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Untitled Article
Mary and Louis thought and said that these victims Were bias * phemers . We must also , on the above maxim , considerably abate our abhorrence of the proceedings of the rioters at Birmingham against the amiable Dr . Priestley *; for there was not a man among them , nor among their secret instigators *
who did not think him a daring blasphemer of his Saviour and his King . " I wish Veritas would re-consider things , and possess himself of a better spirit . < 4 It is not generally known , " he says , Ci to what an extreme of blasphemy Servetus proceeded ; " nor is it generally known to what an extreme of injustice persecutors will proceed in mis- *
representing the words and sentiments of those whom they op ~ pose : Servetus is said to have called the Trinity ** the three * headed Cerberus , and Moses a a ridiculous impostor ; " but remember 'tis his adversary Beza says so , and who will venture to affirm that either he or Calvin has justly represented the man ' s sentiments ? There is every reason to suspect the con *
irary when we consider what hatred they bore hini » No man , now a-days , I believe , has seen a single line of Servetus ' s own works . Dr . Owen himself speaks only ** of passages cited out of his book on the Trinity : " the reason is evident , all that could be collected of Servetus ' s books were publicly burnt ^
either with his effigy at Vienne , or with his person at Geneva . As for calling Moses a ridiculous impostor , the report seems to have originated thus : Servetus somewhere asserted , that the land of Judea was not so fruitful as it had been represented / ' i . e . that it was not then so fruitful as in Moses ' s time . This was
immediately construed into a reflection on the veracity of Moses , and from hence some furious bigot or other might easily give it out that he had called Moses a ridiculous impostor , though nothing could be further from Servetus ' s thoughts . What unfair means do persecutors use ! How ready to turn and twist the words of their opponents , and ascribe to them things which they never thought of or uttered !
Veritas and the Conductors of the Evangelical Magazine would fain persuade us , that they dislike persecution * in eveiy form and degree ; " and they profess to admit that Calvin was to blame for the act alluded to ; and yet they quote , with seeming approbation , the words of Dr . Owen , who did not hesitate to declare , that the " zeal of those who put Servetus to death
may be acquitted . l hey also repeatedly hold up Servetus as a blasphemer , as having uttered positions iC too horrid to be transcribed , and to be scattered , like firebrands , arrows , and * I well knew a popular preacher who publicly gave God tkanks that he had put it into the heads of the mob at Birmingham to destroy the meeting-house * mansion , and library of Dr . Priestley !!! <
Untitled Article
352 Calvin and Servetus *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1806, page 352, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1726/page/16/
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