So far: Scripture bears its own splendor as moral evidence, not as demonstration
So far we have set out our judgment on Scripture's authority as distinctly and clearly as we could. To draw the whole into a few words, we have taught first that Scripture bears a splendor of its own and sends out various rays of divinity. Those rays can strike and move a mind rightly disposed, and so Scripture proves itself.
Yet that light is not evidence in the strict sense — not the kind that belongs to things known of themselves, or that fall under demonstration, as in mathematics and metaphysics. It is only a moral evidence. It consists entirely in this: Scripture is recommended by so many probable arguments, and carries in itself so many conspicuous marks of divinity, that a pious and prudent person is effectively led to believe it true and divine — even though its divine authority is not self-evident, and cannot be demonstrated.
Latin
I. Hactenus exposuimus, quam distincte et clare a nobis fieri potuit, nostram de authoritate Scripturae sententiam. Atque, ut rem totam in pauca contrahamus, docuimus 1. Scripturam proprio quodam splendore gerere, et varios divinitatis radios emittere, quibus mentem rite dispositam ferire et afficere possit: et ita ipsi se probare. Lucem tamen illam non esse evidentiam proprie dictam, qualis est eorum, quae sunt per se nota, aut sub demonstrationem cadunt, ut cernitur in rebus Mathematicis et Metaphysicis: sed solummodo quandam moralem evidentiam, quae tota in eo consistit quod Scriptura tam multis et tam probabilibus argumentis suadetur, et habet in se tot et tam insignes divinitatis notas, ut inde vir pius et prudens efficaciter inducatur ut credat illam esse veram et divinam: quamvis divina illius authoritas non sit res per se nota, aut etiam quae demonstrari possit.
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.