Covenanting...

[Semper Fidelis]

Can somebody provide a good resource for Puritans talking about the idea of Covenanting and the corporate bodies that they considered it appropriate for Covenants?

I have a GNC case for the "Church" to rend its garments, for instance, when calamity struck and the sin of Achan was discovered. Though it's national, it seems to me to apply primarily to the people in this dispensation of the CoG who are part of the visible Kingdom of God. For instance, Paul rails against the Corinthian Church for being proud when they ought to be ashamed (corporately) of a heinous sin in their midst.

That said, some who apply the Scriptures to this question legitimately (it seems to me) apply Adam or Christ as examples of corporate or generational sin. The problem with those examples is that they are "one of a kind". They are federal heads for humanity. We are either in Adam or Christ and my sins are not imputed to my son even if it can be said that our family has sinned if I have committed some heinous sin.

I guess what I'm asking for is what kinds of social "institutions" can we reasonably extend sin to and say that we corporately bear some participation? I can argue by GNC the idea that a Church or a family would be brokenhearted over sin and desire to see the offending party repent. Especially in the Church, there is the idea that the Church must maintain her purity and the Name of Christ by disciplining offenders.

But what about nations or even local communities? Where would we go to say whether or not I am to be considered in some sort of solidarity before God with those other institutions?

I hope my question makes sense.

 

[jwithnell]

Interesting question. The local church would seem a modern day example, though I'm debating if that would extend to the presbytery and denomination for the average pew dweller. Most other examples would seem to fit a contractual relationship since they don't have the unilateral elements of a Biblical covenant. As a nation, we would be lumped more like wheat and tares, caught in judgment or blessing as God sees fit. Just sketching in the dirt a bit on this one.

 

[Wayne]

In The Puritan Sermon set (i.e., Cripplegate) :

Collins, John, "How the Religious of a Nation are the Strength of It. - vol. 4, p. 125ff.

Jenkin, William, "How ought we to bewail the sins of the places where we live - vol. 3, p. 110ff.
[http://www.pcahistory.org/HCLibrary/sermons/Jenkin-Bewail.pdf]

Williams, Daniel, "What Repentance of National Sins doth God require, as ever we expect national Mercies? -- vol. 4, p. 585ff.


and elsewhere (using Robert Martin's Guide to the Puritans [BoT, 1997] :

Bridge, William, The Diseases that make a Stoppage to England's Mercies Discovered, and Attended with Their Remedies -- Works, vol. 4, pp. 50-73.

_____________, England Saved with a Notwithstanding -- Works, vol. 4.372-403.

_____________, The Saints' Hiding Place in the Time of God's Anger -- Works, 4.346-371.

Owen, John, An Humble Testimony unto the Goodness and Severity of God in His dealing with Sinful Churches and Nations; or, The Only Way to Deliver a Sinful Nation from Utter Ruin by Impendent Judgment, Works, 8.593-658.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I would look at the sermons etc. defending the taking of the solemn league and covenant circa 1643, I would expect one of those explained the background to covenanting from a puritan perspective? https://archive.org/details/collectionofseve00glas

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Jenkin, William, "How ought we to bewail the sins of the places where we live - vol. 3, p. 110ff.
[http://www.pcahistory.org/HCLibrary/...in-Bewail.pdf]

Great resource list Wayne. Just to interact with this one, it gives good examples of how we bewail the sins of of the places where we live. We ought to be grieved over them and bewail them.

I think you know where I'm going with this question: I can provide GNC for bewailing others' sins in our community but this seems different than repenting for their sins. In other words, is Ezra corporately confessing his involvement in the sins of the inter-marrying Levites because he is covenantally connected to the Levites or is he confessing and bewailing the sins? Is the nation repenting of the sins on a certain level? Is bewailing a form of repentance or a form of corporate grief over sin? Were Joshua and the leaders bewailing calamity as they tore their garments or were they saying "...we've all sinned in some way and we're repenting of a sin that the whole nation has committed?"

