Theological Theses · §2193 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Ames: free choice acts as 'principle which' in pious works, not as 'principle by which'

So when asked whether men act through free choice in works of piety, he answers as follows. If 'acting through free choice' means that free choice acts in those works as the principle that acts (principium quod), we accept it.

If it means that natural freedom is the principle by which (principium quo) a spiritual action is done, and does not receive both its ability and its willing from grace, we reject it as Pelagian. Book 4, on free choice, chapter 3, on the powers of free choice.

Latin

XLVI. Ideoque ad quaestionem An homines per liberum arbitrium agant in operibus pietatis, Respondet, si phrasis illa agere per liberum arbitrium, significat liberum arbitrium in istis operibus agere ut principium quod, illam a nobis admitti: si vero significet libertatem naturalem esse principium quo actionis spiritualis, non vero accipere & posse & velle suum a gratia, eam a nobis rejici tanquam Pelagianam. Lib. 4. de Libr. Arbitr. cap. 3. de viribus liberi arbitrii.

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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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