{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_18283/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_18283","id":"gutenberg_18283","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18283","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- United States -- History -- 19th century","Catholic converts -- United States -- Biography","Hecker, Isaac Thomas, 1819-1888","Paulist Fathers -- United States -- Biography"],"text":"Produced by David McClamrock\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF FATHER HECKER\n\nBY\nREV. WALTER ELLIOTT\n________________________\n\nNEW YORK:\nTHE COLUMBUS PRESS\n1891\n________________________\n\nNihil obstat:\nAUGUSTINUS F. HEWIT,\n_Censor Deputatus._\n\nImprimatur:\nM. A. CORRIGAN,\n_Archiepiscopus Neo-Ebor._\n________________________\n\nAUTHOR'S PREFACE\n\nTHE reader must indulge me with what I cannot help saying, that I\nhave felt the joy of a son in telling the achievements and\nchronicling the virtues of Father Hecker. I loved him with the sacred\nfire of holy kinship, and love him still--only the more that lapse of\ntime has deepened by experience, inner and outer, the sense of truth\nand of purity he ever communicated to me in life, and courage and\nfidelity to conscience. I feel it to be honor enough and joy enough\nfor a life-time that I am his first biographer, though but a late\nborn child and of merit entirely insignificant. The literary work is,\nindeed, but of home-made quality, yet it serves to hold together what\nis the heaven-made wisdom of a great teacher of men. It will be found\nthat Father Hecker has three words in this book to my one, though all\nmy words I tried to make his. His journals, letters, and recorded\nsayings are the edifice into which I introduce the reader, and my\nwords are the hinges and latchets of its doors. I am glad of this,\nfor it pleases me to dedicate my good will and my poor work to\nswinging open the doors of that new House of God that Isaac Hecker\nwas to me, and that I trust he will be to many.\n\nWALTER ELLIOTT\n________________________\n\nCONTENTS\n________________________\n\nCHAPTER\n     I.--CHILDHOOD\n    II.--YOUTH\n   III.--THE TURNING-POINT\n    IV.--LED BY THE SPIRIT\n     V.--AT BROOK FARM\n    VI.--INNER LIFE WHILE AT BROOK FARM\n   VII.--STRUGGLES\n  VIII.--FRUITLANDS\n    IX.--SELF-QUESTIONINGS\n     X.--AT HOME AGAIN\n    XI.--STUDYING AND WRITING\n   XII.--THE MYSTIC AND THE PHILOSOPHER\n  XIII.--HIS SEARCH AMONG THE SECTS\n   XIV.--HIS LIFE AT CONCORD\n    XV.--AT THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH\n   XVI.--AT THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH--(Continued)\n  XVII.--ACROSS THE THRESHOLD\n XVIII.--NEW INFLUENCES\n   XIX.--YEARNINGS AFTER CONTEMPLATION\n    XX.--FROM NEW YORK TO ST. TROND\n   XXI.--BROTHER HECKER\n  XXII.--HOW BROTHER HECKER MADE HIS STUDIES AND WAS ORDAINED PRIEST\n XXIII.--A REDEMPTORIST MISSIONARY\n  XXIV.--SEPARATION FROM THE REDEMPTORISTS\n   XXV.--BEGINNINGS OF THE PAULIST COMMUNITY\n  XXVI.--FATHER HECKER'S IDEA OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY\n XXVII.--FATHER HECKER'S SPIRITUAL DOCTRINE\nXXVIII.--THE PAULIST PARISH AND MISSIONS\n  XXIX.--FATHER HECKER'S LECTURES\n   XXX.--THE APOSTOLATE OF THE PRESS\n  XXXI.--THE VATICAN COUNCIL\n XXXII.--THE LONG ILLNESS\nXXXIII.--\"THE EXPOSITION OF THE CHURCH\"\n XXXIV.--IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH\n  XXXV.--CONCLUSION\n\nAPPENDIX\n________________________\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nBY MOST REV. JOHN IRELAND, D.D.,\n_Archbishop of St. Paul._\n\nLIFE is action, and so long as there is action there is life. That\nlife is worth living whose action puts forth noble aspirations and\ngood deeds. The man's influence for truth and virtue persevering in\nactivity, his life has not ceased, though earth has clasped his body\nin its embrace. It is well that it is so. The years of usefulness\nbetween the cradle and the grave are few. The shortness of a life\nrestricted to them is sufficient to discourage many from making\nstrong efforts toward impressing the workings of their souls upon\ntheir fellows. The number to whose minds we have immediate access is\nsmall, and they do not remain. Is the good we might do worth the\nlabor? We cannot at times refuse a hearing to the question.\nFortunately, it is easily made clear to us that the area over which\ninfluence travels is vastly more extensive than at first sight\nappears. The eye will not always discern the undulations of its\nspreading waves; but onward it goes, from one soul to another, far\nbeyond our immediate ranks, and as each soul touched by it becomes a\nnew motive power, it rolls forward, often with energy a hundred times\nintensified, long after the shadows of death have settled around its\npoint of departure.\n\nIsaac Thomas Hecker lives to-day, and with added years he will live\nmore fully than he does to-day. His influence for good remains, and\nwith a better understanding of his plans and ideals, which is sure to\ncome, his influence will widen and deepen among laymen and priests of\nthe Church in America. The writing of his biography is a tribute to\nhis memory which the love and esteem of his spiritual children could\nnot refuse; it is, also, a most important service to generations\npresent and unborn, in whose deeds will be seen the fruits of\ninspirations gathered from it. We are thankful that this biography\nhas been written by one who from closest converse and most intimate\nfriendship knew Father Hecker so thoroughly. He has given us in his\nbook what we need to know of Father Hecker. We care very little,\nexcept so far as details may accentuate the great lines of a life and\nmake them sensible to our obtuse touch, where or when a man was born,\nwhat places he happened to visit, what houses he built, or in what\ncircumstances of malady or in what surroundings he died. These things\ncan be said of the ten thousand. We want to know the thoughts and the\nresolves of the soul which made him a marked man above his fellows\nand which begot strong influences for good and great works, and if\nnone such can be unfolded then drop the man out of sight, with a\n\"_Requiescant in pace\"_ engraven upon his tombstone. Few deserve a\nbiography, and to the undeserving none should be given.\n\nIf it be permitted to speak of self, I might say that to Father\nHecker I am indebted for most salutary impressions which, I\nsorrowfully confess, have not had in me their due effect; the\nremembrance of them, however, is a proof to me of the usefulness of\nhis life, and its power for good in others. I am glad to have the\nopportunity to profess publicly my gratitude to him. He was in the\nprime of life and work when I was for the first time brought to\nobserve him. I was quite young in the ministry, and very naturally I\nwas casting my eye around in search of ideal men, whose footsteps\nwere treading the path I could feel I, too, ought to travel. I never\nafterwards wholly lost sight of Father Hecker, watching him as well\nas I could from a distance of two thousand miles. I am not to-day\nwithout some experience of men and things, won from years and toils,\nand I do not alter one tittle my estimate of him, except to make it\nhigher. To the priests of the future I recommend a serious study of\nFather Hecker's life. To them I would have his biography dedicated.\nOlder men, like myself, are fixed in their ways, and they will not\nreceive from it so much benefit.\n\nFather Hecker was the typical American priest; his were the gifts of\nmind and heart that go to do great work for God and for souls in\nAmerica at the present time. Those qualities, assuredly, were not\nlacking in him which are the necessary elements of character of the\ngood priest and the great man in any time and place. Those are the\nsubsoil of priestly culture, and with the absence of them no one will\nsucceed in America any more than elsewhere. But suffice they do not.\nThere must be added, over and above, the practical intelligence and\nthe pliability of will to understand one's surroundings, the ground\nupon which he is to deploy his forces, and to adapt himself to\ncircumstances and opportunities as Providence appoints. I do not\nexpect that my words, as I am here writing, will receive universal\napproval, and I am not at all sure that their expression would have\nbeen countenanced by the priest whose memory brings them to my lips.\nI write as I think, and the responsibility must be all my own. It is\nas clear to me as noon-day light that countries and peoples have each\ntheir peculiar needs and aspirations as they have their peculiar\nenvironments, and that, if we would enter into souls and control\nthem, we must deal with them according to their conditions. The ideal\nline of conduct for the priest in Assyria will be out of all measure\nin Mexico or Minnesota, and I doubt not that one doing fairly well in\nMinnesota would by similar methods set things sadly astray in\nLeinster or Bavaria. The Saviour prescribed timeliness in pastoral\ncaring. The master of a house, He said, \"bringeth forth out of his\ntreasury new things and old,\" as there is demand for one kind or the\nother. The apostles of nations, from Paul before the Areopagus to\nPatrick upon the summit of Tara, followed no different principle.\n\nThe circumstances of Catholics have been peculiar in the United\nStates, and we have unavoidably suffered on this account. Catholics\nin largest numbers were Europeans, and so were their priests, many of\nwhom--by no means all--remained in heart and mind and mode of action\nas alien to America as if they had never been removed from the\nShannon, the Loire, or the Rhine. No one need remind me that\nimmigration has brought us inestimable blessings, or that without it\nthe Church in America would be of small stature. The remembrance of a\nprecious fact is not put aside, if I recall an accidental evil\nattaching to it. Priests foreign in disposition and work were not\nfitted to make favorable impressions upon the non-Catholic American\npopulation, and the American-born children of Catholic immigrants\nwere likely to escape their action. And, lest I be misunderstood, I\nassert all this is as true of priests coming from Ireland as from any\nother foreign country. Even priests of American ancestry, ministering\nto immigrants, not unfrequently fell into the lines of those around\nthem, and did but little to make the Church in America throb with\nAmerican life. Not so Isaac Thomas Hecker. Whether consciously or\nunconsciously I do not know, and it matters not, he looked on America\nas the fairest conquest for divine truth, and he girded himself with\narms shaped and tempered to the American pattern. I think that it may\nbe said that the American current, so plain for the last quarter of a\ncentury in the flow of Catholic affairs, is, largely at least, to be\ntraced back to Father Hecker and his early co-workers. It used to be\nsaid of them in reproach that they were the \"Yankee\" Catholic Church;\nthe reproach was their praise.\n\nFather Hecker understood and loved the country and its institutions.\nHe saw nothing in them to be deprecated or changed; he had no longing\nfor the flesh-pots and bread-stuffs of empires and monarchies. His\nfavorite topic in book and lecture was, that the Constitution of the\nUnited States requires, as its necessary basis, the truths of\nCatholic teaching regarding man's natural state, as opposed to the\nerrors of Luther and Calvin. The republic, he taught, presupposes the\nChurch's doctrine, and the Church ought to love a polity which is the\noffspring of her own spirit. He understood and loved the people of\nAmerica. He recognized in them splendid natural qualities. Was he not\nright? Not minimizing in the least the dreadful evil of the absence\nof the supernatural, I am not afraid to give as my belief that there\nis among Americans as high an appreciation and as lively a\nrealization of natural truth and goodness as has been seen in any\npeople, and it seems as if Almighty God, intending a great age and a\ngreat people, has put here in America a singular development of\nnature's powers and gifts, both in man and out of man--with the\nfurther will, I have the faith, of crowning all with the glory of the\nsupernatural. Father Hecker perceived this, and his mission was to\nhold in his hands the natural, which Americans extolled and cherished\nand trusted in, and by properly directing its legitimate tendencies\nand growth to lead it to the term of its own instincts and\naspirations--Catholic truth and Catholic grace. Protestantism is no\nlonger more than a name, a memory. The American has fallen back upon\nhimself, scorning the negations and the doctrinal cruelties of\nProtestantism as utterly contrary to himself, as utterly unnatural;\nand now comes the opportunity of the Catholic Church to show that she\nis from the God who created nature, by opening before this people her\ntreasures, amid which the soul revels in rational liberty and\nintelligence, and enjoys the gratification of its best and purest\nmoral instincts. These convictions are the keynote of Father Hecker's\ncontroversial discourses and writings, notably of two books,\n_Aspirations of Nature_ and _Questions of the Soul._ He assumed that\nthe American people are naturally Catholic, and he labored with this\nproposition constantly before his mind. It is the assumption upon\nwhich all must labor who sincerely desire to make America Catholic.\n\nHe laid stress on the natural and social virtues. The American people\nhold these in highest esteem. They are the virtues that are most\napparent, and are seemingly the most needed for the building up and\nthe preservation of an earthly commonwealth. Truthfulness, honesty in\nbusiness dealings, loyalty to law and social order, temperance,\nrespect for the rights of others, and the like virtues are prescribed\nby reason before the voice of revelation is heard, and the absence of\nspecifically supernatural virtues has led the non-Catholic to place\nparamount importance upon them. It will be a difficult task to\npersuade the American that a church which will not enforce those\nprimary virtues can enforce others which she herself declares to be\nhigher and more arduous, and as he has implicit confidence in the\ndestiny of his country to produce a high order of social existence,\nhis first test of a religion will be its powers in this direction.\nThis is according to Catholic teaching. Christ came not to destroy,\nbut to perfect what was in man, and the graces and truths of\nrevelation lead most securely to the elevation of the life that is,\nno less than to the gaining of the life to come. It is a fact,\nhowever, that in other times and other countries the Church has been\nimpeded in her social work, and certain things or customs of those\ntimes and countries, transplanted upon American soil and allowed to\ngrow here under a Catholic name, will do her no honor among\nAmericans. The human mind, among the best of us, inclines to narrow\nlimitations, and certain Catholics, aware of the comparatively\ngreater importance of the supernatural, partially overlook the\nnatural.\n\nThen, too, casuists have incidentally done us harm. They will quote\nas our rule of social conduct in America what may have been tolerated\nin France or Germany during the seventeenth century, and their\nhair-splitting distinctions in the realm of abstract right and wrong\nare taken by some of us as practical decisions, without due reference\nto local circumstances. The American people pay slight attention to\nthe abstract; they look only to the concrete in morals, and we must\nkeep account of their manner of judging things. The Church is\nnowadays called upon to emphasize her power in the natural order. God\nforbid that I entertain, as some may be tempted to suspect me of\ndoing, the slightest notion that vigilance may be turned off one\nsingle moment from the guard of the supernatural. For the sake of the\nsupernatural I speak. And natural virtues, practised in the proper\nframe of mind and heart, become supernatural. Each century calls for\nits type of Christian perfection. At one time it was martyrdom; at\nanother it was the humility of the cloister. To-day we need the\nChristian gentleman and the Christian citizen. An honest ballot and\nsocial decorum among Catholics will do more for God's glory and the\nsalvation of souls than midnight flagellations or Compostellan\npilgrimages.\n\nOn a line with his principles, as I have so far delineated them,\nFather Hecker believed that if he would succeed in his work for\nsouls, he should use in it all the natural energy that God had given\nhim, and he acted up to his belief I once heard a good old priest,\nwho said his beads well and made a desert around his pulpit by\nmiserable preaching, criticise Father Hecker, who, he imagined, put\ntoo much reliance in man, and not enough in God. Father Hecker's\npiety, his assiduity in prayer, his personal habits of self-denial,\nrepel the aspersion that he failed in reliance upon God. But my old\npriest--and he has in the church to-day, both in America and Europe,\ntens of thousands of counterparts--was more than half willing to see\nin all outputtings of human energy a lack of confidence in God. We\nsometimes rely far more upon God than God desires us to do, and there\nare occasions when a novena is the refuge of laziness or cowardice.\nGod has endowed us with natural talents, and not one of them shall\nbe, with His permission, enshrouded in a napkin. He will not work a\nmiracle, or supply grace, to make up for our deficiencies. We must\nwork as if all depended on us, and pray as if all depended on God.\n\nGod never proposed to do by His direct action all that might be done\nin and through the Church. He invites human co-operation, and\nabandons to it a wide field. The ages of most active human industry\nin religious enterprises were the ages of most remarkable spiritual\nconquests. The tendency to overlook this fact shows itself among us.\nNewman writes that where the sun shines bright in the warm climate of\nthe south, the natives of the place know little of safeguards against\ncold and wet. They have their cold days, but only now and then, and\nthey do not deem it worth their while to provide against them: the\nscience of calefaction is reserved for the north. And so,\nProtestants, depending on human means solely, are led to make the\nmost of them; their sole resource is to use what they have; they are\nthe anxious cultivators of a rugged soil. Catholics, on the contrary,\nfeel that God will protect the Church, and, as Newman adds, \"we\nsometimes forget that we shall please Him best, and get most from\nHim, when, according to the fable, we put our shoulder to the wheel,\nwhen we use what we have by nature to the utmost, at the same time\nthat we look out for what is beyond nature in the confidence of faith\nand hope.\" Lately a witty French writer pictures to us the pious\nfriends of the leading Catholic layman of France, De Mun, kneeling in\nspiritual retreat when their presence is required in front of the\nenemy. The Catholic of the nineteenth century all over the world is\ntoo quiet, too easily resigned to \"the will of God,\" attributing to\nGod the effects of his own timidity and indolence. Father Hecker\nrolled up his sleeves and \"pitched in\" with desperate resolve. He\nfought as for very life. Meet him anywhere or at any time, he was at\nwork or he was planning to work. He was ever looking around to see\nwhat might be done. He did with a rush the hard labor of a missionary\nand of a pastor, and he went beyond it into untrodden pathways. He\nhated routine. He minded not what others had been doing, seeking only\nwhat he himself might do. His efforts for the diffusion of Catholic\nliterature, THE CATHOLIC WORLD, his several books, the Catholic\ntracts, tell his zeal and energy. A Catholic daily paper was a\nfavorite design to which he gave no small measure of time and labor.\nHe anticipated by many years the battlings of our temperance\napostles. The Paulist pulpit opened death-dealing batteries upon the\nsaloon when the saloon-keeper was the hero in state and church. The\nCatholic University of America found in him one of its warmest\nadvocates. His zeal was as broad as St. Paul's, and whoever did good\nwas his friend and received his support. The walls of his parish, or\nhis order, did not circumscribe for him God's Church. His choice of a\npatron saint--St. Paul--reveals the fire burning within his soul. He\nwould not, he could not be idle. On his sick-bed, where he lay the\ngreater part of his latter years, he was not inactive. He wrote\nvaluable articles and books, and when unable to write, he dictated.\n\nHe was enthusiastic in his work, as all are who put their whole soul\ninto what they are doing. Such people have no time to count the dark\nlinings of the silvery clouds; they realize that God and man together\ndo not fail. Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. It fits a man to be a\nleader; it secures a following. A bishop who was present at the\nSecond Plenary Council of Baltimore has told me that when Father\nHecker appeared before the assembled prelates and theologians in\nadvocacy of Catholic literature as a missionary force, the picture\nwas inspiring, and that the hearers, receiving a Pentecostal fire\nwithin their bosoms, felt as if America were to be at once converted.\nSo would it have been if there had been in America a sufficient\nnumber of Heckers. He had his critics. Who ever tries to do something\noutside routine lines against whom hands are not raised and whose\nmotives and acts are not misconstrued? A venerable clergyman one day\nthought he had scored a great point against Father Hecker by jocosely\nsuggesting to him as the motto of his new order the word \"Paulatim.\"\nThe same one, no doubt, would have made a like suggestion to the\nApostle of the Gentiles. Advocates of \"Paulatim\" methods have too\noften left the wheels of Christ's chariot fast in the mire. We\nrejoice, for its sake, that enthusiasts sometimes appear on the\nscene. The missions of the early Paulists, into which went Father\nHecker's entire heart, aroused the country. To-day, after a lapse of\nthirty or thirty-five years, they are remembered as events wherever\nthey were preached.\n\nHis was the profound conviction that, in the present age at any rate,\nthe order of the day should be individual action--every man doing his\nfull duty, and waiting for no one else to prompt him. This, I take\nit, was largely the meaning of Father Hecker's oft-repeated teaching\non the work of the Holy Ghost in souls. There have been epochs in\nhistory where the Church, sacrificing her outposts and the ranks of\nher skirmishers to the preservation of her central and vital\nfortresses, put the brakes, through necessity, from the nature of the\nwarfare waged against her, upon individual activity, and moved her\nsoldiers in serried masses; and then it was the part and the glory of\neach one to move with the column. The need of repression has passed\naway. The authority of the Church and of her Supreme Head is beyond\ndanger of being denied or obscured, and each Christian soldier may\ntake to the field, obeying the breathings of the Spirit of truth and\npiety within him, feeling that what he may do he should do. There is\nwork for individual priests, and for individual laymen, and so soon\nas it is discovered let it be done. The responsibility is upon each\none; the indifference of others is no excuse. Said Father Hecker one\nday to a friend: \"There is too much waiting upon the action of\nothers. The layman waits for the priest, the priest for the bishop,\nand the bishop for the pope, while the Holy Ghost sends down to all\nthe reproof that He is prompting each one, and no one moves for Him.\"\nFather Hecker was original in his ideas, as well as in his methods;\nthere was no routine in him, mental or practical.\n\nI cannot but allude, whether I understand or not the true intent of\nit, to what appears to have been a leading fact in his life: his\nleaving an old-established religious community for the purpose of\ninstituting that of the Paulists. I will speak so far of this as I\nhave formed an estimate of it. To me, this fact seems to have been a\nProvidential circumstance in keeping with all else in his life. I\nmyself have at this moment such thoughts as I imagine must have been\nrunning through his mind during that memorable sojourn in Rome, which\nresulted in freeing him from his old allegiance. The work of\nevangelizing America demands new methods. It is time to draw forth\nfrom our treasury the \"new things\" of the Gospel; we have been long\nenough offering \"old things.\" Those new methods call for\nnewly-equipped men. The parochial clergy will readily confess that\nthey cannot of themselves do all that God now demands from His Church\nin this country. They are too heavily burdened with the ordinary\nduties of the ministry: instructing those already within the fold,\nadministering the sacraments, building temples, schools, and\nasylums--duties which must be attended to and which leave slight\nleisure for special studies or special labors. Father Hecker\norganized the Paulist community, and did in his way a great work for\nthe conversion of the country. He made no mistake when he planned for\na body of priests, more disciplined than usually are the parochial\nclergy, and more supple in the character of their institute than the\nexisting religious orders.\n\nWe shall always distinguish Isaac Thomas Hecker as the ornament, the\nflower of our American priesthood--the type that we wish to see\nreproduced among us in widest proportions. Ameliorations may be\nsought for in details, and the more of them the better for religion;\nbut the great lines of Father Hecker's personality we should guard\nwith jealous love in the formation of the future priestly characters\nof America.\n\n________________________\n\nTHE LIFE OF FATHER HECKER\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nCHILDHOOD\n\nTOWARDS the close of the eighteenth century a German clockmaker named\nEngel Freund, accompanied by his wife and children, left his native\ntown of Elberfeld, in Rhenish Prussia, to seek a new home in America.\nThere is a family tradition to the effect that his forefathers were\nFrench, and that they came into Germany on account of some internal\ncommotion in their own country. The name makes it more probable that\nthey were Alsatians who quietly moved across the Rhine, either when\ntheir province was first ceded to France, or perhaps later, at the\ntime of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. When Engel\nFreund quitted Germany the disturbing influences of the French\nRevolution may have had a considerable share in determining his\ndeparture. He landed at New York in 1797 and established himself in\nHester Street, between Christie and Forsyth.\n\nHis wife, born Ann Elizabeth Schneider, in 1764, was a native of\nFrankenburg, Hesse Cassel. She became the mother of a son and several\ndaughters, who attained maturity and settled in New York. As his\ngirls grew into womanhood and married, Engel Freund, who was a\nthrifty and successful tradesman in his prime, dowered each of them\nwith a house in his own neighborhood, seeking thus to perpetuate in\nthe new the kindly patriarchal customs of the old land.\n\nTo the New-Yorker of to-day, or, indeed, to any reputable and\nindustrious immigrant, the notion of settling a family in Hester\nStreet could not seem other than grotesque. It is now the filthy and\nswarming centre of a very low population. The Jewish pedlar _par\neminence_ lives there and thereabouts. Signs painted in the\ncharacters of his race, not of his accidental nationality, abound on\nevery side. Here a synagogue occupies the story above a shop; there\nMasonic symbols are exhibited between the windows in a similar\nlocation. Jewish faces of the least prepossessing type look askance\ninto eyes which they recognize as both unfamiliar and observant.\nWomen, unkempt and slouchy, or else arrayed in dubious finery, brush\nagainst one. At intervals fast growing greater the remains of an\nextinct domesticity and privacy still show themselves in the shape of\nold-fashioned brick or wooden houses with Dutch gables or Queen Anne\nfronts, but for the most part tall tenement-houses, their lower\nstories uniformly given up to some small traffic, claim exclusive\nright of possession. The sidewalks are crowded with the stalls of a\nyet more petty trade; the neighborhood is full of unpleasant sights,\nunwholesome odors, and revolting sounds.\n\nBut the Hester Street of seventy years ago and more was another\nmatter. When a canal flowed through Canal Street, and tall trees\ngrowing on either side of it sheltered the solid and roomy houses of\nretired merchants and professional men, Hester Street was a long way\nup town. Seven years before the subject of the present biography was\nborn, that elegantly proportioned structure, the City Hall, which had\nthen been nine years a-building, was finished in material much less\nexpensive than had been intended when it was begun. Marble was very\ndear, reasoned the thrifty and far-sighted City Fathers of the day,\nand as the population of New York were never likely to settle to any\nextent above Chambers Street, the rear of the hall would be seen so\nseldom that this economy would not be noticeable. What is now\nFourteenth Street was then a place given over to market-gardens.\nRutgers Street, Rutgers Place, Henry Street, were fashionable\nlocalities, and the adjacent quarter, now so malodorous and\ndisreputable, was eminently respectable. Freund's daughters, as they\nleft the parental roof for modest houses of his gift close by, no\ndoubt had reason to consider themselves abundantly fortunate in their\nsurroundings.\n\nOne of these daughters, Caroline Sophia Susanna Henrietta Wilhelmina,\nborn in Elberfeld on the 2d of March, 1796, was still a babe in arms\nat the time of the family emigration. She was a tall, fair, handsome\ngirl, not long past her fifteenth birthday when she became a wife.\nHer husband, John Hecker, was nearly twice her age, having been born\nin Wetzlar, Prussia, May 7, 1782. He was the son of another John\nHecker, a brewer by trade, who married the daughter of a Colonel\nSchmidt. Both parents were natives of Wetzlar. Their son learned the\nbusiness of a machinist and brass-founder, and emigrated to America\nin 1800. He was married to Caroline Freund in the Old Dutch Church in\nthe Swamp, July 21, 1811. He died in New York, in the house of his\neldest son, July 10, 1860.\n\nEvents proved John Hecker to have been equally fortunate and\nsagacious in his choice of a wife. At the time of their marriage he\nwas thrifty and well-to-do. At one period he owned a flourishing\nbrass-foundry in Hester Street, and during his early married life his\nprosperity was uninterrupted. But before many years had passed his\nbusiness declined, and from one cause and another he never succeeded\nin re-establishing it. This misfortune, occurring while even the\neldest of the sons was still a lad, might easily have proved\nirreparable in more senses than one. But the very fact that the\nordinary gates to learning were so soon closed against these children\ncaused the natural tendency they had toward knowledge to impel them\nall the more strongly in that shorter road to practical wisdom which\nleads through labor and experience. The Hecker brothers were all hard\nat work while still mere children, and before John, the eldest, had\nattained to legal manhood, they had fixed the solid foundations of an\nenduring prosperity, and all need of further exertion on the part of\ntheir parents was over for ever.\n\nIsaac Thomas Hecker, the third son and youngest child of this couple,\nwas born in New York at a house in Christie Street, between Grand and\nHester, December 18, 1819, when his mother was not yet twenty-four.\nHe survived her by twelve years only, she dying at the residence of\nher eldest son's widow in 1876, in the full possession of faculties\nwhich must have been of no common order. From her, and through her\nfrom Engel Freund, who was what is called \"a character,\" Father\nHecker seems to have derived many of his life-long peculiarities. \"I\nnever knew a son so like his mother,\" writes to us one who had an\nintimate acquaintance with both of them for more than forty years.\nShe adds:\n\n\"Mrs. Hecker was a woman of great energy of character and strong\nreligious nature. Her son, Father Hecker, inherited both of these\ntraits, and there was the warmest sympathy between them. He was her\nyoungest son, her baby, she called him, but with all her tender love\nshe had a holy veneration for his character as priest.\n\n\"She deeply sympathized with him through the trials and anxieties\nthat were his in his search after truth, and when his heart found\nrest, and the aspirations of his soul were answered in the Holy\nCatholic Church, her noble heart accepted for him what she could not\nsee for herself. She said to a lady who spoke to her on the subject\nand who could not be reconciled to the conversion of a daughter: 'No,\nI would not change the faith of my sons. They have found peace and\njoy in the Catholic Church, and I would not by a word change their\nfaith, if I could.'\"\n\n\"She had a very earnest temperament, and what she did she did with\nall her heart. The last years of her life she was a great invalid,\nbut from her sick room she did wonders. Family ties were kept warm,\nand no one whom she had loved and known was forgotten. The poor were\never welcome, and came to her in crowds, never leaving without help\nand consolation. She had a very cheerful spirit, and a bright,\npleasant, and even witty word for every one.\n\n\"But the strongest trait in her character was her deeply religious\nnature. With the Catholic faith it would have found expression in the\nreligious life, as she sometimes said herself. The faith she had made\nher most earnest and devout, according to her light.\"\n\nMrs. Georgiana Bruce Kirby, who spent a month at the house in\nRutgers Street just after Isaac finally returned from Brook Farm,\nwhen Mrs. Hecker was in the prime of middle life, speaks of her as \"a\nlovely and dignified character, full of 'humanities.' She was fair,\ntall, erect, a very superior example of the German house-mother. Hers\nwas the controlling spirit in the house, and her wise and generous\ninfluence was felt far beyond it. She was a life-long Methodist, and\ntook me with her to a 'Love Feast,' which I had never witnessed\nbefore.\"\n\nTo the good sense, good temper, and strong religious nature of\nCaroline Hecker her children owed, and always cordially acknowledged,\na heavy, and in one respect an almost undivided, debt of gratitude.\nNeither Engel Freund nor John Hecker professed any religious faith.\nThe latter was never in the habit of attending any place of worship.\nBoth were Lutheran so far as their antecedents could make them so,\nbut neither seems to have practically known much beyond the flat\nnegation, or at best the simple disregard, of Christianity to which\nProtestantism leads more or less quickly according as the logical\nfaculty is more or less developed in those whose minds have been fed\nupon it. However, there was nothing aggressive in the attitude of\neither toward religious observance. The grandfather especially seems\nto have been a \"gentle sceptic,\" an agnostic in the germ, affirming\nnothing beyond the natural, probably because all substantial ground\nfor supernatural affirmations seemed to him to be cut away by the\nfundamental training imparted to him. He was a kindly, virtuous,\nwarm-hearted man, with a life of his own which made him incurious and\nthoughtful, and singularly devoid of prejudices. When his daughter\nCaroline elected to desert the Reformed Dutch Church in which the\nfamily had a pew, and to attach herself to another sect, he had only\na jocular word of surprise to say concerning her odd fancy for \"those\nnoisy Methodists.\" He had a true German fondness for old ways and\nsettled customs, and to the end of his days spoke only his own\nvernacular.\n\n\"Why don't you talk English?\" somebody once asked him toward the\nclose of his life.\n\n\"I don't know how,\" he answered. \"I never had time to learn.\"\n\n\"Why, how long have you been here?\"\n\n\"About forty years.\"\n\n\"Forty years! And isn't that time enough to learn English in?\"\n\n\"What can one learn in forty years?\" said the old man, with an\nunanswerable twinkle.\n\nBetween him and the youngest of his Hecker grandchildren there\nexisted a singular sympathy and affection. The two were very much\ntogether, and the little fellow was allowed to potter about the\nworkshop and encouraged to study the ins and outs of all that went on\nthere, as well as entertained with kindly talk that may at first have\nbeen a trifle above his years. But he was a precocious child, shrewd,\nobservant, and thoughtful. It was in the old watchmaker's shop that\nthe boy, not yet a dozen years old, and already hard at work helping\nto earn his own living, conceived the plan of making a clock with his\nown hands and presenting it to the church attended by the family,\nwhich was situated in Forsyth Street between Walker and Hester. The\nclock was finished in due time and set up in the church, where it\nticked faithfully until the edifice was torn down, some forty years\nlater. Then it was returned to its maker in accordance with a promise\nmade by the pastor when the gift was accepted. In 1872 the opening\nnumber of the third volume of _The Young Catholic_ contained a good\nengraving of it, accompanied by a sketch descriptive of its career.\nAlthough Father Hecker did not write the little story, it is so true\nboth to fact and to sentiment that we make an extract from it. The\nclock hung in the Paulist sacristy for about ten years. Then, for\nsome reason, it was taken to the country house of Mr. George Hecker,\nwhere it was accidentally destroyed by fire:\n\n\"There were points of resemblance in my own and my boy maker's\nnature. In him, regularity, order, and obedience were fixed\nprinciples; and with us both, Time represented Eternity. As the days\nof his young manhood came his pursuits and tastes in life changed.\nDeep thought took possession of his mind, and with it a tender love\nfor souls and a heart-hungriness for a further knowledge of what man\nwas given a soul for, and the way in which he was to save it. As\nthese thoughts were maturing in his mind I often noticed his troubled\nlook. One Sunday in particular, he lingered behind the congregation\nand stood before me, with a new expression in his keen gray eye; and\namid the silence of the deserted aisles he thus apostrophized me:\n'Farewell, old friend! fashioned by these hands, thou representest\nTruth, the eternal. What man is ever seeking, through me thou hast\nfound. Here I stand, not man's but God's noblest work, as yet not\nhaving repaid my Maker with one act of duty or of service. Thou hast\nfaithfully performed thy mission; henceforth I labor to perform\nmine.' With a grave and sad look my boy maker, now a young man, left\nme. I felt then that we had looked our last upon each other in this\nplace; but little did either of us dream of where, when, and how we\nwould meet again. For thirty-five years I labored on unchanged,\nthough I must own to having had some ailments now and then. About\nthis period of my existence I overheard straggling remarks, as the\nworshippers passed out of the church, which led me to conclude that\nsome change was contemplated, and my suspicions were confirmed by the\nrector proposing from the pulpit the erection of a new church edifice\nin another part of the city, to be fashioned after a more modern\nstyle of architecture. . . . In accordance with the promise made my\nboy maker, I was to go back to him. My heart bounded at the prospect.\nNever in all those years had I seen him. . . .\n\n\"In a short time I learned that the author of my existence, after\nmany hard struggles and trials, had at last found truth and light,\npeace and rest, in the bosom of the Holy Catholic Church. He had\nreturned, when he found me, from the Plenary Council of 1867. He is\nnow a priest, and the head of a religious community. Need I assure\nthose who have been interested in my history that I also have found a\nhome in the same community, where I am consecrated to its use? I am\nno longer alone now; I am busy from morning until night, helping to\nregulate the movements of the community. There is not an hour in the\nday when I do not see my boy maker. We have established sympathies in\ncommon; I call him to prayers, to his meals, to his matins, and to\nhis rest. Many a time, when he finds me alone, he gives me some\nspiritual reading, or says aloud some prayers. Every time I strike,\nhe breathes an aspiration of love and thanksgiving. In short, we have\nfound our glorious mission in our new birth. We are both apostles: I\nrepresent Time; he preaches of Eternity.\"\n\nThere can be little doubt, however, that the chief formative\ninfluence in the Hecker household was that which came directly\nthrough the mother. Young as she was when an unduly heavy share of\nthe domestic burdens fell to her portion, she took it up with courage\nand bore it with dignity and fidelity. What aid her father could give\nher was doubtless not lacking, but we may well suppose that, as age\ncrept on Engel Freund, his business began to slip away from him into\nyounger hands. He was probably no longer in a position to endow\ndaughters or to undertake the education of grandchildren. What is\ncertain is that Caroline Hecker's boys, after very brief school-days,\nwere put at once to hard work. What decided their choice of an\noccupation is not so sure, but in all probability they consulted with\ntheir mother and then took the common-sense view that as there is a\nnever-failing market for food staples, even poverty, if mated with\ndiligence and sagacity, may find there a fair field for successful\nenterprise. John, the eldest, upon whom the mother soon began to rely\nas her right hand, went to learn his trade as a baker with a Mr.\nSchwab, whose shop was on the corner of Hester and Eldridge Streets.\nGeorge, who was some three or four years younger, as the only girl,\nElizabeth, came between them, presently followed his brother to the\nsame business.\n\nAs for Isaac, whom hard necessity, or, more probably, a mistaken\nthrift, likewise forced away from school when not much more than ten\nyears old, his earliest ventures bear a curious symbolic likeness to\nhis latest. He earned his first wages in the service of a religious\nperiodical, the Methodist publication still known as _Zion's Herald,_\nwhose office was situated in Crosby Street near Broadway. From there\nhe went to learn a trade in the type foundry in Great Thames Street.\nBut as it was already apparent that the family road to prosperity was\nidentical with that chosen by his elder brothers, we find him working\naway beside them in the bake-house by the time he was eleven. They\nhad already established the bakery in Rutgers Street, between Monroe\nand Cherry, where the family lived for so many years. They had\nanother shop in Pearl Street, to which Isaac used to carry bread\nevery morning.\n\nThis was a part of his life to which he was fond of recurring in his\nlast years. \"Thanks be to God!\" he said on the first day of 1886,\n\"how hard we used to work preparing for New Year's Day! Three weeks\nin advance we began to bake New Year's cakes--flour, water, sugar,\nbutter, and caraway seeds. We never could make enough. How I used to\nwork carrying the bread around in my baker's cart! How often I got\nstuck in the gutters and in the snow! Sometimes some good soul,\nseeing me unable to get along, would give me a lift. I began to work\nwhen I was ten and a half years old, and I have been at it ever\nsince.\"\n\nAnd again, a few days later, as a poor woman carrying a heavy basket\npassed him in the street, he said to the companion of his walk: \"I\nhave had the blood spurt out of my arm carrying bread when I was a\nbaker. A lady asked me once for a hundred dollars to help her send\nher only son to college. I answered her that my mother had four\nchildren and got along without begging, and that I would not exchange\none year of those I spent working for several at college.\"\n\nLess than a month before his death he fell into conversation with a\nnewsboy on the corner near the Paulist church in Fifty-ninth Street.\n\"It interested me very much,\" he said afterwards. \"I found out that\nhe is one of five little brothers, and their mother is a widow. She\nis trying to bring them up, poor thing! It reminds me of my own\nmother.\"\n\nIt is plain that there could not have been much room for formal study\nin a life of hard physical labor, so soon begun and so unremittingly\ncontinued during the years usually given up to school work. An\nordinary boy, placed in such circumstances, would doubtless have\ngrown up ignorant and unformed. But while none of the Hecker boys was\nquite of the ordinary stamp, Isaac was distinctly _sui generis_ and\nindividual. He has said of himself that he could remember no period\nof his life when he had not the consciousness of having been sent\ninto the world for some especial purpose. What it was he knew not,\nbut expectation and desire for the withheld knowledge kept him\npondering and self-withdrawn. Once in his childhood he was given over\nfor death with a bad attack of confluent small-pox, and his mother\ncame to his bedside to tell him so. \"No, mother,\" he answered her, \"I\nshall not die now. God has a work for me to do in the world, and I\nshall live to do it.\"\n\nSuch instruction as Isaac obtained before beginning to earn his own\nbread was given him in Ward School No. 7. A Dr. Kirby was then its\nprincipal, and the time was just previous to the introduction of the\npresent system. The schools were not entirely free, a small payment\nbeing required from the parents for each pupil, to supplement the\ngrant of public funds. No doubt the boy, who had an ardent thirst for\nknowledge, regretted his removal from his desk more deeply than he\nwas at the time willing to express. Still, it may be questioned\nwhether he ever had any natural aptitude for close, continuous\nbook-work, at least on ordinary and prescribed lines. He was \"always\nstudying,\" indeed, as he sometimes said in speaking of his early\nlife, but the thoughts of other men, whether written or spoken, do\nnot seem to have been greatly valued by him, except as keys which\nmight help him to unlock those mysteries of God and man, and their\nmutual relations, which tormented him from the first. He was to the\nlast an indefatigable reader, but yet it would be true to say that he\nwas never either a student or a scholar in the ordinary sense. It is\na curious question as to how a thorough education might have modified\nFather Hecker. It is possible--nay, as the reader may be inclined to\nbelieve with us as the story of his inner life goes on, it is even\nprobable--that the more he was taught by God the less he was able to\nreceive from men.\n\nIt is certain, however, that he seriously regretted and soon set\nhimself to rectify the deficiencies of his early training. This was\none of the reasons which took him to Brook Farm. In the first entry\nof the earliest of his diaries which has been preserved he thus\nspeaks of his hidden longing after knowledge. He was twenty-three\nwhen these sentences were written, and he had been at Brook Farm for\nseveral months:\n\n\"If I cast a glance upon a few years of my past life, it appears to\nme mysteriously incomprehensible that I should be where I am now. I\nconfess sincerely that, although I have never labored for it, still,\nsomething in me always dreamed of it. Once, when I was lying on the\nfloor, my mother said to my brother John, without anything previously\nbeing spoken on the subject, and suddenly, in a kind of unconscious\nspeech, 'John, let Isaac go to college and study.' These words went\nthrough me like liquid fire. He made some evasive answer and there it\nended. Although to study has always been the secret desire of my\nheart from my youth, I never felt inclined to open my mind to any one\non the subject. And now I find, after a long time, that I have been\nled here as strangely as possible.\"\n\nHis childhood seems to have been a serious one. In recurring to it in\nlater life, as he often did, he never spoke of any games or sports in\nwhich he had shared, nor, in fact, of any amusements before the time\nwhen he began to attend lectures and the theatre. It was the\nchildhood of what we call in America a self-made man--one in which\nthe plastic human material is rudely dealt with by circumstances. His\nmother taught him his prayers, the schoolmistress his letters,\nnecessity his daily round of duties, and for the rest he was left\nvery much to himself and to that interior Master of whose stress and\nconstraint upon him he grew more intimately conscious as he grew in\nyears. The force of this inward pressure showed itself in many ways.\nOutwardly it made his manner undemonstrative, and fixed an intangible\nyet very real barrier between him and his kindred, even when the\naffection that existed was extremely close and tender. From infancy\nhe exhibited that repugnance to touching or being touched by any one\nwhich marked him to the end. Even his mother refrained from embracing\nhim, knowing this singular aversion. She would stroke his face,\ninstead, when she was pleased with him, and say, \"That is my kiss for\nyou, my son.\"\n\nThe mutual respect for each other's personalities shown in this\nclosest of human relations was characteristic of the entire family,\nas will be seen later, when the nature of the business connections\nbetween Isaac and his brothers has to be considered. Far from\nweakening the natural ties, or impairing their proper influence, it\nseems to have strengthened and perfected them. Asked once towards the\nclose of his life how it was that he had never used tobacco in any\nform, he answered: \"Mother forbade it, and that was enough for George\nand me. I was never ruled in any way but by her affection. That was\nsufficient.\" The parallel fact that he never in his life drank a drop\nof liquor at a bar or at any public place was probably due to a\nsimilar injunction. The children were brought up, too, with\nexceedingly strict ideas about lying and stealing, and all petty\nvices. Throughout the family there prevailed an extreme severity on\nsuch faults. \"I have never forgotten,\" said Father Hecker, \"the\nfurious anger of an aunt of mine and the violent beating she gave one\nof my cousins for stealing a cent from her drawer. That training has\nhad a great and lasting effect upon my character.\"\n\nIn such antecedents and surroundings it is easy to see the source of\nthat abiding confidence in human nature, and that love for the\nnatural virtues which marked Father Hecker's whole career. They had\nkept his own youth pure. He had been baptized in infancy, however, as\nthe children of orthodox Protestants more commonly were at that\nperiod than at present, and in all probability validly, so that one\ncould never positively say that nature in him had ever been unaided\nby grace in any particular instance. It is the conviction of those\nwho knew him best that he had never been guilty of deliberate mortal\nsin. One of these writes:\n\n\"During all the intimate hours I spent with him, speaking of his past\nlife he _ever once said that he had been a sinner_ in a sense to\nconvey the idea of mortal sin. And on the other hand he said much to\nthe contrary; so much as to leave no manner of doubt on my mind that\nhe had kept his baptismal innocence. He was deeply attached to an\nedifying and religious mother; he was at hard work before the dawn of\nsensual passion, and his recreation, even as a boy, was in talking\nand reading about deep social and philosophical questions, and\nlistening to others on the same themes. He expressly told me that he\nhad never used drink in excess, and that he had never sinned against\npurity, never was profane, never told a lie; and he certainly never\nwas dishonest.\n\n\"The influence of his mother was of the most powerful kind. He told\nme that the severest punishment she ever inflicted on him was once or\ntwice (once only, I am pretty sure) to tell him that she was angry\nwith him; and this so distressed him that he was utterly miserable,\nsat down on the floor completely overcome, and so remained till she\nafter a time relented and restored him to favor. Such a relationship\nis quite instructive in reference to the original innocence of his\nlife.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nYOUTH\n\nIt has been said already, in speaking of Father Hecker's childhood,\nthat he had been consciously under the influence of supernatural\nimpressions from a very early period. It seems probable, therefore,\nthat at least during the few years which preceded his juvenile plunge\ninto politics he must have been devout and prayerful, though\ndoubtless in his own spontaneous way. Such were his mother's\ncharacteristics, and we find her son writing to her, when his\naspirations after the perfect life had led him to the threshold of\nthe church, that she, of all persons, ought most to sympathize with\nhim, for he is about doing that which will aid him to be what she has\nalways desired to see him. But his devotions probably bore small\nresemblance to those of the ordinary religiously minded boy, either\nCatholic or Protestant. He has said that often at night, when lying\non the shavings before the oven in the bake-house, he would start up,\nroused in spite of himself by some great thought, and run out upon\nthe wharves to look at the East River in the moonlight, or wander\nabout under the spell of some resistless aspiration. What does God\ndesire from me? How shall I attain unto Him? What is it He has sent\nme into the world to do? These were the ceaseless questions of a\nheart that rested, meanwhile, in an unshaken confidence that time\nwould bring the answer.\n\nBut these were early days, days when the influence of his mother,\nnever wholly shaken off, was still dominant and pervasive in all that\nconcerned him. There came a period, however, beginning in all\nlikelihood about his fourteenth, and lasting until his twentieth year\nor thereabouts, in which he certainly lost hold on all distinctively\nChristian doctrines. With such a mind as his, and such a training,\nthis was almost inevitable. His intellect, while it hungered\nincessantly after supernatural truth, kept nevertheless a persistent\nhold upon the verities of the natural order, and could not rest until\nit had synthetized them into a coherent whole. That was his life-long\ncharacteristic. During the years of painful ill health which preceded\nhis death, he often said that he was unlike the Celt, who takes to\nthe supernatural as if by instinct. \"But I am a Saxon and cling to\nthe earthy\" he would say; \"I want an explicit and satisfactory reason\nwhy any innocent pleasure should not be enjoyed.\" He attributed this\nto his racial peculiarities. Others may differ with him and credit it\nto his nature, taken in its human and rational integrity.\nFurthermore, he was always singularly independent and self-poised. He\ncould not endure being hindered of anything that was his, except by\nan authority which had legitimated to his intelligence its right to\ncommand. He could obey that readily and entirely, as his life from\ninfancy clearly witnesses; but he never knew a merely arbitrary\nmaster.\n\nSuch a nature, fed on the mingled truth and error characteristic of\northodox Protestantism, was certain to reject it sooner or later,\nimpelled by hunger for the whole Divine gift of which that teaching\ncontains fragments only. The soul of Isaac Hecker was one athirst for\nGod from the first dawn of its conscious being. Upon Him, its Creator\nand Source, it never lost hold, and never ceased to cry out for Him\nwith longing and aspiration, even during that bitter and protracted\nperiod of his youth when his mind, entangled in the maze of\nphilosophic subjectivism, seemed in danger of rejecting theism\naltogether. But the underpinning of his faith, so far as that\nprofessed to be Christian and to come by hearing--to have an\nintellectual basis, that is--began to slip away almost as soon as he\nleft his mother's knee. It is possible that very little stress was\never laid upon distinctively Christian doctrines in her teaching. To\nadore God the Creator, to listen to His voice in conscience, to live\nhonestly and purely as in His sight--the heritage she transmitted to\nhim probably contained little more than this. Like most others reared\nin heresy who afterwards attain to the true knowledge of the\nIncarnation, he had to seek for it with almost as great travail of\nmind as if he had been born a pagan. It cannot be too strongly\ninsisted on, however, that his struggles were merely intellectual,\nand, when they began to take a definite turn, shaped themselves into\nthe natural result of a metaphysic as repugnant to common sense as it\nis to Christian philosophy. To this fact, so important in certain of\nits bearings, we have ample testimony in the private diaries kept\nbefore his conversion, from which we shall make extracts later on.\nThey find a later confirmation in some most interesting memoranda,\njotted down, after conversation with him at intervals during the last\nyears of his life, by one whom he admitted to an unusually close\nintimacy. He was always singularly reserved concerning matters purely\npersonal; his confidences, when they touched his own soul, seldom\nseemed entirely voluntary, and were quickly checked. Occasionally\nthey were taken by surprise, as when the course of talk insensibly\nturned toward internal ways; and again they were deliberately angled\nfor with a hook so well concealed that it secured a prize before he\nwas aware. From these notes we shall here make a few quotations\nbearing on the point made above--i.e., that his difficulties prior to\nhis entrance into the church were neither moral nor spiritual, but\nintellectual. Of him, if of any man, it was always true that his\nheart was naturally Christian. The first of these extracts, bearing\nas it does on a topic constantly in his thoughts, affords a good\nenough example of what was meant in saying that his confidences were\nsometimes taken by surprise:\n\n\"There are some for whom the predominant influence is the external\none, authority, example, precept, and the like. Others in whose lives\nthe interior action of the Holy Spirit predominates. In my case, from\nmy childhood God influenced me by an interior light and by the\ninterior touch of His Holy Spirit.\"\n\nAt another time he said:\n\n\"While I was a youth, and in early manhood, I was preserved from\ncertain sins and certain occasions of sin, in a way that was peculiar\nand remarkable. I was also at the same time, and, indeed, all the\ntime, conscious that God was preserving me innocent with a view to\nsome future providence. Mind, all this was long before I came into\nthe church.\"\n\nAnd again:\n\n\"Many a time before my conversion God gave me grace to weep over\nthose words: 'And all those who love His coming.' I did not believe\nin His coming, but I loved it honestly and longed to believe it. I\nhad learned much of the Bible from my mother and had read it often\nand much myself.\"\n\nThis consciously supernatural character of his inner life from the\nfirst, should be kept closely united in the reader's mind with that\nother idea of his adhesion to \"guileless nature\" which was such a\nfavorite theme with Father Hecker. No one could be more emphatic than\nhe in asserting the necessity of the supernatural for the attainment\nof man's destiny. How could it be otherwise, when he considered that\ndestiny to be the elevation of man above all good merely human, and\nby means far beyond the compass of his natural powers? Still, this\nwas undoubtedly a conclusion of his riper years, a result arrived at\nafter a certain intense if not very prolonged experience in\ncontemporary Utopias, in futile endeavors to raise man above his own\nlevel while remaining on it, whether by socialistic schemes or social\npolitics.\n\nIn an article called \"Dr. Brownson and the Workingman's Party Fifty\nYears Ago,\" published in _The Catholic World_ of May, 1887, Father\nHecker has himself made some interesting references to his\nexperiences in the latter field, and upon these we shall draw heavily\nfor our own account of this period of his life, supplementing them\nwith whatever bears upon the subject in the memoranda already\nreferred to.\n\nConcerning the inception of this party, to which all three of the\nyoung Heckers belonged in 1834, we have a better statement in Dr.\nBrownson's _Convert_ than we know of elsewhere. Brownson was for a\ntime actively interested in it, and in 1829 established a journal in\nsupport of its principles somewhere in Western New York. From him we\nlearn that it was started in 1828 by Robert Dale Owen, Robert L.\nJennings, George H. Evans, Fanny Wright, and a few other\ndoctrinaires, foreign-born without exception, in the hope of getting\ncontrol of political power so as to use it for establishing purely\nsecular schools. Their advocacy of anti-Christian and free-love\ndoctrines had so signally failed among adult Americans that the\nslower but surer method of educating the children of the country\nwithout religion had dawned upon them as more certain to succeed.\n\n\"We hoped,\" writes Dr. Brownson, \"by linking our cause with the\nultra-democratic sentiment of the country, which had had from the\ntime of Jefferson and Tom Paine something of an anti-Christian\ncharacter; by professing ourselves the bold and uncompromising\nchampions of equality; by expressing a great love for the people and\na deep sympathy with the laborer, whom we represented as defrauded\nand oppressed by his employer; by denouncing all proprietors as\naristocrats, and by keeping the more unpopular features of our plan\nas far in the background as possible, to enlist the majority of the\nAmerican people under the banner of the Workingman's party; nothing\ndoubting that, if we could once raise that party to power, we could\nuse it to secure the adoption of our educational system.\"\n\nThis party, however, both as an engine in politics and as a fitting\nembodiment of his private views, Dr. Brownson soon abandoned. He was\nnot truly radical, in the evil sense of that word, at any period of\nhis career, and the theories of the leaders soon became insupportable\nto his moral sense. But he remained true to the cause of the\nworkingmen while abandoning the organization which assumed to voice\ntheir needs and their wishes. Probably these more ulterior aims of\ntheir leaders were never fully appreciated by the rank and file of\nthose who followed them. Yet the genesis of the present purely\nsecular school system, against whose workings and results nearly all\nChristian denominations are too late beginning to protest, is clearly\ntraceable to the propaganda carried on half a century ago by men and\nwomen whose only half-veiled warfare against Christianity, property,\nand marriage was then an offence in the nostrils of our people at\nlarge. It is fair to predict that this generation, or another which\nshall succeed it, will yet have the good sense to regret, and the\ncourage to atone for, the fact that hatred to the Catholic Church,\nand a desire to cripple her hands where her own children were\nconcerned, should have been a more powerful agent in dragging them\nand theirs into the abyss of secularism than was their love of\nChristianity in deterring them from it.\n\nFather Hecker's account of his own youthful connection with the\n\"Workingman's Democracy,\" although written with the direct intention\nof placing his estimate of Dr. Brownson on record, has too many\nstrictly autobiographic touches in it to be here omitted. Such\npassages, bearing on long past personal history, are fewer than we\ncould wish them among his papers, published or unpublished. The five\narticles on Dr. Brownson, beginning in _The Catholic World_ of April,\n1887, and concluding in November of the same year, contain almost the\nonly matters relative to his personal history which he ever put into\nprint. Concerning the party, of which Dr. Brownson says that he had\nceased to be a recognized leader at this time, although he still\nthrew his influence as a speaker into all its projects for social\nreform, Father Hecker writes:\n\n\"We called ourselves the genuine Democracy, and in New York City were\nfor some years a separate political body, independent of the\n'regular' Democracy, and voting our own ticket. I have before me the\nfiles of our newspaper organ, the _Democrat,_ the first number of\nwhich appeared March 9, 1836, published by Windt & Conrad, 11\nFrankfort Street. In its prospectus the _Democrat_ promises to\ncontend for 'Equality of Rights, often trampled in the dust by\nMonopoly Democrats,' to battle 'with an aristocratic opposition\npowerful in talent and official entrenchment, and mighty in money and\nfacilities for corruption.' 'In the course of this duty it will not\nfail fearlessly and fully to assert the inalienable rights of the\npeople['] against 'vested rights' and 'vested wrongs.' It claims to\nbe the 'instructive companion' of the mechanics' and workingmen's\nleisure, 'the promotion of whose interests will ever form a leading\nfeature of the _Democrat.'_ And in the editorial salutatory it speaks\nthus:\n\n\"'We are in favor of government by the people. Our objects are the\nrestoration of equal rights and the prostration of those\naristocratical usurpations existing in the state of monopolies and\nexclusive privileges of every kind, the products of corrupt and\ncorrupting legislation. . . . At this moment we are the only large\nnation on the face of the earth where the mass of the people govern\nin theory--where they may govern in reality, if they will--where the\nreal taxes of government, although too heavy, are but trifling, and\nwhere a majority of the population depend on their own labor for\nsupport; yet such is the condition of that large class that the\nfruits of their toil are inadequate to sustain themselves in comfort\nand rear their families as the young citizens of a republic ought to\nbe reared.\n\n\"'. . . He is very shortsighted, however, who thinks that a majority\nof the people, where universal suffrage exists, will submit long to a\nstate of toil and mendicity. The majority would soon learn to\nexercise its political rights, and command its representatives to\ncarry the laws abolishing primogeniture and entails one step further,\nand stop all devises of land and prohibit it from being an article of\nsale. (In a foot-note of the editorial:) We actually heard these and\nseveral such propositions discussed by a number of apparently very\nintelligent mechanics, after the adjournment of a meeting called to\nconsider the subject of wages, rents, etc.'\n\n\"At that time the main question was the condition of the public\nfinances, and our agitation was directed chiefly against granting\ncharters to private banks of circulation. We condemned these as\nmonopolies, for we were hostile to all monopolies--that is to say, to\nthe use of public funds or the enjoyment of public exclusive\nprivileges by any man or association or class of men for their\nprivate profit.\"\n\nWe interrupt our direct quotation from this article in order to\nrelate one of the humors of the period, so far as these brothers were\nconcerned, in the words of the late Mr. George Hecker:\n\n\"When we were bakers the money in common use was the old-fashioned\npaper issued by private banks under State charters. We were regularly\nagainst it. So we bought a hand printing-press and set it up in the\ngarret of our establishment. All the bills we received from our\ncustomers, some thousands sometimes every week, we smoothed out and\nput in a pile, and then printed on their backs a saying we took from\nDaniel Webster (though I believe it was not quite authentic): 'Of all\nthe contrivances to impoverish the laboring classes of mankind, paper\nmoney is the most effective. It fertilizes the rich man's field with\nthe poor man's sweat.' They tried to punish us for defacing money,\nbut we beat them. We didn't deface it; we only printed something on\nthe back of it. Isaac and I often worked all night putting up\nhandbills for our meetings, for in those days there were no\nprofessional bill-posters.\"\n\nFather' Hecker's acquaintance with Dr. Brownson, which had so\npowerful an effect upon his future career, began in 1834, when\nBrownson was invited to lecture in New York in favor of the\nprinciples and aims of this party. Isaac was then in his fifteenth\nyear. Among the conversations recorded in the memoranda we find this\nreference to their earliest interview:\n\n\"I first met Dr. Brownson in New York, in our house. I was then\nreading the Washington _Globe,_ Benton's speeches, Calhoun's, etc.\nThe elder Blair was its editor; its motto was, 'The world is governed\ntoo much'--a motto in whose spirit there could be no great movement\nexcept in the way of revolution. After the establishment of the\nAmerican Government the principle expressed in that motto could only\nbe abandoned or pushed into revolution and anarchy.\n\n\"I put this question to Brownson: 'How can I become certain of the\nobjective reality of the operations of my soul?' He answered: 'If you\nhave not yet reached that period of mental life, you will do so\nbefore many years.'\n\n\"It is a great humiliation for me to admit that I was ever in a state\nin which I doubted the actual validity of the testimony of my own\nfaculties, and the reality of the phenomena of my mental existence. I\nhad begun my mental life in politics, and in a certain sense in\nreligion; but to my philosophical life I was yet unborn.\"\n\nIn the article on the \"Workingman's Party,\" already quoted from,\nFather Hecker, after mentioning that Dr. Brownson continued to\nlecture before the New York members of the party for several years,\ngoes on as follows:\n\n\"If it be asked why a man like Dr. Brownson, a born philosopher,\nshould have thus busied himself with the solution of the most\npractical of problems by undertaking to abolish inequality among men,\nthe answer is plain. The true philosopher will not confine himself to\nabstract theories. But, furthermore, Brownson at this epoch of his\nlife had lost his grip on the philosophy that leads men to trust in a\nsupernatural happiness to be enjoyed in a future state; and the man\nwho does not look to the hope of a future state of beatitude for the\nchief solace of human misery must look to this life as its end. If a\nman does not seek beatitude in God he seeks it in himself and his\nfellow-men--in the highest earthly development of our better nature\nif he becomes a socialist of one school, and in the lusts of the\nanimal man if he becomes a socialist of the brutal school. The man\nwho has any sympathy in his heart and is not guided by Catholic\nethics, if he reasons at all on public affairs, will become a\nsocialist of some school or other. Says Dr. Brownson in _The\nConvert,_ p. 101:\n\n\"The end of man, as disclosed by my creed of 1829, is obviously an\nearthly end, to be attained in this life. Man was not made for God,\nand destined to find his beatitude in the possession of God his\nSupreme Good, the Supreme Good itself. His end was happiness--not\nhappiness in God, but in the possession of the good things of this\nworld. Our Lord had said, 'Be not anxious as to what ye shall eat, or\nwhat ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed; for after\nall these things do the heathen seek.' I gave Him a flat denial, and\nsaid, Be anxious; labor especially for these things, first for\nyourselves, then for others. Enlarging, however, my views a little, I\nsaid, Man's end for which he is to labor is the well-being and\nhappiness of man in this world--is to develop man's whole nature, and\nso to organize society and government as to secure all men a paradise\non the earth. This view of the end to labor for I held steadily and\nwithout wavering from 1828 till 1842, when I began to find myself\ntending unconsciously towards the Catholic Church.'\n\n\"The reader will have seen by the extracts given that we were a party\nfull of enthusiasm. I was but fifteen when our party called Dr.\nBrownson to deliver the lectures above mentioned. But my brothers and\nI had long been playing men's parts in politics. I remember when\neleven years of age, or a year or two older, being tall for my years,\nproposing and carrying through a series of resolutions on the\ncurrency question at our ward meetings. As our name indicates--\n'Workingman's Democracy'--we were a kind of Democrats. As to the Whig\nparty, it received no great attention from us. At that time its\nchances of getting control of this State or of the United States were\nremote. Our biggest fight was against the 'usages of the party' as in\nvogue in the so-called regular Democracy embodied in the Tammany Hall\nparty. This organization undertook to absorb us when we had grown too\npowerful to be ignored. They nominated a legislative ticket made up\nhalf of their men and half of ours. This move was to a great extent\nsuccessful; but many of us who were purists refused to compromise,\nand ran a stump ticket, or, as it was then called, a rump ticket. I\nwas too young to vote, but I remember my brother George and I posting\npolitical handbills at three o'clock in the morning; this hour was\nnot so inconvenient for us, for we were bakers. We also worked hard\non election day, keeping up and supplying the ticket booths,\nespecially in our own ward, the old Seventh. I remember that one of\nour leaders was a shoemaker named John Ryker, and that we used to\nmeet in Science Hall, Broome Street.\n\n\"If this was the high state of my enthusiasm, so was it that of us\nall. Our political faith was ardent and active. But if we had been\ntested on our religious faith we should not have come off creditably;\nmany of us had not any religion at all. I remember saying once to my\nbrother John that the only difference between a believer and an\ninfidel is a few ounces of brains. . . . We were a queer set of\ncranks when Dr. Brownson brought to us his powerful and eloquent\nadvocacy, his contribution of mingled truth and error. He delivered\nhis first course of lectures in the old Stuyvesant Institute in\nBroadway, facing Bond Street--the same hall used a little afterwards\nby the Unitarian Society while they were building a church for Mr.\nDewey in Broadway opposite Eighth Street, the very same society now\nestablished in Lexington Avenue, with Mr. Collyer as minister. The\nsubsequent courses were delivered in Clinton Hall, corner of Nassau\nand Beekman, the site now occupied by one of our modern mammoth\nbuildings. I forget how much we were charged admission, except that a\nticket for the whole course cost three dollars. There was no great\nrush, but the lectures drew well and abundantly paid all expenses\nincluding the lecturer's fee. The press did not take much notice of\nthe lectures, for the Workingman's party had no newspapers expressly\nin its favor, except the one I have already quoted from. But he was\none of the few men whose power is great enough to advertise itself.\nWherever he was he was felt. His tread was heavy and he could make\nway for himself.\n\n\"Dr. Brownson was then in the very prime of manhood. He was a\nhandsome man, tall, stately, and of grave manners. His face was\nclean-shaved. The first likeness of him that I remember appeared in\nthe _Democratic Review._ It made him look like Proudhon, the French\nSocialist. This was all the more singular because at that time he was\nreally the American Proudhon, though he never went so far as _'La\npropriete, c'est le vol.'_ As he appeared on the platform and\nreceived our greeting he was indeed a majestic man, displaying in his\ndemeanor the power of a mind altogether above the ordinary. But he\nwas essentially a philosopher, and that means that he could never be\nwhat is called popular. He was an interesting speaker, but he never\nsought popularity. He never seemed to care much about the reception\nhis words received, but he exhibited anxiety to get his thoughts\nrightly expressed and to leave no doubt about what his convictions\nwere. Yet among a limited class of minds he always awakened real\nenthusiasm--among minds, that is, of a philosophical tendency. He\nnever used manuscript or notes; he was familiar with his topic, and\nhis thoughts flowed out spontaneously in good, pure, strong, forcible\nEnglish. He could control any reasonable mind, for he was a man of\ngreat thoughts and never without some grand truth to impart. But to\nstir the emotions was not in his power, though he sometimes attempted\nit; he never succeeded in being really pathetic.\n\n\"It must be remembered that although Dr. Brownson was technically\nclassed among the reverends, he was not commonly so called. It may be\nsaid that he was still reckoned among the Unitarian ministry, owing\nmostly to his connection with Dr. Channing, of Boston, who took a\ngreat interest in the Workingman's party. But I do not think he was\nadvertised by us as reverend or publicly spoken of as a clergyman. He\nmay have been yet hanging on the skirts of the Unitarian movement.\nBut his career had become political, and his errand to New York was\npolitical. He had given up preaching for some years, and embarked on\nthe stormy waves of social politics, and had by his writings become\nan expositor of various theories of social reform, chiefly those of\nFrench origin. So that the dominant note of his lectures was not by\nany means religious, but political. He was at that time considered as\nidentified with the Workingman's party, and came to New York to speak\nas one of our leaders. The general trend of his lectures was the\nphilosophy of history as it bears on questions of social reform. At\nbottom his theories were Saint-Simonism, the object being the\namelioration of the condition of the most numerous classes of society\nin the speediest manner. _This was the essence to our kind of\nDemocracy._ And Dr. Brownson undertook in these lectures to bring to\nbear in favor of our purpose the life-lessons of the providential men\nof human history. Of course, the life and teachings of our Saviour\nJesus Christ were brought into use, and the upshot of the lecturer's\nthesis was that Christ was the big Democrat and the Gospel was the\ntrue Democratic platform!\n\n\"We interpreted Christianity as altogether a social institution, its\nsocial side entirely overlapping and hiding the religious. Dr.\nBrownson set out to make, and did make, a powerful presentation of\nour Lord as the representative of the Democratic side of\ncivilization. For His person and office he and all of us had a\nprofound appreciation and sympathy, but it was not reverential or\nreligious; the religious side of Christ's mission was ignored. Christ\nwas a social Democrat, Dr. Brownson maintained, and he and many of us\nhad no other religion but the social theories we drew from Christ's\nlife and teaching; that was the meaning of Christianity to us, and of\nProtestantism especially.\"\n\nIn penning the reminiscences just given Father Hecker probably had in\nmind the whole period lying between his fourteenth year and his\ntwenty-first. In the autumn of 1834, when he first made acquaintance\nwith Orestes Brownson, Isaac Hecker was not yet fifteen, while the\nreform lecturer was in his early thirties. But the boy who began at\nonce, as he has told us, to put philosophical questions, and to seek\na test whereby to determine the validity of his mental processes, was\nalready well known to the voters of his ward, not merely as an\novergrown and very active lad, always on hand at the polling booths,\nand ready for any work which might be entrusted to a boy, but also as\na clear and persuasive speaker on various topics of social and\npolitical reform.\n\nPolitics of the kind into which the young Heckers threw themselves so\nardently were not very different in their methods fifty years ago\nfrom what they are to-day. Reform politics are always the reverse of\nwhat are called machine politics. The meetings of which Father Hecker\nspeaks were spontaneous gatherings of determined and earnest men,\nyoung and old, held sometimes in public halls, sometimes, when\nelections were close at hand, in the open street. Often they were\ndominated by leaders better able to formulate theories than to bring\nabout practical remedial measures. The inception of all great parties\nhas something of this character. It generally happens that principles\nare dwelt upon with an exclusive devotion more or less prejudicial to\nimmediate practical ends. This is why young men, and even striplings,\nprovided they are energetic and persuasive, will be listened to with\nattention at such eras. Men are seeking for enlightenment, and hence\nviews are taken for what they seem to be worth rather than out of\nrespect for the source they spring from. Imagine, then, this tall,\nfair, strong-faced boy of fourteen, mounted, perhaps, on one of his\nown flour-barrels, dogmatizing the principles of social democracy,\nposing as a spontaneous political reformer before a crowded street\nfull of men twice and thrice his years, but bound together with him\nby the sympathies common to the wage-earning classes. It is true that\nIsaac Hecker and his brothers, of whom the eldest had but recently\nattained to the dignity of a voter, although still poor and\nhard-working, had already, by virtue of sheer industry and pluck,\npassed over to the class of wage-payers. But they were not less\nardent reformers after than before that transition. Isaac at all\nevents, was consistent and unchanged throughout his life in the\npolitical principles he adopted among the apprentices and journeymen\nof New York over half a century ago. There was little room for vulgar\nself-conceit in a nature so frank and sincere as his. What he had to\nlearn, as well as what he had to teach, always dwarfed merely\npersonal considerations to their narrowest dimensions in his mind.\nHence his impulsive candor, the clearness of his views, and the\nstraightforward simplicity of his speech at once attracted notice,\nand although so young, he went speedily to the front in the local\nmanagement of his party. In the article already quoted from, he tells\nus that after 1834 the managers left all future engagements of\nlecturers to his brother John and himself. It was doubtless this fact\nwhich led directly to that lasting and fruitful intimacy with Dr.\nBrownson which then began. His was the strongest purely human\ninfluence, if we except his mother's, which Isaac Hecker ever knew.\nAnd these two were on planes so different that it is hardly fair to\ncompare them with each other.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE TURNING-POINT\n\nA BRIEF consideration at this point of a certain permanent tendency\nof Father Hecker's mind will be of present and future value to the\nstudent of his life. It has been said already that he never changed\nthe principles he had adopted as a lad among the apprentices and\njourneymen of New York; principles which, for all social politics, he\nsummarized in the homely expression, \"I am always for the under dog.\"\nThus, in the article quoted in the preceding chapter, he had the\nright to say of himself and his associates:\n\n\"We were guileless men absorbed in seeking a solution for the\nproblems of life. Nor, as social reformers at least, were we given\nover to theories altogether wrong. The constant recurrence of similar\nepochs of social agitation since then, and the present enormous\ndevelopment of the monopolies which we resisted in their very\ninfancy, show that our forecast of the future was not wholly\nvisionary. The ominous outlook of popular politics at the present\nmoment plainly shows that legislation such as we then proposed, and\nsuch as was then within the easy reach of State and national\nauthority, would have forestalled difficulties whose settlement at\nthis day threatens a dangerous disturbance of public order.\"\n\nWe dwell on his political consistency, however, only because it\naffords an evidence of that unity of character which was always\nrecognized in Father Hecker by those who knew him best. Change in\nhim, in whatever direction it seemed to proceed, meant primarily the\ndropping off of accidental excrescences. There was nothing radical in\nit. What he once held with the settled allegiance of his intelligence\nhe held always, adding to or developing it further as fast as the\nclouds were blown away from his mental horizon. From the standpoint\nof personal experience he could fairly criticise, as he did in\nconversation some few years before his death, Cardinal Newman's\ndictum that \"conversion is a leap in the dark.\" \"I say,\" he went on,\n\"that it is a leap in the light.\" _\"Into_ the light, but through the\ndark,\" was suggested in reply.\n\n\"No,\" he answered. \"If one arrives at a recognition of the truth of\nCatholic doctrine through one or other form of Protestant orthodoxy,\nthen the difficulties of ordinary controversy will indeed leave him\nto the very end in the dark. But if he comes to the Church through\nthe working and the results of natural reason, it is light all the\nway, and to the very end. I had this out with Cardinal Newman\npersonally, and he agreed that I was right.\"\n\nIt is true that his views were rectified when he entered the Church,\nand that when once in it he was ever acquiring new truth and new\nviews of truth. But his character never changed. He was a luminous\nexample of the truth of the saying that the child is father to the\nman, so often apparently falsified by experience. Boy and man, the\nprominent characteristic of his mind was a clear perception of\nfundamentals and a disregard of non-essentials in the whole domain of\nlife. To reverse a familiar maxim, \"Take care of the dollars and the\ncents will take care of themselves,\" might describe his plan of\nmental economy. To the small coin of discussion in any field of\ninquiry he paid little attention. One who knew him many years has\noften heard him say, \"Emphasize the universal always.\"\n\nHe was a teacher by natural vocation. No sooner was he satisfied that\nhe knew anything of general moment than he felt pressed to impart his\nknowledge. Contact with him could never be simply for acquaintance'\nsake; still less for an idle comparison of views. While no man could\nbe more frank in the admission of a lack of data on which to base an\nopinion in matters of fact, or a lack of illumination on affairs of\nconduct or practical direction, when such existed, yet to be certain\nwas, to him, the self-luminous guarantee of his mission to instruct.\nBut until that certainty was attained, in a manner satisfactory to\nboth the intellectual and the ethical sides of his nature, he was\nsilent.\n\nAs a priest, though he undertook to teach anybody and everybody, yet\nhe could seldom have given the impression of desiring to impose his\npersonal views, simply as such. His vital perception that there can\nbe nothing private in truth shone through his speech too plainly for\nso gross a misconception to be easily made by candid minds. The fact\nis that the community of spiritual goods was vividly realized by him,\nand in good faith he credited all men with a longing like his own to\nsee things as they really are. As he had by nature a very kindly\nmanner, benignant and cheerful, the average man readily submitted to\nhis influence. In his prime he was always a most successful and\npopular preacher and lecturer, from the combined effect of this\nearnestness of conviction and his personal magnetic quality. Men\nwhose mental characteristics resembled his became, soon or late, his\nenthusiastic disciples, and as to others, although at first some were\ninclined to suspect him, many of them ended by becoming his warm\nfriends.\n\nIt is in this light that we must view the precocious efforts of the\nyoung politician. Nothing was further from his thoughts at any time\nthan to employ politics as a means to any private end. Although we\nhave already quoted him as saying that he always felt bound to demand\nsome good reason why he should not use all things lawfully his, and\nenjoy to the full every innocent pleasure, yet that demand was made\nsolely in the interests of human freedom, never in that of\nself-indulgence. He seems to have been ascetic by nature--a Stoic,\nnot an Epicurean, by the very make-up of his personality. The reader\nwill see this more clearly as we pass on to the succeeding phases of\nFather Hecker's interior life. But we cannot leave the statement even\nhere without explaining that we use the word ascetic in its proper\nsense, to connote the rightful dominance of reason over appetite, the\nsupremacy of the higher over the lower; not the jurisdiction of the\njudge over the criminal. In his case, during the greater part of his\nlife, the adjustment of the higher and lower, the restraint he placed\nupon the beast in view of the elevation due to the man, was neither\nconceived nor felt as punitive. We shall see later on how God finally\nsubjected him to a discipline so corrective as to be acknowledged by\nhim as judicial.\n\nIsaac Hecker threw himself into public questions, then, because,\nbeing a workman, he believed he saw ways by which the working classes\nmight be morally and socially elevated. He wanted for his class what\nhe wanted for himself. To get his views into shape, to press them\nwith all his force whenever and wherever an opportunity presented\nitself, was for him the inescapable consequence of that belief. Like\nhis great patron, St. Paul, \"What wilt Thou have me to do?\" was\nalways his first question after his own illumination had been\ngranted. There is a note in the collection of private memoranda that\nhas been preserved, in which, alluding to the painful struggles which\npreceded his clear recognition that the doctrines of the Catholic\nChurch afforded the adequate solution of all his difficulties, he\nsays that his interior sufferings were so great that the question\nwith him was \"whether I should drown myself in the river or drown my\nlongings and doubts in a career of wild ambition.\" Still, to those\nwho knew him well, it is impossible to think of him as ever capable\nof any ambition which had not an end commensurate with mankind\nitself. To elevate men, to go up with them, not above them, was, from\nfirst to last, the scope of his desire. The nature of his\nsurroundings in youth, his personal experience of the hardships of\nthe poorer classes, his intercourse with radical socialists, together\nwith the incomplete character of the religious training given him,\nmade him at first look on politics as a possible and probable means\nto this desirable end. But he was too sensibly impelled by the Divine\nimpulse toward personal perfection, and too inflexibly honest with\nhimself, not to come early to a thorough realization, on one hand of\nthe fact that man cannot, unaided, rise above his natural level, and,\non the other, that no conceivable amelioration of merely social\nconditions could satisfy his aspirations. And if not his, how those\nof other men?\n\nOne thing that becomes evident in studying this period of Isaac\nHecker's life is the fact that his acquaintance with Dr. Brownson\nmarks a turning-point in his views, his opinions, his whole attitude\nof mind toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Until then the Saviour of men\nhad been represented to him exclusively as a remedy against the fear\nof hell; His use seemed to be to furnish a Divine point to which men\nmight work themselves up by an emotional process resulting in an\nassurance of forgiveness of sin and a secure hope of heaven.\nChristianity, that is to say, had been presented to him under the\nform of Methodism. The result had been what might have been\nanticipated in a nature so averse to emotional excitement and\npossessing so little consciousness of actual sin. Drawn to God as he\nhad always been by love and aspiration, he was not as yet sensible of\nany gulf which needed to be bridged between him and his Creator;\nhence, to present Christ solely as the Victim, the Expiatory\nSacrifice demanded by Divine Justice, was to make Him, if not\nimpossible, yet premature to a person like him. Meantime, what he saw\nand heard all around him, poverty, inequality, greed, shiftlessness,\nlow views of life, ceaseless and poorly remunerated toil, made\nincessant demands upon him. These things he knew by actual contact,\nby physical, mental, and moral experience, as a man knows by touch\nand taste and smell. Men's sufferings, longings, struggles,\ndisappointments had been early thrust upon him as a personal and most\nweighty burden; and the only relief yet offered was the Christ of\nemotional Methodism. To a nature more open to temptation on its lower\nside, and hence more conscious of its radical limitations, even this\ndefective presentation of the Redeemer of men might have appealed\nprofoundly. But Isaac Hecker's problems were at this time mainly\nsocial; as, indeed, to use the word in a large sense, they remained\nuntil the end. Now, Protestantism is essentially unsocial, being an\nextravagant form of individualism. Its Christ deals with men apart\nfrom each other and furnishes no cohesive element to humanity. The\nvalidity and necessity of religious organization as a moral force of\nDivine appointment is that one of the Catholic principles which it\nhas from the beginning most vehemently rejected. As a negative force\nits essence is a protest against organic Christianity. As a positive\nforce it is simply men, taken one by one, dealing separately with God\nconcerning matters strictly personal. True, it is a fundamental\nverity that men must deal individually with God; but the external\ntest that their dealings with Him have been efficacious, and their\ninspirations valid, is furnished by the fact of their incorporation\ninto the organic life of Christendom. As St. Paul expresses it: \"For\nas the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the\nbody, whereas they are many, are yet one body, so also is Christ. For\nin one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or\nGentiles, whether bond or free, and in one Spirit have we all been\nmade to drink.\"*\n\n[* I Cor. 12:12, 13.]\n\nIt is plain, then, that a religion such as Protestantism, which is\nunsocial and disintegrating by virtue of its antagonistic forces, can\ncontribute little to the solution of social problems. Even when not\nactively rejected by men deeply interested in such problems, it is\ntolerably sure that it will be practically ignored as a working\nfactor in their public relations with their fellows. Religion will\nremain the narrowly personal matter it began; chiefly an affair for\nSundays; best attended to in one's pew in church or at the family\naltar. Probably it may reach the shop, the counter, and the scales;\nnot so certainly the factory, the mine, the political platform, and\nthe ballot. If Christianity had never presented itself under any\nother aspect than this to Isaac Hecker, it is certain that it would\nnever have obtained his allegiance. Yet it is equally certain that he\nnever rejected Christ under any aspect in which He was presented to\nhim.\n\nEven concerning the period of his life with which we are now engaged,\nand in which we have already represented him as having lost hold of\nall distinctively Christian doctrines, we must emphasize the precise\nwords we have employed. He \"lost hold\"; that was because his original\ngrasp was weak. While no authoritative dogmatic teaching had given\nhim an even approximately full and definite idea of the God-man, His\npersonality, His character, and His mission, the fragmentary truths\noffered him had made His influence seem restrictive rather than\nliberative of human energies. Yet even so he had not deliberately\nturned his back upon Him, though his tendency at this time was\ndoubtless toward simple Theism. He had begun to ignore Christianity,\nsimply because his own problems were dominantly social, and orthodox\nProtestantism, the only form of religion which he knew, had no social\nforce corresponding to its pretensions and demands.\n\nNow, upon this state of mind the teaching of Dr. Brownson came like\nseed upon a fallow soil. Like that which preceded it, it erred rather\nby defect than by actual or, at any rate, by wilful deviation from\ntrue doctrine. Isaac Hecker met for the first time in Orestes\nBrownson an exponent of Jesus Christ as the great Benefactor and\nUplifter of the human race in this present life. Dr. Brownson has\nhimself given a statement of the views which he held and inculcated\nbetween 1834 and 1843--which includes the period we are at present\nconsidering--and it is so brief and to the point that we cannot do\nbetter than to quote it:\n\n\"I found in me,\" he writes (_The Convert,_p. 111), \"certain religious\nsentiments that I could not efface; certain religious beliefs or\ntendencies, of which I could not divest myself. I regarded them as a\nlaw of my nature, as natural to man, as the noblest part of our\nnature, and as such I cherished them; _but as the expression in me of\nan objective world, I seldom pondered them._ I found them universal,\nmanifesting themselves, in some form, wherever man is found; but I\nreceived them, _or supposed I received them,_ on the authority of\nhumanity or human nature, and professed to hold no religion except\nthat of humanity. I had become a believer in humanity, and put\nhumanity in the place of God. The only God I recognized was the\ndivine in man, the divinity of humanity, one alike with God and with\nman, which I supposed to be the real meaning of the Christian\ndoctrine of the Incarnation, the mystery of Emmanuel, or God with\nus--God manifest in the flesh. There may be an unmanifested God, and\ncertainly is; but the only God who exists for us is the God in man,\nthe active and living principle of human nature.\n\n\"I regarded Jesus Christ as divine in the sense in which all men are\ndivine, and human in the sense in which all men are human. I took him\nas my model man, and regarded him as a moral and social reformer, who\nsought, by teaching the truth under a religious envelope, and\npractising the highest and purest morality, to meliorate the earthly\ncondition of mankind; but I saw nothing miraculous in his conception\nor birth, nothing supernatural in his person or character, in his\nlife or doctrine. He came to redeem the world, as does every great\nand good man, and deserved to be held in universal honor and esteem\nas one who remained firm to the truth amid every trial, and finally\ndied on the cross, a martyr to his love of mankind. As a social\nreformer, as one devoted to the progress and well-being of man in\nthis world, I thought I might liken myself to him and call myself by\nhis name. I called myself a Christian, not because I took him for my\nmaster, not because I believed all he believed or taught, but\nbecause, like him, I was laboring to introduce a new order of things,\nand to promote the happiness of my kind. I used the Bible as a good\nProtestant, took what could be accommodated to my purpose, and passed\nover the rest, as belonging to an age now happily outgrown. I\nfollowed the example of the carnal Jews, and gave an earthly sense to\nall the promises and prophecies of the Messias, and looked for my\nreward in this world.\"\n\nThe passages we have italicized in this extract may go to show how\nfar Dr. Brownson himself was, at this period, from being able to give\nany but the evasive answer he actually did give to the searching\nphilosophical questions put by his youthful admirer. But it is not\neasy, especially in the light of Isaac Hecker's subsequent\nexperiences, to overestimate the influence which this new\npresentation of our Saviour had upon the development of his mind and\ncharacter. For reasons which we have tried to indicate by a brief\ndescription of some of his life-long interior traits, the ordinary\nProtestant view, restricted and narrow, which represents Jesus Christ\nmerely as the appointed though voluntary Victim of the Divine wrath\nagainst sin, had been pressed upon him prematurely. Now He was held\nup to him, and by a man who was in many ways superior to all other\nmen the boy had met, as a great personality, altogether human,\nindeed, but still the most perfect specimen of the race; the\nsupremely worshipful figure of all history, whose life had been given\nto the assertion of the dignity of man and the equality of mankind.\nThat human nature is good and that men are brethren, said Dr.\nBrownson, was the thesis of Christ, taught throughout His life,\nsealed by His death. The Name which is above all names became thus in\na new sense a watchword, and the Gospels a treasury for that social\napostolate to which Isaac Hecker had already devoted himself with an\nearnestness which for some years made it seem religion enough for him.\n\nSo it has seemed before his time and since to many a benevolent\ndreamer. Though the rites of the humanitarian cult differ with its\ndifferent priests, its creed retains everywhere and always its narrow\nidentity. But that all men are good, or would be so save for the\nunequal pressure of social conditions on them, is a conclusion which\ndoes not follow from the single premise that human nature, inasmuch\nas it is a nature and from the hand of God, is essentially good. The\nworld is flooded, just at present, with schemes for insuring the\nperfection and happiness of men by removing so far as possible all\nrestraints upon their natural freedom; and whether this is to be\naccomplished with Tolstoi, by reducing wants to a minimum and\nabolishing money; or by establishing clubs for the promotion of\nculture and organizing a social army which shall destroy poverty by\nmaking money plenty, appears a mere matter of detail--at all events\nto dreamers and to novelists. But to men who are in hard earnest with\nthemselves, men who \"have not taken their souls in vain nor sworn\ndeceitfully,\" either to their neighbor or about him, certain other\ntruths concerning human nature besides that of its essential goodness\nare sure to make themselves evident, soon or late. And among these is\nthat of its radical insufficiency to its own needs. It is a rational\nnature, and it seeks the Supreme Reason, if only for its own\nself-explication. It is a nature which, wherever found, is found in\nthe attitude of adoration, and neither in the individual man nor in\nhumanity at large is there any Divinity which responds to worship.\n\nIt is impossible to say just when Isaac Hecker's appreciation of this\ntruth became intensely personal and clear, but it is easy to make a\ntolerable approximation to the time. He went to Brook Farm in\nJanuary, 1843, rather more than eight years after his first meeting\nwith Dr. Brownson. It was by the advice of the latter that he made\nthis first decisive break from his former life. From the time when\ntheir acquaintance began, Isaac appears to have taken up the study of\nphilosophy in good earnest, and to have found in it an outlet for his\nenergies which insensibly diminished his absorption in social\npolitics. We have a glimpse of him kneading at the dough-trough with\nKant's _Critique of Pure Reason_ fastened up on the wall before him,\nso that he might lose no time in merely manual labor. Fichte and\nHegel succeeded Kant, all of them philosophers whose mother-tongue\nwas likewise his own, and whose combined influence put him farther\noff than ever from the solution of that fundamental doubt which\nconstantly grew more perplexing and more painful. We find him hiring\na seat in the Unitarian Church of the Messiah, where Orville Dewey\nwas then preaching, and walking every Sunday a distance of three\nmiles from the foot of Rutgers Street, \"because he was a smart\nfellow, and I enjoyed listening to him. Did I believe in\nUnitarianism? _No! I believed in nothing.\"_\n\nHis active participation in local politics did not continue\nthroughout all these years. His belief in candidates and parties as\ninstruments to be relied on for social purification received a final\nblow very early--possibly before he was entitled to cast a vote. The\nWorkingmen had made a strong ticket one year, and there seemed every\nprobability of their carrying it. But on the eve of the election half\nof their candidates sold out to one of the opposing parties. What\nother results this treachery may have had is a question which,\nfortunately, does not concern us, but it dispelled one of the\nstrongest of Isaac Hecker's youthful illusions. He continued,\nnevertheless, to prove the sincerity with which his views on social\nquestions were held, by doing all that lay in his power to better the\ncondition of the men in the employment of his brothers and himself.\nAfter he passed his majority his interest in the business declined\nrapidly, and it is impossible to doubt that one of the chief reasons\nwhy it did so is to be sought in his changing convictions as to the\nmanner in which business in general should be carried on.\n\nAlthough in accepting Christ as his master and model he had as yet no\nbelief in Him as more than the most perfect of human beings, yet,\neven so, Isaac Hecker's sincerity and simplicity were too great to\npermit him to follow his leader at a purely conventional distance.\n\"Do you know,\" he said long afterwards, \"the thought that first\nloosened me from the life I led? How can I love my fellow-men and yet\nget rich by the sweat of their brows? I couldn't do it. You are not a\nChristian, and can't call yourself one, I said to myself, if you do\nthat. The heathenish selfishness of business competition started me\naway from the world.\"\n\nIf he had received a Catholic training, Isaac Hecker would soon have\nrecognized that he was being drawn toward the practice of that\ncounsel of perfection which St. Paul embodies to St. Timothy in the\nwords: \"Having food and wherewith to be covered, with these we are\ncontent.\"* Could he have sought at this time the advice of one\nfamiliar with internal ways, he must have been cautioned against that\nfirst error to which those so drawn are liable, of supposing that\nthis call is common and imperative, and can never fail to be heard\nwithout some more or less wilful closing of the ears. Though the\nHecker brothers were, and ever continued to be, men of the highest\nbusiness integrity, and though there existed between them a cordial\naffection, which was intensified to an extraordinary degree in the\ncase of George and Isaac, yet the unfitness of the latter for\nordinary trade grew increasingly evident, and to himself painfully\nso. The truth is, that his ideas of conducting business would have\nled to the distribution of profits rather than to their accumulation.\nIf he could make the bake-house and the shop into a school for the\nattainment of an ideal that had begun to hover, half-veiled, in the\nair above him, he saw his way to staying where he was; but not\notherwise.\n\n[* I Timothy 6:8.]\n\nIn the autumn of 1842 there came upon him certain singular\nintensifications of this disquiet with himself and his surroundings.\nIn the journal begun the following spring, he so frequently and so\nexplicitly refers to these occurrences, now speaking of them as\n\"dreams which had a great effect upon my character\"; and again,\nspecializing and fully describing one, as something not dreamed, but\nseen when awake, \"which left an indelible impression my mind,\"\nweaning it at once and for ever from all possibility of natural love\nand marriage, that the integrity of any narrative of his life would\ndemand some recognition of them. His own comment, in the diary, will\nnot be without interest and value, both as bearing on much that\nfollows, and as containing all that need be said in explanation of\nthe present reference to such experiences:\n\n\"April 24, 1843.--. . . How can I doubt these things? Say what may\nbe said, still they have to me a reality, a practical good bearing on\nmy life. They are impressive instructors, whose teachings are given\nin such a real manner that they influence me whether I would or not.\nReal pictures of the future, as actual, nay, more so than my present\nactivity. If I should not follow them I am altogether to blame. I can\nhave no such adviser upon earth; none could impress me so strongly,\nwith such peculiar effect, and at the precise time most needed. Where\nmy natural strength is not enough, I find there comes foreign aid to\nmy assistance. Is the Lord instructing me for anything? I had, six\nmonths ago, three or more dreams which had a very great effect upon\nmy character; they changed it. They were the embodiment of my present\nin a great degree. Last evening's was a warning embodiment of a false\nactivity and its consequence, which will preserve me, under God's\nassistance, from falling. . . . I see by it where I am; it has made\nme purer.\"\n\nIn addition to these peculiar visitations, and very probably in\nconsequence of them, Isaac's inward anxieties culminated in prolonged\nfits of nervous depression, and at last in repeated attacks of\nillness which baffled the medical skill called to his assistance.\nTowards Christmas he went to Chelsea to visit Brownson, to whom he\npartially revealed the state of obscurity and distress in which he\nfound himself. Brownson, who had been one of the original promoters\nof the experiment in practical sociology at West Roxbury, advised a\nresidence at Brook Farm as likely to afford the young man the leisure\nand opportunities for study which he needed in order to come to a\nfull understanding with himself. He wrote to George Ripley in his\nbehalf and later undertook to reconcile the Hecker household with\nIsaac's determination to go thither.\n\nIt was during his stay at Chelsea that Isaac first began plainly to\nacquaint his family with the fact that his departure meant something\nmore important than the moderately prolonged change of scene and\ncircumstances which they had recognized as essential to his health.\nWe shall make abundant extracts from the letters which begin at this\ndate, convinced that his own words will not only afford the best\nevidence of the strength of the interior pressure on him, but will\nshow also its unique and constant bent.\n\nOur purpose is to show, in the most explicit manner possible, first,\nhow irresistibly he was impelled toward the celibate life and the\npractice of poverty; and second, that in yielding to this impulse, he\nwas also drawn away from his former view of our Saviour, as simply\nthe perfect man, to the full acceptance of the supernatural truth\nthat He is the Incarnate God.\n\nIt is at this period of Father Hecker's life that we first meet with\na positive interference of an extraordinary kind in the plans and\npurposes of his life. Many men who have outlived them, and settled\ndown into respectable but in nowise notable members of society, have\nfelt vague longings and indefinite aspirations toward a good beyond\nnature during the \"Storm and Stress\" period of their youth. The\nrecord of their mental struggles gets into literature with\ncomparative frequency, and sometimes becomes famous. It has always a\ncertain value, if merely as contributing to psychological science;\nbut in any particular instance is of passing interest only, unless it\ncan be shown to have been instrumental in shaping the subsequent\ncareer. The latter was the case with Father Hecker. The extraordinary\ninfluences already mentioned continued to dominate his intelligence\nand his will, sometimes with, oftener without, explicit assignment of\nany cause. It is plain enough that, up to the time when they began,\nhe had looked forward to such a future of domestic happiness as\nhonest young fellows in his position commonly desire. \"He was the\nlife of the family circle,\" says one who knew the Hecker household\nintimately; \"he loved his people, and was loved by them with great\nintensity, and his going away must have been most painful to him as\nwell as to them.\"\n\nOn this point the memoranda, so often to be referred to, contain some\nwords of his own to the same purport. They were spoken early in 1882:\n\"You know I had to leave my business--a good business it was getting\nto be, too. I tell you, it was agony to give everything up--friends,\nprospects in life and old associates; things for which by nature I\nhad a very strong attachment. But I could not help it; I was driven\nfrom it. I wanted something more; something I had not been able to\nfind. Yet I did not know what I wanted. I was simply in torment.\"\n\nThe truth is that, while he had always cherished ideals higher than\nare usual, still they were not such as need set him apart from the\ncommon life of men. But now he became suddenly averse from certain\npursuits and pleasures, not only good in themselves, but consonant to\nhis previous dispositions. The road to wealth lay open before him,\nbut his feet refused to tread it. He was invincibly drawn to poverty,\nsolitude, sacrifice; modes of life from which he shrank by nature,\nand which led to no goal that he could see or understand. There is no\nname so descriptive of such impulses as supernatural.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nLED BY THE SPIRIT\n\nTHE earliest of the letters so fortunately preserved by the affection\nof Isaac Hecker's kindred is addressed to his mother, from Chelsea,\nand bears date December 24, 1842. After giving some details of his\narrival, and of the kindly manner in which he had been received, he\nwrites:*\n\n[* We have corrected some slight errors of orthography and\npunctuation in these early letters. They were of the sort to be\nexpected from a self-trained youth, as yet little used to the written\nexpression of his thoughts. They soon disappear almost entirely.]\n\n\"But as regards your advice to write my thoughts to you, that is an\nimpossibility which I cannot govern or control. This ought not to be\nso, but so it is. Am I to blame? I feel not. And what if I could\ntell? It might be only a deep dissatisfaction which could not be made\nintelligible, or at least not be felt as it is felt by me. Let us be\nuntroubled about it. A little time, and, I hope, all will pass away,\nand I be the same as usual. We all differ a little, at least in our\ncharacters; hence there is nothing surprising if our experiences\nshould differ. I feel that a little time will be my best remedy,\nwhich I trust we will await without much anxiety. Resignation is\ntaught when we cannot help ourselves. Take nothing I have said\ndiscouragingly. Turn fears into hopes and doubts into faith, and we\nshall be better if not happier. There is no use in allowing our\ndoubts and fears to control us; by fostering them we increase them,\nand we want all our time for something better and higher.\"\n\nTwo days later he writes more fully, and this letter we shall give\nalmost entire:\n\n\"Chelsea, December 26, 1842.--BROTHERS: I want to write to you, but\nwhat is the use of scrawling on paper if I write what I do not\nfeel--intend? It is worse than not writing. And yet why I should be\nbackward I don't know. The change that I have undergone has been so\nrapid and of such a kind; that may be the reason. I feel that as I\nnow am perhaps you cannot understand me. I am afraid lest your\nconduct would be such that under present circumstances I could not\nstand under it. Do not misunderstand me. If I have ever appreciated\nanything in my life, it is the favor and indulgent treatment you have\nshown me in our business. I know that I have never done an equal\nshare in the work which was for us all to do. I have always been\nconscious of this. I hope you will receive this as it is written, for\nI am open. Daily am I losing that disposition which was attributed to\nme of self-approval. . . . There is no reason why I should distrust\nyour dispositions toward me but my own feelings, and it is these that\nhave kept me back, that and the change my mind is undergoing. This is\nso continuous, and at the same time so firmly fixed, that I am unable\nto keep back any longer. I had hopes that my former life would\nreturn, so that I would be able to go on as usual, although this\ntendency has always been growing in me. But I find more and more that\nit is not possible. I would go back if I could, but the impossibility\nof that I cannot express. To continue as I am now would keep me\nconstantly in an unsettled state of health, especially as my future\nappears to be opening before me with clearness. I say sincerely that\nI have lost all but this one thing, and how shall I speak it? My mind\nhas lost all disposition to business; my hopes, life, existence, are\nall in another direction. No one knows how I tried to exert myself to\nwork, or the cause of my inability. I was conscious of the cause, but\nas it was supposed to be a physical one, the reason of it was sought\nfor, but to no purpose. In the same circumstances now I should be\nworse. When I say my mind cannot be occupied as formerly, do not\nattribute it to my wishes. This is what I fear; it makes me almost\ndespair, makes me feel that I would rather die than live under such\nthoughts. I never could be happy if you thought so. My future will be\nmy only evidence. _My experience, which is now my own evidence, I\ncannot give you._ To keep company with females--you know what I\nmean--I have no desire. I have no thought of marrying, and I feel an\naversion to company for such an end. In my whole life I have never\nfelt less inclined to it. If my disposition ran that way, marrying\nmight lead me back to my old life, but oh! that is impossible. To\ngive up, as I have to do, a life which has often been my highest aim\nand hope, is done with a sense of responsibility I never imagined\nbefore. This, I am conscious, is no light thought. It lies deeper\nthan myself, and I have not the power to control it. I do not write\nthis with ease; it is done in tears, and I have opened my mind as I\nhave not done before. How all this will end I know not, but cannot\nbut trust God. It is not my will but my destiny, which will not be\none of ease and pleasure, but one which I contemplate as a perpetual\nsacrifice of my past hopes, though of a communion I had never felt.\nCan I adopt a course of life to increase and fulfil my present life?\nI am unable to give this decision singly. You will, I hope, accept\nthis letter in the spirit I have written it. I speak to you in a\nsense I never have spoken to you before. In this letter I have opened\nas far as I could my inmost life. My heart is full and I would say a\ngreat deal more. Truly, a new life has opened to me, and to turn\nbackward would be death. Not suddenly has it undergone this change,\nbut it has come to that crisis where my decision must be made; hence\nam I forced to write this letter. For its answer I shall wait with\nintense anxiety. Hoping you will write soon, my love to all.--ISAAC.\"\n\nThe next letter, though addressed to his brothers, was apparently\nintended for the whole family, and begins with more than Isaac's\ncustomary abruptness:\n\n\"Chelsea, December 28, 1842.--I will open my mind so that you can\nhave the materials to judge from as well as myself. I feel unable to\nthe task of judging alone correctly. I have given an account of my\nstate of mind in my former letter, but will add that what is there\nsaid describes a permanent state, not a momentary excitement. You may\nthink that in a little time this would pass away, and I would be able\nto resume my former life; or, at least, you could so adapt things at\nhome that although I should not precisely occupy myself as then,\nstill it might be so arranged as to give me that which I feel\nnecessary in order to live somewhat contented.\n\n\"I am sorry to say I can in no way conceive such an arrangement of\nthings at home. Why? I hate to say it, yet we might as well come to\nan understanding. I have grown out of the life which can be received\nthrough the accustomed channels of the circle that was around me. I\nam subject to thoughts and feelings which the others had no interest\nin; hence they could not be expressed. There can be no need to tell\nyou this--you all must have seen it. How can I stop my life from\nflowing on? You must see the case I stand in. Do not think I have\nless of the feelings of a brother and a son. My heart never was\ncloser, not so close as it is now to yours. . . .\n\n\"Do not think this is imagination; in this I have had too much\nexperience. The life that was in me had none to commune with, and I\nfelt it was consuming me. I tried to express this in different ways\nobscurely, but it appeared singular and no one understood me. This\nwas the cause of my wishing to go away, hoping I would either get\nclear of it or something might turn up, I knew not what. One course\nwas advised by the doctor, and you all thought as he did--that was to\nkeep company with the intention of getting married. This was not the\ncommunion that I wanted or that was congenial to my life. Marrying\nwould not, I am convinced, have had any permanent effect. It was not\nthat which controlled me, then or now. It is altogether different; it\nis a life in me which requires altogether different circumstances to\nlive it. This is no dream; or, if it is, then have I never had such\nreality. . . .\n\n\"When I wrote last it struck me I might secure what I need at Brook\nFarm, but that would depend greatly upon how you answer my letter. If\nyou do as perhaps you may, I will go and see whether I could be\nsatisfied and how it is, and let you know.\n\n\"So far had I written when your letter came. . . . You appear to ask\nthis question: What object have you in contemplation? _None further\nthan to live a life agreeable to the mind I have, which I feel under\na necessity to do.\"_\n\n\"Chelsea, December 30, 1842.--TO MOTHER: I am sorry to hear that you\nfeel worried. My health is good, I eat and sleep well. That my mind\nis not settled, or as it used to be, is no reason to be troubled, for\nI hope it is not changing for the worse, and I look forward to\nbrighter days than we have seen in those that are gone. I was\nconscious my last letter was not written in a manner to give you\nease; but to break those old habits of our accustomed communion was\nto me a serious task, and done under a sense of duty, to let you know\nthe cause of the disease I was supposed to labor under. That is past\nnow, and I hope we shall understand each other, and that our future\nwill be smooth and easy. The ice has been broken. That caused me some\npain but no regret, and instead of feeling sorrow, you will, I hope,\nbe contented that I should continue the path that will make me\nbetter.\"\n\nConcerning Isaac Hecker's residence at Brook Farm, which was begun\nabout the middle of the following January, we shall have more to say\nhereafter. At present our concern is chiefly with those explanations\nof his conduct and motives which the anxieties of his family\ncontinually forced him to attempt. There is, however, among the\npapers belonging to this period one which, although found with the\nletters, was evidently so included by mistake, and at some later\ndate. It is an outpouring still more intimate than he was able to\nmake for the enlightenment of others, and is the first vestige of a\ndiary which has been found. But it seems plain that his longing for\nwhat he continually calls \"communion,\" and the effort to divine the\nwill of Providence in his regard, must frequently have urged him to\nthat introspective self-contemplation so common to natures like his\nbefore their time for action has arrived. We make some brief extracts\nfrom this document which illustrates, still more plainly than any of\nthe letters, the fact that the interior pressure to which he was\nsubjected had for its uniform tendency and result his vivid\nrealization of the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. It is written\nin a fine, close hand on a sheet of letter-paper, which it entirely\ncovers, and bears date January 10, 1843:\n\n\"Could I but reveal myself unto myself! What shall I say? Is life\ndear to me? No. Are my friends dear to me? I could suffer and die for\nthem, if need were, but yet I have none of the old attachment for\nthem. I would clasp all to my heart, love all for their humanity, but\nnot as relatives or individuals. . . . Lord, if I am to be anything,\nI am, of all, most unfit for the task. What shall I do? Whom shall I\ncry to but Him who has given me life and planted this spirit in me?\nUnto Thee, then, do I cry from the depths of my soul for light to\nsuffer. If there is anything for me to do, why this darkness all\naround me? I ask not to be happy. I will forego, as I always had a\npresentiment I must do, all hopes which young men of my age are prone\nto picture in their minds. If only I could have a ray of light on my\npresent condition! O Lord! open my eyes to see the path Thou wouldst\nhave me walk in. . . .\n\n\"Jan. 11.--True life is one continuous prayer, one unceasing\naspiration after the holy. I have no conception of a life insensible\nto that which is not above itself lofty. I would not take it on\nmyself to say I have been 'born again,' but I know that I have passed\nfrom death to life. Things below have no hold upon me further than as\nthey lead to things above. It is not a moral restraint that I have\nover myself, but it is such a change, a conversion of my whole being,\nthat I have no need of restraint. Temptations still beset me--not\nsensual, but of a kind which seek to make me untrue to my life. If I\nam not on my guard I become cold. May I always be humble, meek,\nprayerful, open to all men. Light, love, and life God is always\ngiving, but we turn our backs and will not receive. . . .\n\n\"Who can measure the depths of Christ's suffering--alone in the\nworld, having that which would give life everlasting, a heaven, to\nthose who would receive it, and yet despised, spit upon, rejected of\nmen! Oh! how sweet must it have been to His soul when He found even\none who would accept a portion of that precious gift which He came to\nthe world to bestow! Well could He say, 'Father, forgive them; they\nknow not what they do.' He would give them life, but they would not\nreceive. He would save them, but they rejected Him. He loved them,\nand they despised Him. Alas! who has measured even in a small degree\nthe love of Christ and yet denied His superiority over man! His love,\ngoodness, mercy are unbounded. O Lord! may I daily come into closer\ncommunion with Thy Son, Jesus Christ.\"\n\nOn the 22d of February he addresses both of his parents in reply to a\nletter sent by his brother John, detailing some of their troubles on\nthis head. He writes:\n\n\"It is as great a difficulty for me to reconcile my being here with\nmy sense of duty towards you. . . . Since I must speak, let me tell\nyou that I have at present no disposition to return. Neither are the\ncircumstances that surround me now those which will give me\ncontentment; but I feel that I am here as a temporary place, and that\nby spring something will turn up which I hope will be for the\nhappiness of us all. What it will be I have not the least idea of\nnow. It is as impossible for me to give you an explanation of that\nwhich has led me of late as it would be for a stranger. All before me\nis dark, even as that is which leads me now and has led me before.\nOne sentiment I have which I feel I cannot impart to you. It is that\nI am controlled. Formerly I could act from intention, but now I have\nno future to design, nothing in prospect, and _my present action is\nfrom a present cause, not from any past._ Hence it is that while my\naction may appear to others as designed, to me it is unlooked-for and\nunaccountable. I do not expect that others can feel this as I do. I\nam tossed about in a sea without a rudder. What drives me onward, and\nwhere I shall be driven, is to me unknown. My past life seems to me\nlike that of another person, and my present is like a dream. Where am\nI? I know not. I have no power over my present, I do not even know\nwhat it is. Whom can I find like myself, whom can I speak to that\nwill understand me?\n\n\"This makes me still, lonely; and I cannot wish myself out of this\nstate. I have no will to do that--not that I have any desire to. All\nI can say is that I am in it. What would be the effect of necessity\non me, I know not, whether it would lead me back or lead me on. My\nfeeling of duty towards you is a continual weight upon me which I\ncannot throw off--it is best, perhaps, that I cannot. All appears to\nme as a seeming, not a reality. Nothing touches that life in me which\nis seeking that which I know not.\"\n\nTO GEORGE HECKER.--\"Brook Farm, March 6, 1843.--What was the reason\nof my going, or what made me go? The reason I am not able to tell.\nBut what I felt was a dark, irresistible influence upon me that led\nme away from home. What it was I know not. What keeps me here I\ncannot tell. It is only when I struggle against it that a spell comes\nover me. If I give up to it, nothing is the matter with me. But when\nI look to my past, my duty toward you all, and consider what this may\nlead me to, and then attempt to return, I get into a state which I\ncannot speak of . . .\n\n\"By attempt to return I mean an attempt to return to my old life, for\nso I have to call it--that is, to get clear of this influence. And\nyet I have no will to will against it. I do not desire it, or its\nmode of living, and I am opposed to its tendency.\n\n\"What bearing this has upon the question of my coming home you will\nperceive. As soon as I can come, I will. If I should do so now, it\nwould throw me back to the place from which I started. Is this fancy\non my part? All I can say is that if so the last nine or ten months\nof my life have been a fancy which is too deep for me to control.\"\n\nAfter paying his family a visit in April, he writes to them on his\nreturn:\n\n\"Brook Farm, April 14, 1843.--Here I am alone in my room once more.\nI feel settled, and begin to live again, separated from everything\nbut my studies and thoughts, and the feeling of gratitude toward you\nall for treating me so much better than I am aware of ever having\ntreated you. May I ever keep this sense of obligation and\nindebtedness. My prayer is, that the life I have been led to live\nthese few months back may prove to the advantage of us all in the\nend. I sometimes feel guilty because I did not attempt again to try\nand labor with you. But the power that kept me back, its hold upon\nme, its strength over me, all that I am unable to communicate, makes\nmy situation appear strange to others, and to myself irreconcilable\nwith my former state. Still, I trust that, in a short period, all\nthings will take their peaceful and orderly course.\"\n\nTO GEORGE HECKER.--\"Brook Farm, May 12, 1843.--How much nearer to\nyou I feel on account of your good letter you cannot estimate--nearer\nthan when we slept in the same bed. Nearness of body is no evidence\nof the distance between souls, for I imagine Christ loved His mother\nvery tenderly when He said, 'Woman, what have I to do with thee?'\"\n\n\"I have felt, time and again, that either I would have to give up the\nlife that was struggling in me, or withdraw from business in the way\nthat we pursue it. This I had long felt, before the period came which\nsuddenly threw me involuntarily out of it. Here I am, living in the\npresent, without a why or a wherefore, trusting that something will\nshape my course intelligibly. I am completely without object. And\nwhen occasionally I emerge, if I may so speak, into actual life, I\nfeel that I have dissipated time. A sense of guilt accompanies that\nof pleasure, and I return inwardly into a deeper, intenser life,\nbreaking those tender roots which held me fast for a short period to\nthe outward. In study only do I enter with wholeness; nothing else\nappears to take hold of my life.\" . . . \"I am staying here,\nintentionally, for a short period. When the time arrives\" (for\nleaving) \"heaven knows what I may do. I am now perfectly dumb before\nit. Perhaps I may return and enter into business with more\nperseverance and industry than before; perhaps I may stay here; it\nmay be that I shall be led elsewhere. But there is no utility in\nspeculating on the future. If we lived as we should, we would feel\nthat we lived in the presence of God, without past or future, having\na full consciousness of existence, living the 'eternal life.' . . .\n\n\"George, do not get too engrossed with outward business. Rather\nneglect a part of it for that which is immortal in its life,\nincomparable in its fulness. It is a deep, important truth: 'Seek\nfirst the kingdom of God, and then all things will be added.' In\nhaving nothing we have all.\"\n\nTO MRS. HECKER.--\"Brook Farm, May 16, 1843.--DEAR MOTHER: You will\nnot take it unkind, my not writing to you before? I am sure you will\nnot, for you know what I am. Daily I feel more and more indebted to\nyou for my life, especially when I feel happy and good. How can I\nrepay you? As you, no doubt, would wish me to-by becoming better and\nliving as you have desired and prayed that I should, which I trust,\nby Divine assistance, I may.\n\n\"Mother, I cannot express the depth of gratitude I feel toward you\nfor the tender care and loving discipline with which you brought me\nup to manhood. Without it, oh! what might I not have been? The good\nthat I have, under God, I am conscious that I am greatly indebted to\nthee for; at times I feel that it is thou acting in me, and that\nthere is nothing that can ever separate us. A bond which is as\neternal as our immortality, our life, binds us together and cannot be\nbroken.\n\n\"Mother, that I should be away from home at present no doubt makes\nyou sorrowful often, and you wish me back. Let me tell you how it is\nwith me. The life which surrounds me in New York oppresses me,\ncontracts my feelings, and abridges my liberty. Business, as it is\nnow pursued, is a burden upon my spiritual life, and all its\ninfluence hurtful to the growth of a better life. This I have felt\nfor a long time, and feel it now more intensely than before. And the\nsociety I had there was not such as benefited me. My life was not\nincreased by theirs, and I was gradually ceasing to be. I was lonely,\nfriendless, and without object in this world, while at the same time\nI was conscious of a greater degree of activity of mind in another\ndirection. These causes still remain. . . .\n\n\". . . I feel fully conscious of the importance of making any change\nin my life at my present age--giving up those advantages which so\nmany desire; as well as the necessity of being considerate, prudent,\nand slow to decide. I am aware that my future state here, and hence\nhereafter, will greatly depend upon the steps I now take, and\ntherefore I would do nothing unadvised or hastily. I would not\nsacrifice eternal for worldly life. At present I wish to live a true\nlife, desiring nothing external, seeing that things external cannot\nprocure those things for and in which I live. I do not renounce\nthings, but feel no inclination for them. All is indifferent to\nme--poverty or riches, life or death. I am loosed. But do not on this\naccount think I am sorrowful; nay, for I have nothing to sorrow for.\nIs there no bright hope at a distance which cheers me onward and\nbeckons me to speed? I dare not say. Sometimes I feel so--it is the\nunutterable. Yet I remain contented to be without spring or autumn,\nyouth or age. One tie has been loosened after another; the dreams of\nmy youth have passed away silently, and the visions of the future I\nthen beheld have vanished. I feel awakened as from a dream, and like\na shadow has my past gone by. With the verse at the bottom of the\npicture you gave me, I can say:\n\n\"'Oh! days that once I used to prize,\nAre ye forever gone?\nThe veil is taken from my eyes,\nAnd now I stand alone.'\n\n\"But I would not recall those by-gone days, nor do I stand alone. No!\nOut from this life will spring a higher world, of which the past was\nbut a weak, faint shadow.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nAT BROOK FARM\n\nTHE famous though short-lived community at West Roxbury,\nMassachusetts, where Isaac Hecker made his first trial of the common\nlife, was started in the spring of 1841 by George Ripley and his\nwife, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John S. Dwight, George P. Bradford, Sarah\nSterns, a niece of George Ripley's, Marianne Ripley, his sister, and\nfour or five others whose names we do not know. In September of the\nsame year they were joined by Charles A. Dana, now of the New York\n_Sun._ Hawthorne's residence at the Farm, commemorated in the\n_Blithedale Romance,_ had terminated before Mr. Dana's began. The\nCurtis brothers, Burrill and George William, were there when Isaac\nHecker came. Emerson was an occasional visitor; so was Margaret\nFuller. Bronson Alcott, then cogitating his own ephemeral\nexperiment at Fruitlands, sometimes descended on the gay community\nand was doubtless \"Orphic\" at his leisure. The association was the\noutcome of many discussions which had taken place at Mr. Ripley's\nhouse in Boston during the winter of 1840-41. Among the prominent\nBostonians who took part in these informal talks were Theodore\nParker, Adin Ballou, Samuel Robbins, John S. Dwight, Warren Burton,\nand Orestes Brownson. Each of these men, and, if we do not mistake,\nGeorge Ripley also, presided at the time over some religious body.\nMr. Ballou, who was a Universalist minister of much local renown,\nwas, perhaps, the only exception to the prevailing Unitarian\ncomplexion of the assembly.\n\nThe object of their discussions seems to have been, in a general way,\nthe necessity for some social reform which should go to the root of\nthe commercial spirit and the contempt for certain kinds of labor so\nwidely prevalent; and, in a special way, the feasibility of\nestablishing at once, on however small a scale, a co-operative\nexperiment in family life, having for its ulterior aim the\nreorganization of society on a less selfish basis. They probably\nconsidered that, a beginning once made by people of their stamp, the\ninfluence of their example would work as a quickening leaven. They\nhoped to be the mustard-seed which, planted in a congenial soil,\nwould grow into a tree in whose branches all the birds of the air\nmight dwell. It was the initial misfortune of the Brook-Farmers to\nestablish themselves on a picturesque but gravelly and uncongenial\nsoil, whose poverty went very far toward compassing the collapse of\ntheir undertaking.\n\nNot all of the ministers whose names have just been mentioned were of\none mind, either as to the special evils to be counteracted or the\nremedies which might be tentatively applied. Three different\nassociations took their rise from among this handful of earnest\nseekers after better social methods. Mr. Ballou, who headed one of\nthese, believed that unity and cohesion could be most surely obtained\nby a frank avowal of beliefs, aims, and practices, to which all\npresent and future associates would be expected to conform. Mrs.\nKirby, whose interesting volume* we have already quoted, says that\nthe platform of this party bound them to abolitionism, anti-orthodoxy,\nwomen's rights, total abstinence, and opposition to war. They\nestablished themselves at Hopedale, Massachusetts, where, so far as\nour knowledge goes, some vestige of them may still remain, though the\nanalogies and probabilities are all against such a survival. A second\nband of \"come-outers,\" as people used to be called in that day and\nregion, when they abandoned the common road for reasons not obviously\ncompulsory, went to Northampton in the same State, and from there\ninto corporate obscurity.\n\n[* _Years of Experience._ New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1887.]\n\nMr. Ripley's scheme was more elastic, and if the money basis of the\nassociation had been more solid, there seems no reason on the face of\nthings why this community at Brook Farm might not have enjoyed a much\nlonger lease of life. It seems to have left a most pleasant memory in\nthe minds of all who were ever members of it. In matters of belief\nand of opinion no hard-and-fast lines were drawn at any point. In\nmatters of conduct, the morality of self-respecting New-Englanders\nwho were at a farther remove from Puritanic creeds than from\nPuritanic discipline, was regarded as a sufficient guarantee of\nsocial decorum. Of the earliest additions to the co-operative\nhousehold, a sprinkling were already Catholic; others, including the\nwife and the niece of the founder, afterwards became so. Some\nattended orthodox Protestant churches; the majority were probably\nUnitarians. Discussion on all subjects appears to have been free,\nfrank, and good-tempered.\n\nThere was no attempt made at any communism except that of\nintellectual and social gifts and privileges. There was a common\ntable, and Mrs. Kirby has given us some attractive glimpses of the\ngood feeling, and kindly gayety, and practical observance of the\nprecept to \"bear one another's burdens\" which came into play around\nit. For many months, as no one could endure to have his equal serve\nhim, and all were equals, there was a constant getting up and down at\ntable so that each might help himself. Afterwards, when decline had\nalready set in, so far as the material basis of the undertaking was\nconcerned, and those who had its success most at heart had begun to\nstudy Fourier for fruitful suggestions, the first practical hint from\nthat quarter resulted in Mr. Dana's organizing \"a group of\nservitors.\" These, writes Mrs. Kirby,* comprised \"four of the most\nelegant youths at the community--the son of a Louisiana planter, a\nyoung Spanish hidalgo, a rudimentary Free-soiler from Hingham, and,\nif I remember rightly, Edward Barlow (the brother of Francis). These,\nwith one accord, elected as chief their handsome and beloved teacher.\nIt is hardly necessary to observe that the business was henceforth\nattended to with such courtly grace and such promptness that the new\n_regime_ was applauded by every one, although it did appear at first\nas if we were all engaged in acting a play. The group, with their\nadmired chief, took dinner, which had been kept warm for them,\nafterwards, and were themselves waited upon with the utmost\nconsideration, but I confess I never could get accustomed to the new\nregulation.\"\n\n[* _Years of Experience,_ pp. 178, 179.]\n\nThe watchword of the place was fraternity, not communism. People took\nup residence at Brook Farm on different terms. Some paid a stipulated\nboard, and thus freed themselves from any obligatory share in either\ndomestic or out-door labor. Others contributed smaller sums and\nworked out the balance. Some gave labor only, as was the case with\nMrs. Kirby, then Georgiana Bruce, an English girl of strong\ncharacter. She says she agreed to work eight hours a day for her\nboard and instruction in any branches of study which she elected to\npursue. As an illustration of the actual poverty to which the\ncommunity were soon reduced, and, moreover, of the low money value\nthey set on domestic labor, we give another characteristic passage\nfrom her book. The price of full board, as we learn from a bill sent\nby Mr. Ripley to Isaac Hecker after the latter's final departure from\nthe Farm, was five dollars and fifty cents a week:\n\n\"When a year had elapsed I found my purse empty and my wardrobe much\nthe worse for wear. As I was known to be heartily interested in the\nnew movement, my case was taken under consideration, and, with the\nunderstanding that I was to add two more hours to my working day, I\nwas admitted as _bona-fide_ member of the association (which included\nonly a dozen), and was allowed to draw on the treasury for my very\nmoderate necessities. Forty dollars a year would cover these,\nwriting-paper and postage included. The last item was no unimportant\none, as each letter cost from ten to fifty cents, and money counted\nfor more then than now.\n\n\"I should explain that for the whole of one winter there remained but\ntwo bonnets fit for city eyes among six of us. But the best of these\nwas forced on whomever was going to town. As for best dresses, a\ntwenty-five cent delaine was held to be gorgeous apparel. The\ngentlemen had found it desirable to adopt a tunic in place of the\nmore expensive, old-world coat.\"*\n\n[* _Years of Experience,_ p. 132.]\n\nThe income of the association was derived from various sources other\nthan the prices paid for board. There was a school for young\nchildren, presided over by Mrs. Ripley, assisted by various\npupil-teachers, who thus partially recompensed the community for\ntheir own support. Fruit, milk, and vegetables, when there were any\nto spare, were sent to the Boston markets. Now and then some\nbenevolent philanthropist with means would make a donation. No one\nwho entered was expected to contribute his whole income to the\ngeneral purse, unless such income would not more than cover the\nactual expense incurred for him. When Isaac Hecker went to West\nRoxbury the establishment included seventy inmates, who were\ndistributed in several buildings bearing such poetical names as the\nHive, the Eyrie, the Nest, and so on. The number rose to ninety or a\nhundred before he left them, but the additions seem occasionally to\nhave been in the nature of subtractions also, taking away more of the\ncultivation, refinement, and general good feeling which had been the\ndistinguishing character of the place, than they added by their money\nor their labor.\n\nIsaac Hecker was never an actual member of that inner community of\nwhose aspirations and convictions the Farm was intended as an\nembodiment. He entered at first as a partial boarder, paying four\ndollars a week, and undertaking also the bread-making, which until\nthen had been very badly done, as he writes to his mother. It should\nbe understood that whatever was received from any inmate, either in\nmoney or labor, was accepted not as a mere return for food and\nshelter, but as an equivalent for such instruction as could be\nimparted by any other member of the collective family. And there were\nmany competent and brilliant men and women there, whose attainments\nnot only qualified them amply for the tasks they then assumed, but\nhave since made them prominent in American letters and journalism.\nMr. Ripley lectured on modern philosophy to all who desired an\nacquaintance with Spinoza, Kant, Cousin, and their compeers. George\nP. Bradford was a thorough classical scholar. Charles A. Dana, then\nfresh from Harvard, was an enthusiast for German literature, and\nsuccessful in imparting both knowledge and enthusiasm to his pupils.\nThere were classes in almost everything that any one cared to study.\nFrench and music, as we learn from one of Isaac's letters home, were\nwhat he set himself to at the first. The latter was taught by so\naccomplished a master as John S. Dwight, who conducted weekly\nsinging-schools for both children and adults.\n\nTo what other studies Isaac may have applied himself we hardly know.\nIt will be noticed that Mr. George William Curtis, in the kindly\nreminiscences which he permits us to embody in this chapter, says\nthat he does not remember him as \"especially studious.\" The remark\ntallies with the impression we have gathered from the journal kept\nwhile he was there. His mind was introverted. Philosophical\nquestions, then as always, interested him profoundly, but only in so\nfar as they led to practical results. It might be truer to say that\nphilosophy was at no time more than the handmaid of theology to him.\nAt this period he was in the thick of his struggle to attain\ncertainty with regard to the nature and extent of the Christian\nrevelation, and what he sought at Brook Farm was the leisure and\nquiet and opportunity for solitude which could not be his at home.\n\"Lead me into Thy holy Church, which I now am seeking,\" he writes as\nthe final petition of the prayer with which the first bulky volume of\nhis diary opens. With the burden of that search upon him, it was not\npossible for such a nature as his to plunge with the unreserve which\nis the condition of success into any study which had no direct\nreference to it. We find him complaining at frequent intervals that\nhe cannot give his studies the attention they demand. Nor were his\nlabors as the community baker of long continuance. They left him too\nlittle time at his own disposal, and in a short time he became a full\nboarder, and occupied himself only as his inclinations directed.\n\nIt may occur to some of our readers to wonder why a man like\nBrownson, who was then fast nearing the certainty he afterwards\nattained, should have sent a youth like Isaac Hecker to Brook Farm.\nIt must be remembered that Brownson's road to the Church was not so\ndirect as that of his young disciple, nor so entirely free in all its\nstages from self-crippling considerations. As we shall presently see,\nby an abstract of one of his sermons, preached in the spring of 1843,\nwhich was made by Isaac Hecker at the time, Brownson thought it\npossible to hold all Catholic truth and yet defer entering the Church\nuntil she should so far abate her claims as to form a friendly\nalliance with orthodox Protestantism on terms not too distasteful to\nthe latter. He was not yet willing to depart alone, and hoped by\nwaiting to take others with him, and he was neither ready to renounce\nwholly his private views, nor to counsel such a step to young Hecker.\nHe was in harmony, moreover, with the tolerant and liberal tendency\nwhich influenced the leading spirits at Brook Farm. Although he never\nbecame one of the community, he had sent his son Orestes there as a\npupil, and was a frequent visitor himself. Their aims, as expressed\nin a passage which we subjoin from _The Dial_ of January, 1842, were\nassuredly such as would approve themselves to persons who fully\naccepted what they believed to be the social teaching of our Lord,\nbut who had not attained to any true conception of the Divine\nauthority which clothes that teaching:\n\n\"Whoever is satisfied with society as it is; whose sense of justice\nis not wounded by its common action, institutions, spirit of\ncommerce, has no business with this community; neither has any one\nwho is willing to have other men (needing more time for intellectual\ncultivation than himself) give their best hours and strength to\nbodily labor to secure himself immunity therefrom. . . . Everything\ncan be said of it, in a degree, which Christ said of His kingdom, and\ntherefore it is believed that in some measure it does embody His\nidea. For its Gate of Entrance is strait and narrow. It is,\nliterally, a pearl _hidden in a field._ Those only who are willing to\nlose their life for its sake shall find it. . . . Those who have not\nthe faith that the principles of Christ's kingdom are applicable to\nthis world, will smile at it as a visionary attempt.\"\n\nBrook Farm has an interest for Catholics because, in the order of\nguileless nature, it was the preamble of that common life which Isaac\nHecker afterwards enjoyed in its supernatural realization in the\nChurch. It was a protest against that selfishness of the individual\nwhich is highly accentuated in a large class of New-Englanders, and\nprodigiously developed in the economical conditions of modern\nsociety. Against these Isaac had revolted in New York; at Brook Farm\nhe hoped to find their remedy. And in fact the gentle reformers, as\nwe may call these West Roxbury adventurers into the unexplored\nregions of the common life, were worthy of their task though not\nequal to it. There is no doubt that in small numbers and with a\npartial surrender of individual prerogatives, well-meaning men and\nwomen may taste many of the good things and be able to bear some of\nthe hardships of the common life. But to compass in permanent form\nits aspirations in this direction, as in many others, nature is\nincompetent. The terrible if wonderful success of Sparta is what can\nbe attained, and tells at what cost. The economy of the bee-hive,\nwhich kills or drives away its superfluous members, and the polity of\nSparta, which put the cripples and the aged to death, are essential\nto permanent success in the venture of communism in the natural\norder. \"Sweetness and light\" are enjoyed by the few only at the\nsacrifice of the unwholesome and burdensome members of the hive.\n\nBrook Farm, however, was not conceived in any spirit of cruelty or of\ncontempt of the weaker members of humanity; the very contrary was the\ncase. Sin and feebleness were capable, thought its founders, of\nelimination by the force of natural virtue. The men and women who\ngathered there in its first years were noble of their kind; and their\nkind, now much less frequently met with, was the finest product of\nnatural manhood. Of the channels of information which reach us from\nBrook Farm, and we believe we have had access to them all, none\ncontains the slightest evidence of sensuality, the least trace of the\nselfishness of the world, or even any sign of the extravagances of\nspiritual pride. There is, on the other hand, a full acknowledgment\nof the ordinary failings of unpretentious good people. Nor do we mean\nto say that they were purely in the natural order--who can be said to\nbe that? They were the descendants of the baptized Puritans whose\nreligious fervor had been for generations at white heat. They had,\nindeed, cut the root, but the sap of Christian principle still\nlingered in the trunk and branches and brought forth fruit which was\nsupernatural, though destined never to ripen.\n\nChrist was the model of the Brook-Farmers, as He had become that of\nIsaac Hecker. They did not know Him as well as they knew His\ndoctrine. They knew better what He said than why He said it, and that\ndefect obscured His meaning and mystified their understandings. That\nall men were brethren was the result of their study of humanity under\nwhat they conceived to be His leadership; that all labor is\nhonorable, and entitled to equal remuneration, was their solution of\nthe social problem. While any man was superfluously rich, they\nmaintained, no man should be miserably poor. They were reaching after\nwhat the best spirits of the human race were then and now longing\nfor, and they succeeded as well as any can who employ only the\nselvage of the Christian garment to protect themselves against the\nrigors of nature. Saint-Simon was a far less worthy man than George\nRipley, but he failed no more signally. Frederic Ozanam, whose\nambition was limited in its scope by his appreciation of both nature\nand the supernatural, succeeded in establishing a measure of true\nfraternity between rich and poor throughout the Catholic world.\n\nThere can be no manner of doubt that although Father Hecker in after\nlife could good-naturedly smile at the singularities of Brook Farm,\nwhat he saw and was taught there had a strong and permanent effect on\nhis character. It is little to say that the influence was refining to\nhim, for he was refined by nature. But he gained what was to him a\nconstant corrective of any tendency to man-hatred in all its degrees,\nnot needed by himself to be sure, but always needed in his dealing\nwith others. It gave to a naturally trustful disposition the vim and\nvigor of an apostolate for a cheerful view of human nature. It was a\ncharacteristic trait of his to expect good results from reliance on\nhuman virtue, and his whole success as a persuades of men was largely\nto be explained by the subtle flattery of this trustful attitude\ntowards them. At Brook Farm the mind of Isaac Hecker was eagerly\nlooking for instruction. It failed to get even a little clear light\non the more perplexing problems of life, but it got something\nbetter--the object-lesson of good men and women struggling nobly and\nunselfishly for laudable ends. Brook Farm was an attempt to remove\nobstructions from the pathway of human progress, taking that word in\nthe natural sense.\n\nEven afterwards, when he had known human destiny in its perfect\nsupernatural and natural forms, and when the means to compass it were\nin his possession and plainly competent for success, his memory\nreproduced the scenes and persons of Brook Farm in an atmosphere of\naffection and admiration, though not unmingled with amusement. He\nused not infrequently to quote words heard there, and cite examples\nof things done there, as lessons of wisdom not only for the\nphilosopher but also for the ascetic. He was there equipped with the\nnecessary external guarantee of his inner consciousness that man is\ngood, because made so by his Creator--inclined indeed to evil, but\nyet a good being, even so inclined. Nothing is more necessary for one\nwho is to be a teacher among a population whose Catholicity is of\nblood and family tradition as well as of grace, than to know that\nthere is virtue, true and high in its own order, outside the visible\npale of the Church. Especially is this necessary if Catholics in any\nage or country are to be fitted for a missionary vocation. That this\nis the vocation of the Church of his day was Isaac Hecker's\npassionate conviction. He was able to communicate this to Catholics\nof the old stock as well as to influence non-Catholics in favor of\nthe Church; perhaps even more so. More than anything else, indeed,\nBrook Farm taught him the defect of human nature on its highest\nplane; but it taught him also the worthiness of the men and women of\nAmerica of the apostle's toil and blood. The gentle natures whom he\nthere knew and learned to love, their spirit of self-sacrifice for\nthe common good, their minds at once innocent and cultivated, their\ndevotion to their high ideal, the absence of meanness, coarseness,\nvulgarity, the sinking of private ambitions, the patience with the\ndefects of others, their desire to establish the communism of at\nleast intellectual gifts--all this and much more of the kind fixed\nhis views and affections in a mould which eminently fitted him as a\nvessel of election for apostolic uses.\n\nBefore passing to the study of Isaac Hecker's own interior during the\nperiod of his residence at Brook Farm, it is our pleasant privilege\nto communicate to our readers the subjoined charming reminiscence of\nhis personality at the time, from one who was his associate there:\n\n\"West New Brighton, S.I., February 28, 1890.--DEAR SIR: I fear that\nmy recollections of Father Hecker will be of little service to you,\nfor they are very scant. But the impression of the young man whom I\nknew at Brook Farm is still vivid. It must have been in the year 1843\nthat he came to the Farm in West Roxbury, near Boston. He was a youth\nof twenty-three, of German aspect, and I think his face was somewhat\nseamed with small-pox. But his sweet and candid expression, his\ngentle and affectionate manner, were very winning. He had an air of\nsingular refinement and self-reliance combined with a half-eager\ninquisitiveness, and upon becoming acquainted with him, I told him\nthat he was Ernest the Seeker, which was the title of a story of\nmental unrest which William Henry Channing was then publishing in the\n_Dial._\n\n\"Hecker, or, as I always called him and think of him, Isaac, had\napparently come to Brook Farm because it was a result of the\nintellectual agitation of the time which had reached and touched him\nin New York. He had been bred a baker, he told me, and I remember\nwith what satisfaction he said to me, 'I am sure of my livelihood\nbecause I can make good bread.' His powers in this way were most\nsatisfactorily tested at the Farm, or, as it was generally called,\n'the Community,' although it was in no other sense a community than\nan association of friendly workers in common. He was drawn to Brook\nFarm by the belief that its life would be at least agreeable to his\nconvictions and tastes, and offer him the society of those who might\nanswer some of his questions, even if they could not satisfy his\nlongings.\n\n\"By what influences his mind was first affected by the moral movement\nknown in New England as transcendentalism, I do not know. Probably he\nmay have heard Mr. Emerson lecture in New York, or he may have read\nBrownson's _Charles Elwood,_ which dealt with the questions that\nengaged his mind and conscience. But among the many interesting\nfigures at Brook Farm I recall none more sincerely absorbed than\nIsaac Hecker in serious questions. The merely aesthetic aspects of its\nlife, its gayety and social pleasures, he regarded good-naturedly,\nwith the air of a spectator who tolerated rather than needed or\nenjoyed them. There was nothing ascetic or severe in him, but I have\noften thought since that his feeling was probably what he might have\nafterward described as a consciousness that he must be about his\nFather's business.\n\n\"I do not remember him as especially studious. Mr. Ripley had classes\nin German philosophy and metaphysics, in Kant and Spinoza, and Isaac\nused to look in, as he turned wherever he thought he might find\nanswers to his questions. He went to hear Theodore Parker preach in\nthe Unitarian Church in the neighboring village of West Roxbury. He\nwent into Boston, about ten miles distant, to talk with Brownson, and\nto Concord to see Emerson. He entered into the working life at the\nFarm, but always, as it seemed to me, with the same reserve and\nattitude of observation. He was the dove floating in the air, not yet\nfinding the spot on which his foot might rest.\n\n\"The impression that I gathered from my intercourse with him, which\nwas boyishly intimate and affectionate, was that of all 'the apostles\nof the newness,' as they were gayly called, whose counsel he sought,\nBrownson was the most satisfactory to him. I thought then that this\nwas due to the authority of Brownson's masterful tone, the\ndefiniteness of his views, the force of his 'understanding,' as the\nword was then philosophically used in distinction from the reason.\nBrownson's mental vigor and positiveness were very agreeable to a\ncandid mind which was speculatively adrift and experimenting, and, as\nit seemed to me, which was more emotional than logical. Brownson,\nafter his life of varied theological and controversial activity, was\ndrawing toward the Catholic Church, and his virile force fascinated\nthe more delicate and sensitive temper of the young man, and, I have\nalways supposed, was the chief influence which at that time affected\nHecker's views, although he did not then enter the Catholic Church.\n\n\"He was a general favorite at Brook Farm, always equable and playful,\nwholly simple and frank in manner. He talked readily and easily, but\nnot controversially. His smile was singularly attractive and\nsympathetic, and the earnestness of which I have spoken gave him an\nunconscious personal dignity. His temperament was sanguine. The whole\nair of the youth was that of goodness. I do not think that the\nimpression made by him forecast his career, or, in any degree, the\nleadership which he afterwards held in his Church. But everybody who\nknew him at that time must recall his charming amiability.\n\n\"I think that he did not remain at Brook Farm for a whole year, and\nwhen later he went to Belgium to study theology at the seminary of\nMons he wrote me many letters, which I am sorry to say have\ndisappeared. I remember that he labored with friendly zeal to draw me\nto his Church, and at his request I read the life and some writing of\nSt. Alphonse of Liguori. Gradually our correspondence declined when I\nwas in Europe, and was never resumed; nor do I remember seeing him\nagain more than once, many years ago. There was still in the clerical\nfigure, which was very strange to me, the old sweetness of smile and\naddress; there was some talk of the idyllic days, some warm words of\nhearty good will, but our interests were very different, and,\nparting, we went our separate ways. For a generation we lived in the\nsame city, yet we never met. But I do not lose the bright\nrecollection of Ernest the Seeker, nor forget the frank, ardent,\ngenerous, manly youth, Isaac Hecker.\n\n\"Very truly yours,\n\n\"GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nINNER LIFE WHILE AT BROOK FARM\n\nTHE private journals from which we are about to quote so largely were\nan unhoped-for addition to the stock of materials available for\nFather Hecker's biography. Until after his death not even their\nexistence, still less the nature of their contents, was suspected.\nWith the exception of two important documents, one written while he\nwas in Belgium, in obedience to the requirements of his director; the\nother in Rome, for the consideration of the four venerable religious\nwhose advice he sought before founding his community, no records of\nhis interior life have been discovered which are at all comparable in\nfulness to those made during the eighteen months which preceded his\nadmission to the Church. In his years of health and strength he lived\nand worked for others; and in those weary ones of illness which\nfollowed them, he thought and wrote and suffered, but apparently\nwithout making any deliberate notes of his deeper personal experience.\n\nOn those of our readers whose acquaintance with Father Hecker dates,\nas our own does, from his intensely active and laborious prime, these\nrevelations of the period when he was being passively wrought upon\nand shaped for his work by the hand of God, may produce an effect not\nunlike that we have been conscious of in studying the greater mass\nfrom which our extracts are taken. They will, perhaps, be struck, in\nthe first place, by the unexpectedly strong witness they bear to the\nwholly interior and mystical experience of the man. They testify,\nmoreover, to the real and objective character of that leading which\nhe was constrained to follow; and not only that. They do so in a way\nwhich furnishes a convincing reply to a very plausible doubt as to\nwhether the narrow and uncongenial surroundings of his early life\nmight not, by themselves, be sufficient to explain the discontent of\na poetic and aspiring nature such as his.\n\nHe was at Brook Farm when that community was at its pleasantest. The\nshadow of care and the premonition of failure were, indeed, already\nlooming up before those who bore the chief responsibilities of the\nundertaking, but the group by virtue of whose presence it became\nfamous had hardly begun to dwindle. And besides those whose names\nhave since become well known, there were others, young, gay,\nintelligent, and well bred, acquaintance and familiarity with whom\nwere in many ways attractive to a susceptible youth like Isaac\nHecker. What impression he made upon the circle he entered, how\ncordially he was received and held in high esteem, our readers\nalready know. And if he gave pleasure, he received it also. At first\nthe new circumstances were a little strange and embarrassing to him.\nAfter a fortnight, or thereabouts, we find him noting that he is \"not\none of their spirits. They say 'Mr. Hecker' in a tone they do not use\nin speaking to each other.\" But the strangeness soon wore off and he\nyielded to the influence of the place with a wholeness which would\nhave been entire but for the stronger drawing which never let him\nfree.\n\nOn this point, too, the witness of the journal is peremptory. So it\nis as to the unity and consistence of his interior experiences from\nfirst to last. Child, and boy, and man, there was always the same\nardent sincerity of purpose in him, the same docility to the Voice\nthat spoke within, the same attitude toward \"the life that now is\"\nwhich Mr. Curtis, in the letter given in the preceding chapter, has\ndescribed, with so fine an insight, as one of reserve and\nobservation. \"He was the dove floating in the air, not yet finding\nthe spot on which his foot might rest,\" writes Mr. Curtis of Isaac\nHecker at that period of his youth when his surroundings and\ncompanions were for the first time, and very possibly for the last,\nwholly congenial to his natural inclinations. And again: \"There was\nnothing ascetic or severe in him; but I have often thought since that\nhis feeling was probably what he might have afterward described as a\nconsciousness that he must be about his Father's business.\"\n\nThese words are significant testimony to the nobility of the\nimpression made on others by Father Hecker's personality in early\nmanhood. Even if our only addition to such scanty knowledge of his\nlife at Brook Farm as could be gathered from his own conversations in\nlater years were this happily-touched sketch, it could hardly be more\ninteresting than it is. But, fortunately, it does not stand alone.\nIts fine recognition of the lofty purity of his nature is everywhere\nborne out by the unpremeditated and candid self-revelations of the\ndiary. Their characteristic trait is everywhere aspiration--a sense\nof joy in elevation above the earthly, or a sense of depression\nbecause the earthly weighs him down. Then come eager glances of\ninquiry in every direction for the satisfaction of his aspirations,\nlittle by little narrowing down to the Catholic Church, wherein the\ndove of Mr. Curtis's image was finally to rest his foot for ever. And\nin all this he scarcely at all mentions a dread of the Divine wrath\nas a motive for his flight. It is not out of the city of destruction,\nbut toward the celestial city that he goes. He is drawn by what he\nwants, not hounded by what he fears. Always there is the reaching out\nof a strong nature toward what it lacks--a material for its strength\nto work on, a craving for rational joy, coupled with an\never-increasing conviction that nature cannot give him such a boon.\nMen who knew Father Hecker only in his royal maturity, sometimes\ncavilled at his words of emphatic faith in guileless nature; but they\nhad only to know him a little better to learn his appreciation of the\nsupernatural order, and his recognition of its absolute and exclusive\ncompetency to satisfy nature's highest aspirations. Reading these\nearly journals, we have constantly recalled the later days when he so\noften, and sometimes continually, repeated, \"Religion is a boon!\" No\none could know that better than he who had so deeply felt the want it\nsatisfies.\n\nThe diary was begun in the middle of April, 1843, when Isaac had just\nreturned to Brook Farm after a fortnight spent at home. It opens with\na prayer for light and direction, which is its dedication to the uses\nnot only of an earnest but a religious seeker. He addresses himself\ndirectly to God as Father, not making either appeal or reference to\nour Lord. But there is in it an invocation to those \"that are in\nheaven to intercede and plead\" for him, which recalls the fact, so\noften mentioned by him, that it was the teaching of the Catechism of\nthe Council of Trent on the Communion of Saints which cleared away\nhis final clouds and brought him directly to the Church. There is a\nnote, too, among his later papers, in which, speaking of the\nphenomena of modern spiritualism, he says that the same longing for\nan assurance of personal immortality which leads so many into that\nmaze of mingled truth and error, had a great share in disposing his\nmind to accept the authoritative doctrine of the Church, which here\nas elsewhere answered fully the deepest longings of his soul.\n\nWe shall not attempt to follow the chronological order of the journal\nwith exactness, but in making our extracts shall pursue the order of\ntopics rather than of time. By the middle of April the question of\nthe Church had presented itself so unmistakably to Isaac Hecker, as\nthe necessary preliminary to further progress--to be settled in one\nway or another, either set definitely aside as unessential or else\naccepted as the adequate solution of man's problems, that his\nstruggles for and against it recur with especial frequency. Faber has\nsaid somewhere that the Church is the touchstone of rational\nhumanity, and that probably no adult passes out of life without\nhaving once, at least, been brought squarely face to face with it and\nmade to understand and shoulder the tremendous responsibility which\nits claims impose. There would be no need of a touchstone if there\nwere no alloy in human nature, no feebleness in man's will, no\ndarkness in his understanding. Were that the condition of humanity,\nthe call to the supernatural order would be simply the summons to\ncome up higher, its symbol a beacon torch upon the heights. As it is,\nthe path may be mistaken. He whose feet have been set in it from\nbirth by Christian training may wilfully forsake it. He whose heart\nis pure and whose aspirations noble, may be so surrounded by the\nmists of inherited error and misapprehension that the light of truth\nfails to penetrate them when it first dawns. The road is always\nstrait which leads any son of Adam to supernal joy in conscious union\nwith his Creator, even when his will is good and his desire unfeigned.\n\nWe shall find, therefore, that Isaac Hecker's struggles were many and\npainful before he fully recognized and attained the necessary means\nto the end he craved. They were characteristic also. He was looking\nfor the satisfaction of his rational aspirations rather than for the\nsolution of historical problems, although his mind was too clear not\nto see that the two are inextricably bound up together. But inasmuch\nas at the period of which we are writing, which was that of the\nOxford Tracts, controversy turned mainly on questions of historical\ncontinuity and of Divine warrant in the external revelation of holy\nScripture, it follows that he, and such as he, must have taken a\nlonely and unfrequented road towards the truth. Every time he looked\nat the Church he was greeted with the spectacle of unity and\nuniformity, of discipline and order. These are elements which always\nhave been, and probably always will be, most attractive to the\nclasses called educated, to men seeking for external notes of truth,\nflying from disorder, fearful of rebellion. But to Isaac Hecker, the\nonly external note which deeply attracted him was that of universal\nbrotherhood. If he were to bow his knee with joy to Jesus Christ, it\nwould be because all, in heaven and earth or hell, should one day\nbend in union with him.\n\nIt takes an intimate knowledge of Catholicity to perceive the\ninterior transformation of humanity by its supernatural aids. On the\none hand, the influence of Isaac Hecker's Brook Farm surroundings was\nto persuade him to confide wholly in nature, which there was very\nnearly at its unaided best. On the other hand, the treasures of\nCatholicity for the inner life were hidden from him. Religion, in his\nconception of it--in the true conception of it--must be the binding\nof all things together, natural and supernatural. Hence we find him\nat times complaining that the Church is not sufficient for _his\nwants._ If it were not personal in its adaptation to him, it was\nlittle that it should be historical this, hierarchical that, or\nbiblical the other. It must be his primarily, because he cannot live\na rational and pure life without it. An ordinarily decorous life, if\nyou will; free from lust or passion, and without gross unreason, but\nnevertheless tame, unprogressive, dry and unproductive, without any\nabsolute certainty except that of the helplessness of man. Such a\nlife seemed to him hardly more than a synonym for death. \"The fact\nis,\" as he writes on a page now lying before us, \"I want to live\nevery moment. I want something positive, living, nourishing. I\nnegative only by affirming.\"\n\nThe earliest entry in this diary has been already quoted in the first\n\n\n\nCHAPTER of the present biography. On its second page occurs the\nfollowing account of his impressions while in church on Easter Sunday:\n\n\"Monday, April 17, 1843.--Yesterday I went to the Catholic church\nat West Roxbury. It was Easter Sunday. The services were, to me, very\nimpressively affecting. The altar-piece represented Christ's rising\nfrom the tomb, and this was the subject-matter of the priest's\nsermon. In the midst of it he turned and pointed to the painting,\nwith a few touching words. All eyes followed his, which made his\nremarks doubly affecting. How inspiring it must be to the priest,\nwhen he is preaching, to see around him the Saviour, and the goodly\ncompany of martyrs, saints, and fathers! There may be objections to\nhaving paintings and sculptures in churches, but I confess that I\nnever enter a place where there is either but I feel an awe, an\ninvisible influence, which strikes me mute. I would sit in silence,\ncovering my head. A sanctified atmosphere seems to fill the place and\nto penetrate my soul when I enter, as if I were in a holy temple.\n'Thou standest in a holy place,' I would say. A loud word, a heavy\nfootstep, makes me shudder, as if an infidel were desecrating the\nplace. I stand speechless, in a magical atmosphere that wraps my\nwhole being, scarcely daring to lift my eyes. A perfect stillness\ncomes over my soul; it seems to be soaring on the bosom of clouds.\"\n\n\"Tuesday, April 18.--I confess that either the Church is not\nsufficient for my wants or I have not seen it in its glory. I hope it\nmay be the latter. I do not want to say it, but I must own that it\nfills me no more. I contemplate it, I look at it, I comprehend it. It\ndoes not lead me to aspire. I feel that either it has nothing to\ngive, or that what it has is not that for which my soul is aching. I\nknow it can be said in reply that I cannot know what the Church has\nuntil I am in communion with it; that it satisfies natures greater\nthan mine; that it is the true life of the world; that there is no\ntrue spirituality outside of it, and that before I can judge it\nrightly my life must be equal to it in purity and elevation. Much\nmore might be said. But, after all, what is it? The Catholic shows up\nthe Anglican; the Anglican retorts with an accusation of corruption,\nand even a want of purity; the Protestant, the Presbyterian, claim\ntheir own mission at the expense of consistency and good logic. . . .\n\n\"The whole fact, I suppose, is that if there is anything in\nSuccession, Tradition, Infallibility, Church organism and form, it is\nin the Catholic Church, and our business will be to stop this\ncontroversy and call an Ecumenical Council which shall settle these\nmatters according to the Bible, Tradition, and the light of the\nChurch.\"\n\nThere is a touch of unconscious humor in the final paragraph which\nclamored for quotation. But it was plainly written in profound\nearnest.\n\n\"Thursday, April 20.--My soul is disquieted, my heart aches. . .\nTears flow from my eyes involuntarily. My soul is grieved--for what?\nYesterday, as I was praying, the thought flashed across my mind,\nWhere is God? Is He not here? Why prayest thou as if He were at a\ngreat distance from thee? Think of it. Where canst thou place Him--in\nwhat locality? Is He not here in thy midst? Is His presence not\nnearest of all to thee? Oh, think of it! God is here. . . .\n\n\"Am I impious to say that the language used in Scripture for Christ's\nexpresses the thoughts of my soul? Oh, could we but understand that\nthe kingdom of heaven is always _at hand_ to the discerner, and that\nGod calls upon all to 'Repent, for ye shall not all disappear until\nit shall open. This generation shall not pass away.'\"\n\nThen follows a page of philosophizing on time and eternity, immensity\nand space, and \"monads who may develop or fulfil their destiny in\nother worlds than this,\" a reminiscence, perhaps, of the lectures on\nsuch topics at which Mr. Curtis says Isaac used to \"look in,\" hoping\nto \"find an answer to his questions.\" Such speculations are a trait\nthroughout the diary, though they are everywhere subordinate to the\npractical ends which dominantly interest him. A day or two later\ncomes a passage, already given in a preceding chapter, in reference\nto certain prophetic dreams which it has been given him to see\nrealized. And at once this follows:\n\n\"April 24, Noon.--The Catholic Church alone seems to satisfy my\nwants, my faith, life, soul. These may be baseless fabrics, chimeras\ndire, or what you please. I may be laboring under a delusion. Yet my\nsoul is Catholic, and that faith responds to my soul in its religious\naspirations and its longings. I have not wished to make myself\nCatholic, but that answers on all sides to the wants of my soul. It\nis so rich, so full. One is in harmony all over--in unison with\nheaven, with the present, living in the natural body, and the past,\nwho have changed. There is a solidarity between them through the\nChurch. I do not feel controversial. My soul is filled.\"\n\nFrom this point he speedily recedes. By the next day he is \"lost\nalmost in the flesh\"; \"fallen into an identity with my body,\" and\nnotes that for some time he has \"done little in study, but feel that\nI have lived very much.\" What hinders him he supposes to be\n\"contemplating any certain amount of study which I ought to\naccomplish--looking to it as an end. Why should I not be satisfied\nwhen I am living, growing? Did Christ and His apostles study\nlanguages? I have the life--is not that the end?\"\n\n\"April 28.--What shall I say? Am I wrong? Should I submit and give\nmyself up to that which does not engage my whole being? To me the\nChurch is not the great object of life. I am now out of it in the\ncommon meaning. I am not subject to its ordinances. Is it not best\nfor me to accept my own nature rather than attempt to mould it as\nthough it were an object? Is not our own existence more than this\nexistence in the world?\n\n\"I read this morning an extract from Heine upon Schelling which\naffected me more than anything I have read for six months. The\nChurch, says Schelling in substance, was first Petrine, then Pauline,\nand must be love-embracing, John-like. Peter, Catholicism; Paul,\nProtestantism; John, what is to be. The statement struck me and\nresponded to my own dim intuitions. Catholicism is solidarity;\nProtestantism is individuality. What we want, and are tending to, is\nwhat shall unite them both, as John's spirit does--and that in each\nindividual. We want neither the authority of History nor of the\nIndividual; neither Infallibility nor Reason by itself but both\ncombined in Life. Neither Precedent nor Opinion, but Being--neither a\nwritten nor a preached Gospel, but a living one. . . .\n\n\"It is only through Christ we can see the love, goodness, and wisdom\nof God. He is to us what the telescope is to the astronomer, with\nthis difference: He so exalts and purifies us that our subject\nbecomes the power to see. The telescope is a medium through which the\nboundaries of our vision are enlarged, but it is passive. Christ is\nan active Mediator who begets us if we will, and gives us power to\nsee by becoming one with Him.\"\n\n\"May 3.--We all look upon this world as suits our moods,\nassimilating only such food as suits our dispositions--and no doubt\nthere is sufficient variety to suit all. . . . Every personality\nindividualizes the world to himself not subjectively but truly\nobjectively. . . . Every individual ought, perhaps, to be satisfied\nwith his own character. For it is an important truth of Fourier's\nthat attractions are in proportion to destinies. Fear in proportion\nto hope, pain in proportion to pleasure, strength in proportion to\ndestiny, etc. But it is mysterious that we know all this. 'Man has\nbecome as one of us.' We are all dead.\n\n\"Ah, mystic! dost thou show thyself in this shape? But now, being\ndead, shall we receive life and immortality (for I imagine\nimmortality the solidarity of life--i.e., the union of the two lives,\nhere and heaven) through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and\nso lose 'the knowledge of good and evil.' For as in Adam all died, so\nshall ye all be made alive through Jesus Christ.' The effect of the\nfall was literally the knowledge of good and evil. God knows no evil,\nand when we become one with Him, through the Mediator, we shall\nregain our previous state. Knowledge is the effect of sin, and is\nperhaps destined to correct itself. Consciousness and knowledge go\ntogether. Spontaneity and life are one. Knowledge is no gain, for it\ngives nothing. I can only know what has been given through\nspontaneity. Spontaneity is unity, one; knowledge is division of\nbeing. If Adam had not been separated he would doubtless not have\nsinned. 'The woman that Thou gavest me said unto me, Eat, and I did\neat.' Still, through the seed of the woman, which will be the union\nrestored, is the serpent to be bruised.\"\n\n\"May 4.--The real effect of the theory of the Church is to isolate\nmen from the outward world, withdraw them from its enjoyments, and\nmake them live a life of sacrifice of the passions. This is one\nstatement. Another would be this: all these things can and should be\nenjoyed, but in a higher, purer, more exalted state of being than is\nthe present ordinary condition of our minds. The only opposition to\nthem arises when the soul becomes sensual, falls into their arms, and\nbecomes lost to higher and more spiritual objects. . . .\n\n\"All is dark before me, impenetrable darkness. I appear to live in\nthe centre. Nothing seems to take hold of my soul, or else it seeks\nnothing. Where it is I know not. I meet with no one else around me. I\nwould that I could feel that some one lived in the same world that I\nnow do. Something cloudy separates us. I cannot speak from my real\nbeing to others. There is no mutual recognition. When I speak, it is\nas if a burden accumulated round me. I long to throw it off, but I\ncannot utter my thoughts and feelings in their presence; if I do,\nthey return to me unrecognized. Shall I ever meet with one the\nwindows of whose soul will open simultaneously with mine?\"\n\nOn the first Sunday of May Isaac went into Boston to hear Brownson\npreach, and a day or two later made the subjoined shrewd comments on\nthe sermon in a letter to his mother:\n\n\"May 9, '43.--His intention is to preach the Catholic doctrine and\nadminister the Sacraments. How many of them, I suppose, depends on\ncircumstances. He justifies himself on the ground that he that is not\nagainst us is for us, and that in times of exigency, and in\nextraordinary cases, we may do what we could not be excused for doing\notherwise. And he thinks by proclaiming the Catholic faith and\nrepudiating the attempt to build up a Church, that in time the\nProtestant world will become Catholic in its dispositions, so that a\nunity will be made without submission or sacrifice. Under present\ncircumstances it would be impossible, even if the Protestant churches\nshould be willing to unite with the Catholic, that the Catholic could\neven supply priests for forty millions of Protestants, the Protestant\npriests being most of them married, etc.\n\n\"I confess the sermon was wholly unsatisfactory to me, un-catholic in\nits premises, and many of his arguments and facts chimerical and\nillusive. If you grant that the Roman Catholic Church is the true\nChurch, there is, to my thought, no stopping-place short of its\nbosom. Or even if it is the nearest to the truth, you are under\nobligations to join it. How any one can believe in either one of\nthose propositions, as 0. A. B. does, without becoming a Catholic in\nfact, I cannot conceive. This special pleading of exceptions, the\nnecessity of the case, and improbable suppositions, springs more, I\nthink, from the position of the individual than from the importance\nor truth of the arguments made use of. Therefore I think he will give\nup in time the ground upon which he now supports his course--not the\nobject but his position. . . . I have bought a few Catholic books in\nBoston which treat upon the Anglican claims to Catholicity, and I\nthink I can say, so far, I never shall join a Protestant\nChurch--while I am not positive on the positive side, nor even in any\nway as yet decided.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nSTRUGGLES\n\nTHE citations thus far made from Isaac Hecker's youthful diary,\nalthough penned at Brook Farm, bear few traces of that fact. They\nmight have been written in a desert for all evidence they give of any\nspecial influence produced upon him by personal contact with others.\nIt is not until the middle of May, 1843, that he begins to make any\nreference to his actual surroundings.\n\nBefore following him into these more intimate self-confidences, and\nespecially before giving in his own words an account of that peculiar\noccurrence which so permanently affected his future, some preliminary\nremarks seem necessary.\n\nIt has been said already, in an earlier chapter of this biography,\nthat but for some special intervention of Divine Providence, it is\nmore than probable that Isaac Hecker would have led the ordinary life\nof men in the world, continuing, indeed, to cherish a high ideal of\nthe duties of the citizen of a free country, but pursuing it along\nwell-beaten ways. There is no doubt that, unless some such event as\nhe has narrated, or some influence equivalent to it in effect, had\nsupernaturally drawn him away, he would of his own volition have\nsought what he was repeatedly advised to seek by his most attached\nfriends, a congenial union in wedlock. He was naturally susceptible,\nand his attachments were not only firm, but often seemed obstinate.\nOf celibacy he had, up to this time, no other idea than such as the\ncommon run of non-Catholics possess. At home, indeed, when afterwards\npressed to seek a wife, he had answered, truly enough, though holding\nfast to his secret, that he \"had no thought of marrying and felt an\naversion to company for such an end.\" And again he writes to his\nmother, anxious and troubled for his future, that the circle which\nsurrounded him in New York oppressed and contracted him, and abridged\nhis liberty. There was no one in it who \"increased his life.\"\n\nBut at Brook Farm he met some one, as is revealed by his diary and\ncorrespondence, who deeply attracted him, and who might have\nattracted him as far as marriage had he not already received the Holy\nSpirit's prevenient grace of virginity. That is to say, he found \"a\nbeing,\" to use his impersonal term, whose name and identity he is\ncareful to veil, awkwardly enough at times with misleading pronouns,\nwhose charm was so great as to win from him what would have been, in\nhis normal state, a marital affection. But he was no longer normal.\nAlthough still beyond the visible pale of that garden of elect souls,\nGod's holy Church, he was already transformed by the quickening grace\nwhich \"reaches from end to end mightily and orders all things\nsweetly.\" Our next quotations afford explicit proof on this point:\n\n\"Tuesday, May 16.--Life appears to be a perpetual struggle between\nthe heavenly and the worldly.\n\n\"Here at Brook Farm I become acquainted with persons who have moved\nin a higher rank in society than I--persons of good education and\nfine talents; all of which has an improving influence on me. And I\nmeet with those to whom I can speak, and feel that, to a great\ndegree, I am understood and responded to. In New York I am alone in\nthe midst of people. I am not in any internal sense _en rapport_ with\nthem.\n\n\"I suppose the reason why I do not, in my present state, feel\ndisposed to connect myself with any being, and would rather avoid a\nperson whom I was conscious I might or could love, is that I feel my\nlife to be in a rapid progress, and that no step now would be a\npermanent one. I am afraid the choice I would have made some time\nsince (_if there had not been something deeply secret in my being\nwhich prevented me_) would now be very unsatisfactory. I feel\nconscious there could not have been an equal and mutual advance,\nbecause the natures of some are not capable of much growth. And I\nmistrust whether there would not have been an inequality, hence\ndisharmony and unhappiness.\n\n\"To be required to accept your past is most unpleasant. Perhaps the\nsociety with which I was surrounded did not afford a being that\nunified with mine own. And I have faith that there are spiritual laws\nbeneath all this outward framework of sight and sense, which will, if\nrightly believed in and trusted, lead to the goal of eternal life,\nharmony of being, and union with God. So I accept my being led here.\nAm I superstitious or egoistic in believing this? This is, no doubt,\ndisputed territory. Have we any objective rule to compare our faith\nwith which would give us the measure of our superstition? How much of\nto-day would have seemed miraculous or superstitious to the past? I\nconfess I have no rule or measure to judge the faith of any man.\n\n\"The past is always the state of infancy. The present is an eternal\nyouth, aspiring after manhood; hoping wistfully, intensely desiring,\nlistfully listening, dimly seeing the bright star of hope in the\nfuture, beckoning him to move rapidly on, while his strong heart\nbeats with enthusiasm and glowing joy. The past is dead. Wish me not\nthe dead from the grave, for that would be death re-enacted. . . .\n\n\"Oh, were our wishes in harmony with heaven, how changed would be the\nscenes of our life! . . . This accordance would be music which only\nthe angels now hear--too delicate for beings such as we are at\npresent. List! hast thou not heard in some bright moment a strain\nfrom heaven's angelic choirs? Oh, yes! In our sleep the angels have\nwhispered such rich music, and the soul being then passive, we can\nhear. And the pleasure does not leave us when passion and thought\ntake their accustomed course.\n\n\"O man! were thy soul more pure, what a world would open to thy inner\nsenses! There would be no moment of thy existence but would be filled\nwith the music of love. The prophet said: 'In that day my eyes were\nopened.' And behold what he saw! He saw it. Could we but hear! The\nword of the Lord is ever speaking--alas! where is one that can hear?\nWhere are our Isaiahs, our Ezekiels, our Jeremiahs? Oh! thou\nshrunken-visaged, black, hollow-eyed doubt! hast thou passed like a\ncloud over men's souls, making them blind, deaf and dumb? Ah, ha!\ndost thou shudder? I chant thy requiem, and prophets, poets, and\nseers shall rise again! I see them coming. Great heaven! Earth shall\nbe again a paradise, and God converse with men!\"\n\nThe next entry is undated, but it was probably made on the last day\nof May. It has served to fix the proximate time of the illness and\ndisquiet which led to his first withdrawal from business and home.\n\n\"Wednesday.--About ten months ago--perhaps only seven or eight--I\nsaw (I cannot say I dreamed; it was quite different from dreaming; I\nwas seated on the side of my bed) a beautiful, angelic being, and\nmyself standing alongside of her, feeling a most heavenly pure joy.\nIt was as if our bodies were luminous and gave forth a moon-like\nlight which sprung from the joy we experienced. I felt as if we had\nalways lived together, and that our motions, actions, feelings, and\nthoughts came from one centre. When I looked towards her I saw no\nbold outline of form, but an angelic something I cannot describe,\nthough in angelic shape and image. _It was this picture that has left\nsuch an indelible impression on my mind._ For some time afterward I\ncontinued to feel the same influence, and do now so often that the\nactual around me has lost its hold. _In my state previous to my\nvision I should have married ere this, for there are those I have\nsince seen who would have met the demands of my mind._ But now this\nvision continually hovers over me and prevents me, by its beauty,\nfrom accepting any one else; for I am charmed by its influence, and\nconscious that, should I accept any other, I should lose the life\nwhich would be the only one wherein I could say I live.\"\n\nThose of our readers who are either versed in mystical theology or\nwho have any wide knowledge of the lives of the Church's more\ninterior saints, with neither of which Isaac Hecker had at this time\nany acquaintance, will be apt to recall here St. Francis of Assisi\nand his bride, the Lady Poverty, the similar occurrences related by\nHenry Suso of himself, and the mystic espousals of St. Catharine. We\nhave in this relation not only the plainly avowed reason why he\naccepted the celibate life, even before entering the Church or\narriving at any clear understanding of his duty to do so, but we have\nsomething more. Not yet certain of his own vocation, the dream of a\nvirginal apostolate, including the two sexes, had already absorbed\nhis yearnings, never again to be forgotten. Neither priest nor\nCatholic, save in the as yet unrevealed ordinance of God, he was no\nlonger free to invite any woman to marriage, no matter how deeply he\nmight be sensible of her feminine attraction. The union of souls?\nYes; for uses worthy of souls. The union of bodies? No; that would\nonly clip his wings and narrow his horizon. Thenceforward the test of\ntrue kinship with him could only be a kindred aspiration after union\nin liberty from merely natural trammels, in order to tend more surely\nto a supernatural end.\n\nThis may seem to some a strange beginning to a life so simply and\nentirely set apart from the active, or, at least, public union of the\nsexes in apostolic labors. Strange or not, the reader will see it to\nbe more true as this biography proceeds, and its writer is not\nconscious of any reluctance to make it known. Such an integral\nsupernatural mission to men was what he ever after desired and sought\nto establish, though he only attained success on the male side. We\ncannot deny that this diary, surprising to us in many ways, was most\nso in this particular, although in this particular we found the\nexplanation of many words spoken by Father Hecker in his maturity and\nold age, words the most sober and the most decided we ever heard from\nhim. He never for an hour left out of view the need of women for any\ngreat work of religion, though he doubtless made very sure of his\nauditor before unveiling his whole thought. He never made so much as\na serious attempt to incorporate women with his work, but he never\nceased to look around and to plan with a view to doing so. Among the\npersonal memoranda already mentioned are found evidences of this so\ndirect, and corroborated by such recent facts, that they cannot be\nused until the lapse of time shall have made an extension of this\nlife as well possible as necessary.\n\n\"June 1.--One cannot live a spiritual life in the world because it\nrequires so much labor to supply food and clothing that what is\ninward and eternal has to be given up for the material and life in\ntime. If one has to sustain himself at Brook Farm without other means\nto aid him, he must employ his strength to that degree that he has no\ntime for the culture of the spiritual. I cannot remain and support\nmyself without becoming subject to the same conditions as existed at\nhome. I cannot expect them to be willing to lessen their present\nexpenses much for the sake of gaining time for spiritual culture; nor\ndo I see how I can at home live with my relatives and have the time\nwhich I require. I see no way but to give up the taste for fine\nclothing and variety in food. I would prefer the life of the\nmonastery to that of the external world. The advantages for my being\nare greater. The harmony of the two is the full and perfect\nexistence; but the spiritual should always be preserved at the\nexpense of the other, which is contrary to the tendency of the world,\nand perhaps even to that of this place. I would prefer going hungry\nin body than in soul. I am speaking against neither, for I believe in\nthe fulness of life, in amply supplying all its wants; but the\nkingdom of God is more to me than this world. I would be Plato in\nlove, Zeno in self-strength, and Epicurus in aesthetics; but if I\nhave to sacrifice either, let Epicurus go.\"\n\n\"June 12.--At times I have an impulse to cry out, 'What wouldst Thou\nhave me to do?' I would shout up into the empty vault of heaven: 'Ah,\nwhy plaguest Thou me so? What shall I do? Give me an answer unless\nThou wilt have me consumed by inward fre, drying up the living liquid\nof life. Wouldst Thou have me to give up all? I have. I have no\ndreams to realize. I want nothing, have nothing, and am willing to\ndie in any way. What ties I have are few, and can be cut with a\ngroan.'\"\n\n\"Monday, June 26.--Solomon said, after he had tasted all the joys of\nthe world, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' I, my friend, who\nhave scarcely tasted any of the pleasures of the world, would say\nwith Solomon, 'all is vanity.' I see nothing in which I can work. All\nare vanities, shadows; beneath all there is nothing. Great God! what\nis all this for? Why torment and pain me so? Why is all this action a\nprofanity to me? And even holiness, what is it?\n\n\"Oh! I am dumb; my soul is inarticulate. There is that in me which I\nwould pour out. Oh! why is it that the noblest actions of humanity\nspeak not to my soul? All life is inadequate--but not in the sense of\nthe world. I would joyfully be silent, obscure, dead to all the\nworld, if this alone which is in me had life. I ask not for name,\nriches, external conditions of delight or splendor. No; the meanest\nof all would be heaven to me, if this inward impulse had action,\nlived itself out. But no; I am imprisoned in spirit. What imprisons?\nWhat is imprisoned? Who can tell?\n\n\"You say, good adviser, 'You must accept things as they are--be\ncontent to be; have faith in God; do that work which your hands find\nto do.' Good; but it is taken for granted we know what things\nare--which is the question. 'Be content to be.' Be what? 'Have faith\nin God.' Yes. 'Work?' Yes; but how? Like others. But this is not work\nto me; it is death; nay, worse--it is sin; hence, damnation--and I am\nnot ready to go to hell yet. Your work gives me no activity; and to\nstarve, if I must, is better than to do the profane, the sacrilegious\nlabor you place before me. I want God's living work to do. My labor\nmust be a sermon, every motion of my body a word, every act a\nsentence. My work must be devotional. I must feel that I am\nworshipping. It must be music, love, prayer. My field must be the\nkingdom of God. Christ must reign in all. It must be Christ doing in\nme, and not me. My life must be poetical, divine. Head, heart, and\nhands must be a trinity in unity; they must tone in one accord. My\nwork must be work of inspiration and aspiration. My heart cannot be\nin heaven when my head and hands are in hell. I must feel that I am\nbuilding up Christ's kingdom in all that I do. To give Christ room\nfor action in my heart, soul, and body is my desire, my aim, purpose,\nbeing. . . .\n\n\"It is not he who goes to church, says his prayers, sings psalms,\nsays 'Lord, Lord,' who is in God and establishing His kingdom. No; it\nis he who is doing it. The earth is to be His kingdom, and your\nprayers must be deeds, your actions music ascending to heaven. The\nChurch must be the kingdom of God in its fulness. . . .\n\n\"Are we Christians if we act not in the spirit in which Christ acted?\nShall we say: 'What shall we do?' Follow the spirit of Christ which\nis in you. 'Unless ye are reprobates, ye have it in you.' 'Be ye\nfaithful, as I am,' said Jesus. 'Love one another as I have loved\nyou.' Take up your cross and follow Him. Leave all, if the Spirit\nleads you to leave all. Do whatever it commands you. There will be no\nlack of action. Care not for the world; give up wealth, friends,\nthose that you love, the opinions of all. Be willing to be despised,\nspit upon, crucified. Be silent, and let your silence speak for you.\"\n\nIt is plain that what Isaac Hecker is here condemning is the life of\nthe world, wholly ordinary in its aims and motives. It is not to be\nunderstood as a condemnation of the common lot of men, or of that\nlife in itself. It was only as he saw it over against his own\nvocation to something higher that it became repulsive, nay guilty _to\nhim._ Nor was he even yet so settled in his view of the contrasted\nworth of the two careers between which he had to choose, as to be\nquite free from painful struggles. In the entry made on the day\npreceding this outburst, he once more recurs to the subject of\nmarriage:\n\n\"Monday Evening, June 26.--This evening the same advice that has been\ngiven me before, first by the doctor who attended me, next by my\ndearest friend, was given me again by a man who now resides here.\"\n\n\"Tuesday Morning, June 27.--Rather than follow this advice, I would\ndie. I should be miserable all my life. Nay, death before this. These\nmen appear to me as natural men, but not in the same life as mine.\nThey are older, have more experience and more judgment than I,\nperhaps; but considering the point of view from which their judgment\nis formed, their advice does not appear to be the counsel for me. I\nnever can, nor will, save my health or life by such means. If that is\nthe only remedy, then unremedied must I remain.\n\n\"But the cause of my present state of mind is not what they suppose.\nIt is deeper, higher, and, O God! Thou knowest what it is! Wilt Thou\ngive me hope, strength, guidance?\" . . .\n\n\"Friday, June 29.--Am I led by something higher to the life to which\nI am tending? Sometimes I think it is most proper for me to return\nhome, accept things as they are, and live a life like others--as\ngood, and as much better as possible. If I can find one with whom I\nthink I can live happily, to accept such a one, and give up that\nwhich now leads me.\n\n\"My friends would say this is the prudent and rational course--but it\nappears this is not mine. That I am here is one evidence that it is\nnot mine. A second is that I struggled against what led me here as\nmuch as lay in my power, until I became weak, sick, and confined to\nmy bed. Farther than that I could not go.\n\n\"They tell me that if I were married it would not be so with me. I\nwill not dispute this, although I do not believe it. But, my good\nfriends, that is the difficulty. To marry is to me impossible. You\ntell me this is unnatural. Yes, my brethren, it may be unnatural, but\nhow shall I be natural? Must I commit that which in my sight is a\ncrime, which I feel would make me miserable and be death to my soul?\n'But this is foolish and one-sided in you. You are wrong-minded. You\nwill lose your health, your youthful joy, and the pleasure which God\nhas, by human laws, designed you to enjoy. You should give up these\nthoughts and feelings of yours and be like those around you.\n\n\"Yes, my friends, this advice I accept with love, knowing your\nkindness to me. But, alas! I feel that it comes from such a source\nthat I cannot receive it.\"\n\n\"July 5.--My brother George has been here; he stayed three days. He\ntold me he had often talked with my brother John about living a life\nhigher, nobler, and more self-denying than he had done. It appears\nfrom his conversation that since I left home they have been impressed\nwith a deeper and better spirit. To me it is of much interest to\ndecide what I shall do. I have determined to make a visit to\nFruitlands. To leave this place is to me a great sacrifice. I have\nbeen much refined in being here.\n\n\"To stay here--to purchase a place for myself--or to go home. These\nare questions about which I feel the want of some friend to consult\nwith. I have no one to whom I can go for advice. If I wish to be\nself-denying, one would say at home is the best, the largest field\nfor my activity. This may be true in one sense. But is it wise to go\nwhere there are the most difficulties to overcome? Would it not be\nbetter to plant the tree in the soil where it can grow most in every\ndirection? At home, to be sure, if I have strength to succeed, I may,\nperhaps, do the most good, and it may be the widest sphere for me.\nBut there are many difficulties which have such a direct influence on\none to injure, to blight all high and noble sentiments, that I fear\nto encounter them, and I am not sure it is my place. Perhaps it would\nbe best for me not to speculate on the future, but look to Him who is\nabove for wise direction in all that concerns my life. Sacrifices\nmust be made. I must expect and accept them in a meek, humble, and\nwilling spirit.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nFRUITLANDS\n\nWHAT influenced Isaac Hecker to leave Brook Farm, a place so\ncongenial in many ways to his natural dispositions, was, plainly\nenough, his tendency to seek a more ascetic and interior life than he\ncould lead there. The step cost him much, but he had received all\nthat the place and his companions could give him, and his departure\nwas inevitable.\n\nHis next move in pursuit if his ideal took him to Fruitlands. This\nwas a farm, situated near Harvard, in Worcester Co., Massachusetts,\nwhich had been bought by Mr. Charles Lane, an English admirer of Amos\nBronson Alcott, with the hope of establishing on it a new community\nin consonance with the views and wishes of the latter. Perhaps\nFruitlands could never, at any stage of its existence as a corporate\nhome for Mr. Alcott's family and his scanty following of disciples,\nhave been truly described as in running order, but when Isaac Hecker\nwent there, on July 11, 1843, it was still in its incipiency. He had\npaid the Fruitlanders a brief visit toward the end of June, and\nthought that he saw in them evidences of \"a deeper life.\" It speaks\nvolumes for his native sagacity and keen eye for realities, that less\nthan a fortnight's residence with Mr. Alcott should have sufficed to\ndispel this illusion.\n\nBronson Alcott seems to have been by nature what the French call a\n_poseur;_ or, as one of his own not unkindly intimates has described\nhim, \"an innocent charlatan.\" Although not altogether empty, he was\nvain; full of talk which had what was most often a false air of\nprofundity; unpractical and incapable in the ordinary affairs of life\nto a degree not adequately compensated for by such a grasp as he was\nable to get on the realities that underlie them; and with an imposing\naspect which corresponded wonderfully well with his interior traits.\nThat, in his prime, his persuasive accents and bland self-confidence,\nbacked by the admiration felt and expressed for him by men such as\nEmerson, and some of the community at Brook Farm, should have induced\nan open-minded youth like Isaac Hecker to take him for a time at his\nown valuation, is not strange. The truth is, that it was one of\nFather Hecker's life-long traits to prove all things, that he might\nfind the good and hold fast to it. There was an element of justice in\nhis make-up which enabled him to suspend judgment upon any\ninstitution or person, however little they seemed to deserve such\nconsideration, until he was in a condition to decide from his own\ninvestigations. We shall see, later on, how he tried all the\nprincipal forms of Protestantism before deciding upon Catholicity,\nstrong as his tendency toward the Church had become. We have never\nknown any other man who, without exhibiting obstinacy, could so\nsteadfastly reserve his judgment on another's statement, especially\nif it were in the nature of a condemnation.\n\nWhen Isaac Hecker first made his acquaintance, Mr. Alcott had but\nrecently returned from England, whither he had gone on the invitation\nof James P. Greaves, a friend and fellow-laborer of the great Swiss\neducator, Pestalozzi. Mr. Alcott had gained a certain vogue at home\nas a lecturer, and also as the conductor of a singular school for\nyoung children. Among its many peculiarities was that of carrying\n\"moral suasion\" to such lengths, as a solitary means of discipline,\nthat the master occasionally publicly submitted to the castigation\nearned by a refractory urchin, probably by way of reaching the\nlatter's moral sense through shame or pity. This was, doubtless,\nrather interesting to the pupils, whether or not it was corrective.\nMr. Alcott's peculiarities did not stop here, however, and Boston\nparents, when he began to publish the _Colloquies on the Gospels_\nwhich he held with their children, concluded, on the evidence thus\nfurnished, that his thought was too \"advanced\" to make it prudent to\ntrust them longer to his care. Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody, since so\nwell known as an expositor of the Kindergarten system, had been his\nassistant. She wrote a _Record of Mr. Alcott's School_ which\nattracted the attention of a small band of educational enthusiasts in\nEngland. They gave the name of \"Alcott House\" to a school of their\nown at Ham, near London, and hoped for great things from the personal\nadvice and presence of the \"Concord Plato.\" He was petted and feted\namong them pretty nearly to the top of his bent; but his visit would\nhave proved a more unalloyed success if the hard Scotch sense of\nCarlyle, to whom Emerson had recommended him, had not so quickly\ndubbed his vaunted depths deceptive shallows.\n\nOn his return he was accompanied by two Englishmen who seemed to be\nlike-minded with himself, a Mr. H. G. Wright and Mr. Charles Lane,\nboth of whom returned within a year or two to their own country,\nwiser and perhaps sadder men. Lane, at all events, who was a simple\nand candid soul for whom Isaac Hecker conceived a long-enduring\nfriendship, sunk all his private means irrevocably in the futile\nattempt to establish Fruitlands on a solid basis. To use his own\nwords in a letter now at our hand, though referring to another of Mr.\nAlcott's schemes, his little fortune was \"buried in the same grave of\nflowery rhetoric in which so many other notions have been deposited.\"\n\nLying before us there is an epistle--Mr. Alcott's most ordinary\nwritten communications with his friends must have demanded that term\nin preference to anything less stately--in which he has described his\nown ideal of what life at Fruitlands ought to be. No directer way of\nconveying to our readers a notion of his peculiar faculty of seeming\nto say something of singular importance occurs to us, than that of\ngiving it entire. Though found among Father Hecker's papers, it was\nnot addressed to him but to one of his most-valued Brook Farm\nassociates:\n\n\"Concord, Mass., February 15, 1843.--DEAR FRIEND: In reply to your\nletter of the 12th, I have to say that as until the snow leaves the\nground clear, the Family cannot so much as look for a locality (which\nthen may not readily be found), it seems premature to talk of the\nconditions on which any association may be formed.\n\n\"Nevertheless, as human progress is a universally interesting\nsubject, I have much pleasure in communicating with you on the\nquestion of the general conditions most conducive to that end.\n\n\"I have no belief in associations of human beings for the purpose of\nmaking themselves happy by means of improved outward arrangements\nalone, as the fountains of happiness are within, and are opened to us\nas we are preharmonized or consociated with the Universal Spirit.\nThis is the one condition needful for happy association amongst men.\nAnd this condition is attained by the surrender of all individual or\nselfish gratification--a complete willingness to be moulded by\nDivinity. This, as men now are, of course involves self-renunciation\nand retrenchment; and in enumerating the hindrances which debar us\nfrom happiness, we shall be drawn to consider, in the first place,\nourselves; and to entertain practically the question, Are we prepared\nfor the giving up all, and taking refuge in Love as an unfailing\nProvidence? A faith and reliance as large as this seems needful to\ninsure us against disappointment. The entrance to Paradise is still\nthrough the strait gate and narrow way of self-denial. Eden's avenue\nis yet guarded by the fiery-sworded cherubim, and humility and\ncharity are the credentials for admission. Unless well armed with\nvalor and patience, we must continue in the old and much-trodden\nbroad way, and take share of the penalties paid by all who walk\nthereon.\n\n\"The conditions for one are conditions for all. Hence there can be no\nparley with the tempter, no private pleas for self-indulgence, no\nleaning on the broken reed of circumstances.\n\n\"It is not for us to prescribe conditions; these are prescribed on\nour natures, our state of being--and the best we can do, if\ndisqualified, is either to attain an amended character, or to\nrelinquish all hopes of securing felicity.\n\n\"Our purposes, as far as we know them at present, are briefly these:\n\n\"First, to obtain the free use of a spot of land adequate by our own\nlabor to our support; including, of course, a convenient plain house,\nand offices, wood-lot, garden, and orchard.\n\n\"Secondly, to live independently of foreign aids by being\nsufficiently elevated to procure all articles for subsistence in the\nproductions of the spot, under a regimen of healthful labor and\nrecreation; with benignity towards all creatures, human and inferior;\nwith beauty and refinement in all economies; and the purest charity\nthroughout our demeanor.\n\n\"Should this kind of life attract parties towards us--individuals of\nlike aims and issues--that state of being itself determines the law\nof association; and the particular mode may be spoken of more\ndefinitely as individual cases may arise; but, in no case, could\ninferior ends compromise the principles laid down.\n\n\"Doubtless such a household, with our library, our services and\nmanner of life, may attract young men and women, possibly also\nfamilies with children, desirous of access to the channels and\nfountain of wisdom and purity; and we are not without hope that\nProvidence will use us progressively for beneficial effects in the\ngreat work of human regeneration, and the restoration of the highest\nlife on earth.\n\n\"With the humane wish that yourself and little ones may be led to\nconfide in providential Love,\n\n\"I am, dear friend, very truly yours,\n\n\"A. BRONSON ALCOTT.\"\n\nIt must be admitted that there is something delightful in the\n_naivete_ of this undertaking to be \"sufficiently elevated to live\nindependently of foreign aids,\" after first getting \"the _free use_\nof a spot of land, . . . including, _of course,_ a convenient plain\nhouse, and offices, wood-lot, garden, and orchard.\" Establishments\nwhich would tolerably approximate to this description, and to the\nreally essential needs of its prospective founder, have long existed\nin every civilized community. There are certain restrictions placed\nupon their inmates, however, and Mr. Alcott's desire was to make sure\nof his basis of earthly supplies, while left entirely free to\npersuade himself that he had arrived at an elevation which made him\nindependent of them. Still, though \"a charlatan,\" it must not be\nforgotten that he was \"an innocent\" one. He was plainly born great in\nthat way, and had no need to achieve greatness in it. As Father\nHecker said of him long afterwards, \"Diogenes and his tub would have\nbeen Alcott's ideal if he had carried it out. But he never carried it\nout.\" Diogenes himself, it may be supposed, had his ideal included a\nfamily and an audience as well as a tub, might finally have come to\nhold that the finding of the latter was a mere detail, which could be\nentrusted indifferently to either of the two former or to both\ncombined. Somebody once described Fruitlands as a place where Mr.\nAlcott looked benign and talked philosophy, while Mrs. Alcott and the\nchildren did the work. Still, to look benign is a good deal for a man\nto do persistently in an adverse world, indifferent for the most part\nto the charms of \"divine philosophy,\" and Mr. Alcott persevered in\nthat exercise until his latest day. \"He was unquestionably one of\nthose who like to sit upon a platform,\" wrote, at the time of his\ndeath, one who knew Alcott well, \"and he may have liked to feel that\nhis venerable aspect had the effect of a benediction.\" But with this\nmild criticism, censure of him is well-nigh exhausted. There was\nnothing of the Patriarch of Bleeding Heart Yard about him except that\n\"venerable aspect,\" for which nature was responsible, and not he.\n\nFruitlands was the caricature of Brook Farm. Just as the\nfanatic is the caricature of the true reformer, so was Alcott the\ncaricature of Ripley. This is not meant as disparaging either\nAlcott's sincerity or his intelligence, but to affirm that he lacked\njudgment, that he miscalculated means and ends, that he jumped\nfrom theory to practice without a moment's interval, preferred\nto be guided by instinct rather than by processes of reasoning,\nand deemed this to be the philosopher's way.\n\nIn the memoranda of private conversations with Father Hecker\nwe find several references to Mr. Alcott. The first bears date\nFebruary 4, 1882, and occurs in a conversation ranging over the\nwhole of his experience between his first and second departures\nfrom home. We give it as it stands:\n\n\"Fruitlands was very different from Brook Farm--far more ascetic.\"\n\n\"You didn't like it?\"\n\n\"Yes; but they did not begin to satisfy me. I said to them:\n'If you had the Eternal here, all right. I would be with you.'\"\n\n\"Had they no notion of the hereafter?\"\n\n\"No; nothing definite. Their idea was human perfection. They set out\nto demonstrate what man can do in the way of the supremacy of the\nspiritual over the animal. 'All right,' I said, 'I agree with you\nfully. I admire your asceticism; it is nothing new to me; I have\npractised it a long time myself. If you can get the Everlasting out\nof my mind, I'm yours. But I know' (here Father Hecker thumped the\ntable at his bedside) 'that I am going to live for ever.'\"\n\n\"What did Alcott say when you left?\"\n\n\"He went to Lane and said, 'Well, Hecker has flunked out. He hadn't\nthe courage to persevere. He's a coward.' But Lane said, 'No; you're\nmistaken. Hecker's right. He wanted more than we had to give him.'\"\n\nMr. Alcott's death in 1888 was the occasion of the reminiscences\nwhich follow:\n\n\"March 5, 1888.--Bronson Alcott dead! I saw him coming from Rochester\non the cars. I had been a Catholic missionary for I don't know how\nmany years. We sat together. 'Father Hecker,' said he, 'why can't you\nmake a Catholic of me?' 'Too much rust here,' said I, clapping him on\nthe knee. He got very angry because I said that was the obstacle. I\nnever saw him angry at any other time. He was too proud.\n\n\"But he was a great natural man. He was faithful to pure, natural\nconscience. His virtues came from that. He never had any virtue\nbeyond what a good pagan has. He never aimed at anything more, nor\nclaimed to. He maintained that to be all.\n\n\"I don't believe he ever prayed. Whom could he pray to? Was not\nBronson Alcott the greatest of all?\"\n\n\"Did he believe in God?\"\n\n\"Not the God that we know. He believed in the Bronson Alcott God. He\nwas his own God.\"\n\n\"You say he was Emerson's master: what do you mean by that?\"\n\n\"He taught Emerson. He began life as a pedler. The Yankee pedler was\nEmerson's master. Whatever principles Emerson had, Alcott gave him.\nAnd Emerson was a good pupil; he was faithful to his master to the\nend.\n\n\"When did I know him first? Hard to remember. He was the head of\nFruitlands, as Ripley was of Brook Farm. They were entirely different\nmen. Diogenes and his tub would have been Alcott's ideal if he had\ncarried it out. But he never carried it out. Ripley's ideal would\nhave been Epictetus. Ripley would have taken with him the good things\nof this life; Alcott would have rejected them all.\"\n\n\"How did he receive you at Fruitlands?\"\n\n\"Very kindly, but from mixed and selfish motives. I suspected he\nwanted me because he thought I would bring money to the community.\nLane was entirely unselfish.\n\n\"Alcott was a man of no great intellectual gifts or acquirements. His\nknowledge came chiefly from experience and instinct. He had an\ninsinuating and persuasive way with him--he must have been an ideal\npedler.\"\n\n\"What if he had been a Catholic, and thoroughly sanctified?\"\n\n\"He could have been nothing but a hermit like those of the fourth\ncentury--he was naturally and constitutionally so odd. Emerson,\nAlcott, and Thoreau were three consecrated cranks: rather be crank\nthan president. All the cranks look up to them.\"\n\nBeside these later reminiscences we shall now place the contemporary\nrecord of his impressions made by Isaac Hecker while at Fruitlands.\nOur first extract, however, was written at Brook Farm, a few days\nbefore going thither:\n\n\"July 7, 1843.--I go to Mr. Alcott's next Tuesday, if nothing\nhappens. I have had three pairs of coarse pants and a coat made for\nme. It is my intention to commence work as soon as I get there. I\nwill gradually simplify my dress without making any sudden\ndifference, although it would be easier to make a radical and\nthorough change at once than piece by piece. But this will be a\nlesson in patient perseverance to me. All our difficulties should be\nlooked at in such a light as to improve and elevate our minds.\n\n\"I can hardly prevent myself from saying how much I shall miss the\ncompany of those whom I love and associate with here. But I must go.\nI am called with a stronger voice. This is a different trial from any\nI have ever had. I have had that of leaving kindred, but now I have\nthat of leaving those whom I love from affinity. If I wished to live\na life the most gratifying to me, and in agreeable company, I\ncertainly would remain here. Here are refining amusements, cultivated\npersons--and one whom I have not spoken of, one who is too much to me\nto speak of, one who would leave all for me. Alas! him I must leave\nto go.\"\n\nIn this final sentence, as it now stands in the diary and as we have\ntranscribed it, occurs one of those efforts of which we have spoken,\nto obliterate the traces of this early attachment. \"Him\" was\noriginally written \"her,\" but the _r_ has been lengthened to an _m,_\nand the _e_ dotted, both with a care which overshot their mark by an\nalmost imperceptible hair's-breadth. If the nature of this attachment\nwere not so evident from other sources, we should have left such\npassages unquoted; fearing lest they might be misunderstood. As it\nis, the light they cast seems to us to throw up into fuller\nproportions the kind and extent of the renunciations to which Isaac\nHecker was called before he had arrived at any clear view of the end\nto which they tended.\n\n\"Fruitlands, July 12.--Last evening I arrived here. After tea I went\nout in the fields and raked hay for an hour in company with the\npersons here. We returned and had a conversation on Clothing. Some\nvery fine things were said by Mr. Alcott and Mr. Lane. In most of\ntheir thoughts I coincide; they are the same which of late have much\noccupied my mind. Alcott said that to Emerson the world was a\nlecture-room, to Brownson a rostrum.\n\n\"This morning after breakfast a conversation was held on Friendship\nand its laws and conditions. Mr. Alcott placed Innocence first;\nLarned, Thoughtfulness; I, Seriousness; Lane, Fidelity.\n\n\"July 13.--This morning after breakfast there was held a conversation\non The Highest Aim. Mr. Alcott said it was Integrity; I, Harmonic\nbeing; Lane, Progressive being; Larned, Annihilation of self; Bower,\nRepulsion of the evil in us. Then there was a confession of the\nobstacles which prevent us from attaining the highest aim. Mine was\nthe doubt whether the light is light; not the want of will to follow,\nor the sight to see.\"\n\n\"July 17.--I cannot understand what it is that leads me, or what I am\nafter. Being is incomprehensible.\n\n\"What shall I be led to? Is there a being whom I may marry and who\nwould be the means of opening my eyes? Sometimes I think so--but it\nappears impossible. Why should others tell me that it is so, and will\nbe so, in an unconscious way, as Larned did on Sunday last, and as\nothers have before him? Will I be led home? It strikes me these\npeople here, Alcott and Lane, will be a great deal to me. I do not\nknow but they may be what I am looking for, or the answer to that in\nme which is asking.\n\n\"Can I say it? I believe it should be said. Here I cannot end. They\nare too near me; they do not awaken in me that sense of their high\nsuperiority which would keep me here to be bettered, to be elevated.\nThey have much, very much. I desire Mr. Alcott's strength of\nself-denial, and the unselfishness of Mr. Lane in money matters. In\nboth these they are far my superiors. I would be meek, humble, and\nsit at their feet that I might be as they are. They do not understand\nme, but if I am what my consciousness, my heart, lead me to feel--if\nI am not deceived--why then I can wait. Yes, patiently wait. Is not\nthis the first time since I have been here that I have recovered\nmyself? Do I not feel that I have something to receive here, to add\nto, to increase my highest life, which I have never felt anywhere\nelse?\n\n\"Is this sufficient to keep me here? If I can prophesy, I must say\nno. I feel that it will not fill my capacity. O God! strengthen my\nresolution. Let me not waver, and continue my life. But I am sinful.\nOh, forgive my sins! What shall I do, O Lord! that they may be\nblotted out? Lord, could I only blot them from my memory, nothing\nwould be too great or too much.\"\n\n\"July 18.--I have thought of my family this afternoon, and the\nhappiness and love with which I might return to them. To leave them,\nto give up the thought of living with them again--can I entertain\nthat idea? Still, I cannot conceive how I can engage in business,\nshare the practices, and indulge myself with the food and garmenture\n(_sic_) of our home and city. To return home, were it possible for\nme, would most probably not only stop my progress, but put me back.\n\n\"It is useless for me to speculate upon my future. Put dependence on\nthe spirit which leads me, be faithful to it; work, and leave results\nto God. If the question should be asked me, whether I would give up\nmy kindred and business and follow out this spirit-life, or return\nand enjoy them both, I could not hesitate a moment, for they would\nnot compare--there would be no room for choice. What I do I must do,\nfor it is not I that do it; it is the spirit. What that spirit may be\nis a question I cannot answer, What it leads me to do will be the\nonly evidence of its character. I feel as impersonal as a stranger to\nit. I ask, Who are you? Where are you going to take me? Why me? Why\nnot some one else? I stand amazed, astonished to see myself. Alas! I\ncry, who am I and what does this mean? and I am lost in wonder.\"\n\n\"Saturday, July 21.--Yesterday, after supper, a conversation took\nplace between Mr. Alcott, Mr. Lane, and myself; the subject was my\nposition with regard to my family, my duty, and my position here. Mr.\nAlcott asked for my first impressions as regards the hindrances I have\nnoted since coming here. I told him candidly they were: 1st, his want\nof frankness; 2d, his disposition to separateness rather than win\nco-operators with the aims in his own mind; 3d, his family, who\nprevent his immediate plans of reformation; 4th, the fact that this\nplace has very little fruit on it, while it was and is their desire\nthat fruit should be the principal part of their diet; 5th, my fear\nthat they have too decided a tendency toward literature and writing\nfor the prosperity and success of their enterprise.\n\n\"My relations with my family are very critical at this period--more\nso than they have ever been. It is the crisis of the state we have\nbeen in for this past year. If God gives me strength to be true to\nthe spirit, it is very doubtful how far those at home will be willing\nto second it. I have written them a letter asking for their own aims\nand views of life, and I am anxious for their answer. The question of\nreturning is not a wilful one with me, for it is the spirit which\nguides me. If it can live there, I go back. If not, I am governed and\nmust follow where it leads, wherever that may be.\"\n\nThe letter referred to in this entry of the diary is too long, and\ncovers too much ground already traversed, to be quoted in full, but\nit contains some striking passages. It was written at Fruitlands,\nJuly 17, '43. After inquiring with his customary directness what are\ntheir aims in life and what they are doing to attain them, he goes on\nto say:\n\n\"Although the idea or aim which each one aspires toward and tries to\nrealize will be colored by his own peculiar tendencies, still, in\nsubstance, in practice, they will agree if they are inspired by the\nself-same spirit.\"\n\nHere we have the practical good sense which reined in and directed\nIsaac Hecker throughout his life, making it finally impossible for\nhim not to see and recognize the visible Church, notwithstanding his\nmystical tendency, his want of thorough education, and his birthright\nof heresy.\n\nAgain he writes:\n\n\"There are all the natural ties why we should not be separated, and\nno reasons why we should, unless there exists such a wide difference\nin the aims we seek to realize that it would be injurious or\nimpossible for us to live in family, in unity, in love. I do not\nbelieve this difference exists, but if it does, and we are conscious\nof being led by a higher spirit than our own, we should and would\nsacrifice all that hinders us from the divine calling. That demands\nimplicit, uncompromising obedience. It speaks in the tone of high\nauthority. The dead must bury their dead. That which offends it must\nbe got rid of at all costs, be it wife, parents, children, brothers,\nsisters, or our own eye or hand. I do not contemplate a sacrifice of\neither of these; still, it is well to consider whether, if such a\ndemand should be made of us, we are in such a state of mind that we\nwould be willing to give one or all up, if they should stand in the\nway of our progress toward God. . . .\n\n\"If you desire to continue the way of life you have and do now lead,\nbe plain, frank, and so express yourselves explicitly. If not, and\nyou have any desire or intention in your minds to alter or make a\nradical change in your external circumstances for the sake of a\nhigher, better mode of life, be equally open, and let me know all\nyour thoughts and aspirations which are struggling for expression,\nfor real life. . . .\n\n\"We have labored together in union for material wealth; can we now\nlabor in the same way for spiritual wealth? If there are sufficient\npoints of accord in us in this higher life, we must come together and\nlive in harmony. Since my departure from home there has been a change\nin my mind, or, perhaps more truly, a sudden and rapid growth in a\ncertain direction, the germs of which you must have heretofore\nperceived in my conduct and life. On the other hand, I suppose there\nhas been a progress in your minds, and I feel that the time has\narrived when we should see where we are, so that we may either come\ntogether or separate. Our future relation cannot be a wilful one. It\nmust be based on a unity of spirit, for the social, the humane\ninstincts cannot bind us together any longer. . . . Have we the\nspiritual as well as the natural brotherhood? this is the question\nwhich deeply concerns us now. . . . I do not know what the spirit has\ndone for you since my departure. If it has led you as it has led me,\nthere is no reason why I should be amongst strangers by birth,\nalthough not altogether strangers in love . . . Think seriously upon\nyour answer. Act true. Life is to me of serious import, and I feel\ncalled upon to give up all that hinders me from following this import\nwherever it may lead. But do not let this influence you in your\njudgments. We have but a short life to live here, and I would offer\nmine to some worthy end: this is all I desire. My health is very\ngood. I am still at Fruitlands, and will remain here until something\nfurther happens. Accept my deepest love.\"\n\nWhile waiting for an answer to this letter, the diary shows how\ncontinuously Isaac's mind was working over this problem of a final\nseparation from his kindred. It seems probable that it was, on the\nwhole, the deepest emotional one that he had to solve. Both filial\nduty and natural affection were strong sentiments with him. One\nnotices in these letters how courteous and urbane is the tone he\nuses, even when insisting most on the necessity which lies upon him\nto cut all the ties which bind him. This was a family trait. In a\nletter written to us last September in answer to a question, Mr.\nCharles A. Dana incidentally refers to a visit he paid Isaac Hecker\nat his mother's house. \"It was a very interesting family,\" he writes,\n\"and the cordiality and sweetness of the relations which prevailed in\nit impressed me very greatly.\"\n\nThe entry we are about to quote opens with an odd echo from a certain\nschool of mysticism with which Isaac about this time became familiar:\n\n\"July 22, 1843.--Man requires a new birth--the birth of the feminine\nin him.\n\n\"The question arises in my mind whether it is necessary for me to\nrequire the concurrence of my brothers in the views of life which now\nappear to demand of me their actualization.\n\n\"Can I not adopt simple garmenture and diet without their doing so?\nMust I needs have their concurrence? Can I not leave results to\nthemselves? If my life is purer than that of those around me, can I\nnot trust to its own simple influence?\n\n\"But if there is a great difference of spirit, can we live together?\nDoes not like seek like? In money matters things must certainly be\nother than they have been. We must agree that no accounts shall be\nkept between ourselves, let the consequences be what they may. I\nwould rather suffer evils from a dependence on the spirit of love\nthan permit that of selfishness to exist between us. I ask not a cent\nabove what will supply my immediate, necessary wants. . . They may\ndemand ten times more than I, and it would be a happiness to me to\nsee them use it, even if I thought they used it wrongfully. All the\ncheck I would be willing to employ would be that of love and mutual\ngood feeling. If I remain as I now am, I shall require very little,\nand that little would be spent for the benefit and help of others.\n\n\"July 23.--I will go home, be true to the spirit with the help of\nGod, and wait for further light and strength. . . . I feel that I\ncannot live at this place as I would. This is not the place for my\nsoul. . . My life is not theirs. They have been the means of giving\nme much light on myself, but I feel I would live and progress more in\na different atmosphere.\"\n\nOn the 25th of July Isaac finally departed from Fruitlands, and after\nremaining for a few days at Brook Farm, he returned to his home in\nNew York. Before following him thither, it may be well to give at\nonce such further references to this period of his life as are\ncontained in the memoranda. The following extract is undated:\n\n_\"A propos_ of Emerson's death, Father Hecker said: 'I knew him well.\nWhen I resolved to become a Catholic I was boarding at the house of\nHenry Thoreau's mother, a stone's-throw from Emerson's at Concord.'\"\n\n\"What did Thoreau say about it?\"\n\n\"'What's the use of your joining the Catholic Church? Can't you get\nalong without hanging to her skirts?' I suppose Emerson found it out\nfrom Thoreau, so he tried his best to get me out of the notion. He\ninvited me to tea with him, and he kept leading up to the subject and\nI leading away from it. The next day he asked me to drive over with\nhim to the Shakers, some fifteen miles. We stayed over night, and all\nthe way there and back he was fishing for my reasons, with the plain\npurpose of dissuading me. Then Alcott and he arranged matters so that\nthey cornered me in a sort of interview, and Alcott frankly developed\nthe subject. I finally said, 'Mr. Alcott, I deny your inquisitorial\nright in this matter,' and so they let it drop. One day, however, I\nwas walking along the road and Emerson joined me. Presently he said,\n'Mr. Hecker, I suppose it was the art, the architecture, and so on in\nthe Catholic Church which led you to her?' 'No,' said I; 'but it was\nwhat caused all that.' I was the first to break the Transcendental\ncamp. Brownson came some time after me.\n\n\"Years later, during the war, I went to Concord to lecture, and\nwanted Emerson to help me get a hall. He refused.\n\n\"Alcott promised that he would, but he did not, and I think Emerson\ndissuaded him. After a time, however, a priest, a church, and a\ncongregation of some six or seven hundred Catholics grew up in\nConcord, and I was invited to lecture, and I went. The pastor\nattended another station that Sunday, and I said the Mass and meant\nto give a homily by way of sermon. But as I was going to the altar,\nall vested for the Mass, two men came into my soul: one, the man who\nlived in that village in former years, a blind man, groping about for\nlight, a soul with every problem unsolved; the other a man full of\nlight, with every problem solved, the universe and the reason of his\nexistence known as they actually are. Well, there were those two men\nin my soul. I had to get rid of them, so I preached them of to the\npeople. Some wept, some laughed, all were deeply moved. That night\ncame the lecture. It rained pitchforks and pineapples, but the hall,\na large one, was completely filled. Multitudes of Yankees were there.\nEmerson was absent, but Alcott was present. I had my lecture all cut\nand dried. 'Why I became a Catholic' was the subject. But as I was\nabout to begin, up came those two men again, and for the life of me I\ncouldn't help firing them off at the audience, and with remarkable\neffect. Next day I met Emerson in the street and we had a little talk\ntogether. None of those men are comfortable in conversation with an\nintelligent Catholic. He avoided my square look, and actually kept\nturning to avoid my eyes until he had quite turned round! Such men,\nconfronted with actual, certain convictions are exceedingly\nuncomfortable. They feel in subjection to you. They cannot bear the\nsteadfast glance of a man of certain principles any better than a dog\ncan the look of his master. Like a dog, they turn away the head and\nshow signs of uneasiness.\"\n\nFrom the memoranda, also, we take this reminiscence of George Ripley,\nthe man whom Father Hecker loved best of all the Transcendental party:\n\n\"January 23, 1885.--Seeing my perplexity at Brook Farm, George Ripley\nsaid, 'Mr. Hecker, do you think we have not got true religion? If you\nthink so, say so. If you have views you think true, and which we\nought to have, let us hear them.' I answered, 'No; I haven't the\ntruth, but I am trying to get it. If I ever succeed, you will hear\nfrom me. If I don't, you never will. I am not going to teach before I\nam certain myself. I will not add myself to the list of humbugs.'\n\n\"Ripley was a great man; a wonderful man. But he was a complete\nfailure. I loved him dearly, and he knew it, and he loved me; I know\nwell he did. When I came back a Redemptorist from Europe, I went to\nsee him at the _Tribune_ office. He asked me, 'Can you do all that\nany Catholic priest can do?' 'Yes.' 'Then I will send for you when I\nam drawing towards my end.'\n\n\"Indeed, if one could have gone to Ripley, at any time in his later\nyears, and said, 'You will never return again to the society of men,'\nand persuaded him it was true, he would have said at once, 'Send for\nFather Hecker or some other Catholic priest.' I am persuaded that the\nfear of facing his friends hindered George Ripley from becoming a\nCatholic. He sent for me when taken down by his last illness, but his\nmessage was not delivered. As soon as I heard that he was ill I\nhastened to his bedside, but his mind was gone and I could do nothing\nfor him.\"\n\nAnd now, having given so fully such of his own impressions as remain\nof the persons and places which helped to shape Father Hecker in\nearly manhood, we will terminate the record of this period with two\nletters, one from each community, which were written him soon after\nhis return to New York. No words of our own could show so well the\nhearty affection and implicit trust which he awakened and returned:\n\n\"Brook Farm, September 18, 1843.--MY DEAR FRIEND: I was rejoiced to\nhear from you, though you wrote too short a letter. Your beautiful\nfruit, enough to convert the direst sceptic to Grahamism, together\nwith the pearled wheat, arrived safely, although a few days too late\nto be in perfectly good order. We distributed them to all and\nsingular, men, women, and children, who discussed them with great\ninterest, I assure you; many, no doubt, with silent wishes that no\ngood or beautiful thing might ever be wanting to you. I am glad to\nlearn that you are so happy in New York, that you find so much in\nyour own mind to compensate for the evils of a city environment, and\nthat your aspirations are not quenched by the sight of the huge\ndisorders that daily surround you. I hardly dare to think that my own\nfaith or hope would be strong enough to reconcile me to a return to\ncommon society. I should pine like an imprisoned bird, and I fear I\nshould grow blind to the visions of loveliness and glory which the\nfuture promises to humanity. I long for action which shall realize\nthe prophecies, fulfil the Apocalypse, bring the new Jerusalem down\nfrom heaven to earth, and collect the faithful into a true and holy\nbrotherhood. To attain this consummation so devoutly to be wished, I\nwould eat no flesh, I would drink no wine while the world lasted. I\nwould become as devoted an ascetic as yourself, my dear Isaac. But to\nwhat end is all speculation, all dreaming, all questioning, but to\nadvance humanity, to bring forward the manifestation of the Son of\nGod? Oh, for men who feel this idea burning into their bones! When\nshall we see them? And without them, what will be phalanxes, groups\nand series, attractive industry, and all the sublime words of modern\nreforms?\n\n\"When will you come back to Brook Farm? Can you do without us? Can we\ndo without you? But do not come as an amateur, a self-perfectionizer,\nan aesthetic self-seeker, willing to suck the orange of Association\ndry and throw away the peel. Oh! that you would come as one of us, to\nwork in the faith of a divine idea, to toil in loneliness and tears\nfor the sake of the kingdom which God may build up by our hands. All\nhere, that is, all our old central members, feel more and more the\nspirit of devotedness, the thirst to do or die, for the cause we have\nat heart. We do not distrust Providence. We cannot believe that what\nwe have gained here of spiritual progress will be lost through want\nof material resources. At present, however, we are in great straits.\nWe hardly dare to provide the means of keeping warm in our pleasant\nnest this winter.\n\n\"Just look at our case. With property amounting to $30,000, the want\nof two or three thousands fetters us and may kill us. That sum would\nfree us from pecuniary embarrassment, and for want of that we work\ndaily with fetters on our limbs. Are there not five men in New York\nCity who would dare to venture $200 each in the cause of social\nreform, without being assured of a Phalanx for themselves and their\nchildren for ever? Alas! I know not. We are willing to traverse the\nwilderness forty years; we ask no grapes of Eshcol for ourselves; we\ndo not claim a fair abode in the promised land; but what can we do,\nwith neither quails nor manna, with raiment waxing old, and shoes\nbursting from our feet?\n\n\"Forgive me, my dear Isaac, for speaking so much about ourselves. But\nwhat else should I speak of? And who more sympathizing with our\nmovement than yourself?\n\n\"Do not be surprised at receiving this letter so long after date. Not\nless than four times have I begun it, and as often have been\ninterrupted. Pray write me now and then. Your words are always sweet\nand pleasant to my soul. Believe me, ever yours truly,\n\n\"GEORGE RIPLEY.\"\n\n\n\"Harvard, Mass., November 11, 1843.--DEAR FRIEND: Your kind letter of\nthe 1st came duly to hand, and we are making arrangements to enjoy\nthe benefit of your healthful bequest.\n\n\"Please to accept thanks for your sympathy and the reports of persons\nand things in your circle. They have interested me much but I am\nabout to make you the most incongruous return conceivable. For\npleasure almost unqualified which you have conferred on me, I fear I\nshall trouble you with painful relations; in return for a barrel of\nsuperfine wholesome wheat-meal, I am going to submit to you a peck of\ntroubles. Out of as many of these as you lovingly and freely can, you\nmay assist me; but, of course, you will understand that I feel I have\nno claim upon you. On the contrary, indeed, I see that I run the\nhazard of forfeiting your valued friendship by thus obtruding my\npecuniary concerns into our hitherto loftier communings. You know it\nto be a sentiment of mine, that these affairs should never be\nobtruded between aesthetic friends, but what can one do in extremity\nbut to unburden candidly to the generous?\n\n\"When I bought this place, instead of paying the whole $1,800, as I\nwished, $300 of my money went to pay old debts with which I ought to\nhave had nothing to do; and Mrs. Alcott's brother, Samuel J. May,\njoined his name to a note for $300, to be paid by instalments in two\nyears. And now that the first instalment is due, he sends me word\nthat he declines paying it. As all my cash has been expended in\nbuying and keeping up the affair, I am left in a precarious position,\nout of which I do not see the way without some loveful aid, and to\nyou I venture freely to submit my feelings. Above all things I should\nlike to discharge at once this $300 note, as unless that is done the\nplace must, I fear, fall back into individuality and the idea be\nsuspended. Now, if as much cash is loose in your pocket, or that of\nsome wealthy friend, there shall be parted off as much of the land as\nwill secure its return, from the crops alone, in a few years; or, I\nwould sell a piece until I can redeem it; or, I would meet the loan\nin any other secure way, if I can but secure the land from the demon\nusury. This mode seems to me the most desirable. But I could get\nalong with the instalment of $75, and would offer like security in\nproportion. Or, if you can do it yourself, and would prefer the\nlibrary as a pledge, you shall select such books as will suit your\nown reading and would cover your advance in cash any day you choose\nto put them up to auction, if I should fail to redeem them. Or, I\nwould give my notes of hand that I could meet by sales of produce or\nof land. If I had the benefit of your personal counsel, we could\ncontrive something between us, I am sure, but I have no such aid\nabout me. The difficulty in itself is really light, but to me, under\npresent circumstances, is quite formidable. If at your earliest\nconvenience you acquaint me with your mind, you will much oblige.\n\n\"I have another trouble of a personal nature. I suffer already this\nwinter from the inclemency of the weather, so much that my hands are\nso chapped that I can scarcely hold the pen. If I could find\nemployment in a more southern position that would support me and the\nboy, and leave a little to be applied to the common good, I would\nundertake it. I think I could at the same time be of some mental and\nmoral service to the people where I might be located.\n\n\"Another trouble. Young William has been very ill for the last month,\nbrought on, I believe, by excessive work. He is still very weak, and\nhas not sat up for three weeks.\n\n\"All these, besides sundry slighter plagues, coming upon me at once,\nhave perhaps a little disconcerted my nerves, and the advice and\nassistance of a generous friend at such a juncture would be indeed\nserviceable. If the journey were not so long and so costly I would\nask you to come. Be assured that whatever may be your decision in any\nof these relations, my esteem for you cannot be thereby diminished.\nMy only fear is that such encroachments on your good nature will\nreduce your estimation of, dear friend, yours most sincerely,\n\n\"CHARLES LANE.\n\n\"Regards to the Doctor and all friends. The Shakers have kindly\ninquired for you, and they still take much interest in our life. Have\nyou seen the last _Dial?_ The _Present_ is good, but surely not good\nenough. I hope to write a more universal letter in response to your\nnext, for which I wait.\"\n\nPoor Lane, failing to find any equally confiding and generous friend\nto shoulder with him the personal debts of the founder of Fruitlands,\nwas compelled at last to let the farm \"lapse into individuality\" and\nto see \"the idea suspended.\" In his next and \"more universal letter\"\nhe announces that the experiment is ended in consequence of Mrs.\nAlcott's refusal to remain on the place through the winter. Lane went\nover to the neighboring Shaker community, and from there to England,\nwhere Father Hecker met him during his own residence at Clapham,\nafter his ordination. His letters followed Father Hecker for several\nyears, and breathe always the same unselfishness, the same simple\ntrust in human goodness, and the same fondness for speculations on\n\"the universal.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nSELF-QUESTIONINGS\n\nNOT finding any solution of his spiritual difficulties at either\nFruitlands or Brook Farm, Isaac Hecker turned his face once more\ntoward the home from which he had departed nearly a year before. He\nexpected little from this step, but his state of mind was now one in\nwhich he had begun to anticipate, at any turn, some light on the\ndispositions of Providence in his regard which might determine his\ncourse for good and all. And, meantime, as patient waiting was all\nthat lay in his own power, it seemed the wisest course to yield to\nthe solicitations of his kindred and abide results in his own place.\nHe did not go there at once, however, after quitting Alcott's\ncommunity, but returned to Brook Farm for a fortnight. His journal\nduring this period offers many pages worthy of transcription.\n\nIt is possible that we have readers who may deem us too copious in\nour quotations from this source. But, if wearisome to any, yet they\nare necessary to those for whom this Life is especially written. The\nlessons to be learned from Father Hecker are mainly those arising\nfrom the interaction between God's supernatural dealings with him,\nand his own natural characteristics. This fact, moreover, is typical\nas well as personal, for the great question of his day, which was the\ndawning of our own, was the relation of the natural man to the\nregenerating influences of Christianity. This being so, it is plain\nto our own mind that no adequate representation of the man could be\nmade without a free use of these early journals. They seem to us one\nof the chief Providential results of the spiritual isolation of his\nyouth. He was in a manner driven to this intimate self-communing, on\none hand by his never-satisfied craving for sympathetic companionship,\nand on the other by his complete unacquaintance with a kind of\nreading which even at this point might have shed some light upon his\ninterior difficulties. In later years he enjoyed, in the study of\naccredited Christian mystics, that kind of satisfaction which a\ntraveller experiences who, after long wanderings in what had seemed a\ntrackless desert, obtains a map which not only makes his whole route\nplain, but assures him that he did not stray from well-known paths\neven during his times of most extreme bewilderment.\n\nThat the diary has the character we here claim for it, and is not the\nmere ordinary result of a morbid and aimless introspection, is\nplainly shown by the speedy cessation of excessive self-analysis on\nFather Hecker's part, after he had actually reached the goal to which\nhe was at this period alternately sweetly led and violently driven.\nBut it is also shown by the deep humility which is revealed precisely\nby this sharp probing of his interior. Though he felt himself in\ntouch with God in some special way, yet it was with so little pride\nthat it was his profound conviction, as it remained, indeed,\nthroughout his life, that what he had all had or might have. But the\nstudy of his interior thus forced upon him was far from a pleasing\ntask. \"It is exceedingly oppressive to me to write as I now do,\" we\nfind him complaining; \"continually does myself appear in my writing.\nI would that my I were wholly lost in the sea of the Spirit--wholly\nlost in God.\"\n\nWe preface the subjoined extract from the diary with the remark that\nFather Hecker's reading of signs of the Divine will in men and events\noften brought him to the verge of credulity, over which he was\nprevented from stepping by his shrewd native sense. Though he\ninsisted all his life on interpreting them as signal flags of the\nDivine wisdom, this did not hinder him from gaining a reputation for\nsound practical judgment:\n\n\"Brook Farm, July 31, 1843.--Man is the symbol of all mysteries. Why\nis it that all things seem to me to be instinct with prophecy? I do\nnot see any more individual personalities, but priests and oracles of\nGod. The age is big with a prophecy which it is in labor to give\nbirth to.\"\n\n\"My experience is different now from what it has been. It is much\nfuller; every fibre of my being seems teeming with sensitive life. I\nam in another atmosphere of sentiment and thought. . . . I have less\nreal union and sympathy with _her,_ and with those whom I have met\nmuch nearer heretofore. It appears as if their atmosphere was denser,\ntheir life more natural, more in the flesh. Instead of meeting them\non my highest, I can only do so by coming down into my body, of which\nit seems to me that I am now almost unconscious. There is not that\nsense of heaviness, dulness, fleshliness, in me. I experience no\nnatural desires, no impure thoughts, nor wanderings of fancy. Still,\nI feel more intensely, and am filled to overflowing with love, and\nwith desire for union. But there is no one to meet me where I am, and\nI cannot meet them where they are.\"\n\nAll his life Father Hecker was on the lookout for the great human\ninfluences which run across those of religion, either to swell their\nvolume or to lessen their force. These are mainly the transmissions\nof heredity, and the environments that are racial, temporal, epochal,\nor local. This enduring tendency is foreshadowed in the following\nextracts:\n\n\"August 2, 1843.--I have been thinking much of late about the very\ngreat influence which nationality and the family progenitors have\nupon character. Men talk of universality, impartiality,\nmany-sidedness, free judgment, unbiased opinion, and so on, when in\nreality their national and family dispositions are the centre and\nground of their being, and hence of their opinions. They appear to be\nmost themselves when they show these traits of character. They are\nmost natural and earnest and at home when they speak from this link\nwhich binds them to the past. Then their hearts are opened, and they\nspeak with a glow of eloquence and a peculiar unction which touch the\nsame chord in the breasts of those who hear them. It is well for man\nto feel his indebtedness to the past which lives in him and without\nwhich he would not be what he is. He is far more its creature than he\ngives himself credit for. He reproduces daily the sentiments and\nthoughts of the dim and obscure before. There are certain ideas and\naspirations which have not had their fulfilment, but which run\nthrough all men from the beginning and which are continually\nreproduced. There is a unity of race, called Humanity; one of place,\ncalled Nationality; one of birth, called Kindred; one of affinity,\ncalled Love and Friendship. By all these we are greatly influenced.\nThey all make their mark upon the man.\"\n\n\"The faculties which take cognizance of the inner world have been\nawakened in only a few of the human race, and these, to distinguish\nthem, have been called prophets, miracle-workers, Providential men,\nseers, and poets. Now, their privilege is that of all men in a\ngreater or less degree, just as is the case with regard to the\nfaculties which relate to the outward world. For when men in general\nwere as ignorant about the exterior world as they now are about the\ninterior, the men of science, the astronomers, the mathematicians,\nthe founders of the arts, were held to be miraculous, gods, and they\nwere deified. What any one man (and this is a most comfortable and\ncheering thought) has been or has done, all men may in a measure be\nor do, for each is a type, a specimen of the whole human race. If it\nis said in reply, 'These miracles or great acts, which you hold as\nactual, are mere superstitious dreams,' I care not. That would be\nstill more glorious for us, for then they are still to be performed,\nthey are in the coming time, these divine prophetic instincts are yet\nto be actualized. The dreams of Orpheus, the inspired strains of the\nHebrew bards, and, above all, the prophecies of Christ, are before\nus. The divine instincts will be realized as surely as there is a God\nabove who inspires them. It is the glory of God that they should be\nso; it is His delight. This world must become heaven. This is its\ndestiny; and our destiny, under God, is to make it so. Prophecy is\ngiven to encourage and nourish our hopes and feed our joys, so that\nwe may say with Job, 'I know that although worms shall eat this\nflesh, and my bones become dust, yet at the latter day I shall see my\nRedeemer face to face.'\"\n\nThe sentences which follow can be paralleled by words taken from all\nwho have truly interpreted the doctrine of Christ by their lives or\ntheir writings:\n\n\"To him that has faith all things are possible, for faith is an act\nof the soul; thy faith is the measure of thy power.\"\n\n\"If men would act from the present inspiration of their souls they\nwould gain more knowledge than they do by reading or speculating.\"\n\n\"No man in his heart can ask for more than he has. Think of this\ndeeply. God is just. We have what we ought to have, even according to\nour own sense of justice.\"\n\n\"The desire to love and be beloved, to have friends with whom we can\nconverse, to enter society which we enjoy--is it not best to deny and\nsacrifice these desires? It may be said that, gratified, they add to\nlife, and the question is how to increase life, not how to diminish\nit. But by denying them, would not our life gain by flowing in a more\nheavenly direction?\"\n\n\"We are daily feeding the demons that are in us by our wicked\nthoughts and sinful acts; these are their meat and drink. I make them\ngasp sometimes. My heart laughs quite merrily to think of it. When I\nam hungry, and there is something tempting on the table, hunger, like\na serpent, comes creeping up into my throat and laps its dry tongue\nwith eagerness for its prey, but it often returns chagrined at its\ndiscomfiture.\"\n\n\"That which tempts us we should deny, no matter how innocent it is in\nitself. If it tempts, away with it, until it tempts no more. Then\npartake of it, for it is then only that you can do so prudently and\nwith temperance.\"\n\n\"All our thoughts and emotions are caused by some agent acting on us.\nThis is true of all the senses and the spiritual faculties. Hence we\nshould by all possible means purify and refine our organism, so that\nwe may hear the most delicate, the sweetest, the stillest sounds and\nmurmurings of the angels who are about us. How much fuller and richer\nwould be our life if we were more acutely sensitive and finely\ntextured! How many exquisite delights nature yields which we are not\nyet aware of! What a world surrounds us of which none but holy men,\nprophets, and poets have had a glimpse!\"\n\n\"The soul is a plate on which the senses daguerreotype indelibly\npictures of the outer world. How cautious should we be where we look,\nwhat we hear, what smell, or feel, or taste! And how we should\nendeavor that all around us should be made beautiful, musical,\nfragrant, so that our souls may be awakened to a divine sense of life\nwithout a moment's interruption!\"\n\n\"O God, be Thou my helper, my strength and my redeemer! May I live\nwholly to Thee; give me grace and obedience to Thy Spirit. May all\nself be put from me so that I may enter into the glorious liberty of\nthe sons of God, Awaken me, raise me up, restore me, O Jesus Christ,\nLord, Heavenly King!\"\n\nIn reading what next follows it must be remembered that at the time\nwhen it was written Isaac Hecker had absolutely no knowledge of\nCatholic mystical theology. It is since that day that English-speaking\nCatholics have had access to the great authorities on this subject\nthrough adequate translations. But what little he had learned from\nother sources, combined with his own intuitional and experimental\nknowledge of human capabilities for penetrating the veil, had already\nfurnished him with conclusions which nothing in his devoted study of\nCatholic mystical writers forced him to lay aside:\n\n\"Belief in the special guidance of God has been the faith of all\ndeeply religious men. I will not dispute the fact that some men are\nso guided, but will offer an explanation of it which seems to me to\nreconcile it with the regular order of laws established by God. My\nexplanation would be that this guidance is not a miraculous power,\nspecially bestowed upon some men, but merely a higher degree of\nordinary divine guidance. Our ordinary life is inspired; the other is\nonly a higher degree of what is common to all. The evil which arises\nfrom the contrary opinion is this: men who have received a higher\ndegree of insight believe that it is a special miraculous gift, and\nthat all they may say is infallibly true, whereas they still retain\ntheir own individuality though raised to a purer state of being. They\nhave not been so raised in order to found new sects, or to cause\nrevolutions, but to fulfil the old, continue and carry it on as far\nas they have been given light to do so. In forming new sects they but\nreproduce their own individualities with all their errors. So\nSwedenborg did, and Wesley, men of modern times who were awakened in\na greater degree than the mass of their fellows. Their mistake lay in\ntheir attempt to make universal ends out of their individual\nexperiences. In the ordinary state no man does this, but these, being\nlifted a little above the mass, became intoxicated. The only one, so\nfar as I have read, who has had humility equal to his inspiration was\nJacob Boehmen. Luther, Calvin, Fox, Penn, Swedenborg, Wesley, had\nself in view. Selfism is mixed with their universalism. None has\nspoken truth so pure and universal as Boehmen. He is the most\ninspired man of modern times. He had more love and truth than all the\nother mystics put together, and fewer faults than either one of them\ntaken singly.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nAT HOME AGAIN\n\nIT was the middle of August, 1843, when Isaac Hecker once more took\nup his residence with his family in New York. His first endeavor was\nto sink back again as far as possible into the old routine of\nbusiness.\n\n\"To-morrow I commence to work,\" he writes on the evening of his\nreturn. \"My interior state is quiet and peaceful. I have not met any\none yet. My dear mother understands me better than any one else. How\nfar business will interfere with my inner life remains to be seen. O\nLord! help me to keep my resolution, which is not to let the world\nenter my heart, but to keep it looking toward Thee! My heart has been\nin a constant prayerful state since I have been at home. It is busy\nin its own sanctuary, its own temple, God. O Lord! preserve it.\"\n\nOne of the first noteworthy things revealed by the diary--which from\nthis time on was kept with less regularity than before--is that Isaac\nnot only maintained his abstemious habits after his return, but\nincreased their rigor. For a robust man, working hard for many hours\nout of every twenty-four, and deprived of all the pleasant\nrelaxations, literary, conversational and musical, to which he had\nbeen accustoming himself for many months, the choice of such a diet\nas is described in the following sentences was certainly\nextraordinary:\n\n\"August 30.--If the past nine months or more are any evidence, I find\nthat I can live on very simple diet--grains, fruit, and nuts. I have\njust commenced to eat the latter; I drink pure water. So far I have\nhad wheat ground and made into unleavened bread, but as soon as we\nget in a new lot, I shall try it in the grain.\"\n\nHe had evidently at this time a practical conviction of the truth of\na principle which, in after years, he repeated to the present writer\nin the form of a maxim of the transcendentalists: \"A gross feeder\nwill never be a central thinker.\" It is a truth of the spiritual no\nless than of the intellectual order. A little later we come upon the\nfollowing profession of a vegetarian faith, which will be apt to\namuse as well as to edify the reader:\n\n\"_Reasons for not eating animal food._\n\n\"It does not feed the spirit.\n\n\"It stimulates the propensities.\n\n\"It is taking animal life when the other kingdoms offer sufficient\nand better increment.\n\n\"Slaughter strengthens the lower instincts.\n\n\"It is the chief cause of the slavery of the kitchen.\n\n\"It generates in the body the diseases animals are subject to, and\nencourages in man their bestiality.\n\n\"Its odor is offensive and its appearance unaesthetic.\"\n\nThe apprehension under which he had labored, that city life would\npresent many temptations which he would find it difficult to\nwithstand, appears to have been unfounded. Some few social\nrelaxations he now and then permitted himself, but they were mostly\nvery sober-toned. \"Last evening I attended a Methodist love-feast,\"\nis his record of one of these. \"In returning I stopped at the ward\npolitical meeting.\" Then he notes that although the business he\nfollows is especially full of temptations--as no doubt it was to a\nman keeping so tight a rein over his most natural and legitimate\nappetites--he feels deeply grateful that, so far, he has had no need\nto fear his being led away. \"What yet remains?\" he adds. \"My diet is\nall purchased and all produced by hired labor. I suppose that slave\nlabor produces almost all my dress. And I cannot say that I am\nrightly conditioned until all I eat, drink, and wear is produced by\nlove.\"\n\nIt was a vivid recollection of these early efforts after an ascetic\nperfection which had neither guide nor definite plan, which prompted\nthe following vigorous self-appreciation, made by Father Hecker two\nyears before his death. He had been speaking of some of his youthful\nexperiments in this direction, and ended with an amused laugh and the\nejaculation,\n\n\"Thank God! He led me into the Catholic Church. If it hadn't been for\nthat I should have been one of the worst cranks in the world.\"\n\nHere are two expressions taken from the diary of a permanent fact of\nFather Hecker's individuality. They help to explain why he was\nmisunderstood by many in later years:\n\n\"Men have fear to utter absurdities. The head is sceptical of the\ndivine oracles of the heart, and before she utters them she clothes\nthem in such a fantastic dress that men hear the words but lose the\nlife, the thought.\"\n\n\"We often act to be understood by the heart, not by the head; and\nwhen the head speaks of its having understood, we deny its\nunderstanding. It is the secret sympathy of the heart which is the\nonly response that is looked for. Speech is cold, profane.\"\n\nThis must recall, to those who were intimate with Father Hecker, how\noften he arrived at his own convictions by discussing them with\nothers while they were yet but partially formed. It is a custom with\nmany to do so, mind assisting mind, negation provoking affirmation,\ndoubt vanishing with the utterance of the truth. In Father Hecker's\ncase his perfect frankness led him, when among his own friends, to\nutter half-formed ideas, sometimes sounding startling and erroneous,\nbut spoken with a view to get them into proper shape. At such times\nit required patience to know just what he meant, for he never found\nit the easiest to employ terms whose meaning was conventional.\n\nBy the first of September such faint hopes as Isaac had entertained\nof adapting himself to the conditions of his home in New York were\nwell-nigh dissipated. But a certain natural timidity, joined with the\nstill complete uncertainty he felt as to what his true course should\nbe, made him dissemble his disquiet so long as it was bearable. After\na month or two, by a mutual agreement between his brothers and\nhimself which exonerated him from much of the manual labor which they\nstill shared with the men in their employment, he devoted himself to\nan occupation more accordant to his mind. He set to work to make\nsingle beds and private rooms for the workmen, contriving various\nconveniences and means of occasional solitude for them, and in other\nways doing all in his power to achieve for them the privileges he\nfound so necessary for himself. Of these efforts we get occasional\nglimpses in the diary. But it is, in the main, devoted to more\nimpersonal and larger topics, and the facts of his daily employment,\nas just given, have been gained from other sources.\n\n\"September 1.--There are two ways in which the spirit may live itself\nout. One is to leave all these conditions, purchase a spot of ground,\nand live according to its daily dictates. The other is to make these\nconditions as harmonic as possible by giving the men\" (workmen) \"an\nassociative interest in the accumulations of our associative labor.\nBoth extremes require renunciation of property and of self. Love,\nuniversal love is the ruler, and only by it can the spirit find peace\nor be crowned with the highest happiness.\"\n\n\"The mystery of man's being, the unawakened capacities in him, we are\nnot half aware of. A few of the race, the prophets, sages, and poets,\ngive us a glimpse of his high destiny. Alas! that men should be on\nthe borders of such mighty truths and stand as blind and dumb as\nlower animals before them!\"\n\n\"Balaam sometimes, but ignorantly, utters true prophecies. A remark I\nheard to-day leads me to say this. Speaking of diet a man said: 'Why,\nwhat do you intend? At last you will have men to live on God.' We\nmust become God-like, or God-full. Live as He lives, become one with\nHim. Until we are reconciled with our Father we are aliens,\nprodigals. Until we can say, My Father and I are one, we have not\ncommenced to be. We must fulfil what the Apostle said (and it means,\nperhaps, more than we commonly imagine): 'In God we live and move and\nhave our being.'\"\n\n\"The deeper and more profound a truth is, the less proof can you give\nin its support.\"\n\n\"September 8.--On the evening of the 6th I went to see the French\nOpera Company in Auber's 'Black Domino.' It did not please me as well\nas some music I have heard, though parts of it were very beautiful.\nThe hymns of the nuns were very sweet. The thought occurred to me\nthat if the Church does not provide religious gratifications for the\ntrue wants of humanity, she must be silent if men feed them\nprofanely. It is because the Church has not done her duty that there\nare so many secular societies for Reformation, Temperance, and so on.\nThe Church has provided for the salvation of the sinner's soul by\nmeans of spiritual acts, such as prayer, penance, the Eucharist and\nother sacraments. But now she must provide terrestrial sacraments for\nthe salvation and transfiguration of the body.\"\n\n\"We should strive constantly to actualize the ideal we perceive. When\nwe do realize all the beauty and holiness that we see, we are not\ncalled to deny ourselves, for then we are living as fully on all\nsides as we have capacity to do. Are we not in this state? Then, if\nwe are sincere, we will give up lower and unnecessary gratifications\nfor the sake of the ideal we have in view.\n\n\"I would die to prove my immortality.\"\n\n\"At times we are called to rely on Providence, to be imprudent and\nreckless according to the wisdom of the world. So I am willing to be\nthought. Each of us has an individual character to act out, _under\nthe inspiration of God,_ and this is the highest and noblest we can\ndo. We are forms differing from one another, and if we are acting\nunder the inspirations of the Highest, we are doing our uttermost;\nmore the angels do not. What tends to hinder us from realizing the\nideal which our vision sees must be denied, be it self, wealth,\nopinion, or death.\"\n\n\"The Heart says, 'Be all that you can.' The Intellect says, 'When you\nare all that you can be--what then?'\"\n\n\"Infinite love is the basis of the smallest act of love, and when we\nlove with our whole being, we are in and one with God.\"\n\n\"To love is to lose one's self and gain God. To be all in love is to\nbe one with God.\"\n\n\"When the Spirit begets us, we are no more; the Spirit is, and there\nis nothing else.\"\n\n\"There is much debauchery in speaking wilfully.\n\n\"Every act of self is sin, is a lie.\n\n\"The Spirit will lead you into solitude and silence if it has\nsomething to teach you.\n\n\"You must be born again to know the truth. It cannot be inculcated.\n\n\"To educate is to bring forth, not to put in. To put in is death;\nto flow out is life.\"\n\nLest the reader may have got an impression, from any of the extracts\nalready given, that Isaac Hecker was puffed up by the pride of his\nown innocence, we transcribe what follows. It shows that he did not\nfall under the Apostle's condemnation: \"If we say that we have no\nsin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.\" It was\nwritten on the last Sunday of September, and, after this long\noutpouring of confession, longing, and weakness, the diary was not\nagain resumed for nearly a month. The desire expressed in its second\nparagraph for the kind of spiritual refreshment which in after years\nhe so often enjoyed under the name of a \"retreat,\" seems noteworthy.\n\n\"September 24, 1843.--The human heart is wicked above all things. The\nenemy of man is subtle and watchful beyond conception. Instead of\nbeing on the way of goodness, I am just finding out the wickedness of\nmy nature, its crookedness, its impurity, its darkness. I want deep\nhumility and forgetfulness of self. I am just emerging out of gross\ndarkness and my sight is but dim, so that my iniquities are not\nwholly plain to my vision.\n\n\"At present I feel as if a week of quiet silence would be the means\nof opening more deeply the still flowing fountains of divine life. I\nwould cut off all relations but that of my soul with the Spirit--all\nothers seem intrusions, worldly, frivolous. The inpouring of the\nSpirit is checked by so much attention to other than divine things.\nIn the bustle and noisy confusion its voice is unheard.\n\n\"I feel that one of my greatest weaknesses, because it leads me to so\nmuch sin, is my social disposition. It draws me so often into\nperilous conversations, and away from silence and meditation with the\nSpirit. Lately I have felt almost ready to say that good works are a\nhindrance to the gate of heaven. Pride and self-approbation are so\noften mixed with them. I feel that nothing has been spoken against\nthe vain attempt to trust in good works which my soul does not fully\naccord with. This is a new, a very new experience for me.\"\n\nThe foregoing must be understood in the sense of good works hindering\nbetter works. Isaac Hecker felt his noblest aspirations to be, for\nthe moment at any rate, towards solitude and the passive state of\nprayer; and in this he was hindered by the urgency of his zeal for\nthe propagation of philanthropic schemes and his great joy in\ncommuning with men whom he hoped to find like-minded with himself. The\ntime came when he was able to Join the two states, the inner\npurifying the outer man and directing his energies by the instinct of\nthe Holy Spirit. This entry goes on as follows:\n\n\"By practice of our aspirations, ideals, and visions, we convert them\ninto real being.\n\n\"We should be able to say, 'Which of you convinceth me of sin?'\nbefore we are fit to preach to others in such a way that our\npreaching may have a practical effect upon society.\n\n\"Did all our efforts flow into realizing the teachings of the Spirit,\nwe should do much more good and be greater in the sight of God than\nwe are now by so much speaking and writing. But let us be watchful\nthat the pride of good works does not take the place of that of\nspeaking and writing.\n\n\"By our sins and many weaknesses we are prevented from entering the\nPromised Land, and must die just in sight of it. Instead of being\nhumble, willing, and self-denying in our youth, and being led by the\nSpirit of God, we keep on in the spirit of the world and give all the\nsubstance of our being to its service. And when we are nearly worn\nout we flee to God, and die, perhaps, in sight of heaven, instead of\nhaving been among its inhabitants, living in it upon earth, in the\nfull bloom of our youthful joy of life. . . .\n\n\"The Lord has been good to me and my heart is filled with His warm\nlove. Blessed be Thou, O God! for Thou hast given me a taste of Thy\nsweetness. Thou hast given me gratitude and thankfulness and an\noverflowing heart of praise. I would stand still and shout and bless\nGod. It is God in us that believes in God. Without the light of God\nwe should be in total darkness, and He is the only source of light.\nThe more of God we have in us, the more we see beyond us.\n\n\"Thy inspiration, O God! is love and wisdom. In Thee they are one, as\nlight and warmth are in the fire.\n\n\"Thou art the true, eternal food of life, and he that has tasted Thee\ncan never be at rest until he is wholly filled with Thee. Lord, when\nwe are without Thee we are lost, dead, in darkness. It is in and by\nThy presence that we live and move and have our being.\n\n\"Ever more, O Lord, increase Thy Spirit in us until between as there\nis no more we or Thee, but Thou, O Father, art all!\n\n\"Like the fixed light in a crystal which flashes back the light of\nthe sun, so does the soul of man reflect God.\n\n\"A good life consists in passive as well as active virtues.\n\n\"O Lord, so fill me that nothing shall be left but Thee, and I may be\nno more.\"\n\nOne would be tempted to believe that none but a master in the\nspiritual life could have written the sentences which immediately\nfollow this outburst of love and praise. Yet remember that Isaac\nHecker was not yet twenty-four, and that he knew nothing of the ways\nof the Spirit except what the Spirit Himself had directly taught him:\n\n\"The reason why men are perplexed and in darkness about their being\nand the questions which their being often asks, is not that these are\ninsoluble, but that the disposition and spirit in which a solution is\nattempted is so contrary to that in which they may be solved, that\nthey appear as hidden mysteries.\n\n\"When we come together to converse, it should be to learn from each\nother what good we can and ought to do, and so mingle the brightness\nof one with the dimness of the other. Our meetings should be such\nthat we should go away feeling that God had been with us and\nmultiplied our blessings. The question should be, 'Brother, can you\nteach me the way of the Lord in a more perfect manner than that in\nwhich I tread it, so that my soul may be increased and God abide in\nme more and more?' Oh! he is my brother, my master, who leads me to\ndo more and more good and to love and live more of God. He that does\nnot increase my heart in love or my mind in true godly wisdom, is\nunprofitable and negatively injurious to me.\n\n\"Wilfulness locks up while willingness\" (docility) \"unlocks the\nportal to the divine mysteries of God. I would not attempt to solve a\nmystery by intellect, but by being.\"\n\n\"October 17.--It is some time since I have written in this book. All\nmy spare time has been occupied in writing letters to my friends,\nmeditating, feeling, arranging matters with my brothers regarding our\nrelations with each other, and attending to the business. I have had\nlittle time to read and to visit my friends. Since I have written my\nfeelings have become more definite, my thoughts clearer and more\ndistinct, and my whole mind more systematic. . . .\n\n\"The settlement which has been made with my brothers gives me the\nopportunity of doing what my spirit has long demanded of me. This\nafternoon I have been working on their bedroom, making it larger and\nmore pleasant for their minds. This is the first movement I have made\ntoward ameliorating their condition. I hope that God will give me\nstrength to continue.\"\n\n\"October 18.--I feel this afternoon a deep want in my soul\nunsatisfied by my circumstances here, the same as I experienced last\nwinter when I was led from this place. It is at the very depth of my\nbeing. Ah, it is deeply stirred! Oh, could I utter the aching void I\nfeel within! Could I know what would fill it! Alas! nothing that can\nbe said, no, nothing, can touch the aching spot. In silence I must\nremain and let it ache. I would cover myself with darkness and hide\nmy face from the light. Oh, could I but call upon the Lord! Could I\nbut say, Father! Could I feel any relationship!\"\n\n\"November 3.--All things considered, could I, under any\ncircumstances, have more opportunities for self-culture and for doing\ngood than I have in my present position?\n\n\"For one thing, there is too much demand on me for physical action.\nMy heart and head have not their share of time. But when I consider,\nI am at a loss to know how we can possibly diminish our business in\nany way without a still greater demand on us for physical labor in\nconsequence of diminishing it.\n\n\"Yesterday afternoon I went alone in my bedroom and I was led to\npray, and to think what more I can do for the friends around me than\nI now do. This morning I arose and prayed, and felt determined not to\nlet any outward event disturb my inward life; that nothing should\nruffle my inward peace, and that this day should be one of interior\nlife, let come what would.\n\n\"Often I think of my past life and my present with such a strength of\nemotion that I would cry aloud, 'O Heaven help me from my course!\nThis is not the life I would lead, but how shall I change it? O Lord!\nwilt Thou guide me and lead me, no matter what pain or distress I may\nhave to pass through, to the true path Thou wouldst have me go in?\nOh! I thank Thee for all Thou hast in any way inflicted on me; it has\nbeen to me the greatest blessing I could have received. And, O Lord!\nchasten me more, for I need it. How shall I live so that I may be the\nbest I can be under any conditions? If those in which I now am are\nnot the best, where shall I go or how shall I change them? Teach me,\nO Lord! and hear my humble prayer.'\"\n\nThe following account of his curious inner experiences tells of the\npositive interference of God and His angels, supplementing the calmer\nmoods in which Isaac longed for and struggled towards the settled\ncondition only to be attained after his entering the Church.\n\n\"November 5.--How is it and why is it that I feel around me the\nconstant presence of invisible beings who affect my sensibility, and\nwith whom I converse, as it were, in thought and feeling, but not in\nexpression? At times they so move me that I would escape them, if I\ncould, by running away from where I am. I can scarcely keep still; I\nfeel like beating, raving, and grasping what I know not. Ah! it is an\nunearthly feeling, and painfully afflicts my heart. How to get rid of\nit I do not know. If I remain quietly where I am, by collecting its\nscattered rays it burns more deeply into my soul, bringing forth deep\nsighs, groans, and at times demanding all my energy to repress an\nunnatural howl.\n\n\"How shall I escape this? By remaining here and trying to bear it, or\nby travelling? To do the latter has often occurred to me of late. By\nsuch a cause I was driven from home last winter. What the result will\nbe this time I cannot tell; but if I did know, I would not wait, as I\ndid then, until it came on me with such power as to be torturing in\nthe extreme. Ah, what nervous strength and energy I feel at such\ntimes! If I speak of it to my brothers, they cannot understand me,\nnever having had the same experience. My timidity, which does not\nwish to be thought of as desiring anything extra on account of my\nlife, makes me bear it until it is unendurable. Hence I am silent so\nlong as it does not speak for itself, which extremity might be\nprevented were circumstances other than they are. Since they are not,\nlet it be borne with, say strength and resignation united with hope.\n'Tis this that is fabled in Prometheus and Laocooen--and how well\nfabled, too.\"\n\n It is significant that after every extraordinary disturbance, such\nas the above, he experienced the impulse to study the credentials of\nclaimants in the outer religious world, the envoys of the Deity to\nman; and this especially concerning the Catholic Church. He goes on\nat once to say:\n\n\"Of late I have felt more disposed to look into church matters than\nfor six months past. Last evening I made a visit to the Rev. Mr.\nHaight\" (an Episcopal clergyman) \"and conversed with him about that\nsubject for an hour and a half. We differed very little in our\nopinions. If the Church of Rome has fallen into corruptions from her\nover-warmth, the Anglican has neglected some of her duties through\nher coldness. And if the Anglican receives the first five or six\ncouncils as legitimate and rejects the Council of Trent as not a full\none, still, as an individual, I think Rome did not establish or\nenjoin anything in those decrees\" (the Tridentine) \"which was not in\nharmony with the Spirit of Christ, the Scriptures, and tradition. But\nthe Anglican thinks she has, and hence, in his judgment, they are\nunwarrantable and unnecessary.\"\n\n\"November 15.--How does Jesus commune with Humanity through the\nChurch? Does He now commune with the Church? Was the life given by\nHim to His immediate disciples all that has been given and\ntransmitted to us, or does He now commune with the visible Church?\nAnd how? He promised to be with His disciples even unto the end of\nthe world, to send the Comforter who should lead them into all truth,\nand to intercede for us with the Father. The Church holds that its\nsacraments and forms are the visible means for communing with the\ninvisible--that grace is imparted through them to the worthy\nreceiver. Is it true that such grace is imparted? If it is, it will\nbe shown by its fruits. Contrast the Catholic who believes most in\nthe sacraments with the Quaker who does not believe in them at all as\nreligious or moral forces. Certainly, if the sacraments have any\nbeneficial effect, it should be shown in the contrast between those\nwho totally deny their efficacy and those who religiously believe in\nthem. Now, does this show what one would naturally expect to flow\nfrom faith in the sacraments?\n\n\"November 20.--I feel in better health than I have ever had, both\nmind and body, having at the same time an increased sensitiveness, so\nthat the touch of any one I cannot bear. Also, I am conscious of a\nmore constant spiritual communion. I feel more vividly and distinctly\nthe influence and presence--spiritual presence--of others.\n\n\"I lie down in my bed at night with the same feelings with which I\nrise in the morning. I anticipate as much from one as from the other.\nThe events, emotions, and thoughts which come in my sleep are as much\na part of my real life as those of the day. Waking and sleeping are\ntwo forms of existence. To me the latter state is full of interest\nand expectation. The two states mutually act upon each other. . . .\n\n\"Hope, Faith, Wish, are the presentiments of sight, the evidences of\nbecoming sight to the senses. They are the forerunners of vision. It\nis by them we know. . . .\n\n\"To believe is to see, not with the senses but with the higher\nfaculties of the soul, reason, imagination, hope. . . .\n\n\"I believe that every faculty may be elevated to the state of\nprophecy.\n\n\"Reasoning is faith struggling with doubt.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nSTUDYING AND WAITING\n\nTHAT \"movable feast,\" Thanksgiving Day, gave Isaac occasion for\nmaking this examination of conscience at five o'clock in the morning:\n\n\"When I cast my eyes back, it seems to me that I have made some\nprogress--that I have grown somewhat better than I was. Thoughts,\nfeelings, and passions which were active in my bosom, and which, in\ntruth, were not to be well-spoken of, have given place, I hope, to a\nbetter state of mind.\n\n\"How am I now actualizing my spiritual life? It would be hard for me\nto answer at this moment. Am I less wilful? Do I sacrifice more than\nI did? Am I more loving? I am afraid that I am doing nothing more\nthan I did; and therefore I took up this book to give an account of\nmyself.\n\n\"Study occupies the best part of my time most generally. I recite\nlessons in Latin and in German every day, and now intend to study\nEnglish grammar again. Then I read considerable, and write letters to\nmy friends. All this, added to the hours I have to spend in business,\nleaves me not sufficient time to meditate; and there is no\nopportunity here for me to go into a retired, silent place, where I\ncan be perfectly still, which is what has the most internal effect on\nme, and the best and most lasting. Two things I should and must do\nfor my own soul's sake: speak less, and think less of my friends. To\ndo this will give me a retired place and an opportunity for silence\nin the midst of all that is around me.\n\n\"I feel that I am not doing anything to ameliorate the social\ncondition of those around me who are under my influence and partial\ncontrol. Just now there seems a stand-still in this direction. The\nSpirit promises to teach us in all things: what more would it have me\ndo in this way? What should be my next step? My mind has been\npartially drawn away from this by the present poor state of business,\nwhich keeps us cramped in our funds.\n\n\"I fear that to take less food than I now do would injure my\nhealth--else I should fast often.\n\n\"To-day let me put in practice the two above-mentioned duties:\nsilence, and less thought upon my friends.\n\n\"And now, O God! If Thou helpest not I shall be worse than before.\nHeavenly Father, as the lower depends on the light and warmth of the\nsun for its grace and beauty, so, and much more, do I depend on Thee\nfor life and progress. O Lord! from the depths of my heart I would\nimplore Thee to aid me in all good intentions. My heart overflows\nwith its fulness of gratitude for what Thou hast done for me, and I\nknow Thou wilt not shorten Thy hand. Thy beauty, Thy loveliness, O\nGod! is beyond our finite vision, far above our expression. Lord, all\nI can utter is, Help my weakness.\"\n\n\"December 2, 1843.--My heart, these two days back, has been filled\nwith love. Oh, had I some one to whom I could unbosom myself! There\nis a something that affects my heart which is invisible, and to me\nstrange.\"\n\nHere he seems to intend the literal, physical heart, making it the\nscene, at the same time, of a spiritual emotion. On the same day he\nwrites:\n\n\"I will not feed my body with impure food--is it not of infinitely\nmore importance that I should not feed my spirit with deeds of\nimpurity? By this I mean my gaining a living by making and selling\narticles which, in my judgment, are injurious, being luxurious and\naltogether unnecessary. Should I cease from doing that which is\ncontrary to my spirit, what else should I do? O Lord, enlighten Thou\nmy path!\"\n\nWith what zeal he still persisted in the practice of bodily\nmortification this entry bears witness:\n\n\"December 6.--Day before yesterday I fasted and took a cold\nshower-bath. My diet is apples, potatoes, nuts, and unleavened bread.\nNo water--scarcely a mouthful a week.\"\n\nThen follow some thoughts on the solidarity of humanity, which\nretards individual progress by weighting each with the burdens of all\nothers. He finds in this an explanation of the truth that our Lord\ntook all the sins of men upon Himself and suffered for them on the\ncross. The blind ingratitude with which this sacrifice has been\nrepaid cuts him with anguish, from which he rises into this cry of\nlove and adoration:\n\n\"O Lord! my heart is choked from the utterance of its depth of\nthankfulness. O dear Christ! O sweet Christ! O loving Christ! oh,\nmore than brother, friend! oh, more than any other being can be! O\nSon of God! oh, Thou who showest forth the pure love of God! oh, Thou\ninexpressible Love! draw me nearer Thee, let me feel more of Thy\npurity, Thy love! Oh, baptize me with Thy Spirit and loosen my tongue\nthat I may speak of Thy love to men! Oh, it cannot be spoken of, nor\ncan our hearts feel its greatness. God! what is Thy mercy that Thou\nsufferest us to live? Our ingratitude is too great to be uttered.\nLord, I am silent, for who can speak in Thy presence? O Father! O\nLove! O Loving-kindness! My heart could fly away!\"\n\nOn his birthday, December 18, 1843, having finished his twenty-third\nyear, he puts down an account of conscience in the form of prayers\nand aspirations to God, breathing a deep sense of humility,\nexpressing regret for his inactivity, his lack of gratitude for\nfavors both spiritual and temporal, and adding a fervent appeal for\nmore light and greater courage. In almost every entry of any length\nin the diary during this period he complains of his lack of solitude\nand of the means of obtaining it. His mind, after arriving home, was\ntossed with many interior distresses which he could not communicate\nto his brothers, nor even to his mother, with any hope of\nassuagement, but which silence and solitude enabled him to soothe by\nprayer. On the last day of the year he reverts to the great changes\nwhich 1843 had witnessed in his soul, and which, he says, were\naccompanied by bitter anguish. Twelve months before he had been with\nhis \"dear friend, 0, A. Brownson, filled with an unknown spirit,\ndriven from home by it, and like one intoxicated, not knowing who I\nwas or wherefore I was so troubled\"--then to Brook Farm, and to\nFruitlands, and back again in New York for the previous five or six\nmonths, the same spirit still in sovereign mastery over him, and,\n\"though regulated, none the less powerful.\" He says that he is not so\nrestless nor his mind so chaotic, but that he still has a pain at\nheart which he declares to be almost unbearable, joined to some\nnervous excitability.\n\nMeantime, besides trying to employ himself actively in the business\nof the Hecker Brothers, he recited lessons daily in both German and\nLatin, and read much, chiefly on topics suggested by the difficulties\nwith which his life was beset, such as philosophy, religious\ncontroversy, and the graver sorts of poetry, of which that of Goethe\nmade a deep impression on him. The melancholy unrest and longing\nwhich such poetry embodies sunk into his very heart. Often it gave\nperfect expression to his own doubting and distressed state of soul.\nHe also found some relaxation in an occasional visit to the theatre\nand heard nearly all the lectures given in the city. One of the\ndreams of his life, the amelioration of the social condition of the\nworking people, he found himself unable to actualize in any\nappreciable degree. It is evident that his brothers shared his\nphilanthropic views; but when it came to set practically to work\nthere was a lack of harmony. John Hecker was for attaining the object\nby stricter discipline, treating the men rather as servants; while\n\"we,\" says Isaac, speaking of himself and George, \"took the side of\ntreating them with kindness, and, as far as possible, as brethren.\"\nIn truth, it was evidence of nobility of character in these three\nbrothers that they could so much as dream of actualizing so radical a\nsocial reform in but one establishment amidst so many in ardent\nbusiness competition with each other. It may be said in passing that\nthe practical charity of the Hecker Brothers continued to do credit\nto the spirit which originally prompted their attempts at social\nreform. During a period of general distress some years since they\ndistributed bread free, sending their own wagons around the city for\nthe purpose.\n\nNo small part of Isaac's distress arose from what the diary calls the\nugliness, vulgarity, and discord everywhere to be met with in his\ndaily round of duties. He had one refuge from this in his domestic\nlife--a pleasant, pure, and peaceful home; and another in the inner\nchamber of his soul, better fitted every day to be a sanctuary to\nwhich he could fly for solace. But his heart fairly bled for the vast\nmass of men and of women about him, only a few of whom had such an\nouter refuge, and perhaps fewer still the inner one. This sympathy he\nfelt his life long. He ever blamed the huge accretion of law and\ncustoms and selfishness which is called society for much of this\nmisery of men, this hindrance to a fair distribution of the goods of\nthis world, this guilty permission on the part of the fortunate few\nof the want and dirt and ugliness and coarseness which are the lot of\nalmost the whole race of man. Yet he was not blind to individual\nguilt. Right here in his diary, after lamenting his enforced\ninability to succor human misery, he says that some words dropped by\nthe workmen in conversation with him cause him to record his\nconviction that suffering and injustice, together with the\ndeprivation of liberty, are due to one's own fault as well as to that\nof others:\n\n\"Every evil that society inflicts upon me, the germ of it is my own\nfault; in proportion as I free myself from my vices will I free\nmyself from the evils which society inflicts upon me. Be true to\nthyself and thou canst not be false to any one. Be true to thyself\nand it follows as night follows day that others cannot be false to\nthee.\"\n\nOf course this panacea offers only an inward healing, for none more\nreadily admitted than he who wrote these sentences that in externals\nthe true heart is often the first victim of the malice of the false\nheart.\n\nEver and again we find in the diary reflections on the general aspect\nof religion. The Protestant churches seemed to him to fail to meet\nthe aspirations of the natural man; that is the burden of his\ncomplaint against them all. Some, like the Unitarians, did but offer\nman his best self and hence added nothing to humanity, while humanity\nat its best ceaselessly condemned itself as insufficient. This\ninsufficiency of man for himself, Calvinistic and Lutheran\nProtestantism in their turn condemned as a depravity worthy of the\ndeepest hell, making man a wretch maimed in his very nature so\ncruelly and fatally as to be damned for what he could not help being\nguilty of. Meantime the Catholic Church was seen by Isaac Hecker as\nhaving elements the most attractive. It recognized in man his native\ndignity; it saw in him a being made God-like by the attribute of\nreason, and called him to a state infinitely more God-like by a\nsupernatural union with Christ. It understood his weakness, pitied\nit, and knew how to cure it. True, there are passages here in which\nhis impatience with the public attitude of the Church betrays that\nhis view of it was yet a distant one; they show, also, an undue\nconcentration of his gaze upon social evils. \"The Church is a great\nalmoner,\" he says, \"but what is she doing to ameliorate and improve\nthe circumstances of the poorer and more numerous classes? She is\nmore passive than active.\" \"Instead of the Church being in the head\nand front of advancement, suffering martyrdom for Christ, she is in a\nconservative relation with society.\" Yet he adds: \"We speak of the\nChurch as she is exhibited by her bishops and clergy, and only in\nthis sense.\"\n\nIsaac Hecker's renewed experiment of engaging in business and\nfollowing at the same time the lead of the peremptory Spirit within\nhim soon proved a failure. He complains, though not as bitterly as\nthe year before when he felt the first agony of this suffering, that\nthe greater part of his true life is lost in his present\nposition--the thoughts, feelings, studies which are of supreme value\nto him, getting entrance into his mind almost by stealth, while, at\nthe same time, he is not of much use in the business and of little\nbenefit to others in any way. On March 10 he wrote to Brownson that\nhe was going to give up business totally and finally, and asked his\nAdvice about a course of study \"for the field of the Church,\" not\nhaving yet fully settled as to whether it should be \"the Roman or the\nAnglican.\" Upon his determination to withdraw from the secular\naffairs of life he experienced \"such peace, calmness, and deep,\nsettled strength and confidence\" as never before. \"I feel the\npresence of God,\" he writes, \"wherever I am. I would kneel and praise\nGod in all places. In His presence I walk and feel His breath\nencompass me. My soul is borne up by His presence and my heart is\nfilled by His influence. How thankful ought we to be! How humble and\nsubmissive! Let us lay our heads on the pillow of peace and die\npeacefully in the embrace of God.\"\n\nBrownson answered his letter with one of encouragement to carry out\nhis purpose. Yet, there was a pang; Isaac laments \"the domestic\ncomforts, the little offices of tender love\" which he should lose by\ngoing from home. And well he might, for tender love may well describe\nthe bond uniting the dear old mother and her three noble sons. The\npresent writer had no personal acquaintance with John Hecker, but we\nnever heard his name mentioned by Father Hecker except with much\naffection. George always seemed to us something like a perfect man.\nHe especially it was who all his life gave his entire unselfish love\nto his brother Isaac. The reader has noticed, we hope, that there has\nbeen no mention so far in the diary of difficulty in obtaining money\nfor the expenses of his various journeyings and for his support when\nabsent from home. The two brothers in New York appear to have held\nthese pilgrimages in search of the truth in such reverence as to make\nIsaac their partner, only in a higher sense than ever before. And\nGeorge Hecker, especially, seemed throughout his life to continue\nIsaac a member of his great and rich firm, lavishing upon his least\nwish large sums of money, and these not only for his strictly\npersonal expenditure, but for any cause whatever he might have at\nheart.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE MYSTIC AND THE PHILOSOPHER\n\nBEFORE summarizing and conveniently arranging Isaac Hecker's reasons\nfor becoming a Catholic and narrating the accompanying incidents, we\ngive the following profession of faith in the authority of the Spirit\nspeaking within. It was written in the diary in the midst of his\npreparations for his baptism, and is an early witness of a permanent\ncharacteristic of Father Hecker's life. It is, besides, a fitting\nintroduction to the description of his state of mind when he entered\nthe Church, showing better than anything we have found what kind of\nman became a Catholic in Isaac Hecker.\n\n\"Man is a mystic fact.\n\n\"What is most interior is ever mystical, and we should ever be in the\ncentre of the circle of the mystic life.\n\n\"We must unfold the mystical in all our expressions, actions,\nthoughts, and motions.\n\n\"It is the mystic life only which can fully interest man. This is\ndeeper than all conditions, behind all organs, faculties, and\nfunctions.\n\n\"We must listen to those who speak to us in the interior world, and\nhear the mystic man speak through us.\n\n\"The mystic man is ever youthful, fresh, and new.\n\n\"The mystic sphere is the kingdom of heaven within.\n\n\"I can neither study nor sit down and read for any length of time.\nThe inner man will not permit me. Ever he calls me from it to\nmeditate and enjoy his presence.\n\n\"He says: I am all. Ask of me and I will give you more than has been\nwritten--more than you can ever find or dig out by study.\n\n\"Be my spokesman--this is your office. Submit to me--this is your\nglory. I have taken up my abode in you on condition that you will be\nfaithful and submissive.\n\n\"You have no business to ask of me what I am going to set you about.\nI am, and you know it--and this is enough for you to know.\n\n\"This is my condition of remaining with you--that you entertain me,\nand me alone, and no other on any pretext whatsoever. I am all, and\nthis suffices. You have nothing to say, to do, or to be troubled\nabout. Do only as I bid you, follow what I tell you, and be still.\n\n\"If you neglect me in any way, or forget me for any other object, now\nthat you have enjoyed my confidence, love, and blessing, I will not\nabide with you any longer.\n\n\"I want all your time and to speak all that is to be said. You have\nno right to speak a word--not a word--of your own. You are not your\nown. You have given yourself up to me, and I am all. I will not leave\nyou unless you leave me first, and even then I shall ever be the\nnearest to you, but you will not know it.\n\n\"I am your Friend; the One who loves you. I have discovered myself to\nyou and will do so yet more. But the condition of so doing requires\nfrom you even more faith, tenderness, and submissiveness.\n\n\"Nothing is so real, so near, so full of enjoyment as I am to you,\nand you cannot leave me without giving up the greater for the less.\n\n\"I talk to you at all times and am near you at all seasons, and my\njoy is to be in your presence, to love you and to take delight in\nthis love I bestow upon you. I direct your pen, speech, thought, and\naffections, though you know it not sensibly. But you shall know more\nclearly who I am, and all respecting me, if you but comply with my\nrequirements. You need not fear: you cannot make any mistakes if you\nsubmit to be guided by me.\"\n\nIsaac Hecker had now tried every form of philosophy. Whoever sailed\nwith Brownson on that voyage which ended on the shores of Catholic\ntruth, had explored the deep seas and sounded the shoal waters of all\nhuman reason; and young Hecker had been Brownson's friend and\nsympathizer since the years of his own earliest mental activity.\nPantheism, subjectivism, idealism, and all the other systems were\ntried, and when at last he was convinced that _Life is Real_ it was\nonly after such an agony as must attend the imminent danger of fatal\nshipwreck.\n\nHe had, meantime, given a fair trial to philanthropy. Theoretically\nand practically, Isaac Hecker loved humanity; to make men happy was\nhis ever-renewed endeavor; was, in truth, the condition on which his\nown happiness depended. For years this view of his life-task\nalternated with his search for exact answers to the questions his\nsoul asked about man's destiny hereafter; or, one might rather say,\nsocial questions and philosophical ones borrowed strength from each\nother to assail him till his heart throbbed and his brain whirled\nwith the agony of the conflict.\n\nIn a series of articles in _The Catholic World_ published in 1887,\nand before referred to, Father Hecker called Dr. Brownson's road to\nthe Church the philosophical road. Finding that doctrines which his\nphilosophical mind perceived to answer the deepest questions of the\nsoul were taught only in one society, and there taught with\nauthority, he argued validly that that society could lay claim to the\nright to teach. From the doctrine to the teacher, from the truth to\nthe external authority that teaches it, is an inference of sound\nreason. This applies to Father Hecker's case also, for he was of a\nbent of mind truly philosophical, and he has placed on record the\nsimilarity of his philosophical difficulties with those of Brownson.\nBut in addition to philosophical questions, and far more pressing,\nwere to Isaac Hecker the problems arising from the mystical\noccurrences of which his soul was the theatre. Were these real? that\nis, were they more than the vagaries of a sensitive temperament, the\nwanderings of a sentimental imagination, or, to use Father Hecker's\nown words, \"the mere projections into activity of feelings entirely\nsubjective; mystical impulses towards no corresponding objective\nrealities, or, at any rate, with objects which it is not possible to\nbring into the field of the really knowable? Some will admit that\nreligious feeling is as much a verity as any other part of human\nconsciousness, affirming, however, the subjectivity of all purely\nspiritual life; and no more can be said, they insist, for the\nprinciples, metaphysical and logical, with which they are associated\nin the spiritual life of man. Now, such a theory never leaves the\nsoul that is governed by reason at rest. The problem ever and again\ndemands solution: are these yearnings, aspirations, unappeased\ndesires, or religious feelings--the ruling traits of the noblest men\nand women--are they genuine, real, corresponding to and arising from\nthe reality of certain objects external to the soul? I think that in\nthe solution of this problem Dr. Brownson fought and won his greatest\nvictory; at any rate, it was to me the most interesting period of his\nlife. No wonder, since I had the same battle to fight myself, and it\nwas just at this epoch that I came into closest contact with him. We\nfought this battle shoulder-to-shoulder.\"--_Catholic World,_\nOctober, 1887, pp. 5-6.\n\nBrownson's heavy heart was due to philosophical difficulties, and\nIsaac Hecker's to the same; but in addition the latter had a mystical\nexperience to which Brownson was at that time, certainly, a stranger,\nand, as far as we know, he remained so; and these mystical\ndifficulties demanded settlement far more imperatively than did the\nphilosophical ones. Isaac Hecker's inner life must have an external\nadjunct of divine authority. Such aspirations of the soul for present\nunion with God in love as he had, are more peremptory in demanding\nsatisfaction than those of the logical faculty in demanding the\nascertainment of the certain truth. Philosophy outside the Church is\nto the searcher after truth what St. Paul said the Law was to the\nJews, a schoolmaster; but, to a soul in the condition of Isaac\nHecker, the Holy Spirit is a spouse demanding union. Both Brownson\nand himself were men true to their convictions, courageous and\nunselfish. They were both firmly determined to have the truth and to\nhave the whole of it, whether spoken _ex cathedra_ in the divine\ncourt of the innermost soul, or _ex cathedra_ by the supreme\nauthority of God in the organism of the Christian Church. \"Brownson\nwas firmly persuaded,\" says Father Hecker, \"and so am I, that the\ngreat fault of men generally is that they deem the life of their\nsouls, thoughts, judgments, and convictions, yearnings, aspirations,\nand longings to be too subject to illusion to be worthy their\nattentive study and manly fidelity; that even multitudes of Catholics\ngreatly undervalue the divine reality of their inner life, whether in\nthe natural or supernatural order.\"\n\nThe philosophical difficulty was far less serious than the spiritual\none. To the philosopher the fundamental truths of human reason are\nestablished as objective realities by processes common to every sane\nmind, and are backed by the common consent of men; and this is true\nalso of the prime verities of ethics. But when a man finds himself\nsubject to secret influences of the utmost power over him, able to\ncast him off or to hold him, to sicken his body and distress his\nsoul, extending his views of the truth by flashes of light into\nvistas that seem infinite, making his love of right an ecstasy, his\nsympathy for human misery a passion, controlling his diet and his\nclothing, ordering him here and there at will and knowing how to be\nobeyed--when, in a word, a man finds himself treated by God in a\nmanner totally different from any one else he knows or ever heard of,\nit is plain that he must agonize for the possession of a divine\nsanction to which he can appeal in common with all men, and which\nmust therefore exist in the external order. He longs, above all\nthings, to test his secret in the light of day.\n\nThe problem that Isaac Hecker had to solve, as he described it\nhimself, was whether his life was real--using the word \"life\" to\ndenote its truest meaning, the interior life. We have been careful to\nmake the reader aware of how deep and continuous were the inner\ntouches of the Holy Spirit which led him on. Before applying for\nadmission to the Church, there was no truth that he could believe\nmore firmly than that he was the temple of the Holy Ghost. Of that he\nhad the certitude which is called personal and the teaching of God\nwhich is most direct. Yet something was lacking, and therein lay his\nagony, for he knew that his fellow-men were entitled to all that he\nhad of truth and virtue. The more distinct the Voice which spoke\nwithin, the more perplexing it became to hear no echo from without.\nHe felt sure that what was true and holy for him must be so for all,\nand yet he could not so much as make himself understood if he told\nhis secret to others. To the born Catholic there is no such\ndifficulty. He is so fully accustomed to the verification of the\ninner action of God, enlightening his mind and stinging his\nconscience, by God's external action in the Church, that he often\nconfounds the two. He knows the Voice better by its echo than by its\nown tones. There are many good Catholics, but few enlightened\nmystics. This is not for lack of guidance, so far as doctrine is\nconcerned, for accredited authors on such subjects are numerous and\ntheir teaching is uniform and explicit, besides being of the most\nintense interest to those for whose instruction it is adapted. These\nmasters of spiritual doctrine not only dwell upon the interior life\nitself, but also on the external order of God in His Church which\nbrings His interior teaching into proper relation with the exterior.\nThe interior life thus made integral is alone worthy of the term\n_real;_ is alone worthy of the description of St. Paul when he calls\nit \"the witness of the Spirit.\" Now, as a witness who cannot be\nbrought into open court to give his testimony might as well be dumb,\nand is as good as no witness, so the inner life, lacking the true\nexternal order of God, is cramped and helpless; and cramped and\nhelpless Isaac Hecker was. Whatever he did, therefore, toward\ninvestigating religious evidences was done primarily as a search for\nthe external criterion which should guarantee the validity of the\ninspirations of God within him, and at the same time provide a medium\nof union with his fellow-men.\n\nThose whose advertence is not particularly aroused to the facts of\ntheir interior life, have for their main task either the study of the\nChurch as a visible society, claiming continuity with one established\nby Christ; or, preceding that, the question whether such a society\nwas ever founded by God. Now, although such questions must be settled\nby all, they are not the main task of men like Isaac Hecker. In their\ncase the problem transcending all others is where to find that divine\nexternal order demanded for the completion of their inner experience.\nSuch men must say: If there is no external order of God in this\nworld, then my whole interior life is fatally awry.\n\nThe captain whose voyage is on the track of the trade winds\nnevertheless needs more than dead reckoning for his course; he needs\nto take the sun at noon, to study the heavens at night, and to con\nhis chart. To follow one's interior drift only is to sail the ocean\nwithout chart or compass. The sail that is wafted by the impulses of\nthe divine Spirit in the interior life must have, besides, the\nguarantee of divine veracity in the external order to justify him.\nThis he needs, in order to safeguard him in the interior life itself,\nand to provide a common court of appeal between himself and his\nfellows, or otherwise he is in danger of fanaticism, and is certain\nof the mistrust of his fellow-men. No man, unsupported by external\nmiracles, can claim to teach what is vouched for only by his own\ntestimony; and this especially applies to purely subjective\nexperiences. Isaac Hecker was a born teacher of men, and to be shut\noff from them by an isolated experience was to be robbed of his\nvocation. A soul like his, led to the truth along the path of social\nreform, will hail with delight a religion which organizes all\nhumanity on a basis of equality, and at the same time verifies and\nexplains the facts of each one's particular experience. Such a\nreligion is to be longed for, not only because of its universal\nbrotherhood, but also because it can decide between the inspirations\nof the Holy Spirit and the criminal conceits of passion or the dreams\nof an imaginative temperament.\n\nMany years afterwards Father Hecker thus stated the harmony between\nthe inner and outer action of God in the soul's life:\n\n\"In case of obscurity or doubt concerning what is the divinely\nrevealed truth, or whether what prompts the soul is or is not an\ninspiration of the Holy Spirit, recourse must be had to the divine\nteacher or criterion--the authority of the Church. For it must be\nborne in mind that to the Church, as represented in the first\ninstance by St. Peter and subsequently by his successors, was made\nthe promise of her divine Founder that 'the gates of hell should\nnever prevail against her.' No such promise was ever made by Christ\nto each individual believer. 'The Church of the living God is the\npillar and ground of truth.' The test, therefore, of a truly\nenlightened and sincere Christian will be, in case of uncertainty,\nthe promptitude of his obedience to the voice of the Church.\n\n\"From the above plain truths the following practical rule of conduct\nmay be drawn: The Holy Spirit is the immediate guide of the soul in\nthe way of salvation and sanctification; and the criterion or test,\nthat the soul is guided by the Holy Spirit, is its ready obedience to\nthe authority of the Church. This rule removes all danger whatever,\nand with it the soul can walk, run, or fly, if it chooses, in the\ngreatest safety and with perfect liberty, in the ways of\nsanctity.\"--_The Church and the Age,_ p. 35.\n\nIn transcribing the above we are reminded that St. Ignatius, who was\nthe divine instrument in establishing and perfecting God's authority\nin the external order, yet left on record that so clearly had the\nHoly Spirit shown him by secret teaching the truths of religion,\nthat, if all the Scriptures had been destroyed, his private\nrevelations at Manresa would have sufficed him in their stead.\n\nAll that we have just been saying helps to answer the question why\nOrestes Brownson and Isaac Hecker did not set up systems of their\nown, and become Carlyles and Emersons or, especially in Father\nHecker's case, Emanuel Swedenborgs or Edward Irvings. We find the\nfollowing among the memoranda of conversations:\n\n\"June 30, 1886.--Why didn't I switch off from Christianity as Carlyle\ndid? Because I hope that I was truer to natural reason; but chiefly\nbecause God had given me such an amount of infused lights and graces\nthat I was forced to seek a guide or go off into extravagant\nfanaticism. They were ready to encourage me in the latter. George\nRipley said to me, 'Hecker, what have you got to tell? Tell us what\nit is and we will accept it.'\"\n\nThe impression a perfectly \"independent thinker\" made on him, as\ntypified in Emerson, is told in an entry in his diary, dated April 24,\n1844:\n\n\"I have had a few words with Emerson. He stands on the extreme ground\nwhere he did several years ago. He and his followers seem to me to\nlive almost a purely intellectual existence. His wife I have\nunderstood to be a very religious woman. They are heathens in\nthought, and profess to be so. They have no conception of the Church:\nout of Protestantism they are almost perfectly ignorant. They are the\nnarrowest of men, yet they think they are extremely 'many-sided';\nand, forsooth, do not comprehend Christendom, and reject it. The\nCatholic accepts all the good they offer him and finds it\ncomparatively little compared to that which he has.\"\n\nThat he recognized that the test of the character of his inner\nexperiences, for good or ill, was to be finally found in what they\nled him to, is shown by the following passage, already quoted, from\nthe diary: \"What I do I must do, for it is not I that do it; it is\nthe Spirit. What that Spirit may be is a question I cannot answer.\nWhat it leads me to do will be the only evidence of its character. I\nfeel as impersonal as a stranger to it.\"\n\nThe aid which fidelity to the light of reason and the cherishing and\nobeying the inspirations of the Holy Spirit lends to the discovery of\nthe fulness of truth is shown by the following extract from an\narticle by Father Hecker in _The Catholic World_ of October, 1887:\n\n\"The man who establishes the historical identity of the Church of\nto-day with the Apostolic college says the doctrines now taught must\nbe true; the man who perceives the identity of the Church's doctrines\nwith his own highest aspirations also proves them true. The man who\nhas become responsive to the primitive action of his reason says that\nthe Church, which is its only authoritative exponent, must be a\ndivinely appointed teacher. The infallible authority of the Church in\nher past, present, and future teaching is established by the\nnecessity of the truths which she teaches for the welfare of the\nhuman race, by thus completing the outlines of natural truth drawn by\nthe divine hand in human consciousness.\"\n\nBy this we see that, if the divine inner life had need of the divine\nouter life for its integrity, it is equally certain that in his case,\nand also in that of Dr. Brownson, the intimate action of God within\nwas a pointer to the true Church of the Divine Word incarnate in the\nactual world of humanity: for Dr. Brownson chiefly in the\nintellectual order, for Isaac Hecker in both the intellectual and\nmystical. We have no fear of wearying the reader with the length of\nan extract of such value as the following:\n\n\"The one who reaches Catholicity by the philosophical road, as\nBrownson did, by no means pretends that the problem of human destiny\ncan be solved by mere force of reason: Catholicity is not\nrationalism. Nor does he pretend that the product of reason's action,\nthe knowledge of human immortality and liberty and of the being of\nGod, place man apart from or above the universal action of God upon\nall souls by means of a visible society and external ordinances:\nCatholicity is well named; it is universal. But he knows that when a\nman is persuaded of a truth philosophically he is not called upon by\nhis intelligence or his conscience to base it upon historical\nevidence; it is enough that he has one source of certitude in its\nfavor. It may be a truth first known by revelation, but if the human\nintelligence is capable of receiving it in revelation it must have\nsome element of kinship to the truths of pure reason. As in the order\nof nature men are like unto God, so is there a likeness between the\ntruth of God naturally known and that known only by revelation.\n\n\"As there is an appetite in the human heart which not all the\ntreasures, honors, joys of nature can satisfy, so there is a void in\nthe mind which all the truth within reach of the unaided natural\nfaculties leaves unfilled. When a man without guile is brought face\nto face with truth he spontaneously desires union with it. Appetite\nproves the existence of food, and the food affirms itself by\nsatisfying the appetite.\n\n\"Where there is question of a principle there is a class of minds\nwhich must study the part a principle has played in history, and is\nmainly influenced for or against it from its effect on former\ngenerations of men. This class follows the historical road. Another\nclass is so profoundly moved by the truths of revelation as soon as\nknown, assimilates them so readily and perfectly, becomes so absorbed\nand lost in them, that the history of revelation is not of primary\nimportance; it is only necessary in order to establish necessary\nfacts, such as the divine institution of an external society, and of\nother external aids. But with this philosophical class of minds the\ntruth stands sponsor for itself and is its own best witness. The\nimpression produced by revelation here and now upon the soul without\nguile is one of the best probable proofs to that soul of the\nhistorical claims of the society to which God entrusted it. 'The\nChurch Accredits Itself' was the title of one of the most powerful\narticles Dr. Brownson ever wrote for this magazine.\n\n\"Both the historical and the philosophical processes are necessary,\nbut each is more so to one class of minds than to another. To the\nphilosophical mind, once scepticism is gone and life is real, the\nsupreme fact of life is the need of more truth than unaided reason\ncan know. The more this need is felt, and the more clearly the\ndeficiencies of natural reason are known, the better capable one is\nto appreciate the truths of revelation which can alone supply these\ndeficiencies. In such a state of mind you are in a condition to\nestablish revealed truth in a certain sense _a priori,_ and the\nmethod _a posteriori_ is then outranked. The philosopher outranks the\nhistorian. In minds of a speculative turn the historian is never\nconsidered of primary importance. The principles which its facts\nillustrate are furnished him by human reason in philosophy, and by\nthe divine reason in revelation. The historical mind has never been\nconsidered in the world of thought as sovereign. The philosopher is\nbroad enough to study all ways leading to the full truth and joy of\nlife, whether logical or traditional; but he knows that the study of\nprinciples is higher than that of facts. . . . No man can\nintelligently become a Catholic without examining and deciding the\nhistorical question. But back of this is the consideration that the\ntruths the Church teaches are necessarily in harmony with my\nreason--nay, that they alone solve the problems of reason\nsatisfactorily and answer fully to the wants of the heart. To some\nminds the truths standing alone compel assent; that is to say, the\ntruths standing alone, and considered in themselves, demand the\nsubmission of my reason. Among these truths, thus imperative, not the\nleast is the need of the very Church herself, viewed in her action on\nmen and nations--viewed quite apart from the historical and\nScriptural proof of her establishment by Christ. Once the mind is\nlifted above subjectivism and is face-to-face with the truth, union\nwith the Church is only a question of time and of fidelity to\nconscience.\"--_Catholic World,_ November, 1887, \"Dr. Brownson and\nCatholicity.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nHIS SEARCH AMONG THE SECTS\n\nHAD Protestantism possessed anything capable of attracting Isaac\nHecker he would certainly have found it, for he made due and diligent\nsearch. He was, in a manner, bound to do so, for the atmosphere in\nwhich he had been born and nurtured had not yet cleared so fully that\nhe could say to himself with positive assurance that there was no\nsafe midway between no-belief and Catholicity.\n\nAll the natural influences of his surroundings were such as to draw\nhim to one or other of the Protestant denominations. The power of\nexample and precept in his mother tended that way. The power of\npublic opinion, in so far as it had any religious bearing, was\nProtestant. The most intelligent and high-minded people he had\nenjoyed intimate acquaintance with were Protestant by birth and\ntraining. True, most of these had fallen away from both the\nfellowship and the doctrines of orthodoxy; but while they had not the\nheart to point him to what had been their Egypt, still they had no\nPromised Land to lead him into, and were confessedly in the Desert.\nYet their influence was indirectly favorable to Protestantism as\nopposed to Catholicity, although no one but the ministers whom he\nconsulted thought of urging him to identify himself with any variety\nof it until he showed signs of becoming a Catholic.\n\nTo this rule Brownson may appear as a partial exception, but until\nthe summer of 1844 he was so in appearance only. It is true that\nIsaac Hecker had learned from him the claims of most of the great\nforms of Protestantism, and got his personal testimony as to the\nemptiness of them all. Brownson was a competent witness, for he had\nbeen an accepted disciple of every school, from sterile\nPresbyterianism to rank Transcendentalism. Although of a certain\ntestiness of temper, he bore malice to no man and to no body of men.\nHis testimony was in the presence of patent facts, and his\ncondemnation of all forms of orthodox Protestantism in the end was\nunreserved. But, up to the date given above he still made a possible\nexception in favor of Anglicanism. In the middle of April, 1843, he\nwrote Isaac a letter, motioning him toward this sect, at the same\ntime affirming that he could not quite accept it for himself. Such\ncounsel was no better than motioning him away from it, and was but a\nsymbol of Brownson's own devious progress, swaying now to one side\nand again to the other, but always going forward to Rome. But young\nHecker would learn for himself. Of an abnormally inquiring mind by\nnature, he never accepted a witness other than himself about any\nmatter if he could help it.\n\nIn the early part of 1844 the question of religious affiliation began\nto press for settlement with increasing urgency, casting him at times\ninto an agony of mind. It was not merely that he was impelled by\nconscience towards the fulness of truth, but that truth in its\nsimplest elements seemed sometimes to be lacking to him. He was heard\nto say in after years that, had he not found Catholicity true, he\nwould have been thrown back into a scepticism so painful as to\nsuggest suicide as a relief. Yet those who have trodden any of the\npaths which lead from inherited heresy to true doctrine, will\nappreciate the force of the influences, both personal and social,\nwhich induced him to reconsider, and make for himself the grand\nrounds of Protestant orthodoxy before turning his back upon it for\never.\n\nWe find him, therefore, going diligently to all who claimed to be\nwatchmen on the walls of Sion, to seek from each one personally that\ncountersign which would tally with the divine word nature and grace\nwere uttering in his own soul. He interviewed ministers repeatedly.\n\"Not having had,\" he wrote in this magazine for November, 1887,\n\"personal and experimental knowledge of the Protestant denominations,\nI investigated them all, going from one of them to another--Episcopal,\nCongregational, Baptist, Methodist, and all--conferring with their\nministers and reading their books. It was a dreary business, but I\ndid it. I knew Transcendentalism well and had been a radical\nsocialist. All was found to be as stated above. Brownson's ripe\nexperience and my own thoroughly earnest investigation tallied\nperfectly. Indeed, the more you examine the Protestant sects in the\nlight of first principles the more they are found to weaken human\ncertitude, interfere with reason's native knowledge of God and His\nattributes, and perplex the free working of the laws of human\nthought. Protestantism is no religion for a philosopher, unless he is\na pessimist--if you can call such a being a philosopher--and adopts\nCalvinism.\"\n\nWhy Calvinism, with its dread consistency of aversion for human\nnature, did not attract him in these early inquiries was expressed by\nFather Hecker in after years by the saying, \"Heresy always involves a\nmutilation of man's natural reason.\" The typical Calvinist foams\nagainst man's natural capacity for the true and the good, and one of\nits representatives, a Presbyterian minister, had the consistency to\nsay to our young disciple of nature, \"Unless you believe that you are\ntotally depraved you will certainly suffer eternal damnation.\" These\nwords were spoken to one who felt some sort of apostleship growing\ninto act within his bosom: to preach the Gospel to those who are\ntotally depraved he perceived to be both vain and suicidal.\nFurthermore, the consciousness of his own upright character, his\nexperience and observation of human virtue in others, made abstract\narguments needless to prove that Calvinism is an outrage on human\nkind and a blasphemy against the Creator.\n\nAnglicanism, too--uncleansed, as it notoriously is, of a Calvinistic\ntaint, broken up by absolute license of dissent, maintaining a mere\noutward conformity to an extremely lax discipline--affronted Isaac\nHecker's ideal of the communion of man and God; man seeking and God\ngiving the one only revelation of divine truth, unifying and\norganizing the Christian community: and this in spite of an\nattraction for the beauty of the Episcopal service which he often\nconfesses in his diary.\n\nIn the same scrupulous spirit he tried the Baptists, though he must\nhave known that they were, almost without exception, Calvinists. He\nhad a conference with one of their ministers which, from the account\nhe gives of it, must have degenerated into something like a wrangle.\n\"If,\" said young Hecker, \"you admit that baptism is not a saving\nordinance, why, then, do you separate yourselves from the rest of\nChristendom on a mere question of ceremonial observance?\" There could\nbe no satisfactory answer to this question.\n\nAs to the Methodists, they made fifty years ago much less pretension\nto an intellectual footing in the religious world than at the present\nday. One thing, Father Hecker tells us, drew his sympathetic regards\ntheir way--their doctrine of perfection. He went to one of their\nministers, a Dr. Crawford. \"I have read in the Bible,\" said he, \"'If\nthou wouldst be perfect, go and sell all thou hast'; now, that is the\nkind of Christian I want to be.\" The answer was: \"Well, young man,\nyou must not carry things too far; you are too enthusiastic. Christ\ndoes not require that of us in the nineteenth century.\" After\nconversing with him for some time, the minister told him to give up\nsuch ideas and study for the ministry.\n\nA singular episode in his search was his meeting with two\nenthusiastic Mormon apostles, and a long and careful examination,\nunder their guidance, of the then newly-delivered revelations and\nprophecies of Joseph Smith. He describes his Mormon acquaintances as\nmen of some intelligence, but given over, totally and blindly, to\nSmith's imposture.\n\nBut what cut under the claims of every form of Protestantism was the\nerror, common to them all, concerning the rule of faith: the private\nand independent judgment of the teaching of Scripture made by each\nman for himself. As the real owner of a homestead has most reason to\ndread a dealer in false titles, so the truly free man has most reason\nto dread false liberty. Isaac Hecker was the type of rational\nindividual liberty, hence the very man to abhor most the caricature\nof that prerogative in the typical Protestant.\n\nFive years before his death, in an article in _The Catholic World_\nentitled \"Luther and the Diet of Worms,\" Father Hecker put the case\nthus: \"It is a misapprehension common among Protestants to suppose\nthat Catholics, in refusing the appeal of Martin Luther at the Diet\nof Worms, condemn the use of reason or individual judgment, or\nwhatever one pleases to call the personal act which involves the\nexercise of man's intellect and free will. The truth is, personal\njudgment flows from what constitutes man a rational being, and there\nis no power under heaven that can alienate personal judgment from\nman, nor can man, if he would, disappropriate it. The cause of all\nthe trouble at the Diet of Worms was not personal judgment, for\nneither party put that in question. The point in dispute was the\nright application of personal judgment. Catholics maintained, and\nalways have and always will maintain, that a divine revelation\nnecessitates a divine interpreter. Catholics resisted, and always\nwill resist, on the ground of its incompetency, a human authority\napplied to the interpretation of the contents of a divinely-revealed\nreligion. They consider such an authority, whether of the individual\nor the state, in religious matters an intrusion. Catholics insist,\nwithout swerving, upon believing in religion none but God. . . . To\ninvestigate and make one's self certain that God has made a\nrevelation is of obligation, and consistent with Christianity. But as\na divine revelation springs from a source above the sphere of reason,\nit necessitates a divinely authorized and divinely assisted\n_interpreter_ and teacher. This is one of the essential functions of\nthe Church.\"\n\nThat the use of the Scriptures is not, and cannot be made the\nordinary means for making all men Christians, was plain to Isaac\nHecker for other reasons than the essential one thus clearly stated.\nFor, if such were the case, God would bestow on all men the gift to\nread at sight, or cause all to learn how to read, or would have\nrecorded in the Book itself the words, \"Unless a man reads the Bible,\nand believes what he reads, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,\"\nor their plain equivalent; whereas the Bible, as we have it now, did\nnot exist in the apostolic days, the most glorious era of the\nChristian Church. Such is Father Hecker's argument in a powerful\narticle in _The Catholic World_ for October, 1883. He continues:\n\n\"But suppose that everybody knew how to read, or all men were gifted\nto read at first sight; suppose that everybody had a copy of the\nBible within his reach, a genuine Bible, and knew with certitude what\nit means; suppose that Christ himself had laid it down as a rule that\nthe Bible, without note or comment, and as interpreted by each one\nfor himself, is the ordinary way of receiving the grace of\nsalvation--which is the vital principle of Protestantism; suppose all\nthese evident assumptions as true. Would the Bible even in that case\nsuffice to make any one man, woman, or child a Christian? Evidently\nnot. And why? For that is a personal work, and the personal work of\nChrist; for Christ alone can make men Christians. And no account of\nChrist is Christ. . . The contents of a book, whatever these may be,\nare powerless to place its readers in direct contact and vital\nrelations with its author. No man is so visionary as to imagine that\nthe mental operation of reading the _Iliad,_ or the _Phaedo,_ or the\n_Divine Comedy,_ suffices to put him in communication with the\npersonality of Homer, or Plato, or Dante. All effort is in vain to\nslake the thirst of a soul famishing for the _Fountain_ of living\nwaters from a brook, or to stop the cravings of a soul for the living\nSaviour with a printed book. . . . His words are 'Come unto ME all\nthat are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you.' It was the\nattempt to make men Christians by reading the Bible that broke\nChristendom into fragments, multiplied jarring Christian sects,\nproduced swarms of doubters, filled the world with sceptics and\nscoffers at all religion, frustrated combined Christian action, and\nput back the Christian conquest of the world for centuries. Three\ncenturies of experience have made it evident enough that, if\nChristianity is to be maintained as a principle of life among men, it\nmust be on another footing than the suicidal hypothesis invented in\nthe sixteenth century after the birth of its divine Founder.\"\n\nHis farewell interviews with exponents of the Protestant claims were\nmainly, if not wholly, with representatives of Anglicanism. This did\nnot arise from any grounded hope of getting all he wanted there, but\nfrom an insensible drift of his mind upon those currents of thought\nset in motion by the great power of Newman. The air was full of\npromise of non-Roman Catholicity, and the voices which called the\nEnglish-speaking world to listen were the most eloquent since\nShakespeare. It needed but a dim hope pointing along any road to\ninduce the delicate conscience of Isaac Hecker to try if it might not\nbe a thoroughfare. But neither in his copious entries in the diary at\nthis period, nor in his articles in this magazine for the year 1887\non Dr. Brownson's difficulties--and these were much like his own--do\nwe find any trace of his discovering in Anglicanism a germ of\nCatholicity unfolding from the chrysalis of genuine Protestantism and\ncasting it off. This was readily perceived in Isaac Hecker's bearing\nand conversation by acute Episcopalians themselves, as in the case of\nDr. Seabury, who, as Father Hecker relates in the articles above\nreferred to, prophesied Brownson's conversion to Catholicity, and did\nso for reasons which Seabury must have known would apply to young\nHecker also.\n\nMany at this time were being drawn by poetical sentiment to the\nbeautiful and religious forms of Episcopalian worship; drawn and held\nrather by imagination and feeling than by any adhesion of their minds\nto distinctive Anglican doctrines. Father Hecker was, indeed, more\npoetical in temperament than at first acquaintance he seemed to be,\nbut his mind was so constituted that he must have the main reasons of\nthings, whether religious or not, firmly settled before he could\nenjoy their use. Nor could he be content with fragments of revealed\ntruth, such as are found in all denominations of non-Catholics.\n\"There is a large floating body of Catholic truth in the world,\" says\nNewman; \"it comes down by tradition from age to age. . . . Men\n[outside the church] take up and profess these scattered truths,\nmerely because they fall in with them.\" Not so Father Hecker: no\nflotsam and jetsam of doctrine for him, unless some fragment would\nreveal to him the name of the ship from which it had been torn, and\nthe port from which she had sailed, and so lead him to the discovery\nof the ship herself, crew, cargo, port, and owner.\n\nYet he lingered long over the claim of Anglicanism to be the Catholic\nreligion. Of Mr. Haight and of his interviews with him we have\nalready spoken. Through him he came across a published letter of a\nMr. Norris, Episcopal minister in Carlisle, Pa., which so pleased him\nfor its Catholic tendency that he wrote to him, asking to be allowed\nto go to Carlisle and live there as the writer's pupil. The answer,\nthough a refusal of this request, was kind, and contained a cordial\ninvitation to visit Mr. Norris after Easter. On his way to Concord,\nin the following spring, Isaac made a long detour to the little town\nin southern Pennsylvania, interviewed Mr. Norris, and came away no\nwiser than before.\n\nThe following words of the diary, under date of March 30, 1844, refer\nto an Episcopal dignitary of higher grade:\n\n\"Mr. Haight gave me a note of introduction to Dr. Seabury. I called\nto see him two evenings ago and had a very pleasant conversation with\nhim. His sociableness and perfect openness of expression I was quite\ndelighted with. He frankly acknowledged that he thought that error\nhad been committed on both sides in the controversy of the\nReformation between the Pope and the Anglican Church. He recommended\nme to examine those points which kept me from joining the Anglican or\nRoman Church before I should do anything further, as there was the\ncharge of schism against the Anglican Church and neglect of\ndiscipline among the members of her communion. I told him that though\nthe Church of Rome may commit errors in practice, she had not\ncommitted any in principle, and that it was easier to prune a\nluxuriant tree than to revivify a tree almost exhausted of life. I\nleft him with an earnest invitation to call again.\"\n\nThis half-confession of schism and frank avowal of lack of discipline\non the part of a perfectly representative official of the Anglican\nChurch was something singularly Providential, for it came within a\nfortnight after Isaac Hecker's first interview with Bishop Hughes,\ndescribed in the diary under date of March 22. That powerful man and\ngreat prelate was a type of the best form of Catholicism at that day.\nHe was of the Church militant in more senses than one; and the\nmilitary qualities which have inspired the public action of Catholic\nchampions for the past three centuries were strongly developed in\nhim. That it was for the good of religion that it should have such\ncharacters as John Hughes to care for its public welfare there is no\nroom to doubt. Since then the temper of Protestant Americans has\nundergone a change which is almost radical. It has grown infinitely\nmore just and kindly towards Catholics. The decay of the Protestant\nbond of cohesion from lapse of time and from the unsettlement of\nbelief in its chief doctrines; the fighting of two wars, one of them\nthe great Rebellion, which fused the populations of States and\nacquainted men better with their neighbors; the coming in of millions\nof Catholic foreigners whose every breath was an aspiration for\nliberty; the rise, culmination, and collapse of the anti-Catholic\nmovement termed Know-nothing-ism; the polemical warfare of Bishop\nHughes himself and of his contemporaries--these and other causes have\nmade it possible, nay necessary, to treat non-Catholics in a\ndifferent spirit from what wisdom dictated fifty years ago.\n\nIf Dr. Seabury owned to schism and lack of discipline in Anglicanism,\nBishop John Hughes brought out to Isaac Hecker the very contrary as\nthe attractive qualities of Catholicity. He was questioned by the\nyoung inquirer about the latter's chances for studying for the\npriesthood should he decide on entering the Church, and he answered\naccording to rigid notions of the place of authority in religion.\n\n\"He said,\" are the words of the diary, ending a summary of the\ninterview, \"that their Church was one of discipline. I thanked him\nfor the information that he gave, and told him that it was for just\nsuch instruction that I sought him. He seemed to think that I had\nsome loose notions of the Church. So far, this settles my present\nintention of uniting myself with the Roman Catholic Church. Though I\nfeel not in the least disinclined to be governed by the most rigid\ndiscipline of any church, yet I am not prepared to enter the Roman\nCatholic Church at present. It is not national with us, hence it does\nnot meet our wants, nor does it fully understand and sympathize with\nthe experience and dispositions of our people. It is principally made\nup of adopted and foreign individuals.\"\n\nTo us this is exceedingly instructive, for it tells us how _not_ to\nmeet the earnest seeker after Catholic truth. Even a good-natured\ndog does not show his teeth when caressed, nor is an artillery salute\nthe only show of amity between even warlike powers. Yet the repellant\nattitude of the great controversialist was that of very many\nrepresentative Catholics of his time, especially those holding his\nhigh office. For although he really did know the American people, and\nalthough their country was fully his own, and was by him deeply and\nintelligently loved, yet he did not understand or sympathize with the\nreligious movements of which his strange young visitor was the truest\ntype. He afterwards knew him better and loved him.\n\nThe toss thus given Isaac Hecker by Bishop Hughes's catapult of\n\"discipline\" had the good effect of throwing him again upon a full\nand perfect and final investigation of Protestantism. With what\nimmediate result is shown by the Seabury interview already related,\nand with what honesty of purpose is shown by the following words\nwritten the same day:\n\n\"If a low passion usurps the place of pure love, if a blind prejudice\nusurps the place of Catholic truth, he who informs me of it, though\nhe had been my enemy (if enemies it is possible for me to have), I\nwill receive him as an angel from heaven, as an instrument of God. My\nhonor, my consistency, my character consists in faithfulness to God's\nlove, God's truth, and nothing else. Let me be but true to Him--how\nthen can I be false to either man or the world? It is Him who knows\nour secret thoughts that we should fear (if fear we must) and obey.\"\n\nThus it was Anglicanism that engaged Isaac Hecker's last efforts to\nadjust a Protestant outside to his inward experience with the Holy\nSpirit; and this for a reason quite evident. That body pretended,\nthen as now, to be the Catholic Christian Church, assisting men to\nunion with God by a divinely-founded external organism, but not\ndemanding the sacrifice of human liberty. To an inexperienced\nobserver such as he, it seemed possible that Anglicanism might be the\nunion of historical Christianity with manly freedom. Closer\nobservation proved to him not only the compatibility of Catholicity\nand liberty, but that Anglicanism, though assuming some of the forms\nof Catholic unity, is kept alive by the principle of individual\nseparatism common to all Protestant sects. For a time, or in a place,\nit may have much or little of Catholicity; but in no place can it\nlive for a day without the Protestant principle of a right of final\nappeal to the individual judgment to decide upon the verity of\ndoctrine.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nHIS LIFE AT CONCORD\n\n\"I HAVE been groping in darkness, seeking where Thou wast not, and I\nfound Thee not. But, O Lord my God, _Thou hast found me_--leave me\nnot.\"\n\nThese words are part of a long prayer written by Isaac Hecker in his\ndiary April 23, 1844, after his arrival at Concord, Mass. He appears\nto have gone directly there from Carlisle, Pa., where he had spent\nsome days with the Rev. William Herbert Norris, whose published\nletter to \"A Sincere Enquirer\" had excited in the young man a hope\nthat he might find in him a teacher whose deep inward experiences\nwould be complemented by the adequate external guaranty that he was\nseeking. We have already noted that he was disappointed. He states\nthe reason very suggestively in a letter written at the time:\n\n\"Alas, that men should speak of those things they are most ignorant\nof! What hopes did he not awaken in my bosom as I read his letter to\na Sincere Enquirer, and how were they blasted when I met him and\nfound that it was not he, but Hooker, Newman, Paul, etc.! It is a sad\nfact that many believe, but very few give themselves up to what they\nbelieve so that they may have the substance of their belief.\"\n\nIsaac Hecker's business in Concord had, as usual, two sides.\nExternally it meant going on with Greek and Latin, under the guidance\nof the lately deceased George P. Bradford, a scholar of rare\nacquirements, whose acquaintance he had made at Brook Farm the\nprevious year. The end he sought in this study was to fit himself for\n\"working in the field of the church.\" But as the question of which\nchurch was not even yet fully settled in his mind, his search for the\ntrue religion still remained his deepest and most inmost purpose.\nNevertheless, he was enjoying at this time one of his periods of\nprofound interior and exterior peace. \"I feel,\" he writes, \"that I am\ngrowing in God's grace. To Him I look for support. Will He not impart\nwisdom as well as love?\"\n\nHis surroundings at Concord are so vividly described in the letters\nhe wrote to his family that we cannot omit quotations from them. The\nfirst of these is dated at Brook Farm, and describes his efforts to\nfind a room after reaching the village. He seems to have gone at once\nto Mr. Bradford's house on his arrival.\n\n\"April 22, '44.-. . . After supper we sallied forth again. We saw a\nroom, and what do you imagine they charged for it? Seventy-five\ndollars a year!! This was out of the question. We went further and\nfound a room, good size, very good people, furnished, and to be kept\nin order for eight dollars a quarter. This seemed reasonable to me,\nand also to Mr. Bradford. I felt safe in telling the lady that I\nthought I should take it. I requested Mr. Bradford to keep a look-out\nfor me while I was gone, and if we could not find a better place\nbefore I returned I would accept this. This morning I left Concord to\ncome and see Charles Dana concerning the books I shall require, and\nto see some of my friends. I got into Boston at ten o'clock, and\nwalked out here by dinner-time. All of the old set that are here were\ndelighted to see me. I have conversed with a few of them, and find\nthem more open to consider the claims of the Church than I had\nanticipated.\"\n\n\"Concord, April 24, '44.--Dear Friends: This evening I can say that I\nam settled, comfortably settled in every particular. All that is\nneeded for my comfort is here: a good straw bed, a large table,\ncarpet, washstand, book-case, stove, chairs, looking-glass--all, all\nthat is needful. And this for seventy-five cents a week, including\nlights; wood is extra pay. This is the inanimate about me. The lady\nof the house, Mrs. Thoreau, _is a woman._ The only fear I have about\nher is that she is too much like dear mother--she will take too much\ncare of me. She has told me how she used to sit up nights, waiting\nfor a young man whom she had taken to board, to come home. He was a\nstranger to her, but still she insists that she must treat all as she\nwould her own, and even with greater care. If you were to see her,\nmother, you would be perfectly satisfied that I have fallen into good\nhands, and met a second mother, if that is possible.\"\n\n\"April 25, 1:30 P.M.--I have just finished my dinner; it was _ein\nherrliches Essen._ Unleavened bread (from home), maple-sugar, and\napples which I purchased this morning. Previous to taking dinner I\nsaid my first lesson to Mr. Bradford in Greek and Latin.\n\n\"I am extremely well situated, and feel contented in myself, and\ndeeply grateful to you all for your goodness in helping me to pursue\nthe real purpose of my being. All we can do is to be faithful to God\nand to the work He has given us to do, and, whatever end He may lead\nus to, to have that central faith that 'all is for the best.' There\nis only one life, and that is life in God; and only one death, and\nthat is separation from Him. And this life is not and cannot be\nmeasured by the external eye. We must be fixed in God before we can\ndo anything rightly--study, labor, social, political or of any\nkind. . . .\n\n\"I have written this letter full of nothingness; I will be more\nsettled the next time and do better. Send all your love to me--think\nmore of heaven and we shall grow happier. If once celestial love has\ntouched us, we cannot rest until it dwells and abides in our hearts.\nTo you all I send my warmest and purest love.--ISAAC.\"\n\n\"Concord, May 2, 1844.--Dear Friends: It was my intention not to\nwrite home until I had received a letter from you; but as none has\nyet come, and I am in want of a few things, I will write you\nimmediately.\n\n\"You can scarcely imagine how different my life is now from what it\nwas at home. It is like living in another world. It is possible that\nyou might not be suited with the conditions here, but to me they are\nthe very ones which are congenial to my present state of being. I am\nalone from early dawn to late at night; no one to intrude upon my\nquiet except Mr. Bradford, who occupies the hour between twelve and\none to hear my recitations, and Mrs. Thoreau a few minutes in making\nmy bed in the mornings. The rest of my time is devoted to study,\ncommunion, and, a little of it, to reading. How unlike the life at\nhome!\n\n\"The thought just occurs to me that if such a life seems desirable to\nyou, how easily you could obtain it. What is it that costs so much\nlabor of mind and body? Is it not that which we consume on and in our\nbodies? Then, if we reduce the consumption there will be less need of\nproduction. Most of our labor is labor for the body. We are\ntreasuring up corruption for the day of death; is this not so? As we\nrise in spirit above the body we shall bring all its appetites into\nsubjection to the moral law. . . .\n\n\"This is what I should like you to do for me. All the food that I\nbrought with me is gone, and as I would like to have my razor sent\non, and as the articles you can give me would be better than any I\ncan get here, you will be so kind as to send with it the following\nlist, if you think best: 1. Put in some hard bread. 2. A few\nunleavened wheat biscuits, such as I used to make. 3. Some unleavened\nGraham biscuits. 4. A five-cent or ten-cent loaf of bread, if you\nthink it will keep good until it gets here. 5. Get me a linen summer\nfrock-coat such as are worn--those loose ones. Dunster has my measure\nand he can cut it for you. Let it be made. I have only a summer\njacket with me, and that is John's. 6. Do not forget the razor. You\ncan put in any other simple, solid food, if you wish to send any. Do\nI ask too much from you? If so, you must be kind enough to tell me.\nYour labor is already too great, and I am burdening you with\nmore. . . .\n\n\"How much my heart loves you all! How unkindly I have spoken to you\nat times! You will forgive me and love me none the less, will you\nnot? May we live together more and more in the unity of love.\"\n\n\"May, 1844.--. . . My studies are pursued with the same spirit in\nwhich they were commenced, and there seems to me no reason to fear\nbut that they will be continued in the same for some time to come.\nHowever, I would affirm what has been affirmed by me for these two\nyears back, the only consistency that I can promise is submission to\nthe Spirit that is guiding me, whatever may be the external\nappearance or superficial consequences to others. . . .\n\n\"How our astonishment should be excited to perceive that we have been\nin such a long sleep, and that even now we see but dimly. Let us each\nask ourselves in whose business we are employed. Is it our Father's,\nor is it not? If not, let us immediately turn to the business of our\nFather, the only object of our life. Let us submit wholly to the\nguidance of Love.\"\n\n\"TO MRS. CATHERINE J. HECKER. Concord, May 31, 1844.--You speak of my\nsituation as pleasant, and so it is to me. Though the house is\nsituated on the street of a village, the street is beautifully arched\nwith trees for some distance, and my room is very pleasant. One\nwindow is wholly shaded by sweet honeysuckle, which is now in\nblossom, filling the room with its mild fragrance. The little\nhumming-birds visit its flowers frequently without being disturbed by\nmy presence.\"\n\nThe diary, which runs side by side with these letters, was, as usual,\nthe recipient of more intimate self-communings than could be shared\nwith any friend. It shows that although he was now well-nigh\nconvinced of the truth of Catholicity, yet that he still felt a\nlingering indecision, produced, perhaps, by a haunting memory of the\nstern front of \"discipline\" he had encountered in Bishop Hughes. This\nseemed like a phantom of terror to the young social reformer, whose\nlove of liberty, though rational, was then and ever afterwards one of\nthe passions of his soul. Yet we rarely find now in these pages any\nstatement of specific reasons for and against Catholicity such as\nwere plentiful during the period preceding his acquaintance with Mr.\nHaight, Dr. Seabury, and Mr. Norris. He seems to shudder as he stands\non the bank and looks upon the flowing and cleansing stream; but his\nhesitancy is caused not so much by any unanswered difficulties of his\nreason as by his sensibilities, by vague feelings of alarm for the\nintegrity of his manhood. He feared lest the waters might cleanse him\nby skinning him alive. Catholicity, as typified in Bishop Hughes, her\nCeltic-American champion, seemed to him \"a fortified city, and a\npillar of iron, and a wall of brass against the whole land.\"\n\nNow, Isaac Hecker was built for a missionary, and the extreme view of\nthe primary value of highly-wrought discipline which he encountered\neverywhere among Catholics, though not enough to blind him to the\nessential liberty of the Church, was enough to delay him in his\nprogress to her. There can be little doubt that multitudes of men and\nwomen of less discernment and feebler will than his, have been and\nstill are kept entirely out of the Church by the same cause.\n\nOnly at long intervals, as we near the last pages of the large and\nclosely-written book containing the first volume of his diary, do we\nmeet with those agonizing complaints of dryness, the distress of\ndoubt, the weary burden of insoluble difficulties, so common\nheretofore. He seems, indeed, no longer battling; be victory is won;\nbut it remains to know what are the spoils and where they are to be\ngathered. Of course there are interludes of his irrepressible\nphilosophizing on moral questions. And at the very end, under date of\nMay 23, 1844, we find the following:\n\n\"This afternoon brings me to the close of this book. How different\nare the emotions with which I close it from those with which I opened\nit at Brook Farm, now little more (a month) than a year ago! How\nfruitful has this year been to me! How strangely mysterious and\nbeautiful! And now my soul foreshadows more the next year than ever\nit presaged before. My life is beyond my grasp, and bears me on\nwill-lessly to its destined haven. Like a rich fountain it overflows\non every side; from within flows unceasingly the noiseless tide. The\nmany changes and unlooked-for results and circumstances, within and\nwithout, of the coming year I would no more venture to anticipate\nthan to count the stars. It is to me now as if I had just been born,\nand I live in the Sabbath of creation. Every thing that I see I feel\ncalled on to give a name; it has a new meaning to me. Should this\nlife grow--what? It is a singular fact that, although conscious of a\nmore interior and potent force at work within, I am now more quiet\nand will-less than I was when it at first affected me. I feel like a\nchild, full of joy and pliability; and all ambition of every\ncharacter seems to have left me. I see where I was heretofore, and\nthe degree of externality which was mixed with the influences that I\nco-operated with, an externality from which I now feel that I have\nbeen freed. It does seem to me that all worldly prospect that ever\nwas before me is gone, and as if I were weak, very weak, in the sight\nof the world; so I really am. I feel no more potency than a babe. Yet\nI have a will-less power of love which will conquer through me, and\nwhich, O gracious Lord, I never dreamt of before.\"\n\nIn the middle of the above entry he thus notes an interruption, and\nrecords a lesson taught by the late New England spring: \"George and\nBurrill Curtis came in, and I have just returned from a walk in the\nwoods with them. May the buds within blossom, and may their fruit\nripen in my prayers to God.\"\n\nHe was now, indeed, very near his goal, though even yet he did not\nclearly see it. And once more all his active powers deserted him.\nStudy became impossible. His mind was drawn so strongly in upon\nitself that neither work nor play, neither books nor the renewed\nintercourse which at this period he sought with his old friends in\nBoston and at Brook Farm, could any longer fasten his attention. He\nopens his new diary with a record of the trial he has just made in\norder to discover \"whether in mixing with the world I should not be\nsomewhat influenced by their life and brought into new relations with\nmy studies. But it was to no purpose that I went. . . . There was no\ninducement that I could imagine strong enough to keep me from\nreturning. Ole Bull, whom I very much wished to hear again, was to\nplay the next evening; and Parley Pratt, a friend whom I had not met\nfor a great length of time, and whom I did wish to see, was to be in\ntown the next day. There were many other things to keep me, but none\nof them had the least effect. I could no more keep myself there than\na man could sink himself in the Dead Sea, and so I had to come home.\n\n\"I feel a strong inclination to doze and slumber, and more and more\nin these slumbers the dim shadows that appear in my waking state\nbecome clearer, and my conversation is more real and pleasant to me.\nI feel a double consciousness in this state, and think, 'Now, is not\nthis real? I will recollect it all, what I saw and what I said'; but\nit flies and is lost when I awake. . . . I call this sleeping, but\nsleep it is not; for in this state I am more awake than at any other\ntime.\"\n\nA few days later, on June 5, he notes that\n\n\"Although my meals are made of unleavened bread and figs, and my\ndrink is water, and I eat no more than supports my body, yet do I\nfeel sinfully self-indulgent.\"\n\nHe resolves, moreover, to trouble himself no more about the fact that\nhe cannot continue his studies. On this subject, and on the passivity\nto which he was now compelled, he had written as explicitly as he\ncould to his friend Brownson, and on June 7 he received a response\nwhich had such an immediate result upon his future that we transcribe\nit entire:\n\n\"Mt. Bellingham, June 6, 1844.--My dear Isaac: I thank you for your\nletter, and the frankness with which you speak of your present\ninterior state. You ask for my advice, but I hardly know what advice\nto give. There is much in your present state to approve, also much\nwhich is dangerous. The dreamy luxury of indulging one's thoughts and\nranging at ease through the whole spirit-world is so captivating, and\nwhen frequently indulged in acquires such power over us, that we\ncease to be free men. The power to control your thoughts and feelings\nand to fix them on what object you choose is of the last necessity,\nas it is the highest aim of spiritual culture. Be careful that you do\nnot mistake a mental habit into which you have fallen for the\nguidance of the All-wise. Is it not the very sacrifice you are\nappointed to make, to overcome this spiritual luxury and to become\nable to do that which is disagreeable? Where is the sacrifice in\nfollowing what the natural tendencies and fixed habits of our mind\ndispose us to do? What victory have you acquired, what power to\nconquer in the struggle for sanctity do you possess, when you cannot\nso far control your thoughts and feelings as to be able to apply\nyourself to studies which you feel are necessary? Here is your\nwarfare. You have not won the victory till you have become as able to\ndrudge at Latin or Greek as to give up worldly wealth, pleasures,\nhonors, or distinctions.\n\n\"But, my dear Isaac, you cannot gain this victory alone, nor by mere\nprivate meditation and prayer. You can obtain it only through the\ngrace of God, and the grace of God only through its appointed\nchannels. You are wrong. You do not begin right. Do you really\nbelieve the Gospel? Do you really believe the Holy Catholic Church?\nIf so, you must put yourself under the direction of the Church. I\nhave commenced my preparations for uniting myself with the Catholic\nChurch. I do not as yet belong to the family of Christ. I feel it. I\ncan be an alien no longer, and without the Church I know, by my own\npast experience, that I cannot attain to purity and sanctity of life.\nI need the counsels, the aids, the chastisements, and the\nconsolations of the Church. It is the appointed medium of salvation,\nand how can we hope for any good except through it? Our first\nbusiness is to submit to it, that we may receive a maternal blessing.\nThen we may start fair.\n\n\"You doubtless feel a repugnance to joining the Church. But we ought\nnot to be ashamed of Christ; and the Church opens a sphere for you,\nand you especially. You are not to dream your life away. Your\ndevotion must be regulated and directed by the discipline of the\nChurch. You know that there is a large Roman Catholic population in\nour country, especially in Wisconsin. The bishop of that Territory is\na German. Now, here is your work--to serve this German population.\nAnd you can do it without feeling yourself among foreigners. Here is\nthe cross you are to take up. Your cross is to resist this tendency\nto mysticism, to sentimental luxury, which is really enfeebling your\nsoul and preventing you from attaining to true spiritual blessedness.\n\n\"I think you would better give up Greek, but command yourself\nsufficiently to master the Latin; that you need, and cannot do\nwithout. Get the Latin, and with that and the English, French, and\nGerman which you already know, you can get along very well. But don't\nbe discouraged.\n\n\"I want you to come and see our good bishop. He is an excellent\nman--learned, polite, easy, affable, affectionate, and exceedingly\nwarm-hearted. I spent two hours with him immediately after parting\nwith you in Washington Street, and a couple of hours yesterday. I\nlike him very much.\n\n\"I have made up my mind, and I shall enter the Church if she will\nreceive me. There is no use in resisting. You cannot be an Anglican,\nyou must be a Catholic or a mystic. If you enter the Church at all,\nit must be the Catholic. There is nothing else. So let me beg you, my\ndear Isaac, to begin by owning the Church and receiving her blessing.\n\n\"My health is very good, the family are all very well; I hope you are\nwell. Let me hear from you often. Forgive me if I have said anything\nharsh or unkind in this letter, for all is meant in kindness, and be\nassured of my sincere and earnest affection.\n\n\"Yours truly,\n\n\"O. A. BROWNSON.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nAT THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH\n\nTHE first effect of Brownson's letter was to throw its recipient into\na state of great though brief perplexity. That final struggle,\nstrange and painful, in which the soul for the last time contends\nagainst its happiness; in which it is drawn by an invincible\nattraction, knowing that it will yield yet striving still to resist;\nis one that must remain but half-comprehended by most of those to\nwhom Catholic truth is an inheritance. And yet there is an\nexplanation which Father Hecker himself would possibly have given.\n\"Do you know what God is?\" he said to the present writer in 1882, in\nthat abrupt fashion with which he often put the deepest questions.\n\"That is not what I mean,\" he went on, after getting a conventional\nreply: \"I'll tell you what God is. _He is the eternal Lover of the\nsoul.\"_ That shudder of blind aversion which is a part of the\nexperience of so many converts, is an instinctive testimony that the\ncall to the truth is more than natural, while the overpowering\nattraction which attends it witnesses that nature must needs obey or\nperish. The Church, too, is not heard by the soul merely as the\ncollective voice of many men and ages of men agreed upon the truth,\nbut as a mystic personality which makes her the imperative\nambassadress of Christ. For she is the Spouse of the Lamb, and in her\nthe Incarnate Word obtains a voice which is no less single in its\npersonality than multitudinous in its tones.\n\nMuch as Isaac Hecker had considered the matter, studying, reading,\npraying, assuring himself from time to time that if any church were\ntrue this was the one, and that to enter it was probably his duty,\nnow that Brownson's weight was likewise thrown into the scale and it\nwent down with a warning thud, he thrilled through with apprehension.\n\"I feel like throwing all up,\" he wrote in the diary on the day the\nletter reached him. \"Some cannot rest. _How much better would it have\nbeen could I have remained in quietness at my daily pursuits, and not\nbeen led to where I now find myself.\"_\n\nThen he questions himself: \"What have I against the Catholic Church?\nAt this moment I cannot say that I have anything that is essential.\nAnd she meets my wants on every side.\n\n\"Oh, this is the deepest event of my life! I would have united myself\nto any one of the Protestant sects if I had found any that would have\nanswered the demands of my nature. Why should I now hesitate when I\nfind the Catholic Church will do so? Is not this the self-will which\nrevolts against the involuntary will of the Spirit?\n\n\"The fundamental question is, Am I willing to submit my will to the\nguidance and direction of the Church? If she is the body of Christ;\nif she is the channel of the Holy Ghost; if she is the inspired body\nillumined by Christ's Spirit; in a word, if she _is_ the Catholic\nChurch; if I would serve God and humanity; if I would secure the\nfavor of God, and heaven hereafter; why should I not submit to her?\"\n\nBut however painful this final indecision may have been, it was of\nshort duration. Brownson's letter reached Concord on Friday morning,\nand on Saturday Isaac Hecker went into Boston to see Bishop Fenwick\nand put himself under instruction. That done, his peace not merely\nreturned, but he felt that it rested on more solid grounds than\nheretofore. Yet, curiously enough, it is at this point we come upon\nalmost the first trace of his stopping seriously to consider the\nadverse sentiments of others with regard to any proposed action on\nhis part. Now that he means to range himself, he turns to look back\nat the disorderly host which he is quitting, not so much, or at least\nnot primarily for the sake of the order and regularity and solidity\nof that to which it is opposed, but because a true instinct has\ntaught him that unity is the external mark of truth, as equilibrium\nis the test of a just balance. In his diary of June 11, 1844, after\nrecording that he has just returned from Boston, where he has seen\nthe bishop and his coadjutor, Bishop John Bernard Fitzpatrick, and\nreceived from the latter a note of introduction to the president of\nHoly Cross College, at Worcester, Mass., he adds:\n\n\"I intend to stay there as long as it seems pleasant to me, and then\ngo on to New York and there unite myself with the Church.\n\n\"I sigh, and feel that this step is the most important of my life. My\nhighest convictions, my deepest wants, lead me to it; and should I\nnot obey them? There is no room to harbor a doubt about it. My\nfriends will look upon it with astonishment, and probably use the\ncommon epithets, delusion, fanaticism, and blindness. But so I wish\nto appear to minds like theirs; otherwise this would be\nunsatisfactory to me. Men call that superstition which they have not\nthe feeling to appreciate, and that fanaticism which they have not\nthe spiritual perception to perceive. The Protestant world admires,\nextols, and flatters him who will write and speak high-sounding and\nheroic words; who will assert that he will follow truth wherever it\nleads, at all sacrifices and hazards; but no sooner does he do so\nthan it slanders and persecutes him for being what he professed to\nbe. Verily it _has_ separated faith from works.\n\n\"This is a heavy task; it is a great undertaking, a serious, sacred,\nsincere, and solemn step; it is the most vital and eternal act, and\nas such do I feel it in all its importance, weight, and power. O God!\nThou who hast led me by Thy heavenly messengers, by Thy divine grace,\nto make this new, unforeseen, and religious act of duty, support me\nin the day of trial. Support me, O Lord, in my confessions; give me\nstrength and purity to speak freely the whole truth without any\nequivocation or attempt at justification. O Lord, help Thy servant\nwhen he is feeble and would fall.\n\n\"One thing that gives me much peace and joy is that all worldly\ninducements, all temptations toward self-gratification whatever, are\nin favor of the Anglican Church and in opposition to the Catholic\nChurch. And on this account my conscience feels free from any\nunworthy motive in joining it. The Roman Catholic Church is the most\ndespised, the poorest, and, according to the world, the least\nrespectable of any; this on account of the class of foreigners of\nwhich it is chiefly composed in this country. In this respect it\npresents to me no difficulty of any sort, nor demands the least\nsacrifice. But the new relations in which it will place me, and the\nnew duties which will be required of me, are strange to me, and hence\nI shall feel all their weight at once.\"\n\nHis premonitions were speedily fulfilled, though probably not in the\nextreme form which he anticipated. The spirit of courtesy which\nprevailed throughout his family doubtless prevented any but the\nmildest criticism on his action. But even that had hitherto been\nspared him. There had been anxiety and much questioning about his\nfinal course, but that it would end in this way does not seem to have\nbeen seriously apprehended. On the same day on which he made the\nentry just quoted he wrote the following letter to them:\n\n\"June 11, 1844.--On Saturday last I went into Boston and did not\nreturn until this morning (Tuesday). . . . My purpose in going was to\nsee Bishop Fenwick of the Roman Catholic Church, to learn what are\nthe preliminaries necessary for one who wishes to be united to the\nChurch. I saw the bishop and his coadjutor, men of remarkable\ngoodness, candor, and frankness. I was chiefly interested with his\ncoadjutor, and spent some hours with him on Monday. And this is the\nresult to which I have come: That soon, probably next week, I shall\ngo from here to Worcester, where there is a Catholic college, and\nstay there for a few days, perhaps a fortnight, to see the place,\nbecome acquainted with their practical religious life and their\nsystem of intellectual instruction. From there I shall go on home to\nNew York, and, after having gone through the requisite preliminaries,\nbe united to the Roman Catholic Church in our city. . . . Before I\nmake any unalterable step, I wish to see you all and commune with you\nconcerning this movement on my part. . . .\n\n\"Whatever theories and speculations may be indulged in and cherished\nby those opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, their influence,\nhowever important they may seem, is not sufficiently vital to prevent\nme from being united to it. It satisfies and meets my deepest wants;\nand on this ground, setting aside any other for the moment, I feel\nlike affirming, in the spirit of the man whom Christ made to see.* I\nknow not whether this Church be or be not what certain men call it,\nbut this I know: it has the life my heart is thirsting for, and of\nwhich my spirit is in great need.\n\n[* John 9:24: We know this man is a sinner. He said therefore to\nthem: If he be a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I\nwas blind, now I see.]\n\n\"A case in point: The sermon of Dr. Seabury on the lamented death of\nArthur Carey is as far from satisfying my heartfelt longings as\nPlatonism would be to the Christian. Read the doctrine of the\nCatholic Church on the Communion of Saints in the Catechism of the\nCouncil of Trent attentively and devoutly, and you will see and feel\nthe wide difference in doctrine and life between it and that held\neven by the high-church Anglican. It may be said in excuse for Dr.\nSeabury, that he has to be prudent and cautious on account of the\nstate of mind of those whom he has to speak to. Well enough; but why\nshould one go to a weak and almost dried-up spring when there is one\nequally near, fresh, always flowing and full of life? . . . There may\nbe those, and I do not question there are many such good persons, who\ndo not feel the deep demands of the spiritual nature as profoundly as\nothers do, and that the Anglican Church fully satisfes all their\nneeds. But even in her bosom there are many who think that if the\nOxford tendencies are Anglican, she is very idolatrous and\nexceedingly superstitious, because they feel no need for so much\ndiscipline and ceremony, and such faith in the invisible . . . all\nreasons that can tempt one in my position are in favor of the\nAnglican Church, and it is a source of much joy that there is no\nconceivable inducement of a worldly or mixed nature for me to\njoin the Roman Catholic Church. If there were I should distrust\nmyself . . . It seems to me that the difference between my embracing\nthe Roman Catholic Church and any other is the same as the difference\nbetween remaining as I am, and selling all that I have and following\nChrist.\"\n\nHis deference for his friends' opinions, though he made their views\nno condition of his action, is beautifully shown by the following\nwords: \"John, and all who feel like giving me advice, you will not\nhesitate in giving it freely and frankly. There are many reasons for\nmy present course; it is impossible for me to put them all on paper.\nBut when I return home and meet you all again, we will in love speak\nof this in common communion: until then I will not take any decisive\nstep. I suppose you feel as little inclined to speak to others of the\ndecision I have come to as I do to have it prematurely known.\"\n\nTo the brother whose heart was most his own he devotes the concluding\nwords of the letter:\n\n\"What is brother George's mind respecting the need of receiving this\ndiviner life in order to bring us into a closer communion with God\nand make us inhabitants of heaven? George, shall we go arm-in-arm in\nour heavenly journey as we have done in our earthly one?\"\n\nWhile awaiting an answer to this letter he began another, in which he\nsummarizes more explicitly such of his reasons for becoming a\nCatholic as might appeal on ordinary grounds of controversy to his\nmother and his brother John, the latter of whom had recently become\nan Episcopalian. Our extracts, however, will be made from the\npassages more strictly personal and characteristic:\n\n\"Concord, June 14, 1844.--Until I hear from you I cannot say how you\nmay view my resolution or feel regarding the decision I have come to,\nand therefore I am at a loss what to say to you respecting it. One\nthing must strike you as inexplicable: that I relinquish my studies\nhere so suddenly. This arises from the fact that I have not kept you\nperfectly informed concerning the change my mind has for some time\nbeen undergoing with regard to the object and end of study, its\noffice and its benefits. I kept silent, thinking that my views might\nbe but temporary, and that it was unnecessary to trouble you with\nthem. My simple faith is, in a few words, that we must first seek the\nkingdom of God, and then all necessary things will be given us. And\nthis kingdom is not found through nature, philosophy, science, art,\nor by any other method than that of the Gospel: the perfect surrender\nof the whole heart to God.\"\n\nWe stop here to remark that such expressions as these are neither to\nbe taken as evidences of a passing disgust for the drudgery of\ntext-book tasks, nor as signs of an indolent disposition. They are\nthe assertion of a principle which Father Hecker maintained\nthroughout his life. He never felt the least interest in studies not\nundertaken as a result of some supernatural impulse, or pursued in\nview of some supernatural aim. He looked with the coldest unconcern\nupon such investigations of science as promise nothing toward solving\nthe problems which perplex humanity on the moral side, or which do\nnot contribute to the natural well-being of men. With the pursuit of\nany science which does promise such results he was in the fullest\nsympathy, and was himself an unwearied student. It was anything but\nintellectual indolence which caused him to put away his books. He was\nnaturally of a busy temperament: if men who knew him but slightly\nmight think him visionary, no man could know him at all and consider\nhim a sluggard. We shall see in the sequel how, under extremely\ncritical circumstances, the assertion of this principle was wrung\nfrom him by the constraining force of his interior guide. Much of\nwhat follows illustrates this trait of character.\n\nThe letter last quoted from had not yet been sent when the answer to\nhis announcement of June 11 reached him, and he added a postscript.\nThe only point in it to which he alludes or makes any direct reply is\nthe gentle expression of his mother's disapprobation of his purpose:\n\n\"Your letter and draft, brother George, came this morning. You say\nmother would prefer my joining the Anglican Church. The reasons why\nshe prefers this are such as would doubtless govern me if I did not\nfeel still deeper and stronger reasons to overcome them. . . . My\npresent convictions are deeper far than any I have ever experienced,\nand are not hastily decided upon.\"\n\nTurning now to the diary, the entries made at this time seem\nespecially characteristic:\n\n\"June 13, 1844.--I feel very cheerful and at ease since I have\nconsented to join the Catholic Church. Never have I felt the\nquietness, the immovableness, and the permanent rest that I do now.\nIt is inexpressible. I feel that essential and interior permanence\nwhich nothing exterior can disturb, and no act which it calls on me\nto perform will move in the least. It is with a perfect ease and\ngracefulness that I never dreamed of that I shall unite with the\nChurch. It will not change but fix my life. No external relations,\nevents, or objects can disturb this unreachable quietness or break\nthe deep repose in which I am.\n\n\"The exoteric eye is double; the esoteric eye is single.\n\n\"The external world is divisional; the internal world is unity.\n\n\"The esoteric includes the exoteric, but the exoteric excludes the\nesoteric.\n\n\"The man can move all faculties, organs, limbs; but they cannot move\nthe man.\n\n\"The Creator moves the creature, and the creature moves the created.\n\n\"We know God by looking towards Him with the single eye.\n\n\"To-morrow I go with R. W. Emerson to Harvard to see Lane and Alcott,\nand shall stay until Sunday. We shall not meet each other, for I can\nmeet him on no other grounds than those of love. We may talk\nintellectually together, and remark, and reply, and remark again.\"\n\nWe give the reader from the diary the following estimate of a\ntranscendentalist, mainly to serve as a background for the picture\nwhich Isaac Hecker drew of his own mind in the succeeding pages:\n\n\"June 14.--A transcendentalist is one who has keen sight but little\nwarmth of heart; who has fine conceits but is destitute of the rich\nglow of love. He is _en rapport_ with the spiritual world,\nunconscious of the celestial one. He is all nerve and no\nblood--colorless. He talks of self-reliance, but fears to trust\nhimself to love. He never abandons himself to love, but is always on\nthe lookout for some new fact. His nerves are always tight-stretched,\nlike the string of a bow; his life is all effort. In a short period\nhe loses his tone. Behold him sitting on a chair; he is not sitting,\nbut braced upon its angles, as if his bones were of iron and his\nnerves steel; every nerve is drawn, his hands are closed like a\nmiser's--it is his lips and head that speak, not his tongue and\nheart. He prefers talking about love to possessing it, as he prefers\nSocrates to Jesus. Nature is his church, and he is his own god. He is\na dissecting critic--heartless, cold. What would excite love and\nsympathy in another, excites in him curiosity and interest. He would\nhave written an essay on the power of the soul at the foot of the\nCross. . . .\n\n\"That the shaping of events is not wholly in our own hands my present\nunanticipated movement has clearly demonstrated to me. . . I know of\nno act that I could make which would have more influence to shape my\ndestiny than my union with the Catholic Church. . . . It is very\ncertain to me that my life is now as it never has been. It seems that\nI live, feel, and act from my heart. That reads, talks, hears, sees,\nsmells, and all. All is unity with me, all love. Instead of exciting\nthoughts and ideas, as all things have done heretofore, they now\nexcite love, cheerful emotion, and gladness of heart.\n\n\"To the Spirit within I address myself: So long as I struggled\nagainst Thee I had pain, sorrow, anguish, doubt, weeping, and\ndistress of soul. Again and again have I submitted to Thee, though\never reluctantly; yet was it always in the end for my good. Oh! how\nfull of love and goodness art Thou to suffer in us and for us, that\nwe may be benefited and made happy. It is from Thy own pure love for\nus, for Thy happiness cannot be increased or diminished, that Thou\ntakest upon Thee all the suffering of the children.\n\n\"Lord, if I would or could give myself wholly up to Thee, nothing but\npure joy, complete happiness, and exquisite pleasure would fill all\nmy spirit, soul, and body. The Lord desires our whole happiness; it\nis we who hinder Him from causing it by our struggles against His\nlove-working Spirit.\n\n\"Who is the Lord? Is He not our nearest friend? Is any closer to us\nthan He when we are good? Is any further from us when we are wicked?\nHis simple presence is blessedness. Our marriage with the Lord should\nbe so complete that nothing could attract our attention from Him.\n\n\"We shall speak best to men when we do not reflect on whom we are\ntalking to. Speak always as if in the presence of God, where you must\nbe if you would speak to benefit your neighbor.\n\n\"If we are pure before God the eyes of men will never make us ashamed.\n\n\"We must be blind to all things and have our single eye turned toward\nGod when we would act in any manner upon earth--when we would\nheavenize it.\"\n\nHere ends the contemporary record of his life in Concord. The next\nletters are dated at Worcester; the next entry in the diary at New\nYork. There remain, however, some interesting allusions to it in the\narticles in this magazine of 1887 concerning Dr. Brownson, and some\nconversations, still more graphic, in the pages of the memoranda.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nAT THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH--CONTINUED\n\nTHE first Bishop of Boston, John Louis de Cheverus, who left that\ndiocese to become successively the Bishop of Montauban and the\nCardinal-Archbishop of Bordeaux, was, in the strictest sense, a\nmissionary during his American episcopate. Thoroughly French in\nblood, in training, in manners, and in zeal, his penetrating\nintelligence not less than his saintly life and his tireless charity\nrecommended him to men of all creeds and of none. His departure from\nBoston was regarded by all its citizens as a public misfortune, and\nby himself as cause for profound personal sorrow. He had learned\nthere a lesson of liberty which he found it hard to forget when he\nwent away. One of his biographers records that Charles X., whose\noffer to make him Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs Cheverus had\ndeclined, once questioned him concerning the liberty enjoyed by the\nChurch in the United States. \"There,\" said the archbishop in reply.\n\"I could have established missions in every church, founded\nseminaries in every quarter, and confided them to the care of Jesuits\nwithout any one thinking or saying aught against my proceedings; all\nopposition to them would have been regarded as an act of despotism\nand a violation of right.\" \"That people understand liberty, at\nleast,\" returned the king; \"when will it be understood among us?\"\n\nWe have spoken of Bishop Cheverus because, at the time of Isaac\nHecker's acquaintance with his successors, his influence was still\nfelt in Boston.\n\nHis immediate successor was Benedict Joseph Fenwick, a Marylander,\ndescended in direct line from one of the original English Catholic\npilgrims who founded that colony under Lord Baltimore. During his\nepiscopate the diocese grew amazingly. When he went to it, in 1826,\nalthough it comprised the whole of New England, it contained but two\nchurches fit for divine service, and only two priests besides\nhimself. When he died, in 1846, he left behind him two bishoprics\nwhere there had been but one; while in that of Boston alone there\nwere then fifty churches, served by as many priests. Although\nconversions had not been rare, the increase was mainly due to\nimmigration, which the great famine in Ireland was speedily to\nincrease. The efforts of Bishop Fenwick and those of his coadjutor\nand successor were, in the nature of things, conservative rather\nthan aggressive.\n\nBishop Fitzpatrick, also, was American by birth and training. A\nnative of Boston, he was reared in its public grammar and Latin\nschools until the age of seventeen, when he began his studies for the\npriesthood, which he finished in France. Both of these prelates\ncontinued the tradition of Cheverus so far as their own persons were\nconcerned. But while they easily won and retained the respect of\ntheir more intelligent Protestant fellow-citizens, the confidence\nthey inspired as men was not ample enough to protect the Church over\nwhich they ruled when once it began to show signs of solid\nprosperity. Cheverus was not wrong in counting with assurance upon\nAmerican love for and understanding of true liberty, but he doubtless\nowed more than he thought at the time to the insignificance and\nscanty numbers of his flock. There came a period, even in the career\nof his immediate successor, when liberty itself seemed but a feeble\nsapling which a strong wind of stupid bigotry might avail to root out\nand cast away; while the chronicle of Bishop Fitzpatrick's episcopate\ncontains the record of convents invaded under forms of law, and of\nboth convents and churches sacked and burned by \"Native American\"\nmobs, who were secure of their immunity from punishment. Such\noutrages, witnessed by the second and third Bishops of Boston, and\nthe incessant conflict to which they were compelled with the bigotry\nwhich caused them and which protected their perpetrators, predisposed\nboth them and their clergy to a distrustful attitude toward converts\nlike Brownson and Hecker, in whom American traits of character were\nvery conspicuous. Dr. Brownson has recorded in _The Convert,_ p. 374,\nthe fact that his entrance into the Church was delayed for months by\nhis fear of explaining to Bishop Fitzpatrick the precise road by\nwhich he had approached it. He says:\n\n\"I really thought that I had made some philosophical discoveries\nwhich would be of value even to Catholic theologians in convincing\nand converting unbelievers, and I dreaded to have them rejected by\nthe Catholic bishop. But I perceived almost instantly that he either\nwas ignorant of my doctrine of life or placed no confidence in it;\nand I felt that he was far more likely, bred as he had been in a\ndifferent philosophical school from myself, to oppose than to accept.\nI had, indeed, however highly I esteemed the doctrine, no special\nattachment to it for its own sake, and could, so far as it was\nconcerned, give it up at a word without a single regret; but, if I\nrejected or waived it, what reason had I for regarding the Church as\nauthoritative for natural reason, or for recognizing any authority in\nthe bishop himself to teach me? Here was the difficulty. . . . My\ntrouble was great, and the bishop could not relieve me, for I dared\nnot disclose to him its source.\"\n\nThe reader will understand that we do not compare the course of\nBishop Fitzpatrick in Brownson's case with that taken by him toward\nIsaac Hecker. The latter was a young man, unknown to the bishop save\nby what he may have said of his own antecedents, while Brownson was a\nwell-known publicist, concerning whom some reserve was natural and\nprudent.\n\nWith Bishop Fenwick, who was already in failing health, the new\ncandidate for admission to the fold seems to have had very little\nintercourse. As we have seen, the journal makes only a passing\nreference to him, but is more explicit with regard to his coadjutor.\nCertain points in their interview which remained ever fresh in his\nmemory were, at the time, cast into the shade by his deep\npreoccupation with what may, perhaps, be called the spiritual as\ndistinguished from the intellectual side of the Church. That in her\nwhich makes her the tender and bountiful mother of the simple was\nwhat chiefly attracted him, just as others are mainly drawn to her as\nthe adequate teacher and guide of the intellect. If he found the door\nat which he was knocking something hard in turning on its hinges; if\nthe vestibule into which he was ushered seemed a trifle narrower than\nhe had expected at the entrance of a temple so world-wide; his\nsatisfaction at having determined upon entrance made all other\nconsiderations for the moment dwindle. But that the impressions he\nreceived were permanent, in their suggestiveness at least, is\nwitnessed by an article in this magazine for April, 1887, entitled\n\"Dr. Brownson and Bishop Fitzpatrick,\" as well as by the several\nreferences to this period which occur in the memoranda.\n\nIn the article just named Father Hecker threw into a paragraph or\ntwo, which we subjoin, the substance of his first, and perhaps at\nthis time his only, interview with Bishop Fitzpatrick:\n\n\"It was always difficult to detect how much of conviction and how\nmuch of banter there was in his treatment of men engaged in the\nactual intellectual movement of our times. I found such to be the\ncase in my own intercourse with him. He always attacked me in a\nbantering way, but, I thought, half in earnest too. Hence I never\nfound it advisable to enter into argument with him. How can you argue\nwith a man, a brilliant wit and an accomplished theologian, who\ncontinually flashes back and forth between first principles and\nwitticisms? When I would undertake to grapple with him on first\nprinciples he would throw me off with a joke, and while I was\nparrying the joke he was back again upon first principles.\n\n\"An illustration of his way of treating men and questions was his\nreception of me when I presented myself to him, some months before\nDr. Brownson did, for reception into the Church. 'What truths were\nthe stepping-stones that led you here?' he would have asked if he had\nhad the temperament of the apostle. But instead of searching for\ntruth in me he began to search for error. I had lived with the Brook\nFarm Community and with the Fruitlands Community, and before that had\nbeen a member of a Workingman's party in New York City, in all which\norganizations the right of private ownership of property had been a\nprime question. . . . But, as for my part, at the time Bishop\nFitzpatrick wanted me to purge myself of communism, I had settled the\nquestion in my own mind, and on principles which I afterwards found\nto be Catholic. The study and settlement of the question of ownership\nwas one of the things that led me into the Church, and I am not a\nlittle surprised that what was a door to lead me into the Church\nseems at this day to be a door to lead some others out. But when the\nbishop attacked me about it, it was no longer with me an actual\nquestion. I had settled the question of private ownership in harmony\nwith Catholic principles, or I should not have dared to present\nmyself as a convert. But I mention this because it illustrates Bishop\nFitzpatrick's character.\n\n\"His was, indeed, a first-class mind both in natural gifts and\nacquired cultivation, but his habitual bearing was that of suspicion\nof error; as man and prelate he had a joyful readiness to search it\nout and correct it from his own point of view. He was a type of mind\ncommon then and not uncommon now--the embodiment of a purpose to\nrefute error, and to refute it by condemnation direct, authoritative\neven if argumentative: the other type of mind would seek for truth\namidst the error, establish its existence, applaud it, and endeavor\nto make it a basis for further truth and a fulcrum for the overthrow\nof the error connected with it.\n\n\"It will be seen, then, what kind of man Dr. Brownson first met as\nthe official exponent of Catholicity, one hardly capable of properly\nunderstanding and dealing with a mind like his; for he was one who\nhad come into the possession of the full truth not so much from\nhatred of error as from love of truth. Brownson's soul was intensely\nfaithful to its personal convictions, faithful unto heroism--for that\nis the temper of men who seek the whole truth free from cowardice, or\nnarrowness, or bias. He has admitted that the effect of his\nintercourse with the bishop was not fortunate. He confesses that he\nforced him to adopt a line of public controversy foreign to his\ngenius, and one which had not brought him into the Church, and\nperhaps could not have done so.\"\n\nThe memoranda contain a more familiar account of this interview:\n\n\"I presented myself for instruction and reception into the Church at\nthe episcopal residence, and was received by the old bishop, Fenwick.\nHe questioned me on the essential doctrines and found me as I was;\nthat is, firm as a rock and perfectly clear in my belief. Then he\nsaid, 'You had better see Bishop John.' I did so. He tried to get me\nstarted on questions of modern theology such as he suspected I might\nbe (as he would doubtless think, knowing my antecedents) unsound on;\nfor example, rights of property, etc. I refused to speak my\nsentiments on them. I said I had no difficulties about anything to\nsubmit to him. I knew the Catholic faith and wished to be received\ninto the Church at once. I had come seeking the means to save my\nsoul, and I wanted nothing from him but to be prepared for baptism.\"\n\nMore interesting than either of these narrations is the following\nconversation, recorded on July 4, 1884. Besides furnishing a very\nexplicit answer to a question which may occur to some minds, as to\nwhy a man who always took such a hopeful view of human nature as\nIsaac Hecker did, should not have been repelled from Catholicity by\nthe doctrine of original sin, it adds some further particulars to the\nmeagre array of facts in our possession:\n\n\"Suppose,\" he was asked, \"that the deliverances of the Council of\nTrent on original sin, and the theories of Bellarmine on that\ndoctrine, had been offered you during your transition period: what\nwould you have thought of them?\"\n\n\"I would have received them readily enough. Why, the book I took to\nConcord to study was the Catechism of the Council of Trent, which has\nthe strongest kind of statement of that doctrine. Bellarmine's\nformula of _nudus_ and _nudatus_ would have opened my eyes amazingly\nto a solution of the whole difficulty.\"*\n\n[* Reference is here made to a very famous saying of Bellarmine's in\nexplanation of a prevalent teaching on original sin. According to\nthat teaching, if Adam had been originally constituted in a state of\npure nature, devoid of supernatural gifts and graces, his spiritual\ncondition might be described as naked--_nudus._ On the other hand,\nman as now born is _nudatus,_ stripped of those gifts and graces,\nsuffering the penal privation of them on account of Adam's sin.\n\n\"The corruption of nature,\" says Bellarmine, \"does not come from the\nwant of any natural gift, or from the accession of any evil quality,\nbut simply from the loss of a supernatural gift on account of Adam's\nsin.\"]\n\nThe Catechism of the Council of Trent, to which Father Hecker so\noften refers, was the very best book he could have had for learning\njust what Catholicity is in doctrine and practice. It is unique in\nCatholic literature, being the only authoritative expression of the\nChurch, in extended form, on matters of pastoral theology. Outside\nthe dogmatic circle of doctrinal definition it enjoys the fullest and\nmost distinct authorization. The express command of the council\ncaused it to be prepared by a special congregation of prelates and\ndivines, and it was promulgated to the episcopate to be translated\ninto the language of the people and expounded to them by all pastors.\nIt may be said of it that it is the only book which has the Catholic\nChurch for its author. It is a book which never can grow old; and in\nwitness of that perennial quality, it may be mentioned that Cardinal\nNewman said that he never preached without using it in preparation.\nIt is an exponent of Catholic truth absolutely free from the danger\nof private, or national, or racial, or traditional bias--the very\nbook Isaac Hecker was in need of. Its plentiful use of Scripture; its\nconfident appeal to antiquity; its perfect clearness; its\ncompleteness; its tone of conviction no less than its attitude of\nauthority; make it to such minds as his the very all-sufficient organ\nof truth. Furthermore, the entire system of doctrine and morals known\nto revealed religion finds here its adequate exposition. We are glad\nof an occasion to say these words, not merely to chronicle the\nusefulness of the book to Father Hecker, but also to recommend its\nrestoration to its proper place, which both by merit and by authority\nis the first in the moral and pastoral literature of the Church.\n\n\"The truth is,\" continue the memoranda, \"that original sin _as taught\nby the Church_ would never have been a great difficulty to me: of\ncourse the Calvinistic doctrine is quite a different affair.\n\n\"I was led, after I got to work at the Catechism of the Council of\nTrent, in a way quite positive. For example, one thing I wanted was a\nsatisfaction of that feeling and sentiment which has made so many\npersons Spiritualists. I found that in the Church there was no\nimpassable barrier dividing the living from the departed. That was an\nintense delight to me.* The doctrine of penance, and the forgiveness\nof sins in the Sacrament of Penance, had a wonderful beauty as soon\nas I found them. To be taught that God had somehow given men power to\ndispense His graces and mercies made me say, Oh, how delightful a\ndoctrine that is, if I only could believe it! The doctrine of the\nCommunion of Saints and that of the Sacrament of Penance were very\npleasing to me. Hence, I soon saw that what I already had of truth\nand light; what my best nature and conscience and my clearest natural\nknowledge told me was truth; was but elevated and lifted up beyond\nall conception by these and other doctrines of the Church. From this\nI was soon in a position to appreciate the Church's claim to\nauthoritative teaching. If she, and she alone, had taught such\nthings, she must possess God's teaching authority.\n\n[* Reference is here made to the Catholic doctrine of the Communion\nof Saints.]\n\n\"When, therefore, I went into Boston and saw Bishop Fitzpatrick (who\nis now, I hope, in the kingdom of heaven), he had little to do with\nme in the way of instruction. The Trinity and other fundamental\ndoctrines I accepted readily on the authority of the Church. He was\nvery anxious to argue with me about socialistic theories, on account\nof my having been at Brook Farm and Fruitlands. But I told him I had\nno such difficulties as he supposed; that I had only gone to these\nplaces in search of truth, not because I had formed any such theories\nas they generally held. He then asked me whether I would not prefer\nto be received into the Church in New York, where my friends were. I\nsaid I did not care; if he would give me a letter I would present it.\nHe gave me one to Bishop McCloskey, who was then coadjutor in this\ncity.\"\n\nThe reader may be interested in the terms in which the Catechism of\nthe Council of Trent expresses the doctrine of the Communion of\nSaints. So far as that doctrine concerns the spiritual side of man it\nis expounded in these words:\n\n\"For the unity of the Spirit, by which the Church is governed,\nestablishes among all her members a community of spiritual blessings,\nwhereas the fruit of all the sacraments is common to all the\nfaithful, and these sacraments, particularly baptism, the door, as it\nwere, by which we are admitted into the Church, are so many\nconnecting links which bind and unite them to Jesus Christ.\"\n\nThat it extends to the mystical and miraculous gifts so dear to\nFather Hecker, was thus explained to him:\n\n\"But the gifts which justify and endear us to God are not alone\ncommon: 'graces gratuitously granted,' such as knowledge, prophecy,\nthe gifts of tongues and of miracles, and others of the same sort,\nare common also, and are granted even to the wicked; not, however,\nfor their own, but for the general good; for the building up of the\nChurch of God.\"\n\nThat the doctrine is the foundation of a real though not a legal\ncommunity of material goods, was evident to our young social reformer\nfrom the following:\n\n\"In fine, every true Christian possesses nothing which he should not\nconsider common to all others with himself, and should therefore be\nprepared promptly to relieve an indigent fellow-creature; for he that\nis blessed with worldly goods, and sees his brother in want, and will\nnot assist him, is at once convicted of not having the love of God\nwithin him.\"\n\nBesides giving him a letter to Bishop McCloskey, Bishop Fitzpatrick\nalso furnished the young catechumen with one to the president of Holy\nCross College, an institution which had been established at\nWorcester, Mass., in 1843 by Bishop Fenwick, and presented by him to\nthe Society of Jesus, of which he had been a member. The following\nletter was written by Isaac to his family after he had arrived there;\nhis stay was not long:\n\n\"Worcester, Mass., June, '44--Respecting the purpose which leads me\nto New York I have scarcely a word to say. Quietly, without\nexcitement, I come with an immovable determination to be joined to\nthe Roman Catholic Church. There is a conviction which lies deeper\nthan all thought or speech, which moves me with an irresistible\ninfluence to take this step, which arguments cannot reach, nor any\nvisible power make to falter. Words are powerless against it and\ninexpressive of it; to attempt to explain, or give to the intellectual\nmind the reasons why and wherefore, would be as impossible as to\npaint the heavens or to utter the eternal Word, the centre of all\nexistence. It would be like asking, 'Wherefore is that which is?' the\nfinite questioning the infinite; an impossibility. . . .\n\n\"No man by his own wisdom can find out God; and it is only by the\ngrace of Heaven that we come to, and by the heart perceive, the true\nChurch of Jesus Christ. Grace teaches us to feel and know that which\nbefore was unfelt, unknown, invisible. Perfect submission to His love\nbreaks open all seals, unlocks all mysteries, and unfolds all\ndifficulties. . . .\n\n\"No external event of any kind or character induces me to take this\nstep. If what does is delusion, what to name my former life I am at a\nloss to know. . .\n\n\"The heads of the college here appear to be men of good character,\ndevoted to the Church, innocent of the Protestant world of\nliterature, philosophy, etc. The president is a very social, frank,\nwarm-hearted man, of more extensive acquaintance in the world of\nletters.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nACROSS THE THRESHOLD\n\nFROM Worcester Isaac went on to New York, stopping on the way to make\na brief visit to the Fourierite community in New Jersey, known as the\nNorth American Phalanx. He probably had some personal acquaintances\nthere whom he hoped to inoculate with his newly-found certitude. He\nreached home June 20, 1844, and five days later presented his letter\nto Bishop McCloskey. Concerning the acquaintance then begun, which,\non the bishop's part, soon took the form of a discerning and wise\ndirection, and eventually deepened into a life-long friendship, we\nshall have more to say hereafter. The diary chronicles their first\nmeeting and gives the reason of the brief delay which ensued before\nIsaac was admitted to conditional baptism. The bulk of the entries\nmade between this date and that of his formal reception into the\nChurch, the first of August, contains spiritual doctrine of a kind so\neminently characteristic of Father Hecker throughout his life that we\ncontinue to make extracts from it:\n\n\"New York, June 25, 1844.--This morning I went to see Bishop\nMcCloskey. I found him a man of fine character, mild disposition, and\nof a broader education than any of the Catholics I have had the\npleasure of meeting. He was acquainted with Brownson's writings and\nEmerson's, and personally knew Mr. Channing, whom he had met at Rome.\nHe loaned me some books on matters pertaining to the Church. He is to\nbe gone for a fortnight from New York, and I am to wait until he\ncomes back before I take any further steps toward being united with\nthe Church.\"\n\n\"July 5, 1844.--It is the duty of every man to do that which\nexpresses the divine life which stirs within him, and to do nothing\nwhich is inconformable to it. So far as he falls short of this, so\nfar he falls short of his duty, his perfection, and divine beauty. I\nthink we may say with very great certainty that this is the only way\nto obtain happiness in this world and eternal felicity in the world\nto come. It is to this God calls us, but we--no, not truly we, but\nthe Man of Sin--flatter ourselves, as he did Eve, that if we follow\nhim we shall not die but become as gods. We, to-day, have the same\ntemptation to overcome that Eve had.\n\n\"Oh, how much greater God would have us be than we are, and we will\nnot! We must cast out the Man of Sin and submit to the Paradisiacal\nMan. This we are enabled to do, blessed be Heaven, by the grace of\nGod through Jesus Christ.\n\n\"What are the temptations which hold men back from following God and\nleading a divine life? In one word, the World. Pride, love of praise,\nriches, self-indulgence, all that refers and looks to time instead of\neternity, heaven, God.\n\n\"We should encourage all that gives us an impulse heavenward, and\ndeny all that tends to draw us down more into the body, sense, time.\nMan, alas! is weak, powerless, and unable to perform any good deed\nwhich will raise him to God without the free gift, the blessed grace\nof God the Holy Spirit. We all fail to act up to the divine grace\nwhich is given us. O Lord! forgive my manifold transgressions, and\nempower me to be more and more obedient to thy Holy Spirit. My inward\nman desires to follow Thy Spirit, but the appetites of my members\never war against and often subdue him. Strengthen him, O Lord! and\nenable him to govern my whole three-sphered nature. Send down Thy\ncelestial love into my heart and quicken all my heavenly powers.\n\n\"It is very true that no man can serve two masters. Between God and\nMammon there is no compromise, no mediator. Lord, make me fully\nsensible of this, and strengthen my resolution to follow Thee. I do\nlook to the Church of Christ for help. Oh, may I find in it that\nwhich the Apostles found in Jesus!\"\n\nWe cannot refrain from reminding the reader of the immature age, and\nalmost total lack of education--in the ordinary meaning of the\nterm--of the man who wrote these lofty and inspiring sentences. He\nwas ignorant of everything but the most rudimentary truths of\nCatholicity; had never read an ascetic work; had never spoken on\nascetical subjects with Catholics; had never read the life of a\nsaint; and had no experience to draw from except his own. Yet mark\nthe absolute certainty of his propositions and their uniform\ncorrectness. It should also be made known that these doctrines and\nsentiments, though written with the most evident haste, follow each\nother, page after page, without an erasure or a correction. The\ntruths which had dropped upon his mind were, indeed, rudimentary, but\nso well adapted was the soil to receive the seed that the fruit was\ninstant and mature. Seldom has spontaneity so well approved itself by\nits utterances.\n\n\"July 6.-The immediate effect of Christianity upon humanity has been\nto increase man's sensibility to the objects of the spiritual world.\nPoetry, music, the fine arts, are ennobling and spiritualizing only\nso far as they appeal to the nature of man divinized by the influence\nof the Divinity. Previous to the coming of Christ the tendency of the\narts was, on the whole, rather to encourage licentiousness and sin\nthan to elevate and refine human nature. The tendency of Christianity\nwas to restore man to his primitive gracefulness, excellence, and\nbeauty. Hence the expression of man in art--or, rather, of the divinity\nin man--became purer and more beautiful in its character. . . .\n\n\"In affirming Jesus to be the basis and life of modern civilization,\nnothing is detracted from the great and good men who preceded Him;\nnor\" [is it denied] \"that they have left traces of their genius upon\nmodern society.\n\n\"When we speak of Jesus as God, we affirm Him to be the Source of all\ninspiration, from whom all, ancient and modern, have derived their\nlife, genius, goodness, and divine beauty.\n\n\"Jesus quickened the spiritual powers of the soul which were deadened\nby the fall, and man again saw heaven, and angels descending and\nascending to the throne of ineffable Love.\n\n\"All the promises of Jesus refer to gifts of spiritual power over\ninanimate matter, the animal creation, and the Man of Sin.\n\n\"Jesus came to give a spiritual life which would generate all\nknowledge and physical well-being. He came, not to teach a system of\nphilosophy, however useful that might be; not to direct man how to\nprocure food for his physical existence with the least possible\nexercise of physical strength, however necessary this might seem. But\nHe came to give man a new nature which shall more than do all this;\nwhich will not only secure his well-being here, but his eternal\nfelicity hereafter.\n\n\"As we rise above our _time_ nature, and are united with our _eternal_\nnature, we feel more and more our indebtedness to Christ. It was to\nthis He called us in all His words, and now calls us in the\nSpirit. . . .\n\n\"So long as low appetites are cherished, and selfish passions\nharbored, and vanity allowed a seat in our bosoms, so long will men\nbe slaves to their stomachs, backs, and business. Every quickening of\nour sensibility toward love, heaven, equity, will lead us to change\nour circumstances so as to make them conformable to our new inward\nlife.\n\n\"It is for us to be true to God, however unlike the world we may\nseem. It is in silence, in private, alone, that deeds can be done\nwhich shall outstrip those of the Alexanders and Napoleons in their\neternal effects.\"\n\n\"July 7.--All that we contend for is that man should obey God, and\nco-operate in His work _with his will_ and _not against it._ Interior\nsubmission to the Love Spirit is the answer to all questions\nconcerning man's welfare, here and hereafter. Whatever a man is led\nto do in obedience to it is well done and godlike, though it lead him\nto offer up his only dear son.\n\n\"We do say, with great emphasis, that nothing under heaven should\nprevent a man from following God. Unless a man can give up all and\nfollow Christ, he is none of His.\"\n\n\"Every _true_ man is a genius.\n\n\"All genius is religious.\n\n\"The objective forms of genius are the expressions of the beautiful,\nthe good, and the true; in one word--God.\n\n\"He is a genius in whom the beautiful, the good, and the true\npermanently inhabit. . .\n\n\"The genius in every work of art is religious, whatever the subject\nmay be.\n\n\"We repeat that every man is called to give expression to the\nhighest, best, divinest in him; and to this, and to this only is he\ncalled.\n\n\"We add that the Catholic Church is the medium of this divine life,\nand that she has nurtured and encouraged men of genius in her bosom\nas a fond mother.\n\n\"We do not mean to say that the Church has converted men of ordinary\nstamp into geniuses, but that she has given the highest inspiration\nto the inborn capacity of genius, and so, to men thus gifted, has\nbeen the means by which they have become more than they could have\nbeen without her: so, also, with the most ordinary men.\n\n\"We affirm that the influence of Protestantism upon the business\nworld has been to make it much more unchristian than it was in the\nmiddle ages under the influence of Catholicism.\"\n\nAt this period, when Isaac Hecker's search had ceased, but when he\nhad not yet entered into complete and formal possession of the truth,\nwe find him looking back at his past almost as if it were a thing in\nwhich his interest was but curious and impersonal. The thought of\nwriting a history of it occurred to him, and he jotted down some\nbrief notes, and made a partial collection of such letters and other\nmemoranda, apart from the diary, as he found to have been preserved\nby his family. But this scheme was merely one of the occupations with\nwhich he beguiled the necessary delay imposed on him by Bishop\nMcCloskey's absence. One can easily believe that the plan he proposed\nto himself has deeply interested the present writer, who, though\nregretting that it was not followed out by Isaac Hecker himself, has\nyet been enabled by the diary and the letters to measurably fulfil\nits purpose. He divided it into five periods, and, with a\nreminiscence of _Wilhelm Meister,_ called it his _Wanderjahr:_\n\n\"The first should be named Youth, and give the ideal and the actual\nin youth.\n\n\"The second should be the struggle between the ideal and the actual.\n\n\"The third should be the mastery and supremacy of the ideal over the\nactual and material.\n\n\"The fourth should give the absolute union of the ideal and the\neternal-absolute in their unconditioned existence.\n\n\"The fifth should give the eventual one-ness of the ideal-absolute\nwith humanity and nature.\n\n\"Under these five heads I have in mind materials sufficient to make\na volume, but lack the close application necessary to connect them. I\ndo not say it would be readable when done. It would be the esoteric\nand exoteric history of my own life for ten years. . .\n\n\"I would open the first chapter thus: Let men say what they will, God\nabove us, the human soul, and all surrounding nature, are great\nrealities, eternal, solemn, joyous facts of human experience.\"\n\nIn the fine passage that follows we have an anticipation of the\nprominent modern conception of Christianity, as a developing force in\nthe history of man--closing an epoch and introducing a new species;\nor, as Father Hecker would have said in later years, raising man from\nhis natural position as a creature of God to true sonship with Him\nthrough affiliation with Jesus Christ. The thought, as it stands in\nthe diary, is eminently characteristic of Isaac Hecker, who always\nfelt, in a measure beyond what is ordinary, his solidarity with all\nhis kind, and a longing to keep in step with them on the line of\ntheir direct advance:\n\n\"July 12.--We make no question that God gave to all nations, previous\nto the birth of Jesus Christ, His beloved and only Son, dispensations\nof light and love in their great men, and led them from time to time\nto the stage of civilization to which they arrived. The Christian\naffirms that God is the Parent of humanity, the Father of every human\nbeing.* It would be in direct contradiction to his faith to deny\nthis. But Jesus Christ came to introduce a new life, whose light and\nlove should so surpass all that had been before Him as to make it\nappear as darkness by contrast. This life makes no war against the\ngood and true that already existed in men, but it embraces, includes,\nand fulfils it all, and then adds more than men had dared to dream\nbefore His coming. That Christianity is of this high character, not\nonly did its Author show by the example of His life and death, but it\nhas shown itself to be so wherever it has come in contact with any of\nthe older forms of religious faith and doctrine. It has exhibited a\npower that is superior to, and which overcomes, all that arrays\nitself against it. We do not deny that Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Plato,\nSocrates, Zeno, Cato, etc., were good, great, and religious men,\nabove the age in which they lived, and inspired be a life not only\nsuperior to that of their time but above that of a great part of\nChristendom, so-called. But we say that Christ gave to the world a\nlife infinitely above theirs, and that, had they been His\ncontemporaries, or ours, they would have been as far superior to\ntheir actual selves as the inspiration of Christianity is superior to\nthat under which they lived.\"\n\n[* \"As some also of your own poets said: For we are also His\noffspring. Being, therefore, the offspring of God, we must not\nsuppose the Divinity to be like unto gold or silver or stone, the\ngraving of art and the device of man.\" (Acts 17:28, 29)]\n\nAlthough there is authority for saying that the business partnership\nbetween Isaac Hecker and his brothers was not formally dissolved\nuntil he went away to Belgium in 1849, he seems never to have resumed\nany active share in it after his return from Concord. Now and again\nthe old scruples about this apparent inactivity returned upon him,\nand we find him contracting his personal needs within a compass so\nnarrow that his support shall be felt as the least possible burden.\nThus he writes, on July 13, that his present state of suspension from\nall outward engagements cannot and should not be of long continuance.\nHe adds:\n\n\"It is a clear and bounden duty that every one should in some way or\nother compensate the world for that which he consumes from its store.\nBut I do not see how I can do this consistently with the present\nstate of my mind. To be sure I have contracted my wants as respects\neating as far as seems possible to me; somewhat in dress, but not as\nfar as I should and can do. As for pleasures and many other causes of\nexpenditure, I trust I am not immoderate. In this part of the world I\ndo not see any prepared, congenial conditions. If I were in Europe, I\nshould find in the Catholic Church institutions which I could enter\nfor a time, until this period of my life would either fix itself\npermanently, or give place to another in which I could see my way\nmore clearly. But here I am, and not in Europe. Some thoughts have\narisen in my mind, and I will state them, as to what may come at some\nfuture time within the range of the possible:\n\n\"If I am joined to the Catholic Church, and there is such an\ninstitution in Europe, may I not go there and live for a time? Ah! is\nthis possible?\n\n\"If we owned a spot of ground, I would be willing to go on it and\nengage as much of my time as possible in cultivating and improving it.\n\n\"Lastly, I do not know what effect the advice and influence of the\nCatholic Church may have upon my mind, and do have a slight hope that\nI may find the exact remedy that I need in my union with her.\n\n\"I feel the assurance that if I follow the Spirit of God, and place\nall my confidence in it, it will do for me what I dare not hope to do\nfor myself.\"\n\nA day or two later he jots down, casually as it were, one of those\nprofound observations which are like pointers to his whole career.\nOccurring at this early period, when, as the reader may see\nhereafter, the germs of all his later thought and work were beginning\nto unfold, they are like rifts in the darkness which seemed to\nhimself to lie about his future, and show plainly to the student of\nhis life how straight and secure his path was amidst it all. He had\nbeen counselling himself to patience and entire reliance upon God's\nprovidence while waiting the opportunity \"to create or procure the\ncircumstances\" necessary to the expression of his own individuality.\nHe felt that this was the especial task to which all men were called.\nTo use his own words:\n\n\"It is for this we are created; that we may give a new and individual\nexpression of the absolute in our own peculiar character. As soon as\nthe new is but the re-expression of the old, God ceases to live. Ever\nthe mystery is revealed in each new birth. So must it be to eternity.\nThe Eternal-Absolute is ever creating new forms of expressing itself.\"\n\nIn the next chapter we shall have occasion to give Father Hecker's\nchoice of an epitaph for Dr. Brownson. We think that the sentences\njust quoted are worthy to be his own.\n\nIn the middle of July Bishop McCloskey returned to New York, and\nIsaac waited upon him without delay. Their first long conversation\nmade it plain to the bishop that the young man had very little need\nof further preliminary instruction, and it was settled that\nconditional baptism should be administered to him within a fortnight.\nThat the nature of Isaac Hecker's vocation also revealed itself to\nthis prudent adviser is also evident from this entry, made in the\ndiary as soon as the visit was ended:\n\n\"He said that my life would lead me to contemplation, and that in\nthis country the Church was so situated as to require them all to be\nactive. I did not speak further on this subject with him. He asked\nwhether I felt like devoting myself to the order of the priesthood,\nand undergoing their discipline, self-denial, etc., and becoming a\nmissionary. I answered that all I could say was that I wished to live\nthe life given me, and felt like sacrificing all things to this; but\ncould not say that the priesthood would be the proper place for me.\n\n\"I feel that if, for a certain length of time, and under the\ndiscipline of the Church, I could have the conditions for leading the\nlife of contemplation, it would be what the Spirit now demands.\nWhether I shall not be compelled back to this if I attempt to follow\nsome other way, I am not perfectly sure. The bishop intimated that in\nEurope there were brotherhoods congenial to the state of mind that I\nam in. If so, and I could remain there for a certain length of time,\nwhy should I not go? I will inquire further about it when next I\nspeak with the bishop.\n\n\"There is a college at Fordham where there is to be a commencement\nto-morrow, which the bishop invited me to go and see. Perhaps I shall\nfind this place to be suitable, and may be led to examine and try it.\nThe Lord knows all; into His hands I resign myself.\"\n\nHis impressions of the Catholic college at Fordham he does not\nrecord. The next entry in the diary is, as usual, taken up with the\nlarge topics which for the most part excluded particular incidents\nfrom mention. What his strict abstinence from permitted pleasures,\nand the rigorous self-discipline which he had so long practised,\nmeant to himself, may be partly gathered from the extract we are\nabout to give. He says he does not call such denial,\n\n\"in strict language, the denial of our true, God-created, immortal\nself, but the denial of that which is not myself, but which has\nusurped the place of my true, eternal, heavenly, Adamic being. It is\nthe restoration of that defaced image of God to its primitive divine\nbeauty, grace, and sweetness. We must feel and possess the love and\nlight from above before we have the disposition and power to deny the\nbody and the wisdom of this world. If we have the Christ-spirit, we\nwill fulfil the Christ-commands.\n\n\"Thus was it with man prior to his spiritual death, his fall. He\nlived in and enjoyed God, and was in communion and society with\nangels, not knowing good and evil. His life was spontaneous; his\nwisdom intuitive; he was unconscious of it, even as we would be of\nlight were there no darkness. We should see it and be recipients of\nall its blessings without knowing its existence. But darkness came,\nand man knew. Alas! in knowing he lost all that he possessed before.\n\n\"Jesus came to restore man to that eternal day from which Adam fell.\"\n\nAbout this time he mentions having spent a day in the woods with some\nfriends, at Fort Lee; it is the only allusion we find to any sort of\nrecreation or companionship with others. He sat alone for an hour, he\nsays, in a pleasant spot which overlooked the Hudson and the high\nPalisade rocks, and \"seemed to be in communion with the infinite\ninvisible all around in all the deep avenues of the soul.\"\n\nFour days before his baptism comes this anticipation of it:\n\n\"New York, July 27, '44.--I have commenced acting. My union with the\nCatholic Church is my first real, true act. And it is no doubt the\nforerunner of many more--of an active life. Heretofore I did not see\nor feel in me the grounds upon which I could act with permanence and\nsecurity. I now do; and on this basis my future life will be built.\nWhat my actions may be, I care not. It was this deep eternal\ncertainty within I did wish to feel, and I am now conscious that the\nlack of it was the reason for my inactivity.\n\n\"With this guide I ask no other, nor do I feel the need of the\nsupport of friends, or kindred, or the world. Alone it is sufficient\nfor me, though it contradicts the advice of my friends and all my\nformer life. It certainly seems to me absolute: if any error arises\nit will be from my disobedience.\"\n\n\"July 30.--The inward voice becomes more and more audible. It says:\n'I am--obey!'\n\n\"The new clothes itself in new dress.\n\n\"What proof does a man give that _he is_ if he does only what has\nbeen done?\n\n\"Can a man repeat the past with genius?\n\n\"One true act opens the passage to ten more.\n\n\"Man is left to his own destiny; religion but sanctifies it.\"\n\nWhen the day comes at last, the Sacrament itself gets only the\nbriefest chronicle. The door seems but a door. Passing through it, he\nfinds himself at home, and apparently without one quickening of the\npulse, or any cessation of his desire to penetrate all its secret\nchambers. The explanation of this is to be looked for in the\npresumption that his baptism in infancy had been valid. It was\nconferred by a Lutheran minister who must have been trained in\nGermany, and whose methodical adherence to the proper form might be\ncounted on. In the sight of God, doubtless, he had never since been\noutside the Church. He was like a child stolen from the cradle, but\nin whom racial and family traits had been superior to an uncongenial\nenvironment.\n\n\"Friday, August 1, 1844, 1 P.M.--This morning we were baptized by\nBishop McCloskey. To-morrow we attend the tribunal of confession.\"\n\nThen he mentions a curious fact which recalls a similar experience of\nSt. Catherine of Genoa: \"We know not why it is we feel an internal\nnecessity of using the plural pronoun instead of the singular.\"\n\nBut if conditional baptism left him silent, the Sacrament he\ncertainly received the following day opened the flood-gates of his\nspeech:\n\n\"August 2.--Penance! joy! unbounded love! Sweet Jesus, Thy love is\ninfinite! Blessed faith! sweet love! I possess an internal glory, a\nglowing flame of love! Let my whole life be one act of penance! O\ndear Jesus, the life-giver! Oh, what a sweet thing it is to be in the\nway of loveful grace! Jesus, keep me near Thee! Oh, how great a\ncondescension, Jesus is my Friend! Oh! who has the conception of\nJesus being his _Friend?_ O ancient faith, how dear, how good is God\nin giving us sinners thee! Blessed is the grace of God that leadeth\nsinners to thee! Oh, how thou hast comforted the soul! It would turn\nfrom thee, but thou strengthenest it. The cup was bitter, but\ninfinitely more sweet is the joy thou givest. My soul is clothed in\nbrightness; its youth is restored. O blessed, ever-blessed,\nunfathomable, divine faith! O faith of apostles, martyrs, confessors,\nand saints! Holy Mother of Jesus, thou art my mother. I feel in my\nheart thy tender love. O holy Mother, thou hast beheld me! Bless me,\nVirgin Mother of Jesus!\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nNEW INFLUENCES\n\nBISHOP McCLOSKEY, afterwards the first American Cardinal, was\ncoadjutor to Bishop Hughes from 1844 to 1847. He was living at the\nold Cathedral when Isaac Hecker first called upon him. He was still a\nyoung man, less than ten years separating him from the youthful\ncatechumen. In temperament they were very different. The bishop, a\nman of routine in method and of no original views of principles, was\nso, nevertheless, by mental predisposition rather than by positive\nchoice. He was a man of finished education; a dignified speaker, whose\nwords read as impressively as they sounded. Although the two men were\nso unlike, the bishop could, at least after brief hesitation, fully\nappreciate Isaac Hecker; nay, could love him, could further his\nplans, and stand by him in his difficulties. Before we are done with\nthis Life, the reader will see this more in detail.\n\nNor was Bishop McCloskey without light as a judge in spiritual\nmatters. By nature calm and self-poised, and readily obedient to\nreason, the grace of his high office, his wide knowledge of men, his\nextensive reading, were doubtless supplemented by a special infusion\nof heavenly wisdom, due to his upright purpose and his spotless life.\nThough not timid, he was not conspicuous for courage; his refuge in\ndifficulty was a high order of prudence, never cowardice; nor did he\nerr either by precipitancy, by cruelty, or by rigidity of adherence\nto abstract rules of law. Father Hecker knew him thoroughly well, and\nadmired him; more, he profited by his guidance, and that not only at\nthis earliest period of their intercourse. It was by him that Isaac\nHecker's vocation was, though not revealed, yet most wisely directed.\nBrownson told the young man that he ought to devote himself to the\nGermans in this country; Bishop Hughes advised him to go to St.\nSulpice and study for the secular priesthood; Bishop McCloskey told\nhim to become a religious.\n\nHitherto Isaac Hecker's environment had been entirely non-Catholic;\nthe ebbing and flowing of a sea of doubt and inquiry upon which\nfloated small boats and rafts which had been cast off from the good\nship of Christ. Now that he was on board the ship itself, he found\nits crew and passengers sailing straight on toward their destined\nhaven, paying small regard, as a rule, to the small craft and the\nshipwrecked sailors tossing on the wild waves around them, and only\nsurprised when one or another hailed their vessel and asked to be\ntaken on board. Nor did the attitude of non-Catholics, taking them\ngenerally, invite anything else. Isaac Hecker, passing into the\nChurch, not only came into contact with its members, but was to be\nfor some years exclusively in their company. But, though carried\nbeyond the Ripleys, the Alcotts, the Lanes, the Emersons, and beyond\nthe theories they in some sort stand for and represent, he had\nlearned them and their lesson, and never lost his aptitude for\nreturning to their company with a Catholic message. His farewell to\nthat class did not involve loss of affectionate interest, for in mind\nhe continually reverted to them. He knew that their peculiar traits\nwere significant of the most imperative invitation of Providence to\nmissionary work. He thought it was to that class, or, rather, to the\nmultitude to whom they were prophets, that the exponent of\nCatholicity should first address himself. They possessed the highest\nactivity of the natural faculties; they were all but the only class\nof Americans who loved truth for its own sake, that trait which is\nthe peculiarity of the Catholic mind, and the first requisite for\nreal conversion.\n\nIt may have been the latent strength of this conviction that, within\na year after his reception into the Church, permanently affected the\ninfluence which Brownson had so long exerted over him. It ceased now\nto be in any sense controlling, and at no future time regained force\nenough to be directive. They found the Church together, went together\ninto its vestibule, and were received nearly at the same time. And\nthen the wide liberties of a universal religion gave ample scope and\nlarge suggestion for the accentuation and development of their native\ndifferences. Brownson was a publicist and remained so; Isaac Hecker\nwas a mystic and remained so. To the mysticism of the latter was\nadded an external apostolate; the public activity of the former was,\nindeed, apostolic, but upon a field not only different from any he\nwould himself have spontaneously chosen, but quite unlike. Our reader\nalready knows how grievous a loss to the public exposition of the\nChurch in America this defection of Brownson's genius from its true\ndirection seemed to Father Hecker. He never ceased to deplore it as a\nneedless calamity, overruled in great measure, indeed, by the good\nProvidence of God, but not wholly repaired.\n\nFather Hecker's affection for Dr. Brownson never wavered, and his\ngratitude towards him was only deepened and made more efficacious\nwith the lapse of time and the growth of his own spiritual\nexperience. If they did not always agree, either in principles or in\nquestions of policy, they always loved each other. The memoranda\nfurnish an interesting proof of this abiding affection on the part of\nFather Hecker. He was asked:\n\n\"Don't you think we might have a memorial tablet to Dr. Brownson in\nour church?\"\n\n\"Yes! Of all the men I ever knew, he had most influence over me.\"\n\n\"When you were in early life?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course. Oh! in after life no man has had influence with me,\nbut only God.\"\n\nThis meant, of course, the influence of master upon disciple, and not\nthat of lawful authority or of fraternal love, to both of which\nFather Hecker was ever very sensitive.\n\nSpeaking at another time of Brownson, he quoted this sentence from\n_The Convert_ as so perfect an epitome of the man that it should be\nput on his monument:\n\n\"I had one principle, and only one, to which, since throwing up\nUniversalism, I had been faithful; a principle to which I had,\nperhaps, made some sacrifices--that of following my own honest\nconvictions whithersoever they should lead me.\"\n\nAnd just here is found one of those points of essential difference\nwhich it is interesting to note between these two men, so closely\ndrawn together by Divine Providence at one period, and in such a\nrelation that to the elder the function of guidance seemed to have\nbeen appointed. In unswerving fidelity to conviction they were on a\npar, but in native clearness of vision and instinctive aversion from\nerror they were far less closely matched. Brownson in early life had\ntried, accepted, and preached various forms of aberration from true\ndoctrine. One might say of him, that, having found himself outside\nthe highway at his start, he gathered accretions from hedge and ditch\nas he struggled toward the true road, and went through an after\nprocess of sloughing them one by one. Perhaps that process ended in\nmaking him over-timid. It was otherwise with Isaac Hecker. He, too,\nhad stopped to consider many doctrines which purported to be true;\nmore than that, he had recognized in each the modicum of truth which\nit possessed. But the falsity with which this was overloaded was\npowerful enough to repel him, in spite of the truth he knew to be\ncontained in it. He carried in himself the touchstone to which all\nthat was akin to it beyond him responded of necessity. The Light\nwhich lights every man who comes into the world had not only never\nbeen darkened in him by sinful courses, but it seemed to burn with a\ncrystal clearness which threw up into hideous and repellant\nproportions all that was offensive to it. Many voices had called him\nfrom without, but he had refused obedience unto any. He never\nsubmitted until his submission was full and not to be withdrawn. So,\nonce in the Church, and enjoying her divine guarantee of external\nauthority, he had few if any disquieting recollections of error to\nbreed distrust of the light that shone within him. His soul was of\nthat order to which truth speaks authoritatively and at first hand;\nof that soil from which institutions which are to stand spring by a\ntrue process of development, because it is the soil which first\nreceived their germs. Always it is the soul of man which is inspired,\nthe mind of man that is enlightened. Then the teaching comes as\nrecord of the fact and the doctrine; then the institution solidifies\nabout them, a perpetual witness that to many men and ages of men the\nsame message has been handed down by its first recipients and has\nproduced in them its proper results. The race of such souls has not\ndied out in the Christian Church. The one truth, spoken once for all\nby the Incarnate Word, takes on for them new aspects and new tones.\nThey are the pioneers of great movements. Nurtured in the Church,\ntheir ardor burns away mere conventionalities; born outside the\nChurch, the light she carries is a beacon, and the voice she utters\nis felt as that of the true Mother. To adapt once more a pregnant\nsentence from young Hecker, of the truth of which he was himself an\nexample: \"It is God in them which believes in God.\"\n\nBut to return to Brownson. An entry in the journal, made nearly a\nyear later, sums up the total impression which Brownson had made upon\nhis young disciple:\n\n\"June 22, 1845.--0. A. B. is here. He arrived this morning. Though he\nis a friend to me, and the most critical periods of my experience\nhave been known to him, and he has frequently given me advice and\nsympathy, yet he never moves my heart. He has been of inestimable use\nto me in my intellectual development. He is, too, a man of heart. But\nhe is so strong, and so intellectually active, that all his energy is\nconsumed in thought. He is an intellectual athlete. He thinks for a\ndozen men. He does not take time to realize in heart for himself. No\nman reads or thinks more than he. But he is greater as a writer than\nas a person. There are men who never wrote a line, but whose\ninfluence is deeper and more extensive than that of others who have\nwritten heavy tomes.\n\n\"It is too late for Brownson to give himself to contemplation and\ninterior recollection. He is a controversialist; a doctor. The last\nhe will be before long. Some have wondered why I should have\ncontracted such a friendship for one whom they imagine to be so harsh\nand dictatorial. I have not felt this. His presence does not change\nme; nor do I find myself where I was not after having met him. He has\nnot the temperament of a genius, but that of a rhetorician and\ndeclaimer. He arrives at his truths by a regular and consecutive\nsystem of logic. His mind is of a historical more than of a poetical\nmould.\n\n\"As a man, I have never known one so conscientious and\nself-sacrificing. This is natural to him. His love of right is\nsupreme, and the thing he detests most is bad logic. It makes him\npeevish and often riles his temper. He defeats, but will never\nconvince an opponent. This is bad. No one loves to break a lance with\nhim, because he cuts such ungentlemanly gashes. He is strong, and he\nknows it. There is more of the Indian chief than of the Christian\nknight in his composition. But he has something of both, though\nnothing of the modern scholar, so called. His art is logic, but he\nnever aims at art. By nature he is a most genuine and true man; none\nso much so. By no means E----\" [Emerson?] \"who ever prates about this\nthing. If he attempts embellishment, you see at once it is borrowed;\nit is not in his nature. There is a pure and genuine vein of poetry\nrunning through him, but it is not sufficient to tincture the whole\nflow of his life. He is a man of the thirteenth or fourteenth century\nrather than of the nineteenth. He is an anomaly among its scholars,\nwriters, and divines. He is not thorough on any one subject though at\nhome on all. What a finished collegiate education would have done for\nhim I am baffled to conjecture. He is genuine, and I love him for\nthat; it is the crown of all virtues. But I must stop. I only\nintended to mention that he is here.\"\n\nThe reader may well suppose that Father Hecker fully appreciated\nBrownson's literary genius. The English language in his grasp was a\nweapon to slay and a talisman to raise to life. Never was\nargumentation made more delightful reading; never did a master\ninstruct more exclusively by the aid of his disciple's highest\nfaculties than did Brownson. Habituated his whole life long to the\nardent study of the greatest topics of the human understanding, he\nwas able to teach all, as he had taught young Hecker, how to think,\ndiscern, judge, penetrate, decide about them with matchless power;\nand he clothes his conclusions in language as adequate to express\nthem as human language well can be. Clearness, precision, force,\npurity, vividness, loftiness are terms applicable to Dr. Brownson's\nliterary style. It may be that the general reading public will not\nstudy his works merely for the sake of his literary merits; the\npleasures of the imagination and of narrative are not to be found in\nDr. Brownson. But he certainly will win his way to the suffrages of\nthe higher class of students of fine writing. And let one have any\nshadow of interest in the great questions he treats, and every page\ndisplays a style which is the rarest of literary gifts. The very fact\nthat his writing is untinted by those lesser beauties which catch the\neye but to impede its deepest glances, is in itself an excellence all\nthe greater in proportion to the gravity of his topics. Absolutely\nfree from the least obscurity, his diction is a magnetic medium\nuniting the master's personality, the disciple's understanding, and\nthe essence of the subject under consideration. Cardinal Newman, some\nmay believe, possessed this supreme rhetoric in perhaps even a higher\ndegree than Brownson, but so much can be said of few other writers of\nEnglish prose. George Ripley, whom Father Hecker deemed the best\njudge of literature in our country or elsewhere, assured him that\nthere were passages in Dr. Brownson which could not be surpassed in\nthe whole range of English literature.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nYEARNINGS AFTER CONTEMPLATION\n\n\"COULD I but give up all my time to contemplation, study, reading,\nand reflection!\"\n\nUpon this aspiration as a background the whole matter of Isaac\nHecker's vocation must be considered. In substance we have met with\nit very frequently already; in the shape just given it confronts us\non the first page of the new diary begun a few days before his\nbaptism. And as our reader accompanies us through the records he made\nduring the year that still elapsed before he entered the Redemptorist\nOrder, nothing, we think, will become more evident than that he was\ncalled to something beyond adhesion to the Church, the worthy\nreception of the sacraments, or even the ordinary sacerdotal state.\n\nTo make this still plainer at the start, it may be useful to describe\nbriefly the special grounds whereon Isaac Hecker fought his life-long\nbattles. These were, first: The validity of those natural aspirations\nwhich are called religious, and which embrace the veracity of reason\nin its essential affirmations. Second: Whether man be by nature\nguileless or totally depraved: Third, Whether religion be or be not\nintrinsically and primarily an elevating influence whose end is to\nraise men to real union with God.\n\nTo many inquirers after the true religion such preliminary doubts\nhave been already settled, either by natural bent of mind or docility\nto previous training; and they pass on to consider apostolical\nsuccession, the primacy of Peter, the nature and number of the\nsacraments, and other matters wherein heresy errs by denial or by\ndefect. But to Isaac Hecker all such points as these were, in a\nsense, subsidiary. He had asked admission into the Church because he\nfound it to be the only teaching society on earth whose doctrines\ngave complete and adequate satisfaction to that fundamental craving\nof his nature which prompted his questions. She accredited herself to\nhim as fully by that fact as she must have done to many a philosophic\npagan among those who were the first disciples to the new faith\npreached by St. John or St. Paul. All else he accepted with an\nimplicit, child-like confidence not different from that which moves\nthe loyal descendant of ages of Catholic ancestors. It was clear to\nhim that these accompanying doctrines and institutions must have been\nenfolded within the original germ, and must be received on the same\nauthority, not by an analytic process and on their merits, one by one.\n\nWhat he wanted was, in the first place, sustenance for what he\ninvariably calls \"the life\" given him; and next, light to see in what\nway he was to put to use the strength so gained. The first effect of\nthe sacraments was what one might call the natural one of making more\nvisible the shadows which enveloped his path, as well as stimulating\nhis instinctive efforts to pierce through them. After the rapturous\njoy which succeeded confession and absolution, a period of desolation\nand dryness heavier than he had ever known at once set in. Perhaps he\nhad expected the very reverse of this. At all events, it was not many\ndays before it drew from him the complaint that in leaving Concord he\nhad also left behind him the great interior sweetness which had\nbuoyed him up. On August 11 he writes:\n\n\"How hard it has been for me to go through with all these solemn\nmysteries and ceremonies without experiencing any of those great\ndelights which I have [before] felt. Why is this? Is it to try my\nfaith? O Lord! how long shall I be tried in this season of\ndesolation? Are these [delights] never to return? Have I acted\nunworthily? What shall I do to receive these blessings again?\"\n\nThen he resolves to make a novena, fasting the while on bread and\nwater, to entreat their renewal. But at once a better mood sets in\nand he adds:\n\n\"The highest state of perfection is to be content to be nothing.\nLord, give me strength not to ask of Thee anything that is pleasant\nto me. I renounce what I have just asked for, and will try to do all\nwithout the hope of recompense. If Thou triest my soul, let it not go\nuntil it has paid the uttermost farthing.\"\n\n\"August 15, 1844.--To-day is the holyday of the Assumption of the\ndear, Blessed Mary, Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. Oh! may I\nbe found worthy of her regard and love.\"\n\n\"He that has not learned the bitterness of the drops of woe has not\nlearned to live. One hour of deep agony teaches man more love and\nwisdom than a whole long life of happiness. . .\n\n\"In many faces I see passing through the crowded streets there seems\na veiled beauty, an angel quickening me with purer life as I go by\nthem in anxious haste. Do we not see the hidden worth, glory, and\nbeauty of others as our own becomes revealed to us? Would the Son of\nGod have been needed to ransom man if he were not of incomparable\nvalue?\"\n\nOne of the dreams that at this time occupied Isaac's mind was that of\nundertaking a pilgrimage to Rome. He wrote to Henry Thoreau,\nproposing that they should go in company, and felt regret when his\ninvitation was not accepted. His notion was to \"work, beg, and travel\non foot, so far as land goes, to Rome. I know of no pleasanter,\nbetter way, both for soul and body, than to make such a pilgrimage in\nthe old, middle-age fashion; to suffer hunger, storm, cold, heat--all\nthat can affect the body of flesh. If we receive hard usage, so much\nthe better will it be for us. Why thump one's own flesh here? Let it\nbe done for us by others, our soul, meanwhile, looking at higher\nobjects. . . . I feel that I have the stuff to do it in me. I would\nlove to work and beg my way to Rome if it cost me ten or fifteen\nyears of my life.\"\n\nThoreau replied to this proposal that such a tour had been one of his\nown early dreams, but that he had outlived it. He had now \"retired\nfrom all external activity in disgust, and his life was more\nBrahminical, Artesian-well, Inner-Temple like.\" So the scheme, which\nhad secured Bishop McCloskey's approbation, although he had forcibly\nrepresented to young Hecker that to go absolutely destitute of money,\nand dependent for all things upon alms, would be impossible, was\npresently shelved. It was but one of the diversions with which\ncertain souls, not yet enlightened as to their true course, nor\narrived at the abandonment of themselves to Divine Providence, are\namused. Their inactivity seems idleness to them, and they mistake the\nrestless impulse which bids them be up and doing for the voice of\nconscience or the inspiration of heavenly wisdom; but it is neither.\nSometimes it is a superfluity of natural energy seeking an outlet;\nsometimes it is the result of the strain placed upon nature by a very\npowerful influx of grace. The infusion of power from above is often\ngreatly in excess of the light necessary for guidance in its use.\nThis last rarely comes entirely from the inner touch of the Holy\nSpirit. In the lives of the Fathers of the Desert we read of a\ncertain young brother, Ptolemy, who went astray from sound\nspirituality. When admonished he asserted that he need learn the\nspiritual life from none save the Holy Ghost, of whose inspirations\nany man of good will could be certain. He was told by the old monks\nthat the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the understanding of the\nsame are two distinct things, and that this understanding is\ndisclosed only to him whose will has been purified by the practice of\nobedience and humility. In truth, it is rarely that the inner voice\nof God does not call for an external interpreter, which, if it does\nno more than furnish a divinely authorized test and criterion, is\nnone the less necessary. Moreover, the inner voice seldom provides\nways and means for its own purposes. Father Hecker was ever a\nstrenuous defender of this inner and outer unity of the Divine\nguidance, and his vocation was an illustration of it. However\nmasterful the inner voice of God which called him away from the\nworld, he was helpless till he heard its tones harmonized by the\ncounsel of Bishop McCloskey. When he found that even with this\nbacking secured, the external obstacles to his plan proved\ninvincible, he was once more nonplussed. \"If not this, what?\" he\nasks himself.\n\n\"I feel deeply and strongly that the circle of family happiness is\nnot sufficient for my nature, but what I can profitably do outside of\nthis I have not the ability to say.\n\n\"That our real wishes are presentiments of our capabilities is a very\ntrue proverb, no doubt; but are we not most ignorant of what these\nare? It seems as though we are all unconsciously educated for unknown\nends and purposes.\n\n\"I look upon myself as belonging to that class of decidedly\nunfortunate beings who have no marked talent for any particular\npursuit. The words talent, genius, have for me no application\nwhatever. I stand on the confines of both worlds, not feeling the\nnecessity nor having the true valor to decide for either sphere.\n\n\"O heaven! why was this deep, ever-burning life given me, unless it\nbe that I might be slowly and painfully consumed by it? All greatness\nis in the actor, not in the act. He whom God has blessed with an end\nin life, can earnestly labor to accomplish that end. But alas for\nthat poor mortal whose existence only serves to fill up space in the\nworld! How excruciating to him to be conscious of this! O Prometheus!\n\n\"Simply to be what God would have us, is to be greater than to have\nthe applause of the whole world otherwise. All such statements as\nthis are necessarily one-sided. Because there are always good and\nvirtuous men in the world whose approbation is that of God.\n\n\"There is an instinct in man which draws him to danger, as in\nbattle-fields; as there is also in the fly, drawing it to the flame\nof light. It is the desire of the spirit within, seeking for release.\"\n\n\"August 20, 1844.--Scarce do I know what to say of myself. If I\naccuse myself by the light given me, it would lead me to leave all\naround me. My conscience thus accuses me. And in partaking of worldly\nthings and going into the company around me, my interior self has no\npleasure, and I feel afterwards that the labor and time have been\nmisspent. How to live a life which shall be conformable to the life\nwlthin and not separate from the persons and circumstances around me,\nI cannot conceive. I am now like one who tastes a little of this and\nthen a little of that dish, while his time is wasted and his mind\ndistracted from that pure enjoyment which is a foretaste of the bliss\nof the angels. I feel my primitive instincts and unvitiated tastes\ndaily becoming more sensible to inspirations from above, from the\ninvisible. The ideal world, the soul world, the kingdom of heaven\nwithin, I feel as if I were more a friend and citizen of O Lord! my\nheart would break forth in praise of the riches of the life given\nwithin! It seems that in this that we enjoy all, know all, and\npossess all. If we have Thee, O Lord! if Thou hast taken up Thy\ndwelling in us, we enjoy heaven within and paradise without!\"\n\n\"August 21, 1844. The object of education should be to place each\nindividual mind in vital union with the One Universal Educator. . . .\n\n\"The only pleasure for man is his union with _a priori_ principles.\"\n\n\"August 23, 1844.--If the animal passions are indulged, of course you\nmust pay the cost. If you get a large family of children about you,\nand please your animal appetites with all sorts of luxury, and\nindulge your pride in all the foolish fashions of show, do not wonder\nthat it cost all your time to uphold such an expensive life. This is\nnecessary, unless you cheat some one else out of the hard-earned\nvalue of his labor. I cannot conceive how a Christian, under the\npresent arrangements, can become wealthy without violating repeatedly\nthe precepts of his religion. . . .\"\n\n\"Where shall we find God? Within.\n\n\"How shall we hear the voices of angels? Listen with the inward ear.\n\n\"When are we with God? When we are no more with ourselves.\n\n\"When do we hear the music of heaven? When we are entirely silent.\n\n\"What is the effect of sin? Confusion.\n\n\"Where does God dwell? In silence.\n\n\"Who loves God? He who knows nothing and loves nothing of himself.\n\n\"What is prayer? The breath of silence.\n\n\"What is love? The motion of the pure will.\n\n\"What is light? The shadow of love.\n\n\"What is force? The power of love.\n\n\"Where does God dwell? Where there is peace.\n\n\"Who is most like God? He who knows he is the least like Him.\n\n\"What is the innermost of all? Stillness.\n\n\"Who is the purest? He who is most beyond temptation.\n\n\"What is the personality of man? The absolute negation of\nGod.\n\n\"What is God? The absolute affirmation in man.\n\n\"What is it to know? It is to be ignorant.\n\n\"What should we desire? Not to desire.\n\n\"What is the most positive answer? Silence.\n\n\"What is the truest? That which cannot be proven.\"\n\n\"August 25, 1844.--In silence, suffering without murmuring. An\neternal thirst, enduring without being quenched. Infinite longings\nwithout being met. Heart ever burning, never refreshed. Void within\nand mystery all around. Ever escaping that which we would reach.\nTortured incessantly without relief. Alone--bereft of God, angels,\nmen--all. Hopes gone, fears vanished, and love dead within. These,\nand more than these, must man suffer.\"\n\n\"August 28, 1844.--Is it not because I have been too much engaged in\nreading and paid too little attention to the centre that I have lost\nmyself, as it were? My position here distracts my attention and I\nlose the delight, intimate knowledge, and sweet consciousness of my\ninterior life. How can this be remedied? I am constantly called of to\nmatters in which I have no relish; and if I retreat for a short time,\nthey rest on me like a load, so that I cannot call myself free at any\nmoment. I see the case as it stands, and feel I am losing my interior\nlife from the false position in which I am placed.\n\n\"The human ties and the material conditions in which I am should\nunquestionably be sacrificed to the divine interior relation to the\nOne, the Love-Spirit, which, alas! I have so sensibly felt. Can a man\nlive in the world and follow Christ? I know not; but, as for me, I\nfind it impossible. I feel more and more the necessity of leaving the\nsociety and the distracting cares of a city business for a silent and\npeaceful retreat, to the end that I may restore the life I fear I am\nlosing. Our natural interests should be subject to our human ties;\nour human ties to our spiritual relations; and who is he who brings\nall these into divine harmony?\n\n\"How shall I make the sacrifice which shall accomplish the sole end I\nhave, and should have, in view? Thrice have I left home for this\npurpose, and each time have returned unavoidably so, at least, it\nseems to me. Once more, I trust, will prove a permanent and immovable\ntrial.\"\n\nTo some, a most striking incidental proof of his inaptitude for the\nordinary layman's life, is found in the subjoined extract from the\nmemoranda. Speaking of this period, Father Hecker said:\n\n\"Some time after my reception into the Church, I went to Bishop\nMcCloskey and told him I had scruples against renting a seat in the\nCathedral in Mott Street. 'If I do,' I said, 'I shall feel sore at\nthe thought that I have set apart for me in the house of God a seat\nwhich a poor man cannot use.' I told him that for this reason I had\nknelt down near the doorway, among the crowd of transient poor\npeople. Oh, how he eased my spirit by sympathizing with my sentiment,\nand satisfied me by declaring that the renting of pews was only from\nnecessity, and he wished we could get along without it.\"\n\nHis relations with some of his former friends at Brook Farm still\ncontinued, though in a somewhat attenuated condition. From a long and\nappreciative letter sent him by Burrill Curtis, we make an extract,\nfollowed by Isaac's comments on it:\n\n\"October 13, 1844.--Your preparedness for any fate has been one of\nthe chief attractions of your character to me, for I believe it is\ndeeper than a mere state of mind. But, for all that, your\nrestlessness is uppermost just now; not as a contradictory element,\nfor it is not; but as a discovering power.\"\n\nIsaac's journal, just at this time, was chiefly devoted to what he\ncalls \"the many smaller, venial sins which beset my path and keep me\ndown to earth. Also to prescribe such remedies as may seem to me best\nfor these thorns in the flesh.\" On October 26 he notes that he has\nreceived the letter just quoted, and remarks:\n\n\"It showed more regard for me than I thought he had. The truth is, I\ndo not feel myself worthy to be the friend of any one, and would pass\nmy life in being a friend to all, without recognizing their\nfriendship towards me.\n\n\"To-day I have felt more humanly tender than ever. The past has come\nup before me with much emotion. ----- has been much in my thoughts.\n\n\"I have experienced those unnatural feelings which I have felt\nheretofore. I feel that the spirit world is near and glimmering all\naround me. The nervous shocks I have been subject to, but which I\nhave not experienced for some time back, recurred this evening. I am\nknown to spirits, or else I apprehend them.\"\n\nHe had taken up Latin and Greek again, and seems to have entered a\nclass of young men under the tutorship of a Mr. Owen. The entry just\nquoted from goes on as follows:\n\n\"I do not devote as much time to study as I should, or as I might. I\nfear I shall never make anything of my studies. I do not endeavor\nwith all my might. This study has thrown me into another sphere. I\nlike it not. I feel apprehensive of something, of somewhat. Ten years\nfrom now will fix my destiny, if I have any.\"\n\nMuch good as he continued to receive from the sacrament of penance,\nhe found a not altogether usual difficulty in preparing for it.\nPerhaps it was in the counsel he received there that he got courage\nto gird himself for his renewed attack upon the languages, for his\ndelinquencies in this respect have the air of being the most tangible\nof the matters on his conscience.\n\n\"I must prepare for confession this week,\" he writes on November 5,\n1844. \"Oh! would that I could accuse myself as I should. Man is not\nwhat he should be so long as he is not an angel. Oh, dear God! give\nme Thy aid, and help me in my weaknesses. What sins can I accuse\nmyself of now? First--oh, Love! give me light to accuse myself--to\nsee my sins. _This is my greatest sin; that I cannot accuse myself\nand am so wicked._\n\n\"Each day I omit a hundred duties that I should not. Lord, give me\nThy Spirit, that I may be humble, meek, and sweet in all my walk and\nconversation. Fill my heart with Thy love.\"\n\nIn a little while he found himself able to study more diligently, and\nthough he continually regrets the inroad this makes upon his interior\nlife, he seems not only to have persevered, but to have taken\nconsiderable interest and an active part in the debates got up at\nregular intervals by the class he had joined. He notes that he has\nserious doubts whether it will be wise for him to express his full\nmind on some of the subjects brought up. His fellow-pupils were all\nProtestants, and some of them well-informed and talented young men.\nHis views would be new to them, and so would many of his authorities\nfor his statements of fact, and he thought it not unlikely that a\ncommotion might sometimes be raised which would not at all commend\nitself to the teacher of the institution. He concluded, however, to\nthrow prudence to the winds, and on controverted points to express\nhis sentiments freely and frankly. There were some animated\ndiscussions, no doubt.\n\nHe was endeavoring at this time to retrench his hours of sleep to the\nnarrowest dimensions compatible with health, and found it, we may\nnote, the most difficult of his austerities. In other respects they\nremained severe, as this entry may witness:\n\n\"November 27, 1844.--I am sorely perplexed what to eat. Nuts, apples,\nand bread seem not a diet wholly suitable, and what to add I know\nnot. Potatoes are not good; I think they were the cause of my illness\nlast week. I do not wish to partake of anything that comes even\nremotely from an animal. Cooking, also, I wish, as far as possible,\nto dispense with. I would I could dispense with the whole digestive\napparatus! Cheese, butter, eggs, milk, are for many reasons not a\npart of my diet.\"\n\nThe balance of this fourth volume of his diary, begun September 9,\n1844, and ended January 2, 1845, is mainly occupied with addresses to\nhis guardian angel. He was, as those who knew him will remember,\nalways extremely devout to the angelic choirs. On his birthday this\nyear he writes as follows:\n\n\"December 18, 1844.--Let me look back for a few moments and see where\nI stood last year this time (an incomprehensible length), and where I\nnow stand. Then my path was dim, unfixed, unsettled. Then I was not\nso disentangled from the body and its desires as, I hope in God, I\nnow am. In all I feel a consciousness that since then I have\nspiritually grown--been transformed. For my present I cannot speak.\nFor my future, it seems I dare not speak.\n\n\"Dreams of the future! Exalted visions! Beautiful, unspeakable hopes!\nDeep, inarticulate longings that fill the conscious soul! Ah! so\nsweet, so harmonious, so delightful, like an angel, like the bride of\nthe pure and bright soul adorned for the nuptials, do I see the\nfuture beckoning me with a clear, transparent smile onward to her\npresence. 'Ah!' my soul would say, 'we will meet, for I am in thy\npresence, and faithful in God may heaven grant me to be.' The beauty,\nthe grace, the love, the sweetness that attract me, are beyond all\ncomparison. Ah! thou eternal, ever-blooming virgin, the Future, shall\nI ever embrace thee? Shall I ever see thee nearer to my heart? I look\nat myself and I am bowed down low in grief; but when I cast my eyes\nup to thee, in seeing thee I am lost. The grace and beauty I see in\nthee passes into my soul, and I am all that thou art. I am then\nwedded to thee, and I would that it were an eternal union. But ah! my\neyes, when turned upon myself, lose all sight of thee, and meet\nnothing but my own spots and blemishes. How canst thou love me? I\nsay; and for thy pure love I am melted into thee as one.\"\n\nHe continues:\n\n\"Lord, let me speak of my many and grievous sins; but oh! when I\nwould do so, my mouth speaks nothing forth but Thy praises.\n\n\"I would offer my whole soul afresh to all that is, for the sake of\nthe love of God. . . . Lord, I am Thine, for Thou dost teach me this\nbe Thy unutterable, ever-present love.\"\n\n\"January 3.--Last Saturday my confessor was not at home when I\ncalled. I have waited until this morning, the Saturday following. It\nis sad to me to wait to partake of the Blessed Sacrament. How much\njoy, love, and sweetness it is to the soul! I feel my soul to glow\nagain with renewed love when I have partaken of the blessed communion\nof Christ. This is my spiritual food. It is the goodness, mercy, and\nlove of God which keeps me from sadness.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nFROM NEW YORK TO ST. TROND\n\nISAAC HECKER'S zeal for social reform lent force to his strictly\npersonal cravings for a more religious life; he longed for wider\nscope than individual effort could possibly bestow, and also for a\nsupernatural point of vantage. \"If we would do humanity any good,\" he\nwrites in his diary while considering his vocation, \"we must act from\ngrounds higher than humanity; our standpoint must be above the race,\notherwise how can we act _upon_ humanity?\" He also speaks of the\nfundamental necessity of \"an impulse of divine love\" actuating the\nreformer of social evils. He addresses himself thus: \"If thou wouldst\nmove the race to greater good and higher virtue, lose thyself in the\nUniversal. Be so great as to give thyself to something nobler than\nthyself if thou wouldst be ennobled, immortalized.\" In many pages of\nthe last two volumes of his diary these notes of sympathetic love for\nhis fellow-men are mingled with yearnings for solitude. \"This book,\"\nhe writes on the last page of one of them, \"has answered some little\npurpose; for when I wanted to speak to some one and yet was alone, it\ncost me no labor to scribble in it. It would give me great pleasure\nif I had a friend who would exchange such thoughts with me.\" He was\nsoon to enter into that spiritual heritage which among its other\ntreasures bestows the beatitude of the sage, \"Blessed is the man who\nhath found a true friend.\"\n\nLittle by little a distinctly penitential mood came over him, and it\noccupies nearly the whole of the last volume of the diary with the\nmost unreserved expressions of grief for sin, or, rather, for a state\nof sinfulness, since the specific mention of sins is nearly\naltogether wanting. We meet with page after page of self-accusation\nin general terms: \"I am in want of greater love for those around me;\nI perform my spiritual duties too negligently; too little of my time\nis devoted to spiritual exercises. I feel all over sick with sin!\nHere is my difficulty, O Lord, and do Thou direct me: I am always in\ndoubt, when I do not think of Thee alone, that I am sinning and that\nmy time is misspent.\"\n\nHis protestations of sorrow are extremely fervent and very numerous;\nand as the Lent of 1845 approached he records his purpose of\nrestricting himself to one meal a day. As he never ate meat, nor any\n\"product of animal life,\" and drank only water, his \"nuts, bread, and\napples\" once a day must have been his diet all through the\npenitential season. The reader will remember _ein herrliches Essen_\nat Concord: \"bread, maple-sugar, and apples.\"\n\nIn the middle of February he opened his mind more fully to Bishop\nMcCloskey, whom he continually calls his spiritual director. He had\nnow to reveal the discoveries of holy penance, and to add to his\nother motives for leaving the world the dread of falling into mortal\nsin. He had, he tells us, misgivings as to whether he was ambitious\nor not. One of his spiritual states he thus alludes to:\n\n\"I will ask my confessor how it is--if it is so with others, that\nthey feel no sense of things, no joy, no reality, no emotion, no\nimpulse, nothing positive within or around,\" but only the\nconsciousness of the need of a terrible atonement. This is\naccompanied by frantic prayers to God, invocations of the Blessed\nVirgin, St. Francis of Assisi and other saints. And he says that he\nhas been told that he is scrupulous, and complains that at confession\nhe can only accuse himself in general terms.\n\nComplete abandonment to the divine will seems to have been the\noutcome of a season of much distress of soul, and bodily\nmortification. On April 2 he writes: \"The last time I saw my director\nhe spoke to me concerning the sacred ministry, and this is a subject\nI feel an unspeakable difficulty about. I told him that I desired to\nplace myself wholly in his hands and should do whatever he directed.\nI do not wish to be any more than nothing. I give myself up. So far\nthe Lord seems to be with me, and I hope that He will not forsake me\nin the future.\"\n\nAs might have been anticipated, Bishop McCloskey's advice was wise.\nPlainly, his own hope was that young Hecker should enter the secular\npriesthood, but there is no evidence in the numerous references to\nthe matter in the diary, that this caused him to do more than make\nhis young friend fully acquainted with that state of life. He had him\ncall at the newly-opened diocesan seminary at Fordham and become\nacquainted with the professors. Bishop Hughes, whom he also\nconsulted, urged him to go to St. Sulpice in Paris, and to the\nPropaganda in Rome, and make his studies for the secular priesthood.\nBut they failed to win him to their opinion, and were too enlightened\nto seek to influence him except by argument. Father Hecker ever held\nthe very highest views on the dignity of the priesthood, considering\nits vocation second to none. But while he was irresistibly inclined\nto a state of retirement quite incompatible with the duties of the\nsecular priesthood in America, he also felt the most urgent need of\nconstant advice and companionship for guidance in his interior life.\nThese seemingly contradictory requirements he hoped to find united in\na religious community, and Bishop McCloskey emphatically assured him\nthat his anticipations would not be disappointed. In addition to\nthis, Isaac Hecker had at least some premonitions of an apostolic\nvocation calling for a wider range of activity than can be usually\ncompassed by the diocesan clergy. But we have often heard him say\nthat the immediate impulse which induced his application to be made a\nRedemptorist was need of \"intimate and careful spiritual guidance.\"\n\nHis director therefore became satisfied that he should become a\nreligious, and turned his attention to the Society of Jesus, giving\nhim the lives of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier to read, and,\ndoubtless, answered his inquiries about that order. \"But,\" he said in\nafter years, \"I had no vocation to teach young boys and felt unfitted\nfor a student's life\"; added to this was the certainty of the\npostponement of any public activity on his part for many years if he\nbecame a Jesuit.\n\nAfter mentioning that he had read the life of St. Francis Xavier, he\nsays that an acquaintance had written him that a German priest,\nliving in Third Street, wanted to see him. This was one of the\nRedemptorist Fathers who were newly established in the city. This\npriest, whose name is not given, undertook to assume direction of\nIsaac, and was very urgent with him to make a spiritual retreat with\na view to deciding his vocation. \"He is a very zealous person--too\nmuch so it seems to me,\" is the comment in the diary, and the answer\nwas a refusal. But what he saw in the community pleased and attracted\nIsaac, for everything was poor and plain, and there was an air of\nsolitude. However, he would by no means change his spiritual adviser,\nwriting, \"I strive to follow my spiritual director or else I should\nbe fearful of my state. All my difficulties, sins, and temptations I\nmake him acquainted with. . . . Though the world has no particular\nhold upon me, I give it up once and for all. It gives me pain to feel\nmy perfect want of faith in myself as being in any way useful.\"\n\nMeantime, on Trinity Sunday, he had been confirmed with his brother\nGeorge, whose entrance into the Church is here first indicated; no\nother member of the family became a Catholic. Isaac took the\nadditional name of Thomas on receiving this sacrament, in honor of\nSt. Thomas Aquinas.\n\nAgain he writes:\n\n\"I have tried to study to-day, but I cannot. Is it not the business\nof man to save his own soul, and this before all things? Does the\nstudy of Greek and Latin help a soul towards its salvation? Is it not\nquite a different thing from grace? Sometimes I feel strongly\ninclined to set aside all study, all reading, as superficial and not\nso important as contemplation and silence.\"\n\nThe time was coming when the Holy Spirit would do this in spite of\nhim and in a way the reverse of pleasant. Meantime he worked away at\nhis books and attended his classes at Cornelius Institute, which was\nthe name of the private school he had been attending, till July 16,\nthe commencement day. In recording his impressions of the school and\nthe acquaintances there made, he says that with one possible\nexception the young men were of little interest to him, lacking\nearnestness of character. He does not name the teachers or give the\nlocation of the school. Yet he says his experience there had been\nuseful \"and chastened my hopes. I have seen by means of it much more\nclearly into the workings of Protestantism, its want of deep\nspirituality, its superficiality, and its inevitable tendency to\nno-religion.\"\n\nAs may be supposed, his visits to Third Street became frequent, and\nhis acquaintance with the Fathers better established. This was\nespecially true with regard to Father Rumpler, who was rector of the\nhouse, a learned and able man and one of mature spirituality. He was\na German born and bred, with the hard ideas of discipline peculiar to\na class of his countrymen though foreign to the genuine German\ncharacter. He impressed young Hecker as a sedate man, wise and firm.\nThe friendship then begun was maintained until Father Rumpler was\ndeprived of his reason by an attack of acute mania several years\nlater. But more than the friendship of Rumpler, as far as immediate\nresults were concerned, was the providential circumstance of two\nother young Americans having applied to join the Redemptorists. To\nIsaac this was a stimulant of no ordinary power. Like himself, they\nwere converts and very fervent ones; but, unlike him, they had come\ninto the Church from Episcopalianism. Clarence A. Walworth, son of\nthe Chancellor of the State of New York, was a graduate of Union\nCollege. He studied law in Albany and practised his profession for a\nshort time, but finally undertook the ministry. After three years in\nthe Episcopal seminary he became a Catholic. Those who know him now\ncan see the tall and graceful youth, pleasing and kindly, with the\nface and voice and soul of an orator; for the force and charm of\nyouth have not been weakened in receiving the dignity of old age.\n\nJames A. McMaster was of Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish parentage. His\nname is familiar to our readers as editor of the _Freeman's Journal._\nThose qualities of aggressive zeal which made McMaster so well known\nto Catholics of our day were not wholly undeveloped in the tall,\nangular youth, still a catechumen, and intoxicated with the new wine\nof Catholic fervor. Young Mr. Walworth had been made a Catholic but a\nshort time before, and McMaster was received into the Church by the\nRedemptorists in Third Street, his two young friends being present.\nWhile he was kneeling at the altar, candle in hand, piously reading\nhis profession of faith to Father Rumpler, he accidentally set fire\nto Father Tschenhens' hair, one of the fathers assisting at the\nceremony. Walking together afterwards in the little garden of the\nconvent, Father Rumpler said to him: \"Mr. McMaster, you begin\nwell--setting fire to a priest.\" \"Oh,\" answered he, \"if I don't set\nfire to something more than that it will be a pity.\" These new\nfriends of Isaac had applied to enter the Redemptorist novitiate and\nthey had been accepted. This meant a voyage to Europe, for the\ncongregation had not yet established a novitiate in America.\n\nOne Friday, then, during the last days of July--the exact date we\nhave not been able to discover--Isaac Hecker was informed by Father\nRumpler that Walworth and McMaster would sail for Belgium the evening\nof the next day. \"I decided to join them,\" he said when relating the\ncircumstances afterwards. \"Father Rumpler was favorable, but puzzled.\nAnd I must first present myself to the Provincial, Father de Held,\nwho was in Baltimore. I arrived in Baltimore at four o'clock in the\nmorning on Saturday, travelling all night. Father de Held looked at\nme, as I presented myself, and said that he must take time to\nconsider. I explained about the departure of the others that day. He\nordered Brother Michael to get me a bowl of coffee from the kitchen,\nand me to hear his Mass. I heard the Mass and after that he examined\nme a little--asked me to read out of the _Following of Christ_ in\nLatin, which I did. He gave me my acceptance, and I rushed back to\nNew York by the half-past eight o'clock morning train. George had\npacked my trunk, and I sailed that day with the others.\"\n\nThe picturesqueness of the group was certainly not lessened by the\naccession of Isaac Hecker, whose leap to and from Baltimore, though\nhardly to be expected from a contemplative, was in accord with the\nsudden energy of his nature. One who saw him at the time says that\n\"he had the general make-up of a transcendentalist, not excepting his\nlong hair flowing down on his neck.\"\n\nThe ship was an American one named the _Argo,_ and she was bound for\nLondon. The voyage was every way pleasant, lasting but twenty-five\ndays from land to land, with bright skies, quiet sea, and fair winds.\nTheir berths were in the waist of the ship, in the second cabin, all\nthe places in the first cabin having been taken; this pleased them\nwell, for they loved the poor man's lot. Isaac's passage money was\npaid by his brothers, and he was supplied by them and his mother with\nall sorts of conveniences; and these, of course, he made to conduce\nto the comfort of the entire party. The lower and larger berth of\ntheir little state-room was occupied by Walworth and McMaster, and\nIsaac took the upper and smaller one. None of them suffered from\nsea-sickness.\n\nThe young pilgrims were overflowing with happiness, as if they were\ngoing to the enjoyment of a rich heritage, as, indeed, in a spiritual\nsense they were. It was a first voyage to the Old World for all of\nthem and they found everything interesting. They made friends with\nthe crew, who were nearly all Yankee sailors, and who struck them as\nexactly like themselves, except that they were not religious; and\nthey sought entertainment with such of the passengers as were\ncongenial, though in this Isaac Hecker was more ready than his\ncompanions. Father Walworth tells an incident characteristic of both\nhimself and his transcendental companion. He was admonishing young\nHecker to be more reticent among the crew and was asked why. \"You\nwouldn't like to kneel down and kiss the deck before all those\nsailors,\" said Walworth. \"Why not?\" was the reply. \"Then do it.\" And\ndown dropped Hecker to the deck and kissed it in all simplicity.\n\nThey had many topics of interest to occupy their time; Isaac favored\nsuch as were philosophical and social, his companions were absorbed\nby the Tractarian movement, its phases of thought and variety of\npersons, and all must have had much to tell of friends and relatives\nwhom they hoped soon to see members of the Church. One night the\nharmony with their fellow-passengers was threatened with rupture.\nThey were much annoyed by a violent dispute about the Trinity carried\non in the adjoining cabin far into the night. McMaster finally lost\npatience, sprang out of bed, rushed among the disputants, and smote\nthe table with a tremendous blow and shouted _\"Silence!\"_ His remedy\nwas efficacious; the theologians scattered and went to bed.\n\nThere was a marked difference between Isaac and his companions in\ncontroversial views. All three used their reason with the utmost\nactivity, but he had travelled into the Church by the road of\nphilosophy and they by that of history and Scripture. Their\nconversation must have been the exchange of intellectual commodities\nof very different kinds and for that reason expediting a busy\ncommerce. They could profit by his bold and original views of\nprinciple and he was in need of their idea of the external integrity\nof organized religion. Then, too, they had much to say of the future,\nchiefly by way of conjecture, for no member of the order accompanied\nthem. No one was superior and no superior was needed. As to\ndevotional exercises each suited himself, kneeling down and saying\nhis prayers night and morning and at other times, in his own way and\nwords.\n\nThere was also difference in matters of devotion, for Isaac Hecker\nhad little or no religious training, and as to the traditional forms\nof religious practice he was very backward. The others had long since\nfamiliarized themselves with all Catholic usages. Young Walworth\ntaught young Hecker how to say the rosary and initiated him,\ndoubtless, into other common practices, which he assumed with the\nsimplicity and docility of the child of guileless nature that he was.\n\nThe ship, as we have said, was bound to London, but our party were\ntoo impatient to wait till the end of the voyage and left her at\nPortsmouth in the pilot's boat; the sea was running high, but so were\ntheir spirits, and although the boat was tossed about in a way to\nscare a landsman, they gladly went ashore and took the cars to\nLondon. We have before us a letter from Isaac Hecker to his brothers,\ndated the 29th of August, saying that they had been in London three\ndays after a pleasant voyage, and expressing deep joy at nearing the\nplace of retirement and prayer for which he had been longing. He asks\nthem to write to Brownson and especially to assure his mother of his\nhappiness.\n\nMcMaster insisted on visiting Newman at Littlemore, and afterwards\ngave a glowing account of his visit. He had been received by the\ngreat man, who did not enter the Church till a few months later, with\nthe utmost kindness. He found him standing in his library, reading a\nbook. He asked many questions about the tendency of men's minds in\nAmerica, and was especially interested in Arthur Carey, with whose\ninfluence among American Episcopalians and early death the reader has\nbeen made acquainted. They lodged at a decent little inn over a\npastry cook's shop and did not go sight-seeing to any extent.\nMcMaster's companions did not wait for his return from Oxford, but\nwhen the packet sailed for Antwerp, which was Sunday, the 30th of\nAugust, they went down to Folkestone and took passage. They arrived\nthe following morning, and, armed with a letter from Father Rumpler\nto a Madame Marchand, a warm friend of the congregation, they went\nstraight to the nearest Church to inquire the way to her house. It\nhappened to be the Jesuit church, and one of the fathers kindly\nguided them to the lady's house. She was delighted to serve them;\ngave them an excellent dinner, and, after they had visited Rubens'\ngreat picture, the Descent from the Cross, set them forth on their\njourney; but the \"yea, yea and nay, nay\" of Scripture, or rather\n_jah, jah, nein, nein,_ was their only conversation with the good\nlady, for although young Walworth could speak French and Isaac\nGerman, she knew nothing but Flemish. Distances are not great in\nlittle Belgium, and so before night they were at St. Trond, a little\ncity about thirty-five miles southeast of Antwerp and twenty miles\nfrom Liege. Here they were soon joined by Mr. McMaster, and their\nnovitiate began. Isaac Hecker was now twenty-five years and nine\nmonths old.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nBROTHER HECKER\n\nTHE Redemptorist novitiate at St. Trond, as well as the house of\nstudies at Wittem, Holland, had been established be the immediate\ndisciples of St. Clement Hofbauer. That great servant of God had\nintroduced the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer into Austria\nand other parts of Germany several years before the time of which we\nwrite. A saint himself, and of wonderful missionary gifts, he was\nworthy of the title of second founder of the order of St. Alphonsus\nLiguori. St. Clement was the son of a Moravian peasant, and in early\nlife had been a baker by trade. St. Alphonsus was still alive when\nClement, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, was enrolled there in the\nRedemptorist novitiate. This event was auspicious of the future of\nthe entire community, since his apostolate was the means of\npropagating the order among the northern nations, and giving to it\nsome of its present dominant characteristics of Teutonic discipline;\nwhereas in the land of its origin it has never fully recovered from\nthe disasters which befell it during the lifetime of its founder. In\nGermany and the Low Countries, on the other hand, the children of St.\nAlphonsus and St. Clement were, at the time when the three Americans\njoined them, the most powerful preachers in the Church. Their\nvocation called them to give missions--spiritual exercises lasting\nfrom a week to a month--to the faithful in every part of Catholic\nEurope, not excepting France. Their fame was established as the\nforemost preachers of penance and of the Redeemer's love for sinners.\n\nSt. Trond was the novitiate of the Belgian Province, which embraced\nBelgium and Holland as well as the newly established convents in\nEngland and America. The Provincial was Father de Held, whom we saw\nin Baltimore while he was there on a tour of inspection of the\nAmerican houses. He was an Austrian German, a man of noble presence,\nmatured spirituality and an accomplished missionary. Father Hecker\nknew him well in after years, and always counted him as one who\nunderstood his spirit and approved his aspirations.\n\nThe convent in St. Trond was in a narrow street of the quaint little\ncity; so narrow, indeed, that one almost fancied that he could touch\nboth walls by stretching out his arms. It was a solid old structure,\nbuilt in the first half of the fifteenth century by St. Colette for\nher Poor Clares, an ample guarantee of its conformity to the ideas of\nreligious poverty. It was not architecturally fine, but was a curious\nand interesting building. Isaac in one of his letters home says that\nthe house was very roomy, with long corridors having cells on each\nside. It abutted on a church which was open to the public and served\nby the fathers; a window in the convent chapel looked into the\nsanctuary. Attached to the house was a garden of three or four acres.\n\nThe country around the town is a typical Flemish landscape, flat,\nfertile, thickly dotted with farm buildings, and highly cultivated.\nThe people are wholly Catholic. The town is an old one, and in its\ntime has had some military importance. Our young novices often walked\nupon the ramparts which encircled it. In the neighborhood are\nstructures which were built before the Christian era; quite near by\nwas one of Caesar's round towers, as well as the deserted ruins of an\nancient city named Leo. Curious old churches and monasteries might\noften be seen by the novices on their long walks into the country.\nAll this antiquity was the more pleasing to the American novices\nbecause in their own land the forests, the rivers, and the\neverlasting hills are all that represent the distant past.\n\nBesides twenty novices there were ten or twelve fathers at St. Trond,\nwho either served the church or went about on missions; and there\nwere also a number of lay brothers. By nationality the greater\nportion of the novices were Belgians and Hollanders, the others being\nmostly Germans. The language of the house was French, though Latin\nwas sometimes used. Of course this was an added difficulty to Brother\nHecker, as he was now called, for he knew practically nothing of that\nlanguage, though he had studied it a little. But he attacked it\nresolutely and, as one of his companions said, learned it heels over\nhead. He never feared to make mistakes, nor dreaded a smile at his\nexpense, and as a consequence was soon able to talk to any one. But\nhis French was always curious, and when he took his turn at reading\nduring meals he gave the community some hearty laughs.\n\nAll the new-comers were invested with the Redemptorist habit about\nthree weeks after their arrival, in September, 1845. \"You can scarce\nimagine the happiness I felt on my arrival here,\" he writes to his\nmother in his first letter home. \"For three days my heart was filled\nwith joy and gladness. I was like one who had been transported to a\nlovelier, a purer, and a better world.\" He tells her that he had\nwaited for a fortnight before writing, to learn the place, and then,\nafter expressing his satisfaction with everything in such sentences\nas the above, he fills the rest of the letter with arguments in favor\nof the Catholic Church and exhortations to join it. Such was the\nburden of all of his letters home from both St. Trond and Wittem. We\nhave ten written from the novitiate. An exception must be made as to\none which describes in detail the daily order of life in the\nnovitiate. It is addressed to his mother.\n\nHe tells her that the first bell rings at half-past four in the\nmorning and the last at half-past nine at night. The time is divided\nbetween various common and private devotional exercises, including\nMass, meditations, recitation of the office in common, study of the\nrule of the order, spiritual conferences, spiritual reading, and the\nlike. Silence is broken only for an hour after dinner and another\nhour after supper. About an hour of out-door exercise is taken every\nday, and a long walk once a week and on feast-days. All of Thursday\nin each week and the more important feasts of the year are days of\nrecreation, when silence need not be observed during the greater part\nof the day, and much relaxation is otherwise allowed. All Fridays are\ndays of total silence and special devotion. The letter fails to\nmention the discipline, or flagellation, which was taken twice a week.\n\nHe ends thus: \"The time of the novitiate is one year, and its object\nis to prove our vocation, and form the religious character--the\nheart. The exercises may seem too many to you, but to us they are\nquite otherwise. Their frequent changes prevent them from being\nmonotonous, and their variety makes them agreeable. Our time passes\nwithout our taking count of it, and our joy is that of a pure\nconscience, and our happiness that of a clean heart.\"\n\nIt might seem a matter of peculiar difficulty for a free nature like\nIsaac Hecker's to conform to the stiff rules of such a system. But\nthis was not the case, and a closer look into the matter shows that\nsuch a regimen is of much use to an earnest man, however free his\ncharacter, at the outset of his spiritual career. Experience proves\nthat one test of the genuineness of the interior disposition to serve\nGod perfectly is readiness to surrender exterior peculiarities. There\nis nothing in the special graces of God which should hinder a placid\nacceptance of the routine of a novitiate. The merging of individual\nconduct into the common custom is the contribution which community\nlife must exact from every member. If a man is to be a hermit he may\nact from individual impulses alone, though, even so, rarely without\ncounsel. But if one would live and work with others, special graces\nand individual traits of character must not be allowed to interfere\nwith a certain degree of uniformity. On the other hand, that\nuniformity should not be allowed to cripple the spontaneous action of\nnatural independence, and the inspiration of graces which are\npersonal.\n\nIt must be granted that with many souls a novitiate will tend to a\nroutine use of religious aids. Yet it cannot be denied that its\ndiscipline forcibly concentrates the scattered purposes of life into\none powerful stream. It contributes to symmetry of character. It\nfurnishes efficacious tests of sincerity. It drills disorderly\nnatures into regularity. It acquaints the beginner with the\nliterature of his holy profession, and herein it is of priceless\nworth. And finally, it provides advisers of approved wisdom during\nthe period of the spiritual life when counsel is most needed, as well\nas most gratefully accepted. But if it fails in each of these\nparticulars, as no doubt it sometimes does, the novitiate may be said\nnever to fail in detecting an inaptitude for the common life, if such\nexists; that is to say, a serious lack of the qualities which fit one\nto get along in peace with the brethren.\n\nInto the novitiates of the religious orders, and into the seminaries\nwhich hold their place for the secular priesthood, the noblest men of\nour race have entered joyfully; some to be wedded to the Divine\nSpouse in the quiet seclusion of holy contemplation, and others, of\nthe more militant orders, to be trained to follow worthily the\nstandards of the apostolic warfare against vice and error.\n\nThe novice-master was puzzled by his three Americans, though Brother\nMcMaster was easily comprehended--an over-frank temperament,\nimpulsive, and demonstrative. Not only were his banners always\nhanging on the outward wall, but his plan of campaign also. The other\ntwo were a study, and Brother Hecker was a curiosity. Yet both were\ncheerful, obedient, earnest, courageous. The novice-master was\nannoyed at the Americans' incessant demand for the reason why of all\nthings permitted, and the reason why not of all things prohibited;\nuntil at last Brother Walworth was named Brother Pourquoi. As to\nBrother Hecker, besides showing the same stand-and-deliver\npropensity, he occupied much of the time of conversation in\nphilosophizing, plunging into the obscurest depths of metaphysical\nand ethical problems, using terms which were often quite unfamiliar\nto strictly orthodox ears, and exhibiting a fearless independence of\nthought generally conceded among Catholics only to practised\ntheologians. Yet the novice-master was well pleased with both, though\nwe shall see that his journey with Brother Hecker was for some time\nin the dark.\n\nWhen the Fourth of July came around he learned that it was the great\nAmerican holiday, and he called the three Americans to him and asked,\n\"How do you celebrate your national holiday at home?\" \"By shooting\noff fire-crackers,\" they answered with a twinkle. This being out of\nthe question, and the grand military parade which was next suggested\nalso impracticable, Brothers Walworth and Hecker both exclaimed,\n\"Ginger-bread!\" \"Take all you want,\" was the answer, \"and go off on a\nlong walk, and spend the day by yourselves.\" And of they went to\nwander among the ruins of the outposts of the old Roman republic, and\nmake Fourth of July speeches in honor of the great new Republic\nbeyond the sea. Those who have been novices themselves will not be\nsurprised at the boyishness of these three manly characters under the\ncircumstances.\n\nIsaac Hecker's spirit was not anywise cramped by the routine\nexercises of the novitiate; he made them easily and well. He always\nseemed to his companions what he actually was, and what he described\nhimself to be in his letters to New York, a cheerful and contented\nnovice. But, as one of them since expressed it, he was not a \"dude\"\nnovice, not the very pink of external perfection, and had a long\nperiod of interior trial. He did not exhibit at any time the least\nhesitancy about his vocation, for his mind was made up. Yet once,\nwhen he took a walk with Brother Walworth to visit a house of\nRecollects, Franciscans of the strict observance, both he and his\ncompanion were greatly struck by that charming poverty which the poor\nman of Assisi has bequeathed to his children; they did ask each other\nwhether they had not made a mistake. This question, however, was but\nthe expression of a shadowy doubt, vanishing as suddenly as it had\ncome.\n\nThe novice-master was Father Othmann, and he was by universal\ntestimony entirely competent for his place. He was himself the\nnovitiate. Its austerities, and they were not trifling, its long and\nfrequent prayer, its total seclusion from the world, all were refined\nand adjusted to each one by passing through his soul and being\ndispensed by his wisdom. Father Hecker regarded him as a very\nremarkable man. He was a student of character, and wise and sagacious\nin varying the application of religious influences according to\ntemperament and spiritual gifts. Under him the danger of formalism,\nwhich occurs to one's mind immediately as the incessant round of\nexercises is mentioned, was rendered remote; for he gave his\ninstructions, and especially used the chapter of faults, in a way to\ninfuse into the souls of the novices the ever-recurring freshness of\nindividual initiative. His model (after St. Alphonsus) was St.\nFrancis de Sales. He followed him constantly in his doctrine and\nmethods, and often spoke of him and quoted him. Of other methods and\ntheir advocates he spoke respectfully, but, however much they were in\nvogue, he did not follow them. Brother Hecker was a faithful student\nin his school and learned much from Father Othmann. The latter\nespecially insisted on the principle of accepting Providence as the\nchief dispenser of mortifications. He had no objection to\nself-imposed spiritual exercises, but he did not positively favor\nthem. He taught his young men that the traditional practices of\ndevout souls as embraced in the routine of the novitiate, were good\nmainly to break the resistance of corrupt nature and render their\nsouls pliant subjects of the Divine guidance in the interior life, as\nwell as submissive to the order of God in the events of His external\nProvidence.\n\nThe assistant novice-master, who took Father Othmann's place during\nhis absence, was a Walloon. His name we have been unable to discover,\nbut he was a holy priest, held up to the novices as their model and\nesteemed by them as the saint of the novitiate. He was a very\npleasant man withal, and no doubt added in every way to the fruits of\nthe long year of spiritual trial.\n\nWhen Isaac Hecker presented himself as a novice he took his place\namong the youths learning the A, B, C of the spiritual life, while he\nhimself had experienced for many months the most rare dealings of the\nHoly Ghost with the soul. This could not fail to come to the\nknowledge of Father Othmann, and, taken with the other peculiarities\nof his subject, to elicit his most skilful treatment. \"Pere Othmann,\nmy novice-master,\" said Father Hecker, in after years, \"had a right\nto be puzzled by me, and so he watched me more than he did the\nothers.\" He watched and studied him and gradually applied the two\nsovereign tests of genuine spirituality, obedience and humiliation.\nThese were all the more efficacious in this case, because Brother\nHecker was a man of great native independence of character and\nnaturally of an extremely sensitive disposition.\n\nSuch was the common austerity of the life that it took some ingenuity\nto inflict on a novice a mortification which had not grown stale by\nuse in the case of one or more of the others. But in searching the\ninterior of the soul the director could find tender places into which\nhis weapon would be plunged to the bone. But it is more than probable\nthat he misunderstood Brother Hecker, and that for a time he even\nsuspected him of being under delusions. For several months, at any\nrate, he treated him at his weekly confession with the utmost rigor,\nproducing indescribable mental agony. Many years afterwards, and when\nnear his death, Father Hecker once said to the writer: \"While I was\nkneeling among the novices, outside Pere Othmann's room, waiting to\ngo to confession, I often begged of God that it might be His will\nthat I should die before my turn came, so dreadful an ordeal had\nconfession become on account of the severity of the novice-master.\"\nYet, as recorded in the memoranda, the victim was eager for the\nsacrifice when the knife was not actually lifted over him. \"I begged\nthe novice-master,\" he said on another occasion, \"to watch me\ncarefully, and when he saw me bent on anything to thwart me. I did\nnot know any other way of overcoming my nature. He took me at my\nword, too. For example, once a week only we had a walk, a good long\none, and we enjoyed it, and it was necessary for us. I enjoyed it\nvery much indeed. So, sometimes when we were starting out, my\nthoughts bounding with the anticipated pleasure, he would stop me\nmidway on the stairs: 'Frere Hecker,' he would say, 'please remain at\nhome, and instead of the walk wash and clean the stair-way.' It would\nnearly kill me to obey, such was my disappointment, grief,\nhumiliation.\"\n\nIn conjunction with these trials from without came a recurrence of\nresistless interior impulses. \"During my novitiate,\" he is recorded\nas saying in 1885, \"I found myself under impulses of grace which it\nseemed to me impossible to resist. One was to conquer the tendency to\nsleep. I slept on boards or on the floor. After a while I was able to\ndo with five hours sleep, and often with only three, in the\ntwenty-four. Pere Othmann was not unwilling for me to follow these\nimpulses as soon as he became convinced of their imperative strength.\nYet I now see that such practices were in a certain sense mistaken.\nThey necessarily consumed in mortification vitality that I could now\nuse, if I had it, in a more useful way. Still, how could I help it?\"\n\nThe end of this period of his humiliations, which was not far from\nthe end of his noviceship, is thus described: \"One day after\nCommunion I was making my half-hour thanksgiving in my room, when\nPere Othmann came in and examined me about my form of prayer. Oh! it\nwas just then that I had reached the passive state of prayer: _I_ did\nnothing, _Another_ did everything in my prayer. From that time,\nhaving put me down in the gutter, the novice-master raised me up to\nthe pinnacle, whereas I should have been in neither place.\" On\nanother occasion he told how the change of prayer had happened: \"I\nwas on my knees one day after Communion, making a regular\nthanksgiving, when suddenly God stopped me, and I was told not to\npray that way any more. Question: How were you told--what words were\nspoken to you? Answer: Cease your activity. I have no need of your\nwords when I possess your will. 'Tis I, not you, who should act. My\naction in you is more important than your thanks. I cease to act when\nyou begin, and begin to act when you cease. Be still--tranquil--\nlisten--suffer me to act. Abandon yourself to me, and I will take\ncare of you.\"\n\nWhen in Rome, in the winter of 1857-8, he was compelled by\ncircumstances, which will be told in their place, to make a written\nsummary of his spiritual experience. In it he says: \"My novitiate was\none of sore trials, for the master of novices seemed not to\nunderstand me, and the manifestation of my interior to him was a\nsource of the greatest pain. After about nine or ten months he\nappeared to recognize the hand of God in my direction in a special\nmanner, conceived a great esteem (for me), and placed unusual\nconfidence in me, and allowed me without asking it, though greatly\ndesired, daily Communion. During my whole novitiate no amount of\nausterity could appease my desire for mortification, and several gifts\nin the way of prayer were bestowed on me.\"\n\nOn March 6, 1886, while in a state of almost utter physical\nprostration, he communicated to the writer the following: \"Forty\nyears ago, in my novitiate, God told me that I was to suffer in every\nfibre of my being.