While in college he intended to follow his father's profession, but in 1823 he began the study of theology in Andover Seminary.
His first parochial charge was as Rector (1827–29) of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Massachusetts, where he was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Alexander Viets Griswold, November 15, 1827.
In 1849 he accepted the appointment of Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Trinity College and for the next five years resided in Hartford.
He resigned the charge of a parish in 1872, and in February, 1873, became a resident professor in the Berkeley Divinity School, where he continued until his death there, from Blight's disease, June 21, 1885, at the age of 82.
Besides the works mentioned, his publications include a volume of Lectures on the Early History of Christianity in England, with sermons (New York, 1860, pp 334, 12mo).