First calumny answered: remitted-sins persuasion is not Reformed formal act of faith
Briefly, taking the charges in reverse: it is calumny to say Reformed theologians teach by common consent that faith's formal justifying act is each believer's certain persuasion that sins are remitted and he is just before God — and that without that persuasion none is truly faithful, as if denying a fundamental article.
Perkins, Davenant, Ames, Mestrezat, Du Moulin, Walaeus, and Wittich following Widmar expressly deny that saving faith's formal act is already-obtained-grace certainty; it is rather fleeing to God and leaning on him for mercy through Christ — and the former trust can be absent even from the justified for a time, as also the Presbyterian Anglican Confession teaches.
Musculus and Peter Martyr likewise place faith's essence in Spirit-wrought firm heart-assent that draws fiducia, hope, charity, and good works — not in remitted-sins persuasion.
Latin
CXXXI. Sed jam breviter singula perstringamus. Atque ut ea ordine retrogrado resumam, incipiendo a posterioribus; Annon clarum est, ex iis quae fuse supra deduximus, Per calumniam Theologis Reformatis tribui, quod communi consensu doceant proprium & formalem fidei actum, per quem justificamur, esse certam persuasionem quae singulis fidelibus inest, quod peccata ipsis remissa sunt, & quod sunt coram Deo justi: adeoque talem persuasionem ita necessariam esse, ut absque ea nemo vere fidelis & justus esse possit, non secus ac si credere detrectaret aliquem ex praecipuis & fundamentalibus fidei articulis? Nam saepius jam allata sunt testimonia Perkinsii, Davenantii, Amesii, Mestrezatii, Petri Molinaei, Antonii Walaei, & Wittichii, qui in eo sequitur Widmarium, qui expresse negant fiduciam, quae est fidei salvificae actus formalis atque praecipuus, eam esse qua certi & persuasi sumus de gratia jam impetrata; sed eam per quam ad Deum confugimus eique innitimur, ut misericordiam per Christum consequamur: & priorem illam fiduciam posse a vere fideli & justificato abesse, & saltem ad tempus a fide separari: quae est etiam aperta doctrina Confessionis Anglicanae, a Theologis Presbyterianis conscriptae atque publicatae. Num igitur citra calumniam dici possunt communi consensu docere Reformati, quod negant tot inter eos Theologiae Professores scriptis suis celebrati, imo illae ipsae, quibus plurimi eorum subscribunt, fidei Confessiones? Ut omittam eos qui quaestionem illam expresse non moventes, alia tamen in re formam & essentiam fidei constituunt quam in illa persuasione de obtenta jam a Deo remissione peccatorum, ut Musculum & Petrum Martyrem, quibus fides est simpliciter firmus & constans assensus cordis ad ea quae vel narrantur, vel promittuntur Verbo, a Spiritu Sancto afflatus ad salutem credentium: quique firmum assensum exponunt, per eum qui sit tantarum virium & efficaciae, ut secum trahat affectum fiduciae, spei & charitatis, & omnia tandem bona opera; & similiter credere in Deum, qui ipsis est praecipuus actus fidei salvificae, exponunt per spem omnem in Deum dirigere, firmaque fiducia ab illius bonitate pendere.
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.