Two Dissertations · §395 · John Davenant

Cap. IV Arg. 9: decree whose foundation is Christ is election itself — salvandis credentibus

Arg. 9. God's decree on human salvation whose foundation is Christ is election itself to salvation. The decree to save believers is that salvation-decree founded on Christ. Therefore the decree to save the faithful is election itself. They call the Major plain — no salvation or blessing unto salvation except in Christ. The Minor equally clear: that one decree is the foundation of Christianity, of salvation, and of certainty of salvation — Christianity, because by it God constitutes Christ Savior and Head of those who will share salvation; salvation, because it is God's good-pleasure decree in Christ on which our whole salvation rests; certainty, because all our assurance rests on this prop: Believers will be saved; I believe; therefore I will be saved.

Latin

Arg. 9. Illud Dei de salute humana decretum cujus fundamentum est Christus, est ipsissima electio ad salutem: Decretum Dei de salvandis credentibus est illud decretum salutis cujus fundamentum est Christus: Ergo decretum de salvandis fidelibus est ipsissima electio ad salutem. Majorem dicunt esse manifestam; quia nulla est salus vel benedictio ad salutem nisi in Christo. Minorem aeque perspicuam asserunt; quandoquidem illud unicum decretum est fundamentum Christianismi, salutis, et certitudinis de salute: Christianismi; quia eo constituitur Christus a Deo Salvator et Caput eorum qui participes salutis futuri sunt: Salutis; quia hoc est decretum εὐδοκίας sive beneplaciti Dei in Christo, cui tota salus nostra innititur: Certitudinis de salute; quandoquidem certitudo nostra omnis huic fulcro innixa est; Credentes salvabuntur: Ego credo: Ergo Ego salvabor.

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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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