Next argument from Church practice: rejection of Apocrypha
Enough on that argument. On to another. The Roman doctors also try to prove that Scripture's authority for us hangs on the Church's from the Church's use and practice.
Apocryphal books, they say, which impostors published under Prophets' and Apostles' names and tried to pass off as sacred, were rejected and exploded by the faithful — and that was by the Church's authority and judgment, which wisely separated those forgeries from the divine books and struck them from the Canon, or at least never judged them receivable.
They pile up Fathers for this. The synopsis attributed to Athanasius, explaining why the Gospels of Thomas, Peter, according to the Hebrews, and the like are not approved, says the Canons of the holy Catholic Church sanctioned four Gospel books for us; besides those it is not safe to have another.
Augustine likewise rejects a Gospel of Thomas the Manichees were offering: We need not believe this Scripture, because it is not in the Catholic Canon; and again, The ecclesiastical Canon rejects these Scriptures. They add Eusebius, who in the Ecclesiastical History often calls such writings Apocrypha because the ancients never mention them, and no church writer cites them or bothers to record them.
Latin
XXVII. Atque haec de isto argumento jam satis. Pergendum ad aliud. Igitur Pontificii Scripturae authoritatem quoad nos ab authoritate Ecclesiae pendere, probare quoque student ex usu & praxi Ecclesiae. Nam, inquiunt, quod libri Apocryphi, quos impostores varii sub nomine Prophetarum & Apostolorum ediderunt, & tanquam sacros & divinos obtrudere conati sunt, a fidelibus rejecti fuerunt & explosi, factum est authoritate & judicio Ecclesiae, quae libros illos supposititios, pro sua sapientia, a divinis discrevit, & e Canone expunxit: aut saltem nunquam judicavit esse recipiendos. Atque in hanc rem afferunt ex Patribus multa testimonia. Ut quod autor synopseos quae tribuitur Athanasio, rationem afferens quare Evangelia illa Thomae, Petri, secundum Hebraeos, &c. non approbentur, Quatuor, inquit, nobis Evangeliorum libros sacri sanctae Catholicae Ecclesiae Canones sanxerunt, praeter istos non est tutum aliud. Et similiter Augustinus Evangelium quoddam Thomae, quod Manichaei proferebant, repudiat his verbis, Huic Scripturae licet nobis non credere, quia non est in Catholico Canone; Et iterum, Has Scripturas Canon Ecclesiasticus respuit. Quibus addunt Eusebium, qui in historia Ecclesiastica, saepe scripta istiusmodi Apocrypha esse pronunciat, quia apud veteres nulla sit eorum mentio. Et quia nullus Scriptor Ecclesiasticus usus est testimoniis ex libris illis depromptis: aut usquam in scriptis suis in memoriam illa redigere dignatus est.
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.