Theological Theses · §251 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Solomon's lost songs and sayings need not have been inspired Scripture

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Yes, much of Solomon's writing is gone — but not everything a God-breathed man writes is divine Scripture.

Augustine in City of God 18: prophets can write as historians by human diligence, or as prophets by inspiration; only the latter bind as God's word.

Solomon's inspired share is what entered the Canon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.

The rest — plant-lore from cedar to hyssop, extra parables, five thousand songs — can be brilliant human work without being lost canonical revelation.

Latin

VII. Quod spectat autem ad libros Salomonis, quorum plurimos interiisse constat, sciendum est non omnia, quae Prophetae & alii viri θεόπνευστοι scripserunt, authoritatem habuisse divinam: Nam, ut recte monet Augustinus de Civit. Dei lib. 18. Prophetae alia sicut homines scribere potuerunt, historica diligentia, & alia sicut Prophetae, inspiratione divina. Quae ita distincta fuerunt, ut priora quidem ipsis, posteriora Deo, per ipsos loquenti tribuenda fuerint. Ita ergo Salomon nonnulla quidem scripsit a Deo inspiratus, in quo genere sunt illi libri Salomonis qui partem Scripturae faciunt, & in Canonem sunt relati, veluti Proverbia, Ecclesiastes, & Canticum canticorum. Plurima vero scripsit idem ille propria industria, neque tanquam Propheta, sed tanquam vir omnium suo tempore doctissimus. In quo genere fuerunt multa physiologica, veluti quae scripsit de plantis a cedro usque ad hyssopum. Multa quoque ethica, quo pertinent parabolae illae quae proverbiorum libro non continentur. Denique multa poetica, ut illa quinque millia canticorum, de quibus loco citato mentio fit.

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