of it was yet a distant one; they show, also, an undue concentration of his gaze upon social evils.  “The Church is a great almoner,” he says, “but what is she doing to ameliorate and improve the circumstances of the poorer and more numerous classes?  She is more passive than active.”  “Instead of the Church being in the head and front of advancement, suffering martyrdom for Christ, she is in a conservative relation with society.”  Yet he adds:  “We speak of the Church as she is exhibited by her bishops and clergy, and only in this sense.”

Isaac Hecker’s renewed experiment of engaging in business and following at the same time the lead of the peremptory Spirit within him soon proved a failure.  He complains, though not as bitterly as the year before when he felt the first agony of this suffering, that the greater part of his true life is lost in his present position—­the thoughts, feelings, studies which are of supreme value to him, getting entrance into his mind almost by stealth, while, at the same time, he is not of much use in the business and of little benefit to others in any way.  On March 10 he wrote to Brownson that he was going to give up business totally and finally, and asked his Advice about a course of study “for the field of the Church,” not having yet fully settled as to whether it should be “the Roman or the Anglican.”  Upon his determination to withdraw from the secular affairs of life he experienced “such peace, calmness, and deep, settled strength and confidence” as never before.  “I feel 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.