“See,” saith the eunuch, “here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayst. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Therefore this article believed “Jesus is the Christ,” is sufficient to baptism, that is to say, to our reception into the kingdom of God, and by consequence, only necessary. And generally in all places where our Saviour saith to any man, “Thy faith hath saved thee,” the cause He saith it, is some confession, which directly, or by consequence, implieth a belief that “Jesus is the Christ.”
The last argument is from the places where this article is made the foundation of faith: for he that holdeth the foundation shall be saved. Which places are first, Matt. 24:23–24: “If any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or there, believe it not; for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,” etc. Here we see this article, “Jesus is the Christ,” must be held, though he that shall teach the contrary should do great miracles. The second place is, Gal. 1:8: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” But the gospel which Paul and the other apostles preached, was only this article, that “Jesus is the Christ”; therefore for the belief of this article, we are to reject the authority of an angel from heaven; much more of any mortal man, if he teach the contrary. This is therefore the fundamental article of Christian faith. A third place is (1 John 4:1–2), “Beloved, believe not every spirit; hereby ye shall know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.” By which it is evident that this article is the measure and rule by which to estimate and examine all other articles; and is therefore only fundamental. A fourth is, Matt. 16:16, 18, where after St. Peter had professed this article, saying to our Saviour, “Thou art Christ the Son of the living God,” our Saviour answered, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”; from whence I infer that this article is that on which all other doctrines of the Church are built, as on their foundation. A fifth is (1