Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/84

* CALVIN. 62 ter the ministry, Calvin dissuaded the counoil from accepting iiim, on account of some peculiar opinions which he held. These were certain ra- tionalistic views as to the authenticity and char- acter of the Song of Solomon, the descent of Christ into hell, and also about election. After this, Castellio left Geneva for a while, but soon retnrnin<:. he attacked the views of Calvin openly (see Calvin's letter to Karel, May 30, 1.544 1 . and was forced to leave the city. The two old friends, now declared enemies, did not spare each other henceforth. Castellio died in Basel December 29, 1.5(>3. (For his biography, consult F. Buisson. Paris. 1802.) The fate of Servetus drew forth an anonymous publication, attacking with keen logic and covert and ingen- ious sarcasm the Onevan doctrines. This pub- lication was attributed by botli Calvin and Beza to Castellio, and they replied to him in no meas- ured terms, stigmatizing him as a "deceiver and vessel of Satan." One fact really disgraceful to Calvin in the controversy ought not to be passed over. Sunk in great poverty. Castellio was obliged, in his old age, to gather sticks on the bank's of the Rhine at Basel, as a means of support. Calvin did not hesitate to accuse him of stealing the sticks. Such polemical trucu- lenee may well make us turn away in disgust and indignation. The controversy with Bolsee belongs to a later period. .Jerome Bolsee was originally a Carmel- ite monk, but had throii aside the habit, and betaken himself to the ])ractice of medicine in Geneva. He was led to attack Oilvin's doctrine of predestination. As soon as Calvin heard of this, he gave him to understand that he was not at liberty to question the Genevan doctrine. He and others of the clergy dealt with him: but after repeated disputations, Bolsee was found incorrigible, and was sentenced to banishment from the city (December 25. 1551). Cast out of the theocratic comnumity. he ultimately re- joined the Roman Catholic Church, and meanly revenged himself upon Calvin by writing his life in a spirit of detraction and slander (Lyons, 1577). Of all these contests, however, the most mem- orable is that with SeiTetus. A melancholy in- terest surrounds the name of this great heretic, ■which the criminal tragedy of his death keei)S ever fresh and vivid in the minds of all who hate intolerance, and who love truth more than dogmatism. The chara<ter of Servetus himself has little to do with this interest. He seems to have been a vain, restless, and enthusias- tic dreamer, rather than a calm and patient inquirer. In his very dreams, however, and the vague audacities of his speculation, there is a kind of simplicity and unconscious earnestness that wins svmpathy. He had entered into vari- ous relations with" Calvin even from the time of his early residence in Paris; particularly, he had sent him various docimients containing the views fuUv developed, in his work subse- quentlv published under the title of Krstitulio Chrisl'iaiiismi (1553). Calvin never concealed his abhorrence of these views; and in a letter to Farel on February 13, 1546, he says: "Serve- tus lately wrote to me. ... He takes it uponhim'toconiehither, if it he agieeable to me, but I am unwilling to pledge my word for his .safety, for if he shall come. I shall never permit him "to depart alive, provided my authority be CALVIN. of any avail." The history of his seizure and condemnation at Vienne by the Catholic au- thorities, and especially of Calvin's share in the correspondence which led to his seizure, is very complicated and obscure. It has been main- tained that Calvin was the instigator, through a creature of his own, of the name of Trie, of the whole transaction; it is certain that he for- warded to the authorities, through Trie, private documents which Servetus had intrusted to him, with a view to the heretic's identilication, and as materials for his condenuiatiim. Servetus was sentenced to be burned, liut efl'ected his es- cape, and, after several months' wandering, he was found in Geneva. It was his intention to jiroceed to Italy, where he hoped his opinions might meet with some degree of toleration, and he arrived at Geneva on his way. This is the explanation of an event otherwise unaccounta- ble. Having ventured to attend church, accord- ing to the connnon account, he was recognized, apprehended, and conveyed to prison by Calvin's order, just as he was about to leave the city. The particulars of his trial are full of interest, but too detailed to be given here. It lasted, with various interruptions, for two months. He at- tacked Calvin with the most foul epithets, and Calvin retorted with a virulence and foulness quite equal to his own. At length, on Oc- tober 26, 1553. sentence was passed upon Ser- vetus, condemning him to death by lire. Calvin used his intluence to have the mode of death altered to decapitation, l)ut without success. On the very next morning the sentence was put into execution. On an eminence, at some distance from the city, Senetus was fastened to a stake, surrounded by hea])S of oak-wood and leaves, with his condemned book and the MS. he had sent to Calvin attached to his girdle: and, amid his agonizing cries, the fire was kindled, and the wretche only cause for gratitude in the hideous tragedy. See Servf.tl'S. After the execution of Servetus, and the ex- pulsion of the Libertines, two years later, Cal- vin's power in Geneva was lirmly established. and he used it vigorously and benelicently for the defense of Protestantism throughout Europe. By the mediation of Beza, he maile his intluence felt in France in the great struggle there going on between the hierarchical party, with the (iuiscs at its head, and the Protestants, led by Condi* and Coligny. In 1501 his energies began to fail. He had long liecn suffering from bad health, but his strength of will and buoyancy of intellect sustained him amid all his bodily weak- ness. In the year now mentioned, his bad health greatly increased, and although he sunived for more than two years, he never regained his vigor. He died in Geneva on May 27, 1504. 'ery different estimates, it )nay l)e imagined, have l)een formed of Calvin's character, accord- ing to the point of view from which it is con-