A personal Covenant by WILLIAM MCNEIL.

(From the original in Mr. F. Umpherston’s possession).

O great and mercifull LORD GOD, I do hereby confess and acknowledge that I am a lost and undone Sinner, my nature being wholly depraved and corrupted; that I am laid under the curse in Adam thro’ the Breach of ye Covenant of Works; and that I have ruined myself more and more by my actual transgressions innumerable.  I am convinced and do also acknowledge that I am utterly unable to help myself, in whole or in part, out of this Gulf of sin and misery into which I am plunged; and that it is beyond the reach of the whole Creation to help me out of it: so yt I must inevitably perish for {77} ever, if Thine own strong hand do not make help to me.  But seeing there is a Covenant of Grace for life and salvation to lost Sinners established between Thee and Thine own SON the LORD JESUS CHRIST, wherein Thou hast promised that Thou wilt be their God and they shall be Thy people, to the making of them holy and happy for ever; and yt this Covenant is, in CHRIST the Head thereof, offered and exhibited to me in Thy Gospel, and thou callest me into the Fellowship of it in Him,—therefore, upon the warrant of, and in obedience to Thy Command and Call, I, a poor perishing sinner, do take hold of that Covenant for Life and Salvation to me; believing on the name of CHRIST crucified, the Head thereof, offered and exhibited to me, as the Great High Priest, who, by the sacrifice of Himself, hath made Atonement, payed the Ransom, and brought in an everlasting Righteousness for poor sinners.  I credit His Word of Grace to me, and accordingly trust on Him yt He with His Righteousness will be mine, and yt in and thro’ Him God will be my God, and I shall be one of His People, to ye making of me holy and happy for ever.

O, my GOD, I do by Thy Grace acquiesce in that Covenant as all my Salvation and all my Desire.  With my whole heart and soul, the SON incarnate is my only Priest, my Surety, my Intercessor, and my Redeemer, and, in Him, the FATHER my FATHER, the HOLY GHOST my SANCTIFIER, GOD in CHRIST my GOD.  I resign myself Soul and body to Him, to be saved by His Blood alone, renouncing all Confidence in mine own Righteousness, Doings, and Sufferings.  With my whole Heart and Soul He is my Head and Husband. And I am His only, wholly, and for ever, to live by Him, to Him, and for Him.  I take Him for my alone Prophet, Oracle, and Guide, give up myself wholly to Him, and to be taught, guided, and directed in all things by His Word and Spirit, and renounce mine own wisdom and the wisdom of this World.  He is, with my whole heart’s consent, my alone King and Lord; and I resign myself wholly, Soul and Body, unto Him, to be rescued by the strength of His mighty hand from Sin, Death, the Devil, and this present evil World, for to serve Him for ever, and to be ruled by the will of His Command as to my Duty, and the will of His Providence as to my Lot.  I am, with my whole heart, content (Lord, Thou knowest yt I would fain be at it) to part with, and do renounce every known Sin, Lust, or Idol, and particularly the Sin or Sins which most easily beset me; together with my own foolish Will, and all other Lords besides Him, without Reservation, and without Exception, against His Cross.  Protesting in Thy Sight, O LORD, that I am thro’ Grace, willing to have discovered unto me, and upon Discovery to part with, every Sin in me that I know not; and that the Doubtings and Aversness of heart {78} mixed with this my accepting of Thy Covenant, are what I allow not; and that notwithstanding thereof, I look to be accepted of Thee herein, in the Beloved, Thine only SON, and my SAVIOUR, purging away these, with all my other Sins, by His precious Blood.  Let it be recorded in Heaven, O Lord, and let the stones and timber, and whatever is here present, bear witness that I, tho’ most unworthy, have this Day here taken hold of and come into Thy Covenant of Grace, offered and exhibited unto me in Thy Gospel.  And that Thou art my God in the Tenor of yt Covenant, and I am one of Thy people, from henceforth and for ever, I subscribe, with my hand,

WILLIAM MCNEIL.

Braehead, June 24, 1742.

[ The above is excerpted from Passages in the Lives of Helen Alexander and James Currie, Appendix B, Note 7, which contains the heading: “William McNeil, son of the Rev. John McNeil and Beatrix Umpherston.”  His father, Mr. John McNeil, assisted in the renovation of the Covenants at Auchensaugh in 1712, where he preached a sermon on Jeremiah 50.4,5.—JTKer. ]