CHAP. uncharitable, and unchristian religion,) no body can be saved. XVIII. Wherein they have set themselves at open defiance with the Church, and cursed that which God hath blessed. But, while we are in awe of S. John's curse, we fear not theirs; and, by the grace of God, our foundation, which is built upon the Prophets and Apostles, standeth sure. Rev. 22. 18. Ephes. 2. 20. 2 Tim. 2. 19. CHAPTER XIX. THE CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY OF ALL THE FORMER CHAPTERS. CXCIX. The conclusion therefore of all this discourse will be, That the religion of the Church of England, in her Article concerning the Holy Scriptures, (whereunto the public Confessions of the reformed and protestant Churches abroad, besides the Christians of the East and South parts of the world, be agreeable,) is truly Catholic:-That the ancient Church of the Old Testament acknowledged no other books to be canonical, than we do:-That our blessed Saviour, and His Apostles after Him, received no other:-That the several ages following adhered to the same canon :-That the authors of the books of Tobit, and Judith, and the rest of that order, were no prophets inspired of God to write His authentical Deiparæ semper Virginis, necnon aliorum Sanctorum, habendas et retinendas esse, atque eis debitum honorem ac venerationem impertiendam :] Indulgentiarum [etiam] potestatem [a Christo in Ecclesia relictam fuisse, illarumque usum Christiano populo maxime salutarem esse, affirmo: sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam] Romanam Ecclesiam omnium Ecclesiarum matrem et magistram [agnosco:] Romanum Pontificem B. Petri successorem, et Jesu Christi Vicarium: [The exact words are: Romanoque Pontifici, beati Petri, Apostolorum Principis, successori, ac Jesu Christi Vicario, veram obedientiam spondeo ac juro:] Cætera item omnia [a sacris canonibus, et œcumenicis conciliis, ac præcipue] a [sacrosancta] Tridentina synodo tradita, definita, et declarata, indubitanter recipio atque profiteor; simulque contraria omnia, atque hæreses (quascunque] ab Ecclesia (Romana prædicta) damnatas, rejectas, et anathematizatas, ego pariter damno, rejicio, [et] anathematizo. Hanc veram Catholicam Fidein, extra quam nemo salvus esse po test, quam in præsenti sponte profiteor, et] veraciter teneo, [eamdem integram et immaculatam, usque ad extremum vitæ spiritum constantissime (Deo adjuvante) retinere et confiteri, atque a meis subditis, vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spectabit, teneri, doceri, et prædicari, quantum in me erit, curaturum, ego idem N.] spondeo, voveo, ac juro: sic me Deus adjuvet, et hæc sancta Dei Evangelia. [Volumus autem, quod præsentes literæ in Cancellaria nostra Apostolica de more legantur. Et, ut omnibus facilius pateant, in ejus Quinterno describantur, et etiam imprimantur.] Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostræ voluntatis et mandati infringere, quis autem hoc attentare præsumpse[vel ei ausu temerario contraire.] Si rit, indignationem Omnipotentis Dei, ac B. Petri et Pauli, Apostolorum Ejus, se noverit incursurum. [Datum Romæ apud sanctum Petrum, anno Incarnationis Dominicæ millesimo quingentesimo sexagesimo quarto, Idibus Novemb., Pontificatus nostri anno quinto.] SION. Scriptures: That they, who first put these deutero-canonical, CONCLU or ecclesiastical, books into the volume of the Bible, did not thereby intend to make them equal to the books of Moses and the Prophets, but only to recommend them unto the private and public reading of the Church, both for the many excellent precepts and examples of life that be in them, and for the better knowledge of the history and estate of God's people, from the time of the Prophets to the coming of Christ: That it is not in the power of the Roman Church, nor any other, either to make new articles of Faith, or to make any books sacred and canonical Scriptures, (so as to be the binding rules of our Faith and Religion,) which were not such in their own nature before, that is, certainly inspired by God, and by His authority only ordained to be such, from the time when they were first written: and, lastly,-That, adhering to the ancient Catholic Faith and Doctrine of the Church, we cannot admit or approve any such new decree as it hath lately pleased the masters of the council at Trent to make; who have not only obtruded these books upon their own people, to be received as true and authentical parts of the ancient Testament, but have likewise damned all the world besides, that will not recede from the universal consent of the Christian Church, and subscribe to that horrid anathema, whereby they have most rashly condemned so many ages of Fathers and writers before them. And, if there were no other cause to reject the pretended authority of this late and exorbitant assembly, (as there be many more,) this only is enough. CHAPTER XX. THE REMAINDER. CC. There remains nothing now, but that, having laid our foundation sure upon the canonical and undoubted Scriptures, wherein the will of God, and the mysteries of our whole religion, are revealed to us, we proceed from the e Nota: Ecclesia enim Testis tantum et Index est de receptis omni tempore Scripturis Sacris, quæ ab Ipso Deo primam et cælestem suam habent originem. Idcirco, neque quoad nos XX. 286 A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Scriptures. CHAP. truth and principles of our belief, to a righteous, sober, and holy regulation of our lives, in the strict and uniform prac tice of all religious duties and obligations, that these Divine Scriptures have laid upon us. COROLLARIUM. Canon Eccles. Anglic.-Ne quid unquam doceatur, quod religiose teneri et credi debeat, nisi quod consentaneum sit Doctrinæ Veteris et Novi Testamenti, quodque ex illa ipsa Doctrina Catholici Patres et Veteres Episcopi collegerint. DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO, SACRARUM SCRIPTURARUM CONDITORI, Laus, Honor, Sæculorum. Editus est hic Canon, una cum Articulis Religionis, Anno Domini 1571. [Vid. Lib. Quorundam Canonum Disciplinæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, ed. anno 1571., sect. Concionatores, p. 19.-Imprimis vero videbunt, ne quid unquam doceant pro concione, quod a populo religiose teneri et credi velint, nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrinæ Veteris et Novi Testamenti, quodque ex illa ipsa Doctrina Catholici Patres et veteres Episcopi collegerint ; &c.-These canons are found published with the Latin Articles of 1562., ed. Lond. ap. Joh. Dayum, 1571.] regardeth not persons ; &c.] Abraham ... the friend of God NEHEM. viii. [1,] 2, [3,] 8, [9.] And Ezra the Scribe brought the book cxlvii. 19. He shewed His words unto Jacob, (and) His statutes PROVERBS iii. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee 11. My son, despise not (thou) the chastening of the Lord -viii. 15. By Me kings reign, &c. XXV. xvii. lxv. C. lxv. xxxvi. 22. The Lord from the beginning created me. [The Lord liv. xxxvi. 4. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremy all the NUMB JEREMY XXIX. These are the words of the letter, that Jeremy. lxi. ib. ib. AMOS V. 13. Jeremy the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah xxxvi. The appearance of the brightness. .. was as the like- In that time shall the prudent man keep silence MALACHY iii. 1. Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord lxxvi. APOCRYPHA. 1 ESDRAS iii. 12. Truth is the strongest. [Above all things Truth beareth away the victory.] 2 ESDRAS i. 30. I gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings viii. 3. There be many created, but few shall be saved Do that to no man, which thou hatest (to be done to [Remember] what things He did to Abraham ... Then Mordechy said: I remember a dream, &c. lvi., lxxi. (The righteous man) is speedily taken away, lest vii. 26. (Wisdom) is the brightness of everlasting light Ptolemy, after I came into Egypt. [For in the xxxvi. ib. - lxxxviii. [See the Table of Matters remarkable in this book, at the word Baruch.] |