Bibliographies: v 2, p 1527-1551 Includes indexes.

The translator has done a truly excellent job of putting Calvin's work into a very readable English format. If you have ever wanted to read Calvin, here is your chance. Frankly, one might compare the study of Calvin to the opportunity to either sit with Christ on the mount or later to hear Matthew retell the story. Why go to a secondary source when Calvin is so easy to understand and so readily available in this edition? These pages bring Calvin right into your living room, where you learn the reformed faith first hand. To sum it up: Pastor, student, or layman, if you don't have this work in your study collection, such a collection is incomplete. Complete enough to suit the demands of the scholar, written so the average layman can understand, here is John Calvin. This is a terrific tool in understanding our Reformed faith from the very father of the reformation that led to the Presbyterian Church.

Excerpt from Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1 of 2 I should indeed be ill requited for my labour, if I did not con tent myself with the approbation of God alone, despising equally the foolish and perverse judgments of ignorant men, and the calumnies and detractions of the wicked. For though God hath wholly devoted my mind to study the enlargement Of his kingdom, and the promotion of general usefulness; and I have the testimony of my own conscience, of angels, and of God himself, that, since I undertook the Ofiice of a teacher in the Church, I have had no other object in view than to profit the Church by maintaining the pure doctrine of godliness; yet I suppose there is no man more slandered or calumniated than myself. When this Preface was actually in the press, I had certain information, that at Augsburg, where the States of the Emmre were assembled, a report had been circulated of my defection to popery, and received with unbecoming eager ness in the courts of the princes. This is the gratitude of those who cannot be unacquainted with the numerous proofs of my constancy, which not only refute such a foul calumny, but, with all equitable and humane judges, ought to preserv me from it. But the devil, with all his host, is deceived, if he think to overwhelm me with vile falsehoods, or to render me more timid, indolent, or dilatory, by such indignities. For I trust that God, in his infinite goodness, will enable me to per severe with patient constancy in the career of his holy calling; of which I afford my pious readers a fresh proof in this edition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work of Protestant systematic theology. It is highly influential in the Western world and is still widely read by theological students today. TABLE OF CONTENTS Advertisement. The Translator's Preface. The Author's Preface to An Edition Published In The Year 1559, With His Last Corrections And Additions. Dedication. General Syllabus. Book I. On The Knowledge Of God The Creator. Argument. Chapter I. The Connection Between The Knowledge Of God And The Knowledge Of Ourselves. Chapter II. The Nature And Tendency Of The Knowledge Of God. Chapter III. The Human Mind Naturally Endued With The Knowledge Of God. Chapter IV. This Knowledge Extinguished Or Corrupted, Partly By Ignorance, Partly By Wickedness. Chapter V. The Knowledge Of God Conspicuous In The Formation And Continual Government Of The World. Chapter VI. The Guidance And Teaching Of The Scripture Necessary To Lead To The Knowledge Of God The Creator. Chapter VII. The Testimony Of The Spirit Necessary To Confirm The Scripture, In Order To The Complete Establishment Of Its Authority. The Suspension Of Its Authority On The Judgment Of The Church, An Impious Fiction. Chapter VIII. Rational Proofs To Establish The Belief Of The Scripture. Chapter IX. The Fanaticism Which Discards The Scripture, Under The Pretence Of Resorting To Immediate Revelations, Subversive Of Every Principle Of Piety. Chapter X. All Idolatrous Worship Discountenanced In The Scripture, By Its Exclusive Opposition Of The True God To All The Fictitious Deities Of The Heathen. Chapter XI. Unlawfulness Of Ascribing To God A Visible Form. All Idolatry A Defection From The True God. Chapter XII. God Contradistinguished From Idols, That He May Be Solely And Supremely Worshipped. Chapter XIII. One Divine Essence, Containing Three Persons; Taught In The Scriptures From The Beginning. Chapter XIV. The True God Clearly Distinguished In The Scripture From All Fictitious Ones By The Creation Of The World. Chapter XV. The State Of Man At His Creation, The Faculties Of The Soul, The Divine Image, Free Will, And The Original Purity Of His Nature. Chapter XVI. God's Preservation And Support Of The World By His Power, And His Government Of Every Part Of It By His Providence. Chapter XVII. The Proper Application Of This Doctrine To Render It Useful To Us. Chapter XVIII. God Uses The Agency Of The Impious, And Inclines Their Minds To Execute His Judgments, Yet Without The Least Stain Of His Perfect Purity. Book II. On The Knowledge Of God The Redeemer In Christ, Which Was Revealed First To The Fathers Under The Law, And Since To Us In The Gospel. Argument. Chapter I. The Fall And Defection Of Adam The Cause Of The Curse Inflicted On All Mankind, And Of Their Degeneracy From Their Primitive Condition. The Doctrine Of Original Sin. Chapter II. Man, In His Present State, Despoiled Of Freedom Of Will, And Subjected To A Miserable Slavery. Chapter III. Every Thing That Proceeds From The Corrupt Nature Of Man Worthy Of Condemnation. Chapter IV. The Operation Of God In The Hearts Of Men. Chapter V. A Refutation Of The Objections Commonly Urged In Support Of Free Will. Chapter VI. Redemption For Lost Man To Be Sought In Christ. Chapter VII. The Law Given, Not To Confine The Ancient People To Itself, But To Encourage Their Hope Of Salvation In Christ, Till The Time Of His Coming. ... ... ... ...