is they signifie these things I 'le add but one instance more and that is in Gal. 4.24 These i. e. Abrahams two wives are the two Covenants the meaning is they signifie the two Covenants Now when these passages of Scripture and many others more cannot be understood but by a Metonymy figuratively why should our Saviours words This is my body only be excepted from this general way of interpretation and have another interpretation assixed unto them which is contrary both to Scripture and to Sense to Reason and to the Interpretation of the Ancient Fathers To Scripture because the Scripture tells us that Christs Body is ascended up into Heaven and that the Heavens must receive him until the times of restitution of all things i. e. the day of Judgment Act. 1.9 and 3.21 And if it must be in Heaven as the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 3.21 do plainly signifie then he cannot be here on Earth too and this argument our Saviour himself doth elsewhere make good Joh. 6.62 For whereas when our Saviour preached at Capernaum and told them except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you ibid. verse 53. the hearers were offended at it and said not only how can this man give us his flesh to eat but also this is an hard saying who can hear it Our Saviour to take away this offence and to give them the true meaning of his words saith thus unto them ibid. verse 62. what and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before As if he should have said when ye shall see my Body to be ascended up into Heaven then I hope you will understand that I speak not of this carnal eating of my flesh that ye dream of for my Body will be then in Heaven and there must continue And this Argument holds good against the carnal eating of Christs Body in the Sacrament also though our Saviour doth not speak thereof in that place so contrary to Scripture is this interpretation of our Saviours words And contrary it is to Sense For that which we receive with our hands at the Lords Table it is not flesh but bread bread to our sight bread to our feeling and bread to our taste contrary to reason it is also and that in two respects 1. In that if the words were literally meant our Saviour then at the Institution when he took the bread and uttered the words had his own body in his hand and so he had there two bodies one sitting at the table and the other in his hand upon the table and this is not very reasonable Secondly In that if at the administration the flesh of Christ in the very substance were there it would stand us in no stead for it is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour saith Joh. 6.63 My flesh is meat indeed ibid. ver 55. And why then doth our Saviour say here the flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour doth not contradict himself and thereby it is plain his meaning is that the carnal Capernaitical eating of his flesh such as the Capernacies there thought he spake of was of no use at all And lastly Contrary it is to the interpretation of the Ancient Fathers I 'le mention but two or three very breifly Turt lib. 4. against Marcion thus speaks Christus acceptum panem distributum discipulis corpus suum illum fecit hoc est corpus meum dicendo i.e. figura corporis mei Bread taken and distributed to his Disciples he made his body by saying This is my body that is the figure of my body Saint Ambrose to the same purpose doth use the same word figura Figura est corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi l. 4. de sacramentis cap. 5. and Saint Aug. on the third Psal saith Dominus Judam ad hibuit ad convivium in quo corporis sanguinis sui figuram discipulis commendavit tradidit That is The Lord entertained Judas at the feast wherein he commended and gave to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood These three to add no more do agree in this particular and they all use the same word figura whereby they signified that the bread is nor turned into to the Body of Christ but was a sign or figure of his Body though called by the name thereof It is the language of the Holy Ghost to give to the sign the name of the thing signified so it is here in the Text the Ordinance of the Circumcision is called the Covenant which was but a sign of the Covenant He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision One thing more there is to be observed from this title the Covenant of Circumcision which I will touch but briefly and it is this That the Almighty God in his Sacraments doth make a Covenant with his people Circumcision was a Sacrament for there was a sign and a thing signified as before was shewed and therein God entered into Covenant with Abraham and his Seed The Passover was a Sacrament and thereby there was a Covenant made between God and his people The Israelites when Hezekiah sent abroad a Proclamation exhorting the people to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover which had some years formerly been neglected he thus bespeaks them Now be not stiff-necked as your Fathers were but yeild your selves unto the Lord in the Original it is thus expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is give the hand unto the Lord and so it