Principle 3: no infinite regress of efficient causes — a first cause
Third principle: no infinite regress of efficient causes — arrive at a first cause.
If every cause had infinite superiors, infinite causes would stand outside the whole set — contradiction.
Same distance up and down: if no first cause ascending, no last effect descending.
Latin
XIII. Tertium principium prioribus illis non minus manifestum est, in ordine causarum efficientium, quarum una ab alia pendet, non posse dari progressum in infinitum: sed tandem deveniendum esse ad causam aliquam primam atque summam. Nam si daretur in causis progressus in infinitum, nec ulla causa prima esset, omnes & singulae causae mediae essent, adeoque ante se causam aliquam haberent: imo nulla esset causa, quae ante se infinitas causas superiores non haberet. Sed hoc est impossibile: nam si ante omnes & singulas causas infinitae causae essent, ante totam causarum multitudinem & collectionem essent infinitae causae. Nam quod est ante omnia & singula, illud est ante totam singulorum multitudinem: sed contradictionem manifestam implicat infinitas causas esse tota multitudine causarum superiores. Nam certe extra totam causarum multitudinem, causa nulla reperiri potest. Alioqui multitudo illa tota non esset. Deinde, si ascendendo ab effectis ad causas, non posset ad primam causam perveniri, pari ratione, descendendo a causis ad effecta, ad ultimum effectum nunquam deveniri posset. Etenim distantia tanta est a summo ad imum, quanta est ab imo ad summum. Et quod infinitum est non magis ascendendo quam descendendo pertransiri potest.
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.