Two Dissertations · §665 · John Davenant

Cap. IX Arg. 12 Sol: who prays for one God precisely wills not to save? — secret of election/reprobation unknown; absolute reprobation is not 'damn Judas whether he believe or not'

But they still urge: Who can bring himself to pray for the salvation of one whom God precisely wills not to save, when the Apostle sharpens us to pray for all because God wills all to be saved? I answer first: God does not usually lay open to men this secret of election and reprobation; so our actions neither ought nor can be conformed to an unknown rule. Second: in the decree of absolute or precise reprobation, as they speak, God has not settled with himself, I will damn Judas whether he believe or not — but, I will not so have mercy on Judas that he be softened, believe, and in fact be converted and saved. Just so in absolute predestination God does not say, I will save Peter whether he believe or not — but, I will so have mercy on Peter that he believe, repent, and be saved. If by precise absolute predestination and reprobation they think we mean some cutting of means from the end, they fight their own chimera, not our view.

Latin

Sed adhuc urgent; Quis potest in animum inducere ut pro ejus salute oret, quem Deus praecise nolit servari, cum Apostolus hoc argumento nos acuat ad precandum pro omnibus, quia Deus vult omnes salvos fieri? Respondeo primo, Deus non solet hoc arcanum electionis et reprobationis hominibus patefacere; actiones igitur nostrae ad regulam incognitam nec debent, nec possunt conformari. Secundo, in decreto reprobationis absolutae sive praecisae, ut illi loquuntur, Deus non sic statuit apud se, Ego damnabo Judam, sive non credat sive credat, sed, Ego non ita miserebor Judae, ut emolliatur, ut credat, ut denique de facto convertatur et servetur — sicuti in decreto praedestinationis absolutae Deus non dicit, Ego salvabo Petrum, sive credat sive non, sed Ego ita miserebor Petri, ut credat, ut poeniteat, ut servetur. Si igitur per praecisam et absolutam praedestinationem et reprobationem putant nos intelligere nescio quam praecisionem mediorum a fine, chimaeram suam, non sententiam nostram oppugnant.

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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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