Perfect sufficient rule — ministry and Spirit stay; no second rule
Since everything that belongs to faith is in sacred Scripture in the way already shown, Scripture is a perfect and sufficient rule of faith.
That sufficiency does not cancel the Church's ministry. By God's order, heavenly teaching is drawn from Scripture and given to the faithful through their pastors and teachers. It also does not cancel the Spirit's inward teaching, by which believers come to know the doctrine drawn from Scripture and set before them — without which they cannot discern it or embrace it for salvation.
Scripture's perfection and sufficiency shut out only one thing: the need of another rule that must be joined to Scripture before we have the whole doctrine of faith.
So Rome's doctors gain nothing when they argue that Scripture is not enough for salvation because otherwise the Church's ministry would be useless. Scripture itself urges that ministry.
Latin
XIII. Quandoquidem autem omnia quae ad fidem pertinent Scriptura sacra continentur, quomodo jam expositum est, inde colligitur Scripturam esse fidei regulam perfectam & sufficientem. Quae tamen sufficientia non excludit necessitatem ministerii Ecclesiastici, quo, juxta ordinem a Deo constitutum, doctrina caelestis ex Scriptura hauritur, & fideli populo per suos pastores & doctores traditur: tum quoque interni Spiritus magisterii, quo fideles ducuntur in notitiam doctrinae ex Scriptura haustae atque propositae, & sine quo illam discernere, & salutariter amplecti non possunt. Sed ista Scripturae sacrae perfectio & sufficientia, excludit solummodo necessitatem alterius regulae, quam Scripturae sacrae adjungi necesse sit, ut integram fidei doctrinam habeamus. Unde patet nihil agere Ecclesiae Romanae Doctores, qui nobis ad salutem Scripturam non sufficere inde probare conantur, quod alioqui frustra foret ministerium Ecclesiasticum, cujus tamen necessitas in ipsa sacra Scriptura commendatur.
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.