National Covenanting A National Privilege.
James Dodson
[A sermon preached by the Rev. Thomas Hobart, Carluke, in the Rev. J. Chancellor’s Church, Belfast, at the consummation of the Union between the Synod of United Original Seceders in Scotland, and the Secession Synod in Ireland , and the renewing of the covenants on the 12th August, 1873.]
“Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”—JEREMIAH, 1. 5.
JEREMIAH—often called the weeping prophet—was the contemporary of Ezekiel, who lived at the time that Judah was carried captive to Babylon. At that time, Babylon, the scourge of Zion, was in all her glory as the capital of the first Empire in the world. And it was at that time that the Lord, through Jeremiah, said of her, “Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish and conceal not, say Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded; Merodach is broken in pieces, her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.” In the destruction of the literal Babylon, we have, as is generally believed, a type of the destruction of the mystical Babylon—the harlot of Rome—the account of which we have given in the 16th, 17th, and 18th chapters of Revelation. As the result of the destruction of Babylon, the people of God that had been enslaved and divided, are not only to have their liberty restored, and, by the outpouring of the Spirit, to have their divisions healed, but they are to claim the Lord anew as their Covenant God, and give themselves to Him as His covenant people. “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 God. 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.” Here we have covenanting described as the fruit of a great revival of religion, and as the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege. It is when Israel and Judah—the ten and two tribes—are brought to seek the Lord their God, and ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, that they say one to another, “Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” As the Israelites had already engaged in covenanting, the act here proposed is, strictly speaking, an act of covenant renovation, or an act by which the Covenanters confess their sin of covenant violation, and renew their adherence to the Deed by which they have been already given to the Lord. And such is the Act we are this day to perform. To enable us in some measure to understand it, we shall, in further directing your attention to this subject, notice
I. The parties who engage in covenant
II. The warrant for covenanting.
III. The nature of covenanting.
IV. Make some remarks on covenanting.
The Parties are—
1. GOD.—It is to God the people propose to join themselves. It is not, however, God absolutely considered, but a three-one God in Christ,—God, as the Creator of the ends of the earth, as having all persons and all events entirely under His control, as the Father of lights, the Father of mercies, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all comfort, that in Christ is reconciling sinners to Himself, and saying to them, “I will make a covenant with you;”—it is to this God that the people seek to stand in the covenant relation. How great the condescension of the three-one God—who is so high in rank, so great in wealth, in love, in wisdom, in power, in goodness—to enter into covenant with the poor worms of His footstool, and enable them to say of Him, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His; He feedeth among the lilies.”
2. MAN. It is with men, and not with angels, that God condescends to enter into covenant. The proposal, however, to engage in covenanting, and the disposition to comply with that proposal on the part of man, must come from the Lord. For it is not until God takes hold of sinners in the covenant of grace, that they cheerfully give themselves to God in a covenant of duty. The surrender they then make of themselves to God is a complete or entire surrender—a surrender, not in one, but in all the relations of life. Some, indeed, seem to think that whilst the sinner, as regenerated, cheerfully gives himself to God as an individual, as the head or member of a family, as a minister or member in the Church, he does not give, and is not asked to give, himself to God as the head or member of the State. Now, as Christ says, “All power is given to Me, in earth,” every genuine saint, we believe, knows that, so far from making any limitation or reservation when he says, “I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed my bonds,” he unreservedly gives himself to God, at all times, in all circumstances, in all places, and in all relations. Being bought with a price, he esteems it his highest privilege to be enabled to glorify God with his body and with his spirit, which are the Lord’s. Those, therefore, that give themselves to God in a covenant of duty, as individuals, must esteem it a privilege to be permitted to give themselves to God, in the same covenant, as families, as Churches, as nations.
It is national covenanting that is referred to in our text. It is Israel and Judah, or the kingdoms of the ten and two tribes, that propose to join themselves in covenant to the Lord. To national covenanting, therefore, which necessarily includes all the other kinds of covenanting, we shall at present confine our remarks. But we must remind you, that as personal covenanting, or the personal sur render of ourselves to Christ, is the first—the foundation act of personal religion; so national covenanting, or the national surrender of ourselves to Christ, is the first—the foundation act of national religion. It is by covenanting that nations, as such, can give themselves unto God. The parties, then, who covenant are, a three- one God in Christ on the one hand, and man in his national capacity on the other.
