VIII.  Is it the desire, choice, and endeavor of your souls to have all sins purged out of them, and to have them filled with Christ’s grace, truth, and holiness; and do you hate your sin, watch and fight against it, and endeavor to keep it under?  Do you indeed aim at, desire, labor, and strive, to be holy in heart and life, and conformable unto Jesus Christ in all things possible?  Are your lusts your heaviest burdens and your greatest afflictions, and do you intend and endeavor their utter ruin and destruction?  Will no degree of grace satisfy you until you be perfect to the utmost as Christ is?  Are you so much concerned for Christ’s honor, and your soul’s holiness and happiness, that you dare not knowingly sin against them for a world; or do, in word or deed, by omission or commission, that which may dishonor, grieve, or wound them?  Are these things so indeed?

IX.  Have you a measure of spiritual knowledge and discerning of spiritual things?  Do you understand the nature and concerns of the house of God, and the work and duties, the privileges and enjoyments thereof, and what you have to do there; together with the ends of God in instituting and erecting gospel churches?

X. Do you intend and resolve, in the light, life, and power of Christ, to seek for, and endeavor unfeignedly to obtain, and prosecute the ends of church fellowship, when you shall he accepted among them? and do you desire and aim at the holy ends appointed by God in desiring communion with them? as, 1.  To enjoy God and communion with him in all his ordinances. 2.  To worship God there in spirit and truth, and to give him your homage and service in his house. 3.  To show your subjection and obedience to him, and to make a public and open profession of him, and of his truths before men. 4.  To receive of his grace, to enrich your souls with his fulness, and to be sealed by his Spirit unto the day of your redemption. 5.  That you may walk orderly and beautifully, and shine as lights in the Church, and in the world, before saints and sinners. 6.  That you may be established in the truth, live under the watch and care of Christ’s ministers, and of fellow-members; that by their inspection and faithful dealings with you you may be kept, or brought back from sin to God, by their wise reproofs and holy instructions. 7.  That you may yield up yourselves in holy obedience to Christ, and do all things whatsoever he commands you, that you may have the right use and enjoyment of all your purchased privileges, and be secured against the gates of hell.  Are these and such like ends in your hearts and minds, in your walk and in church fellowship, and can you find the forementioned signs of grace in you in some suitable measure, though not so clearly and fully as you would wish?  Then I may venture to assure you, that you are qualified for being actual members of the Church of Christ, that you are called and invited into his house, and that you are indispensably bound to answer to the call of God, and to enter into his holy temple.