THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE,

RECITED IN THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF RELIGION, SET FORTH BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, ANN. DOM. MDLXII.

HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

And the other books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth

read for example of life, and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.

All the books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them canonical.

THE NEW CANON OF SCRIPTURE, FIRST SET

FORTH BY THE COUNCIL OF TRENT,

AND AFTER CONFIRMED, AND DECLARED TO BE RECEIVED WITH
OTHER ARTICLES OF FAITH, BY THE BULLS OF POPE PIUS THE
FOURTH, ANNO DOM. MDLX.

CONC. TRID. SESS. IV. DECRET. I.

DECRET. DE CANON. SCRIPTURIS.

[Vid. Labbe, tom. xiv.

col. 744,

SS. SYNODUS, præsidentibus in ea tribus Apostolicæ et seq.] Sedis Legatis,... perspiciens Veritatem salutarem et morum disciplinam contineri in Libris Scriptis, et sine Scripto traditionibus, . . . orthodoxorum Patrum exempla secuta, omnes libros tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti, (cum utriusque unus Deus sit Auctor,) nec non traditiones ipsas, tum ad Fidem, tum ad Mores pertinentes, tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo, vel a Sp. S. dictatas, et continua successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas, pari pietatis affectu, ac reverentia, suscipit et veneratur.

Sacrorum vero librorum indicem huic decreto adscribendum censuit, ne cui dubitatio suboriri possit, quinam sint, qui ab ipsa Synodo suscipiuntur.

Sunt vero infra scripti:

Test. V.-Quinque Mosis, Jos., Judic., Ruth, IV Reg., II Paralip., Esdræ I. et II., (qui dicitur Nehem.,) Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, Psalterium David. CL. Psal., Parab., Ecclesiastes, Cantic. Canticorum, Sapientia, Ecclesiasticus, Esaias, Hieremias cum Baruch, Ezech., Daniel, XII Proph. Minores, Duo Maccabæorum, I. et II.

Test. N.-Quatuor Evang., &c.

Si quis autem libros ipsos integros cum omnibus suis partibus, prout in Ecclesia Catholica legi consueverunt, et in

COSIN.

veteri vulgata Latina editione habentur, pro Sacris et Canonicis non susceperit, et traditiones prædictas sciens et prudens contempserit, anathema sit.

Omnes itaque intelligant, quo ordine et via ipsa Synodus, post jactum Fidei Confessionis fundamentum, sit progressura; et quibus potissimum testimoniis ac præsidiis, in confirmandis dogmatibus, et instaurandis in Ecclesia moribus, sit usura.

[Vid. Labbe,

tom. xiv.

col. 944, et seq.]

BULLA PAPE PII QUARTI,

Super Forma Juramenti Profess. Fidei
Juxta Concil. Trid., in fine ejusd. Conc.

Item omnia . . . a SS. Trid. Synodo tradita, definita, et declarata, indubitanter recipio, atque profiteor: simulque contraria omnia... damno, rejicio, (et) anathematizo. Hanc veram Catholicam Fidem, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest, ... veraciter teneo; (et) eandem integram a meis teneri curaturum me spondeo, voveo, ac juro. Sic me Deus adjuvet, et hæc S. Dei Evangelia; &c.

...

TO THE READER.

VI. Eccl.

In this Scholastical History I give an account of the canonical and indubitate books of Holy Scripture, as they are numbered in the VI. Article of Religion set forth by the Vid. Art. Church of England, and have been received by the Catholic Angl.supra Church in all several ages, since the time of the Apostles, till the Church of Rome thought fit to compose and dress up a new additional canon thereof for themselves in their late Council of Trent:

recit.

cret. Conc.

Where it was one of the first things they did, to lay this Vid. Defoundation for all their new religion, which they built upon it, Trid. su-"That the apocryphal writings and traditions of men were pra recitat. nothing inferior, nor less canonical, than the sovereign dictates of God, as well for the confirmation of doctrinal points pertaining to Faith, as for the ordering of life and manners,—but that both the one and the other ought to be embraced with the same affection of piety, and received with the like religious reverence," not making any difference between them.

Those writings of holy and learned men, who have been (next after the Prophets and Apostles) as the shining lights of the world in their several generations before us, we reverence and honour in their kind; and those ecclesiastical traditions, which have been in use among us, and tend to the better preservation of order and piety in that Religion only, "which was once delivered to the saints," we acknow- S. Jud. ledge and receive, as far as their own variable nature and Fidei condition requireth, with all due regard: but to make either sanctis of these equal in dignity or authority with the Divine Will traditæ. and Word of God, (as the masters of the assembly at Trent have done,) and, above all this, to canonize a tradition which

ver. 3.

semel