Chapter XLVII: Appendix (3)

Which may be paraphrased thus:--

This world and all its kingdoms wouldst thou know,
What mighty rivers to blue oceans flow,
What mountains rise, what cities grace the lands,
Thick-peopled, rich through toil of busy hands,--
--If for such lore thou hast a mind to call,
Open this book, and there survey it all.

[52] _Vie de Calvin_, &c.

[53] This, the second edition of Villanovanus’s Ptolemy, is one of the very rare books. All of the impression that could be discovered when Servetus was burned in effigy at Vienne, along with his _Christianismi Restitutio_, appears to have been seized and committed to the flames. I find both editions in the library of the British Museum.

[54] _Habes in hoc Libro, prudens Lector, utriusque Instrumenti novam Tralationem editam a Reverendo sacræ theologiæ Doctore Sancte Pagnini._ Lugdun. 1527-28, fol. Such is the title of this, which we presume to be the first edition of Pagnini’s Bible. Between it and the one of Cologne of 1541, edited by Melchior Novesianus, we find no other until we come to that of Villanovanus. Pagnini is said in the letter of J. F. Pico de Mirandola, which precedes the text, to have been twenty-five years engaged on the work. It is accompanied by no fewer than two commendatory epistles from Popes Adrian VI. and Clement VII., and is said to be the first edition of the Bible that is found divided into chapters. Richard Simon (_Hist. du vieux Testament_, liv. ii.) speaks slightingly of its merits; but it has been highly prized by others, as good judges as he. To us it appears a very admirable version, our own English Bible being generally so like it, that we fancy it must have been used by our Translators.

[55] Sandius, _Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum_.

[56] _Neue Nachrichten_, etc. Helmst. 1750, 4to., S. 89-90.

[57] ‘Servetus nuper ad me scripsit, ac literas adjunxit longum volumen suorum deliriorum, cum thrasonica jactantia, dicens me stupenda et hactenus inaudita visurum. Si mihi placeat, huc se venturum recepit. Sed nolo fidem meam interponere. Nam si venerit, modo valeat mea authoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar.’ Calvin to Farel, dated Ides of February, 1546. From the original letter in the Paris Library; a certified copy, published by Paul Henry in his _Leben Johann Calvins_, 3ter. Band; Beilagen, S. 65; from which the above paragraph is transcribed.

[58] Cont. Bolsec (Hieron. Hermes), Docteur Médecin à Lyon: _Histoire de la Vie, Mœurs, Actes, Doctrine, Constance et Mort de Jean Calvin, Grand Ministre à Genève_. Paris 1577, 12mo. Also in Latin, but of later date--_Vita Calvini, &c._

[59] It is a capital mistake to suppose, as Mosheim and others have done, that the _Christianismi Restitutio_ was ever exposed for sale, or readily to be had either at Geneva or elsewhere. It cannot be shown that more than four or five copies at most of the book ever left the bales in which the whole impression was packed. There was, _first_, the copy sent, as I venture to think, by Servetus through Frelon to Calvin, which led to the arrest and trial at Vienne. _Second_, the copy taken from the five bales seized at Lyons for the use of the Inquisitor Ory. _Third_, the copy transmitted for their inspection to the Swiss Churches and Councils. _Fourth_, the copy given to Colladon by way of Brief by Calvin, with the passages underscored, on which Servetus was finally arraigned and condemned. And _Fifth_, the copy which we find Calvin sending to Bullinger at his request. Of these copies one may even have served two ends: after making the round of the Churches and coming again into Calvin’s hands, it may very well have been that which he despatched to Bullinger. That the book was not to be had immediately after the execution of Servetus is proved conclusively by what Sebastian Castellio, the accredited author of the work entitled, _Contra Libellum Calvini_, says on the subject: _He had not been able to obtain a sight of Servetus’s book, so as to inform himself of what he writes, Calvin having taken such pains to have it burned--‘cum Serveti libros, quippe combustos diligentia Calvini, non habeam, ut ex iis possem videre quid scriberet.’_ The _Christianismi Restitutio_, in fact, remained completely unknown in the Republic of Letters until its existence was proclaimed by Wotton in his _Reflections on Learning, Ancient and Modern_, in the year 1694 (all but a century and a half after the death of its author), by the publication of the passage on the pulmonary circulation, extracted, we must conclude, from the copy that was then in England, and subsequently became, if it were not already, the property of Dr. Meade--the identical copy with the name on the title-page of Germain Colladon, the advocate who prosecuted Servetus at the instance of Calvin, now in the national library of Paris.

