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17 - The Circumcision of the Heart - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter
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Romans to twenty nine. It is the melancholy remark of an excellent man that
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he who now preaches the most essential duties of Christianity runs the hazard of being
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esteemed by a great part of his hearers a setter forth of new doctrines.
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Most men have so lived away the substance of that religion, the profession,
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whereof they still retain that no sooner are any of those truths proposed which difference
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the spirit of Christ from the spirit of the world, than they cry out,
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Thou bringest strange things to our ears. We would know that these things
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mean, though he is only preaching to them Jesus and the Resurrection, with
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the necessary consequence of it. If Christ be risen, ye ought then to
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die unto the world and to live wholly unto God. A hard saying.
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This is to the natural man who is alive unto the world and dead unto
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God, and one that he will not readily be persuaded to receive as the
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truth of God. And lets it be so qualified in the interpretation as have
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neither use nor significance left. He receiveth not the word of the Spirit of
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God taken in their plain and obvious meaning, their foolishness unto him. Neither
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indeed can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. They are perceivable
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only by that spiritual sense which in him was never yet awakened, for want
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of which he must reject as idle fancies of men. What are both the
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wisdom and the power of God? That circumcision is that of the heart,
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in the spirit, and not in the letter. That the distinguishing mark of
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a true follower of Christ, of one who is in a state of acceptance
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with God, is not either outward circumcision or baptism or any other outward form,
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but a right state of soul, a mind and spirit renewed after the
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image of Him that created. It is one of those important truths that can
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only be spiritually discerned. And this the Apostle himself imitates in the next words,
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whose praise is not of men, but of God, As if he
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had said, expect not whoever thou art, who thus followest Thy Great Master,
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that the world the one who follow him not will say well done,
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Good and faithful servant, Know that the circumcision of the heart. The seal
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of thy calling is foolishness to the world. Be content to wait for thy
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applause till the day of Thy Lord's appearing. In that day shalt thou have
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praise of God in the great assembly of men and angels. I design first
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particularly to inquire wherein this circumcision of the heart consists, and secondly to mention
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some reflections that naturally arise from such an inquiry. I am first to inquire
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wherein that circumcision of the heart consists which will receive the praise of God.
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In general, we may observe it is that habitual disposition of soul, which
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in the Sacred Writings is termed holiness, and which directly implies the being cleansed
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from sin, from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and by
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consequence, the being endowed with those virtues which were also in Christ Jesus,
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the being so renewed in the spirit of our mind as to be perfect as
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our Father in Heaven is perfect. To be more particular, circumcision of heart
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implies humility, faith, hope, and charity. Humility, a right judgment
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of ourselves cleanses our minds from those high conceits of our own perfection, from
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that undue opinion of our own abilities and attainments, which are the genuine fruit
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of a corrupt nature. This entirely cuts off that vain thought I am rich
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and wise and have need of nothing, and convinces us that we are by
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nature wretched and poor and miserable, and blind and naked. It convinces us
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that in our best estate we are of ourselves all sin and vanity, that
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confusion and ignorance and error reign over our understanding, That unreasonable, earthly,
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sensual, devilish passions usurp authority over our will, in a word, that
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there is no whole part in our soul, that all the foundations of our
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nature are out of course. At the same time, we are convinced that
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we are not sufficient of ourselves to help ourselves, that without the Spirit of
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God we can do nothing but add sin to sin. That is He alone
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who worketh in us by his almighty power, either to will or to do
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that which is good, it being as impossible for us even to think a
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good thought without the supernaturalist system of His Holy Spirit, as to create ourselves
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or to renew our whole souls in righteousness and true holiness, a sure effect
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of our having formed this right. Judgment of the sinfulness and helplessness of our
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nature is a disregard of that honor which cometh of men, which is usually
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paid to some supposed excellency. In us, he who knows himself neither desires
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nor values the applause which he knows he deserves. Not. It is therefore
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a very small thing with him to be judged by man's judgment. He has
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all reason to think, by comparing what it has said, either for or
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against him, with what he feels in his own breast, that the world,
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as well as the God of this world, was a liar from the
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beginning. And even as to those who are not of the world, thought
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he would choose, if it were the will of God, that they should
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account of him as of one desirous to be found a faithful steward of his
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LOFs towards goods. If haply this might be a means of enabling him to
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be of more use to his fellow servants. Yet, as this is the
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one end of his wishing for that approbation, so he does not at all
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rest upon it, For he is assured that whatever God wills, he can
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never want instruments to perform such He is able even of those stones to raise
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up servants to do his pleasure. This is the lowliness of mind which they
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have learned of Christ, who follow his example and tread in his steps.
