Present Church means present pastors
But by "present Church" the Pontificians mean the Church of each age.
Even then they do not mean the community of the faithful living in one and the same age. They restrict the name "Church" to the overseers and pastors of the Church.
So when they claim that the authority of Scripture depends on the authority of the Church, they mean that the faith by which the faithful people receive the books of Scripture as true and divine rests on the testimony of the pastors then in office, and settles on that testimony.
Why? Because in the pastors and prelates of the Church there always resides a certain infallible, divine authority by which they can decide the truth and divinity of a book, so that their sentence and judgment bind our faith.
They even hold that those pastors have power to make authentic a book that until then was of doubtful authority, and about which either side might be held, so that after their determination it must be ranked with the other sacred and canonical books.
Latin
XXXI. Pontificii vero per Ecclesiam praesentem intelligunt uniuscujusque saeculi. Nec adhuc per illam Ecclesiam praesentem communitatem fidelium uno eodemque saeculo viventium intelligunt: sed restringunt Ecclesiae nomen ad praepositos & Pastores Ecclesiae. Itaque, quum pertendunt Scripturae authoritatem ab authoritate Ecclesiae pendere, mens eorum est, fidem illam, qua fidelis populus Scripturae libros amplectitur ut veros & divinos, niti testimonio Pastorum qui tum Ecclesiae praesunt, & testimonio illi acquiescere. Et hoc quia in Pastoribus & praesulibus Ecclesiae perpetuo residet infallibilis & divina quaedam authoritas, ex qua de libri alicujus veritate & divinitate pronunciare possint: ita ut sententia & judicium illorum fidem nostram obliget. Imo illos ea esse praeditos potestate, ut liber, qui hactenus dubiae fuit authoritatis, & de quo in utramque partem opinari licuit, per determinationem illorum fiat authenticus, & eodem postea debeat haberi numero quo libri alii sacri & canonici.
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.