George Paxton Conclusion
James Dodson
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CONCLUSION.
THOUGH the forms which our fathers used are not without their faults, and though the administration of these Covenants be in some instances very reprehensible, yet, their lawfulness, and their obligation upon posterity, cannot be reasonably doubted. For our fathers practised the duty of covenanting according to the word of God; they avouched the Lord to be their God, and engaged to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes; and they bound themselves and their posterity, to hold fast their attainments, and to carry on the work of reformation, which they had successfully begun. The view which we have taken of their proceedings incontrovertibly prove these things. The reformation of religion is the principal article in these covenants, to which all others, however important, are subservient. Religion is their chief scope and end. They bind the swearer to universal holiness, in faith and practice; to the persevering and diligent performance of every duty to God and man. Therefore we can find no solid reason to doubt of their obligation upon us. It is absurd and unscriptural, as has been shown, to imagine that any mistake in the faith, in the practice, or in the Forms, which the original Covenanters used, can annul an obligation of such articles. And, there is reason to fear, that the cavils and objections of many, arise from disaffection to the cause, rather than from the feverish regard which they profess to feel for the just rights of men. It is not easy to account for their conduct upon any other principle. Though the cause of reformation is quite different from the measures employed to maintain it; and though no argument can be drawn from the latter against the former; yet these they always confound; and, from some improprieties in the opinions and conduct of Covenanters, declaim against the cause itself. While they cast a veil over the atrocious conduct of their opponents, they magnify every mistake into an act of deliberate and desperate wickedness; every false step into an unpardonable crime; every act of undue severity into an instance of unprecedented cruelty. Many speak and write, concerning our renowned ancestors, as if, from the very beginning of their struggle for religion and liberty, they should have been perfectly free from human frailty and corruption. Is this doing to others, as we would have them do to us?
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us! They speak as if every sinful action, at once, annihilated all that is holy, just, and good, in human conduct, and dissolved all engagements, however solemn and sacred, with which it might be connected. Were this just, there would be an end to religion, to liberty, and to security, in this world.
Our covenanting ancestors, however disinterested, wise, and religious, were not infallible. It belongs to man to err. And, accordingly, it fared, at times, with them, as with the best of sinful and imperfect men. They knew but in part; their proceedings were marked with imperfection; they were not able, at all times, to submit to their own principles, and to walk by their own rules. And, where is the man, where is that society, that is sufficient for these things? “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at them.”