Institutio christianae religionis, ab ipso authore anno 1559, & in libros quatuor digesta....Cum...opera N(icolas) Colladonis tunc contexto...duo indices ab Augustino Marlorato collecti anno 1562...accesserunt autem hac editione...hoc anno N. Collado(nis) sacrarum literarum Professor in schola Lausannensi...reddit epistola...in ipso libri initio.

Lausanne, François Le Preux, 1576. (16), 380, (72) leaves. With coat of armes of the city of Berne in woodcut on title. 8vo. Old calf, blind-stamped back with title, red edges. Lausanne, François Le Preux, 1576. First systematica statement of the Reformed Church (PMM), here present in a re-edition of the authorative Latin text. Taking its final form in 1559 and subsequently much revised, enlarged and later re-oublished again from this present edition. The "Institutio Christianae" is certainly one of the most influential books of all time. It was composed in its first form when Jean Calvin (1509-1564) was twenty-six and dedicated his book to Francis I. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today. The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some previous knowledge of theology and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone and Christian liberty. This edition was prepered by: 1) Nicolas Colladon (c. 1530 - 1586), a French Calvinist pastor, and son of French parents who in 1536 took shelter in Switzerland for religious reasons. He studied theology at Lausanne and Geneva, and was a friend of John Calvin and pastor at Vandoevres and Geneva. In 1564 he became chancellor of the Academy where he taught theology until the death of Calvin. With Theodore Beza, he worked on a famous monography on the French Reformed Church in France (1560). 2) Augustinus Marlorat du Pasquier (1506 - 1562), a French, later a Protestant Reformer after he became indoctrinated with the principles of Protestantism. He left France in 1535 and took refuge in Geneva, where he worked as a proof-reader for Greek and Hebrew. The dismissal of Viret in the controversy on excommunication however, led Pasquier, who approved the rigidly Calvinistic procedure to resign. After a short time in Geneva he went in July to Paris as pastor of the Evangelical congregation there. A nice copy with some contemp. marginalia. _ _ _ - Erichson 34; Adams C 364; Peter/Gilmont 76/3; Index aurel., no. 130.146; Senebier, Histoire littéraire de Genevè I. 398; vlg. PMM 65.