Pagina 5 - Catalogus nr 6.indd

ACONTIUS, Jacobus (1520-ca. 1566). Stratagematum satanae libri octo. Amsterdam, Johannes
van Ravesteyn, 1652. 12mo. (12) 292 [= 392] (4) pp. With engraved title page. Contemporary blind-
stamped calf with gilt-stamped board edges. 500,-
Seventeenth-century Latin edition of Acontius’ great plea for toleration. Acontius (Giacomo Aconcio) was an
Italian theologian, philosopher, jurist, and engineer. Sympathetic to Protestantism, he was forced to flee Milan and
eventually entered the service of Queen Elizabeth in London, where he lived within a circle of Italian expatriates. In
his work on Satan’s stratagems, first published in Basel in 1564, Acontius identifies confessionalism as the root cause
of the divisions which had afflicted the church since the Reformation. In short, he pleads for a wide tolerance based
on a few fundamental articles. Church members should be required to assent only to those articles which Scripture
clearly specifies as necessary for salvation. Stratagematum satanae libri octo has been translated into various languages
and was very influential, especially in the seventeenth century. - Joints expertly restored and small tear in one leaf.
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