[60] The title of the original, in full, is as follows:--

_Christianismi Restitutio._ Totius Ecclesiæ Apostolicæ est ad sua limina vocatio, in Integrum Restituta Cognitione Dei, Fidei Christi, Justificationis nostræ, Regenerationis Baptismi, et Cœnæ Domini Manducationis Restitutio denique nobis Regno Cœlesti, Babylonis impia Captivitate soluta, et Antichristo cum suis penitus destructo.

בעת ההיא יעמוד מיכאר השׂר
καὶ ὲγένετο πόλεμος ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.
MDLIII.

[61] ‘Whose soever sins ye remit,’ etc., John, xx. 23--writing added to the original text, beyond doubt, and dating from long after the time of Jesus, when the Church had acquired a status and was looking for power.

[62] It were beyond the scope of my work to pursue this subject further; but let me say that having compared the first edition of the ‘Loci’ (1521) with the one of 1536 and others, of which there are copies in the British Museum Library, I find it impossible to overlook the influence of Servetus on Melanchthon, as of Melanchthon on Servetus. For fuller information the reader is referred to Tollin’s exhaustive, _Philip Melanchthon und Michael Servet, eine Quellenstudie_. 8vo. 1876.

[63] For some account of the existing copies of the _Christianismi Restitutio_, see the Appendix to this book.

[64] It may be well to remark on the confusion in the notice of the _volume_ or book which in Trie’s second letter, as we read it, is said to have been sent among other documents, twenty-four in number; whilst in his third epistle he regrets that _the volume_ cannot be forwarded at the moment, because of its having been lent two years ago to a friend of Calvin, resident in Lausanne. The ‘great book’ first sent may have been the copy of Calvin’s ‘Institutes,’ annotated on the margins by Servetus; a conclusion that is borne out by the reference, by and by made in the impending trial, towards the end of the first day’s proceedings, to pages 421-424, where Baptism is the subject treated. The volume that cannot be forwarded at the time, because it had been lent to some one in Lausanne, is certainly the MS. copy of the ‘Restitutio Christianismi,’ sent by Servetus to Calvin some years before for his strictures, which he could never get returned, Calvin having lent it to Viret of Lausanne, and grown careless to take so much notice of the writer as would have been implied in recovering and returning him his work.

[65] They were leaves from the _Institutions_ of Calvin, with annotations by Servetus.

[66] Chorier, _Etat politique de Dauphiné_, tome i., p. 335, quoted by D’Artigny.

[67] _Calvin to Farel_, Book I., p. 169.

[68]

Who loves not woman, wine, and song,
A fool is he his life-time long.

[69] _Lucii Annæi Senecæ De Clementia Libri Tres_, Paris, 1532. The work was published by Calvin at his own expense, as a warning, unquestionably against persecution on religious grounds. It is of great rarity in its original shape, but is reprinted in the Geneva Edition of his _Opera Minora_ of the year 1597.

_Seneca on Clemency_ is also to be found translated into English: ‘Lucius Annæus Seneca, his first Book of Clemency, written to Nero Cæsar,’ Lond. 1553. The sentence quoted above and commented by the French editor is rendered by the English translator briefly but not unhappily thus:

For it doth rather cowardice appear
Than clemency an injury in mind to bear:
’Tis he in whose command revenge doth lie
That’s merciful if he do pass it by.

[70] _Thesaur. Epist. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss_, v. 450.

[71] _Thes. Ep. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss_, v. 577.

[72] Conf. Mosheim, op. cit. Beylagen. S. 255.

[73] _Thes. Epist. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss_, v. 591.

[74] _Déclaration pour maintenir la vraie foy_, p. 357, in ed. of collected minor works in French.

[75] _Mém. de la Société d’histoire et d’Archéologie de Genève_, tom iii., 1844.

[76] _Déclaration pour maintenir la vraie foy_; original ed., p. 354. Let us reiterate that Servetus spoke truly when he said that the comment on Palestine was none of his. We have already said that it is copied without change of a word from the Ptolemy of Pirckheimer. We add further that the scholium of the German editor was not challenged by Erasmus, Melanchthon, or Œcolampadius, who seem all to have corresponded with Pirckheimer on his edition. (_Vide_ Tollin, in _Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin_. Bd. für 1875.) It was only, therefore, when the comment came to be looked at through the distorting medium of personal enmity that it was seen as libelling Moses and outraging the Holy Ghost.

[77] _Déclaration pour maintenir la vraie foy._

[78] See a letter of Jo. Haller to H. Bullinger, quoted farther on.

[79] Compare Galiffe in _Mém. de l’Institut National Genevois_, 1862, p. 75.

[80] The documents connected with the case of Bolsec must, we apprehend, have been communicated to Servetus. He often uses the same words as his predecessor in Calvin’s displeasure; and imitates him also in the desire he expresses to have Calvin interrogated and put on his trial for certain matters especially interesting to himself.

