Cap. 1 vocabulary: Praedestinatio — two acts; Augustine; Aquinas arrow

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In predestination, then, we can mark two acts: one of the Divine will, one of the intellect. The will's act is to will salvation for this particular person, to choose him before others, to show him mercy and not show mercy to others — an act Aquinas (as we noted earlier) treats as prior to predestination and calls election. The intellect's act is to foreknow, and to direct these particular persons by infallible means to the end destined for them. That second act is where predestination proper chiefly lives. Augustine's description fits here: Predestination is nothing other than God's foreknowledge and preparation of the benefits by which whoever are set free are set free with certainty. So by predestination we always mean that part of Divine providence which directs its elect by infallible means and leads them through to eternal blessedness. How necessary this is becomes clear once you see that the life of glory surpasses what human nature can reach: free election to that end is not enough unless Divine wisdom and power also supply fit, infallible means that guide us there. Aquinas's likeness is not strained. An arrow is first aimed at a mark by the archer's purpose; then by his power, through the bow, it is sent toward that same mark. So every person destined from eternity by God's purpose for the mark of eternal life is, in time, by that same power, through efficacious grace, directed to glory's goal and at last brought there. That whole account of transmitting the elect into eternal life — as it is understood to stand from all eternity in the Divine mind — is what we call predestination.

Latin

In praedestinatione ergo considerare possumus duos actus, unum voluntatis Divinae, alterum intellectus. Ad voluntatis actum pertinet, velle huic singulari personae salutem, eligere illum prae aliis, misereri ejus, & aliorum non misereri: quem tamen actum (ut antea observavimus) Aquinas putat esse praevium praedestinationi, & electionem appellat. Ad intellectus actum pertinet, praescire, & dirigere per media infallibilia hasce certas personas ad finem illis destinatum. Atque in hoc potissimum proprius & peculiaris praedestinationis actus versatur. Huc facit Augustiniana illa praedestinationis descriptio, Praedestinatio nihil aliud est quam praescientia & praeparatio beneficiorum Dei, quibus certissime liberantur quicunque liberantur. Nos igitur per praedestinationem semper intelligimus hanc providentiae Divinae partem quae electos suos per media infallibilia dirigit & perducit ad finem aeternae beatitudinis. Quanta sit necessitas hujus praedestinationis exinde patet, quod cum vita gloriae sit finis superans virtutem naturae humanae, non sufficit ad ejus consecutionem quod ex Dei gratuita bonitate eligamur solummodo ad hunc finem, nisi insuper per Divinam sapientiam & potentiam media apta & infallibilia nobis suppeditentur, quorum adminiculo dirigamur ad eundem. Similitudine non inepta hoc illustratur ab Aquinate. Sicut sagitta, quae primo ex proposito sagittarii destinatur ad certum scopum, mox virtute ejusdem, mediante arcu, ad eundem dirigitur & quasi transmittitur: sic quaelibet persona, quae ab aeterno ex proposito Dei destinatur ad scopum vitae aeternae, in tempore, ejusdem virtute, mediante gratia efficaci, ad hanc metam gloriae dirigitur, & tandem perducitur. Atque haec ratio transmittendi electos in vitam aeternam, quatenus ab omni aeternitate in mente Divina existere intelligitur, praedestinatio nominatur.

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.