_The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by Heinrich Schmid, D.D. Third edition, revised Translated from German and Latin by Charles A. Hay, D.D. and Henry E. Jacobs, D.D. Copyright 1875 and 1889, Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs Copyright 1899, Henry E. Jacobs and Charles E. Hay Reprinted 1961 by Augsburg Publishing House_ Pages 624-663 ----------------------------------------------------------------- PART V. OF THE LAST THINGS. ------------------- PARA. 62. Preliminary Statement. Man attains his final aim, not in this life, but in that which is to come. What lies between the two, and what must take place in order to secure for individual men, and for the entire Church, final completion, constitutes the subject of this article. [1] It bears the title--of the Last Things (de novissimis)--because it discusses what is the last, viz., that with which the present world comes to an end. [2] We treat of the separate features in the order in which they will occur, viz.: (1) of death; (2) of the resurrection of the dead; (3) of the final judgment; (4) of the end of the world; (5) of eternal damna- tion and eternal life. [3] PARA. 63. (1.) Of Death. "Death (in the strict sense) is the deprivation of natural life, occuring through the separation of soul and body." BR. (354). [4] It is a consequence of the fall of our first parents, and therefore all men are subjected to it (Rom. 5:12.) [5] In death the natural life of man ceases, it is true, as this was conditioned by the peculiar connection between body and soul [6] but the soul does not cease as does the body, but lives on with all the attributes and powers that belong to its essential nature. [7] For the immortality of the soul, reason has from time immemorial set up an array of proofs, but we become incontrovertibly certain of it through the positive declarations of the Holy Scriptures. [8] From them we learn also this much concerning the condition of the soul after death, that its lot, immediately thereafter, is a happy or unhappy one, just -------------------End of Page 624------------------------------- as its possessor in this life embraced salvation through Christ or not. [9] The doctrine of an intermediate condition of the soul, in which it is neither happy nor unhappy, as though asleep, is therefore erroneous; [10] as is also the Roman Cath- olic view, according to which not two, but five different places are to be assumed, where we are to suppose the souls of the departed to be, viz., hell, purgatory, the abode of infants, the abode of the fathers, and heaven. [11] [1] BR. (353): "Inasmuch as the highest or ultimate blessed- ness is not in this life, but in the life to come, and, in like manner, the lowest misery to which it is opposed occurs only after this life; we must now consider those things which, according to divine revelation, pertain to the end of this life, and to entrance into the life or state to come." QUEN. (IV, 534): "We have thus far considered the means of salvation, properly so-called, both those for bestowing (dotika), on the part of God, namely, the Word and Sacraments, and that for reception (leptikon) on our part, namely, faith. The means, called so in a less accurate sense, now follow, viz., the four Last Things: death, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the end of the world, which are not so properly means to obtain salvation, as the way through which we reach the goal or limit. For the passing over of the godly from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant occurs through death, for which reason Gregory of Nyssa compares it to a midwife bringing us to life truly so-called. Following death is the judgment, whose forerunner is the general resurrection of all men, and whose following attendant is the end of the world." [2] BR. (353): "They are otherwise called the Last Things (novissima), in Greek ta eschata; because some both are, and are called, last, with respect to men as individuals; and others, with respect to men collectively and to the whole world. To the former class belong death and the state of the soul after death. To the latter, the resurrection of the dead and the corresponding change of the living, the final judgment, and the conflagration of the world." [3] The later Dogmaticians treat, under this head, only of death, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the end of the world, because they had previously (immediately after the doctrine of Providence) discussed eternal life, as the formal end of theology, and had appended to that the topic of eternal condemnation, as the opposite of eternal life. We here follow the arrangement of the ----------------End of Page 625------------------------------------ earlier Dogmaticians. In regard to the division of the novissima, GRH. (XVII, 8): "The last things are those either of the macro- cosm or of the microcosm.* The last things of the microcosm are of a twofold class. For they are either a way leading to the last limit or the goal terminating the way. The former passes through a twofold valley, namely, of death, Ps. 23:4, and of Jehoshaphat or of judgment, Joel 3:12, which judgment the general resurrec- tion precedes. There is a goal, attained either by the soul of man when released from the body, or by the entire man after the resur- rection. And this goal is of two parts, directly opposite each other, viz., for the wicked, hell, for the godly, life eternal. From all these enumerations, taken together, it becomes clear that there are six Last Things pertaining in general to man and the world: (1) The temporal death of man, to which belongs the separation of the soul from the body, and the reduction of the body to ashes in the sepulchre. (2) The general resurrection of all men. (3) The ad- ministration of the final judgment. (4) The conflagration of the world. (5) The eternal damnation of the wicked. (6) The eter- nal glorification of the godly. Since it is customary to state only four Last Things, we can, therefore, proceed in this manner: The Last Things, taken generically, are twofold, with respect to a two- fold object: (a) of the macrocosm; (b) of the microcosm. The last thing of the macrocosm is the end of the world. The last things of the microcosm are four: (a) death; (b) resurrection; (c) judgment; (d) eternal state, viz., of the godly in heaven, and the damned in hell." [4] QUEN. (IV, 535): "Death, properly speaking, signifies the separation of the soul from the body, and its deprivation of animal life; to this ordinarily all are subject, the good as well as the wicked, and this is the signification in this article." Id. (ib.): "The names of death are sweet; it is called a gathering to their own people, Gen. 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:33; Numb. 20:24, 26; Deut. 32:50: a departure in peace, Luke 2:29; a turning away from the evil to come, Is. 57:1; resting on a couch; v. 2, a sleep, Dan. 12: 2; Matt. 9:24; 1 Thess. 4:13." GRH. (XXVII, 15): "The term death is taken, in Holy Scripture and by the Church writers, either literally or figuratively. Literally, for natural death, which is the separation of soul from body.... In this signification it is re- ceived in this article, when death is enumerated among the Last Things of man. Figuratively, it is used by way either of metaphor, or of metonymy. Metaphoricallyy, for temporal or eternal death. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *["Macrocosm, the universe, or the visible system of worlds; opposed to microcosm, or the little world, constituted by man."--WEBSTER.] -------------End of Page 656------------------------------------ Temporal death, metaphorically so termed, is likewise twofold, either bodily or spiritual. Bodily death, metaphoricaly so termed, em- braces calamities of every class endured by man in this life because of sin, which are the heralds and messengers of death, Ex. 10:17. ... Spiritual death, is twofold, that of believers and of unbelievers; the former is glorious and profitable, the latter detestable and de- structive. The spiritual death of believers is that by which, to their welfare, they are said to die (1) to sin, Rom. 6:22; ... (2) to the Law, Rom. 7:4; ... (3) to the cermonies of the Law, Rom. 7:4, 6; Gal. 2:19; (4) to the world, Gal. 6:14.... The spirit- ual death of unbelievers is that by which they are said to have died and to have been separated from the true life of the soul, which is in God, Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60.... The eternal death of the damned is the final and entire loss of divine fellowship, and the horrible torture of soul and body resulting therefrom, the never- ending misery dreaded by the damned in hell, which is called by John the second death, Rev. 2:11; 20:14, in referring to both the natural and the spiritual death peculiar to unbelievers." [5] GRH. (XVII, 30): "From the divine Word it is evident that there are three principal and primary causes, on account of which man is subject to death. The first is the malice of the devil leading him astray. The second is the guilt of man in sinning. The third is the wrath of God, as an avenger. These causes fol- low each other in a certain order." HFRFFR. (650): "If man had remained in the nobility of the integrity in which he was first created, when the period of his earthly life had been completed he would have been transferred to the eternal and heavenly happiness without death, whose pre- cursors are evils and calamities of every kind. But because he transgressed God's command, through sin death entered into the world, to which all men stained by sin remain subject. And al- though, through Christ, our Restorer, we have been regained for life eternal, yet this is the way of all flesh; and while we who be- lieve pass, it is true, through death to life, the wicked are cast, by bodily death, into death and damnation eternal." The Dogmaticians further distinguish the physical or proximate causes from the principal (in other words, remote or moral). HOLL. (1225): "Of the physical causes of death, some are natural, others preternatural, and others violent. The natural cause is the con- sumption of radical moisture and the extinction of native warmth. Preternatural causes are the severer diseases. Violent causes are outward objects bringing such violence to the body that the bond of natural union, by which body and soul are joined, is broken." -----------------End Of Page 627------------------------------------ [6] HOLL. (1225): "The death of the body formally consists in the deprivation of natural life." GRH. (XVII, 51): "Scripture describes the form of death: Ecc. 12:7; 2 Cor. 5:1, 4, 8; Phil. 1: 23; 2 Tim. 4:6; 2 Pet. 1:14. For, since man consists of soul and body, united to each other by an essential bond, the death of man is nothing else than the analusis, or release, of the soul from the body. Since, as long as man lives, the soul sojourns in the body, just as in an earthly dwelling-place, man's death is nothing else than the katalusis (dissolution, 2 Cor. 5:1) and apothesis (put- ting off, 2 Pet. 1:14) of this earthly dwelling-place and tabernacle, and the epanachoresis (return) of the soul to God from its long pil- grimage. Since the body is, as it were, the covering and garment of the soul, man's death is nothing else than the ekdusis, or the tak- ing off, of this garment. Since life is an act of the soul in the body, to zen esti sunthesis kai sundesmos psuches somati," "life is the composition and bond of the soul with the body." Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book VIII). [7] BR. (363): "When the dissolution of the soul and body has occurred, and death therefore happens, the soul nevertheless survives and performs its operations separately, outside of the body; for example, in those things which pertain formally to the intellect and will, as essential powers of the human or rational soul, which themselves also survive and are not inactive. The intellect retains the intelligible forms which it had in the body, and there- fore can also call forth acts of knowledge; to which, then, it is correctly believed that some acts of the will, with respect to objects presented by the intellect, correspond. And to this is generally referred the statement of Rev. 6:10, that the knowledge of a former condition and a certain longing are ascribed to the souls of the martyrs. But we do not say that the souls of the deceased know distinctly and definitely the actions and affairs of each of the living, which have occurred since the departure of the former from the body, and especially the various prayers and rites of worship directed to them." GRH. (XVII, 149): "In life, they (body and soul) are con- nected to each other by the closest bond, whence the affections and sufferings of the body flow over into the soul, and in turn the affections and sufferings of the soul flow over into the body; the soul does nothing whatever outside of the body, nor does the body do anything independently of the soul. But in death the soul is separated from the body, and returns to God, to whose judgment it is committed, from which it is either borne by holy angels into heaven, or is delivered to evil spirits to be cast into hell; the body ------------------End of Page 628------------------------------------ is turned back again into the dust of the earth, from which its first and earliest origin proceeded, and by the putrefaction and incineration is reduced to its primitive elements. After this dissolution and separation, the affections and sufferings of the soul no longer flow over to the body; and, in turn, the affections and sufferings of the body no longer flow over into the soul. The soul no longer acts through the body as an instrument, but lives and subsists apart from it; neither is it dissolved nor does it fall apart as the body that is resolved into its own elements, but, subsisting outside of the body, it spends an immortal life, and, removed from all inter- course with the body, is preserved somewhere (pou) until, on the appointed day of the general resurrection, the body raised up by divine power will be joined again to the same, and man will after- wards experience the righteous sentence of the judge." [8] QUEN. (IV, 537): "That human souls are immortal, and that they do not perish with the bodies, can be clearly and firmly established alone from the Holy Scriptures." GRH. (XVII, 150) produces the scriptural proof: "(1) From the distinct assertion of our Saviour, Matt. 10:28. (2) From the opposition of soul and body. That in which soul and body are opposed to each other antithetically cannot in like manner be predicated of both. But in mortality, soul and body are opposed to each other in such a manner that mortality is affirmed of the body, but denied concern- ing the soul. Therefore mortality cannot be predicated of both in like manner, cf. Ecc. 12:7. (3) From the original creation of the soul. The souls of brutes were produced from the same material as their bodies, whence, when their bodies perish, the souls them- selves likewise perish, Gen. 1:20. But into man He breathed a soul, Gen. 2:7; whence we thus infir: `A soul whose origin is different from that of the souls of brutes, does not have the same end with the souls of brutes. But now the primeval origin of the human soul is different from that of the souls of brutes, because it was made not of an elementary material, as the souls of brutes, but divinely breathed into the body formed from the earth. Therefore, to the body there is ascribed plasis (the being moulded) from the dust of the earth, but to the soul the immediate empneusis (inspiration) of God. (4) From the name itself.... The human soul is called spirit, Ecc. 3:21; Acts 7:59; Heb. 12:23. (5) From the continuation of life after man's death, Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37; Hab. 1:12. (6) From the description of death, Gen. 25:8; 35:29; 49:33; Dan. 12:13; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12, etc." But concerning the immortality of the soul, GRH. still adds --------------End of Page 629----------------------------------- (XVII, 150): "Add the fact that the soul is not immortal in the same manner as God, viz., essentially (ousiodos) and independently (for in that sense God alone is said to have immortality, 1 Tim. 6:16), but through the grace of creation, because it was so fash- ioned by God as not to have in itself an inner principle of cor- ruption, but to be incorporeal, invisible, and immortal. Yet God could, if He wished, reduce the soul to nothing, and altogether extinguish it; but because He wished it to be immortal, it con- tinues through and because of the will of the immortal Creator. That is immortal which either can be destroyed by absolutely no power, not even by divine power (and in this manner God alone is immortal), or which has been so framed by God as not to perish, although by God's absolute power it could be destroyed; in the latter manner the souls of men and the angels are immortal." Concerning the force of the evidence in "the arguments sought from the light of nature," GRH. (XVII, 159): "We make a dis- tinction between antecedent and subsequent modes of reasoning. Thomas: `A mode of reasoning is employed with regard to any subject in a twofold manner: in the first place, to give sufficient proof to a statement; in the second place, when the statement has already been established, to show that the effects that follow cor- respond.' In this latter manner, the immortality of the soul can be proved from the light of nature, after it has been shown from Holy Scripture that the same consequence has been fully estab- lished. Again, we make a distinction between conclusive and probable modes of reasoning. The arguments produced from the light of nature can induce a persuasion of probability concerning the immortality of the soul, but can in no way present a firm, im- movable, and irrefragable foundation of faith." GRH. (XVII, 147) produces as such proofs: "(1) A rational soul is a substance subsisting of itself and spiritual, as is manifest from its operation, because there are in us some spiritual acts of knowledge, i.e., neither consisting of matter, nor depending upon matter or a sub- ject, but inorganic in the cognizing of immaterial, universal, and eternal things; therefore it is also immortal. (2) The human soul is in essence simple, invisible, immaterial, most like unto God, and independent of matter. (3) It is an essence primarily self- moving. (4) By a natural longing it desires eternal things, and it is not probable that this desire would be born within it for no purpose. (5) It contemplates eternal essences, while, never- theless, nothing can rise to the contemplation of that from which it entirely differs in essence. (6) In abstraction from objects of sense it is more and more perfected, and therefore, when it shall -------------------End of Page 630----------------------------------- be separated from the body, will become most perfect. (7) It has not originated from elements, because it has knowledge naturally implanted, which no elementary material can acquire. (8) It has the distinction between the Honorable and the Base implanted, from which it derives this rule of justice, viz., that it ought to be well with the good, and ill with the wicked. But now, in this life, more frequently neither the good receive their rewards, nor the wicked their merited punishments; therefore another life re- mains to which the immortal soul aspires: otherwise this dis- tinction would have been implanted in the mind in vain. (9) To men self-conscious of evil because of crimes, it occasions fear; therefore it is naturally anxious concerning the condition that will follow death, and is certainly self-conscious of its immortality: for if the soul would not survive after death, men self-conscious of evil would have no reason to dread future punishments. (10) The state of ecstasy, i.e., when, without any employment of the senses, it naturally undergoes an intense application of its rational portion to sublime affairs, and therefore can also naturally subsist of itself, because anything which is not of itself dependent upon another in working, is not so in existing. (11) Finally, they urge the agreement of the sounder philosophers, who prove that the immortality of the soul belongs to the number of those things which are prolepseis (presuppositions), or certain preconceived no- tions admitted by all." [A modern classification of the various arguments that have been used, is as follows: I. THEORETICAL (speculative) ARGUMENTS: 1. Metaphyscial Proof. Since the soul is immaterial and simple, it is also indissoluble (Plato, Cicero, Mos, Mendelssohn, the Her- bartians and the new school of Leibnitz). 2. Teleological Proof. The rich capacities of the human spirit cannot be satisfactorily developed in this earthly life; its destiny, therefore, must extend to a future life (Cicero, Leibnitz, Riemarius, Lotze). 3. Proof from Cosmical Plurality. As the heavenly bodies stand in communion with one another, so also their inhabitants must have a moral communion. But this can be realized only in a future world. (Wilkins, Fontenelle, Huyghens, Derham, Kant, Bonnet, Herder, Jean Paul, J. P. Lange, Chalmers, etc.) 4. Analogical Proof. From the succession of germ, plant anf fruit in vegetable life (Cf. John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36 sqq.); from the metapmorphosis of the Phoenix (Clement of Rome, Theophilus, Irenaeus, Tertullian), of the butterfly (Basil the Great, Swammer- ----------------End of Page 631------------------------------------- dam, Bossuet, Paley); or from the law of the conservation of force, (Teichmueller, Lilienfeld, Schlesinger, etc.). 5. Moral Proof: a. Arg. Ethonomicum. Man strives after virtue, as well as after happiness. But this life afffords no satisfaction (Kant, Sintenis, Schaarschmidt). b. Arg. Juridicum. It is only the promise of a life beyond death that can inspire one with love for his country (J. G. Fichte). II. HISTORICAL ARGUMENTS: 1. Empirical attempts at proof. The exhibitions and arts of the older necromantic superstition; the visions of Swedenborg; the experiments of Spiritism. 2. Traditional Proofs: a. Arg. e consensu gentium (already in Homer, Virgil, Cicero). b. The proof from New Testament history, from the testi- mony of Jesus to His resurrection (especially John 14:2 sqq.; 11:25), and the miracles of Himself and His apostles in raising the dead. Proper demonstrative force pertains to these arguments only so far as they are sustained by religious faith; and even where this presumption occurs, the various speculative attempts at proof have only uncertain value. Complete firmness of conviction con- cerning personal progress in a blessed hereafter is afforded only by surrender to the Redeemer in loving obedience of faith, viz., the last of the above mentioned arguments appropriated in the life. (Zoeckler's Handbook, Dogmatik).] [9] HUTT. (Loc. Th., 297): "The souls of the godly, or of be- lievers in Christ, are in the hand of God, awaiting there the glori- ous resurrection of the body, and the full enjoyment of eternal blessedness, Wis. 3:1; Luke 16:22, 23." BR. (364) "Yea, we believe that the souls of the godly attain essential blessedness immediately after they have been separated from the body (Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43; John 5:24; Rev. 7:4, 15); but that the souls of the wicked undergo their damnation (1 Pet. 3:19)." GRH. (XVII, 178): "Of receptacles and habitations. Scripture, by a general appellation, speaks of a place, John 14:2; Luke 16: 28; Acts 1:25. Not that it is a corporeal and physical place, properly so called, but because it is "a where" (pou), into which souls separated from the body are brought together. Scripture enumerates only two such receptacles, habitations, guard-houses, and promptuaries of souls, one of which, prepared for the souls of the godly, is called by the most ordinary appellation heaven, and the other, intended for the souls of the wicked, is called hell." ----------------End of Page 632--------------------------------------- [10] QUEN. (IV, 538): "The souls of men, separated from the body, do not sleep, neither are they insensible." [The chief arguments of the Psychopannichists are stated and refuted by GRH., XVIII, 26 sqq.: "1. `The dead are said to sleep, Matt. 9:24; John 11:11; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 15:18; 1 Thess. 4:13.' Andswer: As sleep hold only the members and outward sense, while the soul exer- cises its inner operations, as is inferred from dreams; so in death, the body alone perishes, while the soul of the godly is transferred to Abraham's bosom, Luke 16:22, and enjoys consolation, v. 25 (XVII, 20). 2. `In the Psalms, it is often said: The dead shall not praise Thee, etc., Ps. 6:5; 115:17.' Answer: These passages refer to the proclamation and propagation of true doctrine, and the cele- bration of divine blessings through which, in this life, others may be invited to true conversion and the glorification of the divine name. 3. `The Lord of the vineyard gives his laborers hire at evening time, Matt. 20:8. But by evening, is meant the time of resurrec- tion and judgment.' Answer: Parables do not apply in every part, but only the principal scope must be regarded; by evening here is indicated not only the time of universal judgment, but that of the particular judgment which occurs at death. 4. `Heb. 4:3: We which have believed, do enter into rest.' Answer: The rest of souls must be understood with respect to the terminus a quo, i.e., they rest from labors and troubles, to which the godly are subjected in this life, as is explained in Rev. 14:13, but not with respect to the terminus ad quem, as though the souls of the godly rest after death in the stupor of sleep; for, in this respect, it is said of the angels and the blessed in Heaven, that they rest not day nor night, but incessantly praise God, Rev. 4:8. God is said, Gen. 2:2, to rest, and yet: `He that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep,' Ps. 121:4. The souls of the martyrs are commanded to rest, Rev. 6:11, and yet they cry with a loud voice, v.10. Their rest, therefore, is a patient expectation of final liberation and union with the bodies which are to be raised, Is. 26: 20; Dan. 12:12.'" On the knowledge of the dead: "It is a pious and good thought to hold that they have a general knowledge of what is occuring to the Church Militant here on earth, and therefore they beseech Christ, with whom they are present in heavenly glory, for some good for the Church, especially since they are members of the same mystical body, of which Christ is the Head. Meanwhile it must ----------------End of Page 633-------------------------------------- not be inferred from this, that they have in full view the individual circumstances and calamities of the godly."] QUEN. (IV, 538): "Neither, after death, do the souls of the godly live in a cool and tranquil place, and possess only a foretaste of heavenly happiness, but they enjoy full and essential happiness. Neither, after death, do the souls of the wicked feel only the begin- ning of tortures, but perfect and complete damnation." [Nevertheless this must be qualified by his statement (I, 564): "The beginning of infernal torments, with respect to the soul sep- arated from the body, is the first moment of its departure from the body. The torture of the entire composite being will follow, when sentence of final judgment is given." (560): "The beginning of the plenary perception of ineffable blessings and joys, is, with re- spect to the soul, the end of this life. But the fullest perception will occur after the reunion of body and soul." GRH. (XVIII, 21): "The pains of hell, which the condemned experience immediately after death, are graphically described, in Luke 16:23 sq.: 1 They are in hell, en to hade. This expresses every kind of torture, since in hell there is the presence of all evil, and the absence of all good. 2. They are en basanois, i.e., they feel such pains as criminals experience, who are subject to most ex- quisite totures. 3. odunontai, they feel the anguish belonging to those who endure the pains of child-birth, under which figure Scripture expressses the most severe tortures. For they are burned en te phlogi, not lightly and superficially, but in the midst of flames penetrating ad medullas. 5. They can obtain not even a drop of water to cool their body, much less the least consolation for their soul. 6. They see the elect in glory, and hence, from envy, are seized with horror and indignation. 7. Their sorrow is increased by the remembrance of former good. 8. They know that their punishment will be eternal, that there is a gulf fixed between them and the godly, viz., God's immutable decision that none of the godly can relapse to the state of the damned, and, on the other hand, that none of the damned can be drawn to the state of the blessed. 9. They will be tortured by the pains of their kindred; for when the rich man wants his brethren to be warned, he does this, not from love and desire for their salvation, but from fear and terror, lest his pains may be increased by the sight of those pre- pared for them. 10. They resist and contend against God. `Nay, father Abraham,' says the rich man. Here is the `gnashing of teeth,' Matt. 13:50, whereby, from impatience, indignation and constant despair, they contend against God. Although the souls of the godless do not immediately after their egress from the body ---------------End of Page 634-------------------------------------- receive these punishments in full measure, yet they will be sub- jected to them in every part, when, on the day of judgment, they shall be reunited to their bodies; nevertheless, it is clearly seen, from the text, that the beginning of these tortures is experienced immediately after death."] (Ib., 540) Metempsychosis is entirely rejected. GRH. (XVII, 171): "Before all things, the absurd and senseless opinion must be removed, which states that `souls migrate from bodies worn out by disease and death, and insinuate themselves into those that are new and recently born; and that the same souls are always being re-born, sometimes in a man, sometimes in a domestic animal, sometimes in a wild beast, sometimes in a bird, and in this manner are immortal, because they are freqently exchanging habitations of various and dissimilar bodies, in which words Lactantius de- scribes the transmigration and transaninimation of souls, called by the Greeks metempsuchoris kai metensomatosis." [11] GRH. (XVII, 183): "The Papists fabricate five receptacles of souls: (1) Hell, to which they consign the souls of extremely wicked men, who depart from this life in unbelief, hardness of heart, and the more serious offences against conscience, or mortal sins. (2) Purgatory, next to hell, to which they consign the souls of those who have not yet been fully purged of venial sins, and have not given full satisfaction for the temporal punishments of sins, but who, nevertheless, have departed from this life in the faith of Christ; these, they state, must labor in purgatory until, with their stains purged away, they soar pure and cleansed into heaven. (3) The limbus puerorum, to which they consign the souls of unbaptized infants; who, because of original sin, in which they have departed without the remedy of Baptism, suffer in this sub- terranean prison the punishment of loss, although not with respect of sense, having been excluded from the joys of heaven, and yet not subjected to the pains of hell. It is called a limbus, because it is, as it were, the border and extremity of hell, just as the edge (limbus) of a garment. (4) The limbus patrum, into which they introduce the souls of the patriarchs, and of all the saints of the Old Testament who died before the descent of Christ ad inferos, which, they assert, bore, in this apartment, the temporal punish- ment of loss, until, by the payment of the debt of original sin through the death of Christ, they were delivered from this and introduced to the fruition of heavenly blessedness, when Christ de- scended ad inferos. (5) Heaven, into which they admit the souls of the saints together purged of all sins. The order of these stories, according to the Papists, is such as this: Hell is placed in -------------End of Page 635-------------------------------------- the very centre of the earth; next this, purgatory, which is, as it were, a second story; bordering upon this is the limbus infantum, to which the limbus patrum immediately succeeds, which at the present time is altogether empty, because of Christ's translation of the fathers to heaven." The doctrine of purgatory was rejected especially by the Lutheran Church as conflicting with that of reconciliation by faith alone. HFRRFR. (667): "Everything that is ascribed to the satisfactions either of purgatory or of the inter- cession of the saints, is detracted from the merit of Christ, which alone cleanses us from sins." [GRH., XVII, 189 sqq., rejects the limbus puerorum: "1. It is based upon the false hypothesis of the absolute necessity of Bap- tism. 2. Infants departing without Baptism, either believe or do not believe. If the former, they are in the grace of God, and ob- tain the remission of their sins; if the latter, they remain children of wrath, under condemnation, exiles from the heavenly Jerusalem, and are cast into the lake of fire. There is no tertium aliquod be- teween faith and unbelief, the state of grace and of wrath, the king- dom of God and of the devil: so also there is none between life eternal and the eternal fire. Matt. 26:46; Mark 16:16; John 3: 18, 36; Rev. 20:15; 21:27. 3. If the infants of Christians de- parting without Baptism were to be cast into a peculiar limbus bordering upon the infernal fire, how would this be consistent with the promise of Gen. 17:7? 4. Not even in the Old Testament were infants of Israel, departing before circumcision, absolutely excluded from the kingdom of God. 5. If infants departed with- out the forgiveness of original sin, they would be subject not only to the punishment of loss, but also to the punishment of sense, not only excluded from the kingdom of God, but also tortured by the infernal fire of eternal damnation. For the wages of sin is death and eternal damnation; not only the punishment of loss, but also of sense. 6. If infants neither rejoice nor grieve, nor know or feel aught, they undoubtedly cannot be said to sustain the punishment of loss, since, being ignorant, insensible and sleep- ing, they cannot be said to be punished." Against the limbus patrum, he urges: "1. Scripture mentions no such limbus, separated from Heaven, in which the souls of the patriarchs were enclosed until the death of our first parent was paid for by Christ's death. 2. On the other hand, Scripture eneumerateds only two receptacles after this life, as well in the Old as in the New Testament, viz., Heaven and Hell. 3. Of the souls of the godly in the Old Testament, it is said, 1 Sam. 25:25, and of the soul of Lazarus before Christ's passion and death, that they ---------------End of Page 636---------------------------------------- were carried by the angels, who always see God's face, Matt. 18:11, into Abraham's bosom, Luke 16:22. Of the soul of the converted robber, it is said that it was taken into Paradise. Unless then we wish to confuse Paradise with hell, we cannot affirm of the Old Testament saints, that they descended into any infernal limbus. 4. Althought the Epistle to the Hebrews testifies that the patriarchs of the Old Testament had not yet received the completion of the promises concerning the possession of the land of Canaan (Ex. 11:13, 39), yet their souls were not for this reason excluded from the kingdom of Heave, v. 10, 16. 5. The examples of godly patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament. Enoch, Gen. 5: 24; Heb. 11:5; Abraham, John 8:56; 3:36; Rom. 4:11; Luke 16:22; Elias, 2 Kings 2:11; Moses and Elias, Matt. 17:6; Luke 9:31.... 7. It is based on the false opinion, that, before Christ's death, the gate of Paradise was not open to the godly.... 9. It detracts from the merits of Christ, as though their efficacy did not abound to the fathers of the Old Testament, while yet He is said to be the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. 13:8, not only with respect to decree, promise and types in sacrifices, but also with respect to fruit and efficacy, Jesus Christ being `the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,' Heb. 13:8." Against purgaeory: "1. It is without scriptural foundation. 2. It directly contradicts Scripture: (a) Scripture divides all men into only two classses, believers and unbelievers, good and evil, sheep and goats; heaven being assigned to the one class, hell to the other. (b) It teaches that only in this life is the time to labor, to run, to strive, i.e., to repent, believe, attain the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, but that after death there is no time for repentance and faith, Ecc. 9:4, 5, 10; 11:3; 12:5; Matt. 25:10; John 9:10; 1 Cor. 7:29; 9:24; Eph. 5:16; Gal. 6:8, 10; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1; Rev. 2:6; Is. 55:6. (c) It teaches only two purgations of sins: one external and Levitical the cleasning of the heart. The former is assigned to Levitical ceremonies, Lev. 12:8; 13:6; 14:9; the latter to Christ as the efficient cause, Is. 43:25; John 13:8; Heb. 1:3; to the blood of Christ, as the meritorious cause, Heb. 9:13, 14; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5, 7, 14; to the Word of the Gospel and Baptism, as the instru- mental cause on God's part, Mal. 3:3; John 15:3; Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5; and finally, to faith, as the instrumental cause on our part, Rev. 15:9; 1 Cor. 6:11. But there is no mention of any purga- tion to be expected after this life. (d) The precepts, promises and -----------------End of Page 637------------------------------------- examples of the blessed death presented in Scripture not only give no dread of future torments to believers in Christ, but also offer matter for hope, confidence, and exaltation, Job 19:25: Ps. 31:5; 27:13; 116:7, 9; Luke 2:29; Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 5:1, 2, 8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 4:13; 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:6, 7; 1 Pet. 4:19; Rev. 2: 10. Especially, the example of the converted robber, Luke 23:43. For if any one needed purgation after death before entrance into Paradise, the robber seemed especially to need it; and yet Christ introduces him immediately into Paradise. (e) All believers in Christ immediately after death are happy and blessed, their souls without any interval or delay being transferred to Paradise, Gen. 5:21; Heb. 11:5; 2 King 2:11; Luke 16:22; Ps. 31:6; Acts 1:58, etc.; John 5:24; Rev. 14:13. (f) Scripture knows but two receptacles, and is ignorant of a third, 1 Sam. 25:29; Matt. 3:12; 7:13; 25:46; Mark 16:16; Luke 16:22; John 3:36. (g) Scripture restricts the attaining of forgiveness of sins, the grace of God and salvation, to this life, Ps. 39:13; 95:7; Matt. 9:6; 16: 19; 18:18; 2 Cor. 6:2. Pertinent to this topic, are the passages which testify that the good done in this life is brought into judg- ment, but not those things which either we ourselves, or others for us, have suffered in purgatory, Matt. 25:35; 1 Cor. 3:8; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:5; Rev. 14:13. The Scripture circumscribes tem- poral punishments only by the limit of this life, and those which are required after death it teaches will be eternal, 2 Cor. 4:18; Rev. 10:7; from which we infer that, if there were a purgatory after this life, it would be temporal, not eternal. (h) It denies that after this life, the dead can be aided by the voice of the living, Ps. 49:8, 9, 10; Eccl. 9:5, 6. 