Sect. 2. On the same principle as the persecutors of Servetus Sect. 5. Persecution altogether antichristian.. Sect. 6. For christians to persecute each other is highly inju rious to the church, and baneful to christianity.282 Sect. 7. Wise and moderate men in all ages have disapproved Sect. 8. Persecutors ar the real heretics and schismatics 285 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 Christ. . . . . . . . 330 Sect. 2. On Baptism, original sin, the distinction between law and gospel, and justification•• Sect. 2. Qn the ground of reason and scripture, which autho- Sect. 4. By the example of Calvin and his associates.... 352 Sect. 5. By the effects produced by his writings & sufferings353 Sect. 6. By the countenance his leading sentiments have re- 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 persecutors C 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 consciTo 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 ence. should be apprized of the difficulties which attend the forming an accurate judgment of those who have been long calumniated. As characters take their cast, in a great measure from the age and circumstances in which they live, it is presumed that a bare glance at the state of the christian world, down to the period when our martyr suffered, will assist the reader in forming an impartial judgment of him and of his persecutors. It is also presumed, that the investigation of these matters is of considerable importance, irrespective of the particular case of Ser vetus. The reader is intreated to divest himself as much as possible of prejudice, and all party consideration, to place himself, in imagination, in the situation of the persecuted man, and then say what he should think of being treated as he was. One of the greatest of all God's commandments is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If we fully obey this command, we shall be as tender of the reputation of others as we are of our own, and as reluctant to take away their lives or liberty, as we are to destroy ourselves or our own liberty. Without regarding who were the actors, let the merits of the case, on both sides, be fully and impartially examined. SECTION I. Of Persecutors and Persecution. In former times, persecution, the offspring of superstition and bigotry, prevailed like an epidemical disease, in the christian world. All parties were either infected with its spirit, or became its victims. By it the wisest and best of men were cut off, the rights and liberties of christians destroyed, and the kingdom of antichrist established and supported. It long continued the scandal and the curse of the nominal church. The times are happily changed, a more liberal spirit prevails among christians of different parties, by wise and tolerant laws the demon of persecution is chained; still the monster is not destroyed; though under such powerful restraints, he shows by the fierceness of his temper, and his censorious language, what he would be at could he regain his liberty. Every one who values his liberty as a man, and regards his rights and privileges as a christian, should inculcate an abhorrence of bigotry and persecution. He should, with a fearless tone, lift up his voice against the bigot and the persecutor, saying Who art thou, O man, the |