the following
words: "John, and all who feel like giving me advice, you will not
hesitate in giving it freely and frankly. There are many reasons for
my present course; it is impossible for me to put them all on paper.
But when I return home and meet you all again, we will in love speak
of this in common communion: until then I will not take any decisive
step. I suppose you feel as little inclined to speak to others of the
decision I have come to as I do to have it prematurely known."

To the brother whose heart was most his own he devotes the concluding
words of the letter:

"What is brother George's mind respecting the need of receiving this
diviner life in order to bring us into a closer communion with God
and make us inhabitants of heaven? George, shall we go arm-in-arm in
our heavenly journey as we have done in our earthly one?"

While awaiting an answer to this letter he began another, in which he
summarizes more explicitly such of his reasons for becoming a
Catholic as might appeal on ordinary grounds of controversy to his
mother and his brother John, the latter of whom had recently become
an Episcopalian. Our extracts, however, will be made from the
passages more strictly personal and characteristic:

"Concord, June 14, 1844.--Until I hear from you I cannot say how you
may view my resolution or feel regarding the decision I have come to,
and therefore I am at a loss what to say to you respecting it. One
thing must strike you as inexplicable: that I relinquish my studies
here so suddenly. This arises from the fact that I have not kept you
perfectly informed concerning the change my mind has for some time
been undergoing with regard to the object and end of study, its
office and its benefits. I kept silent, thinking that my views might
be but temporary, and that it was unnecessary to trouble you with
them. My simple faith is, in a few words, that we must first seek the
kingdom of God, and then all necessary things will be given us. And
this kingdom is not found through nature, philosophy, science, art,
or by any other method than that of the Gospel: the perfect surrender
of the whole heart to God."

We stop here to remark that such expressions as these are neither to
be taken as evidences of a passing disgust for the drudgery of
text-book tasks, nor as signs of an indolent disposition. They are
the assertion of a principle which Father Hecker maintained
throughout his life. He never felt the least interest