The Circumcision of the Heart

“Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” Romans 2:29.
1. It is the melancholy remark of an excellent man, that he who now preaches
the most essential duties of Christianity, runs the hazard of being
esteemed, by a great part of his hearers, “a setter forth of new
doctrines.” Most men have so lived away the substance of that religion, the
profession whereof they still retain, that no sooner are any of those truths
proposed which difference the Spirit of Christ from the spirit of the world,
than they cry out, “Thou bringest strange things to our ears; we would know
what these things mean:” — Though he is only preaching to them “Jesus and
the resurrection,” with the necessary consequence of it, — If Christ be
risen, ye ought then to die unto the world, and to live wholly unto God.
2. A hard saying this to the natural man, Who is alive unto the world, and
dead unto God; and one that he will not readily be persuaded to receive as
the truth of God, unless it be so qualified in the interpretation, as to
have neither use nor significance left. He “receiveth not the” word “of the
Spirit of God,” taken in their plain and obvious meaning; “they are
foolishness unto him: Neither” indeed “can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned:” — They are perceivable only by that spiritual sense,
which in him was never yet awakened for want of which he must reject, as
idle fancies of men, what are both the wisdom and the power of God.
3. That “circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter;” — that the distinguishing mark of a true follower of Christ, of one
who is in a state of acceptance with God, is not either outward
circumcision, or baptism, or any other outward form, but a right state of
soul, a mind and spirit renewed after the image of Him that created it; — is
one of those important truths that can only be spiritually discerned. And
this the Apostle himself intimates in the next words, — “Whose praise is not
of men, but of God.” As if he had said, “Expect not, whoever thou art, who
thus followest thy great Master, that the world, the one who follow him not,
will say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’ Know that the circumcision
of the heart, the seal of thy calling, is foolishness with the world. Be
content to wait for thy applause till the day of thy Lord's appearing. In
that day shalt thou have praise of God, in the great assembly of men and
angels.”
I design first, particularly to inquire, wherein this circumcision of the
heart consists; and, Secondly, to mention some reflections that naturally
arise from such an inquiry.
I. 1. I am, First, to inquire, wherein that circumcision of the heart
consists, which will receive the praise of God. In general we may observe,
it is that habitual disposition of soul which, in the sacred writings, is
termed holiness; and which directly implies, the being cleansed from sin,
“from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit;” and, by consequence, the
being endued with those virtues which were also in Christ Jesus; the being
so “renewed in the spirit of our mind,” as to be “perfect as our Father in
heaven is perfect.”
2. To be more particular: Circumcision of heart implies humility, faith,
hope, and charity. Humility, a right judgment of ourselves, cleanses our
minds from those high conceits of our own perfection, from that undue
opinion of our own abilities and attainments, which are the genuine fruit of
a corrupted nature. This entirely cuts off that vain thought, “I am rich,
and wise, and have need of nothing;” and convinces us that we are by nature
wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. “It convinces us,
that in our best estate we are, of ourselves, all sin and vanity; that
confusion, and ignorance, and error reign over our understanding; that
unreasonable, earthly, sensual, devilish passions usurp authority over our
will; in a word, that there is no whole part in our soul, that all the
foundations of our nature are out of course.
3. At the same time we are convinced, that we are not sufficient of
ourselves to help ourselves; that, without the Spirit of God, we can do
nothing but add sin to sin; that it is He alone who worketh in us by his
almighty power, either to will or do that which is good; it being as
impossible for us even to think a good thought, without the supernatural
assistance of his Spirit, as to create ourselves, or to renew our whole
souls in righteousness and true holiness.
4. A sure effect of our having formed this right judgment of the sinfulness
and helplessness of our nature, is a disregard of that “honor which cometh
of man,” which is usually paid to some supposed excellency in us. He who
knows himself, neither desires nor values the applause which he knows he
deserves not. It is therefore “a very small thing with him, to be judged by
man’s judgment.” He has all reason to think, by comparing what it has said,
either for or against him, with what he feels in his own breast, that the
world, as well as the god of this world, was “a liar form the beginning.”
