Blackwater Baptist Church

Covenant of 1842

For as much 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 as a profession of our faith in Christ Jesus and have, of ourselves, to the Lord and to one another in gospel churchway, and to be governed and guided by a proper discipline agreeable to the word of God, we therefore in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by His assistance covenant and agree to keep up the discipline of the church we are members of in the most brotherly manner and affection to each other while we endeavor punctually to observe all the rules following:

1st - In brotherly love to pray for each other, to watch over each other, and if needs 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 to tell him his faults according to the directions given by our Lord in the 18th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel and not to be whispering and backbiting. We also agree by God's assistance to pray in our families, attend our church meetings, observe the Lord's Day and keep it holy and not absence ourselves from the Communion of the Lord's Supper without lawful excuse; to be ready to communicate to the defraying of church expenses and for the support of the ministry and not irregularly to depart from the fellowship of the church nor remove to distant churches without a regular dismission. These things we do covenant and agree to observe and to keep sacred in the name of and by the assistance of the Holy Trinity.

2nd - That we, as a church, adopt no other articles of faith but the New Testament.

Rules of Decorum

1st - That church conference be opened and closed by prayer.
2nd - The pastor sit as moderator when present, when absent one shall be chosen.
3rd - Clerk, Assistant Clerk, and Treasurer shall be elected at our August conference annually.
4th - Only one member shall speak at a time who shall address the Moderator when about to speak.
5th - No member, while speaking, shall be interrupted except by the Moderator.
6th - A member speaking shall strictly adhere to subject in debate, no in anywise, reflect upon the person who spoke before him by making remarks concerning his slips and failures.
7th - No member shall abruptly leave conference without permission of the Moderator.
8th - No member shall speak more than 3 times on the same subject without leave of conference.
9th - No member shall converse or laugh while conference is in session in the time of and while others are speaking.
10th - No member of this conference shall address another by any other appellation other than "Brother."

Signed by mutual consent of members of the Baptist Church, Blackwater
Saturday before the third Sabbath in January, 1842.