"You will come again, Sir," said the anxious parents in a low voice, as he crossed their threshold.

"Certainly; next Sunday or sooner." And he felt pretty confident that Mrs. Harris would now finish her week's work on the Saturday night.

"What has been done in this case, as in others," said M., when, a few weeks after, he made his report to those under whose authority and by whose support his mission was conducted,—“ what has been done appears trifling in the detail, but I am sure it is important in reality. We have no sudden reformation to boast of. These people have not yet attended public worship; they have not yet taken to reading the Bible, and I have not seen them in such a state that I could mention prayer to them. If they had, like others under my charge, needed assistance from our purse, the work would have been quickened; but it is proceeding. It is something that they make a friend of me. It is something to have engaged them in any kind of observance of the Lord's-day, and to have united the family in any common interest, if it be only listening to the Bible stories I relate to the child. I have further reason to hope that the season of greater progress is at hand."

"What reason?"

"Last Sunday, having gone early on purpose, I rose to depart when the first bell sounded, saying that the time for service was too precious to be always sacrificed. I thought they looked wistfully after me, and I believe a word from me will ere long make them follow me.-And so convinced am I, from the changed tone of our intercourse, that any remarkable occur- ¦ rence which may befal them, be it prosperous or adverse, will induce an expression of good feelings which are now strengthening in silence, that I watch in their case with peculiar interest, for the arrival of one of those outward changes which happen occasionally to all. If we could but gain tidings of the daughter......"

rest.

"It is not impossible, Devise the method, and the means shall not be wanting. You have done so much that it would be sinful to despair of the Why should we not remind one another that our office is that of the apostles of old? It will strengthen us to proceed upon their principle, that it is ours to plant and to water, trusting to God to give the increase."

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF EMINENT CONTINENTAL UNITARIANS. No. VI.

BERNARD OCHINO, to whom we have already had frequent occasion to allude, was born at Sienna, in Italy, A. D. 1487. He was of humble origin, and appears to have laboured under great disadvantages in early life. The deficiencies of his education, however, were amply supplied by the brilliancy of his genius; and few men ever possessed, in a more remarkable degree, the power of clothing their thoughts in striking and suitable language. He spoke his native tongue with such fluency and elegance, as at once to convince and captivate every heart.

Ochino entered the order of Franciscan Monks, called Cordeliers, at an early age; but, some cause of dissatisfaction arising, he quitted that order in disgust, and began to devote himself to the study of physic. On reflection, however, he resolved once more to resume the monkish habit, and lead a life of rigour and austerity. Accordingly, in the year 1534, he entered the order of Capuchins; and his conduct was so eminent for its piety and regularity, that he was twice elected Vicar General of the order, at Florence, in the year 1538, and at Naples in 1541. On the testimony of Ant. Mar. Gratiano, Bishop of Amelia, a zealous Catholic, Ochino has been represented as the founder of this order. This prelate, in his life of Cardinal Commendoni, relates that Ochino, having observed great laxity in the discipline of the order of St. Francis, withdrew himself, for the purpose of living more according to its ancient strictness; and that, finding some of his brethren disposed to second his views, he restored the institutions of St. Francis, in all their pristine vigour; and, in conjunction with Matthew D'Urbino, a man of extraordinary piety and sanctity, established the order of Capuchins. But this statement cannot be true, if, as we are told, Ochino did not assume the habit of a Capuchin till 1534; for the establishment of this order took place in the year 1525, under the pontificate of Clement the Seventh, and in the year 1534, under the pontificate of Paul the Third, the number of religious belonging to it amounted, if we are to believe Spondanus, to at least three hundred.

