Believing, moreover, that civil government, originating in the will of God as Creator, has been placed by the Father under the authority of the Mediator, and that the principal objects to be promoted by this divine ordinance are the glory of its Author, the welfare of mankind, and the prosperity of the church; we engage to endeavor the reformation of the nations by testifying against all neglect or contempt of Messiah’s claims, or impious invasion of his rights by either rulers or subjects.  In joyful anticipation of the universal reign of righteousness and peace on the earth, we will labor and pray for a gospel ministry and a Scriptural magistracy; testifying against all corruptions of these or substitutes for them.  Persuaded of the adaptation and sufficiency of divine ordinances to effect reformation, we will refuse to identify or incorporate with any substitutes for these, or to co-operate with voluntary associations for moral reform, whether secret and sworn, or open and pledged, as these imply want of faith in divine ordinances, and in the wisdom and beneficence of our covenant God.

IV.  Believing that the Christian Church is one by her divine constitution, and lamenting existing divisions among the children of God; recognizing the obligation upon us to love the brotherhood, we will endeavor to cultivate charity in private intercourse towards all who reflect the divine image; and help to elevate them to the platform of the Covenanted Reformation as our only recognized bond of organic and ministerial church-fellowship.  Nor will we, in reliance upon the promised and continued supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, permit ourselves to be divided from this our covenanted unity and uniformity by the promises, threats, or solicitations of surrounding communities.  Through divine grace we will endeavor, by practical manifestation of the truth, to commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God, as the most effectual means of healing Zion’s breaches, that are great like the sea.

V. Having learned from God’s Word that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, in their character, in their substance, or in their persons; and knowing from the recorded history of those who nobly stood to their covenant that they were subjected to all these kinds of suffering; and since our Sovereign Lord in his holy providence for the trial of the patience and faith of his saints permits Antichrist to practice and prosper, the kings of the earth still giving their strength unto the beast:  we therefore, anticipating like treatment from an opposing world wherever we may sojourn, resolve in his strength to follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth, as our leader, endeavoring so to diffuse the sweet savor of his name, that in due time and in every land men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed.