The Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1852-1853, 1853-02-23

than any good citizen should DO. The Of
fence for which Sefvetus was ~apprehended
and tried was no common one. Il was not
that he differed in opinion from Calvin-not
that he rejected the peculiar doctrines OF
the reformation-not that he maliciously
impugned the common faith Of the church
which had abandoned the faith of Rome
No. His shafts were aimed at the very vi
tails of rellgion-at the existence and nature
Of God. Ills crime was the most revolving
blasphemy. He ~obstinstely persisted in as
Serting the true God TO be a triple-headed
monsIer-a phantom Of devils. lie declared
that all things-the earth ard hell, wicked
men, and Satan himself, are a part of God.
lie was tried, not simply because he believ-
ed these hOrrid absurdities, but because for
years he had not ceased to inculcate them in
his writings and conversations, and thus to
undermine the foundations of moral obliga-
tons and Of civil society. In causing Ser
vetus to be ap~prehended and tried for BIAS
phemy, Calvin did no more than good men
have ever since done-did what our highest
tribunals of justice have approved and do
now approve. He felt that blasphemy is an
otfence-a fragrant crime against the peace
and order of society, against the very exist
ence of civil government and he acted &C
cordingly. So far he was right, it is what
every good man ought to do. BIasphemv
ought 10 be punished. How it should be
punished is another question. All we claim
is that it ought to be punished by civil au-
thorlty. So Calvin felt, and the causing OF
Servetus to be tried for his revolving bias
phemies, he is not ia the least to be blamed.
The death of Servetus was not desired,
nor designed by Calvin. "What my de,
sign was" he says, became evident in the
process Of the action, ii. e. in the efforts
which he made to induce him to retract and
cease his b~lasphemy.) When my colleagues
and myself were summoned, it was by nc
means our fault that he did not confer
peaceably and fully with us. He might
have redeemed his life by mere moderation.'
To the evidence of guilt taken from his
writings, he added the most open and un'
blushing blasphemies in the presence of the
Court. He was cmphatically s~clf-condemn.
ed. He astonished every one, even those
who had secretly urged him on in his abuse
Of Calvin, by the horrid expressions which
he uttered while on his trial.
We may say, therefore, with Colcridgt
"thot if eper a fanatic THRUST HIMSELF int
tie tire, that man acaS Michael S~ervetus."
1.-The affair" says the learned Turretin
odd not come to this issue but with rcluct
ancc, nor until other means to overcome hi
obstinacy and bring him to repentance ha(
been tried in vain. lie might, i lie woutd
hape aroilea puDiShment.'
The court sentenced him to be burned t,
death. Here was the error in the case. |
WAS indeed the error of TIE timcs--on,
which was fully, universally approved by tn
jurisprudence Of that age. If the court hat
sentenced him to Imprisonment, Punishment
or fined him severely, no reasonable ma
would now complain. But Calvin had n
influence whatever in procuring this result
"From the time the charges were proved a
gainst him, | never uttered a word" he says
concerning his punishment" D,