In the last chapter of the first part he brings
his plea for Christian nurture to a conclusion by



84 HORACE BUSHNELL

striving to show that the church is to possess the
world through "the out-populating power of the
C5hristian stock." The chapter is a characteristic
mingUng of spirituality and naturalism, each run-
ning into the other even as they coexisted in his
thought. Wherever else he looked, he always had
an eye open to nature. His argument is keen,
comprehepsive, and well buttressed by Scripture,
but there is an excess of a priori speculation, and
a somewhat too easy dealing with questions about
which little was known at that time and hardly
more at present. But within certain limits his
contention has weight, and there is no doubt that
it has enough of unquestioned truth to render it
of immense importance, both speculatively and
practically. It is along such lines that thought
now runs.
