restraint, or deliver him over to his enemies; and his fears seem not to have been wholly groundless, for Charles, on his arrival, commanded the city to give him up. Ochin had, however, anticipated the order, and made good his retreat to Basle. From Basle he removed to Strasburg, to Peter Martyr, with whom he shortly after went to England at the invitation of Cranmer, who wished to engage their services to aid the Reformation, under Edward VI. Martyr was appointed Public Professor of Divinity at Oxford, whilst Ochin remained in London, and preached to the Italian Protestants who had there obtained an asylum. In England he wrote a work against the Pope's supremacy, which was translated into English by Dr. John Ponet, and published under the following title- A Tragedy, or Dialogue of the unjust usurped Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, and of all the just abolishing of the same. "It was printed in quarto, and dedicated to the King: it was reprinted in octavo in 1724.

The stop put to the Reformation by the premature death of Edward and the accession of Mary, rendered it unsafe for Ochin to remain longer in England, where he had purposed to terminate his days. The Queen, who considered him as the inveterate enemy of the Papists, threatened him with the severest penalties, and compelled him, for security, to quit the kingdom in 1553. He first went to Strasburg, from whence, after a short stay, he proceeded to Geneva, where he arrived on the 28th of October, the day after the inhuman murder of Servetus. Here, whilst flying from the fires of Catholic persecution, he learnt that Protestants had not discarded the spirit of Popery, and could, when it suited their purpose to silence those whom they failed to convince, enforce their arguments by the faggot and the torch. It is to Ochin's credit, that when, on his arrival at Geneva, he was informed of the fate of Servetus, he openly expressed his disapprobation of the proceeding, and thus exposed himself to the displeasure of the actors. This circumstance hastened his departure for Basle. During his stay at Geneva at this time, he married. The only accounts we have of his wife are those of his enemies and slanderers, and are

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therefore to be received with caution. She is stated to have been of a very humble or mean condition of life, and without property. Some represent her as having gained her livelihood by washing, and as having, on this account, been designated Madame d'Ochino la lingière, "Madame Ochin the laundress."* The date of Ochin's marriage is a circumstance of some consequence, as furnishing a sufficient refutation of the calumnious charge already noticed, of his having on his first arrival at Geneva married a concubine whom he had brought from Italy.

After a residence of two years at Basle, he removed to Zurich, upon an invitation to take the charge of a Church of Italian Protestants who had retired to that city. They consisted of some of the inhabitants of Locarno, one of the cantons possessed by the Swiss in Italy, who being prevented the public exercise of their religion, by the Catholic cantons, had obtained leave to settle at Zurich. They adopted the articles of faith and the discipline of the Church of Zurich, to which Ochin at this time did not scruple to conform. He discharged the duties of his office here with great acceptance till the year 1563, when the publication of his celebrated Dialogues raised against him a host of enemies, and at length caused his expulsion from Switzerland. The Dialogues were originally written in Italian, and afterwards translated, from the manuscript, into Latin, by Castalio, and printed at Basle in 1563. The first offence charged upon Ochin was the printing of these Dialogues without the approbation and consent of the magistrates of Zurich; and the second, that they contained tenets, especially on the subjects of Polygamy and the Trinity, which were at variance with the orthodox faith. After the work had been examined by Bullinger and others, by order of the Senate, the

* According to the writer who favours bles, Raemundus, Ochin was himself so us with this among other ridiculous fagreat a lover of poverty, that he pronounced riches to be a part of the Devil, and maintained that a Christian should have no other property besides his wife. Bock, ut supra, II. 500,

author was sentenced to be expelled from the State of Zurich.

Being thus driven from Zurich, he went to Basle, and applied to the ministers and professors to intercede for him with the magistrates to allow him to remain in that city. But no intreaties could prevail, not even to obtain for himself and his children an asylum through the winter. The magistrates having taken the opinion of the doctors respecting his work, order ed him instantly to quit their territory. He yielded to the mandate, and went with his children to Mulhausen, though he was then seventy-six years of age, and the roads were every where covered with snow and ice. The celebrated Dudithius, in a letter to Beza, animadverts with just severity upon this transaction, as highly disgraceful to the Protestants. To this letter Beza replied, but with a levity and a forced attempt at wit, which reflected no credit upon himself, and were little likely to satisfy his amiable correspondent. * Beza relates in the same

Beza thus writes to Dudithius : "Ochinum preterea narras indicta causa, hyeme acri, decursa jam ætate, senem cum uxore et liberis, Tiguro ejectum. Deus bone! quæ est ejusmodi calumniatorum audacia, qui hæc tibi insusurrarunt? Sceleratus hypocrita, Ariauorum clandestinus fautor, Polygamiæ defensor, omnium Christianæ religionis dogmatum irrisor, quum eo tandem audaciæ erupisset, ut sua portenta in publicum ederet (justo sanè Dei judicio ne latere diutiùs tantum malum posset) delatus ad magistratum, pro eo quod severam pœnam pro tantis sceleribus merebatur, non sanè indicta causa (quod qui dicunt, magnam justo et pio magistratui injuriam faciunt) sed non ad vivum resectis omnibus, ut cum illo quàm clementissime ageretur, jussus est è Tigurinorum agro facessere. Magnam certè crudelitatem! At senex erat: tanto nocentior veterator. At hyems erat: nempe longa fuit non unius integri diei via. At uxorem et liberos habebat: de uxore falsum est, quod ex bono Alciato, sive quovis alio cognovisti. Fregerat enim collum horrendo Dei judicio domi impium senem persequente, priusquam foras productum esset ipsius scelus. Basileam igitur venit, ubi quum itidem suos errores damnatos videret, tandem ad suos sive Tritheitas, sive Arianos, sive Samosatenianos contulit."

Dudithius's reply to this unfeeling as cription of the accidental death of

letter, not as a report merely, but as matter of authentic history, that when Ochin was at Schaffhausen, on his way from Basle into Germany, he met Cardinal Lotharingus, and proposed to him to leave the Reformers and return to the Church of Rome, but that the Cardinal treated the offer with contempt. But notwithstanding Beza's attestation of the truth of this account, the internal evidence against it will, with every reasonable mind, outweigh all his protestations. Ochin was a man whose great talents and celebrity rendered it little likely that the Church of Rome, in the existing state of her contest with the Reformers, would spurn him from her threshhold when he applied to be received back into her communion. It cannot be doubted that such a proposal would instantly and gladly have been acceded to, and the return of such a penitent held out with great ostentation as an example for others of her apostate children to follow. But it is idle to

Ochin's wife to the judgments of God upon her husband's house is admirable, and may be recommended to the perusal of some priestly divines of our age, who deem themselves authorized to direct the avenging thunderbolts of Heaven. "Cum Ochini larva luctaris," he writes, "pœnas etiam ab uxore sumtas divinitus affirmas, quasi ex Cœlo, atque ex Dei senatu de lapsus hunc nobis nuntium adfers. Vobis hoc in more positum est video, ut simulac aliquis paulò miserabiliore morte obeat, statim hoc justo Dei judicio factum esse clametis. Non est humanum mortuis insultare, neque à mortis genere de pietate judicium ferri debet: alioqui quid Josiam et alios fuisse dicetis? Quid de Christo et Apostolis, atque infinitis Martyribus, qui omnes ignominiosa et horrenda morte extincti sunt, sentietis ? Quid denique de vestro Zuinglio respondebitis? Præclarus ille verbi Dei præco, Christi scilicet discipulus, magistri nimirum et Apostolorum exemplo, in prima acie cæsus esse dicitur; quod genus mortis neque Christiano doctore dignum, ueque non miserabile tamen fuit. Quare desine ita cum vulgo sentire, ut statim impium esse censeas, si quis non leni ac placida morte moriatur."

The copies of the Epistles of Beza and Dudithius, from which I have transcribed these extracts, are appended to the second edition of the work of Minus Celsus, De Hæreticis Capitali Supplicio non afficiendis.

argue the case, for the whole account has been proved to be fabulous. * From Mulhausen, Ochin soon passed into Poland, where he hoped to settle himself. But the agents of the Pope had taken measures to disappoint his expectations, and availing themselves of a law which had been recently passed to exclude all foreigners who held doctrines at variance with the established creed, they procured an order for his banishment. Some of the nobility who respected his character and commiserated his sufferings, offered to procure for him permission to reside in Poland. But he declined the proposal, alleging that he thought it right to obey the ruling powers, though he should die upon the road, or perish among the wolves in the forests. On quitting Poland, he took the road to Moravia, but before he reached Pinczow he was seized with the plague. Notwithstanding the nature of his malady, he was here most kindly received by Philippovius, one of the Unitarian brethren, whose humane attentions he gratefully acknowledged. He lost from this fatal disease his two sons and a daughter, but recovered sufficiently himself to prosecute his journey as far as Slacovia; here, at the end of three weeks, in the year 1564, he terminated his suffer. ings and his life. Other accounts have been given of the place and manner of Ochinus's death, but they are undeserving of credit. This may be asserted particularly of the statement of Boverius, the annalist of the Capuchins, who affirms that he died at Geneva, after having quitted the Protestants, and been re-admitted to the communion of the Church of Rome.

With respect to the opinions of Ochin, there are but two points that seem entitled to notice in this sketch: the first is, whether he is justly chargable with libertinism, as his enemies allege, in his treatise upon Polygamy; and the second, whether his observations on the Doctrine of the Trinity afford sufficient ground for ranking him among Antitrinitarians?

Nothing certainly but the most perverse and inveterate dis position to calumniate could ever have construed any part of Ochin's writings as favouring licentiousness.—

Bock, II. p. 507.

