Cap. 1 subject: reasons — Christ medicus; media; justice — common close

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That can be shown by these reasons. First: predestination of humans to eternal life includes giving certain ones to Christ as Physician and Life-giver, and freeing them from the stock and head of old Adam, corrupter and killer of his posterity. So Scripture: "Those you gave me I have kept" (John 17:12); "Behold, I and the children God has given me" (Hebrews 2:13); "He chose us in Christ" (Ephesians 1:4); "Those who are well have no need of a physician" (Luke 5:31); "While we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6); "If many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many" (Romans 5:15). From these we gather: in the decree of predestination all the elect were given to Christ as Redeemer, Life-giver, and their future Physician. But a redeemer presupposes a captive, a life-giver a dead person, a physician a sick one — so those predestined in Christ the Redeemer are considered by God as such. As any act presupposes an object, such an act presupposes such an object: the acts of redemption, vivification, and healing, all included as future in our predestination or election in Christ, presuppose an object to be redeemed, made alive, healed — which is nothing other than one corrupted by sin. So Augustine (Serm. 9 on the Apostle's words): There was no cause for the Lord Christ's coming except to save sinners. Take away diseases and wounds, and medicine has no cause. If Christ was incarnate in time to save sinners, then from eternity too those given by predestination to the incarnate Christ to be saved were considered as sinners. Second: predestination means not only giving some to Christ as Redeemer and Liberator, but also the eternal preparation in God's mind of the means by which they are most certainly set free. All those means prepared for the elect can exercise their proper force only on a subject stained with sin — so predestination presupposes such a subject. Begin with efficacious calling to repentance and faith: what use is repentance except in a sinner? what force has faith except to justify a sinner? what does the Spirit of regeneration do but reshape the sinner to the image of Divine holiness lost in Adam? Since predestination prepares these and like means for the elect, God clearly considers them corrupted by sin and to be drawn out of that corruption by those efficacious means. As for reprobation, one argument seems enough: it falls only on a human considered as a sinner. Its aim is to display Divine glory by way of vindicating justice, as predestination's aim is to display that glory by way of sparing mercy. It does not serve God's glory to conceive him as destining to eternal punishment a creature not yet worthy of punishment. By absolute liberty God may decree not to communicate to an innocent creature some good he will give others; yet standing in his justice he cannot decree to inflict punishment on an innocent creature. Since reprobation includes the will to inflict punishment on the reprobate, on that side the person must be set before God as bound and stained by sin. Scripture always teaches wrath and vengeance provoked by sin: tribulation and anguish on every soul that does evil (Romans 2:9); the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); because of these (their sins) the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience (Colossians 3:6). The Fathers carefully refuse to attribute to God a will to punish or damn anyone except as arising from preceding sin. Tertullian (On the resurrection): God is good from his own, just from ours — meaning vindicative justice. Augustine (Against Julian 3.18): God can free without good merits, because he is good; he cannot damn anyone without evil merits, because he is just. Prosper (Reply to Vincent's objections 2): That many perish is the merit of those perishing; that many are saved is the gift of the one who saves. And in the Reply to the eleven: Nothing can be referred to God's predestination except what belongs either to due retribution of justice or to undue largess of grace. From all this I judge it clear enough: not only a rational nature but a sinful one underlies the Divine act of predestination or reprobation — as common conditions of the subject without which neither act can fall on humans in the way Scripture describes those acts.

