his own convictions, he removed, in 1530, to Basil in Switzerland, where he obtained the esteem and friendship of the most eminent of the reformed clergy in that city. Having given these divines credit for more enlarged views and a more liberal spirit than they had imbibed, he made no scruple of avowing to them the opinions he had been led to embrace. But he soon discovered that they were as little disposed as the Catholics to extend toleration to any who pursued their speculations further than themselves."

In 1531 we find him at Strasburg, where, sometime in this year, he published his first work on the Trinity under the following title-De Trinitatis Erroribus, Libri septem, per Michaelem Serueto, alias Reues, ab Aragonia Hispanum.

"The appearance of this book produced a very powerful sensation among the leaders of the Reformation, who embraced every opportunity to hold it up to public execration, as much, apparently, from the dread of being charged by their Catholic adversaries with holding the opinions of the author, as from their real abborrence of the tenets it advocated. Bucer, who resided at Strasburg, is stated to have declared publicly to his congregation, that the writer deserved to have his intestines torn from his body."

From this time nothing of much importance occurred in the life of Servetus until in 1541 he removed his residence from Lyons, where he had been sometime employed in superintending the press of the Trechselii, to Vienna in Dauphiny.

"After his settlement at Vienne, Servetus entered into a correspondence with Calvin, then residing at Geneva. In the letters which passed on this occasion, both the learned combatants displayed considerable warmth and acrimony of spirit in the defence of their respective theological systems; and the freedom with which Servetus arraigned the tenets of the Reformer laid the foundation of that implacable resentment to which he ultimately owed his ruin; for Calvin scrupled not to avow that he would be satisfied with no atone. ment for this attack upon bis creed short of the death of his adversary, should the disposal of his life be ever in his power.* While things were in this state, Servetus committed to the press his last and most celebrated work, intituled Christianismi Restitutio, or Christianity Restored.' It was printed in 1553 at Vienne, by Balthazar Arnollet, but neither the place nor the printer's name appears in the title page: nor was the author's name attached to this publication; the letters M S. V., standing for Michael Servetus Villanovanus, are however placed at the end. Calvin was in possession of the secret that Servetus was the writer of this obnoxious book, a copy of it having been forwarded to him by the author. By means

*Calvin, writing in 1546 to Viret, minister of Lausanne, uses these words: Servetus cupit huc venire: si venerit, NUNQUAM PATIAR UT SALVUS

EXEAT.

of a young man named William Trie, a native of Lyons, then residing at Geneva in consequence of having embraced the reformed religion, he procured some sheets of it to be conveyed to France, and put into the hands of the inquisitor at Lyons, with an intimation that the author was in his neighbourhood. He afterwards sent several of the letters which, in the course of a confidential correspondence, he had received from Servetus, in order to furnish additional evidence to convict him of heresy and blasphemy. On the ground of these documents Servetus was arrested at Vienne, and committed to prison; whence, however, he soon effected his escape. After his flight he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to the stake; his books were committed to the flames, and himself burnt in effigy.

"Servetus escaped early in the month of June 1553. His intention was to proceed to Naples; and with this view, after wandering for some time, he went to Geneva, where he was recognised in the month of August, and at the instigation of Calvin committed to prison. Various attempts have been made by the apologists of the Reformer to remove from him the foul stigma of being the author of his adversary's arrest; but, in truth, Calvin himself never denied or disguised the fact. On the contrary, he expressly avows it in more than one of his printed works, and takes credit to himself for having thus acted towards a man whose principles he held in abhorrence, and whom, on more than one occasion, he thought fit to brand with the opprobrious epithet of DOG.*

"Servetus, on being taken into custody, was deprived of the property he had about him, which was of considerable amount, and thrown, like a common malefactor, into a damp, squalid, and noisome dungeon. Proceedings were immediately instituted against him for his alleged blasphemies. The accusations were preferred by Nicholas de la Fontaine, a person residing in Calvin's house, either in a menial situation, or for the benefit of his instruction; but the real prosecutor, as was manifested in the course of the trial, was the Reformer himself. Servetus repelled the whole of the charges with great firmness, and openly avowed himself the author of the writings that were stated to contain the heretical opinions for which he was arraigned. His trial proved exceedingly tedious and vexatious, and lasted from the 14th of August to the 26th of October,

