Defensio orthodoxae fidei de sacra Trinitate, contra prodigiosos errores Michaelis Serveti Hispani: ubi ostenditur haereticos iure gladii coercendos esse. . . / Defensio sanae et orthodoxae doctrinae de sacramentis, eorumque natura, vi, fine, usu, et fructu : quam pastores et ministri Tigurinae ecclesiae et Genevensis antehac brevi consensionis mutuae formula complexi sunt : una cum refutatione probrorum quibus eam indocti et clamosi homines infamant by CALVIN, Jean - 1554

Geneva: Robert Estienne, 1554. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Defensio orthodoxae fidei de sacra Trinitate, co[n]tra prodigiosos errores Michaelis Serveti Hispani: ubi ostenditur haereticos iure gladii coercendos esse,... [Geneva]: Robert Estienne, 1554. pp. 261 [1]. Signatures: a-q8 r4 [-r4], bound without blank leaf r4. Printer's woodcut device to title, floral woodcut initial, list of subscribers on r3v. [Bound with:] CALVIN, Jean. Defensio sanae et orthodoxae doctrinae de sacramentis, eorumque natura, vi, fine, usu, et fructu : quam pastores et ministri Tigurinae ecclesiae et Genevensis antehac brevi consensionis mutuae formula complexi sunt : una cum refutatione probrorum quibus eam indocti et clamosi homines infamant. [Geneva]: Robert Estienne, 1555. pp. 52. Signatures: A-B8 C10. Printer's woodcut device to title, floral woodcut initial, text ends on p.52 without colophon as called for. Two works in one volume. 8vo (177 x 117 mm). 17th century full vellum, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettering in first two compartments (soiling of vellum, worming to upper spine). Text little browned only, first work with a few wormholes to upper blank corner of about 30 leaves and to gutter of first gathering repaired (not affecting text), title-leaf partially detached, old repair with paper stripe to upper blank inner margin of leaves r2-3, occasional minor spotting; second work with faint dampstain to upper margin of first gathering. Provenance: H.M. Bennett Esq., Clacton on Sea (letter from P.M. Barnard, bookseller, laid in, requesting more information about this copy). A fine copy in untouched binding. Text collated complete. ----

I. Gilmont, Bibliotheca calviniana, no. 54/6; Renouard, Estienne, p. 84. FIRST EDITION of one of the most important writings by Calvin and as such of the most frightening and startling that have been written to justify the persecution of heretics. Calvin published this work just a few months after the famous trial of Michael Servetus, deemed heretical for his denial of the (Nicaean) doctrine of the Trinity and condemned to death on October 26, 1553 by the Council of the Republic of Geneva, then burned alive the next day in Champel, at the gates of the city. Born about 1509-1511, this Spanish physician, author of pioneering work on the blood circulation, had attracted the wrath of the Catholic and Protestant authorities with two controversial books on Christian religion, the De trinitatis erroribus (1531), questioning the traditional dogma of Trinity, and the Christianismi restitutio (1553), in which he commented on the errors of the Church and its so-called reforms. After the execution of Servetus, Calvin, much criticized for his intolerance and the methods used in the anti-trinitarian judgment, tried in the Defensio orthodoxae fidei trinitate to justify his virtue in this affair. The work appeared at the beginning of the year 1554. Approved by the ministers and pastors of Geneva, a list of names is printed at the end of the book. Calvin refutes not only the blasphemous words of Servetus but 'justifies' also the right to condemn to death such heretics. This duty goes that far, so Calvin, that one should neither spare parentage, nor blood or anything else; God demands that we even forget all humanity when it comes to fighting for his glory. (see Joseph Lecler, Histoire de la tolérance au siècle de la Réforme, 2013, p.319).
II. Barmann, Calvin, p. 8; Gilmont, Bibliotheca calviniana, no. 55/6. - FIRST EDITION, AND OF EXCEPTIONAL RARITY, of Calvin's reply to attacks by the Lutheran Joachim Westphal against the Zurich Consensus of 1549. OCLC locates but 4 copies in the US (Yale, Harvard, Calvin College, Brigham Young Univ). Much rarer than the reprint by Froschauer in Zurich the same year. The Consensus Tigurinus or Consensus of Zurich was a document intended to bring unity to the Protestant churches on their doctrines of the sacraments, particularly the Lord's Supper. Calvin, who stood in between the Lutheran view of Real Presence and the Zwinglian view of pure symbolism, states "that the Sacraments are not in and of themselves effective and conferring grace, but that God, through the Holy Spirit, acts through them as means; that the internal effect appears only in the elect; that the good of the Sacraments consists in leading us to Christ, and being instruments of the grace of God, which is sincerely offered to all; that in baptism we receive the remission of sins, although this proceeds primarily not from baptism, but from the blood of Christ; that in the Lord's Supper we eat and drink the body and blood of Christ, not, however, by means of a carnal presence of Christ's human nature, which is in heaven, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the devout elevation of our soul to heaven" (P. Schaff, The Consensus of Zurich. A.D. 1549. In: Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. I. p. 472). Joachim Westphal, Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, published the Farrago of Confused and Divergent opinions on the Lord's supper... in 1552 against the Zurich Consensus. Westphal lumped the teachings of Zwingli and Calvin together ... and condemned as heretics those who denied a corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist and a literal eating of Christ's body. Calvin felt called to write a resonse to Westphal and his Defensio sanae was published in Zurich in 1555. Here Calvin did not mention Westphal by name, with the hope that the controversy would come to an end. However, his theological defense did not satisfy the Germans, nor stop their attacks. The Defensio sanae consisted of three parts: a letter of dedication to the other churches, a defense of the Consensus Tigurinus, and the text of the Consensus. (see F. A. Jame, Peter Martyr Vermigli And The European Reformations, 2004, p.102-3).