(Posted by William Boekestein)
Evan Hughes and I are in the middle of working on a fully illustrated children’s book on Guido de Bres (the above image is a preliminary sketch from the book). We’ve partnered with Reformation Heritage Books (RHB) to have the book published by Reformation Day of this year (October 31).
We thought readers might be interested, not only to learn about Guido but also to be included in the progress of the book.
The italicized text below is a brief introduction to Guido and his most famous work, The Belgic Confession. It is borrowed from The Psalter Hymnal (Grand Rapids: Publication Committee of the Christian Reformed Church, 1959).
The Belgic Confession is so-called because it originated in the Southern Netherlands, now known as Belgium. Its chief author was Guido de Bres (pronounced “Gweedo de Bray”), a preacher of the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in the year 1567. During the sixteenth century the churches in this country were exposed to the most terrible persecution by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this cruel oppression, and to prove to the persecutors that the adherents of the Reformed faith were no rebels, as was laid to their charge, but law-abiding citizens who professed the true christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures, de Bres prepared this Confession in the year 1561. In the following year a copy was sent to king Philip II, together with an address in which the petitioners declared that the were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to the stripes, their tongues to the knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the fire,” rather than deny the truth expressed in the Confession.
Although the immediate purpose of securing freedom from persecution was not attained, and de Bres himself fell as one of the many thousands who sealed their faith with their lives, his work has endured and will continue to endure for ages. In its composition the author availed himself to some extent of a Confession of the Reformed Churches in France, written chiefly by John Calvin and published two years earlier. The work of de Bres, however, is not a mere revision of Calvin’s work, but an independent composition. In the Netherlands it was at once gladly received by the churches, and adopted by the National Synods, held during the last three decades of the sixteenth century. After a careful revision, not of the contents but of the text, the great Synod of Dort in 1618-19 adopted this Confession as one of the Doctrinal Standards of the Reformed Churches, to which all office-bearers of the churches were required to subscribe. Its excellence as one of the best symbolical statements of Reformed doctrine has been generally recognized.
We believe that this story will be engaging for children and parents alike. But more importantly, it provides for us an example of the sacrificial nature of discipleship to which we are all called.
Those interested in reading Guido’s Belgic Confession can click here for a pdf version or request a bound copy (along with two other Reformation-era doctrinal statements and the ecumenical creeds) from our Free Books page.
To be continued…
