Scripture is not so dark that necessary doctrine cannot be gathered — pastors help without replacing it
Whatever Scripture's obscurity, necessary faith-and-life doctrine can still be gathered certainly by an attentive, skilled reader.
Clarity is not instant ease without labor — weighing words, context, parallels, and purged affections still matter.
Pastors and teachers rightly go before the flock in private, pulpit, and writing.
God gave them to open Scripture's sense — not to replace Scripture as another divine word.
Latin
XLII. Qualiscunque ergo sit Scripturae obscuritas, negamus illam ita obscuram esse, quin tota doctrina ad fidem & mores necessaria ex ea indubie & certo colligi possit ab attento & perito lectore. Nec enim asserimus Scripturam ita claram esse in omnibus quae sunt ad fidem & salutem alicujus momenti, ut ad scopum ejus assequendum, & doctrinam sacram inde eruendam, nullo sit opus labore, studio & diligentia: sed per se fidelis quisque statim & sine ullo adjumento illam satis intelligere possit. Quamvis enim Scripturae sensus saepe ita in promptu sit, ut probatione non egeat, & ingerat se vel invitis, nonnunquam tamen, ut sensus Scripturae eruatur, & splendeat, verba diligenter ponderanda sunt, praecedentia & sequentia accurate expendenda, & parallela loca conferenda, sepositis praejudiciis, & compositis animi affectibus. Qua in re opus est ut Pastores praeeant plebi curae suae commissae, tam privatis sermonibus, quam publicis concionibus, ac etiam, quum res exigit, editis scriptis diversi generis, in quibus Scripturam explicent & applicent ad varios usus populi Christiani. Ad hoc enim inter alia Deus Ecclesiae dedit Pastores & Doctores, ut Dei verbum in Scriptura contentum exponerent, Scripturae sensum aperirent, & in ejus intelligentiam plebem fidelem quasi manu ducerent.
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.