Bushnell’s closed coffin was placed in front of the altar
Every pew was filled, and chairs and campstools were used in the side aisles.
Black draping covered the choir gallery and side walls
The pulpit was decorated with flowers and plants – the flowers were various colors, breaking with the tradition of displaying only white flowers.
The pulpit was also decorated with wrought pieces including a crown, harps, crosses, and a representation of the Bible made of white carnations and camelias.
The chair in front that Bushnell used when attending the church was draped in mourning.
The service began at 3:00 PM.
Bearers and mourning friends entered
Bearers: G. W. Avery, A. S. Chesebrough, Henry Johnson, Henry Keney, E. H. Richardson, and Joseph Twichell served as a pallbearer and offered a eulogy for Bushnell.
Service opened by Nathaniel Burton with an invocation.
Congregation sang “Let Saints below in concert join”
Reading of scriptures
Psalm 91
1 Corinthians 15
2 Kings 2
Gospel of Saint John
Congregation sang “Love divine, all love excelling
Edwin Parker led a service at the Park Congregational Church, and spoke of Horace Bushnell during his sermon. The flowers were still in place from Bushnell’s funeral.
Joseph Twichell gave a sermon inspired by thoughts of Horace Bushnell during the morning service at Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
Cephas Crane paid tribute to Horace Bushnell before beginning the morning service at South Baptist Church.
“The chapter concerning Elijah and Elisha, from the Second book of Kings, was read with great feeling and the congregation evidently got the inspiration of it, so appropriate was the section at the funeral of Dr. Bushnell.”
“At the close Dr. Burton announced that the deceased had often expressed a desire that his friends, after he had gone, might remember him as he looked in life, and to respect his wishes the body … would not be exposed to view.”
