System of Sacred Theology · §3.29.5 · Ludwig Crocius

XVII–XXI: general and special governance; merely corporeal creatures

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XVII. Third, governance is general or special. XVIII. GENERAL governance is that by which God governs all things in common. It is also called universal, and likewise common providence; and this does not admit of more and less.

XIX. SPECIAL governance is that by which God governs singular things as befits their natures. This is also called singular providence, and it has certain grades of its own. XX. And it is of merely corporeal creatures, or of corporeal and incorporeal together, or of the incorporeal simply — that is, of angels and of humans.

XXI. Merely corporeal creatures God governs with less labor, yet so that what was given them He either conserves in them, or raises, or brings low; some again He rules as things without sense, others as things that sense. Compare Deuteronomy 28; Psalm 104; 146:6–9; Psalm 147 throughout; Isaiah 42:5; Acts 14:15–17; Job 36–41; Proverbs 6:6–8; Jeremiah 5:22; 8:7; Jonah 4:7; Matthew 5:45; 10:29.

Latin

XVII. Tertio, est generalis aut specialis. XVIII. Gubernatio GENERALIS est, qua Deus gubernat res universas communiter. Dicitur etiam universalis, item communis providentia. Et haec non admittit magis et minus. XIX. Gubernatio SPECIALIS est, qua Deus gubernat res singulas naturis ipsarum convenienter. Haec etiam singularis providentia appellatur; et suos quosdam gradus habet. XX. Estque creaturarum mere corporearum, aut corporearum incorporearumque simul, aut incorporearum simpliciter, sive angelorum et hominum. XXI. Mere corporeas creaturas Deus minus quidem operose, sic tamen gubernat ut, quod illis datum, in eo ipsas aut conservet, aut sublimet, aut deprimat; altera iterum regit ita expertes, altera ut sentientes. Confer Deuteronomy 28; Psalm 104; 146:6–9; Psalm 147 totum; Isaiah 42:5; Acts 14:15–17; Job 36–41; Proverbs 6:6–8; Jeremiah 5:22; 8:7; Jonah 4:7; Matthew 5:45; 10:29.

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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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