British Dort deputies: assurance persuasion may be vivid, languid, or null — below dogmatic faith
The British Dort deputies, chiefly Bishop George of Llandaff and Davenant, state for their church: assurance-persuasion lacks certainty that forever rules out contrary fear — sometimes vivid, sometimes weak, sometimes null in heavy temptation.
Its weakness comes first because personal trust sits below dogmatic faith: Catholic articles bind assent as immediate principles, while special-faith truth is only assumed; the conclusion cannot be firmer than its weaker premise — experimental marks often doubted or clouded by temptation.
Latin
CXXXIV. Sed praeterea mentem suam ea de re diserte & clare aperiunt Theologi Magnae Britanniae, ex Anglicano Clero ad Dordracenam Synodum deputati, in judicio suo super quintum Articulum Doctrinae Remonstrantium, quod actis Synodi illius insertum est. Illi ergo numero quinque, quorum praecipui erant Georgius Episcopus Landavensis, & Davenantius qui postea fuit Episcopus Sarisburiensis, Ecclesiae suae nomine, loquentes de persuasione, quam habere potest quivis fidelium de gratia & salute propria, hanc Thesin constituunt: Persuasio haec non habet illum certitudinis gradum, qui omnem contrarii formidinem perpetuo excludat; sed aliquando vivida est, aliquando languida, aliquando, ut in gravissimis tentationibus, nulla. Et postea in ejusdem Theseos explicatione, assertionis suae rationem reddentes, dicunt debilitatem istius persuasionis inde primo oriri, quod non habet eundem certitudinis gradum cum fide dogmatica. Primo, inquiunt, debilitas oritur ex ipsa fundamentali hujus personalis fiduciae dependentia, quae infra fidei dogmaticae certitudinem videtur subsidere. Assensum quippe nostrum afficiunt fidei Catholicae articuli, ut principia immediata, ac prima. Fidei autem specialis veritas, non inde deducitur, ut quiddam necessario consequens, sed tantum subjungitur per modum assumptionis. Ergo illius quae hanc persuasionem facit conclusionis, non potest esse firmitudo major, quam quae praemissarum debiliori inest. Subsumptio autem illa experimentalibus nititur indiciis per privatam hominis conscientiam pensitatis. Quae cum nonnunquam in dubium vocentur, an sint signa genuina; saepe autem tentationum nube occultentur, ne ad praesens solatium effulgeant; quid mirum si non semper in promptu sit vegeta & valida fidelium de sua aeterna salute persuasio?
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.