2,6G State - andOrdinances ofthe church, 4. 9. it is probable , that God gave him light into the evil of thofe Superftitions wherein he was educated, revealed himfelf as the only true God , and fo prepared him forhis Call unto the tedious journeying, and long peregrination that,enfued thereon. Whenhis Father7erah was dead, and himfelf feventy fiveyears old,- Chap. 12.14. God called him to himfelf, and entred intoCovenant with him in the promife of the LandofCanaan, v. 7. And this Call ofhis, was the great foundation whereon God afterwards built the whole Structure of his Worfhip under the Old Tellament. For herein he bothappropriated the promifeof the MdJiah unto him,defrgning hisperfon as the fpring, from whom he Mould proceed according tothe flab, and fet both him and his pofierity a-part, to be vifibly fubfervient unto the great defign of his Grace in the accomplifhment of the promife of a Deliverer made unto our firft Parents. Thiswe have elfewhere at large declared, and fhewed how that after his Call, every thing was difpofed unto a fignificancy of that which wasfor to come, and wasfuited for acontinuance unto that feafbn, and no longer. When Abraham was ninety and nine years old, that is an he had been twenty four years in the Land ofCanaan. The Lord confirms his Covenant with him and his feed, by the fign and token of Circumcifion, Gen. 17. 8, 9, to, I I, sa. which Paal calls, the !jai of the righteoufneff of faith , Rom. 4. 12. becaufe God thereby con- firmed and affuredunto him an intereft in the promifedfeed, who is the Lord our Righteoufwfl, Ifai. 45. 24, 25. Prem. 23. 6. And becaufe,he had accepted of the righ- teoufnefs ánd falvation which in, andbyhim, God had prepared for finners , in be- lieving the promife, Gen. 15.6. And herein did God manieft that he took his feed tv- gether with him into theCovenant, as thofé, who no lets then himfelf, were to be made partakers of the righteoufnefs exhibited therein, as alfo to be ufed for the chancl where the holy feed was tobe carried tin ; unfill the Word was to take it and to be made flefb, Juba I.54..Mdr: a. 1. Rom. 9. 5. Andby this Ordinance of Cir- eumcifion, werehis pofierity feparated from the refs of the world, andunited among themfelves. For however Ijhmáel, and Efate carried the outward fign of circumci- fon out of the pale and limits of the Church communicating it unto theNations that fprang of them unto this day, unto whole obfervance they alfa adhere who being of another extrae, have received the Law of Mahomet, who wasof the off- spring of perfecuting IJbmael5 as the Turks and Ierftans, with very many of the Indi- ans ; yet their obfervanceof it, was never under the Law ofGod, nor accepted with him, but is rather occurred' by him. But as it was continued in the pofierity of Abrahamaccording unto the promife, it was the fundamental uniting principle of the Church amongft them, thoughdifpefed into innumerable particular families. For astherewere as many Churches before, as there were families, Ecclefiaftical and °economical or paternal Rule, beingthe fame, now theCovenant beingone, and the ttoken of theCovenant being oneand the fame, untoall the families that fprang of Abraham, which in their feveral generations were as the fends of the Sea fhore, or as the Starsfor Multitude, were incorporated into one body among themfelves, and feparated from all the refs of theworld. Not that this Ordinance alone was fuiS- cient to conftitute thewhole Nation one Ecclefiaf$cal Body or Church, which was done by the following Intlitutions ofWorfhip, but that the foundation thereofwas firft laid herein. Neither.without forge filch general initiation into union could it havekeen orderly accomplithed. And as it was the Gloryof the people of old whilit they walked in the fteps of the faith ofAbraham : So it was the carnal boafi of their degenerate pofierity. Hence have we fo often mention of chafewho were uncir- cumcifetl, in the wayof reproachand contempt ; andwhen they renewed the admi- niftration ofit among themfelves, upon their firll entrance into the Land ofCa- naan after its commiffion in the Wildernefs, it is Did, that they rolled away the re proacbof¡Egypt, Toth. 5.9. becaufe theywere now no more as the .Ægyptianr, uncircum- tifed. And it wastheir glory, bothbecaufe God made it the `token of his receiv- ing them tobe his peculiar people out of all the Nations of the Earth, as alfo be- caufe it was the pledge of their obedience untoGod, which is the glory of any per- fon or people. But their pofterity being carnal, and degenerating from the faith and obedience ofAbraham,baving quite loft the Grace betokened by it,which as Wes often declares unto them, was the circumcifon of their hearts to hear and obey the voice of God, did yet, and do yet, to this day, boafi of it as a fign of theirJeparation unto God from other peóp!e ; not confidering that theft things were mutual, anfwe- ring
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