December, 2001

Dear Friends,

In these days of war, terrorism, tyranny and fear, we may have the impression the world is coming to an end, and that none of this has happened before. It is well to remember that, sadly, the annals of history are full of such dreadful realities, and that extended peacetime is rather the exception than the norm.

Yet we are not without the strong voices and wise counsel of saints who were remarkably used to testify to the great principles and virtues which can guides us through threatening times. One of them is Hubert Languet, the sixteenth century Huguenot who gave us Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos (“requisitions against tyrants”), a masterpiece of ethical writing on the subject of legitimate and illegitimate authority.

The day after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572) everything had changed. Kings and Princes could no longer be trusted, merely because they were in power. Languet, anonymously, took the pen, and eloquently described tyrants and their ways. They indulge in violence, use devious ways, seek above all to control the world. Change the names of his examples to Osama Bin Laden, and we have a harrowing, up to date portrait of the very embodiment of illegitimate authority. But the extraordinary feature of the Vindiciae is its appeal to the rule of law, under God, over all people, including rulers. It even defends the right to resist lawless kings: “For, if the welfare of the kingdom depends on the observation of the laws, and the laws are enthralled to the pleasure of one man, is it not most certain, that there can be no permanent stability in that government? But if the laws be superior to the king, and the king be tied in the same respect of obedience to the laws as the servant is to his master, who will not rather obey the law than the king, or will not readily yield his best assistance against those who seek to violate or infringe them?”

The rule of law, under God! As we come to the end of one of the most difficult and tragic years in our history, may we not lift our eyes to heaven, and remember the Bible’s teaching on the divine order? May we not trust that the lessons our Huguenot ancestors after 1572 are true for us after 2001? These views are being taught to the future leaders of the French church in the Seminary at Aix-en-Provence. You have been generous in the past. This year we ask for an extra sacrifice. It makes a strong statement for God’s grace and truth over against the rule of tyrants.

Very Truly Yours,

William Edgar, President