Two Dissertations · §259 · John Davenant

Cap. II Sol. Arg. 6: conjungit — elect to become rich in faith, not because foreseen rich

That is why he binds the two phrases: rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. He did not say the elect are heirs because they were foreseen as going to be rich in faith. He said they were elect so they would become rich in faith — and heirs of the kingdom.

Latin

Atque hinc est quod conjungit haec duo, divites in fide, & heredes regni. Non dixit electos heredes regni, quia praevisi erant futuri divites in fide, sed electi erant ut fierent divites in fide, atque heredes regni.

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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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