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And this knowledge of their disease, whereby they are more and more clansed from
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one part of it, pride and vanity, disposes them to embrace with a
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willing mind. The second thing implied in circumcision of the heart, that faith,
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which alone is able to make them whole, which is the one medicine
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given under heaven to heal their sickness. The best guide of the blind,
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the surest light of them that are in darkness. The most perfect instructor of
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the foolish is faith. But it must be such a faith as is mighty
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through God. To the pulling down a strongholds, to the overturning all the
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prejudices of corrupt reason, all the false maxims revered among men, all evil
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customs and habits, all that wisdom of the world, which is foolishness.
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With God has cast this down, imaginations, reasoning, and every high thing
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that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought.
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To the obedience of Christ. All things are possible to him. Thus
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believeth the eyes of his understanding being enlightened, he sees what is his calling,
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even to glorify God, who hath bought him with so high a price,
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in his body and in his spirit, which now are God's by redemption
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as well as by creation. He feels what is the exceeding greatness of this
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power, who, as he rise up Christ from the dead, so is
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able to quicken us dead in sin by his spirit, which dwelleth in us.
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This is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith, that
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faith which is not only an unshaken assent to all that God hath revealed in
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Scripture, and in particular to those important truths. Jesus Christ came into the
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world to save sinners. He bear our sins in his own body on the
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tree. He is the perpetuation for our sins, and not for ours only,
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but also for the sins of the whole world. But likewise, the
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revelation of Christ in our hearts a divine evidence of conviction of His love,
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his free, unmerited love to me a sinner, a sure confidence in his
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pardoning mercy wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, a confidence whereby every true
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believer is enabled to bear witness. I know that my Redeemer liveth, that
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I have an advocate with the Father, and that Jesus Christ the Righteous is
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my Lord and the propitiation for my sins. I know that He hath loved
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me and given himself for me. He hath reconciled me, even me to
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God, and I half redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
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Such a faith as this cannot fail to show evidently the power of Him
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that inspires it, by delivering his children from the yoke of sin and purging
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their consciousness from dead works, by strengthening them so that they are no longer
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constrained to obey sin and the desire thereof But instead of yielding their members unto
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it as the instruments of unrighteousness, they now yield themselves entirely unto God,
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as those that are alive from the dead. Those who are thus by faith
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born of God have also strong consolation through hope. This is the next thing
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which the circumcision of the heart implies. Even the testimony of their own spirit,
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with the spirit which witnesses in their hearts that they are children of God.
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Indeed, it is the same spirit who works in them that clear and
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cheerful confidence that their heart is upright toward God, that good assurance that they
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now do, through His grace, the things which are acceptable in His sight,
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that they are now in the path which leadeth to life, and shall,
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by the mercy of God, endure therein to the end. It is
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He who giveth them a lively expectation of receiving all good things at God's hands,
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a joyous prospect of that crown of glory which is reserved in Heaven for
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them. By this anchor, Christian is kept steady in the midst of the
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waves of this troublesome world, and preserve from striking upon either of those fatal
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rocks, presumption or despair. He is neither discouraged by the misconceived severity of
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his Lord, nor does he despise the riches of his goodness. He neither
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apprehends the difficulties of the race set before him to be greater than he is
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strength to conquer, nor expects there to be so little as to yield in
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the conquest till he has put forth all effort the experience he already has in
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the Christian warfare, as it assures him his labor is not in vain.
