[Institutiones Theologicae Ex Optimis Autoribus Concinatae (ex officinâ Francisci Moyardi, 1658)]
Johannes Hoornbeek (4 November 1617, Haarlem – 23 August 1666, Leiden), was a Dutch Reformed theologian. He was a student and a follower of Gisbertus Voetius, writing with him on spiritual desertion. Like his teacher Voetieus, he was also later a professor of theology at the University of Leiden and University of Utrecht. The two universities were closely related in the 17th century, and both the teacher and his students participated in the intellectual “Utrecht Circle.” Another member of the circle was Hornbeek's student colleague Andreas Essenius. The circle was also known as De Voetiaanse Kring (The Voetian Circle), and it was one of the most influential intellectual circles of the Dutch second Reformation.
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PROFESSOR. Whatsoever is done by man or concerning man is concluded within two bounds, which the ancient theologians, not departing from the words of Scripture (Proverbs 2:20; 4:26, 27; Matthew 7:13; 2 Corinthians 7:7; Hebrews 4:14), signified by the names of the way and the homeland. To these corresponds the distinction of the Church into militant and triumphant. Those matters hitherto disputed pertained to the way and the state of the Church militant on earth; those hereafter to be examined pertain to the homeland and the goal, or to the state of the Church triumphant in heaven, and the full overthrow, subjection, and consignment of its enemies to the eternal torments of hell. Of this most final and most diverse state of the godly and the ungodly, the necessary antecedents are the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment. For it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). But there can be no judgment of the dead so long as they are dead, for they must appear in judgment. That this may be, the resurrection of the dead must precede.
SPANHEMIUS. The benefits of justification and sanctification are followed by the benefit of glorification, whereof the former holds the place of cause, the latter of the way; each being effects of election unto life, certainly following thereupon, according to Romans 8:29-30; 1 Corinthians 1:30. This benefit of glorification can be considered with respect to the sons of God: I. Antecedently, II. Formally. Antecedently, in the resurrection of the flesh and the judgment; formally, in the perfected blessedness of the sons of God.
JUNIUS. Whether the soul alone is man, so that the body is to it as a ship to a sailor or a horse to a rider, since these are said to be mutually affected, or whether the body alone bears some relation to the soul, as a cup or vessel to a potion, fitted to contain the potion, we deem it frivolous to inquire. But that man consists of soul and body, so that neither the soul alone nor the body alone, but both together constitute man, whose essential parts are soul and body, Holy Scripture teaches with sufficient clarity. The same was also held by the ancient Academics, as Varro attests, citing Antiochus of Ascalon, the teacher of Cicero and Lucullus, and also by the Peripatetics and philosophers of better repute, such as Aristotle (Augustine, City of God, Book 19; Aristotle, On the Soul, Book 1). Indeed, common sense and experience teach that every animal which receives life is likewise subject to death; but that men remain after death, awaiting judgment, Paul teaches (Hebrews 9:27). In that intermediate time, wherein any soul is preserved to be restored to its former body, whether briefly or at length, according as each departs this life sooner or later, its essence nonetheless persists incorruptibly, as is sufficiently demonstrated throughout the sacred writings. That the nations believed in the immortality of the soul, their monuments sufficiently declare (Aristotle, On the Soul, Book 3, Text 20; Pherecydes, Phocylides, Hermippus in Pemand., Chapter 10; Epicharmus in Clement; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, Book 1, and Consolation, also On the Nature of the Gods, Book 2, and On Laws, Book 1; Maccabees). Scripture clearly teaches that souls survive death, and from innumerable places, these two shall suffice for us: Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 10:28.
JUNIUS. We say that the condition of souls after death is not a state of idleness or slumber, or anything similar, for to imagine it as lifeless would be absurd, since, as Tertullian testifies (On the Flesh of Christ, Chapter 4), the sense of the soul is its very life, and its proper nature is to be awake, to move, to understand, and so forth. Rather, it is a certain condition enduring forever, either of sorrow, namely for the damned, whom the Lord has not deemed worthy in this life of the spirit of regeneration or the grace of perseverance; or of joy, for those who, according to God’s decree, are called in Christ, whereby they live as partakers of free and ineffable glory with God, and their bodies shall one day become like His most glorious body. For the soul’s condition can be considered in three ways: I. As it is united to the body in nature. II. As it is separated from the body after death. III. As it will be after the resurrection, restored to its body.
