Louis de Berquin



Louis de Berquin was a French reformer in the 16th century. He desired to free France from the pope. He started by accusing the divinity professors at the Sorbonne1 of heresy. When his friends thought that he was about to be arrested, they urged him to make his escape. He refused because he thought that flight would be admitting that he committed a crime.2 He was arrested in March of 1529. When one of his friends begged him to ask pardon, he said this: “Truth before all things! We must fear neither man nor torture, but render all obedience to God. I will persevere to the end; I will not pray the leader of this good war for my discharge.”3 He was strangled by order of the court April 22th, 1529.


1 University of Paris

2 As quoted in J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) volume 1, p. 432

3 As quoted in Ibid, volume 2, p. 40

Hilton Head


On the week of January 1st, we went to Hilton Head Island with my paternal grandparents. They rented bikes for us, and we rode them on the beach and the bike paths. The ocean was very cold, but we waded in it for a little while. We visited the lighthouse, and Daddy, Stephen and I climbed to the top. We also visited a historic plantation. One thing we learned is that Hilton Head is where they got the live oak trees that they used to build the U.S.S. Constitution (aka Old Ironsides) during the war of 1812. Live oak trees are very hard, which is why cannon balls bounced off the Constitution's side during battle, earning it the title Old Ironsides. Here are some pictures:


Rachel and Stephen wading in the ocean


The Lighthouse


Stephen and Daddy on the top of the lighthouse


Mommy, Grandma and Rachel from the top of the Lighthouse



Here we are at Honey Horn Plantation


Stephen and I are in a Live Oak Tree


Stephen throwing the Frisbee on the beach

Finally, Snow!: The Snowball fight

Yesterday Joshua and I had two snowball fights. The first fight I was defending my fort against Joshua's attacks. He never drove me out of my fort so I won. The second fight I chose a different fort, and he attacked a couple times and could not drive me out so he retreated to his fort to attack me again. We were on opposite sides of a building, so I creeped around the back of the building, and when I was at the corner he went to attack my fort, but when he saw that I was not there, he turned around, and saw me knocking his supply of snow over, and threw snowballs at me so I retreated. I did it again, but not with as much success, so I ran up onto our deck and started throwing snowballs at him from there. I repulsed his charges three times, but he made it up on the next charge. I did not have enough time to make snowballs, so I was just throwing snow in his face, and whenever I did it, he would turn around and wipe the snow off his face, so I had time to get more. Finally, he did not turn around when I hit him and he started throwing snow down my hood, and since the snow we threw on each other was starting to melt, we went inside, and declared Joshua the victor of the second battle. Here are some pictures of the second battle:
Joshua throwing snow at me:

Me working on my fort
Me with my shovel

My fort

Finally, Snow!

We finally have snow in NC! We woke up and we looked out the window(because snow was predicted,) and there it was. Joshua and I immediately went out and started playing. We had two snow fights, the first one was won by me, and the second by Joshua. Here are some pictures we took of the snow:
Our cat(she got a vole)


Our road


Our yard


Our fort


Our roof


Our car (it was half-scraped for ammunition)


Snow on the ground


Snow on a plant


Snow on the roof



Snow in a pile

Blogging the Reformers: Philibert Berthelier

J. H. Merle D'Aubigne

This year I am reading History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne because this year is the 500th aniversary of the birth of John Calvin. We are also planning on attending the Reformation 500 Celebration by Vision Forum Ministries. For a book report on this book, I am writing a paragraph on the important reformation figures that D'Aubigne writes about in his book. My first one is on Philibert Berthelier.


Philibert Berthelier

Philibert Berthelier was a Swiss Patriot in the town of Geneva in the 16th century. He defended the liberties of the city of Geneva against the Duke of Savoy, who wished to unlawfully rule the city. When he was about the be arrested, he fled Geneva and went to Friburg, a Swiss city, to ask if they would protect Geneva. In this he was successful, and the city of Geneva made a treaty with Friburg. He later returned to Geneva, and was arrested by the bishop, who hoped that by killing him he would destroy the desire for independence in Geneva. Berthelier said,


I am accused of being a marplot because I ask for justice; - a good-for-nothing, because I defend liberty against the enterprises of usurpers; - a conspirator against the bishop's life, because they conspire against mine.1


When he was about to be killed, he trusted in the Lord, even though he was a Catholic2. He was beheaded by the bishop of Geneva on August 23, 1519, and his head was hung on a tree as a warning to the other Genevans. D'Aubigne says this, “[Bethelier's] death has not been useless to the universal cause of civilization.”3


1 As quoted in J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) v. 1 p. 143

2 Ibid, p. 191-192

3 Ibid, p. 198


Three of Knox's most important traits that were used by God in the Scottish Reformation and how were they used


based on Trumpeter of God by William Stanford Reid

The author of Trumpeter of God is William Stanford Reid. John Knox was a godly man who was one of the important reformers in the Scottish Reformation. One of the things that he is most known for is his book, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Regime of Monstrous Women. He is also known for his conversations with Mary Queen of Scots about the sermons he had preached before her. Some of the most important characteristics to the Scottish Reformation he showed in his life were respect for authority, boldness, and trust in God. It seems that without these characteristics the Reformation in Scotland would not have been nearly as useful as it was, but it is clear that God provided it with John Knox who was one of the main figures in it.


