Necessary dogmas: for eternal salvation, for church teaching, and for certainty
V. With respect to eternal salvation they are those that are simply necessary for obtaining salvation, and therefore must be ignored by none, but expressly held by all adults. Such are Hebrews 11:6: Whoever comes to God must believe that He is God and that He rewards those who seek Him. Which place Socinus himself in his Prelections refers to those to whom God has somehow made Himself known. For those, he says, unless they believe that God is, show that they have a mind alien from piety and so from the study of just and unjust.
VI. With respect to institution they are those that are necessarily expounded by all who teach in the Church, and therefore must be withheld by none, but handed on by all in the Church. Such are all and each of the heads of the Apostles' Creed. For it is probable that all that is contained in the Apostles' Creed is precisely necessary to salvation for all who are to be saved in the New Testament — at least as to the sense clearly expressed in other places of Scripture — even if they do not hold the Creed's wording and manner of interpreting. Hence these dogmas are also properly called articles of the faith. Yet because the consideration is different, and we cannot determine with sufficiently evident certainty which or how many heads of doctrine are precisely such that without express knowledge of them God wills to save no one, but more rightly commit this whole matter to the secrets of divine judgment — therefore this latter cause of the naming must somehow be distinguished from the former.
VII. With respect to certainty they are all those that have divine and universal evidence, and therefore, though ignored by many, yet once known must be denied or opposed by none, but necessarily granted. Such is every Word of God — not indeed absolutely, but what is catholically revealed, that is, so that the certainty of divine revelation can be understood by all if it is proposed, and once understood can never be denied without evident malice or unbelief and denial of God. And these are of such a kind as, beyond those that are absolutely necessary, and before the revelation of them is made, are said to be believed by the faithful with a certain preparation of mind. For Calvin aptly says (Institutes 3.2.4): But we grant that faith, as long as we pilgrimage in the world, is implicit — not only because many things still lie hidden from us, but because, surrounded by many fogs of error, we do not attain everything. For of the most perfect, whatever his height of wisdom, the sum is to advance, and with quiet teachableness to press farther.
Latin
V. Respectu aeternae salutis sunt ea, quae sunt simpliciter necessaria ad salutem consequendam, ideoque nulli ignoranda, sed ab omnibus adultis expresse tenenda. Talia sunt Heb. 11.v.6. Qui accedit ad Deum, hunc credere oportet esse Deum & praemia largiri iis, qui ipsum requirunt. Quem locum ipse Socinus in praelectionibus refert ad eos, quibus Deus se patefecit aliqua ratione. Isti enim, ait, nisi credant Deum esse, animum a pietate, & sic a justi injustique studio alienum se habere demonstrant. VI. Respectu institutionis ea, quae ab omnibus, qui in Ecclesia docent, necessario exponuntur, ideoque a nemine reticenda, sed ab omnibus in Ecclesia tradenda sunt. Talia sunt omnia & singula capita symboli Apostolici. Probabile enim est, omnia quae symbolo Apostolico continentur, omnibus etiam salvandis in novo testamento ad salutem praecise esse necessaria, saltem quantum ad sensum in aliis Scripturae locis perspicue expressum, quamvis verba fortassis & interpretandi rationem non teneant: unde & haec dogmata articuli fidei proprie appellari solent. Quia tamen consideratio diversa est, neque nos satis evidente certitudine determinare possumus, quae vel quot doctrinae capita praecise talia sint, ut sine expressa eorum cognitione neminem Deus salvare velit, sed arcanis divini judicii hanc rem totam rectius committimus: ideo hanc posteriorem nuncupationis causam oportet quodammodo a priori distinguere. VII. Respectu certitudinis sunt ea omnia, quae evidentiam divinam & universalem habent, ac proinde licet a multis ignorentur, tamen ubi cognita fuerint, a nullo neganda aut oppugnanda, sed necessario concedenda sunt. Tale est omne Dei verbum, non quidem absolute, sed quod catholice revelatum est, id est, ita ut certitudo divinae revelationis ab omnibus, si proponatur, intelligi, & intellecta sine evidente malitia sive infidelitate & abnegatione Dei nunquam negari possit. Haec vero sunt ejusmodi dogmata, quae praeter illa, quae sunt absolute necessaria, & antequam eorum revelatio fiat, praeparatione quadam animi a fidelibus credi dicuntur. Nam apposite Calvinus lib. 3. Instit. Christ. cap. 2. §. 4. Nos vero fidem, inquit, quamdiu in mundo peregrinamur implicitam esse concedimus, non solum quia nos multa adhuc latent: sed quia multis errorum nebulis circumdati, non omnia assequimur. Nam perfectissimi cujusque summa sapientia est, proficere, placidaque docilitate longius eniti.