Theological Theses · §608 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Moral certainty is a lower grade than scientia or intelligentia

Moral certainty < scientia / intelligentia in grade.

Clear distinct perception + plain impossibility of contrary convicts more strongly.

Fame/signs leave absolute other-possibility open.

Latin

X. Si quis autem comparet moralem hanc certitudinem cum prioribus illis certitudinis speciebus, fatendum est illam esse gradus inferioris, nec ex suo genere tantam, quanta est certitudo scientiae, sive intelligentiae. Nam intellectus fortius & potentius convincitur de veritate eorum, quae ipse clare & distincte percipit, & quorum contrarium videt plane impossibile esse, quam eorum quae judicat & colligit ita se habere ex hominum constanti fama & testimonio, aut ex variis signis & indiciis, licet absolute impossibile non sit, ut alio modo se habeant.

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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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