He made them a
male and a female, and the first institution in innocence and in Eden,
was marriage. In his dealings with Adam, God deals with the race. He
made with them his covenant when he made it with Him. Hence, by the
disobedience of one, many were made sinners; in Adam all die. With Noah
he made a covenant never to drown the world again by the waters of a
flood. This promise belongs to the children of Noah, the human race.
To Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Almighty God said, "I will
establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee
and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17:7.) In token of this covenant,
Abraham was circumcised, and his family, and his posterity, at eight
days old. This principle of the ecclesiastical unity of the many, this
family, is continued under the new dispensation of the covenant, and
distinctly announced in the memorable sermon of Peter, on the day of
Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the
promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:38, 39.)
Accordingly, when Lydia believed she was baptized, and her household;
and when the jailor believed he was baptized, he and his, straightway.
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