Two Dissertations · §623 · John Davenant

Cap. IX Arg. 7 Sol: God elects some to be faithful and makes them so — he did not reprobate men that they might be unbelievers; Lombard Sent. 1 dist. 40–41

Though God elects some that they may be faithful, and by electing grace makes them faithful, he is not to be said to have reprobated men that they might be unbelievers, or by reprobating to have made them so. That is the common sentence of theologians, which the Master of the Sentences sets (lib. 1 dist. 40 lit. D): For not as he prepared the saints to receive righteousness did he prepare the wicked to lose it — he was never a preparer of wickedness. And still plainer (dist. 41 lit. E): it is asked whether, as he is said to have elected some that they might become good and faithful, we ought also grant he reprobated some that they might be evil and unbelieving, and hardens that they may sin — which must in no wise be granted. Reprobation is not cause of evil as predestination is cause of good; nor does hardening make a man evil as mercy makes him good.

Latin

Nam quamvis Deus eligat quosdam ut fideles essent, et per gratiam electionis eos fideles efficiat, tamen non dicendus est reprobasse homines ut infideles essent, aut reprobando eosdem infideles reddidisse. Communis enim sententia est Theologorum, quam Magister Sententiarum posuit lib. 1. dist. 40. lit. D. hisce verbis, Non enim sicut praeparavit sanctos ad justitiam percipiendam, sic praeparavit iniquos ad justitiam amittendam; quia pravitatis praeparator nunquam fuit. Et adhuc planius, dist. 41. lit. E, Quaeritur utrum sicut dicitur elegisse quosdam ut boni fierent et fideles, ita etiam concedi debeat reprobasse quosdam ut mali essent et infideles, et obdurare ut peccent; quod nullatenus concedi oportet. Non enim reprobatio ita est causa mali sicut praedestinatio est causa boni; neque obduratio ita facit hominem malum quemadmodum misericordia facit bonum.

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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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