As it was

*Calvin, in his work Fidel. Expos. Serveti Errorum, thus avows the part he acted in this transaction. "All the proceedings of our senate are ascribed to me and indeed I do not dissemble that he (Servetus) was thrown into prison through my interference and advice. necessary according to the laws of the state that he should be charged with some crime, I admit that I was thus far the author of the transaction." Writing to Sultzerus, he observes, "When at last be was driven here by his evil destiny, one of the syndics, at my instigation, ordered him to be committed to prison: for I do not dissemble that I deemed it my duty to restrain as much as lay in my power a man who was worse than obstinate and ungovernable, lest the infection should spread more widely."

when, a majority of his judges having decided against him, he was condemned to be burnt to death by a slow fire.

"If Servetus cannot be commended for the temper with which he sometimes replied to his acceser, it is impossible to view without feelings of disgust, mingled with deep concern, the manner in which Calvin acted during the whole of these iniquitous proceedings; and particularly to observe the savage tone of exultation with which, immediately after his conviction, he stated to a friend the effects produced upon his victim by the communication of his sentence. But lest idle scoundrels should glory in the insane obstinacy of the man, as in a martyrdom, there appeared in his death a beastly stupidity; whence it might be concluded, that on the subject of religion he never was in earnest. When the sentence of death had been passed upon him, he stood fixed now as one astounded; now he sighed deeply; and now he howled like a maniac; and at length he just gained strength enough to bellow out after the Spanish manner, Misericordia! Misericordia!" The truth, however, is, that Servetus bore his fate at this trying season with great firmness and serenity, disturbed indeed, occasionally, by the view of the terrific apparatus which was preparing for his execution. He never wavered in his religious faith When exhorted on the last morning by Farell, the minister of Neufchatel, and the friend of Calvin, who was appointto attend him, to return to the doctrine of the Trinity, he calmly requested his monitor to convince him by one plain passage of Scripture, that Christ was called the Son of God before his birth of Mary.

"The day following that whereon sentence had been passed upon him he was led to the stake, praying, O God, save my soul; 0 thou Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me.' In order to aggravate his sufferings he was surrounded by green faggots, which, after half an hour of excruciating tortures, completed the work of death. In the same fire was burnt, attached to his body, his last book Christianismi Restitutio. Thus perished Servetus at the age of forty-four, in a PROTESTANT state, for exercising that right of pri vate judgment in the formation of his religious opinions, which his persecutors had themselves acted upon in dissenting from the Church of Rome !"

It has become fashionable of late for Calvinists to join in reprobating this conduct as loudly as any; but at the same time to impute it altogether to the bad spirit of the age. Bad spirit of the age? But does it make a bad man good, to live in an age in which all men are as bad as he is? Besides, if the spirit of that age were so bad, why go back to it for instruction? why go back to it for your creed? When men so entirely misunderstood the true spirit of Christianity, were they most likely to form a true system?

Unitarianism was introduced into Poland by a native of. Holland who went by the name of Spiritus, but who is supposed on

good grounds to have been Adam Pastor. He settled at Cracow in 1546.

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Being one day in the library of John Tricessius, a person of high celebrity in that city, distinguished for his literary acquirements, who had invited him to meet some of the most eminent men of the place, he took down by accident a book wherein he observed prayers addressed to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He immediately exclaimed,- What! have you then three Gods?' The conversation to which this question led made a deep impression on the minds of all the party, but especially on that of Andrew Fricius Modrevius, the king's secretary, who shortly afterwards, in consequence of prosecuting his inquiries upon the subject, abandoned the doctrine of the Trinity, and appeared as the open advocate of Unitarianism in a work which he published under the title of Sylva."

