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CHAPTER XXIII.
OF THE CHURCH.
"The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
"As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith."—Article XIX.
§ 1. "The term 'Church' imports a congregation, and an assembly met together to unite in acts of celebration. … The name 'Church,' as we have said, has this signification, for Christ does not call material foundations and stones a 'Church,' but the congregation which believe on Him." See Appendix B., Part III., c. 8.
§ 2. "Blessed art thou, O Church, for behold the commemoration of thy sanctification has been celebrated: for the Father has had pleasure in thy sons and daughters, and the Son has renewed thy foundations, and the Holy Ghost the Comforter has descended and sanctified thee by His grace, and set up within thee priests to preach the true faith, and has delivered unto thee His sacraments as a pledge of the forgiveness of thy children. Therefore confess and worship the Messiah, the King, who has magnified thee." From the service for the first Sunday of the Sanctification of the Church; from the Khudhra.
§ 3. "Thy Church possesses a heavenly treasure and great wealth, O our Saviour, in those sacraments and ordinances which Thou hast given us. She keeps these, and preaches the great Book of Thy Gospel, and the adorable wood of Thy cross, the emblem of Thy humanity. Great are the sacraments of her