Do any of the texts you cited grabble with this idea?

What I'm trying to drive at is whether being in public Covenant doesn't allow us to view ourselves as detached individuals so that when one sins the entire Body has been stained corporately by the presense of that sin. It is appropriate, then, to publicly bewail and be grieved over the sin but that may be distinguished from the idea of repentance as an extension of what the actual sinning member has committed.

Daniel, for instance, is cited in some places as an example of repenting for his father's sins and for his people's continued sins. Is he repenting on behalf of his fathers and for the people of that day or is he bewailing or is it a distinction without a difference?

 

[Wayne]

Rich:

Another list, put together several years ago, and I fear one I've not read any of these in quite some time, such that I can't really answer your question, other than to say that much like Moses, I think the idea here is of one who stands in the gap on behalf of the nation.

Mourning Over the Sins of Our Times

Selected Scripture Texts: Joshua 6:18, 7: 1, 6 [note the sin of Achan and how the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel]; 2 Kg. 9:5-15; 22:13, 19-20; Ps. 119:53, 136; Prov. 24:17; Isa. 57:15; Jer. 13:17; Ezk. 6:11; 9:4, 21:6; Dan. 9; 1 Cor. 5:2; 2 Cor. 12:21; 2 Pet. 2:8;
Related themes:—
Hatred of Evil – Ps. 97:10; 119:104, 113, 128, 163; 139:21; Prov. 8:13.
The Example of the Ungodly – Ezk. 25:6-7; 35:15; Micah 7:8.

Commentaries:—
Adams, Thomas, on the text of 2 Peter 2:7-10 in his commentary on 2 Peter.

Baynes, “A Caveat for Cold Christians,” in Naphtali Press Anthology, vol. 4, pp. 199-206. [text: Rev. 2:4-5]

Binnie, William, The Imprecations, p. 14a.
See also p. 662 of Dr. Arnold’s Life, quoted on p. 15 of the above—“In a deep sense of moral evil, more perhaps than in anything else, abides a saving knowledge of God.”

Bridge, William, “Comfort to Mourners for the Loss of Solemn Assemblies,” Sermon 7 of “Seasonable Truths in Evil Times,” Works, 3. 407-426.
Also, “The Righteous Man’s Habitation,” in Works, vol. 1, pp. 476-477. [text: Psalm 91]

Bunyan, John, The Excellency of a Broken Heart, esp. pp. 42-43, 76.
Note also Rev. George Cokayn’s preface to this valuable treatise, the last prepared for the press by Bunyan.

Burroughs, Jeremiah, Gospel Fear (SDG, 1992), pp. 75-166, on 2 Kings 22:19.

Burroughs, Jeremiah, Sermons VI-XI, The Saints Happiness. Ligonier, PA: SDG, 1992, pp. 36-74.

Henry, Matthew, see his comments on Jer. 13:17; Ezek. 9:4; and 2 Peter 2:7-8.

Howe, John, “The Redeemer’s Tears Wept Over Lost Souls,” in Works, pp. 316-389.
Also, “Of Charity in Respect of Other Men’s Sins,” Works, pp. 453-473. [text: 1 Cor. 13:6, rejoice not in iniquity]

Jenkin, William, “How Ought We to Bewail the Sins of the Places Where We Live?,” in The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate [aka Puritan Sermons], vol. 3, pp. 110-128. [See also in Puritan Sermons, iv. 125, 57, 346; and v. 371.]

Kitchen, John, “How Must we Reprove, That We May Not Partake of Other Men’s Sins?,” in The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate [aka Puritan Sermons], vol. 1, pp. 121-142 [esp. p. 134].

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn, “Blessed Are They That Mourn,” in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, vol. 1, pp. 53-62.

Manton, Thomas, on 2 Peter 2:8, Works, pp. 183-184 and 423-426.

