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System of Sacred Theology

Syntagma sacrae theologiae

Ludwig Crocius (1586–1655 AD) · Bremen 1636

Book 1156 passages · 156 sections · read
  1. 1.1.1Sacred theology is a practical habit that teaches how to worship God and reach eternal life
  2. 1.1.2Theology is called sacred over against profane science, and is a practical habit aiming at faith and eternal life
  3. 1.1.3Third and fourth proofs from practical means and the mode of the primary object; theology is a practical habit
  4. 1.1.4Four objections: theology holds theorems; the practical object is the doable; it treats theory as well as practice; eternal life is cognition
  5. 1.1.5Replies to the first and second objections: Hebrew wise for just; theorems ordered to practice; the doable in itself or in another
  6. 1.1.6Replies to the third and fourth objections; Gerhard on practical theology; orthodoxy and Christian life
  7. 1.1.7Sacred theology is not among Aristotle's five logical virtues; spiritual things differ in kind from natural disciplines
  8. 1.1.8Analogy with practical arts: fixed end, subject, and exact definition of the end as justification
  9. 1.1.9From the defined end come the means, chiefly faith; theology differs from other disciplines in end, means, and subject
  10. 1.1.10IV. Whether sacred theology is the same as the habit of faith and piety; science and wisdom
  11. 1.1.11V–VI. Philosophical names of habits are alien if taken strictly; theology's principles are from revelation, method from industry
  12. 1.1.12VII. The proper subject of sacred theology is the kingdom of God, and man as subject to God unto beatitude
  13. 1.1.13VIII–IX. Theology does not swallow ethics and politics; metaphysics and ethics do not vanish but serve
  14. 1.1.14X. The end of sacred theology: internal and external; the life of God; four grades of life
  15. 1.2.1Sacred theology considers principles and parts; a principle is incomplex or complex
  16. 1.2.2The first and last principle of sacred theology is authentic and self-attesting
  17. 1.2.3Two kinds of discipline; assent in the first rests on the dictate of right reason
  18. 1.2.4Natural light remains after the Fall; theology assents by God's revealing authority from proximate scriptural principles
  19. 1.2.5The first principle of sacred theology is divine revelation
  20. 1.2.6Melanchthon: church doctrine is taken from God's revealed sayings, not from demonstrations
  21. 1.2.7Certainty rests on the revelation of the truthful God; analytic method serves theology but does not produce justifying faith
  22. 1.2.8Divine revelation is general or special; its object and mode must be considered
  23. 1.2.9Some revealed things are known only supernaturally; Scripture also presupposes truths known by nature
  24. 1.2.10As to mode, revelation declares or proves
  25. 1.2.11Revelation is immediate or mediate; immediate revelation is given to God's messengers by secret inspiration
  26. 1.2.12Immediate revelation without messengers has modes and grades; it comes by signs, spirit, or species
  27. 1.2.13By spirit and by species; these two grades may be called intellectual
  28. 1.2.14Mediate revelation; it is manifest or occult; manifest needs no added signs
  29. 1.2.15Occult mediate revelation binds by accompanying signs
  30. 1.2.16Revelation is unwritten or written; one Word in substance, dual in mode; against a real pontifical distinction
  31. 1.2.17Unwritten revelation by living voice; corruption; writing for stability; do not require the unwritten when Scripture is given
  32. 1.3.1Written revelation is sacred theology's first principle; it is called Sacred Scripture
  33. 1.3.2Scripture is the analytic, proper, spiritual principle that settles controversy; without analytic ministry no spiritual proof
  34. 1.3.3Analytic doctrine is handmaid not mistress; ignorance of analytics breeds false spiritual proofs and obstinate heresy
  35. 1.3.4Mixing philosophical principles into the articles of faith overturns theology; the Word of God is the common rule of faith
  36. 1.3.5Against the papal first principle: whatever the Roman pontiff determines is not primary, for they prove it from Scripture
  37. 1.3.6Circular reasoning when Scripture's authority hangs on Pope, Church, traditions, and councils
  38. 1.3.7The Bereans; Moses, the Prophets, Christ, and the Apostles prove from Scripture
  39. 1.3.8Analogy with naturally known principles; Scripture's spiritual efficacy; affections and parts to be considered
  40. 1.4.1Scripture's affections; authority is the dignity that merits faith because God is Author
  41. 1.4.2Against Eckhardus twisting Beza and Piscator; Moses' seeming contradictions are not two wills in God
  42. 1.4.3Authority absolute or compared; absolutely it is divine because from God; Raymond of Sabunde
  43. 1.4.4Bible rests on God's authority alone; Valencia and Soto: the Church is subject to Scripture
  44. 1.4.5Compared to our cognition: against atheists and against papal suspension of Scripture on the Church
  45. 1.4.6Divinity persuaded by human or divine arguments; human ones are occasions or inclinations
  46. 1.4.7Inclinations as persuasive arguments; variety and use; occasion can also serve as argument
  47. 1.4.8Use of human arguments against unbelievers and atheists; philosophical preparation then providence
  48. 1.4.9Inspect nations' laws and religions; the Jewish people and Moses; Christian religion true or none is
  49. 1.4.10Christian religion alone free of falsehood; antiquity with humankind; preservation through persecutions
  50. 1.4.11Human persuasion is weak without the divine argument; Spirit's efficacy; Christians would rather die than deny
  51. 1.4.12Early believers were moved by the Word's luminous power, not by Church authority or the preachers' fame
  52. 1.4.13Divine testimony from Scripture's implanted efficacy and the Spirit's inward work; against Miletus on Aesop
  53. 1.4.14Scripture is first principle with Christians; Walaeus's three argument kinds against the atheist
  54. 1.4.15The divine argument: Word, signs, and senses; Moses and Aaron; Christ the legate of legates
  55. 1.4.16Apostolic testimonies continue; how spiritual Israel today knows the genuine Word
  56. 1.4.17Conclusion I: what is clearly comprehended in undisputed Scripture must be believed
  57. 1.4.18Conclusion II: Scripture dogma not wholly beyond contradiction yet clear by many testimonies and the saints' unanimous tradition
  58. 1.4.19Conclusion III: what is unclear or of uncertain unanimous tradition is not necessary as infallible Word
  59. 1.4.20Conclusion IV: useful doctrine decided among those agreeing on the premises; peace, weight, and necessity