MACCOVIUS. The Socinians first deny that human souls survive death, as is evident from Socinus in his Response to the Defense of Francis Pucci, Chapter 1, near the end, where he addresses the words of Ecclesiastes 12:7, “The spirit returns to God who gave it.” Socinus says, “Nothing prevents speaking of something that does not subsist; for God has given us many things that do not subsist by themselves: strength, good health, intellect, skill, and the like. But among other things (which He bestows on all), this animal life, or rather the power of living, which is called both spirit and soul.” From this it is clear that they hold the soul to be an accident, for Socinus says it does not subsist by itself and is of the same kind as intellect, sagacity, or the faculty of sight. But according to Socinus, all these argue that the soul is an accident. Yet when the subject is destroyed, the accident is destroyed, for the essence of an accident is to inhere; therefore, when man dies, the soul does not survive. That this opinion is false is shown by many things; we shall touch on a few. Matthew 10:28: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” This passage cannot stand according to Socinus’s opinion; for if the soul is not a subsisting thing, that is, if it is an accident, those who kill the body destroy it at the same time, for upon the corruption of the subject, all accidents are corrupted, as has been said. Secondly, Ecclesiastes 12:7 demonstrates the same: “Before the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” If it returns to God at death, then it is subsisting. Socinus opposes this in his Response to the Defense of Francis Pucci, Chapter 1, near the end, saying that to affirm that the souls of the wicked, subsisting by themselves, return to God at death is impious, and that this impiety exceeds that which they attribute to his words, as those who are truly godly and know from God’s Word that only innocence and piety open the way to heaven will judge. This is ineptly said by Socinus. For this return is understood with respect to the wicked, not to the abodes of the blessed, but to God as Judge, who, according to their deeds in the body, will adjudge the spirit either to the abyss of hell or to the upper room of the godly. But indeed, Scripture testifies not only that the soul of the godly cannot be killed when the body is slain, and that it returns to God at death, but also that it is in heaven, as in Colossians 1:20, where it is read that God, through the blood of Christ’s cross, has reconciled all things to Himself through Christ, both those on earth and those in heaven. But He could not have reconciled any in heaven except the faithful departed, who died before Christ’s ascension. Therefore, the faithful were in heaven before Christ’s ascension. For the blessed angels had not fallen from God’s grace, nor were they at enmity with God, so as to need reconciliation. The angels who fell were not in heaven, nor can they be reconciled, for their destruction is certain, as said in the Epistle of Jude. Therefore, since the Apostle teaches that through Christ’s blood He reconciled to Himself the whole Church, both in heaven and on earth, it is necessary that there were some in heaven before Christ’s death who were reconciled to God through Christ’s blood, since Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Thus, the holy elect, believing in Him who was to come, were saved just as we are saved, who believe in Him now manifested. Let us proceed: The Socinians therefore deny that the soul separated from the body lives; thus Smalcius, in his Disputation on the Last Judgment against Franz, page 409, says that just as the body without the spirit is a corpse, so conversely the spirit without the body can perform no actions. Hence, they affirm that the spirit after the body’s death is endowed with no sense, as Socinus asserts. What can be concluded from this but that the Socinians deny the immortality of the soul? Yet how vain all this is evident from the fact that Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:3, testifies that in his rapture he heard ineffable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Yet he doubted whether he was out of the body or in the body (verses 2-3). For if the soul perceives nothing outside the body, no cause for doubt would have remained for Paul to judge himself rapt out of the body. Indeed, that souls separated from the body live is further evident from Matthew 22:32 and Luke 20:38. Moreover, this also shows that souls not only survive death but live, for Moses, though dead, was seen speaking with Christ (Matthew 17:2). They also deny that the souls of the faithful enjoy happiness before Christ’s coming. For thus Smalcius, in Against Franz, page 409, says: “Whether that spirit which returns to God and is separated from the body is endowed with any sense, or enjoys any pleasure before Christ’s coming and before the new conjunction of the spirit with the glorified body, we greatly doubt; indeed, we believe it to be otherwise.” But this opinion is refuted, both by other places in Scripture and by Revelation 14:13: “Blessed are they who die in the Lord.” Those who die in the Lord are those who, united and joined to Christ through faith, grow together as it were into one body. Just as not only those who believed