Theological Theses · §2592 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Calixtus quoted: believing is supernatural; some prior acts are in man's power

Thesis X. 'Believing,' he writes, 'is an action supernatural in kind, that is, beyond human strength by its nature. We credit it to the Holy Spirit because he rouses the human mind to believe and brings it about that a person believes, loves and fears God, and indeed wants to believe, fear and love.

So we assign to God the supernatural acts that enter into, or make up, true conversion, and we deny that they lie in human hands. We do not deny, however, that some acts lie within a person's power, which God wants him to perform before any advance is made to supernatural aids and gifts, at any rate in the ordinary course.'

Latin

X. Credere, inquit, actio est suo genere supernaturalis, sive sua natura supra vires humanas, propterea Spiritui Sancto eam ascribimus, quod is animum humanum ad credendum excitet, efficiatque ut homo credat, diligat, Deum timeat, imo ut credere, timere & diligere velit, atque sic actus supernaturales, veramque conversionem ingredientes, sive constituentes Deo tribuimus, & in manu hominum positos negamus: ita tamen ut non negemus esse quosdam in hominis potestate sitos, quos ab ipso Deus praestari velit, priusquam ad auxilia & dona supernaturalia progressus fiat, certe quoad modum ordinarium.

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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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