Article VI Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture, we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church. ΒΆ Of the Names and Number of the Canonical BOOKS. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The 1. Book of Samuel, The 2. Book of Samuel, The 1. Book of Kings, The 2. Book of Kings, The 1. Book of Chronicles, The 2. Book of Chronicles, The 1. Book of Esdras, The 2. Book of Esdras, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or Preacher, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon, 4 Prophets the greater, 12 Prophets the less, And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any Doctrine: such are these following, The 3. Book of Esdras, The 4. Book of Esdras, The Book of Tobias, The Book of Judith, The rest of the B. of Esther, The Book of Wisdom, Jesus the son of Syrach, Baruch the Prophet, The Song of the 3 Childr., The Story of Susanna, Of Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasses, The 1. Book of Maccabees, The 2. Book of Maccabees. All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive and account them Canonical. I think, on balance, I prefer to refer to the books in question as the Deuterocanonical Texts. These books are part of the Bible, and we do read them, however, we do not use them to prove doctrinal matters. This means that the Bible has the Primary Canon (OT and NT) and the Secondary Canon (The books in question). They clearly were part of the Septuagint (LXX) and the LXX was the text that was used by the writers of the New Testament.
I personally would prefer to say that the latter books' canonicity is disputed and questionable. I know "deutero" means "second", so I prefer the term "apocrypha." Definition of apocryphal 1 : of doubtful authenticity : spurious
I disagree. These ancient texts are not doubtful but well attested. I prefer to use the word aapocryphal for the documents from the New Testament Era that were excluded from the canon.
This discussion is interesting. I will comment later on the deuterocanonical books, but as to prayers for the dead, a little thought experiment. Suppose God exists outside of time and knows the future. Suppose also he is a God who is inclined to respond favorably to prayer. Then if we pray for the soul or salvation of a person after they are deceased, whom we are not absolutely certain of their status in eternity (as we are not God) could not God earlier during the deceased's life, prior to their appointed judgement, take into consideration the prayers that would be offered for that soul and perhaps soften its disposition towards God and inclining that soul towards faith?