Chapter 7 Chapter V Servetus is Killed

Chapter V Servetus is Killed Within months of Servetus' escape from prison, there was no trace of him.Till one day in August, when he rode into Geneva on a rented horse, and appeared at Rose, it is impossible for us to know what hardships the hunted man endured; nor can we find out why Servetus The evil star went so far as to seek refuge in Geneva.Was he planning to stay overnight and continue his escape by boat across the lake?Or, now that correspondence is dead, is he hoping to reconcile with his worst enemy by private conversation?Or was his trip to Geneva a characteristic folly of overwrought patients?It is all too common for those in desperate situations to casually and not take danger seriously.we do not know.Maybe we'll never know.Official reports were tight-lipped about what happened in Geneva, and did not explain why Servetus had gone to a place where he could only hope for the worst from Calvin.

But the unfortunate exile did something even stupider and more challenging.On the day of his arrival in Geneva, Sunday morning, August 13, 1553, he attended the service at St. Pierre's Cathedral, where all the Calvinists were listening to Calvin's sermons.Calvin knew Servetus because both had been students in Paris long ago.No rational explanation can be given for such an action, except by some mysterious impulse; something like the victim of a viper tempted to destroy itself. In a city where everyone is a spy, strangers inevitably attract everyone's attention.Calvin saw at a glance that the ravenous wolf was mingling with his devout flock, and calmly gave orders to his minions.Servetus was arrested as soon as he left the church.Within an hour he was locked up.The arrest violated both international law and generally accepted customs of hospitality around the world.Unless he committed a crime in Geneva, Servetus was not subject to the jurisdiction of that city.He was a foreigner, a Spaniard, had just arrived, and had not committed a crime sufficient to warrant arrest.His books were finished and printed abroad, and his heretical views did not harm any pious Genevan.Moreover, a "preacher of God's will" has no power to order the arrest and chains of a person without indicting him, and Calvin's arrest of Servetus is, in any case, an impossibility. A dictatorial act of toleration, its open contempt for law and treaty, can only be compared with Napoleon's arrest and murder of Duck Tin, in this case as in that one.After the arrest, instead of a normal and legal interrogation, it was an illegal killing.

Servetus was arrested and imprisoned without any charges being brought against him.Of course, the next step is to fabricate a crime.Would it not be logical to have the man who had abetted the arrest of Servetus ("by my instigation" by Calvin's own admission) to be the plaintiff in Servetus' case?But Geneva law is commendable for discouraging whistleblowers.The law stipulates that any free citizen who accuses another of a crime is also detained until he can prove that his accusation is correct.Calvin, therefore, put himself at the mercy of the courts if he sued Servetus.The theological dictator of Geneva did not appreciate the prospect.If the City Council had acquitted Servetus, Calvin would have been in an unlucky position if he had been kept in prison for having brought an unsubstantiated charge.What a blow to his prestige, what a victory for his opponent.Always tactful, Calvin appointed his secretary—or cook—Niclas de Fontaine as the thankless plaintiff.The venerable Nicholas, after filing an indictment of twenty-three counts (a document which, of course, was assembled by Calvin), silently went to jail in the place of his master.It's a kickoff comedy before a horrific tragedy: dressing up the event legally after a serious breach of the law.When Servetus was interrogated, the indictment containing the various charges was read aloud to him.Servetus' answer was calm and sharp, for his long imprisonment had not shattered his abilities.He dismissed the allegations point by point.For example, in response to the charge that he attacked Calvin in his writings, Servetus declared that it was a mistake, since the attack was initiated on Calvin's side, and all Servetus had done was to answer that Calvin was not consistent That's right.If Calvin accused him of stubbornness in holding on to a point, he could reply that Calvin was no less stubborn than himself.All the difference between Calvin and him is a difference of view on certain theological matters.These have nothing to do with secular courts.If Calvin still arrested him, it was out of sheer malice.The leaders of Protestantism had already charged him to the Roman courts, and had this missionary of God succeeded, he (Servetus) would have been burned long ago.

The legitimacy of Servetus' argument was so unquestionable that the general tone of the municipal council was very favorable to him.It seemed probable that there would be no harsher decision than an order of banishment.But Calvin got wind that things were going to work in Servetus' favor.He fears his victim will eventually slip off.On August 16, the dictator appeared at the city council, and the pretense of non-intervention ended.He revealed the truth and no longer denied that he was Servetus' prosecutor.Under the pretext of "in this way, the defendant can better admit his mistakes", he asked the city administrative council to adjourn to attend the subsequent trial procedure.Calvin's real purpose was apparently to exert influence so as to prevent his victims from escaping.

From the moment of Calvin's arbitrary interference with the defendant and the court, Servetus' case was lost.Calvin, a trained logician and a learned jurist, hit the point of the charge far better than his servant de Fontaine.Servetus' confidence was shaken.The Spaniard was visibly discouraged, and his enemies now sat among the judges, asking him question after question; Waiters felt cold to the marrow.The unprotected person gradually becomes irritable, nervous, wanton, sad and angry.He did not calmly maintain his legal position, that as a foreigner he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the city except in violation of the laws of Geneva.He allowed Calvin to induce him to turn the conversation to the theological apostasy debate, thus providing ample evidence for the charge of heresy.For even one of his arguments, that the devil is likewise a part of God's substance, is enough to make pious city councilors tremble.When Servetus's philosophic vanity was publicly insulted, he used the most vociferous terms on the most difficult and dangerous questions; he forgot that the commissars were not competent theologians, They had previously expounded on the truth irrelevantly.His extraordinary eloquence, and his eagerness to argue, made the judges suspicious of him.The foreigner's eyes glowed, his fists clenched, and he found fault with the teachings of the Protestant Church.They tended more and more to Calvin's point of view: he was certainly a dangerous disruptor of the spiritual order, probably an incurable heretic.A thorough interrogation of him is always a good thing anyway.The court ruled that he must remain in custody, but released the plaintiff, Nicolas de Fontaine.When Calvin reached his day, he wrote cheerfully to a friend: "I hope he will be put to death."

Why was Calvin so eager to sentence Servetus to death?Why should he not be content with more modest victories, such as banishing his enemies, or similar insults?Calvin hated Castellio and all who opposed his dictatorship no less than Servetus.He abhors all other attempts to educate others by methods other than those he advocates.Hatred is an instinct of the man's tyrannical temperament.Therefore, if he was particularly irritated by Seves and wished to take extreme measures at this particular moment, his motives were not personal but political.For the treachery of his authority, this Miguel Servetus was to be the scapegoat for another rival of Calvinist Orthodoxy.This man, former Catholic Dominican Hieronymus, Polsec, Calvin also tried to eliminate as a heretic, but to his great annoyance Polsec slid past .Borsec, a personal physician widely respected by the elite of Geneva, used Erasmus' arguments against Luther to openly attack the weakest and most fragile link in Calvin's teaching—the dead dogma of fatalism.God, the source of all good, willfully and willingly induces man to do the worst: it is by no means possible to declare these two men (Luther and Erasmus) "heretics" .Everyone knows how the arguments of Erasmus irritated Luther, the most famous champion of the Reformation; and how the master of curses lavished and lavishly abused the elder saint.But even gruff, bad-tempered, and extreme like Luther, by citing logical reasons against Erasmus, it never occurred to him to force Erasmus into a secular world by challenging his doctrine of fatalism. court.Calvin, with his infallible madness, treated every adversary as a heretic.In his view, opposing his religious teachings was tantamount to treason.So instead of answering Borsec with a theological point of view, he throws his critics in jail.

