Two Dissertations · §546 · John Davenant

Cap. VIII Arg.: if God reprobates from himself, fewer reprobates than predestined (Ps. 145:9; Gregory of Valencia)

Some argue thus: if God reprobated men not for their sins, but of his own accord and from himself, then there would be fewer reprobate than predestined. For God is far more inclined from himself to mercy and beneficence than to deserting, destroying, and damning — according to Psalm 145:9: The Lord is sweet to all, and his compassions are over all his works. Gregory of Valencia (from whom we have taken most of the earlier arguments) judges this the best reason, and says he borrowed it from John Fekius.

Latin

Sic argutantur quidam: Si Deus non propter peccata hominum, sed sua sponte et ex seipso, homines reprobaret, tum pauciores essent reprobati quam praedestinati. Nam Deus longe propensior est ex se ad miserendum et benefaciendum hominibus, quam ad deserendos, perdendos, et damnandos, juxta illud Psalmi, Psal. cxlv. 9. Suavis Dominus universis, et miserationes ejus super omnia opera ejus. Hanc rationem Gregorius de Valentia (ex quo pleraque superiora argumenta desumpsimus) suo judicio optimam esse pronunciat, eamque se a Joanne Fekio mutuatam fuisse profitetur.

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