Two Dissertations · §130 · John Davenant

Cap. 6 Arg. 8 Schoolmen: Bellarmine—efficacious grace not conditioned on not rejecting it

Last, let Bellarmine step forward. He does not grant that Christ’s death is tied to any divine decree by which God would give efficacious grace—grace that regenerates in very fact—to every human being on the condition that they do not refuse it by their will. In On Grace and Free Choice book 1, chapter 12, he rejects those who teach that people have it in their power to make grace efficacious when otherwise, of itself, it would be only sufficient. He shows they stand against Augustine and Holy Scripture when they say everyone would have received God’s grace if those who do not receive it had not refused it by their will (p. 423). He presses the view with this trouble: if efficacious calling hung not on God’s purpose but on the human will, no room would be left for predestination. Add book 2, chapter 8, p. 455: We believe God by his own will wills to save many, both infants and adults, and by his own will does not will to save others, both infants and adults. See Augustine’s Enchiridion, chapters 102–103.

Latin

Ultimo in loco prodeat Bellarminus, qui non agnoscit cum morte Christi connexum tale aliquod Dei decretum, quo gratiam efficacem sive reapse regenerantem Deus omnibus hominibus dare statuerit sub hac conditione, Si eam sua voluntate non respuerint. Lib. 1. De grat. et lib. arbit. cap. 12. rejicit eorum opinionem, qui in potestate hominum esse docent, ut gratiam faciant esse efficacem, quae alioquin ex se non esset nisi sufficiens. Ostendit eos Augustino et sacris Scripturis adversari, qui dicunt omnes homines fuisse accepturos gratiam Dei, si non illi, quibus non datur, eam sua voluntate respuerent, pag. 423. Denique hoc incommodo premit hanc opinionem, Quod si vocatio efficax non penderet a proposito Dei, sed ab humana voluntate, nullus locus praedestinationi relinqueretur. Quibus addi potest illud, lib. 2. cap. 8. pag. 455: Credimus Deum absoluta voluntate velle salvare multos, tum parvulos tum adultos, et absoluta voluntate alios non velle salvare, tum parvulos tum adultos. Vide Augustini Enchiridion, cap. 102, 103.

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John Davenant argues from Scripture that Christ's death is a remedy offered to every person, so that anyone who hears the Gospel may be called to believe, and then opens a second dissertation on predestination.

John Davenant (1572–1641) was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, bishop of Salisbury from 1621, and England's leading delegate to the Synod of Dort. A Reformed theologian of the moderate school, he defended universal atonement language within a Calvinist frame.

The Two Dissertations (1650) press two theses: that Christ died sufficiently for all, and that God sincerely calls all who hear the gospel — against the novel claim that Christ died only for the elect in every sense. They are Davenant's mature statement of the hypothetical-universalist position that divided English Calvinists.

This volume covers the opening of the first dissertation through the close of chapter 3, with the theses on the extent of Christ's death.

Date1572–1641 AD (Bishop of Salisbury; 1650 Cambridge imprint)

The 1683 reprint was not used as base text. No modern English was copied.

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