FathersVia Patrum

Theological Theses · §128

Immediate excludes Church authority as faith's foundation, not the Church's teaching ministry

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But when we say the certainty of our faith about Scripture's divinity is to be referred immediately to the Spirit's inward persuasion, the adversaries press hard: things that belong to faith — that this or that book was written by divine inspiration — are no longer had by immediate revelations, but by God's ordinance must be learned and received from the teaching Church; otherwise a window opens to fanatics and Enthusiasts.

Reply. Saying something is believed immediately by the Spirit's illumination and impulse can mean two things.

First, it can shut out the work and ministry of people who explain and commend what is to be believed — the way Paul received the Gospel not from a man nor through a man, but was taught immediately by the Holy Spirit. Immediate revelation of that kind no longer has a place in God's Church. Nor does the Spirit, in the common and ordinary way, reveal to the faithful which books were written by divine inspiration. Faith about Scripture is generated in us through the Church's work and ministry as she hands down and recommends the sacred books.

Yet in another sense Scripture can be said to be believed immediately by the Spirit's inward testimony: namely, so that any foreign authority is shut out — whether some unwritten word, or the teaching Church — that would be the properly so-called argument of our faith by which the Spirit founds that faith.

So we believe Scripture immediately because the faith we give it, and which God's Spirit impresses on us, does not properly rest on any external argument or medium, nor is it founded on a word in the Church's mouth.

Likewise, on the Roman Doctors' own view, the faith given to the teaching Church as she proposes God's word (which they believe is in her mouth) does not rest on some alien authority different from that word's authority, nor even take the Church's own testimony and voice as its argument — that would be an argument of itself — but is immediately from the Spirit's illumination and instinct. He still, they say, uses motives that dispose people to trust the Church, which they call the Church's notes.

So by immediately we exclude the Church's authority as faith's foundation, not simply the teaching Church's work and ministry.

Latin

X. Verum quum fidei nostrae certitudinem de Scripturae divinitate immediate referendam dicimus ad internam Spiritus sancti persuasionem, instant adversarii: ea quae fidei sunt, quale est hunc et illum librum divinitus esse conscriptum, non amplius haberi per immediatas revelationes, sed juxta Dei ordinationem ab Ecclesia docente disci et accipi debere: alioqui fenestram apertum iri fanaticis et Enthusiastis. Resp. Quum dicitur aliquid immediate credi, per illuminationem et impulsum Spiritus sancti, id duobus modis intelligi posse. Primo quidem ut excludatur opera et ministerium hominum explicantium et commendantium ea quae credenda sunt; quo pacto Paulus Apostolus Evangelium non acceperat ab homine, neque per hominem, sed immediate a Spiritu sancto edoctus erat. Hujusmodi immediata Spiritus revelatio non amplius locum habet in Ecclesia Dei. Neque Spiritus sanctus, communiter et juxta viam ordinariam, sic fidelibus revelat hos et illos libros esse divinitus conscriptos. Sed fides de Scriptura nobis ingeneratur per operam et ministerium Ecclesiae tradentis et commendantis libros sacros. Verum alio sensu dici potest Scripturam immediate credi per internum Spiritus sancti testimonium; nempe, ut excludatur extranea quaevis authoritas, sive verbi cujusdam non scripti, sive docentis Ecclesiae, quae sit fidei nostrae argumentum proprie dictum, quo fidem nostram Spiritus fundare intelligatur. Atque ita Scripturae immediate credimus, quoniam ea fides quam Scripturae adhibemus, et quam Spiritus Dei nobis imprimit, non nititur proprie ullo argumento et medio externo, nec in verbo aliquo quod in ore sit Ecclesiae fundatur. Non secus ac, ex mente Doctorum Ecclesiae Romanae, fides illa quae praebetur Ecclesiae docenti, et proponenti Dei verbum, quod in ejus ore esse credunt, non nititur aliena quadam authoritate, quae sit a verbi illius authoritate diversa: neque etiam habet pro argumento testimonium et vocem Ecclesiae, quandoquidem idem esset sui ipsius argumentum, sed immediate est ex illuminatione et instinctu Spiritus sancti. Qui tamen etiam, ex eorum mente, utitur motivis quibusdam quibus homines ad fidem Ecclesiae adhibendam disponat; qualia sunt quae ipsi notas Ecclesiae vocant. Itaque per vocem illam immediate excludimus authoritatem Ecclesiae tanquam fidei nostrae fundamentum, non vero simpliciter Ecclesiae docentis operam et ministerium.

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

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.