In seeking to determine the meaning and use of a biblical institute, our proper course is to examine what the Bible teaches on the subject. Now, in relation to circumcision, the teaching of Scripture is most explicit on this head. When first ap pointed by God, circumcision was expressly set forth as a token of the covenant which God had made with Abraham ; and the Apostle tells us that Abraham received ' the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of that faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised' (Rom. iv. t); so that to Abraham it was not only a sign or token of God's covenant, but also an obsignation or certifi cate that he was in a state of acceptance before he was circumcised. As a Mosaic institution it was also the sign of the covenant which God made with Israel, which is hence called the `covenant of cir cumcision' (Acts vii. 8). In consequence of this it became the medium of access to the privileges of the covenant, and entailed on all who received it an obligation to fulfil the duties which the covenant imposed (Rom. ii. 25 ; iii. t ; Gal. v. 3). Circum cision served also to separate the people of the Jews from the rest of the nations, as a people set apart to God. These were its uses. As respects
its meaning, that was symbolical, and the things which it symbolised were two : r. Consecration to God; and 2. Mental and spiritual purification (Exod. vi. 12; Lev. xix. 25 ; Deut. x. i6; xxx. 6 ; Is. lii. I; Jer. iv. 4; vi. ro; Rom. ii. 25-29; Col. U. ir, etc. Comp. Philo De Circumeisione; Jones, Figurative Language of Scripture, Lect. v. p. 135). There was thus involved the concept of consecration, and along with this that of re conciliation, in circumcision ; and it was thereby, as Ewald rightly remarks (Altcrth, p. 95), an offering of the body to Jehovah, which according to the true meaning of all the offerings, as fully developed and raised to their true elevation by the prophets, had to be presented to Him as an offering of the soul. Only as this inner offering was perfectly presented could the obligation to be a priestly kingdom and a holy people be fulfilled' (Vaihinger in Herzog's Real-Cye. ii. On this subject in general, see Spencer De Legibus ri lualibus i. 5 ; Michaelis, Commentaries on the Laws of Moses iii. 58-93 ; Witsius De Foedere Bk. iv. 6, 8 ; Winer Real-W. B., s. v. ung ; Herzog's Real-Cyclop., ibid., etc.—W. L. A.