Two Dissertations · §144 · John Davenant

Cap. 7 Arg. 3 close: absolute will—Savior of the world vs Savior of his sheep (Eph 1:18)

And of this Church for which Christ gave himself up, the Apostle says in Ephesians 5:23: "Christ is head of the church, and Savior of his body." All of that marks an absolute will joined to its effect. So Christ is truly named Savior and Redeemer of the world insofar as he brought a remedy that is salutary for the whole world and applicable by faith; yet he is Savior and Redeemer of his sheep, of his Church, of his body—in one word, of the predestined children of God—insofar as by special intention he destined and procured that this same remedy be applied to them, giving them enlightened eyes of the heart (Ephesians 1:18) so that by faith they may possess Christ as efficaciously united and applied to them.

Latin

Et Ephes. v. 23. de hac Ecclesia pro qua Christus semetipsum tradidit ait Apostolus, Christus caput est ecclesiae, & Servator corporis sui. Haec omnia voluntatem absolutam & cum effectu conjunctam exprimunt. Christus igitur Servator & Redemtor mundi vere appellatur, quatenus remedium apportavit toti mundo salutare & per fidem applicabile: At Servator & Redemtor ovium suarum, Ecclesiae suae, corporis sui, uno verbo, praedestinatorum filiorum Dei, quatenus speciali intentione hoc remedium illis applicandum destinavit & procuravit, dando illis illuminatos oculos cordis, Ephes. i. 18, ut fide possideant Christum efficaciter sibi unitum & applicatum.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

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.

Printed text used

Also checked PDF of the 1650 (Latin · print facsimile)
Also checked DjVu machine-read text of the 1650 (Latin)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake