Theological Theses · §360 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Democritus and Epicurus: chance atoms cannot yield order

First option: Democritus/Epicurus — world from random atom-clash.

Chance yields mess, not constancy, order, harmony.

This universe — and each natural work — shows supreme order.

Latin

XXXII. Primum illud tribuitur Democrito & Epicureis, qui dicuntur censuisse mundum esse ortum ex quodam fortuito, & temerario concursu atomorum. Verum haec sententia ad insaniam accedit. Nam constantia, ordo, & harmonia a casu esse non potest, sed quae casu fiunt & exoriuntur, incerta sunt & indigesta, nihilque constans habent, & quod sui simile semper sit. At nihil fingi potest hac universi compage magis ordinatum atque compositum. Et in singulis quoque naturae operibus summus ordo atque constantia facile observari potest.

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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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