Theological Theses · §42

The weight of sacred history: the Church, the world, angels, and God himself

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Now if anyone wishes to weigh the weight and moment of sacred history, what matters of greater weight and moment can be imagined than those which pertain not only to some nation and commonwealth, but to the whole Church which God selected for himself out of the world — nay, to the universal world, to the angels who inhabit Heaven, and to God himself, who is the first cause of all things? These are the things about which sacred Scripture's history turns. For Scripture tells us what were this universe's beginnings and cradles, and how God once founded all things and ordered them to exist; whence the human race was born and propagated; how it spread through the whole earth; and what were at the beginning the divisions of nations and of tongues. It narrates the appearances of angelic spirits and their frequent colloquies with men, and God's own admirable deeds in ruling and guarding the Church and procuring the human race's salvation. If anyone compares Greek or Roman histories with these, he will find nothing whose moment and gravity can in any part match them.

Latin

XLI. Jam vero si quis historiae sacrae pondus et momentum perpendere velit, quae res majoris ponderis et momenti esse fingi possunt, quam quae non modo ad gentem et rempublicam aliquam pertinent, sed ad totam Ecclesiam quam Deus sibi e mundo selegit, imo ad mundum universum, ad angelos Coelorum incolas, et ad Deum ipsum, qui est prima rerum omnium causa. Haec vero sunt circa quae versatur Scripturae sacrae historia. Nam Scriptura nobis recitat quae fuerint hujus universi primordia et incunabula, et quomodo Deus olim omnia condidit et extare jussit: unde genus humanum natum et propagatum est, quomodo per totum orbem terrarum se diffudit, et quae fuerint initio divisiones gentium et linguarum. Narrat angelicorum spirituum apparitiones, et frequentia cum hominibus colloquia: Deique ipsius admiranda facta in Ecclesia regenda et tuenda, humanique generis salute procuranda. Cum quibus si quis conferat historias Graecorum sive Romanorum, nil inveniet cujus momentum et gravitas possit ulla ex parte cum hisce 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

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.