Two Dissertations · §785 · John Davenant

Cap. X Ultimum Propos. 1 Arminius parallel: Exam. Perkins — soft persuasion not coercion; same Pelagian calumny; Corvinus leaves the will at the fork

Hence they let election and reprobation proceed from God’s foresight of whether a man will admit knocking grace or not. Hear Arminius himself (Exam. Praedest. Perkins, p. 220): The Author of grace has set that by his grace he will not compel men to assent, but move them by gentle, sweet persuasion. That is what Pelagius granted: He persuades all that is good. Note also Arminius’s hint: if divine grace acts otherwise than by this soft persuasion that leaves the event to free will, it at once compels the will—the very calumny of Pelagius and the Semipelagians. Join Corvinus to Arminius: he acknowledges no grace but what leaves the will at a fork—so that if the will by its own act goes where grace allures, the man is converted; if not, he is left without excuse.

Latin

Atque hinc est quod ex praescientia Dei, qua ab aeterno cognoscit velitne homo gratiam pulsantem intromittere an secus, procedere statuant electionem et reprobationem. Audiamus ipsum Arminium, Exam. Praedest. Perkin. pag. 220. Gratiae Autor statuit per gratiam suam non cogere homines ad assentiendum, sed leni et suavi suasione movere. Hoc idem est quod concessit Pelagius: Suadet omne quod bonum est. Illud etiam observandum: Innuere Arminium, Si Divina gratia aliter agat quam per hanc lenem suasionem, qua eventum relinquit libero arbitrio, illam protinus cogere voluntatem: quae fuit ipsissima Pelagii et Semipelagianorum calumnia. Sed Arminio jungamus etiam Corvinum; qui aliam gratiam non agnoscit, praeter eam quae voluntatem in bivio quasi positam relinquit, ita ut si voluntas suo actu in id feratur ad quod allicit gratia, tum homo convertatur; sin secus, inexcusabilis relinquatur.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

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.

Printed text used

Also checked PDF of the 1650 (Latin · print facsimile)
Also checked DjVu machine-read text of the 1650 (Latin)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake