and
greater influence in his denomination, until he came to be regarded as
perhaps the most prominent Congregationalist of his time, and was sometimes
popularly referred to as "The Congregational Pope of New England." In all
the heated theological controversies of the day, particularly the long and
bitter one concerning the views put forward by Dr Horace Bushnell, he was
conspicuous, using his influence to bring about harmony, and in the
councils of the Congregational churches, over two of which, the Brooklyn
councils of 1874 and 1876, he presided as moderator, he manifested great
ability both as a debater and as a parliamentarian. In his own theological
views he was broad-minded and an advocate of liberal orthodoxy. In all
matters concerning the welfare of his community or the nation, moreover, he
took a deep and constant interest, and was particularly identified with the
temperance and anti-slavery movements, his services to the latter
constituting probably the most important work of his life. In this, as in
most other controversies, he took a moderate course, condemning the
apologists and defenders of slavery on the one hand and the Garrisonian
extremists on the other. His _Slavery Discussed in Occasional Essays from
1833 to 1846_ (1846) exercised considerable influence upon Abraham Lincoln,
and in this book appears the sentence, which, as rephrased by Lincoln, was
widely quoted: "If that form of government, that system of social order is
not wrong--if those laws of the Southern States, by virtue of which slavery
exists there, and is what it is, are not wrong--nothing is wrong." He was
early attracted to the study of the ecclesiastical history of New England
and was frequently called upon to deliver commemorative addresses, some of
which were published in book and pamphlet form. Of these, his _Thirteen
Historical Discourses_ (1839), dealing with the history of New Haven, and
his _Four Commemorative Discourses_ (1866) may be especially mentioned. The
most important of his historical works, however, is his _Genesis of the New
England Churches_ (1874). He published _A Manual for Young Church Members_
(1833); edited, with a biography, the _Select Practical Writings of Richard
Baxter_ (1831); and was the author of a number of hymns, the best-known of
which is the one beginning,

"O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea."

There is no good biography, but there is much biographical material in