George Paxton I.1
James Dodson
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CHAP. I.
CONCERNING THE OBLIGATION OF RELIGIOUS COVENANTS UPON POSTERITY.
SECT. I.
THE NATURE OF PUBLIC VOWS.
THE duty of Public Vows is frequently mentioned, and the Nature and Practice of it are clearly ascertained in the word of God. A covenant is a mutual agreement between two different parties. In a religious covenant, the parties are God and his people. When the church enters into covenant with God, they solemnly profess their belief in the covenant of grace revealed in the scriptures, and ratified by the precious blood of Christ; their dependence upon it alone for salvation; and their resolution to submit to the law of holiness, which it comprehends. The covenanter does nothing more in public, than every genuine believer frequently does in his closet. For, although there be many real Christians unacquainted with the duty and practice of public vows, and even unfriendly to them, there is not one but is a personal covenanter. Where is the saint who does not often retire from the world to pour out his soul before God; to express his cordial satisfaction with the plan of mercy through Jesus Christ; to declare his acceptance of the blessings it bestows; and his fixed resolution, by the grace of God, to live according to its laws?
A religious vow is a promise made to God, to be for his glory, to do his will, or to suffer for his sake. Therefore, God is a party in every vow. In a private vow, God and the individual are the only parties, and the sole witnesses. In a public vow, God and his people are not only the parties, but the individuals vowing are severally witnesses to the vows of one another. Consequently, in a public vow, there is an absolute necessity, that the articles vowed be openly declared and agreed to by all, and by every one in the presence of all.
An oath differs from a vow. The latter is a promise to God; the former is an appeal to the Searcher of hearts concerning the sincerity
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with which the promise is made. There may be a promise, or vow, when there is no oath; and there may be an oath where there is no vow, either expressed or understood. In a vow, God is considered as a master, to whom the duty vowed is a debt; in an oath, as the witness and avenger.
Though vowing and swearing are generally conjoined in practice, they are distinct ordinances, and should never be confounded. A religious vow is not always accompanied with an oath. When a parent presents his child to baptism, he enters into a solemn vow, in the presence of the church, promising obedience to God, but there is no formal appeal to the Searcher of hearts to witness his sincerity.
When a religious vow is attended with an oath, there is nothing more solemn or extraordinary in that appeal, than when a person swears about the most common and ordinary concern of life. For an oath is, in all circumstances, the same, and admits of no degrees of solemnity, while the matters about which we swear may admit of many degrees of importance. The strange aversion, then, which many discover from swearing in confirmation of their religious profession, while they do not hesitate a moment to give their oath in a civil matter, arises either from ignorance or dislike. A religious [oath?], is, in no respect, more terrific than a civil oath. And, if it be lawful and necessary at one time, to annex an oath to any declaration of facts, or to any promise whatever, the same reasons make it lawful and necessary in the case of public vows, if they be lawful in themselves.
Public vowing has been improperly called an occasional duty. That is an occasional duty which returns at certain fixed periods, like the observation of the Sabbath; or which is staked down to a certain combination of circumstances. The first will not, and the second cannot be truly asserted concerning public vows. For, promises and precepts are directed to the church concerning this duty which have no respect to particular circumstances. The children of Israel entered into covenant at the giving of the Law. They renewed it at the death of Moses, on the banks of Jordan. They were never more prosperous nor more eminent for religion, than when they entered into covenant in the days of Asa: and they were not beginning, but rapidly advancing, in the work of reformation, when, during the government of Nehemiah, they entered into an oath to seek the Lord God of their fathers. Though there was something singular in the lot of the Jewish churches, there was nothing in that of the Macedonians, when “they gave their own selves to the Lord.” Therefore, there is no season whatever in which public vows are improper, though there are peculiar seasons
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which call for them more loudly than others. They are, indeed, inseparable from the being, worship, and administrations of a church of Christ. There is no time when a church can be excused from a profession of attachment to the ways, as well as to the practice of Christianity. Now, every such profession is a public vow, addressed, at least virtually, to God, in the face of the world. A church, or particular congregation never meets for public worship, but the constituents socially and publicly vow themselves to the Lord, acknowledging their obligations, and professing their resolutions of new obedience.
Public vows are productive of many important advantages to the Christian, to the church, and to the world. In this institution, the covenanter has often enjoyed the presence of God in an eminent degree. He has felt it a powerful stimulus in the path of holiness. While it checked the wavering unsettled disposition of his mind, it provoked him to cautious and impartial enquiry. It guards the dearest interests of Christians and of churches. It serves to maintain the purity of divine ordinances. Public vows are the firmest foundations of mutual confidence among the members of the church. They inspire her with courage in the prospect of evil, and in the dreary night of adversity with fortitude and patience. The conduct of the Macedonian churches, in accompanying their pecuniary aid to the afflicted Christians in Judea with their solemn vows to God, shews that public covenanting is a healing balm which allays the griefs of our afflicted brethren in Christ Jesus. It rouses a sleeping world, and calls them to consider their ways. By this duty the church gives her enemies the strongest assurances of the purity of her principles, and the innocence of her conduct, and either disarms or renders them inexcusable. In fine, this duty is her strongest claim on the protection of Jehovah against the injustice of men; and furnishes the best argument which her children can use in her defence.
Violent as the opposition against the duty of public covenanting is, there is not a church of any denomination, but is, in fact, a covenanter. For every church gives an oral or written creed to the world, which contains a profession of her faith: and this is equivalent to a public vow. The difference between a public profession and a public vow, is not material. The language of the church’s profession is, “We have given ourselves to the Lord, and do it still.” The language of a public vow is this, “We do now give ourselves to the Lord.” In a public profession we declare our belief to the world and to one another; in a public vow we only change the object, and make that declaration to God. Since every church of Christ, by her very name and constitution, pro-
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fesses her attachment to Christ, which is materially to engage in public covenanting, she may do this with every requisite formality, when it becomes necessary. If it be lawful materially to profess allegiance to a sovereign by submitting to his authority, it is certainly lawful to do so, in his presence, and before all his subjects; and when public confidence requires it, to add every possible solemnity.