Later reception was not a new Church decree
Finally, those books were later received by common consent — not because some new Church decree sanctioned their authority.
What had raised scruple in them gradually came into the light and was rightly understood; at last the doubters ceased, and all conceded to the ancient Fathers nearest the apostles, who recommended these books to later ages as received from them and confirmed them by frequent use and reading.
This cannot be credited to the Synod of Laodicea or the third council of Carthage: those synods were provincial, and on the adversaries' own view could not properly bind the faith.
In fact doubt about those books remained after Laodicea. In Jerome's day — later than that synod — some still doubted.
Above all, neither Carthage nor the decrees of Popes Gelasius and Innocent removed doubt about the Old Testament books they call canonical and we call apocryphal: right up to Trent, many inside the Roman Church itself rejected those books' authority.
Latin
XXXVIII. Denique quod isti libri communi postea consensu recepti fuerunt, in causa non fuit novum quoddam Ecclesiae decretum, quo sancita fuerit eorum authoritas; sed quae in istis libris scrupulum quibusdam movebant paulatim lucem accipientibus, & probe intellectis, tandem desierunt esse qui dubitarent, & concesserunt omnes in sententiam priscorum Patrum, qui Apostolis proximi, hos libros tanquam ab iis acceptos posteris commendârunt: & frequenti usu atque lectione comprobarunt. Et certe quod istud non sit tribuendum Synodo Laodicenae, aut tertiae Carthaginiensi, patet, quia Synodi illae provinciales fuerunt, nec poterant, ex ipsa adversariorum sententia, fidem proprie obligare. Et revera de istis libris post Synodum Laodicenam dubitatum adhuc fuit. Nam tempore Hieronymi, qui fuit illa recentior, erant adhuc qui dubitarent. Praesertim vero manifestum est, nec Synodum Carthaginiensem, nec Decreta PP. Gelasii & Innocentii, sustulisse dubitationem circa Veteris Testamenti libros, quos Canonicos illi, nos Apocryphos putamus: quandoquidem usque ad Concilii Tridentini tempora, plurimi fuerunt, in ipsa Ecclesia Romana, qui librorum istorum authoritatem rejecerunt.
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.