53. To know and acknowledge its God is the first thing of the church, for the reason that without this there is no safety; as may be manifest from the Jews, that when they did not worship Jehovah, although they were steadfast in their other rites, they were accursed. (Passages from the Word.) Then that the Lord so often said, Because they believe, therefore it is done to them - for this was then the first thing, to believe in the Lord, and to believe that to Him was all authority; and because of their former faith, He said, "the Father" before them, but He meant Himself, as is plain from many passages. (Let the passages be quoted.) This knowledge and acknowledgment conjoin; and without them there is no conjunction, and thus no salvation.