A Personal Covenant

A Personal Covenant

The measure of a man is how he lives his daily life.

IN 1604 Jonathan Burr was born to a Christian family in Suffolk, England. He trusted Jesus as his Savior at a young age and as a boy was known for his knowledge of the Scriptures.

As a young man he became a pastor in Suffolk. He was very knowledgeable, but more important he was known for his humility. He liked to say, “I preach not what I am, but what I ought to be.” Generous to a fault and a tireless worker for the Lord, Burr often repeated the phrases “He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly,” and “It is better to wear out with work, than be eaten out with rust.”

Because Burr did not conform to the Church of England, he eventually was suspended from his church and not allowed to preach. In his growing despair he said, “My preaching is my life. If I be laid aside from that, I shall quickly die.” As they prayerfully considered what to do, Burr and his family decided that their best option was to go to New England to obtain religious freedom.

Shortly after his arrival in the colonies, Burr became severely ill with smallpox. The Lord was gracious and spared his life. In the aftermath of his recovery, he made the following covenant with the Lord:

I, Jonathan Burr, being brought in the arms of Almighty God over the vast ocean, with my family and friends, and graciously provided for in a wilderness; and being sensible of my own unworthiness and self-seeking; yet of infinite mercy, being called to the tremendous work of feeding souls; and being of late with my family, delivered out of a great affliction of the small-pox: and found the fruit of that affliction, God tempering, ordering, and mitigating of evil thereof; so that I have been graciously and speedily delivered; I do promise and vow to Him, who has done all these things for me:

1. That I will aim only at his glory and the good of souls, and not my own glory.

2. That I will walk humbly, with lower thoughts of myself, considering that I am a puff of breath sustained by the power of his grace alone.

3. That I will be more watchful over my heart, to keep it in a due frame of holy obedience, without running so far after the creature: for I have seen that he is my only help in time of need.

4. That I will put more weight in that firm promise, and sure truth, that he is a God hearing prayer.

5. That I will set up God more in my family, more in myself, wife, children, and servants, conversing with them in a more serious manner. For this God aimed at by sending this affliction into my family. I will remember death. In myself I am nothing, in Christ all things.

God blessed Burr’s ministry in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and he was greatly admired both for his preaching and for his fervent inner pursuit of holiness.

One Sunday after preaching a sermon on “redeeming the time,” he was suddenly taken very ill. As his wife cared for him tenderly over the next week, he slipped closer and closer to death. Finally realizing that only death would offer relief from his pain, his grieving wife asked him whether he wished to leave her and the children. He quickly replied, “Do not mistake me. I am not desirous of that. But, I bless God, that now my will is the Lord’s will. If he will have me yet to live with my dear wife and children, I am willing. It is better for you that I abide with you; but it is better for me to be dissolved and to be with Christ. . . . Our parting is but for a time.” His last words to his wife were, “Cast thy care upon God; for he careth for thee. Hold fast, hold fast.”

Jonathan Burr died on August 9, 1641, at the age of thirty-seven.

Reflection

Although written over 350 years ago, the covenant that Jonathan Burr made with God is remarkably relevant to the Christian walk today. What can you learn from it?

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

John 3:30