prayer
and contemplation, she pointed out to him the sheep who, without a
shepherd, were wandering to their own destruction, and drew him back
again into his God-marked path. Her teaching, and her mode of caring
for her sisters was very similar to that of Francis with his
disciples.

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST CHAPTER.

"No rushing sound we heard,
We saw no fiery token,
Only our hearts were stirred,
For God had spoken."

The temptation to seek a life of quiet and retirement followed Francis
all his days. Invariably, after any new departure or special victory
he was attacked in that quarter. Why he should have been so troubled
when his call to follow Christ was so clear, we are not qualified to
say definitely. In all probability this temptation of his was akin to
Paul's "messenger of Satan" and thorn in the flesh that buffeted him,
lest he should be unduly exalted. The most interesting point to us
nineteenth-century Christians is, that by the grace of God Francis
never yielded to this temptation--that having once put his hand the
plough, he never turned back, but remained faithful to the end.

We must take into consideration that the Order of which Francis was
the founder was in itself unique. It stood alone in the annals of
Church history. It was a novelty in the Church. All other existing
orders followed a totally different line of action, or rather
inaction. Their disciples were shut up in solitude, and devoted
themselves to their own sanctification. When they worked for sinners
it was by praying for them, by example, and by a little preaching.
They never came face to face with the outside world. Their lives were
remote, apart. These facts may have had something to do with Francis'
periods of darkness and indecision. A pioneer's life has its own
peculiar temptations.

[Sidenote: _Darkness._]

Perhaps the worst season of darkness that Francis had was after the
establishment of the second Order. An internal agony seized him. Was
he, he asked himself, not trying to do something superhuman in uniting
a contemplative with an active life. So often he had been told by
people much wiser and cleverer than himself that the life he had
marked out was humanly impossible! He wrestled and prayed, but nothing
could dissipate the heavy blackness that spread itself over his
pathway. He determined to appeal to his brethren and follow their
advice. His appeal for help gives us a striking instance of