Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	apostle_n	deacon_n	presbyter_n	3,199	5	9.7644	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86417	Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society. Or, A dissertation concerning man in his severall habitudes and respects, as the member of a society, first secular, and then sacred. Containing the elements of civill politie in the agreement which it hath both with naturall and divine lawes. In which is demonstrated, both what the origine of justice is, and wherein the essence of Christian religion doth consist. Together with the nature, limits, and qualifications both of regiment and subjection. / By Tho: Hobbes.; De cive. English	Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.; Vaughan, Robert, engraver.	1651 (1651)	Wing H2253; Thomason E1262_1; ESTC R202404	220,568	406

those Churches who having cast off the Emperours were yet content to admit the Doctours of Rome XXIII They may be called Church-men who exercise a publique office in the Church But of offices there was one a Ministery another a Maistery The office of the Ministers was to serve Tables to take care of the temporall goods of the Church and to distribute at that time when all propriety of riches being abolisht they were fed in common to each man his portion The Maisters according to their order were called some Apostles some Bishops some Presbyters that is to say Elders yet not so as that by the name of Presbyter the age but the office might be d●stinguisht For Timothy was a Presbyter although a young man but because for the most part the Elders were receiv'd into the Maistership the word denoting age was us'd to signifie the office The same Maisters according to the diversity of their employments were called some of them Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors or Teachers And the Apostolicall worke indeed was universall the Propheticall to declare their owne revelations in the Church the Evangelicall to preach or to be publishers of the Gospell among the infidels that of the Pastors to teach confirme and rule the minds of those who already beleev'd XXIV In the Election of Church-men two things are to be considered the Election of the Persons and their consecration or institution which also is called ordination The first twelve Apostles CHRIST himselfe both elected and ordain'd After CHRISTS asc●nsion Matthias was elected in the roome of Judas the Traitour the Church which at that time consisted of a Congregation of about one hundred and twenty men choosing two men And they appointed two Joseph and Matthias but God himselfe by lot approving of Ma●●ias And Saint Paul calls these twelve the first and great Apostles also the Apostles of the Circumcision Afterward were added two other Apostles Paul and Barnabas ordain'd indeed by the Doctours and Prophets of the Church of A●…h which was a particular Church by the imposition of hands but elected by the command of the Holy Ghost That they were both Apostles is manifest in the 13. of the Acts v. 2 3. That they receiv'd their Apostleship from hence namely because they were separated by command of the spirit for the work of God from the rest of the Prophets and Doctours of the Church of Antioch Saint Paul himselfe shewes who calls himselfe for distinctions sake an Apostle separated unto the Gospell of God Rom. 1. ver 1. But if it be demanded further by what authority it came to passe that that was receiv'd for the command of the Holy Ghost which those Prophets and Doctours did say proceeded from him it must necessarily be answer'd by the Authority of the church of Antioch for the Prophets Doctours must be examined by the Church before they be admitted For Saint John saith Beleeve not every Spitit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world but by what Church but that to which that Epistle was written In like manner Saint Paul reprooves the Churches of Galatia because they Judaized Gal. 2. v. ●…4 although they seemed to doe so by the Authority of Peter for when he had told them that he had reprehended Peter himselfe with these words If thou being a Iew livest after the manner of Gentiles and not as doe the Iewes why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do● the Iewes Not long after he questions them saying This onely would I learne of you Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith Gal. 3. ver●… Where it is evident that it was Judaisme which he reprehended the Galathians for notwithstanding that the Apostle Peter compelled them to Judaize Seeing therefore it belonged to the Church and not to Peter and therefore also not to any man to determine what Doctors they should follow it also pertained to the authority of the Church of Antioch to elect their Prophets and Doctors Now because the Holy Ghost separated to himself the Apostles Paul Barnabas by the imposition of hands from Doctors thus elicted its manifest that imposition of hands consecration of the prime Doctors in each Church belongs to the Doctors of the same Church But Bishops who were also called Presbyters although all Presbyters were not Bishops were ordain'd somtimes by Apostles for Paul Barnabas when they had taught in Derbe Lystra and I●onium ordained Elders in every Church Acts 14. v. 23. sometimes by other Bishops for Titus was by Paul left in Crete that he should ordain Elders in every City Tit. 1. v. 5. And Timothy was advised not to neglect the gift that was in him which was given him by Prophesy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery 1. Tim. 4. v. 14 And he had rules given him concerning