Страница 638 из 1118

He did not wish to escape from the obligation to serve his

neighbour; his life was but one scene of such services; but he

did not esteem himself worthy of so high and responsible an

office. Governed by such feelings, in 1595, when Clement VIII.

offered him the archbishopric of Milan, he refused it without

hesitation, but was finally obliged to yield to the express

command of the pope.

Such demonstrations are neither difficult nor rare; it is no

greater effort for hypocrisy to assume them, than for raillery to

deride them. But are they not also the natural expression of wise

and virtuous feeling? The life is the test of sincerity; and

though all the hypocrites in the world had assumed the expression

of virtuous sentiments, yet the sentiments themselves will always

command our respect and veneration, when their genuineness is

evinced by a life of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice.