THE LONDON CONFESSION OF FAITH
THE BLACK
ROCK ADDRESS 1832
Forasmuch as Almighty God by His grace has been pleased
to call us (whose names are underneath subscribed) out of darkness into His
marvelous light, and all of us have been regularly baptized upon a profession of
our faith in Christ Jesus and have given up ourselves to the Lord and to one
another in a gospel church way to be governed and guided by a proper discipline
agreeable to the word of God; We do therefore in the name of our Lord Jesus and
by His assistance covenant and agree to keep up the discipline of the church we
are members of in the most brotherly affection towards each other while we
endeavor particularly to observe the following rules:
In brotherly
love to pray for each other, to watch over one another and if need be in the
most tender and affectionate manner to reprove one another; that is, if we
discover anything amiss in a brother, to go and tell him his fault according to
the direction given by our Lord in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, vs. 15-17,
and not to be whispering and backbiting. We also agree with God's assistance to
pray in our families, attend our church meetings, observe the Lord's Day, as God
shall give health and shall providentially enable. And not absent ourselves from
the communion of the Lord's Supper, as God shall give health and providentially
enable. And be ready to communicate to the defraying of the church's expenses
and for the support of the ministry as God hath prospered us.
Whereas
various interpretations of the Sacred Word have been given by different
assemblies of professed Christians, we hereby receive and adopt the 1646 London
Baptist Confession of Faith and the principles outlined in the Black Rock
address of 1832 as expressing our conviction of the Word of God and do covenant
to hold fast to the Faith expressed in these Articles of our Faith.
These things
we do covenant and agree to observe and keep sacred in the name of and by the
assistance of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.