from his bed he dictated orders for murder; and on his recovery he virtually abolished the worship of GOD! Yet was he spared to the fulness of man's life (Ps. xc. 10), and the text shows how he abused the Divine forbearance. Then, dying in the torments of disease, he gave orders to burn alive those who had cast down the Roman eagle from the temple, and to put to death his son Antipater, and to have the principal men of the nation murdered at his death, that there might be mourning at his funeral! (Joseph. Antiqq. Jud. xiv. 10; xvii. 10; De Bell. Jud. i. 21.)

Well may we dread prosperity, and the absence of correction. (Isa. i. 5.) Herod never undertook any thing which did not succeed. (Joseph. de Bell. Jud i. 21.) We are partakers of his nature. Grace alone makes us to differ from him.

Let us adore the Divine Providence. Innocent children cruelly slaughtered, and their murderer at the height of human ambition and splendour! Perplexing sight! Yet let us go into the sanctuary of GOD, and there we shall learn the end. (Ps. xxxvii. and lxxiii.; see Jer. xii.) Let us learn to fear in happiness, and to submit in affliction; to become as little children, pure, patient, submissive, faithful, teachable, obedient; remembering that we have then for our Champion Him, Who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings can ordain strength to still the enemy and the avenger. (Ps. viii. 2.)

[There are rich materials in Bishop Hall's Contemplations on the New Testament. i. 6.]

Subject.
Text.

VII.

The Circumcision of our Lord.

The occasion.

S. Luke ii. 21. "When eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb."

Illustrative Scriptures. Gen. xvii.; Josh. v.; Acts xv. The question of circumcision is treated passim in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Colossians.

Parallel or Illustrative Texts. Deut. x. 16; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4 ; Ezek. xliv. 9; Acts vii. 51; 1 Cor. vii. 19; Eph. ii. 11—13; Phil. iii. 3.

On CHRIST's fulfilment of the law for us, see S. Matt. iii. 15; v. 17-48; Rom. iii. 31; x. 4; Gal. iii. 24.

THIS day we celebrate the first fulfilment of the law on the part of "the man CHRIST JESUS." But it is even a subject of deeper interest that we regard. We are said by the Apostle to be "circumcised in CHRIST," (Col. ii. 11;) that His circumcision was accounted ours. "As it is written, by His dying we are dead with Him, by His rising we are risen with Him, so also we are circumcised with Him." Origen Hom. xiv. in Lucam.

In illustration of this view, observe that—

I. This act assures the faithful of their interest in the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham received for his faithful obedience, the title of the father of the faithful. Rom. iv. 11-16. All therefore who were to receive blessing from GOD, were to receive it in the character of Abraham's children.

(Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4; xxviii. 14.) Circumcision was the seal of this covenant, and every uncircumcised person was cut off from it. (Gen. xvii. 14; Exod. iv. 24.) To be children of the covenant therefore, it was necessary that, in some sense, we should be circumcised.

The circumcision was performed for us in the person of CHRIST. Those who are in Him are circumcised, because He was circumcised. There was a meaning in the promise to Abraham which the Jews did not perceive. "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made." (See Gen. xii. &c. above.) They concluded, because they were the natural seed of Abraham, they were sure of blessing, act as they might. The Baptist exposed this delusion, (S. Matt. iii. 9,) and showed them that GOD would make His promises good without saving sinners in their sins. The very terms of the promise pointed to a spiritual fulfilment. It was to "all nations," ""all families of the earth," which could not, physically, be the seed of Abraham. Abraham too, was called "a father of many nations," not of one. Gen. xvii. 5.1 Moreover, the expression was seed, not seeds, whence the Apostle shows that CHRIST

1 , the very word used for the Gentiles. See Gal. iii. 8, where the corresponding word čovŋ is translated heathen and nations.

was intended. (Gal. iii. 16.) By becoming the seed of CHRIST, (Ps. xxii. 30; Isa. liii. 10,) or one with CHRIST, (Gal. iii. 27, 28,) which are the same thing, we enter the covenant of Abraham; this we do by faith as the condition, (Gal. iii. 9,) by Holy Baptism as the act (Col. ii. 11, 12,) by obedience as the warrant. (S. John viii. 39.) Being in Him by Baptism, we are circumcised, because He is circumcised. (Just. Mart. Dial. c. Tryph. 41.) The covenant sign, therefore, needs not to be repeated in us; if we be CHRIST'S, we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. iii. 29.) And what was that promise? No mere transitory Canaan. Abraham, in that land, confessed himself a pilgrim and a stranger. He looked for a heavenly city, whose foundation is in the holy mountains. (Heb. xi. 8-19; Ps. lxxxvii. 1.) "Abraham's bosom" is equivalent to the height of Paradisiacal blessedness. (S. Luke xvi. 22.) He shall be in the kingdom of heaven (S. Matt. viii. 11) where many, who are no children of his in the flesh, shall yet, through this day's covenant, recline with him in the eternal festival (ȧvakλ0ýcovтa.) See Ps. lxxxvii. 4. The circumcision of CHRIST is a pledge to the faithful of their interest in all this blessedness.

II. This act is our surety that the law is fulfilled for us. CHRIST became, by His circumcision, "a debtor to do the whole law." (Gal. v. 3.) That debt we may be sure He discharged. He not only performed the law, He fulfilled it. (S. Matt. v. 17; Isa. xlii. 21.) The ceremonial law ceased for the very reason that it was fulfilled-that it had served its purpose-and in it the obligation to circumcision

ceased. The moral law is eternal, and therefore of obligation still, but CHRIST fulfilled this by obeying its every requirement, so that the accuser can bring no charge against Him. (S. John xiv. 30.) The law is fulfilled-the curse executed on Him who fulfilled it, (2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 13,) and we are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom. vi. 14.)

Whether, therefore, we regard circumcision as "of the fathers," or as "of Moses," the circumcision of our LORD is the pledge of all that is precious to us. We become inheritors of the covenant of Abraham; we are delivered from the penalties of the covenant of the law. In either view the sign is no longer needed. This was formally settled in the Apostolic Church. Acts xv.

But though the sign be ceased with the ceremonial law, its significance abides, because that is moral. The covenant blessing is to all families of the earth— not to all individuals. Not because there is a decree against any-but because all individuals will not comply with the terms. There is yet a spiritual circumcision, which we all must possess. (See Illustrative Scriptures and texts, particularly Rom. ii. 28, 29.) As the descendant of Abraham who was uncircumcised was amenable to temporal death, (Gen. xvii. 14; Exod. iv. 24,) so the uncircumcised in heart are subject to eternal. This circumcision may be regarded in a three-fold point of view.

1. "The keeping of the commandments of GOD." (1 Cor. vii. 19.)

This is as necessary to salvation under the Gospel as under the law, (S. Matt. xix. 17—19;) only that