System of Sacred Theology · §3.12.5 · Ludwig Crocius

Against Vorstius: God only in heaven by substance — rejected

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Therefore Conrad Vorstius errs, deceived by Scotus, Bodin, and Taurellus, in Notes on Disputation III On God p. 232, because against the catholic consensus and the most learned Zanchi he teaches that God according to His substance is nowhere but in heaven. He alleges seven reasons.

But that error is from a double confusion: it does not distinguish Scripture's proper from improper speech about throne and dwelling; and from the aspect of special presence it overturns the very immensity of essence. For God is in a special ratio in Christ's humanity by hypostatic union, in the saints by knowledge and love, in the Church by help, in heaven by majesty and glory — the immensity of essence nonetheless remaining everywhere.

Latin

ERRAT igitur CONR. VORSTIUS a Scoto, Bodino, Taurello deceptus, Notis ad disp. III. p.232 de Deo, quia contra catholicum consensum et doctissimum Zanchium docet, Deum secundum substantiam suam non esse alibi quam in caelo. Allegrat rationes septem. VERUM error iste a duplici confusione est: non distinguit sermonis divini potentiam propriam ab impropria de throno et habitatione; et a specialis praesentiae aspectu ipsam immensitatem essentiae evertit. Deus enim speciali ratione in humanitate Christi per unionem hypostaticam, in sanctis per cognitionem et amorem, in Ecclesia per auxilium, in caelo per majestatem et gloriam — manente tamen essentiae immensitate ubique.

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About this text

Ludwig Crocius's System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636), all four books: theology and its rule in Scripture; man's last end, death and the resurrection; God, the Trinity, creation, providence and sin; and the grace of Christ, the Word and sacraments, faith, the Christian life and prayer.

Ludwig Crocius (1586–1655) taught theology and philosophy at Bremen and sat as a delegate at the Synod of Dort (1618–1619). A Calvinist of the irenic school, he spent his career seeking common ground between the Reformed and Lutheran churches.

His System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636) is a full Reformed dogmatics in the high-orthodox style: precise definitions, ordered questions, objections raised and answered.

Date1636 AD (Bremen; Reformed professor)

EditionSyntagma sacrae theologiae (Bremen: Berthold Villerian, 1636)

English follows the 1636 Bremen Latin (Berthold Villerian), read chapter by chapter from the SLUB Dresden page images, with a machine reading of the same pages as a check. No modern English was copied. The author index at the end of the volume is not translated.

Reference

VD17 14:684303C. SLUB id335860389.

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