Doubt was only partial, never universal
Second: no truly divine book's authority was ever so doubtful that everyone everywhere doubted it. The doubt belonged only to some; among the rest their authority stayed certain.
Hebrews, James, and John's Apocalypse were indeed suspect to some, and by some treated as spurious — yet among most churches they always kept their authority. No time can be named when they were not received in a large part of the Christian world and held divine and authentic.
The very passages the adversaries quote as favoring them show this. Against Arians who denied Hebrews, Theodoret says they ought at least to reverence the long stretch of time in which the truth's pupils had continually read that epistle in the churches.
So Tertullian defends the Apocalypse against Marcion: we also have John's foster-churches; though Marcion rejects his Apocalypse, the line of bishops traced back to the origin will still stand on John as author.
As for James, the same Eusebius who says some thought it νόθον — spurious — also testifies that it was publicly received in very many churches.
Latin
XXXVI. Secundo vero dico, nullorum librorum, qui vere divini sint, authoritatem unquam ita fuisse dubiam, ut omnes & passim de iis dubitarint. Sed dubitatio illa quorundam tantum fuit: apud reliquos vero eorum fuit certa authoritas. Ita verum est quidem Epistolam ad Hebraeos, Epistolam Jacobi, & Joannis Apocalypsin, quibusdam fuisse suspectas, & a quibusdam habitas pro supposititiis: attamen apud plerasque Ecclesias authoritatem suam semper obtinuerunt. Nec ullum tempus assignari potest quo non in magna orbis Christiani parte receptae fuerint, & pro divinis & authenticis habitae. Quod indicant ipsa loca quae referunt adversarii tanquam suae causae faventia. Ita negantibus Arianis authoritatem Epistolae ad Hebraeos respondet Theodoretus, Oportebat eos, si non aliud, certe diuturnitatem temporis revereri, quo hanc Epistolam in Ecclesiis perpetuo legerant veritatis alumni. Et sic Apocalypsin adversus Marcionem tuetur Tertullianus, Habemus & Joannis alumnas Ecclesias, nam etsi Apocalypsin ejus Marcion respuit, ordo tamen Episcoporum ad originem recensitus in Joannem stabit authorem. Quod vero spectat Epistolam Jacobi, idem ille Eusebius qui dicit illam quibusdam videri νόθον, adulterinam esse, testatus eam in quamplurimis Ecclesiis fuisse publice receptam.
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.