present each a decided community of Christians banded together for a purpose worthy the most sacred devotedness of all the noble energies of man. Will not the people of God yet come forward to send the glad tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth, by not merely promising to one another and praying to the Lord, but in Covenanting with Him, swearing by his name? What prosperity might be expected to accompany missions, were such a course to be followed? How can the utmost success be expected to follow a partial use of the means of Divine grace? God will not fully mark with his blessing a system of means which is defective. All the institutions of religion ought to be acknowledged. Covenanting with Him will draw down His blessing on missionary institutions, because it is, not meritorious, but sanctioned by his authority. And it may not be too much to affirm, that the prosperity of these will be in some measure proportionate to the spirit of that exercise that may be infused into them. How is so much justly expected from the prayers of saints on behalf of missions, and apparently so little from solemn Covenant engagements that might be made at least once, or occasionally, to carry them into effect? Do not men do but a part of their duty when they promise to one another, but do not Covenant with God? Is it not He who in His word unfolded the missionary chart, and by His own finger pointed out where they should be sent; who told that nations should be born at once; and the isles should wait for his law; and who made known, that out of Zion should go forth that law? "He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their chil

dren."55 And as to his people Israel, engaged by Covenant to obey him, he thus spake: He says to his servants, Covenanted to his service, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord; praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised."56 An elegant and powerful writer, in a work on Missions, wherein, among other important collateral duties, entire consecration to the missionary enterprise is urged by the highest motives, remarks regarding the work in reference to Missions, that would seem to have been allotted to the christian communities in Britain," But Christianity had marked the island for its own. And although its lofty purposes are yet far from being worked out on us, from that eventful moment to the present, the various parts of the social system have been rising together."57 And in responding to this, may it not be asked, Has there not been, on the part of the Churches in these lands and elsewhere, as to kindred objects of christian exertion, especially to the missionary enterprise, an injurious want of solemn Covenant devotedness? Could resolutions to prosecute this be embodied so well as in a solemn Covenant engagement with God? In this manner might there not be made arrangements regarding missions, more solemn than has heretofore been attempted ? To many causes may the comparative smallness of success that has attended these be attributed. But it is little less than certain, that it is on account of the want of that resolute heroic christian spirit which Covenanting calls forth and embraces, that our missionaries are not even now diffused over all the earth, and our nation is not, by a reflex hallowed influence, 55 Ps. lxxviii. 5, 6.

56 Ps. cxiii. 1-3.

57"Great Commission," p. 193.

throughout all its extent, as the garden of the Lord.

Hence, in conclusion,

What

None may be excused for not engaging in Covenanting. Those who perform the duty in secret, are called to discharge it on some occasions in public. To vow in secret, is but partially to do duty. Secret prayer is not a sufficient substitute for that which is public. The doing of duty to our neighbour and to ourselves, cannot be reckoned as the fulfilment of our obligations to God. And vowing to Him in an individual capacity, will not be accepted for vowing and swearing to Him in a public associate character. Again, those who vow neither in secret nor in public, are called to do both. Is it urged, that it is a dreadful thing by the vow or oath to come under obligations that might not be fulfilled? It is answered, Is it a fearful thing to do what God commands? ought to be vowed ought to be fulfilled, whether vowed or not; and if duty be vowed falsely, or not vowed at all, sin is committed. Is it not a dreadful thing, by refusing to do this duty, to rebel against Him who said, " Vow and pay unto the Lord your God?" He is guilty and degraded who breaks an oath; but low indeed is the moral state of him who, lest he should not perform his obligation, refuses to swear. And how wretched is the condition of those who will neither vow nor swear, lest they might, as they certainly would, be thereby bound to duty! The swearing of an oath is a solemn act. To disregard it, whether by refusing to take it when called to it, or by not performing it when lawfully taken, is highly criminal and dangerous. The doom of the impenitent and Covenant breaker is awful; but those who do not, in one way or other, truly vow to God, have no hope. Refraining from vowing to him, man sustains a character no higher than the wicked who

restrain prayer before God. It is not the right of any one, according to his pleasure, to abstain from entering into Covenant with God. It is a duty to obey God's law; Covenanting is one of the duties of that law; it is therefore a duty to engage in its performance. No man has a right to refuse to do so. It is our duty to serve God. It is our duty to promise to serve him. In certain cases, it is our duty to vow and swear to serve him. What it is our duty to do, it is our duty to engage by Covenant with Him to do. If men neither serve God nor vow to serve him, they are chargeable with two classes of sins ;-that of disregarding the duty of Covenanting with God,—and that of refusing to perform duties, one of which is the performance of that exercise. If men vow to serve God, but do it not, they greatly sin; being chargeable with an omission of duty, in one case at least, they have rebelled. If they do not vow to serve God, whatever may be the nature of their obedience, that, by being deficient as to Covenanting, is imperfect. To hope to be more safe from condemnation by not vowing than by vowing, is to cherish a love to sin, and to betray the workings of a heart which regards not how God may be dishonoured, provided the sinner can escape with impunity. They who vow and swear falsely, or who perform not their oath, are exposed to an appalling curse ; but dreadful also is the condemnation that hangs over those who vow not, because they do not desire to pay. All who love the Lord, desire to show to the utmost that they delight to honour him. In order to direct and encourage them to do so, he has vouchsafed the institutions of his house; and among them, the exercise of Covenanting, as enjoined on all by his high authority, and engaging the observance of his people, stands acknowledged an ORDINANCE of God.

CHAPTER IV.

COVENANT DUTIES.

Ir is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made in the revelation of the Covenant. It was unlawful for the Israelites to make a Covenant, either with the gods of the heathen, or for the purpose of rendering to them any service. In like manner, it is still unlawful for any one to make a Covenant either with or for what is evil, in such a manner as to give it countenance or support. Of two words in the Greek language, employed each to denote a Covenant, the one is applied to the cases where the parties are in some respects on a level. The other (daOnxn) is used where the parties are represented as in the relations of superiors and inferiors. Its etymology points out that the conditions of the Covenant were dictated in some manner; and the use of it shows, that to have been as the issuing of a command. By it is the principal term for Covenant in the Old Testament rendered by the Seventy. One example may suffice: “Will he make a Covenant (, dial) with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever ?" The

1 Job xli. 4.