CHAP. X. his own ambition more than Luther, may be seen from what follows. Mat. xii. 34. Luke xix. 22. + See 1 John, ii. 4. & iii. 8. 53. I am known (says he) in heaven, in earth, and hell, and possess consequence sufficient for this demand, that my single testimony be believed, seeing that God of his fatherly compassion hath intrusted to me, though a damnable man and a miserable sinner, the Gospel of his Son, and hath granted that I should be so true and faithful in it, that many in the world have received it by me as a doctor of the truth, while they contemn with detestation, the bans of the Pope, of Cæsar, of kings, of princes, and of priests, yea, of all devils. Why, then, may it not suffice, for this disposal of a small estate, if the testimony of my hand be affixed, and it can be said, DR. MARTIN LUTHER, God's notary, and witness of his Gospel, wrote these things. 54. And such a character as that of a damnable man, and a miserable sinner, will every such imperious and persecuting tyrant as Martin Luther have to subscribe, when, Cain-like, he is convicted that his own works are evil, and his brother's righteous. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant! 55. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And he that saith that God hath intrusted to him the Gospel of his Son, while his whole life and conduct, and his final testimony, signed with his own hand, declares himself a damnable man and a miserable sinner,t the same is certainly a liar, and the truth is not in him. The original of this specimen of Luther's presumptuous vanity and self-applause, as quoted by Robertson, runs thus: "Notus sum in cœlo, in terra, & inferno, & auctoritatem ad hoc sufficientem habeo, ut mihi, soli credatur, cum Deus mihi, homini licet damnabili, et miserabili peccatori, ex paterna misericordia Evangelium filii sui crediderit, dederitque ut in eo verax & fidelis fuerim, ita ut multi in mundo illud per me acceperint, & me pro Doctore veritatis agnoverint, spreto banno Papæ, Cæsaris, Regum, Principum & sacerdotum, imo omnium dæmonum odi. Quidni, igitur, ad dispositionem hanc, in re exigua, sufficiat, si adsit manus meæ testimonium, & dici possit hæc scripsit D. Martinus Luther, Notarius Dei, & testis Evangelii ejus." Seck. lib. iii. p. 651. See Hist. of Charles V. vol. iii. p. 314. CHAPTER XI. THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF JOHN CALVIN, HIS FOLLOW- Eccl. His THE same persecuting spirit that influenced Martin Luther, in- CHAP. XI. fluenced also John Calvin. At Geneva he acted the part of a universal bishop, presided in the assembly of the clergy, and in tory, vol. the Consistory, and punished heretics of all kinds with unremitted iv. p. 363. fury, who had the confidence to object against his ecclesiastical p. 366. and inconsistent systems of tyranny. note [o]. & 2. Here were Beghards, and Spirituals, and Libertines, and Ibid. p. 417. heretics, and odious ones enough to give Calvin a fair opportunity of proving that he possessed the same persecuting spirit with which he was brought up in his mother's house. 3. There was one Gruet, whatever was his character, he was Ibid. p. 418. charged with denying "the divinity of the Christian religion [i.e. the religion at Geneva] and the immortality of the soul." He also called CALVIN the new pope, and other impieties of the like nature, for which he was brought before the civil tribunals, in the year 1550, and was condemned to death. 4. There were others who could not receive his doctrine of eternal and absolute decrees. 66 These adversaries (says Mosheim) felt, by a disagreeable experience, the warmth and violence of his haughty temper, and that impatience of contradiction that arose from an over-jealous concern for his honor, or rather for his unrivalled supremacy." 5. "He would not suffer them to remain at Geneva; nay, in the heat of the controversy, being carried away by the impetuosity of his passions, he accused them of crimes, from which they have been fully absolved by the impartial judgment of unprejudiced posterity." 6. "Among these victims of Calvin's unlimited power and Ibid. p.419. excessive zeal, we may reckon Castalio, master of the public school at Geneva." He was deposed from office in the year 1544, and banished. A like fate happened to Bolsac, professor of physic, whose favorable opinion of the Protestant religion first brought him to Geneva; but finding himself mistaken, he had the assurance, in the year 1551, to lift up his voice, in the full congregation, against absolute decrees; for which he was cast into prison, and soon after, sent into banishment. 