\" \"Perhaps,\" was remarked, \"you have not suffered\nall yet.\" Answer: \"Perhaps not, but God has kept His promise in every\nlimb, member, and function of my body.\" It may become necessary to\nrefer again to these interior experiences. We leave them with the\nremark that his novitiate was characterized by a continuance of\nDivine interferences similar to those which had occurred at intervals\nfrom the time he was driven from home and business to seek the\nfulfilment of his aspirations.\n\nThe following is the record of a brave soul's failure to become a\nRedemptorist. It is given in a letter dated September 14, 1846:\n\"Brother McMaster, who returns to the U.S., gives me the opportunity\nof writing a few lines to you,\" etc. It was a profound disappointment\nfor Mr. McMaster to be obliged to return home a layman, and it\nshocked his companions. It is a little singular that Father Othmann\ntold him that his vocation was not to be a religious, but an editor.\nHe carried with him Brother Hecker's messages of affection to his\nfriends and relatives, and rosaries of Isaac's own making for his\nmother and his brother George.\n\nWriting to the latter, on August 26, 1846, after some tender and\naffectionate words, he says: \"I have now nearly eight weeks until the\ntime of taking the vows. Oh that it were but eight minutes, nay,\neight seconds, when I shall be permitted, with the favor and grace of\nGod, to consecrate my whole being and life to His sole service!\nMillions of worlds put on top of one another could not purchase from\nme my vocation. We make fifteen days' retreat before we take the\nvows. You must recommend me very particularly to the Rt. Rev. Bishop\nMcCloskey; tell him the time of my taking the vows (Feast of St.\nTeresa, October 15), and give him my humble request to remember me at\nthat time in his prayers.\"\n\nOn the feast of St. Teresa, October 15, 1846, therefore, the two\nAmerican novices took their vows, and became members of the\nCongregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. On the very morning of that\nevent, at half-past eight, Brother Hecker wrote a letter to his\nmother, in which he goes over all of his trials and experiences in\nfollowing the Divine guidance since he first quitted business. He\nbreathes intense affection in every word, and writes in a solemn\nmood. We would give the letter to the reader entire, but that he has\nalready learned what it narrates. It ends thus: \"Dear mother, in half\nan hour I go to the chapel to consecrate my whole being for ever to\nGod and His service. What peace, what happiness this gives me! To\nlive alone for His love, and to love all for His love, in His love,\nand with His love!\"\n\nAfter the ceremony was over he wrote as follows to his brother John:\n\n\"DEAR BROTHER JOHN: This day, with the special grace of God, I have\ntaken the holy vows of the Catholic religion, which are obedience,\npoverty, chastity, and final perseverance. These vows bind me to the\nCongregation of the Most Holy Redeemer for my natural life, and the\nCongregation in the same manner to me. Thanks to God for His kind\nProvidence. My vocation is once for all, for ever settled, firmly\nfixed. During the year and more of my novitiate I have not had any\ntemptation against my vocation, nor any desire on my part to return\nto the world.\n\n\"As you were not certain whether I would return after the novitiate\nor not, I suppose you left my name in connection with yours and\nbrother George's in the firm. But now that this (separation) is\ncertain, would it not be best for you to destroy that agreement we\nmade with each other some time ago, that no future difficulty can or\nmay arise? All this I leave to your judgments; and as for me, dear\nbrothers John and George, in respect to the business, you may regard\nme as though I had never been connected with it, nor had any title or\nclaim upon it whatever. I am simply your dear brother Isaac, who\nloves you from the depth of his heart. This love, be assured, will\nnever be diminished by any event; whatever happens will only give me\nnew motives to love you the more. My conduct is under your\ninspection, yours especially, dear John, as being the eldest of us\nthree, and I trust your sincere love for me will not let any word or\naction of mine pass unnoticed which may be the least unpleasant to\nyou.\n\n\"My love, my gratitude, and my prayers to and for you all. Remember\nme to all my friends.\n\n\"Your brother, ISAAC.\n\n\"St. Trond, October 15, 1846.\n\n\"I have forgotten to say that if you have not already made use of the\nthings that I left, such as clothing, you should do so.\"\n\nIn bidding adieu to the novitiate we think Father Hecker's\nlast meeting with his old novice-master, as we find it recorded\nin the memoranda, will be of interest: \"Pere Othmann was one\nof my best friends. Shortly before he died I happened to be in\nFrance (this was after leaving the Redemptorists), and I heard\nthat he was extremely ill at the Redemptorist house at Nancy.\nI wrote to him that if he wished I would call and see him. He\nanswered me at once, begging me to come immediately, as he\ndesired above all things to see me before he died. So I made a\njourney to Nancy, and we had some hours of pleasant conference\ntogether, and I bade him farewell.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nHOW BROTHER HECKER MADE HIS STUDIES AND WAS ORDAINED PRIEST\n\nTHE day after the taking of the vows, Brothers Hecker and Walworth\nstarted by stage-coach for the house of studies, at Wittem in Dutch\nLimburg. The route lay nearly east through a country pleasant on\naccount of the fertility of its soil and the industry of its\ninhabitants, and interesting from its churches, monasteries, and\ncurious old villages. The travellers crossed the Meuse at Maestricht\nand reached their destination before nightfall. Wittem is a small\ntown, thirty miles east of St. Trond and about ten west of\nAix-la-chapelle. This part of Holland is entirely Catholic, and its\npeople possess a fervor which has sent missionaries to the ends of\nthe earth. Everywhere shrines were to be seen by the roadsides. The\ncountry is not so level as that west of the Meuse, and the\nRedemptorist students often made excursions among the hills, our\nyoung Americans admiring the shepherds guarding their flocks, with\ntheir crooks and their dogs.\n\nThe house of studies was an old Capuchin monastery, large and plain\nand very interesting. The friars had buried their dead under the\nground floor, which enabled the students to dig up an abundant supply\nof skulls as _memento moris_ till the rector forbade it. The students\nwere more numerous at Wittem than the novices had been at St. Trond.\nThey were mostly Dutchmen, with a sprinkling of Belgians and a few\nGermans; but the language of the house was French or Latin. We have\nnot been able to make quite sure of the name of the Rector; possibly\nit was Father Heilig, who certainly was there at this time, either in\ncharge of the house or as one of the professors. The Master of\nStudies was Father L'hoir, who soon became one of Brother Hecker's\ndearest friends.\n\nThe two Americans found their fellow-students men of fine character\nand every way lovable, being earnest and devoted religious. They\nadmired their thorough proficiency in all classical and literary\nstudies, the result of old-world method and application. Mentally and\nphysically they were splendid men. The whole race of Flemings and\nDutch was found by our young recruits to be a grave and powerful\npeople, although exceptional cases of mercurial temperament were not\nrare. Some curious individuals were to be found among them, as is\nmore the case in European nationalities in general than in our own.\nBoth Americans were much liked and respected by all their new-found\nbrethren, though Brother Hecker, for reasons soon to be told, was\nsometimes ridiculed in a way that distressed him. Brother Walworth,\nhaving studied much before entering the order, was placed at once in\nthe theological department and Brother Hecker in the philosophical.\nThe former was even dispensed from one year of his theology, taking\nbut two years of the three which formed the full course. The\ndifference of studies separated the two companions almost wholly from\neach other, members of the two departments not being allowed even to\nspeak together except on extraordinary occasions.\n\nAll went smoothly with Brother Walworth. Not so with Brother Hecker,\nwho was expected to make two years of philosophy and meantime to\nincrease his stock of Latin. But his faculties had been subjected to\nspiritual experiences of so absorbing a nature that he found study\nimpossible. And when Brother Walworth was in due course ordained\npriest, in August, 1848, his companion was stuck fast where he had\nbegun. It need not be said that so earnest a soul made every effort\nto study, but all was in vain. In the statement made in Rome ten\nyears later, and referred to before, we find the following:\n\n\"My wish was to make a thorough course (of studies) and begin with\nphilosophy. This the superior granted. My intellect in all scientific\n(scholastic) matters seemed stupid, it was with great difficulty that\nits attention could be kept on them for a few moments, and my memory\nretained of these things nothing. At the close of the first year (at\nWittem) all ability to pursue my studies had altogether departed.\nThis state of things perplexed my superiors, and on being asked what\nthey could do with me, my answer was, 'One of three things: make me a\nlay brother; send me to a contemplative order which does not require\nscientific (scholastic) studies; or allow me to pursue, at my free\nmoments, my studies by myself.' Instead of either of these they gave\nme charge of the sick, which was my sole (regular) occupation for the\nwhole year following. During this year my stupidity augmented and\nreduced me to a state next to folly, and it was my delight to be\ntreated as a fool. One day, when my fellow-students were treating me\nas such, and throwing earth at me, an ancient father, venerated for\nhis gifts and virtues, suddenly turned around to them and with\nemotion exclaimed, 'You treat him as a fool and despise him; the day\nwill come when you will think it an honor to kiss his hand.' At the\nexpiration of the second year (at Wittem) the question came up again,\nwhat was to be done with me. My superior put this question to me, and\ndemanded of me under obedience to tell him in writing how, in my\nbelief, God intended to employ me in the future. Though the answer to\nthis question was no secret to me, yet to express it while in a\ncondition of such utter helplessness required me to make an act of\ngreat mortification. There was no escape, and my reply was as follows:\nIt seemed to me in looking back at my career before becoming a\nCatholic that Divine Providence had led me, as it were by the hand,\nthrough the different ways of error and made me personally acquainted\nwith the different classes of persons and their wants, of which the\npeople of the United States is composed, in order that after having\nmade known to me the truth, He might employ me the better to point\nout to them the way to His Church. That, therefore, my vocation was\nto labor for the conversion of my non-Catholic fellow-countrymen.\nThis work, it seemed to me at first, was to be accomplished by means\nof acquired science, but now it had been made plain that God would\nhave it done principally by the aid of His grace, and if (I were)\nleft to study at such moments as my mind was free, it would not take\na long time for me to acquire sufficient knowledge to be ordained a\npriest. This plan was adopted.\"\n\nA more explicit statement of the supernatural influences by means of\nwhich God informed him of his mission was made in after years to\nvarious persons, singly and in common. It was to the effect that the\nHoly Spirit gave him a distinct and unmistakable intimation that he\nwas set apart to undertake, in some leading and conspicuous way, the\nconversion of this country. That this intimation came to him while he\nwas at Wittem is also certain; but it is equally so that he had\npremonitions of it during the novitiate. It was the incongruity of\nsuch a persuasion being united to a helpless inactivity of mind in\nmatters of study that made Isaac Hecker a puzzle to his very self, to\nsay nothing of those who had to decide his place in the order. Father\nOthmann, in bidding him farewell at St. Trond, had told him to become\n_\"un saint fou,\"_ a holy fool; a direction based upon his excessive\nabstraction of mind towards mystical things, and his consequent\nincapacity for mental effort in ordinary affairs. Once, at least,\nduring those two eventful years at Wittem, Father Othmann visited the\nplace, and when he saw Brother Hecker he embraced him and exclaimed,\n\"O here is the spouse of the Canticles!\" His farewell injunction on\nparting at St. Trond had been perforce complied with.\n\nIt must have taken more than ordinary penetration to perceive\nanything but a kind of grandiose folly in Brother Hecker. The impulse\nto talk about the conversion of America, to plan it and advocate it,\nto proclaim it possible and prove it so, and to philosophize on the\nprofoundest questions of the human reason, was irrepressible. This he\ndid with an air of matured conviction and with the impact of\nconscious moral authority, but in terms as strikingly eccentric as\nthe thoughts were lofty and inspiring, and in execrable French, the\ndeclaimer being known as _minus habens_ in his studies and utterly\nincapable. All this was the very make-up of folly; and Brother Hecker\nwas no doubt thought a fool. But how holy a fool he was his superiors\nsoon discovered. We find the following among the memoranda:\n\n\"Pere L'hoir was my superior in the studentate. He was a holy man and\na good friend, but he was surprised at my state of prayer. He asked\nme how it could happen that I, a convert of only a few years, should\nhave a state of prayer he had not attained though in the Church all\nhis life and striving for perfection. I told him that it was God's\nwill to set apart some men for a certain work and specially prepare\nthem for it, and cause them, as He had me, to be brought under the\ninfluence of special Divine graces from boyhood. L'hoir then began to\nsend anybody with difficulties to me, and God gave me grace to settle\nthem. Then murmurs arose that he was too much under my influence, and\nhe was removed from his position over the studies. But afterwards\nthey replaced him; he was very efficient in his place.\"\n\nThe confidence of his superiors in Brother Hecker was shown by their\ncausing him to receive tonsure and minor orders at the end of his\nfirst year at Wittem, though he had made no progress whatever in his\nstudies.\n\nThe following notes are found in the memoranda:\n\n\"The time in my whole life when I felt I had gained the greatest\nvictory by self-exertion was when, after weeks of labor, I was able\nto recite the _Pater Noster_ in Latin.\n\n\"My memory finally failed me in my studies to that degree that at\nlast I took all my books up-stairs to the library and told the\nprefect of studies I could do no more to acquire knowledge by study.\n\n\"_Question._ How long were you unable to study? _Answer._ Two years\nin Holland and one year in England. I never went to class those\nyears. I was a kind of a scandal, of course, in the house. When I got\na lucid interval of memory I studied, though much of the time I\nhadn't a book in my room. Yet, when they came to ordain me, I knew\nenough and was sent at once to the work of the ministry.\"\n\nThat his stupidity was not blameworthy is shown by the sympathy of\nIsaac's superiors; that it was not natural is known to our readers by\ntheir acquaintance with his native ability exhibited in his journals\nand letters. The difficulty was confined almost wholly to study; to\nfix his attention on the matter in the text-books, or to grasp it and\nhold it in memory, was beyond his power. Meantime his letters to his\nfriends in New York and elsewhere were full of life. He kept a copy\nof a carefully written one, addressed to an old-time friend of the\nBrook Farm community. It is a model of brief statement of great\ntruths, and proves that the social difficulty can only be fully\nremedied by the Catholic Church, which has an elevating force\nincomparably more powerful than any other known to humanity. The\nmethod used and the choice of arguments are peculiarly Isaac Hecker's\nown, and the tone, though affectionate, is one of authority, as that\nof an exponent of evident truth. His letters to his mother and his\nbrothers are full of controversy, abounding in appeals to Scripture,\nto the voice of conscience, to the dictates of reason; and although\nthe tone is one of deep affection, the attacks on Protestantism are\nkeen, and the use of facts and persons as illustrations full of\nintelligence. Most of the letters which we have found were addressed\nto his mother, for whose conversion he had an ardent longing. With\none of them he sends her a little manuscript treatise on true Bible\nChristianity which he had himself prepared. We give the reader\nextracts from two letters, the first from one to his brother John and\nthe second from one to his mother:\n\n\"Your lamentation, dear John, on my separation from you, excites in\nme a great astonishment. To justify this separation it seems to me\nthat you have only to open a page of the Gospels of Christ, and to\nread it with a sincere belief in the words and a generous love of the\nSaviour. As for me, I regret nothing so much as that I have not a\nthousand lives to sacrifice to His service and love. Yes, I love you\nall more than I ever did, and I would count nothing as a cost for\nyour present and eternal good. Yet, by the grace of God, I love my\nSaviour infinitely, infinitely, infinitely more. Alas! when will\nthose who profess to be Christians learn the significance of Christ's\nGospels and His blessed example. I am not ignorant nor insensible of\nthe love we owe to our parents and relatives--no, I am not insensible\nof this love; but in me it is all in Christ, as I would wish yours\nwere. . . . I embrace you, dear brother, in the love of our crucified\nLord.\"\n\n\"DEAR MOTHER: There have been times when, considering the wickedness\nof the world, sensible of its miseries and my own, and at the same\ntime beholding obscurely and as it were tasting the things of heaven,\nI have longed and wished to be separated from the body. But when\ncoming back to myself, and thinking that with the aid of grace I can\nstill increase in God's love and hence love Him still more in\nconsequence for all eternity, I feel willing to love and suffer until\nthe last day, if by this I should acquire but one drop more of Divine\nlove in my heart. And so it is, as St. Paul declares, that we should\ncount the trials here as nothing compared with the glory that awaits\nus. Now, all these considerations, dear mother, join together to\nincrease my desire to see you in the communion of the Holy Catholic\nChurch, to which God has singularly given so many means of growing in\ngrace,\" etc., etc.\n\nNotwithstanding these marks of active intelligence, Brother Hecker\ncould not study, except by fits and starts. Often he could not get\nthrough the common prayers, and in ordinary conversation his tongue\nwould sometimes be tangled among the words of a sentence before he\nwas half through with it. The reader has already learned that the\npenalties of utter stupidity were not unknown to the unwritten law of\nthe Wittem studentate, notwithstanding that the young men were devout\nreligious; and hence Brother Hecker must have had many hours of\nanguish. But we cannot suppose that his native cheerfulness was quite\nsuppressed. His dulness of mind was accompanied, or rather was the\nresult of, the close embraces of Divine love. It was the bitter part\nof that intimate communion with God which is granted to chosen souls.\nNo doubt he was profoundly humiliated by the disgrace involved in his\nfailure to study, but he was willing to suffer that external\ndegradation which was the complement of and the means of emphasizing,\nthe teaching of the Holy Spirit in his interior, as well as the means\nof purifying his soul more and more perfectly. In after years he\nrelated an instance of his lightness of heart, a natural quality\nwhich he shared with his companion, Brother Walworth. The bishop of\nsome neighboring diocese, Aix-la-chapelle, if we remember rightly,\nhappening to visit the house at Wittem, was told of the two American\nstudents. He conversed with them in the recreation, the language\nbeing French. Then he said: \"I know how to read English, but I have\nnever heard it spoken; can you not speak a little piece for me?\"\n\"Certainly,\" was the answer. After a moment's consultation the two\nyoung men in all seriousness recited together \"Peter Piper picked a\npeck of pickled peppers,\" etc. No wonder that the prelate was\nastonished at the peculiar sound of English. Then he asked them for a\nsong. \"Oh of course,\" was the answer, and they sang in unison \"The\nCarrion Crow,\" with full chorus and imitations.\n\nBesides taking care of the sick, for which he was admirably fitted by\nnature, Brother Hecker made himself generally useful about the house.\nHe spent much time working among the brothers in the kitchen, and the\nwriter has heard him say that for nearly the whole of his stay in\nWittem he baked the bread of the entire community. He also carried in\nthe fuel for the house, using a crate or hod hoisted on his back.\n\nIn August, 1848, Brother Walworth was ordained priest, and it was\ndecided that he and Brother Hecker, together with two young Belgian\npriests, Fathers Teunis and Lefevre, should proceed to England, the\nRedemptorists having been recently introduced there. As the cassock\nis not worn in the streets in England they were sent from Wittem to\nLiege and there equipped with clerical suits, the tailor being\ncautioned not to be too ecclesiastical in the cut of the garments. He\nproduced a ridiculous compromise between a fashionable frock-coat and\na cassock, the waist being high and tight and the tails full and\nflowing, and flopping about the young clerics' heels. As they\njourneyed from Liege to Amsterdam, and thence to London, people\nstopped and stared at them in their stylish array, and some laughed\nat them. In this instance Brother Hecker's chagrin was not overcome\nby his sense of the ludicrous, for he was naturally very sensitive of\npersonal unbecomingness, and although not precisely a martinet for\nclerical exactness, he had strict notions of propriety.\n\nThe new Redemptorist foundation was at Clapham, three miles south of\nLondon Bridge. The house was a large, old-fashioned mansion and had\nbeen owned by Lord Teignmouth, a notorious anti-Catholic bigot. Some\nof the larger rooms had been thrown together into one, and this was\nused temporarily as a public chapel. Just as the young Redemptorists\narrived, Father Petcherine was preaching to the congregation. He was\na Russian convert, and the new-comers were astonished at his good\nEnglish and his eloquence. He was one of the many extraordinary men\nwho adorned the order at that time. He was master not only of his\nnative tongue, but of English, German, Italian, French, and modern\nGreek, and could preach well in all of these languages. Clapham was\nreached on September 23, 1848, and shortly afterwards Father Walworth\nwas sent to do missionary as well as parish work in Worcestershire,\nand remained there the greater part of the two years which were spent\nby our Americans in England.\n\nFrom Clapham Brother Hecker wrote, on September 27, 1848:\n\n\"I am at present, dear mother, in a newly-established house in the\ncity of London, having come here by order of my superiors to continue\nand finish my studies. Bodily I am nearer to you than I was, and\nnaturally speaking I am much more at home here than I was on the\nContinent. But this is of little or no moment, for a good religious\nshould find his home where he can best execute the will of his Divine\nMaster. And would you not, dear mother, rather see me in China than\nin the United States if, by being there, I should be more agreeable\nto our Blessed Saviour, who left the house of His Father to save us\npoor abandoned sinners upon the earth? Our house here is situated\nsomewhat out of the dense and busy part of the city, at Clapham; a\nfine garden is attached to it, and even in a worldly view I could not\ndesire it to be more agreeable. And did not our Lord promise to give\nthose who would leave all to follow Him, 'a hundred fold more in this\nworld and life everlasting in the world to come'? Alas! how many\nprofess to believe in the Bible and have no faith in the words which\nour Lord spoke,\" etc., etc.\n\nThe difficulties of Wittem were not abated at Clapham; rather they\nwere aggravated by Brother Hecker having to deal with new superiors.\n\"I remember seeing Hecker at Clapham, looking hopelessly into his\nmoral theology,\" said Father Walworth to the writer. Father Frederick\nde Held, whom we left in Baltimore, had returned to Europe, being\nProvincial of the Belgian Province, which at that time included the\nEnglish as well as the American missions. It must have seemed strange\nto him that Brother Hecker had been sent to England; he had no house\nof studies to put him into and could give him no regular course of\ninstruction. We cannot even surmise what word was sent to Father de\nHeld about this curious young man, whom early one summer's morning\nthree years before he had seen flitting into Baltimore and out of it,\ntaking with him the Provincial's leave to enter the novitiate.\nPerhaps the case had been sent to him because it was too perplexing\nfor any authority less than his to settle. At any rate, it placed him\nin an awkward position, to decide the case of this lone applicant for\norders, who had made no studies and could make none, and yet who was\nof so marked a character, so full of life, so zealous, working\nwillingly about the church, eagerly working in the kitchen, talking\ndeep philosophy and forming plans for the conversion of nations. His\ncase was peculiar. The difficulty was not confined to the question of\ndivinity studies. Brother Hecker's general education was scant, and\nhis English [sic] was still faulty. And yet he was silently asking\nordination in a preaching order, for which a thorough education is a\nprerequisite. Father de Held, therefore, is not to be condemned for\nhis harshness as wanting in sympathy or in judgment of character.\nGold is tried by fire, and fire is an active agent and a painful one.\nBut Brother Hecker soon found both solace and assistance in a new\nfriend.\n\nWe quote from the memoranda:\n\n\"Father de Held was superior at Clapham and for a year he treated me\nas Henry Suso says a dog treats a rag--he took me in his teeth and\nshook me. At last I went to him and begged him to settle my case one\nway or the other: ordain me, or make a lay brother of me, or take off\nmy habit and dismiss me to another order; though I told him that\nwould be like taking off my skin. Father de Buggenoms then went my\nsurety. He had been my confessor at Clapham and was then absent. But\nhe wrote to De Held that he would guarantee my conduct if ordained.\nDe Held then changed and became my fast and constant friend.\"\n\nThis is the first mention we find of Father de Buggenoms. Father\nHecker ever venerated him and cherished his memory as that of a\nsaintly friend and benefactor.\n\nOn another occasion we find a fuller account of the same events:\n\n\"Only for Father de Buggenoms I should not have been ordained at all.\"\n\n\"Who was De Buggenoms?\"\n\n\"A Belgian, and my confessor while I was at Clapham. I was there, not\nordained, nor yet making my studies. I had been forced to give them\nup; I could not go on with them. De Held did not know what to make of\nme, and he treated me harshly and cruelly. Finally I went to him and\ntold him my thoughts; I said I was absolutely certain I had a\nreligious vocation; that he might compel me to take of the habit, but\nit would be like taking off my skin; and so on. After that interview\nDe Held changed toward me and was ever after my warm friend. He was a\nvery prominent member of the Congregation. You know he came within a\nfew votes of being Rector-major. He was very warm in his sympathy\nwith us during our trouble in Rome. Well, Heilig, a German, was about\ncoming over to England as superior. He had been my director for two\nyears. Before he came he wrote me a letter that gave me indescribable\npain. He wrote that I must change--that I was all wrong, and so on. I\nanswered that it was too late to change; that he had been my director\nfor two years, knew me well, and had been cognizant of my state. If\nhe wanted me changed he must do it for me, for I did not see how to\ndo it for myself. When he came, De Buggenoms told him to have me\nordained, set me to work at anything, and he (De Buggenoms) would be\nresponsible for me in every respect. Heilig complied. I asked him\nafterwards why he wrote that letter. 'Because,' said he, 'I thought\nyou needed to be tried some more.' 'Why,' said I, 'I have had nothing\nbut trial ever since I came.'\"\n\nFrom this it would seem that the case was finally settled by Father\nHeilig after Father de Held's departure for the Continent, which took\nplace, as well as we can discover, some time in the summer of 1849.\nFather Heilig's letter, written from Liege, is before us; it is dated\nthe 24th of March, 1849. It is a complete arraignment of Isaac\nHecker's spiritual condition. It is gentle, considerate, choice of\nterms, but condenses all that could be said to show that his young\nfriend had been deluded by a visionary temperament, applying to\nhimself what he had read in mystical treatises and the lives of the\nsaints. The letter was indeed a deadly blow. Father Heilig had been\nBrother Hecker's confessor for two years at Wittem, and had at least\ntacitly approved his spirit; and now came his condemnation. No wonder\nthat Isaac was profoundly distressed by it. Yet his conviction of the\nvalidity of his inner life was not shaken for an instant. Nor was the\ntrial of long duration. We have found a letter from Father Heilig\ndated two months later than the one we have been considering, and it\nis full of messages of reassurance and encouragement. The\nintervention of De Buggenoms completed the work. It is possible that\nFather Heilig had not simply a desire to test Brother Hecker's\nhumility, but, by studying the effect of the trial imposed, to remove\ndoubts still lingering in his own mind. Some words in both the\nletters referred to lead us to this inference.\n\nFather L'hoir had not forgotten his young friend, who received a\nletter from him a couple of months after leaving Wittem, which\nbreathes in every word the tenderest utterance of friendship; and a\nyear after, another one similarly affectionate, congratulating him on\nhis ordination. This Father L'hoir must have been a noble soul to\nwrite so lovingly; we wish that space permitted us to give his\nletters to the reader.\n\nAmongst the papers left by Father Hecker we found one carefully\npreserved, bearing date at St. Mary's, Clapham, the feast of St.\nRaphael (Oct. 24) 1848, a month after his arrival there. It is a\nmanuscript of thirty-nine closely-written pages of letter-paper. It\nis an account of conscience made, no doubt, to Father de Held, though\nits preparation may have occupied some of his time before leaving\nWittem. We will make some extracts. It begins thus:\n\n\"Before commencing what is to follow, I cannot resist making the\nconfession of my feebleness and incapacity to express even\nconveniently those things which I feel it my duty to relate, that I\nmay walk with greater security and quicker step in the way of God. It\nwould not surprise me if one who has not taken the pains to\ninvestigate this matter sufficiently should doubt indeed whether such\nsingular graces, seeing the faults I daily commit and my many\nimperfections, had really been given to such an individual. A similar\nremark to this was made by my last director. But this is a cause of\nmuch joy and consolation to me; (that is to say) that my interior\nlife is hid and unknown to others except those who direct me. All\nthat I can adduce in behalf of its truth and credibility are these\nwords of sacred Scripture: Spiritus ubi vult spirat (the Spirit\nbreatheth where He will); and, ubi autem abundavit delictum,\nsuperabundavit gratia (but where sin abounded there did grace more\nabound.)\n\n.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .\n\n\"At that time (towards the end of the novitiate) I felt a special\nattraction and devotion toward Our Blessed Lord in the Holy Sacrament\nand an almost irresistible desire of receiving the blessed Communion\nof Divine love. This desire so far from having abated has greatly\nincreased, so that I have a constant hunger and thirst for Our Lord\nin the sacrament of His body and blood. If it were possible I would\ndesire to receive no other food than this, for it is the only\nnourishment that I have a real appetite for. I cannot consider it\nother than the source and substance of my whole spiritual and\ninterior life. The day on which I have been deprived of it I have\nexperienced a debility and want of both material and spiritual life\nlike one who is nearly famished. The doctrine of the real presence of\nour Lord seems to be with me a matter of conviction arising more from\nactual experience than from faith. At times, when I would make my\nvisit, I am seized with such a violent love towards the Blessed\nSacrament that I am forced to break off immediately, being unable to\nsupport the attraction of the Spouse, the Beloved, the Only One of my\nsoul. For some time back, wherever I may be, or on whatever side I\nturn, I seem to feel the presence of Our Lord in the Sacrament in the\ntabernacle. It seems as though I were in the same sphere as our Lord\nin the sacrament, where there appears no time nor space, yet both are.\n\n.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .\n\n\"At times, especially during the great retreat before making the\nvows, I was as it were inebriated with love, so that I scarcely knew\nwhat I said or did.\n\n.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .\n\n\"This was the stage of my interior life on entering the house of\nstudies at Wittem, October, 1846. Here the principal acts in all my\nspiritual exercises were those of resignation and conformity to the\nwill of God, an entire fidelity to the inspirations and attractions\nof the Holy Spirit, and a total abandonment of myself to the conduct\nof Divine Providence. God seemed always engaged in my soul by means\nof His grace in repressing my own activity. The end of my proper\nactivity, I said to myself, is its destruction. God commands a total\nand entire abandonment of the soul to Him in order that He may with\nhis grace destroy and annihilate all that He finds in it against His\ndesigns and will. God at times seemed to demand of me a frightful and\nheroic abandonment of my soul to His good pleasure. God alone knows\nhow to exercise the soul in virtue, and the Holy Spirit is its only\ntrue master in the spiritual life. Not only did the spirit of God\nexcite and elicit in me voluntary acts of self-abandonment, but often\nmy soul was as if stripped of all support, and placed, as it were,\nover a dark and unfathomable abyss, and thus I was made to see that\nmy only hope was to give myself up wholly to Him. The words of Job\nwell express this purgation of the soul when he says: 'The arrows of\nthe Lord are in me, the rage whereof drinketh up my spirit, and the\nterrors of the Lord war against me.' (Here follow other quotations\nfrom the book of Job.) Sometimes these pains penetrate into the\nremotest and most secret chambers of the soul. The faculties are in\nsuch an intensive purgation that from the excessive pain which this\nsubtile and purifying fire causes they are suspended from their\nordinary activity, and the soul, incapable of receiving any relief or\nescaping from its suffering, has nothing left but to resign itself to\nthe will and good pleasure of God. Though enveloped with an unseen\nbut no less real fire, suffering in every part, limb, and fibre from\nindescribable pains, fixed like one who should be forced to look the\nsun constantly in the face at midday, she is nevertheless content,\nfor she has a secret consciousness that God is the cause of all her\nsufferings, and not only content--she would suffer still more for His\nlove.\"\n\n[Here follows an account of the mortifications to which this interior\npressure drove him, shortening of sleep, wearing hair-shirts, severe\ndiscipline, abstinence and fasting, and the like.]\n\n.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .\n\n\"There were no penances that I have read of that seemed to me\nimpossible. The vilest habits and other things that I was allowed to\nwear and to use gave me the greatest pleasure. The thought of not\nhaving wherewith to cover my nakedness, to be contemned, ridiculed,\nand spit upon, gave me an extreme joy. My delight consisted in\nwanting that which is considered necessary . . . all this I did not\nonly do without reluctance, difficulty, and pain, but with great\npleasure, ease, and joy. They seemed as nothing, and I was as though\nI had scarcely need of a body in order to live, or, in other words,\nit seemed that I lived for the most part independent of the body.\n\n\"It was about this period that God gave me the grace which I had long\ndesired and sighed after: to be able to act and suffer without the\nidea of any recompense. I call it a gift, for although I had so long\nwished and demanded of God the power to act and to love Him\ndisinterestedly, still I was unable to do so. I felt myself a slave\nand hireling in the service of God, and this mortified me and made me\nmuch ashamed of myself. But when this grace was given, which happened\nunexpectedly, I could not forbear going immediately to my director to\nexpress my joy of the favor I had received, and the freedom and\nmagnanimity of soul which it inspired me with. I do not mean to say\nthat the soul has no idea of any recompense, for she has it tacitly,\nbut this is not her formal intention in her actions; for she is to\nsuch a degree animated to act for the good pleasure and sole glory of\nGod, that she quasi forgets all else. . . .\n\n\"Sometimes I have felt singularly present and in intimate communion\nwith certain of the saints, such as St. Francis of Assisi, St.\nBonaventure, St. Thomas, St. Peter of Alcantara, our holy father\nAlphonsus, etc. During this time--and sometimes it is for many\ndays--the life, the virtues, the spirit with which the saint acted\noccupies almost exclusively my mind. I seem to feel their presence\nmuch more intimately and really than that of those who are around me.\nI understand and comprehend them better, and experience a more\nsalutary influence from them than perhaps I would have done had I\nlived and been with them in their time. . . . Twice I remember having\nexperienced in this manner the presence of Our Blessed Lord. While\nthis lasted I felt myself altogether another person. His heroic\nvirtues, His greatness, tenderness, and love seemed to inspire me\nwith such a desire to follow Him and imitate His example that I lost\nsight of all things else. His presence excited in me a greater love\nand esteem for the Christian virtues than I could have acquired\notherwise in years and years. . . .\n\n\"About the commencement of the second year of studies, during some\nweeks my faculties were drawn and concentrated to such a degree\ntowards the centre of my soul that I was as one bereft of his\nexterior senses and activity. Before the vacation I had desired to\npass that time in solitude and retreat, but it was not allowed.\"\n\nWe have omitted much of this singular document, including detailed\naccounts of supernatural occurrences, and also quotations from the\nworks of Goerres, St. Teresa, St. John of the Cross, St. Bonaventure,\nFather Rigoleu, Richard of St. Victor, Scaramelli's _Directorium\nMysticum,_ and other mystical writings. These references he had\ncollected to certify to the reality of his experience.\n\nThroughout all these three years of trial he had employed what he\ncalls his \"lucid intervals\" of mental power in studying in his own\nway, God aiding him in _His_ own way to the destined end, as He had\nhindered him from choosing any other way. These intervals seemed so\nslight in his memory that the reader has seen his statement that he\nhad not studied at all. When he had been a year at Clapham he was\nfound, on examination, to be well enough prepared, as he had promised\nhe would be. Having been ordained sub-deacon and deacon at old Hall\nCollege, by Bishop Wiseman, he was ordained priest by the same\nprelate in his private chapel in London. The event took place on the\n23d of October, 1849, the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer. Father\nHecker said his first Mass the following day at Clapham, that being\nthe feast of St. Raphael the Archangel: one year from the date of his\naccount of conscience written out and given to his superiors.\n\nThe following is from a letter to his mother announcing his\nordination:\n\n\"DEAR MOTHER: You have been doubly blessed by Almighty God within the\npast few weeks. Your youngest son has been ordained priest in God's\none, holy, Catholic Church, and prays for you daily when he offers up\nto God the precious body and blood of His beloved Son, our Lord; and\nbesides you have received, by the marriage of another of your sons\n[George], a new daughter, who, being also a child of the Holy Church,\nmust be kind, dutiful, pious, fearing God, and loving above all\nthings our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Are not these, dear\nmother, blessings? Do they not convey to your heart joy and\nconsolation? They ought and surely do. Your latter days dear mother,\nwill be your happiest.\"\n\nThe remainder of the letter is filled with exhortations to enter the\nChurch, and arguments drawn from Scripture.\n\nWe may mention a letter written to Father Hecker by Father Heilig on\nthe eve of the former's departure for America; a message full of\naffectionate good wishes and claims of friendship and union in prayer\nwith the singular young pilgrim from the Western World.\n\nThe following extracts from the memoranda may be of interest as\nembodying Father Hecker's views of how to study divinity, resulting\nfrom his own experience in preparing for the priesthood:\n\n\"March, 1884.--I told Father Hecker, in course of conversation, about\nmy reading the life of the Cure of Ars. He said: 'A saintly man\nindeed, and one gifted with a supernatural character to an\nextraordinary degree. But it seems to me that his biographer\nmisunderstood him somewhat. He seems to admit that the Cure of Ars\nhad a naturally stupid mind, because he had so much difficulty in\ngetting through his studies for the priesthood. The truth, probably,\nwas that just at that time the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit\ncame upon him and incapacitated him for his studies. But everything\nabout his after life shows that, though a rustic man, he had a good\nmind, a keen native wit, quick and clear perception. I had something\nthe same difficulty myself.\n\n\"During my novitiate and studies one of my great troubles was the\nrelation between infused knowledge and acquired knowledge; how much\none's education should be by prayer and how much by study; the\nrelation between the Holy Ghost and professors.\n\n\"In the novitiate they were all too much on the passive side--\nunbroken devotional and ascetic routine. In the studentate, too much\non the active side--leaving nothing for infused science and prayer as\na part of the method of study. They soon broke me down. I told them\nso. If I went on studying I would have been driven mad. Let me alone,\nI said. Let me take my own way and I will warrant that I will know\nenough to be ordained when the time comes. They said I was a scandal.\nThen they sent me to England to De Held. I am persuaded that in the\nstudy of divinity not enough room is given to prayer and not enough\naccount made of infused science.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nA REDEMPTORIST MISSIONARY\n\n\"I WOULD not have become a priest had I lived in Europe, for I never\nhad or could have any strong attrait for sacerdotal functions. But I\nfelt that the Church in America was in need of all the help that\ncould be given by her children for the work of the priesthood.\"\nFather Hecker said this when near his end, and a full knowledge of\nhis character bore him out in it. The sacerdotal, the ecclesiastical,\nwere qualities which he had assumed with full consciousness of their\nsanctity, yet they united with his other characteristics in a way to\nleave traces of the point of contact. He was certainly an edifying\npriest, and to hear his Mass was to be spiritually elevated by his\njoyous fervor. But you would never say of him \"he is a thorough\necclesiastic, he is a typical priest.\" The external aids of religion\nhe imparted with a reverence which displayed his faith in his\npriestly character as a dispenser of the sacramental mysteries of\nGod. But the other mysteries of God which are hidden in his\nprovidential guidance of men, he could expound with the instinctive\nfamiliarity of a native gift; the voice of God in nature, in reason,\nand in conscience, and its response in revelation, he could elicit\nwith a power and unction rarely met with. He has left the following\nwords on record: \"After my ordination the duties of the sacred\nministry appeared to me most natural; the hearing of confessions and\nthe direction of souls was as if it had been a thing practised from\nmy childhood, and was a source of great consolation.\"\n\nThe year spent in England after ordination was occupied by Father\nHecker mainly in parochial duties at Clapham and some neighboring\nstations attended by the Redemptorists of that house. Father Walworth\nenjoyed some missionary experience with Fathers Pecherine and\nBuggenoms, but Father Hecker had only been at one or two small\nretreats--one at Scott-Murray's estate in company with Father Ludwig\nand another at that of Weld-Blundells in Lancashire; but in neither\nof these had he preached or given any instructions, serving only in\nthe confessional and in hunting up obstinate sinners. He certainly\ndid preach once before leaving England, perhaps only once, and that\nwas at Great Marlowe, near London, in the church built by the\nHornihold family. It was on Easter Sunday, 1850, and was well\nremembered by Father Hecker and referred to in after years. He\nthought the sermon a good one as a beginning, but it seems to have\ngiven him no encouragement, and we venture to think that if it\nprofited his hearers somewhat it also amused them a little. He needed\na teacher, and he found one in Father Bernard, the newly appointed\nprovincial of the American province.\n\nIn 1850 Father Bernard Joseph Hafkenscheid* was made Provincial of\nthe Redemptorist houses in America. His patronymic was too formidable\nfor ordinary use, and he was universally known as Father Bernard. He\nwas in the prime of life on taking this office, and although he had\nspent twenty years on the missions in Holland, his native country, in\nBelgium and England, he yet showed no signs of these labors; he\ncontinued them for fourteen years longer, for the most of the time in\nthe Netherlands, his death resulting from accident in 1865. By common\nconsent he is ranked in the highest order of popular preachers. He\nhad entered the community from the secular priesthood shortly after\nhis ordination; he had made a brilliant course of studies at Rome,\nwhich was crowned by the doctorate of the Roman College. He was\nphysically a tall, powerful man, and of majestic bearing. His\nfeatures were full of intelligence, his glance penetrating, his voice\nclear, sympathetic, and vibrating, his gestures expressive. If half\nthat is handed down of Father Bernard be true, he was a wonderful\npreacher of penance and of hope, his high gifts of natural eloquence\nserved by a perfect education and inspired by a most enthusiastic\nlove of the people.\n\n[* The reader is referred to his life by Canon Claessens (Catholic\nPublication Society Co.) It is all too brief, yet is a good summary\nof the career of the great Redemptorist missionary, one of St.\nAlphonsus' noblest sons.]\n\nHe was a popular preacher in the best sense of the term, calm in\ndemeanor and simple in language as he opened, but when at the point\nof fervor pouring forth his soul in a fiery torrent of oratory, whose\nonly restraint was the inability of the human voice to express all\nthat the heart contained. In style impassioned, he yet often chose\nlanguage bordering on the familiar, but was not vulgar. He is an\ninstance of the fallacy of the saying that the preacher must stoop to\nhis auditory if he would be popular. Father Bernard was ever true to\nhimself, never appeared less than an educated priest and grave\nreligious, and yet he was a most popular preacher. The great truths\nof eternal life are a universal heritage, and the use of plain words\nis not getting down from good style even in the literary sense, and a\nfamiliar manner is a trait of affection. We have stopped the reader\nfor this moment with Father Bernard because he was Father Hecker's\nteacher of mission preaching and instructing, and was ever beloved by\nhim as an appreciative friend and a wise and indulgent preceptor. He\nhad made his first visit to America with Father de Held in 1845, but\nremained only a few months to acquire information and gain\nimpressions for a report to the Rector Major. He made a second voyage\nin January, 1849, acting as superior of the American houses, as\nVice-provincial, and remained about eighteen months. The United\nStates now forming a separate province and Father Bernard made\nProvincial, he demanded Fathers Hecker and Walworth as his subjects,\nand they were given to him.\n\nA letter from Father Hecker announces his departure for New York as\nfixed for some time in October, 1890; but delays occurred, and the\nfollowing is an extract from one to his mother, dated January 17,\n1851; it says that the departure is fixed for some day the same month:\n\n\"Oh! may Almighty God prosper our voyage, and may His sweet and\nblessed Mother be our guide and protector on the stormy sea. And may\nmy arrival in America be for the good of many souls who are still\nwandering out of the one flock and away from the one shepherd! I hope\nthat to no one will it be of more consolation and benefit than to you,\nmy dearest mother.\"\n\nThe ship was named the _Helvetia_ and sailed from Havre the 27th of\nJanuary, the captain being a genuine down-east Yankee, and the crew a\nmixed assortment of English and American sailors. Father Bernard's\nparty consisted of Fathers Walworth, Hecker, Landtsheer, Kittell,\nDold, and Giesen, and the students Hellemans, Mueller, and Wirth, the\nAmerican fathers having come to Havre from London by way of Dover,\nCalais, and Paris. The weather was unfavorable during nearly the\nentire voyage, the ship being driven back into the English Channel\nand forced to anchor in the Downs. They were beaten about for two\nweeks before they got fairly upon the Atlantic, and while crossing\nthe Newfoundland banks were in danger from icebergs. Nearly all the\nparty were more or less sea-sick, including Father Hecker. This did\nnot prevent his attempting the conversion of the boatswain, who\nseemed the only hopeful subject in the ship's company. There were a\nhundred and thirty steerage passengers, emigrants for the most part\nfrom Protestant countries, though a party of Garibaldian refugees and\na few equally wild Frenchmen enlivened the monotony of sea-life by\nsome bloody fights. There were but two cabin passengers besides the\nRedemptorists, and the former being confined to their staterooms by\nnearly continual sea-sickness, the cabin was turned into a \"floating\nconvent,\" to borrow Father Dold's expression in a long letter\ndescriptive of the voyage, given by Canon Claessens in his _Life of\nFather Bernard._\n\nThe wintry and stormy voyage had already tested the missionaries'\npatience for some weeks, when Father Bernard informed the captain\nthat he and his companions were going to make a novena to St. Joseph\nto arrive at New York on or before his feast, March the 19th. \"St.\nJoseph will have to do his very prettiest to get us in,\" was the\nanswer. And when the ship was still far to the east, being off the\nbanks, and the weather quite unfavorable, and only three days left\nbefore the feast, the captain called out: \"St. Joseph can't do\nit--give it up, Father Bernard.\" But the latter would still\npersevere; and that night the wind changed. The Yankee ship now flew\nalong at the rate of fourteen miles an hour. When the eve of St.\nJoseph's Day came they were wrapped in a dense fog, and the captain,\ndreading the nearness of the coast, hove to. When day dawned the fog\nlifted, and the ship was found to be off Long Branch, and a wrecked\nship was seen on the shore; she had been driven there during the\nnight. The pilot soon came aboard and they sailed through the Narrows\nand into the harbor of New York, having spent fifty-two days on the\nocean. As they approached the city a little tug-boat was seen coming\nto meet them. It bore George and John Hecker and Mr. McMaster, whose\ncordial greetings were the first welcome the young Redemptorists\nheard on their return to the New World. They were soon at their home\nin the convent in Third Street, and on the sixth of April following\nthe first mission was opened in St. Joseph's Church, Washington\nPlace, New York.\n\nHere is Dr. Brownson's greeting, from his home in Chelsea, Mass.,\nreceived by Father Hecker soon after his arrival:\n\n\"My very dear friend, you cannot imagine what pleasure it gives me to\nlearn of your arrival in New York. . . . I want to see you much, very\nmuch. You have much to tell me that it is needful that I should know,\nand I beg you to come to see me. Tell your superiors from me that\nyour visit to me will be more than an act of charity to me\npersonally, and that it is highly necessary--not merely as a matter\nof pleasure to us two--that we should meet; and tell them that I\nearnestly beg to have you come and spend a few days with me. I am\nsure that they will permit you to do so in furtherance of the work in\nwhich I as well as you are engaged, and I have a special reason for\nwishing to see you now. I would willingly visit you at New York or\nanywhere in the United States, but there is no place so appropriate\nas my own house. . . . I am more indebted to you for having become a\nCatholic than to any other man under heaven, and while you supposed I\nwas leading you to the church, it was you who led me there. I owe you\na debt of gratitude I can never repay . . . Come, if possible, and as\nsoon as possible.\"\n\nAt the Third Street house the new-comers found Father Augustine F.\nHewit, a convert from the Episcopal Church, in which he had tarried\nfor a few years on his way from Calvinism to the true religion. He\nhad been a secular priest for a short time previous to entering the\norder. He was directed to join the newly-formed missionary band, and\nwas destined to be more to Father Hecker than any other man, and to\nsucceed him as superior of the Paulist community.\n\nAfter more than five years' absence Father Hecker thus finds himself\nin America, the land of his apostolate, a member of a missionary\ncommunity whose external vocation is the preaching of penance, and\nthe conversion of sinful Catholics to a good life. A mission is a\nseason of renewal of the religious life among the people of a parish.\nIt is a course of spiritual exercises in which the principles of\nreligion are called forth and placed in more active control of men's\nconduct, and by means of which their emotional nature is stimulated\nto grief for sin, love of God, yearning for eternal happiness. The\nsermons and instructions are given twice, and sometimes oftener, each\nday, during the early mornings and in the evenings. These exercises\nare conducted in the parish church, but not by the parish clergy. The\npeople see among them the members of a religious order, men set\napart, by the interior touch of the Holy Spirit and the public\napproval of the church, for this particular work--powerful preachers,\nconfessors as indefatigable as they are patient, priests full of\nmasterful zeal, moving in disciplined accord together against vice.\nThe call they address to the people is the peremptory one: \"Do\npenance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\" Their words are given\nforth not from the usual pulpit, but from a platform at the communion\nrailing, and in the presence of a high black cross set up in the\nsanctuary. They wear no surplice or stole while preaching, the only\ninsignia of their office being a crucifix on their breasts. The\nbishop usually extends to them greater powers than are commonly given\nfor reconciling sinners who have incurred ecclesiastical censures.\nThe Holy See empowers them to extend the most abundant spiritual\nfavors in its gift in the form of indulgences, and the pastor informs\nthe congregation several Sundays beforehand that he expects the\nentire Catholic population of his parish to attend the mission and\nreceive the sacraments.\n\nTo be absorbed in such labors as above described was not the primary\nobject of Father Hecker's vocation, but he accepted his place\njoyfully as chosen by the evident will of God. The missionary life\nwas never in his eyes what the reader might surmise it to be--a mere\ninterlude in his career, a period of patient waiting. Such is far\nfrom having been the case. The missions are eminent works of Catholic\nzeal, and there is not any vocation known to the active ministry\nwhich may not commute with them on equal terms. Human nature has\nnever felt influences more deeply religious than those set at work by\nmissions, recalling the effects of the preaching of the Apostles\nthemselves. Remorse of conscience, loathing for sin, terror at the\ndivine wrath, confidence in God, sympathy for our crucified Saviour,\nthe ecstatic joy of the new-found divine friendship, utter contempt\nfor the maxims of the world, iron determination to love God to the\nend--these are the sentiments which, by the preaching of missions,\nare made to dominate entire parishes in a degree simply marvellous.\nNor can it be said that these dispositions are fleeting. Allowing for\nexceptions, especially in large cities, their permanency is often an\nevidence of the solidity of the motives which inspired them, as well\nas of the supernatural graces which gave them life. Every missionary\nwill bear witness, as Father Hecker often did, that he has never\nassisted at a mission in which he was not profoundly impressed by the\ntears of hardened sinners. Every parish priest, however much he may\nregret the backsliding of some, will testify to the valuable results\nof missions among his people: the quickening of faith and the revival\nof supernatural motives, drunkards reformed, restitutions made, lust\ncleansed away, families united, the church thronged with worshippers,\nsaloons deserted. Father Hecker never thought that all this was too\ndearly bought by the dreary toil of the confessional, the discomforts\nof for ever changing residences and living in strange places, nor\neven by the growing nerve-troubles which the fathers are often\nsubject to, from brains superheated over and over again in the\nburning fires of mission preaching. Father Hecker did not think the\nprivileges of such a life too dearly bought even by the postponement\nof his proper apostolate, and was ever glad of his labors as a\nmissionary.\n\nThey schooled him in public speaking. In his antecedents there was\nabundant reason for diffidence, and he knew full well that what was\ngood enough language for an harangue to the Seventh Ward Democracy\nwould be ridiculous in a Catholic pulpit. Nor was he deceived into\nthe notion of his ability to preach because he could influence men in\nprivate. Conversation is not public speaking, and the defects of\ngrammar, or any other such defects, if pardoned in an earnest and\nhonest man in private interchange of views, if committed on the\npublic rostrum are unpardonable and are usually fatal. Father Hecker\nfound in the incessant practice of the missionary platform, and in\nthe assistance of his present superior, exactly what he needed by way\nof preparation. Besides the mission sermon at night--the great\nsermon, as it was called--there is a short doctrinal instruction at\nthe same service and a moral one on the sacraments or commandments in\nthe morning. These became his share of the mission preaching, and the\nschool in which he acquired that direct, convincing, and popular\nmanner of discourse for which he was afterwards renowned as a\nlecturer.\n\nWe find the following among the memoranda:\n\n\"When I came over to America with Fathers Bernard and Walworth,\nBernard wanted to know what I could do. Well, by that time I had\ngiven up all hopes of any public career. I couldn't preach. My memory\nand intellectual faculties generally were so influenced by my\ninterior state that theology was out of the question. The lights that\nGod had given me about the future state of religion in this country\nwere still clear as ever, but I thought that I should have to confine\nmyself to imparting them to particular and individual souls whom the\nprovidence of God should throw in my way; for I was persuaded that\nthe Redemptorist community was unfitted for the future work I had\ncaught a glimpse of and I was entirely contented to live and die a\nRedemptorist, and was quite certain that I should. So, when Bernard\nasked me what I could do, I told him to get me some place as chaplain\nof a prison or public institution of charity, as that was about all\nthat I was capable of. But he thought differently.\n\n\"My first instructions on the missions were almost word for word\ngiven me by Bernard. I didn't seem to have a single thought of my\nown.\"\n\nTo preach, whether to Catholics or to non-Catholics, one must learn\nhow, and Father Hecker with all his gifts knew that this gift seldom\ncomes from above except by way of reward for steady labor. The\nopportunity of the missions, and of Father Bernard as a guide, was\neagerly accepted in lieu of the prison chaplaincy.\n\nThe missions also enabled him to know the Catholic people. The\nnon-Catholics he already knew from vivid recollection of his own\nformer state and from that of his early surroundings; Brook Farm and\nFruitlands had completed his knowledge of the outside world; but the\nRedemptorist novitiate and studentate and his sojourn in England did\nnot give him a similar knowledge of the Catholic people, priesthood,\nand hierarchy. To the average looker-on Catholicity is what Catholics\nare, and Catholics in America viewed from a standpoint of morality\nwere then and still are a very mixed population. Why the fruits are\nworse than the tree is a sore perplexity even to expert\ncontroversialists, and Father Hecker had need to equip himself well\nfor meeting that difficulty, a patent one in the rushing tide of\nstricken immigrants then pouring into America. The missions are an\nunequalled school for learning men. All men and women in a parish are\nmade known to the missionary, for they walk or stumble through his\nvery soul.\n\nNor can one fail to see the use of missions as an evidence to the\nnon-Catholic public itself of the supernatural power of Catholicity\nover men's lives. To practical people like Americans there is no oral\nor written evidence of the true religion so valid as the spectacle of\nits power to change bad men into good ones. Such a people will accept\narguments from history and from Scripture, but those of a moral kind\nthey demand; they must see the theories at work. A mission is a\nmicrocosm of the church as a moral force. It shows a powerful grasp\nof human nature and an easy supremacy over it. It is an energetic,\ncalm, and clean-sweeping influence for good, bold in its choice of\nthe most sublime truths of supernatural religion as the sole motives\nof repentance. And it uniformly achieves so complete a victory over\nthe best-entrenched vices that non-Catholic prejudice is invariably\nshaken at the spectacle. And in America the pioneer work of the\napostolate must be to remove prejudice. The character of the men who\nconduct these exercises, their courage, intelligence, devotedness,\ndiscipline, and ready command of the people; the indiscriminate\nhumanity which rushes to hear them, to pray, to confess their sins,\nto listen with mute attention--long before day-break and in the hours\nof rest after work--all regardless of social differences or of moral\nones, soon become well known to the public and generally excite\ncomment in the press. All this contributes to prepare non-Catholics\nto hear from the same teachers the invitation which our Lord intended\nin saying: \"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also\nmust I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one\nfold and one shepherd.\"\n\nFurthermore, it was necessary that Father Hecker should be made\npersonally known to the bishops and priests of the country. The time\nwas coming when he would have a public cause to advance, and their\napproval is a necessary sign of divine favor. Now, the missionary is\nclosely studied by them and soon is intimately known, for there are\ntoo many things in common between priests but that they can readily\ntest each other. Before the Paulist community had been organized,\nFather Hecker had been the guest of the most prominent clergymen of\nthe entire United States, and of many even in the British Provinces,\nand was a well-known man throughout the Catholic community. Meantime\nthe humiliations of his study-time had been quickly recovered from,\nif they had ever been a real hindrance to public effort, and we find\nno sign of protest on his part or of request to be let off from\ngiving instructions beyond his answer to Father Bernard as above\nrecorded. As he loved his vows as a Redemptorist, so he loved the\nwork of the missions, because they were God's will for him; because\nthey are a work of the highest order of good for souls; because the\nreputation of Catholicity is always raised in a community by a\nmission, and a good name is necessary for a controversial standing;\nbecause in them he daily learned more of men and of the means to win\nthem; and because the members of the divine order of the episcopate\nand secular priesthood must be well known by him and he well known to\nthem before any extensive work could be done among non-Catholics; and\nthe missionary becomes a familiar friend everywhere he goes. Hence\ncontroversial sermons were sometimes preached during the missions,\nlectures of the same sort given after them, and during their\ncontinuance many converts received into the church. Father Hecker, as\nwe have tried to show the reader, was a very observant nature, always\nlearning lessons from life, and ready to try his 'prentice hand on\nwhat material offered in the way of converting Protestants at every\nopportunity public and private.\n\nNevertheless, the missions could not be made the ordinary channel of\ndirect influences for turning sceptics and Protestants to the true\nreligion. The attempt to make them so, involving, as it does, a\nnotable interspersion of controversial sermons, has never been tried\nby the Redemptorist or Paulist Fathers to our knowledge, and when\ndone by others has resulted in not enough of controversy for making\nsolid converts, and too little penitential preaching for the proper\nreformation of hard sinners among Catholics. Father Hecker fully\nappreciated this. He threw himself into the mission work just as it\nwas with the utmost ardor, and learning from Father Bernard how to\nprepare the matter for the morning and evening instructions, his\nnatural gifts, together with hints and suggestions from his brethren,\nsupplied him with the best possible manner of giving them. The writer\nhas often served on missions in parishes where Father Bernard's\nnew-formed band had preached in former years, and the testimony is\nuniversal that as a doctrinal and moral instructor Father Hecker was\nunequalled among missionaries. He was so frank, so clear, so lively,\nso impressible, and, in a certain way, so humorous, that he carried\nthe people away with him. And he carried them all, high and low,\nlearned and simple. With persons of education his homely words did\nnot break the charm, nor did his simple but extremely well chosen\nillustrations do so--all taken, as they were, from common life or the\nlives and writings of the saints. He never preached the great sermons\nand never aspired to do it. He never sought to arouse terror or to be\npathetic. He always reasoned and instructed. In truth, he was not\ncompetent to deal adequately with such subjects as Death, Judgment,\nand Hell--that is to say, as they are preached at missions, for the\nemotions have honest rights on such occasions, and Father Hecker\nacknowledged his deficiency in emotional oratory. But, to tell you\nthe qualities of true sorrow, or to show you how to make a true\nconfession, to picture the manliness of virtue and the dignity of the\nChristian state, he was unsurpassed. And the general effect remaining\nafter his instructions was always a bright understanding of just what\nto do for a good life, with many happy examples to aid the memory,\ntogether with a strong personal affection for the holy man who showed\nreligion to be a most happy as well as most reasonable service of\nGod. To his penitents in the confessional he was ever most kind and\npatient. \"No school of perfection,\" he once said, \"can equal the\nself-denial necessary to hear confessions well.\" God is now rewarding\nhim, we trust, for the cheerful, often even bantering, words of\nencouragement he gave to the multitudes of poor sinners who knelt at\nhis feet during the toilsome years he spent on the missions; and for\nthe enlightenment and encouragement of his big-hearted influence, and\nfor his trumpet notes of hope in the early morning instructions.\nAfter the hard pounding of the night sermons it is always sought to\npick the sinner up out of the dust and to hearten him by the early\ninstructions, as well as to guide him to the precise methods and\nmeans of reform and of a good life for the future. As to the\nsacrament of penance, the saying of St. Alphonsus is a maxim with us\nall: \"Be a lion in the pulpit, but a lamb in the confessional.\"\n\nThe reader must indulge us in thus dwelling so long on the Catholic\nmissions, for we are inclined to say many words of praise of so\nlovely a life, in which the same men sow and reap a great harvest in\nthe same week, expend their vitality in preaching the word and\nadministering the sacraments and comforting sinners who are wholly\nbroken down with the truest contrition.\n\nIn 1851 the American Redemptorists had before them a missionary field\nalmost untouched. Public retreats had been given from time to time in\nthe United States by Jesuits and others, but the mission opened at\nSt. Joseph's Church, New York City, on Passion Sunday, 1851, was the\nfirst mission of a regular series carried on systematically by a body\nof men especially devoted to the vocation. The merit of inaugurating\nthem is chiefly due to Father Bernard, who had no hesitation in\ngetting to work with his three American fathers; though Father Joseph\nMueller, rector of the Third Street convent, and Rev. Joseph McCarron,\nthe rector of St. Joseph's Church, had something to do in arranging\nthe details and in facilitating the work. Several Redemptorists from\nThird Street helped in the confessionals.*\n\n[* Observers of coincidences will be interested to notice the arrival\nof the missionaries in America on St. Joseph's day, under the\nProvincial Bernard Joseph Hafkenscheid, to open their first mission\nat St. Joseph's Church, the pastor being Joseph McCarron, the mission\nhaving been negotiated by Joseph Mueller, the rector of the Third\nStreet convent. Father Hecker had a special devotion for St. Joseph.]\n\nWe have space for only the following extracts from the brief record\nof the missions, preserved by the fathers. They illustrate how\nearnestly Father Hecker worked. In the record of the second mission\nat Loretto, Pa., we find this:\n\nThe instructions and Rosary were generally given by Father Hecker,\nwho received from the people the name of \"Father Mary.\" . . . During\nthe first few days the people did not attend well; but after Father\nHecker had gone through the village and among a clique of young men\nwho were indifferent and disaffected to the clergy, and the evil\ngeniuses of the place, and after some fervent exhortations had been\nmade to the people, they flocked to the mission and crowded the\nchurch.\n\nAt Johnstown, Pa.: After two or three days a man happened to die on\nthe railroad, and all the men at that station, perhaps a hundred in\nnumber, accompanied the corpse to the church. Father Hecker seized\nthe opportunity to address them and to give them a mission\n_ferveroso._ And the next day he went on horseback, accompanied by\nthe pastor, Father Mullen (since Bishop of Erie), to several stations\nand addressed the men, inviting them to attend the mission. The\nresult was successful. Procession after procession marched in,\nfilling the church, and numbers of them stayed all day, lying on the\ngrass about the church. . . . Father Hecker called out a noted\npolitician, who had not been to the sacraments for many years until\nthe mission, to receive the scapular as an example, and the good man\ndid not fail to receive a plentiful supply of holy water from the\nvigorous arm of the said father.\n\nThe following entry in the record under date of February, 1852, made\nafter a mission given in St. Peter's Church, Troy, N.Y., will be of\ninterest to missionaries, and to others who are observant of their\nmethods: \"At Youngstown, Pa., (the preceding December) the experiment\nof preaching from a platform had been successfully tried and was\nrepeated here, as at other missions since (Youngstown). On the\nplatform a large black cross, some ten feet or more in height, was\nerected, from the arms of which a white muslin cloth was suspended.\nThis use of cross and platform has thus been regularly introduced\ninto the missions.\" Previously it had been the custom to erect a\nlarge cross out of doors in front of the church as one of the closing\nceremonies of the mission.\n\nFathers Hecker, Hewit, and Walworth, led by Father Bernard, made a\nunique band of missionaries, one, we think, hardly equalled since\nthey yielded their place to others. Each was a man of marked\nindividuality, whose distinct personality was by no means obscured by\nthe strict conformity to rule evident in their behavior. Fathers\nHewit and Walworth were orators, differing much from each other, both\nfull of power. Father Hecker was a born persuader of men, and could\nteach as a gift of nature, earnest in mind and manner. His two\ncompanions saw him learn by hard work how so to modulate his voice\nand to manage it and his manner as to exactly suit himself to his\nduties as the instructor of the band, while they delivered finished\ndiscourses at the night services, many of them masterpieces of\nmission oratory. Their very poise and glance on the platform stilled\nthe church, and their noble rhetoric clothed appeals to the\nintelligence and to the heart in most attractive garb. In Father\nHecker you saw a man who wanted to persuade you because he was right\nand knew it, and because he was deeply interested in your welfare. He\nsought no display, and yet held you fast to him by eye and ear. He\nhad no tricks to catch applause, for he had no vanity. He said what\nhe liked, for he was totally devoid of diffidence or awkwardness, and\nhis best aid was his invariable equipment of an earnest purpose. \"But\nI don't believe,\" said Father Walworth to the writer, \"that\nDemosthenes ever worked through greater difficulties than Father\nHecker in making himself a good public speaker.\"\n\nFather Bernard managed the missions for the first year, and dealt\nwith the pastors as superior of the band, meanwhile devouring more\nthan his share of the work in the confessional. The least experience\nshows that there can be little of the discipline of the barracks\norder on the missions, and all the fathers must of necessity consult\ntogether, the superior leading in the observance of such community\ndevotional customs as are possible, and setting a good example in\nstooping to the burdens which all must bear. As to Father Bernard,\nthe Americans could only admire and love him. In his own tongue a\nrenowned orator, he yet never preached in English while with these\nthree men unless on rare occasions, such as when one of them was\nprevented by sickness. From him they received the manner of giving\nmissions handed down from St. Alphonsus, and they have transmitted\nthe tradition to their spiritual children in all its integrity.\n\nNearly two years passed of hard missionary campaigning under Father\nBernard, when he was recalled to Europe, and Father Alexander\nCvitcovicz took his place. His last name was seldom used, for the\nsame evident reason as in his predecessor's case. Father Alexander\nwas a Magyar, past the meridian of life, long accustomed to missions\nin Europe, learned, devout, kindly, and of a zeal which seemed to\naspire at utter self-annihilation in the service of sinners. '\"It was\nnot unusual for Father Alexander,\" says Father Hewit in his memoir of\nFather Baker, \"to sit in his confessional for ten days in succession\nfor fifteen or sixteen hours each day. He instructed the little\nchildren who were preparing for the sacraments, but never preached\nany of the great sermons. In his government of the fathers who were\nunder him he was gentleness, consideration, and indulgence itself. In\nhis own life and example he presented a pattern of the most perfect\nreligious virtue, in its most attractive form, without constraint,\nausterity, or moroseness, and yet without relaxation from the most\nascetic principles. He was a most thoroughly accomplished and learned\nman in many branches of secular and sacred science and in the fine\narts; and in the German language, which was as familiar to him as his\nnative language, he was among the best preachers of his order. . . .\nWe went through several long and hard missionary campaigns under his\ndirection, until at last we left him, in the year 1854, in the\nconvent at New Orleans, worn out with labor, to exchange his arduous\nmissionary work for the lighter duties of the parish.\"\n\nFather Walworth now became superior, and the missions went on in the\nsame spirit and with the same success as before. In the record of the\none given at the church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Brooklyn, we\nfind the following entry: \"Missionaries, Fathers Walworth, Hecker,\nHewit, and George Deshon (late lieu-tenant Ordnance, U. S. A., a\nconvert from the Episcopal Church. This was his first mission).\"\nFather Deshon had been ordained not long before, and soon began to\nshare the instructions with Father Hecker. This was in February,\n1856, and in November of the same year, at St. Patrick's Mission,\nWashington, D. C., they were joined by Father Francis A. Baker,\nordained in the preceding September, a distinguished convert from the\nEpiscopal ministry of the city of Baltimore. Much we would say of\nhim, his eloquence and his very amiable traits of character, but all\nthis and more is well said by Father Hewit, in his memoir of Father\nBaker, published after the latter's death in 1865 (Catholic\nPublication Society Co.) This increase of members allowed a division\nof the band for smaller-sized missions.\n\nIn our judgment those men were a band of missionaries the like of\nwhom have not served the great cause among the English-speaking races\nthese recent generations. Fathers Walworth, Hewit, and Deshon have\nsurvived their companions of those early days, and may they long\nremain with us, calm and beautiful and devout old veterans of the\ndivine warfare of peace!\n\nFather Hecker gave several retreats to religious communities of men\nand of women during the six or seven years we are considering,\ndevoting for the purpose portions of the summer months usually\nunoccupied by missions. Copies of notes of his conferences, taken\ndown by some of his hearers, are in our possession and may aid us\nfurther on in giving the reader a view of his spiritual doctrine.\n\nThe following extract from the Roman statement summarizes what we\nhave been telling in this chapter, and introduces the reader to\nFather Hecker's first missionary activity as a writer:\n\n\"My superiors sent me back to the United States, and on my return\nbeing asked by my immediate superior in what way he could best employ\nme, my reply was, in taking care of the sick, the poor, and the\nprisoners. The stupidity which still reigned over my intellectual\nfaculties, and the helplessness of my will, and my sympathy with\nthose classes led me to choose such a sphere of action as most\nsuitable to my then condition. And although the conversion of the\nnon-Catholics of my fellow-countrymen was ever before my mind, yet\nGod left me in ignorance how this was to be accomplished. Such strong\nand deep impulses, and so vast in their reach, took possession of my\nsoul on my return to the United States in regard to the conversion of\nthe American people, that on manifesting my interior to one of the\nmost spiritually enlightened and experienced fathers of the\ncongregation on the subject to obtain his direction, he bade me not\nto resist these interior movements, they came from God; and that God\nwould yet employ me in accordance with them. Such were his words.\nAfter a few weeks in the United States the work of the missions\nbegan. My principal duties on these were to give public instructions\nand hear confessions, and up to this time (1858) these missionary\nlabors have occupied me almost exclusively.\n\n\"The blessings of God upon our missions were most evident and most\nabundant and my share in them most consoling, as usually the most\nabandoned sinners fell to my lot. But holy and important as the\nexercises of the missions among Catholics are, still this work did\nnot correspond to my interior attrait, and though exhausted and\nfrequently made ill from excessive fatigue in these duties, yet my\nardent and constant desire to do something for my non-Catholic\ncountrymen led me to take up my pen. That took place as follows: One\nday alone in my cell the thought suddenly struck me how great were my\nprivileges and my joy since my becoming a Catholic, and how great\nwere my troubles and agony of soul before this event! Alas! how many\nof my former friends and acquaintances, how many of the great body of\nthe American people were in the same most painful position. Cannot\nsomething be done to lead them to the knowledge of the truth? Perhaps\nif the way that divine Providence had led me to the church was shown\nto them many of them might in this way be led also to see the truth.\nThis thought, and with it the hope of inducing young men to enter\ninto religious orders, produced in a few months from my pen a book\nentitled _Questions of the Soul._ The main features of this book are\nthe proofs that the Sacraments of the Catholic Church satisfy fully\nall the wants of the heart. . . .\n\n\"But the head was left to be yet converted; this thought led me to\nwrite a second book, called _Aspirations of Nature;_ and which has\nfor its aim to show that the truths of the Catholic faith answer\ncompletely to the demands of reason. My purpose in these two books\nwas to explain the Catholic religion in such a manner as to reach and\nattract the minds of the non-Catholics of the American people. These\nbooks were regarded in my own secret thoughts as the test whether God\nhad really given to me the grace and vocation to labor in a special\nmanner for the conversion of these people. The first book, with God's\ngrace, has been the means of many and signal conversions in the\nUnited States and England, and in a short period passed through three\neditions. The second has been published since my arrival in Rome. . .\n\n\"On an occasion of a public conference (discourse) given by me before\nan audience, a great part of which was not Catholic, the matter and\nmanner of which was taken from my second book, my fellow-missionaries\nwere present; and they as well as myself regarded this as a test\nwhether my views and sentiments were adapted to reach and convince\nthe understanding and hearts of this class of people, or were the\nmere illusions of fancy. Hitherto my fellow-missionaries had shown\nbut little sympathy with my thoughts on these points, but at the\nclose of the conference they were of one mind that my vocation was\nevidently to work in the direction of the conversion of the\nnon-Catholics, and they spoke of such a work with conviction and\nenthusiasm.\"\n\nThis last event occurred in St. Patrick's Church, Norfolk, Va., in\nApril, 1896, and is thus mentioned by Father Hewit in the record of\nthe mission: \"Father Hecker closed with an extremely eloquent and\npopular lecture on 'Popular Objections to Catholicity.'\"\n\nThe _Questions of the Soul_ was well named, for it undertakes to show\nhow the cravings of man for divine union may be satisfied. It does\nthis by discussing the problem of human destiny, affirming the need\nof God for the soul's light and for its virtue, proving this by\narguments drawn from the instincts, faculties, and achievements of\nman. The sense of want in man is the universal argument for his need\nof more than human fruition, and in the moral order is the\nirrefragable proof of both his own dignity and his incapacity to make\nhimself worthy of it. Father Hecker urged in this book that man is\nborn to be more than equal to himself--an evident proof of the need\nof a superhuman or supernatural religion. Eleven chapters, making\none-third of the volume, are devoted to showing this, and include the\nauthor's own itinerarium from his first consciousness of the supreme\nquestion of the soul until its final answer in the Catholic Church,\nembracing short accounts of the Brook Farm and Fruitlands\ncommunities, and mention of other such abortive attempts at solution.\nThree chapters then affirm and briefly develop the claim of Christ to\nbe the entire fulfilment of the soul's need for God, with the\nCatholic Church as his chosen means and instrument. These are\nentitled respectively, \"The Model Man,\" \"The Model Life,\" and \"The\nIdea of the Church.\" Three more chapters discuss Protestantism,\nstating its commonest doctrines and citing its most competent\nwitnesses in proof of its total and often admitted inadequacy to lead\nman to his destiny. Bringing the reader back to the Church, the\nfourteen last chapters fully develop her claims, dealing mostly with\nknown facts and public institutions, and citing largely the testimony\nof non-Catholic writers.\n\nIt is something like the inductive method to infer the existence of a\nGod from that of an admitted appetite, as also to learn the kind of\nfood from the nature of the organs provided by nature for its\nreception and digestion. So the longings of man's moral nature,\nFather Hecker felt, when fairly understood, must lead to the\nknowledge of what he wants for their satisfaction--the Infinite\nGood--and that by a process of reasoning something equivalent to the\nscientific. Such is the statement of his case, embracing with its\nargument the introductory chapters. The inquiry then extends to the\nclaimants in the religious world, not simply as to which is\nbiblically authentic or historically so, but rather as to which\nreligion claims to satisfy the entire human want of God and makes the\nclaim good as an actual fact. It is wonderful how this line of\nargument simplifies controversy, and no less wonderful to find how\neasily the victory is won by the Catholic claim. The reader will also\nnotice how consistent all this is with Father Hecker's own experience\nfrom the beginning.\n\nThe literary faults of the book are not a few; for if the argument is\ncompact, its details seem to have been hastily snatched up and put\ntogether, or perhaps the occupations of the missions prevented\nrevision and consultation. There is a large surplusage of quotations\nfrom poets, many of them obscure, and worthy of praise rather as\ndidactic writers than as poets; yet every word quoted bears on the\npoint under discussion. To one who has labored in preparing sermons,\neach chapter looks like the cullings of the preacher's commonplace\nbook set in order for memorizing; and very many sentences are\nrhetorically faulty. But, in spite of all these defects, the book is\na powerful one, and nothing is found to hurt clearness or strength of\nexpression. What we have criticised are only bits of bark left\nclinging to the close-jointed but rough-hewn frame-work.\n\nThe _Questions of the Soul_ was got out by the Appletons, and was at\nthe time of its publication a great success, and still remains so.\nThe reason is because the author takes nothing for granted, propounds\ndifficulties common to all non-Catholics, sceptics as well as\nprofessing Protestants, and offers solutions verifiable by inspection\nof every-day Catholicity and by evidences right at hand. Catholicity\nis the true religion, because it alone unites men to God in the\nfulness of union, supernatural and integral in inner and outer\nlife--a union demanded by the most resistless cravings of human\nnature: such is the thesis. There can be little doubt that prior to\nthis book there was nothing like its argument current in English\nliterature; a short and extremely instructive account by Frederick\nLucas of his conversion from Quakerism is the only exception known to\nus, and that but partially resembles it, is quite brief, and has long\nsince gone out of print.\n\nThe _Aspirations of Nature_ deals with intellectual difficulties in\nthe same manner as the _Questions of the Soul_ does with the moral\nones. The greatest possible emphasis is laid upon the two-fold truth\nthat man's intellectual nature is infallible in its rightful domain,\nand that that domain is too narrow for its own activity. The validity\nof human reason as far as it goes, and its failure to go far enough\nfor man's intellectual needs, are the two theses of the book. They\nare well and thoroughly proved; and no one can deny the urgent need\nof discussing them: the dignity of human nature and the necessity of\nrevelation. Like Father Hecker's first book, the _Aspirations of\nNature_ is good for all non-Catholics, because in proving the dignity\nof man's reason Protestants are brought face to face with their\nfundamental error of total depravity; enough for their case surely.\nIf they take refuge in the mitigations of modern Protestant beliefs,\nthey nearly always go to the extreme of asserting the entire\nsufficiency of the human intellect, and are here met by the argument\nfor the necessity of revelation.\n\nAn extremely valuable collection of the confessions of heathen and\ninfidel philosophers as to the insufficiency of reason is found in\nthis book, as well as a full set of quotations from Protestant\nrepresentative authorities on the subject of total depravity. Over\nagainst these the Catholic doctrine of reason and revelation is\nbrought out clearly. The study of the book would be a valuable\npreparation for the exposition of the claims of the Catholic Church\nto be the religion of humanity, natural and regenerate--the\nintellectual religion.\n\nAs might be expected from one who had such an aversion for Calvinism,\nthe view of human nature taken by the author is what some would call\noptimistic, and the tone with regard to the religious honesty of\nnon-Catholic Americans extremely hopeful. Perhaps herein was Dr.\nBrownson's reason for an adverse, or almost adverse, criticism on the\nbook in his _Review._ He had given the _Questions of the Soul_ a\nthoroughly flattering reception, and now says many things in praise\nof the _Aspirations of Nature,_ praising especially the chapter on\nindividuality. But yet he dreads that the book will be misunderstood;\nhe has no such lively hopes as the author; he trusts he is not\nrunning along with the eccentricities of theologians rather than with\ntheir common teaching; fears that he takes the possible powers of\nnature and such as are rarely seen in actual life as the common rule;\ndreads, again, that Transcendentalists will be encouraged by it; and\nmore to the same effect. But Father Hecker, before leaving for Europe\nin 1857, had submitted the manuscript to Archbishop Kenrick and\nreceived his approval; nor did Brownson's unfavorable notice ruffle\nthe ancient friendship between them.\n\nThe _Aspirations of Nature_ was put through the press by George\nRipley, at that time literary editor of the New York _Tribune,_\nFather Hecker having gone to Rome on the mission which ended in the\nestablishment of his new community. Mr. McMaster had assisted him\nsimilarly with the _Questions of the Soul._ The second book sold\nwell, as the first had done, and has had several editions. It is not\nso hot and eager in spirit as the _Questions of the Soul,_ but it\npresses its arguments earnestly enough on the reader's attention. It\nis free from the literary faults named in connection with its\npredecessor, reads smoothly, and has very many powerful passages and\nsome eloquent ones.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nSEPARATION FROM THE REDEMPTORISTS\n\nTHE events which led to the separation of the band of American\nmissionaries from the Redemptorist community took place in the spring\nand summer of 1857. A misunderstanding arose about the founding of a\nnew house in Newark, N.J., or in New York City, which should be the\nheadquarters for the English-speaking Fathers and become the centre\nof attraction for American subjects, and in which English should be\nthe language in common use. Application had been made by Bishop\nBayley, and afterwards by Archbishop Hughes, for such a foundation,\nbut superiors, both in the United States and in Rome--the latter\ndependent on letter-writing for understanding the difficulties which\narose--became suspicious of the aims of the American Fathers and of\nthe spirit which actuated them. To establish their loyalty and to\nexplain the necessity for the new foundation, the missionary Fathers\nbelieved that one of their number should go to Rome and lay the\nmatter in person before the General or Rector Major of the order. The\nchoice fell on Father Hecker, who sailed on August 5, 1857, arrived\nin Rome the 26th, and was expelled from the Congregation of the Most\nHoly Redeemer on Sunday, the 29th of the same month, the General\ndeeming his coming to Rome to be a violation of the vows of obedience\nand poverty.\n\nThe grounds of his expulsion were then examined by the Propaganda,\nfrom which the case passed to the Holy Father, who sought the\ndecision of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. Pius IX. gave\nhis judgment as a result of the examination made by the last-named\nCongregation; but he had made a personal study of all the evidence,\nand had given private audiences to both the General and Father\nHecker. It was decided that all the American Fathers associated in\nthe missionary band should be dispensed from their vows as\nRedemptorists, including Father Hecker, who was looked upon and\ntreated by the decree as if he were still as much a member of the\nCongregation as the others, his expulsion being ignored. This\nconclusion was arrived at only after seven months of deliberation,\nand was dated the 6th of March, 1898. The decree, which will be given\nentire in this chapter, contemplates the continued activity of the\nFathers as missionaries, subject to the authority of the American\nbishops; their formation into a separate society was taken for\ngranted. Such is a brief statement of the entire case. If the reader\nwill allow it to stand as a summary, what follows will serve to fill\nin the outline and complete a more detailed view.\n\nAnd at the outset let it be fully understood that none of the Fathers\ndesired separation from the order or had the faintest notion of its\npossibility as the outcome of the misunderstanding. One of the first\nletters of Father Hecker from Rome utters the passionate cry, \"They\nhave driven me out of the home of my heart and love.\" We have\nrepeatedly heard him affirm that he never had so much as a temptation\nagainst his vows as a Redemptorist. But in saying this we do not mean\nto lay blame on the Redemptorist superiors. In all that we have to\nsay on this subject we must be understood as recognizing their purity\nof intention. Their motives were love of discipline and obedience,\nwhich they considered seriously endangered. They were persuaded that\ntheir action, though severe, was necessary for the good of the entire\norder. And this shows that the difficulty was a misunderstanding, for\nthere is conclusive evidence of the loyalty of the American\nFathers--of Father Hecker no less than the others; as also of their\nfair fame as Redemptorists with both the superiors and brethren of\nthe community up to the date of their disagreement. When Father\nHecker left for Rome the Provincial gave him his written word that,\nalthough he disapproved of his journey, he bore witness to him as a\ngood Redemptorist, full of zeal for souls; and he added that up to\nthat time his superiors had been entirely satisfied with him; and to\nthe paper containing this testimony the Provincial placed the\nofficial seal of the order. On the other side, a repeated and careful\nexamination of Father Hecker's letters and memoranda reveals no\naccusation by him of moral fault against his Redemptorist superiors,\nbut on the contrary many words of favorable explanation of their\nconduct. When the Rector Major, in the midst of his council, began,\nto Father Hecker's utter amazement, to read the sentence of\nexpulsion, he fell on his knees and received the blow with bowed head\nas a visitation of God. And when, again, after prostrating himself\nbefore the Blessed Sacrament and resigning himself to the Divine\nWill, he returned to the council and begged the General on his knees\nfor a further consideration of his case, and was refused, he reports\nthat the General affirmed that his sense of duty would not allow him\nto act otherwise than he had done, and that he by no means meant to\ncondemn Father Hecker in the court of conscience, but only to\nexercise jurisdiction over his external conduct.\n\nIn truth the trouble arose mainly from the very great difference\nbetween the character of the American Fathers and that of their\nsuperiors in the order. It is nothing new or strange, to borrow\nFather Hewit's thoughts as expressed in his memoir of Father Baker,\nthat men whose characters are cast in a different mould should have\ndifferent views, and should, with the most conscientious intentions,\nbe unable to coincide in judgment or act in concert:\n\n\"There is room in the Catholic Church for every kind of religious\norganization, suiting all the varieties of mind and character and\ncircumstance. If collisions and misunderstandings often come between\nthose who have the same great end in view, this is the result of\nhuman infirmity, and only shows how imperfect and partial are human\nwisdom and human virtue.\"\n\nWhat Father Hewit adds of Father Baker's dispositions applies as well\nto all the Fathers. In ceasing to be Redemptorists, they did not\nswerve from their original purpose in becoming religious. None of\nthem had grown discontented with his state or with his superiors.\nThey were all in the full fervor of the devotional spirit of the\ncommunity, and as missionaries were generously wearing out their\nlives in the toil and hardship of its peculiar vocation. But both\nparties became the instruments of a special providence, which made\nuse of the wide diversities of temperament existing among men, and\nset apart Father Hecker and his companions, after a season of severe\ntrial, for a new apostolate. They did not choose it for themselves.\nFather Hecker had aspirations, as we know, but he did not dream of\nrealizing them through any separation whatever. But Providence led\nthe Holy See to change what had been a violent wrench into a peaceful\ndivision, exercising, in so doing, a divine authority accepted with\nequal obedience by all concerned.\n\nWhat Father Hewit further says of Father Baker applies exactly to\nFather Hecker:\n\n\"For the Congregation in which he was trained to the religious and\necclesiastical state he always retained a sincere esteem and\naffection. He did not ask the Pope for a dispensation from his vows\nin order to be relieved from a burdensome obligation, but only on the\ncondition that it seemed best to him to terminate the difficulty\nwhich had arisen that way. When the dispensation was granted he did\nnot change his life for a more easy one. . . Let no one, therefore,\nwho is disposed to yield to temptations against his vocation, and to\nabandon the religious state from weariness, tepidity, or any unworthy\nmotive, think to find any encouragement in his example; for his\naustere, self-denying, and arduous life will give him only rebuke,\nand not encouragement.\"\n\nAfter the expulsion the General begged Father Hecker to make the\nconvent his home till he was suited elsewhere, and Father Hecker,\nhaving thanked him for his kindness and stayed there that night, took\nlodgings the following day in a quiet street near the Propaganda.\nDuring the seven months of his stay in Rome he frequently visited the\nGeneral and his consultors, sometimes on business but at other times\nfrom courtesy and good feeling.\n\nHe at once presented the testimonials intended for the General to\nCardinal Barnabo, Prefect of the Propaganda, who examined them in\ncompany with Archbishop Bedini, the Secretary of that Congregation.\nAs may be imagined, the attitude of these prelates was at first one\nof extreme reserve. But every case gets a hearing in Rome, and that\nof this expelled religious, and therefore suspended priest, could be\nno exception. A glance at the credentials, a short conversation with\ntheir bearer, a closer examination of the man and of his claim,\nproduced a favorable impression and led to a determination to sift\nthe matter thoroughly. The principal letters were from Archbishop\nHughes and Bishop Bayley. The former spoke thus of Father Hecker: \"I\nhave great pleasure in recommending him as a laborious, edifying,\nzealous, and truly apostolic priest.\"\n\nSome of the letters were from prominent laymen of the City of New\nYork, including one from Mr. McMaster, another from Dr. Brownson, and\nanother from Dr. Ives; in addition he had the words of praise of the\nProvincial in America already referred to. Finally he showed letters\nfrom each of the American Fathers, one of whom, Father Hewit, was a\nmember of the Provincial Council, all joining themselves to Father\nHecker as sharing the responsibility of his journey to Rome, and\nnaming him as the representative of their cause.\n\nIt is not our purpose to trace the progress of the investigation\nthrough the Roman tribunals. We will but give such facts and such\nextracts from letters as throw light on Father Hecker's conduct\nduring this great crisis. One might be curious to know something\nabout the friends he made in Rome. The foremost of them was the\nCardinal Prefect of the Propaganda.\n\n\"The impression that Cardinal Barnabo made upon me,\" he writes in one\nof his earliest letters, \"was most unexpected; he was so quick in his\nperceptions and penetration, so candid and confiding in speaking to\nme. He was more like a father and friend; and both the cardinal and\nthe archbishop (Bedini) expressed such warm sympathy in my behalf\nthat it made me feel, . . . in a way I never felt before, the\npresence of God in those who are chosen as rulers in His Church.\"\n\nIn another letter he says:\n\n\"He (the cardinal) has been to me more than a friend; he is to me a\nfather, a counsellor, a protector. No one enjoys so high a reputation\nin every regard in Rome as the cardinal. He gives me free access to\nhim and confides in me.\"\n\nThere is much evidence, too much to quote it all, that the cardinal\nwas drawn to Father Hecker on account of his simplicity and openness\nof character, his frank manner, but especially for his bold, original\nviews of the opportunity of religion among free peoples. Cardinal\nBarnabo was noted for his sturdy temper and was what is known as a\nhard hitter, though a generous opponent as well as an earnest friend.\nHe espoused Father Hecker's cause with much heartiness; official\nintercourse soon developed into a close personal attachment, which\nlasted with unabated warmth till the strong old Roman was called to\nhis reward.\n\nFather Hecker speaks in his letters of spending time with him, not\nonly on business but in discussing questions of philosophy and\nreligious controversy, and in talking over the whole American outlook.\n\nThe cardinal became the American priest's advocate before the Pope,\nand also with the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars after the case\nreached that tribunal. \"When I heard him speak in my defence,\" he\nsaid in after times, \"I thanked God that he was not against me, for\nhe was a most imperious character when aroused, and there seemed no\nresisting him.\"\n\nArchbishop Bedini, the Secretary of the Propaganda, was another\nhearty friend. Our older readers will remember that he had paid a\nvisit to America a few years before the time we are considering, and\nthat his presence here was made the occasion for some of the more\nviolent outbreaks of the Know-nothing excitement. He knew our\ncountry personally, therefore, and was acquainted with very many of\nour clergy; his assistance to the Roman Court in this case was of\nspecial value. He became so demonstrative in his friendship for\nFather Hecker that the Pope was amused at it, and Father Hecker\nrelates in his letters home how the Holy Father rallied him about the\nwarmth of his advocacy of the American priest's cause, as did various\nmembers of the Pontifcal court.\n\nAt that time and for many years afterwards Doctor Bernard Smith, an\nIrish Benedictine monk, was Professor of Dogmatic Theology in the\nCollege of the Propaganda; he is now the honored abbot of the great\nBasilica of St. Paul without-the-walls. How Father Hecker came to\nknow the learned professor we have been unable to discover; but both\nhe and Monsignor Kirby, of the Irish College, became his firm friends\nand powerful advocates. Without Doctor Smith's advice, indeed,\nscarcely a step was taken in the case.\n\nAn unexpected ally was found in Bishop Connolly, of St. John's, New\nBrunswick. He had been robbed on his way between Civita Vecchia and\nRome, and that misfortune gave him a special claim to the regard of\nthe Pope, with whom he soon became a favorite. The Holy Father\nadmired in him that energy of character and zeal for religion which\ndistinguished him in after years as Archbishop of Halifax. On hearing\nof Father Hecker's case he studied it on account of sympathetic\ninterest in the aspects of Catholicity in the United States, part of\nhis diocese being at that time, we believe, in the State of Maine.\nHow ardent his friendship for Father Hecker soon became is shown by\nhis exclamation: \"I am ready to die for you, and I am going to tell\nthe Pope so.\" He even offered to assist Father Hecker in paying his\npersonal expenses while in Rome. In a letter to the American Fathers\nof December 18 Father Hecker writes:\n\n\"Another recent and providential event in our favor has been the\nfriendship of Bishop Connolly, of St. John's, New Brunswick. By his\nextraordinary exertions and his warm friendship for us he has\nsucceeded in giving us the vantage ground in all quarters where we\nwere not in good favor. I told you in the last note that he had\nspoken to the Holy Father in favor of our cause, but I had no time to\ngive you the substance of what was said. Bishop Connolly is a\nfull-blooded Irishman, but, fortunately for us, not implicated in any\nparty views in our country, and seeing that the Propaganda regarded\nour cause as its own and had identified itself with our success, . . .\nit being friendly to us as missionaries, he exerted all his influence\nin our favor. His influence was not slight, for the Pope had\nconceived a great friendship for him, and heaped all sorts of honors\non him. Well, he had a regular tussle with his Holiness about us and\nour cause, and when the Holy Father repeated some things said of\nme--against me, of course--he replied: 'Your Holiness, I should not\nbe at all surprised if some fine day you yourself would have to\ncanonize one of these Yankee fellows.' In one word, he left nothing\nunsaid or undone with the Pope in our favor; and the Pope suggested\nto him obtaining dispensation of our vows and forming a new company.\n'They cannot expect me,' he said, 'to take the initiatory step; this\nwould be putting the cart before the horse. Let them do this, and\npresent their plan to me, and if I find it good, it shall have my\nconsent.' . . . The bishop has also seen and won over to our favor\nMonsignor Talbot, who said to him: 'The only way now of settling the\ndifficulties is to give the American Fathers the liberty to form a\nnew company for the American missions.' In addition, the bishop wrote\na strong document in favor of our missions and of us, and presented\nit to Cardinal Barnabo, which will be handed in to the Congregation\nof Bishops and Regulars, who have our affairs in hand. . . . If this\ngood bishop should come in your way, whether by writing or otherwise,\nyou cannot be too grateful for what he has done for us. After\nCardinal Barnabo and Archbishop Bedini we owe more to him than to any\none else.\n\n\"Wind and tide are now in our favor, and my plan is to keep quiet and\nstick close to the rudder to see that the ship keeps right.\"\n\nOn his way home from Rome Bishop Connolly wrote the following letter\nto Father Hecker, dated at Marseilles, January 20, 1858:\n\n\"From the deep interest I feel in your concerns you will pardon my\ncuriosity in wishing to have the earliest intelligence of your fate\nin the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. I could wish I were near\nyou all the time, and have nothing else to attend to; but you have\ngot One more powerful than I at your right hand. Fix your hopes in\nHim and you will not be confounded. After having done everything on\nyour part that unsleeping energy as well as prudence could suggest,\nyou must take the issue, however unpalatable it may be, as the\nundoubted expression of God's will, and act (as I am sure you will\nact) accordingly. . . . You must keep steadily in view the glorious\nprinciple for which you came to Rome, and which I am convinced is for\nthe greater glory of God and the greater good of religion in America.\nIf you can start as a religious body with the approbation of Rome,\nthis would be the holiest and most auspicious consummation. . . . Be\nguided at every step by the holy and enlightened men whose sympathies\nyou have won and in whose hands you will be always safe: Cardinal\nBarnabo _in primis,_ and after him Monsignor Bedini and Doctors Kirby\nand Smith. United with them at every step, failure is impossible--you\nmust and you will succeed. . . . I am sure that you know and feel\nthis as well as I do (for we have been, marvellously of the same way\nof thinking on nearly all points), but as I feel I must write to you,\nas it may be, perchance, of some consolation to you in your troubles,\nI thought it better to say it over again. . . . If a letter or\nanything else from me could be of any service, I need not tell you\nthat I am still on hand and only anxious to be employed. (Here\nfollows his address in Paris and Liverpool.) With all good wishes for\nyour success, and with the hope of hearing the happy tidings from\nyour own hand before I leave Europe, I am, Reverend dear Sir,\n\n\"Very faithfully yours in Christ,\n\n\"+ THOMAS L. CONNOLLY,\n\n\"Bishop of St. John's, N.B.\"\n\n\nFrom what has been so far communicated to the reader, it will be seen\nthat Father Hecker's case had the strength of friendship to assist\nit. But he was himself his best advocate. His traits of character\nwere lovable, and the very incongruity of such a man forced to plead\nagainst the direst penalty known to a religious, was a singularly\nstrong argument. His cheerful demeanor while fighting for his life;\nhis puzzling questions on social and philosophical points; his\nmingled mysticism and practical judgment; his utterance of political\nsentiments which, as he truly said in one of his letters, if spoken\nby any one but an American would elicit instant reproof; his total\nlack of obsequiousness united to entire submission to lawful\nauthority, all helped to make for himself and his cause friends in\nevery direction.\n\nThe unanimous adhesion of the American Redemptorist missionaries was\na powerful element in his favor, and a priceless boon for his own\nconsolation. He was continually in receipt of such words as these:\n\"We all desire you to consider us fully identified with you and to\nact in our name.\" \"We have the utmost confidence in your discretion,\nand your conservative views are quite to our mind.\" His whole heart\nwent out in response to these greetings. On October 24 he writes to\nthe Fathers:\n\n\"The contents of your note were what I had a right to expect from\nyou: sympathy, confidence, and reliance on Divine Providence. How\nmuch these trials will endear us to each other! If we keep together\nas one man and regard only God, defeat is impossible. Do not forget\nto offer up continually prayers for me. How much I see the hand of\nProvidence in all our difficulties! And the end will, I trust, make\nit evident as the sun.\"\n\nBut where he placed his entire trust is shown by the following, a\npart of the same letter:\n\n\"Our affairs are in the hands of God. I hope no one will feel\ndiscouraged, nor fear for me. All that is needed to bring the\ninterests of God to a successful issue is grace, grace, grace; and\nthis is obtained by prayer. And if the American Fathers will only\npray and get others to pray, and not let any one have the slightest\nreason to bring a word against them in our present crisis, God will\nbe with us and help us, and Our Lady will take good care of us. So\nfar no step taken in our past need be regretted. If it were to be\ndone again it would have my consent. The blow given to me I have\nendeavored to receive with humility and in view of God. It has not\nproduced any trouble in my soul, nor made me waver in the slightest\ndegree in my confidence in God or my duty towards Him. Let us not be\nimpatient. God is with us and will lead us if we confide in Him.\"\n\nDuring his stay in Rome he corresponded regularly with his brother\nGeorge, whose ever-open purse paid all his expenses. We have also\nfound a very long letter of loving friendship from Doctor Brownson,\nconveying the profoundest sympathy. This came during the most\ncritical period of the case and gave much consolation. It called\nforth an answer equally affectionate.\n\nHe received exceedingly sympathetic letters from Fathers de Held and\nde Buggenoms. The former was at the time rector of the house in\nLiege, and wrote a letter to Cardinal Barnabo, a copy of which has\nbeen preserved, which treats most favorably of Father Hecker's\ncharacter and discusses his case at length, petitioning a decision\nwhich should reinstate him in the order.\n\nLate in November he sought an interview with Cardinal Reisach,\nholding him closely interested for two hours, conversing upon\nAmerican religious prospects and quite winning his friendship. By\nmeans of such interviews, which, at Cardinal Barnabo's suggestion, he\nsought with the chief prelates in Rome, he became widely known in the\ncity, and the state of religion in America was made a common topic of\nconversation.\n\nThe following introduces a singular phase in the case. It is from a\nletter written before the end of September, less than a month after\nhis arrival:\n\n\"My leisure moments are occupied in writing an article on the\n'Present Condition and Future Prospects of the Catholic Faith in the\nUnited States,' for the _Civilta Cattolica._ They have promised to\ntranslate and publish it.\"\n\nThe _Civilta_ is still a leading Catholic journal, the foremost\nexponent of the views of the Society of Jesus. At that time it was\nthe official organ of Pius IX., who read all its articles in the\nproofs, and it went everywhere in Catholic circles. The editors\nbecame fast friends of Father Hecker, though we are not aware that\nthey took sides in his case. His article was divided in the editing,\nand appeared in two successive numbers of the magazine. It attracted\nwide attention, being translated and printed in the chief Catholic\nperiodicals of France, Belgium, and Germany, and published by Mr.\nMcMaster in the _Freeman's Journal._ In Rome it served a good\npurpose. To some its views were startling, but its tone was fresh and\nenlivening. It undertook to show that the freest nation in the world\nwas the most inviting field for the Catholic propagandist. We suppose\nthat the author's main purpose in writing was but to invite attention\nto America, yet he so affected public opinion in Rome as to\nmaterially assist the adjustment of the difficulty pending before the\nhigh tribunals. Cardinal Barnabo was quite urgent with Father Hecker\nthat he should write more of the same kind, but either his\noccupations or his expectation of an early return home hindered his\ndoing so. As it was, he had caused himself and the American Fathers\nto be viewed by men generally through the medium of the great\nquestion of the relation of religion to the young Republic of the\nWestern World. That topic was fortunate in having him for its\nexponent. He was an object-lesson of the aspirations of enlightened\nCatholic Americans as well as an exalted type of Catholic missionary\nzeal. Very few men of discernment ever really knew Father Hecker but\nto admire him and to be ready to be persuaded by him of his\nlife-thesis: that a free man tends to be a good Catholic, and a free\nnation is the most promising field for apostolic zeal.\n\nSoon after his arrival in Rome he made the acquaintance of George L.\nBrown, an American artist of some note, and a non-Catholic. He was an\nearnest man, and Father Hecker attacked him at once on the score of\nreligion, and before December had received him into the Church. This\nevent made quite a stir in Rome. The city was always full of artists\nand their patrons, and Mr. Brown's conversion, together with the\narticles in the _Civilta,_ influenced in Father Hecker's favor many\npersons whom he could not directly reach. This was especially the\ncase with the Pope, to whose notice such matters were brought by\nArchbishop Bedini, his office enabling him to approach the Holy\nFather at short intervals. He exerted a similar influence on all the\nhigh officials of the Roman court.\n\nIn spite of all this favor the usual delays attendant upon serious\njudicial investigations oppressed Father Hecker with the heavy dread\nof \"the law's delay,\" detaining him in Rome from the first week in\nSeptember, 1857, when the case was opened in the Propaganda, till it\nwas closed by the decision of the Congregation of Bishops and\nRegulars early in the following March. Nor was the \"insolence of\noffice\" quite absent. He was once heard to tell of his having been\nsnubbed in the Pope's antechamber by some one in attendance, and\noften put aside till he was vexed with many weary hours of waiting\nand by being compelled to repeatedly return.\n\n\"I had to wait for three days,\" we read in the memoranda, \"and then\nwas reproached and scolded by the monsignor in attendance for coming\nlate. I had not come late but had been kept waiting outside, and I\ntold him so. 'You will see those hills of Albano move,' said I,\n'before I move from my purpose to see the Holy Father.' When he saw\nmy determination he changed and gave me my desired audience.\"\n\nWhen events had taken the question out of the Jurisdiction of be\nRedemptorist order and into the general court of the Catholic Church,\nits settlement was found to be difficult. The restoration of Father\nHecker by a judicial decision would not, it is plain, have left him\nand his companions in that harmonious relation so essential to their\npersonal happiness and to their success as missionaries. It was then\nsuggested that they should petition for a separate organization under\nthe Rule of St. Alphonsus approved by Benedict XIV., acting directly\nsubject to the Holy See, thus making two Redemptorist bodies in the\nUnited States, as is the case with various Franciscan communities. It\nwas also suggested that the Cisalpine, or Neapolitan Redemptorists,\nat that time an independent congregation, would gladly take the\nAmerican Fathers under their jurisdiction. The alternative was what\nafterwards took place--the dispensation of the Fathers from their\nvows, in view of their forming their own organization under direction\nof the Bishops and the Holy See. A petition praying the Holy Father\nto give them either the Rule of Benedict XIV. in the sense above\nsuggested, or their dispensations from the vows, was drawn up and\nforwarded by the Fathers remaining in America, the dispensation being\nnamed as the last resort. Father Hecker's legal case not being\ndecided, he was advised by Cardinal Barnabo to reserve his signature\nto this document for the present. It will be seen at a glance that\nthe dispensation from the vows and an entirely new departure in\ncommunity existence was more in accordance with his aspirations. But\nno aspiration was so strong in him as love of his brethren, and he\nwas fully determined not to be separated from them if he could\nprevent it.\n\nMuch delay was caused by waiting for further testimonials from\nAmerican bishops confirmatory of the good character of the Fathers\nand of the value of their labors as missionaries. Father Hecker,\nmeantime, wrote many letters to his brethren discussing the\nalternatives in question.\n\nIn one of October 24 he tells of a pilgrimage he made to Nocera, to\nthe tomb of St. Alphonsus, bearing his brethren in his heart with\nhim. He also visited the Redemptorist house there and in Naples, and\nwas quite charmed with the fathers, who were entirely willing to\nreceive the Americans into their organization, which, as the reader\nknows, was separate from that of the General in Rome. Knowing the\nmind of his brethren, and determined to take no step alone, Father\nHecker would have been content with this arrangement had it seemed\ngood to the Holy See. Meantime he tells how greatly he enjoyed his\nvisit to Nocera, how he said Mass over the holy body of the founder,\nand adds: \"Ever since I feel more consoled and supported and\nconfident.\"\n\nThe following is from a joint letter of the American Fathers dated\nNovember 17; they prefer, in case Father Hecker is not reinstated,\nbeing separated from the order and made \"immediately dependent on the\nHoly See, or the Prefect of the Propaganda, rather than anything\nelse; . . . called, for instance, 'Religious Missionaries of the\nPropaganda,' if the Holy Father would make us such. With the Rule of\nSt. Alphonsus and the same missionary privileges we now enjoy, and\nour dear Father Hecker among us again, we should feel happy and safe.\n. . . But we wait for the words of the Holy See to indicate our\ncourse.\"\n\nHis words to them are to the same effect: \"Our first effort should be\ndirected to the securing our hopes through the Transalpine\nCongregation [this means the regular Redemptorist order to which they\nthen belonged]. . . . If this is not successful, then to endeavor to\naccomplish our hopes through the Cisalpine (Neapolitan) Fathers, who\nwill be heart and soul with us and grant all our best desires. Or,\nthirdly, to obtain permission to act as a band of missionaries in our\ncountry under the protection, for the present, of some bishop. . . .\nIt is a consolation to me to see that our affairs are so far\ndeveloped and known, and our views are so identical that you can act\non your part, and write, without having to delay for information\n[from me]. You can easily imagine that it was no pleasant state for\nme to be in while in suspense about what would be the determination\nyou would come to. Thank God and Our Lady, your recent letter set\nthat all aside! The work now to be done is plain, and the greatest\ncare and prudence is to be exercised not to commit any fault, or make\nany mistake which may be to us a source of regret afterwards.\"\n\nIn another letter he says that Cardinal Barnabo spoke of the\nunpleasant relations likely to exist after his restoration to the\norder, and then continues:\n\n\"The cardinal had a long conversation with me, and he suggested\nwhether God might not desire of me a special work. I told him I would\nnot think of this while the dismission was over my head. He said, 'Of\ncourse not; for if you are a _mauvais sujet,_ as the General thinks,\nGod will surely not use you for any special mission.'\" The letter\nhere details more of the exchange of views between the cardinal and\nFather Hecker, the latter astounded to hear from this direction\nsuggestions so closely tallying with his own interior aspirations\nabout the apostolic outlook in America. \"But,\" continues the letter,\n\"you must well understand that I should not accept such a proposition\nfor myself before having asked the best counsel of men of God and\nreceived their unhesitating approval of its being God's will. There\nare holy men here, and I take counsel with them in every important\nstep; and they are religious, so that they are good judges in such\nimportant matters. . . . If God wishes to make use of us in such a\ndesign, and I can be assured of this on _competent authority,_\nwhatever it may cost, with His grace I will not shrink from it. I\ncall competent authority the approbation of good and holy men, and\none like the cardinal, who knows the country, knows all our affairs\nnow, and has every quality of mind and heart to be a competent judge\nin this important matter. Though you have made me your plenipotentiary,\nyet this is an individual affair, one we did not contemplate, one of\nthe highest import to our salvation and sanctification, and must\ndepend on God and our individual conscience.\n\n\"Even before making this proposition to you I asked advice from my\nspiritual director, and he approved of it. You may be confident that\nin every step which I take I endeavor to be actuated by the spirit of\nGod, and take every means to assure myself of it, so that hereafter\nno scruple may trouble my conscience, and God's blessing be with me\nand you also.\"\n\nHe writes thus towards the end of September: \"The more I think of our\ndifficulties the more I am inclined to believe that they may have\nbeen permitted by a good God for the very purpose of a work of this\nkind. If wise and holy men say so, and we have the approbation of the\nHoly See, is it not a mission offered to us by Divine Providence, and\nought we not cheerfully to embrace it?\"\n\nAnd on October 5: \"I hope God has inspired you with some means of\ncoming to my help. Indeed, it is a difficult position, and the best I\ncan do is to throw myself constantly on Divine Providence and be\nguided by Him. You will remember, and I hope, before this reaches\nyou, will have answered my proposition in my last note, whether or\nnot you would be willing to form an independent band of missionaries\nto be devoted to the great wants of the country. I have considered\nand reconsidered, and prayed and prayed, and in spite of my fears\nthis seems to me the direction in which _Divine Providence calls us_.\n. . . With all the difficulties, dangers, and struggles that another\n[community] movement presents before me, I feel more and more\nconvinced that it _is this that Divine Providence asks of us._ If we\nshould act in concert its success cannot be doubted--success not only\nas regards our present kind of labors, but in a variety of other ways\nwhich are open to us in our new country. . . . If you are prepared to\nmove in this direction it would be best, and indeed necessary, not\nonly to write to me your assent, but also a memorial to the\nPropaganda--to Cardinal Barnabo--stating the interests and wants of\nreligion and of the country, and then petition to be permitted to\nturn your labors in this direction. . . .