*Manton, Thomas, on Psalm 119:137, Vol. 3 of the 1990 BoT reprint set, pp. 139-154.

McCrie, Thomas, “Sermon on Psalm 119:136: Grief for the Sins of Men” in Naphtali Press Anthology, 2.2: 42-47.

Roberts, Maurice, “The Remembrance of Old Sins,” in The Banner of Truth, October 1994, pp. 1-5.

Sibbes, Richard, "The Art of Mourning," in Josiah's Reformation, Works, vol. 6, pp. 59-75.

____________ , "Spiritual Mourning, Works, vol. 6, pp. 265-292.

Spurgeon, Charles H., Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 51, pp. 485b-486.

Watson, Thomas, The Godly Man’s Picture (Banner of Truth, 1992), pp. 55-60; 77-96; etc.
See also, The Beatitudes, (BoT, 1989), pp. 63-64.

Welsh, John, Sermons on Repentance, in Naphtali Press Anthology, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 33-49 and 1.4, pp. 42-55.

Williams, Daniel, “What Repentance of National Sins Doth God Require, as ever we expect National Mercies?” in The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate [aka Puritan Sermons], vol. 4, pp. 585-616.

 

[MW]

What I'm trying to drive at is whether being in public Covenant doesn't allow us to view ourselves as detached individuals so that when one sins the entire Body has been stained corporately by the presense of that sin.

The "body" exists as a moral entity with the capacity to covenant. So the sin of the "member" is the problem of the body whether there is a covenant or not. A covenant would be a conscious and voluntary recognition by the body of its moral privileges and responsibilities, laying particular obligations on the members in light of particular circumstances.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

What I'm trying to drive at is whether being in public Covenant doesn't allow us to view ourselves as detached individuals so that when one sins the entire Body has been stained corporately by the presense of that sin.

The "body" exists as a moral entity with the capacity to covenant. So the sin of the "member" is the problem of the body whether there is a covenant or not. A covenant would be a conscious and voluntary recognition by the body of its moral privileges and responsibilities, laying particular obligations on the members in light of particular circumstances.

This is a good way of putting it. I agree that the sin of the "member" is the problem of the body. Is the sin of the "member" the sin of the "body"?

What I'm driving at is that I understand that we mourn and bewail the presence of sin in the body.

That said, there is some confusion, it seems over the idea of "corporate repentance" and calling it such. Members of our Church committed sins decades ago by either peforming sinful acts or failing to discipline those sins. Those sins were never publicly mourned over or bewailed.

Daniel, at the end of the captivity, confesses his sin and states that his fathers sinned.

What I'm trying to ask, I suppose, is whether there is a distinction between bewailing and repenting. We are truly sorrowful about the sin in our midst but we're not repenting in the same way that we can actually turn from a course of action because we may not have been the member who sinned. Is the bewailing a distinct form of repentance or is mourning over sin a distinct act and is there something distinct about how corporate bodies lament sin in their midst?

Some are hung up, for instance, on the fact that there are no "rules for discipline" to take a "body" through a process of discipline when sin occurs, which demonstrates the distinction between a person's offense as a member of the body and the fact that the whole body suffers and groans as a result of that sin. It seems that our forebears used Days of Fasting and Prayer as a way to corporately mourn and bemoan sin not where they are repenting in the stead of individuals but acknowledging the problem of sin in our midst and begging the Lord for His help and mercy.

Thoughts?

 

[Cymro]

Paul's epistles to the Corinthians is dominated by "body" theology. The Macedonians is an example of the saints covenanting together, 2Cor8:5, "but first gave their own selves unto the Lord,and unto us by the will of God." As such they by their action declared their membership of the body and their responsibility one to another. So much so that "whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." Would not the same principle pertain as far as a member sinning is concerned? Not that all members are incriminated in that sin , but the effects of it stain the body. Suffering and the honouring of one bring the affects into the body, and so there is a "sympathy of feeling"(in the old meaning of that expression). Likewise discovered sin in one member,should bring the body to lament and to repent that they had not been careful or watchful enough over each other. Therefore,"purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump". So we can bewail and lament that we have sinned,and our fathers have sinned, and repent of our transgressions and theirs.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Excellent!

