Disputed New Testament books were already received without a public Church determination
Whatever one makes of that tacit testimony, Rome herself teaches that for a time the Church gave no sentence on certain Canonical books. Some New Testament books were once doubted, they say, because the Church had not yet made her mind clear enough about them.
Even so, while some doubted, most churches already received those books publicly and held them divine and authentic. Public Church testimony is therefore not required before a book's divinity can stand publicly and believers be sure of it. Before any Church determination of the disputed books, their authority was already certain and publicly owned across the greater part of the Christian world.
Jude and James seemed disputed (ἀντιλεγόμεναι) to some, as Eusebius says; yet on his own witness others acknowledged them (ὁμολογούμεναι) and received them publicly. Some rejected John's Apocalypse, yet the churches John had nursed, as Tertullian puts it, defended its authority. Hebrews stood the same way: though long doubted in the Latin Church, Jerome tells Dardanus that the Eastern churches had venerated it as divine and Apostolic.
Latin
XXXIX. Deinde, quicquid sit de illo tacito Ecclesiae testimonio, saltem quod ad aliquos Canonicos libros attinet, docent Pontificii per aliquod tempus Ecclesiam super illis non pronuntiasse suam sententiam: dicunt enim de quibusdam Novi Testamenti libris olim dubitatum fuisse, eo quod Ecclesia de illis mentem suam non satis testata fuerat. At licet quidam de illis dubitarent, tamen apud plerasque Ecclesias libri illi etiam tum publice recepti fuerunt, et pro divinis atque authenticis habiti. Unde liquet publicum Ecclesiae testimonium necessarium non esse ut de cujuspiam libri divinitate publice constare possit, et de eo certi sint fideles. Quandoquidem ante Ecclesiae determinationem librorum illorum, de quibus quidam addubitabant, certa fuit et publice agnita authoritas in Christiani orbis maxima parte. Quamvis enim Epistolae Judae et Jacobi quibusdam viderentur ἀντιλεγόμεναι, ut ait Eusebius: tamen, eodem teste, apud alios erant ὁμολογούμεναι et publice receptae. Et similiter, cum Joannis Apocalypsin quidam rejicerent, tamen Johannis alumnae Ecclesiae, ut loquitur Tertullianus, illius authoritatem tuebantur. Et de Epistola ad Hebraeos eodem modo res se habuit. Quanquam enim de illa aliquandiu dubitatum fuerit in Ecclesia Latina, Hieronymus tamen docet Epistola ad Dardanum, Ecclesias Orientis illam fuisse veneratas tanquam divinam et Apostolicam.
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.