Two Dissertations · §305 · John Davenant

Cap. III Sol. Rat. 7: not elect as man/sinner; gratis dilecti; Aquinas dilectio/electio

As for Gregory's second support — if people are not elected to glory as foreseen working well, then they are elected as foreknown humans or as sinners, and since that belongs to all, election would belong to all — that too is frivolous. Philosophers rightly hold that what belongs to a thing as such belongs to every such; yet God's election does not fall on a person as human, nor on a sinner as sinner, because the event shows not all humans and not all sinners are elected. So we deny the fork Either God elects as foreseen cooperators with his grace, or as foreknown humans/sinners — and say he elects people as freely loved by him ahead of others. Why these freely loved ahead of others? A ridiculous question: the first cause of the divine will in pouring out its goods is the will itself; no further cause is to be hunted. Aquinas is not wrong (ST I q.23 a.4): predestination of some to eternal salvation presupposes that God wills their salvation. To that belong Love and Election: Love, inasmuch as he wills them this good of eternal salvation; Election, inasmuch as he wills them that good ahead of others. And that willing-by-loving is why they have the good from him ahead of others. So Love is presupposed to Election, and Election to predestination. So far Aquinas.

Latin

Quod autem attinet ad posteriorem partem confirmationis, ubi colligit Gregorius, Si homines non eligantur ad gloriam quatenus praevisi sunt bene operantes, tum electi sunt quatenus praesciuntur homines, vel quatenus peccatores; quod cum omnibus convenit, electio etiam omnibus conveniret; haec etiam argumentatio frivola est. Nam cum recte Philosophi statuunt, Quod convenit rei quatenus tali, convenit omni tali, certum est electionem Dei non cadere in hominem quatenus hominem, neque in peccatorem quatenus peccatorem, quia ex eventu liquet, non omnibus hominibus, neque omnibus peccatoribus contingere ut eligantur. Negamus ergo illam distinctionem, Aut Deus eligit homines quatenus praevidentur cooperaturi gratiae suae, aut quatenus praesciuntur ut homines vel peccatores, et dicimus Deum eligere homines quatenus sibi prae aliis fuerunt gratis dilecti. Siquis porro quaerat, Cur hi prae aliis gratis dilecti? ridicula quaestio est: nam prima causa voluntatis Divinae in diffusione suorum bonorum, est ipsa voluntas; cujus ulterior causa non est indaganda. Non male Aquinas; Part. 1. qu. 23. art. 4. Praedestinatio aliquorum in salutem aeternam praesupponit secundum rationem quod Deus velit eorum salutem. Ad quod pertinet Electio et Dilectio: Dilectio quidem, in quantum vult eis hoc bonum salutis aeternae; Electio autem, in quantum hoc bonum eis vult prae aliis. Et haec voluntas Dei qua vult bonum alicui diligendo, est causa quod illud bonum ab eo prae aliis habeatur. Et sic patet, quod Dilectio praesupponitur Electioni, et Electio praedestinationi. Hactenus ille.

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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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