is rendred in the Margent of our Bibles 2 Chr. 30.8 Now to give the hand ye know is a circumstance and sign of entring into Covenant and by this expression is intimated that by keeping the Passeover they made a Covenant with the Lord. The like is to be said of our Sacrament of Baptism for the Apostle Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.21 in respect of the inward part of it doth calliit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that word though it be by divers diverfly rendred as by our translation an answer by the vulgar Latin Interrogatio yet it is generally conceived that the Apostle doth therein allude unto the questions and answers that were made at the baptizing of people converted to Christianity Such as Dost thou believe I do believe c which had their beginning and use even in the Apostles time as may be collected from Acts 8.37 And therefore by some the word is rendred stipulatio that is a Covenant a Bargain or an Agreement between two one asking the question and the other answering Such a thing is Baptism a Covenant between God and us and though those questions and answers were omitted yet this Covenant is included and contained in the very words which by our Saviour are appointed to be used at the Sacrament of Baptism that is To Baptize in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth.
THE ALMIGHTY His Gracious Token of Love TO HIS Friend Abraham OR A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church of BRISTOL January 3. 1674. By RICH. TOWGOOD B.D. now Dean of Bristol and when time was Chaplain in Ordinary to His late Sacred Majesty King CHARLES the First of most blessed and most renowned memory In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 LONDON Printed by H.C. for H. Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Panls and are to be sold by Humfrey Dixon Bookseller in Wine-street Bristol 1676. To the Right Reverend Father in God GUIDO by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Bristol Right Reverend Father in God and my much honoured Lord YOur Desire I dare not deny it is unto me instead of a Command but I fear whatsoever it was that your Lordship approved of at the hearing will not seem so approvable at the reading Horace his Verse I may crave leave a little to change and say Soepius instibant animum dimissa per aurem Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus That which may pass current out of a popular Pulpit may not perhaps relish so well out of a publick Press However that which may serve to edifie a hundred may serve also to edifie a thousand And the world I hope may hereby see that our ordinary labours in Bristol which intend to sound no further than the walls of the Church in which they are delivered are not so extremely contemptible that our Hearers had need to keep up to themselves a company of Schismatical Teachers fetch'd from far to supply our defects For I dare assure your Lordship there are many Sermons frequently preached by my Brethren in Bristol which may challenge the light rather than this now presented to your Lordship and yet I reckon this may pass without offence having received the approbation of your Lordships judicious ear and that it hath made bold to prefix before it your Reverend Name I humbly beg and hope you will be pleased as being the occasion of it your self favourably to vouchsafe a pardon to Your Lordships most obliged and most humble Servant Rich. Towgood A SERMON PREACHED In the Cathedral Church of BRISTOL Januar. 3. 1674 5. ACT. vij 8. former part And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision THESE words are part of a Sermon preached by St. Stephen the Protomartyr before the Sanhedrim or Council at Jerusalem not long after our Saviours Ascension What St. Stephens scope is in this Sermon contained in this Chapter or what he aims at in this particular passage I shall not now stand to inquire I shall at present look upon the Words as bearing full and perfect sence in themselves without any reference to the occasion or coherence further then doth concern the two Relatives or Persons here spoken of He and Him Only that ye may not stumble at the choice of this Text concerning an antiquated Ceremony ye may be pleased to consider that according to the order appointed by the Church the anniversary Commemoration of our Saviours Circumcision is not quite over as doth appear by the Epistle Gospel and Collect for this present Day and therefore a Text concerning Circumcision is not unseasonable Besides from this time we reckon the beginning of the New year and Circumcision was a sign of a New-heart and of newness of Life And lastly the beginning of this moneth is the time wherein friends of the chief account do usually gratifie one another with gifts of kindness and tokens of love And here the Text tells us of a special Gift that the Almighty God vouchsafed unto Abraham his friend for these two are the He and the Him here spoken of as is plain by the Verses foregoing He gave Him that is God gave Abraham the Covenant of Circumcumcision so that though I cannot say here is a New-years Gift yet here is no small token of Gods love to Abraham And concerning this Token of Love