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The accusation rests chiefly or wholly upon the Dialogue on Polygamy, and is sufficiently refuted by the perusal of the piece. It is by no means a defence of the practice, designed, as has been represented, to prove that "it is not only permitted but even commanded that Christians should marry as many wives as they please." At the commencement a person is described as consulting the author on a case of conscience, who states that he is desirous of having children; that he has a barren and sickly wife, whose temper is unsuited to his own, and whom he is therefore unable to love; and he asks whether he may lawfully marry another wife without divorcing the first? In the course of the Dialogue the applicant adduces numerous reasons in favour of Polygamy, but Ochin in every instance opposes them, and supports the negative of the question. But if it be admitted that the arguments adduced in favour of Polygamy are occasionally but feebly met by the objections; and it should appear that Ochin thought Polygamy in such a case might be allowed, this would not expose him to a charge of licentiousness, for the whole subject is treated with great gravity and seriousness. It seems probable that the Dialogue was occasioned by a circumstance which at the time formed a subject of general conversation. The Landgrave of Hesse had recently consulted some celebrated German divines upon a parallel case, and they had declared their judgment that he might marry a second wife in the life-time of the first: Ochin's object might possibly have been to shew the grounds upon which such an opinion might be supported.

That Ochin disbelieved the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity towards the close of his life, seems placed beyond all question by his two Dialogues on the subject. The topics of them are thus stated by himself: + Dialogue xix.: Ostenditur tres esse divinas personas, Patrem et Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum, reipsa distinctas tametsi consubstantiales, et coæternas, et ad eos literarum locos et argumen

* Dialogues, II. 186.

+ Idem, pp. 1, &c. By an error of the press they are numbered in the Volume, xviii. xix.

ta, quæ contra adduci solent, respondetur. Dialogus xx.: Ostenditur nobis necessarium esse credere Trinitatem. In the Colloquy, Ochin assigns to himself the task of stating and defending the doctrine of the Trinity, but he puts into the mouth of the Spirit with whom he is disputing, some of the strongest arguments that can be urged against it, and which he very ineffectually combats. The tone also of the reasoning against the doctrine, the irony and ridicule with which some orthodox statements of it are repeatedly treated, very clearly shew that the writer could not have been a believer. It may not perhaps be equally apparent what his own opinion was. But from the manner in which he defends a statement of the Arian doctrine concerning the person of Christ, which the Spirit is made to give, it may be conjectured that he had adopted that hypothesis.

Some of Ochin's publications have been already mentioned. Besides those enumerated, the principal are, 1. His Discourses on the Lord's Supper. 2. His Labyrinths, wherein he treats of Free-will and Necessity, &c.; and 3, a Dialogue on Purgatory. Ochin wrote all his pieces in Italian, and those of them which were published in the Latin and other languages, were translated from his manuscripts. His works are all scarce, and sell at high prices. R. S.

Ben David's Remarks on Eichhorn's
Account of Genesis.
No. I.

ΤΗ

HE reputation of Eichhorn for learning and talents might well lead his readers to expect much valuable information from his biblical researches. But if the extracts in the Repository be fair specimens of his literary labours, they hold him forth, not as an enlightened critic of the nineteenth century, but as an immured monk, equally remote from the light of truth and the light of heaven, in the darkest period of the dark ages. He thinks the book of Genesis, instead of being the genuine production of Moses, is but a compilation extracted by him from different documents. Thus he supposes the second

* Dialogues, II. 43.

chapter to be an isolated document in no ways connected with the first, and the whole a patch-work from different unknown authors, rather than one entire, consistent narrative of the same writer. In judging of an ancient composition there are two methods of pronouncing on its character and merit. The one is to detach it from the antiquity of the author, and, bringing it down to the eye of the inquirer, to judge of it by the standard of modern productions. This method is easy but fallacious: for the work examined in this point of light will not appear in its genuine colours. The features which were called forth by the circumstances peculiar to the writer, will be deemed inconsistencies and imperfections; and if the critic be a man of talents, and in the habit of substituting fancy for solid sense, he will form some hypothesis to account for them as anomalies in a work of acknowledged credit. The other is for the inquirer in imagination to convey himself through the channels of ancient literature to the age and country of the author, and to examine the work in connexion with the characteristic features of the times. This way, indeed, is sure, yet difficult and laborious; but the piece, like the painting of an ancient master, will then be viewed in its true though sombre light. The anomalies which had before perplexed the critic will disappear, and while they add simplicity, beauty and harmony to the work, they will furnish additional evidence of its authenticity. The researches of the critic in this respect resemble those of the astronomer, who, if he observes the heavenly bodies from the spot to which he is actually confined, must witness much inequality and disorder But if the observer will imagine himin their motions and arrangement. self in the centre of motion, and take his observations from thence, all irregularities will entirely vanish: every position will then present itself in just proportion; every movement appear regular and harmonious, and the planet which before seemed retrograde or stationary, will henceforth be uniformly progressive in its course. Eichhorn exemplifies the first of these methods of examining ancient records. I, in answering him, will endeavour to illustrate the second: and if my abi