drew from the presence of a man who had sinned as a heretic, and was condemned by himself.

Servetus was then led before the council, the staff was broken over him, and the sentence was read. The prisoner threw himself at the feet of the magistrate, and intreated that he might be put to death with the sword, but still he refused to acknowledge his guilt, and when besought by Farel to do so, answered that he suffered innocently, that he was led to death as a sacrifice, but that he prayed God to forgive his accusers. He was led from the senatehouse, accompanied by Farel, to the Place Champel, where a stake was prepared with a huge heap of oak wood and leaves in a circle. Farel encouraged him to speak some few words, and he sighed deeply from his struggling soul, "O God! O God!" He then yielded to Farel's suggestion, and begged the bystanders to remember him in their prayers, but resisted his exhortation to call upon Christ as the Son of God. He was thereupon led to the pile, and when "the sun stood at the highest in the autumnal sky, and the clock of St. Peter's struck twelve, Servetus had ended his suffering, and the people dispersed in silence."

Such is the history of this painful event. Writers of the church of Rome endeavour to heap all the blame and odium on the head of Calvin, but most unreasonably, for Bucer, Bullinger, Farel, Viret, Peter Martyr, and Beza, all concurred in the sentence pronounced against Servetus; and when the four Swiss churches were consulted by the council of Geneva, it does not appear that one dissentient voice was raised against his condemnation. The error belongs more to the age than to the men. The reformers, while they threw off the corruptions in doctrine and discipline of the church of Rome, had not wholly emerged from the influence of those principles and sentiments in which they had been nurtured and brought up. Though freed from the trammels of superstition, they were still unhappily imbued with much of the spirit of the times. To use the words of another: "The doctrine of non-toleration which obtained in the sixteenth century among some Protestants, was that pernicious error which they imbibed in the church of Rome; and I believe I can say, without doing any injury to this church, that she is in a great measure answerable for the execution of Servetus." Persecution is one of the principles of Roman

Catholicism. The papal church boldly defends it, and glories in her shame; and Calvin and the reformed churches, educated in her opinions, had not as yet risen wholly superior to her false teaching.

"not

Over the error of these holy men, Protestant Christendom of the present day laments, expressing its sorrow that their zeal was according to knowledge," for all persecution is against the principles of the Reformation. But Rome still retains on her statute-book the bloody laws which she has passed against heretics, and the tortures which she has put in practice against those who have come under her anathema and ban. We, on the contrary, who are members of the reformed religion, declare that an intolerant spirit is entirely opposed to the mind and will of God. We look back with the deepest regret on that melancholy stake in the Place Champel; and we unite in the aspiration uttered by one of the Genevese in the last century, "Would to God that we could extinguish this burning pile with our tears!"

CHAPTER V.

Controversy with Berthelier-Calvin's influence in the northern states of Europe-Persecution in France-First attempt to form a Protestant mission amongst the heathen-His friendship with John Knox.

BUT though Servetus had been dealt with in the severe and summary manner above described, his execution did not prevent new disturbances in the church of Geneva. In the Italian branch of that church men rose up who endeavoured to propagate Socinian and heretical tenets. It will be sufficient to mention Mattheo Gribaldi, an eminent lawyer; Blandrata, a physician from Piedmont; Valentine Gentilis, a person of distinction; and Paul Alciati, a native of Milan. Francis Stancarus may be also named. He and the others just mentioned were obliged to retire from Switzerland, and to seek distant countries, where they might with greater safety propagate their pernicious doctrines.

Calvin's life was mainly occupied in strug

gles for the truth against the corrupting influence of false teachers. During the period in which the trial of Servetus was in progress, and while he lay in prison, the Libertine party made a new attempt for pre-eminence. Philip Berthelier, the son of Berthelier who was beheaded in the cause of freedom in 1518, appeared as the supporter of the party. He had been excluded by the Consistory from the number of communicants on account of his disorderly life, and the magistrates had ordered him to be thrown into prison. He appealed to the council, and besought a reversal of the sentence. As he had many friends in the council, they proposed that he should be absolved in the presence of the assembly. Calvin strenuously resisted the motion, urging that the council ought to be the defenders, and not the disturbers of the sacred laws of the church. The ministers both of the city and country united their solemn protest to his against the contemplated wrong. But the Libertines finally prevailed; for when the question was brought before "the council of two hundred," it was decided that in all cases of excommunication the ultimate decision should be vested in the senate, and Berthelier obtained from the council letters of absolution, sealed