Two Dissertations · §728 · John Davenant

Cap. X Arg. V Minor: John xvii. 6, 15, 24 and Matt. xiii. 11 — order: persons given to Christ first; then Spirit opens hearts to faith; then he sustains them; God does not elect from foresight of free-will faith

The same is plain in John xvii. 6, where Christ says he has manifested his Father's name to the men the Father gave him from the world. And verse 15: he asks specially for these, that they be kept from that evil one, and led to everlasting glory (verse 24). Matthew xiii. 11 serves the same point: To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; to them it is not given. In these places the order itself must be carefully watched. First, certain persons are given to Christ to be quickened and saved from God the Father's special good pleasure. Then Christ, by a special operation of his Spirit, opens their hearts so they conceive saving knowledge of God and faith. At last he so governs and sustains the illuminated and converted that no devil's temptations seduce them to ruin. God does not look to see who by free choice excited by grace will believe and persevere, and from that foresight elect them while passing others over. He elects some from his mere good pleasure, and gives them to Christ; Christ inspires faith in them that they may come to God, and implants perseverance that they may not withdraw from him.

Latin

Idem patet Joann. xvii. 6. Ubi Christus dicit se manifestasse nomen Patris sui hominibus, quos dedit illi de mundo. Et vers. 15. Rogat specialim pro hisce, ut serventur a malo illo, et ad gloriam aeternam perducantur vers. 24. Huc etiam faciunt illa verba Matth. xiii. 11. Vobis datum est nosse mysteria regni caelorum, illis non est datum. In quibus locis ipse ordo est diligenter observandus. Primo, certae quaedam personae dantur Christo vivificandae et salvandae ex speciali beneplacito Dei Patris. Tum Christus speciali operatione Spiritus sui aperit horum corda, ut salutiferam Dei cognitionem ac fidem concipiant. Tandem illuminatos et conversos ita gubernat et sustentat, ut nullis diaboli tentationibus ad interitum seducantur. Non ergo speculatur Deus quinam sunt libero suo arbitrio per gratiam excitato credituri et perseveraturi, et ex hac praevisione aliis praeteritis eos eligit, sed eligit quosdam ex mero suo beneplacito, donatque Christo, quibus Christus inspirat fidem ut accedant ad Deum, et indit perseverantiam ne recedant ab eo.

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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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