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If whatever his findeth to do, he doeth it with all his might.
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So it forbids his entertaining so vain a thought, as that he can otherwise
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gain any advantage, as that any virtue can be shown, any praise attained
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by faint hearts and feeble hands, or indeed by any but those who pursue
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the same course with the great apostle of the gentiles, I says he,
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So run not as uncertainly so fight. I not as one that beatth the
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air. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest
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by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be
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cast away. By the same discipline, is every good soldier of Christ to
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injure himself to endure hardship, Confirmed and strengthened by this, he will be
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able not only to renounce the works of darkness, but every appetite too,
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and every affection which is no subject to the law of God. For every
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one saith Saint John, who hath this hope purifieth himself, even as he
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is pure. It is his daily care, by the grace of God in
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Christ and through the blood of the Covenant, to purge the inmost recesses of
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his soul from the lust that before possessed and defiled it, from uncleanness,
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and envy, and malice and wrath, from every passion and temper that is
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after the flesh that either springs from or cherishes his native corruption. As well,
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knowing that he whose very body is the temple of God, ought to
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admit into it nothing common or unclean, and that holiness becometh that house forever
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where the spirit of Holiness vouchsafes to dwell. Yet lackest thou one thing,
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whosoever thou art that to a deep humility and a steadfast faith, has joined
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a lively hope, and thereby, in a good measure, cleans thy heart
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from its thin bred pollution. If thou wilt be perfect, add to all
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these charity, add love, and thou hast the circumcision of the heart.
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Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment. Very
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excellent things are spoken of love. It is the essence, the spirit,
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the life of all virtue. It is not only the first and great command,
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but it is all the commandments in one. Whatsoever things are just,
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whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable or honorable, If there be
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any virtue, if there be any praise, They are all comprised in this
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one word love. In this is perfection and glory and happiness. The royal
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law of heaven and earth is this, Thou shalt love the Lord, thy
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God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
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all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Not that this forbids us
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to love anything besides God. It implies that we love our brothers also.
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Nor yet does it forbid us, as some have strangely imagined, to take
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pleasure in any thing but God. To suppose this is to suppose the Fountain
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of holiness is directly the author of sin, since he has inseparably annexed pleasure
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to the use of the those creatures which are necessary to sustain the life he
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has given us. This therefore can never be the meaning of his command.
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What the real sense of it is. Both our blessed Lord and his apostles
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tell us too frequently and too plainly to be misunderstood. They all with one
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mouth. Bear witness that the true meaning of those several declarations, The Lord
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Thy God is one. Thou shalt have no other gods but me. Thou
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shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength. Thou shalt cleave unto
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him. The desire of thy soul shall be to His name. Is no
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other than this. The One perfect God shall be your one ultimate end.
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One thing shall you desire for its own sake, the fruition of Him that
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is all in all, one happiness. Shall ye propose of your souls,
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even a union with Him that made them, the having fellowship with the Father
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and the Son, the being joined to the Lord in one spirit, one
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design. You are to pursue, to the end of time, the enjoyment
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of God in time and in eternity. Desire other things so far as they
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tend to this. Love, love the creature as it leads to the Creator.
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But in every step you take, be this the glorious point that determines
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your view. Let every affection and thought, and word and war be subordinate
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to this. Whatever ye desire or fear, whatever ye seek or shun,
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whatever ye think, speak, or do, be it in the order of
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your happiness in God. The soul end us well, a source of your
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being. Have no end to ultimate end but God. Thus our Lord,
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one thing is needful. And if thine eye be singly fixed on this one
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thing, thy whole body shall be full of light. Thus, Saint Paul,
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this one thing I do I press toward the mark for the prize of
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the high calling in Christ. Thus, Saint James, cleanse your hands,
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he sinners, and purify your hearts he double minded. Thus, Saint John,
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love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
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For all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh, the
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lust of the eye, and the pride of life is not of the Father,
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but is of the world. The seeking happiness in what gratifies either desire
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of the flesh by agreeably striking upon the outward sense, the desire of the
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eye, of the imagination by its novelty, greatness or beauty, or the
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pride of life, whether by grande or power, or the usual consequence of
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them applause and admiration, is not of the Father cometh, not from neither
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is approved by the Father of spirits, but of the world. It is
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the distinguishing mark of those who will not have him to reign over them.