John Knox's first trait that will be discussed is respect for authority. This was one of the traits that was important to John Knox in his conversations with Mary Queen of Scots. John Knox was one of the of people who agreed that Mary should be dethroned for not doing her duty towards the people, but he also said that she should be restored to her throne if she repented. This is what he said:

And therefore it shall be profitable to your Majesty to consider what is the thing your Grace's subjects look to receive of your Majesty, and what it is that ye ought to do unto them by mutual contract. They are bound to you and that not but in God. Ye are bound to keep the laws unto them. Ye crave of them service: they crave of you protection and defense against wicked doers. Now, Madam, if ye shall deny your duty unto them . . . think ye to receive full obedience of them? I fear Madam, ye shall not.1

Knox is saying why he thinks that she should be dethroned and his beliefs on her responsibility. In his first conversation with her about him preaching against princes rejoicing over the destruction of Christians which she believed was against her:

When Mary heard of his criticisms she promptly summoned Knox to Holyrood, where, surrounded by some of her court including Moray, Morton, and Lethington, and the guards who had reported his statements, she accused him of speaking irrelevantly of her, of stirring up the people against her, and exceeding the bounds of his text. Thereupon he proceeded to outline to her his sermon in which he had made no direct reference to her. Apparently realizing that she had no ground for complaint, she then spoke more kindly to him saying that if she did anything of which he did not approve he should come to her privately.2

Knox did not refuse to come to her, or tell her that he was right even if he did say things against her, but instead he kindly shows her how he was not speaking directly to her. Here it is seen that he respected the authority in his defense and in what he was being called about to do. Even though Knox respected the authority, he still was very bold in preaching the gospel and speaking the truth to Queen Mary.


The second characteristic was that John Knox was bold before Queen Mary and would not stop preaching when she told him to. “Knowing that [Mary's command for him to speak privately] would inhibit [Knox's] freedom to preach, he pointed out that he was called to the public ministry not to wait at princes' doors to whisper in their ears. If she wished to hear his views on any matter she could do so by attending the services in St. Giles.” 3 He would only speak the truth and not what people wanted him to say but what God wanted him to say. If he saw a problem with something he would preach a sermon on it; He did not care if whoever had the problem wanted him to preach against it even if it was the Queen. Queen Mary did not like this because if he saw a problem in her then he would preach a sermon against it and she did not like this because he revealed her sins to her and all of the rest of the nation. He believed that the church was a separate sphere of authority from the church and the civil government could not control the church. He did not think that the ruler should be able to make him be quiet or limit what he could preach. Because of this reason Mary tried to get him to stop preaching but he believed that God wanted him to speak the truth and was not afraid of Queen Mary's threats.


Here it is also see that John Knox trusted in God when Queen Mary threatened him so he was not afraid. After Queen Mary had threatened him, “some were surprised at his lack of fear, but his reply was, 'I have looked in the faces of many angry men, and yet have not been afraid above measure'. Mary had again failed to silence the one whom she regarded as the chief obstacle to her plans to re-establish [Roman-Catholicism] in Scotland.”4 This shows that he was not afraid of the threats by Mary, and also because the Parliament was in favor of him they would not let Queen Mary carry out her threats against him. The reason for this was that he feared God and he did not fear man's threats. He was not a man to preach what the rulers wanted him to. Mary did not like him speaking but there was no way that she could shut him up.


Here is an explanation of why respect for authority, boldness, and trusting in God were the most important traits that were useful to him in the Scottish Reformation and his conversations with Queen Mary. The respect for authority was one of the most useful traits in his conversations with Queen Mary, but he would not of been as useful to the Reformation if he had not preached his message with boldness. He would not have had so much boldness had it not been for his belief in God and his trust in him to protect him from his enemies. Because of this it seems that his trust in God was the most important trait because if he did not have it he would not have had the ability to be bold because he would not have had anything to trust in and Mary would not have called him if he had not spoken bold things which offended her.

  • 1William Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 229 Quoting John Knox

  • 2William Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 227

  • 3William Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 227

  • 4William Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 227-8



Click Here to buy Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox

Vision Forum Affilate Program



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The only bad part about it is that you only get paid when you get over $50.

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