We

the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. The exhortation given to the Ephesian Church was in accordance with this high tone of spiritual life: "Be filled with the Spirit."* must trace out these good old paths, if we would walk closely and happily with God; we must rise above cold and formal conceptions of the Holy Spirit as a matter of doctrine, to the higher region of the Spirit's living, moving, animating power; we must begin, and carry out and perfect our new life by His indwelling power, looking up to Him, resting upon Him, acting through Him in all things, as a necessity and reality, and most merciful provision for our state of weakness; for it is by Him alone that, through the Lord Jesus, fallen man can have access unto God.

The second great principle of this walk with God is faith; faith, that is, not in the restricted sense of that grace whereby, being justified, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ; but in that larger meaning of the word, according to which the apostle says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." The Epistle to the Hebrews shows how, in various forms and degrees, faith has been the great principle directing and supporting all who have walked with God. It lies at the foundation of all intercourse with an unseen world and an invisible Being; so that "without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Faith opens up the heavenly inheritance for which the believer is content to renounce the things of this present world; and living here as a stranger and pilgrim, and having tastes and pursuits which his fellow men can neither appreciate nor understand, he feels no sense of loneliness, because Faith realises God as ever near. By the operation of this principle, food and clothing, and the comforts of life, are gifts coming directly from God's love; the mingled lot of sorrows and of joys testify of God's wisdom; deliverances from difficulties and dangers are the effects of God's power. The believer has an enjoyment of this world such as none other can know, and he alone can use the means of grace so as to feel their power and exalting influence. Judson illustrates this point. The Burmans have a word," he writes, "which means to set before our eyes. I want a faith which will set before my eyes all the great things which the Word of God contains, that they may be as real to though I had seen them with my eyes, and they were continually present with me." A corresponding passage from the letter of a fellow-labourer bears upon prayer: prayer I feel a greater nearness to God, and sometimes seem almost to see Him face to face; to order my speech before,

me as

* Rom. xiv. 17; v.5: xv. 13; Eph. v. 9; 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. v. 18.

." In

Him, and to plead with Him as a man pleadeth with his friend." Thus the life and vigour of our spiritual frame, whether in our ordinary occupations or devotional exercises, depends upon the intensity and perceptive power of the principle of faith. This will give reality and distinctness to our walk with God; and walking with God in holy and close communion, we shall leave behind us the low and unsatisfactory attainments of ordinary religious profession, and evidence that our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. W. C.

YOUNG'S ITALIAN REFORMERS: PETER MARTYR.

The Life and Times of Aonio Paleario; or, a History of the Italian Reformers in the Sixteenth Century. Illustrated by original Letters and unedited Documents. By M. Young. 8vo, 2 vols. London: Bell and Daldy. 1860. THE sixteenth century will be regarded with a peculiar interest to the end of time. It was a period of intellectual progress, and still more of religious emancipation. In some countries (thank God! in our own) that emancipation was national; in others it was only won by a few individuals under difficulties and discouragements, and it soon provoked the violence and cruelty of spiritual tyranny against them. Some were terrified into conformity with the corruptions which had so long borne undisputed sway; some were scared from further inquiry, and simply silenced their misgivings; some kept on the outward garments of the old religion, and clung in secret to the truth as it is in Jesus; some took flight into countries where they might walk in the path to which God had called them; some fell victims to the persecutors' fire and sword.

Mind was not asleep in Italy. Many were groping their way to a purer faith; and the general history of the times, and the personal history of several whom God's grace had enlightened, provide the interesting subjects of these two well-filled volumes. Paleario is but one of many; but he occupies the most conspicuous place, the chapters dedicated to his story filling nearly a third of the whole work.

At the present time, when spiritual oppression has again made itself hateful in Italy, when the Scriptures are eagerly purchased, when many are known to be inquiring, when some at least are impressed with the falsehood of popery, and when all of our countrymen, zealous for the truth, who have visited or who sojourn in that land, are speaking and writing in the

language of hope and encouragement, there is much to invite us to look upon this book in its purely Italian aspect, and to seek for present guidance and wisdom through a study of the past.

But we have a home interest in this work. One of these eminent Italians performed an important part in relation to the Reformation in England; and, singular to say, it has remained for this author to collect for the first time the records of the life of that distinguished person, known amongst us as Peter Martyr, but whose proper name was Peter Martyr Vermiglio.

We intend to devote a few pages to a sketch of his life. It affords a fair sample of the trials which befel every one in Italy who sought to escape from the mental and spiritual bondage of the dominant apostacy; and when it carries us to our own shores, it shows that he whom ecclesiastics hounded out of Italy became a blessing to England in her search for true religion. If Italy had previously coiled around us the bonds which held us so long in spiritual subjection, Italy at least helped in the end to cut them asunder, and to set us free to serve God after a more acceptable manner.

Peter Martyr Vermiglio was born at Florence on the 8th of September, 1500. The day was memorable as the anniversary of the birth of the Virgin Mary, and likewise of the fall of Jerusalem. Sages reckoned that the boy who had such a birthday was likely to attain to eminence. His parents, Stefano Vermiglio and Maria Fumantia his wife, were members of ancient families, much esteemed in the city. They had lost several sons, and in the hope of preserving this new gift for their comfort, they had dedicated him, even before his birth, to Peter Martyr of Milan, one of those who for his constancy to the true doctrine had been put to death by the Arians. By that name he was christened.