\n\n\"Such a course involves the release of your obligations to the\n[Redemptorist] Congregation, and this would have to be expressed\ndistinctly in your petition, and motived by good reasons there given.\"\n\nFurther on in the same letter he adds: \"Since writing the above I\nhave had time for more reflection, and consulted with my spiritual\nadviser, and this course appears to be the one Divine Providence\npoints out.\"\n\nThis very important letter ends as follows: \"I endeavor to keep close\nto God, to keep up my confidence in His protection, and in the aid of\nOur Blessed Lady. I pray for you all; you cannot forget me in your\nprayers.\"\n\nThen follow suggestions about obtaining testimonials from the\nAmerican hierarchy for the information of the Holy See in a final\nsettlement of the entire case. The prelates who wrote, all very\nfavorably, were: Archbishops Hughes of New York, Kenrick of\nBaltimore, Purcell of Cincinnati, Bishops Bayley of Newark, Spalding\nof Louisville (both afterwards Archbishops of Baltimore), Lynch of\nCharleston, Barry of Savannah, and De Goesbriand of Burlington,\nVermont.\n\nOn October 26, while wondering what would next happen, he writes:\n\"As for my part, I do not see one step ahead, but at the same time I\nnever felt so closely embraced in the arms of Divine Providence.\" But\non the next day: \"It seems to me a great and entire change awaits\nus. . . . We are all of us young, and if we keep close and true to\nGod--and there is nothing but ourselves to prevent this--a great and\nhopeful future is at our waiting. I know you pray for me; continue to\ndo so, and believe me always your wholly devoted friend and brother\nin Jesus and Mary.\"\n\nOn November 12: \"My present impression is that neither union with the\nCisalpine Fathers nor separation as a band of [independent\nRedemptorist] missionaries in the United States will be approved of\nhere. . . . What appears to me more and more probable is that we\nshall have to start entirely upon our own basis. This is perhaps the\nbest of all, all things considered. . . . Such a movement has from\nthe beginning seemed to me _the one to which Divine Providence calls\nus,_ but I always felt timid as long as any door was left open for us\nto act in the Congregation. . . . I feel prepared to take this step\nwith you without hesitation and with great confidence, . . . I should\nhave been glad, as soon as my dismission was given, to have started\non in such a movement. But then it was my first duty to see whether\nthis work could not be accomplished by the Congregation (of the Most\nHoly Redeemer); and, besides, I was not sure, as I now am, of your\nviews being the same as mine . . . all indicates the will of Divine\nProvidence in our regard and gives me confidence. . . .\n\n\"Father Hewit's letter, confirming your readiness to share your\nfortunes with me, was most consoling and strengthening. God knows we\nseek only His interest and glory and are ready to suffer anything\nrather than offend Him. . . .\n\n\"We should take our present missions as the basis of our unity and\nactivity; at the same time not be exclusively restricted to them, but\nleave ourselves at liberty to adapt ourselves to the [religious]\nwants which may present themselves in our country. Were the question\npresented to me to restrict myself exclusively to missions, in that\ncase I should feel in conscience bound to obtain from holy men a\ndecision on the question whether God had not pointed out another\nfield for me. . . . Taking our missions and our present mode of life\nas the groundwork, the rest will have to be left to Divine\nProvidence, the character of the country, and our own spirit of faith\nand good common sense.\"\n\nIn the same letter, that of December 25, he hopes that if the Holy\nSee separates them from old affiliations they will form a society\n\"which would embody in its life what is good in the American people\nin the natural order and adapt itself to answer the great wants of\nour people in the spiritual order. I must confess to you frankly that\nthoughts of this kind do occupy my mind, and day by day they appear\nto me to come more clearly from heaven. I cannot refuse to entertain\nthem without resisting what appear to me the inspirations of God. You\nknow that these are not new opinions hastily adopted. From the\nbeginning of my Catholic life there seemed always before me, but not\ndistinctly, some such work, and it is indicated both in _Questions of\nthe Soul_ and _Aspirations of Nature._ And I cannot resist the\nthought that my present peculiar position is or may be providential\nto further some such undertaking. . . . It might be imagined that\nthese views were but a ruse of the devil to thwart our common cause\nand future prospects. To this I have only to answer that the old\nrascal has been a long time at work to reach this point. If it be he,\nI shall head him off because all that regards my personal vocation I\nshall submit to wise and holy men and obey what they tell me.\"\n\nFather Hecker had his first audience with Pius IX., after much delay,\non December 22. \"I felt,\" he said, in giving an account of it in\nafter years, \"that my trouble in Rome was the great crisis in my\nlife. I had one way of telling that I was not like Martin Luther: in\nmy inmost soul I was ready entirely ready, to submit to the judgment\nof the Church. They had made me out a rebel and a radical to the Holy\nFather, and when I saw him alone, after the usual salutations, and\nwhile on my knees, I said: 'Look at me, Holy Father; see, my\nshoulders are broad. Lay on the stripes. I will bear them. All I want\nis justice. I want you to judge my case. I will submit.' The Pope's\neyes flled with tears at these words, and his manner was very kind.\"\nThe rest of the interview is given in a letter: \"The Pope bade me\nrise and told me he was informed all about my affairs. Then he asked\nwhat was my desire. I replied that he might have the goodness to\nexamine the purpose of my coming to Rome, 'since it regarded the\nconversion of the American people, a work which the most intelligent\nand pious Catholics have at heart, among others Dr. Ives, whom you\nknow.' 'Yes,' he said; 'has his wife become a Catholic?' I replied in\nthe affirmative. 'But what can I do?' he said; 'the affair is being\nexamined by Archbishop Bizarri (Secretary of the Congregation of\nBishops and Regulars), and nothing can be done until he gives in his\nreport; then I will give my opinion and my decision.' 'Your decision,\nmost Holy Father, is God's decision, and whatever it may be willingly\nand humbly will I submit to it.' While I was making this remark his\nHoliness paid the greatest attention, and it seemed to satisfy and\nplease him. 'The American people,' he continued, 'are much engrossed\nin worldly things and in the pursuit of wealth, and these are not\nfavorable to religion; it is not I who say so, but our Lord in the\nGospel.' 'The United States, your Holiness,' I replied, 'is in its\nyouth, and, like a young father of a family occupied in furnishing\nhis house, while this is going on he must be busy; but the American\npeople do not make money to hoard it, nor are they miserly.' 'No,\nno,' he replied; 'they are willing to give when they possess riches.\nThe bishops tell me they are generous in aiding the building of\nchurches. You see,' he added, 'I know the bright side as well as the\ndark side of the Americans; but in the United States there exists a\ntoo unrestricted freedom, all the refugees and revolutionists gather\nthere and are in full liberty.' 'True, most Holy Father; but this has\na good side. Many of them, seeing in the United States that the\nChurch is self-subsisting and not necessarily connected with what\nthey call despotism, begin to regard it as a Divine institution and\nreturn to her fold.' 'Yes,' he said, 'the Church is as much at home\nin a republic as in a monarchy or aristocracy. But then, again, you\nhave the abolitionists and their opponents, who get each other by the\nhair.' 'There is also the Catholic faith, Holy Father, which if once\nknown would act on these parties like oil upon troubled waters, and\nour best-informed statesmen are becoming more and more convinced that\nCatholicity is necessary to sustain our institutions, and enable our\nyoung country to realize her great destiny. And allow me to add, most\nHoly Father, that it would be an enterprise worthy of your glorious\npontificate to set on foot the measures necessary for the beginning\nof the conversion of America.'\n\n\"On retiring he gave me his blessing, and repeated in a loud voice as\nI kneeled, 'Bravo! Bravo!'\"\n\n\"Pius IX.,\" said Father Hecker afterwards, \"was a man of the largest\nhead, of still larger heart, moved more by his impulses than by his\njudgment; but his impulses were great, noble, all-embracing.\"\n\nIt will not be out of place here to look more closely into Father\nHecker's conscience and study his motives. One might ask why he did\nnot simply submit to the infliction visited upon him by his superior\nin the order, and humbly withdraw from notice till God should find a\nway to vindicate him. But his case was not a personal one. He was in\nRome representing a body of priests and a public cause, and every\nprinciple of duty and honor required an appeal to higher authority.\nNor was vindication the chief end in view, but rather freedom to\nfollow the dictates of the Holy Spirit in accordance with Catholic\ntraditions and wholly subject to the laws and usages of the Church.\nBeyond securing exactly this he had no object whatever. On February\n19, 1858, he thus wrote to his brother George:\n\n\"But there is no use of keeping back anything. My policy has all\nalong been to have no policy, but to be frank, truthful, and have no\nfear. For my own part I will try my best to be true to the light and\ngrace given me, even though it reduces me to perfect insignificance.\nI desire nothing upon earth except to labor for the good of our\nReligion and our Country, and whatever may be the decision of our\naffairs here, my aims cannot be defeated. I feel, indeed, quite\nindifferent about the decision which may be given, so that they allow\nus freedom.\"\n\nAs illustrating Father Hecker's supernatural motives and rectitude of\nconscience the following extracts from letters to the Fathers will be\nof interest. In September, when the arrow was yet in the wound, he\nwrote:\n\n\"I have no feelings of resentment against any one of the actors [in\nthis matter]. On the contrary I could embrace them all with unfeigned\nsentiments of love. God has been exceedingly good not to let me be\neven tempted in this way.\"\n\nAgain, on December 5:\n\n\"Your repeated assurances of being united with me in our future fills\nme with consolation and courage. We may well repeat the American\nmotto, 'United we stand, divided we fall.' Never did I find myself\nmore sustained by the grace of God. How often I have heard repeated\nby acquaintances I have made here: 'Why, Father Hecker, you are the\nhappiest man in Rome!' Little do they know how many sleepless nights\nI have passed, how deeply I have suffered within three months. But\nisn't Almighty God good? It seems I never knew or felt before what it\nis to be wholly devoted to Him.\"\n\nOn December 9, after a long exposition of the need of a new religious\nmissionary institute for America:\n\n\"Considering our past training, and many other advantages which we\npossess, I cannot but believe that God will use us, provided that we\nremain faithful to Him, united together as one man, and ready to make\nany sacrifice for some such holy enterprise; and my daily prayer is\nthat the Holy Father may receive a special grace and inspiration to\nwelcome and bless such a proposition.\"\n\nWith his Christmas greetings he wrote: \"From the start I have not\nsuffered myself to repose a moment when there was anything to be done\nwhich promised help. Whatever may be the result of our affairs, this\nconsolation will be with me--I did my utmost, and everything just and\nhonorable, to deserve success. No one would believe how much I have\ngone through at Rome, but I do it cheerfully, and sometimes gaily,\nbecause I know it is the will of God.\"\n\nOn February 19, 1858: \"The experience I have made here is worth more\nthan my weight in gold. If God intends to employ us in any important\nwork in the future, such an experience was absolutely necessary for\nus. It is a novitiate on a large scale. I cannot thank God\nsufficiently for my having made it thus far without incurring by my\nconduct the displeasure or censure of any one.\"\n\nAnd a week afterwards: \"You should write often, for words of\nsympathy, hope, encouragement are much to me now in these trials,\ndifficulties, and conflicts. In all my Catholic life I have not\nexperienced oppression and anxiety of mind in such a degree as I have\nfor these ten days past.\"\n\nMarch 6: \"So far from my devotion to religion being diminished by\nrecent events, it has, thank God, greatly increased; but many other\nthings have been changed in me. On many new points my intelligence\nhas been awakened; experience has dispelled much ignorance, and on\nthe whole I hope that my faith and heart have been more purified. If\nGod spares my life to return, I hope to come back more a man, a\nbetter Catholic, and more entirely devoted to the work of God.\"\n\nThe following is from a copy of a letter to Father de Held dated\nNovember 2: \"One thing my trials have taught me, and this is the one\nthing important--to love God more. It almost seems that I did not\nknow before what it is to love Him.\"\n\nWhen it became evident that the Holy See would decide the case so as\nto make it necessary for the Fathers to form a new society, Father\nHecker did not accept even this as a final indication of Providence\nthat external circumstances had made it possible for him to realize\nhis long-cherished dreams of an American apostolate; for he was at\nliberty still to refuse. He redoubled his prayers. His pilgrimage to\nthe shrine of St. Alphonsus is already known to the reader; he caused\na novena of Masses to be said at the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual\nHelp in the Redemptorist Church in Rome; he said Mass himself at all\nthe great shrines, especially the Confession of St. Peter, the altar\nof St. Ignatius and that of St. Philip Neri; he earnestly entreated\nall his friends, old ones at home and new-found ones in Rome, to join\nwith him in his prayers for light.\n\nHe furthermore took measures to obtain the counsel of wise and holy\nmen. Every one whom he thought worthy of his confidence was asked for\nan opinion. Finally he drew up a formal document, known in this\nbiography as the Roman Statement, and already familiar by reference\nand quotation, and placed it in the hands of the three religious\nwhose names, in addition to those of Cardinal Barnabo and Archbishop\nBedini, appear at the end of the extract we make from its original\ndraft. It opens with a summary of his conversion, entrance into\nreligion, and missionary life, and embraces a full enough statement\nof the trouble with the General of the order--a matter of notoriety\nat the time in the city of Rome. He then describes his own interior\naspirations and vocation to the apostolate in America, backing up the\nauthority of that inner voice with the external testimonials of\nprelates and priests and laymen, whose letters had been procured by\nthe Propaganda as evidence in the case before the Congregation of\nBishops and Regulars.\n\n\"If God has called me,\" he continues, \"to such a work, His providence\nhas in a singular way, since my arrival at Rome, opened the door for\nme to undertake it. The object of my coming to Rome was to induce the\nGeneral to sustain and favor the extension of our missionary labors\nin the United States. It was undertaken altogether for the good of\nthe order, in the general interests of religion, and in undoubted\ngood faith. Under false impressions of my purpose, my expulsion from\nthe Congregation was decreed three days after my arrival. This was\nabout three months ago, and it was the source of the deepest\naffliction to me, and up to within a short time my greatest desire\nwas to re-enter the Congregation. At present it seems to me that\nthese things were permitted by Divine Providence in order to place me\nin the position to undertake that mission which has never ceased to\noccupy my thoughts.\"\n\nAfter some description of the state of religion in America the\nstatement concludes:\n\n\"These [American non-Catholics] require an institution which shall\nhave their conversion to the Catholic faith as its principal aim,\nwhich is free to develop itself according to the fresh wants which\nmay spring up, thus opening an attractive future to the religious\nvocations of the Catholic young men of that country.\n\n\"Regarding, therefore, my early and extensive acquaintance among my\nown people, politically, socially, religiously, with the knowledge of\ntheir peculiar wants, with their errors also; and the way in which\nGod has led me and the graces given to me; and my interior\nconvictions and the experience acquired confirming them since my\nCatholic life, and also my singular position at present--the\nquestion, in conclusion, is to know from holy, instructed, and\nexperienced men in such matters whether or not there is sufficient\nevidence of a special vocation from God for me to undertake now such\na work.\"\n\nWhat follows is placed at the bottom of the last page of the\nstatement:\n\n\"EPIPHANY, 1858, ROME.\n\n\"This document I had translated into Italian, and I gave it to\nCardinal Barnabo, Archbishop Bedini, Father Francis, Passionist--my\ndirector while in Rome--Father Gregorio, definitor, Carmelite, and\nFather Druelle, of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, and each gave\na favorable answer.\"\n\nFather Hecker often said that he was fully determined to forego the\nentire matter, go back to the Redemptorists, or drift whithersoever\nProvidence might will, if a single one of the men whom he thus\nconsulted had failed to approve him, or had so much as expressed a\ndoubt. He had inquired who were the most spiritually enlightened men\nin Rome, and had been guided to the three religious whom he had\nassociated with Cardinal Barnabo and Archbishop Bedini to assist him\nin coming to a decision.\n\nThe end came at last, and is announced in a letter of March 9, 1858:\n\n\"The Pope has spoken, and the American Fathers, including myself,\nare dispensed from their vows. The decree is not in my hands, but\nCardinal Barnabo read it to me last evening. The General is not\nmentioned in it, and no attention whatever is paid to his action in\nmy regard. The other Fathers are dispensed in view of the petition\nthey made, as the demand for separation as Redemptorists would\ndestroy the unity of the Congregation, and in the dispensation I am\nassociated with them. The Cardinal [Barnabo] is wholly content; says\nthat I must ask immediately for an audience to thank the Pope. . . .\nNow let us thank God for our success.\"\n\nOn March 11: \"We are left in entire liberty to act in the future as\nGod and our intelligence shall point the way. Let us be thankful to\nGod, humble towards each other and every one else, and more than ever\nin earnest to do the work God demands at our hands. . . . The Pope\nhad before him all the documents, yours and mine and the General's,\nand the letters from the Archbishops and Bishops of the United\nStates. Archbishop Bizarri (Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops\nand Regulars) gave him a verbal report of their contents and read\nsome of the letters. Subsequently the Pope himself examined them and\ncame to the conclusion to grant us dispensation. But there was I in\nthe way, who had not petitioned for a dispensation. And why not?\nSimply because Cardinal Barnabo would have been offended at me if I\nhad done so. . . . I could not go against the wishes of the cardinal.\nA few days after he had given me his views, and with such warmth that\nI could not act against them, he saw the Pope, who informed him of\nhis intention to give us dispensation and to set aside the decree of\nmy expulsion. On seeing the cardinal after this audience he told me\nthat I might communicate this to Archbishop Bizarri. I did so by\nnote, telling him that if the Pope set aside my expulsion and was\ndetermined to give the other American Fathers dispensation from their\nvows, in view of the circumstances which had arisen I would be\ncontent to accept my dispensation also. This note of mine was shown\nto the Pope, and hence he immediately associated me with you in the\ndispensation.\n\n\"The wording of the decree is such as to make it plain that it was\ngiven in view of your memorial, and its terms are calculated to give\na favorable impression of us. . . . Archbishop Bizarri told me\nyesterday, when I went to thank him for his part, that in it the Holy\nSee had given us its praise, and he trusted we would show ourselves\nworthy of it in the future. I rejoined that since the commencement of\nour Catholic life we had given ourselves soul and body entirely to\nthe increase of God's glory and the interests of His Church, and it\nwas our firm resolve to continue to do so to the end of our lives. He\nwas quite gratified with our contentment with the decision, for I\nspoke, as I always have done, in your name as well as my own.\n\n\"But whom do you think I met in his antechamber? The General [of the\nRedemptorists]. When he came in and got seated I immediately went\nacross the room and reached out my hand to him, and we shook hands\nand sat down beside each other. . . . In the course of the\nconversation he inquired what we intended to do in the future. My\nreply was that we had been guided by God's providence in the past and\nwe looked to Him for guidance in our future. . . . As to my return\n[home], the cardinal says I must not think of departing till after\nEaster. Indeed, I see that before I can obtain an audience to thank\nthe Holy Father it will be hard on to Easter. If there be a few days\nintervening I will go to Our Lady of Loretto to invoke her aid in our\nbehalf and for her protection over us as a body and over each one in\nparticular. In May, earlier or later in the month, with God's\nblessing and your prayers, I hope to be with you.\n\n\"The decree, which places us, according to the Canons, under the\nauthority of the Bishops, you will, of course, understand, does not\nin any way make us parish priests. The Pope could not tell us in it\nto commence another congregation, although this is what he, and\nCardinal Barnabo, and Archbishop Bedini, and others, expect from us.\nHe [the Pope] said that for him to tell us so [officially] would be\nputting the cart before the horse. These are his words.\"\n\nOn March 18: \"It is customary here, before giving dispensation of\nvows to religious, to require them to show their admission into a\ndiocese. As this was not required in our case, we are consequently at\nliberty now to choose any bishop we please who will receive us.\n'Choose your bishop, inform him of your intentions, and if he\napproves, arrange your conditions with him.' These are the cardinal's\nwords, and both he and Archbishop Bedini suggested New York. . . . My\ntrip to Loretto has come to naught, as I can find no one to accompany\nme, and then my health, I fear, will not bear so much fatigue, I\nshall come back with some gray hairs; I thought to pull them all out\nbefore my return, but on looking this morning with that intention I\nfound them _too many._ However, that is only on the outside; within\nall is right--young, fresh, and full of courage, and ready to fight\nthe good fight.\"\n\nThe following is a memorandum of his second audience with Pius IX.:\n\n\"Yesterday, the 16th of March, the Pope accorded me an audience, and\non my entering his room he repeated my name, gave me his blessing,\nand after I had kissed his ring he told me to rise, and said: 'At\nlength your affairs are determined. We have many causes to decide,\nand each must have its turn; yours came finally, and now you have our\ndecision.' 'True,' I replied, 'and your decision gives me great\nsatisfaction, and it appears to me that it should be satisfactory to\nall concerned.' 'I found you,' he rejoined, 'like Abraham and Lot,\nand (making a motion with his hand) I told one to take this, the\nother that direction.' 'For my part,' I said, 'I look upon the\ndecision as providential, as I sought no personal triumph over the\nGeneral, but entertain every sentiment of charity towards him, and\nevery one of my former religious brethren.' This remark appeared to\nmove the Pope, and I continued: 'I thought of your Holiness' decision\nin the holy Mass of this morning, when in the Gospel our Lord reminds\nus not to decide according to the appearances of things, but render a\njust judgment; and such is the one you have given, and for our part\nwe trust that you will receive in the future consolation and joy\n[from our conduct].' 'As you petitioned,' he said, 'with the other\nFathers as one of the Congregation, in giving you dispensation I\nconsidered you a member of the Congregation.' 'So I understood it,'\nwas my reply; 'and as a [private] person I felt no inclination to\ndefend my character, but as a priest I felt it to be my duty; and in\nthis regard your Holiness has done all that I have desired.' 'But you\nintend to remain,' he inquired, 'together in community?' 'Most\nassuredly, your Holiness; our intention is to live and work as we\nhave hitherto done. But there are many [spiritual] privileges\nattached to the work of the missions very necessary to their success,\nand which we would gladly participate in.' 'Well, well,' he answered,\n'organize, begin your work, and then demand them, and I will grant\nthem to you. The Americans, however, are very much engrossed in\nmaterial pursuits.' 'True, Holy Father,' I replied, 'but the faith is\nthere. We five missionaries are Americans, and were like the others,\nbut you see the grace of God has withdrawn us from these things and\nmoved us to consecrate ourselves wholly to God and His Church, and we\nhope it will do the same for many of our countrymen. And once our\ncountrymen are Catholics, we hope they will do great things for God's\nChurch and His glory, for they have enthusiasm.' 'Yes, yes,' he\nrejoined, 'it would be a great consolation to me.' I asked him if he\nwould grant me a plenary indulgence for my brethren and my friends in\nthe United States. 'Well,' he said, 'but I must have a rescript.' 'I\nhave one with me which perhaps will do,' I answered. Looking over it,\nhe made some alterations and signed it. I knelt down at his feet and\nbegged him to give me a large blessing before my departure, in order\nthat I might become a great missionary in the United States--which he\ngave me most cordially, and I retired.\n\n\"His manner was very affectionate, and in the course of the\nconversation he called me _'caro mio'_ and _'figlio mio'_ several\ntimes. We could not desire to leave a more favorable impression than\nexists here in regard to us and our part in the recent transaction,\nand we have the sympathy of the Pope and the Propaganda. Rome will\nwithhold nothing from us if we prove worthy of its confidence, and\nwill hail our success with true joy. I look upon this settlement of\nour difficulties as the work of Divine Providence, and my prayer is\nthat it may make me humble, modest, and renew my desire to consecrate\nmyself wholly to God's designs.\"\n\nHe writes to the Fathers, March 27: \"The seven months passed here in\nRome seem to me an age; and have taxed me to that extent that I look\nforward to home as a place of rest and repose. When I think of the\nfears, anxieties, and labors undergone I say to myself--enough for\nthis time. On the other hand, when I remember the warm and\ndisinterested friends God has given us on account of these\ndifficulties, and the happy issue to which His providence has\nconducted them, my heart is full of gratitude and joy. To me the\nfuture looks bright, hopeful, full of promise, and I feel confident\nin God's providence, and assured of His grace in our regard. I feel\nlike raising up the cross as our standard and adopting one word as\nour motto--CONQUER!\n\n\"I have just received the documents for you to give the Papal\nbenediction at the missions, and will send them. A letter reached\nhere this week from the Bishop of Burlington, Vt., and it is strongly\nin our favor; it concludes by saying that all that we required to\nmake us a religious Congregation was the special blessing of the Holy\nFather.\"\n\nAgain, on April 3: \"Monsignor Bedini asked of the Pope the special\nbenediction that Bishop De Goesbriand suggested, and he replied: 'Did\nI not give it to Pere Hecker, and through him to his brethren, when\nhe was here?' 'But,' answered Monsignor Bedini, 'give them this\nbenediction this time on the request of the bishop.' And he answered:\n'It is well; I do.' So there is a special blessing from the Holy\nFather in view of our forming a religious body. Indeed, that is so\nwell understood here that several have inquired what name we intend\nto adopt, etc. Of course to all such questions my answer is: 'I can\nsay nothing; the future is in God's hands, and we intend to follow\nHis providence.' . . .\n\n\"Good Cardinal Barnabo looks upon us with a paternal regard, and when\nI expressed in your name how warmly we returned his affection, and\nwhat a deep gratitude we owed him, he was deeply moved, and replied\nthat he did not deserve such sentiments, and that he had only done\njustice. Since the settlement of our affairs I have let no occasion\npass to express our gratitude to those who have befriended us; and as\nfor Cardinal Barnabo, Monsignor Bedini, Bishop Connolly, and Doctor\nBernard Smith, Benedictine monk, they should be put at the head of\nthe list of our spiritual benefactors and remembered in all our\nprayers. Now that we are a body, I would advise this to be done at\nonce. The Holy Father stands No. 1; that is understood.\n\n\"How much I have to relate to you on my return! Many things I did not\nventure to write down on paper, and many I can communicate to no one\nelse but you. How great is my desire to see you!--it seems that I\nhave no other.\n\n\"I have taken passage for Marseilles on Tuesday after Easter, the 6th\nof April, and intend to take passage on the _Vanderbilt,_ which\nleaves Havre on the 28th. . . . I saw the General on Tuesday of this\nweek, to take leave of him. After some conversation we left in good\nfeeling, promising to pray _pro invicem._ God bless him!\"\n\nBefore leaving Paris Father Hecker received extremely affectionate\nletters of congratulation from his old friends, Fathers de Held and\nde Buggenoms.\n\nThe following is the decree of the Congregation of Bishops and\nRegulars:\n\n\"Certain priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in the\nUnited States of North America recently presented their most humble\npetition to our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX., that in view of certain\nspecial reasons he would grant that they might be withdrawn from the\nauthority and jurisdiction of the Rector Major and be governed by a\nsuperior of their own, immediately subject to the Apostolic See, and\naccording to the [Redemptorist] Rule approved by Benedict XIV., of\nholy memory. If, however, this should not be granted to them, they\nmost humbly asked for dispensation from their vows in the said\nCongregation. After having carefully considered the matter, it\nappeared to his Holiness that a separation of this kind would be\nprejudicial to the unity of the Congregation and by no means accord\nwith the Institute of St. Alphonsus, and therefore should not be\npermitted. Since, however, it was represented to his Holiness that\nthe petitioners spare no labor in the prosecution of the holy\nmissions, in the conversion of souls, and in the dissemination of\nChristian doctrine, and are for this reason commended by many\nbishops, it seemed more expedient to his Holiness to withdraw them\nfrom the said Congregation, that they might apply themselves to the\nprosecution of the works of the sacred ministry under the direction\nof the local bishops. Wherefore his Holiness by the tenor of this\ndecree, and by his Apostolic authority, does dispense from their\nsimple vows and from that of permanence in the Congregation the said\npriests, viz.: Clarence Walworth, Augustine Hewit, George Deshon, and\nFrancis Baker, together with the priest Isaac Hecker, who has joined\nhimself to their petition in respect to dispensation from the vows,\nand declares them to be dispensed and entirely released, so that they\nno longer belong to the said Congregation. And his Holiness\nconfidently trusts that under the direction and jurisdiction of the\nlocal bishops, according to the prescription of the sacred Canons,\nthe above-mentioned priests will labor by work, example, and word in\nthe vineyard of the Lord, and give themselves with alacrity to the\neternal salvation of souls, and promote with all their power the\nsanctification of their neighbor.\n\n\"Given at Rome, in the office of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops\nand Regulars, the 6th day of March, 1858.\n\n\"[L. S.] G. CARDINAL DELLA GENGA, Prefect.\n\n\"A., ARCHBISHOP OF PHILIPPI, Secretary.\"*\n\n[* Nuper nonnulli ex Presbyteris Congregationis SSmi Redemptoris in\nprovinciis Americae Septentrionalis foederatis existentibus SSmum D.\nN. Pium PP. IX., supplici prece deprecabantur, ut eis ob speciales\ncircumstantias concederet ab auctoritate et jurisdictione Rectoris\nMajoris subtrahi, ac a proprio Superiore Apostolicae Sedi immediate\nsubjecto juxta regulam a Benedicto XIV., sanctae memoriae, approbatam\ngubernari. Quod ad id eis datum non esset, dispensationem a votis in\ndicta Congregatione emissis, humillime expostulabant. Re sedulo\nperpensa, Sanctitas Sua existimavit hujusmodi separationem unitati\nCongregationis officere, et S. Alphonsi instituto minime respondere\nideoque haud permittendum esse. Cum autem relatum sit oratores nulli\nlabore parcere in sacris expeditionibus peragendis, et in proximorum\nconversione, Christianaque institutione curanda, et idcirco a\npluribus Antistibus commendentur, visum est SSmo Domino magis\nexpedire eos a praefata Congregatione eximi, ut in sacri ministerii\nopera promovenda sub directione Antistitum locorum incumbere possint.\nQuapropter Sanctitas Sua presbyteros Clarentium Walworth, Augustinum\nHewit, Georgium Deshon, et Franciscum Baker, una cum presbytero Isaac\nHecker, qui eorumdem postulationibus quoad dispensationem a votis\nadhaesit, a votis simplicibus, etiam permanentiae in Congregatione SSmi\nRedemptoris emissis, hujus Decreti tenore, Apostolica auctoritate\ndispensat, et dispensatos, ac prorsus solutos esse declarat, ita ut\nad eamdem Congregationem amplius non pertineant. Confidit vero\nSanctitas Sua memoratos Presbyteros, qua opere, qua exemplo, qua\nsermone, in vinea Domini sub directione et jurisdictione Antistitum\nlocorum, ad praescriptum SS. Canonum adlaboraturos, ut aeternam\nanimarum salutem alacriter curent, atque proximorum sanctificationem\npro viribus promoveant.\n\nDatum Romae, ex Secretaria Sacrae Congregationis Episcoporum et\nRegularium, Die 6 Martii, 1858.\n\n[L. + S.] G. CARDINAL DELLA GENGA, Praef.\n\nA., ARCHIEPISCOPUS PHILIPPEN, Sec.]\n\nNOTE.--I wish to add to this, that the relations between the\nRedemptorists and Paulists are, and I trust will continue to be, most\namicable.\n\nAUG. F. HEWIT, C.S.P., Superior.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nBEGINNINGS OF THE PAULIST COMMUNITY\n\nDURING the seven months of Father Hecker's stay in Rome the band of\nAmerican missionaries were busily occupied. Missions were given in\nthe following order: Newark, N.J.; Poughkeepsie, Cold Spring on the\nHudson, and Utica, N.Y.; Brandywine, Del.; Trenton, N.J.; Burlington,\nBrandon, East and West Rutland, Vt., and Plattsburgh, Saratoga, and\nLittle Falls, N.Y. All these labors were undertaken subject to the\nauthority of the Redemptorist Provincial and in a spirit of entire\nobedience. The mission at Little Falls closed on Palm Sunday, March\n28, and the missionaries, with the exception of Father Baker, who was\nsent to Annapolis, Md., returned to the Redemptorist house in Third\nStreet, New York. On the Tuesday after Easter, April 6, 1858, the\nofficial copy of the Pope's decision reached them, and they bade\nfarewell to their Redemptorist brethren and to the community in which\nthey had spent so many happy years, and witnessed, as Father Hewit\nhas written, \"so many edifying examples of high virtue and devoted\nzeal, to enter upon a new and untried undertaking.\"\n\nArchbishop Kenrick, as soon as he heard of this, made a determined\neffort to secure Father Baker for the diocese of Baltimore, but the\nlatter never for a moment faltered in his purpose to cast his lot\nwith his brethren, and the archbishop gave up his claim upon him at\nthe request of Cardinal Barnabo.\n\nTheir engagements called for two more missions before the season\nended--one at Watertown, N.Y., and the other at St. Bridget's Church,\nNew York City. The first of these opened on the 18th of April, and\nwhile waiting for that date the Fathers lived with Mr. George Hecker\nin Rutger's Place, saying Mass in his private chapel and following\ntheir religious rule as far as circumstances allowed, continuing\nmeantime to obey Father Walworth, their former superior of the\nmissions. They journeyed to Watertown, fearful lest the faculties for\ngiving the Papal blessing and the mission indulgences should not\narrive there in time. But late on Saturday night, April 19, they were\nreceived, much to the joy of the Fathers.\n\nHere occurred a noteworthy coincidence. Watertown was at that time in\nthe diocese of Albany, of which Bishop McCloskey was then the\nordinary. He had received Father Hecker into the Church and had been\nhis first guide in the spiritual life, and now he was the first to\npublicly welcome his brethren at the beginning of their new career.\nThe following is from a letter of his to Father Walworth in answer to\none announcing the recent changes:\n\n\"I am happy to hear that your difficulties have at length received\ntheir solution, and in a manner, I presume, as satisfactory as you\ncould well expect. The future must now in great measure depend upon\nyourselves. You will, of course, have difficulties to surmount and\nprejudices to encounter, but I trust that with God's blessing your\nnew community when once organized will continue from day to day to\ngain increased stability and strength, and be enabled to carry out\nsuccessfully all its laudable aims for the good of our holy religion.\nThe faculties already given you in this diocese you will not consider\nas being withdrawn by the act of your separation from the\nRedemptorist order, and there is nothing that I know of to interfere\nwith your proposed mission in Watertown.\"\n\nDuring the mission at St. Bridget's--that is, in the first half of\nthe month of May--Father Hecker arrived in New York and measures were\nat once taken for the practical organization of the new community.\nNothing was done hurriedly; a fair and full consideration of all\nquestions from every point of view, which lasted until early in the\nmonth of July, enabled each one clearly to understand his new\nrelation in its every aspect. Father Walworth not being entirely in\nagreement with the others, withdrew to the diocese of Albany and took\ncharge of a parish; he returned again in 1861, remaining with the\ncommunity till 1865, when his health becoming quite shattered, he\nreluctantly decided to withdraw altogether. It need hardly be said\nthat the relations between him and the community have always been\nmost cordial. Meantime the others, Fathers Hecker, Hewit, Deshon, and\nBaker, organized by electing the first-named the Superior, and drew\nup and signed what was termed a Programme of Rule. This was submitted\nto Archbishop Hughes and by him approved and signed on July 7, 1858.\nThe Apostle of the Gentiles was chosen as patron, and the name\nselected was, The Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle, which\nhas been popularized into Paulists. The habit agreed upon was in form\nsomewhat like that of the students of the Propaganda in Rome, black\nthroughout, with a narrow linen collar and buttoned across the\nbreast, being held at the waist by a cincture.\n\nThe Programme of Rule adopts an order of spiritual exercises similar\nto that observed by the Fathers while Redemptorists. A perpetual\nvoluntary agreement takes the place of the vows as the security of\nstability, the members affirming that they are fully determined to\npromote their sanctification by leading a life in all essential\nrespects similar to that led in the religious orders. Besides the\nchastity imposed upon them by the priesthood the other evangelical\ncounsels of obedience and poverty are adopted and their observance\nenjoined upon the members, together with the daily and periodical\nexercises of community life. As to the external vocation, the\nmissions are named as the basis of general apostolic labors, and\nparish work also, though in a subordinate degree. The entire document\nlooks forward to a complete Rule to be drawn up and submitted to the\nHoly See at a future day, for which it actually furnished the\noutlines some twenty years afterwards. The approval of the Programme\nof a Rule by the Archbishop of New York gave the Fathers the\ncanonical status anticipated by the decree _Nuper nonnulli._ This was\nconfirmed by an official permission of the Holy See to the Archbishop\nof New York to establish the Paulist Institute in his diocese, with\nthe consent of his suffragans, which was asked for and obtained.\n\nA little more than a fortnight after these events Father Hecker wrote\nas follows to a friend:\n\n\"Before leaving Rome our Holy Father Pius IX. gave us his special\nblessing for the commencement of our new organization, promised us\nany privileges we might need to carry on our missionary labors, and\nheld out the hope of his sanction, in proper time, of the rules which\nwe might make. In my last visit to his Eminence Cardinal Barnabo he\ngave me advice how to organize, what steps were to be taken from time\nto time, and expressed a most lively interest in our undertaking. The\nsame did Monsignor Bedini. On my return we organized as advised,\nwrote out an outline of our new institution and submitted it to the\nordinary of this diocese, the initiatory step of all such\nundertakings. He gave it his cordial approbation, and said that he\nfound no word to alter, to add, or improve. Thus we are so far\nregularly canonically instituted.\n\n\"Our aim is to lead a strict religious life in community, starting\nwith the voluntary principle; leaving the question of vows to further\nexperience, counsel, and indications of Divine Providence. Our\nprincipal work is the missions, such as we have hitherto given, but\nwe are not excluded from other apostolic labors as the wants of the\nChurch may demand or develop. . . . We begin early this fall our\ncampaign of missions, and we never had before us so fine a list. One\nthing I may say, and I trust without boasting, we are of one mind and\nheart, resolved to labor and die for Jesus Christ, for the good of\nHis holy Church, for the advancement of the Catholic faith. We have\nthe encouragement of a number of bishops, and also, we trust, the\nprayers, sympathy, and assistance of the faithful. We shall have to\nface obstacles, opposition from friends and foes; but if we are the\nright kind of men and have the virtues which such a position as ours\ndemands, our trials will only strengthen us and make us the better\nChristians. Every good work must expect opposition from pious men,\nand our minds are made up to that.\"\n\nAfter St. Bridget's mission the little community found itself\nhomeless, and it remained so till the spring of the year 1859. But\nduring part of this period Mr. George Hecker, taking his family to\nthe country, gave up his whole house to the Fathers, servants and\nall, making provision for the supply of every want in the most\ngenerous manner. For the greater portion of the time, however,\nespecially between missions in the winter and spring of 1858-9, the\nFathers depended for temporary shelter upon the hospitality of\nfriends among the clergy and laity, even lodging for a short while in\na respectable boarding-house in Thirteenth street, at a convenient\ndistance from several churches and chapels where Mass could be said\ndaily.\n\nBut in the spring of 1858 arrangements had been made with Archbishop\nHughes for establishing a house and parish in New York. The present\nsite of St. Paul's Church and convent, then in the midst of a\nsuburban wilderness, was chosen, and, by dint of hasty collections\nfrom private friends and with the help of a very large gift from Mr.\nGeorge Hecker, money enough was paid down to obtain the deeds.\nSixtieth Street was not quite opened at the time, and this part of\nNinth Avenue existed only on paper; but by energetic efforts made by\nall the Fathers and their friends, and by personal appeals in every\ndirection, especially in the down-town parishes in which they had\ngiven missions, sufficient funds were raised to clear the ground and\nlay the foundations of a building which was to include both convent\nand church. Early in the summer of 1858 circulars asking assistance\nhad been sent out to the clergy of the United States, and by this\nmeans also a considerable amount was secured, the very first answer\nwith a handsome donation coming from Father Early, President of\nGeorgetown College. In the spring of 1859 the Fathers rented a frame\nhouse on Sixtieth Street, just west of Broadway, fitted up a little\nchapel in it, and lived there in community till the new house was\nfinished.\n\nThe corner-stone of the new structure was laid by Archbishop Hughes\non Trinity Sunday, June 19, 1859, in the presence of an immense\nconcourse of people. During that summer and fall every effort was\nmade to keep the builders at work. The task was no easy one. The\ntimes were hard, the country still suffering from the effects of the\nfinancial crisis of 1857, the financial depression being aggravated\nby the ominous outlook in the political world. But the house was\nfinally completed, and was blessed by Father Hecker on the 24th of\nNovember, the feast of St. John of the Cross, one of his very special\npatrons. This was within a few weeks of his fortieth birthday. On the\n27th of the same month, the first Sunday of Advent, the chapel was\nblessed and Solemn Mass was celebrated in it. Thereafter the Fathers\nhad to act as parish priests as well as missionaries. A few weeks\nbefore this the first recruit joined the little band in the person of\nFather Robert Beverly Tillotson, a convert, who, though an American,\nhad been for some time a member of Dr. Newman's Oratory. He was a\ncharming preacher and a noble character, much beloved by all the\nfathers, and especially by Father Hecker. He died, deeply mourned, in\nthe summer of 1868, having given the community nine years of most\nvaluable service. He came just in time to set free three of the\nFathers for missionary duty, the other two remaining in care of the\nparish. This was at first small enough in numbers, though in\nterritory it reached from Fifty-second Street to very near\nManhattanville. The accession of Father Alfred Young, of the diocese\nof Newark, and the return of Father Walworth considerably relieved\nthe pressure, though the rapid growth of the parish and the widening\nscope of the community's labors kept every one busy enough.\n\nThe newly-founded Paulist community was heartily welcomed by both\nclergy and people. Missions were given in various parts of the\ncountry, applications being often declined for want of time and\nmissionaries. Several prelates, among whom were the Archbishops of\nBaltimore and Cincinnati, wrote to Father Hecker offering to\nestablish the community in their dioceses; Bishop Bayley, of Newark,\nalso wished to secure the Fathers, and he was especially urgent in\nhis request. One has but to know the intensely conservative spirit of\nthe Catholic hierarchy and clergy to appreciate how stainless must\nhave been the record of the Fathers to elicit such testimonials of\ngood-will just after they had fought a hard battle on the ground of\nauthority and obedience. As to the Catholic laity, the following\nextract from a letter of the poet George H. Miles, whose early death\nsome years after was so deeply lamented, shows how they regarded the\nnew community. It was written from Baltimore under date of August 13,\n1858:\n\n\"MY VERY DEAR FATHER HECKER: . . . Since we last parted you have been\nto me one of those grand, good memories we take to heart and cherish.\nI have loved you better than you could believe, for I felt that in\nthe extremity of sorrow or temptation you were the man and the priest\nI would have recourse to, could my own wish be granted. You are not\nwrong in considering me a friend; that is, if much love may atone for\nlittle power to befriend. . . . _Providentially,_ it now appears, you\nmen have always had an individual force that detached you completely\nfrom your _confreres._ To me and to the multitudes you were never\nRedemptorists, never Liguorians, but Hecker, Walworth, Hewit, Deshon,\nBaker. I mean to utter nothing disrespectful to the society which has\nblessed this nation in training and developing you and your new body\nof preachers, but I maintain that you stood so completely apart from\nthat society, so absolutely individualized, that, etc.\"\n\nThe three years following Father Hecker's return from Rome were\nexceedingly active ones. The missions were maintained, money\ncollected for the purchase of the property and the building of the\nconvent at the corner of Fifty-ninth Street and Ninth Avenue, and,\nafter the opening of the new church in November, 1859, the regular\nduties of a city parish were added.\n\n\"I am hard at work,\" writes Father Hecker to a friend, in the very\nmidst of these labors, \"in soliciting subscriptions for our convent\nand temporary church. I have worked hard in my life, but this is\nabout the hardest. However, it goes. I had, a couple of weeks ago, a\ndonation of $200 from a Protestant. Yesterday a subscription of $90\nfrom another. _Sursum Corda_ and go ahead, is my cry!\" And, indeed,\nhe was full of courage and conscience in the future, all his letters\nbreathing a cheerful spirit.\n\nBefore giving Father Hecker's principles for community life, which we\nwill do in the next chapter, it may be well to say a few words more\nabout the attitude in which he and his companions had been placed, by\nthe action of the Holy See, toward the Catholic idea of authority.\n\nJust as he was about to sail for America he wrote to his brother\nGeorge: \"I return from Rome with my enthusiasm unchilled and my\nresolution to labor for the conversion of our people intensified and\nstrengthened. I feel that the knowledge and experience which I have\nacquired are most necessary for the American Fathers in their present\ndelicate position.\" And in truth his stay in Rome had prepared him\nfor the new responsibilities in store for him. His sufferings there\nhad purified his motives, his humiliations and his anguish had taught\nhim the need of reliance, total and loving, on Divine Providence. He\nhad studied authority in its chief seat, and he had done so with the\ndepth of impression which a man on trial for his life experiences of\nthe power of the advocates and the dignity of the judges. The result\nof that trial was of infinite benefit. The test of genuine liberty is\nits consonance with lawful authority, and in Father Hecker's case the\nnewest liberty had been roughly arraigned before the most venerable\nauthority known among men, tried by fire, and sent forth with Rome's\nbroad seal of approval.\n\nWithout doubt the chief endeavor of authority should be to win the\nallegiance of free and aspiring spirits; but, on the other hand, no\none should be so firmly convinced of the rights of the external order\nof God as the man who is called to minister to the aspirations of\nhuman liberty.\n\nNo man ought to be so vividly conscious of the prerogatives of\nauthority as he who lays claim to a vocation to extol the worth of\nliberty. It was, therefore, fitting that Father Hecker should learn\nhis lesson of the prerogatives of the visible Church from that\nteacher who has no master among men. At the same time Rome sent forth\nin the person of Father Hecker a living and powerful argument\naddressed to this Republic, that the Catholic Church is worthy of the\nheartiest allegiance of our citizens.\n\nThis providential aspect of the case should not be forgotten. When\nFather Hecker had been expelled from the Redemptorists it might have\nbeen thought that he was done for, and that if he had ever had a\nmission it had suffered total shipwreck, whether deserved or not. But\nin reality the very reverse was the truth. The disgrace of expulsion,\nthe sudden horror of being thus cast out, a calamity which set him\nforth to all Catholics as a ruined priest, had but served to bring\nhim into the notice of the supreme authority of the Church. And when\nin this God had wrought all His work His servant was purified within\nand mightily strengthened without. In his inmost soul he was\nconscious of his divine mission with a deeper certitude than ever\nbefore; and as he began his apostolate he bore on his arm the buckler\nof Rome, against which all the darts of enemies, if any should arise,\nwould strike harmless and fall to the ground.\n\nIt was fitting that the Paulist community, appealing to the men and\nwomen of to-day with the credentials as well of their own individual\nindependence as of the good will of the Pope and the Bishops, should\nbe launched into existence from the very deck of Peter's bark, and\nfurnished with all the testimonials of ecclesiastical authority short\nof canonical sanction. This was the more proper because, in a few\nyears after the beginning of the community, European revolutionists\nwere to be scourged with the Syllabus, whose every word agonized the\nsouls of unworthy advocates of liberty. That Pontifical document has\ncreated a literature of its own in comment and explanation, some\ntying more knots in every lash and others mitigating its severity or\npalliating the errors it smote with such pitiless rigor. But the best\ninterpretation of the Syllabus is the Paulist community. It is a body\nof free men whose origin was the joint result of the personal\nworkings of the Holy Spirit in the soul of a man who loved civil and\npolitical freedom with a mighty love, and the decision of the highest\ncourt of Catholicity declaring him worthy of trust as an exponent of\nthe Christian faith. If the Syllabus shows what the Church thinks of\nthose who in the guise of freemen are conspirators against religion\nand public order, the approval of the Paulist community shows the\nChurch's attitude towards men worthy to be free.\n\nNor was Rome's course chosen without weighing the consequences,\nwithout a full estimate of the public significance of the act. Father\nHecker's adversaries fixed upon him every stigma of radicalism and\nrebellion possible in a good but deluded priest. For seven long\nmonths they poured into ears which instinctively feared revolt in the\nname of liberty, every accusation his doings and sayings could be\nmade to give color to, in order to prove that he and the American\nFathers were tainted with false liberalism. And he seemed to lend\nhimself to their purpose. His guileless tongue spoke to the\ncardinals, prelates, and professors of Rome about nothing so much as\nfreedom, and its kinship with Catholicity. He seemed to have no\nrefuge but the disclosure of the very secrets of his soul. During\nthose months of incessant accusation and defence Father Hecker talked\nRome's high dignitaries into full knowledge of himself, until they\nsaw the cause mirrored in the man and gave approval to both. Some,\nlike Barnabo, were actuated by the quick sympathy of free natures;\nothers, like Pius IX., arrived at a decision by the slower processes\nof the removal of prejudice from an honest mind, and the careful\ncomparing of Father Hecker's principles with the fundamental truths\nof religion.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nFATHER HECKER'S IDEA OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY\n\nTHE beginnings of the Paulist community having been sketched, it is\nnow in order to state the principles with which Father Hecker, guided\nno less by supernatural intuition than by enlightened reason,\nintended it should be inspired; and this shall be done as nearly as\npossible in his own words. The following sentences, found in one of\nhis diaries and quoted some chapters back, embody what may be deemed\nhis ultimate principle:\n\n\"It is for this we are created: that we may give a new and individual\nexpression of the absolute in our own peculiar character. As soon as\nthe new is but the re-expression of the old, God ceases to live. Ever\nthe mystery is revealed in each new birth; so must it be to eternity.\nThe Eternal-Absolute is ever creating new forms of expressing itself.\"\n\nWhat the new order of things was to be in the spiritual life could be\nlearned, Father Hecker held, by observing men's strivings after\nnatural good. The tendencies which shape men's efforts to secure\nhappiness in this world, in so far as they are innocent, indicated to\nhim what choice of means should be made to propagate the knowledge\nand love of God. According to this, the most successful worker for a\npeople's sanctification will be kindred to them by conviction and by\nsympathy in all that concerns their political and social life. Men's\naspirations in the natural order point out the highway of God's\nrepresentatives. As these aspirations change from era to era, so do\nthe main lines of religious effort change, the highways of one age\nbecoming the byways of another. It is true that no method for the\nelevation of human nature to divine union, which the Church has\nsanctioned, ever becomes quite obsolete, but the merest glance at the\ndifferences between the spiritual characteristics of the martyrs, the\nhermits, the monks, the friars, shows that one form of the Christian\nvirtues succeeds another in general possession of men's souls. The\nnew spirit, without crowding the old one off its beaten track,\nfollows men to the new ways whither the providence of God in the\nnatural order has led them. \"First the natural man,\" says St. Paul,\n\"and then the spiritual.\" Different types of spirituality are brought\nforward by Almighty God to sanctify men in new conditions of life.\nAmong the foremost of these are religious communities of men and\nwomen. Hence their duty to adjust themselves, as far as faith and\ndiscipline permit, to the circumstances of the times. The power of a\nreligious community for good will be measured by its ability to\nelevate the natural to the supernatural without shocking it or\nthwarting it.\n\nNow, every one knows that this age differs materially from past ones.\nIt differs by a wider spread of education and an uncontrollable\nlonging after liberty, civil, political, and personal.\n\nFather Hecker was penetrated with the belief that the intelligence\nand liberty, whose well-ordered enjoyment he had witnessed in\nAmerica, and which he loved so deeply himself, were divine\ninvitations to the apostolate of the Holy Spirit. He was profoundly\nimpressed with the certainty of the development, the extension, and\nthe permanence of these political and social changes; and he knew\nthat they demanded of men a personal independence of character far in\nadvance of previous generations. And he knew, also, that for the\nsanctification of such men the aids of religion, though not changed\nin themselves, must be applied in a different spirit. Discipline and\nuniformity, though never to be dispensed with, must yield the first\nplaces to more interior virtues. The dominant influence must be\ndocility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within every\nregenerate soul. Applying this, towards the end of his life, to\nreligious communities, Father Hecker wrote: \"The controlling thought\nof my mind for many years has been that a body of free men who love\nGod with all their might, and yet know how to cling together, could\nconquer this modern world of ours.\" The sentence may be taken as a\nbrief description of the Paulist community as he would have it. And\nit is easily seen why free men loving God with all their hearts are\nsuited to conquer this modern world; because men are determined to be\nfree.\n\nThe following extracts from notes, letters, and diaries more fully\ndevelop this idea:\n\n\"A new religious order is an evidence and expression of an uncommon\nor special grace given to a certain number of souls, so that they may\nbe sanctified by the practice of particular virtues to meet the\nspecial needs of their epoch, and in this way to renew the spiritual\nlife of the members of the Church and to extend her fold. A new\ncommunity is this, or it has no reason for its existence. The means\nto accomplish its special work are both new and old. It should lay\nstress on the new, and not despise but also make use of the old. 'The\nwise householder bringeth forth from his treasury new things and\nold.'\"\n\n\"The true Paulist is a religious man entirely dependent on God for\nhis spiritual life; he lives in community for the greater security of\nhis own salvation and perfection, and to meet more efficiently the\npressing needs of the Church and of humanity in his day.\"\n\n\"The Church always finds in her wonderful fecundity wherewith to\nsupply the new wants which arise in every distinct epoch of society.\"\n\n\"A new religious community, unless its activity is directed chiefly\nto supplying the special needs of its time, wears itself out at the\nexpense of its true mission and will decline and fail.\"\n\n\"We must realize the necessity of more explicitly bringing out our\nideal if we would give a sufficient motive for our students and\nmembers, keep them in the community, bring about unity of action, and\naccomplish the good which the Holy Spirit demands at our hands. A\nPaulist, as a distinct species of a religious man, is one who is\nalive to the pressing needs of the Church at the present time, and\nfeels called to labor specially with the means fitted to supply them.\nAnd what a member of another religious community might do from that\ndivine guidance which is external, the Paulist does from the\npromptings of the indwelling Holy Spirit.\"\n\n\"A Paulist is a Christian man who aims at a Christian perfection\nconsistent with his natural characteristics and the type of\ncivilization of his country.\"\n\n\"So far as it is compatible with faith and piety, I am for accepting\nthe American civilization with its usages and customs; leaving aside\nother reasons, it is the only way by which Catholicity can become the\nreligion of our people. The character and spirit of our people, and\ntheir institutions, must find themselves at home in our Church in the\nway those of other nations have done; and it is on this basis alone\nthat the Catholic religion can make progress in our country.\"\n\n\"What we need to-day is men whose spirit is that of the early\nmartyrs. We shall get them in proportion as Catholics cultivate a\nspirit of independence and personal conviction. The highest\ndevelopment of religion in the soul is when it is assisted by free\ncontemplation of the ultimate causes of things. Intelligence and\nliberty are the human environments most favorable to the deepening of\npersonal conviction of religious truth, and obedience to the interior\nmovements of an enlightened conscience. To a well-ordered mind the\nquestion of the hour is how the soul which aspires to the\nsupernatural life shall utilize the advantages of liberty and\nintelligence.\"\n\n\"The form of government of the United States is preferable to\nCatholics above other forms. It is more favorable than others to the\npractice of those virtues which are the necessary conditions of the\ndevelopment of the religious life of man. This government leaves men\na larger margin for liberty of action, and hence for co-operation\nwith the guidance of the Holy Spirit, than any other government under\nthe sun. With these popular institutions men enjoy greater liberty in\nworking out their true destiny. The Catholic Church will, therefore,\nflourish all the more in this republican country in proportion as her\nrepresentatives keep, in their civil life, to the lines of their\nrepublicanism.\"\n\n\"The two poles of the Paulist character are: first, personal\nperfection. He must respond to the principles of perfection as laid\ndown by spiritual writers. The backbone of a religious community is\nthe desire for personal perfection actuating its members. The desire\nfor personal perfection is the foundation stone of a religious\ncommunity; when this fails, it crumbles to pieces; when this ceases\nto be the dominant desire, the community is tottering. Missionary\nworks, parochial work, etc., are and must be made subordinate to\npersonal perfection. These works must be done in view of personal\nperfection. The main purpose of each Paulist must be the attainment\nof personal perfection by the practice of those virtues without which\nit cannot be secured--mortification, self-denial, detachment, and the\nlike. By the use of these means the grace of God makes the soul\nperfect. The perfect soul is one which is guided instinctively by the\nindwelling Holy Spirit. To attain to this is the end always to be\naimed at in the practice of the virtues just named. Second, zeal for\nsouls; to labor for the conversion of the country to the Catholic\nfaith by apostolic work. Parish work is a part, an integral part, of\nPaulist work, but not its principal or chief work--and parish work\nshould be done so as to form a part of the main aim, the conversion\nof the non-Catholic people of the country. In this manner we can\nlabor to raise the standard of Catholic life here and throughout the\nworld as a means of the general triumph of the Catholic faith.\"\n\n\"I do not think that the principal characteristic of our Fathers and\nof our life should be poverty or obedience or any other special and\nsecondary virtue, or even a cardinal virtue, but zeal for apostolic\nworks. Our vocation is apostolic--conversion of souls to the faith,\nof sinners to repentance, giving missions, defence of the Christian\nreligion by conferences, lectures, sermons, the pen, the press, and\nthe like works; and in the interior, to propagate among men a higher\nand more spiritual life. To supply the special element the age and\neach country demands, this is the peculiar work of religious\ncommunities: this their field. It is a fatal mistake when religious\nattempt to do the ordinary work of the Church. Let religious practise\nprayer and study; there will always be enough of the work to which\nthey are called.\"\n\n\"Are the Paulists Religious? Yes, and no. Yes, of their age. No, of\nthe past; the words in neither case being taken in an exclusive\nmeaning.\"\n\n\"As regards the growth of the Paulist, he must develop in an\napostolic vocation--that is, in apostolic works, Catholic, universal;\nnot in works which confine his life's energies to a locality. He must\ndo the work of the Church. The work of the Church, as Church, is to\nrender her note of universality more and more conspicuous to render\nit sensible, palpable. This is the spirit of the Church in our\ncountry.\"\n\nThe following refers to the second trait of the character above\ngiven: \"A Paulist is to emphasize individuality; that is, to make\nindividual liberty an essential element in every judgment that\ntouches the life and welfare of the community and that of its\nmembers. Those who emphasize the community element are inclined to\nlook upon this as a dangerous and impracticable experiment.\"\n\n\"_Individuality is an integral and conspicuous element in the life of\nthe Paulist._ This must be felt. One of the natural signs of the true\nPaulist is that he would prefer to suffer from the excesses of\nliberty rather than from the arbitrary actions of tyranny.\"\n\n\"The individuality of a man cannot be too strong or his liberty too\ngreat when he is guided by the Spirit of God. But when one is easily\ninfluenced from below rather than from above, it is an evidence of\nthe spirit of pride and that of the flesh, and not 'the liberty of\nthe glory of the children of God.'\"\n\nWhat follows touches the relation between the personal and common\nlife:\n\n\"Many other communities lay the main stress on community life as the\nchief element, giving it control as far as is consistent with\nfundamental individual right; the Paulists, on the contrary, give the\nelement of individuality the first place and put it in control as far\nas is consistent with the common life.\"\n\n\"The spirit of the age has a tendency to run into extreme\nindividuality, into eccentricity, license, revolution. But the\ntypical life shows how individuality is consistent with community\nlife. This is the aim of the United States in the political order, an\naim and tendency which we have to guide, and not to check or\nsacrifice.\"\n\n\"The element of individuality is taken into account in the Paulist\n_essentially,_ integrally, practically. But when it comes into\nconflict with the common right, the individual must yield to the\ncommunity: the common life outranks the individual life in case of\nconflict. But the individual life should be regarded as sacred and\nnever be effaced. How this is to operate in particular cases belongs,\nwhere it is not a matter of rule, to the virtue of prudence to\ndecide.\"\n\n\"When the personality of the individual comes into conflict with the\nlife of the community, the personal side must not be sacrificed, but\nmade to yield to the common. In case of conflict, as before said,\ncommon life and interests outrank personal life and interests. It may\nbe asked how, in the ordinary regulation and government of a\ncommunity of this kind, the individual and common elements are to be\nmade to harmonize? The answer is, that the one at the head of affairs\nmust be a true Paulist that is to say, keenly sensitive of personal\nrights as well as appreciative of such as are common: where the\nquestion is not a point of rule, its decision is dependent on the\npractical sagacity and prudence of the superior more than on any\nminute regulations which can be given. He who interprets the acts of\nlegitimate authority as an attack on his personal liberty, is as far\nout of the way as he who looks upon the exercise of reason as an\nattack on authority.\"\n\n\"How about persons of dull minds or of little spiritual ambition\ncoming into the use of this freedom? First, no such person should be\nallowed to enter into the community: such persons should be excluded.\nSecond, a full-fledged Paulist should have passed a long enough\nnovitiate to have acquired the special virtues which are necessary\nfor his vocation. Absence of supernatural light is the cause why a\nman is not fit to be a Paulist, for he cannot understand rightly or\nappreciate the value of the liberties he enjoys. He either is or he\nbecomes a turbulent element in the community.\"\n\n\"A Paulist, seeing that he has so much individuality, should have a\nstrong, nay, a very strong attrait for community life; he should be\nfond of the Fathers' company, prefer them and their society when\nseeking proper recreation, feel the house to be his home and the\ncommunity and its surroundings very dear to him; in the routine of\nthe day all the community exercises and labors are, in his judgment,\nof paramount obligation and importance.\n\n\"The civil and political state of things of our age, particularly in\nthe United States, fosters the individual life. But it should do so\nwithout weakening the community life: this is true individualism. The\nproblem is to make the synthesis. The joint product is the Paulist.\"\n\n\"A Paulist should cultivate personal freedom without detriment to the\ncommunity spirit; and, vice versa, the community spirit should not be\nallowed to be detrimental to personal freedom. But when the\nindividual life runs into eccentricity, license, and revolution, that\nis a violation and sacrifice of the community life.\"\n\n\"The duty of the Paulist Superior is to elicit the spontaneous zeal\nof the Fathers and to further it with his authority. For lack of\none's own initiative that of another may be used, and herein the\nSuperior offers a constant help. But the centre of action is\nindividual, is in the soul moved by the Holy Ghost; not in the\nSuperior of the community or in the authorities of the Church. And if\nhe be moved by the Holy Spirit, he will be most obedient to his\nsuperior; and he will not only be submissive to the authority of the\nChurch, but careful to follow out her spirit.\"\n\nIn explaining the routine of daily life Father Hecker said: \"The\nmember of a community who does not make the common exercises [of\nreligion] his first care is derelict of his duty. A common exercise\nshould be preferred to all other devotional practices or occupations\nwhatever; as far as possible all other exercises ought to be made\nsubordinate to common ones, which should never be omitted without\npermission of the superior.\"\n\nFather Hecker was once asked: \"Which would you prefer: to have a rule\nand manner of life adapted to a large number of men, embracing many\nof a uniform type, men good enough for average work, intended to\ninclude and seeking to retain persons of mediocre spirit, and having\na dim understanding of our peculiar institute? or would you prefer\nthe rule to be made only for a select body, composed of such men as\n----and ----, and the like?'\" [Answer:] \"I should prefer the rule to\nbe made for the smaller and more select body of men. Religious\nvocations are not common, but special. It is a fatal mistake for\nreligious to take the place of secular priests.\"\n\nNo one can be misled by what he has read in the foregoing pages into\nthe notion that Father Hecker had any other aim than the entire\nconsecration of liberty and intelligence to the influence of the Holy\nSpirit. To know Father Hecker well was to be more deeply impressed\nwith his longing for the reign of the Spirit of God in men's souls\nthan even with his love of human liberty. In his esteem the worth of\nthe latter was altogether in proportion to its aptitude for the\nformer. His love of liberty was that of a means to an end--the\nperfect oblation of the inner man to God. He aimed at individuality\nbecause of his belief in the action of the Holy Ghost in the\nindividual soul. Such action, he was quick to maintain, is given to\nevery Christian, but it is to be looked for in a high degree in those\nwho are called by a special vocation to assist independent characters\nto find the spirit of God within them; or, if already known, to obey\nHis direction implicitly. Paulists after Father Hecker's heart would\nbe men whom experience and study had rendered fit instruments for\ndisseminating the knowledge of the ways of God the Holy Ghost in\nmen's hearts; for instructing the faithful how to distinguish the\nvoice of God in the soul from the vagaries of the imagination or the\nemotions of passion, and able to stimulate a ready and generous\nresponse to every call of God from within.\n\nIt is because of this indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every\nregenerate soul that Father Hecker so vigorously maintained that the\nfreedom of the individual is a golden opportunity for the Catbolic\napostolate, according to the text \"Where the Spirit of the Lord is,\nthere is liberty.\" Freedom, he affirmed, was in absolute consonance\nwith Catholic doctrine. But he furthermore insisted that it has\nbecome the world-wide aspiration of men by interposition of Divine\nProvidence and with a view to their higher sanctification; and\nhowever grossly abused, it is yet a direct suggestion to an\napostolate whose prospects are in the highest degree promising. And\nthis is the answer to the question which reasonable persons may well\nask, namely: Why should the new institution differ so radically from\nthe old ones, which were certainly works of God? Because the change\nof men's lives in the entire secular and natural order is in the\ndirection of personal liberty and independence, and this change is a\nradical one. \"The Eternal-Absolute is ever creating new forms of\nexpressing itself.\" If, indeed, men's aspirations for liberty and\nintelligence be all from the powers of darkness, then let every\nlonging for freedom be repressed and condemned, crushed by authority\nin the state, anathematized by the Church. But if men are yearning to\nbe free, however blindly, because God by their freedom would make\nthem holier, then let us hail the new order as a blessing; and let\nthose who love freedom and are worthy of it use its privileges to\nadvance themselves and their brethren nearer to immediate union with\nthe Holy Spirit.\n\nIt has been seen that the important question whether the end of the\nnew community would be better attained with the usual religious vows\nor without them was decided in the negative. They were not definitely\nrejected in the beginning; but starting without them, the Fathers\nwere willing to allow experience to show whether or not they should\nbe resumed. The lapse of time but confirmed the view that the\nvoluntary agreement and the bond of fraternal charity were, under the\ncircumstances, preferable as securities for stability and incentives\nto holiness.\n\nThere can be little doubt that Father Hecker's ideas on this feature\nof the religious state had been greatly modified between the writing\nof the _Questions of the Soul_ and the end of the struggle in Rome.\nMuch is said in that book of community life in the Catholic Church,\nand generally as rendered stable and its spirit of sacrifice made\ncomplete by the vows; and in the statement given in Rome to his five\nchosen advisers, he says that one reason for writing the volume named\nwas to induce young men to enter the religious orders as the only\nmeans of perfection--meaning orders under vows. But when he was\nreleased from his own obligations and was confronted with the choice\nof means for following his vocation, the horizon broadened away until\nhe could see beyond the institutions and traditions in which he had\nlived since entering the novitiate at St. Trond. His ideas of\nperfection in its relation to states of life underwent a change.\nTherefore he said, Let us wait for the unmistakable will of God\nbefore we bind ourselves with vows amidst a free people. He never\ndepreciated the evident value of these obligations; indeed, he seldom\nwas heard to speak of them. But he knew from close observation the\ntruth of the words of the Jesuit Avancinus:\n\n\"The net (St. Matthew 13:44) is the Catholic Church, or, to take a\nnarrower view, it means the station in which you are placed. As in a\nnet all kinds of fish are to be found, so in our position, as in all\nothers, there are good and bad Christians. . . . Should yours be a\nsacred calling, you are not, on that account, either the better or\nthe more secure; your sanctity and your salvation depend on yourself,\nnot on your calling.\" (_Meditations,_ Fourteenth Friday after\nPentecost)\n\nIt never entered into the minds of the Fathers to question the\ndoctrine and practice of the Church concerning vows. But personal\nexperience proves the lesson of history, that what religion needs is\nnot so much holy states of life as holy men and Women.\n\nLooking back into the past, Father Hecker saw St. Philip Neri, to\nwhom he had a great devotion and for whose spiritual doctrine he had\na high admiration. The following is from an exponent of that\ndoctrine, and is much in point:\n\n\"Although our Fathers and lay brothers [Oratorians] make no vow of\nobedience, as do religious, they are, nevertheless, no way inferior\nin the perfection of this virtue to those who profess it in the\ncloister with solemn vows. They supply the want of vows with love,\nwith voluntary promptitude, and perfection in obeying every wish of\nthe superior. And it is a thing for which we must indeed thank God,\nthat without the obligation of obeying under pain of sin, without\nfear of restraint or other punishment (except that of expulsion in\ncase of contumacy), all the subjects are prompt in this obedience,\neven in things most humiliating and severe, according to the terms of\nthe rule. All take pleasure in meeting the wishes of the superior,\netc.\" (_The Excellences of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri,_ p. 136.\nLondon: Burns & Oates.)\n\nFather Hecker did not dream that by relinquishing the vows he and his\ncompanions in the Paulist community had cast away a single incentive\nto virtue capable of moving such men as they, or had even failed to\nsecure any of the insignia adorning the great host of men and women\nin the Catholic Church whose entire being has been given up to the\ndivine service. \"The true Paulist,\" said he once, \"should be fit and\nready to take the solemn vows at any moment.\" He felt strongly the\ntruth of the following words of the Jesuit Lallemant:\n\n\"A desire and hunger after our perfection, a determined will to be\nconstantly tending towards it with all our strength--let this be\nalways our chief object and our greatest care. Let us bear in mind\nthat this care is more of the essence of religion [i.e., of a\nreligious order] than vows themselves; for it is on this that our\nwhole spiritual progress depends. Herein consists the difference\nbetween true religious and those who are so only in appearance and in\nthe sight of men. Without this care to advance in perfection the\nreligious state does not secure our salvation; but nothing is more\ncommon than to deceive ourselves on this point.\" (_The Spiritual\nDoctrine of Father Louis Lallemant, S.J,_ p. 111. New York: Sadlier &\nCo.)\n\nWith regard to stability, men of stable character need no vow to\nguarantee adherence to a divine vocation, and men of feeble character\nmay indeed vow themselves into an outward stability, but it is of\nlittle fruit to themselves personally, and their irremovability is\noften of infinite distress to their superiors and brethren. The\nepiscopate is the one religious order founded by Our Lord, and its\nmembers are in the highest state of evangelical perfection; yet they\nare neither required nor advised to take the oaths or vows of\nreligious orders.\n\nNeither Father Hecker nor any of his associates had the least\naversion to the vows. On the contrary, they had lived contentedly\nunder them for many of their most active years, and it will be\nremembered of Father Hecker that he never found them irksome, had\nnever known a temptation against them.\n\nThe question which arose was a choice between two kinds of community,\nthe one fast-bound by external obligations to the Church in the form\nof vows, placing the members in a relation of peculiar strictness to\nthe Canon Law; or another kind, in which the members trusted wholly\nto the strength of Divine grace, and their own conscious purpose\nnever to give up the fight for perfection; which of these states\nwould better facilitate the action of the Holy Spirit in the present\nProvidence of God; and which of them would tend to produce a type of\ncharacter fitted to evangelize a nation of independent and\nself-reliant men and women? The free community was chosen.\n\nNo doubt this involved some risk of criticism, particularly in the\nbeginning, for it was a wonder to many that men should organize for a\nlife-long endeavor after perfection and not swear to it, especially\nas none of the free communities existing in Europe had houses in\nAmerica, for the Sulpicians belong to the secular clergy. And there\nwas also danger of unworthy subjects creeping in under favor of a\nfreedom they were unfit to enjoy. For it may be reproached against us\nthat we are apt to be victimized by men ruled by caprice, indulging\nin extravagant schemes or deluded by wandering fancies; and also by\nsuperiors who would let everybody do as he pleased. No doubt such\ndangers are to be guarded against. But vowed communities do not claim\nto be free from difficulties. No state of life and no organization\nclaims to be so perfect as totally to prevent abuse of power on the\npart of superiors or caprice and sloth on the part of members.\n\nBoth kinds of organized religious life have their difficulties: the\none, the martinet superior and the routine subject; the other, the\ncapricious subject and the lax superior. In one kind the bond of\nunion as well as the stimulus of endeavor is mainly obedience,\nfraternal charity assisting; in the other it is mainly fraternal\ncharity, obedience assisting; each has to overcome obstacles peculiar\nto itself.\n\nWhat has been said in this chapter, besides serving to exhibit Father\nHecker's principles as a founder, will be, we trust, a sufficient\nanswer to the silly delusion which the Paulists have encountered in\nsome quarters, that their society tolerates a soft life and supposes\nin its members no high vocation to perfection; or that the voluntary\nprinciple allows them a personal choice in regard to the devotional\nexercises, permitting them to attend or not attend this or that\nmeditation or devotion laid down in the rule, as \"the spirit moves\nthem.\" This is as plain an error as another one which had much\ncurrency for years and which is not yet everywhere corrected: that\nthe Paulist community was open to converts alone and received none\nothers.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nFATHER HECKER'S SPIRITUAL DOCTRINE\n\nHAVING given in the preceding chapter Father Hecker's principles of\nthe religious life in community, a more general view of his spiritual\ndoctrine, as well as of his method of the direction of souls,\nnaturally follows. And here we are embarrassed by the amount of\nmatter to choose from; for as he was always talking about spiritual\ndoctrine to whomsoever he could get to listen, so in his published\nwritings, in his letters to intimate friends, and in his notes and\nmemoranda, we have found enough falling under the heading of this\n\n\n\nCHAPTER to fill a volume. Let us hope for its publication some day.\n\nIt need hardly be said that Father Hecker did not claim to have any\nnew doctrine; there can be none, and he knew it well. Every\ngeneration since Christ has had His entire revelation. Development is\nthe word which touches the outer margin of all possible adaptation of\nChristian principles to the changing conditions of humanity. But in\nthe transmission of these principles from master to disciple, in\npractically assisting in their use by public instruction, or by\nprivate advice, or by choice of devotional and ascetical exercises,\nthere is as great a variety of method as of temperament among races,\nand even among individuals; and there are broadly marked differences\nwhich are conterminous with providential eras of history. This was a\ntruth which Father Hecker, in common with all discerning minds, took\ncarefully into account.\n\nHis fundamental principle of Christian perfection may be termed a\nview of the Catholic doctrine of divine grace suited to the\naspirations of our times. By divine grace the love of God is diffused\nin our hearts; the Holy Spirit takes up his abode there and makes us\nchildren of the Heavenly Father, and brethren of Jesus Christ the\nDivine Son. The state of grace is thus an immediate union of the soul\nwith the Holy Trinity, its Creator, Mediator, and Sanctifier. To\nsecure this union and render it more and more conscious was Father\nHecker's ceaseless endeavor through life, both for himself and for\nthose who fell under his influence, whether in cleansing the soul of\nall hindrances of sin and imperfection, or advancing it deeper and\ndeeper into the divine life by prayer and the sacraments.\n\nHis doctrine of Christian perfection might be formulated as a\nprofession of faith: I believe in God the _Father_ Almighty; I\nbelieve in Jesus Christ the Only Begotten _Son_ of the Father; I\nbelieve in the Holy Ghost the _Life Giver,_ the spirit of adoption by\nwhom I am enabled to say to the Father, _My Father,_ and to the Son,\n_My Brother._\n\nHe wished that men generally should be made aware of the immediate\nnature of this union of the soul with God, and that they should\nbecome more and more personally conscious of it. He would bring this\nabout without the intervention of other persons or other methods than\nthe divinely constituted ones accessible to all in the priesthood and\nsacraments. It was the development of the supernatural, heavenly,\ndivine life of the regenerate man, born again of the Holy Ghost, that\nFather Hecker made the end of all he said and all he did in leading\nsouls; and he maintained that to partake of this life which is \"the\nlight of men,\" many souls needed little interference on the part of\nothers, and that in every case the utmost care should be taken lest\nthe soul should mingle human influences, even the holiest, in undue\nproportion with those which were strictly divine.\n\n\"Go to God,\" he wrote to one asking advice, \"go entirely to God, go\nintegrally to God; behold, that is sincerity, complete, perfect\nsincerity. Do that, and make it a complete, continuous act, and you\nneed no help from me or any creature. I wish to provoke you to do it.\nThat is my whole aim and desire. Just in proportion as we harbor\npride, vanity, self-love--in a word, self-hood--just so far we fail\nin integrally resigning ourselves to God. Were we wholly resigned to\nGod He would change all in us that is in discord with Him, and\nprepare our souls for union with Him, making us one with Himself. God\nlongs for our souls greatly more than our souls can long for Him.\nSuch is God's thirst for love that He made all creatures to love Him,\nand to have no rest until they love Him supremely. If my words are\nnot to your soul God's words and voice, pay no heed to them. If they\nare, hesitate not a moment to obey. If they humble you to the dust,\nwhat a blessing! He that is humbled shall be exalted.\"\n\n\"Peace is gained by a wise inaction, and strength by integral\nresignation to God, who will do all, and more than we, with the\nboldest imagination, can fancy or desire.\"\n\n\"May you see God in all, through all, and above all. May the Divine\ntranscendence and the Divine immanence be the two poles of your life.\"\n\nThe natural faculties of the understanding and will, whose integrity\nFather Hecker so much valued, were to be established in a new life\ninfinitely above their native reach, glorified with divine life,\ntheir activity directed to the knowledge of things not even dreamed\nof before, and endowed with a divine gift of loving. In this state\nthe Holy Spirit communicates to the human faculties force to\naccomplish intellectual and moral feats which naturally can be\naccomplished by God alone. This is called by theologians supernatural\ninfused virtue, and is rooted in Faith, Hope, and Love, is made\nefficacious by spiritual gifts of wisdom and understanding, and\nknowledge and counsel, and other gifts and forces, the conscious and\ndaily possession of which the Christian is entitled to hope for and\nstrive after, and finally to obtain and enjoy in this life.\n\nThat this union is a personal relation, and that it should be a\ndistinctly conscious one on the soul's part, all will admit who think\nbut a moment of the infinite, loving activity of the Spirit of God,\nand the natural and supernatural receptivity of the spirit of man.\nAlthough not even the smallest germ of the supernatural life is found\nin nature, yet the soul of man ceaselessly, if blindly, yearns after\nits possession. Once possessed, the life of God blends into our own,\nmingles with it and is one with it, impregnating it as magnetism does\nthe iron of the lodestone, till the divine qualities, without\nsuppressing nature, entirely possess it, and assert for it and over\nit the Divine individuality. \"Now I live, yet not I, but Christ\nliveth in me.\" An author much admired by Father Hecker thus describes\nthe effects produced in the soul by supernatural faith, and hope, and\nlove:\n\n\"These virtues are called and in reality are _Divine_ virtues. They\nare called thus not because they are related to God in general, but\nbecause _they unite us in a divine manner with God,_ have Him for\ntheir immediate motive, and can be produced in us only by a\ncommunication of the Divine nature. . . . For the life that the\nchildren of God lead here upon earth must be of the same kind as the\nlife that awaits them in heaven.\" (Scheeben's _Glories of Divine\nGrace,_ p. 222; Benziger Bros.)\n\nTo partake thus of the inner life of God was Father Hecker's one\nspiritual ambition, and to help others to it his one motive for\ndealing with men. He was ever insisting upon the closeness of the\ndivine union, and that it is our life brought into actual touch with\nGod, whose supreme and essential activity must, by a law of its own\nexistence, make itself felt, dominate as far as permitted the entire\nactivity of the soul, and win more and more upon its life till all is\nwon. Then are fulfilled the Apostle's words: \"But we all beholding\nthe glory of the Lord _with open face_ are transformed into the same\nimage from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord\" (2 Cor.\n3:18).\n\nHere are some of Father Hecker's words, printed but a year or two\nbefore his death, which treat not only of the interior life in\ngeneral, but in particular of its relation to the outer action of God\non the soul through the divine organism of the Church:\n\n\"St. Thomas Aquinas attributes the absence of spiritual joy mainly to\nneglect of consciousness of the inner life. 'During this life,' he\nsays (_Opuscula de Beatitudine,_ cap. iii.), 'we should continually\nrejoice in God, as something perfectly fitting, in all our actions\nand for all our actions, in all our gifts and for all our gifts. It\nis, as Isaias declares, that we may particularly enjoy him that the\nSon of God has been given to us. What blindness and what gross\nstupidity for many who are always seeking God, always sighing for\nHim, frequently desiring Him, daily knocking and clamoring at the\ndoor for God by prayer, while they themselves are all the time, as\nthe apostle says, temples of the living God, and God truly dwelling\nwithin them; while all the time their souls are the abiding-place of\nGod, wherein He continually reposes! Who but a fool would look for\nsomething out of doors which he knows he has within? What is the good\nof anything which is always to be sought and never found, and who can\nbe strengthened with food ever craved but never tasted? Thus passes\naway the life of many a good man, always searching and never finding\nGod, and it is for this reason that his actions are imperfect.'\n\n\"A man with such a doctrine must cultivate mainly the interior life.\nHis answer to the question, What is the relation between the inner\nand the outer action of God upon my soul? is that God uses the outer\nfor the sake of the inner life.\n\n\"There seems to be little danger nowadays of our losing sight of the\nDivine authority and the Divine action in the government of the\nChurch, and in the aids of religion conveyed through the external\norder of the sacraments. Yet it is only after fully appreciating the\nlife of God within us that we learn to prize fittingly the action of\nGod in His external Providence. Such is the plain teaching of St.\nThomas in the extract above given.\n\n\"By fully assimilating this doctrine one comes to aim steadily at\nsecuring a more and more direct communion with God. Thus he does not\nseek merely for an external life in an external society, or become\ntotally absorbed in external observances; but he seeks the invisible\nGod through the visible Church, for she is the body of Christ the Son\nof God.\n\n\"Once a man's hand is safe on the altar his eye and voice are lifted\nto God.\n\n\"It is not to keep up a strained outlook for times and moments of the\ninterior visitations, but to wait calmly for the actual movements of\nthe Divine Spirit; to rely mainly upon it and not solely upon what\nleads to it, or communicates it, or guarantees its genuine presence\nby necessary external tests and symbols.\n\n\"Not an anxious search, least of all a craving for extraordinary\nlights; but a constant readiness to perceive the Divine guidance in\nthe secret ways of the soul, and then to act with decision and a\nnoble and generous courage--this is true wisdom.\n\n\"The Holy Spirit is thus the inspiration of the inner life of the\nregenerate man, and in that life is his Superior and Director. That\nHis guidance may become more and more immediate in an interior life,\nand the soul's obedience more and more instinctive, is the object of\nthe whole external order of the Church, including the sacramental\nsystem.\n\n\"Says Father Lallemant (_Spiritual Doctrine,_ 3d principle, chap. i.\nart. 1): 'All creatures that are in the world, the whole order of\nnature as well as that of grace, and all the leadings of Providence,\nhave been so disposed as to remove from our souls whatever is\ncontrary to God.'\"\n\nWhat follows has been culled from notes and memoranda:\n\n\"When authority and liberty are intelligently understood, when both\naim at the same end, then the universal reign of God's authority in\nthe Church will be near and the kingdom of God be established\nuniversally.\"\n\n\"The whole future of the human race depends on bringing the\nindividual soul more completely and perfectly under the sway of the\nHoly Spirit.\"\n\n\"What society most needs to-day is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.\"\n\n\"That soul is perfect which is guided habitually by the instinct of\nthe Holy Spirit.\"\n\n\"The aim of Christian perfection is the guidance of the soul by the\nindwelling Holy Spirit. This is attained, ordinarily, first by\nbringing whatever is inordinate in our animal propensities under the\ncontrol of the dictates of reason by the practice of mortification\nand self-denial; for it is a self-evident principle that a rational\nbeing ought to be master of his animal appetites. And second, by\nbringing the dictates of reason under the control and inspiration of\nthe Holy Spirit by recollection, and by fidelity and docility to its\nmovements.\"\n\n\"To attain to the spiritual estate of the conscious guidance of the\nindwelling Holy Spirit, the practice of asceticism and of the natural\nand Christian moral virtues are the preparatory means.\n\n\"To rise before the light appears, is vain; to hinder the soul from\nrising when it does appear, is oppression. In the first place, the\nsoul is exposed to delusions; in the second, it is subjected to\narbitrary human authority. The former opens the door to all sorts of\nextravagances and heresies; the latter breeds a spirit of servility\nand bondage.\"\n\n\"To reach that stage of the spiritual life which is the consciousness\nof the indwelling and guidance of the Holy Spirit some souls need the\npractice of asceticism more than others, these latter being more\nadvanced by the practice of the Christian virtues. Others, again,\nneed the strenuous practice of both of these means of advancement\nuntil the close of their lives. And there is another class which\nreaches this degree of spiritual growth sooner and with less\ndifficulty than the generality of souls.\"\n\n\"Whenever the guidance of the Holy Spirit is sufficiently recognized,\nthen the practice of the virtues immediately related to this action\nand proper to increase it in the soul are to be recommended, such as\nrecollection, purity of heart, docility and fidelity to the inner\nvoice, and the like.\"\n\n\"It should ever be kept in view that the practice of the virtues is\nnot only for their own sake and to obtain merit, but mainly in order\nto remove all obstacles in the way of the guidance of the Holy\nSpirit, and to assist the soul in following His operations with\ndocility.\"\n\n\"Obedience in its spiritual aspect divests one of self-will and makes\nhim prompt to submit to the will of God alone. Viewed as an act of\njustice, obedience is the payment of due service to one's superior,\nwho holds his office by appointment of God.\"\n\n\"The essential mistake of the transcendentalists is the taking for\ntheir guide the instincts of the soul instead of the inspirations of\nthe Holy Spirit. They are moved by the natural instincts of human\nbeings instead of the instinct of the Holy Ghost. But true spiritual\ndirection consists in discovering the obstacles in the way of the\nDivine guidance, in aiding and encouraging the penitent to remove\nthem, and in teaching how the interior movements of the Holy Spirit\nmay be recognized, as well as in stimulating the soul to fidelity and\ndocility to His movements.\"\n\n\"The director is not to take the place of the Holy Ghost in the soul,\nbut to assist His growth in the soul as its primary and supreme\nguide.\"\n\n\"The primary worker of the soul's sanctification is the Holy Spirit\nacting interiorly; the work of the director is secondary and\nsubordinate. To overlook this fundamental truth in the spiritual life\nis a great mistake, whether it be on the part of the director or the\none under direction.\"\n\nThe great obstacle to the prevalent use of this privilege of divine\ninterior direction is lack of practical realization of its existence\nby good Christians. And this want of faith is met with almost as much\namong teachers as among learners, resulting in too great a mingling\nof the human element in the guidance of souls. What is known as\nover-direction is to be attributed, as Father Hecker was persuaded,\nto confessors leading souls by self-chosen ways, or laboriously\nworking them along the road to perfection by artificial processes,\nsouls whom the Holy Spirit has not made ready for more than the\nbeginning of the spiritual life. This is like pressing wine out of\nunripe grapes. Another practice which Father Hecker often deprecated\nwas the binding of free and generous souls with all sorts of\nobligations in the way of devotional exercises. This is forcing\nathletes to go on crutches. The excuse for it all is that it really\ndoes stagger human belief to accept as a literal matter of fact that\nGod the Holy Ghost personally comes to us with divine grace and gives\nHimself to us; that He actually and essentially dwells in our souls\nby grace, and in an unspeakably intimate manner takes charge of our\nentire being, soul and body, and all our faculties and senses.\n\n\"By sanctifying grace,\" says St. Thomas (p. I, q. 33, art. 2), \"the\nrational creature is thus perfected, that it may not only use with\nliberty the created good, but that it may also enjoy the uncreated\ngood; and therefore the invisible sending of the Holy Ghost takes\nplace in the gift of sanctifying grace and the Divine Person Himself\nis given to us.\"\n\nIt is the soul's higher self, thus in entire union with the Spirit of\nGod, that Father Hecker spent his life in cultivating, both in his\nown interior and in that of others. He insisted that in the normal\ncondition of things the mainspring of virtue, both natural and\nsupernatural, should be for the regenerate man the instinctive\nobedience of the individual soul to the voice of the indwelling Holy\nSpirit.\n\nTo what an extent this inner divine guidance has been obscured by\nmore external methods is witnessed by Monsignor Gaume, who places\nupon the title-page of his learned work on the Holy Spirit the motto\n\"Ignoto Deo\"--to the Unknown God!\n\nObjections to this doctrine are made from the point of view of\ncaution. There is danger of exaggeration, it is said; for if in its\nterms it is plainly Catholic, it may sound Protestant to some ears.\nAnd in fact to those whose glances have been ever turned outward for\nguidance it seems like the delusions of certain classes of\nProtestants about \"change of heart\" and \"inner light.\"\n\n\"But,\" says Lallemant (and the reader will thank us for a detailed\nreply to this difficulty from so venerable an authority), \"it is of\nfaith that without the grace of an interior inspiration, in which the\nguidance of the Holy Spirit consists, we cannot do any good work. The\nCalvinists would determine everything by their inward spirit,\nsubjecting thereto the Church herself and her decisions. . . . But\nthe guidance which we receive from the Holy Ghost by means of His\ngifts presupposes the faith and authority of the Church, acknowledges\nthem as its rule, admits nothing which is contrary to them, and aims\nonly at perfecting the exercise of faith and the other virtues. The\nsecond objection is, that it seems as if this interior guidance of\nthe Holy Spirit were destructive of the obedience due to superiors.\nWe reply: 1. That as the interior inspiration of grace does not set\naside the assent which we give to the articles of faith as they are\nexternally proposed to us, but on the contrary gently disposes the\nmind to believe; in like manner the guidance which we receive from\nthe gifts of the Holy Spirit, far from interfering with obedience,\naids and facilitates the practice of it. 2. That all this interior\nguidance, and even [private] divine revelations, must always be\nsubordinate to obedience; and in speaking of them this tacit\ncondition is ever implied, that obedience enjoins nothing contrary\nthereto. . . .\n\n\"The third objection is that this interior direction of the Holy\nSpirit seems to render all deliberation and all counsel useless. For\nwhy ask advice of men when the Holy Spirit is Himself our director?\nWe reply that the Holy Spirit teaches us to consult enlightened\npersons and to follow the advice of others, as He referred St. Paul\nto Ananias. The fourth objection is made by some who complain that\nthey are not themselves thus led by the Holy Spirit, and that they\nknow nothing of it. To them we reply: 1. That the lights and\ninspirations of the Holy Spirit, which are necessary in order to do\ngood and avoid evil, are never wanting to them, particularly if they\nare in a state of grace. 2. That being altogether exterior as they\nare, and scarcely ever entering into themselves, examining their\nconsciences only very superficially, and looking only to the outward\nman and the faults which are manifest in the eyes of the world, . . .\nit is no wonder that they have nothing of the guidance of the Holy\nSpirit, which is wholly interior. But, first, let them be faithful in\nfollowing the light which is given them; it will go on always\nincreasing. Secondly, let them clear away the sins and imperfections\nwhich, like so many clouds, hide the light from their eyes: they will\nsee more distinctly every day. Thirdly, let them not suffer their\nexterior senses to rove at will, and be soiled by indulgence; God\nwill then open to them their interior senses. Fourthly, let them\nnever quit their own interior, if it be possible, or let them return\nas soon as may be; let them give attention to what passes therein,\nand they will observe the workings of the different spirits by which\nwe are actuated. Fifthly, let them lay bare the whole ground of their\nheart to their superior or to their spiritual father. A soul which\nacts with this openness and simplicity can hardly fail of being\nfavored with the direction of the Holy Spirit\" (_Spiritual Doctrine,_\n4th principle, ch. i. art. 3).\n\nFather Hecker had himself suffered, and that in the earliest days of\nhis religious life, from want of explicit instruction about this\ndoctrine. Father Othmann, whom our readers remember as the\nnovice-master at St. Trond, was too spiritual a man to have been\nignorant of its principles. Yet he seemed to think that either no one\nwould choose it in preference to the method in more common use, or\nthat he would not find his novices ready for it. But to Father Hecker\nit was all-essential. \"When I was not far from being through with my\nnoviceship,\" he was heard to say, \"I was one day looking over the\nbooks in the library and I came across Lallemant's _Spiritual\nDoctrine._ Getting leave to read it, I was overjoyed to find it a\nfull statement of the principles by which I had been interiorly\nguided. I said to Pere Othmann: 'Why did you not give me this book\nwhen I first came? It settles all my difficulties.' But he answered\nthat it had never once occurred to his mind to do so.\" Besides the\nScriptures, Lallemant, Surin, Scaramelli's _Directorium Mysticum,_\nthe ascetical and mystical writings of the contemplatives, such as\nRusbruck, Henry Suso (whose life he carried for years in his pocket,\nreading it daily), Tauler, Father Augustine Baker's _Holy Wisdom_\n(Sancta Sophia), Blosius, the works of St. Teresa, and those of St.\nJohn of the Cross--these and other such works formed the literature\nwhich aided Father Hecker in the understanding and enjoyment of the\nguidance of the Holy Spirit. Lallemant he returned to ever and again,\nand St. John of the Cross he never let go at all. It was always with\nhim, always read with renewed joy, and its wonderful lessons of\ndivine wisdom, expressed as they are with the scientific accuracy of\na trained theologian and the unction of a saint, were to Father\nHecker a pledge of security for his own state of soul and a source of\ninspiration in dealing with others.\n\nTo the ordinary observer a knowledge of the men and women of to-day\ndoes not give rise to much hope of the widespread use of this\nspirituality. But Father Hecker thought otherwise. He ever insisted\nthat it must come into general preference among the leading minds of\nChristendom; for independence of character calls for such a\nspirituality, and that independence is by God's providence the\ncharacteristic trait of the best men and women of our times. God must\nmean to sanctify us in the way He has placed us in the natural order.\nHe believed that the Holy Spirit would soon be poured out in an\nabundant dispensation of His heavenly gifts, and that such a renewal\nof men's souls was the only salvation of society. Some may think that\nhe was over-sanguine; many will not interest themselves in such\n\"high\" matters at all. But some of the wisest men in the Church are\nof his mind, notably Cardinal Manning. And the signs of the times, if\ninterrogated with regard to the problem of man's eternal destiny,\ngive no other answer than the promise of a new era in which the Holy\nGhost shall reign in men's souls and in their lives with a supremacy\npeculiar to this age.\n\nThe following extract from _The Church and the Age,_ a compilation of\nFather Hecker's later essays, shows his estimate of the form of\nspirituality we have been discussing, as bearing upon the\nregeneration of society in general:\n\n\"The whole aim of the science of Christian perfection is to instruct\nmen how to remove the hindrances in the way of the action of the Holy\nSpirit, and how to cultivate those virtues which are most favorable\nto His solicitations and inspirations. Thus the sum of spiritual life\nconsists in observing and yielding to the movements of the Spirit of\nGod in our soul, employing for this purpose all the exercises of\nprayer, spiritual reading, the practice of virtues, and good works.\n\n\"That divine action which is the immediate and principal cause of the\nsalvation and perfection of the soul, claims by right the soul's\ndirect and main attention. From this source within the soul there\nwill gradually come to birth the consciousness of the indwelling\npresence of the Holy Spirit, out of which will spring a force\nsurpassing all human strength, a courage higher than all human\nheroism, a sense of dignity excelling all human greatness. The light\nthe age requires for its renewal can come only from the same source.\nThe renewal of the age depends on the renewal of religion. The\nrenewal of religion depends on a greater effusion of the creative and\nrenewing power of the Holy Spirit. The greater effusion of the Holy\nSpirit depends on the giving of increased attention to His movements\nand inspirations in the soul. The radical and adequate remedy for all\nthe evils of our age, and the source of all true progress, consist in\nincreased attention and fidelity to the action of the Holy Spirit in\nthe soul. 'Thou shalt send forth Thy spirit and they shall be\ncreated: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.'\"\n\nLallemant's answer to the difficulty of excess of personal liberty in\nthis method has been already given. Father Hecker's own is as follows:\n\n\"The enlargement of the [interior] field of action for the soul,\nwithout a true knowledge of the end and scope of the external\nauthority of the Church, would only open the door to delusions,\nerrors, and heresies of every description, and would be in effect\nonly another form of Protestantism. But, on the other hand, the\nexclusive view of the external authority of the Church, without a\nproper understanding of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit in the\nsoul, would render the practice of religion formal, obedience\nservile, and the Church sterile.\n\n\"The solution of the difficulty is as follows: The action of the Holy\nSpirit embodied visibly in the authority of the Church, and the\naction of the Holy Spirit dwelling invisibly in the soul form one\ninseparable synthesis; and he who has not a clear conception of this\ntwo-fold action of the Holy Spirit is in danger of running into one\nor the other, and sometimes into both, of these extremes, either of\nwhich is destructive of the end of the Church. The Holy Spirit, in\nthe external authority of the Church, acts as the infallible\ninterpreter and criterion of divine revelation. The Holy Spirit in\nthe soul acts as the divine Life-giver and Sanctifier. It is of the\nhighest importance that these two distinct offices of the Holy Spirit\nshould not be confounded.\n\n\"The increased action of the Holy Spirit, with a more vigorous\nco-operation on the part of the faithful, which is in process of\nrealization, will elevate the human personality to an intensity of\nforce and grandeur productive of a new era to the Church and to\nsociety--an era difficult for the imagination to grasp, and still\nmore difficult to describe in words, unless we have recourse to the\nprophetic language of the inspired Scriptures.\"\n\n\"The way out of our present difficulties,\" said Father Hecker,\nspeaking of the conflicts of religion in Europe, \"is to revert to a\nspirituality which is freer than that which Providence assigned as\nthe counteraction of Protestantism in the sixteenth century--to a\nspirituality which is, and ever has been, the normal one of the\nChristian inner life. That era accentuated obedience, this\naccentuates no particular moral virtue, but rather presses the soul\nback upon Faith and Hope and Love as the springs of life, and makes\nthe distinctive virtue fidelity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit,\nimpelling the Christian to that one of the moral virtues which is\nmost suitable to his nature and to the requirements of his state of\nlife, and other environments.\"\n\nBut from what has been said it must not be inferred that Father\nHecker thought it safe to be without spiritual counsel, above all\nwhen the soul seemed led in extraordinary ways. He firmly believed in\nthe necessity of direction, and that in the sense intended by\nspiritual writers generally. In practice he himself always consulted\nmen of experience and piety. We have seen how he sought advice, and\nwas aided by it at every crisis of his life. But he did not accept\nall that is said by some writers about the surrender of the soul to\none's father confessor. He thought that confession was often too\nclosely allied with direction, and he was convinced that many souls\ncould profit by less introspection in search of sin, and more in\nsearch of natural and supernatural movements to virtue. He condemned\nover-direction, and thought that there was a good deal of it. He\nthought that there were cases in which spontaneity of effort was too\nhigh a price to pay for even the merit of obedience. His sentiment is\nwell expressed by St. John of the Cross in the ninth chapter of _The\nAscent of Mount Carmel:_\n\n\"Spiritual directors are not the chief workers, but rather the Holy\nGhost; they are mere instruments, only to guide souls by the rule of\nfaith and the law of God according to the spirit which God gives to\neach. Their object, therefore, should be not to guide souls by a way\nof their own, suitable to themselves; but to ascertain, if they can,\nthe way which God Himself is guiding them.\"\n\nLeave much to God's secret ways, was one of Father Hecker's\nprinciples. \"When hearing some confessions on the missions,\" he once\nsaid, \"and when about to give absolution, I used to say, in my heart,\nto the penitent, Well, no doubt God means to save you, you poor\nfellow, or He wouldn't give you the grace to make this mission. But\njust how He will do it, considering your bad habits, I can't see; but\nthat's none of my business.\"\n\nLeave much to natural or acquired inclinations, was one of his\nmaxims. He was not deeply interested in souls who by temperament or\ntraining needed very minute guidance in the spiritual life; to him\nthey seemed so overloaded with harness as to have no great strength\nleft for pulling the chariot. But he would not interfere with them;\nhe knew that it was of little avail to try to change such methods\nonce they had become habitual; and he recognized that there were many\nwho could never get along without them. At any rate he was tolerant\nby nature, and slow to condemn in general or particular anything\nuseful to well-meaning souls.\n\n\"It is vain to rise before the light,\" was another motto. \"Make no\nhaste in the time of clouds.\" These two texts of Scripture he was\nfond of repeating. \"When God shows the way,\" he once said, \"you will\nsee; no amount of peering in the dark will bring the sun over the\nhills. Pray for light, but don't move an inch before you get it. When\nit comes, go ahead with all your might.\" Self-imposed penances,\nself-assumed devotional practices he mistrusted. He was convinced\nthat the only way sure to succeed, and to succeed perfectly, was\neither that shown by an interior attraction too powerful and too\npeaceful to be other than divine, or one pointed out by the lawful\nexternal authority in the Church.\n\nWhen asked for advice on matters of conscience his decisions were\ngenerally quick and always simple. Yet he often refused to decide\nwithout time for prayer and thought, saying, \"I have no lights on\nthis matter; you must give me time.\" And not seldom he refused to\ndecide altogether for the same reason. One thing annoyed him much,\nand that was the blank silence and stupid wonder with which some\ninstructed Catholics listened to him as he spoke of the guidance of\nthe Holy Spirit as the way of Christian perfection, treating it as\nbeyond the reach of ordinary mortals, intricate in its rules,\n\"mystical,\" and visionary; whereas Father Hecker knew it to be the\none only simple method, with a minimum of rules, useful for all,\nreadily understood. What follows is a brief outline of the entire\ndoctrine in it practical use in the progress or the soul from a\nsinful life onwards; we have found it among his memoranda:\n\n\"What must one do in order to favor the reception of the Holy Spirit,\nand secure fidelity to His guidance when received? First receive the\nSacraments, the divinely instituted channels of grace: one will\nscarcely persevere in living in the state of grace, to say nothing of\nsecuring a close union with God, who receives Holy Communion only\nonce or twice a year. Second, practise prayer, above all that highest\nform of prayer, assisting at Holy Mass; then mental and vocal prayer,\nthe public offices of the Church, and particular devotions according\nto one's attrait. Third, read spiritual books daily--the Bible, Lives\nof the Saints, _Following of Christ, Spiritual Combat,_ etc. But in\nall this bear ever in mind, that the steady impelling force by which\none does each of these outward things is _the inner and secret\nprompting of the Holy Ghost, and that perseverance in them is secured\nby no other aid except the same hidden inspiration._ Cherish that\nabove all, therefore, and in every stage of the spiritual life; be\nmost obedient to it, seeking meantime for good counsel wherever it is\nlikely to be had.\"\n\nFather Hecker was of opinion that a larger number of persons can be\nled to perfection than is generally supposed, and he would sound the\ncall in the ears of Christians generally far more than is commonly\ndone. He was also persuaded that there are many souls whose whole\nlives have been entirely, or almost entirely, free from the taint of\nmortal sin, and these he considered should be the most active spirits\namong Christians. He thought that more room should be made for them\nin our discourses, and that everybody should not be lumped together\nin one mass as hardened sinners or as penitents.\n\nTo these innocent men and women the mediatorship of Christ should be\nmade as distinct as possible, the elevation of the soul to divine\nunion through the Incarnation brought out fully, and the redemption\nof man from sin and hell be included in it, and be absorbed by it.\nToo many souls who have never sinned mortally fail to struggle for\nperfection, Father Hecker often said, because they never have heard\nany invitation but the call to repentance. The positive side of\nChristianity is the Incarnation, which lifts all men of good-will,\nrepentant and innocent alike, into participation with the Deity.\nFather Hecker would talk by the hour of the need of bringing that\nview of our Lord's mission most prominently forward, the idea of\nredemption applying to innocent souls only on account of original\nsin, and by sympathy with their brethren infected by actual sin.\nAnd he would show that even hard sinners could often be brought to a\ngood life more surely, and be enabled more certainly to persevere, by\nforcibly emphasizing the Incarnation and its benefits than by any\nother method. Their blindness and selfishness hinder hard sinners\nfrom easily appreciating our Lord's sufferings as borne on their\naccount. Father Hecker regretted that the idea of redemption was so\noften presented in a way to give the impression that atonement was\nthe whole office of Christ. There are many souls for whom access to\nChrist as Mediator was more in consonance with the truth than access\nto Him as Redeemer, Mediator in that case including Redeemer, rather\nthan the Redeemer absorbing the idea of Mediator. Redemption from\noriginal sin is, of course, necessary to the mediatorship of a fallen\nrace. But our Lord became Redeemer that he might be Mediator; he\ncleansed us from sin that he might lift us up to the Godhead; and in\nmany souls Father Hecker knew that the process of cleansing began and\nended with original sin and venial sins. Such souls often go their\nlives long with no compelling stimulus to perfection, because they\ncannot apply to themselves the accusations of sin commonly put into\nthe directions for beginners.\n\nMuch has been already said of the aids to perfection which Father\nHecker perceived in a right use of the liberty and intelligence of\nour times. He also insisted that the commercial and industrial\nfeatures of our civilization were no obstacles to a high state of\nChristian perfection.\n\nIn a remarkable sermon, entitled \"The Saint of Our Day,\" published in\nthe third volume of the Paulist series, Father Hecker, after making a\npowerful exposition of the advantages of liberty and intelligence as\nhelps to the interior life, insists that the opportunities and\nresponsibilities peculiar to our civilization are capable of being\nsanctified to the highest degree. The model he proposes in this\nsermon is St. Joseph. He was no martyr, yet showed a martyr's\nfidelity by his trust in God.\n\n\"Called by the voice of God to leave his friends, home, and country,\nhe obeys instantly and without a murmur. To find God and to be one\nwith God, a solitary life in the desert was not necessary to St.\nJoseph. He was in the world and found God where he was. He sanctified\nhis work by carrying God with him into the workshop. St. Joseph was\nno flower of the desert or plant of the cloister; he found the means\nof perfection in the world, and consecrated it to God by making its\ncares and duties subservient to divine purposes.\n\n\"The house of St. Joseph was his cloister, and in the bosom of his\nfamily he practised the sublimest virtues. While occupied with the\ncommon daily duties of life his mind was fixed on the contemplation\nof divine truths, thus breathing into all his actions a heavenly\ninfluence. He attained in society and in human relationships a degree\nof perfection not surpassed, if equalled, by the martyr's death, the\ncontemplative of the solitude, the cloistered monk, or the missionary\nhero.\n\n\"Our age is not an age of martyrdom, nor an age of hermits, nor a\nmonastic age. Although it has its martyrs, its recluses, and its\nmonastic communities, these are not, and are not likely to be, its\nprevailing types of Christian perfection. Our age lives in its busy\nmarts, in counting-rooms, in workshops, in homes, and in the varied\nrelations that form human society, and it is into these that sanctity\nis to be introduced. St. Joseph stands forth as an excellent and\nunsurpassed model of this type of perfection. These duties and these\nopportunities must be made instrumental in sanctifying the soul. For\nit is the difficulties and the hindrances that men find in their age\nwhich give the form to their character and habits, and when mastered\nbecome the means of divine grace and their titles to glory. Indicate\nthese, and you portray that type of sanctity in which the life of the\nChurch will find its actual and living expression.\n\n\"This, then, is the field of conquest for the heroic Christian of our\nday. Out of the cares, toils, duties, afflictions, and responsibilities\nof daily life are to be built the pillars of sanctity of the Stylites\nof our age. This is the coming form of the triumph of Christian\nvirtue.\"\n\nWith all, moreover, Father Hecker insisted on the practice of the\nnatural virtues, honesty, temperance, truthfulness, kindliness.\ncourage, and manliness generally, as preceding any practical move\ntowards the higher life. He first explored the character and life of\nhis penitent in search of what natural power he had, and then\ndemanded its full exertion. He began with the natural man, and made\nevery supernatural force in the sacraments and prayer aid in\nestablishing and increasing natural virtue as a necessary preliminary\nand ever-present accompaniment of supernatural progress. Perhaps\nFather Hecker's antipathy to Calvinism sharpened his zeal for the\nnatural virtues, and strengthened his advocacy of human innocence.\nThe craving for the supernatural, he was convinced, would be strong\nin proportion to the enlightenment of the natural reason; the need of\nthe grace of God is, of course, most urgent in a sinful state, but it\nwould be more quickly perceived in proportion to the possession of\nnatural virtue. As the exercise of reason is necessary to faith and\nprecedes its acts, so the integrity of natural virtue is the best\npreparation for the grace of God. Many pages of _The Aspirations of\nNature,_ from which the following brief quotations are made, are\ndevoted to the dignity of humanity and the need of placing the\nexcellence of human nature in the foreground when considering how man\nmay attain to a high supernatural state:\n\n\"Every faculty of the soul, rightly exercised, leads to truth; every\ninstinct of our nature has an eternal destiny attached to it.\nCatholicity finds its support in these and employs them in all her\ndevelopments.\"\n\n\"The Catholic religion is wonderfully calculated and adapted to call\nforth, sustain, and perfect the tastes, propensities, and\npeculiarities of human nature. And let no one venture to say that\nthese characteristics which are everywhere found among men are to be\nrepressed rather than encouraged. This is to despise human nature,\nthis is to mar the work of God. For are not these peculiarities\ninborn? Are they not implanted in us by the hand of our Creator? Are\nthey not what go to constitute our very individuality?\"\n\nHumanity is a word of vague meaning to most ears, but to Father\nHecker its meaning was a living thing of value second only to\nChristianity. Here is his summary of the relation of Catholicity to\nhuman nature, taken from the same source as the foregoing:\n\n\"Catholicity is that religion which links itself to all the faculties\nof the mind, appropriates all the instincts of human nature, and by\nthus concurring with the work of the Creator affirms its own Divine\norigin.