a night or two in that city, but he must be presently apprehended? No, not if it be Servetus, and that Servetus too, who, in the person of Mr. CALVIN, minister of the word of God in the church of Geneva, had, in a printed book, defamed the doctrine that is preached: Alas! Servetus had irritated that great man too much; and pope Calvin was resolved to have his blood, even though he was conscious to himself, that he had treated Servetus as rudely as Servetus had done him; nay, that he had given the first provocation that way.'

When Servetus had answered the thirty-eight interrogatories, his accuser produced against him a manuscript and a printed book. The prisoner confessed that he was the author of both, and that he had published the printed book; but he said the manuscript had not been printed, and that he had only sent it to Calvin about six years before, to have his judgment about it. La Fontaine produced a printed copy of Ptole. my, with notes, and a latin bible with several annotations. Servetus confessed that he was the author of the notes upon Ptolemy, and that he had written some of those annotations upon the bible. Afterwards La Fontaine made himself a prisoner, the better to convince the judges, that he was able to prove the accusation.Servetus declared, that he had delivered to the jailor, the ninety seven gold pieces, the gold chain, and the rings before mentioned.

The next day (August 15.) Servetus was brought a second time to the bar, and answered again the same interrogatories as before. Upon the fourth, he said, that Mr. Calvin did so violently persecute him, that he narrowly escaped being burnt alive by his means. Servetus answered to the thirty-seventh head of acсиsation, That Calvin abused him first, at several times and afterwards in printed books; and that what he had written to him in his own vindication, was not with an intent to abuse him, but to show him his mistakes and errors, as he engages to do in a full congregation, by solid arguments, and by the holy scriptures.

Servetus having answered all the articles, the judges came to this resolution, That because he appeared to be very guilty, La Fontaine should be released upon promise of going on with the prosecution. Servetus confessed some of these articles, and denied the rest as he had done the day before.

The next day (August 16.) the prisoner was brought again to the bar. La Fontaine came in with another person, named Germain Colladon; and upon the third article, produced again

a copy of Ptolemy, and the notes inserted by the author, at the end of the description of Palestine. Some passages also were produced out of Servetus' works, to convict him of the heresies charged upon him; but they went no farther than the eleventh article, before the court adjourned the continuance of their proceedings to the next day. In the mean time La Fontaine presented the following petition to the judges.

'Magnificent, mighty, and most dreadful Lords, Nicholas de la Fontaine, humbly sheweth, That having made himself a prisoner in a criminal cause, against Michael Servetus, for the great scandals and troubles occasioned in Christendom by the said Servetus, during the space of twenty-four years, or thereabouts, for the blasphemies uttered and published by him against God, for the heresies wherewith he has infected the world, for the wicked calumnies and defamations he has published against the eminent servants of God, especially against Mr. Calvin, whose honor the said petitioner is bound to maintain, as of one who is his pastor, if he is willing to be accounted a christian; and also by reason of the dishonor that might accrue from it to the church of Geneva, foras

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much as the said Servetus does particularly condemn the doctrine that is preached in it, &c.'

In the remaining part of the petition, the accuser beseeches the judges to compel Servetus to make a formal answer to each article produced against him, without any shift; and that after he has been convicted of publishing and teaching the heresies contained in the interrogatories, if they judge him to be guilty, and to deserve to be prosecuted by their attorney, they would be pleased to make a declaration of it, and to clear him from all damages and expenses according to custom. This petition of De la Fontaine was attended with the thirty-eight articles before mentioned.

In this proceeding, two things are observable, First, that the offence Servetus had given to John Calvin was one of the great crimes charged upon him, and supposed equal to blasphemy against God. Second, that the Genevese were strangers to that excellent maxim of our law, that no man shall be compelled to answer questions that would criminate himself.

The next day (August 17.) Servetus made his appearance in court again, where proof was to be produced that he had abused Calvin and some other divines of Geneva; for it seems this was the Doctor's heresy and blasphemy, the abuse of the great Calvin and his colleagues, who were pleased to construe into abuse every thing written in opposition to their opinions.

To prove the first article, importing that Servertus had been condemned in Germany, La Fontaine and Colladon, exhibited two letters of Oecolampadius, and two passages of Melancthon. The first passage of Melancthon runs thus.

'That fanatic, Servetus, plays with the word persona, and contends, that anciently among the Latins it was used to signify the habit or distinction of some office; as much as to say, that at one time Roscius personated Achilles, at another Ulysses; or that the same man is one time a consul, and another a servant, as Cicero expresses himself. It is of the greatest importance, in the commonwealth, for a prince to keep his rank: and Servetus villanously wrests this old signification of the word, to explain the article of three persons in the divinity.' Supposing Servetus to have misapplied the term, would that have constituted him a villain?

In the second passage Melancthon calls Servetus, a sly and impious fellow. He acknowledged that Oecolampadius and Melancthon