Theological Theses · §241 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Neither Pope nor Council can show a real title — proof-texts are twisted

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Neither Pope nor Council can show a lawful title-deed for the authority they claim.

What they offer with any color is Scripture twisted off its sense.

Example — Luke 22:32 ('I have prayed for you… that your faith may not fail'): Christ promises Peter, about to deny Him, that heart-faith would not be snuffed out and he would rise again — not Roman episcopal infallibility.

Councils lean on Matthew 18:20 ('two or three… in my name'): Christ does not absolutely underwrite every general pastors' council; He promises Spirit-help to any council that uses His means, seeks God's and Christ's glory and the Church's building up, and is not dragged by its own passions.

No pastors' meeting can be known infallibly to have met that condition.

Latin

XLI. Ac profecto nec Papa, nec Concilium, possunt ullum legitimum, tantae authoritatis, quam sibi arrogant, documentum proferre. Nec aliud cum specie aliqua obtendere possunt, quam Scripturae quaedam loca in alienum plane sensum detorta. Sic, exempli gratia, Pontifex probare nititur suam infallibilitatem dicto illo Christi ad Petrum, Rogavi pro te, Petre, ne deficiat fides tua, ubi Christus pollicetur Petro tentationi maximae statim objiciendo, & Christum ipsum ore abnegaturo, tamen ut in ejus corde fides penitus non extingueretur, sed ex eo lapsu resurgeret, & in fide perseveraret: quae nihil omnino pertinent ad Episcopum Romanum, & eam quam sibi tribuit infallibilitatem. Concilia vero Romana ad vendicandam sibi similem authoritatem, praecipue abutuntur illa Christi promissione, ubi duo vel tres erunt congregati in nomine meo, ibi sum in medio eorum. Sed Christus ibi generali Pastorum Concilio nihil absolute promittit; omnibus autem conciliis sive generalibus, sive particularibus pollicetur Spiritus sui assistentiam, modo mediis ab ipso institutis utuntur, ac unice sibi proponant Dei Christique gloriam, & Ecclesiae aedificationem, nec sinant se propriis affectibus abripi. At nullus est Pastorum coetus de quo infallibiliter certi esse possimus, an conditionem illam impleverit.

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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)
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.

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