Calvin's attempt to make Hieronymus Borsec a formidable model failed surprisingly.Many Genevans knew the learned doctor as a God-fearing man.Calvin's behavior in the Polsec affair, as in the Castellio affair, raises suspicions that he wanted to get rid of any other who was not wholly subservient to him.Only in this way can he establish a solitary rule in Geneva.The complaint written by Borsec in prison was circulated in a large number of manuscripts.No matter what Calvin clamored, the city council was always afraid to deal with criminals for heresy.To sidestep the vexing decision, they declared that they were incapable of dealing with matters of religion, and refused to overstep their authority to adjudicate a theological matter.In any case, the commissioners declared that they must seek the formal opinion of other Swiss Reformation churches on this delicate issue.This demand was Polsec's salvation, for Zurich, Berne and Basel were fully prepared in private to frustrate their fanatical Geneva colleagues, who agreed to refuse to regard Polsec's remarks as a Blasphemy.The City Council acquitted the accused.Calvin had nothing to do with his victim, and could only console himself with the fact that the city administration had ordered Borsec to leave Geneva.

Only a new and successful indictment of heresy could make one forget that Calvin's theological supremacy had been successfully censured.A victory over Servetus can compensate for the dictator's defeat and end the Polsec affair.Against Servetus, the chances of success are enormous and more likely.Servetus was a foreigner.In Geneva he did not have as many friends, admirers, and supporters as Castellio and Borsec.Moreover, for several years the Reformed clergy were everywhere insulted by his bold attacks on the Trinity and the manner in which he challenged them.It is easier to use this outsider with no background as a role model.From the outset, the trial was purely political; it was a question of whether Calvin would continue to rule, a fierce contest to show whether Calvin was capable of enforcing his will as a spiritual dictator .If Calvin had only wanted to get rid of Servetus, his personal and theological rival, it would have been very easy.No sooner had the Geneva trial begun than an envoy from the French judicial authorities demanded that the exile be handed over to Vienna.This man has been sentenced in France, and the gallows is ready for him.This was a wonderful opportunity for Calvin to play the role of magnanimity and get rid of his hated enemy.As far as Geneva was concerned, the city council had only to approve the extradition and the tiresome Servetus affair would be over.For centuries, the outrage over the burning of independent thinkers has been attributed to the Catholic Inquisition.But Calvin opposed the extradition.For him, Servetus was not a question but an end, by means of which he could prove beyond doubt the inviolability of his own teaching.Servetus will be a symbol, not a person.Therefore, the French emissary had to return home sadly.The Protestant dictator intends to place the trial under his jurisdiction, so that all may believe what a disaster it would be to oppose Master Calvin.

Calvin's friends in Geneva, as well as his enemies, were quick to realize that the Servetus case was nothing more than an experiment in the dictator's power.So, naturally, friends and foes alike did everything they could to prevent Calvin from doing that.To the hostile body of statesmen, the unfortunate Servetus was but an instrument, a cudgel with which to destabilize the tyrant.They never cared if the sled bar broke in their hands.Those best friends of Servetus did their protege a disservice, for the false information they spread only served to make Servetus still more hysterically elated.Their secret letters to the prisoners urging the latter to increase their resistance could only spell disaster.All that could interest them was to make the interrogation as sensational as possible.The more Servetus defended himself, and the more violently he attacked Calvin, the better.

Alas!There was no need to prod Servetus to the point where he couldn't be more careless.The long and difficult prison life made this man who was already prone to neurosis even more furious.For Calvin must have known that Servetus had been treated particularly badly.For weeks, although Servetus thought he was innocent, he was kept in chains, hand and foot, in a cold, damp dungeon as if he were a convicted murderer.His ragged clothes hung over his frozen body, and his shirt was not even changed.The most basic hygiene requirements are not considered.No one will give him the least help.In extreme embarrassment, Servetus appealed for more humane treatment to the Book Fair, writing: "The fleas are devouring me; my shoes are torn to pieces; everything I wear is filthy as hell."

