Born: June 18, 1809, Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Died: Oc­to­ber 12, 1870, East Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Bulfinch’s fam­i­ly moved to Wash­ing­ton, DC, in 1818, his fa­ther being the Cap­i­tol ar­chi­tect, Charles Bulfinch. Ste­phen grad­u­at­ed from Co­lum­bi­an Coll­ege and the Cam­bridge The­o­log­ic­al School. In 1831, he was or­dained at Charles­ton, South Car­o­li­na, as as­sist­ant to a Dr. Gil­man. Sub­se­quent­ly, he pas­tored in Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia; Wash­ing­ton, DC (1838); Dorc­hes­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1852); and East Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1865). His works in­clude:

• Contempla­tion of the Sav­iour: A Ser­ies of Ex­tracts from the Gos­pel His­to­ry, with Re­flect­ions and Orig­in­al and Se­lect­ed Hymns (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: Car­ter and Hen­dee, 1832)
• The Ho­ly Land and Its In­hab­it­ants, 1834
• Po­ems (Charles­ton, South Car­o­li­na: 1834)
• Lays of the Gos­pel (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1845)
• Communion Thoughts, 1850
• Palestine and the He­brew Peo­ple, 1853
• The Harp and the Cross, 1857
• Honor, or the Slave­hold­er’s Daugh­ter, 1864
• Manual of the Ev­i­denc­es of Christ­i­an­i­ty, 1866
• Studies in the Ev­i­denc­es of Christ­i­an­i­ty, 1866

Sources

Hymns

1. Burden of Shame and Woe
2. Hail to the Sab­bath Day
3. Hath Not Thy Heart Within Thee Burned
4. Ho­ly Son of God Most High
5. How Glorious Is the Hour
6. In the Savior’s Hour of Death
7. It Is Finished! Glorious Word
8. O Suffering Friend of Humankind
9. There Is a Strife We All Must Wage
10. What Power Unseen by Mortal Eye