el the
presence of God," he writes, "wherever I am. I would kneel and praise
God in all places. In His presence I walk and feel His breath
encompass me. My soul is borne up by His presence and my heart is
filled by His influence. How thankful ought we to be! How humble and
submissive! Let us lay our heads on the pillow of peace and die
peacefully in the embrace of God."

Brownson answered his letter with one of encouragement to carry out
his purpose. Yet, there was a pang; Isaac laments "the domestic
comforts, the little offices of tender love" which he should lose by
going from home. And well he might, for tender love may well describe
the bond uniting the dear old mother and her three noble sons. The
present writer had no personal acquaintance with John Hecker, but we
never heard his name mentioned by Father Hecker except with much
affection. George always seemed to us something like a perfect man.
He especially it was who all his life gave his entire unselfish love
to his brother Isaac. The reader has noticed, we hope, that there has
been no mention so far in the diary of difficulty in obtaining money
for the expenses of his various journeyings and for his support when
absent from home. The two brothers in New York appear to have held
these pilgrimages in search of the truth in such reverence as to make
Isaac their partner, only in a higher sense than ever before. And
George Hecker, especially, seemed throughout his life to continue
Isaac a member of his great and rich firm, lavishing upon his least
wish large sums of money, and these not only for his strictly
personal expenditure, but for any cause whatever he might have at
heart.

________________________

CHAPTER XII

THE MYSTIC AND THE PHILOSOPHER

BEFORE summarizing and conveniently arranging Isaac Hecker's reasons
for becoming a Catholic and narrating the accompanying incidents, we
give the following profession of faith in the authority of the Spirit
speaking within. It was written in the diary in the midst of his
preparations for his baptism, and is an early witness of a permanent
characteristic of Father Hecker's life. It is, besides, a fitting
introduction to the description of his state of mind when he entered
the Church, showing better than anything we have found what kind of
man became a Catholic in Isaac Hecker.

"Man is a mystic fact.

"What is most interior is ever mystical, and we should ever be in the
centre of the circle of the myst