recourse to the
prophetic language of the inspired Scriptures."

It is thus made plain that Father Hecker does not deny the harmony
between the devotional spirit and practices prevalent in different
ages of the Church; but he calls attention to the fact that the
dominant note of one age is not always the same as that in another.
And in using the words criterion and test, descriptive of the Church,
he would convey their full meaning: not merely a plumb-line for the
rising wall but divine accuracy itself made external. His outer
criterion is to the inner life what articulate speech is to the human
voice.

"The Exposition is nothing else," he writes home, "than a general
outline of a movement from without to within; as in the sixteenth
century the movement was one from within to without. This was
occasioned by the nature of the attack of Protestantism. The Church
having with increased [external] agencies protected what was
assaulted, can return to her normal course with increased action. I
give an indication of the nature of this movement:

"An increased action of the Holy Spirit in the soul in consequence of
this greater attention directed to the interior life, and a more
perfect explanation of the same. An exposition of the relation of the
external to the internal in the Church. The action of the Holy Spirit
in the soul and His gifts are the remedies for the evils of our
times. The development of the intelligible side of the mysteries of
faith, and the intrinsic reasons of the truths of divine revelation.
Such a movement will open the door for the return of the Saxon races.
The Latin-Celts in relation to the development of the hierarchy,
discipline, worship, and aesthetics of the Church are considered.
Causes of Protestantism--antagonism and jealousy of races; present
persecutions. The Saxon idea of the Catholic Church. Reason for
it--they see only the outward and human side of the Church. Return of
the Saxons in consequence of the new phase of development--the
display of the inward and the divine to their intelligence. The
transition of races; in the future the Saxon will supernaturalize the
natural, the Latin-Celts will naturalize the supernatural. The plan
and suggestions given are the way to escape the extermination of
Christianity by the Saxons, and the denial of Christianity by the
apostasy of the Latins. The union of these races in the Church, with
their civilization and force, is the means of spreading Chris