C42 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



per crania, qua prseter ipsum sunt et concipi pos- 

 surit, ineffabiliter excelsus. 



Hie solus verus Dcus bonitate sua et omnipotent! 

 virtute non ad augendam suam beatitudinera, nee ad 

 acquirendam, sea ad manifestandam perfectionem 

 suam per bona, quse creaturis impertitur, liberrimo, 

 concilio simul ab initio temporis utramque de nihilo 

 condidit creaturam, spiritualem et corporalem, ange- 

 Jicam videlicet et mundanam, ac deinde humanam 

 quasi communem ex spiritu et corpore constitutam.* 



Universa vero, quse condidit, Deus providentia sua 

 tuetur atque gubernat, attingens a fine usque ad finem 

 fortiter, et disponens omnia suaviter. t Omnia enim 

 !i ii. la et aperta sunt oculis ejus, ea etiam, quse libera 

 creaturarum. actione futura sunt. 



CAPUT II. 



DE KEVELATIONE. 



Eadem Sancta Mater Ecclesia tenet et docet, Deum 

 rerum omnium principiuin et finem, natural! 1 luinaiuo 

 rationis lumiuo e rebus creatis certo cognosci posse ; 

 invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quas 

 faeta sunt, intellecta, conspiciuntur : attamen pla- 

 cuisse ejus sapientiaa et bonitati, alia, eaque super- 

 natural! via se ipsum ac oeterna voluntatis suas de- 

 creta humano generi revelare, dicente Apostolo : 

 Multifariam, multisque modis olim Deus loquens 

 patribus in Prophetis : novissime, diebus istis locu- 

 tus uobis in Filio. | 



Huic divinte revelation! tribuendum quidem est, ut 

 ea, quaj in rebus divinis humance ration! per se im- 

 pervia uon sunt, in prassenti quoque generis humani 

 conditione ab omnibus expedite, linna certitudine et 

 nullo admixto errore cognosci possint. Non hac ta- 

 men de causa revelatio absolute nec'essaria diccnda 

 est, sed quia Deus ex infinita bonitate sua ordinavit 

 hominem ad finem supernaturalem, ad participanda 

 scilicet bona divina, quffi human mentis intelligen- 

 tiam omnino superantj siquidem oculus non vidit, 

 uec auris audivit, nee in cor hominis ascendit, qua) 

 prajparavit Deus iis, qui diligunt ilium. If' 



Hac porro supernaturalis revelatio ? secundum uni- 

 versalis Ec.clesiue fidem, a sancta Tndentina Synodo 

 delaratum, continetur in libris scriptis et sine scripto 

 traditionibus, quos ipsius Christe ore ab Apostolis 

 accepts, aut ab ipsis Apostolis Spiritu Sancto dic- 

 tante quasi per maims tradita3 ; ad nos usque per- 

 venerunt.** Qui quidem veteris et novi Testament! 

 libri integri cum omnibus suis partibus, prout in 

 ejusdeip Concilii decreto recensentur, et in veteri 

 vulgata latina editioue habentur, pro sacris et ca- 

 nonicis habet, non ideo quod sola hurnana industria 

 concinnati, sua deinde auctoritate sint approbati ; 

 ncc ideo dumtaxat, quod revelationem sine errore 

 contineant, sed propter ea quod Spiritu Sancto in- 

 spirante conscript! Deum haoeut auctorem, atque ut 

 tales ipsi Ecclesise traditi sunt. 



Quoniam vero, quae sancta Tridentina Synodus de 

 interpretatione divinaa Scripturaj ad coercenda petu- 

 lantia ingenia salubriter decrevit, a quibusdam homi- 

 nibus prave exponuntur, NOB, idem decretum reno- 



* Cone. Later. IV., c. I. Firmiter. t Sap. viii. 1. 

 $ Cf. Hebr. iv. 13. Rom. i. 20. 



|| Hebr. i. 1, 2. 1 1 Cor. ii. J. 



** Coiic. Trid, ECSS. IV., Deer, de Can. Script. 



Himself and of Himself perfectly happy, and un- 

 speakably exalted above all things that "are or can 

 be conceived besides Himself. 



This one only true God, of His own goodness and 

 almighty power, not to increase His own happiness, 

 nor to acquire for Himself perfection, but in order to 

 manifest the same by means of the good things which 

 He imparts to creatures, did, of Ilia own most free 

 counsel, " from the beginning of time make alike 

 out of nothing two created natures, a spiritual one 

 and a corporeal one, the angelic, to wit, and the 

 earthly ; and afterward He made the human nature, 

 as partaking of both, being composed of spirit and 

 body." * 



Moreover, God, by His providence, protects and 

 governs all things which He has made, reaching from 

 end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweet- 

 ly, t For all things are naked and open to His eyes, J 

 even those which are to come to pass by the free ac- 

 tion of creatures. 



CHAPTEE II. 



OF REVELATION. 



The same holy Mother Church holds and teaches 

 that God, the beginning and end of all things, can 

 be known with certainty through created things, by 

 the natural light of human reason; "for the invisi- 

 ble things of him, from the creation of the world, 

 are clearly seen, being understood by the things that 

 are made," but that nevertheless it has pleased His 

 wisdom and goodness to reveal to mankind, by an- 

 other and that a supernatural way, Himself and the 

 eternal decrees of His will ; even as the apostle says, 

 " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners 

 spokej in times past, to the fathers by the prophets, 

 last ot all, in these days, hath spoken to us by his 

 Son." J 



To this divine revelation is it to be ascribed that 

 things regarding God, which are not of themselves 

 beyond the grasp of human reason, may, even in the 

 present condition of the human race, be known by 

 all, readily, with full certainty and without any ad- 

 mixture of error. Yet not on this account is revela- 

 tion absolutely necessary, but because God, of His 

 infinite goodness, has ordained man for a super- 

 natural end, for the participation, that is, of divine 

 goods, which altogether surpass the understanding 

 of the human mind ; for " eye hath not seen nor ear 

 heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, 

 what things God hath prepared for them that love 

 him." If 



Now, this supernatural revelation, according to the 

 belief of the universal Church, as declared by the 

 holy Council of Trent, is contained in the written 

 books and in the unwritten traditions which have 

 come to us as received orally from Christ Himself 

 by the apostles, or handed down from the apostles 

 taught by the Holy Ghost.** And these books of the 

 Old and New Testament are to be received as sacred 

 and canonical, in their integrity and with all their 

 parts, as they are enumerated in the decree of the 

 same council, and are had in the old Vulgate Latin 

 edition. But the Church does hold them as sacred 

 and canonical, not for the reason that they have been 

 compiled by human industry alone, and afterward 

 approved by her authority; nor only because they 

 contain revelation without error^ but because, hav- 

 ing been written under the inspiration of the Holy 

 Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such 

 have been delivered to the Church herself. 



And since those things which the Council of Trent 

 has declared by wholesome decrees concerning the 

 interpretation of divine Scripture, in order to restrain 



* Fourth Lateran Council, ch. 1. Firmiter. 

 t Wisdom viii. 1. t Heb. iv. 13. 



Romans i. 80. II Heb. i. 1, 2. 



f 1 Cor. ii. 9. 



** Council of Trent, Session iv., Decree on the Canon 

 of Scripture. 