3. It is contrary to the analogy of faith: (a) The article concern- ing the mercy of God. For this is described in Scripture as earn- est, sincere and perfect. That, however, for which a satisfaction is still demanded, or punishment still inflicted, is not perfectly forgiven. (b) The article concerning the justice of God. For this does not allow guilt already forgiven to be punished. (c) The article concerning the merits of Christ. If we still had to make satisfaction for our sins, the satisfaction of Christ would be insuffi- cient. If we could make satisfaction for the penalties of our sins, a part of Christ's redemption would be transferred to us. (d) The article concerning the Gospel, which is a joyful message concerning the gratuitous and full forgiveness of sins because of Christ. It is the peculiar doctrine of the Gospel to offer to believers the forgive- ness of sins, and not a commutation of eternal into temporary punishment. (e) The article concerning the saving fruit of repent- --------------End of Page 638------------------------------------------ ance; its fruit being the forgiveness of sins, Ps. 32:5; Jer. 36:3; Mark 1:4; Luke 24:47; Acts 3:19; 5:31, and where there is for- giveness of sins, there is no longer need of punishment for sins. The Holy Spirit not only before the reception of Baptism and in Baptism, but after Baptism, leads those who have fallen into sin to the only satisfaction of Christ offered for us on the altar of the cross, but never presents such a difference as to slay that in Baptism the remission of sins is purely gratuitous and perfect, but that, for the sins which have been committed since Baptism, it re- quires satisfaction from the sinners themselves, or commutes their eternal into temporal punishments. Let a single passage of Scrip- ture be quoted, in which such difference is stated. (f) The article concerning justification. For sins are forgiven so as to be no longer remembered, Ps. 25:7; Jer. 3:34; Ez. 18:22, etc. (g) The article concerning the state of the justified, Rom. 5:1, 2; 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 8:1, 24, 33, 34, 38; John 3:36; Rom. 12:12; Heb. 4:16; Luke 1:74; 2:29; 2 Cor. 5:8. (h) The article concerning the final judgment. If at the final judgment there will be no longer a pur- gatorial fire, there can be none now; for the grounds of justification and salvation, viz., the mercy of God, the merit of Christ, the Word of the Gospel and true faith in Christ, are of the same and equal virtue before as in the judgment itself. It it do not conflict with divine justice, that they by whom the last day finds alive be transferred into Paradise, without the intervention of purgatorial fire, undoubtedly it will not conflict with the same that they who die in the Lord before the judgment, go into Heaven free from the flames of purgatory. 4. It contradicts even the hypotheses of the Papists. 5. It is without support from the Church nearest the Apostles. 6. It is based upon many false assumptions: (a) That some sins are by their own nature venial. (b) That for venial sins, man himself must make satisfaction; if not in this life, after this life. (c) That, even when the guilt is remitted, the debt of pun- ishment remains to be discharged. (d) That the application of Christ's merit for removing temporal punishment occurs through works of satisfaction. (e) That sins are remitted in a different way in Baptism, from that in which they are remitted in true repen- ance. (f) That man is his own redeemer and saviour. (g) That submission to the penalty inflicted by God, when it proceeds from love, is a virtual repentance, and avails for the remission of sins. (h) That souls in purgatory are neither on the way, nor at the goal."] --------------End of Page 639-------------------------------------- PARA. 64. (2.) Of the Resurrection of the Dead. The separation of the body and soul, which is occasioned by death, is not one of permanent continuance, but the time will come, as we are most positively assured in the Word of God, in which God will awaken the body and reunite it with the soul that belonged to it before death. [1] This will be, in substance, the same body with which the soul was united in this life, but endowed with new attributes, adapted to the nature of the circumstances then existing. [2] But, just as the condition of souls after death is different, according as they were godless or godly in this life, so will also the bodies of those who are raised receive different attributes, according as a happy or a miserable life is their portion. [3] [1] BR. (367): "Just as the soul of man survives after death, so also the body which has been destroyed by death will rise again and be restored to life, as is most clear from the Scriptures (Job 19:26; Is. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; John 5:28; 11:23; 1 Cor. 15:12; 1 Thess. 4:16); but this certainly cannot be discovered from natural reason, although not opposed to it. When Scripture re- veals the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, then reason, which recognizes God as the avenger of crimes and rewarder of the good, discovers that it is rather harmonious with itself than opposed to it, that the bodies, the instruments of good and evil deeds, should be raised for participation in punishments or re- wards. And, although reason does not discover how bodies, the same in number as were resolved into ashes can be raised again; yet, so far from showing its impossibility by an invincible argu- ment, it is compelled rather to leave this to divine power." HOLL. (1245): "The resurrection of the dead consists formally (a) in the reproduction or restoration of the same body which had perished by death, out of its atoms or particles which had been scattered thence and dispersed; (b) in the reunion of the same with the soul." [2] QUEN. (IV, 582): "The subject of the resurrection is the entire man that had previously died and been reduced to ashes. The subject from which, is the body, the same in number and essence as we have borne in this life, and as had perished through death (Job 19:26; Is. 26:19; Ps. 34:21; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15: 53; 2 Cor. 5:4; Phil. 3:21), yet clotehed with new and spiritual qualities (1 Cor. 15:42). (Observe: The body which will rise ----------------End of Page 640----------------------------------- again will be spiritual, not as to substance, but as to qualities and endowments.)" Of these new attributes, HOLL. (1243): "The bodies which we bear about with us in this life differ from the risen bodies not with respect to substance, but (1) with respect to duration: the former are subject to corruption, and perish; the latter are free from corruption, and always endure; (2) with re- spect to outward form: the former become unsightly, colorless, offensive corpses; the latter will be glorious, brilliant, most beauti- ful; (3) with respect to vigor: the former are sown into the earth, feeble and destitute of sense and motion; the latter will be active, vigorous, abounding in extraordinary senses, subject to no defect; (4) with respect to activity and endurance: the former are subject to generation, nutrition, growth, local progress, and feel the need of food, drink, marriage; the latter will be entirely at leisure for spiritual actions, and will not need nourishment or con- jugal intercourse." [3] GRH. (XIX, 38): "These very qualities of the revived bodies, by reason of which they are distinguished in this life from animal bodies, must be accurately distinguished form each other. For some are common to all the revived, the wicked as well as the godly, the unbelieving as well as the believing. Such are aphtharsia kai athanasia, incourruptibility and immortality, because the souls and bodies of the wicked are to be lost (not by being annihilated, but by being tortured) in gehenna, Matt. 10:28; for the worm gnawing them will not die, and the fire burning them will not be quenched (Is. 66:24; Mark 9:44, 46, 48), and therefore their bodies will likewise rise again incorruptible and immortal, never to be separated from the souls, but to be reserved for eternal and never-ending tortures. From this it is also understood that the incorruptibility and immortality in the bodies of the wicked are very different from the incorruptibility and immortality of the godly, both with respect to the rest of the connected qualities, and with respect to the end.... But some qualities are peculiar to the godly alone when raised again for everlasting life, which the apostle, 1 Cor. 15, recounts in this order, vs. 43-49; Phil. 3:21. From which it is inferred that the bodies of the godly men raised to life eternal will be not only incorruptible and immortal, but also: (1) glorified, glorious, because they will be clothed, as with a mantle, with ineffable honor, splendor, and glory, and therefore, with divine light, lustre, and brilliancy, Matt. 13:43; Dan. 12:3; 1 Cor. 15:41; (2) powerful, because they will be altogether free from mortal difficulties and former infirmities, pains and diseases, to which they were subject in this life, and therefore, will be --------------------End of Page 641------------------------------- strong, vigorous, incapable of suffering, agile, subtle, which neither weight nor gravity will be able to prevent from being caught up into the air to meet the Lord, 1 Thess. 4:17; (3) spiritual, not in- deed with respect to essence; for they will not be spirits, but spiritual bodies. They will be isanggeloi (like the angels), not angels, not equal to, or the same as angels, Matt. 22:30; but, by reason of spiritual qualities, their bodies will no longer be natural bodies [animalia, Vulgate translation, 1 Cor. 15; 44, of Gr. psuchikon], standing in need of food, drink, sleep, and other supports, but spiritual, in which there is no strife of the flesh and spirit, but which are perfectly subjected to the control of the spirit, are en- tirely ruled by the Holy Ghost, and need no food or other means for their support [CHEMNITZ, De duabus naturis, p. 175: "Bodies in this life are called psuchika, not because they are transmuted into soul, or of the same substance with the soul, which is a spiritual substance, but because they are moved to action and governed, not by themselves or their own bodily conditions, properties and facul- ties, but by the power of the soul. So in the resurrection, the bodies will be pneumatika, spiritual, not because they will be trans- muted into spirit, or be of the same substance with the Holy Spirit, for they will have and retain their nature or bodily substance, as Job says: `In my flesh, I shall see God,' and in the Creed we con- fess that we believe the resurrection of this flesh. But they will be spiritual, because what the soul is now to the body, the Spirit will be to body and soul. For the body will without means be sus- tained and preserved by the Spirit. And the body with the soul will be most perfectly subject to the direction and control of the Spirit. For in this life the regenerate are led in things pertaining to God by the Spirit of God, but only partially and imperfectly. In the resurrection, however, both body and soul shall, without any resistance, be perfectly subject to the guidance and control of the Spirit, who will use both bodies and souls of saints, according to His omnipotence, for whatever movements and operations He wishes; and the bodies and souls of saints in glory will use the virtue of the Spirit for all movements and operations the Spirit wishes, and will have no longer psychical, but most perfect spir- itual conditions and faculties"]; (4) heavenly, likewise, not with respect to substance but with respect to qualities, because they will shine with heavenly light and glory, will no longer be subject to earthly infirmities, but will be distinguished by their heavenly lustre, and no longer be disfigured, corrupt, imperfect, maimed, and unsightly, but most beautiful, pleasing to the sight, perfect, handsome, and complete in members, etc. An example of these ------------------End of Page 642------------------------------------ qualities is presented to us in the body of Christ, as raised from the dead and placed at the Right Hand of God, to which our body is to be made like. But although the bodies of the wicked and the damned will be incorruptible and immortal, yet they will not be impassible, but will be subject to eternal tortures, and will be adorned by no honor, no glory, no power, no spiritual excellence, but will be marked by perpetual foulness and ignominy, destined to eternal disgrace, and oppressed by infernal darkness. They are vessels made unto dishonor and disgrace, Rom. 9:21; 21 Tim. 2: 20. According to the characteristics imparted to those raised from the dead, as the saved or lost, their resurrection is termed: "The resurrection to life, which is peculiar to the godly and true believers, and the resurrection to judgment, which is peculiar to the wicked and unbelieving." [A question to which the Dogmaticians give much attention is as to whether the godless will rise by virtue of the merit of Christ. On this, GRH., XIX, 13: "The virtue whereby Christ will raise the godless, properly speaking does not belong to the merit of Christ, but to the divine power, communicated to His human nature by means of the personal union and exaltation to the Right Hand of God. This power extends farther and to more objects than does the merit of Christ, because, by means of this power, Christ also, as man, sustains, rules and governs all things in Heaven and earth, in His general kingdom, called the kingdom of power. The resurrection of the godless pertains rather to His functions as Judge, than as Mediator and Saviour; as may be in- ferred from the end of the resurrection."] PARA. 65. (3.) Of the Final Judgment. Upon the resurrection of the dead there follows the final judgment, and then the end of this world will have been reached. [1] There will, therefore, still be men living upon this earth when the final judgment comes, and these will not experience a reuniting of soul and body, as no death has pre- ceded; the change, however, that takes place in the bodies of those raised from the dead, will take place in theirs also, but in a different manner, viz., by transformation. [2] The pre- cise time when the final judgment will take place is not known to us, [3] but signs will precede it from which the approach of that day may be inferred. Such are, especially, the most extreme development of Satan's power, and the like extraordinary security and ungodliness of men. [4] When all -----------End of Page 643-------------------------------------------- this shall have reached the highest degree, God will cause judgment to break forth, and thus become for the godly the helper in the highest need. The judgment will be held by Christ, [5] who will appear to all, visibly and in glory, to the longed-for consolation of the godly, and to the fearful terror of the ungodly. [6] Then, in the case of all, everything will be revealed that they have done, the good and the evil; all will then be judged according to the norm of the revelation given to them upon earth, [7] and judgment will be executed upon them all in such a manner, that the godly will be ad- mitted to the kingdom of glory, and the ungodly will be driven out into the kingdom of eternal darkness. [8] [1] QUEN. (IV, 605): "The general judgment is, with respect to order, subsequent to the resurrection of the dead, 1 Thess. 