II.—THE WARRANT FOR COVENANTING.
In considering this part of the subject we take for granted that there can be no doubt as to God’s warrant to enter into covenant with, or seek in marriage the hand of man. There may, however, be some doubt as to man’s warrant to enter into covenant with or seek in marriage the hand of God. If it would be presumptuous on the part of a poor diseased woman begging her bread from door to door to seek in marriage the hand of a prince of the realm, how much more presumptuous would it be on the part of man, individually or nationally, without any warrant, to seek in marriage the hand of the Prince of the kings of the earth. Clearly, then, it is our first duty in considering national covenanting to ask, Have men any warrant from Scripture for claiming in their national, or in any other relation in life, to be the Bride, with all the rights and privileges of the Bride of the Lord of the universe. Undoubtedly they have. The Scriptural warrant for nations, as such, giving themselves in covenant to God, is of the clearest and most encouraging description. There is the great fact that God Himself proposed and entered into covenant with Israel as a nation at Sinai—a transaction that is frequently referred to with special approbation in various parts of the Bible, and is in itself a clear warrant for nations to seek in marriage the hand of the Lord. But the warrant arising from the covenanting at Sinai is confirmed, 1st—By many Scriptural examples, as the covenanting in the days of Asa, when all Judah rejoiced at the oath; and the Lord was found of them, and gave them rest round about; in the days of Nehemiah, when the nobles of the people made a sure covenant, and our princes, Levites, and priests’ seal unto it. … And the rest of the people clave to their brethren, the nobles, that is, they took hold of the sheets after their brethren, in order that they may sign or seal along with them; and in the days of Paul, when the Macedonians, who were already saints, did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves unto the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 2d—By many prophecies and promises, a few of which only we can quote in your hearing. There are, for instance, Isa. xix. 18-21, “On that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord, yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it.” This is a very clear prophecy of national covenanting. Isa. xliv. 3-5, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,” &c. One shall say I am the Lord’s, &c. Here cheerful covenanting is given as the fruit of a general revival of religion. Isa, xlv. 23, “I have sworn by Myself the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Here we have a very solemn and convincing statement—a statement which shows that covenanting will yet be co-extensive with the habitable globe. Jer. 1. 4-5, “The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah say one to another, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” Zech, xiii. 9, Of the purified third part God says, “I will say It is my people; and they shall say The Lord is my God.” 2 Cor. viii. 5, and Rev. xi. 15, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.” And how can the kingdoms of this world become Christ’s kingdom, but by swearing allegiance, or giving themselves in covenant to, Him. These passages, viewed in their connection, shew, as we think, that the warrant for national covenanting is of the clearest description. Indeed, we cannot conceive of the warrant for the performance of any duty, or the enjoyment of any privilege, being clearer or more convincing than the one we have specified. The passages quoted, indeed, prove more than the warrant for national covenanting. They prove that, when Christian nations are, like the third part, purified in the furnace, and refreshed by the Spirit, they will not only think of the warrant for covenanting, but in the way of casting their idols—their anti-christianism, their secularism, their latitudinarianism, to the moles and to the bats—will claim it as their highest privilege to give themselves in covenant to God, or to say of him, The Lord is our God . May the time soon come when Israel and Judah, when Great Britain and Ireland, when all the nations of the earth shall say one to another, “Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
III.—THE NATURE OF COVENANTING.