  60. 1.4.21From the last conclusions: not heretics; against false prophets; the pious warned against additions
  61. 1.5.1Chapter 5: On Sacred Scripture's perfection and sufficiency
  62. 1.5.2As to the number of canonical books: none needful to salvation has perished; against Bellarmine and Becanus
  63. 1.5.3As to authentic-text purity: the Hebrew was not corrupted in the prophets', Apostles', or Jerome's ages
  64. 1.5.4Sixtus of Siena: divine Old Testament Scriptures not falsified; five observations against corruption charges
  65. 1.5.5As to integrity of the lettering: the claim that vowel points were added late after Christ
  66. 1.5.6Against late punctuation: the claim is unhistorical, suspicious in time, object, authors, and witnesses
  67. 1.5.7Late punctuation is dangerous: no need, no mandate, and no infallible sense if the points are new
  68. 1.5.8Late punctuation is contradictory on cause, place, and time; and contrary to Scripture's witness to points in Christ's day
  69. 1.5.9Scripture's witness to points continued: iota and tittle; late punctuation is impossible
  70. 1.5.10Late punctuation is absurd: doubtful sense; confessors, reason, and examples; authentic versus private Bibles
  71. 1.5.11Scripture's perfection as to what it contains: divine revelation and catholic dogmas of the faith
  72. 1.5.12Necessary dogmas: for eternal salvation, for church teaching, and for certainty
  73. 1.5.13All needful dogmas are perfectly contained in Old and New Testament Scripture; reasons from canon, testament, praises, and Isaiah
  74. 1.5.14Further reasons for Scripture's perfection: Christ's judgment, spoken and written Word, Abraham, and the Apostles
  75. 1.5.15Final reasons for perfection: Scripture's end, God's counsel, the canon's close, and orthodox antiquity
  76. 1.5.16First contradiction: papists equate unwritten tradition with Scripture; kinds of tradition
  77. 1.5.17Six reasons unwritten papal traditions cannot equal Scripture
  78. 1.5.18Bellarmine's three heads of the tradition controversy; papists as twin rabbis
  79. 1.5.19Second contradiction: zealots who demand equal faith for private interpretations and consequences
  80. 1.5.20Third contradiction: diverting the Church from the Bible to endless volumes; two modes of containing revelation
  81. 1.6.1Chapter 6: On Sacred Scripture's clarity
  82. 1.6.2Catholic ASSERTIO: saving dogmas are plain and open; Hilary; against the idle and malicious
  83. 1.6.3Reasons 1–3: Scripture's own witness; internal lamp; Christ's promise of the Spirit
  84. 1.6.4Reasons 4–7: Christ's command to search; Bereans; fathers; Scripture's end
  85. 1.6.5Reasons 8–9: from God who reveals; from prophets and Apostles as God's scribes
  86. 1.6.6Reasons 10–11: revealed dogmas can be taught clearly; papists admit it; simple style
  87. 1.6.7II. Partial obscurity admitted; human causes; hard places in Paul; Spirit's wise mixture
  88. 1.6.8Six reasons God willed some obscurity; Flacius; Augustine; Constantine at Nicaea
  89. 1.6.9III. Not absolute but conditioned and sufficient perspicuity for canonical teaching
  90. 1.6.10Obscurities conquerable for the pious cautious reader; Lambert; Scripture alone God's certain testimony
  91. 1.7.1Chapter 7: On Sacred Scripture's sense and interpretation
  92. 1.7.2Against a multiplex sense in one utterance; only the literal sense is the Spirit's
  93. 1.7.3II. Interpretation defined; Spirit's intent; papal breast-reliquary claim; Vincent of Lérins
  94. 1.7.4Hermeneutic guides; five norms for proving spirits and true interpretation
  95. 1.7.5III–V. Two parts of interpretation; subject, object, medium; the fit interpreter
  96. 1.7.6VI–X. Interpreter's regeneration; languages; incorrupt judgment; will free of vicious affections
  97. 1.7.7XI. Object is the coherent biblical text; Hebrew and Greek authentic norms
  98. 1.7.8Versions useful but not ultimate; against Targum prophecy and Trent's Vulgate authenticity
  99. 1.7.9XII–XVIII. Threefold medium: before the thing, in the thing, after the thing
  100. 1.7.10XIX–XXIII. Use and application; didactic vs critical interpretation; ordinary didactic
  101. 1.7.11Consequences of Scripture; extraordinary prophetic interpretation
  102. 1.7.12XXV–XXVIII. Critical/judicial interpretation; its didactic core; assessor's help
  103. 1.7.13XXIX. Papal claims on councils and Pope; three remaining questions
  104. 1.7.14Infallible didactic interpretation only when Scripture-bound; no new revelations
  105. 1.7.15Reasons against papal sole interpreter; circular argument; triune interpretive principle
  106. 1.7.16XXX. Six illegitimate measures of sense (Vulgate, old Adam, fathers, traditions, pope, no age-care)
  107. 1.7.17Solid food of Scripture; XXXI–XXXII public and private interpretive power
  108. 1.8.1Chapter 8: On Sacred Scripture's efficacy
  109. 1.8.2Question I: Whether Scripture exerts this efficacy only objectively, or also effectively
  110. 1.8.3Question II: Whether the bare letter without the Spirit's illumination leads to God — denied; first reason
  111. 1.8.4Question II continued: reasons II–III; seven points on salutary understanding
  112. 1.8.5Question III: Whether Scripture can be sufficiently understood for salvation without prior grace-light; duplex lumen
  113. 1.8.6Reasons 1–4 affirming prior grace-light: object; seeker; exhibition; opening of seals
  114. 1.8.7Reasons 5–8: instrument; matter of prayers; our inability; first origin
  115. 1.8.8Reasons 9–10: against Photinian error; pious antiquity against the Pelagians
  116. 1.8.9Reason 11: nature's analogy; Orange II; Ambrose/Prosper; Luther; vineyard; ask, seek, knock
  117. 1.8.10Inferences from what has been said: Scripture reading most useful for clergy and laity alike
  118. 1.8.11Errors 2–3: forbidding vernacular Scripture; interrupting biblical reading
  119. 1.8.12Errors 4–5: forbidding Bible reading to the laity; hanging Scriptures as amulets
  120. 1.9.1Chapter 9: On Sacred Scripture's parts
  121. 1.9.2Internal criterion of the thing: inspiration; prophetic holiness and infallibility in writing
  122. 1.9.3Prophetic divinity; criterion of the sign (Hebrew and Greek); external catholic testimony
  123. 1.9.4Inferences 1-2: canonical authority for each listed book; one unchanging canon reason
  124. 1.9.5Inferences 3-4: canons judge controversies; adequate sufficiency against unwritten word
  125. 1.9.6Aphorisms 2–4: Old Testament canonical books; historical, poetic, prophetic; the books of Moses and the groups of three and eight books
  126. 1.9.7Aphorisms 5–8: contents of the books of Moses and the groups of three and eight books; poetic books
  127. 1.9.8Aphorisms 9–12: prophetic books; major and minor prophets
