System of Sacred Theology · §3.9.2 · Ludwig Crocius

Formal ratio of infinity; proper to God alone

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The formal consists in the negation of a term, which is both any perfection of a being with the precision of the other perfections, and any grade of perfection with the precision of the remaining grades. But this property so belongs to God that it is found in none of the creatures, because every creature necessarily takes from God the fountain of every perfection a certain and definite number of perfections, and of all of them a definite and limited grade.

Latin

Formale consistit in negatione termini, qui est, tum quaelibet entis perfectio, cum praecisione caeterarum perfectionum, tum quilibet perfectionis gradus, cum praecisione reliquorum graduum. Haec vero proprietas ita Deo convenit, ut in nulla creaturarum inveniatur, quia omnis creatura necessario certum definitumque perfectionum numerum, earumque omnium definitum ac limitatum gradum a Deo omnis perfectionis fonte capit.

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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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