Woodhitll, Selah Strong, D.D., a (Dutch) Re- formed minister, was born in New York city, Aug. 4, 1780. At the age of twelve, while a freshman in Co- lumbia College, he lost both his parents. He then went to Yale College, graduated in 1.S02, studied theol-
ogy under bis uncle. Rev. Dr. Woodhull, of Freehold, N. J., and afterwards at Princeton with Dr. Henry Kol- lock, and was licensed to preach at the age of nineteen by the Presbytery of New Brunswick (1805). After one year of service as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Boundbrook, N. J., he removed to Brooklyn, and un- til 1825 continued the popular and useful minister of the First Reformed Church in that city. He was then (1825) elected by the General Synod of the Cluirch as professor of ecclesiastical history and pastoral theology in the Theological Seminary, and by the trustees of Rut- gers College as their professor of metaphysics and phi- losophy. These eminent positions be accepted, and entered upon his duties with ardor in November of that year. But, after only four months of hard labor, he died from an inflammatory fever, Feb. 27, 1826. For five years he was secretary for domestic correspondence of the American Bible Society (1820-25), an office which he discharged until his removal to New Brunswick with great assiduity and success. In 1814 be held a commission as chaplain in the United States army, and ofiiciated during part of the existing war with Great Britain. He was stated clerk of the General Synod, 1818-20, and its president in 1821. His great business capacity led to his selection for these and many other important positions, in all of which he commanded uni- versal confidence. He was the impersonation of activ- ity, decision, energy, and persevering industry. He was a diligent student, a faithful pastor, an instructive, me- thodical, solemn, earnest, practical, graceful, and attrac- tive preacher. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer, Pul- pit, ix, 161-164 ; Livingston [Dr. J. H.], Memoir, p. 401- 402; Corwin, Manual of the Reformed Church in Amer- ica,]^. 111. (W.J.R.T.)
Woodroffe, Benjajitn, D.D., an English clergy- man, was born at Oxford in 1038, and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a tutor. He became chaplain to her Majesty's ship "Royal Prince," and prebendary of Oxford in 1072, prebendary of Lich- field in 1078, principal of Gloucester Hall in 1692, and died in 1711. He published The Fall of Buhyhm (1090) and other works. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. A uthors, s. v.
Woods, James Sterrett, D.D., a Presbyterian divine, was born in Cumberland County, Pa., Ai)ril 18, 1793. He pursued his academical studies in Hopewell Academy, Pa.; graduated at Dickinson College, Pa.; studied theology in the Princeton Theological Semi- nary, N. J. ; was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1817; and labored as an evangelist from 1819 to 1822 in the valley of the Juniata, embracing MacVeytown, Newton, Hamilton, and Shirleysburg, where he laid the foundations of the present churches. In 1822 he was called to take charge of the Lewistown and INIacVeyfown churches; in 1823 he became pas- tor of the Church of Lewistown alone, and remained there until the time of his death in 1802. " Dr. Woods," says Rev. G. Elliott, "was remarkable for his candor, his modesty, and his magnanimity." To the work of preaching the Gospel he devoted his life. Textual, evangelical, methodical, and earnest, bis preaching ev- erywhere commanded attention and secured edifica- tion. See Wilson, Presh. Hist. Almanac, 1803, p. 210. (J. L. S.)
Woods, Leonard, D.D., an eminent Congrega- tional divine, was born at Princeton, Mass., June 19, 1774. His father had intended him for a farmer; but, as he early exhibited a strong desire for knowledge, his mother's wishes at last gained the ascendencj-, and he was sent to school at Leicester under Prof. Ebenezer Ad- ams, and graduated at Harvard College in 1796 with the highest honor. He left college with a mind imbued witli Priestley's speculations and unsettled by material- istic notions. He taught school at Medford for eight months, also pursuing a systematic course of reading. He was interested, however, in his spiritual welfare,
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and, by the advice of his college and life-lonn; friend, Dr. John H. Church, he read the Life of Doddruhje and other spiritual books, and after many hard struggles he came out into the light and liberty of the Gospel. He now put himself under the theological training of Dr. Ciiarles Backus of Somers, and in 1798 was ordained pastor of the Church in Newbury, IMass. In 1808 the Andover The- ological Seminary was established. Dr. Spring giving up, for the sake of unity and harmony, his project of an institution to be founded at Ncwburyport in the inter- ests of Hopkinsian theology. Jlr. Woods was appoint- ed professor of theologj', and held that position until his retirement in 1«4G. The remainder of his life was spent in preparing for the press his theological lectures and miscellaneous writings, and in writing a history of Andover Theological Seminary, which he left unfinish- ed. He died Aug. 24, 1854.
In his theological opinions. Dr. Woods was an ortho- dox Calvinist, accepting the Assembly's confession and catechism in the simple, historical sense of the lan- guage. He was on terms of intimacy and friendship with some Hopkinsian divines, and he considered their divergences non-essential, never public!}^ controverting their views lest their differences should give advantage to those who were assailing the common faith. He had a fondness for metaphj'sical studies, and qualifica- tions for distinguished success in them. Facts, among which he gave the highest place to those of revelation, were the starting-point in his philosophy. From these, by careful induction, he came to general laws, then to a lawgiver, then to a universal government. Dr. Woods was patient, cautious, and earnest in his investigations, and his attainments came, not by genius, but by steadi- ly pressing his inquiries further and further into the domain of science. " He is emphatically the 'judicious' divine of later New England theology" (H. B. Smith, D.D.). As a theological instructor, Dr. Woods was suc- cessful. His pupils, of whom he liad over one thou- sand, loved and venerated him. As a preacher, he was simple, lucid, scriptural, and instructive, yet he was often argumentative and taxed reason to her utmost, though never submitting the mysteries of godliness to her arbitration. As a writer, he was clear, jnire, trans- parent, rigidly Anglo-Saxon. " It is ft)r his qualities as a man, a neighbor, a friend, and a Christian," says Dr. E. A. Lawrence, one of his pupils, " that he will be cherished in most grateful and affectionate remem- brance." He had an open, manly character, the con- stant outflow of kindly feeling towards all, a warmth of affection and friendship, an humble piety, which made him peculiarly beloved by all who knew him. Dr. Woods took an important part in establishing those various benevolent societies and reforms which are an impor- tant feature of the 19th century.