"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them." Ezra ix. 1, 2: Acts x. 28.

2. And as a consequence that Christ should come of the seed of Abraham. Gen. xxii. 17, 18: Gal. iii. 16: Heb. ii. 16.

3. To point them to the necessity of regeneration. Rom. ii. 29: Col. ii. 11.

virtue of his blood and the Deut. x. 16: Jer. iv. 4:

4. To keep them from idolatry, Gen. xvii. 7: "I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee." Ex. xxxiv. 14: "For thou shalt worship no other God."

5. That they should keep the oracles of God. Rom. iii. 1, 2: Deut. iv. 7, 8: Ps. lxxviii. 5: Eph. ii. 12.

6. To give them an everlasting title to the land of Canaan. Gen. xvii. 8. "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession."

As God here made an everlasting covenant-deed of conveyance of this land to Abraham and his seed, he sealed it with an everlasting seal or token, and I have no evidence that Abraham, or God himself, has ever made any other conveyance of that land. It is true that the Romans overcame the Jews, and possessed it by force; but the face of the DEED, and the token or SEAL, stand immutable. Gen. xvii. The Jews are thrown out of the use of it by rebellion, (Deut. iv. 27: xxviii. 25-64: Jer. iv. 11-18: xviii. 16, 17,) but still they continue to circumcise all their males; and it is right they should, for if they neglect this, they lose the title to their land. Gen. xvii. 14. "The uncircumcised man child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off (not from his God, but) from his people; he hath broken my covenant."

Hence all who are circumcised are in this covenant with God, whether believer or infidel; and we look

for the time when he will bring them to possess Palestine again. Dr. ELY completely demonstrated this fact, in his production respecting the Jews; and the word of God is full on this point. I do not now refer to those prophecies which speak of the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity; but to those which speak of things which have never been, and therefore remain to be fulfilled to the Jews. See Ezek. xi. 17 -20: xvi. 61: xxxvi. 21-28: Jer. xxxi. 34: Heb. viii. 6--13: Ezek. xx. 37--44: Micah vii. 15-20: Rom. xi. 25-27: 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16: Heb. x. 15--17. This class of Scriptures speak of the Jews all being converted to Christ, and dwelling, in the peaceable enjoyment of the Christian religion, in Palestine. This was not their condition when they returned from Babylon, nor has it been at any other time; it remains yet to be accomplished. But to whom are these promises made? Not to the uncircumcised Jew; for he has broken the covenant; Gen. xvii. 14; but exclusively to the circumcised. But is it a fact, that baptism will entitle them to their land, and all the promises of the covenant of circumcision? If so, where is the Scripture to warrant the belief? Some writers, however, to sustain pedobaptism, &c., make it simply a seal of the covenant of, and door of admittance into, the true church of God. This glaring anti-scriptural sentiment is advanced by nearly all of them who have written upon baptism. Mr. CowLES says, "Circumcision was the door of admittance into the ancient church. The same qualifications were required for membership in the Jewish as in the Christian church." --Essay, pp. 11, 53.

Mr. SAWYER says, "While circumcision was the initiatory rite of the true church, and seal of subjection to God, it answered the same purpose as the corresponding Christian rite.-Judaism and Christianity therefore are two successive dispensations of the same

religion.- -Both the Jewish and Christian churches, were constituted of professed believers and professed worshipers of God, and required faith and obedience of all their adult subjects." pp. 14, 17.

Upon the thesis of these gentlemen, this ancient church was organized in Abraham's family, for here began what they call the initiatory rite. But were all who were circumcised such believers as Christ and the apostles described? Did circumcision introduce them to church relation and privileges? Was Ishmael a member of the true church? See Gen. xxi. 9: Gal. iv. 28--30. Were the three hundred and eighteen adults who were born in Abraham's house, (Gen. xiv. 14,) and circumcised, (xvii. 27,) admitted to church membership on a profession of evangelical faith? Had the thousands that perished under the wrath of God, (Ex. xxxii. 27, 28: Num. xvi. 35: 2 Sam. xxiv. 15: 2 Chron. xiii. 17,) received JEHOVAH's seal of the immutable covenant of grace? Were the Jews who murdered the Lord, and were not the children of Abraham, but of the devil, (John viii. 25--59,) all members of the same church with Christ and his apostles? See Mr. S., p. 14.

