Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Obj. 3 Solut close: Regeneration and election govern actual efficacy

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This argument smuggles in a false assumption. Its major premise treats it as conceded that the efficacy or virtue of a cause is always to be rated greater or lesser according as it reaches more or fewer subjects. That is quite false. A cause's efficacy—or excellence—must be judged from the nature and excellence of its effects, not from how many subjects it touches. Restoring sight to one blind person shows greater virtue than gouging out the eyes of a thousand; healing one mutilated and sick person shows more than mutilating or poisoning a thousand who are healthy and whole; in a word, recalling one human being to life shows more than handing a thousand over to slaughter. By the same measure, Christ's power in saving even one human being by his death is greater and more efficacious than Adam's power in destroying the whole human race by his sin.

To the minor premise one may also reply that Adam's very act of sinning binds no one with the guilt of death, and makes no one liable to divine wrath, except insofar as that person is propagated from sinful Adam by natural generation. In exactly the same way, Christ's dying act snatches no one out of the state of death, and frees no one from divine wrath, except insofar as that person is derived from Christ by supernatural regeneration. On both sides, then, the condition is equal if the comparison is just. All who are generated from Adam by nature lost God's grace and life; all who are regenerated from Christ by grace recover God's grace and life. No one is subjected to death or divine wrath by Adam's fault unless he has drawn natural origin from Adam; no one is exempted from death or divine wrath by Christ's merit unless he has drawn heavenly birth from Christ.

Aquinas explains this prudently and learnedly in Against the Gentiles, book 4, chapter 55: the effect of the first parent's sin reaches each person through the origin of the flesh; so the effect of Christ's death reaches each through spiritual regeneration. Anyone who wants Christ's merit to work in himself must be regenerated by Christ's Spirit. If someone still presses the point—propagation from Adam, from which wrath and the guilt of death follow, is common to all; why then is regeneration through Christ, on which our reconciliation and salvation depend, not made common to all in the same way?—I have nothing else to answer than this: God himself did not will that what flows to human beings by way of grace should be common to all in the same way as what comes by way of nature. He willed his grace to distinguish one person from another, and therefore did not will to make it equally common to all. Augustine noted this in On the Predestination of the Saints, chapter 5; read him at leisure. Let no one murmur against God, then, because by the working of special grace he regenerates some and grafts them into Christ through faith; let no one ask why he frees that one rather than this. To stop every mouth it is enough that God himself answers (Matthew 20:15), "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with what is mine?" and so on; and that the Apostle says (Romans 9:18), "He has mercy on whom he wills." See also Augustine, On the Good of Perseverance, chapter 8. So although, as to sufficiency, Christ's death stands equally related to all, as to efficacy it depends on divine election: the effects of Christ's merits are mercifully applied to some, while others, hindered by their own unbelief, do not receive that application.

So far we have answered those who contend for a universal and likewise actual reconciliation of all human beings, each and every one. Now let us hear what can be urged by those who hold that the elect themselves, by the efficacy of Christ's death, were justified from eternity and reconciled to God.

Latin

In hoc argumento involvitur falsa suppositio. In majore enim propositione quasi pro concesso sumitur, Efficaciam sive virtutem causae alicujus majorem semper aut minorem aestimandam, prout ad plura aut pauciora subjecta sese extendat: quod falsissimum est. Aestimanda enim est causae efficacia, sive excellentia, ex natura ipsa & excellentia effectorum, potius quam ex multitudine. Exempli causa, majoris virtutis atque excellentiae argumentum est, si quis uni homini caeco oculos restituat, quam si mille hominibus oculos effodiat; si unicum mutilatum & morbidum sanet, quam si mille homines sanos & integros mutiliet, aut veneno inficiat; uno verbo, si unum hominem ad vitam revocet, quam si mille neci dederit. Pari ratione major & efficacior est vis Christi morte sua vel unum hominem servantis, quam Adami peccato suo totum humanum genus perdentis. Ad Minorem etiam responderi potest, ipsum actum Adami peccantis non constringere ullum hominem reatu mortis, aut obnoxium reddere irae Divinae, nisi exinde quod ab Adamo peccante per generationem naturalem propagetur: atque ad eundem plane modum actus Christi morientis non eripit ullum hominem e statu mortis, neque ab ira Divina liberat, nisi in quantum a Christo per regenerationem supernaturalem derivetur. Utrobique igitur par conditio, si instituatur justa comparatio. Omnes ab Adamo generati naturaliter gratiam Dei ac vitam perdiderunt: Omnes a Christo regenerati supernaturaliter gratiam Dei ac vitam recuperant. Nullus vitio Adami peccantis morti aut irae Divinae subjicitur, nisi ab eo traxerit originem naturalem: Nullus merito Christi morientis a morte aut ira Divina eximitur, nisi ab eo traxerit caelestem nativitatem. Prudenter & docte hoc ab Aquinate explicatur, Contra Gentil. lib. 4. cap. 55. ubi haec habet, Effectus peccati primi parentis pervenit ad unumquemque per carnis originem: sic effectus mortis Christi pertingit ad unumquemque per spiritualem regenerationem. Oportet per Christi Spiritum regenerari, qui cupit Christi meritum in se operari. Si quis adhuc urgeat, Ab Adamo propagari, unde ira consequitur & mortis reatus, est hominibus universis commune; cur per Christum regenerari, unde dependet reconciliatio & salus nostra, non eodem modo omnibus commune statuitur? Nihil aliud est quod respondeam quam, Deum ipsum noluisse, ea quae per modum gratiae ad homines fluunt, ita esse communia omnibus, atque sunt ea quae per modum naturae ad homines derivantur. Voluit gratiam suam discernere homines ab hominibus, ac proinde noluit eam ex aequo communem facere omnibus hominibus. Notavit hoc Augustinus, De Praedest. Sanctor. cap. 5. quem per otium inspicite. Nemo igitur contra Deum obmurmuret, quod specialis gratiae operatione quosdam regeneret, & per fidem in Christum inserat; nemo quaerat cur illum potius quam hunc liberet: quia ad obstuenda ora quorumcunque sufficit hic illud responsum ipsius Dei, Matth. xx. 15. Licet mihi de meo facere quod volo, &c. illud Apostoli, Rom. ix. 18. Misereatur cujus vult. Videte etiam Augustinum, De bono persev. c. 8. Quamvis igitur quantum ad sufficientiam mortis Christi aequaliter se habeat ad omnes, tamen quantum ad efficaciam ex Divina electione pendet, quod effectus meritorum Christi quibusdam misericorditer applicentur, dum propria sua infidelitate impediente aliis non applicentur. Hactenus responsum est illis qui pugnant pro universali eademque actuali omnium & singulorum hominum reconciliatione: Jam audiamus quid ab illis afferri possit, qui electos ipsos efficacia mortis Christi ab aeterno justificatos, & Deo reconciliatos, statuunt.

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.