Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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age, which justified the death penalty for heresy and blasphemy, and
abhorred toleration as involving indifference to truth Even Servetus
admitted the principle under which he suffered; for he said, that incorrigible
obstinacy and malice deserved death before God and men. f992
Calvin’s prominence for intolerance was his misfortune. It was an error of
judgment, but not of the heart, and must be excused, though it cannot be
justified, by the spirit of his age. f993
Calvin never changed his views or regretted his conduct towards Servetus.
Nine years after his execution he justified it in self-defence against the
reproaches of Baudouin (1562), saying: “Servetus suffered the penalty due
to his heresies, but was it by my will? Certainly his arrogance destroyed
him not less than his impiety. And what crime was it of mine if our Council,
at my exhortation, indeed, but in conformity with the opinion of several
Churches, took vengeance on his execrable blasphemies? Let Baudouin
abuse me as long as he will, provided that, by the judgment of
Melanchthon, posterity owes me a debt of gratitude for having purged the
Church of so pernicious a monster.” f994
In one respect he was in advance of his times, by recommending to the
Council of Geneva, though in vain, a mitigation of punishment and the
substitution of the sword for the stake.
Let us give him credit for this comparative moderation in a semi-barbarous
age when not only hosts of heretics, but even innocent women, as witches,
were cruelly tortured and roasted to death. Let us remember also that it
was not simply a case of fundamental heresy, but of horrid blasphemy, with
which he had to deal. If he was mistaken, if he misunderstood the real
opinions of Servetus, that was an error of judgment, and an error which all
the Catholics and Protestants of that age shared. Nor should it be
overlooked that Servetus was convicted of falsehood, that he overwhelmed
Calvin with abuse, f995 and that he made common cause with the Libertines,
the bitter enemies of Calvin, who had a controlling influence in the Council
of Geneva at that time, and hoped to overthrow him.
It is objected that there was no law in Geneva to justify the punishment of
Servetus, since the canon law had been abolished by the Reformation in
1535; but the Mosaic law was not abolished, it was even more strictly
enforced; and it is from the Mosaic law against blasphemy that Calvin drew
his chief argument.