§ 135. CALVIN AND THE ASTROLOGERS. 679
the entire science of astronomy and the sacred Scripture, which tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth. Melanchthon condemned the system in his treatise on the "Elements of Physics," published six years after the death of Copernicus, and cited against it the witness of the eyes, which inform us that the heavens revolve in the space of twenty-four hours ; and passages from the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, which assert that the earth stands fast and that the sun moves around it. He suggests severe measures to restrain such impious teaching as that of Copernicus.
But we must remember that the Copernican theory was opposed by philosophers as well as theologians of all creeds for nearly a hundred years, under the notion that it contradicts the testimony of the senses and the geocentric teaching of the Bible. When towards the close of the sixteenth century Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) became a convert to the Copernican theory, and with his rude telescope discovered the satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Venus, he was denounced as a heretic, summoned before the Inquisition at Rome and commanded by Bellarmin, the standard theologian of the papacy, to abandon his error, and to teach that the earth is the immovable centre of the universe (Feb. 26, 1616). The Congregation of the Index, moved by Pope Paul v., rendered the decree that "the doctrine of the double motion of the earth about its axis and about the sun is false, and entirely contrary to the Holy Scripture," and condemned the worlcs of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, which affirm the motion of the earth. They remained on the Index Purgatorius till the time of Benedict XIV. Even after the triumph of the Copernican system in the scientific world, there were respectable theologians, like John Owen and John Wesley, who found it inconsistent with their theory of inspiration, and rejected it as a delusive and arbitrary hypothesis tending towards infidelity. '' E pur si muove,'' the earth does move for all that !
680 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
There can be no contradiction between the Bible and science ; for the Bible is not a book of astronomy or geology or science ; but a book of religion, teaching the relation of the world and man to God; and when it touches upon the heavenly bodies, it uses the phenomenal popular language without pronouncing judgment for or against any scientific theory.
CHAPTER XVI.
SERVETUS: HIS LIFE, OPINIONS, TRIAL, AND EXECUTION.
§ 136. TJie Servetus Literature.
l^tJfljtl
^t^4Aeh<^
I. Theological Works of Michael Servetus. DE TRINI-
TATIS EURORIBUS
LiBRi Septem.
Per Michaelem Serueto, aliXs
Reues ai$ Aragoxia
HiSPANUM
Anno MDXXXI. This book was printed at Hagenau in the Alsace, but without the name of the place, or of the publisher or printer. It contains 120 pasros.
682 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
Dialogo \ rum de Trinitate \ Lihri duo. \ De justlcia regnl Chri \ sti, Cupitula quatuor. | Per Michaelem Serveto, \ alias Reves, ab Aragonia | Hispamtm. \ Anno MDXKXII. Likewise printed at Hagenau. It concludes with the words : " Perdat Dominus omnes ecclesice ti/rannos. Amen. Finis." These two works (bound in one volume in the copy before me) were incorporated in revised shape in the Bestitutio.
APOLOGIA.
CHRISTIANI
SMI RESTITV^
TIO.
J^ctius ecckjia apoftoUca: eft ad fua limina vocatio , in integrum rejiituta cognitione Deiy fidei Chris Jli^ iujlijicationis noftriD , r$generationisbaptifmi,'et cae me domim manducationis. Reflituto denique nobis ru gno, caltfii'i Babylonis impiis captiuitate foluta ^ et Ans tichrifio ctim fuis penitus deflru^o*
•»Krn *-n«3»D mop* ^<^^l^ r-ipa
jiimaqujcdam, omnia in fc conteraplans, ct lucidc conrinens: mortalibus. olim vclata, et perCliriftuin rciiclata: quam erplcriquedixeruiit, fuilTc ipfninmct animam Chr?fti. Sapicntiitnnos vcredidraus, inftar anima:Chri(li,r3f tionem diuinam dc Chrifto , pcrronalcm Chriili fubftantiam in Deo rdiicentcm,- et omnia cOntincntcm, In ca primaria luce elTe rcliqua omnia fecundario relucentia , vt in anima ma relucent res alia:, qusc funt in ipfa. Vn- At eft aniraa noftra vera imago illiiis fapientixDei, ct ab ea vere reformatur. Nee folum dicimu?, iiifaplcntiaDel omnia rchicerc, fed et inde habere fuum efie, ex inuiiibilibus viGbiliafafta. Ditimusitem, eamaCIiriftofapicntis lucem, et in ange'los , et in animas noftras fe diffundcntera, velut fpeculum lucidum, varias nobis et ingelis Tcrum cognitioncs dare. Atque itaquicquid angeli'vnquara cognoucrunt, a Chriflo acceperunt, ficut ct n05. Benediftus.illc Qt in fccula fecolorum, qui fapicnriam fuam infundfens, lianc de fe nojiis cognitioneoi dcdit. Beoc^ didi fint in ipfi>, qui ipfum vere credent elTfe fUiumDeJ, 2b Ktemo in Deo relucentem, ct in xternuin regnantcnu Amen. Amen.
M. S. V. 15 5 3.
[Facsimile of last page.]
M. D. L 1 1 L
[Facsimile of title page.]
This work was printed at Vienne in Dauphine, at the expense of the author, who is indicated on the last page by the initial letters M. S. V. ; i.e. Michael Servetus Villanovanus. It contains in 734 octavo pages : 1) Seven books on the Trinity (the ed. of 1531 revised) ; 2) Three books on Faith and the Righteousness of the kingdom of Christ (revised) ; 3) Four books on Regeneration and the kingdom of Antichrist; 4) Thirty Epistles to Calvin; 5) Sixty Signs of the reign of Antichrist ; 6) Apology to Melanchthon and his colleagues on the mystery of the Trinity and ancient discipline.
One thousand (some say eight hundred) copies were printed and nearly all burnt or otherwise destroyed. Four or five were saved: namely, one sent by Servetus tlirough Frelon to Calvin ; one taken from the five bales seized at Lyons for the use of the Inquisitor Ory ; a third transmitted for inspection to the Swiss Churches and Councils; a fourth sent by Calvin to Bullinger; a fifth given by Calvin to CoUadon, one of the judges of Servetus, in which the objectionable passages are marked, and which was, perhaps, the same with the fourth copy. Castellio (1554) complained that he could not get a copy.