To the other objection, grounded on this position, that a time of division among God's professing people is no proper season for engaging in this work, we reply, That if the word of God had told us so, we should have paid the most profound respect to the decision; but, unhappily for the objection, there is not a word to be found in the Bible to this effect, from the one end of it to the other. On the contrary, from that unerring standard we learn, that even in a time of mournful division among God's professing people, covenanting has not only been practised, but practised with divine approbation. It will certainly never be questioned, but that the covenanting practised in the days of Asa, of Jehoiada, and of Hezekiah, met with divine approbation; and yet, every one knows, that all these were times of one of the most lamentable divisions that ever took place in the church of God. During the reign of all these kings, that division betwixt the ten tribes of Israel, and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, continued to exist, which had been begun in the days of Jeroboam, when the service of the temple at Jerusalem was openly deserted by the first of these classes, and altar avowedly erected against altar. Let none pretend to say, that this was not properly a division among the Lord's own people, but rather a separation betwixt his professing people, and a kingdom of idolaters; for though, in that division, the kingdom of the ten tribes acted a most sinful and scandalous part, it would be both an unwarrantable and unscriptural breach of charity, to deny them the character of God's professing people. This character they still continue to claim; and God himself not only sustained their claim, but even, in some of their most corrupt times, had a considerable number of real saints among them.* It was not till about four hundred years after that breach had taken place, that God utterly disowned his relation to them, and called their name Lo-ammi.t On the whole, then, it is plain, that the prevalence of division among God's professing people, forms no proper objection against procedure in covenanting-work, at a time in which the Lord is otherwise calling to the performance of it. In place of this, it should rather be viewed as an additional motive to the discharge of it. Do we not all know, that in a time of division, truth is not so easily discerned as at some other seasons ? And is not this an evident call to those who have come to the knowledge of it, to make the most full and public exhibition of it that lies in their power, that so it may be known and read of all men? Besides, in a time of division, the people of God are themselves in eminent hazard of being entangled with the snares which abound in such a season, and turned aside from the path of truth and duty; and this calls aloud for their improving the ordinance of covenanting, as one of the most special means of preservation and establishment in such a day of temptation. SERMON V. JER. l. 4. 5.—In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. THIS is the fifth time that I have read these words in your hearing; and having, in my former discourses upon them, considered the nature, instructed the warrantableness, and opened up the seasons, of public religious covenanting, I come now, in agreeableness to the method laid down, IV. To give some account of the manner, both external and internal, in which this duty ought to be performed. You will easily perceive that this head naturally divides itself into two branches, the one relating to the external, and the other to the internal manner of going about it. The external manner of performing it, is that which comes first under consideration; and on this branch of the subject, you may take the few following observations. 1. It both may, and sometimes ought to be set about with all the solemnity of an oath. Hence are these words, Jer. xlv. 23. "I have sworn by myself, the "word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and "shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." If you have been duly attentive to what you have heard upon this subject, you will have observed, that an oath has never once been represented as essential to the right discharge of this duty. I have, indeed, several times, both in opening up the nature, and in proving the warrantableness, of this work, had occasion to quote certain passages of scripture, in which swearing to the Lord of hosts is mentioned; but I have also, in different instances, referred you to particular passages, in which there is not one word about swearing, which certainly had been highly improper, if I had considered an oath essential to the work, and absolutely necessary at all times to the right performance of it. There is ground to apprehend, that because vowing and swearing are often conjoined in practice, therefore some people have got it into their heads, that they should never be separated. They confound the one with the other, and can hardly form an idea of people vowing to the Lord, without including the idea of swearing to him in the very bosom of it. This, however, is a great mistake. An oath and a vow, though frequently conjoined in practice, are in themselves quite distinct. A vow has a respect to God as our sovereign Lord, whom we are bound to obey, and to whom we accordingly do promise the most unlimited obedience and subjection; whereas an oath respects him solely as our witness, and the avenger of prevarication. In a vow, people make an entire devotement of themselves to him as his people, and bind themselves to serve him; but in an oath, they merely make an appeal to him as the searcher of all hearts, with respect to their sincerity in what they assert or promise. And these two things being so entirely distinct in their natures, the one may be where the other is not. You all know, that an oath is frequently taken where there is no vow, as in the decision of controversies between man and man. And, on the other hand, vows are frequently made where there is no oath. We have no account of any swearing in the instances of covenanting which took place, either in the days of Joshua, or in those of Jehoiada ; and do we not all frequently see parents brought under vows, at the baptisms of their children, without any interposal of a formal oath? Let none, therefore, apprehend, that an oath is essential to the duty of covenanting. So far as we know, this has never been alledged by any of the genuine friends of that work. But, though this be not essential to the duty, yet, we say, there are times in which it is not only lawful, but highly proper and expedient, that it should accompany it. Of this the holy scriptures afford us the most unquestionable proof. In the days of Asa, the people who engaged in that work, not only made a covenant "to seek the Lord God of their fathers," but "they" also with a loud voice, and all Judah rejoiced at 66 sware In the days also of Nehemiah, they not only "made a sure covenant," but, for the purpose of giving stability to it," they entered into "walk in God's law, given by Moses the * 2 Chron. xv. 12-15. an oath to servant of |