CHURCH

Definitions

1. 1. A building set apart for Christian worship.
2. 2. A Jewish or heathen temple. [Obs.] Acts xix. 37.
3. 3. A formally organized body of Christian believers worshiping together. "When they had ordained them elders in every church." Acts xiv. 23.
4. 4. A body of Christian believers, holding the same creed, observing the same rites, and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a denomination; as, the Roman Catholic church; the Presbyterian church.
5. 5. The collective body of Christians.
6. 6. Any body of worshipers; as, the Jewish church; the church of Brahm.
7. 7. The aggregate of religious influences in a community; ecclesiastical influence, authority, etc.; as, to array the power of the church against some moral evil. Remember that both church and state are properly the rulers of the people, only because they are their benefactors. Bulwer.