ecame tutor in Yale College, studied theology at the
same time, and in 1833 was settled in the ministry over a Congregational
church in Hartford, Connecticut. He resigned his charge in 1853 on
account of ill health, but lived till 1876, filling the years to the
last with arduous study and authorship. He published three volumes of
sermons, two of essays and addresses, a treatise on Women's Suffrage,
under the title 'A Reform against Nature,' and five treatises of a
theological character. Each of the latter was a distinct challenge to
the prevailing thought of his day, and involved him in suspicion and
accusation that well-nigh cost him his ecclesiastical standing. It is
now generally acknowledged that he led the way into the new world of
theological thought which has since opened so widely, and thereby
rendered great and enduring service to the Christian faith.

[Illustration: HORACE BUSHNELL]

It is enough to say of his work in this respect that it was
characterized by a mingling of the thought of the first three centuries,
and of the modern spirit which had found its way from Germany into
England through Coleridge. The two did not always agree well, and the
latter is the predominating feature in all his writings. He was the
first theologian in New England to admit fully into his thought the
modern sense of Nature, as it is found in the literature of the early
part of the century, and notably in Wordsworth and Coleridge. Dr.
Bushnell was not a student of this literature beyond a thorough and
sympathetic study of 'The Aids to Reflection,' but through this open
door the whole spirit of that great thought movement entered his mind
and found a congenial home. The secret of this movement was a spiritual
interpretation of nature. It was a step in the evolution of human
thought; and appearing first in literature, its natural point of
entrance, it was sure to reach all forms of thought, as in time to come
it will reach all forms of social life. The thing that the world is
rapidly learning is, that not only is the world God's but that God is in
his world. Bushnell was by nature immensely open to this thought, and
its undertone can be heard in almost every page of his writings. It was
this that gave value to his works and made them exceptional in his day
and place. Each of his great treatises is, with more or less
distinctness, an effort to put natural things and divine things into
some sort of relevance and oneness.

He took