4: 16. For the general judgment will immediately succeed the gen- eral resurrection of the dead. The resurrection will occur on the last or latest of all days, and will place an end to the vicissitude of worldly things, and therefore to time itself, John 11:24." HOLL. (1246): "The final general judgment is a solemn act, by which the triune God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, appearing in a visible form and with the highest glory, will place all angels and men before His judgment-seat, for the purpose of judging all thoughts, words, and deeds, of the godly, indeed, according to the norm of the Gospel, but of the wicked, according to the precept of the Law,; and will assign to the former, and confer upon then, eternal joys, and, to the latter, eternal tortures, to the glory of His retributive and vindicatory justice." A distinction is also made between this general or final judgment and "the particular judg- ment by which, at the hour of death, a state of glory or of igno- miny is awarded every man." [GRH. XVIII, 35): "There are five reasons, because of which the general, universal and public judgment ought to occur, even though a particular and private judgment precede: 1. The manifestation of divine glory, viz., that the justice and mercy of God may be displayed. For since, in this life, it seems to be well with the wicked and ill with the good, and, on this account, divine Providence is attacked by malevolent critics, God will ap- point a day, in which, in the presence of the whole world, He will display His supreme justice against the godless, and His supreme mercy towards the godly, and in the sight of all angels and men declare, that, in connection with supreme mercy towards the --------------End of Page 644------------------------------------------- godly, He uses no cruelty or injustice towards the godless, and in connection with supreme severity towards the godless, He uses no respect of persons or unjust liberality towards the godly. 2. The glorification of Christ: "We see not yet all things put under Him," Heb. 2:8, "but then He shall come in His maj- esty," Matt. 25:31. As, at His first advent, He was unjustly condemned as a culprit before all; so, at His second advent, He shall judge all, as a just and glorious Judge. 3. The exaltation of the godly. As in this life, the godly "are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men," 1 Cor. 4:9, so, in the final judgment before the whole world, all angels and men, it is right that they be pronounced and crowned as victors. 4. The completion of rewards and punishments. The souls of godly and ungodly, separated from their bodies, receive only the begin- nings of blessednesss and condemnation; but then the entire man, consisting of body and soul will be judged, and will receive in his body the completion of rewards and punishments. 5. The continued consideration of good and evil works. For the good and evil works of the dead are not yet finished. Prophets and Apostles still serve the Church by their writing and example; heresiarchs still corrupt the minds of men by their writings; when, then, on the day of judgment, the good and evil deeds of the dead shall be finished with the world itself, the ultimate and decisive sentence will be given."] [2] QUEN. (IV, 585): "The circumstance most closely con- nected with the resurrection of the dead, is the change of those whom the last day will find alive, which is to take place in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:15, 17." The order of the resurrection is the following, HFRFFR. (682): "When the last day shall dawn, Christ (while, by means of fire, heaven and earth are passing away with a great noise) will come in the clouds in the same visible form in which He ascended into the heavens, with many thousands of angels, with the greatest shout or thunder, in the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; and then the dead, hearing the voice of the Son of God, will first rise, each one in his own body; then we, whom that day will find alive, will be changed in a moment, so as to be placed before the judgment-seat, 1 Thess. 4:15." [3] GRH. (XIX, 226): "The time of the final judgment can be regarded as twofold, of the beginning and of the continuance. The time of the beginning we define as precisely that point of time in which Christ will return from heaven to judge the living and raise ----------------End of Page 645------------------------------------ the dead to life, and, by means of the ministry of angels, to assemble both before His judgment-seat for the purpose of hearing a decisive sentence. The Holy Scriptures testify that this will occur on the last day, in which also the resurrection of the dead will precede the judgment, and the end of the world will follow, Matt. 24:30: 25;31; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 20:11; but what day will be the last and latest, and, therefore, on what day or what hour Christ will come to judgment, we believe that no man can know exactly and precisely, and, therefore, we ought to abstain fom bold and anxious inquiry concerning it, Acts 1:7." [5] HOLL. (1248): "By the will and appointment of God, divinely revealed signs will precede the last day, from which it can be known in a general way that that great day is approaching." The signs are distinguished as remote or general signs, and near or peculiar signs. HOLL. (ib.): "The former occur not merely in one age, and frequently recur, or are continued. The latter are those which are to be seen only as the judgment approaches nearer, but not likewise in former ages. The general and more remote signs, although they do not seem to indicate the time of judgment, yet, according to God's appointment and intention, indicate and ought to admonish Christians, from the force of divine justice and the truth of the predictions, that an apppointed judgment is to be expected. Moreover, among the nearer or peculiar signs, there is this difference, that some precede the judgment by a longer, and others by a shorter interval; and, for this reason, not even these indicate precisely a certain time." Among the former are enumer- ated (acccording to GRH. XIX, 246): "1. The multiplication of here- sies, Matt. 24:5." (Concernign this passage GRH. says (ib.): "The apostle asked, at the same time, both when those things would take place which He had predicted concerning the destruc- tion of the temple, and what would be the sign of His coming, and of the end of the world. Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7. For they thought that it would not be until the second coming of Christ for judgment, that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the temple, and with it the entire world; and that thus there would be an end of all things and that then only, when all things should have become new, the Messiah would enter upon His new reign. Christ, therefore, distinctly replies to both members of the ques- tion; and first, indeed, discourses concerning the devastation of Jerusalem, indicating by this itself that they would be not of the same, but of diverse times. Although, therefore, the matters pre- sented by Christ in the first part of His reply pertain properly and principally to the times preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, yet ---------------End of Page 646--------------------------------------- the matters which are predicted in the same place, concerning the coming of false prophets and the rest of the evils that were to pre- cede the devastation of Jerusalem, can be properly referred, sec- ondarily and by way of consequence, to the state of the timse that precede the final judgment, because the destruction of Jerusalem was a type of the general destruction destined for the entire globe. Whence, those things also which are here said by Christ concerning the times that were to precede the destruction of Jerusalem, are adapted in other passages of Scripture to the times that were to pre- cede the end of the world. Compare Dan 12:1 with Matt. 24:21, and 2 Pet. 3:9 with Matt. 24:22). 2. Seditions throughout the en- tire world, arising from wars, and the disquiet arising from eath- quakes, Matt. 24:6-8; Luke 21:9-11. 3. Dreadful persecution of the godly, Matt. 24:9: Mark 13:9; Dan. 11:44; Rev. 11:7; 12: 4, 13; 13:7; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2; 20:4. 4. An inundation of careless security and defiant wickedness, and extreme depravity of life, Matt. 24:12, 37-29; Luke 17:28-30; 18:8; 2 Thess. 2:7; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 3:3. 5. The universal preaching of the Gospel throughout the entire world, Matt. 24:14; Dan. 11:44; Mal. 4:2. As near and peculiar signs, the following are cited: (1) The overthrow of the distingished fourth monarchy (Dan. 2:31, sq.). (2) The over- throw of Antichrist, (for since, in the Church of the Thessalonians, the report had been spread under the name and pretence of apos- tolic doctrine, that the last day was immediately at hand, Paul adivses the Thessalonians to have no faith in this false opinion, for Antichrist must be revealed before the Day of the Lord will come, 2 Thess. 2:3. Of this revelation of Antichrist, and his conquest by the preaching of the Gospel, other prophecies of Scripture also speak, Dan. 8:25; 11:44; Jer. 51:58; Mal. 4:5; Rev. 14:6; 18:2); (3) the observing of various signs, in all parts of the entire universe, Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25." BR. (377): "Remark- able eclipses of the heavenly bodies and their fall to the earth," "for although the mode and precise nature of the heavenly signs, and especially of the fall of the stars to the earth, have not been revealed; yet it is better in these matters to retain the letter of Scripture, and to leave the manner of the occurence to divine wisdom and power, than, the literal sense being deserted, to seek or embrace a metaphor, especially since in other connections ex- press mention is made of heavenly signs, as contradistinguished from earthly, Luke 21:25." HOLL. (1148): "There are some who explain the words of Christ mystically, as referring to a re- markable change of the Chrudch, the obsucuring of the heavenly doctrine, and the apostasy of the Church's teachers; others advise ----------------End of Page 647------------------------------------- that the literal sense be not abandoned." As to the prupose for whoich these scripturalyy foretold signs were intended, GRH. (XIX, 274): "Christ made the predictions to the end that they might be: (1) Indicative of His love towards us. To advise any one beforehand of coming evils is the office of a friendly and kind mind. (2) A means of driving away security. (3) Antidotes agiainst over-anxiety. Christ predicted signs of the judgment, by which it could be recog- nized beforehand, but was unwilling to determine a definite day of judgment. This avails to drive away security from our minds, lest we should think that the decisive and judicial day were still far off; but it also avails for the removal of curiosity, lest we should boldly dare to search into that which God has placed in His own power and knowledge. Just as death is certain, but the hour of death is uncertain so it is certain that the final judgment will at some time follow, but the hour of judgment is uncertain and un- known to men, Matt. 24:44; Luke 10:46. (4) As remedies for pusillanimity. Just in the proportion that numerous and terrible evils befall the godly, do they hasten the more rapidly the day of redemption and refreshing" (apolutroseos kai anapsuxeos). GRH. (XX, 95): "The Millennarians teach that, before the last day, Christ will return from heaven to earth, to raise the godly dead, and, with them, together with those also whom He will find alive, all the godless being suppressed, to pass on this earth for a thousand years a life abounding in corporeal pleasures, an earthly, corporeal and visible reign being begun; and that then, when the thousand years of this reign shall have been finished, the end of the world and the general resurrection of all shall follow." In regard to Antichrist, we remark that the word is used in a twofold sense by the Dogmaticians. HOLL. (2070): "(a) Genera- ically, for all heretics who disseminate doctirines that are false and conflict with the doctrine of Christ, and who obstinately defend these. Concerning those who are commonly called little Anti- christs, 1 John 2:18. (b) Specifically, and by pre-eminence, for that remarkable adversary of Christ, described in 2 Thess. 2, whom, for the purpose of making a distinction, we call the great Antichrist." A distinction is made also between the Eastern and the Western Antichrist. QUEN. (IV, 522): "The Eastern is out- side of the Church, and is called, Ez. 38:2; Rev. 20:7, 8, Gog and Magog. The Western sits in the very lap of the Church, and of this we are here treating. Some of the fathers thought that this would be a Jew springing from the tribe of Dan, and the Papists also generally follow this opinion; but we are certain that Antichrist has his origin not from the Jews, but from the assembly of Chris- --------------End of Page 648-------------------------------------- tians, or from those who make a Christian profession, 2 Thess. 2: 3, 4 sq." Of Antichrist it is held, BR. (783): (He is) "not any one paticular human individual. For (1) Antichrist was to come, when that which hindered the erection of his government (viz., the ancient Eastern Roman empire, whose seat was at Rome) would be removed; but he was to continue until the glorious ad- vent of Christ; now, this duration, for so many ages, altogether exceeds the life of one man. (2) The Scriptures describe the origin or planting and the progress or growth of Antichrist in such a manner that it is impossible for all to occur in the life of one man; that is, if we consider that the power was to have been derived from hidden beginnings, not so much by means of arms and open violence as by insidious arts by which the minds of men are gradually occupied and brought over to its side, and that, too, not in one nation or people, but throughout the greatest part of the earth; and that kings and nations were to make use of his society to satiety and nausea, and to avail themselves of his aid for persecuting the saints, etc., according to "Rev. 13:14, 17, concern- ing the beast and the great whore." Thereupon the Pope was declared to be Antichrist. QUEN. (IV, 526): "These marks of Antichrist are to be taken here not apart and separately, but unitedly and together, and thus taken they exactly coincide with the Pope of Rome, whece the conclusion emerges, that the Pope of Rome is the great Antichrist, predicted by the Holy Ghost." Among the events that are to occur before the final judgment, (1) some, even among Lutheran theologians, enumerate the gen- eral conversion of the Jews. By the great majority, however, this opinion is rejected. HOLL. (1263): "Although access to repent- ance and faith in Christ has not been debarred the Jews by an absolute decree of God, and many of them, in the course of time from the apostolic era downward, have returned into favor with God, yet their universal, or their certainly manifest and solemn conversion about the time of the end of the world, is not to be ex- pected." The passage, Rom. 11:25, 26, which seems most dis- tinctly to teach such a general conversion, is thus explained by HOLL. (1269): "(a) The proposition of Paul is univeral, not absolutely, but with limitation. The limitation exists in this very chapter 11, v. 2, likewise v. 5, also v. 23. Wherefore, with the limitation added, the meaning is: `All Israel that God fore- knew would believe in Christ will be saved;' or, `All Israel elect unto eternal life will be saved;' or, `All the Israelites who do not remain in unbelief will be saved. But it is not lawful to con- --------------------End of Page 649--------------------------------- clude from this `the whole nation of Israelites, or the greater part of the Jews, will be saved,' since it is evident that the faith does not belong to all, nor the election to many; the particle achris ou, until or as far as, does not always denote the ceasing from or end of anything, but freqently, in affirmative propositions, a continu- ation so as to be equipollent with always. Wherefore the mind of the apostle is: As long as the conversion of the Gentiles and their entrance into the Church shall continue, so long will Jews be successively converted. But the conversion of Gentiles will con- tinue during the entire time of the New Testament. Therefore, so also the conversion of Jews." GRH. (XIX, 293): "Neither can the absolutely universal con- version of all the Jews be hoped for. For, as the fulness of the Gentiles does not denote nations taken individually and collectively, and their individuals taken one by one, but a great number from the nations of the Gentiles, so also by all Israel' the entire Jewish people and all their individuals are not indicated, but only a great multitude of the Jewish nation." (2) Others not of the Lutheran Church enumerate as among these events, "A coming of Christ, to be expected before the final judgment, for the purpose of establishing a kingdom on this earth under the control of the elect for a thousand years (Chiliasm)." But the Lutheran Church has always taught as follows (QUEN., IV, 649): "Since the second advent of Christ, the general resur- rection, the final judgment, and the end of the world are immedi- ately united; and one follows the other without an interval of time, it is manifest that, before the completion of the judgment, no earthly kingdom and life abounding in all spiritual and bodily pleasure, as the Chiliasts or Millennarians dream, is to be ex- pected." CONF. AUG. (XVII, 4):: "They condemn others also, who now scatter Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being everywhere suppressed." The following are men- tioned as such Chilasts: "The Jews, Cerinthus, Papias, Joachim (Abbot of Floris), the Fanatics and Anabaptists, Casp. Schwenk feld, and others." A distinction is also made between "gross and subtile Chilasm. The former estimates the millennium as happy, because of the illicit pleasure of the flesh; the latter, because of the lawful and honorable delights of both body and soul." (HOLL., 1256.) But both are rejected. GRH. (XX, 109): "But... it clearly appears that the hope and opinion of all concerning this Chiliastic government is not the same. 1. For some contend for a subtile Chiliasm consisting in the peace of the Church, perfect ------------End of Page 650---------------------------------------- justice, rest from temptations, universal conformity with the orthodox faith, etc.; but others for a gross Chiliasm, driven hither and thither by bodily delights and pleasures. 2. Some hope that this kingdom will begin before the resurrection, others after the resurrection; unless we be willing to unite these two dissenting opinions by this bond of distinction, that it will begin after the resurrection of the saints, or certainly of the martyrs, and before the universal resurrection of all men. 3. Some present their own opinons as probable, and, in suspense and doubt, commit the whole matter ot the future issue; but others are earnest in their endeavors to obtrude them upon the Church, with the necessity of belief, as arguments evident beyond contradiction. 4. Some dis- pute in schools and books theoretically concerning the Chiliastic and imaginary kingdom; but others endeavor to accomplish it prac- tically, as the Anabaptists of Muenster, who taught that all wicked magistrates must be removed from their midst, in order that that most peaceful rule might follow. 5. Some say, in general, that the kingdom of Christ must be established on this earth; but others designate the land of Canaan in patrticular, as that into which the Jews are to be brought back. 6. Some say that the time of the duration of this kingdom is known precisely to God alone; but others assign to it precisely a thousand years. 7. Some hope that all the godly and saints will first be raised, in order to become partners in this kingdom; the Jews, that Israel- ites alone; Piscator, that the martyrs alone: some say that they will die again before the final judgment, but others hope that they will live forever with Christ. 8. Some dispute concerning this kingdom from the Holy Scriptures, others from the Sibylline oracles, others from apostolic traditions, others from the Apocry- phal Books, the fourth book of Esdras especially. Thus, therefore, its patrons do not at all agree among themselves concerning the nature, the time, and the subjects of the kingdom, and the mode and grounds of discussion with regard to it." The principal passages to which Chiliasts appealed are Is. 65:22; Matt. 26:29; Jn. 10:16; Eph. 5:5; 1 Thess. 4:17; Rev. 20:6. The last, which is the chief passage, GRH. (XX, 124 sq.) thus ex- plains: "The opinion of those seems especially probable who place the beginning of these `thousand years; in the empire of Constan- tine the Great; for then Satan, who in the first three centuries from the birth of Christ had impelled the heathen emperors and Roman proconsuls to horrible persecutions of the Christians, was bound, as under Constantine peace was given to the Church, and persecutions ceased, neither were the nations of which the Apoca- -----------------End of Page 651----------------------------------- lypse especially makes mention, able any longer with such violence and cruelty to propagate their rage for idols. According to this hypothesis, the end of these thousand years will fall in the year of Christ 1300, about which time Satan, being again released, aroused the Ottoman family, under which God and Magog, i.e., the Turk- ish empire... acquired the greatest strength, and the Saracen race raged against the Church with a greater effort than before, the greatest and most flourishing part of the world having been occu- pied, and the city of Constantinople having at length been taken, which was the seat of the Eastern empire; so that in this manner, between the empire of Constantine, who warded off persecutions from the Church, and that of the Ottoman Turk, who greatly afflicted the Church, these thousand years intervene. And because horrible persecutions, excited by the heathen emperors, in which several thousand Christians were slain, preceded this binding of Satan and the rest of the Church which followed at length under Constantine the Great, John, in his vision, introduces the souls of the martyrs who had been beheaded or slain because of the testi- mony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God.... To these he joins the souls of those who had not adored the beast and his image, nor received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands. ... Concerning these souls of godly martyrs and confessors, to which also may be added the souls of those who were killed when Satan was loosed in the persecutions of the Papists and Turks, John declares first `that seats of judgment were given,' viz., as a sign of the judgment they were to exercise; secondly, that they lived; and thirdly, that they reigned with Christ a thousand years. They exercised judgment against thier persecutors, by whom they were killed. For, as the blood of the godly cries out from earth to heaven, and begs for punishment against those who have shed it, so also their souls in heaven cry out under the altar, and beg for vengeance for their own blood and that of their brethren. They have lived evidently in heavenly peace, tranquility, and glory. The tyrants passed sentence that they should be destoryed both in soul and body, but the Holy Ghost, in this passage and frequently elsewhere in the Scriptures, bears witness that immediately after death they live in heavenly glory. Finally, `they reigned with Christ,' i.e., all enemies, the devil, the flesh, the world, and all adversaries having been entirely overcome. Neither from the par- ticle `until' are we permitted to infer that when this `a thousand years' shall have been finished, the happiness of the saints will also have been ended.... But for this reason the thousand years are expressly mentioned, because when they have been completed, ---------------End of Page 652------------------------------------- what happens to the Church is memorable, viz., that, Satan being again released, it shall be attacked anew by the most grievous per- secutions." HOLL. (1259): "(1) Because the Apocalypse is a prophetic book, full of most astruse visions, as well as allegorical and quasi- enigmatical forms of speech, difficult to be understood, and there- fore to be expounded according to the analogy of the faith, based upon clear and perspicuous Scripture passages. (2) The Chiliasts cannot clearly show from the cited passage the solemn advent of Christ to establish a millennial kingdom in which (a) men shall live endowed with a perfect knowledge of God, distingusihed for consummate holiness and rejoicing in earthly felicity; (b) the martyrs shall rise from the dead; (c) all the Jews be converted, and (d) at its commencement Antichrist be overturned." [5] BR. (379): "The judge will be Christ Himself (Matt. 25: 31; according to both natures, John 5:22, 27), who, gloriously appearing in His assumed humanity, and seated as upon a judg- ment-throne, conspicuous to all, will pronounce sentence with au- thority divine. Moreover, Christ will have holy men, Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; 1 Cor. 6:2, and good angels, Matt. 25:31, partly as judges and partly as ministering attendants of the judgment. And, indeed, it will be the office of the angels not only to accom- pany Christ to judgment, and to manifest His advent by sending forth a great sound (1 Thess. 4:16), but also to assemble, from all parts of the world (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27), both those who have been raised from the dead and those found alive, then to sep- arate the godly from the wicked (Matt. 13:41, 49), by placing the former at the right hand and the latter at the left (Matt. 25:32), and then to thrust the damned to hell (Matt. 13:42, 50). But holy men will be the witnesses and approvers of Christ's judgment." [6] HOLL. (1249): "The advent of Christ as judge will be pub- lic, and exceedingly glorious, terrible to the wicked, and greatly longed for by the godly." [GRH. treats of a number of supplementary questions: 1. Is Christ's return to judgment contradictory to His presence on earth in both natures? Here we must distinguish between modes of presence, 1 Kings 19:11: "God was not in the wind;" and yet it could not be said absolutely that God was not there, but only that there was no manifestation of His presence. So in Ex. 33:3, the presence of His grace, but not of His power, is denied. 2. Will His return be local? Yes; nevertheless not successive, as though during a period of time He will descend from heaven in -----------------End of Page 653-------------------------------- the clouds, as at the ascension He was gradually received into heaven, but sudden and momentary, Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; ev. 16:15; Luke 21:35. 3. What of the clouds? After stating the various interpreta- tions, as that they are used metaphorically to represent the serenity, or the severity of divine judgment, or the saints who will attend Him, Jude 5:15, who are called in Heb. 12:1, "a cloud of wit- nesses," he prefers the literal interpretation, "since, in articles of faith, we must not depart from the letter without urgent necessity." 4. Why will He come in the clouds? (a) They are God's throne and chariot, Ps. 104:3; Is. 19:1. (b) At His ascension, a cloud received Him, Acts 1:9, cf. v. 11. (c) At His trans- figuration, a cloud overshadowed Him, Matt. 17:5; Mrk 9:7; Luke 9:34. (d) The analogy of the cloud which separated the Israelites from the Egyptians, Ex. 14:19, dark to the one, bright to the other, Ps. 105:39. (e) In the Old Testament, His glory appeared in the cloud, Ex. 16:10; 19:9; 40:38; Num. 12:5; 2 Chr. 5:13. 5. In what form will He be seen? Some think that the wicked will see Him as He was crucified, arguing form Zach. 12:10. But Scripture leaves no doubt, Matt. 16:27; 24:30, i.e., He will be seen in a glorified form by all. Nevertheless we must dis- tinguish between the beatific vision of the godly and the terrifying vision of the godless. QUENST. (IV, 622) considering whether He will display the wounds of His passion, as He reappears, refers to the dissent of Brentz and Aegidius Hunnius, who maintained that they were laid aside with His resurrection, and only displayed to His disciples by a peculiar dispensation, in order to prove the truth of the resur- rection-body, and after quoting Luther, Chemnitz, and Grh. on the other side (that "they are retained, yet so as to occasion no de- formity, but so as to render His body all the more beautiful, and affording the more consolation"), concludes: "Almost all the holy doctors of the Church have been of the opinion that Christ Jeuss, not only by a peculiar dispensation, showed the marks of His wounds to His disciples after His resur- rection, but also that He has ascended into heaven imprinted with these as seals of His victory and triumph, and that He displays the same now in heaven to His Father and the holy angels, and that He will offer them to the sight of all on the last day. But this opinion, since it is not expressly propounded in Holy Scri- tures, we do not maintain as an article of faith, but as a dogma not contrary to the analogy of faith, supported by the authority of --------------End of Page 654---------------------------------- antiquity, useful to excite devotion, and most full of consolation."] [7] QUEN. (IV, 611): "The norm of this judgment is, indeed, generally speaking, with respect to the men to be judged, the entire heavenly doctrine, John 12:48; Rom. 2:16; but specially, and with respect ot the pious, the Gospel, strictly so called, and as contradistingished from the Law, Gal. 3:9, 12; Matt. 26:34; and with respect to the unbelieving, the Law, Gal. 3:10; Rom. 2: 12; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19, 20, 21--the Law, I say, but not alone, and considered by itself, but as it has been illumined by the Gospel." [8] QUEN. (IV, 610): "The form of the final judgment consists in the judicial examination of a case, Matt. 25:35, 42; 1 Cor. 4: 5; in the decision of the case when examined, as also in the publi- cation of a definitive sentence, Matt. 25:46; and, finally, in the execution of the sentence." A distinction is made between judg- ment of examination and of retribution. HOLL. (1253): "In the judgment of examination (discussionis), the cases of all men, the just as well as the unjust, will be investigated, and be wicked deeds of the unjust, having been accurately examined, will be published. In the judgment of retribution, a sentence suitable to each one will be pronounced. This jugment will be twofold, of approbation, or absolution, by which eternal life will be assigned to the elect and conferred upon them, and of reprobation or con- demantion, by which reprobates will be sent away into eternal fire." As to the mode of procedure, HFRFFR. (683): "Not that troublesome and continued din of a forensic court of justice, where the truth must be elicited, and the judge informed by means of certain articles, inquiries, replies, and prolix examinations of wit- nesses; but, since the president of this court is true God and man, and the searcher of hearts, He not only knows and observes all things, but will bring every secret word, deed, thought, desire, and purpose into clear light (their conscience bearing witess, and the wicked being separated from the good, the former being placed at the left, and the latter at the right hand), and will pronounce and execute sentence against the wicked without the intervention of any delay. This process is described by Christ Himself, Matt. 25, and by Paul, 2 Cor. 5:10." PARA. 66. (4.) Of the End of the World. After the final judgment, the absolute end of this world will come; angels and men excepted, everything that belongs to this world will be burnt up by fire and reduced to nothing. ---------------End of Page 655-------------------------------------- [1] Not a transformation of the world, therefore, but an ab- solute annihilation of its substance is to be expected. [2] [1] BR. (385): "When the judgment shall have been finished, the end of the world will immediately follow, whereby heaven and earth, and likewise the other elements and the bodies composed of elements will, with respect to their substance, perish by means of fire." HOLL. (1273): "The consummation of the world is an action of the triune God, by which, to the glory of His truth, power, and justice, and the deliverance of elect men, He will de- stroy with fire and annihilate the entire fabric of heaven and earth, and all created things, intelligent creatures alone excepted." Of the means by which God will destroy the world (HOLL., 1275): "God will destroy the world by means of true and proper fire (2 Pet. 3:12); but the power and nature of this no mortal is able to investigate." [2] QUEN. (IV, 638): "The form of this consummation consists not in the mere change, alteration, or renewing of qualities, but in the total abolition and reduction fo the world's substance itself to nothing (Ps. 102:26; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 20:11; Is. 34:4; Luke 21:33; Job 14:12)." PARA. 67. (5.) Of Eternal Damnation and Eternal Life. With the Judgment, a complete and eternal separation takes place between the ungodly and the godly. The former are delivered over to eternal damnation, a condition which in Scripture is also called eternal death ("eternal death, eternal damnation, is a condition most miserable through the aggre- gation of multidudinous evils, and to last forever." HOLL., (978).) [1] The Holy Scripture say of them that they are in Hell (hades, xxx, a place of torment, [2] in which they suffer, according to the degree of their ungodliness, [3] in bodily and spiritual pains, [4] for their sins, eternally. [5] The latter, however, the godly, beocome partakers of eternal life, [6] i.e., they enjoy, according to the degree of their godliness, [7] the highest and completely undisturbed happiness in beholding the face of God. [8] The place of their happiness is in the Scripture called Heaven. [9] [1] HOLL. (979): "Death eternal is the separation of the unbe- lieving soul from the beatific sight of God and eternal enjoyment." ---------------End of Page 656-------------------------------- QUEN. (I, 565): "Death eternal, or damnation, is that most un- happy state in which, from the just judgment of God, men who remain unbelieving to the end, being excluded from the beatific sight of God, and associated in the infernal prison with devils, will be tortured eternally (in soul, immediately after its departure from the body, and in both parts of their composite being, at length when sentence has been passed at the final judgment) with the most severe and ineffable torments, to the praise of the divine truth, and the glory and exultation of the godly." HOLL. (979): "Death eternal is named likewise the second death, Rev. 2:11; 20:6, because it occasions the forfeiture of that other life which man was able to attain when the present life had been completed; besides it is called corruption, Judge 12; Matt 7:13; everlasting destruction, 2 Thess. 1:9--not as though eternal death were an annihilation of substance, but because it is the forfeiture or the want of happiness, and shame and everlasting contempt, Dan. 12:2, since there is nothing more contemptible, in the eyes of God, the angels, and the blessed, than the damned, for they will be an abhorring unto all flesh, Is. 66:24; everlasting punishment, Matt. 25:46; tribulation and anguish, Rom 2:9.: QUEN. (I, 551) presents scriptural proofs from Ps. 49:15, 20; Is. 66:24; Dan. 12:2; Zach. 9:11; Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:17; Matt. 5:22; 25:46; 8:12; Luke 13:27, 28; Matt. 10:28; 13:40, 42; 22:13; 25:41, 46; Luke 16:23. (GRH. (XX, 169) adds: "Reasons and argu- ments sought (1) from the condition of divine justice, 2 Thess. 1: 6; (2) from the curse of the divine Law, Deut. 27:26; Matt. 19: 16; Rom. 4:15; 1 Thess. 1:10; (3) from the deformity and con- fusion of sin, Rom 6:23; (4) from the witness of one's own con- science; (5) from the tasting of the pains of hell, 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:5; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13; 88:4; 116:3; (6) from the article concerning the descent of Christ ad inferos; (7) from the resurrec- tion of the wicked; (8) from the administration of the final judg- ment.") [2] GRH. (XX, 175): "The name, Hell, can be received in a twofold manner: (1) for eternal death; (2) for that place (pou), in which they suffer, and to eternity will sustain that most miser- able condition and those ineffable tortures. By reason of the former signification, the devils are said to carry about with them their own hell wherever they wander. By reason of the latter, it is said that on the day of judgment they will be cast into hell, and be confined there. In the former signification, the name, hell, is received internally and formally; in the latter, externally, objectively, and locally, the term used in the article being received in a general -----------------End of Page 657---------------------------------------- sense, according to the language of Scriptures, Luke 16:28. What hell is, in the former signification, cannnot be understood more correctly than by collecting and distributing into certain classes, the descriptions by which, in the Holy Scriptures, the extreme misery of the damned is prefigured. But what hell is, in the latter signification pertains to a question that is extremely difficult and obsucure. Some altogether reject the latter signification, and think that hell should not be defined except by the sense of divine wrath, and of the eternal curse and horror of conscience. But there is no apparent reason why a certain place (pou), in which the damned suffer their punishments, should be denied." HOLL. (984): "It is certain that the infernal prison is in a real locality (Luke 16: 28; 1 Pet. 3:19), separate from the abode of the blessed (Rev. 22: 15; Luke 16:23). It is also probable that the same is outside of this habitable world (2 Pet. 3:10; John 12:31; Matt. 8:12); but where this place definitely is, is unknown to men during the pres- ent life." [3] HOLL. (990): "The punishments of Hell differ in degree, according to the quality and measure of sins, Matt. 11:24; Luke 12:47; Matt. 23:15." [4] HFRFFR. (691): "They are the most exquisite pains of soul and body (for both had sinned), arising from the fear and sense of the most just wrath and vengeance of God against sins, the most sad consciousness of which they carry about with them, the base- ness of which is manifest, and of which, likewise, no remission afterwards, and, therefore, no mitigation or end can be hoped for. Whence, in misery, they will execrate, with horrible lamentation and wailing, their former impiety, by which they carelessly ne- glected the commandments of the Lord, the admonitions of their brethren, and all the means of attaining salvation; but in vain. For in perpetual anguish, with dreadful trembling, ins shame, con- fusion, and ignominy, in inextingishable fire, in weeping and gnashing of teeth, amidst that which is eternal and terrible, torn away from the grace and favor of God, they must quake among devils, and will be tortured without end to eternity. These future torments of the damned far surpass all the penetration of the human mind, so that we are not suffficient to ever comprehend in thought their greatness; therefore, what they will be, or of what nature, cannot be at all expressed in words. Scripture, nevertheless, in order to show that these tortures are the greatest and most exqui- site, likens them to those things by which, in this life, pain both of soul and body is accustomed to be excited. For this reason they are compared now to the gnashing of teeth, now to the gnawing of -------------End of Page 658------------------------------------ worms, now to the most sorrowful darkness, and whatever other matters of sadness and of the most complete pain can be men- tioned, Is. 66:24; Matt. 5:22; 8:12; Rev. 19:20." QUEN. (I, 562): "The form (of eternal death) is the entire mass of evils in- tended for the damned. These are partly privative, and partly positive. The privative are: (1) forfeiture of the beatific sight of God; Matt. 25:41; 22:13; 8:12; (2) separation from the society of all the good, Matt. 8:11, 12; 22:13; Luke 16:23, 26; (3) ex- clusion from the heavenly light, rest, and happiness, Matt. 8:12; 22: 13; 25:30; 2 Thess. 