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The Reformation · 1541

The Ecclesiastical Ordinances

John Calvin · 1509–1564

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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

Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.

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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