Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §326

Annotatio I §.II: Literal sense wider than proper/improper — Scherzer on literal/logical sense and figures

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A biblical proposition’s literal sense is wider than proper vs improper, and stretches equally to both with equal clarity.

An improper predication does not make the sense less literal, less true, or less matched to the speaker’s intent — the letter is open to impropriety no less than to propriety.

Scherzer puts it best: the literal or logical sense is what the Spirit first and proximately intends, whether in proper words or figurative speech; otherwise many biblical sayings would have no literal sense at all (Syst. Theol. I.§.24).

Latin

Quia literalis alicujus propositionis, etiam Biblicae, sensus, proprio impropriôque latior existit, & ad hos, etiam aequè perspicuos, perinde extensus: neque enim sensus alicujus propositionis biblicae minus literalis, i. e. minùs verus genuinus & dicentis menti ac intentioni minus conformis, quin & minus perspicuus, remanet, si impropria, quam si propria facta sit praedicatio, litera propositionis, unà cum perspicuitate sua, Improprietati non minùs, quàm Proprietati, obnoxia, vel ab ista non minus quam ab hac, afficienda. Unde rectissimè Scherzerus: Ad perspicuitatem, inquit, pertinet omnino sensus literalis seu Logicus, i. e. quem Spiritus S. per se primo & proximè intendit, sive propriis verbis, sive figurato sermonis genere efferatur. Si enim sensus literalis solùm propriis verbis proferretur, plures orationes Biblicae nullum haberent sensum literalem, quod absurdum, System. Theol. loc. 1. §. 24. p. m. 24. in fin.

About this text

Samuel Strimesius — Prefatio through Controversiae Post Lutherum Controv. III-XIII + XV Tolerantia, Hexades Annotationum Prooemium and Annotatio I through Decem Theses / Francus plus Annotatio II §.I-§.VI and Annotatio III §.I–§.VII (through Cassellanum 1661) from Ingenua in Controversias Evangelicorum (Frankfurt an der Oder, 1708). Honest partial; Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio III §.VIII+ fruits / §.IX+, Hexades theses body, deeper Controversiae / Part II remain.

English follows the locked 1708 Francofurti ad Viadrum Latin of Prefatio §I–II, Crimina defenses through III, Part I Protheoria through Controversiae Obices/Historia/Varii gradus, Formula Discord/Disparitas, Ulterius confirmatur / Classes / Formula protest / triplex differentia, Coena Domini Controversiae Priores through Precariae Hypotheses (Controv. print pp. 34–40), Controversiae Post Lutherum Natae Controv. III–XV tip (providence through De Tolerantia mutua; Controv. print pp. 40–78), Hexades Annotationum Prooemium H.I–§.III (Hexades print pp. 1–4 / PDF ~182–185), and Annotatio I De Augustana Confessione §.I–§.VIII tip (Hexades print pp. 5–24+ / PDF ~186–205+), reconstructed from Google Books PDF page images (ONB copy, id 3epYAAAAcAAJ) with pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Sister Halle digitization of Ingenua in Arminianismum (DOI 10.25673/65287) remains Anubis-blocked — skipped; Controversias only. Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio I §.IX+, Hexades theses body beyond §.VIII, and remainder of Controversiae / folio remain.

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