Two Dissertations · §242 · John Davenant

Cap. II Sol. Arg. 3: love shows who receive glory — not foresight-cause of the decree

Reply: "for those who love him" tells what sort of people finally receive the glory he prepared from eternity — it does not make foresight of that love the cause why glory was destined to them. The same love that freely destined them to glory also destined them to love God, and by that love they take the road that leads to glory. So our love of God is an effect of the divine love that elected and predestined us to salvation — foolishly taken as election's cause. So the Apostle: "We love God because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

Latin

Verba illa, iis qui diligunt eum, ostendunt nobis quales tandem illi omnes sint, quibus ab aeterno gloriam praeparavit: sed non indicant hanc dilectionem praevisam fuisse causam aut rationem cur gloria fuit illis destinata. Idem amor Dei qui eos destinavit gratuito ad gloriam, destinavit etiam eos ad hanc dilectionem Dei, qua impellente viam ineunt quae recte ducit ad gloriam. Est itaque nostra Dei dilectio effectum amoris Divini quo nos elegit & praedestinavit ad salutem, atque idcirco inepte supponitur causa nostrae electionis. Huc spectant illa Apostoli verba, Nos diligimus Deum quia ipse prior dilexit nos. 1 Joan. iv. 19.

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