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XI.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER, God's Notary, and witness of CHAP. his gospel, wrote these things.

Matt..

Luke Li

49. 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 34. 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!

22.

50. 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,* the same is certainly a liar, and the 1 John truth is not in him.

* See

4. & ii. S.

TH

CHAPTER XI.

The Subject continued.

tory, vol.

HE same persecuting spirit that influenced Martin Luther, influenced also John Calvin. At Eccl. Geneva he acted the part of a universal bishop, presi- iv. p.363. ded in the assembly of the clergy, and in the Consis- Note [o] tory, and punished heretics of all kinds with unremitted fury, who had the confidence to object against his ecclesiastical and inconsistent systems of tyranny.

& p. 366.

ibid.

2. Here were Beghards, and Spirituals, and Libertines, and Heretics, and odious ones enough to give P.417, Calvin a fair opportunity of proving that he possessed the same persecuting spirit with which he was brought up, in his mother's house.

* 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,& in ferno, & auctoritatem ad hoc sufficientem habeo, ut mihi soli credatur, cum Deus mihi, honini licet damnabili, et miserabili peccatori, ex paterna misericordia Evangelium filü sui crediderit, dederitque ut in eo veras & 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 demonum odio. Quidni, igitur, ad dispositionem hanc, in 're exigua, sufficiat, si adsit manus mee testimonium, & dici possit, hæc scripsit D. Martinus Luther, Notarius Dei, & testis Evangelü ejus." Seck. lib. ii. p. 651. Sce Hist. of Charles V. vol. i. p. 314.

CHAP.

XI.

Eccl. His

3. There was one Gruet, whatever was his character, he was charged with denying " the divinity of the Christian religion [i. e. the religion at Geneva] and tory, vol. the immortality of the soul." He also called CALiv.p. 416. VIN 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.

bid.

P. 19.

4. There were others who could not receive his doctrine of eternal and absolute decrees. "These ad⚫versaries (says Mosheim,) felt, by a disagreeable ex'perience, the warmth and violence of his haughty 'temper, and that impatience of contradiction that arose from an over-jealous concern for his honour, or rather for his unrivalled supremacy."

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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 un'prejudiced posterity."

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6. "Among these victims of Calvin's unlimited 'power and excessive zcal, we may reckon Castalio, Imaster of the public school at Geneva." He was deposed from office in the year 1544, and banished. A like fate happened to Bolsec, 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.

ibid. 7. But none gave Calvin more trouble than Michael P.473. Servetus, a Spanish physician, who appeared in the

Eccl. Re

p. 527.

year 1530, and by his abilities, both natural and acquired, had obtained the protection 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.

8. Servetus was a man of a free and liberal turn of searches, 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 investi

< gate the doctrine of the Trinity, as others had that CHAP. of Transubstantiation."

XI.

p. 328.

9. In the year 1531 and 1532, he published two Eccl. Rebooks, both intended to disprove the doctrine of the searches, 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 declared from the pulpit, that “ Ser"vetus 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.

11. Calvin having published his favourite 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,

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 de "serves to be Lurut 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 cru66 elly 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 even condemn the baptisin of little children, calling it a di"abolical invention; and he shall have the vcgue amongst you, and be support *ed 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?" Re inton's Eccl. Researches, p. 336.

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ibid.

P. 329.

ibid.

p. 336.

XI.

Eccl. Pe

P. 337.

CHAP. Servetus was seized and cast into prison; but four days after made his escape, and could not be found. 13. The prosecution was carried on in his absence, searches, and he was condemned to be burnt alive, in a slow fire. And seeing his person could not be found, the sentence was executed in effigy. "The 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."

ibid.

Sp. 338.

14. Four months after, Servetus was discovered, while waiting 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, a 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 Geneva.

16. Calvin did not blush to say, "I ordered it so that a party should be found to accuse him, not de'nying 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

XI.

was thoroughly skilled in the art of telling lies. What CHAP chance had Servetus for his life?

p. 340.

18. This was his deplorable situation: "Far from Eccl. Rehis own country, fallen into the hands of cruel stran- searches, gers, 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."

ibil.

19. "The last act of this tragedy was performed at " Geneva, on the 27th of October, 1553. Calvin had P. 44. 'drawn up the process against Servetus;-the magis'trates 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 in'struments of such a wild and barbarous deed."

20. "Many (says Robinson,) have pretended to apol'ogize 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 mem'ber of any reformed church: he was an useful and 'honourable member of society; he was a man of un'impeached 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 recol- ibi lection of this bloody action, On the contrary, he jus- P. 342. tified 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 here

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