Ochino is described, by all his biographers, as possessing an active and ingenious turn of mind, and a rich and fertile imagination. As a pulpit orator, it is said that no man ever attained a higher degree of popularity. His preaching was the theme of admiration, not only with the vulgar, but also among persons of distinction and quality. Princes and prelates were frequently in the number of his audience; and the first cities of Italy contended for the honour of having him as their preacher. He is represented as a man of a singularly venerable aspect, with a long beard flowing gracefully down upon his breast, and a pale countenance, which bespoke the austerity of his mode of life. He was received as an inmate into the palaces of

princes and nobles, where he observed the same rigour and abstinence which habitually distinguished him. In his meals he confined himself to one dish, and that too of the plainest description; and abstained almost entirely from wine. He declined the use of the costly beds and sumptuous apartments which his hosts prepared for him, and reposed upon the bare ground, with no other covering than his own cloak; and so great was the reputation for sanctity which he had acquired throughout Italy, that the very mention of his name inspired a feeling of veneration in all who heard it. The nobility regarded him almost as something superhuman. At his approach they went out to meet him. The reception which they gave him was more like that of a sovereign prince than of a poor monk; and when he took his departure from their houses, they insisted upon accompanying him on his way, and shewing him all those marks of attention which they were in the habit of paying to persons of distinction alone.

It has been asserted by some of the biographers of this singularly gifted man, but apparently without sufficient authority, that he was appointed confessor to the Pope. A statement to this effect is advanced, with some degree of confidence, by Lubieniecius, which, however, is unsupported by any direct evidence. Bayle regards the matter as extremely doubtful; and Sandius alludes to it only as a rumour. The fact is in itself unimportant, for Ochino's popularity was such, that, in the eyes of his numerous and devoted admirers, an appointment of this kind, however deservedly bestowed, could have thrown no additional splendour upon his character.

During one of his preaching excursions into the South of Italy, in the year 1541, Ochino formed an intimacy with John Valdez and Peter Martyr, and so complete a change was wrought in him by his intercourse with these enlightened advocates of the principles of the Reformation, that he soon fell under the suspicion of heresy, and incurred the charge of having given utterance to sentiments at variance with those of the Catholic Church. In the year 1542, he was appointed to preach at Venice during Lent, where he attracted, as usual, large and crowded audiences; but having introduced into his discourses topics at variance with the discipline of his Church, he was cited to appear before the Pope's Nuncio, and dismissed with a gentle reprimand. A short time after this, Julius of Milan, a disciple of Valdez, and an intimate friend of Ochino, was committed to prison, by order of the Nuncio; and this harsh treatment of his friend drew from him the following spirited observations: "What mode of proceeding is now left to us, Sirs? To what purpose do we undergo such troubles and hardships, 0 illustrious city, Queen of the Adriatic, if those who preach the truth are consigned to prison, shut up in dungeons, and loaded with chains and fet ters? What security shall we now have for our own persons? What free range will be left to truth? Would that the truth might be spoken candidly and openly! How many blind, who are now shut out from an enjoyment of the light and enveloped in darkness, would then be illuminated!" The

Nuncio, incensed at these animadversions of Ochino, immediately interdicted his preaching, and sent an account of the affair to the Pope: but the Venetians, who were great admirers of Ochino's eloquence, prevailed upon the Nuncio, at the expiration of three days, to withdraw his interdict; and Ochino, whose conduct was narrowly watched during the remainder of his stay at Venice, avoided all further use of irritating and offensive language. When the term of his mission at Venice had expired, he proceeded to Verona, whither he summoned certain brethren of the Capuchin order, who were intended for the ministry, with a view to their preparation for the sacred office. In pursuance of this design, he expounded to them the epistles of Paul, but allowed himself unusual liberty in the course of his expositions. The Pope, who had hitherto been his friend, and who, it was supposed, had intended to raise him to the dignity of Cardinal, was now greatly incensed at his conduct, and issued an order for his appearance at Rome. He immediately set out on his way thither, but when he had proceeded as far as Bologna, he called upon his friend, Cardinal Contarini, who had recently returned from the Council of Ratisbon; and found him just upon the point of death. The Cardinal unbosomed himself freely to Ochino, and informed him that, although he had strenuously resisted the Protestants on other points, he secretly agreed with them on the subject of justification through Christ. While Ochino was at this place he abandoned his intention of proceeding to Rome, and hastened to Florence, to consult with his friend, Peter Martyr, whose advice he was anxious to procure in this emergency. This interview led to a determination, on the part of both, to leave Italy without delay; a determination which was hastened by a report, that Ochino's arrival at Rome was to be the signal for his destruction, six Cardinals having been appointed to sit in judgment upon him. Nor was this report a groundless one, for he afterwards learned that a body of armed men was sent to Sienna and Florence, to seize and detain him.

