the interior life must have, besides, the
guarantee of divine veracity in the external order to justify him.
This he needs, in order to safeguard him in the interior life itself,
and to provide a common court of appeal between himself and his
fellows, or otherwise he is in danger of fanaticism, and is certain
of the mistrust of his fellow-men. No man, unsupported by external
miracles, can claim to teach what is vouched for only by his own
testimony; and this especially applies to purely subjective
experiences. Isaac Hecker was a born teacher of men, and to be shut
off from them by an isolated experience was to be robbed of his
vocation. A soul like his, led to the truth along the path of social
reform, will hail with delight a religion which organizes all
humanity on a basis of equality, and at the same time verifies and
explains the facts of each one's particular experience. Such a
religion is to be longed for, not only because of its universal
brotherhood, but also because it can decide between the inspirations
of the Holy Spirit and the criminal conceits of passion or the dreams
of an imaginative temperament.

Many years afterwards Father Hecker thus stated the harmony between
the inner and outer action of God in the soul's life:

"In case of obscurity or doubt concerning what is the divinely
revealed truth, or whether what prompts the soul is or is not an
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recourse must be had to the divine
teacher or criterion--the authority of the Church. For it must be
borne in mind that to the Church, as represented in the first
instance by St. Peter and subsequently by his successors, was made
the promise of her divine Founder that 'the gates of hell should
never prevail against her.' No such promise was ever made by Christ
to each individual believer. 'The Church of the living God is the
pillar and ground of truth.' The test, therefore, of a truly
enlightened and sincere Christian will be, in case of uncertainty,
the promptitude of his obedience to the voice of the Church.

"From the above plain truths the following practical rule of conduct
may be drawn: The Holy Spirit is the immediate guide of the soul in
the way of salvation and sanctification; and the criterion or test,
that the soul is guided by the Holy Spirit, is its ready obedience to
the authority of the Church. This rule removes all danger whatever,
and with it the soul can walk, run, or fly, if it chooses, in the
greatest safety a