Retorsion: tradition's integrity faces the same demand — Bellarmine's 'no new revelations' collapses
Same demand hits oral tradition: we must know Apostolic deliveries reached us intact across ages — yet tradition cannot certify its own integrity.
So Rome would need yet another divine word beyond Scripture-plus-tradition to guarantee both arrived uncorrupted.
That falsifies Bellarmine's claim that the Church needs no new revelations and only keeps what Apostles and Prophets delivered.
Appealing to an infallible Church's testimony does not help — whence does the Church itself learn, and on what does its faith rest?
Latin
XXXVI. Sed illi possunt simili difficultate urgeri. Dicam enim eodem modo, Non tantum necesse est, ut sciamus Apostolos doctrinam a Christo acceptam Ecclesiae Pastoribus & Rectoribus sine scripto magna ex parte tradidisse, & simpliciter fidei illorum commisisse, sed etiam ut certi simus traditiones illas Apostolicas per tot saecula ad nos pervenisse integras atque incorruptas. Istud autem non possumus ex ipsa Apostolica traditione discere. Igitur necesse est ut praeter verbum illud quod Apostoli partim scripto, partim viva voce tradiderunt, in Ecclesia extet aliud Dei verbum, per quod hodierna Ecclesia certa reddatur tam Scripturas quam traditiones integras & incorruptas ad ipsam pervenisse. Adeoque falsum est, quod Bellarminus cum Pontificiorum doctissimis quibusque & probatissimis asserit, Ecclesiam nunc non regi novis revelationibus, sed in iis permanere quae tradiderunt illi qui ministri fuerunt sermonis: Et illa omnia quae Ecclesia fide tenet, tradita fuisse ab Apostolis, aut Prophetis, aut scripto, aut verbo. De verbo Dei non scripto lib. 4. cap. 9. Quod si quis dicat fideles certos reddi de sinceritate & integritate tum Scripturae, tum traditionum per testimonium Ecclesiae quae errare non potest, difficultatem hanc minime tollet. Nam quaeritur unde hoc discat Ecclesia ipsa, & quo fundamento nitatur hac in parte ipsius Ecclesiae fides.
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.