The sect soon began to extend itself, and continued to receive new accessions until it formed itself into a separate religious body. having its churches, and its collegiate and other establishments, exclusively for its own members. But there does not appear to have been much consistency in their faith, or harmony in their operations, until after the appearance of Socinus, from whom one class of unitarians has been designated.

"In the year 1579 the celebrated Faustus Socinus, the nephew of Lælius Socinus, arrived in Poland. He was born in 1539, and `had at an early age imbibed the sentiments of his uncle, whose papers, after his death, fell into his hands A conscientious attachment to his new opinions, induced him to relinquish the most splendid prospects in his native country, and to go into voluntary exile, in order to be able to prosecute his theological studies, and promulgate his sentiments with the greater facility and security. He retired first to Switzerland, and fixed his residence at Basil. From hence he was called into Transylvania by Blandrata, to assist him in refuting or stopping the dissemination of the opinion of Francis David respecting the worship of Jesus Christ. After that venerable confessor had been thrown into prison, and while the proceedings against him were yet pending, Socinus, alarmed by an epidemic disorder which raged in the country, withdrew to Poland.

"As it was understood that Socinus went further in his sentiments than most of the leading individuals among the Polish Unitarians, he was not permitted to join in communion with their churches, or to have any voice in the direction of their affairs. His splendid talents and high character, however, soon procured for him the friendship and patronage of persons of the first distinction in the country. This circumstance enabled him to give to the public, through the medium of the press, a considerable number of works upon theological subjects. His writings, in which he is considered to have made liberal use of the manuscripts of his uncle, who was

greatly his superior in learning, and particularly in his knowledge of the original languages of the Scriptures, served to methodize and fix the indeterminate, and frequently confused notions, held at that time by many of the Polish Unitarians respecting the principal doctrines of Christianity, and to bring over nearly the whole body to his own sentiments concerning the unity of God, and the humanity of Jesus Christ.

The Unitarians of Poland were now become a large and powerful body, comprising in their number several of the first nobility, and eminently distinguished by their learning, talents, and general respectability of character. Their chief settlement was at Racow, a city which was built in 1569 by a nobleman attached to their interest, who erected for them a church and college-house. This collegiate establishment was on a large scale. It maintained a high degree of reputation, and was filled with scholars from every part of the continent of Europe. The number of the students amounted at one time to upwards of a thousand, of whom more than three hundred were of noble families."

This may be called the flourishing period of the history of the Polish Unitarians. Their cause soon began to decline; for both the Catholics and the Reformed united in concerting and commencing against them measures of hostility.

"The first event that operated to the serious disadvantage of the Unitarian interest was a malicious prosecution instituted against an opulent merchant of their body, named John Tyscovicius, who had served the office of Questor, or Syndick, of the town of Biesk in Podolia, where he resided. It was insinuated by his enemies, that his accounts had not been fairly kept, and he was requir ed to verify them on oath. To this he readily assented on condition of being permitted to swear by Almighty God:-but it was insisted that he should swear by the triune God, or by the image of Christ on the cross; and for this purpose a crucifix, with the figure of the Saviour affixed to it, was placed in his hands. Indignant that his veracity should be questioned, and his religion insulted, he threw the crucifix to the ground, exclaiming that he knew of no such God as they proposed to him. For this act, which was construed into a heavy offence against the Trinity, he was immediately arrested and thrown into prison. Proceedings were forthwith instituted against him, which, after repeated appeals from one tribunal to another, ended in his condemnation. He was sentenced to have his tongue pierced, for his alleged blasphemy; to have his hands and feet cut off, for having thrown down and trodden upon the crucifix; to be beheaded for his rebellious contumacy, in appealing from the first tribunal that had given decision against him; and finally to be burnt at the stake for his heretical opinions. This sentence, horrible as it may appear, was, at the instigation of the Jesuits, executed in all its circumstances at Warsaw, on the 16th of November 1611.