It was no mere form for either of them.

To them the outside life of mankind did indeed seem to be one of violence and of sin, beset with physical and still more with spiritual danger.

Heaven, too, was very near to them in those days.
God's direct agency was to be seen in the thunder and the rainbow, the whirlwind and the lightning.

To the believer, clouds of angels and confessors, and martyrs, armies of the sainted and the saved, were ever stooping over their struggling brethren upon earth, raising, encouraging, and supporting them.

It was then with a lighter heart and a stouter courage that the young man turned from the Abbot's room, while the latter, following him to the stair-head, finally commended him to the protection of the holy Julian, patron of travellers.
Underneath, in the porch of the Abbey, the monks had gathered to give him a last God-speed.