ther the rite of
circumcision nor some other observances of the Levitical dispensation
had been instituted, nay, even when that rite after its institution was
not being applied, so under the present dispensation it may be engaged
in when the seals of the Covenant are or are not dispensed. The
magnitude, and variety, and demands of the objects embraced by it,
define the times necessary for engaging in it. Changes in providence
should lead, and in some measure direct in observing it. It is in
certain occurrences in providence, ordinary though they be, that we are
presented with the season meet for every other religious act. The
morning and evening, and the times of partaking of the necessaries and
comforts of life for the nourishment of the body, especially afford
opportunities for offering supplication and thanksgiving. Deliverances
from afflictions, and support under them when vouchsafed, call for the
acknowledgment of the great goodness and tender compassion of God. The
suffering of individual and social distress, and the pangs of
bereavement, call for the recognition of his holy sovereignty with the
deepest humility and resignation; and not less should the changes for
evil or good that take place in society, and the obvious necessities
that attach to our own spiritual condition, and the wants of our
fellow-creatures around us and over the habitable earth, urge us to
those exercises of special solemn Covenanting with God, which are
peculiarly fitted to meet their demands.

FOOTNOTES:

[116] Isa. liv. 9.

[117] Heb. vi. 13, 14.

[118] Ps. cv. 9.

[119] Ezek. xx. 5.

[120] Deut. xxxiii. 2.

[121] Ps. cxxxii. 11.

[122] Deut. xxix. 12.

[123] Deut. xxvi. 17, 18.

[124] Deut. xxix. 13.

[125] Deut. xxix. 12-15.

[126] Is. lvi. 6, 7.

[127] Prov. xx. 25.

[128] Heb. xi. 6.

[129] Is. xix. 21.

[130] Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.

[131] 2 Chron. xv. 15.

[132] Jer. xxiv. 7.

[133] Josh. xxiv. 15-17.

[134] 1 Kings viii. 31, 32.

[135] Ps. cxix. 106.

[136] Ps. xxiv. 4.

[137] 1 Chron. xii. 18.

[138] Jer. xxxiv. 18-20.

[139] Gen. xv. 8-18.

[140] Gen. ix. 11.-viii. 20.

[141] 2 Sam. v. 3.

[142] 2 Kings xi. 4.

[143] Josh. ix. 6, 7.

[144] Exod. xxiii. 32.

[145] Ezra x. 3.

[146] 2 Chron. vii. 18.

[147] Heb. x. 19-23.

[148] Num. xxiii.

[149] Job xlii. 7-9.

[150] 2 Chron. xxix. 10, 11. See also, v. 20-24.

[151] 2 Chron. xxx. 8.

[152] Ps. l. 5.

[153] Exod. xxiv. 5-8.