Theological Theses · §2173 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

The Reformed distinguish proximate and active power from remote and passive power (Pareus)

A further point: on this question the Reformed doctors separate two kinds of capacity, the proximate and active kind and the remote and passive kind.

Man in the state of sin and before grace, they allow, keeps some remote, passive capacity for spiritual and supernatural acts; what they refuse him, so considered, is any proximate, active capacity for them. Pareus draws exactly this line when commenting on Bellarmine's sixth book on free choice, chapter 15.

Latin

XXVI. Illud quoque hic observandum est Scholae Reformatae Doctores in hac quaestione distinguere inter potentiam proximam & activam, & inter potentiam remotam & passivam. Et concedunt hominem in statu peccati, & ante gratiam, habere quidem potentiam quandam remotam & passivam ad actus spirituales & supernaturales, sed negant hominem ita consideratum ad eosdem actus habere potentiam ullam proximam & activam. Qua distinctione utitur Paraeus in lib. 6. Bellar. de Lib. Arbitr. cap. 15.

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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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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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