The argument needs no present infallibility
For that argument to stand, the pastors of the present Church need not have a divine, infallible authority better known to us and superior to Scripture itself.
The argument does not simply rest on their authority. Its force is this: if those apocryphal books were truly divine, and written by the prophets and apostles to be a perpetual rule of faith in the Church, the prophets and apostles themselves would without doubt have handed them down and recommended them as such — like the other canonical books, and sealed with the rest of Scripture's Canon.
Had that happened, the apostolic men and the Church next after the apostles, which received their other books with such reverence, would without doubt have received these too — if not among all the faithful, at least among the greatest or a notable part.
That the ancient Church doctors do not even mention them is a clear sign that the apostles, when they sealed Scripture's Canon, did not admit such books, but rejected and cast them out.
It is in no way likely that God by His singular providence moved a prophet or apostle to write so that his book would be a rule of faith and serve the faithful's instruction and comfort — and yet allowed His Church neither to receive nor to acknowledge that book.
Latin
XXXIV. Sed ut subsistat argumentum istud, & vim suam habeat, non necesse est ut praesentis Ecclesiae Pastores authoritatem habeant divinam & infallibilem, Scriptura ipsa quoad nos notiorem & superiorem. Nec argumentum istud simpliciter nititur eorum authoritate: sed vis argumenti in eo consistit, quod, si libri illi Apocryphi vere divini essent, & a Prophetis & Apostolis eo fine conscripti, ut perpetua essent in Ecclesia fidei regula, proculdubio a Prophetis & Apostolis ipsis pro talibus traditi & commendati fidelibus essent, ut alii libri Canonici, & cum reliquo Scripturae Canone consignati. At si hoc factum esset, Apostolici viri & Ecclesia proxime succedens Apostolis, quae tanta reverentia reliquos eorum libros suscepit, absque omni dubio istos quoque suscepisset, &, si non ab omnibus, saltem a maxima, aut notabili parte fidelium admissi fuissent. Itaque quod eorum ne meminerint quidem prisci Ecclesiae Doctores, signum est manifestum Apostolos, quum Canonem Scripturae consignarunt, ejusmodi libros non admisisse, sed rejecisse & repudiasse. Nec ullo modo verisimile est Deum singulari sua providentia Prophetam aut Apostolum ad scribendum impulisse, eo fine ut liber illius esset fidei regula in Ecclesia Dei, & ad eruditionem & consolationem fidelium inserviret, & tamen passum fuisse ut liber ille ab Ecclesia sua nec reciperetur nec agnosceretur.
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.