  128. 1.9.9Aphorisms 13–15: Apocrypha defined; historical and didactic Apocrypha
  129. 1.9.10Aphorisms 16–18: New Testament canonical books; four integral parts; evangelical part
  130. 1.9.11Aphorisms 19–22: practical part (Acts); epistolary part; Paul's fourteen letters
  131. 1.9.12Aphorism 23: Apocalyptic part
  132. 1.10.1Chapter 10: On the principle of sacred theology dependent on the first and ordered to it
  133. 1.10.2II–IV. Church testimony pure or mixed; themes known from Scripture and nature
  134. 1.10.3Nature as proof or explanation of what Scripture teaches
  135. 1.10.4Rules 1: Mysteries from Scripture pages; analytic vs dialectic; the solid theologian
  136. 1.10.5Dialectic proofs: common topics, councils, common spiritual nature; two uses
  137. 1.10.6Two legitimate proof-genera; analytic force; justification syllogism; progymnasmata
  138. 1.10.7Sophists' three false proof-genera: pseudographic, sophistic, heterogeneous
  139. 1.10.8Solving pseudographic proofs; rule 2: where reason fails, faith's edifice begins
  140. 1.10.9Faith forms reason under Scripture; Lesbia rule; Durandus; Richard of St Victor
  141. 1.10.10Limits of natural reasoning and the authority of Church councils
  142. 1.10.11Public confessions of the Church and private writings of its teachers
  143. 1.10.12Rules on testimony 1–4: Scripture vs Church phrase; authority ranks; Nicephorus
  144. 1.10.13Rules for drawing doctrine from Scripture and the limits of logic
  145. 1.10.14Pagan witnesses to the faith, and doubts about the Sibyls and Trismegistus
  146. 1.10.15Against ranking pagan learning above Scripture, with Eusebius on the Artemonites
  147. 1.11.1Chapter 11: On the distribution of sacred theology
  148. 1.11.2II. Various tractations; Conrad Bergius's five modes — history and prophecy
  149. 1.11.3Invocation and exhortation (precept, persuasion, congratulation)
  150. 1.11.4Didascalia: positive, free, particular, universal, catechetical, systematic
  151. 1.11.5The historical method of didascalia; the text of Scripture
  152. 1.11.6The logical method; two ways of arranging; differences from subjects, objects, ends
  153. 1.11.7Memory and intellect served by the method; DIVISIONES of theology 1–5
  154. 1.11.8Divisiones 6–10; Polanus on faith and good works
  155. 1.11.9III. Analytic distribution into the common and proper parts
  156. 1.11.10Close of Book 1: six requirements of the theology student; theodidaktos close
Book 2126 passages · 126 sections · read
  1. 2.1.1BOOK TWO. On the end of man as citizen of God's kingdom — the absolutely highest and last end, or eternal beatitude. CHAPTER ONE. Whether there is some highest good of man, and that eternal, and what it is
  2. 2.1.2II. Man's absolutely highest and last end and good is given, and that eternal; Augustine on eternal beatitude
  3. 2.1.3Every thing has its end; whatever acts tends to some good; intelligent and non-intelligent agents
  4. 2.1.44–5. Perfection and beatitude when the end is attained; the highest good defined as last and most perfect
  5. 2.1.5III–IV. Perfection must be proportioned to the subject; mortal and eternal goods
  6. 2.1.6Dionysius the Carthusian against Scotus; Richard on philosophers; Thomas on duplex contemplation of God
  7. 2.1.7Why supernatural theology is necessary; five hypotheses before the highest good can be taught
  8. 2.1.8V. The good suited to the rational immortal soul; proof that man has a rational soul
  9. 2.1.91. The rational soul is the true informing form of man — not accidental motion, crasis, or Averroist assistance
  10. 2.1.102–3. The soul is spiritual and separable from matter; VI hypotheses for teaching the highest good
  11. 2.1.11VII. Immortality of the soul defined; Bernard, Nyssenus, Augustine, Ambrose on death as change
  12. 2.2.1Chapter 2: On the immortality of the soul, from the light of nature and the confession of barbarians, both ancient and recently discovered
  13. 2.2.2II. By the light of nature: Gentiles both barbarians and philosophers acknowledge immortality and care about the soul's state after this life
  14. 2.2.3III-IV. Barbarians ancient and recent; the ancient Getae and Egyptians (Herodotus, Diodorus)
  15. 2.2.4V. Recently discovered peoples listed; whether the West Indies were known to the ancients; Fathers denied antipodes
  16. 2.2.5Yet the New World may long have been partly known; Besoldus; Japheth origin; Fuller and others
  17. 2.2.6VI. The Guineans on another life and the last judgment; burial goods and royal funerary sacrifice
  18. 2.2.7VII. The Chinese: pagan religion; immortality and retribution; magnificent tombs (Linschoten)
  19. 2.2.8VIII. The Peruvians: immortality, eternal life and damnation (Acosta); ignorance of bodily resurrection; funerary slaves (Benzoni)
  20. 2.2.9IX-X. Mexicans profess the same faith; Guianans agree with Peruvians (Raleigh); burial with wives and treasures
  21. 2.2.10XI. The Tupinamba of Brazil: fierce cannibals who believe soul-immortality; Lery on virtue, paradise, and Aygnan
  22. 2.2.11XII. The Virginians also believe soul-immortality; transfer to gods' seats or Popogusso (Hariot)
  23. 2.2.12XIII. What barbarian confession shows: universal natural consensus; true light overlaid with false, vain, and impious additions
  24. 2.3.1Chapter 3: On the immortality of the soul from the confession of the best philosophers and from reasons
  25. 2.3.2I. Not the best: Epicurus, Lucretius, Dicaearchus, Panaetius, and the Stoics deny or dilute immortality
  26. 2.3.3Stoics on the soul's duration; Cleanthes and Chrysippus; Pliny impiously mocks immortality
  27. 2.3.4Peripatetic interpreters Alexander and Averroes; Pomponazzi; Galen vs Plato; Isidore of Pelusium
  28. 2.3.5II. Paradox: some who acknowledge Scripture deny immortality — Sadducees; Arabians; John XXIII
  29. 2.3.6Photinians imply mortality; Tertullian assigns body yet vindicates immortality
  30. 2.3.7III. Best philosophers asserting immortality: Pherecydes, Pythagoras, metempsychosis; Druids, Brahmans, Pharisees
  31. 2.3.8III continued. Among the Greeks Plato and Aristotle held soul-immortality certain and clear
  32. 2.3.9IV. Among the Latins Cicero and Seneca vote for soul-immortality; Tertullian on what nature knows
  33. 2.3.10V. Heap of reasons after authorities; Ficino and Petrus Gregorius; RATIO I from operations of intellect
  34. 2.3.11REASON II from operations of will; REASON III from the soul's ultimate rest
  35. 2.3.12REASON IV from inconveniences of the contrary; Wisdom 2; VI use of these reasons
  36. 2.4.1Chapter 4: On the immortality of the soul from clear testimonies of Scripture
  37. 2.4.2III. In the Old Testament Ecclesiastes 12:7 is most clear; dust and spirit opposed (Augustine)
