Theological Theses · §2259 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

So the Roman dogma: fallen man acts well or sins freely, whatever is said of grace

So among them it is Catholic dogma that man, even when corrupted by sin, uses his freedom when he acts morally well, and transgresses the precepts of the moral law no less freely, whether by doing what they forbid or by leaving undone what they command, whether or not grace is supposed necessary for acting morally well.

That is a different question from this one, and on it, as we have seen, the doctors of the Roman School are not of one opinion; yet none of them denies that fallen man has his free choice with regard to moral good.

Latin

LII. Itaque apud eos Dogma Catholicum est, hominem etiam peccato corruptum, quum bene moraliter agit, libertate sua uti: nec eum minus libere legis moralis praecepta transgredi, vel committendo quae vetant, vel omittendo quae jubent: sive ad bene moraliter agendum gratia necessaria supponatur, sive non. Quae quaestio ab hac diversa est, & super qua, ut vidimus, Doctores Scholae Romanae non eodem modo opinantur: cum tamen nullus inter eos neget, hominem lapsum circa bonum morale liberum suum arbitrium habere.

Report a mistake in this passage

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)
Also checked DjVu machine-read text of the 1675 (Latin)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake