§ 129. BERNARDINO OCHINO. 1487-1565. 645
where I have lived, are unknown here. There are no pimps and harlots. The people do not know what rouge is, and they are all clad in a seemly fashion. Games of chance are not customary. Benevolence is so great that the poor need not beg. The people admonish each other in brotherly fashion, as Christ prescribes. Lawsuits are banished from the city; nor is there any simony, murder, or party spirit, but only peace and charity. On the other hand, there are no organs here, no noise of bells, no showy songs, no burning candles and lamps, no relics, pictures, statues, canopies, or splendid robes, no farces, or cold ceremonies. The churches are quite free from all idolatry." ^
Ochino wrote at Geneva a justification of his flight, in a letter to Girolamo Muzio (April 7, 1543). In a letter to the magistrates of Siena, he gave a full confession of his faith based chiefly on the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (Nov. 3, 1543). He published, in rapid succession, seven volumes of Italian sermons or theological essays.^
He says in the Preface to these sermons : " Now, my dear Italy, I can no more speak to you from mouth to mouth ,- but I will Avrite to you in thine own language, that everybody may understand me. My comfort is that Christ so willed it, that, laying aside all earthly considerations, I may regard only the truth. And as the justification of the sinner by Christ is the beginning of the Christian life, let us begin with it in the name of our Lord Jesus Cluist." His sermons are evangelical, and show a mystical tendency, as we might expect from a disciple of Valdes. He lays much stress on the vital union of the soul with Christ by faith and love. He teaches a free salvation by the sole merits of Christ, and the Calvinistic doctrine of sovereign election, but with-
1 "Le chiese sono purgutissime da ogni idolatria." This testimony is confirmed by Vergerio, Farel, Knox, and others. See § 110, pp. 516 sqq.
2 Prediche, Geneva, 1542-1544, several editions, also in Latin, French, German, and English. See Benrath, pp. 374 sq., and his summary of the contents, pp. 175 sqq.
646 THE EEFOEMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
out the negative inference of reprobation. He wrote also a popular, paraphrastic commentary on his favorite Epistle to the Romans (1545), which was translated into Latin and German. Afterwards, he published sermons on the Epistle to the Galatians, which were printed at Augsburg, 1546.
He lived on good terms with Calvin, who distrusted the Italians, but after careful inquiry was favorably impressed with Ochino's " eminent learning and exemplary life." ^ He mentions him first in a letter to Viret (September, 1542) as a venerable refugee, who lived in Geneva at his own expense, and promised to be of great service if he could learn French.^ In a letter to Melanchthon (Feb. 14, 1543), he calls him an "eminent and excellent man, who has occasioned no little stir in Italy by his departure." ^ Two years ^afterwards (Aug. 15, 1545), he recommended him to Myconius of Basel as " deserving of high esteem everywhere." *
Ochino associated at Basel with Castellio, and employed him in the translation of his works from the Italian. This connection may have shaken his confidence in the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination and free-will.
OcHiNO IN Germany.
He labored for some time as preacher and author in Strassburg, where he met his old friend Peter Martyr, and in Augsburg, where he received from the city council a regular
1 He wrote to Pellican, April 19, 1543 : " Quoniam Italicis plerisque ingeniis non multum Jido . . . , contuli cum eo diligenter. . . . Hoc testimonium pio et sancto viro visum est. . . . Est enim prastanti et ingenio et doctrina et sanctitate." Opera, XI. 528.
2 Opera, XI. 447 sq. Comp. letter to Viret, October, 1542, ibid. 458: " JBernardus noster miris machinis impetitus est, ut nobis abduceretur : constanter tamen perstat."
s " Magnum et pi-oeclarum virum, qui suo discessu non parum Italiam commovit." Opera, XI. 517.
* " Bern. Senensis, vir nuper in Italia magni nominis, dignus certe qui habeatur nbique in pretio." Opera, XII. 135. Benrath (192) gives the wrong date of this letter, viz. 1542, — probably a typographical error.