from the man of genius; and the Reformation-type of the holy cause of human progress-have advanced without the lamentable compromise of principle it suffered when its leaders sent one of the very foremost men of his age to the stake. In presence of the individual he had come to look on as his personal enemy as well as the enemy of God, Calvin appears to have forgotten all his earlier aspirations after toleration. He was not now thinking of himself as editor of Seneca on Clemency,' when to the text of his author enjoining self-control or moderation of mind-animi temperantia -having the power to take vengeance, he adds: 'It belongs to the nature of the merciful man that he not only uses opportunities of vengeance with moderation, but does not avail himself of even the most tempting occasions to take revenge;'1 -a noble sentence, but written in days long past, when he saw persecution for conscience sake inaugurated by Francis I. Neither had he himself as author of the 1 Lucii Annai Seneca 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 earlier editions of the Institutions' in his mind, where he is as emphatic in denouncing the 'Right of the Sword' in dealing with heresy as he was now, having become the spiritual dictator of Geneva, ready to call it at all times into requisition. Calvin's natural temperament, in fact, disposed him to severity in furtherance of his purposes and his will. We have seen him in his letter to Farel of February 1546, threatening Servetus with death, did opportunity serve; and writing to a French lady-Madame de Cany-about or a little before the time that now engages us, in referring to some one who had behaved ungratefully both to his correspondent and himself, he says: 'I assure you, madam, that had he not taken himself off so speedily, I should have held it my duty, in so far as it lay with me, to have had him burned alive.'1 But everything seemed to conspire against Servetus at the moment of his reaching Geneva; for almost immediately after his arrival there, and whilst his presence was still unknown to Calvin, the Reformer received a letter from a correspondent, Paul Gaddi of Cremona by name, that must have greatly strengthened his fears of Servetus's objectionable influence in the world, and, on theological grounds, confirmed him in his purpose of pushing matters to extremities and silencing the dangerous heretic for ever, did he but find the opportunity. Gaddi, as it seems, had lately reached Zürich from the north of Italy. At Ferrara, he in 1 Thesaur. Epist. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss, v. 450. forms his correspondent that he had had many long and interesting conversations with the Duchess, who showed the very best and most friendly dispositions towards the Reformed Faith. But she was sorely in want of a competent person, 'a faithful Minister of the word of God,' as a guide against those by whom she was surrounded. Gaddi, therefore, at the desire of the Duchess requests Calvin to send her some one who would give her true instruction, and free her from the teaching of the miserable Monk she has at her elbow, who seeks not after what Christ requires, but after the things that be profitable to himself.' ་ 'Much have I seen in these [northern] Italian cities,' continues Gaddi, and many have I met with who profess Christ; but few and far between are those who faithfully serve the Lord. Various, truly, are the heresies that there abound, so that the land is, in truth, a very Babylon. This, you may be sure, I have not beheld without extreme distress of mind and tearful eyes; but the heresy that flourishes the most of all, is the doctrine of the proud and Satanic Servetus, insomuch that many of the faithful entreat you to come forward, and controvert his writings; a task to which they think you are the more bound to apply yourself, as he boasts that no one has yet dared to write against him. I, too, if my entreaty may be of any avail, beseech you to undertake the business. I know the influence your writings have with all in Italy, who fear God. If you deigned to take pen in hand against George [he had published a tract against predestination], who was every way unworthy of your notice, for he was plunged in the deepest ignorance, how much rather ought you to come forward against this diabolical spirit, who is looked on by so many as having the highest authority in matters of doctrine. And truly his teaching, though it be of the most impious and pestilent kind, is calculated to impose on those whose eyes serve them not to see far before them. Wherefore, I entreat you yet again, to undertake the task I propose. Postpone, I pray you, for a few days your other studies; betake you to this most necessary work, and be the hammer that shall smite the enemy. Zürich, July 23rd, 1553.1 Your most devoted, PAULUS GADIUS CREMONENSIS. 1 Thes. Ep. Calvini a Cünitz et Reuss, v. 577. CHAPTER III. SERVETUS IS ARRAIGNED ON THE CAPITAL CHARGE BY CALVIN. IN ordering the summary arrest of Servetus at the instance of Calvin, as we have seen, the Syndic only conformed with usage. But by the law of Geneva grounds for an arrest on a criminal charge must be delivered to an officer styled Le Lieutenant Criminel, or the Lieutenant of Criminal Process-a personage evidently holding a responsible position in the city— within twenty-four hours thereafter, failing which the party attached was set at liberty. To prepare the articles of impeachment required, Calvin must have spent the greater part of the night, turning over the leaves of the 'Christianismi Restitutio,' for the matter of his charges. These bear very obvious marks of the haste in which they were put together, several of them being repetitions of others that had gone before, and scarcely anything like order being observed in the arrangement of the particulars adduced. Within the legal time, however, the prosecutor was ready with his articles, no fewer than thirty-eight in number, upon which, as a preliminary to further proceedings, it was |