Two Dissertations · §421 · John Davenant

Cap. V Obj. 6: without foresight faith Christ is shut out of the election decree

Obj. 6. If election is not from foresight faith, then Christ is shut out of the election decree, and men are predestinated to be saved before Christ is predestinated to save them — for those who do not yet believe are still outside Christ. But Christ was predestinated Savior only of the faithful, joined to him by faith. Therefore predestination is from foresight faith, or Christ (which is impious) is shut out of the election decree.

Latin

Obj. 6. Si electio non sit ex fide praevisa, tum Christus excluditur a decreto electionis, et homines sunt prius praedestinati ut serventur, quam Christus ut eos servet; nam qui nondum credunt, sunt adhuc extra Christum: Christus autem praedestinatus est Salvator fidelium solummodo, et sibi per fidem conjunctorum: Ergo praedestinatio est ex fide praevisa, aut Christus (quod nefas est) a decreto electionis excludetur.

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