(strictly, a small 8vo) of 734 pages. In substance it is made up of three parts: a Recast, much modified and expanded, of his early critique on the Trinity, in seven books; a series of Essays, in seven books, on special topics -faith and justice of Christ's kingdom, regeneration, the Lord's Supper, the reign of Antichrist-some of these being treated with great vigor, power, and indignant eloquence; and a Sequel, of thirty letters written to Calvin in the correspondence that now followed, closing with an "Apology" addressed to Melanchthon. Servetus was

now, at the age of thirty-seven, fully equipped, as he felt, to claim and hold his own place among the reformers of the church. He would measure himself, first, with those who seemed to be pillars of the Reformation; and so, in an evil hour, he sent a copy of his manuscript draft to Calvin in confidence (sub sigillo secreti), soliciting any comment he might wish to make.

The fortunes of the book, as we shall see, were as strange, almost as tragic, as those of the writer. Calvin never returned the manuscript, which was long after hunted up and used in evidence at the trial of Servetus. Instead of comment he sent a copy of his own Institutes,' "1 with the remark that he had no time for discussion: his opinion, he said, would be found recorded there. To his friend Farel he wrote: "Servetus has sent me a big volume of his own ravings, with the swagger of a bully (thrasonice), saying that I shall find wonderful and unheard-of things in it. If I will consent, he proposes to come here. But I will not pledge him my word; for if he should come, only let my authority prevail, I will never let him go away alive.”2

1 Servetus's title is a manifest parallel, or travesty, of Calvin's "Christianismi Institutio."

2 To Farel, February, 1546. He writes in nearly the same terms to Viret (cited in evidence in the case of Bolsec).

"CHRISTIANISMI RESTITUTIO."

66

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Servetus, with like amenity, sent back his copy of the "Institutio" with abundant comments in his own style written on the margin. There is hardly a page," writes Calvin in his acrid phrase, "that is not defiled by his vomit.' The "Restitutio" went slowly through the press at Vienne, under its author's supervision, at a small printingoffice in an obscure quarter of the town. This was not,

apparently, from any dread of publicity on his own part; possibly on the printer's account, whom he did his best to screen upon his trial. But, to give the book its best effect, its publication was held in reserve as a surprise upon the public. Early in the fatal year 1553 a thousand copies were made up in two great bales of five hundred each, one being intended for the Easter fair at Frankfort, and the other for distribution nearer home. With superfluous courtesy, or (as he would call it) effrontery, an advance copy was sent to Calvin. That copy is one of the three (or four, the number stated by Professor Schaff) of the original issue now known to exist; it was used in evidence at the trial of Servetus in Geneva, and is now in the great library at Paris, blackened by time and scrawled over with notes of the prosecuting counsel. A second found its way through many hands to Transylvania, and at length, for safe-keeping, to the imperial library at Vienna. A third, "the most valuable of all, containing the original Proœmium, with pathetic autobiographical touches," belongs to the University of Edinburgh.1

Servetus, as we must remember, was not yet known by his true name in France. The only indications of it in the volume are in the Hebrew text on the title-page, "At that

1 See note to an article by the Rev. A. Gordon in the "Theological Review" for 1878, p. 412. An edition corresponding with this page for page

was printed in 1790.

time shall Michael the prince stand up " (Dan. xii. 1.);1 the occurrence of the full name as that of a person in the dialogue (p. 199); and the initials M. S. V. at the end of the book. These were not needed for identification, but were enough for evidence. Calvin at once, through a correspondence at second-hand which he would afterward have gladly disowned, put the Catholic authorities in Lyons upon the track of the heretic sheltered at Vienne in the archbishop's own palace. So promptly was this done, that the bale of books lying there was seized, unopened, and within a few days Servetus was a prisoner of the Inquisition. His arrest was procured by one of the basest tricks even of the inquisitorial police-sending for him to visit a sick patient, and waylaying him upon this errand of

mercy.

He was speedily tried, and condemned of heresy. But, while waiting sentence, he quietly walked out of the prison gate at four o'clock one fine morning, availing himself of certain liberties allowed him-expressly, it would seem, to invite his escape, since his medical skill had made him friends among the officials. For four months he was now lost to view. His effigy was burned in all due form. The bale of his books was consumed in the same pile. The Protestant authorities at Frankfort were warned meanwhile, and the copies sent there were also destroyed.

