V. Vergerius-Venetian Convert Gives Clear Testimony

PETRUS PAULUS VERGERIUS, or Pier Paolo Vergerion (1498-1565), first a prominent Catholic lawyer at Venice, and then papal secretary and chaplain, renounced his connection with Rome in 1548, after reading Protestant books. ^{36Philip Schaff, History, vol. 7, pp. 147-155.} He had formerly been used by the pope in the Augsburg Diet in dealing with the princes and with Luther, but had now become the leading Italian evangelical among the Grisons. In 1553 he accepted a call to Wurttemberg as counselor to Duke Christopher, from which place he undertook several diplomatic missions in behalf of the evangelical cause. He wrote numerous books against the Papacy. Schaff says of him:PFF2 441.2

“He agreed with Luther that the papacy was an invention of the Devil; that the Pope was the very antichrist seated in the temple of God as predicted by Daniel (11:36) and Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3 sq.), and the beast of the Apocalypse; and that he would soon be destroyed by a divine judgment.” ^{37Ibid., p. 153.}PFF2 442.1

So, after surveying the leading allocations of the 70 weeks, and then observing Calvin’s none-too-satisfactory excursions into prophecy, as well as noting the positions of Doctor Servetus, the victim of Calvin’s antipathy—and with a parting glance at Costellion and Vergerius—we take leave of the Continent, for a time, and turn to Scotland.PFF2 442.2