Two Dissertations · §793 · John Davenant

Cap. X Ultimum Propos. 2: Augustine restricts vivifying grace to the predestined and purpose-called — De grat. Christi 12–13; De praedest. sanct. 9; faith a gift to some not all

What was the Orthodox view? From Augustine we have almost endless witnesses. Excellent is De gratia Christi contra Pelagium et Caelestium 12–13: This grace whereby strength is perfected in weakness leads the predestined and those called according to purpose to the highest perfection and glorification. God pours this grace in more deeply and inwardly with unspeakable sweetness—not only through those who plant and water outwardly, but through himself, who secretly gives the increase—so that he not only shows the truth but imparts charity. So he restricts this grace to the predestined and purpose-called, and shows it is efficacious not from the event alone but from the giver’s purpose and the nature of the grace given. That such grace is not given to all is clearer than noon. No less clear is On the Predestination of the Saints 8: Faith begun and perfected is God’s gift; and that this gift to some and not to others, let no one doubt who will not contradict the plainest Scripture.

Latin

Sed videamus quae fuerit hac de re Orthodoxorum sententia. Ex Augustino habemus infinita paene testimonia. Praeclarum est illud, De gratia Christi contra Pelag. et Caelestium, cap. 12. et 13. Haec gratia qua virtus in infirmitate perficitur, praedestinatos et secundum propositum vocatos ad summam perfectionem glorificationisque perducit. Hanc gratiam Deus altius et interius cum ineffabili suavitate infundit, non solum per eos qui plantant et rigant extrinsecus, sed etiam per seipsum, qui incrementum suum ministrat occultus, ita ut non ostendat tantummodo veritatem, verum etiam impertiat charitatem. Hisce verbis hanc gratiam ad praedestinatos et secundum propositum vocatos restringit, atque simul ostendit, non esse efficacem ex eventu solummodo, sed ex proposito dantis, et ex ipsa datae gratiae natura. Talem gratiam omnibus non dari, meridiana luce clarius est. Non minus illustre est illud alterum testimonium, De praedest. sanctor. cap. 8. Fides inchoata et perfecta donum Dei est: et hoc donum quibusdam dari, quibusdam non dari, omnino non dubitet qui non vult manifestissimis sacris literis repugnare.

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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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