Roman doctors teach that Church authority is not faith's formal reason

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The Pontificii teach no less plainly that the Church's authority is not the formal reason of our faith — not the chief foundation on which faith finally rests. Melchior Canus presses this hardest in Loci Theologici 2.8, reply to the fourth argument. Third, he says, we must hold that faith's formal reason is not the Church's authority: faith's last resolution is not made into the Church's testimony. Below he adds: the Church's authority is not of itself a reason that moves to belief. And again: if the question is asked in general how the believer knows that what he holds by faith was revealed by God, he cannot bring in the Church's authority.

Some of the older scholastics — Durandus and Gabriel Biel — did finally resolve Christian faith into the Church's authority, as if the Church's word were the believer's last ground for believing. That view was exploded long ago and is rejected by today's schools, Canus named among them. Their error, he says, I cannot hide: they claim our faith must be reduced to this last cause of believing — that we take the Church to be truthful.

Then he piles up arguments against it. On that scheme the first formal reason of faith would be created truth, not uncreated; our faith would lean on human truth rather than divine. And since a conclusion is never more certain than its principles, God's being triune would be no firmer for us than the Church's being truthful — a claim we would take on human inducements. He presses Paul's line: "Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you…" (Galatians 1). Faith's assent, he gathers, does not lean on human causes. So, lest the mind waver, Scripture's divine authority must be sought higher than any human reason or authority. The Apostles and Prophets finally resolved their faith into God's authority and truthfulness; our faith is the same as theirs, and so is not resolved into the Church's human authority — with many like points.

Latin

XIV. Neque minus diserte docent Pontificii Ecclesiae authoritatem non esse fidei nostrae rationem formalem, id est praecipuum illud fundamentum in quod fides nostra recumbit. Istud praesertim docet Melchior Canus locor. Theolog. lib. 2. cap. 8. resp. ad quartum arg. Tertium, inquit, subjiciendum est rationem formalem nostrae fidei non esse Ecclesiae authoritatem, hoc est fidei ultimam resolutionem non fieri in Ecclesiae testimonium. Et infra, Non est Ecclesiae authoritas ratio per se movens ad credendum. Item, Si generaliter quaeratur unde fideli constet ea quae fide tenet esse a Deo revelata, non poterit Ecclesiae authoritatem inducere. Fuerunt quidem nonnulli inter veteres Scholasticos, nempe Durandus et Gabriel Biel, qui fidem Christianam in Ecclesiae authoritatem ultimo resolvebant, quasi ultima credendi ratio fidelibus esset Ecclesiae testimonium. Sed haec sententia pridem explosa est, et communi consensu rejicitur a Scholasticis hodiernis, nominatim vero a Melchiore Cano loco quem jam indicavimus. Eorum, inquit, errorem dissimulare non possum, qui asserunt fidem nostram eo tanquam in ultimam credendi causam reducendam esse, ut credamus Ecclesiam esse veracem. Postea subjungit multa argumenta quibus errorem illum redarguit: ut quod inde sequeretur primam rationem formalem fidei non esse veritatem increatam sed creatam: Et ita fidem nostram non inniti tanquam suo fundamento divinae veritati, sed humanae. Praeterea, cum assensus conclusionis non sit certior principiorum assensu, ostendit inde sequi, quod Deum esse trinum, non nobis esset certius, aut firmius, quam Ecclesiam esse veracem, cui per humanarum causarum incitamenta crederemus. Deinde urget locum Pauli, Licet nos, aut Angelus de caelo, evangelizet vobis, &c. Unde colligit fidei assensionem humanis causis et incitamentis non inniti. Quare, inquit, ne mens nostra vacillet, altius petenda, quam ab hominis vel ratione, vel authoritate Scripturae divinae authoritas est. Quibus addit Apostolos et Prophetas resolvisse ultimo fidem suam in divinam authoritatem et veracitatem: Jam autem fidem nostram eandem esse cum fide Prophetarum et Apostolorum, adeoque in humanam Ecclesiae authoritatem non resolvi, et multa similia.

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.