are to "hold," and "into" whom we are to grow up"-" in all things." It is through the merits of Jesus, the illustrious seed of Abraham, and the beloved Son of God, that righteousness was imputed to Abraham himself, and to all his spiritual seed in the ancient church, to all who walked in the steps of his faith.

The LORD said to Abraham, (t My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant." Though the rite of circumcision was not to be used forever, yet the covenant, of which circumcision, while it was to be practised, was to be a token in the flesh, is strictly everlasting. Moses gave the people circumcision; (not that it was of Moses, but of the fathers.) After the Sinai covenant was “added,” all, who received circumcision, were bound to keep the whole law.* When the Sinai covenant vanished away, circumcision was no longer to be observed. But circumcision, considered simply, as a token of the covenant made with Abraham, has its place amply supplied by baptism; which, on a number of accounts, as may appear in the sequel, is more happily suited to the Christian dispensation. The admission of proselytes into the *See Acts, xv. 1, 5. & Gal. v. 3,

ancient church, and the circumcising of them, prefigured the preaching of the gospel to all nations, and the baptizing of them, according to the commission of Jesus to his apostles.*

* It may appear plain from the tenor of this discourse, that the covenant made with Abraham, as spoken of in Gen. xvii. which Stephen (Acts, vii.) calls the covenant of circumcision, is not so distinct from the promises made to him in Gen. xii. that the law, which did not disannul (the apostle Paul says, ouk akuroi, doth not disannul) these promises, was able to disannul that covenant.

But it may not be amiss to make a few remarks upon this point.

Though the apostle Paul in Gal. iii. 17. has a particular reference to the time, in which the promise, Gen.xii. 7. was mađe, (for the promises recorded in Gén. xii. 1-3. were made to Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran. (see Acts, vii. 2, 3.) yet it is to be observed, that the promises, which were made in Gen. xii. 1-3, 7. were renewed, and in some respects, more explicitly, in Gen. xvii. when God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, making him “a father of many nations ;" and it is irrational to think, that the law, which did not disannul the gracious promise made to Abraham 430 years before, was able to disannul the gracious covenant, of which circumcision was appointed the token, though not 430 years, yet above 400 years before. And, when the apostle speaks of the covenant's being "confirmed," he has, perhaps, particular reference to Gen. xvii. see Gen. xvii. 7. According to the words of Stephen, God “gave” Abraham, "the covenant of circumcision;" that is, God renewed the covenant, which he had before made with him, and appointed circumcision a token of it. The apostle in the 3d chapter of Gal. taken together refers to the gracious promises in generat made to Abraham. In the 6th verse he refers particularly to

what is recorded in Gen. xv. And though in speaking of Abraham's seed, in verse 16, he refers more particularly to Gen. xii. 7. still the land there promised to his seed, is the same land that is promised in Gen. xvii. 8. In this sermon all the gracious promises made to Abraham are considered, as composing one covenant; and this way of considering the matter is agreeable to what the apostle shows in Gal. iii. and Rom. iv. taken together. In Rom. iv. 13-22. the apostle has a more particular reference to Gen. xv. and xvii. and to the time when Abraham “was about an hundred years old.” See verse 19; and compare verse 13. with Gal. iii. 18. The "everlasting possession" promised, Gen. xvii. 8. is strictly everlasting, considered in its typical import as comprizing the everlasting joy, to be inherited by those, who shall be admitted into "the holy city, new Jerusalem, "when there shall be "a new heaven and a new earth.”

SERMON II.

ROMANS IV. 11, 12,

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had, yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also; And the father of circumcision to them, who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised.

HAVING, in the preceding discourse, explained God's covenant with Abraham, and shown the design of the seal, I proceed,

II. To show, in general, what it is to walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham, and to make a particular application to Christian parents.

The various steps, by which Abraham manifested his faith, are distinctly marked in the holy Scriptures.

In obedience to the Divine command, he separated himself and household, from his native “country, and from" his "kindred, and