Lieutenant, to cause our present sentence to be put in execution.'

This process and sentence authorize the conclusion that the reformation at Geneva had left the ancient penal laws against heretics in full force only the reformed had assumed to themselves the right of determining who were heretics, and exposed as such to the vengeance of those barbarous laws. How could the Syndics, acting as Judges of criminal causes, have ranked errors and heresies among capital crimes had not some law existed which declared them to be such?

M. de la Chapple says of Servetus persecutors, They began by depriving him of every means whereby he might procure to himself the smallest comfort in prison; they laid hold of ninety-seven pieces of gold, a chain of twenty crowns, and six gold rings, which he was so effectually robbed of, that he never heard any more of them; afterwards they put him into a damp dungeon, where he was eaten up with vermin; this resembles the Spanish inquisition not a little. It is true, that the prisoner obtained confronting of parties, the use of papers in process, ink, pen, paper, books, and the liberty of giving what explanations he thought

his

necessary, by word of mouth or writing; which is not allowed at the tribunals of the holy catholic office. But the orders of the Magistrates, if there were any such orders, to put him in a cleaner place, were never executed; he was not suffered to have an advocate to direct him, or to plead his cause, which perfectly well agrees with the ecclesiastical proceedings of episcopal courts in cases of heresy. On the whole we see some small alterations which the light of the reformation began to make.

It was however at bottom, the same spirit which reigned, and the same sanguinary law which was followed; this was carried on to the end; for when the question was to fix the nature of the punishment, they determined that which ancient custom had established. In vain did some persons, more moderate, propose banishment, or, at least, a death less cruel than the flames; Calvin was amongst these last, but in vain, I say, did they make any such overtures, the majority of votes amongst the Judges, stuck to the ancient custom, and Servetus, declared to be a heretic, was to be burnt alive; that which certainly could not have been determined in this manner, but in consequence of the laws and customs of the city. Before the

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propriety of what the same writer adds, that It is purely, therefore, to these laws and those customs, and not to Calvin's rage, that we are to ascribe the severities Servetus underwent in prison, and the inhumanity of the punishment to which he was condemned,' be admitted, the following questions ought to be answered.Did not Calvin know when he procured the arrest of Servetus, instituted a criminal process against him, and did all in his power to convict him, what would be the consequences if he succeeded? Did he not understand the laws of Geneva? Could not he whose influence was all-powerful in the city, whose authority was in certain instances paramount to that of the civil power, have obtained the abolition, or amendment of such cruel laws and customs, had he attempted it in good earnest? in his power to effect the reformation of every thing but injustice and barbarity? was he not manifestly the prime mover of all the proceedings against Servetus; proceedings which rival those of popish persecutors?

Was it

SECTION VIII.

The dying speech of Servetus.

The last words of a dying man are generally heard with attention, and are likely to leave a deep impression on the mind, especially the dying words of one distinguished by superiority of understanding and many eminent qualities; but above all the dying speech of a sufferer in the cause of truth and liberty, about to make his exit amid devouring flames, must excite a peculiar interest. In that awful moment, it is natural to expect, all reserve will be laid aside, and the purest dictates of the mind be expressed with the utmost seriousness and fidelity. The dying speech of Servetus is peculiarly important, as it contains an exposure of the leading doctrines in defence of which he became a martyr.

After having heard his sentence pronounced, he thought it meet to make the following speech, which fully refutes the base calumnies of his enemies, who would have it believed that he died a blasphemer of God and his Son.

MICHAEL SERVETUS' Speech before he was burnt at Geneva, concerning the true knowledge of God and his Son.

'They who assert three substantial persons or hypostases in the Godhead, do insinuate to us that there are three Gods by nature equal; for they tell us there are three substantial, distinct, and different things, and will have every one of those things or hypostases (as they call them) to be a God. Thus they do necessarily make three equal and distinct Gods; for since these persons or hypostases, differing in number and fact, are each of them predicated of God, the consequence is plain, that there are as many predicates as subjects, and that the number of Gods must be equal to the number of persons. And although in words they tell us there is only one God; yet in effect and reality they represent three to our understanding: for every man of the least skill, or ingenuity must see, that three are proposed to him as the objects of his adoration. No man yet could ever explain or inform us how he understood that these three, of which each is a God, were only one God. There remains therefore, both on the mind and understanding, this insuperable perplexity, and inexplicable confusion, that three are one, and one is three. For although the whole under