DR. FESTUS HOMMIUS (1576-1642)

Festus Hommius was born on February 10,1576 in the little village of Jelsum, in Friesland, The Netherlands. He studied theology at Franeker (1593-1595), where he established an abiding friendship with his major professor, Sibrandus Lubbertus, with whom he also lived. Subsequently, he pursued theological studies in a French Huguenot college at La Rochelle (1595-1596), before completing his studies at Leiden (1596-1597) under Franciscus Junius and Franciscus Gomarus.

He was ordained into the ministry at the Friesian village of Dokkum (1599-1602), during which time he translated and published Ursinus’s renowned work on the Heidelberg Catechism Het Schat- Boek der Christelycke Leere ofte Uytlegginghe over den Catechismus). For the next century and beyond, the influence of this work was very great (cf. John Piatt, Reformed Thought and Scholasticism, pp. 90-96; T.D. Smid, “Bibliographische Opmerkingen over de Explicationes Catecheticae van Zacharias Ursinus,” Cereformeerd Theologisch Tijdschrift 41 [1940]: 228-43). In the third edition of this work (1617), Hommius added his own commentary on the Catechism in the form of tables which he inserted immediately prior to each question from the Lord’s Day.

In 1602, Hommius accepted a pastoral call to Leiden where he would remain for the last forty years of his life. Throughout these Leiden decades, Hommius became renowned in four major areas:

First, he immersed himself in numerous polemical controversies to defend Reformed Orthodoxy. Particularly, he served as one of the most capable leaders of the Contra-Remonstrant party. Early on, he became deeply involved in Reformed Orthodoxy’s battle with Ar-minius. He was already present in the May, 1603 conference held between Gomarus and Arminius, at which time he opposed Ar-minius’s conception of the nature of Cod. Further ecclesiastical meetings held in debate with Arminius at which Hommius took an active role took place in 1606,1608, and 1609. In the decade between Arminius’sdeath (1609) and the Synod of Dort (1619), Hommius’s opponents on the Arminian/Remonstrant side became Uytenbogaert, Crevichoven, Epis-copius, VandenBorre, Vorstius, and Dwinglo.

Hommius was also active in opposing Roman Catholicism. In 1614 he published LXX Disputationes theologicae adversus pon-tificios—a work against Roman Catholicism and Robert Bellarmine, a leading Jesuit dogmatist of the Counter Reformation.

In 1718 Hommius published one of his most renowned works, Specimen Controversiarum Belgicarum. The same year it was translated from Latin into Dutch under the title, Monster van de Neder-landsche Verschillen (i.e., Example of Dutch Controversies). Hommius’s goal in this work was to influence the minds of the foreign delegates to the forthcoming Synod of Dort by contrasting the Belgic Confession (article by article, without much commentary) with extracts from Remonstrant writings. (Surprisingly, it was not until 1652 that the first full-length commentary on the Belgic Confession was penned, namely, Foederatum Belgium Orthodoxum sive Confessionis Ecclesiarum Belgicarum Exegesis, by Samuel Maresius.)

Secondly, Hommius is renowned for his primary role at the Synod of Dort in 1618-1619, where he was stated clerk together with Damman. (Hommius was primarily responsible for Heads 2, 3, and 4 of the Canons.) Moreover, he was also very active in the debate over Maccovius, and was appointed to many additional tasks in connection with both Dutch and English magistrates, as well as writing assignments, such as a form for the calling of ministers, the various miscellaneous Acts of Synod in addition to the actual five heads of the Canons of Dort, and a substantial amount of work on the church’s liturgical forms.

Thirdly, Hommius was also appointed by the Synod of Dort (first as an alternate, and later as a primary delegate) to work on the translation and revision of the New Testament and Apocrypha (published in 1637 as the Statenvertaling, and akin to our King James Version). In this he was very active and fruitful, writing the annotations in the Statenvertaling for twelve books of Scripture.

Finally, Hommius was appointed principal of the State College at Leiden in 1619, at which time he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford. Once again, his leadership was effective and blessed by Cod. He retained this position for more than twenty years, when he was replaced by J. Revius one year before his death (1641) on account of declining strength. Through these busy, last two decades of his life, he continued to preach regularly in Leiden. Due to the lack of ministers in the 1630s, he penned an urgent call to serious-minded young men to ask for light with regard to a ministerial calling Bedenckingen op de verminderinge van de bursalen, 1632).

By the grace of Cod, Dr. Hommius led a full life in God’s service, using the talents his Master had provided him. In 1642, he may lay down his numerous labors on earth, and hear Christ’s supreme call, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Mt. 25:21). May God grant us holy jealousy of his life and portion, and like faithfulness to His Word and the precious doctrines of free, sovereign grace.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen