Only perpetual Christian consensus could count — Rome's traditions fail that test
If any tradition deserves to be true, it is one marked by the perpetual, constant consensus of Christians.
Rome's traditions fail that test: they stand outside Scripture, often against it, and many were unknown in the ancient Church and contrary to its faith and practice.
Examples: papal indulgences; saint-canonization; public worship in a tongue the people do not share; bans on vernacular Scripture without special leave; communion in one kind; and religious image-making and image-worship — easy to show absent, even opposed, in the primitive Church.
So they are human inventions, and it is impious to set them equal in authority with the writings of Apostles and Prophets.
Pars II closes here; Pars III opens next.
Latin
XLIV. Denique, si qua traditio pro vera habenda sit, illa est quam commendat perpetuus & constans Christianorum consensus. Sed hoc minime convenit traditionibus Ecclesiae Romanae, quia non tantum sunt extra Scripturam, & in plerisque Scripturae adversantur, sed etiam earum plurimae sunt in Ecclesia antiqua inauditae, & ejus fidei & praxi contrariae. Cujus generis sunt indulgentiae, quales a Papa conceduntur, sanctorum canonizatio, celebratio cultus publici lingua non communiter a populo intellecta, prohibitio ne Scriptura sacra in vulgares linguas transferatur, & sine speciali permissione a plebe legatur: praecipue vero mos administrandi sacram Eucharistiam sub altero tantum symbolo, & plurium hujusmodi; item effingendi & cultu religioso prosequendi imagines Dei & sanctorum, quae facile est ostendere locum non habuisse in Ecclesia primitiva, & contrarium plane observatum fuisse. Unde manifeste patet illas esse commenta hominum, nec absque impietate posse cum Apostolorum & Prophetarum scriptis authoritate comparari.
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.