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or be thought requifite or neceffary to falvation. In the name of the holy fcripture we do understand thofe canonical books of the Old and New Teftament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books.

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And the other books (as Hierome faith) the Church doth read for example of life, and inftruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine: Such are these following:The Third Book of Efdras, The Fourth Book of Efdras, The Book of Tobias, The Book of Judith, The rest of the Book of Esther The Book of Wisdom, Jefus the Son of Sirach,

Baruch the Prophet,
The Song of the Three Children
The Story of Sufanna,
Of Bel and the Dragon,
The Prayer of Manaffes,
The Firft Book of Maccabees,
The Second Bookof Maccabees.

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

VII. Of the Old Testament.

HE Old Testament is not contrary to the New: For both in the Old and New Teftament everlaft. ing life is offered to mankind by Chrift, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Wherefore they are not to be heard which feign,

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that the old Fathers did look only for tranfitory promises. Although the law given from God by Mofes, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind Chriftian men, nor the civil precepts thereof ought of neceffity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whofoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.

VIII. Of the three Creeds.

HE three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanafius' Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

IX. Of Original or Birth-Sin.

ORIGINAL fin ftandeth not in the following of Adam,

as the Pelagians do vainly talk; but it is the faul and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, fo that the flesh lufteth always contrary to the fpirit; and therefore in every perfon born into this world, it deferveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain; yea, in them that are regenerated: whereby the luft of the flesh, called in Greek Φρόνημα σαρκος, which fome de expound the wisdom, fome fenfuality, fome the affection, fome the defire of the flesh, is not fubject to the law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confefs that concupifcence and luft hath of itself the nature of fin.

X. Of Free-Will.

HE condition of man, after the fall of Adam, is fuch,

his

natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God: Wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Chrift preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good-will.

XI. Of the Juftification of Man.

W E are accounted righteons before God, only for the

merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or defervings. Wherefore, that we are juftified by faith only is a moft wholefome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expreffed in the Homily of Juftification.

XII. Of Good Works.

LBEIT that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after juftification, cannot put away our fins, and endure the feverity of God's judgment; yet are they pleafing and acceptable to God in Chrift, and do fpring out neceffarily of a true and lively faith; infomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree difcerned by the fruit.

XIII. Of Works before Juftification.

WORKS done before the grace of Chrift, and the

infpiration of Spirit, are not pleafant to God; forafinuch as they fpring not of faith in Jefus Chrift, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school authors fay) deferve grace of congruity: Yea, rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of fin.

XIV. Of Works of Supererogation.

OLUNTARY works befides, over and above God's commandments, which they call Works of Supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety: For by them men do declare, that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his fake than of bounden duty is required: Whereas Chrift faith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, fay, We are unprofitable fervants.

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XV. Of Chrift alone without Sin.

HRIST in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, fin only except; from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh and in his fpirit. He

came to be the Lamb without fpot, who by facrifice of hime felf once made, fhould take away the fins of the world: And fin, as St. John faith, was not in him. But all we the reft (although baptized, and born again in Chrift) yet offended in many things; and if we fay we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

XVI. Of Sin after Baptifm.

NOT every deadly fin, willingly committed after bap

tifin, is fin against the Holy Ghoft, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to fuch as fall into fin after baptifm. After we have received the Holy Ghoft, we may depart from grace given, and fall into fin, and by the grace of God we may arife again, and amend our lives; and therefore they are to be condemned, which fay they can no more fin as long as they live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to fuch as truly repent.

XVII. Of Predeftination and Election.

REDESTINATION to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath conftantly decreed by his counsel, fecret to us, to deliver from curfe and damnation those whom he had chofen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Chrift to everlasting falvation, as veffels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with fo excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's purpofe byhis Spirit working in due feafon: They through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made fons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jefus Chrift: They walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

As the godly confideration of predeftination, and our election in Chrift, is full of fweet, pleasant, and unfpeakable comfort to godly perfons, and fuch as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things; as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal falva

tion, to be enjoyed through Chrift, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: fo, for curious and carnal perfons, lacking the Spirit of Chrift, to have continually before their eyes the fentence of God's predeftination, is a moft dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doft thrust them either into defperation, or into wretchedness of most unclean living no lefs perilous than defperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God's promifes in fuch wife as they be generally fet forth to us in holy Scripture. And in our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which we have exprefsly declared unto us in the Word of God.

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XVIII. Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the
Name of Christ.

HEY alfo are to be had accurfed, that prefume to

man

fay, that every man fhall be faved by the law or fect which he profeffeth; fo that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the light of nature. For holy Scripture doth fet out unto us only the Name of Jefus Chrift, whereby men must be faved.

THE

XIX. Of the Church.

HE vifible Church of Chrift is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly miniftered, according to Chrift's ordinance, in all thofe things that of neceffity are requifite to the fame.

As the Church of Jerufalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; fo alfo the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith.

THE

XX. Of the Authority of the Church.

HE Church hath power to decree rites or ceremo⚫ nies, and authority in controverfies of faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written; neither may it fo expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witnefs and a keeper of holy Writ, yet as it ought not ta

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