of his wife, children, estate, and all, depended upon it) prevailed; and he made his formal recantation. Soon afterwards his soul was struck with horror at what he had done; and he fell into the most dreadful despair of God's mercy. Growing worse and worse, and expressing himself in language almost too dreadful to repeat, concerning his crime, and his assured damnation from God; he was removed by his friends from Citadella to Padua, that he might both have better advice of physicians, and the constant conference of learned men. His physicians soon confessed his malady beyond their art, and prescribed for him, as the best and only remedy, good advice and spiritual consolation. Accordingly, many of the clergy and others constantly attended him, and laboured to heal his mind by such portions of scripture, as exhibit the riches and extent of the mercy of God to repenting sinners. He allowed the truth of those passages, and of all they could say respecting the love of God in Christ; but still insisted, that he was particularly excluded to be an instance of the divine vengeance, and that the promises did not belong to him, who must justly be damned to everlasting torments, because he had abjured the truths of God, knowing them to be so, and against the repeated admonitions of his conscience. He said, in language as dreadful as ever was heard, that he felt the pains of damnation, even then, in his soul; that he wanted to be at the worst which hell could inflict upon him, as the expectation of more torments increased those he already sustained; and that, though he saw all glory and excellency in God, yet he was so far from loving him on that account, that he most horribly hated him the more. In this condition he continued for some time, refusing all sustenance, and spitting it out again, when forced upon him. Vergerio frequently visited him, and set before him the freedom and fullness of the divine grace, urging the instances of Peter and others, who had fallen from God, but were received into mercy again; but all his exhortations were in vain. Whatever could be said, was thrown away upon poor Spira's and his malady increased more and more. In short, he languished, and sunk, and died, in all the agonizing tortures of the most miserable despair *.

Vergerio, as an eye-witness of God's wrath for the denial of his truth, was deeply struck with this dreadful example, and in consequence was the more confirmed by it in his attachment

*The account of Spira is delivered by feveral creditable authors, who were eye-witneffes of his melancholy end; viz. Matthew Gribaldo, a lawyer of Padua, by Sigifmund Gelon, Henry Scot, and Vergerie

attachment to the Protestant doctrine. Till this period, he had evidently hesitated, and wished to keep himself as safe as he could, without entirely making shipwreck of conscience. But this awful instance determined him. He therefore fully resolved to abandon his native country and all he had, and to become, in a double sense, a stran ger and pilgrim upon earth. Every true Christian must be this in his spirit; but every one is not called to be so, both in body and mind, as Vergerio undoubtedly was. He underwent this voluntary banishment, that he might live where he might freely profess the doctrine of Christ. He quitted the fine country of Bergamo, for the bleak barren hills of the Grisons: The Grisons became a spiritual Eden, far more delightful than the Italian plains, through the sweet manifestation of the gospel. If Christ and a dungeon have been preferred by many martyrs to a palace without him; surely Christ and the Grisons must be far more welcome than all the busy scenes of life, where inward peace is a stranger, and where outward felicity flies off in a dream. Vergerio counted the cost, and had made a wise estimate of the honours, the riches, and the pleasures of a giddy world. He was certainly able to do so, in the strength of grace; for he had seen and known them all in their highest splendour and magnificence: And, with Solomon, he could write upon them all-Vanity and vexation of spirit.

Vergerio preached the gospel partly amongst the Grisons, and partly in the Valteline, for several years. At length, he was invited to Tubingen, in Swabia, by the duke of Wurtemburg, where he passed the remainder of his days.

Vergerio's brother, John Baptist Vergerio, bishop of Pola, who was converted to the truth at the same time, (as we have mentioned,) died before he left Italy; and it is sus pected, that he was poisoned by those desperate and implacable papists, who hunted likewise for Vergerio's blood.

While Vergerio was among the Grisons, the emperor and pope had endeavoured to draw the Swiss to the council of Trent: But the French king, having opposite views, instructed La Morliere, his ambassador, or envoy to the Cantons, to dissuade them from it. La Morliere, finding it a work of difficulty, prevailed upon Vergerio, who was expert in negociation and business, to come to him from among the Grisons. Vergerio supplied him with arguments, and, soon afterwards, published a book against repairing to the council. By these means, Switzerland and the Grisons were preserved from that corrupt leaven, and from being ensnared by the policy of Rome.

In this book Vergerio exhibited the pride, pomp, luxury, ambition, bribery, and dissolute manners of the court of Rome, which he declared he well knew, and from his heart detested: That the council of Trent was not called by the pope to establish the doctrine of Christ, but those human inventions which they had brought in contrary to the word of God; not to purge God's fold, but to disseminate their inveterate errors; not to restore Christian liberty, but to introduce a miserable bondage and oppression on the souls of men: That this appeared from there being none but bishops and abbots, who had taken an oath prescribed by the Roman ceremonial, allowed to sit there': That the inferior clergy and secular princes had only a right to come, without the least power of deliberating or voting; so that every conclusion must be ex parte; as all, who differed from Rome, were without influence: And that, in short, no good thing would be done, nor any corruption complained of remedied, though to remedy corruptions was the express end for which the council was pretended to be called.

The event proved the truth of Vergerio's assertion; as we may more fully learn from the celebrated history of that council, written by the excellent F. Paulo of Venice.

This good man Vergerio finished his labours and his life at Tubingen on the fourth of October, in the year 1566. His funeral sermon was preached by Dr James Andreas, on 1 Tim. i. 12, 13: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Upon this text he drew, and might draw, no very distant parallel between these two persecuting converts, the apostle Paul and bishop Vergerio.

Pezelius says, that of a wolf, God made Vergerio one of his fold, and a pastor of his flock;' and Trithemius speaks of him, that he was a man diligent in searching the holy scriptures, and very learned in human science, celebrated as a philosopher and a rhetorician, and per'fectly skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues.' Thuanus mentions him likewise in very handsome terms, and perhaps as handsome as he dared: But Vergerio has a much better commendation than all these, the applause of his Master-Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.