From the defined end come the means, chiefly faith; theology differs from other disciplines in end, means, and subject
Just as in practical disciplines from the notion or well-constituted definition of the end the means leading to the end are elicited and known — and especially those nearer the attaining of the end, as Aristotle teaches (Posterior Analytics book 1 chapter 2; Ethics book 1 toward the beginning of the last chapter) — so also in theology, when justification is well known and accurately defined, that nearest means is more easily known by which alone sinners are made righteous before God, namely faith, which rests on God's mercy and the merit of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I say the nearest means, because there are also others a little more remote, such as the preaching and hearing of the heavenly Word and the use of the sacraments, by which God gathers a Church for himself, the Holy Spirit is effectual, and by the sermon of the law, as by lightning and thunder, strikes consciences and leads them into the acknowledgment of their sins, while he stirs true grief for having offended God. But by the voice of the Gospel he again soothes those struck and as it were raises them from spiritual death and kindles and confirms true faith; by which alone, apprehending God's mercy and Christ's merit, sinners are made righteous before God and are brought into his obedience.
Yet lest anyone be deceived by these analogies and likenesses, our most august sacred theology — of which we dare to pronounce with better right and more truly than Aristotle of his, from Metaphysics book 3 chapter 2, that it is most princely and mistress, to which it is unlawful for the others, as handmaids, to contradict — differs from the others in this: (1) that the end of the others, and the means leading to the end, are of our choice; but by no means are the end and means of sacred theology of the choice of our old Adam; (2) that the subject of the other disciplines also contributes something to the end; but the subject of this one, the sinful human being, contributes plainly nothing. For the Holy Spirit wholly effects the conversion of the sinful human being and kindles the faith by which alone he is made righteous before God.
Although theological learning, insofar as it is common to the holy and the unholy, admits a certain comparison with philosophical habits: yet prophecy, since it is called the gift of understanding and explaining Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:1 and following), rests on its own singular and proper principles and rules.
Latin
Quemadmodum in practicis disciplinis e notione sive bene constituta definitione finis eliciuntur et cognoscuntur media ad finem ducentia, eaque maxime, quae a finis adeptione propius absunt, ut docet Arist. lib. 1. post. cap. 2. et l. 1. Eth. sub initium cap. ultimi. Sic quoque in theologia bene cognita et accurate definita justificatione, facilius cognoscitur medium illud proximum, quo solo justi coram Deo peccatores efficiuntur, fides nimirum, quae Dei misericordia et merito servatoris nostri Jesu Christi nititur. Dico autem medium proximum, quia sunt et alia paulo remotiora, ut praedicatio et auditio verbi caelestis et usus sacramentorum, per quae Deus sibi colligit Ecclesiam, Spiritus sanctus efficax est, et concione quidem legis, tanquam fulmine et tonitru, percellit conscientias ac deducit in agnitionem peccatorum suorum, dum excitat verum dolorem ob offensum Deum. Voce autem Euangelii rursum eas perculsas demulcet et veluti e morte spirituali suscitat et veram fidem accendit atque confirmat; qua sola misericordiam Dei et meritum Christi apprehendentes peccatores justi coram Deo efficiuntur, inque illius obsequium rediguntur. Verumenimvero ne quis hisce analogiis similitudinibusque decipiatur, eo differt augustissima disciplinarum sacrosancta theologia nostra (de qua potiore jure et verius quam Aristoteles de sua pronunciare audemus ex l. 3. Metaph. cap. 2. maximè princeps et domina, cui caeteras, tanquam ancillas, contradicere nefas sit,) eo, inquam, differt ab aliis, 1. quod aliarum finis, ut et media ad finem ducentia sunt arbitrii nostri: at vero nequaquam etiam finis et media S. theologiae sunt arbitrii nostri veteris Adami. 2. Aliarum disciplinarum subjectum aliquid etiam confert ad finem: at hujus subjectum, homo peccator, plane nihil. Nam Spiritus sanctus in solidum efficit conversionem hominis peccatoris et accendit fidem, qua sola coram Deo ille fit justus. Etsi vero Theologica eruditio, quatenus communis est sanctis et non-sanctis, comparationem quandam cum philosophicis habitibus recipit: prophetia tamen cum dicatur donum intelligendi et explicandi Scripturam, 1. Cor. 14. suis nititur principiis et regulis singularibus et propriis.