Two Dissertations · §405 · John Davenant

Cap. V Obj. 1 Sol close: distinct decrees still; love unto salvation prepares faith for not-yet-believers

To dodge the inconvenience Arminius claims there are not one but distinct decrees — I will give life to the faithful, and I will give faith to this one. If distinct, why did he himself put both in his definition of predestination? Let them be distinct (we care little): still, since there is predestination or election of certain persons to faith, that election must precede every intuition of faith in the elect; it must arise from love destinating to these what is not decreed to others. And when God elects singular persons to faith, others passed by, he does not do it unaware that this faith leads infallibly to eternal life — rather he ordained and gifted them that gift unto that end. So love unto salvation puts itself forth toward not-yet-believers by predestinating and preparing the gift of faith whereby they believe and, believing, enter eternal life. Thus this first Arminian objection has no force.

Latin

Ut hoc incommodum vitaret Arminius, contendit non esse unum decretum quo statuit Deus, Volo fideli dare vitam, et, Volo huic dare fidem, sed distincta. Si sint distincta decreta, cur ipse Arminius in definitionem praedestinationis utrumque confecit? Porro, sint distincta (de quo nos minime laboramus) tamen cum sit praedestinatio sive electio certarum personarum ad fidem, necesse est ut haec electio praecedat omnem fidei intuitum in electis; necesse est ex amore oriatur hisce destinante quod aliis non decernitur. Denique, cum Deus ad fidem elegit singulares personas aliis praeteritis, manifestum est id eum non fecisse inscitum quod haec fides ad vitam aeternam infallibiliter obtinendam conducere; sed hoc potius donum Dei in hunc ipsum finem illis ordinasse et donasse. Exseruit igitur se amor ad salutem erga nondum credentes, praedestinando et praeparando illis donum fidei, quo mediante crederent, credentesque vitam aeternam adirent. Et sic videtis primam hanc objectionem Arminianam nullas vires habere.

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