S E R 



S E R 



Moreover, it could not but appear ftrange, that men (hould 

 be aflbciates in perfecutioii, with thofe very people who 

 would infallibly burn them as heretics, (hould they fall into 

 their hands. They therefore thought it advifeable to con- 

 fult the magillrates of the Proteftant cantons of Switzerland, 

 to whom they fent Servetua's book, with Calvin's reply. 

 The Helvetic divines, to whom the matter was referred, 

 wnanimoufly declared for his punifhment : they faid that 

 Servetus's errors ought to be detelled, and that great care 

 ought to be taken that the infedlion fpread no farther, and 

 that the man ought to be reftrained ; but they, none of 

 them, faid a word refpefling capital punilhment, nor do 

 they allude to the kind of coercion that (hould be chofcn. 

 Their meaning was, however, readily inferred from their 

 own practice ; for the capital punifliments of heretics had 

 not been aboliihed in Switzerland ; they had been frequent- 

 ly praftifed at Zurich againlt the Baptilts. 



Servetus was for a time kept ignorant of all the pro- 

 ceedings againll him ; at length he difcovered the inten- 

 tions of his enemies, and drew up, and caufed to be prefented, 

 two petitions to his judges : in the fiift he endeavoured to 

 exculpate himfelf ; in the fecoiid he complained that a fair 

 trial had not been allowed him. As he refnfed to retratl 

 his opinions, he was, notwithflanding his pleas, condemned 

 to the flames as an obftinate heretic, which cruel fentence 

 was carried into execution on the 27th of Odtober 15)3, 

 when he was in the forty-fourth year of his age. His 

 fufferings were particularly fevere, and the fire was fo 

 managed, that the unfortunate man lingered in excruciating 

 pain more than two hours. 



That this bloody perfecution was difapproved by many 

 at tlie time, is rendered very probable by the apology for 

 the Genevan magiilrates, publifhed by Calvin, in which he 

 undertook to prove that it was lawful to punifh heretics 

 with death. The mild and otherwife moderate and benevolent 

 Melanchthon fantlioned the deed by a congratulatory letter 

 addreded to the magiilrates of Geneva. The conduft of 

 Calvin in this bufinefs, as iiidigated not only by bigotry, 

 but perfonal hatred, has imprcfled an indelible (lain on his 

 memory ; and the only poftible excufe now olfered for it 

 arifcs from the provocation given by Servetus, " whofe ex- 

 ceflive arrogance," according to Molheim, " was accompa- 

 nied with a malignant and contemptuous fpirit, and an in- 

 vincible obllinacy of temper." 



The theological fyllem ot Servetus is defcribed as fingular 

 in the liighcft degree. The greateft part of it was a 

 neceffary confequence of his peculiar notions concerning the 

 univerfe, the nature of God, and tlie nature of things, 

 which were equally (Irange and chimerical. See the article 

 Servetists. 



Servetus is numbered among thofe anatomids who made 

 the neareil approach to the doftrine of the circulation of 

 the blood. The padage cited to this efleA is contained in 

 his lateil and fatal work, " De Reititutione Clirillianilmi." 

 It clearly Hates the circulation of the blood through the 

 lungs. He purfucd, in his medical fludies, anatomical rc- 

 fearclies with the greateft ardour. 



Servetus was a man of great erudition and unfeigned 

 piety : his mind was llored with a variety of knowledge, 

 and he (toed very high, in the cilimation of his contempora- 

 ries, for his talents and for his difcovcricB in the profeflion 

 of medicine. Whatever might have been his errors as a 

 theologian, it is certain he never preached them to the vulgar, 

 but communicated ihcm freely to Calvin, CEcolampadius, 

 •Capito, Bucerus, and other reformers, with an cagernefs to 

 >difcover truth which has never been lurpafled. 



The 3trocioU8 murder committed on him will not ad- 



mit of a fingle excufe. His imprifonment was fcandalous 

 and unjuft. The fenate of Geneva had no right to lay 

 violent hands upon a traveller, who had no intention of 

 remaining in tlieir city, and who probably never uttered 

 within the precinfts of their dominions one fyllable of his 

 obnoxious opinions. Here Geneva (lands condemned by all 

 civilians. 



The affability of the manners of Servetus, and his vaft 

 learning, had procured him numerous friends in France, in 

 Germany, and in Italy : and his name will be handed down 

 to the lateft pofterity with comraiferation and refpeft. See 

 a life of Servetus, in a feries of letters to Jedidiah Morfe, 

 D. D., by Fr. Adrian Vandcrkcmp : inferted in vol. v. of 

 the Monthly Repofitory. 



SERUG, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in 

 the province of Diarbekir ; 12 miles S. of Ourfa. 



SERUGNANO, a town of Italy, in the Veronefe j 

 8 miles E.N.E. of Verona. 



SERVIA, a province of Turkey in Europe, part of the 

 ancient Pannonia, or of Turkiih lUyria, deriving its name 

 from its inhabitants, is bounded on the N. by Bofnia and 

 Sclavonia, on the E. by Walachia and Bulgaria, on the S. 

 by Macedonia and Albania, and on the W. by Bofnia and 

 Dalmatia. It was formerly divided into Proper Servia, or 

 Serbia, and Rafcia, and the inhabitants were diiUnguiftied 

 into Servians, and Rafcians or Reitzcs ; and the former, 

 which conftitutes the upper part, towards the Danube, be- 

 longs to the bannat of Mafovia. The capital of Servia is 

 Belgrade, (which fee). The Turks call it Lafs Vilayeti, 

 or Lazarus-land, becaufe in the year 1365, when they 

 fubdued it, Lazarus was prince of Serbia. See Ser- 

 vians. 



SERVIAN, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Herault, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 

 Beziers ; 6 miles N.E. of Bezicrs. The place contains 

 2200, and the canton 7319 inhabitants, on a territory of 

 1 175 kiliometres, in 9 comnuines. 



SERVIANS, or Serbes, a branch of the lUyrian Slavi, 

 who gave name to the province called Servia or Serbia. In 

 the Ruffian empire the Servians and Reitzes are colonifts, to 

 whom, in the year 1754, a confiderablc diltridl was allotted 

 on the Dnieper near anduponthepolfefTionsof the Zaporagian 

 Coll'acks. This country, which got the name of New Servia, 

 was for the molt part an uninhabited defert, extending to 

 what were then the Poh(h borders, by which it was fur- 

 rounded on three (ides. The Serbians, who voluntarily 

 fettled here in great numbers, were formed into a military 

 ailbciatiwn, to be a check upon the dillentions and exceffes 

 of the Zaporagians. In the year 1764, the whole of this 

 traft of country was erefted into the government of New 

 Ru(ha, and at prefent forms a confiderable part of the pro- 

 vince of Ekaterinoflaf. 



SERVICE, or Servage, Servilhim, in Lanu, a duty 

 which the tenant, by realon of his fee, owes to the lord. 



This, in pure, proper, and original feuds, was only two- 

 fold : to follow, or to do fuit to, the lord in his courts in 

 time of peace ; and in his armies, or warlike retinue, when 

 neceflity called him to the field. 



Ancient law-books make feveral divifions of fervice, viz. 

 into perfonal, real, and mi.xl ; mUilary and bafe, intr'mfic and 

 extrinfic, &c. But, fince the ilatutc 12 Car. II., by which 

 all tenures arc turned into free and common focage, much 

 of that learning is fet afidc. Yet it may not be amifs to 

 mention how the fcvcral kinds of fervice arc defcribed in 

 our ancient law-books. 



Service, Perfonal, is that to be performed by the per. 

 fon. Such it that due from a (lave to hia maftcr. 



T t J Perfoii»l 



