System of Sacred Theology · §1.10.10 · Ludwig Crocius

Limits of natural reasoning and the authority of Church councils

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

4. Natural things are not to be confused with supernatural. Hence St. Athanasius, Disputation 2 against the Arians: What is said of men, he says, is not to be thought of God. Compare what was said at the first rule. 5. From civil government to spiritual administration the inference is weak. Hence Christ: But you not so (Luke 22:26); compare Casaubon, Exercitationes 14, disputation 5, and Exercitationes 18, chapters 11–12.

IX. Secondly, the dependent principle is public or private. X. Public is that which has been sealed by the consensus of the universal Church. XI. And it is of social collation or of faithful relation. XII. Social collation takes place either in a council or synod, or in some similar assembly, over which the Holy Spirit presides as judge in the choir of prophets and Apostles, by the written law. This is gathered from Acts 15:28; John 16:8, John 16:13; John 5:45; 2 Kings 17:20; Galatians 6:16; Matthew 10:20. See Luther, Jena German volume 7, On Councils and the Church; Calvin, Institutes book 4, chapter 9, section 13; William Whitaker against Duraeus, On Councils book 4.

Latin

4. Naturalia cum supernaturalibus non sunt confundenda. Hinc S. Athanasius disp. 2. contra Arrianos: Quod de hominibus, inquit, id de Deo sentiendum non est. Confer dicta ad regulam primam. 5. A gubernatione civili ad administrationem spiritualem languida est illatio. Hinc Christus: Vos autem non sic, Luc. 22.v.26. confer Casaub. exerc. 14. disp. 5. & exerc. 18. d. 11. 12. IX. Secundo, Principium dependens est publicum aut privatum. X. Publicum est, quod universae Ecclesiae consensu consignatum est. XI. Estque socialis collationis aut fidelis relationis. XII. Socialis collatio fit vel in concilio sive synodo, aut simili aliquo consessu, cui praeest Spiritus S. judex in prophetarum Apostolorumque choro, lege scripta. Hoc colligitur ex Act. 15.v.28. Joh. 16.v.8.13. Joh. 5.v.45. 2. Regum 17.v.20. Gal. 6.v.16. Matth. 10.v.20. Vide D. Lutherum tom. 7. Jenens. t. Germ. de conciliis & ecclesia, & Jo. Calvinum lib. 4. instit. cap. 9. sect. 13. Guilielmum Whitakerum ad Duraeum lib. 4. de conciliis.

Report a mistake in this passage

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.

Report a mistake