Half-Way Covenant

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brianeschen

brianeschen

Puritan Board Junior
I have heard differing definitions as to what the Half-Way Covenant was. I am hoping for clarification on two questions related to this:

1) What is the Half-Way Covenant?

2) What beliefs/practices in the church lead to the adoption of the Half-Way Covenant in the Puritan churches of New England?

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.
 
Thank you!

I just finished reading the article and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is a wealth of information in there. I especially like how he paints the backdrop which gave rise to the half-way covenant. They were struggling with answers to questions that I take for granted . . . "What is required to be a communicant member of a local church?"
 
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It is putting the cart before the horse for a session to insist that someone - who comes for baptism for their child, which person is a member of the visible church by baptism, and which person the session has reason to believe is a believer, and who is in good standing in the church, and yet, because of some reason like lack of assurance, hasn't taken the Lord's Supper for the first time - should have to partake of the Lord's Supper before they get baptism for their child. This was the position of most Presbyterian ministers in the Scottish Highlands until recently, when now, some or most, take a more baptistic position.

See e.g."The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shore" by Dr John Kennedy (Christian Focus Publications).

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