Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Poems

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Biography

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (June 18, 1809 - October 12, 1870) was a Unitarian clergyman, author and hymn writer. Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (often referred to as S.G. Bulfinch) was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 18, 1809, the tenth child of Charles Bulfinch, Architect of the Capitol and Hannah Apthorp. He was the brother of Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867), author of Bulfinch's Mythology. Stephen was named after his mother's father, Stephen Greenleaf, the last Loyalist sheriff of Essex County, Massachusetts. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1818, when his father began work on building the United States Capitol rotunda and graduated from Columbian College in Washington D.C. (later George Washington University) in 1826 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and earned his Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1830. The Rev. Edward Young told the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1892 that Bulfinch told him he had wished to become an architect like his father. "But his father dissuaded him, saying that most of the States already had their capitols erected, and that if he should devote himself to this occupation, there would probably not be enough for him to do. Accordingly, he became a clergyman." In 1831, he was ordained at Charleston, South Carolina as Assistant Minister serving with Rev. Samuel Gilman at the Second Independent Church of Charleston, a theologically Unitarian congregation. Subsequently he served as a minister in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Washington, D.C. from 1838, in Nashua, New Hampshire from 1845, in Dorchester, Massachusetts from 1852; and lastly in East Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1865 until his death. He died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 12, 1870. Bulfinch composed numerous hymns, which gained wide use across the country. Many were made known in England through Beard's Collection of Hymns, published in 1837, in which 19 were published)

The Best Poem Of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

Jesus Before Pilate

I

In Pilate's hall, by scornful Pharisees
Surrounded, and by dark-browed Roman bands,
Before the Procurator's footstool stands
The Son of God, the glorious Prince of Peace.
Alone he stands, his followers all have fled;
In mockery o'er his limbs a robe is thrown
Of regal purple; and a thorny crown
Appears in scorn upon his sacred head.
But calm he spake: From God my power proceeds,
Without his will thou canst not harm a hair
Upon my brow; then patient will I bear
The unrighteous punishment of holy deeds.
I am a king, but not with mortal state.
He said, and humbly died, the greatest of the great.

II

And oh, what beams of dignity and love
Flowed o'er his sacred features, as he stood
Calmly amid the foes who sought his blood,
His eyes upturning to his home above!
The haughty Judge with admiration gazed,
And spoke him guiltless; but the frantic crowd
Demand their victim's death with clamours loud
As the fierce Scribes their stormy passions raised.
Follower of Jesus! learn of him to bear
Unmoved the fury of victorious foes;
Though shame environ thee, and anguish close
Thy dying eyes, yet shrink not; thou dost share
Thy Master's sufferings; thou shalt share his rest;
Oh learn of him to live, to die, and to be blest.

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