Relative/inferior adoration does not clear Rome—Protestants never charged absolute god-cult of images
Rome’s refuge—only relative, inferior adoration—is the very thing Protestants meant.
Even thoughtful pagans denied their statues were gods; Protestants do not charge Rome with that stupidity.
So the accusation tracks Rome’s own relative cult, not a forged absolute one.
Latin
IV. Nec est quod dicant adorationem quam deferunt imaginibus non esse summam & absolutam illam, quam soli Deo deberi agnoscunt; neque se habere imagines pro Diis, sed eas colere tantum adoratione quadam inferiori, quae ad Prototypa refertur. Etenim quum Protestantes Ecclesiam Romanam incusant ut adorantem imagines, nolunt Ecclesiae Romanae tribuere quod Imagines pro Diis habeat, adeoque quod imagines colat alia adoratione quam relativa, & quae sit infra summam. Quin ab eo tantum absunt, ut ne quidem ipsis Ethnicis, cordatioribus saltem & non plane stupidis, simile quid citra injuriam tribui posse arbitrentur: cum eorum sapientes & Philosophi saepius declarent se lapideas aut ligneas imagines Deos non existimare; nec se alia mente eas colere, quam ut in iis, & per eas honorem deferant iis numinibus, quorum ipsae sunt signa & simulacra. Cum ergo Protestantes non alio modo credant & dicant imagines ab Ecclesia Romana adorari, quam eo quem ipsa probat & profitetur, planum est eos hac in parte, nihil illi per calumniam imputare.
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.