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Session, PRC Edmonton 15 Apr, 1997
Pastor Greg Price
Elder Lyndon Dohms
Elder Greg Barrow
My Dear Brothers in Christ,
Thank you for your patience with me as I have endeavored to come to some conclusions about the ordinance of Covenanting these past few weeks and months. My work schedule, along with my studies, have taken a sizable amount of time of late, and, desiring to be circumspect in this area, I have taken additional time for reflection on the documents you’ve sent along, etc.
So then, to the point.
I regret that I will not be able to join you in membership at this time. This is indeed not the conclusion for which I had hoped—I had desired, as you well know, for ecclesiastical oversight and connection. I do indeed share your deep concern for the fragmented state of the Church visible, and desire to be united under the Biblical doctrine and practice. However, as I have reflected on these issues that you have brought to the fore, I have found your arguments unconvincing. I mean this as no slight to you-all—I have great respect for and agreement with the stands you take in many areas. As I have studied your published papers, I have found that we are in agreement in the main. However, in the area of the "Perpetually binding nature of public social Covenants" I must humbly disagree. To aggravate the condition, this particular issue is one of your "six terms of communion", making it a necessary point of agreement for membership. Because of this, I must decline your gracious offer of communion.
In taking this stand, I do not elevate myself to the level of others who have manifested greater skill in the understanding and debate of these issues than myself. I full well acknowledge my own inadequacies and am constantly vigilant in prayer for understanding. So, as I make my meager case below, it is with this in mind.
While you have adduced good arguments in favor of the perpetuity of Covenants made, and their binding nature upon posterity, I must remind you of the Covenant the Lord Himself made with the Nation of Israel. It was the Lord who initiated this Covenant, it was He who dictated its terms, and it was He who administered it through Moses. However, this Covenant was broken by the first generation, whose bodies fell in the wilderness. This is evidenced by the necessity of the males to be circumcised before crossing the Jordan under Joshua. It is clear that the first generation that came from Egypt had broken Covenant with their Lord by their unbelief, and by their neglect of the Covenant sign. However, in the grace of God this Covenant was renewed (Deuteronomy) and the children of that original generation were once again the people of God. However, even this renewed Covenant came to an end—that carnal nation, after having received the good land which the Lord their God gave them, turned themselves to all manner of idolatry, eliciting this response from the Almighty:
Hos. 1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And [God] said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away
Hos 1:9 Then said [God], Call his name Loammi: for ye [are] not my people, and I will not be your [God].
Jer. 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD
Heb. 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord
Did the nation of Israel or the nation of Judah realize the fulfillment of the Covenant? No, because they violated its terms. Covenants do die, fall into disrepair, or come to an end based upon the breaches of one or more of the parties stated in them. The Solemn League and Covenant is a noble document—a Godly act by those parties named in it. And yes, I believe it was binding in its day until it was broken and fell into disregard. So then, this first defense is that it is clear that not all covenants are perpetually binding. If the Lord Himself, having made a Covenant with the Nation of Israel "disregarded" them, this is clear enough evidence that not all Covenants are meant to be perpetual.
Covenant Renewal
If a Covenant falls into disregard, if it is broken, how is it to be renewed? When the Covenant with the Hebrew nation was renewed, there were marked similarities to the original Covenant. The parties were the same—the Lord, on the one hand, and the people, on the other. The mediator was the same, namely, Moses. The stipulations were the same, namely that they should keep all the Law of the Lord, and walk in His ways, and He would be their God, and bless them greatly in the land. So it is with Covenant renewal in general. The SL&C has most certainly fallen into disregard at present. It is, in essence, a dead letter. The Parliaments of the three kingdoms have no desire for it, neither do the majority of their clergy, and the people are, in the main, ignorant of it, or at least it’s ramifications. Neither is there any awareness or desire on the part of the "descendant nations" to uphold this document. How then shall we, a few Churchmen and lay-men, deign to enforce it? The Covenant can only be renewed by its original parties or their current counterparts. I have no problem with the terms of the SL&C. I desire to see its goals realized in the land, for I believe them to be Biblical. But this letter is currently dead, and cannot be revived but by the representatives of the original parties—Parliaments, Burgesses, Clergy, etc., all coming together in great Reformation and Revival. For my part, how can I be bound to a document that has no abiding force—having been disregarded by its original parties? If you reply that the SL&C has been renewed, I answer that it has been breached yet again and again after these so-called renewals, and the force is the same—it lies in disregard, and is therefore not in and of itself binding.
Finally, as I have stated above, I myself do work, in my own place and station, for the reformation of Church and State. I believe the SL&C to be a worthy document, and take instruction from it. I would that we had such dedication to a Biblical ordering of our polis by our governors, clergy and commons these days. I work to that end in my limited sphere. But I do not believe, for the reasons stated above, that I am bound to take the Covenant of the Three Kingdoms upon my lips.
To close, allow me express my sincere thanks to you-all for your kindness in all your communications to me. Thank you, Pastor Price, for making certain documents available to me for review. Keep up the good work, my dear brothers! Your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Your Servant,
Todd Ruddell
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