shows the ferment out of which my Nature and Supernaturalism grew into shape thirty years after."

The next chapter in his history opens with his call and settlement in Hartford, where, under the same guiding hand which had led him hitherto, he was to find his place and his work for life. His first introduction to the North Church of Hartford, and his early experiences as pastor are graphically described by himself in a review of his ministry in a sermon preached on the twentieth anniversary of his settlement. Referring to the two theological parties, the Old and New School, into which the church was divided, he humorously speaks of "the very delicate condition prepared for the young pastor who is to be thus daintily inserted between an acid and an alkali, having it for his task both to keep them apart and to save himself from being bitten of one and devoured by the other." In a more serious vein he continues:

"When I look back on the place and the occupant, I am scarcely able to recognize either the one or the other, so great is the change accomplished in both. I had many and great difficulties on my hands, in respect to the gospel truths, which are now gone. In the list of my qualifications at that time for a preacher of Christ, I discover nothing which moves my respect but the very small mustardseed of Christian experience I seem to have had, together with a certain honesty of determination to find, if possible, the truth; to violate the integrity of my understanding by no forced assent to received dogmas; to be warped by no fear of man, hurried by no impatience; never to go in advance of my convictions; and if possible never to fall behind them. In these two conditions I see, indeed, possibilities of good; but how slender a furniture for the work actually on hand! I was coming into religion on the side of reason or philosophy, and of course had small conception of it as a faith and a supernatural gift to the race. Now it is a faith luminous, glorious, vital, and clear, and of course it is as little of a philosophy."

Dr. Bushnell was ordained on the 22d of May, 1833. The writer remembers this, as the first ordination he ever attended: how as a boy he looked down from the gallery over the pulpit. on the imposing ceremony of the "imposition of hands" on the head of the new minister-and how black that head then was, contrasted with the pale and delicate features underneath!He remembers, too, his first sermons, although from an external and childish standpoint, and the enthusiastic remark of one appreciative listener, an educated man and physician, on returning home-that "that was preaching to edification, it set

one to thinking if he would follow it." On the 13th of September of the same year he was married in New Haven to Mary Apthorp, "a lineal descendant on her mother's side, of John Davenport, the first minister, and first colonist of New Haven, and of Judge Abraham Davenport, whose name and strength of purpose are associated with the "Dark Day," famous in colonial history. The marriage of Horace Bushnell and Mary Apthorp was one which comprehended in the thoughts and wishes of both, the highest objects and pursuits of the future, and was so compacted by the unity of their joint purpose as to reinforce greatly the effectiveness of his work." This "union of two lives bound together by the closest sympathy in Christian truth and works, and by a faith which transformed a mortal into an immortal love," was a rare one in ministerial or even human experience, and had a most felicitous influence on his character and work. Dr. Bushnell has himself acknowledged this influence, in the dedication of his book on Women's Suffrage "to the woman I know best and most thoroughly; having been overlapped, as it were, and curtained in the same consciousness for the last thirty-six years,”—the whole of which "Acknowledgment" is one of the most beautiful tributes ever offered by a husband to his wife. The reality and beauty of this spiritual as well as conjugal union appears in the letters written by Dr. Bushnell to his wife which are scattered through the biography, and constitute perhaps the richest part of the volume, since they unfold his deepest and most spiritual thoughts and experiences in language of the most tender affection. As this side or rather heart of his character has been hitherto unknown except to his intimate friends, we subjoin one or two extracts from these letters to show the nature of the influence spoken of and how deeply and truly he lived in his affections. In a letter written to his wife from Cabotville, eleven years after their marriage, he says:

"I have had no little enjoyment of my dear wife and children this afternoon. Sitting here over my fire alone, with nothing to do and my mind at ease, my heart has once more discovered itself, as it were, anew. Oh, this rest, this unoccupied day,-how I do long, for my heart's sake, to have rest! It sweetens my family, makes my love conscious, makes it an enjoyment, and I really seem to live. Never did I realize so convincingly the great power you have over me, and how necessary you are to my well-being. I am sure, too, that there is nothing

more beautiful, and more to be envied by the poets, than this same charm of power by which a good wife detains her husband. It is not an ambitious, noisy power; it is silent, calm, persuasive, and often so deep as to have its hold deeper than consciousness itself. She does not take him away from the rough world and its drudgeries-does not make him less than a man, but still he will, in all he does, be her man; and if the rough calls of duty which worry him give away for a time, then he discovers that she is still presiding over his happiness, and, as a very small helm, guiding his way. He is proud of her without knowing it, loves her when he is too weary or too much bent on his objects to be conscious of his love, deposits his soul in hers, and thinks it still his own. She ministers, and yet is seldom ministered unto. She makes his future and ascribes it to himself."