  38. 2.4.3IV. In the New Testament Christ asserts soul-immortality apart from the body (Matthew 10:28); Lazarus; the penitent thief
  39. 2.4.4Paul desires to depart and be with Christ; Stephen; souls under the altar
  40. 2.5.1Chapter 5: On the state of the soul separated from the body; death as judgment on Adam's posterity
  41. 2.5.2The state of freed souls is adumbrated figuratively; II duplex common or proper; III common = departure from the visible world
  42. 2.5.3Hermes on death as mutation; body's death when the soul leaves, soul's when God forsakes
  43. 2.5.4IV. Four grades of the common status: divorce, loss of sense, privation of outward acts, defect of consummated glory
  44. 2.5.5V. First plague: the body torn away; Hadrian's lament; Paul would rather be clothed; Tertullian on inferi
  45. 2.5.6VI. Second plague: the sensitive part common with brutes is stripped away; Hebrews 4:12; mind, soul, body
  46. 2.5.7VI continued. Authorities for the division; sensitive part's abolition is the second plague (Prudentius, Plutarch, Antoninus)
  47. 2.5.8VII. Third plague: outward operations cease; Tatian, Tertullian, Nyssen, Bernard, Durandus
  48. 2.5.9VIII. Fourth plague: burning desire for consummated felicity with the resumed body; Bernard; souls under the altar
  49. 2.5.10IX–X. The separated soul is not extinguished; it does not sleep but remembers and knows its lot after judgment
  50. 2.5.11XI. Proper status is duplex: joy of heaven for the pious, torment of gehenna for the impious; no third place
  51. 2.5.12XII–XIII. Joys and torments persist until judgment; no benefit after death; no magical return to earth
  52. 2.5.13XIV. Received opinion: Old-Testament faithful not received into paradise until Christ opened it; limbus patrum
  53. 2.5.14XV–XIX. After Christ opened paradise souls are received at once; fathers differ in speech on heaven vs inferi; no controversy
  54. 2.5.15XX–XXIII. Origen first imported purgatorial fire from Plato; differs from papal thrice
  55. 2.6.1Chapter 6: On the end of this world; heavens pass by free omnipotence, not natural cause
  56. 2.6.2Names of the end; this world began and will end; against Didymus on three worlds
  57. 2.6.3Christians confess the end; Porphyry mocks; against Plato, Xenophanes, Aristotle, Averroes on eternity
  58. 2.6.4Fire is proper, not mere metaphor for wrath vs Puccius; Augustine on conflagration; Magius; starry heaven disputed
  59. 2.6.5Augustine's doubt on the heavens; Greeks and Latins before him affirm corruption of the heavens
  60. 2.6.6II. Whether the world perishes as to substance or only qualities is uncertain; commoner opinion: renovation
  61. 2.6.7Juniors who hold substance-perishing; Chassanis; we prefer renovation yet dare not harshly reject
  62. 2.6.8III. The precise time of the conflagration is unknown; always prepare by watching, prayer, repentance
  63. 2.6.9Against mathematicians' great year and the rabbinic six-thousand-year scheme ascribed to Elijah
  64. 2.6.10Rabbi Isaac's four reasons for six millennia; juniors' additions from Genesis 6, Moses, Jericho, Esdras, Apocalypse
  65. 2.6.11IV. Scripture reveals the last day as not far; signs of Christ's approach — Jews' conversion, gospel preaching
  66. 2.6.12Signs in sun, earth, and sea; Jewish fifteen signs; disputed sign of the cross; sign of the Son of Man
  67. 2.6.13V. Since the world and its goods will soon perish, cling not; Christian wisdom dismisses the world
  68. 2.7.1Chapter 7: On the resurrection of the flesh; new inseparable reunion of souls with bodies at the last day
  69. 2.7.2Scripture leads further than reason; the immortal soul reunited; article of faith in the Creed
  70. 2.7.3II–III. New inseparable union; vestiges of resurrection among Gentiles — Ariovistus, Americans, Peruvians
  71. 2.7.4Acosta contradicts; if barbarians knew resurrection it was by tradition; Seneca, Phocylides, Plato
  72. 2.7.5IV. Democritus and like stammerings from corrupt tradition, not from natural principles
  73. 2.8.1Chapter 8: Some who acknowledge Scripture wrongly deny the resurrection of the flesh; better assert it
  74. 2.8.2I. Sadducees; Hymenaeus and Philetus — spiritual-only or succession-by-procreation readings
  75. 2.8.3II–IV. Other ancient deniers — Carpocrates, Valentinians, Gnostics; Tertullian on partiarii of the Sadducees
  76. 2.8.4Early heretics from Simon Magus onward; Philoponus; V. nearly all prior-century heretics denied flesh-resurrection
  77. 2.8.5IV recent. Fewer openly deny; Amalric of Paris; Pope John XXIII; Libertines per Calvin
  78. 2.8.6Libertine spiritualizing; Photinians, Weigelians, Rosicrucians, Paracelsian chemists recook Valentinus
  79. 2.8.7Feuardentius insults Farel; Farel meant humanly impossible, not simply impossible; Rivetus on the letter
  80. 2.9.1Chapter 9: The resurrection of the dead is proved possible from natural principles; five heads follow
  81. 2.9.2II. Future resurrection not demonstrable by nature's light; possibility and fittingness can be proved (Scotus)
  82. 2.9.3Aphorism's two members; prior reason is God's free will; posterior reasons ad hominem or ad rem
  83. 2.9.4Ad hominem: fathers press pagans with their own revivification stories — Theophilus, Aeneas, Pliny
  84. 2.9.5RATIO I. From the soul's natural union with the body; immortality seems to demand reunion (Thomas)
  85. 2.9.6II. From natural desire for felicity; incomplete happiness without the body (Thomas)
  86. 2.9.7Gentile reply on desire; III. From divine justice — reward and punishment for soul and body (Thomas, Tertullian)
  87. 2.9.8IV–V. Actions and passions are of the whole person; reason persuades but does not compel
  88. 2.9.9Nature and art types of reunion: Nyssen's quicksilver; potter, glass, chemistry
  89. 2.10.1Chapter 10: The resurrection of the flesh is demonstrated certainly future from the Old Testament
  90. 2.10.2Answer to Sadducees with Matt. 22:29; demonstration from both Testaments
  91. 2.10.3III–IV. OT obscurely by just interpretation: Sadducees' marriage reductio; Abraham–Isaac–Jacob
  92. 2.10.4How Abraham–Isaac–Jacob proves resurrection; why Christ argued from Moses
  93. 2.10.5V–VI. Evident OT diction: clear documents — Daniel 12 and Job 19
  94. 2.10.6VI continued: Isaiah 26, Ezekiel 37, Hosea — Hebrew context and fathers
  95. 2.10.7VII. Living OT specimens; Sadducee origin from Antigonus
  96. 2.11.1Chapter 11: The same is demonstrated certainly future from the New Testament
  97. 2.11.2II–III. Partly asserted, partly proved; asserted by divine authority
  98. 2.11.3IV. Proved by solid reasons — Ratio I from Christ's resurrection and our union with him
  99. 2.11.4Ratio II from providence; Ratio III baptism for the dead — early interpretations
