These words are part of a long prayer written by Isaac Hecker in his diary April 23, 1844, after his arrival at Concord, Mass.  He appears to have gone directly there from Carlisle, Pa., where he had spent some days with the Rev. William Herbert Norris, whose published letter to “A Sincere Enquirer” had excited in the young man a hope that he might find in him a teacher whose deep inward experiences would be complemented by the adequate external guaranty that he was seeking.  We have already noted that he was disappointed.  He states the reason very suggestively in a letter written at the time: 

“Alas, that men should speak of those things they are most ignorant of!  What hopes did he not awaken in my bosom as I read his letter to a Sincere Enquirer, and how were they blasted when I met him and found that it was not he, but Hooker, Newman, Paul, etc.!  It is a sad fact that many believe, but very few give themselves up to what they believe so that they may have the substance of their belief.”

Isaac Hecker’s business in Concord had, as usual, two sides.  Externally it meant going on with Greek and Latin, under the guidance of the lately deceased George P. Bradford, a scholar of rare acquirements, whose acquaintance he had made at Brook Farm the previous year.  The end he sought in this study was to fit himself for “working in the field of the church.”  But as the question of which church was not even yet fully settled in his mind, his search for the true religion still remained his deepest and most inmost purpose.  Nevertheless, he was enjoying at this time one of his periods of profound interior and exterior peace.  “I feel,” he writes, “that I am growing in God’s grace.  To Him I look for support.  Will He not impart wisdom as well as love?”

His surroundings at Concord are so vividly described in the letters he wrote to his family that we cannot omit quotations from them.  The first of these is dated at Brook Farm, and describes his efforts to find a room after reaching the village.  He seems to have gone at once to Mr. Bradford’s house on his arrival.

“April 22, ’44.-. . .  After supper we sallied forth again.  We saw a room, and what do you imagine they charged for it?  Seventy-five dollars a year!!  This was out of the question.  We went further and found a room, good size, very good people, furnished, and to be kept in order for eight dollars a quarter.  This seemed reasonable to me, and also to Mr. Bradford.  I felt safe in telling the lady that I thought I should take it.  I requested Mr. Bradford to keep a look-out for me while I was gone, and if we could not find a better place before I returned I would accept this.  This morning I left Concord to come and see Charles Dana concerning the books I shall require, and to see some of my friends.  I got into Boston at ten o’clock, and walked out here by dinner-time.  All of the old set that are here were delighted to see me.  I have conversed with a few of them, and find them more open to consider the claims of the Church than I had anticipated.”