When the city council tried to improve Servetus' treatment, a secret hand (we can only guess that pressure was exerted) intervened.As a result, this brave thinker and independent-thinking scholar was locked in a dungeon like a mad dog squatting on a dunghill waiting to die.In a second letter sent a few weeks later, the prisoner uttered an even more tragic wail, saying, without exaggeration, that he was about to suffocate on his own excrement. "I beg you, for the love of Christ, do not deny me what you would do to a Turk or a criminal. You ordered me to be kept clean, but nothing happened. My situation is worse than ever. I It is cruelty to have no possibility of attending to the needs of my body." But still nothing' happened! Will we be surprised at Servetus' rage when he is brought up again in court from his filthy cave? muddy, but bravely faced his arch-enemy in the courtroom; To Calvin, who wanted to discuss with him thought-for-thought, scholar-to-scholar; to Calvin, who insulted Servetus as a criminal and an assassin. With the most obscene and vicious questions, even To taunt Servetus with a purely private matter of sex; the latter, raged and tormented no longer able to restrain himself, answered the brutal interrogation with diatribes, savagely scolding his accusers, Could this have been avoided? The sleepless nights had exhausted Servetus intolerably. And now he who had caused him so much inhuman treatment had to listen to his scolding. "Can you deny that you are an assassin? I will prove it by your actions. As for myself, I am not afraid of death. You cry like a blind man in the wilderness, because the desire for vengeance burns your heart Heart. You go on telling lies, you are a foolish slanderer. You burn people to death in your rage. Only by keeping all your witchcraft in your mother's womb can I enumerate your faults." In his anger, poor Servetus forgot the impotence of his own position.He was in chains, and his mouth was full of foam.He asked the judges of the municipal council not to convict him, but to condemn Calvin, the dictator of Geneva, for breaking the law. "A sorcerer like him, you should not only expose and condemn him, but banish him from your city, and pay me his property, for which I have suffered a loss. " Needless to say, the venerable commissioners shuddered at the words and the sight; for this pale, pale, haggard, unkempt beard, bright-eyed, French-speaking man was terrified of their Christianity. vicious slander by its leaders.They had to think of him as a man possessed, a man driven by Satan.The more they listened, the worse it was for Servedes.The trial is effectively over and all that remains is to convict the accused.But Calvin's private enemies, desiring to drag the case along, still did their best to deprive the dictator of his victory and condemn his opponent.Again they do everything possible to rescue Servetus.As in the Polsec case, they went to other Swiss Reformation councils this time.Privately, they hoped that this time, too, they would save the victims of Calvinistic dogmatism from the clutches of the fanatics. But Calvin knew that his authority had been shaken and was likely to fall. For him, the most important thing was to avoid a second setback.He took corresponding measures, and while his victim was still suffering in prison, he sent messenger after messenger to the synods in Zurich, Basel, Bernier, and Schaffhausen to influence the opinions of these groups. .Couriers quickly traveled around the world, mobilizing supporters and admonishing their colleagues not to help such a wicked sin-reader escape justice.Since Servetus was a well-known destroyer of theological order, and since the "disrespectful Spaniard" was hated by Protestants in Europe from the time of Zwingeri and Busse, Calvin's The conspiracy is easy to succeed.As a result, the Swiss Synod unanimously declared Servetus' views wrong and wicked.But even so, none of the four religious groups outright demanded or even endorsed capital punishment, they only approved in principle of any possible severe punishment. The letter from Zurich said: "It is up to you to decide how this person will be punished." responsible for the Church, to deliver them completely from "this scourge".When asked whether to use violence to deal with the matter, the reply warned in a softer tone: "We believe that the actions you decide to take will not be contrary to what the administrative authorities of the Christian city have done." , No one dared to publicly advocate passing the death penalty.But since those churches sanctioned legal action against Servetus, Calvin thought they would sanction the inevitable.For it was through their affectation and ambiguity that they gave Calvin a chance to do as he pleased, and when he could do so, he struck down with firmness and ruthlessness.Now, when the opinions of the various synods had arrived, those who wanted to help Servetus in secret tried in vain at the last stage to prevent the conviction.Palin and some other republicans appealed to the 200-member committee of the highest authority.But it was too late, and even Calvin's opponents thought it dangerous to fight any further.On October 26, the Municipal Council, which served as the high criminal court, sentenced Servetus to be burned alive by a majority vote, and this cruel sentence was carried out on the Chapel Plateau the next day. Week after week, Servetus was cut off from the outside world, wallowing in inflated hopes.He's a very imaginative guy, and he gets carried away by the gossip of his so-called friends.He is haunted by delusions, driven more and more to extremes, and he believes he is right about his thesis.Therefore, he was sure that within a few days, Calvin was the usurper.Shamefully banished from Geneva.On the morning of the twenty-seventh, Servetus awoke, and was terrified to see the secretary of the municipal council enter the dungeon with an incredulous expression, solemnly unfold a piece of parchment, and read out the verdict.Servetus was struck by lightning.He listened, as if puzzled.The verdict informed him that today he would be burned alive as a blasphemer.For several minutes he stood motionless, as if deaf and unconscious.Then the poor man's nerves lost control.He began to cry and moan.At last he exclaimed in Spanish, "My God!" His arrogance was out of control in front of these terrible waves.He succumbs to overwhelming frustration and is nearly wiped out.The domineering missionaries, too, were captives of the illusion that, after their earthly victory over Servetus, the time had come for them to achieve a spiritual victory as well; Forced to publicly and voluntarily admit their mistakes. But it is inconceivable that the poor, despondent and unfortunate man once asked to abandon his arguments, once the beliefs in his soul were challenged, rekindled the flames of pride.Even though his body was going to be burned, it didn't change his belief at all.In this final hour, the ranger of science, rises to the heights of a martyr and hero of faith.Farrier hurried back from Lausanne to share the victory with Calvin, but Servetus scornfully rejected Farrier's urging, declaring that an earthly legal decision must never be taken as the basis for a man's right or wrong in matters concerning the divine. accepted by the standard.You can kill a man and not convince him.Although his body will be destroyed, it will not prove his mind guilty.Neither by threats nor by promises could Farrier wring a single word resembling a renunciation from the chained and condemned victim.Servetus still considered himself not a heretic but a devout Christian whose duty it was to reconcile the worst of his enemies, and he even expressed his desire to see Calvin. The only record of the meeting with Calvin is provided by Calvin himself.Dead men don't tell stories.Calvin's actions, as recorded by Calvin, brilliantly reveal his rigidity and severity.The victorious dictator descends from the cold dank and dark dungeons of his victims, not to speak a word of brotherly or Christian kindness, not to offer him comfort, to the tortured man.Calvin, in a calm, pragmatic manner, began a conversation with Servetus, asking him why he should come.He evidently wanted Servetus to kneel and beg the almighty dictator to annul the sentence, or at least commute it.Servetus' answer was simple.Therefore, anyone, as long as he still has a heart in his chest, will definitely be moved by the records.Servetus had Calvin coming for the sole purpose of asking for forgiveness.The victim also offered to settle with the religious court that sent the sentence.Calvin had a grim countenance, and he could never have recognized a political and religious opponent as a Christian or as a person. Read the words of his grim record: "My only answer is that I never (and that's true) have any personal ill will toward him." Calvin could not and would not understand the last gesture of