Theological Theses · §267 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Infant baptism can be proved from Scripture — Bellarmine refutes Anabaptists, then denies the proof

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They next call infant baptism necessary yet unwritten — or at least not proved enough from Scripture.

We deny the silence: our theologians prove infant baptism from Scripture against the Anabaptists.

This is not the place to rehearse those arguments.

Stranger still: Rome herself routs Anabaptists from Scripture — Bellarmine boasts his baptism arguments cannot be escaped (On Baptism 1.9).

The same Bellarmine, attacking Scripture's sufficiency, then says paedobaptism cannot be proved from Scripture.

We appeal from partisan Bellarmine to Bellarmine elsewhere convinced by the truth.

Latin

XXIII. Objiciunt praeterea, Bellarminus & alii, baptismum parvulorum tanquam rem necessariam, & tamen in sacra Scriptura non traditam, aut saltem quae sufficienter non probetur ex sacra Scriptura. Sed negamus non posse ex sacra Scriptura probari legitimum esse baptismum infantium. Illud certe multis & validis argumentis ex Scriptura sacra deductis contra Anabaptistas Theologi nostri confirmant. Quae argumenta referre & vindicare hujus loci non esset, & prolixiorem operam requirit. Sed quod valde mirum est, ipsi Pontificii ex Scripturis Anabaptistas egregie confutant. Inter alios vero Bellarminus de hac controversia ex Scripturis ita disputat, ut argumenta sua, nulla ratione solvi, nulla arte eludi posse, glorietur & fidat, libr. 1. de sacram. Bapt. cap. 9. Et tamen idem ille sui oblitus, dum Scripturae sufficientiam impugnare conatur, asserit paedobaptismum ex Scriptura satis probare non posse. Sed hic a Bellarmino studio causae abrepto, ad Bellarminum alibi evidentia veritatis convictum appellamus.

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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)
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