Two Dissertations · §554 · John Davenant

Cap. VIII Arg. 10 Resp.: sun not by natural necessity; special ray of mercy not offered to all alike

The comparison fails in many ways. First: though God is not badly called a spiritual Sun, he does not diffuse his rays by necessity of nature but by his own choosing. So, as much as in him lies, he does not diffuse them to all equally and uniformly. Second: even if we grant that God diffuses certain common rays of grace to each and all (we will not litigate that now), we will never concede that, as much as in him lies, he promiscuously offers this special excellent ray of special mercy to each and all.

Latin

In multis deficit haec comparatio. Primo, licet Deus haud incommode dicatur Sol spiritualis, tamen non diffundit radios suos naturali necessitate, sed dispensatione voluntaria. Ergo quantum in se non ad omnes aequaliter et uniformiter eos diffundit. Secundo, ut largiamur Deum quosdam communes gratiae radios ad omnes et singulos diffundere (quae de re nunc non litigabimus), tamen specialem hunc et eximium radium specialis misericordiae, quantum in se est, omnibus et singulis promiscue eum praebere, nunquam concedemus.

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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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