January
1588 A.D. The
Confession of Guanabara signed by French Huguenots who were executed by Jesuit
priests.
The
Guanabara Confession of Faith
was the first Protestant writing in the Americas (1558). It was written by
French Huguenots, Jean du Bourdel, Matthieu Verneuil, Pierre Bourdon and André
la Fon, who were taken under arrest by Villegagnon, in Brazil, answering some
specific points given to them in writing. Within 12 hours after this confession
was written, its authors were hanged. The authors knew they were writing and
signing their own death sentence.
The
Confession of Guanabara
According
to the doctrine of St. Peter, the apostle, in his first letter, all Christians
must be ready to give an answer of the hope that they possess, with all
meekness and benevolence; we, the undersigned, Mr. Villegagnon, unanimously
(according to the measure of grace upon us bestowed by the Lord), are giving an
answer, point by point, as you have thus requested and ordained, beginning with
the first article:
We
believe in one God, immortal, invisible, creator of heaven and earth, and of
all things, visible and invisible, who is identified in three persons: Father,
Son and Holy Spirit; who constitute nothing else but the same substance in
essence, eternal and of the same will; the Father, source and beginning of all
good; the Son, eternally generated by the Father, who, in the fullness of time,
manifested Himself in the flesh to the world, being conceived by the Holy
Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, made under the law to rescue those that
were under it, in order that we would be received by adoption as God’s own
sons; the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, teacher of all
truth, speaking through the mouths of the prophets, bringing the things that
were said by our Lord Jesus Christ to the apostles. He is the only comforter in
affliction, imparting steadfastness and perseverance in all good.
We believe that it is necessary to worship
solely, perfectly love, cry to and call upon the majesty of God in faith, and
in a personal manner.
Worshiping
our Lord Jesus Christ, we are not separating one nature from the other, but
confess both natures, namely: the inseparable divine and human natures.
We
believe, concerning the Son of God and concerning the Holy Spirit, that which
the Word of God and apostolic doctrine and the symbol teach us.
We
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead, in
a visible and human form, as He ascended to heaven, executing such judgment in
the form which has been predicted in the 25th chapter of Matthew;
and that the Father has given Him, being man, all power to judge.
And concerning what we say in our prayers, that
the Father will come at last in the Person of the Son, we understand, by that,
that the power of the Father, given to the Son, will be manifested in this
judgment; nevertheless we do not want to confuse the persons, knowing that they
are distinct one from another.
We
believe in the holy sacrament of the Supper, as corporal figures of bread and
wine, and that faithful souls are actually fed with the very substance of our
Lord Jesus, as our bodies are fed by food; thus, we do not understand the
saying that the bread and wine are actually transformed or transubstantiated in
their body, because the bread continues with its nature and substance; likewise
the wine, there is no change or alteration.
We differentiate, nevertheless, this bread and
wine from other bread and wine dedicated to the common usage, understanding
that these are, for us, sacramental signs, under which truth is infallibly
received. The reception of this truth, however, is not possible except by
faith, and it is not proper to imagine anything carnal, nor to prepare the
teeth to eat, as we learn from Saint Augustine, when he says, "Why do you
prepare the teeth and the stomach? Believe, and you have eaten."
The sign, therefore, does not give us the truth
nor the signified thing; but our Lord Jesus Christ, by His power, virtue and
goodness, feeds and preserves our souls and makes them share in His own flesh
and blood, and all His benefits.
Let us see the interpretation of the words of
Jesus Christ: "This is my body." Tertullian, in his fourth book Against Marcion, explains
these words: "this is the sign and the figure of my body."
St. Augustine says, "The Lord didn’t avoid
saying—'This is my body,' when he was merely giving a sign of his body."
Therefore (as it is ordained in the first canon
of the Nicean Council), in this holy sacrament, we should not imagine anything
fleshly, nor distract ourselves with the bread and wine, which are in them
proposed as signs, but lift our spirits to heaven so that we can contemplate,
by faith, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God,
His Father.
In this sense we could subscribe to the article
of the Ascension, alongside many other statements of Saint Augustine, which we
omit for we fear they are too lengthy.
