[455] See the letters, pp. 422, 427. They were then waiting at Geneva for the reply of the Swiss churches to the circular letters which had been addressed to them concerning the case of Servetus.
[456] Farel arrived at Geneva a few days afterwards, where was reserved for him the melancholy mission of accompanying Servetus to the stake.
[457] Galeazzo Caraccioli, Marquis de Vico.
[458] The state messenger charged with the delivery of the documents relative to the trial of Servetus to the Swiss Churches, had visited in succession those of Berne, Zurich, Schaffhausen, and Bâle, and had now returned to Geneva with their replies. The churches were alike unanimous in their judgment of the theological culpability of Servetus, and in their testimonies of affection and confidence towards Calvin and his colleagues. Without giving expression to the nature of the punishment which should be inflicted on the accused, they were unanimous in advising them to rid the Church of a pest, which had already brought ruin to so great a number of souls. Their various replies will be found in Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 72, et seq. The magistrates of Berne, who had counselled toleration to Bolsec, manifested an inflexible rigour towards Servetus, exhorting those of Geneva not to act unworthily of Christian magistrates. The ministers of Zurich were still more decided: "We think," said they, "that you ought in this case to manifest much faith and zeal, inasmuch as our churches have abroad the bad reputation of being heretical, and of being particularly favourable to heresy. Holy Providence at this time affords you an opportunity of freeing yourselves and us from that injurious suspicion, if you know how to be vigilant and active in preventing the further spreading of that poison, and we have no doubt but that your Seigneurs will do so." After such replies the sentence against Servetus could not be long doubtful; and the magistrates, in condemning him to death, were only the interpreters of the stern thought of an age in which persecution, that sad legacy of the Middle Ages, was the avowed jurisprudence of all Christian communions. The day following that on which Calvin penned these lines addressed to Farel, (27th October 1553,) Servetus was led forth to hear his doom pronounced at the gate of the Hotel de Ville, and mounted the fatal pile erected at Champel, bequeathing a mournful souvenir to the Reformation, and an eternal subject of accusation to the enemies of the Reformer. The error of Calvin in the death of Servetus was, we may say, altogether that of his age, inasmuch as men of the most conciliating and moderate dispositions, viz., Bucer, Œcolampadius, Melanchthon, and Bullinger, were at one in their approval of the condemnation of the unfortunate Spanish innovator. One may deeply deplore this error without insulting the Reformation, and combine in a just measure that pity which a great victim demands, with respect for those men whom an unhappy time made the accusers and the judges of Servetus.
[459] May not the personage in question be Antoine de Pons, Lord of Maremme? He had taken for his first wife Anne de Parthenay, daughter of M. de Soubise, and had embraced the Reformed faith at the Court of Ferrara. Having afterwards married the lady of Montebenu, he fell away from Protestantism, and even became one of its persecutors.—Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 199.
[460] After the accession of Queen Mary to the throne of England, the Continent was filled with religious exiles, who did not hesitate to sacrifice their country for the free profession of their faith in a strange land. A great many English Churches were established in Germany and Switzerland. Those of Frankfort and Geneva were the most important.—See on the origin and history of the latter, the Memoir published by a Genevese savant, M. Heyer, in the Recueil de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Genève. 1854.
[461] "The whole of the Lesser Council, the gentlemen of justice, M. Calvin, and a great number of the more eminent men of the town, dine together, in order to cement the peace, and it has been decided upon that if any one violate it all the others may oppose him."—Registers of the Council for 1553.
[462] See the letter to Viret, p. 423. After having solemnly refused the Supper to Philibert Berthelier, Calvin presented himself before the Council, and demanded a general assembly of the people. The Council could not, he said, annul a discipline which the entire people had sanctioned. Intimidated by this step, the Council adopted the course which it had already followed in the case of Servetus, and expressed the intention of consulting the other Reformed Cantons. Charged with a secret mission by the Reformer, his friend John de Budé set out for Zurich, to solicit in that place, a decision favourable to the views of Calvin. Bullinger was active in his exertions to gain over the magistrates of his country, as well as in giving Calvin wise counsels of moderation:—"We have laboured with all our might," he wrote to him, "to prevent our Seigneurs from acting in any way derogatory to the excellent laws of your Church; we have besides exhorted you to continue faithful, using moderation in all things, lest you lose those whose salvation is desired by the Lord, who does not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax."—Bullinger to Calvin. 12th December 1553.
[463] While giving an energetic deliverance against the errors of Servetus, the ministers of Zurich had paid, in their reply to the Seigneurie of Geneva, a very beautiful tribute to Calvin:—"We trust that the faith and zeal—in a word, the distinguished services among the exiles and the pious—of our brother, your pastor, Calvin, is too illustrious to be obscured by such very disgraceful calumnies, whether in the estimation of your honourable Council, or in that of other good men."—Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 74.
[464] See the preceding letter. The Council of Zurich having received the letter of that of Geneva, and having consulted Bullinger and his colleagues regarding the reply which they would require to make, did not hesitate to give a deliverance in favour of Calvin, and against the demands of the Libertines. They accordingly exhorted the magistrates of Geneva to maintain their ecclesiastical laws, "as good and conformable to the prescriptions of the Divine word, and as particularly necessary in an age in which men are becoming more and more wicked." Although the discipline then in operation at Zurich differed essentially from that of Geneva, in being less rigorous, yet the Seigneurs of Zurich pronounced a eulogy upon that of the latter, "inasmuch as it was framed in a manner adapting it to the time, the place, and the persons; and that every Church ought to persevere in those usages which she has received and holily established, according to the word of God."—Ruchat, Hist. de la Reformation, tom. vi. pp. 67, 68. The reply of the Seigneurs of Berne was less explicit. They limited themselves to the declaration, that excommunication was not in force among them, but that they had certain regulations, of which they forwarded them a copy.