is to say, that setteth out to the eyes and other outward senses the inward working of God's free mercy; and doth as it were seal in our hearts the promises of God." Hom. XXI. "In them," says Hooker, "it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those blessings which are incomprehensible. Seeing therefore that grace is a consequent of Sacraments, a thing which accompanieth them as their end, a benefit which they have received from God himself, the Author of Sacraments, and not from any other natural or supernatural quality in them; it may be hereby both understood, that Sacraments are necessary, and that the manner of their necessity to life supernatural, is not in all respects as food unto natural life, because they contain in themselves no vital force or efficacy; they are not physical but moral instruments of salvation-duties of service and worship; which unless we perform as the Author of grace requireth, they are unprofitable."

Accordingly as a confirmation of these promises to the Father of the Faithful and his posterity, to whom the promises were made, God gave him the first Sacrament of Circumcision,' both as a per

1 Dr. Pusey denies the spiritual efficacy of Circumcision; "Yet itself (Circumcision) conferred nothing, it was no mean nor channel of spiritual grace," p. 321. Our Church as decidedly says, that it did. "And so was Circumcision a Sacrament-which sealed and made sure in the hearts of the circumcised the promise of God touching the promised seed that they looked for."

petual memorial and confirmatory seal of the promise" till the seed should come to whom the promise was made," Gal. iii. 19. and in whose coming, saving efficacy, and death, the two first Sacraments found their typical completion: as it is expressly declared, "He gave him the covenant of circumcision," and this covenant was practically applied and wrought out by Abraham and his posterity; for "Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs," Acts vii. 8. And they begat the twelve tribes, the posterity of faithful Abraham; who also enjoyed the same Sacrament of Circumcision, till that Sacrament merged in one of brighter meaning and of richer hope instituted by the Saviour himself, when his Ministers were to go forth and disciple all nations, "baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; " thus literally accomplishing the promise that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed.

But two very important questions here arise. First, whether Circumcision was a Sacrament sealing spiritual blessings to Abraham and his posterity. Secondly, whether these blessings were not sealed to them as to faithful Abraham, and his faithful posterity; faith applying to them the covenanted promise?

First, it was clearly no Sacrament unless it sealed to them spiritual blessings. And can we believe that God intended no more than to be a

God in providence, when he gave him and his seed an everlasting covenant and promised, "I will be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee?" and when he promised him "all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession?" the Apostle tells us plainly that, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God." It was a spiritual Canaan, a heavenly inheritance which was proposed and promised to their faith, where the outward sign of excision intimated the spiritual excision of a corrupt nature as the due preparation. Circumcision therefore was a seal of a spiritual covenant, proposing to their faith as "pilgrims and strangers upon earth," Heb. xi. that heavenly inheritance, of which Canaan was but a type, and of which character there are repeated intimations both in the Old Testament and the New. The language of our Church is express on this subject. "And so was Circumcision a Sacrament: which preached unto the outward senses the inward cutting away of the foreskin of the heart; and sealed, and made sure, in the hearts of the circumcised, the promise of God touching the promised seed that they looked for."-Hom. XXI.1

Here, according to the description of a Sacra

See p. 31 of the following work.

ment given by our Church immediately preceding the above words, this Sacrament "set out to the eyes and other outward senses of faithful Abraham and his faithful posterity," the inward working of God's free mercy and sealed in their hearts the promises of God." And this initiatory "Sacrament" of "Circumcison" preached to their outward senses the inward cutting away of the foreskin of the heart, and sealed and made sure, in the hearts" of faithful Abraham and his faithful posterity thus "circumcised, the promise of God touching the promised seed that they looked for;" thus appealing to and confirming their faith in the Saviour who was the subject of the promise. Thus evidently the outward rite of Circumcision conveyed spiritual blessings to the faith of Abraham and his posterity.

And by these words the second question is answered, whether these promises were not sealed to them as to faithful Abraham and his faithful posterity, their faith applying to them the covenanted promise. "Circumcision," says the Homily, "sealed and made sure in the hearts of the circumcised, the promise of God touching the promised seed that they looked for." How did they look for the promised seed, not with their natural eye, for that could not look into a distance of nineteen hundred years, but with their spiritual eye, the eye of their faith, as "they looked for a city which hath foundations." "Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and

was glad," it was the eye of faith, by which he saw the promised seed; and "that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness-" not in circumcision but in uncircumcision, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." Thus, it is evident, not only that Circumcision conveyed and confirmed spiritual blessings, but that those were spiritual blessings as they were received by faithful Abraham and his faithful posterity. "The promise" to Abraham was not merely that he should have the earthly Canaan for his inheritance, but "that he should be the heir of the world," and this "through the righteousness of faith;" and if Circumcision sealed nothing more to Abraham and his children than Canaan as an inheritance; God was only to him a God in providence, and not the God of Faithful Abraham as the distinguished Head of his chosen people, his Church. If it sealed temporal promises only, it was no Sacrament; which our Church asserts it to be; and thus without spiritual objects-Christ the promised Saviour and our everlasting inheritance in him," faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect." Rom. iv.

And here it is most important to distinguish between Circumcision as the seal of the promise, and the promised blessings and privileges which as a seal it ratified and conveyed. A Sacrament is the seal of an "instrument" or indenture, as our Church instances in the Sacrament of Baptism by