And even as to those who are not of the world; thought he would choose, if
it were the will of God, that they should account of him as of one desirous
to be found a faithful steward of his Lord's goods, if haply this might be a
means of enabling him to be of more use to his fellow-servants, yet as this
is the one end of his wishing for their approbation, so he does not at all
rest upon it: For he is assured, that whatever God wills, he can never want
instruments to perform; since he is able, even of these stones, to raise up
servants to do his pleasure.
5. this is that lowliness of mind, which they have learned of Christ, who
follow his example and tread in his steps. And this knowledge of their
disease, whereby they are more and more cleansed from one part of it, pride
and vanity, disposes them to embrace, with a willing mind, the second thing
implied in circumcision of the heart, — that faith which alone is able to
make them whole, which is the one medicine given under heaven to heal their
sickness.
6. The best guide of the blind, the surest light of them that are in
darkness, the most perfect instructor of the foolish, is faith. But it must
be such a faith as is “mighty through God, to the pulling down of
strong-holds,” — to the overturning all the prejudices of corrupt reason,
all the false maxims revered among men, all evil customs and habits, all
that “wisdom of the world which is foolishness with God;” as “casteth down
imaginations,” reasoning, “and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.”
7. “All things are possible to him that” thus “believeth.” “The eyes of his
understanding being enlightened,” he sees what is his calling; even to
glorify God, who hath bought him with so high a price, in his body and in
his spirit, which now are God's by redemption, as well as by creation. He
feels what is “the exceeding greatness of this power,” who, as he raise up
Christ from the dead, so is able to-quicken us, dead in sin,” by his Spirit
which dwelleth in us.” “This is the victory which overcometh the world, even
our faith;” that faith, which is not only an unshaken assent to all that God
hath revealed in Scripture, — and in particular to those important truths,
“Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners;” “He bare our sins in his
own body on the tree;” “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world;” The following part of this paragraph is now added to the Sermon formerly preached. (Footnote added by Wesley to the first edition of Sermons.) — but likewise
the revelation of Christ in our hearts; a divine evidence or conviction of
his love, his free, unmerited love to me a sinner; a sure confidence in his
pardoning mercy, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost; a confidence, whereby
every true believer is enabled to bear witness, “I know that my Redeemer
liveth,” that I have an “Advocate with the Father,” and that “Jesus Christ
the righteous” is my Lord, and “the propitiation for my sins,” — I know he
hath “loved me, and given himself for me,” — He hath reconciled me, even me,
to God; and I “have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins.”
8. Such a faith as this cannot fail to show evidently the power of Him that
inspires it, by delivering his children from the yoke of sin, and “purging
their consciences from dead works;” by strengthening them so, that they are
no longer constrained to obey sin in the desires there of; but instead of
yielding their members unto it, as instruments of unrighteousness,” they now
“yield themselves” entirely “unto God, as those that are alive from the
dead.”
