Prefatio: return to theological labor; scope of the inquiry

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Preface delivered to the University. What the poet said of farmers — "The finished labor returns for farmers in a circle" (Georgics 2) — fits theologians still more truly, especially those whose chair itself demands labor and sweat, not leisure or quiet. So I will enter these rounds of theological work that my office requires, eager and willing; and I will ask God first to steer me through the whole course of this undertaking so that I do not swerve even a little from the fixed center of sacred truth. The work I take up is steep in itself and blocked with many difficulties. For what is higher, or farther from human sense, than that eternal decree of Divine predestination by which, before the world's foundations were laid, we confess that certain ones were chosen before others — indeed with others plainly passed by — to share eternal life in Christ? We have given our labor to explaining that business, yet under this rule: let no one of you expect that I will touch every question theologians treat in this matter (that would be immense labor, and superfluous too), or any of those curious little puzzles by which unhealthy little men torture themselves, vex others, and finally obscure and twist the Christian faith. Steady faith rejects captious and useless questions; and whoever truly hears as a believer shows himself devout toward Divine wisdom, not craving his own (Hilary, On the Trinity 1; so also Tertullian, On the Resurrection). In this inquiry, then, we will set ourselves only a few of the most necessary points, and we will not dig deeper than Scripture's light lets us go. If we keep to that rule, Augustine rightly judged that this doctrine of predestination should be taught not only among the learned but also to the people (On the Perseverance of the Saints 2.16), and that it can be said so as to be milk for little ones and solid food for the grown.

Latin

Prefatio habita ad Academicos. Quod de agricolis dixit Poeta, Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem, Georg. 2, id Theologis verius convenit; ac praesertim illis quibus ipsa Cathedra laboris & sudoris necessitatem, non otii aut quietis opportunitatem subministrat. Hos igitur circulos orbesque laboris Theologici, quos mihi pro officii mei ratione conficiendos video, alacri & lubenti animo ingrediar: Deumque inprimis precabor, ut me sic dirigat in toto hoc operis suscipiendi curriculo, ne vel tantillum deflectam ab immobili illo centro sacrae veritatis. Est autem opus quod aggredior in se arduum, multisque difficultatibus obstructum. Quid enim altius, aut ab humanis sensibus remotius, quam illud aeternum decretum praedestinationis Divinae, quo ante jacta mundi fundamenta quosdam prae aliis, imo aliis plane praeteritis, ad vitam aeternam in Christo participandam electos confitemur? Huic negotio explicando operam nostram addiximus; ea tamen lege, ne quis vestrum exspectet ut vel omnes quaestiones, quae in hac materia tractantur a Theologis, attingam (immensi hoc, addo etiam, & supervacui laboris esset), vel ullas omnino ex illis curiosis quaestiunculis, quibus malesani homunciones seipsos torquere, alios vexare, fidem denique Christianam obscurare solent & pervertere. Respuit enim captiosas & inutiles quaestiones fides constans; &, quisquis fidelis vere audit, Divinae sapientiae se religiosum ostendit, non libidinosum suae, Hilar. 1. De Trinit. ut graviter Tertullianus, De Resurr. Proponemus ergo nobis in hac disquisitione nostra paucula quaedam ex maxime necessariis tractanda; eaque non rimabimur altius quam quo Scriptura praelucente penetremus. Huic regulae si adhaerescamus, doctrinam hanc praedestinationis non modo inter eruditos proponendam, sed ipsi populo divulgandam, recte & sapienter judicavit Augustinus, De persev. sanctor. lib. 2. cap. 16. idque ita fieri posse docuit, ut id quod dicitur, & parvulis lac, & grandibus esca sit.

About this text

John Davenant — Dissertationes duae from the 1650 Cambridge Latin. Honest partial through De praedestinatione Cap. 1 subject tip; Cap. 1 mid-Thesis and remainder remain; De praedestinatione Cap. 1 Prolegomena IV distinguishing conditions tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Variae (Pelagian opening) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Scholastici / Vasquez Arg. 1 tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 2 praescientia tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 3 (1 Cor. 2:9) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 4 (2 Tim. 2:21) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 5 (1 Tim. 2:4) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 6 (James 2:5) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 7 (Apoc. 3:11) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 1 (common inefficacious will) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 2 (Vasquez physical vs moral media) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 3 (king/prize / victory foresight) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 4 (optimum modus / crown of justice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 5 (acceptor personarum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 6 (misericordia/congruitas) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 7 (equal disposition) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 8 (few saved / major part) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 9 (Stephen / glory from others' sins) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 10 (mere beneplacitum / Predestinati) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III reprobation ratio (foresight of sin) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 12 (efficacious election / free choice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 13 (hortation/prayer) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 14 (decree/execution conformity) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arminianorum open tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 1 Sol tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 7 (τρόπος; Rom. 9:22) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 8 (ordo exsecutionis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 9 (Christus fundamentum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 1 (amor ad salutem) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 2 (actualis vitae datio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 3 (qualis existens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 4 (justitiae satisfactio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 5 (natura vitae aeternae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 6 (Christus a decreto) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 7 (Evangelium invertitur) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 8 (arcana/revelata) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI (Orthodoxa sententia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 2 (gratia specialis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 3 (Scripturae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 4 (vocatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 5 (adjutorium) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 7 (inconveniens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 8 (perseverantia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 9 (unica ratio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 10 (abyssus) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 11 (efficacia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 12 (segregativum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 13 (pura gratia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII open (reprobatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII Junius trifariam tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VIII open (adversariorum) tip; Cap. VIII peccata-causa tip; Cap. VIII fewer-reprobates tip; Cap. VIII Argentina tip; Cap. VIII dives-misericordia tip; Cap. VIII Corvinus tip into Cap. IX; Cap. IX Ab Adae tip; Cap. IX Ab Adae Christus omnibus+Minor tip; Cap. IX Arg. 3 Sol tip; Cap. IX vocatione Evangelica tip; Cap. IX vocatione Sol cont. tip; Cap. IX Arg. 6 Sol cont. tip.

English follows locked 1650 Cambridge Latin of De morte Christi Cap. 1-6 opening (origin + Thesis 1 + Cap. 2 Rat. 1-ultima + Cap. 3 Satisfit through Obj. 17 + Cap. 4 Thesis 2 tip through Mem. 1 close + Cap. 4 Mem. 2 through Mem. 3 tip + Cap. 4 Mem. 3 possible-faith through Thesis 2 close + Cap. 5 Thesis 3 tip through Mem. 2 Scripture close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Rat. 1-4 + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Huberiana objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 elect-from-eternity objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Scripture elect objections tip through Cap. 5 thesis close + Cap. 6 opening tip through Arg. 1 close before Arg. 2), reconstructed from the Internet Archive PDF (pdftotext + tesseract) of the Roger Daniel folio with DjVu OCR check. The 1683 reprint was not used as copy-text. No modern English was copied.

Witnesses

Copy-text Locked Latin, De morte Christi Cap. 1-5 densify through Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip (Daniel 1650) (Latin)
Print Facsimile Internet Archive PDF of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)
Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.