18 4
ESSAYS ON LIBER1'Y
exercised by the temporal sovereigns; they con voked councils, punished heretics, promulgated doglnas. The Papacy after\vards arose, in evil times, and \-vas a great calamity; but it was preferable a hundred times to the anarchy which was defended under the name of merciful toleration. · The circumstances of the condemnation of Servetus make it the most perfect and characteristic example of the abstract intolerance of the reformers. Servetus was guilty of no political crime; he was not an inhabitant of Geneva, and was on the point of leaving it, and nothing immoral could be attributed to him. He was not even an advocate of absolute toleration. l The occasion of his apprehension was a dispute behveen a Catholic and a Protestant, as to \vhich party was most zealous in sup- pressing egregious errors. Calvin, who had long before declared that if Servetus came to Geneva he should never leave it alive,2 did all he could to obtain his condemna- tion by the Inquisition at Vienne. At Geneva he was anxious that the sentence should be death,3 and in this he was encouraged by the Swiss churches, but especially by
1 II Verum est quod correctione non exspectata Ananiam et Sapphiram occidit Petrus, Quia Spiritus Sanctus tunc maxi me vigens, quem spreverant, docebat esse incorrigibiles, in malitia obstinatos, Hoc crimen est morte simpliciter dignum et apud Deum et apud homines, In aliis autem criminibus, ubi Spiritus Sanctus speciale quid non docet, ubi non est inveterata malitia, aut obstinatio certa non apparet aut atrocitas magna, correctionem per alias castigationes sperare potius debemus" (Servetus, Restitutio Christianismi, 656; Henry, iii. 235)' 2 "Nam si venerit, modo valeat mea authoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar" (Calvin to Farel, in Henry, iii. Append. 65; Audin, Vie de Calvin, ii. 314; Dyer, 544), 3 "Spero capitale saltern fore judicium: poenae vero atrocitatem remitti cupio It (Calvin to Farel, Henry, iii. 189), Dr, Henry makes no attempt to clear Calvin of the imputation of having caused the death of Servetus. Nevertheless he proposed, some years later, that the three-hundredth anniversary of the execu- tion should be celebrated in the Church of Geneva by a demonstration. " It ought to declare itself in a body, in a manner worthy of our principles, admitting that in past times the authorities of Geneva were mistaken, loudly proclaiming toleration, which is truly the crown of our Church, and paying due honour to Calvin, because he had no hand in the business (parcequ'il n'a pas trempé dans cette affaire), of which he has unjustly borne the whole burden," The impudence of this declaration is surpassed by the editor of the Fr(::nch periodical from which we extract it. He appends to the words in our parenthesis the following note: " \Ve underline in order to call attention to this opinion of Dr, Henry, who is so thoroughly acquainted with the whole question" (Bulletin de la SociétllÚ I Histoire du Protestantisme Pranfais, ii, 114).
