Fathers

Theological Theses · §144

Importunate questions demand demonstration of the indemonstrable

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As for those importunate questions — How do you prove the Apostles existed and wrote by divine impulse, and that the circulating books are truly theirs? — something unjust is being demanded of us: that we demonstrate what is indemonstrable.

We freely admit that we cannot demonstrate those things mathematically or logically. We deny that it follows that those books cannot be faith's certain first rule. It belongs to faith's principles to be non-evident and not provable by philosophically necessary and evident arguments.

That does not mean we have nothing to answer profane objectors. We have arguments enough for a prudent person — that the Apostles and Prophets wrote by divine impulse, and that we hold their genuine books — many of which we already set out in Part I of these theses; there is no need to repeat them here.

We only grant that those arguments lack logical or mathematical evidence, and so leave the matter "uncertain" if one chooses to call the non-evident and undemonstrable (anapodeikton) uncertain. Even so, whatever uncertainty they leave cannot be cleared by some church judgment or determination — as we have just proved.

Latin

XXVI. Quod autem spectat importunas illas interrogationes, Unde probatis Apostolos fuisse & scripsisse libros instinctu divino, & eos qui circumferuntur revera illorum esse? Resp. a nobis aliquid injustum exigi, nempe ut demonstremus quod est indemonstrabile. Itaque fatemur ultro ista non posse a nobis demonstrari, & mathematice seu logice probari. Sed inde negamus sequi libros istos esse non posse certam & primam fidei regulam; quoniam hoc proprium est principiis fidei ut sint inevidentia, neque probari possint argumentis philosophice necessariis & evidentibus. Quae tamen ita accipienda non sunt, ut jam saepe observatum est, quasi nihil habeamus quod hominibus profanis regerere possimus, & impiis eorum quaestionibus opponere. Nobis enim non desunt argumenta quae viro prudenti satis esse possint, & ipsi suadere Apostolos & Prophetas instinctu divino scripsisse, & nos in manibus habere genuinos eorum libros: cujus generis argumenta multa harum thesium parte prima, proposuimus & explicuimus, nec opus est hic illa repetere. Hoc solum fatemur argumenta illa non habere evidentiam logicam, seu mathematicam, & eatenus rem relinquere incertam, si libet incertum vocare quod est inevidens, & ἀναπόδεικτον. Sed hoc quoque addimus, si quid incertitudinis argumenta illa relinquunt, minime tolli posse per Ecclesiae quoddam judicium & determinationem, ut jamjam probatum est.

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

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.