to come now to the Words themselves we have four things observable in the Text. 1. What it was 2. Of what worth it was 3. Who gave it 4. To whom it was given Of these by Gods gracious assistance and your Christian patience in their order and first of the first what it was It was the Ordinance of Circumcision God commanded Abraham this service and what kind of service this was and by whom to be observed and at what time to be performed is fully declared by the Holy Ghost himself and cannot better be expressed than in his own Words as we find them Gen. 17. from the tenth to the twelfth This is my Covenant saith the Lord to Abraham which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every manchild among you shall be circumcised And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every manchild in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with mony of any stranger which is not of thy seed This was the service that God commanded him and all his posterity And a hard service it was as appeared in that when the Sechemites were by deceit perswaded by the sons of Jacob to be circumcised their whole City by reason of their soreness after they were circumcised was not able to defend themselves against two men For it came to pass on the third day when they were sore that two of the sons of Jacob Symeon and Levi Dinahs brethren took each man his sword and came upon the City boldly and slew all the Males Gen. 34.25 So likewise it is said of the Children of Israel when they were all circumcised at their entrance into the Land of Canaan because they had not been circumcised by the way That they abode in their places in the Camp till they were whole Josh 5.7 8. But yet more fully doth the hardship of this service appear by that of Zipporah who when she was enforced to circumcise her Son said thus unto Moses her Husband not without bitterness A bloody husband art thou to me and doubled it A bloody husband because of the circumcision Exod. 4.25 26. A hard service it was and yet to be laid upon their Infants when they were but eight days old Surely we may justly take up the words of the Apostle which were uttered by him in another case Heb. 11.40 God hath provided some better thing for us Instead of that hard service for abrogated now it is Gal. 5.2 God hath appointed unto us the Sacrament of Baptism which as for the use is more perspicuous so for the quality is far less painful and yet see the fond tenderness of Parents and the foolish niceness of people now-a-days is such that they can scarce suffer a little cold water to be sprinkled on their Children nay a few drops more than ordinary shall
and so live as persons that are dedicated and consecrated can never reckon themselves spiritually circumcised for the Apostle saith We are the circumcision that serve God in the spirit that is in purity of life Phil. 3.3 He that is spiritually circumcised and so devoted unto God must yield no part of himself either of Body and Soul to any other service then to the service of God site vovoris Deo imitandus est tibi vitulus quem non licet humanis operibus deseruire Origen Hom. 14. in Num. A Bullock that is consecrated unto God it is not lawful to put it to any humane service and therein saith he must we be like him if we have consecrated our selves to God But ah alas how many be there that so live as if they had bound themselves by Indenture unto Satan as if they had made themselves by vow his Slaves counting it there honour to be prophane and their greatest glory to stand at desiance with holiness Is it not a great abuse for a consecrated Temple to be turned into a Stable or into a Sty to hold Swine in But how much greater is the abuse for the Body and Soul of a Christian consecrated unto God to become Satans work-house for in such Children of disobedience he worketh Ephes 2.2 The sum of all is then Mortifie your members that are upon the Earth if thy right hand offend thee cut it off cleanse your selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit for in this consists the spiritual circumcision which neither is nor ever will be abrogated namely in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh Col. 2.11 Ye see what this token of Gods love to Abraham was both for the letter and the mystery In the letter it was in the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh In the mystery it was a sign of the Covenant between God and Abraham and withal did warn and admonish him to cut off all vile and carnal affections This is the first thing observable in the Text. I shall first be briefer in the other parts that are behind Come we then to the second thing observed of what worth this token of love was and that is imployed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave Saint Steven doth not say he inflicted it as a punishment or imposed it as a burthen he gave it as a token of love out of his special faviour Gods Ordinances are special blessings of singular worth The Almighty God promised to this man Abraham the whole Land of Canaan Gen. 13 14 15. a bountiful gift and yet this gift here spoken of the Covenant of Circumcision was of more worth then the whole Land of Canaan or all the Kingdoms of the