1:6, 8, 9; (4) entire denial of pity, divine as well as human, Prov. 1:26; Ps. 52:6, 7; 58:10; Luuke 16:24, 25; (5) despair of every kind Rev. 6:16, 17. Of the positive, some are internal, and others external. The internal are those which the damned experience within themselves viz., the inex- plicable pains and tortures of soul, Ps. 18:4, 5; Is. 77:24; Mark 9:44, 46, 48." (HOLL. (982): "Their intellect will recognize God as the most just judge and the most severe avenger of sins, Ps. 139: 7; 2 Thess. 1:9; Wis. 5:3. Their will will be tortured by hatred to God, the greatest sorrow, and raging impatience.") "The external are those most sorrowful evils, outside of themselves, that they deeply feel, namely, association with devils, Matt. 25:41; a most foul dwelling-place, Matt. 25:30; and most painful burning without being consumed, Luke 16:23, 24; Rev. 14:10, 11; 20: 10." HOLL. (983) answers the question concerning the nature of the fire: "The bodies of the damned will be tortured in infernal fire, properly so called, and, therefore, material. For the sentence of the judge announces a fire, Matt. 25:41, from which smoke ascends, Rev. 14:10, whose flames burn, Luke 16:24. That, therefore, to which the Holy Ghost has ascribed the name, the properties, and the effects of true fire, is not metaphorical, but fire properly so called. But to the infernal fire, etc. Therefore, etc. --But this will not be the element of fire, but that which is alto- gether peculiar. Ordinary fire burns only bodies; the infernal fire will act also upon souls. The former ceases when fuel fails; the latter does not stand in need of nourishment properly so called. But to desire to explain the nature of infernal fire more explicitly, is a matter of curiosity rather than of profit." [5] QUEN. (I, 564): (A property of these evils is) "eternal continuance, which will augment the punishments of the damned beyond any measure. The sufferings will be continuous, i.e., they will have no inverval, no interruption; they will be eternal, they will have no end, Is. 34:10; 66:24; Rev. 14:11; 20:10; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17." Of the time in which the suffer- ---------------End of Page 659----------------------------------- ings will begin, HOLL.: "The tortures of hell will befall the souls of the damned, as soon as they have departed from the body. Luke 16." [6] HFRFFR. (695): "Life eternal is the ineffable, greatest, and purest happiness, which believers, when their glorious and spiritual bodies have been received, being freed from every sin and bodily infirmity, will, with the holy and blessed angels, eternally enjoy God Himself, without end, satiety or disturbance. This felicity is called, and is, life eternal." GRH. (XX, 340): "What life eternal is can be known, from the revelation of the Word, in a general and obscure (ainigmatikos) manner, viz., that it is the most blessed and felicitous state of the godly, into which being transferred after this life, they will see God face to face, and, free from every trouble, will live and reign in eternal joy and glory, and in ineffable felicity; but, in the infirmity of this life, this cannot be known specifically and exactly, because `eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,' Is. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9." Synonymous expressions with eternal life are: simply life, Ezek. 18:9; Matt. 7:14; 18:8; the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 5:20; 7:21; the kingdom prepared from the foun- dation of the world, Matt. 25:34; an inheritance, Acts 20:32; Gal. 3:18; Eph. 1:14; the joy of the godly, John 16:22. QUEN. (I, 551): "That this life exists, is evident from Job 19:25; Ps. 16:5, 6, 9, 11; 17:15; 36:9; Is. 65:17, 18; Dan. 12:2, 3; Matt. 25:46; John 5:29; 10:28." [7] Grades of happiness, therefore are assumed; but what one enjoys, in addition to that enjoyed by others, is described as something accessory, while all alike share in essentially the same salvation. Comp. AP. CONF. III, 234. QUEN. (I, 559): "As to accessory rewards, the harmonious belief of the Orthodox Church is, that in life eternal there will be degrees of not essential but of accidental glory. Moreover, blessedness can be considered in a twofold manner, (1) with respect to its essence, which consists in the clear and intuitive knowledge of God, and thus there is no doubt that it belongs to all the blessed equally; (2) with respect to its accidents, in view of which the blessed are not altogether equal, and thus, while there will be the same essential blessedness to all, there will be, nevertheless, some difference in accidental endow- ments.... But there will be some difference and inequality among the blessed, not only with respect to the brilliancy and splendor of their bodies, but also with respect to their position (sessio) and other accessory rewards. For, in life eternal, in addi- -----------------End of Page 660----------------------------------- tion to essential blessedness, upon some saints there will be con- ferred various ornaments of soul and body, Dan. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15: 41, 42." But: "The cause of this inequality must be sought, not in human merits, but in the most free distribution and the gratui- tous promise of divine kindness." [8] HOLL. (456): "Our eternal and highest blessedness consists in the perfect sight and enjoyment of God. The former is an operation of the intellect, the latter of the will. By the former we obtain possession of God as the highest good; by the latter we per- fectly enjoy and repose in the same. The beatific sight of God is an act of the intellect illumined with the light of glory, by which it perceives God clearly and immediately, and as He is in Himself. The enjoyment of God is an act of the will, by which the blessed, in the heavenly country, most eagerly embrace God as the highest good, most delightfully comprehend Him, and are most fully satis- fied with Him, Ps. 17:15. Inseparably accompanying the beatific sight and enjoyment of God, will be the most ardent love to God, the most complete joy (Matt. 25:23; Ps. 16:11), the eternal cele- bration of the divine name, Rev. 4:8, anamartesia, or immunity from the danger of sinning, and the most constant holiness, Eph. 5:27; Rev. 19:4." QUEN;. (I, 553): "The form" (of life eternal) "consists, gener- ally speaking, in the ineffable, most full, and never-ending recep- tion of incomprehensible blessings. The blessings of life eternal are either privative or positive. The privative blessings are the absence of sin and of the causes of sin, viz., the flesh inciting, the devil suggesting, the world seducing, and of the punishments of sin, such as various calamities, Ps. 116:7-9; Is. 25:8; 49:10; Rev. 21:4; temporal death, Is. 25:8; Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:26; Rev. 2:7; 21:4; eternal death, Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:26; Rev. 2:11; 20:14. Here also belongs immunity from the affections and actions of the animal body as such; such are hunger, thirst, eating, drinking, the use of marriage, etc., Rev. 7:16; 1 Cor. 6: 13: Matt. 22:30; 1 Cor. 15:42, 42. Some of the positive blessings of life eternal are internal, others are external. The internal blessings belong to the entire composite being, and affect both body and soul of the blessed, among which the beatific and immediate sight of God is prominent. The internal blessings of either part of the composite being, belong either to the soul or to the body. Those of the soul are, (1) the perfect enlightenment of the intellect, 1 Cor. 13:9, 10; (2) complete rectitude of the will and appetite, Ps. 17:15; Eph. 4: 24; 5:27; (3) the highest security concerning the perpetual dura- tion of this blessedness, John 16:22. Those of the body are, (1) ----------------End of Page 661------------------------------------- Spirituality, 1 Cor. 15:44, 47; Matt. 22:30; Luke 20:36; Phil. 3:21; (2) Invisibility, 1 Cor. 15:44; (3) Impalpability, 1 Cor. 15:44, 47; (4) Illocality (ib.); (5) Subtilty (ib.); (5) Agility, 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:44; (7) Impassibility, Rev. 7:16; 21:4; (8) Immortality and incorruptibility, 1 Cor. 15:42-48, 53; 2 Cor. 5:4; Rev. 21:4 (9) Strength and soundness, 1 Cor. 15:43; (10) Brilliance, Dan. 12:3; Matt. 13:43; 1 Cor. 15:41, 42; (11) Beauty, 1 Cor. 15:43; Phil. 3:21. The external blessings are those which the blessed experience deeply outside of themselves. Of these, two are chief; the most delightful intercourse with God (Luke 23:43; John 12:26; 14:3; 17:24; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 4:17; Rev. 14:4; 21:3), and the angels (Heb. 12:22), and all the blessed (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:28, 29; Heb. 12:23), consisting in mutual presence and the most agreeable conversations, and rendering of mutual honor joined with mutual love; and a most beautiful and magnificent abode." Two other questions here naturally follow: "(1) Whether the saints, therefore, will recognize each other in the life to come? (2) Whether the joy of life eternal will be clouded by the fact that the blessed will see many of their most intimate friends tortured in hell?" The first question, HFRFFR. answers (699): "Certainly. Because, the perfect image of God in which we have been created being restored, we will be endowed also with perfect wisdom and knowledge. Hence, if Adam, before the Fall, immediately recog- nized his rib as Eve, much more, in the life to come, when all these gifts will be far more perfect, we will recognize each other, Luke 16:23; Matt. 17:1." The second, HUTT. (Comp. Th., 318) as follow: "Not at all, for the will of the blessed shall in all things concur with that of God. Such carnal affections, which are the sign of our weakness in this life, will entirely cease in the life to come, when our love will extend only to those who are beloved of God, and whom He has made heirs of everlasting life. But in the damned, they will supremely admire and eternally praise the exalted justice of God." [GRH. (XIX, 498): "God loved the human race far more ardently than in this life any parent can love his own son, be- cause He gave His only begotten Son unto death for the world. Nevetheless, His happiness and joy are in no way disturbed by the sight of the damned, Prov. 1:26."] [9] GRH. (XX, 341): "By the name Heaven, that certain place (pou) is to be understood, in which the blessed will see God, and perfectly enjoy the heavenly glory and pleasure, Matt. 5:12; 6:20; Luke 6:23; 12:33; 1 Pet. 1:4." -----------------End of Page 662------------------------------------- [On the practical use of this doctrine, GRH. (XX, 528): "The doctrine concerning the Heaven of the blessed and eternal life is set forth in Holy Scripture, not that we may idly dispute as theorists, concerning the locality of Heaven, the beatific visiom, the proper- ties of glorified bodies; but that, as practical men, considering the promised joys of eternal life every day, aye every hour, aye every moment, we may keep closely to the way leading thither, and carefully avoid all that can cause delay or recall us from entrance into life eternal. In 2 Cor. 4:18, the godly are well described by the Apostle as looking not at ta blepomena, but at ta me blepomena. One of the ancients, who was asked what books he used in his daily studies, answered that he studied every day a book with three pages, one red, one black, one white; that on the red page he read of our Lord's passion, on the black, the torments of the lost, on the white, the joys of the glorified; and that from this study he derived more profit, than if he were to ponder all the works of the philosophers."] -------------------End of Page 663------------------------------------- This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by William Alan Larson and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (260) 452-3149 Fax: (260) 452-2126