The Commentaries of M. Iohn Calvin / vpon the Actes of the Apostles

London: [Printed by Thomas Dawson] Impensis George Bishop, 1585. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to (180 x 130mm). [16], 298pp. [i.e. 598], [34] (P. 598 misnumbered 298). Signatures: A-2P(8); 2Q-2V(4). Edited by Henry Beveridge, Esq. Period calf rebacked with five raised bands, modern morocco label; (hinge splitting affecting first gathering, title in facsimile, slightly browned, lacking final blank). Period pen trials on the final verso leaf varying the phrase “For if thou” possibly beginning proverb.

1585 English translation of Calvin’s Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles; plentiful in spiritual gifts for the common good. Calvin’s Commentary was “faithfully translated” into English by Christopher Fetherstone, a student of Divinity; this forms the basis of the Calvin Translation Society’s edition. John Calvin, the father of modern reformed theology, was after Martin Luther a premiere leader in the Protestant movement. One of the goals of Calvin’s reformed thought was to unite a people with a sense of community and concern for one another – he did especially by commenting on the imperative parts of the Gospel which motivated readers to contribute generously to common interest. The present commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is more historical than doctrinal; and hence does not contain so much profound theological discussion as some of Calvin’s other Commentaries. The leading topic is the progress of the Gospel under the inspired teachers to whom its first propagation was entrusted and the Constitution of the Apostolic Church, including privileges enjoyed by its members. To this latter point the controversy is especially directed. From Spurgeon’s “Commenting and Commentaries” (1876), quoting Arminius, “I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scripture, and that his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that is handed down to us by the Library of the Fathers; so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, or rather above all other men, what may be called an eminent gift of prophecy’” The Translation appears to be well executed. It is, perhaps, not so strictly literal as that of the Commentary on the Romans, which the Calvin Society has already published; but any difference, in this respect, is more than compensated by the general superiority of its style. There are occasional obscurities or mistranslations which the editor has endeavored, as in the Commentary on the Romans, to remove by footnotes; but, on the whole, it is believed that the present Translation will not suffer by comparison with that of any Theological Translation of the same period. ESTC locates 13 copies in North America institutions and 12 in the United Kingdom. STC (2nd ed.), 4398.