Celsus had heard of the execution of Servetus at Geneva, and been assured by some who were present, persons worthy of all trust, that the constancy of the sufferer was such that many of the spectators, finding it impossible to imagine anything of the kind endured without the immediate support of God, instead of feeling horror for a blasphemer rightfully put to death, were led to look on him as a martyr to the cause of truth, and so made shipwreck of the faith in which they had hitherto lived. This led Celsus to think of the treatise he had formerly written in his native language on the proper way of dealing with heresy, and turning it into Latin he resolved to have it printed. He did not live, however, to carry out his purpose; his book was only published some years after his death by a friend who gives no more than the initials of his name, J. F. D., but adds M.D., whereby we learn that he was a physician. ‘No man,’ says Mosheim,[120] ‘can write more amiably or controvert more gently than this Minus Celsus. He never uses a word that is either bitter or insulting. His principal opponents are Calvin and Beza, of course, but he does not name them specially when he controverts their conclusions, although he proclaims his horror of all violence in matters of faith. He does, indeed, speak of Calvin once by name, but it is with mingled commendation and sorrow that ‘one who had deserved so well of the Church on many counts, and who thought in earlier years that religion was not to be furthered by severity or violence, should have finally fallen away from his better persuasion. Why he changed, I know not: God knows.’ Calvin did not live to see this excellent work of the Siennese Celsus. Although written in his lifetime, the great Reformer died twenty years before it saw the light. How it would have affected him we can only say with our pious Celsus, God knows! CHAPTER XXII. CALVIN’S BIOGRAPHERS AND APOLOGISTS.