9. Those who are thus by faith born of God, have also strong consolation
through hope. This is the next thing which the circumcision of the heart
implies; even the testimony of their own spirit with the Spirit which
witnesses in their hearts that The following part of this paragraph is now added to the Sermon
formerly preached. they are the children of God. Indeed, it
is the same Spirit who works in them that clear and cheerful confidence that
their heart is upright toward God; that good assurance, that they now do,
through his grace, the things which are acceptable in his sight; that they
are now in the path which leadeth to life, and shall, by the mercy of God,
endure therein to the end. It is He who giveth them a lively expectation of
receiving all good things at God's hand; a joyous prospect of that crown of
glory, which is reserved in heaven for them. By this anchor a Christian is
kept steady in the midst of the waves of this troublesome world, and
preserved from striking upon either of those fatal rocks, — presumption or
despair. He is neither discouraged by the misconceived severity of his Lord,
nor does He despise the riches of his goodness.” He neither apprehends the
difficulties of the race set before him to be greater than he has strength
to conquer, nor expects there to be so little as to yield in the conquest,
till he has put forth all strength. The experience he already has in the
Christian warfare, as it assures him his “labor is not in vain,” if
“whatever his findeth to do, he doeth it with his might;” so it forbids his
entertaining so vain a thought, as that he can otherwise gain any advantage,
as that any virtue can be shown, any praise attained, by faint hearts and
feeble hands; or, indeed, by any but those who pursue the same course with
the great Apostle of the Gentiles - “I,” says he, “so run, not as
uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection; lest, by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
10. By the same
discipline is every good soldier of Christ to inure himself to endure
hardship. Confirmed and strengthened by this, he will be able not only to
renounce the works of darkness, but every appetite too, and every affection,
which is no subject to the law of God. For “every one,” saith St. John, “who
hath this hope, purifieth himself even as He is pure.” It is his daily care,
by the grace of God in Christ, and through the blood of the covenant, to
purge the inmost recesses of his soul from the lusts that before possessed
and defiled it; from uncleanness, and envy, and malice, and wrath; from
every passion and temper that is after the flesh, that either springs from
or cherishes his native corruption: as well knowing, that he whose very body
is the temple of God, ought to admit into it nothing common or unclean; and
that holiness becometh that house for ever, where the Spirit of holiness
vouchsafes to dwell.
11. Yet lackest thou one thing, whosoever thou art,
that to a deep humility, and a steadfast faith, hast joined a lively hope,
and thereby in a good measure cleansed thy heart from its inbred pollution.
If thou wilt be perfect, add to all these, charity; add love, and thou hast
the circumcision of the heart “Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of
the commandment.” Very excellent things are spoken of love; it is the
essence, the spirit, the life of all virtue. It is not only the first and
great command, but it is all the commandments in one. “Whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable,” or
honorable; “if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,” they are all
comprised in this one word, — love. In this is perfection, and glory, and
happiness. The royal law of heaven and earth is this, “Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength.”
12. Not that this forbids us to love
anything besides God: It implies that we love our brother also. Nor yet does
it forbid us (as some have strangely imagined) to take pleasure in any thing
but God. To suppose this, is to suppose the Fountain of holiness is directly
the author of sin; since he has inseparably annexed pleasure to the use of
those creatures which are necessary to sustain the life he has given us.
This, therefore, can never be the meaning of his command. What the real
sense of it is, both our blessed Lord and his Apostles tell us too
frequently, and too plainly, to be misunderstood. They all with one mouth
bear witness, that the true meaning of those several declarations, “The Lord
thy God is one Lord;” “Thou shalt have no other Gods but me;” “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy strength” “Thou shalt cleave unto him;”
“The desire of thy soul shall be to His name;” — is no other than this: The
one perfect Good shall be your one ultimate end. One thing shall ye desire
for its own sake, — the fruition of Him that is All in All. One happiness
shall ye propose to your souls, even a union with Him that made them; the
having “fellowship with the Father and the Son;” the being joined to the
Lord in one Spirit. One design you are to pursue to the end of time, — the
enjoyment of God in time and in eternity. Desire other things, so far as
they tend to this. Love the creature as it leads to the Creator. But in
every step you take, be this the glorious point that terminates your view.
Let every affection, and thought, and word, and work, be subordinate to
this. Whatever ye desire or fear, whatever ye seek or shun, whatever ye
think, speak, or do, be it in order to your happiness in God, the sole End,
us well as Source, of your being.
