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Introduction

Part of the power and enduring value of our confessions isthe fact that they arose out of the life of the church. Theywere not drawn up by men sitting in ivory towers, contemplatingthe truth of Scripture, but far removed from the battle for thefaith. They breath the life of the church's struggles.

The Heidelberg Catechism was written in the strugglesbetween Calvinism on the one hand and Lutheranism and Romanism onthe other hand, as these struggles were bitterly fought out inFrederick's Palatinate. The Canons of Dordt arose out of thefierce battle with Arminianism which all but engulfed thechurches in the Netherlands in the first part of the 17thcentury. TheConfession of Faith(Sometimes called, The BelgicorNetherlands Confession) was written during and reflects thebitter persecution of the saints in the Lowlands in the earlyyears of the Reformation.

It is this persecution, in the midst of which it waswritten, that gives to theConfession of Faith its moving power. The affirmations of the confession, "We all believe ..."; "Weconfess ..."; "We believe and profess ..." take on new meaningwhen we understand that they are shouts that arise fromscaffolds, burning piles of tinder, deep prison cells, and crueltorture chambers.

Its author, Guido de Brès, died on the scaffold for hisfaith. To his story we know turn.

Early Life And Conversion

Guido de Brès was born in Mons in 1522, the fourth child ofa family of glass painters. In Mons the art of glass paintinghad been highly developed, and Mons deservedly had aninternational reputation for the skill of its artists. Guidohimself was trained for this work.

Guido's family carried on the traditions of the guilds inMons, although the children were split on Reformation doctrine. John, the oldest, while remaining Roman Catholic all his life,helped Protestants in times of persecution. Christophe was aseller of glassware, but spent his entire life distributingBibles and Protestant literature, often at great risk to hislife. Jerome became a cloth dyer and remained within the RomishChurch. Marlette, the only girl, married a Protestant inValenciennes and, with her husband, was deeply involved inProtestant affairs.

The city of Mons was on the border of France and theLowlands, that part of the Lowlands which is now Belgium. HereLutheranism had first come and had been eagerly studied by thecitizens; but the Hugenots from France soon followed with thepurer Reformation doctrines of John Calvin.

Guido, already in his teens, heard from others Reformationtruths and could not help but listen to the stories of those who,already then, were being killed for the sake of the gospel. Hewas only 14 when the news reached him of Tyndale's cruelmartyrdom. It may have been Tyndale's willingness to die for thesake of translating the Bible into the language of the peoplethat led Guido to study the Scriptures. But it was through thisstudy that God led him to true faith in Jesus Christ.

Guido decided, perhaps because of persecution in theLowlands, to go to London and join a refugee Church in EastLondon. East London was a haven for refugees from many differentcountries in Europe who were forced to flee because ofpersecution. And so in that part of London could also be found aWalloon congregation composed of French-speaking citizens of theLowlands, to which Guido joined himself. The refugees had peacein England because of the benign rule of Edward VI who, thoughyoung, favored Protestantism. Here he studied for the ministryand listened to the powerful preaching of the great Reformers áLasco and Martin Bucer.

Work In The Lowlands

But Guido's love was for his native land, and in 1552 at theage of 30, he returned -- as an evangelist and travelingpreacher. From that moment on his life was in almost constantdanger.

His first field of labor was the city of Lille, in which alarge secret Protestant community had been established under thename, the Church of the Rose. From Lille he went to Ghent, wherehe published a tract entitledLe Báton de la foi ("The Staff ofthe Faith"), a stirring defense of the Reformed faith.

Guido enjoyed a brief interlude at this time. Traveling toFrankfurt in Germany, Guido met Calvin and was persuaded to cometo Geneva. In the three years he spent in Geneva, Guido learnedthe Reformed faith more perfectly, mastered Greek and Hebrewunder Beza and Calvin, and was more fully equipped for the gospelministry. During this period (1559), he also married CatherineRamon and with her had four or five children, the oldest namedIsrael, and the second, Sara.

While Guido was in Geneva, Charles V retired, weary andcareworn, to a monastery in Spain, and his cruel son Philip IIcame to the throne. Philip was determined to stamp out all"heresy," especially in the Lowlands. While, therefore, up tothis time persecution had been sporadic and relatively light, itnow became more severe and bitter.

de Brès, after returning again to the Lowlands, was forcedto travel in disguise and under the pseudonym of Jerome. Although the cities in southern Belgium and northern France(Lille, Antwerp, Mons) were the area of his labor, hisheadquarters was in Doornik where he ministered to thecongregation which had chosen as its name, the Church of thePalm.

Here two former ministers had been burned at the stake fortheir faith; here the congregation knew de Brès only as "Jerome";here the meetings of the congregation were always held in secretand at night, with small groups of not more than 12 attending atone time.

In spite of the problems which the congregation faced, deBrès organized the church with elders and deacons and faithfullyadministered the sacraments.

But even this situation did not remain, for a more radicalgroup of the believers, under the leadership of Robert du Four,thought it cowardly and unfaithful to Christ to keep their faithsecret. The group, several hundred strong, moved in publicprocession through the city singing Psalms in open defiance ofthe authorities. The next night, September 30, 1561, 500Protestants gathered for the same purpose. The result was thatRoman Catholic investigators were sent with orders to suppressProtestantism in the city.

Although Guido managed to hide until December and flee insafety, all the information of the secret congregation wasdiscovered, Guido's true identity was found out, the people ofthe church were forced to flee or be killed, and Guido's roomswere ransacked and his papers (including letters from Calvin)were burned. Guido was hanged in effigy.

Guido concentrated his work for several years in northernFrance, perhaps some of the quietest years of his ministerialcareer. Although also in France persecution against the Hugenotsraged, in Guido's area the church had peace. He worked inAmiens, Montdidier, Dieppe, and Sedan, building up thecongregations and preaching faithfully the gospel.

But he could not refrain from making periodic trips into hisown country, a "lion's den" of danger. He traveled three timesto Doornik, his old congregation, once to Brussels to meet withWilliam of Orange concerning matters of union between Calvinistsand Lutherans, once to a secret Synod of the Reformed Churchesheld in Antwerp (the password for entry was "Vineyard") where deBrès' Confession was adopted as the official confession of theReformed Churches.

In 1566 de Brès went to Valenciennes to become a preacher inthe church there, a congregation which called itself the Churchof the Eagle. While the Protestant faith grew so rapidly thatthe Roman Catholic authorities dared not interfere in thereligion of God's people, certain radical elements once againstepped forward and created trouble. Stirring up large mobs,they went through all the cathedrals smashing, burning,destroying anything that in the least smelled like popery. Philip II, infuriated at this, sent troops to lay siege to thecity, which surrendered on Palm Sunday, 1567. Although de Brèsescaped with four companions, he was soon captured andimprisoned.

His Martyrdom and Importance

de Brès spent the first part of his captivity in a prison inDoornik, where he could receive visitors. Many of his visitors,however, were enemies who came to taunt him. But just as was thecase with the apostle Paul (Philippians 1:12-14), Guido'simprisonment became an occasion for him to witness to the truth. When a princess, along with many young court ladies, came tomock, and the princess said in horror at Guido's heavy chains,"My God, Mr. de Brès, I don't see how you can eat, drink, orsleep that way. I think I would die of fear, if I were in yourplace," Guido responded: "My lady, the good cause for which Isuffer and the good conscience God has given me make my breadsweeter and my sleep sounder than those of my persecutors." And,then, still responding to the princess, "It is guilt that makes achain heavy. Innocence makes my chains light. I glory in themas my badges of honor."

Soon Guido was transferred to Valenciennes and thrown into adark, cold, damp, rat-infested dungeon known as The Black Hole. In spite of the cold, the hunger, the horror of this hole, Guidowrote a tract on the Lord's Supper and letters to his friends,his aged mother, and his wife. A letter to his wife is anespecially moving testimony of his faith.

My dear and well-beloved wife in our Lord Jesus.

Your grief and anguish are the cause of mywriting you this letter. I most earnestly pray younot to be grieved beyond measure . . . . We knew whenwe married that we might not have many years together,and the Lord has graciously given us seven. If theLord had wished us to live together longer, he couldeasily have caused it to be so. But such was not hispleasure. Let his good will be done . . . . Moreover, consider that I have not fallen into thehands of my enemies by chance, but by the providenceof God . . . . All these considerations have made myheart glad and peaceful, and I pray you, my dear andfaithful companion, to be glad with me, and to thankthe good God for what he is doing, for he does nothingbut what is altogether good and right . . . . I prayyou then to be comforted in the Lord, to commityourself and your affairs to him, he is the husband ofthe widow and the father of the fatherless, and hewill never leave nor forsake you . . . .

Good-bye, Catherine, my well-beloved! I pray myGod to comfort you, and give you resignation to hisholy will. Your faithful husband, Guido de Brès.

Guido was publicly hanged on May 31, 1567 at the age of 47. He was pushed off the ladder while comforting the crowd which hadgathered and urging them to faithfulness to the Scriptures. Hisbody was left hanging the rest of the day and buried in a shallowgrave where dogs and wild animals dug it up and consumed it.

Guido de Brès is the author of ourConfession of Faith,although he was assisted by Adrien de Saravia (professor oftheology in Leyden), H. Modetus (chaplain of William of Orange),and G. Wingen. It was written in the vain hope that it wouldpersuade the cruel Philip II to see that the views of theCalvinists were truly biblical and to stop persecution againstthem. Roman Catholics had lumped the Calvinists with the radicaland wild-eyed Anabaptists who rejected the authority ofmagistrates, and the Confession sets the Reformed faith overagainst Anabaptism.

The Confession was thrown over the wall in Doornik andultimately did reach the king but it served only to arouse Philipto greater fury against the saints of God.

In a letter which was added to the Confession, Guido and hisco-workers protested being called rebels. They solemnly averredthat though they number over 100,000 and were cruelly oppressedby "excommunications, imprisonments, banishments, racks, andtortures, and other numberless oppressions which they hadundergone," they obeyed their government in all things lawful,and that "having the fear of God before their eyes, and beingterrified by the threatening of Christ, who had declared in theGospel that he would deny them before God the Father, in casethey denied him before men, they therefore offered their backs tostripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and theirwhole bodies to the fire."

From this spilled blood God caused to emerge a confession offaith which has held a special place in the hearts of Reformedbelievers. It is as if, knowing that the confession was writtenin blood, the saints receive it as a sacred trust, precious andvibrating yet with the faith of their fathers.

Our fathers bothknew what they believed andwere faithfulto it, even to death. We have received, by the Spirit of truth,the glorious fruit which God worked through them. It isentrusted to our care that we may be faithful to it and teach itto our children.