Faith resolves into the Spirit's impulse; faith's light is that by which we believe
Therefore we state that the last thing into which our faith finally resolves — its principal support — is that impulse and instinct of the Holy Spirit described in thesis 9. By that name we mean the Spirit's action and efficiency: he immediately moves us to receive divine revelation and impresses a sure persuasion of it on our minds.
A comparison with scientific assent helps. What demonstrated conclusions are in the sciences, the dogmas of faith and the other things God's Word teaches are here. What the middle term of a demonstration is to its conclusion, the authority of God speaking and revealing is to the things proposed for belief. As we immediately grasp the middle term and the force of a demonstration by reason's natural, inborn light, so we immediately believe and perceive the revelation given to the Prophets and Apostles through the Spirit's inward instinct and testimony — what the Scholastics call the light of faith.
And as reason's light is not something we come to know by reasoning, but that by which we know and reason, so this testimony of the Holy Spirit is not a further thing believed, nor an argument that moves us to believe. It is only that by which we believe — the action that impresses faith on the mind. Every believer who elicits an act of faith need not know and understand that action by reflexive cognition, any more than a country laborer must think about intelligence and the power of reasoning while he understands and reasons.
Latin
XXXIV. Quapropter ultimum illud in quod fides nostra tandem resolvitur, et praecipuum illius firmamentum, statuimus esse illum Spiritus sancti impulsum, et instinctum qui a nobis thesi 9. descriptus fuit. Quo nomine designamus Spiritus sancti actionem, et efficientiam, qua nos ad divinam revelationem suscipiendam immediate movet, et certam de ea persuasionem mentibus nostris imprimit. Ad cujus rei illustrationem potest aliquid conferre, si comparatio fiat inter assensum fidei, et assensum scientiarum. Quod ergo sunt in scientiis conclusiones demonstratae, hic sunt fidei dogmata, et alia quae docet et tradit Dei verbum. Quod est medium demonstrationis, conclusionis respectu, istud est Dei dicentis et revelantis authoritas, respectu eorum quae credenda proponuntur. Ut autem medium ipsum, et demonstrationis vim immediate percipimus, naturali et infito rationis lumine: ita divinam revelationem, factam Prophetis atque Apostolis, immediate credimus et percipimus, per internum Spiritus Dei instinctum et testimonium, quod fidei lumen Scholastici vocant. Atque ut rationis lumen non est illud quod ratiocinando percipimus et cognoscimus, sed illud quo cognoscimus et ratiocinamur: Ita istud Spiritus sancti testimonium non est amplius aliquid quod creditur, nec argumentum quod ad credendum moveat, sed illud tantum quo creditur, et actio qua fides menti nostrae imprimitur: quam non necesse est ut omnis fidelis, qui fidei actum elicit, cognoscat et intelligat cognitione reflexa: Non magis quam necesse est rusticum aliquem cogitare de intelligentia et vi ratiocinandi, quum intelligit et ratiocinatur.
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.