Theological Theses · §1753 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Roman teachers charge Calvin and the Reformed with taking free choice away from man

Most teachers of the Roman Church commonly accuse Calvin and those who share his religious position of removing free choice from man and stripping him of any freedom in what he does. At the least, they say, these men teach that sin destroyed free choice in man altogether.

One example is the Jesuit Bailly, in the catechism that Rivet answers in his Summary of Controversies (treatise 4, question 4). There Bailly argues against the Reformed as if they flatly denied that man has free choice.

Another is the Jesuit Martin Becanus. In his Summa of Scholastic Theology (treatise 1, chapter 2, question 9) he says that Lutherans and Calvinists hold that the sin of our first parent completely did away with free choice.

Latin

I. Plerique Doctores Ecclesiae Romanae Calvino, & aliis qui cum eo in Religionis negotio sentiunt, tribuere solent quod ab homine tollant liberum arbitrium, eumque omni libertate in agendo spolient, aut saltem doceant in eo liberum Arbitrium per peccatum penitus amissum & extinctum fuisse. Istud videre est apud Bailium Jesuitam in Catechesi quam refutat Rivetus in summa Controversiarum Tract. 4. quaest. 4. Ubi disputat contra Reformatos, quasi liberum hominis arbitrium simpliciter negarent: & apud Martinum Becanum Jesuitam alterum qui dicit Lutheranos & Calvinistas affirmare per peccatum primi parentis penitus sublatum esse liberum arbitrium. In summa Theol. Scholast. Tract. 1. cap. 2. quaest. 9.

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