Theological Theses · §1392 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Aquinas infers latria for Christ’s Cross (and even for other cross-effigies by representation) from ‘O cross, hail, only hope’

Aquinas reads the hymn as prayer to the cross-as-distinct and concludes the true Cross is owed latria (representation plus contact), and other cross-images latria by representation alone (ST III q.25 a.4).

Latin

XXIII. Hanc vero precationem ad crucem, ut a Christo distinguitur, dirigi, sicut ex ipsius hymni verbis manifestum est, agnovit Thomas Aquinas Scholae Romanae princeps. Inde enim colligit crucem esse cultu Latriae adorandam, hoc utens argumento, Illi exhibemus latriae cultum in quo ponimus spem salutis. Sed in cruce Christi ponimus spem salutis: cantat enim Ecclesia, O crux ave spes unica, Hoc Passionis tempore, Auge piis justitiam, Reisque dona veniam. Ergo Crux Christi est adoranda adoratione latriae. Articuli vero conclusio his verbis concepta est, Crux Christi in qua Christus crucifixus est, tum propter repraesentationem, tum etiam propter membrorum Christi contactum, latria adoranda est: crucis vero effigies in alia quavis materia, priori tantum ratione latria adoranda est. In Summa parte tertia quaestione 25. Articulo quarto.

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About this text

Louis Le Blanc, a Reformed professor at Sedan, sets out theology in theses argued against Rome: Scripture, faith, grace, free choice, good works and the saints.

This volume holds the Theses on Theology I–XLIII and On Faith I–XXII, in eighteen sections.

Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu (1614–1675) was minister and professor of theology at the Academy of Sedan, the Reformed school on France's eastern border. His Theses were disputed by students over many years and collected in a London folio (1675).

The Theological Theses range across the whole Reformed system — Scripture, God, predestination, grace, and justifying faith — in the crisp thesis-and-proof form of the seventeenth-century schools.

Date1675 AD (Sedan theses; London collection)

No modern English.

Reference

ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves).

Printed text used

Translated from Latin (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
Also checked PDF of the 1675 (Latin)
Also checked pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
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