 The Jena theologians, and Johannes Musaeus in particular, had been asked by Ernest the Pious to draw up such a work, to take the place of the antiquated Hutter, and Musæus urged his son-in-law to do it.The first edition appeared in 1686, the second, enlarged, in 1691, and it has been frequently reprinted since.It was commended for general use as a textbook by its method, its conciseness, and its absence of mere polemics.