 

[MW]

Is the sin of the "member" the sin of the "body"?

As with Achan, yes. But how the body deals with the sin is what is important.

As I understand it, the exile and captivity of Israel was a corporate and cumulative judgment. Not even Josiah's reformation could turn away the judgment. Daniel's mourning in captivity was for the corporate body's sin; he regarded himself as a member of that corporate body and his well-being was tied up with it. National days of humiliation and thanksgiving have been conducted on this principle.

I don't think there is a difference between bewailing and repenting. A genuine sorrow for sin is manifested by turning from it. Confessing and forsaking should go hand in hand.

On rules of discipline, this is where I favour a practice and procedure, and especially the form of process, which borrows from the collective wisdom of the church in dealing with matters of discipline.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

National days of humiliation and thanksgiving have been conducted on this principle.

Excellent. That's the conclusion I came to as well.

One of the things I'm wrestling with is that my own denomination has made Days of Fasting and Prayer something that is in a section of the BCO that is technically not Constitutionally binding. We have rules for discipline to deal with personal sin but I think modern Presbyterianism has lost the sense of mourning corporately over the sins of the Church and humiliating ourselves corporately as a result.

The result of being "out of practice" with respect to mourning and repenting corporately is that the only category in our collective vocabulary is focused upon identifying personal sin and ensuring that those who committed the actual sins repent. That's a gross generalization but it sort of summarizes the way the issue is couched - there's sort of a "...what good will it do to repent together...."? Some see it as posturing and pointless.

Even those that believe we need to repent corporately of sins that have affected the entire Church tend to have underdeveloped ideas of why the Church should repent so this interaction has been helpful in continuing to help me work through how I encourage others to think Biblically and historically in such matters.

I guess what I'm realizing is that there is much need in the Church for prayer and fasting and there tends to be a singular focus upon one issue at the neglect of being able to see other issues for which we need to bewail our condition.

 

[tantely]

In The Puritan Sermon set (i.e., Cripplegate) :

Collins, John, "How the Religious of a Nation are the Strength of It. - vol. 4, p. 125ff.

Jenkin, William, "How ought we to bewail the sins of the places where we live - vol. 3, p. 110ff.
[http://www.pcahistory.org/HCLibrary/sermons/Jenkin-Bewail.pdf]

Williams, Daniel, "What Repentance of National Sins doth God require, as ever we expect national Mercies? -- vol. 4, p. 585ff.


and elsewhere (using Robert Martin's Guide to the Puritans [BoT, 1997] :

Bridge, William, The Diseases that make a Stoppage to England's Mercies Discovered, and Attended with Their Remedies -- Works, vol. 4, pp. 50-73.

_____________, England Saved with a Notwithstanding -- Works, vol. 4.372-403.

_____________, The Saints' Hiding Place in the Time of God's Anger -- Works, 4.346-371.

Owen, John, An Humble Testimony unto the Goodness and Severity of God in His dealing with Sinful Churches and Nations; or, The Only Way to Deliver a Sinful Nation from Utter Ruin by Impendent Judgment, Works, 8.593-658.

Thank you for this list. May I humbly suggest also Henry Scudder's "The Christian Daily walk", on his chapter on fasting?

 

[MW]

Even those that believe we need to repent corporately of sins that have affected the entire Church tend to have underdeveloped ideas of why the Church should repent so this interaction has been helpful in continuing to help me work through how I encourage others to think Biblically and historically in such matters.

My conviction is that the closet is where this kind of activity begins, especially in a declining state of the church. If congregations start special meetings for prayer of this nature, that is a good sign. I count myself blessed to be connected with such a church, but I also know it is looked down upon as some kind of pious relic from the past.