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of that ultimate remedy , that this mortal poison make no farther progress , *' Let it not be argued , to excuse the Senate of Geneva , " that tfie
papistic law against heretics was yet in vigour at Geneva , * and that its mitigation was not in the power of the judges . " But why , asks Venema , f ^ did they not abrogate it ? Why did they not proscribe
tfcis anti-christian tenet with popery , which is characterised by superstition ? Why did they not , as was in their power , bring this case to the councilof two hundred , who could have repealed the law , which Servetus begged , and to
which they were exhorted by one of the syndics ? Let it not be said , " that the other reformers were tainted with the same poison : can this plea exculpate the senate of Geneva ? I kno \ v Sir , that the canon law in name , so far as
it related to papal authority and power , was abolished ; neither were then inquisitors publicly admitted , but their odious power , which was worse , was entrusted to the civil magistrate , and Calvin even called the law of Justinian
to his aid , to refute the grounds of the petition of Servetus * Nor can it exculpate Calvin . I observed before , and repeat it Jiere , that his perverse zeal , had
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much greater share in this cruel persecution , than his violent Hatred against Servetus ; t however the latter may Have been enereased through Servfctus * haughty con * duct ; it cannot , alas ! be palliated .
Calvin informed the magistrate of Geneva of Servetus ' s presence in that city ; $ suborned and in , structed one of Ms own family to become his accuser ;¦¦ " " I I confess /"' become his accuser ; confess
, is his language , " the accuser came from me ; " approved and . wished a capital punishment ; for which He opposed the motion to bring this
cause to the supreme council of two hundred , while he only , in the kind of punishment , desired a mitigation ; but he declared in the same letter , that after Serve * tus was condemned , to have not
a single word spoken about it . " Nullum se de pcena verbtim fecisse . " Ep . ad Farell . This hatred was so deep rooted , that it was not extinguished , no not softened by the death of Servetus . In a sermon before his
congregatlCWi , he devoted Servetus to eteN nil punishment , and denounced him in bis writings to the . world in the vilestterms : an obscene dog , an adulterator of the sacred scriptures m perfidious villain ^
It is something singular , so that it even has seemed a paradox to the illustrious Venema , ** that
Cal-* BibL Raisonn . p ^ ii . pag . 15 < . f **• * k ' c # % BibL Raisonn . vol . i . p . 378—3 85 . p . it . p . 14 a—153 * $ Ep . adSulcerum , 9 Sept . Ep . CalvinL 11 . 156 . p . * 94- «»« aucttre factum cssc , » t in hac urhe deprchensus , ad causam dicendam ppj »| iilarctur . % Rc £ ut . crr . SerVcti paswm conf . n . 44 . pag . aiv ad lett . iv . These scurrilous appellation * will look less strange in a man of CalvinV irritable temper , when vrt sec similar epithets bestowed by him upon Castalio , whom he called " a blasphemer , revikr , malicious barking dog , fuU of ignorance , bestiality , and inym ^ tdence ; impostor , a base corrupter of the sacred writings , a mocker of God , * contemner of all region , an impudent fellow , a filthy dog , a knave ; an impudent lewd , crookcd-mimlcd vagabond ; beggarly rogue . ' *— Chandler * * HnucfFcruu * ?• Torn ! vii . to . 479 . JHoc tantttm in praescnti testatuta volo , me non fW caff rtlktr fmm iwMmiu q * fa Hc ** ua f » crit , v « l soh motkstia , ni « menu pnv *««
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434 Sketch of the Life of Servetus . —Letter 7 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1810, page 434, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2408/page/10/
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