7. But none gave Calvin more trouble than Michael Servetus, Ibid. p. 473. a Spanish physician, who appeared in the year 1530, and by his abilities, both natural and acquired, had obtained the protection CHAP. XI. of many persons of weight in France, Germany, and Italy. Notwithstanding these advantages, Calvin had him imprisoned, and an accusation of blasphemy brought against him by the council. Eccl. Researches, p. 527. Ibid. p. 328. 3. Servetus was a man of a free and liberal turn of mind, "he was an original genius (says Robinson) of a manly spirit, bold in his enquiries after truth, and generous as the day in communicating his opinions, not doubting that he had as much right to investigate the doctrine of the Trinity, as others had that of transubstantiation." 9. In the year 1531 and 1532, he published two books, both intended to disprove the doctrine of the Trinity; and as they denied the popular notion of persons in God, and affirmed that Jesus was a man, they procured him a great number of enemies, and also many friends. He had freely communicated his sentiments to Oecolampadius and Bucer. 10. Both these divines had the character of mildness; but Oecolampadius thought anger just in this case, and Bucer Ibid. p 329. declared from the pulpit, that "Servetus deserved to be cut in pieces, and his bowels torn out of him." All the artillery of the orthodox was now directed against this haughty Spanish blasphemous heretic; for so they, whom the greater part of Europe called heretics, had the inconsistency to call Servetus. Ibid. p. 336. 11. Calvin having published his favorite production entitled Christian Institutes: Servetus read this book; finding in it a great number of mistakes and errors, he took the liberty to inform the author of them. This so irritated Calvin, that he never forgave him, and instead of profiting by the advice, he wrote to his friends, Viret and Farel, "that if ever this heretic should fall into his hands, he would order it so, that it should cost him his life." And so it fell out. 12. Calvin had an admirer at Geneva whose name was Trie, this Trie had a relation at Lyons, a Papist, whose name was Arney, who incessantly exhorted his cousin Trie to return to the bosom of the Church. Calvin dictated letters in the name of Wm. Trie, who directed them to Arney, and Arney carried them to Ory, the Inquisitor.* By which means, in the year 1553, Servetus was seized and cast into prison; but four days after made his escape, and could not be found. It was an iniquitous example which John Calvin set by encouraging the Papists to continue their sport in shedding innocent blood, when in his letter under the name of Trie, he says, "I thank God that vices are better corrected here than among all your officials-with you they support a heretic, who deserves to be burnt wherever he is found. When I mention to you a heretic, I mention one who shall be condemned by the Papists as well as by us, at least he deserves to be so for although we differ in opinion about many things, we are still agreed, that there are three persons in one essence of God. You cruelly burn us: but behold him, who shall call Jesus Christ an idol, who shall destroy all the foundations of faith, who gather together all the dreams of ancient heretics, who shall 13. The prosecution was carried on in his absence, and he was CHAP. XI. condemned to be burnt alive, in a slow fire. And seeing his person Eccl. Recould not be found, the sentence was executed in effigy. "The searches, effigy of Servetus was set in a dung cart, with five bales of his books, and all were burnt together for the glory of God and the safety of the Church." p. 337. 14. Four months after, Servetus was discovered, while waiting Ibid. p. 338. for a boat to cross the lake, in his way to Zurich. Calvin got intelligence, and prevailed upon the chief magistrate to arrest and imprison him, although it was on the first day of the week or sabbath, when, by the laws of Geneva, no person could be arrested, except for a capital crime: but Calvin pretended that Servetus was a heretic, and heresy was a capital crime. To. prison he was committed, and the same day he was tried in. court. 15. As it was necessary for some one to prosecute Servetus, Calvin employed one of his own family Nicholas de la Fontaine. Some say he had been a cook, others a valet or servant; but, whatever he had been, he was now a preacher. Short as the notice had been, La Fontaine was ready prepared, and a humble request was presented to the judges, in which Servetus was accused of uttering blasphemies against God, infecting the world with heresies and condemning the doctrine preached at Genera. 