| | Guido De Bres' Other ConfessionMany people know that Belgian Reformer Guido (or Guy) de Bres was the author of the Belgic Confession. What few people don't realize is that this was not the only confessional document that he was involved with preparing. In 1564, de Bres was serving in France as a chaplain for the Duke of Sedan. The Duke sent him on a mission to Brussels to meet with certain high level political officials, one other Reformed minister, and a Lutheran delegation. The goal of this conference was to unite the Reformed and Lutheran churches in the Lowlands (and hopefully elsewhere) so as to present a united front against the power of the Roman Catholic Church.
The conference concluded without any agreement. However, de Bres went home with a copy of the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. This had been drawn up in a meeting of Reformed and Lutherans as a way to resolve their differences, particularly on the subject of the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. De Bres was charged by the Duke to study the Concord and to give his opinion.
In a letter to the Antwerp consistory in 1565, de Bres wrote that at first glance, the Wittenberg Concord may appear to be a bridge too far, but he was confident that it could be used partly as the basis for unity with the Lutherans. But there were other outstanding issues and those led de Bres to meet with two other pastors, Jean Taffin and Pierre vau Ceulen (Colonius). Meeting in Metz, they drafted a "confession" dealing with baptism and absolution. De Bres had high hopes for this confession and according to one biographer (Braekman), he was even willing to risk his life for it. It was sent to Geneva for review and then also to the Reformed churches of the Lowlands.
In the end, it was all for nothing. In Geneva, Theodore Beza was not all that impressed with the confession. In the Lowlands, it was decided to focus on unity with the Reformed churches in France, rather than on with the Lutherans.
Unfortunately, the confession does not appear to be extant. There are two sources for its existence. The main one is the July 10, 1565 letter of de Bres to the Antwerp consistory. The other is the August 24, 1565 letter of Beza to Jean Taffin.
The episode is insightful for it reveals the strong sentiments of de Bres with respect to his Lutheran brothers. Yes, it would have been politically expedient for them to unite, but more than that, they belonged together. Throughout his writings (including the Belgic Confession), de Bres emphasized the antithesis between true and false religion. The Anabaptists and Roman Catholics were essentially the world, on the dark side of the antithesis. Not so for the Lutherans. The Lutherans were regarded as close allies in the work of Reformation. There were outstanding issues between them, but these were not viewed as insurmountable. It is for shame that they became insurmountable with the march of history.
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| | Posted 7/16/2008 10:05 AM - 76 views - 0 comments
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