For four months, then, Servetus wandered up and down.

1 An allusion not only to his own name, but to the approaching reign of the saints (Rev. xii. 7), which he eagerly predicted.

The letters were written instigation, perhaps dictation, as The second letter is particularly evidence conclusive, Calvin for

2 The part taken in this by Calvin is doubtful. He himself says, "There is nothing in it," which Rilliet thinks conclusive. by a friend of his, De Trie, and at his shown by Dr. Willis to be almost certain. damaging, as it shows that, to make the warded to Vienne private communications in Servetus's handwriting, which he had requested to have returned, but which were treacherously used against him.

ARREST AND TRIAL OF SERVETUS.

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in France, barred from Spain by the Inquisition, and vainly seeking a way of escape to Naples. On the 12th of August, on a Saturday night, he appeared at a little inn in Geneva, meaning to seek a boat and cross the lake next morning. But the strict Genevan Sabbath forced him to wait. An improbable account even has it, that he had lain hid there nearly a month, seeking to find friends, or make them, among the enemies of Calvin; since this was a critical year in the town politics, and the contention was sharp between the "patriots" who made the civil, and the "strangers" who made the religious, aristocracy. On Sunday, the 13th, attending with characteristic rashness at the afternoon service, he was recognized, and before night he was lodged in jail.

Of the tedious trial that followed the record is given in minute detail, impossible to copy here. Two or three points, however, we need to bear in mind. Calvin, while

he urged the prosecution and did all he could to bring it to a fatal issue, appears only once in the course of the trial, at the end of the preliminary four days' examination (August 14th-17th), which was to prove the fact of heresy. After this, the trial was purely a criminal process before the Lesser Council, a secular tribunal of twenty-five members, all laymen, to determine the guilt and penalty of the propagation of heresy, as a crime against the public peace.2

1 It has been very clearly summarized by Albert Rilliet, in a small volume, of which a translation appeared in Edinburgh in 1846. A briefer and probably fairer account is given by Saisset in the Revue des deux Mondes," 1848, vol. i., p. 585.

2 The items of the charge are: 1. That for twenty-four years he has disturbed the peace of the churches; 2. That he has printed an execrable book (the "De Erroribus "); 3. That he has not ceased to scatter the poison of his heresy; 4. That he has printed a second book (the "Restitutio "); 5. That he has broken out from lawful imprisonment.”—Calvin's Works, vol. viii., pp. 727-731. The tribunal at Vienne had found him guilty of "scandalous heresy, dogmatizing, fabrication of new doctrines and heretical books, sedi

Again, this latter stage of the process, occupying two months, shows three distinct periods, or phases. In the first (August 21st-24th), Servetus, who has been thoroughly cowed by the ferocity of the attack or else exhausted by the debates, is submissive and humble, standing only on his defense. In the second, he takes heart from the attitude of the Council (which has just nullified a decree of excommunication pronounced by Calvin and his clergy against Berthelier, leader of the hostile party), and is so far emboldened as to make a formal countercharge against Calvin, demanding that he be put on trial instead, under the same risks and penalties, including forfeiture of goods to him, Servetus. This stage continues till near the end of September (August 23d-September 22d). Meanwhile, it is resolved (contrary to the advice of Calvin) to ask advice of the four leading Swiss Protestant churches,—in Basel, Zurich, Berne, and Schaffhausen,-a course that occupies four weeks, and still further encourages the accused. His fate really turned on the answers from these churches; and, foreseeing this, Calvin took due measures to forewarn them. In each case the reply was to the same effect: all confided in the wisdom of the Genevan Council to put a stop to heresy, while none hinted at the means. Rejecting Calvin's plea that execution should be "by the sword," the Council ordained death by fire, so conforming to the old imperial law.1

The sentence was drawn out at great length on the 26th of October. Servetus did not know it till the next day, Friday, two hours before the execution, when for a moment he was completely broken down, as Calvin tauntingly re

tion, disturbance of public order and peace, rebellion, disobedience to ordinances against heresy, and breaking out of the royal prison."

1 Established by the emperor Frederick II. in 1243 (Mansi, vol. xxiii., p. 589: ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur).