The Ordinance of Covenanting Part 5

The Lord Jesus being that sacrifice that was slain for the confirmation of the everlasting Covenant, his blood is represented as the blood of the Covenant. And the blood of sacrifice that was sprinkled was a type of his. To that sacrifice, the ancient covenanter, presenting his oblation, looked forward. To look to him so, in taking hold upon his Covenant, before his incarnation, there was given the encouragement--"As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water."[154] And now, though oblation is no more offered in the same spirit in which Covenant was made by sacrifice, the Covenanting believer vowing to G.o.d comes to "Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."[155]

Sixthly. In all ages, the exercise is performed by faith. As without faith it is impossible to please G.o.d, so in this act it is not less requisite than in any other. In order to the right performance of it, faith in G.o.d, as having given it his warrant, and as having made precious promises to be laid hold on in engaging in it, and dependence on Divine grace for strength to accomplish it, is necessary. It is by faith that the way of salvation through Christ is approved; by faith, Christ and all his benefits are received; by faith, G.o.d, as a G.o.d in covenant, is recognised; by faith, are renounced the claims of the devil, the world, and the flesh; by faith, is the whole man dedicated to the service of G.o.d; and by faith, every promise of obedience, that G.o.d may be glorified, is made. Of Abraham taking hold on G.o.d's covenant by accepting of the promise, it is said, "He believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness."[156] Swearing to the Lord in faith, "Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength."[157] And all who have properly engaged in this exercise will testify, "I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my G.o.d."[158] With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And as in the first actings of faith, so in this solemn act, the Redeemer is received as able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Faith in him as the one foundation laid in Zion, in preference to every other, the believer endeavours habitually to cherish, and especially at seasons of solemn self-surrender to G.o.d, or of public vowing to him, seeks to have in vigorous exercise. At these, the mind is brought more than is usual to deal with the object of faith. The Lord Jesus in his exceeding glory, often speaks to the heart, and the whole faculties of the soul respond.

So that, especially applicable to the believer's exercises, then, is what, in the following language of an eminent writer, is said concerning the universal tendency of faith in the righteousness of Christ:--"When he discovers his own guilt and misery, and the absolute perfection and ineffable excellencies of this righteousness, the believer requires no force nor compulsion to embrace it. When the avenger of blood was at his heels, did the manslayer require any violence to urge him on to the asylum where he might lodge secure? When the deluge of wrath was descending, and all around becoming one watery waste, was any force necessary to shut Noah up in the ark, where he might abide in safety amidst the wreck and horrors of a sinking world? And when conscience writes bitter things against him, and makes him possess the iniquities of his youth; when the heavens are gathering blackness, and before him he sees, at the opening into eternity, the piercing eyes of Omniscience looking fully on him through the terrors of insulted, incensed omnipotent justice: does the believer need any compulsion to drive him out of his own lying refuges, and constrain him to betake himself to the Divine and All-sufficient righteousness of Immanuel? No. He repairs to it with eagerness, and clings to it with a tenacity that time cannot relax, nor all the agonies of death dissolve. We speak of trust, dependence, and reliance, on this righteousness. These however are terms far too feeble to express the affection towards it, which the believer feels. He prefers it to his chief joy; glories in it as all his salvation and all his desire, and determines to know nothing else.

Divinely precious and infinitely perfect as it is, there is no part of it with which he can dispense. Less than this cannot reach his wretched case, nor impart the blessings that he wants. His polluted and never-dying soul needs it all: and, therefore, he embraces it wholly, and rests on it alone[159]."

Seventhly. The exercise requires that it be engaged in devotionally. It is a part of religious wors.h.i.+p, and claims that solemnity of mind that is due to every religious service. Every part of it is an exercise of religion, and the frame of mind that should be brought to each of them ought to be sustained in waiting on the whole. All things that could give solemnity to an observance unite to invest this with a devout character. The claims of its glorious Object, its own essential nature, and its design, all conspire in this.

It was performed in the solemn a.s.semblies of the people of G.o.d. The oaths of his people were wont to come up before his altar. The people of Judah and Jerusalem, both under Jehoash and Josiah, and those of Judah, besides many of the kingdom of Israel, observed the exercise in the temple. When performed not in religious edifices, but where the Lord himself approved, it was not the less observed in his presence, nor the less sacred a service. What gives to a religious a.s.sembly all its solemnity, is the gracious presence of G.o.d. And this, which gave to the house of G.o.d its holy character, confers on every place where his people meet, whether in houses built with hands or under the canopy of heaven, the character of a scene for the time set apart to his service. The scene and the nature of the services correspond. By the scene where this observance was kept, whether in the desert of Sinai, in the fruitful land of Moab, in the temple at Jerusalem in its earlier periods, in Jerusalem surrounded with ruins, but to be rebuilt, in houses erected for the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, or in the fruitful vallies, or on the barren heath,--a scene of communion with G.o.d, its character, as an exercise essentially devotional, is defined.

