Two Dissertations · §267 · John Davenant

Cap. II Sol. Arg. 7: Augustine — if an elect perished God would be deceived and overcome

That is why Augustine says: if any elect left God by free will's changeableness, God would not only be deceived but beaten — he not only foresaw their glorification; he decreed to bring it about by an unbeatable chain of causes. On Rebuke and Grace 7: if any of them perishes, God is deceived — but none does, for God is not deceived; if any perishes by human fault, God is overcome — but none does, for nothing overcomes God. Why "overcome" if an elect fell by his own will's fault? Because God undertook to plant in every elect not a thin bare possibility, but a firm, sure, unconquered will to persevere.

Latin

Atque hinc est quod Augustinus infert, si aliquis electorum a Deo discederet mutabilitate liberi sui arbitrii, quod non modo falleretur Deus, sed vinceretur, quia scilicet non modo praevidit electos fore glorificandos, sed invicta causarum concatenatione hoc efficere decrevit. Horum (id est, electorum) si quisquam perit, fallitur Deus; sed nemo eorum perit, quia non fallitur Deus: horum si quisquam perit vitio humano, vincitur Deus; sed nemo eorum perit, quia nulla re vincitur Deus, De corrept. & grat. cap. 7. Cur Deus vinceretur si electus periret vitio propriae voluntatis? Quia scilicet in se Deus suscepit, ut omnibus electis non nudam & languidam possibilitatem, sed firmam, certam & invictam perseverandi voluntatem ingeneraret.

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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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