the Election of Presbyters But that cannot be understood otherwise then of the ordination of those who were elected by the Church for no man could constitute a Doctor in the Church but by the Churches permission For the duty of the Apostles themselves was not to command but to teach and although they who were recommended by the Apostles or Presbyters were not rejected for the esteem that was had of the recommenders yet seeing they could not be elected without the will of the Church they were also suppos'd elected by the authority of the Church In like manner Ministers who are called Deacons were ordained by the Apostles yet elected by the Church for when the seven Deacons were to bee elected and ordained the Apostles elected them not but look yee out say they among you Brethren seven men of honest report c. And they chose Stephen c. And they set them before the Apostles Acts 6. vers 13. 6. It is apparent therefore by the custome of the Primitive Church under the Apostles that the ordination or consecration of all Church-men which is done by prayer and imposition of hands belonged to the Apostles and Doctors but the Election of those who were to be consecrated to the Church XXV Concerning the power of binding and loosing that is to say of remitting and retaining of sinnes there is no doubt but it was given by Christ to the Pastors then yet for to come in the same manner as it was to the present Apostles now the Apostles had all the power of remitting of sins given them which Christ himselfe had As the Father hath sent me sayes Christ so send I you John 20. vers 21. and he addes Whose soever sins yee remit they are remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained vers 23. But what binding and loosing or remitting and retaining of sinnes is admits of some scruple For first to retain his sinnes who being baptized into remission of sins is truly penitent seems to be against the very Covenant it selfe of

in each City have obtained the Soveraignty the supreme authority of judging determineing al manner of cōtroversies about temporal matters we must see henceforth to whom he hath left the same authority in matters spirituall Which because it cannot bee known except it be out of the word of God and the Tradition of the Church we must enquire in the next place what the word of God is what to interpret it what a Church is and what the will and command of the Church To omit that the word of God is in Scripture taken sometimes for the Sonne of God it is used three manner of wayes First most properly for that which God hath spoken Thus whatsoever God spake unto Abraham the Patriar●hs Moses and the Prophets our Saviour to his Disciples or any others is the word of God Secondly whatsoever hath been uttered by men on the motion or by Command of the Holy Ghost in which sense we acknowledge the Scriptures to be the word of God Thirdly in the New Testament indeed the word of God most frequently signifies the Doctrine of the Gospell or the word concerning God or the word of the Kingdome of God by CHRIST as where it is said that CHRIST preach't the Gospell of the Kingdome Mat. 4. vers 23. Where the Apostles are said to preach the word of God Acts 13. vers 46. Where the word of God is called the word of life Acts 5. vers 20. The word of the Gospell Acts 15. vers 7. The word of faith Rom. 10. vers 8. The word of truth that is to say adding an interpretation The Gospel of salvation Eph. 1. 13. And where it is called the word of the Apostles For Saint Paul sayes If any man obey not our word c. 2. Thess 3. vers 14. which places cannot be otherwise meant then of the doctrine Evang●licall In like manner where the word of God is said to be sowen to encrease and to be multiplied Acts 12. vers 24. and Chap. 13. vers 49. it is very hard to ceive this to be spoken of the voye● of God or of his Apostles but of their doctrine easie And in this third acception is all that doctrine of the Christian faith which at this day is preacht in Pulpi●s and contained in the hooks of divines the word of God XVI Now the sacred Seripture is intirely the word of God in this second acception as being that which we acknowledge to be inspired from God and innumerable places of it in the first and seeing the greatest part of it is conversant either in the prediction of the Kingdome of Heaven or in prefigurations before the incarnation of CHRIST or in Evangelization and explication after The sacred Scripture is also the word of God and therefore the Canon and Rule of all Evangelicall Doctrine in this third signification where the word of God is taken for the word concerning God that is to say for the Gospel But because in the same Scriptures we read many things Politicall Historicall Morall Physicall and others which nothing at all concern the Myste●ies of our faith those places although they contain true doctrine and are the Canon of such kind of doctrines yet can they not be the Canon of the Mysteries of Christian Religion XVII And truly it is not the dead voyce or letter of the word of God which is the Canon of Christian doctrine but a true and genui●e determination For the minde is not governed by Scriptures unlesse they be understood There is need therefore of an Interpreter to make the Scriptures Canon and hence followes one of these two things that either the word of the Interpreter is the word of God or that the Canon of Christian doctrin is not the word of God The last of these must necessarily be false for the rule of that doctrine which cannot be knowne by any humane reason but by divine revelation only cannot be lesse then divine