His mother had been highly educated, and was able not only to instruct him in the rudiments of Latin, but to guide him to a just appreciation of the authors whose works she read with him. He was trained to diligence and perseverance. No expense or pains were grudged in providing him with the most accomplished teachers, and many boys who lived to be famous in literature were amongst his companions and competitors in study. He was endued with a quick perception, a retentive memory, and an ardent thirst for knowledge, which greatly assisted the efforts made for his instruction. With these qualities was combined a genuine modesty, which endeared him to all with whom he had intercourse.

The time came when his profession in life must needs be selected, and to the disappointment of his parents, especially of his father, he resolved to enter a monastery. His motive

was the persuasion that such a life was most free from temptation, and most acceptable to God. He was young at that time, and little knew how easily sin could enter into the solitude of the cell and the cloister. The strictness and learning of the order of St. Augustine attracted him to that community, and at the early age of sixteen, behold him a novice, at the monastery of St. Augustine, at Fiesole, near Florence. His only sister, Gemina Felicità, followed his example, and entered a nunnery associated with his name, that of S. Pietro Martire.

We have mentioned his father's disapproval of this step. It was not without reason. He would have been glad that his son should marry, and continue the family line; but he also had learned from the preaching of Savonarola, and from his own observation, that the church needed to be purified, and that the monastic orders partook of the general corruption. The consequence was, that at his death he only bequeathed to his son a yearly income of fifty crowns. The young and ardent student was happy in the leisure which the rules of the monastery secured to him. The very system of the house prepared the way for his rising up to a better christian state. The young monks had to commit to memory certain portions of the Scriptures; some learned to repeat whole epistles of St. Paul, the book of Proverbs, and the Psalms; they were also required to practice elocution. How good a preparation both for coming to a knowledge of the truth and for being a successful preacher of it to others!

After three years, the authorities of the convent sent him to another of their houses, near Padua, for the purpose of affording him an opportunity of following the studies of that University. Here about eight years were spent, carrying our young student forward to the age of five-and-twenty. He attended the lectures of distinguished professors. He examined carefully for himself the opinions which were propounded to him. So well did he acquit himself, that the professors, who called him their Florentine, invited him to take part in their public discussions. The ethics and rhetoric of Aristotle proved to him an interesting study. Dissatisfied with knowing them only through a Latin translation, he devoted himself to the study of Greek, and so persevering was he, and his fellow-student Cusano, that often the morning light dawned upon the library before they closed their books. When he had mastered the Greek language, he possessed the master-key to fresh stores of literature, and now a new set of orators, philosophers, and poets contributed to the cultivation of his mind.

In all this we cannot fail to observe the providential ordering of a preparatory work, which was ere long to bring him forth into the world a faithful and able preacher, to whom the word of God had already unfolded many of its precious and hidden

treasures.

His twenty-sixth year was to witness his first essay in the pulpit. The Dominicans preached all the year round. The Augustines and other orders were only to be heard in the seasons of Advent or Lent. But because their opportunities were few, their audiences were great; for one reason, their most accomplished men were selected for their preachers. Hence it was a great distinction to Peter Martyr to be entrusted with this office; and the honour was increased by his being made at once a doctor of divinity. Dr. Peter Martyr preached first at Brescia; then in succession in Rome, Bologna, Venice, Mantua, Bergamo, Pisa, and Montserrat. At the earnest request of friends he lectured in various places on the Greek language, on Homer, on philosophy, and on the Holy Scriptures, which were now the study of all the hours which he could possibly devote to them. Here therefore again we trace the means which were blessed of God to his eventually emerging out of papal darkness into the light of a purer faith. He also, with very little help beyond his own diligence, acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew language, so as to be able to understand the Old Testament in the original. There appears to have been a thoroughness in the way in which he devoted himself to whatever he saw it good to attempt at all, which it would be well to imitate as well as to admire.

At the beginning of these studies he appears to have chiefly sought to know his religion by aid of the Fathers; but after being constantly perplexed by their contradictory statements, he turned to the word of God, which he understood and loved the more, the farther he carried his studies.

His character was appreciated, and his superiors judged him to be qualified for a place of trust and authority. His first appointment of that nature was to the abbacy of Spoleto. To a reputation for learning he now added that of wise discipline and good government. Laxity of morals and luxurious living had brought dishonour upon the convents and nunneries of the town. He effected a reformation of these institutions; and whereas factions divided the people of the place, he was the means of restoring them to concord.

After three years more, he was appointed prior to the convent of S. Pietro ad Ara, at Naples. About the same time he became acquainted with certain books which exercised a considerable influence over his gradually expanding mind. These were, Bucer's Commentaries on the Gospels and on the Psalms, and shortly after them, the treatise of Zuingli on "True and False Religion." These he read at a time when, by the honest study of the Holy Scripture, his mind was receiving an increasing light of truth, and was consequently detecting for itself the corruptions which had grown into the church of Rome. Other writings of the Reformers came into his hands. He read them with avidity, and sympathising with their aims, he began