What is a covenant? A covenant is a bargain or marriage. And a marriage is the union between two parties, or the declaring of them formally to be one. The marriage is based on mutual consent. It is because the bridegroom formally and solemnly gives himself to the bride, and the bride formally and solemnly gives herself to the bridegroom, that the two are formally and solemnly declared to be one. And such, in its essence, is covenanting. It is the Lord formally giving Himself to His people, or saying of them it is my people; and the people formally giving themselves to God, or saying of Him, the Lord is our God. It is to covenanting as it respects the people, that we design at present principally to confine our attention. Here, then, we remark
1. That, in national covenanting, there is, on the part of the Covenanters, a formal and solemn acceptance of a three-one God in Christ as their God. As God takes hold of, and gives Himself to His people, in the covenant of grace, so there must be a faith’s approbation of that covenant, or a formal and solemn acceptance of a three one God in Christ as their God, of God the Father as their Father, of God the Son as their Saviour, of God the Holy Ghost as their Sanctifier, Comforter, Friend, in their covenant of duty. Such acceptance of God is included in the covenanting at Sinai. In entering into their covenant with God, the Israelites, in the most solemn manner, accepted of the Lord as the God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and in the most solemn manner declared that they received Him both as their Sovereign and covenant God, as “the Lord,” and as the “Thy God.” It is included in the covenanting specified in Zech, xiii. 9. When God says of the church He has purified in the furnace, This people I receive as my people, the church says of Him, “This God I receive as my God.” It was included in the covenanting in which our godly ancestors engaged during the first and second reforming periods in our land; it is included in the covenanting in which we, as Seceders, are this day to engage. Accordingly, in the bond for renewing our covenants, National and Solemn League, we, in the most solemn manner, declare “that, through the grace of God, and according to the measure of His grace given unto us, we desire, with our whole hearts, to take hold of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, as the only propitiation for our Sins; His Righteousness, as the only foundation of our access to God, and acceptance with Him; His covenant of free and rich promises, as our only charter for the heavenly inheritance: His Word, for our perfect and only rule of faith and practice. His Spirit, for our sole guide, to lead us into all truth revealed in His holy word, to which nothing is at any time to be added, either by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.” And such acceptance of God must be included in all the covenanting that is acceptable to Him in all ages. For unless men are enabled cordially to receive a three-one God as revealed in Christ, He will not and cannot say of them, It is my people, nor enable them to say of Him, the Lord is my God. Some say that in thus accepting of a three one God in Christ, covenanters do nothing more than genuine saints do, when they are enabled to accept of, and close with, Christ as their only and all-sufficient Saviour. In one sense this is true, But, at conversion, we accept of, and close with, Christ in our individual, whereas, in national covenanting, we accept of and close with Him in our corporate and national capacity. True. But, when you have been enabled to accept of and close with Him in your individual, why seek to accept of and close with Him in your national capacity. Why not be satisfied with the acceptance of Him you have already been enabled to make. Because, by doing so, we would neglect a plainly commanded duty, and deprive ourselves of a highly distinguished privilege. With one short proof of this statement only we shall detain you. Every genuine Israelite that covenanted at Sinai, and in the plains of Moab, had already, as an individual, accepted of and closed with the Lord as his God. But, so far was God from being satisfied with this, that He asked the Israelites not merely in their individual, but in their public and corporate capacity, to accept of and close with Him anew; and assured them that, on being enabled to do so, they would enjoy privileges—a nearness to Him, and a claim upon Him for blessings—they had never previously enjoyed. Accordingly, in Deut. xxvi. 17-19, Moses says to the Israelites, who had, in their national capacity, given themselves in covenant to God—“Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God.” … “And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath said,” &c. Now, whilst the grand design of the people, in avouching the Lord to be their God, was “to walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and to hearken unto His voice,” the grand design of the Lord, in avouching the people to be His peculiar people, is “to make thee high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour ; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken.” In other words, the Lord declared that, through national covenanting, the Israelites enjoyed a national exaltation, praise, honour, and blessing, that could not otherwise have been obtained. How clear is it, therefore, that national covenanting is the true foundation of great and permanent national blessings. May the various parts of our own beloved land be soon heard saying one to another, “Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
2. In national covenanting, there must be, on the part of the Covenanters, a formal and cheerful surrender of themselves to God in a covenant of duty. In national covenanting, as in marriage, there must be a mutual surrender. God must cheerfully give Himself to the nation in the covenant of grace, and the nation must, by faith, as cheerfully and in a constitutional manner give itself to God in a covenant of duty. What we have already said shews that there can be no doubt as to the cheerfulness with which God gave himself to Israel, and promises to give himself in covenant to Christian nations in all ages. But whilst God cheerfully gave Himself, as the covenant God, to Israel, He was careful to see that, by faith, Israel formally and cheerfully gave himself, as a covenant people, to Him. Not, accordingly, until Moses had been sent three times to the people, to make known to them the terms of the covenant, to see that they understood them, and were willing to comply with them, would the Lord allow the covenant engagement to be entered into. In Exodus xix. 3, 8, we are told that “Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain , saying, thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob—If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.” With this full consent on the part of the people the Lord was not yet satisfied. Accordingly, in chapter xxiv. 3, we read—“And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.” In verse 7 we read again—“And be (Moses) took the Book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” After the covenant had been read for the third time, and the people had for the third time given their consent to marry the Lord on the terms proposed, it is added, “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.” How clearly do these facts show that it was with a full knowledge of what they were doing, and with the full consent of all the people, that the Israelites gave themselves in covenant to God at Sinai. Accordingly, in referring, 600 years after the event, to the heartiness with which Israel gave his consent at that time to marry Him, the Lord declares to the same corporate society in Jer. ii. 2—“I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of His increase.” And with the same heartiness or cordiality must all covenanting, that is acceptable to God, be engaged in still. Accordingly, in explaining this duty, the practice with Seceders always has been to allow only such as willingly offered themselves that is, esteemed it not merely a duty, but a privilege, to give themselves in covenant to God; to take part in covenant renovation. By this we do not mean that covenanting is a matter of indifference. What we mean is, that those that do not cheerfully, or without a grudge, give themselves to the Lord, the Lord will not accept of them—will not take them to be His Bride, or become to them the wise, the liberal, the kind, and sympathising Bridegroom. It is on the principle, therefore, that covenanting, to be acceptable to God, must be engaged in with all the heart; that the covenanters specified in our text—Israel and Judah—weep as they seek the Lord their God, and 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.”
3. In national covenanting, the surrender which the nation makes of itself to God, must be confirmed with the national oath. An oath for confirmation is the end of all strife. About the sincerity of the surrender that is confirmed with an oath there can be no dispute. It is inviolable. The oath, however, is more than the evidence of sincerity, it is the fruit and confirmation of love. In 1 Sam . xx. 17, we are told that “Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him; for he loved him as his own soul.” Though Jonathan had David’s word, and David’s oath, his love could not be satisfied until David had sworn to him anew, had bound himself to him a second time, with all the solemnity of an oath. And David’s love to his friend was such that it led him cheerfully to give the second confirmatory oath which Jonathan’s love so ardently desired. Now, it is on this principle that God deals with His people on earth. Because of the greatness of the love wherewith He loves them, He confirms to them His sure word, with His solemn oath. In addressing Abraham the second time from heaven, God says to him, in Gen. xxii. 16-18, “By myself have I sworn saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” In addressing His backsliding people, God declares, in Ezekiel, xxxiii. 11, “As I live saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil way’s; for why will ye die, O house of Israel.” Nay, in Heb. vi. 17, 18, God tells us that it was for the purpose of giving great comfort to His people that He cheerfully confirmed His word with His oath. “Wherefore God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.” The “word” of God does not require confirmation. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away.” God, therefore, gives His people His oath, not merely for the confirmation of His word, but as the evidence of His love to them, of His approbation, as in the case of Abraham, of their special acts of obedience, of His delight, not in their destruction, but in their strong consolation, and of the strength of His desire to be bound to them now and forever in the closest manner possible. “I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies: I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.” “For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee, For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
Now, in manifesting the greatness of His love to His people, by confirming His word with His oath unto them, God asks them to manifest the greatness of their love, by confirming their word with their oath unto Him. Because He loves them, He asks them to bind themselves to Him, as He has bound Himself to them, by their solemn oath. And this binding is to be not in their individual but in their corporate or national capacity. It is as nations they are to swear unto the Lord. For it is not until they have sworn to Him in this capacity, not until He has married them as citizens, if we may so speak, as well as saints, that His love towards them can be satisfied. Accordingly, it was in their national capacity that He asked the Israelites to enter into His oath and covenant at Sinai. It is in their corporate or national capacity that the five cities in the land of Egypt ( Isa. xix. 18) are to swear to the Lord of Hosts in New Testament times. Some parti think that all we are taught by this passage is, that a number of individuals in Egypt shall swear unto the Lord. No doubt, a number of individuals will swear. But that is not all. The promise is not that five, or fifty, or any number of individuals, but that five cities in the land of Egypt shall swear to the Lord of Hosts. All interpreters are agreed that the word “cities” in this passage means cities as such. Now, it is only in their corporate capacity that cities as such can swear unto the Lord, and the swearing is not to be by, but to, the Lord. It is to be an oath of allegiance to Jehovah. In his Commentary on this passage, Dr. [Joseph] Alexander, Princeton, says: “Many interpreters appear to regard the phrase swearing by and swearing to as perfectly synonymous. The former act does certainly imply the recognition of the Deity by whom one swears, especially if oaths be regarded, as they are in Scripture, as solemn acts of religious worship. But the phrase swearing to,” (the phrase used here) “conveys the additional idea of doing homage, and acknowledging a Sovereign by swearing fealty or allegiance to Him.” The same author says, that by five we are to understand a large proportion of the cities of Egypt. Here, then, we are told that a large proportion of the cities of the land where God was dishonoured and His people enslaved, shall not only profess there faith in Christ as their Saviour, but rejoice in swearing allegiance to Him as their King. How great and important the change!
