Christian baptism Author:Alexander Campbell Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: God, we become his, and he becomes ours the instant we obey from the heart the Apostles' doctrine. Before closing, for the present, the whole subject of coven... more »anting, we may add that there are times, occasions, and. circumstances requiring us, or, at least, making it expedient for us, to stipulate private and personal covenants with God—indeed, times when communities may and ought to enter into covenant with one another and with the Lord. Ye can adduce good examples for such transactions from the history of the age of revelation. Individual men and communities of good men may, and indeed in some cases ought, to enter into a covenant with God. Jacob, on his way to Padan-Aram, is one case of this sort; and Nehemiah and the reformers of his time are another case in point. But of these we cannot now speak particularly. CHAPTER VII. FLESH AND SPIRIT—LIBERTY AND NECESSITY—NEW INSTITUTION. It was observed in our chapter on " Covenants of Promise," that those vouchsafed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were finally engrossed and developed in two grand social institutions, called "the Old and New Covenants." Each of these had its own peculiar provisions, precepts, promises, and mediator. Moses mediated and administered the one; Jesus the Messiah mediates and administers the other. These great institutions are very improperly called, on the title-page of our Bibles, "the Old and New Testaments." " Testaments are of no force," said Paul, "while the testator lives." Whether a true or false version of the original, this, certainly, is a true saying. The last will and testament is made valid and obligatory by the death of the testator. But neither God nor Jesus Christ made two last wills or testaments. Hence the title- page of the apostolic writings usually printed "TuE New TesTament ...« less