EZEKIEL, refers to the corrupt manners of the Jews of those times, and foretells the destruction of the Temple, and the happy return of the Jews to their own land. DANIEL, relates the history of the kings of Babylon, and the circumstances of the Jews under their government. He foretells future events which should happen to his own Church and Nation, with reference also to other princes and kingdoms. HOSEA, foretells the captivity in Assyria, and denounces vengeance against the idolatries of the people of Israel and Judea. JOEL, upbraids the Israelites for their idolatry, foretells their calamities, and exhorts them to reformation. Amos, remonstrates against the prevailing sins of the Israelites, and of Judea; he denounces judgment and destruction against their enemies, and foretells the restoration of the Tabernacle of David, and the erecting of the Kingdom of Christ. OBADIAH, predicts the deliverance of Jerusalem. JONAH, records his mission to the Ninevites, his attempt to flee from the presence of the Almighty, his punishment and miraculous deliverance, with his prophecy, discontent, and final reproof. MICAH, censures the vices of Jerusalem and Samaria, and foretells the confusion of the enemies of the Jews, the coming of the Messiah, and the glorious success of the Church. NAHUM, foretells the destruction of Nineveh. HABAKKUK, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. ZEPHANIAH, Contains severe reproofs against Judah. HAGGAI, exhorts the Jews, after their return from the captivity, to finish the re-building of the Temple. ZECHARIAH, encourages the Jews in re-building the second Temple. MALACHI, reproves the Jews for their wickedness after their return from Babylon; clearly foretells the Messiah, as well as his forerunner, John the Baptist. It is the last Canonical Book of the Old Testament. a The Apocryphal Books are added at the end of the Old Testament; to be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but are not intended to be applied to establish any doctrine. a Hierom, Prefat. in Proverb. The Books of the New Testament are, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Evangelists, who wrote the History of the Life of Jesus Christ -the Acts of the Apostles, in the earliest period of Ecclesiastical History-the various Epistles of St. Paul, St. Peter, James, John, and Jude, addressed to the first Converts of the Christian Faith-and the Revelations of St. John. b These are the Scriptures, which contain, as this Article declares, all things necessary for Salvation. "All Scripture is given by the Inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." The Old Testament records not only the eventful History of the earliest Inhabitants of the World, and the most astonishing Miracles, but the Prophecies, which in the New Testament have been exactly fulfilled. The purity and perfection of Scripture, its majesty and simplicity, its power over the conscience, its Prophecies of things to come, which God alone could foretell, and its exact agreement of one part with another, are most infallible proofs of its Divine Authority. This Article is the fifth of those published in 1552. After the word "hereby," were then in b 2 Tim. iii. 16. serted the following words, "although sometimes it may be admitted by God's faithful people as pious, and conducing unto order and decency; yet" ARTICLE VII. OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. d e с THE Old and New Testaments, so far from being contrary to each other, mutually confirm the doctrines of each. In both, "everlasting Life is offered by Christ to mankind," who, being both God and Man, is "the only Mediator between God and Man." They, therefore, who feign that the Old Fathers of the Church "looked only for transitory promises," are not to be heard. Although the Law given from God by 66 f c Matt. v. 17, 18. Acts xviii. 28. John v. 39. 46. Origen Philocal. c. 6. d Rom. iii. 21.-xvi. 26. Gal. iii. 24. Gen. iii. 15.-xii. 3. Dan. xii. 2, 3. Hammond's Practical Catechism, l. 1. § 1. Nowel's Cat. p. 41. Ignatius Epist. ad Philad. Theophilus Antioch. ad Autolyc. 1. 3. p. 225. Irenæus adv. Hær. 1. 4. c. 5. Justin Martyr, Apol. I. c. 39. e 1 Tim. ii, 5. 1 John ii. 1. Scott's Christian Life, p. 2. c. 7. § 1. 6. Nowel's Cat. p. 109. f Heb. xi. 10. 14.26. 35. Moses, concerning rites and ceremonies," do not bind Christians, "nor oughth its Civil Precepts to be received in any Commonwealth;" yet, "no Christian is free from the obedience of the Commandments, which are called Moral." i In this Article, it is set forth that everlasting Life is offered to men, both in the Old and New Testament, by Christ, the only Mediator; that, in the Old Testament, not only transitory promises, but eternal Blessings were expected; that, all Christians are obliged to keep the Moral Law of Moses, not that Ceremonial Law which consisted in religious reverence of particular symbolical places. "True worshippers shall worship the Father, in Spirit and in Truth." The Ceremonial gifts and sacrifices, with all their carnal ordinances, are at an end. Nor are Christians under any obligation to the political Laws of the Jews, but they are not exempt from Moral obedience. m 8 Gal. iii. 25.-v. 1. Col. ii. 16, 17. Acts xv. Heb. vii. 12. 28. Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacræ, lib. ii. c. 7. Origen contra Celsum, lib. 7. p. 349. Irenæus adv. Hares. lib. 4. c. 8. Matt. v. 17, 18, 19, 20. h James ii. 8, 9, 10, 11. Practical Catechism, 1. 2. § 3. adv. Hæres. 1. 4. c. 27. Heb. ix. 10. 13, 14. Hammond's Hooker's Eccl. Pol. l. 1. § 15. Irenæus k John iv. 23. m Rom. xiii. 1.-xvi. 37. |