THE SWISS COUNCILS AND CHURCHES ARE ADDRESSED BY THE COUNCIL OF GENEVA. From the duel as heretofore carried on between Calvin, backed by the Ministers of Geneva, and Servetus, seconded by Christ alone, as he said, the process was now to be widened in its scope and debated between the solitary stranger and the Reformation at large, or so much of it at least as was represented by the Protestant Churches of Berne, Basle, Zürich, and Schaffhausen. As many as four copies of the writings that had passed between the prosecution and the prisoner had, therefore, to be made, and for this a couple of days were required; so that it was not until after the third week of September that the messenger usually charged by the authorities of Geneva with their despatches was furnished with his credentials to the Councils and Ministers of the four towns named. The documents forwarded were copies of the ‘Christianismi Restitutio,’ and of the works of Tertullian and Irenæus; the thirty-eight articles from the writings of Servetus extracted by Calvin; Servetus’s replies to these in defence of his views; and Calvin’s Refutation of his errors, as he characterised them, having Servetus’s jottings, disclaimers, and abusive epithets interspersed. Grounding their opinions on these lengthy documents, the Swiss Churches were requested to declare themselves on the orthodox or heretical nature of the passages inculpated, and so, in fact, to pronounce on the guilt or innocence of the prisoner in respect of the heresy and blasphemy imputed to him; their standard being, of course, the particular form of Christianity professed by the prosecutor and themselves. In referring to the Churches in communion with that of Geneva, the Council is careful to say that it would not be supposed to entertain any doubts of the competency of the Church of Geneva to pronounce a definitive opinion on the questions at issue; it would only have further light before coming to a decision in a matter of so much moment. The style of address adopted by the Council of Geneva to the Councils and Churches of the Cantons consulted will be sufficiently appreciated from the letters sent to Zürich. And first the one addressed to the Ministers: Geneva, September 21, 1553.