The execution of Servetus filled [Sebastian Castellio] with profound indignation, and he set himself to examine and refute the grounds on which [burning Servetus to death] was justified. [Thus Castellio had this to say] "Who made Calvin arbiter of all the sects that he alone should kill? He has the word of God, but so have they. If the matter is so certain to whom is it certain? To Calvin? There is nothing unkown to him. He talks as if he might be in Paradise. But why then does he write so many books about manifrest truth, and such huge tomes to explain what he says is absolutely clear?"
Protestantestism on the other hand in its dominant branches became at first more dogmatic in the 17th century but in the 18th went so far beyond Erasmus that the Deistic movement reduced Christianity to little more than that which it had in common with Confucianism.
The greatest persecutors in the history of Christianity have not been hypocrytes or monsters, but the devotees of an ideal which they believed to be of supreme importance for mankind.
For the liberals, deeds were to be esteemed as more important in God's eyes than creeds.
We must be extremely careful, argued Acontius [an Italian Prostestant Refugee], not to force men over points which God has not declared to be necessary.
The liberals commonly argued that the doctrine of predestination should preclude persecution, since if salvation is predetermined no amount of force can alter the situation.
[In his book On the Wiles of Satan Acontius says] "The greatest hindrances to clear sight are passion, pride and prejudice, and these are only accentuated by vainglory and arrogrance on the part of the one who is seeking to persuade. Humility and manifest devotion to truth are the prime requisites for winning converts."
If the contention is that persecution is good for the Church, the reply is that the number may be increased but the quality will not be improved.
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