Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 17 - The Circumcision of the Heart - Sermons on Several Occasions

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17 - The Circumcision of the Heart - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and
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Speaker 1: not in the letter Romans to twenty nine. It is
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Speaker 1: the melancholy remark of an excellent man that he who
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Speaker 1: now preaches the most essential duties of Christianity runs the
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Speaker 1: hazard of being esteemed by a great part of his
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Speaker 1: hearers a setter forth of new doctrines. Most men have
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Speaker 1: so lived away the substance of that religion, the profession,
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Speaker 1: whereof they still retain that no sooner are any of
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Speaker 1: those truths proposed which difference the spirit of Christ from
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Speaker 1: the spirit of the world, than they cry out, Thou
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Speaker 1: bringest strange things to our ears. We would know that
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Speaker 1: these things mean, though he is only preaching to them
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Speaker 1: Jesus and the Resurrection, with the necessary consequence of it.
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Speaker 1: If Christ be risen, ye ought then to die unto
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Speaker 1: the world and to live wholly unto God. A hard saying.
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Speaker 1: This is to the natural man who is alive unto
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Speaker 1: the world and dead unto God, and one that he
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Speaker 1: will not readily be persuaded to receive as the truth
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Speaker 1: of God. And lets it be so qualified in the
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Speaker 1: interpretation as have neither use nor significance left. He receiveth
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Speaker 1: not the word of the Spirit of God taken in
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Speaker 1: their plain and obvious meaning, their foolishness unto him. Neither
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Speaker 1: indeed can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
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Speaker 1: They are perceivable only by that spiritual sense which in
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Speaker 1: him was never yet awakened, for want of which he
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Speaker 1: must reject as idle fancies of men. What are both
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Speaker 1: the wisdom and the power of God? That circumcision is
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Speaker 1: that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in
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Speaker 1: the letter. That the distinguishing mark of a true follower
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Speaker 1: of Christ, of one who is in a state of
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Speaker 1: acceptance with God, is not either outward circumcision or baptism
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Speaker 1: or any other outward form, but a right state of soul,
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Speaker 1: a mind and spirit renewed after the image of Him
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Speaker 1: that created. It is one of those important truths that
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Speaker 1: can only be spiritually discerned. And this the Apostle himself
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Speaker 1: imitates in the next words, whose praise is not of men,
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Speaker 1: but of God, As if he had said, expect not
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Speaker 1: whoever thou art, who thus followest Thy Great Master, that
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Speaker 1: the world the one who follow him not will say
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Speaker 1: well done, Good and faithful servant, Know that the circumcision
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Speaker 1: of the heart. The seal of thy calling is foolishness
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Speaker 1: to the world. Be content to wait for thy applause
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Speaker 1: till the day of Thy Lord's appearing. In that day
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Speaker 1: shalt thou have praise of God in the great assembly
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Speaker 1: of men and angels. I design first particularly to inquire
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Speaker 1: wherein this circumcision of the heart consists, and secondly to
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Speaker 1: mention some reflections that naturally arise from such an inquiry.
