Theological Theses · §2302 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Pareus: in this life the freed will can still do good and evil

Thesis XLII. Nor is man's choice so freed by grace in this life that he cannot always act badly as well as well, as Pareus, disputing against Bellarmine, freely admits. 'What Christian,' he says, 'ever doubted that a man endowed with grace has a choice that is set free and free to choose good and do it by the power of grace, and also to choose evil and do it out of the weakness of nature, which grace neither regenerates nor governs perfectly in this life? Hence the reborn use their freedom of will in this life both to do well and to do badly.

So there can be no question whether a man, given the help of grace, truly has free choice' (on Bellarmine, On grace and free choice, book 5, chapter 13). The same author repeats this in chapter 28 of that book: 'In the state of grace the renewed will chooses good freely, in such a way that while it is effectively moved by grace to choose it, it can indeed choose the opposite through the defect of nature, but does not will to, because of the efficacy of grace.'

Latin

XLII. Neque sic in hac vita per gratiam liberatur hominis arbitrium, quin semper, ut bene, sic male agere possit: sicut ultro Paraeus contra Bellarminum disputans agnoscit. Quis Christianus, inquit, unquam dubitavit hominem donatum gratia arbitrium habere liberatum & liberum ad bonum eligendum, praestandum ex vi gratiae: ad malum quoque eligendum, faciendum ex imbecillitate naturae, quae a gratia nec regeneratur, nec regitur perfecte in hac vita: unde renati libertate voluntatis, tam ad bene quam ad male operandum, in hac vita utuntur? Nulla igitur haec quaestio esse potest, utrum posito gratiae auxilio homo sit vere liberi arbitrii? In librum V. Bellarmini de Gratia & libero arbitrio, capite XIII. Quibus conformia sunt quae repetit author ille, ejusdem libri capite XXVIII. In statu gratiae sic libere eligit bonum voluntas renovata, ut dum ad id eligendum efficaciter movetur a gratia, possit quidem contrarium eligere per defectum naturae, nolit vero per efficaciam gratiae.

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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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