Later, in 1861, when broken in health, but strong in spirit he was revolving the great theme of his "Vicarious Sacrifice," he writes from Clifton Springs:

"It will be delightful to me to sit down with you and talk over these things, as we have both these and many others. These blessed communings that I have had with you for so many years, and especially the last ten or fifteen, come across me every few days, like waves in the memory, and my soul is bathed in their refreshment, as by nothing else in this world. I count just these to be the best and richest gifts of good that God has bestowed upon me, next to the gift of his dear Son himself. And it ought to be a very great comfort to you to know that I connect all my best progress in truth and character with your instigations thus received. I have some hope that I may have helped you somewhat in return, though in a different manner."

To return from this prolepsis. His habits of labor during the first years of his pastoral life are thus pleasantly sketched:

"The winter was spent in constant study. The writing of two sermons for almost every Sunday occupied him the whole week. In those days he wrote slowly, and with a good deal of labor. The work that should have ceased with the morning was too often carried on through the day and into the evening hours. He wished also to visit and become well acquainted with all of his people, and these pastoral duties were so new and strange to his student's habit, that they were at first the most difficult and awkward part of his work. He did not neglect them, however, but made a point of visiting every one in the congregation at least once a year, and more frequently among familiar friends, or where he knew that he was needed. He acknowledged this to have been the defective branch of his service, and that for which he had least aptitude. . . . It became a custom with him and Mrs. Bushnell to make the annual visitation together in the pleasant days of autumn, sometimes walking, or sometimes driving into the country, to the more distant homes. 'Those bright October days,' she says, 'still spread their soft haze on the background, where are pictured the bright faces and cheerful welcomes that have long ago faded from earthly recognition.'"

His manner as a preacher at this period is thus described: "His preaching had in those days a fiery quality, an urgency and willful force, which in his later style is still felt in the more subdued glow of poetic imagery.

There was a nervous insistence about his person, and a peculiar emphasizing swing of his right arm from the shoulder, which no one who has ever heard him is likely to forget. It seemed as if with this gesture he swung himself into his subject, and would fain carry others along with him. His sermons were always written out in full and read; never extemporized, never memorized. For the latter method and its results he had no liking. For the former not sufficient confidence; though that came to him later, when driven to extempore work by illhealth. His early manner betrayed this want of confidence, and was at times a little constrained and labored. The same was true of his prayers, which lacked ease and flow, such as came to him with fuller inspiration. The whole effect of his services, was, however, always pointed and practical. Prayers, hymns, Scripture reading, text, sermon, all converged on the same central theme, and went to heighten the impression of the leading thought."

As no

We have lingered longer on this earlier and formative period of his life than perhaps our limits will justify, that the influences which helped to shape his character and genius, especially the divine moulding of it, might be more clearly seen. one can understand thoroughly the genius and poetry of Wordsworth without reading his autobiographical poem, "the Prelude," in which he unfolds the growth of a poet's mind, so Horace Bushnell can only be understood through the prelude of his youth and early manhood. We shall now proceed more rapidly, although the book thickens and deepens in interest as we advance.

[To be continued.]

ARTICLE VI.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

THE SAVIOUR'S CONVERTS.*-This volume is designed to call the attention of ministers and churches to the importance of the training and spiritual edification of converts, and to make suggestions as to the best methods of accomplishing it. The subject is of immense importance and the author is doing a good work in bringing it to the attention of Christian people. We cannot help thinking, however, that the book would have still greater value if he had taken a broader view of Christian character and work. He says of the convert, "he should he taught to magnify preaching and prayer meetings," and to labor assiduousiy to persuade the impenitent to turn to Christ. This is well; but it requires much more than this to develop a comprehensive, strong, consistent Christian character in which the convert shall "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." The convert should be taught, both by the words and example of Christians, that he is to be a Christian not in the church and the prayer meeting only, but also in his home, in his business, in social intercourse with men, and in all places, times, and conditions; that his faith in Christ must lift his whole life with all its commonest affairs into Christ's presence, consecrate it to his service, and sanctify it with love to him; that his Christian character must include Christ-like gentleness, tenderness, and pity, universal good will, every where and always seeking the welfare of all about him; also unswerving truthfulness and integrity; incorruptible fidelity to a trust, whether it be an estate administered as trustee, or the stock of a bank, railroad, factory, or mine committed to his direction, or a railroad train or a ship entrusted to his management, or any piece of work which he has undertaken to do for another; and a Christian public spirit, studying all the interests of society from a Christian point of view, steadfast against oppression and injustice, against dishonesty and swindling, against political bribery and fraud, against all agencies and influences of debauchery and corruption, and striving always in faith in Christ to bring society in

*The Saviour's Converts: What we owe to them, and how we may aid them. By the Rev. WILLIAM SCRIBNER, author of "Pray for the Holy Spirit," "These little Ones," etc. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 743 and 745 Broadway. 1880. 174 pp. New Haven: E. P. Judd.