If any image deserved honor, the bronze serpent did—yet incense alone brought it down; Nicaea II’s lights clash with that

Bronze serpent had divine mandate, saving use, memorial force, and Christ-typology—best-case image.

Incense alone justified smashing it; Nicaea II’s incense-and-lights approach collides with that verdict.

Latin

XLVI. Nam si unquam extitit imago, quae venerationem aliquam mereretur, procul dubio fuit ille serpens. Nam expresso Dei mandato Moses vir tantus illum fabricaverat. Instrumentum fuerat insignis admodum liberationis, Israelitis in deserto concessae, & memoriam ejus in populo isto conservabat; ac denique eximius erat Christi olim venturi, & in crucem tollendi typus. Et tamen Ezechias, Deo instigante, non solum prohibuit ne Judaei illum colerent; sed propter istud tantum, quod filii Israel adolebant ei incensum, indignabundus illum confregit atque comminuit. Quomodo ergo cum Dei voluntate congruit quod sanxit Synodus Nicena secunda, scilicet, ad imagines reverenter accedendum esse oblationibus suffituum, atque luminarium? Et quantula pars est honoris, qui Christi & Sanctorum imaginibus defertur, in Ecclesia Romana, Thuris accensio, atque oblatio?

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.