[Theses theologicae, variis temporibus in Academia Sedanensi editae et ad disputandum propositae; (London: 1683)]
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu (1614–1675), a faithful minister and learned professor in the Reformed churches of France, was born, according to varying accounts, either in Longvilliers near Paris or in Senlis, into a noble lineage known for its fidelity to the gospel. His family, enriched with civil dignity and ecclesiastical zeal, had long adorned the cause of Christ in France; his grandfather Étienne Le Blanc served as royal counselor and wrote piously on Christian devotion. Educated in the spirit of Geneva and Beza, Le Blanc rose early to prominence as a preacher in Sedan, a stronghold of French Huguenot piety, where he served over thirty years. In 1644, he was appointed professor of theology at the renowned Academy of Sedan, succeeding the eminent Des Marêts, and was several times rector and moderator, guiding both ecclesiastical polity and theological instruction with singular prudence. A man of profound intellect and irenic disposition, Master Le Blanc strove not only for the propagation of pure doctrine but for the peace of the visible church, even being appointed by civil magistrates, including the Marshal of Turenne, to mediate reconciliation between Protestants and Papists—though in vain. His involvement with the Synod of Alençon in 1637 as a commissioner to assess the doctrines of Amyraut and others shows the esteem in which he was held for both doctrinal precision and spiritual sobriety. As Pierre Nicole testified, he was “a precise man with a clear mind,” discerning with rare clarity the subtleties of authors and doctrinal variance. He departed this life in Sedan in 1675, leaving behind not the noise of controversy, but the fragrance of wisdom and charity, ever laboring for truth and unity in the house of God.
Table of Contents:
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I. As God hath given name unto Theology, so is He the chief object thereof. Wherefore, unto him that undertaketh to treat of Theological matters, from God Himself must the beginning be made.
II. Moreover, those things which are delivered concerning God may be reduced unto two heads. For either they respect the existence of God, and the question, WHETHER HE BE: or they respect the nature and essence of God, and the question, WHAT He is. Reason requireth that we begin with the former.
III. The first theorem, therefore, of all Theology, whereupon all religion is builded, is this: That there is a God, that is, an eternal, most excellent, most powerful, and most wise mind, which is the cause of all things, and by which all things do depend and are governed. According to that which the Apostle saith, Hebrews 11:6, “He that cometh to God must believe that He is.”
IV. Furthermore, this principle is not of the kind which are had from revelation and the Word of God alone: but it is a matter which the whole nature of things doth inculcate, and almost thrust upon our senses. For as the Apostle saith, Romans 1:20, “The invisible things of Him, namely, His eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made.” Whereunto also pertaineth Job 12:7-9, “Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?”
V. Whence it hath come to pass that, even without revelation whereby God hath offered Himself to be known in His word, some knowledge of God hath flowed forth unto almost all men. For there is no nation, or almost none, which hath not some form of religion, and some manner of worship of divinity. Neither do the terrors and bitings of conscience proceed from any other source, which do drag even the most wicked and profligate men, who endeavour to cast off all fear of God, though unwilling, to His tribunal, and strike into them a horror of divine vengeance.
VI. It is not to be denied, indeed, that true and saving knowledge of God is found among very few men: and that the true God was, and even now is, unknown to most nations, in which respect they are called by the Apostle “without God in the world,” Ephesians 2:12. But this hindereth not that even among those very nations, which Paul doth in some manner charge with Atheism, some sense of divinity nevertheless remaineth, albeit entangled with many and foul errors. An argument whereof is that very idolatry wherewith the profane nations have polluted themselves, and, forsaking the Creator, have worshipped various creatures, and the very figments of their own minds. For it must needs be that this sense of divinity is deeply impressed upon men, seeing that man, otherwise sufficiently prone to pride and swelling with arrogance, had rather abase himself below the beasts, and worship stones and wood, than acknowledge no God at all.
VII. It is therefore altogether certain that from contemplation of the world, and those things which are seen therein, men may come to the knowledge of God: nor have the shadows wherewith the human mind is darkened by sin hindered, but that the greatest part of men, by this way, and with nature as guide, hath attained to some knowledge of divinity. But it is demanded, of what kind are those reasons, whereby from consideration of the works of nature it is shown that there is a God? Whether, namely, they be necessary, or only probable? And whether the existence of God be demonstrable to human understanding, or whether it can only be attained by some conjectures and probable arguments? In this matter we are of the opinion, with almost all divines both of our party and of the Papists, that the existence of God is a thing which can be demonstrated, and may be proved by necessary arguments.