[398] 2 Pet. iii. 16; Psal. xix. 3, 8-10; 3 Tim. iii. 16; 1 Pet. i. 23.
Quest. CXLVII. How far is tradition and men's words and ministry to be used or trusted in, in the exercise of faith?
Answ. 1. The churches and ministers received the gospel in Scripture from the apostles, and the creed as the summary of faith: and they delivered it down to others, and they to us.
2. The ministers by office are the instructors of the people in the meaning of it; and the keepers of the Scriptures, as lawyers are of the laws of the land.[399]
[399] Heb. ii. 3, 4; 2 Pet. i. 17-21; 2 John i. 1-5; iv. 6; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Tit. i. 5.
Quest. CXLVIII. How know we the true canon of Scripture from apocrypha?
Answ. By these means set together: 1. There is, for the most part, a special venerable excellency in the books themselves, which helpeth us in the distinct reception of them.
2. The tradition of infallible church history telleth us, which books they are which were written by men inspired by the Holy Ghost, and who sealed their doctrine with miracles in those times; it being but matter of fact, (which books such men wrote whom God bare witness to,) infallible church history (such as we have to know which are the statutes of the land, and which are counterfeit) is a sufficient notification and proof.
3. The sanctifying Spirit still in all ages and christians, attested the divinity and truth of the doctrine of the main body of the Bible, especially the gospel; and then if we should err about the authority of a particular book, it would not overthrow our faith. It is not necessary to salvation to believe this particular text to be divine, but it is sin and folly to doubt causelessly of the parts, when the Spirit attesteth the doctrine and the body of the book. I pass these things briefly, because I have largelier handled them elsewhere.