It is the opposition,--active, in the intrigues and machinations of
enemies both in Church and State--passive, in the dull cold hearts that
respond so feebly and fitfully to his appeals; it is the constant wearing
bitterness of hope deferred, the frequent still sterner bitterness of
direct disappointment,--it is things like these that make his cross so
heavy to bear. But they cannot turn him aside from his course--cannot
win him to lower his aim to something short of the highest good
conceivable by him. We may smile now in our days of so-called
enlightenment at some of the measures he directs in pursuance of his
great aim. His "Pyramid of Vanities" may be to our self-satisfied
complacency itself a vanity. To him it represents a stern reality of
reformation in character and life; and to the Florentine of his age it
symbolises one form of vain self-pleasing offered up in solemn willing
sacrifice to God.
One trial of his faith and steadfastness, long expected, comes on him at
last. The recognised head of that great organisation of which he is a
vowed and consecrated member declares against him, and the papal sentence
of excommunication goes forth.
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