Servetus's unusually pacifist character.Calvin said there could be no reconciliation between him and Servetus.The latter must cease to think of himself, and frankly admit his error, admitting that he has sinned against God—the condemned man who has denied the triune nature of God.The theorist Calvin consciously or unconsciously refused to recognize the unfortunate man as a man or a brother.Today the man is thrown into the fire like a worthless piece of wood.Calvin, the dead dogmatist, believed that Servetus was simply a man who rejected his conception of God, thereby negating God.The only dictatorial power Calvin had at this last moment was to compel Servetus to declare publicly that Servetus was wrong and Calvin was right.However, since Servetus realized that the iron-willed fanatic wanted to deprive him of what was still alive in his useless body, the conviction and belief that the prisoner considered a sacred part of himself, he doggedly resisted and steadfastly refused to make that cowardly public statement.Servetus declared that he was willing to make peace with his adversaries: man to man, Christian to Christian, but nothing could induce him to sacrifice (his life was counted in points) to him the faith to which he had devoted his life opponent.Attempts to convert had failed.There was no need for Calvin to talk further.Anyone who refuses to do Calvin's will without hesitation in matters of religion is no longer Calvin's Christian brother, but a coward of Satan with whom friendly conversations are in vain. sinner.Why show an iota of mercy to a heretic?Without saying a word, Calvin turned away from his victim without giving him another friendly glance.The zealous plaintiff ends his record with these words—words that will condemn him for eternity: “For I cannot gain by arguments and warnings, and I do not wish to be wiser than my God. According to St. Paul’s of the canons, I withdraw from heretics, and let him judge himself." Slowly roasting at the stake is the most painful of all executions.Even in the Middle Ages, known for its brutality, such executions were rarely carried out.In most cases, those who received such fatal sentences were not allowed to be burned to death.They were hanged or somehow rendered unconscious and then burned.It was the first time a Protestant had imposed such an abominable death sentence on a heretic.We know Calvin well, when long after the indignant cries of the humanists had risen, long, long after, he would have endeavored to put Servetus to death with rare cruelty. prevaricate.A few years after his body was reduced to ashes, Servetus tells us that he and other members of the Inquisition tried to effect a commutation of the sentence from slow fire to the lesser one of hacking with the sword.But their efforts were in vain (“We asked for a reduced sentence, but it was useless”).In the records of the city council we find not a single word to describe this futile effort.Calvin, throughout the course of the trial, had exerted pressure on the city council to pass the sentence of Servetus to death, which he achieved.Would any impartial person believe that Calvin, suddenly an insignificant Genevan, could not propose a more merciful method of execution?As far as Servetus was concerned, it was true that Calvin thought of commuting the sentence—but only if Servetus was willing to pay for it with a spiritual sacrifice, a last-minute conversion.Not out of human benevolence but outright political calculation, Calvin, for the first time in his life, was mild to his opponents.What a victory for the dogma of Geneva if Servetus, just before he went to the stake, admitted that he was wrong and Calvin was right.This victory will compel the Spanish blasphemer to confess that he will not die for his own creed, and that he must admit before the whole population that Calvin is the only true creed in the world. However, Servetus knew that any concessions would come at a price.Obstinate to obstinate, fanatic to fanatic.He would rather die in unspeakable torments for his convictions than a more merciful death in support of the dogma of Master John Calvin: He would rather suffer half an hour of great suffering to win the martyr's laurels in Calvin. Wen will forever be branded with the stigma of utter brutalism.Servetus flatly refused to do so, gathering his strength to endure his terrible fate. The rest is a horror story.At 11 a.m. on October 26, the prisoners were brought out of the prison.Clothed