phemies, on account of which he had been imprisoned at Vienne, whence, by contrivances, with which I am wholly unacquainted, he afterwards escaped, now came, under unfavourable auspices, to Geneva, with an intention of going to some more distant place, if the providence of God had not so arranged that he was cast into prison by one of the magistrates; who was informed of his being in that city by Calvin, who recognized him soon after his arrival, having been well acquainted with Servetus long before. A book was published, where a very full account may be met with of the controversies then discussed, and of the importance of the subjects examined. The result of the whole was, that this ruined character, in whose ear it was thought one of the seditious, being assessor with the prætor, whispered advice calculated to harden the mind of the prisoner in his sins, was betrayed by his own vain confidence, and condemned for impiety and an infinite number of blasphemies, according to the sentence even of all the Swiss churches. This unhappy person was burned alive, without manifesting the least mark of repentance, on the 27th of October.

Farel was so broken down with disease this year, that he was left by Calvin, who had come to visit him at Neuchatel, apparently in dying circumstances. He was, however, afterwards restored, contrary to all expectations, and continued to comfort and refresh the church. This year was hitherto evidently spent by us in an alternation of hope and fear, but the grief we experienced was followed by the feelings of joy.

For while the proceedings were going on in the case of Servetus, Bertelier, one of the factious, a man of the most abandoned impudence, who had been forbidden the Lord's table by the presbytery on account of his many crimes, entered the senate, and petitioned them to authorize the abrogation of his sentence. Had this request been granted, all the bonds of church discipline would undoubtedly have been broken, and all church order immediately dissolved. Calvin, therefore, with great earnestness and boldness, in the name

of the presbytery, opposed it, and proved that the magistrate ought to be the avenger, not destroyer of the sacred laws, and he neglected nothing which so momentous a dispute required. The false clamours of those, who asserted that the presbytery, in some cases, usurped the power of the magistrates, triumphed; and a resolution was passed, on the question being brought before the grand council of two hundred, that the final decision, on all cases of excommunication, should be vested in the senate, with a power to absolve such as they thought fit. Agreeable to this decision, Bertelier secretly obtained letters abrogating his sentence, and confirmed by the seal of the state, from the senate, which did not at that time direct its attention to the careful investigation of this subject. Perrin, and his faction, expected that Calvin would either disobey the orders of the senate, and thus sink under popular tumult, or, if he obeyed them, all the authority of the presbytery, and with it the powerful restraints upon the wicked, would, without difficulty, be afterwards broken for ever. But Calvin, having received notice of this resolution only two days before the administration of the supper, as usual, in September, uttered, during the sermon, with uplifted hands, and in a solemn tone, many severe denunciations against the profaners of mysteries, whose sacred character he described; and, "for my own part," said he, (after the example of Chrysostom,) "I will rather suffer myself to be slain, than allow this hand to stretch forth the sacred things of the Lord to those who are lawfully condemned as despisers of God." This voice, wonderful to state, produced such an effect, even upon his unbridled enemies, that Perrin immediately gave secret orders to Bertelier, not to present himself at the table, and the sacred mysteries were celebrated with a surprisingly profound silence, and under a solemn awe, as if the Deity himself had been visible among them. But, after dinner, in the course of his explaining that remarkable passage in the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul bids farewell to the church of

Ephesus, Calvin protested that he was not the man who either himself knew any thing about resisting magistrates, or taught others to do so, and exhorted, at considerable length, the people to persevere in the doctrine which they had heard. And in conclusion, as if it was the last sermon he would preach at Geneva, he said, "Since affairs are in such a state, permit me also, brethren, to apply to you the language of the apostle, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace." These words struck his abandoned enemies dumb, in a surprising manner, and the good were more seriously confirmed and admonished of their duty. Calvin, the next day, accompanied by his colleagues and the presbytery, deliberately demanded of the senate, and the council of two hundred, that their case should be determined by the people themselves, since the law, whose abrogation was then under consideration, had been made by the people.

