Theological Theses · §2312 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

No real difference between the Protestants and Jansenius

Thesis LII. Indeed, in this whole question of the powers of free choice in fallen man and the necessity of grace for moral good, there seems to be no true and real difference between the doctrine of the Protestants and that of Jansenius.

Jansenius acknowledges with them not only that the grace of Christ, and an effective and active faith in him, is necessary for any morally good work. He also holds, as follows from this, that no work is truly good unless it proceeds from some sincere love of God and tends to his glory. And so he holds that the Scholastics distinguish good works to no purpose, into those that belong to godliness and further eternal salvation and those that neither concern godliness nor help toward eternal salvation.

Latin

LII. Imo non videtur in tota hac quaestione de liberi arbitrii in homine lapso viribus & gratiae necessitate circa bonum morale, ullum esse verum & reale discrimen inter Protestantium & Jansenii doctrinam. Non solum enim cum illis agnoscit Jansenius gratiam Christi, & fidem in eum efficacem & actuosam, necessariam esse ad quodvis opus moraliter bonum, sed etiam, quod consequens est, nullum opus esse vere bonum, quod ex aliquo sincero Dei amore non procedat, & in ejus gloriam non tendat: adeoque frustra apud Scholasticos bona opera distingui, in ea quae pertinent ad pietatem, & salutem aeternam promovent, & ea quae nec ad pietatem spectant, nec prosunt aeternae saluti.

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