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First and Second of Kings; the First and Second of Chronicles; the books of Ezra and of Nehemiah, and the first ten chapters of that of Esther; fifteen books of the Prophets, that is, the three Major and the twelve Minor Prophets; the books of Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticles, Daniel, and of the Lamentations of Jeremiah: All these books are contained in the Old Testament. Those of the New Testament are the following: The Four Evangelists; one book of the Acts of the Apostles; thirteen of St. Paul's Epistles; the Epistle to the Hebrews; that of St. James; the two of St. Peter; the three of St. John; that of St. Jude; and the Apocalypse by St. John. Some of these are without hesitation accounted authentic; but about others of them doubts have been occasionally entertained. Yet the number is quite sufficient of those about which no doubts were ever indulged.

VII. The Primary Cause of these books is God, in His Son, through the Holy Spirit. The Instrumental Causes are holy men of God, who, not at their own will and pleasure, but as they were actuated and inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote these books; --whether the words were inspired into them, dictated to them, or administered by them under the Divine direction.

VIII. The matter or object of the Scriptures is religion, as has already been mentioned. The essential and internal form is the true intimation or signification of the will of God respecting religion. The external is the form or character of the word, which is attempered to the dignity of the speaker, and accommodated to the nature of things and to the capacity of men.

IX. The End is the instruction of man, to his own salvation and the glory of God. The parts of the whole instruction are, doctrine, reproof, institution or instruction, correction, consolation, and threatening.

DISPUTATION VI.

ON THE AUTHORITY AND CERTAINTY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

I. THE authority of the word of God, which is comprised in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, lies both in the veracity of the whole narration, and of all the declarations, whether they be those about things past, about things present, or about those which are to come; and in the power of the commands and prohibitions, which are contained in the Divine word. II. Both of these kinds of authority can depend on no other

than on God, who is the principal Author of this word; both because He is Truth without suspicion of falsehood, and because He is of Power invincible.

III. On this account, the knowledge alone that this word is Divine, is obligatory on our belief and obedience; and so strongly is it binding, that this obligation can be augmented by no external anthority.

IV. In what manner or respect soever the church may be contemplated, she can do nothing to confirm this authority: For she also is indebted to this word for all her own authority; and she is not a church unless she have previously exercised faith in this word as being divine, and have engaged to obey it. Wherefore, in any way to suspend the authority of the Scriptures on the church, is to deny that God is of sufficient veracity and supreme power, and that the church herself is a church.

V. But it is proved by various methods, that this word has a divine origin: Either by signs employed for the enunciation or declaration of the word, such as miracles, predictions, and divine [apparitiones] appearances: By arguments ingrafted on the word itself, such as the matters which it contains, the style and character of the discourse, the agreements between all the parts and each of them, and the efficacy of the word itself: And by the inward testification or witness of God himself by his Holy Spirit. To all these we add a secondary proof, the testimony of those persons who have received this word as Divine.

VI. The force and efficacy of this last testimony is entirely human, and [tanti momenti quanta] is of importance equal to the quantum of wisdom, probity and constancy possessed by the witnesses: And on this account the authority of the church can make no other kind of faith than that which is human, but which may be preparatory to the production of faith divine. The testimony of the church therefore is not the only thing by which the certainty of the Scriptures is confirmed to us; indeed it is not the principal thing; nay, it is the weakest of all those which are adduced in confirmation.

VII. No arguments can be invented for establishing the Divinity of any word, which do not belong by most equitable reason to this word; and, on the other hand, it is impossible any arguments can be devised which may conduce even by a probable reason to destroy the divinity of this word.

VIII. Though it be not absolutely necessary to salvation to believe that this or that book is the work of the author whose title it bears; yet this fact may be established by surer arguments

than are those which claim the authorship of any other work for the writer.

IX. The Scriptures are canonical in the same way as they are divine; because they contain the rule of faith, charity, hope, and of all our inward and outward actions. They do not therefore require human authority in order to their being received into the Canon, or considered as canonical. Nay, the relation between God and his creatures requires, that his word should be the rule of life to his creatures.

X. We assert that, for the establishment of the Divinity of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, this disjunctive proposition is of irrefutable validity: Either the Scriptures are divine, or (far be blasphemy from the expression !) they are the most foolish of all writings, whether they be said to have proceeded from man, or from the evil spirit.

COROLLARIES.

1. To affirm "that the authority of the Scriptures depends upon the church, because the church is more ancient than the Scriptures,” is a falsehood, a foolish speech, an implication of manifold contradictions, and blasphemy.