\"\n\nWe give the following extracts from letters of spiritual advice, to\nshow Father Hecker's views of mortification:\n\n\"Exterior mortifications are aids to interior life. What we take from\nthe body we give to the spirit. If we will look at it closely,\ntwo-thirds of our time is taken up with what we shall eat, and how we\nshall sleep, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. Two-thirds of our\nlife and more is animal--including sleep. I do not despise the animal\nin man, but I go in for fair play for the soul. The better part\nshould have the greater share. The right order of things has been\nreversed: _con_-version is necessary. Read the lives of the old\nFathers of the Desert. They determined on leading a rational and\ndivine life. How little are they known or appreciated in our day!\nTheir lives are more interesting than a novel and stranger than a\nromance.\"\n\n\"Self-love, self-activity, self-hood, is something not easily\ndestroyed. It is like a cancer which has its roots extending to the\nmost delicate fibres of our mental and moral nature. Divine grace can\ndraw them all out. But how slowly! And how exquisitely painful is the\nprocess--the more subtle the self-love the more painful the cure.\"\n\n\"Never practise any mortification of a considerable character without\ncounsel. The devil, when he can no longer keep us back, aims at\ndriving us too far and too fast.\"\n\n\"How can the intellect be brought under direction of divine grace\nexcept by reducing it to its nothingness?--and how can this be done\nexcept by placing it in utter darkness? How can the heart be filled\nwith the spirit of divine love while it contains any other? How can\nit be purified of all other inordinate love except by dryness and\nbitterness? God wishes to fill our intelligence and our hearts with\ndivine light and love, and thus to deify our whole nature--to make us\none with what we represent--God. And how can He do this otherwise\nthan by removing from our soul and its faculties all that is contrary\nto the divine order?\"\n\n\"All your difficulties are favors from God; you see them on the wrong\nside, and speak as the block of marble would while being chiselled by\nthe sculptor. When God purifies the soul, it cries out just like\nlittle children do when their faces are washed. The soul's attention\nmust be withdrawn from external, created things and turned inward\ntowards God exclusively before its union with Him; and this\ntransformation is a great, painful, and wonderful work, and so much\nthe more difficult and painful as the soul's attention has been\nattracted and attached to transitory things--to creatures.\"\n\nHe was often heard repeating the following verse from _The Imitation_\n(book iii. chap. xxxi.), as summarizing the necessary conditions of\nthe active life: \"Unless a man be elevated in spirit, and set at\nliberty from all creatures, and wholly united to God, whatever he\nknows and whatever he has is of no great weight.\" He wrote to a\nfriend that he had studied that verse for thirty years and still\nfound that he did not know all it meant.\n\nWe give what follows as characteristic of Father Hecker's manner as a\ndirector:\n\n\"At first, in all your deliberate actions, calm your mind, place\nyourself in the attitude of a receiver or listener, and then decide.\nImperceptibly and insensibly grace will guide you.\"\n\n\"Don't care what people say; keep your own counsel. Use your own\nsense and abound in it; as the apostle says: 'Let every one abound in\nhis own sense.' Don't try to get anybody to agree with you. No two\nnoses are alike, much less souls. God never repeats.\"\n\n\"Nobody nowadays wants God. Every one has the whole world on his\nshoulders, and unless his own petty ideas and schemes are adopted and\nsucceed, he prophesies the end of the world. You are on the right\nroad--push on! Our maxim is: Be sure you are right and then go ahead!\"\n\n\"How much that is good and noble in the soul is smothered by unwise\nrestraint! The whole object of restraint is to reject that which is\nfalse and to correct the preference given to a lower good instead of\nto a higher one. As for the rest--_freedom!_\n\n\"I know a man who thinks he don't know anything--who every day knows\nthat he knows less; and who hopes to know nothing before he dies. O\nblessed emptiness which fills us with all! O happy poverty which\npossesses all! O beatified nothingness which can exclaim, _Deus meus\net omnia!\"_\n\nIt will have been seen by this time that Father Hecker's first and\nfundamental rule of direction was to have as little of it as\npossible. His method started out with the purpose to do away with\nmethod at the earliest moment it could safely be done. To be Father\nHecker's penitent meant the privilege of sooner or later being\nnobody's penitent but the Holy Ghost's. The following rules of\ndirection he printed in 1887:\n\n\"The work of the priesthood is to help to guide the Christian people,\nunderstanding that God is always guiding them interiorly.\n\n\"An innocent soul we must guide, fully understanding that God is\ndwelling within him; not as a substitute for God.\n\n\"A repentant sinner we must guide, understanding that we are but\nrestoring him to God's guidance.\n\n\"The best that we can do for any Christian is to quicken his sense of\nfidelity to God speaking to him in an enlightened conscience.\n\n\"Now, God's guidance is of two kinds: one is that of His external\nprovidence in the circumstances of life; the other is interior, and\nis the direct action of the Holy Spirit on the human soul. There is\ngreat danger in separating these two.\n\n\"The key to many spiritual problems is found in this truth: The\ndirect action of God upon the soul, which is interior, is in harmony\nwith his external providence. Sanctity consists in making them\nidentical as motives for every thought, word, and deed of our lives.\nThe external and the internal (and the same must be said of the\nnatural and supernatural) are one in God, and the consciousness of\nthem both is to be made one divine whole in man. To do this requires\nan heroic life-sanctity.\n\n\"All the sacraments of the Church, her authority, prayer both mental\nand vocal, spiritual reading, exercises of mortification and of\ndevotion, have for their end and purpose to lead the soul to the\nguidance of the Holy Spirit. St. Alphonsus says in his letters that\nthe first director of the soul is the Holy Ghost Himself.\n\n\"It is never to be forgotten that one man can never be a guide to\nanother except as leading him to his only Divine Guide.\n\n\"The guide of the soul is the Holy Spirit Himself, and the criterion\nor test of possessing that guide is the Divine authority of the\nChurch.\"\n\nWhat follows was published by Father Hecker in _The Catholic World_\nin 1887. It throws new light on the questions we have been\nconsidering, abounding in practical rules of direction, and\ntherefore, though somewhat long, we venture to close the chapter with\nit:\n\n\"'If any one shall say that without the previous inspiration of the\nHoly Spirit and His aid, a man can believe, hope, love, or repent as\nhe should, so that the grace of justification may be conferred upon\nhim, let him be anathema.'\n\n\"These are the words of the holy Council of Trent, in which the\nCatholic Church infallibly teaches that without an interior movement\nof the indwelling Holy Spirit no act of the soul can be meritorious\nof heaven. This doctrine, embodying the plain sense of Holy Scripture\nand the unbroken teaching of the Church in all ages, bases human\njustification on an interior impulse of the Third Person of the\nDivine Trinity. This impulse precedes the soul's acts of faith, hope,\nand love, and of sorrow for sin: the first stage in the supernatural\ncareer, then, is the entering of the Holy Spirit into the inner life\nof the soul. The process of justification begins by the divine life\nof the indwelling Spirit taking up into itself the human life of the\nsoul.\n\n\"Nor is this to the detriment of man's liberty, but rather to its\nincrease. The infinite independence of God and his divine liberty are\nshared by man exactly in proportion as he partakes of God's life in\nthe communication of the Holy Spirit.\n\n\"If it be asked how the Holy Spirit is received, the answer is,\nSacramentally. 'Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy\nGhost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' As man by nature is\na being of both outer and inner life, so, when made a new man by the\nSpirit of God and elevated into a supernatural state, God deals with\nhim by both outer and inner methods. The Holy Spirit is received by\nthe sacramental grace of baptism and renewed by the other sacraments;\nalso in prayer, vocal or mental, hearing sermons, reading the\nScriptures or devout books, and on occasions, extraordinary or\nordinary, in the course of daily life; and when once received every\nact of the soul that merits heaven is done by the inspiration of that\nDivine Guide dwelling within us. Even though unperceived, though\nindistinguishable from impulses of natural virtue, though\nimperceptibly multiplied as often as the instants are, yet each\nmovement of heaven-winning virtue, and especially love, hope, faith,\nand repentance, is made because the Holy Spirit has acted upon the\nsoul in an efficacious manner.\n\n\"It is not to induce a strained outlook for the particular cases of\nthe action of the Spirit of God on us, or the signs of it, that these\nwords are written. The sacraments, prayer and holy reading, and\nhearing sermons and instructions, are the plain, external instruments\nand accompaniments of the visitations of God, and are sufficient\nlandmarks for the journey of the soul, unless it be led in a way\naltogether extraordinary. And apart from these external marks, no\nmatter how you watch for God, his visitations are best known by their\neffects; it is after the cause has been placed, perhaps some\nconsiderable time after, that the faith, hope, love, or sorrow\nbecomes perceptibly increased--always excepting extraordinary cases.\nNot to 'resist the Spirit' is the first duty. Fidelity to the divine\nguidance, yielding one's self up lovingly to the impulses of virtue\nas they gently claim control of our thoughts--this is the simple duty.\n\n\"Having laid down in broad terms the fundamental doctrine of the\nsupernatural life, it is proper to say a word of the natural virtues\nand of their relation to the supernatural. It has been already\nintimated that the goodness of nature is often indistinguishable from\nthe holiness of the supernatural life; and, indeed, as a rule,\nimpulses of the Holy Spirit first pour their floods into the channels\nof natural virtue, thus rendering them supernatural. These are mainly\nthe cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.\nPractised in a state of nature, these place us in our true relations\nwith our nature and with God's providence in all created nature\naround us; these are the virtues which choice souls among the heathen\npractised. They are not enough. When they have done their utmost they\nleave a void in the heart that still yearns for more. It is the\npurpose of the Spirit of God to raise our virtue to a grade far above\nnature. The practice of the virtues of faith hope, and love, which\nbring the soul into direct communication with God, and which, when\npractised under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are supernatural,\nfollowing upon the practice of the cardinal virtues under the same\nguidance, place the soul in its true and perfect relation with God--a\nstate which is more than natural.\n\n\"Let us, if we would see things clearly, keep in sight the difference\nbetween the natural and supernatural. In the natural order a certain\nunion with God was possessed by man in all ages in common with every\ncreature. The union of the creature with the divine creative power is\nsomething which man can neither escape from nor be robbed of. But in\nthe case of rational creatures this union is, even in a state of\nnature, made far closer and its enjoyment increased by a virtuous\nlife--one in which reason is superior to appetite; a life only to be\nled by one assisted, if not by the indwelling Holy Spirit peculiar to\nthe grace of Christ, yet by the helps necessary to natural virtue and\ncalled medicinal graces. The practice of the four cardinal\nvirtues--Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance--in the\nordinary natural state gave to guileless men and women in every age a\nnatural union with their Creator. Although we maintain that such\nnatural union with God is not enough for man, yet we insist that the\npart the natural virtues play in man's sanctification be recognized.\nIn considering a holy life natural virtues are too often passed over,\neither because the men who practised them in heathen times were\nperhaps few in number, or because of the Calvinistic error that\nnature and man are totally corrupt.\n\n\"And we further insist on the natural virtues because they tend to\nplace man in true relations with himself and with nature, thus\nbringing him into more perfect relation or union with God than he was\nby means of the creative act--a proper preliminary to his\nsupernatural relation. Who will deny that there were men not a few\namong the heathen in whom Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and\nTemperance were highly exemplified? They knew well enough what right\nreason demanded. Such men as Socrates, Plato, Epictetus, and Marcus\nAurelius had by the natural light of reason a knowledge of what their\nnature required of them. They had faults, great ones if you please;\nat the same time they knew them to be faults, and they had the\nnatural virtues in greater or less degrees. Thus the union between\nGod and the soul, due to the creative act, though not sufficient,\nnever was interrupted. The Creator and the Mediator are one.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nTHE PAULIST PARISH AND MISSIONS\n\nIN serving the parish, the Paulists, led by Father Hecker, endeavored\nto utilize the individual qualities of each member, as well as the\nadvantages of a community, so as to bring them to bear as distinct\nforces upon the people. What George Miles had said of them as\nmissionaries, as quoted in a previous chapter, applied to them as\nparish priests, and told accordingly in result. Their personal\nexcellences found free room for activity, without any lack of oneness\nof spirit and without interfering with harmony of action.\n\nThe missionary makes an efficient parish priest. Accustomed to severe\nlabor as well as to very moderate recreation, he pours the energy of\napostolic zeal into parochial channels. A high order of preaching is\noften the result, combined with tireless application to visiting the\nsick, hunting up sinners, and hearing confessions. On the other hand,\nthe experience of regular parish duty is of assistance to the\nmissionary when he returns to his \"apostolic expeditions,\" as Pius\nIX. called them; he is all the better fitted to plan and execute his\nproper enterprises from having obtained a fuller knowledge of the\nordinary state of things in a parish.\n\nIt will not be expected that a detailed account of the parish work of\nSt. Paul's will here be given, or more than a brief summary of that\nof the missions. These latter were kept up with vigorous energy from\n1858 till the close of the war in the spring of 1865. On April 4 of\nthat year Father Baker died, and the missions, which had been a\ngrievous burden to the little band, now became an impossibility. They\nwere suspended till 1872, excepting an occasional one, given not so\nmuch as part of the current labor of the community, as to retain\ntheir sweet savor in the memory and as an earnest of their future\nresumption. But up to Father Baker's death this small body of men had\npreached almost everywhere throughout the country, getting away from\nthe South just before the war blocked the road. Eighty-one missions\nhad been given, hundreds of converts had been received into the\nChurch and many scores of thousands of confessions heard. Numerous\napplications for missions were refused for want of men to preach\nthem. Scarcely a city of any size in the United States and Canada but\nknew the Paulists and thanked God for their missions.\n\nThe Fathers conducted them in the same spirit as when they were\nRedemptorists, and followed, as the community still continues to do,\nsubstantially the same method. It is not easy to improve on St.\nAlphonsus. But they did not fail to bring out the qualities and call\nfor the peculiar virtues demanded by Divine Providence in these\ntimes. Their preaching was distinguished by appeals to manliness and\nintelligence, as well as to the virtues distinctly supernatural. The\npeople were not only edified by their zeal and religious discipline,\nbut the more observant were attracted by the Paulists' freedom of\nspirit, and by their constant insistence on the use of the reasoning\nfaculties to guide the emotions aroused by the sermons. The\nmissionaries were men of native independence, and their religious\ninfluence was productive of the same quality. Great attention was\npaid to the doctrinal instructions. As to special devotions, the\nPaulists have never had any to propagate, though competent and\nwilling to assist the pastor in his own choice of such subsidiary\nreligious aids. Non-Catholics of all classes were drawn to hear the\nconvert missionaries, and the exercises usually received flattering\nnotices from the secular press. An unrelenting warfare was carried on\nagainst the dangerous occasions of sin peculiar to our country and\npeople, and the Fathers were from the beginning, and their community\nis yet well known for particular hostility to drunkenness, and to the\nmost fruitful source of that detestable and widespread vice, the\nsaloon. Their antagonism to drunkenness showed their appreciation of\nits evil supremacy among the masses, and the condemnation of the\nsaloon was a necessary result.\n\nThis attitude of the missionaries was often a bitter-sweet morsel to\nthe pastors, nearly all of whom at that time had been trained in the\nOld World. They were glad of the good done, yet sorry to see their\nliquor-dealers put to public shame. One pastor is recorded as saying:\n\"The only people that have looked sad at this mission are the first\nmen in my parish, the rum-sellers.\" The following is a piece of\nevidence worth publishing, though it is but one of very many which\ncould be produced. It is found in the Mission Record in Father\nBaker's handwriting:\n\n\"A Catholic one evening, on his way to the mission, stopped in a\ngrog-shop and took a glass with the proprietor. 'Won't you go with me\nto hear the Fathers?' said the guest. 'No,' said the other, 'these\nmen are too hard on us. They want all of us liquor-dealers to shut up\nour shops. If we were rich we could do it; but we an't--we are poor.\nThese men are too high and independent; Father wouldn't dare to speak\nas they do. But after all,' continued he, 'they are good fellows; see\nthe effect of their labors.' Then, taking out of his pocket a\ncrumpled letter which he had received through the post-office, and\nwhich was badly spelled and badly written, he read as follows: 'SIR:\nI send you three dollars which I received by mistake three years ago\nfrom your clerk. And now I hope that you will stop _selling\ndamnation,_ and that God may give you grace to stop it.\nYours: A Sinner.'\"\n\nWhatever may have been the misgivings of some, the opposition of the\nPaulists to the liquor-traffic was approved by the most enlightened\nand influential prelates and priests of the country, as is shown by\nthe number of cathedrals and other prominent churches in which the\nmissions were preached. It should be added that this antagonism to\ndrunkenness, to convivial drinking, and to saloon-keeping, not only\nreceived the unanimous applause of the Catholic laity, but edified\nthe non-Catholic public, and brought out many commendations from the\nsecular press as well as from the police authorities of our crowded\ncities. A mission is a terror to obstinate evil-doers of all kinds,\nbut to habitual drunkards and saloon-keepers it is especially so. The\nattitude of the Church in America on this entire subject, as\nofficially expressed by the decrees of the Third Plenary Council and\nby its pastoral letter, fully justifies the action of Father Hecker\nand his companions.\n\nAs soon as the church in Fifty-ninth Street was opened the community\nexerted itself to make the surroundings attractive. The building\noccupied but a small part of the property, the rest of which was laid\nout in grass-plats and gravel walks; many shade-trees and some\nfruit-trees were set out, and a flower and vegetable garden planted.\nIt was Father Hecker's delight to superintend this work, and to\nparticipate actively in it when his duties allowed. The grounds soon\nbecame an attractive spot, to which in a few years church-goers from\nall parts of the city began to make Sunday pilgrimages. They came in\nconsiderable numbers every Sunday to assist at Mass or Vespers in St.\nPaul's quiet, country-like church. Meantime the residents of the\nparish, not very numerous and nearly all of the laboring class,\nformed deep attachments for their pastors, and an almost ideal state\nof unity and affection bound priests and people together.\n\nNearly the entire region was covered with market gardens, varied with\nhuge masses of rock, and groups of shanties. Very many of the\nparishioners of that early period lived in these nondescript\ndwellings, of which they were themselves both the architects and\nbuilders, a fact which added not a little to their quaint and\npicturesque appearance. The sites upon which these \"squatters'\" homes\nwere placed, and over which roamed and sported their mingled goats,\ndogs, and children, are now occupied in great part by blocks of\nstately residences and apartment houses; but we know not whether the\ngrace of God abounds more plentifully now than it did then. At any\nrate, whoever heard Father Hecker in those primitive days call his\nparish \"Shantyopolis,\" could see no sign of regret on his part that\nhe had a poor and simple people as the bulk of his parishioners.\n\nMuch attention was given to the preparation and preaching of sermons,\nwith the result of a full attendance at High Mass on Sundays.\nBeginning with 1861, a volume of these discourses was published under\nFather Hecker's direction each year, till a series of seven volumes\nhad been completed. These were very well received by the Catholic\npublic, and were bought in considerable numbers by non-Catholic\nclergymen. They had an extensive sale, though when their publication\nwas first proposed it was feared that they would not succeed. They\nare almost wholly of a strictly parochial character, brief, direct in\nstyle, abounding in examples from every-day life, and plentifully\nillustrated with Scripture quotations. Although Father Hecker\npreached regularly in his turn, only a few of his sermons were\ncontributed to these volumes, but his suggestions and encouragement\ngreatly assisted the other Fathers in preparing theirs, as indeed in\nall their duties, parochial and missionary. Some years after the\nseries was ended two volumes of Five-Minute Sermons were published,\nproviding short instructions for Low Masses on Sundays.\n\nThe Paulist Church also became well known for the attention paid to\nthe public offices of religion, as well as for rubrical exactness in\nceremonies, the greater feasts of the year being celebrated with all\nthe splendor which a simple church-building and limited pecuniary\nmeans allowed.\n\nFather Hecker was from first to last strongly in favor of\ncongregational singing, and assisted to the best of his power in\nintroducing it. It began in our church in modest fashion back in\nthose early days, and was fostered zealously at the Lenten devotions\nand society meetings. It never failed of some good results, and has\nfinally attained a flourishing state of success in this parish. His\nattention to the children was constant. No matter who had charge of\nthe Sunday-school, as long as his health permitted Father Hecker was\nthere every Sunday that he was at home, asking questions, talking to\nthe teachers and children, enlivening all by his encouragement and\ncheerfulness. He was a martinet on one question, and that was\ncleanliness, and its kindred virtue, orderliness. He was never above\nworking with mop, broom and duster indoors, and shovel and rake in\nthe garden; and this trait added much to the appearance of things as\nwell as to the comfort of all concerned in the use of the convent and\nthe church.\n\nThough assiduous in every parish duty, his favorite task was the\nrelief of the poor. They multiplied in number in undue proportion to\nthe increase of the parish, drifting out this way from the\novercrowded quarters down town. Father Hecker enlisted the best men\nand women in the congregation in the work of caring for them,\norganizing a conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, in whose\nlabors he joyfully and energetically participated.\n\nThe death of Father Baker was, humanly speaking, a loss to the\ncommunity beyond all calculation, and was the great event of the\nfirst period of the Paulist community. Father Hecker had the very\nhighest estimate of his holiness, and mourned him with the mingled\nsorrow and joy with which saints are mourned. The reader should get\nFather Hewit's Memoir of Father Baker if he would know his virtues.\nFather Hecker was often heard to say that few men understood his\nideas so clearly as did Father Baker and had so much sympathy with\nthem. And his death was the signal for an impulse whose power plainly\nindicated its supernatural origin. Up to that time there had been but\ntwo priests added to the community, and those who had offered\nthemselves as novices and been rejected were, as a rule, little\ncalculated to inspire hope. But from 1865 onwards good subjects,\nmostly converts, applied in sufficient numbers, and in a few years\nthe missions were resumed. But what was of even more importance, the\napostolate of the press, started in the publication of THE CATHOLIC\nWORLD the month in which Father Baker's death occurred, assumed a\nnational prominence, and together with the Catholic Tracts and the\nCatholic Publication Society set the Paulists at work in their\nprimary vocation, the conversion of non-Catholics to the true\nreligion. To this, and to Father Hecker's lectures, we now turn. Of\ncourse we might dwell longer on the parish and the missions, about\nwhich there are many things of interest left untold, but only the\nlapse of time can sufficiently dissociate them from living persons to\nallow of their being made public.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nFATHER HECKER'S LECTURES\n\nTHE suspension of the missions, if it was the result of necessity,\nwas yet an aid to Father Hecker in devoting himself to public\nspeaking in the interests of the Catholic faith. Between missions, it\nis true, he seized every favorable opportunity to address audiences\non controversial topics, often doing so in public halls, as well as\nin churches. Meantime he could still further mature his plans, and,\ntesting his methods by experiment, secure for future occasions a\ncourse of lectures fully suited to the end he had in view. More than\never did he study to fit himself for his apostolate. How, he asked\nhimself, shall the living word be framed anew for our new people? How\nshall religious teaching be suited to the special needs of this age\nwithout detracting from the integrity and the venerable antiquity of\nthe truth? He sought to answer these questions by recalling his own\nearly difficulties, and by opening his soul to the voices of\nstruggling humanity uttered everywhere around him. What men outside\nthe Church were yearning for in matters social and religious was his\nincessant study. He read every book, he read every periodical which\npromised to guide him ever so little to know by what road Divine\nProvidence was moving men's minds towards the truth. His eyes were\never strained to read the signs of God's providence in men's lives.\nAnd his conclusion was always the same: proclaim it on the house-tops\nthat no man can be consistent with his natural aspirations till he\nhas become a Catholic; preach it on the street-corners that the\nCatholic religion elevates man far above his highest natural force\ninto union with the Deity--intimate, conscious, and perpetual.\n\nAs to systematic preparation for discourses to non-Catholics, Father\nHecker had his own peculiar equipment. As the reader will remember,\nGod had led him in no way more singularly than in his studies, and\nhad led him straight. The doctrines of the Church were familiar to\nhim, for they had quenched his soul's thirst. And he had preached\nthem on the missions, the instructions on the Creed and the\nSacraments falling to his share. He had given these waters of life to\nother souls, and knew their value. He was a close student of the\ndogmatic side of religion. He had, it is true, little taste for the\nrefinements of theologians, unless they touched the questions of\nhuman dignity and the scope of the grace of Christ, which were vital\nones to himself. He viewed religion with wide-sweeping glances,\ntrying to discover every hill of vision or stream of sanctity. He had\nplain truths to teach, and he needed none other. He knew the organism\nof the Church in clergy and in people, for he had seen it both from\nwithout and within. He had felt the grip of authority fixed in his\nsoul. He had agonized under the brand of punishment as it burnt into\nhis flesh, and he had seen it changed into the badge of approval.\nWithin and without he knew Catholicity, loved it daily more and more,\nand was daily more and more anxious to proclaim it to the world.\n\nIt was not from labored preparation of his lectures that success came\nto Father Hecker. Even those which seemed the most elaborately\nprepared he did not write out word for word. His verbal memory was\nnot trustworthy, and he had to confide in his extemporizing faculty,\nwhich was very good, and which became in course of time quite\nreliable, giving out sentences clear, grammatical, and fit to print.\n\"I have to produce a sermon for next Sunday,\" he once wrote to a\nfriend. \"For me a sermon is always a spontaneous production; I cannot\nget one up. The idea must arise and grow up in my own mind. It is\nusually hard labor for me to produce it outwardly and give it\nsuitable expression.\" But the effort did not appear in the delivery,\nfor his style, although emphatic, was easy and familiar; his\ndelivery, if not altogether according to the rules of elocution,\nnevertheless gained his point completely. No word of his was\ndead-born. His voice was not always clear, as he often suffered from\nbronchial troubles, but it was not unpleasant, and had a penetrating\nquality, being of that middle pitch which carries to the ends of a\nlarge auditorium without provoking the echoes. His appearance was\nvery dignified, his tall frame, his broad face and large features\nshowing with striking effect. His action was simple and not\nungraceful, though frequently exceedingly energetic. As he never\nsought emotional effects his power may be known by his unfailing\nsuccess in holding his audience perfectly attentive throughout long\nargumentative discourses. Energy of conviction was one of the\nstrongest forces he possessed, and it took the shape of a gentle\nconstraint with which his positive utterances of Catholic principles\ncompelled assent. Sincerity of belief and liberty of soul were\nadmirably blended in his manner. He never appeared in public without\nattracting many representatives of the mottled sectarianism of our\npopulation; and this pleased him much, for he loved them, felt at\nhome with them, and was full of joy at the opportunity of addressing\nthem.\n\nHe was chagrined at the apathy he sometimes met with among Catholics\nconcerning the American apostolate. He found priests who would devote\nmuch labor to collecting money for the propagation of the faith among\ndistant heathen races, but very few who would make a serious effort\nfor the conversion of their American fellow-citizens. Are Americans\nof less worth in God's eyes than pagans and Buddhists? he would ask.\nHe thought no differently of the people of the United States than St.\nPaul did of the Corinthians and Macedonians, groaning and travailing\nwith them to bring them forth members of Christ; or than St. Francis\nXavier did of the Japanese.\n\nIf asked how he was going to convert people, he would answer: \"I am a\nCatholic, and I know that I am right. I can prove that I am right.\nWhat more do I want than this, and honest men and women who will\nlisten to me?\" The confidence he had in the strength of the Catholic\nargument was absolute, and this he showed by his zeal. His sole study\nwas how to transmute this force into missionary form. Of all the\nwonders of the intellectual world he felt that the greatest is the\nfaith of Catholics, and he knew by the lesson of his early life that\nit is but slightly appreciated by the non-Catholic mind. That\nCatholics permit this ignorance to continue was a puzzle to him. And\nit was all the more annoying because any single one of them can\nmultiply his influence indefinitely by his union with the most\nperfect organism ever known--the Catholic Church. The quiescence of a\nbody of men, sincere and intelligent, infallibly certain of the means\nof obtaining eternal happiness, living in daily contact with other\nmen ignorant and _inquiring_ about this unspeakable privilege, and\nyet not taking instant measures to impart their knowledge, was to\nFather Hecker almost as great a wonder as the divine gift of faith\nitself, especially as Catholics are well furnished with leaders and\nare organized to spread the truth as one of their most sacred duties.\n\nMr. Wilfrid Ward, a Catholic philosophical writer of distinction, has\nexplained in a brilliant little volume the influence upon controversy\nof what he styles _The Clothes of Religion_--race, political\ntraditions, education, physical temperament. He puts into his\ninstructive pages the sense of the great scholastic maxim, _Quidquid\nrecipitur secundum modum recipientis recipitur_--Whatever is\nreceived, is received according to the mode (or character) of the\nrecipient. The national character, the tendencies, the antecedents of\nthe people addressed, the relative power of thought and of emotion in\ntheir mental activity; all these are not, indeed, the souls of men\nbut the clothing of them, their armor and their weapons; and Father\nHecker felt that such things must be taken into account in dealing\nwith people, and that with the utmost discretion. His view about\ncontroversy with non-Catholics was indeed aggressive--that we had\nreached the point in the battle at which the legion, having cast its\njavelins, rushes on with drawn swords to closer conflict. But the\ncombatants should be well trained, the captains should know the\nground to be traversed, should understand thoroughly the weakness and\nstrength of the enemy. It was not a new thing to bring Protestantism\ninto court at the suit of human liberty. But it was a novelty to\nattack Protestantism as the very torture-chamber of free and\ninnocent souls, and to do it in such a way as to draw thousands of\nthe best Protestants in the land to listen. Such sentences in the\nmorning papers as \"An overflowing house greeted Father Hecker,\" \"The\nimmense hall has seldom been so completely filled,\" \"Representative\nmen of all creeds and of none were scattered through the large\naudience,\" had a tremendous meaning when the lecturer was known to be\nthe most fearless assailant of Protestantism who had appeared for\nmany a day.\n\nFather Hecker well knew that the non-Catholic American aspires to\ndeal with God through the aid of as few exterior appliances as\npossible. To come near God by his own spiritual activity without\nhalting at forms of human contrivance is his spiritual ambition. His\nreligious joy is in a spiritual life which deals with God directly,\nHis inspired Word, His Holy Spirit. Father Hecker longed to tell his\nfellow-countrymen that the Catholic Church gives them a flight to God\na thousand times more direct than they ever dreamed of. They think\nthat the authority of the Church will cramp their limbs; he was eager\nto explain to them that it sets them free, clears the mind of doubt,\nintensifies conviction into instinctive certitude, quickens the\nintellectual faculties into an activity whose force is unknown\noutside the Church.\n\nIt was not with the truths of revelation alone that Father Hecker\ndealt in his lectures. The first principles of natural religion were\nthe background of all his pictures of true Christianity: that God is\ngood, that men will be punished only for their personal misdeeds,\nthat men are born for union with God and in their best moments long\nfor Him, that they are equal, being all made in the Divine image,\nendowed with free will and called to the one eternal happiness--such\nwere the great truths with which he would impress his audience first\nof all, using them afterwards as terms of comparison with Protestant\ndoctrine. This plan he followed rather than institute a comparison of\nhistorical claims or of Biblical credentials, the well-trodden but\nweary road of ordinary controversy. To him Protestantism was more an\noffence against the integrity of human nature than even against the\ntruths of Christian revelation. And he would place Catholicity in a\nnew light, that of reason and liberty.\n\nThe revolt of Protestantism was not more against God's external\nauthority among men than it was against the equal brotherhood of the\nhuman race. Well done, Luther, Father Hecker would say, well and\nconsistently done; when you have proclaimed man totally depraved you\nhave properly made his religion a Cain-like flight from the face of\nhis Maker and his kindred by your doctrine of predestination. Father\nHecker deemed it plainly unwise to forego the advantages of attacking\nsuch vulnerable points as the Protestant errors of total depravity\nand predestination for the sake of dwelling on the Biblical and\nhistorical credentials of Church authority. He knew, indeed, that\nextravagant individualism is to this day a fundamental Protestant\nerror, but the waning power of its doctrinal assertion has deprived\nit of aggressive vigor. There is less danger of its assault upon the\nChurch, Father Hecker thought, than of its sceptical tendency upon\nits own adherents. To emphasize the obligation of organic unity, in\nsuch a condition of things, was not good tactics; it was to revive\nthe spirit of resistance without arresting the evils of doubt.\nAuthority in religion has high and undoubted claims; but it is\nnevertheless true that the normal development of man is in freedom.\nMan is fitted for his destiny in proportion to his ability to use his\nliberty with wisdom, and Father Hecker endeavored to set\nnon-Catholics themselves to work removing the obstacles to true\nspiritual liberty which Protestantism had planted in the way.\n\nAn appeal from Luther and Calvin to the standards of rational nature,\nto human virtue, to human equality, rather than to exclusively\nCatholic standards, was certain of success in a large class of minds.\nAnd this but led to the consideration of the Church's claims to\nelevate rational nature and natural virtue to that divine order which\nis above nature, and which is organic in the Catholic Church. Moral\nrectitude is a simpler test of truth than texts from a dead book,\nwhose original tongues and whose perplexed exegesis are quite unknown\nto the vast mass of mankind. And Father Hecker recognized that the\nelementary truths of reason and the aspirations of humanity for\nbetter things are not unknown to any man or woman; these are\neverybody's personal means of testing truth. To pass them by in order\nto apply the remoter test of revelation is either to admit that\nProtestantism is not against the dictates of reason and man's\naspirations, or to commence the argument against it at the wrong end.\n\nIn a letter to Cardinal Barnabo written in July, 1863, Father Hecker\ngives an account of how he went to work to secure and interest a\nnon-Catholic audience:\n\n\"For several years past it has seemed to me that some more effectual\nmeans should be taken to reach the Protestant community. This last\nwinter I ventured with this view upon an experiment. In three\ndifferent cities I gave, in a large public hall, a course of\nconferences on religion, one every evening from Sunday to Sunday\ninclusive. The expense of the hall was paid by the priest of the\nplace, the lectures were all free, and addressed exclusively to\nProtestants. The halls were crowded at each place, and that my\naudiences might be such as I desired to address, I begged Catholics\nto stay away. At the close of one of my lectures there were present\ntwenty-five hundred persons, chiefly Protestants.\n\n\"My method was as follows: In treating any doctrine of our holy faith\nwith a view to convincing my audience, I considered first what want\nin our nature it was related to, and to which it addressed itself.\nThis want being discovered, I developed and illustrated it until my\nhearers were fully convinced of its existence and importance. Then\nthe question came up, Which religion recognizes this element or want\nof our nature, and meets all its legitimate demands? Does\nProtestantism? Its answers were given, and found either hostile or\nincomplete. Then the Catholic Church was interrogated: and she was\nfound to recognize this want, and her answers adequate and\nsatisfactory. These answers were then shown to be supported by the\nauthority of Holy Scriptures.\n\n\"The interest shown by my audience was remarkable, and the effect of\nthis method was equal to my hopes. My experience convinces me that,\nif this work were continued, it would prepare the way for a great\nchange of religion in this country, more particularly at the present\ntime, when the public mind is favorably disposed to consider the\nclaims of the Catholic Church.\"\n\nThe \"want in our nature\" appealed to was often in the political\norder, such as the love of liberty or man's capacity for\nself-government. This he dwelt upon at considerable length in the\nopening part of his lecture, viewing it as a philosopher would, and\nextending its application, as far as possible, to men generally. He\nthus chose his criterion for comparison of the two claimants in the\nreligious world. His triumph was, therefore, often in an arena only\nsemi-religious, or rather in that of natural religion. The effect was\nwonderfully good, though doubtless due in great measure to the manner\nin which his plan, so simply sketched in the letter above quoted, was\ndeveloped before the audience. The entire doubting body of\nintelligent men was enlisted in varying degrees in favor of the\nCatholic teaching of man's relation to God and to his fellow-men, and\nagainst Protestantism. Americans could not help feeling disgust for\ndoctrines which were condemned by the maxims of the Declaration of\nIndependence.\n\nAlthough there was nothing positively new in the method--something\nlike it had been used by Archbishop Hughes against the Presbyterian\nchampion, Breckenridge--yet the public was taken by surprise. The\nstyle of controversy universally in vogue was that of setting up\ntexts of Scripture and bowling them down with other texts. But here\ncomes an American Catholic and arraigns Protestant doctrine at the\ntribunal of American liberty. The thick-and-thin Protestant was\nthrown into a rage, and became abusive and often incoherent in his\nreply. The easy-going Protestant claimed that the doctrines assailed\nwere obsolete, as his church had, at least implicitly, changed them.\n\"Then change your church,\" said Father Hecker; \"if you have come back\nto the right doctrine, why not come back to the true Church?\" As to\nthe average intelligent inquirer, he was uniformly influenced by\nthese lectures against the Reformation and its entire teaching, with\nits dreadful effects of doubt and division among Christians.\n\nFather Hecker had an intuitive perception of the peculiar\ndifficulties of the American people, and ever showed the utmost\nreadiness and skill in meeting them. He had a matchless power of\nlaying bare the wants of the human heart, and an equal facility of\npointing out the light and strength of Catholicity for their supply.\nHis immense sympathy for an aspiring and guileless soul deprived of\nthe truth, was most evident; he always looked it and spoke it and\nacted it before his audience. To do so was no effort on his part. He\ntold of the promised land not as a native of it, but as a messenger\nsent into it, and now returned with such tidings as should hasten the\nsteps of his brethren still wandering in the desert; and this\nsympathetic interest embraced the civil as well as the religious side\nof human nature. He claimed everything really American for the\nCatholic faith, and this was joy and gladness to many a weary heart\ndrawn to the Church by her charities, or her beautiful symbolism, yet\nhindered by the phantom of absolute authority and the dread of losing\nthe integrity of free citizenship. Incivism--will Catholic apologists\nnever learn it?--is the heaviest stone flung at the Church in all\nfree lands to-day. Father Hecker's blood fairly boiled that the\nChurch of Christ, the very home of Christian freedom, and the\nnursing-mother of all civil well-being, should be thus assailed,\nwhile Calvin's and Luther's degrading doctrines should be paraded as\nalone worthy of a free people.\n\nTo say that Father Hecker \"Americanized\" in the narrow sense would be\nto do him injustice. The American ideas to which he appealed he knew\nto be God's will for all civilized peoples of our time. If\nfundamentally American they were not for that reason exclusively\nAmerican. His Americanism is so broad that by a change of place it\ncan be made Spanish, or German; and a slight change of terms makes it\nreligious and Catholic. Nor had form of government essentially to do\nwith it; human equality cannot be monopolized by republics; it can be\nrightly understood in a monarchy, though in such a ease it does not\nassume the conspicuous place which it does in a republic. It was this\nbroadness of Father Hecker's Americanism that made him acceptable to\nthe extremely conservative circles of Rome, in his struggle there in\nthe winter of 1858-9. Many men in the monarchies of the old World may\ndoubt the advent of republicanism there, but what sensible man\nanywhere doubts the aspiration of all races towards liberty and\nintelligence?\n\nFather Hecker's repertory covered the entire ground between\nscepticism and Catholicism. In refutation of Protestantism the\nprincipal lectures were: _The Church and the Republic; Luther and the\nReformation; How and Why I Became a Catholic, or A Search after\nRational Christianity;_ and _The State of Religion in the United\nStates._ On the positive side his chief topics were: The Church as a\nSociety, Why We Invoke the Saints, and the Sacraments of Penance and\nHoly Communion. Others he had against materialism, spiritualism, etc.\n\nAs may naturally be supposed, some of his lectures succeeded better\nthan others. One of those he personally preferred was _The Churrk and\nthe Republic._ He opened by affirming, as the fundamental principle\nof the American nation, that man is naturally virtuous enough to be\ncapable of self-government. He developed this in various ways till\nhis audience felt that it was to be the touchstone of the question\nbetween the churches. He then exhibited the Protestant teaching on\nhuman virtue and human depravity, quoting extensively from Luther and\nfrom Calvin, as well as from the creeds of the principal Protestant\nsects, until the contrast between their teaching and the fundamental\nAmerican principle was painfully vivid. There was no escape;\ndoctrinal Protestantism is un-American. He then gave the Catholic\ndoctrine of free will, of merit, of human dignity, and of the\nequality of men and human brotherhood. The impression was profound.\nGreat mountains of prejudice were lifted up and cast into the sea.\nThe elevating influences of the Church's faith fixed men's eyes and\nwon their hearts. To have it demonstrated that Catholicity was not a\ngigantic effort to combine all available human forces to maintain a\ncentral religious despotism in the hands of a hierarchy, was a\nsurprise to multitudes of Protestants. To not a few intelligent\nCatholics the style of argument was a great novelty. Father Hecker's\nsuccess proved that the claim of authority on the part of the Church\ncould be established without much difficulty in men's minds, if it\nwere not associated with the enslavement of reason and conscience,\nand if shown to be consistent with rational liberty. He insisted upon\nthe positive view of the subject. He proclaimed the purpose of\nCatholic discipline to be essentially conservative of human rights, a\ndivinely-appointed safeguard to the liberty and enlightenment of the\nsoul of man. He further proclaimed that the infliction of penalties\nby Church authority was an accidental exercise of power provoked by\ndisobedience to lawful authority.\n\n_Luther and the Reformation_ excited widespread remark, and yet to\none accustomed to old-time controversy it seemed but a fragment of an\nargument. The lecture proved that Luther was not an honest reformer,\nbecause, having started to reform inside the Church and as a\nCatholic, he finished by leaving the Church and therefore the real\nwork of reform. At the outset Father Hecker proved that Luther was\nbut one, and by no means the most important one, of the great body of\nCatholic reformers of his time. These set to work to remedy abuses\nwhich had grown to such an extent as to have become intolerable. The\ngenuine reformers, led by the Popes, went right on and did reform the\nChurch most thoroughly, ending by the decrees of the Council of\nTrent. All this the lecturer proved by citations from numerous high\nauthorities, all of them Protestants. Why did Luther leave the\ncompany of the true reformers? or, as Father Hecker puts it, \"Why did\nLuther change his base?\" Whatever reason he had for leaving\nCatholicity, it was not, as a matter of fact, on account of zeal for\nreform. The lecture concluded by emphatically and, in different\nterms, repeatedly denying to Luther the name of Reformer and to his\nwork the name of Reformation. Such was the line of argument in a\nlecture which entertained the general public and enraged bigoted\nProtestants more, perhaps, than any of the others. The secret of its\nsuccess was that it overturned the great Protestant idol.\n\nWith humanitarians, rationalists, indifferentists, and sceptics\nFather Hecker's lectures were popular, and such were his favorite\naudience. If he so much as aroused their curiosity about the Church,\nhe deemed that he had gained a victory; this and more than this he\nalways succeeded in doing. Regular \"church members\" he did not hope\nmuch from, though they came to hear him and he sometimes made\nconverts even among them. The lecture system, then far more in vogue\nthan at present, gave him hearers from all classes of minds, and\nespecially those most intellectually restless and inquiring. He took\nhis turn in the list which contained the names of Wendell Phillips,\nBeecher, Emerson, and Sumner, and found his golden opportunity before\nsuch audiences as had been gathered to listen to them. Thus into the\ndrifts of thought and into the intellectual movements around him,\ninto the daily and periodical press, into the social and political\nand scientific groupings of men and women, his lectures enabled him\nto breathe the peremptory call of the true religion, sure to provoke\ninquiry in all active minds, and in some to find good soil and bear\nthe harvest of conversion. He searched for earnest souls; and his\nconfidence that they were everywhere to be found was rewarded not\nonly in many particular instances, but also by the removal of much\nprejudice throughout the entire country.\n\nThe writer of these pages saw Father Hecker for the first time on the\nlecture platform. He was then in the full tide of success, conscious\nof his opportunity and of his power to profit by it. We never can\nforget how distinctly American was the impression of his personality.\nWe had heard the nation's greatest men then living, and their type\nwas too familiar to be successfully counterfeited. Father Hecker was\nso plainly a great man of that type, so evidently an outgrowth of our\ninstitutions, that he stamped American on every Catholic argument he\nproposed. Nor was the force of this peculiar impression lessened by\nthe whispered grumblings of a few petty minds among Catholics\nthemselves, to whom this apostolic trait was cause for suspicion.\nNever was a man more Catholic than Father Hecker, simply, calmly,\njoyfully, entirely Catholic. What better proof of this than the rage\ninto which his lectures and writings threw the outright enemies of\nthe Church? Grave ministers lost their balance and foamed at him as a\ntrickster and a hypocrite, all the worse because double-dyed with\npretence of love of country.\n\nFor the Protestant pulpits felt the shock and stormed in unison\nagainst this new exposition of Catholicity and against its\nrepresentative. In some cases, not content with one onslaught, they\nreturned to the charge Sunday after Sunday. All this was not\nunexpected. The secular press, however, were very generally favorable\nin their notices, excepting some of the Boston dailies. As a rule,\nthe lectures were very fully reported and sometimes appeared word for\nword.\n\nTo reply to one's assailants after one has left the field of battle\nis no easy matter, and for the most part Father Hecker trusted for\nthis to local champions of Catholicity; and not in vain. But it\nhappened on one occasion that after he had lectured in a large town\nin Michigan, and had journeyed on to fulfil engagements farther West,\nhe was attacked in a public hall by a minister of the place. On his\nreturn East Father Hecker stopped over and gave another lecture in\nthe town, and not only refuted the minister but covered him with\nridicule. In fact there was no great need of defence of Father\nHecker's arguments, they were so simply true and so readily\nunderstood. Not one of his antagonists compared well with him for\nfrankness, good humor, courtesy; and they almost invariably shirked\nthe issue and confined themselves to stale calumnies against the\nChurch.\n\nAt Ann Arbor, Michigan, Father Hecker lectured in the Methodist\nmeeting-house, then the largest hall in the town. The Michigan State\nUniversity, at this town, had at the time about seven hundred\nstudents, nearly all of whom came to the lecture. The subject chosen\nwas _Luther and the Reformation._ As it was announced, the audience\nloudly applauded Luther's name, and some one called for three cheers\nfor him, which were given vociferously, especially by the students.\nFather Hecker smiled, waited till the noise was over, then bade them\ngive him a fair hearing; which, of course, they did. Before he had\nconcluded, his audience seemed won to his view of the question in\nhand, and showed it by the names and the sentiments applauded. At the\nend some one called out \"Three cheers for Father Hecker!\" and they\nwere given most heartily.\n\nThere seems nothing like a new discovery, as we have already said, in\nFather Hecker's controversial matter, or even in the method of its\ntreatment. But joined with its exponent, blended into his\npersonality, as it was, by the sincerity of his conviction, it was a\ndiscovery; flavored and tinctured by him, this wayside fountain had a\nnew life-giving power to both Catholics and non-Catholics. Bishops,\npriests, and Catholic men and women in the world heard him with mute\nattention. Some Catholics, it is true, were stunned by his bold\nhandling of those traditional touch-me-nots of conservatism--reason\nand liberty; and such drew off suspicious. But multitudes of\nCatholics felt that he opened up to full view the dim vistas of truth\ntowards which they had long been groping; these could agree with him\nwithout an effort. A few had reached his stand-point before they knew\nhim, and hailed with rapture the leader who, unlike themselves, was\nnot kept back by either dread of novel-sounding terms or by the\nimpotency of private station. But here and there he met Catholics as\ndead-set against him as the Judaizing converts had been against his\npatron, St. Paul. Their only love was for antiquity, and that they\nloved passionately and in all its forms, even the neo-antiquity of\nthe controversy of the Reformation era. On the other hand many, when\nthey heard him, said, \"That is the kind of Catholic I am, and the\nonly kind it is easy for me to be.\" Non-Catholics, earnest men and\nwomen, were often heard to say, _\"If I were quite sure that Hecker is\na genuine Roman Catholic_ I think that I could be one myself\"; and\nthis some of them did not hesitate to publish in the newspapers, so\nthat Father Hecker might have said with Job: \"The ear that heard me\nblessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me.\"\n\nFather Hecker felt that he was a pioneer in thus dealing with\nrationalized Protestants. His eye was quick to see the signs of the\nbreaking up of dogmatic Protestantism, and he was early out among the\nvast intellectual wreckage, endeavoring to catch and tow into port\nwhat fragments he could of a system founded on doubt and on the\ndenial of human virtue and human intelligence. \"I want,\" he said on\none occasion in private, \"to open the way to the Church to\nrationalists. It seems to me to be now closed up. I feel that I am a\npioneer in opening and leading the way. _I smuggled myself into the\nChurch,_ and so did Brownson.\" And now he wanted to abolish the\ncustom-house, and open the harbor wide and clear for the entrance\ninto the Church of all men who had been forced back on reason alone\nfor guidance. The words above italicised were uttered with powerful\nemphasis and with much feeling. He quoted the following saying of\nOzanam with emphatic approval: \"What the age needs is an\nintellectual crusade\"; and he affirmed that Leo XIII. had done very\nmuch to aid us in preaching it, and that Pius IX., rightly\nunderstood, had led the way to it. \"The Catholics I would help with\nmy left hand, the Protestants with my right hand,\" he once said. And\nnon-Catholics, all but the bigots, liked him, for he was frank and\ntrue by every test. He was neither an exotic nor a hybrid, and they\nfelt at home with him. He much resembled the best type of public men\nin America who have achieved fame at the bar or in politics; indeed,\nas we have already intimated, he really belonged to that type, for\nall his studies and all his training in the Catholic schools and\nconvents, which had given him more and more of truth, more and more\nof the grace of God, had not changed the kind or type of man to which\nhe belonged. He was the same character as when he harangued the\nSeventh Ward voters, or discussed the Divine Transcendence at Brook\nFarm. Scholastic truth sank deep into his soul, but scholastic\nmethods stuck on the surface and then dropped away. \"And David having\ngirded his sword upon his armor began to try if he could walk in\narmor, for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul, I\ncannot go thus, for I am not used to it. And he laid them off. And he\ntook his staff which he had always in his hands, and chose him five\nsmooth stones out of the brook.\"\n\nIf his duties in the Paulist community and parish had allowed, Father\nHecker could have lectured to large audiences during the greater part\nof the year, and been well paid for his labor. He soon became the\nforemost exponent of Catholicity on the public platform in the United\nStates. From the close of the war till his health gave way in 1872 he\nwas much sought after for lectures, and spoke in the different cities\nand very many of the large towns, besides being obliged to refuse\nnumerous applications, constantly coming in from all parts of the\nUnion and from all sorts of societies, secular, Catholic, and even\ndistinctly Protestant. Meantime he was frequently called on to preach\non such occasions as the laying of corner-stones of churches and\ntheir dedications. He also gave one of the sermons preached before\nthe Second Plenary Council of Baltimore.\n\nThe following is the introductory paragraph of a long character\nsketch of Father Hecker from the pen of James Parton, the historian.\nIt is taken from an article entitled \"Our Roman Catholic Brethren,\"\npublished in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for April and May, 1868. The\nentire article is full of admiration for the Catholic Church and of\nyearning towards her, though written by a typical sceptic of this era:\n\n\"As usual with them [Catholics] it is one man who is working this new\nand most effective idea [the Catholic Publication Society]; but, as\nusual with them also, this one man is working by and through an\n_organization_ which multiplies his force one hundred times and\nconstitutes him a person of national importance. Readers who take\nnote of the really important things transpiring around them will know\nat once that the individual referred to is Father Hecker, Superior of\nthe Community of the Paulists, in New York. . . . It is he [Father\nHecker] who is putting American machinery into the ancient ark and\ngetting ready to run her by steam. Here, for once, is a happy\nman--happy in his faith and in his work--_sure_ that in spreading\nabroad the knowledge of the true Catholic doctrine he is doing the\nbest thing possible for his native land. A tall, healthy-looking,\nrobust, handsome, cheerful gentleman of forty-five, endowed with a\nparticular talent for winning confidence and regard, which talent has\nbeen improved by many years of active exercise. It is a particular\npleasure to meet with any one, at such a time as this, whose work\nperfectly satisfies his conscience, his benevolence, and his pride,\nand who is doing that work in the most favorable circumstances, and\nwith the best co-operation. Imagine a benevolent physician in a\npopulous hospital, who has in his office the medicine which he is\nperfectly certain will cure or mitigate every case, provided only he\ncan get it taken, and who is surrounded with a corps of able and\nzealous assistants to aid him in persuading the patients to take it!\"\n\nMr. Parton having given us a picture of Father Hecker as he appeared\nto Protestants, the following exhibits him as Catholics saw him. It\nis an extract from Father Lockhart's clever book, _The Old Religion;_\nthe original of Father Dilke is Father Hecker:\n\n\"The day after our last conversation, having an introduction to the\nSuperior of the ---- Fathers in New York, my friends agreed to\naccompany me. I was particularly glad of this because Father Dilke\nwas one of the most remarkable men of our Church in the States.\nHimself a convert, and a man of large views and great sympathies, no\none was better able to enter into the scruples and difficulties of\nreligious Protestants on their first contact with Catholic doctrines\nand Catholic worship.\n\n\"On sending in our names we had not long to wait in the guest-room\nbefore the good father made his appearance. There was a stamp of\noriginality about him; tall in stature, not exactly what we are used\nto call clerical in appearance, with a thoroughly American type of\nface, and with the national peaked beard instead of being closely\nshaven as is the custom with our clergy generally. I had met him\nbefore, without his clerical (religious) garb, on a journey on board\na steamboat. At first, I remember, I had set him down as a Yankee\nskipper or trader of some sort; but when by chance we got into\nconversation, I found him a hard-headed man, shrewd, original, and\nearnest in his remarks; but when our conversation turned to religious\ntopics, and got animated, I shall never forget how all that was\ncommon and national in his physique disappeared. And when he spoke of\nthe mystery of God's love for man, his countenance seemed as it were\ntransfigured, so that I felt that an artist would not wish for a\nbetter living model from which to paint a St. Francis Xavier, making\nhimself all things to all men amidst his shipmates on his voyage to\nthe Indies.\"\n\nFrom what has been said of Father Hecker's aptitude to win\nnon-Catholics to hear and believe him, it should not be thought that\nin order to do so he was obliged to leave off any sign of his\npriestly character. He was distinctly priestly in his demeanor,\nthough, as already observed, not exactly what one would call a\nthorough \"ecclesiastic.\" He ever dressed soberly. When he arrived at\na town on a lecture tour he always put up at the house of the\nresident priest, if there was one, and, if he stayed over Sunday,\npreached for him at High Mass. He invariably corresponded beforehand\nwith the pastor of the town to which he was invited by a secular\nlecture society, requesting him to send complimentary tickets to the\nleading men of the place--lawyers, doctors, ministers, merchants, and\npoliticians. And when he appeared on the platform it was always in\ncompany with the priest. He loved priests with all his might and was\never at home in their company. It is not very singular, therefore,\nthat some of his most devoted friends and most ardent admirers were\npriests, secular and religious, born and bred in the Old World--among\nthem some of the most prominent clergymen in the country.\n\nFather Hecker often met non-Catholics in private, being sought out by\nprominent radicals, sceptics, unbelievers, and humanitarians. What\nthey had heard from him in public lectures, or read of him in the\npress, drew them to him, or they were brought to see him by mutual\nfriends. And here he was indeed powerful, overbearing resistance by\nthe strength of conviction and the simple exhibition of Catholic\ntruth. The sight of a man anywhere, whom he could but suspect of\naptitude for his views, was the signal for his emphatic affirmation\nof them, sometimes leading him to controversy bordering on the\nvociferous on cars and steamboats. In such circumstances, and in all\nhis other dealings with men, you saw his prompt intelligence, his\nfine sensibility, his lofty spirit, his forceful and occasionally\nimperious will to hold you to the point; but the quality which, both\nin public and private discourse, outshone all, or rather gave all\nlight and direction, was an immense love of truth joined to an equal\nadmiration for virtue.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nTHE APOSTOLATE OF THE PRESS\n\nONE Sunday forenoon, happening to cross Broadway near a fashionable\nProtestant church, we saw the curb on both sides of the street lined\nwith carriages, and the coachmen and footmen all reading the morning\npapers. The rich master and his family were in the softly-cushioned\npews indoors, while their servants studied the news of the world and\nworshipped at the shrine of the Press outside: a spectacle suggestive\nof many things to the social reformer. But to a religious mind it was\nan invitation to the _Apostolate of the Press._ The Philips of our\nday can evangelize the rough charioteer by means of the written word\nas easily as they can his cultured master.\n\nTo Father Hecker the Press was the highest opportunity for religion.\nThe only term of comparison for it is some element of nature like\nsunlight or the atmosphere. In the Press civilized Man lives and\nbreathes. Father Hecker was as alive to the injury done to humanity\nby bad reading as a skilful physician is to the malaria which he can\nsmell and fairly taste in an infected atmosphere; and he ever strove\nto make the Press a means of enlightenment and virtue. He began to\nwrite for publication almost immediately after his arrival in America\nas a Redemptorist missionary; the _Questions of the Soul_ and the\n_Aspirations of Nature_ were composed amidst most absorbing\noccupations between 1853 and 1858. Throughout life he was ever asking\nhimself and others how the Press could be cleansed, and how its\nApostolate could be inaugurated. To this end he was ready to devote\nall his efforts, and expend all his resources and those of the\ncommunity of which he was the founder. It is true that no man of his\ntime was better aware of the power of the spoken word, and few were\nmore competent to use it, the natural and Pentecostal vehicle of the\nHoly Spirit to men's souls. But he also felt that the providence of\nGod, in making the Press of our day an artificial medium of human\nintercourse more universal than the living voice itself, had pointed\nit out as a necessary adjunct to the oral preaching of the truth. He\nwas convinced that religion should make the Press its own. He would\nnot look upon it as an extraordinary aid, but maintained that the\nordinary provision of Christian instruction for the people should\never be two-fold, by speech and by print: neither the Preacher\nwithout the Press nor the Press without the Preacher. He was heard to\nsay that in reading Montalembert's _Monks of the West_ he had been\nstruck with the author's eloquent apostrophe to the spade, the\ninstrument of civilization and Christianity for the wild hordes of\nthe early middle ages. Much rather, he said, should we worship the\nPress as the medium of the light of God to all mankind. He felt that\nthe Apostolate of the Press might well absorb the external vocation\nof the most active friends of religion.\n\nIn the Press he found a distinct suggestion from above of a change of\nmethods for elevating men to truth and virtue. In the spring of 1870,\nwhile on his way home from the Vatican Council, he wrote to Father\nDeshon from Assisi:\n\n\"I felt as if I would like to have peopled that grand and empty\nconvent with inspired men and printing-presses. For evidently the\nspecial battle-field of attack and defence of truth for half a\ncentury to come is the printing-press.\"\n\nHe believed in types as he believed in pulpits. He believed that the\nprinting-office was necessary to the convent. To him the Apostolate\nof the Press meant the largest amount of truth to the greatest number\nof people. By its means a small band of powerful men could reach an\nentire nation and elevate its religious life.\n\nThis being understood, one is not surprised at the extent of his\nplans for this Apostolate. He was never able to carry them out fully.\nNot till some years after the founding of the community could he make\na fair beginning, although the first volume of the Paulist Sermons\nappeared in 1861. Delays were inevitable from the difficulties\nincident to the opening of the house and church in Fifty-ninth\nStreet, and these were aggravated by the war, which for over four\nyears bred such intense excitement as to interfere with any strong\ngeneral interest in matters other than political. But the very month\nit ended, in April, 1865, Father Hecker started _The Catholic World._\nIts purpose was to speak for religion in high-grade periodical\nliterature. The year following he founded The Catholic Publication\nSociety, with the purpose of directing the entire resources of the\nPress into a missionary apostolate. In 1870 he began _The Young\nCatholic._ In literary merit and in illustrations it equalled any of\nthe juvenile publications of that period, and was the pioneer of all\nthe Catholic journals in the United States intended for children. And\nfinally, in 1871, he projected the establishment of a first-class\nCatholic daily, securing within a year subscriptions for more than\nhalf the money necessary for the purpose, when the work was arrested\nby the final breaking down of his health.\n\n_The Catholic World_ was considered a hazardous venture. At the time\nit was proposed, such modest attempts at Catholic monthlies as had\nstruggled into life had long ceased to exist. The public for such a\nmagazine seemed to be small. The priesthood had little leisure for\nreading, being hardly sufficient in number for their most essential\nduties; the educated laymen were not numerous, nor remarkable for\nactivity of mind in matters of religion; nearly the entire Church of\nAmerica was foreign by birth or parentage, and belonged to the\ntoiling masses of the people: \"not many rich, not many noble.\" And,\nFather Hecker was asked, whom are you going to get to write for the\nmagazine? How many Catholic literary men and women do you know of?\nPrudence, therefore, stood sponsor to courage. The cautious policy of\nan eclectic was adopted, and for more than a year the magazine, with\nthe exception of its book reviews, was made up of selections and\ntranslations from foreign periodicals. The late John R. G. Hassard,\nwho had already succeeded as a journalist, was chosen by Father\nHecker as his assistant in the editorial work. Efforts were at once\nmade to secure original articles; but before the magazine was filled\nby them three or four years were spent in urgent soliciting, in very\nelaborate sub-editing of MSS., and in reliance on the steady\nassistance of the pens of the Paulist Fathers. As a compensation,\n_The Catholic World_ has introduced to the public many of our best\nwriters, and first and last has brought our ablest minds on both\nsides of the water into contact with the most intelligent Catholics\nin the United States. All through its career it has represented\nCatholic truth before the American public in such wise as to command\nrespect, and has brought about the conversion of many of its\nnon-Catholic readers. Since its beginning it has been forced to hold\nits own against the claims of not unwelcome rivals, and against the\nalmost overwhelming attractions of the great illustrated secular\nmonthlies, to say nothing of the vicissitudes of the business world;\nand it has succeeded in doing so, Father Hecker's purpose in\nestablishing it has been realized, for it has ever been a first-rate\nCatholic monthly of general literature, holding an equal place with\nsimilar publications in the world of letters. He was its\neditor-in-chief till the time of his death, except during three years\nof illness and absence in Europe. He conducted it so as to occupy\nmuch of the field open to the Apostolate of the Press, giving solid\ndoctrine in form of controversy, and discussing such religious truths\nas were of current interest. He kept its readers informed of the\nchangeful moods of non-Catholic thought, and furnished them with\nshort studies of instructive eras and personages in history. These\ngraver topics have been floated along by contributions of a lighter\nkind, by good fiction and conscientious literary criticism. Meantime,\nthe social problems which had perplexed Father Hecker himself in his\nearly life, have caught the attention of the slower minds of average\nmen, or rather have been thrust upon them; and their consideration,\never in his own sympathetic spirit, now forms a prominent feature of\n_The Catholic World._\n\n_The Young Catholic_ was an enterprise dear to his heart. His\ninterest in it was constant and minute, and some of the articles most\npopular with its young constituency were from his own pen. It has\nalways been edited by Mrs. George V. Hecker, assisted by a small\ncircle of zealous and enlightened writers. It has held its way, but\nhas had to encounter the not unusual fate of bold pioneers. It\ncreated its own rivals by demonstrating the possibilities of juvenile\nCatholic journalism, calling into existence more than a score of\nclaimants for the support which it alone at first solicited. The\nlowest estimate of juvenile publications of a purely secular tone\nyearly sold in America carries the figure far into the millions. Some\nof these, and it is well to know that they are the most widely sold,\nare first-rate in a literary point of view and employ the best\nartists for the pictures. To say that they are secular but feebly\nexpresses the totally unmoral influence they for the most part exert.\nThey are the extension of the unreligious school into the homes of\nthe people. When Father Hecker and Mrs. George V. Hecker and their\nassociates began _The Young Catholic,_ this vast mirage of the desert\nof life had but glimmered upon the distant horizon; they saw it\ncoming and they did their best to point Catholic youth away from it\nand lead it to the real oasis of God, with its grateful shade, its\ndelicious fruits, and its ever-flowing springs of the waters of life.\n\nAs already said, The Catholic Publication Society was begun a year\nafter _The Catholic World_ was started, its aim being to turn to the\ngood of religion, and especially to the conversion of non-Catholics,\nall the uses the press is capable of. It was a missionary work in the\nbroadest sense seeking to enlist not only the clergy but especially\nthe laity in an organized Apostolate of the Press, to enlighten the\nfaith of Catholics and to spread it among their Protestant\nfellow-citizens. Its first work was to be the issuing of tracts and\npamphlets telling the plain truth about the Catholic religion. Local\nsocieties, to be established throughout the country, were to buy\nthese publications at a price less than cost, and distribute them\ngratis to all classes likely to be benefited. To catch the eye of the\nAmerican people, to affect their hearts, to supply their religious\nwants with Catholic truth, were objects kept in view in preparing the\ntracts. Although some of them were addressed to Catholics, enforcing\nimportant religious duties, nearly all of them were controversial.\nMore than seventy different tracts were printed first and last, and\nmany hundreds of thousands, indeed several millions, of them\ndistributed in all parts of the country, public, charitable, and\npenal institutions being, of course, fair field for this work. They\nwere all very brief, few of them covering more than four small-sized\npages. \"Three pages of truth have before now overturned a life-time\nof error,\" said Father Hecker. The tract _Is it Honest?_ though only\nfour pages of large type, or about twelve hundred words, created a\nsensation everywhere, and was answered by a Protestant minister with\nover fifty pages of printed matter, or about fifteen times more than\nthe tract itself. One hundred thousand copies of this tract were\ndistributed in New York City alone. It is printed herewith as a\nspecimen, both as to style and matter, of what one may call the\naggressive-defensive tactics in Catholic controversy:\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To say that the Catholic Church prohibits the use of the Bible_--\nWhen anybody who chooses can buy as many as he likes at any Catholic\nbookstore, and can see on the first page of any one of them the\napprobation of the Bishops of the Catholic Church, with the Pope at\ntheir head, encouraging Catholics to read the Bible, in these words:\n\"The faithful should be excited to the reading of the Holy\nScriptures,\" and that not only for the Catholics of the United\nStates, but also for those of the whole world besides?\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To say that Catholics believe that man by his own power can forgive\nsin_--When the priest is regarded by the Catholic Church only as the\nagent of our Lord Jesus Christ, acting by the power delegated to him,\naccording to these words, \"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are\nforgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained?\"\n(St. John 20:23).\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To repeat over and over again that Catholics pay the priest to\npardon their sins_--When such a thing is unheard of anywhere in the\nCatholic Church--When any transaction of the kind is stigmatized as\na grievous sin, and ranked along with murder, adultery, blasphemy,\netc., in every catechism and work on Catholic theology?\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To persist in saying that Catholics believe their sins are forgiven\nmerely by the confession of them to the priest, without a true sorrow\nfor them, or a true purpose to quit them_--When every child finds\nthe contrary distinctly and clearly stated in the catechism, which he\nis obliged to learn before he can be admitted to the sacraments? Any\nhonest man can verify this statement by examining any Catholic\ncatechism.\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To assert that the Catholic Church grants any indulgence or\npermission to commit sin_--When an \"indulgence,\" according to her\nuniversally received doctrine, was never dreamed of by Catholics to\nimply, in any case whatever, any permission to commit the least sin;\nand when an indulgence has no application whatever to sin until after\nsin has been repented of and pardoned?\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To accuse Catholics of putting the Blessed Virgin or the Saints in\nthe place of God or the Lord Jesus Christ_--When the Council of\nTrent declares that it is simply useful to ask their intercession in\norder to obtain favor from God, through his Son, Jesus Christ our\nLord, who alone is our Saviour and Redeemer--\n\nWhen \"asking their prayers and influence with God\" is exactly of the\nsame nature as when Christians ask the pious prayers of one another?\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To accuse Catholics of paying divine worship to images or pictures,\nas the heathen do_--When every Catholic indignantly repudiates any\nidea of the kind, and when the Council of Trent distinctly declares\nthe doctrine of the Catholic Church in regard to them to be, \"that\nthere is no divinity or virtue in them which should appear to claim\nthe tribute of one's veneration\"; but that \"all the honor which is\npaid to them shall be referred to the originals whom they are\ndesigned to represent?\" (Sess. 25).\n\nIS IT HONEST\n_To make these and many other similar charges against Catholics_--\nWhen they detest and abhor such false doctrines more than those do\nwho make them, and make them, too, without ever having read a\nCatholic book, or taken any honest means of ascertaining the\ndoctrines which the Catholic Church really teaches?\n\nRemember the commandment of God, which says: \"Thou shalt not bear\nfalse witness against thy neighbor.\"\n\nReader, would you be honest, and do no injustice? Then examine the\ndoctrines of the Catholic Church; read the works of Catholics. See\nboth sides. Examine, and be fair; for AMERICANS LOVE FAIR PLAY.\n\nIn preparing these little messengers of truth every style of writing\nwas used, narrative, allegory, dialogue, and positive argument. They\nare as good reading to-day as when first issued, and the volume which\nthey form may be placed in an inquirer's hands with excellent effect.\nTo keep them agoing Father Hecker laid all his friends of any\nliterary ability under contribution, the series being opened by\nArchbishop Spalding with a tract on _Religious Indifferentism._ Did\nspace permit, an entire list of the subjects dealt with might be\ngiven, and the reader could the better see how they embrace the\nentire controversy between Catholics and Protestants and infidels,\nmany of the tracts being masterpieces of popular argumentation.\n\nAs to the business side of these enterprises, Father Hecker confided\nit to Mr. Lawrence Kehoe, who was publisher of _The Catholic\nWorld_ and of _The Young Catholic_ from their beginning until the\nPaulists became their own publishers, shortly before Mr. Kehoe's\ndeath. He was placed in charge of the Publication Society as manager\nwhen it was started, and so continued until the formation of the\npresent firm, remaining then the active partner in its management. No\nmore ardent advocate of a good cause could be desired than Lawrence\nKehoe. Father Hecker cherished him as a friend, and he was his\nzealous and efficient agent in his entire Apostolate of the Press.\n\nThe purpose of the Publication Society was missionary, and the\nintention was that its books, tracts, and pamphlets should be either\ngiven away or sold at cost price, or below it. Therefore it was\nnecessary to secure funds for the running expenses. The reader has\nseen that this was to have been done by the contributions of\nsubsidiary societies. To aid in the formation of these and to solicit\ncontributions in money, circulars were sent to all the clergy of the\nUnited States. Only a few made any practical response. But the\nmeeting of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, the same\nyear the Society was founded, was opportune. The bishops were induced\nto take the matter up, and a decree, of which the following is a\ntranslation, was enacted. After speaking of the need of supplying\nCatholic literature at a low price the Council proceeds:\n\n\"Since a society with this object in view, known as The Catholic\nPublication Society, has been founded in New York, and has been so\nfar conducted with commendable diligence and with notable success, we\ntherefore consider it to be entirely worthy of the favor and\nassistance of prelates and priests, as well as of the Catholic people\nin general. That the whole country may the better and more certainly\nshare in its advantages, we advise and exhort the bishops to\nestablish branches of this Society in their dioceses, by means of\nwhose officers the publications of the Society may be distributed.\nBut as without great expenditure of money these societies cannot be\nkept up and must fail of success, the bishops shall therefore appoint\na yearly collection for their support, to be taken up in all the\nprincipal churches, or shall make other provision for the same\npurpose according to their best judgment\" (Con. Plen. Balt., Sec. 500).\n\nFrom the Pastoral Letter of the same Council we extract the following:\n\n\"In connection with this matter [the Catholic Press] we earnestly\nrecommend to the faithful of our charge The Catholic Publication\nSociety, lately established in the city of New York by a zealous and\ndevoted clergyman. Besides the issuing of short tracts with which\nthis Society has begun, and which may be usefully employed to arrest\nthe attention of many whom neither inclination nor leisure will allow\nto read larger works, this Society contemplates the publication of\nCatholic books, according as circumstances may permit and the\ninterests of religion appear to require. From the judgment and good\ntaste evinced in the composition and selection of such tracts and\nbooks as have already been issued by this Society, we are encouraged\nto hope that it will be eminently effective in making known the\ntruths of our holy religion, and dispelling the prejudices which are\nmainly owing to want of information on the part of so many of our\nfellow-citizens. For this it is necessary that a generous\nco-operation be given both by clergy and laity to the undertaking,\nwhich is second to none in importance among the subsidiary aids which\nthe inventions of modern times supply to our ministry for the\ndiffusion of Catholic truth.\"\n\nHow elated Father Hecker was by this action of the Council, and how\nover-sanguine, as the event proved, of the future of the Society, is\nshown by the following extracts from letters to a friend:\n\n\"My efforts in the recent Council were completely successful, owing\nto the many prayers offered to God--yours not the least. Could you\nhave seen the letters from different quarters, from good pious nuns,\nand persons loving and serving and fearing God in the world, written\nto me, and their writers all praying and doing works of mercy and\nmortification for the purposes I had in view, you could not wonder at\nmy success. God did it. What is more, I was fully conscious of the\nfact, and it is this that made my great joy.\n\n\"The Catholic Publication Society has the unanimous consent, and\nsympathy, and co-operation of the entire episcopate and clergy. Every\nyear there is a collection to be taken up in the principal churches\nfor its support. I have drawn an elephant, but I do not feel like the\nman who did not know what to do with him after he had got him.\"\n\n\"It is good in God to place me in a position in which I can act\nefficiently. The disposition towards me is, I know, most pleasant and\nfavorable. I have been placed where I shall be at liberty to act and\ndirect action. Quietly pray for me as the Holy Spirit may suggest. On\nmy part I will also seek the same guidance. How good God is to give\nit!\"\n\nThe Council had hardly adjourned when it began to be plain that in\nlegislating for The Catholic Publication Society the prelates had\nbeen over-stimulated by the zeal of Archbishop Spalding and the\npersonal influence of Father Hecker himself, who was present in his\ncapacity of Superior of the Paulists. He went among the bishops and\npleaded for the Apostolate of the Press with characteristic vigor,\nand with his usual success. Aided by the archbishop, he lifted the\nFathers of the Council for a moment above what in their sober senses\nthey deemed the exclusive duty of the hour. This was to provide\nchurches and priests, and schools and school-teachers, for the\npeople. Already far too numerous for their clergy, the Catholic\npeople were increasing by immigration alone at the rate of more than\na quarter of a million a year. Every effort must be concentrated, it\nwas thought, and every penny spent, in the vast work of housing and\nfeeding the wandering flocks of the Lord. And certainly the magnitude\nof the task and the success attained in performing it can excuse the\nindifference shown to the Apostolate of the Press, if anything can\nexcuse it. But it seemed otherwise to Father Hecker, as it does now\nto us. For the Catholic people could have been better and earlier\ncared for in their spiritual concerns if furnished with the abundant\nsupply of good reading which the carrying out of Father Hecker's plan\nwould have given them, and that at no great expense. What substitute\nfor a priest is equal to a good book? What vocation to the priesthood\nhas not found its origin in the pages of a good book, or at any rate\nbeen fostered by its devout lessons? And all history as well as\nexperience proves that the best guarantee of the faith of a Catholic,\nmoving amidst kindly-disposed non-Catholic neighbors, is the\naggressive force of missionary zeal. The Publication Society, if\nbrought into active play, would have done much to create this zeal,\nand would have supplied its best arms of attack and defence by an\nabundance of free Catholic reading. It would have helped on every\ngood work by auxiliary forces drawn from intelligent faith and\ninstructed zeal.\n\nA closer view of the case shows that antecedents of a racial and\nsocial character among the people had something to do with the apathy\nwe have been considering. To a great degree it still rests upon us,\nthough such organized efforts as the Catholic Truth Society of St.\nPaul, Minnesota, and the Holy Ghost Society of New Orleans indicate a\nchange for the better.\n\nHad Father Hecker continued in good health there is a chance, though\na desperate one, that he might have overcome all obstacles. Many\nzealous souls would have followed his lead. As a specimen we may name\nthe Vicar-General of San Francisco, Father Prendergast, who, with the\nhelp of a few earnest friends, raised several thousand dollars in\ngold in that diocese alone. But in 1871 Father Hecker's strength\nbegan to fail, and in the following year his active life was done. As\nalready shown, it had been the intention to establish branch\nsocieties everywhere, whose delegates would regularly meet and\ncontrol the entire work, giving the Church in America an approved,\npowerful auxiliary dominantly made up of laymen. In that sense the\nSociety never was so much as organized, the number of branch\nsocieties not at any time warranting such a step as a general meeting\nof their representatives. The money actually collected was all spent\nin printing and circulating the tracts and other publications given\naway or sold below cost, Father Hecker and the Paulists managing the\nentire work. When the collections gave out, Mr. George V. Hecker\ncontributed a large sum for continuing the undertaking. The result\nwas his finding himself in the publishing business, which he was\ncompelled to place as far as possible on a basis to meet the current\noutlay. The Society, as far as its name went, thus became a Catholic\npublishing firm, with Mr. Hecker mainly involved financially and Mr.\nKehoe in charge of the business. Mr. Hecker sunk a small fortune in\nthe Apostolate of the Press, much of it during the hard times between\n1873 and 1876. The history of the whole affair is as curious as it is\ninstructive, and hence we have given a pretty full account of it. It\nweighed heavy on Father Hecker's heart, though he astonished his\nfriends by the equanimity with which he accepted its failure. His\nwork, if it did not perish in a night like the prophet's gourd,\nwithered quickly into very singular form and narrow proportions. The\namazement of Protestant bigots at the appearance of the Catholic\ntracts, speechless and clamorous by turns; the quaker guns of the\nSecond Plenary Council, and the bright dreams of a vigorous attack\nupon the enemy all along the line and by all classes of clergy and\nlaity--how Father Hecker did in after years discuss these topics, and\nhow he did inspire all about him with his own enthusiastic hopes of a\nfuture and more successful effort! When he went to Europe in 1873,\ntoo feeble to hope for recovery, leaving the enterprise behind him in\nthe same condition as his own broken health, how unmurmuring was his\nsubmission to the Divine and human wills which had brought all to\nnaught!\n\nNot more than a few words need be said of his undertaking to buy a\nNew York daily paper. It happened that in 1871 a prominent journal, a\nmember of the Associated Press, could be bought for three hundred\nthousand dollars. In an instant, as it seems, Father Hecker grasped\nthe opportunity. By personal appeals to the rich men of the city more\nthan half the sum required was subscribed, Archbishop McCloskey\nheading the list with a large amount. But soon the doctors had to be\ncalled in, and the enterprise went no further.\n\nHow Father Hecker appeared to men when advocating the Apostolate of\nthe Press, and how he spread the forceful majesty of Catholicity over\nhis personal surroundings, is shown by Mr. James Parton's words in\nthe article in the _Atlantic Monthly_ already quoted from: \"The\nspecial work of this [the Paulist] community is to bring the steam\nprinting-press to bear upon the spread of the Catholic religion in\nthe United States.\" The resistless missionary power latent in the\nChurch is thus spoken of by the same writer:\n\n\"What a powerful engine is this! Suppose the six ablest and highest\nAmericans were living thus, freed from all worldly cares, in an\nagreeable, secluded abode, yet near the centre of things, with twelve\nzealous, gifted young men to help and cheer them, a thousand\norganizations in the country to aid in distributing their writings,\nand in every town a spacious edifice and an eager audience to hang\nupon their lips. What could they _not_ effect in a lifetime of\nwell-directed work?\"\n\nWhat follows, taken from a letter of Father Hecker's while sick in\nEurope in 1874, shows one of his aims in the Apostolate of the Press.\nIt is suggestive of a result since attained, at least partially, in\nmore than one religious community in America:\n\n\"Monsignor Mermillod desired, early in the fall, that I should see\nCanon Schorderet, of this place [Fribourg in Switzerland], as he was\nengaged zealously with the press. This was one of my principal\nreasons for visiting this place. My surprise has been most gratifying\nin finding that he has organized, or rather begun, an association of\ngirls to set types, etc., who live in community and labor for the\nlove of God in the Apostolate of the Press. He publishes several\nnewspapers and journals. The house in which the members live is also\nthe store and the publishing house. Each girl has her own room. They\nare under the patronage of St. Paul. The canon is filled with the\nidea of St. Paul as the great patron of the Press, _the first\nChristian journalist._ What has long been my dream of a movement of\nthis nature has found here an incipient realization. Our views in\nregard to the mission of the press, and the necessity of running it\nfor the spread and defence of the faith as a form of Christian\nsacrifice in our day, are identical. You can easily fancy what\ninterest and consolation our meeting and conversation must be to each\nother. His movement is the completion of The Catholic Publication\nSociety of New York.\"\n\nAs there may be some curiosity about Father Hecker's principles as a\npublic writer, in point of view of ecclesiastical authority, we give\nthe following from a letter written just before the Vatican Council:\n\n\"1. Absolute and unswerving loyalty to the authority of the Church,\nwherever and however expressed, as God's authority upon earth and for\nall time.\n\n\"2. To seek in the same dispositions the true spirit of the Church,\nand be unreservedly governed by it as the wisdom of the Most High.\n\n\"3. To keep my mind and heart free from all attachments to schools,\nparties, or persons in the Church, Hecker included, so that nothing\nwithin me may hinder the light and direction of the Holy Spirit.\n\n\"4. In case any conflict arises concerning what Hecker may have\nspoken or written, or any work or movement in which he may be\nengaged, to re-examine. If wrong, make him retract at once. If not,\nthen ask: Is the question of that importance that it requires\ndefence, and the upsetting of attacks? If not of this importance,\nthen not to delay and perhaps jeopardize the progress of other works,\nand condemn Hecker to simple silence.\n\n\"5. In the midst of the imperfections, abuses, scandals, etc., of the\nhuman side of the Church, never to allow myself to think or to\nexpress a word which might seem to place a truth of the Catholic\nfaith in doubt, or to savor of the spirit of disobedience.\n\n\"6. With all this in view, to be the most earnest and ardent friend\nof all true progress, and to work with all my might for its promotion\nthrough existing organizations and authorities.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nTHE VATICAN COUNCIL\n\nIN 1867 Father Hecker visited Europe in company with Father Hewit for\nthe purpose of opening business relations between The Catholic\nPublication Society and English, Irish, and Continental publishers,\nas well as to attend the Catholic Congress of Malines held in the\nsummer of that year. The latter purpose we the chief inducement for\nthe journey. The Archbishop of New York favored the project of\nholding a Catholic Congress in America, and encouraged Father Hecker\nto study the proceedings at Malines with this end in view. Their stay\nat Malines was full of instruction, as they heard there the renowned\norators, Dupanloup and Montalembert, as well as others of note. The\nCatholic Congress of American laymen held in Baltimore a few years\nago, and whose good effects are still felt, would have been assembled\ntwenty years earlier if Father Hecker could have brought it about.\nThese meetings were part of his scheme for that moral organization of\nCatholic forces which he knew to be so necessary for the fruitful\nworking of the _official_ unity of the Church.\n\nIn the early part of the year 1869 Pius IX. wrote Father Hecker an\nautograph letter commending the various religious works which he and\nhis community were engaged in, especially the Apostolate of the\nPress, and giving them all his blessing.\n\n\"I have good news to tell you,\" he wrote to a friend. \"The Holy\nFather has written me the 'tallest' kind of a letter, endorsing every\ngood work in which I am engaged. Hurrah for Catholicity at\nFifty-ninth Street! My private opinion is that the Holy Father has\ngone too far in his endorsement of Hecker. He has made me feel\nashamed of myself and humiliated.\"\n\nWhen Pius IX. called together the Council of the Vatican Father\nHecker was urged by friends, among them several bishops, to go to\nRome for the occasion. The late Bishop Rosecrans, of Columbus, Ohio,\nnot being able to attend himself, appointed Father Hecker his\nProcurator, or proxy. Before his departure he preached a sermon on\nthe Council in the Paulist Church, which was printed in _The Catholic\nWorld_ for December, 1869. He devoted the greater part of it to\nquieting the wild forebodings of timid Catholics and combating the\nprognostics of outright anti-Catholics. He concluded by asking the\npeople to pray that the hopes of a new and brighter era for religion,\nto date from this great event, might be fulfilled; for it was\ncommonly believed and expressly intended that the entire state of the\nChurch should be considered and legislated upon at the Council. The\nbreaking out of the Franco-Prussian war, as is well known, together\nwith the seizure of Rome by the Piedmontese, frustrated these hopes\nas to all but the very first part of the work laid out for the\nCouncil.\n\nFather Hecker arrived in Rome on the 26th of November, 1869. When the\npreliminary business of organization had been finished it was\nannounced that the procurators of absent bishops would not be\nadmitted to the Council, as the number of prelates present in person\nwas exceedingly large. But, he writes home:\n\n\"The Archbishop of Baltimore has made me his theologian of his own\naccord. This gives me the privilege of reading all the documents of\nthe Council, of knowing all that takes place in it, its discussions,\netc. As his theologian I take part in the meetings and deliberations\nof the American hierarchy, which is, as it were, a permanent council\nconcerning the interests of the Church in the United States, in which\nI feel a strong and special interest.\"\n\nFather Hecker had ever been a firm believer in the doctrine of papal\ninfallibility, as was the case with all American Catholics, prelates,\npriests, and people. Shortly before leaving for the Council we heard\nhim say: \"I have always heard the voice of Rome as that of truth\nitself.\" This he also showed very plainly in his farewell sermon.\nSpeaking of the dread of undue papal influence over the bishops in\nthe Council, he exclaimed: \"All I have to say is, that if the Roman\nCourt prevail [in the deliberations of the Council], it is the Holy\nGhost who prevails through the Roman Court.\" But the tone of the\ncontroversy on the subject of papal infallibility, which soon\ndeafened the world, was too sharp for his nerves, and he abstained\nfrom mingling in it. As a matter of fact he determined to get away\nfrom Rome early in the spring of 1870. If the reader would know what\nwe deem to have been Father Hecker's frame of mind about the\nproceedings of the Council we refer him to Bishop J. L. Spalding's\nexcellent life of his uncle, the then Archbishop of Baltimore, whose\nviews of both doctrine and policy were, as far as we can judge,\nshared by Father Hecker, who was his intimate and beloved friend.\n\nBut his stay in the Eternal City, at this time more than ever before\nthe focus of all religious truth, as well as the object of all human\nexpectancy, had not been uneventful. Very much against his will he\npreached one of the sermons of the course given during the octave of\nthe Epiphany, in the Church of San Andrea della Valle, and later on\nanother, on an important occasion, in place of Archbishop Spalding,\nwho had fallen ill. Much of his time he spent with the American\nbishops and the distinguished priests who were with them; he renewed\nthe old-time friendships of his stay in Rome twelve years before,\nseeing a good deal of Archbishop Connolly, of Halifax, N. S.; he made\nnew friends, too, among whom he names especially Mrs. Craven, the\nauthor of the _Recit d'une Soeur;_ and he formed acquaintance with\nleading men and women of all nationalities.\n\n\"There is not a day passes,\" he wrote home, \"that I do not make the\nacquaintance of persons of great importance, or acquire the knowledge\nof matters equally important for me to know; and I gain more in a day\nthan one could in years at other times. For we may say that the\nintelligence, the science and sanctity of the Church are now gathered\ninto this one city. Yet my heart is in my work at home.\"\n\nHe had two private audiences with Pius IX., which, though of course\nbrief, were very interesting; the Pope remembered him, and expressed\nhis interest in him and his work in America. The following extracts\nfrom letters to his brother George, written very soon after reaching\nRome, recall an old friend:\n\n\"I do not know whether I told you of my interview with Cardinal\nBarnabo. He received me literally with open arms. After an hour's\nconversation on several matters he ended by saying: 'The affection\nand esteem which I had for you when you were here before has been\nincreased by your labors since then, and my door is always open for\nyou, and I shall always be glad to see you.' He entertains a high\nidea of the importance of _The Catholic World.\"_\n\n\"I had a most pleasant interview a few evenings since with Cardinal\nBarnabo,\" he writes in April, 1870, shortly before leaving. \"Among\nother things he said: 'You ought to be grateful to God for three\nreasons: first, He drew you out of heresy; second, He saved you from\nshipwreck in Rome; third, He has given you talents, etc., to do great\nthings for His Church in your country.' He takes great interest in\nthe Paulists.\"\n\nNot alone in Rome did he meet with friends, but what follows, written\nhome in December, 1869, tells that his name and his vocation had been\nmade familiar to many observant persons in Europe:\n\n\"It surprises me to find my name familiar everywhere I have been on\nmy travels. But magazines, newspapers, telegrams, and what-not have\nturned the world into a whispering gallery. But the less a man is\nknown to men the more he knows of God; so it seems to me, as a rule.\nYet great activity may flow as a consequence of intimate union with\nHim whom theologians call _Actus Purissimus._ From the fact of his\nbeing known, I entertain no better idea of Father Hecker than I ever\ndid; and could I get him again in the United States, he will be more\ndevoted than ever to his work.\"\n\nFather Hecker gave his view of the bearing of the Vatican Council on\nthe future of religion in a letter which will be found below. It\nconcerns what we have already spoken of at some length and what we\nshall again refer to, namely, the relation between the inner and\nouter action of the Holy Ghost as factors in the soul's\nsanctification. We heard Father Hecker several times affirm that he\nreceived special illumination from God on this subject while in Rome\nduring the Council, and that something like the very words in which\nproperly to express himself were then given to him. It was written in\nthe summer of 1872, but we quote it here before bidding adieu to Rome\nand accompanying him in his short pilgrimage among the great shrines\nof Italy:\n\n\"These two months past I have been driven away from home to one\nplace and another by poor health. . . . The definition of the\nVatican Council completes and fixes for ever the external authority\nof the Church against the heresies and errors of the last three\ncenturies. . . . None but the declared enemies of the Church and\nmisdirected Catholics can fail to see in this the directing\ninfluence of the Holy Ghost.\n\n\"The Vatican Council has placed the Church in battle array, unmasked\nthe concealed batteries of her enemies; the conflict will be on a\nfair and open field, and it will be decisive. The recent hostility of\nthe governments of Europe, and especially of Italy, against the\nChurch, has shown the wisdom of the Vatican Council in preparing the\nChurch to meet the crisis. The definition leaves no longer any doubt\nin regard to the authority of the Chief of the Church.\n\n\"For my part I sincerely thank the Jesuits for their influence in\nbringing it about, even though that were as great as some people\nwould have us believe. . . . This had to be done before the Church\ncould resume her normal course of action. What is that? Why, the\ndivine external authority of the Church completed, fixed beyond all\ncontroversy, her attention and that of all her children can now be\nturned more directly to the divine and interior authority of the Holy\nGhost in the soul. The whole Church giving her attention to the\ninterior inspirations of the Holy Spirit, will give birth to her\nrenewal, and enable her to reconquer her place and true position in\nEurope and the whole world. For we must never forget that the\nimmediate means of Christian perfection is the interior direction of\nthe Holy Spirit, while the test of our being directed by the Holy\nSpirit and not by our fancies and prejudices, is our filial obedience\nto the divine external authority of the Church.\n\n\"If for three centuries the most influential schools in the Church\ngave a preponderance in their teaching and spiritual direction to\nthose virtues which are in direct relation to the external authority\nof the Church, it must be remembered that the heresies of that period\nall aimed at the destruction of this authority. The character of this\nteaching, therefore, was a necessity. There was no other way of\npreserving the children of the Church from the danger of this\ninfection. If the effect of this teaching made Catholics childlike,\nless manly and active than others, this was under the circumstances\ninevitable.\n\n\"The definition of the Vatican Council, thanks to the Jesuits, now\ngives us freedom to turn our attention in another direction, and to\ncultivating other virtues. If one infidel was equal to two Catholics\nin courage and action in the past, in the future one Catholic, moved\nby the Holy Spirit, will be equal to half-a-dozen or a thousand\ninfidels and heretics.\n\n\"The stupid Doellingerites do not see or understand that what they\npretend to desire--the renewal of the Church--can only be\naccomplished by the reign of the Holy Spirit throughout the Church,\nand that this can only be brought about by a filial submission to her\ndivine external authority. Instead of their insane opposition to the\ndefinition of the Vatican Council and to the Jesuits, whose influence\nthey have exaggerated beyond all measure, they ought to embrace both\nwith enthusiasm, as opening the door to the renewal of the Church and\na brighter and more glorious future. . . . To my view there is no\nother way or hope for such a future.\"\n\nHe left Rome and his many warm friends there early in the spring of\n1870, and, as he thought, for the last time. He was full of courage,\nhe was conscious of not only perfect agreement with every credential\nof orthodoxy, but of interior impulses of a marvellously inspiring\nkind. In a very familiar letter to his brother's family he says that\njust before his departure, while standing in one of the great\npiazzas, looking at the concourse of representatives of all nations\npassing back and forth, gathered to take counsel with the Vicar of\nChrist for the well-being of the human race, he was so exhilarated\nthat he could hardly refrain from calling out, _\"Three cheers for\nParadise, and one for the United States!\"_\n\n\"I return with new hope and fresher energy,\" he writes, \"for that\nbetter future for the Church and humanity which is in store for both\nin the United States. This is the conviction of all intelligent and\nhopeful minds in Europe. They look to the other side of the Atlantic\nnot only with great interest, but to catch the light which will solve\nthe problems of Europe. Our course is surely fraught with the\ninterests, hopes, and happiness of the race. I never felt so much\nlike acquitting myself as a Christian and a man. The convictions\nwhich have hitherto directed my course have been deepened, confirmed,\nand strengthened by recent experience here, and I return to my\ncountry a better Catholic and more an American than ever.\"\n\nThat he might say Mass daily and at convenient hours while in Rome,\ncrowded as it was at the time with bishops and priests, he obtained\nleave to do so in his own rooms. He made little pilgrimages to the\ngreat shrines of the Holy City, especially those of the Apostles and\nthe typical martyrs, not forgetting, of course, his favorite modern\nsaints, Philip Neri and Ignatius Loyola. The following are extracts\nfrom letters home telling of his celebration of St. Paul's Conversion\nand of the martyrdom of St. Agnes. The reader will remember that the\n\"association of women\" here mentioned was one of his earliest ideas,\nand one of the many whose realization Providence has given over, let\nus hope, to some souls especially favored by Father Hecker's gifts:\n\n\"I pray much for each member of the community, and for light to guide\nit in the way of God. Within a short period much light has been given\nto me, and the importance of our work and its greatness have\nimpressed me greatly, more than ever before. Yesterday I went to the\nBasilica of St. Paul, being the feast of his conversion, especially\nto invoke his aid. I felt that my visit was not in vain. . . . I\nforgot no one of our dear community. . . . On the 21st I said Mass in\nthe catacombs of St. Agnes; it was the day of her feast. More than\ntwenty persons were present, friends and acquaintances. I gave eleven\ncommunions, and made a little discourse at the close of the Holy\nSacrifice. The scene was most solemn and affecting.\n\n\"What did I pray for? [during my Mass in St. Agnes's Catacomb]. For\nyou all, especially for the future. What future? How shall I name it?\nThe association of women in our country to aid the work of God\nthrough the Holy Church for its conversion. My convictions become\nfixed, and my determination to begin the enterprise consecrated.\n\n\"At the close of the Mass I made a short discourse. Think of it,\npreaching once more in the Catacombs, surrounded with the tombs where\nthe martyrs are laid and where the voice of the martyrs had spoken!\nYou can imagine that the impression was profound and solemn on us\nall. It was a piece of foolhardiness on my part to open my lips and\nspeak, when everything around us spoke so impressively and solemnly\nto our heads. I will attempt to interpret this speech: In the days of\nAgnes, Christians were called upon to resist and conquer physical\npersecution. In our day we are called upon to overcome intellectual\nand social opposition. They conquered! We shall conquer! Agnes tells\nus there is no excuse for cowardice. Agnes was young, Agnes was weak,\nAgnes was a girl, and she conquered! One Agnes can conquer the\nopposition of the nineteenth century. Such in substance was my\ndiscourse. The whole scene caused every one to be bathed in tears.\"\n\nAfter leaving Rome he went straight to Assisi, for whose saint he had\never felt a very powerful attraction. He thus describes his\nimpressions:\n\n\"The people that I have seen about here have a milder countenance and\na more cheerful look, more refined and human than the Italians around\nRome. They are to the other Italians what the Swabians are to the\nother Germans. It is easy for the Minnesinger of the human, to become\nthe Minnesinger of Divine love.\n\n\"I could have kissed the stones of the streets of the town when I\nremembered that St. Francis had trodden these same streets, and the\nlove and heroism which beat in his heart. . . . I said Holy Mass at\nthe tomb of St. Francis, and in presence of his body this morning--a\nvotive Mass of the Saint. It seems I could linger weeks and weeks\naround this holy spot. . . . What St. Francis did for his age one\nmight do for one's own. He touched the chords of feeling and of\naspiration in the hearts of the men and women of his time and\norganized them for action. St. Dominic did the same for the\nintellectual wants of the time. Why not do this for our age? Who\nshall so touch the springs of men's hearts and reach their minds as\nto lead them to the desire of united action, and organize them so as\nto bring forth great results? There is no doubt that the age wants\nthis. Who is there that is inspired from a higher sphere of life, and\nsees into the future, so as to be able to speak to men and to invite\nthem to do the work of God in our day? Who takes all humanity into\nhis heart, and with the past and present at once in his mind can\ninspire men to live and act for the divine future?\"\n\nHe also visited the Holy House at Loretto, and, passing through\nVenice and Milan to see the great churches of these cities, \"the\ndespair of all modern church-builders,\" as he says, he came finally\nto Genoa.\n\n\"I turned my steps,\" he writes, \"to the general hospital; and why?\nBecause the interest of my heart was there, and has been there for\nupward of twenty years. It is the spot where St. Catherine of Genoa\nlabored for the miserable, loved God, and sanctified her soul. Her\nbody is in a crystal case, uncorrupted, withered in appearance but\nnot unpleasant to the sight. When the curtain was withdrawn and I\ncould see her face and her feet, which were uncovered, I could not\nhelp exclaiming with the Psalmist, 'God is wonderful in His saints!'\nI cannot express what an attraction I have always felt for St.\nCatherine of Genoa. She knew how to reconcile the greatest fidelity\nto the interior attrait and guidance of the Holy Spirit with perfect\nfilial obedience to the external and divine authority of the Holy\nChurch. She knew how to reconcile the highest degree of divine\ncontemplation with the greatest extent of works of external charity.\nShe was a heroic lover of God, for she resisted His gifts, lest she\nmight forget the Giver in them, and be hindered the entire possession\nof Him, and the complete union of her soul with Him. As a virgin she\nwas pure, a model as a wife, and as a widow a saint! Her writings on\nthe spiritual life are masterpieces, and though a woman, no man has\nsurpassed, if any has equalled, the eloquence of her pen.\"\n\nHe procured an excellent copy of St. Catherine's portrait preserved\nat the hospital, and brought it home with him. He had done the same\nfor Sts. Philip and Ignatius before leaving Rome. St. Catherine's\npicture represents a handsome face, earnest, simple, and joyful; she\nis dressed plainly as a devout woman living in the world, lovely to\nlook upon and inspiring love of God and man in the beholder.\n\nFather Hecker's stay in Europe during the winter of 1869-70 and the\nfollowing spring awakened in his soul aspirations towards a wide and\nenduring religious movement in the Old World, similar to that which\nhe had started in the New. At the time he did not anticipate any\npersonal share in it other than encouragement and direction from\nAmerica. The reader will learn in the sequel that these aspirations\nwere again felt, and that with renewed force, when he returned to\nEurope in ill health three years later.\n\nWhat follows is from a pocket diary, and from a letter home:\n\n\"The work that Divine Providence has called us to do in our own\ncountry, were its spirit extended throughout Europe, would be the\nfocus of new light and an element of regeneration. Our country has a\nprovidential position in our century in relation to Europe, and our\nefforts to Catholicize and sanctify it give it an importance, in a\nreligious aspect, of a most interesting and significant character.\"\n\n\"I do not wish to cross the Atlantic ever again, and therefore would\nlike to finish with Europe and Italy. As for the notable men of the\nday, I have seen many of them--enough of them. My present experience\nin one way and another seems to have prepared me to lay a foundation\nfor action which will be suitable not only for the present but for\ncenturies to come. No one of my previous convictions have been\ndisturbed, but much strengthened and enlarged and settled. I see\nnothing, practically, in which I am engaged, that, were it in my\npower, I would now wish to alter or abandon. I shall return with the\nresolution to continue them with more confidence, more zeal, more\nenergy.\"\n\nHe arrived in New York in June, 1870.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nTHE LONG ILLNESS\n\nWE have now arrived at the last period of Father Hecker's life, the\nlong illness which completed his meed of suffering and of merit, and\ngradually drew him down to the grave. It will not be expected that we\nshall treat extensively of this subject; nor can one who writes in\nthe beginning of the '90s about the closing scenes of a life which\nended late in the '80s go very much into detail without bringing in\nthe living. As to Father Hecker's latter days in this world, it may\nbe said that his joy and courage and buoyancy of spirits, as well as\nhis hopeful outlook upon men and things, were all tried in the\nfurnace of extreme bodily suffering as well as of the most\nexcruciating mental agony.\n\nFour distinct epochs divide Father Hecker's life: one when in early\ndays he was driven from home and business and ultimately into the\nChurch by aspirations towards a higher life; another marks the\nextraordinary dealings of God with his soul during his novitiate and\ntime of studies; the third was the struggle in Rome which produced\nthe Paulist community; the fourth and last was the illness which we\nare now to consider. The closing scenes of his life are scattered\nover more than sixteen years, filled with almost every form of pain\nof body and darkness of soul.\n\nFrom severe colds, acute headaches, and weakness of the digestive\norgans Father Hecker was a frequent sufferer. But towards the end of\nthe year 1871 his headaches became much more painful, his appetite\nleft him, and sleeplessness and excitability of the nervous system\nwere added to his other ailments. Remedies of every kind were tried,\nbut without permanent relief, and, although he lectured and preached\nand did his other work all winter and most of the following spring,\nhis weakness increased, until by the summer of 1872 he was wholly\nincapacitated. The winter of 1872-3 was spent in the South without\nnotable improvement, and early in the following summer, acting upon\nthe advice of physicians, he went to Europe. \"Look upon me as a dead\nman,\" he said with tears as he bade the community farewell; \"God is\ntrying me severely in soul and body, and I must have the courage to\nsuffer crucifixion.\" He also assured us that whatever action should\nbe taken in adopting the Constitutions, then under consideration, had\nhis hearty approval beforehand. He was accompanied to Europe by\nFather Deshon, from whom he parted with deep emotion at Ragatz, a\nhealth resort in Switzerland.\n\nFather Hecker remained more than two years in Europe, trying every\nchange of climate and scene, and every other remedy advised by\nphysicians, and returned to New York in October, 1875, with\nunimproved health. He had derived most benefit from a journey up the\nNile in the winter of 1873-4, and a short visit to the Holy Land in\nthe following spring. While in Europe his mind was busy, and he\nmanaged to meet many of his old friends there, and formed new and\nimportant acquaintances. In February, 1875, he published his\npamphlet, _An Exposition of the Church in View of the Present Needs\nof the Age,_ which contains his estimate of the evils of our times,\nespecially in Europe, and the adequate remedy for them. On his return\nto New York he was too weak to bear the routine of the house in\nFifty-ninth Street and lived with his brother George till the fall of\n1879, when he removed to the convent, remaining with the community\ntill his death nine years afterwards.\n\nAs to the physical sufferings of those last sixteen years, they were\nnever such as to impair Father Hecker's mental soundness. He never\nhad softening of the brain, as the state of his nerves before going\nto Europe seemed to indicate; nor had he heart disease, as was for a\ntime suspected. His mental powers were intact from first to last,\nthough his organs of speech were sometimes too slow for his thoughts.\nHis digestion had been impaired by excessive abstinence in early\nmanhood, dating back to a time before he was a Catholic, and his\nnervous system, also, had been injured by that means, as well as by\nthe pressure of excessive work in later life. Gradual impoverishment\nof the blood was the result, and the dropping down of nervous force,\ntill at last the body struck work altogether. Four or five years\nbefore his death Father Hecker became subject to frequent attacks of\nangina pectoris, said to be the most painful of all diseases. During\nthe sixteen years of illness every symptom of bodily illness was\naggravated by the least attention to community affairs or business\nmatters, and also by interior trials which will presently be\ndescribed.\n\nHe was not unwilling to trace his breaking down to excessive\nausterity in former years. Once when asked for advice about corporal\nmortification he answered: \"Don't go too fast. Remember St. Bernard's\nregret for having gone too far with such things in his youth. For my\npart, for many years I practised frightful penances, and now I fear\nthat much of my physical helplessness is due to that cause.\" His\nstate was not one of utter debility, though that quickly resulted if\nwatchfulness were relaxed, or from application to responsible duties.\nBut his strength never was to much to speak of, \"only so, so,\" to use\nhis own expressions, which signified a very small amount of the power\nof exertion or endurance in the muscles and nerves.\n\n\"What about my health?\" he wrote from Europe. \"There are days when I\nfeel quite myself, and then others when I sink down to the bottom. My\ncondition of mind and body often perplexes me, and there is nothing\nleft me but to abandon all into the hands of Divine Providence. The\nend of it all is entirely in the dark, and were there not parallel\nepochs in my past life, and similar things in the lives of some\nothers which I have read, my perplexity would be greater.\"\n\nAnd again, from Ragatz, in the summer of 1875:\n\n\"My state of health is much the same. I found last week that my pulse\nwas bounding in a few hours from the sixties into the nineties\nwithout any apparent cause. Yesterday I determined to consult the\nleading physician here. He examined me, and, like all others,\nattributes everything to my nerves, resulting from impoverished\nblood. I say to myself: 1st, How long will the machine keep working\nin this style? 2d, There will be a smash-up some day. 3d, Or perhaps\nI shall be able to get up more steam and run it a while longer. Who\nknows?\"\n\nAnd in another letter from the same place:\n\n\"Even here, freed from all [labors], it often seems to me that a good\nbreeze, if it struck me in the right place, would drive the soul out\nof my body, so lightly is it connected with it, so slightly do they\nhold together.\"\n\nAs already said, his trip to Egypt had given him a temporary relief,\nand this was due, so he supposed, to utter change of scene and to\nsolitude. When it was over he wrote as follows:\n\n\"This trip has been in every respect much more to my benefit than my\nmost sanguine expectations led me to hope. It seems to me almost like\nan inspiration, such have been its beneficial effects to my mind and\nbody. In Nubia there reigned profound silence and repose, and in\nlower Egypt, although there is more activity and evidence of modern\nlife, still it is quiet and tranquil. I feel somewhat like one who\nhas been in solitude for three or four months.\"\n\n\"My daily regime,\" he writes to his brother and Mrs. Hecker, from\nItaly, \"has not changed these two years which I have spent in Europe.\nIf I rise before nine I feel it the whole day. In the morning I awake\nabout seven for good, and take a cup of tea with some bread and\nbutter. I then read; sometimes, not often, I write a note in bed, and\nrise about nine or ten. I take a lunch at twelve and dine at six. My\nappetite is not much at any time. My sleep, so so. [All through his\nillness he went to bed at nine or shortly after.] I feel for the most\npart like a man balancing whether he will keep on swimming or go\nunder the water. Sometimes I take a nap two or three times a day--if\nI can get it. There are weeks when I do not and cannot put my pen to\npaper. To write a note is a great effort. . . . Though my strength is\nso little my mind is not unoccupied, and I keep up some reading.\"\n\nJust in what way his spiritual difficulties accelerated his bodily\ndecline it is hard to say, for he was generally extremely reticent as\nto his interior life. A few words dropped unawares and at long\nintervals, and carefully taken down at the time, give fleeting\nglimpses into a soul which was a dark chamber of sorrow, though it\nwas sometimes peaceful sorrow. To this we can fortunately add some\nsentences written in an unusually confidential mood in letters from\nEurope. Before his illness he was over-joyful, or so it seemed to\nsome to whom this trait of his was a temptation. \"Why,\" it was said,\n\"religion seems to have no penitential side to Father Hecker at all.