S E R 



under fuch circumftances. But thefe inconveniences are 

 perhaps the moil effeflually guarded againft by fuch fer- 

 vants being provided for, where it can be done, from the 

 tables of the farmers. But where this laft method is fol- 

 lowed, the eating rooms fhould be fo fituated, that they 

 may be overlooked with facility. Their lodging rooms, in 

 all cafes, are the moft proper and the fafell, when made in 

 a building quite detached and diilinft from the other houfes 

 and offices ; as perfons of this defcription are often ex- 

 tremely negligent of their fires, candles, &c., as well as 

 irregular in other parts of their conduct. It has been ad- 

 vifed, that whatever fituation may be fixed upon for thefe 

 conveniences, the ground-floors ihould always be of ilone 

 or brick, and the upper ones made with plafter, as is done 

 in fome of the midland counties, or brick, which is more 

 eafily laid. See Plaster Floors. 



Moil kinds of farm labour may, however, probably at 

 prefent be performed more cheaply by other forts of 

 workmen, than fervants provided for in any of thefe ways. 



SERVE, in the Sea Language. To ferve a rope, is 

 to lay fpun-yarn, rope-yarn, fennit, a leather, a piece of 

 canvas, or the like upon it, which is rolled fail round 

 about the rope, to keep it from fretting or galling in any 

 place. 



SERVERETTE, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Lozere ; 12 miles N.N.W. of 

 Mende. 



SERVETISTS, in Ecclefmfieal Hiflory, a feft faid to 

 be the difciples or followers of Michael Servetus, the ring- 

 leader of the Anti-Trinitarians of thefe laft ages. See his 

 article. 



It is impoflible (fays the tranflator of Mofheim's Eccl. 

 Hift. ) to juflify the conduft of Calvin in the cafe of Ser- 

 yetus, whofe death will be an indehblc reproach upon the 

 charafter of that great and eminent reformer. The only 

 thing that can be alleged, not to efface, but to diminifh 

 his crime is, that it was no eafy matter for him to diveil 

 himfelf at once of that perfecuting fpirit, wrhich had been 

 fo long nourifhcd or ftrengthened by the popifh religion in 

 which he was educated. 



Servetus, in reality, had not any difciples, as being 

 burnt, together with his books, before his dogmas had 

 time to take root. But the name Servetifls has been given 

 to fome of the modern Anti-Trinitarians, becaufe they fol- 

 low the footfteps he had marked out. 

 ' However, thofe who were denominated Servetifls, or Ser- 

 vetians, by the theological writers of the fixteenth century, 

 not only differed from Servetus in many points of doftrine, 

 but alfo varied widely from him in his doftrine of the Tri- 

 nity, which was the peculiar and diilinguifliing point of his 

 theological fyftem. 



Sixtus Senenfis calls the Anabaptifts Servetifls, and feems 

 to ufe the two terms indifferently. The truth is, in many 

 things, the ancient Anabaptifts of Switzerland, &c. coin- 

 cide in opinion with Servetus. 



As the books that he wrote againft the Trinity are very 

 rare, his real fentiments are but little known : M. Simon, 

 who had a copy of the firft edition, delivers them at large 

 in his critical hiftory. 



Though Servetus ufes many of the fame arguments againft 

 the Trinity as the Arians, yet he profcfTcs himfelf very far 

 from their fentiments. He alfo oppoics the Socinians in 

 fome things ; and declares his diflent from the opinions of 

 Paulus Samofatenus ; though Sandius miftakenly charge* 

 him with having the fame fentiments. 



In effcft, he does not feem to have had any fixed regular 

 Vol. XXXII. 



S E 11 



fyftem of religion, at leaft not in the firft edition of his 

 book againft the Trinity, publifhed in 153 1, under the 

 title " De Trinitatis Erroribus Libri feptem, per Mi- 

 chaelem Servetum, alias Reves, ab Arragonia Hifpanum." 



The year following he publifhed his dialogues on the 

 myftcry of the Trinity. In the preface to which laft work 

 he declares himfelf diffatisficd with it. It was on this 

 account he undertook another on the fame fubjeft, of 

 much greater extent, which did not appear till the year 

 1553, a little before his death, under the title of " Chrifti- 

 anifmi Reftitutio." 



Thofe of Geneva, having feized the copies of this 

 edition, had it burnt ; nor were there above two or three 

 that efcaped ; one of which was kept at Bafil, where the 

 book was printed, but is now in the college library at 

 Dublin. 



It was put to the prefs fecretly in England, but being 

 difcovered, the impreffion was feized and deftroyed. 



Servetus, according to Mofheim's account, conceived 

 that the genuine doftrine of Chrift had been entirely loft, 

 even before the council of Nice ; and he was moreover of 

 opinion, that it had never been delivered with a fufiicient 

 degree of precifion in any period of the church. To thefe 

 extravagant affertions he added another flill more fo, even 

 that he himfelf had received a commilfion from above to 

 reveal anew this divine doArine, and to explain it to man- 

 kind. His notions with refpeft to the Supreme Being, 

 and a Trinity of perfons in the godhead, were very obfcure 

 and chimerical, and amounted in general to the following pro- 

 pofitions : that the Deity, before the creation of the world, 

 had produced within himfelf two perfonal reprefentations 

 or manners of exiftence, which were to be the medium of 

 intercourfe between him and mortals, and by whom, con- 

 fequently, he was to reveal his will, and to difplay his 

 mercy and beneficence to the children of men : that thefe 

 two reprefentatives were the Word and the Holy Ghoft : 

 that the former was united to the man Chrill, who was 

 born of the Virgin Mary, by an omnipotent aft of the 

 Divine Will ; and that, on this account, Clirift might be 

 properly called God : that the Holy Spirit dircfted the 

 courfe, and animated the whole fyftem of nature, and 

 more efpecially produced in the minds of men wife coun- 

 fels, virtuous propcnfities, and divine feelings ; and, finally, 

 that thefe two reprefentations were to ceafe after the dc- 

 ftruftion of this terreftrial globe, and to be abforbed into 

 the fubftance of the Deity, from whence they had been 

 formed. 



Servetus, however, did not always explain his fyftem in 

 the fame manner, nor avoid inconfiftencies, contradiftior.s, 

 and ambiguities ; fo that it is extremely difficult to learn 

 his true fentiments. His fyflem of morality agreed in 

 many circumflances with that of the AnabaptiUs, whom 

 he alfo imitated in ccnfuring witli the utmoft fcvcrity the 

 cullom of infant-baptifm. Eccl. Hift. vol. iv. 176S. 



SERVETUS, Michael, in Biography, was born at Villa- 

 nucva, in Arragon, in 1509. His father was a notar)-- 

 pubhc, and he himfelf was lent to the academy of Tou- 

 ioufe, where lie fhulicd the law during the fpace of three 

 years. About this period his attention was turned to the ftudy 

 of the facred fcriptures, to which he was probably excited 

 by the reformers of that day. He foou difcovered many 

 errors and abufes in the church of Rome, in tlie tenets of 

 which he had been brought up, and laid then the fou:id- 

 atioii of his opinions concerning tlie doftrine of the Trinity. 

 It is known, that at this period, many learned men in 

 Italy and other parts, among whom wcro fome dignitaries 

 Tt of 