2. The authority of the Roman Pontiff to bear witness to the Divinity of the Scriptures, is less than that of any bishop, who is wiser and better than he, and possessed of greater constancy.

DISPUTATION VII.

ON THE PERFECTION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

I. WE denominate [compræhensionem] that which comprehends all things necessary for the church to know, to believe, to do and to hope, in order to salvation, "THE PERFECTION of the Sacred Scriptures."

II. As we are about to engage in the defence of this perfection, against inspirations, visions, dreams, and other novel enthusiastic things, we assert, that, since the time when Christ and his Apostles sojourned on earth, no inspiration of any thing necessary for the salvation of any individual man, or of the church, has been given to any single person or to any congregation of men whatsoever, which thing is not in a full and most perfect manner comprised in the Sacred Scriptures.

III. We likewise affirm, that in the latter ages no doctrine necessary to salvation has been deduced from these Scriptures

which was not explicitly known and believed from the very commencement of the Christian Church. For, from the time of Christ's ascent into heaven, the church of God was in an adult state, being capable indeed of increasing in the knowledge and belief of things necessary to salvation, but not capable of receiving accessions of new articles: That is, she was capable of increase in that faith by which the articles of religion are believed, but not in that faith which [creditur] is the subject of belief.

IV. Whatever additions have since been made, they obtain only the rank of interpretations and proofs, which ought themselves not to be at variance with the Scriptures, but to be deduced from them; otherwise no authority is due to them, but they should rather be considered as allied to error: For the perfection, not only of the propositions, but likewise of the explanations and proofs, which are comprised in the Scriptures, is very great.

V. But the most compendious way of forming a judgment about any enunciation or proposition, is, to discern whether its subject and predicate be either expressly or with equal force contained in the Scriptures: If neither the one nor the other be contained in them, that proposition may be rejected at least as not necessary to salvation, without any detriment to one's salvation. But the predicate may be of such a kind, that, when ascribed to this subject, it cannot be received without detriment to salvation: For instance, "The Roman Pontiff is the head of the church :" “The Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of grace."

DISPUTATION VIII.

ON THE PERSPICUITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

I. THE perspicuity of the Scriptures is a quality agreeing with them as with a sign; according to which quality they are adapted clearly to reveal the conceptions, whose signs are the words comprised in the Scriptures, to those persons to whom the Scriptures are administered according to the benevolent providence of God. II. That perspicuity is a quality which agrees with the Scriptures, is proved from its Cause and its End. (1.) In the Cause, we consider the wisdom and goodness of the Author, who according to his wisdom knew, and according to his goodness willed, clearly and well to enunciate or declare the meanings of his own mind. (2.) In the End is [necessitas] the duty of those to whom the Scriptures are directed, and who, through the decree of God, cannot attain to salvation without this knowledge.

III. This perspicuity comes distinctly to be considered both

with regard to its object and its subject. For all things [in the Scriptures] are not equally perspicuous, nor is every thing alike perspicuous to all persons: But in the Epistles of St. Paul, some things occur which "are hard to be understood:" And "the Gospel is hid, or concealed, to them who are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not."

IV. But those senses or meanings, the knowledge and belief of which are simply necessary to salvation, are revealed in the Scriptures with such plainness, that they can be perceived even by the most simple of mankind, provided [usu polleant] they be able duly to exercise their reason.

V. But they are perspicuous to those alone who, being illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit, have eyes to see, and a mind to understand and discern. For any colour whatever, though sufficiently illuminated by the light, is not seen except by the eye which is endued with the power of seeing, as with an inward light.

VI. But even in those things which are necessary to be known and believed in order to salvation, the Law must be distinguished from the Gospel, especially in that part which relates to Jesus Christ crucified and raised up again. For even the Gentiles, who are aliens from Christ, have " the work of the law written in their hearts," though this is not saving, except by the addition of the internal illumination and inspiration of God; but [sermo] "the doctrine of the cross which is foolishness and a stumbling-block to [animali] the natural man," is not perceived without the revelation of the Spirit.

VII. In the Scriptures some things may be found so difficult to be understood, that men of the quickest and most perspicacious genius may, in attaining to an understanding of those things, have a subject on which to bestow their labours during the whole course of their lives. But God has so finely attempered the Scriptures, that they can neither be read without profit, nor, after having been perused and re-perused innumerable times, can they be put aside through aversion or disgust.

DISPUTATION IX.

ON THE MEANINGS AND

INTERPRETATION

SCRIPTURES.

OF THE HOLY

I. THE legitimate and genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures is, that which the Holy Ghost, the Author of them, intended,

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