It was in their corporate or national capacity that, in Jer. iv. 2, God said to the Israelites, as revived and so kept in their own land, “Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.” It is in their national capacity that the children of Israel and the children of Judah—the well-known expressions for the kingdoms of the ten and two tribes—say one to another, “Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” Viewed in their connection these passages, as we think, clearly teach that, in national covenanting, the national surrender to God must be confirmed with the national oath. Without that confirmation the covenanting is not complete; the demands of God are not complied with. And in asking Christian nations, as the evidence of their sincerity, and as the fruit of their love, to swear unto Him, God is asking of them a most reasonable service. For, if it be reasonable to profess to love Him who first loved us, it must be reasonable to give the confirmation of the oath which He, in an especial manner, asks as the evidence and fruit of that love. In a frequently quoted passage, Epictietus, a famous heathen philosopher, says—“To this God ye ought to swear as the soldiers do to Cæsar. But they, indeed, for the sake of wages do swear that they will, above all things, study the welfare of Cæsar; and while you are loaded with so many and so great benefits by God, will ye not swear to Him? Or, when ye have sworn, will ye not perform? And what should ye swear? That ye will always obey His voice, that ye will never complain of Him, that ye will never find fault with anything He measures out unto you, and that you will always willingly do and suffer whatever He shall think necessary to put upon you.” Though written by a heathen, these sentiments are worthy of adoption by us as Christians. They show how reasonable is the service in which we as Covenanters engage, and how anxious we should be that the language of the Psalmist should be applicable to us as a people when he says—
That nation blessed is, whose God
JEHOVAH is, and those
A blessed people are, whom for
His heritage He chose.
IV.—SOME OBSERVATIONS ON COVENANTING.
1. That national covenanting is the fruit of a national revival of religion. Acceptable covenanting, as we have seen, must be heart work. The nation, like the individual, that does not love the Lord, will not, and cannot cheerfully give itself in covenant to Him. The nation, on the other hand, that truly loves Him, will desire to be bound to Him in the closest manner possible. Genuine national covenanting, therefore, must be the fruit of national love to the three one God in Christ. In other words, it must be the fruit of a national revival of religion. Accordingly it was when Israel, who had wandered far from God, and far from righteousness; and Judah, who had been his companion in sin, had had poured out upon them the spirit of grace, and of supplication, had looked upon Jesus, whom they had pierced, and mourned for Him as one mourneth for an only son, had been brought to love the Lord, and ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward,—it was then only that they said one to another, “Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” It was when they enjoyed a national revival of religion that they proposed to enjoy the privilege of giving themselves nationally in covenant to the Lord. And what is true of the covenanting referred to here, is true of genuine covenanting in all ages, and in all the countries where it is enjoyed. Accordingly it was when the Israelites had a great revival of religion in the wilderness, when, as God himself tells us, in Jer. ii . 2, they had the kindness of youth, the love of espousals, and were holiness to the Lord, when they with one voice, or as one man, said once and again, and a third time, “All that the Lord our God commandeth we will do, and be obedient,”—it was then that they entered cheerfully into the covenant with the Lord. It is when the five cities (Isaiah xix. 18) in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan—that is obtain a great revival of religion—that they swear to the Lord of Hosts, vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. It is when the Lord pours water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, when He pours His spirit upon Zion’s seed, and His blessing upon her offspring—(Isaiah xliv. 3)—that is when He has given a genuine revival of religion, that 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 to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. It is when the Lord brings the third part through the fire, and refines them as silver is refined (Zech. xiii . 9), that He says of them it is my people, and they say the Lord is my God. It was when the Macedonians (2 Cor. viii. 2-5) were so greatly revived and purified that, though in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, that they gave themselves in covenant unto the Lord. And not to speak of all the Churches of the Reformation, it was when the Church of Scotland had such a great revival of religion during the first and second reforming periods of her history, that you might have rode many a mile without hearing an oath, or entering a house where God was not honoured, and family worship regularly observed, when the only parties that complained of the Reformation were the publicans, who said the people had become so sober,—it was then that Scotland cheerfully gave herself in covenant to the Lord. How clearly do these facts shew that national