Two Dissertations · §310 · John Davenant

Cap. III Sol. Rat. 8: mercy over all works — special mercy; few freed more illustrious

Finally, the press that his mercy is over all his works misses the point. First, God can show mercy to every person (and he does) without that special, outstanding mercy of adopting them as heir of eternal life. Second, the greatness of divine mercy is not weighed by how many individuals receive it, but by the greatness of the benefits given and the unworthiness of those who receive them. That God from his enemies — deeply stained with sin and deserving of eternal death — through the death of his most beloved Son has willed to free even a few and destine them to the heavenly kingdom is a more illustrious specimen of mercy than the justice of leaving the whole wicked world to deserved ruin.

Latin

Ad extremum, quod urgetur, misericordiam ejus esse super omnia opera ejus, ad rem non facit. Nam primo, potest Deus misericordiam exhibere omni homini (quod revera facit) et tamen non hanc specialem et eximiam misericordiam, ut illum adoptet in haeredem vitae aeternae. Secundo, magnitudo misericordiae Divinae non pensanda est ex multitudine individuorum quibus impertitur, sed ex magnitudine beneficiorum quae hominibus impertiuntur, et indignitate illorum quibus impertiuntur. Nam quod Deus ex inimicis suis, peccati labe contaminatissimis, et aeterna morte dignissimis, per mortem dilectissimi sui filii, quantumvis paucos voluerit liberare, et regno caelesti destinare, illustrius est specimen misericordiae, quam justitiae illud, quod totum mundum improbum relinquat merito exitio.

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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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