Without a particle of evidence to sustain themselves, these gentlemen assert the above for truth; but the truth is, circumcision is not a door into the church, nor was it at any former period; and if Abraham's family were organized as a church, there appears but one believer to three hundred and eighteen unconverted men. If this is the model after which Presbyterian churches are built, it accounts for the present condition of their General Assembly, but is wholly unlike their refusing to baptize their slaves and other domestics.

VI. Is circumcision abrogated?

1. Testimony of the Lord. "I will establish my -covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after

thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant." Gen. xvii. 7. "Thou shalt keep my covenant,

therefore, thou and thy seed after thee, in ALL their generations." Gen. xvii. 9. See also, Gen. xxvi. 3:

1 Chron. xvi. 15-18.

2. The Jews Paul taught

2. Testimony of the apostles. 1. The apostles declare circumcision indifferent in the Christian religion," which they could not have done if it had been abrogated. Is any man called, being circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised; is any man called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised; circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." 1 Cor. vii. 18, 19. See also, Col. iii. 11: Gal. ii. 3--25: v. 6: vi. 12: Rom. iv. 9, 10. If God had not abolished circumcision, the Jews could not have kept his commandments and neglected it; Gen. xvii. 14; and if God had abolished it, they could not have kept his commandments and still practiced it. advocated its perpetuity. Acts xv. 1. that circumcision was still binding. Rom. iii. 1, 2. Converted Jews in the Christian church continued to practice it through the whole New Testament. Jesus Christ was circumcised; Luke ii. 21; He was a MINISTER of the circumcision. Rom. xv. 8. Paul was circumcised. Phil. iii. 5. Paul circumcised Timothy, after he had been baptized. Acts xvi. 3. See also, Rom. iii. 30: Gal. ii. 7, 8: Col. iv. 11. that Paul forbid circumcision at Gal. v. 2--4. WARDLAW says, "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, is equivalent to saying, If ye embrace this doctrine Christ shall profit you nothing. This is clear from the circumstance that being circumcised in the one verse, corresponds to being justified by the law in the other."--Essay on Baptism, p. 32.

But it is said

Dr.

3. It is said that Paul was arraigned and tried for preaching against circumcision. "And they are all

informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the gentiles, to forsake Moses, saying they ought not to circumcise their children." Acts xxi. 21. It is true that Paul was apprehended upon this charge, and brought before the Sanhedrim; but after a full examination, even the Pharisees said, (Acts xxiii. 9,) "we find no fault in this man." Paul did teach that the Jews need not keep the law of Moses, for that was abolished, and that the gentiles need not circumcise their children; (see Acts xxi. 25;) but he did not teach that the Jews need not circumcise their infants, for he knew that this was binding on them by the law of heaven.

The Jews and modern pedobaptists embrace similar errors. The Jews suppose that the covenant of circumcision is identified with their Mosaic religion; and pedobaptists suppose it to be identified with their Christian religion; but it is as independent of the one as the other. The Jews esteem both the covenant of circumcision and the Mosaic covenant, now obligatory; the pedobaptists esteem them both abrogated; while the fact is, the Mosaic covenant is broken and abolished; Jer. xxxi. 31--33: Zech. xi. 10, 13: Heb. viii. 4--13; but the covenant of circumcision is an everlasting covenant, (Gen. xvii. 13,) and binding on every male of Abraham's seed to this day.

3. The testimony of pedobaptists.

"The covenant of circumcision, so far from being a part of the law and partaking of its temporary nature, was a covenant which existed long before it, which could not be disannulled either by its introduction or its cessation, but which continues to this day." -Dr. Wardlaw on Baptism, p. 28.

"Besides, as circumcision never was obligatory on the gentiles in their separate national capacity, and never was abrogated to the Jews, but remains in full force to them, there can be no ground to consider bap