System of Sacred Theology · §3.2.10 · Ludwig Crocius

Reasons 17-18: universal consensus; conscience; against Aristotelian motion

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THE SEVENTEENTH REASON is founded on the perpetual and universal consensus of all nations and lawgivers. All assert that God is. Whoever denies this consensus will also deny that Rome is and that Caesar was.

THE EIGHTEENTH REASON is founded on the practical axiom which conscience dictates. In all there is a conscience which in good deeds cheers, in evil torments (Romans 2:15; Wisdom of Solomon 17:11). From which it is gathered that there is a supreme judge. But this is God.

For the rest, whether from motion it can be concluded that God is: those who with Aristotle prove from this labor under a double paralogism. But the reasons by which we have demonstrated that God is can suffice for the present.

Latin

RATIO DECIMA SEPTIMA fundatur in perpetuo & universali omnium nationum & legislatorum consensu. Omnes asserunt Deum esse. Qui hunc consensum negat, is etiam Romam esse & Caesarem fuisse negabit. RATIO DECIMA OCTAVA fundatur in axiomate practico quod cuivis conscientia dictat. Omnibus conscientia inest quae in benefactis exhilarat, in malefactis cruciat, Rom. 2.15; Sap. 17.11. Ex quo colligitur esse judicem supremum. At hic Deus est. Caeterum, an ex motu Deum esse concludi possit? Qui cum Aristotele ex hoc probant, gemino laborant paralogismo. Sed rationes quibus demonstravimus Deum esse impræsentiarum sufficere possunt.

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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.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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