Having studied the history of the Reformation, and the terrible errors of Romish theology that necessitated such a Reformation, we now present the the theology of the Reformation, the Biblical truths with which the Reformers countered the heresies of Rome.

Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos Anonymous

This book, as the Latin title indicates, is a vindication of resistance against tyrants. It was written in dangerous times, and therefore anonymously, but has been generally ascribed to Duplessis-Mornay, a Huguenot gentleman, who was an advisor to Henry IV. It is the classic Calvinist defense of the right of Christians to rise up against their persecutors, to overthrow tyranny, and to establish civil and religious liberty. Written during times of savage and cruel persecutions of the Huguenots, its purpose was to provide a Biblical and theological defense of resistance to such tyranny and of the right of the people to establish just governments over themselves. It as used not only to justify the Huguenot resistance in France, especially after the St. Bartholomew’s massacre, but also the resistance of the United Netherlands against the tyranny and in Inquisition of Spain. It also provided the theological justification for the Puritans who twice rose up and overthrew Stuart tyranny, in the 1640’s in the English civil war and later in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Finally, it was used by Americans to justify their resistance to the crown in the American Revolution. It was reprinted at all these historic occasions and always with profound effect.