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

'Tis not my Design, in holding the Negative of the foregoing Question, to affirm, that all who are regularly admitted as Members of the visible Church in complete Standing, ought to be believed to be godly or gracious Persons, when taken collectively, or considered in the Gross, by the Judgment of any Person or Society. This may not be, and yet each Person taken singly may visibly be a gracious Person to the Eye of the Judgment of Christians in general. These two are not the same Thing, but vastly diverse; and the latter may be, and yet not the former. If we should know so much of a Thousand Persons one after another, and from what we observed in them should have a prevailing Opinion concerning each one of them, singly taken, that they were indeed pious, and think the Judgment we passed, when we consider each Judgment apart, to be right; it won't follow, when we consider the whole Company collectively, that we shall have so high an Opinion of our own Judgment, as to think it probable, there was not one erroneous Judgment in the whole Thousand. We all have innumerable Judgments about one Thing or other, concerning religious, moral, secular, and philosophical Affairs, concerning past, present and future Matters, Reports, Facts, Persons, Things &c.&c. And concerning all the many thousand Dictates of Judgment that we have, we think 'em every one right, taken singly; for if there was any one that we thought wrong, it would not be our Judgment; and yet there is no Man, unless he is stupidly foolish, who when he considers all in the Gross, will say he thinks that every Opinion he is of, concerning all Persons and Things whatsoever, important and •rifling, is right, without the least Error. But the more clearly to illustrate this Matter, as it relates to Visibility, or probable Appearances of Holiness in Professors: Supposing it had been found by Experience concerning precious Stones, that such and such external Marks were probable Signs of a Diamond, and it is made evident, by putting together a great Number of Experiments, that the Probability is as Ten to one, and no more nor less▪ i. e. That, take one Time with another, there is one in Ten of the Stones that have these Marks (and no visible Signs to the contrary) proves a true Diamond, and no more;

'Tis not my Design, in holding the Negative of the foregoing Question, to affirm, that all who are regularly admitted as Members of the visible Church in compleat Standing, ought to be believed to be godly or gracious Persons, when taken collectively, or considered in the Gross, by the Judgment of any Person or Society. This may not be, and yet each Person taken singly may visibly be a gracious Person to the Eye of the Judgment of Christians in general. These two are not the same Thing, but vastly diverse; and the latter may be, and yet not the former. If we should know so much of a Thousand Persons one after another, and from what we observed in them should have a prevailing Opinion concerning each one of them, singly taken, that they were indeed pious, and think the Judgment we pass'd, when we consider each Judgment apart, to be right; it won't follow, when we consider the whole Company collectively, that we shall have so high an Opinion of our own Judgment, as to think it probable, there was not one erroneous Judgment in the whole Thousand. We all have innumerable Judgments about one Thing or other, concerning religious, moral, secular, and philosophical Affairs, concerning past, present and future Matters, Reports, Facts, Persons, Things &c.&c. And concerning all the many thousand Dictates of Judgment that we have, we think 'em every one right, taken singly; for if there was any one that we thought wrong, it would not be our Judgment; and yet there is no Man, unless he is stupidly foolish, who when he considers all in the Gross, will say he thinks that every Opinion he is of, concerning all Persons and Things whatsoever, important and rifling, is right, without the least Error. But the more clearly to illustrate this Matter, as it relates to Visibility, or probable Appearances of Holiness in Professors: Supposing it had been found by Experience concerning precious Stones, that such and such external Marks were probable Signs of a Diamond, and it is made evident, by putting together a great Number of Experiments, that the Probability is as Ten to one, and no more nor less i. e. That, take one Time with another, there is one in Ten of the Stones that have these Marks (and no visible Signs to the contrary) proves a true Diamond, and no more;