Two Forms of Personal Covenanting
Thomas Boston, 1676–1732
[As Mr. Boston, has in his writings accurately explained the nature, and warmly inculcated the duty and necessity, of personal covenanting, or explicit entering into, or renewing covenant with God, by taking hold of God's covenant of grace; it will not be improper to subjoin the two following specimens of that solemn transaction in his own practice: the first, dated August 14, 1699, a little before his ordination to the ministry; the other, dated December 2, 1729, about two years and five months before his death. Both are printed from the original copies.]
A FIRST PERSONAL COVENANTI, MR. THOMAS BOSTON, preacher of the gospel of Christ, being by nature an apostate from God, an enemy to the great JEHOVAH, and so an heir of Hell and wrath, in myself utterly lost and undone, because of my original and actual sins, and misery thereby; and being, in some measure, made sensible of this my lost and undone state, and sensible of my need, my absolute need of a Savior, without whom I must perish eternally; and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the eternal God, is not only able to save me, by virtue of his death and sufferings, but willing also to save me (though most vile and ugly, and one who has given him many repulses), both from my sins, and from the load of wrath due to me for them, upon condition that I believe, come to him for salvation, and cordially receive him in all his offices; consenting to the terms of the covenant: therefore, as I have at several opportunities before given an express and solemn consent to the terms of the covenant, and have entered into a personal covenant with Christ; so now, being called to undertake the great and weighty work of the ministry of the gospel, for which I am altogether insufficient, I do by this declare, That I stand to and own all my former engagements, whether sacramental, or any other way whatever; and now again do RENEW my covenant with God; and hereby, at this present time, do solemnly COVENANT and ENGAGE to be the Lord's and MAKE a solemn resignation and upgiving of myself, my soul, body, spiritual and temporal concerns, unto the Lord Jesus Christ, without any reservation whatever; and do hereby give my voluntary consent to the terms of the covenant laid down in the holy scriptures, the word of truth; and with my heart and soul I TAKE and RECEIVE Christ in all his offices, as my PROPHET to teach me, resolving and engaging in his strength to follow, that is, to endeavor to follow his instructions: I TAKE him as my PRIEST, to be saved by his death and merits alone; and renouncing my own righteousness as filthy rags and menstruous cloths, I am content to be clothed with his righteousness alone; and live entirely upon free grace; likewise I TAKE him for my ADVOCATE and INTERCESSOR with the Father: and finally, I TAKE him as my KING, to reign in me, and to rule over me, renouncing all other lords, whether sin or self, and in particular my predominant idol; and in the strength of the Lord, do resolve and hereby engage, to cleave to Christ as my Sovereign Lord and King, in death and in life, in prosperity and in adversity, even forever, and to strive and wrestle in his strength against all known sin; protesting, that whatever sin may be lying hidden in my heart out of my view, I disown it, and abhor it, and shall in the Lord's strength, endeavor the mortification of it, when the Lord shall be pleased to let me see it. And this solemn covenant I make as in the presence of the ever-living, heart-searching God, and subscribe it with my hand, in my chamber, at Dunse, about one o'clock in the afternoon, the fourteenth day of August, one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine years.
T. BOSTON.
A SECOND PERSONAL COVENANT
O LORD, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I confess from my heart, that I am by nature a lost and undone sinner, wholly corrupted, and laid under the curse, in Adam, through the breach of the covenant of works; and have ruined myself more and more by my innumerable actual transactions, whereby my whole life appears in mine eyes this day a heap of vanity, sin, and foolishness. I am fully convinced, and do from my heart acknowledge, that I am utterly unable to help myself, in whole or in part, out of this gulf of sin and misery, into which I am plunged; and that it is beyond the reach of the whole creation to help me out of it; so that I must inevitably perish forever, if your own strong hand do not make help to me. But forasmuch as there is a covenant of grace, for life and salvation to lost sinners, established between YOU and your own SON, the Lord Jesus Christ, as second Adam; wherein, upon condition of his fulfilling all righteousness, which is now performed, in his having been born perfectly holy, lived altogether righteously, and made perfect satisfaction to justice by his death and sufferings, you have promised that you will be their God, and they shall be your people, to the making of them holy and happy forever; and that this covenant is, in Christ the head thereof, offered and exhibited to me in your gospel, and you call me into the fellowship thereof, in him: Therefore (adhering to my former acceptings, and taking hold of it, declared whether by word or writ before you, without willful mistaking of it, or known deceit), upon the warrant of, and in obedience to, your command and call, I, in myself a poor perishing sinner, and worthy to perish, do now again TAKE HOLD of that COVENANT, for life and salvation to ME; believing on the name of Christ crucified the head thereof, offered and exhibited to me, as the great High Priest, who, by the sacrifice of himself, has made atonement, paid the ransom, and brought in everlasting righteousness for poor sinners. I CREDIT his word of grace to me, and accordingly TRUST on him, that he with his righteousness will be mine, and that, in and through him, God will be my God, and I shall be one of his people, to the making of me holy and happy forever. O my God, I do by your grace acquiesce in that covenant, as all my salvation, and all my desire. With my whole heart and soul, the Son incarnate is my only PRIEST, my surety, my Intercessor, and my Redeemer; and, in him, the FATHER my FATHER, the HOLY SPIRIT my SANCTIFIER; GOD in CHRIST my God. I resign my self, soul and body, to him, to be saved by his blood alone; renouncing all confidence in mine own righteousness, doings, and sufferings. With my whole heart and soul he is my HEAD and HUSBAND: and I am his only, wholly, and forever; to live by him, to him, and for him. I take him for my alone PROPHET, Oracle, and Guide; give up myself wholly to him, to be taught, guided, and directed, in all things, by his word and Spirit; and renounce mine own wisdom, and the wisdom of this world. He is, with my heart's content, my alone KING and Lord. And I resign myself wholly, soul and body, unto him, to be rescued, by the strength of his mighty hand, from sin, death, the devil, and this present evil world, for to serve him forever, and to be ruled by the will of his command as my duty, and the will of his providence as to my lot. I am, with my whole heart, content (Lord, you know) to part with, and do renounce, every known sin, lust, or idol, and particularly that sin which most easily besets me; together with my own foolish will, and other lords besides him; without reservation, and without exception against his cross: Protesting in your sight, O Lord, that I am, through grace, willing to have discovered unto me, and upon discovery to part with, every sin in me that I know not: and that the doubtings and averseness of heart, mixed with this my accepting of your covenant, are what I allow not: and that, notwithstanding thereof, I look to be accepted of you herein, in the Beloved, your only Son and my Savior, purging away these, with all my other sins, by his precious blood. Let it be recorded in Heaven, O Lord, and let the bed on which I leaned, the timber, and the stones, and all other things about me here, in my closet, bear witness, That I, though most unworthy, have this second day of December, One thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine years, here taken hold of, and come into your covenant of grace, offered and exhibited to me in your gospel, for time and eternity; and that you are my God in the tenor of that covenant, and I am one of your people, from henceforth and forever.
T. BOSTON.