An Injustice Done to Calvin

LL great and successful men have their enemies, who, like the little snarling cur that follows the mastiff, do their utmost to tarnish the fame of their superiors. Through ignorance of the self-denying virtues of the

religion of Jesus, or through envy, many such opponents of the Reformer have readily received and published the most unfounded imputations against him. Never was a greater piece of injustice done to any man than is done to John Calvin, when he is charged with the burning of Servetus. It was Europe of the 16th century, trained in the lap of the Papacy, that condemned Servetus, and we are indebted not to Roman Catholicism, but to the God of Protestantism for any advancement in toleration since that time.

Most solemnly do we abhor the errors of Servetus, yet we praise the Lord that we live in an age when such as he are tolerated and protected. ‘Opposition from the powers of darkness will do the cause of truth no real harm, and if it seems to do so, let the ministers and lovers of truth bestir themselves and defend it by the sword of the Spirit. They need not fear for the ark of the Lord; only let them buckle on the armour and use it. At the time of this unhappy event Calvin neither possessed power to condemn nor power to save a prisoner. It is a marked and favourable providence for him that during the whole of his pastorate at Geneva, his voice was never less regarded, and he never so powerless in the council as at the time when Servetus was tried and condemned. Of this we shall be able to give unquestionable proof from the records of that age. But. let us first turn our thoughts to

SERVETUS,

Michael Servetus was a Spaniard, born in the same year (1509) as Calvin, endowed with a penetrating intellect, highly imaginative genius, and a strongly speculative turn of mind. He was the son of a notary, who sent him to Toulouse for the study of the civil law. Excited by the discussions of the Reformers in that city he gave his attention to theology; but his naturally speculative imagination carried him not only above the dead formularies of the Church of Rome, .but away from the Book of Divine revelation, and landed him in the quicksands of Pantheism —the theory which supposes nature, or the things that are made of God, to be God. ‘‘ Pantheism,” says a great author, ‘‘when explained, to mean the absorption of the infinite in the finite, of God in nature, is atheism,’ and

MICHAEL SERVETUS.

atheism in some form is the gulf into which most speculators upon Divine things fall, when they become wise above what is written, or leaning to their own understanding, forsake the Holy Book.

Having imbibed these and other peculiar views, Servetus, flushed with his supposed new discoveries, and pleased with his own abilities, went to Germany, and Is LIFE AND TIMES. 108

published them in the form of tracts; but finding his opinions obnoxious in Germany, he escaped to France, and there, under the name of Michael of Villa Nauva, was engaged as corrector for the press. He then went to Paris, where he studied physic, and graduated as a doctor. Here he heard of Calvin, who, though like himself, only twenty-five years of age, was then gaining such notoriety as a leader of the reformed faith, that his safety in Paris was questionable. Upon Calvin, therefore, Servetus fixed as a disputant worth vanquishing, and challenged him to a public discussion upon the doctrine of the Trinity. The young Reformer, though at the risk of his life, accepted the summons, and appeared at the time and place appointed, but Servetus never came. In 1537 he taught in Paris, with success, geography, mathematics, and even astrology, which drew upon him a denunciation from the Sorbonne, and a sentence from the Parliament.

Soon after this he quarrelled with the medical faculty at Paris, and quitted the city in 1538. For three years he practised in Charlieu, and then at the instance of the Archbishop of Vienne, he removed to Lyons. About 1546 he wrote to Calvin to the effect that he had only preached a half-way Reformation; he offered to set him at the head of a much greater movement, and sent a volume of MS., in which he was to see, he said, ‘“‘ stupendous and unheard of things.” Calvin soon discovered that the ‘‘ stupendous things” were his absurd system of Pantheism. .In 1553 Servetus published his ‘‘ Matured Theological System,” for which the magistrates of Vienne committed him to prison.

From the prison in Vienne he made his escape, and purposing to go to Naples he called at Geneva. Why he came there is not clearly known, but this much is certain, that being one of the most learned men of the age, and having, as he supposed, a system of matured theology, he ever envied the popularity of Calvin. And the Libertines having brought Calvin at this time into disrepute, it is supposed that they invited Servetus to head their opposition. Certainly they defended him, and the whole tenor of the part that the Spaniard took in his own defence clearly demonstrates that he hoped to have Calvin executed for heresy, and to succeed him as the leader of the Reformation. Calvin, however, heard that he was in Geneva, and according to the requirements of the constitutional

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laws, he reported his presence in the city to the Council, and demanded

HIS APPREHENSION,

The law of Geneva required the accuser should go to prison with the accused, and be detained till the matter was investigated. Nicholes de la Fontaine, a young student and secretary to the Reformer, took this duty upon him, and Servetus was committed to prison on August 13th, 1553.*

Now will come before us all that can fairly be said for and against Calvin in this matter, as far as we ¢an gather from authentic sources, and a careful perusal of ten different historians, among whom may be classed some of the Reformer’s vilest calumniators. Four things we find necessary to remember, and to make an allowance for, when reading much that is written of Calvin.

1st.—The natural enmity of the human heart against the Bible doctrines, called Calvinism or Predestination. This alone has caused many to condemn thé man of whom they have been totally ignorant.

2nd.—That Calvin was the most powerful and successful opponent of Popery that ever lived. This, we may be sure, has not raised him in the estimation of that body.

8rd.—That the Church of Rome holds that the end of a transaction, if it serves the church, sanctifies the means, and the means may be as bad as the St. Bartholomew Massacre.

4th.—That many authors, in order to raise themselves in the eyes of the Papacy, have written of him without the very slightest

regard to truth. By ‘remembering these four things we may easily find _ the cause of much that is said and written against John Calvin. On the day after his apprehension Servetus was examined, and thirty-eight articles of accusation extracted from his works by Calvin, were brought against him. On the morrow (August 15th) the Council assembled in the criminal audience chamber in the prison, and Servetus having been questioned upon the articles, admitted some, denied others, and demanded a public disputation, promising to confute Calvin from Scripture and the Fathers. Calvin replied that ‘there was nothing he more desired than to plead such a cause in the temple before all the people.” This the Council declined. At this preliminary examination the Council found the charges true, they

* The reader is requested to carefully notice the date of each transaction. therefore liberated the accuser Fontaine, and assembled on August 16th to prosecute.

A LIBERTINE CONSPIRACY AGAINST CALVIN.

Now let us carefully notice the prevailing feeling at Geneva. At this time the Libertines, finding Calvin unflinching in his purpose of excluding from the Lord’s table all profane persons, were striving to deprive the clergy of that right, and to place the power of excommunication in the hands of the Council. To this end they had succeeded in placing Perrin, a leading Libertine and Calvin’s mortal enemy, at the head of the Council. Daily they were gaining such strength, and stirring up such jealousy against the Reformer in the Council, that it appeared as if one strong effort only was necessary to drive him from Geneva or to have him apprehended. Philip Berthelier, assistant of the Lieutenant for Criminal Causes, had been excluded from the communion table for a year and a half. At this moment he had a petition lying on the table of the Council, to have this sentence of the spiritual court cancelled. He, therefore, seizing the opportunity to oppose Calvin, appeared on the 16th to defend Servetus. Colladon, a Protestant refugee, a counsellor, appeared as accuser’s advocate. This meeting, therefore, turned into a violent political debate upon Calvin and the liberty of the Libertines, rather than upon Servetus.

Calvin now saw that it was not Servetus about whom the Libertines were concerned, but that they were using him as.a fulcrum to overturn the Protestantism of Geneva. Boldly he therefore came forth as accuser, seeing that the Protestantism of Geneva and of Europe was concerned in this trial. What the issue of it would be he could not tell, but to shrink from such important duty through fear of the result either to Servetus or himself, would have been to have abandoned the ship at the moment of danger.

Calvin never counted his otcn life dear unto him when for truth’s sake it was necessary to endanger it, and shall he now, to spare Servetus, keep silent, and suffer him and the Libertines to destroy the work of the Lord? This he could not do.

THE TRIAL.

The Reformer was now invited by the Council to assist, ‘in order that the errors might be better demon- ZB

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re

CALVIN AND SERVETUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF GENEVA.

“CALVIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. 118

strated, and to have whomsoever he chose with him at the examination of the prisoner.” At the first meeting after this, Calvin was present, and a sharp debate between. him and Servetus took place. At this meeting the pantheistical errors of the prisoner were revealed, and much that he said is too profane to repeat. But the following extracts will be sufficient to show what unreasonable speculations the carnal mind will arrive at, in preference to believing the record which God has given of Himself :—

“What!” said Calvin, “if one were to strike this pavement with his foot, and to say that he was trampling upon your God, would’st thou not be horrified at having subjected the majesty of God to such opprobrium ?” Servetus replied, ‘‘I have no doubt that this bench, this cupboard, and all that can be shown me are the substance of God.” When it was objected that according to him even the devil would be substantially Gcd, he replied laughing: ‘‘ Do you doubt it? All things are part and parcel of God.’’*

Here let us reflect upon the waves of error and of sins, of persecution and powers that the little barque Protestantism had to encounter. Yet through the might and mercy of the Lord she has outweighed every storm.

“Valiant for truth, her banners wave around,

The terror of Apollyon and the world;

An army more than conquerors by grace,

Ascribing all her victories to Christ.

Heav’n, earth, and hell, cry who is this?

All worlds take int’rest in her high career,

While her untarnish’d banners are unfurl’d,

Displaying love, and blood, and grace divine,

The dread of hell—the glory of the Church ‘ - LRONS.