Latin

Quod hisce rationibus ostendi potest. Primo, Praedestinatio hominum ad vitam aeternam continet in se donationem quorundam ipsi Christo, tanquam Medico aut Vivificatori; & exemptionem eorundem e stipite & capite veteris Adami, tanquam corruptoris & occisoris posterorum suorum. Huc spectant illa loca Scripturarum. Quos dedisti mihi, ego custodivi, Johan. xvii.12. Ecce ego & pueri quos dedisti mihi, Heb. ii.13. Elegit nos in Christo, Ephes. i.4. Non egent qui sani sunt medico, Luc. v.31. Christus cum adhuc infirmi essemus pro impiis mortuus est, Rom. v.6. Si unius delicto multi mortui sunt, multo magis gratia Dei, & donum per gratiam, quae est unius Jesu Christi, in multos redundavit, Rom. v.15. Ex hisce Scripturarum locis colligimus, In decreto praedestinationis omnes electos fuisse datos Christo ut Redemptori, ut Vivificatori, ut Medico eorundem futuro. At redemptor supponit captivum, vivificator mortuum, medicus aegrotum: ergo ut tales a Deo considerantur qui in Christo Redemptore praedestinantur. Nam ut quivis actus praesupponit objectum, sic talis actus tale objectum: actus igitur redemptionis, vivificationis, sanationis, qui omnes includuntur ut futuri in actu praedestinationis sive electionis nostrae in Christo, supponunt objectum redimendum, vivificandum, sanandum: quod nihil aliud est quam peccato corruptum. Hinc Augustinus, Serm. 9. De verb. Apost. Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino, nisi peccatores salvos facere. Tolle morbos, tolle vulnera, nulla causa est medicinae. Si Christus in tempore fuit incarnatus ut peccatores salvos faceret, tum etiam ab aeterno ut peccatores considerati sunt qui per praedestinationem Christo incarnando donabantur salvandi. Secundo, Praedestinatio non modo designat donationem quorundam Christo tanquam Redemptori & Liberatori, sed etiam praeparationem aeternam in mente Divina illorum mediorum per quae certissime liberentur. Ac omnia haec media, quae praeparantur electis, ejusmodi sunt quae propriam suam vim exercere nequeunt nisi circa subjectum peccato inquinatum: Tale igitur subjectum supponit praedestinatio. Nam ut ordinemur ab efficaci vocatione ad resipiscentiam & fidem: quis, quaeso, resipiscentiae usus nisi in homine peccatore? quae vis fidei nisi ad justificandum hominem peccatorem? quid facit spiritus regenerationis, nisi quod refingat peccatorem ad imaginem sanctitatis Divinae in Adamo amissam? Cum igitur praedestinatio haec aliaque ejusmodi media praeparet electis, manifestum est illos a Deo praedestinante considerari ut peccato corruptos, atque ex hac corruptione per media haec efficacia eruendos. Porro, quod ad reprobationem attinet, hoc unico argumento mihi videtur evinci, non cadere illam nisi in hominem consideratum ut peccatorem: Nimirum, quia scopus ejus est illustrare gloriam Divinam per modum vindicantis justitiae, sicuti scopus praedestinationis est illustrare gloriam Divinam per modum parcendi misericordiae. Non autem facit ad gloriam Dei illustrandam, si mente concipiamus illum destinasse poenae aeternae suam creaturam nondum poena dignam. Nam utcunque Deus, pro absoluta sua libertate, potest apud se decernere, quod creaturae, quantumvis innocenti, hoc aut illud bonum non sit communicaturus quod aliis communicabit, tamen non potest decernere, stante sua justitia, creaturae innocenti poenam infligendam. Quandoquidem ergo in reprobatione continetur voluntas inferendi poenam reprobato, necesse est ut ex hac parte Deo objiciatur ut peccato constrictus & contaminatus. Loquantur Scripturae, quae semper iram & vindictam Dei peccato provocatam docent: Tribulatio & angustia adversus omnem animam hominis perpetrantis malum, Rom. ii.9. Stipendium peccati mors, Rom. vi.23. Propter quae (id est, peccata sua) venit ira Dei super filios incredulitatis, Coloss. iii.6. Patres etiam universi solicite cavent, ne Deo tribuant voluntatem puniendi aut damnandi quemlibet, nisi ex occasione peccati praecedentis exortam. Tertullianus, De resurrect. Deus de suo bonus, de nostro justus. Intelligit justitiam vindicativam. Augustinus, potest Deus sine bonis meritis liberare, quia bonus est: non potest quenquam sine malis meritis damnare, quia justus est, Lib. 3. Advers. Jul. cap. 18. Prosper Ad Obj. Vincent. Respons. 2. Quod multi pereunt, pereuntium est meritum: quod multi salvantur, salvantis est donum. Et Respons. ad undecim, Ad praedestinationem Dei nihil aliud referri potest, nisi quod aut ad debitam justitiae retributionem, aut ad indebitam pertinet gratiae largitatem. Ex hisce omnibus quae disputata sunt, arbitror satis liquere, non modo rationalem naturam, sed peccatricem substare actui Divino sive praedestinationis sive reprobationis, tanquam communes subjecti conditiones, absque quibus neuter horum actuum posset in homines competere, eo modo quo praedestinatio & reprobatio in Scripturis describuntur.

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.