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repugn ant to the gospel , by " whatever class of men they may be propagated . " * Other passages might be cited to the same effect , wherein he allows the magistrate to be , in conjunction with the church , a judge in matters of faith , and asserts his authority to restrain men from acting upon their own independent judgment in respect to the worship of God , and promulgating opinions hostile to the established religion , t Melanethon ,
however , nowhere maintains the right of the magistrate to punish opinions with death . There is , nevertheless , a passage in his works which , if strictly interpreted , would go to prove that there were cases in which fie deemed
it justifiable to resort to this extremity . It occurs in a letter to Bullin ^ er on the subject of Servetus ' s murder . * ' I have read , " he states , ** your answer respecting' Servetus ' s
blasphemies , and 1 approve \ our piety and } our judgments . I consider the Senate at Geneva to have acted rightly in cutting off an obstinate man who would not refrain from his blasphemies . And I atn surprised that there
* Etsi Magistrates not ) judicat nee mutat arcanas opiuinnes in mente , tamen exlerna delicta prohibere debet propter gMonain Dei , et ne plures corruiiipantur
iicentia et exemnlis . Quare Reoes , Princ / pes et Magistratus etiam hoc tern pore uispiciant ecclesias , et curent esis recte doceri , ut flectautui * animi hotnintun ad
veram Dei iijvocationem , et ad alia pietatis omcia , et prohibeant coli idola , ac doceri et confirmari falsns opiniones ' pugriaiitps cum Evangelio 11 , a qiiocuuque geneie homi-MU ' simrg'untnr . "—Alefaricthon , Lf ) ci Communes , ( Svo . Basil , 1558 , ) pp . 612 , 613 . t Otnnes hi errores ex hoc iiuo fonte
° nuntur , quod putant homines sibi licere , fi' » £ eie suo arbilrio * opiniones de Deo , et cultus . Sicut et Aaron putabut , fing-ens cnltum ad vitnli sinmlacrum : et Jeroboam audacissime abclucens populum Israel & lemplo Dei ad sua sacrificia . Hie clamant sapientes : —Quid hoec res mali habet ? Our non concederetur aupeie lionesta
exercitia ? Quid Ethnioi , quid Aaron , quid Jeroboam , aliud volebant , nisi ut noticia Dei conservaretur , ut populus ad invocationem invitaretur-. ut bonis exerc » tns ad pia opera assucfieret . ? Hse
species , et hoe tu 6 a . vo'Koyloll semper fefellerunt 9 fallunt , et fallent g ^ enus humanum . * Sed hae speciosse ratiowes et itSavoXoyion j ^ oducunt homines a verbo Dei , Ideo tii fl ^ Deo prohibit * jtunt . Nam simili
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should be any persons who disapprove that severity /* * It is possible that Melancthou ' s opiniou of this case might have been formed upon the gross calumnies and misrepresentations which the friends of
Calviu , and Biiliinger himself among others , industriously circulated respecting- Servetus , in order to remove fhe odium which was so generally cajbt upon him as the instigator of the murder . This at least is the mosf
charitable supposition . Bock , however , himself a Lutheran , and an admirer of Melancthon , scruples not to ascribe this expression of his approbation to a less honourable cause . " Melancthon , says he , " otherwise very far removed from all passion and violence , seems , agreeably to his courteous manner , to accommodate
himself to the Helvetic churches . "t It is surety carrying courtesy a little too far when it leads those who pride themselves on their urbanity and politeness , to compliment other men upon their crimes . The sentiments expressed by Luther
and Melanethon , in the passages which have been quoted , may be laken as the standard of the opiuiou of the German Reformers . This appears from a distinct treatise on the subject by Frederick Baldwin , in the form of a thesis ,
maintained in 1608 at the University of Wittemberg , in which he held the office of theological professor . It is intituled , " A Theological Disputation concerning Heretics , and the
manner in which they ought to be punished . ' J It is unnecessary here , ¦ . _ | L ' | . . ¦ ¦ | . II I ¦ . I I _ . I ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ ! I ¦ I " *^ ' audacia fiiigunt baeretici suos errores , alii alios . "—Loci Communes , ubi supra , fol .
660 . * Legi quse de Scrveti blaspfiemiis respondistis , et pietatem ac judicia vestva probo . Judico etiam Senatum Genevensem recte fecisse , quod hoiinnoui pertinaccii ) , et no ii oiiiissiJiuiM blasphemias , sustulit . Ac mi rains smn , esse , qui
severitatem illam improbetit . ' —Molanctiioius Consilia , P . ii . p . 204 5 Bock , ubi supra , II . 380 . -J- u Melanctboa , ab omiii impetu ot \ iolentia alias rerootissimus , Ilelveticis C « etibus , pro more suo blandiloquo , se accommada&se videtuv . ** — Bock , ut supra , II . 380 . J i € Disputalio Theologfico de Hoereticis , at quo Modo sint coercendi . Publice proposita in Acadeniia Witteberg-ensi k Frede-
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The Nonconformist . No * XV . 683
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 683, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/31/
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