First clarify what adversaries mean by Church
To answer all this, first recall what the adversaries mean by "Church." That is essential for the real state of the question and for clearing away the ambiguity of the name.
Church is not here taken collectively for the whole multitude of the faithful who are and ever have been. The debate is not properly about that Church's authority.
Even though sacred Scripture's authority does not depend on the authority of the Church so taken, it is still certain that from that Church's testimony and consent one can draw a divine, infallible argument for Scripture's authority that binds our faith — because that Church includes the Apostolic and primitive Church, whose role it was to confirm Scripture's Canon by a sure divine reason and hand it to the faithful as what would thereafter be faith's unique rule.
Latin
XXX. Ut omnibus his satis fiat, ante omnia hic est in memoriam revocandum quid Ecclesiae nomine intelligant adversarii. Id enim apprime necessarium est ad statum quaestionis probe intelligendum, & tollendam hic omnem homonymiam. Igitur sciendum est Ecclesiam hic non sumi collective pro tota multitudine fidelium qui sunt & hactenus fuerunt. Nec enim de istius Ecclesiae authoritate proprie quaestio est. Et quamvis Scripturae sacrae authoritas nequidem ex Ecclesiae sic sumptae authoritate pendeat, certum est tamen ex ejus testimonio & consensu duci posse argumentum pro Scripturae authoritate divinum & infallibile, & quod fidem nostram obliget: quandoquidem in ista Ecclesia comprehenditur Apostolica & primitiva, cujus fuit Scripturae Canonem certa quadam & divina ratione confirmare, & fidelibus tradere, tanquam qui deinceps esset unica fidei regula.
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.