The Hermit and his Pitcher.
He who bids adieu to the world, and retires into the wilderness, does not for that reason become a saint; for so long as the inclination to evil dwells in the heart, temptation from without is easily found and sin is committed. Experience taught this to the man of whom an old story gives account. This man was by nature prone to sudden bursts of passion, but, instead of seeking the cause of this fault in himself, he cast the blame upon the man who excited him to anger, and he thought,— “If this is so, the world is an injury to me, and it is better that I should leave it, rather than lose my soul.” He withdrew, therefore, into the wilderness, and built himself a hut in the midst of a wood, close by a spring; and the bread that he ate was brought daily to him by a boy, who had been directed to place it upon a rock at a distance from the hut. And thus all went well for several days, and he thought that he had become the most mild and even-tempered man in the world. One day, he went, as usual, with his pitcher to the spring, and placed it so that the water might run into it. But as the ground was stony and uneven, the pitcher fell over. He placed it upright again, and more carefully than before; but the water, which spouted forth irregularly, overturned it a second time. Then he angrily seized the vessel and dashed it violently upon the ground, so that it broke in pieces. He now remarked that his old anger had broken forth again, and he thought,— “If that is the case, the wilderness can in no way profit me; and it is better that I try to save my soul in the world, by avoiding that which is evil, and practising that which is good.” And he returned into the world. Observe—there are evil inclinations which may be conquered by avoiding the occasions which call them forth, and there are others which must be vanquished by resistance. But to perform either, we need not fly from the world, but from ourselves only.