Apply equity: even leading Roman doctors speak against notes and Spirit in dispute
Apply that equity to the matter in hand, and it is plain: not only the empty disputers who count for little even among their own, but the very men who head the Roman school, often urge in debate things that cut clean against what we have taught so far — against the marks of God's Word, against the arguments that prove sacred Scripture, and against that inward Spirit-testimony in which our certainty about the Word must finally rest.
They talk as if Scripture deserved no trust and held no authority except what it borrows from the Roman Church, and as if the whole certainty of our faith lay on today's church doctors — so that, once that witness is set aside, Scripture would be worth no more among us than any pagan book. Our doctors collect those impious and blasphemous lines in their disputations on this subject.
Yet when those same Roman doctors speak so injuriously of Scripture, they forget themselves and pull down their own settled teaching. For nearly everything we have already taught — Scripture's light, the Spirit's secret witness, the proper ground of faith and its chief foundation, and the last point into which faith's certainty resolves — is handed down by Pontifical theologians in the schools. To make that clear, we must run briefly back through the heads already treated and note in a few words what the Pontificii teach on each.
Latin
IX. Ut autem ista ad rem praesentem applicemus, certum est, non tantum vanos illos homines, et nullius etiam apud suos pretii, sed eos ipsos quoque qui inter Pontificios Doctores familiam ducunt, multa proferre inter disputandum, quae videntur plane contraria his quae hactenus docuimus, de notis Verbi Dei et argumentis quibus Scriptura sacra comprobatur, et de interno illo Spiritus testimonio, ad quod nostra de verbo Dei certitudo referenda est. Saepe enim loquuntur quasi Scriptura sacra nullam fidem mereretur, nec authoritatem haberet, nisi quam ab Ecclesia Romana mutuatur, et quasi in hodiernos Ecclesiae Doctores tota fidei nostrae certitudo recumberet: ita ut, secluso isto testimonio, Scriptura non plus esset apud nos valitura, quam quilibet liber profanus. Cujus generis voces impias et blasphema dicta Doctores nostri notant et congerunt in suis de hoc argumento disputationibus. Attamen, quum doctores illi Pontificii talia Scripturae injuria proferunt, videntur esse sui immemores, et in eo propria placita refigere. Eadem enim fere quae antea docuimus, de Scripturae sacrae et verbi Dei luce, de arcano Spiritus sancti testimonio, de propria fidei ratione et praecipuo illius fundamento, et de ultimo eo in quod resolvitur fidei certitudo, a Pontificiis Theologis traduntur et docentur in scholis. Quod ut clarius ostendamus, breviter percurrenda sunt nobis illa capita, de quibus antea egimus, et quid de uno quoque doceant Pontificii paucis est indicandum.
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.