13. Have no end, to ultimate end, but God.
Thus our Lord: “One thing is needful:” And if thine eye be singly fixed on
this one thing, “thy whole body shall be full of light.” Thus St. Paul:
“This one thing I do; I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high
calling in Christ Jesus.” Thus St. James: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” Thus St. John: “love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is
not of the Father, but is of the world.” The seeking happiness in what
gratifies either the desire of the flesh, by agreeably striking upon the
outward senses; the desire of the eye, of the imagination, by its novelty,
greatness, or beauty; or the pride of life, whether by pomp, grandeur,
power, or, the usual consequence of them, applause and admiration; — “is not
of the Father,” cometh not from, neither is approved by, the Father of
spirits; “but of the world:” It is the distinguishing mark of those who will
not have Him to reign over them.
II. 1. Thus have I particularly inquired, what that circumcision of heart
is, which will obtain the praise of God. I am, in the Second place, to
mention some reflections that naturally arise from such an inquiry, as a
plain rule whereby every man may judge of himself, whether he be of the
world or of God. And, First, it is clear from what has been said, that no
man has a title to the praise of God, unless his heart is circumcised by
humility; unless he is little, and base, and vile in his own eyes; unless he
is deeply convinced of that inbred “corruption of his nature,” “whereby be
is very far gone from original righteousness,” being prone to all evil,
averse to all good, corrupt and abominable; having a “carnal mind which is
enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can
be,” unless he continually feels in his inmost soul, that without the Spirit
of God resting upon him, he can neither think, nor desire, nor speak, nor
act anything good, or well-pleasing in his sight. No man I say, has A title
to the praise of God, till he feels his want of God; nor indeed, till he
seeketh that “honor which cometh of God only;” and neither desires nor
pursues that which cometh of man, unless so far only as it tends to this.
2. Another truth, which naturally follows from what has been said, is, that
none shall obtain the honor that cometh of God, unless his heart be
circumcised by faith; even a “faith of the operation of God:” Unless,
refusing to be any longer led by his senses, appetites, or passions, or even
by that blind leader of the blind, so idolized by the world, natural reason,
he lives and walks by faith; directs every step, as “seeking Him that is
invisible;” “looks not at the things that arc seen, which are temporal, but
at the things that arc not seen, which are eternal;” and governs all his
desires, designs, and thoughts, all his actions and conversations, as one
who is entered in within the veil, where Jesus sits at the right hand of
God.
3. It were to be wished, that they were better acquainted with this faith,
who employ much of their time and pains in laying another foundation; in
grounding religion on the eternal fitness of things on the intrinsic
excellence of virtue, and the beauty of actions flowing from it; on the
reasons as they term them, of good and evil, and the relations of beings to
each other. Either these accounts of the grounds of Christian duty coincide
with the scriptural, or not. If they do, why are well meaning men perplexed,
and drawn from the weightier matters of the law, by a cloud of terms,
whereby the easiest truths are explained into obscurity ? If they are not,
then it behooves them to consider who is the author of this new doctrine;
whether he is likely to be an angel from heaven, who preacheth another
gospel than that of Christ Jesus; though, if he were, God, not we, hath
pronounced his sentence: “Let him be accursed.”
4. Our gospel, as it knows no other foundation of good works than faith, or
of faith than Christ, so it clearly informs us, we are not his disciples
while we either deny him to be the Author, or his Spirit to be the Inspirer
an Perfecter, both of our faith and works. “If any man have not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of his.” He alone can quicken those Who are dead unto
God, can breathe into them the breath of Christian life. and so prevent,
accompany, and follow them with his grace, as to bring their good desires to
good effect. And, as many as are thus led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God.” This is God’s short and plain account of true religion and
virtue; and “other foundation can no man lay.”
5. From what has been said, we may, thirdly, learn, that it none is truly
“led by the Spirit,” unless that “Spirit bear witness with his spirit, that
he is a child of God;” unless he see the prize and the crown before him, and
“rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” So greatly have they erred who have
taught that, in serving God, we ought not to have a view to own happiness !
Nay, but we are often and expressly taught of God, to have “respect unto the
recompense of reward;” to balance toil with the “joy set before us,” these
“light afflictions” with that “exceeding weight of glory.” Yea, we are
“aliens to the covenant of promise,” we are “without God in the world,”
until God, “of his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope
of the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
6. But if these things are so, it is high time for those persons to deal
faithfully with their own souls who are so far from finding in themselves
this joyful assurance that they fulfil the terms, and shall obtain the
promises, of that covenant, as to quarrel with the covenant itself, and
blaspheme the terms of it; to complain, they are too severe; and that no man
ever did or shall live up to them. What is this but to reproach God, as if
He were a hard Master, requiring of his servants more than he enables them
to perform ? — as if he had mocked the helpless works of his hands, by
binding them to impossibilities; by commanding them to overcome, where
neither their own strength nor grace was sufficient for them.?
7. These blasphemers might almost persuade those to imagine themselves
guiltless, who, in the contrary extreme, hope to fulfil the commands of God,
without taking any pains at all. Vain hope ! that a child of Adam should
ever expect to see the kingdom of Christ and of God, without striving,
without agonizing, first “to enter in at the strait gate;”-that one who v.
as “conceived and born in sin,” and whose “inward parts are very
wickedness,” should once entertain a thought of being “purified as his Lord
is pure,” unless he tread in His steps, and “take up his cross daily;”
unless he “cut off His right hand,” and “pluck out the right eye, and cast
it from him ;” — that he should ever dream of shaking off his old opinions,
passions, tempers, of being “sanctified throughout in spirit, soul, and
body,” without a constant and continued course of general self-denial!
8. What lees than this can we possibly infer from the above-cited words of
St. Paul, who, living “ill infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses” for Christ's sake; -who, being full of “signs,
and wonders, and mighty deeds,” — who, having been “caught up into the third
heaven;” — yet reckoned, as a late author strongly expresses it, that all
his virtues would be insecure, and even his salvation in danger, without
this constant self-denial? “So run I,” says he, “not as uncertainly; so
fight I, not as one that beateth the air which he plainly teaches us, that
he who does not thus run, who does not thus deny himself daily, does run
uncertainly, and fighteth to as little purpose as he that “beateth the
air.”
9. To as little purpose does He talk of “fighting the fight of faith,” as
vainly hope to attain the crown of incorruption, (as we may, Lastly, infer
from the preceding observations,) whose heart is not circumcised by love.
Love, cutting off both the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life, — engaging the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, in the
ardent pursuit of that one object,-is so essential to a child of God, that,
without it, whosoever liveth is counted dead before him. “Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so
as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.” Nay, “though I
give all my goods to feed the poor, and my body to be burned, and have not
love, it profit me nothing.”
10. Here, then, is the sum of the perfect law; this is the true circumcision
of the heart. Let the spirit return to God that gave it, with the whole
train of its affections. “Unto the place from whence all the rivers came
thither let them flow again. Other sacrifices from us he would not; but the
living sacrifice of the heart he hath chosen. Let it be continual offered up
to God through Christ, in flames of holy love. And let no creature be
suffered to share with him: For he is a jealous God. His throne will he not
divide with another: He will reign without a rival. Be no design, no desire
admitted there, but what has Him for its ultimate object. This is the way
where in those children of God once walked, who, being dead, still speak to
us:” Desire not to live, but to praise his name: Let all your thoughts,
words, and works, tend to his glory. Set your heart firm on him, and on
other things only as they are in and from him. Let your soul be filled with
so entire a love of him, that you may love nothing but for his sake.” “Have
a pure intention of heart, a steadfast regard to his glory in all your
actions.” “Fix your eye upon the blessed hope of your calling, and make all
the things of the world minister unto it.” For then, and not till then is
that “mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus;” when, in every motion of
our heart, in every word of our tongue, in every work of our hands, we
“pursue nothing but in relation to him, and in subordination to his
pleasure;” when we, too, neither think, nor speak, nor act, to fulfil our
“own will, but the will of him that sent us;” when, whether we;’ eat, or
drink, or whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God.”
==Footnotes==
Category:Christianity
Category:1733 works