Stapleton’s analogies: moral/hope certainty of pardon without faith-certainty or endless fluctuation
Stapleton compares assurance of pardon to certainty of crowning, inheritance, safe travel, or one’s baptism—moral/hope certainty, not faith-certainty.
Catholics claim a middle path: firm hope on the promises plus dispositional signs, without Protestant absolute security or endless fluctuation.
Latin
XXIII. Similia docet Thomas Stapletonus, lib. 9. de Justif. cap. 11. Quemadmodum, inquit, qui legitime certat, certo credit se coronandum; & qui filius est primogenitus, patris haeredem se futurum; & qui itineri se commitit, se ad finem salvum perventurum; denique ut omnis Christianus certo credit se infantem baptizatum fuisse & esse, qui filius matris suae quae dicitur filium se esse? & tamen nihil horum certitudine fidei habetur, sed solum certitudine, partim spei & fiduciae bonae, partim morali; sic de remissione peccatorum & gratia Dei certo credere potest se eam esse consecutum, qui quae Deus praecipit ad ea consequenda sese praestitisse sibi conscius est: nec tamen, vel certitudine fidei idem credere potest, aut debet: vel quia talem certitudinem non habet, propterea, incertus, anceps, aut dubius est, aut per modum fluctuantis se habet. Talis enim ut describit Jacobus, similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento movetur & circumfertur. Nec ergo Protestantium extremam sententiam, (quae est certitudo fidei excludens omnem formidinem & timorem propriae indispositionis, cum securitate illa qualis huic peregrinationi non competit); nec animi perpetuo suspensi fluctuationem incertam & inconstantem, quae huc illucque momento impellitur, docent Catholici circa remissionem peccatorum aut praesentem justitiam; sed mediam sententiam docent: quae est certitudo spei ex parte promissionum divinarum firmissima, & certitudo, vel conjecturalis, vel etiam moralis, ex parte propriae dispositionis, cujus quisque sibi conscius est, qui legitime dispositus est: quae sane utraque & omnem dubitationem in sensu Protestantium, id est, qua neutri parti assentitur excludit, & firmam conscientiis pacem & consolationem affert contra omnes luctas tentationum, vel diffidentiae, vel pusillanimitatis, vel denique desperabundae dubitationis.
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.