- Discourses on Christian Nurture. By HORACE BUSHNELL, Pastor of the North Church, Hartford. Approved by the Committee of Publication. Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. 1847. 12mo. pp. 72.
- DR. TYLER’S Letter to Dr. Bushnell on Christian Nurture. 8vo. pp. 22.
- An argument for “Discourses on Christian Nurture,” addressed to the Publishing Committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. By HORACE BUSHNELL. Hartford: Edwin Hunt. 1847. 8vo. pp. 48.—PRINCETON REVIEW, October, 1847.
THE leading idea of Dr. Bushnell’s Discourses, is organic, as distinguished from individual life. Whatever may be thought of the expression, or whatever may be the form in which it lies in his mind, it represents a great and obvious truth; a truth, which however novel it may appear to many of our New England brethren, is as familiar to Presbyterians as household words. Strange, and in our view distorted, as is the form in which this truth appears in Dr. Bushnell’s book, and incongruous as are the elements with which it is combined, it still has power to give his Discourses very much of an “Old-school” cast, and to render them in a high degree attractive and hopeful in our estimation. Apart from the two great illustrations of this truth, the participation of the life of Adam by the whole race, and of the life of Christ by all believers, we see on every hand abundant evidence that every church, nation, and society, has a common life, besides the life of its individual members. This is the reason why nothing of importance can occur in one part of the church without influencing all other parts. No new form of doctrine, no revival or decline of spiritual life can exhibit itself in New England, that is not effective throughout the Presbyterian church. We as a body owe, in no small measure, our character as distinguished from other Presbyterian communities to our participation, so to speak, of the life of New England; and the New England churches are indebted, in like manner, for their character as distinguished from other Congregational bodies, to the influence of their Presbyterian brethren. No community can isolate itself. The subtle influence which pervades the whole, permeates through every barrier, as little suspected and yet as effective as the magnetic or electric fluid in nature. This fact may be explained in a manner more or less obvious or profound according to our philosophy or disposition, but it cannot be denied, and should not be disregarded.
We are, therefore, not uninterested spectators of the changes going on in New England. They are changes in the body of which we are members, and their effects for good or evil we must share. We are not therefore stepping out of our own sphere, or meddling with what does not concern us, in calling attention to Dr. Bushnell’s book, and to the discussions to which it has given rise.
The history of this little volume is somewhat singular. Dr. Bushnell was appointed by the Ministerial Association, of which he is a member, to discuss the subject of Christian training. He produced two discourses from his pulpit, and read the argument before the Association, who requested its publication. To this he assented, but before his purpose was executed, a request came from a member of the Committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, that the publication should be made by them. The manuscript was forwarded to the committee who retained it in their possession six months, twice returned it to the author for modifications, and finally published it with their approbation. It excited no little attention, being favorably noticed in some quarters, and unfavorably in others. So much disapprobation, however, was soon manifested, that the committee felt called upon to suspend its publication. We are not surprised at any of these facts. We do not wonder that the committee kept the book so long under advisement; or that they should ultimately venture on its publication; or that when published, it should create such a sensation, or meet with the fate which actually befel it. There is enough in the book to account for all this. Enough of truth most appropriate for our times, powerfully presented, to make the committee anxious to bring it before the churches; enough of what was new in form and strange in aspect, to create doubt as to its effect and its reception; and enough of apparent and formidable error to account for the alarm and uneasiness consequent on its publication. We cannot regret that the book has seen the light, and done, or at least begun, its work. We anticipate immeasurably more good than evil from its publication. What is wrong, we trust will be sifted out and perish, what is right, will live and operate.
The truths which give value to this publication, and from which we anticipated such favorable results, are principally the following: First, the fact that there is such a divinely constituted relation between the piety of parents and that of their children, as to lay a scriptural foundation for a confident expectation, in the use of the appointed means, that the children of believers will become truly the children of God. We do not like the form in which Dr. Bushnell states this fact; much less, as we shall probably state more fully in the sequel, the mode in which he accounts for it; but the fact itself is most true and precious. It is founded on the express and repeated declaration and promise of God. He said to Abraham: I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee. Deut. vii. 9. Know, therefore, that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. Deut. xxxix. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. Isa. lix. 21. As for me this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, from henceforth forever. In the New Testament the fact that the promises made to believers include their children, was recognized from the very foundation of the Christian church. In the sermon delivered by Peter on the day of Pentecost, he said, the promise is to thee and to thy seed after thee. And Paul assures us even with regard to outcast Israel, the children are beloved for the father’s sake. It is, therefore, true, as might be much more fully proved, that by divine appointment the children of believers are introduced into the covenant into which their parents enter with God, and that the promises of that covenant are made no less to the children than to the parents. He promises to be their God, to give them his Spirit, to renew their hearts, and to cause them to live.