Two Dissertations · §297 · John Davenant

Cap. III Sol. Rat. 5 close: unjust acceptio vs liberal gift; Matthew 20:15

Further: unjust respect of persons has no place where someone from mere liberality gives unequally of what is his own to equals — only where, in dispensing what is owed, he favors one over another for a personal circumstance outside the cause of merit (as when a prelate, conferring a benefice, prefers a rich man or kinsman to better and more learned men: that is respect of persons, because those circumstances do nothing for the merit or dignity of such a prize). God electing one to the kingdom of glory ahead of another does not act from a debt of justice but from a gift of munificence; he does not regard nobility, riches, talent, or any quality outside the matter that earns the name "respect of persons," but his own liberality and goodness — Matthew 20:15: Is it lawful for me to do what I will with my own? See Augustine, Ep. 106; De bono persever. 2.8; Contra 2 Epist. Pelag. 2.3.

Latin

Ad haec; injusta personarum acceptio locum non habet, ubi quis ex mera liberalitate de suo dat inaequaliter aequalibus, sed ubi, in dispensatione rerum debitarum, quis uni faveat prae altero, ex respectu ad aliquam personae circumstantiam quae est extra causam meriti: ut si Praelatus in collatione beneficii praeferat divitem aut consanguineum suum doctoribus et melioribus viris, est personarum acceptor, quia respicit circumstantias, quae nihil faciunt ad meritum vel dignitatem talis praemii. Jam vero Deus eligens ad regnum gloriae unum prae alio, non agit ex debito justitiae, sed ex dono munificentiae: neque respicit nobilitatem, divitias, ingenium, aut aliam qualitatem quamcunque extra rem, unde personarum nomen invenit; sed liberalitatem et bonitatem suam, juxta illud, Matth. xx. 15. Licet mihi quod volo facere de eo. Videte Augustinum, Epist. 106. et De bono persever. lib. 2. cap. 8. Et contr. 2. Epist. Pelag. cap. 3. lib. 2.

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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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