in rags, he blinked, gazing into the daylight for the last time.His beard was unkempt, his face was dirty and emaciated; he was chained and shambling.On a clear autumn day he was ashen and dead.On the steps of the city council hall, the marshal pushed him forward (since weeks of inactivity had nearly rendered him unable to walk) and threw him to his knees.Now, he bowed his head as a city magistrate read the sentence aloud to the assembled crowd.The verdict concluded with these words: "We sentence you, Miguel Servetus, to be taken to Chapel and burned alive, along with the manuscript and printed volumes of your book, until your body was reduced to nothingness. Ashes. In this way, you have come to the end, as a warning to all who may repeat your crimes." The condemned man's teeth chattered with cold as he heard the sentence.Near the end of his life, he prostrated himself before the members of the municipal administration assembled on the steps and begged them for their favor: kill the head first, and then burn the body with fire. "Otherwise, that greatest pain would have driven me to throw away my lifelong convictions." He went on to say that if he was guilty, it would not have been intentional, since he was often moved by a thought that promoted divine honour. At this moment, Farrier stepped forward, came between the judge and the kneeling people, and asked Servetus, in a voice that could be heard from afar, whether he was going to abandon his teachings that directly opposed the Trinity, so that , can guarantee him a more lenient execution method.Yet Servetus, though in all respects no more than a mediocre man, rejected this suggestion with contempt.This shows his moral greatness, his willingness to live up to his vows, his determination to endure the worst for what he believes in. Now the team moves in the direction of the execution.Led by the governor and his representatives, each wearing a medal according to rank, surrounded by archers and guarded, followed by a crowd of spectators.The city, on the way it passed, was filled with terrified and silent spectators.Farrier kept close to the condemned man, keeping pace, and continued to demand that Servetus admit his mistakes and abandon the false dogma.But Servetus replied with true piety that, though he had been unjustly executed, he begged God to show mercy to his accuser.Farrier replied angrily and decisively: "What? After committing the most heinous crime, do you still want to defend it? If you continue to resist, I will let God judge you. I will no longer fight with you." You go side by side, though I am determined not to leave you until your breath is gone." Servetus did not answer.He was sickened by executioners and chattering theologians, and he didn't want to bother with them.The so-called heretic and atheist continued to mutter, as if to comfort himself: "O God, save my soul; O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me." Then he raised his voice and begged those present. people prayed for him with him.As soon as he arrived at the place of execution and saw the stake, he knelt down again, concentrating on devotional meditation.But the fanatical Farrier, fearing that the conduct of this reputed heretic might impress the crowd, called out to them from the heads of the condemned: "Behold, when Satan has a man in his clutches, What power it had at that time! This fellow was the most learned, and believed he was doing right. But now he is in the hands of Satan. The same thing may happen to all of you." Then the disgusting preparations had begun; the firewood was piled around the stake;后者只是叹。息：“啊，上帝，我的上帝。”法里尔凶恶地吼道：“你还有什么话要说吗？”那好争论的牧师依然希望塞维特斯看到行将牺牲的火刑柱现场会使其相信加尔文派的信仰是唯一正确的。但塞维特斯口答说：“除了呼唤上帝之外，我还能做什么呢？” 失望的法里尔放开他的受害者。现在只留下另一个刽子手，那法定的一个，去完成他那可憎恨的工作。铁链挂在火刑柱上，并在柱子上和这不幸的可怜虫消瘦的身体上绕了四、五周。刽子手的助手在铁链和身体之间塞进书和手稿，那些是塞维特斯盖章后送给加尔文，去征求他兄弟般的意见的。最后，在受难者的额上戴上用硫黄浸透的树叶冠以表嘲弄。准备工作就绪。刽子手点燃柴把，开始杀人。 在火焰在塞维特斯周围升起时，他发出了如此可怕的喊声，许多旁观者转过身去免得目睹那悲惨的景象。火焰立即盖住扭曲的身体。但痛苦的哀号声越来越响，直到最后变成一阵祈求的尖叫：“耶稣，永恒的上帝的儿子，怜悯我吧！”同死亡的斗争持续了半小时之久。之后火灭烟散，在灼热的余烬之上，贴近烧黑的火刑柱的地方，留下一堆乌黑的、令人厌恶的、烧焦了的东西，一堆使人恶心的、已全无人形的胶状物。那曾经是一个有思想的尘世的动物，热情地向往永恒，那曾经是神圣灵魂飘动的碎片，现在缩成了一堆。如此令人作呕、如此可憎的一堆残渣！那景象甚至可能使加尔文意识到他僭取权力、成为法官、并杀死他的一个兄弟的行为，是何等的不人道。 但是，在这可怖的时刻，加尔文又在什么地方呢？或者是表示他自己对此没有兴趣，或者是免得他的神经受刺激，他留在家里。他在书斋里，关上窗，把可憎的监决的任务留给了刽子手和法里尔（一个比他更粗暴的畜生）。只要是追猎一个无辜者，控告他，威逼他，粑他带上火刑柱一类的事，加尔文就是一个不知疲倦的头子。但到正式执刑时，他把事情交给法里尔和雇佣的助手们。而他自己，这个实际上决心指挥干这一“虔诚的虐杀”的人，却谨慎地保持着冷漠。下一个星期日，他裹着黑色的教士长袍，走上布道台，对沉默的会众吹嘘这一功绩。他宣称这是一个伟大的功绩，公正的功绩，虽则他卑怯得对那可怜的景象连看也不敢看。