Councils and papal letters yield to Moses and Paul; the Bereans check preaching
On their own showing, no Church testimony is brighter or more solemn than what Councils and papal Decrees give. Yet common Christian sense says no council matches sacred Scripture's authority. No one dares set Nicea, Chalcedon, Trent, or any other beside Moses and the Prophets. Even Rome's warmest friends have not yet hardened their faces enough to level papal letters with Paul's epistles and the four Gospels.
Roman practice itself proves it. When they rank the sources of theological argument, Scripture always comes first; Councils and papal Decrees come later. They so honor Scripture, as they should, that they grant no error can be found in it, even the least. Councils they want infallible on dogmas of faith — yet they admit many other slips: conclusions may be of faith while the arguments are poor; they may hold the question of right and still err on the question of fact.
Pastors and doctors also use Scripture's witnesses to recommend their own teaching — and that teaching can and must be tried by Scripture. So the Bereans are praised: after hearing Paul preach, they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things were so (Acts 17). If Scripture carries more weight with believers than the Church's pastors, it plainly does not take its authority from their word. What is greater cannot draw its authority from what is less. Nothing can give an authority greater than its own.
Latin
XXXI. Praeterea Ecclesiae testimonium nullum est illustrius et magis solemne juxta adversarios, quam illud quod perhibetur in Conciliis et Decretis Pontificum. At sensus communis fidelium dictat nullorum Conciliorum tantam esse authoritatem, quam sit Scripturae sacrae. Nec enim ullum Concilium vel Nicenum, vel Chalcedonense, vel Tridentinum, vel aliud quodvis quisquam aequiparare auderet authoritate scriptis Mosis et Prophetarum libris. Neque, vel illi qui sunt Pontificibus maxime addicti, eousque adhuc frontem perfricuerunt, ut aequare audeant Epistolas Papales Paulinis Epistolis, et quatuor Evangeliis. Quod docet ipsa praxis doctorum Romanensium. Etenim, cum digerunt locos unde desumuntur argumenta Theologica, primum locum semper Scripturae assignant, posteriorem vero Conciliis, et PP. Decretis. Et quidem eousque Scripturam, sicuti par est, venerantur, ut agnoscant in ea nullum, vel minimum erratum reperiri posse. At, licet velint Concilia infallibilia esse quoad fidei dogmata, tamen agnoscunt in aliis multis errori esse obnoxia, eorumque conclusiones esse quidem de fide, at Concilia uti posse argumentis non bonis: Et quamvis non errent in quaestione juris, saepe tamen falli in quaestione facti. Adde quod Ecclesiae Pastores et Doctores utuntur Scripturae sacrae testimoniis ad authoritatem suae doctrinae conciliandam; illorumque doctrina potest et debet ad Scripturae sacrae examen revocari. Unde est quod laudantur fideles Beroenses qui, audita Pauli praedicatione, consulabant Scripturas, an quae dixerat ita se haberent. Ad. 17. Cum ergo Scriptura sacra apud fideles sit majoris authoritatis, quam sint Ecclesiae Pastores, proculdubio suam authoritatem a testimonio illorum non accipit, quandoquidem quod majorem authoritatem habet, authoritatem sumere non potest ab eo quod habet minorem. Nihil enim potest conferre authoritatem majorem illa ipsa quam habet.
About this text
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu - Sedan Theological Theses, newly rendered from the 1675 London Latin. Covers De Theologia through Angelorum & Hominum Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII and Pars Secunda (Reformata) I-XL. Not the collected folio.
English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).
Catalogue & scope
ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Theologia I-XLIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive PDF of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Checked print pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Fide I-XXII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Authoritate Scripturae Pars I I-XLVII + Pars II I-XXXV + Pars III I-VIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Scripturae plenitudine densify (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.