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hours , and that he began at length to exclaim , *• Wretched me ! whom the devouring flames have not power to destroy ! " Minus Celsus relates that the constancy of Servetus in the midst of the fire induced many to go over to his opinions ; and Calvin makes it an express subject of complaint , that there were many persons in Italy who cherished and revered his memory .
Some writers , in the exuberance of their charitable feelings , have stepped forward , and endeavoured to screen the character of the Genevese Reformer from the disgrace so justly attached to it , on account of the part which he took in this cruel transaction ; but " candour itself may be engaged in a bad cause , and next to the guilt of the actual commission of this horrible crime is that of endeavouring to lessen its odium , by any degree of palliation . For what is it but an apology for the worst kind of Murder ?"
We now pass on to John Valdez , whose services in the great cause of truth were scarcely inferior to those of his fellow-countryman and fellowlabourer , Servetus : but whose fate was far different . By birth a Spaniard , and by profession a Civilian , Valdez attached himself to the fortunes of the Emperor , Charles the Fifth , whose private secretary he was ; whom he is said also to have followed through most of his campaigns , and by whom he
was held in high esteem , and treated as a companion and a friend . Being tired , however , of a public life , and wishing to spend the remainder of his days in privacy , he resigned the offices which he held under the Emperor , and quitted his service with this memorable remark , " that there ought to be an interval for reflection between the active pursuits of life and its termina-^ v 4 fc ^ tai ^ ' r ^ p ^ h ^^ & *^*» ^ b ^> _~ . ^ k- _ ~ ¦ _ l _ _ I . _~_ ~^_ . ™ ^ L ¦ ¦ . ^^ ^_ >^ ^^^ p ^ — ^^_ . ^ _ ^ ^^^ ^^ « J ^^^ ~—m— ^^* ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^^ k ^^ b _ _ I ^ a - ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ a <^^_ ^^» ^ fe Jj ^ a * k > tion remark which is said to have uced
^^^ . , "—a prod a powerful impression upon the monarch ' s mind , and to have led him into that pensive train of thought , which finally determined him to exchange his diadem for a cowl , and to end his lite in the monastery of St . Justus . This memorable incident is recorded with some slight degree of variation by different writers . The following is the account of it given by Isaac Walton , in his life of George Herbert : " When Valdesso grew old , and grew weary both of
war and the world , he took this fair opportunity to declare to the Emperor , that his resolution was to decline his Majesty ' s service , and betake himself to a quiet and contemplative life , because there ought to be a vacancy of time betwixt fighting and dying . The Emperor had himself for the same , or other like reasons , put on the same resolution : but God and himself did , till then , only know them ; and he did therefore desire Valdesso to consider well of what he had said , and to keep his purpose within his own breast , till they two might have a second opportunity of a friendly discourse ; which
Valdesso promised to do . In the meantime , the Emperor appoints privately a day for him and Valdesso to meet again , and after a pious and free discourse , they both agreed on a certain day to receive the blessed sacrament publicly , and appointed an eloquent and devout friar to preach a sermon of contempt of the world , and of the happiness and benefit of a quiet and contemplative life , which the friar did most affectionately . After which sermon , the Emperor took occasion to declare openly , ' That the preacher had begot
in him a resolution to lay down his dignities , and to forsake the world , and betake himself to a monastic life . ' And he pretended he had persuaded John Valdesso to do the like ; but this is most certain , that after the Emperor had called his son Philip out of England , and resigned to him all his kingdoms , that then the Emperor and John Valdesso did perform their resolutions . " ( Walton ' s Lives , by T . Zouch , M . A ., p . 384 . ) Charles made choice of Placentia in Estremadura , as the place of his retreat ; and Valdez took up his abode at Naples . During the Emperor ' s visits into Germany ,
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Biographical Notices of Eminent Continental Unitarians . 365
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1831, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2598/page/5/
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