HIS SEARCH AMONG THE SECTS HAD Protestantism possessed anything capable of attracting Isaac Hecker he would certainly have found it, for he made due and diligent search.

He was, in a manner, bound to do so, for the atmosphere in which he had been born and nurtured had not yet cleared so fully that he could say to himself with positive assurance that there was no safe midway between no-belief and Catholicity.
All the natural influences of his surroundings were such as to draw him to one or other of the Protestant denominations.

The power of example and precept in his mother tended that way.

The power of public opinion, in so far as it had any religious bearing, was Protestant.

The most intelligent and high-minded people he had enjoyed intimate acquaintance with were Protestant by birth and training.