Theological Theses · §183 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

False pretended principles fall by missing the Spirit's marks — not by proof-texts

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Scripture's perfection does not require that it prove itself. Neither must every false pretended principle of faith be rejected by direct, express proof-texts.

We believe true faith principles immediately through the Spirit's inward illumination and persuasion. He sweetly draws people to them — not by another faith principle, but by motives and marks that make their divinity known.

So to refuse what are falsely counted as faith principles, it is enough that they lack the true marks of true principles, and that traces of human ignorance and weakness show in them.

Latin

XXI. Sicut autem ad perfectionem, quam Scripturae sacrae tribuimus, non requiritur, ut seipsam probet, ita quoque nihil necesse est, ut, quae falso obtenduntur fidei principia, per Scripturam directe & expresse rejici possint, atque ad hoc exigantur Scripturae testimonia. Sed quemadmodum veris fidei principiis immediate credimus, per illuminationem & persuasionem internam Spiritus sancti, qui homines eo suaviter adducit, non per aliud quoddam fidei principium, sed tantum motivis & notis quibusdam quibus divinitas eorum innotescit: sic ad rejicienda & non admittenda quae falso putantur fidei principia sufficit ut destituantur veris verorum principiorum notis, & in iis notari possint ignorantiae & imbecillitatis humanae vestigia.

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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).

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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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