An humble inquiry into the rules of the Word of God, concerning the qualifications…

(6.) If we should suppose, that by Reason of the extraordinary State of Things in that Day, the Apostles had Reason to think the bigger Part of the Members of Churches to be true Christians, yet unless Profession and Appearance of true Christianity was their proper Qualification and the Ground of their Admission, and unless it was supposed that all of them esteemed themselves true Christians, it is altogether unaccountable that the Apostles in their Epistles to 'em never make any express particular Distinction between those different Sorts of Members. If the Churches were made up of Persons who the Apostles knew looked on themselves in so exceeding different a State, some the Children of God, and others the Children of the Devil, some the high Favourites of Heaven and Heirs of eternal Glory, others the Children of Wrath, being under Condemnation to eternal Death, and every Moment in Danger of dropping into Hell: I say, if this was the Case, why do the Apostles make no Distinction in what they say to 'em or of 'em, in their Manner of addressing 'em, in the Things they set before 'em, and in the Counsels, Reproofs and Warnings they gave 'em? Why do the Apostles in their Epistles never apply themselves or direct their Speech to the unconverted Members of the Churches, in particular, in a Manner tending to awaken them & make them sensible of the miserable Condition they were in, and press them to seek the converting Grace of God. 'Tis to be considered, that the Apostle Paul was very particularly acquainted with the Circumstances of most of those Churches be wrote to; for he had been among them, was their spiritual ⟨p. 69⟩Father, had been the Instrument of gathering and founding those Churches, and they had received all their Instructions and Directions relating to Christianity and their Soul-Concerns from him; nor can it be questioned but that many of them had opened the Case of their Souls to him. And if he was sensible, that there was a Number among them that made no Pretensions to being in a regenerate State, and that he and others had no Reason to judge them to be in such a State, he knew that the Sin of such who lived in the Rejection of a Saviour, even in the very House of God, in the midst of Gospel-light, and in Violation of the most sacred Vows, was peculiarly aggravated, and their Guilt and State peculiarly dreadful.

(6.) If we should suppose, that by Reason of the extraordinary State of Things in that Day, the Apostles had Reason to think the bigger Part of the Members of Churches to be true Christians, yet unless Profession and Appearance of true Christianity was their proper Qualification and the Ground of their Admission, and unless it was supposed that all of them esteem'd themselves true Christians, it is altogether unaccountable that the Apostles in their Epistles to 'em never make any express particular Distinction between those different Sorts of Members. If the Churches were made up of Persons who the Apostles knew look'd on themselves in so exceeding different a State, some the Children of God, and others the Children of the Devil, some the high Favourites of Heaven and Heirs of eternal Glory, others the Children of Wrath, being under Condemnation to eternal Death, and every Moment in Danger of dropping into Hell: I say, if this was the Case, why do the Apostles make no Distinction in what they say to 'em or of 'em, in their Manner of addressing 'em, in the Things they set before 'em, and in the Counsels, Reproofs and Warnings they gave 'em? Why do the Apostles in their Epistles never apply themselves or direct their Speech to the unconverted Members of the Churches, in particular, in a Manner tending to awaken them & make them sensible of the miserable Condition they were in, and press them to seek the converting Grace of God. 'Tis to be considered, that the Apostle Paul was very particularly acquainted with the Circumstances of most of those Churches be wrote to; for he had been among them, was their spiritual