for whom we acknowledge not to be able to discern whether some doctrin be true or not its impossible to account his opinion for a rule in the same doctrine The first therefore is true That the word of an Interpreter of Scriptures is the word of God XVIII Now that Interpreter whose determination hath the honour to be held for the word of God is not every one that translates the Scriptures out of the Hebrew and Greek tongue to his Latine Auditors in Latine to his French in French and to other Nations in their mother tongue for this is not to interpret For such is the nature of speech in generall that although it deserve the chiefe place among those signes whereby we declare our conceptions to others yet cannot it perform that office alone without the help of many circumstances For the living voice hath its interpreters present to wit time place countenance gesture the Counsell of the Speaker and himselfe unfolding his own meaning in other words as oft as need is To recall these aids of interpretation so much desired in the writings of old time is neither the part of an ordinary wit nor yet of the quaintest without great learning and very much skill in antiquity It sufficeth not therefore for interpretation of Scriptures that a man understand the language wherein they speak Neither is every one an authentique Interpreter of Scriptures who writes Comments upon them For men may erre they may also either bend them to serve their own ambition or even resisting draw them into bondage by their forestallings whence it will follow that an erroneous sentence must be held for the word of God But although this could not happen yet as soon as these Commentators are departed their Commentaries will need explications and in processe of time those explications expositions those expositions new Commentaries without any end so as there cannot in any written Interpretation whatsoeve be a Canon o● Rule of Christian doctrine whereby the Controversies of Religion may be determined It remains that there must bee some Canonicall Interpreter whose legitimate Office it is to end Controversies begun by explaining the word of God in the judgements themselves and whose authority therefore must be no lesse obeyed then theirs who first recommended the Scripture it selfe to us for a Canon of faith and that one and the same Person be an Interpreter of Scripture and a supreme Judge of all manner of doctrines XIX What concerns the word Ecclesia or Church originally it signifies the same thing that Concio or a congregation does in Latin even as Ecclesiastes or Church-man the same that concionator or Preacher that is to say He who speaks to the Congregation In which sense wee read in the Acts of the Apostles of a Church confused and of a Lawfull Church Acts 19. vers 32 39. That taken for a Concourse of people meeting in way of tumult this for a convocated Assembly But in holy writ by a Church of Christians is sometimes understood the Assembly and sometimes

the Christians themselves although not actually assembled if they be permitted to enter into the Congregation and to communicate with them For example Tell it to the Church Mat. 18. vers 17. is meant of a Church assembled for otherwise it is impossible to tell any thing to the Church But Hee laid waste the Church Acts 8. vers 3. is understood of a Church not assembled Sometimes a Church is taken for those who are baptized or for the professors of the Christian ●aith whether they be Christians inwardly or feignedly as when we reade of somewhat said or writ●…n to the Church or said or decreed or done by the Church sometimes for the Elect onely as when it is called holy and without blemish Ephes 5. vers 27. But the Elect as they are militant are not properly called a Church for they know not how to assemble but they are a future Church namely in that day when sever'd from the reprobate they shall bee triumphant Againe a Church may bee ●ometimes taken for all Christians collectively as when Christ is called the head of his Church and the head of his body the Church Eph. 5. vers 23. Colos 1. vers 18. sometimes for its parts as the Church of Ephesus The Church which is in his house the seven Churches c. Lastly a Church as it is taken for a Company actually assembled according to the divers ends of their meeting signifies sometimes those who are met together to deliberate and judge in which sense it is also called a Councell a Synod sometimes those who meet together in the house of prayer to worship God in which signification it is taken in the 1 Cor. 14. vers 4 5. 23. 28. c. XX. Now a Church which hath personall Rights and proper actions attributed to it and of which that same must necessarily be understood Tell it to the church and he that obeys not the church and all such like ●ormes of speech is to be defin'd so as by that word may be understood A Multitude of men who have made a new Covenant with God in Christ that is to say a multitude of them who have taken upon them the Sacrament of Baptisme which multitude may both lawfully be call'd together by some one into one place and he so calling them are bound to be present either in Person or by others For a multitude of men if they cannot meet in assembly when need requires is not to be call'd a Person For a Church can neither speak nor discerne nor heare but as it is a congregation Whatsoever is spoken by particular men to wit as many opinions almost as heads that 's the speech of one man not of the Church farthermore if an assembly be made and it be unlawfull it shall be considered as ●●ll Not any one of these therefore who are present in a