SEE 
60 
many persons from Servetus who had formed a high opinion 
of his talents and integrity. While he was at Basil, he put 
into the hands of a bookseller a manuscript, “ De Trinitatis 
Erroribus,” which was printed in the year 1531. This, a$ 
well as his work “ Dialogorum de Trinitate Libri duo,” in 
which he explained and defended his opinions, were very 
obnoxious to the reformers with whom he was associated. 
And Melanchthon, in speaking at this time of Servetus, says, 
“ he unquestionably speaks like a madman about justifica¬ 
tion ; about the Trinity, rep< rijf rpjaSs?, you know that I 
have been always apprehensive that similar things sooner or 
later would break out. Good God ! what tragedies will this 
question excite among posterity.” 
The circumstances of Servetus being low, he engaged for 
some time with the Frellons, eminent booksellers at Lyons, 
as corrector of the press. From Lyons he went to Paris, 
where he studied physic; graduated at Paris, and delivered 
public lectures in geography and some branches of mathe¬ 
matics, while he followed the profession of a physician. At 
Paris he quarrelled with the faculty, and wrote an “Apology,” 
which was suppressed by the parliament. After quitting 
that capital he practised physic at Chariieu, near Lyons, 
whence, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Vienne, he 
removed to that city, and had apartments near the palace. 
He had previously to this, viz., in 1542, superintended the 
printing of a Latin Bible at Lyons, to which he added mar¬ 
ginal notes, under the name of Villanovanus. 
During this time, Servetus was in constant correspondence 
with Calvin, with whom he discussed various points of con¬ 
troversy, and to whom he opened himself freely and without 
reserve concerning his particular notions, and consulted him 
respecting his writings. Calvin afterwards made a base use 
of this confidence, by actually producing his letters and 
manuscripts as matters of accusation against him on his trial. 
It must not, however, be concealed, that Calvin does not 
appear to have encouraged Servetus to this exposition of his 
sentiments, for he frequently sent him in reply angry and 
severe letters. In 1553 Servetus published his matured theo¬ 
logical system under the title of “ Christianismi Restitutio.” 
Conscious of the dangel of the author to such a work in a Ca¬ 
tholic country he concealed his name, but Calvin took care 
that the magistrates of Vienne should be informed of it. He 
was in consequence thrown into prison, and his death would 
have added another example to the numberless cruelties of 
Roman Catholic persecutions, had he not made his escape. 
His effigy and his books were condemned to the flames. 
Servetus, purposing to go to Naples to practise in his profes¬ 
sion, imprudently went through Geneva. Calvin, who was 
acquainted with the plans of the traveller, and who was on 
the watch to entrap him, gave information to the magistrates 
the moment he arrived within the gates of the city. He was 
accordingly seized, thrown into prison, and a charge of 
blasphemy and heresy was preferred against him by Calvin’s 
own servant. In order to ensure conviction and condemn¬ 
ation, no less than thirty-eight articles of accusation were 
brought against him, for which not only his last work, but 
all his other writings were ransacked. As a proof of the 
malice and unfairness with which he was treated, it is men¬ 
tioned that one of the charges was extracted from his pre¬ 
face to an edition of Ptolemy’s Geography, published twenty 
years before, in which he had asserted, that Judea had been 
falsely extolled for its beauty and fertility, since modern travel¬ 
lers had found it to be sterile and unsightly. As he refused to 
retract his opinions, he was, notwithstanding his pleas, con¬ 
demned' to the flames as an obstinate heretic, which sen¬ 
tence was carried into execution on the 27th of October, 
1553, when he was in the forty-fourth year of his age. His 
sufferings were particularly severe, and the fire was so 
managed, that the unfortunate man lingered in excruciating 
« pain more than two hours. 
That this bloody persecution was disapproved by many 
at the time, is rendered very probable by the apology for 
the Genevan magistrates, published by Calvin, in which he 
undertook to prove that it was lawful to punish heretics 
with death. The mild and otherwise moderate and benevo- 
S E R 
lent Melanchthon sanctioned the deed by a congratulatory 
letter addressed to the magistrates of Geneva. The conduct 
of Calvin in this business, as instigated not only by bigotry, 
but personal hatred, has impressed an indelible stain on 
his memory. 
The theological system of Servetus is described as sin¬ 
gular in the highest degree. According to Mosheim’s ac¬ 
count, he conceived that the genuine doctrine of Christ 
had been entirely lost, even before the Council of Nice; 
and he was moreover of opinion, that it had never been 
delivered with a sufficient degree of precision in any 
period of the church. To these extravagant assertions he 
added another still more so, even that he himself had 
received a commission from above to reveal anew this 
divine doctrine, and to explain it to mankind. His notions 
with respect to the Supreme Being, and a Trinity of persons 
in the godhead were very obscure and chimerical, and 
amounted in general to the following propositions:—That 
the Deity, before the creation of the world, had produced 
within himself two personal representations or manners of 
existence, which were to be the medium of intercourse 
between him and mortals, and by whom, consequently, he 
was to reveal his will, and to display his mercy and benefi¬ 
cence to the children of men: that these two representatives 
were the Word and the Holy Ghost: that the former was 
united to the man Christ, who was bom of the Virgin 
Mary, by an omnipotent act of the Divine Will; and that, 
on this account, Christ might be properly called God: that 
the Holy Spirit directed the course, animated the whole 
system of nature, and more especially produced in the 
minds of men wise counsels, virtuous propensities, and 
divine feelings ; and, finally, that these two representations 
were to cease after the destruction of this terrestrial globe, 
and to be absorbed into the substance of the Deity, from 
whence they had been formed. 
Servetus is numbered^ among those anatomists who made 
the nearest approach to the doctrine of the circulation of the 
blood. The passage cited to this effect is contained in his 
latest and fatal work, “ De Restilutione Christianismi.” It 
clearly states the circulation of the blood through the lungs. 
He pursued in his medical studies, anatomical researches 
with the greatest ardour. 
Servetus was a man of great erudition and unfeigned piety; 
his mind was stored with a variety of knowledge, and he 
stood very high, in the estimation of his contemporaries, 
for his talents and for his discoveries in the profession of 
medicine. 
The affability of the manners of Servetus, and his vast 
learning, had procured him numerous friends in France, in 
Germany, and in Italy; and his name will be handed down 
to the latest posterity with commiseration and respect. 
SERUG, a village of Diarbekir, in Asiatic Turkey ; 12 
miles south of Ourfa. 
SERVI, a small island of Greece, near the south-east 
coast of the Morea, at the entrance of the gulf of Coron ; 
6 miles north of Cerigo. Lat. 36.28. N. long. 22. 55. E. 
SERVIA, an extensive province in the North of European 
Turkey, corresponding to the Maesia Superior of the Romans. 
Its form is nearly oblong, its length being about 190 miles, 
its breadth 100, its superficial extent 19,000 square miles, or 
somewhat more than the half of Scotland. Its population 
is not known with certainty, but calculated at nearly 
1,000,000. It is an inland province, bounded on the north 
by a part of the Hungarian frontier, but on all other sides 
by portions of the Turkish territory, viz., on the west by 
Bosnia, on the east by Bulgaria, and on the south by 
Albania. 
Face of the Country .-—Servia is a very uneven and even 
mountainous country; its surface containing a number of 
extensive forests, and large uncultivated heaths. The 
mountains in the south extend in a regular chain, but 
throughout the chief part of the province they have no 
regular connection. One of the highest is that called 
Haloga, situated to the south-west of Belgrade. The rivers 
of Servia are on its frontiers, viz., the Save and Danube on 
the 
