dunt per istam famam: manet Christus apud eos biduo, CHAP. VI et multo plures et firmius in Eum credunt quoniam vere ipse est Salvator Mundi. See also FIELD, Of the Church, p. 355. Jo. GERHARD de Ecclesiâ, t. v. pp. 299. 318.

Q. What inferences do we then derive from Scripture with respect to the Church?

"In

A. From Christ speaking to us in Holy Scripture we learn which is His true Church. Sacro Codice Ipsum CAPUT ostendit nobis corpus suum." Christ shows us Scripture by her ministry the Scripture shows us the Church by Christ speaking therein'.

:

1 S. AUG. de Unit. Ecclesiæ, c. 4, et c. 16. Ecclesiam corpus Christi, sicut ipsum Caput, in ipsis Scripturis debemus agnoscere. See above, chap. iv. S. AUG. de Symb. ad Catechum. iv. c. 13. Scripturæ sunt tabulæ matrimoniales Christi et Sponsæ Ejus, quæ est Ecclesia.

Abp. LAUD, p. 103. After we are moved, prepared, and induced by tradition (of the Church, to believe Scripture to be the Word of God), we resolve our faith into the written Word; in which we find materially, though not in terms, the very tradition that led us thither. And so we are sure, by Divine authority, that we are in the way, because at the end we find the way proved. Bp. CARLETON Contra Trident. p. 162.

Q. By what name do we call those writings which are received by the Church as inspired? A. Canonical1.

1 RUFFIN. in Symbol. ad calc. Cypriani. Hæc sunt quæ Patres intra Čanonem concluserunt, ex quibus fidei nostræ assertiones constare voluerunt.

S. AUG. de Doct. Christ. lib. iv. tom. iii. p. 113. Canonem in auctoritatis arce salubriter collocatum. In S. Joann. cxii. Libri, quos in auctoritatem Canonicam recipit Ecclesia. And ii. pp. 285-287.

XXXIX ARTICLES, Art. vi. Canonical Books, - of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive.

Q. What is the derivation and meaning of this word Canonical?

E

PART I.

A. It comes from the Greek, κavòv, a rule; and Canonical Scriptures are those which are the Rule of Christian Faith and Practice.

Q. What were the rejected Books called by the early Church?

A. Apocryphal1.

1 BINGHAM, Antiquities, X. 1. 7; XIV. III. 15.

Q. Whence is this word derived, and what does it mean?

A. It is derived from the Greek ȧnò, from, and κρúnтw, to hide; and it generally designated those Books which were kept apart, and not read in the Church'.

1 RUFFIN. in Symbol. Apostol. 38, apud Cyprian. p. 26, ed. Fell, ad fin. Cæteras Scripturas (beside the Canonical and Ecclesiastical) Apocryphas nominarunt, quas in Ecclesiis legi noluerunt.

Q. How then does it happen, that the majority of the Books (seven of the twelve), which are called Apocrypha in our English Bible, are read in the Church of England?

A. These Books, which are so read, were not commonly called Apocryphal by the ancient Church, but Ecclesiastical', and were read in the Christian Church (Ecclesia), (though not in the Synagogues of the Jews,) "for example of life and instruction of manners, but not to establish any doctrine';" and are by some authors, in a restricted sense, sometimes even called Canonical3, as being found in the Canon or Sacred Catalogue of certain Churches; and they are not to be confounded with those which were called Apocryphal in early times, and which were not received or read by the Church.

1 RUFFIN. in Symbol. c. 38. Alii libri sunt qui non Canonici sed Ecclesiastici a majoribus appellati sunt, ut est Sapientia Solomonis, et alia Sapientia quæ dicitur Filii Sirach, (hence now called кar' çoxu Ecclesiasticus,) qui

liber apud Latinos hoc ipso generali vocabulo Ecclesiasticus CHAP. VI vocatur, quo non auctor libelli sed scripturæ qualitas cognominata est. Ejusdem ordinis est libellus Tobiæ et Judith et Machabæorum libri-quæ omnia legi quidem in Ecclesiis voluerunt, non tamen proferri ad auctoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam. Cf. Bp. COSIN, p. 57, et S. Athanas. ibid. p. 58, where he distinguishes between Apocryphal and Ecclesiastical books, τὰ ἀπόκρυφα οὔτε ἐν τοῖς κανονικοῖς οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς ἀριθμεῖται.

HOOKER, V. Xx. 7-10. We read in our Churches certain books besides the Scripture, yet as the Scripture we read them not. Bp. PEARSON, Vind. Ignat. i. p. 41. Bp. BULL, Def. Fid. Nic. I. II. 3. ROUTH, Rel. Sacr. i. p. 251.

2 S. HIERON. Præf. ad lib. Salomonis. Ad ædificationem plebis, non ad auctoritatem dogmatum.

i.

XXXIX ARTICLES, Art. vi. and Bp. BEVERIDGE on it, p. 274.

3 Bp. Cosin, p. 104. Bp. JEWEL, 197, 198.

Q. In what language were the Canonical Books written?

A. Those of the Old Testament, in Hebrew; those of the New Testament, in Greek.

Q. Ought any Version or Translation of the Scriptures to be received as of equal authority with the Original?

A. Certainly not: every Version of the Scriptures, both as a Version, and as the work of man, must yield to the original Word of God'. The human stream cannot rise to a level with the Divine source'.

1 S. AUG. de Doctr. Christ. ii. 16. Latinæ linguæ homines duabus aliis ad Scripturarum divinarum cognitionem opus habent, Hebræa scilicet et Græcá, ut ad exemplaria præcedentia recurratur, si quam dubitationem attulerit Latinorum interpretum infinita varietas: et (ii. 22) Latinis quibuslibet emendandis Græci adhibeantur, in quibus LXXII Interpretum, quod ad Vetus Testamentum attinet, excellit auctoritas. Consistently with this statement a distinction may be made to a certain extent in favour of the Septuagint, as a Version rising in some degree towards the authority of a Text, from its use by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. See Pocock's Life, pp. 307. 321, and Bp. PEARSON, Minor Works, ii. 246.

PART I.

259. 264-5. Bp. WALTON'S Prolegom. ix. GRINFIELD'S Apology for the LXX, p. 140.

2 S. HIERON. ad Damas. Ad Hebraicam linguam tanquam ad fontem revertendum in Vetere Testamento. S. HIERON. Præf. ad IV. Evangelia. In Novo Testamento ad Græcam originem revertendum. See also his Epist. ad Lucin. Bæt., and particularly his Epistle ad Suniam ii. p. 627, on the two editions of the LXX.

REFORMATIO Legum Eccles. De Fide Cathol. c. 12. Cæterum in lectione D. Scripturarum, si quæ occurrerint ambigua vel obscura in Vetere Testamento, earum interpretatio ex fonte Hebraica veritatis petatur: in Novo autem Græci codices consulantur.

Pietro SOAVE, Storia di Concilio Tridentino, lib. ii. p. 159, ed. 1629. CASAUBON. Exerc. Baron. xiii. p. 243. Dr. R. BENTLEY, Serm. v. Nov. 1715, iii. p. 247, ed. Dyce, and other authorities quoted in the Appendix of the present Author's Volume "On the CANON OF SCRIPTURE," 1851, and his Introduction to 2 Peter, pp. 73-78.

CHAPTER VII.

ON PRIVILEGES IN THE CHURCH.

Right Interpretation of the Word of God.

Q. You said that the Church is the Interpreter of God's Word; how is this the case?

A. First, and that negatively, as not being a Legislator; that is, not legislatively, but judicially, not by making laws, but by explaining and declaring those which God has promulgated. She has no power against the truth, but for the truth, and may not "so expound one place of 2 Cor. xiii.8. Scripture that it be repugnant to another."

Art. XX.

Scripture is our only Rule of Faith. The Church aids us in the right application of the Rule. The doctrinal interpretations of God's Word, which have been generally declared and received by the Universal Church from the beginning, and are ascertained from her Creeds, Confessions of

Faith, Liturgies, and the practice of the Church; and from Commentaries on Scripture, and from consentient expositions of the most eminent Divines and Preachers, are justly concluded to be true': and those which are novel may be presumed to be false: "Id verius quod prius, id prius quod ab initio "."

1 ARTICLE XX. Bp. ANDREWES on Decalogue, pp. 54. -56.

2 TERTULLIAN c. Marcion. iv. 5.

Bp. BULL, ii. p. 238, ed. Oxf. 1827. The primitive Catholic Church ought to be the standard by which we are to judge of the orthodoxy and purity of all other succeeding Churches, according to that excellent rule of

TERTULLIAN, Præscript. Hæret. c. 21. Constat omnem doctrinam, quæ cum Ecclesiis Apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fide conspiret, veritati esse deputandam, sine dubio tenentem quod Ecclesiæ ab Apostolis, Apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit; omnem vero doctrinam de mendacio præjudicandam, quæ sapiat contra veritatem Ecclesiarum et Christi et Dei.

King CHARLES I. Fifth Paper to Mr. Henderson. My conclusion is, that, albeit I never esteemed any authority equal to the Scriptures, yet I do think the unanimous Consent of the Fathers and the universal Practice of the primitive Church to be the best and most authentical Interpreters of God's Word.

Bp. SANDERSON, Prælect. p. 79. Admonendi estis, judicio et praxi universalis Ecclesia in Sacrarum Literarum Interpretatione plurimum deferri oportere. See the citations from Abp. WAKE, Bp. STILLINGFLEET, and Dr. WATERLAND, on the Value of Ecclesiastical Antiquity.

Q. But if what you have said be so, might it not be objected that our faith rests on the authority, not of the Bible, but of the Church?

A. No. The Church and the Bible are both from God: the one is God's Kingdom, the other is His Word. As soon as we are conscious of any thing, we find the Church with Holy Scripture in her hands, and appointed by God to deliver it to us, and to instruct us in its meaning The Church speaks to us ministerially, the Bible authoritatively'.