The immediate cause of Ochino's abrupt departure from Italy has been variously related by different writers. Some have said that, in a sermon delivered before the Pope on Palm Sunday, he alluded, in warm terms, to the pride of the chief pontiff, and contrasted it with the humility displayed in the conduct of Jesus Christ; and that, at the close of the discourse, one of the Cardinals informed him that he had incurred the displeasure of his holiness, and advised him instantly to seek safety by flight. We are also informed that, in discoursing on the subject of the Trinity, he stated the arguments against that doctrine, but, under a pretext that the time was then too far advanced for him to proceed, delayed the refutation of them till a future opportunity; and, in the mean time, took his departure from Italy. Some Catholic writers, moreover, inform us, that he went over to the Protestant party in consequence of having been disappointed in his expectation of obtaining a mitre or a Cardinal's hat. But all these rumours are utterly unworthy of credit; and the last, in particular, is altogether at variance

with Ochino's known character for integrity. It probably originated in the mortification felt by the Catholics at his defection from their party; and may be set down as one of those stale devices which writers, who are hardly pressed, seldom scruple to employ in the course of controversial warfare.

Ochino had many powerful friends in the North of Italy, whom he had attached to his cause by the piety and integrity of his life, no less than by his brilliant and matchless eloquence as a pulpit orator. Among these was the Duchess of Ferrara, who aided his flight to Venice by supplying him with a disguise, and furnishing him with the pecuniary provision necessary for his journey. From Venice he pursued his course to Geneva, where many Italian exiles had previously taken up their abode, and formed themselves into a separate religious society. Ochino's motive for making choice of Geneva as the place of his retreat, is said to have been a hope that he might be elected pastor of this little church, but in this hope he appears, from some cause or other, to have been disappointed.

The departure of so celebrated and justly popular a character from his native country, and his renunciation of the doctrines of the Romish Church, were subjects of universal astonishment and regret among his Catholic friends. Cardinal Caraffa addressed an expostulatory letter to him, in which, after bestowing upon him the most extravagant encomiums, and calling him his "Father," he breaks out into the following exclamation: "O infatuated old man! who has bewitched thee, that thou shouldst make to thyself another Christ, whom thou hast not learned from the Catholic Church!" Claudio Tolomeo, on hearing of his flight, addressed a letter to him, commencing with these words: " On returning from my villa to Rome, a few days ago, I unexpectedly heard some news, which not only took me by surprise, but absolutely astounded me, by its absurdity and incredibility. For I was told that, by some unaccountable means or other, you had been induced to go over from the Catholics to the Lutherans, and to give the sanction of your name to that heretical and impious sect. I was all consternation at the intelligence!" Other eminent individuals expressed themselves in terms equally honourable to the character of Ochino, and equally descriptive of the sorrow which they felt at his change of sentiments but the brethren of the Capuchin order were overwhelmed with grief at the loss which they had sustained; and Boverius, their historian, tells his readers, that he could not refrain from tears, when he came to that part of his narrative which related to this subject.

On the arrival of Ochino at Geneva, he published a vindication of himself in three letters, of which one was addressed to the chief magistrate at Sienna, his native city, another to Claudio Tolomeo, and the third to Jerome Mutius; and in this vindication he animadverted, with considerable warmth and severity, upon the Pope, and all who still remained in communion with the Romish Church. In the years 1543 and 1544, he like