tumult shall be tyed to the decree of the rest but specially if he dissent and therefore neither can such a Church make any decree for then a multitude is sayd to decree somewhat when every man is oblig'd by the decree of the major part We must therefore grant to the definition of a Church to whith we attribute things belonging to a Person not onely a possibility of assembling but also of doing it lawfully Besides although there be some one who may lawfully call the rest together yet if they who are called may lawfully not appeare which may happen among men who are not subject one to another that same Church is not one Person For by what Right they who being call'd to a certaine time and place doe meet together are one Church by the same others flocking to another place appointed by them are another Church And every number of men of one opinion is a Church and by Consequence there will be as many Churches as there are divers opinions that is to say the same multitude of men will at once prove to be one and many Churches Wherefore a Church is not one except there be a certaine and known that is to say a lawfull power by meanes whereof every man may be oblig'd to be present in the Congregation either himselfe in person or by Proxie and that becomes One and is capable of personall functions by the union of a lawfull power of convocating Synods and assemblies of Christians not by uniformity of Doctrine and otherwise it is a multitude and Persons in the plurall howsoever agreeing in opinions XXI It followes what hath beene already said by necessary connexion that a City of Christian men and a Church is altogether the same thing of the same men term'd by two names for two causes For the matter of a City a Church is one to wit the same Christian men And the forme which consists in a Lawfull power of assembling them is the same too for 't is manifest that every Subject is oblig'd to come thither whither he is summon'd by his City Now that which is call'd a City as it is made up of men the same as it consists of Christians is styled a Church XXII This too is very cohaerent with the same points If there he many Christian Cities they are not altogether personally one church they may indeed by mutuall consent become one Church but no otherwise then as they must also become one City For they cannot assemble but at some certaine time and to some place appointed But Persons places and times belong to civill Right neither can any Subject or stranger lawfully set his foot on any place but by the permission of the City which is Lord of the place But the things which cannot lawfully be done but by the permission of the City those if they be lawfully done are done by the Cities authority The Universall church is indeed one mysticall body whereof CHRIST is the head but in the same manner that all men together acknowledging God for the Ruler of the world are one Kingdome and one C●ty which notwithstanding is neither one Person nor hath it one common action or determination Farthermore where it is said that CHRIST is the head of his body the Church it manifestly appeares that that was spoken by the Apostle of the Elect who as long as they are in this world are a Church onely in potentiâ but shall not actually be so before they be separated from the reprobate and gather'd together among themselves in the day of Judgement The Church of Rome of old was very great but she went not beyond the bounds of her Empire and therefore neither was she Universall unlesse it were in that sense wherein it was also said of the City of Rome Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat when as yet he had not the twentieth part of it But after that the civill Empire was divided into parts the single Cities thence arising were so many Churches and that power which the Church of Rome had over them might perhaps wholy depend on the authority of

the new Testament and therefore could not be done by Christ himselfe much lesse by his Pastors and to remit the impenitent seems to be against the will of God the Father from whom Christ was sent to convert the world and to reduce men unto obedience Furthermore if each Pastor had an authority granted him to remit and retain sinnes in this manner all awe of Princes and civill Magistrates together with all kind of civill Government would be utterly destroyed For Christ hath said it nay even nature it ●elfe dictates that we should not feare them who slay the body but cannot kill the soule but rather feare him who can ca●t both soule and body into hell Mat. 10. vers 28. Neither is any man so mad as not to choose to yeeld obedience rather to them who can remit and retain their sinnes then to the powerfullest Kings Nor yet on the other side it is to be imagined that remission of sinnes is nothing else but an exemption from Ecclesiasticall punishments for what evill hath excommunication in it beside the eternall pains which are consequent to it or what benefit is it to be received into the Church if there were salvation out of it We must therefore hold That Pastors have power truly and absolutely to forgive sinnes but to the penitent and to retain them but of the impenitent But while men think that to Repent is nothing else but that every one condemn his Actions and change those Counsels which to himselfe seem sinfull and blameable there is an opinion risen that there may be repentance before any Confession of sinnes to men and that repentance is not an effect but a cause of Confession and thence the difficulty of those who say that the sins of the penitent are already forgiven in Baptisme and theirs who repent not cannot be forgiven at al is against Scripture and contrary to the words of Christ Whose soever sins ye remit c. We must therefore ●o resolve this difficulty know in the first place that a true acknowledgement of sin is Repentance for he that knows he hath sinned knows he hath erred but to will an errour is impossible therefore he that knowes he hath sinned wishes he had not done it which is to repent Farther where it may be doubtfull whether that which is done be a sin or not we must consider that repentance doth not precede confession of sins but is subsequent to it for there is no repentance but of sinnes acknowledged The penitent therefore must both acknowledge the fact and know it to be a sinne that is to say against the Law If a man therefore think that what he hath done is not against the Law its impossible he should repent of it Before repentance therefore its necessary there be an applicacation of the facts unto the Law but it s in vain to apply the facts unto the Law without an Interpreter for not the words of the Law but the sentence of the Law-giver is the rule of mens actions but surely either one man or some men are the Interpreters of the Law for every man is not judge of his own fact whether it be a sin or not wherefore the fact of which we doubt whether it be a sinne or not must be unfolded before some man or men and the doing of this is confession Now when the Interpreter of the Law hath judged the fact to bee a sinne if the sinner submit to his judgement and resolve with himselfe not to do so any more t is repentance and thus either it is not true repentance or else it is not antecedent but subsequent to confession These things being thus explained it is not hard to understand what kinde of power that of binding and loosing is for seeing in remission of sinnes there are two things considerable one the Judgement or Condemnation whereby the fact is judged to be a sinne the other when the Party condemned does acquiesce and obey the sentence that is to say Repents the remission of the sinne or if he repent not the Retention The first of these that is to say the Judging whether it be a sinne or not belongs to the Interpreter of the Law that is the Soveraign Judge the second namely Remission or retention of the sinne to the Pastor and it is that concerning which the power of binding and loosing is conversant And that this was the true meaning of our Saviour Christ in the institution of the same power is apparent in the 18. of Mat. vers 15 16 17 18. thus He there speaking to his Disciples sayes If thy Brother sinne against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him alone where we must observe by the way that if thy Brother sinne against thee is the same with if he doe thee injury and therefore Christ spake of those matters which belonged to the civill Tribunall he addes if he heare thee not that is to say if he deny that he hath done it or if having confest the fact he denies it to be unjustly done take with with thee yet one or two and if he refuse to heare them tell it the Church But why to the Church except that she might judge whether it were a sinne or not But if he refuse to hear the Church that is if he doe not submit to the Churches sentence but shall maintain that to be no sin which She Judges to be a sinne that is to say if he repent not for certain it is that no man repents himselfe of that action which She conceives not to be a sinne he saith not Tell it to the Apostles that we might know that the definitive sentence in the question whether it were a sin or not was not left unto them but to the Church but let him be unto thee sayes he as an Heathen or Publican that is as one out of the Church as one that is not baptized that is to say as one whose sinnes are retained For all Christians were baptized into remission of sinnes But because it might have been demanded who it was that had so great a power as that of withholding the benefit of Baptisme from the impenitent Christ shewes that the same Persons to whom he had given authority to baptize the penitent into the remission of sinns and to make them of heathen men Christians had also authority to retain their sins who by the Church should be adjudged to be impenitent and to make them of Christian men Heathens and therefore presently subjoynes Verily I say unto you Whose soever sinnes yee shall binde upon Earth they shall ●ee bound also in Heaven and whose soever sins yee shall loose upon Earth they shall be ●oosed also in Heaven Whence we may understand that the power of binding and loosing or of remitting and retaining of sinnes which is called in another place the power of the keyes is not different from the power given in another place in these words Goe and teach all Nations Baptizing them

for a Par●… because we suppose Justice Obedience and a mind reformed in all manner of vertues to be contained in it so when I say that the Faith of one Article i● sufficient 〈◊〉 salvation it may well be lesse wondred at seeing that in it so many other Articles are contained for these words Jesus is the Christ do signifie that Jesus was that Person whom God bad promised by his Prophets should come into the world to establish his Kingdom that is to say that Jesus is the Sonne of God the Creatour of Heaven and Earth born of a Virgin dying for the sinnes of them who should beleeve in Him that He● was Christ that is to say a King that He reviv'd for else He were not like to reign to judge the world and to reward every one according to his works for otherwise he cannot be a King also that men shall rise again for otherwise they are not like to come to judgement The whole Symbol of the Apostles is therefore contained in this one Article which notwithstanding I thought reasonable to contract thus because I found that many men for this alone without the rest were admitted into the Kingdome of God both by Christ and his Apostles as the Thief on the Crosse the Eu●uch baptized by Philip the two thousand men converted to the Church at once by Saint Peter But if any man be displeased that I doe not judge all those eternally damned who doe not inwardly assent to every Article defined by the Church and yet doe not contradict but if they be commanded doe submit I know not what I shall say to them for the most evident Testimonies of Holy Writ which doe follow doe wit●●old me from altering my opinion VII Secondly this is proved by the preaching of the Apostles For they were the Proclamers of his Kingdome neither did Christ send them to preach ought but the Kingdome of God Luke 9. vers 2. Act. 15. vers 6. And what they did after Christ his As●●n●●on may be understood by the accusation which was brought against them They drew Jason sa●… Saint Luke and certain Brethren unto the Rulers of the City ●rying These are th● men that have turned the world upside down and are come hither also whom Jason hath received and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King one Jesus Acts 17. vers 6 7. It appears also what the subject of the Apostles Sermons was out of these words Opening and alleadging out of the Scriptures to wit of the old Testament that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that THIS JESUS IS THE CHRIST Acts 17. vers 2 3. VIII Thirdly By the places in which the easinesse of those thing● which are required by Christ to the attaining of salvation is declared For if an internall assent of the minde were necessarily required to the truth of all and each Proposition which this day is controverted about the Christian Faith or by divers Churches is diversly defined there would be nothing more difficult then the Christian Religion and how then would that be true My yoke is easie and my burthen light Mat. 11. vers 30. and that litle ones doe beleeve in Him Mat. 18. vers 6. and that it pleased God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to save those that beleeve 1 Cor. 1. vers 21. or how was the thiefe hanging on the Crosse sufficiently instructed to salvation The confession of whose Faith was contained in these words Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome or how could Saint Paul himselfe from an enemy so soon become a Doctor of Christians IX Foutthly by this that that Article is the foundation of Faith neither rests it on any other foundation If any man shall say unto you Loe here is Christ or He is there beleeve it ●ot for there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders c. Mat. 24. vers 23. Whence it followes that for the Faiths sake which we have in this Article we must not beleeve any signes and wonders Although we or an Augell from Heaven saith the Apostle should preach to you any other Gospel then what we have preacht let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. By reason of this Article therefore we might not trust the very Apostles and Angels themselves and therefore I conceive not the Church neither if they should teach the contrary Beloved beleeve not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world hereby know yee the spirit of God every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God c. 1 John 4. vers 1 2. That Article therefore is the measure of the Spitits whereby the authority of the Doctors is either received or rejected It cannot be denied indeed but that all who at this day are Christians did learn from the Doctors that it was Jesus who did all those things whereby he might be acknowledged to be the Christ yet it followes not that the same Persons beleeved that Article for the Doctors or the Churches but for Jesus his own sake for that Article was before the Christian Church although all the rest were after it and the Church was founded upon it not it upon the Church Mat. 16. vers 18. Besides this Article that Jesus is the Christ is so fundamentall that all the rest are by Saint Paul said to be built upon it For other foundation can no man lay then that which is layd which is Jesus Christ that is to say that Jesus is the Christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stone wood hay stubble every mans work shall be made manifest if a●y mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward if any mans work shall be bu●nt he shall suffer losse ●ut he himselfe shall be sa●ed 1 Cor. 3 vers 11 12 13. c. From whence it plainly appears that by foundation is understood this Article THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST For gold and silver precious stones wood hay stubble whereby the Doctrines are signified are not built upon the Person of Christ and also that false Doctrines may be raised upon this foundation yet not so as they must necessarily be damned who teach them X. Lastly that this Article alone is needfull to he inwardly beleeved may be most evidently proved out of many places of holy Scriptures let who will be the Interpreter Search the Scriptures for in them yee think yee have eternall life and they are they which testify of me John 5. 39. But Christ meant the Scriptures of the old Testament only for the new was then not yet written Now there is no other testimony concerning Christ in the old Testament but that an eternall King was to come in such a place that He was to be born of such Parents