Theological Theses · §860 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Vasquez: private faith of the promise necessary alongside Catholic faith for hope and justification

Vasquez not only puts fiducia inside living faith but names as faith the penitent persuasion that God will remit one sins and justify him.

Beside Catholic faith of universal dogmas and promises he requires a private promise-faith that God will not fail with efficacious help; without that peculiar faith, hope of pardon — itself a necessary disposition — cannot stand, so Trent sess. 6 c. 8 faith as salvation beginning/root covers both Catholic and private promise-faith (Disp. 210.5).

Latin

XL. Est autem hic observandum Gabrielem Vasquez non solum agnoscere fiduciam esse fidei vivae partem, sed etiam illum nomen fidei tribuere persuasioni illi, qua aliquis per veram poenitentiam se ad Deum convertens, confidit Deum sibi peccata remissurum, seque justificandum esse. Nam ad justificationem docet non tantum conducere, sed necessariam esse, non solum fidem Catholicam dogmatum, historiae, & promissionum quae universe factae sunt, sed etiam fidem privatam promissionis, qua quisque credat sibi Deum non defuturum, neque negaturum auxilium efficax, & se tandem a Deo justificandum. Nam, inquit, si aliquis existimaret Deum negaturum auxilium efficax ad salutem, omnis ad justificationem progressus & dispositio impediretur, ut manifeste constat. Inter reliqua enim necessaria ad justificationem primam debet esse spes veniae; haec autem sine fide peculiari esse non potest. Nam quamvis aliquis crederet ea quae universe promissa sunt, nempe, vere poenitentibus peccata remitti, & poenitentiae adeoque operibus bonis a Deo obtineri veniam & justificationem; tamen nisi etiam credat se iis operibus quae exercet a Deo veniam consecuturum, quae sane est fides peculiaris promissionis, non poterit nunc veniam sibi a Deo sperare, ac proinde neque justificationis compos erit; siquidem spes non minus necessaria est dispositio ad justificationem quam fides. Quocirca fidem illam quam Concilium Tridentinum Sessione sexta, cap. 8. docet esse humanae salutis initium & fundamentum, & radicem omnis justificationis, & sine qua cum Apostolo dicit esse impossibile placere Deo, & ad consortium filiorum pervenire, fidem, inquam, illam non solum esse fidem Catholicam & dogmaticam, sed etiam fidem privatam promissionis; & pertendit verba Concilii de utraque exponenda & intelligenda esse, ut videre est cap. 5. Disputationis 210. jam citatae.

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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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