  100. 2.11.5Baptism for the dead: preferred ad hominem reading; Corinthian abuses
  101. 2.11.6Ratio IV from hope of sufferers
  102. 2.12.1Chapter 12: On the causes of the resurrection
  103. 2.12.2Efficient cause: Trinity immediately; Christ specially; angels as ministers
  104. 2.12.3III–IV. Material cause: man alone; subject-quo is the whole human body
  105. 2.12.4Same body numerically: seven proofs against Origenists
  106. 2.12.5Living at the last day; whether the impious rise
  107. 2.12.6VI–VII. Formal cause internal and external; VIII. Final cause; millenarian error rejected
  108. 2.13.1Chapter 13: On the mode and necessary consequence and end of the resurrection — namely the last judgment
  109. 2.13.2III–IV. Necessary consequence is the last judgment; definition; Gentile inklings
  110. 2.13.3V. Certainty of the day hidden; VI. Efficient cause — Trinity; Son visibly
  111. 2.13.4VII–IX. Matter: persons (angels and all humans) and all acts
  112. 2.13.5X–XI. Form of judgment in four parts; end — God's glory
  113. 2.14.1Chapter 14: On the condition of those judged — namely eternal life, man's absolute highest end
  114. 2.14.2II. Eternal life defined; why called life and eternal
  115. 2.14.3Citizens of God's kingdom; consists in removal of evils and positive goods
  116. 2.14.4Porismata I: highest beatitude is not fleshly pleasure or fortune's secondaries
  117. 2.14.5Porismata: not wealth, magnificent buildings, or nobility
  118. 2.14.6Porismata: not favor of princes, wife and children, or goods of body and mind taken together
  119. 2.14.7IV. Positive conclusions: eternal beatitude's earnest; life in Christ; image restoration
  120. 2.15.1Chapter 15: On eternal death
  121. 2.15.2I–II. Names of eternal death; receiving subject the impious
  122. 2.15.3III. Reason of eternal death: absence of the highest good and presence of evil
  123. 2.15.4IV–V. Efficient/deficient cause; end; canons 1–2 on place and God's concurrence
  124. 2.15.5Canons 3–5: degrees of punishment; against extinction and finite torment
  125. 2.15.6Canons 6–8: pious taste hell's pains tempered; impious carry hell daily; broad way
  126. 2.15.7Canon 9: meditation on hell; close of Book 2 — consensus of confessions
Book 3228 passages · 228 sections · read
  1. 3.1.1BOOK THREE / CHAPTER ONE. On man, as he can be subjected to God and beatified, in common
  2. 3.1.2Ratio of order; theology directs fallen man; know thyself and know God
  3. 3.1.3II. Man's origin and states; summary of the kingdom's mysteries
  4. 3.2.1Chapter 2: On man's origin specially, and namely on God's existence
  5. 3.2.2I. Man's principle is God; Gen 1:26-27; Acts 17; theology must know God
  6. 3.2.3II-V. What can be known of God: sufficiency and efficiency; sufficiency defined
  7. 3.2.4VI. God is, that is, He actually exists; foundation of religion; known in itself vs to us
  8. 3.2.5Against atheists; proof a posteriori by axioms, nature's voice, consensus, conscience
  9. 3.2.6Reasons 1-4: coordination; first wisdom; first love
  10. 3.2.7Reasons 5-8: universe; nature's voice; order; contraries
  11. 3.2.8Reasons 9-12: body fabric; stars; harmony; human arts
  12. 3.2.9Reasons 13-16: miracles; societies; prophecy; best men's authority
  13. 3.2.10Reasons 17-18: universal consensus; conscience; against Aristotelian motion
  14. 3.3.1Chapter 3: On the knowledge of God; way, mode, and reason of knowing Him
  15. 3.3.2I-VI. Immediate and mediate knowledge; vision; analogy; affirmation, negation, eminence
  16. 3.3.3ASSERTION 1: God imperceptible by outward sense in Himself
  17. 3.3.4ASSERTION 2: God known by natural mental discourse, but most imperfectly
  18. 3.3.5ASSERTION 3: God known in this life by grace-strengthened intuition
  19. 3.3.6IX-XII. Distinctions: mediate/immediate; philosophical/theological; theoretical/practical
  20. 3.3.7XIII. Use of the knowledge of God: seven rules
  21. 3.4.1Chapter 4: On the unity of God; ASSERTION: God is one
  22. 3.4.2Unity of universality not mere number; Rufinus; Scripture; reasons against plurality
  23. 3.4.3Reasons 1-3: order of the universe; supreme unity/truth/goodness; if many, absurdities
  24. 3.4.4Reasons 4-6: infinity; consensus of the wise; pagan deities as names of one
  25. 3.4.5Reasons 7-8: confession of the pagan crowd; nothing favors a multitude of gods
  26. 3.4.6Against Manichaean dualism: evil's deficient cause
  27. 3.5.1Chapter 5: On the nature of God in general; what God is
  28. 3.5.2Common and proper ratio of divine perfection; description by negation and degrees
  29. 3.5.3PRINCIPIO: ens said of God; Exodus 3:14; analogical not univocal predication
  30. 3.5.4Why ens is most essential: four reasons; Bernard and Augustine on divine identity
  31. 3.5.5Formal rationes one in God; analogical ens; concrete names without composition
  32. 3.5.6Summum; vivens; integrity; independens; nature as Deity
  33. 3.5.7II. God's nature viewed in essence and persons
  34. 3.6.1Chapter 6: On the essence and names of God in particular; singular essence common to three persons
  35. 3.6.2REGULA 1–3: one essence; common to three persons; attributes one in essence
  36. 3.6.3II–III. Names and attributes distinguished; what divine names are
  37. 3.6.4IV–IX. Distinctions of divine names (OT/NT; essence/properties; proper/common; absolute/relative; affirmative/negative)
  38. 3.6.5X–XII. Concrete/abstract; first name Jehovah / Tetragrammaton
  39. 3.6.6Second–fourth names: Jah, Eheje, El
  40. 3.6.7Fifth–eighth names: Elohim, Adonai, Schaddai, Heljon
  41. 3.6.8Ninth–tenth NT names; use of the chief names
  42. 3.7.1Chapter 7: On the attributes of God; essential properties not accidents
  43. 3.7.2II. Proper or figurative attributes; three genera of proper attributes
  44. 3.7.3III–IV. First-genus attributes by removal of creaturely imperfections; the six
  45. 3.7.4V. General canons 1–6 on the divine attributes
  46. 3.7.5Canon 7: attributes govern all theology
  47. 3.8.1Chapter 8: On God's absolute necessity of existing; definition
  48. 3.8.2Necessity distinguished from immutability and eternity
  49. 3.8.3Proper to God alone; created 'necessaries' only secundum quid
  50. 3.8.4Demonstration: Scripture, the Name, reason from independence
  51. 3.8.5Major proved; pagan confession
  52. 3.9.1Chapter 9: On the infinity of God; extensive and intensive
  53. 3.9.2Formal ratio of infinity; proper to God alone
  54. 3.9.3Proofs 1–2: Scripture; infinite goodness
  55. 3.9.4Proofs 3–4: nothing greater than God; first being contains all perfection
  56. 3.9.5Proof 5: intensive infinity from aseity; joined with affirmative attributes
  57. 3.9.6Proof 7: orthodox antiquity and pagan witnesses
  58. 3.10.1Chapter 10: On the simplicity of God; definition