It is a holy exercise. Both in the Old Testament and in the New, the Covenant of G.o.d is declared to be holy. He himself is holy, and he requires that his people be holy too. And dissuading Israel from confederating with the heathen, and in language addressed to all, calling them to the exercise of Covenanting embodied in fearing his name, he commands them to approach him as holy. "Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread."[160]

It should be performed with G.o.dly fear and reverence. The Lord was made known not merely as the G.o.d of Abraham, and the portion of Jacob, but to intimate the same Covenant relation which these designations pointed out, as also the fear of Isaac. And as Isaac, in Covenanting with Him whom he acknowledged as his fear, could not but cherish towards him a holy awe, so all possessed of an interest in that covenant into which Isaac was taken, in vowing to the Lord, fear his holy name; and giving intimation of the reverential feelings that prevail in their minds while performing the exercise, in their practice they will verify the prediction, "Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

The exercise requires to be accompanied by confession of sin. It is as sinners seeking forgiveness that men, however much they may have enjoyed the blessings of the Covenant, perform it. Because of neglect or forgetfulness of Covenant engagements, because of imperfections numerous and great attaching to obedience rendered in fulfilling them, because of misapprehensions of their nature and design, and the want of that holy ardour that should never cease to urge to duties voluntarily engaged to, because of innumerably varied infirmities manifested even while in a Covenant state, confession behoves to be made. The Covenant of Grace was revealed after the breach of that of Works. For removing the curse entailed by sin, its revelation was designed. A right apprehension of its design is accompanied by a sense of sin. When its terms are accepted, hatred to all iniquity is professed; and, because of the power of corruption in leading to disobedience, shame must be felt, and acknowledgment be made before G.o.d. On these occasions a sin-offering was wont to be _cut_.[161] The practice of making confession, then, was fully ill.u.s.trated in the conduct both of Ezra and Nehemiah, and of Israel with them. Concerning Israel--attempting the service, it is said, "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born."[162] And the Gentiles, being not less chargeable with sin than the seed of Abraham in the same circ.u.mstances, will not be less called than those to acknowledge it; so that to them, as sons of the spiritual Zion, may be applied the prophetic description of duty contained in the words uttered concerning the other,--"In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their G.o.d. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten."[163]

And, the vow is made in the exercise of prayer. The term (e???) by which the Seventy render the word for a vow in the Old Testament original, is used in the Greek of the New Testament to denote, now a vow and then a prayer. In the former sense it is employed in the original of the pa.s.sage, "Do therefore this that we say unto thee: We have four men which have a _vow_ on them."[164] And in the latter acceptation it is used in that of the following:--"The _prayer_ of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up."[165] Were the vow not made in the act of offering prayer we should be unable to account for this twofold use of the term. Again, taking prayer in its most comprehensive signification,--as including adoration, confession, pet.i.tion, and thanksgiving,--no address to G.o.d, except the song of praise, can be made otherwise than in this exercise. The vow accordingly, as well as the oath--which embodies an adoration, is made by prayer. And, finally, this receives corroboration from the fact that the manner according to which, in vowing, prayer should be made is revealed. In this and in similar pa.s.sages, not merely Israel after the flesh, but the whole visible church of G.o.d, are instructed how at once they should vow and pray.--"O Israel, return unto the Lord thy G.o.d; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips."[166]

Eighthly. This exercise is sometimes engaged in with the living voice.

Whatever argument can be employed to establish the propriety of engaging vocally in any religious service is here available. The tongue is the glory of man; and with it the praise of G.o.d is proclaimed. "In his temple doth every one speak of his glory." That thought concerning G.o.d, which may not in some circ.u.mstances be expressed, may not be entertained. And if some features of his glorious character or administration are celebrated with the lips, so may all. Holy thoughts and affections unexpressed are sometimes like a fire shut up in the bones. Why should not these burst forth in the holy act of vowing and swearing to G.o.d, even as a flame, to the diffusion of a love and zeal for Him and his cause that would spread widely around? This the saints of G.o.d have felt when called to the service. In the land of Moab Israel _avouched_ the Lord to be their G.o.d; and presenting an animating example, the kingdom of Judah, with Asa their king, "sware unto the Lord with a loud voice."[167]

Lastly. A Covenant with G.o.d is sometimes confirmed by subscription.

Probably in imitation of the practice of the people of G.o.d, covenants among idolaters were written. "Your covenant with death shall be disannulled,"[168] (that is, _covered_ or _blotted_ out, as if it had been written.) The application of the seal was equivalent to the signature of the hand. It must have been made on occasions of federal ratification, and it might then have accompanied the subscription of the name. There is reason to believe that Nehemiah referred to an imitation of an ancient practice when he said, "And because of all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it: and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it."[169] But to whatever extent the practice may have obtained in the earlier times, it possesses the highest warrant during every period that should succeed. "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall _subscribe_ with his hand unto the Lord."[170]

Hence, in the first place, religious Covenanting is an exercise distinct from every other. The vow cannot be mistaken for anything else; and the swearing of the oath is marked by a character of its own.

Every religious act is, or ought to be, performed with a solemn regard to Covenant obligation. But each one of these is not Covenanting. The spirit of Covenanting enters into praise and prayer, and every other exercise of a devotional kind; but the exercise itself, performed in an explicit and solemn manner, is a part of wors.h.i.+p different from all these. To argue that it is not, as some who are opposed to the explicit performance of it do, would be to go to the extreme of maintaining that Covenanting should be engaged in, not merely personally on one occasion, but habitually in the discharge of every religious duty; and thus to lead to a very frequent, and, we might add, therefore unwarrantable performance of the service, instead of discountenancing it altogether.

To perform a vow is not to vow a vow. To vow to do one thing is not to vow to perform another that is distinct from it. To vow to do duty that might have been clearly apprehended before, is not to engage by vow to do duty for the first time now unfolded before the mind. Prayer includes praise; but to pray is not to sing praise. Covenanting may include in it every religious exercise. But to perform any or all of these, excepting the use of the seals of the Covenant, may not be formally to Covenant.

Indeed, the exercise is the sum of all others of a religious description; and as embodying not merely the spirit, but the observance of the spiritual services performed in all of them, ought with due solemnity on meet occasions formally to be engaged in. Sacrifice accompanied vowing in former times; but sacrifice was offered on other occasions besides. Sacrifice was presented frequently in order that the vow might be paid; but sacrifice was not the making of the vow. Faith is always in exercise when Covenanting is engaged in aright; but it is also in operation when Covenant engagements are not made, but in some measure fulfilled. Covenanting is performed with holy fear and reverence; but are these feelings never in exercise except when the oath is sworn or the vow is made? The people of G.o.d fear him habitually, even though not engaged in positive religious services. Covenanting is engaged in along with confession of sin; but the exercise itself is not the confession of sin. Sin is sometimes acknowledged before G.o.d when no new positive engagement is made. Covenanting is engaged in by prayer; but prayer is of a varied character, and though every vow is made in prayer, yet every prayer is not offered in entering into Covenant.

But, in the second and last place, hence also appears the error of the opinion, that seeing this exercise is performed in certain acknowledged duties, therefore by itself it is unnecessary. It is not denied that the oath is used to confirm civil obligations. But no one is therefore warranted in maintaining that to apply it so, is to use it in things religious. It is one thing to admit that vowing is a part of the duty implied in receiving the sacrament of baptism and the Lord's supper; it is another to maintain that the vow or oath should not be used in other circ.u.mstances. The vow is defined in Scripture, but the things to be vowed, and the cases in which it should be made are also in general pointed out. To declare that the vow should be made, for example, merely on sacramental occasions, would be to a.s.sume, that a part adopted by men should stand for the whole appointed by G.o.d. Is it said, that in these two sacramental exercises there is made a general engagement, that comprehends every duty that could possibly be performed, and therefore it is unnecessary to engage in formal Covenanting? On the same principle it might be said, that the sinner who has received Christ at first has no need to act faith upon him again;--that the believer has even no need to receive the ordinance of baptism for his children, or that of the Lord's supper for himself;--that the individual who has believed should not Covenant personally in an explicit manner; yea,--that he who has sworn to the Lord, in attending to the ordinance of baptism or of the supper, has no need in any case, even in reference to matters civil, to swear again. It might as well be said, that, in receiving the ordinance of baptism, vows are taken on, which include every case that could occur, and that, therefore, after that there is no necessity for waiting on the ordinance of the supper;--or that the waiting on that ordinance on one occasion would afford a reason for neglecting both the dispensation of it and of the ordinance of baptism ever thereafter. In one word, it might be answered, that the opinion makes no provision for the believer's growth in grace, but by dealing with him as if he were perfect in all respects, rather tends to keep him from attaining to perfection. One approved exercise is not to be sacrificed to others. On the same principle that Covenanting might be given up because vows are made to G.o.d in receiving the sacrament, might praise be given up because G.o.d is thanked in prayer; or prayer be discontinued because He is adored and thanked, and presented with confession of sin, and supplications for mercies, in songs of praise. But, besides, as the Lord's supper ought not to be subst.i.tuted for baptism, nor baptism for the Lord's supper, so neither ought either or both to take the place of various other specific exercises of vowing to G.o.d. The vow made on the reception of baptism is suited especially to the occasion. Other vows are not less suitable to other circ.u.mstances than that is to its own.

The vow made at the Lord's table may include the sum of all duty; but where is the evidence that it ought not in other circ.u.mstances also to be made? At that holy communion each believer swears individually to a profession of his faith with his brethren, and to specific exercises consistent with his own condition; but that is no reason why the oath to perform certain requirements of G.o.d's law should not be explicitly and openly sworn. Apart from the sacramental symbols, the exercise of explicit Covenanting may embody the making of vows to perform every duty, and include every part of religious wors.h.i.+p. And as it was attended to under the Old Testament economy, when neither the rite of circ.u.mcision nor some other observances of the Levitical dispensation had been inst.i.tuted, nay, even when that rite after its inst.i.tution 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 compa.s.sion of G.o.d. 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 G.o.d, 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. x.x.xiii. 2.

[121] Ps. cx.x.xii. 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. x.x.xi. 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. x.x.xiv. 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.