[81] There is in fact a minute in the _Records of Geneva_ of a formal requisition made by Farel on October 30, and so three days after the execution of Servetus, to have Wm. Geroult summoned to appear and give an account of himself to the Council. The Lieutenant-Criminel, Tissot, had even, as it seems, been charged with the business of making the necessary inquiries preliminary to the institution of a criminal suit. But we find no mention of any further step being taken in the matter. The civil authorities, with three days for reflection, probably thought that enough, more than enough perhaps, had already been done by the burning of the principal offender.

[82] By the writer of the _Dialogus inter Vaticanum et Calvinum_.

[83] _Fidelis Refutatio_, and _Déclaration pour maintenir_, &c.

[84] From the _Criminal Records_, first published by Mosheim, op. cit. Beylagen, S. 414.

[85] In the summary of the trial given by Trechsel[86] from the archives of Berne, the articles now brought forward by Rigot, and the questions founded on them, are in the handwriting of the amanuensis usually employed by Calvin to make copies of his letters and papers; and beyond question were all dictated by Calvin himself. He perceived that he could trust Rigot no further without risk of failure, and so resumed the position he had taken with Trie, his servant Fontaine, and even in person, as we have seen.

[86] _Die Antitrinitarier: Michel Servet und seine Vorgänger_, S. 307.

[87] Conf. _Chr. Rest._ pp. 433 and 655, and Ep. 29 to Calvin.

[88] _Vide_ pp. 34, 48, Book I.

[89] Herniosus ab utero Servetus dicit se uno latere _resectum_ fuisse, ad lævandam infirmitatem. Uno oculo amisso, attamen, non ideo cæcus homo; neque teste uno ablato impollens.

[90] The letter of the Council of Geneva and the reply of the authorities of Vienne are published in the new ed. of Calvin by Cünitz and Reuss, vol. xiv.

[91] Conf. _De Trin. Error._ fol. 93.

[92] First under Calvin with Nicolas de la Fontaine as his agent; then under Colladon engaged by Calvin; next under Rigot as public prosecutor and now under Calvin and the Swiss Churches.

[93] Here is what Servetus says on this subject, in connection with the Sabellian or Patripassian heresy, in his earlier work: As the proper passion of the flesh is to be born, so is it the proper passion of the flesh to suffer, to be scourged, to be crucified, to die. But all this does not touch the spirit, for it is not the soul that suffers or that dies, but the body. Who so profane as to imagine that the angel in me dies although I die? (_De Trinitatis Erroribus_, f. 76, b.)

[94] From Mosheim’s _Neue Nachrichten, Beilagen_, S. 102, copied from the archives of the Church of Zürich.

[95] Bullinger’s letter bears date from Zürich, Sep. 14, 1553, and is printed in Calvin’s correspondence by Cünitz and Reuss.

[96] The letter is given at length in the _Thes. Epist. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss_, v. 591.

[97] Calvin to Bullinger, April 21, 1555, in _Epist. Calvini_, 8vo. Hanov. 1597.

[98] Vue le sommaire du procés de Michel Servet, prisonnier, le rapport de ceux, esquel on a consultez, et considéré les grands erreurs et blasfémes--Est este arreté: Il soyt condamné à estre mené a Champel, et la brulez tout vivfz, et soyt exequeté a demain, et ses livres bruslés.

[99] Defensio Orthodoxæ Fidei, &c.

[100] Calvin only took letters of naturalisation as a citizen of Geneva four years before his death in 1564, eleven years after the death of Servetus.

[101] See the Confession in full, in Cünitz and Reuss’s edit. of the _Opera Calvini_, viii. 704.

[102] _De Voce Trinitate et Voce Persona._[103]

Quoniam voces istas Trinitatis et Personarum plurimum Ecclesiæ Christi commodare intelligimus, ut et vera Patris, Filii et Spiritus Sancti distinctio clarius exprimatur, et contentiosis controversiis melius occurratur, ab his usque adeo non abhorremus, ut libenter amplexemur, sive ex aliis audiendæ sive a nobis usurpandæ sint. Itaque quod antea a nobis factum est, in posterum quoque operam daturos, quoad licebit recipimus, ne earum usus in Ecclesiis nostris aboleatur. Nam neque ab iis inter scribendum, vel in Scripturæ ennarrationibus in concionibus ad populum, abstinebimus ipsi, et alios docebimus ne superstitiose refugiant. Si quis autem, præpostera religione, teneatur quominus eas usurpare libenter ausit, quanquam ejusmodi superstitionem nobis non probari testamur, cui corrigendæ non sit defuturum nostrum studium; quia tamen non videtur nobis hæc satis firma causa cur vir alioqui pius et in eandem religionem nobis sensu consentiens repudietur, ejus imperitiam hac in parte eatenus feremus ne abjiciamus ipsum ab Ecclesia, aut tanquam male sentientem de fide notemus. Neque, interim maligne interpretabimur si Bernensis Ecclesiæ Pastores eos ad verbi ministerium admittere non sustineant quos comperint voces istas aspernari.

