Two Dissertations · §261 · John Davenant

Cap. II Sol. Arg. 6: fishermen analogy — elect makes apostles/faithful, not prior trade/poverty

a near parallel shows why. If we say God chose fishermen as his Apostles, "choose" there means make them Apostles — not make them fishermen. They were already fishermen by their own trade before they were elect Apostles. So when I say God chose the poor who are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, "choose" means make them believers and kingdom-heirs — not make them poor. Poverty is already assumed when faith and adoption to the heavenly kingdom are given.

Latin

quod exemplo non dissimili patebit. Si dicamus Deum elegisse piscatores Apostolos suos, in hac loquendi formula eligere est idem quod facere Apostolum; non autem significat facere piscatores, quia prius sua voluntate erant facti piscatores, quam electi Apostoli: Sic cum dico Deum elegisse pauperes divites in fide & heredes regni, eligere est idem quod facere fideles & regni heredes, sed non est idem quod facere pauperes; quia tum supponuntur pauperes cum donantur fide & adoptione ad regnum coeleste.

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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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