o these peculiar visitations, and very probably in
consequence of them, Isaac's inward anxieties culminated in prolonged
fits of nervous depression, and at last in repeated attacks of
illness which baffled the medical skill called to his assistance.
Towards Christmas he went to Chelsea to visit Brownson, to whom he
partially revealed the state of obscurity and distress in which he
found himself. Brownson, who had been one of the original promoters
of the experiment in practical sociology at West Roxbury, advised a
residence at Brook Farm as likely to afford the young man the leisure
and opportunities for study which he needed in order to come to a
full understanding with himself. He wrote to George Ripley in his
behalf and later undertook to reconcile the Hecker household with
Isaac's determination to go thither.

It was during his stay at Chelsea that Isaac first began plainly to
acquaint his family with the fact that his departure meant something
more important than the moderately prolonged change of scene and
circumstances which they had recognized as essential to his health.
We shall make abundant extracts from the letters which begin at this
date, convinced that his own words will not only afford the best
evidence of the strength of the interior pressure on him, but will
show also its unique and constant bent.

Our purpose is to show, in the most explicit manner possible, first,
how irresistibly he was impelled toward the celibate life and the
practice of poverty; and second, that in yielding to this impulse, he
was also drawn away from his former view of our Saviour, as simply
the perfect man, to the full acceptance of the supernatural truth
that He is the Incarnate God.

It is at this period of Father Hecker's life that we first meet with
a positive interference of an extraordinary kind in the plans and
purposes of his life. Many men who have outlived them, and settled
down into respectable but in nowise notable members of society, have
felt vague longings and indefinite aspirations toward a good beyond
nature during the "Storm and Stress" period of their youth. The
record of their mental struggles gets into literature with
comparative frequency, and sometimes becomes famous. It has always a
certain value, if merely as contributing to psychological science;
but in any particular instance is of passing interest only, unless it
can be shown to have been instrumental in shaping the subsequent
career. The latter