[103] Op. sup. cit. viii. p. 707.

[104] _Fidelis expositio Errorum Michaelis Serveti_, &c.

[105] These words I have, however, since found quoted by Henry: _Leben Calvins_, i. 181, and by Kampschulte, _Johann Calvin_, i. 297.

[106] _Fuessli, Epistolæ ab Ecclesia Helvet. Reformatoribus._ 8vo. Tigur. 1748.

[107] _Calvini Epist. et Respons._

[108] The full titles are these: Déclaration pour maintenir la vraye Foy que tiennent tous Chrétiens de la Trinité des Personnes en un seul Dieu. Par Jean Calvin. Contre les Erreurs de Michel Servet, Espaignol; où il est aussi monstré qu’il est licite de punir les heretiques; et qu’a bon droit ce meschant à esté executé par justice en la Ville de Genève. Chez Jean Crespin. A Genève, 1554, p. 356. 8vo.

Defensio orthodoxæ fidei de sacra Trinitate contra prodigiosos errores Michaelis Serveti, Hispani; ubi ostenditur hæreticos jure gladii coercendos, et nominatim de homine hoc, tam impio, justè et merito sumptum Genevæ fuisse supplicium, per Johannem Calvinum. Apud Olivum Roberti Stephani, 1554, p. 262. 8vo. Both of the versions are subscribed by all the Genevese clergy, and though they differ somewhat in minute particulars, they agree in everything essential. We have fine copies of both originals in our national Library.

[109] For a more particular account of Calvin’s severities, the reader is referred to a paper by M. Galiffe in the _Mémoires de l’Institut National de Genève_ for 1862, p. 79. But torture was an old institution in Geneva, and Servetus is said only to have escaped the rack on the remonstrance of Vandel, one of the senators of the libertine party. In older days we read of one Postel, who, failing to answer so satisfactorily as was desired when cited before the Roman Catholic bishop and his court, for some offence, was ‘suspended by the rope’--by the wrists we believe. A first suspension, however, not proving effectual, a second was ordered; but it being now dinner time, the culprit was suspended a second time whilst his lordship the bishop dined! In more recent times, and under Calvin’s rule, a certain Billiard, having been guilty of jeering at the thunder and lightning during a terrible storm, whilst the inhabitants of Geneva generally were on their knees praying to God for mercy, was adjudged to be lashed by the common hangman at the tail of a cart through the streets of the city! Germain Colladon declared that he deserved death; but as he had a wife and family they might be content with the scourging!

[110] _Em. Saisset: Michel Servet comme philosophe. In Mélanges de Critique et d’ Histoire._ 12mo., Paris, 1865.

[111] First printed by Mosheim from the autograph, in his _Neue Nachrichten von dem berühmten Spanischen Aertzte Michael Serveto, Beilagen_, S. 106. 8vo., Helmst. 1750.

[112] _Corpus Reform. Ep. Melanch. ad An._, 1554.

[113] Comment. in _Acta Apostol. ad Regem Daniæ_.

[114] _Institutiones Religionis Christ._ Lib. i. Cap. 2, of the earlier editions.

[115] Joris’s able letter in low German is given by Mosheim, op. cit., p. 421.

[116] The proper title of this rare book, of which we have a copy in the library of the British Museum is: _De Hæreticis an sint persequendi et omnino quomodo sit cum eis agendum, doctorum virorum, tum veterum tum recentiorum, sententiæ_, &c. The opinions of the learned, both of ancient and modern times, concerning heretics: Are they to be persecuted; or how otherwise are they to be dealt with? A book most necessary and useful in these distracted times to sovereign princes and magistrates in dealing with a matter of such difficulty and danger. 12mo., Magdeburgh, 1554.

[117] _Contra libellum Calvini quo ostendere conetur hæreticos jure gladii coercendos esse._ S. L. [1554]. Of this rare book I have not met with an original copy; but there is the reprint (after 1602) in the Brit. Mus. Library.

[118] Conf. _Fuessli: Sebastian Castellio, eine Lebensgeschichte zur Erläuterung der Reformation_. 8vo. Zürich und Leipz. 1767.

[119] _Mini Celsi Senensis de Hæreticis capitali supplicio afficientibus; adjuncta sunt Theod. Bezæ ejusdem argumenti et And. Duditii Epistolæ duæ contrariæ._ 8vo. s. L. 1584.

[120] _Ketzergeschichte_, S. 301.

* * * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.