The following Church Covenant was adopted by many Baptist churches in the eastern provinces of Canada. This covenant appeared in the Minutes of the New Brunswick Baptist Association and other associations in the mid-1800s.
We do now, in the presence of the great, all-seeing and most glorious God, and before angels and men, give up ourselves to the Lord JEHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and acknowledge him this day to be our God, our Father, our Saviour, and our Leader, and receive him as our portion for ever.[From Baptist History and Heritage, April, 1980, pp. 24-25; from an article written by Charles W. Deweese. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]We give up ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and engage to adhere to him as the head of his people in the covenant of grace, and rely on him as our Prophet, Priest, and King, to bring us to eternal blessedness.
We acknowledge our everlasting and indispensable obligations to glorify God, by living a holy, righteous, and godly life, in this present world, in all our several places and relations; and we engage, by the assistance of the Divine Spirit, to improve our time, strength, talents, and advantages to his glory and the good of our fellow-men; promising, by divine help, to walk in our houses as becomes those professing godliness, and to maintain the worship of God in our families, and to train up those under our care in the ways of religion and virtue.
We also give up ourselves to one another in covenant, promising to conduct ourselves towards each other as brethren in Christ, watching over one another in the love of God, (reproving, rebuking, and admonishing one another for good as occasion may require; and if we at any time know that any of the members of the church are guilty of immoral conduct, that we will not expose them by tattling it to others, but will faithfully labour with them, according to the direction of our Lord: Matthew 18, 15-17, that sin may be put away from among us, and that iniquity may not be harboured in the church) and to watch not only against the most gross evils, but also against all foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient; vain disputing about words and things, which gender strife; disregarding promises, and not fulfilling engagements; tattling and backbiting, spending time idly at taverns, or elsewhere, and vain and unnecessary conversation on the Lord's day, and whatsoever else that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of Christ; promising to hold communion together in the worship of God, and in the ordinances and discipline of his church, according as we are or shall be guided by the Spirit of God in his word; expecting that he will yet further and more gloriously open his word and the mysteries of his kingdom; applying to the blood of the everlasting covenant for the pardon of our many errors, and praying the Lord would prepare and strengthen us for every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
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