after Christ’s ascension grew into one body, but also those who preceded Christ’s day. Thus, the Apostle, speaking of the blessed resurrection, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, says that Christ will descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel, and those who died in Christ will rise first. Here the Apostle calls all the faithful “dead in Christ”; therefore, all the faithful, elect, and holy of God are pronounced blessed, and blessed from that moment, immediately from the time of death. But how are they blessed? Certainly, as the Holy Spirit testifies, that they rest from their labors, and their works accompany them. “Works” is used metonymically for the reward and prizes of works, as it is said in 2 Corinthians 5:10: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad,” that is, the rewards of what he has done, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. See on this matter Galatians 6:7 and following. But perhaps “ἀκολουθεῖ μετ’ αὐτῶν” should not be translated “accompany” but “follow.” Sometimes, if they follow, they follow from afar, as Peter followed Christ from afar because of fear (Matthew 26:58). But by this change of phrase, it seems to signify more, namely, to follow in such a way as to walk together, that is, to accompany. Now, where is this reward, which accompanies, rendered? In heaven. Thus we read in Matthew 4:11-12. Therefore, the reward of all the elect accompanies them, that they may be blessed from that moment; but the reward of the faithful is in heaven. Therefore, the souls of all the faithful are received into heaven immediately at death. Thus, the Socinian opinion is refuted.
Response. I. The Socinians cannot use this argument, for they deny that eternal life was promised to the fathers in the Old Testament. II. It is said they did not receive the promise in this life. Therefore, it concerns a promise to be fulfilled in this life, and that promise can be none other than the manifestation of Christ and the full revelation of the mystery of our redemption. For I do not think anyone will deny that they obtained the remission of sins and the Holy Spirit according to the economy then in force. Then, in the same place, it is written that they might not be perfected without us. But this perfection lies in the manifestation of the promise, for they were not perfected because they had not attained the promise. We, therefore, are perfected before them, for we have attained the promise; but the promise was of a thing to be performed in this life. Therefore, the difference between our perfection and that of the fathers lies in what is manifested in this life. But it seems to pose some difficulty that the Apostle said, “that they might not be perfected without us.” But there is no difficulty if we consider God’s economy; it was His counsel that the Church should not be perfected immediately, but at a certain time. Thus, when the Apostle writes, “that they might not be perfected without us,” he meant nothing other than that they should not be perfected before our times were reached. And indeed, our redemption was not known even to the blessed angels (much less to the spirits of the fathers) before Christ was manifested, as it was revealed through Christ. Thus, this entire matter lies in knowledge, which is far clearer when the thing is manifested and revealed than when it is yet to be manifested and revealed, as are prophecies and all God’s predictions, which are far more obscure before their fulfillment than after.
PROFESSOR. The separated soul remains immortal, nor does it indulge in sleep, destitute of all blessedness or free from all punishment; but according to the varied condition of men, it is either received immediately after death into the abodes of the blessed, where in joy it awaits the restoration of its body, or it is tormented with infernal punishments until, through the resurrection, the body is restored to it for participation in punishment.
BUCANUS. The souls of the godly who die in the Lord are received by Christ into heaven (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; Hebrews 12:23). But the souls of the ungodly, departing from their bodies, are cast into the abyss; for just as Lazarus was carried by the ministry of angels into Abraham’s bosom, so the rich man was cast into torments (Luke 16:23). It suffices for us to know that immediately upon departure from the body, the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7), and after the dissolution or separation of the soul from the body, it is with Christ (Philippians 1:23), in paradise (Luke 23:43), in peace (Wisdom 3:3), in rest (Hebrews 4:11), in consolation (Luke 16:25), in security (Job 11:15), in the hand of God, so that no torment may touch it, and in the glorification of God’s name. Yet because they await the resurrection of their bodies and the fullest enjoyment of all the goods that God has promised to those who love Him, they can be said to be engaged not in perfect and consummate blessedness, but in inchoate blessedness (2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 6:9). Conversely, 2 Peter 2:9 says that the unjust are punished, either by deprivation of this life or by other punishments, yet are reserved for the day of judgment, for far harsher eternal punishments, to be tormented in both body and soul.