After a little reflection, however, the court was of a different opinion. If the Spaniard should publicly condemn in Rome his so-called errors, the glory of the papacy, it was thought, would be all the greater. The speaker was surrounded and was told that if he would appear in the public square and retract his heresies, the Church would once more receive him as one of her children. His fellow-countrymen pressed around him and depicted the honors to which he might then attain. But on such a condition he would not redeem his life. He would rather glorify Christ and die. The wrath of his enemies burst forth afresh. 'These fierce ministers of all impiety and cruelty,' says the chronicler, 'became more violent than before.' James then ascended the pile, asserting with immovable courage that all his hope was in Christ. 'Unawed by the pompous display which surrounded him, and by the ostentatious devotion of his countrymen, with his heart ever fixed on God, he passed on boldly and firmly into the midst of the flames, confessing the name and the truth of the Son of God to his latest breath. Thus did this good servant of God end his life by a glorious martyrdom, in the midst of all impiety, and, wonderful to tell, in the very city of Rome.'[165] At the news of his death his brothers and his friends were filled with sorrow. Francis at first felt only the blow which had fallen on his tenderest affections. At the very time when he was in daily expectation of embracing his brother he learnt that all that was left of him was a handful of ashes which were cast into the Tiber. This cruel death, taking place just when Charles the Fifth was endeavoring to crush Protestantism, and the black clouds which were gathering in all directions, filled him with the most melancholy thoughts. 'God is surely preparing some great dispensation of which we know nothing,' he said. All around he saw only disorder and confusion. In this hour of dejection he received a sympathetic and consoling letter from Calvin.[166] The reformer directed his friend's thoughts to the blessed life which is after death, and in which it is the privilege of the faithful to dwell with Christ. 'I am not ignorant,' replied Enzinas, 'how true are the things which you write to me. But we are men, and the infirmities of the flesh beset us. We can not, nay, we ought not, to cast off all sense of sorrow. But in the midst of this distress I rejoice that there was given to this brave Christian so much constancy in the profession of the truth, and I am persuaded that for some wise purpose my brother has been removed to that eternal assembly of the blessed, in which the loftiest spirits now greet him with this song of triumph: _These are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb_.' Francis in his grief did not forget his native land. 'God grant,' said he, 'that the tidings of this divine fire,[167] wherewith my brother's soul glowed, may be diffused in