The Reformation · 1541
The Ecclesiastical Ordinances
John Calvin · 1509–1564
What it is
Four orders of ministry — pastors, teachers, elders, deacons — with a consistory of ministers and lay elders charged with the discipline of the whole city.
Why it lasted
The constitution of Reformed church government, copied from Scotland to New England, and the origin of presbyterian polity.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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