We
believe that if it was necessary to add water to the wine, the gospel writers
and Saint Paul would not have omitted such an important matter.
And as what the earlier doctors have observed
(concerning the blood mixed with water that flowed from Jesus Christ’s side,
considering that such an observance has no basis in Scripture, and seeing that
this happened after the institution of the Lord’s Supper), we cannot
necessarily admit this practice today.
We
believe that there is no other consecration except that which is performed by
the minister, when he celebrates communion, when he speaks to the people, in a
known tongue, the literal institution of this Supper, as per the form
prescribed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, admonishing the people as to the
death and passion of our Lord. Even as it is taught by St. Augustine,
consecration is the word of faith that is preached and received in faith.
Therefore, it follows that the words secretly pronounced about the signs cannot
be their consecration, as it appears from the institution that our Lord left to
His apostles, speaking His words to His disciples who were there, present, whom
He ordered to take and eat.
The
Holy Sacrament of the Supper is not food for the body as it is for the souls
(for we cannot conceive anything fleshly about them, as we declared in the
fifth article) which receives them by faith, which is not carnal.
We
believe that baptism is a sacrament of repentance, and is an entry into the
Church of God, so that we can be incorporated in Jesus Christ. It represents to
us the remission of all our sins, past and future, which is fully acquired only
through the death of our Lord Jesus.
Moreover, the mortification of our flesh is
there represented, and the washing, represented by the water sprinkled on the
child, is the sign and seal of the blood of our Lord Jesus, who is the true
purification of our souls. Its institution is taught to us in the Word of God,
which the saints have observed, using water in the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. As to exorcisms, abjurations of Satan, confirmation, spit
and salt, we record these as traditions of men, and we are pleased, only, with
the form and institution left by our Lord Jesus.
As
to free will, we believe that the first man, created in the image of God, had
freedom and will, both to do good as well as evil. Only he knew what was free
will, for he was possessed of full abilities. Nevertheless, he did not even
keep this gift of God, for it was taken away from him on account of his sin,
and from all that descend from him, such that no one from the seed of Adam has
a spark of good.
For this reason, Saint Paul says that the
natural man does not understand the things of God. And Hosea cries to the
children of Israel: "You have fallen by your iniquity." And we
understand that this is true about the man that is not regenerated by the Holy
Spirit.
As to the Christian man, baptized in the blood
of Jesus Christ, who walks in newness of life, our Lord Jesus Christ restores
to him free will, and reforms his will for all good works; nevertheless, not in
perfection, for the performing of good will is not in his power, but comes from
God, as fully this holy Apostle declares, in the seventh chapter of Romans,
saying, "but to will is present with me, but to perform that which is
good, I find not."
The man predestined to eternal life, even
though he sins on account of his human frailty, nevertheless cannot fall into
impenitence.
Speaking about this, St. John says that he does
not sin because His seed remains in him.
We
believe that forgiveness of sins belongs only to the Word of God, of which,
says St. Ambrose, man is just the minister; therefore, if he condemns or
absolves, it is not him, but that which is announced by the Word of God.
St. Augustine, in this area, says that it is
not by merits of men that sins are forgiven, but by virtue of the Holy Spirit.
For the Lord said to his apostles, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," and
he adds, "whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them,
etc."
Cyprian says that a servant cannot forgive an
offence against the Lord.
As
to imposition of hands, this has served its time, and there is no need of
preserving it now, for through the imposition of hands one cannot bestow the
Holy Spirit, for this belongs only to God.
As to ecclesiastical orders, we believe that
which has been written by St. Paul in the first letter to Timothy and in other
places.
The
separation between a man and a woman legitimately united by marriage cannot be
done, except on account of adultery, as is taught by our Lord (Mathew 19:5).
And not only is this cause for separation, but also, with the cause properly
examined by authorities, the non-guilty party, if cannot contain himself,
should marry, as it is taught by St. Ambrose, on the seventh chapter of the
first letter of Corinth. The authority, however, must proceed in this matter
with mature counsel. [NB. Remarriage while
one's spouse is living is forbidden (Rom. 7:2-3; I Cor. 7:39). Click here for
the biblical doctrine of marriage and remarriage.]
