Pastors cannot ground their own certainty about Scripture in the Church's judgment of themselves
Finally, since by the Church on which Scripture's authority for us is said to hang Rome means the pastors and bishops who rule the Church, we ask: whence does Scripture's authority hang for the pastors themselves, and how do they know these books are divine and God-inspired?
They cannot appeal here to a Church judgment that founds the pastors' own faith in Scripture. The pastors and bishops are that Church whose testimony is in question. They would then learn from themselves which writings are true Scripture, and their faith would rest on their own word. To leave no escape, take those who first gave such a judgment: they could not lean on other pastors' rulings.
Yet Rome will not have the Church's pastors driven by enthusiasms or taught Scripture by immediate revelation — for such enthusiasms and immediate revelations, they say, no longer have place in God's Church. Bishops and doctors reach that knowledge with the Holy Spirit teaching and leading, but also through their own study, diligence, careful reading of the books, and close weighing of the many arguments the Spirit uses to beget faith in Scripture in them. What absurdity is it, then, to say the faithful are led the same way by the Spirit into knowledge of sacred Scripture? At least this much follows plainly: Scripture can be established for us without enthusiasm or immediate revelation — and also without some authentic, infallible Church judgment.
Latin
XLI. Denique, quandoquidem per Ecclesiam unde pendet quoad nos Scripturae authoritas, Pontificii intelligunt Pastores et Episcopos qui Ecclesiam regunt, rogamus eos unde pendeat Scripturae authoritas quoad Pastores ipsos, et unde constet eis hos libros divinos esse et a Deo inspiratos. Certe hic recurrere non possunt ad Ecclesiae judicium, quo Pastorum fides de Scriptura fundetur. Nam Pastores et Episcopi sunt ipsa Ecclesia de cujus testimonio et judicio agitur: adeoque Pastores illi ex seipsis discerent, quae sint verae Scripturae, et fides eorum in proprio suo testimonio fundaretur: nam, nequis sit ullus exceptioni locus, sumemus in exemplum eos qui primi tale quoddam judicium pronuntiarunt, neque pastorum aliorum judicio niti poterant. Et tamen adversarii nolunt Pastores Ecclesiae enthusiasmis agi, et Scripturae notitiam ex immediata Dei revelatione habere. Siquidem enthusiasmi et immediatae revelationes non amplius habent locum in Ecclesia Dei. Sed statuunt Episcopos et Doctores Ecclesiae ad cognitionem illam pervenire, Spiritu quidem sancto docente et ducente, sed tamen etiam mediante ipsorum studio, et diligentia, et consideratione accurata librorum ipsorum, ac sedulo examine multorum argumentorum, quibus Spiritus S. utitur ad fidem de Scriptura ipsis ingenerandam. Quid autem absurdi est, si dicamus fideles eo modo, Spiritu sancto in Scripturae sacrae cognitionem duci? saltem ex eo manifeste sequitur de Scriptura sacra nobis constare posse citra enthusiasmum, et immediatam revelationem, et tamen etiam citra Ecclesiae quoddam judicium authenticum et infallibile.
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.