Theological Theses · §356 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

A bounded slice of past time cannot be eternal

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Hours matching infinite days are still bounded by today and a longer past.

A twenty-fourth of past time cannot be called eternal.

Any finite-bounded slice — and a whole of such slices — is not infinite.

Latin

XXVIII. Praeterea cum numerus dierum sit, quater & vicies minor numero horarum, rogo iterum, an numerus horarum numerum dierum aequans & non superans, constituat tempus finitum, an infinitum? Dici non potest finitum tempus constituere: nam cum numerus dierum statuatur infinitus, numerus horarum ipsi aequalis infinitus quoque est. Sed infinitae horae non possunt finitum tempus constituere: nec etiam dici potest numerum illum horarum, qui dierum numerum aequat & non superat, efficere tempus infinitum & aeternum. Nam utrinque limitatus est, nimirum hodierno die, & ab altera parte, tempore ter & vicies longiori, quod praecessit. Et certe cum tempus illud, quod constituit numerus horarum, dierum numero aequalis, sit tantum pars vigesima quarta totius temporis anteacti, absque manifesta contradictione infinitum & aeternum dici non potest. Etenim ab hodierno die incipiendo, nulla pars praeteriti temporis infinita est, siquidem quaevis talis pars temporis praeteriti terminatur tempore praecedente & subsequente. At infinitum est, quod caret terminis: & quod vero terminos habet, infinitum esse non potest. Nec minus pugnat notio aeternitatis cum eo quod est tantum certa pars temporis praeteriti: nam aeternum non est quod tempus aliud ante se habet; sed pars ejusmodi temporis praeteriti tempus aliud ante se habet, scilicet totum illud quod est extra partem illam. Cum ergo quaelibet assignata pars temporis veluti vigesima, centesima aut millesima non possit esse aeterna & infinita, totum tempus aeternum & infinitum esse non potest. Nam quod constat partibus finitis & determinatis, non potest esse infinitum.

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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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