Two Dissertations · §757 · John Davenant

Cap. X Arg. X Major/Minor: non-elect = those to whom God never destined efficacious means; many such exist; therefore many are passed by before foresight of final unbelief

As for everlasting life: the one passed by, those not chosen, or reprobate before foresight of his unbelief is the one to ither destined nor prepared, and in time did not give, efficacious means to beget faith and perseverance and obtain everlasting life infallibly. But to many—as the event itself shows—God neither destined nor prepared nor gave that efficacious grace. Therefore many are passed by or those not chosen, or reprobate before foresight of their unbelief and final stubbornness in it. Of the Minor there can be no dispute; so let us open and confirm the Major.

Latin

Quod attinet ad vitam aeternam, ille antecedenter ad praevisam suam infidelitatem praeteritus, non-electus, sive reprobatus consideratur, cui Deus ab aeterno non destinavit, praeparavit, ac cui in tempore non donavit efficacia media ad fidem et perseverantiam ingenerandam, vitamque aeternam infallibiliter obtinendam: At multis (sicut eventus ipse declarat) Deus nec destinavit, nec praeparavit, nec donavit hanc gratiam efficacem. Ergo, multi sunt praeteriti sive non-electi antecedenter ad praevisam suam infidelitatem et contumaciam finalem in eadem. De Minore nulla potest esse quaestio: Majorem igitur explicemus et confirmemus.

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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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