The opinions of these two ruling bodies were changed after such observations, and it was resolved that the decree of the two hundred should be suspended, the four reformed states of Switzerland consulted, and no alteration in the mean time should take place in the existing laws. Thus the storm being broken rather than quelled, the leaders of the faction endeavoured, from the occurrence of particular circumstances, to make it fall upon the head of Farel, which, contrary to all expectation, had been averted from that of Calvin. For Farel, who had suffered so severely from a violent disease in the month of March, visited Geneva as soon as the restoration of his health allowed. In his sermon, relying on the justice of the cause, on his age, and former influence, he reproved, with great keenness, the supporters of faction. They complained loudly that Farel had done them a serious injury, and on his return to Neuchatel they procured letters from the senate to the government of that state, for the purpose of allowing Farel to be summoned to Geneva, and to answer for himself on the day appointed. Farel came, and was exposed to considerable danger from the factious, who cried

out, that he ought to be thrown into the Rhone for his conduct. A prudent, discreet, courageous young man, in the first place, frequently warned Perrin to use every exertion that the common father, as it were, of the city, might not suffer any injury. He was afterwards joined by one of his companions, another young man of integrity, who advised such as were friends of good order what measures they ought to adopt. The concourse of a great part of the city took place when Farel seated himself in the court. His accusers, astonished at this circumstance, and being now anxious for their own personal safety, earnestly entreated for the acquittal of Farel, after an audience had been given him. Thus nearly the whole of the year was spent against the wicked, in contending either for good doctrine, or wholesome discipline. The result was everywhere prosperous, if we except the wound, which not only England, but all Christian churches, suffered in the death of the most pious King Edward the 6th, who was cut off in the flower of youth.

Calvin was so intent upon his studies during this year, as to publish his excellent Commentaries on John. We may here declare, and I heartily wish it were without cause concerning Servetus, what the ancient fathers of the church, taught by experience, wrote of these two monsters, Paul of Samosata, and Arius of Alexandria, that they commenced conflagrations, which afterwards set on fire nearly all the churches of the Christian world. Servetus was justly punished at Geneva, not as a sectary, but as a minister, made up of nothing but impiety and horrid blasphemies, with which, by his speeches and writings, for the space of thirty years, he had infected both heaven and earth. Even now it is impossible to state how much he has increased the rage of Satan, since the flame, raised by him, first seized upon Poland, then Transylvania and Hungary, and would to God it had not extended even farther. Servetus may justly be considered as having uttered a prediction, with a spirit evidently satanic, when he selected the following sentence, with the same

feelings of conscience that dictated all his other writings, as a frontispiece to his book, which is true, if the particle with, not against, be used: "Great war took place in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting with the dragon."

The ashes of this unhappy man were scarcely cold, when the question was discussed concerning the punishment of heretics. Some thought it right to restrain within due bounds, but not to punish heretics with death; others determined to leave them to the judgment of God, from a conviction that the word of truth is not sufficiently clear on heresy, and that, according to the practice of the Academicians, different sentiments may be entertained by both sides concerning all the articles of religion: even some good men supported this opinion, fearing lest, by adopting contrary sentiments, they should appear to inflame the cruelty of tyrants against the pious. The principal supporters of this sentiment were Castellio and Lelius Socinus, the former in a more secret manner, the latter with greater boldness. Socinus, in his preface for perverting the Holy Bible, has evidently studied to destroy the manifest authority of the divine word, and has expressly stated in his notes to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, for the purpose of withdrawing our attention from the written word as imperfect, that Paul had taught some of his perfect disciples, with whom I am wholly unacquainted, a certain more profound system of divinity than what he has delivered to us in the Scriptures.

Calvin, in the beginning of 1554, published a copious refutation of the doctrine of Servetius, which was subscribed by all his colleagues, and assigned reasons why, and to what extent, after a proper legal investigation, heretics ought to be punished by the magistrates. This refutation was answered in the name of one Martin Bellius, who was Castellio himself, though he afterwards denied it on oath, in a confused work, formed out of extracts from the corrupted writings of pious doctors, and from the manuscripts of certain un