The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George IIChandler, Samuel
History
The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George II
Chandler, Samuel
Persecution -- Great Britain; Persecution -- History
Besides, it is certain, that the magistrates at Vienne had Servetus’s
Manuscripts sent to them from Geneva, either by Calvin, or the
magistrates of that city; and when Servetus was afterwards apprehended
at Geneva, the magistrates there sent a messenger to Vienne, for a copy
of the process that had been there carried on against him; which that
messenger received, and actually brought back to Geneva. So that nothing
is more evident, than that there was an intimacy and conspiracy between
the Protestants of Geneva and the Papists at Vienne, to take away the
life of poor Servetus; and that, though they were mortal enemies in
other things, and as far different from one another as Christ and
Belial, yet that they agreed harmoniously in the doctrine and practice
of persecution, and were one in the design and endeavour of murdering
this unhappy physician. And though Calvin is pleased magisterially to
deny his having any communication by letters with the Papists at Vienne,
yet I think his denial far from sufficient to remove the suspicion. He
himself expressly says that many persons blamed him for not acting
honourably in that affair; and the accusation was supported by
Servetus’s complaint, and by what is a much stronger evidence, the
original papers and letters which Servetus had sent to Calvin, which
were actually produced by the judges at Vienne, and recited in the
sentence as part of the foundation of his condemnation. And as Calvin
himself never, as I can find, hath attempted to clear up these strong
circumstances, though he owed it to himself and his friends, I think he
cannot well be excused from practising the death of Servetus at Vienne,
and lending his assistance to the bloody Papists of that place, the more
effectually to procure his condemnation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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