By ordinary law ministry must lead first; Romans 10 and Augustine

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So under the ordinary law that ministry is necessary if someone is to know divine teaching and Scripture and conceive faith. The Holy Spirit does not lead us straight into knowledge of God's Word. Nor do we embrace heavenly teaching and revere the Scriptures by some immediate breath of the Spirit. In this matter we need the Church's ministers going before us, and those entrusted with our instruction, who propose and set out that teaching and who point out, explain, and commend Scripture.

First that Church testimony moves us to think well of heavenly teaching and sacred Scripture and to give it faith; otherwise we would stay forever ignorant of it. As the Apostle says (Romans 10): "How will they believe him of whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?" Likewise: "Faith comes from hearing; and hearing through the Word of God" — that is, from God's command. Here belongs Augustine's oft-sung line: "I would not believe the Gospel unless the Catholic Church's authority moved me." He speaks in the person of someone being brought into faith, who is beginning to have some persuasion of the Gospel's divine truth.

For the Church's common consensus and testimony is ordinarily the first incentive that leads us to give Scripture some faith. And even among the faithful themselves, when doubt arises about some book or divine dogma, we confess that the Church's constant, uniform testimony is an argument of the greatest weight and moment; for a person to set his own judgment against it is insolent and rash. Especially when the question is rejecting or admitting some sacred book, we acknowledge that the perpetual consensus of the Jewish and Christian Church is an inescapable argument, one to which anyone ought to yield.

Latin

XVIII. Itaque, juxta legem ordinariam, ministerium illud necessarium est, ut aliquis doctrinae et Scripturae divinae cognitionem habeat, et fidem concipiat. Nec enim Spiritus sanctus in verbi Dei notitiam immediate nos ducit. Neque quod doctrinam caelestem amplectimur, et veneramur Scripturas, id facimus quopiam immediato Spiritus afflatu. Sed necesse est ut hac in re praeeuntes habeamus Ecclesiae ministros, et eos quibus nostra institutio commissa est, qui nobis doctrinam illam proponant et exponant, et Scripturam indicent, explicent et commendent. Et primum isto Ecclesiae testimonio movemur, ut de doctrina caelesti et Scriptura sacra bene sentiamus, et fidem ei habeamus, alias in perpetua ignoratione illius versaturi. Juxta illud Apostoli, Roman. 10. Quomodo credent ei de quo non audiverunt? Quomodo audient sine praedicante? Item, Fides est ex auditu: auditus per verbum Dei, id est, ex Dei mandato. Quo spectat illud Augustini toties decantatum, Non crederem Evangelio, nisi me Catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret authoritas. Loquitur enim in persona ejus qui ad fidem introducitur, et aliquam de Evangelii divina veritate persuasionem habere incipit. Nam Ecclesiae communis consensus et testimonium ordinarie est primum incitamentum, quo inducimur ad aliquam Scripturae fidem adhibendam. Atque etiam inter ipsos fideles, quum dubitatio oritur de aliquo libro et dogmate divino, fatemur constans atque uniforme Ecclesiae testimonium argumentum esse maximi ponderis et momenti, cui judicium proprium opponere hominis sit insolentis atque temerarii. Praesertim vero, quum agitur de libri alicujus sacri rejectione vel admissione, agnoscimus perpetuum Ecclesiae Judaicae et Christianae consensum argumentum esse ineluctabile, et cui quemvis cedere oporteat.

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.