Two Dissertations · §314 · John Davenant

Cap. III Sol. Rat. 9: in execution God foresaw cruelty, Stephen's constancy, the crown

But in executing that decree God foresaw the Jews' cruelty — which he permitted — that would give Stephen occasion for martyrdom. He foresaw Stephen, armed with such faith and constancy, about to die eagerly and willingly for Christ. And he foresaw himself, after that fight so nobly fought, about to give this bravest soldier an outstanding crown of glory.

Latin

Sed in exsecutione hujus decreti Deus praevidebat Judaeorum crudelitatem, ipso permitente, martyrii occasionem Stephano praebituram. Praevidebat simul Stephanum tanta fide et constantia armatum cupide et libenter pro Christo moriturum. Praevidebat denique se, post certamen hoc tam praeclare certatum, eximiam coronam gloriae huic fortissimo militi donaturum.

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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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