covenanting is the fruit of the genuine revival of national religion, and that in Christian lands where national covenanting is not observed there is no evidence that national religion has been really revived. Some, we are aware, speak slightingly of covenanting times, but were you to blot out from the history of Zion all the accounts of covenanting times, you would blot out from her history all the accounts of genuine revival times,—all the accounts, for instance, of the revivals in the day of Moses, of Joshua, of Asa, of Nehemiah, of Paul, of the Reformation, you would blot out from her history almost all the periods that are worth the remembering For it has always been found that in lands where covenanting is highly esteemed, that genuine religion is highly honoured. It is when the Lord delighteth in Zion, that thy land shall be married, and the promise fulfilled. “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee, and as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
2. That national covenanting is always enjoyed as a distinguished privilege. National covenanting is often thought of and described as if it were a burden far too heavy to be borne—a burden that only for special reasons, and in special circumstances, Christians would ever think of having anything to do with. In all the passages, however, in which it is brought before us in the Book of God, covenanting is invariably represented, not as the bearing of a heavy burden, but as the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege. It was, undoubtedly, to the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege that Israel and Judah invited each other when they said, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten. The idea present to their minds, in going, and weeping, and asking the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, was evidently not that of sorrow, but of joy—not that of the return of a poor slave to the service of a hard master, but that of the return of a beloved wife to the embrace of a beloved husband. Their conduct indicated that they were thinking, not of burdens, but of privileges. There can be no doubt that it was as in the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege—the manifestation of the kindness of youth, and the love of espousals—that the Israelites covenanted at Sinai. When, with one voice, they said unto Moses, “All that the Lord our God commandeth, we will do, and be obedient,” they did not even once seem to think that the terms were hard to which they had to agree, or that the burden was heavy which they had to bear. On the contrary, they manifested that, on being asked to avouch the Lord to be their God, they had a high honour conferred on them, and a distinguished privilege to be enjoyed by them. There can be no doubt it was as the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege that Judah covenanted in the days of Asa. In describing that covenanting, the Holy Ghost not only says, in 2 Chron. xv. 15, “And all Judah rejoiced at the oath,” but he adds, “For they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about.” The same remark applies to the covenanting in the day of Nehemiah. In Nehemiah ix. 38, it is said, “And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.” In chap. x. 28, 29, it is said, “And the rest of the people clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God, unto their brethren,” may be rendered, They took hold of the sheets after their brethren, in order that they might sign them. It is an expression that brings out the cheerfulness, or delight, with which the people gave themselves to the Lord. The leading idea, too, that runs through all the passages we have quoted, as Isaiah xix. 18, xliv. 3-5, Zech. xiii. 9, Rev. xi. 15, &c., is, that it is as a distinguished privilege that the Covenanters swear to the Lord of Hosts, vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it. And such was the covenanting, especially at the beginning of the Second Reformation, in our native land. An eye-witness of the covenanting in 1638 in Scotland declares that the description of the covenanting in Judah in the days of Asa, is the only description of that solemn, yet joyful, event in our history he can give. At the same period, the people in the north of Ireland were much at one with their brethren in Scotland, that, so far from complaining that they had had the covenant imposed upon them, their only complaint was, that the ministers were too particular, and manifested too much hesitancy in permitting them to enjoy this distinguished privilege. These facts shew most clearly that it is with great cheerfulness, or, as the enjoyment of a distinguished privilege that genuine covenanters give themselves in covenant to the Lord. And how could it be otherwise. How could nations, as brides adorned with their jewels, take in marriage the hand, and enter as the wife into the palace of the king to be cheered, supported, and blessed by Him as the husband, otherwise than with “gladness and rejoicing.” If John heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Let us be glad and rejoice, give honour to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife had made herself ready, and if all Judah, and all Scotland, and the north of Ireland rejoiced at the oath of God, surely the world will rejoice when all the nations thereof are married to the Lord, and the earth is in this aspect filled with His glory. “All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name.”