16. Calvin did not blush to say, "I ordered it so that a party should be found to accuse him, not denying that the action was drawn up by my advice." And he expressly affirms, "La Fontaine demanded justice against him by my advice." On a future day Calvin appeared in court, and disputed with Servetus, on the words, person and hypostasis: and yet he knew if he succeeded in convicting the prisoner of heresy, the crime was capital, and he was doomed by the law to die. 17. Servetus presented a petition to the magistrates and council. The petition was rejected. The attorney-general observed, that the court ought not to grant the petitioner an advocate, because he himself was thoroughly skilled in the art of telling lies. What chance had Servetus for his life? 18. This was his deplorable situation: "Far from his own Ibid. p. 340 country, fallen into the hands of cruel strangers, all under the influence of Calvin, his avowed enemy, who bore him a mortal hatred; stript of all his property; confined in a damp prison, and neglected till he was almost eaten up with vermin, denied an advocate, and loaded with every indignity that barbarity could invent." even condemn the baptism of little children, calling it a diabolical invention; and he shall have the vogue amongst you, and be supported as if he had committed no fault. Where, pray, is the zeal you pretend to? And where is the wisdom of this fine hierarchy you magnify so much?" Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, p. 336. CHAP. XI. Eccl. Researches. p. 341. Ibid. p. 342. Ibid. p. 343, 344. Ibid. p. 346. 19. The last act of this tragedy was performed at Geneva, on the 27th of October, 1553. Calvin had drawn up the process against Servetus; the magistrates and council had denounced sentence against him that he should be burnt alive; and on this day, with many brutal circumstances, the sentence was executed to the encouragement of Catholic cruelty, to the scandal of the pretended reformation, to the offence of all just men, and to the everlasting disgrace of those ecclesiastical tyrants, who were the chief instruments of such a wild and barbarous deed." 20. "Many (says Robinson,) have pretended to apologize for Calvin: but who is John Calvin, and what are his nostrums, which end in tyranny and murder, that the great voice of nature should be drowned in the din of a vain babbling about ⚫ him?" 21. "Servetus was not a subject of the Republic of Geneva; he had committed no offence against the laws of the state: he was passing peaceably on the road which lay through the city; he was not a member of any reformed church; he was an useful and honorable member of society; he was a man of unimpeached morality; he was then the admiration of numbers of good judges, who afterwards pleaded his cause." 22. Calvin's hard heart never relented at the recollection of this bloody action. On the contrary, he justified it by publishing, after the execution, a book entitled, "A faithful account of the errors of MICHAEL SERVETUS, in which it is proved that heretics ought to be restrained with the sword." 23. Castellio or Socinus confuted this book. Beza answered, and justified the doctrine of putting heretics to death. Several endeavored to sanctify the crime by scripture texts, and godly words; and many have attempted, after these examples, to do the same. They go so far, some of them, as to attribute the destruction of Servetus to a special providence of God. Can the nicest critic tell wherein this differs from the spirit and style of the papal Inquisition? 24. "The execution of this man (says Robinson,) occasioned a great many excellent and unanswerable treatises against persecution. Beza was offended because the authors said he had published a book to justify the murder of heretics; whereas he had only wrote one to prove that they ought to be put to death. They called him a bloody man for exhorting magistrates to put men to death for religion; and he retorted, he had wished, and he continued to wish, the magistrates would serve them so." 25. The apologists for Calvin urge the example of Melancthon, in proof of the justice of putting Servetus to death. "Melancthon himself, (say they,) the most moderate and mildest of all reformers, approves what has been done at Geneva." Then if such was the spirit of the mildest of all the reformers, what kind |