\"\nFrom the day of his ordination until his illness began he might have\nmade the Psalmist's words his own: \"There be many that say, Who shall\nshow us any good? Lord, Thou hast set upon us the light of Thy\ncountenance, Thou hast put gladness in my heart.\" But now the light\nof that radiant joy had faded away, and the face of God, though as\npresent as ever before, loomed over him dark, threatening, and\nmajestic. He had studied spiritual doctrine too well not to be ready\nfor this trial, nor had it been sent to him without warning.\nNevertheless the sensible presence of God's love had been so vivid\nand constant that he could alternate the joy of labor with that of\nprayer with the greatest ease. And now it was an alternation, not of\nchoice but of dire compulsion, between bitter, helpless inaction, and\na state of prayer which was a mere dread of an all-too-near Judge. It\nseemed to him as if he had boasted, \"I said in my abundance I shall\nnot be moved for ever,\" and now he must end the inspired sentence,\n\"Thou hast turned away Thy face from me and I became troubled.\" When\nthis obscuration of the Divine Love first grew upon him the misery of\nit was intolerable and was borne with extreme difficulty. The pain\nwas lessened at intervals as time passed on, and before a year had\nelapsed, his letters from Europe, though they did not before complain\nof desolation, now show its previous existence by hailing the advent\nof seasons of interior peace. But from beginning to end of this\nentire period of his life we have not found a word of his speaking of\njoy. And again, even the peace would go and the desolation return;\nthe face of God, not any time smiling, had lost its calm regard and\nwas once more bent frowning upon him. The following extracts from\nletters written from Switzerland in the autumn of 1874, and within a\nmonth of each other, tell of these alternations of storm and calm:\n\n\"As to my health these last ten days I cannot say much. My interior\ntrials have been such that it would be impossible that my health\nshould improve under them. As long as they last I must expect to\nsuffer. I see nothing before me but darkness, and there is nothing\nwithin my soul but desolation and bitterness. Cut off from all that\nformerly interested me, banished as it were from home and country,\nisolated from everything, the doors of heaven shut, I feel\noverwhelmed with misery and crushed to atoms. My being away from my\nformer duties is a negative relief; it frees me from the additional\nburden and trouble which would necessarily fall upon me if I were\nwithin reach.\"\n\n\"There remains nothing for me but to confide in, to follow, and\nabandon myself to that Guide who has directed me from the beginning.\nI read Job, Jeremias, and Thomas a Kempis, and meditate on the\nsufferings of Our Lord and the character of His death. I recall to\nmind what I have read on these matters in spiritual writers and the\nLives of the Saints. I reflect how from the very nature of the\npurification of the soul this darkness, bitterness, and desolation\nmust be; but not a drop of consolation is distilled into my soul. The\nonly words which come to my lips are 'My soul is sad unto death,' and\nthese I repeat and repeat again. At all times, in rising and in going\nto bed, in company and at my meals, I whisper them to myself, while\nto others I appear cheerful and join in the talk. At the most I can\nbut die; this is the lot of all, and no one can tell the moment when.\n\n\"Withal, I try to have patience, resignation, endurance, and trust in\nGod, waiting on His guidance and leaving all in His hands.\"\n\n\"Since my last I have had some relief from my interior trials, and no\nsooner does this take place than my body recovers some of its\nstrength. It would not have been possible for me to have borne much\nlonger the desolation which filled my soul. Each new trial, when\npassed, leaves me more quiet and tranquil. Past periods of my life\ngive me hope that this trial will also come to an end. What will that\nbe? How will it happen? and when? God alone knows. He that has led me\nso many years still guides me, and resistance to His will is worse\nthan vain. Judging from that same past, my expectations to return to\nmy former labors are not sanguine. It seems to me sometimes that I am\ncut off from these to be prepared for a deeper and broader basis for\nfuture action. But whether this will be so or not, is in the hands of\nGod. Whatever He wills me to do, I must do it. My own will has become\nnull, and all that is left for me to do is to wait on His good\npleasure and His own time. To act or not to act, to suffer or not to\nsuffer, to speak or to keep silence, to return to my former labors or\nnever to return, to live on or die, all have become indifferent to\nme. I am in God's hands, with no will of my own; for He has taken it,\nand it is for Him to do with me whatever He pleases. If this be a\nsource of pain to others, none but God knows what it has cost me.\nThere as nothing, therefore, left but to wait in trust on God's will\nand His mercy and good pleasure.\"\n\nAnd again the darkened heavens are above him:\n\n\"Death invited, alas! will not come. What a relief it would be from a\ncontinuous and prolonged death!\"\n\nThe obscurity of the drawing of the Holy Ghost, as well as of God's\ndesigns, and his incessant fretting against this, partly involuntary\nand, as he confesses, partly voluntary also, \"disturbs my health and\nreduces my strength.\"\n\nNext to the evil self-company of an unforgiven sinner there is no\nloneliness so sad as that of the invalid. He needs company most who\nis worst company for himself. Yet Father Hecker has not left a single\nword which would suggest that during more than two years of absence\nfrom all his life associates in religion, as well as from his blood\nkindred, whom he loved with a powerful love, he felt the lack of\nhuman companionship. One reason for this was his contemplative\nnature, and this was the main reason. He was born to be a hermit, and\nwas an active liver only by being born again for a special vocation.\nAnother reason was that his mind was so constituted that, when\nsubjected to trial, it rested better when quite out of sight of\neverybody and everything associated with past responsibilities. He\nbade adieu to Father Deshon when the latter left him at Ragatz with\nsorrow, but without reluctance; and when a year afterwards at was\nsuggested that one of the community should come to Europe and keep\nhim company, he refused without hesitation, saying that his companion\nwould be burdened with a sick man's infirmities, or the sick man\ndistressed by his companion's inactivity on his account. But towards\nthe very end of his life there were times when he felt the need of\ncongenial company and was extremely grateful for it. But this did not\nhappen often, and when it did it was because the waves of despondency\nwhich submerged him were heavier and darker than usual.\n\nThe following extract from a letter shows this state of mind:\n\n\"As I get somewhat more accustomed to my separation from all that was\nso dear to me, the strangeness of my position seems to me more and\nmore inexplicable. All the things which are going on in Fifty-ninth\nStreet were once all to me, and nothing appeared beyond. To be\nseparated from all; to look upon one's past as a dream; to become a\nstranger to one's self, wandering from city to city, from country to\ncountry, ever in a strange land and among strangers; to be attached\nto nothing; to see no definite future; to be an enigma to one's self;\nto find no light in any one to guide me, isolated from all except\nGod--who will explain what all this means? where it will end? and how\nsoon? As I become resigned to this state of things my health suffers\nless. Occasionally my interior trials and struggles are almost\ninsupportable, but less so than if I were surrounded by those who\nhave an affection for me. To worry others without their being able to\ngive me any relief would only increase my suffering, and finally\nbecome unbearable. All is for the best! God's will be done!\"\n\nWhat he wrote to a friend suffering from illness he applied to\nhimself; he made spiritual profit, as best he might, from separation\nfrom the men and the vocation he loved so well:\n\n\"I can sympathize with you more completely in your sickness being\nmyself not well. To be shut off from the world, and cut off from\nhuman activity--and this is what it means to be sick--gives the soul\nthe best conditions to love God alone, and this is Paradise upon\nearth. Blessed sickness! which detaches the soul from all creatures\nand unites it to its sovereign Good. But one's duties and\nresponsibilities, what of these in the meantime? We must give them\nall up one day, and why not now? We think ourselves necessary, and\nothers try to make us believe the same; there is but little truth and\nmuch self-love in this. 'What else do I require of thee,' says our\nLord in Thomas a Kempis, 'than that thou shouldst resign thyself\nintegrally to Me.' This is what our Lord is fighting for in our\nsouls.\"\n\nYet in having his life-work torn away from him he was like a man\nwhose leg has been crushed and then amputated, the phantom of the\nlost limb aching in every muscle, bone, and nerve. This was partly\nthe secret of his pain while in Europe, at the mere thought of his\nformer active life; it haunted him with memories of its lost\nopportunities, its shortcomings in motive or achievement, or what he\nfancied to be such, in view of the Divine justice, now always\nreckoning with him.\n\nHe was ever cheerful in word, even when the pallor of his face and\nthe blazing of his eyes betrayed his bodily and spiritual pain. \"The\nend of religion is joy, joy here no less than joy hereafter,\" he once\ninsisted, and he argued long and energetically for the proposition;\nbut meantime he was racked with inner agony and was too feeble to\nwalk alone. In his letters and diaries he speaks of his illness and\nof its symptoms as of those of another person of whom he was giving\nnews.\n\nHis wanderings in Europe were like gropings after the Divine will in\nthe midst of the spirit's night, often in anguish, often in\ntranquillity, never in his former bounding joy, always with\nsubmission, beforehand, at the moment, and afterwards. Although the\nDivine Will gave a cold welcome, he sought no other refuge.\n\n\"There are a thousand things,\" he writes, \"that would worry me if I\nwould only let them, but with God's help I keep them on at arm's\nlength. His grace suffices, or in His presence all the things of this\nworld disappear. God alone has been always the whole desire of my\nheart, and what else can I wish than that His will may be wholly\nfulfilled in me. Having rooted everything else out of my heart, and\ncut me off from all things, what other desire can I have than that He\nwho has begun the work should finish it according to His design. It\nis not important that I should know what that design is; it is enough\nthat I am in His hands, to do with me whatever He pleases. To be and\nto live in His presence is all.\"\n\nAnd again:\n\n\"The mind quiet both as to the past and the future, contented with\nthe present moment: as to the past, leaving it out of sight; as to\nthe future, unsolicitous. As to the present, satisfied to be\noutwardly homeless, cut on from all past friendships and relations.\nThe present gives me all the conditions required for preparation for\nthe future. Any time these two years past I would have made an entire\nrenunciation of all relations to my past labors and position, but\nwaited as a dictate of prudence. Now I feel ready to make it with\ncalmness and in view of all its consequences.\"\n\n\"No sooner do I set my mind to pray than God fills it with Himself,\"\nFather Hecker was once heard to say. And this power of prayer by no\nmeans left him after 1872; only that the God who filled him was no\nlonger revealed as the Supreme Love, but as the Supreme Majesty.\n\"There was once a priest,\" he said, speaking of himself, \"who had\nbeen very active for God, until at last God gave him a knowledge of\nthe Divine Majesty. After seeing the Majesty of God that priest felt\nvery strange and was much humbled, and knew how little a thing he was\nin comparison with God.\" Comparison with God! It was this that gave\nhim, as it did Job, a terror of the Divine justice beyond words to\nexpress, and impressed that air of spiritual dejection upon him which\nstruck his old friends as so strongly in contrast with his former\nhappy and vivacious manners. \"You will never know,\" he once said,\nwhile being helped into bed after a very sad day, \"how much I have\nsuffered till you are in heaven.\" Meantime this awful Deity, so\nprompt to enter Father Hecker's mind, coming at times like a\nwithering blast from the desert, was still the only attraction of his\nsoul, the only object of his love. He could no more keep his mind off\nGod now than he could before, and now God killed him, and then He\nmade him alive. The ideas of the Divine goodness, patience, mercy,\nand love which formerly welled up in abundant floods at the thought\nof God, at the same thought now were dried up and disappeared. \"Oh!\"\nhe once exclaimed, \"if I could only be sure that I shall not be\ndamned!\" This was said unawares while listening to the life of a\nsaint. The reader will, therefore, understand that Father Hecker's\ninner trouble was not a state of mere aridity, a difficulty of\nconcentration of mind on spiritual things, or a vagrancy of thought;\nit was a perpetual facing of his Divine Accuser and Judge, a\ntrembling woe at the sight of Infinite Majesty on the part of one for\nwhom the Divine love was the one necessary of life for soul and body.\nYet he knew that this was really a higher form of prayer than any he\nhad yet enjoyed, that it steadily purified his understanding by\ncompelling ceaselessly repeated acts of faith in God's love, purified\nhis will by constant resignation of every joy except God alone--God\nreceived by any mode in which it might please the Divine Majesty to\nreveal Himself. He was, therefore, willing, nay, in a true sense,\nglad thus to walk by mere faith and live by painful love. \"I should\ndeem it a misfortune if God should cure me of my infirmities and\nrestore me to active usefulness, so much have I learned to appreciate\nthe value of my passive condition of soul.\" This he said less than\nthree years before his death. And about the same time, to a very\nintimate friend: \"God revealed to me in my novitiate that at some\nfuture time I should suffer the crucifixion. I have always longed for\nit; but oh, now that it has come it is hard, oh, it is terrible!\" And\nthis he said weeping.\n\nOne aspect of the Divine Majesty which threatened for years to\noverpower him was the Last Judgment. \"God has given me to see the\nterrors of the day of judgment,\" he once said, \"and it has tried me\nwith dreadful severity; but it is a wonderfully great privilege.\"\nHumility grew upon him day by day. No one who knew him well in his\nday of greatest power could think him a proud man, but his confidence\nin his vocation, and in himself is God's representative, had been\nimmense. The following, from a memorandum, shows how he ended:\n\n\"I told him how courageous I felt. _Answer:_ That is the way I used\nto feel. I used to say, O Lord! I feel as if I had the whole world on\nmy shoulders; and all I've got to say is, O Lord! I am sorry you've\ngiven me such small potatoes to carry on my back. But now--well, when\na mosquito comes in I say, Mosquito, have you any good to do me? Yes?\nThen I thank you, for I am glad to get good from a mosquito.\"\n\nIt will thus be seen that whatever diseases may have enfeebled Father\nHecker's body, his spirit suffered from a malady known only to great\nsouls--thirst for God. This gave him rest neither day nor night, or\nallowed him intervals of peace only to return with renewed force.\nSome men love gold too much for their peace of mind, some love women\ntoo much, and some power; men like Father Hecker love the Infinite\nGood too much to be happy in soul or sound in body unless He be\nrevealed to them as a loving father. And this knowledge of God once\npossessed and lost again, although it breeds a purer, a more\nperfectly disinterested love, leaves both soul and body in a state of\nacute distress. \"My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for\nThee, in a dry and desert land without water.\"\n\nTried by these visitations, he was free to acknowledge that in past\ntimes he had been favored above others:\n\n\"Oh! there was a time,\" he said, \"when I was borne along high above\nnature by the grace of God, and I feared that I should die without\nbeing subject to nature, and should never feel the need of the\nsupernatural. But for many years now I have been left by God to my\nnatural weakness and get nothing whatever except what I earn.\"\n\nThe following words of his indicate the cleansing process of these\ndivine influences; it is from memoranda:\n\n\"He said to me once, after he had been for nine or ten years subject\nto almost unceasing desolation of spirit, 'all this suffering, though\nit has been excruciating, has greatly purified me and was of the last\nnecessity to me. Oh, how proud I was! how vain I was! And these long\nyears of abandonment by God have healed me.' I think this was the\nonly time I ever knew him to connect his sufferings with fault. What\nhe said may have referred to the mere temper and frame of his mind\nrather than to particular, specific faults. He undoubtedly thought\nmore highly of human nature before that desolation began than he did\nat the end of it.\"\n\nMeantime he used every aid for the assuagement of his interior\nsufferings, just as he conscientiously tried every means for the\nrestoration of his bodily health. Good books helped him greatly. He\nrecited his Breviary as he would read a new and interesting book,\nunderlining here and there, and noting on the margins. But during\nmost of his time of illness his infirmities made the Divine Office\nimpossible. Every day he read or had read to him some parts of the\nScriptures in English. \"Without the Book of Job,\" he used to say, \"I\nwould have broken down completely.\" Lallemant, St. John of the Cross,\nSt. Teresa, St. Catherine of Genoa, and other authors of a mystical\ntendency he frequently used. But next to the Scriptures no book\nserved him so well during his illness as _Abandonment, or Entire\nSurrender to Divine Providence_, a small posthumous treatise of Father\nP. J. Caussade, S.J., edited and published by Father H. Ramiere,\nS.J., with a strong defence of the author's doctrine by way of\npreface. At Father Hecker's suggestion it we translated into English\nby Miss Ella McMahon, and has already soothed many hearts in\ndifficulties of every kind. It is an ingenious compendium of all\nspiritual wisdom, but it seemed to Father Hecker that submission to\nthe Divine Will is taught in its pages as it has never been done\nsince the time of the Apostles. The little French copy which he used\nis thumbed all to pieces. He used it incessantly when in great\ntrouble of mind and knew it almost by heart. As he read its sentences\nor heard them read he would ejaculate, \"Ah, how sweet that is!\" \"Oh,\nwhat a great truth!\" \"Oh, that is a most consoling doctrine!\" just as\na man exhausted with thirst and covered with dust, as he drinks and\nbathes at a gushing fountain in the desert, calls out and sighs and\nsmiles.\n\nDid he not find men here and there in his travels with whom he would\ntake counsel and who could comfort him? There is little trace of it,\nthough he never lacked sympathetic friends for his bodily ailments.\nIn truth he tried to maintain a cheerful exterior, though\noccasionally he failed in his attempts to do so. Only once do we find\nby his letters and diaries that he opened his mind freely on his\ninterior difficulties while in Europe, and that was to Cardinal\nDeschamps, who gave him, he writes, very great comfort.\n\nNo part of his sojourn in the Old World pleased and profited him so\nmuch as his trip up the Nile in the winter of 1873-4.\n\n\"In information of most various kinds,\" he writes, \"it has been the\nrichest four months of my whole life. The value intellectually and\nreligiously as well as physically is incalculable. Given but one\ntrip, it would puzzle me to name any which can compare with that up\nthe Nile to Wady-Halfa. Nubia must be included. It has something of\nits own which you can find neither in Egypt nor elsewhere: silence,\nrepose, almost total solitude, and its own peculiar people.\"\n\nHis companions were few in number and congenial in tastes, the\nclimate mild and equable, and the people and country altogether\nnovel. The journey, which extended into Nubia, was made in a\nflat-boat, the _Sittina Miriam el Adra--Our Lady Mary the\nVirgin_--the sail propelling them when the wind was fair, the crew\ntowing them in calm weather; when the wind was contrary they tied up\nto the bank. The progress was, of course, slow, and yet his diary,\nthe only one written during his illness with ample entries, shows\nthat every day gave new enjoyment. He was provided with letters which\nenabled him to say Mass at the missionary stations along the river.\nThe wonderful ruins of the ancient cities of Egypt gave him much\nentertainment. But his mind dwelt fondly on thoughts of Abraham,\nJoseph, and the chosen people, and especially upon the Holy Family,\nas well as the monks of the desert. He was much interested in the\nMohammedan natives; their open practice of prayer, the instinctive\nreadiness with which the idea of God and of eternity was welcomed to\ntheir thoughts, and, withal, their utter religious stagnation, which\nhe traced to their ignorance of the Trinity, filled his mind with\nquestions. How to convert these sluggish contemplatives, what type of\nCatholicity would be likely to flourish in the East, and how it could\nbe reconciled with the stirring traits of the West, busied his mind.\nHe often recalls his distant friends and contrasts new America with\nold Egypt. He wrote home when opportunity served, as thus to Father\nHewit:\n\n\"With the hope that this note will reach you in due season, I greet\nyou from this land from which Moses taught, and which our infant\nSaviour trod, with a right merry Christmas and a happy New Year to\nyourself and all the members of the community, all in the house, and\nthe parishioners of St. Paul's. In my prayers all have a share and in\nthe Holy Sacrifice of the altar. My heart and its affections are\npresent with you. Could I realize its desire, I would shed a\ncontinuous flow of blessings on each one of you like a great river\nNile--the river which Abraham saw and whose banks were hallowed by\nthe footsteps of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Remember me especially in\nall your prayers on these great festivals. Offer up a Mass for my\nspecial intention on each of them.\"\n\nThe excursion to Nubia and back did him so much good physically, and\nleft his mind with a peace which seemed so settled, that for a time\nhe had strong hopes of recovery; but he was soon undeceived.\n\nOn the 15th of April Father Hecker left Cairo for Jerusalem, and\nspent some weeks in the Holy Land, continuing to enjoy an interval of\nspiritual relief. He writes:\n\n\"In reciting the Gloria and the Credo, after having been in the\nlocalities where the great mysteries which they express took place,\none is impressed in a wonderful manner with their actuality. The\ntruths of our holy faith seem to saturate one's blood, enter into\none's flesh, and penetrate even to the marrow of one's bones.\"\n\nThe first greeting which he sent from the holy places was a letter to\nhis mother, full of expressions of the most tender affection and\ngratitude, as well as of ardent religious emotions produced by moving\namong the scenes of our Lord's life. He enclosed a little bunch of\nwild flowers plucked from Mount Sion. He soon returned to Europe to\nescape the hot summer of Palestine, and began his round of visits to\nhealth resorts, shrines, and occasionally to a friend of more than\nusual attraction. His brother John died about this time, and this\nnews drew from him a letter of encouragement and condolence to their\nmother. To George Hecker and his wife he wrote often, his letters\nbeing full of affection, of entire submission to the Divine Will, and\nof religious sentiments.\n\nThe following may be of interest as indicating the return of his\ndisconsolate frame of mind:\n\n\"I have taken to writing fables. Here is one: Once upon a time a bird\nwas caught in a snare. The more it struggled to free itself, the more\nit got entangled. Exhausted, it resolved to wait with the vain hope\nthat the fowler, when he came, would set it at liberty. His\nappearance, however, was not the signal for its restoration to\nsmiling fields and fond companions, but the forerunner of death at\nhis hands. Foolish bird! why did you go into the snare? Poor thing;\nit could not find food anywhere, and it was famishing with hunger;\nthe seed was so attractive, and he who had baited the trap knew it\nfull well, and that the bird could not resist its appetite. The\nfowler is our Lord. The bait is Divine Love. The bird is the soul. O\nskillful catcher of souls! O irresistible bait of Divine Love! O\npitiable victim! but most blessed soul; for in the hands of our Lord\nthe soul only dies to self to be transformed into God.\"\n\nIn all his journeyings in search of beneficial change of air or for\nthe use of medicinal waters, he endeavored to take in the famous\nshrines; as for places noted in profane history, or the usual resorts\nof tourists, there is not the least mention of them in his letters,\nunless an exception be made in favor of those in Egypt and some art\ngalleries in Europe. But, \"attracted by St. Catherine,\" he went back\nto her relics at Genoa once more. Drawn by St. Francis de Sales, he\nmade a visit to Annecy which had a soothing effect upon him, for that\nsaint was another of his favorites. He often went out of his way to\nsee a friend, or to seek the acquaintance of some man or woman of\nreputation in religious circles, and he was himself surprised at the\nnumber of those who had heard of him and wished to know him. He\nreadily formed acquaintances, and American, English, and French\nfellow-travellers could easily have his conversation and company on\ncondition that they would converse on religious matters, or on the\ngraver social and racial topics. It was not a little singular that,\nalthough suffering from weakness of the nervous system, he could talk\nabstruse philosophy by the hour without mental fatigue. Discussing\nsuch points as the different movements of nature and grace, the\nvarious theories of apprehending the existence of God, or how to\nbring about conviction in the minds of non-Catholics on the claims of\nthe Church, he could tire the strong brain of a well man. It was the\nthings below which tired him. He illustrated his conversation by\ngleams of light reflected from his past experience. When\ncircumstances condemn such generous souls as Father Hecker to\ninactivity, a favorite solace is picking up fragments of work or\nrecalling high ideas from the crowded memory of their former zeal,\noften with much profit to those who listen. And this was no\nidle-minded or boastful trait in him, as we see from the following:\n\n\"Be assured I shall not follow my own will if I can help it. Every\ndictate of prudence and wisdom will be my guide. Until the clouds\nclear away I shall be quiet, waiting, watching and praying, seeking\nfor light wherever there is a reasonable prospect of obtaining it. In\nthe meanwhile my time is not misspent. The journeys which I have\nmade, the persons whom I have met on my way--these and a thousand\nother things incident to my present way of life are the best of\neducators for improving one's mind, for correcting one's judgments,\nand for giving greater breadth to one's thoughts. . . . It seems to\nme that I almost see visibly and feel palpably the blessing of divine\ngrace on the work of the community, in its harmony, in the success of\nits missions, in the special graces to its members, in their\ncheerfulness and zeal: all this, too, in my absence. My absence,\ntherefore, cannot be displeasing to the Divine Will; rather these\nthings seem to indicate the contrary, and they awake in my soul an\ninexpressible consolation.\"\n\nBut he said to one of his brethren afterwards: \"Oh, father! I was sad\nall the time that I was in Europe. Why so? Well, it was because I was\naway from home, away from my work, away from my companions. And that\nwas why I attached myself while there to those persons who felt as we\ndid, and were of like views, and participated in our aims and\npurposes.\"\n\nHow he felt about his chances of recovery is shown by the following:\n\n\"I have nothing further to say about my health than that I have none.\nWere I twelve hours, or six, in my former state of health, my\nconscience would give me no moment of peace in my present position.\nIt would worry me and set me to work. As it is I am tranquil, at\npeace, and doing nothing except willingly bearing feebleness and\ninertia.\"\n\nFrom Paris, June 2, 1874, he writes to George and Josephine Hecker of\na visit to Cardinal Deschamps in Brussels, where he met his old\ndirector, Father de Buggenoms. He expressed himself fully to them\nabout the state of religion in Europe, and, although both were his\nadmirers and warm friends, it was only on the third day that he made\nhimself fully understood, and disabused their minds of reserves and\nsuspicions. But before leaving \"a complete understanding, warm\nsympathy, and entire approval\" was the result. In one of the earlier\n\n\n\nCHAPTERs of this Life we have adverted to Father Hecker's difficulty\nin making himself understood. On this occasion he suffered much pain,\nfor which, he says, the joy of the final agreement amply repaid him.\n\nHe formed an intimate friendship with the Abbe Xavier Dufresne, a\ndevout and enlightened priest of Geneva, and with his father, Doctor\nDufresne, well known as the mainstay of all the works of charity and\nreligion in that city. The Abbe Dufresne became much attached to\nFather Hecker. \"The Almighty knows,\" he wrote to him, \"how ardently I\nwish to see you again, for no one can feel more than I the want of\nyour conversation, it was so greatly to my improvement.\" We have\nreceived from the Abbe Dufresne a memorial of Father Hecker, which is\nvaluable as independent contemporary testimony. It is so appreciative\nand so instructive that we shall give the greater part of it as an\nappendix, together with two letters from Cardinal Newman written\nafter Father Hecker's death.\n\nThe following is from a letter from Mrs. Craven, written early in\n1875:\n\n\"That we have thought of you very often I need not tell you, nor yet\nthat we have thought and talked of and pondered over the many and the\ngreat subjects which have been discussed during this week of\ndelightful repose and solitude (though certainly not of silence). Let\nme, for one, tell you that many words of yours will be deeply and\ngratefully and usefully remembered, and that I feel as if all you\nexplained to us in particular concerning the inward life which alone\ngives meaning and usefulness to outward signs and symbols (let them\nbe ever so sacred), and the ways and means of quickening that inward\nlife, all come home to me as a clear expression of my own thoughts by\none who had read them better than myself.\"\n\nSuch was a devout and intellectual Frenchwoman's way of describing an\ninfluence similarly felt by men and women of all classes, and of the\nmost diverse schools of thought, whom Father Hecker met in Europe.\n\nThis was written on hearing news of the community:\n\n\"It is consoling to see all these good works progressing [in the\nPaulist community]. To me they sound more like an echo of my past\nthan the actual present. Before going up the Nile I used to say to\nsome of my friends, that I once knew a man whose name was Hecker, but\nhad lost his acquaintance, and I was going up the Nile to find him.\nPerhaps I would overtake him at Wady-Halfa in Nubia! But I didn't.\nSometimes I think the search is in vain, and that I shall have to\nresign myself to his loss and begin a new life. Tuesday of this week\nmy intention is to go to Milan and stop some days. I find friends in\nalmost every city. Friday last I dined with the Archbishop of Turin,\nand have made the acquaintance of one or two priests here.\nOccasionally I visit museums, picture galleries, etc.; and thus time\nis outwardly passing by, until it pleases God to shed more light on\nmy soul, and to impart more strength to my body, and make clear my\npath.\"\n\nHere are his impressions of Rome after its occupation by the\nItalians, together with an account of an audience with the Holy\nFather:\n\n\"Rome is indeed changed, not so much outwardly, materially, as in\nspiritual atmosphere. It has lost its Christian exorcism and returned\nto its former pagan condition. The modern spirit, too, has entered it\nwith activity in the material order. The old order, I fear, is never\nto return; that is to say, as it was; if it returns at all it will be\non another basis. The last citadel has given way to the invasion of\nmodern activity and push. Who would have dreamed of this twenty years\nago? The charm of Rome is gone, even to non-Catholics, for they felt\nraised above themselves into a more congenial and spiritual\natmosphere while here, and their souls enjoyed it, though their\nintellectual prejudices were opposed to the principles. The charm\nthey were conscious of forced them back again to Rome in spite of\nthemselves. But that charm has in a great measure gone.\n\n\"The other evening I had a very pleasant private audience with the\nHoly Father. Among other matters I showed him _The Young Catholic_\nwhich pleased him very much. He was struck with the size of the\njackass in the picture of Ober-Ammergau, and asked if they grew so\nlarge in that country. I replied: 'Holy Father, asses nowadays grow\nlarge everywhere.' He laughed heartily and said, _'Bene trovato.'\"_\n\nFather Hecker was in Rome when, in March, 1875, his old friend and\npatron and first spiritual adviser, Archbishop McCloskey, was made\nCardinal. He was much rejoiced, and sent the Cardinal a rich silk\ncassock, and gave a public banquet to Monsignor Roncetti and Doctor\nUbaldi, who were to carry the insignia of the cardinalate to New\nYork. We are indebted to the kindness of Archbishop Corrigan for a\ncopy of Father Hecker's letter of congratulation, the principal parts\nof which we subjoin. The view of public policy concerning the College\nof Cardinals expressed in this letter was developed at length in an\narticle published by Father Hecker in _The Catholic World,_ when\nCardinal Gibbons was appointed; it will also be found in his latest\nvolume, _The Church and the Age:_\n\n\"The choice of the Supreme Pontiff in making you the first Cardinal\nof the hierarchy of the United States gives great satisfaction here\nto all your friends. For as honors and dignities in the Church\nproceed by way of distinguished merit and abilities, the qualities\nwhich they have always recognized and esteemed in you are by the\nevent made known to the whole world.\n\n\"This elevation to the cardinalate of an American prelate as a\ncheering sign that the dignities of the Church are open to men of\nmerit of all nations, and it is to be hoped that every nation will be\nrepresented in the College of Cardinals in proportion to its\nimportance, and in that way the Holy See will represent by its\nadvisers the entire world, and render its universality more complete.\nThe Church will be a gainer, and the world too; and I have no doubt\nthat your appointment to this office in the Church will be, from this\npoint of view, popular with the American people.\"\n\nHis continued and insensibly increasing weakness of body, as well as\nwhat seemed an unconquerable mental aversion to attempting even\npartially to resume his former career in the United States, seemed to\nsettle negatively the question of his early return home. He began to\nthink that it was God's will that he should permanently transfer his\ninfluence to the old World. His mind was full of the religious\nproblems of Europe, and the notion of Paulists for Europe, differing\nin details from American Paulists but identical in spirit, soon\noccupied his thoughts. The reader will remember Father Hecker's\nconviction, expressed when leaving Rome after the Vatican Council,\nthat the condition of things in the Old World invited the apostolate\nof a free community of wholly sanctified men, such as he would have\nthe Paulists to be. He now became persuaded, or almost so, that God\nmeant his illness to be the means of practically inaugurating such a\nmovement. By it the dim outlines of men's yearnings for a religious\nawakening, which he everywhere met with among the European nations,\ncould be brought out distinctly and realized by an adaptation of the\nessentials of community life to changed European conditions. He\nthought he could select the leading spirits for the work, and,\nwithout overtaxing his strength, teach them the principles and\ninspire them with the spirit necessary to success. All this is\nbrought forward in his letters and discussed. But it was not to be in\nhis time.\n\nThe following entries in his journal, made during the Lent of 1879,\nhave this European, or rather universal, apostolate in view:\n\n\"The Holy Spirit is preparing the Church for an increased infusion of\nHimself in the hearts of the faithful. This increased action of the\nHoly Spirit will renew the whole face of the earth, in religion and\nin society. Souls will be inspired by Him to assist in bringing about\nthis end.\n\n\"The question is _how_ shall such souls co-operate with Him in\npreparation for this extraordinary outpouring of divine grace? The\nlaw of all extensive and effectual work is that of association. The\ninspiration and desire and strength to co-operate and associate in\nfacilitating this preparation for the Holy Spirit must come to each\nsoul from the Holy Spirit Himself.\n\n\"What will be the nature of this association and the _special\ncharacter_ of its work? The end to be had in view will be to set on\nfoot a means of co-operation with the Church in the conquest of the\nwhole world to Christ, the renewal of the Apostolic spirit and life.\nFor unity, activity, and choice of means reliance should be had upon\nthe bond of charity in the Holy Spirit and upon His inspirations.\n\n\"The central truth to actuate the members should be the Kingdom of\nHeaven within the soul, which should be made the burden of all\nsermons, explaining how it is to be gained now.\n\n\"Men will be called for who have that universal synthesis of truth\nwhich will solve the problems, eliminate the antagonisms, and meet\nthe great needs of the age; men who will defend and uphold the Church\nagainst the attacks which threaten her destruction, with weapons\nsuitable to the times; men who will turn all the genuine aspirations\nof the age, in science, in socialism, in politics, in spiritism, in\nreligion, which are now perverted against the Church, into means of\nher defence and universal triumph.\n\n\"If it be asked, therefore, in what way the co-operation with the new\nphase of the Church in the increase of intensity and expansion of her\ndivine life in the souls of men is to be instituted, the answer is as\nfollows: By a movement . . . springing from the synthesis of the most\nexalted faith with all the good and true in the elements now placed\nin antagonism to the Church, thus eliminating antagonisms and\nvacating controversies. . . .'\n\n\"Can a certain number of souls be found who are actuated\nby the instinct of the Holy Spirit, the genius of grace, to form\nan associative effort in the special work of the present time?\nIf there be such a work, and an associative effort be necessary,\nwill not the Holy Spirit produce in souls, certain ones at least,\nsuch a vocation? Is not the bond of unity in the Holy Spirit\nwhich will unite such souls all that is needed in the present\nstate of things to do this work?\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\n\"THE EXPOSITION OF THE CHURCH\"\n\nWHILE in Europe God opened Father Hecker's soul to the cries of the\nnations. He was profoundly interested in the state of religion there,\nand the persecutions suffered by Catholics in Germany, in\nSwitzerland, and in Italy during his stay, while it aroused his\nsympathies, increased his desire to find a remedy, and a fundamental\none, for the evils from which the Church suffered. The peoples of the\nOld World, with their differing tendencies, were incessantly\ndisputing in his mind. They were always displaying over against each\nother their diverse traits of race and tradition, at the same time\nthat they were actually passing before his eyes in his constant\njourneyings in search of health.\n\nWhat amazed and no less irritated Father Hecker was the political\napathy of Catholics. All the active spirits seemed to hate religion.\nA small minority of anti-Christians was allowed entire control of\nItaly and France, and exhibited in the government of those foremost\nCatholic commonwealths a pagan ferocity against everything sacred;\nand this was met by \"timid listlessness\" on the part of the Catholic\nmajority. These latter evaded the accusation of criminal cowardice by\nan extravagant display of devotional religion. To account for this\nanomaly and to offer a remedy for it, Father Hecker in the winter of\n1875 published a pamphlet of some fifty pages, entitled _An\nExposition of the Church in View of Recent Difficulties and\nControversies and the Present Needs of the Age._ It is a brief\noutline of his views, held more or less distinctly since his case in\nRome in 1857-8, but fully unfolded in his mind at the Vatican Council\nand matured during his present sojourn in Europe; the reader has\nalready been given a summary of them in a letter treating of the\nprovidential meaning of the Vatican decrees.\n\nWhat is the matter with Catholics, that they allow their national\nlife, in education, in art, in literature, in general politics, to be\npaganized by petty cliques of unbelievers? How account for this\nweakness of character in Catholics? The answer is that the devotional\nand ascetical type on which they are formed is one calculated to\nrepress individual activity, a quality essential to political success\nin our day. Energy in the world of modern politics is not the product\nof the devotional spirit dominant on the continent of Europe. That\nspirit in its time saved the Church, for it fostered submission when\nthe temptation was to revolt.\n\n\"The exaggeration,\" says the Exposition, \"of personal authority on\nthe part of Protestants brought about in the Church its greater\nrestraint, in order that her divine authority might have its\nlegitimate exercise and exert its salutary influence. The errors and\nevils of the times [the Reformation era] sprang from an unbridled\npersonal independence, which could only be counteracted by habits of\nincreased personal dependence. _Contraria contrariis curantur._ The\ndefence of the Church and the salvation of the soul were [under these\ncircumstances] ordinarily secured at the expense, necessarily, of\nthose virtues which properly go to make up the strength of Christian\nmanhood. The gain was the maintenance and victory of divine truth,\nand the salvation of the soul. The loss was a certain falling off in\nenergy, resulting in decreased action in the natural order. The\nformer was a permanent and inestimable gain. The latter was a\ntemporary and not irreparable loss.\"\n\nThe passive virtues, fostered under an overruling Providence for the\ndefence of threatened external authority in religion, and producing\nadmirable effects of uniformity, discipline, and obedience, served\nwell in the politics of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras,\nwhen nearly all governments were absolute monarchies; but the present\ngovernments are republics or constitutional monarchies, and are\nsupposed to be ruled by the citizens themselves. This demands\nindividual initiative, active personal exertion and direct\ninterference in public affairs. Vigilant and courageous voters rule\nthe nations. Therefore, without injury to entire obedience, the\nactive virtues in both the natural and supernatural orders must be\nmainly cultivated; in the first order everything that makes for\nself-reliance, and in the second the interior guidance of the Holy\nSpirit in the individual soul. This, the Exposition maintains, is the\nway out of present difficulties. That it is the Providential way out,\nis shown by most striking evidence: the diversion of the\nanti-Catholic forces from the attack against authority to one against\nthe most elementary principles of religion--God, conscience, and\nimmortality; the drift of Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic minds of a\nreligious cast towards the Church, calling for spiritual attractions\nin accordance with the independence of character peculiar to those\nraces; the hopeless failure of the post-Reformation methods to meet\nthe needs of the hour; and especially the Vatican decrees, which have\nset at rest all controversy on authority among Catholics. The needs\nof the times, therefore, call for virtues among Catholics which shall\ndisplay the personal force of Catholic life no less than that which\nis organic. These must all centre around the cultivation of the Holy\nSpirit in the individual soul.\n\n\"The light the age requires for its renewal,\" says the Exposition,\n\"can only come from the same source. The renewal of the age depends\non the renewal of religion. The renewal of religion depends upon the\ngreater effusion of the creative and renewing power of the Holy\nSpirit. The greater effusion of the Holy Spirit depends on the giving\nof increased attention to His movements and inspirations in the soul.\nThe radical and adequate remedy for all the evils of our age, and the\nsource of all true progress, consist in increased attention and\nfidelity to the action of the Holy Spirit in the soul. 'Thou shalt\nsend forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created: and Thou shalt renew\nthe face of the earth.'\"\n\nThe following extract gives the synthesis of the twofold action of\nthe Holy Spirit, showing how external authority and obedience to it\nare amply secured by the interior virtues:\n\n\"The Holy Spirit in the external authority of the Church acts as the\ninfallible interpreter and criterion of divine revelation. The Holy\nSpirit in the soul acts as the Divine Life-giver and Sanctifier. It\nis of the highest importance that these two distinct offices of the\nHoly Spirit should not be confounded. The supposition that there can\nbe any opposition, or contradiction, between the action of the Holy\nSpirit in the supreme decisions of the authority of the Church, and\nthe inspirations of the Holy Spirit in the soul, can never enter the\nmind of an enlightened and sincere Christian. The Holy Spirit, which\nthrough the authority of the Church teaches divine truth, is the same\nSpirit which prompts the soul to receive the divine truths which He\nteaches. The measure of our love for the Holy Spirit is the measure\nof our obedience to the authority of the Church. . . . There is one\nSpirit, which acts in two different offices concurring to the same\nend, the regeneration and sanctification of the soul.\n\n\"In case of obscurity or doubt concerning what is the divinely\nrevealed truth, or whether what prompts the soul is or is not an\ninspiration of the Holy Spirit, recourse must be had to the Divine\nTeacher or criterion, the authority of the Church. For it must be\nborne in mind that to the Church, as represented in the first\ninstance by St. Peter, and subsequently by his successors, was made\nthe promise of her Divine Founder, that 'the gates of hell should\nnever prevail against her.' No such promise was ever made by Christ\nto each individual believer. 'The Church of the living God, the\npillar and ground of Truth.' The test, therefore, of a truly\nenlightened and sincere Christian will be, in case of uncertainty,\nthe promptitude of his obedience to the voice of the Church.\n\n\"From the above plain truths the following practical rule of conduct\nmay be drawn: The Holy Spirit is the immediate guide of the soul in\nthe way of salvation and sanctification; and the criterion, or test,\nthat the soul is guided by the Holy Spirit, is its ready obedience to\nthe authority of the Church. This rule removes all danger whatever,\nand with it the soul can walk, run, or fly, if it chooses, in the\ngreatest safety and with perfect liberty, in the ways of sanctity.\"\n\n\"The practical aim of all true religion is to bring each individual\nsoul under the immediate guidance of the Divine Spirit. The Divine\nSpirit communicates Himself to the soul by means of the sacraments of\nthe Church. The Divine Spirit acts as the interpreter and criterion\nof revealed truth by the authority of the Church. The Divine Spirit\nacts as the principle of regeneration and sanctification in each\nChristian soul.\n\n\"Such an exposition of Christianity, the union of the internal with\nthe external notes of credibility, is calculated to produce a more\nenlightened and intense conviction of its divine truth in the\nfaithful, to stimulate them to a more energetic personal action; and,\nwhat is more, it would open the door to many straying but not\naltogether lost children, for their return to the fold of the Church.\nThe increased action of the Holy Spirit, with a more vigorous\nco-operation on the part of the faithful, which is in process of\nrealization, will elevate the human personality to an intensity of\nforce and grandeur productive of a new era in the Church and to\nsociety; an era difficult for the imagination to grasp, and still\nmore difficult to describe in words, unless we have recourse to the\nprophetic language of the inspired Scriptures.\"\n\nIt is thus made plain that Father Hecker does not deny the harmony\nbetween the devotional spirit and practices prevalent in different\nages of the Church; but he calls attention to the fact that the\ndominant note of one age is not always the same as that in another.\nAnd in using the words criterion and test, descriptive of the Church,\nhe would convey their full meaning: not merely a plumb-line for the\nrising wall but divine accuracy itself made external. His outer\ncriterion is to the inner life what articulate speech is to the human\nvoice.\n\n\"The Exposition is nothing else,\" he writes home, \"than a general\noutline of a movement from without to within; as in the sixteenth\ncentury the movement was one from within to without. This was\noccasioned by the nature of the attack of Protestantism. The Church\nhaving with increased [external] agencies protected what was\nassaulted, can return to her normal course with increased action. I\ngive an indication of the nature of this movement:\n\n\"An increased action of the Holy Spirit in the soul in consequence of\nthis greater attention directed to the interior life, and a more\nperfect explanation of the same. An exposition of the relation of the\nexternal to the internal in the Church. The action of the Holy Spirit\nin the soul and His gifts are the remedies for the evils of our\ntimes. The development of the intelligible side of the mysteries of\nfaith, and the intrinsic reasons of the truths of divine revelation.\nSuch a movement will open the door for the return of the Saxon races.\nThe Latin-Celts in relation to the development of the hierarchy,\ndiscipline, worship, and aesthetics of the Church are considered.\nCauses of Protestantism--antagonism and jealousy of races; present\npersecutions. The Saxon idea of the Catholic Church. Reason for\nit--they see only the outward and human side of the Church. Return of\nthe Saxons in consequence of the new phase of development--the\ndisplay of the inward and the divine to their intelligence. The\ntransition of races; in the future the Saxon will supernaturalize the\nnatural, the Latin-Celts will naturalize the supernatural. The plan\nand suggestions given are the way to escape the extermination of\nChristianity by the Saxons, and the denial of Christianity by the\napostasy of the Latins. The union of these races in the Church, with\ntheir civilization and force, is the means of spreading Christianity\nrapidly over the whole world.\n\n\"In the Exposition I follow simply the footsteps of the Church as\nindicated in her history, in the Encyclicals of Pius IX., and the\nVatican Council. The Church is God acting directly on the human race,\nguiding it to its true destiny, the road of all true progress.\"\n\nThe Exposition, as already said, had been talked to all comers by\nFather Hecker, and in various parts of Europe, but was put into shape\nin the autumn of 1874, while he was in the north of Italy. He took it\nto Rome and offered it to the Propaganda Press. No fault was found\nwith it; many high dignitaries, some of them members of the\nCongregation of the Sacred Palace, which has charge of the\ncensorship, heartily approved of it and would have it published at\nonce; but at the last moment this was decided by the authorities to\nbe inexpedient. It was then sent to London, and Pickering brought it\nout anonymously, and it was at once put into French by Mrs. Craven.\nIt was published as a leader in _The Catholic World_ about the same\ntime, and in 1887 formed the first chapter of _The Church and the\nAge,_ a compilation of Father Hecker's more important later essays.\n\nThe Exposition contributes to the solution of the race problem as it\naffects religion. A glance at Europe shows the radical difference\nwhich is symbolized by the terms Transalpine and Cisalpine, Latin and\nTeutonic. The one group of races most readily clings to the interior\nvirtues of religion, the other to external institutions. The problem\nis how to reconcile them, how to bring both into unity. Father Hecker\nbelieved that the Latin race had crowned its work in the Vatican\nCouncil and done it gloriously, and that the time had arrived to\ninvite the Teutonic race to develop its force in the interior life of\nthe Church. There are passages in the following letter which indicate\nthe weight of this racial problem to him, as well as the supernatural\nearnestness which he brought to the study of it. It serves to explain\na remark he once made: \"I wrote the Exposition while I was having\nvery many lights about the Holy Ghost--I couldn't help but write it.\"\n\n\"PARIS, June 11, 1874.\n\n\"DEAR GEORGE AND JOSEPHINE: There is not much for me to add to my\nletter of the third of this month. My preparations are made to go to\nMayence during the Catholic Assembly, which commences on the\nfifteenth and lasts three days. There I shall meet several persons\nwhom I am interested in and wish to see. Besides, ecclesiastical\naffairs in the German Empire are in a very critical state, and this\nmust add to the interest of the Assembly. Meeting, as I frequently\ndo, the leading minds of Europe, enables me to compare views,\nappreciate difficulties, and hear objections.\n\n\"It is just as difficult to get the Celtic [and Latin] mind to\nconceive and appreciate the internal notes of the Church, and the\ncharacter of her divine interior life, as it is to get the Teutonic\nmind to conceive and appreciate the divine external constitution of\nthe Church, the importance, and essential importance, of her\nauthority, discipline, and liturgy. But the weakness of the former,\nand the persecutions now permitted by Divine Providence to be visited\non the latter, are teaching them both the lessons they need to learn.\nTo complete the development of the truth, of the Church, each needs\nthe other; and Divine Providence is shaping things so that in spite\nof all obstacles, natural and induced, a synthesis of them both is\nforming in the bosom of the Church. The work is slow but certain,\nconcealed from ordinary observation because divine; but exceedingly\nbeautiful. Underneath all the persecutions, the oppression, the false\naction, the whole outwardly critical condition of the Church and\nsociety, there is an overpowering, counteracting, divine current,\nleading to an all-embracing, most complete, and triumphant unity in\nthe Church. To see how all things--wicked men as well as the good,\nfor God reigns over _all_--contribute to this end and are made to\nserve it, gives peace to the mind, repose to the soul, and excites\nadmiration and adoration of the Divine action in the world.\n\n\"To have a conception of this all-embracing and direct action of God\nin the affairs of this world, and by the light of faith to see that\nthe Church is the dwelling place of His holiness, majesty, mercy, and\npower, and is the medium of this action, at first stupefies,\noverwhelms, and, as it were, reduces the soul to nothing. By degrees\nand imperceptibly it is raised from its nothingness; timidly the soul\nopens its eyes and ventures to cast a glance, and then to contemplate\nthe Divinity which everywhere surrounds it, as air and light do our\nbodies. The contemplation of the Divine action becomes its only\noccupation and it is an irresistible one. All the life, mind, and\nstrength of the soul is involuntarily absorbed in this direction,\nleaving the body scarcely sufficient strength to continue its\nordinary functions.\n\n\"How far will the body regain its former strength? What will be the\nrelation of the soul with its former occupations? Will this\nadditional light require other conditions? Was this light given for\nanother and wider field of labor? These and many other questions must\narise in the soul, which in due season will be answered. Its present\nduty is to practise conformity to God's will, patience, detachment,\ndiscretion, and confidence.\"\n\nThere is hardly any part of this Life which does not assist one in\nunderstanding the Exposition, especially the chapters on the idea of\na religious community and that giving his spiritual doctrine. Many\nleading spirits hailed it with joy, among them Margotti, the editor\nof the _Unita Cattolica_ of Turin, and Cardinal Deschamps. The former\nmade Father Hecker's acquaintance during a visit to Turin, and became\na warm admirer of him and his views. He compelled him to leave the\nhotel and lodge at his house during his stay in that city. When the\nExposition came out he gave it two long and highly commendatory\nnotices in his journal, at the time the most influential Catholic one\nin Italy, and published three chapters entire.\n\nWe have a copy of the Exposition annotated, at Father Hecker's\nrequest, by the late distinguished Jesuit, Father H. Ramiere. These\ncomments are valuable and suggestive. While modifying Father Hecker's\njudgment as to the causes of the deterioration of Catholic manliness,\nFather Ramiere recognizes the fact. The remedies receive his emphatic\napproval, as also the author's explanation of the synthesis of the\ninner and outer action of the Holy Ghost in the Church.\n\nWhen _The Church and the Age_ appeared the English Jesuit magazine,\n_The Month,_ in its issue of July, 1888, gave the book a very full\nand favorable review, endorsing all the principles of the Exposition.\nAfter saying that the Vatican decrees mark a special epoch in the\nevolution of Christianity, and close a period of attack--one of the\nsharpest which the Church has ever sustained--upon her external\nauthority, the reviewer continues:\n\n\"It completed the Church's defence, and left her free to continue\nunimpeded her normal course of internal development. . . . The author\ndisplays remarkable breadth of thought, and the book contains many\npassages which are not only eloquent as a defence of Catholicity, but\nwhich cannot fail to impart instruction to the reflecting reader. We\nthink it deserving of a wide circulation among both clergy and laity,\nand it is with a desire to further such a result that we propose to\nexplain at some length the views which we have already touched upon.\n. . . We want a Catholic individualism, which necessarily requires a\nclear and recognized authority as a safeguard against the errors to\nwhich individualism exposes itself, but which, on the other hand, can\nnever be begotten by the mere principle of authority as such.\"\n\nThe _Literarischer Handweiser,_ a German Catholic critical review,\npublished in Muenster, having a high character and wide circulation,\ngave an equally favorable estimate of Father Hecker's views in a\nnotice of _The Church and the Age._\n\nThe following extracts from letters will close our consideration of\nthe Exposition, which we have thought worthy of so careful and full a\nstudy because it is the remedial application of Father Hecker's\nspiritual doctrines to the evils of European Catholicity:\n\n\"It is consoling to see men of different opinions and of opposite\nparties in the Church regarding my pamphlet as the programme of a\ncommon ground on which they can meet and agree.\n\n\"I have had several interviews with Cardinal Deschamps. He invited me\nto spend the evenings with him, as we are old and very close friends.\nOn all points, main points, our views are one. And it is singular how\nthe same precise ideas and views have presented themselves at the\nsame time to the minds of us both. In matters which regard my\npersonal direction, I have consulted him several times, and fully. He\nhas always taken a special interest in my welfare in every sense. His\ncounsel has given me great relief, increased tranquillity, and will\nbe of great service. He remains here eight or ten days longer, and I\nwill see him as often during that period as I can.\"\n\nA distinguished Swiss orator and prelate, since made cardinal, told\nFather Hecker of a devout priest who gave a large number of retreats\nto the clergy: \"'When I saw him last,' said Monsignor to me, 'he said\nthat since we had met he had given retreats to seven hundred or eight\nhundred priests, and that he had read to them the Exposition of the\nChurch which I gave him at my last interview with him.'\"\n\n\"It will take time to understand the ideas in the Exposition. It will\ntake still longer time to see their bearing, application, and\nresults. Few at first will seize their import; by degrees they will\ntake in a wider circle. The difficulties of the times, the anguish of\nmany souls in the midst of the present persecutions, etc., will draw\nattention to any project or plan or system that offers a better\nfuture.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV\n\nIN THE SHADOW OF DEATH\n\n\"I LOOK back,\" wrote Father Hecker in the summer of 1879, \"on these\nthree years as one continuous and dreadful interior struggle.\" This\nshows that the shadows were too deep and broad for the intervals of\npeace, which we know from his letters he had now and then enjoyed, to\nbanish the impression of constant gloom. And Father Hecker's\nreadiness to return home upon positive request will be the better\nappreciated when we remember how very painful to him was the very\nthought of his past occupations. Nor was his bodily health in a\nhopeful condition. While at Ragatz in the month of June, 1875, he met\na distinguished physician from Paris, an excellent Catholic, whom\nhe had been strongly advised to consult before. Glad of the chance,\nhe submitted to a thorough examination, and received from him a\nwritten statement to the effect that it would be dangerous to take up\nany steady occupation, and that he should be entirely free from care\nfor at least a year; otherwise a final break-down was to be expected.\nThis seemed effectually to bar all thoughts of return. And such was\nhis own settled conviction, as is shown by the following, written\nabout the end of June:\n\n\"Where could I find repose? Not in the community; not at my\nbrother's: nowhere else to go. Then, again, I would be constantly\nrequired to give opinions and counsel in the affairs of the\ncommunity, which would require an application beyond my strength.\nThere is no other way than for me to remain contented in Europe,\nwith my feebleness and obscurity, in the hands of God.\"\n\nBut on July 29 he received a letter which compelled him to decide\nbetween tranquillity of spirit and bodily comfort--perhaps life\nitself--on the one hand, and the call of his brethren on the other.\nHe decided without a moment's hesitation and with the utmost\nequanimity. We quote from a letter to George Hecker:\n\n\"Three days ago a letter from Father Hewit reached me urging my\nimmediate return in such strong language and with such considerations\nthat I wrote a reply expressing my readiness to return at once. On\nre-reading the letter I found its tone so urgent that I sent a\ntelegram to the above effect. . . . In God's hands are my being, my\nsoul, and all my faculties, to do with them and direct them as He\npleases. To return to the United States and there arrange things to\nHis pleasure, or to leave me here. I am indifferent, quiet, entirely\nready either not to act or to act.\"\n\nAnd so in October, 1875, Father Hecker was again in New York. He\nbegged the Fathers to allow him to stay with his brother for the\npresent, \"for my nerves could not stand the noise, the routine, and\nthe excitement of the house in Fifty-ninth Street.\" And when he did\nreturn to the convent to live, which was four years afterwards, he\nwas quite sure that his end was at hand, though it did not come till\nnine years later.\n\nDuring all the thirteen years between Father Hecker's return to\nAmerica and his death, his daily order of life was pretty much the\nsame as he described it in one of his letters from Europe, already\ngiven to the reader. He did not resort any longer to change of place\nor climate as a means of recovery; he had tried that long enough. His\nphysician, the one who served the community, assisted him constantly\nwith advice and remedies, and once or twice he tried a sanitarium; he\nwas apt to try anything suggested, being credulous about such\nmatters. But his strength of body slowly faded away. He was more\ndisturbed than surprised at this, and fought for life every inch of\nthe way.\n\n\"If I were a Celt,\" he once said with a smile, \"I should more readily\nresign myself to die, but I am of a race that clings fast to the\nearth.\" His persistent struggle was sometimes calm, but was generally\nsharpened by a horrible dread of death, which fastened on his soul\nlike a vampire, and gave a stern aspect to his self-defence. His\npatience in suffering was most admirable, though seldom clothed in\nthe usual formalities. \"Perhaps, after all,\" he would sometimes say,\n\"God will give me back my health, for I have a work to do.\"\n\nThough anything but an ill-tempered man, Father Hecker was yet by\nnature ardent and irascible and quickly provoked by opposition, but\nGod gave him such a horror of dissension that he would not quarrel,\nthough it was often plain that his peaceful words cost him a hard\nstruggle. Occasionally he lost his temper for a little while, and\nthis was when compelled to attend to business under stress of great\nbodily or mental pain. We do not think that he was ever known to\nattempt to move men by anger, or even sternness. \"If you ever tell\nany one about me,\" he said, \"say that I believed in praising men more\nthan in condemning them, and that I valued praise as a higher form of\ninfluence than any kind of threatening or compulsion.\" Nor did he\nresort to the formalities of obedience to secure his end. \"Why don't\nyou put me under obedience to do this?\" asked a father who did not\nexactly approve of a proposal Father Hecker had made to him. The\nanswer was given with a good deal of heat: \"I have never done such a\nthing in my life, and I am not going to begin now!\" Nor had he any\nuse for bitter speech even in cold blood. \"One thing,\" he said in a\nletter, \"I will now correct; a sneer--intentionally or consciously--\nis a thing that, so far as my memory serves, I am as innocent of as a\nlittle babe.\" Yet he could be sarcastic, as the following memorandum\nshows: \"Cardinal Cullen once said to me, after I had made a journey\nthrough Ireland, 'Well, Father Hecker, what do you think of Ireland?'\nI answered: 'Your Eminence, my thoughts about Ireland are such that I\nwill get out of the country as soon as I can; for if I expressed my\nsentiments I should soon be put into jail for Fenianism!'\" This was in\n1867 while Fenianism was rampant. Of course he did not approve of it,\nbut the sights he saw taught him its awful provocation. And once when\nunduly pressed with the dictum of an author whose range of power was\nnot high enough to overcome Father Hecker's objections, he said: \"I\nam not content to live to be the echo of dead men's thoughts.\" But it\nwas not by skill in the thrust and parry of argumentative fence that\nFather Hecker won his way in a discussion, but by the hard drive of a\ngreat principle. The following memorandum describes the effect of\nthis on an ordinary man:\n\n\"It is rather amusing when Father Hecker asks me some of his stunning\nquestions on the deepest topics of the divine sciences. I look blank\nat him, I ask him to explain, I fish up some stale commonplace from\nthe memory of my studies--and he then gives me his own original, his\nluminous answer.\"\n\nAnd both his choice of subjects in conversation and his natural\nmanner were according to his temperament, which was meditative. This\ngave his countenance when at rest a peaceful cast until within a few\nyears of the end, when \"death's pale flag\" cast upon it a shade of\nforeboding. We have a photograph of him taken when he was about\nforty-five and in average good health, showing a tranquil face, full\nof thought and with eyes cast down; to the writer's mind it is the\ntypical Isaac Hecker. But this expression changed in conversation,\nwhen not only his words but his gestures and his glances challenged a\nfriendly but energetic conflict of opinion.\n\nIf it be asked, how did Father Hecker recreate himself during those\nmournful years, the answer is that recreation in the sense of a\npleasurable relaxation seemed contrary to his nature whether in\nsickness or in health. It was once said to him, \"Easter week is\nalways a lazy time.\" \"No, it is not,\" he answered. \"I never have\nknown a time, not a moment, in my whole life, when I felt lazy or was\nin an idle mood.\" He found himself obliged, however, to get out of\nthe house and take exercise, walking in the park leaning on the arm\nof one of the community, or, if he was more than usually weak, being\ndriven in his brother's carriage. There were occasions when to kill\ntime was for him to kill care--to call his mind away from thoughts of\ndeath and of the judgment, the dread of which fell upon him like\neternal doom. Then he would try to get some one to talk to, or to go\nwith him and look at pictures and statues; or he would work at\nmending old clocks, a pretty well mended collection of which he kept\nin his room against such occasions. In the park he would often go and\nlook at the beasts in the menagerie, and he spoke of them\naffectionately. \"They bring to my mind the power and beauty of God,\"\nhe said. He came to meals with the community, at least to dinner,\nuntil five or six years before his death, when his appetite became so\nunreliable that he took what food he could, and when he could, in his\nroom. He also attended the community recreations after meals until a\nfew years before the end; but it was often noticed that the process\nof humiliation he was undergoing caused him to creep away into a\ncorner, sit awhile with a very dejected look, and then wearily go\nupstairs to his room. When he was urged not to do this, \"I cannot\nhelp it to save my life,\" was all the answer he could give. He\nfinally gave up the recreations almost entirely.\n\nBut he hated laziness. \"I am so weak,\" he once said, \"and my brain is\nso easily tired out that I am forced to read a great deal to recreate\nmyself. That's why you see me reading so much.\" The book in which he\nwas at the moment seeking recreation was a ponderous work on\nmetaphysics by a prolix Scotchman, treating in many dreary chapters\nof such amusing topics as the unity of the act of perception with the\nobject perceived! As may be supposed of such a man, whose illness\nforbade action and whose interior trials made contemplation an agony,\nhe chafed sometimes at his enforced inactivity, though he was never\nheard, as far as we can get evidence, openly to complain of it.\n\nTime and stagnation of bodily forces did not alter his progressive\nideas.\n\n\"Is it not wiser,\" he said, \"to give one's thought and energy to\nprepare the way for the future success and triumph of religion than\nto labor to continue the present [state of things], which must be and\nis being supplanted? Such an attitude may not be understood and may\nbe misinterpreted, and be one of trial and suffering; still it is the\nonly one which, consistently with a sense of duty, can be taken and\nmaintained.\"\n\nA bishop on his way to Rome once called on Father Hecker. \"Tell the\nHoly Father,\" he said to him, \"that there are three things which will\ngreatly advance religion: First, to place the whole Church in a\nmissionary attitude--make the Propaganda the right arm of the Church.\nSecond, choose the cardinals from the Catholics of all nations, so\nthat they shall be a senate representing all Christendom. Third, make\nfull use of modern appliances and methods for transacting the\nbusiness of the Holy See.\" Sometimes he discussed the activity of\nmodern commerce as teaching religious men a lesson. He once said:\n\n\"When Father Hecker is dead one thing may be laid to his credit: that\nhe always protested that it is a shame and an outrage that men of the\nworld do more for money than religious men will do for the service of\nGod.\"\n\nNo glutton ever devoured a feast more eagerly than Father Hecker read\na sermon, a lecture, or an editorial showing the trend of\nnon-Catholic thought. After his death his desk was found littered\nwith innumerable clippings of the sort, many of them pencilled with\nunderlinings and with notes. These furnished much of the matter of\nhis conversation, and doubtless of his prayers. Once he wrote to a\nfriend:\n\n\"Nobody is necessary to God and to the accomplishment of his designs.\nYet at times I wish that I had the virtue that some creatures have;\nwhen cut into pieces each piece becomes a new complete individual of\nthe same species. I should cut myself into at least a dozen pieces to\nmeet the demands made upon me. What a splendid thing it is to think\nof our Lord going about doing wonders, eternal and infinite things,\nand all the time seeming to be unoccupied. The truly simple soul\nreduces all occupations to one, and in that one accomplishes all.\"\n\nAnd his organizing faculty would busy itself in various schemes,\nwhich, if they could not cure his weak body, could relax with a\nfancied activity his tired soul. Thus in a letter he said:\n\n\"Why should we not form a league for the cause of our Lord, to whom\nwe owe all? Unreserved devotion to His cause with patience,\nperseverance, humility, and sweetness, are weapons that no man or\nwoman or thing can withstand. Our Lord has promised that if we\nbelieve in Him we shall do greater works than He did. Let us believe\nin Him, and clothe ourselves through faith in Him with His virtues,\nand who shall resist us?\n\n\"The first of all successes is Christ's triumph in our souls.\nEverything that leads to this, humiliations, afflictions, calumnies,\ncontempt, mortifications, all work for us a glory exceeding the\nimagination of man. To suffer for Christ's sake is the short-cut in\nthe way of becoming Christ-like.\"\n\nThe following anecdote of his missionary days shows Father Hecker's\ncontempt for lazy devotion. Once, when upon a mission, a young priest\njust returned home from Rome, where he had made his studies,\nexpressed his desire to get back again to Italy as soon as possible,\nsaying, \"I find no time here to pray.\" Father Hecker felt indignant,\nfor it did not seem to him that the young man was very much occupied.\n\"Don't be such a baby,\" said he. \"Look around and see how much work\nthere is to be done here. Is it not better to make some return to\nGod--here in your own country--for what He has done for you, rather\nthan to be sucking your thumbs abroad? What kind of piety do you call\nthat?\"\n\nHe took a personal interest in all the members of the community, and\nthis was greatly heightened if any one fell sick. We remember his\nexcitement when it was announced that one of the Fathers, who had\nbeen sent to a hospital for a surgical operation, had grown worse and\nwas in danger of death. He began to pace his room, to question\nsharply about doctors and nurses, and immediately ordered Masses to\nbe said and special prayers by the community; and this father he had\nseen very little of and hardly knew from the others. \"I cannot tell,\"\nhe wrote to a friend at the time of Father Tillotson's illness, \"I\ndare not express, how much I love him, what he is to me.\" Always\ntender-hearted, the nearer he came to the end and the more he\nsuffered the more gentle were his feelings towards all, the more\nkindly grew his looks, but also the more sad and weary. He was always\ncareful to express thanks for favors, small or great. The following\nis from a letter to a friend:\n\n\"Your last note contained at the end a kind invitation. Don't be\ntroubled; I'm not coming! Do you know that sometimes I am tempted to\nthink that I am necessary? Sometimes the thought has come to me that\nI might run away from home a week or so. Then I have driven the\nthought away as I would a temptation. But I wished to thank you none\nthe less for your invitation, though I should never see you again. _I\nhave an uncontrollable horror of ingratitude.\"_\n\nDuring his long years of illness Father Hecker's reading continued\nupon the lines he had ever followed, the Scriptures holding, of\ncourse, the first place. Besides reading or having read to him\ncertain parts adapted to the spiritual probation he was undergoing,\nsuch as Job, the Passion of our Lord, and chapters of the sapiential\nbooks, he also took the entire Scriptures in course, going slowly\nthrough them from cover to cover and insisting on every word being\nread, genealogies and all. He would sometimes interrupt the reader to\nmake comments and ask questions. The last words that he listened to\nat night were the words of Scripture, read to him after he had got\ninto bed. He declared that they soothed him and settled his mind and\ncalmed its disturbance, and this was easily seen by his looks and\nmanner. Some who knew him well thought from his comments that God\ngave him infused knowledge of a rare order about the sense of\nScripture. Once he said:\n\n\"When you were reading Ezechiel last night, oh, you cannot understand\nwhat thoughts I had! During the past six months I have learned how to\nunderstand him. I say within myself: 'O Ezechiel! Ezechiel! no one\nunderstands, no one understands you in this world, except one here\nand there.'\"\n\nNext to Scripture came St. Thomas and St. John of the Cross, the one\nfor dogmatic and philosophical, the other for devotional uses. It\nmust have been soon after returning to America as a Redemptorist that\nhe procured a copy of Alagona's Compendium of St. Thomas, submitted\nit to Bishop Neumann, whose learning was in high repute, and obtained\nhis assurance of its accuracy. That little book is a curiosity of\nunderlining and various other forms of emphasizing. It was with him\ntill death. From it he referred to the full works of St. Thomas for\ncomplete statements, but he loved to ponder the brief summary of the\nabridgment and work the principles out in his own way. St. John of\nthe Cross and Lallemant, as already stated, were his hand-books of\nmysticism and ascetic principles. The former he caused to be read to\nhim in regular course over and over again, enjoying every syllable\nwith fresh relish. In later days the _Life of Mary Ward,_ by Mary\nCatherine Chambers, and _The Glories of Divine Grace,_ by Scheeben,\nafforded him special pleasure. Books which told of the religious\ntendencies of minds outside the Church were sure to interest him. He\nstudied them as Columbus inspected the drifting weeds and the wild\nbirds encountered on his voyage of discovery. Those who served him as\nreaders sometimes found this kind of literature pretty dry, just as\nColumbus's crew doubtless found it idle work to fish up the floating\nweeds of the sea. The following sentences occur in a diary written\nwhile in Europe in 1875. It is a statement of his opinion of the\nobjective points at which Catholic teachers and writers of our day\nshould aim:\n\n\"In dogmatic theology, when treating of the doctrine of the fall of\nman keep in view the value of human nature and the necessity of\ndivine grace preceding every act of Christian life.\n\n\"In moral theology, stimulate the sense of personal responsibility.\n\n\"In ascetic theology, fidelity to the Holy Spirit.\n\n\"In polemic theology, develop the intrinsic notes of the Church.\"\n\nAs to novels, he fully appreciated their power over minds, but we\nbelieve that he did not read half a dozen in his whole life, and\nthese he treated as he did graver works: he studied them. \"To read is\none thing, to study is another,\" says Cardinal Manning; but all\nreading was study to Father Hecker. We remember one novel which he\nread, slowly and most carefully, underlining much of it and filling\nthe margins of every page with notes. \"Why don't you read novels, as\nother people do?\" he was asked. \"Because life is more novel than any\nfiction, for fiction is but an attempt to paint life,\" he answered.\nNo printed matter of any kind, much less a book, ever could be a\nplaything to Isaac Hecker. He often made more of the sentences on a\nscrap of newspaper, and studied them far harder, than the writer of\nthem himself had done. A man whose play and work are in such problems\nas, how God is known, how the Trinity subsists, what beatitude is,\nhow God's being is mirrored in man's activity, has too real a life\nwithin him and about him to tarry long in fiction or in any of the\nby-roads of literature. Poetry, however, in its higher forms, or with\na strong ethical tendency, he was very fond of. Perhaps his favorite\namong the poets was Coventry Patmore.\n\nAfter returning to New York Father Hecker, besides supervising the\neditorial work of _The Catholic World,_ wrote an occasional article\nfor its pages. The more important of these, twelve in number, with\nthe Exposition as a leader, were published in a volume already\nmentioned, _The Church and the Age._ This book appeared in 1887, and\ncontains his views of the religious problems in Europe and America,\nand also some controversial writings against orthodox Protestantism\nand Unitarianism. These are well-written, clean-cut, and aggressive\npieces of polemical writing, whether against the errors of\nProtestants or of infidels. _The Church and the Age_ is the best\nexhibit of the author's opinions and principles on topics of\nreligious interest and those of race and epoch having a religious\nbearing. He has left a considerable amount of unpublished matter,\nnotably some essays on how God is known, the reality of ideas, and\nthe Trinity, together with much on spiritual subjects. Let us hope\nthat these and more of his unpublished writings will some day be\ngiven to the public. He always found difficulty in preparing matter\nfor the press. Using a pencil and a rubber eraser, he often\npositively wore the paper through with writing, correcting, and\nwriting again. He seemed scrupulous about such matters, and in these\ncircumstances he lacked the immediate expression of his thoughts\nwhich came to him so spontaneously in his letters and diaries, as\nwell as in his public speaking. But he dictated readily, and with a\nresult of reaching quickly the form of words he would finally be\ncontent with. By this means he prepared his articles on Doctor\nBrownson, which appeared in _The Catholic World_ between April and\nNovember, 1887.\n\nHis intercourse with the members of the community was naturally much\ninterfered with by his illness. But he loved to listen to them\nspeaking of their work, was greatly interested in the building and\ndecorating of the new church, and when the missionaries came home was\neager to hear them tell of their success. He would invariably suggest\nthat we should study how to extend our preaching outside the regular\nmissions, so as to take in non-Catholics. He was also alive to\nopportunities for stimulating others, in and out of the community, to\ndo literary work. At Lake George, where he spent his summers with the\ncommunity, he was able to have a familiar contact with us all,\nespecially the students, whom he enlisted in working about the\ngrounds or the house, helping as best he could. But after his illness\nbegan he ever showed a certain constraint of manner when the\nconversation took a grave turn, a kind of shyness, which a judge of\ncharacter might interpret as meaning, \"I am afraid you'll\nmisunderstand me; I am afraid you'll think I am a visionary.\"\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nFATHER HECKER'S prayer during all these years was a state of what\nseemed almost uninterrupted contemplation of varied intensity. He\nattended the evening meditation of the community as long as he had\nstrength to do so, frequently giving a commentary on the points read\nout at the beginning, simple, direct, and fervent. He was exceedingly\nfond of assisting at High Mass on Sundays and feast days, and he had\na small oratory built between the house and the new church, from\nwhich, by passing a few steps from his room, he could hear the music\nand see the function through a window opening into the sanctuary.\nThis often overpowered him with emotion, which was sometimes so\nstrong as to drive him back to his room and into bed. Once a week and\non the more solemn festivals was as often as he could say Mass, or\neven hear it, on account of his extreme weakness in the mornings. For\nthe last three or four years of his life to say Mass at all became a\nstruggle which was as curious as it was distressing to witness. Those\nwho had often read of such things in the lives of the servants of God\nwere nevertheless amazed at the sight of them in Father Hecker. The\nfollowing is from a memorandum:\n\n_\"Father Hecker:_ Do you know what it is to be in spontaneous\nrelations with God--where the Divine Object works upon the soul\nspontaneously? It is that which prevents me from saying Mass, because\nI make a fool of myself. At any point I am apt to be so influenced by\nGod as to be utterly deprived of physical force, to sink down\nhelpless. At my brother's house they expect it and get me a chair. A\nfew moments on a chair, and I am ready to go on. Now, if I yield to\nthis I know that I shall be thrown into a clean helpless state, and I\nhave a practical work to do. _Question:_ Does this effect come at\nreceiving Communion? _Answer:_ I don't know, as I have never yet\nreceived Communion out of Mass. But I am afraid of it. Any such thing\nis apt to throw me off, and I am afraid. _Question:_ But suppose it\nto be God's will that you should say Mass notwithstanding this\ndifficulty? _Answer:_ Then let Him bring it about.\"\n\nAt one time several months passed, months of very low vitality in\nbody and awful darkness of soul, during which he neither said Mass\nnor received Communion. The following memorandum describes how this\nperiod, perhaps the most painful of his life, was ended:\n\n\"Christmas, 1885.--For the first time since early summer Father\nHecker undertook to say Mass: I assisted him, and a stormy time we\nhad of it. It was at five in the morning and in the oratory. He\nwanted to have the door locked, but there was no key. 'Don't speak a\nword to me,' he said while he was dressing in his room. Arrived in\nthe oratory, he sank down upon a bench as if some one had struck him;\nhe threw his birettum down on the floor, and began to weep and cry in\na very mournful way and aloud. But he quickly recovered, and rested\nas if he were preparing to be hanged. I supported him over to the\naltar, and as he began the _Judica_ he blubbered out the words like a\nschool-boy being whipped. Most of the Mass he said out loud, hardly\nholding in his sobs anywhere except from the _hanc igitur_ till near\nthe _Pater Noster._ His calmest time was during that most solemn\npart, and at his Communion. Three or four times he was forced to sit\ndown on a chair I had provided for him on the predella. At the\n_Memento_ for the living he was deeply affected and patted the floor\nwith his foot, sobbing aloud and acting like a child with an\nunendurable toothache. He was afraid of the _Pater Noster_ and asked\nme to say it with him, which I did; also various words and sentences\nin other parts of the Mass. I have heard him say that the _Pater\nNoster_ is a prayer which breaks him down. After he was through he\ninsisted on trying to say the Pope's prayers. We said the Hail Marys\nand the Hail, Holy Queen, together, and I recited the prayer for him.\nI had to take off his vestments the best I could while he sat, and\nwhen I got him down to his room and into bed, he was in a state of\nnearly complete unconsciousness. After saying my three Masses, I saw\nhim again at about 8.30, found him up and dressed and very bright,\nand he has been particularly so all day.\"\n\nWhat follows is from a letter dated early in 1886, and seems to refer\nto the occasion above described. He speaks of himself in the third\nperson:\n\n\"And he [Father Hecker] was never so occupied as now, although he is\ndoing nothing and has been in that condition for months. Though he\ndoes hear Mass, he does not, because he cannot, say it--without\nshowing what a _big fool_ he is. However he has begun again to say\nit. If it had not been for human respect he would not have said it\nlast Sunday; he was too feeble. God is killing him by slow fire, by\ninches. He dies terribly hard.\"\n\nIf Father Hecker had had an unimpaired physical system when his\ninterior trials came, he might have resisted the nervous depression\nwhich they caused, at least well enough to maintain an active part in\nhis undertakings. Or if his bodily weakness, resulting from his early\nausterities, had been accompanied with interior equanimity, he might\nhave held up. A rickety ship can, with care and skill, get into port\nif the engine is sound, and so can a sound ship with a broken-down\nengine sail home, however slowly. But with both a rickety ship and a\ndisabled engine the port should be near at hand or there is danger of\nshipwreck. That Father Hecker did not die long before he did, was\ndue, apart from God's special designs, to the extraordinary skill and\ncare of Doctor James Begen, who was also an attached friend. Mr.\nAnthony Ellis, one of his former penitents, served him in his\nsick-room out of pure love from 1879 until his death, which preceded\nFather Hecker's by about a year. He had a kind-hearted successor in\nMr. Patrick McCann.\n\nFather Hecker's beloved brother George died on February 14, 1888. He\nhad been ailing for some time and Father Hecker went to see him\nfrequently. . . . \"George and I,\" he once said, \"were united in a way\nno words can describe. Our union was something extremely spiritual\nand divine.\" The following memorandum tells how Father Hecker\nreceived the news:\n\n\"George Hecker died about nine o'clock last night, and when I\ninformed Father Hecker of it this morning he was deeply moved. 'Don't\nsay a word to me!' he cried, 'not a word. Read something! Read\nsomething quick!' I stepped over to the table and took the Scriptures\nand began to read the thirteenth chapter of St. John, read it\nthrough, and another chapter. By that time he calmed down. He only\nwept twice, except a few little sobs, and went out riding as usual\nthis afternoon. He is profoundly moved. 'I knew it,' he said this\nmorning; 'I saw it, I saw it last night--it seemed to me that I saw\nit. I came near coming to your room at half-past ten, but concluded\nnot to do so.' Another time to-day he said: 'If God enables me to\nbear this I hope I shall be able to do my allotted work.'\"\n\nHe bore it well, but it added very much to a burden already too\nheavy. For some weeks afterwards he now and then moaned and wept for\nhis brother, and this happened occasionally till summer came. Those\nwho attended Father Hecker could not but be convinced, from what they\nsaw and heard, that God allowed George to visit his brother more than\nonce after his death, and these supernatural interviews were\nproductive of mingled consolation of soul and pain of body to the\nsurvivor. George Hecker was worthy of his brother's love. He was a\nnoble character, full of that sort of religion nowadays most needed.\nHis piety flourished in the withering atmosphere of wealth and in the\nturmoil of commercial life. Industry, thrift, enterprise, quick\nperception of opportunities, determination, a keen sense of his\nrights and a bold hand to defend them, manly frankness, were\nconspicuous traits in him and made him a rich merchant. But all these\nqualities served him as well for high spiritual ends. He was\nessentially and dominantly a spiritual man, fond of prayer, regular\nin all religious duties. He was as honest as the day, and all for\nconscience' sake and the love of God. His understanding was wide and\nclear, his heart tender, simple, and courageous. He loved his wife\nand children, he loved his brother Isaac, with an absorbing\ndevotedness, and these loves were blended and mingled into one with\nthe love of God. His charities are known to the reader, but they\nshould be understood as the result not merely of affection for his\nbrother, or even of faith in his apostolate, but also from his own\nperception of the intrinsic worth of the undertakings themselves. We\nknow not what quality could be added to George Hecker to make him a\nmodel Christian of our day.\n\nHis death had a serious effect on Father Hecker's state of body and\nmind. But from the previous autumn and during the winter following he\nhad failed rapidly. In fact, he had requested and received the last\nSacraments from Father Hewit on September 15, 1887; but this was on\naccount of an alarming irregularity of the heart's action, which was\nbut temporary. He had no long distance to drop at any time to get to\nthe bottom, and it became evident in the summer of 1888 that the end\nwas not far off. He could not stand the strong air of Lake George\nthat summer, and came home after being there but a couple of weeks.\nHe tried the sea-side with even worse success; and the short journeys\nhe made were extremely painful. The paroxysms of angina pectoris\nbecame more frequent and daily left their victim less able to rally.\nPatience strained to the uttermost by physical suffering, the mind\ndistressed, fits of despondency and of indescribable gloom, the\nweight of a body of death--all this he had borne for sixteen years,\nwith only occasional intervals of peace. There was little left to\nsuffer except death. His bodily resistance grew weaker towards the\nend of his last summer on earth, and he lost flesh rapidly. The\nfulness of his face was gone by autumn, and a wan look, as of\ndecaying force, was stamped upon it. He suffered in literally every\nmember of his body, by turns or simultaneously. We find the following\nmemorandum:\n\n\"_Question:_ What's the matter with the back of your head? [he was\nrubbing it with extract of witch hazel]. _Answer:_ It is sore, it\nhurts me. _Q._ Well! As soon as one part is better another gets out\nof order? etc. _A._ Do you know it was all revealed to me and\nforetold [beginning to weep]. _Q._ When? In your novitiate? _A._ Yes.\n_Q._ But not all the details of your sufferings? A. Yes, all the\ndetails. But I will not say another word about it. _Q._ But you ought\nto, etc. [He refused to say more.]\"\n\nLittle by little during the latter years Father Hecker's visitors had\nbecome very few. An occasional call was received from an old friend,\nlay or cleric, and this was not apt to be repeated, so painful was\nthe contrast between the former Father Hecker and the present one.\nInstead of the active and powerful man, of contagious courage and\nhopefulness, they saw a tall, wan old man bending with the weight of\nyears and of suffering, but still majestic in his look and bearing,\nwith a white beard, and soft, attractive eyes. The quick movement,\nthe joyous greeting, even the smiling serenity, had passed away, and\ninstead an air of sadness had come, or of enforced cheerfulness.\n\nThe following memorandum, taken over two years before his death,\ntells of a relief which he hoped would be permanent; but such was not\nto be the case:\n\n\"Father Hecker said to-day: 'Only within the last three days has God\nreleased me from the sensation that I might die any instant. Oh! how\nI have suffered from that feeling for ten years. I did not know\nwhether I should ever be delivered from it. Now, little by little God\nis lifting it off from my soul. For ten years I have been under this\ncloud. Oh, how terrible a suffering it has been!' This he said, his\nhands covering his face; he had interrupted me to say it while I was\nreading St. John of the Cross. 'Oh!' he added, 'how I could weep for\nmy sins,' and so on for a few more words.\"\n\nThe clouds soon settled down again. The following was noted a little\nover a month after the above:\n\n\"Father Hecker said to me to-day: 'There was a time when I seemed to\nknow God so clearly and to be so conscious of His attraction that my\nwhole thought and wish was death; to break the chain of life to be\nunited to God in Paradise. Now it is altogether different; nothing\nbut darkness and depression.'\"\n\nHere is another memorandum, taken some time before the above:\n\n\"Father Hecker said: 'God is now visiting me with the profoundest\ndesolation of spirit. I have the most deadly terror of death; if I\nyielded to it I should tremble from head to foot. Yet there is a\nspell on me which makes me wish that I may die without sensible faith\nand deprived of every present spiritual comfort. . . .' He also said\nmany things about his continued and unbroken desolation of spirit\nthese several years back. 'Yet,' said he, 'I never knew that God\nwould permit me to come so near to Him and see so much of Him as I\nhave.' Then he made me read to him the first chapter of the Book of\nJob. . . . After he had gone to bed I read to him part of an article\nin _The Month_ on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and he\ndiscoursed meantime to me most profoundly on that topic. And he\nadded: 'One reason why I have always been so much interested in the\ndoctrine of the Holy Ghost acting in the soul is a practical one,\nbecause I myself have never had any other director, though I have\nmore than once opened my mind entirely to others and profited by\ntheir advice, but none was or could be really my director. Hence,\ntoo, I am so much attracted to saints who have had to struggle on\nalone like St. Catherine of Genoa, who was without a director for\ntwenty-five years.'\"\n\nTowards the close of October, 1888, two months before death, Doctor\nBegen saw that the end was approaching. This was evident from a\nsudden and general failure of strength, the appetite, not much at any\ntime, seeming now to vanish quite away, although Father Hecker's\nstrong will forced down a little nourishment. This loss of strength\ncaused the heart to work badly and to give an occasional sudden\nalarm. Internal congestions followed, relaxing the bowels and causing\nmuch bodily annoyance. Meantime he was hardly ever out of his room\nand many days he spent entirely in bed. His fits of depression of\nspirits were more frequent than usual and more saddening. He no\nlonger rested at all, what sleep he got being produced by drugs and\nserving but to pass the time unconsciously. From the beginning of\nDecember he was apt to fall into a semi-comatose state, though\ngenerally in full use of his faculties. Some days before he died he\nseemed to realize that the long struggle was nearly over, and he no\nlonger talked to the doctor or others of the medicines or of his\nbodily ailments, nor did he seem to think of them; and his mind\nappeared to have suddenly grown peaceful. The Scriptures as well as\nother books were read to him, as usual, up to the very evening before\nhe died. On the night of the 20th of December, two days after his\nsixty-ninth birthday, the last sacraments were administered, Father\nHecker receiving them without visible emotion but in full\nconsciousness. During the following day he was quiet and apparently\nfree from acute pain, the benumbed body refusing to suffer more; but\nthe mind calm and attentive. When the morning of the 22d came all\ncould see that his time was near at hand. In the middle of the\nforenoon the members of the community were gathered at the bedside,\nthe prayers for the dying were read and the indulgence was given. As\nthis was over the doctor arrived, and Father Hecker, who had\ngradually lost advertence to all around him, was roused by him into\nfull consciousness, and gave the community his blessing, feebly\nraising his hand to make the sign of the cross and uttering the words\nin a light whisper. Then he sank away into unconsciousness and in an\nhour ceased to breathe.\n\nAnd so Father Hecker died. Our beloved teacher and father, so\nblameless and brave, so gentle and daring, so full of God and of\nhumanity, entered into his eternal beatitude.\n\nDying on Saturday, and so near Christmas, the funeral was delayed\ntill Wednesday, the feast of St. Stephen, the body being embalmed.\nChristmas afternoon it was placed in the church and was visited and\nvenerated by great throngs of people. A vast concourse attended the\nRequiem Mass the next morning, which was sung by Archbishop Corrigan\nsurrounded by many priests, an eloquent sermon being preached by\nFather T. J. Campbell, the Provincial of the Jesuits. The body was\nplaced in the vaults of the old cathedral.\n\nThe life we have been following is a harmonious whole from beginning\nto end. The child tells of the youth, the youth promises a noble man,\nand the promise is more than fulfilled. He was guileless; no dark\nways of forbidden pleasure ever heard the sound of his footstep.\nThere was no barter of conscience for ambition's prize. He was\nfearless; from beginning to end there was no halt from want of\ncourage. Nor did he rush forward before the light came to show the\nroad, though he often chafed and panted to hear the word of Divine\ncommand; he never moved at any other. But when the voice of God bade\nhim forward he never flinched at any obstacle. The ever-recurring\npersuasion that there were so few who saw God's will as he saw it cut\nhim to the heart, and the mystery of the Divine times and moments\ngrew upon him with fatal force till the end, until he drooped and\npined away with grief that he could but taste the first-fruits. Yet\nhe was ever submissive to the Divine Will, to live, to die, to begin,\nto end the work, to be alone or to be of many brethren, to lead or to\nfollow. Though a most active spirit, he was yet contemplative, and to\nunite the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the inner and outer\nlife was the end he always kept in view; but he was distinctively an\ninterior man.\n\nFew men since the Apostles have felt a quicker pulse than Isaac\nHecker when the name of God was heard, or that of Jesus Christ or the\nHoly Spirit. Few men have had a nobler pride in the Church of Christ,\nor felt more one with her honor. Few men have grown into closer\nkinship with all the family of God, from Mary the great mother and\nthe holy angels down to the simplest Catholic, than Isaac Hecker. But\nhis peculiar trait was fidelity to the inner voice. \"There are some,\"\nhe once said, \"for whom the predominant influence is the external\none, authority, example, etc.; others in whose lives the interior\naction of the Holy Spirit predominates. In my case, from my\nchildhood, God influenced me by an interior light and by the interior\ntouch of his Holy Spirit.\" The desperate demand of Philip, \"Lord,\nshow us the Father and it is enough,\" was Father Hecker's cry all\nthrough early life. After the founding of his community, in 1858, his\nlife was like an arctic year. From that date till 1872 there was no\nset of sun. The unclouded heavens bent over him ever smiling with\nGod's glorious light; and its golden tints lit up all humanity with\nhope and joy. Then the sun went down to rise no more. The heavens\nwere dark and silent, or rent asunder with wrathful storms, only a\ntransient flash of the aurora relieving the gloom. When the light\ndawned again it was to beam upon his soul in the ecstasies of\nParadise.\n\nWe know not what to say of his faults, nor can we think that he had\nany that were not to be traced to his eager love of God's cause, such\nas his overpowering men with pleading for God in their souls; or too\neasily crediting unworthy men who prated to him of liberty and the\nHoly Spirit; or over-fondness during his illness for playing in the\nlists of fancy at an apostolate denied him in the battle of active\nlife; he repined at being forced to plan great battles in a\nsick-room. He could not help betraying a heart heaving with a pent-up\nocean of zeal, while he was creeping about helplessly, often too\nfeeble to speak above his breath. A lover of liberty, its only boon\nto him at last was liberty to accept and rivet upon himself the chain\nof patient love.\n\nSome may say \"Hecker was before his time.\" But no man is before his\ntime if, having a divine message, he can get but one other to accept\nit, can arrest men's attention, can cause them to ponder, to ask why\nor why not, whether this be the day or only its vigil. The sower is\nnot before his time though he dies before the harvest; there is a\ntime to sow and a time to reap.\n\nAnd now the tree is dead, but its ripe fruits are in our bosoms\nbearing living seeds, which will spring up in their time and give\nfruit again each according to its kind.\n\nThe life of Father Hecker is a strong invitation to the men of these\ntimes to become followers of God the Holy Ghost, to fit their souls\nby prayer and penance in union with Christ and his Church, for the\nconsecration of liberty and intelligence to the elevation of the\nhuman race to union with God. We do not bid him farewell, for this\nage, and especially this nation, will hail him and his teachings with\ngreater and greater acclaim as time goes on. As God guides His Church\nto seek her Apostolate mainly in developing men's aspirations for\nbetter things into fulness of Catholic truth and virtue, Isaac Hecker\nwill be found to have taught the principles and given the methods\nwhich will lead most surely to success.\n\nTHE END\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n________________________\n\nLETTERS FROM CARDINAL NEWMAN\n\nI\n\nTHE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM, February 28, 1889.\n\nMY DEAR FATHER HEWIT: I was very sorrowful at hearing of Father\nHecker's death. I have ever felt that there was this sort of unity in\nour lives--that we had both begun a work of the same kind, he in\nAmerica and I in England, and I know how zealous he was in promoting\nit. It is not many months since I received a vigorous and striking\nproof of it in the book he sent me [_The Church and the Age_]. Now I\nam left with one friend less, and it remains with me to convey\nthrough you my best condolement to all the members of your society.\n\nHoping that you do not forget me in your prayers,\nI am, dear Father Hewit,\nmost truly yours,\nJOHN H. CARD. NEWMAN.\n\nII\n\nTHE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM, March 15, 1890.\n\nDEAR FATHER HEWIT: In answer to your letter I am glad to be told what\nis so interesting to me, viz., that the Life of Father Hecker is in\npreparation. I had a great affection and reverence towards him, and\nfelt that which so many good Catholics must have felt with me on\nhearing of his illness and death. I wish, as you ask me, that I could\nsay something more definite than this of his life and writings, but\nmy own correspondence with friends, and especially the infirmities of\nmy age, burden me and make it impossible for me to venture upon it.\nThis, alas! is all that I have left me now by my years towards the\nfulfilment of welcome duties to the grateful memory of an effective\nCatholic writer (I do not forget his work in England) and a\nBenefactor, if I may use the term, to the Catholic Religion, whose\nname will ever be held in honor by the Catholic Church.\n\nYours most truly,\nJ. H. N.\n\n________________________\n\n\n\n\nRECOLLECTIONS OF FATHER HECKER BY THE ABBE XAVIER DUFRESNE, OF GENEVA\n\nI\n\nI first knew Father Hecker in 1873, meeting him at a Catholic\nCongress held at Ferney and presided over by Monsignor Mermillod.\nFather Hecker visited Geneva several times after that, living in the\nclosest intimacy with our family. He spent several weeks on a visit\nwith my father, Dr. Dufresne, at a chalet situated on Salane mountain\nabove Geneva, being at the time in feeble health and seeking recovery\nby a prolonged sojourn in Europe. For this enforced inactivity he\nrecompensed himself by continual and earnest conversations, for the\npurpose of gaining to his ideas all whom he believed capable of\nunderstanding them, whether Protestants or Catholics. There was about\nhim an indescribable charm which mysteriously drew one to him and\npenetrated one with his influence. Although he did not know French\nthoroughly and preferred to use English, yet he spoke with such\npower, elevation, exuberance, and depth of thought that he captivated\nhis hearers.\n\nWhen I made Father Hecker's acquaintance I had just lost my eyesight,\nbeing at the end of my ecclesiastical studies, and not yet ordained.\nHe did my soul much good by teaching me a kind of holiness which was\njoined to lively intelligence and the most energetic activity. Father\nHecker remains to me not only the type of an American priest, but of\nthe modern one, the kind needed by the Church for the recovery of the\nground lost as a result of Protestantism and infidelity, as well as\nto enable her to start anew in her divine mission.\n\nII\n\nThe principal impression produced by Father Hecker on those who came\nin contact with him was one of sanctity. In his company one felt his\nwhole being influenced as if by something venerable and supernatural,\nand a constant inclination to correspond to the action of the Holy\nSpirit and submit the human will to the divine. In conversing with\nhim about spiritual things one was transported into a higher region,\nthe heart growing warmer and the conscience more sensitive. Father\nHecker plainly inclined by habit to the type of character given us by\nJesus Christ. He suffered much, both physically from weakness of\nnerves and morally on account of enforced inactivity, yet he not only\nnever complained but was always cheerful. This was the greater merit\nin him because he seemed by nature impatient of opposition and\ncontradiction. He had a sagacious mind and easily discovered the\nfaults of others, but, although he spoke of men and affairs with\nopenness and candor, he yet ever sought for favorable interpretations.\nLike St. Francis de Sales, he knew how to judge of people and yet\nremain full of charity for his neighbor. Profoundly individual, and\nprofoundly attached to his ideas, like all Anglo-Saxons, and in fact\nlike all who have acquired the Protestant habit of free inquiry, he\nnevertheless had for the Church a docility almost naive and\ninfantile; and this was because he recognized in her the authority\nand the action of the Holy Spirit.\n\nIt may be said of him without exaggeration that he was every moment\nready, if it became necessary, to bear witness to the divinity of the\nChurch by martyrdom, and in fact he often made that declaration. In\nhim the most heroic virtue was faith. He had come into the Catholic\nChurch in spite of the most extreme natural repugnance, and he\nremained in it, overcoming the perpetual objection of Protestants\nthat Catholicity could not be the truth because Catholic countries\nhad become the least powerful and the least prosperous in the\ncivilized world. On this point he loved to expound the text of\nScripture which says that it is better to lose an eye and an arm and\nenter into the kingdom of heaven, than to save both, and fall into\nhell. His piety was wholly interior. It consisted in the perpetual\nexercise of the presence of God. He had a natural disinclination for\ndevotional practices as they are in vogue among the southern races.\n\nHis tendency was to spiritualize as much as possible all the\ndevotions in use in the Church. His own principal one was to the Holy\nGhost and His divine Gifts. He never spoke of the Incarnation and the\nEucharist without deep emotion and a contagious love. As to devotion\nto the Blessed Virgin, he explained it in a most elevated manner,\never showing, and with great dignity and nobility of manner, how it\nflowed from the principle of the divine maternity. The last book he\nsent me was one on the Blessed Virgin written by an American priest.\nSince Father Hecker's death I have never failed a single day to\ninvoke him in my prayers, and to his intercession I attribute many\ngraces obtained, some of them very important.\n\nIII\n\nFather Hecker had a marvellous openness of heart. I heard him relate\nseveral times the story of his life, his conversion, his joining the\nRedemptorists, his case before the Roman Congregations, and the\nfounding of the Paulist community. I can still recall the banks of\nthe Lake of Geneva at the Villa Bartoloni, where Father Hecker,\nwalking with a friend and myself, told us of his leaving the\nRedemptorist order. It was the way in which he talked of so delicate\na matter that enabled me to appreciate that the man was a saint. He\nliked to repeat, while on this subject, what Cardinal Deschamps had\nsaid of him: \"Here is a man who has been able to leave our\nCongregation of the Most Holy Redeemer without committing even a\nvenial sin.\"\n\nIn my opinion, Father Hecker was, after Pere Lacordaire, the most\nremarkable sacred orator of the century. This does not apply to his\nwritings, for his ideas lost much of their force in the process of\ngetting into print. Like all natural orators his chief quality was a\npower of drawing and persuading, which, to use an expression often\napplied to Pere Lacordaire, had something magnetic about it. He had a\nprodigious gift of showing his Protestant or infidel hearers that\ntheir own hearts and their own reason aspired by instinct towards the\nCatholic truth which he was teaching them. In that way he drew his\nhearers to discover the truth in their own minds instead of receiving\nit by force of argument or any extrinsic authority. To acquire this\npower he had made a great study of the Gospel, and, sustained by\nDivine grace, he went about the exposition of the truth as Jesus\nChrist did. One of the most original aspects of his mind was that he\njoined the practical sense of the American to the taste and aptitude\nof the European for speculation. He had not been able to make a\ncomplete course of studies because he had spent several years in\ncommercial life, but he had great natural gifts for metaphysics,\ntheology, and above all mysticism.\n\nUnlike the English converts of the Oxford school, he had reached\nCatholicity by way of liberal Protestantism, which he had renounced\nbecause it could not satisfy the religious aspirations of his nature.\nIt would be interesting to study his case in connection with those of\nNewman and Manning, for it shows that souls are led to Catholicity by\nall roads, even the most opposite, and that minds most inclined to\nrationalize can be drawn to the Church as easily as those of a\nconservative or traditional temperament.\n\nIV\n\nBut I wish to dwell especially on what preoccupied Father Hecker's\nmind and formed the fundamental theme of his eloquent words. We were\njust on the morrow of the Vatican Council, of the defeat of France by\nPrussia, and in the first agonies of the Culturkampf in Germany and\nItaly. Now, if one remembers that Father Hecker was of an American\nfamily originally from the town of Elberfeld, Prussia, he can better\nunderstand the gravity of the problem which weighed upon his mind, as\nupon that of so many others. Must we admit, it was asked, that the\nCouncil of the Vatican has affixed its seal upon the decadence of\nCatholicity, binding the Church to the failing fortunes of the Latin\nraces? Must Protestantism finally triumph with the Saxon races? And\nhere Father Hecker's faith did not halt an instant, but grasped the\ndifficulty in all its terrible magnitude. His solution may be\nquestioned by some, but I believe that no one will dispute that the\nmind which conceived it was of the first order.\n\nFather Hecker remarked, as did many others, that, starting from the\nsixteenth century, the Church, although ever exerting a considerable\ninfluence, no longer appeared at the head of the world's activity.\nThis was in contrast with what she had done in the era of the\nconversion of the Roman Empire, during that of the invasion of the\nbarbarians, and amid the immense religious movement which\ncharacterized the apogee of the Middle Ages. Father Hecker discovered\nthe cause of this lessening influence in the fact that since the\nsixteenth century the Church had been compelled to stand upon the\ndefensive. This had greatly paralyzed her power of initiation and her\nliberty. As a consequence of the Protestant heresy, which threatened\nthe utter destruction of the principle of authority, the Church had\nbeen forced to concentrate on that side of her fortress all her means\nof defence. In order to protect herself from the excesses of the\nprinciple of individuality and free inquiry, she had been obliged to\nresort to a multitude of restrictive measures, which were conceived\nin a very different spirit from that which animated her in previous\ncenturies. In the sixteenth century the Church placed before\neverything else the idea of authority. She sacrificed the development\nof personality to fostering the association of men whose wills were\nabsolutely merged by discipline in one powerful body. It can be seen\nat a glance how intimately and profoundly the spirit of the dominant\nreligious orders of the later era differs from that of the great\norders of the Middle Ages, in respect to the expansion of nature and\nthe development of individuality. The needs of the sixteenth century\nwere altogether different from those of the ages preceding it, and to\nmeet those needs God inspired St. Ignatius with the idea of a\ndifferent type of Christian character. The result was the triumphant\nrepulse of Protestantism from all the southern nations. But the\nvictory was gained at the price of real sacrifices; the Catholics of\nthe recent centuries have not displayed the puissant individuality of\nthose of the Middle Ages, the types of which are St. Bernard, St.\nGregory VII., Innocent III., St. Thomas Aquinas. The Divine Spirit\noften exacts the sacrifice of certain human qualities for the\npreservation of the faith; and it is in this sense that we should\ninterpret the mysterious words of Jesus Christ, that it is better to\nlose an eye and an arm and not fall into hell, than to save an eye\nand an arm and be lost eternally.\n\nThe Council of the Vatican, Father Hecker maintained, by giving to\nthe principle of authority its dogmatic completion, has placed it\nabove all attacks, and consequently has brought to a close the\nhistorical period in which it was necessary to devote all efforts to\nits defence. A new period now opens to the Church. She has been\nengaged during three centuries in perfecting her external organism,\nand securing to authority the place it should have in working out her\ndivine life; she will now undertake quite another part of her\nprovidential mission. It is now to be the individuality, the\npersonality of souls, their free and vigorous initiative under the\ndirect guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, which shall\nbecome the distinctive Catholic form of acting in these times. And\nthis will all be done under the control of her divine supreme\nauthority in the external order preventing error, eccentricity, and\nrashness.\n\nThe Latin races were fitted by nature to be the principal instruments\nof the Holy Spirit during the period just passed. In the new one the\nAnglo-Saxon and Teutonic races, of a nature strongly individual and\nindependent, will take their turn as instruments of Divine\nProvidence. This is not saying that the development of the Church is\nthe result of the natural aptitudes of races, but that God, who has\ncreated these aptitudes, takes them one after the other, and at the\nhours He chooses, and causes them to serve as instruments for\ncarrying out His designs. It was thus, from the fourth to the seventh\ncentury, that He made use of the metaphysical subtilty implanted by\nHim in the Greek genius, issuing in all those great definitions which\nhave fixed not only the substance but the verbal form of Catholic\ndogma. Hence the first general councils were all held in the East.\n\nFather Hecker cherished hopes for the conversion of the Teutonic and\nAnglo-Saxon races. Doubtless God could convert them suddenly, but\nconsidering the way heretofore followed that conversion will be\nbrought about insensibly and by the two following instrumentalities:\nOn the one hand, the new development of individuality in souls within\nthe Church will create a sympathetic attraction towards her on the\npart of Protestants, who will discover affinities with her of which\nthey were wholly unaware. On the other hand, the more the Protestant\nraces expand, the more they will find the dwarfed Christianity which\nthey profess falling short of their aspirations, and by that means\nthey will be inclined towards Catholicity. It is not a little\nremarkable that Father Hecker expressed himself thus during the last\nyears of the pontificate of Pius IX., at a moment when such ideas\nseemed to be least in favor in high Catholic circles. But soon\nafterwards the pontificate of Leo XIII. began, and with it a movement\nin the spirit indicated by the American priest, and in a manner so\nstrikingly in accord with his views that Father Hecker seemed to have\nbeen enlightened from above in his presages of the future.\n\nFather Hecker developed a grand theological synthesis of what he\ncalled the exterior and interior mission of the Holy Spirit in the\nChurch. He has explained it in a pamphlet; but how much more\nimpressive it was when he expounded it in person! We had the\nprivilege of hearing him do so in a long conversation with the most\ncelebrated Protestant minister of French-speaking countries, the\nillustrious philosopher and orator, Ernest Naville. Father Hecker\nsaid that the antipathy of Protestants for the Church arose from the\nfact that they imagined that Catholicity reduced all religion to\nobedience to external authority. Protestants, on the other hand,\npretend to place all religion in the interior life, directly\ngenerated in souls by the Holy Spirit, and it is for this reason that\nCatholicity impresses them as a tyrannical usurpation and a stupid\nformalism. In this they are deceived, as a close acquaintance with\nCatholics and with such writings as those of St. Francis de Sales and\nSt. Teresa soon proves to them. So, also, when they fancy that the\nauthority of the Church is not necessary to the preservation of the\naction of the Holy Spirit in the soul. As a matter of fact, the\ninnumerable divisions of Protestants among themselves plainly show\nthat the interior action of the Holy Ghost does not extend to making\neach individual infallible. To safeguard souls against deception,\nscepticism or illuminism, there is need of another action of the Holy\nSpirit which shall be conservative of the interior life. That other\naction is exterior, and is exercised by means of the authority of the\nChurch. The Holy Spirit cannot be brought into contradiction with\nHimself. By His action in the exterior authority of the Church He can\nnever interfere in the least degree with the fulness or the\nspontaneity of His own interior action in souls.\n\nThe exterior action is one of control and of verification, to hinder\nsouls from being lost in the depths of illusion and in the deceits of\npride. But besides this, humility, obedience, self-abnegation,\nvirtues dear by excellence to the heart of Jesus Christ, are\nimpossible without due submission to the external authority. When one\nbelieves only in himself, he obeys only himself, and hence has never\npractised complete renunciation nor complete humility.\n\nFather Hecker also maintained that the direction of souls in\nconfession should be made to strengthen and develop individual life.\nWe do not need blood-letting, he said, as if we suffered from\nplethora, but rather we need a course of tonics, sea-baths, and the\ninvigorating air of the mountains. We should not hold our penitents\nin leading-strings, but should teach them to live a self-reliant life\nunder the direction of the Holy Spirit. Souls tempered by that\nprocess would render the Church a thousand times more service than\nthey do now.\n\nNo doubt such souls may sometimes run the risk of pride and of\ntemptation to revolt. But in such cases the Church is so provided\nwith power by the dogma of infallibility, as proclaimed by the\nVatican Council, as to be able to counteract this danger without\nserious loss, as was proved in the case of Doellinger and the Old\nCatholics.\n\nThe Holy Spirit, preparing for a great development of individual\nlife, has made provision beforehand that the Church should be armed\nwith power sufficient to repress all waywardness, and this was done\nby the Vatican Council. Some had feared that the definition of\ninfallibility would introduce an extravagant use of authority, and\nlead to a diminution of reasonable liberty and individuality in the\nChurch even greater than before. But the very contrary has been the\nresult.\n\nWith reference to the interior life, I can affirm that Father\nHecker's was full and rich. Having spent the greater part of his life\nin a devouring activity, at its close he lived as a true\ncontemplative. He was a genuine mystic. We heard him discourse with\nmarvellous beauty on the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist,\nexpounding these great truths in a way not only to enrapture one with\ntheir splendor, but utterly to refute deism, pantheism, and\nmaterialism. The latter error, he said, owed its introduction partly\nto the fact that Protestantism had refused to the senses their\nlegitimate place in divine worship, this excessive spiritualizing\nhaving brought about a reaction.\n\nV\n\nFather Hecker often spoke of the future reserved for Catholicity in\nthe United States, saying that it was there that the union of the\nChurch with democracy would first take place. In that nation the\nprejudice against the Church is not so strong as in Europe, and her\nposition is free from the embarrassments of traditional difficulties.\nCatholicity is there valued for its immediate effect upon human\nnature, and the rancor born of historical recollections is not in\nsuch full control of men's minds; hence conversions are more easily\nmade. Furthermore, Father Hecker believed that it would finally be\ndiscovered that the Protestant spirit is contrary to the political\nspirit of the American Republic. America has based her Constitution\non the fact that man is born free, reasonable, and capable of\nself-government. The Protestant Reformers, on the contrary, never\nceased to teach that original sin deprived man of his free will and\nmade him incapable of performing virtuous acts; and if Protestants\nseek to escape from this whirlpool of fatalism, they fall into\ninfidelity. The day will come when Americans will admit that if they\nare to be at once religious and reasonable, they must become\nCatholics. Therefore, whether it be acknowledged or not, every\ndevelopment of political liberty in the United States contributes to\nthe advance of Catholicity. The Constitution of the United States has\nformulated the political principles most conformable to the Canons of\nthe Council of Trent.","title":"Life of Father Hecker","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":180600}