Two Dissertations · §735 · John Davenant

Cap. X Arg. VI: therefore God’s will predominates — Cain/Judas/Hymenaeus vs Peter/Paul; reprobation’s non-gift of faith precedes foreseen unbelief

So we must come back to this: with God lies the principal determination of futures and non-futures—in good acts, by decreeing to apply his efficacious operation to produce them; in evils produced by the wicked, by decreeing not to hinder them; and in good acts those same would omit, by decreeing not to give the efficacious grace by which they would be done. Thus God’s will is the predominating, predetermining cause of the non-being of things that will not be: he can make them future if he wills, yet he does not will to do what he could. Not willing from eternity—though he could—that Cain repent, Judas believe, Hymenaeus persevere, firmly demonstrates antecedent non-election; willing to bring about that Peter repent, Paul believe and persevere, clearly proves antecedent election. And this reprobation decree—the determined act of the divine will not to give faith, repentance, perseverance to certain persons—must precede their unbelief and impenitence, foreseen and certainly future.

Latin

Eo igitur tandem redeundum est, ut fateamur penes Deum esse principalem rerum futurarum et non-futurarum determinationem; quatenus in bonis actibus decrevit ad eos producendos efficacem suam operationem adhibere; quatenus in malis, quae ab hominibus improbis producuntur, decrevit eos minime impedire; denique, quatenus in bonis actibus, qui ab iisdem omitterentur, decrevit non dare gratiam efficacem qua fierent. Et sic voluntas Dei est causa predominans et praedeterminans quoad non-esse rerum minime futurarum, quoniam cum possit facere ut essent futurae si vellet, non vult tamen hoc facere quod posset. Jam vero ab aeterno non velle facere cum posset, ut Cain poeniteat, ut Judas credat, ut Hymenaeus perseveret, est antecedaneae non-electionis firma demonstratio; sicut velle efficere ut Petrus poeniteat, ut Paulus credat et perseveret, est antecedaneae electionis clara probatio. Hoc autem reprobationis decretum, quod continet determinatum actum Divinae voluntatis de non danda fide, poenitentia, perseverantia certis quibusdam personis, earundem infidelitatem, impoenitentiam et praevisam et certo futuram praecedat est necesse.

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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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