Faith-certainty vs hope/trust-certainty: promise alone versus promise plus disposition
Faith-certainty hangs on God’s promise alone and excludes even fear.
Hope-certainty also weighs one’s own disposition, so it is only moral or conjectural and may retain some fear while still banishing fluctuating doubt.
Latin
XI. Denique distinguunt illi inter certitudinem fidei & certitudinem spei seu fiduciae. Certitudo fidei a solo Dei verbo & sola Dei promissione pendet, nec ullo alio fundamento nititur: ideoque ex suo genere absoluta est, & infallibilis, & omnem non modo dubitationem, sed formidinem etiam excludit. Certitudo vero spei, seu fiduciae, duplici fundamento nititur. Unum est ex parte Dei, quod est ipsa Dei promissio. Ex hoc respectu certitudo spei ipsam fidei certitudinem aequat. Alterum est ex parte hominis, quod est dispositio, qualem Deus in verbo suo exigit ut homo fiat promissi beneficii particeps. Ut enim aliquis legitime speret sive gratiae, sive gloriae dona, non sufficit ut certus sit promissiones divinas veras & firmas esse, sed praeterea requiritur ut in se sentiat & agnoscat conditiones illas, sub quibus Deo placuit gratiam & gloriam hominibus polliceri. Haec autem ex parte spei & fiducia nostra non habet certitudinem tantam quantam ipsa fides: sed certitudinem solummodo moralem sive conjecturalem, quatenus aliquis diligenter seipsum excutiendo atque examinando, colligit ex variis signis & animi sui motibus, se vera peccatorum poenitentia duci, & syncere Deum amare, aliaque praestare quae Deus a nobis postulat, ut bonis ab ipso promissis potiamur. Quae certitudo non est prorsus infallibilis, nec excludit omnem timorem & sollicitudinem, sed tamen ex animo tollit dubitationem atque anxietatem.
About this text
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Sedan Theses, newly rendered from Latin: from theology proper through the Roman theses I–77 and the Reformed theses of Part Two. The theses only — not the collected works.
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.