Two Dissertations · §340 · John Davenant

Cap. III Sol. Rat. 14: adversaries conflate antecedents of glory with antecedents of God's intention

Here the adversaries slip: they think what precedes eternal life (to which men are elected) must also be conceived as preceding the elector's act or intention — God's decree by which they are elected. But that internal eternal act of the divine will by which he elects, and the glory or heavenly joy to which he elects, are greatly different. So we can rightly affirm of the object what we can only falsely affirm of God's act or intention destinating that object to a particular person. Example — true of the object: Paul's calling, justification, and pious life are seen by God as preceding his glorification. False if fitted to God's act: those same are seen by God as preceding the divine intention to glorify Paul.

Latin

Sed in hoc labuntur adversarii, quod arbitrantur ea quae sunt antecedentia ad vitam aeternam, ad quam homines eliguntur, concipi etiam necessario oportere ut antecedentia ad actum sive intentionem eligentis, id est, Dei decretum, a quo eliguntur. Nam actus ille internus et aeternus voluntatis Divinae, quo eligit, et gloria, sive caeleste gaudium, ad quod eligit, sunt valde diversa. Unde possumus aliquid recte affirmare de objecto, quod non possumus nisi falso affirmare de actu sive intentione Dei qua illud objectum singulari personae destinatur. Verbi causa; Vera est haec assertio de objecto: Vocatio Pauli, justificatio, et pia vita sive operatio videntur a Deo ut praecedanea ad ejus glorificationem: sed falsa est eadem si ad actum Dei accommodetur, hoc modo, Vocatio Pauli, et justificatio, et pia vita sive operatio videntur a Deo ut praecedanea ad intentionem Divinam de Paulo glorificando.

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