Overture on Renewing the National Covenant and Solemn League
James Dodson
BY THE
SYNOD OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA, 1843.
Extracted from the Minutes of the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, Session XXII.
[from the Reformed Presbyterian Vol. VII. Nos. VIII, IX, October & November, 1843. p. 257-261.]
The order of the day—hearing the report of the committee on Covenanting, was called for. The committee reported a draft of a form for renewing the Covenants, National and Solemn League. The report was accepted and considered paragraph by paragraph; when it was, on motion, Resolved, That the report be adopted in Overture, and sent down to the inferior courts, with instructions to them to report thereon at next meeting of Synod; and that Copies be sent to the sister Synods in Scotland and Ireland, with the request that they transmit their views to us on the subject.
(Published in Overture.)
The committee appointed by Synod, at its sessions in October, 1841, to draft a form for the renewing of the Covenants of our forefathers in the British Isles, respectfully report:
They have endeavored to give to the subject the grave and deliberate attention which its importance and solemnity require.
In the prosecution of the duty assigned them, they have proceeded upon the principle, that the act contemplated is simply and exclusively a renewing of the covenants by which the Church is already bound; avoiding therein the insertion of any principle or obligation other than those already comprehended in these time-honored documents, and with equal care, preserving every attainment and engagement they transmit to us.
Apprehending that it would be exceedingly difficult to draw up a form of these covenants, in which every term peculiar to the circumstances of the original Covenanters should be expunged, without so mutilating these noble and venerable documents of the piety and zeal of our forefathers, as would be injurious to their worth, and calculated to throw the original instruments into an obscurity and neglect not at all contemplated by your reverend body, or wished for by our people, your committee have thought that the whole end designed would be attained, and these instruments themselves left unimpaired to hold that conspicuous place in the testimony of the Church, which their own excellence and our duty combine to demand, by a brief Formula, acknowledging and defining their obligation, and declaring our solemn renovation of them.
In the preamble necessarily embraced in such formula, it appears proper to mark the special call of Divine Providence to a duty so solemn, and proper only to some special seasons. The covenants themselves contain some references to persons, events, and engagements peculiar to the then period, and to the British Isles. The nature of our circumstances, separated politically as we are from all connexion with the British Empire, puts an end to all such civil engagements, as are peculiar to the British Isles, and so it has been constantly acknowledged by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States. A reference to this has therefore been made.
Acting according to these views, your committee offer the following form for the renewing of the covenants, in which they have endeavored to preserve as far as, practicable, the very language employed in the original instruments themselves.
Whereas the people of God, in all ages of the world, have been distinguished by a visible covenant relation to the Most High and Eternal, the Creator of heaven and earth, as their God, a covenant now under the New Testament, confirmed by the blood of the Messiah in his one offering for the sins of his people, everlasting in its nature, and setting up a kingdom in the world not to be removed till the end of time;—and whereas it has been the practice of the godly at such times as furnished a special call of Divine Providence to renew their covenant with God, as when in the days of Nehemiah, the rulers, the priests and the people “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” their God;—and whereas our pious forefathers, in the British Isles, in obedience to the will of God expressed in his providence in their times, did form and enter into, according to the example of the godly recorded in the holy scriptures, in successive and suitable periods, those covenants known by the names of the National Covenant, and the Solemn League and Covenant, for the reformation of religion, the security of civil and religious liberty, and the establishment of civil government according to the word of God;—and whereas it is an immutable principle revealed in the scriptures and displayed in the providence of God, that covenant engagements in which posterity are concerned, are binding upon the descendants of those who so covenant with the Most High according to his will,
Now, therefore, we, ministers, ruling elders, and all other officers and members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of North America, although far removed in our civil relations from the British Empire, and therefore, by the providence of God, in our condition in the world released from engagements contained in these aforesaid covenants peculiar to the British Isles, or to the church, or government in those Isles, in whose administration we have no part, and to whose government we disclaim subjection;—yet do we acknowledge our obligation to maintain, in all other respects, the immutable principles of truth, righteousness and law contained in these honored covenants, and in the other subordinate standards of our church.
We hold ourselves, our posterity, and all who shall herein after unite with us, bound by their solemn oath descending to us, their posterity and followers, in the sight of the Lord our God and Redeemer, the Ruler and Judge of the world, to promote the great moral and immutable principles of these covenants, until their ends shall be attained in the reformation of religion, the security of civil and religious liberty, and the establishment of civil government according to the will of God revealed in his word, in this the land of our habitation, or wherever the providence of God shall cast our lot.
We hold ourselves bound to present them in a conspicuous and honored light, and to preserve them unimpaired in their form and principles, as a pattern to the churches and nations in future ages, and as a noble inheritance transmitted to us from our godly forefathers—nor will we ever cease to own their obligation, and each, in our several places and relations, study to promote and attain their ends, as God in his providence shall give us opportunity, and shall enable us by his grace through Jesus Christ our Lord, upon whom we place all our trust. And because this is a day wherein great and manifold errors abound; wherein also the churches have undergone, and are still undergoing great shakings and trials with severe chastisements, in the wise and holy providence of the Head of the church; wherein infidelity, oppression and misrule characterize the governments of the nations in Christendom, together with a universal disregard of the claims of Messiah, who is Prince of the kings of the earth; and because we have, as a people together, and each in our several lives, great temptations in our way, and many sins to humble us in the sight of the Lord our God;—we do therefore profess and declare, before God and the world, our unfeigned desire to be humbled for own sins, and for the sins of the land in which our lot is cast; especially that we have not, as we ought, valued the inestimable benefit of the gospel, that we have not labored for the purity and power thereof, and that we have not endeavored to receive Christ in our hearts and walk worthy of him in our lives; we profess and declare also our true and unfeigned purpose, desire and endeavor for ourselves, both in public and private, in all duties we owe to God and man, to amend our lives, that each may go before another in the example of a hearty and entire reformation; that so the Lord may avert the danger to which we, in the maintenance of the Testimony, are exposed, that his displeasure for our sins may be turned away, and we by his grace strengthened and united in maintaining and prosecuting to the end all the obligations descending to and devolving upon us by these solemn covenants of our forefathers, herein mentioned and professed.
And these acknowledgments, professions and engagements we make in the presence of Almighty God, the searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform the same, as we shall answer at that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be manifest; promising and swearing by the great name of the Lord our God, that we will adhere to these same covenants, the National Covenant, and the Solemn League and Covenant, and all the obligations therein contained and herein confessed, as binding upon us and our posterity, until their end shall in his holy and adorable providence be obtained; humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us hereunto, and to bless our proceedings now and hereafter with such success as may bring deliverance and safety to alibis people, confirm and extend his kingdom on earth, and glorify his great and holy name.
JAS. CHRYSTIE, Chairman.