Immediate belief is not blind persuasion; moral marks are helps, not de fide proofs
Next, when we say we believe Scripture immediately by the Spirit's inward efficacy, not by some proof stepping in between, we do not mean that our faith about sacred Scripture is a blind persuasion with no reason of its own.
Nor do we deny that the person who believes Scripture as he should is led there by arguments that can persuade a prudent mind that Scripture is true and comes from God.
By that word immediately we shut out only the proofs the schools call de fide — proofs drawn from some principle of faith, that make a matter of faith, and that can by themselves found an article of faith — not every kind of proof whatever.
The arguments that urge sacred Scripture's divinity are not of that kind. They are not taken from any principle or rule of faith, but only from various notes and signs, and they consist wholly of moral arguments that cannot of themselves yield the certainty faith requires — for the certainty owed to faith equals, if it does not surpass, every certainty demonstration can produce.
So although those proofs are helps to faith and motives for believing, the full certainty by which we ought to embrace the sacred books is not to be referred to them as its proper and chief foundation, but rather to the Spirit's inward persuasion.
Latin
IX. Deinde, quum dicimus nos immediate Scripturae credere, per internam Spiritus sancti efficaciam, non vero probationis alicujus interventu, sententia nostra non est, fidem nostram de Scriptura sacra esse caecam persuasionem, et quae sui nullam rationem habeat. Neque per id negamus, eum qui Scripturae, sicuti par est, credit, eo adduci quibusdam argumentis, quae viro prudenti suadere possunt Scripturam veram esse, et a Deo profectam. Etenim per vocem illam immediate non excludimus probationes qualescunque, sed solum probationes quas scholae vocant de fide, id est, quae petitae sint ex aliquo fidei principio, et faciant rem esse de fide, et possint per se fidei articulum fundare. Hujusmodi vero non sunt probationes illae quibus Scripturae sacrae divinitas suadetur. Nec enim petuntur ex ullo fidei principio, et ex aliqua fidei regula; sed tantum ex notis et signis variis: et totae constant argumentis quibusdam moralibus, quae per se parere non possunt eam certitudinem quae requiritur in fide: quandoquidem certitudo quae fidei debetur, ex se et ex suo genere, aequat, si non superat, certitudinem omnem quae nasci potest ex demonstratione. Ac proinde, quamvis probationes istae sint fidei adjumenta et credendi motiva, attamen plena fidei certitudo, qua libros sacros amplecti debemus, ad eas referenda non est, tanquam ad proprium atque praecipuum suum fundamentum, sed potius ad internam Spiritus sancti persuasionem.
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.