[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.
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Wherein is set forth the Doctrine of those among the Protestants who are called Reformed by particular name, and compared with the Doctrine of the Roman School.
Not a few Reformed theologians seem to include under the decree of Reprobation whatsoever God from eternity hath decreed and ordained concerning those who fall from salvation and are adjudged to the torments of hell. For they refer to the decree of Reprobation the act of divine will whereby God resolved to create the reprobate and to permit all their sins. They hold that God created the reprobate with the intent, and permitted their sins, even that first sin whereby they are born corrupt, that in their just punishment He might show Himself the avenger of sin.
For, taking Predestination in a certain general sense, as comprising both Election and Reprobation as its two species, they thus define it: Predestination is the eternal, most just, and immutable counsel of God, concerning the creation of men, the permission of their fall into sin and eternal death, the sending of His Son in the flesh to be a sacrifice, and the saving of some through the Holy Spirit and the Word, for the sake of the Mediator, in true faith and conversion, to be justified through and for Him, raised to glory, and granted eternal life; but leaving others in sin and death, raising them to judgment, and casting them into eternal torments. This is the description of Ursinus in his Catechetical Explication, Part 2, Chapter on Predestination, Question 2.
The definition of Jerome Zanchius agreeth therewith, which he frameth in these words: Predestination is the eternal and immutable decree of God, whereby He determined with Himself from eternity: first, to create all men and to permit them to fall into sin and rush into death; then, to give some of them freely in Christ both His grace and eternal life, but to deem others unworthy of this grace, and with Satan to blind and harden them, and to destroy them with eternal ruin; and this, that in the former His divine goodness and mercy, and in the latter His divine power and justice, might be declared, and so in all things God might be glorified. Tome 7, Treatise on Predestination, Number 9.
Akin also is the description of Bucanus: The decree of Predestination, saith he, is that whereby God, determining before He created men for what purpose He would create them, decreed, according to His right and mere will, that they should serve His glory, so that some should be vessels and examples of His goodness and mercy, but others vessels of His wrath, that is, of His just vengeance upon their wickedness, and of His power. Locus 36, Question 8.
The same also is the doctrine of Beza, who in his Brief Explication of All Christianity placeth the decree of Predestination in this: that God decreed to create men, as all other things, for His glory, but in two wholly diverse manners: namely, that some, whom it pleased Him by His secret will, He maketh through mercy partakers of His glory, but in others, whom it likewise pleased Him to raise for this purpose, He showeth His wrath and power, that in them also He might be glorified. Chapter 2, On Predestination, Aphorism 2. And in Chapter 5, Aphorism 1, he repeateth that the Lord created the reprobate for this cause, that in their just condemnation He might be glorified.