Two Dissertations · §302 · John Davenant

Cap. III Rat. 7: mere good pleasure would elect all equally disposed — Valentia

Rat. 7. If God predestined to glory from the mere good pleasure of his will and not from foresight of works, then he would predestine all alike, because all are equally disposed to receive that gift. For if he does not elect people as foreseen working well and persevering in good works, they must be elected as foreknown to be human beings or sinners — which belongs to all; so all would be elected. So argues Gregory of Valencia (In 1. q. 23).

Latin

Rat. 7. Si Deus praedestinaret ad gloriam ex mero beneplacito voluntatis suae, et non ex praevisione operum, tum omnes ex aequo praedestinaret, quia omnes aeque dispositi sunt ad illud donum recipiendum. Nam si Deus non eligat homines quatenus praevidentur ut bene operantes, et in bonis operibus perseverantes, consequens est ut eligantur quatenus praesciuntur esse homines, vel peccatores: at hoc omnibus convenit; omnes ergo eligerentur. Habetur hoc argumentum apud Gregorium de Valentia, In 1. qu. 23.

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