A52591:66
A Declaration of the faith and order owned and practiced in the Congregational churches…
A Declaration of the faith and order owned and practiced in the Congregational churches in England agreed upon and consented unto by their elders and messengers in their meeting at the Savoy, October 12, 1658.
London: printed by John Field, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
III.
The Books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of Divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, then other humane writings.
IV.
The Authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the Testimony of any man or Church; but wholly upon God (who is Truth it self) the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.
V.
We may be moved and induced by the Testimony of the Church, to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the Matter, the efficacy of the Doctrine, the majesty of the Style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is, to give all glory to God) the full discovery it makes of the only way of Mans Salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are Arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence it self to be the Word of God; Yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible Truth and Divine Authority thereof, is from the inward work of the holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.