Tar tendency of nearly all religions in the direction of asceticism is proved by the existence, in almost every quarter of the globe, of Hermits. A desire to fice from the cares and enticement of the world, to shun the face of one's fellow-man, and to devote oneself entirely to the contemplation of the unseen, constitutes, in most instances, that frame of mind which impels its subject to abjure the claims of family and friend. ship and all that makes life sweet, 'With the growth of enlightenment and the rationalistic spirit, the hermit-race has gradually been dying out. Early in the Middle Ages the anchorite was a recognised institution; a sort of irre. gular' in the Church Militant, yet one who very often-came in for the highest
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.