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Thus have I particularly inquired what that circumcision of heart is which will obtain the
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praise of God. I am in this second place to mention some reflections that
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naturally arise from such an inquiry, as a plain rule, whereby every man
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may judge of himself, whether he be of the world or of God.
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And first, it is clear from what has been said that no man has
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the title to praise of God unless his heart is circumcised by humility, unless
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he is little and base and vile in his own eyes, unless he is
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deeply convinced of that inbred corruption of his nature, whereby be as very far
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gone from original righteousness, being prone to all evil, averse to all good,
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corrupt and abominable, having a caral mind which is enmity against God,
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and is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be unless
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he continually feels in his inmost soul that without the Spirit of God resting upon
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him, he can neither think, nor desire, nor speak, nor act
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anything good or well pleasing in his sight. No man, I say,
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has the title to the praise of God. Till he feels his want of
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God, nor indeed till he seeketh that honor which cometh of God only,
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and neither desires nor pursues that which cometh of man, unless so far only
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as it tends to this. Another truth, which naturally follows from what has
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been said, is that none shall obtain the honor that cometh of God unless
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his heart be circumcised by faith, even a faith of the operation of God,
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unless refusing to be any longer led by his senses, appetites, or
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passions, or even by that blind leader of the blind, so idolized by
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the world. Natural reason he lives and wants by faith, directs every step
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as seeking Him that is invisible, looks not at the things that are seen,
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which are temporal, but at the things that are not seen, which
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are eternal, and governs all his desires, designs, and thoughts, all
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his actions and conversation, as one who has entered in within the veil where
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Jesus sits at the right hand of God. It were to be wished that
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they were better acquainted with this faith, who employ much of their time and
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pains in laying another foundation in grounding religion on the eternal fitness of things,
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in the intrinsic excellence of virtue and the beauty of actions flowing from it,
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on the reasons, as they term them, of good and evil, and
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the relations of being to each other. Either these accounts of the grounds of
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Christian duty coincide with the scriptural or not. If they do, why are
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well meaning men perplexed and drawn from the weightier matters of the law by a
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cloud of terms, whereby the easiest truce are explained into obscurity. If they
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are not, then it behooves them to consider who is the author of this
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new doctrine, whether he is likely to be an angel from heaven who preaches
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another gospel than that of Christ. Jesus, though he were God, not
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we hath been pronounced his sentence? Let him be accursed our gospel, as
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it knows no other foundation of good works than faith, or of faith in
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Christ. So it clearly informs us we are not His disciples, while we
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either deny him, or to be author or his spirit, or to be
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inspirer and perfector both of our faith and works. If any man hath not
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the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He alone can quicken
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those who are dead unto God can breathe into them the breath of Christian life,
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and so prevent a company and follow them with His grace as to bring
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their good desires to good effect. And as many as are thus led by
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the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. This is God's
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short and plain account of true religion. In virtue and other foundations. Can
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no man lay from what has been said. We may thirdly learn that it
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is none truly led by the spirit unless that spirit bear witness with his spirit
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that he is a child of God, unless he see the prize and the
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crown before him him and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So
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greatly have they erred who have taught that in serving God we ought not to
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have a view of our own happiness. Nay, but we are often and
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expressly taught of God to have respect, unto recompensive reward, to balance toil
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with the joy set before us these light afflictions with that exceeding weight of glory.
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Yea, we are aliens to the covenant of promise. We are without
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God in the world until God, of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
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unto a living hope of the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth
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not away. But if these things are so, it is high time for
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those persons to deal faithfully with their own souls, who are so far from
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finding in themselves this joyful assurance that they fulfill the terms and shall obtain the
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promise of that covenant. As to quarrel with the covenant itself and blaspheme the
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terms of it, to complain they are too severe, and that no man
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ever did or shall live up to them. What is this but to reproach
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God as if he were a hard master, requiring of his servants more than
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he enables them to perform, As if he had mocked the helpless works of
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his hands by binding them to impossibilities, by commanding them to overcome where neither
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their own strength nor grace was sufficient for themselves. These blasphemers might almost persuade
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those to imagine themselves guiltless, who, in the contrary extreme hope to fulfill
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the commands of God without taking any pains at all. Vain hope that a
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child of Adam should ever expect to say the Kingdom of Christ and God,
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without striving, without agonizing first to enter in at the straight gate, that
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one who has conceived and born in sin, and whose inward parts of very
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wickedness, should once entertain a thought of being purified as his Lord is pure,
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unless he treads in his steps and take up his cross daily, unless
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he cut off his right hand and pluck out the right eye and cast it
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from him, that he should ever dream of shaking off his old opinions,
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passions, tempers, of being sanctified throughout in spirit's soul and body, without
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a constant and continued course of general self denial. What less than this can
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we possibly infer from the above cited words of Saint Paul, who living ill
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infirmities and reproaches in necessities and persecutions, in distress for Christ's sake, who
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being full of signs and wonders and mighty deeds, who having been caught up
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into the Third Heaven, yet reckoned as a late author, strongly expresses it
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that all his virtues would be insecure, and even his salvation in danger without
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this constant self denial. So run I says he not as uncertainly, so
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fight I not as one that beatth the air, which he plainly teaches us
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that he who does not thus run, who does not thus deny himself daily
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does run uncertainly and fighteth to as little purpose as he that beatth the air
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to as little purpose does he talk of fighting the fight of faith as vainly
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hope to attain the crown of incorruption. As we may lastly infer from the
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preceding observations, whose heart is not circumcised by love, love cutting off both
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the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride
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of life, engaging the whole man, body, soul, and spirit in
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the ardent pursuit of that one object is so essential to a child of God
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that without it, whosoever liveth is counted dead before him. Though I speak
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with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, I am a
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sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
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and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. And though I have all faith so
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as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. Nay,
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though I I give my goods to feed the poor, and my body
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to be burned, and have not love, it profit me nothing. Here,
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then, is the sum of the perfect law. This is the true
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circumcision of the heart. Let the spirit return to God that gave it with
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the whole train of its affections, unto the place from whence all the rivers
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came thither, Let them flow again. Other sacrifices from us he would not,
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but the living sacrifice of the heart he hath chosen. Let it be
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continual offered up to God through Christ in flames of holy love. And let
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no creature be suffered to share with him. For he is a jealous god
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his throne. Will he not divide with another. He will reign without arrival.
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Be no design, no desire admitted. There but what has him for
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its ultimate object. This is the way wherein those children of God once walked,
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who, being dead, still speak to us desire not to live,
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but to praise his name. Let all your thoughts, words, and works
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to his glory. Set your heart firm on Him, and on other things
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only as they are in and from Him. Let your soul be filled with
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so entire a love of Him, that you may love nothing but for his
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sake. Have a pure intention of heart, a steadfast regard to His glory
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in all your actions. Fix your eyes upon the blessed hope of your calling,
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and make all the things of the world minister unto it. For then
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and not till then, is that mind in us which also in Christ Jesus,
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When in every motion of our heart, in every word of our tongue,
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in every work of our hands, we pursue nothing but in relation to
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Him and in subordination to His pleasure. When we too neither think, nor
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speak, nor act to fulfill our own will, but the will of Him
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that sent us. When whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do,
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we do all to the glory of God. End of Sexcution in seventeen