world It was a painful service but of inestimable worth it was a seal of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.11 and so consequently it was a seal to assure him of the Kingdom of Heaven All Gods ordinances are precious gifts and that may appear first by the time which the Doner chose for the bestowing of them When a man is parting from his friends he will leave behind him some special token of love and so the Apostle saith when Christ Jesus ascended up on high he led Cativity Captive and gave gifts to men Eph. 4.8 and yet I confess the Apostle doth not allude so much to the parting of one friend from another as to the custome of conquerors who after their victories go up into their Cities in triumph carrying their captives bound and then withal giving rich gifts to their friends so Christ having conquered hell and death and sin and the Devil led them captive and gave gifts unto men but as to our purpose the question is what those gifts were and the Apostle tell us ibid. ver 11. he gave some Apostles some Prophets c. these are the chief gifts that Christ Jesus thought good to give to his people though the world doth not esteem them so even at the time of his triumph when he was ascending into his greatest glory as if he had no greater gifts to bestow upon them and what is it for which they are reckoned by the Lord such singular gifts but only because they are his messengers and the dispencers of his holy word and sacred ordinance These are gifts of high esteem and that doth thus appear by the time when they were given and that was at his ascension For as the coming of the Holy Ghost was a fruit of Christs ascention so also is the fitting of his messengers and the committing unto them the dispensation of his sacred ordinances the fruit of the same ascension Secondly the singular worth and excellency of Gods sacred ordinances doth appear in that they to whom they are vouchsafed are dignified by them What nation is there so great saith Moses to the Israclites that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you Deut. 4.8 and it is worth your noteing that whereas the land of Canaan was so highly dignified and commended Dan 8.9 the pleasant land the glory of all lands Ezek. 20.6 the land of desire Zech. 7.14 It was not for that there was such plenty of silver and gold there for there was none at all Deut. 8.7 8 9. Solomon sent to Ophir for Gold 1 King 9.28 and so did Jehosaphat 1 King 22.48 but it was chiefly because the ordinances of God were there setled In respect hereof it is said that there the glory of God is seen in the sanctuary Psal 63.2 that is at the Temple in Jerusalem and his statutes and ordinances he gave unto that people which was a mercy that he shewed not to any other nation Psal 147.19 20. Thirdly the worth and excellency of Gods ordinances do appear in the end and effect of them for to this end they are given and this is the effect of them to beget grace in us and to bring us to Christ such is the excellency of the word of grace that is of the Gospel that it is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance among them that are sanctified Act. 20.32 It is able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 and this wisdom cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir gold and christal cannot equal it Job 28.16 17. It was the mystery of the Heathens that they were without Christ Ephes 2.12 and it is the most blessed and admirable use of the Sacraments to make us partakers of Christ For as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 And the bread which we break that is the other Sacrament is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 such is the worth thereof it makes us partakers of Christ All Gods ordinances are of estimable worth and excellency and how comes it then to pass that these shored ordinances are by so many slighted and neglected The word by some the sacraments
28.19 Into the Name or in the Name of the Three Persons of the Trinity that is into the Protection of the Father into the Redemption of the Son and into the Sanctification of the Holy Ghost This is the Covenant on Gods part and these are the Promises that are made of God unto us in that Sacrament whereof our Church-Catechism makes mention And on our part the Covenant is that we will be his Servants and yield all obedience to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And this Covenant we renew when we come to the Lords Supper for the Lord doth offer us his Son to be our Saviour and thither we come to acknowledg that we wholly rely upon him and his Merits and to yield up our selves wholly to him and his service Take we heed therefore all of us that have been baptized and have received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as for others they are not in Covenant with God nor can expect Protection or Salvation from him take we heed I say that we carefully perform the Covenant Our Covenant is wholly to yield obedience unto God and that we cannot do without renouncing the works of the Devil and the sinful lusts of the flesh And if we fail on our part God is not bound on his part Besides he will not take it well at our hands if we break Covenants with him he will have a quarrel against us for the breach of Covenants nay he tells us plainly he will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant Levit. 