Occasions of writing do not cancel the divine mandate to write
Bellarmine lists occasions: Matthew's memorial, John's anti-Ebionite request, Luke vs uncertain tales.
He infers they wrote casually, not by office or divine order.
Occasions do not cancel mandate — inspiration is the strongest mandate of all.
They seized those occasions for the Church's perpetual use, not for one private fix.
Latin
XIII. Frustra quoque notat Bellarminus varias occasiones quibus ad scribendum invitati fuerunt Apostoli & Evangelistae. Matthaeum, exempli gratia, Evangelium scripsisse ut Hebraeis, quos deserebat ad Gentes proficiscens, aliquod memoriale doctrinae & praedicationis suae relinqueret. Johannem vero suum Evangelium edidisse rogantibus Asiae Episcopis, propter Ebionitarum haeresim tunc exorientem. Lucam vero aggressum fuisse Evangelicam historiam scribere, ut nos abstraheret ab incertis aliorum narrationibus. Unde colligit Bellarminus Apostolos & Evangelistas obiter tantum scripsisse, & per occasionem, non vero quasi ex proprio munere & divino mandato. Sed quamvis scriptoribus sacris variae occasiones scribendi oblatae fuerint, non ideo tamen absque mandato divino scripserunt. Fuerunt enim a Deo inspirati, quod fortissimum mandati genus est, ut arriperent illas occasiones doctrinam sacram scripto consignandi ad perpetuum Ecclesiae usum, non vero simpliciter ut singulari cuipiam incommodo mederentur.
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.