E.B. Habunth

VIEWS

OF

CHRISTIAN NURTURE,

AND OF

SUBJECTS ADJACENT THERETO,

BY

HORACE BUSHNELL.

*།

OF THE

HARTFORD:

EDWIN HUNT, NO. 6 ASYLUM STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by

EDWIN HUNT,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.

Press of

CASE, TIFFANY AND CO.,

Hartford, Coun.

PREFACE.

As the attention of the public mind is now earnestly fixed on the great subject of Christian Nurture, it seems to be a matter of consequence, if not of justice, that those, who are anxious to know the merits of the question in debate, should have the means at their command. It was fortunately made a condition, when I gave up the manuscript of my "Discourses" to the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, that I should have the right to publish them myself, "with other things." Encountering, as I do, every day, the complaint that they cannot be had, I have at length concluded, after waiting a proper time for their emancipation, that it is my duty, both to the public and also to them as my children, to give them their liberty. There are many very important questions connected with this subject, which, as yet, have been scarcely touched in our discussion, and I would gladly have undertaken a new and complete work, covering the whole ground, if I had time and strength for such a labor. Perhaps some other, who is more competent, will assume the task. There are some advantages, however, in having the discussion which is already a matter of history and, in that shape, has its interest, preserve its historical form. I republish therefore the "Discourses" and the " Argument," in company with three or four other articles, which have a certain relation to the view maintained, and will therefore assist the public to come at a more thorough understanding of my general position. The associated reasons too, which give a truth its complement, are often necessary to a full and hearty conviction of its validity. Of course, it will sometimes occur, in such a collection, that a thought is repeated.

The article on the "Spiritual Economy of Revivals," was designed chiefly to remove that dismal state of despair and lethargy, consequent on the presumption practically held, that there can be nothing good, no real piety, save what appears in the shape of a revival,—a state which is the most disheartening impediment to the