This volume contains two of the lesser known, but nevertheless very significant, treatises of John Calvin.
Any publication of the works of the great reformer and teacher is its own best justification, and needs no explanation or apology. The reprinting of this little volume, however, has an interesting history. Until 1929 Calvin’s Calvinism was virtually unknown in the United States. It had not been included in the Calvin Translation Society’s classic set of the works of John Calvin, but had been separately translated by Henry Cole and published in England, but not in the United States. In 1927 it was reprinted in England by the Sovereign Grace Union, of which the Reverend Henry Atherton was General Secretary. In 1929 the late Reverend Herman Hoeksema visited Mr. Atherton in London and preached for him in Grove Chapel, Camberwell, London, on July 21. In remembrance of that occasion the Reverend Atherton presented the Reverend Hoeksema an inscribed copy of the book Calvin’s Calvinism. That event became the occasion of this work of Calvin becoming better known among Reformed people in this country, partly through Herman Hoeksema’s writing about and referring to it. Later, upon the suggestion of a Protestant Reformed minister, the late Reverend Gerrit Vos, the late Mr. William B. Eerdmans, Sr. included this volume in 1950 in the republication of Calvin’s works at that time.
Since then it has long been out of print.
Because it sets forth so clearly John Calvin’s teaching and defense of the sovereignty of God in predestination and providence, it is now republished. We hope it will reach a broad readership.
The only change made in this volume is the addition of an Index of Scripture Passages Cited.
—Homer C. Hoeksema
Professor of Theology,
Protestant Reformed Seminary,
Grandville, Michigan