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Spiritual Gifts, Volume 3
Adam taught his descendants the law of God, which law was
handed down to the faithful through successive generations. The con-
tinual transgression of God’s law called for a flood of waters upon
the earth. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, who for
right-doing were saved by a miracle of God in the ark. Noah taught
his descendants the ten commandments. The Lord preserved a peo-
ple for himself from Adam down, in whose hearts was his law. He
says of Abraham, “He obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
The Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said unto him, “I am the
Almighty God. Walk before me, and be thou perfect, and I will make
a covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
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And 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.”
He then required of Abraham and his seed circumcision, which
was a circle cut in the flesh, as a token that God had cut them out and
separated them from all nations as his peculiar treasure. By this sign
they solemnly pledged themselves that they would not intermarry with
other nations; for by so doing they would lose their reverence for God
and his holy law, and would become like the idolatrous nations around
them.
By the act of circumcision they solemnly agreed to fulfill the condi-
tions of the covenant made with Abraham on their part, to be separate
from all nations, and be perfect. If the descendants of Abraham had
kept separate from other nations, they would not have been seduced
into idolatry. By keeping separate from other nations, a great tempta-
tion would be removed from them to engage in their sinful practices,
and rebel against God. They lost in a great measure their peculiar,
holy character, by mingling with the nations around them. To punish
them the Lord brought a famine upon their land, which compelled
them to go down into Egypt to preserve their lives. But God did not
forsake them while they were in Egypt, because of his covenant with
Abraham. He suffered them to be oppressed by the Egyptians, that
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they might turn to him in their distress, and choose his righteous and
merciful government, and obey his requirements.
There were but a few families that first went down into Egypt.
These increased to a great multitude. Some were careful to instruct