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Speaker 1: I am first to inquire wherein that circumcision of the
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Speaker 1: heart consists which will receive the praise of God. In general,
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Speaker 1: we may observe it is that habitual disposition of soul,
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Speaker 1: which in the Sacred Writings is termed holiness, and which
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Speaker 1: directly implies the being cleansed from sin, from all filthiness,
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Speaker 1: both of flesh and spirit, and by consequence, the being
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Speaker 1: endowed with those virtues which were also in Christ Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the being so renewed in the spirit of our mind
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Speaker 1: as to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
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Speaker 1: To be more particular, circumcision of heart implies humility, faith, hope,
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Speaker 1: and charity. Humility, a right judgment of ourselves cleanses our
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Speaker 1: minds from those high conceits of our own perfection, from
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Speaker 1: that undue opinion of our own abilities and attainments, which
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Speaker 1: are the genuine fruit of a corrupt nature. This entirely
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Speaker 1: cuts off that vain thought I am rich and wise
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Speaker 1: and have need of nothing, and convinces us that we
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Speaker 1: are by nature wretched and poor and miserable, and blind
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Speaker 1: and naked. It convinces us that in our best estate
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Speaker 1: we are of ourselves all sin and vanity, that confusion
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Speaker 1: and ignorance and error reign over our understanding, That unreasonable, earthly, sensual,
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Speaker 1: devilish passions usurp authority over our will, in a word,
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Speaker 1: that there is no whole part in our soul, that
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Speaker 1: all the foundations of our nature are out of course.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, we are convinced that we are
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Speaker 1: not sufficient of ourselves to help ourselves, that without the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God we can do nothing but add sin
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Speaker 1: to sin. That is He alone who worketh in us
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Speaker 1: by his almighty power, either to will or to do
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Speaker 1: that which is good, it being as impossible for us
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Speaker 1: even to think a good thought without the supernaturalist system
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Speaker 1: of His Holy Spirit, as to create ourselves or to
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Speaker 1: renew our whole souls in righteousness and true holiness, a
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Speaker 1: sure effect of our having formed this right. Judgment of
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Speaker 1: the sinfulness and helplessness of our nature is a disregard
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Speaker 1: of that honor which cometh of men, which is usually
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Speaker 1: paid to some supposed excellency. In us, he who knows
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Speaker 1: himself neither desires nor values the applause which he knows
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Speaker 1: he deserves. Not. It is therefore a very small thing
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Speaker 1: with him to be judged by man's judgment. He has
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Speaker 1: all reason to think, by comparing what it has said,
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Speaker 1: either for or against him, with what he feels in
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Speaker 1: his own breast, that the world, as well as the
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Speaker 1: God of this world, was a liar from the beginning.
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Speaker 1: And even as to those who are not of the world,
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Speaker 1: thought he would choose, if it were the will of God,
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Speaker 1: that they should account of him as of one desirous
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Speaker 1: to be found a faithful steward of his LOFs towards goods.
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Speaker 1: If haply this might be a means of enabling him
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Speaker 1: to be of more use to his fellow servants. Yet,
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Speaker 1: as this is the one end of his wishing for
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Speaker 1: that approbation, so he does not at all rest upon it,
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Speaker 1: For he is assured that whatever God wills, he can
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Speaker 1: never want instruments to perform such He is able even
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Speaker 1: of those stones to raise up servants to do his pleasure.
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Speaker 1: This is the lowliness of mind which they have learned
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Speaker 1: of Christ, who follow his example and tread in his steps.
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Speaker 1: And this knowledge of their disease, whereby they are more
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Speaker 1: and more clansed from one part of it, pride and vanity,
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Speaker 1: disposes them to embrace with a willing mind. The second
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Speaker 1: thing implied in circumcision of the heart, that faith, which
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Speaker 1: alone is able to make them whole, which is the
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Speaker 1: one medicine given under heaven to heal their sickness. The
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Speaker 1: best guide of the blind, the surest light of them
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Speaker 1: that are in darkness. The most perfect instructor of the
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Speaker 1: foolish is faith. But it must be such a faith
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Speaker 1: as is mighty through God. To the pulling down a strongholds,
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Speaker 1: to the overturning all the prejudices of corrupt reason, all
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Speaker 1: the false maxims revered among men, all evil customs and habits,
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Speaker 1: all that wisdom of the world, which is foolishness. With
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Speaker 1: God has cast this down, imaginations, reasoning, and every high
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Speaker 1: thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
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Speaker 1: bringeth into captivity every thought. To the obedience of Christ.
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Speaker 1: All things are possible to him. Thus believeth the eyes
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Speaker 1: of his understanding being enlightened, he sees what is his calling,
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Speaker 1: even to glorify God, who hath bought him with so
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Speaker 1: high a price, in his body and in his spirit,
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Speaker 1: which now are God's by redemption as well as by creation.
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Speaker 1: He feels what is the exceeding greatness of this power, who,
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Speaker 1: as he rise up Christ from the dead, so is
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Speaker 1: able to quicken us dead in sin by his spirit,
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Speaker 1: which dwelleth in us. This is the victory which overcomes
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Speaker 1: the world, even our faith, that faith which is not
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Speaker 1: only an unshaken assent to all that God hath revealed
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Speaker 1: in Scripture, and in particular to those important truths. Jesus
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Speaker 1: Christ came into the world to save sinners. He bear
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Speaker 1: our sins in his own body on the tree. He
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Speaker 1: is the perpetuation for our sins, and not for ours only,
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Speaker 1: but also for the sins of the whole world. But likewise,
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Speaker 1: the revelation of Christ in our hearts a divine evidence
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Speaker 1: of conviction of His love, his free, unmerited love to
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Speaker 1: me a sinner, a sure confidence in his pardoning mercy
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Speaker 1: wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, a confidence whereby
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Speaker 1: every true believer is enabled to bear witness. I know
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Speaker 1: that my Redeemer liveth, that I have an advocate with
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Speaker 1: the Father, and that Jesus Christ the Righteous is my
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Speaker 1: Lord and the propitiation for my sins. I know that
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Speaker 1: He hath loved me and given himself for me. He
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Speaker 1: hath reconciled me, even me to God, and I half
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Speaker 1: redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Such
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Speaker 1: a faith as this cannot fail to show evidently the
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Speaker 1: power of Him that inspires it, by delivering his children
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Speaker 1: from the yoke of sin and purging their consciousness from
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Speaker 1: dead works, by strengthening them so that they are no
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Speaker 1: longer constrained to obey sin and the desire thereof But
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Speaker 1: instead of yielding their members unto it as the instruments
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Speaker 1: of unrighteousness, they now yield themselves entirely unto God, as
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Speaker 1: those that are alive from the dead. Those who are
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Speaker 1: thus by faith born of God have also strong consolation
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Speaker 1: through hope. This is the next thing which the circumcision
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Speaker 1: of the heart implies. Even the testimony of their own spirit,
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Speaker 1: with the spirit which witnesses in their hearts that they
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Speaker 1: are children of God. Indeed, it is the same spirit
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Speaker 1: who works in them that clear and cheerful confidence that
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Speaker 1: their heart is upright toward God, that good assurance that
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Speaker 1: they now do, through His grace, the things which are
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Speaker 1: acceptable in His sight, that they are now in the
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Speaker 1: path which leadeth to life, and shall, by the mercy
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Speaker 1: of God, endure therein to the end. It is He
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Speaker 1: who giveth them a lively expectation of receiving all good
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Speaker 1: things at God's hands, a joyous prospect of that crown
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Speaker 1: of glory which is reserved in Heaven for them. By
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Speaker 1: this anchor, Christian is kept steady in the midst of
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Speaker 1: the waves of this troublesome world, and preserve from striking
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Speaker 1: upon either of those fatal rocks, presumption or despair. He
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Speaker 1: is neither discouraged by the misconceived severity of his Lord,
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Speaker 1: nor does he despise the riches of his goodness. He
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Speaker 1: neither apprehends the difficulties of the race set before him
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Speaker 1: to be greater than he is strength to conquer, nor
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Speaker 1: expects there to be so little as to yield in
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Speaker 1: the conquest till he has put forth all effort the
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Speaker 1: experience he already has in the Christian warfare, as it
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Speaker 1: assures him his labor is not in vain. If whatever
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Speaker 1: his findeth to do, he doeth it with all his might.
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Speaker 1: So it forbids his entertaining so vain a thought, as
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Speaker 1: that he can otherwise gain any advantage, as that any
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Speaker 1: virtue can be shown, any praise attained by faint hearts
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Speaker 1: and feeble hands, or indeed by any but those who
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Speaker 1: pursue the same course with the great apostle of the gentiles,
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Speaker 1: I says he, So run not as uncertainly so fight.
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Speaker 1: I not as one that beatth the air. But I
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Speaker 1: keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest
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Speaker 1: by any means, when I have preached to others, I
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Speaker 1: myself should be cast away. By the same discipline, is
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Speaker 1: every good soldier of Christ to injure himself to endure hardship,
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Speaker 1: Confirmed and strengthened by this, he will be able not
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Speaker 1: only to renounce the works of darkness, but every appetite too,
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Speaker 1: and every affection which is no subject to the law
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Speaker 1: of God. For every one saith Saint John, who hath
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Speaker 1: this hope purifieth himself, even as he is pure. It
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Speaker 1: is his daily care, by the grace of God in
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Speaker 1: Christ and through the blood of the Covenant, to purge
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Speaker 1: the inmost recesses of his soul from the lust that
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Speaker 1: before possessed and defiled it, from uncleanness, and envy, and
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Speaker 1: malice and wrath, from every passion and temper that is
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Speaker 1: after the flesh that either springs from or cherishes his
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Speaker 1: native corruption. As well, knowing that he whose very body
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Speaker 1: is the temple of God, ought to admit into it
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Speaker 1: nothing common or unclean, and that holiness becometh that house
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Speaker 1: forever where the spirit of Holiness vouchsafes to dwell. Yet
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Speaker 1: lackest thou one thing, whosoever thou art that to a
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Speaker 1: deep humility and a steadfast faith, has joined a lively hope,
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Speaker 1: and thereby, in a good measure, cleans thy heart from
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Speaker 1: its thin bred pollution. If thou wilt be perfect, add
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Speaker 1: to all these charity, add love, and thou hast the
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Speaker 1: circumcision of the heart. Love is the fulfilling of the law,
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Speaker 1: the end of the commandment. Very excellent things are spoken
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Speaker 1: of love. It is the essence, the spirit, the life
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Speaker 1: of all virtue. It is not only the first and
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Speaker 1: great command, but it is all the commandments in one.
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Speaker 1: Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
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Speaker 1: are amiable or honorable, If there be any virtue, if
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Speaker 1: there be any praise, They are all comprised in this
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Speaker 1: one word love. In this is perfection and glory and happiness.
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Speaker 1: The royal law of heaven and earth is this, Thou
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Speaker 1: shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart,
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Speaker 1: and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
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Speaker 1: and with all thy strength. Not that this forbids us
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Speaker 1: to love anything besides God. It implies that we love
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Speaker 1: our brothers also. Nor yet does it forbid us, as
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Speaker 1: some have strangely imagined, to take pleasure in any thing
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Speaker 1: but God. To suppose this is to suppose the Fountain
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Speaker 1: of holiness is directly the author of sin, since he
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Speaker 1: has inseparably annexed pleasure to the use of the those
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Speaker 1: creatures which are necessary to sustain the life he has
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Speaker 1: given us. This therefore can never be the meaning of
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Speaker 1: his command. What the real sense of it is. Both
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Speaker 1: our blessed Lord and his apostles tell us too frequently
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Speaker 1: and too plainly to be misunderstood. They all with one mouth.
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Speaker 1: Bear witness that the true meaning of those several declarations,
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Speaker 1: The Lord Thy God is one. Thou shalt have no
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Speaker 1: other gods but me. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
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Speaker 1: God with all thy strength. Thou shalt cleave unto him.
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Speaker 1: The desire of thy soul shall be to His name.
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Speaker 1: Is no other than this. The One perfect God shall
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Speaker 1: be your one ultimate end. One thing shall you desire
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Speaker 1: for its own sake, the fruition of Him that is
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Speaker 1: all in all, one happiness. Shall ye propose of your souls,
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Speaker 1: even a union with Him that made them, the having
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Speaker 1: fellowship with the Father and the Son, the being joined
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Speaker 1: to the Lord in one spirit, one design. You are
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Speaker 1: to pursue, to the end of time, the enjoyment of
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Speaker 1: God in time and in eternity. Desire other things so
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Speaker 1: far as they tend to this. Love, love the creature
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Speaker 1: as it leads to the Creator. But in every step
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Speaker 1: you take, be this the glorious point that determines your view.
