Theological Theses · §327 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Reply: superstition hides mysteries — Christian truth is not ashamed

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Reply: hiding mysteries is superstition's habit — pagans barred the crowd.

Christian truth is not ashamed; Tertullian: it blushes only at being hidden.

Prudence still holds — milk for babes, solid food for the mature; do not cast pearls.

Writing the Gospel is not casting pearls: Rome's own summas and catechisms already publish every Mass mystery Bellarmine calls tremendous.

Latin

XXXIII. Respondeo, proprium esse superstitionis occultare sua mysteria, & plebem ab eis arcere, ut Ethnici olim faciebant. Sed religionem Christianam sui ipsius non pudet; ac, ut ait Tertullianus, veritas Christi nihil erubescit nisi abscondi. Itaque religio Christiana nemini sui notitiam invidet, sed ad eam ipsos infideles invitat. Fateor quidem hac in re prudentia aliqua opus esse. Nam monet Christus sanctum non esse dandum canibus, nec margaritas porcis objiciendas esse. Aliter etiam agendum cum parvulis in Christo, aliter cum perfectis. Et prioribus quidem lac praebendum est, posterioribus, cibus solidus reservandus. Itaque Pastorum atque Doctorum est hac in re auditorum suorum rationem habere, & doctrinam Evangelii, quam ex Scripturis hauriunt, dextre & ad captum eorum, qui audiunt, proponere, nec temere religionis Christianae mysteria profanis & impiis ridenda exponere. Sed contra prudentiam istam, a Christo ipso praeceptam, non peccarunt Evangelistae & Apostoli nostri, dum integrum Evangelium breviter & summatim scriptis suis consignarunt. Nam illa ipsa scripta proponi & exponi possunt aliis ad modum lactis, aliis vero ad modum solidioris cibi. Neque quicquid scriptum est, protinus censeri debet porcis objectum esse, & profanorum sibilis & cachinnis expositum. Alioquin ipsi Doctores Ecclesiae Romanae sanctum canibus quotidie darent, & margaritas porcis objicerent, si quidem illi quotidie Theologicas summas, & Catecheses edunt, & religionis Christianae mysteria quaelibet scripto docent, & explicant, quam clare & aperte possunt. Quod certe si ipsis licet, inviolata manente dignitate mysteriorum Evangelicorum, cur idem non licuerit Apostolis & Evangelistis? Si vero non licuit, nec decuit Apostolos scripto explicare omnia fidei mysteria, cur idem hodie magis licebit scholasticis & Theologis Pontificiis, qui omnia Pontificiae Theologiae dogmata scripto docent, & illa ipsa, quae dicit Bellarminus, tremenda Missae mysteria, quorum nullum prorsus est quod scriptum non reperiatur in Pontificiorum libris.

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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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