Theological Theses · §2595 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

God provides means even for those who have not heard the word

Thesis XIII. God's word is the instrument he ordinarily uses in converting people, yet Calixtus does not hold that those to whom the word has not been preached are left without any means of salvation. God, he says, so acts toward them and is so disposed that if they are lost it is their own fault, not for want of the aids they needed.

If they make right use of the faculties and powers that remain in fallen nature, God stands ready to supply means by which they can be brought to fuller knowledge and so, in the end, to true and saving faith.

Latin

XIII. Quanquam autem Dei verbum sit instrumentum quo Deus uti solet in hominum conversione, non tamen vult illos ipsos quibus verbum praedicatum non est, omnibus ad salutem mediis destitui: sed Deum sic se gerere & affectum esse erga ipsos, ut si pereant id fiat propria ipsorum culpa, non quod necessariis auxiliis careant. Quoniam si recte utantur facultatibus & viribus in natura corrupta relictis, Deus paratus est iis prospicere de mediis quibus ad pleniorem cognitionem, adeoque tandem ad veram & salutarem fidem deduci possint.

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