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Speaker 1: Let every affection and thought, and word and war be
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Speaker 1: subordinate to this. Whatever ye desire or fear, whatever ye
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Speaker 1: seek or shun, whatever ye think, speak, or do, be
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Speaker 1: it in the order of your happiness in God. The
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Speaker 1: soul end us well, a source of your being. Have
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Speaker 1: no end to ultimate end but God. Thus our Lord,
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Speaker 1: one thing is needful. And if thine eye be singly
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Speaker 1: fixed on this one thing, thy whole body shall be
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Speaker 1: full of light. Thus, Saint Paul, this one thing I
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Speaker 1: do I press toward the mark for the prize of
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Speaker 1: the high calling in Christ. Thus, Saint James, cleanse your hands,
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Speaker 1: he sinners, and purify your hearts he double minded. Thus,
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Speaker 1: Saint John, love not the world, neither the things that
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Speaker 1: are in the world. For all that is in the world.
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Speaker 1: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,
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Speaker 1: and the pride of life is not of the Father,
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Speaker 1: but is of the world. The seeking happiness in what
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Speaker 1: gratifies either desire of the flesh by agreeably striking upon
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Speaker 1: the outward sense, the desire of the eye, of the
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Speaker 1: imagination by its novelty, greatness or beauty, or the pride
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Speaker 1: of life, whether by grande or power, or the usual
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Speaker 1: consequence of them applause and admiration, is not of the
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Speaker 1: Father cometh, not from neither is approved by the Father
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Speaker 1: of spirits, but of the world. It is the distinguishing
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Speaker 1: mark of those who will not have him to reign
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Speaker 1: over them. Thus have I particularly inquired what that circumcision
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Speaker 1: of heart is which will obtain the praise of God.
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Speaker 1: I am in this second place to mention some reflections
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Speaker 1: that naturally arise from such an inquiry, as a plain rule,
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Speaker 1: whereby every man may judge of himself, whether he be
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Speaker 1: of the world or of God. And first, it is
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Speaker 1: clear from what has been said that no man has
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Speaker 1: the title to praise of God unless his heart is
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Speaker 1: circumcised by humility, unless he is little and base and
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Speaker 1: vile in his own eyes, unless he is deeply convinced
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Speaker 1: of that inbred corruption of his nature, whereby be as
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Speaker 1: very far gone from original righteousness, being prone to all evil,
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Speaker 1: averse to all good, corrupt and abominable, having a caral
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Speaker 1: mind which is enmity against God, and is not subject
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Speaker 1: to the law of God, nor indeed can be unless
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Speaker 1: he continually feels in his inmost soul that without the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God resting upon him, he can neither think,
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Speaker 1: nor desire, nor speak, nor act anything good or well
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Speaker 1: pleasing in his sight. No man, I say, has the
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Speaker 1: title to the praise of God. Till he feels his
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Speaker 1: want of God, nor indeed till he seeketh that honor
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Speaker 1: which cometh of God only, and neither desires nor pursues
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Speaker 1: that which cometh of man, unless so far only as
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Speaker 1: it tends to this. Another truth, which naturally follows from
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Speaker 1: what has been said, is that none shall obtain the
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Speaker 1: honor that cometh of God unless his heart be circumcised
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Speaker 1: by faith, even a faith of the operation of God,
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Speaker 1: unless refusing to be any longer led by his senses, appetites,
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Speaker 1: or passions, or even by that blind leader of the blind,
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Speaker 1: so idolized by the world. Natural reason he lives and
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Speaker 1: wants by faith, directs every step as seeking Him that
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Speaker 1: is invisible, looks not at the things that are seen,
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Speaker 1: which are temporal, but at the things that are not seen,
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Speaker 1: which are eternal, and governs all his desires, designs, and thoughts,
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Speaker 1: all his actions and conversation, as one who has entered
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Speaker 1: in within the veil where Jesus sits at the right
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Speaker 1: hand of God. It were to be wished that they
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Speaker 1: were better acquainted with this faith, who employ much of
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Speaker 1: their time and pains in laying another foundation in grounding
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Speaker 1: religion on the eternal fitness of things, in the intrinsic
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Speaker 1: excellence of virtue and the beauty of actions flowing from it,
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Speaker 1: on the reasons, as they term them, of good and evil,
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Speaker 1: and the relations of being to each other. Either these
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Speaker 1: accounts of the grounds of Christian duty coincide with the
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Speaker 1: scriptural or not. If they do, why are well meaning
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Speaker 1: men perplexed and drawn from the weightier matters of the
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Speaker 1: law by a cloud of terms, whereby the easiest truce
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Speaker 1: are explained into obscurity. If they are not, then it
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Speaker 1: behooves them to consider who is the author of this
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Speaker 1: new doctrine, whether he is likely to be an angel
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Speaker 1: from heaven who preaches another gospel than that of Christ. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: though he were God, not we hath been pronounced his sentence?
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Speaker 1: Let him be accursed our gospel, as it knows no
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Speaker 1: other foundation of good works than faith, or of faith
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Speaker 1: in Christ. So it clearly informs us we are not
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Speaker 1: His disciples, while we either deny him, or to be
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Speaker 1: author or his spirit, or to be inspirer and perfector
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Speaker 1: both of our faith and works. If any man hath
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Speaker 1: not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
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Speaker 1: He alone can quicken those who are dead unto God
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Speaker 1: can breathe into them the breath of Christian life, and
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Speaker 1: so prevent a company and follow them with His grace
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Speaker 1: as to bring their good desires to good effect. And
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Speaker 1: as many as are thus led by the Spirit of God,
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Speaker 1: they are the sons of God. This is God's short
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Speaker 1: and plain account of true religion. In virtue and other foundations.
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Speaker 1: Can no man lay from what has been said. We
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Speaker 1: may thirdly learn that it is none truly led by
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Speaker 1: the spirit unless that spirit bear witness with his spirit
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Speaker 1: that he is a child of God, unless he see
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Speaker 1: the prize and the crown before him him and rejoice
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Speaker 1: in hope of the glory of God. So greatly have
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Speaker 1: they erred who have taught that in serving God we
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Speaker 1: ought not to have a view of our own happiness. Nay,
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Speaker 1: but we are often and expressly taught of God to
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Speaker 1: have respect, unto recompensive reward, to balance toil with the
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Speaker 1: joy set before us these light afflictions with that exceeding
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Speaker 1: weight of glory. Yea, we are aliens to the covenant
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Speaker 1: of promise. We are without God in the world until God,
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Speaker 1: of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
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Speaker 1: living hope of the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth
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Speaker 1: not away. But if these things are so, it is
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Speaker 1: high time for those persons to deal faithfully with their
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Speaker 1: own souls, who are so far from finding in themselves
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Speaker 1: this joyful assurance that they fulfill the terms and shall
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Speaker 1: obtain the promise of that covenant. As to quarrel with
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Speaker 1: the covenant itself and blaspheme the terms of it, to
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Speaker 1: complain they are too severe, and that no man ever
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Speaker 1: did or shall live up to them. What is this
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Speaker 1: but to reproach God as if he were a hard master,
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Speaker 1: requiring of his servants more than he enables them to perform,
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Speaker 1: As if he had mocked the helpless works of his
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Speaker 1: hands by binding them to impossibilities, by commanding them to
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Speaker 1: overcome where neither their own strength nor grace was sufficient
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Speaker 1: for themselves. These blasphemers might almost persuade those to imagine
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Speaker 1: themselves guiltless, who, in the contrary extreme hope to fulfill
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Speaker 1: the commands of God without taking any pains at all.
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Speaker 1: Vain hope that a child of Adam should ever expect
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Speaker 1: to say the Kingdom of Christ and God, without striving,
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Speaker 1: without agonizing first to enter in at the straight gate,
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Speaker 1: that one who has conceived and born in sin, and
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Speaker 1: whose inward parts of very wickedness, should once entertain a
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Speaker 1: thought of being purified as his Lord is pure, unless
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Speaker 1: he treads in his steps and take up his cross daily,
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Speaker 1: unless he cut off his right hand and pluck out
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Speaker 1: the right eye and cast it from him, that he
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Speaker 1: should ever dream of shaking off his old opinions, passions, tempers,
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Speaker 1: of being sanctified throughout in spirit's soul and body, without
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Speaker 1: a constant and continued course of general self denial. What
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Speaker 1: less than this can we possibly infer from the above
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Speaker 1: cited words of Saint Paul, who living ill infirmities and
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Speaker 1: reproaches in necessities and persecutions, in distress for Christ's sake,
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Speaker 1: who being full of signs and wonders and mighty deeds,
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Speaker 1: who having been caught up into the Third Heaven, yet
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Speaker 1: reckoned as a late author, strongly expresses it that all
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Speaker 1: his virtues would be insecure, and even his salvation in
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Speaker 1: danger without this constant self denial. So run I says
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Speaker 1: he not as uncertainly, so fight I not as one
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Speaker 1: that beatth the air, which he plainly teaches us that
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Speaker 1: he who does not thus run, who does not thus
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Speaker 1: deny himself daily does run uncertainly and fighteth to as
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Speaker 1: little purpose as he that beatth the air to as
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Speaker 1: little purpose does he talk of fighting the fight of
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Speaker 1: faith as vainly hope to attain the crown of incorruption.
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Speaker 1: As we may lastly infer from the preceding observations, whose
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Speaker 1: heart is not circumcised by love, love cutting off both
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Speaker 1: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,
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Speaker 1: and the pride of life, engaging the whole man, body, soul,
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Speaker 1: and spirit in the ardent pursuit of that one object
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Speaker 1: is so essential to a child of God that without it,
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Speaker 1: whosoever liveth is counted dead before him. Though I speak
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Speaker 1: with the tongues of men and angels and have not love,
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Speaker 1: I am a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. Though
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Speaker 1: I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries
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Speaker 1: and all knowledge. And though I have all faith so
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Speaker 1: as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. Nay,
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Speaker 1: though I I give my goods to feed the poor,
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Speaker 1: and my body to be burned, and have not love,
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Speaker 1: it profit me nothing. Here, then, is the sum of
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Speaker 1: the perfect law. This is the true circumcision of the heart.
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Speaker 1: Let the spirit return to God that gave it with
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Speaker 1: the whole train of its affections, unto the place from
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Speaker 1: whence all the rivers came thither, Let them flow again.
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Speaker 1: Other sacrifices from us he would not, but the living
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Speaker 1: sacrifice of the heart he hath chosen. Let it be
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Speaker 1: continual offered up to God through Christ in flames of
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Speaker 1: holy love. And let no creature be suffered to share
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Speaker 1: with him. For he is a jealous god his throne.
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Speaker 1: Will he not divide with another. He will reign without arrival.
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Speaker 1: Be no design, no desire admitted. There but what has
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Speaker 1: him for its ultimate object. This is the way wherein
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Speaker 1: those children of God once walked, who, being dead, still
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Speaker 1: speak to us desire not to live, but to praise
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Speaker 1: his name. Let all your thoughts, words, and works to
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Speaker 1: his glory. Set your heart firm on Him, and on
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Speaker 1: other things only as they are in and from Him.
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Speaker 1: Let your soul be filled with so entire a love
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Speaker 1: of Him, that you may love nothing but for his sake.
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Speaker 1: Have a pure intention of heart, a steadfast regard to
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Speaker 1: His glory in all your actions. Fix your eyes upon
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Speaker 1: the blessed hope of your calling, and make all the
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Speaker 1: things of the world minister unto it. For then and
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Speaker 1: not till then, is that mind in us which also
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Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, When in every motion of our heart,
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Speaker 1: in every word of our tongue, in every work of
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Speaker 1: our hands, we pursue nothing but in relation to Him
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Speaker 1: and in subordination to His pleasure. When we too neither think,
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Speaker 1: nor speak, nor act to fulfill our own will, but
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Speaker 1: the will of Him that sent us. When whether we
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Speaker 1: eat or drink, or whatever we do, we do all
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Speaker 1: to the glory of God. End of Sexcution in seventeen