This was originally called the covenant meeting because it was intended
for the solemn renewal by the members of their vow of consecration to
Christ and the church, and the church covenant was formally read in it
while the members stood to express their adhesion to it. Of late years,
however, the meeting is less fully attended than formerly, and the
reading of the covenant is often deferred to the opening services of
the Lord's Supper, that the church may be more largely represented in
the act. The entire omission of its reading, as is sometimes the case,
is unfortunate, since many thus enter the church without a full
understanding of the obligations thus assumed, and the church fails of
the important stimulus to duty which this solemn reading and renewal of
the covenant is adapted to furnish. The following hints may be of
value: 1. In a large church it is not possible, nor is it desirable,
that all the members should speak at one meeting: any attempt to secure
this will ordinarily result either in a wearisome protraction of the
service, or in so abbreviating the communication of each as to render
the exercise, as an interchange of experience, of very slight value.
Some ministers lay special emphasis on the number of speakers they have
succeeded in compressing into an hour; but it is evident that if each
has not had adequate time to make a true expression of his experience,
the usefulness of the exercise is seriously impaired, if not destroyed.
It is not the number, but the quality, which gives value to the
experiences related in a covenant meeting. As far as possible, however,
arrangements should be made that those not called on at one meeting may
be called on at the next, and on every occasion the meeting should be
thrown open before the close, so as to give any specially-burdened
heart opportunity for expression. 2. Encourage frankness and brevity.
If members indulge in stereotyped expressions and prosy speeches, break
up the habit by pointing out its evil. Many excellent Christians whose
experience, if really presented, would prove rich and valuable have no
correct idea of what should be spoken, and utter mere commonplaces when
they might speak words of gold. Suppose that, before calling on them to
speak, you address them somewhat in this way: "Brethren, we have met to
renew our covenant with God and with each other. We want, therefore, to
know your _heart-history_ since we last met at the Lord's Table--that
is, so far as it is proper to be known, for some of it belongs between
you and God alone and should not be spoken here. But you have had
experiences which will help and cheer us. Temptations have come to
you--something, it may be, separated you from the consciousness of
Christ's presence. We want to know how you got back to Him. You have
had special mercies in deliverance from disease or accident, in
prospered fortune, in friends raised up for you. Will you tell how
these mercies affected you? You have passed through trial in sickness,
in disappointments, in the death of loved ones, in losses and
sufferings. We would know how you felt under trials, and how God helped
you to bear them. You have had special seasons of communion with
Christ, and have received special answers to prayer; you have found
some passages of Scripture truth or promise specially opening to you;
you have some personal friend or friends for whom you are deeply
interested that God may save them. These are the things we want to
know--just what your heart has felt of late; and if in this family
gathering in our Father's house you will tell these, you will help us
and will bring all hearts into sympathy with you." Such suggestions,
occasionally made, will repress tendencies to stereotyped thought and
expression, and will educe those heart-experiences which give life and
power to the meeting. 3. When there are candidates for baptism,
encourage them to speak fully and freely, and secure, if possible, that
they shall be heard by all. After the experiences have fully come
before the church, the candidates should withdraw while their cases are
under consideration, that the investigation of each case may be
unembarrassed and full opportunity be had for inquiry or objection.
4. Matters of business and of discipline are, as a rule, to be avoided
at the covenant meeting. They usually divert attention from the special
object of the exercise, and often dissipate the spiritual impression.
5. Do not protract the service. An hour and a half is usually as long
as a profitable interest can be maintained. Too often the benefit of
the meeting is wholly lost by its tediousness. A prompt beginning and
an equally prompt ending are essential to sustained life in any
exercise.