68 The Inf tt itution and Government &c. A Jew that before this Time wa, known after the Flefh, as being lineally defcended from Abraham, born a Member of the Church, circumcifed the Eighth Day, hath from this Time no more Notice taken of him than a Gentile, till in the Judgment of Charity he be New- born : i Cor. xii. 13. By one Spirit are ye all baptized into one Body, and made to drink into one' Spirit, whether yew or Gentile. Thole Jews that gladly received the Word, Acts ii. 41. were not Church-Members antece- dent thereunto ; if they were, why is it faid, They were added to them, (that is, the Church) the fame Day ? T have already !hewed that Faith only, makes not the Parent a Church - Member, therefore it makes not the Children fuch. z. Co- habitation makes not a Perfon a Member of an inflituted Church ; there is no fuch Thing as a Parochial Church of divine Appointment; we read of the Church. of God at Corinth, but we read not that Corinth was the Church of God. The whole City was not the Church, nor were there more of the Corinthians that did belong to the Church, than fuch ae were fancified in Chrift Jefùs, called to be Saints. There was a Church in Rome, but Rome was never a true Church ; Pagans and Chriftians may cohabit, as the Believer and the Unbeliever did, I Cor. vii. Yet thole Pagans were not Members of the Church at Corinth. 3 Tranfient Communion with a Church doth not form a Perfon a Member : A Member of one Church may have occafional Communion with another, yet that doth not difmifs him from his Place where he flood before, nor tranflate his Memberfhip from one Church to another; barely Communion with a particular Church Both not incorporate a Perfon into that particular Body ; nor is it regular to have Communion with any one Church in the Supper, till fuch Time as a Perlon is a fixed Member of force one Church or other. It is an unprecedented Cafe. They were firft added unto the Church, Acts ii, 40. be- fore they had Fe]lowfhip with them in breaking of Bread, were 4a.. 4. Baptifiu
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