St.
Paul, when teaching that the overseer must be the husband of one wife, is not
saying that another marriage is not proper, but he is condemning bigamy, which
attracted many in those days; nevertheless, we will leave the concluding
judgment on this matter to ones more knowledgeable in the Holy Scriptures, and
we will not base our opinion in this matter solely on our faith.
It
is not right to vow a promise to God, unless it is that which He approves. In
this way the monastic vows tend to corrupt the true service to God. It is also
a fearful thing for a man in presumption to vow something beyond the measure of
his calling, seeing that Scripture teaches us that continence is a special gift
(Matthew 19 and I Corinthians 7). Therefore, it follows that those who impose
on themselves this necessity, renouncing matrimony throughout all their lives,
cannot be excused of extreme temerity and excessive and insolent confidence in
themselves.
And through this means, they tempt God,
considering that the gift of continence is, in some, merely temporal, and that
which is temporal does not last throughout a whole life. Thus, monks, priests,
and others who oblige themselves to live in chastity, tempt God, for it is not
in themselves to fulfill what they have promised. St. Cyprian, in his chapter
eleven, says, "If virgins dedicate themselves in good will to Christ, they
persevere in chastity without defect; if they so remain, strong and constant,
they can expect the reward prepared for their virginity; if they do not want or
cannot persevere in their vow, it is better for them to marry than to be thrown
into the fire of luxury, on account of its pleasures and delights." As to
the passage written by St. Paul, it is true that the widows separated to take
care of the church would submit to a vow of not marrying again while they would
be engaged in those duties; not because this would impart to them, or because
it would be attributed to them, any holiness, but because they would not be
able to perform those duties, if they were married; and, if they felt like
marrying, they should renounce that calling to which God had led them;
nevertheless, fulfilling the promises made in the church, without breaking the
promises made at baptism, in which this is included: "Every one should
serve God in the place where he has been called." Widows, therefore, did
not vow continence, for marriage was unbecoming to their duties, and they had
no other choice but to observe that. They were not so constrained to the point
that they were forbidden to marry and burn themselves, falling into infamy or
dishonesty.
But, to avoid such inconvenience, the Apostle
Paul, in the aforementioned chapter, forbids that they be allowed to vow such
vows unless they reached sixty years of age, which is an age generally
considered outside of the incontinence bracket. And he adds that the elect
should be married only once, so as in this manner they receive already an
approval of continence.
We
believe that Jesus Christ is our only mediator, intercessor and advocate, by
whom we have access to the Father, and that, justified by His blood, we will be
free from death; and reconciled by Him we will have full victory against death.
As to the saints who died, we say that they
desire our salvation and the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, and that the
number of elect is completed; nevertheless, we must not direct ourselves to
them, as intercessors to obtain something, because we would be disobeying the
commandment of God. As to us, the living, while we are united as members of one
body, we should pray one for another, as we are taught by many passages of
Scriptures.
As
to the dead, St. Paul, in the first letter to the Thessalonians, in its fourth
chapter, forbids us to mourn for them [excessively], for this is a pagan
custom, who have no hope of a resurrection. The Apostle does not command nor
teach us to pray for them, something which he would not have forgotten, if it
would be convenient. St. Augustine, speaking about Psalm 48, says that the
spirits of the dead receive according to what they have done in life; and that
if they have not done anything, and are still living, they will receive
nothing, when dead.
This
is the answer that we give to the articles that we have received from you,
according to the measure and proportion of faith, which God has given us,
praying that he may be pleased that this faith may not be found dead in us, but
bearing fruits worthy of His children, and that we may grow and persevere in
it, so that we will render praises and thanksgiving to Him forever. Amen.
Jean
du Bourdel, Matthieu Verneuil, Pierre Bourdon, André la Fon
More
about the story of the French Huguenots in Brazil, in English, can be found in:
The
Martyrs of Guanabara,
by John Gillies
ISBN:
9780802451873
ISBN10:
080245187X
Published:
Moody Press
Year of Publication:
1976
Edition:
Illustrated
Pages: 174
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