  59. 3.10.2Simplicity proper to God; not univocal with creaturely simplicity
  60. 3.10.3Demonstration from Scripture: spirit, first being
  61. 3.10.4From infinity and freedom from every composition
  62. 3.10.5First genus of substantial composition: genus and difference — rejected
  63. 3.10.6Further substantial composition genera (matter/form; integral parts) rejected
  64. 3.10.7No accidental composition in God
  65. 3.10.8Against world-soul and corporeal composition of God
  66. 3.10.9Pastoral close
  67. 3.11.1Chapter 11: On the immutability of God; definition
  68. 3.11.2Scriptural vocabulary of immutability; formal ratio
  69. 3.11.3Proofs 1-4: unity, necessity, infinity, simplicity
  70. 3.11.4Proofs 5-8: modes of change; independence; potency; first mover
  71. 3.11.5Against Vorstius; five scholastic objections deferred
  72. 3.11.6Rules 1-8 on change, motion, and relations
  73. 3.11.7Rules 9-16; pastoral uses
  74. 3.12.1Chapter 12: On the immensity of God; definition
  75. 3.12.2God everywhere; things in God; Parmenides answered
  76. 3.12.3I. God fills all places of this world — five reasons
  77. 3.12.4II. God not bounded by this world's spaces; III. No creature ubiquitous by essence
  78. 3.12.5Against Vorstius: God only in heaven by substance — rejected
  79. 3.12.6Rules 1-11 on immensity
  80. 3.13.1Chapter 13: On the eternity of God; definition
  81. 3.13.2Eternity vs time; essential vs participated; Albertus Magnus
  82. 3.13.3Proofs 1-7 that God is properly eternal
  83. 3.13.4Against Vorstius on eternity; rules 1-3
  84. 3.13.5Rules 4-8; pastoral close
  85. 3.14.1Chapter 14: On the life of God; second-genus attributes; definition
  86. 3.14.2Life of God ambiguous: in Himself and in us; natural and spiritual
  87. 3.14.3Proofs 1-5 that God lives
  88. 3.14.4Proofs 6-7; against Vorstius on diversity in life
  89. 3.14.5Rules 1-5 on life of God; vital faculties
  90. 3.15.1Chapter 15: On the intellect of God; definition
  91. 3.15.2Proofs 1-5 that God has intellect
  92. 3.15.3II-V: act, object, primary and secondary objects
  93. 3.15.4VI-VIII: threefold order of knowable objects
  94. 3.15.5IX-X: mode of divine knowing; thirteen theorems
  95. 3.15.6XI-XXI: distinctions of divine science
  96. 3.15.7XXII-XXIV: theoretical and practical uses
  97. 3.16.1Chapter 16: On the will of God; definition
  98. 3.16.2Object of will; proofs God wills
  99. 3.16.3VII-XI: natural and free will; will of sign and of good pleasure
  100. 3.16.4XVI-XXI: absolute and conditioned; antecedent and consequent
  101. 3.16.5XXII-XXV: approving, efficient, and permitting will
  102. 3.16.6XXVI-XXXVIII: arcane and revealed; precise, modified, ample, limited
  103. 3.16.7XXXIX-XLIV: ordinary and extraordinary; per se and for another
  104. 3.17.1Chapter 17: On God's executive power; definition
  105. 3.17.2Active executive power, not passive or ad intra
  106. 3.17.3II-III: object of power; possibility and impossibility
  107. 3.17.4IV-VII: conditions of power — universality, immensity, perfection in work
  108. 3.17.5VIII-X: absolute and ordained power; nature threefold; miracles
  109. 3.17.6XI: observations 1-2 on omnipotence
  110. 3.17.7XI observations 3-5
  111. 3.18.1Chapter 18: On God's attributes of the third genus
  112. 3.18.2II-VI: God's virtue; wisdom and prudence
  113. 3.18.3VII-XII: integrity of will; primary affections — love and hatred
  114. 3.18.4XIII-XVI: goodness, benignity, grace, mercy
  115. 3.18.5XVII-XXIX: secondary affections — desire, abomination, joy, grief, hope, fear, wrath
  116. 3.18.6XXX-XXXVIII: moral virtues; justice universal and particular
  117. 3.18.7Justice of wrath and vindication; patience, longsuffering, meekness, clemency
  118. 3.19.1Chapter 19: On God's blessedness; definition
  119. 3.19.2Against placing blessedness in power, external wisdom, or pleasure alone
  120. 3.19.3Boethius; blessedness as essential identity with God; power, wisdom, love
  121. 3.19.4Objection: hatred of sins and things God cannot undo; reply — essential beatitude
  122. 3.19.5Essential property; creatures beatific good; glory
  123. 3.19.6God objectively and effectively the blessedness of all; joy
  124. 3.20.1Chapter 20: On God's figurative attributes; rule of reduction
  125. 3.20.2III-IV: metonymic and ironic attributes
  126. 3.20.3V-VII: metaphoric attributes from man — anthropomorphism
  127. 3.20.4VIII-IX: metaphors from other creatures; synecdoche; Maimonides
  128. 3.21.1Chapter 21: On the most holy Trinity; from essence to subsistence
  129. 3.21.2One God vs many gods; Trinity beyond demonstration from cause or effects
  130. 3.21.3Platonists and scholastics cannot prove the Trinity; Davenant on fundamentals
  131. 3.21.4Name Trinity; persons; one essence three subsistences
  132. 3.21.5Relations and notional acts; five notions of the persons
  133. 3.21.6Order of persons; generation; transition
  134. 3.22.1Chapter 22: On God the Father; definition
  135. 3.22.2Useful observations: Father absolutely, toward Son, toward Spirit
  136. 3.22.3True speech: person begets person in unity of essence
  137. 3.23.1Chapter 23: On the Son; begotten not created or adopted
  138. 3.23.2Five classes of proofs of the Sons deity
  139. 3.23.3Against Socinus and Photinians on eternal generation
  140. 3.23.4On the Holy Spirit; name; four things to be proved
  141. 3.23.5Spirit is true God; proceeds from Father and Son
  142. 3.24.1Chapter 24: On creation in general; from God to His efficiencies
  143. 3.24.2Against curious decree-disputes; creation as alphabet of revelation
  144. 3.24.3II-III: creation considered in itself; definition
  145. 3.24.4IV-VII: immediate and mediate creation
  146. 3.24.5XIII-XVI: efficient, impulsive, material causes
  147. 3.24.6XVII-XX: form and final cause; inequality of things
  148. 3.25.1Chapter 25: On the world; definition and names
  149. 3.25.2Worlds unity, finitude, beginning; against eternity of the world
  150. 3.25.3Goodness of the world; use of non-being for multitude
  151. 3.26.1Chapter 26: On things created in the beginning; heaven and earth
  152. 3.26.2III: heaven produced in the beginning of time; angels
  153. 3.26.3Earth as incomplete principle; chaos
  154. 3.27.1Chapter 27: On the six days of creation
  155. 3.27.2Three Augustinian notes; Day 1 light distinguished from darkness
  156. 3.27.3III: Day 2 heaven and air by expanding the waters
  157. 3.27.4V: Day 3 sea, dry land, herbs, and trees
  158. 3.27.5Day 4 luminaries in heaven for light upon the earth
  159. 3.27.6Days 5–6: fishes, birds, land animals, and humankind
  160. 3.28.1Chapter 28: On the mode of production, parts, marriage, possession, and chief dignity of humankind
  161. 3.28.2II–VII: definition; essential parts — body and rational immortal spirit
  162. 3.28.3Mind above elements; intellect, will, executive power
  163. 3.28.4XII–XVI: sex; male and female; first parents Adam and Eve
  164. 3.28.5XIX: marriage; paradise prepared for the first pair
  165. 3.28.6Image and likeness of God in the whole human; natural and supernatural
  166. 3.28.7Natural and supernatural parts of the image
  167. 3.29.1Chapter 29: On the governance of God in general
  168. 3.29.2Object of providence; necessary, contingent, rational, and irrational; God not author of sin
  169. 3.29.3II–VI: parts of governance; conservation immediate and mediate; notable observations
  170. 3.29.4VII–XVI: ordination — effectio, permissio, motio, cohibitio; ordinary and extraordinary; mediate and immediate
  171. 3.29.5XVII–XXI: general and special governance; merely corporeal creatures
  172. 3.29.6XXII–XXXVII: governance of intelligent creatures by teaching — narration, law, promise, threat, covenant
  173. 3.29.7XXXVIII–XLII: effecting, impeding, permitting, tolerating
  174. 3.30.1Chapter 30: On the three great influxes of God's governance into created things
  175. 3.30.2Nature examples: rain and digestion show necessity, fate, and harmony together
  176. 3.30.3Arts example; power as necessity, wisdom as fate, love as harmony
  177. 3.31.1Chapter 31: On the necessity and contingency of things
  178. 3.31.2III–V: necessity of end, of agent, and of idea
  179. 3.31.3VI–VII: material and formal necessity; necessity of supposition; only God simply necessary
  180. 3.31.4VIII: contingency as withdrawal from the necessary; plurality, motion, disformity
  181. 3.31.5Future contingents; how God knows them
  182. 3.32.1Chapter 32: On Fate
  183. 3.32.2Scripture attributes to God what some call fate; atheist and Machiavellian abuse of fate
  184. 3.32.3Chaldeans, Peripatetics, Astrologers, Aquinas, and Boethius on fate's mutability
  185. 3.32.4Not all effects reduce to heaven; soul, angels, demons; contingent modification
  186. 3.32.5Boethius: fate as disposition inhering in mobile things
  187. 3.33.1Chapter 33: On the harmony of things
  188. 3.33.2Arts analogy: nested ends toward the commonwealth; necessity, order, harmony referred to power, wisdom, love
  189. 3.33.3Pleasure and pain as wisdoms goads; forced love of ones own being; seeming evils that serve the world
  190. 3.33.4Ignorance preserves order; the comedy of masks; why corruption hurts; harmony as the ordering causes great good
  191. 3.33.5II. Triple end of each thing; plant example; harmony for self, others, whole, and God; against Epicureans and chance
  192. 3.34.1Chapter 34: On the governance of angels
  193. 3.34.2VI. Angelic law and five offices: singers, orators, ambassadors, protectors, war-leaders
  194. 3.34.3VII–X. Ordination of events: preservation, confirmation, permission of fall, hardening; good angels works
  195. 3.34.4XI. Canons concerning good angels and their governance
  196. 3.34.5XII–XIII. Permission and hardening of fallen angels; names of unclean spirits
  197. 3.34.6XIV. Canons concerning fallen angels
  198. 3.35.1Chapter 35: On the governance of human beings
  199. 3.35.2II. Governance before and after the fall; paradise charge and the fall by serpent and free choice
  200. 3.35.3III–V. Modes of governing humans: instinct, institution, and teaching
  201. 3.35.4VIII–XI. Bodily means; covenants of marriage and natural religion
  202. 3.35.5XII. Governance by fulfillment: permitting, impeding, effecting, tolerating
  203. 3.36.1Chapter 36: On the first state of the human being
  204. 3.36.2IV–V. First state partly animal, partly spiritual; the animal part and pure naturals
  205. 3.36.3VI. Spiritual part of the first state: image of God, original righteousness, and powers
  206. 3.36.4VII. Observations on the first human state: integrity, dominion, and original happiness
  207. 3.36.5Political order before the fall
  208. 3.37.1Chapter 37: On the state following the first, and human free will and its powers in that state
  209. 3.37.2II–III. What is to be considered here: will, free choice, and the loss after the fall
  210. 3.37.3IV. Object of free choice; natural, civil, and spiritual goods distinguished
  211. 3.37.4V–VII. Darkness of intellect, stubbornness of will, disorder of affections after the fall
  212. 3.37.5VIII. Inability toward saving good without grace
  213. 3.38.1Chapter 38: On the sin of the human being
  214. 3.38.2IV–V. Original sin: imputed guilt and inherent corruption; habitual deformity
  215. 3.38.3VI. Notable points on original sin: imputation, propagation, and extent
  216. 3.38.4VII–XII. Actual sin: definition, kinds against the law of works, and omissions
  217. 3.38.5XVI–XXI. Sins in necessities and adiaphora; sins of infirmity, ignorance, and malice
  218. 3.38.6XXIV–XXV. Sin against conscience and not against conscience
  219. 3.39.1Chapter 39: On the permission of sin, its foundation, opposite, connections, and consequences
  220. 3.39.2VI–III. What to weigh in permission; foundation in free choice and God's wisdom and power
  221. 3.39.3IV–VIII. Opposite of permission: impediment and coercion; kinds of impediment
  222. 3.39.4XII–XVI. Connections of permission; direction of sin by providence
  223. 3.39.5XVIII–XX. Direction into object and end; determination of sin
  224. 3.40.1Chapter 40: On the human's obligation to death
  225. 3.40.2II–III. Penal condition: eternal curse or paternal chastisement; curse remains on unbelievers
  226. 3.40.3IV–V. Paternal chastisement for those looking to the womans seed; of the first parents and of posterity
  227. 3.40.4VIII–XI. Eves fourfold penalty; natural and spiritual state after the fall
  228. 3.40.5XIII. From this fountain original sin and its unhappy brood
Book 4111 passages · 111 sections · read
  1. 4.1.1BOOK FOUR / CHAPTER ONE. On the principles of human salvation, namely the grace of paternal mercy
  2. 4.1.2II. Three principles of salvation; grace as free favor, not infused habit
  3. 4.1.3III–V. Paternal mercy as first principle; object is the whole human race as miserable and stained by sin
  4. 4.1.4VI. From the object: love of all and of some; no clash with election
  5. 4.1.5VII–IX. Mode of mercy: amplitude in gift, demand, and promise
  6. 4.1.6Determination of mercy: only in the Son; by repentance and faith; by the light of Word and Spirit
  7. 4.1.7Corollaries: unequal light of grace; election mystery; decree ordered to Christs merit and means
  8. 4.1.8Cause of damnation in humans themselves
  9. 4.2.1Chapter 2: On the grace of redemption; incarnation and the person of Christ
  10. 4.2.2III. Incarnation defined; personal subsistence communicated to the assumed nature
  11. 4.2.3IV–VI. Truth of the two natures in the incarnate person; divine and human
