the matter of them alone. That no man can serve
God, or do any work acceptable unto him, until he be regenerated, and
brought into a state of grace.

These are some of the matters of faith that they should in some measure
be acquainted with and believe, that are admitted into full communion
with the Church of Christ. And these and other truths must not be known
and believed in a general, notional, light, and speculative manner; but
heartily, powerfully, and particularly: not for others, but for
themselves; otherwise their faith and knowledge will no way profit their
souls to salvation.

III. They must be qualified also with a blameless conversation. Their
conversation must be as becometh the gospel, otherwise they are not meet
for communion with the gospel church. Carnal walking will not suit
spiritual temples: for they will greatly pollute and defile them, and
stain and obscure their beauty and glory. Therefore they must not be
brawlers and contentious persons, covetous and worldly-minded, vain and
frothy. They must not be froward and peevish, nor defraud others of
their right. Nor must they neglect the worship of God in their families,
nor be careless in governing and educating them in good manners, and in
the things of God. They must not be such as are known to omit the
duties and ordinances of religion in their proper seasons, or to have
vicious families through their neglect: nor to have any other kind of
conversation hateful to God and to his people. And therefore, whatever
their profession be, they may not be admitted into the Church of God,
until they have repented of these, or any other scandal in their life
and conduct.

IV. They ought to be such as have chosen the Lord Jesus Christ for their
king and head, and dedicated and devoted themselves to him, to live in
him and for him: such as have singled him out, and set him apart, (as it
were,) to be the object of their love, trust, and delight, of their
service and obedience. They must have chosen and closed with him upon
his own terms, (i.e. _freely_,) renouncing and rejecting all their own
righteousness, worthiness, interest, and sufficiency, and choosing and
appropriating him to themselves, for their righteousness, worthiness,
portion, and sufficiency, under a sight and conviction of their own
emptiness and deformity; and with a heart-satisfied persuasion of the
loveliness and fulness of Christ.

V. All this must be done seriously, humbly, and heartily, so