RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Court Covenant
cerning education, as a report upon the schools of Germany (1833) and Holland (1837), are also worthy of mention. These reports and some of his essays have been translated into English; also The Philosophy of the Beautiful by J. C. Daniel (London, 1848); and Course of the History of Modern Philosophy (2 vols.) and Lectures on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good by O. W. Wight (Edinburgh, 1852 and 1854).
Bibliography: Sir William Hamilton (" the acutest critic of Cousin's philosophy "), Discussions on Philosophy, Literature, Education, and University Reform, London, 1852 (the first article is a review of Cousin); P. Janet, Victor Cousin et son muvre, Paris, 1885; J. Simon, Victor Cousin, ib. 1887, Eng. transl., London, 1887; J. B. St. Hilaire, Victor Cousin, 3 vols., Paris, 1895.
COUSSIRAT, cus"si"ra', DANIEL: Canadian Presbyterian; b. at Nerac (66 m. s.e. of Bordeaux), France, Mar. 5, 1841; d. at Montreal Jan. 8, 1907 He was graduated at Toulouse in 1859, and at the theological seminary at Montauban 1864; was stated supply to the Reformed Church at Bellocq (Basses-Pyrenees) 1864; pastor of the French Evangelical Church at Philadelphia, Pa., 1864-66; professor of divinity in Montreal, Canada, 1867-75; pastor of a Reformed church at Orthez (Basses- Pyrenees) 1875-80. After 1880 he was French professor of divinity in the Presbyterian College in Montreal, and professor of Semitic languages and literatures in McGill University after 1882. In 1885 he founded the Societe musicale et litteraire de Montreal, and was an ofRcier de I'instruction publique. Theologically his position was evangelical, and he felt no fear of either higher or lower criticism. He was one of the revisers of the French translation of the Old Testament under the auspices of the Societe Biblique de France (Paris, 1881).
COVENANT.
Original Meaning of the Terms (§ 1). Historic Development of the Meaning (§ 2). Covenant Ceremonies and Symbols (§ 3). Religion as a Covenant (§ 4). Provisions and Sanctions (§ 5). Prophetic Development of the Conception (§ 6). Later Phases of the Conception (§ 7). Covenant in the New Testament {§ 8).
The term " covenant " (Hebr. bMth, cf. Assyrian- Babylonian birit, " bond, fetter," probably introduced into Canaan during the long Babylonian occupation of the " Westland "; Gk. diatheke, " will, testament ") is one of the most significant in the whole range of Biblical literature as well as in business, social, political, and religious re- I. Original lations. From the primary signifi- Meaningof cations given above all the historical the Terms, applications of the word are readily drawn. Not all, indeed not most of these, are implied in the Enghsh " covenant," which generally applies to a contract between two parties acting freely, while both the Hebrew and the Greek words may be used of anything binding upon the two parties to any transaction, whether the terms are accepted voluntarily or imposed by one of the parties or by another. The use of the Greek dia- ™ the sense of " covenant " in the Septuagint and New Testament is due to the usage of berifh, as indicated above, including the disposals cf the
divine covenants (cf. the word " will " as suggesting the essential character of a testament from the standpoint of the testator). In classical Greek the word is very rarely employed in the sense of a contract or agreement.
The historical development of the Hebrew word which determined the usage of the Greek must be the chief guide in determining what
2. Historic the Bible means by " covenant." Develop- Originally the berith was an agreement
ment of the between two clans or tribes represented Meaning, by their leaders, and also between individuals for themselves. Such were the terms of peace between Isaac and Abimelech, (Gen. xxvi. 28 sqq.) or between Laban and Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 44) which also bound their respective families and dependents. Such also was the transaction, really a primitive tribal affair, between Shechem and the sons of Jacob (Gen. xxxiv.), where, however, the word for covenant is not directly used. The main object of such early agreements was the promotion of peace and safety, since the natural condition of primitive man was that of warfare. Hence the significance of the phrase " covenant of peace " (Num. xxv. 12; Isa. liv. 10) for which the word " peace " alone may be used (Jer. xvi. 6), accordingly those who were not at war with one another were supposed to be under a covenant of peace; hence breaking a covenant is equivalent to making war (I Kings xv. 19; A. V., " league "). So one could be in covenant with the beasts and with the stones of the field (Job v. 23, A.V., "league" that is, with the superhuman powers resident therein (cf. Hos. ii. 18). Covenants were made for mutual support or protection (e.g., II Sam. iii. 12-13), or for the fulfilment of common obligations to a third party (II Kings xi. 17); even submission to a superior enemy might be called making a covenant (I Sam. xi. 1), in which case also both parties were of course obligated (I Kings xx. 34). And, generally speaking, duties, obligations, or services required of his subjects or servants by a sovereign, suzerain, or feudal ford might be the subject of a covenant because they were imposed by the superior under certain conditions. This is the key to the prevailing use of the word " covenant " in the Bible, which was naturally religious, as setting forth the relations between God and his people.
There were many kinds of covenant among ancient peoples, as well as various modes of ratifying them. And, just as all covenants have the one essential condition or object of a mutual understanding and obligation, so, as seems probable, all ceremonies confirming the agreements are based upon one fundamental notion, that of
3. Covenant a community of feeling or sentiment Ceremonies between the parties. This naturally
and impUed among primitive men the con- Symbols, ception of a community of life — the participants were for the time being members of the same community of clan or " life." Most prominent therefore among such ceremonies was the well-known ceremony of the blood-covenant (see Comparative Religion, VI., 1, b, § 6). As a substitute for the mixing of the blood came the natural and universal usage of animal sacrifice,
Covenant Covenanters