The Calvinist International
In the dedicatory epistle to his De lege naturae, Niels Hemmingsen remarks that some might say that, because of the existence of contradictory laws among various commonwealths, justice is a matter of opinion, not nature. In most instances, then, it would be the opinion of the strong that would determine justice, because the strong would be […]
In the Enchiridion Theologicum (“Theological Handbook”), Niels Hemmingsen, in discussing man in the fallen state and the consequent necessity he has of faith in Christ for regeneration (which he identifies with the restoration of the image of God), quotes Augustine (De libero arbitrio 2.20.54) to strengthen his point: we must lay hold in faith of Jesus […]
I’ve been on a bit of a Hemmingsen kick lately. Look for that to continue indefinitely. In the first section of the “first class” of topics in his Enchiridion Theologicum, that dealing with the doctrine of God, he discusses the different ways in which we talk about God. One of these is to apply anthropomorphic language […]
Readers may be familiar with Nicholas of Lyra’s verse-couplet that is intended to aid in remembering the fourfold sense of Scripture: Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia. The literal sense teaches what happened, the allegorical what you are to believe, the moral what you are to do, the anagogical […]
Niels Hemmingsen begins his Enchiridion Theologicum (1557) with the claim that there exists a twofold knowledge of God, the universal (known to everyone) and the peculiar, or special (known only to the sons of God). For the knowledge of God that is universal, he cites Romans 1:18-20, and then comments that all the world’s a school […]
Last week I quoted from the dedicatory epistle of Nicolaus Hemmingius’ De lege naturae apodictica methodus (“Demonstrative Method Concerning the Law of Nature”). In this post, I give his “complete and just” definition of the law of nature from early on in the treatise proper. In his definition, it is clear that this law is universal, […]