  12. 4.2.4VII–X. Conception, assumption, and nativity of the human nature
  13. 4.2.5XI–XIII. Personal union; ineffable mode neither essential nor accidental
  14. 4.2.6XIV. Effect of the union: communion of natures and communication of idioms
  15. 4.3.1Chapter 3: On the offices of Jesus Christ; prophetic, priestly, and kingly
  16. 4.3.2II–VIII. Prophetic office: imposition, sanctification, instruction, promise of help
  17. 4.3.3XIV–XVI. Priestly office: preparation and function of the high priest
  18. 4.3.4XIX. Kingly munus: titles and pertaining acts
  19. 4.3.5Word and Spirit inseparable
  20. 4.4.1Chapter 4: On the states of Christ: humiliation and exaltation
  21. 4.4.2III–IV. Passion and crucifixion under the state of humiliation
  22. 4.4.3V–VII. Death, burial, and descent to the lower regions
  23. 4.4.4VIII–X. Exaltation: resurrection and ascension into heaven
  24. 4.4.5XI. Session at the Father's right hand; necessity of exaltation
  25. 4.5.1Chapter 5: On the satisfaction of Christ: definition
  26. 4.5.2Against Socinus; the Son truly suffered according to the flesh, not the Deity
  27. 4.5.3III. Christ died for all as to sufficiency; Dort answer; universal serious offer
  28. 4.5.4Died for believers as to application; Heidelberg confession; no absolute exclusion
  29. 4.5.5Notabilia I–II: satisfaction and merit; justice with grace
  30. 4.5.6Notabilia III–IV: infinite value; against Socinians and Abelard
  31. 4.6.1Chapter 6: On the grace of heavenly and holy calling: third principle defined
  32. 4.6.2III–V. Parts of calling: offering of redemption-grace and precept to embrace it
  33. 4.6.3VI–XIII. Degrees and modes: public preaching, singular revelation, direct and indirect
  34. 4.6.4XVII–XX. Abundant, operating, preventing, and assisting grace
  35. 4.6.5XXI–XXIII. External and internal calling
  36. 4.6.6XXIV–XXV. Effects of calling-grace; three notabilia
  37. 4.6.7Why some refuse; against Pelagians
  38. 4.7.1Chapter 7: On the means of salvation; Word as law or Gospel
  39. 4.7.2VI–X. Law defined; law of nature and human law
  40. 4.7.3XI–XVI. Divine moral law and the Decalogue's two tables
  41. 4.7.4XVII–XXIV. First table: duties toward God
  42. 4.7.5XXV–XXXIV. Second table: duties toward neighbor
  43. 4.7.6XXXV–XXXVII. Uses of the moral law before and after the fall
  44. 4.7.7XXXVIII–XXXIX. How far the moral law is abrogated for believers
  45. 4.7.8Canons of interpreting the Decalogue
  46. 4.8.1Chapter 8: On the ceremonial law: definition
  47. 4.8.2II. Four classes of ceremonial precepts; sacrifices divided
  48. 4.8.3III–IV. Use of the ceremonial law
  49. 4.8.4V. Abrogation through Christ's cross
  50. 4.9.1Chapter 9: On the forensic law: definition
  51. 4.9.2II–III. Threefold use of the forensic law
  52. 4.9.3IV. Abrogation
  53. 4.10.1Chapter 10: On the Gospel: definition
  54. 4.10.2Matter of the Gospel: Christ and application of His merit
  55. 4.10.3Differences between Law and Gospel
  56. 4.10.4Gospel is not a doctrine of works; summa is the Apostles' Creed
  57. 4.10.5V–VII. Origin of the Creed: baptismal Trinity; later expansions against heresies
  58. 4.10.6VIII–IX. Authority of the Creed
  59. 4.11.1Chapter 11: On the sacraments in general: definition
  60. 4.11.2II. Rules for understanding the sacrament definition (1–3)
  61. 4.11.3Rules 4–6: instruments of grace; faith; necessity
  62. 4.11.4III. Sacraments of Old and New Testament
  63. 4.12.1Chapter 12: Old Testament sacraments: circumcision and Passover
  64. 4.12.2III. Circumcision
  65. 4.12.3IV. Passover
  66. 4.13.1Chapter 13: On baptism: NT sacraments; definition
  67. 4.13.2Object; not iterated; John's baptism; ministers
  68. 4.13.3Infant baptism rightly practiced
  69. 4.13.4Rites; water regenerates sacramentally; lifelong fruit
  70. 4.13.5Doubtful baptism
  71. 4.14.1Chapter 14: On the Lord's Supper: definition
  72. 4.14.2True exhibition of body and blood; against mere-bread charge
  73. 4.14.3Sacramental presence not local or physical; no conversion of elements
  74. 4.14.4Worthy and unworthy eating; pastoral severity (Chrysostom)
  75. 4.14.5Frequency; infants
  76. 4.15.1Chapter 15: On the ministry of the word: definition
  77. 4.15.2Efficient cause God; vocation immediate and mediate
  78. 4.15.3Ordinary call: church election by pastors, magistrate, people; requisites
  79. 4.15.4Form of the ministry: word, sacraments, keys
  80. 4.15.5Rules on efficacy, public call, necessity-case, discipline
  81. 4.16.1Chapter 16: On faith: definition
  82. 4.16.2Heb. 11 terms; object of hope; things unseen
  83. 4.16.3Kinds and grades of faith
  84. 4.16.4Justifying faith: knowledge, assent, trust; instrument
  85. 4.16.5Faith's effects; against idle faith
  86. 4.17.1Chapter 17: Faith's consequences: overview
  87. 4.17.2II. Union of believers with God
  88. 4.17.3IV. Evangelical justification defined
  89. 4.17.4Notabilia on grace, faith alone, duration of justification
  90. 4.18.1Chapter 18: Sanctification and good works: definition
  91. 4.18.2Causes: Spirit principal; faith secondary; form = conformity to law
  92. 4.18.3Ends: God, self, neighbor; necessity of good works
  93. 4.18.4Perfection and imperfection of saints' works
  94. 4.18.5Notabilia: self-denial; law as canon
  95. 4.19.1Chapter 19: Christian liberty: definition
  96. 4.19.2Freedom from sin and from the law's curse
  97. 4.19.3Indifferent things; abuse; magistrate and Mosaic forensics
  98. 4.19.4Consequences: sonship; Spirit of adoption
  99. 4.20.1Chapter 20: Christian warfare: enemies
  100. 4.20.2Christ the captain; victory applied in members
  101. 4.20.3Armor; novitiate; prize
  102. 4.20.4The cross: school of life; medicine; heaviest conflict
  103. 4.21.1Chapter 21: On prayer: definition
  104. 4.21.2Impulsive causes; ends; object of petition
  105. 4.21.3Practical theorems 1–5
  106. 4.21.4Theorems 6–10
  107. 4.22.1Chapter 22: Peace of conscience: definition
  108. 4.22.2From justification; sweetness of the heart at peace
  109. 4.22.3Against wrath; self-examination; Chrysostom on daily audit
  110. 4.22.4Absolution and the word; Luther against seeking peace by experience alone
  111. 4.22.5Consummation: eternal life
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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Author

Ludwig Crocius (1586–1655 AD) — Bremen Reformed pastor and professor at the Gymnasium Illustre. A Dort delegate for Bremen, he stood for Melanchthonian irenicism and moderate orthodoxy rather than high Calvinist strictness, and his Syntagma sacrae theologiae (1636) is the chief systematic statement of that Bremen school.

All works by Ludwig Crocius

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