Historia Reformationis Polonicæ Authore STANISLAO LUBIENJECIO0. An impartial History of Michael Servetus. Printed for AARON WARD, at the King's Arms, in Little Britain. 1724. [From this History I have made long extracts in the Chapter on the Persecution of Servetus.] DR. BENSON's Essays. ROBINSON's Ecclesiastical Researches. The Life of Servetus, by JACQUES GEORGE de CHAUFFPIE. Sect. 1. The minority of Servetus. Conjectures respecting the formation of his character......89 Sect. 2. He publishes a book concerning the errors about a tri- Sect. 6. The correspondence between Calvin, the magistrates of Geneva, and the other reformed ministers and ::::. CHAPTER IV. PERSECUTION INDEFENSIBLE... Sect. 9. He is burnt alive......................255 ....261 Sect. 1. Whether it be right for the civil magistrates, or any power on earth, to put men to death for their opinions.... ...264 Sect. 2. On the same principle as the persecutors of Servetus defended their conduct, if admitted, every species of persecution might be defended274 Sect. 3. The reformers guilty of manifest inconsistency. 276 Sect. 4. Persecution irrational... Sect. 5. Persecution altogether antichristian Sect. 2. Servetus' Edition of the Bible... Sect. 3. What the Dr. wrote on the circulation of the blood312 A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE OPINIONS OF SERVETUS 329 Sect. 1. On the trinity and the person of Christ330 Sect. 2. On Baptism, original sin, the distinction between law Sect. 4. By the example of Calvin and his associates.... 352 Sect. 5. By the effects produced by his writings & sufferings353 AN APOLOGY, &c. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. Sect. 1. On Persecutors and Persecution. Sect. 2. That some of the wisest and best of men have been charged with heretical pravity. Sect. 3. The difficulty of obtaining a full and impartial account of Doctor Servetus. Sect. 4. A glance at the state of the christian world down to the period of Servetus' sufferings. THAT the reader may be prepared to attend with impartiality to the case of Servetus, it is thought necessary to present him with some previous remarks. It is a question of great and awful import, have one party of christians a right to deprive others of liberty and life, merely because they deem their opinions erroneous and heretical? On the answer which this question receives, the condemnation or justification of the Doctor's persec** entirely depends. If it be answered in the negative, nothing can justify their conduct. This question will be fully discussed in the course of this work; in the mean time, it is thought best to submit to consideration a few general observations on persecutors and persecution. To traduce the character of virtuous and good men, is a great injury to them, and to society. What can be more valuable among men than a good name? 'it is like precious ointment:' and there is nothing a wise man would not do to preserve it, short of acting wrong; highly as he may value his reputation, it would be foolish and wicked to preserve it at the expense of a good conscience. To violate the reputation of another is an injury to society, as it weakens the tie which unites him to them, diminishes their sense of his worth, and has a tendency to destroy his usefulness. To fix the brand of heresy upon a wise and good man, is, in the view of multitudes, to blast his reputation: hence it is judged proper to explain this circumstance, that mankind may be disabused on a point which has materially affected the reputation of many great men. Perhaps, the majority of mankind still judge of those with whom they have not been previously acquainted, merely by common report and popular clamor: this seems to make it necessary they |