space of twenty years the birth of that son who was so solemnly promised and so impatiently desired, but even when that period was elapsed, instead of seeing the promise accomplished and his faith crowned, God was pleased again to cross his expectation by requiring of him the performance of an act, which, in all human probability, must totally defeat the promise. To the eye of sense it was an operation not only dangerous to adults, but when administered to one of his ad it would in all likelihood effectually preclude the possibility of his even becoming a father. Indeed the injunetion, 'My covenant shall be in your flesh,' to a man of his years could not 11 And ye shall circumcise the | old " shall be circumcised among flesh of your foreskin; and it shall you, every man-child in your be a token of the covenant be- generations, he that is born in twixt me and you. the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 12 And he that is eight days t Acts 7. 8. Rom. 4. 11. u Lev. 12. 3. Luke 2. 21. John 7. 22. Phil. 3. 3. regard their extraction from Abraham as being as truly miraculous, under the circumstances in which it occurred, as if they had been excavated or quarried out of the solid rock; an allusion to which we are also to recognise in the words of John the Baptist, Mat. 3. 9, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.' He has virtually done it once, and he can do it again. but seem as opposite to the promise of having a son, as the command to 'take his son, his only son Isaac, and offer him for a burnt-sacrifice,' was to the promise of his being the father of a numerous posterity. Yet the faith of Abraham triumphed over this as it did /over all other obstacles. He was sat-'And think not to say within yourself, isfied that notwithstanding every impediment, whether from a fresh physical incapacity in himself or a permanent one in his superannuated wife, God would assuredly by one means or other make good his promise. This 11. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of was indeed a new and illustrious in- your foreskin. Heb. aby w N stance of the faith of the father of the the flesh of your superfluous foreskin, faithful; and we cannot well doubt that by a usual hypallage for foreskin of among the things of which circumcis- your flesh, where 'flesh' has the approion was to be a memorial to his poster-priated meaning elsewhere assigned to ity, this signal example of believing in it, as Lev. 15. 2, 19. Ezek. 16. 26.-23. the promise in spite of his advanced age and of such a disqualifying operation, was one. Circumcision was enjoined upon the Jews to be a perpetual memento of their strange and supernatural origin, an impressive token at once of the farth of their ancestor, who against hope believed in hope,' and of the fidelity of their God, who from one man only, and him as good as dead,' was able to raise up a people as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the sands upon the sea-shore. This idea throws light upon the words of the prophet, Is. 51. 1, 2, 'Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for I called him alone (i. e. when childless), and blessed him and increased him;' anguage importing that they were to 20. The original for 'foreskin' is defined by lexicographers to signify that which is superfluous or redundant; not that any part of the human body is really and originally superfluous or useless; but in relation to an ordinance it may be termed so, just as it might have been proper to command a Nazarite to shave off his superfluous hair-superfluous in relation to his vow. Gr. aкpoßvoria akrobustia, from aκpov extremity and ẞvw to cover. The same word is applied figuratively to other parts, as to the lips, Ex. 6. 20, to the ear, Jer. 6. 10, to the heart, Lev. 26. 41. Is. 6. 10, and in plain allusion to this phrase the apostle James exhorts, ch 1. 21, to 'lay apart all filthiness and superfiuity of naughtiness,' and in Col. 2. 13, the uncircumcision of our flesh is coupled with our estate as dead in sins, all betokening that the excis 13 He that is born in thine cumcised: and my covenant shall house, and he that is bought with be in your flesh for an everlastthy money, must needs be cir-ing covenant. ion of the superfluous prepuce is to be understood as a sign of the mortification of sin and the renewal of our corrupt nature. as bread is a general term for food. From the position of the Heb. accents and the rendering of most of the ancient versions, it is at least questionable 12. He that is eight days old—every whether our present translation of this child in your generations. Heb. 'a clause is correct. The versions alluded son of eight days.' This ceremony to do not connect the phrase of any was to be administered on the eighth stranger' (Heb. of every son of a stranday even though that should chance to ger) with 'bought,' but read it, accordbe the Sabbath; it being one of the ing to a common Heb. idiom, as an Jewish maxims, that 'circumcision expression of totality, exegetical of drives away the Sabbath.' That this the previous clause, and characterizing maxim was acted upon in our Saviour's still farther the class spoken of in contime is clear from John, 7. 22, 23, tradistinction to the 'born in the house.' 'Moses therefore gave unto you circum-Guided by them we should literally cision, and ye on the Sabbath day cir- translate the verse--'A son of eight cumcise a man. If a man on the Sab-days shall be circumcised unto you; bath day receive circumcision, that the every male in your generations, the law of Moses should not be broken; born in the house and the purchase of are ye angry at me,' &c. The perfor- silver, from (i. e. even or including,) mance of the rite was probably delay-every son of the stranger, which is not ed till the eighth day, because that all creatures newly born were counted as in their blood and unclean for seven days, and might not be sooner offered to God, Lev. 12. 2, 3. Neither calf, lamb, nor kid could be presented as an oblation before it was eight days old, Lev. 22. 27. The rite was administered to males only, as they alone were capable of it; but as the man is the head of the woman, she was virtually included in the covenant. From the constructive unity of man and wife, it was proper that in a federal transaction of this nature her agency should be merged in his. But in baptism, to which, under the gospel dispensation, circumcision has given place, Col. 2. 11, 12, males and females stand upon a par in this respect.- - He that is born in the house, or bought with money. Heb. on the purchase of silver; though the term silver is a general term for money or price, just of the seed.' This we incline to consider the true construction, and if so this passage, however it may be with others, affords no countenance to the idea of Abraham's having bought slaves of others who claimed an ownership in them. It is more likely that the persons in question sold themselves, though it is undoubtedly true that in such cases their children were considered as belonging to their master. The power of a master over his household and slaves at that early period was no doubt very absolute, and he might probably have compelled the observance of this injunction; but still it is more likely that the command did not contemplate a resort to compulsion, as it would be entirely consonant to the ideas and customs of the East that every thing belonging to a person should be affected just as he was. Thus the king of Nineveh, Jon. 3. & ordered not only his people, but even 14 And the uncircumcised man- w shall be cut off from his people; child, whose flesh of his foreskin he hath broken my covenant. is not circumcised, that soul w Ex. 4. 24. his stock or kindred.' Chal 'Shall perish from his people.' Though the idea of excommunication, of being no longer considered as one of the peculiar people, would naturally suggest itself as couched under the phrase, yet the original term is very strong, and legitimately implies capital punishment, or the excision of the offender by death from that community to which he belonged, and of which he has proved himself an unworthy member. This was to be done by the sentence of the judges when the crime was known, otherwise it is implied, say the Jewish writers, that he should fall by the hand of God himself cutting him off by premature death. This is confirmed by Lev. 17. 10, 'I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.' Comp. Ex. 31. 14. Lev. 20. 2-5. By several of the Rabbinical writers, how the cattle to put on mourning, when Jonah preached to the city. For this reason there can be no question that the baptism of infants would appear to have great propriety to the primitive Christians, though such infants could have no knowledge of the religion to which it was the introduction and, as it were, the sign.--The command here given was one marked with divine benignity, for it not only showed that the love extended to Abraham embraced his whole house, but it also in effect declared that the way was opened for the reception, within the pale of the covenant, of those who were not of Abraham's seed according to the flesh. Whatever were the privileges of that gracious compact, God herein showed himself willing that others should be partakers of them, provided they were willing to comply with his prescribed conditions; and accordingly we find that express laws were afterwards giv-ever, it was understood to signify someen for the admission of proselytes into the communion of the Jewish church. thing more than mere temporal death. Thus Maimonides, speaking of eternal death, says, 'And this is that cutting off written of in the law, as it is said, Num. 15. 31, "That soul shall be cut off;' which we have heard expounded thus; cut off in this world and cut off in the world to come.' However it be understood, the threatening is a severe one, and shows conclusively with what reverence God would have his own ordinances regarded, especially those that directly upon our spiritual inHaving ordained that the sign and the promise should go together, it was at any one's peril that he presumed to sunder them. Yet as God desir 14. That soul shall be cut off from his people. That person. Chal. That man.' As infants or little children could not properly be held amenable for the neglect of their parents, whose duty it was to see that their offspring were seasonably circumcised, this of course must be understood of those who, having arrived at years of discretion, and become capable of knowing and obeying the will of God in this par-bear so ticular, yet from unbelief, contempt of terests. the ordinance, or fear of pain, failed to compensate by their own act for the delinquency of their parents. It is not easy, however, to say what is the pre-eth mercy and not sacrifice, so the cise meaning of the phrase 'shall be eut off from his people.' The Gr. renders it 'Shall be utterly destroyed from sickness or weakness of an infant might warrant a delay of the ceremony; and if one chanced to die before the eighth 15 ¶ Ard God said unto Abra- | a mother of nations; kings of ham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou people shall be of her. shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be x ch. 18. 10. 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? y ch. 35. 11. Gal. 4. 31. 1 Pet. 3. 6, z ch. 18. 12. & 21. 6. sing the difference solely by doubling the letter pr. 'Sarai' properly signi relation to a single individual or to a family. The restriction implied in the possessive 'my' is now to be done away; her limited pre-eminence is to be unspeakably enlarged; and as the letter h was inserted in Abraham's name, to signify the multiplication of his seed, so the final yod (i) in her name being cancelled the same letter h, and probably with the same import, is substituted in its stead. Thus instead of ' my princess,' she is hence. forth to bear an appellation importing princess of a multitude,' and corresponding with the magnificent promise made to her, v. 16. day, it was not to be supposed that this circumstance prejudiced its prospects of future happiness. The same re-fies 'my princess,' as if sustaining that marks are in their spirit applicable to the ordinance of Baptism. It is high presumption to neglect or causelessly to defer it. Some indeed are superstitiously anxious about the early admin- | istration of this ordinance to their children, as if their salvation entirely depended upon it. That it should not be needlessly delayed we grant; but the command to circumcise the children on the eighth day sufficiently shows that the children who died under that age, did not perish for the mere want of that ordinance; and Christian parents may be equally assured that if their infants die before they have been initiated in the Christian covenant by baptism, the want of that ordinance will not at all affect their eternal welfare. It is the avowed contempt of the ordinance, and not the providential exclusion from it, that makes us objects of God's displeasure. The directions here given are to be understood as not only addressed to Abraham personally, but in him to his natural seed in all genera-ing a child was hopeless, and therefore tions. The reason assigned for this severe edict is, 'He hath broken my covenant;' i. e. hath made frustrate, broken down, demolished, in opposition to the phrase to establish, to make frm, a covenant. Gr. Hath dissipated my covenant.' Chal. 'Hath made void my covenant.' 15. Sarah shall her name be. Heb. Sarah. Gr. Zuppa Sarra, expres 16. She shall be a mother of nations. Heb. 3 mm shall be to nations; i. e. shall become nations. This is the first express mention of the destined mother of the seed promised to Abraham. This annunciation would of course correct the error into which both she and her husband had fallen, imagining that the prospect of her hav if the promise were fulfilled at all it must be in Ishmael. But now all mistake on that head is precluded. God will give to Abraham a son of her, and kings of people shall be of her. Their former fault in resorting to a carnal expedient is not to be allowed to stand in the way of the execution of God's purposes of mercy. The divine goodness shines forth conspicuously in this, that |