3. That national covenants which are permanent in their matter are permanent also in their obligation. Covenants that are entered into for the attainment of a particular object, are said to be temporary in their matter, and cease to exist when the object contemplated is gained. Covenants in which men engage to love and serve the Lord, are said to be permanent in their matter, and so must be permanent in their obligation. Such in their matter, are the covenants entered into, at Sinai, at the time specified in our text, and during the two reforming periods in our native land. From the obligation under which they were brought by these deeds, to love and serve the Lord, to take His Spirit as their guide, and His word as their rule of life, the covenanters can never be released. But man covenants both in his individual and in his corporate capacity. His individual obligation ceases with his individual existence. His corporate obligation can cease only with his corporate existence. Now corporate society is viewed alike by God and by man as if it were one individual from the beginning to the end of its corporate existence. The debt, for instance, contracted by the corporate individual at one period of his existence is reckoned as the debt for which he is justly liable at every subsequent period until it is discharged. On this principle, Britain, as a corporate society, is held liable for the debt it as a nation contracted generations ago. On this principle God declares that nations that have been enabled to enter into covenant with Him, are under a special obligation to live for Him as long as the national existence is maintained. As the wife is bound to her husband, so covenanted nations are bound to the Lord, as long as they live. Accordingly, the Israelites, who as a nation covenanted at Sinai, are taught that in all subsequent periods of their history, they are to view themselves as married to the Lord, and, if faithful to the marriage vow, as having a right to all the blessings He as their husband has promised to bestow on them. Thus, in Deut. v., 2, 3, Moses in addressing the Israelites in the plains of Moab, says to them (though three only of the original Covenanters were alive), “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.” Again, in Deut. xxix. 10–15, He says, “Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God.” … “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us this day, before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.” In Jer. ii. 2, God says to Israel, 600 years (at the least) after the covenanting at Sinai, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thing espousals.” And what thee does God remember? Not a different, but the same individual or corporate Society that married Him at Sinai. It was you, as if He had said, that gave me your hand then, saying, I am Thine. I view you, therefore, as being as much bound by your vow to live unto Me, and for Me, now as you were on the day on which you said “All that the Lord our God commandeth we will do and be obedient.” On no other principle can the passage we have quoted be satisfactorily explained. It is on the same principle that we explain the punishment of the Israelites in the days of David for the slaughter of the Gibeonites in the days of Saul. Why were the Israelites punished for that slaughter? Expressly because they had violated the covenant that 400 years before they had made with the Gibeonites at Gilgal. In other words, the corporate Society that vowed was severely punished because, instead of performing, it had deliberately violated its vow. It is on the same principle that we explain the continued obligation of our covenants—National and Solemn League. Our fathers knew that they were entering into these oaths not merely in their individual, but in their corporate capacity. Accordingly, in the Solemn League they declare that they enter into this oath, “that we and our posterity after us may, as brethren, live in faith and love; and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us.” The General Assembly of 1649 declares, “that all these kingdoms joining together to abolish that oath by law; yet could they not dispense therewith.” And having thus solemnly given ourselves to the Lord, we, as a nation, are under a special obligation to perform our vows, On this point we cannot dwell. Enough, however, we trust, has been said to show that covenants that are permanent in their matter are permanent in their obligation. There are parties, we are aware, who, though not denying this principle, are yet anxious that our land should not be viewed as under the obligation of a covenant to live for the Lord. But what would we think of the man that gave himself to God in youth or in the prime of life, and declared, in old age, that he was not under any obligation to live in accordance with the vow he had made. And what are we to think of the nation that has given itself to God in its youth, that has had its covenant ratified not merely by the outpouring of the Spirit and the conversion of thousands to the Lord , but by the land being made Beulah and Hephzibah—married to the Lord, and delighted in by Him, who, in its riper years, breaks its covenant engagements, renounces its covenant God, and takes back to its bosom the Popery, Prelacy, and Ungodliness, from which it had suffered so much, and had so solemnly renounced, and, from which it so anxiously and earnestly sought to be completely and forever delivered. Surely it is laying up for itself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
Our national covenants we view as most honourable deeds—deeds in which the nation ought to rejoice, and in which it will rejoice when times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. May the time soon come when the covenants, the covenants, shall be Britain’s revival; when instead of despising, we shall as a land delight in being under a special obligation to live for the Lord, and have the Lord under a special obligation to live for us, and we can say, “The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge. Selah.”
