Theological Theses · §365 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

“Nature” is only the order of causes — who authored that order?

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Ask the nature-only crowd: what do you mean by nature?

Usually: the order of causes — plant begets plant, seasons turn.

That order itself needs an author — who made heaven, sun, earth?

Latin

XXXVII. Verum ut magis adhuc urgeamus impios illos, qui nolunt aliam rerum causam agnoscere, nisi brutam quandam naturam: Rogamus eos quid nomine naturae intelligant. Nam vulgo per naturam, quae casui opponitur, & iis quae ex consilio & deliberatione agunt, intelligitur ordo & series causarum, quibus constat hoc universum. Juxta quem ordinem videmus in terra fieri varias generationes, & in elementari regione alias & alias mutationes: Sic enim, quum planta plantam, & animal aliud animal simile generat, opus esse naturae dicimus: & similiter quum nives per hyemem terram operiunt, aestate vero terra aestu fatiscit, ad naturam ista referimus: Sed hic frustra ad istam naturam recurritur. Nam natura illa, ut patet ex dictis, nihil aliud est, quam ordo agentium & patientium, quibus hoc universum constat. Sed hic quaeritur hujus ordinis author, & quid est illud quod coelum, solem & terram produxit, & quo videmus ordine disposuit? Quaenam est ergo natura, quae, naturae hujus, quae jam operatur, causa est?

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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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