Many Reformers: calling assurance an act of faith does not equalize it with 'Christ is God's Son'
Many Reformers expressly teach graded certainty within faith: some assents rest on revelation alone; others mix revelation with report, reason, or sensory experience — yet both count as acts of faith.
Equal firmness does not follow: maximum certainty belongs to revelation-alone articles; mixed conclusions vary with the weaker premise — as Le Blanc already taught, and many Reformed doctors openly say.
So calling own-grace persuasion an act of faith does not prove common Reformed consent that it matches certainty that Christ is God's Son and the world's Redeemer.
Latin
CXXXVIII. Patet igitur, secundum expressam Reformatorum multorum doctrinam, inter ea quae ad fidem pertinent, varios esse certitudinis gradus, quoniam fides eorum respectu, non eodem modo se habet. Sunt enim quaedam circa quae assensus noster unice & immediate nititur divina revelatione: alia vero circa quae partim divina revelatione, partim alius generis mediis atque argumentis nititur; cujusmodi sunt conclusiones ex una propositione revelata deductae, & ex altera, quae vel fama constanti, vel rationis lumine, vel sensuum tum externorum, tum internorum experientia, cognita nobis & manifesta est. Et haec & illa ad fidem referuntur, & assensus uterque pro actu fidei apud Reformatos habetur. Verumtamen in utrisque, ex eorundem Reformatorum sensu, par firmitas & certitudo non est: sed maxima in iis quae sola revelatione nituntur; in aliis vero major vel minor pro proportione certitudinis & evidentiae, quae inest propositioni, quae revelatae adjungitur, ut ex ea haec vel illa conclusio deducatur, sicut jam exposueram, in Thesibus quas reprehendit vir doctus: idque non solum ex mea privata, sed ex plurium Scholae Reformatae Doctorum aperta sententia. Unde apparet quam vana sit illius probatio, dum ex eo quod Reformati actum fidei vocant, persuasionem illam, quam vere fidelis & justus habet de propria gratia & remissione peccatorum suorum, colligit secundum communem Reformatorum sententiam, unumquemque fidelem, pari cum certitudine & firmitate persuasum esse de remissione peccatorum suorum, ac est de eo quod Christus est Dei filius & mundi Redemptor.
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.