in themselves, must be applied in a different spirit. Discipline and
uniformity, though never to be dispensed with, must yield the first
places to more interior virtues. The dominant influence must be
docility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within every
regenerate soul. Applying this, towards the end of his life, to
religious communities, Father Hecker wrote: "The controlling thought
of my mind for many years has been that a body of free men who love
God with all their might, and yet know how to cling together, could
conquer this modern world of ours." The sentence may be taken as a
brief description of the Paulist community as he would have it. And
it is easily seen why free men loving God with all their hearts are
suited to conquer this modern world; because men are determined to be
free.

The following extracts from notes, letters, and diaries more fully
develop this idea:

"A new religious order is an evidence and expression of an uncommon
or special grace given to a certain number of souls, so that they may
be sanctified by the practice of particular virtues to meet the
special needs of their epoch, and in this way to renew the spiritual
life of the members of the Church and to extend her fold. A new
community is this, or it has no reason for its existence. The means
to accomplish its special work are both new and old. It should lay
stress on the new, and not despise but also make use of the old. 'The
wise householder bringeth forth from his treasury new things and
old.'"

"The true Paulist is a religious man entirely dependent on God for
his spiritual life; he lives in community for the greater security of
his own salvation and perfection, and to meet more efficiently the
pressing needs of the Church and of humanity in his day."

"The Church always finds in her wonderful fecundity wherewith to
supply the new wants which arise in every distinct epoch of society."

"A new religious community, unless its activity is directed chiefly
to supplying the special needs of its time, wears itself out at the
expense of its true mission and will decline and fail."

"We must realize the necessity of more explicitly bringing out our
ideal if we would give a sufficient motive for our students and
members, keep them in the community, bring about unity of action, and
accomplish the good which the Holy Spirit demands at our hands. A
Paulist, as a distinct species of a religious man, is one who is
alive to the pr