26.25 Well ye see Circumcision was called the Covenant ye see that there was a Covenant in the Circumcision as there is also in all Sacraments even in the Sacraments of the New Testament There is one thing more yet to be observed before we proceed to the next Part. In all the Ceremonies of the Law Divines say there are three things to be observed that is 1. That they were Memorials of some Mercy received 2. That they were Types of Christ 3. That they did signifie some Moral Duty Whether all these things are to be sound in the Circumcision and how it was a Memorial of Mercy past or how it was a Type of Christ I will not now inquire but pitch upon that which the Scripture shews to be undeniable and that is this That there was a Moral Duty signified by the Circumcision that there is a Spiritual Circumcision yet remaining still to be observed and practised by all the people of God even now in the time of the Gospel And this is nothing else but the cutting off of carnal affections the making of a new heart and the putting off of the oldman This is that the Apostle calls Circumcision made without hands Col. 2.11 This is that the Apostle means when he tells us He is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart Rom. 2.29 Nay and even in the time of the Law this was the Circumcision that the Lord chiefly required and therefore doth Moses thus call upon the people Circumcise the foreskin of your heart Deut. 10.16 And so doth the Prophet Jeremy in the same words Jer. 4.4 It doth not then a little concern us to consider whether we are thus spiritually circumcised yea or no. It was a fearful threatning that was denounced against all those of Abrahams posterity if they were not carnally circumcised That Soul shall be cut off from his people Gen. 17.14 And if the Spiritual Circumcision as hath been shewed be more regarded by the Lord shall not the neglect thereof be as severely punished as the neglect of the other Surely the Prophet Jeremies words do make it good in that Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Consider then with thy self O Christian Hast thou cast off the works of Darkness Dost thou mortifie thy Corruptions Dost thou deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts If not surely thou art not spiritually circumcised but to use the Apostles phrase art dead in sin and the uncircumcision of the flesh Col. 2.13 But to descend a little lower the Scripture doth intimate to us That there is a Circumcision of the Ear and a Circumcision of the Lips Acts 7. Jer. 6.10 and Exod. 6.30 Examine thy self then O Christian Doth thine Ear refuse to hear the Voice of the Charmer Or hast thou an Itch in thine Ear to harken after novel Doctrines Doth it delight to hear evil Reports and to receive false Tales And is it not then uncircumcised Doth thy tongue delight in scoffing give it self to swearing whispering or backbiting And is it not then uncircumcised Briefly three things there were observed in the Circumcision of the Flesh all which may serve to give us some further help and direction in this self-examination 1. Circumcision could not be without dolour without grief and pain And certainly forasmuch as there is no man living that sinneth not nay for as much as in many things we offend all he who never felt any remorse of Conscience that was never pricked at the heart whose heart never smote him can never reckon himself spiritually circumcised and if it be but the corruption of our nature and when Infants were circumcised they were guilty of no more yet had we need with sorrow of heart to humble our selves and to cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death To borrow the Apostles expressions Rom. 7.24 2. The ancient Circumcision did distinguish the Jews from other people As the Grecians called all others Barbarians so the Jews called all others besides themselves as it were by a reproachful and contumelious word the Uncircumcised 1 Sam. 17.26 Yea and they themselves were by others reproached for their very Circumcision By the name of Judeus Apella the Poet speaks of him So likewise if we would be sure that we are spiritually circumcised we must see there be a difference between us and worldly minded and voluptuous men that are in the world not in opinion as the Pharisees thought well of themselves and despised others but in practice for if there be as much vanity on thy back as much venom in thy tongue as much pride and malice in thy heart as in the worst of men never think thy self to be spiritually circumcised Judah and Israel because in their practise they differed not from Egypt and Edom from Moab and Ammon are therefore ranked with them and threatned with them as being uncircumcised in heart Jer. 9.26 The third thing observable in the Circumcision was this It was a Sacrament of Initiation whereby they were as it were consecrated unto God They did thereby enter into Covenant with God it was a sign whereby they declared themselves to be Gods peculiar people And so surely they that are not dedicated unto God