Theological Theses · §2145 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

No shame in ignorance where Scripture is silent: it teaches that God rules all, not the mode

I am not ashamed of this ignorance of mine. It is safe not to know what God has not openly revealed in his word and what human reason cannot search out by itself.

Holy Scripture does plainly teach that all things are governed by divine providence, that nothing happens unless he deliberately allows it, and that all his works are known to God and settled from eternity.

But how God moves second causes, what the nature of his decrees is, how he carries them out and brings all things to their appointed end, Holy Scripture does not disclose, nor does it seek to satisfy human curiosity on the point.

Latin

XLIX. Nec me pudet hujus meae ignorantiae. Tuto enim ignoratur, quod nec Deus aperte in verbo suo revelavit, nec humana ratio per se investigare potest. Jam autem scriptura sacra manifeste docet quidem, omnia divina providentia regi, nec quicquam, nisi ipso consulto sinente, fieri, & ab aeterno Deo nota esse & definita omnia opera sua: modum vero quo Deus causas secundas movet, quae sit ratio decretorum illius, & qua ratione illa exequatur, & omnia ad finem destinatum perducat, scriptura sacra non aperit, nec studet humanae curiositati super eo satisfacere.

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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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Translated from Latin (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
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Also checked pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
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