And now, Fathers and Brethren, permit me in conclusion to say, that in the Secession Synods of Scotland and Ireland saying one to another, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall never be forgotten, we have, we trust, a partial fulfilment of our text this day. This is not the first time that the representatives of the two lands have joined hands across the Channel in promoting the good ways and work of the Lord. Nearly 250 years ago, our Welshes, Blairs, Livingstones, driven by persecution from our shores, found an asylum and work in this land. And its Holywoods, Bangors, Antrims, attest how, through their instrumentality, heaven’s windows were opened, and blessings manifold poured out on its people; how a fire was kindled within its borders which, we trust, will never, never be extinguished.
When, in 1638, the blue banner of the covenant was unfurled anew in Edinburgh, and carried forward victoriously, until it floated triumphantly from almost every pinnacle in our land; when the Spirit in copious showers was poured out from on High ; and a nation, born as it were in a day, was led cheerfully to give itself in covenant to God—drops, through a bloody Popish massacre, fell also on Ireland, and many in that land were led to seek the Lord, and ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. To Scotland they naturally looked for assistance, and they did not look in vain. Our Adairs, Hamiltons, and Weirs, who were at once sent across to help them, were agreeably surprised to find that the fields were white already unto the harvest, and that the people in crowds enlisted cheerfully and in a becoming manner under the blue banner, complaining only that the ministers were sometimes rather tardy in hearing them renounce the Black oath imposed by the Prelates, in order that they may take the oath of the covenant by which they are joined to the Lord. These were glorious times—times at which a great Reformation was accomplished; of which we are told the publicans only complained, because the people had become so sober.
And now that Latitudinarian indifference on the one hand, and Popery on the other, are so rapidly increasing, and making such determined efforts to gain the ascendency in our land, we trust we have this day but the beginning of the drawing together of the covenanting forces,—that the Reformed Presbyterians who have so long and so nobly testified for the same truths, shall soon become one with us maintaining a testimony for our glorious second reformation principles, and that as united we shall be the means in the Spirit’s hand, of beginning to roll back the tide of error, will-worship, and ungodliness, that threatens to overwhelm our land. For this glorious consummation may we constantly pray, and be enabled in the language of hope to say—
Now unto the hill tops get thee,
Whence the sunrise we descry;
Nightly on thy watch-tower set thee,
For its coming draweth nigh.
National Covenanting a National Privilege.—A sermon preached in the Rev. J. Chancellor’s Church , Belfast, by the Rev. Thos. Hobart, A.M., Carluke. Published by Request. Perth: Printed by Samuel Cowan, Strathmore Printing Works. 1874.
This admirable sermon, which appeared first in our pages, has been reperused by us with increased pleasure and satisfaction. The author has done well to comply with the request to publish it in a separate form, and we trust it will have a wide circulation, and be productive of much good. The subject of which it so succinctly and ably treats, is one of vast importance, though in these days little thought of or understood. It is, moreover, a fitting memento of an occasion which will long be remembered with feelings of delight by all who were privileged to be present.