Two Dissertations · §367 · John Davenant

Cap. IV Arg. 4: Eph. 1:4 — election in Christ is of believers only; Arminius Exam. Pred. Perk.

Argument 4. Another argument from Eph. 1:4 — According as he chose us in him, that is Christ. They argue: the election by which God chose us in Christ is only; the election made before the world's foundations was made in Christ; therefore it is of believers only. The Major's truth, they say, is that no one can be elected in Christ unless he is in Christ — and only believers are. Arminius urges the same in Exam. Pred. Perk. Pp. 313, 32: on the Apostle, Christ is not only a means through which salvation already gotten by election is obtained, but a meritorious cause in respect of which election is made and for whom that grace is prepared. God loves no one to eternal life except in Christ; so since no one is considered in Christ by God unless inserted by faith, election belongs to the faithful. So he.

Latin

Arg. 4. Aliud argumentum petitur ex Eph. i. 4. Sicut nos elegit in ipso, scil. Christo. Unde sic argumentantur; Electio qua nos elegit in Christo Deus, est tantum credentium: Electio quae facta est ante jacta mundi fundamenta facta est in Christo: Ergo illa credentium tantum est. Majoris veritas ex eo apparet, quod nemo in Christo eligi potest, nisi qui in Christo est, quales sunt soli credentes. Hoc idem argumentum urgitur ab Arminio in Exam. Pred. Perk. pag. 313, 32. ubi haec verba habet, Christus secundum Apostolum, non tantum est medium per quod salus electione jam ante parta obtinetur, sed tanquam causa meritoria, cujus respectu electio facta sit, et propter quem illa gratia sit praeparata. Deus enim neminem ad vitam aeternam amat nisi in Christo: Ex quo sequi videtur, quod cum nemo in Christo consideretur a Deo, nisi ille sit insertus per fidem, Fidelium propria sit electio. Haec ille.

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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.

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