[Testimonies to this effect are exceeding numerous and strong. John the Baptist particularly cautioned the Jews against trusting in their descent from Abraham a : our Lord also warned his hearers, that though they were Abraham's children after the flesh, they could not be considered as the seed to whom the promises were made, because they did not the works of Abrahamb. St. Paul also, having enumerated the great and glorious privileges to which the Jews were entitled, yet declares that " all were not Israel who were of Israel," and that the spiritual seed alone should be partakers of the promises0.
However therefore our knowledge of divine truth be en- larged, or our outward services be multiplied, we can never be admitted into God's sanctuary, unless we have a better righte- ousness than the Scribes and Pharisees attained d: we may indeed, " have a name to live ; but we are really deade."]
In confirmation of this point we proceed to state, II. The nature and excellence of true religion —
True religion extends its influence to the inmost
dispositions of the soul —
[Circumcision and baptism are mere signs and shadowy representations of something inward and spiritual; they are intended to lead our minds to " the circumcision of the heart," and " the washing of regeneration^" True religion rests not " in the letter of the law," but goes to " the spirit" of it ; and inclines the heart to an uniform, unreserved compliance with the will of God. God himself has informed us fully upon this point ; " Neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircum- cision, but a new creation g. The renovation of our inward man after the Divine image, is that which alone constituted a person a Jew in God's estimation ; nor is any thing less than this necessary to constitute us Christians in the sight of God. Without this, the circumcision of the Jew was a mere concision ; and the baptism of the Christian is a worthless ablution11.]
Wherever this operates, God looks upon it with pleasure and delight —
[Man's approbation is confined to the outward forms of religion ; the life and power of which are reprobated by him as hypocrisy and enthusiasm. But God, who sees the emptiness of mere outward services through the specious veil that is
a Matt. iii. 9. b John viii. 39. c Rom. ix. 4 — 8.
d Matt. v. 20. e Rev. iii. 1.
f Compare Deut. x. 16. and xxx. G. with Col. ii. 11, 12. and Tit. iii. 5.
8 Gal. vi. 15. KTitrie. >' Phil. iii. 2, 3. 1 Pet. iii. 21.